import/export...and everything in between

Thursday, January 31, 2008

The Shockwaves NME Awards are back for 2008 and they have just announced the nominees. Nothing is too surprising...

The nominees are:

Best British Band supported by Shockwaves
Arctic Monkeys
Babyshambles
The Cribs
Klaxons
Muse

Best International Band supported by T4
Arcade Fire
Foo Fighters
The Killers
Kings Of Leon
My Chemical Romance

Best New Band supported by BBC Radio 1
The Enemy
Foals
Joe Lean And The Jing Jang Jong
The Pigeon Detectives
The Wombats

Best Live Band supported by Carling
Arctic Monkeys
The Cribs
Kaiser Chiefs
Muse
My Chemical Romance

Best Solo Artist supported by 4Music
Kate Nash
Jamie T
Jack Penate
Amy Winehouse
Patrick Wolf

Best Album supported by HMV
'Favourite Worst Nightmare' - Arctic Monkeys
'Shotters Nation' - Babyshambles
'We'll Live And Die In These Towns' – The Enemy
'Myths Of The Near Future' - Klaxons
'In Rainbows' – Radiohead

Best Track supported by Trinity St
'Fluorescent Adolescent' – Arctic Monkeys
'Flux' – Bloc Party
'Men's Needs' – The Cribs
'Lord Don't Slow Me Down' - Oasis
'Let's Dance To Joy Division' – The Wombats

Best Video supported by NME TV
'Teddy Picker' – Arctic Monkeys
'Flux' – Bloc Party
'D.A.N.C.E.' - Justice
'Golden Skans' - Klaxons
'Teenagers' – My Chemical Romance

Best Music DVD
'Up The Shambles' – Babyshambles
'The Song Remains The Same' – Led Zeppelin
'Unplugged In New York' - Nirvana
'Lord Don’t Slow Me Down' - Oasis
'I Told You I Was Trouble' – Amy Winehouse

Best Live Event
Carling Weekend: Reading And Leeds Festival
Glastonbury
Muse At Wembley Stadium
T In The Park
V Festival

Hero Of The Year
Matt Bellamy
Pete Doherty
Noel Fielding
Ryan Jarman
Thom Yorke

Villain Of The Year
Tony Blair
Johnny Borrell
Gordon Brown
George W Bush
Amy Winehouse

Best Dressed supported by Topman
Pete Doherty
Noel Fielding
Kate Nash
Alex Turner
Gerard Way

Worst Dressed
Johnny Borrell
Pete Doherty
Mika
Gerard Way
Amy Winehouse

Best Dancefloor Filler supported by Club NME
'Flux' – Bloc Party
'Hummer' - Foals
'D.A.N.C.E.' - Justice
'Atlantis To Interzone' - Klaxons
'Let's Dance To Joy Division' – The Wombats

Best Album Artwork
'Favourite Worst Nightmare' – Arctic Monkeys
'The Good, The Bad And The Queen' – The Good, The Bad And The Queen
'Sawdust' – The Killers
'Because Of The Times' – Kings Of Leon
'Send Away The Tigers' – Manic Street Preachers

Best Radio Show
Russell Brand (Radio 2)
Zane Lowe (Radio 1)
Chris Moyles (Radio 1)
Colin Murray (Radio 1)
Jo Whiley (Radio 1)

Worst Album
'1973' - James Blunt
'The Trick To Life' – The Hoosiers
'Spirit' - Leona Lewis
'Life In Cartoon Motion' - Mika
'Blackout' - Britney Spears

Worst Band
30 Seconds To Mars
Fall Out Boy
The Hoosiers
My Chemical Romance
Panic At The Disco

Best TV Show
'Heroes'
'The Mighty Boosh'
'Never Mind The Buzzcocks'
'The IT Crowd'
'Skins'

Best Film
'Control'
'Hot Fuzz'
'Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End'
'The Simpsons Movie'
'Superbad'

Sexiest Man
Howlin' Pelle Almqvist
Julian Barrett
Noel Fielding
Nicky Wire
Patrick Wolf

Sexiest Woman
Jenny Lewis
Kylie Minogue
Rihanna
Hayley Williams
Rachael Yamagata

Best Venue
Brixton Academy
Manchester Apollo
Glasgow Barrowlands
London Astoria
Wembley Stadium

Best Website
Bebo
Facebook
Last.fm
Myspace
YouTube

Best Band Blog
Foals (www.wearefoals.com/blog)
Lilly Allen (www.myspace.com/lilymusic)
Lightspeed Champion (www.lightspeedchampion.com)
Radiohead (www.radiohead.com/deadairspace)
The Streets (www.myspace.com/thestreets)

Best Music Blog
The Hype Machine (hypem.com)
The Modern Age (www.themodernage.org)
Nothing But Green Lights (nothingbutgreenlights.net)
Spinner (spinner.com)
Stereogum (stereogum.com)


The awards will take place on February 28th in London.

Side note: How come we weren't nominated for best music blog? Ha ha.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Supergrass Get A U.S. Album Release

How many labels can Supergrass be on in their U.S. career? First it was Capitol, then Island and now they've joined the Astralwerks family for their sixth studio release.

“We wanted a record where you got all of Supergrass,” says frontman Gaz of this decisive return to form, “The joy, the intensity, the darkness, the melodies. All of those have always been important to us and still are.”

If they make a record as good as I Should Coco or In it For The Money then it will be something to talk about...

"Diamond Hoo Ha" will be released on April 15th.

The track listing will be:

1. Diamond Hoo Ha Man
2. Bad Blood
3. Rebel In You
4. When I Needed You
5. 345
6. The Return Of Inspiration
7. Rough Knuckles
8. Ghost Of A Friend
9. Whiskey & Green Tea
10.Outside
11.Butterfly

Friday, January 25, 2008

The Teenagers Get Randy in LA

Being a French filly myself, I couldn't resist representing the frogs on Wednesday at Spaceland for The Teenagers' 2nd LA show. I've had "Homecoming" on nearly all my On-the-Go playlists for almost a year now, and am simply addicted to that song when my "word of the day" starts with a C and ends with an unt. So, enough of me, here's my review from ARTISTdirect.


Photo by: Danielle Allaire

There's nothing more titillating on a lonely, rainy, Los Angeles night than a Parisian in America. Those lucky enough to be at Spaceland Wednesday night, got not one, but three, when Paris' electronically-inclined, cheeky, punk trio The Teenagers played their second ever LA show. The boys were also joined by two adoptive Teenagers, a female drummer and guitarist, on loan from England for their mini-U.S. tour. Led by the pencil-thin, ambidextrously-sexy singer Quentin Delafon (who somehow manages to make an Archduke Ferdinand-groomed mustache hot), they garnered gasps, giggles and dancefloor shuffling from the LA crowd as they soaked up the lazy talk-sung, dirty-disco tunes that would even make the lascivious Serge Gainsbourg blush.


Photo by: Danielle Allaire


Photo by: Danielle Allaire

The Teenagers showed off their aloof rebellion by blazing through the tracks form their soon-to-be-released debut album, Reality Check. During a lull from technical difficulties, Delafon dipped the mic in the audience, as an Australian girl shouted, "When are you coming to Australia?!" Delafon considered that a good enough audition as he pulled up the rock-aficionado on-stage to provide guest vocals on their triple-x ode to easy, American girls, "Homecoming." They played other notable pre-album release hits, "We Are The Teenagers" and "Fuck Nicole" to round out the night—which felt more like a night spent in the the backseat of a sedan with steamed windows than a concert.


Photo by: Danielle Allaire


Photo by: Danielle Allaire

—Danielle Allaire
01.25.08


x,
LA Broad

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Amy Winehouse Is In Rehab...Surprise

After being caught smoking crack the other day, Amy Winehouse has finally entered rehab once again. She's canceled her appearance at the NRJ Awards in France but is still scheduled to attend the Grammy Awards.

Universal Music Group issued the following statement in regards to Amy: "Amy decided to enter the facility today after talks with her record label, management, family and doctors. She has come to understand that she requires specialist treatment to continue her ongoing recovery from drug addiction and prepare for her planned appearance at the Grammy Awards."

Best of luck to Amy and her family...she's an incredible talent that the music world really can't afford to lose.

Likely Looks: MGMT - Time To Pretend

One thing MGMT can do is figure out a way to combine both Mad Max and Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat together for a music video and actually make it good!

Their video for "Time To Pretend" is a trip...literally.

Operator Please Gets Remixed

Who doesn't love a good remix? This times around G.L.O.V.E.S. takes a stab at the band's hit single "Get What You Want" that will be released February 28th in the UK.

Here is the MP3:
Operator Please - Get What You Want (G.L.O.V.E.S. Remix)

Likely Looks: Air Traffic - Charlotte

I'm a total sucker for a good power pop song...therefore Air Traffic's single "Charlotte" could blast through my headphones all day and I would be a happy camper

Their album "Fractured Life" will be release February 5th through Astralwerks in the US.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Likely Looks: Feist - I Feel It All

Feist has a knack for making the most simple of things become great videos. This time around, Leslie bangs a trash and magically a hefty blast of fireworks explodes on cue. That and she's Feist...somehow always entertaining by doing the most minimal amount possible

She's just darling...

The Public Has Spoken...Coachella 2008 Blows

2008's Coachella pretty much sucks. I have had some time to think about it and I agree...I am still going to go and enjoy the hot sun, bands I have seen 5 times before and Los Angeles before and after the show but overall Coachella sucks.

Read it and laugh:

jack johnson, please
madness
breeders, boring
portishead, lame
portishead's new stuff stinks
death cab? gay
roger waters? cunt
love and rockets? so what
my morning jacket? jamfag.com
verve? yawn
kraftwerk? again?
daron from system solo band? come on
rilo kiley? fuck them
fuck coachella
fuck goldenvoice
fuck the desert

Thank you to you know who you are for that fantastic rant...

Were Justice Honestly Serious?

What a joke to honestly think that Justice could play Madison Square Garden and sell it out?! The joke is on them now because the venue has been downgraded to the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden

Please note: that is still going to suck. The sound isn't loud enough in there and how much dancing room can you seriously have? Its like saying you are going to DJ on an airplane and then having people attempt to dance in their seats. Not going to happen.

If you actually bought tickets to the MSG show...well here is the statement released

“This event has been moved from Madison Square Garden to the WaMu Theater at MSG,” it begins.

“Tickets for the ARENA show will no longer be valid. Those patrons who had purchased tickets via Ticketmaster phone /internet to the ARENA show will be sent a new ticket for the Theater show. Those patrons who purchased tickets via the box office or Ticketmaster outlet for the ARENA show will be able to exchange their tickets at the Madison Square Garden Box Office.”

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Likely Looks: The Young Knives - Up All Night

The Young Knives feel like kicking some serious ass in their new video "Up All Night". Even in nice suits they could still beat you up...very nice.

Up All Night

Coachella Lineup 2008

The Verve! Kraftwerk! Portishead! Jack Johnson??!...

Its nothing to write home about multiple times...but I'll take it

Monday, January 21, 2008

Does It Offend You, Yeah? Announce Album Details

The band with what could be the best name ever, Does It Offend You, Yeah? has finally release their debut album details which will be released on March 17th.

The album will be titled ‘You Have No Idea What You’re Getting Yourself Into’ and was produced by Rich Costey (Muse, Interpol).

The tracklisting will be as follows:

’Battle Royale’
‘With A Heavy Heart (I Regret To Inform You)’
‘We Are Rockstars’
‘Dawn Of The Dead’
‘Doomed Now’
‘60 Ft Octopus’
‘Let’s Make Out’
‘Being Bad Feels Pretty Good’
‘Weird Science’

The band will also be playing SXSW so if you are heading down to Austin be sure to catch them.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Sunday Video Rewind: Sugababes: Freak Like Me

Adina Howard did it right but the Sugababes did it better. These girls can cover pretty much any song and make it sound good...

Sugababes - Freak Like Me

Portishead Confirmed For 2008 Coachella

The confirmations are in! Portishead are one of the first bands to be confirmed to headline Saturday night at Coachella this year.

The full line up will be announced tomorrow and there will surely be a ton of incredible surprises.

My guesses are My Bloody Valentine and The Verve as headliners...or at least at the top of the Coachella list. Also, the lovely Kate Nash is confirmed wooohooo!!

Pack your bags and get ready for the desert...its going to be another good year for the festival.

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Lily Allen Suffers a Miscarriage

My heart goes out to Lily Allen as yesterday it was announced that she has suffered a miscarriage.

"She and her partner, Ed Simons, will be making no further comment and we ask that their privacy be respected during this difficult time," Allen's spokesman, Jon Bills, said Friday in a statement.

Poor Lily...

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

The 2008 Brit Awards Nominees Are...

The 2008 Brit Awards should be an entertaining one with Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne hosting...

Here are the nominees:

BRITISH MALE SOLO ARTIST:

Jamie T
Mark Ronson
Mika
Newton Faulkner
Richard Hawley

BRITISH FEMALE SOLO ARTIST:

Bat For Lashes
Kate Nash
KT Tunstall
Leona Lewis
PJ Harvey

BRITISH GROUP:

Arctic Monkeys
Editors
Girls Aloud
Kaiser Chiefs
Take That

BRITISH ALBUM:

Arctic Monkeys - 'Favourite Worst Nightmare'
Leona Lewis - 'Spirit'
Mark Ronson - 'Version'
Mika - 'Life In Cartoon Motion'
Take That - 'Beautiful World'

BRITISH BREAKTHROUGH ACT:

Bat For Lashes
Kate Nash
Klaxons
Leona Lewis
Mika

BRITISH LIVE ACT:

Arctic Monkeys
Kaiser Chiefs
Klaxons
Muse
Take That

BRITISH SINGLE:

The Hoosiers - 'Worried About Ray'
James Blunt - '1973'
Kaiser Chiefs - 'Ruby'
Kate Nash - 'Foundations'
Leona Lewis - 'Bleeding Love'
Mark Ronson - 'Valerie' featuring Amy Winehouse'
Mika - 'Grace Kelly'
Mutya Buena - 'Real Girl'
Sugababes - 'About You Now'
Take That - 'Shine'

INTERNATIONAL MALE SOLO ARTIST:

Bruce Springsteen
Kanye West
Rufus Wainwright
Timbaland

INTERNATIONAL FEMALE SOLO ARTIST:

Alicia Keys
Bjork
Feist
Kylie Minogue
Rihanna

INTERNATIONAL GROUP:

Arcade Fire
Eagles
Foo Fighters
Kings Of Leon
The White Stripes

INTERNATIONAL ALBUM:

Arcade Fire - 'Neon Bible'
Eagles - 'Long Road Out Of Eden'
Foo Fighters - 'Echoes Silence Patience'
Kings Of Leon 'Because Of The Times'
Kylie Minogue - 'X'

OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION AWARD:

Paul McCartney

Coachella Coming To The East Coast

Since Coachella is basically the only music festival that even comes close to a Reading and Leeds or Glastonbury people fly from around the country to come to the event.

Now there is some good news for us East Coasters (woooooo) that the possibility of Coachella coming to the tri state area (NY, NJ, CT) so we don't have to pack our bags and bare the desert heart ofr 3 days.

Hopefully this works...remember how great Field Day went over??!!

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

My Dogg, My Man

This really has no substance. I just think it's a totally adorable pairing that Feist and Snoop were chosen to co-present the award for "Best Song and Composer" at the Critics Choice Awards last night, here in LA.



How amazing would a collaboration with them be? Maybe Jason Collette could get thrown in the mix too? Broken Social Scene versus Snoop? That would be the record of the year. Fo' shizzle.

x,
LA Broad

Monday, January 07, 2008

Ricky Wilson Spills It For Me

So, it's a bit belated, but what a great way to start off the year! I finally have transcribed and polished my interview with Ricky Wilson. I waited long enough to even make it relevant again, with their huge UK tour afoot. Anyway, I won't blabber on here, because I do enough of it in the intro. here is the text from my ARTISTdirect interview....



Sometimes it's hard to remember the things in life that are consistently great: your Mom, weather above 70 degrees Fahrenheit, weekly paychecks and the Kaiser Chiefs. Without catering to anyone but themselves, they have a legion of fans that spans indie rock circles, foppish critics, swoon-ready teens, people who only get their music from iTunes and I bet your Mom would like them too.

As the band wraps up their over a year-long tour of their sophomore album, Yours Truly, Angry Mob, we got a chance to chat with lead singer and affable, boyish charmer Ricky Wilson. On the eve of some of their biggest UK shows ever, Wilson is down-to-earth, confident and nowhere near as miserable as he lets on.

On first listen, it seems like the new album, Yours Truly, Angry Mob is more cynical than Employment, and based on your rise to where you are now. Is that true? Are we misinterpreting your intent?

People always say we're cynical, but I don't think people realized how cynical we were on the first album. I think we were a bit more pissed off on the first album, actually, but the music is so jolly you don't really realize. I think the music has become more... sinister. I'll tell you what, I'll try to be less miserable on the next album.

No, no, I like this "angry, young men" version of Kasier Chiefs.

Yeah, I think I prefer to be a bit more euphoric.

So, you have been touring this album since this time last year—are you starting to feel it wear you down?


I really enjoy it; it's always really good. As soon as you get on its fine. We don't really have that hard of a job, now do we? No matter how shit you feel, whenever you come off, you always want to do it again.

"Thank You Very Much" seems to sort of touch on that dreariness and monotony of touring and playing shows.

The sentiment of it wasn't really what I meant [laughs]. But, it's good to have a laugh and moan about [fame] every now and then. Everyone hates the job even if you've got the best job in the world.

Exactly. But, the way the albums unfolds tends to make the listener think, "ooh, they're talking about us."

I suppose you can't help it that much. If it's honest that's the best thing about about it, really. I'm pretty happy now, so maybe… I was pretty happy when I was writing it—especially for boys, though. I mean, when you've got a group of boys who are friends and you're writing lyrics, it's much harder to writer about how much in love you are and what a great time you're having. [Adopts pseudo-annoyed voice] You start writing songs about being pissed off and being annoyed at things.

Well, you actually sort of bridged that with "Ruby" [watch video here]; it's your first love song, isn't it?

Yeah, "Ruby" is kind of about how the best thing about when you meet someone is that very first moment when you metet—then it's all downhill from there…

Man, you guys really are miserable!

I know—I really had no idea!


This time around, you all were pretty vocal about ditching your former persona, which was more of a gimmicky band who just "oooh'd" a lot and wore striped blazers. How did you go about the change without alienating your fans?


The only thing I didn't like about it… I still like it—we still do it live, because we still play the old songs. I really like it, I just didn't like it in the pub when the only thing a person can think to say is, [starts singing in slight ogre voice] "Ooooooh, oooooh." And we really started doing it because we couldn't write lyrics. I think it's a really good device. I mean, The Beatles used to go [sings] "wooo" a lot, and then they stopped doing it—probably because people noticed they did it all the time. Then, they brought it back for the last album. As soon as anyone notices you doing something, you should probably stop it. You know, people noticed we were doing it everyone song, so you say, "Oh, shit. Well, I never want to be pinned down." So, you always have to move on, I suppose, so that's a good thing, isn't it?

Definitely. Now that you've achieved this status of "successful band," do you have any bands you look up to career-wise and whose path you want to follow?

I have a lot of favourite bands and stuff like that, but a lot of them get to a point where they're too big.

Like who?

Well, you know people start saying, "How big do you want to be?" And, I'm just happy being this size. We play big shows in the UK, we play medium shows in Europe and we play really small shows in America [laughs]. But, I like that. It must be so weird being Coldplay or U2. It's just big, isn't it? It's probably too big. It's probably not too big for them, but for us, we kind of like the way it is. Well, we're not in it for the money—so, we don't want to get bigger for that reason. We don't want to be playing the same size venues all around the world, because that would be quite boring.

So, is it refreshing coming to the US? I know that you had to cancel write a few shows over here this past summer. Did that have anything to do with ticket sales?

I don't really follow the ticket sales, so I don't really know about that. I do remember one thing. We were doing a gig in Dallas, and I think we sold 42 albums in Dallas. So, I was thinking, "if the venue is any bigger than 42-capacity, we're fucked." I think we're doing alright. The weird thing is—I don't know how many records we sold in America—let's say it's 200,000, right? That's still 200,000 records, and that's more than we ever thought we'd sell in the UK.

And, the thing about writing new stuff isn't made up—we have already written three, which is quite good. The reason we wanted to do that is that we didn't want the size of our shows to be outrunning the size of the band. I see that happen a lot with some bands—I'm not going to name any names. They've got two albums and they're playing arenas all over the world. Playing arenas is good fun and we really enjoy it. But, with two albums it's kind of filling an hour and a half, and both albums are 45 minutes; we'd have to play everything we've got. We don't want to do that. We wanted to inject more life into the big shows, so we needed new songs. And we're not the kind of band who's very good at writing songs on the road. We've got some very big shows coming up in the UK and next year, and we wanted more songs, more hits—even stuff people haven't heard. I really enjoy doing that at gigs.

You play a few B-sides live, which is always a nice treat for fans.

Yeah, we've got to start learning more of them, because we've got loads of b-sides and we only ever play them once when we record them. And also playing some stuff off the new album, which is a bit harder to play. Like, this song called "Love's Not A Competition But I'm Winning," that has all these layers of acoustic guitars, so we're trying to learn that at the moment. We've done it acoustically. We haven't played that live properly. It must be weird for people who have the album and know the band hearing us say, "We need to learn that song that's on the album." But some of them, the way they were written, that's how they developed in the studio. And I'm looking forward to playing songs we haven't played before. It's always exciting playing new songs.

What about the new songs; will these be going on a new album?

Maybe, maybe not. We might be doing something different next year.

Like what?

I don't really know yet. I don't think we're going to release an album for a while, but we'll be releasing things in between. We'll just have some new stuff, and it's really exciting. It makes me tap my feet and it makes me want to dance, and it's a good thing. I think we've got the festival anthem thing, and we're good at that, but with the new songs we're kind of doing more of the indie dance floor songs.

I read something recently that touched on you guys not really being an indie band, and the indie community thinking you didn't belong. Indie is such an arbitrary word these days, but where do you fit?

Yeah, ‘cos "indie" doesn't mean "indie" anymore. It's just people with guitars strapped around their necks signing for a million quid, and that's not indie. I think we're an indie band, yeah. We're definitely an indie band. [Pause] I've just seen an advert on TV and it's for Monopoly, but it's credit card Monopoly—there's no cash! That's weird. Anyway, where were we? Where do we fit? We're bigger than most indie bands, but we're not as big as the ones who've got boring. I think we're still exciting. When I was a kid and my indie band got big, it would outgrow me and I would go find my new, little indie band. So, we've got to keep things interesting. Because we can't rely on the fact that indie kids are going to like us and buy our records anymore.

It's very fair-weather these days.

It always has been; it was for me too. When Oasis got too big, I just went off them. They went from being my favourite band to being my least favourite band, and now they're one of my favourite bands again, because I've grown up a bit and I can appreciate them. People in other bands, as well as indie bands, they might not like us, but as soon as they get a bit bigger they forget about it. There's a lot of jealousy. I really like the fact that, maybe about a year and a half ago, when a new indie band coming out, their favourite thing to do was slag off the Kaiser Chiefs. But, then they have a bit of success and they realize we weren't doing it for the money, we weren't doing it for the fame. We were doing it because we really enjoyed it. And, no one slags us off anymore in bands, because I think that they realized we're quite good. It's the easiest thing in the world to slag someone off. It gets you more column inches when you're a small band.

Oh, UK press…

I quite enjoy it really, because its all a stupid game.

Speaking of the influence of the press, what was the inspiration for "Angry Mob" [watch the video here]?

Well, you know, you've got these people in indie bands—we've got a new song about this, as well—and they go on about how if you have a normal job and you haven't become a pop star, then you've in some way failed. And we've never done that. We've always… we realize that getting pissed at the weekend and spending all your money on drugs at the weekend is something that people do. We're not criticizing anybody. And it's the same thing with "Angry Mob," because some people might think in some way I'm going, "people that buy the papers and believe what they read and get sucked in by the press are idiots." But, I get sucked in by the press too. I believe stuff that I read, until I read something about me that's not true and then I go, "It's all lies!" But when I pick up a paper and I read that someone's done this and Amy Winehouse is doing that, I believe it, and I know it's stupid. It's about that and mob mentality and fitting into a group and following what people expect you to think.

You've championed a lot of new bands in the past, like The Cribs, but are there any new bands you're into?

I really like CSS and Klaxons. I like anything at the moment that's orientated to make you want to dance, which is a good thing.

Will we be hearing any Kaiser Chiefs disco tracks anytime soon?

Not disco, but more foot-tapping. It's really hard to talk about it without thinking to yourself, "How's this gonna sound?" Because I would hate to see a headline saying "KAISER CHIEFS GO DANCE."

We'll keep your indie dance club integrity. It's hard not to be influenced by bands who are au currant. Trends are just really good ideas at first before they become hugely popular.

Well, it's important to listen to new stuff, because you can tell bands who are into Led Zeppelin and that's all they've ever been into. It's good to go out and see new things and also stay exciting. I hate those third record bands who think they've grown up and take themselves far too seriously.

Well, please don't do that to us.

Nope! I take myself less and less seriously every day.

—Danielle Allaire
01.07.08




x,
LA Broad

Saturday, January 05, 2008

JAMC Figure Out MySpace


Old dogs are learning new tricks...

I should have known this would happen soon when I logged into MySpace and found a not-really-personalized message from William Reid, thanking me for being his "friend (kindof)." Looks as if the Jesus & Mary Chain are transitioning form luddites to well, people who update their MySpace page. They even have a status: "lo life icons," and a mood: "adored" (complete with big-toothed, idiot-smiling emoticon).

Check out 3 new demos from JAMC: "war on peace [demo]," "cookies [demo]," (also on William's page) and "boiling over [rough cut]". The last 2 tracks feature vocals from William, which is always a good thing. No offense, Jim. I can't tell you how bummed I was when William never sang on their last tour. Now he'll have to. Ha! I swear if I don't hear "Almost Gold" sung live before I die...

Jesus & Mary Chain new demos

They also added some new tour dates for March. Which makes a girl wonder... will JAMC be playing SXSW with their new tunes? Do they need to? Will they do it for fun? Or do they really need to do it? Discuss.

Mar 11 - Roundhouse - Camden, London
Mar 12 - Roundhouse - Camden, London

And, just sign in to see William's photo gallery. He's got that MySpace camera angle shit down. It's funny, it's creepy, it's slighty hot... again in that creepy way. Don't judge, man.

x,
LA Broad

Thursday, January 03, 2008

Hot Chip Bring Tha Party Back



Get your neon Faux-Bans and green incredible hulk gloves ready for dancefloor battle! Hot Chip are coming back to the US after spending nearly two years touring their Mercury prize-nominated debut, The Warning. According to their US label, Astralwerks, the band recorded their newest feat, Made in the Dark, with the intention of it being played live; as if recording was just the proxy by which to get it out to your ears.

This looks like a post-SXSW jaunt, so there will definitely be some sweet after parties in Austin care of these Brits. Judging by the title, I'd say some neon will be afoot. Check out the dates below and be sure you go. It's better than dropping E!—or so I hear...

4/10/08 - Philadelphia, PA - Starlight Ballroom
4/11/08 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
4/12/08 - New York, NY - Terminal 5
4/14/08 - Boston, MA - Paradise
4/17/08 - Chicago, IL - Vic Theatre
4/18/08 - Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
4/22/08 - Seattle, WA - Showbox
4/23/08 - Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom
4/24/08 - San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore

x,
LA Broad

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

The Kinks Are Reuniting Too? Damn...



Well, the great ol' "jump to conclusions" source, NME.com, is reporting that indeed legendary '60s pop-invaders, The Kinks, are eager to reunite in support of their career-encompassing box-set, Retrospective.

Ray Davies spoke to NME.com saying, "I spoke to Quaife [bass] about a month ago and he dearly wants to make another record with me," said Davies. "I think Dave's [Davies] getting better and Mick's [drums] still playing. It would be great to get back together just to see what musical ideas we had and what would happen."

Solo records not selling, Ray? Seems a shame to have to pull together after his brother Dave is still recovering from a stroke. But, hey, if Dick Clark can do it, so can they... I guess.

x,
LA Broad

Sing-Sing Call It Quits



Most of you reading this probably won't recognize the delicate, twee-ish, British band name above, but you will remember Emma's former band, Lush. Emma Anderson and Lisa O'Neill formed Sing-Sing in 1997, a year after Lush's breakup due to the suicide of Lush drummer, Chris Acland, in 1996.

I had the pleasure of meeting both Emma and Lisa on a snowy night at CMJ about 4 years ago while they were still promoting their debut, The Joy of Sing-Sing (sorry I never got you into Filter, Emma!). But now, two albums in (they released their follow-up, Sing-Sing and I in 2005) and the girls have moved on into the twilight of their poppy shoegaze years and have settled down in different parts of England to work on new projects.

They released this statement on the move to greener pastures:

"In 2006 Emma moved to Brighton, East Sussex where she is involved in music publicity and last year Lisa wed her long-term partner Run Wrake, moved to the Kent countryside and is enjoying her newly found freedom as a mum and freelance graphic designer. Even Mark van Hoen, our erstwhile producer, is moving to the USA later in 2008. As for the future musically? Well, never say 'never'...... Emma has some plans regarding her next move."

x,
LA Broad

[Thanks to the Tripwire for the tip and the image!]

Kissing Party: A Post NYE Treat


Deirdre Sage - vocals, Gregg Dolan - vocals/guitar, Darren Dunn - bass, Joe Hansen - guitar

In case no one drunkenly slobbered on that coveted area below your nose and above your chin at the stroke of Midnight, we got you covered. Welcome your newest snogging partners: Kissing Party. This Denver quintet (the article got it wrong) is the perfect band to ring in the New Year with wide-eyed hope and convenient memory loss of all your past mistakes and to give a last longing glance back on your "ones that got away" in 2007.

They just released their official debut album, Rediscover Lovers, in September, and it has been slowly brewing a healthy dose of audience appeal and critical nods (Denver Post, Westword and The Onion!). Check out their newest tunes on MySpace ("Get Happy" and "Jacey Finch") and this recent feature from the Denver Post. By the way: pay no attention to the perfectionist band leader Dolan—the record definitely has more than its fair share of soul...

Kissing Party on MySpace


[click pic for entire article]



x,
LA Broad

Amy Winehouse Renewing Her Vows...In Prison

Amy Winehouse unfortunately has so much drama surrounding her that people forget she's actually a brilliant musician. Still, you can't help but be fascinated by her finding a way to lose her mind on a daily basis.

The latest is Amy will be renewing her wedding vows with her husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, in prison on Friday.

She's only penned a song called "For You" especially for him.

Good luck to Wino...hopefully 2008 will be a little more low key.

Yorke Says You Need Physical Product

Even though Radiohead had the most talked about album of the year with "In Rainbows" with their pay-what-you-want philosophy, Thom Yorke still believes all bands should have a physical product to go along with your music.

"We didn't want it to be a big announcement about 'everything's over except the internet, the internet's the future', 'cause that's utter rubbish...and it's really important to have an artifact as well, as they call it, an object," Yorke said when talking to BBC Radio 4.

In Rainbows looks like it will take the top spot on the UK album charts just edging Take That.

Not bad for a record that came out in October...

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Radiohead's Scotch Mist

is brilliant...all 49 minutes and 52 seconds of it are a must watch

In Rainbows (the physical copy) is out now.



Happy New Year!