New Favourites From Old Favourites

Ladies and gentlemen we may have a long post on our hands here.

Tonight's theme is listing a few new bits and bobs from artists/bands I've come to appreciate during the course of my existance.

Let's start of with those beardy men who just love singing over each other. Fleet Foxes are making a welcome return with album #2 Helplessness Blues and are even pencilled in to play in my very own city Turku over the summer. If the title track's anything to go by then their return is more Simon and Garfunkel-ey than most people (me) would've expected. Helplessness Blues is out in May.



Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues by subpop



Kurt Vile's also back with his fourth album Smoke Ring For My Halo out next week. Its first single Jesus Fever(mp3) gives us reason to believe that the album may be up there contending for best album of the year. Well maybe it's a tad too early, but fingers crossed, eh?





Vivian Girls seem to be churning out albums faster than most people churn out babies. Definitely faster than I churn out babies. With their new album Share the Joy they're looking to perfect the art of girl-group harmonious garage pop.




On a similarly girly note, Dee Dee or Dum Dum Girls have got a new EP out titled He Gets Me High (Title track mp3). 4 songs echoing a love for 80's shoegaze mixed with the kind of beach aesthetics we heard on I Will Be. Could having a member of The Raveonettes produce your EP affect the sound? Well yeah obviously. It also features a great version of The Smiths' There Is A Light That Never Goes Out.

Stream the New Lykke Li Album

Of course the entire world is relentlessly holding its breath in anticipation of Lykke Li's new album Wounded Rhymes. That is, the entire world that hasn't downloaded the leaked version off the internet.

Wounded Rhymes is perhaps the most important album of our/my generation. Great political figures will use it's lyrics in speeches aiming at world peace. WWE wrestlers will use I Follow Rivers as their introductory theme tune. The new Starsky and Hutch movie will use the entire album as its soundtrack. It's more than an album, it's a statement. A fashion statement, a political statement, an economical statement. Mainly though it's just a statement. About important stuff. Like getting some, which has been perhaps the most important part of my life for the last 8 years. So when someone comes along and tells me she's my prostitute, I'm all for it.

Let it be known that I do not endorse prostitutional companies or am I sponsored by any third party prostitutes. But if I was, there probably would be a third party involved. Ha Ha, I'll get my coat.

For those of you who "just say no" to downloading leaks, here's the nice little Hype Machine album exclusive for you. This must be like Christmas come early for everyone. Even for people who don't celebrate Christmas but celebrate .

On a serious note though. Yes the album's quite nice. Not too huge a step forward from Youth Novels, but just enough to (maybe) keep people interested.

Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes (Hype Machine Album Exclusive) by LykkeLi

This Is Just A Hot-Pot of Stuff

Ok so as you might know Radiohead released their 8th studio album King of Limbs on Friday. Without a lot of time for the world to prepare for it (a week) a lot has been said about it during the last few days. A lot has also been said about the video for the song Lotus Flower, where Thom Yorke dances around in a rather erratic kind of way.

Well via the magic of the internet I've been able to show you what Thom Yorke's really dancing to in the Lotus Flower video.

Here check it out:
http://tubedubber.com/#nkPYH9crKeA:OFdErXzv_os:0:100:0:0:true
thanks to DiS for the link/idea.

Great moves Thom.

In other unrelated news Australia's Cut Copy who released their 3rd album Zonoscope a bit ago have a new video for song Need You Now. The video features athletes who are seemingly clueless as to what their own sport actually is. Much like Manchester United's squad against Crawley Town last Saturday then.



I feel it's also worth mentioning that I only just recently, for the first time, paid for mp3 formatted music. I know right, in this day and age, how can one listen to music without paying for mp3s? I've got to say that I much prefer owning physical copies of music or getting free mp3s from the bands themselves, but paying for internet megabyte material has always felt like I'm not really getting anything much for my money. Mind you when you pay on the internet it's not as if you ever see that money anyway.

I bought the amazing Seams' Tourist EP. One of my favourite EPs of last year, but as it's not available as a physical copy I just had to buy the mp3s. I'm seriously so looking forward to seeing this guy at The Great Escape festival in May.

Seams - Tourist EP on Spotify

Nachtmusik by seams

What's Jamie XX up to now?

I thought today would be appropriate to check in on, maybe the hottest producer in town right now, Jamie XX. Yes, he's the guy from The XX who fiddles a load of knobs and pushes a load of buttons.

It seems like it's been nearly every day he comes up with a new remix. Usually which are absolutely pumping.

Now recently most of his time's been consumed by remixing Gil Scott-Heron's I'm New Here. Last year's I'm New Here was the legendary Gil Scott-Heron's first album in thirteen years. Now Jamie XX has only gone and reworked the whole bloody thing. And the result is something quite, well, amazing.

Album opener I'm New Here starts off with Scott-Heron's gruff "street poetry" until Gloria Gaynor kicks in. Cue the gliding bass and breakbeat and the whole thing sounds like a late-night wonderfest. I'm New Here doesn't utilise Scott-Heron's vocals as much as the rest of the album. The best moments of the pair's collaboration is when Scott-Heron's words are linked with Jamie's ravaging 2-step shuffle.



We're just gonna make do with Youtube video's now, because I just don't want to go to prison. Seriously I'd just be everyone's bitch. Yeah, even that white collar guy's who went down for bloody tax evasion.

I do love this one I'll Take Care of You. 4/4 and it's more like a 80's Trax house tune than the dubstep we're accustomed to with Jamie, that is until the piano line gets warped out of recognition and becomes a kind of hybrid behemoth.



NY is Killing Me is the one you'll possibly have heard. It was the first release from the album and has thus been everywhere. Hypnotic and bouncy, NY is definitely a tune. But after listening to the whole album (lots) it's lost its place to most of the other tracks as "best ones on the album".

Cheyenne Marie Mize

Sometime back in the 70's Lemmy asked me.

- ARE YOU HERE TO ROCK?

My answer back then was the same as it still is.

- No I bloody well am not, I'm here to listen to some nice folk. Now bugger off you moley git.


Louisville's Cheyenne Marie Mize is nice enough to offer us a free download of her emotive and invariably subtle rendition of her mate's Will "Bonnie Prince" Oldham's track I Called You Back. Slightly late for valentine's day but purely for logistical reasons and I do apologise, however it's still good for a quiet one in with the other half.




This follows up her debut album Before Lately which could be described as a relatively undiscovered gem, with it's hints of americana and songs about endearing love (what else).
Cheyenne's voice is also to not be taken lightly. She has a beautiful vocal deliverance kind of like a less raspy Lucinda Williams.

Kill van Kulls

With a name that sounds like a b-grade Dutch Tarantino spin-off, Kill van Kulls wouldn't seem the most obvious rivals to the "big danceable 80's sound" throne that's occupied (ultimately rather disappointingly) by Hurts.

Their new single Fools Wish packs a chorus large enough to park your new Boeing 747-8 intercontinental in and a hook as catchy as anything your neighbour has ever played at 4am and more.



Albeit some of you might already be a tad tired of the revival scene, in which case look away now.

Nevermind you're already too late because here's Wooden Heart. Perhaps the closest the band'll get to making a ballad.

New Mexico

You know how some bands sound like they could bloody well rock your flipping socks off?
Well here we have one in the form of San Diego fellas New Mexico.

Now in the ideal "rocking flipping socks off" world, you'd be best off seeing these guys live because judging by the way the album sounds AND words I've read on my computer screen, these guys are somewhat riotous. Not your static shoegaze this is hectic garage pop sure to kick off a frenzy.

They released their debut Have You Met My Friend at the end of last year and you too can listen to it/download it from here:

http://newmexicoband.bandcamp.com/

Dumbo Gets Mad

Italians are generally quite good at playing 0-0 draws in football, making movies and um, painting. However when it comes to modern music, I'm at a loss. I know Eros Ramazotti and Laura Pausini (because my mum likes them, smartarse), and if they truly are modern Italy's greatest offering to music then surely something's not right.

I'm now more enlightened as luckily Bad Panda Records hit up on this here interweb about fellow Italians Dumbo Gets Mad who've just had the digital release for their new album Elephants at the Door soon to be followed by a limited vinyl press.


Elephants at the door is exactly the kind of surf/psychedelia that I'd expect to come from anywhere but Italy.

Hearsay tells me that the single Plumy Tale was a big beach hit on the er, beaches of Italy last summer. After you listen to it's hot groove it's not hard to imagine.



The same kind of vibes continue on Eclectic Prawn but the track's morphed into a kind of 60's sunshine pop number.



Elephants at the door has retro stamped all over it, but also has the songs to live up that slightly overused term. A wicked insight to the mind of a guy who must just love old records and enjoying the summer sun.

You can download the entire album via "pay with a tweet" from the website

Chapel Club

In previous posts I've expressed my disappointment at some "more established bands" and their new records. So now I've been keeping more than one eye out for new records by new bands. One in particular is hugely hyped Chapel Club's album Palace which came out about a week ago on Interscope.

Someone might argue that they're just following very neatly in the footsteps of 80's revival acts such as White Lies, Editors, Big Pink etc. but any band that can add a snippet from Dream a Little Dream of Me and use it as their chorus without anyone even seeming to raise an eyebrow will have a special place in my ear canals. I'm talking about new single Surfacing which is also my personal favourite simply because of this little bit of cover-magic.



So with that little introduction from me go forth and explore. Enjoy. Fornicate. Whatever.
These guys are going to be/are already going places.

Tenerife + Esben & The Witch

Ok, so I was in Tenerife. You can make all the jokes about it you want, but at the end of the day (unfortunately for you guys) I didn't stay there. So here I am back again, without sunburn, without tan and without money.

I'm also fairly acquainted with cockroaches now. Cockroaches, those Jeff Probsts of the animal kingdom. You always hear stories of how cockroaches can survive nuclear wars and stuff, and will easily outlive the human race. However they were all dying up there in my bedroom. Honestly sometimes going to the toilet at night was like a scene from Starship Troopers.

Besides all these things I had Esben & The Witch's debut album Violet Cries waiting for me in vinyl for when I got back. I've mentioned the band several times but if you're anything like me you can't get enough of the Brighton trio who were nominated in the top 15 for BBC's sounds of 2011. They didn't win the poll, but with a sound that could be described loosely as "marginal" it's hardly surpising that the title went to the slightly more "club 'n' radio friendly" Jessie J.

You'll have a hard time picking a hot single from the album because the whole thing's about creating an atmosphere that's a bit like Zola Jesus washing Andrew Lloyd Webber's white laundry but sticking in one black sock full of suppressed anger and a quiet growing horror that leaves it's dark stain on everything. But you know, in a great kind of way.

Second single Warpath has a new video. I think the guy in it is supposed to be me after the first cockroach encounter



For being such a good boy and pre-ordering Violet Cries I also got a "bonus super exclusive super bonus CD" with previously released, but incredibly hard to get hands on a physical copy, Lucia, at the Precipice. Yay. Also the 65daysofstatic's electrofying remix of Lucia is well worth having a listen to.



Esben & The Witch - Lucia, At The Precipice (65daysofstatic remix)