2008 Albums You Should Hear: Bloc Party - Intimacy

Bloc Party is quite possibly the most ambitious, progressive band in the world. I'm sure you all remember their debut album, Silent Alarm, released way back in 2005 (if you don't, go get it now), so I won't spend too much time recapping it. Suffice to say it represents the moment I fell in love with music and established Bloc Party as my favourite band (like, ever). In 2007, they folowed up with A Weekend In The City, a stunningly beautiful, wide-eyed, atmospheric, emotional look at life in the city. On the surface, it sounded almost nothing like SA, with production by the ever-talented Mr. Jacknife Lee, a sprinkling of electronics, less dance-punk, and somewhat more literal, less abstract lyricism by frontman Kele Okereke. This was the sound of a band that didn't want to waste a single moment resting on their laurels.

This past summer, Bloc Party's website went down for three days, replaced by a simple countdown timer. The countdown ended with the debut of new single Mercury on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show. Built around a synthesized vocal sample and featuring extensive use of a brass section, the song pushed the Bloc Party sound even further into new territory and marked the experimental nature of the new album. A few weeks later, on August 18, said album was announced to the world via a live web chat with the band, and the download version was made available to pre-order for release in just three days' time. From the balls-to-the-wall energy of opener Ares through Mercury to the more guitar-rock-y second single Talons, all the way to epic penultimate track Better Than Heaven and beautiful closer Ion Square - this album is a ride. Self-described by Kele as "the break-up album" and drummer Matt Tong as having the "rawness of Silent Alarm" coupled with the "experience of AWITC," Intimacy proves, yet again, that Bloc Party have got plenty of tricks left up their sleeves.



Bloc Party - Mercury (zShare)
Bloc Party - Talons (zShare)

Bloc Party official site
Buy Intimacy: CD / Vinyl / iTunes (Standard Version) / iTunes (Deluxe Version)

Think about what you're trying to say

(Tegan Quin with Against Me!'s gear, by Lisa Johnson.)

Against Me! Feat. Tegan Quin - Borne On The FM Waves Of The Heart (zShare)

God I love this song.



Aaaand an old school Tegan & Sara video that I love, for Living Room from the album If It Was You (I just realized it says that at the beginning of the video, oh well).



Against Me! official site / Buy New Wave / iTunes
Tegan & Sara official site / Buy / iTunes

Dance like you've never been wrong

(Photograph by pixieclipx on Flickr.)

Giantess - You Were Young (zShare) (via Neon Gold Records)

The synths in this song make me think of mid-to-late 90s dance parties (granted I was born in '92, so I have no idea what the hell mid-to-late 90's dance parties actually sounded like.) Regardless, it's an ace song, so enjoy.


(The Pragmatic live @ Piano's October 20, 2008 by Nicky Digital.)

Here's a couple more party tunes I've been loving lately:

Röyksopp - Happy Birthday (320kbps MP3 version) (via Röyksopp's offical site)
The Pragmatic - Circles (zShare)

Keep an eye out for news on Röyksopp's new album (due sometime next year), or download Happy Birthday in gorgeous .WAV for free, here.

Download The Pragmatic's latest single, Circles, for free here, including a total of seven remixes by the likes of RAC Maury and Family Force 5.

Look for the girl with the broken smile, ask her if she wants to stay a while

(IWACS live photo by David Emery.)

I Was A Cub Scout - She Will Be Loved (Live Maroon 5 cover) (zShare)

I can't say I'm a Maroon 5 fan. I remember a couple years ago when they were seemingly the only band that existed as far as radio DJs were concerned, with this song (as well as a few others by them) completely dominating the airwaves, and me hating every minute of it. I guess I'm not as cool as I might like to think, though, 'cause this IWACS cover kills me. The lyrics, which are admittedly a little hard to hear here due to the poor, cell-phone quality of the recording, take on a kind of wide-eyed, youthful, pop-y brilliance for me - perfectly capturing the desire, the physical need even, to just hold onto someone.

---

I Was A Cub Scout official site / Buy / iTunes

---

IWACS broke up on June 5 of this year. Todd now plays in Omes and Will plays in Brontide.

Top Mash-ups

(Google Image search result for "mashup" via Today and Tomorrow.)

Here's a few of my favourite mash-ups that've accumulated in my library. Some are ace party tunes (I Kissed A Banquet), some are the traditional blend of rap acapellas and instrumental rock tracks (Radiohead vs. MF Doom, Atmosphere vs. Silversun Pickups, R. Kelly vs. Rogue Wave), some are absolutley bonkers and should not, under any circumstances, work, but somehow do (Arcade Fire vs. Daft Punk?!). All of them are inspired, hopefully enjoyable songs, though, so check 'em out:

team9 vs. Stereogum - Killer Mirror (The Killers "Human" vs. Arcade Fire "Black Mirror")
Bloc Party vs. Katy Perry - I Kissed A Banquet
Kanye West vs. MGMT - Electric Touch (Touch the Sky vs. Electric Feel (Justice Remix)) (Mighty Mi/Steve1der Mix)
Radiohead vs. MF Doom - Change The Beat ft. MF Doom (Pz Wicked Child Remix)
The Hood Internet - Eddie Booksmart (Atmosphere vs. Silversun Pickups)
DJ Tatami - Arcade Punk (Arcade Fire vs. Daft Punk) - No Cars Around The World (No Cars Go vs. Around The World)
DJ Earworm - Reckoner Lockdown (Radiohead "Reckoner" vs. Kanye West "Love Lockdown")
The Hood Internet - R. Kelly (feat. Huey) vs. Rogue Wave - Endless Hookup

(Evidently Arcade Fire, Kanye and Radiohead are all extremely mash-up-able. Anybody up for a three-way?)

A mix for driving through prairies

Download the full mix as a .ZIP at zShare.

Radiohead - Airbag (iTunes)
Tegan & Sara - I Bet It Stung (iTunes)
Bloc Party - Blue Light (iTunes)
The Arcade Fire - Keep The Car Running (iTunes)
Mogwai - Moses? I Amn't (iTunes)
Placebo - Because I Want You (iTunes)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Cheated Hearts (The Interface Podcast Session) (iTunes)

(Don't worry if you don't have any prairies to drive through, you can still enjoy the mix.)

Buy any of these fine records at Banquet.

We've got obsessions

Marina & The Diamonds - Obsessions (zShare) (Courtesy of Neon Gold Records)

I've listened to this song pretty much on constant repeat all day today, and I think it's safe to say; I'm in love. Sure, listening to it once clued me in that it was clearly an amazing pop song, but the more I hear it, the more I appreciate the lyrics, the bridge at 1:53, the subtlety of the vocal performance - basically a *perfect* pop song, and then some. Pre-order the double A-side 7" (including Mowgli's Road) for release on February 16 here in the US and here internationally.

Marina & The Diamonds official site
Neon Gold Records official site / Blog (you seriously need to be reading this)

Pre-order the 7" single: US / International

Random News: New Röyksopp tune, Arcade Fire's Miroir Noir Trailer

Röyksopp, my favourite Norwegian pop electronica/dance duo in the whole wide world, just released a new tune. Entitled Happy Birthday, it's pretty much as awesome as you'd expect if you're as big a fan of the band as I am. You can (and probably should) download it for free from their official website here, in your choice of 320kbps mp3 or wicked nice .WAV. Look out for the album next year (I hope).

The Arcade Fire are releasing a tour doc, called Miroir Noir (see what they did there?). This makes me very excited, not just because the Arcade Fire are amazing, but because it's being shot by Vincent Moon of La Blogotheque, who's Take-Away Shows are often so beautifully filmed as to make me weep like a baby (a hungry angry baby). Catch the trailer here.

2008 Albums You Should Hear: I Was A Cub Scout - I Want You To Know That There Is Always Hope

When Todd Marriott formed I Was A Cub Scout (understandably abreviated to IWACS) in 2006 it was a one-person synthpop act, a platform to deliver the tunes Todd created with a synth and a laptop. Listening to the songs from that early era, there's a clear lo-fi bedroom production vibe, but it never feels twee or un-ambitious; in fact, quite the opposite. William Bowerman joined up in mid 06, replacing the programmed beats with some (exceptional) live drums and further expanding the sound, leading up to IWACS's debut album, the charmingly titled I Want You To Know That There Is Always Hope, released earlier this year.

IWACS create a unique type of music; I said it was "synthpop," but that's such a cursory description as to be almost insulting. Synths are certainly used extensively, and the overall sound is often of a pop-ish nature, but there's much more going on; Todd's lyrics, for one, hopeful and yearning yet wise beyond their years, poetic, heartfelt and intelligent, somewhat emo-y in the best possible ways in both content and delivery. The melodies are amazigly expressive, lilting along dreamily while still feeling grounded, occasional use of guitars or crowd-shouted vocals (or accordians) keeping it from ever approaching boring or predictable. And for synth-driven emo music, there's real depth, darkness often lurking just past the next euphoric chorus. Unfourtunate though it is that the band broke up this past summer, I Want You To Know That There Is Always Hope is an album that lives up to its name.



I Was A Cub Scout - Echoes (zShare)
I Was A Cub Scout - Pink Squares (zShare)

I Was A Cub Scout official site
Buy I Want You To Know That There Is Always Hope: CD and Vinyl / iTunes

2008 Albums You Should Hear: Hadouken! - Music For An Accelerated Culture

It's hard to believe that is was only last year Leeds, UK's Hadouken! exploded onto the scene with their debut single, That Boy That Girl. Released via their own Surface Noise Recordings imprint, the song (and it's equally excellent b-side, Tuning In) introduced the band's unique blend of rave synths, rapped vocals, killer beats and punk guitars, quickly propelling them into the spotlight and generating some much-deserved hype. With it's unbeatabley bouncy synths, impossibly high energy and stereotypical indie kid-skewering lyrics, That Boy That Girl became a stand-out track of 2007 for many, and marked Hadouken! as a band to watch out for. (It also caused them to become the first artist in my iTunes to be classified under "genre" as "Grimey Electro-Indie-Rave".)

Hadouken! didn't let up and, after releasing a mixtape and another two singles, on May 5 they dropped the masterpiece of an album that is Music For An Accelerated Culture. Danceable; intelligent; blunt; nuanced; thoughtful; emotional; unique; I can't adequately describe the scope of the album (a string of adjectives seperated by semi-colons seems to be the best I can do). Everything that Hadouken! had demostrated in the past was clearly still present, but multiplied by 1000 and cranked up to 11. When I first got my hands on it, I was blown away, quite simply. The production, aided on three tracks by Jacknife Lee, was immaculate, providing new illumination to the band's already broad sonic palette. There was more singing, with lyrics that covered a broad range of topics from partying to love to partying to fiscal trouble to heartbreak to more partying, frontman James Smith always providing a unique insight into humanity and personal relationships. Hadouken! are clearly an amazing talent, and I can't even imagine what they have in store for us next.



Hadouken! - That Boy That Girl (zShare)
Hadouken! - Declaration Of War (zShare)

Hadouken! official site
Buy Music For An Accelerated Culture: Standard or Deluxe Edition CD / iTunes

Hate the Past Regret the Future Fall Mix 08

Download the whole mix as a .ZIP file here (via zShare).

Silversun Pickups - Kissing Families (The Interface Podcast Session) (Official site / Buy / iTunes)
Fields - Song for the Fields (Official site / Buy / iTunes)
David Newman - Serenity (Official site / Buy / iTunes)
Tegan and Sara - Where Does The Good Go? (Official site / Buy / iTunes)
Jeremy Enigk - How It Feels to be Something On (The Interface Podcast Session) (Official site / Buy / iTunes)
Radiohead - Faust Arp (Official site / Buy / iTunes)
Bloc Party - So Here We Are (The Interface Podcast Session) (Official site / Buy / iTunes)
Tegan and Sara - Nineteen (Official site / Buy / iTunes)

In typically late fashion, I figured that now that we've finally got some snow up here, I should probably post this fall mix that I put together a couple months ago. All the songs have a distinctly autumnal mood to my mind (ear?), or at least can be applied to such a situation. As well, this mix represents a good few of my favourite artists, many of which I discovered around this time last year, during a period when I was obsessively scouring the interwebs for amazing new music (I mean, more obsessively than I do now). Enjoy!

Download or stream more Interface podcast performances here (in your choice of audio or video), or subscribe via iTunes here.

Endless Hookup

The Hood Internet - R. Kelly (feat. Huey) vs Rogue Wave - Endless Hookup (zShare)

Downloaded this a little while ago (along with the rest of The Hood Internet's excelent Mixtape Volume Three) and have been listening to it pretty regularly since. I can honestly claim to know nothing/very little about either artist (heard "Lake Michigan" from Rogue Wave and liked it, have seen about half a dozen tracks "feat. R. Kelly" but none of his own stuff) but, perhaps surprisingly (obvs. not to The Hood Internet), these two songs feel like they were made to be mashed up. Laid-back but still driving, making me think of long walks on the beach at sunset (or something). Enjoy.

Download The Hood Internet's Mixtape Volume Three from their site for free here

How are things on the West Coast?

(Photograph taken from a hotel balcony in Seattle)

Interpol - The Heinrich Maneuver (Phones Remix) (zShare)
The Killers - Mr. Brightside (zShare)

You pull into the city, tired from the day's drive, and somehow find your way quickly to the hotel. You check in and take the elevator to your floor, sliding the plastic key through the lock to let yourself in. Bags get dropped just inside the door before you walk to the center of the room, glancing around. You walk to the sliding glass door, open it, and step out onto the balcony, relishing the cool, salty air that sprays up from the bay, less than a single city block away and dotted with sail boats, the downtown city center just a few block in the other direction. You remember the glaring neon sign reading "Sake Bar" that you saw on the way to the hotel, and you think about the nights to come as you look out at the sunset.

--------

Interpol official site / Buy / iTunes
The Killers official site / Buy / iTunes

--------

May have noticed a lack of posts lately (or maybe I'm just flattering myself), been busy playing Animal Crossing: City Folk and reading comic books. Much hot tuneage to come in the near future (or maybe I'll disappear again for a couple weeks, it's a toss-up). Also, attempted to register on hypem, so I'll see how that goes.

I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You

Clicky here and go listen to "I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You" by Black Kids over at Daytrotter.

This song. Is really great. I wasn't thrilled by Black Kids' debut EP (released for free via their MySpace) when it came out last year and hadn't really listened to them since but I went on a Daytrotter binge a couple days ago and happenned to download their session and found myself hopelessly in love with this tune. So yeah, go listen (I'd post the mp3 but I'd rather you [that "you" is hypothetical, as I'm fairly certain no one actually reads this blog] head on over to Daytrotter's site and take a look around, if you're not already familiar with it.)

Other things of an awesome nature:

Here's a live performance of that Bloc Party song I posted a couple days ago, from yesterday in Circo Voador, Rio de Janeiro:


And here's another, just for fun, this one in-studio but live, from the enhanced CD release of Intimacy:


ta.

Quantum Cello

(Photograph by Zoë Keating)

So, Zoë Keating is pretty much amazing. Making impossibly lush and beautiful soundscapes with nothing but a single cello looped through a laptop controlled via foot pedal, her's is the kind of music that makes one think of gorgeous summer sunsets, rays of light peaking through broken clouds, long car journeys at dusk, autumn trees, thunderstorms during the summer, etc. There's something incredibly elemental and pure about it. I've quite simply never experienced music like this before.



I first heard Zoë's music only a couple of days ago, after this post at Heartache with Hard Work turned me on to an interview and performance she did for WNYC's Radio Lab podcast/radio show. You can download that episode here:

WNYC Radio Lab - August 25 2008 - Quantum Cello (zShare)

It's about 36 minutes long and features some informal interviewing/discussion of the creative process, during which she talks about how she sees shapes in the sounds when she's composing, as well as performances of a few songs, including an improv piece that closes the show. I can't recommend that you listen to this highly enough; it's truly breath-taking. (I downloaded a couple other episodes of the podcast as well, which is available from iTunes, and it seems like a great show, kind of in general about theoretical science, life, exploring mysteries - interesting stuff.)


(Photograph by Lane Hartwell)

You can stream some more of Zoë's music at her site, where you can also buy CDs and watch some live performances. Her two albums are also available on iTunes.

I try, I try, I try

Bloc Party - Letter To My Son (zShare)

I've been listening to this song on repeat for the past 45 minutes or so. Suffice to say I think it's pretty damn good. Some lyrics:

I found myself at the point where we kissed first
On a rooftop overlooking the East London mosque

They say, they say, they say, they say
"You can't go around breaking young girls' hearts"
I say, I say, I say, I say
Keep it casual, easy thing

And you looked so right in that red dress

Oh how I'd love to be a rock for you
To be anything you could rely on

So I'll try, I'll try, I'll try, I'll try
But I'll get caught out
So we'll try, we'll try, we'll try, we'll try
But we forget the lines, forget the lines

And you looked so wanton in the back of the car
Like you could start a hundred wars

See what trouble we could both cause
By the bedroom door, the kitchen floor
I tried, I tried, I tried
...
To be the father to a son
I tried, I tried, I tried

Forgive me Oscar

Buy Intimacy here / iTunes



In other news, I just finished (as in, a couple hours ago) reading Between Us And Oblivion, by Brian Fatah Steele. It's an amazing book, and one I'd highly recommend. I'm not the best at describing such things, but the cover description of a novel of magic and monsters, horrors and humanity is about as good as any. It's self-published, so you can only get it here. Also, Brandi Wells has a new chapbook coming out on Nov. 15 via ML Press entitled Patience, which is sure to be amazing. You can get it for $2 (!) here.

We fight, we break up, we kiss, we make up

Katy Perry - Hot N Cold (The American Dream Team Remix) (zShare)

This song is crack disguised as bubblegum. Enjoy!


Katy Perry official site / The American Dream Team official site / Contribute to Hot N Cold's reign of the charts here

Bloc Party Live @ Rex Theater, Wuppertal 22.10.08

Download the live recording here.

Head on over to Blog Party for an amazing live Bloc Party recording from a German gig a couple weeks ago. Even without the six-song encore this is an amazing, high-energy set, with the band having a great fix on the new songs and providing some astonishingly good updates to the older ones (7:18 leading straight into Price of Gas and Song for Clay doing the same with Banquet are particuarly awesome moments). Equally great for hardcare Blocheads (that sounds far less cool than I had a imagined it would) and new people looking to see what all the fuss is about.

Bloc Party official site / Buy Intimacy now

Why so scared of romance

Just a quick one: the fantastic chaps over at La Blogotheque convinced Bloc Party to do This Modern Love for a Take-Away Show. Check out the breath-takingly beautiful performance here.

Nothin' but the DJ (I Just Wanna Dance)

The Ting Tings - Great DJ (zShare)
Lady GaGa - Just Dance (RAC Remix) (zShare)

This past summer I happened to spend a couple days in Spokane, WA. I dunno why, but for some reason I really like Spokane. I've only been there once before, the previous summer, also just for a couple days, but it struck me as being a nice place. There's a gigantic park in the middle of the downtown area with a river running through it, and a ferris wheel and gondolas that enter the city center and the best snow cones in the world and a really nice fountain that everyone was running under 'cause it was so hot out. This is sort of thing I'd like to be listening to sitting on a bench by that fountain on a hot summer's evening, just as the sun sets at dusk (I wish I'd gotten some pictures, but unfourtunately I left my camera in the car the whole time).


The Ting Tings debut album, We Started Nothing, is one of my favourites released this year and can be purchased at the links below.


The Tings Tings official site
Buy The Tings Tings music: iTunes, Amazon

Lady GaGa official site
Buy Lady GaGa music: iTunes, Amazon

Visit the RAC's official site for a ton more brilliant remixes.

Your Heart Felt Good

Modest Mouse - 3rd Planet (zShare)

I never really understood this song until yesterday. This is the album (The Moon and Antarctica) that first introduced me to Modest Mouse, and while I liked it as a whole (and 3rd Planet in particular), I thought it felt, at times, too deliberately obtuse, or difficult, or dense. That one line, though, the one that everyone'll remember and sing along to - "I've got this thing that I consider my only art of fucking people over" - it struck me as being amazingly true. Sometimes things don't work despite best intentions and all you're left with is nothing. But, is spite of that... "Your heart felt good."



Bloc Party - Storm and Stress (zShare)

An early Bloc Party track, taken from the Japanese Little Thoughts EP (also released as the b-side to the Little Thoughts 7" single). A bit romantic, a bit teenaged (as the title implies). Promise you'll say if it gets / Promise you'll say if it gets too much. At it's heart it's a love song, simultaneously about how being in love can overcome obstacles while those same obstacles are what make it all worthwhile. You're the life of the party, you make my world spin around.


Bloc Party's new album, Intimacy, is out tomorrow.


Modest Mouse official site
Buy Modest Mouse music: iTunes, Amazon

Bloc Party official site
Buy Bloc Party music: iTunes, Amazon

Hi

So, hi. Welcome to Hate the Past Regret the Future. As I'm sure will become painfully evident, I'm kind of new to this whole blogging thing, so by way of introduction, I thought I'd offer ya'll a little mixtape I made. It dates all the way back to last summer and features a nice selection of mostly electro, perfect for dancing to or just laying in bed and chilling out with headphones. Of course I realize it's fall now and this is undeniably a summer mix, but we could all use something to dance to as the weather cools, right?

Download the full mix as a .ZIP file (up at zShare, so it should be available for a good long while).

Snowden - Black Eyes (Le Castle Vania Remix)
Editors - Munich (Pase Rock Bip Remix)
Daft Punk - Around The World (Killdahype Remix)
CSS - Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above (RAC Remix)
Feist - 1234 (Van She Technological Remix)
Crystal Castles - Crimewave (Crystal Castles Vs. HEALTH)
Battle - North Sea (Russell Bloc Party Remix)
Bloc Party - Tulips (Club Version)
I Was A Cub Scout - Our Smallest Adventures (Frankmusik Remix)
Van She - Kelly (Cut Copy Remix)
Kanye West - Stronger
Lo-Fi-Fnk - City (The Teenagers Remix)
Metric - Monster Hospital (MSTRKRFT Remix)
The Secret Handshake - Too Young (The Toxic Avenger Remix)

Shout-outs to the both now-defunct Say Anything Syndrome, for introducing me to a lot of the artists on this mix and really inspiring my passion for music and my desire to start my own blog, and Good Weather For Airstrikes, from which a number of these tracks came (including that insanely danceable RAC remix of CSS, totally my summer 07 anthem).