Albums : Brother Octopus : Tentacle Trauma

Listen To Brother Octopus : Tentacle Trauma


Who Are Brother Octopus?
For years, Brother Octopus would sink deep below the depths of the ocean tides. Far beyond where any sea creature would even dare to imagine, he called this place home. Aside from exploring the remains of ancient history left at the bottom of the black abyss, Brother Octopus also finds comfort in writing music.

Using his eight tentacles to his advantage, Brother Octopus had learned how to play guitar, piano, accordion, among many other instruments simultaneously. His music was heard throughout the ocean waters bringing in many visitors such as dolphins, electric eels, and even sharks, just like a scene straight from 'The Little Mermaid'. It wasn't long after until Brother Octopus realized that he was bigger than the ocean, he was ready for the world!

He delivered his goodbyes and swam to the surface where he could hear a perfectly played tambourine from a distance. Brother Octopus found himself walking towards this wonderful sound and stumbled upon a highly secured building. Quickly, he put his back to the wall and just as a security guard was walking around the corner, Brother Octopus managed to knock him out and disguise himself as a guard. Without question, he continued his way towards that lovely tambourine rhythm and finally reached a lady wearing a prison outfit with a tambourine in her hand.

Brother Octopus whispers "Hey, I could get you out of here" as the lady frantically stares beyond the bars and notices an oddly shaped man with tentacles for arms, "Who are you?" she inquires. Brother Octopus replies "Just call me Brother Octopus, I'm a musician and I need a rhythm section, interested?". Without a moment to think about it, the lady answers "YES". (Read More)

Tentacle Trauma Review
Sea creatures, aliens, and dinosaurs are just some of the things that make up the world of Tentacle Trauma, the newest release from the Canadian duo Brother Octopus. Consisting of Brother Octopus and Lady Friend, these two have created a sound so unique that you fall immediately in love with it. The music is so refreshing and original the only problem I can see is that it is an EP. No real worries though, because you just play it again. From the aquatic to the celestial, Tentacle Trauma is an experience not to be missed.

“Introduction” seduces the listener with the calming sounds of the deep ocean and lures one into a state of calm before the heavier beats start and Brother Octopus introduces himself with style, displaying his creative and humorous musical talents. “Recreational Zoo” has such a refreshing sound and Lady Friend’s voice is hypnotically soothing. These two complement each other incredibly well. The music creates an atmosphere that is both awe inspiring and a bit frightening. This is the trip to the zoo that you never got to go on as a child. “Boogie Boogie” is pretty sweet song for dancing, which is appropriate given the title. I wonder if they are thinking of creating their own dance for it. I bet it would be as surreal as the music.

“Alien Invasion” is an absolutely delightful song that is magical in its presentation. They do a great job of incorporating familiar alien sounds into the music. “Jurassic Park” is the kind of song that will bring a smile to your face. It is hilarious and might make a wave of nostalgia wash over you. It is an absurd song that is hard not to like, which would be a good description of this EP in general. “The Electric Chair” shows a slower and more serious side to Brother Octopus, while still retaining their trademark tongue-in-cheek humor. Capping it all off is the hilarious “Bonus Track.” This is the best bonus track that you will ever hear.

Tentacle Trauma by Brother Octopus is most pleasant and fun album that I have listened to all year. Here is a group that truly loves what they do and it comes through in their work every inch of the way. They are clearly enjoying themselves and that energy and enthusiasm transfers to the listener like lightning to a tower. Tentacle Trauma will brighten up your day. More please.


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Sources : Brother Octopus Photo | Listen To Tentacle Trauma | Brother Octopus Biography | Tentacle Trauma Review 

Albums : Ra Ra Riot : Beta Love

Listen To Ra Ra Riot : Beta Love 

Who Is RA RA Riot?

Ra Ra Riot is an American indie rock band from Syracuse, New York, consisting of vocalist Wes Miles, bassist Mathieu Santos, guitarist Milo Bonacci, violinist Rebecca Zeller, and drummer Kenny Bernard.

The Band formed in January 2006, playing at houses and venues around the Syracuse University campus. They recorded a demo in February 2006. The band started to attract attention due to their energetic live shows, enough to gain an appearance at the CMJ Music Marathon, fewer than six months after their formation. Following this appearance, their live show received the first of several favorable reviews from SPIN.com, who called them "one of the best young bands we've heard in a really long time".They went on to open for Art Brut and Bow Wow Wow in New York City, toured the UK twice on their own, then returned, opening for the Editors (footage of which can be found on Crackle); they also toured North America supporting Tokyo Police Club. Their first solo headlining tour of the U.S. was completed in 2007, and in early 2008, they embarked on a second. The band was also invited to play the Iceland Airwaves Festival, in Reykjavík, Iceland. They have recorded three sessions on the national online radio station WOXY and three for the acclaimed Daytrotter sessions at Futureappletree studio 1 in Rock Island, Illinois.

In 2007, they made their first appearance at South by Southwest and headlined a show at the Seaport Music Festival in New York City. The band returned to appear again at the South by Southwest Music Conference in March 2008. 

After a show in Providence, Rhode Island, the band's original drummer, John Ryan Pike, of Hamilton, Massachusetts, went missing under suspicious circumstances in the early morning of June 2, 2007 at Wilbur's Point in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. His body was discovered the following day in nearby Buzzards Bay; Pike was believed to have drowned. Ra Ra Riot issued a statement a few weeks after Pike's funeral that they would continue as a band. The investigation is ongoing.

In July 2007 an eponymous EP of 6 songs was released on the Rebel Group label.

In the winter of 2007, the band signed to major label V2 Records. To celebrate their new label deal, Ra Ra Riot released "Dying Is Fine" and "Each Year (RAC Mix)" on 7" vinyl as an A/B single. In December 2007, the band announced that they had finished recording new songs for their debut LP. During their show in Cambridge, MA on April 25, 2008, the band announced their new album "would be released in August. If not August then September" 2008. 

On May 19, 2008, the band announced that they had signed to Barsuk Records. Their debut album The Rhumb Line was released on August 19, 2008 in the United States and Canada. It was released in Europe via V2/Cooperative Music on September 22, 2008.

The music video for "Can You Tell" won Best Music Video in the 2009 Finger Lakes Film Festival on November 7, 2009.

In the spring of 2009, Barsuk released an EP, Can You Tell, featuring remixes, early demos and live recordings.

The band released their second album called The Orchard on August 24, 2010. The Orchard was produced by Ra Ra Riot and Andrew Maury, and 9 of the 10 tracks were mixed by Death Cab For Cutie's Chris Walla, and one mixed by Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij. The band played several new songs from the album during a February performance in Brooklyn, New York.

In January 2011, Ra Ra Riot were nominated for The 10th Annual Independent Music Awards under the Pop/Rock Album category for The Orchard. Also in 2011, their song "Boy" was featured in a Honda Civic commercial and "Boy" was used in the episode "A History of Violins" of the TV show Royal Pains.

On February 10, 2012, cellist Alexandra Lawn announced that she would be leaving the band.

The band's third studio album "Beta Love" is set to be released on January 22, 2013. The album will be the band's first studio album since the departure of cellist Alexandra Lawn and will mark a shift in their musical style away from their earlier baroque pop and more towards synthpop

Beta Love Review

New wave of the ’80s had a major jones for science. Defying the sex obsession of the ’60s and ’70s, the songs of the subsequent decade found a new way to be shocking by turning eros into a mathematical equation. Computer love became the rage.

Skip ahead a few decades and synth-pop still thrives — but without so tight a connection to tubes and wires.

Perhaps that disconnect tugged at Ra Ra Riot, because on the new CD by this young Brooklyn-based band, they rekindle synth-pop’s love of chemical reactions and techno-dreams.

With pluck, they sing about a “Binary Mind” and “Beta Love” while, at times, directly shunning the human kind. The group took inspiration for this from the sci-fi novels of William Gibson and the theorizing of futurist Ray Kurzweil. The science connection cuts deep for the band. Frontman Wes Miles majored in physics in the place the group formed: Syracuse University.

Even so, the chirpy new wave of “Beta Love” lands a long way — in sound and subject — from the style that first gave this promising group its profile.

Ra Ra Riot’s debut in 2008, “The Rhumb Line,” put cello and violin on equal footing with guitar, bass and drums. The result? Chamber-indie-pop of a striking variety. Their follow-up disc, 2010’s “The Orchard,” lacked the sweetness and fine tunes of their debut. In that context, “Beta Love” could be seen as a virtual apology, though it also reflects something simpler. The band pared down its lineup for this CD, losing one string player.

In the tight new configuration every sound serves the melody. It’s highly-focused pop, with buffed tunes and hooks everywhere you turn. When strings appear, they square off against the synths, providing extra rhythm rather than a focal point.

True to the period they refer to, there’s a dinkiness to the synth sounds. They sound like toys, flimsy in a fun way. They’re well-suited to Miles’ voice, a boyishly bright instrument that moves easily into falsetto. It’s a nether-sex voice, androgynous, if not neutered. That flatters the lyrics, which deal with sex and love as problems to be solved and shelved.

In “Binary Mind,” Miles sings about simplifying his thinking “so I can forget how lonely feels.” In “Shut Off,” he powers down his emotions.

It’s a wonderfully ironic series of ideas - using antique synthesizers to serenade futurism, and employing a chaste voice to ruminate on erotic need.

It all comes to a head in “It’s Too Much,” in which Miles echoes Marvin Gaye’s entreaty to “wake up, wake up” from “Sexual Healing” — but with neuroses subbed for eroticism. If the jerky rhythms, chilly synths and pointy tunes that surround Miles’ voice provide the opposite of funk, they’ve got their own smart kind of soul.

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Sources : Ra Ra Riot Photo | Listen To Beta Love | Ra Ra Riot Biography | Beta Love Review

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Videos : The Features : Another One 

Who Are The Features?

The Features' exhilarating new Wilderness (Serpents and Snakes/BMG Rights) quickly establishes the Nashville-based combo as one of the most exciting and imaginative bands working today. Songs like "Another One" and "Fats Domino" are marvels of pop ingenuity, animated by vivid lyrics, unshakable hooks, and experimental soul. Wilderness is an amalgamation of influences and inspirations – spanning elements of Krautrock, indie, psychedelia, and classic AOR – to conjure up The Features' own inimitable, indescribable sound.

"I feel like we walk this fine line," says singer/guitarist Matt Pelham. "We're not weird enough for a certain crowd and we're a little bit too out there for the other crowd. We fall in the middle somewhere between mainstream and hipster, which puts us in this weird place, but we're all pretty happy to be here."

The album, which follows 2009's acclaimed Some Kind Of Salvation, (released on Kings of Leon's label, Serpents and Snakes, a venture with music publisher, Bug Music), began coming together upon The Features' return home after a lengthy 2010 tour alongside Manchester Orchestra. Pelham and fellow Features Roger Dabbs (bass), Mark Bond (keyboards), and Rollum Haas (drums) enjoyed a brief domestic hiatus before quickly hitting the practice space to woodshed new material. Wilderness was produced with Brian Carter, who recorded their 2003 release, The Beginning EP, and engineer Craig Alvin at Carter's Paradox Productions Recording Service in Nashville, Tennessee.

Coming into the studio straight away off the road gave The Features a full head of steam, which meshed with their desire to capture some of their on-stage power. The goal, Pelham says, was to make a record that sounded, "like the band was playing live in your living room."

The result of the month-long sessions is as painstakingly crafted as it is full-on, with Pelham's distinctive songcraft expertly matched by the band's sonic inventiveness. "Big Mama" and "Rambo" had already been staples of The Features' live show, while tracks like the swingin' psych-pop opener "Content" were spontaneously created in the studio. Other highlights include the prog-fueled "Golden Comb, with its dynamic tempo changes and multipart arrangement, and the howling rocker, "Kids," which brandishes the Tennessean band's native gift for their own version of meaty, big beat boogie.

"I was hearing The Monks in my head," Haas says of the latter track, "but I think it ended up coming out sounding more like Deep Purple."

"It's funny," Pelham says, "all of us at this point seem to have gone back to things we grew up listening to. We've started to reappreciate classic rock, which was all we could get where we lived. It wasn't until I went to college in Murfreesboro that I found there was another world outside of things like Tom Petty."

Since releasing The Beginning EP in 2003, The Features have assembled quite the catalog of accomplishments, spanning single releases on the UK's trendsetting Fierce Panda label, two well-received albums, and a long history of tours as headliners as well as supporting such like-minded artists as their pals Kings of Leon. As Wilderness demonstrates, the spirit of musical adventure continues to both define and motivate The Features.

"We've always kept moving with new material," Haas says. "Even when we rehearse, we tend to not go through old songs. I've seen a lot of bands that rehearse the material down to where I think everyone would get bored of it. When we get together, even if it's to rehearse for a tour, we tend to work on new ideas."

"That's the exciting part for us," says Pelham, "to be in a practice space, creating a song. The more we do that, the more fun we have as a band. We like touring and playing live, but the creative process of putting a song together is the rush for everybody. So the more we can write and create, the more excitement there is within the band."

With Wilderness, The Features have crafted yet another exceptional installment in what is shaping up as quite the impressive body of work. Ever evolving and always ambitious, this is a band in it for the long haul. The Features can't imagine it any other way.

"I think most guys would've quit," Haas says, "but all of us just love playing music. That's the biggest part of it. We haven't gotten bored with it yet."

"Since we were kids, the only thing any of us ever wanted to do was play music," says Pelham. "We aren't really happy doing anything other than that. At this point, it's gone on so long that I don't know what else we would do. It's all we know."

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Videos : The Wombats : Jump Into The Fog

Who Are The Wombats?

Within the butterfly-breaking cogs of the music industry, big numbers can bring big problems. And The Wombats’ numbers got big, fast. A platinum album with their 2007 debut ‘Guide To Love, Loss And Desperation’. Over 300,000 combined sales of their indie dancefloor smashes ‘Kill The Director’, ‘Let’s Dance To Joy Division’ (winner of the 2008 NME Award for Best Dancefloor Filler), ‘Backfire At The Disco’ and ‘Moving To New York’. A two year tour during which Liverpool’s biggest exports in a decade played to well over a million people, culminating in a massive homecoming Liverpool Arena show for 10,000 ecstatic local fans of their dark yet exuberant and infectious alt.pop.

“It was such a good way to round it off,” says drummer Dan Haggis. “We had a two day party after that. Obviously you can’t help but go ‘bloody hell, remember a couple of years ago in Liverpool, we’d be lucky if we sold out the Academy downstairs to 500 people. How did we get to this?’”

Big numbers, big gigs, but for a band with the intense work ethic of The Wombats (lest we forget, in the build-up to their breakthrough hit ‘Kill The Director’ in 2007 they played 50 tiny pub and club shows around the UK in almost as many days) they took their toll. Having continued their breakneck schedule for eighteen months solid, they came off a mammoth US tour in 2008 “pretty broken… physically and mentally.”

“We did a couple of months too long,” says Dan. “I had problems with my arms so every night going up onstage hurt, so it wasn’t really that enjoyable. I had a gig where I didn’t want anyone to look at me. I sat on the drums at Glasgow and you start feeling guilty because you think you should be having the best night of your life but I didn’t know why I was there.”

Over the summer of 2008, between festival dates, two more singles were recorded – the stop-gap classic ‘My Circuitboard City’ and their sardonic (anti-)Christmas song ‘Is This Christmas?’ before singer Matthew ‘Murph’ Murphy sat down to begin writing new material for album two. But in his new home in London, Murph found the loneliness, dislocation and routine of being off the road and writing in a big city difficult to cope with. He’d simply become too accustomed to the adulation of the stage.

“My downfall was I got used to it,” he admits, “and then when it all stopped it was a bit of a reality bite-back and I had to level myself out. It was my general unhappiness of not being on the road and being in a new city.”

“Every night for a couple of years to have always been on your way somewhere,” adds Dan, “always about to do a gig or an interview or whatever, always people interested in talking to you about music. Then suddenly stopping and not doing gigs and not having the adrenalin rush every night, it’s like hitting a brick wall.”

The few gigs that the band did play occasionally ended in near-death experiences. On his way home from a show in Skegness, Murph almost flipped his car on an icy motorway but emerged miraculously unscathed (the incident inspired a new song called ‘Motorphobia’). And during a trip to Dubai to play Liverpool Sound City, Dan had his own four-wheeled run-in with the reaper.

“It was fun but me and my girlfriend almost had a pretty serious accident,” he says. “We went dune buggy racing with no insurance, no anything. They just went ‘have you done this before?’ and we went ‘no, not really’ and they went ‘great! Put this on!’. We stuck this helmet on and went off over these dunes having a great time and ended up going too fast over one of them and basically coming off and crashing quite badly.”

With so much alienation and vehicular trauma around, it’s perhaps no wonder the first batch of songs Murph wrote in London in February 2009 were delivered to the record label and met with some concern. Lyrically they were the bleakest tracks Murph had ever written (he doesn’t expand on their subject matter) and musically they were heavier than heaven and louder than war.

“The initial thought was to do things relatively far away from what you’d be known for or what your comfort zone is,” he says, “which is maybe a good thing, but the first batch of songs that the label heard, they were like ‘who the hell is this?’”

Bassist Tord Øverland-Knudsen chips in. “They were much grungier. More like the 90s grungy thing, for those first four songs. We needed to get the energy back, make heavier music.”

Or, more accurately, Murph needed to get his Merseyside Mojo back. “I went back to my mum and dad’s house to recapture whatever former glory was once there. It was kind of miserable being locked away in a room for eight hours every day with just a little lampshade and piano. You kind of go round the bend, there was no reality to draw from. So I had to go up to Liverpool and get back to getting slaughtered and doing recreational things in order to find anything to draw on.”

Back in Liverpool, The Wombats Mk 2 instantly clicked. They plumped for a synthier sound, Murph’s keyboard often replacing the lead guitar, and the tunes poured forth in ever more innovative and colourful guises. Tracks such as ‘Perfect Disease’ (a working title, as they all are at present) took on the sonorous disco moods of Depeche Mode and Echo & The Bunnymen, lashed to The Killers’ arena pop sensibilities. One of the album’s “curveballs” ‘Fog’ came out sounding like nothing more than The Horrors covering Queen. Often only their intense catchiness marked these songs out as traditionally ‘Wombats’ at all: no matter where the sonics strayed, the tunes were always glint-in-the-sunlight perfect - better even than the dancefloor killers of their first chart onslaught.

“I felt like I was rebelling against what we were as a band,” Murph explains. “Somehow we’ve come back round and amalgamated bits of that into the newer stuff and it’ll hopefully make it better. There are elements that are so different from what people will think. There’s songs that are akin to the first album but it feels like we’ve escalated. I’m 100 per cent certain that some of the songs on this album are the best we’ve ever put out.”

First single ‘Tokyo (Vampires And Wolves)’ certainly fits that category – an instant radio hit that’s so insanely catchy it’s impossible not to spin again the second it’s finished. An ode to the Neon City? “It’s just a bit angsty,” says Murph. “The new album hasn’t got anything to do with touring, it just represents escapism and wanting to run away.”

This new batch of songs finds Murph’s lyrics developing a depth and personal confessional slant that’s rare in modern song-writing: take the blunt and startling theme of ‘Anti-D’ for starters, in which Murph likens himself to an anti-depressant. But fans of his more story-based writing will find much to enjoy in the synth-rock, disco-destroying brilliance of ‘I Never Knew I Was A Techno Fan’ – the tune where ‘Mr Brightside’ chats up La Roux in a drug-swamped Hoxton dive bar. Key line: “I’m in debt to you/But don’t feed me plant food”.

“That’s more of a story,” Murph says. “I went to a minimal techno rave in Shoreditch with my girlfriend. It was dirty, I didn’t stay there for long. I’ve never seen a longer queue for the toilets in my life. People had their hands up going ‘I actually need a wee’ and everyone in the queue would go ‘go on then’.”

The album has been recorded through 2010 over three sessions with three separate producers, all in LA – first U2 and REM producer Jacknife Lee brought his precise technological nous to ‘Anti-D’, then Eric Valentine helped them put together ‘Tokyo (Vampires And Wolves)’ and ‘Techno Fan’. And as we write they’re preparing to return to LA with Muse knob-twiddler Rich Costey to complete a record that will shock, impress and spin opinion on this most uncompromising of 21st Century pop bands.

“You take the electro and you take the grunge and you put it together with what we used to do on the first album,” says Tord, “then that’s what the album’s going to be.”

Dan nods, a sparkle in his eye. “It’s gonna be a whirlwind adventure.”

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Sources : The Wombats Photo | Jump Into The Fog Video | The Wombats Biography

Mixtapes : Black Lips : Halowe'en

Listen To Black Lips : Halowe'en 

Who Is Black Lips?
Arabia Mountain, the sixth studio album and fourth Vice Records release by the Black Lips, finds the hell-raising Atlanta quartet digging deep into the roots of their exposed-nerve sound and simultaneously exploring surprising new possibilities in their music – or as one of their new songs puts it, “lookin’ in a new direction.” Singer-guitarist Cole Alexander explains, “We tried to do what we do best, and keep it raw, but we also opened up to working with a producer and experimenting with new sounds. We tried to keep doing what we’re doing, while expanding and growing at the same time.”

The Lips – Alexander, singer-bassist Jared Swilley, singer-guitarist Ian St. Pé, and singer-drummer Joe Bradley – had never collaborated with a producer before embarking on their current album. This time, however, the band set out to work with one of the producers on their short list: Mark Ronson, the English producer known for both his sharply-honed solo albums Version and Record Collection and his production work for the likes of Sean Paul, Nas, Adele, Kaiser Chiefs, Duran Duran, Lily Allen, and most notably U.K. soul-pop diva Amy Winehouse’s international breakthrough Back to Black.

“When that came out, we thought, for mainstream pop, this has a cool retro sensibility that we appreciate,” Cole says. “We knew he had the potential to get an older sound. We’re not purists who just want to sound old, but there are certain recording techniques that were used a long time ago that sound really good, and can be used in today’s context. We felt he understood that.”

While the Lips have by no means turned their backs on the storming punk and garage-rock that is the core of their confrontational style, working with Ronson allowed them to work at a more relaxed pace and refine their song-oriented side. “We’ve gone in and done a whole album in a week,” Cole says. “After our last album, we plateaued with that approach. We decided to spend a lot of time and actually work on this record. It ended up taking a year and a half, which is the longest we’ve ever spent. We had some good pop songs in the past, but they got buried in the swampy production. Beefing up the production made a difference. It was a little outside the box for us, and a little outside Mark’s box as well.”

Although the majority of Arabia Mountain was cut with Ronson at MetroSonic Recording Studios in Brooklyn, two songs, “Go Out and Get It” and “Bicentennial Man,” were recorded by Lockett Pundt of Deerhunter in Atlanta. Cole says, “We did those two songs on four-track cassette, and that’s old-school Black Lips – that’s how we first started recording. I just really like cassette sounds. It’s really compact and punchy.”

Arabia Mountain careens through a typically wild catalog of subject matter: touring the Dali Museum, high (“Modern Art”), backwards masking and double suicide (“Mad Dog”), the superhero as molestation victim (“Spidey’s Curse”), the joys and perils of uncooked food (“Raw Meat”), the saga of the Atlanta Braves’ team mascot (“Noc-A-Homa”). “We went further with this record than we ever did in the past,” Cole says. “If you listen to the lyrics to some songs, they’re a little deeper, I think.”

While straight-ahead revved-up rock is not in short supply, the new collection pushes the band’s stylistic boundaries. “Family Tree” found its musical inspiration in a Bolivian folk tune heard on a compilation produced by the eclectic Atlanta label Dust-to-Digital. “Dumpster Dive” is a full-on plunge into Rolling Stones-style country. And “Don’t Mess My Baby” uses tribal drumming to convert a song that began life as Bobby Fuller-styled pop-rockabilly into something approaching South African township jive.

Halowe'en Review
Black Lips guitarist Cole Alexander has compiled a most awesome Halloween playlist, featuring vampires, werewolves and Three 6 Mafia. There’s even a song by Alexander’s side project, Old King Cole, called “Halloween Trap House.”

The punk-rocking Black Lips have long been known for their often morbid irreverence and spooky imagery, so it’s no surprise that they know what they’re doing when it comes to Halloween music. Stream all 13 of their choice Halloween tracks below.

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Albums : Kishi Bashi : 151a

Listen To Kishi Bashi : 151a

Who Is Kisho Baski?

Kishi Bashi is K Ishibashi's self-recorded and self-produced project. K is a founding member of Jupiter One, as well as a touring member of of Montreal and Regina Spektor.

Kishi Bashi is the pseudonym of singer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter K (Kaoru) Ishibashi (born November 4, 1975). Ishibashi was born in Seattle, Washington, but growing up predominantly on the east coast in Norfolk, Virginia where both of his parents were professors at Old Dominion University. As a 1994 graduate of Matthew Fontaine Maury High School, he went on to study classical music becoming a renowned violinist. Ishibashi has recorded with and toured internationally as a violinist with diverse artists such as Regina Spektor, Sondre Lerche, and most recently, the Athens, Georgia based indie rock group of Montreal.

Ishibashi is also the singer and founding member of the New York synth rock outfit, Jupiter One. In 2011, he started to record and perform as a solo artist, opening for Sondre Lerche, Alexi Murdoch, and of Montreal. He supported of Montreal on their spring 2012 tour. Ishibashi has an eponymous side project, with which he plans on releasing his first EP under this moniker on the Joyful Noise label in late 2012, it has the tentative title "I Lost My Wrestling Match To Davey Pierce On The Big Black Bus".

Shortly after debuting his full length solo album 151a, NPR All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen listed Kishi Bashi as his favorite new artist of 2012 noting that he created "a radiant, uplifting soundscape" with songs such as "Bright Whites." In the same year, Microsoft licensed "Bright Whites" for use in a commercial for Windows 8. Around the same time, Sony used Kishi Bashi's song "It All Began With A Burst" from the same album for a commercial introducing their Xperia Tablet S. In addition to these placements, Smart licensed "Chester's Burst Over The Hamptons" for their line of smart cars in the United States.

Kishi Bashi has since been invited to play in major festivals such as SXSW and Austin City Limits and gone on an extensive US tour with supporting acts like The Last Bison, who happen to be from his native Hampton Roads, Virginia. Kishi Bashi announced a North American tour across the United States and Canada for early 2013.

151a Review

Japanese violinist Kaoru Ishibashi arose in mid 2011 with the EP Room For Dream under his moniker Kishi Bashi which was a beautiful indie folk album. It took influences from Animal Collective with their weird psychedelics and choral like vocal chants and Andrew Bird with its elegant folk edge along with a few other bands of a similar sound. He’s even played and has been featured in a few of Montreal songs and even has Kevin Barnes – the lead singer of of Montreal – on the last song on that EP. He then made a triumphant return in 2012 with 151a.

Kaoru Ishibashi is an indie pop/folk/orchestral/electronic musician, and is also a man that makes his music with his influences popping out with each note he plays. Everything that you’ll hear on this album sounds like you’ve heard it before on an album by many different artists; perhaps not in its entirety, but snippets of different sounds. It ranges from the flamboyant poppy of Montreal-esque sounds of, It All Begins With a Burst, with its falsetto harmonic vocals and odd, quirky and bubbly song structures to a song like, Atticus, In the Desert, which sounds very pretty and orchestral while still sounding very folk and keeping this Sufjan Stevens-esque sound. The intro song, Intro / Pathos, Pathos, has a very natural and woodland feeling to it, giving the feeling of getting lost in forest only to run into a flurry of animals to dance and sing the way back to your home.

The vocals sound vibrant, alive, flamboyant, full and very pretty on this record giving it a beautiful over layering to the album. Another perk about this album are the beautiful orchestral sounds. Kishi Bashi plays the violin like an angel that bawl to the heavens and this orchestral, however very pop oriented, sound can be traced back to artists like Beirut or Owen Pallett. Other string instruments surround his playing as well. The song, Chester's Burst Over the Hamptons, showcases a very European and upbeat folk song – similar to Beirut - that perhaps portrays the traditional sounds of Scandinavian. On the topic of the song, Chester’s Burst Over the Hamptons, while keeping this upbeat sound, he has no problem smoothly changing his style completely and experimenting with other sounds adding synthesizers and a dark tone to the album, especially on a song like, I Am the Antichrist To You. 

However, even though it seems as though Kishi Bashi makes his music based entirely on influences, he has managed to create an album that is extremely beautiful and can still sound relevant, natural, bucolic, rural, passionate and also be a lot of fun. The last song on the album, Beat the Bright Out of Me, - towards the end - is a dignified, atmospheric finish featuring ambient synthesizers and beautiful angelic vocal harmonies that travel within the depths of our psyche, much like the rest of the album.

151a is an excellent album to listen to when you’re in the mood for some poppy, and quirky, orchestral music. It is both upbeat at times and happy, and then can be very melancholic and depressing showcasing a beautiful mix of moods and emotions in each song. Most of the tracks layer themselves with a lot of electronics, baroque sounding string instruments, harmonic vocals and it is done in such a way that – however noticeable the influences maybe – it doesn’t ruin the mood of the album and makes it a very relaxing and pretty listen. This is an album for fans of of Montreal, Sufjan Stevens, Andrew Bird, Beirut and many others, and most, if not all, of these bands share a similar pretty and flamboyant sound. The only gripe people might have with this album is that it is too short for the kind of music being played and goes by so fast that it takes a few listens to fully capture the beauty Ishibashi has presented us with. Kishi Bashi keeps you on your toes with every listen with its changing folk style as it gives you happy thoughts

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Sources : Kishi Bashi Photo | Listen To 151a | Kishi Bashi Biography | 151a Review

Albums : The Boxer Rebellion : B-Sides and Rarities, Vol. 2

Listen To The Boxer Rebellion : B-Sides and Rarities, Vol. 2

Who Is The Boxer Rebellion?
The Boxer Rebellion is an international indie band formed in London, United Kingdom around 2001, consisting of Tennessee-native Nathan Nicholson (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Australian Todd Howe (lead guitar), and Englishmen Adam Harrison (bass guitar) and Piers Hewitt (drums). They have so far released an eponymous EP, three studio albums, Exits (2005), Union (2009) and The Cold Still (2011) and a compilation album, B-Sides & Rarities Collection, Vol. 1 & 2 (2012). The Boxer Rebellion's third studio album, The Cold Still (2011) was mixed and produced by Ethan Johns at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios. The album was released on iTunes on February 1, 2011 in the United States. It was released digitally on iTunes and physically in the UK, Europe, and around the world February 7, 2011, and in France March 1, 2011. The band released a compilation album of rare b-sides and demo versions of well known tracks entitled B-Sides & Rarities Collection, Vol. 1 & 2 on November 7, 2012. They are currently writing and recording their fourth studio album in London, UK. (Read More)

 B-Sides and Rarities, Vol. 2 Review

Although London's The Boxer Rebellion are currently writing and recording a new album, they haven't forgotten about their past. The band have recently released a new collection of rare songs from their 10-year career. 

The collection, which is titled B-Sides and Rarities and is composed of 20 songs, was quietly released through their own Absentee Recordings.

Two songs from the collection, "In the Empire" and "Before Tomorrow" can currently be streamed via the band's SoundCloud page, and "The Rescue" can be downloaded from The Boxer Rebellion's website. The entire tracklisting of B-Sides and Rarities is available below.

B-Sides and Rarities Volume I tracklisting

01. Palisade - 2003

02. You & I - 2003

03. Empty - 2003

04. Watermelon - Single Version 2003

05. Outerspace - 2003

06. Code Red - Single Version 2004

07. Don't Drag Your Dirty Feet - 2003

08. Before Tomorrow - 2004

09. In Pursuit - Single Version 2003

10. In The Empire - 2003

B-Sides and Rarities Volume II tracklisting

01. Broken Glass - 2007

02. Murder Ballad - 2007

03. Spitting Fire - 2010

04. JFKFC - 2005

05. Semi-Automatic - Alternative Version 2010

06. From the Liars - 2005

07. Red Tape - 2007

08. 325 - 2010

09. Waiting - 2006

10. You - 2010

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Singles : The Airborne Toxic Event : Timeless

Listen To The Airborne Toxic Event : Timeless

Who Is The Airborne Toxic Event?
The Airborne Toxic Event is an American indie rock band from Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California. It consists of Mikel Jollett (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Steven Chen (guitar, keyboards), Noah Harmon (electric bass, upright bass, backing vocals), Daren Taylor (drums) and Anna Bulbrook (viola, keyboards, tambourine, backing vocals). The band released its debut self-titled album in 2008 and released its follow-up album, All at Once, on April 26, 2011.

Named after a section of the book White Noise, by Don DeLillo, the group is known for its blend of rock music and orchestral arrangements, having performed frequently with the Calder Quartet, a string quartet based in Los Angeles. The group has also played concerts with the Louisville Orchestra and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.

On August 5, 2008, the band released its first full-length album, The Airborne Toxic Event, featuring ten of the 14 songs recorded at Min’s home studio at the end of 2007 and beginning of 2008. On August 1, coinciding with the release, the group performed "Sometime Around Midnight" on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

The record was received with mostly favorable reviews from such outlets as the Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, Q, Entertainment Weekly, and Drowned in Sound, among others. Notably, the Boston Herald named the band's album "The Debut Album of the Year." In addition, on Dec 6, 2008, iTunes named "Sometime Around Midnight" the No. 1 Alternative Song of the Year on their Best of 2008 list. One exception was the review on the music website Pitchfork Media, by Ian Cohen, who gave the record 1.6 out of 10 stars and accused the band of imitating the worst aspects of bands such as Arcade Fire, The Strokes, and Interpol.In response, the band released a statement saying that it does not take reviews too seriously and criticized Pitchfork for basing their critiques on "a band's ability to match a certain indie rock aesthetic" rather than a band's other merits, and claiming that much of the review "reads less like a record review and more like a diatribe against a set of ill-considered and borderline offensive preconceptions about Los Angeles".

To promote the album, the band released a series of one-take acoustic videos for each song on the record, filmed in different locations around Los Angeles. Each video was released in the order of the track listing on the album each week, with the final video ("Innocence") released in the first week of August to coincide with the album release. Some of the locations included the Los Angeles River, Griffith Park, and the Colburn School Conservatory of Music. Two of the acoustic videos featured the band performing in moving vehicles; "Does This Mean You’re Moving On?" was performed in a car on Sunset Boulevard, while "Something New" was performed on a boat at Marina Del Rey with Taylor both steering the boat and tapping a snare drum with his free hand.

Beginning in July 2008, the band embarked on a series of tours in support of the album, which continued for approximately a year and a half. After touring various summer festivals, the band embarked on a North American tour opening for The Fratellis in the fall of 2008. (Read More)

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Videos : Fun. : Some Nights

Who Is Fun. ?

Fun (stylized as fun.) is an American indie rock band based in New York City that was formed by Nate Ruess, formerly of The Format. After the breakup of The Format, Ruess formed Fun with Andrew Dost and Jack Antonoff of Anathallo and Steel Train respectively. Fun has released two albums: its debut Aim and Ignite in 2009 and Some Nights in February 2012.

The band is best known for its hit singles "We Are Young" featuring Janelle Monáe, "Some Nights," and "Carry On." "We Are Young" reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and Digital Songs charts. It peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart, as well. "Some Nights" was released as the album's second single in June 2012, peaking at number three on the Hot 100 chart and becoming Fun's second Top 10 single, as well as the band's second song to reach platinum status in the United States.

On December 5, 2012, Fun was nominated for six Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for "We Are Young", Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album for "Some Nights".

The Format split in February 2008. Immediately afterward Nate Ruess asked Andrew Dost and Jack Antonoff to join his new project. Dost had toured with The Format and provided various instrumentation. Ruess met Antonoff after The Format toured with Steel Train. The three began working together in New Jersey within a week. Ruess sang melodies while the other two provided music for them. The first demo song the band recorded was "Benson Hedges," which was made available for free in Spin's September 20, 2008 article on the band. Fun approached Steven McDonald, who produced The Format's album Dog Problems with Ruess, to produce their debut album. McDonald was enthusiastic about the project and stated, "I can’t believe what we’re working on here. This crushes anything I’ve ever done."

Recording took place in the fall of 2008. The band's first single, "At Least I'm Not as Sad As I Used to Be" was made available as a free download on the band's Myspace page on April 6, 2009. Aim and Ignite was released on August 25, 2009 and had positive reviews. AbsolutePunk.net's Drew Beringer praised the album, stating it was "what a pop album 'should' sound like" and "the most essential pop album of 2009." Allmusic called the album "progressive, but in the best possible way" and admired Ruess's lyrics for "investigating the larger truths of life...with a witty approach that keeps the songs bubbling merrily along on a positive note". Dave de Sylvia of Sputnikmusic wrote, "Aim and Ignite isn’t the most consistent pop album around," but he ultimately commended the album as "a superbly mixed and arranged album made by musicians who clearly understand the limits and potential of pop music". Estella Hung of PopMatters was less impressed with the album. She praised songs "Be Calm" and "The Gambler", but criticized the lyrics and production of the album's early tracks. Hung concluded that while Aim and Ignite is "pretty original to say the least", it "fails to live up to the Format’s last outing." Popdose's Ken Shane called the album "an interesting and unusual listen." Shane applauded the album's songwriting and said "many of the songs are really good," but he objected to the "cute" production, desiring to hear the band "in a more stripped-down form." He ended his review with: "I have a similar problem with Dr. Dog, a band that was recommended to me by a number of people. I think much of their recorded work is too fussed over, but when I saw them live and their sound was more stripped down out of necessity, emphasizing their powerful songwriting, I thought they were wonderful. Perhaps the same fate awaits me with Fun." The album reached number 26 on Sputnikmusic's top 50 albums of 2009. The album peaked at 71 on the US album charts.

Fun began its first North American tour on November 8, 2008 with Jack's Mannequin. The debut album Aim and Ignite was released on Mach 8 2008 In reviewing the album, The Washington Post called some of the arrangements "theatrical, much like those on Panic at the Disco's 2005 debut". In February 2010, Fun supported Jack's Mannequin on their headline tour, along with Vedera which was followed by their first UK appearances in March. Their current touring band also includes Will Noon, Rob Kroehler, Emily Moore, Nate Harold, and Jon "Jonny Thunder" Goldstein. In April 2010, Fun supported Paramore's headline tour. Other support for the tour includes Relient K and Harriet Ellis of Summer Beats. The band then embarked on a full UK tour in May. On August 4, 2010, Fun announced that they had signed with label Fueled by Ramen.

On August 14, 2010, Fun announced via the Official Paramore Fan Club that Fun would be opening for Paramore on their November UK tour. In 2010 Fun's single, "Walking the Dog," was used in a commercial for the travel site Expedia.com. Will Noon (formerly of Straylight Run) played drums with Fun on tour, according to Noon's Twitter page. To celebrate the Paramore UK tour and the band’s new single ‘Walking The Dog’, Hassle Records gave away a free download of an acoustic version of the track. On April 27, 2011, a video of the band performing a new song entitled "Carry On" was uploaded to YouTube.

"C'mon" Was released on May 17, 2011, as a joint single with Panic! at the Disco, who they opened for on their 2011 Vices & Virtues Tour. On November 7, 2011, the band announced that their next album would be titled Some Nights. Its first single, called "We Are Young" featuring Janelle Monáe, has since been used in several other media including television series Gossip Girl, 90210, Glee, and Chuck, commercials for Chevrolet and Apple, and in the trailer for Judd Apatow's film This Is 40.

On December 12, 2011, the band's song "One Foot" was available for instant streaming and free download on Nylon's website. On February 13, 2012, the band released an album stream of Some Nights on their website along with a note from Ruess thanking fans for their ongoing support. Ruess states he is "over the moon about what you're about to hear and falling asleep knowing that as soon as I wake up, this will no longer be a dream." It was released on February 21, 2012 through Fueled by Ramen. On February 29, 2012 the band kicked off the start of their North American tour in support of Some Nights.

Fun's single "We Are Young" reached the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart On March 7, 2012. This makes Fun the first multi-member rock band to have a No. 1 Billboard debut on the Hot 100 since Nickelback's "How You Remind Me" in December 2001/January 2002. On April 11, 2012, Billboard.com announced that Fun's "We Are Young" also made Digital Sales history. As the song was at the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for a sixth consecutive week, it has become the first, and at this time only, song that has ever gained 300,000+ downloads for seven weeks straight. The group performed "We Are Young" on the 2012 MTV Europe Music Awards on November 11, 2012.

The song "We Are Young" made an early appearance during the 2011 PAC-12 Conference Championship game. The chorus played underneath a montage of highlights featuring University of Oregon players.

In September 2012, the song "Some Nights" was featured in the National Championship video for The University of Alabama football team. The video featured home videos of fans watching the National Championship game.

On October 24, 2012, the music video for the album's third single, "Carry On", was released. "Carry On" is the third song from Some Nights to enter the Billboard Hot 100.

On November 3, 2012 Fun performed the songs "Some Nights" and "Carry On" on Saturday Night Live. (Read More)

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Albums : Imagine Dragons : Night Visions

Listen To Imagine Dragons : Night Visions

Who Is Imagine Dragons?

After the last note played on the last song of a marathon set a few years ago, Dan Reynolds, frontman for Las Vegas based rockers Imagine Dragons, realized it was all starting to come together. “We were playing a gig at this place called O’Sheas, which has the cheapest beer on the strip,” Reynolds remembers. “I was basically standing on top of the drums, the stage was so small. We were on our final song of a six-hour set. I got to the end of the song and just fully passed out in the middle of singing. I came to, got up, finished the song, and we got a standing ovation from all these people at this tiny little casino at three am on a weekday in Vegas. Something about that moment bonded us and made us realize that we were building a connection with people from all over the country.”

Since then that connection has only grown.  Reynolds and his bandmates – guitarist Wayne Sermon, bassist Ben McKee, and drummer Daniel Platzman – independently released three EPs, toured extensively, earning a grass roots following. Then, earlier this year, the band made their major label debut with the release of their Continued Silence EP, which included the breakthrough single “It’s Time,” an anthemic foot-stomping track that perfectly encapsulates the band’s unvarnished emotional sound.  The song, which reached #3 at Modern Rock radio and #2 at AAA, earned the group a 2012 MTV VMA nomination for “Best Rock Video.” With the groundswell of energy “It’s Time” generated, Imagine Dragons are now preparing for the release of their full-length debut, Night Visions, available on Grammy award winning producer Alex Da Kid’s (Eminem, Rihanna) label, KIDinaKORNER. “This record has been three years in the making,” Reynolds explains of his excitement in finally getting to share the album with the world. “We feel that we have finally created something we are all truly proud of and that can hopefully inspire others and help them feel a little less alone. That’s what music is about. It’s the greatest communicator I know.”

Emotional struggle is central to Imagine Dragons ethos. From the beginning it’s been the group’s goal to take the pain they've each experienced in life and spin it into something redemptive and uplifting. That transformation – of emotional pain into art – is what drives them as people and it’s also what inspired their first hit. “I wrote ‘It’s Time’ during a very transitional period in my life,” Reynolds recalls. “It seemed like everything was going wrong. I was trying to decide what I wanted to do with my life, trying to figure out how seriously to take music. I was making decisions about who I was. I’m a pretty young guy and I’m still trying to figure out the answer to those questions.” 

That balance between riding steady and risking it all is the core tension at the heart of Imagine Dragons’ sound and their identity and it’s a reflection of the city they call home. “Our band wouldn’t exist without Las Vegas,” Reynolds says simply. “It’s a great place for an artist to start out.” Sin City isn’t known as a creative hotbed but, weirdly, that works to the advantage of the musicians who live there.  “It’s not oversaturated,” he explains. “As a new band you play the casinos - half covers, half your own stuff – and you make ends meet. We were able to rent a band house and support ourselves. Eating ramen, but still.”  Eking out a living as a Vegas rocker might be relatively easy but competition is cutthroat because the city is like boot camp for performers. Unlike in New York or LA where your biggest concern is being the hottest rock act around, in Las Vegas you’ve got to compete with showgirls and roulette and Cher at the Caesars Palace. “You learn to stand out because you’re competing for the attention of people sitting at slot machines,” Reynolds explains. “You have to bring everything you have and learn what grabs people’s attention enough that they look up from the card table and say, hey, let’s check this out!”

For Imagine Dragons that means the brutal honesty and power of straight-ahead rock and roll interwoven with innovative backbeats,  basslines, and percussion. “We like making raw natural noises and keeping them raw and natural but transforming them into synthetic noises,” Sermon says. “We are gearheads. We do a lot of experimenting with percussion that’s electric and acoustic on top of each other.” Every band member except Reynolds attended Boston’s prestigious Berklee College of Music, and the technical skill and precision that comes with that education has impacted Imagine Dragons’ sound and process. “I’m a musician that goes by ear. And when you put those two types of people in a room together that’s when the magic happens,” say Reynolds.

With the release of Night Visions, Imagine Dragons finally have a chance to show the world what that magic sounds like. They start off with a big statement in “Radioactive,” which blends a throbbing backbeat with delicate acoustic guitars and deals lyrically with facing the apocalypse. “We want people to hear that song and feel empowered,” Reynolds explains. Meanwhile, the delicacy of tracks like “Demons” balances the album’s expansiveness with a sense of human intimacy. “The album title came together very organically,” Reynolds recalls of the records overall theme. “We all sat in a room and wrote out what the band and sound of the album means to us. We all deal with our own demons and anxieties but we find that nothing calms the mind more than creating. Many of the songs on the album were written late into the night, and some of the lyrical themes came from dreams I've had, even some nightmares. So when the title Night Visions came up, it just seemed to fit perfectly. We hope it inspires other to create, and push through their own struggles.”

Night Visions Review

The quartet's debut single "It's Time," helped propel the band to a #2 spot on the Billboard charts earlier this month, as well as a 2012 VMA nomination. But for all the attention "It's Time" is getting, the album's true apex moments are arguably the soaring "Demons," and the deeply panged "Bleeding Out." And it is there in those two songs that Imagine Dragons makes all the sense in the world. On "Bleeding Out," Reynolds sounds tortured, as if laying his soul on the line for the past eight songs has worn him out. And on "Demons," he's pretty much giving a last will and testament and sounds as impassioned and sincere as any vocalist this year. A band with a first-rate frontman can go places, but the power with which Reynolds bellows us like very few of his peers. And that's the gold in Night Visions. There are very few places to turn that aren't ultimately charming. Whether its the bursting opening of "Radioactive," the confident sheen of "Tiptoe," or the wistful "Amsterdam," the disc's first half is one radio juggernaut after the other. 

On the latter stages, Reynolds and Co. offer up the Killers-esque anthem "Hear Me," the urban-tinged "Every Night," and the playful and pliant "Underdog." Understanding just how important a closing track can be, the epic finish of "Nothing Left to Say," is thrown into the fire and does little to disappoint. Rattling off a yarn about insomnia, "Nothing Left to Say," is deeply impacting, entrancing and ultimately very rewarding. After a minute of silence, the two-minute hidden track "Rocks," stakes its claim as one of the album's best as it segues between indie experimental and Euro-tinged dance. The only problem with "Rocks," is one wishes it could have made it into the actual track listing. There are many that can dispute this claim, but in this writer's eyes, the strengths of "Rocks," far outweigh the hit-and-miss "Top of the World," which tries to channel the Afro-pop sounds of Vampire Weekend, and at worst, the percussive twee of Guster. Additionally, the urban-flavored "Every Night," feels at times as if it is trying too hard. Perhaps Grammy-winning producer Alex Da Kid got too hands on, perhaps the band just wanted to try their hand at diversity. But those two small gripes are enough to be tossed aside considering the sheer power of the rest of the disc. 

Having already released a slew of critically acclaimed EPs and having grabbed the aforementioned Grammy winner to turn the knobs, it seemed almost inevitable that Night Visions would be a success. But calling something a success on paper and then hearing that album is an entirely different story. Night Visions is a disc laden with buoyant choruses, arena-ready swagger and armfuls of dance floor attitude. Those three traits married with Reynolds' unshakeable vocals are enough reason to think Night Visions is just the start of something truly memorable beginning to brew. 

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Albums : Metric : Synthetica

Listen To Metric : Synthetica

Who Is Metric?

Metric is Emily Haines, Jimmy Shaw, Joshua Winstead and Joules Scott Key. An independent rock and roll band empowered by their innovative approach to the music business, Metric self-released their last album FANTASIES on five continents without the benefit of a label and earned themselves multiple radio hits around the world with songssuch as "Gimme Sympathy," "Gold Guns Girls," and "Help I'm Alive." They went on to sell over a million singles and 500,000 albums worldwide.

Fantasies earned Metric "Album of the Year" and "Band of the Year" at the Canadian Juno Awards, and the band finished 2010 with their music featured in two major Hollywood films including Scott Pilgrim vs The World and the Twilight Saga: Eclipse. The Twilight soundtrack was nominated for a Grammy Award and landed METRIC on the Academy Award nomination short list in 2011 for the theme song they co-wrote with composer Howard Shore. They have since partnered up with Howard Shore on another project: The score to David Cronenberg’s latest film Cosmopolis, composed by Shore and performed by METRIC, due out this year.

Their fifth full-length studio album Synthetica will be released on June 12, 2012. Sonicallyfuturistic yet organic, this album sounds like the culmination of all the music the band has made in their 10 years together. First single “Youth Without Youth” examines the fraying social state with a bristling energy and a driving beat. “Breathing Underwater” and “Speed the Collapse” both deliver on the classic METRIC chorus of soaring melancholy, while the lyrics for “Lost Kitten” and “Clone” call out some bad behavior and the consequences. Hard rocking title track “Synthetica” offers an epic conclusion to suspenseful album opener “Artificial Noctune.”

Synthetica Review

Canadian sweethearts Metric are the masters of change. Since their inception in 1998, the Toronto-based fourpiece has released a total of five distinct albums. On each, they masterfully toe the line between continuity and evolution, and their first four records earned them a reputation for perpetual evolution and consistently great songwriting. With their fifth release, Metric erupts onto a grandiose new plane. Thrilling and colossal, Synthetica is a pulsating collection of indie-synth anthems.

In a recent Spinner interview, frontwoman Emily Haines joked about her penchant for misery: “I’m used to everyone telling me, from as long as I can remember, ‘you know, you’re pretty dark.’ Yeah, I fucking know. I’m a heavy cat.” In the past, this tendency has manifested itself in crooning emotional laments like “Soft Rock Star” and “Combat Baby.” These songs were gloomy, to be sure, but they don’t hold a barely-flickering candle to Synthetica. On this release, Haines describes a crumbling dystopia and the musician’s continual quest for authenticity. Beneath its smooth electronic production and Haines’ sugary vocals, Synthetica is gritty, sinister, and ultimately inspiring. Metric has mastered the musician's paradox, sufficiently evolving without neglecting their roots.

The album begins with “Artificial Nocturne,” a swooning, infectious self-reflection that sets the tone for the rest of the album. Both meditative and motivating, the opener combines thrilling layers of instrumentation with painfully desperate lyrics. Surprisingly, what most listeners would guess to be a synth is actually a 60s organ played through a homemade pedal—an inventive choice that proves that Metric is willing to try just about anything. Next comes “Youth Without Youth,” an enormous track that describes a decaying society in all its grimy detail. It’s a behemoth of a song that will have you convinced that Haines is a Muse fan. Synthetica continues its rather apocalyptic themes with “Speed the Collapse,” another cynical account of societal collapse that blends girlish 60s backup vocals with pure, unabashed bombast.

With the fourth song, Synthetica moves from rebellion to introspection. On “Breathing Underwater,” Emily Haines deals with issues of mortality and purpose, begging us to answer her desperate question: “Is this my life? Am I breathing underwater?” The self-criticism extends through “Dreams So Real”—a short and heart-wrenching tale of regret—and “Lost Kitten”—a whimsical tune that balances sugary rhythmic clapping with dark, troubling lyrics. (Read More)

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Videos : Beach House : New Year

Who Is Beach House?

Beach House is a dream pop duo from Baltimore, Maryland, formed in 2004. The band consists of French-born Victoria Legrand and Baltimore native Alex Scally. The group's self-titled debut, Beach House (2006), was critically acclaimed. This was followed by its second release, Devotion, in 2008. The band released its third studio album, Teen Dream in January 2010, to critical acclaim and commercial success. Their fourth album, Bloom, was released in 2012 and garnered positive feedback.

The band formed in 2004, composed of Alex Scally, who plays the guitar and keyboard, and Victoria Legrand, who sings and plays the organ. Beach House began as a recording project, thus, its music favored simplicity. The band's music consisted largely of the organ, programmed drums, and the slide guitar. Said Legrand to Pitchfork Media, "It's a way to challenge ourselves: What do you do when it's just the two of you?". Scally affirmed, "One of the reasons this has been such a fulfilling experience for me is that with two people, it's so much easier to achieve things that feel exciting and new."

The song "Apple Orchard" was featured on a Pitchfork Media MP3 mixtape in August 2006. In October 2006 the band's self-titled debut album, Beach House, was released through Carpark Records. That year, Pitchfork Media ranked it 16th on its Best Albums list.

The band has toured extensively. In March 2009, the band was featured at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas.

In April 2010, the band performed at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California. In June 2010, the band surmounted "technical difficulties due to too much MDMA" while playing a set on The Park Stage at Glastonbury. In August 2010, the band joined Vampire Weekend on tour as one of their two opening acts, the other being the Dum Dum Girls. In October 2010, Beach House played at the Austin City Limits Music Festival. On December 20, 2010 the band performed on Conan.

The band was chosen by Animal Collective to perform at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival they curated in May 2011, and also by Portishead to perform at the ATP I'll Be Your Mirror festival that they curated in July 2011 at London's Alexandra Palace. On May 29, 2011 the band played at the Sasquatch! Music Festival. On July 31, 2011 the band played at the Fuji Rock music festival in Niigata, Japan. On October 16, 2011, the band played at the Treasure Island Music Festival. On May 18, 2012, they appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman and on Sunday July 15, 2012, they performed the closing set on the Red Stage during the Pitchfork Music Festival.

In May 2012, the band appeared on Later... with Jools Holland playing "Myth" and "Lazuli" from their 2012 album, Bloom. On July 26, 2012 they performed the Bloom cuts "Wild" and "Wishes" on The Jimmy Fallon Show.

New Year Review 

The seasonally appropriate track is taken from the duo's fourth album 'Bloom', which came out last May (2012) and became their highest-charting effort yet, peaking at Number Seven in the US and Number 15 in the UK.

The 'New Year' video features time lapse footage from the recording sessions for the album, which took place at the Sonic Ranch studio in Tornillo, Texas during 2011. Fans of cats are unlikely to be disappointed with what they see. 

Explaining the concept behind the 'New Year' clip, Beach House posted on YouTube: "It's more of a home video thing, not a music video... we just thought these moments and the memories they involve fit this song."

Beach House began a tour of Australia on January 3 and return to the UK for a pair of London dates in the spring. The duo will headline at the Shepherd's Bush Empire venue on March 26 and 27.

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Sources : Beach House Photo | New Year Video | Beach House Biography | New Year Review

Videos : Miles Kane : ‘First Of My Kind’

Who Is Miles Kane?

Miles Kane (born 17 March 1986) is an English musician originally from Meols on the Wirral, best known as the co-frontman of The Last Shadow Puppets and former frontman of The Rascals before the band announced their break-up in August 2009.

He is currently pursuing a solo career, and continues to be a part of his side-project The Last Shadow Puppets. His debut solo album, Colour of the Trap, was released on 9 May 2011.

Aged 18, Kane joined The Little Flames as guitarist alongside Eva Petersen (Vocals), Greg Mighall (Drums), Joe Edwards (Bass) and Matt Gregory (Guitar) in December 2004. The band went on to be vaguely successful, achieving comparisons to The Coral and high profile fans such as the Arctic Monkeys. They also went on to tour with bands like The Coral, The Zutons, The Dead 60s and Arctic Monkeys. However, the band decided to go their separate ways.

Kane, on vocals and lead guitar, was joined by Greg Mighall on drums and Joe Edwards on bass guitar and occasional backing vocals. Kane took on the main songwriting duties for the band. The band, who have known each other from childhood, continued where The Little Flames left off; they signed with Deltasonic Records again, only with fewer members this time. They were adamant to keep their own distinct sound of 'awesome rockin beats' with a 'psychedelic quirk' and a 'compelling and unique dark underlying spirit'1. They released their debut EP in December 2007, just 7 months after they got together. Entitled Out of Dreams it featured 4 tracks, but did not achieve chart success. Yet they soon became tipped to be one of the bands of 2008, championed in particular by NME, following a well received support slot on Arctic Monkeys' 2007 tour. Their first album 'Rascalize' was released on 23 June 2008. The Rascals have a small role in the film Awaydays playing an Echo & the Bunnymen cover. Miles also has several lines such as "Sorry, I have to help the guys with the gear."

Whilst touring with the Arctic Monkeys, Kane developed a strong friendship with front man Alex Turner. They shared a love of the same musical influences, such as Nick Cave. The pair began to play together backstage, and soon began writing new tracks. They realised that there was a future in their songwriting partnership, and the Last Shadow Puppets were born.

The duo decided to travel to the West Coast of France with producer James Ford where they recorded their debut album The Age of the Understatement in just two weeks. Their album went straight to number 1 in the UK Album Charts with the single of the same name reaching number 1 in the Indie Single Charts, and subsequent singles also reaching high spots. They first played together live in the UK, doing a secret set at Glastonbury with a special guest appearance from Jack White, whom Kane lent his iPod to so White could learn the solo. The band's album narrowly missed out on the Nationwide Mercury Music Prize, but thus far they have won the Mojo Breakthrough Award, and have also been nominated for various other accolades.

In early 2009, after his last tour with The Rascals, Kane left the band to focus on a solo career. Inspired by a classic, smart 60s Mod theme he signed with Columbia Records and began recording his solo album with Dan Carey and Dan the Automator, who had previously worked with Gorillaz and Kasabian.

Kane's debut single, "Inhaler" was released on 22 November 2010, and he did a series of solo shows throughout November, as well as supporting The Courteeners at several shows in December. He then continued solo performances in January and February, before supporting Beady Eye at eight shows in March. Kane released another single, "Come Closer" on 20 February 2011, reaching #85 on the UK Singles Chart.

"Rearrange", the lead single for his debut album, was released on 27 March 2011 and reached #149 on the UK Singles Chart. The album, titled Colour of the Trap, was released on 9 May 2011. One track, "My Fantasy" features backing vocals from Noel Gallagher, while another, "Happenstance" is a duet between Kane and French actress Clémence Poésy. [ Half of the tracks on the album were co-written by Alex Turner, Kane's partner in The Last Shadow Puppets.

Kane supported Arctic Monkeys for two shows in Sheffield in June 2011. As well as being their support act on their Australian tour of January 2012.

It was also announced on the 19th of October 2011 that Kane is to support Kasabian on their UK tour in December 2011. (Read More)

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Sources : Miles Kane Photo | First Of My Kind Video | Miles Kane Biography