Music Under Fire

Another week is upon us as the summer nears closer and we are all gearing up to see our favorite bands play in the warm weather. Perhaps this week is the week you find your new favorite band?

First off, Maximo Park is out with their fourth album since forming in 2005. The release of their 2007 album, Our Earthly Pleasures, had their fan base grow at an alarming rate and Quicken The Heart should be no exception.

Does the name Andrew Kenny ring a bell? It should if you have ever listened to American Analog Set, since Kenny's vocals were the foundation of a group people still talk about fondly. After several years off of the music radar, Kenny is back - this time with The Wooden Birds and their album Magnolia. Very exciting stuff.

With the amount we cover Bloc Party, its safe to say we are quite antsy to listen to Intimacy Remixed, which actually came out yesterday. Bloc Party never seems to dull us with their vast amount of remixes to compliment some great artists and DJs who mixed them up.

One of the all-time kings of electonica, The Crystal Method, are back with their fourth studio album since 1997. Their latest release is called Divided by Night.

Lastly, if you're looking for some pop/punk, Crisis In Hollywood is out with Safe and Sound which was produced by Anthony Raneri of Bayside. Also along the heavier path are The Datsuns with Headstunts. Enjoy the new music this week!

MP3: Maximo Park - Roller Disco Dreams (buy)
MP3: The Wooden Birds - False Alarm (buy)
MP3: Hanne Hukkelberg - Midnight Sun Dream (buy)
MP3: Bloc Party - Ion Square (Bright Lights Don't Bore Me Yet Version)

Acid Mothers Temple - Lord of the Underground: Vishnu and the Magic Elixer (Official) (MySpace)
Banjo or Freakout - Upside Down 12" (Official) (MySpace)
Better Than Ezra - Paper Empire (Official) (MySpace)
Big Business - Mind The Drift (Official) (MySpace)
Bloc Party - Intimacy (Remixed) (Official) (MySpace)
Caethua - Village of the Damned (Official) (MySpace)
Cause Co-Motion! - Because Because Because 12" (Official) (MySpace)
Children - Hard Times Hanging At the End of the World (Official) (MySpace)
Crisis In Hollywood - Safe And Sound (Official) (MySpace)
Evanscapps - Last Time (Official) (MySpace)
George McConnell - Singles Only (Official) (MySpace)
Hanne Hukkelberg - Blood From a Stone (Official) (MySpace)
Jeremy Enigk - Ok Bear (Official) (MySpace)
Jim O'Rourke - I'm Happy, And I'm Singing, And A 1, 2, 3, 4 (Official) (MySpace)
Little Girls - Thrills 12" (Official) (MySpace)
Mark Kozelek - Lost Verses Live (Official) (MySpace)
Maximo Park - Quicken the Heat (Official) (MySpace)
Meanderthals - Desire Lines (Official) (MySpace)
Meat Puppets - Sewn Together (Official) (MySpace)
Mokira - Persona (Official) (MySpace)
Sebastien Tellier - Reworked by Strangelets 12" (Official) (MySpace)
SND - Atavism (Official) (MySpace)
Steve Earle - Townes (Official) (MySpace)
The Church - Untitled #23 (Official) (MySpace)
The Crystal Method - Divided by Night (Official) (MySpace)
The Datsuns - Headstunts (Official) (MySpace)
The Durutti Column - Love in the Time of Recession (Official) (MySpace)
The Wooden Birds - Magnolia (Official) (MySpace)
Torngat La Petite - Nicole (Official) (MySpace)
Trainwreck Riders - The Perch (Official) (MySpace)
Weinland - Breaks in the Sun (Official) (MySpace)
Wooden Shjips - Contact 12" (Official) (MySpace)

It's hard to say that our favorite band (Radiohead) could be beaten in any one category, but since we've been following Bloc Party for so long we realized they have a few attributes that make them rise above the rest. If you've followed our site, you probably already know we're a big fan of remixes, especially from our favorite groups. Bloc Party has done it right with their latest remix ploy on their official website to draw more fanfare to their upcoming Intimacy Remixed album (available May 11th) and here's why they've topped Radiohead:

1) Bloc Party's music is more remixable. Sure, you can strip the vocals and add as many layers as you like, but it comes down to how the music was formed together to make a song. Bloc Party's danceability makes them that much easier to layer rhythms since the foundation of their songs are built for being remixed. Radiohead on the other hand will use off-beat rhythms used in songs such as "Reckoner", which limits the looping and ability to transforms songs into something they were never meant to be.

2) You can download all of their layers for free. Radiohead sold each track for .99. Since each of these projects are a bit of a publicity stunt I'll give credit to BP for making them free.

3) You can download remixes for free. Radiohead's remix contest was nice in that you could listen to any of the songs, but in this case, you can actually listen and download them and have them for good - completely free.

4) Useful Flash Media Player. Not only did this make song navigation is easier, but it helped simplify the look of their site. Remember clicking page by page and it seemed there were too many remixes to listen to? Bloc Party's remix page has a scroll bar which makes it much easier to navigate and play a song based on its title alone.

5) Multiple songs to remix. Not just one song to remix, but three! Bloc Party surely stepped it up here.

MP3: Bloc Party - Signs (Defiant's American Overdrive Remix)
MP3: Bloc Party - Signs (Ioviero Remix)
MP3: Bloc Party - Ares Remix (Josh Murphy Remix)
MP3: Bloc Party - Ion Square (Body In The Thames Police brutality mix)
MP3: Bloc Party - Signs (Coupons Lets Arp Tonight Remix)
MP3: Bloc Party - Signs (noMartinMix)

The only downside to remixing their music and uploading it to their site is that unlike our friends Radiohead, you do not win anything for doing so. The ploy itself is used as a promotion for their upcoming Intimacy Remixed album. Says the band:

We’re very excited to announce that on the 11th of May we will be releasing ‘Intimacy Remixed’ on limited edition CD or triple 12”. It will also be available digitally.

The album will include remixes by Gold Panda, Mogwai and Filthy Dukes and will lead off with a remix of ‘Signs’ by Armand Van Helden which will be released on the 27th of April.

More remixes from quite possibly the most remixed group out there today will be available on May 11th. Adding to their massive amount of remixes, Bloc Party has teemed up with many great artists including Armand Van Helden and one of our long-time favorites, Mogwai who had previously remixed Bloc Party's song "Plans".

Although there have been many singles remixed, Bloc Party's last remix album was their Silent Alarm Remixed album back in 2005 which featured M83, Phones and Ladytron. The band seems to be on the cutting edge of upcoming artists this time as well.

MP3: Bloc Party - Signs (Armand Van Helden remix)

From the band:

We’re very excited to announce that on the 11th of May we will be releasing ‘Intimacy Remixed’ on limited edition CD or triple 12”. It will also be available digitally. The album will include remixes by Gold Panda, Mogwai and Filthy Dukes and will lead off with a remix of ‘Signs’ by Armand Van Helden which will be released on the 27th of April.

Missed our rundown of this year's best? See our top 30.

Many albums that didn't make our Top-30 list for the year, reached lofty places on other sites' lists. As our motto is, we won't saturate you with music we don't think is worth mentioning. The albums below were all quite good, but just fell below the best of the year.

MP3: Eureka Birds - Mars (buy)
MP3: Daniel Martin Moore - Stray Age (buy)
MP3: Deerhunter - Nothing Ever Happened (buy)
MP3: Nada Surf - Weightless (buy)

Here are MusicUnderFire's honorable mentions for 2008:

Eureka Birds - Eureka Birds
Not flashy. Not laced with catchy refrains. This Baltimore group caught our attention and has stuck with us since, thanks to a consistent debut album. We reviewed them and we liked them quite a bit. If you like an album off the beaten path, this is for you.

Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
Taking the first major step of 2008 was VW. Songs such as "A-Punk", "Oxford Comma" and "Campus" certainly earned this high marks for many and would have been higher if not for some transitional drawbacks.

Daniel Martin Moore - Stray Age
The top singer/songwriter on our list for this year, Moore used his simplicity and songwriting talents only he could pull off. Although a heavy contender to make it in the top 30, Moore was found he could do only one type of songwriting style, but nail it every time. Stray Age was a cinch to listen through the whole way - perfect for a relaxing situation, not something you will want to put on your iPod to go to the gym. We particularly enjoyed "That'll Be The Plan". Outstanding effort by Sub Pop's newest songwriter.

Snow Patrol - A Hundred Million Suns
Snow patrol didn't particularly stun us this time around, but the album had enough versatility with some of their traditional poker hands to some longshots they took, which actually worked. If you've listened to SP as long as we have, "Chocolate" seems to be in heavier rotation than "Engines", but that could possibly change. Just like most Snow Patrol albums, this one is a grower. Many tracks veer in a different dirrection that their older albums, particularly their last track "The Lightning Strike: (i) What If This Storm Ends? / (ii) The Sunlight Through The Flags / (iii) Daybreak", a three part song, in which each part blends into the next. I'm not sure why they didn't do their whole album this way, but this is just one example of how the band is growing and reaching deeper into their creative interworkings.

Kings of Leon - Only By The Night
These youngsters are growing up quick, and as if you haven't noticed already, there's something special about them. Not only has the world of pop taken in "Sex On Fire", but the band managed to make a bit of consistency out of their name. Their listeners got another solid outing by Kings of Leon once again. Songs such as "Manhattan" and "Revelry" made this album that more intriguing. Although they did have some gems on here, KOL seem to have the same formula time and time again, when in fact we were never head over heels for it to begin with. This would be the only reason we could not keep it in with our favs of this year.

Greg Laswell - Three Flights from Alto Nido
An album laced with not just your run-of-the mill sappy singer/songwriter material, Greg Laswell had a bit of every emotion poured into his debut. Songs such as "Comes and Goes (In Waves)" are well orchestrated and much has to do with his classy label, Vangard. Laswells songs excelled in both the studio and on the road. There's not much to say about this album that hasn't already been said here.

Bloc Party - Intimacy
Where A Weekend In The City left off, Intimacy took that and notched it up ten times, in terms of sheer loudness that is. The albums glory may be captured in the club-friendly "Better Than Heaven", but this album had too many pitfalls to be considered for our top albums. What did make this album great is the unbridled feel to the songs. Tracks such as "One Month Off" made for a great anthem for this album as did many other songs that followed the same raucous attitude. Bloc Party continues to put out albums with a few likable songs on each album.

Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight
One of the most influential albums for the first half of the year, Frightened Rabbit used many unorthodox methods of song. Perhaps its their folk-pop appeal, or maybe we liked them because we love Scottish bands. But no, FR was something quite special this year, and this list of 'almosts' also serves a purpose to show that other albums did not even make it into our 'honorable mentions' list. The Midnight Organ Fight was driven by some nifty songwriting by Scott Hutchison and backed by a talented band (sans bass). This is a well deserved spot in the midst of many other talented bands we've heard this year. (if you're looking for a Christmas song from Frightened Rabbit, check our short list of Indie Christmas Songs.)

Deerhunter - Microcastle

Another album teetering on the brink of making it into our top albums of this year, Deerhunter put out a marvelous effort, yet didni't score enough songs for us to truly 'get'. Most notable from this album is "Nothing Ever Happened". It looks like this group's future is quite bright, so I would anticipate much to happen in their future.

Nada Surf - Lucky
Their latest album showcased why they are such a timeless group. Songs such as "See These Bones", "Beautiful Beat" and "Weightless" highlighted this addition to your Nada Surf collection. Nada Surf has quite a bit of experience and it shined on this album.

As far as topping off this year with much recognition to artists who deserve to be on the top of everyone's year-end lists, MUF's favorite remix goes to Phones, the clever remix specialist from the UK whom we gave a hint of what was coming in our Bloc Party Remixes. Phones has come out with numerous remixes, more great remixes than I could count on my hands and toes, from many of our favorite artists including Black Ghosts, Interpol, Crystal Castles, Holy Fuck and many more.

Phones' 'R.I.P. remix' of of Bloc Party is one that stuck with us for nearly two months now since it was released on the Talons EP back in early November. Although here at Music Under Fire we're not as much into the DJ world as we are to the indie rock side of things, this one hit us in the right spot. Through all of the electronic-driven music, this one combined one of our more likable long-running artists over the last 5 years as one of the greatest emerging remixers out there.

To top off this classy showing, Phones went out with style as he posted a message soon after the Bloc Party Talons remix saying not only was he closing shop, but this would be his second to last remix, next to his Santogold remix. But don't worry, Phones is going underground to emerge once more. He will be working under an anonymous name - if anyone knows what this may be, please let us know!

MP3: Bloc Party - Talons (Phones R.I.P Mix) (buy (UK iTunes link))
MP3: Santogold - Say A-Ha (Phones Cosmic Mix) (buy)

From Phones:

I let it be known a few weeks back that I am killing off the Phones moniker once and for all. The reasons are simple really.. that I feel I've just about exhausted the creativity in how I have done 40 remixes for various people and felt like it was better to leave it there than to continue and risk spoiling some of the things I've done.

The last few mixes I've done were hard work and I felt like I need to start afresh under a new name.. anonymously.

The things that excite me musically change all the time and it feels like a shame to be stuck in one groove when there is a lot more to explore outside of those confines.

Px

Bloc Party news has been simmering down since Intimacy was released back on August 21st. Since then, an array of remixes have been releases, their most prominent one being their Mercury EP (iTunes UK link) which featured two other songs we didin't post here - "Flosstradamus Remix" and the "Herve Is In Disarray Remix" .

However, the list below has some great remixes, most importantly by CSS along with some of my older favorites such as "The Modern Love" and the stunning duality of Kele singing "Hunting for Witches" to the tune of Coldplay's "In My Place". Also featured are Chromeo and Does It Offend You, Yeah? (featured on our 300th post) remixed by Bloc Party.

MOST notable below, you can listen to the latest Bloc Party Remix, "Talons (Phones R.I.P Mix)", which will be available for download on iTunes' UK site as of tomorrow (10/20/08) in the UK only. From listening to the song below, I can say this is the best Bloc Party remix I've heard to date. As any Phones fan would be, I am shocked to hear it rumored that this is going to be his final remix (hence the "R.I.P." part of the remix title). If anyone has some truth to this, please leave a comment. Enjoy the list and be sure to pick up the Talons EP tomorrow...

MP3: Bloc Party - Hunting for Witches (Crystal Castles Remix) (buy)
MP3: Bloc Party - Mercury (CSS remix) (buy)
MP3: Bloc Party - The Pioneers (m83 remix) (buy)
MP3: Bloc Party - The Prayer (La Modes Sunday school remix) (buy)
MP3: Bloc Party - This Modern Love (dave piankas making time remix) (buy)
MP3: Bloc Party - Where Is Home (Diplo Remix feat Skepta) (buy)
MP3: Bloc Party vs Coldplay - Hunting for Witches In My Place (buy)
MP3: Chromeo - Needy Girl (Bloc Party Remix) (buy)
MP3: Does It Offend You Yeah - We Are Rockstars (Bloc Party Remix) (buy)

Bloc Party - Talons (Phones R.I.P Mix)

From their website:

“we wanted to keep things fresh and we thought the fans would be more excited to get a new song rather than something off the album. Talons is one of the last songs we recorded during the Intimacy sessions and I always had it in mind to be one of the extra tracks we promised for the CD if it turned out well. It turned out great so we decided to make it the next single. I’m enjoying this way of working, not over-thinking things, just make a decision and get on with it! It’s quite liberating in a way, I’m sure it’s going to be the way things happen more and more in the future”

Just the fact that there are 5,118 blog posts about Bloc Party's Intimacy album alone shows that there is more than a demand for prolific English-accented vocals and a texture for a club goers and remixers. The news about Bloc Party is pure saturation really, but is well-deserved. When it comes down to it, the fact that the UK based foursome made it over to the States, then became a hit no more than three years ago, says a lot to begin with.

MP3: Bloc Party - This Modern Love (buy)

It started off with a loud bang with their 2005 release of Silent Alarm, then quickly gained more attention with a remix album. Not long after, we saw A Weekend In The City arrive, the media in England couldn't keep their hands off of Kele and his controversial appetite. It rarely works this way, but three albums have garnered themselves enough attention to go in whichever direction they choose from this point forward. Whether they put together a miserable fourth and fifth album, people will still follow, buy it and remix it. Whether Pitchfork rates them a 5.8/10 has no impact either.

MP3: Bloc Party - Sunday (buy)

This is why Bloc Party has already secured themselves on the ipods of millions as 'immortal'. They can do whatever they'd like and people will follow. Their club rock sound is cutting edge. They provide the synths and experimental percussion to veer away from the normal techno rock, but at the same time are able to ground themselves, keeping the rock elements in tact.

MP3: Bloc Party - Better Than Heaven (buy)

You can say what you want - you won't be able to ignore them from this day out. You will hear their name ten, twenty years down the road. And its true, they're not stellar at the moment - they don't liken the crowds like that of Radiohead or Coldplay - but at this rate, with 2 or 3 great songs on three albums in 3 years, in ten years, they will have an impressive Greatest Hits to complile. Sure, its hard to say now, but its hard to deny, they've got the music industry's attention in their little pocket. Congrats Bloc Party, you're in the club.

Official - http://www.blocparty.com/
MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/blocparty

Bloc Party is back with their third album, Intimacy, which has been released via digital download on their website as of last Thursday (August 21st). They are the latest in a string of artists to take the plunge and offer their album exclusively through their website. However, unlike many other artists, Bloc Party is releasing both their album in both MP3 and CD, with the option to buy both simultaneously. The price is about $10 (5 Euros) for just the MP3s (in 320Kbps!) or for both the CD and MP3s if you're feeling ritsy for a total of about $20. 10 Euros is about $20, right? So maybe a smidge cheaper than that. Not a bad deal.

However, I'm surprised to not see Bloc Party release an LP of their latest; after all, LPs have been coming back this year. Despite all of the album sharing and torrent distribution, I see no reason why Bloc Party does not have success with Intimacy. After all, their fan base continues to blossom and even a bad album would reach some sort of acclaim. After reading a few early reviews, it seems to be this way, anyway. It seems that people who own their previous two albums, Silent Alarm and A Weekend In The City, will soon adapt and be somewhat pleased.

Below is the video for Bloc Party's first single from Intimacy, "Mercury". Although I am not a fan of the "Mercury" single, I think this video has quite an entertaining message. A bunch of alien apes string together a ridiculous looking programmable ape, one who can learn, date and become president, then take over the world. Perhaps this has always been our fear - that with the coming elections, we could vote for someone who, in the end, may be our demise. Strongly played by Bloc Party this time around, as for the single, I'm not yet sold on it.

MP3: Bloc Party - Mercury (CSS Remix) (buy)

Official - http://www.blocparty.com/
MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/blocparty

Video: Bloc Party - Mercury

The poppy electric-laced foursome of Bloc Party have released another script in their long-winded round of musical remixed tracks- this time with Chromeo's "Needy Girl". Dubbed "Needy Girl (High School Prom Remix)", the song is just one of the many versions Chromeo has allowed to be tweaked from their Needy Girl EP.

MP3: Chromeo- Needy Girl (Bloc Party's High School Prom Remix) (buy)

Chromeo, best known for their Prince-esque synth drums and twangy bass as well as their romancing early-90s R&B lyrics, released Fancy Footwork last June, which was soon followed by various tailing EPs. The bringing back of this old school sound (and video) alone is worth a quick watch.