Due for release on the 8 th of November is Christiania; the new album from Napoleon IIIrd (aka James Mabbett). Tackling the challenges of escaping the constraints of small-town life with some lushly textured pop songs and evocative drones. Despite playing as part of Damo Suzuki's band and touring with Wild Beasts & Yo! Majesty he's still found the time to write and record this indulgent body of work. Fans wishing to hear the first single 'The Unknown Unknown' can sign up to receive the free track here . He will also [...]
Brainwaves: Brainlove Records goes to Iceland Airwaves - Mat Riviere, Napoleon IIIrd and Stairs To Korea join official Airwaves lineup - Brainlove to host Off-Venue Airwaves Party with Æla and Kippi Kaninus - Improv projects Braindead Collective and Thee Oracle join the party Brainlove Records is über-excited to announce a pair of shows in Reykjavik this October as part of the 2009 Iceland Airwaves festival. Firstly, we're taking over [...]
Underground pop label Brainlove Records is pleased to announce the 2009 Brainlove Festival , featuring performances from Kid Carpet, Internet Forever, Napoleon IIIrd, The Duloks, gwEm, Pagan Wanderer Lu and a parliament of exciting new bands from across the musical spectrum. Having failed to learn lessons from squeezing on 10 bands last year, the 2009 lineup adds a second stage, clocking up a total of twenty performances, with surprise guests to be announced on the day. From boy-girl Casio-pop to 8-bit computer metal to tweecore folk to a 14 part all-girl choir: Brainlove [...]
Hear the new Yeah Yeah Yeah's song, "Zero" over at Stereogum . Also, Napoleon IIIrd just released a new mini album entitled Hideki Yukawa and Port O'Brien's new single, "Winter" is out today. You can download both releases from iTunes.
Gig Of The Week 1: Underage Club @ Scala Oh, to be young again! Under 18 special featuring some of 2008's best artists, and some great picks for the coming year. Headlining are the excellent White Lies, who have to be the favourite in the recent BBC Sound of 2009 longlist. Backing them are the immense Metronomy, currently riding high in the cumulative Best of 2008 charts. Also on the bill are the great live act Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip, whilst the eclectic mix is topped off with Rolo Tomassi. Head down to Scala [...]
Ok here's the top 5, but first here's a quick recap from 15-6 15) Kat Flint - Dirty Birds 14) Matthew Dear - Asa Breed 13) Arcade Fire - Neon Bible 12) Justice - † (Cross) 11) Eugene McGuinness - The Early Learnings Of... 10) Meet Me In St Louis - Variations On Swing 9) LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver 8) Les Savy Fav - Lets Stay Friends 7) Parts & Labor - Mapmaker 6) M.I.A. - Kala Now down to business. [...]
That's right folks! As i mentioned a couple of weeks back, funfunfun has now gone physical! You can download it for free by right-clicking and saving the picture above, then print it out and fold it in an special way to create your very own fff #1(check my myspace blog to do this). If you don't fancy doing that and you want me to do all the work, then leave a comment or email me, incuding your name and address and I'll send you a copy for FREE !!! Issue #1 features: - Blamma! Blamma! [...]
Another potential album of the year... Napoleon IIIrd is one man from Leeds, who plays music with a couple of instruments and a reel-to-reel tape player. His debut album, In Debt To, came out with the sort of staggered that only indie labels are forced to do, arriving digitally in May, slowly building up the attention [...]
MP3: Napoleon IIIrd - This Is My Call To Arms (Wakefield, BrainLove Records, 3:07 mins, 192 kbps, 4.3MB) "Brace for disaster" ... "Don't live your life through the T.V" Experimental pop music and grand instrumentalism from one man and his reel to reel tape player. Its analogue flourishes and bouncing brings to mind the Flaming Lips with a melodic twitch, and a quest to find a brand new colour among way too much greyness. But this isn't nearly as mystical as the Lips, [...]
I'm not a musician, so I can be easily impressed when it comes to musical expertise. However, technical proficiency isn't really the thing that I go for in music. Like visual arts, it's not just about how well you execute it – it's about having ideas and making things interesting and exciting. Now, with Napoleon IIIrd (aka James Mabbett from Leeds), he might be a virtuoso for all I know. But that's not what's important. The main thing about this dude is that he's got good ideas, and knows (mostly) how to translate them into interesting and exciting [...]
Some artists are easy to categorise. Some aren't. Take Napoleon IIIrd for instance. He sings the songs he writes, so sure, you could describe him as a singer-songwriter. But straight away you'd associate that with heart felt songs sung by a white boy with an acoustic guitar. And that's probably as far removed from Napoleon IIIrd as you could get. Lord knows we need another one of them like we need an infestation of rats to move into our homes. No, what you need to be thinking now is more along the lines of [...]
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Florence + The Machine – Spectrum (Calvin Harris Remix)
