torn

The new Sigur Ros single 'Gobbledigook' is fucking nonsense.

Yet, at the same time, I'm incredibly drawn to it - moreso than anything they've done since the first time I put on "Agaetis Byrjun" after blindly ordering it from Action Records what seems like ages ago.

Head over to sigurros.com for a free download. I'm interested to see how this develops - I don't even own "Takk" anymore and I can't tell you the last time I even thought of listening to "( )", but you bet I'll be there on June 24th to see how "Með Suð Í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust" turns out based on this.

she got one on me

Another new Pop Levi single - 'Dita Dimoné' - out in June with the album "Never Never Love" in July. Huzzah!



Amazing.

format whores

Hot Chip are such format whores.

I fucking LOVE IT.

[For those keeping track at home, that's one maxi-CD, two separate colored 7"s each with at least one exclusive track, and a double 12" with two exclusive mixes, and a nice collectors box to keep the 7" and CD formats in. Not shown are the countless digital bundles that mostly collect all of the tracks from the physical formats - a whopping eight - plus a digital only extended version of the a-side. Not sure why they couldn't put that on the double 12" instead of the album version, but oh well.]

It's like it's the early-'90s all over again.

the drums, the drums, the drums, the drums

Apparently the Ting Tings' 'That's Not My Name' went in to the UK charts at #1 last week, and "We Started Nothing" is poised to do the same in the album charts this week. Who knew?

As I said back in March madness, I fucking LOVE "Great DJ" - if you haven't already, go to the iTunes store right now and download the EP - with amazing Calvin Harris remix - right now. It's like $2, and while I'm generally very anti-paying for downloads, this one is totally worth it. That's ok, I'll wait.

..
..
..

Alright, back? So then, "We Started Nothing" also comes out digitally [eh] and on vinyl [whee!] in the US this week - you can bet my copy is already on the way to my house via Insound with free 'Great DJ' 7", hopefully it comes tomorrow - and on June 2nd on CD in the States. Even without having heard the whole thing, I can pretty much guarantee you need this record.

stop picking the wrong singles

Word on the internet is that 'Touch Too Much' is the next single off of Hot Chip's "Made In The Dark".

No, no, no! 'Out At The Pictures' or 'Bendable Poseable'.

Grr.

[On a related note, the Sticky Dirty Pop mix from the second 'One Pure Thought' 7" is deeeeelicious.]

and the next Whip single is....

...'Blackout'. Well, they're filming a video for it anyways.

C'mon guys, why not 'Fire'? Seriously.

I get excited [you get excited too]

Cancel the rest of 2008 - I've already got my most anticipated album of 2009.

Posted on petshopboys.co.uk yesterday - though I read about it first on the fantastic Popjustice:

--
Pet Shop Boys have been working on tracks for their new album with Xenomania, the legendary production/writing team who have produced and collaborated with artists as diverse as Girls Aloud, Sugababes, Saint Etienne, New Order and Franz Ferdinand.
The new PSB album is planned to be released early next year.
--

I'm hearing super mega pop a la "Introspective" in my head - this is even more exciting than when they announced a Richard-X collaboration for the "Fundamentalism" disc.

the year keeps on goin'

Early 2008 has been quite the treasure trove of fantastic music. So much so, in fact, that there are albums that I anticipated quite highly that have sat on my shelf collecting dust as my mind was blown by, say, "X Marks Destination" for the millionth time. So more for my sake than yours, an alphabetical list of the nuggets of joy in album form that 2008 has brought me so far.

The B-52's - Funplex
Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part One : 4th World War
The Breeders - Mountain Battles
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
Delays - Everything's The Rush
Duels - The Barbarians Move In
Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
Hercules & Love Affair - Hercules & Love Affair
Hot Chip - Made In The Dark
I Was A Cub Scout - I Want You To Know There Is Always Hope
The Kills - Midnight Boom
Lowgold - Promise Lands
Colin McIntyre - The Water
Madonna - Hard Candy
Neon Neon - Stainless Style
Nine Inch Nails - The Slip
Operator Please - Yes Yes Vindictive
Portishead - Third
Robyn - Robyn
These New Puritans - Beat Pyramid
The Whip - X Marks Destination

That's a whopping 21 albums so far and it's only mid-May. And, of course, there are the albums I still haven't gotten around to picking up yet - Supergrass' "Diamond Hoo Ha" as I'm waiting for the domestic, the Bauhaus record, the James record as I'm hoping for a domestic, I'm sure there's more. Still to come before June is out, the Ting Tings record comes out next week [I absolutely cannot wait for that one], the Alphabeat LP gets a UK release next month [not really holding out for a domestic release on that one...], Mark Morriss of Bluetones fame puts out his solo album in a few weeks, and there's finally a new Notwist album coming out at the end of June. Even further down the road, another PJ Harvey and John Parish collab [pardon me if I'm not super excited for that one, but I am curious], another Erykah Badu album, perhaps a Pop Levi album to go with the fantastic 'Never Never Love' single, the reunited Superdrag are working on an album, as is Charlotte Hatherley. Oh, and maybe an SFA album if the rumors of an LP a year for Rough Trade are true. Good heavens.

What else am I missing? Do share.

repeat performance

Alphabeat have a new single coming out in a few weeks - well, new to the UK at least. And while '10,000 Nights of Thunder' isn't quite the stormer 'Fascination' is, it is quite good.

Except they're being REALLY lazy and putting the Alphabeat vs Frankmusik remix of 'Fascination' as a b-side on one of the CDs. You know, the remix they put only on the picture disc 7" of 'Fascination' to get us suckers to buy it.

Fuckers. :(

[Of course, what's even worse is I'll have to buy it because the same disc also comes with the Bimbo Jones remix of the a-side. And while all Bimbo Jones remixes pretty much sound the same, I'm a sucker for a big dumb club mix every once in a while and like to mix it up when I listen to em. Sad but true.]

who's that girl?

There has been a ton of hype around the new Robyn record for quite some time now - how it's amazing that she broke free from her oppressive record contract and self-financed her new record, how it came out her way and how it's this amazing pop record that everyone needs to hear. Which then translated into pretty respectable sales around the world, including a UK #1 single for 'With Every Heartbeat' and a Snoop Dogg remix.

Well, I finally got my lazy ass around to picking it up last night thanks to a bunch of Best Buy rewards gift certificates, and I gotta say I just don't hear out. Outside of 'Who's That Girl' which is fucking hott [though I suppose that has more to do with The Knife having written and produced it more than Robyn herself, but she's still involved so I'll give her credit] and 'With Every Heartbeat' [while pretty, I really don't understand how it was a UK #1], the rest is just really unimpressive. Bad girl posing over weak beats, an incredibly stupid and pointless introduction track, and it's far too long. Pop albums should be 8-12 songs [at most!], 35-45 minutes, in and out, say what you gotta say and get out. At 16 songs [well, 15 and a remix] and almost an hour, it way overstays its welcome. And it buries its only two great tracks in the middle. Poor planning.

Oh well, it was only $3 out of pocket. 'Who's That Girl' was worth that much. See?

throw those curtains wide

June 2 sees the release of the new Elbow single 'One Day Like This'. According to the excellent Townsend Records, the formats look like this:

CDS
01 One Day Like This
02 Lullaby


7" #1
a One Day Like This
b Li'l Pissed Charmin' Tune

7" #2
a One Day Like This
b Every Bit The Little Girl

I kinda wish they'd give us alternate versions of the a-side on at least one of the formats, but I love love love both of the titles for the 7" b-sides. I can't wait.

And if you head over to the aforementioned Townsend, you can pre-order the multiformat bundle and save some shipping. [The whole thing comes to just over 7 pounds including shipping to the US.] I got "Grounds For Divorce" that way and had it by the Wednesday after it came out - so 2 days later. Huzzah.

my sugar is raw

Seriously?

Weak. :(

can't beat free

Head over to The Whip's myspace page for links for two free remixes - a Hadouken! remix of 'Frustration' [I scratch your back you scratch mine apparently] and a Bloody Beetroots remix of 'Muzzle #1'. The latter's 'Trash' is amazing, so I look forward to this one.

When is 'Fire' going to get a single release? Seriously.

you never never love

So apparently there's a new Pop Levi single out this week. See?



Not as immediate as, say, 'Sugar Assault Me Now' or 'Pick Me Up Uppercut' but it is pretty damn good. New album in June - bring it.

And considering Action was the only place I could find that stocked the single, I'm giving them one last chance. Please don't disappoint.

[And apparently the new Hadouken! single - never really got into them, truth be told - is backed with not only a Kissy Sellout mix but also a Whip remix. So I got that, even though the song is nothing special. See?



Eh. I'm sure one of em will making it worth the 2 pound purchase price. I'll report back in a month when it finally shows up after 4 posts about all of the issues I had getting it. ;) ]

guess I'm importing it after all

So, I went out today to buy the US edition of Elbow's "The Seldom Seen Kid", expecting it to have the bonus track from the UK CD as I had read it had. Well, it doesn't - so if that's what you're holding out for, looks like you've gotta spend a little extra money to get 'We're Away'. Oh well - it will totally be worth it.

And, as a point of interest, the sticker on the front of the CD reports that it features 'One Day Like This' [first US single/second UK single], 'Grounds For Divorce' [first UK single], and 'Mirrorball'. Come on boys, 'The Bones Of You' is totally the best single choice on the album - don't pass it up.

that's better

Update on boo:

The version of 'Panic Attacks' from one of the Delay's 'Hooray' 7"s is an acoustic version. That's slightly better.

[Well, that was pointless.]

not my pick for a second single, but...

Just in my inbox:
---
Hot Chip return next month with their new single 'One Pure Thought'. You'll be able to download the various remixes and b-sides from May 11th, and then find it instore from May 12th.

If you can't wait that long, head over to Recordstore now and pick up both 7"s and the CD in a collectors box AND get an exclusive download of the original demo version of the single at a really great price!

Tracklistings for all physical formats are:

eCD
1. One Pure Thought
2. We're Looking For A Lot Of Love (Christmas Recording)
3. Ready For The Floor (Hot Chip V.I.P. Mix)
4. One Pure Thought (Dominik Eulberg Edit)
5. One Pure Thought (video)

7" coloured vinyl (part 1)
1. One Pure Thought
2. Slow Death

7" coloured vinyl (part 2)
1. One Pure Thought (Toddla T Remix)
2. Wrestlers (Sticky Dirty Pop Mix)
---

I would've gone with 'Bendable Poseable' or 'Out At The Pictures' myself, but no one consults me on these things.

That said, I love consistency with formatting, and Hot Chip have demonstrated themselves as the kings in that regard. Even better, this time one of the 7"s isn't totally redundant as they both have exclusive tracks. Huzzah! AND they're doing another nice box via Recordstore.co.uk like they did for 'Ready For The Floor'. They're gonna look really nice on the shelf next to each other. And all of this for a mere 3 pounds? Amazing!

My only complaint is that the downloads aren't available to us in the States. Which seems a bit silly in this day and age - especially since this time it seems to be exclusive. [The extended version of 'Ready For The Floor' that came as a download with that single was from a 12" promo.] Shame on you.

B-side wise, I'm very excited to hear the Sticky Dirty Pop mix of 'Wrestlers', and I don't think one can ever have too much 'Ready For The Floor'. Bring it!

I wouldn't normally do this kind of thing...

...but 'Wanderlust' - the last of the three amazing "Volta" tracks to get a single release - was, erm, released on iTunes yesterday. While I'm generally against digital releases - especially in the place of a physical release, although I suppose you could buy one of those fucking box sets but I can't really say that's a good idea either - this one I will recommend. For two reasons.

First, the remixes this time around are actually really, really good. For 'Earth Intruders' we got that Spank Rock remix that I'd rather not talk about. 'Declare Independence' is shit anyways and the remixes didn't really dress it up any better - especially the sub-3 minute Ghostdigital remix. What was that about? 'Innocence' was quite good now that I think of it, but none of them really bettered the original so they were a bit pointless. [Though the Ghostdigital one that time was much better as it gave us some Einar rambling once again - huzzah!] Both Matthew Herbert and Ratatat take 'Wanderlust' to interesting places and, while perhaps not up to the quality level of the "Post"-era remixes, are reminiscent of 90's Bjork remixes.

Second, the whole deal is $1.99. That's how you price digital releases. So kudos to whoever did that, considering they're charging $1.99 for the video alone and you get it as part of the package.

I'd recommend it thirdly for the video as supposedly it's amazing, but I haven't gotten around to watching it yet. So maybe I should do that.

"Mountain Battles" - the verdict

After spending the week listening to "Mountain Battles" on repeat - I was in Dayton, OH after all, so it only seemed fitting - any uncertainty about it's brilliance has totally disappeared. Kim Deal has, once again, made a masterpiece. Bravo.

Of course, if you asked me to rank it in terms of the other albums, I'd never be able to do it. They're all five star, absolutely essential listens. So there.

finally

The Action package finally showed up. Minus the Erykah Badu 7", which was apparently holding it up. [I actually don't believe said 7" exists as I've never seen anyone actually claiming to have it in stock.]

Even still, it took over two weeks from when they shipped it for it to show. Not OK.

Farewell, Action. You definately will be missed.