One of my favorite songs of 2007, Devastation by the Besnard Lakes, now has a visual accompaniment. (Thanks to Chromewaves for the heads up.)
It’s a cool piece of animation. And you must watch, if only for the bad-assness that is the black stallion that graces the cover of the band’s album, The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse.
UPDATE: In more Canadian band news, stream Wolf Parade’s new record, At Mount Zoomer (due out June 17), on the band’s MySpace page.
For whatever reason, the album I listened to most while in New York last week was Frightened Rabbit’s The Midnight Organ Fight (I swear, if one more person calls it The Midnight Organ FLIGHT … ).
Anyway, there’s nothing at all New York about the record, so I can’t really say why I listened to it on repeat. I do find Scottish accents sort of endearing, but it’s obviously more than that – the emotion, the depression, the anger (“I’m armed with the past, and the will, and a brick / I might not want you back, but I want to kill him.”). Powerful stuff.
So, of course, I did a YouTube search for some more Frightened Rabbit material. Here’s a live clip of the group performing Backwards Walk (one of my favorite tracks – “You’re the shit and I’m knee-deep in it”) with a dash of the National’s Fake Empire serving as an introduction. (Makes sense, considering Peter Katis worked on Midnight Organ and previous National records.)
Remember: Frightened Rabbit and Oxford Collapse at the Rhythm Room in Phoenix on June 24.
I’m a fan of Brit punk-folkie Frank Turner, whose Campfire Punkrock EP (get at eMusic) I praised earlier this year.
Turner has returned with a full-length, Love Ire & Song, which came out in the UK in March (not sure if it has a Stateside release).
Until we get a U.S. release, we can enjoy the new video for the song Reasons Not to Be an Idiot, in which Turner looks like some papier-mache puppet.
ALBANY, N.Y. – New York Gov. David Paterson is granting a full and unconditional pardon to rapper Ricky “Slick Rick” Walters for the attempted murders of two men in 1991.
The pardon is expected to halt efforts to deport Walters to the United Kingdom, the country he left as a child.
The eyepatch-wearing star behind the ’80s rap classic “La-Di-Da-Di” served more than five years in prison after the shooting of his cousin and another man. Both survived.
The governor says Walters is now a rap artist and landlord in the Bronx who hasn’t had any criminal problems since his release from prison in 1997. He also says Walters has volunteered to counsel youths against violence.
Slick Rick: Children’s Story video:
What’s better than my favorite song from one of my favorite albums of 2007? How about a video for it? (Thanks, Stereogum.)
And, hey, here’s Band of Horses playing an in-store session at Amoeba in Hollywood. No One’s Gonna Love You is on the set list:
If you grew up in the late ’80s/early ’90s, there was no avoiding Young MC’s Bust a Move. It was a hip-hop hit that crossed over to the highest degree – it might blow up and it did go pop. (Personally, I preferred Principal’s Office, but that’s neither here nor there.)
So it only seemed like a matter of time before Delicious Vinyl commissioned a little remix action on one of the biggest hits of its catalog. The label has digitally released Bust a Move RMXXS – no vowels is so cool – followed by a release on 12-inch vinyl. (Get the digitals at eMusic.)
Frenchman Don Rimini and Mad Decent’s Diplo update Bust a Move for the 21st century.
This is one of those cases where a remix isn’t really necessary, but if it draws a new generation of kids to the original, well, then I’m all for it. (Grab Marvin Young’s classic Stone Cold Rhymin’ at eMusic.)
What the hell:
Here’s a song that’s owned me the past week. It comes from the Silver State, the Brooklyn-by-way-of-Vegas project of Caleb Lindskoog. The band recently released a tremendous album, Cut and Run, on Young American Recordings.
I’ll have more to say about the album – get it at eMusic – as a whole because it should not go unnoticed.
In the meantime, the video for Faith You Changed Your Name:
It seems like it’s been awhile since we’ve been to a show, so that will make Tuesday night’s outing at Modified, featuring the Whigs, What Made Milwaukee Famous and the Dead Trees, all the more fun.
I’ve been hopped up on the Whigs’ Mission Control (available at eMusic) the past couple days to get ready. (Though, this is my favorite album named Mission Control.)
The Arizona Republic talked to Whigs drummer Julian Dorio.
Given Modified’s modest size, I have a good feeling about the Whigs blowing the place apart. Note to self: Bring earplugs.
The Whigs perform Right Hand on My Heart on Letterman:
EDIT: Check out some live video at Breakfast on Tour of the tour stop in Houston. Um, yeah, Right Hand on My Heart pretty much rules.
One of my favorites (and Brian’s, too), Los Angeles’ Radar Bros., visited KCRW for an in-studio session.
Also, you can go to the Merge blog, which has live video footage of the group at SXSW.
And don’t forget to check out Mt. Wilson Repeater, the solo project of Radar frontman Jim Putnam.
If anything can illustrate Vampire Weekend’s ascent it’s the fact that the New York quartet is playing Tempe’s cavernous Marquee Theatre on Sept. 24, just more than a year after appearing at cozy Modified as an unsigned band.
Tickets ($19) go on sale Saturday. No opening act has been announced yet. Check Stateside Presents for more information.
Just a few weeks ago, I was marveling at Vampire Weekend’s ubiquity at our local shopping mall, where we heard a VW song in no less than three different stores. I don’t mean that as a backlash-fueled knock at all. I say good for them. Haters be damned.
Vampire Weekend’s video for A-Punk: