The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future

One of my favorite bands, Los Campesinos!, have a new song available as a free download. It's a more mature departure from their previously established sound, but has all of their typical cleverness.

Neglect

Last.fm will now be charging for its radio service if you are not a resident of the US, the UK, or Germany. Obviously, advertising isn't doing quite as much for them as they hoped it would. I'm not sure what this will mean for users outside those three countries. I know I wouldn't pay for it, but then I don't use the radio feature very often.

Lately I've been listening to:
Beirut - The Flying Club Cup
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Johnny Flynn - A Larum
Los Campesinos! - We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
Peter Bjorn and John - Living Thing

Nothing too earth-shattering, but it's a good time for chill music.

No You Girls

Oh dear, there hasn't been much to post about over the past week or so, I'm still wallowing in my Watchmen obsession. However, Franz Ferdinand's newest single will be "No You Girls," which is easily my favourite track from Tonight. Here's the video.



Also, Gossip Girl is finally back, sort of. \o/

BLUR BLUR BLUR BLUR BLUR

PERFORMING TOGETHER AHHHHH I CAN'T BELIEVE IT.

INTERVIEW


OH, AND PETE AND CARL.

Brit awards results

Bolded are the winners, underlined are my picks.

British Album:
Coldplay - Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends
Duffy - Rockferry
Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
Radiohead - In Rainbows
The Ting Tings - We Started Nothing
While I try to not rate everything from a scale of 1 to Radiohead, In Rainbows is just so wonderful.

British Group:
Coldplay
Elbow
Girls Aloud
Radiohead
Take That

British Single:
Adele - Chasing Pavements
Alexandra Burke - Hallelujah
Coldplay - Viva La Vida
Dizzee Rascal featuring Calvin Harris and Chrome - Dance Wiv Me
Duffy - Mercy
Estelle ft Kanye West - American Boy
Girls Aloud - The Promise
Leona Lewis - Better in Time
Scouting for Girls - Heartbeat
The X Factor Finalists - Hero
I genuinely do like Mercy, and American Boy really grew on me after hearing it so often during the summer.

British Male Solo Artist:
Ian Brown
James Morrison
Paul Weller
The Streets
Will Young

British Female Solo Artist:
Adele
Beth Rowley
Duffy
Estelle
M.I.A.
Seriously, M.I.A. is too fierce for words.

British Breakthrough Act:
Adele
Duffy
The Last Shadow Puppets
Scouting For Girls
The Ting Tings
Oh, Alex Turner, you've grown up so much.

British Live Act:
Coldplay
Iron Maiden
Scouting For Girls
The Verve
Elbow

International Album:
AC / DC - Black Ice
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
The Killers - Day & Age
Kings of Leon - Only By The Night
MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
Day & Age was such a letdown. Meanwhile, there's not a song I don't love on Oracular Spectacular.

International Group:
AC / DC
Fleet Foxes
The Killers
Kings of Leon
MGMT
I kind of feel like the Killers and Kings of Leon have already gotten their dues in the UK, but I don't know what their records are like award-wise, at least not with Kings of Leon. But no seriously, I think I might have thought that Kings of Leon were British at one point because all I saw was people from the UK raving about them.

International Male Solo Artist:
Beck
Neil Diamond
Jay-Z
Kanye West
Seasick Steve

International Female Solo Artist:
Beyonce
Gabriella Cilmi
Katy Perry
Pink
Santogold
I don't know much about Gabriella Cilmi except that she was rather irritating on Buzzcocks.

Critics' Choice Award winner:
Florence & The Machine

Producer of the Year:
Bernard Butler

Apparently along with Katy Perry puking backstage, Jared Followill's ladyfriend got into a fight after spotting her boyfrand flirting with someone else. I'm not sure why you would try to pursue a serious relationship with a member of Kings of Leon--I think I knew that all of them were banging a different groupie every night before I actually heard any of their music. In other news, Matthew Followill has announced that KOL's next album will be "a little grungier," which can only be a good thing.

Photo by riotonsunset.

New Maccabees Video: "No Kind Words"

The video features Matt Horne and Matthew Baynton from Gavin & Stacey.



I'm digging their new sound--it seems sharper, darker, and I have half a chance of understanding the words. I also quite like Matt Horne; he was hilarious on Buzzcocks, especially when he and Martin Freeman were exchanging sighs and wistful glances, haha. I really need to get around to watching more of Gavin & Stacey, I've only seen the first few episodes. I still have my dedication to the original cast of The History Boys, though I wasn't quite dedicated enough to see Valkyrie.

The Arcadian dream

Carl Barat refuses to reunite the Libertines

Once again, not unsurprising, yet still sad. I wish dear Carlos all the best in his future endeavours.

No, you can't stand me now

Carl Barat turns down Libertines reunion for Reading and Leeds

Oh, Carl. Yes, we know that you're getting into acting (and apparently New Age as well), but would it hurt to just play one festival and have your old band be paid £2 million for it? Blur are doing it!*



*Carl obviously has reason to still not trust Pete completely, but oh man it would be amazing if they could briefly reform.

I wish I could dance like Thom Yorke

If I was in the USC marching band, I'd probably be thinking, "Well, I guess I can die happy now, because my life can never be more epic than it was during the four minutes I spent performing with Radiohead at the 51st Grammy Awards."

Little Obsessions: The Lonely Island - Incredibad

The Lonely Island's album Incredibad leaked, and it is so amazing that I'm not even going to try to start talking about how much I love it.

I'M ON A BOAT

New Kills Video: "Black Balloon"

New music video from Indie Rock's Queen Of Chain-Smoking Ferocity and The Guy That Kate Moss Dated After Pete Doherty. While this wasn't my favorite song off of Midnight Boom, I still can't believe how good that album is. I like the soft, faded colours, they really match the minimalist sound of the song. However, this will now extend the period of time in which we will have to deal with magazine articles about how vampires are so hot right now.

Leaked Bonnaroo line-up; Little Obsessions: MGMT

picture by joostvanderdeelen

Electric Feel - MGMT

The Bonnaroo line-up has leaked.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Phish (2 Shows)
Beastie Boys
Nine Inch Nails
David Byrne
Wilco
Al Green
Snoop Dogg
Elvis Costello (Solo)
Erykah Badu
Paul Oakenfold
Ben Harper and Relentless7
The Mars Volta
TV on the Radio
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Gov’t Mule
Andrew Bird
Merle Haggard
MGMT
moe.
The Decemberists
Girl Talk
Bon Iver
Béla Fleck & Toumani Diabate
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Galactic
Band of Horses
The Del McCoury Band
of Montreal
Allen Toussaint
Coheed and Cambria
Booker T & the DBTs
David Grisman Quintet
Lucinda Williams
Animal Collective
Gomez
Neko Case
Down
Jenny Lewis
Santogold
Robert Earl Keen
Citizen Cope
Femi Kuti and the Positive Force
The Ting Tings
Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
Kaki King
Grizzly Bear
King Sunny Adé
Okkervil River
St. Vincent
Zac Brown Band
Raphael Saadiq
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
Crystal Castles
Tift Merritt
Brett Dennen
Mike Farris and the Roseland Rhythm Revue
Toubab Krewe
People Under the Stairs
Alejandro Escovedo
Vieux Farka Touré
Elvis Perkins In Dearland
Cherryholmes
Yeasayer
Todd Snider
Chairlift
Portugal. The Man.
The SteelDrivers
Midnite
The Knux
The Low Anthem
Delta Spirit
A.A. Bondy
The Lovell Sisters
Alberta Cross

I tried watching some videos of MGMT live and didn't think they sounded particularly good; however, I think if I was personally thrashing around in a field with strangers offering me free drugs left and right, seeing them would be an amazing experience. I've been on a huge MGMT kick for the past few days. I have so much new music to be listening to, but I keep coming back to Oracular Spectacular, especially "Electric Feel," the song that properly got me into Pitchfork's favorite slutty hippies. Like many other people, "Time To Pretend" was my first exposure to MGMT, back in that phase last spring when everyone and their dog was lost in vacant-eyed fantasies about running away to Paris. I thought it was a good song, but I wasn't immediately obsessed. When I heard "Electric Feel," the appeal finally clicked. Maybe it doesn't evoke any romantic visions of the stereotypical rockstar lifestyle, but it's catchy, it's sexy, and I like it so much that I actually got excited when I heard it on an episode of Gossip Girl.

Belated bits of news, name change

• Flight of the Conchords are playing Nashville's historic Ryman Auditorium and it will be amazing
• Empire has some new promo photos for The Boat That Rocked, one of my most anticipated 2009 films. The Boat That Rocked, a comedy about a pirate radio station in the 60s, features Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Rhys Ifans, Nick Frost, Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Rhys Darby (Gingerballs ♥), Tom Sturridge, Talulah Riley, Gemma Arterton, and January Jones. With a cast like that, how could you not be ridiculously excited for this film?
• The new Lily Allen album leaked
  
• A nearly-naked photo of Morrissey may be viewed here if you wish to permanently change the way you think about Morrissey
• Franz Ferdinand recently visited Zane Lowe and played a great set at Maida Vale, and Alex Kapranos had a backstage chat with NME.com
  

I've also changed the name to Rushmore Academics, as Are You At The Pictures? was a bit too long for my liking.

Coachella line-up announced

The Coachella line-up is as followed. Bolded are the acts that make me wish I could teleport.

DAY ONE
A Place To Bury Strangers
Alberta Cross
Bajofondo
Beirut
Buraka Som Sistema
Cage the Elephant
Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band
Craze and Klever
Crystal Castles
Dear and the Headlights
Felix da Housecat
Franz Ferdinand
Genghis Tron
Ghostland Observatory
Girl Talk
Gui Boratto
Leonard Cohen
Los Campesinos!
M. Ward
Molotov
Morrissey
N.A.S.A.
Noah and the Whale
Patton & Rahzel
Paul McCartney
Peanut Butter Wolf
People Under the Stairs
Ryan Bingham
Silversun Pickups
Steve Aoki
Switch
The Crystal Method
The Aggrolites
The Airborne Toxic Event
The Black Keys
The Bug
The Courteeners
The Hold Steady
The Knux
The Presets
The Ting Tings
We Are Scientists
White Lies

DAY TWO
Amanda Palmer
Amy Winehouse
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti
Atmosphere
Band Of Horses
Billy Talent
Blitzen Trapper
Bob Mould Band
Booker T
Calexico
Cloud Cult
Crookers
Dr. Dog
Drive By Truckers
Drop The Lime
Electric Touch
Fleet Foxes
Gang Gang Dance
Glass Candy
Glasvegas
Henry Rollins
Hercules and Love Affair
Ida Maria
James Morrison
Liars
Mastodon
Michael Franti & Spearhead
MSTRKRFT
Surkin, Para One (Live)
Superchunk
The Bloody Beetroots
The Killers
Thenewno2
Thievery Corporation
Tinariwen
TRAV$DJ-AM
Turbonegro
TV On The Radio
Zane Lowe
Zizek

DAY THREE
Antony and the Johnsons
Brian Jonestown Massacre
Christopher Lawrence
Clipse
Friendly Fires
Fucked Up
Gaslight Anthem
Groove Armada (DJ Set)
Jenny Lewis
Junior Boys
K'naan
Late of the Pier
Lupe Fiasco
Lykke Li
M.A.N.D.Y.
Marshall Barnes
Mexican Institute of Sound
My Bloody Valentine
No Age
Okkervil River
Paolo Nutini
Paul Weller
Perry Farrell
Peter Bjorn and John
Public Enemy
Roni Size
Sebastien Tellier
Shepard Fairey
Supermayer
The Cure
The Horrors
The Kills
The Night Marchers
Themselves
Throbbing Gristle
Vivian Girls
X
Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Basically, I would give up chocolate for a year and punch a grandma for day one alone.

I believe in Patrick Wolf

Bandstocks are now available for non-UK residents. Bandstocks is such a blatantly obvious idea that it's no surprise that it hasn't really been done before. If I was still a music business major, I'd be having a lot of fun talking about this.

http://www.patrickwolf.com/tribewolfinternational/

Song of the Moment: Black Lips - "O Katrina!"

O Katrina! - The Black Lips

I'd first had the delightfully raucous Black Lips recommended to me quite a while ago, but never really gotten around to listening to their music. With news of their recent escapades in India being all over the place, I finally decided to properly check them out. I can't stop listening to "O Katrina!" from their 2007 album Good Bad Not Evil. For a song about a natural disaster, it's surprisingly upbeat. Why did I not listen to this band sooner?

NME Awards shortlist

The shortlist is up for the NME Awards and voting is open. The nominees:

Best British Band
Bloc Party
The Last Shadow Puppets
Muse
Oasis
Radiohead
(As much as I love Bloc Party and the Last Shadow Puppets, they can't compare to Radiohead.)

Best International Band
Crystal Castles
The Killers
Kings Of Leon
MGMT
Vampire Weekend
(Kings Of Leon are probably going to end up getting this at the rate that they're going, especially because they were big in the UK first.)

Best Solo Artist
Ladyhawke
Laura Marling
Lightspeed Champion
Jay-Z
Pete Doherty
(Interesting mix. As much as I still love Pete Doherty, I'll be voting for Laura Marling.)

Best New Band
Glasvegas
Late Of The Pier
MGMT
Vampire Weekend
White Lies
(Glasvegas are even more overrated than "Sex On Fire," and that's saying a lot.)

Best Live Band
The Killers
Kings Of Leon
Muse
Oasis
Radiohead
(I can't really judge fairly on this, as I've only seen Kings Of Leon live--they were quite solid, though. However, judging from my old collection of bootlegs, Brandon Flowers can't sing live.)

Best Album
Bloc Party – 'Intimacy'
Glasvegas – 'Glasvegas'
The Killers – 'Day & Age'
Kings Of Leon – 'Only By The Night'
Oasis – 'Dig Out Your Soul'
(I'm going to go with Bloc Party on this one. Day & Age was just not good.)

Best Track
Kings Of Leon – 'Sex On Fire'
The Last Shadow Puppets – 'The Age Of The Understatement'
MGMT – 'Time To Pretend'
The Ting Tings – 'That's Not My Name'
Vampire Weekend – 'A-Punk'
(Anything besides "Sex On Fire," please. Personally, I prefer "Oxford Comma" and "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" to "A-Punk" and "Kids" and "Electric Feel" to "Time To Pretend.")

Best Video
The Last Shadow Puppets – 'My Mistakes Were Made For You'
Late Of The Pier – 'Heartbreak'
Oasis – 'The Shock Of The Lightning'
Radiohead – 'House Of Cards'
Vampire Weekend – 'A-Punk'
(The "House Of Cards" video was pretty cool.)

Best Live Event
Glastonbury
Isle Of Wight
Reading and Leeds
T In The Park
V Festival

Best TV Show
Gavin & Stacey
The IT Crowd
The Mighty Boosh
Never Mind The Buzzcocks
Skins
(Simon Amstell, please be my best friend. While I do watch Skins, I can't say that it's actually good.)

Best Film
The Dark Knight
Juno
Quantum Of Solace
Twilight
Wall-E
(What is this list? You'd think that NME readers would be too pretentious for Twilight.)

Best Dancefloor Filler
Bloc Party – 'Mercury'
Crystal Castles – 'Courtship Dating'
Dizzee Rascal & Calvin Harris – 'Dance Wiv Me'
Friendly Fires – 'Paris'
Late Of The Pier – 'Bathroom Gurgle'

Best DVD
Arctic Monkeys – 'At The Apollo'
Foo Fighters – 'Live At Wembley Stadium'
Kaiser Chiefs – 'Live At Elland Road'
Muse – 'HAARP'
The Rolling Stones – 'Shine A Light'

Hero Of The Year
Alex Turner
Barack Obama
Brandon Flowers
Noel Fielding
Noel Gallagher
(It's got to be Obama. Or at least not Noel Gallagher.)

Villain Of The Year
Amy Winehouse
George Bush
Gordon Brown
John McCain
Pete Doherty

Best Dressed
Alex Turner
Alexa Chung
Brandon Flowers
Noel Fielding
Noel Gallagher
(Not going to lie, I still like Alexa Chung, she has some cute outfits sometimes.)

Worst Dressed
Amy Winehouse
Brandon Flowers
Johnny Borrell
Katy Perry
Pete Doherty
(What does Brandon Flowers even wear nowadays? In my mind, he hasn't shifted a day away from salmon pink Dior jackets.)

Worst Album
Britney Spears – 'Circus'
Coldplay – 'Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends'
Jonas Brothers – 'A Little Bit Longer'
Razorlight – 'Slipway Fires'
Scouting For Girls – 'Scouting For Girls'
(I tried listening to that Razorlight album just to make fun of it. I succeeded.)

Worst Band
Fall Out Boy
Jonas Brothers
Oasis
Scouting for Girls
Tokio Hotel

Sexiest Male
Carl Barat
Keith Murray
Matt Bellamy
Miles Kane
Pete Doherty
(Keith Murray definitely deserves this. Dear Heathus, he is far too attractive.)

Sexiest Female
Alison Mosshart
Hayley Williams
Kate Jackson
Lykke Li
Stephanie Dosen
(I can't decide between Kate and Alison. Someday, I hope to be a fraction as fierce as either of them. I can't wait for Kate's solo stuff, I hope it's good!)

Best Website
Bebo
Facebook
Last FM
MySpace
YouTube

Best Venue
Brixton Academy
Manchester Apollo
London Astoria
Glasgow Barrowlands
London O2 Arena

Best Album Artwork
The Cure – '4:13 Dream'
Guillemots – 'Red'
The Killers – 'Day & Age'
Muse – 'HAARP'
We Are Scientists – 'Brain Thrust Mastery'
(I love the Brain Thrust Mastery artwork, the cougar photoshoot amuses me much more than it should. Also, that tasteful black/white/gold combination is delectable. So is Keith Murray. I need to stop talking now.)

Best Band Blog
Foals
Lightspeed Champion
Little Boots
Noel Gallagher/Oasis
Radiohead

The International Tweexcore Underground

I just got in from seeing Titus Andronicus and Los Campesinos! at Exit/In. Have a few of my poorly-organised thoughts.

I'd never heard anything by Titus Andronicus before, but I quite enjoyed their set. I'm absolutely horrible at comparing bands, so at first I thought they sounded vaguely like a more upbeat version of the Whigs. By the end, I realised that I am even worse at comparing bands than I previously thought I was. I'll have to check out some of their properly recorded stuff, I really enjoyed them, they had great energy.

Los Campesinos! were down a member, as one of the girls was ill. Still, they put on a solid show and were every bit as adorable as I expected them to be. Frontman Gareth has a stage presence that is vaguely reminiscent of a mixture of Martin Freeman and a nervous schoolboy, often adding illustrative hand gestures or singing with his hands clasped behind his back. I wasn't as familiar with their new album (We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed) as I wanted to be before the show, but oh well. They started off with "All Your Keyfabe Friends" and it sounded great.

The female vocals seemed kind of weak, but that could have been a sound problem, and they were missing a member. Considering the large quantity of instruments involved, everything was pulled off beautifully. Highlights: "You! Me! Dancing!"; "Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks"; and "Drop It Doe Eyes." I wish they'd played "It Started With A Mixx," but oh well.

I wonder how old the drummer is, he looked quite young. At the encore, he came out with toilet paper wrapped around his head and draped in a Welsh flag that someone had thrown onstage earlier, which was quite amusing. There was also a part during "Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks" where Gareth jumped off of the stage, crossed the floor, and stood on one of the tables in the back.

Afterwards, I had the pleasure of having a wee conversation at the merch stand with Gareth about Torchwood/Doctor Who and how Skins is an inaccurate representation of teenage life. What a sweetheart. ♥

Warchild: Heroes tracklisting

Warchild: Heroes tracklisting

This looks great! I can't wait to hear Hot Chip covering "Transmission," it already sounds epic. Franz Ferdinand doing "Call Me" should be pretty good, too. Lily Allen's Clash cover will probably be pretty interesting.

The making of Tonight: Franz Ferdinand

I love that they've returned to the more raw production style of their first album, which I always thought was really refreshing. It was almost disappointing to have everything cleaned up on You Could Have It So Much Better, compared to the way they recorded all of the instruments together on the self-titled album. The Survey of Recording Technology class that I took when I was still a music business major gave me a rudimentary understanding of how much the recording space contributes to the sound, and it's obvious that this was recorded in an environment with many stories behind it rather than some studio. (That isn't to say that buildings specifically planned to be studios can't be fascinating, I've toured RCA Studio B and there's certainly a great history to it.) It's somewhat strange that a dance album with significantly more electronic elements than their previous work would be so organic-sounding, but it works for them.