a camera in the crowd

Once wins Oscar for best original song!

2008-02-25T13:07:00.000-08:00

Last night was the 80th annual Academy Awards and it was a warm and inspiring moment for all independent artists. Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová of the movie, Once won best original song beating Enchantment's three nominated songs written by Stephen Schwartz and August Rush's "Raise It Up" by Jamal Joseph, Charles Mack, Tevin Thomas.

It's wonderful that finally, the award goes to artists outside of the Hollywood mainstream circle. There was a glimmer of hope when Elliott Smith's "Miss Misery" was nominated in 1997 for Good Will Hunting, but then it was passed over for Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" for Titanic. Markéta said it best when brought out by the wonderful host Jon Stewart after the commercial break. Her acceptance speech was originally interrupted by the wrap-up music.

Congratulations Glen and Markéta and thank you for such a beautiful movie and music!

Markéta: "Hi everyone, I just want to thank you so much. This is such a big deal not only for us but for all other independent musicians and artists that spend most of their time struggling. The fact that we're standing here tonight, the fact that we're able to hold this, it's just to prove that no matter how far out your dreams are, it's possible. You know, fair play to those who dare to dream and don't give up. and this song was written from the perspective of hope and hope at the end connects us all, no matter how different we are. so thank you so much to those who helped us along the way. Thank you. "

Glen Hansard and Markéta Iglová at the Oscars
by videoyouth

Download + Purchase:

Falling Slowly | Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová

Links:

» The Official Once Website
» Once Soundtrack MySpace
» Swell Season's MySpace
» Billboard: 'Once,' 'Atonement' Triumph In Music Oscars

~anne

Have a Happy (Cat Power Covers) Valentine's Day

2008-02-14T08:20:00.000-08:00

*02/14/08 at 10:17pm est, edited: reuploaded "How Can I Tell You" and "Sea of Love"
02/17/08 at 8:05pm est edited: reuploaded "How Can I Tell You"*

how can I tell you, that I love you, I love you
I long to tell you, that I'm always thinking of you
I'm always thinking of you
but I can't think of right words to say.

How Can I Tell You (Cat Stevens Cover) | Cat Power

come with me, my love
to the sea, the sea of love
I wanna tell you
how much I love you

do you remember when we met
that's the day I knew you were mine

Sea of Love (Phil Phillips Cover) | Cat Power

I'm gonna find me a reckless man
razor blades and ice in his eyes
just a touch of sadness in his fingers
thunder and lightning in his thighs

Silver Stallion (Highwaymen Cover) | Cat Power

~camera crowd

yes we can

2008-02-03T12:33:00.000-08:00

please go out and vote this tuesday.

love,
anne

Christmas time is here...

2007-12-17T21:37:00.000-08:00

I'm supposed to be studying for my Art History final, write a nice paper analyzing the signs and symbols of a magazine ad and finish and print that lovely design project. As I was walking around today running errands or was it when I was in the lab hogging the scanner for that end of the semester photo CD?...anyhow I found this Belle & Sebastian song on my iPod. It's nice to slow down and realize it's that time of year. I've been so busy with school that I haven't time to even let the warm fuzzy feelings to sink in.

Though I've been listening to the reliable holiday spirit pick me up aka Sufjan Stevens Christmas songs box set, this B&S Christmas rendition does the trick too. It has an odd bit of a clip at the end that leads into another song, I've no idea what it is.

Anyways it's peaceful, subtle. It makes me think of Charlie Brown and Snoopy and hot chocolate and you know Christmas things. Wouldn't it be nice if the B&S team went around and caroled?
Just a thought.

Download:
Christmas Time Is Here | Belle & Sebastian

I'm back in Texas in six days.
You know we're real sorry we haven't been posting.
We do try, but we haven't exactly had time or found any bands that's worth mentioning.
Wow, that wasn't intended to sound mean.
We'll probably do a 2007 round up post.
monkey see, monkey do I guess.

a rambling list to hold you over:

Ólafur Arnalds:
a band's MySpace I keep going to whenever I'm online.
listen to "Fok".

Yann Orhan:
a photographer in France, his work is dreamlike/surreal.
click on portfolio.

playing "The Kiss", a Judee Sill song, a lot.
reading Nine Stories.
going through Autumn De Wilde's book on Elliott Smith.
reading the usual Time and Newsweek.
somehow have a sudden interest in reading about all the campaigning going on in Iowa right now?
smelling like darkroom chemicals all the time.
looking forward to Cat Power's covers record #2.
other than that, no one's releasing anything exciting too soon,
why is that?
missing texas.

also anyone out there recommend buying the buddha sound machine as a present?

~anne

André Kertész: The Polaroids @ Silverstein Photography

2007-11-16T07:10:00.000-08:00

on view October 18 ~ November 24

Silverstein Photography
535 West 24 Street
New York, NY, 10011

***Think we'll start posting about the exhibits, galleries, photography/contemporary art type things happening in New York and San Francisco that we come across and fall in love with. If you know anything that's going on in these two cities that are photography-related and worth checking out, please let us know. I don't know if I want to comment in these posts, because they'll start to sound repetitive partly, because I haven't been to that many galleries to have the right to say anything, but really these posts are more for you and it's up to you to visit the gallery if you wish to see more of the photographer's work. If the photographer is still working, we may provide links + maybe the tiniest bit of info later on. Or leave a comment/email and tell us what you want to know. But right now let's just let the photographs do the talking. Thanks.***

~anne

3 minute entry: The Teenagers

2007-11-10T12:20:00.000-08:00

The Teenagers are playing their last show tonight of their tour with Crystal Castles and These New Puritans sponsored by Vice magazine, who has given them free rein to stumble around England, Scotland and other 'lands' playing free shows with special DJ guests! The tour's called UNITAUR, but that's winding down tonight at Goldsmith College. So if you're around, just sign up here and have fun. They've got more tour dates after playing Festival Des Inrocks in their old city, Paris and going back home to London for a show at Se One with Gods Average Speed. Then the trio will be swinging through Brazil and gracing us with a slew of major US cities and two Canadian stops sandwiched in the middle.

I was first hooked by The Teenagers' remix of Au Revoir Simone's "Fallen Snow" last year and their debut full-length is on its way to the finish line just waiting to trip up your feet. Just to name a few, they've remixed Simian Mobile Disco, Lo Fi Fink, Air, New Young Pony Club, Chromeo, etc, you can hear almost all of their remixes at The Teenagers' Remix MySpace. They've only released a couple of their own songs, but each and every one of them is perfect, meticulously stroked, and labored over, tweaked to the glowing songs they are, into well...pure gold! Their latest single just came out and it's called "Starlett Johansson". It's available on Merok Records and if you're lucky you can still purchase their previous singles and the Homecoming EP from Rough Trade Records.

Mostly, their songs are about what every stereotypical hormone-clogged teenager thinks about and yeah they're a little foul-mouthed, but these three guys are not apologetic about it. They make music for music's sake, and these guys know what they're doing or rather they don't really know or care, because they're just playing music for pure fun and maybe that's better than trying to dig deep in this land of talk/hype.

Tour Dates:

11-10 London, UK - Goldsmith College (Vice UNITAUR)
11-11 Paris, FR - Boule Noire (Festival Des Inrocks)
12-08 London, UK - Se One
01-18 Sao Paulo, BR - TBA
01-19 Rio, BR - TBA
01-22 Los Angeles, CA - Echo
01-23 Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland
01-24 San Francisco, CA - 330 Ritch
01-26 Chicago, IL - Sonotheque
01-27 Toronto, ON - Social
01-29 Montreal, QC - TBA
01-30 New York, NY - Mercury Lounge
01-31 New York, NY - Hiro Ballroom
02-01 Philadelphia, PA - Pure
02-02 Brooklyn, NY - Studio B

Stream + Download + Purchase:

Starlett Johansson | The Teenagers

Links:

» Purchase Starlett Johansson
» Purchase Other Releases
» The Teenagers Official Site
» The Teenagers' Official MySpace
» The Teenagers' Official Remixes MySpace
» The Teenagers' Official Blog
» The Teenagers' FanClub MySpace

~anne

Team Camera Crowd No. 4

2007-10-30T17:17:00.000-07:00

About three months ago we said goodbye to our 3rd batch of photographers and began accepting applications for the new group. It took us awhile to unveil the new group because we were swamped with personal things and the fact that we extended the submission date. I know some of you guys haven't applied due to the traffic in our photoblog. Let's face it, we get more traffic for the music blog rather than the photoblog. But we're a small blog run by two people who don't want to spend the whole day infront of the computer, it's just tough. We're working our way to expanding the photography aspect of this site so that the traffic between the music blog and the photoblog will be balanced.

So without further ado, Anne and I want to introduce to you guys our new batch of photographers who's talented and emotive work will grace our photoblog for the next 3 months. For our last batch, we had two talented ladies and a guy. It's the opposite this time around, we have two talented guys gracing from Eastern U.S and one bright gal from Singapore. Congrats to them and please visit the photoblog every now and then let them know what you think of their work.

Take out the Party Punch from Oh No! Oh My! and let's go go go!

Alexander Bowman, from Greensboro, North Carolina

"I feel like my sense of design and knack for composition , gained from doing other artwork sets me apart from alot of other people. I feel like I can capture colors and moods fairly well, and I still have alot of room to improve."

Christopher Moore, from Westminster, Maryland

"The world is beautiful. People are beautiful. Even if things are not outwardly beautiful…decaying things, destroyed things, things of strife and sorrow…. We can take them in our minds and twirl and twist them with our cameras and our tools and we can take into account the aesthetic and the story and everything that makes this object more than just that and we make it a picture. It is because of this that I think art is the most powerful force of humanity. We change the world around us in six hundredths of a second."

Nurul, from Singapore

"I realize that I’ve begun to shoot with more seriousness. I look out for the messages inscribed in certain compositions I want to frame and emote. Plus, it’s nice to capture these little pockets of reality that is constantly fleeting. Photos help freeze them in thought and memory"

-Charlie and Anne

dear elliott,

2007-10-21T18:13:00.000-07:00

I always listen to your cover of Beatles' "I'm Only Sleeping" first, you sound so happy. It's 2002, you're playing in Portland's Satyricon. Remember that's when you invited several people onstage to sing with you and one of the audience members onstage is so into harmonizing the song that you can't help but let out a chuckle while you're singing. There's also a part before that where you say "you gotta get closer to the mic" to a girl on the stage and she laughs. There's a sudden pause during the song, which you fill with a grin and, "oh shit, what's the next part?" When you finish the song and you tell the Portland crowd you have one song left and ask if they want a new or old song, there's silence and then an uproar. People shout their favorite songs and others tell you to play both, and by the time I realize the track ends, I'm listening to another live track which follows right after it on my iTunes.

It's you singing "King's Crossing" at the Henry Fonda Theater, it's January 2003. In the beginning of the recording, I let my mind imagine what it was like. You on the stage alone and a sea of faces all turned to you and you let out a shaky "Hi, how are you y'all?" I can make out some people shouting "We love you," and you return the same three words like you would to your friends in a teasing genuine way, and I can just make out that smile of yours I've seen so many times in photographs, and you follow it by a "thanks for coming..." but sometimes I can't make it through that track, it tears me apart, when you sing "because I took my own insides out", with the last word landing so harshly into the air before it echoes through the theater, how you sound so hurt and in pain.

I never really know what to do when this day makes its way to the front of the calendar, I just know I miss you and I can only hope you finally found happiness and I'll see you in heaven, that is if there is one and if there is one, you're sure to be in it.

Download + Donate:

» I'm Only Sleeping (02.19.2000 @ Satyricon, Portland) | Elliott Smith
» King's Crossing (01.31.2003 @ Henry Fonda Theater, Los Angeles) | Elliott Smith

~anne

Voxtrot,The Little Ones @ Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, (10/14/07)

2007-10-16T09:46:00.000-07:00

Sunday night, Voxtrot brought Texas to Williamsburg and what a wonderful and energetic show it was. Doesn't seem a little surgery prevents Ramesh or the band from putting on a freakin' fantasticsuperstellar, show not that I doubted them for one nanosecond, get better Ramesh! The Little Ones also put on a great set, with their sunny LA smiles and addictive melodies and shaking maracas. Both The Little Ones and Voxtrot will be playing CMJ showcases (Voxtrot is playing at BV's Bowery Ballroom show tonight and at 4PM they're playing a free all ages show with Jack Penate at Fontana's!), so make sure you check them out this week and for those who don't live in NY no worries, both bands will most likely be touring in a city near you, just check out their websites listed in links below. The setlist for Voxtrot's set is right after the photos and you can also view all of the photos from this show here.

Setlist:

Introduction
Kid Gloves
Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives
Your Biggest Fan
Ghost
Soft & Warm
Firecracker
Raised By Wolves
New Song
Brother In Conflict
The Start of Something

Download + Purchase:

Ghost | Voxtrot
Lovers Who Uncover | The Little Ones

Links:

» Voxtrot's Official Site
» Voxtrot's Official MySpace
» The Little Ones' Official Site
» The Little Ones' Official MySpace

~anne

PS. We will have a new kind of post that is a sort of follow-up to select show posts. They'll be titled Series: followed by the band name, date and location of the show. (this is what I'm talking about when I said 'special' Beirut post in the pass it on box) These are posts that will only have black and white and one day color photos that are taken by film cameras (not digital pretending to be b/w).

These may be posted as late as a month after the show has happened, since it takes time to process film, develop prints individually, scanned, uploaded, etc. I've been taking photos of shows with 35mm for awhile now, and I guess it's time to share some of them. Since I'm talking about it on this post, you've probably already figured out the second Series post is Voxtrot, but in case, it's a late night where you are, now you know.

3 minute entry: Jimmy (A Good Name For A Boy Or A Crusader)

2007-10-15T14:28:00.000-07:00

*latest update on 01/17/08*I've been meaning to post about Jimmy (A Good Name For A Boy Or A Crusader) ***the project name has been changed to Jimmy Two Fingers*** for a long time, boy that's a mouthful, but somehow I never got around to it. What with sweater season right around the corner you might think it's just cold where you are, but it's really his music that's raising goosebumps along your forearms.

It's his deep cavernous voice that you'll fall for first, but then you'll find his lyrics will linger in your head throughout the day. One-liners will make themselves at home such as, "I'll find a hole in the sun and put stuff inside it, and if it gets too full the lights go out and my world will come undone, like this..." in Astronomy (Undone), which then leads to this beautiful banjo part, with backing tambourines.

When you're hearing the songs for the first time, try and listen to the lyrics and instead of following the different instrument parts, no matter how beautiful they are! It'll be hard I know, because I didn't truly listen to the exact words he was singing for about half a year. I was so distracted by the variations of rough and soft nuances of his voice or I'd just get so caught up in waiting for the banjo part to unveil in "Astronomy" or let my mind get wrapped around the falling piano keys in "Curtains". When I finally listened to the lyrics throughout the full song, it was like listening to a whole new song.

I don't know a lot about the guy behind this project except, he was nice enough to send me some songs when I asked if he had any songs I could put on a blog. His name's Jimmy Magliozzi and he has a myspace up for the project, which I linked below. He's also in a four-person band called The Beaux Champs, that is in another musical vein; they put out a full length this summer called Hold Your Fire.

Stream + Download + More:

Astronomy (Undone) | Jimmy Two Fingers

Curtains | Jimmy Two Fingers

Links:
» Jimmy (A Good Name For A Boy Or A Crusader)'s Official MySpace
» The Beaux Champs' Official MySpace

~anne

Take it Away Annie Clark

2007-10-09T12:42:00.000-07:00

Yeah I know we haven't been posting, Anne's just overwhelmed with loads of school stuff, and what's my excuse? Well I've been focusing everything on my photography and finding a part time job, I have a couple of projects planned and it's just been my main priority. I haven't been up to date with music as well. Until we get that settled, you won't see that much posts from us.

With that being said, I just want to inform all you Annie Clark (St. Vincent) fans that there's three new Take Away shows on Blogotheque. Vincent Moon and Blogotheque has done it again. St. Vincent performs; "Marry me", "Jesus saves, I spend", and "Paris Is Burning". Most, if not all of the Take Away Shows are pretty intimate, but these St. Vincent performances are as intimate as they can get. You have the darling Annie Clark lying in her bed, with her guitar, singing "Marry Me". The mood of the performance just makes you feel like you're actually there, sitting next to her and she's singing to you.

Watch the videos, get the album if you haven't, it's been out for months now, and we'll be back more posts later.

Here's one of the videos:

#67.2 - St Vincent - Marry Me
Uploaded by lablogotheque

Stream + Download + Purchase

Marry Me | St. Vincent

Links:

» St.Vincent website
» The Take-Away Shows
» Buy Album
» Upcoming UK tour dates

*Edit, from anne: for all the people in New York, St. Vincent will be playing an in-store at Other Music, for free, of course, next Tuesday(10/16) at 8PM. get there early, it's kind of a tiny store and St. Vincent is 'kind of' amazing.

and to charlie, I am not overwhelmed!
I'm just living. =)*

-Charlie

Basia Bulat, Oh, My Darling

2007-09-14T14:03:00.000-07:00

Hey there everyone! It's Charlie here! I apologize for not writing anything since the beginning of August. Summer just really took its toll on us and we couldn't find the time to sit infront of the computer and write. I myself was piled with an overwhelming amount of foreign movies from friends that I had to watch. And also spent the majority of summer taking medium format fotos. But we have a new season ahead of us, one of my favourites actually, so Anne and I are going to try and build up on this and post more and more.

I'll be introducing you guys to some artists I've been listening to for awhile now that I think will fit perfectly into this coming autumn season. Although her album hasn't released yet here in the U.S, I've been enjoying some of Basia Bulat's released singles since last spring. I knew I found something good the moment I heard her voice. Basia Bulat, who's based in London, Ontario (yes another good act from our neighbours up north) will be worth your time. You can easily compare it to the big names out there, such as Chan's voice, Feist, and Regina Spektor. But like the artists I just mentioned, Basia can stand her ground and easily set herself apart from the crowd. She has a voice that will stick around in your head for awhile, and is a nice companion for this coming autumn season. That's a good thing!

So what else is there to do after aquiring a good voice, well take a good band with you to back you up. A support band with violins, guitars, ukelele to back that magnificent voice of hers does the job. Who knows when we'll see her and her band here in the States. She's been touring all of Canada and Europe lately and will be touring Canada again this autumn, but we have two lucky cities in the east, Chicago and Minneapolis who'll get the chance to see her. As for her debut album, Oh, My Darling well it's out in the UK already and it comes out in Canada on the 18th. But if you don't wanna wait and don't mind paying a little bit more, you can go to Rough Trade's site.

Stream + Download + Purchase

Before I Knew | Basia Bulat

I Was a Daughter | Basia Bulat

Links:

» Basia Bulat's Official Site
» Basia Bulat's Myspace
» Live Performance courtesy of B(oot)log
» Purchase the CD from Rough Trade

-Charlie

Greetings from New York...

2007-09-04T09:28:00.000-07:00

For those who don't know yet, a little over a week ago, I left the grassy green lawn suburban town of Spring, Texas for another type of greenery, the Village aka Greenwich Village aka New York aka the city of the world and I'm sure there are other names it falls under.

I came here with two suitcases full of clothes, extra long twin sheets, and a carry on that held all the CDs that I couldn't part with, I also brought a natural curiosity for what New York's music community would offer me. Of course, the main reason I am here is to attend college, Parsons the New School for Design, one of the eight divisions of The New School and I'm majoring in direct entry photography. Four hours of sleep is considered lucky or so the upperclassmen say, lucky me.

I haven't been to any shows yet, but I've already bought tickets for Rilo Kiley at Webster Hall on the 23rd and Beirut at the Wordless Music Series on the 24th. Hopefully soon though, I'll unearth some New York bands that are worth digging for.

So right now I'll have to work with the ones I do know that reside in my new home, they're all in Brooklyn really, and I guess we'll see if I find any or not in these next oh...four years.
(hint: this is the time + place to namedrop any bands, venues, restaurants, record stores, upcoming shows, anyplace, event you love that reside, take place in New York/Brooklyn.)

Download + More:

See Her, Seer | Inlets

Eastbound | Ola Podrida

The Way To Here | Au Revoir Simone

Easier | Grizzly Bear

~anne

Singled Out: A Sunday Smile by Beirut

2007-09-01T11:12:00.000-07:00

There is no mistaking that familiar voice sailing along the swells of brassy, golden horns. The mouth it originates from moves swiftly, dragging out the last syllables of select words, or are those really words? They're more like sounds, cries of emotion that can't be tied down by wholly confining pre-established vocabulary, but freely delivers its message through its sheer volume and it lifts even the heaviest of hearts. We hear it fed through a megaphone, an audio trick that we've heard before, making his voice sound even more foreign and faraway than it already is.

The lone voice belongs to of course, Zach Condon, the one who brought us last year, The Gulag Orkestra, an album that for most of us ventured into unfamiliar territory that was filled with the hearty sounds of Balkan brass orchestras and made trumpets more than just mere solo decorations within songs, but centered the particular brass instrument in the spotlight and most likely inspired a mousy haired youngster out there to leave the finger-blistering guitar in the closet for a shiny, promising trumpet along with a much needed spit cup.

And yes this is one of the new songs off of the October 9th-slated album, The Flying Club Cup and it's called "A Sunday Smile". You may have heard it already from watching the Take Away Show presented by La Blogothèque, which Zach Condon preformed with one of his musical influences, The Kocani Orkestra. Without them, The Gulag Orkestra would probably never have existed, seeding its gypsy sounds within Condon, but this time for the new album, the seed was planted by the late musician and lyricist Jacques Brel.

From start to finish the song plays out like a circus affair, a towering Jack in the Box with the handle winding round and round, accordions squeezing the summer air and stretching to reveal a painted design like a flag unfurled caught in a breeze. The album is said to be the result of French influences both culturally and musically and the visual inspiration for Condon this time around was the photograph that is now gracing the cover of the album.

Beirut right now is somewhere in Brooklyn rehearsing for their upcoming tour that will hit off at Brooklyn's Masonic Temple on Sept. 20th, following two more New York dates and making their way to the somewhat major American cities before leaving on a jet plane to spend November in Europe.

I confess, I cannot even begin to describe how excited I am about The Flying Club Cup. The only thing that could possibly be better than the new album releasing, would be seeing Beirut themselves on Sept. 24th at the Wordless Music Series in New York at the Society for Ethical Culture venue.

If you're even doubting if it's worth to see them live, oh which is surely a crime, you had better watch the Take Away Show that features Condon with The Kocani Orkestra playing the reprise of "Siki Siki Baba" (scroll to the last video) and then you'll wish you were there just like I do every time I watch it and that whatever you did on July 30th, 2007 would never have topped standing in the Parisian venue, La Flèche d'Or and being part of the audience that happily sang and swayed as one. And if you are already convinced, you had better watch it anyways. It's the best live show footage I've seen in years, Vincent Moon is a mad hand-holding cameraman genuis!

Stream + Download + Purchase:

A Sunday Smile | Beirut

Links:

» Beirut's Official Site
» Pre-Order The Flying Club Cup
» Beirut's Official MySpace
» Beirut's Tour Dates
» La Blogothèque presents: #60.9-60.10 Beirut + The Koncani Orkestra playing "A Sunday Smile" (video)
» La Blogothèque presents: #60.1 Beirut + The Kocani Orkestra playing "Siki Siki Baba" reprise (video)
» YouTube: Zach Condon singing "Knife" by Grizzly Bear (video)
» The Kocani Orkestra's Official Site
» Wikipedia: Jacques Brel

~anne

3 minute entry: The Monks Kitchen

2007-08-29T11:59:00.000-07:00

*latest update on 09/12*

I found myself a few weeks ago knee-deep in a completely, utterly, tangled, wonderful mess that a London band called The Monks Kitchen makes. Their music warmed up my room and gently nudged a stack of folded laundry and shifted around a few pictures hanging on the wall to make it feel more like home. It's the kind of mess where you know exactly where everything is and if you tilt your head you can instantly hear the guitar part by itself, the bass stands out stockstill, and the drums march on alone, but tilt your head the other way they all join hands and soon enough you hear the whole song alive settling into your furniture, your room, your home.

The Monks Kitchen is comprised of four childhood friends and is due to release a six-track EP called The Wind May Howl on Sept. 17th. Their sound calls upon some of Simon & Garfunkel's friendly acoustic charm and Bishop Allen's homemade feel, and their wandering, mellow melodies could sit comfortably and play tic-tac-toe with Midlake's own.

Their debut EP, The Wind May Howl will drop down its six tracks on Sept. 17th. Right now you can hear its single, "Bringing Hurricanes" on their MySpace, so trust me and click on over to their page. We may or may not get a track for readers to download in the near future, so just sit tight. For the ones who are lucky to call England home though, The Monks Kitchen will be playing a handful of shows starting Sept. 8th.

To purchase the single or to pre-order the EP if you live elsewhere, just order it online here.

Tour Dates:

09-08 London - The Gladstone
09-13 London - Louvana
09-18 London - ~~The Proud Galleries~~ *The English Maid (a boat!)*
09-23 Birmingham - This is Tomorrow
09-28 Manchester - Up At the Redbricks
09-30 Nottingham - The Maltcross

Links:

» The Monks Kitchen Official MySpace
» Purchase single/Pre-order the EP
» More info on the tour

~anne

How do you view the world?

2007-08-27T16:15:00.000-07:00

Once again, the three guest spots for Camera Crowd's photoblog has opened up and those spots are waiting to be filled by another set of three lovely talented photographers. For people who are unfamiliar with this blog, we hold a contest every three months for photographers, published/unpublished, it really doesn't matter to us, you just have to knock our lens off (ha - ha!). The three photographers who win will be our guest photobloggers posting, sharing their work with our readers for three whole months. It's a wonderful way to give our readers something other than a bunch of paragraphs droning on silly things such as music and at the same time our guest photographers get exposure and feedback on their work.

Charlie and I, me being Anne, started this blog to not only to share our love of music, but also of photography and that's when we thought of giving others the opportunity via a photoblog. It's important to us that the photographers who win this contest will post regularly. If you don't take photos at the very least once every two weeks, we strongly reccommend you to not apply. We're also looking for a new, fresh approach to photography, so if your portfolio is dusty chock full of backyard flowers, kids, pets and oh who knows the occasional snapshot of graffiti, we suggest you go out and shoot "outside the box".

To apply there are a few things you'll need to have and do before sitting in suspense for our reply.

How to apply:

1. You have to create your own flickr account, if you don't have one already, don't worry flickr is free and easy, just sign up for the basic account.

2. After that upload all the photos onto flickr to show us. Remember this is your portfolio, only include the photos that you want us to see.

3. Then there is a Q&A to fill out, we'll provide a download link below and then email that word document to us with the subject line as, "Camera Crowd application".

Links:

» Camera Crowd's Photoblog
» Create a Flickr
» Download the Q&A
» Email your application to us!

Also here are a few songs for you to listen to while you're out shooting to spruce up that portfolio. Think outside the box!

Download + Purchase:

Everything I Cannot See | Charlotte Gainsbourg

Your Picture | Camera Obscura

Deadline: Sept. 15th*
( *Saturday, 11:59PM, EST)

Love, Team Camera Crowd
(Anne & Charlie)

Is Is? Yeah Yeah Yeahs!

2007-08-01T18:15:00.000-07:00

So according to filter-mag.com, Yeah Yeah Yeahs have added two California dates to their current mini U.S tour which kicks off tonight in Kansas. They added two dates, one in San Francisco @ the Fillmore (YES!) and one in L.A. As you know, the group is currently on the road supporting their EP Is Is which came out over a week ago.

Don't expect a new sound coming from Is Is, the songs in this EP were written around the time Fever to Tell came out, back in 2004. This doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad EP, I actually like it. It's the Yeah Yeah Yeahs sound I fell in love when my cousin introduced them to me a couple of years ago. Is Is has that typical Yeah Yeah Yeahs energetic, garage, juiced up sound we know and love. So get it! Plus it's nice to have them come out with something they can tour on amidst the rumours of them separating months ago. Yeah we don't want that.

The tour dates are below, tickets for the San Francisco show go on sale Aug. 5th @ 10 am, and the LA show goes on sale the day before also at 10 am.

August
01 Lawrence, KS - Granada Theatre
02 Columbia, MO - The Blue Note
04 Chicago, IL - Grant Park [Lollapalooza]
05 Baltimore, MD - Pimlico Race Track [Virgin Festival]
07 New York, NY - Webster Hall
16 Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory
18 Mansfield, MA - Tweeter Center [Download Festival]
21 San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore
22 Los Angeles, CA - Mayan Theatre

Track listing:
1. Rockers To Swallow
2. Down Boy
3. Kiss Kiss
4. Isis
5. 10X10

Kiss Kiss | Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Links:
» myspace
» Buy the EP

-Charlie

...and we're back!

2007-07-27T20:58:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

We're back! After 22 days of inactivity on this blog, we're returning to posting regularly now. The hiatus kind of just grew from a week to two and then Charlie and I just gave in and put the blog in the back of our minds. All we can say is we're really sorry for such a long hiatus, at least we're not that big of a blog that we caused an integer overflow right? So what exactly have we been doing? The real answer is nothing really, after all that's what summer is for.

To all the readers that actually missed our long-winded posts, you may indulge yourself in our detailing of the exact kind of nothing-ness below. Anyways it's good to be back.

Charlie:

My summer so far can be summed up in three words; movies, medium format, and music. Yeah those are some of the reasons why I haven't been really writing here. Unlike, Anne, I don't have a part time job to keep me busy and I haven't been attending summer shows. I've just been keeping my summer occupied by watching endless movies. I'm not talking about your usual summer blockbusters that includes transforming robots and what not, more like foreign films.

If you know me well, you know I like my foreign films, from French, Spanish, and now Japanese and Cantonese, I just love them. For the past couple of months, friends and pen pals have recommended several of their favourite Japanese and Cantonese films, old and new. I really enjoyed all of them so I'm going to share them with you guys and recommend you add them to your netflix queue. :)

Kamome Shokudo (2006) (Japanese/Finnish w/ English Subtitles)

It's a lighthearted Japanese comedy about a young Japanese woman, Sachie, who moves from Japan to Finland to start her own Japanese diner. The diner doesn't do so good in the beginning until she gets her first customer, a Finnish manga fan (Tommi) who eventually befriends Sachie. Soon after that, Sachie meets two new Japanese women who just arrived in Finland and have their own reasons for being there. They eventually start working at the diner which slowly starts aquiring customers later in the film. Not a lot of people like this movie because they think it's a little slow and nothing much happens, but I really enjoyed it because of the relationships that developed throughout the course of the film. It's a laid back film that'll be perfect for a nice and lazy sunday afternoon.

Days of Being Wild (1991), In the Mood for Love (2000), 2046 (2004) (Cantonese, Mandarin w/ English Subtitles)

Probably my most favourite trilogy ever! These three movies are an informal trilogy from one of the best directors ever, Wong Kar-wai. Informal trilogy meaning they weren't really marketed as a trilogy, the three stories just all go together. I won't even dare try to summarize each film because that will probably take up 2 or 3 posts because of the number of characters involved in all 3 films and its very intricate plot. What got me into these movies in the first place was the movie 2046, which came out a couple of years ago. A lot of people suggested I should watch Days of Being Wild and In the Mood for Love first before seeing 2046 or else I won't understand and enjoy it. Boy, were they right, I downright understood what was going on in 2046 because I was so familiar with the characters that were already introduced in In the Mood for Love. I just have to say, Wong Kar-wai's films are just beautiful, each scene is a beautiful photograph and puts him up there in the ranks of Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro.

When I'm not at home watching movies, I'm out with my cameras doing what else, taking fotos of course. But while the masses are enjoying the digital world, I'm slowly leaving it and moving to medium format photography. I've fallen in love with the feeling and atmosphere of 120 film and I just wanna keep using it. Added to my arsenal is my unpredictable but dependable Holga, and a recently purchased Seagull 4A TLR. Shooting medium format is fun and just rewarding, but it can get expensive, with the rolls of 120 and processing that's only available at some pro photography shops, not your local drug store. Here are some medium format shots I've shot with my holga, I don't have any TLR shots yet cause I just got the camera, so once I finish the roll of slide film I'm using right now, definitely expect them on the photoblog.

As for music, I've been listening to a lot of Basia Bulat, this lovely Canadian singer-songwriter from Ontario. She has one of the loveliest voices I've ever heard, she might be new but I rank her voice up there with the big guns such as Chan Marshall, Feist, and Regina Spektor. I've also been listening to 8mm sky, a post indie band from Taiwan that Anne introduced briefly here on Camera Crowd last January. They're a perfect nightly reading companion and they usually keep me company whenever I'm out shooting fotos. I won't go into much details about these two and other artists I've been listening to because I'm planning to write about them more later on.

Links:

» Kamone Shokudo
» Days of Being Wild
» In the Mood for Love
» 2046

Other recommended movies...
» Paris Je T'aime
» Chungking Express

Music...
» Basia Bulat
» 8mm sky

Photography...
» What is medium format?

Downloads + Purchase:

Snakes and Ladders | Basia Bulat

Finders Keepers | 8mm sky

Anne:

It's so strange how fast summer goes by, even though I haven't been doing much. It's pretty hot and humid down here so no one really ventures out of the house except to run into somewhere else with a working AC. These days I can be found straightening racks, doing go-backs, rushing around in the fitting room, folding and picking up hangers on the floor at a huge clothing store in the Willowbrook Mall wearing a perfected customer-friendly expression amidst all-out chaos. On the better days or rather nights, I'm witnessing fantastic shows, Menomena at the beginning of summer, catching Voxtrot, Brazos and Tacks, the Boy Disaster all in one fell swoop at the Proletariat and St. Vincent with Scout Niblett at good old Walter's two weeks ago.

And for the rest of the days in between I've been watching Seinfeld, I can't resist a good rerun. There was also my long term project of re-reading the Harry Potter series before the seventh book came out, which I managed too quickly and left myself open to restlessness a full week before the release date of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Then when it finally came out at midnight, I took the chance to further my already ruined sleeping habits...and finished it without so much of a pause or breath till 3pm later that afternoon. Brilliant, that's all have to say!

I also took a vacation from reading music blogs and keeping up with all the "buzz bands", though I still read Pitchfork's news feeds, skimming the headlines for my favorite artists. What hasn't left my stereo is Feist's latest full-length, The Reminder, it's perfect to wake up to and end the day with. I sometimes practice sketching and drink coffee, but mostly it's work work work and a quick game of solitaire or two on the computer.

Anyways, photography-wise I haven't been shooting much other than live shows and until then with exception to the possibility of August 11th, you won't see any photos till August 23rd. So here are some photos I shot at the St. Vincent show at Walter's on Washington. Her debut album, "Marry Me" is breathtakingly beautiful and it's as edgy as it's pretty.

While we're here, I am in love with La Blogothèque's Take Away shows shot by Vincent Moon. They're all so wonderful, warm and have the rare ability to conjure smiles out of thin air. Thank you for such beauty! Paris Je T'aime as Charlie recommended above, was also lovely to watch and I'm lastly, terribly impatient for Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited.

Anyways, till next time!

Songs I've got on repeat:

Brandy Alexander | Feist
The Start of Something (100dBs + Brennoir Remix) | Voxtrot
End Scene Fade (Daytrotter Session)| Sparrow House

Love, Camera Crowd
(Charlie and Anne)

Voxtrot @ The Proletariat, Houston (06/30/07)

2007-07-05T02:08:00.000-07:00

Live reviews, shmive reviews...do I really have to describe how painstakingly amazing a Voxtrot show is? Though it wasn't a surprise to me since I've seen both bands live before, I do have to mention to you, oh fellow reader, how Brazos and Tacks, The Boy Disaster were the best opening bands I've seen for a long while...they are from Austin after all. Some photos, some links, some words below...

» More photos from the show.

Voxtrot's setlist:

Introduction
Kid Gloves
Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives
Your Biggest Fan
Soft & Warm
Raised By Wolves
Brother In Conflict
The Start of Something
Missing Pieces

Songs I wish were on the setlist, just pure 2AM blogger wishful thinking/fun:

Ghost
Steven
Every Day
Real Life Version
Blood Red Blood
Wrecking Force
Four Long Days
Dirty Version
This Is Not My Bloody War

To everyone who was rushed (rudely) out of the venue and didn't get a chance to buy their new merch, please order it online here at the Voxtrot store. More tour dates will be added, that means you Europe and select US cities. For now there is Pitchfork Festival & Siren Fest and two remaining dates for the Wrecking Force to road-trip to.

Word of advice: To the people who live in Austin or near it, you should all go to Belaire's CD release party at Emo's on July 6th, it's a foolproof fun show to attend. If this motivates you in any way, Jason Chronis and Matt Simon from Voxtrot are in the band!

Links:
» Voxtrot's Official Site
» Voxtrot's Official MySpace
» Order Voxtrot Merch
» Voxtrot on NPR
» Voxtrot + Sparrow House "Take-away Show" videos by La Blogothèque
» Brazos's Official MySpace
» Tacks, The Boy Disaster's Official MySpace
» Belaire's Official MySpace

~anne

Our 100th post and celebrations of sorts mix!

2007-06-30T18:30:00.000-07:00

Unlike a lot of other blogs, who easily hit their 100th post mark in their first few months without breaking a sweat or computers, Camera Crowd is a blog that has always taken time with their posts and well we like to think that's a good thing. There is enough "stuff" out there on the Internet for you to read and digest and as much as we'd like to shove bands down your throat every day(blogger joke?), we just want to make sure who we post is worthwhile of your time. It's also a good excuse for not letting a blog run our lives and not being on the computer once in awhile.

While we're at it there are a few other minor calls for celebration. This blog was started last year in June and now that the earth has made its way back again, Camera Crowd is now one year old and we hope we'll stay with it and who knows what will happen. Tomorrow is Charlie's 22nd birthday and then on Tuesday it's Anne's 18th birthday!

Now that we got those out of the way, here's a playlist that we've compiled to celebrate these lovely landmarks. All the songs are by the bands/artists we've written in any of the past 99 posts and we've provided a link to the post if you missed it the first time around.

Finally, we'd like to thank you, yes you reading this silly post right now! Thank you for reading whether it be your first time on this blog or your 29374932th time. For readers who've been on here before, we hope we introduced some music you've enjoyed and will continue to or try at least. The big thank you goes to the people who make the music of course, after all, you are the reason why us bloggers are here.

Alright, as always downloads are only available for 7 days!

{You can hear the whole playlist by using the music player below and then you can either download individual songs or the whole playlist. We don't want you wasting summertime by being online all day, so save time while listening: go check your email, facebook, myspace, insert latest social networking obsession...}

{What you're clicking from left to right: click on the song title to download, we use yousendits, so right-click to open in another window/tab. Click on the artist/band name for their MySpace or official site. Click on the » to read past posts we've written on the artist/band. }

Tracklisting:

Concrete Love | Habitat^# »
Now. Now. | St. Vincent ^# »
My Eyes Are Disconnected From My Head Is Disconnected From My Body | Maestro Echoplex ^* »
Cosmia | Joanna Newsom ^# »
5:55 | Charlotte Gainsbourg ^# »
Instead | Ola Podrida ^* »
The Reflection (With Red Hunter) | Sparrow House ^* »
Boa | Eglantine Gouzy ^# »
Elephant Gun | Beirut^* »
Ghost | Voxtrot ^* »

*anne's picks
#charlie's picks

» Download the whole playlist here!

Love, Camera Crowd
(Anne and Charlie)

Ohbijou

2007-06-28T16:49:00.000-07:00

Just like Anne had said, yes, summer is getting to us. I know I promised you guys more write ups around the start off my summer break, but I haven't had the motivation to sit in front of the computer and write. I've been too busy with photography and the world of medium format. I need a blogger's recharge!

To those who know me personally, you know that I have a love/hate relationship with summer, I love being on break but my body hates hot weather and I get sick. So I usually surround myself with cold drinks and songs from artists that remind me of fall/winter. This is where the Canadian seven piece band Ohbijou comes in. Hailing from Toronto, Canada, this seven piece set consists of sisters Casey and Jennifer Mecija, Heather Kirby, James Bunton, Anissa Hart, Ryan Carley and Andrew Kinoshita. Some of their musical instruments of choice includes; a violin, ukelele, trumpet, glockenspiel and mandolin. So before even listening to them, you can already assume that they'll sound like a mini orchestra.

I've been listening to them for almost half a year now ( yes that's how behind I am) and they're easily comparable to other bands out there such as the band Eisley from Texas. But what stands out the most from all the other bands is that Ohbijou uses a wide array of musical instruments and they manage to keep that mature and polished sound intact. It's really an interesting and relaxing feeling when you hear the soft vocals along with the unique instruments mixed together in one song.

They have an album out right now titled Swift Feet For Troubling Times and it keeps my head cool on those hot, and unbearable summer days. If the Fall season was to have a soundtrack, it would be this album. Ohbijou manages to capture that piles of foliage, warm sweater feeling and transport all of it into an orchestra like environment. Fall is months away, but Ohbijou will keep me wishing over and over again for it to be here already.

Download:

The Woods | Ohbijou

St. Francis | Ohbijou

Links:

>> Ohbijou site
<< Myspace ( to listen to more songs, videos)

P.S: To purchase the album, just visit their official site or myspace.

-Charlie

Singled out: Postcard From Kentucky by Rocky Votolato

2007-06-15T13:48:00.000-07:00

This is how I'd like to remember Texas, the way Rocky Votolato sculpts the stories in fly-over states and the ones down low, with swaggering harmonicas, rolling drums, a heart-strumming banjo and a low voice revealing some rare kind of Western wisdom while singing bottom of the bottle songs.

His fifth studio album, The Brag and Cuss following up Makers is full of lost and found sepia-toned sounds of America out West, rootsy, folksy and in every way so darn good to sing along to. I recommend streaming the whole album here, all of songs are warm and wonderful for a lonely summer night. "The Wrong Side of Reno" has won my heart along with "Lilly White", "Silver Trees" and oh the whole album is just a charmer. The eleven track album will drop into stores next Tuesday, June 19th, including the first single "Postcard from Kentucky".

It starts out with Votolato setting up a too familiar scene, "Jack Daniel's in one hand/a basic light in the other/my two best friends for so long/that I can't even remember...." Casey Foubert (Pedro the Lion) on the banjo follows his vocal melody closely and James McAllister (Sufjan Stevens) let the drums stay dry and remain out of the spotlight for this song.

For the most part, the song has an unwavering melody making its familiar rounds with each verse, but there are three certain points when his voice swells with emotion, rising higher above than the repetitive string of notes before, striking the listener most unexpectedly. Even though, it happens multiple times throughout the song, the sudden turn is so genuine that your reaction will remain a wonderful surprise and you'll come to look forward to those larger waves to overwhelm you when the song is played again. The thing with Votolato is that he doesn't come off as a sad sack, he sounds his best when injured and you don't need to have your arm twisted to sit down and join him in the ditch he dug himself in. You sit down, nodding and singing the blues away with him or try to anyways.

Stream + Download + More:

Postcard From Kentucky| Rocky Votolato

Links:

» Rocky Votolato's Official Site
» Stream The Brag and Cuss
» Pre-order/Purchase The Brag and Cuss
» Rocky Votolato's MySpace
» Rocky Votolato's Tour Dates

~anne

Shout Out Louds

2007-06-05T14:23:00.000-07:00

So let's focus our attention on Sweden for a moment. Over the years they've given us a lot and we've overlooked them. Some of our favourite artists have hailed from Sweden; Peter Bjorn and John, Jose Gonzalez, The Cardigans, and ABBA ( I grew up listening to them ;) ). Let's also not forget our beloved Ikea stores, you gotta love those low-cost modern furnitures. Another Swedish product to add to the list is the band Shout Out Louds.

My friend Marina (who's also one of our photobloggers) introduced me to this indie/pop band hailing from Stockholm that's been around since 2001. Let's just say listen to your friends when they recommend a new artist, friends don't let friends listen to awful music, to those who do, you guys are awful! I was instantly hooked after hearing a couple of their songs from their upcoming sophomore album Our Ill Wills which won't come out in North America till September 11th, but is already out now in Sweden. Yeah that's right, September 11th?! No worries though, Shout Out Louds are nice enough to give us a 5 track EP that's out today. It includes the song that got me hooked on them, "Tonight I Have to Leave It", and two other remixes to that song.

Summer has officially started and if you're looking for a band to fall in love with and keep you company this summer, listen to Shout Out Louds. This Swedish group will make you dance and sing along with their distinct European pop sound. The ignorable percussions and the sound of the violin will have you craving for more, I promise. It's definitely what I expected from a Swedish pop band. If you wanna catch these guys on tour this summer, I hope you live in either N.Y, L.A, or San Fran, cause those are the only stops they're making.

Tonight I Have to Leave It | Shout Out Louds

Time Left For Love | Shout Out Louds

Tonight I Have To Leave It EP tracklisting:
1. Tonight I Have to Leave It (album version)
2. Don’t Get Yourself Involved
3. Streams Of Whiskey (w/ The Essex Green)
4. Tonight I Have to Leave It (The Russian Futurists Remix)
5. Tonight I Have to Leave It (Kleerup Remix)

Buy the EP now at Insound.com

Links:
>>> Official Site
<<< Myspace

-Charlie

Camera Crowd's Summer Mix!

2007-05-30T16:21:00.000-07:00

{Click on the song title to download, we use yousendits so right-click to open in another window/tab. We will not re-link these so all the songs on here will only be available for 7 days. You can still stream it though on the music player for as long as you want. Click on the artist/band name for their MySpace or official site!}

Tracklisting:

Here Comes The Sun | The Beatles *
Sunlight Bathed The Golden Glow (Felt Cover) | Voxtrot *
Surfing The Warm Industry | Kashmir #
Beautiful Life | Gui Boratto *
Sunset Beach | The Teenagers *
Get Up Get Out | The Rosebuds #
Seems To Be On My Mind | Suburban Kids With Biblical Names *
Feet Upon The Sand | Nobody & Mystic Chords Of Memory #
Not Going Home | The Elected #
Wanderlust | Björk #

*anne's picks
#charlie's picks

» Download the whole playlist here!

Love, Camera Crowd
(Anne and Charlie)

New Release: Magic Bullets

2007-05-29T14:30:00.000-07:00

Charlie's back! I didn't really go anywhere, the month of May just kept me on my toes and I was swamped with a lot of things, but school's over now and I can get back to writing again so yeah. Okay let's get down to it.

Although you've probably forgotten by now, I introduced Magic Bullets to you guys last November. I fell in love right after I saw them perform with Voxtrot. I've been waiting since then for their debut album to come out. And finally, today is the official worldwide release of, a CHILD but in life yet a DOCTOR in Love. With this release, I can finally enjoy ten simple and short yet powerful songs instead of only three (heatstroke, lay low, new kicks) that were available over six months ago.

The album kicks off with "Yesterday's Seen Better Days", it starts off with a sweet guitar riff that you just want to hear over and over again. Then several of my old favourites follow up after that including "Heatstroke", "Lay low", and my new favourite "Will Scarlett".

It's definitely what I expected from these bay area guys. The album makes you dance, snap your fingers, and bob your head from time to time without breaking a sweat. It's that distinct calm, and collected yet upbeat sound I crave for whenever I'm getting ready to spend a day at San Francisco. Basically, Magic Bullets starts of my day and recharges me just like a can of caffeinated red bull would. Yes, it gives me wings. So please, check them out, they'll be touring the west coast soon.

Yesterday's Seen Better Days | Magic Bullets

Heatstroke | Magic Bullets

Tracklisting:

Yesterday's Seen Better Days
Heatstroke
Lay Low
Will Scarlett
Short Circuit
Circumstances
New Kicks
Tender Throes
Spilled Milk
Spent Nights

Links:
>>> Homepage
<<< Myspace
>>> Purchase the CD ( It's also available on amazon.com and Itunes)

-Charlie