I know it has only been two months since I last posted about a new Nine Inch Nails album but it seems Mr Reznor was so chuffed with the response to ‘Ghosts I-IV‘ that he has decided to release a ‘thank you‘ album for all the fans that have stood by him through the years, absolutely free.
In Trent’s own words:
“thank you for your continued and loyal support over the years - this one’s on me”
The main difference with ‘Ghosts‘ (bar the price) is that ‘The Slip‘ features vocals from Mr Reznor. I personally think the lack of them left the 29 tracks on ‘Ghosts‘ lagging in parts. But its up to you to make your own mind up on the whole ‘two albums in the space of two months debacle‘. I’ve added my standout track from ‘The Slip‘ below:
Soulwax are one of the those bands that have something for everyone. Whether it be their earlier rockier sound or their remixes of everyone from LCD Soundsystem to Kylie Minogue. They just happen to have there finger in everyones musical pie. They have spent the past few years on endless tours releasing top 40 singles, critically acclaimed albums and delighting fans all over the world.
Director Saam Farahmand has spent two years on the road with the band trying to capture all the excitement and energy that has kept the band afloat on camera. Managing to film over 120 Soulwax shows in Europe, Japan, US, Latin America and Australia with one camera, Farahmand’s work ‘Part of the Weekend Never Dies‘ has its Belfast debut on the 3rd May at the Stiff Kitten. This will be followed by a live gig at Shine in Queen’s Student’s Union. Check out the promo for it here.
As with any Soulwax gig this will sell out so go get your tickets now. Just to help things along here are two tracks, one is an original the other is a remix:
Soulwax - YYY_NNN (Any Minute Now)
Gorilaz - Dare (Soulwax Remix) (Most of the remixes…)
Brooklyn based band Arms are set to release their debut album ‘Kids Aflame‘ on June the 8th on Melodic Recordings in the UK. This is an album that I have been eagarly awaiting ever since I heard ‘Tiger Tamer‘ from the bands first ep a year ago. The album sees some of the old myspace favourites reworked as well as new classics such as ‘Frozen Lake‘ and ‘Pocket‘.
Rather than waffle on about how good I think this band are and why I think you should buy their album come the 8th of June, we asked Todd Goldstein the mastermind behind the band to do that for us.
F&M: Your debut album ‘Kids Aflame’ is released on June 8th, what can we expect from it?
TG: sad, catchy, kind of strange songs; lots of reverb/noise swirling around in the background; vaguely creepy lyrics; some ukulele.
F&M: What is the stand out track on the album for you?
TG: hard question! i suppose i’d say the title track, kids aflame — it’s one of those songs that, when i wrote it, felt like it just dropped out of the sky. it hits this tone for me, both lyrically and musically, that i wish i could bottle up and use in all of my songs… apparently, it doesn’t work that way, though. some most effective uke playing on there as well.
F&M: Where was the album recorded?
TG: mostly in my bedroom in brooklyn, but a good bit was done in my drummer sam’s basement. i mixed it on my laptop in my apartment. i only have one microphone! i don’t really know what i’m doing.
F&M: Will you be touring the new album in the UK/Ireland?
TG: man i hope so. i need to do a few tours with harlem shakes (my other band) before that, though. we’re about halfway done recording our own debut right now, actually, and it’s going pretty damn well.
F&M: Who are your main influences including modern acts?
TG: in terms of all-timers, the artists that i carry around with me are the sort of sad/weird insular genius types, like scott walker, neil young, the fall, magnetic fields. i’m obsessed with the band Low, and old country and shoegaze get me going as well. in terms of new stuff, i LOVE the new frightened rabbit album, fleet foxes, and yeasayer.
F&M: What does the near future hold for Arms/Todd Goldstein?
TG: finishing the harlem shakes record! and, hopefully, tons and tons of playing music. this year should be pretty insane — both my bands are coming out with our debuts! yikes!
So there you have it. If that hasn’t inspired you to go out and buy Arm’s first long player then the title track surely will.
A while ago we had Simple Kid come join us in-studio to record a session in support of his second album, which was aptly named 2.
For those of you who haven’t heard of Simple Kid (aka Ciaran McFeely) he started out many years ago in an Irish band called ‘The Young Offenders‘. After the band split up disillusioned with the music industry he reappeared in the guise of Simple Kid. In 2003 he released his debut album 1 filled with banjo’s and beats. It did ok but the pressure of touring soon got on top of him and he found himself in the same mindset realising why he quit the industry in the first place.
He retreated from songwriting and found himself a job in his local video store watching Weird Science and Werner Herzog movies. Thankfully he returned to songwriting and released 2 in October 2006 on Country Gentleman Recordings. The album was included in Mojo Magazine’s top 50 albums of 2006 and also brought SK to the attention of Rolling Stone Magazine who featured him as their breakthrough artist of 2007.
Armed with an acoustic guitar and no harmonica SK recorded the following track for us:
I bought their album New Magnetic Wonder roughly around a year ago and loved it. More recently it’s been the soundtrack to my day. This was down to me hearing one of their songs used as background on an episode of Hollyoaks here in the UK. I just can’t stop listening to it.
It sounds like the perfect mix of some great old bands and artists I love. You’ve got Electric Light Orchestra, The Beatles, and Elton John, brought up to date and there are special guest tracks by the band’s vocoder and mellotron.
It’s also worth mentioning that they come from a very good pedigree of Canadian music. If you’ve never heard of them before, they are associated with the innovative Elephant Six Collective, a group of bands that initially included Neutral Milk Hotel and Olivia Tremor Control.
I love this because it’s lo-fi, it’s pure indie and it’s just so pop you can’t help but sing along with the words. It’s the perfect soundtrack for your summer just round the corner. Below I’ve included 2 songs off the album, ‘cause I couldn’t manage to pick just one.
Well that really should read an ex-unicorn, as 2008 will see two albums from the now defunct bands frontmen.
Nick Thorburn and Islands will be the first with their new long player coming in the shape of ‘Arm’s Way’ set to be released on the 20th May by Rough Trade in the UK. On the recent tour, Islands transformed from quirky pop to quirky alt country. Their latest songs show a different side to the band. Maybe one that the ‘Rough Gem’ contingent won’t be quick to welcome, but in all fairness who cares about them. The band seem to have moved onto bigger and better things.
Islands - The Arm
Islands - Creeper
Alden J Penner has also recorded an album with his band Clues which features Brendan Reed (formally of Arcade Fire and Les Angles Morts) and Bethany Or (of Shanghai Triad). As of yet there is no scheduled release date and like Nick Thorburn any number of his side projects could appear with an album before we see a Clues release. The tentative title for the album is ‘Rad Boo Horror & the Glory’.
It has taken seven months for me to give this album the attention that it deserves. When I first heard it I dipped in and out, listening to ‘Grow Grow Grow‘ repeatedly for around two days before assigning it to the long list of forgotten albums that are constantly overlooked on my iPod.
For some reason yesterday I decided I would give the album a second chance when walking home from work. I am not a major fan of her previous albums but I must admit I don’t actually know why I left this one down. Based around simple piano chords and very strange vocals the album marks a departure from her past works as well as a very interesting listen.
On 31 March we’ll see the UK re-release of Whiskeytown’s quite wonderful sophomore effort ‘Strangers Almanac,’ with the bonus of an extra CDs worth of additional and alternate takes. First issued over ten years ago in January 1998, this was the album that was touted to break the band big stateside by such illustrious publications such as (the recently defunct) No Depression. The sound of the album merges Fleetwood Mac into a darker R.E.M.
It didn’t quite happen for Whiskeytown, but it did project the band’s two shinning stars Ryan Adams and Caitlin Cary onto the list of great up and coming American songwriters. One of the very few albums that I own two copies of, the songs on this album were evidence that Adams was way ahead of his time in terms of song writing. This didn’t get the credit it deserved at the time but hopefully this time round, and with about 50 Ryan Adams albums later, this will be a treat for new and old fans alike, and sit well within the collection.
With close to forty tracks on the set I do find it hard to understand how they have left the song below off. So here it is for your pleasure.
To say that in such a short life span this band have achieved a lot, is somewhat of an understatement. Having supported the likes of LCD Soundsystem, C.S.S. and The Hoosiers, along with a host of other huge established bands already, within less than two years is achievement in itself considering the somewhat negatvity that sometimes surrounds the local music scene in Northern Ireland. Include a number one hit in Qatar and a session for Radio 1 and you’ve got to say that there’s something about this band that makes people love them. The celebrations should reach a high note when they release their full length self titled debut album on 7 April on the band’s own Simple Tapestry label. Just to let you in on a little secret, I’ve heard the album and it’s bloody brilliant! The album launch party takes place at Belfast’s Radar Live on April 10 at QUBSU, with Cashier No. 9 adding a helping hand to the occasion. Lovely.
If you want to find out more about how to purchase the album simply follow the link below. Also check out their last fm page where you can hear full tracks from the album as well as live sessions and the odd remix.
Mr E and Chet came to town on Wednesday night in the form of ‘The Eels’. I really didn’t know what to expect in the build up to the gig as I’d never seen the band before and everytime they’ve hit the road before they’ve normally had some new guise or sound to tour.
All I knew was that support came from E’s recent BBC documentary (it actually won an award on the night in London, but E had already made a promise to ’soft rock’ Belfast) ‘Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives’ which showed him delve into the world of quantum physics to try and understand who his father was. It was a great documentary and goes hand in hand with the book ‘Things the Grandchildren Should Know‘ which delves even further into his life. I can’t recommend the book enough.
Anyway back to the show. There were lots of instruments on stage including several guitars, pedals, drums, a saw, a piano and an organ. Throughout the course of the night both Chet and E did an amazing job on nearly all instruments occasionally swapping them mid song. The set consisted of a lot of material taken from the recent ‘best of..’ including the likes of Souljacker, Flyswatter and I Like Birds. They also did a cover of ‘Led Zeppelin’s’ Good Times Bad Times.
Anyway back to the job at hand. Since the gig I’ve been listening to the ‘Eels’ more and more and finding those hidden gems that I’d forgotten about. So maybe you’ve forgotten about them too or never heard them in the first place.
The Eels - That’s Not Really Funny (from Souljacker)
