The xx – Islands (CHLLNGR RemiXX)
Steve Borth aka CHLLNGR, an instrumental producer who hails from Copenhagen is one of the many artists to remix an XX song. His take at “Islands” is chilling and chill. The cover is freakishly beautiful, and I loved the idea of a ‘remiXX’.
See, the little things do count in life!
He’s playing a few shows at SXSW. Catch his schedule here.
The xx – “Islands” (CHLLNGR RemiXX)Stream
Woman Who ‘Kanye West’ed’ the Oscars Actually Deserved the Oscar
The title might have gotten you confused if you haven’t seen the oscars on Sunday night.
Roger Ross Williams, the director of Music by Prudence won an Oscar for Documentary Short Subject. When he came to accept the award, some white ginger woman appeared to be ‘Kanye West-ing’ the Oscars, and came up on stage and started interupting his speech.
Turns out she’s Elinor Burkett, and she was also named when the winner was announced. She just was late in arriving upon the stage.
When this happened live I thought it was hilarious. It would have been so much funnier if she actually Kanye West-ed the event.
Children’s Choir Covers Phoenix’s “Lisztomania”
The choir that sang with Passion Pit’s lead singer Nate have charmed us all once again by singing Phoenix’s “Lisztomania”. This elementary choir are stars, and I love that the music teacher is so driven with hope in these kids. These kids are blessed and are talented, and I hope every single child knows that.
Thanks to Will for sharing.
Kisses – Bermuda
I was skimming past a blog the other day (EMPT) and found a duo that I’ve never heard of before. They’re called Kisses, and they’re this sweet dreamy-pop band. After some light research, I found out that they are based in Los Angeles and comprised of Jesse Kivel (frontman of Princeton) and his girlfriend Zinzi Edmundson (who has her own fashion blog). After my own research, I realized that I got an email from them in my inbox. I could have saved a lot of time!
The story behind “Bermuda” is that Jesse took a day time job as a travel writer and had to write hundreds of reviews of exotic hotels and resorts, so they used their imagery to write songs like this one. The single will be released on April 27th.
Looking at their myspace and website I realized that they have the quote ‘Always leave a little to chance’ everywhere. It’s pretty neat.
Also, I was being a bit stalker-ish and did some more research on Zinzi. Looks like she works at Conde Nast, a publication company I dream of working at. I wonder what she does there?
Strangers in Stereo Announce SXSW Party
Strumbled across this, love the design and the poster and the performers! I definitely wish I could go to SXSW because of this. (LOVE Chiddy Bang, Chew Lips, My Gold Mask, Hussle Club, etc.)
Does anyone have any idea as to who is hosting it? It has a link to Strangersinstereo.com, but it only leads to a countdown. I’m really confused.
Who’s going to SXSW? If you are, please comment! And you better go to this and tell me how it goes.
Vampire Weekend Plays A House Party
I meant to post this when it came out but I kept on forgetting. Anyways, apparently some guy found the members of Vampire Weekend in a bar in Barcelona and eventually convinced them to play a house party, and they did! Missing was Rostam, I wonder where he was.
Vampire Weekend, please play at my house when you come next week!
Hole – Skinny Little Bitch
“Skinny Little Bitch” is a comeback single from Hole, Courtney Love’s band. This is the first single in 10 years that they have released, and the first from ‘Nobody’s Daughter’ which will be released on April 26th. It was also released for free on Hole’s website a couple days ago.
I just want to say that I fucking love Courtney Love. She’s the ultimate rock star, and she’s not afraid to do anything. “Skinny Little Bitch” is a fun ‘fuck you’ kind of song, and you can tell Courtney’s definitely having fun. I loooooooooove this.
Hole – “Skinny Little Bitch”Stream
Also, I hope she doesn’t hate me for posting this but I just love this interview. She’s so badass.
Summer Camp – Ghost Train (Music Video)
Summer Camp has released the first ever video to “Ghost Train”. This just makes me want summer to start already.
(LOL at the girls evesdropping on the two guys making out)
You can pre-order the single here.
Cults – Go Outside
When I was checking out Gorilla vs. Bear like I usually do everyday, I noticed that they posted about some band that I’ve never heard of before. Chris posted about Cults, a band that nobody has ever heard of. And I can’t dig up any information about them.
Anyways, their first intro single is titled “Go Outside“, a vintage sounding, experimental ’soul’ track, as described on their bandcamp page. (You can also download their 3-track EP on there too)
They’re generating great buzz lately thanks to Chris. He always seems to get the best exclusives (i.e. Summer Camp, Cults) and we just wish these bands would expose themselves to the public so we can admire them even more.
The Drums – Best Friend (Music Video)
The Drums have released the music video for “Best Friend“, one that apparently two of the guys wrote together for the first time. Throughout the video the lead singer just prances around the room.
These guys are so trendy, it kills me!
Bat For Lashes – All I Need (Radiohead Cover)
One of the biggest names in the Independent Music genre is Radiohead. Radiohead is one of the only bands that can cross the line between Indie and Mainstream and still manage to keep most of its “Indie Credibility”.
For those of you who didn’t know, Thom Yorke, singer for Radiohead, recently started a side project called Atoms for Peace. Members include Flea (from Red Hot Chili Peppers,) Nigel Godrich (producer for Radiohead,) Joey Waronker (from R.E.M., The Smashing Pumpkins and others,) and Mauro Refosco (from Forro in the Dark.) In short, it’s a super band that makes delightfully good-sounding music.
In support of Atoms for Peace, Natasha Kahn of Bat for Lashes did a cover show at the De La War Pavilion in the UK. One of the covers she performed was a cover of “All I Need”, originally performed by Radiohead.
Natasha Kahn tackled the challenge of “All I Need”, using her signature ethereal vocals and sophisticated string ensemble. It was a pleasant surprise, considering that Radiohead has such a distinctive sound that it’s quite difficult to give an original twist to one of their songs with out ruining it. However, she did a remarkable job of taking a song and turning it into her own piece of musical mastery.
I almost always favor the original over a cover, but in no way did Kahn’s cover disappoint. It’s definitely worth the time of a download.
