violens on the streets

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CMJ wrapped up in New York City last week and one of the bands to make an impression was Violens. On November 9, the NYC trio releases its debut LP, Amoral, a clever pastiche of new romanticism and psychedelia.

Frontman Jorge Elbrecht brings with him an underground following as a former member of the art-rock collective Lansing-Dreiden. Here, his songwriting takes on a sunnier, janglier tone. "Full Collision" for example:




The single "Acid Reign" preceded the album by several months and generated some buzz thanks to its pop appeal and propulsive backbeat:




Current single "Violent Sensation Descends" comes with a Halloween inspired video, complete with masked priests and a zombie bride:




Have an excellent All Hallow's Eve everyone...

conjuring team ghost

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For those of us who enjoy a nice walk down memory lane, M83's Saturdays=Youth is a blissful reminder of new wave days gone by. For those who follow M83 closely, 2003's Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts is the essential album in the band's canon.

After that album's tour, founding members Anthony Gonzalez and Nicolas Fromageau split, leaving Gonzalez to carry on alone. Now, six years later, Fromageau has resurfaced as Team Ghost.

Debut EP You Never Did Anything Wrong To Me was released back in April, and a follow-up EP, Celebrate What You Can't See, arrived earlier this month.

The sound of Team Ghost doesn't reside far from M83; perhaps in a darker corner of the same shoegaze/dream pop cul-de-sac. Take the latest EP's majestic opener, "High Hopes":

High Hopes by oldwaver


There's certainly a soundtrack quality to Team Ghost, wonderfully exemplified in this unofficial video for "Signs & Wonders":




Team Ghost's first EP showed more of Fromageau's pop side. "A Glorious Time" is quite reminiscent of dream pop Danes, Mew:




Kinda makes you want to stare out the classroom window at a passing rainstorm. Or something.

get down with the baseball boogie

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The World Series begins tonight, with an epic pitching matchup between former Cy Young winners Cliff Lee and Tim Lincecum. And whether it's the Texas Rangers or San Francisco Giants who ultimately win the series, baseball will have a first-time champion*.

To celebrate the Fall Classic, let's all enjoy "The Baseball Boogie" brought to you by The Baseball Boogie Bunch — otherwise known as the 1986 L.A. Dodgers:




By the way, the '86 Dodgers finished 73 - 89, good for 5th place in the then-six-team NL West. Not exactly the payoff of the Super Bowl Shuffle.


* The New York Giants won five titles, the last of which was in 1954. The franchise moved to California prior to the 1958 season, so it would be the first championship for San Francisco Giants fans. Just to clear that up.

robert smith covers crystal castles

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Well, not exactly. Crystal Castles covered Platinum Blonde's "Not In Love" on the quite good Crystal Castles II. Now the Canadian duo have enlisted the great Robert Smith to lend his vocals to a new version of the track.

The single will be released via Fiction on December 6, but it's making the rounds today. It's certainly more electronic than anything The Cure has ever done, but Robert's plaintive voice just fits:




For reference, here's the album version with the heavily effected vocals of producer Ethan Kath:




And just for grins, here's the original source material. Ladies and gentlemen, Platinum Blonde:



Yes, that was real.

tron, starring daft punk

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As mentioned last week, Tron Legacy beams into theaters December 17.

The week prior, Daft Punk's sure-to-be-amazing official soundtrack will be released.

So far, all we've heard is a clip of "Derezzed", but today a new trailer hit the web that features a bit more of the song and cameos from Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter:



Did I mention it's in 3D? The midnight premieres might smell a little skunky.

congratulations again

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MGMT fans who were disappointed by the prog-leaning follow-up to Oracular Spectacular will no doubt enjoy a new disco rework of the album's title track.

London DJ/Producer Erol Alkan took the sleepy, twinkly "Congratulations" and added an adrenaline injection bassline. The result is a surprisingly organic sounding track:

MGMT - Congratulations (Erol Alkan Rework) RADIO EDIT by Erol Alkan


MGMT will release it as a vinyl 7" on November 23, packaged with a 20-page illustrated storybook. Perhaps it will explain what the hell this is:




For yet another version, check out this live performance from the Jimmy Kimmel Show last week:




And if you just can't get enough of "Congratulations", MGMT showed up on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic last week too:



Okay, that's enough for now.

prettier hate machine

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Last Friday, Trent Reznor announced a November 22 release date for a remastered version of his Nine Inch Nails debut, Pretty Hate Machine.

In addition to new cover art and the inclusion of Queen cover "Get Down, Make Love", the reissue features what Reznor calls a "greatly improved sonic experience." It seems the original mixes were found and Reznor went into the studio with engineer Tom Baker to "polish it up a bit."

If you haven't given it a listen lately, or you only remember Reznor's more industrial "fuck you like an animal" days, you owe it to yourself to revisit this 1989 classic.

"Head Like A Hole" may have been the big single, but I always preferred the initial single, "Down In It":




Another favorite is "That's What I Get", seen here from the long out-of-print concert film "Live Hate 90":




And just in time for Halloween, here's a video mashup of "Ringfinger" with a scene from 80's horror flick Night of the Demons:



By the way, if Night of the Demons teaches us anything, please don't party at an abandoned funeral parlor this Halloween. Thank you.

bryan ferry wants you to take your clothes off

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As a young waver, I didn't really know much about Roxy Music. Still don't, to be quite honest. But what I did know is that Avalon, Roxy Music's 1982 masterpiece, was the waver equivalent of Marvin Gaye's Let's Get It On.

Something about the soft textures, sultry backup singers and Ferry's mournfully aroused voice just perfectly set the mood for awkward teen intimacy.

Next Tuesday, Ferry returns with Olympia — his first new album since 2002. And it could just as easily be filed under Roxy Music with appearances from Phil Manzanera, Andy Mackay and even Brian Eno.

The album is chock full of guest stars too, such as Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour, Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead, Mani of The Stone Roses and Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. And yes, that's Kate Moss on the cover.

So with all that firepower, is the album any good? "Shameless" hints that Ferry still has some vitality left:

Shameless by oldwaver


Unfortunately, most of the time he tries too hard to capture the sensuality that used to come so effortlessly. It's definitely not an album to get lost in...  there are too many dead ends along the way.

But you've got to give it to the man, even at 65 he looks good and sure knows how to cast a video:

daft punk: tron, phoenix and madison square garden

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The release date of Daft Punk's Tron: Legacy Soundtrack has been pushed back to December 7, and the film will hit theaters the following week on December 17. Meanwhile, Daft Punk and Tron nerds — like myself — are clinging to every nugget of information parsed out along the way.

Today comes the reveal of the most excellent glow-in-the-dark Daft Punk movie poster, available for pre-order at the Tron soundtrack site.

And if you haven't heard it yet, there's this hidden snippet of the soundtrack you can access by typing "derezzed" while on the site's homescreen:

Daft Punk - "Derezzed" (From The Tron Legacy Score) by Some Kind of Awesome

Thanks to Some Kind of Awesome for that.

But the biggest news of the day is Daft Punk's guest appearance at the Phoenix Madison Square Garden show last night. They joined their fellow Frenchmen for a mashup of "1901", "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” and “Around The World”.

Check out the homage to Close Encounters, reprise of "1901" and curtain call in this incredible clip:



Quite a confluence of awesome...

super furry shark ridden waters

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This is an actual conversation had at a Starbucks whilst wearing a Super Furry Animals shirt: 

Clerk:  "Super Furry Animals?!"

Me:     "It's the name of a band."

Clerk:  "Oh, you have a band?"

Me:     "No, they're from Wales."

Clerk:  "Whales ain't furry!"

I tell this story to awkwardly lead into the latest offering from SFA frontman Gruff Rhys. Yesterday on his personal website, otherwise known as The Gruffington Post, Gruff posted a download of "Shark Ridden Waters".

Available for the price of an email address, it's a jaunty little number that edges his solo work back toward the psychedelic territory occupied by his proper band:

Shark Ridden Waters by oldwaver


If you like it, here's a quick way to get it:

And if you're wondering what's up with the Chewbacca costumes in the photo, here you go:

warpaint's time has arrived

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With a buzz that has steadily grown over the past two years, the young ladies of Warpaint are about to break out with the release of The Fool next week.

Assured and accomplished for a debut, it's the culmination of a six year rise through the Los Angeles music scene.

As you might expect, some showbiz types have had a hand in their development — actress Shannyn Sossamon and current Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer are both former members, and their 2008 EP, Exquisite Corpse, was produced by former Chili Pepper John Frusciante.

But don't let that sway you..  there are no Flea guest bass solos. Warpaint sound a little bit like 90's shoegazers Lush and are packaged like an indie version of the Bangles.

See for yourself in the video for lead single "Undertow":




The track that immediately grabbed my attention was the eponymous "Warpaint":


wrpaint by oldwaver


For a little more snarl and attitude, here's the video for "Elephants" off Exquisite Corpse:




Currently on tour with indie darlings the xx, prepare yourself to see the warpainted faces of these comely lasses on the cover of Rolling Stone real soon.

massive attack: the video game

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The trip-hop pioneers returned this year with a strong effort, Heligoland. They're also set to release a follow-up EP to benefit the War Child charity, featuring a remix of album track "Atlas Air" and an unreleased track with Elbow's Guy Garvey on vocals called "Redlight".

Included with digital versions will be the following video, seen here courtesy of Pitchfork. It's directed by French filmmaker Edouard Salier, who creates a virtual world in which the object apparently is to destroy everything:




It continues the theme from the "Splitting The Atom" video, which introduced us to the sinister, shapeshifting Easter bunny:





Massive Attack are currently on tour with Thievery Corporation, a pretty massive bill if you're into that sort of thing.

trip with tame impala

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Australia's Tame Impala have garnered a healthy blog following since the release of their debut album, Innerspeaker, back in May. The album was mixed by former Mercury Rev bassist Dave Fridmann, who is best known for his work with The Flaming Lips and MGMT.

It's an interesting cross between the neo-psychedilia of say Super Furry Animals and the earnestly authentic psych-rock of fellow Aussies Wolfmother.

Check out the rolling drums and dripping reverb on "Alter Ego":

Tame Impala - Alter Ego by defacto


Lead single "Solitude Is Bliss" has a lovely guitar riff and a pretty random video. Don't worry, he didn't really punch the dog:





Finally, take some Dramamine and enjoy the video for "Lucidity". Shot outside Melbourne, the band are only in it for the first few frames before the weather balloon mounted camera launches into the stratosphere.

After a dizzying ascent, the balloon pops and the camera parachutes back to earth, eventually becoming prey to a very confused eagle:




Here's hoping you have a blissed out weekend.

robert smith through the years

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Perhaps the most unifying band amongst old wavers is The Cure. Even if you think Depeche Mode are too wussy or you can't stand Morrissey's croon, you can get behind Robert Smith.

Hard to believe Disintegration has turned 20 years old, and The Cure have been at it since 1976.

Robert has thrown down some looks in that time - evolving from a fresh-faced post-punk kid to a fright-wigged crossdresser.














But no matter what he's wearing, Robert Smith has created some of the most timeless music of our era. Let's begin in 1979, with a French TV performance of "At Night", which would later become known as "A Forest":





Fast forward to 1982. Fresh off the release of Pornography, they're back in Paris for a TV performance of "The Hanging Garden":





Just a couple years later, in 1985, the goth has turned to pop on the Head On The Door tour featuring "In Between Days":





We'll end with Robert in his prime. It's 1990, Disintegration is at the top of the charts, and the Cure are full-on arena rock stars:




Now go home tonight and watch this: The Cure: Trilogy - Live In Berlin. You're welcome.

extend your hand to blank dogs

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Mike Sniper is a typical Brooklyn auteur. He created a mysterious alter-ego and distributed cassettes and CD-Rs of his bedroom tapes. He made friends and played gigs with fellow hipsters like Crystal Stilts and Vivian Girls. He formed his own record label, Captured Tracks.

And yesterday, he released his 3rd full-length album under the Blank Dogs moniker, Land And Fixed.

While incredibly prolific and adept at manufacturing hype, Sniper has yet to connect beyond his inner indie circle. With his latest effort, he cleans up the low-fi production value and concocts a warped, but slightly more inclusive sense of new wave nostalgia.

At times reminiscent of latter day Wire, Sniper's off-kilter, monotone delivery is either a focal point or a deal breaker.  Take "Collides" for example:

collides by oldwaver

With Blank Dogs, multi-instrumentalist Sniper often will take a Cure-style walk along the bassline — or in the case of "All Around", emulate New Order and Joy Division's Peter Hook:

all around by oldwaver

Overall, Blank Dogs are an acquired taste...  but if you think Brooklyners are the arbiters of awesome then you'd best get to downloadin'.