Air are up there. They are, in my opinion, the premier French ambient electronic act, and have been so for the last decade - perhaps you could say the chill out version of Daft Punk. And finally, Air are coming to Australia for the very first time. Down for the V Festival, here in Melbourne they are playing a little side show at the Palais on Wednesday the 2nd of April.
You can get presale tickets from ticketmaster until 5pm tomorrow (special code 'amour') for $99, much better than the $128 you will have to fork out afterwards (you're welcome).
This is the first Air song I ever heard, back in the day on Recovery one Sunday morning 10 years ago. It's one of those childhood memories that makes me smile when I'm doing nothing. The film clip had me entranced. They released Pocket Symphony, their fourth album, last year.
Air - Kelly Watch The Stars
27.2.08
The Air Up There
23.2.08
Foals Gold
Or should we say Fools Gold? You see, Foals upcoming album Antidotes has been leaked just short of its release in March. However there are differing reports on what the track listing actually is. Around the blogosphere we have seen it listed as followed:
1. The French Open
2. Cassius
3. Red Socks Pugie
4. Olympic Airways
5. The Race For Radio Supremacy
6. Balloons
7. Heavy Water
8. Two Steps, Twice
9. Big Big Love (Fig.2)
10. Like Swimming
11. Tron
Yet on Amazon and Play, it differs!
1. The French Open
2. Cassius
3. Red Socks Pugie
4. Olympic Airways
5. Electric Bloom / Ballroom
6. Balloons
7. Heavy Water
8. Two Steps, Twice
9. Big Big Love (Fig.2)
10. Like Swimming
11. Tron
Foals in fact cleared it up in a myspace blog here.
Though apart from the obvious oddities of leaving off Hummer, Mathletics and Astronauts and All, questions remain. What actually happened to this mysterious tune Electric Bloom (listed on Amazon as Electric Ballroom as well)?
It is good to see them release a truly complete and constructed album though, instead of a compilation of regurgitated, spasmodically released past demos, which seems to be the norm of late. Good for them! And rumour has it that "Hummer and Mathletics will be on the special edition CD which come with special remixes, live footage and other stuff."
Oh, and here is that mysterious track.
Foals - Electric Bloom
(zshare)
As an added bonus, here is the cover art for Antidotes.
21.2.08
There Is No Need To Ask...
This will be the song that is playing in the background when Natalie Portman and I partake in our first kiss.
And this is what she will whisper to me.
I would be a bit intimidated by her beauty, but I would like to think I will be able to conquer my nerves.
I wish I could have a Valerie compilation following me wherever I go.
And Natalie Portman too.
:)
College - Can You Kiss Me First?
Curiosity Killed The Cat
For all my fellow Melburnians, Van She are playing at The Corner Hotel in Richmond tonight, showcasing their new shit.
For all you slowpokes out there you can still get tickets from Moshtix outlets or from The Corner itself, only a few left though so be quick! They are playing at 6pm for half an hour, which ain't too bad considering it's only 15 bones (+bf). They are also playing a tonne of gigs around Aus in the next few weeks so get your tickets early from Moshtix.
My favourite Van She gig was at the 2006 Modular x Tsubi Christmas Party at the Espy, where they played awesome live and more rockier versions of Kelly and Sex City. Ahh the memories.
I'm not a fan of their new single Cat & The Eye AT ALL though, so I'm not going to post up a DL, however check out the film clip for it, produced by talented Melbourne lads Krozm, whom we deejayed with at the Fashion Keyboard. It's interesting, to say the very least.
What do you think of the film clip? And Van She's upcoming stuff?
19.2.08
Big Call
Is this going to be the best remix of 2008? It's pretty early to say but this little tune has me dancing like a fool every time i hear it.
Just wait for the keyboard/piano at about the 4.30 mark, love it!
M.I.A - Paper Planes (DFA remix)
(Zshare)
PS. I put in a Zshare link because my bandwidth is about to exploooooooooddddeeee!
Spatial Relations
From a place purer than yours... as promised, a mixed bag of OG Italo Disco and Space Disco. Look out for more in the future (lolsagna a pun!).
Scotch - Disco Band
Koto - Visitors
Koto - Star Wars
Trans X - Living On A Video
Mito - Droid
Cyber People - Polaris
Future Love
Greetings. Recently I have been harking back in history to peruse the precursors to many of the songs and styles that bring me aural delight in this day and age, just to keep me interested, as sometimes it can get rather tedious sifting through mountain ranges of music just to find a diamond in the rough (or two or three) to share with you all. So the next week is probably going to be a massive orgy of outrageously awesome OG space disco and italo disco classixxx, because I say so.
To kick things off we have one of the paradigms of prime cut Italo Disco. Basically, Italo Disco songs were simple, catchy and laden with vocoders and space age sounding synth, combined with nonsensical vocals in English by people who don't usually speak English, and when you could osmose a meaning from them, they typically centred around love, robots and space. This song was the epitome of it - it had it ALL.
Charlie - Spacer Woman
It has recently been covered by Ear Pwr, a fresh sounding spaced out electro group hailing from the U.S who have done gigs with Crystal Castles, and definitely worth checking out! (I'm loving DiamondsLiquorLeather, with the lyrics "Jump up like Shaquille O"! OH SNAP!)
Ear Pwr - Spacer Woman
OG film clip ;)
18.2.08
It's About Time
I haven't done a Garage Days in a while and a can't really be bothered doing one right now, so instead I'm just going to post some of my favourite tracks from the era.
So I'll be sure to do a proper post in the near future, stay tuned!
Also most of the below songs are from my Nuggets collection which you can pick up from most cd shops.
Human Beinz - Nobody But Me
The Hombres - Let it Out
The Eyes - When The Night Falls
The Monks - Drugs In My Pocket
14.2.08
Saved By The Bell
It's been a while since Mikey introduced me to The Bell and their great song I Am History. From that abundantly creative epoch of the earth which we call Sweden, these three boys make music that sounds just like I want music to sound.
Rock music these days is a hard act to pull off - just with the sheer amount of bands around it is difficult to stand out. Yet The Bell does, with an early 80s familiarity without a replication of it, and a sound which is extremely polished whilst never losing that certain mystery and edge that often diminishes proportionately to refinement.
Their album Make Some Quiet includes many awe inspiring songs that define The Bell's sound yet are diverse enough to each leave their own imprint, and to break the shackles thrown on by comparisons. Make Some Quiet was finally released in stores on February 12th, I think you should go grab a copy (here or here).
The Bell - I Am History
The Bell - Gone For Days
The Bell - On and On
The Bell - Do You Know How I Feel
The Bell - Target Group (C90s Remix)
CCTV!!
p.s even though me and mike didn't win there comp pfft
Maybe She's Born With It...
Maybe it's Maybelline. Cover up under cozy covers with these covers... of songs. Because the original isn't always the best.
Soko - Love No (The Teenagers Cover)
Owen Pallett - Sweet Fantasy (Mariah Carey Cover)
Owen Pallett - This Modern Love (Bloc Party Cover)
Trash Yourself & Toxic Avenger - Song 2 (Blur Cover)
Le Tigre - I'm So Excited (The Pointer Sisters Cover)
What's your favourite cover everrrrr?
My Sweetest Downfall
Valentines Day, whether you like it or not, is upon us. Maybe you're getting love, maybe you're getting lonely, at the very least you get to see a softer side of Gee Wizz! Here is one of my favourite songs ever, courtesy of the adorable Russian doll/songbird Regina Spektor.
When I was about 5 years old I used to go stay with my uncle and auntie and watch on repeat their taped copy of the 1949 version of the story Samson and Delilah (I was quite odd). Samson was so awesome and Delilah was such a bitch! How could he resist her oh so devilish charm! Oh, his sweetest downfall. Fast forward to just before now and Reggie Spek puts a personal spin on the tale, something that could only be described as perfect.
Regina Spektor - Samson
And just for good measure, the ultimate tale of the perfect girlfriend (also known as Alyssa Milano circa 1998), from none other but The Teenagers' (and 11 year old me's) favourite band, Blink 182. Where the fuck are you Josie??!?!
Blink 182 - Josie
13.2.08
OMG
This picture is an exact recreation of what we here at Gee Wizz looked liked when we found out that Danger is playing this Friday night at Fashion Keyboard in Melbourne .
The only thing that would have been cooler is if we were playing as well but i doubt we will ever get asked to dj there again!
I have to work on Saturday but there is no way I'm letting that ruin what will be a great night, so come on down to 189 Lonsdale St this Friday, its free entry and cheeaaapp drinks, and if you have to work on Saturday as well i might just buy you a drink and slap you a high 5. Woo!
Danger - 14h54
12.2.08
Will you be my
9.2.08
Can't wait
This time in 2 weeks I'm going to be sitting on Thai beaches drinking out of coconuts.
Jealous much? lol
The Holidays - Holiday
8.2.08
SUCK IT! n SUCK IT! n SUCK IT!
No Secrets
She will be upset when she finds out you are a robot.
Styx - Mr Roboto
..
...
Can't be fucked writing much, just got back from the trip. Just letting you know I'm going to put up zshare links of all the songs we've put up so you can download them on the rare occasion we run out of bandwidth. You can thank me with a) money b) prostate examinations
4.2.08
Valerie
The Valerie clan are relatively new to me, they are a group of artists from France who have a damn cool blog that you can check out HERE.
The artists include Minitel Rose, The Outrunners, College, Anoraak and Maethelvin. Their music is totally 80's influenced and is a far sight better than all the other rubbish that is getting passed off as 'dance' music these days.
So if you're as sick as I am of slamming electro at the moment give these guys a listen.
College - Teenage Color (Rhuss Chimes Remix)
Maethelvin - My Favorite TV Show
The Outrunners - Cool Feeling
You can check out the Valerie myspace HERE, and from there you can check them all out.
2.2.08
Hooray for the weekend
Finally the weekend is here, so hopefully most of you will be going out and getting loose tonight.
So here's some music to help you get into the swing of things.
Remember about this time last year MIT's frantic single Goodbook? It was like my favourite song back then, well they're back with a new track, its a slight change of pace for the German trio, almost italo disco?
check it dawwwwgggs!
MIT - Park
MIT - Goodbook
Oh and don't you love songs that are not in English? That way you can sing along and no one hangs shit on you for singing the wrong words, which i do all the time.
Add them on myspace.
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