Be Excellent To Each Other

Did I rant about how good the Fever Ray album is?

Everyone go and listen to the Fever Ray album:

http://open.spotify.com/album/17RbukXB7NQN8h59WAy9ql

... especially if you like Bjork and/or The Knife.

I quite like that. I'll need to have a proper, louder listen later, though.

They're incredibly visually creative too, check out their promo photos/makeup/costumes/videos. The video for "When I Grow Up" is amazing!

I do like The Knife. And Fever Ray's is an album I have intended to listen to for time. But I still haven't done so.

Spotify link is 3 posts above, dude

Haha, last time I saw him my reaction was who? Nah, never heard of them dude

Cor! Another new eels album!

Today, I have mostly been listening to Tilly And The Wall, and Florence And The Machine. Both rather good, yet I can't help but feel I need to listen to another band using the naming convention "[X] And The [Y]" to complete the triumvirate. Sadly, I'm not a fan of Noah And The Whale, so that's that sketch buggered, then.

(Sorry Nirejhenge-o, I'm not a fan of Siouxsie And The Banshees, either.)

Meanwhile, I do hope everyone has checked out Amanda Blank's ace debut album (Spotify-me-up). It's excellent, just as long as you ignore the terrible, awful lo-concept lead single "Know You Better". Standout track: Big Heavy.

*Looks innocent*

Fucking working on my 100 fave albums of 2000-2009 list. Thrrrp. This is my Saturday.

And to think I'm planning an 800-1000-word blurb on each of the 100. :(:(

I have thought about that, but couldn't come up with a way to really improve on last 'season'. The small group sizes first time round made everything a little overcomplicated, so *if* I was to do something similar again it'd need to be two Major League Soccer-style 'conferences', people vote for their top six songs. Top four from each conference go into two-legged knockout rounds, and so on.

The original thinking behind Song Wars (was that what I'd called it? Can't remember now) was that it'd be a great way for people to discover music they didn't already know about. Thing is, wading through forty-odd songs every week, then working out which of them you like the best, every single week could be a bit of a bind. Another thing is, if you happen to be a fan of a less popular genre like, say, jazz, your selections aren't likely to attract many votes, which could be a bit dispiriting.

Ways around all this? Well, putting each weeks' tracks into Spotify playlists would make listening to them all a lot easier, but that's making a huge assumption that everyone has got Spotify*. Or use the old method. Or come up with a new method.

(*Coincidentally, if anyone hasn't got Spotify, I've got a load of spare invites.)

You know, when I clicked on "reply", this post was going to be along the lines of "Ha, you'll be lucky!". Now I'm considering it. Damn your eyes, Craster.

Someone, quite a while ago, asked what Beatles' CD to get someone who had none and didn't know too much about them. Well there is a smaller version of the box set that may do the trick if you are thinking of presents:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beatles-Christm ... 701&sr=8-1

Otherwise it's merciless merchandising obv.

And have you noticed how many adverts now have dodgy Beatles covers? At least Jackson made tasteful use of it whilst he was alive.

I'm thoroughly in love with the Florence and the Machine album. Gonna be my favourite of 2009.

I've not gotten round to listening to TIlly and the Wall yet, but last.fm keeps on telling me I should do so.

And some of the voting patterns were a little 'odd'. Particularly sad considering the nature of the beast.

*prepares to be mocked*

has anyone heard the new Cheryl Cole song, featuring Will.i.am? It is called 'Three Words' I think. I am loving it right now.

Been meaning to pick up some 'Seasick Steve' since I saw him on Jools 'Jazz Dwarf' Holland.

Happy to say his album 'Man From Another Time' is awesome.

A quick trip to Rephlex for the first time in ages not only reveals they have updated their first page but there are remastered AFX Analord tracks for sale too often with brand new tracks added. New updated Analords here.

According to some Channel 4 show, this is the people's number one song of the decade.


I wouldn't say it's THAT good. :-\

Left My Heart in Tokyo by Mini Viva is stupidly catchy. Bloody shame the black girl tries rapping, as the rest is quite good.

I can't put my finger on who the main girl reminds me of, though. Her voice, specifically the way she lets it trail off in that weird way, is really familiar.

I'd say it's complete shit.

Ooh, one for the sound-qual dorks here. Listening to an album on the stereo; one of the songs has a 1488 kbps bitrate.

In fact, I have to listen to it on VLC, as iTunes has had a benny when trying to play it. There's a black mark against iTunes.

I've never even heard of this song before.

How did this new Gorillaz album end up on my hard drive?

I guess I best listen to it to see if I can find out where it came from.

Finally got round to listening to the Lisa Hannigan album that I bought a while back.

Seems very good... then I got to 'Keep It All' halfway through the album and I can't stop listening to it. So very atmospheric and marvellous!

spotify:album:72aBWaiTnk9GHNcuMuZwcJ

It's LP4 by Ratatat, a New York keyboard and guitar and samples sort of thinger. SID sounds and general funky noodlings. Like.

I <3 that Mark Ronson song "bang bang bang" but actually prefer the Chris Moyles parody version of it!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/photos/chrismoyles/6130/8

Electro goodness. Brilliant.

The National's new album is really bloody good.

I think it's probably their best work.

Yeah, always liked Q-Tip too.

You are dead to me. DEAD.

Bang bang bang?

I'd forgotten how much I liked Devin Townsend's 'Bad Devil'. Since I found it was on Spotify, I've been listening to it several times a day. Oh dear.

If you fancy a listen...

When I first heard that song, no word of a lie, it was my favourite song in the whole world. That bit when the female vocals first come in is just fantastic. I wish it was all like that; takes too long to get going, in hindsight. Album took a while to not disappoint me when it first came out.

Complete self-whoring here:

http://cymophane.bandcamp.com/



For fans of FSOL, Coil, John Carpenter, Berlin Dub-Techno and and general gushy ambience like Biosphere. If any of you check it out, please let me know what you think

I'll give that a go tonight mate.

I liked it, in a background-music type of way (well, obviously, it's not meant for dancing is it?). I wouldn't have said it fitted into the description you gave, though.

New album by Autolux is fantastic. Called Transit Transit.

Yeh, not really "dance" music in it's purest sense, but the more techno-orientated tracks could be mixed. Which bit of the description don't you think is appropriate? The quoted bit or the bit a wrote below it? Why, also? Glad you liked it though, thanks

Hope you like it mate

Probably not as good as 70's synth disco, but I'll give it a go.

That's a given

Well, you've got some good shit going on in there, Pupil.

Very impressed mate. As a sampler it's great as I want to hear the full tracks, especially of the stuff going on at 3.00m, 6.00m & the outro. Keep me updated.

Ace, cheers Z!

I don't suppose anyone's got Beck's Guero on CD* or in verified lossless (or a good source thereof)?

* By which I mean 'a CD that isn't as sobbingly-awfully scratched as my properly purchased and legal and everything one, which I just found after 6 months, and that was fine last time I saw it' - 24 hours EAC's been working on 2 of the tracks...

Everything Everything.

I'm surprised I like them. In so far as I was like 'fuck this shit' when I first heard them. Thing is, the are amazing. They are so good at what they do that I've bought into it.

Equal parts They Might Be Giants, Minus The Bear, Interpol and 80s pop like Haircut 100 (but not shit).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5h2LRvBQ5Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaE-SFWrZxM (worth it for the lyrics)

So two of my mates just made an album of pretty ambient music.

You can listen to it for free here, and then it's available in whatever format you want for £3.

Bit of Freezepop-pimping.. their next album comes out next week and if it's anything like the two tracks I've heard so far, it should be a good 'un; it's self-released so I figure a little extra publicity wouldn't go amiss. Also, any pre-orders get instant access to a five-track download pack. I've gone for the download-only version at $8.99, which for a new album and five extra tracks seems a bargain to me.

On the shop page there's a link to download 'Doppelganger' for free too if you want a taster. Some interesting special editions they're doing on there too...!

Cleverness: http://mashupbreakdown.com/

Mr Tim Smith of Cardiacs...er...unfame is a very sick man, so much so in fact that I now feel guilty about cursing his name while waiting for the new Cardiacs album (which by all accounts was almost finished when he was struck down).

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/fe ... bute-album

The tribute albums are excellently ace bestest (especially mikrokosmos's cover of ' Is this is the life')...I would heartily recommend them.

I will never forgive you for saying that.

There's no excuse for liking a Mark Ronson song...