Music

If you’re a 14 year old girl (or just someone who watches ANY tv) you know that vampires are VERY hot these days. Between Twilight to True Blood it seems like all women are looking for in a man is a brooding countenance, pale complexion, and fangs. Whenever something gets this popular it’s inevitable that people will start making fun of it. And I say “Rock On”. In this case literally.

Suck seems to have a pretty conventional story, up to a point. A struggling band is taking their last shot at stardom, hitting the road playing dives for uninterested drunks. They need something to catch people’s attention and get them listening, saving them from having to get real jobs. That’s all pretty standard. The twist is that they all become vampires, and by doing so, get famous. Along the way the meet Iggy Pop and Alice Cooper. Honestly, this thing could be a train wreck of epic proportions. Or it could be a classic “so bad it’s good” cult favorite. Check out the trailer:

Suck played at the Toronto International Film Festival, but it doesn’t seem to have a wide release date set. For more information check out the movie’s official site.

Funk. I can’t think of another musical genre where the name so accurately and succinctly describes what it is. You can try to use other words to describe it, but none of them really fit. When it’s done right the only word that truly encapsulates the music is “funky”. If you don’t know what that means, just listen to The Bamboos and you’ll get it.
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Whether you like their music or not, you have to admit that they make some of the most interesting music videos you’ll see. They’re most famous for their treadmill dancing to “Here it Goes Again”, but they don’t stop there. For their latest album, Of the Blue Color of the Sky, they’ve already had a cool techno acid trip for “WTF?” and performed “This Too Shall Pass” with the Notre Dame marching band. Now they’ve managed to top them all.

This is going to sound like hyperbole, but it’s honestly true: this is the best music video I’ve seen in the last 10 years. It’s not even close. The band enlisted some help from Synn Labs to build a giant Rube Goldberg Machine, timed to the music, to be in the official video for “This Too Shall Pass”. It’s a staggering work of ingenious engineering, and it was filmed in one continuous take. I can’t even begin to imagine the amount of planning, testing, and failing that went into this.

If this wasn’t such a great cover I wouldn’t be posting it here. Why’s that? Because I’ve spent the better part of an hour trying to track down any info about the artist. Her name is Hawa, and from what I can gather she’s a soul singer from Lyon, France. She released this cover of Justice’s “D.A.N.C.E” on Favorite Recordings. It was produced by Patchwork. That’s all I’ve got.

No matter though, the cover itself kicks ass. It’s a soulful, jazzy spin on the original. In fact, despite the fact that I like the original a lot, I think this is my favorite version. Check it out and let me know what you think:

HAWA – D A N C E by patchworks

Buy it!

via I Guess I’m Floating

Music, like fashion and politics, goes in cycles. What was once popular, having faded out of fashion, will likely make its way back to the forefront at some point. But when it comes back it has usually mutated, changed itself in the long journey from obscurity. The new musicians add bits and pieces of other things that have come along since it was first popular, and the end result is something that looks an awful lot like what you remembered, but has changed just enough to be interesting again. Progress is made. The new style that has been created will fade, only to come back later as something new. The cycle begins again.

What does this have to do with Mighty Tiger? They have managed to add a contribution to this cycle, this evolutionary process. They take sunny 60s pop, with it’s simple structures and cheery sound, and add some 80s synths and other eclectic modern elements. The results is something new, but comfortable, like a brand new pair of jeans that’s almost exactly like your favorite old pair of jeans. Or just something fun to listen to.
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I didn’t really pay enough attention to Bowerbirds’ 2009 release, Upper Air. I listened to it a couple of times, got a sense that it was solidly put-together, and a continuation of what they did on In Our Talons, but not enough to really appreciate it. The new video for “Northern Lights” has gotten me to go back to it though, and I’m starting to realize just how good it is. Check out the video:

via StereoGum

Actually it’s not just a uke. It’s a uke, a mandolin, and a banjo. With instruments like that it should be bluegrass, or maybe some sort of Hawaiian-bluegrass fusion (the horror…). But it’s not. It’s just a good amateur pop cover of the Go West “classic”.

Special thanks to Libby from The Poptimist for passing this along!

Man, I should have read ALL of my music news before posting earlier. If I had I would have realized that THREE great bands released singles today. Joining Apples in Stereo and New Pornographers are She & Him (aka Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward). Their second album, creatively titled Volume Two, comes out March 23rd. Their new single is “Thieves”, and if you liked Volume One it will be right up your alley:

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via StereoGum

Oh happy day! It’s not often two of your favorite bands release new singles on the same day, but today is one of those rare, bountiful days.

First up is The Apples in Stereo. Robert Schneider and crew are getting ready to release their new album, Travellers in Space and Time on April 20th (insert 4/20 joke here…). Schneider has said this album is going to be a bit of a departure from New Magnetic Wonder, and judging by the first single I think he’s right; “Dance Floor” doesn’t sound like anything on that album. Check it out:

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The only thing this has in common with New Magnetic Wonder is the vocoder. This one may take a while to grow on me.

Not so with the new song from The New Pornographers. The Canadian indie superstars will release Together on May 4th, and if the first single is any indication it will be a strong, strong effort. “Your Hands (Together)” is vintage New Pornographers. Give it a listen:

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Frank Fairfield may well be the best evidence we have that time travel is not only possible, but has already sent folks to us from the past. He looks, sounds, acts, and dresses like a Depression-era blues man, yet he’s a young man living in LA. His music sounds like it should come from a scratchy 78, not an iPod, yet if it wasn’t for YouTube and the internet nobody would have heard of him. While many musicians immerse themselves in a genre, then add a modern twist to it, Fairfield seems intent on keeping a genre alive, exactly as it was. And he’s doing a damn good job of it.
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