One of the bands on my must-see list for SXSW list this year especially after hearing their debut today for the first time is The Morning Benders. Big Echo sounds exactly how you’d expect an album from a Grizzly Bear producer to sound. ‘Excuses’ is their big pop moment of course but there’s plenty here to suggest much more. I look forward to delving deeper. Big Echo is out next week on Rough Trade. Listen to it by pressing the more button.
The only band at CMJ ‘09 I actually went back for second helpings of last year during the festival was Long Beach’s Crystal Antlers. The first reason is because live, they absolutely rock. Like sweaty, throw yourself around rock. The second reason is because I dig their particular brand of noisy organ-led psychedelia .
Good to hear then, that the band have two new tunes available, one ‘Dead Horse’ which pretty much follows the above vein and another ‘Little Sister’ which is of gentler persuasion but still boogie-woogie awesome.
MP3: Crystal Antlers – Little Sister
Download the songs via the widget after the jump or buy the 7″ via the band direct through Paypal. More..»
Last Gang Records are releasing a deluxe version of Tiga’s album Ciao! next week through iTunes. The expanded edition includes bonus reworks of Tiga tunes from Chromeo, A-Trak and Steve Aoki along with videos (full tracklisting).
Here’s Chromeo’s remix of ‘What You Need’ which turned out as more of a cover than a remix really. Meanwhile, Chromeo are busy in the studio working on their new album (due in August) and they’ve started a studio diary which you can watch after the jump.
First single from Villagers‘ upcoming Domino debut album. Don’t forget where you heard him first. Thanks for Guesslist for the link. You’ll recognise this song from the live gigs last year. The video is directed by Ferry Gouw and ‘Becoming a Jackal’ will be released on limited edition 7” with the track ‘Twenty-Seven Strangers’ on Record Store Day (April 17th) with a digital download on April 26th.
Regular Dublin gig-goers (or Thumped members at least) will know and will have seen Owensie lately. Formerly of Terrordactyl and Puget Sound, Owensie has shorned his trademark dreads and decided to return to playing the classical guitar again after picking one up in a charity shop on Francis St. in Dublin.
The result is a gentle and emotional introspective vibe, somewhere between the American twang of Sam Amidon and the guitar picking of Jose Gonzalez. The dude sings in a falsetto too – you wouldn’t have known he had it in him, especially if you’d seen Terrordactyl or his other band Realistic Train.
He has released a five track demo EP on Bandcamp and I recommend you download it. He has some gigs coming up this month in Dublin too.
A list of recommended events taking place over the next seven days in Dublin.
Highlights this week include Joker, Two Door Cinema Club, Choice Music Prize, Field Music, Crash Ensemble, The Cast of Cheers (again as their first two gigs were awesome) and Ed Devane’s album launch. Also, Delphic (who I caught an impressive live set from in London last week) will play Propaganda on Saturday in the Button Factory.
Also, ASIWYFA are planning a secret show in the Mercantile after the Choice Music Prize main event in Vicar Street even if they win. Not so secret anymore! Sample MP3s below.
Tuesday 2nd March
- And So I Watch You From Afar @ Tower Records instore (7pm)
- Brendan Benson @ The Button Factory (€17)
- Land Lovers, Squarehead, Feed the Bears @ Anseo (€6)
- Trashed (Indie/Electro club) @ Andrew’s Lane Theatre (10.30pm, €5)
- C U Next Tuesday (indie/electro/pop/dance) @ Crawdaddy (11pm, €3/5)
Wednesday 3rd March
- Choice Music Prize @ Vicar Street (€27, 7.30pm first band)
- Antics with The Minutes live (indie club @ Crawdaddy (€5, 11pm)
- ASIWYFA secret show @ The Mercantile Bar (post-Choice time)
Thursday 4th March
- Soundchick @ Spy (7pm, Free before 11pm/€5)
- For the Love Of @ Mill Street Studios (€5)
- Come As Soon As You Hear @ The Bernard Shaw (Free, 8.30pm)
- Choice Cuts: The Beatdown – T-Woc, Jamie, Fruitman @ The Pygmalion (Free, 10pm)
- The Midnight Hour: Betamax Format – Whelan’s Upstairs (Free, 11.30pm)
- Jinx Lennon, Captain Moonlight @ The Sugar Club (€10)
- The K! Club @ Good Bits (8:30 -12:30, Free)
- MUSIK @ The Button Factory (10.30pm, €6)
This is the probably the best one yet. The tune sounds nice and it’s a bit more revealing. Still no proper BIG reveal though. The title says WELCOME-HOME and she says “Why” at the end. It’s the first day of Spring and the mandrake plant has seemingly sprouted.
Occasionally Barry Healy pops up to recommend three albums that may be under your radar. Here are his latest selections.
Tu-Ki – Pre: Seed
Tu-ki’s pedigree as a DJ is pretty formidable. His achievements and reputation as a turntablist DJ speak for themselves. He’s a four time Irish DMC champion, winner of the 2007 Molvida World Mixing Championships, which makes it all the more embarrassing that this chump hadn’t been aware of him until now. All that aside, this is one hell of a mixtape which pays particular homage to old skool electro and hip-hop which are also represented on this 80 minute jaunt.
The age of mixtapes (albeit on CD) is certainly alive and kicking and it’s all the more valuable today as we have such easy access to a lot of mixes and podcasts etc. which are often pretty lacking in skill and record collection depth. This mixtape doesn’t suffer from the aforementioned afflictions. It sounds organic and natural managing to keep an astonishing flow and continuity while drawing from a vast vault of tunes from decades with apparent effortless ease.
It’s difficult to single out any one of the many high points on here but ‘Inspection Dirt’, Leftfield mixed with Wu-Tang gets the thumb’s up every time. The sheer brilliance of this turntable mastery will either inspire you to DJ in a hope of reaching this level or on the other hand like me, leave it to the masters and just enjoy their work.
The Guardian (NPR & The Irish Times) are streaming Plastic Beach right now and you can hear it here as a result.
Tip: It took me a good five listens to get into it properly but it’s definitely a grower. ‘Glitter Freeze’ featuring Mark E Smith is my favourite tune right now. Have a listen:
Update: Stylo video featuring Bruce Willis after the jump: More..»
Belfast dance-punk trio Not Squares have released their latest single Richter Collective-released ‘Asylum’ for free on their Bandcamp site. It’s a 4 minute slice of hyperactive calls and shouts set to a rollicking, frenetic beat.
I previously posted the video.
MP3: Not Squares – Asylum
