No Posts For While

I won't be able to post for a while as I leave in the morning on a hitch hike from Edinburgh to Morocco in aid of the charity Link Community Development which aims at providing quality education to Sub-Saharan African Schools.

For more information or to make a donation visit my justgiving site here.

Thanks for all your help and support

More New Broken Social Scene

'World Sick' from the Canadian musical collective's upcoming album 'Forgiveness Rock Record' was all over the blogosphere a few weeks ago and already the band have given us more tracks to get salivating over. 'Forced to Love' and 'All to All' will also feature on the album and you can hear them right here:

'Forgiveness Rock Record' will be released on May 4th

Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip Live at The Classic Grand, Glasgow With Support Acts B. Dolan and Sound of Rum 21/03/10

I first heard of Sound of Rum on BBC 6 Music where Scroobius Pip was talking about the importance he found in choosing really good support acts. Part spoken word, part rap and part hip-hop, Kate Tempest proves that there is such a thing as talented female rappers. Their closing song ‘Promethius’ was particularly good beginning chilled and atmospheric, breaking down to a rock riff and heavy drums.

B. Dolan provided a very animated set and was excellent in getting the crowd fired up for the headline act. Coming on wearing a mask of our dear Queen of England but with a bushy beard sticking out, he was comical from the start. Dedicating ‘Joan of Arcadia’ to Sarah Palin who he referred to as sexual chocolate, wearing an Evil Knievel suit under his clothes and claiming a crippled blind boy who had cancer of the aids told him that the spirit of the daredevil must live, he epitomised all that we British like to make fun of when we speak of American’s. Saying that, he was a good rapper.

As Dan le Sac came to the stage of the old porn cinema he began by playing electric bagpipes especially for the ‘weegie’ audience before breaking into ‘The Beat that my Heart Skipped’ from first album ‘Angles’ which immediately got the crowd into a frenzy. Scroobius Pip then entered wearing his trademark beard and baseball cap with a bottle of Rosé. Having released ‘Logic of Chance’ last Monday the set was very heavy with this new material and a strange gig as the new album is very dance orientated in comparison to the more hip-hop sound of the first record making it seem to be almost half gig/half club night.

The first single ‘Get Better’ from the latest album was a massive crowd pleaser as was ‘Thou shalt Always Kill’ where the addition of the lyrics ‘the Proclaimers, just a band’ didn’t go unnoticed. ‘Stake A Claim’ saw Pip make his defence for why he should be made the first president of the UK which he read from a prodigious leather bound book while there were very touching moments in the cases of the harrowing track of self-harm ‘Magician’s Assistant’ and ‘Look for the Woman’ with its beautiful piano part and backing vocals from Dan le Sac.

It is always nice to see a dj that doesn’t simply play off a computer or even just decks but instead uses an electronic drum machine, does live sampling and looping and a whole host of other things I don’t understand. Not just that but I feel Dan le Sac is underrated in his vocal contributions to the duo which fit very appropriately.
The encore saw Pip read ‘Letter From God to Man’ from a tattered piece of paper where he arguably shows his finest lyrical side, he then proceeded to leave the stage as Dan continued to fervently play a five minute long instrumental to finish and thus end what was a fantastic night of live music.

First Track From Black Keys New Album

I announced details in an earlier post about the Ohio blues-rock music duo 'The Black Keys' upcoming album 'Brothers'. Their last album 'Attack, Sustain, Release' came out two years ago although many of you would have been aware of the collaboration they did towards the end of last year with various hip-hop and R&B artists entitled 'Blackroc'.

The band have recently uploaded the first track from the album 'Tighten Up' on their Myspace page. The only track on the album to be produced by Danger Mouse this definitely comes through with the addition of whistling and his signature upbeat tempo and groovy guitars. Even though Danger mouse isn't producing the whole thing i'm sure it will be very good.

Hear it right here and judge for yourself



'Brothers' will be released on May 18th

Erol Alkan & Boys Noize New E.P Out Now

Many of you would have heard the fantastic release last year from Erol Alkan and Boys Noize 'Waves/Death Suite' and to our delight they have released a new E.P which arguably improves on the first. This time they have switched the order of their names around and rather than being on Boys Noize's 'Boys Noize Records' label, the E.P has been released on Erol's 'Phantasy Sound' Label.

Both tracks are excellent and you can really hear both the producer's individual sounds. With 'Lemonade' having already been remixed by the likes of Deaf Tunes it is shaping up to be one of the biggest dance releases of 2010.

The new E.P entitled 'Avalanche/Lemonade' is out now and can be purchased on beatport here

Playlist for Radio Show 17/03/2010

Here is the playlist for my last show of the semester:

1) Oh You (Christmas Blues) - LCD Soundsystem
New track from LCD Soundsystem although sadly not from the upcoming album. Taken from the upcoming film by Noah Baumbach (the guy who directed Squid and the Whale) 'Greenberg' which is a romantic comedy starring Ben Still and Rhys Ifans it features music by James Murphy. In other news apparently this will be the band's last album which I think is both a good and a bad thing as I love the band but it is always best to quit while you are ahead.
LCD Soundsystem are playing the Barrowlands, Glasgown on April 28th and 29th

2) Cauliflower - Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip
From the hip-hop duo's latest album 'The Logic of Chance' it features the American electro artist Kid A and is one of my personal favourites from the new release.
'The Logic of Chance' was released last Monday

3) Devil's Spoke - Laura Marling
Taken from the exquisite young folk artist's latest album 'I Speak Because I Can' which came out today which although I haven't heard in its entirety is looking to be an excellent record.
Laura Marling is playing the Queen's Hall, Edinburgh on April 14th

4) Pacific Coast Highway - Kavinsky
New from the electronic zombie producer aka Vincent Belorgay it is to be featured on the producer's upcoming e.p 'Nightcall'. Interestingly it has been produced by Guy Manuel and mixed by Ed Banger artist SebastiAn.
'Nightcall' will be released on April 2nd

5) Bella - Angus and Julia Stone
Taken from 2007 album 'A Book Like This', it is one of my favourite tracks from the brother-sister duo from Newport, Australia. Their latest album 'Down The Way' came out on Monday.
Angus and Julia Stone are playing Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh on April 18th

6) Flat Cold Medina - 2 Many djs
from the kings of mashup this features on the Belgian brothers' cd, 'Soulwax presents 2 Many djs - The Mashup Machine' which is one of their many bootlegs. It is a combination of old school hip-hop artist Tone Loc's 'Funky Cold Medina' and Mr Oizo's infamous 'Flat Beat'.
2 Many djs are playing City, Edinburgh on March 31st

7) Latin America - Holy Fuck
New release from the electronic band from Toronto from their upcoming album 'Latin'. A band that are really underrated they use random objects such as toy phaser guns and a 35mm film synchronizer alongside more conventional instruments to create their truly innovative sound.
'Latin' is to be released on May 11th

8) Avalanche/Lemonade Preview - Boys Noize & Erol Alkan
Thought I would play the taster that the two producers released for their upcoming e.p which is out soon. It is slightly frustrating though as you just start getting into the tracks when they cut off, definitely one I am looking forward to, especially 'Lemonade'.

9) Congratulations - MGMT
Title track from the psychedelic band's new album. Unlike 'Flash Delirium' which I played last week, this song is a bit more normal and quite soothing and relaxing.
'Congratulations' will be released on April 13th

10) Horny - Geht's Noch
New release from the Belgian Electro duo that is incredibly catchy and makes you want to get up and dance.
'Horny' is out now

'Bonnie' Hot Chip

According to Pitchfork, accompanying the release of the first single 'I Feel Better' from Hot Chip's latest album 'One Life Stand', bearded folk artist Bonnie Prince Billy will be releasing a remix of his own which he has retitled 'I Feel Bonnie'. A very unusual combination, it features his distinctive vocals alongside those of Alexis Taylor. A sample of the track can be found on the Pitchfork website

'I Feel Better' will be released on Parlophone on April 19th

Scroobius Pip Poetry

One half of Essex based hip hop duo Dan le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip, David Meads has redefined British hip-hop with his spoken word reformation of the genre alongside Daniel Stephens' eclectic electronic backing instrumentals. Now the summation of a work that began in 2008, Meads is releasing a book of his poetry titled 'Poetry in (e)motion':

“It’s just another reason for me to just be stupidly excited at the moment. I’d been asked a few times if I would release a book of poetry and I never really read a lot of poetry; I like to watch it be performed live, I like to hear the writer perform it. So I decided that for me to release a book of poetry would be kind of arrogant, like ‘I don’t read poetry but you should read mine.’ But the thought of that made me question why I didn’t read poetry as a youngster, so I came up with the idea of putting together a graphic novel of poems.

“I used MySpace and it’s all from fans and the public. I got artists from all over the world to submit pictures of each poem and turn it into a comic strip almost. The work that came in was amazing and I half expected the standard to be quite average [laughs]. I then took it to Titan Books who put out The Watchman comic books and all sorts of amazing stuff. They saw the standard and loved it and that’s coming out on Titan now; which is a huge testament to the quality put out there”.

Scroobius Pip who takes his name from a misspelling of the nonsense poem by Edward Lear initially used spoken word to overcome a speech impediment and is now regarded by many as one of the greatest creative minds in terms of British lyricism. Following the recent release of 'Logic of Chance' on March 15th this is yet more reason to be excited about this British artist.



Scroobius Pip will be signing Poetry in (e)motion at the Forbidden Planet Megastore, 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, London WC2 H 8JR on Wednesday 24th March 6 – 7pm

Poetry in (e)motion will be released on Friday

Listen to New MGMT Album Now

Despite 'Congratulations' not being officially released until next month, the Brooklyn band have made the entire album available to stream on their website here following its accidental leak where they stated: 'Hey everybody, the album leaked, and we wanted you to be able to hear it from us. We wanted to offer it as a free download but that didn't make sense to anyone but us'.

If you like the album make sure to buy it when it is actually comes out.

'Congratulations' will be released officially on April 13th

New Dead Weather Album

Jack White's latest band 'The Dead Weather' who presented us with the excellent 'Horehound' last year have announced at South by Southwest the details of their second album. 'Sea of Cowards' is set for a May 7th release date whilst the first single 'Die by the Drop' is to be released tomorrow along with its b-side 'Old Mary'.

I have no idea how he has managed this seeing how he is currently on tour with the band and has just spilled the beans on a a collaboration he has done with Jay-Z where he has stated:

“I just did a record with Jay-Z… We did a song together a few weeks ago. It was incredible. I played him something that I’ve been kicking around for a while and he immediately came out with words for it. It’s unbelievable-sounding.”

In an interview with MTV, White has mentioned that the tour has not only yielded new songs but has also informed the older tunes. "It's changing every day, and we want it to change even more. We've got a lot more material going and changing a lot of the songs from the first record. We have a lot more cover songs than when we started too." Which covers have they been playing around with? "It ranges from Christian metal to Christian gospel."

MTV Shows

Frank Turner Live at HMV Picture House, Edinburgh With Support Acts Crazy Arm and Chuck Ragan 16/03/10

Sadly I arrived too late to see any of Crazy Arm’s set and instead was met with the gruff voice of Chuck Ragan as I entered the Picture House. Playing with a simple band consisting of Jon Gaunt on violin sporting one of the best beards I have ever seen and Digger Barnes on the double bass, it was an excellent start to the evening and surprising to have such an established musician playing a support slot. Like Frank Turner, it is interesting seeing Ragan’s switch from punk rock to folk following the split of ‘Hot Water Music’ in 2006 when he took up a solo career. His hoarse vocals and accompanying harmonica are appropriate for his change and tracks such as ‘Geraldine’ were striking.

Frank Turner played one of the jolliest and most uplifting gigs I have been to. All his songs contain stories that give you an insight into the life and person of the Winchester born musician and seeing him live is like an invitation into this world and his circle of friends. A big change from his post-hardcore band ‘Million Dead’, Turner manages to effortlessly combine elements of folk and punk rock, encapsulating the very ethos of a ‘man and his guitar’ with everyone in the crowd seeming really up for it, knowing all the words and dancing arm in arm.

The set list contained a good combination of new and older material with Frank powering through close to twenty songs. Opening with ‘Photosynthesis’, the lyrics seem highly appropriate when he sings: ‘now I’ll play and you sing, the perfect way for the evening to begin’ whilst ‘To Take you Home’ combined a catchy guitar part with heartfelt vocals, Ben Lloyd on Mandolin and the rumbling of the floor tom as drummer Nigel Powell stood up to deliver the epic ballad. ‘Sons of Liberty’ from his most recent album ‘Poetry of the Deed’ was a personal favourite, an exclamation against politics and the ‘establishment’ with an excellent floaty keyboard part and brilliant solo from Turner although slightly disappointing that it didn’t contain the violin part that features on the record, I was half hoping that Gaunt would come out and rock the solo.

The encore saw the addition of Ragan and Gaunt to the fray as they played one of Chuck’s songs, ‘Revival Road’, it seemed strange that Frank was headlining the tour and that a musician he enjoyed in his younger years was supporting him although no hard feelings seemed to be shared. The Edinburgh crowd were given a special treat as Frank gave us a rendition of one of his much older tracks ‘Casanova Lament’ delivered beautifully with nothing but his acoustic guitar. ‘The Road’ closed the show where Frank posed a sly nod when he sang ‘to the north’ and the bridge of the song where the guitar part breaks down and becomes quite heavy and reminiscent of a Million Dead Frank was a fantastic crescendo to finish on.

All in all it appeared as though it wasn’t just the crowd that were having a really good time and it always vastly improves the enjoyment of a gig when the band are messing around and acting as though they are merely really good friends having a jam. If only Frank really was my friend.

White Stripes Documentary Film and Live Album

Today marks the release of the White Stripes documentary film and accompanying live cd, 'Under Great White Northern Lights' which was premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 18th 2009.

Directed by Emmett Malloy, it contains footage both on and off-stage during the band's tour of Canada in 2007 whilst the cd features a collection of recordings from various concerts during the tour.

Apparently it was the band's first tour of the country to which Jack White stated: 'Having never done a tour of Canada, Meg and I thought it was high time to go whole hog…from the ocean to the permafrost…We wanted to play out of the way towns that don’t usually get shows…the shows are better, it’s better for the people, it’s a better experience, it’s way more unique, something interesting is going to happen…hopefully'. To this extent the dvd features the band playing everything from 'The Wheels on the Bus' on a local bus to a bowling alley in a way to really connect with their fans.

Track listing for the cd is as follows:

1) Let's Shake Hands
2) Black Math
3) Little Ghost
4) Blue Orchid
5) The Union Forever
6) Ball and Biscuit
7) Icky Thump
8) I'm Slowly Turning Into You
9) Jolene
10) 300 M.P.H. Torrential Outpour Blues
11) We Are Going to Be Friends
12) I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself
13) Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn
14) Fell In Love With a Girl
15) When I Hear My Name
16) Seven Nation Army
17) End

A trailer for the documentary can be seen here:



Also, for a limited time the cd can be streamed in its entirety here.

Gorillaz Plagiarisers?

There has been a great tiffle in music news this week as Damon Albarn's cartoon band Gorillaz have been threatened with a law suit against one of their songs. The track in question is the first single 'Stylo' featuring Mos Def and Bobby Womack from their latest release 'Plastic Beach' which came out earlier this month.

It turns out that eighties reggae star Eddy Grant, most famous for his 1983 track 'Electric Avenue' has claimed that the similarities between 'Stylo' and his 1981 track 'Time Warp' are far too many in number for it to be the result of mere coincidence.

Grant said himself: “I am outraged that the Gorillaz have infringed the copyright of my song 'Time Warp', claiming their song 'Stylo' to be an original composition,”.

It's quite ironic how both artists share the same record label, EMI, which is part of the reason why Grant is so annoyed seeing as he believed that they would have come to him first to try and make some sort of agreement in sampling the song. As Grant comments: "In a properly configured relationship I would have gotten a call from EMI to say, 'Damon wants to use 'Time Warp'. What arrangement can you guys come to? Would you claim 100 per cent, would you claim 60 per cent, or 70 per cent of whatever it is?'," he suggested.

"That phone call never came. Instead what happened is somebody went straight to a musicologist, implying that there was some kind of pre-knowledge of some kind of infringement."

According to NME, an EMI spokesperson told them "This is a private matter between Eddy Grant and Gorillaz, and we're not intending to make any further comment."

Personally, I feel it is a bit of a ridiculous claim made by an outdated musician who hasn't seen any success since the eighties and is a bit strapped for cash.

I guess you should judge for yourself:

Playlist for Radio Show 10/03/2010

Here's the playlist for my most recent show:

1) While You Wait For The Others - Grizzly Bear
Having gone to their gig at Queen's Hall where they were alongside Beach House, I thought they justified a play as they delivered a terrific set. This is one of my favourite songs off their latest album 'Veckatimest'.
Grizzly Bear played Queen's Hall, Edinburgh on Tuesday

2) Vaporize - Broken Bells
From the brand new self-titled album from collaboration between producer Danger Mouse and Singer/Guitarist of the Shins James Mercer. This track with its acoustic guitar and excellent vocals leading into electric organ is a highlight off the album.
Broken Bells was released on Monday

3) Petridor - Maelstrom
Thought I would play a track from the French Breakbeat dj as he is playing for AZ-Techs 3rd Birthday at the Caves, Edinburgh. I mentioned details of a competition to win free tickets which can be found here. This track although not breakbeat is some nice downtempo and summery sounding, perfect for the amazing weather we have been having.
Maelstrom is playing the Caves, Edinburgh on Friday

4) To Take You Home - Frank Turner
An Incredibly moreish song from 2008's 'Love Ire and Song' which is a phenomenal album. Following his move from his position as frontman of post-hardcore band Million Dead to his acoustic folk/punk outfit it's been a change for the good. Although, 2009's 'Poetry of the Deed' was a slight drop in quality as I feel an over emphasis on the band and not just his solo effort detracted from the standard of the music previously.
Frank Turner is playing HMV Picture House, Edinburgh on March 16th

5) Maps (Elite Force Re-fix) - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
With the release of 'Revamped' on Monday, this track is one of numerous remixes of differing genres into predominately breakbeat tracks although also encompassing techno, electro and dubstep. The album also features a remix of Bar9 who is playing at Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh for the launch of a new dubstep night Innuendub this Friday 12th March.

6) Hear A Train A Comin - Jimi Hendrix
Taken from 'Valleys of the Neptune' a collection of 12 previously unreleased studio recordings which include long sought after studio originals, reworked arrangements of Hendrix classics and studio versions of covers Hendrix often played in concert. Listening through the album it's not bad but there is definitely a reason why these songs have been released posthumously as many of the songs are far from polished and feel more like extended jams. Having said that, this track with its bluesy feel, the title track and 'Bleeding Heart' are all excellent.
'Valleys of the Neptune' was released on Tuesday

7) Just War Feat Gruff Rhys - Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse
Thought I would play this song in honour of Mark Linkous the singer and guitarist of American rock band Sparklehorse who committed suicide last Saturday thus encroaching a huge loss to the music industry. The track, featuring the Super Furry Animals frontman comes from 'Dark Night of the Soul' which is a quintessential album for any Danger Mouse or Sparklehorse fan or any music fan in general.
Following legal issues 'Dark Night of the Soul' Will be officially released in June (not just as a CD-R)

8) Flash Delirium - MGMT
The first song released from MGMT's forthcoming album 'Congratulations' as expected it sounds very psychedelic and drug induced.
'Congratulations' will be released on April 13th

9) Spanish Sahara (Mount Kimbie Remix) - Foals
The new release from the indie 5-piece from Oxford. This track is very different to their older stuff and I feel this remix really improves the song and although very Four-Tet sounding.
On that note, Four-Tet is playing Bongo Club, Edinburgh on Saturday

10) What Up Y'all - Crookers
I should probably have played something from 'Tons of Friends' since it has just been released but to be honest I don't think it is very good, being far too hip-hoppy for my liking. Having said that tracks such as 'We Love Animals' featuring Soulwax and Mixhell, 'The Remedy' featuring Miike Snow and 'Birthday Bash' featuring The Very Best, Marina and Dargen D'Amico are really good but this track is incredible.
'Tons of Friends' was released on Monday

Mumford and Sons Cover Vampire Weekend

I am a huge fan of Mumford and Sons with 'Sigh No More' being one of my top albums of 2009, however, I have never really liked Vampire weekend and never understood the huge hype surrounding them. Having said that this cover of the the Vampire Weekend song 'Cousins' adds a whole new meaning to the song with Marcus' touching vocals and the folky-country spin that the Sons put on the track making it a truly enlightening listen.

Watch them perform the cover on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge:

Grizzly Bear Live At Queen's Hall, Edinburgh With Support Act Beach House 09/03/10

It’s exciting enough when you hear that Brooklyn based folk-rock band ‘Grizzly Bear’ have decided to play Edinburgh despite most remotely successful bands choosing to bypass the city and head straight to Glasgow where the music scene is more thriving, but when you learn that Baltimore dream-pop duo ‘Beach House’ are supporting as well, it’s like a dream come true.

‘Beach House’ who arrived to a very dimly lit stage set the motion for the evening, Victoria Legrand’s long curly hair hung over her keyboard and Alex Scally reclined on a chair, their atmospheric music entrancing the crowd. The combination of coloured lighting and smoke machines with the haunting vocals of Legrand was truly hypnotic. The highlight had to be ‘Norway’ off their latest album ‘Teen Dream’ with its wonky guitar and ethereal vocals and ‘Zebra’ with simple guitar sliding and a sweeping voice building up to an epic chorus complete with keyboards.

On to the main act, the set lit simply by a collection of glowing glass jars, few bands have been so successful in their captivation of the audience’s attention, with songs such as ‘Foreground’ with its modest keyboards from Daniel Rossen and chilling vocals from Edward Droste being simply beautiful, the crowd not daring to make a whimper. Often described as chamber pop, the constant switching of lead vocalists meaning no noticeable frontman and the multitude of instruments played especially from Chris Taylor who flits from bass guitar to flute to clarinet to saxophone is not only extremely impressive but adds an orchestral feel to the music. The only downside to this would have to be the addition of the omnichord played by Droste which (and I may just be ignorant) seemed to merely consist of single chord being played thus defeating the point of it being there and only adding as a spectacle and not to the musical content.

The set was very ‘Veckatimest’ heavy breaking straight away into ‘Southern Point’ and playing numerous songs from the album although they weren’t afraid of delivering older tracks with ‘Colorado’ and ‘Knife’ off ‘Yellow House’ being particularly good.

Perhaps the highlight of the set had to be when Victoria Legrend joined the stage to sing backing vocals on the much loved ‘Two Weeks’ which she appears on the album for as well as taking the lead for ‘Slow Life’ a track that Grizzly Bear produced for the film ‘New Moon’. Other excellent tracks were ‘While You Wait For Others’ where the crowd all seemed to join arms and revel in the happiness of the music and ‘On a Neck On A Spit’ with its phenomenal guitar and hoarse vocals from Rossen.

The encore which consisted of a single acoustic cover of ‘All We Ask’ was the perfect ending to a terrific set, the audience hanging on to every last note building up to a succession of clapping as they really got into the song and giving the band a huge showering of praise as they left the stage.

Information About New LCD Soundsystem Album Revealed

According to an interview on Pitchfork , the follow up to 2007's incredible 'Sound of Silver' is a nine-track album that runs for 65 minutes. Apparently, Murphy is currently deciding between two tracks: "Drunk Girls" and "Change" for the first single.

Despite what may have previously been thought the track 'Bye Bye Bayou' which was released in December last year will not be featured on the album, neither will 'Oh You (Christmas Blues)' which features on the soundtrack for the upcoming Noah Baumbach film 'Greenberg'.

Track listing for the album is as follows:
1) Dance Yrself Clean
2) Drunk Girls
3) One Touch
4) All I Want
5) Change
6) Hit
7) Pow Pow
8) Somebody's Calling Me
9) What You Need

LCD Soundsystem play the Barrowland, Glasgow on April 28th & 29th

Listen To Elite Force's 'Revamped' For Free

London dj Elite Force seems to effortlessly blend breakbeat, electro, house and dubstep in a fashion that breaks boundaries for dance music. His latest album 'Revamped' which was released this week sees remixes of some of the biggest names in dance music from differing genres presented with Elite Forces own eclectic spin. Remixing the likes of Popof, Hugg and Pepp, Deadmau5, Calvertron and Meat Katie among others, this is definitely an album to check out.

Luckily courtesy of Noiseporn the album has been made available (at least temporarily) for your streaming pleasure:

N.B if you enjoy this album please make sure you purchase it from iTunes, Beatport etc

Animal Collective's ODDSAC - More Screenings and DVD Release

The highly anticipated film from psychedelic indie band Animal Collective was first premiered to the world at the Sundance Film Festival on January 26th this year. ODDSAC which stands for Occipital Dynamic Dysfunctional Surrealism [by] Animal Collective is a feature film or visual album created by Animal Collective and Danny Perez, the mastermind behind the visual projections seen at Black Dice and Panda Bear shows.

It is said to feature six previously unreleased Animal Collective songs, a sad vampire rowing a canoe boat and a family that gets eaten by the marshmallows they are roasting whilst camping, all the ingredients for the perfect movie it seems.

According to Perez “[ODDSAC] was meant to be an open-ended operation of audio-video synthesis, the passing back and forth of visuals and sound so that each would inform the other and create an organic structure.”

Luckily for residents of the US of A following the success of the project, theatres have agreed to put on more screenings which are as follows:

03/17 – Chicago, IL @ Music Box Theatre: 7 p.m./9 p.m.
03/20 – Minneapolis, MN @ The Cedar: 7 p.m./9 p.m.
03/22 – Los Angeles, CA @ Arc Light Cinerama Dome: 7 p.m./9 p.m.
03/25 – San Francisco, CA @ Sundance Kabuki Cinemas: 6:30 p.m./8:30 p.m.
03/29 – Portland, OR @ Cinema 21: 7 p.m./9 p.m.
03/30 – Seattle, WA @ The Egyptian Theatre: 7 p.m./9 p.m.

Sadly for us Brits we will have to wait for a DVD release which has been announced for June 29th and said to feature bonus content alongside the film.

In the meantime, see the trailer here:

First Song Off MGMT's New Album Revealed

Psychedelic Brooklyn duo MGMT have just given us an insight into the sort of thing we should expect from upcoming album 'Congratulations' which is set for an April 13th release as they have unveiled its first song 'Flash Delirium'. The first in what the band described as “a collection of nine individual musical tours de force sequenced to flow with sonic and thematic coherence.” As expected it sounds very psychedelic and drug induced whilst at the same time combining indie riffs and electronic synths.

Download the song NOW! via the band’s website

Peter Gabriel - Scratch My Back, Now Fuck Off!

All hasn't gone to plan with the rock legend Peter Gabriel's supposed dual album release as artists aren't cooperating.

Gabriel's latest album 'Scratch My Back' which was released last month was a series of covers of new and old artists where he presented his own interpretation of the original songs. The initial plan was for Gabriel to release this album of covers and then follow it up with an album consisting of his songs covered by the artists in the first. Instead there has been a problem in that the artists who Gabriel had hoped to participate in the project are either missing deadlines or refusing to take part at all. As such, Gabriel has been forced to release the material as a series of monthly downloads available from iTunes.

In an interview with the New York Times, Gabriel said: "We may not get everybody, but I hope we will." The first two songs, featuring Paul Simon's version of Biko, and the Magnetic Fields' take on Not One of Us, are available now, with others following over the coming months.

According to Pitchfork, Arcade Fire are not covering 'Games Without Frontiers' as originally promised. It is unclear whether they are covering another Gabriel song or if they are even participating in the project at all.

The only artist to officially turn Gabriel down was David Bowie. Gabriel covered the track 'Heroes'on 'Scratch My Back'. Instead, the song's co-writer, Brian Eno, is to record something instead.

Win Tickets To Maelstrom

This Friday 12th March sees the 3rd birthday of the club night Az-Tech at the The Caves, Edinburgh. With the slogan 'breaks beneath the bridges' it sees some of the finest dj's in breaks playing in one of the most original venues Edinburgh has to offer. Az-Tech is run by friends and fellow beat-junkies Amy, Tim & Al, aka Siren, Re:Tox & Al Majik who support guest artists in the form of international dj's on a monthly basis.

This birthday sees the return of Maelstrom aka Mr Strom, from Pays de la Loire, France who made his Scottish debut in October of 2008:

'His captivating live set raced through territory so-far unchartered by the Az-Tech faithful- from the classic funky-breaks sound of his recent heritage, through the electro heartland of his formative years, taking in decimating Techno and thrillingly improvised Basslines along the way.'

For discounted entry on Friday and free lifetime membership to Az-Tech, drop an email with your full name to az-techbreaks@hotmail.co.uk.

COMPETITION:

Az-Tech are giving away two guestlist places to Friday’s event especially for Noise Porn. To enter, please reply to the above email address with the subject line NOISEPORN COMP and the answer to this question:

What year did Az-Tech launch at the Caves?

Answers in by 10pm on Wednesday 10th March and we’ll notify the winners by email on Thursday. Good luck!

Check out Maelstrom here.

Tickets on the night are £7/6 members

Death of Sparklehorse Frontman

Singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mark Linkous of the American alternative rock band Sparklehorse committed suicide last night according to Rolling Stone. The musician who was in his forties died of as yet unknown causes but a statement from his family confirms that it was suicide.

Linkous has not had it easy having become temporarily paralysed following the ingestion of a dangerous amount of valium and anti-depressants whilst on tour which caused him to be unable to move and cutting off the circulation to his legs which were pinned underneath him. When he was found 14 hours later he underwent a heart attack when medics attempted to straighten his legs due to the build up of potassium. The damage was significant and he almost lost both legs but instead he was left wheelchair bound for 6 months.

Linkous was said to be working on a new album for Sparklehorse that had almost reached completion and was set to be released on the Anti- record label.

Gogol Bordello Release Information About Forthcoming Album

Multi Ethnic Gypsy-Punk band Gogol Bordello have released details about their forthcoming album entitled 'Trans-Continental Hustle'. The band's fifth studio album it has been produced by the legendary Rick Rubin who has worked with artists from Slayer to Neil Diamond to the Beastie Boys to Run DMC.

Tracklisting is as follows:

1) Pala Tute
2) My Companjera
3) Sun Is On My Side
4) Rebellious Love
5) We Comin’ Rougher (Immigraniada)
6) When Universes Collide
7) Uma Menina Uma Cigana
8) Raise The Knowledge
9) Last One Goes The Hope
10) To Rise Above
11) In The Meantime In Pernambuco
12) Break The Spell
13) Trans-Continental Hustle

'Trans-Continental Hustle' will be released on April 26th

Gogol Bordello play ABC, Glasgow on May 9th

Vitalic Toilet Humour

French electronic producer Vitalic has just released the video for track 'Second Lives' from the exquisite album 'Flashmob' featuring a fixed camera just above a toilet cubicle which shows a succession of interesting people, rituals and activities.

See it here:

Black Keys Announce Title of New Album

American rock-blues duo from Ohio 'The Black Keys' have announced the title and tracklisting of their upcoming album'Brothers'. Consisting of vocalist and guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney, this will be the bands sixth studio album and the third on Nonesuch records. Their last album 'Attack Sustain Release' in 2008 was rated very highly among critics and the song 'I Got Mine' made number 23 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 best songs of 2008.

Unlike the last record which was produced by Danger Mouse, ('Tighten Up' is the only song on the new album produced by Danger Mouse) most of the record is produced by the band themselves with Mark Neill contributing to some of the songs.

tracklisting is as follows:

1) Everlasting Night
2) Next Girl
3) Tighten Up
4) Howlin' For You
5) She's Long Gone
6) Black Mud
7) The Only One
8) Too Afraid to Love You
9) Ten Cent Pistol
10) Sinister Kid
11) The Go Getter
12) I'm Not the One
13) Unknown Brother
14) Never Gonna Give You Up (Jerry Butler)
15)These Days

'Brothers' will be released on May 18th

Two Folk Forces Collide - Fleet Foxes & Joanna Newsom

As I mentioned a while ago, Fleet Foxes frontman Robin Pecknold will be teaming up with harpist, pianist and singer-songwriter Joanna Newsom whose album 'Have On Me' was released last month. They are set to play a number of dates on a tour of the US towards the end of March and April.

Pecknold has recently added a new video to his youtube page of him playing a solo acoustic version of the song 'On a Good Day' from Joanna's latest album where he puts his own spin on an already brilliant song. I can only hope that they release some material containing both of them playing together.

watch it here:



Joanna Newsom and Robin Pecknold's US tour starts on March 28th at Mercy Lounge, Nashiville, TN

Like the Sound of Rum?

Whilst listening to BBC 6 Music the other night with Scroobius Pip making a guest appearance on Steve Lamacq's show, Pip emphasised the importance he believed in of choosing a decent support band. His current support act 'Sound of Rum' consists of rapper Kate Tempest, guitarist Archie March and drummer Ferry Lawrenson who are an up and coming British rap act who have been playing any gig that they have had thrown at them as well as playing many festivals over the summer.

'Sound of Rum' are currently in the process of recording their debut album on Sunday Best.

Check them out here.

Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip's upcoming album 'The Logic of Chance' is out on March 15th

Broken Bells - Broken Bells Review

4/5

'Broken Bells' is the self-titled album from the American indie rock band consisting of artist and producer Brian Burton aka Danger Mouse and the lead vocalist and guitarist of The Shins James Mercer. Burton is no stranger to collaborations having produced for Damon Albarn’s side project Gorillaz , Beck, the Black Keys and being one half of funk-soul project Gnarls Barkley with singer Cee-Lo Green. Burton and Mercer have already worked together on the track ‘Insane Lullaby’ from the quintessential album ‘Dark Night of the Soul’ from Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse which when initially released in physical form contained only a blank cd-r but is set for a proper release in June.

We were introduced to the opening song ‘The High Road’ in December of last year and so anyone who has been avidly following updates from this band will be familiar with the track. The combination of Mercer’s sultry vocals and acoustic guitar against Burton’s downtempo hip-hop sweeping analog synths is superb. The following song ‘Vaporize’ beginning simply with the strum of an acoustic leading into some slightly reverbed vocals and then the addition of an electric organ and snares makes for another excellent track.

Other highlights on the album include the bouncy pop track ‘The Ghost Inside’ with a hugely catchy melody delivered in stunning falsetto from Mercer and the addition of a hand clap to the synthetic drumbeat with soaring synths and ‘Sailing to Nowhere’ with its sense of yearning and a complex mix of computer modulated tones and a switching from electronic to acoustic to piano ending with deeply moving strings.

Some critics have heralded the album as innovative and a prime matching of musical talents whereas others dismiss it as nothing particularly original in the line of soul infused trip-hop and similar in sound to Burton’s previous work. Personally, I think the album is excellent but perhaps peters out during the second half but only in contrast to the strength of the opening tracks, the latter still being good songs. It is definitely an album to check out, especially for fans of Danger Mouse or The Shins but not necessarily an album that will make history.

‘Broken Bells’ will be released on March 9th

The Jessie Rose Trip - You Won't Forget Me Boy

Jessie Rose is an upcoming soul singer from Manchester in her early twenties. At first listen it is easy to compare her to the likes of Amy Winehouse and the rest of the soul bandwagon that seems to be popular these days however with her band complete with trumpets and piano and influences such as Jimi Hendrix and The Doors, her jazzy blues is something to look out for. Check her out here.

The single 'You Won't Forget Me Boy' is out on March 21st

Playlist for Radio Show 03/03/2010

Here's the playlist for my most recent show:

1) Remedy Feat. Miike Snow (Jeuce Rework) - Crookers
Latest single from the Italian electronic duo's upcoming first album 'Tons of Friends'. It's shaping up to be a brilliant record with 'We Love Animals' featuring Soulwax and Mixhell being released last year. Other collaborators include Major Lazer, Spank Rock, Yelle and The Very Best. Jeuce consists of four guys from Leeds who have also remixed the likes of Ellie Goulding and Ladytron.
'Tons of Friends' will be released on March 8th

2) We Share Our Mother's Health (Ratatat Remix) - The Knife
An old track coming from the Knife's 2006 single. Thought I would play it since The Knife's latest album 'Tomorrow In a Year' was released on Monday in physical form and also due to my excitement about Ratatat's upcoming album 'LP4' which is rumoured at being out May 17th.

3) Swim Until You Can't See Land - Frightened Rabbit
From Frightened Rabbit's latest album 'The Winter Of Mixed Drinks' which is a much brighter affair than the previous album 'Midnight Organ Fight' and features more brilliant vocals from Scott Hutchinson.
'The Winter Of Mixed Drinks' was released on Monday

4) Atoms For Peace (Four Tet Remix) - Thom Yorke
A fantastic remix by Kieran Hebden of the track from Yorke's debut solo album from 2006 'The Eraser'. The reason for choosing this track is due to some exciting news announcing the name of Thom Yorke's new band, unsuprisingly it's the title of this song. The band have already played together during Yorke's tour of 'The Eraser' and consist of Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, Beck drummer Joey Waronker, percussionist Mauro Refosco and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich on keyboards.
'Atoms For Peace' begin a tour of the US on April 5th

5) Plastic Beach - Gorillaz
From the upcoming album of the same title this track features guest appearances from the Clash's Mick Jones and Paul Simonon. An interesting album with some excellent collaborations with Velvet Underground's Lou Reed and Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys. The video for their latest single 'Stylo' has just been released featuring Bruce Willis and is definitely worth checking out. See it here.
'Plastic Beach' is to be released on March 8th

6) The Motion Makes Me Last - Eluvium
From the latest album by ambient recording artist Mathew Cooper which came out on February 23rd called 'Similes'. This is the first album by Cooper containing vocals and percussion which actually works pretty well but it probably doesn't compare to 2007 release 'Copia'.
'Similes' will be released in physical form on March 8th

7) H.A.L (Capt & Cooked Remix) - SebastiAn
Old song, new remix. The single was the first from the Ed Banger member originally released in 2005. Australians Capt & Cooked have already remixed another of his songs 'Threnody' in January this year, the original seeing much attention from critics due to the fact that it is a 12 minute song with a 10 minute intro, some hailing it as an artistic masterpiece whilst others called it pretentious and stupid. Exciting news however, there are rumours that SebastiAn will be releasing his first album this year (about time).

8) World Sick - Broken Social Scene
Having been all over the blogs recently I thought this track warranted a playing. Taken from their upcoming album 'Forgiveness Rock Record' the Canadian group is an interesting one, more of a musical collective than a band due to the fact that its members are constantly changing and reaching up to 19 at any one time.
'Forgiveness Rock Record' is set to be released on May 4th

9) Disconnected (Ocelot Remix) - Shy Child
Taken from their latest album 'Liquid Love' this is a particularly good remix by the Texan duo.
'Liquid Love' was released on Monday

Gorillaz - Plastic Beach Review

3/5

It’s been five years since Damon Albarn has released anything from his cartoon electronic, pop, hip- hop outfit Gorillaz. The third studio album from the group and one of the most highly anticipated albums of 2010 but is it any good? I think the problem with creating so much hype around an album is that unless it’s an absolute masterpiece one tends to be disappointed and I think that is definitely the case here.

I think the main problem with this album is that it is trying to be too ambitious as a follow up to ‘Demon Days’ which was beautifully produced by Danger Mouse was always going to be difficult. Given the massively high status of Gorillaz they are pretty much able to pick and choose any artist they like to collaborate with as can be seen in ‘Plastic Beach’ with the huge array of guest artists from differing genres. There is a sense that this album is almost overproduced with Albarn trying to mix genres together where they don’t go. For example the song ‘White Flag’ which features Kano, Bashy & The Lebanese National Orchestra for Oriental Arabic Music rather than blending together in an original fashion it seems to be very much stop and start between the very different orchestral music which cuts off abruptly as the hip hop begins.
Very much a conceptual album it seems to point towards the direction that the music industry is currently heading towards where in the name of originality artists are attempting to mash together competing types of music as can be seen in the emergence of fusion genres such as folktronica and crunk. It seems unusual to combine hip hop artists and rock artists on the same record but this is exactly what Albarn has done making it appear more of a mixtape than an album.

Don’t get me wrong, although this may sound a very pessimistic review many of the songs taken on their own are really quite excellent, for example ‘Superfast Jellyfish’ featuring Gruff Rhys from Super Furry Animals and Gorillaz regular De La Soul is a very upbeat hip hop track with a melodious chorus from Albarn that works really well. ‘Some Kind of Nature’ featuring Lou Reed from The Velvet Underground with his gruff vocals, staccato piano and electronic drums and synths along with Albarns soothing tones in the chorus is exquisite and ‘Plastic Beach’ featuring the Clash’s Mick Jones and Paul Simonon is another standout track.Not just that but some of the Albarn only tracks are brilliant as well such as ‘On Melancholy Hill’.

It seems difficult then to judge the album as it contains some truly exceptional tracks as would be expected from Gorillaz but personally I don’t feel it flows as an album. Perhaps it is something that grows on the listener with time and one becomes able to appreciate the links between the tracks and see what Albarn is trying to portray but there is a definite sense that in attempting to compile the best collection of superstar appearances something has been lost in the production of the music.

‘Plastic Beach’ is to be released on March 8th

A preview of the album can be heard in its entirety for free here.