AlterPolitics New Post

Music: The Cribs Perform ‘Men’s Needs’ (video)

by on Monday, January 21, 2013 at 5:25 pm EDT in Arts & Entertainment, Music

The Cribs 'Men's Needs'I am ashamed to confess that I am a Johnny-come-lately to this group. In fact, I only discovered them a few days ago through a Tweet by Edwyn Collins. And so seven years after its initial release, the song finally enjoys heavy rotation in my crib.

This English trio — formed in Wakefield, West Yorkshire in 2002 — consists of three brothers, two of which are twins. To date, the group has released five albums, most of which enjoyed critical acclaim. As if being completely ignorant of their existence wasn’t bad enough, I then went on to discover that one of my favorite guitarists, Johnny Marr of The Smiths, had become a member of the group between 2008 and 2011.

For those who too may have drifted out of the ‘in’ and into the ‘out’ with regards to the new music scene, you will be in for a pleasant surprise here. ‘Men’s Needs’ is The Cribs’ biggest hit to date. It is hands down excellent.

The video was directed by Diane Martel and shot in Hollywood. It is brilliant in its simplicity — much like the promotional music videos that came out of the UK in the late 70s and early 80s. It simply consists of the band performing in front of a yellow backdrop, but with a naked young woman playing the mischievous saboteur and doing a pret-ty good job of poaching their spotlight.

ENJOY!

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCNTYi9fHuo[/youtube]

VIDEO: Lily Allen And Keane Perform ‘Everybody’s Changing’ Live At War Child

by on Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 12:20 pm EDT in Arts & Entertainment, Music

In 2007, Lily Allen and Keane performed a few songs together at a benefit concert for War Child. I had never heard “Everybody’s Changing” until last night, when I stumbled across this video, and instantly fell in love with it. (h/t to Kelly Canfield at firedoglake for the discovery)

Enjoy:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3uOfpW5kds[/youtube]

WATCH: Colorama’s New Single, ‘Candy Street’

by on Friday, December 17, 2010 at 8:26 pm EDT in Arts & Entertainment, Music

The Independent revealed today that Edwyn Collins, a longtime favorite of mine, picked British band Colorama’s ‘Box’ as his favorite album of 2010.

Having never heard of the band before, I clicked over to YouTube and found this single ‘Candy Street’ from the aforementioned album.  I absolutely love it — it’s very catchy.

Now, keep in mind, I’m a huge early Kinks fan, and this song could fit perfectly on “Something Else By The Kinks” or “Face to Face” — which happen to be two of my favorite albums.

Great songwriting, 60s psychedelic sound, Ray Davies-esque vocals — I’m there!

Colorama’s frontman, Carwyn Ellis, has been described as a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger and music producer who resides in Wales.  He has performed and/or collaborated with Edwyn Collins, Oasis, UNKLE, Shane MacGowan, Roddy Frame, Paul Cook, and many others.

Without further ado, here’s Colorama new song ‘Candy Street’:

ENJOY!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnVuYzw-J5g[/youtube]

You can download Colorama’s ‘Candy Street’ single, or the full-length ‘Box’ album, here:   Box - Colorama

FREE 12-Song Download: Carbon/Silicon (Ex-Clash Mick Jones) New LP, ‘Carbon Bubble’

by on Monday, November 23, 2009 at 9:11 pm EDT in Arts & Entertainment, Music

Great news for all impoverished music lovers out there! Carbon/Silicon, featuring — one of my all-time favorite songwriters — Mick Jones (formerly of The Clash and Big Audio Dynamite) and Tony James (formerly of Generation X), have just released their new 12-Song LP entitled The Carbon Bubble. It is available at the Carbon/Silicon site as […]

Watch: Everything But The Girl Perform ‘Before Today’ Live In London ’99

by on Saturday, November 14, 2009 at 12:36 am EDT in Arts & Entertainment, Music

I’ve been a long-time fan of Everything But the Girl.  They have an endless discography of great songs; always managing to keep it fresh by allowing their sound to evolve quite dramatically with the times.  Their early sound had a jazzy, French Cafe-ish feel — not unlike the Style Council (another favorite of mine) — […]

Watch: Mundy Performs His Awesome Hit “July” @ Trinity College, Ireland

by on Saturday, November 7, 2009 at 1:02 pm EDT in Arts & Entertainment, Music

This song by Mundy is very catchy — extremely popular throughout Ireland — yet, I doubt more than a half-dozen people in America have ever even heard it.  It’s really shocking how so much great music across the world remains local, and never gets ushered onto the world stage.  What a waste… Mundy’s own independent […]

Watch: Groove Armada Perform ‘Superstylin’ LIVE At Brixton Academy 2002

by on Friday, October 30, 2009 at 12:50 pm EDT in Arts & Entertainment, Music

Grammy-nominated single ‘Superstylin’ is one of my favorite dance club ‘Big Beat’ tracks — definitely my favorite Groove Armada track.  Behind the heavy bass, and awesome melody is some powerful Jamaican-style toasting.  It’s something between dance-hall reggae and a heavy rave/club tune.  Truly hypnotic — the kind of song that will fuel your gym workouts, […]

Great Dance Track – “Don’t Take it Personal” by Wahoo

by on Wednesday, October 21, 2009 at 6:08 pm EDT in Arts & Entertainment, Music

There’s a lot of great music falling by the wayside these days.  Here’s a cool dance track that — okay, I’m gonna venture out onto this limb, here — is virtually unknown in America.  Apparently, it’s gotten a bit of play in dance clubs around Europe.  Gilles Peterson — master Brit DJ / music purveyor […]