GRIZZLY BEAR'S NEW VIDEO

This is the new video for the song "the knife" from one record of the last year I'm really listening to this year and I discovered the day after publishing my "best of the year" list. The video is strange, as strange are the arrangements for the song. And I have to say that the vocalist have one of the best noses I've ever seen!!!

MY NEW TURNTABLE

I finally got myself a turntable thanks to the HMV vouchers Pret gave me (at least something good about working for Pret) and the discount Eva got me. From £79 I only had to pay £15.95!!! It’s not great, it’s a portable, but it’s Numark and it looks beautiful with the suitcase!!!!

album of the week: PANDA BEAR - PERSON PITCH / BRACKEN - WE KNOW ABOUT THE NEED

These two records have more things in common than what you can imagine from the beginning. Both come from individual acts from components of notorious bands; Animal collective’s Panda Bear and Hood’s C. Addams (called bracken for the occasion). Both records come from the necessity of doing something different from their main bands. Both use repetition, loops, samples, echoes and atmospheres but getting different results. While Bracken sometimes gets near the forms of Clouddead or Subtle, in fact the record is published through Anticon records and their members have collaborated with him before, Panda Bear goes more spatial and tribal, abandoning the acoustic spirit of his previous solo works

Peter, bjorn and John's new video

Here you have the new video for Peter, Bjorn and John's new single, "objects of my affection". And with a slightly different version of the song that the one it's on the record.

Micah P Hinson at the Union Chapel

And two days after the low gig I went to see Micah P Hinson at the Union Chapel in a semi-acoustic gig. Maybe the best venue in London, beautiful as it is an old church and keeps most of the antic elements. I hope the promoters will make more gigs there now that it is reopened. The concert was good, but maybe I was waiting for the electric moments of the end of his concert two years ago at the Primavera Sound Festival. And even more now that his last record is more electric than the first one. But, nevertheless, he was great performing, helped by a young guy who played guitar and drums, and playing new songs and Cohen covers.

LOW live 15-02-07 Spitz, London

Last week we went to see Low live at Spitz, great chance to see them in a small venue and playing the songs of their new eminent record, Drums And Guns. As I expected, most of the show was focused in the new album, they played all the songs. Their interpretation was quite different from the record, produced by Dave Friedman in a way where all the voices come through one speaker and the instruments mainly from the other one, but sometimes travelling in a curl from one side to the other. They also give a lot of prominence to electronics and forget about the electric storms of The Great Destroyer, their previous work also produced by Friedman.
This gig was classic Low performance, guitar, bass and basic drums, no additional elements. Darkness and silence, but also light and prettiness. And they rescued some classics such as Sunflowers, Lazerbeam, In Metal, Soon, In the drugs or their classic ending with Will The Night.
Now we have to wait for the Gig in the Shepherds Bush empire next month to see if they’re going to try to represent the record as it is recorded or they’re going to do the same kind of gig.

album of the week: ANDREW BIRD - ARMCHAIR APOCRYPHA

The first time I heard the new Andrew Bird record, Armchair Apocrypha, I was a bit disappointed. I was looking for Sovay, one of the best songs of two seasons ago included in the record The Mysterious Production of Eggs, and of course, not included in this one again. After listening to that new recording four or five times, I realized that this new album is even better than the previous one, and has many songs as good as Sovay, like Plasticities, Fiery crash or Heretics. Maybe the main difference between this album and the last one, his best works to date, is that in this one his violin is more integrated in a whole band, but still giving a distinctive characteristic to the final result of the product. I can’t wait to see him live, but I think I’ll have to wait so the tickets for his concerts in London are already sold out.
The record will be in the shops on March 20th.

Bonnie 'prince' billy live

Last Sunday 11th I went with Eva to see Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy in the Shepherds Bush Empire. The opening act was Scoutt Nibblett, now without the big blonde wig. As she sometimes was helped by Oldham’s drums, it was not as chaotic as she use to, but I think the best moments of her performance are still when she sings just helped by some out of tune and time drums, and not when she thinks she’s the new old grunge star.
The Bonnie gig was so Rock as he was helped by a band (guitar, bass, drums and keyboards). He came all with make up and a strange hat, like performing a character. Only three songs from his great last record “The letting Go” (none of the three singles), and not so many classics, avoiding the happy applause and changing the songs (sometimes it was impossible to recognise them). If you’ve ever been before to one of his concerts you’ll know you can expect that; so instead you were expecting a “greatest hits live” and got disappointed about that, the concert was fully enjoyable. And now he’s just starting a solo tour I hope is passing through London again. It will be another chance to see him, and maybe now we’re going to recognise some of the songs and will sing along…

Here you have the video of the great first single from his last record

album of the week: BILL CALLAHAN: WOKE ON A WHALE HEART

After the much overrated album “A river ain’t too much to love” Bill Callahan comes back with his best album since “Dongs of sevotion”. But now he signs with his real name, not Smog or (Smog) anymore. Songs like “Diamond dancer” or “Day” are also going to be classics like “Bathysphere”, “Cold blooded old times” or “Ex-con”. The album is going to be released in April by Drag City.

New Section!!!!

I am going to start a new weekly section called “album of the week” where I am going to say which album is the one I am playing the most the present week and why. Due to the advantages of the internet and that you sometimes can have access to an album before the date of release, it sometimes will not correspond to the “real” market timetable. Times are changing…

Berlin

hi there!
I was in Berlin with Luis last weekend and we tried to enjoy despite the cold weather.We had to go for a coffee every half an hour to warm up but at least they have real coffee there...

What the hell is nu-rave?

Can we go back to 1989? Acid house, new beat, summer of love, smiley, Ibiza, madchester, fluorescent glow-sticks, forbidden parties in the middle of the nature, design drugs…
The rave culture started that summer and went on and on during the nineties with the popularization of the electronic music.
Nowadays, the lack of new ideas is bringing back old concepts with the intention of refreshing them for a new generation. The last gap from the eighties to bring back from the tomb was the rave movement.
So what is nu-rave? Is the same old shit but with new bands and it mixes rock with electronic music. During 2006 a new fanzine called Supersuper appeared in the London underground with fluorescent colours everywhere and talking about new bands like The Klaxons, Van She, Steed Lord, Shitdisco, Hadouken, Brazilian Girls, Lo-Fi-FNk, Daisy Daisy, Niyi, Crystal Castles, Namelee ‘n the Namazonz or Fox ‘n wolf. Most of these bands mix punk rock, pop, electronic, grime and have either collaborated or remixed each other. Maybe this is the only thing they have in common; this and that they use fluorescent colours. And also that most of them reject the nu-rave scene so they don’t want to be just part of a fashion movement and then disappear.
So at the end everything is a bit confusing, even more when we know that the NME has already heard about the movement and dedicated a special number, compilation included, popularizing the nu-rave to sell more numbers. What is more, I really don’t understand what all these bands have in common with the Acid house movement apart from the glow colours, and also what makes them different from other bands that appear during the last years such as Chicks on Speed, LCD Soundsystem, !!! or even Bloc Party.

Time will say the bands that will survive to the fashion and the ones that we will remember at the end of the year. From now on, I highly recommend the Klaxons that have four really good singles and a remarkable album.

Here you have some links to try to understand everything better…

THE KLAXONS - ATLANTIS TO INTERZONE



THE KLAXONS - GRAVITY'S RAINBOW



THE KLAXONS - MAGIK



THE KLAXONS - GOLDEN SKANS



VAN SHE - KELLY



SHIT DISCO - REACTOR PARTY



HADOUKEN - THAT BOY THAT GIRL



NAMALEE N THE NAMAZONZ - U GLO GIRL



LOST PENGUIN-PLEASUREWOOD KILLS



DAISY DAISY - MICHELLE PLAYS PING PONG



DJ MEHDI - I AM SOMEBODY



TRASH FASHION - IT'S A RAVE DAVE



NU RAVE DOCUMENTARY IN GERMAN TV



MY SPACE LINK TO MAGAZINE SUPERSUPER

http://www.myspace.com/thesupersuper

LINK TO FASHION DESIGNERS CASSETTE PLAYA. THIS IS WHAT YOU HAVE TO WEAR IF YOU WANT TO NURAVE!!!!!

WWW.CASSETTEPLAYA.COM


OK. I THINK IT'S ENOUGH.....!!!!

roots bloody roots

And finally, the new M.I.A. video. She is now closer to Pantera than to reaggeton but don't be scared; She is not into Trash metal but getting even closer to her roots. It's not an easy track:listen to it twice, three times, four times and it's going to be one of your favorite hits of this year. I say of your year, because I'm sure that it's going to fly away from the masses....definetely.