grizzly bear at the barbican

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Grizzly Bear and the London Symphony Orchestra played the Barbican on Halloween. The stage was beautiful and the performances were amazing. A magical evening where you leave wishing that every gig could be that good.

GRIZZLY BEAR ARE AMAZING.

This is southern point.

Click to see photos from the show.






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thom yorke - 'open the floodgates'

new video


I was pretty sure that I was totally in love with Thom Yorke's magnificant artistry and then I saw this video of a new song which includes him semi-berating people who talk during gigs. It was like falling in love all over again!

This song, 'Open the Floodgates', is excellent and my pick of the newies that he played at his recent Echoplex/Orpheum gigs.
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Stormtrooper 9/11

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bert & ernie 'ante up'

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mixtape for september

side a

Jay Z (feat. Alicia Keys) - Empire State Of Mind
TV On The Radio - Love Dog
Jamie T - 368
Mayer Hawthorne - Maybe So, Maybe No
Monsters Of Folk - Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F.)

side b
Grizzly Bear (feat. Michael McDonald) - While You Wait For The Others
Archer Prewitt - Way Of The Sun
Death Vessel - Mean Streak
Judee Sill - Jesus Was A Crossmaker
Justin Vernon - Hazelton

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monsters of folk - girl from the north country

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The Monsters of Folk (Jim James, Conor Oberst, M.Ward and Mike Mogis) release their debut album on 9 September and I, for one, couldn't be more excited! They've already released three songs on iTunes (America) and they sound exactly like what you'd expect if you put these four musicians in a room together - and that is no bad thing!

Anyway, to whet your appetite here's a faithful and massively enjoyable cover of Dylan's "Girl From The North Country".
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the suge knight light...

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bon iver @ glastonbury

By all accounts Bon Iver delivered in their 3 Glastonbury performances but this one seems to have people talking. It's about half of the set from the Sunday afternoon (I think) and culminates in a great version of "Wolves".

Enjoy, it's beautiful.

Bon Iver - Creature Fear
Bon Iver - Skinny Love
Bon Iver - Blood Bank
Bon Iver - For Emma
Bon Iver - Wolves

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big fan trailer

new video

Patton Oswalt's stand up is excellent.

This movie is meant to be his 'Taxi Driver'.
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best albums of the year (so far!) mixtape*

Inspired by a blog I read the other day here's a mixtape of songs from my favourite albums released so far this year.

side a

Grizzly Bear - All We Ask (from Veckatimest)
Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears - Bitch, I Love You (Tell 'Em What Your Name Is!)
Micachu - Curly Teeth (from Jewellery)
Asher Roth - La Di Da (from Asleep In The Bread Aisle)
Mos Def - Quiet Dog Bite Hard (from The Ecstatic)

side b
Dirty Projectors - Stillness Is The Move (from Bitte Orca)
White Rabbits - Rudie Fails (from It's Frightening)
The Joy Formidable - The Last Drop (from A Balloon Called Moaning)
Animal Collective - No More Runnin' (from Merriweather Post Pavilion)
jj - Are You Still In Vallda? (from jj N^o 2)

and here's a .rar file of the whole tape

*now a slightly remixed version!

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awesome?

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jj

new mp3
Things that are known about jj:

• they're on arguably the coolest record label around, Sweden's 'Sincerely Yours'
• they're called jj
• they've released two records - jj N^o 1 and jj N^o 2

Thing that I know about jj:

• they've made a record (jj N^o 2) that is like crack in its moreishness
• their song 'Ecstasy' contains the best extrapolation of Lil' Wayne's "Lollipop" known to man
• any summer will be enhanced by this record
• I already love them

If you like 'dreampop' - I'd never heard that term until the other day when reading an article describing Beach House as dreampop. If that's the case, I thought, then I love dreampop because Beach House are brilliant - then you'll enjoy this.

jj - From Africa To Malaga

jj - Ecstasy

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the prodigy@glastonbury

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So Glastonbury is over for another year and what have we learned? That the BBC coverage was awful, that according to the Guardian Blur were the best headliners ever and that, as ever, it looked like a whole load of fun!

Although people would have you believe that Blur were the only thing to see on Sunday, I think I would've opted for The Prodigy... and judging by this video I wouldn't have regretted it - they look and sound brilliant!
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final glastonbury 09 post (til it's over)

old video


This is where my vote goes...

Have fun!
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kanye west, zach galifiankis and will oldham

old video

My love for all things Zach Galifianakis has recently returned - largely due to watching The Hangover. Now I could post a load of youtube videos highlighting how beautifully artful and free his comedy is, but instead I'll just post the video he made for Kanye West's "Can't Tell Me Nothing" (how had I forgotten about this?).

Apparently, he made it on the condition that he could do whatever he wanted and that Kanye wouldn't see it until after it had been edited. As a result it's brilliant - and features a hilariously bizarre appearance from Will Oldham (Bonnie "Prince" Billy).
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mixtape for (alt) glastonbury

side a
Eagles of Death Metal (Saturday, Pyramid) - San Berdoo Sunburn
The Aliens (Sunday, Queen's Head) - Sunlamp Show
Animal Collective (Friday, Park) - My Girls
First Aid Kit (Saturday, Park) - Tiger Mountain Peasant Song
Low Anthem (Friday, Queen's Head & Saturday, Park) - Charlie Darwin

side b
Cold War Kids (Sunday, Park) - God, Make Up Your Mind
Micachu & The Shapes (Sunday, Park) - Golden Phone
Jesca Hoop (Sunday, Rabbit Hole) - Murder of Birds
Metric (Saturday, Other) - Help I'm Alive
Slow Club (Friday, Guardian Lounge) - I Was Unconscious, It Was A Dream

and here's a link to a .rar file of the entire tape

Going over the Glastonbury lineup this year doesn't fill one with a sense of artistic excellence and excitement; it's pretty dull stuff (I know Glastonbury is much more than just music!). However, there are a few highlights - Bon Iver, Neil Young, M Ward, Q Tip, Fleet Foxes and Jamie T to name pretty much all of them!

This tape is filled with some other artists that might be worth checking out (First Aid Kit, Micachu, Animal Collective) and a few that would be certainties in my book (Low Anthem, Eagles of Death Metal, Jesca Hoop, Cold War Kids).

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mixtape for june

side a
Mos Def - Supermagic
Magic Arm - Bootsy Bootsy
Cryptacize - Tail & Mane
The Joy Formidable - Austere
The Phenomenal Handclap Band - I Been Born Again

side b
Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse - Just War (w/Gruff Rhys)
Oasis - (Get Off Your) High Horse Lady (Devendra Banhart Remix)
Holler, Wild Rose! - Peace Lily
Arthur Russell - A Little Lost
Jeff Buckley - Morning Theft

And here's a link to a neatly packaged .rar file of the entire mixtape

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jay z - d.o.a. (death of auto-tune)

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Jay Z will release Blueprint 3 in September and I didn't think that, after his total destruction of Glastonbury and then hearing "Jockin' Jay Z (Dope Boy Fresh)" (an instant classic!), I could be more excited. I was wrong. It's not 'vintage' Jay Z in terms of hooks but in terms of subject and lyrics - it's great. You gotta love anyone who's gonna attack the way that, like, 80% of today's records are made.

Kanye said it was gonna be a real b-boy record and be the 'anti auto-tune'. Here's the proof. Play Loud.

Jay Z - D.O.A. (Death Of AutoTune)

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desiderata

Although I'd never encountered this piece, 'Desiderata', until last night my understanding is that it is really quite famous. I do know that, despite what it says, it wasn't discovered in a Baltimore church (though that would've been impressive!) but it is, to my mind, very good. Very simple. Very positive. Very soothing.

And it fuels my quasi-religious ferver!

Whilst it doesn't re-invent the wheel with what it says it is quite striking to see these things written out. Food for thought in our confusing times.

Click on the pic to see it clearly.
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more grizzly bear

new video


My love for Grizzly Bear currently knows no bounds and it's enhanced by seeing live performances like this. The thought that they can do justice to the beautiful and intricate recorded music that they produce makes me even more excited to see them live in August! Yay!

These videos are very good.


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