Noah And The Whale- Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down - Free Download

Noah and The Whale- Just downloaded this and having a quick listen- some good tunes there!

The blurb-

Noah and The Whale will release their much-anticipated debut album, Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down, on 11th August. The band, currently on tour in the UK will precede the album with a single set to be one of the songs of the summer, 5 Years Time (released on Young & Lost Club / Vertigo on 4th August).

Described in The Sunday Times as “a global hit in the making”, 5 Years Time is a glorious love song that blends the simple narrative and direct lo-fi charm of anti-folk artists such as Jeffrey Lewis or Jonathan Richman with the classic pop of Buddy Holly.

Noah and The Whale make earnest, poetic music. Their album is a collection of songs that muse on the connections between love, death and time and though 5 Years Time is the perfect invitation to their world; it is merely a piece of their puzzle. The songs move effortlessly from the epic grandeur of Arcade Fire to the intimate melancholy of Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy but all with a very clear sense of Englishness.

If you missed their set at Glastonbury, don’t worry, Noah and the Whale will be at several festivals this summer including Latitude, Secret Garden, Cambridge Folk Festival, Summer Sundae, Field Day and V Festival. They’ll also be playing an album launch show at London’s Roundhouse on 11th August, where a series of paintings that make up the album artwork will also be on exhibition.

Listen to the album now, for free.
Your download will time out in 2 weeks time.

Download from Vertigo.

Wma files with DRM.

Sigur Rós- Live Stream of Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust

Not much to add since I am only listening to it now!

Go to here to stream the whole album.

If you have MySpace, Facebook, Hi5 or anywhere you can save code have a look at the widget to embed it at your site. WordPress is not friendly for embedding- something I keep on meaning to have a look at but never have the time to do!

[EDIT] Just finished listening and there are some damn fine tunes…standout for me is Festival so if you dont have much time start there!

Carly Sings- Road Records Free In-store Performance

Tomorrow the 6th of June, the excellent Carly Sings is going to have a free in-store performance in Road Records for the release of her album The Glove Thief. Called in at lunch to double check the time and it should be kicking off at 1:15 so I hope to be there!

For those unfamiliar with her music check out the review by Sinead and head over to her MySpace page to listen to some of her tunes.

[EDIT]- Good perforance and thought her voice was actually a bit stronger and more confident than it is on the songs she has on MySpace. Some very good songs on the new album and she also played some new songs during the set- Brighton Beach being my favourite.

Eyes Closed- posting from work so hoping that this is decent enough.

SDHC…The Saga

I think this will be my first technical post here- for me that is the day job and that’s the way it usually stays.

However, getting my laptop to recognize the new SDHC cards has been a saga so am sticking this up to hopefully save some people a bit of hassle.

I bought a new 4gb SDHC card for the O2 Xda Exec that I was given and between that and the Thinkpad neither were able to recognize the card; I had expected that since both are a couple of years old. I knew there was a fix for the XDA Exec over at xda-developers.com so I downloaded that and it works without any problem. In order to download the SDHC.cab from the site you will need to join the forum which is a good idea anyway since they have quite a lot of good information and downloads on there. To get the phone to recognize the full size of the card though you will need to download Pocket Mechanic which is a very nifty tool- trial period of a month but inexpensive enough to buy.

The Thinkpad Z60m has proved to be the sticky issue though- I downloaded the recently released Windows XP Service Pack 3 which I knew would have the updates for SDHC. However, even after that the laptop refused to recognize the SDHC card. So went to the Lenovo website which is sometimes decent enough for Thinkpad users…however on this occasion they didn’t have any information so had to go digging. This turned into truly an archaeology dig- there was no information out there at all with Google searches.  So finally armed with the fact that the card reader for the Thinkpads were manufactured by Ricoh I came across Antifart.com who thankfully had all of the information that I needed. The link is for the Dell Vostro so I backed up the old drivers to be on the safe side (as everybody should do!) and the new ones worked without a hitch.

So for Thinkpad users- download the new service pack be it XP/Vista with Windows Update and then follow the install directions from Antifart. BEFORE you do that make sure you do a system backup and backup the drivers as well!! This is something that cannot be emphasised enough since it is the one time that you forget to backup that something will go wrong and bite you in the ass!

Sterogum Presents…Enjoyed: A Tribute To Björk Post

Came across this in the tag surfer and looks interesting…

Sterogum Presents…Enjoyed: A Tribute To Björk

The link to listen/dowload for free and the blurb from Sterogum:

Welcome

After completing and launching Drive XV, our tribute to R.E.M.’s Automatic For The People, we gathered at 11th St Bar one night to figure out which album we should tackle next. OKX, our inaugural step into the compilation world, had been a no-brainer: 2007 was OK Computer’s 10th Anniversary, and we wanted to honor the milestone. This time, though, when we started off thinking of possibilities based on release dates — Drive XV was celebrating 15 years of Automatic after all — nothing seemed quite right. (We’ve already discussed our decision not to go with the recently 10-year-old In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, for instance.)

After discarding our release-date almanac, someone suggested Björk. It was late, and we don’t remember who said what, but it was a great idea. Debut, her first post-Sugarcubes album came out in 1993, which could count for a nice and even 15 years in 2008, but Post was the obvious choice: It’s a stronger album top to bottom — a culmination of her work to that point. It includes any number of iconic tracks and due to the richness and variety of Björk’s self-described “spastic” palette, an infinite number of interpretive possibilities. Think, for example, of “It’s Oh So Quiet,” Björk’s big-band cover of Betty Hutton’s “Blow a Fuse,” the almost industrial noise of “Army Of Me,” the wispy, avant ambiance of “Cover Me,” etc. When we spoke with Björk about her thoughts on Post, our choice seemed even more appropriate.

I listened to it when we did the surround mixes of it like two or three years ago [Note: Post was re-released in 2006 with surround sound mixes] and I have to say I was kinda surprised how the odd spastic thing of the album had actually aged well. I was very aware of it at the time that I needed to be musically promiscuous and have almost every song [a] different mood/style and so on. The picture on the cover is me on Piccadilly Circus (Times Square of London) too excited, too many things, Bright Lights Big City kinda thing, and me eager to consume. So my musical heart was scattered at the time and I wanted the album to show that.

We also asked the contributors for their thoughts on Post. Accordingly, each track has its own page with the artist’s statement, as well as a dedicated comment section, so please click around.

Completing Enjoyed took a number of hands and plenty of elbow grease. We are deeply thankful to Björk for taking time out of her tour to answer our questions and offering commentary. Þakka þér kærlega, Björk! We’d also like to thank to Scott Hansen for his gorgeous album art, Phillip Klum for the absolutely amazing job mastering the project, the video team of Jon McMillan/Matt Neatock/Raphael Rodriguez/Shea Hess for shooting the band interviews, everyone at Sacks & Co., and Haukur S. Magnússon for help with our Icelandic. Finally, a major major thank you to all the bands for their participation — folks juggled hectic tour and personal schedules and managed to get us amazing interpretations of Björk’s originals. All is much appreciated.

As you may have noticed, this is our first compilation without Roman Numerals in the the title: We took the name from track “Enjoy.” Of course, we also get the possible plays on “Post.” We are bloggers, after all.

New Sigur Rós Album, Free mp3 and Video

Great news from Sigur Ros-good luck in trying to pronounce the name of their new album though!

Nicked from their MySpace bulletin:

Med sud i eyrum vid spilum endalaust

If you can not read this newsletter, please click here to view.

Sigur Rós will be releasing their new album worldwide the week of June 23. It is called Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust.

You can download the first track “Gobbledigook” and watch the video right now on SigurRos. com.

This is the official announcement sent out by the record labels today…

Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
(English spelling: Med sud i eyrum vid spilum endalaust)

Sigur Rós will be releasing their fifth album, Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust (English translation: with a buzz in our ears we play endlessly), worldwide the week of June 23.
The first track from the album, entitled “Gobbledigook,” is available worldwide for free download via SigurRos. com.
The video for the song is also on the website.

A pre-sale for the album will begin on SigurRos. com on June 2. A special deluxe edition of the album to be released later in the year — featuring a “Making Of… ” book, a film and more — will also be available to pre-order on the band’s website as of June 2.
A stream of Með suð í eyrum… will be available to hear on SigurRos. com on June 9. Lastly, a plethora of Sigur Rós goodies — exclusive clips, information on tickets for upcoming shows throughout the year, etc.
— will be available to those who sign up for the mailing list on SigurRos. com.

Með suð í eyrum… was co-produced with the band by renowned producer Flood, and was recorded in New York City (at Sear Sound Studios), London (at Assault and Battery Studios and Abbey Road), Reykjavík (at Álafoss, the band’s studio, as well as a church in Reykjavík), and Havana, Cuba. Whereas Sigur Rós’ last release — the critically-acclaimed documentary Heima, chronicling their free tour throughout Iceland — took the band to their homeland, their newest creation, Með suð í eyrum… is the first album in the band’s career to be made outside of Iceland. It is also their first album to feature vocalist Jón “Jónsi” Thor Birgisson’s vocals in English on one track (the remainder are sung in Icelandic).

Inspired by the unfettered feeling of the acoustic performances filmed during Heima, Sigur Rós decided to adopt a looser approach in the writing and creation of their brilliant fifth album. The material for the album was written, recorded and mixed entirely in 2008 and is being released just one month after its completion. The album glows with the perfect imperfection of live takes, the sounds of fingers playing guitar strings, cracked notes, and a stark, upfront presence not found in previous Sigur Rós recordings, moving away from reverb-soaked guitar sounds towards something altogether more affecting. The record also contains some of the most joyous music the band has ever recorded.

Opener “Gobbledigook” sets the tone for Með suð í eyrum… with its shifting acoustic guitars, playful vocals, time signature swings and swirling percussion, while “Inní mér syngur vitleysingur” (”Within me a lunatic sings”) sparkles as one of the most anthemic songs Sigur Rós have ever written. “Festival” is epic in its elation and scope, “Illgresi” features one of Jónsi’s finest vocal melodies over a lone acoustic guitar, and “Ára bátur” is the largest musical undertaking in the band’s career, as it was recorded live in one take with the London Sinfonietta and London Oratory Boy’s Choir, a total of 90 people playing at the same time. The band also utilized the talents of their string-quartet friends Amiina, as well as a five-piece brass section on certain tracks, in addition to introducing the Mellotron into their writing/recording process for the first time on this album, highlighted on one of the most tender and beautiful songs on the record, “Fljótavík.
“

The spirit of Með suð í eyrum… is best captured by the album’s stunning artwork, contributed by acclaimed visual artist Ryan McGinley. McGinley first met the band when he photographed Jónsi six years ago; the album cover was taken from a flyer for McGinley’s most recent exhibit, “I Know Where the Summer Goes,” which happened to find its way into Jónsi’s inbox just as the band was deciding on how to best visually represent their new collection of songs. The result is a perfect synergy of the aural and the visual.

The tracklisting for Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust (with a buzz in our ears we play endlessly) is…

1.   Gobbledigook
2.   Inní mér syngur vitleysingur
3.   Góðan daginn
4.   Við spilum endalaust
5.   Festival
6.   Með suð í eyrum
7.   Ára bátur
8.   Illgresi
9.   Fljótavík
10.  Straumnes
11.  All Alright

Sigur Rós will be playing shows all over the globe throughout the summer and fall to preview material from Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust, including a special set at this year’s Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival.
The tour dates are:

The June tour dates…
6/5/08 Guadalajara, MEX @ Teatro Degollado
6/7/08 Tepoztlan, MEX @ Festival La Colmena
6/8/08 Tijuana, MEX @ Planeta Tijuana
6/11/08 Omaha, NE @ Orpheum Theater
6/12/08 Kansas City, MO @ Uptown Theater
6/14/08 Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival
6/16/08 New York, NY @ Grand Ballroom
6/20/08 Neuhausen ob Eck @ Southside Festival
6/22/08 Scheesel, Bremen @ Hurricane Festival

More worldwide tour dates will be announced soon.

Sigur Rós is: Jón Thor Birgisson (vocals, guitar), Georg Holm (bass), Kjartan Sveinsson (keyboards/piano), Orrí Páll Dýrason (drums).

http://www. sigurros. com
http://www. sigur-ros. co. uk
http://www. myspace. com/sigurros

Battles- Vicar St Gig Times

For anybody going to Vicar St here are the times the groups will be on….approximate of course and looks like I will be on the Nightlink…will be worth it!

From Toutless:

Mod note: Info from promoter
Limited tickets will be available from the box office from 18:15. (no indication if these are standing or balcony though -Toast)

19.00 DOORS
19.45 - 20.45 CHROME HOOF
20.45 - 21.00 CHANGEOVER
21.00 - 21.45 RED NECK MANIFESTO
21.45 - 22.15 CHANGEOVER
22.15 - 23.30 BATTLES

G.I. Joe…The Film

Was just having a quick flick through Imdb for some of the upcoming films when I noticed that there is going to be a film version of G.I. Joe that will be coming out in August…2009…and probably a few months later for here.  You never know which way these films are going to go but it is by the same guy who directed the Mummy so it might turn out viewable at least.  Decent enough cast as well- has been a while since I have seen Christopher Ecclestone in a film. Of course it doesn’t hurt that Sienna Miller and Rachel Nichols are in it…and nearly everybody in tight black leather and body armour. Official stills here.

Coolest Gadget…EVER!

Letting the Star Wars geek out for this post!

A colleague sent me this link….a life-size remote control R2D2 video projector that you can use for almost any multimedia imaginable!  Three grand but thats in dollars and with a fantastic exchange rate at the moment….hmmmmmm

We Should Be Dead Poll And Update

We Should Be Dead have a poll up to see which song they should release as their next single so head on over here and have your say!

In other WSBD news details of their MySpace bulletin:

WSBD SHOP / ALL AGES GIG / SINGLE POLL / 100 DEAD FACTS

Good morning earthlings,

The WE SHOULD BE DEAD online superstore is now open on our myspace page. If you scroll down the mainpage you will see lots of goodies for sale over on the left hand side. We’ve got copies of our album, our first single, our black and blue tshirts (in most sizes), and our 4 badge pack. The prices include shipping to anywhere in the world. From The Galvone to Shoulderblade, Kentucky.

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In 11 hours and 15 minutes time we will be hosting our own “ALL AGES EXTRAVAGANZA” as part of the Dolans D10 Festival weekend. Doors open at 12 noon and tickets are 8 EURO. We will be joined by the cooelst band in the country ‘OH MY GOD IT MIGHT BE HIM’ and some of the finest rock n roll bands in the city, including ‘The Demise’ ‘40 Foot Woman’ and ‘Les Enfants Terribles’.

Everyone is welcome.

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As we are idiots, we can’t seem to decide on what our 3rd single should be. Being bigger idiots we’ve set up a poll on our myspace to see what song rocks your world! In a nutshell we need you to vote for the next single. You’ll see the poll on the left hand side of the mainpage.

For those of you who don’t have the album and are only familiar with the songs that are up on our myspace page, you can preview all of them over here:

http://www. amazon. com/Forget-Romance-Lets-Dance-Explicit/dp/B0012QLXW0/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1209772549&sr=8-3

Do take the 10 seconds it will take to vote. We’re curious creatures.

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Starting on Monday we will have PART 1 of out 10 PART series entitled ‘100 DEAD FACTS’. Each week will list 10 things you probably didn’t know about our little rock n roll combo. We will be posting 10 facts a week for 10 weeks. So that will be 100 interesting things for you to ponder on. Quiet week…………..you could say that……

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Don’t forget to come down to the D10 Festival tomorrow night. We’re on stage at 7:15pm. You will also get to see The Zutons, Delerentos, Fred, and Headgear.

Party in the tent, pure daycent!!

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Keep it pop,

The Dead

xxxx