Video – Daft Punk : Lose Yourself to Dance
Here we have it – first official video from Daft Punk for “Lose Yourself to Dance” directed by: Thomas Bangalter, Guyman de Homem-Christo, Warren Fu, Paul Hahn & Cedric Hervet.
Video – Caveman : In the City
Watch Caveman’s horrifying new video for “In the City” starring Julia Stiles. A tourist couple visits New York City for the first time. They soon discover that underneath the surface of the playground of the city, lies a world of darkness and horror.
New Track – Chromeo : Over Your Shoulder
Chromeo is back! On Tuesday, Holy Ghost! & Chromeo joined forces with Touch Sensitive and new DFA collab Museum of Love (Pat Mahoney of LCD and Jee Day) for a live broadcast on Boiler Room. Holy Ghost! have their sophomore LP out and Chromeo came down to play some of their first new recorded music in two years. Even though the show was private, you still get to watch the amazing music, free, live, online: http://boilerroom.tv/chromeo_holy_ghost_touch_sensitive_museum_of_love_sinkane/
Album Stream – Holy Ghost! : Dynamics
The full new album Dynamics from Holy Ghost! is here! and you can stream it below:
New Video – Petite Meller : Backpack
Chegg out the stylish and “cheeky” new video for “Backpack” from “nuovo jazzy-pop” singer and native Parisian Petite Meller. Directed by A.T. Mann & Napoleon Habeica (the Mexican photographer who created the American Apparel visual aesthetic),”Backpack” is a memoir of a French summer vacance, shot in the French Riviera that pays homage to French New Wave Cinema, winking at Godard’s “Pierrot le Fou” and George Henri Cluzot’s “L’Enfer”.
Album Stream – Arctic Monkeys : AM
Next week, Arctic Monkeys release their fifth album, AM. You can hear its low-slung rock and R&B grooves via this free iTunes stream.
New Track – Alt-J : Breezeblocks (RZA Remix)
alt-J have shared a reworking of “Breezeblocks” remixed by producer, multi-instrumentalist, and Wu-Tang Clan member, RZA. The remix premiered today on Jay Z’s Life + Times site. The release of this remix comes just in time for alt-J’s September 12th performance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.
Album Stream – Mrs Magician : B-Sides
Album Stream – Potty Mouth : Hell Bent
New Track – Au Revoir Simone : Crazy
Tyler Sargent (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah) played bass on this awesome new track from Au Revoir Simone called “Crazy”. Get it as an instant download with pre-order of album on iTunes: http://bit.ly/arsmoveinspectrums
New Track – John Grant : Black Belt (feat. Biggi Veira)
Chegg out the punchy new disco-house track “Black Belt” from former Czars frontman John Grant and Biggi Veira of GusGus..
New Track – Lumineers : Naïve Melody (Talking Heads Cover)
The Lumineers are streaming their cover of the Talking Heads’ classic “Naïve Melody” from the upcoming deluxe edition of their self-titled debut album, to be released tomorrow via Dualtone Records. Listen to “Naïve Melody” at the link below:
Video – Mock Suns : You Only Live Twice (007 Nancy Sinatra Cover)
You Only Live Twice…lives twice. Watch a live, psyched-out cover of Nancy Sinatra’s classic James Bond theme – You Only Live Twice – from Philly’s Mock Suns. One of the worst James Bond movies with still one of the best themes.
New track – Sweet Jane : Find Your Way
After playing this years SXSW, Sweet Jane – the four Paxton brothers and one Honorary Brother – have recently released their latest EP ‘Witches’ in the build up to their second album By the Ocean, By the Sea produced by Pat McCarthy (U2, Counting Crows, R.E.M) which will be released September 6th on Reekus Records.
Album release – Braids : Flourish
After 18 months of touring in support of Native Speaker, along with the departure of a band member, Braids secluded themselves in their Montreal studio for a year of writing and recording. While Native Speaker was written in an organic and live environment, the group sought to explore a more introspective and electronic approach to songwriting. Sonically, the songs from these sessions are delicate and tight, yet thoughtfully open up to the rich lushness reminiscent of their older material. Lyrically they are honest and vulnerable, demonstrating the group’s emotional growth and maturity since their last record.
Album release – Volcano Choir – Repave
After releasing two singles, a stunning video, and a behind the scenes Making of the Album mini-documentary, you can finally hear the whole new record Repave from Volcano Choir. Visit NPR now and hear for yourself.
Live – The National @ Greek Theatre, LA
On Saturday night, The National played their first of two nights in the new hometown to frontman Matt Berninger; this time at LA’s historic Greek Theatre. The 6,000+ capacity was certainly a marked change of scenery from the 350 person Bell House in Brooklyn where I last caught them, just prior to the release of High Violet.
What anyone who has ever been to one their performances can attest, whether the stage is tiny or is amongst the biggest in the world, The National deliver one of the most memorable experiences imaginable. Reviews will abound with what songs they played, but I’d prefer this review to talk about the growth of a band and my experiences as a fan of that band hitting success in perfect stride. Having first caught them in Louisville, KY in 2007 (and being so enamored with the performance where my friends and I bought tickets to the following night’s performance in their former-former hometown of Cincinnati, OH) and seeing the blatant nervous ticks of a man not yet comfortable performing on a stage in front of a couple hundred people to seeing that same man, six years later, running through a sold-out crowd of 6,000 people sing-screaming all of the lyrics to their songs made me, as a fan, feel incredibly proud. There’s something about The National that creates a really deep connection with its fans which is why I think that they’ve had the success they’ve had. They’ve never had the regular radio-play outside of the KCRW/NPR/College Radio world. What they have, however, are heartfelt songs about realistic experiences that encourage fans to connect on a quasi-personal level. I hear “Apartment Story” and I picture my wife and I getting ready for hosting a dinner party. I hear “Conversation 16” and I think about loving her so much and feeling like I fail her. I hear “I Should Live in Salt” and I think about how mad she can make me. I hear “About Today” and I think about how scared I’d be to lose her. I hear “Abel” and I think of the inanity of some of my friends. I hear “Terrible Lie” and I ask myself where I’m heading. The National have written the soundtrack to our lives.
Perhaps I’m just self-centered. Hell, I am writing a concert review and somehow making it all about me. I feel like Matt could appreciate that. But the story that The National tells is a bit of the everyman story that all of its fan can empathize with and connect to. If you don’t believe me then you should have heard the chants of “Baby, We’ll Be Fine” or “I Was Afraid, I’d Eat Your Brains.” You can hear it the voices that it’s not just singing along with miscellaneous words. Everyone of the 6,000 in attendance singing along sang with true emotion. And yet the story isn’t confined to the lyrical content. The Dessner and Devendorf brothers create a mood and energy befitting and perfectly complementing the story.
If there’s one thing that The National does as good as write amazing songs, it’s put on an amazing performance. Totting around the ever present bottle of wine (which I’ve seen him share on stage with his mother, “Uncle Jack,” and thousands of adoring fans), both Matt and the Dessner brothers have learned to own the stage. A stage now outfitted with one of the most impressive and gorgeous light shows I’ve ever seen (a photographer’s dream). But, I suppose that’s what years of touring and becoming seasoned billboard-charting veterans will do. In the beginning it was largely Matt and occasional touring member Padma Newsome putting on the show, but it’s great to see that everyone is in on the show these days.
I had wondered in advance of the show whether the setlist would be “Trouble Will Find Me”-heavy, the recently released 6th Studio album. Having a catalog as deep as theirs with two releases since my last opportunity to see the band, I’d expected to hear far less of the old material. Fortunately, we were treated to a 24 song set spanning Alligator to Trouble, with, what Matt might call, a “good mixture” across the albums. The setlist was near perfect. Being a new Californian myself, I’d have loved to have heard “All the Wine” for the crowd’s reaction alone. But the closer, Vanderlyle/Crybaby Geeks, from 2011’s High Violet, was undoubtedly the highlight of the night. Stripping down to an acoustic set. For all of the raucous, and stage antics, light show, guitar-shredding, drum-deconstruction, The National is a band about the song and the fans are about right there with them. While About Today may have magically brought the crowd to a hush for those final few lyrics…”may I ask you, about today?” For Vanderlyle, the immense crowd became pin-drop quiet for the encore-closing acoustic song up until we were compelled to chant along in unison…”Vanderlyle, Crybaby, Cry…oh the waters are rising, still no surprising you…Vanderlyle, Crybaby Cry…man it’s all been forgiven, swans are a-swimming, I’ll explain everything to the geeks!” I wanted to cry myself. It was a beautiful moment. It summed up the emotions, both from a songwriting perspective and a performance perspective, of everyone taking a part in that moment.
-Cory Greenwell
Setlist:
- I Should Live in Salt
- Don’t Swallow the Cap
- Bloodbuzz Ohio
- Sorrow
- Sea of Love
- Demons
- Afraid of Everyone
- Conversation 16
- Squalor Victoria
- I Need My Girl
- This Is the Last Time
- Slipped
- Baby, We’ll Be Fine
- Abel
- Slow Show
- Pink Rabbits
- Graceless
- England
- About Today
- Fake Empire
Encore:
- Humiliation
- Mr. November
- Terrible Love
- Vanderlyle Crybaby/Geeks (Acoustic)
New Track – Vaccines : Melody Calling
The Vaccines have released a new track in anticipation of their upcoming North American tour dates. “Melody Calling” was recorded in March at Eldorado Studios with producers John Hill (Rihanna, MIA, Santigold) and Rich Costey (Muse, Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys); the band debuted “Melody Calling” on their recent U.K. Arena tour which included shows at London’s O2 Arena & Leeds Millennium Square.
Video – Blue Hawaii : Try To Be
Blue Hawaii, Arbutus Records and many of their Montreal counter-parts all began with the same breath in early 2010. To date they’ve released an 8 song EP: in May of that year, Blooming Summer (Arbutus Records 2010) was recorded following the pair’s travels in Central America. It frames a time of warmth and novelty, featuring dense female harmonies, tape saturated synths, guitars and drum machines. Eventually Ra– returned to her role in BRAIDS, touring constantly, while Ag–moved to Europe, treading deeper into dance music, electronics, and production.
The duo notice that throughout the changing social and personal landscape which is one’s twenties, these divided notions and people somehow stay together. Even the name Blue Hawaii suggests a kind of melancholic, jaded paradise, but a paradise afterall. It is because – or perhaps in spite of – these disjointed intersections that the record is called Untogether.
Video – Appaloosa : Fill The Blanks
Video by Raphaëlle Chovin for Appaloosa’s “Fill The Blanks”, written by Anne-Laure Keib & Max Krefeld in London 2008.
Produced by Johnny Jewel for ‘After Dark 2’ compilation, released on Italians Do It Better.