Month: February 2010

Categories
FREE MP3s

MP3 At 3PM: Efterklang

efterklang4407Efterklang recently made the switch from the Leaf label to 4AD, and the Denmark band’s first full-length with its new record company, Magic Chairs, dropped yesterday. After years of cultivating deftly composed pop, these experimentalists’ soundscapes continue to defy current trends. Mixed by Grizzly Bear producer Gareth Jones, Magic Chairs is a new beginning, marking a decipherable shift in Efterklang’s overall sound. Magic Chairs opener “Modern Drift” starts with a piano premise to Casper Clausen’s earnest vocals while kick drums foster an overall pulse. As the song evolves, soft guitar licks mesh gracefully with strings nearing orchestral. True to its namesake, Efterklang is ethereal. Download “Modern Drift” below.

“Modern Drift” (download):
https://magnetmagazine.com/audio/ModernDrift.mp3

Categories
TAKE COVER!

Take Cover! Albert Hammond Jr. Vs. Guided By Voices

When is a cover song better than the original? Only you can decide. This week Albert Hammond Jr. takes on Guided By Voices’ “Postal Blowfish.” MAGNET’s Edward Fairchild pulls the pin. Take cover!

The mythology of the Strokes holds that the band was discovered, at least in part, by Robert Pollard, after tossing a demo tape onto the stage after a Guided By Voices concert. It would be more than a little naive to assume the band would not have made it eventually without Pollard’s help, given the members’ industry connections (guitarist Albert Hammond Jr.’s dad is British pop singer Albert Hammond, and frontman Julian Casablancas’ father is the founder of one of the world’s top modeling agencies), but Pollard’s seal of approval at least added to the Strokes’ credibility. Not many people know that the 2006 debut solo LP by Hammond Jr., Yours To Keep, is better than anything the Strokes have done as a band. The North American CD release of the album featured two bonus-track cover songs, Buddy Holly’s “Well…Alright” and GBV’s “Postal Blowfish.”

The Cover:

The Original:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBps0PojKjI#t=3m30s [poll id=”66″]

Categories
GUEST EDITOR

From The Desk Of Clem Snide’s Eef Barzelay: “The Young Ones”

eef100When Clem Snide began recording albums more than a decade ago in New York, the band’s clever alt-country songs often came across as an ironic take on Americana. Everyone knows you can’t do country music in the big city, and where did Israeli-born singer/guitarist Eef Barzelay get that twang from, anyway? After years of slogging through the indie-rock touring circuit, a band breakup and a move to Nashville, the reunited Clem Snide has earned the all-American desperation and heartbreak that lies in the marrow of its latest album, The Meat Of Life, out this week on 429 Records. Barzelay is guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our Q&A with him.

YOUNGONES2Barzelay: I was a hapless teen going through my changes in suburban New Jersey when I discovered this show. The Young Ones was on MTV of all places, late Sunday night, and it really helped me get through the ’80s, which I did not love. Surreal, absurd and hilariously violent, they would make very British references—that I didn’t get—to things like “the complete memoirs of Donald Sinden.” Also, they always had live music like Motörhead. Video after the jump.

Continue reading “From The Desk Of Clem Snide’s Eef Barzelay: “The Young Ones””
Categories
VIDEOS

Film At 11: Mia Doi Todd

For the release of latest song “Open Your Heart,” Los Angeles native Mia Doi Todd recruited music-video-turned-feature-film director Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, The Science Of Sleep). Filmed in and around Silver Lake, Echo Park and downtown L.A. and using a colorful, T-shirt-clad Riverside Community College Marching Band as its cast, the clip has a surprisingly low-key D.I.Y. feel considering who was calling the shots. The ’60s-lounge-inspired song was arranged by producer Jon Brion and comes from Todd’s forthcoming, as-yet-untitled ninth album.

Categories
TIVO PARTY TONIGHT

TiVo Party Tonight: Miss Willie Brown

TIVOmwb5206Ever wonder what will happen during the last five minutes of late-night TV talk shows? Here are tonight’s notable performers:

Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC): Miss Willie Brown
Country chick duo Miss Willie Brown will perform single “Bonafied” off debut album Blackout And Polaroids.