It's been nearly two years since we mentioned City Reign but don't take that to mean that the lads haven't been hard at work. As it stands the band is preparing for the release of their debut full length album to be called Another Step which will be out February 25th. The lead single from the album is a remastered version of the demo track released in 2010. The remaster was completed with Sam Jones (Bromheads Jacket, Alex Turner) in Sacred Trinity Church in Salford, UK this year and spruces up an already [...]
It's going to be nice to talk about something regarding the postal service without it having to do with Lance Armstrong the doper. The Ben Gibbard & Jimmy Tamborello collaboration as The Postal Service in 2003 only produced one album, Give Up . The band did very little touring behind it and yet it still became a cult classic of an album with plenty of covers of "Such Great Heights" to be found all over the internet. Over time, I think, the excitement of the album wore off as many other great acts came in to [...]
Just a few more short weeks until the highly anticipated release of Local Natives' sophomore album Hummingbird . The last time that such a huge buzz was put around a sophomore release was probably in 2010 for Vampire Weekend's Contra , and we all know how that one went. Right down the drain, in my opinion. "Heavy Feet" is the only track that we've been privileged to hear so far from the upcoming album but it holds some promise if this is the sound the band is going with. In an interview drummer Matt Frazier said [...]
As is par for the course this time of year, The Killers have released their annual Christmas song which same say is the true start to the season. Each year for the past 5 or 6 years the group has released a Christmas specific single along with a video for the track. Sometimes the tracks are great and some of them have not been so great but the videos are almost always entertaining. This year is no exception as the band has released “I Feel It In My Bones” along with its accompanying video which features a psychotic, biker Santa [...]
While we sit here fidgeting through the final few days before the release of Keaton Henson's upcoming EP Sweetheart, What Have You Done To Us we're treated to yet another heartbreaking video which features Henson himself. If this was a video from just about any other musician then I'd question the authenticity of the tears and apparent emotional anguish but considering the fact that we're talking about Keaton Henson here then I truly believe that the tears and needing to leave the camera shot because he's breaking down is genuine. Sweetheart, What Have [...]
Sans Parade is a three-piece chamber-pop group from Fin0land that record songs that are so full that you'd expect there to be a dozen or more musicians involved in it's creation. The band's first single is titled "This Last Song Is A Love Song" starts out innocently enough with lullaby xylophone but then surges to soaring heights around frontman, Markus Perttula's, voice. There's a hint of Sigur Ros as far as progressive sounds and textures but you'll find that Sans Parade is quite a bit more accessible with their easy to love songs. Unlike Sigur Ros, [...]
EUS has released his remix collection for the September 2012 conquest Los Otros . The release features artists such as 36 and Golders Green , among others. Listen and download at Bandcamp .
For those who fear that the withering film review is a dying art, it isn't. To wit, The New York Observer's unrelenting pan of Cloud Atlas : All you can do while you puzzle over it like a board game is try to figure out which member of the hammy all-star ensemble, unrecognizable in lurid makeup, wigs, period costumes and rubber prostheses, is playing which man—or woman—while the viewer-unfriendly screenplay squirts and splatters all over the place. Characters fade into and out of past, present and future centuries with the grace of a battering ram. [...]
There aren't many better live concerts than DeVotchKa, the sounds of a dozen musicians are somehow melted down to a few members on stage as the emotion and grandeur of each song is replicated before your very eyes. If you haven't had this opportunity yet then your time has come. Shortly after the release of Little Miss Sunshine (2006), DeVotchKa began working on composing music for a full symphony. Violin, viola, accordion, piano player, Tom Hagerman, took it upon himself to construct each painstaking note while locked away in his garage for months. Concerning the [...]
Ahh, 1975. The pet rocks. The mood rings. The hair. The mechanical shark that frightened viewers away from oceans, lakes, even a swimming pool or two. Starsky and Hutch . It was the year that Electric Light Orchestra released Face the Music , their first Platinum LP and home of "Evil Woman" and "Strange Magic," still two of their finest tracks. Time has passed: some better albums, some lesser ones, a greatest hits album, disbanding, something called "ELO II," scores of licenses, side projects. Bills? Probably. Electric bills, to boot. There's not [...]
( image from Remo ) Jose Pasillas has developed into one of music’s most prolific drummers since picking up stick at the age of 16 in Calabasas CA. as one of the founding member of Incubus. His art has been used extensively by the band on album covers and CD’s and now Pasillas will see his love of art and music combined by SceneFour in the collection “Abstract + Rhythm Landscapes” being released on November 1st. The collection will be limited to 100 pieces and, from what Jose tells me, will range in [...]
Two weeks ago we announced we announced a new soundtrack project for William Ryan Fritch ( Vieo Abiungo ). The film is titled The Waiting Room , and it has attracted its share of attention, including that of outspoken documentary veteran Michael Moore. While clarifying his remarks about Oscar eligibility, Moore named The Waiting Room as one of two documentaries "essential" for documentary viewers. By the way, this isn't the only way you'll read "The Waiting Room" and "Oscar eligibility" in the same sentence. The [...]
At least that's what we've been calling it here at The Muse. The band isn't divulging much. So please, don't go updating their Wikipedia page with news that their forthcoming album will be titled Overdressed at the Zoo . That would be an unfair assumption. So let's stick with what we know. That's definitely Darcy Rego, and he's definitely surrounded by studio stuff, and the photo collection is definitely titled Making an album, Fall 2012 , so we don't believe it's libelous to claim that The Meligrove Band have been, or very [...]
And what song might that be? It's "Solar Flares," by Natural Snow Buildings . I mean, what else?
Local Natives was one of the great breakthrough acts of 2010, even earning itself the #2 slot on my list for best albums of that year. I mentioned in that post that a sophomore album would be really difficult for these Los Angeles musicians since Gorilla Manor was such a phenomenal success. We now are starting to get a chance to hear just how the crew is going to do. The band premiered five new songs at CMJ yesterday and today they've released a still video stream of the track "Breakers". The new track [...]
This post continues to get all kinds of traffic. But just so we're all singing from the same choir book, we don't update the post. So every time GoPro runs another tv spot or YouTube ad, the question "What's that song on the new GoPro clip?" requires a different answer. And as of yesterday the answer is "Daybreak," by Overwerk , from the forthcoming After Hours . Download it for free at the Soundcloud page .
Brynn joins us this week from Click It Ticket and Musicology 101 to give us her take on the new Miike Snow album. As recently as ten years ago, it was unusual and noteworthy to come across a commercial album that had not been recorded in a studio setting. Home recordings were the realm of truly independent artists, and very little was expected in terms of quality. In the current age of YouTube celebrities and netlabels, however, home recording has become somewhat standard procedure, to the point where hardly [...]
Today IFC premiered the teaser trailer for Typhoon 's upcoming album White Lighter . The 2:00 trailer mostly consists of ominous, droning music and a conversation between mother and son that the mother would prefer end sooner rather than later. The final 0:30 gives us a small glimpse into one of the new, unnamed tracks. What we do get to hear is just Kyle Morton on guitar and vocals. Not exactly the snippet that I would have used but who am I? There's still no official released date on this yet.
Are we alone in our idea that the compliment "a strong sense of place" is in fact backhanded? Nearly everyone is fond of the expression. NPR last unpacked it for Scott Colley's Empire album. Billboard most recently used it to describe Royal Fingerbowl's lyrics. And BBC allows the term for pretty much anyone. But if art is at its best when it transcends time, doesn't it also stand to reason that it should transcend place? Arena rock, club music, and traditional folk genres under every flag: these are [...]
Not long ago I was asked to name one band that we haven’t heard from in quite some time that really needs to release an album in 2013 to stay relevant; my answer was Damien Rice. It’s been 6 years since the release of 9 , an album that didn’t have nearly the impact on fans that O did. With the release of 9 also saw the splitting of Rice and Lisa Hannigan, both professionally and romantically. Rice stated in an interview with Hot Press that he “would give away all the music success, all [...]
The Muse In Music
MP3: Daft Punk – “Horizons” (RAM Japanese Bonus Track)
Listen to Daft Punk’s “Horizon”, the Japanese bonus track for Random Access Memories
Lil Bibby – IDGNF
