Thursday 21 August 2008

The Verdict on Intimacy


HOT NEWS: After a lightening quick listen of Bloc Party's new album Intimacy upon it's release late on Thursday night, the early verdict is in. It is good. In fact, it is better than good. It's safe to say bawley's faith in Bloc Party has been restored. From the upbeat Trojan Horse to the aching lovesong Biko it is almost a perfect combination of Silent Alarm and A Weekend In The City proving that the mix of Paul Epworth and Jacknife Lee working together is nothing but a good thing.

Mercury is the worst track on the album. What a relief.

Expect a blow by blow review from the bawley team in the days to come. We are sated.

Wednesday 20 August 2008

The Golden Age

Mini Post: With new releases on the way from Bloc Party, Deerhunter, Mecruy Rev, and Deftones the next few months could be the beginning of the new Golden Age, or this could just be an excuse to post a link to the new TV on the Radio single Golden Age from the album Dear Science, due out on September 23rd.

Tuesday 19 August 2008

Bloc Party share their 'Intimacy'.

So Bloc Party make the shock announcement that their new album will be made available this week as a cheap download only available from the band's website, before a physical version (with extra tracks) is released later on.

Did anyone say 'Radiohead'?

The album, called 'Intimacy' can be preordered from Bloc Party's website here. Half of it wass produced by 'Silent Alarm' producer Paul Epworth, with the other half (including recent disappointing single 'Mercury') was produced by 'A Weekend In The City' producer Jackknife Lee.

Bawley is currently hoping that it'll be at least half good.

Saturday 16 August 2008

More on that Choke soundtrack story

The press release for the Choke soundtrack features a song by song commentary by Choke's director/screenwriter Clark Gregg, which is worth reproducing in its entirety:


Ben Kweller - "The Rules"
Ben Kweller kicks ass. These lyrics feel like Victor Mancini's rowdy, pissed-off subtext. I love that it starts off the soundtrack with some slamming indie rock and that it comes in during the colonial village while we're looking at all the puffy shirts and bonnets.

The Natural History - "Don't You Ever" (rare)
I only found this band recently, but I listened to them all through post. Max Tepper's vocals are superb. I actually prefer this version to the one by Spoon and I'm a huge Spoon fan. The band broke up a few years ago. I'm going to picket their houses until they get back together.

Fiery Furnaces - "Navy Nurse"
This groove just takes your breath away.

Radiohead - "Reckoner"
Like most people, I am a huge Radiohead fan. The adaptation took me years to write so I wrote it first to Kid A, then Amnesiac and then Hail to the Thief. Later, I learned from Chuck Palahniuk that he had written the novel while listening to their song, "Creep." In Rainbows came out while we were editing and I used almost every track in my early temp cuts of the movie. They all fit really well, but I particularly loved "Reckoner." The tension between Thom Yorke's keening vocals and Phil Selway's brilliant, driving drum track fit so perfectly that it worked almost like score. I was truly dreading the day when we'd have to take it out. Somehow ATO Pictures producer, Johnathan Dorfman persuaded their manager to show the band some footage and to our shock they were generous enough to let us use the song. It's a monumental addition to the movie.

Alap Momin - "Sin Terror"
I love this jam. We needed music for the strip-club scenes and music supervisors Lyle Hysen and Ken Weinstein knew Alap Momin from the band Dälek and he was kind enough to cook this up just for the movie. He even tailored the tracks to the scenes. The driving discordant build they layered into this piece feels like it's feeding the tension between Denny and Victor.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - "Satan Said Dance"
I loved their first album and we needed something dark but not too heavy for Victor's sudden rollercoaster ride back to the dark side. Hysen and Weinstein pitched this song and when we saw it over the scene it was just right.

Buzzcocks - "Orgasm Addict" (rare)
This is the anthem. I sort of grew up loving The Buzzcocks, moshing my way through their songs in the East Village. I must have played it every day I was writing "Choke." I always thought we'd open the movie with it, but it didn't work out. In any case here is a cool alternate version with a more deadpan feel and at least it made it on to our soundtrack.

Death Cab For Cutie - "No Sunlight"
What can you say, they're just really, really good.

Blitzen Trapper - "Wicked" (unreleased)
We listened to a lot of Blitzen Trapper during the crazed five-week summer shoot. It just seemed to fit with spending your 18-hour days in a sweltering mental hospital. They've got some excellent chaos going on.Ms. Tyree Sugar Jones - "If You Feel It"This plays in another tricky scene where everything we tried felt wrong. And then I got turned on to the soulful sexy stylings of Ms. Tyree "Sugar" Jones. You put this on and you know some clothes are coming off.

My Morning Jacket - "Touch Me I'm Going To Scream Pt 1"
We're all big Jacket fans. Listened to them constantly during the shoot. Very proud to have them on here.

Shout Out Louds - "Bicycle" (rare)
Nothing like a little kick ass Swedish indie rock. They're like The Shins' attitudinal Scandinavian cousins.

Twilight Singers - "There's Been An Accident"
One of the producers, Contrafilm's Beau Flynn, and I have been Greg Dulli fans for years. I listened to The Twilight Singers a lot when I was writing the script. The song is really moving in a haunting, portentous way that really works for the movie.

Nicole Atkins - "Crystal Ship" (unreleased)
Brilliant. She's got a great torchy, Peggy Lee sound with just enough tongue in cheek to feel like a perfect citizen of the Palahniuk world.


If the film's have as good as the soundrack, it'll be well worth a look.

Thursday 14 August 2008

Lies! Lies! Lies!

The Fine Print: Yesterday we were salivating over the prospect of Radiohead scoring the film adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's Choke. - NOT TRUE.

Radiohead will be contributing Reckoner to the soundtrack but the film score has been put together by Nathan Larson, head to fasterlouder for full details.

MORE LIES - We were also off the mark with our Falls Festival MGMT predictions/wishes; The first line up announcement sans-MGMT can been seen here.

Wednesday 13 August 2008

Choke on the Music of Radiohead


Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk has leaked news that Radiohead have composed the sound track for the movie adaptation of his novel Choke, staring Sam Rockwell and Anjelica Huston.

A public fan of Radiohead, Palahniuk told 6Music’s Shaun Keaveny:
“Clark Gregg, who directed the movie version of Choke, he knew that I’d written Choke while listening to Pablo Honey... So Clark got Radiohead to contribute a song...Apparently Radiohead liked the movie so much, they’ve written the score, ... So it’s ‘Choke – with the music of Radiohead’“
Choke is out later this year - watch the trailer here (featuring Clap Your Hands Say Yeah: Satan Said Dance).

Movies of Palahniuk’s books have a history with alternative music: The PixiesWhere is My Mind famously closed Fight Club which was otherwise scored by The Dust Brothers, and Nine Inch Nails have been linked to the still unfinished adaptation of Survivor.

What else has Palahniuk been up to? His latest novel Snuff is out now. It is the story of Cassie Wright, a porn priestess wanting to cap her legendary career with the world record for serial fornication.

Shock Me Like an Electric Eel: MGMT Tour Oz

MGMT have announced they will be taking their psychedelica filled live show down under, scheduling dates across Australian capital cities in December.

With Meredith and any number of other parties kicking off in December it would be way too soon to confirm Bawley’s previous hunch that MGMT will play the Falls Festival this NYE, but don’t rule it out.

Dates so far are:
Saturday 6 December-Perth
Belvoir Amphitheatrer
with Luke Steele, Tame Impala, Death Disco
SHOW TYPE: 18+

Tuesday 9 December -Sydney
Enmore Theatre
with Luke Steele, Tame Impala
SHOW TYPE: All Ages

Wednesday 10 December - Brisbane
The Tivoli
with Luke Steele, Tame Impala
SHOW TYPE: 18+

Thursday 11 December - Melbourne
The Palace
with Luke Steele, Tame Impala
SHOW TYPE: 18+
On sale 19th August or presale here.

Sunday 10 August 2008

Get Footloose: Illegal Dancing Cut Copy Style.

Believe it or not, it is against the law to dance in most New York City bars. Establishments that do not hold a cabaret license are breaking the law if they allow their patrons to dance; if caught, they can be subject to fines and shutdown.

This caused something of a problem for Brooklyn’s Studio B. When Cut Copy were invited to play a set in the pitchfork.tv: Live at Studio B series the sweaty crowd couldn’t help being whipped into an arse shaking indie-dance frenzy.

The Melbourne band's set covered the best of their two albums, highlights being the three guitar attack of So Haunted, retro synths and hand claps on Future and the euphoric Hearts On Fire.

Watch Part 1
Out There On The Ice
Time Stands Still
So Haunted
That Was Just A Dream
Zap Zap
Watch Part 2
Nobody Lost Nobody Found
Lights And Music
Future
Hearts On Fire
Unfortunately this will be the last of the Live at Studio B series, the club was shutdown shortly after Cut Copy’s show. You however can see Cut Copy when they play Trackside in Canberra on November 22nd.

Saturday 9 August 2008

Live Review: Band Of Horses, Sydney Metro, 05/07/08

Can we add horses to the list of hairy animals that Bawley (hearts)?

The contrast against Vampire Weekend the previous night couldn't have been more apparent. Tonight was about Proper Rock Done Properly. Onstage, It was all beards, check shirts, flouting of anti-smoking legislation, and a full four guitarists. It could have been the 1970's. Band Of Horses' brand of reverb drenched folk rock is nothing new or clever, but it sounded great, right from opener 'Is There A Ghost' to the end, in a set that took in all the best bits from both their albums and a couple of spectacular cover versions - JJ Cale's 'Thirteen Days', and - a set highlight - a brilliant version of Them Two's 'Am I A Good Man'.

Lead singer and chief beard wearer Ben Bridwell was on fine form, charming, charismatic and with a remarkable voice that would keep your flat warm, and the band knew exactly what the crowd wanted. No extended guitar jams or - God forbid - drum solos that are all to often a symptom of this particular genre - the songs were tight, focused and thoroughly enjoyable. But don't take our word for it - enjoy these two Bawley exclusive camera phone clips:

(most of) 'No One's Gonna Love You':

(a bit of) 'Islands On The Coast':

Friday 8 August 2008

Bawley (hearts) hairy animals

With recent posts featuring owls, cats, bats, and wombats, you could be forgiven for thinking the Bawley crew has gone all Dr Doolittle.

On that note, we are not going to comment on the Wolfmother breakup. But instead we bring news of the latest release from Damon Albarn.

Monkey: Journey to the West is out on August 18th and it is going to be a little weird – a Mandarin language opera album that Albarn hopes listeners will approach without prejudice.

Teaming up with Gorillaz cohort Jamie Hewlett, the project came about after the two travelled China and were inspired by the size and diversity of the previously closed communist nation.

The Opera debuted at the Manchester International Festival, and last month opened for a season at the Royal Opera House.

Not happy with releasing an album of the live music, Albarn has gone done back into the studio to tweak the sound.

Albarn explained to 6Music:
“It has taken up like three years of my life. Making the record came out of having done lots of demos when I started to put the Opera together, and on stage you can’t get that electronic sound - so I’ve really tried to make what I think is a cool sounding record, with a lot of mad music. And yes, it is all in Mandarin.”
Albarn and Hewlett have also produced a series of short animations Monkey: Journey to the East that will be used to package BBC’s Olympic coverage. You can watch the trailer for yourself here

Lights In The Sky: Still Image Reveals More

Mini Post: Last week I blogged raving about the first videos to come from the Nine Inch Nails Lights In The Sky tour. Today Trent and co have launched a flickr photo stream of the tour - get a look at some higher res images here.

Still or in video looks brilliant.

Tuesday 5 August 2008

Bawley: It's the Blog Other Blogs are calling "Good"

Thank you, Loud Noise And Pictures. You're not bad yourself.

Bats in the Forest – Spooky

Mini Post: Perfect as Cats: A tribute to The Cure, due for a late October release will feature The Dandy Warhols, Kaki King, Devastations and Bat For Lashes covering their favourite The Cure tracks. Jump over to myspace/perfectascats to get full artist and track list. Then follow this link to download Bat For Lashes doing a slowed down and spooky version of A Forest.

Monday 4 August 2008

Live Review: Vampire Weekend at Sydney Metro 4/8/2008

If you'd told Vampire Weekend six months ago, when their debut album had only just hit the shelves, that they'd soon be playing shows on the other side of the planet that would sell out in less than an hour, they probably wouldn't have believed you.

Six months on, and having just conquered Splendour In The Grass and many of the European Festivals, they're now playing their first club show in Australia. And it sold out in less than an hour. And they still seem utterly unprepared for it. Or maybe they're already over it. Either way, the forty-eight minute long performance tonight isn't the performance of the 'hottest band in the world right now' - it's the performance of a band who seem tired of touring, and tired of their album, but a band who still haven't quite learned the art of stagecraft or how to interact with a crowd. And a half hearted band has led to a half hearted audience who seem more keen on talking through the songs than dancing to them.

Fortunately, the songs themselves are strong enough to carry the evening - the songs that made their debut album such an unrestrained joy still sound great even when performed by a band who don't really seem that keen on them any more. Tunes like set opener 'Mansard Roof'', early highlight 'A-Punk', and the final tracks of the night 'Oxford Comma' and 'Walcott' are bold enough and shiny enough to get the crowd moving, almost despite themselves.

But it's only on the three new songs tonight - 'Arrows', 'White Sky' and 'Little Giant' that the band itself seems really animated, clearly relishing the chance to play songs that they haven't been playing several times a week all year. And the new songs are very promising, each expanding on the Vampire Weekend sound in slightly different directions - the first a bit dancier, the second a bit rockier and third a bit more epic - and suggesting there's plenty of life in this band yet. If only there was more evidence of it tonight.

Saturday 2 August 2008

Wombats Song To Participate In Olympics

Mini Post: British Sailing duo Ben Rhodes and Steve Morrison have changed the name of the boat that they're bringing to the Olympics to 'Little Miss Pipedream' after the Wombats song of the same name. It used to be called 'Jackie Big Tits' - the name of a track from the first Kooks album - but the International Olympics Committee asked them to change it to something "more suitable". It's unclear if the IOC objected to the word 'tits' or just weren't big fans of The Kooks.

Friday 1 August 2008

"putting the finishing touches on album 2 !!!!!!!!!"

Mini Post: Today pitchfork have turned a myspace status update into a news article, so why can't I do the same.

http://www.myspace.com/theavalanches