LCD Soundsystem's Bye Bye Bayou

A cool lo-fi video has just been released for LCD Soundsystem's cover of Bye Bye Bayou (a buzz 12" that preceded their current This is Happening album). This is a great track and I'm happy they did a video for it, I love all the retro video effects used here. Travel back to 1981 and enjoy it, the video is just below:

Music Videos # 71

Hercules And Love Affair (feat. Antony) - Blind



Signed to DFA, Hercules And Love Affair are a project by Brooklyn producer Andy Butler, with Antony on vocals and co-produced by Tim Goldsworthy. And what comes out of this improbable trio? A pulsating acid-disco track of amazingly catchy proportions. The video is done by Saam (the guy behind groundbreaking works for the likes of Klaxons, Simian Mobile Disco, These New Puritans and, er, Janet Jackson) and explores a possible world seen after closing eyes. Oh, and it has an orgy, so go watch it! Their full-length album is out somewhere during springtime.

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SBSR Day 2 (Home Videos # 6)

LCD Soundsystem - No Love Lost + New York I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down



James Murphy was the man of the festival, with his frenetic common-guy pose. If Arcade Fire speak to our emotions, LCD Soundsystem appeal is mainly physical, making it impossible to stand still. Punk, funk, disco, electro, house, everything was touched with infectious doses and highly effective results, building a state of euphoria that can only be translated with one word: "Yeah!".

(filmed on the 04-07-2007 at Parque Tejo, Lisbon)

LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver

After years in the underground being the coolest guy in the world, James Murphy's second album as LCD Soundsystem is destined to send him into fame's stratosphere. Why? Because in a very efficient way, it condenses everything he has done until now, being a magnificent catalogue of what DFA records and LCD Soundsystem are supposed to be. So we have the usual cosmic travels, ironic vocals and messages, addictive basslines, cowbells, punk, funk, disco, and everything else put together in an infectious way. Only problem? Something called "45:33", a track with that exact length, that LCD Soundsystem did for Nike some months ago as a digital-download-only release. Conceptually made to be heard while working-out, "45:33" was, quite frankly, a masterpiece, something two-steps-ahead-of-anything-else, even including all of his previous work, sending LCD Soundsystem into places they never were before, like italo-disco, microhouse or ambience electronics and, on its way, keeping us hypnotized (and jogging) for, hum, 45 minutes and 33 seconds. A few months later, "Sound Of Silver" seems to put him back on tracks and unfortunately that also means it goes one step back after "45:33", with a couple of songs dangerously approaching predictability. Even so, the truth is that this guy can still do no wrong, and there's enough material in here to send us to space. And with that, the coolness factor is intact. (8/10)

2 Comebacks (Music Videos # 30 and # 31)

M.I.A. - Bird Flu




LCD Soundsystem - North American Scum



They've been having all the hype for the last few years and now they're back with the first tracks / videos from their forthcoming albums. M.I.A.: a song to go gaga about...vicious and infective, killer beats, love it! LCD Soundsystem: good track, though slightly too similar to his previous works. What do you think?

Some (non-Christmas) music for Christmas time

Post Industrial Boys - Post Industrial Trauma


From the most unprobable place (Tbilissi in Georgia) comes my soundtrack for this Christmas. Elegant, delicate and sober electronic-pop songs that seem to hide more than they actually show, with a nostalgic and decadent feeling that makes them timeless. Just perfect for the season.


Koop - Koop Islands


Five years after their suberb last album "Waltz For...", Koop make the impossible which is to release another album almost as good. This time they go even further back in time, to the 1930's, in 10 luminous songs full of swing that make us travel to a warm place somewhere else.


East - 13 Tzameti


Side project of french duo Troublemakers, East finally make what their cinematographic music has always suggested: a soundtrack, using jazzy-funk-electronic sounds to design musical landscapes, full of narrative suggestions and dramatic atmospheres, constructing once again elegant aural poems.


Kieran Hebden + Steve Reid - The Exchange Sessions Vol. 1 and Vol 2



After collaborating in last year's "Spirit Walk" by the Steve Reid Ensemble, they once again work together to give new paths to jazz. In this demanding but compensating music, Kieran Hebden provides the electronic textures and Steve Reid adds the wisdom of his large experience accumulated as a jazz drummer. Together, they can't hide their main goal, which is to reach the cosmos.


J Dilla - Donuts


J. Dilla, also known as Jay Dee, was one of the most creative producers in hip-hop, one that knew the word "groove" intimately and seemed to turn the act of sampling into art. Having passed way in February this year, he leaves us with a legacy that never stops reminding us of his brilliance. Just try hearing Donuts, a collection of instrumentals, and not be taken aback by it.


The DFA Remixes Chapter One and Chapter Two



Still New York's most fashionable producers and remixers, everybody wants to collaborate with them and these two collections of remixes show us why. Projects such as Gorillaz, Goldfrapp, Tiga, The Chemical Brothers or Nine Inch Nails see their music turn into disco-punk-funk infective epics and we all dance along like there's no tomorrow.


Gossip - Standing In The Way Of Control


Ten simple and raw punk-garage-rock tracks with the distinctive element of singer Beth Ditto's powerful voice, so full of soul, adding that extra thing that puts The Gossip over your average indie band.


Gwen Stefani - The Sweet Escape


Mixing anthagonic elements and putting oddity into the mainstream, Gwen Stefani knows how to take risks and use the most doubtful things to make sure-fire hits of addictive proportions. Most of the times succeeding, some (few) times not, one thing is for certain: this girl has so much potential.


Sam The Kid - Pratica(mente)


Portuguese hip-hop finally reaches its maturity, with an MC that is also one of the country's best producers and writers. 17 addictive songs with intelligent lyrics, surprising samples, interesting narratives and a rare intuition to use other's influences, building his own inventive language.

Hot Chip - The Warning

Their first album - 2004's "Coming On Strong" - was a lo-fi experience, with pure pop-melodies played in a false-naïve way that was totally irresistible. But nothing would prepare us for the next step: "The Warning" is absolute-genius-pop-music-elevated-to-perfection. The simple, almost-childish attitude towards melody and music is still here, but only in a false way, as this time things get much more complex. Last year, Some Water And Sun had already done something similar with "All My Friends Have To Go", bringing 80's influenced melodies that could be sang by Scritti Politti into our digital age, but now things go even further. Supporting perfect songs we have hip-hop, disco, funk, indietronica, techno, house, digital folk or 80's electro in an absolutely successful attempt to abolish all contradictions and create harmony out of chaos. The fact that, with a smile in their faces and a lot of humour, they accomplish all this in a way that seems so simple and easy, is just the miracle of pop-music in full force.