Moto Boy - Lost In The Call

We all know by now that a significant part of Swedish music has a special thing for melancholic and dreamy melodies, so it should come as no surprise that Oskar Humlebo's second album as Moto Boy is so rich in heart-breaking pop songs that seem always on the verge of falling apart.
With just a few sparse elements - and a very special mention should be made to the wonderful strings section that takes most of these tracks to a whole new and beautiful place -, this is an album that seems like the definition of all things delicate, due to its overall sound and topics addressed. But on the other hand, the songs in here are no less intense because of that, just on the contrary. Each piece oozes emotion in abundance, actually making the experience of hearing Lost In The Call quite a huge one.
True, sometimes you can feel it's all too much, especially when you're not in the mood to be taken by the deep melancholic feelings of a man that seems to have too much of them. Or maybe the concept of expressing too much honest emotions is actually an absurd one that shouldn't really be discussed, and we're all just immersed in a constant state of irony to be fully moved by pureness when have it in our faces. Either way, there's no denying that the nightly atmosphere of this music is all too pretty to ignore. For a complete taste of it, the album is fully available for download here. (7/10)

Moto Boy - Heart Is A Rebel (mp3 via indietoday.net)



motoboy.se
www.myspace.com/motoboymusic

LIGHTS' Saviour

Apparently she's already big in her home country Canada so, next step: the world. And with this remixed version of Saviour, Valerie Anne Poxleitner shows that she more than has the goods to be loved by everyone with a stint of emotion. An irresistible piece of heavily auto-tuned pop gold, this is one of those songs that appeals to every good feeling imaginable, featuring an absurdly catchy melody that explodes big time in its huge chorus. So actually, next step: the stars... and done.

LIGHTS - Saviour (Adam Young remix) (mp3 via Ohinvertedworldclub)



www.myspace.com/lights

BB Homemaker's Why Don't You Love Me?

What a nice surprise! I usually take Beyonce's reinventions with a grain of salt but deep down I think she is one of the best performers and one of the hardest working girls out there right now. She has built a solid career out of Destiny's Child and transformed herself into this R'n'B queen that just hands you out the goods again and again. And so is the case with this new track, a new single for the re-release of the I Am/Sasha Fierce album. The track is penned with cooler than cool kid sister Solange Knowles (love her) and it sounds just great. And on top of that we get an amazing (read hilarious) video with Beyonce rocking tons of vintage looks. I think the pin-up vibe suits her really well, she looks beautiful! Best moment: the little interlude where she is seen dusting-off a shelve full of Grammy awards! What's there no to love about her?

The Horrors + Crystal Castles concert (Polaroids # 37)

Just got back from the double bill concert of The Horrors / Crystal Castles here in Lisbon and it was great. It seems clear that this was indeed a great choice of bands to perform at the same gig: both brought a dark atmosphere into the room, one via a rock point of view, the other via pure electronica experimentation. I managed to capture some cool photos from The Horrors gig (above) and some iphone shots of Crystal Castles' strobe infused show (below). The noisy vibe of the iphone cam kind of transmits the exact feeling of their show.

Delorean - Subiza

"Get up/ Get up/ Get up"

Last year, with the Ayrton Senna EP, Delorean were put inside the chillwave bag, while being considered as the sunnier side of that movement's trademark sound. But now, with this striking just-released full-length, they transcend that movement with a whole lot of class. Subiza is an instant synth-pop classic infused in nineties-house elements, feeling like a trend-setter for a whole new genre.
Transcendence is actually the word du jour in here. From the first minute, each sound is put together to make us reach for the stars, with major-key melodies being carried away by an avalanche of synths and sounds that take the concept of luminous into a whole new level. If you actually start feeling dizzy, don't worry, that's a good thing and you're not alone.
Delorean may come from Barcelona and it could be easy to display this fact as part of the reason why Subiza feels so summery. But actually, they have more in common with the spirit of Scandinavian label Sincerely Yours than anything else. Like Swedish heroes The Tough Alliance, Air France or jj, this four-piece project plays with the art of escapism in a genuine way that seems almost innocent. And ultimately, it's that innocence that puts this dance-pop record on its unique place: yes, this is electronic music built on sequencers and drum machines while verging on ecstatic moods. But it also feels extremely personal.
Remember the smiley symbol of the nineties rave culture? So it seems he's still alive and relevant again. But this time he's actually more comfortable when doing his thing - smiling - just for you. (8/10)

Delorean - Stay Close (video)



www.myspace.com/delorean

M.I.A's Born Free video

I have to confess that I still don't know what to make of M.I.A.'s new video. Directed by Romain Gavras, this 9-minute-clip features a lot of very violent actions taken against a prominent minority group that you wouldn't expect seeing in this kind of context. Annoying points of the video: its smart-ass cleverness and the fact that it's full of gratuitously graphic images in an obvious attempt to be shocking and controversial just for the sake of it - and thus talked about. But on the other hand, smart-ass or not, it's anyway a very clever piece, and also quite a descend into hell: even you may see it as just entertainment during the first minutes, it then gets progressively more and more disturbing as it evolves, until there's finally no way out for anyone. Literally.



www.miauk.com
www.myspace.com/mia

It's not supposed to feel this good

There's something about Darwin Deez that is truly disarming. The way he appears to deconstruct the rules of good taste and common sense, while playing with the concept of corrosiveness, has a steep contrast in how vulnerable and genuine he seems to be. Basically, here's a guy from New York that stands from the crowd, someone exposing himself with all his incoherences, walking and balancing on his own thin line. Apart from that, Radar Detector is also, quite possibly, one of the most infectious songs recently made in the indie-pop world. And those dance moves in the video are the exact definition of what being awesome is!



darwindeez.com
www.myspace.com/darwindeez

Can't shake this feeling

Fancy some ultra fresh disco with a less cerebral approach? This one by up-and-coming producer Grum is pure fun with a retro flavour, taking cues on acid house, nu-disco and funk. As for the video, it involves a whole lot of food and it's basically brilliant. And with that, I'll leave you with the words from one of its directors, Ryan McNeill, part of The General Assembly:

“Making this video was probably far more fun for those of us behind the camera than for everyone on camera. We provided spit buckets for our actresses so they wouldn’t have to swallow all the food. Even with that precautionary measure, I definitely saw gag reflexes kicking in during the scenes with baked beans. The actor playing the father was a great sport about shooting scenes on some frightening streets in downtown Los Angeles. I was just relieved that actors even showed up after receiving the call that they had been cast in a music video about the lurid, pornographic underbelly of competitive eating.”



www.heart-beats.co.uk
www.myspace.com/grummmusic

New The XX video

Still going on strong, The XX released their new video, this time for the wonderful Islands track, one of the highlights from their album. The video suits the song incredibly, with all the sharp choreography and stylish vibe, making a bit of a statement about the inevitable encounters and separations inbuilt in the concept of human relationships.

LoneLady - Nerve Up

It's not like the world is in lack of yet another post-punk-inspired record, so what makes this one so different to deserve a special mention? After all, it doesn't have any particular trick up its sleeve or anything, as the ingredients are pretty standard and actually quite basic, with the inevitable angular guitars and the precise rhythms of a drum-machine making the rounds. But beyond all the stylistic trademarks, you also can feel that is a very personal affair - and that's actually what takes Nerve Up apart.
LoneLady is basically the solo project of U.K. artist Julie Campbell and everything about it makes it somehow unique. There's the fact that this is a guitar-based pop album out on Warp records, a label mostly associated with electronic music and more leftfield genres; there's also the overall atmosphere of its sound, which is dry, precise and very controlled, featuring a lot of quite sharp edges and some subtle details adding new twists which are intensely overwhelming. And then, we have an extra special feature, which comes with the aforementioned "personal touch" and is felt everywhere: Julie Campbell is an artist with some big skills in songwriting, something that is immediatly recognizable upon hearing its rich and flawless melodies - which feel like instant classics -, and deeply confessional lyrics.
In the end, it's actually as a confession that Nerve Up should be heard. More than a post-punk-inspired record, which it also partially is, this is ultimately the sound of someone taking control, alone, and using that power to bare her soul on her own terms. (7/10)

LoneLady- Immaterial (mp3 via Warp)



lonelady.co.uk
www.myspace.com/hiholonelady

The rise and fall of Jamaica

Start your weekend the best way possible, with an hilarious clip directed by So-Me and Machine Molle, for a song by Ed Banger's new signees Jamaica. With the help of of Xavier de Rosnay - a.k.a. half of french electro-duo Justice - and Peter J. Franco on the production boards, the track is a sunny delight, while the video... well, you really have to watch it. Digging that guitar solo!

You turn me upside down

For a bit of nordic overdose: on the left corner, the unashamed pop catchiness of danish group Alphabeat - the ones also known for their ridiculously good looks - with a song from their latest album The Spell; and on the right corner, the wonder boys everyone loves to love, a.k.a. swedish duo The Sound Of Arrows - the ones that already made everyone see something like unicorns under flashing lights - with a remix they did for that same song some months ago. And as usual, The Sound Of Arrows were able to take it into a whole new level of synth-tastic amazingness. Here's why:

Alphabeat - Hole In My Heart (The Sound Of Arrows remix) (mp3 via Discodust)



www.thesoundofarrows.com
www.thisisalphabeat.com

Guns and Horses - Ellie Goulding's new video!

Here is the new video from Ellie Goulding! It's called Guns and Horses and it is actually one of my favorite tracks on her album. Ellie says: "I wrote Guns And Horses about a romance that began online... I wanted the guy to feel more than he did for me but through no fault of his own he couldn't. It's a song about frustration essentially." The surreal and mysterious video is now ready for you to feast your eyes on - directed by Petro, and filmed at Los Angeles' Griffith Park, it features Ellie singing in a misty woodland landscape with some ethereal backing dancers. Guns and Horses is out on May 7th.