Today we'll take you back again. It's 1978 and the place is London, England. The band is Wire.
Wire was inspired by the burgeoning U.K. punk scene. Wire expanded their sonic boundaries in the 1970s of not just punkt, but rock music in general. Wire can be described as art punk or a post-punk ensemble. Read more about Wire.
In 1978 they released the album 'Chairs Missing' (as in 'that guy has a few chairs missing in his front room.' ;-) ) giving their rockpunk a more complex, structured sound involving increased use of guitar effects and synthesizers. (UH!)
Check out this beautiful little New Wave song 'Outdoor Miner' from that album. It's more poppy than the stuff they done before (except from 'I Am The Fly' from that same album). Also this single was for some reason deleted from the charts in 1978, which meant it didn't meet the criterias of the BBC chart-list, which was the shit back then, meaning no commercial career for the band.
Download Outdoor Miner by Wire
The resemblance with the indie-sound anno 2005 or so is striking. Also remember to check out a quite unique - but way cool - ukulele-version of that song!
Today we make a minor jump forward in time to the early 90's. Slowdive was part of the English shoegaze scene alongside the likes of My Bloody Valentine and Cocteau Twins. In ´93 they released the album Souvlaki which contained the breezy tune 'Alison'. It cannot be because of this that Slowdive was dropped by their label Creation two years later. Parts of the band was not ready to take the dive, though and went on to form another well-respected band, Mojave 3.
'That's when I reach for my revolver', Mission of Burma singer, Clint Conley, hollers - and that's when the last shadow of christmas spirit is blown away, you might add. Nevertheless, this is a very intense song with the mark of an indie classic written all over it. It has been covered by many, including Graham Coxon (of Blur) and Moby. However, the latter chose to change the lyrics to "That's when I realize it's over" in order to not to promote gun violence... Yeeeeees, Moby.
Unfortunalety, I have not been able to find any official video for the song, so this still image video will have to suffice. But it's the sound that counts, right?
Fuckin hell. Everytime I listen to the wonderfull and absolutely weird Devendra Banhart I just feel like smokin joints and go to Califonia to party for a couple of months. I have blogged about the new side-project Megapuss before, but there's a video you gotta see and a song you gotta hear - because the lyrics in the song are so beatiful and the video is som funny. Sorry but I couldn't find a mp3 working so check out this link, and listen carefully to the song 'A Gun On His Hip and a Rose On His Chest'. It also contains a very ... original solo!!
Next up is Talking Heads. Admittedly, not exactly an unknown band. I'm a big, big fan but somehow this one has avaded me. 'This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)' of their ´83 album 'Speaking in Tongues' differs from the Heads' usual quirky, white afrofunk. This is simply a lovely and joyful song. Perhaps their first love song on what were their fifth album.
Ok... so it has been awfully quiet here at Indie Laundry for the past few months. We really apologize for that but I will not bore you with stupid explanations. Instead, we'll try to come good by handing you a nice little christmas treat.
Pitchfork recently released a book compiling the 500 best songs since punk emerged, i.e. we are talking about the period 1977-2006. The list is as diverse as it is inspiring - in one word: brilliant!! We have scrutinized the list and this has inspired us to - as a tribute - present some of the unknown, or at least forgotten, gems of 'The Pitchfork 500'.
Starting today and going on all the way till christmas, you can expect a daily, carefully chosen treat from this vast collection. Enjoy!
Dec. 1st takes you back to 1985 and the English post-punk band Felt's thrilling 'Primitive Painters'. This was back when music videoes really did not need to show anthing else than the band playing... Kind of nice, actually.
While surfing for cheap handheld digital HD video cameras(!), I ran through various gadgets and pricetags. The cheap hip pocket solution is the all new MinoHD, but I couldn't help myself. I HAD to check out the camera Red One. It's AMAZING and shoots at a higher resolution for less money than pretty much any other camera out there. But hey, it's almost 20.000 dollars! So welhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifl. That brings me to the music!
While looking at sample-footage from the Red One, I noticed the music used in this clip. It struck me as something very simple, sad and all in all very beautiful. Of course it's from Iceland. The track is 'It's Alright' and done by Bang Gang, who is Barði Jóhannsson - kind of a icelandic Phil Spector / Brian Wilson kind of genius guy. He has done A LOT of music and I really like what he is doing to my ears. So much talent in the arctic ocean. The tunes are pleasing but it's mood-music. Meaning emotional, sensitive, somber and maybe a bit too soft in the long run. But for now I really like having it in my Ipod and in my living room. It's excellent pop.
Check out the album Something Wrong and the newly released Ghost from the Past.
Besides using all my time and money on music - I teach about movies and cinema. There are many things which really fascinates me about cinema - but the one thing that can really move me in a movie is when the music supports the cinematography perfectly. This can make a surplus of meaning af feelings that no other art can. Here's a few favorite examples. Aimee Mann in 'Magnolia'. Tindersticks in 'Sopranos'. Nick Cave (performing) in 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford' and Elliot Smith in 'Paranoid Park' (the use of Smiths's 'Angeles' in same movie is even better, but couldn't find it!). Finally you can click Lars von Triers 'Dogville' poster to watch the perfect movie ending combining the photos of danish photographer Jacob Holt and the music of David Bowie's 'Young Americans'.
Economic tragedy is happening in Iceland, but also rising awareness of mothernature. At least from one of its lovely daughters - Björk.
20. oct she releases her brand new single "Nattura". The single was composed specifically to encourage active support for the Nattura campaign, which aims at collating and providing sustainable and eco-friendly options suitable for Iceland, and generating alternative ways to utilize it's natural resources.
You can buy it on iTunes. And read more about the project here.
Athens-based Of Montreal returns with a new album next week and to Copen-hagen later this October. 'Skeletal Lamping' follows their tradition for unusual and often impossible-to-remember titles (honestly, do you really recollect titles such as 'Hissing Fauna, are You the Destroyer?' in their entirety? Ok. - How about 'Cocuelicot Asleep in the Poppies: A Variety of Whimsical Verse'?? Yeah right!)
Anyway, their titles actually reflect their quirky, weird songs - often extremely creative mash-ups of crazy, surrealistic explorations and super-melodic hooks that any disco-pop band would kill for. In a way, Kevin Barnes and Co's biggest quality is their careless handling of tunes that - given a more conventional, i.e. boring, treatment - are catchy enough to top most hitlists.
Enjoy this live version of 'An Eluardian Instance' from the upcoming release. Dead fun and exhilarating performance.
One of our alltime favorite dudes Ryan Adams is touring the US with his Cardinals in the moment. Or well, they just call themselves The Cardinals now. Before they toured Canada supporting Oasis until Noel were attacked by some stupid fuck. Well. The Cardinals paid a visit the other day to WWTS Studio 92, where liveperformance took place. Unfortunately The Cardinals are not set for mainland Europe, but are set to play a handfull of shows in England.
Go to that station and listen to new tracks off Ryans upcoming album Cardinology. There are signs this is gonna be a killer-album with The Cardinals happier than ever before.
Also make sure you check out the video below featuring Ryan Adams other band named Sleazy Handshake. They havn't done many vids, but the track with the amazing title Brainfart Windtunnel is gonna rock your white metal ass showing off Ryans insanity and amazingness in one solid cocktail of awesome weirdity.
Devendra Banhart's new project Megapuss goes naked. Click the dicks to go to their myspace and listen to brilliant retro-rock - doesn't get any better!
At the moment I dig Glasvegas! And no one have written reviews about them here. (Maybe because musicmag Gaffa havn't read the new Q Magazine yet?) It's the sound of young Scotland, and the most exciting thing to come out of the scottish gutter of Dalmarnock, Glasgow, since the Jesus and Mary Chain in the 80s. Amazing, some would say.
At least that was what the scottish musicindustry mogul Alan McGee said. (Right, that's the guy who founded independent label Creation and signed Oasis). Just listen how big these guys think they can be! - Scotland's Sunday Herald made a late but patriotic challenge by proclaiming Glasvegas' eponymous debut The Best Scottish Album Ever, but Allan McGee had already hyped the band into another dimension: "Defined an entire decade of UK rock'n'roll with one tune ... change British working class culture ... easily eclipsed every modern band in the UK ..."
I've taken their debut-album for quite some spins and find it really, really interesting. But not groundbreaking nor a miracle. But hey, I'm not from Scotland. Maybe that's why I can hear some prentiousness in their tunes, like Starsailor debut with Phil Spector behind the knobs.
Glasvegas has a huge sound, which can make you feel like you step into some really important meeting without being the least prepared. Insted you just got annoyed. But when you are over it or really ready for it, there are moments which are reaaaaaly good. The band have a drummer who plays standing up, a love for 60s girl groups and a guitar-wall that produces an expansive, echoing shimmer.
When this works, it really works. Frontman James Allan writed wonderful, socialrealistic lyrics, which mirrors all the problems in the crime-ridden city of Glasgow. Daddy's Gone is a divorce saga, Flowers and Football Tops is powerful and melodic sweet, in deep contrast to the lyrics about the murder of Glaswegian teenager Kriss Donald. Geraldine sounds like a love song until its protagonist is revealed to be a social worker and so on.
Metallica had a global release plan for their new album Death Magnetic. The only country where Metallica postponed the release were in England. Why? Glasvegas album.
I'm not sure Glasvegas will create revolution like Oasis did, but at least they have the drive and the sound to do it. At least in United Kingdom. I'm exited about Glasvegas, so give them a spin!
Big Sur in California is a legendary place. For hippies and poets, and tourists. In 1969 Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young decided to wear some wicked ponchos and grow some crazy sideburns. Just look at Neil!
I tried to work it out and my research says this recording is from Big Sur Folk Festival, California. A festival where some of the finest folk singers and musicians in the world positioned themselves on the edge of some of America's most glorious scenery for a farewell to summer. And of course as a celebration of nonviolence in mid-September of 1969. It was the sixth annual Big Sur Folk Festival, one of the season's smallest (in attendance) and loveliest (in mood). It's said.
Regardless, this video shows you those dancing hippies that kind of freaks me out and makes me kind of nervous, but the music is magic. I guess this is the MTV Pool Party Generation of 1969 with more drugs less money. Joan Baez and some sister is there too.
Finally, it is official. Here's what the Mecca of Ryan Adams fans - a.k.a. The Ryan Adams Archive - reports:
a new Cardinals record titled Cardinology is to be released on October 27th in UK/Europe and 28th October in the USA recorded at Electric Lady Studios in NYC produced by the Cardinals and Tom Schick tracklisting is :
1. Born Into A Light 2. Go Easy 3. Fix It 4. Magick 5. Cobwebs 6. Let Us Down Easy 7. Crossed Out Name 8. Natural Ghost 9. Sink Ships 10. Evergreen 11. Like Yesterday 12. Stop
Preceding the album will be the first single, ‘Fix It’, which will be released digitally on September 23.
The band will celebrate the release with a performance on The Late Show With David Letterman on October 29.
Here is a live version of 'Magick' - my favorite of the three songs, I have heard from the album. The 'Halloween Head' of Cardinology, I suspect. Sound is lousy, so are the lyrics but it still rocks as f***!
Today we'll take you back again. It's 1978 and the place is London, England. The band is Wire. 
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