Having heard the songs (which you can do too, right here... for an undefined but limited period), it's clear that they have once again succeeded in remaining relevant to contemporary dance music. In fact, only The salmon dance, featuring Fatlip, is a disappointing song. Their collaborations with The Klaxons and Midlake (really surprisingly good song there...) bring us some of their finest tunes, but the absolute best song on the album is the first single, Do it again, featuring Ali Love. The beats are simple but force you onto the dancefloor, and the lyrics, well, they're no better than the lyrics to Hey boy, hey girl, but it works (in some strange, inexplicable way).
I don't like the drugs (but the drugs like me) is one of those songs which are quite OK, and which I actually enjoy listening to.
First up : Belgian band Starfucker, who won "Labodelux", a talent contest, which earned them the right to open on one of the stages of the festival. It turned out to be the "Skate stage", where they'll perform their neo-punkdisco. You can listen to "Boys will be boys" on their website.
Bedouin Soundclash from Toronto mix reggae, rock, punk, soul and ska and they won't have released their second album, Street Gospel, when they play their show in the "Club" (it's available worldwide on 21st of August). On their website you can have a taste of what they sound like, with "Walls fall down".
Another Belgian band is Rye Jehu, who sound like Blink-182 have hired Dick Dale. If you click on the radio on their website, you can listen to 4 songs. Here's the video to 3 calls for alcohol :
Yndi Halda, which remind me of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Explosions In The Sky, Sigur Ros, Do Make Say Think and A Silver Mount Zion. Their name is Eddic (an ancient language) for "enjoy eternal bliss", which is exactly what they have called their debut.
Dirty Three seem to add some more tristesse to the songs Low play and sing, and according to the liner notes on the CD, the combination of Low's open, desolate sound and the melancholic yet folky violin of Dirty Three's Warren Ellis inspired Mimi to indulge in a more crooning way of singing and Alan to play some amazing banjo.
Intergalactic, the first single from the Beastie Boys album Hello Nasty, has been remixed by Prisoners of Technology/TMS-1 for the CD-single. They add some drum 'n bass flavour to it, which makes it an even more danceable song than it already was...
I'm not that particularly fond of Belgian band Thou, but I've always really liked their single Speakers (mp3) from their album Elvis or Betty Boop, which you can buy here...
The German record label Compost has been famous for its "The future sound of jazz" series, and its releases of artists like Ben Mono, Fauna Flash, Trüby Trio,...Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs and Jackie Brown have convinced me of the talents of Quentin Tarantino (I still have to see Kill Bill, which I'm planning to see as a marathon, but I haven't found time yet to do so...), so it was with high expectations that I went to see Death Proof in my local cinema this week.
Granted, it ain't the big blow-you-right-out-your-chair as was Pulp Fiction, and the plot line is far from well-devised as was Jackie Brown's, but some typical Tarantino features receive a check-in-the-box : the music (it's cool, some long forgotten or even unknown past tunes that go very well with the atmosphere of the movie, its essential part of the whole experience,... yep, all there !), the dialogues, the action. The dialogues have received a bigger part in the whole movie, sometimes too big a part I must say. There's only so much coolness in talking about French hamburgers, and here Tarantino has crossed the line... The action scenes however (those car chases, those other car scenes : wow !) are what you would wanna go and see the movie for : they're breath-taking.
find 4 other chicks that cross the path of Stuntman Mike. The twist of the story (after a very long fastfood restaurant dialogue, once again way too long...) succeeds in pulling you right into it, and this is where the action gets really serious. The pace is very well this time, and you are taken by surprise to hit "The end" suddenly... Luckily, we are being treated once more with a very fine tune (a Serge Gainsbourg cover/adaptation by April March) that gets stuck inside your head for the next two days (at least...)
If you're into drum 'n bass, triphop, dub,... you might really dig Kode9 and The Spaceape. Their debut, released on the Hyperdub label, is one of those records which blend so well with Various, Burial, Skream, but also with Massive Attack, Primal Scream's "Echo dek", Krust,...
Lampshade are a Danish band that have released two albums so far : Because trees can fly (2003) and Let's away (2006). Their music has a dreamy edge to it, although one could also drown in their guitars at times. Melancholy reigns, and the Scandinavian accent (sometimes they even sing in Danish) makes you long for the long winter nights, when snow is falling and the fire is on, your socks are warm and a blanket covers you while you're reading some romantic novel...
This Belgian band was listed on an alternative radio and magazine music list for several weeks with the song you can enjoy below, but I never heard the song on the radio. Luckily, their MySpace offers you the comfort of listening to exactly the sweet song that got them some local fame...
Check out The Van Jets...
