Guys, I think we need to have a quick discussion about something. I'm wondering: What do you all think about this new list published by SPIN magazine detailing the 100 best drummers EVER in alternative music? What do you mean, "I haven't read it."? Are you kidding me!? It was published by SPIN MAGAZINE. Surely [...]
>> Like Tom Waits , art-pop concern Mahogany keep getting weirder while staying the same (to whit, Wikipedia describes the once-octet thusly: "an electric music-based multidisciplinary media ensemble currently working in Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, and other locations"). After only faint rumors and dead-ends in regards to the follow-up to their massive, brilliant and still misunderstood 2006 album Connectivity! , the band has finally released a new song. And it's a doozy, too. "Phase Break" is an eight-minute cycle of beats, choruses, and synths that incorporates elements of [...]
So often do bands weigh in significantly greater than the sum of their parts, that when you do just so happen upon an ensemble comprising artists each of whom is equivalently proficient when left to their own devices, it disorientates a moment. As much can be said of London-based electronica duo Walls for when broken down into its binary components, Sam Willis and Alessio Natalizia are every bit as impressive solo as they are side by side. Willis' essential Winterval LP of yesteryear conclusively corroborated such theory, and Natalizia's début endeavour under the guise [...]
You may well, and rather conceivably play on through this one multiple times before twigging what track it actually is that Alexis Taylor and his About Group gaggle go ad libbing this time around, for this extempore take on Dionne Warwick's Walk On By eschews the Bacharachian minor key melancholy in favour of a wilfully erratic improvisation. I never quite got why About Group were never afforded a greater cultural prominence than that which they were afforded a couple years ago around the release of their decidedly good Start And Complete LP, not least as [...]
Let's get this out of the way right from the start. Carmen Villain used to be a very successful model. Her face has appeared on the covers of Vogue and Nylon, and high profile cosmetic ad campaigns. But as the shutter clicks and the palm trees sway, what's a cover girl really thinking? Most models are expected to remain mutely anonymous, mere ciphers of a commercial brand. But it turns out, behind the scenes, Carmen Villain (aka Carmen Hillestad) was channeling her frustrations into a set of songs with a defiantly DIY underground free-rock sound. Now at last, she's stepping off the glossy page [...]
Sometime in 1995, Karl Hyde, Rick Smith and Darren Emerson went underground for reasons unknown. When one goes underground, you emerge as one of two things: a vampire who will live forever, or a ninja, ready to destroy armies. It seems that once below the surface, they sacrificed and bled to become stronger, to avenge the death of their entire clan at the hands of a cackling merciless dictator. Their days filled with the grime of tunnels, with the grease of black mold. The Proletariat within them, feeding on thousands of push-ups and regimens with no room for the gentle [...]
The Demagogues post up with Pinback's Rob Crow to take our cultural icons to task over a wide array of craft beers and a manly handle of boxed wine. 01-The Cargo Culte Audio Field Report // Negative Approach %s1 / %s2 Subscribe through iTunes Tracklist Neil Norman-Day The Earth Stood Still Make Believe-Political Mysticism Osmonds-Gotta [...]
Doseone just did a great hour-long mix for Fact Magazine , featuring music from This Heat , Shabazz Palaces , ESG , Baths and lots more. Stream it right here: (via Fact Magazine)
Another mix for you! Here it is: (Stream-able on your smartphone) King Mob - Take My Hand, I'm Changing Pina Chulada - Smiling Dog Ann Steel - Sparkling World Danny Elfman - La complainte de Sally Harry Johnson - It's Nothing To Me Afternoon Brother - Tropical Plando This Heat - Horizontal Hold The - Vicious
The people at Quietus have written a great piece about a awesome record from This Heat, Deceit. Because it's 30 years old. [mr.A] The Final Warning: Three Decades After This Heat's Deceit Thirty years after the release of This Heat's Deceit, John Calvert re-examines a record that embraced the Cold War terror of ultimate destruction - and made something far more complex, humane and moral than
![ABOUT GROUP’S START AND COMPLETE [6.0]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/3466464_lg.jpg)
About Group - Don't Worry by DominoRecordCo About Group - You're No Good by DominoRecordCo Start and Complete , the sophomore release from About Group is the whirling exploration of a tremolo-heavy soundscape. Comprised of members of Hot Chip (Alexis Taylor), Spiritualized (Tom Coxon), This Heat (Charles Hayward) and electronic exploration specialist Pat Thomas, About Group came together as an unrehearsed experiment. Taylor, the principal songwriter of the album, gave acoustic demos to [...]
About Group’s Start & Complete has flown somewhat under the radar. It is somewhat surprising considering both its quality and the fact it features members of prominent acts like Hot Chip (Alexis Taylor), This Heat (Charles Hayward), and Spiritualized (John Coxon). Add to that the experienced Pat Thomas, who has played for several deceased avant-garde [...]
After a little break I'm back in my French corner and feeling re-invigorated. This is an oscillating bit of post-punk, a direct descendant of This Heat, 23 Skidoo and Ski Patrol from Parisian band Post. The age-old problem of what language to sing in is sidestepped by Matthieu bellowing nonsense over the long, anti-guitar build up, until the death-disco swing at the end. Ace.
The almost un-Google-able About Group is a side project made up of Hot Chip co-frontman Alexis Taylor, Spiritualized/Spring Heel Jack member John Coxon, This Heat drummer Charles Hayward, and former Derek Bailey sideman Pat Thomas. The first single from their forthcoming second album is 'You’re No Good', a re-versioning of Terry Riley’s landmark 1967 track. This Rollo Jackson-directed video sees the epic free-flowing 11 minute track chopped to a more accessible 5 minutes. 'You're No Good' is out now on Domino.
Been spending a lot of time listening to This Heat lately, partially because the band's Charles Hayward has been kicking around with Alexis Taylor in About Group, and partially because that band was awesome and ... read more
Often times when a bunch of dudes get together to form a supergroup it just ends up sounding like a bunch of egos piling into a closet and throwing their arms in the air as they wait for the money to rain down around them. About Group thankfully sound much more organic than that, like [...]
Hot Chip's Alexis Taylor side-project About Group returns with their second album, 'Start and Complete', due out on April 16th via Domino Records. About Group, which also features John Coxon of Spiritualized, Charles Hayward of This Heat and Pat Thomas (has played with Derek Bailey, Tony Oxley) recorded the album in one day at Abbey Road, Studio 2, and the songs were written by Alexis Taylor over the last few years. 'You’re No Good', a re-versioning of Terry Riley’s landmark 1967 track, is the first single off their album, and will be released on [...]
Alexis Taylor , frontman de la banda inglesa Hot Chip , no sólo es un hombre talentoso, además es una persona bastante inquieta en el aspecto musical. El músico ya lanzó hace un par de años un disco solista, de ahí que tal vez no es raro que haya decidido continuar con otro proyecto alterno , el cual lleva por nombre About Group . Sin embargo, esta vez no se trata de un asunto en solitario sino de una banda en toda la extensión de la palabra, pues en ella el músico se ha hecho [...]
The improvisation-based supergroup has only just given itself the official moniker, About Group, and features Charles Hayward on drums (This Heat founder member), Hot Chip vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Alexis Taylor, John Coxon (Spiritualized) and jazz pianist Pat Thomas. They're also releasing their second LP together, though the first LP was credited simply to Hayward/Coxon/Thomas/Taylor and released on the Treader label. The songs on the album, entitled 'Start And Complete', were all loosely based on compositions by Taylor, but the performances themselves are improvised. That alone should be enough to excite you, but take the calibre of the individual [...]
About Group, the improvised collaboration of Alexis Taylor (Hot Chip), Charles Hayward (This Heat), John Coxon (Spring Heel Jack, Spiritualized), and Pat Thomas, will return April 26th with their second album, Start and Complete . For those who don't know the back story, the group formed in 2009 to make a record of improvised music for the Treader label. They then supported the release with performances across the U.K. and an appearance at Glastonbury '10. According to an issued statement, Start and Complete was recorded in one day at Abbey Road, Studio 2. Taylor wrote [...]
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