Down Under

Emperors Box (2010)

1. Radar
2. Half In Water
3. Page One
4. Emperor’s Box
5. Sweet One
6. Time
7. I Had A Drink Today
8. After The Rain
9. Never Know Your Luck
10. Golden
11. Space Between
12. Cotton Wool
13. Little Boys






Over the last two years Katie Noonan (is an Australian based singer-songwriter) and her new band ‘The Captains’ ( Cameron Deyell – guitar, Stu Hunter – keys/bass, Declan Kelly – drums) have been building a vessel of exciting new songs.

A return to form for Katie, this band sees the songstress sailing towards a more beloved lush and organic sound with her trademark strong and inspired personal stories.

Katie has co-written songs with a host of Anzac luminaries including Tim Finn, Don Walker, Sia Furler, Josh Pyke, Tom Shapcott and her fellow ‘Captains’ band mates.

Katie and the band have been berthing a series of underground warehouse gigs around Sydney to test the waters and warm up the tunes live. Stay tuned to Katie’s myspace and facebook for regular updates/new demoes/gig footage etc and for a glimpse of what promises to be an inspired voyage.

“ I haven’t felt this positive about my music since the george days… I feel like I have finally found the right musical partners to make my music with again. I am really inspired and excited about this new record – I can’t wait to make it and tour it.”



Whatever it is, for those of you who have enjoyed the Queensland singer in various, sometimes confusing, guises throughout the years, this is not Katie Noonan the funky soul singer or Katie Noonan the kinda jazz singer or indeed Katie Noonan the halfway-to-an-opera-singer singer.

Justly celebrated as the owner of one of the best voices in the country, albeit one she's never convincingly put to full use, Noonan returns in some ways to where we first encountered her in George, the band she led with her brother, Tyrone. Well, in so far as several songs begin from pop-rock roots and a forceful backbeat and then pile on strings or electronics or vaulting vocalising (and sometimes all three) as they take left turns.

Emperor’s Box is a record tailored perfectly to Noonan’s paper smooth and breath-taking voice, not to mention her subtle melodies and dreamy lyrics. Whilst Noonan’s background is heavily rooted in jazz, she displays an exceptional knack for writing dark pop melodies, which emphasise just how haunting her voice really is.

(c) X-press

Debut video here

THE DRUMS! PT 2.

The Drums (2010)

01. Best Friend
02. Me And The Moon
03. Lets Go Surfing
04. Book Of Stories
05. Skippin' Town
06. Forever And Ever Amen
07. Down By The Water
08. It Will All End In Tears
09. We Tried
10. I Need Fun In My Life
11. I'll Never Drop My Sword
12. The Future


Part 1-here.

HAPPY PRIDE!

Happy Pride people!

Bring on the weekend!!

New choooon!

First we had “17″–now there’s simply “One.”

“One” is Sky Ferreira’s debut single on Parlophone Records.

The song sounds a bit like if Marina & The Diamonds‘ “I Am Not A Robot” went out for a few drinks with Little Boots‘ “Stuck On Repeat,” except the date took place in an underwater bar and Bloodshy & Avant (the producers of this piece) were busy conducting a small symphony in their scuba gear nearby while Diana Vickers‘ “Once” was busy making sexy eyes at them from the corner of the bar.

Structurally “One” is quite different than your average pop track, complete with plenty of repeat-heavy, dreamy vocals and squeaky disco sounds that neither form entire verses or choruses (though it still vaguely follows the familiar verse-chorus construction). This is a good thing because it keeps pop music interesting and less predictable than usual.

Speaking of good things, I like the fact that Ferreira is kind of like a more mature, more musically interesting response to Ke$ha (even though she’s only seventeen), but without all of the distracting faux-drunk revelry.

(c)muumuse

Gaga for Larry

Lissie & Ellie Goulding

It's Divine! :)

 Bang Goes The Knighthood (1st June 2010)

1. Down In The Street Below
2. The Complete Banker
3. Neapolitan Girl
4. Bang Goes The Knighthood
5. At The Indie Disco
6. Have You Ever Been In Love
7. Assume the Perpendicular
8. The Lost Art of Conversation
9. Island Life
10. When A Man Cries
11. Can You Stand Upon One Leg
12. I Like







Bonus tracks:
13. Ya Sumeera
14. Beside the Railway Tracks
15. The Circular Firing Squad
16. Napoleon Complex


The Divine Comedy is a baroque pop band now based in Dublin, Ireland, fronted by Neil Hannon.

One of the overarching themes of Bang Goes the Knighthood: namely the private lives of the rich and the powerful, be they celebrities, aristocrats, politicians or financiers. Sometimes, as on the opening "Down in the Street Below", his technique is impressionistic, à la Jimmy Webb. Other times it's straight to the point. He comes on like a latter-day Lehrer on "The Complete Banker", a savage satire of the traders who precipitated the credit crunch.

Such flashes of anger are rare from Hannon, but when they come, they're always thrilling. He occasionally misfires: "Island Life" is a little too reminiscent of Pulp when they started singing about trees and sunrises, and the dated references of "At the Indie Disco" sound like the work of a man who hasn't been inside one for at least a decade. 

The oompah-reggae shuffle of the Duckworth Lewis Method project is gone, and Hannon reverts to the lush orchestral pop with which DivCom are most closely associated. Several times, he reminds us that he is a master of genre: "Have You Ever Been in Love" sounds like an instant Tin Pan Alley standard; "When a Man Cries" sounds like an expertly translated Brel (yes, that good) and you can imagine hearing the daft, kiddie-friendly "Can You Stand Up on One Leg" on Ed "Stewpot" Stewart's Junior Choice circa 1975.

Always misfits during their Chris Evans-approved chart heyday, the Divine Comedy are proving that their value has far outlasted that, and their 10th album sees Hannon comfortably embracing his elegant outsiderdom, bow tie, bowler, Labrador and all.

**TICKET ALERT**

On Sale Wednesday:
Interpol - Olympia Theatre -29th Nov - €42.40 - Ticketmaster

Not quite the city

 
So Arcade Fire are about to release their 3rd studio album, "The Suburbs". Today will see the release of a limited edition Double A Side 12" single titled "The Suburbs/Month Of May".

"The Suburbs" is due for release in the UK & Ireland in August, you can pre order your copy here.

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

Arcade Fire - Month Of May

CocoRosie new video

Angus & Julia Stone tour Ireland!

Angus and Julia Stone announce summer Irish dates!

The Button Factory, Dublin (Wednesday 14th July 2010) Tickets €16

Roisin Dubh, Galway (Monday 12th July) €10

and Cyprus Avenue, Cork (Tuesday 13th July)

New Scissor Sisters!

My band of the week!

Indie/Folk

French indie outfit Hey Hey My My is Julien Garnier and Julien Gaulier. The Parisian duo share songwriting and composition duties and, to date, have released a handful of EPs and their debut self-titled LP over the last 4 years.

The two turned their attention recently to their sophomore effort, A Sudden Change Of Mood, which was released last month. They follow in the footsteps of fellow Parisian breakouts Phoenix by straddling the line between mainstream pop and the DIY nature of folk and indie-rock.

Forming in early 2005, the duo both write and compose folk/country glossed pop songs similar to Nick Drake, Frank Black, and Paul McCartney.

Check out a couple tracks from their new album "A Sudden Change of Mood" down below. As with all those up-and-coming bands, I HIGHLY recommend going over to iTunes to buy it, instead of illegal downloading :)

Hey Hey My My - Oh Lord!

Hey Hey My My - Not Fun Anymore

Lena!

This post is for you Ming!

My Cassette Player (2010)
01. Sattelite
02. My Cassette Player
03. Not Following
04. I Like To Bang My Head
05. My Same
06. Caterpillar In The Rain
07. Love Me
08. Touch A New Day
09. Bee
10. You Can't Stop Me
11. Mr. Curiosity
12. I Just Want Your Kiss
13. Wonderful Dreaming





Lena Meyer-Landrut (born May 23, 1991 in Hannover) is a German singer and the winner of Eurovision Song Contest 2010.

Lena emerged as the winner of the German ESC talent show contest “Unser Star für Oslo” (Our Star for Oslo) on March 12, 2010. The victory entitled her to represent Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the song “Satellite”, written by the American-Danish songwriter duo Julie Frost and John Gordon. She eventually went on to win the contest, receiving 246 Points in the final on 29 May 2010.

“Satellite”, “Bee” and “Love Me” (co-written by her and German producer Stefan Raab), occupied the first three places on the German iTunes Store sales chart on the day after the national final.

(Also, if you like Lena, I presume you'll fancy downloading the Eurovision 2010 album here)

SATC 2 - Soundtrack Sunday

  (Click image to download)

 Tracklist

01. Alicia Keys - Rapture [04:47]
02. Dido - Everything To Lose [04:29]
03. Cee Lo - Language Of Love [04:00]
04. Erykah Badu - Window Seat [04:50]
05. Natacha Atlas - Kidda [04:57]
06. Michael Mcgregor - Euphrates Dream [03:38]
07. Liza Minnelli - Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) [03:13]
08. Ricki-Lee - Can't Touch It [02:52]
09. Alicia Keys - Empire State Of Mind (Part Ii Broken Down) [03:34]
10. Jennifer Hudson And Leona Lewis - Love Is Your Color [03:41]
11. Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon - I'm A Woman [02:07]
12. Sex And The City Men's Choir - If Ever I Would Leave You [02:19]
13. Sex And The City Men's Choir - Sunrise Sunset [03:43]
14. Sex And The City Men's Choir - Till There Was You [02:01]
15. Shayna Steele, Jordan Ballard, Kamilah Marshall - Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered [03:26]
16. Liza Minnelli - Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye [04:24]
17. Cyndi Lauper - True Colors [03:46]
18. Aaron Zigman - Divas And Dunes [02:46]

It's time for holiday!

Ok, so I posted this song last week, one of my faves off the new Vampire Weekend album Contra, and now there's an official video, so here it is! :)

Sea of Cowards!

Indie/Rock

 Sea Of Cowards (2010)
Tracklist


01. Blue Blood Blues
02. Hussle and Cuss
03. The Difference Between Us
04. I’m Mad
05. Die By The Drop
06. I Can’t Hear You
07. Gasoline
08. No Horse
09. Looking at the Invisible Man
10. Jawbreaker
11. Old Mary






The Dead Weather is an alternative rock band which formed in Nashville, Tennessee, United States in 2009. It consists of Alison Mosshart (of The Kills and Discount), Jack White (of The White Stripes and The Raconteurs), Dean Fertita (of Queens of the Stone Age) and Jack Lawrence (of The Raconteurs and The Greenhornes).