On the verge of finishing our weakest month so far, the numbers in May are rescued by Bear Attack.
This spanish band plays mostly post-Rock, I'd say, with some indie folk and waltz (check out their interludes! pretty string/piano work). I have been enjoying their self-released album for some weeks now, and fully recommend it. It's downloadable for free at their website (here).
Annoyingly, there are at least two other 'Bear Attack' bands, making it rather hard to google. ugh.
I think I have a strong case to suggest Tom Vek as the ultimate Last Choice artist. It's true, in terms of genres we have spanned country to hardcore. But the mode of the distribution is somewhere close to indie dance/rock or something. (ok, maybe there's a second peak at hip-hop).
Nerd metrics aside, Tom Vek plays impecable garage dance/rock. He's also a nerdy looking guy, and closer to our age than many other LC artists. Most importantly, there's not "Constanza" or guilty pleasure effect here (I don't think this is the case for a lot of LC dance-oriented posts: very good for the dancefloor, but...)
He's all over the internet, as his second album (Seizure Leisure) comes out next week (his debut was released way bak in 2005). And I'm excited.
Here's a remix (by Amateur Best) of "A Chore", the first single from said album:
And here's the video for "World of Doubt", the second teaser track:
Two new videos for my throwdown post and one hip hop send off.
Architecture in Helsinki released a video for the song Escapee off their new album Moment bends. I've enjoyed most of their previous work and although I haven't spent much time with Moment bends I did enjoy this song. I'm sure the bike theme of the video colored my whole opinion of the work, but I also found it very solitary and emotional in a way I was not expecting. The scene of them playing in a cramped garage also reminds me of my new digs.
I suppose re-posting something that has already been viewed >500,000 times means you've probably already seen it, but I hadn't before this morning. The video is by Is Tropical and the song is The Greeks. I spent most of my formative years organizing large scale battles and/or games with terribly complicated, every changing rules. Many aspects of this video reminded me of those days. I suppose not much has changed for me, but I bet it won't be long before this type of interactive experience is possible. #analogwasbetter
One of the true godfathers of hip hop, Gil Scott-Heron, died over the weekend. He had a powerful and organizing influence on early rap and unlike many godfathers he continued to be one for each new rap generation. Many of my favorite groups describe his work as central motivation for there own and as a testament he has been sampled by just about every mc worth their salt. I've put a video to one of my favorites from his early days.
If you're anything like me, Kidz in the Hall School Was My Hustle was a very influential album that never fails to bring on the nostalgia. Also, if you're anything like Last Choice, school is your hustle. I came across some new Kidz in the Hall on the Planes and Pigeons blog, link below. Apparently, Kidz has a new EP coming this summer and the first single dropped last week. Swag in your seat factor of 10 on this one.
They also have a new mixtape that was featured on the solid blog Planes and Pigeons (it's not all hip hop). Listen and download here: http://pigeonsandplanes.com/2011/05/kidz-in-the-hall-semester-abroad-mixtape.html.
Cults came into the scene pretty hard last year with two songs, both really really good: "Go Outside" and "You Know What I Mean" (which is the coolest blend of indie rock and mowtown pop PeterParkour has ever heard). At the time no one knew shit about them except that they where a bedroom band out of New York and that we'd be hearing more about them soon.
Well I guess soon is here. Their debut album comes out June 7th and their first tour starts in July, they'll be opening for Maps and Atlases and also doing a couple of things with Sleigh Bells. They're hitting Emo's July 26th.
They just released their video for a new single called Abducted, it's pretty awesome, weird and twisted.
Last Choice worked all Winter. We spent too many weekends in Brownsville, writing manuscripts, jacking off fish (seriously), not dancing and not posting music. And yes we did all of those things in Brownsville. Last Choice is going to work all Summer, but we will not fail Summer. We solemnly pledge to post more, dance more, and kick ass more. BUT we need YOUR help! So, here we go...
Nothing says summer like a good mixtape, a cold beer and the ass of end of a few hundred arthropods strobbing like a bike light twirling from the end of a ceiling fan. Fanki Chan from IHeartComix released a free Summer Nites mixtape I think yesterday (but the internet is can be deceptive) and it's free to download here: http://soundcloud.com/frankichan/franki-chan-this-summer-nites. Summer Nites is a soul, disco, house remix-opera chronicling a night with high expectations gone horribly awry (Last Choice knows these). A fresh Aretha remix shows up around minute 16. An absence of Travolta was greatly appreciated, you're welcome Bob Jovi.
Sorry for the prolonged hiatus in Last Choice posting. New houses, trips to Japan, garden building, Osama search/destroy missions, possum murders and Euro-trip planning has gotten us distracted. Hopefully this post restarts our usual "maybe I'll post something today" attitude.
Chad Vangaalen is one of those recluse artists from Canadia that every once in a while walks into Subpop or Flemish Eye and goes, "hey guys I've got a record here... aye?". His new one is Diaper Island, coming out soon if not out already. The first single "Peace on the Rise" is trippy and soothing and he illustrated, animated and directed the video for it. I actually heard of him first through the video he directed for J Mascis, also worth checking out here.
Enjoy... and if you're a sometimes contributor of this blog get to fucking posting.
Sometimes I think living in LA would be worth it, and by sometimes I mean the two times IHeartComix has thrown a Check Yo Ponytail party. To commemorate their latest venture, IHeartComix released the rockabilly mixtape: http://soundcloud.com/checkyoponytail/drop-the-lime-check-yo. The video is for the Hot as Hell remix also by Drop the Lime. I figured this might kick things in to gear for the weekend. Remind anyone of rain dancing and a certain '25 minute song' at Parkour's old place? Be warned that the D-factor is pretty high at the beginning of the video.
It's East meets West, but not what you think. MCs Wanlov the Kubolor and M3nsa of Akwaaba Music and from Ghana spent the last few months on a Duna Quest in Budapest and this work paid the bills. The picture below should clue you in on what Duna means. It's a collaboration with the Irie Maffia and combines creative, vulgar lyrics with danceable music and a pile of instruments...so is pretty much a win for me. We could also have used Lonesome Cowyboy for the the Good, Bad, Ugly party. Let me know what you think. Download the free track and whole set here.
Heads up: The Very Best released a mother's day mixtape, appropriately called "Super Mom".
The trick is the same as before: Esau Mwamwaya sings Chichewa versions of pop songs (Chichewa = Malawi's language. Did you know? I didn't). In this one we find LCD Soundsystem, Kate Bush, and Billy Idol among others. This time we also get a couple of original tracks and some guests (including Colombia's best bad rapper, Isa GT).
The songs are clubbier and have less kitsch appeal, I think. It needs more listens, but I'm inclined to say that it's not as amazing as previous releases.
Download (here) and have a little private party, like the one Esau threw for us in the picture above.
Feel-good Indie-Pop-Punk, does that even make sense?
Fair Ohs are a new band from the UK, they've put out a few 7 inches and will be debuting their first album titled Everything is Dancing on June 6th.
Their first single, also titled Everything is Dancing, is catchy, happy and full of ohs and ahs and weahs reminiscent of Matt and Kim via Bollywood. It also has a deliciously disturbing video, featured in full right here:
