My favorite album of 2006 was Beirut’s “Gulag Orkestar“. I was really amazed at how a 21 year old could play so many instruments and sing and do it all so well. Of course that was not the first album he ever made. Before he made gypsy folk music he was in an electronic band at the ripe young age of 15. He was also in a doo-wop band at age 16. These were not widely released. I figured I would never get a chance to hear his earlier works until I read this post from I Guess I’m Floating…
One of the remarkably few joys of my inbox is the occasional surprise it offers…and this week’s might be the sweetest surprise of them all: Zach Condon’s debut, his real debut: The Joys Of Losing Weight, a collection of 21 untitled songs released under the moniker The Real People. Here’s a snippet of the note that was attached to the email:
“This album has never been released, is not available for sale, and has never been seen or heard by anyone other than a handful of people who have personally received a copy of this record. It pre-dates all of his work with Beirut and does not bear any influence of the Balkan/Eastern Gypsy sound that he has become reknowned and critically acclaimed for; however, it’s a highly precocious album that’s steeped in amazing melodies draped against a backdrop of synthesized electronica: imagine an entire electronic/experimental album in the style of Scenic World with Zach’s distinctive vocals and the occasional appearance of his famous brass instrumentation.”
I Guess I’m Floating has three tracks from the album “The Joys of Losing Weight” by Zach Condon’s earlier band “The Real People”. If you like what you hear, word on the street is that you might be able to find the whole album if you search google. My husband was kind enough to download the whole album for me this morning, so I’m going to have a nice treat when I get home from work today.
The quality of the video leaves something to be desired, but you could tell he did a good cover of “There is a Light that Never Goes Out”. I wonder if there are any better copies out there?
Quinton reminded me of something that happened just recently that really shows just how the Gallagher brothers’ drama queen, diva-ness totally outweighs any decent music that they’ve put out. I’m quoting Quinton here…
did you hear a few months ago noel gallagher was interviewed by NME and trashed radiohead. Something dumb about how
‘nobody wants to hear you complain about the news/problems of the world, they’re just waiting around to hear you play ‘creep’. I didn’t go to art school, I don’t know what a paint brush is.’ blah blah.
and he continued to smash music thoughtlessly.
when thom york was asked to respond he said,
‘I did go to art school, and it taught me to respect other artists.
I thought that was kinda funny and sharp, in a british sort of way.
Personally, I don’t care who’s fighting with who. Maybe Noel likes to poke fun at artists who take themselves too seriously? Or maybe he’s jealous? I don’t think anyone would ever say that Oasis has put out an album as good as “Ok Computer”. It does seem that it is the British way to trash your contemporaries. That’s what makes it all the more strange that Noel would cover the Smiths.
Here’s a video of Arcade Fire performing “Neon Bible” in an elevator. This gave me goosebumps, it was so beautiful. The second half of this video is their live performance of the song “Wake Up”. They sound really good. This is a long video, so it might take awhile to download, but its well worth the wait.
Tori Amos‘ “American Doll Posse” will be coming out May 1st and then she will be commencing on a world tour. So far no U.S. dates have been announced.
Here’s what the album cover will look like…
Looks like the split personalities are sticking around. But seriously though, I have this really bad habit of getting in a Tori Amos mode and then playing her songs over and over and over (much to Jason’s chagrin).
Couldn’t make the trek out to Austin, TX? Missed SXSW and feeling left out? Well, good news…NPR has put up a ton of live performances from SXSW, like Okkervil River, Beirut, and Sondre Lerche to name a few. You can see a full listing here.
I just read today that This American Life will be becoming a TV show. The show debuts this Thursday on Showtime. I was a little doubtful that they could take the feel of the radio show and bring it to TV smoothly. But I think they’ll be able to pull this off.
More tour dates have been announed on Bjork.com. I have a feeling she will be either adding on more dates or coming back around and doing a more thorough tour.
04-01 Reykjavik, Iceland - Forma @ Nasa
04-27 Indio, CA - Empire Polo Field (Coachella)
05-02 New York, NY - Radio City Music Hall
05-05 New York, NY - United Palace Theater
05-08 New York, NY - Apollo Theater
05-12 Chicago, IL - Auditorium Theatre
05-15 Denver, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheatre
05-19 San Francisco, CA - Shoreline Amphitheatre
05-23 Vancouver, British Columbia - Deer Lake Park
05-26 Gorge, WA - Gorge Amphitheatre (Sasquatch!)
06-22 Pilton, England - Glastonbury Festival
06-28 Werchter, Belgium - Rock Werchter
07-01 Gdynia, Poland - Open’er Festival
07-05 Roskilde, Denmark - Roskilde Festival
07-25 Nyon, Switzerland - Paleo Festival
09-08 Toronto, Ontario - Virgin Festival
Here is part two of the interview Pitchfork did with Bjork. She talks about collaborating with Timbaland.
Bjork:The first time I met him, he was like, ‘So what do you wanna do? You wanna do something weird? Or something like a hit?’ And I’m like, ‘How can you say that?’ I could never work like that– sort of decide what it is before you even start. And I was like, ‘I’m just curious where you and I meet, where is our natural…’ You know, if you put together this circle and this circle, where’s the natural overlap?
He wanted to do a sort of ‘”Cry Me a River’ kind of track, and I have a different luggage, I listen to 80s indie bands. That to me sounds like [sings] ‘Take my Breath Away’.
Pitchfork: I read somewhere that Timbaland said what he did for you was hip-hop. Do you agree with that?
Björk: I’m not going to argue with him, but I don’t think so. Come on, I’m from Iceland; I don’t do hip hop. But these guys see it differently. There was a documentary done on me many, many years ago, where there was an interview with Missy Elliot where she said Homogenic is hip-hop. And I’m like, ‘Mmmmmm…?’
Sally Seltmann calls herself New Buffalo when she performs music. She’s got a new single entitled ‘Cheering Me Up Thank You’ that feels like it should be four minutes longer and fulfills exactly what the title promises. The video has recently been put up on the New Buffalo myspace page. It’s charming and believable and it’ll make your day.
New Buffalo have a new album to go along with the single, which was recorded and produced on a piano in a shed in her own backyard. It’ll be available in Australia on March 24th. It’s called ‘Somewhere, anywhere’.
I’m sure that marriage has made me soft, but this is probably the happiest song I’ve ever liked.
What do Bjork and the Polyphonic Spree have in common? They both have albums coming out in the next few months and both will be expressing their frustrations with the state of the world. Songs that makes a political statement are nothing new, although punk music seems to have the market on this topic.
Polyphonic Spree have traded in their white, flowing robes for black military uniforms with universal peace symbols decorating them. “Fragile Army” is due to be released in June. They’re still preaching peace and love.
On the title track “The Fragile Army,” DeLaughter and Doyle delve explicitly for the first time into their feelings on the war in Iraq, and its reverberations back home. “It’s basically an ode-to-Bush song,” DeLaughter says. “It’s very specific in its agenda, I believe it’s our own battle cry.”
Bjork’s album “Volta” is due to be release May 7th. Here’s an excerpt of an interview with Bjork on MTV.com…
“I am like many people, [in that I'm] quite upset about how things are in the world now, and while I am a musician, I wanted to maybe be a spokesperson for the people in the street, who are pretty pissed off in general,” she explained. “I am just one of all these voices, and the fact that somebody like me has had enough shows you it is a pretty intense time we live in. Emotionally, I was just really, really hungry for something quite full-bloodied and visceral.”
And trust me you don’t want Bjork pissed off at you. Everyone just wants peace and love.
