Ben’s Music Corner: from Sigur Rós to Gravy Train!!!!

HELLO PEOPLE! Haven’t been updating this much, but luckily Waddy has! Cheers for that buddy!

I thought I’d do a post with LOADS OF MUSIC, a bit of everthing for everyone – in no way is this a ‘cash-in’ to get our blog noticed on HypeMachine or elbo.ws at all, m’kay? Cool. First up we have Sigur Rós. I know, you’re thinking “argh depressing stuff, they don’t even sing in English let alone Icelandic” – wrong. On the new album they have a track sung in English, but that’s not what I’m here for – they actually named a track Gobbledigook, which pretty much sums up what the lyrics are. It sounds VERY Animal Collective-influenced, which is awesome, ’cause everybody loves Animal Collective.

DOWNLOAD: Gobbledigook – Sigur Rós (zshare)

Now next we have a new Mystery Jets track, from the album ‘Twenty One’ (been out for a while, produced by the genius Erol Alkan), but has been both remixed by Switch (aka Dave Taylor aka Solid Groove) and then EDITED by K-Dub’s favourite DJ in the world, the mighty DIPLO. It’s pretty damn better than the original Switch remix, and it’s crazy to think a few of us went to see Mystery Jets last month in little old Winchester, and their tracks are getting messed around with by these producer genii! Diplo’s truly brilliant – he’s always doing good. His recent remix of Black Lips was great, and I recently heard a baile funk track he did sampling Devo and another with the Pixies. Still not sick of his FabricLive CD. He was on Kissy Sell Out’s show the other day too which was pretty awesome.

DOWNLOAD: Hideaway (Produced by Erol Alkan) (Switch Remix) (Diplo Edit) – Mystery Jets (zshare)

Now I know I posted about these next guys last time I was here, but they really are going up in the world (hopefully). They were the stars of this years SXSW Festival in Texas over in the US, and now have a full album coming out, called ‘Workout Holiday’. This is probably the nicest and most soulful tracks on the album, the others being crazy, experimental/psych/Hendrix-like jam out. So I urge you to take a listen, you’ll love it.

DOWNLOAD: Sitting – White Denim (zshare)

Oh yeah, Ratatat are back! Yeah and their new stuff is pretty damn interesting! The new album, aptly named ‘LP3′, even has some Daft Punk style vocals on one track. But the track I’m gonna put up is the latin-influenced one, with a dancy beat that will remind some of Safari by Holy Fuck and others of just…well…Ratatat? Google the Ratatat website too if you wanna download their second hip-hop remixes mixtape for free! Anyway, watch the Predator-inspired video, and download the track. Apparently it will be the next single, with remixes by Animal Collective, YACHT, Zongamin and Cut Copy! Woo!

DOWNLOAD: Mirando – Ratatat (zshare)

So yeah, now for a bit of fun. Does anyone remember Afrikan Boy? The one who did guest vocals on M.I.A’s latest album, ‘Kala’, and also did this hilarious grime track about shoplifting in everybodys favourite budget supermarkets. Well his new stuff is amazingly produced, I think he’s working on an album. You’ll have to check his MySpace for more music and laughs (http://www.myspace.com/afrikanboy). And also listen to the original and new versions (which I shoplifted off his MySpace haha)…

DOWNLOAD: One Day I Went To Lidl – Afrikan Boy

DOWNLOAD: One Day I Went To Lidl (2008 Mixtape Version) – Afrikan Boy

Oh yeah I went to see Vampire Weekend with Ryan and my sister at the beginning of the month. It was actually surprisingly brilliant! Support came from White Williams who looked very disheartened by the NME-reading, Radio 1-listening middle aged crowd, but it was still interesting to watch! Vampire Weekend themselves were ecstatic throughout, which rubbed off on the crowd, and the whole performance was smiley-smiley! It was great. You could really hear the Paul Simon influence all the time, which I’m not gonna diss – ‘Graceland’ is one of my favourite albums. I thought it would just be a mellow affair, with a preppy New York band playing to a bunch of Brits. Can’t wait to see them at Reading, the atmosphere will be immensely positive – it’ll be better than the first time you sucked helium from a balloon. But yeah, check out the novelty hip-hop outfit some members of Vampire Weekend used to be in before, it’s really quite funny shit…here are also some pictures of Joe Williams (White Williams) and Ezra Koenig (Vampire Weekend) from the gig we went to (Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth):

DOWNLOAD: Interracial Dating – L’Homme Run (zshare)

Next up are Playdoe. They remind me of both Spank Rock and Yea Big & Kid Static at the same time, which is fucking sweeeeet. For some reason over here they’re signed to the really small indie label Try Harder, who released stuff by Foals, Blood Red Shoes, Tired Irie and Jonquil, which is weird seeing as they’re, like, American party-rap…their MySpace says they’re South African but I’m not sure. Still, lend an ear:

DOWNLOAD: Gravy Yard – Playdoe (zshare)

Oh and next we have the North American guitar band of the moment. I’ve been tracking these guys for the last few years, and they’ve finally released an album! And signed to Warp Records! Crazy stuff really. They’ve even toured with Hot Chip and Caribou and been remixed by Four Tet! I really do adore Born Ruffians. I’m surprised how many people don’t listen to them that I know. I’ve got Baz, my sister and Waddy into them, and I can tell you, they’re so catchy you’ll never get tired of them and never want to rip your ears out. Their track Hummingbird even appeared on the new Orange advert. But yeah they’re still sounding fresh, and in my opinion are better than their buddies Tokyo Police Club, who have turned out a super-produced album by the way (which is okay but still a bit crap). So here I have the new b-side to Born Ruffians‘ new single I Need A Life, which is out now, if you care…

DOWNLOAD: So Long, Tadpole – Born Ruffians (zshare)

I’ve been listening to El Guincho recently. He’s this guy from Barcelona, I think, and he plays music that sounds like a multicultural street band covering Animal Collective, and as I said before, everybody loves Animal Collective, or at least they should. I guess you could say he’s a better Panda Bear. That reminds me, Jalili was telling me how he saw Animal Collective in London (with Atlas Sound supporting) – how very jealous I am of him. But yeah listen to this remix El Guincho did of one of the new Architecture In Helsinki tracks, it’s pretty good. But if you want to hear something more tropical, check his MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/elguincho) or have good luck hunting down his new album, Alegranza!

DOWNLOAD: Like It Or Not (El Guincho Remix) – Architecture In Helsinki (zshare)

Again with the crazy street percussion, I have this track from the soundtrack of one of my favourite Asian films, Zatoichi. It reminds me of Boredoms and OOIOO but also has tapdancing in it… It’s a brilliant ending to a film too, seeing as the film is about a blind samurai, so has lots of violence, and concludes with a huge dance festival. I recommend everyone watch Zatoichi, it’s a brilliant film, with a brilliant soundtrack – it’s actually a remake of an old franchise which influenced films such as Kill Bill and animé series’ such as Afro Samurai. The main character, oddly called Zatoichi, is the teacher from Battle Royale (another film everyone should see).

DOWNLOAD: Festivo – Suzuki Keiichi (zshare)

Talking of soundtracks…I’ve been watching Superbad a lot recently. I saw it for the third time the other day with Waddy. It’s such a funny film, and is really done well. It’s clumsy, but in a good way. The music compliments the humour too – all this funk stuff a la Bootsie Collins and Parliament/Funkadelic. James Brown would be proud of this soundtrack. There’s also an awesome track from The Roots in the soundtrack, but the best appearance is at a party in the background when you can hear The Rapture – reminded me of how good the album ‘Echoes’ was. I also love the opening titles track by The Bar-Kays, so I’ll recommend listening to that too. These ones go out to McLovin! I also put a video of an interview (on the second disc of the DVD) of Edgar Wright (director of Spaced, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) interviewing Jonah Hill and Michael Cera…and Jonah goes mental. I don’t think he realises Edgar is only kidding:

DOWNLOAD: Echoes – The Rapture (zshare)

DOWNLOAD: Too Hot To Stop – The Bar-Kays (zshare)

Oh! We move on – I’ve been loving a lot of the Aussie electro stuff recently, mostly Bumblebeez, but also Cut Copy and The Presets. I also found out about these guys, Pnau, who do a Daft Punk/Justice type thing, and it really works well. The track I’ll introduce to you sounds like SebastiAn meets MSTRKRFT. It’s excellent, I hope they play Reading!

DOWNLOAD: No More Violence – Pnau (zshare)

Speaking of Reading, I’m really psyched about the electo acts playing – Justice, Simian Mobile Disco, and Digitalism! They’re probably my favourite of the ‘holy electro trinity’ – I only managed to catch about 20 minutes of their set last year before dashing off to see Biffy Clyro, Battles and !!!. Digitalism have been remixed by some unlikely people recently, including The Horrors, but one of them caught my attention – Cansei de Ser Sexy. Their remix made Pogo sound like a sunny day out in the park rather than a stomping post-Kraftwerk electro singalong.

DOWNLOAD: Pogo (CSS Remix) – Digitalism (zshare)

It seems everybody’s looking forward to Reading this year. We keep talking about last year, like the time I monged out throughout Turbo Fruits‘ set – who Waddy still calls “Tutti Fruitti” and moans about how bad they are. From what I remember they were still alright for a band that was thrown together by two members of Be Your Own Pet. I was starting to get annoyed by Jemina Pearl’s vocals. Anyway the track I’d like you to listen to is called Devo Girl. This is because I love Devo (not so much girls…haha). I swear everytime I get into my dad’s car and Radio 2 is on, they play Whip It by Devo. It cheers me up and I always sing along.

DOWNLOAD: Devo Girl – Turbo Fruits (zshare)

Last weekend I had my sequel to Flight of the Conchords Night. We were planning to watch Eagle vs Shark – starring Jemaine Clement from Flight of the Conchords – but Joe had lost it amongst the mess in his room and Hannah couldn’t find it. We did watch another film with Jemaine in, called Tongan Ninja – it’s ridiculously low-budget and the acting is worse than in Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace, even the DVD looks pirate! Instead we got drunk and watched Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which was still pretty funny. The house was full of couples: Stan and Hannah, Waddy and Lara, Charlie and Lucy…and me and Lewi? Haha. Anyway it’s kinda stupid cause my sister bought Eagle vs Shark today. I love Jemaine though, he’s so dapper. I’d turn gay for him. He’s gonna be in a new film by Napolean Dynamite and Nacho Libre’s husband-and-wife director duo Jared and Jerusa Hess called Gentlemen Broncos (out next year). Sam Rockwell’s gonna be in it too; I can’t wait! Waddy decided to start watching the Lord of the Rings films again, so this track goes out to him – good luck! Look out at the end of the track for an early rendition of Foux De Fafa by Flight of the Conchords (albums out on Sub Pop by the way!):

DOWNLOAD: Frodo (2000 L.O.T.R. Rejected Demo Version) – Flight of the Conchords (zshare)

I was listening to De La Soul’s ‘3 Feet High And Rising’ the other day – one of the happiest hip-hop albums ever, more so than A Tribe Called Quest and Jurassic 5! I realised I hadn’t listened to the second disc – I found an alternative version of Jenifa, one of my favourite tracks on the album. It’s brilliant, if you love a bit of ’80’s hip-hop I’d definately take a good listen.

DOWNLOAD: Jenifa Taught Me (12″ Version) – De La Soul (zshare)

So this is the last track! I’ve recently got into Gravy Train!!!! – they remind me of Le Tigre, Tom Tom Club and Salt ‘n’ Pepa…maybe even The B-52s, and more recently Free Blood? They’re really rude, which is pretty awesome. We all like a bit of rudeness. But the track I love is probably the least rude I’ve heard by them, haha. I was surprised to hear Late of the Pier playing them when they were guests on Rob Da Bank & Friends on Radio 1 the other week. This one goes out to Stan, who’s also a fan, and is on holiday in France, as well as Julie and Kat, who I finally got to meet on Friday night and must like this track. I mean who doesn’t?

DOWNLOAD: Hella Nervous – Gravy Train!!!! (zshare)

Also, the Great Winchester Mixtape Hunt is still on! Currently about 5 people have found, recorded on, and hidden it! So far we’ve had tracks by Can, Pavement, a Diplo remix of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, a Nouvelle Vague cover of New Order, and Dan Sartain. So keep looking!

Me and Waddy will be back soon! Maybe even with some more art, or some pointless videos to watch! Who knows! Nobody reads this shit anyway! Do they?