Remember The XX? Yea you do. You were crapping your pants all over them two years ago, how dare you forget. The instrumental introduction to their Mercury Prize winning debut self titled record was a fantastic bit of music that seemingly declared ‘you are about to listen to a great album’. The bit of music has been used as intro for many fascinating things since it’s been released, including this especially effective introduction to the amazing reality series about the Penguins/Capitals on HBO called 24/7, watch this:
Now having listened to that, did you ever think .. man, I wished that version was slightly longer?
If you ever did that, then today you are king, for your wish has been granted.
Kenny Burke’s remix of “Intro” is an eight minute slow burning remake of the XX intro, and it’s slick and smooth. Check it out.
For the second time in ten years, Welsh rock band (and person fave) Manic Street Preachers will be releasing a best of/singles compilation. Obviously, this time around, the compilation will also consist of tracks from the four albums they have released since their last compilation Forever Delayed.
National Treasures will be released on October 31st aka Halloween and will contain a new track – This is the Day, a cover of a song by the band The The. Given The Manic’s penchant for playing covers, this should come as no surprise. The video for this song is quite amazing if you are a Manics fan as it contains many archival footage that spanned the groups career, including yes, footage of long lost member Richey Edwards, who some die-hards still believe is happily working away as a cashier at a Sainsbury in some small Welsh village.
The video makes me feel old, as the realization that I’ve been following some of my favorite bands for almost twenty years now. Watch as James Dean Bradfield go from skinny, sharp jawed military wearing anarchist to slightly chubby, happy with himself rock star. You’ll get what I mean.
Here is the track listing
Motown Junk, (Heavenly) 1990
Stay Beautiful, Generation Terrorists 1991
Love’s Sweet Exile, Generation Terrorists 1991
You Love Us, Generation Terrorists 1992
Slash ‘N’ Burn, Generation Terrorists 1992
Motorcycle Emptiness, Generation Terrorists 1992
Suicide Is Painless, Theme From M*A*S*H 1992
Little Baby Nothing, Generation Terrorists 1992
From Despair To Where, Gold Against The Soul 1993
La Tristesse Durera (Scream To A Sigh), Gold Against The Soul 1993
Roses In The Hospital, Gold Against The Soul 1993
Life Becoming A Landslide, Gold Against The Soul 1993
Faster, The Holy Bible 1994
Revol, The Holy Bible 1994
She Is Suffering, The Holy Bible 1994
A Design For Life, Everything Must Go 1996
Everything Must Go, Everything Must Go 1996
Kevin Carter, Everything Must Go 1996
Australia,Everything Must Go 1996
If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next, This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours 1998
The Everlasting, This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours 1998
You Stole The Sun From My Heart, This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours 1998
Tsunami, This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours 1998
The Masses Against The Classes 2000
So Why So Sad, Know Your Enemy 2001
Found That Soul, Know Your Enemy 2001
Ocean Spray, Know Your Enemy 2001
Let Robeson Sing, Know Your Enemy 2001
There By The Grace Of God, Forever Delayed 2002
The Love Of Richard Nixon, Lifeblood 2004
Empty Souls, Lifeblood 2004
Your Love Alone Is Not Enough, Send Away The Tigers 2007
Autumnsong, Send Away The Tigers 2007
Indian Summer, Send Away The Tigers 2007
(It’s Not War) Just The End Of Love, Postcards From A Young Man 2010
Some Kind Of Nothingness, Postcards From A Young Man 2010
Postcards From A Young Man, Postcards From A Young Man 2010
This is the Day, National Treasures 2011
Toronto – It took me awhile to get used to Ladytron‘s new album Gravity the Seducer – the slower, darker more methodically paced sound of the album was not what I was used to expect from the group. However, once I warmed up to it and started giving it a closer listen, I was still able to identify the parts of Ladytron I have come to love. The vocal interplay of Helen Marnie and Mira Aroyo, the semi cold-often detached feel of their synthesizer hooks and just the general industrial/technological feel of their songs all part of the quintessential Ladytron experience.
“White Elephant” is the first single off the album and is a good illustration of the bands new direction, check it out.
Here’s the video
Ladytron plays Toronto at The Phoenix on October 5
Toronto – In an interview published earlier today by esteemed online music journal Pitchfork Media, Kevin Drew of the popular Canadian rock band Broken Social Scene declared that the band was going on hiatus indefinitely after concluding their current tour for their most current LP Forgiveness Rock Record. Arguably one of the most significant bands to emerge in Canada in the past fifteen years, the 67 members of Broken Social Scene have done their part in shaping the landscape in Canadian music for years to come. Alumnus of the band have gone on to great success, especially bands such as Stars, Metric and of course, Feist. The abrupt news of their impending hiatus is sure to bring tears of sadness to many music fans all around.
My own experience with this Toronto band has surprisingly been quite minimal. I only saw Broken Social Scene once. It was 2009, during SXSW of all places. I was walking back to my hotel (the Sheraton..yeah THAT one) and it was about 1:15. As I was approaching Stubbs, I quickly remembered that BSS was playing there. Having never seen the band before, I decided to break my SXSW rule (never see a Canadian/Toronto band in Austin) and check out this act. Forgiveness Rock Record was about to be released later on in the summer and I was lucky enough to hear the track The Sweetest Kill performed then. It was a track I enjoyed. Kevin Drew then introduced some very special guests – Emily Haines and James Shaw to perform Anthem for/of/? a Seventeen Year Old Girl. The crowd went kinda nuts, and I was like “really? is this surprising? Metric is also playing at SXSW, what was the odds of this happening? 1 to 1?” Anyways, the two came out and then performed a beautiful rendition of the track. I then got hungry and went and got a panini, thus ending my first BSS experience.
My second/third BSS experience happened last year during the NXNE charity soccer game, Brendan Canning was on one team and I was on another and I ran into him almost full speed during the game. I kind of expected his seemingly frail body to collapse in a red hairy heap, but it turns out Brendan Canning is a beast on the soccer field so instead, he took the ball away and ran with it. He would later score a goal or two. This year I was in the same soccer game and at the barbecue afterwards, he made me a cheeseburger and I was rather happy about that, even though they used processed cheese instead of the real thing.
There you go, not only were Broken Social Scene important musicians to the industry, they are also people. People with real lives who have to move on, just like you or me. I never saw BSS here because I figured they would always play Toronto, and they would always bring random people on stage to sing songs, and I would always be able to roll my eyes and say ‘that’s so obvious’. Only now, it’s over and I lost my chance. That’s life I guess. The only blessing is that we won’t get to see any more crappy concert films disguised as some weird drama films like the one released last year. For that, I am thankful.
Best of luck to the band in the future, we’ll see you at your eventual reunion.
