post punk

8hands Featured Remix: The Postal Service vs. The Cribs

alon — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 08:37:00 -0500

Why the Postal Service hasn't yet released a follow-up to the perfect 2003 album "Give Up" is beyond me. While Ben Gibbard is out there, hanging on to some scraps of what used to be a great band called Death Cab for Cutie; and while Jimmy Tamborello is bumping nothing but some ok releases to the world under Dntel, James Figurine or whatever, these two should hook up again and bring some sense to this world – at least for 45 minutes or so.

An old EP cover: It looks better then the real people of the Postal Service.

Well… don't get your hopes up. I have no clue when a new Postal Service album will pop out, but at least they are showing some signs of life, as they appeared on a new EP from The Cribs with a remix for the song "I'm A Realist".

And how is it? Awesome, of course. They took the way too normal sound of The Cribs and turned it into a Postal Service wonder. I don't really need to explain more – you can just listen to it and understand while I'll be sleeping in.

The 8hands Mega-Team Puts An End To 2007! Part 2

alon — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 09:10:44 -0500

This time, Alon picks his one true album of the year, "It’s A Bit Complicated" by Art Brut.

Let’s face it – this year has produced some great musical moments, but it didn’t show us a lot of really unique, one-of-kind, innovative moments. Most of the good albums that came out just took great music and made it better – Animal Collective, Jens Lekman, LCD Soundsystem, Mendoza Line, Devin the Dude, Tullycraft & Justice – Sure, they all had awesome releases, but you’ve got to admit that none of it was much of a surprise. I mean, we all knew that James Murphy is a brilliant man and Animal Collecitve have been getting hotter and wiser by the minute! Where can we find a new music movement? What is the next big genre? Where are all the shocking findings? They are all probably hiding somewhere in 2008.

But there was one thing that did make me go “wow” and, metaphorically speaking only, take my clothes off, paint myself red and run through the streets yelling out weird animal noises. It was “It’s A Bit Complicated” by Art Brut, a record that just like the ones I mentioned above, is made up of some great music that we have heard before – poppy guitar driven post punk, with a lot of fun making wooo-ahhhh in it. The difference in this album is the lyrics – damn! Eddie Argos, the lead singer, is the poet of the century, and don’t let anyone tell you anything else!

On Art Brut’s first album, “Bang Bang Rock And Roll”, we were all amazed by Argos’ wittiness, but we were still convinced that he is nothing less then a joke-man, the class clown. On this year’s album, Eddie shows new depth to his soul. He is still funny, can still charm with a short line, and there is no doubt that he is the smartest man behind the mic today.

He talks about music, his childhood, his relationships, his friends and popular culture and he does it so well, that he makes all the old fashioned lyricists look nothing less than ridiculous – especially when he gives them all a shout out and sings: “River deep and mountain high / there's some lyrics that'll never apply / 'cause I don't lie awake at night / with thoughts of river depth or mountain height” – In their face Eddie!

8hands Featured Band: Von Südenfed

alon — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 10:10:11 -0400

You probably know who Mark E. Smith is. He's that filthy fellow from the legendary post-punk band The Fall; He's that 50 years old man who looks like a 90 years old geezer; He's the front-man who was supposed to O.D. somewhere in the 80's but somehow proved that you can be a junkie and survive; He's that lyricist that writes some genius nonsense that make sense to mostly five people; He's that singer that never really sings and basically just mumbles words into the microphone; He's without a doubt one of a kind, and almost certainly a great hero.

Smith. He never lost it.

The Fall never ceased to exist. Most of the original band members are gone, but Smith kept the flame burning and surprisingly The Fall is still one of the best post-punk bands out there. If you find that hard to believe, check out "Reformation Post TLC", one of 2006's best albums – the man can still make damn good music, and that's incredible.

What's even more amazing to me is that Smith is accepting new forms of music, and is not obsessed with what went down "back in the day" – his opened attitude is probably the cause of "Tromatic Reflexxions", the brand new LP by smith's newest band/project Von Südenfed.

Von Südenfed is made out of three people: Smith, and the two German guys who usually go by the name Mouse on Mars, Andi Toma & Jan St. Werner. Together they are making brilliant music that combines the experimental IDM/Techno of Mouse on Mars with the post-punk aesthetics of The Fall.

Smith, obviously, runs the show with his craziness and weirdness, as we can hear in likes like "Fledermaus Can't Get Enough" & "Flooded". Mostly he yells and mumbles as only he can, and in one of the songs he does something that he hasn't done in years: in "The Rhinohead" he actually sings to a melody!

Mouse on mars are also as sharp as ever and they are contributing their best beats in years. They added to their usual sound a touch of hip-hop, a tiny bit of dub step and who knows what else. Basically, they are using the computers & synths in the same way that Smith is using his voice – they are mashing, mixing & slicing.

"Tromatic Reflexxions" is definitely one of this year climaxes and I'm looking forward to hear Smith in more music journeys – we already know he's here to stay – if he stayed alive this far, he will probably live forever.

8hands Featured Band: Love of Diagrams

alon — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 05:40:12 -0400

I can't think of an Australian band that I ever loved. It's not that I heard too many of them, but all my life I've been searching & discovering music and I honestly can't think of any Australian band that I found good. That's why it was so weird to find out that my latest joy, Love of Diagrams, comes from Australia. I wouldn't have guessed that in a million years.

Love of Diagrams are making music that mixes two very similar genres – New York's new wave and UK's post punk. That makes sense, because when I think about it, Australia is a mixer of England & the United States: they are part English for obvious reasons, and they have a real California feel, with the whole surfing-beach-blonde thing.

Anyway, Love of Diagrams are active since 2001, and after they have secured spots supporting many bands, including Death Cab for Cutie, Electrelane, Les Savy Fav, Stereolab, The Rogers Sisters and Sonic Youth, They have finally signed with Matador.

With Matador they've release their second album, "Mosaic", which is an amazing dark album, that lives the 1980's in a much more authentic way than most of the current post-punk scene - I'll leave you to decide if that's a good thing or not, but while you are considering the two, listen to the magnificent song "The Pyramid", it will probably make the answer clear.