Best spent 12 euros of the year: 12-minute qualifier and 20-minute race at worldkarts Kortrijk (student club rates)
Worst spent 20 euros of the year: a semi-malfunctioning copy of GTA IV from the Free Record Shop that installed with some troubles, doesn't even recognise his own dvd and won't even run properly on my pc no matter what I do (Rockstar are still god among men for Vice City and San Andreas, but this was a huge letdown).
Most thrilling season finale 2012: finally saw The Shield season 7. That shit kray!
"Almost too good to be true on TV"-award 2012: Lizzy Caplan and Zooey Deschanel sharing a couple of scenes in New Girl.
Best concert 2012: There were remarkably few, but Beach House wins by a landslide. New Order and Bat For Lashes just couldn't convince. Enjoyed seeing Iron Age at De Kreun.
"Could've been there but I'm a cheap and lazy bastard"-concerts of 2012: Purity Ring and DIIV, both playing De Kreun in November. Oh well.
Albums of 2012: Again, there have been remarkably few. The new Deftones is a winner, the new Balthazar, I can live with, but I'll reach for Applause rather than for Rats. Last minute additions thanks to the library: Really digging Sleigh Bells - Reign of terror. And Twin Shadow - Confess is definitely a step up from 'Forget'. They should ask the latter to do 'Drive II' soundtrack, if that movie ever happens.
Favourite underground parking lot 2012: St-Pietersplein Ghent
Best Belgian burger-award: Cappoentje (2.2€): a spicy Bicky burger that will effectively numb your tastebuds for the rest of the evening . Get it @ De Gouden Saté near St-Pietersplein in Ghent.
Most frequently crashing browser plug-in 2012 : Shockwave Flash
Sickest day of 2012: the laryngitis beginning of May came up in just one afternoon, the Dysphagia made swallowing feel like there were a thousand knives in my throat.
Favourite beer 2012: Vedett
Longest procrastination 2012: I broke my Nokia cellphone screen back in April and I still haven't bought a new smartphone.
Silliest new year resolution 2013: thinking about doing a new podcast for funzies.
"Most untrue statement about dating/women" 2012 award: if she fondles/plays with her hair a lot during a first date, that means she's into you.
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Top 10 radiosingles 01/07/2012-31/12/2012
01 Haim - Forever
02 Beach House - Wild
03 Disclosure - Latch
04 Azari & III - Into the night
05 The XX - Angels
06 Faberyayo - Een echte
07 Lana Del Rey - Ride
08 Blende - Fake love
09 Purity Ring - Fineshrine
10 Nicki Minaj ft. Cassie - The boys
Friday, December 14, 2012
I'm hypnotized by your name. I wish this night wouldn't end.
This is merely a rushed, quick update: best (radio-)singles of the second half of 2012 coming up real soon!
Deftones - Entombed
Can't go wrong with the new Deftones record. Seeing that I now own all seven regular studio albums, I'm probably not fully objective right here.
Haim - Forever
Absolutely my favourite track of the moment. The fact the band (Hanson anybody) made up of three long-haired siblings is only one of the factors (although I'll admit the right one has some killer dance moves). The genious 2-second drum rhythm! The interspersed backing vocals! The subtle keyboard touches! The percussion details (handclaps and wood blocks)! The tempo variations in the vocals! I like the video as well. Objectively, this isn't in the least groundbreaking on a lyrical or musical level, but just tremendously well executed.
Passenger - Let her go
As if Ed Sheeran wasn't enough, here's Passenger.
The Lumineers - Ho Hey
As if Mumford & Sons wasn't enough, here's The Lumineers. Voice reminds me of Band Of Horses.
Stay Gold - Wallpaper
It's kinda catchy.
Maya's Moving Castle - War
New Belgian band. This is the only rendition I can find of this song on youtube, and it happens to be one where the vocalist is clearly having an off-day.
The Happy - Walkmen
Lacks a little substance. Isolde Lasoen is apparently still the go-to percussionist for pretty much any start-up band in the Ghent area.
Blackie & The Oohoos - When light falls in
New band. This does absolutely nothing for me.
Protection Patrol Pinkerton - Future = our home
And yet another new Belgian band. The vocalist also has a cabaret/stand-up comedy career. This song has a killer guitar riff (not unlike Two Door Cinema Club), but could've done with a little punch to keep things interesting.
Lenka - Everything at once
Lenka. She already manufactured a good radio-single a couple years back (this one), and here's another one. This song got picked to feature in the Windows 8 commercial.
Kasabian - Roll like we used to
I'll never be the biggest Kasabian-fan in the world, but I'll admit they have flair and guts.
Friday, November 30, 2012
Bat For Lashes , Ancienne Belgique , Brussels , 29/11/2012
Thirty-seven months ago, Bat For Lashes played the AB, stopping by on her Two Suns tour (you can still find the review of that show here).
2012, November 29th, dreary and chilly Thursday in Brussels, she is back to present the songs from her new - and, let's not kid ourselves, generally mediocre - third album, The Haunted Man. Just like last time (when 'Daniel' was reigning the radiowaves), the show once again sold out.
Race Horses was the opening act for the European leg of her tour; I don't know the first thing about them and got inside the venue too late to check them out. Embarassingly, after touring the whole of Europe with the same opening act, Natascha still needed a pause to conjure up their band name when she thanked them during her concert. Somehow, I don't reckon Race Horse saw a lot of Ms. Khan throughout the tour.
Onwards to the main act: The stage setup was sober and minimalistic; the only decorative element were lanterns attached to the various instruments on the stage, illuminating individually or in sync throughout several songs of the set.
Natascha emerged onto the stage, donned in what looked like the black and white dress with the generous back cleavage she wore for the 'All your gold' video. Unfortunately, she no longer tours with Charlotte Hatherley and Sarah Jones. This time around, her band consists of a female cello player, a drummer with electronic drumkit, a synth player who also does the piano on most tracks, and a guitar player. Due to electronic drumkit, I think all of the drums were played live, but like last tour, most/all of the bass parts were on tape (what Khan's objection to live bass players is exactly, we may never know).
Natascha kicked off the set with the opening track of her last album, Lilies. An emotional track, the "Thank God I'm alive"-outburst couldn't make up for the fact that the song is overly long, a flaw somewhat common among the tracks on the new album. On the upside however, Khan's voice was crystal clear, hitting all the high notes powerfully and with audible ease. A lot of directions were given to the sound engineer (this would continue on throughout the set), and standing up while simultaneously trying to sing and hit stuff with drumsticks always looks a bit silly in my book.
What's a girl to do, her breakthrough hit from 2007, still sounds fresh, mysterious and a bit eerie. Glass, the opening track from her previous album, is Bat For Lashes at her best, although I prefer the song with the parlando intro ("I will rise now / And go about the city / In the streets / Broadways I seek / Him whom my soul loveth"), which was left out. After three songs, it's already clear that Natascha really only has one dance move up her sleeve: the shoulder shake (a slo-mo shimmy?) with the occasional interpretative arm wave.
Continuing with another 'Two Suns'-track and the first appearance of Khan at her piano, Travelling woman. Not a standout track in my book. Not unlike last time, Khan sticks to the obvious and obligatory lines when addressing the audience ("Good evening Brussels!", "Is everyone feeling okay?", "Hope you're enjoying the new songs!").
Followed by three songs of the new album in succession: Oh yeah, driven by the synths and samples doesn't score points with me, All your gold is a good radio single that - for reasons unknown - isn't a radio single here in Belgium. Horses of the sun has a good bridge and chorus, but attention caves in hopelessly during the first verse, we don't reach the first bridge until about 1:15 in.
Staying put in equestrian atmospheres and with Khan back on piano, Horse and I didn't fail to shake the -appreciative, civilized and silent - crowd up a little with the up-tempo melody.
Not the biggest fan of the Laura-track (doesn't come close to the emotional range of her other piano ballads), but it works well live, and garnered the biggest round of applause of the set. I was surprised to see she left piano duties to her synthesizer player on this song.
Having worked through her full-albums in preparation for the concert, I was caught by surprise when she played Lumen, which I guess is non-album track, driven by a naive synth riff.
Another winner from 'Fur and Gold', Natascha and her band invited the audience to clap along to Prescilla. I wouldn't categorize myself as a big instrument connaisseur, but I think Natascha was playing some kind of lire on this song.
Wall with the "When you see a wall / I see a door"-chorus, is another synth-driven song of the new album that fails to really enthuse me.
Finishing off the regular part of the set with two tracks of 'Two Suns': Sleep alone with Khan on castagnettes and Pearl's dream.
The band returned for an encore: The title track from the new album 'The Haunted Man' features a sample from a men's choir. This was translated on stage with Natascha holding an vintage radio close to her microphone, out of which the sound of men's choir was played louder and louder. In itself, that was a weird and dull moment, but the finale, with Khan holding the radio with arms outstretched over her head, proclaiming "Still I´m holding out my hand / Standing by my haunted man / Yes, your ghosts have got me too / But it´s me and you / I can´t run..." was one of the better moments of the set in my opinion. Daniel was the predictable closing track of the set. But still a good song, I won't snub at it.
Overall, I was really glad to see Bat For Lashes again, and vocally and sonically, the show left little to be desired. Khan is a solid performer and tries to radiate that's she's happy to be on stage, however, she's not the extravert performer that can genuinly engage a crowd (thinking Florence Welsh here). Reading back my review from three years ago, the setlist was so much better then ('The wizard'!, 'Siren Song'!, 'Tahiti'!, 'Moon and moon'!), it's hard not to feel slightly disappointed. Interestingly enough, she played almost everything from the new album except for my two favourite songs ('Winter fields' and 'Marilyn'). Crossing my fingers that she'll come up with a fourth full album that will blow me away.
Setlist:
- Lilies
- What's a girl to do
- Glass
- Travelling woman
- Oh yeah
- All your gold
- Horses of the sun
- Horse and I
- Laura
- Lumen
- Prescilla
- Wall
- Sleep alone
- Pearl's dream
Encore:
- The Haunted Man
- Daniel
Saturday, November 3, 2012
We'll get to know your sad side...again...
Beach House - Wild
What better treat then a luscious new radio single by Beach House? 'Wild' hits all the right spots, a little summer feel to forget the dreary Belgian fall weather. You simply won't/can't hear anything quite as good as this on the radiowaves at the moment. I'm a little angry with myself for not getting tickets for their upcoming AB show, I'll have to make do with the good memories of their performance at De Kreun in May 2012.
SX - Gold
This three-piece from Kortrijk has a slight Beach House-feel, albeit with less guitar and more electronics. Apart from the title track and previous single 'Black Video', their new album 'Gold' contains some other gems.
Willow - Two Children
The 3D music video for their previous track 'Sweater' garnered some international attention and a couple of 100000 views on youtube, and Willow are now back with another single. Crossing the border into some classic The Edge riff-territories in the last riff right there.
Hooverphonic - Renaissance fair
Hooverphonic goes classic. Which isn't a big step away from what they've always done, let's not kid ourselves here. A track ideally suited towards Noemie's voice, so well done there, Alex.
Balthazar - Sinking ship
Strong candidate for next single from the 'Rats' album. Listened to the new Balthazar album, and it does not disappoint. Less bass, more violin, more Maarten Devoldere (and his typical vocal delivery). Recommended.
Montevideo ft Lara Chedraoui - Fate & Glory
Lara sailing away from the standard Intergalactic Lovers waters, and sounding quite groovy here. Excellent move by this Brussels band.
Blaudzun - Elephants
Another good single by one of the musical revelations among our neighbours in the north.
Bat For Lashes - Marilyn
This track was co-produced by Beck. Among the better tracks on the slightly disappointing new 'The Haunted Man' album. Still looking forward to her show at the AB at the end of the month though.
Lana Del Rey - Ride
Striking whiling the iron is hot, Del Rey (or more likely, her record company) is already re-releasing her debut album with some extra tracks. Ride is one of them. Even though I can't fully support 10 minute music videos for a track that's only standard length, I'm still on board of the Lana boat. What about you?
Jake Bugg - Two Fingers
Nice little track; the music press across the canal already branding Mr. Bugg 'the new Dylan' might be a little ambitious, however.
Ellie Goulding - Lights
In my last post, I proclaimed that Gouldings relationship with Skrillex is trumping whatever career she has at the moment, but seeing as this relationship appears to be defunct now, here's her new single! Standing up playing drums while simultaneously singing is always a little silly in my book.
Clock Opera - Into the mountains
Constructing a track around an arhythmic piano track is a formula Bombay Bicycle Club already mastered with their 'Shuffle' track, but still a nice introduction to this new band.
Disclosure - Latch
We know this guy from his Jessie Ware remix, and he's back with another excellent dubstep-light track with great vocals. The video is simple and effective, and slightly sticky. (Soulwax already had a similar concept for their 'When logics die' video years ago)
Breakbot - Baby, I'm yours
The Ed Banger music label used to be a big deal in the dance genre, Justice had their day and age but seems long forgotten in the dubstep era, so Busy P is turning towards more funky stuff, it seems.
Blende - Fake Love
I wish I could tell more about this, other than this track is released on Eskimo records, from Ghent nightlife fame. "Don't go messing with my heart/'cause it's gonna come back to you". Karma in a nutshell.
Candy Staton - Hallelujah anyway
You know Candy Staton from the original version of 'You got the love' (by The Source). The religious lyrics are almost gospel-like, but that voice is still something special.
The Rolling Stone - Doom and gloom
Even these rock dinosaurs got back together in the studio. Being more of a Beatles man myself, I have to admit this new single packs some punch and isn't half bad.
Band Of Horses - Knock knock
After the more fragile "Everything all the time" and "Cease to begin" albums, Ben Bridwell and his fellows decided to follow a more FM-rock route. But they can still whip out a good radio single every once in a while.
Carly Rae Jepsen - This kiss
I already featured the track in my previous post, but now, the music video is finally here. Disappointment reigns supreme however, the video can't hold my attention like the 'Call me maybe' one, maybe Ms. Jepsen is just lacking the stage presence that's necessary to pull off a (semi-)performance video. Disappointment too regarding the final mix of the track you hear in the official video. I've posted two videos below so you can compare yourself: the mix of the music video toned down the snare drum and synths, and mixed in more vocals and bass, instantly rendering the track less exciting and appealing, don't you think? My love for the thunderingly loud eighties snare drum might be making me slightly subjective here.
Nicki Minaj
Nicki Minaj is a phenomenon that's hard to ignore. Here in Europe, she had to wait for the commercial single 'Starship' to reach the charts, but in America, she's already a big star. She shares the eccentric wardrobe with Lady Gaga (but less fashionably correct and more cartoon-esque with flashy colours) and an exotic heritage with Rihanna (Riri is from Barbados, and Minaj has some Trinidadian roots). She's also a self-proclaimed schizophrenic, having several alter egos, of which Roman Zolanski is most frequently present on her latest albums.
I think my first real encounter with Nicki was at Dominos Pizza Gent. There I sat, reading some book or magazine, patiently awaiting my fastfood fix, when Big Sean's video suddenly popped up on the in-store tv screen. Needless to say, the video caught my attention and led me to stumble upon her 'Super Bass' video (which is really the only single from her musical output I could fully appreciate at the time).
Fast forward a year, and Nicki released a new album, and the new commercial direction was a letdown, with singles 'Starship' and 'Pound the alarm' even taking refuge in oh so contemporary dubstep breakdowns. Luckily, Nicki returns with the new single 'The Boys'.
The story goes like this: Cassie (you might remember her from the excellent 'Me & u' track a couple of years ago) was supposed to have a single out "Money on love", but due to some issues that never happened and the song stayed locked up in some record company vault somewhere, until someone tipped it off to Nicki, who wrote her own verses for the song but kept Cassies chorus parts. And did an excellent job at that. The video is almost NSFW material, but if these 2 artists feature in it of their own volition, I feel I should be able feature it on my blog as well. Let me stress again that I like the track for it's musical merits (the juxtaposition of Nickis sped up rap bits with the fragile chorus! the amazing Cassie break! the Daft Punk reference!...), although I'm also slightly powerless to the eye candy presented in the video. I'm still not really sure why the hair salon has to be burnt down exactly, but I can now pinpoint three distinct tattoo locations on Cassies body...
Nicki Minaj ft. Cassie - The boys
Big Sean ft Nicki Minaj - A$$
Cassie - Me and you
Nineties
The nineties will always be part of my musical DNA, and my love for the decade is still growing ever stronger. Scarce is a new discovery for me, in the 90s, female bass players were omnipresent and Scarce is no exception. I especially like the bridge towards the chorus in this track.
Slowdive was one of the biggest players in the shortlived shoegaze scene. The last minute of this track is hauntingly beautiful.
I never really got into the all-female Smack The Pony comedy show, but this parody of nineties girl pop band is spot on. They also do a real funny Natalie Imbruglia Torn spoof (no seperate link, but you can find it around the 4:00 mark here).
And closing off with one of the heaviest live show performances to see the light of day in the nineties, the almighty Hum absolutely destroying the studio.
Scarce - All Sideways
Slowdive - Catch the breeze
Napkin - Big roof
Hum - I'd like your hair long
The Greatest Switch
The Greatest Switch is a yearly top 100 of the best dance tracks, as voted by the listeners of Studio Brussel. Every year, I stumble across some classic tracks that I like, and I decided to list some for you guys. Even if you're not really a fan of dance music, you still owe to yourself to know the genre classics, right?
Jones & Stephenson - The First rebirth
Jeff Mills - The Bells
Vitalic - La rock 01
Proxy - Raven
Daft Punk - Rollin' and scratchin'
Laurent Garnier - Crispy bacon
S'Express - Theme from S'Express
New Beat
Correlated to both the 'Nineties' and 'The Greatest Switch' sections above, apart from the shoegaze scene, one of the nineties scene that keeps fascinating me is the New Beat scene from the late eighties/early nineties. Not only do I like the mid-tempo, dark music with the repetitive bass and loud snares, also the whole scene ranging from the smilies, the dress code and the dance moves never ceases to amaze me. Just to highlight one aspect: compared to the hypersexualised world of 2012 (well...just watch the Nicki Minaj ft. Cassie video above), the new beat dress code and dance moves seem oddly desexualised. Everybody's sweating his/her ass off in layers of clothes leaving only the head and hands uncovered (I'll dare you to find some hotpants or cleavage in any new beat video), and the dance moves are abstract and at best playful, but not sensual at all. Notwithstanding, the typical sideways two-step new beat dance move is pretty awesome.
Anyway, I decided to list some new beat classics (merely scratching the surface here). From the dark, slow Amnesia (with a contemporary Stephanie Clerckx or Fiona Mandos on vocals!) tracks to the more commercial Confettis, it's all good!
Amnesia - Ibiza & Hysteria
101 - Rock to the beat
Confetti's - C-day
Tragic Error - Tanzen
Friday, September 21, 2012
I flew beyond the sun before it was time
Belgium/Holland
Gepetto and the Whales - Duquesne's horse
Didn't make the top three in Humo's Rock Rally like everyone anticipated, but they're now two good radio singles ahead of the pack. Slight Fleet Foxes-feel with the gang vocals, but less 'campfirey'.
Marco Z - Endlessly be together
Haters gonna hate. I can't object to anything this catchy.
De Hoop - Sapjes overal
Don't miss Marieke Dilles playing around with fruit and juices in this video. No more (intentional) grammatical errors like in the last single, better danceability, more intended lyrical puns.
Faberyayo - Een echte
Who knew Faberyayo from De Jeugd Van Tegenwoordig fame had it in him to produce a radio-friendly, genuine love song? That's the power of love for you, right there.
Balthazar - The oldest of sisters
'Applause' by Balthazar is one of my favourite Belgian albums of the last years, so I'm looking forward to the new full-length 'Rats' coming out sometime before the end of the year. New single prominently features some brass parts (which band member is gonna play those?), and the bass is mixed to the background, which makes it less groovy than the 'Applause' tracks. Still hoping for some groovy tunes on the new album.
Across the border
The Killers - Runaways
Brendan F. exchanged the feathery shoulderpads for a leather jacket and the band seems to reconnect with the Sam's Town era both lyrically and musically. Perfectly suited for arena-sized venues.
Azari & III - Into the night
Azari & III still succesfully bringing back the nineties house vibes. Strongly recommended!
Passion Pit - Took a walk
Ultra-catchy track by the Masachusetts band, although the lyrics aren't as happy as you'd suspect from the melody.
Walk The Moon - Anna sun
Hard to resist, upbeat single. The vocal delivery reminds me of Jimmy Eat World a little.
Frank Ocean - Pyramids (part 1)
"Set the cheetahs on the loose". Frank Ocean single-handedly revolutionized the soul genre and all it took was one good euro-dance break. Oh, and maybe the whole coming out thing.
Jessie Ware - Wildest moments
Sober video to accompany this classy track.
Santigold - The Keepers
Just like previous single 'Disparate youth', this is an highly effective track by Santi White
The XX - Angels
The XX are back and didn't tinker with the winning formula. The dreamy guitar intro reminds me of Beach House, but Romy's hushed vocals do not miss the emotional spot.
Lianne La Havas - Is your love big enough?
Charming new artist, think Corinne Bailey Rae, but more extravert/extravagant.
JD McPherson - North side gal
The whole retro hype is going to be over some day soon, but JD McPherson is hopping the bandwagon.
Django Django - Storm
I could've sworn it was Lou Barlow singing this track. These Scots had an unsuspected breakthrough hit, but are struggling with a mediocre live reputation.
Graffiti Six - Free
This one's for the ladies; slightly raspy voice: check, good-looking fella: check check.
Miike Snow - The wave
These Swedes have such a good record when it comes to making radio singles, I almost take them for granted.
Purity Ring - Fineshrine
Nice little (and slightly eerie) elektropop tune, with some macabre lyrics "Cut open my sternum and pull my little ribs around you". Album's pretty good though, and they got a pretty rad live setup.
The Vaccines - Teenage icon
I like this new single by The Vaccines, can't say the full album was able to win me over on my first listen, however. Had to laugh at the Foo Fighters elevator music nod in the video though. To save you guys the Wikipedia adventure, Frankie Avalon was a teenage icon from the sixties, starring in several "beach party" themed movies.
Ellie Goulding - Anything can happen
This new single actually isn't half bad, but the media coverage of her romance with brostepper Skrillex is trumping whatever career she has at the moment.
Cat Power - Ruin
Happy to hear some Chan Marshall on the radio waves again. She's still a stunner at forty years old, short haired women = winning!
Grizzly Bear - Yet again
Didn't get the Grizzly Bear hype last time around, and this still does utterly nothing for me, I must say.
Two Door Cinema Club - Sleep alone
These Irish lads are still aiming for world domination, and they're getting closer one step at a time.
Isbells - Elation
Of course, the Bon Iver resemblance is all too obvious, but having a good Belgian clone around can't hurt now, can it?
Foo Fighters - Back and forth
The Foos doing what they do best.
Metal
Obituary - I'm in pain
Favourite metal track of the last months, Obituary nailing the mid-tempo death metal sound on the opening track of 'The End Complete' album. "the darkness falls beyond the grave!"
Mastodon - Oblivion
Admittedly, hopelessly overdue (mostly because never really got into the first single 'Divinations'), but I finally checked out the 'Crack The Skye' album by Mastodon.
It's no great departure from previous album Blood Mountain (which will probably always be my favourite), and with 7 songs above the five minute mark, probably not a good starting point for people that aren't familiar with the band. Listening to this album, I now have a better understanding why they decided to walk a different path with the 'The Hunter' album.
First song 'Oblivion' is probably the most radio-friendly single they had (before 'Curl of the burl' anyway), although the length of the guitar solo might be trying for people that aren't into metal.
Wikipedia trivia, apparently, this band was formed at a High On Fire concert in some basement. If that's not cool, then I don't know what is!
Misc
Kitty Pryde - Okay cupid
Hopelessly puberal but ever so hypnotic and addictive! Been vibing to this on endless repeat recently. Losing all my comic street cred right now, but I had to learn from Wikipedia that Kitty Pryde is a character from the Marvel universe. "I don't care how long it takes to get you after me I wrote our names on my binder/And everybody laughed at me/But it really doesn't matter, you are radder and cooler/A hooligan and my flattery makes me look like a fool again/You are a tool again."
Cher Lloyd - I want u back
UK X-Factor participant Cher Lloyd scoring a hit in the US, something her X-Factor mentor Cheryl Cole hasn't quite succeeded in yet. US and UK have a different version (US rapper Astro strangely only appears on the UK version) and even a different music video. Even though the US video seems to be more leggy, I'm leaning towards the UK video.
UK version
USA version
Carly Rae Jepsen - This kiss
Carly Rae going for gold with the follow-up for smash hit 'Call me maybe'. The single and video aren't even out yet, you heard it here first, folks! (Save yourself the trouble of trying to find a good live performance on youtube, they're all underwhelming at best.)
Overlooked
Dogs Die In Hot Cars
These Scottish five-piece had a string of radio singles back in 2004, but seems to have been forgotten ever since. A shame really, hearing back their only full length 'Please describe yourself', I still like it as much as I did back then. Jumpy rhythms, distinctive voice, and lyrics that try to deal with real subjects. Can't really put the finger on why they never went on to bigger things (the awkward band name? the hardly impressive live performances? ...)
'Lounger' (with the 'I get up when I like/wear anything I like/don't keep up with the cool/I'm making my own rules' chorus) used to be my unofficial personal anthem, and embarassingly at thirty-one, it kind of still is.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Concert review: New Order @ Lokerse Feesten 2012
So New Order played the Lokerse Feesten festival two days before they're supposed to appear in the Olympics closing ceremony, and I decided to go check them out.
Lokerse Feesten is organized in the city centre, and though I'm not going to criticize the festival as a whole of being 'non-cosy', the festival terrain definitely is.
Seeing as I don't rush during the weekends unless I have to, I missed The Charlatans, but no worries there. Got there in time to catch the gig by Royksopp, the played a nice set with a lot of hits, and some extra beats thrown in to get the people dancing. Bringing along the almighty Robyn to sing 'The girl and the robot' was a pleasant surprise.
New Order were supposed to start at fifteen past eleven, but some technical issues and issues with the backdrop gave them a fifteen minute delay.
Finally walking on to the stage Bernard adressed the crowd with "Cheers" and a - possibly sarcastic - "We hope you're going to have as much fun as we are".
First song was a three minute version of the instrumental Elegia.
Following up with Crystal, it became apparent immediately that Bernard's voice was having an off-day. He would continuously struggle with it throughout the set.
Next up, excellent single Regret from the 1993 'Republic' album.
Continuing to focus on more guitar-oriented tracks in the first half of the set, their track Ceremony from the very early days. For this track only, keyboard player Gillian switched to guitar.
Next up, the opening track from the 'Power, Corruption and Lies' album, Age of consent.
Rather unfortunately, the band then deemed it necessary to play the first Joy Division cover song. The industrial-like vibe didn't help Isolation much, and Bernard messing up the lyrics wasn't much help either.
Soldiering on with some of the post year 2K singles under the New Order moniker, Krafty and Here to stay.
After that, just before the set was about to collapse completely under they weight of too many mid-tempo, guitar-dominated tracks, time for a more synth-orientated trio, of which I managed to capture some video material (see below).
Bizarre love triangle is one of my favourite tracks, they didn't play the standard single version and not the extended dance remix one, bummer! Bernard called it "a track you might know", but in my recollection, it wasn't that big of a hit here in Belgium. He sang this track without holding on to his guitar, and his voice suddenly had some more power.
586 is the track on the 'Power, Corruption and Lies' where you think your cd or record player is failing because of the weird intro. I was happy to see an album track in the setlist.
The perfect kiss is another one of my all-time favourite New Order singles (no music video has ever had more band members giving awkward looks into the camera as the one for this track by Jonathan Demme), so one of the highlights of the set for me.
Continuing with the hit single madness, they tried to do something original with True faith by omitting the pulsating bassline, which was obviously the wrong decision.
Next up, the obligatory Blue Monday, in which Bernard walked off the stage periodically, only to appear when he had to perform vocals.
Last track of the regular setlist, Temptation, a song that appeared on the Trainspotting soundtrack.
The encore consisted of a rendition of Love will tear us apart (second Joy Division) that seemed ready for the Night of the Proms. No drive, no punch, no kick...pretty terrible.
Overall conclusions:
- despite this review being rather critical, I did enjoy the set and the only real downside was Bernard's voice not being up to par. From what I've read, the lack of enthousiasm in the band's onstage composure is something that has historically been part of the band's image.
- heard and saw a lot of people from The Netherlands, Germany, people speaking French, and even some Brits.
- I've heard comments about these shows about the bass being too loud in the present, but in Lokeren, the sound mix was balanced enough.
- not unhappy with the setlist, but instead of the stale Joy Division covers, I'd prefer to see them play some of their better album tracks ('Your silent face', 'Love vigilantes', 'This time of night', 'Face up') or crazy singles ('Fine Time'). But I guess this is their festival set, not going to argue with that.
Setlist: Elegia/Crystal/Regret/Ceremony/Age of consent/Isolation/Krafty/Here to stay/Bizarre love triangle/586/The perfect kiss/True faith/Blue monday/Temptation/(encore)Love will tear us apart
Here are my videos: Thanks for reading!
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Walked when I shoulda run. Ran when I shoulda walked. Walked when I should've run. Ran when I should've walked. Walked when I should have run. Ran when I should have walked.
This blog post is dedicated to this song by Jamie Woon.
Half of the views on my blog are from people googling the lyrics to find out what song and artist they're from.
That's why I decided to dedicate a seperate blog post to it, so people don't have to wade around a bunch of videos to eventually find the one they were looking for.
Feel free to check out my other blog posts as well. You might stumble upon some other gems along the way. :) Thanks for stopping by. Come again.
lyrics:
walked when i shoulda run ran when i shoulda walked and don't i know it and don't i know it walked when i shoulda run and i ran when i shoulda walked and don't i know it and don't i know it you get inside me even when you went beside me and i go into hiding and i know i never leave it alone 'nother round of if onlys of all the ways you can know me how i take time going slowly all the time that i did on my own still i walked when i shoulda run and i ran when i shoulda walked and don't i know it and don't i know it well i walked when i shoulda run and i ran when i shoulda walked and don't i know it and don't i know it and your head's in the ocean too deep to know where you're going hoping time can be frozen and you'll end up where you really belong but the days keep on rolling we live in different moments and our hurt is unfolding everyday that we do and we don't still i walked when i shoulda run and i ran when i shoulda walked and don't i know it and don't i know it well i walked when i shoulda run and i ran when i shoulda walked and don't i know it and don't i, don't i, don't i, know it no no no no no sign for what's been sign for what never the line under what's been the line for what never and the years are collected i pray that we are regretless you and i - the connected you and i and the blood and the bone
singles top 10 01/01/2012-30/06/2012
random order, more or less
Carly Rae Jepsen - Call me maybe
150 million youtube views can't be wrong. The "before you came into my life, I missed you so bad"-line makes no sense whatsoever.
Boy - Little numbers
This gem definitely deserves a little more airplay.
Hot Chip - Night and day
Azealia Banks - 212 (feat. Lazy Jay)
Will she be able to avoid the 'one hit wonder'-status?
Sam Sparro - Happiness (The Magician remix)
This song only reached the number one spot in one country (Belgium), and it's all thanks to this remix by The Magician.
Willow - Gold
Jay-Z & Kanye West - Ni**as in Paris
Bangerrrrr.
Lisa Hannigan - What'll I do?
Kavinsky ft. Lovefoxx - Nightcall
Major Lazer feat. Amber Coffman - Get free
File under 'laidback'. Great vocal performance. I'd love to see a live performance...
Saturday, June 9, 2012
It's all in a glance, you'll see
The Belgians
dEUS - Quatre mains
I can definitely appreciate the brooding, ominous atmosphere of dEUS' new single, propelled by a pulsating bassline and eerie synths.
Buscemi - Night people
The new effort by Dirk Swartenbroeckx has a nineties drum 'n' bass feel to it.
Sioen - Johnny, Mary, Tommy and the sun
The biggest accomplishment on this single is the fact that I had some trouble recognising it as a single by Sioen. It's usually a good sign when artists succeed in surprising their audience with something new. So well done there.
AKS - Round & Round
A(ddikted) K(ru) S(ounds) have been around since forever, but the Selah Sue endorsed collective now finally emerges with a radio-suited single. The slow-motion breakdown at the end is probably my favourite part.
School Is Cool - The underside
Yet another single from the 'Entropology' album that fails to disappoint. It's nice to see they're remaining ever ambitious on the music video front.
Dallas - Take it all
At first, I assumed this was a comeback single by Vanessa Paradis. Time will have to tell if trading an acting career for a singing career was really the right move for Veerle Baetens.
Intergalactic Lovers - Feel for you
I love the bumpy rhythm and vocal performance on this laidback track.
Misc
The Asteroids Galaxy Tour - The golden age
Moving from Intergalactic Lovers to The Asteroids Galaxy Tour seems like a short step, doesn't it. Apart from the almighty The Cure, one of the few things that stood out in the hopelessly bland Pinkpop 2012 report. They're a Danish band, specialized in bubblegum-pop with some retro elements. This single 'The golden age' is from a couple years back.
The Asteroids Galaxy Tour - Heart attack
And this is their most recent single, called 'Heart attack'. You'll notice their music videos tend to focus on the frontwoman of the band, you won't hear me complaining about that.
Beach House - Lazuli
Beach House produced a spacy video to accompany the second single 'Lazuli' from their 'Bloom' album. Their sauna-like show @ De Kreun a couple weeks back did not disappoint.
Beach House - The Hours
But this would have to be my favourite on the new album. The sonic equivalent of chilling on a deserted island, in the sun, cocktail in hand.
Lisa Hannigan - What'll I do?
Will this be the breakthrough single for Damien Rice's former partner in crime? Catchy to say the least.
Hot Chip - Night and day
The new single by Hot Chip sounds exactly how I was hoping it would sound. Never change a winning team.
Martin Solveig - The night out
Martin Solveig never really disappoints, and as seemingly always, he features in his own music video (which - you have to admit - is atypical for a dj), which is set in the city of Paris.
Garfunkel and Oates - 29/31
Riki "Garfunkel" Lindholme (the blonde) and Kate "Oates" Micucci (the brunette; pretty much an Italian-American version of Sofie Lemaire, but you know, a version that's genuinly talented and funny) are 2 actresses/comedians/songwriters that team up to make songs about topics that are funny or controversial. This one right here is a gem of true genius, written from the perspective of a 29 year and a 31 year old woman. Sometimes, the truth hurts, but in this track, the truth maims and takes no prisoners whatsoever. "your negativity is a self-fulfilling prophecy/the reason things go well for me is cause of positivity/well I'm positive fertility always begins to atrophy/when infantile fantasy eclipses through reality", that is just wow.
Garfunkel and Oates - Handjob/Blandjob/Idontunderstandjob
Here's another one of their best efforts. LSFW not because of nudity, but because it might result in uncontrollable laughter. This is the lyric version, the official video with actual rap moves is also worth a watch though.
Boy - Little numbers
Last minute addition. Boy, a German-Swiss pop-duo, has an undeniable Feist-vibe going on. Which is hard to dislike.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
We don't need no money, we can make it all work
The best
Grimes - Nightmusic
This is unreal. Likely the best thing you'll hear all year. It's semi-live, I've heard the album version, and this version is the best one.
Carly Rae Jepsen - Call me maybe
And this is probably the best thing we'll hear in the commercial aisle of the music store for the time being.
The electronic/dance
Parachute Youth - Can't get better than this
Intro could've been from a song by The XX. Then the killer echoing bass line kicks in.
Major Lazer feat. Amber Coffman - Get free
Not quite the dance floor mover that was 'Pon De Floor', this more laidback track relies on the meandering vocals by one of the singers in Dirty Projectors.
Goose - Real
Goose once again are trying to reinvent themselves. This new single needs a few listens to really catch on.
Netsky - Come alive
Belgian DJ Netsky steering away from pure drum 'n' bass into more poppy realms.
Azealia Banks - 212 (feat. Lazy Jay)
The contrast between the foul language and the Mickey Mouse shirt with the braids doing silly dances in the video really works well in my opinion. I've seen this one in effect at a party, it's a real bangerrrr.
Charlotte Gainsbourgh - Anna (Moonlight Matters remix)
Really like the repetitive synth melody on this remix.
Sam Sparro - Happiness (The Magician remix)
After the success of the Lykke Li remix, The Magician is on a hot streak. The oriental elements on this one are pretty original, I think.
Santigold - Disparate youth
The new track by Santigold really hits the spot.
Chromatics - Kill for love
Some trivia: Even though they didn't make the soundtrack, apparently this band was the great sonic inspiration for the music on the Drive soundtrack.
Jay-Z & Kanye West - Ni**as in Paris
"THAT SHIT CRAY!" This cheap keyboard melody sounds a lot more fun than all the Otis Redding samples they paid fortunes for.
The rock/pop
Of Monsters and Men - Little talks
Sounds a bit like an Islandic Arcade Fire to me. The track wouldn't be half as good without the 'Hey'-shouts.
Spector - Grey shirt and tie
Going for the classy synthpop look. Vocals remind me of something I can't quite put the finger on.
Other Lives - Tamer animals
Things are a little quiet surrounding The National now, but no worries, here's Other Lives, and they sound pretty similar.
Mayor Hawthorne - Dreaming
Leave it to Mayor Hawthorne to emerge with a good radio-suited poppy single every once in a while.
Tribes - Sappho
New English band Tribes sounding rather nineties on this single.
Jack White - Sixteen saltines
Jack White in full on White Stripes mode.
The Black Keys - Gold on the ceiling
Another smash hit. The power chord bridge to the chorus is unfuckwithable.
Fun - We are young
It's a pretty commercial track, but with a slight edge. The slow motion video's pretty cool too. Janelle Monae not doing a whole lot on this track.
Silversun Pickups - Bloody Mary
I would be lying if I told you I was truly blown away by the Silversun Pickups track, but it's nice to see they're still going.
Django Django - Default
These Scots are all the hype right now. Trivia: They claim their band name choice had nothing to do with Django Reinhardt.
Lana Del Rey - Blue jeans
Lana delivers yet another track for the couples and hopeless romantics out there.
The Me In You - Plastik
Good radio track by this five piece from Limburg, Belgium.
Mark Lanegan - Harborview hospital
I'm appreciative of the easy-going flow on this new Mark Lanegan track.
Ben Howard - Fear
Ben Howard is a folk artist from South Devon, UK. Female percussionists are always a plus.
Das Pop - Thunder and lightning
It's hard to resist the enthousiasm and Prince references on the new Das Pop effort. Good summer single material. Haters gonna hate.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Some major/minor plagiarism going on...
...in these 3 videos:
The new David Guetta couldn't possibly rip off Daft Punk more, don't you think?
This track definitely owes the keyboard sound and a couple of notes to the following Yazoo track:
And the background vocals in the new song by The Hives reminds me of an ELO track: next blog post scheduled for late May, early June!
This track definitely owes the keyboard sound and a couple of notes to the following Yazoo track:
And the background vocals in the new song by The Hives reminds me of an ELO track: next blog post scheduled for late May, early June!
Friday, March 16, 2012
Time gets harder to outrun
Grimes - Genesis
Stunning and hard to define track by Claire Boucher under the moniker Grimes. Can't recommend this enough!
Beach House - Myth
New track! They were my favourite gig at the Pukkelpop 2010 festival. They play De Kreun 25th of May and you now officially no longer have an excuse not to go get overwhelmed.
Black Breath - I am beyond
Perfect soundtrack to a scientific experiment entitled: "Is it possible for a human being to self-decapitate through vigorous headbanging?".
Azari & III - Reckless with your love
The new Azari & III shamelessly rips off some well-known nineties dance tracks (Big Fun by Inner City and to a lesser extent Plastic Dreams by Jaydee), but the end result is hard to argue with.
Todd Terje - Inspector Norse
Guess I'm a sucker for mid-tempo dance tracks with disco vibes. Remember the The Swiss track from a couple of months back, and now this one, by an Scandinavian DJ whose - purposefully? - resembles Todd Terry, the dance music pioneer.
Kavinsky ft. Lovefoxx - Nightcall
Biggest soundtrack hit of the/last year.
Bed Rugs - What does it mean?
A rock song with a breakdown?
School Is Cool - Warpaint
The group vocals in the middle part of the track is what makes this one stand out.
Blaudzun - Flame on my head
A Dutchman with a pretty outrageous haircut (move over, Koen Buyse), but presenting a track with international allure.
Goodwill & Hook N Sling - Take You Higher
Nice, danceable update from an Angus & Julia Stone track called 'Big Jet Plane'.
Ladyhawke - Black, white and blue
Ladyhawke is finally back, this new track fails to convince however and the awful mix of this youtube video isn't helping much either.
Yasmin ft Shy FX & Ms Dynamite - Light Up (The World)
Sounds VERY Katy B-esque.
Lana Del Rey - Born to die
I like the watery-sounding percussion at the start of the track. I've read that some of the tracks on her debut album are disappointing, but this one is definitely up there with Video Games.
Emeli Sandé - Next To Me
The melody in the "You will find him/you will find him next to me"-line in itself makes the whole track worthwhile.
The Vaccines - Wetsuit
Liked this one as an album track but wouldn't have predicted it was going to score this well as a single. Still crossing fingers for Norgaard as next single.
Delilah - Love you so
This track from this singer we got to know from a Chase & Status single got filed under "definitely enjoyable" in the ISaSaPla-office.
Willow - Gold
Not the best vocalist (or lyrics for that matter) ever, but nothing the youthful enthusiasm can't make up for.
Feist - The bad in each other
Music starts at about 50 seconds in, with one of the best riffs of the year so far.
Gepetto and The Whales - Juno
Nothing wrong with this debut single from these Rock Rally favourites.
Chairlift - Met before
The new album by Chairlift- from what I've read about it - supposedly sounds very eighties. 'Met before' is the international single, but on national radio, they seem to prefer 'Ghost tonight'.
Alabama Shakes - Hold on
This song sounds like it could've been recorded forty years ago. Which was probably the intention all along.
Rise And Fall - Hidden hands
Single from the new "Faith" album that perfectly encapsulates the R&F sound.
Oathbreaker - Glimpse of the unseen
Slow, well built up, almost groovy track. Personally, I'm digging the new, heavier vocal style.
And now for something completely different: Last weekend, I saw 'The Room', which is now - shrewdly - marketed as being "the best worst movie ever". It was definitely bad, and mostly hilarious. A lot of random stuff happens, plot holes everywhere and awful acting. The dialogue is what makes it funny and bearable, with Tommy Wiseau dubbing his own lines in bad English with a heavy accent. My favourite: "Thanks for the party, honey...You invited all my friends...good thinking!"
Saw Los Abrazas Rotos by Pedro Almodovar, starring Penelope Cruz last month. Recommended! Vicky Christina Barcelona and Volver are also worth watching in my book.
House MD
Caught up on some old House MD episodes, and I'm really bummed now about missing most of season 4-5, where House is weeding out applicants for a new diagnostic team after disbanding the previous one. Definitely want to see more on how the Wilson-Amber connecting came into existence.
Awesome
- Hadley (Thirteen)
- Taub
- Cuddy
- Wilson
Good
- Park
- Kutner
- Volakis (Amber)
Meh
- Adams
Booooorrrriinnngg
- Cameron
- Chase
- Foreman
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)