Mimicking that easy-going attitude and group-minded implementation of O.A.R. and Dispatch, the guys from the B-Side Prophets are at the gate of national recognition with their debut album, Down in Illadelphia.
Composed of T.J. Leis (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Bernie Gillespie (bass), Matt Kresge (lead guitar) and Wyatt Patterson (drums), the message in Down in Illadelphia roots with the three guys from Philadelphia while style seems always open for interpretation..
The nature of the rhyming and the reggae-style jammin' sessions throughout the album do closely sound like the groups mentioned above, but the lyrical content more closely affixes them to Sublime, as in "Run from Cop" and "Pimpin'", where they sing to more colorful tones than just odes to the ladies.
To check out more from the group, head to their myspace page. We will keep you posted on when their album hits shelves, too.
Athlete has been scorned by most critics this past year for sounding too much like Coldplay (whatever that means now), but we still love em' and are anticipating The Outsiders EP, which was just announced this past week.
Amazingly, its not a bunch of remixes of their song "The Outsiders" from Beyond The Neighbourhood, which came out this past year. In fact, I only know two of these tracks, and so should you - "Flying Over Bus Stops" was actually one of my top picks from this album, so I'm looking forward to these new ones planted in the middle of this EP to compliment two tracks at least I know I enjoyed from BTN.
The Outsiders EP will be available on June 23rd in the UK.
Here's the tracklisting:
1) The Outsiders (Radio Edit)
2) Best Not To Think About It
3) Shades On
4) Plain English
5) Flying Over Bus Stops (Live at Cambridge Corn Exchange)
MP3: Athlete - Flying Over Bus Stops (buy)
Check out Athlete on iTunes, MySpace, Official Page, last.fm
Radiohead: Nude Remix Contest Reaches 2,200 Submissions
2 comments Posted by musicunderfire at 5/03/2008
Photo Cortesy of MissionPhotographic.com
Radiohead's Remix Contest has finally wrapped up the submissions following the end of April, bringing in 2254 submissions to date. The success of the remix contest is overwhelming considering iTunes was the source from which each of the five tracks needed to be downloaded. Although torrents were undoubtedly used to spread, there's no doubt many spent $4.95 only for their rights to remix something which they will never have full rights to.
So how well and fair was the competition ran and will the best remix really win? For newcomers to the remix biz, their hope for top votes would not come so easy. Many websites, emails and comment sections on blogs have been getting spammed with the remixers quiet hopes of gaining some worldwide remix acclaim but simply posting links wherever they could get their slimy links in.
Although Radiohead's remix contest site remains very user friendly, with web-code to post your remix widget with ease, the site itself relies on users seeking out these remixes in a time-consuming venture. In the end, it seems typical that the first page of submissions would get the majority of the votes, which, in-fact, did happen. Not to take any credit away from the DJs who mixed their own versions, but perhaps it could have been done better from the start. The latest addidion to the remix homepage fixed this, although a month passed, you can now choose to have a random selection populate, rather than go through the top ten on your first page load. Perhaps this will bring a new champion by the time voting closes on June 1st?
Below are the current top ten, but we encourage you to randomize your votes, afterall, the world's next best DJ could be right in front of you.
MP3: Radiohead - Nude (Holy Fuck remix)
#1: Spor
#2: Holy Fuck
#3: Minty Fresh
#4: Abrasion
#5: J.B. Featuring Rona Caroline
#6: Lost Memories in Translation
#7: Dublin (Tim O'Driscoll)
#8: DreamTrak
#9: Radio Hawaii
#10: 1997
April was the best month for music thus far this year, although the months to come hold much in store, particularly with Death Cab For Cutie's Narrow Stairs album hitting stores on May 13th. This month we were able to get lots of sneak peeks at the album, especially with the release of their Daytrotter Sessions, which we were able to hear "Talking Bird" and "Cath...".
My favorite song this month has to be Angel Pier's "Sacrifice", and although this song isn't yet available for download, you can have a listen on their MySpace page. As far as odd songs that I keep coming back to, Helvetia's "Old, New Bicycle" surprised me with the excellent guitar solos matched with the sullen vocals, yet still kept the song so laid back with an eerie summer vibe to it. Delorentos exhibited one of my favorite finds this month with "Do You Realise", which we made a song of the week.
A few albums I can't take out of my CD player/iPod are French Kicks' (check out "Said So What") latest along with Cut Copy's synth techno-rock/pop and Your Vegas' downright collossal release of A Town And Two Cities. A few others to point out in the bunch are Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin's infections, yet mellow "Modern Mystery" and the whimsical group/crowd who make up I'm From Barcelona, with their song "This Boy", which is actually the song in the background on the new Chrysler commercials.
Lastly, another shout to Tokyo Police Club and Annuals, who have really made this month for me along with the Brad Melhdau Trio who's incredible jazz remake of "Wonderwall" will have me looking for more rock-turned-jazz remakes in the coming month. If anyone has any recommendations of other jazz rock songs, please pass them on. Enjoy this month's best-of.
Angel Pier - Sacrifice (buy)
The Whigs - Right Hand On My Heart (buy)
Delorentos - Do You Realise (buy)
Helvetia - Old, New Bicycle (buy)
Auburn Lull - Arc of an Outsider (buy)
The Kooks - Always Where I Need To Be (buy)
Tokyo Police Club - Tessellate (buy)
French Kicks - Said So What (buy)
Unwed Sailor - Little Wars (buy)
South - Better Things (buy)
Coldplay - Violent Hill (buy)
MGMT - Electric Feel (buy)
M83 - Graveyard Girl (buy)
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Modern Mystery (buy)
I'm From Barcelona - This Boy (feat. Loney, Dear) (buy)
Phantom Planet - Leader (buy)
Shout Out Louds - Impossible (Possible Remake by Studio) (buy)
American Princes - Auditorium (buy)
The Details - The Height of Land (buy)
Annuals - Sore (buy)
Cassettes Won't Listen - Freeze & Explode (buy)
Brad Melhdau Trio - Wonderwall (buy)
The Kooks - See The World (live) (buy)
French Kicks - Abandon (buy)
Tokyo Police Club - In A Cave (buy)
Cut Copy - Out There On The Ice (buy)
Cut Copy - Lights And Music (buy)
Your Vegas - Troubled Times (buy)
Your Vegas - Birds of Paradise (buy)
For all the UK Santogold fans and music-lovers, Atlantic UK will be giving away some tickets to the sold-out album release party. The party is slated for 5/12 at The Old Blue Last in East London.
How to win tickets? Answer the question below and send an email to competitions@atlanticrecords.co.uk along with your full name, address and contact telephone number.
What animal does Santogold appear on at the beginning of the 'L.E.S. Artistes' video?
We'll even help you. This video is from the U.S. YouTube:
With no warning, I wandered into something I didn't expect Thursday night- the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus playing acoustic. Although hardly a heavy hitting screamo fan or even RJA long-time listener, seeing the group hit the North Star Bar in north Philly could hardly be considered a patch on my arm for support.
Excited with the prospect of a group claiming my allegiance, I was quickly discouraged by lead man Ronnie Winter explaining after just a song that they were steering in a new direction on this tour in a more "mellow" direction. I swear. My music ego hurt by sudden regret for spending the $15 to enter, I stuck with it.
Winter and crew played, yes, but with such restraint one would have thought he was sick and the group knew their lead singer was mortally wounded. This was not the case- it was their plan. Unexpected for fans this showcase was, the acoustic ambling reaped its drolling lather on the crowd, which was ready to roar at any electric shock.
The verdict: Winter was great mid song but his strong voice became too subdued under the acoustic surrounding and a murky voice at a local show is forgettable. Where did the rest of the group fit in? I'm afraid they subsided to showroom decorum and listless plucking. The audience stood frozen and that showed.
No movement by the group and hardly any noticeable emotion surely hurt this outfit at the North Star. We at MusicUnderFire hope for more electric in the future.
MP3: The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus: Your Guardian Angel (acoustic) (buy)
Above: Your Vegas members Coyle Girelli, Mat Steel, Mark Heaton, Jon Langford and Mal Taylor.
Your Vegas, the English rock band from Otley quickly made themselves known throughout The States while on tour with The Bravery over the course of the past few months. With a sound big enough for any arena, song style charismatic as your favorite pop-rock band and more captivating songs than you can shake a stick at, its no wonder why Your Vegas immediately hit the ground running as their first full-length album, A Town and Two Cities made its stunning debut last month.
While the band has been busy on their tour, we were lucky enough to get a few answers from Coyle Girelli (vocals, guitar) about the new album and some lingering thoughts:
Your band name sounds inspiring and open-minded, what made you choose the name ‘Your Vegas’ and what’s the meaning behind it?
Your Vegas was a song that I had before we formed. Its a song about escape, about finding your place in the world where you belong. It’s about hope. When we were looking for a name we kept hitting brick walls. Then someone suggested Your Vegas - it seemed to fit and sum up a recurrent theme in many of the songs - escape, struggling to find a place in the world and eternal hope.
Your first singles came out in 2005 (“Your Vegas”) and 2006 (“Flybuzz”) respectively, what was the biggest factor in getting your first full-length album out the door?I guess my trip, turned move to NY. We released those indie singles but needed the backing to release of first full-length out of the door. We had 70 odd songs and were confident we had a great record in there and we needed it out! We had a deal with Sony in the UK fall through and were at a crossroads. I went over to the US to test the water and see what people were thinking of our music. Pretty quickly we were all in NY doing showcases and soon after were signed to Universal Republic. So I guess that decision to come over for bit was the biggest factor.
You can hit every note in the spectrum, where did you get your pipes?
Thank you very much. I have both Italian and Irish heritage - two nations blessed with a long line of great singers so I guess it’s in the genes. My grandma has always walked around singing Opera. Singing has always been around me. It sort of came natural I guess.
A Town and Two Cities is a crisply produced album, what musical influences pushed the direction of the album one way or another?
We went into the studio with a very fixed vision of what we wanted our album to sound like. We had worked on it for a while. Musical influences from the early 80's from bands such as Echo and The Bunnymen, Big Country, Simple Minds and U2 to the ever-present influence of Springsteen and The Beatles shaped our vision. Our producer David Bendeth (Paramore, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Breaking Benjamin, The Almost, Vertical Horizon) added his thoughts to (our vision) and helped give us a heavy bottom end.
The messages in each of your songs seem to be that of a positive and good-willed nature, what inspired you to write your songs this way?Writing music for me has always been a sort of exorcism. Its a release of what’s going on inside! A lot of the time, I guess, I'm writing to myself. Messages of hope. Songs that lift and make you feel better. I guess the theme of good will and love comes from this. I want our music to have a positive effect on people. To make people think about things and feel good about themselves. I want to make music that matters to people the way it does to me.
The name of your album, A Town and Two Cities must be talking about Leeds/Otley (your hometown) and New York City, where your careers began to bloom. Which of these places had the greatest effect on this album?
Hmmm? Good question. I guess its Otley. It’s where we grew up. It’s the place we fought hard to escape from and I guess it’s the place that stays in our hearts no matter how far from home we are. I have this love/hate relationship with Otley. It trapped me, yet it’s the place that I guess set me free. It’s a source of great contradiction for me.
Your Vegas draws a crowd on their tour with The Bravery
"The Way The War Was Won” has a strong message connected with world peace, is there something specific to you that made you write these lyrics?
Yeah, seeing an unjust and needless war unfold before my eyes - a war that my country is involved in, against my and majority of the populations wishes - a war which has cost so many innocent lives and caused so much pain and destruction - I feel ashamed and so sad at the state of the world right now. Humanity seems to never learn lessons. Its the same crap over and over again - greed = lies = war = destruction. It breaks my heart and is a theme in a few songs and many of our new songs, post A Town And Two Cities.
You have quite a tour happening right now, playing with The Bravery, then with Duran Duran in the coming month, and then finally playing at both Lollapalooza in Chicago and lastly the Bonnaroo Festival in Tennessee, what has your best tour experience through The States been thus far?
Yeah it’s amazing. We've just finished with The Bravery. They're an awesome set of guys and a great band. We're gonna miss playing with them, but I’m sure it wont be the last time we do. The whole tour with them was an incredible experience and we got to see so much of America and play to so many amazing crowds. We feel very blessed and can’t wait to keep touring and touring and touring for a long time!
Mp3: Your Vegas - In My Head (buy)
Listen to Your Vegas on iTunes, check them out on their MySpace Page, YouTube, purevolume or check back on their Official Homepage for more details about the band.
