So Saturdays MP3 and something a little more upbeat to get you in the mood for the long weekend (and the vinny club album launch which your all going to i presume).
So heres a nice slice of indie dance punk( is that even a genre) in the form of Moving Units. The band was formed in 2001 by Chris Hathwell, Blake Miller, and Johan Boegli, when Hathwell’s previous band, Festival of Dead Deer, broke up. They released their debut EP, Moving Units, on Three One G in early 2002.

MP3>Moving Units - X And Y


Another Mp3 tomorrow

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The hangover mix this weekend to get you through the bank holiday weekend comes from the record collection of Menomena , i saw Menomena a while back in the sugar club and what a show they put on i was completely blow away.
In case you dont know who Menomena are, Menomena are an experimental rock band from Portland, Oregon, made up of Brent Knopf on guitar, keyboards, glockenspiel; Justin Harris on bass, guitar, baritone sax and alto sax; and Danny Seim on percussion. All members of the band share singing duties.

tracklisting and all the other stuff in the read more

Tracklisting

1. The Good, The Bad, and the Queen - "Herculean"
2. J Dilla - "Workinonit"
3. The Ruby Suns - "Ole Rinka"
4. Santogold - "Lights Out"
5. The Helio Sequence - "The Captive Mind"
6. Portishead - "The Rip"
7. Yeasayer - "Germs"
8. El Guincho - "Antillas"
9. Roxy Music - "Amazona"
10. Quinn Walker - "Chicken Wire"

Click here to go to download page

Now some Menomena videos first two are live vids recorded in Juan's Basement for Plum TV in Brooklyn, NY.

Menomena - Weird


Menomena - Muscle'n Flo


Menomena - "Evil Bee"


i would really recommend the album Friend and Foe by Menomena to people , it has some amazing tracks on it and one of the most original and inventive cover i have ever seen

Menomena myspace page

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According to the new video for the excellent 'Electric Feel', MGMT throw really weird parties.



If you haven't done it yet, I recommend you check out their album, Oracular Spectacular, which is quite badass. Read the egoeccentric review here.

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Some great gigs this weekend, so the weekend in poster-form in the read more:

Friday Abam album launch


Saturday the vinny club album launch


Sunday Horse the band

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Melvins and Mike Patton have been announced as joint curators of All Tomorrow's Parties Nightmare Before Christmas festival in December.

The line-up so far:

Curated by Melvins,
Melvins
Isis
Neil Hamburger
Dalek
Big Business

Curated by Mike Patton
Fantômas perform The Director's Cut
The Locust
Zu

will post more of the line up as its announced
The event takes place December 5-7 at Butlins Holiday Camp, Minehead
(this has made me so happy ive been getting sick all day with a stomach bug but this news has made my day)
so i guess the MP3 for today has to be Fantômas Melvins Big Band and im so happy its gonna be two Mp3s

MP3>Fantômas Melvins Big Band - The Bit


MP3>Fantômas Melvins Big Band - cape fear

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So if you've seen the new Weezer video for "Pork and Beans" then you're probably asking yourself the question above. If you haven't already seen it then check it out right here:



Some of the folk may appear familiar to you. Some may not. All of them are Internet viral video stars. People who are famous for having some shit video or other of theirs on Youtube or likewise which is then passed around and around until the whole world nows about it. Not sure whether to give kudos to Weezer for coming up with a great idea for a video or to bitch slap them for giving these freaks more time than their worth. Check out the "Canada on Strike" episode of South Park to see Trey and Matt's take on the phenomenon.

Anyway. For all of you scratching your head going "What the fuck?" I have assembled a breakdown of the video. A who's-who of internet freaks.

Click on the read more to be introduced.





Most of these people had no idea they would become stars. A lot of the videos are home movie footage and are often very short and poor quality.



1. "00:00" Canon Rock - Jeong-Hyun Lim

Brian Bell sits down in an ordinary looking bedroom and starts to play the opening riff to "Pork and Beans". The other members of Weezer appear in the other 4 corners of the screen. The room is designed to look like that of Jeong-Hyun Lim a south Korean kid who recorded his own heavy rock version of Pacelbel's canon and stuck it on Youtube. Link.



2. "00:16" Gary Brolsma - Numa Numa Guy
In the top right hand corner the feed is interrupted by this guy. Famous for recording himself miming dramatically along to a song called "Dragostea din tei" by Moldovan pop band O-Zone. Here.





3. "00:16" Dramatic Chipmunk
One of the band members faces is super-imposed over the so-called dramatic chipmunk's (actually a prairie dog) a rodent famous for pulling a dramatic expression on a Japanese TV show. Link.





4. "00:22" Afro Ninja
Cut to a shot of a black dude with an afro and some nunchuks. Famous for twatting himself by landing arse-ways from his flip. Link.





5. "00:30" Experiment 711 - Diet Coke and Mentos
Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz's video of them adding mentos to diet coke which causes an eruption of cola. These eruptions take place in the background of Weezer's live performance throughout the video. Link.





6. "00:38" G.I. Joe - Public service announcement pisstakes.
A company called Fensler Films took the public service announcements that used to be shown at the end of the G.I. Joe cartoon (similar ones were at the end of MASK, He-Man and many other 80's cartoons and redubbed them with completely surreal voices that made little to no fucking sense. You can get all of the parodies seperately on Youtube but for the sake of ease somebody has mixed the lot of them together into Parts 1 and Parts 2.





7. "00:47" Guinness world record for most T-Shirts worn
In 2006 Matt McAllister put on 155 t-shirts to become the world record holder. Weezer bassist Scott Shriner recreates it here. See if you can spot whats on his t-shirts. Original video is here.





8. "00:59" Chris Crocker - Leave Britney Alone
Youtube blogger who got exceptionally emotional about Britney's treatment in the press. Started crying and ranting to the camera. Result: Instant celebrity. Jesus Wept. Original Leave Britney Alone here.





9. "01:03" All your base are belong to us
One of the first internet viral video's. The opening Cutscene of the game "Zero Wing" for the Sega Megadrive featured a very very bad Japanese-English translation. The line "We have taken over all of your bases" was translated as "All your base are belong to us" and for some reason in early 2001 people latched onto this and ran with it in very interesting ways. Check out what I mean at the end of the original footage here.





10. "01:10" Caitlin Upton - Miss Teen America South Carolina
In the Miss Teen America pageant last year Miss South Carolina Caitlin Upton was asked the question "Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can't locate the U.S. on a world map. Why do you think this is?" Her answer made absolutely no fucking sense but is priceless none the less. Check out for the guest appearance by none other than AC Slater from Saved by the Bell. Link.





11. "01:13" Ryan V Dorkman
Miss Teen America's microphone turns into a light-sabre based on this Star Wars fan video made by Ryan Wieber and Michael "Dorkman" Scott. Its quite an impressive video and the battle is certainly better than the one between Luke and Vader in both Empire and Jedi. Link.





12. "01:27" Judson Laipply - Evolution of Dance
Motivational speaker Judson Laipply created this, admittedly impressive, routine to finish off his talks. Was previously the most viewed video on Youtube with over 86 million views until it was beaten by the video for CSS's "Music is my hot hot sex". Link.





13. "01:29" Tay Zonday - Chocolate Rain
Singer Tay Zonday's interesting vocal stylings made chocolate rain a very watched vid on Youtube. Link.






14. "01:38" Keven Federline - Popazao
Kevin Federline a.k.a. K-Fed a.k.a. Mr Ex-Britney Spears sitting at a mixing desk listening to one of his (shite tracks). The footage in the Weezer video is the original footage so seemingly they couldn't get K-Fed to recreate his vid. Link.





15. "01.47" Daft Hands
Some punter writes the lyrics to Daft Punk's "Harder Better Faster Stronger" on his hands and does his own little performance art. Link.





16. "01.52" Daft Bodies
Same concept as Daft Hands. Two girls write the lyrics on their bodies and perform. At the end of this segment the dancers lift off their helmets to reveal they're "actually" Brian Bell and Scott Shriner. Link.





17. "02.06" Kicesie Sex Education
Some random chick does sex advice on her Youtube video blog. Link.







18. "02:28" Liam Kyle Sullivan - Shoes
Comedian and actor Liam Kyle Sullivan makes a bunch of Internet skits some decent, all weird. Shoes being the most famous. Link.





19. "2.37" The whole she-bang
Crocker pulls away his curtain and reveals a large room with all the previous entries and some extra all doing their thing while Weezer play in Black leather.
"Stars" that appear in the mish-mash include:





Star Wars Kid

Dancing Banana ("Its Peanut Butter Jelly-Time")

CGI Donald Duck

Soulja Boy

UFO's in Haiti(impressive looking hoax. Not convincing but impressive)

Sneezing Panda (possibly cutest thing ever)

Charlie the Unicorn (possibly weirdest cartoon video ever)

Will it blend? (A series of Viral Promotional videos for the blender company Blendtec to promote their blenders. Throughout the series they blend such random objects as Golf Balls, A copy of Grand Theft Auto IV and in THIS video he blends a copy of the new Weezer album and a tin of Pork and Beans)

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Spinal Tap's Nigel Tufnel has done an interview/advertisement with National Geographic on his theories about the mysterious origins of Stonehenge:



Parts 2-5 in the read more..

Part 2:


Part 3:


Part 4:


Part 5:

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Jape's long awaited third album, Ritual, is due out on June 9th, and seeing as this song is entitled Graveyard, it's as good an excuse as any to get all gothed-up:




Via the wonderful State.

Don't forget Jape plays the Future Days fest on June 14, and Electric Picnic in August. Tickets for both here.

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If like me you think that Chuck Palahniuk's books are a bit hit and miss then you may not be overwhelmed by this but "Choke" is one of his better ones and Sam Rockwell is a damn fine actor. So hopefully this should be decent enough. Never going to top "Fight Club" obviously but God loves a tryer.



Click in the read more to see some retards attempt at adapting "Choke" in 5 minutes. It is shit just so you know.

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Todays MP3 comes from Mirror, Mirror are a four piece math/post-rock band from Tokyo, Japan formed in April 2003 under the name “Journal Spy Effort” as a three piece band. They release one EP in 2004 (and a self produced-demo) under this name before deciding to change their name in November 2006 to Mirror. The 10th of July 2007 saw the release of their first full-length album “On, then, in” on the CATUNE indie label.
Currently the band consists of founding members, キモトタカヒロ(Kimoto Takahiro) on guitar and カネダマサシ (Masashi Kaneda) on bass guitar. モリケンシロウ (Kenshiro Mori) and フクヤマダイスケ (Daisuke Fukuyama) both joined the band in January 2007 and play second guitar and drums respectively completing the current four member line-up. Past drummers were Satoshi Shimomura, from April 2003 to December 2004, and Taisuke Okura, from December 2004 to January 2007.

MP3>mirror - Pass The Town, And To The C


some videos of mirror in the read more


mirror - o&l


MIRROR - i go (Live at 東京 渋谷 O-NEST)

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Sunset Rubdown perform a new song acoustically in the back of a cab for Black Cab Sessions.

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So onward to the MP3 of the day and today it comes from Faraquet.Faraquet where a Math Rock band formed in Washington D.C. The band broke up due to artistic differences but have since reformed in 2007 to tour Brazil (so to be honest im not sure of there status as a band right now , but their still fucking amazing)


MP3>Faraquet - Carefully Planned

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Video for the first single of new album MEÐ SUÐ Í EYRUM VIÐ SPILUM ENDALAUST


just to remind you, you can download the first track "Gobbledigook" right now for free at http://www.sigurros.com.

oh the video has nakedness in it so if your unset by that or work in a place that would frown upon that kinda of thing i suggest you don't watch

Youtube seem to have a problem with the nakedness too as I've had to replace the original video. Let us know if this one gets taken down too - EB

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Neil Diamond helps Jimmy Kimmel to reach his post-retirement dream of becoming Neil Zirconia

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Sigur Rós will release their new studio LP (their fifth) Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust on June 23 via EMI. thats the cover art for the album above.

more info and tracklisting in the read more

Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust tracklisting:

1. 'Gobbledigook'
2. 'Inní mér syngur vitleysingur'
3. 'Góðan daginn'
4. 'Við spilum endalaust'
5. 'Festival'
6. 'Með suð í eyrum'
7. 'Ára bátur'
8. 'Illgresi'
9. 'Fljótavík'
10. 'Straumnes'
11. 'All alright'

their will be a special deluxe edition of the album released later this year as well including ‘Making Of…’ book, a film and more, you will be able to pre-order it from the bands website.
The track 'Gobbledigook' will available for free download tonight on the official Sigur Rós website after about half seven (after the world exclusive first play on Zane Lowe's Radio 1 show)

Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust translates into With a buzz in our ears we play endlessly

In case you forgot Sigur Rós are playing the Electric Picnic

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Corner of shame is back this time its myspace's Artist on Artist featuring Scarlett Johansson & Debbie Harry imaginatively titled Blonde on Blonde and it doesn't get much better from there. theres a load of back slapping , they talk about other famous people they have met for Debbie Harry its Robert De Niro and for Scarlett Johansson its Peter Falk ?????. basically they are both there to hock there new albums in Scarlett case its her "where ever i lay my head" and for Harry its a 30th anniversary of Parallel Lines, they both look really bored of each other and I in turn got bored and then became more interested in the guy walking around in the studio in the background, what was his story why was he in the studio ??????

watch if you want
Artist on Artist: Scarlett Johansson & Debbie Harry

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Ratatat is a New York City electronic music duo: guitarist Mike Stroud and synthesizer driver and producer Evan ‘E*vax’ Mast. they have a new album LP3 coming out in July, but have decide to give away the track Mirando fro free here

Evan Mast also made this Video using Predator ( if it bleeds kill it)
RATATAT - MIRANDO

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So second MP3 of the week from me comes from instrumental band Eaten By Tigers from Leeds.
Eaten By Tigers do the delicately dramatic instrumental post-rock thing rather well, beautifully played, warmly paced, serenely explosive.

MP3>Eaten By Tigers - Solstice

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Bah! So much politics... quickly- play some chk chk chk!

!!! (Chk Chk Chk)- Must be the Moon:


Click for mp3

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Since posting our original Guide to the Lisbon Treaty the debate has somewhat heated up. The 'Yes' campaign has finally started, and the referendum is finally getting daily national media coverage.

Understandably a few more issues and questions have arisen which we didn't quite touch on in our initial 'Idiot's Guide'. So this post is something of an add-on to the original. It's not going to be as lengthy as the first one, as most of the issues were covered there, but should answer some of the outstanding questions.

As usual, a healthy skepticism is urged when reading this kind of thing. I'll reiterate what I said before the last one: I don't have a party affiliation, or an agenda. This research was conducted to try to make sense of all the crap floating around concerning this treaty. My opinion at this stage is that I'll be voting yes, but this is based solely on the facts turned up during my research (for which I've read everything I could get my hands on, listened to debates & speeches, attended meetings, and even read a lot of the actual treaty- which is as horribly dense as everyone says it is).

Righto. Click the 'read more' to get going.



Lets take this point by point.


Firstly, the main one, and the issue that is pissing me off the most.


Losing an EU Commissioner

One of the recurring arguments against the treaty is the fact that Ireland will lose an EU Commissioner. This one seems to be rolled out at every debate, with people such as Sinn Fein's Mary Lou McDonald consistently describing it as 'Ireland losing power in Europe'.

This is utter crap, and here's why:

1. EVERYONE loses a commissioner, not just Ireland. There are only so many jobs to go round in the commission, and having more people sitting around the table than is necessary is counter-productive. So if Lisbon gets passed there will only be as many commissioners as there are jobs, with each country sitting out a few years in rotation. No one's getting the short straw.

2. (and this is the big one) Commissioners are not representatives of Ireland in Europe. The commission is the entity designed to protect the interests of the Union as a whole. When entering the post each commissioner must swear an oath that their actions will only be motivated by the interests of the Union, and all national concerns will be put aside.

So we could have a hundred Irish commissioners in there twenty-four hours a day and it still wouldn't matter a damn to Ireland.


'The Lisbon Treaty is Self-Amending'

What's meant by that in the first place? Basically that be signing off on Lisbon we'll never have to vote on things like this again, because it incorporates a mechanism for 'beaurocrats' to make changes in the future without all this silly voting malarkey.

Well, yes, it does cut through some red tape. Article 48 of the treaty allows for a speedy, simplified method of drawing up a future amended treaty. Obviously creating a document of this nature takes time (check out the document itself, it's fairly intense), so Lisbon attempts to make this process less painful. But... as the treaty is very careful of in all areas, any changes must always be "in accordance with member states' constitutional requirements". Which means there's no way they could just sneak in something dramatic and get away with it.

But more importantly- the changes in Article 48 are merely to the process of drawing up an amending treaty. There is no change to the fact that any amendment must be ratified in the proper fashion, ie: we'll still have to vote on it. First in the European Parliament, then on to individual states to be decided upon in either the National Parliaments, as is the case in most of Europe, or through a referendum, as is the case with Ireland. Everyone will still get their say on whether or not any of these future amendments are passed.


There will be a new 'President of Europe' (ala President of the USA)

This is a common mistake made by confusing the new post of 'High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy' with a 'President of Europe'. There will be no 'President of Europe'. The new post is largely administrative, and combines the existing posts of (deep breath) 'High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy' and 'European Commissioner for External Relations'.

The bearer of this post will have no formal powers, but rather work as a mouthpiece for the previously agreed upon foreign policies of the Union. This seems to be just another instance of making the whole thing less messy and cutting out some red tape. The new High-Representative will put a face on Europe for purposes of foreign policy, but that policy will still be decided upon in the same way it always has- through the Parliament, the Commission, and ultimately the individual member states.


Militarisation

Ok, so the neutrality thing is a buzz issue, but I think it's fairly clear to everyone at this stage that Ireland's neutrality is not affected by Lisbon. But what impact will the treaty have on the military, if any? Well, the truth is that if Lisbon is ratified, there will definitely be more militarisation.

Once you've picked yourself up off the floor we'll continue.

It is a desire of some that all armies within the Union be of reasonable standard, so that each countries armed forces are capable of operating effectively. Hence Lisbon obliges each country to increase it's military spending to achieve this level. There's talk of centralised spending (instead of all the individual countries putting in small equipment orders, Europe puts in one big one, hence cheaper), but that's not in the treaty- it'll be argued over another day.

This does not mean we'll build our army in to a major force. This does not mean we can be conscripted into the army (Irish or European). This does not mean military issues will have any more attention than they do now. What this means is that when we go off on peace-keeping missions (such as the one in which Irish troops are currently involved in Sudan) our army will be equipped to a certain standard, and one that is common throughout all of Europe.

~

These four seem to be the issues which keep cropping up, but of course there are bound to be others which we've yet to address- so you can probably expect another post on Lisbon before the day of the referendum. I hope everyone's still vaguely keeping up will all the madness.


If you haven't read our original Idiot's Guide you can check it out here.

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Tonight the amazing The Mae Shi play crawdaddy with Crayonsmith this is gonna be Crayonsmiths last irish gig for a while as there off on an American tour with Islands
Crayonsmith take to the stage at 8:30 followed by the mae shi who go on stage at 9:30 this gig is part of the Soundtrack festival

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Tonight some of my friends are holding a Father Ted table quiz (it's for charidee)
so here are the details

7 pm Doyles Monday 26th MAY !!!!
10 euro per person admission
Max four people per table
Great prizes including signed dvd boxsets , books , custom Ted artwork and DRINK !!!
Also there will be some Lovely Girls (doesn't she have a nice bottom , i mean don't they all have a nice bottom)

All Proceeds go to the Irish Heart foundation



so whats your favorite humming sound ???

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So i paid for all this extra bandwidth and im not using it , so with that in mind this week i will post a different Mp3 everyday.

So with it being monday (back to the weekly grind and everyone needing cheering up) i though i would post this song off Tim and Eric new cd Awesome Record, Great Songs! its actually the Shins covering one of Tim and Eric songs (if you don't know who Tim and Eric are they have a show on Adult Swim called Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! created by and starring Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim (some clips of the show in the read more) and they recently released a CD of the songs from the show)

MP3> The Shins- Wipe My Butt


Check out two of my favorite Tim and Eric clips in the read more and call back tomorrow for a new MP3 ( i promise it will be less silly tomorrow)


tim and eric petite feet

Find more videos like this on www.truveo.com.

Beaver Boys

Find more videos like this on www.truveo.com.

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I'm really looking forward to seeing The Most Serene Republic on Wednesday in Whelans- they were amazing last year in Crawdaddy. Tickets are still available so it's well worth checking out. Here's a random youtube performance as testament to their greatness, it's called Phages:



Click for studio version of this track.

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This is a Clockwork Noise track that's rather homeless- it's not on our album, and doesn't really fit with the material for the new EP (which is mostly up-tempo). Quiet little tracks tend to often get lost these days, as... well, frankly we all want to dance & party. So other than a brief appearance on the band's myspace profile, I guess this is the only way this song is ever going to see the light of day. It's called 'Honest Little Words':




Click for mp3

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This weeks hangover mix to sooth your aching heads comes from the Alaska band Portugal. The Man(i wrote about Portugal. The Man at the start of the year , you can read it here )
tracklisting and download link in the read more


1.Grizzly Bear- Knife
2.Black Moth Super Rainbow- Sun Lips
3.Menomena- Weird
4.Feist- Sea Lion Woman
5.Ween- Your Party
6.Van Morrison- Sweet thing
7.The Beatles- Cry Baby Cry
8.Caribou- She's the One
9.Celebration- Evergreen
10.TV on the Radio- Young Liars

click here to go to download page

Portugal. The Man have a brand new album coming out this autumn called "Censored Colors" that was produced by Paul Q. Kolderie (radiohead and the Pixies) and Kirk Huffman and Phil Peterson. Afraid it wont be in the shops here but you can get all the rest of there albums off amazon so im sure the new one will be there too.

Portugal The Man myspace you can download some tracks off the bands self released EP It's Complicated Being A Wizard

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what is The Vinny Club sound well it sounds like Rutger Hauer and Kurt Russell are playing a Commodore 64 in the back of a DeLorean traveling at 88mph. Ferris Bueller's on the roof having a lightsaber fight with Clubber Lang. There's a gremlin chewing on the flux capacitor and a T-800 on the bonnet punching through the windscreen. Bono's driving and so much more.

Rocky IV Reckyrd is a concept album based on Rocky IV (the best rocky film) from The Vinny Club, heres what the press release had to say about The Vinny Club


The Vinny Club is the lovechild of Vinny , bassist in cult Irish band Adebisi Shank. Born out of a dangerous obsession with 8 bit Video games and 80's action movies, his unique brand of synth pop fun will leave you with a boner in your pants and a grin on your face. By the age 11 Vinny had constructed a makeshift recording studio under his bed where he retreated to for hours on end


The album starts off with "Its Not You Its Of"(19833333333333333333) the song i heard at every party last year and it still sounds fresh and even better when your fucked up. From there, the album blasts off with some track you might have heard off his myspace to some ones you wont all with that sexy cracking beats and funky baselines that is the Vinny club sound , they also have a very complex structure but always keeping that pop element (all songs track in at under 3:30 making them quick fast slices of excellence) that makes you grin and, well, get a boner just like the press release said. Ive been struggling over this review because i wanted to do the album justice , but i don't think words can convey what this album is like i feel it has to be heard, and then you will know my joy (stick). I think the only option for you people is to come to his debut gig in Andrews lane on the 31st of may (its only a tenner and you get the album as well) and see it for yourself live. I will be there dancing up a storm to the chiptune bliss. Also on the night will be dj sets from super extra bonus party , Foggy Notions and Bats



To wet your appetite, I now offer my favorite track off the album: Drago's Revenge. Here's what Vinny had to say about the track:

so imagine rocky V, except just after rocky n fam move back to the old neighborhood, drago pulls up in a benz, steps out and punches rocky to death in front of adrian and sage stallone(who shouldn't even have been in that film, like the kid is 6 in rocky IV, rocky V is supposed to be a couple of weeks later, all of a sudden the kids 12 or 13?? anyway), yeah after that he punches the wife and son to death too, but he lets uncle paulie live for some reason(cos he's already dead inside maybe)

MP3> the Vinny Club - Drago's Revenge


so with all that in mind i leave you with


The Vinny Club myspace
Richter Collective myspace

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Heathers ALBUM RELEASE GIG with
Hooray for Humans
Reuben Teskey

Doors half seven , 10 euro in

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just curious really to see what peoples top ten most played track are on there ipod or respective mp3 players so heres mine

1.Adebisi Shank - Horse
2.Caribou – Melody Day
3.cLOUDDEAD – Dead Dogs Two
4.Why? – Mutant John
5.Sunset Rubdown – The Mending of the Gown
6.Other Men – Strapped
7.Subtle – Falling
8.Hymie's Basement - 21st Century Pop Song
9.Chrome Hoof – Tonyte
10.Boom Bip – Snook Adis

so no cheating and what ive done is take the top song from a band and then not shown the rest other wise my list would be mostly Adebisi Shank,cLOUDDEAD and Why?.
if you want to post yours post it in the comments. (love to see what people are listening to)

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The video for Pork & Beans has today premiered on youtube. It's similar to a recent South Park episode, in that it features a host of internet 'celebrities', such as 'The Chocolate Rain Guy' pictured above with Rivers.



Thanks to Mark for the heads up!

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Hearing a great song on the radio but not catching what it was called is one of those eternally annoying occurrences. For example, it took me years to find out what the name of 'Bette Davis Eyes' was (although I really should have guessed from the chorus).

So it's nice when those lost songs somehow find their way back too you. This is what happened to me last week when (after a recommendation from Red) I picked up the Santogold album and pressed play. Track one, L.E.S. Artistes, is my most recent 'one that (very nearly) got away'- and has now been stuck in my head all week.

It's a bitchin mixup of styles and genres that really seems to work. The album itself on initial listen seems to have at least one or two more crackers, but very different songs to this one. Check out L.E.S. Artistes below:


Click for mp3

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Video for "No One's Gonna Love You" off the album Cease To Begin directed by Jarrod Tallman


How cool are stunt bottles (anyone know where i can get some)

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In possibly the most anticipated movie of the year, Henry Jones Jr. returns to our screens with Shia LeBeouf attempting to fill a Sean Connery shaped void. Will it live up to the (probably ridiculous) expectations?

There's no major spoilers in this review, but just in case, I'll put it in the read more.



Pros:

• Indiana Jones rocks.
  
• Spielberg is probably physically incapable of making a 'bad' movie.
• Pretty decent action, and a fair few chase scenes.
• Some mild horror, along the lines of Temple of Doom, which was nice.
• Cate Blanchett is great as always.
• Shia LeBeouf is surprisingly good. Not annoying, and plays the actual character rather than just Shia LeBeouf in a leather jacket.
• Some of the humor is spot on.
  
• Cobwebs, Skeletons, Maps, Riddles... cool.

Cons:

• The Crystal Skull thing doesn't really work. It seems a bit of a step too far towards sci-fi.
• The 'I'm too old for this shit' lines were a tad unnecessary.
  
• But he possibly is too old for this shit.
• The excellent Jim Broadbent is wasted in a tiny, tiny role.
• My main beef: far too self-aware throughout, which immediately ruins all Spielberg & Lucas' attempts to 'keep it traditional'.
  
• The cinematography is also a mile away from that of the original trilogy. Too artsy!
• S & L's assertions that they were staying away from CGI also turned out to be absolute crap.
  
• All this and I still enjoyed the movie- only at the very last scene did I think 'Oh, COME ON!!'

This is really a 3/5 movie, but from me it'll get 4/5 cause it's Indy. It is really enjoyable, but a tad too silly at times. I know, I know, so were the other ones... so maybe this movie's biggest disadvantage is the fact that I'm not 12 anymore.

'This modern world' may have popped the Indy-bubble: I've got too cynical and he's got too ironic. How sad...

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Harrison Ford demonstrates -in a personal way- the pain of deforestation. The burning and clearing of forests is a major cause of global climate change, emitting some 20% of total greenhouse gas emissions - more than all the world's cars, trucks, and airplanes combined.

http://www.conservation.org
something funny in the read more


and people say i have too much time on my hands check out theses guys

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There seems to be a problem with viewing the page using Internet Explorer.

Bear with us, we're working on it!

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Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is finally released this week, and personally, I can't wait.

I'm trying to avoid any reviews or articles, as I've inadvertently stumbled upon some plot spoilers (damn!), but at the same time want to partake in the Indy excitement and read up as much as I can. So if reviews are plan a, imdb thankfully today provided me with a plan b by publishing this link to an article on the real life 'Crystal Skulls'.

Read on for a summation of the good bits...


The Indiana Jones movies have all had cool 'Maguffins'- items which serve to drive forward the plot. Raiders had the Ark of the Covenant, Temple had the Sankara Stones, and Last Crusade went for the mother of all maguffins, the Holy Grail. For the new Indy Movie, it looks like the item in question will be these titular Crystal Skulls.


The Rundown:

Generally assumed to by ancient artifacts of Aztec of Mayan origin, several Crystal Skulls have been discovered during excavations in South America. The most famous of these is the Mitchell-Hedges Skull (pictured above), discovered in 1926 in British Honduras. The skull is about the size of that of a human female, and is astoundingly anatomically correct. Very little is known about the skulls, although skulls did feature heavily in ancient Mayan imagery.


What's Cool About Them:


How the skulls were made seems to be the main source of intrigue. Crystal, when carved against the grain (as most of the skulls are) should instantly shatter, even when using the most sophisticated modern techniques. Several of the Skulls exhibit such craftsmanship that some researchers have said that they simply 'shouldn't exist'. Whereas some Skulls have been revealed to be fakes originating from the 18th & 19th century, some continue to defy explanation.


Anything Magical Going on?


The skulls are said to have 'magical powers', including healing properties. Can't find anything about them being cursed or anything, but employees of the British Museum reported that a Crystal Skull on display there was known to move around it's display case of it's own accord. Which is pretty cool. They're also reportedly quite useful for divination, and can be used in the same manner as one would use a crystal ball. Some loons believe the Skulls to contain information on the 'secrets of life and the universe', encoded into the skulls by an ancient race, possibly from Atlantis, possible from another planet, possibly 'the Gods'.

Oh, and the Mitchell-Hedges Skull is commonly known as 'The Skull of Doom'.


Bitchin.

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After a prolonged delay, here's part two of our Off The Cuff session with the amazing Story of Hair.

This is off the cuff recording 1/b: Story of Hair - Cheap Rate:



Recorded immediately after our fire escape excursion, we shot this performance in a random nook/cranny behind the Trinity residents' buildings. It was fairly dark (hence the funny color scheme), but as far away from the populated area of the college as we could get.

Ger put his improvised drumkit to great use, as the band treated us to a track which will surely feature on Hair's forthcoming album. Cheap Rate is pop bliss, and has been stuck in my head on a regular basis since I first heard it here. I guarantee you'll soon know what I'm talking about.

Enjoy!

More Off the Cuffs on their way very soon...

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Jimbo is 13. All he can think about is one girl, Sarah Jane. And no matter what stands in his way - bullies, violence, chaos, zombies - nothing is going to stop him from finding a way into her world.

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So you'd think that being No. 1 in the UK and No. 2 in Ireland would make The Ting Tings too busy to talk to us. Well Jules DeMartino (the male Ting) took time out of his seemingly gruelling schedule to have a natter.

Click the 'read more' for the interview, or alternatively you can download or stream it below.


Click for mp3



Evil Bob: Hi Jules, where are you right now?

Jules De Martino: We're in Brighton playing the Great Escape Festival last night and tonight.


EB: How did it go last night?

JDM: It was incredible. We didn't go on until 1.30 in the morning and there was big queues down the street and it was very hot and sweaty and rocking. The best gigs are the ones that are like that.


EB: I believe congratulations are in order. You've about to be the Number One Single in the UK. Is that right?

JDM: Yeah we've been No.1 all week. We've been fighting off Rihanna and Madonna and Coldplay. Its quite interesting to find ourselves ahead of such major selling artists. We made this record ourselves in Salford, banging out some music for some parties that we threw so its a good feeling and we're just hoping that we can hold onto that spot tomorrow.


EB: Is it anything that you foresaw when you first started becoming a band that maybe you'd be No.1 someday?

JDM: Not at all. We started this band by accident out of frustration and we started out doing it at house parties in Salford. We had this space that we rented with out studio and our rehearsela dna we had friends come over and we made a little stage with some beer crates and stuff like that and we started putting on events where we could earn some money out of selling beer.


EB: Do you miss those days now?

JDM: Yeah it worked alright. The first couple of nights we had this old TV where we cut the middle out of it and we had this sign saying "Beer Donations" cause you weren't allowed...cause we were based in an old mill in Salford so there's a lot of artists that live and work there so we weren't allowed to charge for entrances where there was rented property. It was a little bit awkward to do so the way we used to do was to ask for donations and after the second party we had 130 pounds of donated beer money.

We kind of thought 'This is great, this is where we can start earning some money' so we just started running nights where we played for 20 minutes and we'd have other bands come on and then when we started earning a bit more money from donations we'd pay the band 50 quid or something. We thought at first we'd try to run a club or something but our music just got stronger and a lot of people started to talk about us and then we started going out on the road.


EB: The first thing I saw of you was when you played Jools Holland before Christmas. Was there a moment when you thought "This is it, its starting to happen"?

JDM: Well I remember the moment where we felt we were a band rather than just an outfit that was trying to run a club and that was our current manager he came to about the 3rd party that we throw up in Salford in the space and he had said to us that we ned to take what we're doing a little bit more seriously instead of just getting drunk and he thought we had something very fresh, new, whatever this thing was and after about the 5th party he put us in this 5 day bar fly through the UK supporting a band called Stray Light Run that we'd never heard of who were like an emo band and we had no idea what the audience thought. We had nothing. We had 3 songs.

That was what we were playing in our comfort zone, in our own place, our own space. When we went out in the first night we played and Katie had only started playing the guitar about two months ago so she was still learning. She didn't really know what she was doing and we went on stage and we got loops that I was controlled with my feet and my drum kit and Katie had just distortion guitar, she played the first song which was "Great DJ", it went on for about 8 minutes, we only had three songs that we had to play over 25 minutes.

We just had to extend everything as long as possible and the 1st song that she played on the guitar and at the end of the song she asked the audience if they could hear her guitar and the sound man told her to turn her amp on. She had no idea how to turn her amp at the start so it was a completely new experience but it was...we came off stage feeling really hot and sweaty and the energy was really high and we wanted to go back on stage for some reason. There was something. We came off and we thought "Oh shit, I'm gutted thats over, the audience loved it" and we kind of couldn't really wait until the next night and those five days that we played in a row was the most incredible feeling cause...I don't know...it just felt like...all your dreams of being in a band and going on the road. it was like we were getting some energy out if it and it just mad it like a drug, made us want to be on every night and I think at that point it was the first time outside of our comfort zone that we felt we may be in this as a band.


EB: You've been in the music industry for quite a while since the 80's. So since Babakoto and Mojo Pin which were your previous bands. Isn't that right?

JDM: Well yeah a bit later than that. I was only very very young in my first band that started to surface around the early 90's, late 80's. It didn't do much unfortunately and I was only the drummer in that band and I was too young to be doing it really so I've got no real kind of experience of that decade. More of the 90's I'd say that I had more of an experience because I started getting into my decent teens and understanding what it meant a little bit more.

I mean if I'm going back to those years and how its changed now its like anybody will tell you the most important thing about music is the Internet, is digital recording, is the way that you can record in your bedroom. You don't need to spend $100,000 with a producer who doesn't have a fucking clue what he's doing and you can do it yourself un your bedroom and you can experiment and you can put it on a disc and give it to your friends and they can go into their bedroom or their bars and if its good they can actually play it alongside Madonna.


EB: From what I've gathered you seem to be discontent with the way your last band: Dear Eskimo, didn't work out so well. Has that affected the way The Ting Tings have gone about treating their music and the industry in general?

JDM: Yeah totally. Being in a label environment with Dear Eskimo the first time around there was more of in the band so obviously it was a different set-up. Labels can be very selfish going through their own changes, their own ego's and everybody else suffers. The whole thing about a lable is that its meant to be supporting their artists, artists come first, thats where the creativity lies and we're really sore about Mercury, the label, and the way they treated us, the way they changed all their staff and brought in new people and eventually dropped the band without even meeting us. Its incredible how you can get people to drop you and not even come to your gig and yet they signed you. Its just a crazy environment you can be in with labels. They really rattled our cage. So much so that I wasn't really into being in a new band.

Katie was very the one driving because our writing was so strong she said we should carry on writing and thats how we started our parties. I wasn't prepared to go on the road and start a band and I didn't want to be involved in records or record sales or the politics of a record label. So we started these house parties and we put out our own records and again we had no intention of getting where we are now. It was about satisfying our own needs, making pop music because we wanted to. Producing our own album and things like that, between our jobs.

The difference being, this time around, we signed to Columbia, hypocritically, but the whole point about signing to them was they approached us in a completely different manner. They've a different team. They had a different kind of view on how they run their outfit, how they help their bands, meeting key people like Mike Pickering and Tav our manager who are both very important to us because they come from DIY areas. Mike was a big DJ in the Hacienda days and he was in M People. Tav has looked after bands like Ash for 15 years. We've had a very DIY approach, very hard working band with a nice string of people and eventually the whole Columbia team got involved and it felt really good. The way they were supporting our own creativity and keeping control of it and it worked out.


EB: Your albums just out to the general public but you've obviously had the songs a while. Have you kind of got sick of them already?

JDM: We haven't had them that long. We started the band in January 2007 experimenting and doing these gigs and, like I said, we weren't really thinking for one minute that we were going to be a fully blown band. It was more like getting out there and having some fun. So we finished the complete album, the end of that year, in December. It was delivered right in the end of December. So we've only had a complete 10 tracks from January so its still pretty fresh because one has to imagine we haven't been touring as constantly through the whole year. So these songs, the max they've been around for is a year which isn't really a long time when you're only starting to work on them for the last half year, being able to get on tour.

A lot of bands don't get the opportunity to play every night. The new challenges we face are not sitting there listening to our music. We're not sort of listening to our album every night saying "I'm getting sick of it". You're on different stages around the world, dealing with new problems like a power plug which is the wrong power plug or an audience that doesn't speak English or getting there because you're so knackered cause you're had 3 hours sleep or trying to find the energy live or the fact you're on a bus arguing all the way. All the new challenges take it away, you don't just listen to your music constantly.


EB: You have suggested that you might just quit The Ting Tings and start all over with a new project. Is that just idle talk or is it a very real threat?

JDM: Its not idle talk and its not a threat its just that as a band we're very creative with our art work. We fell into this band experimenting with pop and being in a studio and playing live. Katie picked up a guitar for the first time in about February learning it and me being on the drums, not having played them in 4 years, going back to mine and Katie picking up the guitar and playing it badly. It was all part of the experimentation or getting on stage and just driving something to have a good time. Trying to find some freshness and I think that we're always trying to...we get so impatient and bored waiting for a release or doing anything normal and we haven't had to do that. We've been in a band for one year and in that one year we've finished an album, done something like 4 tours, we're on our 5th tour now. We've been to the States, we've been to Europe, we're about to go to Japan. We've had 3 singles out that we did ourselves. We did all the art work ourselves. We've just got our first single out with a major label thats currently Number 1 in the charts.

I mean thats in one year and you can tell that we're an impatient lot and I think that reflects on the comments we say about starting a new band. I just can't think of anything worse. Getting to the end of the year and beating ourselves up because we're playing, as you said, the same songs for 3 years or something and thinking "What do we do now? Do we write another Ting Tings album? Is this another one to stack on the shelves?" Unless we find the inspiration to actually have something to moan about like we did on the 1st album, cause we got sacked off by Mercury, the first time round in our last band. We had a lot of frustration and unless we have something to moan about, getting tired, whatever it is we have to moan about at the end of the year. I think that the whole point of being an artist is to try and express yourself in some way and thats maybe why we come across that we might start a new band find something to write about.


EB: Do you think that there’s a kind of snobbery that might exist with some music critics regarding your ‘Pop’ past- Katie’s in particular with Total Knock Out. Do you think that there’s an inclination to treat you differently?

JDM: It could quite exist- I don’t know. Being on the road we don’t tend to read everything, obviously we don’t have time. It’s not good to keep reading about yourselves- it’s not good to keep talking about yourselves! Sometimes it drives us nuts talking about ourselves, cause sometimes it’s nice just to listen to the music, people take an opinion and write what they wanna write.

But when it comes to people obviously researching and finding out about Katie’s past, about being in a predominantly girl band when she was 14, she’s absolutely proud as punch. Doing that- she was at school and she took the initiative to find two friends who couldn’t sing to save their lives, and tried to form some sort of band because of their love of music. Everything that was being played on radio at the time when she was a young teenager were Boy and Girl bands. She’s got no qualms about listening to bands like The Spice Girls and having Spice Girls pencil cases- she’s absolutely proud of that. For her it was the best music in the world, it made her have fun. So for her it’s not like this is the music she’s into now- she was into it when she was 14, and it’s what inspired her to form what was a Girl Band.

Contrary to peoples’ beliefs and what’s been written about her supporting ‘big bands’- it never happened. She did the local festival; she was one of the little bands on it, on the back of a lorry dancing with little radio mics. It was rubbish and she admits it herself. The two girls who were with her were her best friends but they couldn’t sing or dance to save their lives- but it was something that started her.

My admiration was Elvis. I went back, I was the opposite. Elvis wasn’t my time at all but my Mum and my Dad had all his records so I stole them. What’s the difference? If someone wants to write about “Oh, Jules’ background is so incredibly eclectic or musically more advanced cause he was nicking his Mum’s Elvis records” or whether Katie was listening to the Spice Girls or the Backstreet Boys on radio and going out and forming a band… then they’re dumb if they’re doing stuff like that cause it’s all about expressing yourself and finding a way to start, and it means the same thing. It’s taking a risk. And Katie was taking just as big a risk as I was.



EB: So apart from obviously Elvis, what did you listen to when you were growing up?

JDM: I’m not a great one for sort of following the times at all. When I was very young my parents were disturbed at the fact that firstly I’d steal all their records, and secondly I played all the B-Sides. I was a big fan of Elvis from when I was a little kid. As much as you get people who go out and start buying records at a very young age, most of us, even if we’re dedicated musicians, when we first start we don’t have any money. We don’t have the sort of situation where we can just walk down the street safely and buy a record.

The first note of being into music is the stuff that your brothers & sisters have got, and you start stealing off your parents. That’s how I got into music. Stealing my records off my Mum and playing the B-Sides. She couldn’t understand why I’d play the B-Sides to all these Vinyl and not the A-Sides that she was in love with, and what made ‘Elvis’. I think it’s just cause musically I loved production. I produced this album with Katie, but you know, being more involved with the technical side I like experimenting with instruments. So I think that was natural for me when I was very young- that all the music I had been into was a little bit more eclectic than Katie’s.

I can go through millions of bands- I don’t have a fascination about one. I was big a fan of Joy Division, Nirvana, as I was of Queen, as I was with Banarama back in the 80s. It’s all about the records for me. I’m not a big fan of following a band and buying album after album after album religiously. I’m much more a fan of records- if something really appeals to on the radio, be it a single or be it an album. It’s about the record. You put it on and immediately you hear it. When the song’s amazing, and the development and delivery is amazing, it stays with you for life in one shape or form.


EB: How are you handling the fame that you must be surrounded by at the moment? For example, you must get recognized now a lot more than you did before.

JDM: You’d be surprised how much time there is for actually getting out and partying. I mean, we started with a lot of parties, and we started getting renowned in Manchester for being a band that throws really massive parties- and it’s been good fun doing that- but once you start touring most of your time is spent traveling. It really is just sitting around airports getting in planes… it’s just the most annoying thing. Getting from A to B takes forever with your crew and your equipment. That is the most frustrating thing. You just wanna get there, be creative, have a drink and have a good time, but most of the time your just sitting on a bus. And you know what it’s like if you’re sitting on a bus and you’re drunk, and you feel sick.. it’s not a good feeling.

So a lot of the time it’s not glamorous, and it’s not like ‘how do you deal with the fame?’; cause the fame exists in very, very small areas. Like you walk into the venue and you have a crowd of people who want autographs and you’re obviously being humbled by the fact that they’re buying your records and they’re loving your music. You want to give it back to them and you want to have time to talk to them, and thank them, and find out what they’re in to, why they’ve come to the gig, if they’re local… and realistically you’re walking in, you try to sign some autographs then you’re on stage and dealing with a broken pedal, the guitar’s out of tune, and then you’re on stage for 45-50 mins sweating hot, come off, trying to find a new t-shirt, back in the bus, back to the hotel.. and you’re off and doing phoners for four hours!

I mean, we’ve been caught out a couple of times this week with the single being out and there’s a whole new level of excitement with the band, and it’s started to make us.. not worried, but.. we just played Brighton last night, and I suppose the capacity of the venue was 400 and it was absolutely packed- so packed it’s dangerous. Outside the queue of people is going down the street and there’s no way these people are getting in- there’s just no more room, and yet they’re just queuing and queuing. It’s kinda like, you really feel as an artist that you want to satisfy everybody, you want to give everybody a chance to have that experience or be in that club with you so you can all party together.. but it’s just hard logistically.

So there is sometimes a kind of humbling sort of guilty feeling that you’re here and a lot of people are trying to get in and they can’t, and they’re saying ‘please can you sign this’ but you literally can’t cover the ground, you’re only human. So there is a bit of guilt sometimes when you’re in and out of a town and there’s disappointed people who don’t get to meet you or see you on stage. Hopefully by playing bigger venues in the next 6 months or so, as we’re growing we’ll be able to invite those people back.



EB: Is there any one upcoming event or show that you’re particularly looking forward to?

JDM: We’re looking forward to so much- our diary is that we’ve got 5 days off at the end of May, and then the rest of it til the end of November is full on traveling and playing everywhere. So we’re looking forward to doing many, many things. Glastonbury! We started off in Glastonbury a year ago, it was our fifth gig- which we were lucky to play, so we’re looking forward to playing there on the John Peel stage. That’s gonna be tremendous- marking a year to the day and we’re back at Glastonbury after seeing how much work we’ve done, putting our own records out and stuff like that.

Outside of that there’s tons. We’re coming over to the States in June, we cannot wait to do that, we had so much fun when we were over there the last time. And now our records have been out there, stuff’s been happening. It’ll be great to get out there and play an extended set, that’s gonna be so much fun. Going to Japan for the first time, I mean, it goes on and on… it’s a jaw dropping experience every time we get to a city. When we first got to LA, me and Katie were like “This is amazing, I so want to live here!”, then we flew to New York and were like “Oh my god, this is amazing, I want to live here”, then we get to Berlin and it’s “Oh my god, Berlin rocks, this is where we want to live”. Every city: Paris, Rome… every city we’ve been to we’re just knocked out by it, then every time we come back to Salford, Manchester we’re like “This is wicked, back home!”. It just goes on, and on, and on.


EB: Listen, good luck in the future- congratulations again. Good luck at the Glastonbury gig, I’ll be there myself so I’ll see you then!

JDM: See you at Glastonbury!


The Ting Ting's debut album "We Started Nothing" is out now.
"Thats Not My Name" is currently top of Uk charts and No. 2 in the Irish Charts.
They play Oxegen this summer.

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