Dear Reader @Mercury this weekend!

It's been a long time since I've had good reason to go to Mercury. Now there's a reason. This weekend's highlight is Dear Reader! The lovely Cherylin Macneil is home to play for us. Be there.

Facebook invite.
Dear Reader Fan Page

(FAKE!!) Justice :: Beginning of the end (FAKE!!)

So yesterday I posted a "Justice" track, The Beginning of the end. I thought at the time that it was kinda similar to the tracks from Cross, and the name was a little too similar to the biblical track names, Genesis, Let There Be Light, and Waters Of Nazareth.

As it happens, it wasn't really a Justice track. It was just a fake. I think it's a good thing; it was a little crappy. Justice posted on their Facebook Page that it wasn't theirs. Check it.

If you want the track anyway, click here.

ODDSAC - Trailer for the Animal Collective Visual Album

Animal Collective and Danny Perez have been working on a Visual Album. Unfortunately, it's unlikely to be released here for obvious reasons. If you are in The States though, click here to see if it'll be screened anywhere near you.

Steve Aoki is coming to South Africa

For the three of you who read my blog instead of We-Are-Awesome's Steve Aoki is coming to South Africa in April! This is bigger news than Bloody Beetroots ever were! Speaking of Bloody Beetroots, they collaborated with Aoki a while back; you may remember.

Steve Aoki is going to be performing at The Assembly (Cape Town) on 2 April 2010 and Bassline (Johannesburg) on 3 April 2010.

I am excited.

Gladiator (Steve Aoki x DJ AM Remix) :: AutoErotique | zSHARE

Justice :: Beginning of the end

So I was super excited when I awoke this morning to find a new track from Jousteeece in my feed. I thought you might be as well, so I think I'll share the love. Enjoy.

Does this mean there is a new album soon?

Beginning of the end :: Justice | zSHARE

The xx :: VCR (music video)

VCR [the music video] was just released by The xx.

The xx :: VCR | zSHARE

More from The xx

New Video | "Letters from the Sky" Live from 99X

Tonight @The Waiting Room

Holiday Murray will be playing tonight at The Waiting Room. Opening for them will be James Jack Boonzaier. This is his first show since his short lived stint with Howard Roark. Interestingly enough he is sharing the stage with Timothy King, the same Timothy King who played on Nigel James Moore's EP before he (Moore) departed for New Zealand. They also launched the EP at Waiting Room. Some interesting trivia for you on this Monday Afternoon.

For more information click here. (Facebook page)

Johnny Foreigner tickets from Griet to you!

Here are some of the dates and venues as well:

CAPE TOWN
9PM SAT 13 FEB
THE ASSEMBLY

with supporting acts:
KIDOFDOOM
YESTERDAY'S PUPIL
SHE MAN LION
BRUCE WILLIS

STELLENBOSCH
6 PM WED 17 FEB
KLEIN LIBERTAS TEATER

with supporting acts:
ASHTRAY ELECTRIC
THE PRETTY BLUE GUNS
THE REVELATORS
BRUCE WILLIS
EL GORDO

RAMFEST
8PM FRI 26 FEB
NEKKIES RESORT

with supporting acts:
BOO!
LARK
ISOCHRONOUS
TIDAL WAVES
DYNAMO DJ TENT
VICE BEACH PARTY
LOADS MORE

What's more is the nice people from Griet Artists have given me two sets of double tickets to give away to Johnny Foreigner shows at The Klein Libertas and Assembly. WOW! You better let me know if you want them, cos there are only two sets. (I said that already, but I am trying to emphasise the urgency.)

I will run something of a competition closer to the time. For full tour dates, click here.

If you don't know who this Johnny Foreigner group are, click here.

Franz Ferdinand and Grizzly Bear pull off the Covers

As you may have noticed by now, I enjoy a good cover. If not, I do. Click here for more covers.

Franz Ferdinand have got hold of Blondie's FAMOUS track, Call Me and rockified it. True story. It's pretty cool.

Grizzly Bear took Hot Chip's Boy From School track and made their own. It is very melancholic; like we would expect anything else from Grizzly Bear! I like.

Call Me (Blondie) :: Franz Ferdinand | zSHARE
Boy From School (Hot Chip Cover) :: Grizzly Bear | zSHARE

Wolfmother :: White Feather

So Wolfmother released Cosmic Egg last year, an album I meant to buy while in Aus, but never got around to it. Unforgivable, I know.
In an attempt to promote their third single due out on 1 February, a number of remixes of White Feather (the track name), have been released. Check out the BURNS remix:

White Feather (BURNS remix) :: Wolfmother | zSHARE

Yoav

This last weekend (16 January 2010) Yoav played at Assembly in Cape Town. Unfortunately for him, not too many people know who the talented young Israeli/South African guy is and so the venue was a little sparsely populated. All this said, he is one to watch. He's got his stuff up on iTunes, accessible through his Myspace where you will also find more music to sample.

His album is busy being mixed in LA (according to his webpage) and his site is being built again. (I think it's again, otherwise, for the first time.) Check the progress.

The 'Beautiful Lie' music video from 2007

Listen to rough demos here.

Hot Chip - more off One Life Stand

As promised I have a couple more tracks to get you excited for the forthcoming hard-copy release of One Night Stand. They are super cool, but I think my favourite so far is still I Feel Better. Find it here.

So here we are:

Thieves In the Night :: Hot Chip | zSHARE

Brothers :: Hot Chip | zSHARE

(I had to remove the links; bummer! They don't seem to get that USA laws don't apply in SA. And to argue my case, I have to fax or snail-mail them. How archaic! Email me for the tracks.)

Lissie

Mechiel Couvaras, a great musician in his own right forwarded me a link to some 'new' music. Lissie, a young lass from Lincoln, USA is an interesting folk artist (that's the genre I am giving her) with a country twist. It's actually quite similar to that of the depressing but excellent Laura Marling, the talented individual from the UK.

Have a listen and see what you think.

Look Away :: Lissie | zSHARE

Bonus track for comparison:

Tap At My Window :: Laura Marling | zSHARE

Lissie Myspace

More downloads from Lissie

Arcade Fire :: Haiti

When I first saw that Arcade Fire had a track called Haiti, I was convinced they recorded it in the last few days in an effort to raise awareness and funds for the tragedy. But then I looked through my library and found that it was off their Funeral album, suitably named due to the deaths of band members' friends and family. This was released in 2004.

That said, Arcade Fire are doing their thing to help Haiti out. I copied this from their site:

"Friends,

Haiti needs your help in her darkest hour.

We just got off the phone with our friends at Partners in Health (Zanmi Lasanté).

Most of the medical infrastructure in Port-au-Prince is down.
Since Partners in Health's clinics are in situated the surrounding areas and haven't been damaged, they are mobilizing their resources towards
the capital, setting-up field hospitals to treat the injured on the ground.
Also, Paul Farmer (the founder of PIH) is at the UN and has access to the best information on where to direct the money... so for the moment
if you want to help, we suggest sending funds to:

www.pih.org
+ http://www.standwithhaiti.org/haiti

Volunteer Request
If you work in the medical sector, or know someone who does:
Surgical/trauma experience only | Stand With Haiti | Partners In Health

Canadian residents with Roger and Fido cell phones can text HELP to 1291. 5 $ will be directed to Partners In Health's Haiti emergency fund.

Please be generous as time is of the essence.

love,
Win and Regine

p.s.
these photos convey some of what is going on:
+ www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/01/earthquake_in_haiti.html"

As one might suspect, Haiti has made somewhat of a comeback to music blogs and the like.

Arcade Fire :: Haiti | zSHARE

Hot Chip :: One Life Stand (album out soon)

So, by now we are getting excited for the first of next month. Why? Because the new Hot Chip is hitting the shelves. The digital album is already available on iTunes, but there is nothing like getting the hard copy of One Life Stand or any album for that matter.. I bought Made In The Dark, arguably not as amazing as The Warning, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. It is quite chilled and makes for great background music (most of the album). Anyway, the album came with a DVD. It was them (Hot Chip) performing a few of their tracks from The Warning and Made In The Dark at some of the festivals they'd played. Some really good stuff. That was more than a year ago and I still watch the DVD from time to time.

One Life Stand is their first album in two years, so I think it's fair to say, they've had enough time to get some quality new stuff together.

Here's another taste:

Hand Me Down Your Love :: Hot Chip | zSHARE
I Feel Better :: Hot Chip | zSHARE

More from One Life Stand

The xx (more tracks)

Seriously, who doesn't like The xx? I dare you to point out one sorry sod who doesn't feel the way I do for this band. The more I hear, the more I love. It's just audio happiness. Share in it. You know you want to. If you don't like it, you can delete it. Simple.

Infinity :: The xx | zSHARE
Infinity (Christian TV Bootleg remix) :: The xx | zSHARE

More from The xx

Lost A Girl :: New Young Pony Club

Do you remember the Vice Magazine Launch at Assembly? Do you remember the New Young Pony Club DJ set by Lou Hayter? Woeful hey? Anyway, the reason we were all there, aside from the magazine launch, was because we love all things NYPC! Well, in hindsight, almost all things. But enough on that. They have a new album coming out!! The Optimist is due for release on 1 March 2010. This is big news.

In December they released their first single off the album, with an accompanying music video. Kyk.

Also, download the new single:

Lost A Girl :: New Young Pony Club | zSHARE

Metric, Vampire Weekend and Ellie Goulding do Covers

Ellie Goulding is a name that has started to pop up more and more as people fall in love with what she does. I stumbled across two covers she's done, a Robyn cover with Erik Hassle and most notably a Bon Iver cover of his track Wolves. They are both pretty great and well worth the bandwidth.

Metric and Vampire Weekend really need no introductions. Metric has covered the Bob Dylan track, Don't Think Twice It's All Right while VW have gone to town on Radiohead's Exit Music.

Don't Think Twice It's All Right (Bob Dylan Cover) :: Metric | zSHARE
Exit Music (Radiohead Cover) :: Vampire Weekend | zSHARE
Be Mine (Robyn Cover) :: Erik Hassle and Ellie Goulding | zSHARE
Wolves (Bon Iver cover) :: Ellie Goulding | zSHARE

More covers

Vampire Weekend release Contra

So in the States today (12 Jan) Vampire Weekend are finally releasing their much anticipated Contra album. Yes please. It was released in the UK on the 11th.

If you are interested in buying the album, but haven't heard enough to give you that final push in these times of economic turmoil, give the album a listen below.


Check out their first video off Contra, Cousins:


Here are a couple of songs to maybe get you in the Vampire Weekend mood off Contra:

Tracks removed because the WEB SHERIFF asked me nicely.

Bonus:
Exit Music (Radiohead Cover) :: Vampire Weekend | zSHARE

parkour motion reel

parkour motion reel
Uploaded by yom_. - Watch original web videos.

So amazing and time consuming.

Originally tweeted by @jpleriche

Animal Collective :: Brothersport (new music video)

Animal Collective just released their third single, Brothersport off the Merriweather Post Pavilion album.

Enough said.

Johnny Foreigner (UK) 'Choose yr side and shut up!' SA Tour

A while back (April 08) I did an interview with legendary Pretoria based DJ and VJ (visual jockey) Ben Rausch for an issue of Chew Magazine. He mentioned among other things, that he would love to play with Johnny Foreigner, a largely unknown act (around these parts) from the UK. (And by play you know that I mean syncing visuals with music, right?)

[interview as it appeared in Chew Magazine]

It was exciting therefore, that Johnny Foreigner decided that a South African tour was on the cards. This is to take place in February. More than that, our very own Ben Raush or Sassquatch as he is known by his fans, is to play alongside them! So in collaboration MK and Griet Artists, Johnny Foreigner and Sassquatch will be performing in the following cities:

13th FEB - CAPE TOWN

17th FEB - STELLENBOSCH

19th FEB - PRETORIA

20th FEB - JOHANNESBURG

26th FEB - RAMFEST - MAIN STAGE - 20:00

I can only assume venues will be decided soon. If you know, let me know.

Griet also put together this enticing teaser to get you in the mood for a party:

Maps

Living in Cape Town, a pretty small city for those who've lived here most of here most of their lives, you find that maps are not really as necessary as an ipod and griffin are in your car set up. All you really need in Cape Town is the aforementioned ipod, a jack, time (for the unpredictable Cape Town traffic), your sunnys and a sense of adventure. Because lets face it, just how lost can you get in a city where the mountain is there to guide every decision you make?

When in Melbourne, you need a map for everything. Because the city is so flat and is soooo spread out, you can get lost if you only lose concentration momentarily. In Australia you need four types of maps (location depending obviously). You need a road map for when you drive. [Never before have a treasured an electronic map as much as I did my TomTom while I was driving from one side of Melbourne to the other, an hour and thirty minute drive I might add.] You need a train map so you get on the right line. You need a ferry map for Sydney's water transport system. And, you need a tram map in Melbourne so that you end up where you want to, rather than not.

Speaking of maps, have you heard Maps from Yeah Yeah Yeahs? Probably. Have you heard the acoustic version and the Arcade Fire cover of Maps? Probably not hey?

Maps - Arcade Fire | zSHARE

Maps (acoustic) - Yeah Yeah Yeahs | zSHARE

The xx

The xx are a three piece out of the UK, London more specifically. While I was on my travels I was repeatedly told that I must listen to The xx. Friends' ipods played their tracks and I became accustomed to their rhythmic, mature sound. They released their debut album, xx in August '09 which has been met with two thumbs up from most critics. I stumbled across a few of their tracks on the interwebs. Here are three of the best. There are even elements of Animal Collective and Hot Chip sounding material in their music. The latter band is interesting, as The xx hail from the same school as Hot Chip. Tis great.
The xx Myspace.

Islands (Nosaj Thing Remix) | The xx (zSHARE)

Hot Like Fire | The xx (zSHARE)

Stars (Skinny Friedman DJ Edit) | The xx (zSHARE)

Australia

So you may noticed blogging was a little slow in December. The truth is, I was on a well earned trip to Australia (Sydney and Melbourne) with friends. Winner. So that's the explanation.
I am so glad I was not sitting next to this guy! I promise to blog more this month.