Peter Gabriel and and Hot Chip cover Vampire Weekend

"And it feels so unnatural. Peter Gabriel, too."

With a chorus line like that, how could Peter Gabriel not do a cover of Vampire Weekend track Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa? And with electric keyboard help courtesy of Hot Chip, this is the result:

"It feels so unnatural. Peter Gabriel, too. And it feels so unnatural to sing your own name."

M.I.A. - 'Paper Planes' Slumdog Millionaire remix

Pavement 'Brighten The Corners' reissue

10 years after its initial release comes the Nicene Creedence edition of Pavement's classic album Brighten The Corners. The release comes on 2 discs and consists of a whopping 44 tracks. That's right. 44!

Disc 1 contains a remastered version of the original album, along with remastered unreleased tracks and B-sides.

Disc 2 features B-sides from Shady Lane along with live recordings, with many being unreleased tracks. Full tracklist here.

Shady Lane (directed by Spike Jonze)


Stereo (directed by Jon Kelsey)

Little Joy - No One's Better Sake mp3 and video

It may not being feeling very Summery where you are now, but Little Joy are here to fix all that with their new single No One's Better Sake [mp3]


The video for the new single sees the band timewarp back to the 60s and includes a cameo by a maraca shaking Devendra Banhart:


Little Joy are Fabrizio Moretti from The Strokes, Binki Shapiro and Brazilian musician Rodrigo Amarante. Named after a nearby cocktail lounge, Little Joy's self-titled debut is a little bit Strokes and a little bit Tropicaia... the perfect soundtrack to a lazy Summer.

myspace.com/littlejoymusic

Watch The New Pornographers' Sydney show

Up on Moshcam now is the full 18 song set by The New Pornographers from their gig at The Annandale back in October. Playing tracks from their latest album Challengers, plus a few covers and old favourites, you can watch it all here.

My Rights Versus Yours


A.C. Newman's new solo album, Get Guilty, is out in January. Stay tuned for a new mp3 soon!

Vampire Weekend and Chromeo

Vampire Weekend performed their new single The Kids Don't Stand A Chance with Chromeo at the MTVU Awards, featuring a nice bit of vocoder action half way through.

Tanlines - New Flowers

Tanlines are duo Eric Emm (from production duo Brothers) and Jesse Cohen (Professor Murder). The Brooklyn based duo came to some prominence and notoriety earlier this year with a playful, synth-led remix of Telepathe’s ‘Chromes On It’ [mp3]


Their unique approach to having their music heard includes using YouTube (which they describe as the best record label ever), to post tracks accompanied by self-made videos on their own channel as soon as the songs are done, creating a bizarre, almost psychedelic visual experience of Tanlines music.

They will release their debut 12", New Flowers, in January through Young Turks (Holy Fuck, El Guincho). The Balearic house-meets-Larry Levan’s NYC disco groove track was created when artist Marisa Olson asked them to contribute to the launch of her art book, Poems I Wrote While Listening to the Doors, 1992-1994 (Before I Found The Internet). They took one word from the suggested poem - “flowers”, and created this euphoric (mostly) instrumental track. The video features visual by Marisa.

New Flowers


myspace.com/tanlinestheband

Adele, M.I.A., and Radiohead nominated for Grammys

For her debut album 19, UK's Adele has earned herself 4 Grammy nominations including Best New Artist, with her song Chasing Pavements up for 3 awards (Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance).
Adele - Chasing Pavements [mp3]


Radiohead are up for 7 awards. 3 for album In Rainbows (Album Of The Year, Best Alternative Music Album and Best Boxed Or Special Limited Edition Package), 3 for track House of Cards (Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals, Best Rock Song and Best Short Form Music Video), as well as Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical for Nigel Godrich (Beck, Air, Gnarls Barkley).
House Of Cards


M.I.A. is up against label buddy Adele in the Record Of The Year category for the worldwide smash hit Paper Planes.
M.I.A. - Paper Planes (Afrikan Boy & Rye Rye Remix) [mp3]

Jarvis Cocker performs 'C*nts Are Still Running The World'

A newly bearded Jarvis Cocker recently played at Rough Trade's 30th Anniversary Special. After talking about shopping and Westfield for 5 minutes, he flows into old favourite C*nts Are Still Running The World. Obvious NSFW warning. He drops the C-bomb alot, but what did you expect from the title, anyway?



Jarvis Cocker will be releasing a new album in 2009 through Rough Trade.

New M.I.A. Shells video

OK, so maybe not so much a music video as it is a plug for her latest clothing line.

The video was shot by M.I.A. earlier this year in the Caribbean and features "the real pirate of the Caribbean" Leslie Okley. The woman herself doesn't make an appearance, but there are a couple of dogs getting freaky (and apparently stuck) with each other on the beach.

You can read an interview where M.I.A. talks fashion with Fader here.

Shell features on the expanded edition of Kala, out now.


myspace.com/mia

Charge Group - Lullaby for the Apocalypse video

charge-group.com

Behind the scenes with Koolism: Hip Hop + MMA = ...

In part III of Koolism's BTS footage of the recording of their new album The 'Umu, we see why too much hip hop and 'Mixed Martial Arts' watching don't mix.


Part I (Return of the Mad Scientist) | Part II (The Booth of Truth)

The first single from The 'Umu, out early 2009, is the slinky, soul-stirring number Jam Hot.

Jam Hot [mp3]

Vampire Weekend perform on Late Night With Conan O'Brien

Vampire Weekend perform the track The Kids Don't Stand a Chance from their self-titled debut album on Late Night With Conan O'Brien, complete with string quarter.



And if you haven't already, be sure to check out the footage of a hardcore Ezra with Fucked Up thrashing out some rawk. [video link]

More videos from Fucked Up's marathon show

Recorded at their 12 hour show last month is a performance of Fucked Up covering the Black Flag track Nervous Breakdown.


Also joining Fucked Up on a couple of songs was Ezra from Vampire Weekend who unleashed his inner punk on Blitz and Descendents covers.

Someone's Gonna Die and Parents

Jay Reatard and No Age double bill

Jay Reatard will be teaming up with fellow Laneway Festivaler No Age to put on a couple of double headline shows in January. Tickets on sales this Friday. Dates after the vid.

Jay Reatard blew away audiences during his first Australian tour earlier this year, which pre-empted his debut releases for US indie label Matador. Over the year, Jay released 6 limited edition 7"s that were then put together on the recently released album Matador Singles '08.

The first single released in the series was critically acclaimed album was See/Saw. He has now made his first ever music video for the single:


The 29 Jan – Sydney, Gaelic Theatre w/ No Age
Fri 30 Jan – Melbourne, Corner Hotel w/ No Age
Sat 31 Jan - Brisbane, Laneway Festival
Sun 1 Feb - Melbourne, Laneway Festival
Fri 6 Feb - Perth, Laneway Festival
Sat 7 Feb - Adelaide, Laneway Festival
Sun 8 Feb - Sydney, Laneway Festival

myspace.com/jayreatard

A.C. Newman covers The Go-Betweens

Those of you who went to see The New Pornographers on their national tour last month probably would have heard A.C. Newman make reference to The Go-Betweens. Rather than just talking about them, Newman has gone one step better by performing one of their tracks at a recent solo show at the Bell House in Brooklyn.


A.C. Newman has a new solo album out in January next year entitled Get Guilty. You can download the first single from the album, There Are Maybe Ten Or Twelve, here.

Fucked Up marathon show mini-doco

Last month saw Canada's Fucked Up put on an epic 12 hour show in New York. With guests including Ezra from Vampire Weekend, Moby and Tim Harrington from Les Savy Fav, the event has already become the stuff of legend. A documentary has been created by Rhapsody featuring live footage and interviews with Fucked Up and a few of the many guests that appeared:


Rhapsody also filmed Fucked Up playing a few of the standout tracks from their new album The Chemistry Of Common Life.

Black Albino Bones and Twice Born


Crooked Head

Unattainable video by Little Joy

Amother gorgeous Little Joy video, this time for Gorilla Vs Bear, of 'Unattainable'.


Little Joy | "Unattainable" from gorillavsbear.net on Vimeo.

Shearwater Tiny Desk Concert for NPR

NPR in the States just can't get enough of Shearwater. They have streamed and archived a full live concert and had them in for a studio session. And earlier this week they had them perform a Tiny Desk Concert which you can enjoy here:



Shearwater's album Rook is out now through Matador/ Remote Control.

Little Joy 'Next Time Around' video

From Pitchfork TV, opening track 'The Next Time Around' from little Joy's self-titled debut album

St Vincent announced for Sydney Festival

The inimitable Annie Clarke will be returning to our shores for a run of three shows at Sydney Festival in January 2009.

A touring member of Sufjan Steven's band, Annie performed a one off show with My Brightest Diamond for a lucky Melbourne audience but the rest of the country missed out. Not this time, fingers crossed. She will be performing three shows in at The Famous Spiegeltent for Sydney Festival. No news yet on other side shows just yet but fingers and toes are crossed.

ST VINCENT
Fri 16 Jan – Sydney, Sydney Festival Spiegeltent
Sat 17 Jan – Sydney, Sydney Festival Spiegeltent
Sun 18 Jan – Sydney, Sydney Festival Spiegeltent

If you haven't picked up a copy of St Vincent's debut album 'Marry Me', now would be a great time to seek it out.

St Vincent "Now, Now" [6MB]
mp3 (from Marry Me)

And the fantastic Dumbo Sessions videos including a stunning performance of the Jackson Browne penned 'These Days' (originally recorded by Nico)



And if you just can't get enough of the gorgeous Annie Clarke here are some great polaroids that the peeps at Gorilla vs Bear recently took at Fun Fun Fun Fest.

Emiliana Torrini charges up and makes the big jump to Australia

Just a quick reminder than Emiliana Torrini returns to Australia this weekend, with full band in tow.

Sun 16 Nov – Brisbane, Powerhouse Theatre w/ Charge Group
Mon 17 Nov – Sydney, Metro Theatre w/ Charge Group
Tue 18 Nov – Melbourne, Forum w/ Charge Group
Thu 20 Nov – Perth, Fly By Night w/ Abbe May

Here's some live footage of Emiliana and the band performing "Jungle Drum" just last month. Turn it up!



And just announced, Charge Group will be supporting at all shows except Perth (where she will be supported by Abbe May)

Belles Will Ring new mini-lp out now, and a video of how they did it

Broader Than Broadway, the new mini album by Australia’s Belles Will Ring, is in the nicest of ways the end result of a series of 'happy accidents', which saw Belles adeptly harness their creative energy [and mishaps] to shape a cohesive new record.

Self-produced over a six month period, once again at Three Shades Green (aka Liam Judson’s parents lounge room) Broader Than Broadway contains all of the sprawling sound scapes of Belles' debut album Mood Patterns.

The introduction of Aidan Roberts (lead guitarist) to shared song writing credits has consolidated the chemistry of Belles Will Ring, creating a diverse, refined, and unified direction as a 4 piece.

2008 has seen the band expand its song writing and production credits both in and away from Belles Will Ring. Drummer, Ivan Lisyak shares the same duties for Sydney quartet The Paper Scissors. Vocalist Liam Judson has been fine-tuning his producing skills on the new Lovetones LP, while lending his guitar playing and songwriting skills to Sister Jane and The Late Night Sound. Guitarist Aidan Roberts has delivered an acclaimed debut under his Maple Trail moniker. The musical adventures of the band's individual members has delivered significant progress and maturity for Belles Will Ring on this release... with many more to follow.

In the meantime, the band have lovingly prepared this little video on how Broader Than Broadway came together:



myspace.com/belleswillring

Jenny Lewis on Letterman (And Acid)

Jenny Lewis played Letterman on November 3 and Mr Elvis Costello turned up to duet on the track Carpetbaggers. Elvis guests on Miss Jenny’s new album Acid Tongue, as do M Ward, Chris Robinson (of The Black Crows) and Zooey Deschanel. Oh and given how late Letterman is shown on TV here in Australia we couldn’t have been the only ones to be amused when old Dave held the front cover of the album up to the camera… a giant sheet of acid.

M.I.A. and Jay-Z Soundclash!

Riding high on the success of Paper Plans, which has blasted out of the underground and in to the US Top 5, M.I.A. is keeping the heat on.



Just in time for the US election she released the digital EP How Many Votes Fix Mix, featuring a remix of Boyz featuring Jay-Z and two unreleased tracks: "Shells" and "Far Far."



M.I.A is also rumoured to be working on her next album, said to be named after the UK government’s scheme for the unemployed, N.E.E.T. (Not in Education, Employment, or Training). Maya is also working with non-profit Youth Action International to rebuild the Becky Primary School in Liberia, assisting in the provision of more classrooms, a computer lab, a new playground, a library, and free tuition for all.



Meanwhile hip-hop artist T.I. has hooked up with rap stars Kanye West, Jay-Z, and Lil Wayne, sampling "Paper Planes" for his own track, "Swagga Like Us."



And if that ain’t enough for the pregnant superstar, M.I.A. has a collaboration of her own, working with Blaqstarr to cover Tom Wait’s “Way Down In The Hole”, the song featured in the opening credits to the smash TV show The Wire. The video is rumoured to have cost a staggering $9.95 to make!

Monkey: Journey to the West - new video and remix competition

A short film for Monkey Bee - the single from Journey to the West has made its debut.

Created and directed by Jamie Hewlett (the man behind Gorillaz and Tank Girl), Monkey Bee is a mixture of Chinese 1970’s spaghetti western, meets Korean horror movie, meet’s the much beloved original Monkey TV series.

Fans of Hewlett’s numerous Gorillaz videos should enjoy his first live action outing. Conjuring up images of legendary battles and adversity, we find Monkey trying to cross the volcano fields of Princess Iron Fan. Monkey needs her magic fan in order to cool the hot molten fields but the Princess refuses and an epic battle ensues, throwing first trained assassins and then a colossal army of volcano soldiers his way in a desperate attempt to thwart his journey.

Shot on 35mm film over three days in London, Monkey Bee stars members of the Journey to the West live opera cast. A team of modellers, animators, compositors and vfx artists have since worked for 8 weeks to combine the live action, animation and special effects, and deliver the first Monkey film:



A Monkey Bee video remix contest is also being held, with the makers of the film offering a trove of clips, backdrops, green screens and visuals straight from the editor's suite so you create create your own version of the Monkey Bee film. More details about the competition here.

monkeyjourneytothewest.com
Monkey youtube

In the studio with Deerhunter

Pitchfork.tv takes a look into the making of Deerhunter's just released album Microcastle, recorded at the Rare Book Room Studio in Brooklyn.

Part 1


Part 2 (features a picture of the male anatomy at the start, care of Microcastle contributor Cole Alexander of the Black Lips, so maybe a bit NSFW...)


myspace.com/deerhunter

M.I.A's 'Paper Planes' covered by Built To Spill

Recorded live in Rome. You can watch the full performance of Paper Planes here (sound and video quality not as good).

Introducing Aaron Thomas

Aaron Thomas was born in Tasmania and raised in Sydney. Aaron’s stepfather Lonnie Lee - who had numerous #1 hits in Australia during the early 60's - taught him to play the guitar and introduced him to a world of singing and performance.

Having moved to Europe and LA as a teenager where he performed solo shows, he now lives in Madrid. His new album Follow The Elephants has received wide acclaim in the Spanish and Portuguese music press, Aaron recently winning Spain’s most coveted music competition, Villa de Bilbao, taking out the prizes for Best National Band and Best Pop/Rock Ensemble. One of his recent concerts was broadcast in its entirety on the most popular music show on Spanish television.

Follow The Elephants is a collection of raw and honest material that speaks of the harshness that comes with being a stranger far from home, of the ups and downs of life in general and the frustration of big cities. Songs about relationships, family, distant friends and love.

Kill This City [mp3]


Follow The Elephants will be released in Australia on November 8th. Aaron will be returning to Australia to tour over Summer.

We Don't Care (Live at Los Conciertos de Radio 3)


myspace.com/aaronthomasband

Charge Group 'Escaping Mankind' tour

"A gorgeous, unequivocal piece of musical excellence." The Brag

Sydney quartet Charge Group take to the road through late October and November in support of their highly praised debut album Escaping Mankind.

Recorded by the band and producer Wayne Connolly over numerous session and in various locations, the album is distinctive for its lush instrumentation of strings, flutes and percussion. This - coupled with the unique vocals of singer Matt Blackman (ex-Purplene) - carries this brave and beautiful collection of tunes out of the traditional rock/pop arena and into an untouched, often desolate yet distinctly Australian sonic territory.

TOUR DATES

Thu Oct 30 - Brisbane, The Troubadour w/ Tragic/Athletic + Chalk and Cheese
Fri Oct 31 - Fremantle, Mojo's w/ Felicity Groom and the Black Black Smoke + Benedict Moleta Band + Apricot Rail
Sat Nov 1 - Perth, Hyde Park w/ The Tigers + The Leap Year
Thu Nov 6 - Melbourne, Northcote Social Club w/ Kes Band + Aleks & The Ramps
Fri Nov 7 - Sydney, Hopetoun w/ Pikelet (Melb) + The Dead Sea
Sat Nov 15 - Newcastle, Northern Star w/ The Understudy

Lunar Module (live @ Super-8 Diaries launch - Melbourne)


Vice'd [mp3]


Escaping Mankind is out now. The iTunes version of the album features a bonus instrumental version of Vice'd.

myspace.com/chargegroupmusic

Friendly Fires remixed

Friendly Fires' dancefloor favourite Paris has been remixed by Belgium's Aeroplane, who were recently in Australia and have remixed MGMT and Cut Copy. The original track is taken from Friendly Fires' self-titled album, which also features Jump In The Pool and On Board.

Paris (Aeroplane Remix)


You can download the mp3 at The Tripwire.

German techno producer Justus Köhncke has also remixed the single. Download it at The Fader.
Paris (Justus Köhncke Remix)


The UK trio recently performed Paris on Later With Jools Holland. They are currently touring the US with Lykke Li and will appear at CMJ as one of this year's 'must see' bands.

Paris (Live on Later With Jools Holland)


Paris (Official video)


myspace.com/friendlyfires

M.I.A. - Paper Planes remix and Pitchfork interview

M.I.A. took time out at the Diesel party last week to chat to Pitchfork about her pregnancy ("I got engaged first. Then I got pregnant, kids."), the accustations of her being a terrorist, her upcoming cover of Tom Waits' 'Way Down in the Hole', the success that came from the appearance of Paper Planes on the Pineapple Express trailer and her not so quiet "retirement".

Part 1


Part 2


Just released is the expanded version of M.I.A's latest album Kala, featuring 6 bonus tracks. Included on the bonus disc is the Paper Planes Afrikan Boy & Rye Rye remix. A protege of M.I.A, Rye Rye is an American rapper and the first signee to M.I.A.'s new music label N.E.E.T.

Paper Planes (Afrikan Boy & Rye Rye Remix) [mp3]




myspace.com/mia