This is a frighteningly cute video, or maybe a cute video trapped in a frightening environment? Either way see a baby brave a city full of monsters before he is absorbed by a psychedelic cartoon that would make Robert Crumb proud. Yes it is that good.
June 5, 2009
February 26, 2009
Heads We Dance Remix Red Blooded Women & Depeche Mode Simultaneously!
Leeds electro group “Heads We Dance” return yet again with a remix of Red Blooded Women’s cover of Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy The Silence”. They take the tune in a Pet Shop Boy’s direction because they were inspired by their claiming the Lifetime achievement award at the Brit awards. If you’re looking for an epic start to your Thursday, here it is!
November 25, 2008
All ‘Killer’ No Filler on Day & Age
The Killers’ new album “Day & Age” marks their return to the sublime dreamy pop that got the kids excited in the first place. With “Sam’s Town” they tried to please the guy in the crowd that made fun of their make-up and suits, what they didn’t realize though, was that he paid to get in. They already had the backwards hat frat crowd. I remember when I opened my door for a doofy R.A. my freshman year and he saw my Killers shirt and couldn’t stop talking about how great the album was.
That said, this time around The Killers do push their style in ways that do succeed wildly. From the slow burning opener “Losing Touch” that makes excellent use of left over “Bones” horns, to the dance ’till you drop beats and synths of “Human”, to the most complete return to Hot Fuss Form “Spaceman”. The Killers set the tone early, they are back, and then they give you a tour of Vegas with reckless abandon. Like on the cowboy steel drum funk that is “Joy Ride”, the song is unabashedly fun, but Brandon Flowers’ earnest vocals ground the debauchery with the wide eyed wonder of a designated driver caught in the spotlight.
On “Sam’s Town” it felt like The Killers were spinning their creative compass, on “Day and Age” it feels as if they’ve thrown it out and just headed towards a star. Brandon Flowers still uses his more “salt of the earth” lyrical approach but this time around the music itself towers as tall as his words. Where as on “Sam’s Town” there was no monolith of sound to sweep up those hometown ambitions. That means, yes, they use the power ballad more than once, “A Dustland Fairy Tale”, “This is Your Life”, and “The World We Live In”, where they sound more like Duran Duran than they ever have before, and strangely enough it’s a good thing. “Day & Age” offers up a smorgasbord of obvious influences of the band in each song like the decidedly Talking Heads-esque “I Can’t Stay” to the Curish “Goodnight Travel, Travel Well” that uses circular synth patterns that sound an awful lot like “Pictures of You”, but they also imprint their unique stamp on each song and even make songs that have great potential to seem gaudy or redundant, “Neon Tiger”, and made it sound somewhat fresh and new. Even the album art fits perfectly with the warm glow that the album leaves you with. A glow warm and good enough to let me finish this review with the phrase; “All killer, no filler” and mean it.
The Killers – Human (Ocelot Remix)
The Killers – The World We Live In
September 1, 2008
Horse Shoes
Horse Shoes is a band out of Orlando Florida that features brothers Jacob and Caleb Graham as well as Drew Driver. If you’re as obsessive compulsive as I am you might remember Jacob Graham from Goat Explosion, the Jon Pierce fronted band that was created in the wake of Upstate New York New Wave revival group Elkland being “Shot in the face” so to speak.
Horse Shoes is an indie pop group that draws inspiration from 80′s alternative pop bands like The Smiths, New Order, and more contemporary groups like Starflyer 59. The culmination of these influences is sublime chiming pop music with a smidge of the irony and emotion of Morrissey and all of the gentle ringing melodies and fragile vocals one might find similar to early New Order. They are currently working on their debut EP.
July 11, 2008
The Presets: Apocalypso
I had been aware that the Presets had a new album coming out, but not until I listened to it did I know how great of a new album they had. Their first album, Beams, finds the Melbourne duo thrashing through a series of dark lo-fi electro rave-ups and a few surprisingly melodic tunes, most notably “The Girl and the Sea”.
Their new album, Apocalypso, builds on all aspects of their sound. Whereas Beams was unabashedly raw and punky, Apocalypso is more refined. Julian Hamilton’s vocals have never sounded better especially on lead single “The Boy’s in Love”. Another standout track is the Michael Jackson informed “Yippiyo-Ay” which single handedly blew my mind and eliminated the competition for #1 dance song of the summer. The duo have crafted more dark romance into their club anthems reminiscent of the dark lord Sauron commanding an army of undead to dance into the night.
The Presets – Yippiyo-Ay
The Presets – This Boy’s in Love
June 10, 2008
Flannel
Flannel is a one man indie-pop unit hailing from japan. The influences of which range from shoe gaze to new wave. At times it sounds like what a collaboration between the Jesus & Mary Chain’s instrumentation and production style channeled through Pet Shop Boy’s pop song structure. On another track the Cure and the Smiths’ melodic pop springs to mind. If you’re down for some buoyant indie-pop, Flannel is worth a listen.
Flannel – Spill
Flannel – Drops
January 23, 2008
Chris Price’s Future Pop
Chris Price is an electronic music artist whose compositions garnered attention from the early to mid 1980′s in many adult films under the name D’Crescendo. At the time too young to view the movies that his music was in, he went largely unaware of the recognition that he was receiving from the films. It is said that people began going to the movies for the music alone. As Chris Price came of age, the adult entertainment industry began moving away from original music works and started copying the top 40 musical styles to engage a larger audience. It was at this time that he shed his D’Crescendo moniker and began doing work for the Weather Channel and through this forum eventually caught the attention of a prominent Christian movie director, for which he produced the music for a series of direct to video releases. From this exposure he influenced Gangsta Christian rapper Geto Deacon to make an album comprised almost completely of Chris Price samples. After revisiting the works of his D’Crescendo days, Chris Price has decided to make an original album in the flavor of his influences; which include Pet Shop Boys, New Order, and Depeche Mode among others.
Chris Prices’ music is excellently programmed, he has a true understanding of vintage synth-pop that many are sure to enjoy. His mastery and appreciation of synth pop classics also comes with a classic case of the New Order problem. The music itself is wonderful, full of throbbing rhythms and catchy melodies but the lyrics sometimes leave something to be desired. Even fans of New Order have to concede that Bernard Sumner is not the world’s most brilliant lyricist. While sometimes this is endearing, other times it can be quite painful to endure (ala “Booty Magic”). Then again maybe it’s influence from being around the sub par acting and scripts of the adult film industry and the Christian film industry. That said, I applaud his willingness to experiment with so many different styles. Collectively there are still solid hits on his debut Post Pop Parade with the decidedly Herbie Hancock-ish “Work It”, the slow burn of “And She Was” (No not a Talking Heads Cover) that is a wonderful homage to New Order, complete with heavily chorused bass melody, and obvious lead single “Dim the Lights, Evangeline” that combines the catchiest lyrics on the entire album with sublime squiggly synths. If you’ve got a fever, and the only medication is more vocoder, Chris Price is prepared to fill the prescription.
