How's this for something unusual I found on Mercury Music's Twitter? Here's a live performance by Essex pop princess Pixie Lott , covering Kings of Leon's 'Use Somebody' for the telly programme 'Dancing on Ice'. Lott is standing in the middle of an ice rink while world-famous ice skating duo Torvill and Dean are skating near her. We can only imagine what she's thinking. I'm posting this as light entertainment because we here at the American offices of TGTF have had heated (albeit humourous!) discussions about this particular [...]
The cynical part of me thinks White Hinterland's rebirth as a dubstep-tinged neo-Kate Bush is the result of the inexplicable success of acts like Bat For Lashes and the ongoing Cute British Keyboardists movement. That, and the Casey Dienel-fronted band's debut was a rare thing – gentle but biting jazz-folk far too fresh and wild for Starbucks-swilling Feist listeners. (Myself, um, excluded.) But what we've lost in the coffee shop department, we've gained in everything else: "Icarus," the first single from White Hinterland's March-due Kairos , is a serious songwriter's answer to the dark electro evocations of [...]
Bat For Lashes - "Daniel" It would make sense if, instead of a song, "Daniel" was a vampire. That would explain the song's hypnotic presence, its eroticism--its cold, dark romance--and why you're powerless to resist it. Singer, Natasha Khan, barely has to whisper the first line and you're already hopelessly trapped in its embrace. Equal parts dream and mystical invocation, "Daniel" conjures a landscape of ghostly strings and stately synths--elegant (yet melodramatic) and ominous, like the whole thing's been doused in theatrical fog--you can almost hear the whir of the fog machine [...]
Yeasayer have been an extremely busy band since their debut came out in 2007; they quickly found themselves on tour with MGMT (an arrangement which becomes less surprising with every release), guesting on Bat For Lashes' Two Suns and contributing the vocals of their lead singer to Simian Mobile Disco's Audacity of Huge. The industry connections and widespread exposure granted them not only the freedom to take a lot of time over their follow up, but also to hone it into one of the strangest installments of psychedelic pop music 2010 has seen yet. Far more polished, [...]
It's funny how things happen sometimes. This week we were swapping e-mails with our pal Ronan - he is the fount of all knowledge where music in Oxford is concerned and for years has produced an excellent local, free music paper called Nightshift . He mentioned next weekend he was off to see Esben & The Witch at the Jericho Tavern (13th Feb). Next time we're on the web who do we come across quite by chance...so we had a listen. The band [...]
It's been about two years since Yeasayer released their impressive debut All Hour Cymbals , which tied psych and folk together and then threw in a sitar as well as some gospel sensibilities along the way. Basically, it was not worth categorising but broad in reach and in its musical arrangements. The band have an ability to transcend your average gig experience too (see their Take Away Show for one example) and are at their most uplifting when it's late and everyone's looking to kick the night off. It is no surprise that [...]
Er... Weird nightmare last night which centred around finding out that Danielle Dax had died. This isn't a Chris Morris thing and I'm pretty sure she hasn't actually died but in dreamland this set off a frightening chain of events that are still disturbing the quiet edges of my consciousness. The dream centred around a sequence of news events that more or less treated her death as a Diana style mass-hysteria (It would be a great world), complete with Telegraph obituaries, Myspace tributes popping up like mushrooms, whole sections of [...]
curry & coco are a french duo making disco and new wave flavoured electro-power pop, with a hedonistic attitude dripping from every single note. after playing more than 150 shows in three years, they have recently finished their debut album 'we are beauty' with some help of david kosten, also known as faultline , and previously occupied with production for the likes of bat for lashes . ahead of the album which is coming in april, curry & coco have recently released an ep named 'sex is fashion' and we have got both [...]
My boy Casey hipped me to Phantogram a couple weeks ago. Their style is right up my alley. They have dope beats and some sexy female vocals. They hail from New York and seem to have some Hip-Hop influences according to their Top Friends on their Myspace Page . They remind me of Ms. John Soda or Bat for Lashes; electronica tinged Slow Girl. I hope the right people take notice of this band cuz I want to see these 2 blow up in the future and most importantly come play some shows out in LA. [...]
The more involved I get in the world of publishing the more I find that there is an order or progression to things. Your career and opportunities grow as you gain knowledge, experience, and respect. A writer and publisher that I really respect is Cynthia Reeser. She recently announced the arrival of her new press Aqueous Books. This comes in a addition to her literary site Prick of The Spindle , and her productive career as writer. She is a very busy women, but recently took time to answer a few of my questions. [...]
It's been a long time I know this for sure. I am obsessed with this song and it's music video (I know I'm a few years late on this but I don't care). Bat For Lashes- What's A Girl To Do [mp3]
I considered waiting a few days or so before posting again, but this really couldn't wait and I figured it'd be a good way to kick-off your weekend-or year, my dearly beloved procrastinator. Don't get me wrong, I'm well aware of the blogosphere and its ongoing love affair with electronic bands (especially those led by a female vocalist), but let's be honest... they make a really cute couple. Two words come to mind when I think of Chew Lips : Listen! and Now! Well, OK. More like, "Chew-What?" but that's besides the point. [...]
Finally the New Zealand producer has delivered a high quality MP3 file of this epic re-work of a Freshly Ground song. I thought it strange that he was running everything from a YouTube profile page simply because the information can be so vague but considering that a hell of a lot of people use YouTube to listen to music, it's not such a bad idea. It seems the overwhelming requests for actual audio files have paid off and here it is in all its glory. Mt Eden Dubstep - Sierra Leone [...]
Finally the New Zealand producer has delivered a high quality MP3 file of this epic re-work of a Freshly Ground song. I thought it strange that he was running everything from a YouTube profile page simply because the information can be so vague but considering that a hell of a lot of people use YouTube to listen to music, it's not such a bad idea. It seems the overwhelming requests for actual audio files have paid off and here it is in all its glory. Mt Eden Dubstep - Sierra Leone [...]
Firekites - Autumn Story Some slow-turning nostalgia sir? Firekites - Newcastle based, (that's the Aussie one folks) four-piece lo-fi strummers. This track's their most well-known from their debut album The Bowery . With ties to The Herd, Josh Pyke and signed to a label that's seen artists come and go like Arcade Fire, Bat for Lashes, Sufjan Stevens and Spoon - you better pay attention. Download here . "Yeah, I know it's late, but these times [...]
Making the two hour trek from Bristol from London has to be worth it on the whole, so when MTV gave us the chance to check out three of 2010's hottest bands we jumped at the chance, and happily embarked on the trek to Dingwalls in Camden last night. Opening up was London's very own Death Metal Disco Scene , a sort of Yeah Yeah Yeahs lite. Having already achieved some pretty impressive official remixes for the likes of Bat for Lashes, Lily Allen and Kylie Minogue, we had high hopes [...]
Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter Holly Miranda may appear to be something of a an edgy indie -pop newcomer, but the release of her debut full-length, The Magician's Private Library (XL, February 23) is actually the culmination of more that a decade's worth of writing and performing. Most recently the frontwoman for The Jealous Girlfriends, Miranda released a solo EP Sleep On Fire last year, which she describes as "pretty homemade", sparking a steady buzz from blogosphere cred [...]
Phantogram are from upstate new york, are made up of Josh Carter and Sarah Barthel, and make some pretty damned good moody/dreamy angular-synth-pop numbers (at least the two songs i've heard, and you can hear below). Their debut album Eyelid Movies will be out on Barsuk Records February 9th, and they will be touring the entire month of February; stopping at DC9 on 2/15 . These guys definitely have kind of a bat for lashes/The XX sound going, only not as boring/redundant as the XX (someone had to say it), and these songs (especially [...]
Go Easy Little Doves is the sophomore album from Nashville singer-songwriter Brooke Waggoner. Brooke self-produced the album, which features twelve songs she wrote over the span of a decade. The lengthy creative time certainly paid off, resulting in an unusually beautiful artistic work. The album opens with two instrumentals - "Query" and "Ruminate" - before melting into the title track. "Go Easy Little Doves, I'll Be Fine" gracefully glides through gentle verses and a haunting string-accented chorus with echoing vocals. The song falls somewhere between [...]
Want to waste your money on the most hyped act of 2009? Yeah, you probably do. Seems like I'm the only one who doesn't get it. For me Florence and the Machine is just a poor man's Bat for Lashes. She is. Go listen, and you'll see what I mean. Anyhow, if you do want to go see Flo at the Olympia on May 2nd and/or 3rd, then you can buy a ticket this Friday at 9 for €28. Watch 'Dog Days Are Over':
Wolfmother – White Feather (Acid Washed remix)
NEW MAJOR LAZER
Hot Chip: One Life Stand
New Releases V2.9
