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The Future Is Now

The future of the internet, circa 1981.

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5th Feb 2014 - Add Comment - Tweet

Arcade Fire: Reflektor

New AF album on the way (check the map here), with James Murphy manning the desk on the first single, Bowie on backing vocals (apparently), and some very LCD-sounding no-reverb drums. All starts dropping at 9pm US time tonight (9/9/9pm geddit)

UPDATE: here's the video from Anton Corbjin, and here's the iTunes link

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9th Sep 2013 - Add Comment - Tweet

Swissted: Swiss Modernism V Punk Rock

"swissted is an ongoing project by graphic designer mike joyce, owner of stereotype design in new york city. drawing from his love of punk rock and swiss modernism, two movements that have (almost) nothing to do with one another, mike has redesigned vintage punk, hardcore, new wave, and indie rock show flyers into international typographic style posters. each design is set in lowercase berthold akzidenz-grotesk medium (not helvetica). every single one of these shows actually happened. swissted book out march 5th on quirk books—get it here!"

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27th Feb 2013 - Add Comment - Tweet

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My Bloody Valentine - MBV

First new MBV album for 22 years is actually out, complete with authentic 90s lowercase font. The site seemed to be pretty overloaded last night, but working now. If you want a taster, their YouTube page has streams of the whole lot.

The album is available in three formats:
180 gram vinyl + CD + digital download of your choice £18
CD + digital download of your choice £13
digital download of your choice £9

The digital download will be available in the following file types:
16bit 44.1 K WAV file (cd quality)
320kbps MP3
24bit 96 K WAV file

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3rd Feb 2013 - Add Comment - Tweet

Studio Vangelis

Photos of Chariots Of Fire man Vangelis's studio set-up around the time of the Blade Runner score. Love the typewriter. (via @factmag)

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15th Aug 2012 - Add Comment - Tweet

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Rewind: The Minutemen - Felt Like A Gringo

Great acoustic version from the masters, circa 1985. Via Verbicide

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4th Jul 2012 - Add Comment - Tweet

Trailer Park - 100 Yen: The Japanese Arcade Experience

Doc looking at the evolution of arcades in Japan

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9th Apr 2012 - Add Comment - Tweet

Radiohead: The Daily Mail/Staircase

new Radiohead "single" The Daily Mail/Staircase available in their usual multi-format download options

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21st Dec 2011 - Add Comment - Tweet

Air Cassette

For you retro heads out there ....a cassette recreation app for your iPhone. No word on whether hi-speed dubbing is supported.

App Store

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4th Nov 2011 - Add Comment - Tweet

Radiohead TKOL RMX

More Radiohead activity - King Of Limbs remix album TKOL RMX is out on Monday, and they played Lotus Flower and Staircase on SNL this weekend, introduced by Alec Baldwin. Here's the vowel-defying tracklist:

1. Little By Little (Caribou RMX)
2. Lotus Flower (Jacques Greene RMX)
3. Morning Mr Magpie (Nathan Fake RMX)
4. Bloom (Harmonic 313 RMX)
5. Bloom (Mark Pritchard RMX)
6. Feral (Lone RMX)
7. Morning Mr Magpie (Pearson Sound Scavenger RMX)
8. Separator (Four Tet RMX)
9. Give Up The Ghost (Thriller Houseghost RMX)
10. Codex (Illum Sphere RMX)
11. Little By Little (Shed RMX)
12. Give Up The Ghost (Brokenchord RMX)
13. TKOL (Altrice RMX)
14. Bloom (Blawan RMX)
15. Good Evening Mrs Magpie (Modeselektor RMX)
16. Bloom (Object RMX)
17. Bloom (Jamie xx Rework)
18. Separator (Anstam RMX)
19. Lotus Flower (SBTRKT RMX)

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25th Sep 2011 - Add Comment - Tweet

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Promo Promo: Radiohead - Staircase

On the one hand it's not really a promo, on the other it only exists to promote something - a forthcoming full length episode of "From The Basement" with Radiohead doing King of Limbs.

And it's a new track.

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21st Jun 2011 - Add Comment - Tweet

Wu Lyf

all the stuff on YouTube so far

Big wild Manc take on Arcade Fire's big sound; looking fwd to proper album .


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11th Apr 2011

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Promo Promo: Sour Mirror

Another incredible HTML5 video, not unlike Arcade Fire's recent effort - but actually a bit cleverer.

As with all these smart ass things though, it won't work on phones or ipads - and you need to allow pop up windows.

W A T C H

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10th Dec 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

Black Mountain

Wilderness Heart

With album number three, Vancouver's Black Mountain may be threatening to hit the mainstream ...and with an output history this solid and thrilling, they deserve nothing less.

While 2008's In The Future was a decade highlight for me, Wilderness Heart proves to be something of a departure from it's predecessor - eschewing that early 70's monolithic rock sound for something a little more modern. Circa 1978. Synths and keyboards litter the sound with hidden flourishes, while Amber Webber gets more time in the lime light on these concise, deceptively simple tracks.

Opener The Hair Song exudes a swaggering confidence, while Old Fangs is built around a riff worthy of AC/DC themselves. Empires are smashed, tempos are shifted and War of the Worlds-style synths rule in one of many mini epics on the album - where no tracks head far north of 5 minutes.

Rollercoaster dips before Webber's vocals soar. Let Spirits Ride takes the band on a freight train of their most thundering thrash to date, complete with electrifying guitar and keyboard solos. A calmness decends with the orchestral overtones of Buried by the Blues - but throughout the album Josh Wells' drumming is again a magnificent highlight, running in and out of the layered and intricate guitars and keyboards and providing a muscular and spine tingling backbone.

Title track Wilderness Heart is the highlight, cramming a ten minute epic into just under four minutes as all the elements magically come together perfectly: thunderous intro, duelling vocals, pneumatic waves of drumming and a soaring coda all weaving in and out of each other into a towering, all-conquering masterpiece. Thrilling.

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13th Sep 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

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Promo Promo: Arcade Fire - The Wilderness Downtown

taking pop videos to a whole new level thanks to some HTML5, Arcade Fire's latest interacts with your home town address for a personalised (ish) experience

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2nd Sep 2010 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Gooooooooooooooal!

if you're after an all-singing, all-dancing megatron world cup chart thing, check this Spanish website from Marca.com. The Guardian's Twitter match replays are pretty funny too

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12th Jun 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

Dag For Dag

Boo

Cargo Records

My initial reaction to 'Dag för Dag', was to obsess inappropriately over the umlaut at the centre of the band's name. I can now confirm that 'Dag för Dag' translates literally as 'Day by Day' (not some marketing executive's idea of a promotional tool) and that not only in name but in music too, these guys are the real thing.

American-Swedish-brother-sister team, Dag för Dag, released their first EP in May '09 and now come back at us with debut album, 'Boo'. For the most part these thirteen (excepting the bonus, previously unreleased) tracks brood and boil with the intensity of a Nordic winter. Things dip at the album's centre and a little preening could have shorn off the dreary, introspective gloom that infects tracks like 'Silence as the verb' and 'Light on your feet'.

Parthemore Snavely and Jacob Donald Snavely exchange vocals throughout the album, but it is Parthemore who really drives the sound. Her voice tussles with the guitars and, at its best, explodes with a Siouxsie-like energy.... (at its worst there are a couple of dangerous 'Cranberries' moments lurking in there, when the female vocals wail a little too sincerely....)

'Boo' is most successful when the raw sentiments expressed in the lyrics are complimented by boisterous guitars and some determined drumming. Along the way it steps on a few toes; BRMC are in there, the Cure too and most blatantly Arcade Fire when on the (excellent) 'Animal', Parthemore shrieks 'Let's Go!' repeatedly as a counterpoint to Jacob's lead vocals. It's to their credit that 'Dag för Dag' have enough personality to make the music stand out inspite of these comparisons. I'm guessing that Live, these guys should make for a dag gawn good show....

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#LG

28th Jan 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

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