Soaring in a way that distinctly reminds me of The Horrors' recent releases, "Solemn Skies" is a big, bright, guitar-driven tune. It's a great listen from the London four piece that label themselves a "hot boy band," who are "making tunes making moves." A boy band they are not, but making moves they could be if the rest of their releases sound as good as this. This is from the Solemn Skies 103, whose b-side is called "Semester. That's out June 10 via House Anxiety. They've already got some [...]
by Tiana Feng Majical Cloudz released this brilliantly depressing video for "Childhood's End".
Newcastle-based Fran O’Hanlon – aka Ajimal – has been slowly constructing a catalogue of beautifully heartfelt songs, and This Human Joy is the latest to surface. The track is a slow burning masterpiece that builds upon sparse piano chimes with godly waves of harp and a vocal that channels Jeff Buckley at his most mournful neatly interwoven within. Packed with moments of divine delicacy and philosophical lyrics, the Mick Ross-produced single is set for release on March 25th, and is to precede a conceptual mini-album entitled Childhood which is anticipated later on in 2013. [...]
Gabriele Galimberti takes photos of kids with their most prized possessions for a series aptly named 'Toy Stories'. More common was how the toys reflected the world each child was born into: so the girl from an affluent Mumbai family loves Monopoly, because she likes the idea of building houses and hotels, while the boy from rural Mexico loves trucks, because he sees them rumbling through his village to the nearby sugar plantation every day. Ultimately, the toys on display reveal the hopes and ambitions of the people who bought them in [...]
I was watching Pardon The Interruption the other morning before work when I heard Mike Wilbon mention something that - by his reference and my recognition - dated both of us. The clicker. The first people that I knew who were capable of dictating commands to the television by merely lifting their fingers would have been my grandparents. My brother and I were gobsmacked. We couldn't wait to get our hands on The Clicker for a spin through the dial. With half a dozen channels, it [...]
Aujourd’hui le WOS vous propose, en partenariat avec le festival Assis ! Debout ! Couché ! , de gagner 2X2 places pour aller voir quelque uns des groupes que l’on apprécie par ici. Childhood et Only Real entre autres sont les invités de ce festival où l'on pourra également voir Arlt, Chassol ou encore Neil Halstead du 22 au 24 février au Lieu Unique à Nantes. C’est la partie Debout ! avec Zombie Zombie + Childhood + Only Real et [...]
(rebroadcast from February, 2009) Here, it is often said that if you don’t like the weather, wait twenty-four hours. Actually, I’ve been trying to inject new blood into that maxim by saying, if you don’t like the weather, move ten feet to the right. It hasn’t caught on, yet. The reason I’m even considering the weather is that after a couple days of warmth, tonight it’s cold again and I’m trying to remember the last place I lived that didn’t have a draft. [...]
I got sucked into The A-Team on cable. Three hours later, I had watched about an hour and a half more of the exploits of Hannibal Smith and friends in movie form than I had ever watched of the television series. As I was a kid at the time The A-Team initially aired, I was well aware of it. It was enormously popular for awhile and I imagine I undoubtedly checked it out for ten or fifteen minutes on a Tuesday night. (with five, six channels and no cable, [...]
It's supposed to be the coldest night of the year tonight. It was cold during the winter of '81/'82. Or maybe it wasn't and I merely recollect it as so. I do know for certain that it was during that winter that time I might have previously spent sprawled out in the family room watching television was being spent sprawled out in my bedroom, listening to the radio. Music had become an increasing curiosity in my world over the previous year or so as I realized that the subject was being broached as [...]
Having gone down a Cocteau Twins rabbithole, I guess it was inevitable that I'd find my way to the heart of the old 4AD cosmos (or at least the musical output of label boss Ivo Watt-Russell). This may be the end of line when it comes to maudlin teen angst. But then I've found a disturbing ability to stare too long into the most embarrassing of my high school memories and come away with a charmed laugh. Also, I do still dig the bass part in this one. Old sap, I am. [...]
(a rebroadcast from January, 2011...) The first time that I ever participated in a store inventory was in college. It was a small record store - a dozen of us, max - and it lasted until about two o'clock in the morning. It was a drag. Several years later, working in a record store so large that we had a staff of sixty or so to cover the fifteen hours we were open each day, I gained a dose of perspective. This store took inventory two times a [...]
To your left, you will note Pat Benatar as she appeared in the video for Promises In The Dark , a Top 40 single for her in the autumn of 1981 from the album Precious Time . I was a thirteen-year old boy that summer when Precious Time was released. You don't have to work for NASA to calculate the appeal. Of course, I dug the music, too. Everybody dug Pat Benatar. Even though I was listening to little radio, I was well familiar with [...]
Beneath is Part II of our massively drawn-out Twenty Tips for 2013 feature – Part I can be found here . As we said then, we can’t honestly give you that popular hyperbolic introduction which promises you that you will listen to nothing else in 2013, and that they will usher in a new era of trans-national harmony, they’ve made some great music and are very likely to go and do the same again pretty soon. Dante It was pretty frustrating that Dante , the source of what could [...]
(reconstituted and reheated from January 2009) I’ve never really been one of those music fans who take offense to artists who license their songs for use in commercials. I wouldn’t consider myself such a purist, believing Melt With You helping to entice me to want a burger devalues the song. I’ve also been blessed with a superhuman ability to, for the most part, tune out commercials. (working in record stores during one’s formative years will nurture skills in selective listening). [...]
One For The People favourites and Nottingham's finest, Childhood, have dropped a new video for "Bond Girls", their "Blue Velvet" b-side. continue reading >>
Childhood give us a great song in 'Blue Velvet', it has a very chilled out and lo-fi sound that works so well, almost feels like a throwback type of song. The Stone Roses comparisons have been made, but you be the judge for yourself.
EmmylouHarris : Calling My Children Home [ purchase ] My prayers go out to the community of Newtown, CT. In a recent bluegrass jam, I sang a rendition of " God Loves His Children " which I had learned from Flatt and Scruggs’ recordings of 1948-59. The gospel song wasn’t quite the same without an a cappella quartet and driven by Scruggs’ fingerpicked lead guitar work. It’s also difficult for some to make sense of the line in that song which states, [...]
Dan Bern : Kid’s Prayer [ purchase City Folk Live X ] [ Download the song from Bern’s Bandcamp page ] I am breaking my “no repeat” guideline this week, to post my second Dan Bern song, “Kid’s Prayer,” because it seems to be the most fitting song for this theme this week. I believe that the only official release of this song on CD was on WFUV’s City Folk II compilation from 1999, and re-released on the City Folk X disc in 2007. Bern recently posted it on Bandcamp for [...]
[YouTube link: click the image above] We Are the Children. In my mind, there is no song more to the point of this week’s theme than this. It is at once a celebration of the best of many things: our children/our future and the voices of a collection of some of the best in music. It is a song of hope and dedication. [...]
[ purchase ] The Circle Game was the first song I thought of to begin this week‘s theme. Joni Mitchell walks us though various stages of childhood, and into adulthood. The song can serve as an overture of sorts for what is to come. I was lucky to chance upon this video. As nearly as I can tell, a sixth grade teacher assigned his class the task of listening to the song, and creating an artwork inspired by a section of the lyrics. These artworks have been matched to their parts of the song in order. The [...]
Pretty Much Amazing
Ride The Tempo
Dots & Dashes
The Sly Oyster
Barely Awake In Frog Pajamas
Wall Of Sound
Now you're at Songblague!
Not Many Experts
One For The People
Fake Plastic Tunes
Star Maker Machine
Stop Shaming, Start Being Responsible
[stream] Smith Westerns // 3AM Spiritual
The Dodos – “Confidence”
