Keep It Fresh

Dan brought this little beauty to my attention…

“Fresh from the NME heads just now:

For full details, head to NME.COM.
Now, which will one will YOU be going to?”

Fuck me pink, thats some lineup. It’s my birthday Feb 4th. Think I’m celebrate on the 3rd. Let’s get messy…

Even if your not a die hard NME reader it is definatly worth getting the mag over the next few weeks. NME is running a series of three cover CD’s entitled ‘Independent Thinking’. Each CD will contain some choice cuts from some of the coolest record labels on the planet. Here’s the break down:

Week One: 1965 Records - The View, Ripchord & Out With Mummy…

Week Two: Transgressive Records - The Young Knives, Polythecnic, Rumble Strips…

Week Three: Modular Records - New Young Pony Club, VanShe, MSTRKRFT…

I am very much looking forward to week three. Check Yo’

Okay new job means I’m gonna have to be a few things on the back burner for the next couple of months so regular post will probably slip back into the irregular trend. Moving on..

The Slip really came to my attention after hearing “Children of December” taken from their new studio album Eisenhower. Here’s a few fun facts that may help point out why this album is worth checking out:

• The Slip are signed to Bar/None Records also home of Yo La Tengo & Architecture In Helsinki.
• It was co produced with Matthew Ellard (Elliot Smith).
• Additional engineering came in the form of Montre-Alien Drew Malamud (Stars, Metric, The Dears).
• It contains the track Children Of December.

That’s a very talented group of people working on this album. Now more on that track I mentioned. I can’t stop listening to it! It gives me the same warm “driving Route 66″ feeling that I got when I first heard Sufjan Stevens’ Chicago. The Slip already have a well established fan base (having formed in 1996) Stateside so do yourself a favour and add yourself to it.

MP3 - The Slip - Children Of December

Eisenhower is out now on Bar/None Records and is available here or here.

Continuing the trend that Austin, For their latest release, The House of Apples & Eyeballs, The Octopus Project teamed up with Black Moth Super Rainbow to create a dizzy electro indie record. It’s an excellent 15 track album that fuses post rock elements with screeching synths and fantastic hooks to provide a really fresh sound and a sure fire musical highlight of 2006. Electro-indie rock to make you get up and go, the album also features some fine illustrations that continue that quirky Octopus Project trend.

MP3 The Octopus Project - Spiracle

MP3 The Octopus Project - Lollipopsichord

MP3 The Octopus Project - Psychic Swelling

Buy on Amazon for only $9.

Make friends on MySpace.

It may be America based but if you have an interest in all things indie & music then Plug is worth a look. Setup in 2001, Plug is a “by us, for us” collective who were fed up with high brow glossy music awards ignoring indie music. Plug has been welcomed with open arms by the music community and continues to grow with each passing year.

Girl Talk gets my album of the year vote and CSS the undisputed  Live Act of Year.

I reckon I’m still good for entry tonight. Not that I support that kind of behaviour…I should really go take a shower.

Being one of the more interesting bands to emerge in 2006, Grizzly Bear were in the middle of their European tour when tragedy struck. This statement was posted on the bands site.

It’s with sad news we have to announce the cancellation of our final 12 European dates. Daniel’s father has been struggling with cancer recently, and in the past few days he’s gotten increasingly worse. We were already toying with the idea of coming home early so that Daniel could be with his family… but then the straw that broke the camel’s back was when our van was broken into last night in Brussels and a good amount of our instruments and gear was stolen, leaving us literally with only the clothing on our backs. With that said, we are incredibly sorry to have to cancel. We don’t have the money to buy new equipment right now and frankly, we are taking this as a sign that Daniel should get home immediately. We send all our thanks to the wonderful people that came out to our shows thus far this fall. Hopefully we’ll have our lives sorted out this winter and can hit the road again sometime soon.

Many, many thanks and much love
Grizzly Bear

This of course means the band will not be playing Whelans on the 24th as part of the Foggy Notions lineup. Sad news indeed and my thoughts are with the guys. Losing equipment is possible the worst thing to happen to a band. Now could not be a better time to support the band by buying a copy of Yellow House, available through Road Records. Heres a taster.

MP3 - Grizzly Bear - On A Neck, On A Spit

Thanks to gorilla vs. bear for bring this to my attention.

• I spent Saturday night in Crawdaddy, filming performances by the Klaxons and Switch. All this was in aid of a promo video I’m putting together for Bodytonic. More news on that as it develops. The Klaxons were good and Dan tells me they did a bit of gear destroy at the end of their set. I missed them as I had to high tail it to the POGO room to film Switch. An amazing set! I haven’t seen the POGO room that alive for a while now. The Bodytonic crew are really working their asses off to provide nights like this on a regular basis so stay tuned for details on next months party.
• Last night was Delays/Royseven/Butterfly Explosion in The Village. If there’s one thing I like about the Village its the lighting. Butterfly Explosion looked (and sounded, obviously) amazing with some great lighting and smoke effects. Same could not be said for Royseven. 70% of their performance was spent looking at glaring white light and strobe effects. Delays proved they have a very healthy Irish fan base and even played with fire by covering a John Lennon song in as part of the encore. Overall a good night for the measly entrance fee of €15.
• Speaking of Butterfly Explosion, they play Sugar Club with the always excellent Half Set on December 9th. Be sure to check back on the December gig guide for more details on that.
• I don’t know what prompted it but HMV Grafton St. now has a very healthy vinyl selection in the basement floor. Affordable and much better selection than Tower.
• I am working on a new podcast.
• Suggestions for the top 10 tracks of 2006 are more than welcome.
• Dan has uploaded a rake of new photos to his Flickr account. Fan’s of his music and party photography should defiantly bookmark. If your an Antics regular I’m sure you’ll feature in a few as-well.