Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Once you start a hugely popular band called Gorillaz, you instantly earn jurisdiction over all things simian. That’s gotta be the thinking behind Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett’s new project, Monkey: Journey to the West – a “circus opera” based on an ancient Chinese legend.
An animated version of the tale popped up during the BBC’s Beijing Olympics coverage, and now the soundtrack to the opera is available as well – and I highly recommend it. It’s got that quality Gorillaz-style production value with delightfully incomprehensible Chinese lyrics. For a taste, check out the music video to the track “Monkey Bee” after the jump.
Monkey: Journey to the West
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Monday, October 27, 2008
If you ever think to yourself, “Man, I love reggae, but why does it always have to be so focused on those damn goys,” then have I got the artist for you. Matisyahu is a hasidic Jewish reggae artist whose songs focus on traditional Jewish teachings.
Sure, it can be easy to dismiss this sort of genre cooptation as a gimmick (I’m looking at you, Rasta Man), Mastisyahu has received critical acclaim and was named top reggae artist of 2006 by Billboard. Having seen him live twice now, I can definitely say that his live stuff is better than his studio albums; on stage he is a dancing ball of Old Testament vivacity.
That is why I was so pumped to find out that Matisyahu Live had released a free album. Check out the link below for the free album and if you like what you hear check out his earlier stuff (for my money his first album, Live at Stubbs, is his best). If the Jewish thing doesn’t appeal to you, hey, free album!.
Matisyahu Live at Eagles Club in Milwaukee
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Icelandic phenoms Sigur Rós are back with a new album, Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust. (I believe the English translation is Chinese Democracy.)
Apparently, the band felt that their ethereal symphonic jams still weren’t going to connect with the mass American audiences, so they teamed up with Brooklyn photographer Ryan McGinley (website, not work safe) to stick some naked teenagers on their album cover (seen slightly altered above) and throughout their new music video.
Playful nudity aside, the album is great. You can listen to the whole thing for free via newfangled widget technology after the jump.
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Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Some call the Raconteurs a Jack White glamour project. Others call it his escape from Meg-induced mediocrity. Regardless, anything that allows Mr. White to whale away on his guitar for an hour is A-OK in our book.
That’s reason number one that it’s so awesome the Raconteurs announced their new album last night, entitled Consolers of the Lonely. Reason number two is that they announced it would be available next Tuesday, March 25th. That’s just one week. Apparently the ten days notice Radiohead gave In Rainbows simply wasn’t cool enough.
The album will be available every format (CD, mp3 and vinyl) at once, and though the band really wants you to grab the whole thing, it’ll be available as single tracks from iTunes and the like. The first video, for “Salute Your Solution,” is due to drop on the same day as the 14 track album.
The immediate gratification that short notice provides is phenomenal. Nothing was more painful than the May to August wait between Kanye West’s “Stronger” song leak and the Graduation album leak. Get prepared, people: in the future, you won’t realize an album’s out until it suddenly appears on your iPod and everyone already hates it.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Remember how incredibly lame those Japanese musical roads turned out to be? Well, your antidote has arrived. An LP box set examined by Boing Boing today comes with a little battery operated Mini that drives around the record’s tracks and plays the audio through the onboard speaker.
Awesome right? Of course, it’s probably going to sound like tinny crap, but face it: you’re not making a big show out of vinyl records for the sound.
The “Vinyl Killer” cars actually aren’t new, but it’s the first time they’ve shrunk it into an oh-so-trendy Mini. The car is available without the random LPs for the low low price of 9800 yen, or about ninety bucks. No word on how much eighth-inch rims cost. Video of the Beastie Boys pumping through a Vinyl Killer van after the jump.
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