It seems like Britain will never stop producing awesome bands for us to admire, and over at the DiS RCRD LBL blog, the kids are smitten with a new three piece called Johnny Foreigner. JF draw comparisons to Cap’N Jazz and Braid-era American indie while bashing out distorted rock songs at breakneck speed. They’re Band of the Day on the DiS blog so head over there for a free download and more info.
After the Libertines exploded all over the European continent a number of years ago, there was a slew of young French kids who were taking note of their brash, punk sound and gutter dandy look. For decades, France had been the home to super sleek electronic acts and mainstream (in their own country at least) pop balladeers, but then a new generation of urchins, from Plasticines to Poney Poney, started taking their guitars to the nearest bistros and letting it rip. Neimo are one of those bands.
We caught Neimo live by chance at a friend’s party a few months ago: they were hot off of filming their debut video (for “Hot Girl”) and were eager to impress American audiences with their heavily accented rock ‘n’ roll, and impress they did. They played month-long residencies all around New York last December, and are poised to break the new French rock scene internationally. My Old Kentucky Blog is totally on the tip and blogged a few of Neimo’s tracks today.
It’s so great to randomly stumble upon bands on the Internet. Five minutes ago we knew absolutely nothing about LSD And The Search For God, except that they have the best band name and logo of all time. Now, we know that they’re a heavy shoegaze band from San Francisco, who sound like the meeting of My Bloody Valentine and the Cocteau Twins, and that the three songs on their MySpace page are an absolutely delectable blend of distortion and uplifting guitars. We highly recommend “I Don’t Care” if you’re yearning to have your ears blown off your head. Check out their MySpace below and get into it.
We’ve recently gotten super into the Kinks’ 1968 recordThe Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society, as we’ve realized it’s basically the prototype to all good indie pop albums ever (it features themes like small town living, school children, nature, lost love… sound familiar, Stuart Murdoch?) Anyway, rumors have been flying that iconic lead singer Ray Davies has been confirming left and right that there will be a Kinks reunion show sometime in the near future, their first as a full band in decades. However, it was reported over the weekend that his brother and co-vocalist/guitarist Dave Davies has denied all ties to a Kinks reunion tour and has likened the experience to a revival of Night of the Living Dead. Drama! Head over to Spinner for more info.
Hercules & Love Affair are the newest signing of DFA, a label we’ve made no secret of being somewhat partial to here at RCRD LBL. We’re proud to say the first time we heard the band’s signature tune, “Blind”, we correctly identified the guest vocalist as none other than Antony Hegarty, of Antony and the Johnsons fame. H&LA are taking the disco revival craze to a new level of realness: you can barely tell their tracks apart from vintage ‘70s dance classics. Awesome underground blog Motel de Moka has more info, so check it.
We’ve recently gotten totally obsessed with Joan Jett and her pre-solo band the Runaways (we’re talking vintage record shopping, eBay poster finding, YouTube video searching obsessed). Their songs were really simple and actually kind of boring, but goddamn if they weren’t the coolest, slickest looking band that ever lived, and the prototype for just about every all-female rock ‘n’ roll band ever. Licorice Pizza posted some live and rare goodies from the band today, so check it out.
Who knew that to make one of the most visually stunning videos in recent memory, all you needed was a wind tunnel and some dogs? We love this video for "Birds" by French house producer Vitalic, it hits all the spots a good video should: it augments the song without overbearing it. New art blog Rach has some choice thoughts as well, and offers up some links to the directional team who made "Birds", Pleix. Enjoy!
We love it when bands recommend other bands but it's even better when good bands holler at you about their fave groups—at least you know they have some taste, ya know? Currently one of our favorites, San Diego’s The Prayers, have made a blog post raving about The Sess, a little-known Bay Area punk band who are about to tear the scene a new one. Check out the Prayers’ RCRD LBL blog for frontman Brandon’s take on the Sess, and then go over to the band’s MySpace to sample some tunes.
We here at RCRD LBL HQ would like to take a few to thank our sponsors: Puma, Nikon, Virgin American, Nokia and newest addition BMW, without who we wouldn’t be able to make all this pop. Check out their various Websites and help them help us keep you hooked up.
We love doing those Mega Download posts, so we’ve thrown together another one for you to get into today. From the spoken word bleeps and bloops of George Pringle to time-tested favorites like Spoon and Ted Leo, we've got some jams. Now if only we had that reggae/dancehall siren to fire off DJ selector-style everytime we posted one of those....
Download: ItaloBoyz - Viktor Cassanova: These London dudes are poised to be the new kings of ethereal house with their tenure on dirtybird records and this single. It’s one of those tracks that sounds OK in the background but blows up as soon as you put on headphones.
Download: Shout Out Louds - Tonight I Have To Leave It: It would seem like the Swedes have the global market on awesome indie pop pretty much cornered, and the Shout Out Louds are no exception to the rule. “Tonight I Have To Leave It” is sounds like The Cure gone moping with Belle and Sebastian.
Download: Spoon - The Underdog People love their Spoon, as demonstrated by the success of the band’s most recent record, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. “The Underdog” was the lead track of the record and has maybe the best middle-eight of the past year.
Download: The Arcade Fire - No Cars Go: These indie behemoths are rumored to be taking a “break” from the scene for 2008, so reminesce with this track from their debut EP. So full of hope…
Download: The Arcade Fire - Black Mirror: “Black Mirror” was the moment where the Arcade Fire went from hot new band to respected giant status. It’s as epic as anything on their debut record Funeral but with the sensibility that they had made it to the big time. Magical.
Download: Beat The Devil - Plea Bargain: Like PJ Harvey serenading Nick Cave in a deserted bayou, Beat the devil are equal parts enchanting and terrifying. Just one prolonged note on their dominating organ will reel you into singer Shilpa Ray’s haunting vocals.
Download: George Pringle - Carte Postale: While most people just whine about their lives on MySpace, George Pringle takes her inner turmoiils and crafts catchy spoken word electro pop songs out of them.
