INTRODUCING #010
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - Home
20090725
20090717
little big adventure
Nos dois últimos anos, escondido sob o nome Little Big Adventure, o sueco Magnus Sätterström tem vindo a oferecer, no seu site, frágeis e deliciosas pérolas pop. Num registo caseiro e solitário que, juntas, dariam um dos mais belos discos de tempos recentes. Mas enquanto não chega o mui aguardado e desejado longa duração, foi lançado recentemente o single The Hateful Eye, composto por quatro novos temas.
Things turned when I took all my savings and bought a Casio-keyboard. Instead of writing boring guitar songs I could now play everything on this. I’m not exactly a skilled keyboard player so I recorded everything note by note and then cut it all together in my music program. To cover up all my technical flaws I put a noise filter on everything so that no one could hear the glitches between the notes, and no one could hear the noise from the microphone, as everything was noisy.
This was back in the year 2004 and now five years have passed and nothing much has happened. I still write about what has happened since last I was drunk. But now I also write about trying people at school, trying people on the streets, or trying people on the Internet. Or songs about my low self esteem. Or about hate.
I once tried to explain that all my songs are about hate, and that’s probably true, with some very few exceptions.
Magnus Sätterström
The Hateful Eye [hear song]
Where Is My Mind [hear song]
Personal Presentations [hear song]
20090716
travis egedy on madonna's holiday
CULTURAL REVOLUTION AS POP POSSIBILITY
An essay inspired by Madonna's "Holiday"
Travis Egedy
If we took a holiday, took some time to celebrate. Just one day out of life, it would be, it would be so nice
So say the opening lyrics to Madonna’s 1983 mega hit "Holiday." Simple enough, right? Who doesn’t like a holiday? Indeed, it would be nice. You are sitting on a tropical island, sipping a pina colada under a parasol, listening to the sounds of the waves crashing in the distance, think of those Corona commercials…yes quite nice. But what if this was not the kind of "holiday" being sung about over the catchiest three note bassline ever? What if "holiday" was describing a possibility? A possibility of a future with a highly radical and extremely revolutionary cultural ideology? It is interesting to project this idea onto a seemingly simplistic sugar soaked pop song, but with this outlook, "Holiday" becomes one of the most culturally progressive and idealistic anarcho-utopianist visions of our time, all while being broadcast to millions via pop radio and television. (I highly suggest watching the music video on Youtube.) Woah ,woah, what? Yes, a pop song with lyrics that define and outline quite possibly the next phase in human evolution, and one that describes an opening into an alternative reality.
travis egedy aka pictureplane
PICTUREPLANE circa 2006
Pictureplane, aka 24-year old Denver-via-Santa Fe multi-media maker Travis Egedy, popped up on some radars this past April via his remix of Health's Die Slow. Before that, he remixed Crystal Castles, collaborated with hometown New Mexico bud Zach Condon (Beirut), and self-released his debut full-lenght Turquoise Trail. Now the same label's tackling his excellent sophomore collection Dark Riff. It may very well be the dance record of the summer for people who aren't used to dancing: Egedy's expansive mix of 90's house, dreamy '80s synth-pop, poppy darkwave, tripped and colorful Black Dice-style noise, bottomed-out hiss, weirdo Sublime Frequencies drum circles, and a surprisingly ready-for-the-club semi-sheen creates endlessly interesting soundscapes.
Stereogum
Whether he's appearing at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art or some dude's basement down the street, Egedy tweaks keyboards and fist-fucks samples into a thick puree of static, ambience, beats and beauty that flows between M83 and the edgier reaches of the Anticon roster. Yes, there's even melody and emotion burbling beneath it all.
Denver's Westword
PICTUREPLANE circa 2007
20090714
late of the pier
O seu disco Fantasy Black Channel, com audições, feitas meses atrás, que em nada me convenceram, não o fazia prever. Mas na passada sexta-feira, no considerado segundo palco do Festival Alive, os Late Of The Pier ofereceram não só o melhor concerto de todo o festival como, provavelmente, o mais fascinante concerto a que assisti este ano. A meio caminho entre uns MGMT e uns Klaxons, a música destes jovens ingleses consegue ainda acrescentar, ao vivo, sonoridades tão devedoras a um Bowie da década de 70, como a alguma música africana vestida com lantejoulas glam. Com um prazer de tocar tão grande que facilmente contagiaram as várias centenas que à sua frente não conseguiram deixar de dançar do primeiro até para além do último minuto os Late Of The Pier foram os vencedores dum festival que se revelou bem melhor do que uma primeira "leitura" ao cartaz fazia prever.
Do restante cartaz merecem destaques TV On The Radio, Klaxons, Los Campesinos, The Ting Tings, Mazgani e Os Golpes. A ter em atenção, num futuro próximo, Trouble Andrew e AutoKratz. Foi uma pena os problemas técnicos dos Youthless e algo não correu bem nesta segunda passagem de Likke Li por Portugal. No campeonato 'o que é que estes tipos estão aqui a fazer' os vencedores ex-aqueo são Air Traffic, The Kooks e a versão tuga dos She Wants Revenge John Is Gone.
20090709
já passaram... 14 anos
Foi a minha estreia em festivais. Verão quente de '95. Um comboio até Lisboa. Uma labiríntica pensão com uma 'quase' vista para o rio. Vodka em garrafas plásticas de meio litro. Comprimidos oferecidos por militares. Listas telefónicas voadoras. E um cartaz de fazer inveja a muitos dos festivais que por estes dias começam de norte a sul do país, contando com a presença de Morphine (vídeo), Young Gods, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Faith No More e The Cure, entre outros. Catorze anos se passaram.
hope sandoval & mazzy star
Hope Sandoval
But there’s good news: Sandoval is back. With her band Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions (which features My Bloody Valentine drummer Colm Ó Cíosóig), Sandoval is gearing up to release her second record since the act’s 2001 debut Bavarian Fruit Bread. The new discThrough the Devil Softly — out September 15th — is a lovely, 11-track collection of narcotic, folk tunes centered by Sandoval’s breathy, irresistible seductive croon.
Sandoval and Ó Cíosóig cut the disc with their crack band over the last few years in Northern California and the countryside of Wicklow County, Ireland, which no doubt helped imbue tunes like the winsome “Wild Roses” with a loose, pastoral vibe. “It was really nice to go there,” says Ó Cíosóig. “It’s pretty remote. There was nothing but cows next door, a lake and a little pub down the road.”
Highlights from the record include the haunting, blues-esque opener “Blanchard” and the spare piano-and-acoustic-guitar ballad “Bluebird,” where Sandoval’s heavily echoed vocals come up so close, it’s as if she’s whispering in your ear. “Is that the devil in your sky?” she asks.
As for Mazzy Star, Sandoval confirms her and her bandmate David Roback haven’t called it quits and they are still working on their anticipated fourth album. But she declines to give many specifics. “It’s true we’re still together,” she says. “We’re almost finished [with the record]. But I have no idea what that means.”
Rolling Stone
(new song)
20090707
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