Just a quick one this weekend as I’m far too busy (what an arse I sound) so here are 5 top musical based things to do in Manchester this weekend in no particular order:

1) The Chemical Brothers – Sankey’s; Tonight

I dont think I really need to hype this one up, it rather speaks for itself, the Chems are here to celebrate Bugged Out’s 15th year birthday, and all I can say is it is going to be big, very big, morbidly obese big.

2) La Roux and Zane Lowe – Warehouse Project; Saturday Night

Again not exactly a gig I have to hype up a tremendous amount La Roux is huge and Zane, our favourite antipodean Radio 1 DJ is always worth seeing, and I dont think you need a particular excuse to go to a Warehouse night this year, the general consensus id that this year it has been easily the best. Also one of my favourite bands at the moment Ou Est La Swimming Pool are also playing. My friend saw Tiga a few weeks back and he could barely speak for about 3 days. Go and see, please

3) Contort Yourself - The Roadhouse; Saturday Night

One of Manchester’s own, Contort Yourself are DJ’s who provide in their own words, “The best 8-bit-breaks, dance floor classics, punishing house and cosmic pop”. They are truly tremendous if you go to the Roadhouse I can guarantee you will have a good night* so check out their myspace and go along

4) Breakestra – Band On The Wall; Saturday Night

Breakestra are an LA based 8-piece funk and soul band who bring it hard, I’ve heard very good things about them, people have mentioned the names James Brown and Parliament to me, and it doesnt get much more funky than that. If you havent been to the BOTW since it was done up then this would be a good an excuse as any it looks great, and if you want to be funked silly (yes I did just say that) then head along

5) Datarock - Moho; Sunday Night

Datarock are awesome = fact. They may be crazy Norwegians with a list of band members that dwarfs the Polyphonic Spree but theyre blend of electro is right up my street, I cannot think of a better way of spending a Sunday night than absorbing some Datarock magic.

If you need any other listings please see my page on gigs

*obviously that was metaphorically speaking A N Other Manc cannot be responsible for you having a good night.

I love I love I love when I discover songs like this. It makes me want to do great things. It feels great! That guitar is sweet as hell. Very Police…

Datarock – Amarillion

Jeg skaffet meg spotify i sommer en gang, siden det virket som om alle andre syntes det var så bra. Og da jeg prøvde det for første gang var jeg solgt.
Jeg har oppdaget utrolig mye bra der, f.eks Florence + The Machine, Joy Division og The Horses.
Noe av det første jeg gjorde var å lage min første spilleliste. Den ble kalt Random Blubb av en eller annen grunn. Tror det var det første som falt meg inn!

It’s love.

Alex Turner:
Frontfigur i mitt favorittband numero uno; Arctic Monkeys

Datarock har egen spilleliste på min spotify.

Muse tvitret på taket på operaen.

Og ja, jeg må fortelle at jeg blogger fra min kjære iPod Touch (Mr. Woopey), og ting går ikke så fort på den. Men fra nå av har jeg faktisk mulighet til å bruke macen min, og da kommer det forhåpentligvis flere bilder med meg som fotograf! Det er en lidenskap jeg har; å ta bilder! Men dett var dett!
Chuz! Au revoir! Auf wiedershen! Salut! Good Bye! Og, ikke minst: Ha det bra

(scrub to 2:10 for a heavenly “noodle”)

I’m sure you’ve seen this Holy Ghost! + VBS.tv “thing”, so have I, but lately I’ve been watching it in unhealthy amounts (looks @sparkletone.) It seems that ever since I got hooked up with that Limited Edition HG! Vinyl from Green Sound Label, I’ve had all their tunes on repeat. Anyway, in case you haven’t seen the video, it’s basically a walk-through of Nick and Alex’s home studios as well as some commentary on how they put a song together. Overall, this little clip does a great job of illustrating the personalities behind Holy Ghost!.

If you’d like to see more video’s like the one posted up top, you should definitely add Motherboard to your bookmarks, they offer lot’s of impressive stuff ranging from art + design to music to film to the environment to… Well, you get it.

Lastly, to further prove my obsession with Holy Ghost!, here are a handful of their remixes and dubs that I recently downloaded. Most of which are “old”, but at the same time, still legit. I can’t wait for these guys’ album to drop next year!

Curses! – The Deep End (Holy Ghost! Remix)
Datarock – The Pretender (Holy Ghost Remix Dub)
In Flagranti – Business Acumen (Holy Ghost! Cover Version)
Only Fools And Horses – Spectacle Wins (Holy Ghost! Remix)
Panthers – Goblin City (Holy Ghost! Disco Dub)

Beats™

Grizzly Bear

The New Year’s Falls Music & Arts Festival, Pyramid Rock Festival, Field Day, Days Like This!, Big Day Out, St Jerome’s Laneway Festival, Good Vibrations and the list goes on. Nothing like summer festivals to get out there and check out some extraordinary bands. If you’re going to any of these, lucky you. If not, you might want to consider the odd sideshow or two. I am heading to Lorne Falls Festival again this year and can not wait to kick my boots off and lie in the sun. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Editors and Grizzly Bear are my festival favourits. All of them are doing sideshows in Sydney in early January. Yeah Yeah Yeahs will hit Hordern Pavilion, while Grizzly Bear have just announced the date for their third show at the Recital Hall, as part of Sydney Festival. Second time around, I’m quite keen to see Moby, also performing at Sydney Opera House, and the very fun live  Norweigan electro rockers Datarock. The Temper Trap, Sarah Blasko, Philadelphia Grand Jury, Dappled Cities and Yves Klein Blue are my local favorite picks. And as always, I can’t wait to hear bands I haven’t quite had the chance to hear yet like The View, The Phenomenal Handclap Band and White Rabbits. White Rabbits are doing a side gig at the Oxford Art Factory in the new year as well.

Cat Power

Now, Days Like This! is not necessarily my type of festival, but boy was I happy to see Cat Power on the performers’ bill. I’m a sucker for female singers with breathy voices, and hers is one of my favourites. I will see Cat Power backed by the Dirty Delta Blues (with Jim White from Dirty Three) perform at Waves in Towradgi as her only Sydney (or 60 km south of) side gig.

The Decemberists

I have never been to Big Day Out, but I have managed to catch a few sideshows in the past. This time around I’ll be seeing the Portland, Oregon-based rock band The Decemberists. It’s been a while since I started tracking their tour schedule expecting to see some dates for their, I believe, first ever down under tour. I can not wait to indulge in their theatrical indie folk extravaganza. They will not be doing the Hazards of Love show, which is completely understandable, but a bit sad since I have placed it to sit comfortably within my ‘top 10 albums of 2009′ list. The Decemberists will play at the Metro Theatre.

Oui, je sais, je m’en veux aussi. Cela fait bien longtemps que je n’ai pas poster quelque chose de descend mais que voulez-vous la vie est plus compliqué que l’on ne croit (Oui, vous l’avez tous pensé, c’est de la m*rde). Bref, tout ça pour vous dire que même si je reviens à vous c’est un peu à poil que je me présente. Et oui, les coups de cœur sont rares ou/et vieux de quelques mois et/ou déjà connus de tous le monde mais ainsi soit-il, voici mon article de la honte.

1. Lou Barlow – Bulletproof (La Roux)
2. Datarock – Give It Up (Chateau Marmont Remix) ♥♥
3. Jeffrey Lewis & Laura Marling – Brain Damage (Eminem)
4. LCD Soundsystem – Bye Bye Bayou (Alan Vega)
5. Girls With Moustaches - Moonchild(Born to Weed) ♥♥♥♥
6. Robbie Williams - Do You Mind? ♥
7. Crookers – Candy Candy (Feat. Teki Latex & BIG-O)
8. Good Shoes – Wrong And Right
9. Arctic Monkeys – Balaclava
10. Fight Back The Heart Attack – Fight Back The Heart Attack ♥♥♥

About it.

1. Alors, oui, je hais La Roux…Mais je viens de me rendre compte que c’est en fait sa voix qui m’herite car Bulletproof interprété par Lou Barlow, ça fout des frissons.
2. Rien que de voir “Datarock” ca me met en émoi puis, Chateau Marmont, ca relève du malaise…Le résultat est là, c’est du retravaillé, parfois un peu sur-haché mais ce rythme SMDien vous défoncerais une mouette. C’est du lourd.
3. Une petite reprise toute mignonnette très moldy peachesienne, ca vous débouche les narines en ce temps hivernale. C’est juste un petit plaisir à vous offrir lorsque  votre face commence à s’écraser contre la vitre d’un obscure train de banlieue…
4. Je ne vous cacherais pas que je préfère l’original, mais tout de même c’est un morceau bien agréable et quelques nouvelles des LCD Soundsystem, ça ne se refuse pas!
5. J’aime ces matins où on l’on retrouve dans sa boite mail des bijoux comme ça. Le genre de bijoux qui vous collent à la peau comme une sangsue. Allez là je peux vous le dire, c’est du TUBE.
6. Après analyse détaillée du dernier album de Robbie Williams, j’en arrive à la conclusion que ce n’est pas si terrible que ça. Bien sur, c’est pas énorme mais ca s’écoute plutôt bien. Puis, il y a cette chanson, déjà entendu, pas révolutionnaire, qui vous décoche le déhanché qu’il faut…Alors bon, on craque et on le met ici.
7. Clairement, les Crookers sont des blaireaux. Néanmoins, il y a des moments où j’aime les blaireaux…
8. OH OUI! Good Shoes en concert, la banane cloue mes zigomatiques à leur apogée. Du coup, je replonge et, merde, c’est trop bon.Ps : Under Control
9. OH OUI OH OUI! Demain le concert des Arctic Monkeys, je ne crois pas que je me sens. Ca y est extase. Balaclava, c’est LE bijoux de FWN!
10. J’hésitais à la mettre dans ma playlist, car c’est vraie qu’elle ne m’enthousiasmait pas plus que ça. Puis en y revenant, en l’écoutant sur un quai abandonné, dans ma chambre la nuit, dans un parc…elle commence à vivre et prendre forme. Finalement, je crois que j’en suis tombée amoureuse.

Pix : Alex Kapranos, juste pour le plaisir d’antan.

Crédit : Silvio Tanaka

if you wanna stay, i’ll stay okay

but you know, i know it’s impossible

if you wanna go, i’ll go away

but you know,

i’ll be running away on saturday

running away on saturday

running away on saturday

running away on saturday

} Sábado, dia 31 de Outubro, vai rolar Funhell @ Vegas Club.

A tradicional festa da Funhouse acaba de completar um ano e meio de existência e lançar um site. Como toda conquista merece uma comemoração, o trio Fabricio Miranda, Marcelo Fubah e Pomada resolveu celebrar os dois acontecimentos em uma festa no Vegas Club.

A Funhell 1.5, que acontece dia 31 de outubro, recebe pela primeira vez no Brasil o show da banda americana Hey Champ. Destaque em Chicago e reconhecidos nacionalmente, a banda ganhou projeção internacional com o hit “Cold Dust Girl” e a versão remix de “Beaches and Friends” dos brasileiros Database.

A ascensão na cena local levou o trio a um dos principais festivais americanos, o Lollapalloza. Além desse, fazem parte do currículo, o texano SXSW e uma tour pelo EUA abrindo os shows de Lupe Fiasco. Além do rapper, os americanos dividiram palco com nomes importantes como Justice, Sebastian Tellier, The Sounds, Midnight Juggernauts, Kid Sister, Datarock, The Bloody Beetroots, entre outros.

No dia 31, além dos americanos do Hey Champ, a Funhell 1.5 recebe o duo Roots Rock Revolution, Rafael Urenha (Party Íntima), e as irmãs Marina e Helena Sasseron (Chicks in Charge).

HEY CHAMP

Rockford, Illinois nos EUA, não é exatamente um berço de grandes talentos. Por enquanto, lançou para o mundo a lendária banda de rock Cheap Trick e o irmão mais velho do famoso programa de TV, “Blossom”. Dois garotos, Saam Hagshenas, 16, e Jonathan Marks, 13, foram fortemente influenciados pelos dois hits da sua cidade e acabaram formando uma banda.

Oito anos depois, em Chicago, eles reformularam a banda, dando origem ao Hey Champ. Mais experientes e sem dinheiro nenhum, sentindo a necessidade de adicionar teclados ao som da banda, Johathan chamou seu antigo amigo na Universidade de Princeton, Pete Dougherty. Equipado com sintetizadores e uma esperança, Pete deixou de lado sua conformidade musical e decidiu ser ousado.

O trio começou a ganhar reconhecimento em Chicago pela ótima veia pop e qualidade na produção sonora. Durante o verão de 2008, receberam um telefonema de Lupe Fiasco, que tinha conhecido a banda por meio do clipe de “Cold Dust Girl”. Em um mês, o Hey Champ saiu em uma turnê nacional abrindo os shows de Lupe, e começava as gravações do seu primeiro disco. No começo de 2009, “Cold Dust Girl” ganhou os clubes por todo o país. Com passagem por grandes festivais, uma turnê durante todo o ano, reconhecimento internacional da faixa “Cold Dust Girl”, e faltando pouco para o lançamento do seu primeiro álbum, o Hey Champ busca virar o terceiro grande hit nascido em Rockford.

HEY CHAMP

saam hagshenas (vox, guitar, keys)
jon marks – (rhythm, vox, keys)
pete dougherty – (keys, synths)

Datarock.

The Norwegian duo goes for pop on their new album, trading slower electronic freak-outs for upbeat dance-floor ditties.

If every soundtrack of a John Hughes’ film, ever, were produced by Brian Eno and David Byrne, it would sound like Datarock’s latest effort, Red. In fact, Datarock embrace their love of Hughes’ films in “Molly,” which is an ode to, you guessed it, Molly Ringwald.

These guys are known for mixing eighties synth and vocals with disco-dance melodies, guaranteed to get everyone dancing like Michael J. Fox in “Teen Wolf.” Album opener “The Blog” sounds like a song from Labrynth remixed by The Prodigy, with a fuzzy bass and fast techno beat.

Making what seems like nothing more than quirky dance songs is Datarock’s forte. But a hiding meaning within each song is where Datarock truly shines. For instance, they pay homage to aforementioned David Byrne’s legendary group The Talking Heads with “True Stories,” whose lyrics are comprised entirely of Heads’ song titles.

“In The Red” is the only hiccup in this retro dance-a-thon. With its strange lounge organ musak, it sounds like it should be played in an elevator or a supermarket in the 1960s, and seems to serve as an intermission, but just falls flat.

7/10

-BC

Label: Nettwerk Records

Myspace.com/datarock

このアップデートでは遅れてごめんね。私は仕事が忙しいだ。私はあなたの新しい音楽のこの新鮮なバッチをお楽しみください。私の友人欠場。

___

love you

white light circus – rocket ride (the emperor machine version)

phoenix – armistice (yacht rmx)

hot toddy – i need love (morgan geist’s love dub)

heartsrevolution – dance till dawn

datarock – the pretender (holy ghost remix)

-bv-

Datarock – The Pretender (Holy Ghost! radio remix)

“The Pretender” video was inspired by the classic They Live, directed by John Carpenter in 1988. The main character finds a pair of sunglasses that opens his eyes to reveal that the civilized world isn’t quite what he thought it was. This video was directed by Parralax who also directed the video for their hit “Computer Camp Love”. ”The Pretender” is featured on Datarock’s second album Red.

eh, this is like 6 real days old and 12 blog years old, but this video is awesome. a lot of colors. roygbiv come to life in a supermarket. the red jumpsuit-clad collective will be releasing an EP centered around “the pretender,” which can also be found on this year’s red. the ep will also feature some remixes by chairlift and someone else i can’t remember.

devo: the new generation.

download:

datarock – the pretender

-grizzly

I helga har jeg virkelig vært på villspor, nemlig helt oppi Trondheim, men jeg drar søren meg ikke så langt uten en knallbra grunn, og det var nemlig Franz Ferdinand! Et band som jeg fikk oppleve i sin glans på årets Hovefestival, og dermed var jeg ikke vond å be da jeg hørte de kom til Norge igjen.

Med seg hadde de Datarock som skulle varme opp, og det gjorde de utrolig bra. Med en versjon av Fa-Fa-Fa som varte i rundt ti minutter så var stemningen latterlig høy da de gikk av, men bare synd at det tok enda 30 minutter å få Franz på scenen.

Franz Ferdinand valgte å slå til med låter fra sitt nyeste album før “klassikerene” kom på rekke og rad, noe  som gjorde at det ble latterlig kaotisk blant publikum. Spesielt for de som ikke har vært på slik konsert før. Istedenfor å hoppe konstant så ble det mer knuffing. Det ødelagte mye av stemningen som egentlig skal være på en slik konsert, og gjorde at de fleste var utslitte da halvparten av konserten var spilt, men nok om det.

Opptreden av Franz Ferdinand var fantastisk som alltid, men komposisjonen til når låtene ble spilt var litt sørgelig. Etter en time med musikk så gikk de av scenen, og da hadde de spilt så og si alt av slagere. Hvordan i helvete skal de toppe dette når de kommer inn igjen? Og det endte med det jeg trodde. Den siste halvtimen var publikum slitne, og sangene litt mindre populære. Elektrobiten på slutten dro virkelig det siste ut av publikum, som begynte å se på klokka da.

Konserten manglet kontroll og en god rekkefølge på sangene. På Hove 09 passet dette nærmest perfekt, og der ble det toppa med “This Fire” på slutten. Med fire-fem låter på slutten som er ganske average så ble ikke dette godt nok, selv med den gode innsatsen.

Hardscore:

6500/10000

/Martin

Great opening band for the Datarock show! If you like your rock with electronic touches and plenty of danceability, UK style, then Esser is your band. I know that description can mean horrible music, but these guys are definitely worth checking out. I’d really like to see these guys do a headlining set, and from what I saw the other night I’m guessing they will be on their way to bigger things in the US. Here’s an older story with some background info.

Esser
w/Datarock

2009_09_28
Phoenix, AZ
The Rhythm Room

ST-11 > CA-9100 > R09 (24-bit/48kHz)
R09 > MacPro > Wave Editor Pro 1.3 (fades, split tracks)> WAV > FLAC 24-bit/48kHz or mp3

01 001
02 I Love You
03 Leaving Town
04 Greyface
05 Rewind
06 Long Arms
07 Satisfied
08 Headlock.

Notes:
Bad cable caused some distortion

—-Download—-

sample mp3 (1MB): Leaving Town sample mp3

mp3 (49MB): Esser_20090928.zip

FLAC (304MB): Esser_20090928-FLAC.zip

I have to say I’ve never seen anything like Datarock before! I’m not a fan of a lot of dance music, but Datarock are more of an electro-dance-pop-rock hybrid, with a good sense of humor. Live guitars, drums, saxaphone, keyboards, electronic drums/effects, and a lot of dancing made them extremely entertaining to watch. In their words they sound like “The trinity of Talking Heads, DEVO and Happy Mondays!”

Datarock
w/Esser

2009_09_28
Phoenix, AZ
The Rhythm Room

ST-11 > CA-9100 > R09 (24-bit/48kHz)
R09 > MacPro > Wave Editor Pro 1.3 (fades, split tracks)> WAV > FLAC 24-bit/48kHz or mp3

01 Intro
02 Give It Up
03 True Stories
04 Dance!
05 Nightflight To Uranus
06 Sex Me Up
07 Princess
08 Amarillion
09 The Pretender
10 Back In The Seventies
11 Fa-Fa-Fa
12 Computer Camp Love
13 I Used To Dance With My Daddy
14 Molly
15 Maybelline
16 Ganguro Girl
17 New Days Dawn
18 Bulldozer
19 Ugly Primadonna
20 (I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life
21 Datarock Loves You

Notes:
Bad cable caused some distortion early in the set
Drum monitor failed eventually
Singer from Esser played drums on a song, sang during Fa, Fa, Fa, as well as faked playing guitar during “Time of My Life”

—-Download—-

sample mp3 (1MB): 03 True Stories sample mp3

mp3 (156MB): Datarock_20090928.zip

FLAC (952MB): Datarock_20090928-FLAC.zip

These next couple of weeks prove to be absolutely phenomenal for shows. However, the show I’m looking especially forward to goes on tomorrow night at the Republic. Playing with my lovely friends and amazing indie rockers Big Rock Candy Mountain, DataRock hails from Norway, with some of the best dancy music I could ever imagine.

Check out their song “True Stories” from their newest album Red:

If you like Datarock, then I hope that you’ll also enjoy Big Rock Candy Mountain. Their newest release, Hey Kid, just got reviewed by JamBase! I’m so proud of those boys. Listen to Rocketship, it’s definitely one for the books:

Hope to see all of you out tomorrow night at the show!