Me Old Mate

"As New Yorkers we are all familiar with the everyday noise around us – the car alarms, the subway..."

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 10:27:45 -0500

“As New Yorkers we are all familiar with the everyday noise around us – the car alarms, the subway trains braking, the music in bars … Do we not realise how these sounds are affecting us? How they make us feel or act? With this in mind we wanted to create an environment where people could take some time to listen to other kinds of sounds and get away from those familiar sounds of the city. Keeping in mind the birds of the jungle, we’ve created an array of sounds with Animal Collective’s music that is seemingly random – or is it?”

- Seminal band Animal Collective describe their latest project, an installation in New York’s Guggenheim Museum opening on March 4th as part of the Museum’s 50th Anniversary Celebrations.

Broken Social Scene have released details on their new album. It...

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 10:14:19 -0500

Broken Social Scene have released details on their new album. It will be called Forgiveness Rock Record and it’s cover art is shown above. It will be released on May 4th this year. An epic 7 minute track named World Sick is the first peak at the new record and it is available to download free from here

Bye Bye Bayou by LCD Soundsystem Bye Bye Bayou is...

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 10:02:00 -0400

Bye Bye Bayou by LCD Soundsystem

Bye Bye Bayou is LCD’s first single in over a year. Featuring the smooth beats we have come to expect from Mr. James Murphy, this single is actually a Suicide cover. Suicide were an influential 80’s No Wave duo, also from New York. This track is more toned down and minimalist than what many Sound of Silver fans will be used to, but its no less danceable and offers a peak into the third and possibly final LCD Soundsystem LP.

Air France remixes St Etienne

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:39:00 -0400

The new Air France remix of Spring by St Etienne is available to listen here. Taken from this limited run 12”. Spring is one of many beautiful tracks off of St Etienne’s 1991 debut, Foxbase Alpha and this remix is a wonderful, distinctively Air France reinvention.

The Drums are a four-piece from Brooklyn. This song is...

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 03:56:08 -0400

The Drums are a four-piece from Brooklyn. This song is called Lets Go Surfing. Its highly infectious. It has quite a dandy video too, see.

Daytrotter - The Tallest Man on Earth

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 01:12:33 -0400

Daytrotter - The Tallest Man on Earth:

The Tallest Man on Earth recently recorded a daytrotter session and the results are typically brilliant! The session includes three songs from the wonderful Shallow Grave, and one unreleased track, I Want You. Please, do enjoy.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Higher Than The Stars EPThe...

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 00:49:00 -0400

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Higher Than The Stars EP
The Pains’, with this latest EP, consolidate their position as one of the best bands to emerge in 2k9. Doing what they do best, Higher Than The Stars delivers four wonderfully breezy pop songs to peruse over, lust over, and comprehend your place in the universe. Although similar in execution, these new tracks seem distinctively more angst-ridden to those released earlier this year on their self-titled debut, but where many fail to emulate a ‘Smiths-esque’ sound, The Pains’ triumph in making it their own. Uploaded for your listening pleasure is the track, Falling Over. Also featured on the EP is a St Etienne remix of the title track; a worthy inclusion.

From The Vault #2 La Plus Belle Pour Aller Danser by Sylvie...

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 11:42:00 -0400

From The Vault #2

La Plus Belle Pour Aller Danser by Sylvie Vartan

This is a really pretty song by one of the more well known yé-yé girls. Sylvie’s wonderfully controlled voice sings of dreaming to be The Most Beautiful to go Dancing. It’s splendid nostalgic pop thats fun for the whole family. For the lads reading, I would recommend playing it to that special lass you are enamoured with. It will make you look cultured and romantic, if not a little too well knowledged on French female pop singers from the 1960’s.

Muse's, The Resistance

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 07:52:00 -0400

Its hard to take Muse’s latest album seriously. Sure, if you are one of the many die hard fans, you are going to lap this shit up and have potentially whizzed your pants out of sheer excitement after reading the title of this post. I hate to disappoint you, but this latest effort by the English rockers sounds like a parody of the predictable image they have propagated over the last fifteen years. Don’t get me wrong, that image is very successful and downright enjoyable to experience. Hell, I rate a Muse set I caught at a festival a couple of years back, as up there with some of the finest I’ve seen, if only for shear musicianship and stagecraft.

But Muse, the success of that image relies heavily on the expectation of reinvention. What we see in The Resistance is everything we’ve already heard before, emphasised to a level we have never seen before. The result is a caricature, and it reminds me of a little band we all know that starts with the letter N and ends with the letters ickelback. Sorry Muse, The Resistance just doesn’t cut it.

Islands by The xx Its official. I am joining the xx bandwagon....

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 11:09:00 -0400

Islands by The xx

Its official. I am joining the xx bandwagon. These talented young folk from London are ‘so hot right now’ in the blogosphere. Its breathless, stripped-down indie pop that begs to be listened to over…and over again. This is a great example of a new band that deserves the hype that they are receiving for they play a brand of music that isn’t just another carbon copy of ‘everything-we’ve-already-heard-that-has-proved-to-sell-records-to-cashed-up-indie-kids’. The xx’s debut, xx is out now. Enjoy a nice change.

Boat Club are living the dream. Playing shows on a boat on a...

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:54:52 -0400

Boat Club are living the dream. Playing shows on a boat on a beautiful German summer’s day. Sure there is this underlying, pretentious Mansard Roof video vibe going on with the coupling of boat and preppy attire, but its the sort of imagery that is difficult to feel vehement about. Its pure bliss, sunshine and good times.

Boat Club hail from Gothenburg, SE. Their debut EP, Caught The Breeze is available from the Luxury label site

From The Vault #1Cigarettes and Coffee by Otis Redding Sure it...

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 12:29:00 -0400

From The Vault #1
Cigarettes and Coffee by Otis Redding

Sure it might be a little cliché to pick a song like Cigarettes and Coffee for the inaugural From The Vault but its hard to ignore the utter pure emotion evoked by Otis’ amazing, famously powerful vocals. Funnily enough, it’s a perfectly appropriate song for melancholic cigarettes and coffee at 3am. It’s pleading and frank. You can almost believe from this track alone, that Otis’ felt more in his tragically short life than most of us ever will.

I’ve always been a huge fan of The Take-Away Shows from La...

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 11:59:00 -0400

I’ve always been a huge fan of The Take-Away Shows from La Blogotheque and I’d have to say this relatively recent effort is my favourite.

No matter how many times I watch this video, It never fails to amaze me. It’s aesthetic quality is astounding. The golden light dances across the scene while Kristian Matsson (The Tallest Man on Earth) delivers an amazingly tight impromptu performance on an ancient guitar. It is a great place to film such a performance and I am jealous that such an atmospheric, shambled store does not preside in my home city.

David by The Radio Dept.The Radio Dept. hail from Lund, SE. They...

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 11:39:00 -0400

David by The Radio Dept.
The Radio Dept. hail from Lund, SE. They make a brand of dreamy shoegaze pop that leaves one feeling fulfilled and content. It’s often washed out, but always beautifully measured in the degree of reverb, a carefree, relaxed sound. I especially enjoy this song, and I will shamelessly admit to boppin’ along with a smile (that probably makes me look a little simple) as I walk the city streets with David delivered to my phones. It’s pure enjoyment and since when has that been such a bad thing.

David is the second single from The Radio Dept.’s upcoming third album, Clinging to a Scheme, due for release in September.

Blood by The Middle EastThe Middle East are close to, if not the...

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 04:11:00 -0400

Blood by The Middle East
The Middle East are close to, if not the most exciting thing to come out of Australia in a long time. Debut EP, The Recordings of the Middle East, offers many beautiful layered melodies, poignant lyricism and a serenely expansive sound. Hailing from Townsville in Northern Queensland, The Middle East are certainly a band to watch in the next twelve months.

This song is called Blood. Its emotive themes of nostalgia are joyous yet heartbreaking, resulting in a brilliantly emphatic anthem that begins gently before building to a raucous finale.

A Love Letter in Three Parts.

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 03:25:00 -0400

A Love Letter in Three Parts.:

Air France launched this website a couple of months ago. It’s a homage to their city, Göteburg, SE.
There are three parts:
1) A guide to the beautiful things in Göteburg.
2) A new song, GBG belongs to us, available to download free.
3) A teaser video of things to come.

Young Adult Friction by The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 02:37:00 -0400

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart are a band from New York City. They make terribly catchy songs about unrequited love and such. This is the video for Young Adult Friction, a witty ditty whose simple innocence resonates far beyond most who try to compartmentalise love into more complex boxes.

Infinite Playlist #1

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 12:20:00 -0400

Air France - No Way Down EP As we walk along cobbled stones, the thick rain is illuminated by the soft glow of yellow streetlights. My vision is a little blurred from cheap beer and I smile at nothing in particular as I reach into my coat for my wallet. The pocket is empty. My wallet is gone. And I have just spent the last three hours with Joel and Henrik of Air France, walking the streets of Gothenburg drinking cans of Heineken, stopping by two seedy yet friendly bars, a 7-Eleven and a medieval hill fort. My credit cards, identification and hostel key card are gone. The smile from my rain-drenched face has too.

No Way Down is a beautifully atmospheric record. From beginning to end it exudes a wrap-you-up-in-blanket warmth and comfort, as it conjures images of somewhere you’d rather be. It’s undoubtedly a positively feeling record, but its fragility is its making. Like living in a beautiful dream-like state, ever knowing that it can only last so long. Collapsing at Your Doorstep, a worthy contender for the best song of last year, has the greatest use of dialogue samples since The Avalanches’ Since I Left You. Its Balearic pop at its finest and I strongly urge you to listen to this EP so you can self-righteously claim you loved Air France before they released their debut.

I lie in warmth on a mattress placed on the living room floor of Joel’s apartment where much of No Way Down was mixed and produced. My cards are cancelled, my phone is dead and my backpack is locked in a dorm room on the other side of the city. I have €9.53 to my name. Joel’s kitten bounces playfully around my blanket-covered feet and my saturated clothes dry on a radiator nearby. I close my eyes, inhale deeply and smile at nothing in particular.

Air France are an incredibly nice electronic pop duo from Gothenburg on the west coast of Sweden. No Way Down is available now on itunes or import from good record stores. Air France are currently working on their debut album.