jamie on March 31st, 2006
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Week 13, and the sun is out, the weather is warm, and it's going to be a busy weekend for me. The Streets' track makes me laugh every time I hear it! I've really been diggin' Simon Webbe recently, which has been out in the UK for a while now, but I havn't seen it here yet. The Faders track has been around for a minute, but I just liked the energy in it, so it went on. I went back a few weeks for tracks from Guillemots and The Crimea, which are still new to the US, and great songs both. The Raconteurs retooled their b-side Store Bought Bones live on Zane Lowe's show this week, which I thought was a great version, so it's in there as well. To wrap up the mix this week, I've included the new live version of Stereophonics' Dakota.
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On the mix:
Squeek E Clean - Mess 2 Make
The Streets - Two Nations
Simon Webbe - No Worries
Guillemots - Made Up Love Song #43
The Crimea - White Russian Gallery
The Faders - No Sleep Tonight
The Zutons - Why Won't You Give Me Your Love
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Phenomina
Embrace - No Use Crying
Snow Patrol - Hands Open
Raconteurs - Store Bought Bones (Live)
Stereophonics - Dakota (Live)
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jamie on March 30th, 2006
Snow Patrol drop their new album Eyes Open in just over a month, and the lead single You're All I Have has spent some serious time in my iPod over the past few weeks. Earlier today, Zane Lowe played the second single, Hands Open on his show, and it's another helping of the same goodness!
They name-check sufjan stevens in the track:
Put Sufjan Stevens on / and we'll play your favorite song / Chicago bursts to life / and your sweet smile remembers you
Snow Patrol must be reading Stereogum while writing (see how they love Sufjan?).
Snow Patrol - Hands Open
EDIT: Stereogum posted their bit on this track about an hour later, read it here.
jamie on March 30th, 2006
Mel fo the heads up on this!
Article on the web: msnbc.com
jamie on March 29th, 2006
Apparently, I'm the last blog on the planet to get this: the new Streets album The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living leaked to the interweb this weekend, and there are now tacks flying about on various blog sites. I could find one, download it, and re-post it on this blog, but as I'm already behind here I'm just going to point you over to hype machine. You can watch all the other blogs post their leaked treasures as they get 'em.
The Hype Machine: The Streets
jamie on March 28th, 2006
| Embrace - This New Day |
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Embrace are an old favorite of mine- their tried-and-true method of crafting soaring anthems is on par with mates Coldplay, but yet Embrace fail to see real sucess in the US. This is their sixth full album, following two number one albums (2004's Out Of Nothing and their 1998 debut The Good Will Out). The anthems continue to pour out of Embrace on This New Day, including the marvelous lead single Nature's Law. This only gives hope that Embrace's stab at the 2006 England World Cup anthem will not suck (see previous post). The band doesn't stray far from the format however, and it would be nice for a fresh sound now. I didn't like this as much as Out Of Nothing, but still think its better than any Colplay album. |
Official Site
Embrace - Nature's Law
Embrace - No Use Crying |
| Margot and the Nuclear So and So's - The Dust Of Retreat |
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At the core of Margot… are Richard Edwards and Andy Fry, joined by 6 other musicians on instruments ranging from guitar to cello to horn who, for the most part, all live together in one house in Indianapolis (Hoosiers!). The sound on the album is a hauntingly beautiful chamber-rock experience, grounded by the sincere vocals of Richard Edwards. The songs, written by Edwards, have been compared to the films of Wes Anderson (Rushmore, Bottle Rocket), of whom Edwards is a big fan (Margot is in fact named for the character in The Royal Tenenbaums). Storytellers both, Edwards' songs are often bittersweet and ironic, much as Anderson's films can be. The quirky nature of both artists' styles cannot be ignored either. Leah of Confessions of a Music Addict saw them at the Loft last night, and her review of the show is just glowing. |
Official Site
Margot & The Nuclear So And So's - Skeleton Key
Margot & The Nuclear So And So's - On A Freezing Chicago Street |
| Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones |
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Known mostly for their frenzied frontwoman Karen O. (whosw hairstyle or clothing is almost as talked about as their music), Yeah Yeah Yeahs started as art-punk with a frenetic energy that flowed through Fever To Tell. Three years after the release of that album, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs sound more refined and mature- and with the help of producer Squeak E Clean (a.k.a. Sam Spiegal) have developed a well-textured yet congruent album in Show Your Bones. Lead single Gold Lion has been riding the airwaves for a few weeks now, and showcases a more restrained Karen O. in vocals laid over acoustic guitars and drums. Some of the tracks lean back towards Fever, such as Mysteries, given the album a bit of a schizophrenic feel at times. In all, I think this is an excellent sophomore album, showing signs of lots of growth, and promise for future albums that don't grow stale. |
Official Site
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Cheated Hearts (live)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Gold Lion
Karen O. lent her vocals to the Squeak E Clean track used fo the Addidas commercial called No Tomorrow… Some time ago, I mashed that track with some Roots Manuva to make the following:
Squeak E Clean Ft. Karen O. - Too Cold Tomorow |
jamie on March 28th, 2006
In a collision of two of my favorite things on this earth- music and football- the news today is that Embrace will head into the studio later this week to record the official England World Cup song, World at Your Feet. NME reported on March 18th that Kasabian would be recording the song, and BBC reports that Kaiser Chiefs turned down the offer. I'll just cross my fingers that Embrace can pull this off without sounding ridiculous.
- BBC article on the England World Cup Anthem & it's history
- Embrace's new album This New Day was released yesterday in the UK.
jamie on March 24th, 2006
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I'm posting the Friday Mixtape again this week! Same deal as last time: I'll remove the download sometime Sunday evening, so get it while you can. There's some new stuff (Kanye West), some older stuff (Kano), some loud stuff (Wolfmother) and some mellow stuff (Grizly Bear)- it's all just a mish-mash of stuff I wanted to listen to in the car this week (that's the origin of the Friday mixtape: I make a CD for the car each week because I hate having to plug the iPod in, or have the power cord lying about…I'm particular about my car). Lily Allen's LDN is on again this week, because it's such a great track!
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Anyway, this week's tracklisting:
01 - Fokushima - Voice On A Stereo
02 - Guster - One Man Wrecking Machine
03 - Eller - Mother
04 - Phoenix - Long Distance Call
05 - KT Tunstall - My Doorbell (live)
06 - Teddy Geiger - For You I Will (Confidence)
07 - Band Of Horses - The Funeral
08 - Angels & Airwaves - The Adventure
09 - Snow Patrol - You Are All I Have
10 - The Fratellis - Creeping Up The Back Stair
11 - Wolfmother - Woman
12 - Gnarls Barkley - Smiley Faces
13 - Kanye West - Impossible
14 - Block Party & Apathy - Banquet (Apathy Remix)
15 - Kano - Nite Nite
16 - Mark Ronson - No One Knows
17 - Lily Allen - LDN
18 - Grizzly Bear - Don't Ask (Final Fantasy Remix)
19 - Imogen Heap - Hide and Seek (Ciaran Strings Remix)
Get it HERE while it lasts!
note: the mixtape is an 80 MB Zip archive- and must be downloaded by clicking on the link above (do not try to right click to "save as…"- it won't work).
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jamie on March 24th, 2006
Heather over on I Am Fuel, You Are Friends posted this article earlier today about a South African case involving the royalties to the song known as The Lion Sleeps Tonight, which were sold by the song's original composer in the 1950's for less than $2.00.
jamie on March 24th, 2006
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Wow, 22% of all search results that bring people to SquirrelFood.net are searching for information on Lily Allen. That’s ten times as many searches as for Jamie T or Snow Patrol (the next highest ranked searches). I’ve heard the stuff on her myspace page, and the Mark Ronson joint she did is amazing. I’m not surprised at the interest in her. I am surprised there isn’t much of anything on the internet about her though. If the Arctic Monkeys and Panic! At The Disco have anything to teach the music industry, it’s the pure power of the internet as a marketing and distribution tool. |
Lily Allen links:
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jamie on March 22nd, 2006
After the sudden demise (?) of Blink-182, Tom DeLonge announced that he would be engaging another side project (previous project Box Car Racer included former 182-mate Travis Barker and guitarist David Kennedy), called Angels & Airwaves. The much-hyped website launched about a month ago featuring a movie preview for a CGI movie- reported to be a project on par with Pink Floyd’s The Wall- and a high-concept video for the track The Adventure. Apparently, the track is the number one request on LA’s KROQ. The tracks on the ‘nets so far do have a very theatrical feel to them. It should be interesting to see what the movie actualy looks like. The album, We Don’T Need To Whisper is due out May 23.
Official Website
Angels & Airwaves - The Adventure
Angels & Airwaves - Good Day
