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La Blogotheque

My latest obsession: La Blogotheque's Take Away Concert Series.
I first came across this outlet via Beirut, their entire album The Flying Club Cup was placed into DVD format and each track done in this "guerilla" music video style. Essentially what the Take Away Series does is film the musicians live in a spontaneous setting, with these locations ranging from Grizzly Bear performing in a parisian apartment's bathroom to Jose Gonzalez riding in the back of a pick-up truck in Texas. The environment selected becomes a huge part of the video and several acts use everyday objects as substitutes for drum kits and keyboards. Some videos are more simple and focus on the immediate acoustic sounds, while the larger groups tend to be more theatrical and concept-oriented. And evidence to performing in "the moment", in the Architecture in Helsinki video I've attached, the amps die and an onlooker offers an outlet from their second story kitchen to continue the concert. These videos are excellent- so check out the site http://www.blogotheque.net/ and beirut's own dvd version http://www.flyingclubcup.com/

#41 - Arcade Fire - Neon Bible & Wake Up
by lablogotheque

#45.3 - Andrew Bird - Spare-Oh
by lablogotheque





#64.1 - Beirut - Nantes
by lablogotheque

Architecture in helsinki - #58.1 -Heart it races
by lablogotheque

watch it 2.

Flight of the Conchords: "Ladies of the World"



The Cure: "The Only One"



Coldplay: "Violet Hill"

Coldplay - violet hill
by cocomoor

watch it.

Counting down to their newest album, Sigur Ros is slowly leaking clips on their website allowing fans to get glimpses into the recording proccess. The first clip is basic "what goes where" stuff-the second clip actually has a portion of one of their new songs-and those 70 seconds are amazing.




If you missed Sharon Jones at Coachella, there really are no words to fully capture my overwhelming sadness for your loss. So here's a new video from her "Tell Me" and must say the three back-up singers-they are straight up workin those shoulder-pad infused pink sport coats.

Cloud Cult

Cloud Cult
Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes)
(Earthology)
US release date: 8 April 2008
UK release date: Available as import

Classifying bands into “indie” genres these days gives me a headache. Let’s be honest, there is even a genre called electroacoustic. How precious can this categorizing get, I ask you? Music is music and creating a cool new label/genre to individualize a band is self-indulgent and limiting to the creation at hand. Yet, there are still some bands around that anxiously defy pigeonholing and develop albums that, although they may not be perfect, are expansive and fearless. Cloud Cult are helmed by the inspired Craig Minowa and have released their eighth album, Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornados), continuing in their unpredictable, expressive, and innovative tradition.

Cloud Cult began as singer/songwriter Craig Minowa’s solo efforts and then evolved into a seven-member family that includes two artists who paint during live shows. With cellos, violins, and a child’s wonderland of electronic gadgets, Cloud Cult present a lengthy list of entertainments, but underneath it all there is something raw and private that drives this band of minstrels. With albums revolving around the death of Minowa’s son in 2002, previous themes have delved into emotional releasing about love and loss. Paralleling this album’s title, Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes), thematically, Minowa is looking upwards and has literally “…had enough of hiding underneath my covers. I’m sick of all this poop that brings me down, down, down”.

The launch of their newest album is electrifying and musically celebrates this theme of rebirth: “You came up from the ground...from a million little pieces. Now you’re a pretty human being”. With a sweeping piano and electronic opening, the song crescendos even further into drums and guitar and then explodes into an Arcade Fire-like anthem. As the album continues, there is an overall sense of an appreciation for just simply “breathing” and Minowa comments frequently on a greater presence. Against lush classical arrangements, he states, “When the angels come ... they’ll find a heart-shaped locket with an old photograph of you in Daddy’s arms. Then they’ll sew you closed and give you back to the water, from where we’re all born”. True to the title, Cloud Cult may be forced to endure their share of emotional disasters, yet they’ve come out smiling and seal the album with the eloquent line, “And when it’s time to go, I want you to know, I love you all”.

Lyrics aside, the album is explorative and although the tracks don’t necessarily run flush with each other, Minowa maintains a quiet cohesiveness throughout. Cloud Cult explore with so many sounds and genres, it’s hard to classify one as “off” because technically each one is in a world of its own. The opener “No One Said It Would Be Easy” may not compositionally represent what follows on the rest of the record, but it does make way for a grandiose entrance. For the charming pop fans, “The Ghost Inside Our House” is an excellent track and is actually one of my favorite on the album. And for the closet soundtrack fanatic, “When Water Comes to Life” presents a score that is worthy of the big screens. With dramatic strings opening, a solo violin takes over and shepherds the composition into lush layers that are, quite simply, gorgeous. Yet, third track “The Tornado Lessons” has the hardest time fitting it. With peculiar Y.A.C.H.T.-esque beats and vocals, the guitar and sounds hit too hard and lose all of the grace that was commanded so effortlessly in previous tracks.

With the release of this album, the group has planned an American tour from March through May and will take a break from performing afterwards. With a performance that incorporates videos, live painters creating on stage, and a mosaic of musical originality, this is one group that every listener who appreciates live experiential performances should not miss. And if not to support their music, Cloud Cult are one of the pioneering “Green Bands” in recent independent rock and have been promoting and utilizing this lifestyle for the past ten years. They have planted thousands of trees, educate fans at concerts on how to counteract their own carbon tracks, and all of their products are 100% post-consumer recycled. Supporting this band goes a long way: it supports a good cause and it supports a strong musical act that continually explores and delivers.

Stop Watching YOurself

There is something to be said for loud, obnoxiously confident beats that I just can't get enough of. Coachella is packed with dance/electro acts this year and The Los Angeles Times even summarized the festival's line-up by coining "Coachella 2008 might not rock, but it will roll." I've thrown together some acts that may not necessarily be filed neatly under one cohesive genre, but if you want to cut loose and unabashedly throw back to a little hippy-shake shake/head nod bass--this is where you can migrate to...

Modeselektor
Genre: Electronic, Hip Hop
Ok, I'm going to go ahead and say it: I've loved to these Germans way before everyone else got on the Radiohead bandwagon. This winter Thom Yorker guest DJ'd on the BBC and played Modeselektor's "The Dark Side of the Sun" and thankfully, people caught on. Now acting as the headliners for the first part of Radiohead's North American tour, hopefully they'll attract an even larger fan base. Their debut album Hello Mom! ,whose title I find hysterical, was followed by their most recent Happy Birthday! which dropped last year.


Bonde do Role
Genre: Baile Funk
Fellow Coachella performer Diplo began his own label Mad Decent and the first group he signed were the crazy Brazilians Bonde do Role. I'm a little biased with my love for Diplo, but I first heard Bonde do Role blasting over the Amoeba Music speakers and stayed in the store bouncing around isles just to hear the entire album With Lasers. Their music is basically nonsensical with lyrics like "I'll Beat You Like Gorilla" thrown on top of ridiculously cartoon beats. Just this past December, female bandmate Marina left and Bonde do Role found two new women to fill her spot through a contest via MTV.



The Cool Kids
Genre: Hip Hop
Synopsis: Introducing Antoine "Mickey Rocks" Reed and Evan "Chuck Inglish" Ingersoll. From Chicago and Detroit, this dup began releasing their music via Myspace, creating their own buzz before recently signing to Chocolate Industries through their own label C.A.K.E. Recordings. Another of Rolling Stone's Artists To Watch, they released their first EP in January The Bake Sale and have a full-length following shortly.