I know I’ve posted this before, but we feel like posting it again because it’s Monday and we hate Monday, but also because yesterday I took too much Valium and don’t feel like being at work today. You’re lucky I’m not also posting Brak songs.

NOFX – Creeping Out Sara

When I opened this email I envisioned some horrible Bon Scott era AC/DC tribute shit, complete with unfortunately tight pants, not so young men, and long hair fashioned into some kind of hipster cut. I know, I know… so why’d I open it? I don’t have an answer for that question but I’m seriously glad that I did. Here’s the rundown: WhoMadeWho are two dudes from Denmark on this label called Kompakt.fm (that has a huge list of artists I’ll be excited to sift through in the coming weeks…). They played at SXSW in 2010 and just released a new mini LP that you can (and should) buy here.

In somebody else’s words, “You take a house DJ and make him play the drums, then you add a Bowie-loving bassist who sings too, and finally you fill in an avantgarde jazz guitarist with a mean moustache. These are the main ingredients in trio WHOMADEWHO. A mouth watering stew that enjoys things a bit stirred.” In my words, they’ve got a bunch of weird Sparks-esque new-wavey looking photos on their Facebook page and they make me feel like I’m listening to Daft Punk, Soulwax, Hot Chip or LCD Soundsystem. You guys remember Hot Chip? Whatever happened to those guys?

You’re probably not going to get a chance to see them any time soon (but you can be in their video!) as their list of upcoming shows only covers places like Spain, Austria, and Czechoslovakia, so for now, you’ll just have to settle for this stuff:

WhoMadeWho – Motown Bizarre
WhoMadeWho – I Lost My Voice

(Afterthought: I just searched my inbox for WHOMADEWHO and it looks like we’ve been getting emails about them as far back as 2009. And I have a vague feeling that we wrote about them once too but I can’t find the post anywhere. If you find it, I’ll mail you a random record in the mail for free.)

I’ve been gone a while and I’m not sure how credible my recommendations are at this point, but hear me out on this one. These dudes are from (some other unnamed and self-proclaimed notable bands out of) Seattle and they call themselves My Goodness. I’m still not sure what my final decision is – they might totally suck or they might be awesome, but either way the song in the video (posted below) gave me the same feeling I get when I listed to Aenima (Tool. Duh.) In fact, I think they sound like what would happen if Beavis and Butthead threw Tool, At The Drive In, and Pleasure Forever in a washing machine with Anderson’s dog, and then when they came out they had amnesia and thought they were Queens of the Stone Age.

I hate queens of the stone age, and that analogy sounds really dumb but maybe if you listen you’ll see where I’m going with this one:

You get it? See, the bio on their website says, “These two have harnessed the essence of their influences in a most compelling and uniquely rich way that spills out of them and rips in to the heart of rock and roll” and I bet if you ask ‘em they’d tell you that (at least) 3 out of the 4 bands I mentioned before are some of the “influences” whose “essences” they’ve harnessed here.

Listen again:
Tool – Eulogy
My Goodness – C’mon Doll
At the Drive In – Rascuache
Pleasure Forever – You And I Were Meant To Drown

You get it now? Maybe? Or maybe they’re not your thing (like I said, I’m not sure if they’re my thing either,) but if they are and if you live near Seattle and haven’t already seen ‘em play you can catch ‘em live 3 times in the next month or so. Tour dates and more songs are available on their website.

The first thing I ever heard from Hooray For Earth was a remix of Coma Cinema‘s ‘Her Sinking Sun.’ I’m pretty big on remixes so I asked google where I could find some more…. in addition to some tunes, google gave me some 411 – Hooray For Earth formed in Boston in 2006 and currently hail from the big apple. Their latest LP, True Loves, just dropped on Tuesday and If you are in NYC you can check them out at Webster Hall on June 16th with Architecture in Helsinki!!! The rest of us are gonna have to comb through the list of upcoming shows on their website in the hopes that they’ll be coming our way soon. IN THE MEANTIME, for your listening (and viewing) pleasure, dig these choice tunes:

Hooray For Earth – Realize It’s Not The Sun
Hooray For Earth – No Love
Coma Cinema – Her Sinking Sun
Architecture in Helsinki – W.O.W.

It’s been a while since yall heard from me. I apologize. I’m gonna keep this one real short and to the point. Zed’s Dead is a dubstep production duo from Canada. Their song “1975″ is currently climbing the hype machine charts and was featured in a super-sexy behind the scenes video of Russian super model Irina Shayk’s GQ photo shoot. Here’s some candy for your eyes:

And here’s some candy for your ears:
Zed’s Dead – 1975
Radiohead – Pyramid Song (Zed’s Dead Remix)
The Rolling Stones – Gimme Shelter (Zed’s Dead Remix)
Sublime – Doin’ Time (Zed’s Dead Remix)

TOUR DATES

This guy is pretty good. The dude kinda reminds me of Ben Gibbard (specifically ‘I’ll Follow You Into the Dark’ which is like the saddest/best song ever, and I don’t even like Death Cab), and his name also happens to be Ben – Benjamin Francis Leftwich. Dig this little acoustic diddy called ‘Pictures’ – the lead track from his March 7th release on Dirty Hit. Which, I should add, was produced by Ian Grimble (Mumford Sons, Manic Street Preachers, Siouxsie The Banshees). The EP melds Benjamin’s flair for delicate and beautiful songwriting as it glides from the deft finger-picking on ‘Pictures’ into the refined elegance of ‘Sophie’. On ‘See You Soon’, Leftwich’s hope strewn lyrics are offset by delicate melodies and as the EP finishes with ‘The Boat’, we are left with a lingering reminder of an understated talent.

And since we can’t hook you up with a free MP3 of the track in the video, here’s a pretty slick cover of Arcade Fire’s ‘Rebellion’

Benjamin Francis Leftwich – Rebellion (Arcade Fire Cover)

If you live in the UK you can catch Benjamin in support of Noah and the Whale on the following dates:

• Wednesday 30th March – Deaf Institue, Manchester
• Thursday 31st March – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
• Saturday 2nd April – Stereo, Glasgow
• Sunday 3rd April – Whelans, Dublin
• Monday 4th April – Thekla, Bristol

Hi. I’m Steven. When C4 asked if I wanted to contribute to FW I had absolutely no idea what or who I’d write about. After I mulled it over for about a million years I decided I was over thinking it. A couple of months ago I went to some random show at the Troubadour. I’d never heard of any of the bands on the bill but I walked out of that show having heard one of the best local acts I’d ever heard.

Enter Vanaprasta.

The five members of Vanaprasta create edgy, melodic tunes and vocalist Steven Wilkins’ lyrics hail over edgy rhythms and tempo changes. These guys seem to be nfluenced by everything from folk to space rock, and beware: these sounds will cause involuntary head bobbing. Their music really has a soul to it. The kind of soul that vibrates up your spine and shoots from your fingertips. If you’re lucky enough see them play you’ll most likely drift into a Vanaprasta-induced coma until the whole thing is over.

My favorite track is ‘Color of Sin’ because it makes me wanna clap my hands and dance with my eyes closed. There’s an even amount of each band member poured into it and I feel like that’s what really defines Vanaprasta’s unique sound. Not to mention their impressive musical training. During a brief interview with the band, Wilkins happened to mention he had had professional vocal lessons from the same dude who taught Michael Jackson & Stevie Wonder. WTF?!!!!? Since I met with them back in September, Vanaprasta has performed at CMJ and at The Roxy. Their goal is to play at the Greek, which I don’t think is too far off.

Dig the rest of the interview here, and feast your ears on ‘Color of Sin’ below.

Click to Play Vanaprasta – Color of Sin

But wait! There’s more….
Vanaprasta Interview – Part 5
Vanaprasta Interview – Part 6
Vanaprasta Interview – Part 7
Vanaprasta Interview – Part 8

Kanye West’s fifth studio album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, sold half a million units in its first week and received perfect review ratings from Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, and other top music critics. Congrats Kanye, but I’m not gonna let you finish. (Ba dum ch!)

This article is not about Kanye West. It’s about an artist who was, perhaps, the most unexpected guest artist on Kanye’s latest record – Bon Iver. I didn’t really pay attention to Bon Iver until ‘Monster’, the first Good Friday release – but then I did some research.

Bon Iver started as a home recording project of Justin Vernon, who’s debut For Emma, Forever Ago was recorded at a cabin in Wisconsin. The result is a flawless, dreamy folk record that’s perfect for spending the day in bed. Call me crazy, but I even hear hints of D’Angelo in some of Vernon’s falsetto vocal lines. Bon Iver has since evolved into a full band and has subsequently released an EP titled Blood Bank.

Anyway, check out the tracks below for (in my opinion) the choicest sounds from Bon Iver, followed by a couple clips from La Blogotheque’s Take Away Shows.

Bonus: The video’s are done by my favourite Concert A Emporter director Vincent Moon.

LISTEN

Bon Iver – Skinny Love
Bon Iver – The Wolves (Act I & II)
Bon Iver – Skinny Love (Das Kapital Rerub)

Bon Iver – Lump Sum

Bon Iver – Flume

Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago

I’ll keep it short & sweet: Preview Daft Punk’s original score from the upcoming feature film TRON: Legacy right now via the Hollywood Records myspace page. WARNING: it is pretty fucking mind-melting.

We’re a little slow on the blog these days and probably will be for quite some time, but here’s a little something to tide you over for a bit. Our buddies Mouth’s Cradle just dropped a new mixtape – dig The Hype here, and download the whole release at the link below.

LISTEN

Mouth’s Cradle – The Hype

DOWNLOAD (external link)