Yeah…this is probably not safe for work. And if you’re a woman it’s gonna be rather offensive, but in a reasonably amusing and ironic way – I hope!
Breakfast – Le Le
LeftMyName found this song on a blog the other day and insisted that I listen. When I heard it first, I pictured in my head some misogynistic lecherous rapper, perhaps with a grill on his teeth with the word “Breakfast” made out in diamond studs. I imagined that while he was recording it, he was oiling up some woman’s jiggly ass – because that’s just what he does.
It turns out Le Le are a French/German pop outfit and the rest of their output, judging by their myspace, is your typical synthy europop-rap with some soul influences. ‘Breakfast‘ seems pretty different to most of their rest of their work. It is also comedy gold. To me, the voice sounds like a mix between Chapelle doing Rick James (bitch!) and Jemaine from Flight Of The Conchords. The conscientious part of me is, of course, appalled by the guys blatant objectification of women, the debasement of the subject to little more than food for the man to devour and other such feminist-literary criticisms. But that’s why it’s so good.
For most people, when they’re in a new city, they wander around staring at the buildings, the people, the shops and the scenery. I do that too. But I’m also scanning the walls and lamposts and bins for any sign of street art. Walking around a city with me can be a slow experience as I insist on stopping every couple of feet to photograph a stencil or sticker I find cool/quirky/aesthetically pleasing. I’m pretty sure it can be annoying, but I don’t take any notice because I get pretty absorbed in it.
Luckily, I’m not alone in this. One of my best friends, LeftMyName , shares this love of street art with me. Now, LeftMyName claims he told me a while back that he had set up a blog of his photos of street art which I don’t remember at all. But he showed it to me last week and I have to say I love it. Now, there may be an element of bias in there, I’ll admit, but I love the stuff he’s put up. Some of them are actually photos I’ve taken and I’ll be sending more on to him soon, but I think it shows some really nice pieces of street art from Cork and beyond.
Sigur Ros have been floating around in my head a lot for the last month or so. Firstly, I got to see the fantastic Heima documentary – which is, according to IMDB the greatest documentary ever made. In the last four weeks, I think I’ve seen it three times. Doesn’t get old though!
Then of course, the new album came out. I haven’t given it my full and utmost yet, but Gobbledigook won’t get out of my head. But I’m completely ok with that.
Gobbledigook by Sigur Ros
And now State has alerted me to this fantastic video. If you’re anything like me, you’re for 46 minutes of goosebumps. And if you don’t have 46 minutes right now, make the time for it this week. I guarantee it’s worth it.
As some of you may be aware, the lineup for the Hard Working Class Heroes Festival was announced last week. My boys, Sideproject are among the 80 great Irish bands (and yet to announced Scottish bands “invading” the festival) and the lads are fairly excited. I’m pretty excited myself to honest; these lads would be among my best friends and I’m something of a part-time band member – having designed their 2 EP’s and almost all their posters as well as filling in on vocal duties from time to time.
But I have something of favour to ask of you, readers. HWCH have put up one track from each band as a free download. They’re tracking the amount of downloads each band gets and showing them on a download chart on the website. Shortly before the festival (within about a month) the top 20 acts will be put on a ‘Best Of The Festival’ compilation. At the time of writing, Sideproject are at number six on the chart.
I’m asking all my readers to go here and download their great song, ‘Outpatients’. In fact, you don’t even have to download it, you just have to click on the song and it will stream it. It will only take a minute of your time and there’s a really good song in it for you, free of charge. So please, do it for me?
I’ve been thinking a bit lately about what it means for bands to “sell out” and whether they really do sell out and what it even means to sell out.
This thinking was prompted, in part, by Biffy Clyro – one of my favourite bands. I got into them around 2003/2004, about the time their second album came out and have been a huge fan since. I love the loud-soft dynamic, the occasional screaming, the complex interwoven guitar lines, their use of time changes, the stop-starting but above all, I love how they’ve always kept melody in their songs.
Last year, they released their fourth album, Puzzle – their first on a major label. You’d have to be deaf not to notice the change in their sound. While keeping much of their older style, they had moved in a distinctly more commercial and accessible direction. Many critics loved it but many of the older fans felt the band had lost their sound, that they were catering for a mainstream audience. In their opinion, Biffy Clyro had basically ’sold out’. (more…)
On the eve of this blogs 1st birthday – which is the 3rd of August – I figured I should just pop a little post up to assure anyone who may be dropping by that I’ve just been on a slight blog hiatus for a while but I’ll be back over the next few days. So I’m still here….just so you know.
