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Arcade Fire to Release DVD

Posted in Music News with tags Arcade Fire, DVD, Indie, Miroir Noir, mp3, Neon Bible on Monday, December 15, 2008 by Erik Burg

mp3 of track from the above video: Arcade Fire – “Cold Wind”

Arcade Fire, one of the most consistently great indie rock bands out there, are releasing a DVD chronicling their 2007 effort Neon Bible. The Film is titled Miroir Noir and as their press release describes it, the vid “follows Arcade Fire through the making and touring of their 2007 album Neon Bible documenting the band at their Montreal studio, the making of promotional films and videos, along with live footage and a few short films made on the road.”

The official release date of the hard copy of the dvd and deluxe edition dvd have yet to be set, but expect to see them in early 2009. The deluxe edition will come packed with added live footage, and most intriguing is that fact that it has footage of their famed SNL set that they played well beyond the allotted time slot causing the set to shut down so Arcade Fire couldn’t play anymore, but it never stopped them, see below for a clip. The digital release of the film is Monday December 15th, so those anxious to get their hands on this (much like I am) can have it asap. Most notably is the fact that you can subscribe to the email list for the movie over at the official website and pre-order a copy of the documentary which comes with an instant digital download upon order confirmation. Sort of like having your cake and eating it too, sort of haha.

I know I’m excited to see the footage from these guys because everything they have done so far in their short and illustrious career has been magnificent.

Album Review: Cut Copy – “Far Away EP”

Posted in Music Reviews with tags Australia, Bag Radiers, Cut Copy, Damn Arms, dance, Hercules and Love Affair, In Ghost Colours, mp3, Remixes, Sands of TIme on Monday, December 15, 2008 by Erik Burg

cut-copy-stairs What a year these three guys from Australia are having. Their full length release this year “In Ghost Colours” adorned the top of my year end list, followed by a few different Single EPs and now this final “Far Away EP” to close out an already stellar year. The EP is available in digital format only in the UK so you can thank me later for gathering all of the tracks together in one spot (consider it my christmas gift to you faithful readers). The remix line-up for this blissful track includes the likes of Hercules & Love Affair and Bag Raiders, two acts that I’ve been in big support of for years. Other than four official Far Away remixes, the other two coming from fellow Aussie Damn Arms and New York’s Golden Filter, the EP contains a remix of “Hearts On Fire ” by Aeroplane (who recently remixed Friendly Fires as well), an edit of “So Haunted” by Knightlife, and the possible highlight of the entire EP: a brand new track entitled “Sands of Time.”

I was expecting to start the review by praising Hercules for their remix because I have been beyond impressed with all of their material to this point, but to be honest their effort on Far Away doesn’t impress me at all, and to be honest it’s my least favorite of any track on the EP. Their typical minimal-progressive-disco style just doesn’t seem to fit in the world of Cut Copy, and the result is an average at best remix that just becomes another one in the sea of never ending mixes these days.

mp3: “Far Away” – Hercules & Love Affair remix

As I mentioned earlier, another Australian can be found on this album, Damn Arms. His mix of “Far Away” is far and way the best edit of this track out there. He doesn’t do anything too drastic to the track, adding some light-hearted fun in the line of bells and chimes, and the result is what a remix should really be: plain and simple a more fun version of the original track, nothing too crazy that it’s overdone.

mp3: “Far Away” – Damn Arms Remix

I’ll let you the reader weed your way through the other official remix, along with some other goodies I dug up. It’s not as if these tracks aren’t worth having, because any fan of Cut Copy will thoroughly enjoy these bangers (I know I really did), It’s just that i I don’t feel like writing a ton about each of them, so enjoy!

mp3: “Far Away” – The Golden Filter Remix

“Far Away” – Bag Raiders Remix

“Far Away” – Bezzi E Fabio Pop Remix

As far as other non Far Away related material goes, this EP still has a lot to offer. The “So Haunted” Knightlife mix doesn’t let down at all, taking a track that I never really enjoyed on the album and transforming it into something more likely to be heard in a club than anything else in the album. Thanks to a repititious and infectious beat that builds and expands throughout the track, So Haunted becomes larger than life this time around.

mp3: “So Haunted” – Knightlife Sun Soaked Reprise

There isn’t much I can add about Hearts On Fire, it’s damn near the best song to come out of 2008. A blissful pop masterpiece that is gleaming with horns and 80’s styled vocals, weaving in and out and taking the listener by total surprise by the end. So here comes the remix, dun dun dun…the verdict isn’t too bad at all. Granted they take a lot away from the album recording and choose to include more of the sampled vocals, Aeroplane end up with with a nice little track that is different from the original in a good sense (they really love that sample, trust me).

mp3: “Hearts on Fire” – Aeroplane Remix

Cut Copy saved some of their best work for last this year, with “Sands of Time” caboosing this excellent EP. The track starts off like nothing else on In Ghost Colours, but eventually evolves into a familiar flavor of delightful electro pop fun. I’m gonna leave this section short, and say that Sands of Time has been on play non-stop on my iPod, and expect the same if you download this great closer.

mp3: “Sands of Time” (previously unreleased)

And as an added bonus for getting this far down in the post I’ll provide you with quaint little DJ mix that they threw together for Radio 1. Enjoy! Radio 1 DJ mix mp3

ONE TIME ONLY! WHILE SUPPLIES LAST! Cut Copy’s remix of Maroon 5’s top 100 hit “This Love,” just one of the many incredible bands on their new remix album. “This Love” – Cut Copy Galactic Beach House remix mp3

8.2 out of 10

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Album Review: Air France – “No Way Down EP”

Posted in Music Reviews with tags Air France, Awesome, mp3, No Way Down, Reviews, Suggestions, Summer, Winter on Sunday, December 14, 2008 by Erik Burg

no-way-down-cover1 Alright, so admittedly I am a little late (and by a little I mean like half a year) on this one, but Air France‘s newest release “No Way Down EP” is the perfect album for this time of year in the midwest and one of the better albums I have heard in a while. Finally available in the United States, the EP transcends dozens of musical genres, while creating their own style in the midsts of it all.

Reading reviews of No Way Down you will be sure to find various suggestions to exactly what their music really should be classified as, but their Wiki page gives the perfect definition: “post-rave bliss, beach foam pop, and balearic disco.” So maybe not perfect in what it actually says, because I have no clue what the word “balearic” means at all, but perfect in the sense there isn’t one distinct pattern or idea throughout the three suggestions.

Upon first listen though you will be able to decide from yourself what Air France is really all about. Is about dreamy country-sides and sunny beaches, or is an empty and hollowing album full of laughter at the expense of the listener rather than for the benefit? This is one of the strong points of the albums, the horns, the laughter, the voices all combine for an experience that is like nothing else because at the end it’s still hard to decide if what you just listened left you feeling happy or sad. And its this basic premise that leaves a refreshing feeling, and makes you listen to the album over and over again (I’m currently on take 5 in 2 days).

The opening track “Maundy Thursday” begins with and drones on with a deep mellotron and sounds reminiscent of a type-writer, before a stand up bass drum is beat over and over barreling down the listeners ear like a never ending wave. But just as it grows dreary, you’re met with “June Evenings.” “Spring has arrived early here” a quiet voice chimes in, “a time for lovers. and it is as if the season mocks my sadness” the narrator finishes. Soon after you hear horns blasting the background, quickly being brought the foreground and in full display around this masterpiece of a track. Distorted hand-clapping and echoing voices make this track roar like something off of a Panda Bear album.

“Collapsing at your doorstep” the third track on this EP can be found on numerous year end lists for song of the year, and rightfully so. Beginning again with sampled voices that sound eerily familiar even though I can’t put my finger right on it of two young kids, one of asking “sort of like a dream?” while the other responds “no, better.” The two kids got it right, this whole album, exemplified on this track, is much like a dream; the way it sounds, the images it creates that you just cant explain, the way it ends when you don’t want it to. Air France brings back the horns form the last track, or at least something sounds vastly familiar, but this time adding in a repetitious narrator and some sparse samples in the middle to make the escalating and beautiful music sound even more dreamlike. “Collapsing at your doorstep” ends just as it begins, with the two kids, still exchanging words but this time after the expansive amount music played in between. The answer is still the same, “no, better” but now the listener agrees, Air France is more than a dream.

Air France becomes an idea; It becomes the sunny beach, the expansive countryside, the virgin snow. Drifting in and out of musical genres, from pop to electronic to afro-beat and back again. “No Way Down” exemplifies what music is all about, it doesn’t have to follow any sort of script or central motif it just has to ooze emotion and care. It’s records like this that reinvigorate my love for music and make me beyond grateful for music as a medium for expression and passion.

Recommended for people who enjoy: Panda Bear, Jens Lekman, Devendra Barnhardt, Sufjan Stevens.

You be the Judge mp3: Air France – “Collapsing At Your Doorstep” and “June Evenings”

9 out of 10

Review: Feist, The Reminder Deluxe Edition Re-Issue

Posted in Music Reviews with tags broken social scene, Feist, mp3, Re-Release, Remixes, The Reminder on Monday, December 8, 2008 by Erik Burg

Most people seem to know Leslie Feist as the fun-loving, dancing and singing girl from the old iPod nano commercials, but little known is the fact that she actually has songs out there other than the hit “1234.” Last year’s album The Reminder was one of my favorite of the year, and topped the list of dozen’s of critics as well. Tracks like “1234” “My Moon My Man” and “Sea Lion Women” are just a few of the many highlights on an album that keeps the listener in check with the brilliant mix of somber and energetic songs (well, as energetic as Feist can get). Luckily for all of the supporters The Reminder, and there are many including me, Feist recently released some sorta-new, sorta not-new material to hold us over until her next full length LP. What I meant by the wishy washy description of the album is that it’s all remixes and rarities from The Reminder, much like how Open Season was to her first stellar album Let It Die.

Some of the same guests appear on this album (Van She and Gonzales) that helped on Open Season, giving hope of successful remixes of already near flawless tracks. “1234” got an obvious re-work by the likes of already mentioned Van She, and the track doesn’t lose a step in the process. What could have just easily been mistaken for a Daft Punk remix, Van She does an excellent job of adding an electronic mix to the hit while at the same time not over-whelming the listener like so many remixes nowadays end up doing. Gonzales again lends a helping hand, this time to “I Feel It All” and the results are just as successful. The re-work doesn’t drastically change the song, but an M.I.A. styled gun sample added to the chorus sticks out unexpectedly.

Fans of the “Indie” music scene; however, will immediately skip to the Grizzly Bear mix of “My Moon My Man.” Although the track already had some work done to it my electro king pins Boys Noize, Grizzly Bear doesn’t fall short of the high mark. Uncharacteristic of past Grizzly Bear material, they take a slightly ambient-techno route to the song, while not totally changing the main skeleton of the track at all. The result is a fine blend of echoing synths and an easy to love song that lives up to the any billing it may have had.

Other highlights of this re-release include an epic 8 minute rendition of “Lover’s Spit,” a Broken Social Scene track that is essentially strung-out and dumbed-down on this album. Not that it’s necessarily a bad thing, Feist is left to slowly wind her way through the song with nothing much other than a piano that seems stuck on repeat and a high hat that never seems to stop rumbling. A great addition for fans of the original and those still praying that Feist will once again do an album with Broken Social Scene, despite the odds apparently dwindling according to various news sources.

Other tracks will be found on the deluxe edition, but none worth discussing at all. But along with the additional music comes a few Music Videos: a very fun and frequent flier friendly rendition of “My Moon My Man” and of course “1234” which most everyone has seen a million times already, but hey, it is pretty awesome…I guess.

The Reminder: Deluxe Edition Re-Release is an excellent addition to anyone’s music collection who doesn’t already own the amazing 2007 release, but for those who do it’s not a bad idea to go the route of mp3 downloading so you only have to pay for the new material not already owned.

7.5/10

As an added bonus I’ll give you lucky readers one other remix of a song from the original album, and in my opinion a mix that is actually better than anything Feist chose for the re-release. Keep reading to enjoy… Continue reading →

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