Pajama Club, the new band from Crowded House and Split Enz frontman Neil Finn, are getting to release their self-titled debut album this Tuesday September 13th on Lester Records/Redeye. For a taste of what to expect check out the band’s eye-popping video for opening track “Tell Me What You Want.” The track is a tete-a-tete between singers Neil and his wife Sharon Finn, who coyly blend heaving breathing and falsetto vocals.
Like “Tell Me What You Want,” the rest of the album, the song is anchored by a massive rhythms and quirky electronics, topped off by Neil and Sharon’s back-and-forth vocals. The pair have an alluring natural chemistry that forms the core of the band. Pajama Club has a wonderfully spontaneous feel to it, which stems from the way in which it was recorded. The skeleton of the songs were formed when Neil and Sharon began jamming together just for fun at home, drinking wine, wearing pajamas and realizing they had something going on, bigger than just raw grooves.
Eventually Neil added additional layers of guitar, keys, and other melodic lines to the bare-bones songs while he toured with Crowded House in 2009. The final piece of the puzzle came when Sean Donnelly began rounding out the tracks with electronic loops and texture, in a similarly independent, creative, and organic fashion that Neil and Sharon had first begun.
Pajama Club’s debut bursts with a joyous, free spirited energy at every turn. However it is Neil and Sharon’s impeccable melodies that bring it all together – burrowing in the listener’s brain while giving each song an immediate likeability.
Mick Jagger has teamed up with Eurythmics founder Dave Stewart, soul singer Joss Stone, Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack composer A.R.Rahman and reggae star Damian Marley to form a band cooperative project called SuperHeavy. This diverse and eclectic line up who share eleven Grammy Awards between them, have been recording together in various studios around the world, with the majority of the tracks on the project laid down over three weeks in Los Angeles earlier this year.
It’s little wonder that Stewart refers to SuperHeavy as, “A mad alchemist type experiment”. Fusing the talents of one of the greatest front-men of all time, a two time Academy award winning Indian composer, a soul vocal prodigy, a three time Grammy winning reggae star, and one of the most sought after producers in the world, you would expect the explosive results to defy categorisation.
SuperHeavy came together after Jagger and Stewart considered what a band comprising of musicians from different genres would sound like. Jagger explains, “Dave really wanted to make a record with a different group of musicians, in other words, with different backgrounds of music. Instead of everyone being a rock musician, or a blues musician, or some other genre, he wanted to get as many genres together that would fit. I said it sounds like a good idea, I never thought it would actually happen.”
Despite their disparate backgrounds, they instantly connected and hit the ground running, writing twenty-two songs in the first six days. Stone was thrilled with the results, “That’s what you need, all these opinionated people who have been brilliant in their own field, shove them together and see what comes out. It’s really unexpected, it’s mind blowing,” she enthuses.
However, despite the free flow of creative juices and the easy rapport they established, getting the band together in one place became very difficult, as Stewart explains, “It’s the most complicated record ever made. Imagine, some of it’s recorded in LA, some of it’s recorded in the South of France, some of it’s recorded off the coast of Cyprus, some of it’s recorded in Turkey, some of it’s recorded in Miami, some of it’s recorded in the Caribbean, and some of it’s recorded in Chennai, in India.”
The project needed a name. Marley had been riffing the term “SuperHeavy”, inspired by Muhammad Ali being the super heavy weight champion of the world and the phrase became the band’s catchphrase, “It was Mick who said, ‘Why don’t we call it SuperHeavy?”, recalls Stewart, “We all thought about it for ages and then it sort of stuck.”
Back to that alchemical experiment, Jagger, Stewart, Marley, Rahman and Stone appear to have created a new genre. It’s a new kind of music, it’s a new genre, one that cannot be placed” says Stone. Yet, Jagger is keen to point out the music is accessible, “It’s very approachable. If you’re a Rolling Stones fan there’s definitely stuff you can relate to.”
As far as the future of SuperHeavy goes, “We haven’t planned to do a tour or anything, but if people really like it maybe we will. We’d love to get out and play some of it live,” says Jagger humbly. “As soon as we started playing together in the studio it gelled, and all these different styles didn’t seem to be a problem to make them fit together… I hope people will like it….”
I know I like what I’ve heard so far…and can’t wait to hear the rest! The band’s self-titled album will be in stores September 20, 2011.
Theophilus remains a busy man. He’s currently on the road with Big Boi in Australia. When he gets back, he’ll be performing and DJ’ing all over NYC’s Fashion Week and at Austin City Limits, then heads off for a short tour of South Africa and a few dates in France, including a week long “album of the week” engagement with Canal +. In October, he tours the US with Friendly Fires.
On September 13th on The CW, Theophilus London will be perform “I Stand Alone” on the season premiere of 90210. He’ll be featured in the October issue of GQ and the November issue of Vogue. Theophilus is representing his hometown on the cover of the Fall issue of Brooklyn Magazine and will also appear on the cover of the next issue of reputable hip-hop lifestyle magazine Wax Poetics.
Back on August 20th in Austin, Theophilus London kicked off Dell and Intel’s Special Engagements, a new global concert series on Noisey.com. This once in a life time show was beamed to fans live around the world. Leading up to the event fans took to Facebook and Twitter to call the shots, including voting on a never-before-released remix Theophilus would premiere during his set. The winner was “I Stand Alone (Gigamesh Sunlight Remix).” To watch the Director’s Cut of Special Engagements with Theophilus London go to: http://www.Noisey.com/SpecialEngagements
Upcoming Tour Dates:
09/12 – Boston, MA @ House Of Blues (w/Lupe Fiasco)
09/16 – Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits (12:3pm set time)
The recording of New Zealander Miles McDougall’s debut Pikachunes album came about after he fractured his ulna while skateboarding, an injury that required reconstructive surgery. At the time, McDougall was majoring in Jazz performance on drums and the injury left him unable to play. Instead, he created Pikachunes, a first person account of the turmoil of moving to a new city to build a name as a musician. “All you have to do is write a bass line and then everybody wants to know your name,” McDougall sings in the single “Nervous,” sounding like he may know plenty about the US music scene already.
Producing and performing pulsing electro beats that are both groovy and awash with heavy club thuggery, Pikachunes makes a splash with songs that make you move, think and laugh with their stinging social commentary.
The self-titled debut album is available today from Lil’ Chief Records. Click here to preview and buy Pikachunes.
Coming off like the perfect hybrid of Friendly Fires and Phoenix with a bit of that Down Under electro touch thrown in for good measure, Strange Talk are one of the most polished and exciting new acts to emerge. Fully equipped with an arsenal of stadium-ready anthems, “Climbing Walls” is all shimmering synths, cascading bass surges while next single “Eskimo Boy” shines as the bands flagship anthem, churning synths and heavy basslines slowly building up to the kind of dancefloor-swallowing breakdown Neon Gold dreams are made of. Elsewhere, “Is It Real” and “We Can Pretend” beg to be blasted with the top down on the open roads of summer as producer Eliot James (Two Door Cinema Club, Bloc Party), earns his 2011 Music Producers’ Guild Breakthrough Producer of the Year award with some of his finest work yet.
Fedde said: “Preparing my Summer Takeover tour sets, I always like to do some rework of existing tracks. One of the tracks that came by was “So Much Love To Give” by Together (aka Thomas Bangalter & DJ Falcon), which uses a sample from “Love Is Such A Wonderful Thing” by the 70’s disco act The Real Thing. That original track was embedded on one of the first funk albums I bought, and I’ve listened to it since I was about 13, which is why the “Together” version has always been such an inspiration to me. The first live reactions were great, and I’m happy to see a lot of people now look for my version of this all time classic!”
The track, released through long-time label collaborators Toolroom, is already proving to be one of the Dutchman’s biggest ever hits, and follows in the wake of Missing, Autosave and Metrum as his fourth #1 on Beatport this year alone.
2011 has now firmly cemented itself as the year of le Grand. His productions have come thick and fast since he took to his new studio in January. With his summer Takeover Tour, a residency at the world’s number 1 club Space, debut gigs at Coachella and EXIT, North and South American tours and his constant criss-crossing of the European circuit, fans and critics have been blown away by Fedde’s exhilarating energy in the mix as much as by his unbeatable prowess in the studio.
It was made for this year’s Converse music collaboration: Three Artists, One Song. First, there was “My Drive-Thru” featuring Pharell, Santigold and Julian Casablancas. Then last year there was “All Summer” with Kid Cudi, Bethany from Best Coast and Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend. This year we’ve got “I’m a Goner.” Soulja Boy looks like a possessed zombie at the end of the video. Ewwie.
Gung Ho are a three piece indie surf-pop band from Brisbane. After spending much of 2011 writing and working on new songs they are ready to release their first single.
The band are just about to commence their first east coast tour in support of their first single, Twin Rays, from their forthcoming EP.
Gung Ho have been playing for a little over six months, and feature members Michael McAlary, Oliver Duncan and James Wright (Millions, Young Men Dead).
In their short time as a band they have supported rad, up and coming acts such as The Holidays, Papa vs. Pretty, Bleeding Knees Club, Comic Sans, Kids of 88, Jinja Safari, and Velociraptor.
Just one month after the curtain fell on the 7th and biggest edition of Tomorrowland yet, festival organisers ID&T have unveiled what is, without doubt, the most extraordinary, mind-blowing and evocative piece of after movie footage you’re likely to have set your eyes on.
Featuring the very best moments of what surely is now a contender for ‘greatest festival on earth’, and capturing so perfectly what the 3-day electronic extravaganza is all about, this 14 minute audio-visual masterpiece reveals the ‘essence of Tomorrowland’ in all its glory and is an assault on the senses like no other.
After revealing tracks with Fader and Pitchfork, the rising New York band Caveman exclusively premiered two new tracks with Stereogum and Nylon Magazine. Stereogum calls Caveman’s “Decide” “breezy, infectious folk-pop / Heavy Rotation” and Nylon Magazine described the luscious “Easy Water” as follows: “newcomers Caveman, the Brooklyn band that’s gaining massive buzz despite the fact that the group is only a little more than a year old. With lullaby vocals and woozy melodies.”
Mark your calendars for more new track premieres: “A Country’s King of Dreams”via MTV Hive on 8/31 and “My Room” via Rolling Stone on 9/5.
Opening with “A Country’s King of Dreams,” the band explores honey-sweet, country-tinged vocal melodies over tribal drumming. “My Time” is a slow-building pop gem, with lead singer Matthew Iwanusa’s vocals weaving in and out of band’s backing vocals. Caveman’s lush four-part harmonies, spaced-out guitars, and inventive percussion come together perfectly on the tracks “Easy Water” and “My Room.”
The band puts on a must-see live show; as you can read in this amazing Consequence of Sound live review HERE from the Chicago show last week (and I will be going to see on Thursday 9/1). Currently on tour with The War on Drugs, they’ll be back in New York for their digital album release show at the Mercury Lounge on Thursday, September 15th.
In honor of the New York five-piece’s debut release, Pitchfork revealed another stand out track from Caveman’s debut CoCo Beware “Thankful” HERE. The band has already made “Old Friend” (my favorite!) available as a free download, premiering the track with Fader Magazine. Click HERE to hear the track.
Caveman is:
Matthew Iwanusa (lead vocals, guitar, drums)
Jimmy “Cobra” Carbonetti (guitar)
Stefan Marolachakis (drums, vocals)
Sam Hopkins (synthesizer, vocals)
Jeff Berrall (bass, vocals)
Upcoming Caveman Dates:
* w/ The War On Drugs
08/30 – St. Louis, MO @ The Biliken Club *
08/31 – Lexington-Fayette, KY @ Cosmic Charlie’s *
09/01 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Club Cafe *
09/02 – Washington, DC @ The Red Place *
09/15 – New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge (Digital Album Release)
Musically Amusing 