Seattle grunge instigators Mudhoney are the Sub-Pop record label success story, inspiring a whole generation of musicians to go forth and be Superfuzzed. In October the band will embark on their biggest run of dates for years playing Scotland, Ireland and England. Shazam got the opportunity to chat to the incredibly smart and witty lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Mark Arm who, in between fits of laughter at the strange world of being in a successful band, managed to tell us about the upcoming tour and the potential of a new record.
You are doing a tour in October in the UK, are you looking forward to that?
Yeah you know we haven’t done a proper UK tour since probably the early ‘90’s like ‘95 or ‘98.
Do you still enjoy playing live?
It’s important to me – I think it’s my biggest strength. Unfortunately I don’t think we get to do it as much as I would like, but I would rather work with these guys in the band than ones that don’t work as well together, you know what I mean.
If anyone caught Booka Shade‘s set at Lovebox festival, you may have been slightly perturbed at the fact that their set got cut short. Due to the sheer weight of people who’d forced into the tent to try and watch them, organisers were forced to stop the duo’s set. The team behind Lovebox commented:
“The decision of the safety authorities to shut down the tent was made for cautionary reasons and we share everyone’s frustration and disappointment at being denied the chance to enjoy Booka Shade experience in full. With this in mind we are able to announce that Booka Shade will be playing a special one off late license 2am affair at the HMV Forum in Kentish Town on Friday 10th September.”
Tickets for the event are already on sale from the venues website; however we’re giving one lucky winner the chance to win a pair of tickets. To win simply email your answer to the following question to competition@shazamteam.com
On the week that saw the release of their much delayed second album, the inventers of the swiftly forgotten ‘new rave’ genre, Klaxons returned to London for a show that undoubtedly gave them a confidence boost before headlining the Radio One/NME Stage at Reading & Leeds festival. If the band had any pre gig nerves, these were quickly banished when the demented guitars of ‘Flashover’ begun. The packed crowd quickly warmed up and reacted as well as the band could’ve hoped. Despite the freshness of the new tracks, they still resonated well with the sold out audience.
Predictably the biggest cheers were reserved for tracks from their Mercury Prize winning debut ‘Myths Of The Near Future’, with ‘Golden Skans’, ‘Magick’ and ‘Atlantis To Interzone’ all receiving an ecstatic response from the crowd. While it’s been heavily noted about the gaps between their first and second album, it’s also important to note that fans simply haven’t had the chance to hear the songs for a while. Therefore it may be slightly unfair to compare both sets of songs just yet. Latest single ‘Echoes’ also stood out as a fan favourite, it’s brain invading chorus was sung back at the band from across the room.
Importantly it looks like the band have put their maligned recording experience behind them, with all members looking chuffed at the audience between songs. Looking relaxed and in a jubilant mood – at one point bassist Jamie Reynolds stops proceedings to wish keyboard player James Righton happy birthday – Klaxons may have just got through their heavy case of second album syndrome unscathed.
Klaxons are on tour throughout the year, for more details check their MySpace.
Two years since his debut ‘Alegranza’ earned rave reviews from even the most highbrowed critics of the blogosphere, and just a few weeks after her EP ‘Piratas De Sudamerica’ – comprised of four cover versions of some of his favourite Latin artists- saw the light of day; the Canary Islands born, Barcelona based DJ and cultural agitator Pablo Diaz-Reixa is back again under his El Guincho moniker. This time with his second full length, ‘Pop Negro’.
Keeping the same winning formula alive, influenced as much by the trendy psychedelic loops of Panda Bear as it is by the most forward looking world music acts around the globe, we had already heard the summery, marimba-flavoured ‘Bombay’ and now another brand new single has leaked online. ‘FM Tan Sexy’, according to Reixa is the result of his research on hit singles from the late 70’s; 80’s and early 90’s and the common elements they share. And if we have to judge by how catchy this new track is, he may have found the secret behind bonafide hit making.
‘Pop Negro’ is released in the UK via Young Turks on September 13th. The singles ‘FM Tan Sexy’ and ‘Bombay’ are currently available as free downloads from El Guincho’s own website.
This week we headed down to London’s Hoxton Bar & Grill to check out Spectrals. Headed by the enigmatic Louis Jones – who solely writes all the music – we were taken aback by the gloriously melodic lo-fi indie on show. Backed by his band, Jones led a set that included tracks from his forthcoming ‘Spectrals Extended Play’ EP. The music is rooted in the catchy melodies of ’60 and ’70’s soul but sewn together by Louis’ distinct Northern accent. While there may be a crop of bands from the US displaying similar influences - for example Harlem, who took to the stage after Spectrals – it’s refreshing to hear an unmistakably British slant on the sound.
Tracks such as the loveable ‘7th Date’ show Jones to be a hopeless romantic, albeit one with a killer ear for a melody. Live the band are particularly understated, only acknowledging the crowd after one particularly “wacky individual” placed a plastic deer’s head on stage.
‘Spectrals Extended Play’ will be released through Moshi Moshi on October 10th. They will also be supporting the likes of Avi Buffalo, Yuck and Les Savy Fav before playing the Welsh Sŵn Festival in October. For more details head to their MySpace. Read more…
After making their name as the biggest Nu-disco name on the block and producing lush remixes for the likes of Grace Jones, Breakbot, Friendly Fires and Sebastian Tellier; it seemed only logical that Aeroplane would take things up a level for their debut album. However, ‘We Can’t Fly’ certainly isn’t the collection of Balearic infused synth cuts many expected. It’s a far more bold and accomplished record than their previous work hinted at.
One development that clearly influenced the album was Aeroplane scaling down to a one man operation. Aeroplane previously consisted of Stephen Fasano and Vito Deluca, but have now have amicably decided to go their separate ways; with Deluca continuing to release music under the moniker. The classically trained musician has clearly relished the challenge, creating a versatile and ambitious debut album referencing artists as varied as Tina Turner, Pink Floyd, and Giorgio Moroder – who was so taken with the album that he penned backing vocals for a re-recorded version of ‘Superstar’.
While Aeroplane will be DJing all over the world this year, Vito will also be performing the album with an expanded band later in the year. The debut single ‘We Can’t Fly’ is currently available on iTunes, while the album is due for release on September 27th through Wall of Sound.
Aggro Santos’ ‘Candy’ has been one of the breakthrough urban tracks of the summer. Following in the footsteps of British rappers such Tinie Tempah and Tinchy Stryder; Santos’ music combines the bump of UK garage and marries it with the cross over potential of R&B to create a pop driven but dancefloor friendly sound. His latest track, ‘Saint Or Sinner’, is pretty similar to a rap version of Axwell’s huge ‘90’sinspired track ‘I Found You’ – no bad thing at all considering the enduring popularity of all things rave . The record’s ballsy break beats and British twanged lyrics come just in time for London’s Notting Hill Carnival – from which the video incidentally takes its theme. Featuring fire breathers, troupes of scantily dressed samba dancers and ornate carnival costumes, ‘Saint Or Sinner’ is likely to be one of the big tracks to emerge from the huge outdoor event which takes place next week.
For more info on The Notting Hill Carnival – which happens to be the second largest street festival in the world – simply head here.
It’s been a good month for Canadian alternative rockers Arcade Fire. Their new, more stripped down sound has been embraced by music fans the world over with their latest album going to number 1 in the USA, UK and Canada – a feat which firmly puts Arcade Fire in the rock music A list. Added to that, videos of their recent performance at Madison Square Garden – directed by former Monty Python Terry Gilliam no less – have also been turning heads racking up 100,000’s of views in little over two weeks.
The band now looks set to take their expansive live show on the road with the announcement that they will play a series of dates in the USA. This comes after the band sold out their dates at London’s huge O2 in little than over 10 minutes. Those wishing to see the band in the UK can still get day tickets for the Reading and Leeds festival next week which will also showcase performances from Queens Of The Stone Age, Blink 182 and Guns And Roses – if Axl shows up of course!
Arcade Fire will play the following American dates:
St. Paul, MN Roy Wilkins Arena (September 22) Winnipeg, MB MTS Centre (23) Saskatoon, SK Credit Untion Centre (25) Calgary, AB Stampede Corral (26) Vancouver, BC Pacific Coliseum (28) Seattle, WA Key Arena (29) Portland, OR Memorial Coliseum (30) Berkeley, CA Greek Theatre (October 2) Big Sur, CA Henry Miller Library (5) Los Angeles, CA Shrine Auditorium (7) Los Angeles, CA Shrine Auditorium (8) Mexico City, MX Palacio de los Deportes (10) Monterrey, MX Banamex Theater (12)
From London, another band comes jumping on the bandwagon of C86’s dream pop revival. Still Corners’ most recognizable features are Rachel Goswell’s ethereal vocals – influenced as much by sixties girl bands as by the likes of more contemporary singers such as Hope Sandoval or Julée Cruise – next to the band’s hazy sound landscapes that wouldn’t go amiss among fans of My Bloody Valentine or The xx.
On paper, none of it should be particularly distinguishable from the hundreds of other artists currently drinking from the same musical sources; but what makes Still Corners stand out from the crowd is their fine ear for a good tune. Weeks ago their track ‘Endless Summer’ generated waves of enthusiasm in the blogosphere and now the band is promptly following that up with a limited double A-side single ‘Don’t Fall In Love/Wish’, released via The Great Pop Supplement on August 20. A video for ‘Wish’ has also been released – watch above.
You can catch them live this Friday as the band celebrates the launch of the single with a gig next to Je Suis Animal and Hong Kong In The 60’s in London’s venue The Drop. They will also be part of next Tuesday’s triple bill at the always excellent up and coming bands’ night White Heat at Madame Jo Jo’s.
Hello Nokia fans – we have some great news for you. Our latest App is out now, with new features and a slick new design – making it even easier to use! You can now go straight to the tagging option on the home screen, so you can identify music as quickly as possible, and the feature options are more clearly displayed.
Plus there’s 3 new features:
Search music: find music by genre, artist, track or album from our database of over 8 million songs
Sort Tags: arrange your music collection more efficiently and sort by date, artist or title
Drive and Tag: dock to enter Car Mode and still discover what’s playing on the radio
Shazam is available to download from the Nokia Ovi store, with a 30 day trial of our premium App – Shazam Encore. When the trial ends you can use Shazam for free with 5 Tags a month, or pay once to continue using Encore.
