Ran into these two great New Order covers the other day and even though they are not new they are stupendous, so thought I would share them with you. Since they are new to me maybe they will be new to you as well.
The first one is by Florida alternative band Anberlin who covers one of my favorite all time New Order tracks 'True Faith'. They completely change the track into more of a rocking track and it is soo good!
The second cover is by electronic artist Geographer of 'Age of Consent' that is more minimal and simple, but very beautiful. Amazing how good covers can bring new life to old tunes that you've heard a million times before.
Irish rock band Fontaines D.C. that I have loved since 2022'sSkinty Fia recently announced new album Dopamine Chamber which is being released October the 16th. I keep hearing the new record will be more electronic / Depeche Mode like with less guitars. The first taste of the record first single'Marianne' definitely supports this hypothesis without totally leaving behind their trademark style. It is sooo good! I cannot wait to hear this album from this band that only seems to be getting bigger with each passing year.
Check out the video for 'Marianne' below then set your calendars for this October release.
Grew up a fan of Weezer, so I was pretty psyched when I heard their new single "Do You Wanna Get High?" today. Reminds of those amazing 90's albums I grew up listening to of theirs. Seems they also released another track/video not too long ago called "Thank God for Girls". They say they are not actively working on a new album, “but are open to dinner dates with A&R representatives.” Someone take these boys to dinner!
Legendary alternative band The Jesus and Mary Chain will be in town this weekend Friday, October the 2nd at 9 PM at the beautiful Olympia Theater in downtown Miami. I was just at the Olympia Theater this past Tuesday to see the Kraftwerk 3D show and it's a lovely theater! I remember seeing Dead Can Dance perform there back in the 90's.
For this tour Jesus and Mary Chain are celebrating the 30th Anniversary of their amazing debut record Psycho Candy, so they will be playing that entire album, as well as an opening set of greatest hits! How amazing is that!? Can't wait to hear "Head On", and one of the prettiest songs ever made "Just Like Honey". My mind may explode!!! Check out those two videos below.
If you still haven't scored tix's there are some available on Olympia's site here.
One door closes and another opens, that is the case with our buddy Oscar (formerly of Crown Company) and his new bandClovis Points which features Kasey Varga on drums, Roger Del Pino of Miami electronic duo, Monterrey on bass and Oscar Sardinia on guitar and vocals. They sent over theirfirst track "Razz" and we are digging it! It has a distinctive 90's alternative rock sound like the one's we grew up listening to. It would be great to get a resurgence of that style. Love Oscar's vocals! Can't wait to hear what else they come up with. They are a brand new band after all.
Check out first track "Razz" which if you like, they are giving away as a free download.
Fiona Apple. Need I say more? Because she's back and ready to deliver! Fiona's return to the current music scene and stage has been a very anticipated one indeed. With her first album in 7 years titled 'The Idler Wheel is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw, and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do' released June 19th and her first tour in 6 years. Fans and lovers world wide have been ignited by her presence once more. She has recently made the headlines for other reasons other than her comeback, however. The "Criminal" singer was arrested on September 19th in Sierra Blanca,Texas for possession of Hash and Marijuana. Luckily she spent no more than one night behind bars and was bailed out in time to resume her concert activities. Now we could sit here and focus on her arrest, but why? (Let's be honest, there are far worse drugs for you at Walgreens and in the perscription papers doctors hand you after a money draining visit). In reality we should be putting our attention into the hard work and effort that has been spilled on this new compilation of work and tour that has been organized with passion from both herself and her crew, which is what the singer herself wishes the audience keeps their focus on. The lead single "Every Single Night" of her new album is an excellent reminder of her talent and skill at manufacturing musical pieces that are unique, eccentric and drenched with the signature sound of her soul. Now hold on to your clothing because (and I'm excited to announce) We'll be giving away a pair of tickets to Sunday's show at the Fillmore Miami Beach, make sure you follow the directions in order below. See everyone there!
Fiona Apple Ticket Giveaway. Win Free Tickets from Off the Radar
http://www.offtheradarmusic.com/2012/09/fiona-apple-live-fillmore-sun-sept-30th.html
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One of our faves Brooklyn, NYC trio A Place to Bury Strangers are back with a new album 'Worship' scheduled for release in June. The first taste of the new album is first single "You Are the One" which pretty much blew me away. Amazing dark psychedelic rock track that definitely got me excited for the new album. Check it out below and see if you agree. Best part is the track is a free download! Thanks guys, I hope June comes quick because I will playing this one incessantly till then.
ROAD TRIP! Not much needs to be said about the upcoming show this Sunday in Orlando at The Beacham. If you've never heard of the five pieceUK actKasabian, think Smashing Pumpkins meets The Beatles (don't hold me to this spot-on). Kasabian is part of my "UK tripod", whom which is accompanied byThe Kooks and the Arctic Monkeys as my most three favorite bands out of the UK. If you enjoy any of the bands that make up my tripod, or Smashing Pumpkins this is a MUST ATTEND event. We know we'll be windows down, tunes up Sunday afternoon on the highway heading to Orlando!Tickets as well as a very informative bio are available here.
One of my favorite bands to see locally, Madam Trashy, has a new creeptastic video out. Such a fan of their live performances. These guys play loud and really take me back to a time where good guitar playing reigned supreme and not everything was so lo-fi or computerized. Been finding myself more into Rock 'n Roll and even Country lately as my obsession with collecting old vinyl gets worse. Check out the video for "Book Of Dead" Below. If you live in the New York area they are invading Spike Hill in Brooklyn for the whole month of February every thursday.
The Joy Formidable that Mike's posted about a couple of times before most recently here have a new video for their latest track "A Heavy Abacus" that is pretty rocking. Totally reminds me of the 90's alt-rock era. Miss those days, glad they're keeping the spirit alive. Speaking of 90's alt-rock they are gonna be going on Tour supporting the Foo Fighters on some gigs. Sure they will make tons of new fans doing those. Check out the vid/tour dates below.
The Joy Formidable Tour Dates ::
Jul 31 Montreal, QC @ Osheaga Music Festival
Aug 3 Cleveland, OH @ Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Aug 5 Kansas City, MO @ Kanrocksas
Aug 7 Chicago, IL @ Lollapalooza Festival
Aug 12 San Francisco, CA @ Outside Lands Festival
Sept 2 Redmond, WA @ ENDFEST
Sept 4 Edmonton, AB @ Sonic Boom Festival
Sept 8 Portland, OR @ Music Fest NW
Sept 22 Cincinnati, OH @ Midpoint Music Festival
Sept 23 Philadelphia, PA @ Popped Festival!
Sept 24 Atlanta, GA @ Music Midtown
Nov 7 Duluth, GA @ Arena of Gwinnett Center*
Nov 8 Charlotte, NC @ Time Warner Cable Arena*
Nov 10 Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center*
Nov 14 Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center*
Nov 16 Boston, MA @ TD Garden*
I think supergroups are awesome for obvious reasons. When you mesh several musicians from various bands with different sounds, the collaborative sound that is born is a beautiful thing. Such is the case with Tired Pony formed by Gary Lightbody (leadman of Snow Patrol) and includes other well known musicians such as Richard Colburn (Belle & Sebastian), Peter Buck (REM), and Scott McCaughey with cameo appearances by M. Ward, Tom Smith from TheEditors, and Zooey Deschanel.
The first album "The Place We Ran From" came out on Monday, July 12th in the UK and will be out September 28 in the US. Their sold out debut show is tonight in London.
"Point Me At Islands" was available as a free download for one day via their website and I was able to snag it. Upon first listen I knew I really liked it. It gave me that nostalgic feeling of driving on a road trip with my friends and being in the middle of nowhere with all the windows down and the sun shining!
Lightbody said that this type of album (Country tinged) is something he's always wanted to do and needed to get out of his system... can't wait to hear it in it's entirety!
Ah the last day of Coachella and a bit nervous for my entry, again. The festival wristbands are scanned everyday you enter so you can not use them again and again. My NYC friend I saw the day before at Hot Chip was leaving to go back to NYC that Sunday morning so I was able to meet up with her boyfriend to retrieve it from him. Although I had the wristband it was broken so I had to somehow attach one side to the other. Without thinking too much about it my friend and I were just gonna use some gum because we were already driving there. Luckily, my friend who was our pilot the whole time said, "Oh no honey, we are stopping to get you some superglue".
We stopped at CVS and I ran through the store to get superglue. Standing in line and this boy (who was apparently under 18 asked if we would buy his rolling papers so we did and he ended up paying for everything we were buying including the superglue ha!) When paying the cashier she asked, "What are you kids doing with this superglue? It's flying off the shelves!" haha I just looked at her and smiled. We got the wristband superglued together along with many other parts of my hand and objects in my purse that somehow got glued together, was quite a scene! ha First day with general admission wristband last day of show, I was thrilled. While smoking a cigarette and holding my hand out the window, I rethought this and said although it is superglued I wasn't going to miss my last day by doing this!
First up, Deerhunter! During their first song they were having technical difficulties so Bradford Cox, lead singer made up a song about Coachella that was brilliant! We got to hear about 4 songs which I really enjoyed and it was just the start of another awesome day.
After Deerhunter we were to meet our crew at Florence and the Machinein the Gobi tent. I'm not too familiar with her and the band but have liked what I heard; however, she was about 15-20 minutes late for whatever reason and you just don't do that when you have only 40-45 min to play! We ended up only hearing a bit of the first song and then left to meet the rest of our friends.
Next up, Jonsi, the guitarist and vocalist for Icelandic Post-Rock band, Sigur Ros. I had listened to his solo album "Go" a few times and liked the first few songs but didn't really give it the attention it deserved especially after experiencing him live. Woah, simply amazing and a life changing experience. I wrote about it before any of the Coachella posts here. If you ever have the chance to see him, DO IT!
I enjoyed Jonsi show so much that I didn't want to leave early to go hear the beginning of Spoon's show because I had seen them before (although they are one of my favorites)! Staying until the end was SO worth it!
A girl in my crew and I ran to go catch Spoon, who was playing at the Main Stage. They so deserved after all of their years of playing to play on this massive stage at Coachella. Her and I were in the beer tent just behind the fence to see them play which was great because we had lots of room to dance! We danced and danced, and had such a great time! Their album, "Transference", released earlier this year is my favorite one since "Kill the Moonlight" (2002) and "Girls Can Tell" (2001) because it had the same feel as these and didn't seem as overly produced. There are great songs on each album in between; however, I feel as a whole this new one was the best! It is also so far one of my top albums of the year.
Next up, Phoenix at the Outdoor Theatre. By the time we got there it was completely packed so we took a place in the back where we could still clearly hear it and have room to dance. I saw Phoenix for the first time last summer in Brussels and it was a great concert! I had been wanting to see them for so many years and was pretty close for that show so for this one and being the last day, the back was fine for me! Also at this point our feet were feeling it and me having a previously broken toe and fractured foot, Coachella was pretty rough on it so we sat down yet again in the beer tent!
Lastly, we caught a little bit of Thom Yorke but from very far back because one of the people I was with despises him (that's all I'll say) and I wasn't about to lose my crew on the last day, last show we would see! Although somehow I managed to do that by making a trip to the loo and not being able to find them but 30 minutes later! ha
We skipped to go back to the parking lot to our car for fear of just like the first night and waiting 2.5 hours in the lot when we were all just done at that point. I know my music belly was way more than just content after all 3 days! Two of us skipped, raced and laughed through the parking lot as our crew were the only ones in the lot. Damn, it was a great Coachella!
With a name like Samuel & The Dragon you would think this London duo were manifested on the pages of childrens story books. Instead this hauntingly dark act with crisp electronic beats and organic vocals, comes from a long history of musical theater. Not surprised then that they are signed with Moshi Moshi (Hot Chip, Florence and the Machine).
Expect to hear a million remixes of 'Diamond On A Boat' in the upcoming months. 'Diamond On A Boat' is scheduled for release November the 16th. Here is the video, plus the mp3 for the beautiful/brooding 'Rising Up'.
Nine Inch Nails and a ressurected Jane's Addiction are gonna be kicking off their US Tour this Friday (5/8) here in South Florida!
Haven't seen NIN perform in years, probably since the late 90's and never seen Jane's Addiction perform. Pretty excited to see what they're up to these days. The only show I ever saw with NIN was in the mid 90's at the Miami Arena for The Downward Spiral and it was pretty amazing! Still remember when they played 'Hurt' towards the end of the set while their video was playing decaying things sped up and in reverse. Pretty spectacular!
'1989's' Pretty Hate Machine by NIN was one of the first albums to get me into alternative/industrial music. A mixture of rock and electronics that is still my favorite.
Janes Addiction were also in the mix. Ritual de lo Habitual anyone? That album cover still looks amazing! Although Jane's Addiction were never my favorites (I prefer individual tracks from them), I've always loved Perry Ferrell as an artist and for his creativity. I remember how weird/cool Jane's Addiction looked when I saw them at an MTV award show one year. They looked totally out of it and way ahead of their time. Been Caught Stealing helped break alternative music to the mainstream.
Anyways, in anticipation of their show this week here are a few classic tracks including an industrial sounding b-side from 'Sin' that I love 'Get Down Make Love' + a couple live performance clips. You may recognize Superhero from a very popular HBO show. It's the opening theme song for 'Entourage'.
The Kickdrums from Ohio sent us this great video they made for 'When I Come Down'.
Immediately the video caught my eye. Great negative art and rocking music.
After further investigation it seems they have lots of producing experience, including their first break with 50 Cent if you can believe it, plus others like Chamillionaire, Young Joc, Scarface, Papoose, Talib Kweli & Little Brother.
They describe their music as a mixture of Indie Rock, Electro & Hip Hop. Definitely genre bending!
'When I Come Down' doesn't much remind me of Hip Hop, at most maybe Beastie Boys'Check Your Head' era when they were experimenting with alternative rock. Which might explain why I like this so much. That was one of my favorite Beastie records.
At the moment their working on their second video for 'Just a Game'. They were shooting the video for it in NYC this past week. I can definitely hear some hip hop beats in that one. Check out their myspace to hear that and other tracks on their player.
For now enjoy this rocking video & mp3 for 'When I Come Down'. Can you smell crossover potential?? I do!
One of my favorite albums to come out in the 90's is The The's1993 soulful masterpiece 'Dusk'. As many albums/bands/fads have come and gone since then (grunge rock anyone?), this record out of place at the time holds up amazingly well as a true modern classic.
During my college years I was a huge The The fan particularly 1984's 'Soul Mining' which is also a classic from them, (albeit more of a dancier record) and 'Dusk' which is a more mature mid-tempo guitar record that came out right around the time I was entering college. It featured Johnny Marr of The Smiths playing some of the most beautiful/subdued guitar work since his Smiths days,but really the mastermind behind The The is Matt Johnson. His vocals on this record have to be one of the most beautiful voices/lyrics ever recorded. Deep, rich and heartfelt. He wrote all the music and lyrics himself, but like other talented artists like Trent Reznor, he prefers to hide behind a band moniker. They've always been more of an underground Off the Radar type of band if you will, like another favorite of mine James.
I think one of the main things that attracted me to The The's music growing up was Matt Johnson's introspective lyrics that were always questioning himself and how he fit into the world around him. A common theme that many teenagers probably go through like I did.
The record features tons of different sounds and instruments (harmonica's, trumpets, hammond organs, tambourines, acoustic guitars) that give each track a slighly different sound and feel.
The record kicks off with True Happinees this Way Lies with Matt Johnson pouring his heart out while a laugh track plays at the oddest times for a bizarre effect until it leads to him whispering and playing an acoustic guitar as the album slowly builds.
Then the album kicks off with the second track Love is Stronger than Death. A beautiful ballad and homage about the power of love over even death.
Then the record moves on to grittier/funkier tracks like Dogs of Lust and This is the Night to the gorgeous introspective Slow Emotion Replay were he questions himself with lyrics like 'Everybody knows what's going wrong with the world, I don't even know what's going on, in myself' and how he's 'just a slow emotion replay of somebody he used to be'. Gorgeous track with a great beatlesque type of harmonica and fast driving pace. My favorite of the bunch!
Another great track is Sodium Light Baby. A love song were he declares 'You're the strangest feeling I ever had' and how 'we're all hostages to our hearts desires' and finally closing the album with Lonely Planet a song about overpopulation and changing our bad habits 'If you can't change the world, change yourself' with a genious twist in the last lyrics were he says 'If you can't change yourself, then change the world'. Pure brilliance!
The entire 10 song album has to be heard in it's entirety to be fully appreciated. Try it out late night with some wine, smokes and maybe some good company.
Here's a few tracks to stir your interest. If you like these I highly recommend you pick up the whole album. You won't be disappointed!
The Cure aren't exactly an Off the Radar band, they're living legends! One of a handful of bands that helped shape who I am today. I remember as a teenager when I would get sad I would play their CD's and it would always make me feel better. At one point I went out and bought every album they had (including The Gloves side project Robert did with Siouxsie Sioux). I'd buy them at used CD shops cause I could get them there for only $5 each. I loved them all! The poppier ones (Head on the Door, Wish) as well as the full blown darker goth ones (17 Seconds, Pornography, Disintegration, etc).
This is their 13th studio album and it's entitled 4:13 Dream. Hard to believe they've been at it since 1978! How many classic tracks has Robert Smith penned in that span and how many fads have come and gone?? Too many!
Although I am not as big of a fan of The Cure as I used to be (I started phasing out around 96's rather disappointing Wild Mood Swings) everytime I see something new from them I have to pause and check out what their up to. If nothing at all at least for respect for all that they have accomplished and the impact they had on my life as well as many of my friends lives. It's obvious when I go to one of their shows, last time I saw them at the 2004 Coachella they headlined in front of 70,000+ people!
So far the tracks I've heard are pretty good. Some of the reviews I've been reading have been pretty harsh. I know it's hard to live up to some of their past glories, but they can still run circles around most modern bands. Robert Smith's vocals still sound as amazing as ever! Everytime I hear his voice/music it transports me to a more innocent time in my life and for that I will always be grateful...
Here's a couple of my fav's so far and their video for The Only One, their first single.
P.S. On this new record Porl Thompson an original Cure member who was last with them on 92's Wish album returns after playing guitars for Led Zeppelin. He looks way different now with shaved head and tattoos all over, including his head. Also Roger O'Donnell long time synth player for them is not in this Cure incarnation. So at the moment their a 4 piece with the amazing Simon Gallup on Bass and Jason Cooper on Drums.
Nine Inch Nails
The Kickdrums
