Lisa Hannigan-Knots.

Great new video from Lisa Hannigan. The song isn't too shabby either. I particularly like at the end where someone shouts "Okay, take two!" watch it and you'll see why.

Handsome Furs - tonight - Whelans

Canadian husband and wife duo Handsome Furs (Dan Boeckner and Alexei Perry) return to Dublin tonight with a new album, Sound Kapital in tow. Months of touring has driven the pair to almost entirely abandon their guitar driven electro-rock for a more up-tempo, synthtastic sound. Their travels in Eastern Europe and the Far East have inspired a cacophany of sound that reflects the hot, bright, noisy metropolises of those regions. See them at Whelan’s tonight for a turbulent, beat driven, sweaty gig, like some sort of 21st century version of a riotous underground gig in 1980s East Berlin. Listen to Repatriated and Cheap Music to get into the album, but here’s hoping they play some of the excellent tunes from their first album Plague Park as well.

 

First published here.

The Strokes New Song and Artwork

To follow up on my article about the new Strokes album, here is the first release from their upcoming record. Undercover of Darkness is classic Strokes. It's what people want from a band they love and grows on you every time you listen to it. Some of the mastering and the new inclusion of backing vocals show the input of the other members of the band. However this has made me really excited for the album. The artwork was revealed yesterday, check it out.

The Strokes New Album.

So it's finally here; after nearly five years The Strokes fourth studio album entitled Angles is due for release on March 21 in the UK and March 22 in the US. The album has been a fraught process with several sessions scrapped. The album which will hit shelves is the first of their albums to be produced by the band. It is also the first album on which the songs will have been a collaborative effort by all five members.
With the three previous albums singer Julian Casablancas was the sole writer of both music and lyrics. This has seemed to lead to resentment among the other members of the band who have demanded a creative input on this record. So this leads to the question of whether it will be good or not? Footage was released of the rest of the band in their studio sans Casablancas, he was asked to record vocals separate from the rest of the band. He was asked to leave due to his perfectionism and "making the whole experience too much like work". As a huge Strokes fan I have to wonder isn't it arrogant of the rest of the band to question and then exclude the person who is at the crux of their success and the brilliance of their previous releases? Here is the footage of the Julian-less Strokes in the studio, think of it what you will.



At the same time in an interview Julian Casablancas said that the band were only playing their summer festival dates for the money. In a recent interview guitarist Nick Valensi has said
"Everyone needed money or something. We gotta pay our mortgage so may as well get this going again." he then went on to say there are still "undertones of hostility and resentment" in the band. So let's see what happens, here is the track listing.

1. Machu Picchu
2. Under Cover of Darkness
3. Two Kinds of Happiness
4. You’re So Right
5. Taken For A Fool
6. Games
7. Call Me Back
8. Gratisfaction
9. Metabolism
10. Life Is Simple In The Moonlight