A whole bunch of new music has come in. Good news, huh?
Radiohead’s masterpiece, OK Computer was originally released in 1997, but has since been given the deluxe re-issue treatment that is so trendy right now. So now in addition to the full album you get an extra disc with all the b-sides from the singles, live tracks and remixes. If that isn’t enough, we have the same deal, but with 2001’s Amnesiac. Hours of Radiohead!
Whilst on the subject of influential British bands getting re-issued, there’s a couple of Beatles albums new to the shelves that’ve been given a loving remastering. 1967’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and 1968’s The Beatles (or the White Album as it’s most commonly known). These two records find the Fab Four at the peak of their studio wizardry and experimentation. Essential.
Band Of Horses aren’t actually a band of horses, rather a band of bearded gentlemen who play alt-country. It’s a good thing when you really think about it, because after the novelty of musical equines wore off it would become all too apparent they couldn’t really play instruments with their hooves and everything. Anyway Infinite Arms is perfect for the indie kid who digs folk rock.
In between jumping motorbikes over things, the Crusty Demons do more than a bit of compiling shouty metal onto CDs. Latest shouty metal compilation, Crusty demons : beyond the Apocalypse continues the trend. Featuring tracks from Slipknot, Fear Factory, 30 Seconds To Mars, Audioslave and a whole lot more spread over two discs.
More deluxe re-issuing, this time for the late, great Jimi Hendrix. His 1967 classic, Axis : Bold As Love now comes with a swell DVD showing the man at work and enhanced CD material that I haven’t checked out, so it could be anything. Anything! If you’ve yet to get into Jimi, please do yourself a favour and pick this up.
Mid-nineties alt-rockers Stone Temple Pilots recently reformed to record a new album showing that time (and the lure of money) can heal all wounds. The self-titled effort is a return to the grungey, 70’s stadium sound that made them stars in the first place, so fans can look forward to more of what they do best.
Miley Cyrus has gotten all tough and grown up on her new one, Can’t Be Tamed. Shedding the Hannah Montana image by sporting a black leather jacket and darkened hair on the cover, she matches it with a more mature, synth based sound. Whilst it’s a little bit edgier than what we’re used to from Miley, her fans will still be right at home.
Rap veterans De La Soul took a look back upon their careers in 2003 and realised they had accumulated enough “hits” to seperate out the “greatest” ones onto a CD and make a nice sounding compilation out of it. Timeless was the aptly named result. Includes the fantastic; Me, Myself and I, Ring Ring Ring (Hey Hey Hey) and the fantastically named; Millie Pulled A Pistol On Santa.
Progression Vol. 2 promises on the cover to be “A journey through the big room club sounds of 2009″. A quick google search sheds no light on what exactly big room clubs sound like, but as it’s a Ministry Of Sound compilation, big trance records are a good guess. Features remixes of tracks by Oliver Twizt, Juan Kidd, Cunnie Williams, MDX and other artists.
After looking through the liner notes of Bi-On-Ic, Christina Aguilera’s new album, I can inform you that she’s taken a leaf out of the Lady Gaga book of fashion. Has she been similarly influenced music-wise? Probably. The cover is pretty exciting, it’s a hologram that when tilted at the correct angle, makes her look like a robot. +1 for robots.
Local dubsters, Fat Freddy’s Drop have been to the UK recently. They played some shows and whatnot and now we have live documentation, Live at Roundhouse London. It only has six songs on it, but they are all well over 10 minutes long. So don’t be fooled looking at the tracklisting and thinking you’re getting “shortchanged” somehow.
Hey, remember Pluto? Their rhythm section formed a side project called Nightchoir, which has now turned into a middle project (that’s the opposite of side project, right?). Anyway, 24 Hours Of Night is what they’ve come up with and early reviews call it “staggeringly beautiful” a “focused vision” and “alt-country”. Pretty much sums it up for me.
The Rolling Stones’ Exile On Main St. has been given a deluxe reissue, presumably for its 38th anniversary. On disc number one is the original classic (really, classic) album from 1972, considered by many as the definitive Rolling Stones work and on disc number two are ten bonus tracks originally left on the cutting room floor, but recently given a re-working. Kind of a borrow one free, get another one free deal there.
Glee : the music. Volume 3, Showstoppers deluxe is the latest from the Glee stable of cover versions. Included on this volume are Glee-a-fied tracks by The Beatles, Lady Gaga, Christina Aguilera, Lionel Richie, Parliament and a whole lot more. It also features a guest spot from Olivia Newton-John. So far five Glee soundtracks have been released – that’s a lot.
This month polite soft-rocker Jack Johnson released his latest, To The Sea. Mellow acoustic strumming and sleepy grooves with introspective lyrics sit side by side on this one. Jack Johnson fact: he was a professional surfer at the age of 17, but injured himself in his first competition and decided music was the better route. Then his first five albums went platinum and it seemed to be a wise choice.
This is a short paragraph about an album by The Black Keys. The name of this album is Brothers. This album is their sixth and it seems to be their big commercial breakthrough, reaching number three on the Billboard charts on debut – deservedly so, because it is great. Once I saw them play live and the drummer was playing so hard he broke one of his sticks, but then he picked up another one out of his kit and kept playing without missing a beat. Good stuff.
Australian drum and bassers Pendulum have a new one called Immersion on our shelves. It includes an appearance from Prodigy’s Liam Howlett. Pendulum have received a lot of praise from the drum and bass community since their beginnings in 2002 and it has continued with this release. Make your house sound like a commercial for a snowboard shop.
Local hip-hopper David Dallas used to be known as Con Psy and was one half of Frontline. He dropped the moniker for his solo career because he never introduced himself to people using his alias and felt more comfortable using his birth name. Anyway, his second, Something Awesome is now available.
A contender for Teen Blog album of 2010 is This Is Happening by James Murphy’s LCD Soundsystem. Murphy has stated in interviews that this will be his last album as LCD Soundsystem and if so, boy oh boy has he gone out on a high note. More excellent dance music for the rock kids, especially the David Bowie sampling All I Want.
The Teen Choice Awards 2010 nominees have been announced, and you can vote for your favourite (so long as you’re a teen living in the US, but don’t let that stop you) daily on the official website. There are like a million categories to vote in! Maybe we should run our own, Wellington-only version?
Incredibly G.I. Joe : Rise of Cobra has five nominations, which frankly boggles the mind.
Read a massive list of the more interesting nominees by clicking on ‘more’ below.
Jack White’s second side project gets a second album. Number two for Dead Weather is Sea Of Cowards. They’re fast workers, it’s been less than a year since the band debuted and they’ve gotten through their fair share of touring too. Luckily a busy schedule fits Dead Weather’s jam band style and with the amount of playing together it just means they sound tighter and more assured.
B.o.B is, as far as I know at least, the only rapper ever to have guest spots from Paramore’s Hayley Williams, Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo and Eminem on the same album. If that sounds like a baffling mix, it’s because it is. Listen to The adventures of Bobby Ray, though and you’ll come to the realisation that it’s a fair reflection on B.o.B.’s eclectic, energetic style.
A pair of Hot Chip albums; The Warning, from 2006, and Made In The Dark, from 2008. Quirky indie-electro from the UK, it’s dance music for headphones and pop for the fringes. Made In The Dark is the introspective one and The Warning is the awkward dance party. Recommended.
Pakistan born, English raised, Bat For Lashes released her second album, Two Suns last year to rave reviews. Cute indie-pop with a pleasing depth to it - there’s a lot going on underneath the catchy surface to reward repeated listenings. If the Cat Powers and the PJ Harveys get heavy rotation on your stereo, this should too.
Nights Out by Metronomy is yet more party focussed electro for our shelves. Slick, exciting and modern, it’s an hour-long soundtrack for a, well, night out. They toured here a few months ago and Teen Blog sources reported a fun, sweaty experience.
Parisian electro duo Justice picked up the torch where Daft Punk left off with their debut, Cross. Released in 2007 it reinvigorated the dance genre with it’s anything goes approach and devil may care attitude. Due to the sample heavy nature it sounds like dance music for the rock kids and rock music for the dance kids. Recommended.
Here’s a fun fact about Dionne Bromfield; Amy Winehouse is her godmother. Other facts include her being only just old enough to have a YA card when she signed her first record deal (13), her album, Introducing Dionne Bromfield reached number 43 in the UK charts and is now in our collection. Get it if you like the neo-soul.
John Mayer continues to ride on the adult-alternative train with studio album number five, Battle Studies. Just based on the title and track names such as Heartbreak Warfare, Assassin and War Of My Life, I’d say it’s a Love Is A Battlefield themed concept album. I guess those high profile break-ups combined with Pat Benatar are good for the creativity.
Daft Punk’s Musique Vol. 1: 1993-2005 is a collection of the robotic duo’s singles and most bangerific moments. As the French pair are responsible for some of the highest high points electro has ever reached, it’s a fantastic album. Do yourself a favour and youtube some of their videos, unless of course you don’t enjoy anime, dancing mummies and robots shredding on guitars.
James Murphy’s LCD Soundsystem are another band responsible for some great electro. Their 2007 release Sound Of Silver was (rightly) trumpeted by critics as one of the best of the year and pitchfork.com named All My Friends number two song of the decade. More importantly (?) it gets the Synthesiser Patel seal of approval.
Here are the latest CDs to arrive in the YA collection. There have been a lot lately, but there’s even more on the way if you can believe it.
First up is Glee : the music : the power of Madonna. This features Glee cast members singing Madonna songs, as if you couldn’t guess from the very informative title. It’s the soundtrack to the fifteenth episode of Glee, which hasn’t aired in New Zealand yet, which means it’s kind of a sneak preview. Listen to the future! Sort of.
Twilight : music from the original motion picture soundtrack has been deluxe-ified with the addition of a DVD and some bonus tracks. Alongside the original hits from Paramore, Muse, Iron and Wine and the rest are remixes, live versions, acoustic re-workings, interviews, videos and all that sort of jazz. One of the interviews is with Hayley Williams from Paramore, making it a must have for Paramore fans and Twi-hards alike.
British electro-pop starlet Ellie Goulding released debut, Lights, last year to positive reviews after becoming a hit in the blogosphere. Imagine the middle ground between Florence and the Machine and something more poppy, like say, Atomic Kitten and you’ll be right about on the money. If that sounds like a cup of tea you’d enjoy a sip of, you know what to do, issue it obvs.
Taylor Swift’s Fearless has also be given a deluxe-ing and the result is Fearless : platinum edition. Now it includes previously unissued tracks + DVD with music videos, behind-the-scenes footage, photo gallery and awards footage. No word on whether the awards footage includes a bonus interrupting Kanye West. Though it would be an absolute travesty if it didn’t. There’s quite a few extras anyway, so probably worth a look-see if you enjoyed it the first time around.
The Phoenix Foundation’s latest, Buffalo, is here. It’s a continuation of the freak folk/alt-country/pop stylings they’ve been crafting for over a decade now. They’re from Wellington and it’s still New Zealand Music Month for a week or so, which means you should support them by issuing their albums, they’re good.
Former Guns ‘n’ Roses (back when they were awesome) guitarist, Slash, has an album out called Slash. It’s not quite a solo album because every song features at least one of a cast of extremely varied guest vocalists. Which hopefully means there is something for everyone, examples: Ozzy Osbourne, Fergie, Chris Cornell, Adam Levine, Dave Grohl, Kid Rock and Iggy Pop. Quite a mix, huh?
Also, some new DVDs. Totally spies! : the movie, Doctor Who. The masque of Mandragora, Whip it, Doctor Who. Peladon tales, and Naruto. Collection 2, Episodes 14-25
Grizzly Bear’s modern masterpiece Veckatimest now comes with a second disc of live tracks. Bonus! Reason enough to issue, even if you’ve already got a copy. If you haven’t heard it yet and you enjoy the work of The Arcade Fire, Radiohead and the rest of the meaningful-core elite, you’ll love it. Because it’s great.
Back in 2001 The Strokes were the coolest band on the planet, they released Is This It? to five star reviews and they did it with such nonchalance that it seemed totally effortless. Every single band to don a vintage jacket and squeeze into skinny jeans since then has tried, and failed to make a better indie rock record. Highly recommended.
Back in the late ’70s The Clash were the self-proclaimed “only band that mattered”, rather bold, but they got away with it. One of the best bands to emerge from the London punk explosion, The Singles chronicles their rise and growth from White Riot, to Should I Stay Or Should I Go.
Embryonic is the latest from Oklahoma’s finest, The Flaming Lips. Sprawling psychedelic epicness featuring the MGMT boys and a star turn from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ front-woman and Where The Wild Things Are soundtrack overseer, Karen O, who makes a lot of amusing animal noises. Good stuff.
Slacker-rock heroes, Pavement, have a new greatest hits collection out called Quarantine The Past, to coincide with their much-welcomed reunion tour. It includes tracks from 1989-1999, charting their rise from every hipster’s unknown favourites, to every hipster’s sort-of known favourites. The best of the bunch this week.
The result of a collaboration between Kid Koala and Dynamite D (as The Slew) to score a since aborted documentary, 100%, is a dark but dry mixture of rock guitar, electronic samples, hip hop and delta blues. Try and imagine that in your head. Well worth a listen for anyone interested in any of the above styles and people who enjoy impressing their friends with odd tidbits about musical origins.
X-Factor winner Leona Lewis now has her latest, Echo, on our shelves. From pizza waitress in 2006, to working with Justin Timberlake and Timbaland in 2009, it’s been quite the career shift for the Whitney Houston-esque songstress. It’s a mix of European pop and American R&B that should interest anyone who enjoys either.
When I first heard the title of Usher’s new record, Raymond vs Raymond, I thought perhaps it was a concept album based on the 1979 Dustin Hoffman starring drama, Kramer vs Kramer. I was sort of right. In the movie Dustin Hoffman and his wife divorce, leaving him to raise his son on his own, whilst in real life Usher and his wife recently divorced, leaving him to raise Justin Bieber on his own. None of that is all that relevant to the quality of the album though, which is top-notch.
2008’s crossover success story MGMT recently released their oddly covered second album, Congratulations. It’s a more toned down effort this time around, missing are the obvious hit singles like Kids and Electric Feel, but anyone who enjoyed their less immediate, more psychedelic numbers should be pleased with this one.
David Bowie’s excellent two-disc career overview, Best Of Bowie, is now in our collection. Do yourself a favour and track this down, because he is responsible for some of the best rock music ever made. Every song’s a winner, from his Ziggy Stardust days – The Thin White Duke, to whatever he called himself in the early 80s when he seemed to dance about in outback pubs a little too much.
My favourite ever band, Pixies, are now in the collection with a best of called Wave Of Mutilation. Don’t just trust me when I say they’re great, Radiohead’s Thom Yorke has openly admitted they were trying to rip off the Pixies on their first album, Kurt Cobain also shared a similar admiration. Noisy, weird and endlessly fun to shout along with.
Volume 2 / Brotha D & the Dawn Raid Family is a compilation showcasing the hip hop and R&B talent on Auckland’s Dawn Raid label. If local hip hip is your thing you’ll be glad to hear from the likes of Monsta Ganjah, Deceptikonz, Aaradhna and more.
UK indie buzz band The xx were the subject of much fawning in the music press last year for their debut The xx. Sometimes so much hype can set a young band up for a fall, but The xx overcame the magazine covers to deliver a solid album that should see them on the road to a nice career. If the genre dream-pop sounds appealing, this is for you.
More indie-pop, this time from Local Natives with Gorilla Manor. Described as “afropop-influenced guitars with hyperactive drumming and hooky three-part harmonies”, you know they’re going to be fun to listen to. A more easy listening Animal Collective, perhaps?
80’s goth/pop favourites The Cure are a band you should familiarise yourself with, and what better starting point is Greatest Hits? All the best bits from the post-punk days in 1979, to the elder statesmen pop days of 2001. It’s also a good starting point for the great, great British alternative scene of the 1980s.
Speaking of 1980’s alternative British bands, The Smiths were one of the most influential, and the most pleasingly literate (this is after all a library blog). As a colleague said when we were out buying these CDs, “The Smiths will always have a place in the hearts of teenagers, right?” Right. The sound of The Smiths is a very well compiled best of from Manchester’s finest.
If you’ve ever listened to a rock song and thought to yourself, “this is fine, but it’s a bit over-complicated”, rest assured The Ramones thought the exact same thing. Hey ho let’s go : greatest hits is a great overview from the original punks and the self-described Beatles on speed. It’s not stripped down rock and roll, it’s distilled rock and roll.
Ten is enough for now, but there’s a lot more on the way…
As part of New Zealand Music Month and Youth Week we’re asking Wellington Teens, in particular the readers of this blog, to re-imagine any YA book in our collection as a movie and compile the soundtrack. Hence the name O.S.T. (Original Soundtrack)
All you need to do is email us your track listing, the name of the book your movie is based on, your name and your library card number to teenblog@wcl.govt.nz, or, fill out one of the forms at the library. Easy! And you could win prizes (Music Works vouchers, CDs).
Entries close at 5pm on Monday 31st of May and you can enter as many times as you like.
*This is only part one of the O.S.T. Competition, so check back here for further information for more chances to win prizes. Prizes!
As you may well know, New Zealand Music Month is fast approaching (next month), as is Youth Week (22 – 30 May). What you don’t know, until now that is, is that the Teen Blog is going to be running an amazing, 2.0, cross-media competition to mark these dates. Also to give away some prizes we have hanging about in Teen Blog Towers. Check back here regularly for further details, and start thinking creatively!
There are six new CDs in the YA collection. Here they are…
First, and most exciting, is My Worlds by Justin Bieber. This is a handy collection of both of the autotuned youngster’s previous EPs, therefore it represents the easiest way to carry them home. Includes that one song with the video where he organises a party in Usher’s house while he’s out doing groceries and they go crazy with the dancing and silly string. The rascal.
Timbaland presents Shock value II features quite the spectrum of guests, there’s something for everybody. Visiting friends include Justin Timberlake, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, Keri Hilson, Jet and, ummm, Chad Kroeger from Creed. Is there anyone famous he hasn’t worked with? Probably not, he’s clearly a popular man.
Lady Gaga’s opening act, Jason Derulo has also been topping charts lately with his debut, Jason Derulo. He’d been writing songs for Diddy and Sean Kingston for a while and decided he should keep some for himself and make an album. Good decision, his R&B styled pop has seen him become a bankable star in his own right.
Evermore by Evermore is a retrospective compilation from Feilding’s second most famous that includes three new songs. Along with all the familiar hits is a DVD that chronicles a European tour in support of P!nk along with a performance at London’s O2 Arena that should have fans excited.
New Zealand singer/songwriter Hollie Smith is back with Humour and the misfortune of others. It’s already made number one on the local charts, so it seems her dubbed out soul will again be heard at cafés throughout Wellington.
Also new in the New Zealand collection is Dane Rumble’s The Experiment. Those of you that remember The Fast Crew will know him as the voice of said group. Those that don’t should expect poppy hip hop.
Damon Albarn and his cartoon pals, Gorillaz, return with Plastic Beach. The so-called virtual hip hop is as catchy as ever, with the album’s many guests (including Lou Reed, Mos Def, De La Soul and the ever grumpy Mark E. Smith) turning in top performances. But adding in the visuals really puts the project over the top, as always the videos are stunning, but this time there’s even a game. What band could more embrace media than a band made entirely of media?
If you, like me, have been enjoying Jack White’s side projects (The Raconteurs, Dead Weather) but have been longing for the simple old days of the one guitar, the one drum set and three colours approach of The White Stripes I have good news. Under Great White Northern Lights is a 92 minute tour doco that follows Jack and Meg through an exhaustive tour of Canada. They play favourites old and new in bowling alleys, fishing boats and daycare centres, then they package it with a CD to boot. Treat of the week!
Self-described “troublegum” purveyers The Mint Chicks released Screens late last year and now the library has it. You’re welcome. After listening to the always great art-pop on the CD, head over to their website and have a go at designing a t-shirt for them and you could win prizes. Sweet, sweet prizes. They get my vote for best band going in New Zealand at the moment.
I Like Turtles is a mix put together by the omnipresent tastemaker, Diplo. It’s designed for the dancefloor and includes remixes of tracks by The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Nirvana, Queen, Mr. Vegas, Sizzla, Bart Simpson and others. Bart Simpson you say? Well, back in the days of cassettes he had a hit single with Do The Bartman, reaching number one in New Zealand. Here’s the video for anyone who wants to relive the wackiness that was 1990.
Californian metallers Atreyu say their latest Congregation Of The Damned is “darker” and “heavier” than albums previous they also say “it makes more sense” than earlier efforts. While coherence isn’t a necessity for a good metal album, darkness and heaviness certainly are. If you never heard Atreyu before, but fancy you some rifftastic loudness, this is a good starting point.
Also, two soundtracks and a compilation; Avatar : music from the motion picture and Fame : original motion picture soundtrack along with Now that’s what I call music 32
Here is some entertainment news! Tickets for Eclipse go on sale tomorrow, WELL in advance of the first screening but you can’t never be too quick with these things can you? Reading Cinemas is on Facebook and Twitter, should you want more immediate information about this historic occasion.
Also a new series of Glee begins tomorrow in the US of A, at long last. But it’s difficult to find out when it begins on television here, unfortunately! A bit like Vampire Diaries, it is a mystery. So until then, here are a couple of promos.
R&B man Robin Thicke returns to library shelves with Sex Therapy: The Session. It was released a few months before Tiger Woods was in therapy, which makes him either cutting-edge or prescient. It’s more of what we’ve come to expect from Thicke, syrupy sweet ballads mixed with more “banger-y” numbers.
Former Girl Aloud Cheryl Cole has an album out called 3 Words. The title is a reference to her marriage break-up with English footballer, Ashley Cole (trust me, I read her wikipedia page and carefully deduced it so). Will.I.Am appears on four tracks, so it’s a welcome bonus for fans of holographic political pundits.
Local indie-rappers Bandicoot have an ep on the shelves entitled Jurassic Warfare. On the back cover is a picture of a Triceratops shooting lasers out of its horns. Lasers out of its horns. I realise that doesn’t have anything to do with the music therein, which is a lot of rockin’ good fun, but dinosaurs and lasers should be enough, right?
Candian heart-throb Justin Bieber’s My World makes a long overdue appearance on the catalogue this week. From uploading his bedroom performances of Usher’s songs to youtube, to working with Usher and having his face adorn the bedroom walls across the tween demographic, it’s been a meteoric rise to fame for the youngster. Coming soon, My World 2.0?
Jared Leto’s 30 Seconds To Mars released the Tiger-covered This Is War last year to much fawning over sculpted cheekbones and immaculate fringes. They’ve stepped sideways from the screamo of works previous and adopted The Edge’s guitar sound, whilst never losing sight of their grand, stadium-packing vision. Try if you enjoy Muse, The Killers and My Chemical Romance.
One of my favourites, Connan Mockasin, dropped his solo debut, Please Turn Me Into The Snat a few weeks ago. Just trust me when I say it’s well worth a listen and is surely one of the best New Zealand albums of the year. Previous ep Uuu It’s Teasy is excellent also.
Fans of YA music should watch this space in the coming weeks, a large shopping bag was filled with CDs recently…
Austin, Texas’ White Denim have released two albums to date, we have both at once. Good deal. Fits : Exposion is a double disc of the finest and funnest indie-rock in the entire collection. White Denim seem like they started a band only so they could party more frequently and just by luck happen to be really good. HGHLY RCCD.
Trailblazing trip-hoppers Massive Attack keep plugging along almost 20 years after their debut with Heligoland, surprisingly just their fifth effort given the career length. They keep things current on this one with appearances from the likes of Damon Albarn, Hope Sandoval and TV on the Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe.
Local joke metallers Deja Voodoo continue the schtick on The shape of grunge to come. For those who haven’t heard, think The Darkness, but strip away anything vaguely grandiose and replace with songs about beer. The thinking man need not apply.
Meticulously dishevelled Scottish rockers Biffy Clyro release a fifth, Only Revolutions, despite having a name like they’re a joke pop starlet. Aggressive pop tunes in the vein of Green Day and Blink-182. Reviews seem to indicate that this is their best work yet, perhaps it could be a breakthrough for them and teen bloggers will no longer be confused by their name.
Two more things. What kind of week would it be if there weren’t a three disc dance compilation? Last week apparently, back to form then with Classic big tunes 2009, the name says it all. And in musical DVD news, Metallica’s Seek & Destroy is a collection of live footage from whence or where I know not, the box is in German. I can say though, that there is a nearly 15 minute long version of Seek & Destroy that should test neighbour’s patience.
I’ve put some preview songs on our bebo page for you to listen to.
If you’re in the mood for some cute indie-pop, and really, when is anybody not, give The Gladeyes’ Psychosis Of Love a spin. With influences such as The Velvet Underground, The Shangri-Las and Animal Collective you can’t go wrong. Some of the coolest and most charming music coming out of New Zealand at the moment. Their myspace is here.
South Auckland hip-hopper Tyson Tyler released Reality Cheque late last year and now it’s arrived in the YA collection. It’s an incredibly slick sounding record that could’ve come out in the U.S. based on the production levels. It includes appearances from Temple Jones, Red Eye Society, Pieter-T, Cyphanetik, Ethical, Monsta Ganjah, Young Sid and Flowz. That’s a lot of guests.
Wellington’s own Trei makes the sort of drum and bass sounds that appear so frequently on advertisements for snowboarding stores. With the Winter Olympics in full swing the arrival of Innuendo would seem rather apt. Pick it up and practise your 540 McTwists to it. If you want to that is.
There are also a few new compilations. PHAT 10 is “a 4-day celebration of bass heavy dance at Inangahua, West Coast”. Includes tracks by The Upbeats, Salmonella Dub, Whirimako Black, State of Mind, Concord Dawn and others. Rocked 09 includes rockers from Mudvayne, Kid Rock and Eskimo Joe. Now that’s what I call music 16 (UK Edition) includes hits from 2004 for a mildly retro pop trip.
Owl City is a one man electro band, conjured up on sleepless nights by Adam Young in his parents’ basement. It includes a chart topping single (Fireflies) and a viral hit (Hello Seattle) and launched a successful world tour on the back of debut effort, Ocean Eyes. Maybe the next time you can’t sleep you should make an album instead of a midnight snack, clearly it pays dividends.
Oh man, Britney Spears’ singles are sooooo bangin’. I wish someone would have the foresight to compile them on a single disc that the library would buy and put in it’s YA collection so the hit parade could just keep on rollin’ from 1999 all the way to 2009. Oh wait, it looks as though The singles collection completely fits that bill. Well then.
Pixie Lott is a rising, young R&B/Pop star who gained label attention from the songs posted on her myspace, ala Lily Allen, which is a good example as she is not too disimilar in style. Turn It Up is an enthusiastic, infectious first effort that has all the teen pop fans talking.
Vampire Weekend were already indie-famous on the strength of their first album, but now that Twilight fever has truly gripped the globe, they could be set for proper-famous given that they’ve aligned their personal brand so closely with the now ubiquitous, undead coffin-dwellers. If they were called RPattz Weekend they could be bigger than U2. Based on my sound (?) reasoning Contra should be massive, the sunshiney indie-pop songs within help though.
The Temper Trap are a Melbourne band with grand ambition. The songs on Conditions, their debut, are almost all big ballady melodramas designed for stadiums. If Muse, Coldplay, Keane, Snow Patrol and the like are the sorts of cats in your bag, pop these young upstarts in beside them. Ok?
And lastly, Katy Perry’s MTV Unplugged is here. It includes live, acoustic performances of seven of songs on the CD, on the DVD are the same seven songs, but with added visuals and an interview. A reminder to all of us who’ve forgotten that the “M” in MTV stands for music.
The Soundtrack to Drew Barrymore’s Ellen Page starring, roller derby themed Whip It (called Whip it : music from the motion picture, of course) features songs from such great artists as Jens Lekman, The Raveonettes and The Ramones, but teasingly it does not include the song Whip It by Devo. Small matters aside, it’s really good. Listen to it as you and your friends beat each other up, whilst rollerblading.
Another new soundtrack we have is (500) Days of summer : music from the motion picture. On it are songs by The Smiths, The Black Lips, Feist and Simon & Garfunkel. Relive all your favourite romantic-drama-comedy moments from the critically acclaimed film. We don’t have the DVD yet, but I’m sure that in due course, we will do.
If you’re addicted to bass and desperately need a bass fix, lest you suffer bass withdrawl symptoms like the bass sweats, I suggest you issue Addicted to bass 2009. It’s yet another three CD Ministry Of Sound compilation with bass heavy hits from The Prodigy, Utah Saints, Dizzee Rascal, So Solid Crew, Groove Armada and others. With bass addiction becoming so prevalent, it’s lucky Ministry Of Sound provide a tonic.
Clubbers’ Guide To 2009 is yet another Ministry Of Sound three CD boxed compilation, how on earth they find the time to do anything but compile is beyond me. Anyway, let them guide you through last years biggest club hits, from the likes of The Killers, Kaiser Chiefs, P-Money, The Kills and others. Kind of like the Lonely Planet series for clubbing I suppose. (note; this is a different compilation from Clubber’s Guide 2009 despite it’s nearly identical moniker)
The 52nd Grammy Awards were held a couple of days ago. If you’d like to hear some of the winners, we have a lot in the YA collection just waiting to be issued. Click on the links below …
Michael Jackson, lifetime achievement.
Kings Of Leon, record of the year for Use Somebody (off the album Only By The Night)
Taylor Swift, album of the year for Fearless
Black Eyed Peas, best pop vocal album for The E.N.D.
Jason Mraz, best male vocal pop performance for Make It Mine
Lady Gaga, best electronic/dance album for The Fame
AC/DC, best rock performance for War Machine
Green Day, best rock album for 21st Century Breakdown
Phoenix, best alternative album for Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Jay-Z, best rap solo performance for D.O.A.
and Beyonce won six for all sorts of things, the record for the most Grammys at a single awards show ever. I Am… Sasha Fierce is the place to look, or rather, listen.
Did you watch the awards? Agree/disagree with the winning choices?
We don’t have copyright for any images from the Grammys, but luckily Capt. Walker de Planck is a big Beyonce fan and he drew an artists rendition of her accepting her awards on his new iPad. Thanks Captain!
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