He came in like a wrecking ball!

I saw this at Target and had to get a photo.



All he wanted was to break your walls.

James Blake's new album Overgrown

I don't post consistently, but at times I'm a little surprised to realize I neglected to write about something. One of those somethings is musician James Blake's self-titled debut album.

I had gotten into Blake after seeing and clicking on an advertisement for his music video "The Wilhelm Scream" on youtube. I'm a big fan of movies and of sound designer Ben Burtt, so I knew what the Wilhelm scream sound effect was, and the title of the song intrigued me. It might be the only time I've ever clicked on one of those ads on youtube. I didn't even know if I liked the song at first, but it made an impression (maybe that's too weak a word... impact?) on me, and I ended up getting the album. I found it to be really weird, thought provoking, and even confusing, which is strange to me because I've heard so much weird, experimental music. It became one of my favorite albums of the past few years though. The electronic manipulation of more traditional music sounds like piano and voice are really interesting, and a lot of the songs have very strange arrangements and structures. It has influenced me a lot as a musician.

The other day, Blake announced that he's releasing a new album called Overgrown on April 8th. The first single is called "Retrograde", and it's available today. You can watch the music video below. I really like the song and the video, and am excited to hear more.

"The Loop Closes" and "How Long?" by How To Destroy Angels

Last month the band How To Destroy Angels released a third music video from their recent EP An Omen. The video was for the song "The Loop Closes".



I like An Omen, but I don't love it. Nothing on it really jumps out at me that much I guess, and it's not as fun to listen to as their first EP. I also really like when EP's are like mini albums, and I'm not sure why, but An Omen doesn't quite feel like one to me. That's just my personal taste though when it comes to EP's. A few of the songs on the EP will be on the band's first full length album, Welcome Oblivion, which will be released on March 5th. I've been hoping I'll like the songs more in the context of the full album.

Although I've been looking forward to Welcome Oblivion, I wouldn't describe it as excitement. That changed yesterday when the band released a new music video, which is for a new song from the album called "How Long?". The video is directed by Shynola.



Besides it just being a really great looking video, I really love the song. In my opinion, it's a lot cooler than anything on the EP, and I love how catchy it is. I'm officially excited for Welcome Oblivion.

David Bowie's new album The Next Day

I'll admit I was wondering if David Bowie would ever release a new album, and I would have been fine with him retiring from music, as long as that's what he wanted. What it comes down to is that I wouldn't want him to release a new album just to please his fans.

January 8th was his 66th birthday, and catching just about everyone in the world off guard, there was an announcement that there would be a new David Bowie album this year, titled The Next Day. Along with the announcement came a music video for a new song from the album called "Where Are We Now?"



Bowie had been working on the album for 2 years before the announcement, with producer Tony Visconti and several musicians he's worked with in the past, like Earl Slick, Gail Ann Dorsey, Sterling Campbell, Gerry Leonard, David Torn, and Zachary Alford. It's amazing to me that they managed to keep it a secret in this day and age, and I'm glad they did, because it was a fun surprise.

It may sound silly, but knowing this album is coming out this year and having to wait for it is really exciting to me. Part of being a fan of a musician is looking forward to the release of their next album, and specifically as a Bowie fan, I haven't experienced that yet. Although I liked a handful of Bowie's songs already, I don't think I really became a fan until I heard Danny Lohner's remix of "Bring Me The Disco King" on the Underworld soundtrack in early September 2003, and Bowie's last album, Reality came out only a bit later that month.

I don't know what I think of the album cover for The Next Day, which was created by Jonathan Barnbrook. I think I understand the concept, and even really like the concept. I just don't really like the execution or end product. I think the artwork for Bowie's album Heathen already explored similar themes and did a much better job of it while also looking beautiful, with images of Renaissance paintings slashed and splattered with paint, pages from books ripped and shredded, crossed-out typing, a faceless Bowie. Looking at the cover of The Next Day and the artwork for Heathen, I almost can't believe they were done by the same guy. It's not that big of a deal that I don't like it though. It's not like it would be the first Bowie album cover I'm not really a fan of. Maybe after hearing the album, the cover art will grow on me more. If not, maybe I'll use this image as the cover on my iPod. Right now I like that image a hell of a lot more than the actual cover.

It's been reported that Bowie doesn't want to tour to support the album at all, and I'm also fine with that even though I've never seen him live before. If memory serves (I mean memory of what I've read. I wasn't alive yet back then), Bowie didn't tour to support Low unless you count the tour he went on after Heroes came out, but that was over a year after Low was released. I don't think that going on tour should be expected of a musician after they release an album. Going on tour can take up a lot of time and energy, and maybe they'd rather just spend that time and energy on other things. It's also been said that Bowie would like to get back into the studio later this year to work on another album, and I think that's great news.

"Cherry" by Chromatics

A new video for the song "Cherry" by Chromatics was released the other day. It was directed by Alberto Rossini, with additional footage shot by Adam Miller.



The song will be featured on the Italians Do It Better sequel compilation After Dark 2, along with a few other Chromatics songs. You can download the song for free from bandmember Johnny Jewel's SoundCloud.

New EP and new "Ice Age" video by How To Destroy Angels

"Ice Age" is another song from An Omen, the new EP by How To Destroy Angels. The song is a pretty big departure for the band stylistically. When asked about the song in a recent reddit Q&A, Trent Reznor said, "We were experimenting around with the juxtaposition of something familiar and almost folky sounding sitting in a very cold and sterile environment. (Lead vocalist) Mariqueen had this melody that would have been happy living in a Fleetwood Mac record, and we created this plucky accompaniment that sounded acoustic but was anything but. Then we put all that in the freezer."

There is also a beautiful music video for it, which is directed by John Hillcoat. Rob Sheridan is again featured in the video.



An Omen EP is out now, by the way. You can buy and download it from the band's online store, as well as many other places where you can purchase music. You can also listen to it for free on the band's SoundCloud, or on the player embedded below.

"Keep It Together" by How To Destroy Angels

I've been excited to hear new material from How To Destroy Angels. Two of the band's members are Academy Award winning film score composers Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor, who are also known for the band Nine Inch Nails. How To Destroy Angels' first release was an EP in 2010 that I enjoyed quite a bit. They also had a cover of "Is Your Love Strong Enough?" in David Fincher's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, a movie which Ross and Reznor did the score for. They have a new EP coming out called An Omen, which is sort of a sampler for the full length album that will be coming out some time in 2013. They have a new single called "Keep It Together" which will be on both the EP and the album, and there's a music video for it featuring the band playing the song in their beautiful studio.



One thing about the video that's very interesting to me is that the guy playing the French Connection is the band's art director / photographer Rob Sheridan. He's been a part of the band since the beginning, but I didn't really expect him to have a musical role in it, just a visual one I guess. I've been a fan of his photography and art for many years, but I believe this is the first time I've actually seen him playing an instrument. In my opinion he fits right in.

You can download their first EP for free or preorder their new EP on their online store. On the band's SoundCloud, there are two remixes of "Keep It Together" for free download as well. One by Factory Floor and one by TV On The Radio's Dave Sitek. You can also download the unremixed version of the song.

"Halloween" by Glass Candy

Happy Halloween!

Apparently last year I forgot I had a blog for several months and didn't post this song, so I'm posting it this year instead.

The song was written by Johnny Jewel's band Glass Candy as an homage to the classic John Carpenter movie, Halloween. It's perfect for Halloween mixes, and for Halloween party playlists. The video for the song was directed by Alberto Rossini.



To read the lyrics or download the song, go to Johnny Jewel's SoundCloud.

Halloween Mood Table 2012

Happy October! It's the 1st of the month, and I set up my Halloween mood table today. I got the idea from X-Entertainment several years back and last year was my first experience setting up my own. The Halloween mood table was also the post today on Dinosaur Dracula, the spiritual successor to X-Entertainment, which is in the middle of its first Halloween Countdown. If you're unfamiliar with the concept of a Halloween mood table, you can read about it there.

My table this year is a big improvement over last year's, and I imagine it will continue to get more awesome every year as I develop and hone my mood table skills. I again used the coffee table that I regularly have in my room, so during the Halloween season I am without a regular coffee table. As I'm sure you can see, it's clearly worth the temporary sacrifice.

I had the collectable LEGO minifigures on the table last year, but this year the Dracula is a Dinosaur Dracula. The Halloween takeout containers housed prizes I won for my GERTY costume 2 years ago, and I thought the containers were cool. Mmm, blog continuity...

There's a stack of season-appropriate DVD's, a skull candle holder, and Batman: Haunted Knight. I know Krang and Edward Scissorhands don't have anything to do with Halloween, but I knew they wanted to be in on the fun, and I think they fit right in. Pumpkin Pie and Spookylicious Pop-Tarts complete the ensemble. Oh, and there's the purple lights and the table cloth, which is actually a fancy scarf of mine.

A pretty special addition to the table this year is a pair of old computer speakers hidden underneath, which can be easily plugged into my iPod to play Halloween music like "Dead Man's Party" by Oingo Boingo,  "Halloween" by Glass Candy, and the All Hallow's EP by AFI.

UPDATE: Check out this entry to see a few more additions to the table.

"Default" by Atoms For Peace

For quite a while now I've had Atoms For Peace over in my Music I'm Looking Forward To In '12 section.

From what I understand, Atoms For Peace is a band that was formed by Radiohead's Thom Yorke to play material from his solo album The Eraser live. The band, named after a song from The Eraser (which is named after a speech given by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953), is made up of Yorke, frequent Yorke/Radiohead collaborator Nigel Godrich, Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, percussionist Mauro Refosco, and drummer Joey Waronker. The live shows went well and they decided to take the collaboration to the studio.

The band's website launched yesterday with a video for "Default".



The song is the band's first single, and is available for purchase on iTunes. I like it. I was expecting their music to feel less electronic and more like a band, but maybe this isn't indicative of how the rest of the album will sound. Either way is fine with me as long as it's this good.

The debut album was expected this year, but now Yorke has said that it will be released next year. I guess I'll have to start a Music I'm Looking Forward To In '13 list now.

"And I Will Kiss" by Underworld (featuring Evelyn Glennie)

On my other blog, INT. A CINEMATIC MIND - NIGHT, I posted an entry about the 2012 Olympic Games opening ceremony. The ceremony, entitled Isles Of Wonder, was designed by director Danny Boyle with music direction by one of my favorite bands, Underworld. I'm not that interested in sports, but the team-up of Boyle and Underworld was enough to get me to watch the ceremony.

After watching the ceremony, there was one specific part I wanted to post on here, but I couldn't find it on youtube. I've at least found the music now though. The music, named "And I Will Kiss" after part of a speech given by the character Caliban in The Tempest by William Shakespeare, was the score to a part of Isles Of Wonder which represented the industrial revolution in Britain. The song, composed by Underworld, features over one thousand drummers led by the percussionist Evelyn Glennie. It was pretty amazing to watch, and it's amazing to listen to as well. It's 17 minutes long, but it's definitely worth listening to the entire thing.

"Plague" by Crystal Castles

I don't intend for this to be a music blog, and don't really think of it as one, but when I have little else to post about and there's good music coming out, it kind of becomes one.

I love the band Crystal Castles. It's not a shocker if you've been reading my blog for a few years. I love their first two albums, which were both self-titled. I also love their version of "Not In Love" with Robert Smith doing vocals. The band has a new album coming out some time this year. I wonder if it will also be self-titled. Anyway, the reason for this post is that there's a song called "Plague" from the new album.



I'm really looking forward to hearing the rest of the new album.

UPDATE: "Plague" is a free download on the band's SoundCloud.

Secret Empire releases album Storm Command

I made a post a little over a month ago about Secret Empire announcing a release date for the album Storm Command. The highly anticipated album was finally released yesterday morning, right at midnight. I've just been too busy to post about it until just now.

I love that album cover. It will look great on my iPod. It can look great on your iPod too, because Storm Command can be downloaded for free from SoundCloud. Just use the widget below to download the 10 tracks. You can, of course, also stream it on there.



If you haven't seen them, or if you'd like to see them again, my previous post about Storm Command has a music video for the song "Alien (Burial)" as well as a short video about the making of the album. Check them out.

The Afghan Whigs playing "LoveCrimes" live

Remember my previous post about The Afghan Whigs covering a Frank Ocean song? Here's a video of them playing it live.



And if you want to download the studio version for free, check that previous post.

The Afghan Whigs cover "LoveCrimes"

As I've said before, I'm a huge fan of The Afghan Whigs, and a few months back I posted about them releasing a cover song. They released another new one recently. This time it's a cover of a song originally by Frank Ocean, called "LoveCrimes". Just like before, they released it for free on The Afghan Whigs website. You can stream the track at The Fader, or download it for free using the widget below.

 

Storm Command by Secret Empire [08.01.12]

Way back, years ago, in the days of myspace, there was a musician named Connor Ragan, who started a music project called Secret Empire. Ever since I heard the first teaser he uploaded to his myspace page, and the full demo songs later on, I've been very much looking forward to his eventual album, Storm Command. Late last year, Secret Empire released a music video for one of the songs on the album called "Alien (Burial)". It's a great song, and I love the video. Check it out.



Storm Command is finally being released on August 1st, 2012. And I'm very excited. And it's going to be free to download! It was produced by Shaun Lopez. The very same Shaun Lopez that produced the most recent Deftones album Diamond Eyes, and that is one of the members of the band ††† (Crosses), which I am also a pretty big fan of.

Here is a short video about the making of Storm Command featuring Ragan and Lopez.



You can also listen to other songs from Storm Command, "Plastic Wrist" and "Oh Well" on youtube. And if you want to learn more, go to the Secret Empire website and facebook page.

UPDATE: The album has now been released. Go read this newer post to download the album for free.

The Afghan Whigs cover "See And Don't See"

The Afghan Whigs got back together this year to play some shows. Although I am a big fan of frontman Greg Dulli's other band The Twilight Singers, The Afghan Whigs are also one of my favorite bands, so I'm happy to see them back together.

It's unknown whether or not they are going to record a new album, but they have recorded a cover song, originally sung by Marie "Queenie" Lyons, called "See And Don't See". It was released yesterday for free on The Afghan Whigs website, making it the first new recording the band has released in over five years. You can download the song using the widget below.
 

The band will be playing the song when they appear on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday, May 22nd. It will be their first appearance on television in over a decade.

Adam Yauch

August 5, 1964 - May 4, 2012

His style was wild. He had gall. He had guile.

Retribution Gospel Choir release free new EP

Alan Sparhawk's band Retribution Gospel Choir released an EP on Pitchfork for free. The Revolution EP has 4 new songs. It's a fun and quick listen at just over 10 minutes long. The only negative thing I have to say about the EP is that the cover art is pretty ugly compared to the covers of the band's first two albums.

Listen to or download the free EP by typing your e-mail address below.

 

New video for "Lady" by Chromatics