Originally written for This Music Sucks To all those in the rest of the world, the Eurovision song contest is an annual onslaught of shite music for the European masses. In the U.K, it is widely regarded as being terrible but the rest of Europe, particularly the ex-eastern bloc countries seem to take it seriously. Terry Wogan usually narrates the event offering a sarcastic commentary for the U.K. Graham Norton took over this year and was better than I expected. [...]
The Limousines are a San Francisco based electro duo. They're composed of Eric on vocals and Gio behind the beats. Apparently they met on the internet and later formed The Limousines leaving their previous individual projects. I can see this act getting big. They've released their first single 'Very Busy People' on iTunes but I don't think it's available in the UK. You can hear it below in the audio player (: Very Busy People - The Limousines
Bendito Machine is a strangely interesting series of animations. So far three have been made and the 4th is on its way called 'Don't Stop Running'. From the website, it would appear that 10 episodes will be made. It's an amazingly effective animation style using silhouettes. The main theme of these clips seems to be human development issues such as industrialisation, capitalism and idolism.
The Slow Rise To Decline, the debut full-length album from independent artist A Pale Ghost was released online today as a free download from Mental Shed Records. The album, a sad and haunting acoustic masterpiece, features many of the favorites A Pale Ghost has been playing out around Oregon and Wisconsin, including the dark and brooding anthems of Day After Day and Never Seen Again.The Slow Rise To Decline is an honest, if not unsettling portrait of beauty, desperation, and hopelessness. Go - A Pale Ghost It can be downloaded [...]
The Bothersome Man is an usual Norwegian film released in 2006. It was the debut of director Jens Lien and shows an interesting view of life in a soulless city. It is of course in Norwegian but I don't really mind subtitles. I saw it around a year ago late at night on BBC1 and I don't think I ever would have come across it other wise. I'm very glad that I did though so I wanted to make sure other people could find out about it. The film's protagonist Andreas finds himself in a city with little idea of [...]
Reachback are a London/Essex based four piece pop punk collective with a sound similar to that of Paramore or Blink 182, only fresher. They started writing their material in February 2008 and have acquired quite a following after just their first few gigs. Faking Will Get You Nowhere - Reachback Reachback have a few more dates between now and July in the south-east of England and a mini tour booked for mid-August. Many of these dates have still not been booked so if you own a venue in the [...]
Test Icicles were a short lived British out fit. They only produced one album "For Screening Purposes Only" in 2005 and then disbanded in early 2006. They did however, make a big change to the current music scene. They mixed a lot of genres together like punk, indie and some grime and some say they started this whole screamo thing, although Test Icicles actually did it quite well. Your Biggest Mistake - Test Icicles The also have a rather witty name however, [...]
Legs XI was a demo session recorded in the early days of The Libertines. It was never officially released but can be easily downloaded on the internet for free. The session was 8 tracks long and had a distinctive swing feel to it with Doherty feigning a Sinatra-esque vocal style. The session also features the former Libertines cellist Vicky Chapman. This session could have been released as an album or EP in its own right and features some of my favourite Libertines tracks Music When The Lights Go Out [...]
The Perks Of Being A Wallflower is a cult coming of age book written by Stephen Chbosky published in 1999. It's definitely among my favourite books of all time and I wish I'd discovered it earlier in my life. It's the story of a 15/16 year old boy during his first year of high school. The Perks Of Being A Wallflower is written in an interesting format in that it is made up of a series of letters written by an anonymous boy to an anonymous reader. The book opens with this... [...]
Mars Argo are a duo. The two members, Mars Argo and Titanic Sinclair first met online and later moved to Chicago. They're currently recording an album and they've already got a few great tracks on their muxtape page. The songs have a comfortably morose sound. Mars Argo also run an interesting blog called grocerybag.tv where they post their videos and pictures. http://marsargo.muxtape.com
Dubstep is an electronic genre with roots in garage. It emerged in the early 2000's but is still considered to be an "underground" genre. Dubstep is defined by its syncopated sparse rhythms, deep rolling bass lines and dark sound. Those who don't get dubstep will probably just write it off as boring but in my opinion, it's one of the most interesting genres. Skream, is widely regarded as the most prominent dubstep producer. He released a full album 'Skream!' in 2006 and has brought out [...]
"Over time, your face changes. Your face shows emotion, your face shows age, your face shows thought your face shows everything. Capture these little daily moments in a frame, day by day. See and share your evolution, your emotions, your thoughts." I've been using DailyBooth for almost two months now. It's a tightly knit online community and one of the friendliest I've known. DailyBooth was fully launched on 13/02/09 and it still only has a couple of thousand users. The idea of the site is that you take a picture of yourself using your webcam/upload from camera each [...]
Triple J is a national Australian radio station first started in 1975 mainly aimed at a youthful audience (defined as those between 12 and 25). Music played on the station is generally more alternative than commercial stations with a heavy emphasis on new and Australian music. During the day, there's usually a healthy selection of modern indie tracks from artists such as Sigur Rós who I'd never expect to hear on a national radio station. They play quite a variety on the station ranging from metal, to hip hop and from house to [...]
The Anomalies are a seriously cool English hip hop/breakbeat/indie band. They've toured supporting Lethal Bizzle and dan le sac Vs. Scroobius Pip and have drawn quite a following. Live, they're very entertaining often freestyling about items the audience offer them. The Anomalies have released a bunch of singles already but their debut album is out today. (20/04/09) This video has Crowe beatboxing at the start to introduce their set. You might have seen himon Britain's Got Talent a while ago. He does some good stuff with a harmonica.
Son of Dave is a one man hip hop/blues band. It's the solo project of Crash Test Dummy's Benjamin Darvill and he released the first album 'B. Darvill's Wild West Show' in 1999 and then albums called '01', '02' and '03'. It's a really good sound mixing harmonica, beat boxing and foot stomping and using tape loops to do it all on his own live. You can listen to 01, 02 and 03 on Spotify. Son Of Dave covering Daft Punk's 'Harder, Better, Faster Stronger.'
Indie Music Finds
Album Review: alt-J – An Awesome Wave
Azealia Banks – ’1991′ & ‘Van Vouge’
[LISTEN] Gotye (Passion Pit Remix)
Big Boi & Theophilus London (feat. TRE LUCE) - 'She Said OK'
