Monday 25 October 2010

Die Antwoord...



Hi cats, Been mad busy this week doing articles on what you could deem 'scarily disparate' subjects from the world of music. One of these articles was on South African oddball rappers Die Antwoord. The other piece is an interview with band for a Belfast paper. I'm keeping it a surprise, but as soon as it's published I'll stick it up here. I think you'll be mucho surprised by it. 

I began reading about Die Antwoord last week, after watching the video for their new tune, "Evil Boy'. It was produced by Diplo and the beat is siiick. It's also really, really, fucking weird and contains waaaay too many penises. 

Anyway I went from thinking they were a complete joke, to being a bit more intrigued, to actually having their tunes lodged in my head, to actually craving their sound. This seems to happen a lot with Die Antwoord. They lodge themselves in your sub-concious without you knowing it. In the end I had so many random bits of information in my head I knew I had to write about them. 

Check out the article, with videos of Die Antwoord too here: http://iheartau.com/articles/world-town-the-weird-world-of-die-antwoord/

Belfast illustrator extraordinaire Stephen Maurice Graham @ www.400facts.blogspot.com did an illustration to go along with the piece. It's genius: 






Sunday 17 October 2010

Rubberbandits finally take over the world...


...Or at least RTE anyway. Finally some deviant out at Donnybrook has given Rubberbandits some airtime so they can spread their brand of sickness to the nation. And I'm bladdy delighted!

According to Rubberbandits HQ:

"Starting NEXT WEEK you can catch us every Wednesday night on Republic Of Telly on RTE2 (after Champions League). We are going to wipe our arses with yere TV Licences. Chalk it fucking Down Kid." 

Sounds promising to me. I'm such a fan of these Limerick lovlies who are one half joke band, one half prank phonecall kings. They seem to be the new Warlord's of Pez, cept they're from stab city.

I got totally hooked on their prank calls last Christmas. They are seriously weird and 100% genius. Listen below.

So altogether now, 'A bag for me, a bag for you, Let's get wrecked on bagsa glue!!'




 'She took out a large balloon and burst it in my ear'. Bank prank call here:




Tour dates here. http://www.therubberbandits.com/?page_id=6 When are they gonna come to Belfast??

Nu Stuff Continued...


Warpaint are icy cool laydeez (and a drummer dude) from LA who like to shake their hair. A lot. Evoking grungy sounds of Sonic Youth, Nirvana and PJ Harvey at their finest.

Listen to 'Elephant' here:




www.myspace.com/worldwartour  



Shiny happy 'Magic Kids' from Tennessee. Echoes of The Beach Boys. Quality stuff. 


Single 'Hey Boy' is here:


Keep up with those Magic Kids here: www.myspace.com/themagickids 
New PJ Harvey European Tour dates announced for February 2011. Including not one but now two Landan town shows. G'wan the Polly Jean! February 201118th Brussels, Cirque Royale Tel: +32 34 0000 34 or www.livenation.be 21st Berlin, Admiralspalast Tel: +49 1805 853 653 or www.fkpscorpio.com 24th Paris, Olympia Tel: +33 1 41 57 32 28 or www.rodrigue.fr 27th and 28th London, Troxy Tel: 0871 230 0010 / 020 7734 8932 / 0844 811 0051 or www.gigsandtours.com ON REPEAT: 
'Rill Rill' by the massive Sleigh Bells. Lush. Getitintaya! 

Nu stuff!

Hey cat's. I'm busy listening to loads of random world music for an article I'm working on for AU's website this evening. I won't tell you what it's about yet, we all like surprises right? But it's gonna be an insightful lil nugget with an ace illustration from Stephen Maurice Graham over @ www.400facts.blogspot.com that you can expect to read by the enda next week. Check out AU here: http://iheartau.com/

In the meantime, here's wot I learnt bout music dis week:



There are some pristine sounds coming from electronica Godfather or 'art -pop production deity Brian Eno' as Pitchfork put it, Brian Eno.

Check out 'Horse' and '2 Forms of Anger' below from his recently released "Small Craft on a Milk Sea" album. Really dark, pulsating, electric stuff with sooooo much depth. The production is amazing. Yum!

Brian Eno - Horse (taken from Small Craft On A Milk Sea) by Warp Records

Brian Eno - 2 Forms Of Anger (taken from Small Craft On A Milk Sea) by Warp Records

If you're looking to delve into this genius' past check out Eno's 'Selected Ambient Works'. Stunning stuff.



The Go-Team will be releasing a new album on January 31st, whoop! 'Rolling Blackouts' will feature other 'super happy fun times bands' like Best Coast and Deerhoof.

Listen to the new track 'T.O.R.N.A.D.O' below. It's classic Go-Team stuff and I for one welcome them back with open arms!

Wednesday 13 October 2010

La Chanteuse...



I've been on a bit of a Frenchy buzz this week, after watching Amelie on Saturday. How amazing is that film?

IRM was an album I'd been meaning to download for ages and I'm sooo glad I finally got round to it. I've really gotten into Serge Gainsbourg's music recently and saw the film 'Gainsbourg' a few months back (check it out). I knew I'd love this album, I mean how could the child of Serge and the epitome of 60's cool Jane Birkin produce anything else but a musical wunderchild?

I really can't recommend IRM enough. There are stunning orchestral string arrangements, real pop sensibilities brought out by Beck's genius production, raw moments of ethereal and subtle rock. But overall it's uber uber sexy.

The edgier songs like 'Trick Pony', 'IRM' and 'Greenwich Mean Time' strike me as something The Kills Alison Mosshart tries to pull off in vain, cept she's a bit of a try too hard. (I love The Kills but Mosshart's a bit of a tit).

There's just no competing with Gainsbourgs' Gallic charm.

www.myspace.com/charlottegainsbourg

Enjoy...

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Oh So Sweet...


I'm really digging the new Gorgeous Colours stuff. It's far more fleshed out than any of their earlier stuff I'd heard. On first listen these songs will reel you into their gorgeous world instantly.

New single 'The Creatures Down Below' is one of the best tunes I've heard in a while. It's such a charming twinkling melody with a backdrop of brooding intensity that resembles Grizzly Bears finest spine tingling moments. The video is as pristine as the song and really channels the dark undercurrents. You'll want to listen over and over.

The Gorgeous Colours are growing into a band that we could all easily fall in love with.

Have a goo here: (make it full screen to get the full effect).


The Gorgeous Colours 'The Creatures Down Below' from TIDAL on Vimeo.


If you're in Dublin tonight (Wed the 14th) than go along to Whelan's to support the guys launch the new EP. Here's hoping this EP gets 'Tha Colours' the recognition they deserve!



Learn more about the band here:

http://www.myspace.com/thegorgeouscolours

http://www.facebook.com/TheGorgeousColours

Monday 4 October 2010

Dj Set @ The Kitchen Bar, Tuesday 5th Oct

Oh Tia and Katriona are playing @ The Kitchen Bar tonight you say? Amazeballs!    


Mega quick update to let you cat's know that I have a DJ set with psychedelic electronica whizz kid Katrina O'Kane at The Kitchen Bar (back of Victoria Square SC) today the 5th October. We're on from 9.30 pm. It's free in and upon entry you get a FREE BEER!

Myself and Katrina put some tunes together tonight and had soooo much fun. We were really buzzing off each other like excited school kids and came up with a mouthwateringly delicious set. We both have really eclectic and wide ranging music tastes so we have put together a monsta of a set which takes in 60's garage rock, indie rock, electronica, jazz as well as some really fresh and cutting edge tunes.

We're going be dropping some Maximum Balloon, Panda Bear, Caribou, Hudson Mohawke, Best Coast, Sleigh Bells, Flying Lotus alongside some Joan Jett, Frank Zappa, Ian Dury, Jefferson Airplane, Chic, Grace Jones. The underlying theme is that it's gonna be fun, fun, fun!

Really looking forward to this. Katrina and I are working really well together as a DJing duo and I really don't think there's anything like this in Belfast, so maybe it'll become a regular thing, watch this space.

See you there ;)