Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Winter Music

It's raining outside so its time to pull out some winter music you can listen to when you're rained in.

Do Make Say Think - Winter Hymn Country Hymn Secret Hymn
a beautiful instrumental album from this Toronto based band.
The tracks (I don't think you can call them songs) are structured in such detail and thought, starting in a quiet melancholic way and crashing into dens guitars, horns and electronic sounds.
Just an album that demands you listen to it as a whole, so dive into the atmosphere and take the whole journey.
Fredericia







Horns of a Rabbit








Four Tet - Rounds
This is my favorite album by Four Tet (which is actually a dude called Kieran Hebden, probably more known for doing Remixes of other's songs). Trip-Hop, electronic and folk all mashed up together to produce an excellent soundtrack (especially the slower tracks) for a winters day.

Hands







My Angel Rock Back and Forth








Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It in People
My favorite Canadian band with their best album.
With great catchy melodies, guitars ranging from dens Sonic Youth sound to acoustic folk.
All with the "Canadian Indie" trade mark low-fi production this album just explodes with talent, just listen to "cause = time" and you should be hooked.
Cause = Time







Stars and Sons







Anthem for a Seventeen Year-old Girl






Friday, October 24, 2008

New James Bond Theme Song

The new 007 movie "Quantum of Solace" is coming out soon, and the theme song is already out.
Another Way To Die by Jack White and Alicia Keys sounds like a typical Jack White production. vocals, drums and guitar sound just like a White Stripes song.
Its hard to imagine it fitting in the opening titles of a James Bond movie...

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

The Simpsons Rock

The Simpsons have a great tradition of having musicians and bands guest stars.
The list is pretty amazing - Spinal Tap, Red hot Chili Peppers, The Who, the stones...
Most do a small cameo but there are some very cool episodes build all around music like Homerpalooza (Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth, Cyprus Hill...) and the Camp Rock episode (The Rolling Stones, Tom Petty, Lenny Kravitz...).
So Here are some cool cameos of your favorite rock stars:

The White Stripes


REM
Lustige Videos – Gratis Fun Video – Deine funny Videos bei Clipfish

U2


The Ramones


Metallica


Blink 182
Lustige Videos – Gratis Fun Video – Deine funny Videos bei Clipfish

Finally The Simpsons theme versions by Green Day and Sonic youth:

Monday, October 20, 2008

The Director's Cut - Fantomas

Fantomas is one of Mike Patton's many bands since the legendary Faith No More (Tomahawk, Mr. Bungle, Peeping Tom... the guy is busy, he also did the voices for the creatures in the Will Smith film “I Am Legend” !!!).
Together with guys from Slayer, The Melvins and Mr. Bungle the potential for insane metal is pretty big...
In The Director's Cut these guys give their own crazy, disturbing and funny versions to various Film scores and songs. From classics like the Godfather and Rosemary's Baby to more obscure films like Henry; Portrait of a Serial Killer. The versions can get really twisted, switching in a second from screaming death-metal to quite bossa-nova.
The music and the selection definitely deliver a spooky-scary atmosphere which makes you want to check out these films.

I threw in there Faith No More's Midnight Cowboy, seems to fit pretty well...
You can check out Fantomas and other crazy acts like that in Ipecac Recordings ("making people sick since 1999") .

Friday, October 17, 2008

Intimacy - New Bloc Party Album

I was waiting for a new one from Bloc Party since "A Weekend in the City", which I think is one of the best albums of that year.
"Intimacy" continues in the same direction of the last one, which is more experimental and electronic than their earlier days of pretty ordinary Indie-Rock.
Although "Intimacy" is getting better reviews than "Weekend in the City" has, it seems to me that the reviewers are just aligning with Bloc Party after they where caught by surprise with the previews one and not because the new one is better.
Don't get me wrong it's a good album. It starts with a bang - "Ares" (which sounds like the Chemical Brothers "Setting Sun"), "Mercury" and "Halo" are fast and load.
"Mercury" video:

After this first assault "Biko" lets you mellow down a bit, but not for long cause here comes "Trojan Horse" - maybe the only "classic" Indie guitar song on the album.
The album continues with a mix of slow and fast songs, I have to say the slower ones are my favorites in this album ("Signs", "Zephyrus", "Better Than Heaven" and "Ion Square").

It took me more than a couple of listens to catch-on to "Weekend in the City" so maybe "Intimacy" will be the same cause there sure are some good songs on it.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Holy F*ck

If you want to check out some cool, fun weird music then check out Battles and Holy fuck (what a cool name for a band).
These guys basically sound like instrumental bands from outer-space...
Both bands seem to have a rock base which gives the songs their basic drive and the electronic sounds gives the twist.
Battles are tagged in some places as "math-rock", I guess because they are instrumental and don't play 4/4 bits all the time... but their music is much more fun than the usual "math-rock".

The first time I caught on to Battles is when I first heard "Atlas" from their second album "Mirrored". This songs is just fun with the crazy vocals and the addictive bit:



"Tonto" is their second video from the album. It has a more rockier feel to it and the vocals sound like an Indian chant (native American not India...).
This video is very cool visually, it was shot in an abandoned mine in England.



As for Holy Fuck, "Lovely Allen" is my favorite track of their "LP" album:



These guys are currently touring the UK and they are supposed to kick ass live, so check them out if you have the possibility.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Screaming Tree


After the disappointment from hearing some of Chris Cornell's new songs I decided to do this post on another rock dinosaur... but one that didn't sell out - Mark Lanegan.
From the early 90's with the Screaming Trees as part of the Seattle grunge scene (I think Chris Cornell even produced one of their albums) to his solo albums and the many collaborations he has done, it is always good stuff.
Though the music styles vary from the more quiet acoustic work with Isobel Campbell, the rockier
Queens Of The Stone Age to more electronic music with the Soulsavers - it's always about the voice.

Soulsavers - Revival [from It's Not How Far You Fall, It's the Way You Land]








Mark Lanegan Band – When Your Number Isn't Up [From Bubblegum]








Mark Lanegan Band – One Hundred Days [From Bubblegum]








Queens of the Stone Age – In The Fade [From Rated R]








Queens of the Stone Age - Hangin' Tree [from Songs for the Deaf]








The Gutter Twins - The Stations [from Saturnalia]







Tuesday, October 7, 2008

The Horror !!!



Well I knew it was coming... the rumors where circling for a year, but I never thought it would be this bad.
The new Chris Cornell album "Scream" produced by Timbaland seems to be near release, with tour dates published (they are even performing together !!! I wonder if Chris will be dancing on stage like Justin Timberlake) and some first songs out.


The songs sound much worse than I ever imagined... judge for yourself:

Scream







Ground Zero







his previous album was bad but this is really some shitty stuff.

Anyway here are the tour date (hope he does more oldies):

Chris & Timbaland Perform Together:
Oct. 17 Denver, CO Ogden Theater
Oct. 18 Salt Lake City, UT The Avalon Theater
Oct. 19 Tempe, AZ Marquee
Oct. 24 Las Vegas, NV The Joint
Oct. 25 Los Angeles, CA House of Blues
Oct. 26 San Diego, CA House of Blues
Oct. 31 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
Nov. 2 Seattle, WA Showbox

Chris Cornell Solo Dates:
Oct. 21 Tucson, Arizona Fox Tucson Theater
Oct. 22 Ventura, CA Ventura Theater
Oct. 28 Anaheim, CA House of Blues
Oct. 29 Santa Cruz, CA The Catalyst
Nov. 1 Portland, OR Roseland Theater

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Interpol, Editors, The National - How can you tell them apart?

There are a lot of bands which sound alike, first time I heard Coldplay I thought it was a new Radiohead song for a second (now they sound like U2).
But with the three bands above it was really hard...
I first heard Interpol with their excellent "Turn on the bright lights" album.
Interpol - Obstacle 1







Interpol - PDA







A year or two later I heard this song







and I was sure it was a new Interpol song (and a good one)... well it turned out to be "Bullets" by Editors.
Again times goes by and I hear this track






so this one has to be Interpol.
Well wrong again, it's "Mistaken for strangers" by The National...

I guess all three are influenced by 80's New-Wave dramatic dark sound and their lead singers vocals are so similar its hard to tell them apart at first, but if you liked the songs here you should definitely check them out.

Friday, October 3, 2008

José González will be playing at the Barby next Saturday

José González will be performing at the Barby in Tel-Aviv on the 11th (after shows in Beirut and Dubai !!).


González makes beautiful quiet folk songs, almost purely acoustic guitar and vocals (With his bearded look and vocals he resembles Cat Stevens).
Here is a taste of his music:
Down The Line (from In Our Nature)







Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division cover)







Teardrop video (Massive Attack cover)


Acoustic shows can get a bit boring, hope this one won't...

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

The Ultimate Pearl Jam Punk Setlist

Pearl Jam's punk tunes are one of my favorites ever since Vitalogy.
So how cool would it be to have PJ do an all punk set list...

01 Last Exit







02 Save You







03 Green Disease







04 Comatose







05 Kick Out the Jams







06 Sheena's a Punk Rocker







07 I Believe in Miracles







08 Sonic Reducer







09 All Night







10 Lukin







11 Whipping







12 Brain of J







13 Spin the Black Circle