The Crystal Method just released the two-disc Deluxe Edition of their debut album 'Vegas' to celebrate its ten-year anniversary last week, and I've got one copy to give away to you guys. The first disc consists of all the original tracks remastered, and the second features new remixes by Paul Oakenfold, MSTRKRFT..., along with rare & live recordings. A collector's item for fans of the duo or fans of the nineties mainstream electronic scene in general. If you fancy a copy, all you have to do is send me your email address in the comments section [...]
Four ladies, with their haunting, melancholy voices, determined to fill your sleepless nights with beguiling lullabies. TRESPASSERS WILLIAM Trespassers William - my current obsession. Anna-Lynne Williams, the lead singer, has an emotive, unique voice that easily draws comparisons to Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star. Their music is for those nights when you just want to turn all the lights off and lie awake in your bed, staring still at the ceiling while thoughts unravel in your head. These days they spend time in the [...]
She's being touted by the British press to be the next 'It' girl in the vein of Lily Allen and Kate Nash. In my opinion, she has more in common with KT Tunstall, though. Her first official, 'Go Mr. Sunshine', is a bright lovely number that should have arrived earlier in time for the summer, and 'Fed Up' has more of an acoustic singer/songwriter vibe. Having a look at her MySpace pictures, I was lead to believe that she's a sassy, fun-loving young girl. She's already signed to Island, and off to great start, but she needs to take it [...]
I used to like Athlete quite a lot. They've got a couple of great singles, 'Wires' and 'Half Light', and other decent tracks. However, I was very disappointed upon first listen of their new single 'Hurricane'. It was unimpressive, dull, and lacks a real chorus. 'Beyond The Neighborhood', their third studio album, is now out in the UK, and since I haven't heard it yet, I can't add anything, but it seems to me they're verging closer towards the arena rock territory à la Coldplay and Snow Patrol - which can now be quite boring. However, this dancey Camp [...]
It's been 4 years since the final episode and yet, amazingly, Buffy just keeps giving. Not just the ongoing season 8 on Dark Horse Comics (which is rad), or the forthcoming Angel season 6 comics series (at last, an answer to a 3-year-old cliffhanger), I'm talking about the music. I was watching 'The Freshman' again, and I noticed a catchy song being played as Buffy was walking on her college's campus the first time. I rushed to Google afterwards and found out that the song in question was 'Universe' by Stretch Princess. I wasn't able to find that song anywhere [...]
GUILT BY ASSOCIATION Popular songs, stripped off from its production gloss, redone in indie style. That's the main statement of this compilation of covers that are deemed 'guilty pleasure'. It's a project 3 years in the making, in fact, The Concretes' version of Take That's US crossover only-hit 'Back For Good' still featured the vocals of Victoria Bergsman, pre-Young-Folks-and-Taken-By-T rees-fame. It's best to be listened to with a grain of salt. There's something for everyone here, and if you like the originals, you'll probably find these covers from passable to entertainingly enjoyable. The quasi-acappella cover of Journey's [...]
Okay, are you listening...err, reading? Great. I mentioned this before in my last post but not many people seemed to bother so I will announce it again, loud and clear. I just opened a brand new blog, called The Bamboo Orchestra . It's like a little side project of mine, and it mostly focus on electronica/instrumental/exper imental music. Downtempo, lounge, ambient, post-rock, IDM, folktronic, shoegaze...they all count. It's more of an acquired taste and may sound a bit more left-field/off-color compared to the stuff I normally post here, but I enjoy working on it, and plan to build [...]
Aerial was a well-kept secret of mine. They achieved moderate success in their homeland, New Zealand, but remained obscure in other parts of the world. They receive very little blog love as searches on both Hype Machine and Elbo.ws return no results. Their debut album, 'The Space Between', was released in June 2006, and I got the chance to listen to it in early 2007, but I owed them a proper post for fear of not doing them justice. Until now. Today, I'll give them the honor of being the sole exclusive post on my eighteenth birthday. I'm quite sure [...]
The title's pretty much self-explanatory. Enjoy your weekend while you can. College starts next week, so this is my final carefree Sunday before going back to school. Mix mood: relaxing/refreshing. All 5 tracks highly recommended. Amel Larrieux - Get Up (Infinite Possibilities, 2001) Sia - Sunday (Colour The Small One, 2005) Koop - Summer Sun (Waltz For Koop, 2002) Helicopter Girl - Angel City (Voodoo Chic, 2005) The Shortwave Set - Is It Any Wonder (The Debt Collection, [...]
I might listen to too much new music. Way more than I should. The process of sorting out the good from the bad can sometimes be tiresome as most of the time, what I hear doesn't sound like what they're sold. But every now and then, something rewarding comes along the way and reminds me of the reason why I'm in this in the first place. One of those cases is Farrah. Farrah have no desire of breaking any new grounds. They waste no time trying to be experimental, instead they're very good at [...]
Okay, I am kinda in a hurry so I'll make it quick. Here are two excellent covers I've recently discovered. The Genuine Fakes is a Stockholm-based trio that plays powerpop, according to their MySpace. They just did a cover of 'Irreplaceable' by Beyoncé , and if I can describe it effectively in just one word, that word is: jangly . Haven't checked out their own stuff, but what I just listened to is really nice. (Thanks to It's A Trap for the tips!) [...]
The prestigious Mercury Music Prize's winner announcement will be broadcast live on BBC4 today, at 9PM (London time), and as a blogger with much time to kill, I decided to do mini-reviews for some of the shortlisted albums, then picked my own personal favorite. If you haven't heard all of the acts nomimated, why not give them a few spins as the result's just literally a couple of hours away... Arctic Monkeys - Favorite Worst Nightmare I will confess that if not for the [...]
KT Tunstall sure knows how to do a cover justice. After giving us her own takes on The White Stripes, Beck, The Flaming Lips, The Jackson 5 and Missy Elliott, Bloc Party's 'The Prayer' is the next on her list. I quite like the original, but I gotta say once again she pulled it off. She did sound like having a lot of fun while not trying too hard, and it's a little more than your average Live Lounge cover. As I know, if it all goes according to plan, her muchly-anticipated sophomore effort 'Drastic Fantastic' will be [...]
More than a year after the release of their debut album (my second favorite album of 2006!), The Pipettes will finally invade the US with an official stateside release in October 2 (thanks XOLondon for the tips!). I'm supposed to say something lengthy about how awesome they are, but upon realizing that I raved about them constantly almost every month last year, you might be better off clicking on the label and read the old posts, in case they're not familiar to you. Riotbecki, Gwenno & Rosay are now signed to a [...]
Kris Moyes is a director who can do magic out of a presumably low budget. His videos seem to be tailor-made for the 320x240 YouTube box (in another word, 'viral' videos), yet they're all quite strangely entertaining. After providing quirky videos for Sia and Architecture In Helsinki, he's back with LA indie pop band The Softlightes for their new single 'The Microwave Song'. The concept can be summarized in one sentence: human hands in glittery gloves making talking faces with a backdrop of rainbow-colored lights!!! [...]
Sally Shapiro's now signed to a US label. Which means 'Disco Romance' will make it way from Sweden to America this October, with 3 exclusive brand new tracks . It's almost been one year since I got hooked on her music, and it's good to see her still going strong. One of the new tracks, 'He Keeps Me Alive' (a cover), has been gathering hype on quite a few major music blogs. It is Sally at her best, singing melancholy melodies over uptempo retro beats. I just love her voice, weary, sad, but so sincere and convincing. A keeper, [...]
Groove Armada should whore themselves out to other artists more frequently. 'Soundboy Rock' was a letdown, but the outstanding track on it clearly was their collab with Mutya Buena, 'Out Of Control (Song 4 Mutya)' (with no help from the horribly dull video). And now, they've teamed up with ex-Moloko-vocalist Roisin Murphy for her second single off the new album 'Overpowered'. The result is glistening with AMAZINGNESS. I'm finding it hard to figure out if 'Let Me Know' is better than 'Overpowered' or not, however, one thing is for sure that like the latter, it's getting [...]
I haven't listened to "Icky Thump" in its entirety. Still, if the two lead singles are anything to imply, it's likely to be another solid album from them. My only small complaint is their recent Malloys-directed videos which are more mainstream and conventional. (though I do know 3 minutes of Michel Gondry costs a fortune these days) Anyway, 'Seven Nation Army' remains a fave White Stripes song for other artists to cover. Here I posted all the ones that I have known and listened to, so if I'm missing something, let me know. The ones standing out from the six [...]
Though Coldplay seems to have moved to the category of "Bands that have become way too popular that it's not cool to like them anymore", you can't deny that Chris Martin penned some seriously great songs. And 'The Scientist' is one of those wistful piano ballads everyone knows. Female singers love covering it, too. Avril and Natasha have performed it live, but Johnette Napolitano's version is the proper studio one, and it's on her latest album recently released this year. Hope you enjoy them all. Avril Lavigne - (Myspace) [...]
When an artist decide to cover a recently ubiquitous smash hit, their reason behind it might be one of the following three: 1. Their new album doesn't sell quite well enough, so a cover done right may help regenerate buzz and interest. 2. They're fresh on the scene, having come from out of nowhere. If they get lucky, they may get signed because of the amazing job they've done on the cover. If they're already attached to a label, then it will cut some time on the marketing process. The problem here is if their own stuff isn't [...]
Zeon's Music Blog
Bleached - "Today Your Love, Tomorrow The World"
Azealia Banks - '1991' [Listen]
Lana Del Rey’s “Blue Jeans” Used In A Nespresso Commercial
