Polaroids # 33

Los Campesinos @ Alive!09 festival


(Picture taken on the 11th of July 2009 in Algés, Lisbon, Portugal)

Dan Black's debut album is out!

About time! Dan Black's first album (called simply Un, the most straight to the point first album title since Björk's Debut) is out now! It's a very art-school pop sound, mixing electro with r&b grooves, confessional lyrics and atmospheric synths and orchestrations. Some songs were already well known from his myspace but they come now with a proper production (what they did with the song Wonder is terrific). The new songs are just as inventive: U+Me= is great, full of space, dry beats and spaceship synths, Cigarette Pack kinda evokes Air (good in my book!), and Let Go is just pure pop perfection. I would expect a lot of singles and airplay but you never know these days. Still, this british indie kid (that actually lives in Paris) has just made a big entrance into the pop world. Please don't leave the room.
Bellow, a nice little video of Dan rehearsing in his Eurostar trip from Paris to London. Watch him throw in some verses from Into the Groove (writer drewls allover his keyboard).

Polaroids # 32 (Back from NYC)

From Lisbon to New York City, back from an amazing 12 days at the city that never sleeps. I loved it and I want to go back there as soon as possible. Up there with Berlin, this was one the cities that I visited yet that left the most impressive mark.