Keep It Fresh

So after overing hearing a snippit of it while on a trip to a newsagents on Parnell Street, I remembered what a great track In The Air Tonight by Phil Collins is. My Dad was a big Phil Collins fan so there was always plenty of Genesis and Phil Collins knocking around the gaff. Anywho, I’ve been listening to In The Air Tonight a lot lately after my little newsagents experience when my cousin randomly sent me the following video. I don’t know how old it is or if it ever made it to TV but I think its very clever all together so enjoy.

-phil

The latest Office video comes to us shot by Adam Neustadter, this video for “Oh My God,” the single off of Chicago-based band Office’s amazing new album, A Night at the Ritz, coming out September 26th on New Line Records. The band members had fun on the shoot wearing cheesy 80s clothing and overacting for the camera (I’m looking at you Tom* - guitar). The premise is Office finds themselves in the middle of a bad 80s porn film. Check it out, it’s pretty hilarious:

We’re hoping for a UK & Ireland release but it may not happen until the new year. Everyone at Keep It Fresh (especially those who were at SXSW) love Office and will definitely bring Office to Ireland if no one else will. I haven’t asked any of the others for their backing but I’ll go ahead and do it anyway if I have to. The ball may already be rolling! sshhhh… We really to love Office here!!

*And Tom is off the market ladies. He got married not to long even though the Keep It Fresh crew saw him in a rather entertaining position with a bunch of slutty girls in Texas last March. We were assured by the man himself that nothing untoward happened. My iPhoto may have something to say about that but this is a serious blog that will not lower itself to Perezian levels!

I also have a feeling that the only people who laugh at any of the above will be Dan, Phil and I.

- Kieran

I’ve decided to blog about the MTV VMAs.

It all started when 1 minute after Britney started and she was so shit that I thought I’d blog…. then I thought I might actually watch the show. Here goes… after the jump! Continue reading ‘MTV VMAs - Britney! & more…’

If anyone else is like me, they’ve been wracking their brains for the last few days trying to figure out exactly what that song from the new Vodafone ad is. You know the one with the woman in red spandex? They’ve used this gorgeous instrumental track full of strings and piano that I knew I knew, but just couldn’t put my finger on. Alas, Google and YouTube did not hold the answer, but fortunately, My Space yielded some better results.

The track in question is called Augustine by Jeff Martin from his greatly under-appreciated solo album Spoons. Released in 2004, it’s one of those lost classic that never really got the recognition it deserved. Laid back melodic electronica incorporating acoustic guitar and low breathy vocals, Spoons is still one of my favourite albums, especially the opening track Magnet Line, which never fails to pick you up on a slow day.

Currently with Dublin electronic quartet Halfset, Jeff is set to do well for himself, and if past experience of songs on tv ads is anything to go by (Regina Spektor, Jet, The Dandy Warhols…and thats just Vodafone) then hopefully we’ll see a re-release of Spoons, and a bit of publicity for Halfset’s upcoming album, slated for release late 2007/early 2008.

Jeff’s My Space is here, Halfset’s My Space is here, and you can take a gander at the ad (with a voiceover by Dame Judy Dench no less…) here.

-Dave.

Now while I’m sure that isn’t going to be the actual title, I can confirm that a good friend of mine is currently shadowing Fight Like Apes every step of the way as they  ascend (descend?) towards musical greatness. He’s followed them from their Topman Unsigned win right through to recent Electric Picnic goodness and covered everything else in between. The following is the first teaser to be released and I’ll be sure to keep you posted on further developments.

Don’t forget the new Apes EP is released October 26th!

-phil

A word from one of my favorite design collectives:

“This weekends sees us bring together our biggest project to date. In a world first (please tell us if we’re wrong) we’ve managed to bring together some of the very best Irish and international creative talent to present their work at Ireland’s best festival Electric Picnic. In association with Topman we’ve programmed 30 hours of live presentations by leading artists, illustrators, directors, designers and musicians…”

Sounds like my cup of tea alright and I’ll be sure to check it out when I have some down time at the Picnic.
For more info on ‘Sweetness And Light’ event head to:
www.candycollective.com/sweetness_light // www.candycollective.com/epicnic_timetable // www.candycollective.com

-phil

If this doesn’t get you in the mood for James Murphy tonight…nothing will.

When ‘Spin Me Right Round’ kicked in I just died on the dancefloor! They even have a trucker cap wearing bad-boy like former 5ive member J! Find out all your favorite BearForce1 facts at their site.

www.bearforce1.nl

-phil

This has been doing the rounds in the last few days…

As for my slow down in posts lately, well, I’ve been tired lately. That’s not an excuse. I also spent the weekend working at the Dun Laoghaire Festival of World Cultures.
Maybe when everyone is at Electric Picnic I’ll post more. Who knows if I’ll ever get a ticket. Well - I can’t afford a ticket so I’m praying that guestlist or working at will happen. Only time will tell!

- Kieran