Saturday, January 30, 2010

FM Belfast - Par Avion



Not a new album but FM Belfast release their album How To Make Friends in the US. This song reminds me alittle of the Canadian band Stars. This is the first US single and quite infectious it is. Talking about wanting to live in the Carribean

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsUHS-yGynA


Monday, January 25, 2010

Washed Out- You'll See It



Excellent downtempo track taken from the EP Life Of Leisure. Definately space age indie chiil out music here. Have not had the chance to check out the rest of the EP as of yet but if its anything like this.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOf-moiZPVQ





Check out the review of the EP here 000 Blog

Sunday, January 24, 2010

The XX - VCR



Brand new single from the Brilliant first album by the XX. Low tempo indie rock. The XX are at the Phoenix in Toronto on April 10. I don't expect these tickets to last long. They also open up for Hot Chip on April 20 at the Kool Haus. These tickets are sold out.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI2eO_mNM88


Sunday, January 17, 2010

Beach House - Norway



Brand new single (7 Inch) on Bella Union and first one off their new album Teen Dream which is out at the end of the month. Fantastic atmospheric track/lush. Beach House will be at the Opera House in Toronto on March 30th.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHbtR8uO81M

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Tune-Yards - Real Live Flesh

4AD, one of my favourite labels of all time are releasing the "monumental lo-fi R&B jewel" from Tune-Yards, ‘Real Live Flesh’, backed with a new track entitled 'Youth', on February 8, 2010. Available from 4AD on both 7 Inch and download. This is definately indie RnB if I have ever heard it. Nice!

I'm actually directing you directly to the 4AD site for the video as there is no opportunity to embed this. If you aren't familiar with 4AD I recommend you check out their site. The label has been around since the late seventies and has housed old skool bands such as the Cocteau Twins, The Pixies, Pale Saints, Lush, Wolfgang Press, and one of my all time favourite bands Ultra Vivid Scene. Of recent the band has been home to the likes of St Vincent, Atlas Sound, Tindersticks, Camera Obscura, and The Big Pink. The label can do no wrong

Video:Real Live Flesh Video

Friday, January 15, 2010

Harlem - Spray Paint

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L30rwq_xDYQ


Great indie garage punk rock from Harlem who drop their new album Hippies on Matador records in April 2009.

Monday, January 11, 2010

The Tough Alliance - A New Chance (Juan Maclean Remix)



Not sure where this remix came from. I needed to go back to the original version taken from the album of the same title A New Chance which came out in 2007 to see how brilliant the new Juan Maclean remix actually is. I can safely say its brilliant. By the way, the remix is now out on the new Tough Alliance remix EP, titled Prison Break and its the first thing we have seen from the band in like 2-3 years.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I6GjRTlPKQ



Check out this other guy's review of the remix

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Get Well Soon - Angry Young Man



Epic sounding music fit for the cinema from Get Well Soon. I'm guessing that this is the first single from the German singer's second album Vexations due out in 2010. If you like this you might want to check out the first album Rest Now, Weary Head! You Will Get Well Soon which came out in 2008 and has some nice dark pieces too it.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mumG3p3mb68


Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Wiley & Chew Fu - Take That



The builds in this track are absolutely crazy. This would probably drive any club absolutely mad. Wiley picks up where Dizzee left off.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjoQEckfDeQ

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Elizabeth Fraser - Moses

Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins fame releases a piece of downtempo italian lounge music which has sorta grown on me. Quite different than her Cocteau stuff. Feel like I'm in a bad italian movie actually. The music has the sentiment of a cut and paste job done by someone like the Avalanches. See what you think? Out on Rough Trade Records on limited edition 12 Inch vinyl. Also available through your typical online outlets supposedly.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfeYJWCNMzU


Sunday, January 3, 2010

Happy New Year: What IK VS DK Missed in 2009

So, 2010 is here... but we're not finished with 2009 just yet. BBC News is running a story on the "best albums you never heard in 2009" (click for link). This sparked my curiosity -- which of these artists did IK VS DK miss?

We featured singles from Dirty Projector's Bitte Orca and Jack Penate's Everything is New, and we had tracks from both Sky Larkin and Wild Beasts in 2008... yet we missed the rest. Now some of the tracks aren't in the genres we usually review, but I was particularly embarrassed that I missed Mew's latest release, having thoroughly enjoyed their previous studio albums Frengers and And The Glass Handed Kites.

Without further ado, here are singles from several of the albums we missed (click on You Tube links to see/hear videos) and descriptions courtesy of the BBC News article:

A Camp - Stronger Than Jesus (from Colonia)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUVMpluF7kQ

Eight years after their debut, The Cardigans singer Nina Persson has resurrected side-project A Camp. Working with her husband, she says the album was inspired by "the history of savagery", explaining: "The human urge to rape, conquer and pillage has always fascinated me."

Blue Roses - Doubtful Comforts (from Blue Roses)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CzL35rTqfM

Recalling Kate Bush and Joni Mitchell, the voice of Laura Groves is at the heart of this warm, folky album. She roped in family and friends to accompany her and recorded on borrowed equipment in bedrooms, bathrooms and living rooms in her home town of Shipley, Yorkshire.

The Do - On My Shoulders (from A Mouthful)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bBkEQYdMM8

Named after the first and last note on the musical scale, this French-Finnish duo claim to be as inspired by jazz and classical as rock and pop. The result is wilfully off-the-wall and exhilarating.

The Low Anthem - To Ohio (from Oh My God, Charlie Darwin)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGxaRpN5Eb4

This trio met at university in Rhode Island and have won fans with their fragile Americana. Their instruments include a WWI portable pump organ, a rusty saw, a nipple gong, a "gut-strung parlor axe" and "enough harmonicas to summon a swarm of locusts".

Major Lazer - Hold The Line (from Guns Don't Kill People...Lazers Do)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4SNtFQZF0A

Major Lazer is a one-armed Jamaican ex-commando who battles the forces of darkness. Actually, he is a cartoon character devised by producers Diplo and Switch to serve their blistering cocktail of dancehall reggae, hip-hop and electro.

Mew - Repeaterbeater (from No More Stories...)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEh9cELK5Os

Phil Singer, There Goes The Fear blog: "This has been my favourite album of 2009. One moment extremely bombastic, the next surprisingly fragile and gentle, it is not your typical indie-by-numbers affair. The stunning opener New Terrain can be played both forwards and backwards, the magical Sometimes Life Isn't Easy has chirpy hand claps and uplifting kid choirs, while Hawaii has hypnotic vocals and fun, calypso-style percussion. "

Micachu & The Shapes - Golden Phone (from Jewellery)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TRkZpFgJcI

Micachu is Londoner Mica Levi, who recorded the album while studying at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and used home-made instruments ranging from a modified CD rack to broken bottles and a vacuum cleaner.

Sky Larkin - Antibodies (from The Golden Spike)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQRwg0QLSNg

After four years together, this Leeds guitar trio recorded their brisk, taut and spiky debut album in two weeks in Seattle. It owes much to American alt.rock and was released by respected indie label Wichita.

tUnE-YaRdS - Fiya (from BiRd BrAiNs)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Xff8CnlQ6o

Made using a digital voice recorder and shareware software in her Montreal flat, singer and instrumentalist Merrill Garbus' rich, intimate and unpredictable album is held together by DIY charm.

Wild Beasts - All The King's Men (from Two Dancers)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sxh5zMbNAo

Hayden Thorpe's distinctive falsetto, coupled with Tom Fleming's baritone and a delicate, dreamy musical landscape, makes this Kendal foursome stand well apart from the conventional indie scene.