Saturday, March 29, 2008

Credit to the Edit


I love a good edit, and so does Lovefingers. One of the two folks behind the Black Disco Social Club in Los Angeles (alongside Nitedog), Andrew Lovefingers is a master of re-edits, especially of the space-disco/balearic kind. Examples of his work, as well as a slew of DJ sets, can be found on here (I'm particularly fond of the Donald Byrd and Jo Bisso cuts at the moment.....bliss).

Those who prefer hearing their music coming from a warm deck instead of a warm hard drive will be pleased to hear that Lovefingers collaboration with Nitedog, Black Disco Vol 1, is now out on 12", and a fine rekkid it is too, full of tripped-out woozy goodness. Fans of DFA and Emperor Machine need look no further. Grab it at Phonica while you can.


* Cut Copy are coming to town in April to showcase the damn fine songs from their second album In Ghost Colours, a record that has pretty much been the soundtrack to my week (apart from the sleeping bits that is, and possibly the bits where I had to go pee). Ahem.....anyway, it's out on May 5th here in the UK (yes, it seems rather odd that it's been pushed back again, and in the age of downloading, both of the legal and illegal kind, I'm perplexed as to the reasons why Universal have done this. Surely a foolish move considering the record leaked in early March, and came out in Australia last week). Tickets for their Scala show on April 23 are on sale now (grab 'em here, here, and possibly here)

And if you can't wait until May 5 and would actually like to purchase a physical copy quick smart, Red Eye in Sydney have it for around about £13 (including postage)

(Album highlight? Far Away
)

* The best cartoon from my youth has finally made it DVD!

Remember this?



And this?



Wow. The only homework I ever needed as a kid.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Nul point for Sebastien Tellier? Not a chance.


Regular readers of this blog may find this confession rather strange, but I've resisted the Gallic charms of Sebastien Tellier for some time. Until now. I'm not sure why that is to be honest. I'd listened to snippets of his music here and there, and enjoyed his contribution to the Lost in Translation OST (surely one of the best soundtracks in the last ten years). Somehow though, I'd never really sought to take the time to really give his music a proper chance. Possibly because he was always name checked as an artist to like. As in, if you like Air, Beck, Daft Punk, Serge...well, you get the picture. Plus, his similarity to Gonzales bugged me in a way, almost as if he was the Pepsi to Chilly's Coke. (It's seems there's no love between the pair either, if this interview is anything to go by. And how good does the Let's Ride remix sound? Jarvis and Teki Latex? God damn.)

Anyway, I recently visited Rough Trade in Notting Hill a few weeks ago for a record hit (Total damage? You don't want to know, but I can assure you that the final haul was worth every penny) and was immediately taken by one of the tracks played overhead. Sure enough it was the work of Mr Tellier, the track in question Roche from his new album Sexuality (Woodwork). Having previously read that the LP had been produced by Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo from Daft Punk, I knew that I would have to give Sebastien a second chance, if only to hear Guy-Man's board work. Roche is reminiscent of the quieter moments on Discovery and Human After All, the slinkier, sexier side of Daft Punk that doesn't get nearly enough credit from critics too busy eulogising about the duo's influence on French dance music's new wave.

Christo's production on Sexuality glistens, providing a jagged intensity reminiscent of Vangelis's work on Blade Runner (Une Heure for example). Together with Tellier's longing vocals, it makes for refreshing listening. There's an almost guilty pleasure feeling to the album, and although not every track works (the over-the-top Manty for one), there's plenty here to immerse yourself in, notable mentions being the stunning closer L'Amour et la Violence and the playful Trevor Hornesque Divine, which has recently been chosen as the official French entrant for this year's Eurovision contest in May. Yes, that's right kids. Vote early, vote often.

Sebastien Tellier - Divine

Meanwhile, here's what Sweden chose to fight it out with Sebastien and...ahem...Andy Abraham (oh dear).



Charlotte Perrelli - Hero
.

It's not nearly as good as last year's Svensk pick, The Ark's Worrying Kind. Only 51 points? This is how a Eurovision song should sound like - camp as hell. It's like Thin Lizzy meets Edison Lighthouse. Gold.

Saturday, March 01, 2008

Michel Gondry - Sweded!

So this week Mr Kane and I went to see Be Kind Rewind at the flicks. I'd heard some very mixed reviews about it, so you can understand I approached Mr Gondry's latest film with caution. Would Jack Black try to steal every scene? Would Mos Def mumble his way throughout the film's entirety? Would the concept of films re-made in a ragtag style be too twee? No, no and no.

Be Kind was far better than I had expected, and I'm glad to say there were countless occasions when I was crying with laughter. As a pair of male leads, Black and Def worked well together. Black wasn't in over-the-top mode, thankfully, and the chemistry between the pair really helped ground the film early on. The theme of community was also prevalent in Be Kind, although the sentiment was slightly saccharine towards the end. But on the whole I'd say Gondry's latest effort was very satisfying indeed.

My favourite scene in the movie was a one shot sequence of Black and Def (and Melonie Diaz) remaking various films such as 2001, King Kong and Carrie. Indeed, the scene was reminiscent of Gondry's videos for Lucas With The Lid Off and Protection. Genius. If haven't seen his Directors Label collection of selected videos then pick it up on DVD now. It's usually quite cheap on Amazon marketplace and Fopp occasionally has it for under a tenner as well.



Lucas - Lucas With The Lid Off



Massive Attack
- Protection

Gondry's also made a 'Sweded' trailer for the film which is almost as good as the film itself.



And Gondry's next project? He's directed one of three segments of Tokyo, a film comprising of three stories set in the aforementioned city. Gondry had also been working on the adaptation of Rudy Rucker's Master of Space and Time, which was to be scripted by Daniel Clowes, but Gondry has said himself in interviews that the project is just about 'dead in the water'. Recently though, it's been revealed that Clowes will team up with Gondry for an animated film, Migel Munya, written by Michel and his teenage son Paul. Also, Gondry has stated that his next project is Return of the Ice Kings, where the central concept is 'a story about kids who invent a water that makes you hear music when you drink it'. Errr....yeah.