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| Sun 06 Jul 2008 |
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Tag: Music
These items have all been tagged with the tag "Music", You can see other tags in the Tag Cloud| Al Green - 'Lay It Down' |
| 2008-07-01 12:03:53 |
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Unlimited credits are in the offing for whoever brought the majestic Al Green together with producers ?uestlove and James Poyser. Green’s new album, ‘Lay It Down’, is the best cut of soul you’re likely to hear all year. With guest spots featuring Anthony Hamilton and John Legend this is one very modern album and an absolutely essential addition to your Al Green collection. The other essential Al Green albums?! The Cool Hunter has you covered. Let’s Stay Together – 1972 No introduction needed, with a title track that stayed at number one in the US for nine consecutive weeks. The rest of the album may not have been chart-worthy, but it’s nevertheless just as strong. The Belle Album – 1977 Expected at the time to be his last secular LP, Green produces himself and lets loose a cracking series of meditations from a man caught between the religious and the secular. I’m Still In Love With You - 1972 Released at Christmas of 1972 this, the most slickly romantic of Green’s albums, begs to be busted out next to a roaring fireplace with only the most special of wine and women in accompaniment. Gets Next To You – 1971 The template-setter for the early 70s Green albums, this sounds like tightly reigned wanton madness. Absolutely brilliant. Call Me – 1973 Built on Willie Mitchell’s fastidious production, this is Green’s artistic zenith. A masterpiece that totally beguiles the listener. By Matt Shea. |
| MetroFarm DJ Decks |
| 2008-06-20 06:43:28 |
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From Berlin Germany, Metrofarm Studio has produced a number of stunning, custom built DJ Desks. Having released a concrete DJ table a couple of years back, the new desks, in folded stainless steel and wood painted black and neon orange demand attention. But they're not just for finely tuned vinyl slingers looking for the perfect ergonomic ratios to heighten their musical flow. They're for anybody with a musical mind and an eye for detail, looking to add spark to a lounge room, club or gallery. It's art for the DJ's sake. By Nick Christie |
| Yeasayer - '2080' |
| 2008-06-19 11:03:35 |
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Brooklyn quartet Yeasayer’s music is a concoction of indie rock and worldbeat that should probably come off as stilted and manufactured but the band instead, like a pack of hip-shooting alchemists, mesh these genres together in experiments that pay off brilliantly. Guitars, sitars, mandolins, bongos, cowbells, and fretless bass are all run through with driving synthesisers, while ceaselessly harmonising vocals tend to stay deep in the mixes, adding to the ethereal quality of their music. Obvious touchstones David Byrne and Peter Gabriel would be proud to turn out music as brilliant and thoroughly engaging as this. By Matt Shea |
| Fleet Foxes |
| 2008-06-11 00:52:22 |
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Seattle's Fleet Foxes are the perfect soundtrack to a cold, rainy afternoon. Like a calm Brian Wilson filtered through My Morning Jacket and Band of Horses, the band's lead singer, 21 year old Robin Pecknold is a remarkable musical talent. Like a church choir led by your favourite indie band, the Fleet Foxes sound is a mix of glistening, layered vocal harmonies, softly plucked guitars and a sense of longing and wonder that only open skies and vast wilderness can evoke. It sounds simultaneously now and forty and one hundred years ago. Free of time, this album, this band, Fleet Foxes, are here to stay. By Nick Christie |
| The Cool Hunter's Ten Best Tracks of 2008 (So Far) |
| 2008-06-05 10:20:01 |
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Is it too early for lists? Never, we say. So here they are, all the songs that have set the bar so high for music in '08. 10 - Foals - 'Balloons' These Oxford boys "fly balloons on this fuel called love". So they own my favourite lyric so far this year. They also sport snaky, crystal guitar lines and a gurgling brass section - what else can you do but sit back and lap it up? Encore. 9 - Tokyo Police Club - 'In A Cave' These young Ontarions, do it straight up. The drum beat makes my neck snap, the guitars make me want to jump and the whole thing, in all its raw, snotty glory makes me feel like I did when I discovered punk for the first time. 8 - Cut Copy - 'Lights & Music' Even when they're cruising, Cut Copy churn out fabulously energetic pop gems. Tops. 7 - M83 - 'Graveyard Girl' Would getting to second base in a cemetary be awkward/blasphemous? This makes it sound so right. And hot. 6 - Snoop Dogg - 'Sensual Seduction' Snoop can do anything he likes, basically. He could ditch the blunts and 8-Balls for a harmonica and some overalls and get all country and western on us and he'd still drop a hot record. 5 - Santogold - 'L.E.S. Artistes' Perfect pop. Without borders, without barriers. The best song from hands down the best indie-reggae rock-hop album, ever. 4 - The Presets - 'This Boy's In Love' Like some forgotten gem from Depeche Mode's bombed out basement, This Boy's In Love thunders into the list. It's equal parts new romantic fey-pop and pure dancefloor dynamite. Brilliant. 3 - Vampire Weekend - 'A Punk' Every time lead vocalist Ezra Koenig sings that hook: "Look outside, the raincoats gone" he dangles just one, excruciatingly good 'Say Oh!' off the end of it. I wish he would have given me a more traditional 'Say Oh, oh, oh', but the fact he didn't is probably the reason I keep coming back for more. 2 - The Teenagers - 'Love No (Delorean Remix)' Week old pepperoni pizza, Showgirls, broken English and blatant hipster narcissism. Yes, the Teenagers have it all. And this Delorean remix somehow manages to make them even better. Superb. 1 - MGMT - 'Kids' Oh man. The little rising synth, warbling like a bird to the sound of children playing. Is there are more uplifting intro to a song anywhere in the world right now? MGMT make you pump fists in the air, sing at the top of your voice, dance like a fool and smile until you hurt. Thank you MGMT. By Nick Christie and Dave Ruby Howe |
| The Futureheads - 'Beginning of the Twist' |
| 2008-06-03 10:58:18 |
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Breaking up can be hard. Clearly, nobody told the Futureheads this little fact of life. After the ‘heads and their label 679 went splitsville, the band haven’t slowed down a bit. On their new cut, The Beginning Of The Twist, the Sunderland four-piece come off all perky and energised without the strings attached feel that sometimes comes with the label world. That track has their classic neo-wave jerky guitar sound, ideal for kids in Converse All Stars to freak to at their local indie disco, all mixed with a twist of big-time production from the golden fingertips of Youth (Primal Scream, The Verve). Here I was thinking they’d disappeared with Kaiser Chiefs to planet suck, but the Futureheads are back and they sound better than ever. By Dave Ruby Howe. |
| Cool Scene: Valerie |
| 2008-05-21 11:58:58 |
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While hipsters the world over are salivating for distorted bangers from the likes of Justice, Teenage Bad Girl and the rest of the rabble, there’s something far more exciting happening just out of the spotlight. It’s called Valerie (scene, sound, label and blog). It’s sunglasses at night, John Hughes, Molly Ringwald, old Sega Megadrive cartridges, endless summers and high drama romance all rolled into one. Purveyors of the Valerie sound include founders the Outrunners, Anoraak, College, Mathelvin and Minitel Rose and more recently Parallels and Aedyhawke, all brought together through their shared adoration of retro synths and Miami Vice re-runs. Good thing they all found each other because they’re hitting all the right marks, from Maethelvin’s car-chase disco to the teenage anthems of College and Anoraak’s make out sesh scores. In three years time Valerie might be an inescapable, designer-tee-spewing, branding monstrosity. Right now, it just sounds so good. Touch it while it's still pure. myspace.com/valeriejetaime myspace.com/theoutrunners myspace.com/maethelvin myspace.com/anoraak myspace.com/minitelrose myspace.com/collegeoflove By Dave Ruby Howe |
| The Radio Dept. - Freddie and The Trojan Horse |
| 2008-05-20 07:11:16 |
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It’s an amazing thing to watch a band develop and transform with every piece of new music they create. Take the new single from Labrador’s indie golden boys the Radio Dept . for example. It’s another step in the direction of a sound which is resoundingly dark and sombre, far removed from the gorgeous and spacious dream-pop of their debut disc Lesser Matters. While their sophomore record, Pet Grief, hinted at something darker with its raised glasses to detachment and disappointment, 'Freddie And The Trojan Horse' sees the Radio Dept. deep in a swell of bitterness and resentment. From the stuttered machine-gun beat to Johan Duncanson’s seething indictment of the Swedish government, 'Freddie And The Trojan Horse' is cold, harsh and one of the most exhilarating things I’ve heard all year. By Dave Ruby Howe. |
| Yeo & The Fresh Goods - 'Trouble Being Yourself' |
| 2008-05-09 10:35:45 |
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Yeo Choong, from Brisbane, Australia is smart. I say this not because he is the mastermind behind Yeo and The Fresh Goods, or because he makes music with mathematical precision. I say it because he is a 21 year old Masters student in Audiology and because his debut album 'Trouble Being Yourself' sounds like a nerdier version of N.E.R.D. Indeed, the production on his standout track 'Two Sides Of A Door' would make Pharrell proud. But Yeo isn't just in the mood for making funk rock and singing in a slight falsetto. He jumps and jerks between genres, sometimes in the same song. The reggae-pop intro of 'Fishin' With Aidan' melds into a salsa infused party jam, all the while mixing the ska-delivery of Sublime and the 'Thank You' message from Dido's long-forgotten hit of the same name. From his sneaky horns to his hand-claps and Super Mario samples, Yeo recorded, mixed and produced the entire album. It's catchy, cheeky good fun. Fresh goods indeed. By Nick Christie |
| Myhab - Recyclable Tent For Music Festivals |
| 2008-05-08 13:14:49 |
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Camping out a music festival need no longer be a boggy, muddy affair thanks to this smart-as-a-whip innovation dubbed Myhab. Essentially it's a temporary, waterproof, completely recyclable tent made from durable recycled plastic and and waterproof cardboard. The tent is fixed on a raised platform to stop it from slipping into a muddy bog in the case of rain. Myhab was created by a student and there are plans to for "myhab" villages at all of the UK's major music festivals. by Lisa Evanns (via Springwise) |
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