Vampire Weekend: "Mansard Roof" Video
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Vampire Weekend: "Oxford Comma"
Check out the video from Vampire Weekend for the single 'Oxford Comma' directed by Richard Ayodade.
Longtime musical collaborators Kyle Fischer (guitar, vocals) and William Kuehn (drums) began writing a new batch of songs in the late summer of 1995, thinking they lacked only a bassist. When they found Caithlin De Marrais (vocals, bass), they knew they had found a uniquely captivating voice to front the band as well. Fischer and Kuehn had met at all-ages shows in Madison, Wisconsin, where Kuehn was cajoled into replacing Fischer on the drums in Ezra Pound (with Matt Tennessen of Pele). Fischer switched to guitar, and the two departed together a year later in search of broader sonic horizons. Meanwhile, Fischer had met De Marrais in a University of Wisconsin poetry workshop where the two had organized extra evening sessions of the class and soon found they were the only ones attending. Here they wrote the poems that would later become songs on the band's first album. Rainer Maria's various releases began mapping their trajectory. The original demo cassette, a run of 350 now long out of print, documents the excited initial efforts of a band just 6 weeks old. Their debut self-titled EP appeared on Polyvinyl as a result of the experience of early tours, playing house shows or all ages "spaces" from Austin TX to Kent OH, even a double-wide house trailer in rural Mississippi packed with 100 melting kids. With the "New York, 1955" single, the band began experimenting with what happened when they turned the volume down. Past Worn Searching signaled the beginning of Rainer Maria as a full-time band. Recorded at the sweltering hot, now defunct Ghetto Love studios in Chicago during Summer 1997, Past Worn Searching and its stripped-down production ushered the full arrival of dueling vocals, sonic excess, and youthful exuberance. That fall, Rainer Maria toured the entire continental U.S. for the first time--more than 50 shows booked by Kuehn himself, including a west coast tour with Braid. The band?s second LP, Look Now Look Again, was released in April 1999 to the open arms of fans and critics alike. Look Now Look Again climbed to 19 on CMJ?s top 200 and spent 16 weeks on the charts. Stellar reviews and write-ups appeared in The New York Times, Alternative Press, Magnet, CMJ, and The Village Voice to name a few. Rainer Maria appeared in Spin three times in the latter half of 1999 and Look Now Look Again was named one of the magazine?s 20 best records of the year. The band would go on that year to record and release Atlantic, a three-song CDEP recorded at Pachyderm Studios (P.J. Harvey, In Utero) in August. Just days later, they band relocated to the East Coast. Rainer Maria then spent the better part of a year holed up in a converted cow barn, the previous home of Pepperidge Farm Bakery?s original dairy farmer. There, they wrote their third and most ambitious album, A Better Version of Me, which was released in January 2001. The album hit the #1 spot on CMJ and was supported by a relentless tour schedule of over 200 shows. Fall 2002 the band again returned the studio to record Long Knives Drawn, their fourth album. As a teaser, the Ears Ring EP appeared early November 2002 and was the band's first new material in over a year-and-a-half. Two months later Long Knives Drawn was released and the band embarked on a two month tour with Mates of State followed by a mini-tour in Canada, and then a tour with Denali. Next up for Rainer Maria is a three week tour with Coheed and Cambria in support of their newest release, Anyone in Love with You (Already Knows) , a DVD of their 3/11/03 Cat's Cradle show filmed by members of Bifocal Media (Braid Killing a Camera, Michigan Fest 2002) which includes a bonus audio CD featuring selected various live tracks the band has been accumulating over the years. Anyone in Love with You (Already Knows) will be released on March 9, 2004.
Trick Deck featuring Christa Wells and Mr E.: "Freaky Love"
Trick Deck returns with Freaky Love their second release via Infrasonic Productions. This new release will tickle hotspots around the world and further establish the group as innovators, mixing electronica, hip-hop and their own unique brand inspiration born of the combination of several talented collaborators. Produced and played by Mark Wand, the album features the vocal stylings of Christa Wells. Also featured are Mr. E of The High Children and San Jose rapper Kungfu Vampire with several beats provided by drum sensation Kevin Sawka.
Stateless are one of Leeds' most exciting bands, currently on course to explode all over the music world. The band fuses a conventional band set-up of vocals (Chris James), bass (Justin Percival) and drums (David Levin) with the electronic mesh of turntables (Kidkanevil) and live programming (Rod). Stateless recently finished recording their self-titled debut album with producer Jim Abbiss (Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian), who passed on some tracks to the mighty DJ Shadow. Immediately a fan, Shadow enlisted Chris to co write and sing on two songs on his new album The Outsider. Check out Stateless on http://music.download.com/stateless
Enon is a band from Brooklyn and Philadelphia. John Schmersal (guitar, bass, synths, vocals), Toko Yasuda (bass, synths, vocals) and Matt Schulz (drums) have all been in a bunch of bands, and are still in a bunch of bands. But all that doesn't really matter, right? What does matter is that these three, together, are Enon, always, and they're always amazing.
Ryan Shupe & the RubberBand: "Dream Big"
A fiddle player since the age of 5, Ryan Shupe first worked as part of a group at 10 years old when his dad brought together a bunch of talented kids to play in a band. He joined various types of musical groups in his teens and in college, only to be disappointed to see them break up just as they seemed to be in a groove. He decided to start his own band that would not break up and called it the RubberBand, because it was meant to be elastic. He brought in the players he needed but only when he needed them. (There might be just one other musician sharing the stage with him or there might be four others.) The lineup changed constantly until, without even trying to make it happen, the membership jelled. As of 2005, the members included Roger Archibald (guitar, vocals), Colin Botts (bass, vocals), Craig Miner (banjo, bouzouki, guitar, mandolin and vocals), Bart Olson (drums) and Shupe (lead vocals, fiddle, mandolin and guitar). The band's influences include such diverse performers as Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Bob Marley, the Police, AC/DC and Bela Fleck. Most have dabbled with a number of different instruments, and all have been playing since they were kids. Shupe is the group's principal songwriter.
The Raconteurs: "Steady, As She Goes"
The Raconteurs are a new band made up of old friends, consisting of Jack Lawrence (bass), Patrick Keeler (drums), Brendan Benson (guitars, vocals, keys) and Jack White (guitars, vocals, keys). The seed was sewn in an attic in the middle of a hot summer when friends Jack White and Brendan Benson got together and wrote a song that truly inspired them. This song was "Steady, As She Goes" and the inspiration led to the creation of a full band with the addition of Lawrence and Keeler. While each of these four individuals have had successful careers with their own bands, the culmination of all of their talents is what truly makes The Raconteurs a force to be reckoned with.
The quartet convened at Benson's East Grand Studio to lay down the basic tracks for Broken Boy Soldiers. Work would continue whenever the boys could get together over the next year. Finally, the album has found a window for its release in May of 2006. The band is now, for its members, all consuming and they now present themselves to be....consumed, or at best simply heard.
From the ready-made, radio-friendly quality built into songs like "Steady, As She Goes", to the explosive tenacity of "Store Bought Bones", all the way down to the 'hits the cockles of your heart' lullabies that encompass the full length recording, The Raconteurs are more than capable of conquering any genre challenge or tale that they encounter. After all, a raconteur is, by definition, a deft storyteller. And now a new story is unfolding.
Sitting in the back room of their Deptford hotel, Athlete are trying to explain the development their sound has made on "Tourist," the quartets marvelous second album. "The last album was quirky pop. And it was good quirky pop..." says bandmember Stephen Roberts (drums and vocals), no doubt to the agreement of the 250,000 fans who bought 2004's "Vehicles and Animals" and the judging panel that shortlisted it for the Mercury Award, "but we wanted to push ourselves further." "We'll always love good melodies," agrees bandmember Joel Pott (guitar and vocals). "But pop in itself wasn't enough for this record." The two other members of the band are Carey Willetts (bass and vocals) and Tim Wanstall (keyboards and vocals).
"Take This Life" is the roll-out single and video from In Flames' wildly anticipated new album, "Come Clarity." The "Take This Life" video was produced and directed by long time In Flames collaborator Patric Ullaeus (for Revolver Film Company) and features the band (Bjorn Gelotte - Guitars, Daniel Svensson - Drums, Peter Iwers - Bass, Jesper Stromblad - Guitars and Anders Friden - Vocals) performing against the backdrop of New York City's Times Square as an evolving storyline unfolds. In addition to his video work with In Flames, Ullaeus is known for directing the Lacuna Coil hit videos "Heaven's a Lie" and "Swamped". In Flames has been one of the leaders of the underground metal movement for over 10 years. With over 1,000,000 records sold worldwide and coming off a successful tour as part of OZZFEST 2005, where they shared the festival's main stage with Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden and others, the time is ripe for this Swedish quintet to continue their ascent. The band's recent success, as well as that of their counterparts -- including Killswitch Engage (whom they co-headlined with in 2004), Shadows Fall and Lamb of God -- has paved the wave for metal bands to break through to the mainstream.
New Young Pony Club: "Ice Cream"
Hot on the heals of previous limited 7" single "The Get Go" New Young Pony Club (NYPC) return with Ice Cream, a sparsely minimal punk funk jerkout that sounds like a distaff version excursion on disco-era Rolling Stones fronted by the Slits' Ari Up and produced by David Byrne and Brian Eno. Partly inspired by LCD Soundsystem and a chance meeting of like-minded band members intent on establishing something potent, Andy and Tahita formed NYPC in 2005. A five-piece comprising of Tahita (vocals), Andy (guitar), Igor (bass) Lou (keyboards) and Sarah (drums), they provide the kind of tight and bass-heavy future discoid noise currently setting hairs on end up and down the country. Ice Cream, their first single on Modular, is already causing a stir online with fans creating myspace pages with lyrics taken from the provocative song. ?A lot of [the lyrics are] about the perceived idea of how women are supposed to be, and putting my twist on it.? Says Tahita. NYPC have quietly set their world alight with a swell blend of disco, pop and punk which they are currently distilling into a debut album for Modular. Undoubtedly, one of THE bands to watch for 2007.
