HIYA // AlunaGeorge Say hiyaaaaa to Aluna Francis and George Reid . Their powers combined just under a year ago, having met via the good old interwebs and in doing so, quickly caught the attention of Rob Da Bank at Radio 1. They are known rather logically as AlunaGeorge . Despite their choices in tracks to unleash online, entitled 'Disobey' and 'Analyser' being my least favourite tracks of their set (check the Soundcloud below), the other tracks are much more to my taste. [...]
Walking through LA's busy streets is Daniel Blumberg , curly haired front man of buzzed London four piece, Yuck . He apologises for the cars. "It's a very car oriented city here." The phone conversation is a little stilted; interspersed with long pauses that are indicative of both the traffic and of Blumberg trying to find the words to express himself properly. As one of the two founding members of Yuck, Blumberg is often found sighing his way through interviews. It doesn't seem to be out of exasperation though, so maybe [...]
Ahh Lykke Li , what on earth are we to do with you, girl? So torn and troubled, so introspective, fragile and worn. So fierce and fashionable, and of course, immensely talented. And sad. But you knew all that already. Here's the video for 'Sadness is a Blessing', the one that Gold Panda so artfully turned on it's head a little while back. Directed by one Tarik Saleh , the first minute and a half of the video is set up soundtrackless, with Lykke drinking shots like a fish. Or a [...]
If you really really must purchase some commemorative crap in honour of the Royal nuptials, might I suggest some memorabilia by IM//UR artist of the month alumni, Louise Zergaeng Pomeroy? Louise says: "I've got a very limited edition Royal wedding Tshirt at Super Superficial for the next couple of weeks (FYI I'm not a massive Royalist, its tongue in cheek don't worry)." [...]
We LOVE Cat's Eyes . Why this side project from The Horror 's frontman Faris Badwan and opera soprano and classical multi-instrumentalist Rachel Zeffira isn't more hyped is a mystery...Though it might change perhaps, with the self-titled debut album due out next week. And that's because the album is awesome. And so is the video for 'Face In The Crowd' which visually, to me, kind of perfectly demonstrates what the album is like; utterly retro-fabulous and laced with thoroughly modern darkness. Directed by Michael Baldwin , it's dark, kaleidoscopic [...]
The specially released 'Cherry Picking' by Toddla T featuring Roisin Murphy for Record Store day is quite a different beast to the amazing-ness that is Shola Ama and Toddla' s 'Taking It Back' ; but still equally wicked. Something in the rhythm and production of 'Cherry Picking' reminds me of that old Beenie Man and Janet number, 'Feel It Boy' , produced by The Neptunes, ya feel? It's a flashback to good 90s pop, but with thoroughly modern edge. This track is chill, with a [...]
Anything involving Janelle Monáe is irresistible to me. And this loyalty is well deserved, since Janelle hasn't failed or disappointed me yet! 'Be Still' is the track she was on from Big Boi 's solo record, Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty . Apparently, Big Boi took a fan poll and winning by a landslide this deliciously warm track was the one that was voted to be made into a video. 'Be Still' has that trademark Big Boi/Outkast feel in it's beat and synths, made all the better with that Janelle [...]
HIYA // Orlando The trouble with Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs is that he seems to be only able to operate on one level: Level Awesome. SO. GOOD. OMG. WTF. So if you haven't heard yet, 'Trouble' is the name of T.E.E.D's (aka Orlando Higginbottom ) latest single, having recently signed to Polydor Records after being a Greco-Roman alumni for his last three EPs. 'Trouble' continues to showcase T.E.E.D's deft touch on production - and is it just me [...]
Pictureplane is KILLING me lately. UGH! Even the images on the front of these mixtapes are slaying me. How woozy and vodka-vision and amazing is the artwork for Travis Egedy 's latest, a mix for Mexico...where he is in fact GOING TO PLAY ON THE WEEKEND. You see that Mexico?? I am JEALOUS. Egedy says that he "made this while sitting in the laguardia airport in new york city a few days ago,...." Which you can kinda feel in the occasional turbulence of the ride, but it totally doesn't matter. Some [...]
Ahh you, These New Puritans . Have you yet gotten your head around the grandiose-ness of the fact that they have been touring their second album Hidden , around Europe (including sold out shows in London's Barbican and the Pompidou in Paris) featuring a fourteen piece orchestra and a children's choir, conducted by Andre de Ridder (Monkey : Journey To The West, Philharmonia, BBC Symphony Orchestra)?! They've released this split screen video of 'Hidden Live' directed by George Barnett that was filmed during the encore of their show in Berlin [...]
"Lyrically the starting point came about when I was on youtube looking at old rave videos. And all of the kind of, top thumbed up comments were like 'Oh kids don't know how to party these days!' And I kinda found it really frustrating too because I've never experienced that time. I'm a massive lover of dance music. I kind of feel like it's celebrating going out in 2011." Says Friendly Fires ' Ed Macfarlane in a speaky speaky insert at the end of the vid. After all, [...]
HIYA // Derwin YO // Lykke Gold Panda pitches Lykke Li down a touch, and works his airy ethnic-stringed magic into Swedish songstress' 'Sadness is a Blessing'. Gold Panda adds his scuffed beats, skipping electronica and murmuring undercurrents whilst occasionally putting Li's vocals through that muffled megaphone that she loved so dearly in Youth Novels . A perfect combination in my opinion; both artists who are experts in that sparkling, double edged melancholy pitted against deceptively [...]
HIYA // Kanye (rocking Celine) In my Imaginary Coachella 2011 experience, where I would have been in attendance, I would have potentially worn the below imaginary purchases. Nothing too nekkid, weather inappropriate (lookin' atchu Lauryn, though I heard you kinda killed it, finally) acid-trippy or hippie-ish (ahem V-Hudge). I would've been all Coachella Classy, and looked totally cute wandering around, hearing snatches of some cool, hyped bands. HIYA // Lauryn So allow me to begin with a [...]
We have to give props and a massive congratulations to our boy Ferry Gouw who's work for Diplo and Switch 's Major Lazer project is finally set to hit Cartoon Network's Adult Swim! Which means Ferry has been nose to the grindstone on that shit, having been appointed creative director on the show. Each episode is slated to run 15 minutes with no air date as yet. Check some of the preliminary sketches: [...]
If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know I froth over Pictureplane . The kid also known as Travis Egedy has just dropped his first mixtape, and it's a stunning show of his vision. This is next level for Pictureplane, I feel like an evolution is happening in his music. Lots of new tracks from Egedy here; and if these are the B-sides from his new album, entitled Thee Physical I can't wait to hear what made the cut. Straight from the horse's mouth: "i just [...]
Whilst everyone is talking about the Britney remix of Rihanna 's hit (me over the head and knock me out whilst this track plays) single 'S&M', we've come across this real gem of a remix by Doctor Rosen Rosen for Britney's 'Til The World Ends' that we're going to share with you. Whether you're interested in Britney or not, this remix is really great. And whilst I'm not interested in throwing yet another two cents into the fountain full of both pride and piss over Britney, this is an excellent treatment [...]
HIYA // JP Delhomme Bonjour // The Unknown Hipster If you tend to trawl the web for ironic/witty/hipster fashionisms, then no doubt you'll be familiar with Jean Philippe Delhomme 's The Unknown Hipster . Prior to his wry, joyful, mischievous and of course, gently ironic blog (only the most recent outlet for the French illustrator, journalist and poet) is a long and illustrious history in the fashion industry; including illustrations in the pages of Vogue, Interview, Glamour and GQ as well as numerous advertising campaigns...the latest of which is [...]
HIYA // Elite Gymnastics James Brooks is one half of the Minneapolis based duo Elite Gymnastics , and has quietly slipped this little thirty and a half minute mix online. It's a little random in lots of ways; transitioning from all these disparate genres, yet somehow still making sense in finding the subtle commonalities between them - which only the best mixtapes manage to do very well. I really enjoyed this one, and I especially enjoyed the range; from the [...]
Fool's Gold art director Dust La Rock is back with a new exhibition, this time gracing Los Angeles' HVW8 Art + Design Gallery , with his latest body of work entitled Joking Victim . Dust La Rock does the whole 'artist as the art' thing here; and these works are an exercise in mixed media. Using his body, blood and other fluids, as well as submitting himself to a dominatrix and as the star in a short film 'The Ritual', Joking Victim explores "pain versus pleasure, free will versus [...]
I love Wild Beasts ' latest single 'Albatross' - and that's all I have to say about it, besides the fact that they've released the video for it, directed by Dave Ma : 'Albatross' is taken off of the four piece's next album, entitled Smother coming out on the 9th of May via Domino. Can't wait to hear it!!
I M // U R
HAERTS – All The Days
iTunes Leaks Kanye West’s Yeezus tracklisting??
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DANCE BITCH DANCE: disclosure - when a fire starts to burn
