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The Libertines Film Tour Trailer In a mere 24 hours, the funding...

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:50:47 -0800

The Libertines Film Tour Trailer

In a mere 24 hours, the funding target was reached for Roger Sargent’s forthcoming DVD release of There Are No Innocent Bystanders, a film covering the Libertines’ reunion on tour in 2010. Sargent has been a long-time Libertines photographer, his work also appearing in The Libertines Bound Together, and this is his directoral debut. A DVD pre-order can be purchased at PledgeMusic, release date information forthcoming.

Official Site | Facebook | PledgeMusic

Danielle Dax’s official site now up…! Previously...

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 00:12:52 -0800

Danielle Dax’s official site now up…!

Previously under construction perpetually, Danielle Dax’s official site (http://danielledax.com/) is now up with lots of quirky art alongside the usual artist site stand-bys of biography and music. The Dax shop includes some recently discovered old stock of albums and clothing.

Danielle Dax is one of my all-time favorite artists. I discovered Dark Adapted Eye and the single of her cover of the Beatles song “Tomorrow Never Knows” amongst my mom’s albums and I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to say that her music served to change the direction of my tastes immensely, giving me an appreciation for the experimental and the strange in music. Dark Adapted Eye is a compilation, and my highly recommended starting point, even over the box set Comatose Non-Reaction, for anyone new to her works. On Dark Adapted Eye alone, you’ll find kitschy hard rock, mysterious tribal elements, alternative country, and art pop. A ‘cult classic’ to be sure, although some additional acclaim in her direction would be nice to see (à la Suicide in recent years). You can listen to Dark Adapted Eye on Spotify.

Danielle Dax - Official Site | MySpace Music

A Future in Noise - Best of 2011 Picks (Spotify Playlist) 2011,...

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 16:54:00 -0800

A Future in Noise - Best of 2011 Picks (Spotify Playlist)

2011, in my opinion, was quite a spotty, largely rough year for music. There were really only three albums that I was fully impressed by: The Horrors - Skying, Dirty Beaches - Badlands, and HTRK - Work (work, work). So, I decided to put together a playlist of enjoyable 2011 songs, as opposed to a best-of album list. Very electronic and ethereal-focused.

Catwalk - John Foxx & the Maths

Sweet 17 - Dirty Beaches

Your Loft My Acid - Death in Vegas

The Cold World Melts - Soft Metals

Dog - C418

Bloody Mary (The Horrors Remix) - Lady Gaga

Dive In - The Horrors

Amber Hands - S.C.U.M.

Bandit - Cat’s Eyes

Take Your Shirt Off - Men

Sweet Dynamite - Todd Terje Edit - Claudja Barry / Horse Meat Disco

Heart is a Beating Drum - The Kills

Poison - HTRK

Post Physical - Pictureplane

Alien Observer - Grouper

Machu Picchu - The Strokes

You Don’t Have to Be Mad - Gang of Four

Holy Dotage - Magazine

Lonely Boy - The Black Keys

Don’t Play No Game that I Can’t Win (ft. Santogold) - Beastie Boys

Bitter Branches - PJ Harvey

Wild Man - Kate Bush

What were your favorite SONGS released in 2011?

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 16:06:06 -0800

Could be pulled from an album OR a stand-alone single.

Isengrind’s Night of Raining Fire is available for...

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 15:30:06 -0800

Isengrind’s Night of Raining Fire is available for streaming on Blackest Rainbow Records

Perhaps one of the most peaceful, relaxing Natural Snow Buidings team-related works yet, which is not to say the mysticism and intrigue is not present (it very much is, especially on tracks like “White Bone Snake”). NSB have yet to put something out that I wasn’t delighted by. Highly recommended - look out for the limited-edition vinyl.

For about 3 years I’ve been plugging away, on and off, on...

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 11:01:11 -0800

For about 3 years I’ve been plugging away, on and off, on 1,001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Now I’m down to the last hundred. While I can confidently say that I could’ve certainly lived out my life just fine without hearing some of these, I have grown so much through the process. Two artists that became a couple of my most favorite ever, Manic Street Preachers and Suicide, I listened to primarily because of the 1,001 challenge. I learned important music history. I tested my endurance and patience by listening to Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory and Slipknot’s debut album. Yes, even the albums I didn’t care for have a reasoning behind their placement in this canon.

I thought that, with many historically and culturally important albums and albums I found brilliant, I had reached the end of excellence with this last stretch. But there was still more to uncover that I couldn’t believe I hadn’t heard! Afrika Bambaataa’s Planet Rock, Barry Adamson’s Moss Side Story, and 808 State’s 90 have been recent favorites.

One of the many great things about music is that you can engage in listening while doing other activities. The other 1001 selections of books and movies would be nigh impossible for me to hope to complete (also, the selections are much more iffy, in my opinion). The 1,001 Albums canon was lovingly crafted, although relying too heavily on American and European content. While it omits many albums that are beloved favorites, making the effort to complete the trek through them will teach you about music and no doubt aid in your efforts to find great musical works across a wide variety of genres.

A Future in Noise is now an ad free blog. I decided to leave the...

Sun, 25 Dec 2011 19:01:00 -0800

A Future in Noise is now an ad free blog. I decided to leave the MOG Music Network recently after a 3-year partnership. Free from ads and any feelings of professional obligation, I believe I will actually be inspired to post more frequently than I have been and with a more personal touch.

~Marilyn

Derek Piotr - “Remain” Derek Piotr’s (also...

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 16:04:00 -0800

Derek Piotr - “Remain”

Derek Piotr’s (also appearing on Vulpiano Records) AGORA contains an impressive series of sound collages, many of which capture the feeling of an uneasy sensation woven with technology, perhaps best described as how you might feel after watching a marathon of Serial Experiments: Lain…It’s my favorite release from Piotr yet - check out his summary of the tracks here and the label release page here. A remix release party for AGORA Regathered is happening in New York on 12/10.

Download album here: http://mediafire.com/?yzwl5o3ia633zvt

Big Wave - Another Year or Two

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 02:31:36 -0800

Promo video for “Another Year of Two” by indie-pop superstars Big Wave from Torquay in Devon, UK. This colourful burst of bittersweet sunshine pop is guaranteed to brighten up your wintertime blues…

Book Review: 'Death of a Polaroid: A Manics Family Album', by Nicky Wire

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 13:32:14 -0800

Nicky Wire (Manic Street Preachers) has released Death of a Polaroid: A Manics Family Album on Faber & Faber in November, 2011. Also released in a super-limited edition (50 copies) that included a signed polaroid from Nicky and a slipcover. The first of Wire’s two planned releases for Faber & Faber (the second one not yet announced), Death of a Polaroid is a 304 page, 4-pound tome and thus as impressive, though awkward to haul around, as noted Manics photographer Mitch Ikeda’s Forever Delayed (2002), the only other previous “official” photo book release. Ikeda’s polaroids and photos donated by a variety of other band photographers appear along with Wire’s, documenting the group in 500+ photos from their early days to the Postcards from a Young Man era.

Death of a Polaroid opens with a forward from Nicky, which of course wouldn’t be complete without slagging off some components of the digital era: “We live in an age now where anything can be retouched or remixed; where Photoshop or Pro Tools can fix everything that wasn’t quite right on the day, where you can buy an app for your phone that can replicate any photo style you want at that time; where, basically, you can cheat at anything.” Although at first glance this may seem to be his usual hand-wringing disdain for modern tech, it is accompanied by a respect for the Polaroid as “a truly honest format.” This book is both a chronicle of Manics history as well as a loving tribute to the Polaroid as a creative outlet and how meaningful it has been for Wire.

A revealing interview and conversation conducted by Robin Turner between Wire and Jeremy Deller (The Uses of Literacy, a Manics-inspired-art collection, 1999) follows the forward, covering topics from Deller’s exhibit, the digital era’s effect on art work, folk art, the roots of Wire’s fondness for Polaroids, to the Miner’s Strike as an influence.

The Polaroids themselves are one, two, sometimes four to a page (and, sometimes though rarely, spanning across two pages or covering a full page). Although the book could’ve probably been cut down by about half its size if space had been used more effectively, the stark arrangement of photos on the ‘plates’ throughout the book might in some cases be more effective than if the whole book had included four pictures to a page. The first set of Polaroids are test shots from photographers (“I always kept them as mementos ever since, always thinking that someday they’d be good to link together somehow”) and showcase many moments recognizable to Manics fans, albeit with some unseen shots. [See also the Guardian for sample photos from the book]

Ikeda’s Polaroids from 1998 through 2001 follow, many of which are of some truly beautiful landscapes and candid shots of the band members. Wire, in the commentary at the back of the book: “Mitch’s photos achieve a very real intimacy. I can’t think of anyone else that we would have allowed into our headspace for so long and let become so involved. I think he thought of each shot - however abstract - as being as important as a posed band shot.” Some of Ikeda’s shots are indeed rather abstract and artistic, my favorite pairs being 139/140 (“If You Tolerate…”/”Modern Lovers”), 117/118 (“Beautiful-Silent”/”Lots Water”), and 226/227 (“J.D.B. Hand+Tea”/”Oranges”). There is a permeating feeling of both happy times and melancholy nostalgia throughout Ikeda’s Polaroids, which very much matches Wire’s own aesthetic sensibilities. Wire: “Mitch’s collected Polaroids are a magnificent body of work. They’re entirely different from the work collected in his Forever Delayed book (which I also absolutely love). The intimacy he achieves here…truly these pictures are captured memories.”

Wire’s own photos appear in the final section. Some of these have been previously seen in the Journal for Plague Lovers gallery at the Manic Street Preachers website, which was initially my own introduction to his Polaroids as a new Manics fan in 2009. These have been marked up with words and stickers, along with his series for his solo album I Killzed the Zeitgeist. Other Polaroids here include conceptual photos described with Manics song titles, a healthy portion of nature photographs, band shots, and shots of his collages and inspirational photos of other musicians and imagery. Wire’s personality really comes through in many of these pictures, and his accompanying commentary: “One of the revealing things about the last section - which is the world seen through my amateur eye - is the insight into how the format itself inspires me lyrically…The more I look at my pictures collected in this last section, the more I think I’m giving away…there are so many memories embedded in the pictures, mental snapshots of specific times and places, intimate moments and faded recollections.” Favorites of mine in this section include “Nobody Loved you” (400), the black and white polaroid shots (405 through 408, 506-509), some vibrantly colorful shots of trees in different landscapes (483-490), “Everlasting” (541), and certainly the Journal For Plague Lovers and I Killed the Zeitgeist series.

After completing the book, I have looked through it again many times. I was at first surprised at myself for being as compelled by the shots of nature as I have been, since my initial impetus in buying the book was for the band photos (and, as any hardcore Manics fan will tell you, unseen band photos, particularly from earlier eras, are our bread and butter). I felt as though I got to know a little better how creative arts outside of music have had an influence on the Manic Street Preachers in general and Wire in particular.

They have never been a band that was shy about their own influences (check out Manics.nl: The Annotated MSP for more on this), but outlets of their own outside of music have only been seen in rare glimpses until now -I still remain curious about Wire’s work in poetry and painting (potential subject matter for his next Faber & Faber release, perhaps). Death of a Polaroid’s downsides are that it runs the risk of coming across as over indulgent through its size and sparse arrangement and that, as you may expect, not all of the pictures are winners, but this is not the point: it captures Wire’s aesthetic just about as well as his own lyrics. He is revealed as more human and less of a distant icon through his own lens and that of Ikeda’s (upon seeing this, it is no wonder that Ikeda has been a longtime Manics photographer standby). The textual content is an excellent supplement as well. Recommended!

Nessie & Her Beard - “Labella” You have not seen...

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 13:29:31 -0800

Nessie & Her Beard - “Labella”

You have not seen or heard anything like this. Gives “experimental” a whole new meaning…

Orchestral Colour Records

Bad Abbott - “Alice Glass” Bad Abbott (Nathan Rich,...

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 16:13:00 -0800

Bad Abbott - “Alice Glass”

Bad Abbott (Nathan Rich, aka Lately Kind of Yeah, and Shelby Morris) have released a free new single, “Alice Glass”, named after the Crystal Castles vocalist, (b-side “Indian Summer”) on Bandcamp. A respite from daily life into a very chill, dreamy place, the ending of “Alice Glass” is particularly impressive. RIYL chiptune / chillwave / ambient.

Spotlight on a fellow blog: Second Magazine Second Magazine is a...

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 15:54:00 -0800

Spotlight on a fellow blog: Second Magazine

Second Magazine is a brand-new variety blog striving to bring readers “relevant news about everything”:

We will scour the web, the streets, the TV stations (including local ones) and bring back to you the pre-chewed bits of knowledge ready for your easy consumption. You see, that may sound incredibly disgusting upon first glance but in fact we are helping you dear readers by cutting the fat. We bring to you what you want in a clean, easy-to-digest way. I know that seems to be a very tall order but with the dedication of its noodle slurping, espresso chuggin’ very opinionated, hard working writers, Second Magazine will go above and beyond this manifesto and strive to become something unimaginably awesome.

Articles so far have included a trivia-packed Did you know? section, previous AFIN guest writer UFOROMANTIC’s An Open Letter to Those Who Say Rap is a Sham, and the problem of ‘Black Bloc’ tactics in the Occupy movement. Very promising start, plus A Future in Noise is listed as an affiliate. Go check them out! Also on Facebook.

Horse Meat Disco You might not know this, but I am actually...

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 22:50:25 -0700

Horse Meat Disco

You might not know this, but I am actually quite a fan of disco (the heavy bassline, creative synthesizer variety). This fine trilogy of rare disco and electro receives a top-level recommendation from me, and all three are available to stream on Spotify: I, II, III. Recommended tracks: Plaza - “(Got My) Dancing Shoes”, Tamiko Jones - “Let it Flow”, Lourett Russell Grant - “Hot to Trot”, and Claudja Barry - “Sweet Dynamite - Todd Terje Edit”.

Now into their seventh year, Horse Meat Disco have continued to lead the way with packed residencies at their HQ at The Eagle in London’s Vauxhall, Lux in Lisbon and Tape in Berlin. Inspired by the music and inclusive ethos of New York’s club scene during the ‘70s and ‘80s, the collective have garnered a unique reputation for amazing parties and unmatchable sets, the quartet of DJs each mixing their own quality blend of disco juice.

Carnivores - “Second Impulse” Tropically-tinged...

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 22:34:00 -0700

Carnivores - “Second Impulse”

Tropically-tinged post-punk-esque tunes? Ohhh yeah! I’ll definitely be investigating these Atlantan garage groovers more.

http://carnivoresmusic.com

Avante Royale’s Valente Teaser Avante Royale has released...

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 22:29:44 -0700

Avante Royale’s Valente Teaser

Avante Royale has released a short teaser for their upcoming (Dec 2011/Jan 2012) album Valente. Covered a couple of years back on AFIN, I appreciate Avante Royale for their fun, surfy style and very much look forward to the new release.

Eartha Kitt - I Want to Be Evil (Live Kaskad 1962) I somehow...

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 13:21:42 -0700

Eartha Kitt - I Want to Be Evil (Live Kaskad 1962)

I somehow didn’t make a conscious effort to listen to Eartha Kitt until just recently - what a fantastic storyteller in song with a distinctive voice. “I Want to Be Evil” appears on A Future in Noise’s Spotify playlist for Halloween - check it out here!: http://tinyurl.com/4y639hf

INDIE MUSIC: YOU’RE DOING IT RIGHT

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 11:32:00 -0700

By fulmarausten

Art is Hard Records and the indie music scene in the South West of England…

There’s a new indie music label based in the South West of England called Art is Hard. In just a year they seem to have won over just about everyone with their winning combination of charmingly quirky releases, cut-and-paste DIY aesthetic and - most importantly - an uncanny ability to pick up on the cooler-than-school lofi indie pop emanating from the region, as their new compilation album Dry Route to Devon effortlessly demonstrates.

In the South West corner of the UK, presuming you’re able to muscle your way past the plethora of spidery folk and ska punk acts around, you might be mistaken for believing that you’d stumbled into a DeLorean and ended up at an unspecified point between 1987 and 1992. Across Devon, Cornwall and the South Coast of England there is a flurry of bands so determinedly shoegazing and so unconcernedly slackerish that they probably haven’t even noticed this blog. But whilst they contemplate the staggering array of guitar effects pedals at their feet, we can look on in wonderment at the blue sky and blazing heat radiating from vintage tube amps and half-mumbled vocals issuing into the Atlantic breeze…

This upspring has been beautifully captured within the 11 tracks on Dry Route to Devon; the label’s new compilation album – or should I say compilation ‘concept’? AiH don’t like to play by the rules – all their releases to date are endearingly innovative and possibly none more so than this, AIH005, their 6^th release (yeah, exactly). The ‘record’ in this case consists of an A3 map of the region showing the various locales of the bands included. Each pinpoint has a scannable smart-phone code that you can use to download the tracks. An expanded version of the release also includes a t-shirt - or you can just download the tracks individually from Bandcamp.

The release celebrates the first birthday of this small label, whose big ideas have taken them a long way in just 12 months. Since their early releases, such as the split 7” featuring two of AiH’s flagship bands - brash shoegaze revivalists New Years Evil and blazing surf punx The Black Tambourines - they seem to have developed a knack for discovering the region’s most cutting-edge lofi indie bands and in the process, among their many plaudits, they’ve been cited as one of BBC Radio 1 DJ Huw Stephens’ favourite new labels.

Dry Route to Devon opens with “Rock Hudson” by Make Believe Ballroom (a spin-off from these guys) that unashamedly samples the sparkly intro to Fleetwood Mac’s “Everywhere”, transforming it into a charming, twinkly blissed-out electro pop instrumental. Hysterical Injury’s “Futuristic Nightmare” is pulsating, minimal, bass-driven anti-rock from a duo who weirdly put me equally in mind DFA and also early 80s DAF.

The dreamy “Distant Suns” by Safari Park is a slowcore masterwork. Rich vocals, rumbling bass and the warm drive of heartbreak guitars takes the listener on a journey to humid nights on shingle beaches. “Dead or Scared” by WeMakeNoises - underneath its 90s retro stylings, acoustic guitar and driving bass - is a searing outcry of existential angst.

“Wild Strawberries” by the delightful Big Wave is quintessential indie-pop. Uplifting, sing-along melodies are perfectly balanced against melancholy chord changes and accurately judged sentiment. This is quietly confident song writing that even Bergman would applaud. The archetypal lofi of “I Think” is a ‘gaze’ into the saturated world of Plymouth’s Gorgeous Bully whilst “In Motion” by Adjust Your Set takes us somewhere else entirely. Electro dreams painted with vocal and guitar loops make for an energising slice of polypop. Indie-tronica par excellence easily measuring up with the likes of Crystal Castles et al.

Lost Dawn are another one of the blues/punk/garage duos you’ve heard about, although this time benefitting from an outrageous energy combined with material that doesn’t come off as second-rate White Stripes, “Blog Baby Blues” being no exception. Fire Island Pines‘ “Bratislava” is a delicate construction of introverted lofi college pop. Its driving guitar lines, augmented with trumpets and xylophones, build towards a truly rousing finale.

Bleached-out grunge tinted pop in the form of “Gravel Pit” by Yrrs recalls Big Troubles debut album. You can’t always hear what’s going on, but you can take it on trust that it’s awesome. Concluding the selection, OLO Worms’ gentle and beguiling “Odoodem” makes for this album’s ultimate come-down track. Tweeting synths, spiralling guitars and vocal harmonies (reminiscent of the Beach Boys’ later concept albums) build upon a plateau of bass, tingling your spine with ambient post-rock bliss.

This album is lots of things. Three of those things are:

i) A new young label gleefully and mischievously innovating and steadfastly refusing to be cynical about the future of the music industry? You bet!

ii) A sneak peek at the very best indie music from this under-sung region? Uh… Yup. Better watch out, world!

iii) An awesome record that’s really worth checking out? Indubitably, sir!

You can pre-order Dry Route to Devon and download the music at Bandcamp: http://artishardrecords.bandcamp.com/album/dry-route-to-devon

The map and t-shirt will be shipping on or around 26^th Septmeber 2011, while stocks last.

What are your favorite cover songs?

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 14:04:55 -0700

Cover songs better than the original, underrated cover songs…share them here!

A few of my favorites:

Nick Cave - “Avalanche” (Leonard Cohen cover)

Danielle Dax - “Tomorrow Never Knows” (Beatles cover)

Depeche Mode - “Dirt” (Stooges cover)

The Horrors - “Shadazz” (Suicide cover)

Manic Street Preachers - “Primitive Painters” (Felt cover)

Siouxsie and the Banshees - “The Passenger” (Iggy Pop cover)

Music Video Genome

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 12:28:37 -0700

Music Video Genome:

Music Video Genome is like a Last.fm for music videos in that you type in an artist name and videos of that artist and related artists will stream through in-browser at full-size - check it out! As an example, typing in the Horrors brought up the Horrors, S.C.U.M., Cat’s Eyes, and Neils Children.