September 25, 2012
Here’s a few pictures from Frightened Rabbit’s recent hometown show in Selkirk. Support on the night came from Glasgow’s Olympic Swimmers. Frightened Rabbit’s State Hospital EP is out now via Atlantic Records. All photos by Julia Stryj—more of Julia’s work can be found here.
James Ferraro - So N2U
By Stef Siepel
The Weekly Froth! A weekly take on six tracks, most of which have recently popped up somewhere in the blogosphere. Bit of a mixed bag with a slight leaning towards house, disco, and remixes, but generally just anything that for some reason tickled the writer’s fancy.
Track of the week: ‘So N2U’ by James Ferraro
I love James Ferraro, especially that Night Dolls with Hairspray album he did. He had a fantastic ’80s teenage film vibe going on for that. The man is just amazing in taking sounds and making these lovely collages out of them, akin to what some of these pop art artists did. This is no exception. Here he takes on more the funk side of the ’80s. It’s so amazing to me that he can mix and match all these sounds, all these samples, and not get this muddled, hard to listen to mess. The track is smooth, but definitely not dull, with all these different elements and how he has placed them. I really think of this as similar to Pop Art collages/pastiches, where they take all these pop culture things we know, assemble it, and make it this easy-on-the-ear and very refined piece out of it – which I, for one, think is an amazing feat. … Continue Reading
Henry Saiz - 'Our Discovery' (Bostro Pesopeo Remix)
By Stef Siepel
The Weekly Froth! A weekly take on six tracks, most of which have recently popped up somewhere in the blogosphere. Bit of a mixed bag with a slight leaning towards house, disco, and remixes, but generally just anything that for some reason tickled the writer’s fancy.
Track of the week: ‘Our Discovery’ by Henry Saiz (Bostro Pesopeo remix)
The start is pretty percussion heavy, which certainly gets the atmosphere going. It gives the song its own vibe, though I’m not sure how I’d ever dance to this (though, in that case, probably not that important to Bostro Pesopeo). It does give out a sense of urgency, one that keeps on building. Then there’s this drop down of the beat, and you get some inaudible vocals with loads of echo on them. After that the beat comes back, but it is accompanied by a rather ghostly keys sound. It all rather mixes into this dystopian vibe, up until the point where you get some lighter sounds at the three minute mark that suddenly find a way to infiltrate the beastly rest of the track. Very atmospheric, urgent remix with some nice change ups, definitely an intriguing listen this. … Continue Reading
Here’s a few photos from Calexico’s recent show at London’s HMV Forum. The band’s latest album, Algiers, is out now via City Slang. All photos by Richie Soans (@RichSoansPhotos). … Continue Reading
Chairlift - Something
By Stef Siepel
The Weekly Froth! A weekly take on six tracks, most of which have recently popped up somewhere in the blogosphere. Bit of a mixed bag with a slight leaning towards house, disco, and remixes, but generally just anything that for some reason tickled the writer’s fancy.
Track of the week: ‘I Belong in Your Arms’ by Chairlift (John Talabot & Pional 6.15 AMix)
I’ve always said about that John Talabot album (that amazing John Talabot album) that it is a bit of a walking-through-the-city-at-night album, and by the name of this remix, it seems I’m not too far off with that. It’s classy, nightly, and its got those Pional pianos in there which I really fancy. These two guys just know how to put some cachet into it all. Layered, complex, but completely fitting; it really manages to create this nocturnal atmosphere. I can’t quite recall the original, though I’m assuming it’s from Chairlift’s “recently” released album, but I’m pretty sure it does not quite sound like this. I imagine the original as slightly more sunny and synth-pop like, and the way these two guys manage to flip the mood is pretty cool. Love that sudden change at the three minute mark, that’s nice, and it lasts for about a minute before they put the other sounds back in. If you like something to listen to whilst commuting at night, this is another good one from Talabot & friends. … Continue Reading
Mercury Prize 2012
By Mitchell Stirling
After taking a three month delay on the normal timeline for a rebrand, as well as a move to Channel Four, The Mercury Prize has shifted the nomination reveal date to when the winner’s ceremony has usually has been held in previous years. It also conveniently sidesteps The Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Between now and the end of October some of the nominees will be performing their album in full in a series of one off gigs before, on 1st November, the ceremony will be held at London’s Camden Roundhouse. We are intrigued to how this might work with a previous nominee such as Burial playing, or the difference between 3,500 people coming to watch an act the size of a Radiohead or a Muse, if nominated in the future, versus ‘Token jazz act that doesn’t have a Wikipedia page right now’. We hope that has no bearings on the nominee process (or at least we are getting our excuses in early for not getting our predictions close to the two third mark we have averaged these past three years).
Other music sites have had a crack at doing this and we can’t really offer much differentiation on their efforts, a sign possibly of a less than stellar period for obvious Mercury baiting records; however, plenty of worthy stuff will always be on the list and not on the list. … Continue Reading
Ilya Santana - A Piece Of Paradise
By Stef Siepel
The Weekly Froth! A weekly take on six tracks, most of which have recently popped up somewhere in the blogosphere. Bit of a mixed bag with a slight leaning towards house, disco, and remixes, but generally just anything that for some reason tickled the writer’s fancy.
Track of the week: ‘A Piece of Paradise’ by Ilya Santana
Ilya Santana, aka the master of hypnotic balearic. Not always equally hardcore danceable, but you sure know he puts in the mood and that he can make this hypnotic ride out of it that has you shuffling and bobbing for its entire duration. This is, again, not a banger, but it’s a tune that rolls on with that beat, but especially with all those other sounds he weaves in there, like that bass and what almost sounds like a flute of some sorts. Hypnotism at its best, put some snakes in baskets in front of this and you’ve got them coming out and doing that Middle-Eastern market thing they do in no time. For me, this is the essence of balearic, where it just keeps rolling, where it’s got bags of flavour in it, and lovely hypnotic sounds you can close your eyes to and get swept away with. That sound he comes up with at 3:40 is just such a prime example of that. I also just love that continuity, how it flows on. If you like this sort of thing, Santana is where you can’t go wrong. Now, if y’all excuse me, I’m feeling like getting some vinyl of his out to play. … Continue Reading
The Curious Incident
By Leanne Sherman
The Curious Incident make Latin-tinged alternative rock that is emotive and powerful – it’s driven and danceable, infectious and unique. The members of the band hail from around the world and they’ve come together with a mutual love for creating cross-genre music that’s beginning to gain an avid following. … Continue Reading
Here’s a few photos from The View’s recent gig in Edinburgh. Their latest album, Cheeky for a Reason, is out now on Cooking Vinyl. Support on the night came from Anderson, McGinty, Webster, Ward and Fisher and The Razz. All photos by Julia Stryj—more of Julia’s work can be found here. … Continue Reading
Madrid - 'Sad Song' (Mickey Moonlight Rework)
By Stef Siepel
The Weekly Froth! A weekly take on six tracks, most of which have recently popped up somewhere in the blogosphere. Bit of a mixed bag with a slight leaning towards house, disco, and remixes, but generally just anything that for some reason tickled the writer’s fancy.
‘Sad Song’ by Madrid (Mickey Moonlight Rework)
The song starts out with a little piano ditty, but the real track starts a little while in when the instruments start setting a moody atmosphere and the vocals consequently match it. It’s a project by (former) members of CCS and Bonde de Role, two pretty well known bands I reckon. This I haven’t heard CCS do though (With the note that I’m not THAT familiar with their work outside of the singles). It’s all about the atmosphere, which really epitomizes sadness, or in any case something in decline, some sort of loss. They really manage to hit that out of the park. I also like the male and female vocals together. I think they complement each other perfectly, especially in the context of this song. A good duet, and I do honestly think it’s been a time since I’ve heard one of those. … Continue Reading
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