Twin Shadow - Slow

Great video, great song, great moustache.

YouTube

Tinie Tempah - Pass Out (Fog's Blokka Remix)

So about a fortnight back I went out in Hull for my cousin's leaving party (she's moved to Shanghai for a year), and ended up at one of those shitty clubs I hate so very much. Luckily the DJ played this amazing song - a remix of Tinie Tempah by a dubstep producer from Dublin called Fog (check out his SoundCloud for more of his stuff) - which not only saved me from throwing myself out of the window, but is about infinity times better than the original, which is well shite.

Play it so loud your ears bleed

Mercury Music Prize 2010

Congrats to the XX for winning this award last night - almost as prestigious as coming 7th in TCOAL's Best of 2009, but not quite. Don't get me wrong, it is a great album (go buy it, cos I'm sick of uploading it and it getting deleted), but to be honest it was a pretty shit batch of albums nominated - yeah, Mumford & Sons made a good record, and yeah Foals were interesting (but nowhere near as good as their first record, quelle surprise), and yeah Dizzee Rascal made THE anthem of the decade, but none of the albums were groundbreakingly amazing, and most were a proper load of bollocks. For shame.

Bad Dimension

A kick-ass new club night in London run by my dear friend Chev (of 'Best of 2009' fame), a guy who has such an eclectic and expansive music taste it makes me weep with jealousy.

The first night is on Saturday 28th August 2010, at The Horatia on Holloway Road, and features live music from The Oscillation .

Oh, and did I mention it's FREE?! You have no excuse not to go now...

Check out their website for more info and a taste of the music they'll be playing.

Ross & The Wrongens

My cousin's band. He's the lad with a circle round his little face. He plays guitar. My Dad even managed to get my Gran to go on their MySpace page to check them out. I wasn't there (too hungover, in no fit state to see my eldest living relative for the first time in eight months) but I wish I had been now...

In other news, I'm going to a music festival held at a farm about five minutes from my house. It's probably gonna be shit but I'm gonna get drunk with my mates in a field (always boss) and see a mate's band play, and see Male Bonding and Errors. And maybe get my dub on to Joker. Even better, to quote Clipse, I "got it for cheap" - aforementioned mate got me mate's rates. Review to follow after the weekend...

Much love x

Apologies...

...for not posting sooner. Reasons:

1. My seventeen year old sister stole my laptop when I was travelling and refuses to give it back. The bitch. And the shitty netbook thing I bought in Canada doesn't have a disk drive so the CDs bands have sent me lay in a pile on my desk...reviews soon, I promise.
2. I'm working on a new political blog - it's the tits, check it out.
3. I'm getting FAR too many DMCA notifications and I'm all fright-edy.

Much love, chat soon. xx

Adam Haworth Stephens

The lead singer from Two Gallants, everyone's favourite alt-country-indie band, is going solo for a wee bit. His album We Live On Cliffs is out at the end of September on Saddle Creek, but in the meantime you can download a taster track (for FREE!) from his official website. Also, check out his MySpace for August tour dates and more info.

The Darkness - Permission To Land (2003)

Fuck you, this album fucking owns. They were the first band I ever saw live, and Justin Hawkins rode around the arena on a giant white tiger. Fucking boss.

The Darkness - Permission To Land (2003)

Pretty Birds That Kill

I've only ever met one Alaskan. She was my friend Meghan's housemate and when she wasn't spending all day snowboarding or being ridiculously cool and unbelievably hot, she was also super nice. This garage electro band are pretty much like that (apart from the snowboarding bit, which I can neither confirm nor deny). They are currently touring the lower 48 states until October, so check out their MySpace to find a show near you!

ANNE

ANNE hail from Portland, Oregon, that amazingly creativly that has also produced Le Tigre and The Thermals, and also houses a number of American and British bands-in-exile such as Gossip and The Cribs. They blur the boundaries of shoegaze and new wave (shoe wave?!) and their recently released demo is freely available from the band. Also check out their MySpace for more info, and to see if they're hittin' up your hood in the near future.

Kepler - Fuck Fight Fail (2000)

Here endeth the Canadian lessons for now. Over the next couple of days expect a pair of artist request profiles - if you want to be profiled yourself, send me an e-mail! Anyways, Kepler were an Ontario-based band who played a genre called slowcore - think of bands like Low, Codeine and Akron/Family. Jeremy "Arcade Fire's drummer" Gara played guitars and keyboards on this record which is fucking A. Even if you've never heard of slowcore or any of the bands I have just so unceremoniously namedropped, but you have a vague interest in the Explosions In The Sky-brand of post-rock. Enjoy.

Kepler - Fuck Fight Fail (2000)

KC Accidental - Captured Anthems For An Empty Bathtub (1998)

The first KC Accidental album. This is a jazzier affair. Personally, I prefer the second one, but whatever. It's still good. Enjoy.

KC Accidental - Captured Anthems For An Empty Bathtub (1998)

KC Accidental - Anthems For The Could've Bin Pills (2000)

As I approach the end of my seven-month stay in Canada, a trip which I have come to realise has been a bit of a mistake, I want to find some positives to say about a country which just annoys me. Don't get me wrong, it's a great place to visit (if you can afford the alcohol prices...) but living here was a major error. Anyways, I am going to post some Canadian bands I have been listening to since I moved here over the next couple of days, beginning with KC Accidental's second album. They broke up soon after this and formed a new band called Broken Social Scene, which is the only Canadian band most people outside of the worst-half of North America have heard of. Enjoy.

KC Accidental - Anthems For The Could've Bin Pills (2000)

Monday Mixtape #10

Another random collection of songs I'm listening to at the minute. Enjoy.

Monday Mixtape #10

1. Nas & Damian Marley - As We Enter (2010)


2. Lil Wayne - President (2007)


3. Diplo - 200 (2009)


4. RZA - Ode To O-Ren Ishii (2003)


5. Benga - Zero M2 (2008)


6. The Maccabees - Precious Time (2007)


7. Beck - Bad Cartridge (E-Pro - Paza Rahm Remix) (2005)


8. Lupe Fiasco - Kick, Push (2006)


9. Jamie T - Ike & Tina (2007)


10. Fungi Girls - Pacifica Nostalgia (2009)


11. Good Shoes - Wait (2007)


12. Booka Shade - Body Language (Interpretation) (2006)


13. The Clash - The Guns Of Brixton (1979)


14. Idlewild - A Modern Way Of Letting Go (2002)


15. Bill Withers - Use Me (2007)

Tayo - FabricLive.32 (2007)

I can't be fucked to make a mix this week, so enjoy this instead. I've been listening to a lot of dubstep recently and this is always first on my iPod. Even if you're not a fan of the genre, I think you'll be able to still appreciate it. Enjoy.

LINK REMOVED BY REQUEST

Splice

This is oficially the worst film ever. The entire plot boils down to this:

Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley are lovers/scientists who splice (hey, that's the name of the film!) animal and human DNA, resulting in a creature called Dren (hey, that's 'nerd' backwards!). Brody fucks Dren, she dies, then comes back to life as a male (somehow), and rapes Polley, who becomes preggers.

It therefore should have been 5 minutes long, not 2 hours. Fuck.

Scumbag Philosopher

This band were nice enough to e-mail me, and I'm nice enough to post a video of them, so here it is. To me they sound like a cross between The Fall and Art Brut - the genre of post-art-punk? I'm quite digging this song, the lyrics are hilarious.

Embedding didn't work so just click here instead.

Official website is here, MyFace is here, support the artist, blah blah blah. But seriously, buy a single or something, mmkay?

!!! - Strange Weather, Isn't It? (2010)

I have never posted newly-leaked albums before, but my friend Chev (of Top Ten of 2009 fame) uploaded it for me, and it'll be a waste to not share it...or something. I've not even heard it yet - too caught up in the thrill of the leak - but Chev had this to say about it:

erm got it a few days ago its a beast, loving Jamie, My Intentions Are Bass

Nuff said. Enjoy.

!!! - Strange Weather, Isn't It? (2010)

The Rolling Stones - Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967)

The Stones' compilation Forty Licks is one of the few albums I can remember actually buying - I was sixteen, on a Univeristy open day in Cambridge (yeah, that turned out well...), and bought it from a Woolworths while exploring the city. Is this the Stones' best album? Debatable; they have so many great records. But this offering is nothing but amazing psychedelic rock. Enjoy.

The Rolling Stones - Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967)

Monday Mixtape #9

I don't have the time or energy to bother with a theme for this week's resurrected Monday Mixtape (you're creaming your pants in anticipation, aren't you?) so here's just a random selection of songs/bands/albums/genres I'm listening to at the moment:

Monday Mixtape #9

1) Black Moth Super Rainbow – Colourful Nickels (2010)
2) Emeralds – Candy Shoppe (2010)
3) Aesop Rock – Daylight (2001)
4) Flying Lotus – 1983 (Daedalus Odd Dance Party Remix) (2006)
5) HEALTH – Die Slow (2009)
6) Charlotte Gainsbourg – Greenwich Mean Time (2009)
7) Hot Chip – I Feel Better (2010)
8) Explode Into Colors – Eyes Hand Mouth (2010)
9) Jamie T – Earth Wind & Fire (2009)
10) Lil Wayne – President (2007)
11) The Notwist – Boneless (2008)
12) Wale – W.A.L.E.D.A.N.C.E. (2007)
13) Surfer Blood – Twin Peaks (2009)
14) Fang Island – Careful Crossers (2010)
15) Four Tet – She Just Likes To Fight (2010)
16) Pens – I Sing This For You (2009)
17) Caribou – Odessa (2010)
18) Busta Rhymes – Whoo Ha (Jay Dee Remix) (2009)

MF DOOM - The Mouse & The Moustache EP (2010)

Some guy calling himself MF Borat (apparently Sacha Baron Cohen & Daniel Dumile, but I have my doubts) has remixed/reproduced or whatever a couple of MF DOOM tracks. Whatever the truth behind the story, this record is fucking incredible and that's all you need to know. I'm not patient enough to wait until the end-of-year Top Ten, so I'm sharing it with you now. Appreciate and enjoy.

MF DOOM - The Mouse & The Moustache EP (2010)