Born in Israel and raised in South Africa, Yoav comes from a multicultural background, but his tunes are by no means “world music”– except in the sense that almost anyone can appreciate them. Ranging from deep, dramatic singing to near-falsetto interludes, Yoav’s strong voice has an impressive, rich variety not often found with many “indie” rock type singers, who tend to take one tone and roll with it, speak-singing their lyrics. Yoav can really sing, and the range of his voice lends great depth to the album.
A-Punk is the first single from Vampire Weekend’s eponymous debut album on XL Recordings. The video was directed by the Hammer & Tongs guys (Blur, Pulp, R.E.M. and Hitchikers Guide To The Galaxy).
Learn more about this band and their stunning album at Pitchfork.
Little Boxes is a song written by Malvina Reynolds in 1962 that lampoons the development of suburbia and what many consider its bourgeois conformist values. Little Boxes was inspired visually by the houses of Daly City, California. Nancy Reynolds, daughter of Malvina Reynolds, explains:
This video premiered on Portishead’s official website yesterday afternoon, but you had to sign up for their mailing list in order to see it. Some kind soul has posted it to YouTube. “Machine Gun” pops out when you listen to Third, with the mesmerizing industrial grind of its percussion riff, even as the plaintive wail of Beth Gibbons brings us back to more familiar territory.
This song is part of the last Erik Truffaz’s album called Arkhangelsk (Blue Note). Truffaz is a Swiss-born French contemporary jazz trumpeter, infusing elements of hip hop, rock and roll and dance music into compositions.
He gained international attention for his second album on Blue Note, The Dawn, that had been produced together with Pat Muller, Marcello Giuliani and Mark Erbetta. Since then they produced many Blue Note albums together such as Bending New Corners, which became a Silver Album in France. The last Truffaz release Arkhangelsk is a mixture between pop songs, french songs, and Jazz-groove.
If you like Truffaz I hardly recommend you to watch this video. It’s Murcof, Erik Truffaz and Talvin Singh live at the 2006 Montreux Jazz festival playing Murcof’s track called Rios (from the album Remembranza).
The Brassens est un groupe de reprises de chansons… mais pas celles de Georges Brassens. Fondé en 2006 par un Sétois (forcément) prénommé Georges (forcément aussi), cet ensemble a pour credo d’interpréter des titres de la variété française à la manière de Georges Brassens. C’est-à-dire chantés avec les mêmes tics vocaux (voix sourde et bourrue, «r» roulés, diction parfaite) et accompagnés de la fameuse pompe à la guitare acoustique. Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger des Daft Punk, Le Mia de IAM ou La Vibe de Diam’s, sont passés par cette moulinette.
Après avoir ouvert sa page MySpace, The Brassens devait sortir ce mois-ci un véritable disque quatre titres, sur le label Les Disques Bien. Le disque est pressé et envoyé aux distributeurs. Sauf que problème… le groupe doit changer de nom.
Comprised of Londoners Rupert Lyddon and Lawrence “La” Rudd, and borne out of a Police cover band, Grand National’s take on ’80s British dance-rock is unique to the era of retro new wave, postpunk and Britpop. While sure to draw comparisons to contemporaries like The Killers and The Bravery, Grand National’s sound is much fuller and more organic — less reliant on synths and sass and true to the spirit and complexity of original acts like New Order, Happy Mondays and The Police.
The Arcade Fire is an indie rock band from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 2003 by the husband and wife team Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, the band’s work features lush, anthemic arrangements and diverse instrumentation, making use of a large collective membership.
After watching the music video above, I hardly suggest you to visit Neon Bible — their new album website.
The Whitest Boy Alive is a musical group based in Berlin. The band comprises singer/guitarist Erlend Øye (also a member of Kings of Convenience), bassist Marcin Öz, drummer Sebastian Maschat, and Daniel Nentwig on rhodes & crumar. They started as an electronic dance music project in 2003 in Berlin, but have since slowly developed into a band with no programmed elements.
This music video — directed by Mauro Vecchi — is a relaxing trip through the most famous optical illusions.
A young Nigerian singer by the name of Àsà (pronounced Asha) is currently causing a stir with a debut eponymous album released on the French label Naïve. Àsà’s subtle mix of soul, folk and pop, cleverly interwoven with her African roots, has already evoked comparisons with Tracy Chapman and Ayo. If you like this track, you can find more info at RFI Musique.