Boring by the TV

Another ad for the Video blog I set up the other week today, mainly as I've not written enough to fill all 5 days and am in London today. So yeah, music videos. I started the blog as I was seeing so many I really liked and I'm seeing new things all the time. This week for instance you can see new promo's from Empire Of The Sun (so much $$$), Lady GaGa, White Lies, Phoenix and La Roux. They join entries from last week courtesy of The Maccabees ("I put the kettle in the fridge"), Mika Miko and Kings of Leon.

Is this a good idea for a blog? I feel like if I didn't do it myself I'd definitely have it bookmarked and visit daily so I guess it is. I like how it works as a kind of playlist or mixtape too. Finally, if anyone knows of cool videos I'd be interested in then let me know.

Find the video blog here: http://boringbythesea.tumblr.com/

Read More »»

2009's Quarterly Review: January- March

2009 has been around for three months now so it's about time for a review of the first quarter of the year. For a Spotify playlist of all the music mentioned here please click this link. Let's start with the established acts-

Big Hitters

Franz Ferdinand revealed their dance floor inspired third album 'Tonight:' in January to mixed reaction. Personally I like it, it's classic arch posing and enticing lyrics combine well with the sleek, syncopated beats to make a great, contemporary disco record. It seems Franz Ferdinand have reached a glass ceiling in their career however (appearing on Ant'n'Decs TV show, Ipod adverts) which is perhaps a sign 'Tonight:' has not reached it's desired sales targets. I would hate to see a clever and evocative rock band slip down this trite and degrading ladder. Lily Allen released her second album 'It's Not Me, It's You' in February. For all the talk of her big mouth and paparazzi hounded ways Allen is a pretty good pop star, she flits between genres and styles with a confidence which belies her experience. 'The Fear' is a great electro-pop song whilst 'It's Not You' takes country'n'Western and drags it into the modern day with a bang. She'll never be great but Lily Allen is worth a million Lady GaGa's. Finally White Lies; odd that a debut album should rank alongside Franz and Allen but 'To Lose My Life' hit number one when it was released and has seen the ex-Fear Of Flying boys fast-tracked to stardom. I slated it at the time and the lyrics still make me cringe but I think by the time festival season comes around White Lies will be one of the success stories.

Returns/ Side Projects

The Rakes gave a pleasant surprise with their fine third effort 'Klang!' in March. Whilst not quite the itchy frustration of their debut 'Capture/ Release' it holds a raft of potential singles and is nearly enough to erase all memories of their woeful second effort. Similarly, Morrissey released 'Years Of Refusal' a striking and punchy collection of songs far removed from the wet Morriconi produced 'Ringleader Of The Tormentors'. Taking the melodic wonder of The Sleepy Jackson and marrying it with the beats of Pnau was always going to make for interesting listening, the fact it has brought the high-concept magic of Empire Of The Sun could enrapture even the most open of minds. A truly other worldly but effortlessly commercial album of mystic Elton John style pop anthems their 'Walking On A Dream' is almost as impressive as the pairs outfits. Speaking of collaborations N.A.S.A and the Dark Was The Night compilation rounded up pretty much every influential musician around from Karen O, David Byrne and MIA (With N.A.S.A) to Feist, The National and Yesayer (From Dark Was The Night). Both albums are patchy but when they're good they are very good. Finally, Fever Ray, a.k.a Karin Dreijjer of The Knife unleashed the epic and gloomy self titled album that could well sweep the board in album of the year polls.

New Kids

Blog bitches Telepathe and Wavves both released uber-fashionable and occasionally brilliant records in 'Dance Mother' and 'Wavves' respectively. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart released an astoundingly wonderful self-titled album which brims with romantic possibility and child like wonder. Crystal Stilts are doing a similarly interesting C86 thing on 'Alight Of The Night' but don't have the same pretty qualities as their Brooklyn counterparts The Pains Of.... just yet. The Joy Formidable's free mini-album 'A Balloon Called Moaning' contains as many epic moments as White Lies but has presumably sold a millionth as many copies: no justice. Awesome Pals Sky Larkin, Copy Haho and Favours For Sailors all released brilliant first efforts with a special mention going to Sky Larkin's Golden Spike album which is a strong contender for my favourite of the year so far. Elsewhere, Titus Andronicus and Grammatics both made striking and brave first efforts that whilst not stuck on repeat here have to be recommended and admired.

So with three months down and nine to go my album of the year list currently sits like this-

1. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart- 'S/T'
   
2. Franz Ferdinand- 'Tonight:'
   
3. Sky Larkin- 'The Golden Spike.
   

However having already heard much of April and May's treats this will be all change by the next quarterly review. New records from Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Horors, The Maccabees, Metric, Dananananaykroyd, Bat For Lashes and Golden Silvers are all due and sounding fantastic with three in particualr being stellar. Maximo Park, Gallows, Passion Pit and Jarvis Cocker are all due to release in May and then June is ram-packed with albums from (deep breath) Florence and The Machine, Little Boots, The Dead Weather, Jamie T, Jack Penate, Patrick Wolf and Regina Spektor.

It must be said, 2009 is shaping up very nicely indeed.

To see the best singles of the first 3 months click here

To get a comprehensive Spotify playlist of this first three months then click here.

Read More »»

February's Best Bits

As the years shortest month of the year comes to an end it gives us a chance to look back on the most interesting posts of the last 28 days.

+ Words with... Passion Pit.

+ Peter Doherty- 'Grace/ Wastelands' review.

+ The Brit Awards happened.

+ Amazing documentary from VBS.tv on Donk music.

+ WTF?! moment of the month- Morrissey appeared on The One Show.

+ New video from The Maccabees

+ Valentine's Day Playlist.

+ NME Awards Tour 2009 reviewed.

+ Album reviews of Lily Allen, Empire Of The Sun and NASA.

Plus much much more on The Soft Pack, Temper Trap, Eugene McGuinness, The Grammy Awards and The Rakes return.

61 posts in 28 days. Is that a bit too much? Possibly. March will be a bit leaner, less flab.

February was also the month the media went creepy dominated by news of Rihanna, Chris Brown and Jade Goody. All very grim and depressing, at least Blur turned up right at the end to remind people how good the Summer festivals will be.

Read More »»

Words with... Empire Of The Sun

Written for Gigwise

Ambition, it’s a big word in music. Stadium sized bands have it used as a stick with which they are beaten whilst anyone repeating themselves two albums in a row is seen to lack it and tossed mercilessly upon a pile of rejects. Perhaps it’s the idea of what ambition actually is, is it the ability to transcend sticky floored toilet venues and make music that touches large numbers? Or is it to do something beyond the confines of the norm, to have a vision that can’t be confined to an 18 month campaign of re-releases, key festival slots and TV montage scenes.

Empire Of The Sun are a band who have ambition, they are a band who see a lack of magic in the music scene and want to inject it with a shot of surreal beauty. There vision is, according to Nick Littlemore, “The one joining emotion that binds all humanity together from the enlightened to the ignorant. Until life itself it questioning its continuation, for humanities lessons are contrary to the world. For me the term greed is led by it’s failings since the dawn of time and we must turn humanity against itself like a jealous angel. There are heroes, Empire Of The Sun, who must make sacrifices in order to save the free world. Our heroes the wise travelled, having assimilated civilisations from all four corners of the globe, to gain a depth of understanding and enlightened path to give up their mortal dreams and becoming animals, taking the form of a flock of black cockatoos”. To put this in context I asked a member of Franz Ferdinand a similar question last week and he said “Well we just want to make things a bit more dance orientated.” Empire of The Sun certainly have ambition.

“That’s pretty much what it’s about. We (Luke Steel of The Sleepy Jackson comprises the other half of Empire...) were basically just travelling around the world and learning and the one binding emotion that seemed to be coming up in humanity is sadness. So many of us are doing what is vital to out existence. I met Luke back in 2000, we met in a bar and at that point Luke was always carrying around a suitcase and every time you saw him he had something different in there like an umbrella or a kid’s doll, bricks from a chimney or just full of parking tickets. Anyway the day after we met I took him to the bush just North of Sydney and we wrote three or four songs. It’s incredible to meet a mind that you connect with so quickly and strongly. We didn’t get to record anything for another six or seven years though, perhaps because it took us meeting about fifty other people before we realised our connection was so strong and we needed to explore it further.”

The subsequent result of that exploration is the album ‘Walking On A Dream’ released on February 23^rd. Surely though for such a high concept project the ten track LP format must be incredibly limited? “Well the live show is going to be like a twenty five track show. The live show is going to be like a play, we don’t want to do a rock show, we both got so bored of that in the past. I see myself more as an artist than a musician; if I had to compare the live show to anything it would be Laurie Anderson (American experimental performance artist) where it’s a much more visual thing. Luke and I both talk visually when we write songs, you’ll not a lot of colour in our music and emotions and those colours can’t be ignored when performing our songs. We chose those initial ten (tracks on the album) because they best represent us. We’re writing songs all the time and in the past (Nick is a member of Pnau) I have always tried to fill the full amount of space on a CD but on this one we just said like let’s just do a ten-tracker you know and have ten songs, like the Ten Commandments. We don’t need anything other than these ten.”

One of the most memorable tracks on ‘Walking On A Dream’ is the haunting end-track ‘Without You’ Nick sites this as a favourite moment too, “I actually wrote it at a very low moment, I was very deeply depressed and it was great to channel the weight of tears, the weight of all that welling up inside and create something out of all the madness and the sadness. I often reference it now when I am feeling sad or lost. It works for me, there’s a lot of heart in there”. Is depression something that aids a lot of your song writing? “I try to channel it into a joy but on ‘Without You’ it just came as it was. It was the vocal that took the longest to record; I think we recorded it forty times to get it right. It had to have the right feeling and that was hard to achieve. There was a real sense of quiet when we finished it, like when you’re fishing in the ocean and you catch that silver light and when you know you’ve got that moment you hold on for dear life and channel that wisdom.”

With theatre shows in the pipeline, elaborate costumes and a make up bill that must run into the thousands how do Empire Of The Sun get these things past their label under the current economical climate? “Well having Elton John’s management company looking after us certainly gives us some clout! We’re driving this from the normal confines of the label where they tell you what to do, it’s really extreme. Elton got involved with us when he picked up my Pnau album in Australia and then rang me to say it was the best album he’s heard in ten years and we became fast friends. Then, about six months ago, I asked him to manage us and he’s just been amazing ever since.” Does Elton John give good advice? “Yeah, he’s a fantastic mentor. He tells us to believe in ourselves and who better to listen to than one of the most successful recording artists of all time, a master of melodies? We got great advice from Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) too, he said a ‘Always ask yourself ’Is it necessary?’ and I think that’s a great thing to bear in mind, so many people do things because they can not because they need to. It all comes back to the self and wanting to channel something positive, I guess what do we need in the world right now? The world is such a dark place and we need positivity and something to lean on, we need goodness, we need enlightenment, we need a guide.”

That guide could well be Empire Of The Sun. Whatever happens to them in 2009 you can guarantee it won’t be anything less than magical.

Read More »»

Empire Of the Sun- 'Walking On A Dream'

You can gauge how succesful a band not by how many albums they sell, not the number of dates they sell out nor the adverts they soundtrack. The true landmark of a succesful act is how many people copy them the following year. The Strokes are the landmark, Amy Winehouse another. Now MGMT are a band I love and loathe in equal measures, however if Empire Of The Sun are anything to go by they had a very succesful year in 2008.

My main foible with MGMT is that for ever pop gem on 'Oracular Spectacular' there was a rambling pile of hippy nonsense. If only they just reigned that in and made a cohesive record I could have really fallen for them. EOTS seem to share the same belief as me. They, it has to be said are not ripping MGMT off at all, they do sound decidedly like them but it is the bands label who are cashing in and exploiting the fact. It could pay dividends to as Empire... have a stack of memorable hits on display here and could be onto a winner.

From the opening salvo of 'Standing On The Shore' right through to the epic 80's balladry of 'Without You' the listeners search for heartfelt choruses and romantic emoting is never in vain. Sleepy Jackson main man Luke Steel's voice wraps itself perfectly round a series of complex melodies with Pnau's Nick Littlemore adding a delightful falsetto. It works best on 'Walking On A Dream, 'We Are The People' and 'Delta Bay'. The flamboyance of the band is clear to see on 'Swordfish Hotkiss Night' and the aformentioned 'Without You' sounds like Spandau Ballet, in a good way.

This is the sound of a band who see no boundaries, who see uniform and risk as nothing other than a barrier to leap. It could see them burn spectaculalrly (The live show promises to be incredible) but you have to applaud them for trying.

7/10

Read More »»

Introducing... Empire Of The Sun

Look at that picture above. Really give it a good look and then tell me when you last saw something as ridiculous. You can't can you? No, that's because Empire Of The Sun are perhaps the most extravagant peacocks to hit music in years. Named after J.G. Ballards novel and comprising members of The Sleepy Jackson and Pnau EOTS are picking up the baton of psychadelic prog-pop from MGMT and running with it.

Less inclined to acid-fried campfire sing alongs than MGMT, Empire... deal solely with the big anthems such as 'Walking On A Dream' the bands current single. It has the knack of sounding like a classic as soon as you hear it, a few times it has popped up on shuffle and I have assumed it was from a band from the 70's and not the modern day. With a high concpet mixed with fun sing along choruses Empire Of The Sun could be onto a winner here.


Empire Of The Sun Myspace

Read More »»