This Twilight Garden

My Top 10 for 2011

2011-12-20T09:16:00.013-05:00

My Top 10 of 2011 - a/k/a my once yearly posting! (And it's oh so late!)

10. Cut Copy - Zonoscope - when it comes to electro dance, I like mine Australian. A good, not great, third LP from the Cutters. Other than "Sun God," nothing really stands out, but overall it's a good album.

9. Fred Falke - Part IV - when it comes to electro house, I like mine French. I've always been a fan of Falke (especially his collaborations with Alan Braxe), and I'm glad to see a full-length from him. As you would expect, Part IV is full of sweeping synths and groovy bass lines. Falke's 2011 remixes were great as well, especially for Metronomy's "The Look."

8. The Naked and Famous - Passive Me Aggressive You - Nice indie rock from New Zealand with alternating male/female vocals. "Young Blood" is clearly the winner of the tracks here.

7. Class Actress - Rapprocher - A good follow-up to the Journal of Ardency EP and overall a consistently good album, although I don't think any of the tracks are as standout as those on the EP. Still, great electro-pop with sultry vocals.

6. The New Division - The Rookie EP and Shadows - Great electro-pop, on both the EP and the debut album. Definitely an early to mid career Depeche Mode sound. Lovin' "Starfield" and "Opium."

5. Still Corners - Creatures of an Hour - A rich etherial, slightly shoegaze, sound with breathy vocals. "Into the Trees" and "Endless Summer" are standout tracks.

4. The Rapture - In the Grace of Your Love - So glad to see The Rapture back, and back to their old tricks. Even with the loss of Matty Safer, the band puts together a great album of danceable rock. "How Deep Is Your Love" practically demands that you get up and move.

3. Foster The People - Torches - I think everyone jumped on Foster The People by the end of the year. How can you not like "Pumped Up Kicks"? I like Torches a lot, but hate when the best tracks on a debut LP are those that appeared on the prior EP (here, "Helena Beat" and "Kicks").

2. Friendly Fires - Pala - They really grew into their sound with this album. Such a step up from an overall consistency standpoint from their self-titled debut. "Hurting" and "Helpless" are absurdly good.

1. Thievery Corporation - Culture of Fear - Quite possibly Thievery's best yet - solid tracks from start to finish. Still the same downtempo/dub/chillout/bossa sound, but done well. "Tower Seven," "Fragments" and 'Stargazer" are three of their best tracks ever. It's really been a Thievery year for me, as I've repeatedly been listening to their earlier stuff as well - things like "Lebanese Blonde" and "38:45 A Thievery Number."

Honorable Mentions:

Coldplay - Mylo Xyloto - not bad overall, but not great either. "Paradise" is quite good, but the rest feels over-produced. I'd love to see a song like "Shiver" written again, but I think Coldplay is too big for that now.

Today The Moon, Tomorrow the Sun - WILDFIRE - Not sure how I missed these guys, but their latest, WILDFIRE, is very expressive, in your face indie rock, and if you ever wanted more Metric, TTMTTS are your band.

Liam and Noel - Different Gear, Still Speeding and Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - if you take the 5 best songs from each album and put them together, do you get an Oasis album? Hopefully, as I found both of these efforts lacking. A few good tracks to pick out though - such "Roller" from Liam and "AKA ... What a Life!" from Noely G.

Radiohead - King of Limbs - I love Radiohead, but it's hard for me to get excited about everything they put out nowadays, including King of Limbs (which does have good moments).

Stand-Out Tracks Otherwise Not Set Forth Above:

Beastie Boys - "Don't Play a Game That I Can't Win" - love this reggae roller.

Chase & Status - "Blind Faith" - I love the epicness of this track.

Craft Spells - "After This Moment" - A nice, poppy groove.

Cults - "Go Outside" - How can anyone not like this summery sing-song?

Dum Dum Girls - "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" - hard for me to like a Smiths cover, especially one of my favorite Smiths songs, but Dum Dum did a great job here - the harmonizing is quite nice.

Fonda - "Better Days" - A nice shoegaze throw-back (Lush meets School of Seven Bells perhaps)
Lana Del Rey - "Blue Jeans (Penguin Prison Remix)" - The remix really added a nice groove.

Little Dragon - "Crystalfilm" - sultry electro-pop - very similar to Class Actress actually, but with a cool Swedish vibe, of course (and god how I love "Feathers" from their last album)

Moving Units - "Until She Said" - Happy to have Moving Units back, again with their groovy dance rock

Mr. Little Jeans - "The Suburbs" - A hauntingly beautiful cover.

The Strokes - "Under The Cover of Darkness" - Nice to see The Strokes back with what they do best.

TV On the Radio - "Will Do" - I couldn't stop listening to this song when I first picked it up - such a beautiful expression of sound.

Vanessa Carlton - "Green Grass of Spring" - not normally an artist found in my collection, but this song is so good, it makes me want to cry.

Rediscovered or got back into in 2011:

Interpol - I really rekindled my love with Interpol this year. They've always been my "New York" band - they were up and coming when I moved to NYC and became the "it" band pretty much immediately after. I forgot how much I loved them.

My Top 10 For 2010

2010-12-03T09:57:00.013-05:00

Although my blogging is non-existent these days, I still think I have good musical tastes - so hear you go, dear public, my Top 10 for 2010:

10. DOM - Sun Bronzed Greek Gods - DOM's music just makes you want to get up and move. Indie rock backed with swirling synths. "Living in America" is vying for my song of the year. A shame that this EP only has 19 minutes worth of music though!

9. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs - I've never really been that into Arcade Fire, but The Suburbs is quite good. "Ready to Start" is a great single.

8. Tears Run Rings - Distance - Yes! More perfectly constructed "newgaze" - love it. These guys really sound like an updated Slowdive. "Inertia" and "Reunion" are the top of the crop from this album.

7. Crystal Castles - (II) - a nice dark electro album here - some tracks are a little too crunchy/choppy for me, but others, such as the wonderful "Celestica," are fantastic. Although not on this album, nice touch for collaborating with Robert Smith on a vocal version of their cover "Not In Love."

6. Groove Armada - Black Light - a nice mix of big beat and house, with enough vocal tracks to sing along to. "History" with Will Young and "Shamless" with Bryan Ferry are must-haves.

5. Class Actress - Journal of Ardency - probably the best electro-pop I've heard in years. I've played the title track from this EP over and over and over again. Cannot wait for a full-length.

4. New Young Pony Club - The Optimist - less electro-pop than their debut (which really wasn't an over electro-popped album, but certainly dancier), I really think that this is what Elastica would have sound like a decade later. Dancey punk, this album does not disappoint. Best track is "Lost Girl"

3. Interpol - Interpol - very good, but not great, album (at least compared to their past work). I do not think anything could ever match the majesty of "Turn On the Bright Lights," so it's always hard to compare Interpol albums. Some good stuff here though - "Barricade" is fantastic and perhaps my favorite song from 2010. I realized that the best Interpol tracks have a heavy bassline in them, and "Barridcade" and "Success" have such a bassline.

2. Underworld - Barking - perhaps their best since Beaucoup Fish, this album toes the line between big beat, trance, house and straight up club disco. Love "Bird 1," "Scribble," and "Always Loved a Film."

1. School of Seven Bells - Disconnect From Desire - Really just a perfect album - laid-back and "dreamy" in many respects, but also makes you sit back and take notice. "I L U" is one of the best tracks I've heard in years, and "Bye Bye Bye" has such a great electro-shoegaze throwback sound to it.

Honorable Mention: Goldfrapp - Headfirst - glad to see that Ms. Goldfrapp has returned to her electro ways. Her best album since Supernature. As always, soaring vocals, but again over top of a lush soundscape; and UNKLE - Where Did the Night Fall - glad to see UNKLE get back to its trip-hop past. I absolutely love "The Answer."

Tracks that I loved from 2010: In addition to those noted above, I loved The Black Keys' "Tighten Up," The Chemical Brothers' "Swoon," Kisses' "Bermuda," Klaxons' "Echoes," Shit Robot's "Take 'Em Up" (with Nancy Whang on vocals), Still Corners' "Endless Summer," Tamaryn's "Love Fade," Violens' "Acid Reign," and United Nations of Sound's "Are You Ready" (hooray for the return of Richard Ashcroft!),

I think my biggest disappointment in 2010 was Gorillaz' Plastic Beach - sort of all over the place.

Music that I re-discovered in 2010 (a/k/a likely to have happened to come up while shuffling my iPod and I forgot how much I loved) - Ned's Atomic Dustbin (God Fodder is just fantastic); Everything But the Girl (I forgot how good Walking Wounded and Tempermental were - and I actually discovered "Tracey In My Room," an incredible remix of "Wrong," for the first time about a month ago); DJ Spiller's "Groovejet (If This Ain't Love);" and tracks off of Siouxsie and The Banshees' singles collections, such as "Fireworks," "Dazzle," "Cities in Dust" (perhaps my favorite Siouxsie song) and "The Killing Jar."

"Disconnect from Desire"

2010-07-12T13:42:00.003-04:00

Yet again I am coming out of blogging retirement to praise a track that I absolutely love - School of Seven Bells' "I L U." This may be one of the best tracks I've heard in years. Somehow, with this track SVIIB managed to continue the bridge from The Cocteau Twins to Gala-era Lush to 2010, something I didn't hear on their debut album Alpinisms. (I also love another new track of theirs, "Babelonia," which has a little MBV flavor to it.)

I'm a big fan of SVIIB. I loved a few of On! Air! Library!'s songs (especially "Feb." which is fantastic, but sadly only 2:14 long), and SVIIBadds more of an electronic twist to their prior-incarnation's music. The new SVIIB album - Disconnect from Desire - comes out tomorrow. Buy it here.

Best of 2009

2009-12-08T10:38:00.012-05:00

Can't beleive that this decade is over. Crazy to think that the garage, "New York" sound, and new-new wave that were becoming all the rage when the decade started have now given way to, well, I don't even know what the current "sound" is.

Anyway, here's my Best of 2009. I found that I liked invidual tracks better than albums as a whole in 2009, so even if these are my "top" albums, I do not necessarily think they are top quality overall:

10. The Whip - X Marks Destination - Excellent dance-rock with a new wave feel, Manchester's The Whip will either make you get up and dance, or get up and scream. (Ok, this album came out in 2008, but didn't make it's US debut until 2009)

9. 2020 Soundsystem - Falling - Cool, dancey grooves that sound like another Soundsystem (LCD), but with more of an electro than funk flare.

8. Hotels - Where Hearts Go Broke - Shades of early New Order and early Duran Duran (especially on "Lelani") from this shoegazey, post-punk band from Seattle.

7. Doves - Kingdom of Rust - Solid effort from Doves, certainly more upbeat (as much as Doves can be) than previous albums. "Spellbound" harkens back to Lost Souls.

6. The XX - XX - Artsy, cool trip-hop tunes. The XX is just a kick, a snare, and a few samples away from being Portishead. The Them Jeans Drum remix of "Shelter" shows how great these The XX is with hard drums behind them.

5. The Cribs - Ignore the Ignorant - As usual, great guitar rock from The Cribs, and Johnny Marr's influence is quite apparent here. "We Were All Aborted" and "We Share the Same Skies" are fantastic tracks.

4. Moby - Wait for Me - Downtempo and chill in parts, in your face in others, Moby puts together yet another engaging album. The Apparat remix of "Pale Horses" really brings something to the table.

3. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix - How can you resist the catchy "1901"? Seems like this album is showing up on a lot of top 10 lists, so apparently not many people could. "Fences" may be the best track on this upbeat indie-rock album from the French rockers.

2. Franz Ferdinand - Tonight - great album from start to finish. Classic Franz - dancey, upbeat, witty lyrics. Led by singles "Ulysses" and "No You Girls," Franz once again makes you dance. "Lucid Dreams" is also a standout track.

1. Metric - Fantasies - I've always liked Metric, but for the first time, I think they put together a complete package with their latest album, Fantasies. "Help, I'm Alive" is such an incredible song (and the Twelves' remix is even better), and singles "Gimme Sympathy" and "Sick Muse" are great sing-song indie rock tracks.

2009 also saw the fantastic remix of Saint Etienne's Foxbase Alpha - wonderfully entitled Foxbase Beta - a crisper, modern take on the classic album. Air France also put together a great remix of "Spring," which may be my favorite Saint Etienne track.

Great tracks from 2009 - Empire of the Sun's "We are the People", Hook and The Twin's "Transport", the aforementioned Twelves' remix of "Help I'm Alive", Detachments' "The Flowers That Fell" (and its remix by Parallels), The Pains of Being Pure at Heart's "Higher Than the Stars" (and the Saint Etienne remix of that track), Passion Pit's "The Reeling" and even U2's "Magnificent" (and the Fred Falke remix as well).

Finally, I'm not sure what to make of The Bravery's Stir the Blood. It's pretty synth/electro heavy, which I love, but the vocals and lyrics are so poor. I know Sam Endicott wants to be all DIY, but I'd love if he would work on his vocals a bit more. I'm still a fan of The Bravery, but it's hard to take them seriously.

Metric's "Help I'm Alive"

2009-04-20T17:10:00.002-04:00

I've decided to come out of blogging retirement for one simple purpose - to point out how fantastic the Twelves's remix of Metric's "Help I'm Alive" is. A great song to begin with, but the remix is a nice piece of electro-juiced mayhem that just asks you to get up and dance. The Twelves have done a nice job of bringing us back a decade or so when Daft Punk first started throwing out electro goodness.

And Metric's new album Fantasies is great. I think I always liked Metric ("Dead Disco" has been kicking around on my iPod and in the back of my head for a few years now) but never really thought about it.

My Top 10 for 2008

2008-12-01T11:32:00.008-05:00

Pretty good year for music. A lot of familiar names on my list, but that may be because I didn't discover as much new music as I used to (unfortunately didn't have time). But the familiar names put out some great material!

10. Beck - Modern Guilt - Beck's vocals, rhtythm and melodies over Danger Mouse's beats. What's not to like? Sounds a lot like Gorillaz with Beck's magical touches. "Orphans" and "Gamma Ray" lead this album.

9. Friendly Fires - Friendly Fires - "One day, we're gonna live, in Paris." You hear them sing it, and you beleive it. Fantastic dance rock (if we are alowed to use that term any more) - kind of a happier The Rapture. And FF put on some much talked about CMJ shows too.

8. Coldplay - Viva La Vida - A welcome return to the harder rock sound of Rush of Blood that will allow us to thankfully forget the watered down X&Y. Glad to see that Chris Martin and co. can provide epic guitar rock without sounding like complete wimps. And I love the fact that the title single "Viva La Vida" is about the Crusades...

7. Thievery Corporation - Radio Retaliation - always consistently good, Thievery delivers yet another excellent world beat, downtempo gem. Although it doesn't feature the heavy hitting guest vocalists from their previous effort (such as Wayne Coyne and David Byrne), Radio contains solid lounge/ragga/dub tracks from start to finish.

6. The Daysleepers - Drowing In a Sea of Sound - So glad to see this group's debut album drop, after two excellent EPs. Similar sound (shoegazey dream pop with flourishes of The Cure thrown in for good measure - especially on the track "Summerdreamer" below), but the LP seems to lack the drive as those releases - unnecessarily slow in parts. Overall it's quite good though - "Twilight Bloom" and "Run" are must have tracks.

5. School of Seven Bells - Alpinisms - I was a big fan of a few of On! Air! Library!'s songs, and was pleased to see the Deheza sisters resurrect in the form of School of Seven Bells. SVIIB is a nice combo of shoegaze, laptop rock, and downtempo grooves, with the sisters' perfect harmonic vocals. "Half Asleep" and "Conjurr" are worth the price of the album.

4. The Cure - 4:13 Dream - Some very good stuff here. Not brilliant, and not Disintegration, Pornography, or even Wish, but overall a good album. With Porl Thompson back in the fold, this album harkens back to some earlier Cure stuff. Robert's voice, however, is starting to strain (as if it wasn't before). Not sure how much longer he can hold out. "Underneath the Stars" and "The Hungry Ghost" are the standouts.

3. Oasis - Dig Out Your Soul - Solid effort for the Gallagher's and Co., and pretty much follows the standard Oasis guitar rock form, with some bluesey and psychadelic aspects thrown in for good measure. The singles "The Shock of the Lightning" and "I'm Outta Time" were well chosen. And both "Falling Down" and the Chemical Brothers' remix of that track are probably the best things that came out of this album.

1b. The Verve - Forth - Such brilliance on Forth. This album harkens back to A Northern Soul and certainly starts where Urban Hymns left off. Richard definitely needed the rest of the band to make good, powerful rock songs (his solo albums started to drag into whining drivel), and McCabe's touches are all over the album. So many great tracks here - "Sit and Wonder," "Love Is Noise," "Rather Be" and so forth. Their live "reunion" show was fantastic as well - the MSG Theater show was one of the best live performances I've ever seen.

1a. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours - Pure electro-awesomeness. While Bright Like Neon Love had many great moments, In Ghost Colours shows the musical maturity of Cut Copy (Lead vocalist Dan Whitford summed it up perfectly - "The album is a lot more realized than the first one. I think all of us, when we think of the first one, we agree we sort of got half way there. But on the new one we got a lot closer to the sort of sounds we're after."). Great tracks from start to finish, including "Feel the Love," "Out There on the Ice," "Far Away," and "Nobody Lost, Nobody Found" (bonus teack "Sands of Time" is a key pick-up as well). And they put on the best live shows out there - how can one not jump up and down when CC hits those keyboard crescendos? Excellent remixes from this album abound too - especially Knightlife's Sun Soaked Reprise of "So Haunted", which just features the best parts from the original track - starting with the rising keyboard hits around the 3 minute mark. Nothing in 2008 made me want to move more than this album.

I couldn't decide if I liked Forth or In Ghost Colours better - resulting in a tie for my favorite of the year!

Other great music from 2008 - Glasvegas' "Geraldine", MGMT's "Time To Pretend" (not a fan of the album, but I love that song), the Fred Falke remix of Whitest Boy Alive's "Golden Cage" (possibly the greatest electro track ever), Booka Shade's The Sun & Neon Lights, and Little Boots' "Stuck on Repeat."

Disappointments - Portishead's Third - no samples, sparse, and kinda blah. I know a lot of people are putting this on their "best of" lists, but to me the album pales in comparison to the two previous efforts. Although there are a few decent songs, I don't feel as if I'm in a 1960's noir spy film as I did with their previous efforts. Bloc Party's Inticamcy - the elctronic driven effort from Bloc Party was very underwhlming. A few good tracks, but overall it's such a tumble from the classic EP and Silent Alarm.

Oh and some old gems that I rediscovered this year included - Swervedriver's Mezcal Head, Daft Punk's Homework, Orbital's II, Sing-Sing's The Joy of Sing Sing, and Swayzak's Loops from the Bergerie.

Best of 2007

2007-12-20T14:29:00.000-05:00

I must say, 2007 was a much better year than 2006 in terms of music. We're not talking 2005 here, but there are so many good albums this year - it was quite difficult coming up with a "Best of 2007" list. However, I didn't find many "new" artists in 2007, as my list reflects bands that are on their second, third, or later albums - many of whom put out debuts that I loved.

First, while I cannot justify putting this on the list since it's a comp with re-issued tunes, I thought that the best release in 2007 was The Brit Box: U.K. Indie, Shoegaze, and Brit-Pop Gems of the Last Millenium - words cannot describe how fantastic this box set is. It might as well have been called "The Musical History of Christopher" as it spands all of the genres I've loved in my music-listening career - from 80's indie (The Smiths, Jesus and Mary Chain, The Charlatans, The Stone Roses) to shoegaze (Lush, MBV, Chapterhouse, Swervedriver, Ride) to Britpop (Suede, Oasis, Blur, Sleeper). It even had some stuff that I forgot I loved, like Ned's Atomic Dustbin's "Grey Cell Green" and Mansun's "Wide Open Space."

And now for the list...

10. Hard Fi - Once Upon a Time In the West - No in-your-face tracks like Stars of CCTV, and nothing as good as "Hard To Beat" (hands down one of my favorites of all time), but Richard Archer seems to have grown up a bit musically and came up with an overall solid effort. Single "Suburban Knights" probably ranks as the best track, but "Watch Me Fall Apart" and "We Need Love" show musical maturity. Nice work boys!

9. The Bravery - The Sun and The Moon - For a band that was loved and then hated by bloggers two years ago (people seem to be very passionate about these guys - and music snobs tend to hate them), seems like no one talked about them this year. All of their faux-theatrics aside, I've always liked their music (although Sam's vocals could be worked on - he usually talks or screams, rather than sings), and The Sun and The Moon provides me with more great music. The whistle singalong in "Bad Sun" is quite fun, and "Time Won't Let Me Go" and "Fistful of Sand" show that The Bravery can still bring it.

8. Chemical Brothers - We Are The Night - Pretty much what you'd expect from the Chems - big beat over tight synths, with vocals coming from indie heavy hitters (here, it's Kele Okerle and The Klaxons, among others). I'm not going to replace Exit Planet Dust with We Are the Night in my Chem rotation, but this is quite the effort.

7. Interpol - Our Love To Admire - I was very nervous when Interpol signed with a major label. I figured they'd up the Antics and come out with radio-friendly singles. Much to my delight, quite the opposite was true. "The Heinrich Maneuver" is indeed a great radio single, but overall, this album is nowhere near a commercial effort. With their usual dark and brooding sounds, Interpol delivered a good, not great, album that will not annoy me by being played on the radio every hour.

6. Kaiser Chiefs - Yours Truly, Angry Mob - A much better live band than a studio band, the Kaisers put together a pretty good tracklist with Yours Truly, Angry Mob. "Ruby" is a splendid singalong single, and actually, "Thank You Very Much" and "Everything Is Average Nowadays" are also great tunes to singalong to. With this album, the Kaisers have shown that they've matured musically in the past two years.

5. Radiohead - In Rainbows - The most talked about album this year was more for its distribution than its music. In Rainbows is good, but not in the same echelon as OK Computer, Kid A, or even Hail to the Thief. Some hauntingly beautiful tracks here though - especially "All I Need" and "Videotape." Almost gives you chills. Can't belive that this was the same band that gave us "Anyone Can Play Guitar" (which, after listening to Pablo Honey, really seems believable).

4. Underworld - Oblivion With Bells - Karl Hyde and Rick Smith have done it again. After five long years waiting for a new LP (although they did contribute to the Breaking and Entering soundtrack, as well as release some stuff on their website), they've come back with more of the trademark Underworld sound - swirling synths over big beats and non-sensical lyrics. "Crocodile," "Glam Bucket," and "Best Magmu Ever" standout. Their show in Central Park was incredible as well, and if you ever have the chance to see Underworld live - do so!

3. Apollo Heights - White Music For Black People - Rising from the ashes of the best band you've never heard of (The Veldt - whom I discovered while in school at Chapel Hill - saw them dozens of times, including as an opener for the Manic Street Preachers, and I'm probably the only person who owns all of their albums), Apollo Heights blends shoegaze-esque guitars over tight beats while adding soulful vocals on top (I believe they call their sound "soulgazing"). While only reaching in The Veldt's bag once (with a new version of "Babytalk" - if they wanted to update something, I would have loved to hear "Juicy Sandwich" again), Apollo Heights starts where The Veldt left off. "Shallow By Shallow" shows their hard-edged guitar sound, "Everlasting Gobstopper" their Cocteau-esque shoegaze, and "Disco Lights" shows off Daniel Chavis' soul. With only a couple of weak, throwaway tracks at the end, and although the album's mixing level leaves something to be desired, White Music For Black People is a must-have that you should pick up immediately.

2. New Young Pony Club - Fantastic Playroom - NYCP's debut fits perfectly in the electro-disco-punk of Modular Recordings. Teased with various singles last year, we now get NYPC in full length form. "The Get Go" sounds as good as it did when I heard it in early '06, "The Bomb" and "Get Lucky" are nice musical assaults on the senses, and "Ice Cream" is known throughout the country due to its inclusion in an HP ad. Dancey beats with 80's-like synths. Fantastic Playroom indeed!

1. Moving Units - Hexes for Exes - If you thought their disco-punk past was outstanding, throw in some Cure-like synth and you get this gem. Really pleased to see Moving Units come out with such a great follow up to Dangerous Dreams. The trademark hi-hats and funky bass lines are here, but more rythmic guitars with the aforementioned synths make this a more complete album than Dangerous Dreams - more of an indie rock sound really. "Dark Walls," "Pink Thoughts," "Wrong Again," "Paper Hearts" are the standout tracks, but frankly, everything on here is good.

Others worth mentioning: Editors' An End Has A Start (a good album, but nowhere near as good as The Back Room. There are no in-your-face-fantastic songs like "Munich" (God that song was good!) but Tom Smith and co. string together a few good tracks here, including "The Racing Rats," "Bones," and "An End Has A Start"); David Gahan's second solo effort Hourglass(the singles "Kingdom" and "Saw Something" are worth picking up, and the album is very Playing the Angel-like); The Klaxons' Myths of the Near Future (the 2007 Mercury Prize winner; "Magick" and "Forgotten Works" really get you going); and Maps' We Can Create (nice, chillout music, especially "You Don't Know Her Name").

My biggest letdown this year was Bloc Party's A Weekend In the City. It's actually a decent album when compared to most music out there (and I love the title), but nowhere near as good as Silent Alarm or their earlier EPs. It has a fair amount of highlights, but it's slow and drawn out in parts.

See ya in 2008!

R.I.P. - Tony Wilson

2007-08-13T08:44:00.000-04:00

I cannot believe Tony Wilson is dead. He's the kind of guy you thought would be here forever. The "mad genius" of the "Mad"chester music scene championed many of my favorite bands - Joy Division, New Order, and the Happy Mondays - and helped put Manchester on the musical map. He always had something interesting to say (see my post about an "intimate conversation" he had with Shaun Ryder a couple of years ago) and will be missed.

The Cure

2007-06-28T09:21:00.000-04:00

So I've been in a The Cure ticket frenzy the past few days. A North American tour was just announced - MSG on Sept. 23, then a pre-sale was announced, and the general sale went on today. I picked up two seats in Section 36 (back of the floor) yesterday in the pre-sale, which had horrible tickets available (other than Section 36, they only had 300 Sections). Today I got on the Ticketmaster site at 9am to score better seats - no dice. The tickets kept coming up in various sections (200, 300, 400). The best that came across was Section 131. So then I tried to call Ticketmaster - you know, the thing you did before the "Internet" was invented. I managed to get two seats on the floor in Section 11. Nice.

The Cure!!!

2007-06-22T11:37:00.000-04:00

The Cure have announced a US tour this fall. The NY stop will be at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, September 23. No word on tickets yet. Sweet Jesus. This will be awesome. And Porl's back too!

Full details:

HERE THEY ARE…
Thu-Sep-13 Tampa - St Pete Times Forum
Sat-Sep-15 Atlanta - Gwinnett Center
Mon-Sep-17 Charlotte - Charlotte Bobcats Arena
Wed-Sep-19 Washington DC - Patriot Center
Fri-Sep-21 Philadelphia - Wachovia Spectrum
Sun-Sep-23 New York City - Madison Square Garden
Tue-Sep-25 Boston - Agganis Arena
Wed-Sep-26 Montreal - Bell Centre
Thu-Sep-27 Toronto - Air Canada Centre
Sat-Sep-29 Chicago - Allstate Arena
Tue-Oct-02 Denver - Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Thu-Oct-04 Salt Lake City - E Center
Sat-Oct-06 San Francisco - Shoreline Amphitheatre - Download Festival
Mon-Oct-08 Seattle - Key Arena
Tue-Oct-09 Vancouver - General Motors Place
Thu-Oct-11 Santa Barbara - Santa Barbara Bowl
Sat-Oct-13 San Diego - Cox Arena
Sun-Oct-14 Los Angeles - Hollywood Bowl
Tue-Oct-16 Houston - Toyota Center
Wed-Oct-17 Dallas - American Airlines Center

65 DAYS OF STATIC WILL BE OPENING EVERY SHOW
TICKET DETAILS HERE SOON…

Brit Box

2007-06-21T13:20:00.000-04:00

So I really do not post anymore, but this nugget from Filter caught my eye - the release of "The Brit Box." This essentially covers my music loving career - from 80's UK indie through the last remnants of Britpop. Although I already own most of these songs, I'll still pick the box set up.

The Brit Box Opens
by Staff 06.19.2007

Rhino Records has announced the release of The Brit Box: U.K. Indie, Shoegaze and Brit-pop Gems of the Last Millennium. The four-CD box set (which will retail for $65) is due out October 2nd. Assembled in chronological order, the years covered by each disc are roughly: Disc 1 (1984-1990), Disc 2 (1991-1993), Disc 3 (1994-1995) and Disc 4 (1996-1998.) The set comes in the shape of an English phone box and includes an 80-page book with interviews, essays, and memories from the likes of Alan McGee, Stephen Street, Alan Moulder and various artists.

The Brit Box tracklisting:

Disc 1:
01 The Smiths - "How Soon Is Now?"
02 Cocteau Twins - "Lorelei"
03 Felt - "Primitive Painters"
04 Shop Assistants - "Somewhere in China"
05 The Mighty Lemon Drops - "My Biggest Thrill"
06 The Cure - "Just Like Heaven"
07 Echo & The Bunnymen - "Lips Like Sugar"
08 The Jesus and Mary Chain - "April Skies"
09 Spacemen 3 - "Walkin' With Jesus (Sound of Confusion)"
10 The Primitives - "Crash"
11 The Wonder Stuff - "Unbearable"
12 The Stone Roses - "She Bangs the Drums"
13 The Charlatans UK - "The Only One I Know"
14 Happy Mondays - "Step On"
15 Primal Scream - "Loaded" [single version]
16 Inspiral Carpets - "This Is How It Feels"
17 The Trash Can Sinatras - "Obscurity Knocks"
18 The La's - "There She Goes"
19 The Sundays - "Here's Where the Story Ends"

Disc 2:
01 Ride - "Vapour Trail"
02 Pale Saints - "Sight of You"
03 My Bloody Valentine - "Only Shallow"
04 Lush - "For Love"
05 The Telescopes - "Flying"
06 Chapterhouse - "Pearl"
07 Catherine Wheel - "I Want To Touch You"
08 Bleach - "Trip & Slide"
09 Curve - "Coast Is Clear"
10 Five Thirty - "You"
11 Moose - "This River Will Never Run Dry"
12 The Family Cat - "(Thought I'd Died) And Gone To Heaven"
13 The Dylans - "(Don't Cut Me Down) Mary Quant in Blue"
14 Thousand Yard Stare - "0-0 A.E.T. (No Score After Extra Time)"
15 Ned's Atomic Dustbin - "Grey Cell Green"
16 Birdland - "Shoot You Down"
17 Manic Street Preachers - "Stay Beautiful"
18 Teenage Fanclub - "Star Sign"

Disc 3:
01 Suede - "Metal Mickey"
02 Swervedriver - "Duel" [radio edit]
03 Eugenius - "Breakfast"
04 Superstar - "Barfly"
05 New Order - "Regret"
06 James - "Laid"
07 Nick Heyward - "Kite"
08 The Boo Radleys - "Lazarus"
09 Saint Etienne - "You're in a Bad Way"
10 Stereolab - "Wow & Flutter"
11 Blur - "Tracy Jacks"
12 Oasis - "Live Forever"
13 Pulp - "Common People"
14 These Animal Men - "Speed King"
15 Mega City Four - "Wallflower"
16 Echobelly - "Insomniac"
17 Gene - "Sleep Well Tonight"
18 Menswe@r - "Sleeping In"
19 Supergrass - "Alright"
20 Cast - "Alright"
21 Elastica - "Stutter"

Disc 4:
01 Dodgy - "In a Room"
02 Ash - "Girl From Mars"
03 Sleeper - "Sale of the Century"
04 Marion - "Sleep"
05 Kula Shaker - "Tattva"
06 Ocean Colour Scene - "The Riverboat Song"
07 Babybird - "You're Gorgeous"
08 The Bluetones - "Slight Return"
09 Super Furry Animals - "Something 4 the Weekend"
10 The Divine Comedy - "Something for the Weekend"
11 Cornershop - "Brimful of Asha"
12 Silver Sun - "Service"
13 Spiritualized - "Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space"
14 Mansun - "Wide Open Space"
15 Hurricane #1 - "Step Into My World"
16 The Verve - "Lucky Man"
17 Rialto - "Untouchable"
18 Catatonia - "Mulder and Scully"
19 Placebo - "You Don't Care About Us"
20 Gay Dad - "Oh Jim"

Fantastic stuff.

It should be FUN

2007-06-01T09:01:00.000-04:00

FUN at Studio B tonight will feature CLIENT! That's friggin' right - electro vixens Client will be in town. They are quite good live. Real disco-punkers Escort will also be there, as will the resident DJs Eamon Harkin and The Bangers. Studio B is at 259 Banker St. in Greenpoint. $12 but you can RSVP for the reduced list at funrsvp@gmail.com.

Melody and Feedback

2007-05-22T08:33:00.000-04:00

The Jesus and Mary Chain reunion rolled into town last night, playing the first of two nights at Webster Hall. Pretty good show, and exactly what you'd expect from JAMC - a lot of feedback and noise, with some melody on top. Not much movement from Jim or anyone else. They rolled through their hits - essentially a 21 Singles night, which was fine by me. I thought "Head On," "Sidewalking," and "Just Like Honey" sounded particularly good. Seemed like the crowd was really there for the nostalgia.

Everything, Everything, Everything

2007-05-09T12:05:00.000-04:00

Tickets for Underworld's September 14th show in Central Park go on sale on Thursday at noon at Made Events. $40 per ticket, but well worth the price. As I mentioned before, Underworld are incredible live.

Free shows

2007-05-07T13:10:00.000-04:00

Not sure if anyone cares about The Bravery anymore, but they are playing the Apple store in SoHo in about 45 minutes, and they are also playing a MySpace "secret" show at Arlene's Grocery tomorrow (5pm for the all ages show and 9pm for the 21+ crowd). If you're a fan, Arlene's Grocery would be a cool place to see them, as it is quite small. The Bravery has a new album out soon, and some of the tracks are pretty decent.

In The City

2007-05-03T12:55:00.000-04:00

This June 13 and 14, the music conference In The City Of New York will be held here at the W Union Square. The conference will have a number of panels about UK bands in the US and US bands in the UK. Should be interesting, but at $465, that's quite a price to pay to hear about the music industry.

In connection with the conference, there will be a bunch of UK bands playing at the Nokia Theater and the Highline Ballroom - including Enter Shikari, The Pigeon Detectives, The Rakes, Blood Red Shoes, and Biffy Clyro.

Update: Actual lineups have been announced, and The Happy Mondays will make their return to NYC for this event.

June 13th Nokia Theatre
-The Happy Mondays
-The Rakes
-The Pigeon Detectives

June 14th Highline Ballroom
-Biffy Clyro
-Enter Shikari
-Blood Red Shoes

As much as I love the Mondays, I don't think I'll be going to see them. Reports out of Coachella were that they were awful, and I just don't think this reunion is one to see (and Bez may not even be there - visa troubles apparently).

Venues Venues Venues

2007-05-02T09:09:00.000-04:00

I've been pretty slack at posting and updating this blog recently. One thing I've been meaning to do is to update the "New York Venues" links to the right. There have been so many changes recently in NYC Venueland (even the NY Times had an article about it). Out are Northsix, Luna Lounge, Irving Plaza, Sin-e, Rothko, Tonic and in are Williamsburg Music Hall (formerly Northsix, and not opened yet), Luna Lounge (now in Brooklyn), The Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza, Blender Theater at the Gramercy (which recently opened under the name Gramercy Theater), The Box, the United Palace Theater (which has been around forever but now Bowery Presents is promoting there), Rockwood Music Hall, and the Highline Ballroom.

I also need to add links for The Hook, The Annex, Joe's Pub, Southpaw, and Union Hall, which have all been around but I never linked them up.

Hang the DJ!

2007-04-25T21:07:00.000-04:00

I'm DJ'ing at a new indie rock/Britpop night called HANG THE DJ this Friday night from 10pm on at the East Village Lounge (186 2nd St. between Ave. A and Ave. B). Free before 11pm, $5 after.

An End Has A Start

2007-04-24T09:07:00.000-04:00

Editors' new album An End Has A Start will be released on June 25th. Here's a video teaser - sounds like the first album. Now let's see if they become Coldplay.

Bjork release party

2007-04-20T11:24:00.000-04:00

The electro-downtempo-chill event Tripnotica is taking place at the Delancey tonight. Tonight's event will be a release party for Bjork's new album Volta.

More dance news

2007-04-10T18:24:00.000-04:00

The Chemical Brothers will be releasing their sixth studio album (We Are the Night) on June 19th and will tour the US in support this September. Via Filter: "The 12 track album features The Klaxons, Midlake and Will Mason among others. The first single will be "Do It Again" featuring Ali Love."

We Are The Night tracklisting: 01. No Path To Follow 02. We Are The Night 03. All Rights Reversed (Featuring The Klaxons) 04. Saturate 05. Do It Again (Featuring Ali Love) 06. Das Spiegel 07. The Salmon Dance (Featuring Fatlip) 08. Burst Generator 09. A Modern Midnight Conversation 10. Battle Scars (Featuring Willy Mason) 11. Harpoons 12. The Pills Won't Help You Now (Featuring Midlake)

In other electronica news, the music/art collective in which I participate - Tripnotica - will be hosting the album release party for Bjork's new album Volta on Friday April 20 at The Delancey. I won't be DJing that night, but there will be a lot of good bands and DJs on tap. If I was DJing, you'd hear something along the lines of this (my setlist from the last Tripnotica):

Chapterhouse - Pearl
Moby - Porcelain
Blue States - Your Girl
Saint Etienne - Finnestere
Thom Yorke - The Eraser
James - Fine (C. Ladd remix)
I am Jen - Broken in All the Right Places
Bjork - Immature
Depeche Mode - Lillian
Saint Ettiene - Heart Failed in the Back of a Taxi (Two Lone Swordsman mix)
Sneaker Pimps - Spin Spin Sugar
Portishead - All Mine
The Chemical Brothers - Lost in the K Hole
Leftfield - Original
Massive Attack - Man Next Door
The Presets - Girl and Sea
Underworld - Jumbo
Portishead - Wandering Star
Massive Attack - Protection (Underdog's Angel Mix)
A Guy Called Gerald - Humanity
Goldie - Inner City Life (Baby Boy Edit)
Cut Copy - Future
Thievery Corporation - Indra

Dance Music

2007-03-30T09:12:00.000-04:00

The Presets were pretty fantastic at the Hiro Ballroom last night, as were the Ed Banger DJ's. One of the more packed houses that I've seen at Hiro (and even Kele from Bloc Party was there), and the crowd was treated to an energetic set by one of Modular's finest. I loved the live drumming to go along with the programmed beats and synths. The duo even threw in "Da Funk" by Daft Punk, before slowly segueing into "Girl and Sea" (one of the greatest songs ever). BV has a nice round-up of the night. The Presets will be playing with Datarock and Lo Fi Fink at Studio B tomorrow night.

Underworld will be hitting Central Park on September 14th, as part of a US tour. They were one of the few bright spots at the ill-fated Field Day at Giants Stadium a few years ago (nothing gets a rain-soaked crowd going like "Born Slippy:Nuxx"), and I'm looking forward to seeing them again.

Tripnotica this Friday at Rebel

2007-03-27T15:49:00.000-04:00

Join us this Friday night at Rebel for the official unveiling of Tripnotica, a monthly trip-hop/electro/downtempo music and art event. Vice/Ed Banger Records will be hosting a listening party for Ed Rec Vol. 2 as well (so if you loved the Ed Banger artists at Hiro on Thursday, come out on Friday for more Ed Banging).

Rebel is located at 251 W. 30th Street, between 7th and 8th Aves.

Marie

2007-03-26T09:27:00.000-04:00

I finally saw Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette this weekend. Like her soundtrack to Lost in Translation, Coppola uses a nice selection of music to emphasize key scenes in her movie. With Marie, however, it was interesting because the music and the setting are not contemporaneous. Nevertheless, the post-punk selections offered really worked in the context of the movie. Nice use of "Plainsong" by The Cure for the wedding scene (nothing beats the quiet chimes that give way to the full pomp and circumstance of that track) and "All Cats are Gray" for the closing scene and end titles, as Marie is shortly going to her death. That song must have left the theater goers quite depressed actually.

He sat me down and so began...

2007-03-26T09:25:00.000-04:00

A local Irish pub I tend to frequent plays such great music that I need to hang out there more often. Doc Watson's offers an impressive selection of Britpop favorites from its iPod (and some decent stuff on the jukebox as well). The other night I heard "Charmless Man" from Blur and "Road Rage" from Catatonia. Love it.

The Cure vs. Depeche Mode

2007-03-22T08:56:00.000-04:00

I haven't posted much recently, but I wanted to bring to your attention Stylus' Andrew Unterberger's comparison of The Cure and Depeche Mode - two of my all time faves (he has DM come out ahead 5 to 4 in 9 categories). He brilliantly analyzes all things necessary about these bands (classic album, cover art, influencees, cover songs, etc.) and his analysis of Disintegration vs Violator is top notch. Well done Andrew, well done.

It's funny to see the reaction to these bands nowadays. If you liked them in the 80's, you were weird and part of their cult following. If you liked them in the early 90's, you were weird but at least people knew "Lovesong," "Just Like Heaven," and "Enjoy the Silence." If you like them now, you are like everybody else - "oh, I loved those guys back in the day." Interesting to see how times change.

The Good, The Bad, and The Queen at Webster Hall

2007-03-13T08:27:00.000-04:00

TGTBTQ rolled into Webster Hall last night (March 12), and like their eponymous album, it was a good but not great show. With a top hat on his head, Damon Albarn played ringmaster to his cadre of known-from-other-bands musicians - Tony Allen, Simon Tong, and Paul Simonon. Even the stage dress had a circus appearance, with the backdrop of a seaside town/amusement park and bunting overhead. Damon banged away on his piano, Tony languished behind the drums for the overwhelmingly downtempo songs, Paul attempted to rock out on his bass, and Simon did the yeoman's work of throwing in chords on top of the piano and organ. The basslines actually were the most impressive parts of the music, although the string quartet was a nice touch.

They played the album all the way through from start to finish. Like the album itself, "History Song" and "Herculean" were the best songs of the evening. As I said, it was a good but not great performance. The crowd was more impressed with who was on stage rather than the music itself. Nevertheless, I give Damon a lot of credit - he's been a great force in music with all of his different projects. One could almost say he's a musical genius.

Ads will tear us apart

2007-02-28T08:44:00.000-05:00

Universal Music Publishing has taken over the administration of Joy Division's catalog from Zomba Music Publishing. Universal says "it is determined to 'aggressively promote' the catalog for synchronization licensing for film, TV, and advertising." Joy Division/New Order's management says "2007 is goping to be a huge year for Joy Division." But please - isn't anything sacred? Movies and TV are one thing, but are we going to hear "She's Lost Control" in a Target commercial? (Thanks Coolfer for the heads up)

New Violators

2007-02-23T08:35:00.000-05:00

I forgot about New Violators until BV mentioned them in a post yesterday. These Norwegians are outstanding. Their music is a great cross between The Killers and Duran Duran (or maybe a more upbeat Stellastarr*). They are going to be taking the US by storm in March, with three shows in NYC (March 12 at Tonic, Martch 20 at Mercury (with Fujiaka and Miyagi), and March 21 at Pianos) and a SXSW show on March 15. Their MySpace page has a couple of songs to stream, BV has an Mp3 of "Burma" and Stereogum has a couple of their demos.

Moz to tour America

2007-02-21T08:47:00.000-05:00

"America, your head's too big. Because America, your belly is too big. And I love you, I just wish you'd stay where you is."

Morrissey is planning a massive American tour this Spring, starting April 27. Details are still being shored up. Kristeen Yound will open.

Tripnotica recap

2007-02-21T08:42:00.000-05:00

Tripnotica last Sunday night at The Delancey was quite the good time. The bands were great, the DJs played continuously good tunes, and everthing went smoothly. The next Tripnotica event will be on the last weekend in March.

For those of you keeping score at home, here's my setlist for the evening:

(Set One)
Primal Scream - Higher Than the Sun
Blue States - Arion
Massive Attack - Protection (Underdog's Angel Dust Mix)
Sneaker Pimps - Spin Spin Sugar
Project Skyward - Shine
Prodigy - Voodoo People (Dust Brothers remix)
Moby - Go
808 State - Pacific State
St. Etienne - Filthy
Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood
Test Icicles - What's Your Damage? (Alan Braxe remix)

(Set Two)
Asobi Seksu - Strings (Glass Factory remix)
Goldfrapp - Strict Machine
Esthero - That Girl
The Chemical Brothers - Got Glint
Cut Copy - Future
Air - Sexy Boy
Massive Attack - Euro Zero Zero
Leftfield - Original
Portishead - Strangers
Booka Shade - In White Rooms
Thievery Corporation - Indra
Res - Let Love
The Veldt - Wanna Be Where You Are

(Set Three)
UNKLE feat. Ian Brown - Be There
Thunderball - To Sir With Dub
Bentley Rhythm Ace - Bentley's Gonna Sort You Out
Morcheeba - Otherwise
Paul Weller - Wild Wood (Portishead remix)
FC Kahuna - Hayling
Sneaker Pimps - 6 Underground
A Guy Called Gerald - Humanity
Goldie - Inner City Life
Leftfield - A Final Hit
Blue States - Your Girl
Thievery Corporation - Shadows of Ourselves
Mylo - Zenophole
Groove Armada - Lovebox

Tripnotica - this Sunday night

2007-02-16T13:42:00.000-05:00

Fun

2007-02-15T12:36:00.000-05:00

This Friday, FUN at Studio B will host the record release party for The Rapture's new record label, Throne of Blood. The Rapture will be playing a live mini-electronic set before DJ'ing for the rest of the night. The Bangers and Eamon Harkin will also be DJing.

Cut Copy

2007-02-08T09:17:00.000-05:00

Cut Copy are back. The first single from their sophomore album, "Hearts on Fire," will be released in Australia in February. They describe the single as "a cosmic dance anthem laced with references to 90’s saxophone visionary Guru Josh." That's spot-on. "Hearts on Fire" sounds phenomenal, and has the typical Cutter electro sound, but throws in some KTU-clubland synths and Rob Base-esque "whoo-yeah" samples, along with the aformentioned sax spots, which sound a lot like Duran Duran Rio saxes, and some nice bass chords at the end. In short, another expectledly awesome Cut Copy song. They're touring Australia in February. Hopefully they'll be back in the States soon, as their show at the Bowery with The Rapture may have been one of the top five shows I've ever seen.

You can hear "Hearts on Fire" here. Also, they did a mix compliation for the Fabric series. Great stuff - mixing together Goldfrapp, New Young Pony Club, Daft Punk, The Presets, and themselves, among others.

Ed Banging in America

2007-02-07T08:52:00.000-05:00

Shit-hot Ed Banger Records are bringing their French electro grooves to the US. The label, owned by Daft Punk manager Busy P, is releasing a second compilation of its artists via Vice, entitled Ed Rec Vol. 2. The crew, including Justice, Sebastian, and Busy P, will be in New York at Hiro Ballroom on March 29.

Ringleader

2007-02-06T09:31:00.000-05:00

Morrissey's Ringleader of the Tormentors popped up on my iPod this morning. I haven't listened to it at all since it came out, mostly because it's not that remarkable. My initial reaction was correct - it's not terrible, but it's not good either. Just average. Which for a Moz/Smiths fan is disappointing. On Ringleader, he really tries to stretch his vocals to that of a crooner, and it doesn't really work. "Life is a Pigsty" is phenomenal though.

Various Bits 'N Bobs

2007-02-01T11:59:00.000-05:00

Trentemoller, Copenhagen's DJ/Producer extraordinaire, is DJ'ing at Bank (at Element) this Saturday night. Free before 11pm; $10 until midnight; and $20 general. 225 East Houston @Essex St.

Urban Outfitters (bringing hip styles to the hearlands!) is helping Bloc Party promote the band's new album, A Weekend in the City, with a listening party tomorrow, February 2nd. The NYC listening party will be at 526 Ave. of the Americas.

Damon, Simon, Paul, and Tony's orchestra, The Good, The Bad & The Queen, recently announced US tour dates. They'll stop in NYC on March 12 at Webster Hall. Tix go on sale at noon on February 7th.

Perpetually Groovin'

2007-01-29T09:34:00.000-05:00

I haven't seen a "jam band" in years, but on the recommendation of my brother (who went to the Savannah College of Art and Design with some of these guys), I checked out Perpetual Groove at The Knitting Factory last night. I'm not a huge fan of the music of jam bands, but I will say this - such bands have great, hard-working musicians and have fanatical crowds. Last night was no different on either count - PG are fantastic musicians and the crowd was fanatically dancing. I don't think I've ever seen a crowd like that at a Manhattan show (for instance, there was actual dancing, gasp, at a rock show). Actually, it was more like band party at Sigma Nu circa 1996 - a lot of tie dye and plaid and a lot of noodlin' and pot smoke. PG played a number of instrumentals, but also played a great cover of Fatboy Slim's "Praise You." They seem to tour a lot, and they're worth checking out.

It was Loaded with...

2007-01-27T13:26:00.000-05:00

...a lot of British indie talent. The GBH-sponsored, Michael T-helmed indie rock night at Lotus - Loaded - was full of British bands last night. Alex Kapranos and Bob Hardy of Franz Ferdinand, members of The Cribs (who are recording a new album in NY, and which Alex is producing), and The Kaiser Chiefs were there - the Kaisers being the guest DJs last night. It's a fun night, even though Lotus seems to use the Meatpacking District's pain-in-the-ass means of getting in (a "special" wristband was needed to get in to the Loaded party). Even Alex - the front man of one of the biggest bands in the world - was confused by the entry policy. Nevertheless, good times. Michael T spins a great mix of new British rock, new wave, and classics. And the sound system there is great.

March in New York

2007-01-22T08:44:00.000-05:00

I'll miss SXSW again this year, but thankfully New York benefits from all the foreign bands coming to the states. On their way in or way out, a fair amount of bands will stop here and play our venues. The Mercury Lounge already has a fair amount of good foreign bands lined up in March, including 120 Days on March 10, Fujiya + Miyagi on March 18, and The Fratellis on March 22 (ok, they're not that good, but the UK press seems to think so). I expect the Mercury to fill up the rest of March with good music.

Also, Kaiser Chiefs U.S. dates have been announced. The NME-sponsored tour will hit Roseland Ballroom on April 12. Yours Truly, Angry Mob comes out on March 27.

2007-01-22T08:39:00.000-05:00

Another album that I inadvertently overlooked in 2006 was Cicada's self-titled debut. Obscure Sound reminded me of it (and has posted a few tracks to download). You may know Cicada from their incredible remixes of Editors (the Cicada mix of "Munich" is outstanding), Client, and Depeche Mode, among others. Their debut Cicada is electro pop greatness. Using the talents of Heidrun Bjornsdottir on vocals, the production duo of Aaron Gilbert and Alex Payne will keep you on the dance floor with Bjornsdottir's sing-song voice over the tight synth and electro bass lines. The Icelandic Bjornsdottir harkens a bit back to Bjork, but definitely keeps up with the trend of Scandanavian electro pop songstresses of the moment, such as Annie, Sally Shapiro, and Otur.

Cicada is only available in hard format as an import, but you get the album off of iTunes for the standard $9.99. It's worth picking up the CD though, as the cover art is fantastic.

More New Rave

2007-01-21T12:06:00.000-05:00

Jesus Christ. Today's NY Times has an article entitled "Hope You Saved Your Glowsticks" about the "new rave" scene in London, and name checks The Klaxons and New Young Pony Club. Seems so official now, innit?

Incidentally, New Young Pony Club are playing the Fixed party on March 10 at Studio B, with Simian Mobile Disco. You should go.

Mondo with Mahogany

2007-01-19T10:43:00.000-05:00

Local pop-shoegazers Mahogany are guest DJ'ing at tonight's indie-pop fest Mondo. Starts at 10, and happens at Luke + Leroy.

Starting 2007 off with a bang

2007-01-17T09:05:00.000-05:00

There are a number of releases that I'm looking forward to in 2007, including The Good, The Bad, and The Queen, Interpol, Bloc Party, and a possible Radiohead release. Two others on my list are !!! and Kaiser Chiefs. Neiles Life has tracks from both Myth Takes and Yours Truly, Angry Mob (I love this guy - thanks!).

!!!'s "Heart of Hearts" is destined to be played on hipster dancefloors this side of the Hudson throughout 2007. A dark track of sorts, but it keeps you moving. Kasiers' "Ruby" solidifies their part in Britpop lore. Not much of a departure from anything off Employment, this upbeat, sing-along track feels like it came off The Great Escape and shows that the Kasier Chiefs will avoid the sophomore slump. (Incidentally, they will be DJ'ing at Lotus on Friday, January 26th)

Bloc Party in New York

2007-01-12T09:20:00.000-05:00

Is it worth $30 plus Ticketmaster fees to see Bloc Party at the United Palace Theater in March? I've seen them a bunch of times already, but their new songs sound pretty good. I hate to give in to Ticketmaster though - especially for a seated theater that's waaaayyy uptown. Tickets are on sale now.

Booka Shade's electro Movements

2007-01-07T12:10:00.000-05:00

When writing my 2006 Best Of list, I completely forgot about Booka Shade's Movements. The album has great electro beats with some spacey funk thrown in. If you liked Mylo's Destroy Rock and Roll, you should run out to your local record store and purchase Movements immediately. Or if you like to pull only a few things from the iTunes buffet, go download "Night Falls," "Body Language/Interpretation," "Darko," and "In White Rooms." This Berlin duo will be in New York at Studio B on March 15th.

2007's "Crazy"?

2007-01-05T09:24:00.000-05:00

K-OS is set to release his new album, Atlantis - Hymns for Disco, in the United States on Feb. 20 and will do a short February tour to support (Webster Hall on 2/22). You've probably already heard his "Sunday Morning" - it's the track used in the Microsoft Zune "Welcome to the Social" commercials that you see in the movie theater, and the NFL also uses it to promote it's Sunday football. I think "Sunday Morning" is poised to be this year's "Crazy" - upbeat, infectious groove with memorable lyrics. We should hear it non-stop throughout the first part of the year, and then be sick of it by July.

Club NME in New York

2007-01-03T11:46:00.000-05:00

Where will it finally find a home? At the CMJ week party at Chinatown's Grand Harmony restaurant, Club NME's flyers stated that it's monthly party would happen at the Gramercy Park Hotel starting in December. That didn't happen. Instead the December party was at Ruff Club at The Annex (with We Are Scientists). January's party will happen at the Hiro Ballroom on Thursday, January 25 (in connection with the GBH crew). I wonder what happened to their association with the Gramercy Hotel. Perhaps the hotel's ballroom is not officially ready yet. (On a slightly related note, the Gramercy Theatre is officially ready, as Stellastarr* is playing there on February 22.)

Word Gets Around

2007-01-02T08:56:00.000-05:00

Stereophonics are reissuing their debut Word Gets Around for the 10th anniversary of its original release. The reissue will contain a second disc of B-sides and whatnot. Word Gets Around is a fantastic album, and probably Stereophonics' best. "Local Boy in a Photograph," "A Thousand Trees," "Last of the Big Time Drinkers," "Too Many Sandwiches" - fantastic post Britpop Brit-rock.

Hindsight is 20/20

2006-12-26T12:18:00.000-05:00

I've had the chance to re-read a couple of old music magazines that I had back in the day. It's funny to read album reviews from 10 or so years ago and to see how that album is thought of now. Let's take a look at a few of these:

Alternative Press, July 1993 - Verve' A Storm In Heaven - "I've just spent an intense week listening to A Storm In Heaven, Verve's debut album, and I can barely contain my excitement. Not since 1998 - when MBV's Isn't Anything busted open rock and loosed a new alien magma - have I been so all-fired intoxicated by a piece of music. Not since then has one album made everything else around sound like the anemic, mortal flailings of midwestern bar bands. Unless something extraordinary happens, A Storm in Heaven will be the best album of 1993." Now that's a very impressive review of Ashcroft and Co's debut LP. I love Verve and I like this album, but I don't know if I'd go that far with my feelings for it. I also find it amusing to see that even back in 1993, the MBV references were flying around.

Alternative Press, July 1993 - Radiohead's Pablo Honey - "Radiohead, a three-guitar, five-member band from Oxford, England, wedge themselves into an already crowded pigeonhole with poppy guitar-effects bands like Ride, Revolver, the Boo Radleys, and the Catherine Wheel - and Radiohead sound a little like all of them. If their music is a little unsurprising, so is the fact that they've been snagged by a major (the big guys can't seem to get enuogh of this stuff). After a couple of EPs that reduced a section of the British music press to little more than fawning, bilithering idiots, their big label debut makes you wonder what all the fuss is about. ... The album putters out, and the four good tunes, surrounded by a moat of mediocrity, can't quite redeem the album. But flavor-of-the-month bands like this aren't supposed to write whole albums, just a few good songs, and that much they've managed." Oooh, G.W. Erwin, I bet you'd like to take back that "flavor of the month" tag now. Although, my thoughts were similar to this when I first heard Pablo Honey back then - a couple of good songs, but nothing worth writing home to mom about.

Alternative Press, July 1993 (this issue was on fire with English debuts!) - Suede's Suede - "You could forgive us Americans for casting a skeptical ear at Suede. Preposterously pumped up by the British music press (declared best band in Britain by Melody Maker before they'd released their first single), Suede have had the spotlight in their visages practically from gig one. But they semingly thrive on this intense attention. Singer/lyricist Brett Anderson is largely responsible for the press' love affair with the group. He strikes one as a Brit journalist's wet-dream amalgam of Bowie, Ferry and Morrissey. ... Off the top of my head I can think of at least ten British bands superior to Suede but none of them can feed the mags a plentitude of controversial quotes or flounce around in gold lamee shirts in that androgynous manner that English hacks eat up like ravers gobbling Ecstasy. But you know what? Suede almost live up to all the hype they've received. ... Suede is a tremendous debut but it may prove to be too "English" to connect with the North American temperment (see The Jam, Madness, The Smiths, to a degree, and several others). But, as an AP reader, you're too broad-minded to let such cultural xenophobia stop you from enjoying this major work. Give Suede a chance and they'll take you over." How about that! A spot-on review of the debut album from one of my favorite bands. I've always thought that Suede was "too English" for most of America, but there are a fair amount of fans here.

Alternative Press, July 1995 (the 10th Anniversary issue) - In this issue, AP picked their top 99 of the decade (1985 to 1995). Here are the top ten: 1) Nirvana - Nevermind; 2) The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead; 3) Sonic Youth - Sister; 4) The Replacements - Tim; 5) Dinosaur, Jr. - You're Living All Over Me; 6) Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back; 7) Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine; 8) Husker Du - New Day Rising; 9) Bad Brains - I Against I; 10) Jesus and Mary Chain - Pyschocandy. Not a bad list, and I think that it would still hold up today.

Select, January 1998 - Robbie Williams' "Angels" - "Williams has one of those contemplative piano-in-a-white-room moment that comes to all artists ken to emphasize their new serious direction. Despite his voice getting dangerously close to Elton John he heads out into ballad-land without the usual syrup and conrived pomp: choirs sing, orchastras soar, and there's even a few George Harrison-esque guitar solos thrown in. Strangely, this is probably his best single to date." Good call Select - "Angels" was recently voted the best British song of the past 25 years.

Select, June 1999 - Radiohead's OK Computer - "A landmark on every latitude. Not the least achievement of OK Computer is that a major weird-psychological English guitar band can induce gasps of admiration, stunned silence and more than a few lumps in the throat. It's an emotionally draining epic experience. Now Radiohead can definitely be ranked high among the world's greatest bands." 5 out of 5 stars. This is pretty much spot on. Hardly anyone can disagree with OK Computer getting such a rave review. And it still holds water today.

Select, June 1999 - Moby's Play - "Since the Twin Peaks-sampling classic "Go", he's had a decade-long identity crisis, casting himself variously as Rave Moby, Punk Moby, and Soundtrack Moby. On Play, he's MC Blind Lemon Moby. Looping field recordings of early blues songs and spirituals over hip hop beat, he creates some neat bayou B-boy stomps (notably "Honey" and "Natural Blues") but his cultural tourism eventually palls. There's a crippling lack of conviction throughout, as Moby mixes his black source material with dated synth chords, his own anaemic vocals and sub-Satie piano that's more Robert Miles than Dr. John. Play mayhave plenty of jump around moments for Midwest skate kids but A-list status looks likely to elude Moy for some time yet." 3 out of 5. Ouch. Quite critical but somewhat off the mark - Play went on to hit #1 on the UK charts and go double platinum in the US, and every single song was licensed for television, film, or commercial use.

The Cure = holiday selling

2006-12-18T09:31:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend, I was in SoHo doing some Christmas shopping. I was in one trendy clothing boutique and I noticed that they were playing some early The Cure songs on the in-store speakers. I said to the shop girls that I was surprised that they were playing The Cure - it's not really the most up-beat music for shopping. One of the girls said that the fashion that's trendy right now are 80's throw back clothing, and therefore playing 80's music makes sense. I guess, but I don't think "Other Voices" and "Charlotte Sometimes" (one of my favorite Cure tracks) make people want to shop!

Top 10 Albums of 2006

2006-12-12T22:41:00.000-05:00

I was a little disappointed with the overall crop of releases in 2006. There are only a few albums that I think I'll love years from now. I liked a whole bunch of individual songs, but typically the overall album wasn't as strong as the one or two tracks that I liked. Nevertheless, here are my favorites of the year (I have only included albums that were released in 2006 - which includes imports. Albums that were released in 2005, such as Editors' The Back Room and Goldfrapp's Supernature, made my 2005 list, even if the albums did not get a US release until this year):

10. Saint Etienne - Nice Price - Ok, so it's a fan club album with remixes and demos of past tracks rather than a proper release, but I'm grasping for straws here people. It includes an alternative version of "Milk Bottle Symphony" from last year's Tales From The Turnpike House, which is another sweet ode to London, and also has some of the group's original white label releases, such as 7 Ways 2 Love and Who Do You Think You Are?. This is a nice trip through Saint Etienne's career and worth picking up if your a fan. Great show at Irving Plaza earlier this year too.

9. Cities - Cities - Post-punk rock out of Chapel Hill. Slightly Bloc Party, slightly Interpol, but perhaps a little more upbeat than either of them. "A Theme" and "Lounge Act" stand out. And props to Cities and their label Yep Roc for offering the masters for a remix contest. (Although the contest ended last summer, I'm still working on my remix!)

8. Thunderball - Cinescope - One of ESL's finest, Thunderball manage to blend lounge, James Bond, dub, a little 70's blaxploitation (see "The Panther"), funk, and world beat all on one album. One of the best from the Eighteenth Street Lounge crop. "To Sir With Dub" and "The Mysterious Mr. Sandobar" are my faves from the album.

7. Trentemoeller - The Last Resort - Copenhagen's Trentemoeller manages to combine electro greatness, dubstep funk, and cinematic bliss all on one album. Every song could be backing music for a film - no matter what the tempo is. If you can, pick up the double disc version of The Last Resort, which includes the vocal versions of many tracks (such as the brilliant "Moan" with Ane Trolle). Lucky for you, the double disc is available on iTunes.

6. MSTRKRFT - The Looks - These guys were shit-hot this year, throwing out some great remixes and DJing all the cool kids' parties. While most of the dirty electro funk on The Looks sounds the same, it all sounds quite good. "Work on You" and "Easy Love" are the stand out tracks. Now get up and dance.

5. 120 Days - 120 Days - Dark and heavy yet quite melodic, these Norwegians sound a little like a more uptempo Joy Division (i.e., Movement era New Order), if that's possible. The songs are epic in length, even their first "single" - "Come Out, Come Down, Fade Out, Be Gone" And apparently, I'm not the only one that likes this album - the Norweigian press voted it Album of the Year. "Sleepwalking" and "Come Out" stand out. Their CMJ show was the best that I saw at the festival.

4. The Rapture - Pieces of the People We Love - Ok this album is no Echoes. But The Rapture still bring the funk and make you get off your asses and dance. Actually, I think they may even tell you to do that on one of the tracks. There's no "House of Jealous Lovers" here, but "Get Myself Into It" comes close. "Don Go Do It" and "The Devil" also highlight the album.

3. The Daysleepers - The Soft Attack - The Daysleepers are brilliant. Following on the heels of the Hide Your Eyes EP released last December, The Daysleepers follow up with more fantastic "new-gaze." This EP has the flavor of Disintegration by The Cure thrown in as well. And nothing makes me happier than mixing shoegaze with The Cure. But see for yourself - you can listen to all of their tracks on their website (and even download a few tracks too).

2. Thom Yorke - The Eraser - Thom really can do no wrong. His "blips and bleeps" solo effort really stood out among 2006's releases. The Eraser sounds a lot like the Kid A/Amnesiac era of Radiohead, but I'm not complaining. I wouldn't put it next to a Radiohead album, but compared to other artists, it's quite brilliant. "The Eraser" and "Analyze" show off the best of Thom's "blips and bleeps" and he does a little beat-boxing on "The Clock." He also gives us a nice Christmas present with a free "Analyze" remix download.

1. The Sunshine Underground - Raise the Alarm - This is hands down the best album of the year. Every track on this album of uptempo dance rock is brilliant. "Commercial Breakdown" harkens back to the Britpop era while "Put You In Your Place" shows that TSU can put out dance rock like The Rapture. The bass lines infuse a little funk into the mix, especially on "Dead Scene." Every song on this album makes you want to get up and fucking dance, and their bio correctly states - this is indie rock for the dance floor. And you have to like a band that names itself after a song by The Chemical Brothers. They'll be getting a big push from NME this winter, as they headline the NME Awards Tour.

Honorable Mentions: Thieves Like Us' singles, New Young Pony Clubs' singles, The Killers - Sam's Town (a couple of great songs here), Mixel Pixel - Music For Plants (buy this for "Coming Up X's" alone), and Muse - Black Holes and Revelations ("Starlight" and "Map of the Problematique" are the only songs worth keeping really), Burial's Burial (dubstep greatness), and Roger O'Donnell's The Truth in Me (all done on a Moog) .

Albums that I rediscovered this year: Antarctica's 81:03, Goldie's Timeless, and Ned's Atomic Dustbin's God Fodder.

Pony

2006-12-11T17:54:00.000-05:00

NYPC's Modular Party performance at The White Room was a quick 6 song set, which according to NME consisted of "Get Lucky," "The Bomb," "Hiding on the Stair Case," "Ice Cream," "Chaos," and "The Get Go." I unfortunately missed it, and also didn't see them on Friday either, since NYPC cancelled their show because lead singer Tahita Bulmer lost her voice. I'm sure they will be back soon enough to put on a full show. Love her quote: "There were clearly plenty of people who were digging it...but there were also a lot of hipsters who might as well have been looking at pictures of elephant dung. It would have been nicer if some of those people had responded." Welcome to NYC.

I'm happy about the coverage that NYPC are getting, but please god, stop calling them "indie rave" or "new rave." Those are the dumbest genre terms I've ever heard of and don't even apply. They have more of an indie electro rock thing going on for them (if that tells you anything), but, like The Sunshine Underground, who are also tagged with "indie rave," they have no horns, sirens, or glow sticks. The Sunshine Underground sound more like an uptempo Bloc Party and should definitely not be lumped in with bands such as The Klaxons. Anyway...

Friday night

2006-12-07T09:06:00.000-05:00

Two great options for you on Friday. First, there's New Young Pony Club's NYC debut at The Annex. (They also play the Modular party on Saturday at the White Room - along with Thieves Like Us, whose "Drugs in My Body" is one of the best get-ready-to-go-out songs of the year (you can download it on their Myspace page)).

Second, Audrey and Eamon, two of the coolest DJs in town, are debuting their Calling All Kids party at Luke + Leroy (it used to be at Sapphire). They're bringing in the UK's Freeform Five to guest DJ.

"Disintegration is the best album ever"

2006-11-30T09:18:00.000-05:00

Stereogum's recent post discussing the Pete Wentz interview of Robert Smith in Entertainment Weekly thankfully included a clip of the South Park episode in which Robert destroys the Barbara Streisand-zilla. I completely forgot about that. Great stuff - especially when Kyle says "Disintegration is the best album ever" (of which Robert says was "one of my greatest moments in life"). So true Kyle, so true.

Tuesday, November 28 at The Mercury Lounge

2006-11-27T22:05:00.000-05:00

Some shoegazing goodness at the Mercury Lounge tonight. Loveless Music Group presents four great bands (Unlove, Saints + Lovers, Soundpool, and The Sad Little Stars) and

popkiss

2006-11-27T21:46:00.000-05:00

popkiss on Saturday night was a lot of fun...you should have been there...if you weren't...here's what I played:

Set 1 --
Mixel Pixel - Coming Up X's
Asobi Seksu - Strings (Glass Factory remix)
Antarctica - Absence
New Order - Age of Consent
The Sunshine Underground - Commercial Breakdown
Blur - Starshaped
The Cure - How Beautiful You Are
The Daysleepers - Mesmerize
The Rapture - I've Been Down for So Long
The Diggs - Everyone's Starting Over (Cassettes Won't Listen remix)
The Sugarcubes - Walkabout

Set 2--
Cut Copy - That Was Just a Dream/Zip Zap
Out Hud - All For You
Saint Etienne - Lightning Strikes Twice
The Presets - The Girl and The Sea
Editors - Orange Crush
Sleeper - Statuesque
New Young Pony Club - Get Dancey
New Order - 586 (Razormaid remix)
Depeche Mode - Precious
Don Juan Dracula - Take Me Home (DJ Henning remix)

Set 3--
Lily Allen - Smile
The Knife - Heartbeats (Rex the Dog remix)
Death From Above 1979 - Romantic Rights
MSTRKRFT - Work on You
Annie - Anniemal
Pulp - Disco 2000

Dr. Maz threw out some great stuff too - including tracks I love from The Embassy and Lo Fi Fink.

2006-11-22T11:05:00.000-05:00

This Saturday, the 25th, I'll be DJ'ing popkiss with Dr. Maz at Last Exit in Brooklyn. IndiePop, BritPop, ScandiPop, and other assorted gems. Last Exit is located at 136 Atlantic Ave. Closeest subway stops are the 4,5,2,3,N,R trains at Borough Hall or the F,G at Bergen St. See ya there.

Falling Tower

2006-11-20T09:41:00.000-05:00

Everyone is lamenting the loss of Tower Records, which is now in liquidation. Myself included. However, you can get some great deals on the remaining merchandise in the stores. CDs and DVDs are 40% off and CD singles are 60%. I picked up a bunch of import singles - from The Sunshine Undergound, Stereophonics, and Suede - for pretty cheap. So at least there is one bright side for Tower's closing.

Bond

2006-11-20T09:33:00.000-05:00

I saw Casino Royale over the weekend, and thought it was excellent. I'm a big Bond fan and thought Daniel Craig was a great choice as the new Bond (I loved his Layer Cake). Casino showed off a grittier, meaner Bond who was not afraid to kill someone with his bare hands. And there wasn't too much of the cheesy Bond lines or mannerisms (those that plagued Roger Moore and even Pierce Brosnan to some extent). Looking forward to the next couple of Bonds from Mr. Craig.

Also of note, the Chris Cornell theme song - "You Know My Name" - was quite poor. Makes you yearn for the days of Duran Duran's "A View To a Kill."

Must see shows

2006-11-16T09:45:00.000-05:00

Paul Weller is making a rare appearance in the States this January in order to promote his 4 disc set Hit Parade. The "Modfather" will be at Irving Plaza on January 29, 30, and 31, where he'll do a The Jam night, a Style Council night, and a Weller solo career night, respecitvely.

New Young Pony Club are finally coming to the States and will be at The Annex on Dec. 8 and The White Room in Williamsburg on Dec. 9 for the Modular People Xmas party. I know them for putting out some incredible singles over the past 12 months, and you know them for the use of their "Ice Cream" in the Intel commercial.

The Cure in '84

2006-11-14T23:15:00.000-05:00

Wolfgang's Vault, a great concert t-shirt, artwork, poster site, has offered up its concert vault in streaming format, and has included a show by The Cure at Washington, DC's Ontano Theater from Nov. 16, 1984 (holy shit, that was 22 years ago tomorrow!). This 90 minute show features a lot of stuff from their Concert and Curiosity era sound (Japanese Whispers, The Top, some Seventeen Seconds and Pornography) . It's not my favorite period for The Cure, but the recording is of great quality and is worth listening to for any Cure fan.

Exporting music to America

2006-11-13T13:59:00.000-05:00

Interesting article from the NY Times regarding foreign government's subsidizing their nation's bands' trips to America. We've seen this issue before, with the numerous articles about Canada subsidizing their musicians (that's a very general statement), but this article notes the Total Noway! night at CMJ that I attended.

Party Blocked

2006-11-10T09:25:00.000-05:00

Bloc Party has been forced to cancel a few dates on their U.S. tour because Matt Tong has a collapsed lung. Sounds painful, but he's apparently in a "comfortable" condition at a hospital in Atlanta. The band will miss the Charlotte, Fairfax, and Madison Square Garden shows.

Noel's wit and wisdom

2006-11-05T19:42:00.000-05:00

I checked out Lord, Don't Slow Me Down, the documentary for Oasis' Don't Believe the Truth tour. It was a really intimate look at the boys backstage and on stage. Some great footage from their New York show at the Garden, which I attended. You can really see why these guys are rock stars - they hit the stage with so much bombast and swagger and just blow out great sets. The film also showed some nice "real person" moments, like signing a birthday card and getting a birthday cake for Zak Starkey (Ringo's son and Oasis' tour drummer) and a trip to a Japanese instrument shop, where they tried out just about everything. They also spent some quality time with Kasabian and Jet. If you're an Oasis fan, the film is a must see.

After the film, Noel did a Q+A with Matt Pinfield and took some questions from the crowd (mostly softballs). We learned the following:

The Beatles' "Blue" album is Noel's favorite Beatles' album (the greatest hits collection - 67-70)
the purpose of Stop the Clocks is for fans 15 years from now to pick up one Oasis cd and find almost all of their best songs, and then go and buy the individual albums
the reason Be Here Now was so bad was 1) it wasn't Morning Glory, 2) at that time Oasis was so big that no one had the guts to tell Noel to stop - case in point, at that time, he thought "D'ya Know What I Mean?" should have been longer than 8 minutes, and 3) he wrote most of the album while in the Caribbean and drunk
"Go Let It Out" is the song that sounds most like a modern day The Beatles song
his favorite artists are Neal Young and Bob Dylan, but his music doesn't sound like either of them
the day he wrote "Live Forever" was the day that his songwriting really changed
he thinks that the Kings of Leon are currently the best songwriters around
Oasis will end when Liam's hair falls out

CMJ with The Diggs

2006-11-05T18:56:00.000-05:00

The Diggs' CMJ show at Sin-E on Friday night was one of the best shows I've seen them perform. The packed house saw them go through some of their Commute tracks (including "Stagg" and "Everyone's Starting Over") and three new songs. Charlie the drummer was on fire, literally jumping up after smashing his drums for each song. Looking forward to seeing a new album from these guys.

Total Norway!

2006-11-04T01:41:00.000-05:00

The Norway Stoy! event at Pianos was probably the best CMJ showcase that I went to this week. Comprised of three Norwegian bands, upstairs at Pianos was packed from 5pm to 8pm. Don Juan Dracula opened up, and they will now be your new secret obsession. With uptempo synth rock, these guys put on quite a show. Dressed in all white suits/wife-beaters, they have style and substance. The lead singer takes his job as a showman quite seriously - and has a little Simon Le Bon in him. He went into the crowd to sing and to dance and posed for pictures with fans while singing and dancing. At one point he says that they are a boy band and dress like a boy band and like a boy band, they have a dance. So the keyboardist puts on this early 80's synth line, and the other three line up and do this choreographed groove. Unreal. And this wasn't even the highlight! The moment of the show goes to the bassist and lead singer/guitarist lighting sparklers that were attached to the neck of their guitars. That's showmanship!

120 Days closed the event, and they may be my new favorite band. Upbeat Joy Division meets The Cure meets early U2. Synths, drum machines, live drums, on top of a driving bass line. They also put on quite a show, and while not as flashy as Don Juan Dracula, they really got into their set. They recently signed with Vice for the US, and with that pedigree, are primed to hit the big time with scenester cred. They've played a lot of little shows in NY during CMJ, and the bassist explained to me, "it's been quite hectic." I'm looking forward to a proper US tour, hopefully with them playing the Bowery. You should buy their album now.

Here's "Come Out, Come Down," courtesy of Vice.

Master Craft

2006-11-03T14:05:00.000-05:00

MSTRKRFT's DJ performance at the Hiro Ballroom last night was incredible. They know how to throw down the electro-disco jams. Hiro's sound system is great, so the room was really moving as MSTRKRFT mixed it up. Cool points for eating a slice or two while manning the DJ booth! Princess Superstar followed, and she was ok, in that white girl glam-rap kind of way. I couldn't make it long enough to hear The Juan Maclean or Digitalism, which is a shame. (Digitalism is also playing Studio B in Greenpoint on Saturday night/Sunday morning).

Club NME/The Horrors/The Sounds/The Zune

2006-11-02T20:55:00.000-05:00

I went to the kickoff of Club NME last night and saw performances by The Sounds and The Horrors (CSS was supposed to play, but the lead singer got sick). The show was at the Harmony Palace - a Chinese banquet hall/restaurant - pretty hilarious actually. The Sounds were quite good and my two favorite songs of theirs, "Tony the Beat" and "Paint By Numbers" sounded great live. The Horrors on the other hand were so awful that I would have shot myself in the head if it wasn't for the free beer being handed out. I can't believe that everyone is trying to hype this band. Smacking yourself repeatedly in the ear sounds better than those guys. (Apparently I'm not the only one who dislikes them - an audience member attacked lead singer Faris Badwan at their show on Tuesday night at Stereo).

As I discussed before, Club NME is coming to NYC permanently. Starting on December 15, it will starts its residence at the new Gramery Park Hotel. Club NME is at numerous cities around the UK, and as part of NME's attempted take over of the US, it will now be in LA and NYC.

Oh, and the best part about the launch party last night (other than the free beer) was the Microsoft Zune sponsorship - they had people walking around asking if you would like to check out the Zune. Hilarious, because these paid promoters had no idea what the hell the Zune did. This one girl kept coming up to me and asking "hey, would you like to check this thing out?" I'd ask her annoying questions like "how is this better than my iPod?" and "does this have some sort of wireless download option?" She had no clue and actually referred to a crib sheet on the Zune. Comedy.

The Soft Attack

2006-10-30T09:48:00.000-05:00

As I have mentioned before, The Daysleepers have put out some of the best new music in the past year and are one of my new favorite bands. A combination of shoegazing sounds with The Cure thrown in for good measure, they have put together some outstanding melodic yet upbeat songs. They have just released a new EP entitled The Soft Attack, which is available on their website, at Tonevendor, CD Baby, and on iTunes at some point. You can stream both the new EP and their first EP, Hide Your Eyes, on their website as well. Here are some tracks to right-click and save:

The Soft Attack (from The Soft Attack)
Mesmerize (from Hide Your Eyes - this song is so fucking fantastic I don't even know what to say)

Sam's Town in New York City

2006-10-25T08:51:00.000-04:00

I had the pleasure of going to Sam's Town last night, a/k/a The Killers' show at the Theater at MSG. I've never seen The Killers before, and even though I'm only a so-so fan, it was a pretty good show. I've gotta hand it to Brandon and Co., they put on quite a performance - it's kind of a carnival barker theme, and they hammed it up. I'm not a big fan of the new album, but those songs sounded ok. Like myself, the crowd really enjoyed the tunes off of Hot Fuss, which included "Smile Like You Mean It," "Mr. Brightside," "Jenny Was a Friend of Mine," "Somebody Told Me," and "All These Things That I've Done." And is it me, or does drummer Ronnie Vanucci look like My Name Is Earl with that handlebar mustache of his?

Apple's push at CMJ

2006-10-24T09:26:00.000-04:00

In conjunction with the CMJ Music Marathon, Apple is letting registered attendees take the CMJ Music Marathon home with them. Registered attendees will get an iTunes card featuring over 100 songs from CMJ artists. Not bad at all! Of course, it's only "while supplies last."

Apple's Soho location (103 Prince Street) will also have a few in-store performances during CMJ week:

Monday, October 30th, 3pm - Tokyo Police Club
Tuesday, October 31st, 3pm - CSS
Wednesday, November 1st, 3pm - Asobi Seksu
Thursday, November 2nd, 3pm - Cold War Kids
Friday, November 3rd, 1pm - The Decemberists

And as they say, "iTunes, the entertainment center for your world."

Route 85A no longer?

2006-10-19T18:55:00.000-04:00

Apparently, Route 85A is closing this weekend and will re-open as Big Lug at some point in the future. How disappointing! I love Route 85A, and I had a lot of fun DJ'ing my Unsavory! parties there. Anway, come celebrate the closing this Friday night with the always affable Zoe behind the bar:

BYE BYE 85A - ZOE'S LAST NIGHT OF BARTENDING AT ROUTE 85A
85 Avenue A between 5th and 6th Streets

Special hour long dj sets from the following: DJ Ty Parker, Gillian Russel, The Inevitable Breakups, Druece and Rivercat, and DJ Dana.

LCD for Nike

2006-10-16T13:23:00.000-04:00

Nike, who has it's own store at iTunes, has asked LCD Soundsystem to compose a workout song. Nike has recently jumped in the iTunes entertainment world by offering its Nike + store, which features workout mixes and new compositions. So LCD is offering up "45:33" - a forty five minute song specifically composed for your workout. James Murphy must be loving this - his remixes are epics in length anyway (see DFA's "Dare" and DFA's "Slide In") - and now he's been given carte blanche to compose a 45 minute track.

It's "Herculean"

2006-10-11T09:09:00.000-04:00

The first single by The Good, The Bad, and The Queen, the Britpop supergroup consisting of Damon Albarn, Simon Tong, Paul Simonon, and Tony Allen that I mentioned before, is called "Herculean" and Idolator and Sterogum have mp3s of it. It's quite good - Damon singing lackadaisically over spacey guitars. More chillout than rock, it sounds a lot like Gorillaz' "El Manana," which is a good thing. Looking forward to the full album.

Lily Allen

2006-10-10T08:59:00.000-04:00

I'm very impressed with the marketing that Lily Allen has done. She's a MySpace queen with a gazillion friends (never mind that such status doesn't make an artist good) and she had a nice piece in the NY Times a month or so ago regarding her popularity. She's put together a great set of songs and has done well in the UK, and is now bringing her buzz to the States. Her management/label made a smart move by releasing an EP of her stuff to coincide with her brief tour of the music cities in the U.S. - so rather than forcing us to wait until next year for a domestic release, we can buy some of her stuff now. (It's being released by Capitol). And this EP contains her hit "Smile", which was the song of summer in the UK. Good work Lily. She plays the sold out Hiro Ballroom tonight before hitting San Fran, Chicago, and LA later in the week.

Google Tube

2006-10-10T08:52:00.000-04:00

Demonstrating that it is sitting on mountains of money, Google has purchased YouTube for $1.65 billion. That's with a "b". Insane. Sure, YouTube is fun and all, but I can't believe that it would be worth $1.65 billion. Other than the developed platform, what are its assets? How much better can user-generated content get? Remember, just last week Mark Cuban said that anyone who buys YouTube is crazy.

Perhaps facilitating the deal, YouTube signed deals with CBS, Sony BM, and Universal Music yesterday, which helps alleviate some copyright concerns. Instead of seeing kids skateboarding down fire poles or Aunt Sarah's 50th birthday party, we'll now get "promotional" videos and shows from these content providers. Hopefully being forced to watch ads won't be next.

Massive

2006-10-04T08:31:00.000-04:00

As expected, Massive Attack put on a powerful performance last night at the Roseland Ballroom. It's amazing how these artists can sound strong and smooth at the same time. With a live set up of a bassist, keyboardist, guitarist, and two drummers behind them, Massive Attack rotated vocalists depending on the song - 3D for almost everything (who did a Thom Yorke-esque epeleptic boxer/robot dance throughout the show), Daddy G for a few ("Karma Coma", "Mezzanine", "Rising Son"), Horace Andy provided his reggae-tinged vocals on a few ("Man Next Door," "Angel", "Hymn of the Big Wheel"), "Elizabeth" for the slower female vocals ("Teardrop", "Black Milk"), and another female vocalist for the soulful female vocals ("Safe From Harm", "Unfinished Sympathy"). You didn't really realize how many total people were in this collective until the finale, when all 10 players came out to take a bow.

I saw Massive Attack in 1998 when they were promoting Mezzanine, and it was the best show I've ever been to. I don't think last night's performance was as good as the '98 one, but it was the best show I've seen this year. I was a little disappointed that we only heard one track from Protection, as the set was heavily focused on Mezzanine, and I wish Daddy G had more chances to rap (although he did get behind the decks to scratch on a couple of tracks, most notably "Unfinished Sympathy"). I missed Mushroom too, and the live setup focused more on the guitar than the scratches (which got a little annoying at times - a lot of loud "wah wah" licks from the guitarist).

Highlights of the set were "Rising Son", "Karma Coma", and "Inertia Creeps". The crowd's favorite had to have been "Teardrop" (which makes sense, as this song is probably the band's most popular, seeing how it's in movies and shows all the time), and it was quite good actually, with a little acoustic guitar to play the lead notes. Here's the overall setlist:

1. False Flags
2. Risingson
3. Black Milk/Melt
4. Karma Coma
5. Man Next Door
6. Butterfly Caught
7. Hymn of the Big Wheel
8. Mezzanine (which is about "my homicidal ex-girlfriend with a crackhead mother")
9. Teardrop
10. Angel
11. Future Proof
12. Safe From Harm

Encore
13. Inertia Creeps
14. Unfinished Sympathy
15. Group Four

Smith

2006-09-27T08:53:00.000-04:00

The music supervisor for CBS' new show Smith must be quite the hipster. The pilot featured Rock Kills Kid, and last night's episode had songs from Dirty Pretty Things and Thom Yorke. Must be a fun job to have.

Gnarls + Nokia

2006-09-26T09:28:00.000-04:00

Gnarls Barkley played an Advertising Week kickoff party last night at the Nokia Theater. Good, but not great, show. Gnarls was "Weird Science" last night, and the band came out in lab coats and opened with Thomas Dolby's "She Blinded Me With Science." They went through most of St. Elsewhere, and threw in a cover of Violent Femmes' "Gone Daddy Gone." With quite a flair for the dramatic, Gnarls puts on a good performance, but there was something left to be desired. The crowd of advertising peeps were mostly standing around, not paying attention, until "Crazy" came on, which indeed sounds great live.

I was more impressed by the Nokia Theater itself. Good standing space, seats if you need them, nice sound system, easy ingress and egrees, generally clean, and good views from no matter where you stand/sit. At 2100, it's a good place to see a "big" band do a "small" show.

Not so much

2006-09-21T08:11:00.000-04:00

The Kasabian show last night at Webster Hall was disappointing. Not the band's performance, which was quite energetic, but rather the new songs off of Empire. They are pretty bad. Very bluesy rock, and unlike the stuff on Kasabian. Kind of like how Give Out But Don't Give In followed Screamadelica (which also coincides with their progression as Primal Scream clones). The new songs also have a touch of Heathen Chemistry-era Oasis, but not as good. Anyway, the surprisingly sold-out crowd seemed to enjoy itself. When Kasabian played their old stuff, like "Club Foot," "Reason is Treason," "Processed Beats," and "L.S.F.", the crows went especially mad. And the band seemed to have fun on stage, putting a lot of energy into the show. If only they stayed away from Empire...

Now, I'm a huge fan of Kasabian's live show, and I've said before that their live show was the best of the year. But there was something lacking last night - mostly when they played the new stuff.

Mew was one of the openers, and much like their albums, they had a couple of great songs, but a lot of slow, boring ones. Mew, whose members look like elves with guitars, has quite the flair for the dramatic - coordinating high-pitched vocals with the light show and bizarre videos behind the stage. "Special" and "Apocalypso" were great, but overall, the best I can say for Mew was that their show was "atmospheric." Very Pink Floyd-esque.

Bjork and the 'Cubes

2006-09-19T09:00:00.000-04:00

Time to get on Icelandair and head to Reykjavik. The Sugarcubes are reuniting for a one-off gig on Nov. 17th to commemorate the 20th anniversary of their first UK single "Birthday." As Bjork's success has completely dwarfed that of the 'Cubes, I'm sure that this will actually only be a one-off rather than a full tour. Why waste your time with Einar's screaming/rapping/talking over such luscious vocals? (Boy did he know how to ruin a great song.)

The Diggs and Annuals tonight at Northsix

2006-09-15T09:28:00.000-04:00

The Diggs are playing Northsix tonight with Annuals, among others. The bands start at 8:30 and The Diggs are on at 11:30. Only $10. You should go.

The Truth in Roger O'Donnel

2006-09-12T08:39:00.000-04:00

Roger O'Donnell, keyboardist for some of The Cure's better albums (Disintegration, Bloodflowers, and the great live album Entreat), is releasing his first album since leaving The Cure. The Truth in Me is coming out on October 24 on Great Society, a World's Fair label. Inspired by his contribution "Another Day" for the Moog documentary, Roger's The Truth in Me is a collection of songs composed and recorded using a single instrument, the Moog Voyager (a couple of tracks feature Erin Lang's vocals as well). A number of remixes have taken place too, including the fantastic downtempo chillout version of "Treasure" by Acid Paulli below. Roger will be on tour in the U.S. this fall, including a stop at CMJ in New York.

Right click and save:

Treasure (remix by Acid Paulli of The Notwist)

Not Without You

Yes Please!

2006-09-07T09:34:00.000-04:00

This Friday, Loveless Music Group/B*Live presents YesPlease, a shoegaze/indie/electro dance affair at Club Midway. Upstairs: DJ TimmyG (as heard on EVR) and DJ Ryan Skyward (of the famed Project Skyward). Downstairs: The Invisible Kid (DJ set), Soundpool, Elika (album release show), and DJ TedBot.

Friday, 9/8 at Club Midway, 25 Ave. B between 2nd and 3rd Streets
$5 for Downstairs
2-4-1 P.I.N.K. Vodka drinks (the first vodka with caffeine!!)

NME in USA

2006-09-05T08:34:00.000-04:00

NME will try to get a foothold on America - Britain's "biggest club night", Club NME, is launching in LA on Sepotember 6th at Spaceland in Silverlake. Club NME LA will be every Wednesday night and will only be $3. Much like the UK Club NME nights, the US ones will also feature great live acts and "the coolest" DJs. They are supposed to launch a Club NME NY too. $3, live bands and DJs? I'm down.

NME is also looking for two US reporters. If you're able to write absurdly hyperbolic stories about the best bands ever and have a "bulging contact book", then this position is for you.

You gotta love the Brits

2006-08-31T09:27:00.000-04:00

Both lead singers of emo-punk bands My Chemical Romance and Panic! at the Disco were pelted with bottles at last week's Reading Festival. Panic! had to stop their show seconds after starting when Brendan Urie was hit in the head - you can see footage of the bottling here. You have to love the Brits - when they think your music is shit, they'll let you know.

Like a Dream

2006-08-31T09:09:00.000-04:00

Sanctuary is releasing a shoegazing retrospective entitled Like A Dream: The Story of Shoegazing. This 16 track disc will feature Ride ("Like a Dream"), Slowdive ("When the Sun Hits"), Catherine Wheel ("Black Metallic"), Lush ("Sweetness and Light"), Curve ("Horror Head"), Cranes, Chapterhouse ("Pearl"), Telescopes, and Ultra Vivid Scene ("Mercy Seat"), among others. This compilation is worth picking up for "Black Metallic" and "Sweetness and Light" alone.

The Independent wrote a nice piece about the shoegazing scene and this disc, and interviews Emma Anderson of Lush/Sing-Sing. Anderson, whom I met after a Sing-Sing gig in London (I, unfortunately, was speechless, as Lush was one of my favorite bands ever - all I could think to say was "the first Sing-Sing album was really good" instead of "Spooky changed my life"), provides a nice overview of the scene during the early 90's. In addition to Sing-Sing, she also DJs a "shoegaze" night in London. She'll mix in more than just shoegaze though. "After all," she says, "how much Slowdive and Telescopes can you listen to in one night?"

"Free" music on SpiralFrog

2006-08-29T12:53:00.000-04:00

Universal Music Group has signed a deal with free online music provider SpiralFrog. Instead of charging for downloads, SpiralFrog will be supported by ad revenue. Universal has jumped on board, and will offer its catalog to SpiralFrog. Upside: customers will be able to download an unlimited number of Universal songs to their computer and one other device. Downside: users will not be able to transfer those songs onto a compact disc, and they must visit the site at least once a month to maintain access to their music. The service begins in December.

Sounds interesting, but I'm a big fan of putting digital tracks on to a CD, so SpiralFrog will not work for me. That's a huge downside.

Glimmer in New York

2006-08-24T09:05:00.000-04:00

The Glimmers (f/k/a The Glimmer Twins) will be DJ'ing in NYC on Friday and Saturday. On Friday they are DJ'ing at APT (49 W. 13th Street) with support from Eamon Harkin, DJ Spun, and Carmine P. Filthy as part of Even Further. On Saturday they are DJ'ing Warm-Up at P.S.1. in Queens. Their sets are all over the place - they play new beat, early acid house, disco, new wave and classic rocknroll - but the sets somehow manage to remain cohesive. They've also remixed a bunch of heavy-hitters, including Bloc Party, The Killers, New Order, Frank Popp Ensemble, Roxy Music, Isolee, Phoenix. Definitely worth checking out this weekend.

Kasabian back in the U.S.

2006-08-21T16:24:00.000-04:00

Kasabian is set to tour America in support of their sophomore effort Empire, which is released in the U.S. on September 19th. I've only heard the title track, and I hope the rest of the album is better, as "Empire" is pretty bad. Disappointing, considering how great Kasabian was. They hit Webster Hall on September 20th. The tour will be without original member Chris Karloff, who left the band in July due to "creative differences."

Why does Vegas love Fergie?

2006-08-21T08:59:00.000-04:00

I was in Vegas this past weekend, and all I kept hearing over and over again was Fergie's "London Bridge" song. It's possibly the worst song of all time. Can you imagine the song writing scene for that one? "Hmmm...what should go next...how about 'Oh Snap!'" Awful. I'm not sure why it was played over and over again everywhere I went out there, including 4 times during a day at the Pool at the Palms.

Come to think of it, I didn't hear much good music at all while I was there. Mostly crap hip-hop and pop-hop. The only bright spot was the 15 minutes of decent rock at the Hard Rock - we walked in while "Fools Gold" was playing.

CMJ Music Marathon Lineup

2006-08-16T16:00:00.000-04:00

The first wave of artists performing at CMJ was announced:

The Knife
The Slits
Hot Chip
The Black Keys
Madlib
Ben Lee
Deerhoof
Blonde Redhead
The Boy Least Likely To
Blue Cheer
Joseph Arthur
Erase Errata
Green Milk from the Planet Orange
Holly Golightly
Cold War Kids
Silversun Pickups
Califone
White Whale
hellogoodbyeAnathallo
Dr. Dog
Professor Murder
Archie Bronson Outfit
Keren Ann
Brother Ali
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
Oakley Hall
These Arms Are Snakes
Micah P. Hinson
Portastatic
P.O.S.
Cloud Cult
Jason Forrest Band
Thunderbirds Are Now!
Strike Anywhere
Percee P
Mute Math
Suzanne Vega
Extra Golden
120 Days

More to come too. Nice.

Damon, The Verve, and The Clash = The Good, The Bad, and The Queen

2006-08-16T08:40:00.000-04:00

Damon Albarn (Blur/Gorillaz) , Paul Simonon(The Clash) , Tony Allen and Simon Tong (The Verve) have formed a side project called The Good, The Bad and The Queen. Their first gig will be an appearance at theRoundhouse in London on October 26th as part of the BBC Electric Promsseason at London's Roundhouse. (Tickets for the 26th October gig go onsale at10am on Wednesday 16th of August, priced £15 and can be found here.

Says Damon:

“The Good The Bad and The Queen, it's... it's a story, it's not a band. I'm very very proud of this record and I think it's worth while putting it out. It's a very English record, it's the first time I've really written about home, since sort of Parklife. I've always wanted to play the Roundhouse. You know, I love the idea that you have to be something that hasn't been heard before.”

The Good, The Bad and The Queen, produced by Danger Mouse, is due out in 2007.

Interpol to Capitol

2006-08-15T08:41:00.000-04:00

Interpol has apparently signed with Capitol Records, ending their tenure with super indie Matador. (Coolfer via Hits). What does this mean? I have no idea, but I'm sure the third album will sound more like Antics than Turn on the Bright Lights - i.e., more singles, less doom.

Corrosion round-up

2006-08-13T21:25:00.000-04:00

Pretty good night at M1-5 last night for Corrosion's The Smiths vs. Depeche Mode night. There were a couple of girls making some great requests. That's always a good thing. And M1-5 itself is pretty nice - a really huge space! Here are my sets:

Set One

Cities - A Theme
The Daysleepers - Mezmerize
The Diggs - Massachusettes
Suede - Attitude
Oasis - Supersonic
New Young Pony Club - Get Dancey
New Sense - Ready to Leave
Morrissey - Tomorrow
Depeche Mode - Lillian
Portishead - Wandering Star
The Stone Roses - Fool's Gold
The Farm - Groovy Train
The Smiths - Bigmouth Strikes Again (request)
Depeche Mode - Policy of Truth (request)
Kasabian - Processed Beats
The Soup Dragons - Divine Thing
The Clash - Rock the Casbah
The Smiths - Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before
Pulp - Do You Remeber the First Time? (request)
New Order - Age of Consent
The Smiths - This Charming Man (New York Vocal mix)
Morrissey - Suedehead

Set Two

She Wants Revenge - Tear You Apart
Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart (Peel Session)
The Smiths - How Soon Is Now?
Depeche Mode - Personal Jesus (request)
The Cure - A Forest (Tree Mix)
Cut Copy - Saturdays
Pulp - Disco 2000
The Smiths - What She Said (request)
Blur - There's No Other Way
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Kiss Them For Me (request)
Joy Division - Digital (request)
Ian Brown - Love Like a Fountain
The Jesus and Mary Chain - Head On
Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence (request)
INXS - Don't Change
Franz Ferdinand - Come On Home
New Order - True Faith
Depeche Mode - Everything Counts
Goldfrapp - Strict Machine
The Cure - Boys Don't Cry (request)
Blur - Boys and Girls
The Rapture - Sister Saviour
The Sunshine Underground - Dead Scene

Corrosion at M1-5 this Saturday, August 12th)

2006-08-10T12:53:00.000-04:00

This Saturday, I'm DJing the Corrosion party at M1-5. It's the standard New Wave, Electro, Indie stuff, but as this is The Smiths vs. Depeche Mode night, there will be a lot of The Smiths and DM. It starts at 10pm and goes to 4am. M1-5 is in Tribeca just below Canal Street.

PureVolume - better than Myspace Music?

2006-08-10T08:55:00.000-04:00

I was recently made aware of PureVolume by Jeff of The Daysleepers, who sent out an email about the band's page on that site. He said that the band felt that PureVolume was a better site for hosting their music. So I checked it out, and I have to agree. PureVolume is a much sleeker and cleaner site than MySpace Music. An easier to use music player that doesn't have trouble "buffering". Seems more professional. Easier loading of pages. No annoying flash graphics or animation. No annoying ads. No annoying "friends". (There are both ads and friends, but the key word is "annoying" - the ads and friends are much more subdued). Right now it appears that most of the bands on Pure Volume are relatively unknown indie types, but it also includes more well-known bands such as Panic! at the Disco and the recently-litigious Hawthorne Heights .

PureVolume seems to be a great alternative to those who are sick of MySpace. (Kings of A&R had a good post about MySpace)

Goldfrappisizing commercials

2006-08-09T22:58:00.000-04:00

I just saw two separate commercials using Goldfrapp tracks. The new LG Chocolate phone/mp3 player offered at Verizon (which looks kinda cool) used "Strict Machine, and a Loreal commercial used "Fly Me Away." Not bad - I bet Alison and Will are picking up some nice change on those sync licenses.

New Bloc Party anyone?

2006-08-09T08:57:00.000-04:00

Just the other day, my iPod shuffling landed on Silent Alarm, which, surprisingly, I haven't listened to in a while. I then thought to myself, when is Bloc Party's next album dropping. Well, according to fan site BlocParty.net, it will be released sometime early next year. It's being produced by Jacknife Lee (who did a great remix of Elkland's "Apart"). The band will not determine the final tracklisting until after the mixing is completed, but the final tracklist will come from the following:

A Prayer To The Lord
England [formerly Blue Moon]
Hunting For Witches
It Started In An Afternoon
Kreuzberg
On [formerly Wet]
Seroxat
Song For Clay (Disappear Here)
Sunday
Uniform
Waiting For The 7:18
We Were Lovers [formerly Cells Shaped Like Stars]
Where Is Home? [formerly Perfect Teens]