PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT,

we interrupt normal programming to bring you some helpful advice on how to beat the credit crunch. and some much needed updates.

the last month has been slow, very slow. i've just started work and i'm still trying to figure out the best way to keep posting in between shifts. long story short, the much delayed alter electro should be up by months end, and i'll hopefully finally wrap up t in the park, fitting in some smaller nuggets in between. next month will be grander. just you wait.

until then, stay safe... ya shit head, ya just got swindled! no actually, stay safe.

mtv.thehumangiant.com

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ATTACK OF THE ARBITRARY TRACK! #4,

so i went to see WALL-E on friday night with the fellow first-night-prime-time pixar fans. what a film, pixar have yet to make a bad movie (cars was a little below par, someone i know is obsessed with it and has watched it a frightening amount of times) but this was special. the crowd cheered and clapped at the end (an unusual and normally annoying occurance in the UK). for this AOTAT! i tried to find an mp3 of the hello dolly track that WALL-E himself is obsessed with and watches just as much. but i couldn't. so here's the classic "beyond the sea" from "finding nemo" instead, an equally perfect soundtrack choice from pixar.



download: bobby darin - beyond the sea

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ONE DAY AS A LION,

"it’s better to live one day as a lion, than a thousand years as a lamb"



download: one day as a lion - wild international continue reading...

T IN THE PARK 2008, PART TWO,

after friday's gradual ease into festival mode, saturday thrusted into full gear with every stage opening from 12.00 PM.

the first trek from the campsite to the main arena was for LIGHTSPEED CHAMPION at the pet sounds stage. he played a short and loud set, coming in at a mere 30 minutes and consisting of mainly electric guitar tracks instead of his brilliant acoustic songs. the reason for the ommitance of many of my favourite numbers could have been because dev wanted a sound big enough to fill the massive tent, or maybe he wanted to try out some new material (about 3 tracks weren't on the LP). not that it wasn't enjoyable.



download: lightspeed champion - midnight surprise

the king tuts stage was next, and a brief glimpse of glasgow band SONS AND DAUGHTERS. these guys have been around for ages but, stupidly on reflection, i hadn't taken the time to listen to much of their stuff. lets just say that's one more hidden glasgow gem that i'll soon be in love with.



download: sons and daughters - blood

after regrettably missing MGMT it was off to the slam tent to see an absolute stormer of a show from EROL ALKAN. for reasons unknown he played an extended set, the sound from which shuddered through to the near by portaloos during a well timed toilet journey.

the night's headliners were arguably the highlight of the entire weekend. rage against the machine. this really is the kind of gig that could possibly be once in a lifetime. the band reformed last year to play some special shows and their performances nowadays are few and far between. the atmosphere was purely unbelievable, many of the bands interviewed comment on how good scottish crowds are but the electricity around the main stage was something to behold. i'll admit i only actually knew half of what they played but "wake up" and "killing in the name of" without a doubt represent the pinnacle of my festival experiences thus far.



download: rage against the machine - killing in the name of (sebastian remix) continue reading...

INTERVIEW: WALTER MEEGO,

well here's a little treat for your wednesday afternoon, the first ALONG THE WATERFALL interview.

walter meego have been one of my personal favourite discoveries of the year, after first reading about them on big stereo and hearing the track "girls" i was immediatly taken by their sound. we got sent a copy of their LP a couple of weeks ago and it's been on constant itunes rotation since. so when the chance came along to ask justin (guitar/vocals) a few questions, naturally i jumped at it. here's what came of the short interview:


first things first, if toast always lands butter side down and cats always land on their feet, what would happen if I strapped toast to a cats back and dropped it?

8J: that's a tough one. i'd say the cat would not let the toast get the better of him (or her). so the cat would land on its feet. and the toast would just have to deal with it.

now, you've been compared to daft punk and air, i myself hear similarities to bowie in some tracks. what would you say have been the most notable influences on walter meego?

8J: i'd say the most notable influences are the beatles, radiohead, daft punk and then a whole lot of other bands and musicians. personally, i like everything from classical to punk and all the things inbetween.

you guys are essentially a duo right? do you enlist other musicians when playing live?

8J: when we play live, we have andrew bernhardt play live with us. he's actually becoming more and more involved in the recording and production of the second album. so i guess it's not very black and white.

would you say each of you take a defined role in the song writing process or is it more organic than that?

8J: it's definitely more organic than that. it's just something that happens before you know it. there isn't really any plan to it. i guess you just have to be ready for an idea to happen at any time.

what does the rest of the year hold in store?

8J: we're mainly focusing on the next album and then developing our live show. we've been recording a lot of new songs and ideas lately. it's exciting.

it seems that music blogs have been a major factor of your success so far, where do you place these writers in the grand scheme of journalism? do you eventually see web-based literature superseding magazines and more traditional media?

8J: i don't know what's gonna happen for sure mainly cause it hasn't happened yet i guess. buti think web-based everything will supersede traditional versions of the same thing. so web-based tv, web-based newspapers, etc., everything.

are there any other chicago bands you think deserve more attention?

8J: you know i don't know exactly any more. we moved from chicago to LA seven months ago back in january. since then, i've only been back to chicago one time and that was on tour for maybe less than twenty four hours. so we haven't been able to keep up with the local scene. and then again, bringing it back to the web, i think local scenes have been superseded by web scenes anyway.

what's the best film you've seen recently?

8J: i just watched mulholland drive for the first time and i really liked it. it's hard to follow but after letting it soak in for a few days, i like it. i'm way into david lynch. i just watched every twin peaks episode online. there goes the web again. and i rented the movie online too. so there you go.

and finally, any plans to play some shows in the UK in the near future?

8J: no concrete shows booked or anything but we'd definitely love to come out and do a tour or something like that. it would be fun. we've played out there before and it was awesome.



download: walter meego - girls



download: walter meego - baby please


you can download the debut album "voyager" via itunes or here. continue reading...

DEBUT SHE AND HIM VIDEO,

the video for the first she and him single, "why do you let me stay here". easily one of my favourite tracks off of the LP, and zooey looks as cute as a pokemon in the promo, even though she's dying in most of it. continue reading...

BLOC PARTY, "MERCURY" VIDEO,

as promised. the band don't feature, very similar off-the-wall sci-fi feel to the "flux" video.

i've had the track on repeat from the minute the mp3 hit, and it amazes me how bloc party can keep on experimenting so flawlessly. instead of sticking to the successful sound of "silent alarm" that was in itself so new and exciting back in 2004, the group have continued to evolve. i've mentioned a couple of times how they are my favourite band (the poster on my wall adorned with six ticket stubs is a testament to that) and while they lose some supporters with every evolution, my adoration only strengthens. when i hear this in a dark club with a killer soundsystem, i shall orgasm. on the spot.

some would call four BP posts in 24 hours overkill, i call it a labour of love. continue reading...

MERCURY, NEW BLOC PARTY SINGLE,

so here it is guys, i'll keep this brief. the new bloc party single "mercury". seems to be in the same vein as flux, very danceable, with some very nice horns. not a lot of guitar for a guitar band, but that's no bad thing. in the words of zane "a complete banger".

there's already a video for it too at blocparty.com that we'll have up as soon as a copy surfaces.

bloc party have returned...



download: bloc party - mercury continue reading...

BLOC PARTY TO DEBUT NEW SINGLE ON ZANE LOWE TONIGHT,

well, the timer has reached zero the dramatic reveal was made. at 11 AM, the site refreshed to show a link to the BBC radio 1 site and text reading "Zane Lowe - 7.30 PM GMT - 7th July".

so it seems the timer was a ruse and that the real news will be announced on air. this definetely narrows the options though. it could still just be an interview or a live session of old tracks, but that wouldn't warrant the build up. no, i think, zane will premiere the new bloc party single tonight.

the band released a stand alone single, "two more years" between their first and second LPs and if trend continues, they might very well be doing the same again. this definetely isn't the last of this story, i'll be here as it all unfolds.



EDIT: the fact that zane lowe does his obnoxious "hottest track in the world right now" segment at 7.30 PM exactly all but confirms the new single. expect a lot of shouting and boasting on zane's part and listen online here when the time comes. continue reading...

10 HOURS, 15 MINUTES, 42 SECONDS,

"from what's been posted so far on this blog, it'd be pretty hard to tell that bloc party are my favourite band. that's mainly because they've gone into hibernation..." - ALONG THE WATERFALL 22/6/08

we posted that two weeks ago. it seems that bloc party are about to awaken from their media slumber. at 11 AM GMT. the countdown is as mysterious as kele's own lyrics, what will happen in 10 hours, 15 minutes and 42 seconds?

a new track? news of the third album? the third album itself? simply a new website? my bet is news of a UK tour coming this autumn, and possibly a date for the new LP.

only time will tell, but be sure you'll hear it here as soon as it breaks. so for 10 hours, 15 minutes and 42 seconds... stay safe. continue reading...

THE COOL KIDS,

chigaco's music scene has produced some of the greatest new rap and hip-hop artists of the last decade, and it looks to continue doing so going into the next. the cool kids are one of the newest acts to emerge that from chicagoan hip-hop. like a lot of fledgling groups, the duo have used myspace primarily to release their music, before recently getting signed by independent chocolate industries after a memorable performance at 2007's pitchfork media festival.

they toured opening for M.I.A and then on their own throughout this year, and to say their gradually garnering interest would be an understatement, touted by many music publications and listed in rolling stone magazine's "ten artists to watch in 2008". their debut album "when fish ride bicycles" will be out before the year's end.



download: the cool kids - gold and a pager



download: the cool kids - black mags

lookout for last month in review in "the months: june", hitting either tonight or early tomorrow. now we're back on track guys, stay safe. continue reading...

MASH-UP FUN, GIRL TALK,

this hit last week and blew up on the blog scene. mash-up DJ, girl talk, released his third album, splicing beats, raps and vocals from a massive variety of sources. it's ashame most of the rap acapella's are dirty south because the beats and melodies are so widely sourced, from avril lavigne to the jackson 5.

the album has been released on the "radiohead model", buyers can pay whatever sum they like for the mp3 downloads.



download: girl talk - shut the club down



download: girl talk - give me a beat



download: girl talk - still here continue reading...

SETH LAKEMAN,

another week of minimal posting, for that, i apologize. there's been a lot of other stuff going on over the last couple of weeks but july should be feature fantastic, making up for june's drought after alter electro.

seth lakeman, english folk singer, has been making music for a long long time. back in 1994 he and his brothers released the critically acclaimed LP "three piece suit" and later released three more albums before seth's first solo outing in 2002. lakeman has a rabid UK fanbase and all of his recent solo tours have sold out, but he has never broken into the US scene.

his most recent release "poor man's heaven" is a beautiful modern slant on country/irish folk. while a lot of folk albums drone on, each track being just a few minutes too long and too often repetitive verses pale into dullness. seth however has perfected folk writing for the MTV generation, short, snappy and with interesting melodic violin hooks, and most importantly, songs that end naturally.

here's his free live EP of the same name, with many od the same tracks as the studio album:

SETH LAKE MAN - POOR MAN'S HEAVEN, LIVE EP



download: 01. poor man's heaven



download: 02. lady of the sea



download: 03. haunt you



download: 04. blood red sky



download: 05. bold knight continue reading...