Good Weather For Airstrikes

Gotye (that’s “Gore-ti-yeah” to you, bro) is no secret in his adopted home of Australia, having risen to surprising fame over the last two years on the strength of his album Like Drawing Blood, racking up countless awards (including the Australian equivalents of the Mercury Music Prize and the Brit Award or Grammy for Best Male Artist) and rampant critical adoration along the way. Remarkably, he’s done this all without any formal record label involvement, shocking the entire Australian music industry and establishing himself as a completely self-made indie hero in a day and age where such a feat seems nigh-on impossible. Now, a worldwide deal with Lucky Number is bringing his brilliant tunes to the international masses beyond Australian borders, and with the breathtaking grace of debut UK single “Hearts A Mess” leading the way, it seems there may be no stopping Gotye in 2008.

“Hearts A Mess” is a pastiche of borrowed sounds and samples culled from record store bargain bins and passed-down vinyl heirlooms, yet the result is a remarkably unified sonic vision: swirling strings, atmospheric percussion and a heartwrenching chorus for the ages all converging to result in the most majestic single you’ll hear all year. A cinematic pop masterpiece just begging to be plugged into any number of primetime network dramas (you feeling me, Alexandra Patsavas?), the track soars and swells into an orchestral gem the likes of which haven’t been heard in pop music since Sebastien Tellier made eyes water across Europe with the stirring beauty of “La Ritournelle”. Similarly, “Hearts A Mess” sounds like nothing else out there right now, a timeless pop classic unrestrained by genre or critical expectations, and it’s the kind of special, once-in-a-lifetime single that rarely comes along in this increasingly homogenized indie scene.

As if the track itself weren’t enough to send you scrambling down to the record shops, the single comes backed with some top-notch remixes as well. Lull continues to establish himself as one of the most underrated talents in the remix game here, adding some glitch, crackle and ice-cool pop to the original and placing it in an even more otherworldly sonic context than before. A pulsing, throbbing bassline gives the song a solid backbone, but it’s the impeccable synth line that squiggles back and forth across the mix starting at the 1:31 mark that really takes the track to a whole new level of ethereal beauty and emotion. Melodramatic sonic textures and feelings not so much your thing? Then try the Ocelot remix of the track on for size. It’s the kind of thing that comes on as your leaving the club at dawn and forces you to race back inside and rage for three more hours, and the half-Texan/half-British duo drop the beat so hard this might not be legal in some midwestern states. Seriously.

Alright, that’s enough hyperbole for one afternoon. At the end of the day, this was my #3 favorite track of last year (my unpublished year-end list would testify to that, but… yeah), and I’m just thrilled its finally seeing a proper single release and getting the chance to touch lives outside of Australia. It’s time for the rest of the world to catch onto what Australians already know: Gotye is a special, genre-defying talent (”the Australian Beck”, if the UK press is to be believed), the likes of which are rarely seen in this modern age of bandwagon-hopping indie bands, overly-pandering to the flavor-of-the-week tastes of the NME, and if that’s not something to be thankful for, then I don’t know what is.

MP3: “Hearts A Mess” - Gotye
MP3: “Hearts A Mess” (Lull’s Radio Edit) - Gotye [exclusive]
MP3: “Hearts A Mess” (Ocelot Remix) - Gotye

Beyond the music, don’t make the mistake of overlooking the music video, which shines as the best animated video I’ve ever seen, and I say that without even the slightest hint of doubt. Brendan Cook does a masterful job here, and the video has since become a prominent component of Gotye personal brand and style. Literally, the perfect cinematic accompaniment to the track, it’s the reason I first stumbled across Gotye in the first place and is almost certainly my most-viewed music video over the past two years.

Video: “Heart’s A Mess” - Gotye
Director: Brendan Cook (interview with SRO regarding the video here)
Watch: [Daily Motion]
Download: [Quicktime]

In the interest of full disclosure for those of you who might not have been reading all that closely over the past few months, yes, I am employed by Lucky Number. However, the biggest reason I wanted to work here was the opportunity to work with Gotye, so yeah, don’t you dare think the above perfect score is the product of any professional bias. Furthermore, those still in doubt can refer to this, my original post on Wally from nearly a year and a half ago. One nice thing about my position is it gives me insight into the behind the scenes shit that goes on, and a recent issue unfortunately gaining even more blog attention so far than the original track is the Supermayer remix, which we were sadly unable to release. There’s been much shit-talked about how we were fools for not putting it out, but as our artists have complete creative control over their songs (we’re not major label douchebags, remember), Gotye himself had the final word and preferred not to release it in its current form, as he felt it didn’t add enough to the original. And though we dropped some dollars commissioning Supermayer for the mix and may have slightly soured the relationship with Kompakt in terms of future collaborations, thats just the way it goes sometimes. Regardless, we feel we’ve got a superior remix in a very similar style in Lull’s extended mix. Personally, I think both mixes are excellent, though I give a definite edge to Lull’s version. We’ll leave you to be the judge though, and you can hear Supermayer’s take on the track for yourself below.

MP3: “Hearts A Mess” (Supermayer’s Supermess Remix) - Gotye

What we were hoping for was something more along the lines of the German duo’s mind-blowing interpretation of Rufus Wainwright’s “Tiergarten”. “Supermayer Lost In Tiergarten” is perhaps the most technically impressive remix I’ve ever heard, and is in itself a brilliant platform on which to make a case for the remix as a legitimate artform, so obviously we weren’t expecting their work on “Hearts” to eclipse it, we were just hoping for something similarly bold and experimental. The final product, however, plays it a bit too close to the cuff, a good, but perhaps overly safe and faithful interpretation of the original, keeping the same principle beat (albeit a bit more dubby) and just upping the atmospherics a bit. Impressive if you hadn’t heard the original Gotye version but when you have, well… it loses some of its luster. For comparison’s sake, here’s their awe-inspiring take on “Tiergarten”. Through all this, I mean no disrespect to Supermayer (or Kompakt, for that matter) as I still hold them in the absolute highest regard as some of the most talented artists in the electronic music medium, and “Supermayer Lost In Tiergarten” is a pretty obvious reason why.

MP3: “Supermayer Lost In Tiergarten” - Rufus Wainwright

Finishing up the last of my finals, so here’s a quick one.

Equal parts heavenly and dispensable, “Paris” is throwaway pop at its finest. Guitars be shimmering like it ain’t no thing, the percussion’s all over the place and the chorus is huge (just try to look past the cliche-ass lyrics); this is about as pop as indie gets. In fact, it’s a shame to see such a fine slice of summery pop perfection going to waste in the dark days of winter, but you can pretty much count on a major label snapping these guys up and re-releasing the shit out of this come next spring. For now though, it’s a good introduction to the band and a great way for them to generate some solid buzz heading into the new year. So yeah, I like this song, but I’ll like it a whole lot more when I’m rockin’ it with the top down on the way to the beach next summer.

MP3: “Paris” - Friendly Fires [Alternate Link]

The song’s great and all, but Price James went ahead and totally upstaged it with one of the most perfect videos I’ve seen for any song this year. Think of it as a tuxedo in music video form, if you will. So so classy.

Video: “Paris”
Artist: Friendly Fires
Director: Price James
Watch: [YouTube]
Download: [Quicktime • 49 MB] [follow link]

Why am I reviewing a single that dropped two years ago? Because I fucking can. I cordially invite you to deal with it.

Röyksopp changed my life a little bit when I was first introduced to “Eple” and Melody AM by my then-girlfriend in the spring of 2005. Then, two months later “Only This Moment” dropped and provided the first taste of the duo’s second long-player, The Understanding, and the rest is history. While Melody AM showed me I could truly shit myself over a record on which guitars were nowhere to be found and “Eple” proved that I could rank a wordless instrumental track among my all-time favorites, “Only This Moment” established Röyksopp as one of my favorite bands in the world and planted the seeds for what would develop into a full-fledged obsession with electronic music within two years’ time.

I can distinctly remember listening to “Only This Moment” on repeat for hours on a sun-drenched beach off the coast of Massachuesetts that summer, shutting myself out of conversations with my friends and getting sunscreen and sand in my headphones just so I could hear it a few more times. It would prove to be a prominent soundtrack for the rest of my year and ended up at #16 on our Top Songs of 2005 list, and Everett wrote the following in our year-end review way back when he still existed: “The first thirty seconds alone solidify the track’s place on this list, and the male/female trade-off vocals pose a wonderful contrast. The hushed male verse is followed by a digitized female chorus, with the backing instrumental remaining superb all the while. This song is evocative of feelings of pure, unadulterated bliss, and the almost childlike glee exhibited herein leaves me wholly unable to feel sorrow in the wake of the music. This is the most emotion I’ve heard captured by an electronic group.” He pretty much nailed it, especially with the “pure, unadulterated bliss” part, though repeated listens reveal a paradox of emotions on display on the track. That element of “childlike glee”, while it pervades throughout the instrumentation, is offset by the hushed, almost somber tone of the vocals, which were contributed for the first time by the duo themselves. Thus, it works in any context, whether happy or sad, uptempo or low-key, and is a shining example of Röyksopp’s effortless brilliance in the electro-pop arena.

Nearly two years have passed and I’m still totally fucking smitten with the track, but my interest was re-sparked by the unearthing of two hot remixes of the song done by Röyksopp themselves. Both of the titles, “Forsiktige Massasje” and “Hissige”, are foreign as shit, but the “Massasje” works more like an alternate version of the original while the “Hissige” kills it with some seriously bangin’ dark disco shit.

MP3s:
“Only This Moment” (Radio Edit) - Röyksopp ((highly recommended)) [Alt. Link]
“Only This Moment” (Röyksopp’s Forsiktige Massasje) - Röyksopp [Alternate Link]
“Only This Moment” (Röyksopp Hissige) - Röyksopp [Alternate Link]

Finally, I’d be considerably remiss if I didn’t mention the UN-FUCKING-BELIEVABLE music video for the track. That I got high with my friends and watched this video multiple times pretty much every night of my freshman year should paint a pretty good picture of just how incredible this video is, but I’ll go into further detail just to make sure you’re absolutely sold. Röyksopp has a pretty fine music video pedigree to this point in their career, and “Only This Moment” is easily their best. Shot using archival footage and incorporating actual shots of the Paris 1968 protests in addition to a slew of mind-fucking after effects, this video grabs you by the proverbial balls and doesn’t let go until its conclusion. Keep an eye out for the shot with the hands on the table and that totally unreal part with the birds flying overhead towards the end, as they’re both pretty brilliant and are in themselves enough to warrant this video the highest possible recommendation for anyone, but those of you with a passion for getting high as balls will definitely get the most out of this. Sadly, I can’t find it in terribly high quality, but whatever, it’s still totally worth your while.

Video: “Only This Moment”
Artist: Röyksopp
Director: Brendan McNamee & Robert Chandler
Watch: [YouTube]
Download: [Quicktime • 12 MB] [direct link]

Elsewhere, Monsieur Headphonesex echoes our love for Big Face and keeps it hot with the gloriously scratchy new track from the Damn Shames and the epic debut single from LA’s The Mae Shi, both of which you’d do well to check out.

Oh and both the Lightspeed Champion and Hot Chip full-lengths hit the internet today, which is, y’know, awesome.

Remember Test Icicles? Yeah, they totally ruled. Sadly, they broke up not long after releasing their awesome debut LP, but silver lining has arrived in the form of Lightspeed Champion. Guitarist and sometime vocalist Devonte Hynes must have had some sort of epiphany after Test Icicles’ demise, as he traded the searing guitar riffs and acid-throated vocals (not to mention the hot pink guitars) of his former project for a whole new acoustic approach and began to record folk songs under the Lightspeed Champion moniker in 2006. A year later, he’s got two great singles under his belt and a highly anticipated debut album waiting in the wings, and appears primed to become the unlikeliest star the alt-country genre has ever seen. But before Test Icicles fade from our collective memory forever, let’s just this appreciate this track one last time, because, well, it’s the fucking jam.

MP3: “Circle Square Triangle” - Test Icicles

Staying close to home and working once again with Domino Records, he put out his debut single, “Galaxy of the Lost”, through the label last summer. Featuring the amazing “Waiting Game” stealing mad thunder on the B-side, it was one of the best debuts of the summer and established Hynes as one of the most promising talents in London’s burgeoning folk scene. Among Lightspeed Champion’s biggest fans is one Conor Oberst, who personally invited Hynes (who is originally from Houston) to his Omaha, Nebraska studio to record his debut album with Saddle Creek resident producer Mike Mogis. That record, titled Falling Off The Lavender Bridge, is due for an early 2008 release in the UK with a US release to follow shortly thereafter. Only two singles have been culled from it so far (the other being the four-act, 10+ minute epic “Midnight Surprise”), but their excellence - combined with the remarkable quality of their B-sides - suggests Lavender Bridge could be one of the best alt-country records since Bright Eyes’ own I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning in 2005. In fact, Hynes’ best track to date just might be the aforementioned B-side, “Waiting Game”, and that’s not even a lock to make the final cut for the record.

MP3: “Waiting Game” - Lightspeed Champion ((highly recommended))

There has been shit talked about how Lightspeed’s tracks are made on the female backing vocals often found on his recordings, but such accusations are clearly unjust when one considers the brilliance of “Waiting Game” and “No Surprise” (on which backing vocals are noticeably absent), easily two of his best tracks to date. That said, such doubts are somewhat understandable considering the incredible vocal talent Hynes surrounds himself with - Emmy The Great and Florence (of Florence and the Machine) are frequent collaborators - but its still Hynes emotive vocal stylings and impressive guitar work that have gotten him where he is today.

With the “Galaxy of the Lost” and “Midnight Surprise” singles already having earned him notoriety in the UK scene, Dev is set to make his American debut next week with the Galaxy of the Lost EP. The five-track EP culls the stand-out B-sides from his two single releases (”Waiting Game” and an acoustic version of “No Surprise”), alongside the title track and two cover songs - a brilliant rendition of “The Flesh Failures” from the musical Hair and a decent take on former ELO frontman Jeff Lynne’s “Xanadu”. Emmy The Great shows why she’s one of the most coveted backing vocalists in the London folk scene (even if her own material can’t quite stack up to that of her collaborators quite yet) on “Flesh Failures” and “Galaxy of the Lost”, but it’s Florence who really took the tracks to a whole new level when she supported Dev in his recent live session for BBC 6Music. In fact, the 6Music rendition of “Galaxy of the Lost” actually surpasses the brilliance of the original for me.

Lightspeed Champion, Live @ BBC 6Music
1. “Galaxy of the Lost” (ft. Florence) - Lightspeed Champion
2. “No Surprise” (ft. Florence) - Lightspeed Champion
3. “Mr. Fisk” (ft. Florence) - Lightspeed Champion

British audiences have had plenty of chances to catch Lightspeed throughout the UK over the last 18 months, but US audiences will have to wait to 2008 to see Hynes live. That is, unless you live in our fair city of New York, where Dev will be making his American live debut at Soundfix (N 11th and Bedford in Williamsburg) this Halloween Wednesday. It’s his only US show of the year, so definitely make it out if you can - I can assure you it’ll be worth your time. Check out the flyer for more info here.

Finally, while I won’t be offering the MP3 for download (though the song is quite good), definitely make sure to check out/download this high-ass resolution copy of the “Galaxy of the Lost” video. It’s totally fucked up (think Little Shop of Horrors gone plush), but it’s kind of awesome too. As it’s a large file and those download issues still aren’t totally resolved, I’m hosting it on Megaupload for y’all to download and enjoy over and over again. Check it:

Video: “Galaxy of the Lost”
Artist: Lightspeed Champion
Director: Ferry Gouw
Watch: [YouTube]
Download: [AVI • 67 MB] [follow link]

In other news, I saw Anton Corbijn’s Control (that Ian Curtis biopic) over the weekend and it was totally amazing. Go see it, assuming it’s out in your city. I know its run in NYC (at the Film Forum on W Houston between 6th and 7th) ends Thursday so you might have to act fast, but it’s worth it.
Oh and one final thing: M3 Volume 15 drops Halloween (hollerrr). See you then.

Some of you may remember I mentioned Vice’s virtual Lower East Side (vLES) project a few weeks ago when Les Savy Fav hosted. If not, you’re probably all “What the fuck?” and should read the summary above. Basically, it’s Second Life for hipsters and now I’ve been invited to host this Thursday’s virtual show with Beirut at the virtual Bowery Ballroom. James from Green Pea-ness will be hosting with me, even though I’m pretty sure neither of us have ever devoted a word of text to Beirut on our respective pages. That said, I’ve got all of his releases, have seen him live in London, am in love with his video for “Elephant Gun” (see below) and am really impressed by what the kid’s doing. I just don’t quite love him as much as everyone else seems to. Also, I’ve been called his doppleganger on countless occasions, but that’s neither here nor there. Regardless of my level of enthusiasm for Beirut, I’m psyched to be a part of this whole vLES thing even if I don’t totally know what to make of it yet. It could be something that’s fun for a few weeks or it could become a whole new phenomenon of its own. Or it could totally suck, but the literature on Vice’s site promises “it’s going to be so totally the opposite of boring you don’t even know”. I got high as balls last night and tooled around the vLES site for a little bit, but that’s pretty much the extent of my vLES experience to this point. So what do you say we all drop by from 6-7 PM tomorrow night and try it out together? It’ll only be a little bit weird I promise.

Not interested? Fuck off. Interested? AWESOME - follow THIS LINK to sign up. The whole thing is still in beta testing, so you can only sign up by following that specific link, which you will be able to then use for the next week and decide whether or not you’re into it for when the official full-fledged launch hits at some point in the near-ish future. And no, I’m not getting paid to promote this, I just think it might actually become something worth giving a fuck about at some point and want to see what it’s all about.

So yeah: THURSDAY NIGHT. 6-7 PM EST. REGISTER HERE. Please come. Thanks.

In specifically Beirut-related news, I may only really love a handful of tracks by him, but I totally worship at the altar of his video for “Elephant Gun”. Directed by Partizan newcomer Alma Har’el, there’s not much more to say about it other than that it’s fucking amazing. Possibly the best video of 2007, featuring the best choreography this side of Lil’ Mama and breathtaking cinematography and set design to rival even the silver screen’s finest cinematic accomplishments of the year, “Elephant Gun” proves Har’el to be a very special directing talent who’s certainly someone to keep an eye on. While I prefer the “Elephant Gun” video to her other Beirut clip for “Postcards From Italy”, both are most excellent and warrant a special spot in your heart and your hard drive. Enjoy them both in mad pretty high resolution below.

Video: “Elephant Gun”
Artist: Beirut
Director: Alma Har’el
Watch: [YouTube]
Download: [Quicktime • 51 MB]

Video: “Postcards From Italy”
Artist: Beirut
Director: Alma Har’el
Watch: [YouTube]
Download: [Quicktime • 92 MB]

In other news, LCD Soundsystem fucking KILLED IT at Randall’s Island on Saturday. I hope you were there.

Also, I’ve decided to do my best not to freak out about In Rainbows, considering every other blog ever is already doing a pretty good job of that for me. Instead, I’m currently focusing my energy on flipping my shit about how totally bad ass the first available track from Daft Punk’s Alive live album sounds. “Too Long”/”Steam Machine” was made available for streaming on the duo’s MySpace today, and fuck if it doesn’t sound absolutely glorious all professionally mixed and shit. This is a record I am very excited for.

There’s this quasi-renaissance of British folk music going on in London right now, with singer-songwriters and folk collectives thriving artistically and commercially everywhere you look. Just as 2006 and early 2007 were dominated by electro, folk seems to be the genre du jour in the eyes of the majors and the scene is flourishing. At the forefront of the movement are singer-songwriters like Kid Harpoon, Lightspeed Champion and Kate Nash, but there are plenty more acts to get excited about in the new folk scene. However, there may be none more promising than Noah & The Whale and Laura Marling.

Noah & The Whale just might be my favorite new band. I caught them live twice in London last June, just as they were beginning to generate buzz amongst industry heads and those in the know, once with Florence and the Machine and later opening for Fields at the Institute of Contemporary Art. I attended with a group of people each time and the verdict was unanimous on both occasions: totally awesome.

Like so many artists in this burgeoning scene, Noah & The Whale’s success is founded on their ability to be totally fucking endearing at all times. Nowhere is this more apparent than on debut single “Five Years Time”, perhaps the most carefree, relentlessly breezy single of the year. With a jovial effervescence that can brighten even the darkest day, the track is all ukuleles, xylophones and whimsically nostalgic lyrics about fun, sun and love (these words come up A LOT), yet manages not to be overly-cute or cloying in spite of itself. This would have been ideal for heavy rotation in the summertime, but it arrives just in time to give you one last wistful look back at the warmer months before putting on your sweater and marching into autumn. The lovely Emmy The Great contributes backing vocals on the track, and she’s in even finer form on “Jocasta”, the Neutral Milk Hotel-inspired B-side that comes complete with accordions and hand-claps and easily rivals the A-side in terms of excellence.

Out on the esteemed Young & Lost Club imprint, the 7″ is available now from any record store worth it’s salt. For the turntable-challenged, however, the Puregroove Digital store is offering the tracks for purchase as high-quality 320 kbps MP3s. Unlike iTunes, Puregroove won’t discriminate against you by your place of residence (read: you can buy this even if you’re stateside) AND they throw in a FREE bonus track, the lovely “Beating”, just ’cause they’re nice like that. I’ve posted the A-Side below, along with another promising demo (”2 Bodies 1 Heart”) and the demo version of “Jocasta”. The sparse demo sounds terribly anemic in comparison to the vastly superior and lushly arranged final version, so do yourself a favor and pick up the rest of the bundle from Puregroove at your earliest convenience. Do feel free to enjoy the tracks below in the meantime, but don’t sleep on the whole package.

MP3s:
“Five Years Time” - Noah & The Whale ((highly recommended))
“2 Bodies 1 Heart” (Demo) - Noah & The Whale
“Jocasta” (Demo) - Noah & The Whale

Rolling deep with the Noah & The Whale crew (and currently headlining their tour) is Laura Marling, a 17 year-old singer-songwriter who’s a brilliant talent in her own right. A figurehead in the post-Lily Allen movement of talented female singer-songwriters, Laura Marling sets herself apart as the one with perhaps the most potential at her very young age. She made her debut on Way Out West Recordings last spring with the London Town EP, an admirable debut that only barely scratched the surface of Marling’s abilities as a songwriter. Now she’s returned with the My Manic & I EP, her major label on Virgin and the release that should catapult her to the forefront of the public consciousness. Her songs are generally built around nothing more than her haunting, seductive voice and elegantly simplistic acoustic guitar work, and the EP’s single and lead track, “New Romantic”, is a shining example of this.

One of the best tracks of the year, “New Romantic” is simply dazzling from start to finish. Marling sounds like weary woman worn down from years of love and life in the city, remarkable considering her young age, singing of teenage self-doubt, heartbreak and Ryan Adams (all pretty much the same territory, I guess) over a sparse guitar arrangement. The track perfectly displays Marling’s rare gift for melody and earnest lyrical approach, and it’s not hard to see how Marling was able to secure a major label deal essentially on the strength of “New Romantic” alone. Something tells me this won’t be the last brilliant song she pens though, and the young songstress seems primed to enjoy wonderful success as a top-dollar recording artist in the UK for years to come. Prepare to be swept off your feet by the fresh new face of folk.

MP3: “New Romantic” - Laura Marling ((highly recommended))

LIKE IF WES ANDERSON DID MUSIC VIDEOS, ONLY BETTER
Not that those artists weren’t entirely worthy of a post themselves, but the PRIMARY reason for this post was to spotlight James Copeman’s impeccable video for “Five Years Time”, which features the Noah & The Whale gang joined by the wonderful Miss Marling for an afternoon of Super-8 fun in a Hackney pub. The video is absolutely perfect for the track, and there’s not much more I can say about it other than that it’s easily one of my Top 3 favorite videos of the year. Download and cherish it forever below.

Video: “Five Years Time”
Artist: Noah & The Whale
Director: James Copeman
Watch: [YouTube]
Download: [Quicktime • 18 MB]

please start commenting again kthx

You may not recognize the name, but you’re probably familiar with the work of my main man Elliot Jokelson. Remember that incredible video for Pinback’s “Fortress”? You know, the one that’s one of the best animated videos of the last five years? Or maybe you can recall the amazing video for TV On The Radio’s “Staring At The Sun”, with all its synthetic neon glory? Still no dice? How about that epic clip for TVotR’s “Dreams”? Well, long story short: this guy is the man when it comes to consistent music video brilliance.

That said, it’s been over a year since we last heard from him, and what a long wait it’s been. Wait no more though, as we’re here to debut his brand new video for “Born of a Star” by Brooklyn up-and-comers Holy Hail. Elliot’s always scored big in the special effects department and his latest effort is no different, fucking you up with some crazy optical effects that I might refer to as “swirling fractals” if I were the kind of douchebag that pulls pretentious terms out of his ass just because he can (oh wait, that sums me up pretty well). So yeah, I’ll just defer to Elliot on this one:

“When I first heard ‘Born of a Star’ I was immediately struck by its primal, unembellished drum and bass line. In keeping with that aesthetic I set out to contstruct a video armed only with variations on a simple theme… Basically the idea was to use these gradual variations to move from a representational image into a completely abstract image.”

The sparse arrangement of the track is perfectly reflected by the minimalist structure of the video, but the special effects are enough to keep things interesting and make this one of the year’s finest post-production accomplishments. Jokelson’s done it again.

Video: “Born of a Star”
Artist: Holy Hail
Director: Elliot Jokelson
Watch: [YouTube]
Download: [Quicktime • 20 MB]

Also, make sure not to sleep on the track itself, as it’s fucking great. Sure, it took a little while to grow on me, but once it gets in your head it’s there to stay. Plus, they’re signed to a UK label, so you know they’re good. Download the original and Shir Khan’s sufficiently ill remix below.

MP3s:
“Born of a Star” - Holy Hail
“Born of a Star” (Shir Khan Remix) - Holy Hail

The Rapture’s Pieces of the People We Love was more or less an album that lived and died on the strength of two exceptional singles, so while it’s logical considering the popularity of the Rapture in the UK, it hadn’t even occurred to me that a third single would be on its way before too long. It’s arrived now in the form of “Pieces of the People We Love”, the title track off of the band’s aforementioned 2006 LP, and well, it’s a farrr cry from “Get Myself Into It” and “W.A.Y.U.H.”. That said, it’s just pleasant enough to get your fingers snapping and your feet tapping, and it just might make you break into an involuntary strut if you find yourself rocking this on a metropolitan side street. It’s a classy track, you see - all steady, languorous drums and plodding basslines - nearly as classy as the video that accompanies it, one of the band’s best to date (see below). Then those “na na na”s hit and your destined to have this one bouncing around your head for at least a week’s time. You may return to “Pieces” a few times more after that, but coming from a band that’s made their name on effortlessly fun, disco-friendly dance tracks, it’s a bit of a head-scratcher. Neither terribly original (haven’t we heard those na na na’s at least a million times before?) nor terribly, y’know, fun, “Pieces of the People We Love” is still a good way to pass the time, even if we’re all aware that New York’s favorite dance-rockers can do much better than this.

MP3: “Pieces of the People We Love” - The Rapture

Alright, I’ve said it: the song’s not much to write home about. But damn, the video sure as shit is. In the band’s third collaboration with Waverly’s Ben Dickinson, whose teamed up with Jon Watts on this occasion, they manage to capture the perfect video. It’s so perfect in fact, that it achieves the rare feat of actually making the song more enjoyable and even manages to eclipse Dickinson’s previous two clips for “Get Myself Into It” and “W.A.Y.U.H.”, the latter of which was my #3 video of 2006. Having seen the video, I can’t hear the song without smiling and picturing Matty Safer swirling a glass of brandy in his sharpest suit and wishing I was doing the same thing. The whole thing is executed beautifully. It’s flawlessly composed, and the desaturated coloring is wonderful, the subtle color tones of the clip taking the whole venture to new heights. Hell, even Luke Jenner’s glitter suit dancing breakdown is fantastic, reminding you that no matter how classy the Rapture may come off as in this clip (and they come off as very classy), they still know how to have a good time. Furthermore, the choreography is excellent as well and the climbing-from-the-shadows effect is an interesting idea that’s just icing on the cake here. Loving it.

Video: “Pieces of the People We Love”
Artist: The Rapture
Director: Ben Dickinson & Jon Watts
Watch: [YouTube]
Download: [Quicktime • 49 MB]

MOTHAFUCKA’S GONNA DROP THE PRESSURE
So thanks to reader Nathan, I’ve now got the Feeling’s cover of “Doctor Pressure” (the Miami Sound Machine vs. “Drop The Pressure” mash up) and I must say I’m both pleased and disappointed at the same time. For the most part, I like it. But then they hit the chorus and… “bidi-bidi-bidiii drop the pressure”? BIDI-BIDI-BIDI?! Seriously, what the fuck? I mean, I guess they can’t say the actual lyric on air, but then why cover the song if you’re going to remove its most integral part. Bummer. Decide for yourself below.

MP3: “Doctor Pressure” - The Feeling

SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO, WHERE YOU AT?
“It’s The Beat” has surely been in heavy rotation on all y’all’s pods since it dropped earlier this month, but it’s been a minute now since the SMD broke us off with a new remix to shake our collective stick at. Worth the wait though, as their brand new remix of Muse’s “Knights of Cydonia”, off the band’s new single release for “Invincible”, is at least three or four different kinds of ill. And it’s a good thing too, as “Invincible” by itself certainly isn’t worth your hard-earned dolla dolla bills. Sure, they’ve done better (see: “Magick”), but you’ve got to admit you got a little hot and bothered when you heard that “No one’s gonna take you aliiiiiiive” burst forth from the electronic mish-mashery in all its epic glory. You feel me?

MP3: “Knights of Cydonia” (Simian Mobile Disco Remix) - Muse

To the top of the charts then, shall we? It’s hard to imagine this going anywhere else, as “I Still Remember” - while nowhere close the band’s best song (or even best single) - is far and away Bloc Party’s most chart-friendly product to date. A tale of the unspoken sexual tension between young heterosexual boys disguised as an anthem for young people wrought with nostalgia for lost love and missed opportunities, the track lives and dies on a monumental riff that stands out as the single most commercially viable thing Bloc have created to this point in their career. Sure, it could be construed as a bit vanilla and overly melodramatic - hell, you wouldn’t be too far off if you described it as a more energetic Snow Patrol track - but it’s easily the most universal track on A Weekend In The City and an obvious single choice. Good, but nothing terribly life changing.

But as is often the case with Bloc Party single releases (that weak-ass US-only release of “Helicopter” aside), the B-sides take it to a whole new plane of excellence. Of all the great B-sides that surfaced when AWITC was released in February, “Selfish Son” gets the call here, and it’s by far Jacknife Lee’s best work for the band to date. The biggest difference between Lee’s work for Snow Patrol and Bloc Party, I’ve found, is that Bloc’s tracks are still songs if you remove Lee from them and strip away his production work. But Lee might as well be Snow Patrol’s six member, as it’s fairly impossible to imagine a Snow Patrol track not drenched in the electronic flourishes that Lee brings to the table, and that’s pretty much the case on “Selfish Son”. Not that that’s a bad thing - I still regard Final Straw as not only one of the best produced albums I’ve ever heard, but one of my favorites as well. “Selfish Son” is all electronic drumbeats, rumbling, ominous synths and twinkling production flourishes, over which Kele delivers dark lyrics in another excellent vocal performance, and it’s easily in the top three AWITC B-sides to surface so far.

Elsewhere, the remixes are also impossibly good. First up, we’ve got SebastiAn’s rework which is just all kinds of ridiculous. It’s hard to even know where to begin, but one thing’s for sure - SebastiAn has just established himself as the force to be reckoned with in the remixing game; he’s operating on a whole new level right now. I mean, just look at this remix. “I Still Remember” is arguably the safest and most vanilla track on A Weekend In The City and SebastiAn turns it into an absolute MONSTER, drawing you in gently with some seductive spiraling synths before dropping the motherfucking beat at the 0:50 mark, like Zeus himself raining thunder and lightning down on the unsuspecting masses below. Things carry on like this the rest of the way out, as Kele’s “I should have kissed you!” yelps, punctuated by SebastiAn’s massive, bass-heavy synth surges, recall all the desperate urgency of Silent Alarm that’s sadly absent on the new record. SebastiAn, I bow before you.

There are a few other mixes on the release that follow the SebastiAn root and reinvent the track as a club-eligible dance edit, but Lull’s aptly-title “Music Box & Tears” mix outdoes them all by going the opposite direction, slowing things down and turning the melodrama up to 11. Heavy on strings, twinkly sounds and cinematic melodrama, Lull does for “I Still Remember” what Engineers did for “Blue Light” back on 2005’s Silent Alarm: Remixed - that is, he removes any semblance of guitars or percussion, shuns even the slightest notion of Rock ‘n Roll and puts the track in ethereal mode and goes full speed ahead. Kele’s original lyrical template remains completely intact as synthetic strings wash across the mix in undeniably epic fashion and twinkling keys tug at your heartstrings like their name was Audrey Hepburn. So yeah, it’s quite excellent, and just might be the best non-dance remix of a Bloc Party track since Engineers’ aforementioned masterpiece made our Top 10 Songs of 2005 two years ago. All in all, the single release of “I Still Remember” is the complete package, and even if the track itself doesn’t quite warrant the 8 out of 10 I’ve given it below, the brilliance of the B-sides cannot be denied as I’m once again reminded just how good it is to be a Bloc Party fan.

MP3s:
“I Still Remember” - Bloc Party
“Selfish Son” - Bloc Party
“I Still Remember” (SebastiAn Remix) - Bloc Party ((highly recommended))
“I Still Remember” (Music Box & Tears Mix) - Bloc Party ((highly recommended))

I’m also trying to work music video content into as many of my single reviews as possible now, as I’ve recently begun to receive monthly DVD’s of each month’s top music videos, so I can now offer videos in higher quality than you can find them anywhere else on the internet. The “I Still Remember” video has been circulating for a while now, but only as a fairly low-quality MTV Online rip, so I’m here rectify the situation and offer it in beautiful hi-res for all you perfectionists out there. The video itself capitalizes on a brilliant treatment and concept for the most part, but falters thanks to a rather cringe-worthy acting performance by one Mr. Kele Okereke. The whole thing’s quite pretty and certainly puts the large budget to good use, but I’ve much preferred Bloc Party’s past videos. That said, this is the perfect treatment for a band trying to make it big in the US, as it manages to get the band as much face time as possible through performance footage and emotive close-ups while still providing an interesting plotline and concept to keep viewers entertained.

Video: “I Still Remember”
Artist: Bloc Party
Director: Aggressive
Watch: [YouTube]
Download: [Quicktime • 50 MB]

In the spirit of heightened music video appreciation, I highly suggest (nay, I demand) that y’alls check out Obtusity sooner rather than later. If long-winded (in a good way), hyper-academic analysis and all-over-it music video coverage are your thing, then Obtusity is your new homepage. Get on it.

Shots Ring Out is generally all over the big new video releases (and “Dashboard” is about as big as it gets), and yeah, they’ve covered it over there, but no download link? That’s just not nice, come on now boys. Thus, I’m taking it upon myself to step up and appease the masses.

Enough about that though, onto the video. The track doesn’t exactly scream “otherworldly nautical adventure”, but apparently Isaac Brock himself specifically requested the aquatic theme and directing team Motion Theory have done an excellent job realizing his vision, even if it is a bit visually overwhelming at times. A clever take on the “big fish” genre of tall tales, the clip features beautifully rendered computer-animated environments and brilliant special effects wizardry, all the while capitalizing on the epic-pioneering-adventure vibe of the song. “Dashboard” just might be my favorite song of the year so far (it’s neck and neck with “Our Velocity” and like, every single song on A Weekend In The City), and the video is one of the year’s best to date as well. Love it.

Video: “Dashboard” - Modest Mouse
Director: Motion Theory
Watch: [YouTube]
Download: [Quicktime]

PHONES? P. DIDDY? OH MY.
Didn’t see this one coming. At all. Not even a little bit. But hey, I’m not complaining, this shit is off the hinges. I mean, Phones completely re-works the track and drops an absolutely MASSIVE beat here that pound, pound, pounds its way into your brain until the original’s but a distant memory. Props.

MP3: “Tell Me” (Phones Remix) - P. Diddy ((highly recommended))

MAXIMO LEAKS, IS GOOD
After A Weekend In The City, Maximo Park’s upcoming second album, Our Earthly Pleasures, was easily my most anticipated release of 2007, especially after “Our Velocity” surfaced and became my favorite song, like, ever. Fortunately for me and countless others waiting with baited breath, the album leaked today and I’ve been spinning it all day ever since. Definitely too soon to form an opinion on the album, let alone choose a track to post, but outside of “Velocity”, it’s “Your Urge” and surefire second single “The Unshockable” that are presenting themselves as the hottest tracks at this point. Can’t really help you with “The Unshockable”, but Spin’s got the hook up for “Your Urge”; get on it below.

MP3s:
“Our Velocity” - Maximo Park ((highly recommended))
“Your Urge” - Maximo Park [via Spin]

Thanks to Ben and Samir for the heads up on Phones and Maximo, respectively. My this was a productive day.