0 comments Monday, December 8, 2008

A slightly more polished and bleeped up remix by CSS. Featured recently, in the UK, on some advert for shoes recently - the brand I can't recall.

There are obvious visual similarities in the styles of these bands despite existing 20 years apart and both have that vibe of fun summer music - I guess a vibe that will be eternal.

Enjoy

B-52s - Funplex (CSS Remix)

0 comments Tuesday, October 21, 2008

I first heard John Matthias on Coldcut’s ‘Man in a Garage’, the standout single from the 2005’s fairly dull Sound Mirrors.

Evermore comes off his debut album ‘Stories from the Watercooler’, released on Ninjatune.

It’s a smouldering, lushly produced growling folksy tune that breaks beautifully into an uplifting falsetto chorus, something John proves adept at throughout the album. The somewhat sparse production deserves a big stereo/good earphones to appreciate the layers of echoing guitar and various electronic elements.

While the whole album can get a little rich and his attempt at what occasionally sounds like glam rock is a little abrasive – there are some brilliant moments alongside Evermore that make this a worthy purchase.

Mp3 John Matthias - Evermore

2 comments Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Brightblack Morning Light's new album Motion to Rejoin was released 23rd September on Matador and I'm very happy to make this my return to music blogging.

It's a difficult to define sound. Similar to Morphine in it's lack of extroverted instrumentation but dense and sweet at the same time. Some describe it as psychedelic folk, a description I like the sound of.

Brightblack Morning Light MP3 - Opressions Each
Available free via Matador.

BBML Interview in Rolling Stone

0 comments Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Something classic I may have recently heard on a Friends episode. Most of the Friends soundtrack was pretty crass, featuring the horrendous Hootie & The Blowfish and Barenaked Ladies. Even the great Grant Lee Buffalo contributed lame version of The Beach Boys - In My Room.


The Pretenders – Angel Of The Morning mp3

0 comments Monday, August 11, 2008

Emiliana Torrini hails from Reykjavik, Iceland. She's half Italian and now lives in England.


Me & Armini is the first release and title track to her new album, due for release in September. I've been listening to this for a month or so and the album appears to have been released digitally already.


Emiliana has been releasing music since 1994 in Iceland. She wrote Kylie Minogue's hit song 'Slow' in 2003.

Her music is quite different to Kylie's. Me & Armini is a sultry and intimate pop song. Her voice works beautifully with the lazy ska style guitar.





0 comments Sunday, August 10, 2008

Released in 2007 on their 7th album Moonshout album this tune brilliantly combines dancehall ragga and d&b styles with lushly produced backing vocals and guitars. The production seems to distinguish it from the more stripped back dub sound usually associated with dancehall. It would also fit just as well into a d&b with the song's high paced percussion. The rest of the album is less dancefloor oriented with an emphasis on the using combining many global styles of music.

Transglobal Underground are based in London and formed in 1991. They won best Club Global in the BBC's World Music Awards 2008.

Transglobal Underground - Dancehall Operator


Myspace

2 comments Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Fanboy/Fangirl - Scion Money

I’m not a US college, spring breaking, Miami Winter Music Conference attending hipster but I can appreciate this funny little namedropping song. There’s nothing musically exceptional about this but occasionally the lyrics of a song can be the sole hook.
The song covers a, presumably college, student’s spring break trip to the Miami Winter Music Conference. It’s a straight forward narrative of his trips to various parties and encounters with scene electronica DJs.

The funniest bits are the spoken verse descriptions of people like Tommy Sunshine that make them sound like mythical figures.
“The sun shone through his hair and he looked like Jeeesus”. Produced with an echo for added surreal effect.

Scion is a music label launched by Toyota, after the car of the same name. The Scion story is an interesting one, Toyota appear to be trying to break into the music industry by signing underground bands and creating a community around the concept. Supposedly it’s an altruistic project focussed on raising their stakes in the “pimp my ride” market for everyday passenger cars.


Reminds me a bit of King Missle...