Fleet Foxes videos on Pitchfork.tv

Continuing Analogue’s love affair the the American indie elite, and proof, if proof were needed that Pitchfork.tv was the greatest thing to happen to indie music since Kurt Cobain wore a Daniel Johnston t-shirt for a year, here’s a double treat. Above, the stunning new video for the equally incomparable song from the best band I’ve heard this year – the instantly classic Fleet Foxes, with White Winter Hymnal. Below, an interview the Foxes, recorded by the pitched fork at this years South by Southwest Festival.

We have some photo’s and a teeny video from the intimate Dublin gig knocking about, which Andy really must get to posting *cough*. Almost forgot, credit to the ever excellent Pop Culture Will Eat Itself for the link.

Radiohead – House of Cards Video

RA DIOHEA_D / HOU SE OF_C ARDS – Google Code via kwout

Our lovely friends at the plex are kindly hosting Radioheads new video, for the In Rainbows track ‘House of Cards‘. Rather stunningly, the video is neither entirely CG, nor does it use any conventional cameras, but rather Geometric Informatics (‘structured light’) and Velodyne LIDAR (a sort of hyper advanced speed camera). The result is reminiscent of early experiments in computer animation, a flickering varicolour oscilloscoped DOB trip.

There’s a mini documentary on the site to show how it was done, as well as a savage viewer application to play around with the 3D visualisations in your browser. The raw data has also been made available, so the mathematically inclined among you can immediately go remix crazy.

Check out the video here.

Float Float Float Float Sink Sink Drown

[youtube:http://youtube.com/watch?v=XyReTxubPnk&feature=PlayList&p=F9E5BBA0F4FDD6F8&index=6]
The Drowning Man

Here is a video from the excellent Record Store Day in-store fest in Road Records in April. I had written a blog post all about it in my mind, but I forgot to actually post it, and it’s way too late now. However, I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that Mumblin’ Deaf Ro exists. People search far and wide for their slightly unusual folk, from the Mission to the icy fjords of Scandinavia (never forget), but they will find it hard to do better than this.

The Herring And The Brine is one of the most intelligent, thought provoking, vaguely humorous and quietly catchy albums going. It’s been spinning regularly in my CD player since I got it. Ireland has rarely produced anything as good. Root it out if you have it, or find it if you don’t.

A quick revision of Russian History:

I don’t know whether it was the spectacle of playboy peasants being harassed by Stalin zombies or the sight of a stripped down – balsam saturated Mikhail Gorbachev shooting lasers from his eyes, but I felt compelled to post this music video from the metal band ANJ.

According to the director Tom Stern it’s a ‘half Russian History allegory as told through an old zombie movie made in the Soviet Union, and half animated Soviet Propaganda posters.’

Enjoy!

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew9YQVRSlHE&feature=related]

Heineken Music Oxegen Competition

Aint got no ticket. Aint got no hope of going to this years Oxegen Festival? Think again thanks to your friends at Heineken Music. Heineken Music have given us two pair of tickets for Sunday’s Oxegen festival.

To win simply answer the following question: Which Manchester musician is headlining the Green Room stage on Sunday night?

Email your answer and contact details to analoguemagazine@gmail.com. Competition finishes 2pm on Thursday 10th of July. Winners will be notified by email.

At Oxegen, you can also enjoy what the new addition, Heineken Greenspace, has to offer, with its large bar, live action from the main stage, view of the second stage, bluetooth giveaways and much much more. Check out Greenspace at Heineken Music events throughout the year.

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For more information visit: www.heinekenmusic.ie

Strictly over 18s. Terms and conditions apply.

Perfect Festival Band

So we’re heading deep into the season here. Glasto’s been and gone. The Festival-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is next weekend and the Electric Picnic is still far enough away to seem like a beautiful dream. Many other festivals are reveling right now, indeed roll a dice and wonder into a field and more than likely you’ll find Fat Boy Slim and KISS fighting it out.

All of which leads to the question; Who’s the Greatest festival band?

Here’s my nomination;

[youtube:http://youtube.com/watch?v=9BG6tZFMkvQ]

Elbow. Always brilliant live, with great lifting melodies and soaring instrumentation. The front man looks like a man you met in the cue for humus and there is always a sing along.

ps, please include, where possible, a youtube link to your incredibly hip/obscure nomination.

Scandinavian Pop

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=566k5h8M9f8]
Annie “I Know UR Girlfriend Hates Me”

I’ve loved all things Scandinavian since I first heard ABBA’s “Greatest Hits Vol. 2” from the comfort of my crib (not in the MTV sense) when I was about three years old, and I’m open to the criticism that my musical taste hasn’t become much more sophisticated since then. “The Name Of The Game” was number one on the day I was born. Perhaps I was a viking in a previous life. It does seem though, that the pop music from that part of Europe is – unlike my efforts to account for my love of Scandinavian pop of all stripes – effortlessly uncomplicated. And so whistleable! Is it a response to the lack of daylight up there? Recently we have seen a wave of new Scandinavian pop groups release a body of amazingly good pop music. In the immediate wake of terrific albums by Annie, The Knife and Robyn, a glut of brilliant Nordic pop has emerged, much of it synthpop. Northern Europe has a long tradition in this regard, think of ABBA’s “The Visitors” as the jump off point. Giving the synths a swerve meanwhile, are The Concretes and Peter, Bjorn and John – the latter gave the world the bothersome or brilliant (depending on your fancy) “Young Folks”. Whatever instruments they employ, or whether they bother to learn an instrument at all (see Pay TV below), from Bergen to Stockholm, from Reykjavik to Silkeborg, the mood is vibrant, colourful, breezy pop. Amen to that.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6hg0ltC19Y]
Pay TV “Fashion Report”

Back in the 1990s of course, there was “Scando-pop”. This was a sort of scene-but-not-really based loosely around the Tambourine studios in Malmo. With producer Tore Johansson at the helm, The Cardigan’s best records were created here, alongside a series of brilliant (although overlooked on these shores) releases by Eggstone. The sound was literally wooden; the antique-pine acoustics of the studio, ancient instruments and brittle sounding drums led to a beautiful, icy sound. The Cardigan’s “Life” LP is a great example of this. It could hardly have been more twee if you’d stuck a slide in its hair and plopped a lollipop in its mouth. These people had obviously spent some time in the company of the back catalogue of “él records”. Operating elsewhere, and missing out on the Tore magic, there were meat ‘n’ potatoes rockers Kent, the practically bipolar Wannadies and Whale, the latter posessing it must be said a rather knockabout sense of humour. Anyone who remembers Whale’s “Hobo Humpin’ Slobo Babe” or “Young Dumb ‘N’ Full Of Cum” will attest to the rather irritating “wackiness” of the duo. If they’d recorded a single called “Look! My Dog Is Wearing The Sunglasses! Hoho!”, you wouldn’t have blinked an eyelid. Iceland’s Emiliana Torrini tried and failed to have hits here, although she did co-write Kylie’s hit “Slow”. Both of her albums are well worth a listen, and “Unemployed In Summertime” is one of the great lost singles of the 1990s. The rather more abstruse Stina Nordenstam could and perhaps should have had proper hits here, but remains a cult figure.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLLrUqx7b9Y]
Emiliana Torrini “Unemployed In Summertime”

Now however, Scandinavian pop doesn’t sound so exotic, it doesn’t sound like it’s being produced in some outpost. Much of the most vital pop music of the past five years has been indebted to the likes of Royksopp and The Knife. Annie’s brilliant 2005 single “Heartbeat” was produced by the former, while The Knife used their royalties from the Sony advert which used Jose Gonzalez’s cover of “Heartbeats” to set up a record label. The UK’s most prolifically brilliant producers and songwriters, Richard X and Xenomania, have obviously been paying attention. Meanwhile Denmark’s Alphabeat are spearheading the so-called Wonky Pop movement, bringing bright brash pop to the sort of grimy sweaty clubs where you imagine a lot of trilbies get handed in to the cloak room. They appear to be going through a critical backlash of sorts at the moment, their album took a bit of a drubbing in the music press, but even dogs in the street know that “Fascination” is one of the best singles of the year so far. In 2008, our Northern European cousins are at the heart of pop.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvD6maGRh7c]
Alphabeat “Fascination”

As some of our readers will know, Lykke Li’s “Youth Novels” is one of the better LP releases of this year so far. Its pared-back sound has made it a hit on alternative radio, on Radio 2 and at festivals throughout Europe. Bjorn Yttling of Peter, Bjorn and John produced it, and the likes of “I’m Good, I’m Gone” , “Little Bit” and “Handing High” are lovely enough that you probably wouldn’t actually mind them reaching “Young Folks”-level omnipresence. Lykke Li is one of the guests on compatriot Kleerup’s new self-titled album. He collaborated with Robyn on “With Every Heartbeat” – possibly the greatest single of 2007. Elsewhere half-sisters Neneh Cherry and Titiyo guest. The album has already been a top 10 hit in his homeland. Swedish pop is in a particular healthy state at the moment. Even its “melodifestivalen” (the route by which you may become their entry for the Eurovision song contest) displays brilliant imaginative pop. Recent participants Pay TV’s current single “Fashion Report” is incredible, see its disturbing but compelling video here. It’s part “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head”, part “I’d Rather Jack”. With a dollop of KLF style black-humour on top. If you like this you’ll like Bodies Without Organs – formed by ex members of Army Of Lovers, very camp but possibly too clever for their own good on occasion. But what do you expect from a group who name themselves after a concept from Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari? For those of you who miss The Knife (currently on hiatus), Zeigeist’s LP “The Jade Motel” is a like a slightly more cheerful, younger sister to “Silent Shout”.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngd45o-M_M4]
Lykke Li “I’m Good I’m Gone”

Most exciting of all though is the expected arrival (in October) of Annie’s new album “Don’t Stop”. A megamix of tracks from the album has been on a tour of the internet recently and it sounds completely brilliant. Her extraordinary debut set, “Anniemal”, stalled despite being one of the very best pop albums of the last 10 years. Hopefully this time proper fame will beckon, and to this end she has worked with pop-production gods of our time, Xenomania (as well as her usual collaborators Richard X and Timo Kaukolampi). Last time out, fellow Bergen dwellers Royksopp helped out, this time it’s fellow Bergen dweller Fredrick from Datarock who puts in an appearance (on the energetic “Misery”). Alex Kapranos from Franz Ferdinand contributes guitar to “Loco” and “My Love Is Better” (Girls Aloud also contributed to the latter, but record company politics have seen to it that their vocals have been removed). If what’s been leaked on the internet so far is anything to go by, “Don’t Stop” will be the best pop LP of 2008.

Future days festival: Matmos live at ALT

Matmos, Si Schroeder
Foggy Notions Future Days Festival, Andrews Lane Theatre

Si Schroeder have gradually moved along from their shambolic days as Schroders Cat to what has become a steady duplication of your favourite American indie sounds from 1994-96 distilled by living in Dublin. This is no bad thing but like many of the acts, that they seem to sometimes appropriate when the hit is good it presses the correct buttons, but when the hit misses the vein it attended to reach you can be left fumbling around for a more direct contact. Bright in many places, commendable.

For me though the night was only about Matmos. There has always been something of the chameleon about Matmos, with each record you anticipate what Matmos will present itself. And with each record they have always presented something entirely different. Tonights appearance was to throw out many different forms of Matmos.

With house lights dimmed three small laser lights appeared in the audience. Initially thinking this was a further continuation of the bizarre practice ALT appear to have of people constantly running back and forth from the stage with torches pushing the crowd out of the way (can anyone explain this?) I huffed that this was what was happening. However, within a couple of seconds I realised that it was actually Matmos using the lasers to play off thermins installed on the stage. They had not even faced their audience and already they had astounded them. As little lights turned into big noises, an Autchre-esque rumble groaned from the speakers. What a seemed like thousands of notes falling around until they all clambered together to make a sheet of a dark noise that occasionally loosened its limbs to reveal a one-two-stumble beat. Perfect.

Thereafter the set ebbed and flowed between experimental flourishes married to a backbone of locked inquisitive beats. All chimes, clanks, rhythms fusing into a hypnotic mass played under a backdrop of accompanying visuals. To look……to listen………the senses were kept happy. Impossible to select which was best, I’ve settled on two; ‘Supreme Balloon’, an elongated journey in a boffin’s playground and ‘Rainbow Flag’ which sounded like Stereolab after a day spent exploring a science museum.

So good it should have been recorded and put in an archive for future generations.

Give Us the Night

In response to the announcement by the government last week of plans to pass the Liquor Licensing Bill 2008 within the next three weeks, bar staff, DJs, music promoters and other industry folk gathered outside the Dail today to stage a demonstration urging politicians to save our nightlife. For those of you who are as yet unacquainted with the above mentioned bill, here’s a quick run down;

If the bill is passed this will mean the closure of ALL late night venues at 2.30am Monday to Friday and at 1am on Sundays. At present, while nightclubs must stop serving alcohol at 2.30am, they are allowed to remain open for another half hour with music playing to allow people to finish their drinks, listen to some tunes and filter out gradually. If the government get their way, everybody will be turfed out at 2.30 on the dot. Furthermore, venues such as theatres, which used to have the right to stay open til 4am will now be forced to close up with the rest of them, an hour and a half earlier than before.

The aim of this bill is apparently to target Ireland’s alcohol problem and to reduce public order offences on weekends. However, does it not seem likely that tightening what are already widely considered to be outdated and ill thought-out licensing laws will only make matters worse? Such a move seems ridiculous when you consider that people will now be more likely to horse drinks into themselves before closing time, following which they’ll all be turfed out on the streets together, tanked up and let’s face it, more likely to get into fights than had they been able to space their drinking out over a more prolonged period of time.

Furthermore, enforcing such a strict Sunday night curfew ignores the needs of shift workers for whom Sunday is their main going out night. The government in this case have failed to acknowledge that not everybody fits the 9-5 worker mould. The attitude that people should be resting up for the working week ahead seems to have affected this decision, demonstrating the government’s “Nanny State” attitudes towards its population. Moreover, how many clubs are even going to bother opening for 2 hours on a Sunday now? Such a move could result in job losses for people who work as bar staff, bouncers, cloakroom assistants and so on.

Asides from job losses and public order though, we must look at this move in terms of its potential effects on the Irish clubbing industry. At present, Ireland lags behind other European cities in terms of nightlife. This is not for want of promoters. Indeed in Dublin we see excellent promoters such as Bodytonic, Shock, Choice Cuts and countless others bringing big name acts to our fair city every weekend. However, despite their best efforts, nights here will never live up to those in Barcelona, London or Berlin quite simply because the relative shortness of the night places restrictions on the number of acts you can have playing back to back. Dublin is a city that could have huge potential as a clubbing destination, given its population includes a great number of regular gig goers and people who are genuinely passionate about music. However, its licensing laws hold it back and with the bill scheduled to be passed, it seems increasingly unlikely that Dublin will ever benefit from the degrees of youth tourism that one sees in other cities on the continent. Of course, we’ll still have the stag and hen parties puking on the streets in Temple Bar at noon but I somehow doubt that’s the kind of people the government are trying to attract, what with trying to eradicate the Irish “cuture of drinking” and all.

Tourism aside, the new stricter laws will effect promoters in that the earlier closing time could potentially discourage acts from coming to play here. Venues such as the Tivoli, which holds a theatre license, are perfect for playing host to big name DJs. In the past few months alone it has seen Villalobos, Kenny Dope and Erol Alkan amongst others rock the house to mega crowds. Forcing it to close an hour and a half early will no doubt change the type of gigs it plays host to and result in loss of money for venues and promoters alike.

What’s funny about the whole thing is that the government seems to consider that everybody who enjoys going out is an irresponsible yob, who needs to be nannied. The bill ignores the hundreds of thousands of people for whom going out is about the music, about dancing, meeting people and simply unwinding a bit not just about getting pissed. Why should we pay €30 or so on going to see a DJ we rate, if we’re going to have to go home within 2 hours of entering in the venue? Maybe I’m just being optimistic but I do believe that if people didn’t feel they have to get as many drinks in as possible before 2.30, then maybe they’d pace themselves out a bit more and we could do something to improve Irish nightlife as opposed to restrict it even more.

The people who showed up to the peaceful protest today were not pilled up ravers, nor were they drunks as the government might have us believe. They were nightclub industry professionals, promoters, DJs, publicans and so on concerned about job losses and indignant at what appears to many to be a very shortsighted move. The protest was organised by Give Us the Night whose page you can check out here. Speeches were given highlighting the gaping holes in the bill’s plans and DJ Tukai (Sp?!) entertained those in attendance with a mix of hip-hop, dub, soul and reggae. These folks were not the kind of people you see beating the brains out of one another on George’s St of a Friday, nor were they the kind of people you’d see puking on shop fronts. We are not louts, or hooligans or whatever the people in the Dail care to label us. We simply want to save our night and expand our night lives in terms of creativity and originality.

If you feel strongly about this, or even just mildly miffed at the prospect of an earlier bedtime, PLEASE follow this link and sign the petition. It’ll only take a minute and may help stop the backwards thinking of our current government.

Future Days Festival: Low live at Andrews Lane

Low, Atlas Sound
Future Days Festival, Andrews Lane Theatre

The second night of the Future Days Festival rolled in with the much anticipated second appearance of Atlas Sound in Dublin, the first being the unannounced support to Animal Collective in Whelans a few weeks ago. Loathe as I am to write anything that could diminish the wonder of Bradford Cox I couldn’t help but feel that the audience was somewhat cheated by his appearence, if it can be called an appearence at all. Hidden away sitting at the front of the stage some pedals and buttons were toyed with. If you weren’t two feet from the front, and with the sound level barely audible, it would have been altogether very easy to ask the question “When is Atlas Sound coming on?”. I still anticipate a proper debut from Atlas Sound.

Low’s recorded output has always been something to relish but it has always been their live shows that allows one to really see and hear what they actually are. Sedated when commited to the studio process, on stage another side emerges. Maybe emotions come easier to them when confronted with a few hundred faces staring back at them, an audience for their confessions to be heard. Tonight was no exception, indeed previous shows, even the stardust memeories of the Christchurch gig, were knocked to the ground and trampled on.

Starting in a somewhat languid manner with “Murderer” and the droney “Pretty People” it takes the double blow of “Sadinisita” and “In Silence” to be delivered before the signs of what was to follow emerged—-both were concise and immediate. A dreamy “Dragonfly” and a dipping “Silver Rider” allowed the waste of the American mid-west to stretch out in your mind before “Almost Fade” laid itself out in a fashion of Neil Young circa-Zuma. “Sunflower” gradually rises to its homely conclusion before “Point of Disgust” floats across like a plane in slow motion against a night sky. “Dinosaur Act” thumps its angry paws as never before leaving a crowd desperate to see no end in sight. “Little Arguement With Myself” and “Done” give the illusion of a sleepy climax before an elongated and angry “Canada” and “Breaker” crash and rumble out of the gate.

Somewhere tonight there was a little anger within Low, let the anger continue.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmo7tyrtGW0]

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