M.I.A has just posted the rough cut of Rye Rye’s new video for Whyte Boi via her Twitter account. Check the vid below. Rye Rye is on the bill for AD/D’s Time Festival which takes place this year on July 25th at Sound Academy. Also on the bill: A-Trak, Crystal Castles. TMDP and Jeff Mills.
RYE RYE BANG WHYTE BOI ! from M.I.A on Vimeo.
Check out Yeah Yeah Yeah’s new video for Heads Will Roll, their second single taken from their excellent new album It’s Blitz. YYYs seem to be booked solid in terms of shows for the summer, let’s hope we see them back in Toronto in the fall.
Watch Phoenix’s new video for Lisztomania, lead single from their new album Wolfgang Amadues Phoenix.
Discovery is a auto-tuned side project of both Vampire Weekend and Ra Ra Riot and features Rostam Batmanglij (VP) and Wes Miles (RRR). Their influences listed on their myspace are as follows: subwoofer, pitchshifted handclap, that sixteenth note high hat you’re hearing in da night, highlighter yellow/neon orange. This pretty much sums up their debut album, due out July 7th in North America on XL. Remember when Bon Iver released the Blood Bank EP and the blogs were up in arms about his use of auto-tune? Well their gonna flip their lids with this one.
The album can only be explained as indie hip-pop, it’s heavily influenced by Top 40 hip hop/pop but still maintains its indie rockness via smart lyrics and great vocals. Orange Shirt sounds like it was produced by whoever typically produces Young Jeezy, its full of big bass, clipping hi-hats, grinding synths and a sing-a-long chorus. I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend channels a classic Mariah Carey hook and has a wicked stuttering beat. Swing Tree has an island, dance hall feel, and Carby features vocals by Erza Koenig (of Vampire Weekend) and reminds me of Postal Service. Plus there is a killer cover of the Jackson 5’s I Want You Back.
Discovery’s debut is shaping up to be the party album of the summer. No tour plans on the horizon, but if dates surface, I’ll be sure to post them
Santigold w Amanda Blank and Trouble Andrew
Phoenix Concert Theatre
June 3, 2009
It’s taken a bit of time to actually nail down this review. Things have been busy. Not the hugest fan of “dance party” type shows mid-week. Maybe it shows my age, but its hard to get super pumped for a show when you’ve worked a 10 hour day and have to be up the next morning to do it all again.
Trouble Andrew opened the show. Didn’t know much about him other than that he’s Santi’s boyfriend, and after witnessing his set, realize that that’s the only reason he’s on the tour. The set was….interesting. He looks like he should be in some Epitaph punk band, but he moves like a dancehall star and poses like a rapper…all this would be fine if he had the songs to back it up. But he doesn’t, his music is terrible. I guess he’s aiming to be the punk male version of Santi, but it just doesn’t work.
Up next, Spank Rock MC Amanda Blank. I was super surprised by her set, I hadn’t heard any of her solo material prior to the show and expected it to be similar to Spank Rock….pretty much dirty hip hop, which is always great, especially coming from a woman as beautiful as her. But her solo work is not typical dirty party hip hop, it’s more danceable electro and she sings. Her set consisted of songs from her upcoming solo record which is slated for a late July release. Sounds really promising. Oh and Spank Rock joined her on stage for a song. It was bananas.
Santigold is a natural performer. She started her set promptly at 11pm and launched into Hold The Line (a new track taken from Diplo and Switch’s new project Major Lazer) and then went straight into the wicked Switch remix of You’ll Find A Way. I must comment on her stage show, she had her band all dressed the same and had two amazing dancers positioned at the front of the stage to her left and right. Her dancers were soooo amazing, fully choreographed to the music. She played all the hits including re-worked versions of her songs from her Top Ranking mix (including my favourite version of I’m A Lady featuring Amanda Blank). She was joined by Trouble Andrew for a tune as well as Spank Rock for another. Overall, a good set, high energy and fun.
My favourite and the original electro queen Peaches has released a new video for the track Lose You, taken from her latest album I Feel Cream. I love that she’s embraced singing on her new album (instead of her usual smut-filled rapping). She sounds incredible.
Watch La Roux’s new video for Bulletproof below. Love this song. They are rumoured to be back in Toronto at the end of July. Should be a great show. Their self-titled album is slated for release on June 29th in the UK, June 30th in North America.
