Dev Hynes - Lightspeed Champion

Dev Hynes: Punk rocker, serious singer/songwriter, blogger, short-story author, Lightspeed Champion.  And photographer, of course. Dev’s got an photo exhibit on tonight. Get there. Click here.

By the way, did we mention the naked cafe with a liquor licence? Apparently their blueberry pancakes are rad, too.

And a current Le Cool fav, The Book Club, has now got ping pong….

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Stay cool.

Straight from the mouth of Domino Records themselves

‘We are very excited to announce that Lightspeed Champion has returned with his second album, Life is Sweet! Nice To Meet You. The follow-up to 2008’s Falling Off The Lavender Bridge is an epic collection of twelve pop songs, two instrumental intermissions and one piano étude, set for release on 1^st Feb.

As announced previously, the first single will be Marlene (out25th Jan).

Lightspeed’s early leaning towards American country dressings is traded here for a palette that draws on classical music and even musical theatre.

Producer and mixer Ben Allen (Animal Collective, Gnarls Barkley) assembles the eclectic grab-bag of influences: joltingly ‘70s guitar and synth sounds, classical piano, Greek choruses shouting reprisals, and at least one ukelele-driven moment.

All tracks on Life is Sweet! Nice To Meet You were written and arranged by Dev Hynes.’

Love it. Consider yourself updated.

Tomorrow is the autumn equinox! Also known as the first day of fall. That’s right, it’s time for the leaves to change color, cute sweaters, Halloween, Thanksgiving, apple cider, and Starbucks’ pumpkin spice lattes! Unfortunately, down here in Florida, fall isn’t as enjoyable for me. After living in Virginia for 15 years, only seeing a few trees turn colors, and only a slight change in the temperature..it just makes me really sad. Fall and winter are my two favorite seasons, and in Florida, I can’t enjoy them as much. Today the temperate got up to 87 degrees. If only starting tomorrow, it would be in the 60’s! That would be so incredible.

And I want to know!

Anyways, lately I have been in a funk. For some reason, I have been doing a really bad job in my Painting 2 class. I think it’s because for this painting, I’m not allowed to use modeling paste. I personally love using the paste. I hate having thin paint. I told my teacher that a)realism isn’t my thing,  b) I want to use modeling paste and c) I was around my friend, Lesley, too long who introduced me to the wonders of paste. So he said that maybe after my current project, I can do a series of paintings on packing styrofoam. Lesley did the same thing last year, so I’m not really sure about the idea. But then again, our styles are completely different other than we both like to use a lot of modeling paste.

NOW, speaking of art…if anyone has been to ANY college in Virginia, please tell me your opinion about the school. I need some opinions that are not from my parents and teachers.

Anyways

1.)Reni Lane. For those of you who haven’t heard of her, Reni Lane is a singer/songwriter who is actually my sister’s best friend’s sister. Ha. This month is is actually supporting The Like as they go on tour with The Arctic Monkeys. You might have also seen her in the June/July 2008 issue of NYLON.

2.) Blood Orange. If you are a fan of Dev Hynes (Test Icicles, Lightspeed Champion, Team Perfect), then you will like Blood Orange. Coming from Dev, would you expect anything less than amazing ?

3.)Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now by Andre Jordan. This book is filled with common thoughts that are products of depression. But at the same time, quite humorous.

Now, for all you House fans, I hope you watch the premire of the new season tonight! If I remember, I’m going to.

Download Lightspeed Champions’s June 17 Mercury Lounge show here

Dev Hynes is indie rock’s Brooklyn-by-London-by-Texas answer to the 60s’ Henry Saint Clair Fredericks, aka Taj Mahal. Dev’s newest project, Lightspeed Champion, creates dark, Fleetwood Mac style country/blues infused rock featuring subtle instrumental buildups and teasing riffs, often curtailed just before climax, that lightly set you back down into murkier, keyboard-jangling passages to float you a bit further down the river Lightspeed.

Did that make any sense? Probably not. But if nothing else, Dev is one cool cat (#20 according to NME magazine last year) and you should give Lightspeed Champion some itunes attention. He’s played back-to-back shows here in NY over the past two days, first headlining Mercury Lounge, then as opener for newly pronounced indie(read: arena) rock gods Phoenix at last night’s Music Hall of Williamsburg midnight extravaganza. With previous band names and musical endeavors such as “Blood Orange” and “Test Icicles,” how can a man now calling himself “Lightspeed Champion” go wrong? Brooklyn’s “SpaceCamp” currently acts as touring band and also assisted with the new album’s recording (that’s right, its coming! Sorry, but I’m sworn to secrecy on name and release date). For more info, visit the Champ’s myspace and buy a record, or check out a show. It’s worth it.

And don’t just take my word for it, download the June 17 Mercury Lounge concert bootleg here. Rocking and rolling; gentle breeze, lots of steeze.

There’s a load of things I should probably be doing, but I forgot to post this last night so I’m doing it now.

I was watching a load of old songs on YouTube last night (don’t worry, I’ll subject you to what I was watching later on) and I was watching Curtis Mayfield performing Freddie’s Dead (Donnell Jones sampled it, did a pretty good job) and as I was watching it, I thought to myself “DEV HYNES LOOKS LIKE HIM!!!!” Most of you will probably disagree. I did say it to one friend, she agreed. I also don’t wear my glasses, so they probably look nothing like each other. If I’m wrong, I’m wrong.

However, it does mean you get to watch two cool videos

Curtis Mayfield- Freddie’s Dead.

Lightspeed Champion live clip

Uncut reports that Lightspeed Champion (a.k.a. Dev Hynes) will perform live Cat Stevens’ music from the 1971 film Harold and Maude following a screening of the movie on December 11.

Lightspeed Champion is to perform songs by Cat Stevens from the soundtrack to cult film Harold and Maude at a special screening in London next month.

The ‘Roots and Shoots’ winter edition takes place at London’s NFT1 on December 11 and will see Lightspeed Champion, aka Dev Hynes perform a special acoustic set after Hal Ashby’s film screens.

Harold and Maude is an uplifting dark comedy and stars Ruth Gordon, Bud Cort and Vivian Pickles, Harold and Maude is an oddball existential black comedy exploring an unlikely relationship between death-obsessed rich boy Harold (Bud Cort), and the lively, eccentric septuagenarian Maude (Ruth Gordon), who he meets at a funeral. 

Highlights from the Cat Stevens-penned soundtrack include ”If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out” and “Don’t Be Shy” - most of the tracks from the film’s OST also appear on Stevens’ Tea For The Tillerman album.

As promised, this post is decidedly Bloc Party-less. But just because I’ve left off one of my obsessions doesn’t mean I’ve left them all off. You’ll see a few familiar faces in this post in the likes of Lightspeed Champion, Los Campesinos!, Lykke Li, El Guincho, and a not so familiar Sky Larkin. Again, the review of a relatively unknown band is coming up soon, so until that time, I hope you enjoy what I’ve provided for you. Aren’t I such a good guy?

Lightspeed Champion – Back To Black Ah, Dev covers Amy. This song was good enough as is, but what is it with Lightspeed Champion’s voice that makes me what to listen to anything he sings? Now I might even have to cave into the pressure and listen to the original version again (Oh! To even consider it!). DOWNLOAD

Los Compesinos! – How I Taught Myself To Scream Their recent album release has only been out for half a year. Now, after six months, they feel it’s time to release a new album (if only all bands would do that, eh?). This is a b-side for the latter release. Think lots of noise and very Los Campesino-y. DOWNLOAD

Lykke Li – Little Bit (Loving Hand Remix) We all know how I love Lykke Li. This was the first single of her’s that I heard. This was the catalyst. It’s much longer than the original, as it includes a long music outro. I myself am not a fan of this remix, but that doesn’t mean you won’t like it. DOWNLOAD

El Guincho – Palmitos Park I recall making a request for El Guincho to make more remixes for the near future. In short, he did. With summer winding down, we need one last “hoorah!” and he provides it. And as a bonus, he kind of makes me feel like I’m in “Grease” or something. Where’s my leather jacket? DOWNLOAD

Sky Larkin – Molten Fans of Florence and the Machine take note: Sky Larkin are for you. They’ve recently performed alongside Los Campesinos! and Those Dancing Days in Berlin, and now, after bursting onto the scene, the Leeds natives are offering their single, “Molten” for download. DOWNLOAD

Nothing beats a gig midweek to make the working week feel a hell of a lot faster!

I was very excited walking into the cosy Northcote Social Club tonight to see Folk/Alt Country superhero and former Test Icicle,  Lightspeed Champion. Not only is his album one of my favourites so far this year, but hearing he can pull out a great show made me feel very anxious to hear him live.

When the mastermind behind Lightspeed Champion Dev Hynes walked out to the front of the stage, there is this sense that a good mate has arrived to play at a house party, such is his charming self deprecating humour and warmness to the small, but packed out crowd. Straight away he starts engaging with the punters, asking how the week was, even chatting for about five minutes when someone in the crowd tells him how they went to the Melbourne Aquarium. Then a few expats from England start shouting out where they are from and there goes another conversation, all this before a single note is struck.

When the music finally begins, it makes everyone silent. Hearing Dev’s amazing voice and engaging guitar work makes you forget about all your worries. Launching straight into “Tell me what its worth” left me in a daze. Listening to the enlightening violin, drums (played by the best looking drummer ever) and bass all synch into one very tight band was a pleasure to listen and watch.

Playing nearly all the tracks of the album, they play an even more uplifting version of ”Galaxy Of The Lost” followed by “I Could Have Done This Myself”. By the end of “Dry Lips” we were truly spoilt to witness the tremendous amount of energy and musicianship created by this band, led by the disgustingly talented Dev Hynes.

More banter between Dev and the crowd and you really start to forget that he is actually from overseas and this is his first gig in Australia. Girls start to call out if they can bring him home, as he cheekily puts his glasses on to see if they are “fit”.

Before they launch into a few “new” songs he asks the crowd to be patient by telling everyone “if you guys don’t like it, it’s because we fucked up. I like the reassurance”. This was hard to believe considering the perfect execution to a new song that sounds like we have a lot to look forward to in future releases.

Finishing before the encore they play the truly epic, 10 minute plus “Midnight Surprise”. Leading into this track was the well received Star Wars theme songs, which make all nerds in the crowd cream their pants. He caps a truly fantastic night by ironically playing “All to Shit”, before leaving the crowd thinking to themselves how lucky they were to see a remarkable talent in such an intimate setting.

Check out photos from the show here

I’ve had many, many opportunities to discover Dev Hynes. For about a year now, the name “Lightspeed Champion” has been flashing across my radar from friends and magazines, but I never paid attention to any of it (due mostly in part to my own laziness). Finally, I broke down to the pressure. I just had to see what this “Lightspeed Champion” was all about. And boy am I glad I did! The above title sums up the aftermath pretty well.

Do you remember the short lived Test Icicles, of which Dev was member? A lot of hype surrounded the band, but I just couldn’t see it. Neither could Dev, and thankfully for us, Hynes’ new moniker has taken a different direction for 2007. Lightspeed Champion—evidently, the name comes from a series of comic strips he did as a teenager in his school math books—is a radically different sound to Hynes’ previous band. In fact, he’s ditched his bright pink guitar and searing riffs for a new acoustic, folk-pop approach. Backing vocals on many songs were provided by (but not limited to) Emmy the Great and Florence (of Florence and the Machine). The result was Falling Off the Lavender Bridge, which was released on January 21st of this year.

I could cover two pages writing about why I love each individual song, but I’ll try and limit it to a paragraph. First up we have “Midnight Surprise”. This was the song that started it for me, and for being just shy of ten minutes long, it says a lot that I never lost interest in it (on first listen, mind you). That’s even without with the video, which is a must see by the way. And after listening to that, it feels like his other songs are too short, even at the typical three minutes. Emmy the Great proved to be just the icing on the cake on “Tell Me What It’s Worth” which is credited with 20 listens in 3 days. Hell yeah! And the B-side “Waiting Game” never should’ve been a B-side in the first place. “Galaxy of the Lost”, though not his greatest work, is much better than most songs coming out these days. Anyway, to prevent my needless rambling, if you were going to buy only one new album this year, consider Lightspeed Champion’s, Falling Off the Lavender Bridge as a contender.

MP3: “Tell Me What It’s Worth” – Lightspeed Champion
MP3: “Waiting Game” – Lightspeed Champion
Video: “Midnight Surprise” – Lightspeed Champion

Ein bisschen spät, aber muss hier auf jeden Fall noch rein.

Direktlink

Titel: Galaxy of the lost
Künstler: Lightspeed Champion
Album: Falling off the lavender bridge
Highlights: Galaxy of the lost, Tell me what it’s worth, Dry Lips, Midnight Surprise
Referenzen: Bright Eyes, Tom Petty, Ryan Adams, Ben Kweller
Hörproben: http://www.myspace.com/lightspeedchampion
Notizen: Devonte Hynes, ehemals Gitarrist/Keyboarder/Sänger der Hardcore-Punker Test Icicles, steht hinter “Lightspeed Champion” und hat mit seinem Solo-Debüt eine wunderbare Mischung aus Indie, Americana, Folk, Singer/Songwriter und Country hingelegt – auch super als Auto-Soundtrack geeignet! Zudem sehr schöne, leicht abgedrehte Videos, besonders die Full Version von Midnight Surprise (s.o.) sehr empfehlenswert. Allerdings nix für chronisch Depressive.

Kaufen

I wrote this when the album came out :

Dev Hynes used to be in Test Icicles, what you need to know is that Lightspeed Champion is NOTHING like Test Icicles. His new project is calming and gentle. Test Icicles were the opposite, however both are excellent.

Falling Off The Lavender Bridge does not sound like a debut album. It actually sounds like a masterpiece that an artist for years and years has been aiming to release, after putting out mediocre albums to kill time. This will be the album you’ll play constantly from now until the summer and even after the summer- you’ll be buying another copy because your first one is scratched to hell.

Ladies and gentlemen I am not lying. This album is so beautiful and will leave you in awe. Some are quick to call Lightspeed Champion our version of Bright Eyes, fair enough really. The album is produced by Mike Mogis, a producer from American independent record label, Saddle Creek and has produced some records by Bright Eyes.

The imagination in the lyrics is astounding. Every song just oozes 100% and more genuine originality. The name of the band comes from Dev’s comic strips he did in his maths books at school- and who said maths was a useless subject!?

Midnight Surprise is ten minutes of musical heaven- check the video out too. Other singles to be taken off the album are Galaxy Of The Lost and current release, Tell Me What It’s Worth.

Devil Tricks For A Bitch has a lovely violin arrangement and has a tone to it that reminds me of The Smiths, I Could Have Done This Myself and Dry Lips are my two favourites- but the whole album is magnificent and is currently being streamed on his myspace page but please please please buy this next Monday when it hits record shops.

Lightspeed Champion’s February tour is at intimate venues which is possibly the best way to experience this album. To hear this work of art live will cover your body with goosebumps and your eyes with tears.

Album of the year? I’d gladly put money on it.

Lightspeed Champion
Nottingham Rescue Rooms, 10th February
Support: House of Brothers, Semifinalists

I wanna get into this review straight away, without an intro, since I’ve got three bands to write about, and I don’t want this post to be too long. And I’ve just wasted 29 words explaining this. Gah!

The night starts with local boy House of Brothers, who plays the sort of wistfully dull folksy pap you’d expect to hear on Radio 2. He does, however, manage to stand out not due to his original sound, look or voice (none of which are, in fact, original), but because of the way firstly he looks like he’s making out with the microphone, and the way he ‘dances’ – legs together, crouching down and standing back up. Sort of like as if his shoelaces have been tied together and he really needs the toilet.

Next up are the Semifinalists, with a certain Mr Hynes on bass. Now, I’m not sure if the Semifinalists actually sound like a Sonic Youth/Pavement-style early-90’s alt-rock band, or if that’s just the vibe they give off – their singer especially, with his bad hair, dirty baggy jeans and rubbish green jumper, looks like he’d fit right in in Grunge-era Seattle. But they’re enjoyable nonetheless.

Dev Hynes, aka Lightspeed Champion laughs as he takes to the stage of the Rescue Rooms to passionate decrees of love and hilarious quips such as “Beans means Hynes!”, and then laughs (nervously) again when his guitar breaks before the third song. However, he doesn’t have to grin to cover up the rest of the show as Dev (and band) runs through songs from his recent debut album, a couple of new ones, and, er, the Star Wars theme.

The set starts with a new song, about prostitutes which, according to a sneakily-grabbed set list, is called, er, “Prostitute Song”. And it may be the greatest ode to the red light district since “Roxanne” – though I may be slightly biased on this point, as Dev’s band featured a rather attractive lady drummer; the combination of her and all the talk of deviant sex made me think naughty thoughts for a moment.

Live, the songs of Falling Off The Lavender Bridge sound like a lo-fi garage band interpreting the orchestral album tracks – though it’s a band as tight as the singer’s jeans. The group dissipates to just Dev (on acoustic guitar) and viola player for concurrent album tracks “Salty Water” and “Dry Lips”, later to be joined again for biting versions of current single “Tell Me What It’s Worth” and “I Could Have Done This Myself”.

The night ends with the 10-minute folk-epic “Midnight Surprise”, which the refershingly responsible (’twas a 14+ show, and the underage crowd was well represented – ew, that makes me sound really skeezy) Dev decides prior to the song “should just take us to the curfew”.

With the new songs and rreinterpretations of album tracks, things are looking good for album number 2 – unless Hynes dissolves this project before the year is out, and then moves on to be a gangsta rapper, or something. But I sincerely hope he doesn’t.

House of Brothers on MySpace
Semifinalists on MySpace
Lightspeed Champion on MySpace
My God-awful camera phone-taken pics from the show

Devonte Hynes, aka Lightspeed Champion, was last seen as one-third of noisy scremos Test Icicles, who penned delightful tunes such as “All You Need Is Blood”. Nowadays, instead of jumping around shouting and severing his big toe on broken beer glasses, Dev is writing wistful alt-folk in the style of acts like Bright Eyes – which is why it wasn’t particularly surprising when he flew out to Nebraska to record with Saddle Creek’s in-house producer Mike Mogis last year.

Finally, on January 21st we’ll be able to hear the fruits of his labours in the form of Lightspeed Champion’s debut Falling Off The Lavender Bridge, released by Domino (who’ve been doing pretty well as of late, with the Franz Ferdinands and those Arctic whatsists). Well, unless you’re like me and you slavishly trawl the t’internet for MP3s or downloaded the slightly *ahem* rough-around-the-edges demos Dev releases every so often on his website.

So, to preview what is hopefully going to be a brilliant album (and possibly an early contender for best of 2008?), here be two songs by Mr Hynes – his latest single, “Tell Me What It’s Worth”, along with “Everyone I Know Is Listening To Crunk”, which is nowhere near the novelty song you’d expect it to be from the title.

Download “Tell Me What It’s Worth”
Download “Everyone I Know Is Listening To Crunk”

Buy “Tell Me What It’s Worth” @ HMV.co.uk
Pre-order Falling Off The Lavender Bridge @ Play.com

I approached Lightspeed Champion with caution. Despite the ridiculously terrible/genius name of the band, I was never a fan of Test Icicles so I didn’t hold out much hope for any solo side-projects. So when Dev Hynes released his first single under the Lightspeed Champion banner. it seemed pleasant but inconsequential. However, his second single, ‘Midnight Surprise’ creeped up on me and soon became quite a favourite of mine, particularly in its’ full unadulterated nine-minute glory.  And, this is another strong single, due out in January, and to be followed by a debut album entitled, ‘Falling Off The Lavender Bridge’. I rub my knees in anticipation.