For Emma

A large slice of the BW crew were lucky enough to make it down to the City Recital Hall in the center of Sydney. The guest of honour was none other than the blogsphere's favourite son Justin Vernon and his rag tag gang AKA Bon Iver. The show, setting and company came together to form a sublime gig. Justin was both humble and charismatic with him and his band showing passion and startling musicianship for such a young band. Highlights included Skinny Love, re:Stacks and a stirring singalong rendition of The Wolves (Part I & II). Goosebumps all round. Check out one of the new tracks from the new EP Blood Bank below and if you have chance to catch them live make sure to grab it by it's scruffy beard.

Bon Iver - Blood Bank (Badongo)

Myspace | Website

Hey, Internet, Hush With All The 'Shoegazing'

It must get so frustrating for bands sometimes: one -usually kinda influential- blog attaches an descriptor to a band's sound, and it becomes the archetypal word to describe their output. We constantly heard about the 'African influences' of Vampire Weekend, simply because one of their song titles mentioned Kwassa Kwassa. Hercules & Love Affair couldn't be separated from their 'bringing back disco." It goes on. So pity Asobi Seksu, who have been lumped with "shoegaze." Not only is this inappropriate, does it even mean anything?

The band has a new album, Hush, dropping February 17th through Polyvinyl, and from what I've heard on a once-through it's at times dense, uplifting, bright, forceful, and or a million other things. It is appealing guitar-driven pop with some huge riffs, quite different from the Thursday Twelves remix that blew up and got them some burn all those months (years?) back. Importantly, it's not shoegazing, unless you really forced yourself.

Asobi Seksu - Sunshower (zshare)

Myspace

NOTORIOUS

So Notorious hit screens on Friday, and to go with it comes the official unofficial mixtape, hosted by Talib Kweli, which dropped today. All the tracks are mixed by DJ Grafitti, and of the two jams below, the Buff1 is actually tighter than Kweli's. Check em out at the zshares below, and cop the full tape here.

Notorious B.I.G feat Talib Kweli - Young G's (Astronote remix) 

Notorious B.I.G feat Buff1 - Niggas (Astronote remix)

Telephone My Brain Back plz.

I dunno whether it's because you discover the album late at night and there are no distractions, or whether some albums are just so expansive that they can utterly occupy your headspace. Whatever it is, Telefon Tel Aviv's Immolate Yourself did it. I listened to a little before bed and was like "this is too big." Then I tried it on the train, which is my main opportunity each day to really listen to something, and was still like "woah huge." And it hasn't stopped. Shit is transcendent. It's not that it has huge, obvious sounds, but more that -like M83 for example, or maybe Fuck Buttons- the tracks are so enveloping that you can't really concentrate on anything else, thanks to the white noise soundscapes and the driving melodies. And sometimes it seems like it should come across sparse and bleak, but it never quite does...  Anyway, enough of my inability to deal with complex music. 

Telefon Tel Aviv - Helen Of Troy (zshare)

Myspace

Avalanches, hit the showers.

As the world slowly waits for what is becoming the hipster version of Chinese Democracy, a new Avalanches album, a whole bunch of like minded artist have risen in their place.

One such plucky newcomer is the generically named Metaform. Apparently spending five years in social isolation, slowly crafting a masterpiece that comes across as a mix of the aforementioned Avalanches and pre-hyphy DJ Shadow.

Check Pch below for a taste of his sample heavy vintage sound, and hunt down the whole damn instrumental opus. You wont regret it.

Metaform - Pch

Myspace | Website

Neon Flames

Neon Gold's unbelievable track record for finding shithot bands continues. This time it's Giantess, whose jams are being produced by Passion Pit's Ayad Al-Adhamy. Which makes total sense when you hear the track. A saccharine -but not cloying- fun explosion. More please.

Giantess - You Were Young

PBJ have nothing to worry about because they're on the money

Ye just dropped a new Peter, Bjorn and John tune on his blog. His usual garble spouts about how much he loves the drums... and I have to agree with him: the beat is money! But the track will be HUGE because of the singing children sample. I'm convinced it's the fastest way for musicians to cash in.


Peter, Bjorn and John - Nothing to Worry About


MySpace | Website

Postcript: In before Pitchfork - BITCHES!

And finally (for 08)

So 2009 is upon us and all those lists are played out but I couldn't resist posting a few final treats I found kicking round the place.

First up is a tasty 2008 wrap up show that my man Mark Ronson rolled out Boxing Day. Peep the track listing and grab the mp3 here.

Second is an impressive wrap up coming from VJ blog, Accent Feed. A list of the top 10 Innovative Concert Visuals. Anyone who has been to a concert in the last few years knows that every act feels to need to melt your brain with flashing lights (hell Kanye even wrote a song about it). Next level shit right here.