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Reviews

Review: Klaxons – Surfing The Void

I”™ll admit to being a big fan of the Klaxons debut release Myths Of The Near Future for two reasons: 1) I”™m a sad old lighting tech and I know what they are singing about on the track Golden Skans and 2) it’s an awesome driving album. Many a journey has been shortened by me putting my foot down with the album blaring at full volume.

2007’s Myths Of The Near Future won the band critical acclaim, including a Mercury Prize, with Klaxons touted as the pioneers of New-Rave (or should that be Nu-Rave?). However, the intervening three years has been marred with tales of their record company rejecting entire album submissions, leading people to wonder what the follow up album would sound like. Introduction of producer Ross Robinson to the process has created an album that the record company have agreed to release and has, perhaps, resulted in a slightly different sound to the band itself.

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Reviews

Review: TRV$DJAM – Fix Your Face Mixtape

Travis Barker, Drummer for Blink-182, The Transplants and Angels and Airwaves, the man who made a Soulja Boy track moderately listenable to and that guy off that MTV reality type show “Meet the Barkers”. He has teamed up with now unfortunately deceased DJ-AM* (who was mainly famous for being in a plane crash with Travis Barker) and made a couple of mixtapes. With DJ-AM on the decks and Barker playing live next to him, they create an audio and visual treat for their audience and both mixtapes are available to download free from their website, www.trvsdjam.com.

First up is Fix Your Face. The first track, after Fat Man Scoop has finished shouting, has some brief but accomplished scratching (in my opinion, I”™m no expert) before going into one of the stranger additions to the mix, Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire. They then proceed through some assorted hip hop and The Chemical Brothers before arriving at a highly electronic version of Rage Against The Machine’s Killing in the Name Of. I found this a little odd but enjoyable all the same. Another highlight is the end of track 4 mix into the Red Hot Chili Peppers. In contrast, the mix in the middle of Track 6 between Rock With You and American Boy is somewhat jarring, as the beat matches but the pitch of the music does not. This is a small blot on an otherwise good listen. Other musical highlights include The Police, the theme from Rocky and I Love Rock and Roll. All round a damn entertaining listen increased in quality due to a real drum kit being used.

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Playlists

109 Spotisfaction Wednesday – 8th September 2010 – Dave Prowse

Hey guys. I trust you’re well this fine morning? So, The xx are Mercury winners, eh? I’d like to say I called that one after they featured on my very first playlist for Spotisfaction ;). In all honesty, though, I would have liked to have seen Foals win it, but that might just be because Foals ”“ Total Life Forever is one of my top 5 albums of 2010 so far. The xx are relentlessly hard workers and by all accounts pretty nice boys and girls, so fair play to them.

Today’s playlist is one of my own (I do like to get a bit self-indulgent every now and again, as you may have noticed!) and I hope you enjoy it.

Take it easy,
Dave

My blurb:

This playlist is simply some of my favourite tracks at the moment. Very few of them are cutting-edge new, and very few of them are particularly challenging or esoteric. This is, probably, the most accurate representation I could come up with of my current taste in music (which, of course, is in a constant state of flux as I discover more and more stuff). I’ll quickly mention one or two particular tracks, and then let you get on with your day.

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News Reviews

Review: Everything Everything – Man Alive

Following our news post last week, informing you that Everything Everything were streaming their new album Man Alive (Geffen 2010) on Myspace, I requested that it make an appearance on Spotify soon. Seems like they were listening to me, because I’m pleased to inform you all that it is now on Spotify too!

Everything Everything don’t need me to wax lyrical for them. In December last year, they were shortlisted for the BBC’s Sound of 2010. MY KZ, UR BF was featured on Zane Lowe’s Hottest Records blog, and they can count Take That amongst their biggest fans. In other words, they’ve got previous.

Its reach is understandable.  From the synth stabs of the Lowe-endorsed MY KZ, UR BF, you could be forgiven for thinking you were listening to 1986’s Please.  The falsetto melodies could be from the Beegees (though there’s a distinctly Futureheads vibe about Jonathan Higgs’ vocal when he’s not grabbing his balls).  The rhythm section bounces along like something straight out of disco-era funk.  It’s distinctly accessible.  And yet, not…  The chops are severe, the amalgamation of styles so abruptly put together – they want you to dance, but they don’t want you to draw breath.  Everything Everything are an enigma.

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Playlists Reviews

Feature: Tomorrow’s Sounds Today

Hi everyone, and welcome to a new edition of Tomorrow’s Sounds Today – the place where Spotisfaction picks the best of what’s new to Spotify. The eagle-eyed among you will notice we’re a week out of sync at the moment due to the Bank Holiday, but we will continue to alternate weekly on a Monday with our Tomorrow’s Sounds Today / Classics Collected pieces.

This week is a bumper edition due to the extra week of new albums, so grab a coffee, a comfy seat and don’t be shy with that Danish while we burst forth with musical goodness! As ever, you can select each piece individually or listen to the full playlist with a few secret special extra tracks thrown in. We also like insightful debate at Spotisfaction Towers, so please use to the comments section to give kudos to the good choices and flame free constructive criticism to the bad ones.

Various Artists ”“ Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) – My first choice is rather a self indulgent one as it comes from the recently released must see “Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World”. I was a huge fan of the graphic novels after our editoral master introduced me to the first one and the movie really didn’t disappoint, thrusting straight into my personal top 10. Edgar Wright has a particular visual talent as a director but he also understands that special symbiotic relationship between a movie and its soundtrack. With the likes of Beck (as in film band Sex Bob-Omb) and Broken Social Scene (as Crash and the Boys) adding their talents you can guarantee a special experience. Add it to the official music soundtrack (Various Artists ”“ Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) and you’ll have some time well spent while craving the DVD release date.

The Pretty Reckless ”“ Light Me Up – I must warn those of you without premium accounts, this one has overnight joined the “premium exclusive” pile, but give it a couple of weeks and it’ll be back for everyone. As debut albums go, this is a very solid effort with strong vocals from singer, actress and model Taylor Mommsen. For someone to achieve success in multiple fields you would expect one of the branches to be a little weaker but as the front woman for a rock band, she’s definitely got it working! The formula is nothing new or revolutionary but very well executed so expect to see more from this band!

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Playlists

108 Spotisfaction Monday – 6th September 2010 – Rhys Howell

Morning folks. I trust everyone had a lovely weekend? Last night was pretty fun for me – at least 4 streets in my neighbourhood were plunged into darkness for the majority of the night due to a power outage, which was a bit surreal. There’s always some light around, whether that’s streetlights or otherwise, so being able to see stars was a treat… even if I did stub my toe trying to find a torch, and never did manage to heat up my treacle tart…

Today’s playlist is by Rhys, and as themes go it’s a great one. My normal exercise regime involves doing as little as possible as often as possible, but if I were to go running every now and again this’d be the playlist I’d use!

Hope you enjoy,
Dave

Rhys Says:

Good Evening one and all. I’ve crafted a playlist to listen to when you go running. Some of these tracks are on my own personal running mix but as that mix tends to be a couple of albums all muddled up it wouldn’t make the most interesting mix for Spotisfaction.

Hit the jump for a talk through of the workout and also some shameless plugging. (If you don’t see any shameless plugging then the editorial gods have come from on high and excised it.)

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Features

Feature: Gig Rig

Howdy folks. The weekend is finally upon us and I’m off to see Muse in Manchester tomorrow, which I’m rather looking forward to. I’m hoping that they’ll play a lot of their older (and better, in my opinion) songs rather than the Queen/Blondie tributes that they seem to be churning out lately, but somehow I doubt that’ll happen. I can but hope…

Anyways, this week the Gig Rig has evolved and has taken on a brand new look, which we’re hoping you’ll agree is a big improvement. Here’s my highlights for the new additions:

Rodrigo Y Gabriela will be playing 5 gigs at the O2 Shepherds Bush Empire in London later on this year. If you’ve not heard their music before then I urge you to give it a listen because it is utterly brilliant. They produce sounds with acoustic guitars that I didn’t even realise were humanly possible!

Following the release of their much anticipated self-titled album later this month, Interpol will be embarking on a brief UK tour at the end of November. They’re one of those bands that has the unique capacity to make music that is both gloomy and uplifting at the same time.

Hit the link to see the full listings.

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Playlists

107 Spotisfaction Friday – 3rd September 2010 – James TAE

Good morning all. Not much to talk about today. A quick reminder to sign up for our newsletter (link above) if you fancy the odd email about what we’re up to, and another reminder that we’re always really keen to feature stuff that you’ve written -whether that’s a playlist like this one, an article or a review, anything you’re passionate about we’d love to publish.

Today’s playlist is by Spotisfaction editor James TAE.

Catch you all on Monday.
Dave

James says:

No words for this one.  A purely ambient, relaxed, chilled blisslist simply entitled “Ambient” to calm you this Friday morning.  Enjoy.

Categories
Features

Feature: The Pulse of the Maggots

The Pulse of the Maggots.

So… My column then. Where to start? Maybe a brief explanation. ”˜The Pulse of the Maggots”™ is a song by Slipknot. The lyrics are about fighting for the beaten down and oppressed and for the people who cannot fight for themselves. In that vein this column will predominantly be about defending music, albums and artists that have been given a rough time of it by the press or just common opinion. So after that intro we begin with the very people that inspire the column name, Slipknot.

“Aren”™t they the guys who poo on stage?” I hear you cry, and the answer is”¦ well”¦ yes. But there is so much more to it than that. If you look beyond the masks and on-stage antics you discover a wealth of talent and some fantastic tracks. This is a band that has received 7 Grammy nominations and 1 win. All of their four main studio albums have gone at least platinum and the members have numerous side projects which are all well worth a listen. Stone Sour, Murderdolls, To My Surprise, Dirty Little Rabbits and DJ Starscream (unfortunately not on Spotify).

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Playlists

106 Spotisfaction Wednesday – 1st September 2010 – Mike Sheldrick

Hi folks. Oh man, Wednesday came about quickly, eh? But, I’ll tell you what, I’m very glad we had the Bank Holiday this week. Who doesn’t love a 4-day work week? Not us, that’s for darn sure.

Today’s playlist has the potential to split opinions down the middle. We’ve always said we’re all for diversity, and we really, truly mean that. We don’t want a hundred playlists all identically sounding and made up of ‘in’ bands. So, I for one am very excited about today’s effort by Spotisfaction contributor Mike Sheldrick. I encourage you to listen to this one even if it’s not normally your cup of tea. If you still don’t approve, fair enough, but feel free to let us know why in the comments!

Anyway, I’ll hand over to Mike for his blurb below:
[Dave]

Mike says:

Greetings, fellow travellers of the sound waves. And in this episode, we”™re going to do things a little differently. In a break from the more traditional style of playlist we”™ve come to know and love, I wondered perhaps if you”™d like to join me on a little journey, back to the oh so simple days of childhood (well mine to be precise). Back to when I were a wee young lad. Times were simple back then, I”™d go to school, come home, do my homework (yeah right), rinse and repeat as necessary. But I digress. Back then, I also played the trumpet. I spent many of my former years attending local orchestras and brass bands, and because of that, I was exposed to a lot of classical music.

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Features News

News: Counter Culture Pre-Launch

The end of summer sucks.  Fact.  The weather fades, it gets dark, and festival season grinds to a saddening hault pretty much after Bestival (next week!).  Fear not, though, for help is on the way.

Counter Culture, a new 4 month multi-arts ‘festival’ taking place under London Bridge Station, launches on 24 September and their site launched this morning with extensive listings (but far from fully announced – expect some great announcements as time goes on) of what to expect to see going on there until 1 January 2011.

Get your name on their mailing list, because the first 100 names will be added to the guestlist and get free admission for their launch party on Friday 24 September.  Special Guests are still to be confirmed, but with Man Like Me, the Streets-esque London-techno three-piece, and Rumours, ‘the worlds smallest 80s disco’ – which has been converting Isle Of Wight, Camp Bestival and V Festival into 80s time-warps in recent summers – already in place, it’s going to be one hell of a party.

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Features

Feature: Aquasphere

[Editor’s note: This feature was written by guest contributor, Alexander Forselius, and refers to his own work – whilst we agree with what he’s saying, you should always take a review written by the creator with a pinch of salt! ;)]

In early 1990, composer Elizabeth Faw Haydn Pizer recorded a song, Aquasphere; an impressionistic ambient soundscape. Not unlike the well known ambient artist Biosphere, her compositions took advantage of some of the sounds the average artist wouldn’t deal with, such as metallic effects and abstract sounds that share an implicit meaning of something abstract instead of explicit vocal hooks. The expressionalism of the recordings brought an abstract message to the audience, not so clear as the vocals, but by the emotions raised by the theme of the sounds. The atmosphere in the songs can give us strange emotions of love, fear, anxiety or peace. This ‘audiologic artwork’ can also be understood by a wider audience and isn’t language-specific, since the interpretation of the theme lies with sound schemes that all people understand by their emotions regardless of their native tongue.

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News

Audio: Juey feat. Tom Mitchell – Live at the Vine

I’ve been a huge fan of Cheltenham Underground regular Juey for quite some time and was lucky enough to catch her recently at Vinestock 2010, where she was accompanied by Tom Mitchell on acoustic guitar.

If you missed her, you’re in luck. Juey managed to source a pretty handy BOSS BR series digital recorder and recorded the whole set. Woop etc.

You can download the set here: http://juey.bandcamp.com/, or, alternatively, please feel free to listen to the stream below. Either way, make sure you check her out when she’s next playing near you!

Categories
Playlists

105 Spotisfaction Monday – 30th August 2010 – Kev Atkinson

Hello everybody out there in the big wide world music-loving world. It’s a bank holiday over here, nobody’s at work, making it all the more important we give you a playlist to peruse, consume, and enjoy to your hearts content today. We’ve got a good one for you all, with Kev Atkinson’s 2010 So Far – it’s been one hell of a year so far hasn’t it, and there are still… 1.. 2.. 3.. 4 months to go!

Incidentally, we’ve got a particularly eclectic week planned over the next 5 days, so make sure you’re keeping up with us! If you’re just too busy to check, be sure to sign up to our Newsletter, and we’ll email you the occasional update of all our favourite recent content!

Now, here’s Kev’s rundown of this fantastic year so far.

2010 So Far – Blurby stuff

Ok so we are now halfway through 2010 and to be honest there has been a lot of great music released in the last eight months. Here I have put together a collection of tracks from some of the albums that I have been listening to in the first half of the year, but it”™s by no means a comprehensive collection.

Coming into the year there were two albums that I was really looking forward to, the first was Intriguer by my all time favourite band Crowded House, unfortunately this isn”™t currently on Spotify so I couldn’tt add a track, but I do highly recommend the album so check it out if you get a chance.

Second was the sophomore release from The Depreciation Guild. I think Spirit Youth is a more mature and accessible album than In Her Gentle Jaws and on first listen there were many great tracks but November was one of those that initially stood out for me.

I wont go over every single album in the playlist but I will give a run down on some of my personal highlights of the year so far.

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Playlists

104 Spotisfaction Friday – 27th August 2010 – Paul ‘Fozz’ Foster

Morning folks. I’m not actually here today – I’m on a mini holiday in Stratford, and am posting this via the magic of scheduling. The weather is wonderful / atrocious (delete as appropriate), and I’m having a great / crap time.

Today’s playlist is by the wonderful Fozz, author and curator of our Gig Rig feature, and it’s a doozy. I hope you enjoy – this is one of my personal favourites.

Take it easy and see you all next week,
Dave

Fozz says:

These are a few tracks that I’ve been listening to lately, found either off the back of other people’s playlists or from trawling through the related artists section on Spotify. Here are a few of the stand-out tracks. Hope you enjoy.

Interpol ”“ Lights: this is the first track to be released from Interpol‘s forthcoming self-titled album and it’s made its way onto Spotify, so it would have been rude not to include it really. If the rest of the album is as awesome as this track then it’s gonna be absolutely phenomenal and I’m really looking forward to it.

Graffiti6 ”“ Stone In My Heart: I bloody love this track, it’s one of the best things I’ve heard in ages. Hopefully these guys will keep churning out stella tunes like this.

Crystal Castles ”“ Baptism: I could never really get into Crystal Castles‘ first album but I thought I’d give their second one a go, and boy am I glad I did. Baptism, for me, is definitely the most notable track on the album ”“ it’s shouty, beepy electro at its finest. I’m gonna give the first album another chance.

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