Return of the Nash January 16, 2010
Posted by Patrick in Muzak.Tags: Do-Wah-Do, Kate Nash, Made of Bricks
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After enjoying considerable success from her first album Made of Bricks, things were looking good for Kate Nash. Then, she disappeared. For what feels like an eternity but was actually only approximately 22 months since she last released a single. Actually, that is practically an eternity in music terms.
Suddenly however, it seems that her as-yet-untitled second album will finally see a release in the coming months.
In the interim apparently, according to an interview with Paste Magazine, Kate has been “Being a person. Getting a flat. Buying a bunny rabbit. Passing my driving test.”
Ah, the classic post-successful-first-album-bunny-rabbit-purchase. Happens to them all. She’s also started up a side-project called The Receeders, who apparently only have about four songs to their name at this stage.
It’s not exactly clear what the second album will sound like, or indeed how similar it will be to her colourful piano-laced debut. This time round, she says she’s drawing influences from ’60s girl groups and ‘riot grrrl punk’:
“Being a woman was important to me on this album, so I wanted to be inspired by women,” she said. “I wanted to mix The Supremes and Bikini Kill.”
I’ve only heard a ropey YouTube version of the planned lead single Do-Wah-Do, which you can also avail of at the bottom of the post, and from the sounds of it it’s certainly not going to alienate her old fans. There’s something kind of newish sounding to it though, but it’s not clear how experimental she’s going to get with her sound on the rest of the record.
Other songs slated for the album have the working titles Paris, Kiss That Girl, I Hate Seagulls and Don’t You Wanna Share The Guilt.
No release date has been announced, but it’s certainly happening.
Kings of Menswear? January 15, 2010
Posted by Patrick in Muzak, Trashion.Tags: kings of leon, kolxs2a, menswear, surface to air
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Kings of Leon, known internationally for making above average rock music, have taken their first foray into the fashion world by launching their own menswear line, KOLxS2A, facilitated by Parisian boutique Surface to Air.
There aren’t many celebrity menswear lines out there, at least not to the overblown extent that female celebrities do special lines, so the Kings of Leon project piqued my interest when I first heard about it. So they may not exactly be fashion icons, but at least it would be something interesting.
Sadly, it’s not really. At all. From the clumsy title of the collection to its pieces, including one fairly ugly t-shirt and two meh plaid shirts, it’s all downhill from there. And it’s not even reasonably priced to add insult to injury. £209 for a guitar strap? £739 for a leather jacket? Think I’ll pass.
What’s worse is the fact that a lot of their devoted fans are likely to be turned off the band for ‘selling out’ and releasing an overpriced and not all-that-great clothing line. Bad move.
The collection is “coming soon” to Surface to Air stores in Paris, Sao Paulo, online and selected stores worldwide.
Click ‘more‘ below to see pictures of the line.
This ban too shall pass January 14, 2010
Posted by Paula in Muzak.Tags: Ok Go, This Too Shall Pass
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The video for Ok Go‘s new tune, This Too Shall Pass, popped up on YouTube a few days ago. Sadly, Capitol Records played a nasty trick on everyone by disabling embedding of the video in all regions. Given that Ok Go‘s videos are generally a sight to behold, and that this video is no different, people were a little upset that they couldn’t share it.
The video is now available to watch on Vimeo. Or right here. Hurray! It features a 200-strong marching band, and reminds me of that church scene in Love Actually where band members pop out from everywhere. Except Ok Go‘s effort has more exciting music, and grass monsters too.
Head, shoulders, knees and…ass January 13, 2010
Posted by Patrick in Muzak, Webshite.Tags: Fernanda Viégas, fleshmap, hip hop, Martin Wattenberg
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When you really think about it, human body parts are mentioned a whole lot in songs. It’s no surprise really that the word ‘ass’ is a common term in the hip-hop genre, or that Gospel music often mentions hands. But what body parts are alternative musicians and metal bands regularly working into their lyrics?
That’s where Fleshmap comes in. Based on a study of a sample of 10,000 songs, ranging from popular artists to the more obscure, the people behind Fleshmap, Fernanda Viégas and Martin Wattenberg, have created visual representations categorised by genre of how often specific body parts are mentioned.
From even a cursory glance at the graphs, the most startling thing is how much hip hop artists like to talk about body parts, from their favourite word ‘ass’, used in 23.64% of the chosen songs, right down to ‘prick’, used in 0.09%.
And that’s just the ‘Listen’ part of the site. In the ‘Touch‘ section, by surveying thousands of men and women, the team have devised a map of both a male and female body, highlighting the areas we like to be touched in. Print one off for future reference perhaps?
[Image: Fleshmap]
Sufjan was Here January 12, 2010
Posted by Patrick in Muzak.Tags: Bryce Dessner, Clogs, Illinois, My Brightest Diamond, Shara Worden, Sufjan Stevens, The BQE, The National
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Fresh off the back of his instrumental album The BQE, Sufjan Stevens has put his vocals to work once again, collaborating with Clogs, an instrumental band featuring guitarist Bryce Dessner of The National amongst others.
Shara Worden from My Brightest Diamond also features on the track, which will appear on Clogs’ fifth studio album The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton. It’s a nice, Dark Was the Night-esque mellow acoustic song with some nice twinkly bits at the end. (listen at the end of this post).
While it’s not a bad song, it only serves to reinforce how much I want another one of Stevens’ albums from his ‘Fifty States Project’ (be it a joke or not) to come out.
Sure, his Christmas album collection, The BQE and Asthmatic Kitty’s Library Catalog series have been fairly decent projects (some more than others) but I’d love to hear Stevens stop writing songs about trains and record something that can stand alongside his amazing tracks like Casimir Pulaski Day, Chicago, and To Be Alone with You.
Sadly, I’m not sure if or when Stevens will release another ‘traditional’ album. As he told Paste Magazine last November:
“In all honesty, [The BQE] is what really sabotaged my creative momentum. It wasn’t Illinois so much,” he says. “I suffered sort of an existential creative crisis after that piece. I no longer knew what a song was and how to write an album. It overextended me in a way that I couldn’t find my way back to the song.”
Oh well. Let’s hope he finds his way back to the song sometime soon.
Clogs – We Were Here (feat. Sufjan Stevens and Shara Worden) (download)
[Image: Into the Dustbowl]
Dance ’til you’re dead January 12, 2010
Posted by Patrick in Muzak.Tags: A-Trak, Karen O, remix, Where the Wild Things Are, Yeah Yeah Yeahs
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Okay, so it’s a little bit old (last October to be precise), but I only last night became aware of A-Trak’s excellent remix of Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Heads Will Roll.
The remix makes an already great track infinitely more danceable and provides a perfect antidote to anyone who’s getting a bit sick of hearing Karen O sing about love and wild rumpuses on the Where the Wild Things Are soundtrack.
Speaking of which, it looks like she’ll never see an Oscar nod for her work on that particular soundtrack because of the Academy’s stupid and nonsensical rules. The injustice of it all.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Heads Will Roll (A-Trak Remix) (download)
[MP3 courtesy of Discodust]
Are you full of Glee? January 12, 2010
Posted by Patrick in Muzak, Televisual.Tags: Fox, Glee, Ryan Murphy
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There’s lots of exciting news today for fans of FOX’s Glee, first and foremost that the show will be definitely returning for a much-anticipated second season (although that was really a no-brainer at this stage).
More surprisingly is the fact that the show’s producers are starting a nationwide search for stars to fill three new roles in the forthcoming sophomore year of the musical drama.
From FOX’s press release:
Building upon the show’s incredibly supportive community of GLEEks and with the hope of bringing fans even closer to the series, auditions will be open to amateur individuals as well as professionals between the ages of 16-26, and all hopefuls will be able to submit auditions online. Additional details to be announced soon, please check www.fox.com/glee for updates.
And if that wasn’t good enough, the casting search will be documented in a “multi-part special” which will air before the second season premiere, when the new stars will be revealed. Oh Glee, how we love you.
Ryan Murphy, the show’s creator and executive producer had this to say:
“GLEE has always been about finding new fresh exciting voices. Our second season search for young talent will be in the vein of our first season. We launched a nationwide search for talent for our first season with great unexpected results, and Season Two expands that search in an even bigger way. Anybody and everybody now has a chance to be on a show about talented underdogs. No matter who you are – a Broadway talent or a struggling singing waiter with a dream in the Midwest – you now have an opportunity to make that dream come true by posting your talent video and showing us what you can do. ALL the roles will be chosen from the video audition process, which is exciting and unprecedented. We want to be the first interactive musical comedy on television, and the search is ON.”
So eh…can Irish people apply?
Glee is currently airing on TV3 on Wednesday at 8pm, and on E4 on Mondays at 9pm. New episodes return Stateside on 13th April 2010.
Image ©2010 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Patrick Ecclesine/FOX
It’s just Justin January 9, 2010
Posted by Patrick in Muzak.Tags: Blood Bank EP, Bon Iver, For Emma, Hazeltons, Justin Vernon, Volcano Choir
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Before there was Bon Iver (and Volcano Choir), there was Justin Vernon – the solo artist. Not that Bon Iver isn’t as good as a solo vehicle for Vernon, but I only discovered last week that he had actually produced an album of his own, Hazeltons, before he infamously locked himself in a cabin for three months and wrote For Emma.
His solo effort isn’t a million miles away from Bon Iver’s stuff, but it’s a lot simpler, with most tracks comprising mainly acoustic guitar and Vernon’s voice.
Perhaps the strangest part of the whole thing is that he sings with a bit more of an accent, there’s a bit more grit in his voice than there is in Bon Iver’s falsetto-laced tracks. That said, any Bon Iver fans may actually prefer this to their divisive autotune-y Blood Bank EP.
Apparently only 100 copies were made of this album, “in long paper sleeves with various nature photos”. Guess we missed that boat. It is available online unofficially, but to tell you how to get it would be completely wrong and possibly illegal.
Check out the title track from the album, Hazelton, below.
Hazelton – Justin Vernon (download)
[MP3 courtesy of PeerValidated]
[Image: PopSecret]
We like contradiction, anything that contradicts December 30, 2009
Posted by Patrick in Muzak.Tags: brandi cyrus, codi caraco, megan park, miley cyrus, New Moon, the secret life of the american teenager, Twilight
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Did you know that Miley Cyrus has a sibling who also makes music? No, not her over-tattooed brother with a weirdly long face, but her sister, Brandi Cyrus? No? Didn’t think so.
Brandi is part of all-female band Frank and Derol, which also includes Megan Park (star of the ABC Family show The Secret Life of the American Teenager. I’ve never watched this so I can’t really say how good or bad it may be) on synth, tambourine and backing vocals, and Codi Caraco, another musician who plays piano and does lead vocals. The band originally didn’t even include Cyrus, but obviously her guitar playing skillz and backing vocals were needed in the mix.
She’s not, I was surprised to learn, a stranger to the music world, as she played guitar in her sister’s TV show Hannah Montana as well as on one of Miley’s tours. How impressive.
The first song the group wrote together was a Twilight-inspired track called Lights Out, with the hopes of getting it on to the New Moon soundtrack. But, as well know, that didn’t exactly pan out.
Wondering what exactly the name Frank and Derol means, I stumbled upon an interview with the band on Acid City. Lead singer Codi’s answer didn’t exactly shed any light on this:
“we like contradiction, anything that contradicts. and that name does. derol is also my dads name.”
Ah right. It’s a contradiction. Because everybody knows that the name Frank contradicts the name Derol.
They haven’t actually released anything and are still pursuing a record deal, but have toured with Brandi’s dad Billy Ray Cyrus. So, only having access to what’s up on their MySpace page (two and a half songs), I’ve picked out their track Back and Forth. Surprisingly, it’s actually quite good (and a million miles away from any of Miley’s stuff), with a sound that my friend Anna describes as “ethereal”. Judge for yourself below.
Frank and Derol – Back and Forth (download)
[Image: GaryLivingston.com]
And my head told my heart… December 26, 2009
Posted by Patrick in Muzak.Tags: little lion man, mumford & sons, winter winds
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How remiss of me not to post something about Mumford & Sons during the entire stretch of 2009. I stumbled upon them on Neon Gold Records’ blog way back in March (and I don’t say that in a HEY! I KNEW THEM FIRST kind of way) or so, and instantly loved their track White Blank Page. Not much happened after this, until October when I got wind that they were finally releasing their debut album, Sigh No More.
I haven’t heard anything quite like them in recent years, but apparently folk is back in, judging by the amount of people who’ve said to me recently that they love the group. They play Dublin’s The Academy on 18th March, but tickets unfortunately appear to be sold out at the moment.
While I loved their first single from the album, the vaguely Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t've) sounding Little Lion Man (which I was dismayed I couldn’t put on the playlist in Starbucks – due to its F-wordage), Winter Winds was instantly my favourite album track. And of course, it’s their latest release, just in time for the actual Winter Winds of Christmas. Ah, I see what they’ve done there.
Listen & watch below.
Also, check out Neon Gold Records’ blog for a free download of Little Lion Man.
Patrick and Paula
Patrick
Paula