sean has written the following articles:
A little competition for you... Last year, a sweet little film featuring Michelle Williams (Dawson's Creek) and Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson) as a young married couple, caused quite a stir, not least because it featured a soundtrack by DiS favourites Grizzly Bear. The film is out on DVD in the UK as of today, and we have 5 copies to give away.»
When not in the studio or on stage, this is what former Arab Strap frontman Aidan Moffat and his partner in crime Bill Wells, get upto... »
As part of our special Aidan Moffat takeover day, we have a grainy-grey video exclusive for the lullaby-like track 'And So Must We Rest'. »
Recently, on the final touring weekend of three with Malcolm Middleton, I started to relieve the boredom by messing about with the video camera on my phone. I’d forgotten it was there; I’m still getting used to the idea of having a multi-functional device in my pocket. I made a little film that was intended to be part of a longer (short) movie about how boring the backstage areas at gigs are these days. There was a time when the dressing room was a consummate den of debauchery, but these days I’m happy with a cup of tea, some nuts, a few ciders and a good Wi-Fi connection. The plan was to continue to make little films like this and then compile them, but I got bored with that pretty quickly and never got round to making another. It turns out making a movie about being bored was pretty boring – who could have guessed?»
"I’ve put together a mix of Bill’s music for you. There are various cuts from the many albums and collaborations he’s been involved in for more than a decade now, plus a couple from a forthcoming album due sometime this year. You may know some of it, you may know none of it – I hope you love all of it." - Aidan Moffat»
The other week, Spotify added a few limits to their free service, and boy-oh-boy did the internet get uppity and some new research offers some clues as to why there was a cacophony of "naaah mate, I'm off back to P2P and mediafire and proper free shit, innit!"»
It's called 'Hawaiian Air' it's the second single from St Albans' DFA-gone-samba party-starters Friendly Fires' second album Pala, which is out a week on Monday. The album is glorious but this track, which is apparently the last one they recorded for the album, stands out from the rest of the record. It has that fizzy feeling of 'Paris' washed in sunshine and tropical textures. It's summer in a can, from one of the UK's most exciting bands for many years (in my opinion!) and you can stop reading my words about it and bash play... »
Taking place on Friday 13th May 2011, DiS will co-host Audio, with brilliant Brighton-based blog The Recommender. The fun kicks off at 11pm - or continues, following our official Great Escape bill of Phantom Band, Still Corners, Team Me and Christian Aids - and we'll have bands and blogger DJs 'til 4am. »
Or Meshuggah, Metal, & More: the Ever Expanding Electric Guitar: An interview with Derek Johnson by Jessica Schmitz of the Bang On A Can All-Stars»
Evan Ziporyn of Bang on a Can All-Stars shares an insight into how Balinese music influenced Steve Reich... »
Jeff Tweedy and his Chicago-based band of men known as Wilco have announced a new set of UK headline shows for October... To be honest, there isn't much info beyond these five dates... October 2011 Monday 24th Glasgow Royal Concert Hall Tuesday 25th»
His hype-train mighta run out of steam but James Blake has a new 10" single and some tour dates... »
Following a slew of threads, including [this one], and this one, and our DiScover thumbs up, EMA's debut album Past Life Martyred Saints is out next week (May 9th), and she's giving away a few track to celebrate.»
I might be wrong (and I've only listened to it 20 times so far) but this new Gang Gang Dance album is likely to be an album of the year contender... »
Todd Reynolds is a long-time member of The Steve Reich Ensemble and Bang on a Can, and a fixture on the international creative music scene for over twenty years. A founder of the string quartet, ETHEL, he is also one of the founding fathers of the ‘hybrid musician movement’, obliterating genres and styles with a unique mix of 17th and 21st technology, video, composed and improvised music. Outerborough, his critically acclaimed double solo CD featuring his own music and music written for him by a who’s who of New York composers is now available internationally. The following are some sentiments and memories of his years with Steve Reich and his development as a composer while working with the man himself.»
Tom Fleming from DiS-favourites Wild Beasts walks us through their forthcoming album...»
A Spotify playlist for this weekend's Camden Crawl plus win VIP tickets courtesy of Levi's® Craft of Music.»
A new band, from Canada, who've made one of the best (mini-)albums of the year, chat to DiS about lemonade, dog people, comparisons and more...»
A Spotify playlist for one of our favourite festivals. Taking place beside-the-seaside in Brighton from the 12th of May until the 14th (or the earlier hours of the 15th if you wanna be pernickety about it), The Great Escape hosts bands of all shapes, sizes and synthiness. There are big names (Sufjan Stevens, DJ Shadow, Guillemots, John Cooper Clarke), acts who will dominate 2011 (Friendly Fires, Katy B, Gang Gang Dance, Ghostpoet), P4K-championed DiS transatlantic favourites (Antlers, Twin Shadow), UK acts that we love (Phantom Band, Factory Floor, Actress, Becoming Real, Villagers), new crushes (Braids, Still Corners, EMA, Seekae, Seams, Christian AIDS), incredible instrumentalists (Max Richter, Hauschka, Luke Abbott) and a few hundred others...»
DiS woke up, excited to receive an email about the new Beastie Boys video but, if you're in the UK, look what happens when you hit play...»
It's been a while since several DiS scribes have emailed me going 'Have you heard this? Seriously, have you heard this?' and it's been quite a while since I've bashed play and gone 'cor!' and been taken aback.»
Pretty much every major city in the UK now has its own 'urban festival' and Leeds is no exception. With some of this year's biggest new names (James Blake, Anna Calvi, Trophy Wife), some DiS favourites (Frightened Rabbit, The Twilight Sad, Pulled Apart by Horses, Futureheads) and a shit-tonne of local talent (Bear Mask, Dinosaur Pile-Up, Honour Before Glory), as well as some brand new acts that DiS is nodding knowingly at their inclusion on the line-up (Star Slinger, Let's Buy Happiness, Lanterns on the Lake, Still Corners, Catherine A.D.), this year's Live at Leeds is more than a bit good.»
Tomorrow, as I’m sure you’re aware, is record store day. All week ‘journalists’ and comment box fillers, have been trying to neatly file themselves into two piles. Either you buy everything on 180gram vinyl and have never even dreamed of torrenting an inferior quality MP3 file or you sincerely believe Spotify should be free and sometimes think to yourself they should paying you a wage for the amount of free music you consume. However, things, as always, are not quite as black and white as that, at least not for me. »
With only one sleep to go before the big day, DiS asked blogger and record shop lover Gareth James to share his views regarding Record Store Day, and to help explain why you might want to camp over night to grab that rare 12"...»
Having released easily my favourite EP of last year (Touched via Merok) and an incredible Health remix, Brooklyn based duo Blondes return with a new single and, as is the way of the modern world, some videos to go with the the tracks.»
Hauschka aka the incredible Düsseldorf dwelling composer and prepared piano maestro Volker Bertelmann, has this week released his utterly hypnotic and heavenly new album Salon Des Amateurs and to celebrate we have a little competition.»
This year is the 11th year of Summer Sundae and the festivities will be taking place on the weekend of August 12th-14th, at Leicester's De Montfort Hall and Gardens. DiS has curated a line-up at the festival for the past four years, putting on our favourites, ranging from Wild Beasts and Futureheads through Frightened Rabbit and Los Campesinos! to Gold Panda and Fuck Buttons. We even had Noah & the Whale come play for us the week they were bothering the upper echelons of the chart. »
In this week's singles column, I suggested the track was perhaps an ode to Donna Summer's 'I Feel Love' and on asking someone close to the band, they could neither confirm nor deny this, so I asked if the band could put together a 10 song mixtape of their favourite non-ballady "love songs". They said yeah, and also offered us copy of 'R E A L L O V E' on lovely 12" vinyl to give away. To enter, simply click the like or tweet button on this article, and tell us what your favourite non-traditional love song is. Winner will be picked at random on Monday 11th April at midday.»
What the cock? Beirut is headlining Brixton Academy, amongst a series of dates over the coming months...»
The makers of DiS' album of the year, 2010, have confirmed a bunch of new dates.»
