Stupidly funny, I've mentioned this cartoon before and I'll mention it again, love this guys sense of humour. Also, in other news, I finally bought myself a new ipod and broke it within the hour. Idiot.

Let's dance to the sound of the sirens

Apologies for what will be a slightly disjointed post, I don't feel even close to human and the amount of painkillers coarsing through me is the only thing keeping me at my desk in what is likely to be another long, hard week. Suffices to say that I had a fantastic weekend, for all of you who were there, it was nice to combine my two worlds at last and I hope that you're not feeling too grotty today, my body's severely messed up but I've got some fantastic memories so it's all good!

My highlight apart from the obvious would be Simian Mobile Disco who were simply stunning, they were one of the acts I was most looking forward to and they certainly did not disappoint. A fantastic light show illuminated a stage filled with smoke as the duo played through their debut album, Attack Decay Sustain Release. Beginning with the monstrous Sleep Deprivation, the tent was soon at melting point as SMD worked the tent into a dancing frenzy. This was accentuated by their ability to mix their songs together and when the repeated sampling of the It's The Beat vocal finally dropped into the full song, I was able to appreciate that though a dance album is a great listen, it is far better loud and live. Finishing on the grimy, bass heavy Tits & Acid with the duo actually leaving the stage before the breakdown, only to return to finish the track in epic proportions, Simian Mobile Disco truly marked their place in an increasingly crowded dance scene.

It's also impossible not to mention the release of Intimacy which I finally heard yesterday. Bloc Party's New album hit the internet on Thursday in a rushed release to beat the album leak that happened to AWITC, with a physical release with a slightly altered tracklist due in October. The album shows Bloc Party at their most experimental though producer Paul Epworth's influence can be heard in certain tracks with a return to the crunchy guitar sounds of Silent Alarm. As I become more familiar with the tracks I'll do a proper review but already it is a fantastic album with focus, direction and variation in all shapes and sizes.

Also, Lauren this song is all about you.

Until next time, peace out. I'm going to get some more painkillers.

Let's get intimate

Wow. Bloc Party took part in their first ever webchat last night (18th August) with some interesting revelations. Bloc Party's eagerly anticipated new album 'Intimacy' will be released very soon. Thursday in fact in all its MP3 glory. The physical edition will follow on October 27th and will feature additional songs which is more fantastic news. Preordering both formats will cost only £10 and £1 delivery charge and the MP3's will be available from Thursday.

Quote taken from Bloc Party:

"The album produced by Paul Epworth (Silent Alarm) and Jacknife Lee (A Weekend in the City) was recorded in Kent and London. Some songs are Bloc Party at their most wildly experimental, while other tracks are simply classic Bloc Party, fitting in seamlessly amongst fan-favourites 'Helicopter', 'Banquet' and 'So Here We Are'."

If Bloc Party manage to pull off another Silent Alarm, I'll be impressed/disappointed. This could be Bloc Party doing a Muse, they'll either go wildly experimental and ruin it all or write songs to please the fans that can't accept that AWITC is a new album. Either way, this is a big step for a relatively young band. They play Reading as second headliners on Saturday night, it's gonna be ace. This does mean that I wont actually be able to hear the new album until at least monday which is simply not acceptable. However, as Pete pointed out, as far as reasons for missing new bloc albums go, being at Reading is a pretty damn good one.

The track listing for Intimacy:
01. Ares
02. Mercury
03. Halo
04. Biko
05. Trojan Horse
06. Signs
07. One Month Off
08. Zephyrus
09. Better Than Heaven
10. Ion Square

Thou Shalt Not Make Repetitive Generic Blog Posts

So enough about Burial. I'm sure you've noticed but it's nearly that time of year again. When thousands upon thousands flock to Reading with interesting wellies, sit in trollies and run at each other, have spontaneous pillow fights, compete to get the most free hugs, throw bottles at bands they dont like, drink a lot of beer and play bongos until the wee hours, all in the name of a music festival. I can't think of anywhere better to be.

And so, in the name of somehow previewing the unpreviewable (yes it is a word, I've just written it and you'll be reading it on the internet so it must be true) here are a few videos of bands that I will definately not miss this weekend.



Could a track be more relevant for Reading Festival?
Simian Mobile Disco - Sleep Deprivation



Rage Against The Machine - Know Your Enemy (Reading 1996)



Bloc Party - So Here We Are (Reading 2007)



Justice - D.A.N.C.E



The Music - Getaway (Live at Splendour In The Grass)



Seasick Steve - Dog House Boogie (Live on Jools Holland)

I apologise for my somewhat streamlined blog recently; streamlined in the idea that it mostly revolves around Burial. But I've found another fascinating article with the eponymous producer, this time completely unedited. The article finally reveals some interesting facts about Burial's inspirations, his musical history and some fascinating insight on the imagery that inspires Burial, including midget ghosts on the underground and some late night MaccyD's. Having just moved to South London, it is impossible not to relate to his descriptions of the bleak atmosphere that floats through towns and dark alleyways and it is this atmosphere that Burial captures perfectly.
Anyway, enjoy

http://www.thewire.co.uk/articles/347/?pageno=1

Only this moment holds us together...

Another post that is slightly less focussed, you'll have to forgive me for a few days as now I'm without the internet at home, reviewing new music is pretty tough, considering I cant get any. I'm actually buying lots of music at the moment but as Im sure you've all guessed, its on vinyl so I'm not even thinking about playing it.

Quickly, I'd like to say thank you to two people I've had quite serios conversations with in the last few days, you both totally got that I'm not acting normally but that its only temporary and gave me some sound advice and I really appreciate your patience. So yeah, thanks a bunch.

I've picked up a few releases recently that I've spoken about already but finally got around to forking out the money for. The first of these is the Mumford and Sons EP released last month for only a fiver from the Rough Trade online store. These folk/bluegrass hipsters are already putting the touches to their second ep and have jsut announced a mammoth tour in support of both their first EP and to raise awareness for their second. Momentum seems to be growing behind the bad with supportive reviews from the Guardian, Q and Drowned In Sound and though commitments to Laura Marling are increasing, there is still plenty of time for the band to grow and develop and flourish in a folk-filled world. Check out a video of my favourite track, White Blank Page, below.

Also new to my CD collection is the digipack version of Royksopp's The Understanding. Released with an extra CD containing 5 new songs, Royksopp's second album is a diverse and oddly paced album which drew little praise from critics but was exploited just as heavily by advertisers as their first album. Triumphant, 49 percent, Beautiful Day Without You all showcase Royksopp's polished norwegian electronica but for me, it is Only This Moment that see's Royksopp step in a new directino and reap the rewards of attempting something different. Relying heavily on call and answer throughout the track, the syncopated bass and snare beats power the song forwards whilst the smooth snyth and delicate subject matterflow over the top. Its clear from the lyrics below that the song approaches someone unwilling to let themselves go in a relatinoship, scared to open themselves up. They are then offered an ultimatum, the suggestion that if they don't open up, they could ruin a possibly fantastic opportunity.

"Stay or forever go

Play or you'll never know

What heaven decided

You can't deny it's

All you've been waiting for

Stay or forever go

Play or you'll never know

Your spirit's divided

You will decide if I'm

All you've been waiting for"

Finally, Lykke Li has been receiving a lot of press recently, being pushed heavily on 6 music in addition to an insightful interview in the NME this week which wrongly quoted the lyrics to Little Bit, despite having a face to face interview with her, them being printed in the album booklet and being all over the net. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind the NME but for a national music magazine, that's pretty shoddy journalism. Anyway, that was all forgotten when I got my hands on an extreeeemly limited 12" of I'm Good, I'm Gone, pressed on heavyweight vinyl, released back at the beginning of June. New single Breaking It Up was released this week and the promotion seems to be paying off as festival performances become increasingly busy and tickets begin to fly off the binary shelves for her Autum tour. I'm heading to the Scala date for another spine-tingling performance and for the first time in a long time, I'm beginning to crave the second album long before I've grown tired of the first. It's Bloc Party syndrome all over again.

Video's galore below, enjoy.

I'm moving to New York 'cause I've got problems with my sleep

Its true. I do have problems with my sleep. Sadly, the move was not to New York. But it definately happened, I am now an official resident of Royal Arsenal housing development and it is ace. The flat is lovely and new and clean, the view is sometimes spectacular, often just interesting. My room is small but cosy and the flat will hopefully be viewed by you all soon once we've unpacked, I'm pushing for a housewarming party but it seems unlikely so I say we jsut have a medway piss up at the flat before everyone heads off to uni again.

I'm yet to regain some control over my life sadly as there is no internet yet, though I'm promising myself that I will be completely settled at the new place by September, simply because my body is running out of energy and my mind is going a little loopy. And come September, I'll also have my hands on a tasty new iPod and will get back to my massive music consumption. In the meantime, I'll continue posting from work but its difficult as I'm actually swamped at the minute so we'll see. Hold out for jsut a bit longer guys, I'm really enjoying my music at the minute so I'll enjoy posting again.

I'm not elitist, I just like good music

Right, this is a particularly difficult thing to write, because it's particularly unoriginal. But. Sometimes I really hate the NME with its tabloid gossip writing and supposed championing of new british music.

This article sums up for me entirely the NME's outlook on new, different, music. For once, don't enjoy reading this. Take offense to the fact that because Burial is not already established as a celebrity, the NME are, and i quote, "disappointed" that Burial is in fact "some bloke named Will making bedroom beats...wearing a craig david style hat" and not Damon Albarn, Thom Yorke or Norman Cook.

Thank you for yet again proving that you're far more interested in the image an artist puts forward than diversity and creativity. Grr.

http://www.nme.com/blog/index.php?blog=10&title=burial_not_thom_yorke_damon_albarn_or_da&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

p.s To be fair, they do hate the new Pigeon Detectives track but I'm yet to meet someone whose musical opinion I respect that likes that song. I do however await the review of the Muse/The Streets track with baited breath, could their adoration for a truly awful song be the last straw in an already massive bail of hay that makes me finally give up on the NME? Lets hope not

I found this on my recent travels around the net, actually spotted it after I wrote my little bit about Burial so its nice to see that the way I interpreted the album is the intended way. Though music should always be a personal experience, I don't think a better connection is made than the one that the composer had with it. The rare interview is between Burial and Hyperdub label owner and fellow dubstep artist Kode9 and provides a great insight on Burial's writing process, his production techniques and the effort put into the tracks. I particularly found Burial's vocal work interesting, having to cut up words to create new words and eventually mashing them out of all recognition whilst maintaining an air of connection and creativity.

Also, I've always had a thing for cute girl vocals as I've banged on about here more times than I care to remember so Burial's comments on this exact subject struck a real chord. A compelling read.
Eagerly anticipating the new EP and album.

http://hyperdubrecords.blogspot.com/2007/10/burial-untrue-november-2007.html

Improv Everywhere

So, something completely not music related but still, worth checking out none the less.

The "organisation" is called Improv Everywhere and organise a range of random activities to amuse and excite passers by, whether this involves carrying three desktop pc's into a Starbucks and plugging into the free wi-fi available or organising hundreds of people to line Brooklyn Bridge with cameras in an attempt to create a mexican wave of flashing lights. Sadly, its based in New York but there is an Urban Prankster network that deals with international events. This was brought to my attention when back in February, hundreds of participants gathered in Trafalgar square and at exactly half past three in the afternoon, froze solid for five minutes. However, when scouring their site today, I discovered a slightly older project called "The MP3 Experiment".
This involved 826 Improv Everywhere readers downloading an mp3 from their website, synchronising their watches to the clock on the site and gathering in a park in New York, wearing blue, red, green or yellow t shirts. Then, as the clock struck four, everyone pushed play on their mp3 player and were played some soothing music with a set of instructions. I'm not going to describe it as the website tells the story perfectly with pictures and videos but how can you not be tempted by a case of mistaken identity with a german tourist, twister and the biggest game of darts you'll ever see.

Fingers crossed they come back soon.

http://improveverywhere.com/2007/08/22/the-mp3-experiment-four/

Burial revealed

My admiration for Burial has been no secret on this blog or to my friends. The dubstep producer has released 2 albums so far with the debut being an awkward and tiring listen, failing to ever create a moment to connect with. However, Untrue for me was a musical revelation, I'd never heard anything like it and never have since. It is hard to tell how people will react to music I write about here, I would hardly call myself the most diverse musical listener, when was the last time I reviewed hip hop or metal for example, two massive, important genres. However, Dubstep is niche, its small and generally I'd say, pretty unappreciated. Only recently have people begun to take notice of Burial and that's a wonderful thing to see after so long.

I reviewed Burial way back when so I won't do it again but its been amazing to see that he was nominated for a Mercury music prize with so little pr about him and a genre that is succinctly underground. This is partly due to the fact that Burial has remained annonymous, citing that "only 5 people know I make tunes" and so, its all about the atmosphere and the way you interpret the music. With so little going on in the tracks, it allows you to focus on each individual sound and to me, that enhances the whole listening experience. And of course, the album sounds incredible, each note in perfect balance with sounds bouncing back at you from all over the place, creating a swirl of dark, intense and minimalistic noise that is a delight and a thought-provoking listen.

However, it was announced today via his myspace that -

"hi

for a while theres been some talk about who i am , but its not a big deal

i wanted to be unknown because i just want it to be all about the tunes.

over the last year the unknown thing become an issue so im not into it any more.

im a lowkey person and i just want to make some tunes, nothing else. my names will bevan, im from south london, im keeping my head down and just going to finish my next album, theres going to be a 12" maybe in the next few weeks too with 4 tunes. hope u like it, i'll try put a tune up later

sorry for any rubbish tunes i made in the past, ill make up for it

a big big thank you to anyone who ever supported me, liked my tunes or sent me messages, it means the world to me

big up everyone, take care, will ( burial )"

So there we go. The rumours were flying (thanks to NME as always) that the alter ego was Aphex Twin or even Mr Norman Cook. How amazing that it is someone uninterested in fame, someone with no musical prowess due to celebrity or cult status. Just a guy. Making amazing tunes because he can. Aphex proved that all you need to make tunes is your bedroom and some basic equipment and in the age of simple home recording, record labels clambering over bands to make them press idols as well as record sellers and the increase in supergroups (last shadow puppets, neon neon) or reformatinos to cash in on a market that still hates buying records, it is instantly refreshing to see someone that shows no interest and just wants to release songs because he likes them.

I hope Burial wins the Mercury, not to enhance his PR status and reach more people but as an acknowledgement that his approach to music is about the music. With the other nominees distinctly more popular, surely a music award should be given to someone that concentrated solely on their music and built their name just through records as opposed to live gigs and past groups. Feel free to disagree.

Let me occupy your mind, as you do mine

Soldiering on with another new album that was tearing up my iPod a couple of months ago, Belgian/Australian artist Gotye and his second album Like Drawing Blood. Born Wouter DeBacker, he took the stage name after crafting music from old vinyl samples and decided to follow suit in using an old name. Wouter translates from Flemish to French as Gaultier and subsequently, his nickname was born.

Like Drawing Blood draws on a number of influences, from classical string arrangements with smooth double bass, to trip hop with lo-fi drum production, via jazz with free form tempo and syncopated beats to create a dark and soulful record that exposes Gotye as and when he chooses.

The album was originally only released in his native Australia and after negotiating deals with a range of independents, Like Drawing Blood is seeing an eventual Europe release on August 18th via Lucky Number music and has been preceded by the incredible single Hearts A Mess.

It was Hearts A Mess that first drew my attention to Gotye but through its quirky video which views like a mashup of War Of The Worlds and Nightmare Before Christmas. The dark animation provides the perfect visualisations for this brooding track which utilises the previously mentioned Gotye-defining elements in a perfect 4 minute package. The song reads like your traditional heartbreaking song but as always for me, it is the instrumentation, production and delivery that make this video really stand out, all aided by Gotye's wonderful production and sampling skills. The song bends with Gotye's voice, with call and response style vocals and a swaying bass line to keep the song moving and when Gotye finally releases the demons, it is through production again that Gotye connects with his breathtaking chorus augmented with vocal effects and deep, developed instrumentation to emphasise the confusion and misidirection that he feels.

The song is aimed at a lover that is afraid to open themselves up and by doing so, is constantly alienating themselves from any future hope. The song reads like a self admittance, with a slow and brooding verse where Gotye picks apart why things arent going the way he wants and what it is that's holding them both back.

"You don’t get burned

(’Cause nothing gets through)

It makes it easier

(Easier on you)

But that much more difficult for me

To make you see…"

Eventually he seems to lose control as the stupidity and the frustration of the situation engulfs him. As Gotye releases the frustration he offers an ultimatum, either open up and let me in or leave me alone. The emotion in Gotye's voice is heartfelt and in the perfect Gotye style, accompanied by swelling strings, darker percussion and desolating backing vocals.

"Your heart’s a mess

You won’t admit to it

It makes no sense

But I’m desperate to connect

And you, you can’t live like this"

The song is the perfect anthem for those that have given there all to someone and been rejected but instead of approaching this worn out topic with loud guitars, crass lyrics and a touch of anger, it is desperation and disappointment that flows out of Gotye, instantly making the song more identifiable and more painful each time you hear it.

New single learnalilgivinalovin is out on 8th Spetember with Like Drawing Blood seeing its official UK release on the 18th of August.