I'm undecided on this new Björk single that's suddenly been thrust upon us. [Well, perhaps thrust is too strong a word...]
On one hand, it's a bit like one of those old Elgar Sisters songs that were used as "Debut" b-sides taken to the next level - in other words, pretty fantastic.
On the other hand, there's not much to it. Some big drums, Björk yelling things in [presumably] Iceland, Thom Yorke moaning in the background...and then after almost 4 minutes, it fades out.
One : This is the new Depeche Mode logo. What do you think?
I must say I quite like it. It reminds me a bit of "A Broken Frame" for some reason - perhaps because the "D" is framing the "M". While that is by no means my favorite Depeche Mode album, this new logo makes me feel happy for no real reason. Album 12 could be a good one...though I'm basing that solely on the logo. [That said, I was also a big fan of the font used during the "Exciter" campaign and we all know how that turned out.] We shall find out in April 2009, apparently, if good logo = good album.
Two : After much deliberation, I've decided that The Saturdays are quite good. A bit sample happy, perhaps, but 'Up' might win the BIG POP SHOWDOWN of October 2008 with themselves, Sugababes, and Girls Aloud all releasing new singles staggered over the course of three consecutive weeks. The video is quite snappy too :
The b-side - fittingly entitled 'Crashing Down' - is also storming :
I like when pop acts put out b-sides. I also like when said b-sides are quality. So yay. I just wish everyone hadn't gone all anti-CD2 all of a sudden, leaving us with no commercial remix release. Poo.
Do you remember how brilliant this album is? Like, really and truly remember how flat out amazing "Adam and Eve" actually is?
You might think you do, but if you haven't listened to it in a while I'm willing to bet you don't fully remember it.
Put it on and you'll see.
How I miss this band. *sigh*
'Delicious' :
[Is that really the video for that song? I suppose I'd never seen it, but I thought the stills from the promo single for the song were from the video. I guess I assumed wrong.]
Full disclosure - I'm not exactly what you'd call a gigantic Oasis fan. "Definitely Maybe" has its moments, and you can make an amazing album by putting together a carefully selected tracklist from "[What's The Story] Morning Glory" and its b-sides...most of which are stronger than the album tracks. I haven't bought an Oasis album since "Standing on the Shoulder of Giants" [which, along with "Be Here Now", I sold back to the record store years ago]...between the two album campaigns, there was a grand total of four songs I thought were great - 'The Fame' from the 'All Around the World' single, and then 'Fuckin' In The Bushes' and 'Go Let It Out' from "Shoulder" proper along with - the best of the four, I think - 'One Way Road' from the 'Who Feels Love?' single. [I only know about the b-sides because my old roommate Steve was a huge Oasis fan and bought all the singles, allowing me to cherry pick the ones I wanted.]
Second point - I've been having a lot of discussion lately with people about how the "digital revolution" has caused quite a bit of damage to the packaging market. Singles aren't released in the elaborate foramts they once were - both good and bad, I suppose - and physical releases are slowly but surely becoming an afterthought. However, on the flip to that, there are those artists that realize that and are making up for it by offering increasingly [and unnecessarilly] elaborate limited editions for both albums and singles, seemingly to attract the crowd - such as myself - that laments the slow death of the physical music formats. That said, most of them are taking it way to far. From Radiohead's "In Rainbows" discbox - I'm all for buying multiple formats of an album but I want a choice, and making purchasing an $80 box set the only way to get a bonus disc of otherwise unavailable material totally turns me off...especially since it's entirely redundant with both CD and LP versions of the same material - to Bjork's ridiculous singles boxes, I'm starting to wonder if they're not having a hand in killing the format. [Whoa run on sentence. Sorry about that.]
The points merge - I'm very interested in the new Oasis album...but not for the album itself as much as the bonus disc material. Two Jagz Kooner remixes! That said, the only way to get it is - you guessed it - a super pricey, overly elaborate deluxe edition. There is a "standard" deluxe edition - if you will - coming out as well, but it only has a DVD with a 20 minute EPK on making the album and the first video. Boring.
So basically, by trying to appeal to a long lost fan and format whore, they've totally turned me off and now I don't care how good the Oasis album is - and supposedly it's quite good - I refuse to buy it because [amazingly, considering how many of them there are] I can't get it in the format I want. So fuck 'em.
According to various people on the PopJustice boards who caught Dragonette on their [very] mini tour of the US in September:
1 - "Galore" is finally getting a US release in October. Pop on over to amazon.com and they've got a pre-release up for October 24th. There's nothing new or different on it - come on, give us a disc of those "Competition" remixes, I want a nice clean copy of The Whip one! - but considering it is also only list price $12.99, I shall be buying a [second] copy to support em. Huzzah!
2 - Even more exciting, they're working out international label details and hope to have album #2 out in January. I honestly thought we had another of those bands who put out an amazing debut then disappeared due to disinterest [there's a lot of them littering the 2000's], but it looks like that is not the case. Double huzzah!
Their fantastic take on Calvin Harris' 'The Girls', 'The Boys' [put this on as a bonus track or something, it's a-mazing!] :
I'm undecided on this new Björk single that's suddenly been thrust upon us. [Well, perhaps thrust is too strong a word...]
So : apparently Hum have reunited for a one-off show on New Year's Eve at the Double Door in Chicago.
Now that I've a proper copy of it, I cannot stop listening to the new Kaiser Chiefs single. I try, I really do, but I keep getting drawn back to it.
One : This is the new Depeche Mode logo. What do you think?
Do you remember how brilliant this album is? Like, really and truly remember how flat out amazing "Adam and Eve" actually is?
Full disclosure - I'm not exactly what you'd call a gigantic Oasis fan. "Definitely Maybe" has its moments, and you can make an amazing album by putting together a carefully selected tracklist from "[What's The Story] Morning Glory" and its b-sides...most of which are stronger than the album tracks. I haven't bought an Oasis album since "Standing on the Shoulder of Giants" [which, along with "Be Here Now", I sold back to the record store years ago]...between the two album campaigns, there was a grand total of four songs I thought were great - 'The Fame' from the 'All Around the World' single, and then 'Fuckin' In The Bushes' and 'Go Let It Out' from "Shoulder" proper along with - the best of the four, I think - 'One Way Road' from the 'Who Feels Love?' single. [I only know about the b-sides because my old roommate Steve was a huge Oasis fan and bought all the singles, allowing me to cherry pick the ones I wanted.]
According to various people on the PopJustice boards who caught Dragonette on their [very] mini tour of the US in September:
