Just a quickie (Do i ever do anything else?) here's the video for new Weezer single, Pork and Beans. Been loving the track for a while now but finally watched the video and got to say I love it. The ninja guy at the beginning, using Daft Hands and drumming with lightsabers, all great fun. I presume anyway. Anyways, far too busy and excited to stay and chat, talk to you all in a few days.
Saturday, 24 May 2008
Friday, 23 May 2008
So here we go, links ahoy, like I say these have nothing to do with me but if I do get contacted again by someone threatening to sue, please tell me first and I'll just take them off my blog, I still count myself as a student which makes me poor. Also, how amazing is it that you can now transfer stuff from Vinyl to MP3 and when you listen back to it, you can hear the vocal being compressed and its all warm and just much much nicer than MP3. See what I mean on Specimen A who are the High Wycombe version of Pendulum and of whom MASSIVE things are expected. Understandable.
Simian Mobile Disco - Sleep Deprivation 12"
Late of the Pier - Space and The Woods
Specimen A - Freak In Us
Specimen A - Rock This House
Danger - 11h30
Just got to pop into London, I'll finish finding the others later
Simian Mobile Disco - Sleep Deprivation 12"
Late of the Pier - Space and The Woods
Specimen A - Freak In Us
Specimen A - Rock This House
Danger - 11h30
Just got to pop into London, I'll finish finding the others later
It's all over but the dancing...
That's right guys and gals, today is the day I finish education. For ever. No more essays, no more lectures, no more bibliographies unless I'm being paid for it. And how am I celebrating? I'm working. Oh yeah, i'm hardcore. So as I sit at my computer doing viral marketing, I'll give you all the inside track on what's going on with me for the next couple of days.
Today is City Showcase work, if you don't know about it already, i'm working for London's Festival of New Music (www.cityshowcase.co.uk) and as the festival is approaching, the workload is increasing. Acts performing this year include Second PErson who are jazz/trip-hop and are simply beautfil. Also of note are Midnight Juggernaughts who've been tearing up the blogosphere of late with remixes galore and We Are The Ocean playing our XFM sponsored indie night. A ticket to the entire festival will cost just £5 but the daytime gigs are free, check the website for more information.
And then Saturday arrives. I'm off for a spot of golf with Sam and Preston in the afternoon, a boys day out as we don't get the time anymore. and then it happens. The warehouse rave. I cannot wait. They've taken over a warehouse in SW London and decked it out to the max, it's going to be mental. 2 rooms of drum and bass and trance, all the usual chill out malarkey, it's only my second foray into this particular club but it's going to be immense. Specimen A are performing live who a new drum and bass duo that I've just started listening to. There's face apinting, jenga, massages and so much grimey dancing its unbelievable. If you're interested and available Saturday night, give me a buzz and I'll let you know the score as these operators don't believe in advertising, trying to keep it underground, fair play.
So then I'm back in Medway for the grand total of Monday. Got to pay the bills somehow. Then I've got an interview next Tuesday and three second round interviews all taking place next week or the week after. We went to look at our first flat the other day and it was horrible so we're all a bit disillusioned I think but it's all good. And then City Showcase starts. And then I need to sort my life out. As always I'll keep you updated in my slightly diluted ways through Facebook statuses and txts etc. Btw, nobody has said "down" to me on facebook, HIGHLY disappointing. It maybe an obscure Linkin Park reference but still.
In the meantime, I'll update this post later with some funky ass dance music for you to - yes that's right - DOWNLOAD!!!! I suppose a music blog post should involve some music. Luckily, the links weren't posted by me so I can't get in trouble for showing you where they are. Isn't the internet a wonderful thing?
laters
Today is City Showcase work, if you don't know about it already, i'm working for London's Festival of New Music (www.cityshowcase.co.uk) and as the festival is approaching, the workload is increasing. Acts performing this year include Second PErson who are jazz/trip-hop and are simply beautfil. Also of note are Midnight Juggernaughts who've been tearing up the blogosphere of late with remixes galore and We Are The Ocean playing our XFM sponsored indie night. A ticket to the entire festival will cost just £5 but the daytime gigs are free, check the website for more information.
And then Saturday arrives. I'm off for a spot of golf with Sam and Preston in the afternoon, a boys day out as we don't get the time anymore. and then it happens. The warehouse rave. I cannot wait. They've taken over a warehouse in SW London and decked it out to the max, it's going to be mental. 2 rooms of drum and bass and trance, all the usual chill out malarkey, it's only my second foray into this particular club but it's going to be immense. Specimen A are performing live who a new drum and bass duo that I've just started listening to. There's face apinting, jenga, massages and so much grimey dancing its unbelievable. If you're interested and available Saturday night, give me a buzz and I'll let you know the score as these operators don't believe in advertising, trying to keep it underground, fair play.
So then I'm back in Medway for the grand total of Monday. Got to pay the bills somehow. Then I've got an interview next Tuesday and three second round interviews all taking place next week or the week after. We went to look at our first flat the other day and it was horrible so we're all a bit disillusioned I think but it's all good. And then City Showcase starts. And then I need to sort my life out. As always I'll keep you updated in my slightly diluted ways through Facebook statuses and txts etc. Btw, nobody has said "down" to me on facebook, HIGHLY disappointing. It maybe an obscure Linkin Park reference but still.
In the meantime, I'll update this post later with some funky ass dance music for you to - yes that's right - DOWNLOAD!!!! I suppose a music blog post should involve some music. Luckily, the links weren't posted by me so I can't get in trouble for showing you where they are. Isn't the internet a wonderful thing?
laters
Sunday, 18 May 2008
So I've had some time to think, I've watched it again and made up my mind. I'll tell you later as this is supposed to be me doing either my essay or City Showcase work and is actually neither. Sssh. In the meantime, I've received mixed reviews on the old Stress video and I thought I'd post the other two here for your consideration. Justice are nothing but creative in their videos, D.A.N.C.E with incredible t shirt animation and DVNO for its continuos stream of evolving images. I love both of these more than Stress but each has its own charm i guess.
D.A.N.C.E
DVNO
D.A.N.C.E
DVNO
Saturday, 17 May 2008
It's no secret I'm loving Justice at the moment, † is an undeniably great album and I cannot wait to catch them live. I've previously bigged up the video for DVNO due to its creative but simple use of graphics and colour to reflect their disco-house stylings.
However, latest video Stress is an entirely different kettle of fish and I'm really not sure what's going on. I'm not even going to bother trying to describe it, just watch it and please let me know what you think, I'll let you know in a day or two when I've worked out what I think. I understand what they're after but whether it worked in my eyes, I'm yet to decide. Just to give you an idea of what to expect, the video cannot be found on youtube and is being removed everytime its put up there. You'll soon understand why. Anyways, here you go.
However, latest video Stress is an entirely different kettle of fish and I'm really not sure what's going on. I'm not even going to bother trying to describe it, just watch it and please let me know what you think, I'll let you know in a day or two when I've worked out what I think. I understand what they're after but whether it worked in my eyes, I'm yet to decide. Just to give you an idea of what to expect, the video cannot be found on youtube and is being removed everytime its put up there. You'll soon understand why. Anyways, here you go.
Friday, 16 May 2008
All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone...
Apologies for the distinct lack of bloggage recently, as you can imagine my last few days have involved sorting out the mess from the previous couple of weeks including a rather interesting may ball experience that facebook later taught me involed drinking 7 glasses of champagne in just under two hours and then mixing drinks all night whilst going on fairground rides. Messy.
So I'm going to easy myself back into blogging by focussing on one artist for today, one I've mentioned before and will undoubtedly mention again. They'll always make my top 5 list of bands, please welcome to the stage... Explosions In The Sky.
So a little history on the band first. EITS originate from Austin, TX in a country called America and how cool is this, the state motto is "Live Music Capital of the World". Austin has a reputation as a creative and diverse area and of course is home to the incredible annual SXSW festival, promoting new artists from around the world as well as showcasing upcoming material from giant acts. To illustrate my point, this years festival featured performances from Los Campesinos! who have featured here before and R.E.M. Basically, one whole street in Austin turns itself into as many music venues as possible and then put on gigs until the early hours. One day I'll go.
Anyway, Explosions formed in 1999 based as all great are, on a stunning and emotional live performance. Consisiting of three guitarists and a drummer, the band create soaring
instrumental music that ebbs and flows through a variety of moods to generate whatever images you can imagine. Debut album How Strange, Innocence oringially outed on only 300 CD-R's but due to immense demand, the band reissued the album on mastered CD's. Featuring stunning tracks such as A Song For Our Fathers and Remember Me As A Time Of Day, the album is atmospheric with its heavy use of reverb on all instruments and also the mirroring of guitar lines on an acoustic guitar to introduce a softer edge to the tracks.
2001 saw the release of Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Live Forever probably my least favourite Explosions album. The band incorporate distortion into their sound out of nowhere and in a big way, attempting to genertae angst and claustrophobia to the tracks. However, the songs seem to lose direction and feel unnatural. It is important to undesrtand that the average EITS track is 6 or 7 minutes long but all feel like they progress and journey through a theme. This just didn't happen for me.
2003 was the year that saw Explosions step up a notch through their release of The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place. Guitarist Munaf said the album was their "attempt at love songs" and this is realised perfectly in the instrumentation, the song titles, the production, everything falls into place to create the perfect mood with brooding lead lines, crashing drums and perfect climaxes and calm moments. Right from the start of the album, First Breath After Coma dictates the mood of the labum by compunding delayed lead lines on top of each other, dropping to sultry quiet moments before rising again. Clocking in at over 9 minutes long, its a journey that has only just begun. The Only Moment We Were Alone builds on the elative mood already created with
the consistent yet tempered drumming, bells and complimentary guitar lines. Six Days At The Bottom Of The Ocean provides a short relief before exploding towards the end, snare roll after snare roll indicating the emotional outburst the band are about to perform. Memorial is the rain drenched ksisses after the storm with stripped down instrumentation and smooth bass lines. To finish a perfect album, that's right i said it, Your Hand In Mine demonstrates the band's love of setting a mood through delaying guitars, the sound of the harmonising guitars echoing around you is indescribable.
And so my Explosions tour de force begins. 2004 saw the release of the film Friday Night Lights which involved an almost entirely new soundtrack composed by Explosions. The film is a bit slow (unlike the incredible TV series) but the imagery and the soundtrack are incredible together, sites of bare wasteland and epic sunsets are accompanied by EITS twiddling away creating some of my favourite music ever. The album also saw the introduction of strings to the mix which perfectly complemented their instrumental style. Stand out tracks include An Ugly Fact Of Life, To West Texas and Do You Ever Feel Cursed. The album also features a track callled Sonho Dourado by Daniel Lanois that is just brilliant.
And so we reach 2007 and All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone. The album also featured an extra CD with remixes of the tracks by incredible artists such as Four Tet, Adem and The Paper Chase. The album also introduced piano to the fold for the first time, especially evident on What Do You Go Home To? with arpeggiated chords and delay used in perfect harmony. The Remixesa are more reworks and as expected, Four Tet produces another incredible version.
I saw Explosions at Koko promoting this album and front row centre was the perfect place to be. The band have a furious passion live, experiencing each live performance by themselves whilst working as a tight unit, improvising and elongating tracks. The only words spoken all night by the band were "Hello, how are you guys? This is pretty incredible, our last show in London was a while ago and it wasn't to this many people (2,434) I'll tell you that. My hands are shaking, we're Explosions In The Sky from Texas USA". And that was it. For over an hour and a half, the band said nothing, didn't communicate with the audience, no break, no encore, just music. It was genuinely breathtaking. Like I cannot describe how.
Enjoy this 20 minute set from Reckless Records store and honestly, please check this band out, they deserve more recognition than they could ever acheive. At least watch 2 minutes and witness the change in mood and energy from the drummer and Munaf, just incredible.
So I'm going to easy myself back into blogging by focussing on one artist for today, one I've mentioned before and will undoubtedly mention again. They'll always make my top 5 list of bands, please welcome to the stage... Explosions In The Sky.
So a little history on the band first. EITS originate from Austin, TX in a country called America and how cool is this, the state motto is "Live Music Capital of the World". Austin has a reputation as a creative and diverse area and of course is home to the incredible annual SXSW festival, promoting new artists from around the world as well as showcasing upcoming material from giant acts. To illustrate my point, this years festival featured performances from Los Campesinos! who have featured here before and R.E.M. Basically, one whole street in Austin turns itself into as many music venues as possible and then put on gigs until the early hours. One day I'll go.
Anyway, Explosions formed in 1999 based as all great are, on a stunning and emotional live performance. Consisiting of three guitarists and a drummer, the band create soaring
instrumental music that ebbs and flows through a variety of moods to generate whatever images you can imagine. Debut album How Strange, Innocence oringially outed on only 300 CD-R's but due to immense demand, the band reissued the album on mastered CD's. Featuring stunning tracks such as A Song For Our Fathers and Remember Me As A Time Of Day, the album is atmospheric with its heavy use of reverb on all instruments and also the mirroring of guitar lines on an acoustic guitar to introduce a softer edge to the tracks.2001 saw the release of Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Live Forever probably my least favourite Explosions album. The band incorporate distortion into their sound out of nowhere and in a big way, attempting to genertae angst and claustrophobia to the tracks. However, the songs seem to lose direction and feel unnatural. It is important to undesrtand that the average EITS track is 6 or 7 minutes long but all feel like they progress and journey through a theme. This just didn't happen for me.
2003 was the year that saw Explosions step up a notch through their release of The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place. Guitarist Munaf said the album was their "attempt at love songs" and this is realised perfectly in the instrumentation, the song titles, the production, everything falls into place to create the perfect mood with brooding lead lines, crashing drums and perfect climaxes and calm moments. Right from the start of the album, First Breath After Coma dictates the mood of the labum by compunding delayed lead lines on top of each other, dropping to sultry quiet moments before rising again. Clocking in at over 9 minutes long, its a journey that has only just begun. The Only Moment We Were Alone builds on the elative mood already created with
the consistent yet tempered drumming, bells and complimentary guitar lines. Six Days At The Bottom Of The Ocean provides a short relief before exploding towards the end, snare roll after snare roll indicating the emotional outburst the band are about to perform. Memorial is the rain drenched ksisses after the storm with stripped down instrumentation and smooth bass lines. To finish a perfect album, that's right i said it, Your Hand In Mine demonstrates the band's love of setting a mood through delaying guitars, the sound of the harmonising guitars echoing around you is indescribable.And so my Explosions tour de force begins. 2004 saw the release of the film Friday Night Lights which involved an almost entirely new soundtrack composed by Explosions. The film is a bit slow (unlike the incredible TV series) but the imagery and the soundtrack are incredible together, sites of bare wasteland and epic sunsets are accompanied by EITS twiddling away creating some of my favourite music ever. The album also saw the introduction of strings to the mix which perfectly complemented their instrumental style. Stand out tracks include An Ugly Fact Of Life, To West Texas and Do You Ever Feel Cursed. The album also features a track callled Sonho Dourado by Daniel Lanois that is just brilliant.
And so we reach 2007 and All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone. The album also featured an extra CD with remixes of the tracks by incredible artists such as Four Tet, Adem and The Paper Chase. The album also introduced piano to the fold for the first time, especially evident on What Do You Go Home To? with arpeggiated chords and delay used in perfect harmony. The Remixesa are more reworks and as expected, Four Tet produces another incredible version.
I saw Explosions at Koko promoting this album and front row centre was the perfect place to be. The band have a furious passion live, experiencing each live performance by themselves whilst working as a tight unit, improvising and elongating tracks. The only words spoken all night by the band were "Hello, how are you guys? This is pretty incredible, our last show in London was a while ago and it wasn't to this many people (2,434) I'll tell you that. My hands are shaking, we're Explosions In The Sky from Texas USA". And that was it. For over an hour and a half, the band said nothing, didn't communicate with the audience, no break, no encore, just music. It was genuinely breathtaking. Like I cannot describe how.Enjoy this 20 minute set from Reckless Records store and honestly, please check this band out, they deserve more recognition than they could ever acheive. At least watch 2 minutes and witness the change in mood and energy from the drummer and Munaf, just incredible.
Thursday, 8 May 2008
Apologies for my disappearance for a moment there, the last few weeks have been rather mental.
-I've been for a few interviews, some very successful, others not so grand. We'll see how it all pans out but I've got two more next week so that's cool.
-I've been back into the studio and pretty much finished mixing my coursework tracks, just some mastering to do. They're sounding OK, annoyingly I don't think I'll ever be happy with them but that's the way it goes when I record so...If you want to listen, give me a holla and I'll send them your way.
-I've been to Amsterdam, woop! What a city, what a culture, what incredible weather. I'll hail you with stories when i see you in person I'm sure so i won't spoil them all now but there are many stories to tell of my exploits, facebook hopefully will be kind to me as the photos begin to appear, I've got through one album pretty much unscathed so..
-I went to Pendulum live last night which was nothing short of spectacular. Previewing a bunch of new songs in addition to playing the classics, their live show really is one of the best I've witnessed with incredible visuals and the loudest bass sound of my life. Eventually. I've also never sweated so much in my entire life, never danced so hard and never been in as mental pits as that. And I've seen SOAD. yeah. Also, their drummer is probably the tightest drummer I've ever seen, he must play with a triggered kit but still, that guy is FAST.
So I've one more exam on Monday, then recordings the following Friday, a write up a week after that and I'm a free man. Scary stuff. In the meantime, I'll be too busy with a range of things for a proper post just yet but keep your eyes open for a host of new things to come in addition to the stuff i promised last time. My bad.
Take it easy kids
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