Circlesquare - Songs About Dancing and Drugs

Jeremy 'Circlesquare' Shaw's new LP on Kompakt offshoot !K7 would initially seem to be less about dancing and more about drugs (the sedative variety). Yet the whole album is a joy and highly recommended, flawlessly blending elements of dance music with melancholic vocals, in a very forward-thinking manner.

The track I have chosen epitomises this style - it starts off as a bog-standard electronic track before metamorphosing into a head-nodding, personal jesus-esque epic. It sounds very familiar, so it could be that someone (Andy?) mentioned it before. Anyway, if this is the future of electronic music, then things look good....

Circlesquare - all live but the ending

http://www.zshare.net/audio/5492459663a66a44/

Woody Allen Interview 1971

Kudos to the interviewer for keeping up the banter with a dry but funny Woody Allen.

Milk

I caught this on Friday night and was thoroughly impressed. Sean Penn is his usual impressive self and the supporting cast is equally as noteworthy. The film is not a simple biopic, à la 'Ray' or 'Walk the Line', starting as it does when Harvey Milk is 40 years old. The film is very pertinent, its release coming just as commentators point to the election of a black president as a signal that the last racial hurdle in the US has been overcome. Yet the Black Civil Rights movement seems to have triumphed at the precise moment when the Gay Civil Rights movement suffered its most serious setback in years. As Obamaniacs partied in Grant Park, Chicago, on November 4th, Proposition 8 was passed in California dealing a devastating blow to Gay rights campaigners everywhere and leaving many couples in marital limbo. Ironically, it seems that the black community's courting by the religous right tipped the vote against the gay community. 'Milk' reminds you that the struggle for equality has not ended because of the election of one man, but rather, just as the film's protagonist learns, it is a fight that goes on to the death.

And now, a disco-tastic track which featured in the film for you all:

Sylvester - You make me feel (mighty real)

New Whitest Boy Alive Album

Whitest Boy Alive return this Spring with their brand new LP - Rules.

The album follows up their excellent 2006 debut Dreams, and takes it's title due to the fact that each and every track describes a different rule.

Rules is released 3 March by Bubbles Records.

Whitest Boy Alive - Keep A Secret

Something Old/Something New

A blast from the past and the flavour of the future for today's post.

First up, a simple yet effective track from 1983 by Italian outfit Cellophane Brain which gained new-found popularity through its appearance on the seminal "Mixed Up In The Hague" Vol.2 - one of the definitive Italo mix albums.

Cellophane Brain - Gimme Love (Italian Version)

And next up, possibly the most interesting thing to come out of South Africa since the car-jacker flamethrower:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDrzMGdYWZc

Having avoided first degree burns on the streets of Johannesburg, BLK JKS are now doused in gallons of hype, which is understandable given that they have been taken under the wing of producer du jour, Diplo. Their debut album is expected to surface later this year.

BLK JKS - Lakeside

Animal Collective

I went to see Animal Collective at the Art School last night and could not have been more satisfied musically - bringing Beach Boys-like pop harmonies, pulsing Wolfgang Voigt-like rhythms and ethereal folk together with the same experimental ethos as any krautrock pioneer. There was even a nod to Chicago house with the Frankie Knuckles sample on 'My Girls'.

Most encouraging of all was their refusal to play anything from their back catalogue, frustrating as this could be to any fan who's not heard any new material, I would defy anyone in the room who claimed not to have been blown away by their performance. This may also be down to the fact that the new album, Merriweather Post Pavilion is their most accessible to date - an album for girls as they claim.

I liked that their was little audience interaction and although effective, their light show was pretty simple. The main focus on the night was the music and despite it being a freezing night in January, I'm sure that almost everyone left with the same glowing summery feeling as I did afterwards.

Also, in this day and age - where the familiar glow of the Apple sign has became a representative for pre-programmed 'live' shows - I should note that there was not a laptop in sight on stage and both Avey Tare and Panda Bear were at various stages at home playing bass guitar, drums - as well as an abundance of sequencers and samplers.

I struggled to choose a track from the new album as it's so strong I could have picked anything from the sublime 'My Girls', catchy 'Guys Eyes', the awesome 'In The Flowers' or the infectious 'Brother Sport'. I opted for Summertime Clothes though - grab it here;

http://www.zshare.net/audio/541340692ffda0ca/

Neighbours From Hell

A bunch of statements made in reference to the current "phase" of Israel vs Palestine:
(names have been removed to protect the innocent and the guilty).

• They fired first.
• They want to wipe us out, they will not be satisfied until we are gone.
• There were weapons in the school, one was fired at us.
• It’s election time and I am seriously behind in the polls. Time to start bombing. (unconfirmed).
• We have no information to suggest that what has been reported, actually happened.
• You have no idea what it is like to have rockets fired at your home everyday.
• We live in an open air prison.
• It’s a terrorist state.
• We will never recognise them.
• Please show restraint.
• We are fighting a just war, perhaps the most just war there is.
• It is too complicated, you don’t understand.
• It is part of the War On Terror, it is for your benefit.
• My family used to live there.
• God is Great.

And so it goes..

A bunch of songs that say a lot more:

Tom Waits - Road to Peace
Dj Shadow - Six Days
Vox Dei- Terroriste
Tuxedomoon - Holy Wars

Picture used with permission of Francisco Goya.

The Laughing Light of Plenty - The Rose

This has been about for a while now but is definitely what you would call a "grower." Slowly, bubbles along nicely and comes to a pleasant climax. Nice winter music.

One half of Rub n Tug and some other guy Ive never heard of make up the act - enjoy:

http://www.zshare.net/audio/540331096fff14ab/

Hellzapoppin' (1941, HC Potter)