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Sleepy Sun Announces US and Canadian Tour Dates!

post from Ears of the Beholder on 03 July 2009 02:14:47 PM. © Ears of the Beholder

I?ve seen these guys perform five times now if I?m not mistaken and each show has...

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Felix Da Housecat - He Was King

post from The 405 RSS Blog on 03 July 2009 12:53:12 PM. © The 405 RSS Blog

Release date: (24/08/09)
Website: http://www.myspace.com/felixdahousecat

House music luminary, and damn hard worker, Felix Da Housecat is back with his 10th longer player, He Was King.

In typical style, his new album again goes in a totally new direction from his last venture, Virgo Blaktro and the Movie Disco. It's a departure from the concept album to begin with, and rather than re-delving into his soulful roots, Felix has returned to Electro. This is a style he refers to as ?his old sound? ironically enough, acknowledging that he knows the genre that allowed him into music's avant-garde elite in the first place.

We All Wanna Be Prince, turns the headlights on for the album, showing you the road you?re being driven down. It a proper homage to the song?s namesake too, referencing not only his style but even his tracks by name. It sounds like the sort of music you would want Prince to be making now; a simple, pop dusted track with a futuristic edge to it. All too quickly though you are presented with the album?s main issue, in that it doesn't push any boundaries that FdH hasn't pushed before.

Felix likes his repetitive beats played over with angelic feminine vocals and he has used this template for the bulk of the album. The tracks, Do we move your world, We, Spank u very much, Do not try this at home and Machine all follow the same distinctive path of soft vocal over a simplistic beat that?s set to repeat. There is the odd tweak to the format, and variation of bpm, but on the whole it doesn't vary enough to hold your attention. It?s all played out too safe in the pen that FdH feels most comfortable in. The album, just spends too much of it's time in dangling it's feet in the shallow shores of the Balearics to make any poignant waves.

LA Ravers and Elvi$ do make a proper attempt at dragging this album towards euphoria though. Both are built to be played out to a crowd and they have the quality in them to compete aggressively with any floor filler. They are the two most innovative tracks on there and a departure from the ductile vocal melee on the rest of the 45 minutes. Were these two the benchmarks for album, then it would be a totally different affair and blatantly a more colorful and exciting prospect.

It closes with He Was King ? if this was a straight up, pop electro epic rendition of a track that we have heard FdH put out and master before, then it would have been aptly named given how pop has lost it?s very own king recently, but it?s not. It echoes back to main substance of the album, the much tested, and little to shout about, slow vocalised ?soft-tric? sound. A fitting end to an album that threatens to get going but doesn't capitalize on its own flirtations with momentum.

If you picked 11 of you favorite Felix Da Housecat tracks, you would have one of the best, fresh sounding and poignant dance records music has heard ? but across one whole album, again, attention fluctuates too much and variation is sadly shelved in favor of comfortable security. If Felix Da Housecat drew upon his vast musical insight and experience, laid down an album that pushed his capabilities to the brink then perhaps, he could be king!

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http://thefourohfive.com/articles/795

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Trippy Wicked- Lowering The Tone [EP]

post from Altsounds on 03 July 2009 12:48:06 PM. © Altsounds

This is awful, just plain awful. As a self proclaimed fan of most forms of stoner/doom/drone metal I feel I am more than qualified to view this collection subjectively and there is nothing here that hasn't been done before hundreds of times over and[...]

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http://hangout.altsounds.com/showthread.php?t=108667&goto=newpost

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Múm - Sing Along To Songs You Don't Know

post from The 405 RSS Blog on 03 July 2009 12:17:54 PM. © The 405 RSS Blog

Label: Morr Music
Release date: 24/08/09 (00/00/00)

Ever since their second album, ?Finally We Are No One?, Múm have been gradually moving away from the ?straightforward? - but beautiful - electronica of their debut release. The record saw the introduction of vocals and a far more prominent role assigned to a host of instruments in the band?s sound. As the group?s career has progressed this role has only increased in importance as the song ?Marmalade Fires? on their last album demonstrates.

It is on their newest release, ?Sing Along to Songs You Don?t Know?, that Múm have shown how far they have come from their origins; so much so that it is virtually impossible to connect this new offering with the band?s first back in 2000. The electronic scratches, beeps, blips, clicks and ambient noises which were Múm?s enchanting forte have been almost entirely drowned out by the sounds of voices, cellos, guitars, drums, pianos and a number of other instruments. The result is a collection of songs more akin to something that fellow Icelanders Sigur Rós might produce, though ? regrettably ? they are much less satisfying.

The first track, ?If I Were a Fish?, provides a gentle, twinkling opening which appears to hold a lot of promise for the rest of the album. This is followed by ?Sing Along?, a fun, multi-layered tune that, with a pounding beat and lines like ?You are so beautiful to us, we want to lock you in our house?, is both exciting and oddly charming. Sadly, this is where the album peaks as from here on in it becomes a blur of strings, plinking plonking things and choral arrangements. These are all certainly very nice, and there are a number of sweet touches, but the problem is that the material never really becomes arresting or memorable. There is no conclusion, no release to cut off the languid flow of repetition that seems to form the basis of the album and so these last ten songs become fairly interchangeable. This problem is heightened by the chorus of voices, which in being similarly arranged on each track provides a blanket of sound that swallows any defining moments.

?Sing Along to Songs You Don?t Know?, though pretty in parts, is mostly background music. My hope is that it is not the endpoint of Múm?s musical journey but merely a clumsy step on unsure footing whilst the talented group try to get to grips with their new, instrument focussed sound.

Rating: 6/10

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http://thefourohfive.com/articles/794

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Book Notes - Peter Terzian ("Heavy Rotation")

post from Largehearted Boy on 03 July 2009 12:06:00 PM. © Largehearted Boy

In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book. If you have ever read this blog, you know how enamored I am of the worlds of...

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tml

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Plankton: Musical Predictions 2009

post from Monkton Versus Plankton on 03 July 2009 11:50:42 AM. © Monkton Versus Plankton

?What do you want to hear repeatedly on the radio this year???of course,...

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Artic Monkeys Blow Speakers In Poland, Force
Concert Delay

post from Starpulse Entertainment News - Music News on 03 July 2009 11:41:20 AM. © Starpulse Entertainment News - Music News

British rockers Artic Monkeys' live comeback was marred when they were forced to abandon the stage for ten minutes after their speakers blew up.[...] Read more!

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Arctic Monkeys Blow Speakers In Poland, Force
Concert Delay

post from Starpulse Entertainment News - Music News on 03 July 2009 11:41:20 AM. © Starpulse Entertainment News - Music News

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MOS DEF TO REPLACE COMMON AT TORONTO'S ROCK THE
BELLS!

*ROCK THE BELLS 2009 FESTIVAL SERIES**IN ASSOCIATION WITH BUDWEISER**GUERILLA UNION ANNOUNCES * *COMMON TO MISS ROCK THE BELLS SHOW IN TORONTO!* *MOS DEF ADDED TO LINEUP **THIS SUNDAY, JULY 5 IN TORONTO AT MOLSON AMPHITHEATRE!!* *ROCK THE BELLS[...]

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http://hangout.altsounds.com/showthread.php?t=108666&goto=newpost

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Shorties (Jeff Tweedy, Best Albums of 2009, and
more)

In the New York Times magazine, David Carr profiles Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy. After Mr. Tweedy formed Wilco, he found himself split between being the guy who worshiped rock music and the one on the stage. ?I wish I was...

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