Some melancholy Indie Pop!

Indie/Pop

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She & Him is an American indie folk band consisting of actress Zooey Deschanel (vocals, keyboards) and musician M. Ward (guitar, production). The pair first met in 2006 for a movie soundtrack project for the film ‘The Go-Getter’ in which they recorded a version of Richard and Linda Thompson’s “When I Get To The Border”. The first words on this album are "It's hard to be ignored." It's true. Volume Two cannot be given the slip. Its friendly and familiar sound will find you eventually. And although it may sound almost identical to its predecessor, it's the subtle changes that make this new endeavour so sweet. The perfect pairing of Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward are back for more, and better than ever. They upped the production quality and the amount of mood swings, thus every ounce of sad lyrics and happy music they make is able to shine. Deschanel glows in 11 original songs and two covers, and you will know when Ward's voice and guitars gracefully decide to pipe up. Deschanel delivers the back-up female vocals. It took about a year to make the album in Los Angeles and Portland studios due to the two's busy schedules of movies, marriage and Monsters of Folk, but the wait has given us an album full of emotions ready for interpretation. Let's just hope this trend stays true for more volumes.

MGMT to tour Ireland

MGMT announced they will be bringing their 2nd album, Congratulations to Emerald shore in September 16th. It's sure to sell out fast but with 3 days free before their gigs in London, we could be looking at extra dates in Dublin :)

Tickets go on sale April 7th @ 9am on Ticketmaster.

Female Friday

Female Vocal / Indie Pop / New Rave



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The Optimist (2010)
01. Lost A Girl
02. Chaos
03. The Optimist
04. Stone
05. We Want To
06. Dolls
07. Before The Light
08. Oh Cherie
09. Rapture
10. Architect Of Love








New Young Pony Club (NYPC) is a four-piece electro band from London, inspired by LCD Soundsystem, provide a kind of tight and bass-heavy future discoid noise.

The band have returned with a triumphant LP which ceremoniously leaves the posturing behind, delivering a freer sound built on an exciting mix of crescendo, space and charm rather than quips clothed in layers of smut. Frontwoman Tahita Bulmer's vocals envelope the sound unafraid, cut loose from their quasi-spoken cage of pretence.

The range on this album is colossal, even though its influences are still more or less paraded; take the title-track's whirling, steam-engine keyboard parts, and the PJ Harvey-recalling sadness on the album's ballad, Stone. But there's far more than mimicry on offer here; colossal key-changes and an audible sense of excitement become the album's revelation.

The Optimist is a super-smart pop album at the top of its game.



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Electronic / Female Vocal / Indie Pop



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Interpreting Masters Vol. 1 (2010)
01. Heard It On The Radio
02. I Can't Go For That
03. Rich Girl
04. Sara Smile
05. Kiss On My List
06. Maneater
07. She's Gone
08. Private Eyes
09. One On One






Inara George and Greg Kurstin, alias the Bird and the Bee, are an army of two. They listen to everything, and answer to no one. They started playing Jazz standards together, and when they were all out of covers, they wrote some songs of their own.

Renowned for their covers, it was pretty much inevitable that someday they'd put out a cover album -- in this case, "Interpreting The Masters Volume 1: A Tribute To Daryl Hall And John Oates." It's pretty much what you'd expect after their past covers: a string of Hall and Oates' hit songs, which have metamorphosed into sensual, delicate electronic pop with angelic vocals.

Inara Geoge has a beautifully flexible voice, which always seems to be wavering between huskiness and sweetness. And she sounds like she's having a lot of fun in this album, adding her own funky feminine flavor to time-honored pop songs -- it ends up sounding like the confessions of a strong-willed girl who's loved fast, hard and passionately, and has sometimes ended up with a heart that's been cracked rather than broken.

Catchy and sweet. (Amazon)

Music group EMI in dire straits

EMI one of the worlds leading music companies is battlings for survival and faces being taken over by its bankers after failing to clinch a deal to sell the North American distribution rights for its artists to Universal Music Group or Sony Music.

The collapse of talks leaves EMI battling to raise 120 million pounds by mid-June to meet its commitments on loans from U.S. bank Citigroup. Another source familiar with discussions said that Terra Firma will talk to investors about raising the necessary funding.

If funds can't be raised from investors and the loan goes into default, Citigroup could seize EMI and cause it to be sold or broken up.

EMI has been struggling to stay afloat since it was bought by private equity firm Terra Firma Capital Partners for 4.2 billion pounds on the eve of the credit crunch in 2007, saddling the company with debt.

EMI's music publishing arm is thought to be worth about £1.2bn, although its music recording business is more difficult to value given the departure of big-name artists including the Rolling Stones and Radiohead.
The recorded music division was responsible for 55pc of EMI's £293m of profits last year.
(The Associated Press)

Musings.

Think this sums things up pretty well!

Kele Okereke at the Academy

In advance of his upcoming solo album, Bloc Party frontman KELE Okereke will play a series of Irish dates in May. Tarnishing his copy with the Irish after shouting down the mic at Oxegen "delighted to be back in the UK" on their last visit to the country, hopefully this gig will be a chance to redeem himself!

Tickets currently on sale for the following gigs:

Friday 14th May – Dolan’s Warehouse, Limerick
Saturday 15th May – Cyprus Avenue, Cork
Sunday 16th May – The Academy, Dublin
Monday 17th May – Spring & Airbrake, Belfast




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Ticket Info Here

More bands announced for Oxegen!

Strokes Frontman - Julian Casablancas

Soul Icons - Earth Wind & Fire, 

Dance Superstars-  Groove Armada,

US rockers -The Black Keys,

 The Cribs,

Chase & Status,  
The Stranglers,
Laura Marling,
Jaimie T,
and Irish newcomers Fox Avenue.

Shaping up to be an awesome weekend! Think I might get a ticket now! 

Some fun for April Fools Day, an unofficial clip by Oblong Pictures for Fight Like Apes' 'Knucklehead'.