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.