Our photo coverage of Rothbury Music Festival continues with Girl Talk…

Related posts:Photos: String Cheese Incident @ Rothbury 2009Photos: Disco Biscuits @ Rothbury 2009Photos: The Vibe at Rothbury 2009

Related posts:

• Photos: String Cheese Incident @ Rothbury 2009
• Photos: Disco Biscuits @ Rothbury 2009
• Photos: The Vibe at Rothbury 2009

• Photos: String Cheese Incident @ Rothbury 2009
• Photos: Disco Biscuits @ Rothbury 2009
• Photos: The Vibe at Rothbury 2009

The classic Brazilian crew Os Mutantes are gearing up to release Haih, their first album in 35 years. If they’re feeling any pressure about it, the laid-back lead track “Teclar” doesn’t give any such indication. The sunny nugget opens with dramatic, almost ominous castanets (typing?), but quickly flows into a pastoral, plucked, sawed, and chimed psychedelic excursion with Sergio Dias Baptista’s breezy vocals joined by syrupy group harmonies. (Here/there, you wouldn’t be wrong to leave with images of the Incredible String Band dancing in your head.) It’s a nice blend of their vintage sound and a few new tricks.

Continue reading New Os Mutantes – “Teclar”…

The classic Brazilian crew Os Mutantes are gearing up to release Haih, their first album in 35 years. If they're feeling any pressure about it, the laid-back lead track "Teclar" doesn't give any such indication. The sunny nugget opens with dramatic, almost ominous castanets (typing?), but quickly flows into a pastoral, plucked, sawed, and chimed psychedelic excursion with Sergio Dias Baptista's breezy vocals joined by syrupy group harmonies. (Here/there, you wouldn't be wrong to leave with images of the Incredible String Band dancing in your head.) It's a nice blend of their vintage sound and a few new tricks.

Last week we heard from Fool’s Gold, an LA band occasionally comprising members of Foreign Born and with similar (if not deeper) interests in exploring African forms of pop music. While Foreign Born’s flashed that side in some of the free MP3s from their recent Secretly Canadian release Person To Person, the shuffling, catchy backporch blues of “Winter Games” comes with feet firmly planted in American soil, although firmly planted feet is probably a terrible metaphor for a video which has some incredible footwork.

Continue reading New Foreign Born Video – “Winter Games”…

Last week we heard from Fool's Gold, an LA band occasionally comprising members of Foreign Born and with similar (if not deeper) interests in exploring African forms of pop music. While Foreign Born's flashed that side in some of the free MP3s from their recent Secretly Canadian release Person To Person, the shuffling, catchy backporch blues of "Winter Games" comes with feet firmly planted in American soil, although firmly planted feet is probably a terrible metaphor for a video which has some incredible footwork.

“The fact that they have even heard my songs is astonishing. That I am physically going to share a stage with them… That’s just indescribable.” – Justin Vernon, Indigo Girls #1 fan

"The fact that they have even heard my songs is astonishing. That I am physically going to share a stage with them... That's just indescribable." - Justin Vernon, Indigo Girls #1 fan

Italo disco queen Sally Shapiro has prepped us for the release of her new album with two worthy singles, “Miracle” and “Love In July.” The best part about Sally Shapiro singles is that they invariably come with lots of fun remixes; even though the bonus reinterpretations rarely equal the depths of her iced and longing dance tracks, she unsurprisingly has a knack for selecting remixers that can bring something new to her creations. For the recently posted “Love In July” single, she’s tapped a host of folks to offer their spins including Paper Bag labelmate CFCF. His idea of “July” is less pointed, with airier passages and more rounded beats to support Sally’s lovelorn vocal. Aside from a little vocoder at the end he keeps Sally’s bit pristine, because that’s just a smart thing to do.

Continue reading CFCF Remix Sally Shapiro (Stereogum Premiere)…

Italo disco queen Sally Shapiro has prepped us for the release of her new album with two worthy singles, "Miracle" and "Love In July." The best part about Sally Shapiro singles is that they invariably come with lots of fun remixes; even though the bonus reinterpretations rarely equal the depths of her iced and longing dance tracks, she unsurprisingly has a knack for selecting remixers that can bring something new to her creations. For the recently posted "Love In July" single, she's tapped a host of folks to offer their spins including Paper Bag labelmate CFCF. His idea of "July" is less pointed, with airier passages and more rounded beats to support Sally's lovelorn vocal. Aside from a little vocoder at the end he keeps Sally's bit pristine, because that's just a smart thing to do.

The Killers teamed up with UNICEF, MTV EXIT, and the US AID (like Radiohead before them) to create this full-length David Slade-directed “Goodnight, Travel well” anti-sex trafficking clip. It works on one level as a video for the Day & Age track, but was created “to raise awareness about sex trafficking,” not the Killers. As UNICEF notes:

There is almost no country in the world now that isnt affected by human trafficking in some way, said UNICEF Chief of Child Protection Susan Bissell. The statistics are staggering. More than 1.2 million children are being trafficked each year and nearly 80 per cent of all trafficking is for sexual exploitation, and the most at risk are girls.

Right, this probably isn’t the time or place for Brandon Flowers jokes (or for Flowers to chew the scenery, natch). Darker fare than the band’s usual visual accompaniment.

Continue reading Killers Soundtrack Sex Trafficking PSA…

The Killers teamed up with UNICEF, MTV EXIT, and the US AID (like Radiohead before them) to create this full-length David Slade-directed "Goodnight, Travel well" anti-sex trafficking clip. It works on one level as a video for the Day & Age track, but was created "to raise awareness about sex trafficking," not the Killers. As UNICEF notes:

There is almost no country in the world now that isnt affected by human trafficking in some way, said UNICEF Chief of Child Protection Susan Bissell. The statistics are staggering. More than 1.2 million children are being trafficked each year and nearly 80 per cent of all trafficking is for sexual exploitation, and the most at risk are girls.

Right, this probably isn't the time or place for Brandon Flowers jokes (or for Flowers to chew the scenery, natch). Darker fare than the band's usual visual accompaniment.

I have plenty of money for iTunes, thanks to Christmas, and I would like to purchase some music videos. However, due to my naiveness about rock music videos, I really don’t know which are the best. What are some phenomeonal rock music videos?

OK, so I was watching the Country music awards a while ago, Country music is still king in America, but I noticed, every artist was white. Mostly Americans, with a few Canadians, and Keith Urban who is Australian.

Hip Hop music is on every continent in different languages like Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Arabic, Korean etc. Everyone dances to the rythmic beats and free expressions.

Can country music ever be as popular as hip hop is, internationally ?

Pictureplane, aka 24-year old Denver-via-Santa Fe multi-media maker Travis Egedy, popped up on some radars this past April via his remix of HEALTH’s “Die Slow.” Before that, he remixed Crystal Castles, collaborated with hometown New Mexico bud Zach Condon, and self-released his debut full-length Turquoise Trail, which Lovepump reissued digitally in March. Now the same label’s tackling his excellent sophomore collection Dark Rift. If may very well be the dance record of the summer for people who aren’t used to dancing: Egedy’s expansive mix of ’90s house, dreamy ’80s synth-pop, poppy darkwave, tripped and colorful Black Dice-style noise, bottomed-out hiss, weirdo Sublime Frequencies drum circles, and a surprisingly ready-for-the-club semi-sheen creates endlessly interesting soundscapes. He has art-school style, yes, but the guy also writes well-crated hooks with actual emotional pull. Or, in his words:

Once every 26,000 years our planet crosses through the elliptical plane at the center of our galaxy known as the dark rift. The songs on dark rift lyrically deal with humanity entering a new age or next phase of our existence…

We’re offering “Transparent Now (Thin Veil)” and”Goth Star” as illustrations.

Continue reading Band To Watch: Pictureplane…

Pictureplane, aka 24-year old Denver-via-Santa Fe multi-media maker Travis Egedy, popped up on some radars this past April via his remix of HEALTH's "Die Slow." Before that, he remixed Crystal Castles, collaborated with hometown New Mexico bud Zach Condon, and self-released his debut full-length Turquoise Trail, which Lovepump reissued digitally in March. Now the same label's tackling his excellent sophomore collection Dark Rift. If may very well be the dance record of the summer for people who aren't used to dancing: Egedy's expansive mix of '90s house, dreamy '80s synth-pop, poppy darkwave, tripped and colorful Black Dice-style noise, bottomed-out hiss, weirdo Sublime Frequencies drum circles, and a surprisingly ready-for-the-club semi-sheen creates endlessly interesting soundscapes. He has art-school style, yes, but the guy also writes well-crated hooks with actual emotional pull. Or, in his words:

Once every 26,000 years our planet crosses through the elliptical plane at the center of our galaxy known as the dark rift. The songs on dark rift lyrically deal with humanity entering a new age or next phase of our existence...

We're offering "Transparent Now (Thin Veil)" and"Goth Star" as illustrations.

Phish put up another update to their “Save the Date” Halloween Festival map in the style of a pinball machine, with the pinball knocking out five more states in the quest to the truth on where this festival is going to take place. There was some discussion around how the California animation was spent [...]

Related posts:

• Phish “Save the Date” Halloween Festival Update: NOT California? Really?!?
• Phish Halloween Festival Update: Gordo’s Segway
• Phish Halloween Festival Update: Definitely Not Ohio or Kansas

• Phish “Save the Date” Halloween Festival Update: NOT California? Really?!?
• Phish Halloween Festival Update: Gordo’s Segway
• Phish Halloween Festival Update: Definitely Not Ohio or Kansas