Video: Chemical Brothers "Do It Again"

The Chemical Brothers took a bit of a beating at the Stylus Singles Jukebox over "Do It Again" as they noted, among other things, the distinct problem of it being "all pulsating buildup with no payoff". I've found that it's a bit of a grower and a unique moment in Chemical cannon as it melds pop friendly free association vocals (courtesy of the mysterious Ali Love) to music that is decidedly un-pop and underground by nature.

Opening with the music video rarity of a forced tooth pulling the music starts as two boys discover a tape that could have been dropped from a supersonic bomber just outside of their undeveloped Middle Eastern town. In a turn that seems remarkably familiar to PNAC planners the boys use the Western tape and a boombox to enchant their townsfolk Pied Piper-style before controlling the government, or at least the cops, as they loot a bank. While it's played on the light side the video does have some interesting ideas and I'm not quite sure what to make of it given the Brothers history of using the cultural travelogue tradition with past videos set in Latin America and Japan:



: We Are The Night is out in June and the Chemical Brothers have a myspace with all the latest info on their plans for global sonic domination.

Video: Justice "D.A.N.C.E"

Underground dance sensation Justice finally have a debut album on the horizon. The French duo first made waves in 2003 collaborating with Simian on "Never Be Alone" (which featured on PSB's Back To Mine) causing some fuss when the video famously beat out Kanye West at the European MTV Awards and they have built a strong reputation with their noisy "Waters Of Nazareth" and a series of high profile remixes.
Their latest work "D.A.N.C.E" is another killer club track that pairs sing song vocals with disco grooves. The video plays to their fan base using the hipster t-shirts of a faceless duo as a revolving canvas:




: Justice's unpronounceable album is due in June and you can stop by their myspace to preview more from the duo.

Vanishing Point

Peter Hook casually dropped the news that New Order have split in a radio interview last night. While speaking about his involvement with Perry Farrell's Satellite Party, Hooky admitted that "me and Bernard [Sumner - New Order singer] aren't working together" which comes after speculation brought on when Stephen Morris said that a November gig in Buenos Aires "might be our last concert ever". Hopefully this is just a warning shot across the bow to make sure that Bernard is paying attention but Hooky said it is "like the boy who cried wolf this time." Still there are a few things left hanging at the moment like the soundtrack to the Ian Curtis biopic Control and there are "seven songs left" from their WFTSC sessions that were intended for a follow-up album.
Hooky just started a myspace and has been blogging so maybe we will get some clarification shortly.

Video: Sarah Nixey "The Black Hit Of Space"

Sarah Nixey's strong album Sing, Memory came out a few months ago and her "futuristic cover" of The Human League's "The Black Hit Of Space" my favorite part of the album. Nixey managed to transform the original into something distinctly her own which is no small feat given Phil Oakley's seemingly random vocals in the original.
Filmed in Salzburg, Austria the video features Nixey dressed in black as the video suggests the normal laws of pyschics have been suspended as she is accompanied by clones while she hangs upside down singing. It's quite good:



: The single is due in July but you can hear more from Sing, Memory at her myspace.

Video: Bjork "Earth Intruders"

While new material from Bjork has remained big news in some circles there has been more buzz about "Earth Intruders" than anything else she has released in years. This has everything to do with finally reaching outside of her most devoted fan base that has followed her to the ends of the Earth (or were at least willing to brave incidental music and all vocal experiments) as she collaborated with Timbaland to create something accessible. Despite Timbaland's recent streak of hit singles "Earth Intruders" is still more Bjork than Tim as the stompy song recalls the fierce off-kilter pop of her Post era than Nelly Furtado or Justin Timberlake.
The video, which is being kept off of youtube by her record company apparently, brings to mind the dark world of the "Human Behavior" video. The visual layering effect echoes the inner workings of the earth as the tribal shadows in the foreground echo the conflict in Iraq:



: Look for Bjork on tour, which starts in surprisingly large venues in the US, this May and stop by her myspace to hear more from Volta.

Keep On Surviving

Nine Inch Nail's new album Year: Zero is out this week and even apart from the music the viral marketing campaign for the album is amazing. The mix of online puzzle, apocalyptical Dungeons & Dragons game and twisted Rock The Vote PSA is unprecedented and the depth of it all is surprising. It started with a series of interconnected websites referenced indirectly on the shirts sold on NIN's last tour and the air of mystery continued as flash drives containing leaked album tracks and videos started appearing in venues the band were playing. The release of the album brings more clues with a phone number placed in the usual RIAA warning spot to call in subversives and the thermal design on the cd reveals a hidden message after it has been played.
A couple of days ago the game intersected with reality as a group of fans were given cell phones that led them to a "secret meeting" with the resistance group featured in the album's backstory. Here's one fan's account from a fan site:

We pulled up to an abandoned warehouse; there were random people standing on the roof and around the entrance. We were led inside; there were more people inside, and AIR flags hanging from the roof... Neil Czarno (or whoever is playing him) gave a talk about how we should give a and change the world. I was rather cynical about his talk at first, but he redeemed himself by noting that we shouldn't just blindly accept what he was saying and that we should change the world in small ways. He also told us that we were stupid for allowing them to herd us like cattle onto a bus to who knows where with no form of communication (and for carrying around cellphones like tracking devices) and that we'd be dead if they were really after us. After his talk, we were led over the river and through the woods (the warehouse complex was rather large). We were stopped briefly before we entered a room with many lights and lots of equipment.

: Where NIN played a show that was "stopped" by a SWAT team, not unlike the one in the "Survivalism" video, when they "raided" the venue. You can see footage of the secret meeting/gig on youtube (the raid is in the last minute of this clip) or see the whole thing in full at one of the NIN backstory/political activist sites. Stream Year: Zero at NIN's myspace.

Sooner Or Later It Happens To Everyone

Pet Shop Boys: A Life in Pop escaped my netflix queue to arrive at my home this week. The documentary aims to be the definitive biography of the duo taking us from an overview of the band's early history and philosophy to an exploration of each of their albums. The focus is sharpest on the band's early and Imperial periods but the DVD has a broad enough range to give consideration to a number of the band's b-sides which helps bring out the depth of the Boys songwriting abilities. The pool of commentators runs the gamut from long time collaborators like the third Pet Shop Boy Pete Gleadall (credited with programming 95% of PSB releases since 1991) to celebrity fans like Brandon Flowers and internet deconstructionists like Geo Wayne so there is a good balance of distanced observations and personal insights with the band. It says quite a bit that my biggest complaints about the doc is that it shortchanges Bilingual and that the amount of time spent on their Dusty Springfield collaborations exaggerates their importance.

The segment on the Boys fall from US chart success features former kroq DJ Richard Blade relating a time in the early 90s when the station's program director played "Blue Monday" in a meeting as an example of a record the station would never play again. This brought back in a very real way my frustration at the time with "alternative" radio, which despite the alternative tag find most stations copying kroq's playlist, that dropped anything with a synthesizer as grunge brought in new listeners to the format forcing a displacement of artists that I love. It's things like that helped me learn to hate rock and roll.

Video: Client "Drive"

Client’s Heartland is still a week away from it’s release and the album’s third single “Drive” is here hitting the retro-new wave electro mark squarely. Using night driving as self medication to “feel alive” the song suggests the band may have been spending some time with former collaborator Pete Doherty as the lyrics go from “I can’t resist you “ to “white lines on a motorway” within seconds. Fortunately the band has found the right mix of synths, live drums and bass to propel one of their most strongly written songs while setting a mood that is just right.
Performing in front a massive video screen projecting somewhat abstract white on black driving visuals the video fits the band‘s style and adds a bit of Kraftwerk-ian flair. This is a huge improvement over their last video, and it’s great to see the band back on track:



: Client are touring Europe and North America shortly so click through to one of their two myspaces for more info and preview tracks from Heartland while you are there.

Short Bits

Pet Shop Boys reportedly were seconds away from being killed by falling Russian space junk during a recent flight. The band are touring behind Fundamental into the summer but they just announced a May release for the Cubism DVD that was filmed at their recent show in Mexico City so some fans can watch the show before it reaches them.

LCD Soundsystem's attempt at topping the charts fell a bit short as Sound Of Silver debuted two spots ahead Kidz Bop 11 at #46 in this past week's Billboard chart. Chalk it up to the absolute lack of airplay for the rock crowd friendly "North American Scum". James Murphy provides my quote of the week in an interview with Chart Attack responding to accusations of selling out for that Nike track he sold his soul for last year: "It's just like, dude, I live in New York. I just did a Justin Timberlake remix. I am not indie rock."

Chemical Brothers new album We Are The Night is expected this summer.

Maximus of Voltage had an opening dj set at a party that featured electro star Peaches at SXSW a couple of weeks ago. Read about it here.

Swen Weber's "First Stroke" is amazing. Yes, it came out last year but I just heard it last night and unlike a number of other worthy techno tracks it's up on itunes.

Since Channel 1049 has returned I've heard nothing on it and Live 105 but an inexcusable amount of "alternative" staples from the likes of Nirvana, RHCP, and Beastie Boys along with an unexpected surge in spins of songs by Violent Femmes. Perhaps it's because "Blister In The Sun" plays in the background of a new Wendy's commercial.

Spin apparently use zshare now. In a related note the overly praised drug addict Perry Farrell's new project isn't as horrible as his past few failures. Having New Order's Peter Hook along for the ride must be helping.

Can You Feel It Too?

Tracey Thorn's solo album Out Of The Woods hits the streets today and she posted this in her blog about the album's critical reception:

I have on occasion in the past, been known to grumble that reviewers are cloth-eared dimwits whose opinion counts for nothing. But so far I have read almost nothing but praise for Out Of The Woods, and so of course I have to revise that opinion and admit that they are all of sound judgement, and thoroughly bloody lovely blokes.

: Clearly a wise woman. Stream a few tracks from the album at Thorn's myspace to experience some of the magic that is her music.

Free Download: Information Society "Back In The Day"

Information Society's first release since reforming is out this week. Following their mid-90s masterpiece Peace & Love Inc the core trio went their separate ways as vocalist Kurt Harland carried on under the name taking the music in a more industrial direction. With Harland occupied with personal obligations the band's primary songwriter Paul Robb has picked up the name with the help of long term member Jim Cassidy and new vocalist Christopher Anton. The Oscillator EP, which can be streamed here for the rest of the week, is true to their freestyle electro roots explaining how Robb is qualified to be on a "History of Electronic Music" panel at the Winter Music Conference later this week.

Download "Back in the Day" (mp3)
Download "Back in the Day (Paul Robb Roots Electro Mix)" (mp3)
from "Oscillator"
by Information Society
Hakatak International

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Stream/buy at Napster


The new Information Society are touring and will be releasing a full album Synthesizer shortly so stop by their myspace for all the details.

Video: Supermode "Tell Me Why"

Steve Angello and Axwell are part of the informal group of producers known as the Swedish House Mafia who have championed the looping-a-hook-from-a-past-hit-and-add-a-fresh-beat technique that has been a major staple of dance charts for the past few years. Recording as Supermode they bring together two of The Bronski Beat’s biggest hits of their Jimmy Summerville-era in a mash up twist to their formula as vocals from the chorus of “Why?” float over the timeless groove of “Smalltown Boy”. My friend Glenn who introduced me to synthpop and the enigmatic genre of "Modern Rock" was a huge fan of "Smalltown Boy" which actually put me off the track, released in the US last year, for some time because I didn't see the need for yet another remix a classic song. However the combination comes across far more fresh musically speaking than you would expect from such familiar material and the juxtaposition of the two songs creates a conversation about the boy “pushed around and kicked around” for his sexual preferences as it asks why it is still relevant some twenty years after “Smalltown Boy” was first released:



: The soul behind the record The Bronski Beat called it a day shortly after their own 1994 re-recording of "Smalltown Boy". Jimmy Sommerville left the band long before that and is still around making music as a solo artist with his site noting upcoming tv appearances. Synth master Steve Bronski is also plugging away and has a very messy myspace that notes his recent production duties for my friendly online acquaintances The Garland Cult (I've exhanged emails with the singer before so you know we're tight).
Supermode, at least on paper, appears to be a one-off project that fits in the pattern of Steve Angello "mode" projects like Mode Hookers and General Moders but Axwell's site reports that as of last month "me and Steve are progressing with the new supermode". Apparently they are searching for the right vocal so don't hold your breath waiting for an album because source material this strong is hard to come by.

Respect My Girl Authority

One of Vince Clarke's first songs is seeing the light of day this week as part of "preeteen pop girl group" Girl Authority's album Road Trip. The official Erasure site reports that Clarke reworked the song, which pre-dates his time with Depeche Mode, to include the riff from "Just Can't Get Enough" and to make it a better fit for the intended young female audience.

"Let's Get Together" can be streamed at Girl Authority's myspace and Road Trip can be streamed in full here for the next week.

UPDATE: Bardot tracked down video of Vince running through the song with the first formation of Depeche. Check it out, it's fascinating stuff.

Too Much Love

LCD Soundsystem's second proper album Sound Of Silver is due next week and it is currently being previewed on the band's myspace. "North American Scum", which can be downloaded for free here, hinted at a new direction and indeed the sound is decidedly more rock this time around. It's not that there aren't electronics sprinkled throughout the album, the opening "Get Innocuous" has a beat inspired by Kraftwerk's "The Robots" and the amazing title track is pure electronic deliciousness, but the band's reputation as an essential live act seems to have dictated the sound. Although I would love to hear an electro album of little "Tribulations" SOS sounds great on the first couple of listens and part of the joy of their first album was discovering music outside the range of my usual music taste.

As previously mentioned LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy is attempting a bit of Chart Rigging aiming for a top-40 release with his clever slogan of "if you were going to buy it anyway, why not by it this week." Monitor his progress with the band's "sound of silver billboard chart guerilla takeover monitor/thermometer" found at their official site.

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

Palms Out Sounds made a few waves in the blogging world when they did a feature a couple of weeks ago on samples used in Daft Punk songs which has been spread even further after Music Thing created a youtube clip that compares the source material to the finished tracks. A number of the most obvious samples were credited in the liner notes but the French duo's inroads with the American indie rock crowd in the 00s has brought the expected cries of shock and disappointment. Perhaps it's hard for the backwards rockist crowd to believe that their token object of dance praise could be guilty of the same vices that lesser blatantly inartistic acts that sample and use computers are guilty of. Surely when the band claimed "all guitars by Daft Punk" on Human After All they were to be taken at their word. However fans that have been following Daft Punk from the beginning not only know they take inspiration from hip hop acts but have a sense of humor as well.

Channel 1049 Back From The Dead

Just over a year after Clear Channel closed the station down to broadcast a new Spanish language format Channel 1049 returned to the Bay Area airwaves this past week. The station's program director claimed in the Mercury News (updated link) (thanks Bardot) that "we've been hearing that listeners want their station back". Perhaps the new station's ratings being half what Channel 1049's were at the time of reformatting was the deciding factor.

Seven Songs

My mp3 player is on the fritz, the cd player is busted in my commute car and I can't take hearing RHCP and something off Licensed to Ill every single time I listen to Live 105 for more than five minutes so it has been lots of talk radio for me lately. It's not that I've given up on music as this meme, which comes from XO by way of the thoughtful This Man's World, proves.
List seven songs you are into right now, no matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they're not any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs...

Amy Winehouse "You Know I'm No Good" (mp3)
When I got hooked on "Rehab" (see what I did there?) a couple of months ago I didn't expect to fall in love with anything else from Winehouse but this Mark Ronson production occupies the same head space I reserve for breezy Portishead pop songs. That is if they existed. Lyrically the song drops a few great lines, including one about tearing "men down like Roger Moore", and the way Winehouse draws out words like "trouble" is positively intoxicating.

The Killers "Read My Mind (Pet Shop Boys Stars Are Blazing Mix)"
Reminding me a bit of Motiv 8's version of Pulp's "Disco 2000" this remix is a bit hit and miss. PSB take a hands off disco friendly approach for the song which is nice but a bit boring outside but the final moments of "Go West" bit they add at the chorus which is fantastic and worth the blah parts. I'd love to hear the edit and see if it gets to the meat of things but it's not available in the US and I haven't found it on 7digital yet.

Freezepop "Less Talk More Rokk (Guitar Hero 2 Mix)" (youtube)
Despite "Get Ready 2 Rokk" being Freezepop's most downloaded song on itunes it's one of my least favorite songs so when I learned they were making their major label debut with what look to be version of the song I was concerned. This mix is rather good and brings to mind the best of modern Daft Punk.

!!! "Heart Of Hearts" (myspace)
This hasn't grabbed me like "Take Esctasy With Me", which relates directly to the song not having been written by Stephin Merritt, but this is dance rock done right. Love the false ending and the guitar sound is killer.

Matinée Club "Tokyo Girls" (youtube)
Originally based around a now recreated Gary Numan sample this sounds like a hit because it was. Catchy and I've found myself enjoying it despite cringing at some of the lyrics...

Felix Da Housecat "Neon Human" (youtube)
Revisiting Devin Dazzle And The Neon Fever recently has reinforced my original thought that "Neon Human" is the best track on the album because it sounds quite like "Axel F".

Jay-Jay Johanson "Rocks In My Pockets"
I generally prefer Johanson's pop stuff but Tremble Clef turned me on to this song which really is "a record worth locking up the razors for."

Video: Tracey Thorn "It's All True"

Tracey Thorn has long been one of my favorite vocalists and with Everything But The Girl's hiatus carrying into a sixth year I was pleased to find that "It's All True", the first single from Thorn's forthcoming solo album Out Of The Woods, delivers the electropop goodness that I could only dream of a few short months ago.
The song's video is a single continuous shot that finds a seated Thorn facing us in a room filled with desks and uniform office drones adorned in grey suits. We never see much of Thorn as the director reduces her to a graphic element instead taking the standard pop approach of showing the star in close up as the focal point. Not only does this suggest that Thorn is one of her audience, often dismissed by critics with the subtle "coffeehouse crowd" insult, who are represented here literally as special effect created clones but the approach echoes the emotional distance often associated with Thorn's vocal delivery. As the video develops the clones are given chances to shine and express themselves individually with dance flourishes and momentary surges of color refuting the simple dismissal of Thorn's audience by demonstrating that they are more than an extension of their homologous environment but have soul and personality that is unique to themselves. The visual style of the video, most specifically the final moments, mirrors that of a number of viral videos in which people represent pixels in recreations of 80s video games which is not unlike the production team's loving reinterpretation of early 80s club music:



: Tracey Thorn's Out Of The Woods is out March 20 and Tremble Clef's inspired review of the album is a must read. Thorn's music can be previewed at her myspace which includes some delightfully endearing blog entries.

I Want To Wake Up

Spin just created a list of ways to save the music business including this obvious suggestion:

Fully embrace the Web. Instead of making threats when an unauthorized song or video shows up on MySpace or YouTube, majors should welcome the exposure. In its early days, MTV made you want to buy records and go to shows. The Web has the ability to provide those same thrills.

: This is coming from a magazine that had a website that was not accessible to the general public until a few years ago and lost much of the audience during the same period so maybe they know what they are talking about.

Flashback: Mono "Life In Mono" (1996)

The 90s were a difficult time for those looking to combine a love electronics and the craft of songwriting. The rise of underground techno suggested that vocals and traditional structure weren't necessary while the reactionary grunge movement knocked anything with a synthesizer off "alternative" radio in the US but the success of Portishead opened a new door that allowed songwriters access to the American market. The caveat: their music was labeled as trip hop. There was a time when trip hop was, at least in my mind, a fairly specific genre during the first half of the 90s when it directly involved the hip hop inspired Bristol Sound. Over the course of the decade the term diversified when bands like Hooverphonic and Morcheeba revealed similar stories about sneaking their music onto major labels by convincing A&R men that they could sell to the trip hop crowd.

Producer/instrumentalist Martin Virgo had a solid background in the genre working as a session musician on albums from Massive Attack and Bjork before forming Mono with vocalist Siobhan de Maré but the tone of the project echoed a decidedly more pop approach exemplified by other late 90s trip hop acts. The band's sole album Formica Blues produced four singles including the Saint Etienne-esque "Slimcea Girl" but "Life In Mono" is their finest, if perhaps darkest, moment. Equally bringing together Virgo's passion for all things John Barry and Phil Spector with drum 'n' bass inspired beats the song had the unique quality of sounding dated and futuristic on the first listen. A decade later it simply sounds timeless:



: The song's inclusion, reportedly at the suggestion of Robert De Niro, on the soundtrack to Alfonso Cuarón's Great Expectations helped make the song a radio hit in the US two years after it's initial release but my first exposure to the song was the Propellerheads instrumental remix which used the originals Barry flavored guitar to turn the song into a proper James Bond dance track. More recently former Spice Girl Emma Bunton used "Life In Mono" as her most recent album title and included a faithful cover of the song which I'm sure was not inspired by a karaoke version being available.

Despite their moderate success Mono didn't survive after rifts between the two proved to be too great to bridge. Siobhan de Maré has since worked with Robin Guthrie and Martin Virgo seems to have slowed down as reports suggest he is spending his time with a rightfully unsigned jam band. Sigh...