Born as Brian Joseph Burton, better known by his stage name Danger Mouse, is a Grammy Award winning, American musician, songwriter and producer. In 2004 he became famous when he released “The Grey Album”, which combined acapellas from Jay-Z’s “The Black Album” with instrumentals from The Beatles legendary “White Album”. He formed Gnarls Barkley with Cee Lo Green and produced their two albums “St. Elsewhere” and “The Odd Couple”. He also produced the second Gorillaz album, the 2005’s “Demon Days”, as well the Beck’s 2008 album, “Modern Guilt”. He has been nominated for a Grammy Award in the Producer of the Year category five times, in 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2011, and finally won the award in 2011. In addition, Burton worked with rapper MF Doom as Danger Doom and released the album “The Mouse and the Mask” in 2005. He’s works also includes The Rapture “Pieces of the People We Love” (2006), Sparklehorse “Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain” (2006), The Good, the Bad and the Queen (2007), The Black Keys “Attack & Release” (2008) and “Brothers” (2010), The Shortwave Set “Replica Sun Machine” (2008), Martina Topley-Bird “The Blue God” (2008), Joker’s Daughter “The Last Laugh” (2009), Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse “Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse Present: Dark Night of the Soul” (2010), Broken Bells “Broken Bells” (2010) and “Meyrin Fields” (2011) and curently he’s working with U2 on their upcoming album. Read more Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi – Rome (2011)
indie
Arctic Monkeys – Suck It And See (2011)
Their debut album “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not” released in 2006, became the fastest-selling debut album in British music history, surpassing Oasis “Definitely Maybe” and remains the fastest-selling debut album for a band in the UK since. Formed in 2002 in High Green, a suburb of Sheffield, Arctic Monkeys are one of the first acts to come to the public attention via the Internet and receiving attention from the British tabloid press.
In 2005 the band played a critically acclaimed performance at the Carling Stage of the Reading and Leeds Festivals, reserved for less known or unsigned bands. Their appearance was hyped by much of the music press and the band was watched by an unusually large crowd.
They refused to change their songs to suit the industry and resisted signing to a record label and their cynicism towards the industry was such that record company scouts were refused guaranteed guest list entry for their gigs. The success of the strategy was illustrated with a series of sell-out gigs across the UK and Ireland.
But as any fairly tale got to an end, finally they signed to Domino in June 2005. The band said they were attracted to the “DIY ethic” of the label, but the UK’s Daily Star reported that following the record deal, Arctic Monkeys singed also a £1 million publishing deal with EMI and a £725,000 contract with Epic Records for the United States. Eventually the band denied this on their website, dubbing the newspaper “The Daily Stir”. Read more Arctic Monkeys – Suck It And See (2011)
My Morning Jacket – Circuital (2011)
It’s like swimming in circles of fuzzed guitars, trippy keyboard layers, twisted pop hooks and kind of familiar, country feeling. Soft electronica, scattered rock left-overs, indie experiments, pop like vocals, My Morning Jacket throw in their blender everything they can get their hands on and came out with a colorful, but slippery material. It’s like a jam of Simon And Garfunkel with The Flaming Lips suffering from massing hangover on a morning after. “Wonderful (The Way I Feel)” for example it’s an absolutely minimal country song while “Holdin’ On to Black Metal” sounds like a hippie anthem from 69 with some vocals traceable back directly to The Beatles. It’s nice to get into this retro feeling, but honestly I don’t really see the reason for what use? For sure some fat-ass guys from Rolling Stone Magazine will be delighted and maybe get even a small hard-on, but still. And for those who weren’t born in the 70s maybe it’s sounds exciting, but it isn’t. Recycling it’s good, but not in all meaning. “Slow Slow Tune” it’s a nice song. Read more My Morning Jacket – Circuital (2011)
Eksi Ekso – Brown Shark Red Lion (2011)
Merge some songs left over from David Bowie since the 70s with some experimental indie, dream pop like layers and perhaps the result will sound just like this third album by Eksi Ekso, the band from Boston, Massachusetts, US. For the good of the experiment, eventually try to do this in your living room and bring some neighbors as well. There’s no guarantee at all that you will sound like Tom Korkidis (vox, guitar, bass, keys, samples, woodwinds), Alex Mihm (drums, loops, percussion), Sean Will (keys, samples, trumpet), and their collaborators, but it worth to try. 😀 At their MySpace page at the paragraph “Sounds like” they wrote: “We play instruments in the same room, sometimes in ways that sound like we’re playing together.” Nice. And in their case it worked out absolutely perfectly. “Brown Shark Red Lion” is a strange, sometimes airy, sometimes scattered, waving, rolling album. Million shades and colors sparking around and sometimes you’re not really sure what actually you’re listening at, but still, it’s kind of warm, familiar and friendly. Read more Eksi Ekso – Brown Shark Red Lion (2011)
Empyr – Unicorn (2011)
Empyr is a five-member French alternative rock band formed as a side project in 2006 incorporating members from the bands Kyo, Watcha, Pleymo and Vegastar. Their debut album entitled “The Peaceful Riot” was recorded in late 2008 in Los Angeles and produced by Ken Andrews, formerly Failure, who has worked with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Pete Yorn and A Perfect Circle. To increase their chances on the international market, theychoose to write the lyrics and sing in English. Empyr are Benoît Poher (vocals) & Florian Dubos (guitar) from Kyo, Benoît Juillard (bass) from Pleymo, Fred Duquesne (guitar) from Watcha & Jocelyn Moze (drums), formerly from Vegastar. Read more Empyr – Unicorn (2011)
The Raveonettes – Raven in the Grave (2011)
Something stinks in Denmark. Actually Shakespeare said: “Something Is Rotten in the State of Denmark.” – Hamlet, Act I, Scene 4, at line 90. Well, when British music press staple NME declare the Danish duo to be responsible for sparking “America’s pop renaissanceâ€, something clearly stinks. On one hand, Brits has been already saved by the Americans by White Stripes, so, it’s pure wickedness to say America need to be “saved” by anybody, on the other hand when a band or an artist are highly praised by the media, there’s no bloody doubt: something stinks. Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo, the duo behind The Raveonettes delivered another nice album, but really, there’s nothing outstanding, nothing sparking, nothing special. In short words, it’s like Robert Smith (The Cure) teamed up with Angelo Badalamenti for a film score for David Lynch. Gloomy, airy, minimalist, kind of clear-obscure and with a particular, distant, but still warm retro taste, with a few nice tunes and a couple of better moments, but really, there’s nothing really impressive about “Raven in the Grave”. Read more The Raveonettes – Raven in the Grave (2011)
SPIN Magazine’s Free Album Download!
“Whoachella” is the SPIN Magazine‘s Soundtrack for The annual Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival that kick off today in the California desert and it’s a three days event. So, if you’re not a subscribed reader of the Magazine, you can go on their site and giving up your e-mail, you’ll get this mixtape for free. Nice. 🙂 Features tracks from PJ Harvey, Cut Copy, The London Suede, Wire, !!!, Big Audio Dynamite, Glasser, The Chemical Brothers, Lightning Bolt and Erykah Badu, 10 tracks, perfect for a loud and hot party, Friday, Saturday or even Sunday evening. It has a warm taste of the sweet eighties, but the pulse of the now days indie. But hey! free stuffs are good stuffs and if you miss the event, this mixtape makes you move on. So, shut up and dance motherfucker!
Meat Puppets – Lollipop (2011)
Meat Puppets are back again. Started as a punk rock band back in 1980, the Meat Puppets established their own style, blending punk with country and psychedelic rock, featuring Curt’s warbling vocals. The Meat Puppets later gained significant exposure when the Kirkwood brothers served as guest musicians on Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged performance in 1993 and the band’s 1994 album “Too High to Die” became their most successful release. The band broke up twice, first time in 1996, second time in 2002, but reunited again in 2006. Beside the Kirkwood brothers – Curt – vocals and guitar and Cris – bass – in the current line-up featuring Shandon Sahm on drums.
This is the band’s thirteenth studio album and it’s set to be released on April 12 and the song “Damn Thing” is available for free download on the band’s official web site. Read more Meat Puppets – Lollipop (2011)
Death Cab For Cutie – Codes and Keys (2011)
The upcoming seventh studio album by Death Cab For Cutie, set to be released on May 31, 2011 contains 11 quiet, kind of “interiorized”, intimate songs, as Benjamin Gibbard and Nick Harmer have declared before, this album is “a much less guitar-centric album than we’ve ever made before”.
The first single, “You are a Tourist”, was made available for online stream on March 28, 2011 on the band’s official site.And “You Are Turist” – just like the other 10 tracks – is a nice, quiet song build upon a minimalist orchestral construction, the voice of Ben Gibbard lead as through a mysterious space filled up with a lonely acoustic guitar tune and a few discrete synth colors, only drummer Jason McGerr smashes off his drum kit and at the end of the track they introduced a nice turn into a much sunnier theme, but only for a few moments to create a nice contrast. Read more Death Cab For Cutie – Codes and Keys (2011)
TV On The Radio – Nine Types Of Light (2011)
Scheduled for release on April 12, “Nine Types of Light”, the upcoming fourth studio album by TV on the Radio consist of 10 brand new songs and the same kind of smooth, soft, tasty, very discrete, but still touching type of minimalist electronic indie construction with a charming romantic accent, but also including funk and rock, post-rock elements in a very colorful blending. If you knew and love them, you know what I’m talking about. The second track, “Keep Your Heart” instantly reminds me of “China Girl”, the song co-written by David Bowie and Iggy Pop during their years in Berlin, first appearing on Pop’s album “The Idiot” (1977) and rerecorded and released by Bowie on his album “Let’s Dance” (1983). But Bowie is not a news in TV On The Radio’s world. Their second studio album, “Return to Cookie Mountain”, received critical acclaim, and on the album features guest appearances from David Bowie, Celebration, Dragons of Zynth, Martin Perna and Stuart D. Bogie of Antibalas, Blonde Redhead and Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Nick Zinner. Also, during their US tour, the band performed a few covers with Bauhaus singer Peter Murphy and Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor. Read more TV On The Radio – Nine Types Of Light (2011)
