Blog: The Sky Report

Tobias Stretch was the grand prize winner of Radiohead's animated video contest. As the winner, Stretch was given $10,000 to complete his vision for "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi". New videos for tracks "15 Step" and "Videotape" are also set to premiere later this week. Radiohead - Weird Fishes - by Tobias Stretch Radiohead will return to the road in March 2009, with preliminary dates in Mexico, Chile, and Brazil.

Like Halley's Comet, that crazy, disco-reggae queen from outerspace has finally returned and I have to tell you, I'm pleasantly surprised with the results. Hurricane is Grace Jones' first proper album since 1989's Bulletproof Heart . Not only does the new album maintain Jones' dynamic art-disco sensibilities, but it actually sounds remarkably fresh when compared with many original releases by younger artists today. I'm certainly not alone in my love of Hurricane , as Pitchfork just bestowed a 7.5 rating for the new album, describing it as, "Jones taking charge as one-woman wrecking [...]

Last month, Beach House released a one-off 7" of the track "Used to Be", backed with an early 4-track recording of "Apple Orchard". Now the single has a video to accompany it, shot in the desert outside Los Angeles and directed by Matt Amato. "Used to Be" follows up the Devotion LP, which was released last February and still remains one of my favorite albums of the year. Beach House have announced a number of west coast dates with The Walkmen in January and will play some east coast dates of their [...]

Modular Records, the home to luminaries such as Avalanches, The Presets, Cut Copy. New Young Pony Club, Klaxons, Van She, Ladyhawke and more, turns 10! This is going to be amazing. I kind of really do wish I lived in Australia. The event plays Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth in December. Tickets are almost sold out, so Australians get with it and get your tix now! "NEVEREVERLAND is the musical wet dream Australia this December to celebrate Modular notching up double digits and turning ten. With The mighty, mighty Presets, the neo-awesome knights Klaxons, [...]

Hey guys, so The Sky Report just turned 2 years old!!! Wow! And it would be so great if you would give us the gift of a nomination for Best Music Blog at the 2008 Weblog Awards. To nominate us, go here and post a comment about The Sky Report. Be sure to include our name (The Sky Report) and web address ( http://theskyreport.blogspot.c om). And if you're still in the mood, give a thumbs up to any other comment about The Sky Report. It just takes a couple minutes and you can [...]

San Francisco's Blue Sky Black Death have established an ever-growing underground following with their cutting edge hip-hop production skills and a series of recent albums and collaborations with Jean Grae , Holocaust, and Hieroglyphics to name just a few. Now, the duo of Kingston and Young God have made the bold move of recording a lo-fi, modern day trip-hop album with stunning new female vocalist Yes Alexander of The Casual Lust . Alexander's haunting vocals mesh brilliantly with BSBD's production, resulting in an unexpectedly refreshing album that I will definitely have on heavy rotation [...]

Asobi Seksu have announced the details surrounding their 3rd LP, which has been given the title Hush . The shoegaze-adoring band led by Yuki Chikudate and James Hanna will release the new album February 17th via Polyvinyl. That seems so far away, yes, but the first single hits internet shops next week. "Me & Mary" starts out with a rather bubbly vigor, but is quickly enveloped by an avalanche of noise and hallucinatory synths. Hush follows the Brooklyn band's excellent 2006 effort Citrus . Check out the first single below. [...]

La Blogotheque captures the raw beauty of Seattle's Fleet Foxes in a brand new Take Away Show, shot in an abandoned gym in San Francisco last winter. The video finds the guys harmonizing gorgeously on the tracks "Sun Giant" and "White Winter Hymnal". Fleet Foxes' self-titled debut album was released on Sub Pop back in June and is destined to crop up on many year-end lists in the next few weeks. -courtesy of Current TV .

Antony and the Johnsons will release their 3rd LP The Crying Light on January 30th, 2009 via Secretly Canadian . The effort has been said to be greatly influenced by the "natural world" and a press release states that it could be an album "emblematic of its time, a reflection of the momentous changes that we are facing, within each of our private worlds as well as collectively, and how we are summoning the courage to start moving through them." Wow. The Crying Light will feature the phenomenal track [...]

-photo by Phoebe Waterson Bonnie Baxter , the Bushwick duo made up of Miss Baxter herself (vocals, guitars, keys) and multi-instrumentalist Nicos Kennedy (guitars, keys, noise), were joined by video artist Christina Medina for a hypnotic and riveting performance at the Northeast Kingdom Lounge on Sunday night. With a short, but intense set, Bonnie Baxter impressed the intimate crowd at NK Lounge with a menagerie of hallucinatory guitars, wafting vocals and experimental beats. Baxter's crystalline voice has a distinctive, melancholy quality that seamlessly pulls you into the band's haunting [...]

El Guincho is the one-man project of Spanish musician Pablo Díaz-Reixa, a man deeply ensconced in a variety of influences ranging from sun-splashed 60's harmonies and Afrobeat to Tropicália, dub, exotica and Bhangra, just to name a few. What's fascinating about Alegranza! though, is how these varying influences are shaken and stirred into a drink of its own unique flavor. The album kicks off perfectly with the celebratory island anthem "Palmitos Park". A refreshing burst of tropical delight, the track utilizes a very Martin Denny-esque sample of "oohs" to great effect, creating the most inviting [...]

Sharon Van Etten is a gorgeous singer/songwriter based in Bushwick, who recently got a lot of blog love during the CMJ Music Marathon. Her independent release of "home recordings" is a beautiful collection of raw and personal compositions that reveal an emerging voice of astounding talent. The opening track "I Wish I Knew" is so heart-wrenching I find myself gutted with every listen. I am kicking myself for accidentally missing her performance at the Northeast Kingdom lounge last night, but she is playing again at Zebulon in Brooklyn on Sunday night. "I Wish I Knew" also appeared on [...]

Megapuss is the new band formed by Devendra Banhart and Greg Rogove of Priestbird . Though this project initially started out as a joke, the duo fleshed out the band with three other members, not least of which is Fabrizio Moretti (The Strokes) on drums. And now the joke has evolved into a full album release with Surfing , available now on Vapor Records. Speaking of Fab Moretti, he also just released a new album with his other, other band Little Joy . Megapuss clearly have [...]

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Cause Co-Motion! just released It's Time! , a compilation of the band's various singles over the last three years. The disc serves as the perfect starting point for those not familiar with the Brooklyn band. Cause Co-Motion! embody the angular aesthetic of post-punk bands like Wire and Gang of Four, meshed with a vintage, hand-clapping doo-wop, surf rock flavor. Their sound has been described as, "a blazing chaos of jangle, clatter, and thump - busted strings and broken hearts." Cause Co-Motion! are currently touring the west coast, with a stop [...]

• Cause Co-Motion! - Which Way Is Up? » which-way-is-up.mp3

The only "Crystal" I didn't see this year at CMJ was Crystal Stilts , the brooding band from Brooklyn with a penchant for lo-fi nostalgia. The band just released their debut LP Alight of Night , a moody collection of songs that transport you to those smoke-filled, heroin-tinged parties you see photos of in books about The Velvet Underground. The music seems perfectly tailored around Brad Hargett's deep, vintage voice. Organist Kyle Forrester (Ladybug Transistor) and drummer Frankie Rose (Vivian Girls) perfectly add to a sound that has been dubbed by one writer as "avant-garage". [...]

• Crystal Stilts - Shattered Shine

Brooklyn's Telepathe are prepping the release of their debut full-length, Dance Mother . The album is being recorded with Dave Sitek of TV on the Radio and will feature contributions Kyp Malone (TVOTR) and Shannon Funchess (of !!!). According to a press release, "Access to Sitek's vintage synthesizer collection, combined with deep electronic sub-bass lines influenced by hours of listening to dub-step, gave the duo's homemade music making a new sonic purity and gave them the confidence and the stylistic singularity to transcend genres." Telepathe have been on the road [...]

• Telepathe - Chrome's On It

Just a quick reminder that I'll be DJ-ing tonight at midnight after a live performance by Pass Kontrol. Info on the flyer above. Also, my favorite Swedish band have made special Halloween videos for just about every track on their new album A Hundred Things Keep Me Up at Night . They are all homemade and super cute. Check them out here . Love is All - Give it Back

Hey Brooklyn, got plans for Halloween? I'll be playing a bunch of spooky tracks and hot electro/disko jams after Pass Kontrol rock the house. It all goes down at 11pm at Northeast Kingdom this Friday night. Take the L train to Jefferson, then walk a few steps to 18 Wykcoff (between Starr and Troutman). Prizes for best costume, so come decked out and dance the night away!

One of the finer releases of 2008 has finally been released in physical form, after its earlier leak and subsequent digital release on iTunes last August. Microcastle is the much anticipated follow-up to Deerhunter's 2007 breakthrough album Cryptograms . The new release comes packaged with a special bonus CD containing another entire album entitled Weird Era Continued . I know I've said this before, but frontman Bradford Cox is the single most prolific man in music today. After all, earlier this year he also released an exceptional album under his side project [...]