cold blooded

When I originally started drafting this post, it was debilitatingly hot in Melbourne. The kind of weather in which walking to the shop to buy an ice cream is the most activity you can manage. It reminded me of when I was in Perth at the start of the year, walking slowly and stopping often in an attempt to deal with the heat (the sunshine and blue skies were appreciated, it was just soooo hot). At the time I was listening to The XX and thinking how something about their music made me think of icy coolness. And I got to thinking about it again, feeling hot and sticky in Melbourne, listening to Fever Ray. Somehow, her songs are arctic and chilly to me. Am I insane? Probably. But I still feel refreshed after listening to them. Also, as if to punish me for whingeing, at the time I finish up this post, Melbourne is cold and showery. Go figure. Does anyone have any good warm-up song suggestions?

Russia again?

I don't really know much about Ramona Falls. The essentials: they are an indie rock side project from Portland. This is their clip for the song Russia, and it is quite simply, delightful. That is all you really need to know.

Found via BOOOOM.

PS: The clip reminds me of U2's video for The Sweetest Thing, an old favourite of mine, so maybe that's why it appeals to me so much.

PPS: I just found out that Ramona Falls are touring the States with the National, who I love, so maybe that's why I like their sound so much.

PPS: Ramona Falls' video for 'I Say Fever' is also well worth a look.

Meanwhile in May...

...I am exploring my new suburb at sunset instead of studying like I should be (toungue twister, much?)...

 ...and revelling in the return of iTunes (it wasn't working on my old computer). On the playlist for May:

winning the prize for Best Line in a Music Video, "But he smells like ranch dressing!"


The Black Keys, Tighten Up


and, from an old favourite with the most amazingly gravelly wonderful voice,


The National - "Bloodbuzz Ohio" (official video) from The National on Vimeo.

The National, Bloodbuzz Ohio

030910

Broken Bells is a collaboration between producer Dangermaus and Shins frontman James Mercer. Given that the release date of their self-titled album also happened to be my birthday, it's really not too surprising how awesome it is. Anything that happens on the ninth of the third is clearly destined for greatness.


The High Road

Broken Bells | MySpace Music Videos

My favourite track is The Ghost Inside, but it doesn't seem to have a video released yet. You can listen to it here though. Soooo good.

The cover art Broken Bells is by the very talented Jacob Escobedo. The more ritzy, deluxe versions of with the album feature even more of his work, which is in equal parts trippy, colourful and amazing.

 all images from http://jacobescobedo.com/

PS: The Broken Bells album launch? Oh, you know, just a casual rooftop laser party. I'm not jealous at all, Los Angeles.

(video found via Jacob Escobedo's website)

a crash course in art history...

...thanks to French-American band, Hold Your Horses! and their music video for the song 70 Million.

When I first read posts about this the cynic in me sneered a bit (and I'm sure there are a fair few arty farty purists who this clip will annoy in the extreme), but I bit the bullet and watched it, and oh boy am I ever glad I did. I am an art nerd, so to me art, though it is often to be taken seriously, can still equal fun, and not for a long time have I seen such a cute, giggle-inducing music video.

Normally I would just embed the video, but there are so many awesome and hillarious art-references in it (there is just something so SILLY about seeing Caravaggio's beheaded John the Baptist and David's dying Marat singing indie tunes) that you get screen grabs PLUS the video. Enjoy. 

Found via The Debonaire and eternallycool.net

PS: Brownie points to whoever can identify each of the nine the famous paintings featured here.

Hat Trick

Great music + stop motion animation + an abandoned house = everything I love, all at once. I think LA band Local Natives just became my new favourite.

A longtime crush

The XX first fluttered by me in about November, and since then, I have been unable to get them out of my head, unable to stop crushing on the sweet airiness of their songs. On the one hand I am scared of killing them through overplaying, but on the other, there is almost nothing that calms me quite like Islands. Magical.

Crushing on Coconuts

Coconut Records is Jason Schwartzman//Jason Schwartzman is Coconut Records. Ok, so Darjeeling Limited was hardly my favourite Wes Anderson movie, and I haven't even gotten around to seeing I ♥ Huckabees, but seriously, after hearing West Coast, how can you not love the guy?

PS: Oh to have connections. Jason is Francis Ford Coppola's nephew. Is there anyone in Hollywood not related to that family?

PPS: The opening sentence of Wikipedia's article-of-the-day on Samuel Johnston made me smile -

"The early life of Samuel Johnson was marked by great intelligence and an eagerness for learning."

Not Samuel Jonhston was born on/in...etc, oh no. Just the sort of sentence any academic, nerdy type would love to commence an account of their life. And yes, I am aware that I sound like a massive snob for the duration of this post. Oh to hell with it, I admit it. I am one.

Kaleidoscope

I have liked these guys for a while now, but only recently did I get around to watching their music videos, and HELLO, do I ever love them more. A human kaleidoscope? What more could you want?

Current crush

I found out about Natasha Khan aka Bat For Lashes through the song Prescilla from her first album, Fur and Gold, but it is the song Daniel, taken from her new album, Two Suns, which really has me smitten. Not to mention has the most amazing-creepy-amazing film clip I've seen in a fair while.

EDIT: The video now has embedding disabled, so you need to go here to watch it. 

Bardzo milutki!

Oh Frankie, will you ever find me a link that I don't instantly fall in love with? Apparently not, if this is anything to go by:

Pan tu nie stał is an archive of vintage and folksy goodness from Poland. Frankie says the title means "Don't think this is your space" and my Polish-English dictionary says it means (roughly..) "You haven't been here before," but really this is irrelevant: the cute images are clearly the important part. I have a weak spot for all things Polish as I spent six months there in the winter of 2004, working as an English conversation assistant at a nun-run boarding school. Sounds crazy, I know -- and a little too much like something out of the Sound of Music -- which in fact, on several occasions it did indeed resemble.


The girls and I, accompanied by the nun who was the English teacher, did go on several walks in the mountains, and each time I was ever more tempted to break into a rendition of "the hills are ALIVE...." This impression was heightened by the fact that "my" nun was young, mischevious and liked French pop music and skimming stones. If she had left the convent to spend time looking after the motherless children of a grumpy Polish Baron I would have started worrying that I was living in some crazy Von Trapp alternate reality. But I digress. Pan tu nie stał is bardzo milutki (very cute) and an endless source of amusement for nerds like me.

On another note, and in another language, I am totally loving Yelle. Why? One, she is French, and French musicians are automatically cool (Phoenix, AIR, Camille....OK, maybe Serge Gainsbourg is an exception), two, her songs are infectious and put a big cheesy grin on my face, (the fun and infectiousness hides the fact that the lyrics are raunchy and witty - "Je Veux Te Voir" sends up Cuizinier from the mysogynistic hip hop group TTC) and three, her videos are absolutely nutty. Case in point:


(Ce Jeu)

and


(A Cause des Garçons)

Ah, those crazy, crazy French. The only problem with all this is poppy infectiousness + cute videos = only a matter of time before Yelle becomes yet another iPod commercial. Bleurgh.