Oh goodie look who came crawling back with a new single! You remember these guys dont you, the guys who made “A-Punk”, oh so you now remember (sorry for bringing back that horrific memory). Well i was hoping they would disappear for good but what the soul wants, the soul doesnt get. So anyway about this nightmare of a song. More fizzy beats,  Screaming strings, Weak vocals and another quirky video…. For me its their best work yet…. But sometimes your best isnt good enough!

Vampire Weekend – Cousins — Score 4/10

It’s hard to think that it’s coming close to two years since Vampire Weekend found their way to everyone’s iPod with their self-titled début.  They have very recently released their newest music video for the song “Cousins.” The four members once again bring their signature twee-pop into their new material.  The single is very reminiscent of A-Punk, and while the video is nothing too spectacular, the song is fun and catchy as hell.

Vampire Weekend’s Contra is expected to be available January 10th of 2010.

P.S.  Looks like my video died.  You can still watch the new video here http://www.aceshowbiz.com/video/download/00010866/

Ledsen för de sena uppdateringarna för tillfället, men jag befinner mig fortfarande i staterna så jag tänker fortsätta skylla på tidsskillnaden. Denna vecka har musikredaktionen passande nog valt att lägga upp bland annat lite New Yorkinspirerat!

Nytt med följande:
Singlar
The Sound of arrows – Into the clouds
Frightened Rabbit – Swim until you can’t see land
Two Door Cinema Club – I can talk
The Kick – Let it be
Yeasayer – Ambling Alp
Vampire Weekend – Horchata
Dag för dag – Animal

Stjärna i kanten

Yeasayer
Ja. Så ska det stavas. Störigt men sant. Undrar du över uttalet så varsågo:

/ˈjeɪseɪ.ər/

Men Yeasayer är superfina. Och var är de ifrån om inte – BROOKLYN. My kind of people. Kanske har du liksom jag tidigare hört dem via låten Tightrope som var med på fantastiska indie-plattan Dark was the night från tidigare i år? Det är lite psykadeliskt, knastrigt och kastrulligt.

Behöver faktiskt inte streama nån you-tubevideo i knasterskvalitet, utan du kan gå in på deras hemsida så kan du ladda ner Ambling alp gratis. Man tackar.

The sound of arrows
A.k.a. Stefan Storm och Oskar Gullstrand (men på Myspace räknar de även med sina syntar som bandmedlemmar.. ack så nördmysigt).

Kolla in den vackra hemsidan här. Snyggt och svenskt såklart, där du även kan se den lika vackra videon. 03:48 min där hipsterpojkarna träder in i sagans värld. Jag känner en okontrollerad dragning till Peter Pan och vill inget hellre än att leka Tingeling.

Frightened rabbit
Uttrycker sig själva simpelt för oss på sin Myspace.

They are a band who live in Glasgow and have done for some time. They record in bedrooms, cupboards and kitchens. Anyone can be in Frightened Rabbit. They have played some live shows in this city, but want to meet people from other cities, in order that they can come and blow into tubes when they play live. Lets keep pop music alive by getting it out of that dress and into a sweater.

Bland sina top friends har de We were promised jetpacks. Hello new friend.

Spelar indie på ett välkänt men trevligt sätt. Du anar kanske soundet vid informationen om att de just nu turnerar i Irland och Storbritannien på egen hand och även supportar Gomez och Modest Mouse. Lyssna själv nedan.

Vampire weekend
Vampire weekend då. Det är ingen A-punk, men ganska mysigt och plingplongigt. Lyssna nedan för bedömning.

If you’ve been following my blog then you probably have figured out that I am really excited about the new game LEGO Rock Band. As a Guitar Hero, Dance Dance Revolution, and Sing Star fan (Can you tell I like music video games? I also like to do karaoke, but that’s another story. ) LEGO Rock Band seems like the perfect combination to me.

Now I know that several, okay more than several, true AFOLs (Adult Fans of LEGO) may not see it the same way. They see LEGO just following on the bandwagon (yes, pun again intended) to make more money. And maybe that is the case, but I really don’t care. I mean its LEGO, its fun songs, and its a video game. Plus the more and more I see of the game, the more and more I just can’t wait to get my hands on my very own copy!

If you’ve been waiting to see just what the actual gameplay looks like, well wait no longer! *Warning these are spoilers, so if you don’t want to see them till you play the game, don’t watch the videos.

“Kung Fu Fighting”

“Suddenly I See”

“A-Punk”

*Read no further if you don’t want to find out some of the LEGO Rock Band secrets — you’ve been warned.

By watching these and the other 37 game play video games you get a very good idea of the crazy shenanigans and situations that the video game designers place our favorite Minifigures in. The game covers various themes, eras and genres, mixing them as only LEGO can. In one song you are defending a castle with the “power of rock,” another you are deep underwater (I sense overtones of LEGO Atlantis), and in yet another you are trying to escape from the Securiti-T-Rex (don’t ask, its in the song “Monster”).

Although the game play itself is like any other Rock Band or Guitar Hero, the back ground stories and videos are LEGO at its best! The only problem I see is that you will want to watch the videos and won’t be able to concentrate on the game at the same time!

And though I still haven’t really played the game myself (except for a very brief moment at Comic Con with the demo game) I’m pretty sure that this will be very high on my Christmas wish list.

P.S. Any donations in that department will be greatly appreciated.

Qtv has a new feature on their YouTube Channel. It’s called “Guitar ‘How To’ with Q” and features various artists teaching you how to perform their most popular songs. So far we have “Walking With A Ghost” by Tegan and Sara, “A Punk” by Vampire Weekend”, “Fake Empire” by The National and “To Be Surprised” by Sondre Lerche.

It’s interesting to watch the instructional videos as the personality of each artist comes out a little. Sara Quin is probably the most entertaining as she fumbles through her explanation and forgets how to count frets. You can tell Aaron Dressner is more of a shy person as he gets prompted along the way through his video as to what he should talk about next and Sondre Lerche is just all the hell over it. While everyone else’s video are under 5 minutes Lerche takes a staggering 13 minutes to explain his song. The guy is like a surgeon with his explanation with the best line being “you gotta use your Amaj7 wisely”. Word dude.

If you are a Punk:

All Points West or what papers are calling it All Pants Wet, took place this weekend at Liberty State Park, a music festival in which I had intended to go to, but I couldn’t make it.  However, my friend K went on Sunday, when Coldplay performed, and she was merely lost for words.

Despite the rain, fans still managed to enjoy the music, allowed themselves to be serenaded by the various bands that took to the stage.  Lead singer of Vampire Weekend seemed to have said it best: “I know it’s not easy to dance when you’re holding an umbrella,” (RollingStone) And I’m sure fans still managed to dance to the music despite the rain . . .

A few of my favorite bands were in attendance: Vampire Weekend, MGMT and Coldplay.

Here are some pictures of the event if you, like me, were unable to attend:

Vampire Weekend performed on July 31, 2009 at APW

MGMT performed on August 2, 2009 at APW

Coldplay performed on August 2, 2009 at APW

Coldplay's Chris Martin

I really wanted to see Coldplay, seeing as how they’re my all-time favorite band.  Hopefully, it won’t be long until they return, so that I may be serenaded by their music…hopefully.

After being recently introduced to the music of Vampire Weekend, I am officially a huge fan!  So I really wished I was there on Friday as well, to see them play, but this article from the RollingStone, was the closest I got to APW:

The first band to break the spell of the rain — both figuratively and literally — was Vampire Weekend, who was lively from the get-go, despite water dappling the stage as they played. Koenig was light-hearted and fun, whipping his hair around and talking to the audience like they were his close friends. He asked people to go crazy during the “raincoats” line in “A-Punk” and tried to teach them the histronic screams in “One (Blake’s Got A New Face).” They even got cozy enough to try a new song — something that had the feel of classic VW, the electro feel of the Discovery album Koenig guests on and a beat like U2’s “Bullet The Blue Sky.” Maybe their good attitudes helped, because the sky quickly turned from grey to blue-grey before “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa.” – RollingStone

Here are one of my favorite songs from Vampire Weekend: “A-Punk”

Even with the rain and mud, it sounded like APW was epic.  Please share your stories if you went to the festival!

I would love to hear,

JO

Wanted to post this real quick, because it’s silly, I’m a little work-fried, and the emphasis on the “soundtrack” is a big part of the joke.

With a little more plot, I’d totally see this movie. I like a good lady road-trip movie (see also: Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion, a movie I should probably write about in terms of soundtracks, 80s pop iconography, and funny ladies).

Some other things I love about this fake trailer:
1. Are Alicia and Alanis real-life friends? Do they eat vegan meals together somewhere posh in LA? They seem like they like each other. I’d record my friend flipping me off on a digicam.
2. I don’t really have much use for Alanis as a singer or funny lady (I don’t like “My Humps“). But she’s really great here. And, apparently, she can sum up her life with a shot glass.
2. The use of The Sea and Cake’s “Weekend” when Alicia’s mother dies, complete with the photo falling off the table. Normally, I associate this hazy pop tune with a Sofia Coppola movie I made up in my head. It involves a quiet French couple, slouchy yet tight and impossibly fashionable black ensembles by Marc Jacobs, and grey skies. This is funnier.
3. The way Vampire Weekend’s “A-Punk” slows down when Alicia goes from happy to hysterically sad.
4. Some of these bands aren’t real. I’ll let you go through the names and pick them out. Unfortunately, Mates of State are very real (cheap shot!).
5. That said, the fake band names and the real band names are often similar enough that it’s not easy to tell them apart if you don’t already know who’s who. The pseudo-Juno font and the implied presence of Fox Searchlight helps sell it.
6. The soundtrack’s presence gets so excessive that songs start playing on top of each other. Of course they do. Just like life.

I am so tired this morning. Perhaps some Vampire Weekend will be like the water splashing in my face to awake me, or a cup of musical coffee. Nah, they’re more like a cup of musical coffee splashing in my face and making me all sticky. Regardless I am to tired to care.

Song Recommendations

If you like this song, I also suggest:

• Franz Ferdinand
• Matt & Kim
• MGMT

I also suggest the music genre:

• Post-Punk Revival

Click here for more info on Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend – “A-Punk”.

The MP3 may be purchased here:

Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

Music Monday Songs of the Week [7.6.09]

Tiger Mountain Peasant Song -Fleet Foxes
Naked as We Came- Iron & Wine
Summertime Clothes-  Animal Collective
Cristobal- Devendra Banhart
A-Punk- Vampire Weekend

BONUS- Boombox (feat. Julian Casablancas)- The Lonely Island
Julian Casablancas is the lead singer of The Strokes.

From/De: BHPR

MEDIA ALERT: First Guitar Hero 5 details, songs and images revealed

First details here…

Friday 15th May/…Guitar Hero® continues to re-define the music and gaming experience this Fall with the release of Guitar Hero 5. Featuring the best variety and biggest rock stars of today combined with classic rock anthems, Guitar Hero 5 is the latest installment of the world’s most popular music game. For the first time ever, players can customize the make-up of their band by rocking with any combination of instruments in-game: whether it be two guitars and two drums, or three guitars and a microphone, any combination is possible, allowing players to experience music their own way. Brand new, innovative, easy-to-use gameplay modes like Party Play and RockFest put fun, competition and control at center stage as fans tailor the Guitar Hero experience to match their personal style and interests. For extended hours of entertainment, downloadable content from Guitar Hero® World Tour will be compatible with the game and will automatically be updated to include all of the upgrades and enhancements of Guitar Hero 5.

Guitar Hero 5 features the strongest, most varied set list to-date comprised of master tracks from 85 of the hottest bands of today and the biggest classic acts including; Kings of Leon, The Rolling Stones, The White Stripes, Santana, Vampire Weekend, Tom Petty, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, plus more than 30 artists from a variety of music genres that will be making their music-rhythm video game debut.

Among the first-time-ever features of Guitar Hero 5 are: Party Play, where players can jump in or drop out of gameplay seamlessly; RockFest, a comprehensive competitive experience available featuring five new head-to-head modes playable online or in your living room; and the ability to play the entire set-list from the first time the game is turned on.

Guitar Hero 5 refines the player experience, enhances the art style and redesigns core features such as GHMusic Studio, making it the most accessible, fun-to-play and authentic experience for seasoned music gamers as well as first-time players. New innovations such as Band Moments, where bands are rewarded for hitting special note streams together and song challenges where gamers are tasked to play through a song a specific way, add a new competitive layer of excitement and accomplishment to the music rhythm genre.

New songs include:
The Rolling Stones – Sympathy for the Devil
Bob Dylan – All Along The Watchtower
The White Stripes – Blue Orchid
Santana – No One To Depend On (LIVE)
Vampire Weekend – A-Punk
Tom Petty – Runnin Down a Dream
Johnny Cash – Ring of Fire
Kings of Leon – Sex on Fire

Hoy vamos a ver un grupo, Vampire Weekend, que en la wikipedia califican, creo por la importancia de las percusiones, como de “afro pop”.  Creo que esta etiqueta no les define , pero hay tantos estilos musicales sintetizados que son difícilmente calificables.

Sus origenes están en la Universidad de Columbia en Estados Unidos.Se historia es la típica de internet 2.0., su buen trabajo y las recomendaciones de diversos blogs hicieron que su popularidad se disparase a través de la red. De momento tienen un único disco que se llama como el grupo. Si consiguen mantener el nivel estoy seguro de que van a ser un grupo de referencia los próximos años.

Vamos a escuchar su música:

A-Punk

Mansard Roof

Oxford Comma

M-79

C

   Imagine a seguinte mistura, Indie rock, música regional africana e elementos da musica ocidental, este é o Vampire Weekend, uma banda formada em 2007 na agitada cena indie de Nova York. Lançaram em janeiro de 2008 seu álbum Homonimo, que emplacou tanto nos EUA quanto na Europa… Este álbum rendeu a banda diversos prêmios, como o de “melhor nova banda do ano”(Pela revista Rolling Stone) e o de “melhor álbum de 2008″. Vale a pena conferir este som, ainda pouco divulgada no Brasil…

Clipe da música A-Punk, um dos sucessos da banda:

Vampire Weekend 2006′da New York’ta kurulmuş, adını, Ezra Koenig’in aynı isimli kısa filminden alan bir indie grubu. Yaptıkları müziği “Upper West Side Soweto” olarak tanımlayan grup, soundlarında Afrika popüler müziğinden etkilenmişler. Zaten “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” ve “Oxford Comma” bariz bir şekilde soukous’dan etkilenmiştir.

Ezra Koenig ve davulcu Chris Tomson ilk olarak “L’Homme Run” isimli müzik grubunu kurdular, ki bu grubun menajeri, The White Stripes’in de menajeri olan Ian Montone’du.

2007 yılında “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” ile tanınan grup, o yıl The Shins’in alt grubu olarak İngilterede konserler verdi. Grup, Vampire Weekend adlı albümlerinden dört tane single çıkardı. “Mansard Roof”, “A-Punk”, “Oxford Comma” ve “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” single’larını çıkarmış olsa da, müzik dünyasında sadece A-Punk ve Oxford Comma bir kıpırtı yaratabildi. Her görüşümde güldüğüm “A-Punk”ın video klibi ise, Garth Jennings tarafından çekilmiştir.

Ezra Koenig, Rostam Batmanglij, Chris Tomson, Chris Baio’dan oluşan grup, 2009 yılında da adından söz ettirecek gibi görünüyor.

I had a really hard time falling to sleep last night. As have I the passed few nights. I really don’t know what that is about. Maybe late coffee drinking or maybe I’m not just that tired.

Last night I fell into a thought loop. I do that sometimes when I can’t sleep, or more; when I’m right in the middle of being awake and sleeping. A stage where I can’t really control my train of thought but I know I’m not sleeping since I have some sense of aware perception left, or ongoing.

These thought loops are no fun. I always try to get out of them but never succeed (until I truly fall asleep).

Last nights thought loop was the Vampire Weekend song A-Punk. More specifically the chorus/bridge part of the song, both vocals and images. (You can find the whole thing here.) I had watched a re-run of MTV2UKs year end review show where that song, that group or that video picked up some kind of award.
Thoroughly disturbing! Not that it’s a bad song or video or anything, just hate those thought loops.

So Rob was here last night and we talked about a lot of things after I had demoed some cool sounds and Spotify (which if you haven’t got yet, get it, it’s the future). 
Here’s some of the stuff we talked about (and some conclusions we came to):

1.  Next single will be picked by you. So vote on the voting thing above!
2. It will be released on march 1:st and we hope that we also can release the album ‘The Anger’ worldwide on that date as well.
3. A, as of now, secret agreement. (Not meaning to keep anything from you but this one involves third party and I really don’t think that the third party is up to speed… nor are we fully. It’s a fun one I think so hang on for that.)

After that I played Rob the songs for the new record and we both said that it is an ok-go! We can start recording now and so we will. I’ll keep you posted on that.

Rob also brought me some really cool stuff. Stuff which completes my little home recording set up. 
First of all I got The Arturia V Collection (a collection of sofware synths) and I got two mics, two GA R1 MK2 (go: products, ribbon mic, R1 MK II). So now I’m all set. I have no excuses as to not record at home.

I think that’s about it for now. 
Ok?
Ok!

In questo periodo sto ascoltando e riascoltando i Vampire Weekend e il loro omonimo album.
Si tratta di quattro studenti della Columbia University che sono riusciti a mescolare nella loro musica diversi generi per creare qualcosa di molto fresco e dinamico…
Nella musica indie dei Vampire Weekend c’è molto ritmo afro-pop, arrangiamenti rock, sonorità retrò e tanta freschezza, un mix perfetto che ci regala tracce straordinarie come “A-Punk”, nervosa ballata pop, “Cape Code Kwassa Kwassa” che ci porta in viaggio attraverso l’Africa o ancora la bellissima “Oxford Comma”.
Tutte le 11 tracce sono molto orecchiabili ma nello stesso tempo non stancano grazie alla loro freschezza e all’ironia di base che porta leggerezza e novità, (non a caso i Vampire Weekend si definiscono Upper West Side Soweto: ovvero il raggae bianco dei Police, le chitarre da mariachi, i mandolini partenopei, la voce stridula).
Speriamo che non si fermino qui ma che continuino a regalarci bella musica…

Il video della canzone “A-Punk”

Sito web ufficiale della band: vampireweekend

Hi folks!
Sorry for this delay… I’m bit busy these days so I couldn’t update the blog since today!
Here you have the video of the week:

VAMPIRE WEEKEND – A PUNK

Anyway, as we are n X-mas time I have decided to give you some free tracks to reward you!

Army Navy – My Thin Sides mp3

Fleet Foxes-White Winter Hymnal mp3

Au Revoir Simone – Sad Song (Pacific’s remix) mp3

My best wishes for the New Year!!!!

So sometimes all I can say is that you have to experiment with things and different ideas you have in your life and in your head. It doesn’t matter how important or unimportant and unrelated the event or idea is, it should be tried out. I had this idea of combining different ideas from different music videos that I have seen to create something different and hopefully unique that was also enjoyable to watch. I used the song “A-Punk” by the band Vampire Weekend, which is a indie band that is quickly taking the music scene by storm with their catchy hit single, “A-Punk”.

It was an interesting music video to shoot and produce, however the editing proved more tricky than what I thought it would be. I ran into some problems with my friend who helped produce as well as provided catering services for the production of the video. All in all, I think the music video was a huge success from the responses I have heard back by friends and co-workers. Sadly, however the video has not gained the responses and viewings as I thought it would on YouTube. I can only suggest that you watch and judge for yourself.