Yelle 's debut album, Pop-Up , has been in the stores for almost a year now so it's a little odd that she's just now getting around to releasing a video for "Ce Jeu". That's ok with me though, since the video is tres fantastique. Nice, colorful candy for the eyes and ears. It occurred to me the other day how great it is that artists once again have a way of getting their videos out there to people who want to see them. I grew up watching MTV and VH1 in the [...]
Is there any band more eternally hip than Stereolab ? I mean, you never hear hipsters bitching about how lame Stereolab is. It's just kind of an accepted fact that they're untouchable. Stereolab - Neon Beanbag "Neon Beanbag" comes from Stereolab's first album of new material since 2006's EP collection, Fab Four Suture . Chemical Chords will be released on the equally legendary 4AD label on August 19th. Honestly, I wasn't aware that Stereolab was still a functioning group. I kind of lost track [...]
I've been in a pretty mellow mood lately. With The Dame in the middle of being demolished and no real leads on a new location it isn't too difficult to get bummed out. In times like these I'm often drawn to the pleasant melodies of indie pop. Oh No! Oh My! 's tour date announcement today gives me the perfect excuse to feature a nice, happy tune for the dark times. Oh No! Oh My! - Walk In The Park I've not had the chance to [...]
Kind of a slow news day around here so I'm going to feature another group who I feel deserves a little more credit than they're given..... The Sleepy Jackson . I suppose I should say "he's given" since the band is basically Luke Steele and whomever is performing with him at the time. The story goes that Luke is difficult to work with, an egomaniac, and has gone through something like 27 different band members over the years. I can't vouch for all that; I've only hung out with the guy once at a party and he seemed perfectly pleasant [...]
In a fair world, Bobby Conn would already be a star. As it is, however, only a select few are in on the secret. Well, it seems that an old video of his is making the rounds on the net and getting some attention... I'll let Bobby explain this for himself (taken from Bobby Conn's myspace post...) For all the people who have discovered me recently from the "Never Get Ahead" video currently posted on many blogs & You Tube, [...]
Britta Phillips & Dean Wareham - I Deserve It So, this is good news; The now out of print debut album by Luna's Britta Phillips & Dean Wareham , L'Avventura, is set to be reissued this September. I wasn't aware of this, but apparently Jetset Records (former home of Luna , Mogwai , Arab Strap , Death By Chocolate , The Go-Betweens and plenty more) hasn't been functioning for some time. That's really a shame. When I was Music Director at WRFL in [...]
We don't get a lot of news about Eurovision here in the United States, but this clip from Sebastien Tellier has been making the rounds. For good reason, as it turns out. C'est fantastique! Sebastien Tellier - Divine I'm not sure how exactly Sebastien was chosen to represent France at Eurovision 2008, but it seems to have been a controversial move. The French are very proud of their language, as they should be, and a large portion of [...]
Devendra Banhart - Carmensita Yes, that's the extremely cute Natalie Portman , Devendra Banhart 's girlfriend. Is that Jon Lovitz in there as well? This video comes at a strange time for me. You see, in the past couple of days I've watched The Darjeeling Limited and El Topo . It's kind of freaky how these two movies fit right into the "Carmensita" video. First off, Natalie Portman had a minor, but very nude, role in [...]
Well, there you have it. The first single, "Fresh Born", off of Deerhoof's new album. Instead of releasing the actual recording, Deerhoof has offered up this piece of sheet music. They've invited you to record your own version and post it up at deerhoof.cashmusic.org for all to hear. Pretty cool idea if you ask me. Unfortunately, I won't be submitting anything since I haven't read music since I was 14. As far as my own playing goes, I've always gone out of my way [...]
Ah, Emiliana Torrini . Coming to Kentucky soon, dear? Please do. Until that happens, I'll be content with this track off of her new album, Me And Armeni . Emiliana Torrini - Me And Armeni A bit of a different direction this time around; You'd be forgiven if you thought that you'd mistakenly queued up Lily Allen after those first intro bars. Perhaps the producer, Dan Carey , has something to do with it. Dan was behind Emiliana's last album, [...]
Strangely, the first Calexico song that really made an impression on me was their cover of Love's "Alone Again Or" from the 2004 covers EP, Convict Pool . Calexico - Alone Again Or I was fortunate enough to see Love before Arthur Lee passed away. What a show that was! In keeping with the bizarre world of NYC concert-going, David Fricke , Kurt Loder and Steven Van Zandt were standing next to me the entire time [...]
The Rest - Apples & Allergies The Rest are a seven-piece outfit coming to us from the lands of Ontario, Canada. They're set to release their sophomore album, Everyone All At Once, on this Tuesday, July 22nd. "Apples & Allergies", the first single, is enjoyable enough. It reminds me a bit of Margot & the Nuclear So and So's . There's the sweeping vocals, lush instrumentation and a sense of subdued optimism. Nice for a quiet Sunday afternoon. The Rest - Walk On Water [...]
I should preface this review with the acknowledgment that I'm quite the Led Zeppelin fan. I still recall the first time I ever really listened to Zep; I was 16 years old and on acid, naturally. My trip buddy for the evening brought over some sort of Zeppelin collection to check out. Needless to say, I was totally blown away. Acid rock, indeed! On the other hand, while I can't say I've ever really listened to an Alison Krauss album, I did catch one of her concerts a few years back when I was [...]
No longer content to have half of America in love with her, Feist has begun her campaign to win the hearts of the morning television watching public. On August 11th, Feist will be appearing on the season premiere of Sesame Street , performing this incredibly adorable version of 1, 2, 3, 4. You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video Slightly more bizarre is Feist's upcoming appearance on Good Morning America . On Friday, July 25th, she'll be performing a free concert [...]
Lexington, KY will be exporting its two best producers of pop magic, The Apples In Stereo and Big Fresh , over the coming weeks. Our loss is your gain! Big Fresh - Strike Up The Band The Apples In Stereo, already featuring John Ferguson from Big Fresh on keyboards, decided to bring along the entire Big Fresh ensemble for what will become the first-ever Big Fresh tour. I'm super excited for the guys; I really can't think of a better way for the band to get out there. [...]
Icy Demons - Miami Ice Icy Demons will see their 2007 Japan-only album, Miami Ice, finally get a release here in the U.S. today. Obey Your Brain , run by Man Man 's Pow Pow (who is also a member of Icy Demons), is doing the honors. Icy Demons - Spywatchers The first single is the very Chicago-centric track, Spywatchers. The guys have a tour scheduled through the end of the month, including a few dates with !!!. WED [...]
So, this is really exciting for all you XTC fans out there; Over at their myspace/fan site , there is a weekly feature where they'll post up an XTC song and Andy Partridge will discuss it. I'm not talking about a quick paragraph or two. No, these are multi-page conversations covering seemingly every possible angle and tidbit. Hours, if not days and weeks, of fun to be had if you're into XTC. Andy Partridge - I Wonder Why The Wonderfalls The song featured this week is "I [...]
Hey everybody, I'm back! I didn't really have enough time to devote to Utahpolis over the last few months so I decided to stop entirely rather than put up crap posts. Well, since then, The Dame (the music venue I booked/ran) was forced to close because Lexington's idiotic City Council decided it would be better to have a 40-story luxury hotel on our block instead of the bars that already existed there making up almost the entirety of Lexington's music scene. Fantastic! We're looking for a new home for The Dame, but no luck [...]
So, Utahpolis is on hold for the time being. Sorry!
Ah, the wonders of myspace. The rest of the world has now fully bought into the site, allowing for limitless exploration of the sounds of other nations. I particularly enjoy listening to hip-hop when the primary language isn't English. Now, there's definitely a lot of great English rap out there, but it can often get bogged down with predictability and stereotypical phrases. When you can't understand a word that is being said it allows you to focus on the sounds and beats of the words themselves. Sometimes this works really well, other times not. [...]
Utahpolis
Kanye Debuts New Song Projected On Walls
Kanye West to release new album Yeezus on June 18th
MS MR- “Hurricane (CHVRCHES Remix)”
