Electric Candle Machine: Download the mp3
The name comes from a machine I saw in the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela. Pop a coin in and ping! on comes an electric candle. A poor substitute for the real thing, and something of a disappointment in such a famous medieval church. But I guess churches have to find cost savings as much as anyone.
There seems to be a trend in music submitted to me lately: Asians!
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10/01/08 Northcote Social Club Melbourne, Victoria*
10/02/08 The Palace and the Mystic Valley Band Melbourne, Victoria** 10/03/08 The Tivoli Brisbane, Queensland** 10/04/08 The Enmore Sydney, New South Wales** 10/05/08 Spectrum Sydney, New South Wales*** 11/15/08 Coolongatta Hotel Coolongatta, Queensland * with Fearless Vampire Killers ** with Conor Oberst *** with The Atrocities and Warhorse |
Before I begin, I have to say that I love that name, "I Heart Hiroshima". Maybe it's the heart-thing, you know? Well I♥Hiroshima is three-piece indie pop band from Brisbane, Australia. Although I couldn't find where they got their name from, I am assuming it's in reference to Hiroshima, Japan. If you think it has anything to do with atomic bombs, I don't think that's the case here: this group is positive and fun.
I think all three band members sings, although I couldn't tell you which boy member dominate the other. For sure, fans of boy-girl vox should really appreciate I♥Hiroshima, as Susie Patten and either Matthew Somers or Cameron Hawes have banter-like singing. And forgive me for say that their singing style comes off as sounding very DIY and amateurish. However, I get the feeling that they don't really care what I have to say - just as long as they and you are having a great time.
So, Tuff Teef was released late last year in Australia. I don't believe it's actually available in the US, at least not physically on CD. The single that they liked and released is "Punks", which sounds like a dialogue between Patten and Somers. I will admit, I liked the bit about "Don't lock your doors, I have these punks on the ropes".
Speaking of lyrics, here are some of the best one I heard from this album you should watch for:
So anyway! If you like boy/girl indie sound (they sound so cute) with some quirky lyrics, and hate bass, then you'll love I Heart Hiroshima.
And guess what? Mister Conor "Bright Eyes" Oberst have personally asked them to tour with him on his upcoming Australian tour in October. You can purchase Tuff Teef from Valve Records.
We never get anything from Singapore, so I was pretty happy to see Singapore's Impiety's latest EP, Dominator. It was quickly recorded and cut from earlier this year (April) from Studio 27, and available now (?) from Pulverised Records. By the way, just a note, but these guys have been busy, with 18 Atomic Years Satanniversary, a 2-CD greatest hits, which was just released this year. That's right, this band have been around for 18 years, since January 1990.
Anyway, starting off with the striking skeleton Ghengis Khan-like army, the album paints a mood of destruction and domination. The majority of the EP is guitar and fast-drumming and I did enjoy the horse galloping and sword clashing on the intro track, "Introbliteration".
I usually have a poor ear when it comes to understanding lyrics for black metal, but surprisingly, I was able to pick up a few words here and there. The words you do hear is pretty typically death metal ("Satan", "Jesus", "Christ", "terror", etc).
There is one interesting cover song on this EP, "The Black Vomit". This song is originally by the Brazilian black metal band Sarcofago (you can hear their version on their myspace).
If black metal is your thing, Impiety offers some great guitar thrashing and superfast drumming and they demonstrate why they've been around for nearly 20 years and going strong.
My initial reaction to Never Trust The Chinese was kind of borderline offensive. I the more I thought about it, I thought this might be in reference to a joke about how people just blindly trust the Chinese when it comes to fortune cookies (which admittedly, I thought "that's so true..."). But once I got past the title, this Phoenix-based band intrigued me because they are a band, but utilize guest vocals, like electronic artists like Tricky and the Chemical Brothers.
I have always known that I was going to use their opening track, "Fine" as the song of choice when I first heard it. It's quite lush and melodic, features an uncredited woman singer. That song represent Mr Meeble's sound, but my favorite song is "It All Came To Pass", which comes off like a trippy acid jazz. The vocals on this track is by Monique Blue, is absolutely seductively gorgeous.
"Raindrops" is another good one. It felt like a three-part song, with Devin Fleenor starting it off and Yasmine Iliya came in with "raindrops keep falling on my head", while the third part is by an uncredited poetry-type singing. There's something for everyone on this song.
Never Trust the Chinese have been out since July, and can be purchased in a variety of format on their website. Fans of electronica should definitely check out Meeble.
Links:
www.weheartmusic.com
news.weheartmusic.com
lastfm.com
twitter.com/weheartmusic
Under the banner of “A NEW CULTURAL ECONOMY – The Limits of Intellectual Property” the 2008 Ars Electronica Festival aims to co-author the preamble to a new knowledge-based society. What’s at stake: the interplay of freedom of information and copyright protection, big profit-making opportunities and the vision of an open knowledge-based society. And this is also a matter of practical, workable regulations governing this new reality, rules whose formulation ought not to be left up to lawyers and MBAs alone.
Ars
Electronica invites artists, network nomads, theoreticians,
technologists and legal scholars from all over the world to convene in
Linz September 4-9, 2008. Their artistic and scholarly investigations
in the form of symposia, exhibitions, performances and interventions
will transcend the confines of conventional conference spaces and
cultural venues and pervade the entire city.
Music video "Runaway" from Ladytron's album Velocifero.
digitalTRAFFIC
theatre album.
Release date: 01 05 08.
Format: digital download.
CLICK TO PLAY / STREAM THEATRE
theatre The fourth net release album from digitalTRAFFIC featuring 5 tracks - dark ambient soundscapes to heavy electronic industrial multi-layered noisescapes and sci-fi sounds. sphere - theatre of space - mellow with simple sonic overlays. tribe - theatre of war. - heavy industrial sound. avatar - theatre of virtual reality - elegant deep and mystical. nano - theatre of atoms - lighter sound with a dark undertone. drama - theatre of life - heavy rock industrial vibe reflecting the drama we all experience in our day to day lifes.
(no machines were harmed in the making of this album...)
Thanks for taking the time to check out the digitalTRAFFIC sound - enjoy the tracks.....
digitalTRAFFIC
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]]>Manifiesto: Download the mp3
Manifiesto was the first Victor Jara song I heard, an appropriate starting point as he sets out his aims for his canción nueva (sincerity and truth, uplifting and uniting) after praising the corazón de tierra and feeling of the guitar.
i finally got the new Crystal Castles album. it pretty much rocks. =D
Just discovered the Seattle-based Audiophobe internet radio show. For those of you who really like trancey, dark, electronica, then you should tune in to Audiophobe every Thursday at 8:30 PM. Just go to the Ampedout.net website and click "Listen." You'll feel like you just stepped into a rave... minus the E and teens.
If you aren't into electronica yet, I'd suggest getting started with something a little easier on the ears... bands like Portishead, Massive Attack, and Thievery Corporation are some very popular trip hop groups. If you listen to nothing but Top 40, you probably won't like this genre... but hey. It's worth a shot.
Since Audiophobe is only for a few hours once a week, you can stream KEXP all the time. :) Not much electronica, but good tunes nonetheless.
Creativity demands inspiration and some kind of trigger, some kind of concept and emotion to start the process off. From that point the development and adaptation begins and new art is originated in a multitude of mediums. In this instance the art is sound and the medium is ambient electronica. It's about deep space. It's about the expanding universe, spirituality, evolving ambience and the depth of the human soul. Helix is now in production.... this is the trigger
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07/13/08 Eboli (Salerno/Naples), Italy
Discography
07/18/08 Arezzo Wave - Livorno, Italy 08/09/08 Carpi/Modena, Italy 08/29/08 Burning Man - Black Rock City, Nevada |
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