Civilization

Fairly recently (3 weeks, cough, cough) I went to my only festival of the year: festival deBeschaving. It was just outside of Utrecht so no hassle with tents and travel and stuff. I'll share my highlights here, I'll spare you the criticism of Pete Doherty, Kate Nash, et al.

First act we managed to catch was Get Cape.Wear Cape.Fly. (Yes, the interpunction is important!) Really nice laptoppy singer-songwriter stuff. I was particularly taken by War of the Worlds and I-Spy. His throaty voice and (slightly) critical lyrics make this a worthy addition to my shortish trophy room of singer-songwriters.

Next was the Dodos. Advertised as calm, folk, not a beat too many. What we got instead was postfolk: droning on, pulsating. Brilliant! Not entirely representative but still good is this video of Fools. It's really amazing how just a guitar, drums and an occasional shout into the microphone can absorb you. Their new album, Visiter, is good but it does not catch the feel of their live show.
For me this was really the highlight of the festival, but my ears hurt a little afterward.

We enjoyed the sun, Das Pop, Kaizers Orchestra (a lot but from a distance) and Oi Va Voi after that, but the final highlight for me is definitely Slagmalsklubben (I'm missing an a with a circle above it here, I'm sure!). Weird Teletubby-influenced Swedish electro, so-lame-they're-funny ramblings between songs but still, you can't go wrong with a song like Sponsored By Destiny. Oh yeah, and some blinking lights!

The final bus back home beckoned, so no Mogwai.

Transformers

I'm not writing much, I know. Sorry! My Internet is down most of the time, yadda yadda yadda. (The rest of the blog is down too, but I can't explain that away that easily!)

Robots in Disguise is, however, one band I think you should not miss out on!

The Sex Has Made Me Stupid was fabulous first time around - I could not stop listening to it. Even without the video, it's still pretty cool!

And for some strange reason I really, really, really like 'I live in Berlin' - Although my German girlfriend may have something to do with that! (She does not live in Berlin, nor is she a robot in disguise, and she's smarter than me!)

In the end, Motormark may have the final word, though! Everybody at the discotheque has made me stupid! Remember folks, Motormark let made you stupid first ;-) This version is by Stereo Total, but the original was better. Crystal Castles avant la lettre, but even more chaotic!

Maybe the next best thing!

Jack (Will and Grace) on playing blackjack: "Oh, no, all that "hit me, hit me" gets me excited for all the wrong reasons."

Anyway, here's a Hit Me (more like a Hit Machine?) that gets me excited for all the wrong reasons. The biggest surprise, probably, is that they're not even Scandinavian. They're from Amsterdam!

Hit Me TV - Maybe The Dancefloor

P.S. See if you can find the Blokgolf Remix. It might even help you through your exams, Euro 2008, etc. Here it is!

Most Boring Post! Nice music? Yes!

Glasvegas is nice. They make me think of Nancy Sinatra (by way of Jarvis) and JMAC.

Here's a (sorry for the indirection) link.

Enjoy!

Daddy's gone is nice as well, maybe I like it even better. Come to think of it, it's eight years almost to the day my little brother hanged himself so there might be some symbolism in that vid.

And since these guys look like rockabillies from 1980 (check the hairdos!) I am not going to embellish this post with still pictures.

They've not got the noisyness of A Place To Bury Strangers - Willem, is that next Monday? - but they're kind of human. I like humans! For breakfast; that is.

Death Cab For Cutie's Newborn

The new released album of DCFC is called ' Narrow Stairs'. There's no change of style since their last album 'Plans', but still every album of theirs is worth the attempt of listening and when the simple melodies open up, they won't leave your head. Hail to the thief, grab it!


Death Cab For Cuty - Narrow Stairs (album in mp3)

The password is: nodata.tv. If you type that in your internet browser, you'll find a very fine blog!

Veteran Swap

Tina in
Phil out

Now that's what I call a good trade.

Starting Point

Yesterday dEUS kicked-off their new tour along small venues across Europe, hawking their upcoming album Vantage Point. Doornroosje in Nijmegen had the honour of being the first of over twenty stages to be taken possession of, which shouldn’t be that much of a problem. My point of reference in this respect was the stunning performance they gave in the Aula Magna, Lisbon, Fall 2005, which is likely to be the most suitable concert location I ever visited.

I soon discovered that wasn’t really fair, for the obvious reason that at this stage the band is still entitled to some degree of imperfection. Plus, during their a two-hour (!) show I’m almost convinced they managed to play every single track of their new album. That’s the spirit!

Some points worth mentioning:

• The Black Box Revelation, opening for dEUS, prooved once again that Belgians know their way around guitars.
• “Slow” sounded a little… slow. Wait, make that feebly.
• Mauro Pawlowski without a beard looks like John Stamos. All bearded he bears a striking resemblance to The Magic Numbers.
• Mauro knows how to use his voice. Still, he should work on his facial expressions.
• For us Dutchmen it is rather embarrassing and sometimes awkward when someone speaks Flemish and you don’t understand what’s being said. So Mauro, if what you meant to say was ‘thank you’, then you’re welcome.
• Mauro Pawlowski is rather intriguing…

dEUS - The Architect (video)
dEUS - Instant Street (track on MySpace)

Verily, doth this cause you affront?

Does it Offend You, Yeah? first got onto my musical radar because of their weird, weird name. They stayed there for a long time until they popped up, stealthily, on a bored, what-shall-we-do(wn)-now afternoon. "You Have No Idea What You're Getting Yourself Into" the album title read. Well, neither did I.

Neither did I.

At first, I - grasping at straws by now - compared them to WRM, but that didn't match up. White Rose Movement is rather awesome too (will be subject of a next post, I promise) , but DIOYY transcend the genre - if there even is one to speak of.

I would totally understand you if you had no clue what I was talking about so here's a few a clinks: We Are Rockstars, and my personal favorite Doomed Now. Doesn't come across half as well as the original but what can you do? You could download the original,wink, wink, nudge, nudge. It makes me happy!

Young, Fresh & New

Der Jugend is zurück: De Jeugd van tegenwoordig – Hollereer (mp3)

Post-Postal Service-before-there-was-a-Postal Service: The Notwist – Good Lies (mp3)

80's synths and Miami Vice drums, isn't that really all you need? M83 – Kim & Jessie (mp3)

Zoot alors: Zoot Woman – live in my Head (mp3)

Hmmm, maybe there's still hope for Chinese Democracy too: Portishead – Machine Gun (mp3)

They only want you when you’re seventeen part II

For some mysterious reason 'youth' seems to be a theme these days. Check MGMT's 'Kids' and 'The Youth', seventeen year-old Laura Marling who sings on Mystery Jets' 'Young Love' or M83's new album 'Saturdays=Youth'. And now Ladytron (best known for their hit 'Seventeen') have released a new single as well as Dutch electro hip-hoppers De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig ('Today's Youth').

Hollerate: De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig - Hollereer (stream)

Ladytron - Black Cat (mp3)

Ladytron - Seventeen (mp3)

They only want you when you’re seventeen

Laura Marling, you know, the ultra-talented seventeen year old girl with the amazing voice and the catchy folk-pop songs? She played in Paradiso in Amsterdam yesterday. Dressed in one of her bear-sized grandpa’s shirts and fresh from the blind lady next door who cut her hair she awkwardly played some songs. And she must have practiced a lot, since they sounded exactly as they sound on her (quite excellent) debut album. I guess she had to concentrate real hard to reproduce those songs so well because she kept looking at her shoes or her microphone. Well done, Laura!

Afterwards I had a couple of drinks with some seventeen-something girls (and no it wasn’t like that at all) who knew what being seventeen is all about. Hot fashion, juicy gossip (‘you know Chris and Janine…well, they totally did it!’), bitchfights (“bitter is not a good color on you honey”) and even throwing drinks in someone's face (I thought that only happened on tv). Suffice it to say; I prefer my seventeen year-old girls that way.

Laura Marling – Ghosts (mp3)

Mystery Jets – Young Love (featuring Laura Marling) (mp3)

Be Your Own Pet is Still Rock'n'Roll

...Although they've grown past majority now.

Or should that be: even though they've grown up, they're still rock'n'roll?

After this, rather gothy, video you could expect the worst. Teenage girls in nurse uniforms, how emo can you get (the background in the pic doesn't count, that's just a club in Austin)? Well, cousin Jemina (not Aunt, although she's from Tennessee) still has got a voice like you wouldn't believe - raw, guttural, sexy - and the band serves her really well. On stage, she's a raging vixen, shaking her stuff like Iggy has reincarnated even if he has not died yet. (He Should, BTW)

I was overjoyed to see that BYOP had a new album out (source of the first video) and I like it even better than their previous effort. I guess you get better when you get older, up to a certain age. One song hypemachine/youtube has not picked up on yet, but which to me really exemplifies the raw strength of BYOP can be found here. 100 downloads only!

This one is rather funny as well.

Red

Today, on the fifth day of spring, Guillemots are finally releasing their long-awaited follow-up album Red. I will not bore you with another exhausting allegorial representation of the album - I trust a short yet indisputable must-buy recommendation will do.

Eclectic, sophisticated, stupefying, sometimes bombastic, but with every element deliberately chosen.

Asthmatic Kitty Releases Free Video Game Compilation!

The label of a.o. Sufjan Stevens, My Brightest Diamond and Castanets releases a compilation of songs to play during the independant videogame 'AutoSurf'. The music is influencing the speed of the game, so it's really interactive. The fine eclectro is made by some artists of the label and a lot of friends. Some songs are exclusively released on this compilation. Also when you're not playing videogames, the music is nice to listen and free to download!

Asthmatic Kitty - Music for videogames v.1 [album]

PC, Hi-IQ Niggers and Teenage Pregnancy

If you haven't seen Juno yet, go do so. Now. Not only is the movie nice (nice enough to make me cry, 2 out of two times I've seen it - whereas Contact only managed 66.65% :)

But the soundtrack... Man that snipped my bellbottows off with a boxcutter (*)! The indie tracks are very high quality - two Belle&Sebastian tracks! Sonic Youth/The Carpenters actually featuring - as in being talked about - in a movie! Cat Power! - The Kinks (selling point for your parents (unless you're preggers I guess)). Best thing, the original tracks are really catchy too, I kept whistling them walking home for days. Why didn't they get an Oscar?

Connecting nicely into the (major spoiler! ?) upper class babies, here's a very good track by Cadence Weapon: "Tattoos and What They Really Feel Like". Sounds gangsta, but it's not!

His new record "Afterparty Babies" is out now on Canada's upperclass records. I'm listening to it right now and it's very, very good. Cool beats and very cool rhymes without the "Look at me I'm a white guy from Nova Scotia" Buck 65 routine :) To be sure, they both suffer from excessive name-drop-ism but when you're namedropping Ian Curtis/Frida Kahlo I guess you are allowed some leeway.

Here's another nice Cadence Weapon video on YouTube: "Sharks". That one's a bit older, though.
Finally, here's a really booming track: House Music

Full disclosure: I am a big fan of CWs labelmate The Russian Futurists. I read their promotional emails. I really look forward to TRF's next album ;-) Finally: I downloaded CW's latest from bitTorrent, but will go see him as the pre/post-show of The Russian Futurists!

(*) = I stole that too from Cadence Weapon. He's just got too many good lines!

Go pique yourself

dEUS will release a new album in april. And if that fact alone isn't enough to pique your curiousity how about the guest vocals from Lies Lorquet from Mitzkov, Guy Garvey from Elbow and Karin Dreijer Andersson from The Knife? Still not piqued enoug? There are not one but two singles. 'The Architect' for Belgium and 'Slow' (featuring Karin Dreijer Andersson) for the UK, Scandinavia and The Netherlands. Need some more Piqueing? How about the video for Slow? If you still need more you can just go...

dEUS - The Architekt (mp3)

dEUS - Slow (featuring Karin Dreijer Andersson from The Knife) (video)

Three String Transpose

Canada! Whooo! (Yeah!)

Now that we've got that out of the way, let me tell you what I thought about last Monday's concert by Islands and We are Wolves.

I'd seen both of them before, both at Dour 2006. The difference was that I saw Islands from the back of a chock-filled tent and WaW pretty close-up. That time, Islands was all dressed in white and you couldn't really hear the songs. But - they must have been pretty good otherwise the tent collectively would have buggered off to get french fries or beer. They didn't bring the pretty violin girl along this time, but they had two Japanese guys (I guess they had them 2 years ago, but I didn't notice) so that was about even. Musically, they were interesting enough to listen to, a great way to spend a pre-show, but nothing more. Come on, a 6-piece band should be able to give a nice show!

Less is better.

It was turning kind of late on a regular Monday night, but who needs to go to sleep on a regular Monday night when you've got three guys - one with a bass, one with a drum kit and one with a synth & drumcomputer? Everybody who has got a job, that's who!

They started off with "Walk Away" but then the main bass string broke. That was a good thing, because they were just about loud in a good way. The roadie tried to repair it, didn't work, so then Alexander (if wikipedia is correct) transposed the songs down into three strings. That, on the other hand did work! The show was not as gut-wrenching deep down as you'd want, but my hearing aid will thank you for it later on.

I will not moan about the songs I like that I think that they should have played (I Wrote Your Name On My Kite), but here's a new We Are Wolves song I reallly like (and the video is great too!), Psychic Kids: http://youtube.com/watch?v=8fE4XMxz-NY

It has also got stop-motion IKEA furniture, Britney could use more of that!

Ah yeah, one more thing to mention: they didn't only play the new album but also the oldies - as far as you can speak of that! And yes, that includes Little Romeo and Little Birds!

As I am writing this, The Russian Futurists has posted completion of his next album, so I can obsess over a new Canadian band for the next two months!! :-)

MGMT live = barren

Kylie Minogue without 'Can't Get You Out Of My Head'. Hot Chip without 'Over and Over'. Justin Timberlake without 'Rock Your Body'. Feist without 'Mushaboom'. Whitney Houston without 'I Will Always Love You'. The Postal Service without 'Such Great Heights'. Sinead O'Connor without 'Nothing Compares 2 U'. The White Stripes without 'Seven Nation Army'. Fischerspooner without 'Emerge'. New Order without 'Blue Monday'...no wait, Joy Division without 'Love Will Tear Us Apart'. Nirvana without 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'. The Knife without 'Heartbeats'. Annie without 'Heartbeat'. MGMT without 'Kids'.

Jens Lekman And The Kalimba

Last week Jens Lekman played two shows in Holland and they were fantastic! Though some horns, keys and guitars came out of a laptop, it was really enchanting. In his band there was a cello player and Marla Hansen played the violin and she did it wonderfully (check here some vids of her with Inlets). Still the most intimate moments were the most impressing to me. Jens solo with his guitar or with a Kalimba. That is an african instrument and in the hands of Jens it sounds really cool. It has a bell-like tone with beautiful overtones en limited possibilities. Someone somewhere posted an album with Jens' live Kalimba songs. You can download it here to check it yourself!

Download: Jens Lekman - Songs On The Kalimba (album)

Volkoren Exists 5 Years!

Some recordlabels are a sign for good music. The dutch label "Volkoren" (named after a very Dutch kind of bread), is such a label. Under their hood they have beautiful alt.country/quiet pop/folktronica bands like 'At The Close Of Every Day', 'Brown Feather Sparrow', 'Ponoka' and 'Anderson'. Internationally they have good distribution deals, making their music available in the United States, Spain, Japan and other cool places. The label exists 5 years, which means an anniversary party in Hedon, Zwolle, the Netherlands...

Vacuuming Asteroids and Venn Diagrams

This was shown on MTV back in 1995. What I would give to see something like that nowadays!

Although this is even cheesier!

Which of the two videos is better? Which of the two bands do you like better? Discuss.

Lamspshade Singer Goes Solo and 80's!

The female singer of the danish indie/new wave/postrock/noise band Lampshade has heard her solocarrier calling. The project's called asinrebekkamaria and the music is very 80's, as in dancable and dirty. Her beautiful voice always touches hearts and this time it will also touch your feet.
Check her myspace if you like good electro of if you can't wait for the third album of Lampshade!

How Terribly Strange To Be Seventy, part I

Why is all (well, almost all) pop music about being young and sad or young and partying? Seems a bit superficial to me and, on a more universally individual note, quickly dated. What if you find your love (or money, or ..., depends on what you're running low on), or the party's over, ah, what then? How Terribly Strange To Be Seventy will be the list to show you 'what then': a collection of beautiful songs loosely based on the 'old age' theme. Please add to this list!

The first one is 'Old Friends' and 'Bookends Theme' by Simon & Garfunkel, from which the title of this post is derived. Notable detail: it is said that Art Garfunkel himself is now 67, almost there..

Old Friends

Old friends, old friends sat on their parkbench like bookends
A newspaper blowin' through the grass
Falls on the round toes of the high shoes of the old friends

Old friends, winter companions, the old men
Lost in their overcoats, waiting for the sun
The sounds of the city sifting through trees
Settles like dust on the shoulders of the old friends

Can you imagine us years from today,
sharing a parkbench quietly
How terribly strange to be seventy

Old friends, memory brushes the same years,
silently sharing the same fears


Bookends Theme

Time it was, and what a time it was, it was
A time of innocence, a time of confidences
Long ago, it must be, I have a photograph
Preserve your memories; They're all that's left you

Hot Chip

All bloglove and hyperbole aside, the new Hot Chip is actually very good. To be honest, I wasn't really expecting it to be that good. Thanks for dissapointing me though.

By the way; is it me or is anyone else also hearing a bit of Dan Deaconism in some of the new songs?


No. 1 guys: Hot Chip - Ready For The Floor (mp3)

Not so danceable, not not so great: Hot Chip - One Pure Thought (mp3)

A remix of a bonus track that's a cover: Tracy Thorn - Kings Cross (Pet Shop Boys cover) (Hot Chip Remix) (mp3)

This is one of their more interesting remixes: Caribou - She's The One (Hot Chip Remix) (mp3)

Kevin Barnes's management

As a devoted follower of everything produced, touched or even mentioned by Of Montreal, I recently put my hands on MGMT, formerly known as The Management. In 2005 this group, consisting of Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden (I guess both of Dutch descent?) went on a tour with His Royal Godness Kevin Barnes And The Band, which I cannot imagine having done any harm to their music.

Having peddled their Time To Pretend EP for three years, nowadays they're definitely for real.

MGMT's debut album was released January 22nd and it's definitely the first release of 2008 I'm really, really excited about. Think Of Montreal, add some eighties panache and maybe even a little Broken Social Scene.

MGMT - The Youth (mp3)

MGMT - Time To Pretend (video)

Guillemots return

After the release of their most recent single Annie, Let's Not Wait in January last year, and the following months of touring during last summer, Guillemots migrated south. Or north, I'm not quite sure, since they're literally from all over the world. Whatever they did, they most certainly did not hibernate.

Their new clutch contains eleven eggs, two of which have already hatched! Get Over It, the first little offspring to fly out in the UK on March 17, and Kriss Kross, placed for adoption right here!

The remaining little brothers and sisters are expected to fly off on March 24. Let's hope these eggs are just as well fertilized as those of the aforementioned early birds!

Nine times more!

One of my favorite records in 2005 (and 2006) was Swedish indie pop band Love is All's 'Nine Times That Same Song'. Jumpy rhythms, chaotic saxophones and charmingly energetic vocals by the charismatic lead singer Josephine. It took some time before the record caught on and recently they released a remix album to simmer down the angry mobs demanding a new album (which was gasoline on the flames for some since the remix album wasnt very good). But the follow-up seems to be in sight, rough drafts of new songs are streaming on their myspace! If you ever get the chance, go see them live, trust me, you'll thank me for it.


Of Montreal - Make Out, Fall Out, Make Up (Love Is All cover) (mp3)

Love Is All - Felt Tip (Hot Chip Remix) (myspace)

Love Is All - Busy Doing Nothing (myspace)

Sufjan Stevens rare B-Sides And (live) Tracks/Hidden Treasures

Treasures are not to be hidden in the ground, they are there to be found. Just like some beautiful songs of the great and holy Sufjan Stevens. I won't spend too much words, because these songs speak for themselves. You can download these special tracks all at once, here in this zipfile:
- Adlai Stevenson (alternate version)
- All Delighted People
- Borderline
- Bushwick Junkie
- Chicago (acoustic version)
- Damascus
- God’ll Never Let You Down
- How Can That Stone Remain?
- I Can’t Even Lift My Head
- Jupiter Bad June (Live)
- Many Guides (Live)
- Niagara Falls
- Opie’s Funeral Song
- Pickerel Lake
- The First Full Moon
- The Friendly Beasts
- The Lord God Bird
- Variation on Commemorative Transfiguration and Communion at Magruder Park
- Wolverine
- Woman At The Well
- The Brooklyn Queens Expressway 3 (Live on WYNC)
- The Brooklyn Queens Expressway 6 (Live on WYNC)
The last two tracks are live versions of music Sufjan made for a film (yes, he can do everything)!

In this zipfile are some great covers Sufjan did:
- Free man in Paris (Joni Mitchell cover)
- Lakes of Canada (The Innocense Mission cover)
- Ring Them Bells (Bob Dylan cover)
- She is (Tim Buckley cover)
- The One I Love (REM cover)
- What Goes On (Beatles cover)

(With thanks to The World Forgot for some of the tracks, great blog by the way)

Review new We Are Wolves: Total Magique

Theoretically you should have read the review of the first We are Wolves album for this.

You didn't as I didn't write it.

Good!

This album is even better than their first one!

Why is this one better than the last one:? (in no particular order)
0) They're from Canada. [ no points, last one did also]

1) Less French, as that's always hard to understand. [ hard to check ]

2) It rocks more! [subjective]

3) Being Dutch, I got a soft spot for "I wrote my name on your Kite" (Andre Hazes and all that!)

4) They're coming to Utrecht (3rd March) as the preshow of Islands. [ yay!]

5) You have got to love a song name "Teenage, Bats, Anthropology" (at least, I do) [subjective]

6) Sounds more like Monster Magnet! Without going totally metal. Nobody remembers Monster Magnet anymore, but I still like my Negasonic Teenage Warhead! Whatever the guy was called, he wore a Jesus jacket in 1992... [ applies only only for ulkedovers < 98 ish]

7) OK, I'm straight outta reasons here - I could go on for ages about White Rose Movement or whatever, but I won't. Why oh why didn't no-one pick up on WRM?
[7a]: They're too brilliant!

I'll Pitch a Fork at you Personally, godd*mn you!

It's a strange experience when you get music input from your old folks. My mom, before she died, used to like Morrissey, Sisters of Mercy and Ian C. a lot; my dad was a regular Beatles and Stones junkie (as you can expect!). Oh yeah, and Wagner. FYI: the last record they bought together was 'Fear of Music' by the Talking Heads.

Well, I was young too. Didn't like the Beatles - my parents liked them. Didn't like the Stones - on the radio too much.To my mind, that left two choices:
- go psych = Pink Floyd
- go real rock = The Who

For what it's worth, I liked both about equally (I went with the Who on princincple).

Oh, and I forgot about the Beach Boys. [And Jan and Dean, but that's another matter, as that's not really music!]

Boy, did I ever make a mistake! It turns out I like the close, cloying harmonies attributed to the Beach Boys more than the well-composed sing-alongs of the Beatles or the proto-heavy-metal of the Stones. Also, I don't do drugs and I'm not one for fighting on the beach in leather jackets.

So where did that leave me?

In 1 band: The Russian Futurists.

In 2 bands: TRF and Panda Bear. You know, the guy from the Animal Collective.

Person Pitch by Panda Bear is really quite amazing! At first it sounds like your Beach Boys tape is running badly in your tape recorder, then you pay attention to something else and it sounds like someone's mumbling in the background, and THEN you start paying attention properly.

It is all and yet none of the above - it's not "Californication/-a Girls", it's also not the "Let's dance to Joy Division/She 's Lost Control" dichotomy, not the Beatles versus Devendra Banhart, it's more like "Zen and The Art of Motor Cycle Maintenance"/"Even Cowgirls get the Blues" and it's not even like that!- it's what you make out of it!

(I make a happy clap- and sing-along out of it!)

Listen to "Take Pills", as that is the best 'capsule' intro I can find; the speedup at 2:30-ish may well be the most brilliant invention in music ever. God, I can keep bouncing around like a Teletubby on speed on this record. Let's push publish....

Anticipation

Are you as excited as I am? There are quite a lot of interesting records that will (if all goes well) be released in 2008.

Like the Swedish band The Radio Dept., who proved that there’s only one step between My Bloody Valentine (who will quite possibly also release a new record this year) and The Pet Shop Boys. In 2006 they released 'Pet Grief' which has grown to be one of my favorite records.

We’ve all been waiting even longer for a new record from Norway’s Kings of Convenience. Erlend says that if we’re all really sweet and do our chores than 2008 might just see a follow-up to 2004’s (!) 'Riot on an Empty Street'.

Belgium’s pride (Soulwax is the other pride) dEUS will release a new album on april 21 which will feature a duet with Karin from The Knife (got your attention now, don’t I?).

April 15 will see the release of M83’s new record Saturdays = Youth. No ambient stuff there, that will be saved for the Digital Shades releases. M83 have gotten help from Ken Thomas and Ewan Pearson (who did an incredible job on Tracy Thorn’s latest record) on this one.

Elbow is also readying their 4^th album. A new track ‘The Bones of You’ is up for preview at their site.

I have a hard time deciding who is my favorite Canadian BSS-chick. Amy Millan (of Stars) released a crappy solo-album and is officially out of the race. It’s now between indie’s first lady Feist and Metric’s Emily Haines. June 23 should see new work by Metric, maybe that will be decisive.

First up is a remix for everyone’s favorite Italo-girl Sally Shapiro (I feel a remix album coming up) but after that Junior Boys should finish the follow-up to their critically acclaimed album This is Goodbye (which was a follow-up to their also critically acclaimed Last Exit). Hey, Jeremy, Johhny, why the hell are you reading this, get to work!

I guess their finally done with all their side-projects since a new Wolf Parade album should be available to us by june. As good as all those side-projects were (Sunset Rubdown, Swan Lake, Handsome Furs) Wolf Parade still feels like the ‘main’ project. Hope they’ll be able to keep that feeling.

Just catching up to 2005...

Since 2008 is sooo 2007 (so far), here's a list of albums I wished I'd listened to more in 2006, even though they came out in 2005. Linking to relevant links is left as exercise to the reader (or Choquolage :)

10. We Are Wolves - Non-Stop Je Te Plie En Deux. Just brilliant. It's a mix of electro-pop and Monster Magnet. Note to self: must write review of their new record! Okay, I'm cheating - I just got this in 2007.

9. Wir Sind Helden - Von Hier An Blind. Fitba? Que'st que ce que ca?

8. M83 - Before the Dawn Heals Us. You can never be too paranoid.

7. Modeselektor - Hello Mom! Three years on, this will stiil make you bounce around like a very bouncing ball indeed.

6. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! - S/T. Key track: Upon A Tidal Wave Of Young Blood.

5. Put something you like here, and keep the rest unchanged, hmm?

4. Kaiser Chiefs - Employment. Huh, what's this one doing here? Well, this might be the one record that got me out of my old listeninng habits - pop question: in January 2006, when faced with the question between completing your backcatalogue of Eels and this, what do you do? Answer: both!

3. Tom McRae - All Maps Welcome. The Bishop of Mope might be close to a promotion to
Archbishop. (He's blown it with his next record, though; though it's still nice!)

2. The Russian Futurists - Our Thickness. Mumblin' stumblin' over all the words I'm wordin' it must be the Bourbon, I should stop now otherwise I'm going to mention Panda Bear (and that's definitely a 2007 record, oooh boy)

1. Metric - Live It Out. Because of this record, I traveled to Cologne and London, where in the day-before-the-actual-show I got to know Buck 65 and Holy Fuck! And it never gets old!

At The Finish Of Every Record

At The Close Of Every Day will release a new record in spring 2008, called 'troostprijs' (consolation prize). While the title is in Dutch, the lyrics will be in English. The record is already mixed and finished and in the youtube link below you can see a video of the hard labour of making an intimate slow-and-steady-wins-the-race- contemplative indie record with a beautiful package. During the video you can listen to the song 'I need to break your hearth' of the forthcoming album. Check!

At The Close Of Every Day - the making of 'troostprijs' (youtube video)

And that's how people grow down

Morrissey is releasing a greatest hits album with two new tracks. One of them's called 'That's How People Grow Up' and it's...well, it's no 'Irish Blood, English Heart' and it's no 'You have Killed Me'. It sounds a bit...bleh to me. Later this year will see a completely new album though, we'll see if he still has it then.

Morrissey - That's How People Grow Up (mp3)

Well, do you?

I had listened to British Sea Power’s second album ‘Open Season’ quite a lot in 2005. It’s a melancholic ‘old-school’ indie album. Now they've returned with an album that asks the rethorical question ‘Do You Like Rock Music?’. If your answer’s negative you had better stay the hell away from this album, because rock is what it is! If your looking for subtlety just find yourself an old Dire Straiths LP somewhere. If you’re not, listen to BSP’s epic new single.

British Sea Power – Waving Flags (mp3)

Xiu Xiu

I have a lot of love for Xiu Xiu. I think I love them as much as I hate trying to describe their music. Xiu Xiu is Jamie Stewart and his cousin Caralee McElroy with percussionist Ches Smith. That was the easy part, now comes the hard part.
The best way to describe their music is perhaps 'experimental indie' but that's not really a description at all. Sometimes it's noise, but some tracks are just sparse percussion with spoken word (or whispered word). Some tracks might be folky and accoustic while others might be full-on electronic guitar and dissonant beats. Vocals can be raw pasionate and often scary screams but could also be disturbingly desperate whispers or a even a misleadingly sweet girl.
Having said all that Xiu Xiu does have a clear and unique sound and feel (dark and disturbing).

Just give them a listen (if you have the heart that is). Their new album is now streaming here but will only be there untill januari 10.


One of their 'easier' songs with a great video: Xiu Xiu - Boy Soprano (video)

New Order cover: Xiu Xiu - Ceremony (mp3)

New single: Xiu Xiu - I Do What I Want, When I Want (mp3)

Lovely to Spree you? Strict Aerial machine?

Ride a White Hound of Love? Ooh La La La La? Black Cherrybush? Together We're Utopia? Okay, I'll stop now.

But who could've thought that a Goldfrapp record could sound so much like The Polyphonic Spree with vocals by Kate Bush? The new Goldfrapp album 'Seventh Tree' basically sounds like a cross between Polyphonic Spree's 'Together We're Heavy' and Kate Bush's 'Aerial'. Not really sure yet if that's a good thing though. I'll let you know. Or you let me know. The new record is out in february.


Could be on Kate's 'Aerial': Goldfrapp - Clowns (mp3)

Could be on The Polyphonic's 'Together We're Heavy': Goldfrapp - Happiness (mp3)

With a Wit Woo

I remember toothpaste kisses being horribly contrived, but then again that may have had something to do with my very first Bacardi Breezers I had that same night and the fact that it all took place in a tent.

Well. Toothpaste Kisses anno 2008. It's from The Maccabees and they can pull it off.