Round 1... FIGHT!

Comparing musicians for the sake of illustration never sits easy. Do you make the obvious connections and turn off potential listeners who might not like the act your comparing a band to or do you let the listener decide for themselves but risk the track being overlooked?

In 12 months time, when Neon Indian might well be over over your radio & TV, doing a Google search for "Neon Indian" -MGMT might well bring up zero links as it's such an obvious comparison for people to make.

It would be wrong however, for people to think that NI are some major label's attempt to jump on anyone's bandwagon. They've gone down the mystery route and kept their names a secret however the press release says that they are a duo, one from Brooklyn (linking them even more to MGMT) and one from Austin, Texas.

There's been some discussion about their identity and the consensus seems to be that it points to one of them is none-other than Alan Palomo aka VEGA aka one half of Ghosthustler. If that's true it's a weird coincidence as we only wrote about Ghosthustler last month!

Anyway, here is their track "Deadbeat Summer" which is awesome

Neon Indian - "Deadbeat Summer" (YSI) (ZShare)

and as a bonus here's a fan-made music video to one of Vegas' tracks "All Too Vivid" which features the brain-crushingly cheesy BMX prom dance from the film "Rad" (I'm sure I thought it was cool in 1986!):

Cage The Smelly-Fans

Okay, so there's been quite a few rock/dance crossovers... but have there actually been any good ones?

I guess the likes of The Prodigy, Apollo 440 and even Pendulum have embraced rock into their music and have all been successful, but have they actually been any good?

Thankfully Mixhell have avoided going down the fusion route despite having arguably the best rock pedigree ever seen in a dance act. One half of Mixhell just happens to be Sepultura founding-member Iggor Cavalera!!

Their latest single "Boom Da" was released a few weeks ago by Helsinki-based label New Judas and features Oh Snap! and Jen Lasher. The result however, couldn't be further from the icy tundra of Finland but is a luscious slab of baile funk/Baltimore sleaze-rap. The single also features remixes from Les Petits Pilous, Edu K and, as posted below, remixers du jour Crookers:

Mixhell - "Boom Da" (Crookers remix) (YSI) (ZShare)

... and as a bonus here's Sepultura (and their insane fans) playing "Refuse Resist" on infamous 'yoof' TV show The Word:

Totally SXSW!

BD were of course at South By Southwest this year, drinking Lone Star beers, eating burgers, and checking out lots and lots of bands.

The fun part of SXSW is to check out new and upcoming artists (ie not Metallica, although we did see El Mariachi Bronx), and when you venture out with that mindset you get a healthy mix of crap band torture and random greatness . We saw some truly dreadful bands (Mantonix might be the worst band we've ever seen, despite putting on a GG Allin-like show), but also enough great new bands to keep us going. Some bands like Local Natives and Lissy Trullie (the former were ace, the latter a bit grumpy) have already started to get some attention in the UK.

The best gig we witnessed were not by any of the hotly tipped acts though, but by the IHEARTCOMIX one man band Totally Michael who pretty much sound like an updated Atom & His Package (remember him?), ie crazy melodic punky songs on a bed of very simple electronic beats. Sadly, commercial success eluded Atom, possibly (and even sadder!) because he's a short chubby nerdy guy. TM is a good looking, thin tattooed dude, so perhaps he'll become a superstar.

We saw him tearing the roof of a small local bar with no stage to speak of, where he spent most of the gig out in the small but very passionate audience. We were totally blown away and surprised since we didn't except it to be THAT good.

Listen to "Death Hilll (over and over)" (zshare) and you might be able to guess how ace this gig was. Someone need to bring this guy over to the UK for some summer shows.

Liquorice whip!

Two wrongs don't make a right (insert joke about three lefts) but surely two rights make, well... a SUPER-right, right?

If you take the electronically classical hypno-pop of Glass Candy and add it to über-talented Sally Shapiro producer Johan Agebjörn you get nothing but good music.

While Johan may not have tried to reinvent the wheel on this one he's certainly but his own cool hallmark on the track. Have fun:

Glass Candy - The Chameleon (Johan Agebjörn Remix) (YSI) (ZShare)

... and here's a neat little video where someone has set Megaman II to an orginal piece by Johan:

You won't like me when I'm angry

The remix is dead, long live the remake! Don't get me wrong I love it when someone remixes a track and produces something that really makes you think about the song and gives you a new perspective on the original. But for too long the remix has been seen as a way for lazy producers to get stuff out into the virtual world and cynical label staff to promote sales of the original.

And so the remake was born. While in days of yore this would have simply been termed a cover version in the instant realm of the internet the two versions can come out almost at the same time (in the case of Aeroplane's original-eclipsing remake of "Paris" at exactly the same times!).

Anyway... less preaching, more teaching!

Here's a version of The Presets' epic "If I Know You" which moulds the original into a hauntingly melancholy sorrow-fest. It's by a partnership between DJ and F-Communication artist Jori Hulkkonen and Chicago-based antipodean Via Tania and it is stunning.

The Presets - If I Know You (Tania & Jori remake) (YSI) (ZShare)

And if that wasn't enough "If I Know You" was also the subject of a beautifully uplifting video by the massively talented Eva Husson. Check it:

Brains!!!

It's strange to think that a band that has been actively hyped for the last 5 years can still be producing tracks that sound fresh and get people excited. The Tough Alliance have been doing exactly this and while they haven't broken any sales records you kind of get the impression that's the opposite of what they're about.

Since they emerged in 2004 (when BD also saw them produce an urgent and defiant performance at London's Notting Hill Arts Club) they have always been happy to go their own way. Since their acrimonious split from original lable Service they've spent a few years releasing stuff through their own lable Sincerely Yours and are now forging strong links (and getting more hype and fans) with Modular.

And it's through Modular we get a little treat in the form a cover of "Hung Up On A Dream" by 60's UK pop group The Zombies. Lovely!

The Tough Alliance - Hung Up On a Dream (YSI) (ZShare)

The Zombies - Hung Up On a Dream (YSI) (ZShare)

and as a bonus here is "Silly Crimes", my favourite of the many, many beautiful TTA videos:


(link due to YouTube's stupid removal of HQ embedding)

Sometimes I don't thrill you

Fucked Up's second album "The Chemistry of Common Life" was in the top 5 of most people's albums of 2008 as it showed the band were more than an fat-guy fronted punk band... more than a Vice Magazine-sponsored 'remember how cool hardcore was' flash-in-the-pan.

"The Chemistry of Common Life" was epic and that's not a phrase to throw around lightly. It gave fans a real glimpse into a band that was evolving and pushing really hard to not be held back by genre.

There was no better example of this than the track "No Epiphany". The use of layered tape-loops and psychedelic influences was different to the punk standard yet it felt just as cathartic and visceral.

To celebrate the 7" release of "No Epiphany" the song has been remixed by Sup Pop's equally experimental No Age who have turned it into a full blown freak out. Epic indeed.

Fucked Up - "No Epiphany"
Fucked Up - "No Epiphany (No Age remix)" (YSI) (ZShare)