Apparently, Annie's "Songs Remind Me Of You" got an iTunes remix single release back in July - a full year on from the one-track digital single that came out back in 2009 - but they decided to not tell anyone. I don't claim to be the most thorough of readers and/or researchers, but I am generally tuned in to what is going on in the world of artists that I follow, and this is something I have been waiting for for a very long time - since we first got the song back in 2008 - so I'd like to think that if it was announced anywhere, I would have read about it. Thanks for the heads up, Team Annie - though given the release history for this entire campaign, I suppose it's not surprising. In a perfect world, this song has been #1 for years and years, but it's never going to get there if the people who want it don't even know about it. Boo.
The whole she-bang can be had for $1.99, however if iTunes isn't your friend - and I can't really blame you on that one - you can head over to the fantastic RCRDLBL for a free grab of the Swiss remix.
It's probably too much to ask for a 12", yes? I thought so. Anyways, I'm fairly certain we can put the 'Don't Stop'-era to rest now.
So, here we are - halfway through 2010. Time to look back and see what its given us in music so far.
Truthfully, I was expecting to be a bit underwhelmed looking back. In all the excitement over These New Puritans' 'Hidden', Active Child and School of Seven Bells' 'Disconnect From Desire' - which doesn't really count as it technically didn't come out in the first half of the year - I remembered the year giving us little else. Turns out I was wrong as there were about 10 other albums I quite enjoyed plus an ever growing queue of albums to dedicate more listening time to. Good thing I'm disappearing into the mountains of Vermont next week with lots of quality listening time to fill.
Anyways, here are my five favorites so far:
05: Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part Two [Return of the Ankh]
04: The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night
03: Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today
02: Active Child - Curtis Lane EP
01: These New Puritans - Hidden
With an honorable mention, as always, to:
Ash - The A-Z Series
It has, predictably, gotten a bit less exciting as the weeks have gone on, but it's still a fantastic project and I'm very excited to see that they're going to carry it through to the end. [It totally had "abandon half-way through" written all over it - hooray for being wrong.] The five-star songs have gotten fewer and further between, but every other week we still get a solid track with a few surprises thrown in for good measure. [Who expected single "Q" to be one of the best?]
It's also been a great year for reissues, with the long-awaited 'Disintegration' set finally making an appearance, the first and third Duran Duran albums getting the box treatment with 'Notorious' and 'Big Thing' imminent, and a nicer-than-it-needed-to-be Rhino Handmade edition of 'The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees' leading the back. Of course, we've also got the deluxe 'Fables of the Reconstruction' and first two a-ha albums to come in the very near future.
Oh, and did I mention Jagz Kooner is producing the new Whip album? Incredible.
After what seems like an eternity of waiting, School of Seven Bells are streaming the whole of forthcoming album 'Disconnect From Desire' from their website.
Now, this may be the overexcited thirteen year old this album has turned me into talking, but holy shit amazing. My first impression is that it is as 'Alpinisms' but in its own way. The drum machines really stick out on this one - they sound so crisp and harsh [in a good way] and are wonderfully offset/complimented by the Deheza's harmonies, which are in top form throughout.
'Alpinisms' flaw was its flow - the run of "For Kalaja Mari" through "Sempiternal/Amaranth" [so the middle third] sound like they belong to another album. 'Disconnect From Desire' suffers no such issue - each song ebbs and flows into each other, creating a very cohesive whole. You could argue that the LP is a bit front-loaded with the "up" moments and the second half showcasing a more subdued side of the band, but it totally works. And Christ, the studio version of "Heart Is Strange"? Ri-dic-u-lous.
I see no reason why this won't be competing with These New Puritans' 'Hidden' for my LP of the year - and I certainly don't see anything on the horizon that has the potential to come close, especially with The Whip's LP not coming out until 2011. [Boo!]
There is little doubt of the genius of Prince's output between the years of 1980 and 198? - the end point is where it gets fuzzy, but I tend to be of the belief that his last thoroughly great and classic album was 1988's 'Lovesexy', though I suppose you could argue one in either direction. There are, of course, varying degrees of genius within genius and 1982's '1999' LP is a perfect example of this.
The 11 songs that make up the album, for the most part, are incredible. The album is frontloaded with a trio of killer pop singles, followed by a set of dirty extended funk jams. The second half is a bit weird - I understand that "Lady Cab Driver" was shocking at the time but I find it a bit silly now, and "Free" is a bit sappy for my likings. My biggest complaint with the album, though, is that the songs go on for far too long and just don't know when to quit. [Which is odd because as a rule I love Prince's 12" mixes and think even some of the longer ones could use a few extra minutes or so.] However, he hasn't quite figured out how to do that yet, and they tend to repeat the same idea over and over again for minutes on end, not really doing anything. [Example: it's a fantastic song, but does "Automatic" need to be 9 minutes? No. And a full minute-long introduction of a simple drum pattern for "Let's Pretend We're Married" is a bit much.]
So Joe and I were talking about the need for an edit of "D.M.S.R." in particular, and I knew I had read about one somewhere. Sure enough, it was on the soundtrack to "Risky Business" of all places, and investigating that led me to a fantastic bootleg from a few years ago called '7 Inch In The Computer'. It collects, as you might guess, a good chunk of Prince's 7" mixes from his first LP through to the 'Parade'-era. It misses some - the 7"s for the 'Around the World In A Day' singles were the same as the album versions so they're not there, but their b-sides are - and stops short of finishing the 'Parade'-era, leaving off "Girls and Boys". [Which might have been the same as the album version, I'm not sure.] Anyways, the intriguing part of the set for me is that it contains official edits of 9 of the 11 '1999' album tracks - no "Something In The Water [Does Not Compute]" or "International Lover", but the former is only 4 minutes to begin with and it makes sense to end the album with an extended number.
With this set - which you can find without too much work on the internet - you can create a lean, mean, 45-minute funk machine, leaving the [sometimes needlessly] overlong versions for the 12"s, where they belong. Huzzah. [I just wish the scream was at the end of "D.M.S.R." instead of a fade out, but I guess you can't have it all.]
side a: 01 1999 [edit] [3:38] 02 Little Red Corvette [edit] [3:09] 03 Delirious [edit] [2:39] 04 Let's Pretend We're Married [edit] [3:39] 05 D.M.S.R. [edit] [5:06] 06 Automatic [edit] [3:38]
side b: 01 Something In The Water [Does Not Compute] [LP version] [4:03] 02 Free [edit] [4:30] 03 Lady Cab Driver [edit] [4:59] 04 All The Critics Love U In New York [edit] [3:12] 05 International Lover [LP Version] [6:38]
Secondly, this first day of June finds two highly anticipated releases for your listening pleasure.
Alphabetically leading the way is the debut EP proper from Active Child, available in the US on iTunes or as a limited colored 12". [It comes out via other digital retailers on July 1, but you really shouldn't wait.] I first posted about him a few months back when my friend Joe shared his track "I'm In Your Church At Night" with me and I fell in love. Since then, he's been slowly leaking out tracks to the internet and depending on how much you've been paying attention, there might only be one or two "new" tracks here for you. That said, it's nice to have the tracks properly released all in one place - and there's more going on in the background of this version of "I'm In Your Church At Night", be it because it's a new version or a much higher fidelity file I'm not sure but I'm guessing the latter - and there are worse ways to spend $4, yes? Despite only having heard most of these songs a few months ago at most, the EP already feels fantastically lived-in, like it's been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. It's probably greedy to say this since it was just released this morning, but I want more.
Also out today is the first single from School of Seven Bells' second LP. Entitled "Windstorm", it was previewed at Pitchfork a few weeks ago but is now available for your scrobbling pleasure at all good digital retailers. It comes backed with a lovely new track "Crescent Gold" and a not-as-noisy-as-I-was-expecting-it remix of the a-side by A Place To Bury Strangers. [Can we expect SVIIB to return the favor? Hmm...] While this helps with the wait for the album, July 13 can't come fast enough.
05/17 & 05/18: LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening - CD The Depreciation Guild - Spirit Youth - LP
05/24 & 05/25: [week off] - whew!
05/31 & 06/01: Boo Radleys - Giant Steps & Wake Up [Deluxe Editions] - 3xCD x2 The Bluetones - A New Athens - CD To My Boy - The Habitable Zone - CD Active Child - Curtis Lane EP - CDS/10"/12" &/or digital [take your pick]
06/07 & 06/08: Mansun - Attack of the Grey Lantern [Deluxe Edition] 3xCD Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today - LP The Chemical Brothers - Further - CD Christina Aguilera - Bionic - CD The Cure - Disintegration - 2xCD/DVD [maybe?]
06/15: The Golden Filter - Voluspa - 2xLP [US release - vinyl is Insound exclusive, and also contains "The Hardest Button To Button" as a bonus track]
06/21 & 06/22: Delays - Star Tiger Star Ariel - CD Helmet - Seeing Eye Dog - CD
06/28 & 06/29: [week off]
07/05 & 07/06: Duran Duran - Notorious & Big Thing [Deluxe Editions] - 2xCD/DVD x 2
07/12 & 07/13: School of Seven Bells - Disconnect From Desire - LP
unknown: !!! - LP4 Battles - LP2 Duran Duran - new LP Atari Teenage Riot - reunion LP & "Activate" single
Whew! It ain't getting any cheaper, that's for sure.
On May 31, To My Boy have a new album coming out. It is called 'The Habitable Zone' and you can see the [very busy] artwork to the left and - for the price of an e-mail address - can get a free mp3 of album track "Antarctica" at their website - which is not, as I initially mis-read it - tommyboy.co.uk, though that would be a completely different type of interesting. While there, you can also pre-order the album for a very reasonable price range of £8 - £10, depending on your delivery zone. [See what I did there?] They're apparently doing it on their own this time and their debut was a favorite around here, so I'd highly encourage supporting them if you like the freebie. Which you will because it's fantastic.
If you need more convincing, here's the video for "Hello Horizon", which is the first "single" [whatever that means these days]:
Oh yes. In fact, RCRD LBL has their comeback single - or what qualifies as a comeback single in this day and age, I suppose - as a free download. Excellent. You can grab it here.
[If you're not subscribed to the RCRD LBL daily mail out, you really should be. You never know what you're going to find in your inbox - case in point.]
'Burn, Berlin, Burn!' was a cornerstone album for me back in the day - yes, I realize it's a compilation album, but it was our introduction to ATR and, quite frankly, still works as their strongest full-length - and seeing them as part of a Digital Hardcore revue the day before Thanksgiving in 1997 remains one of the most surreal and amazing shows I've ever seen. It's good to hear they've lost none of their edge in this track. Hooray!
This is a busy weekend for free downloads, apparently.
Ash is smack-dab in the middle of their 'A-Z' single series, and to celebrate they're releasing a CD compilation, appropriately titled 'A-Z Vol. 1'. It contains the first thirteen singles plus four bonus tracks.
There are also a pair of digital EPs to go with the release. The first - which is not free - is a 7-track acoustic EP featuring songs from the first half of the project. The second - which is free - is a pair of live tracks, project highlights 'Arcadia' and 'Space Shot'. Those can be grabbed here for the cost of an e-mail address, and while you're there check out the other bonus material they've got on the site - some free, some for a nominal fee, all fantastic and well worth your time.
For those keeping track, a Japanese edition of the CD was released a few weeks back and features two additional bonus tracks - so far only available on that set though bound to appear on something else eventually - along with a bonus disc that contains selections from the three digital EPs released in support of the project so far as well as an exclusive remix of "Neon".
I initially thought this project would be easy to keep track of and relatively inexpensive to complete. I apparently thought wrong, though I can't deny that I'm having a bunch of fun trying.
In a wise and very welcome move, Blur have made their new single "Fool's Day" available for download from their website for the cost of an e-mail address.
Whew.
Truth be told, the song is more memorable for being the first new Blur material in seven years than for being a great Blur song, but it's nice to have a high quality version available - though who uses wav format anymore?
Now, if the Pet Shop Boys would take note and do something similar for their Record Store Day single, we'd be all set.
After what has felt like a million years but, in actuality, has probably been barely six months, the wheels are starting to turn on the new School of Seven Bells album. To the left, you can see the album artwork as posted on the official site recently - accompanied only by a cryptic "Coming Soon". No track list, no solid release date, no mention of first single, just: "Coming Soon". Well, it's a start.
The band has also lined up two shows in NYC on June 9th and 10th - I leave town from a 5 day visit on the 8th, of course. Perhaps these will act as a release celebration? At the very least, expect to hear lots from the forthcoming/recently released/whatever status it has at the time LP on those two nights.
A live version of "Heart Is Strange" from last fall:
I'd say expect to see that one on the album, but after waiting 7+ fruitless years for the Hidden Cameras to release live staple "No Gay Goth Scene", I've come to learn there are no track list guarantees.
Yesterday, the news broke that Supergrass are calling it quits after a run of summer shows. In typical Supergrass fashion, it was barely a blip on most news sites, crammed between mentions of a new Arcade Fire video and Adam Green EP on NME and barely making headline status on Pitchfork, though oddly I first read about it on PopJustice's Facebook feed.
In any case, this is pretty sad news. Even though they never quite reached the heights of the classic one-two punch of 'I Should Coco' and 'In It For The Money' - both unquestionably five-star, must have albums - they were always reliable for a solid album with a few incredible singles. The word was they were working on LP7 to be released later this year, but now it is unknown if it will ever see the light of day.
I saw the boys back in 2000 in support of the self-titled record and it was a highly enjoyable show. I always wanted to catch them again, but my only real opportunity came when they were opening for the Foo Fighters in a gigantic arena around the time of 'Diamond Hoo Ha'. I passed, not thinking their show would translate well in such a venue, and now I kind of wish I hadn't. Oh well.
Boo for disabled embedding on YouTube, but dig out your copy of 'Supergrass is 10' and remember how incredible their singles run was.
Good music friend Joe passed along a video for the new Active Child single "I'm In Your Church At Night".
Simply put: stunning. Gorgeous and haunting and four minutes of music to totally lose yourself in. It hasn't got a "proper" release yet - whatever that constitutes in this day and age - however you can find it and two other tracks on his/their page at the excellent RCRD LBL site. Alternately, you can purchase the "She Was A Vision" / "Voice Of An Old Friend" digital single at Amazon/iTunes/whatever your digital retailer of choice may be.
Keep your eyes and ears peeled. I've got a feeling this is going to develop nicely.
There's an album cover. The official site has a countdown - timing to the millisecond, even - and is streaming part of a new track. A couple of other new songs were "leaked" to radio a week or so ago.
We might actually be getting this on March 30th. Fingers crossed.
Apparently, Annie's "Songs Remind Me Of You" got an iTunes remix single release back in July - a full year on from the one-track digital single that came out back in 2009 - but they decided to not tell anyone. I don't claim to be the most thorough of readers and/or researchers, but I am generally tuned in to what is going on in the world of artists that I follow, and this is something I have been waiting for for a very long time - since we first got the song back in 2008 - so I'd like to think that if it was announced anywhere, I would have read about it. Thanks for the heads up, Team Annie - though given the release history for this entire campaign, I suppose it's not surprising. In a perfect world, this song has been #1 for years and years, but it's never going to get there if the people who want it don't even know about it. Boo.
