Admittedly, I haven’t been paying attention to Arcade Fire for a long time. The last time I listened to them was in 2006, and it seemed their only reasonably decent song then was “Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels).” Yet, even that song is kind of boring. Not into the whole Modest Mouse pitchy voice thing either. In 2006, when “Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)” was released, I knew two people who talked about how awesome the band was. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, always, but those same two people also enjoyed bands like Rascal Flatts, Pete Yorn and Lifehouse, which doesn’t really need further explanation.

The more recent Arcade Fire song “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)” is actually surprisingly good. What happened in five or six years? Now Arcade Fire is actually good? Wow. Stop paying attention to a band and they get better? That’s somewhat unusual. So, kudos to Arcade Fire for stepping their game up, whenever that happened.

*Begin tangential story*

I will say this though: back in ’06 I actually purchased a Lifehouse song per the request of a girl who also raved about Arcade Fire. Can’t remember what song it was, but yes, I actually personally supported the band with a $.99 contribution. This was back when iTunes still sucked and had exclusively 128kbps mp3s (low quality) available for download. How dare Apple? Selling compressed-ass, lossy quality music at $.99 a song. This dude over at TweakHound breaks down audio quality differences in a pretty straightforward way… if you’re interested. Yes, iTunes was terrible for audiophiles, or anyone who prefers CD quality sound, even a full five years after its launch in January 2001!

Anyway, I couldn’t believe this girl liked Lifehouse and asked, “Ha! Is this song for you?” She tried to cover it up by saying “It’s for my roommate.” Mmmmhmmm. Sure gurl. Didn’t mean to make her feel insecure about her taste in music there, but these things happen. At least she was smart enough to have no iTunes account at the time. Maybe she was an audiophile too! Needless to say, the song was promptly deleted from my music library after burning it to disc for her.

More background: in the brief one and a half months I hung out with this girl, she kept talking about some guy she was clearly hung-up on. The story went something like: “We met at a party and had sex eight times in one night. How does that happen? Who does that?” I didn’t care so much that she slept with some random guy from a party but instead kept wondering what would cause a couple to bone eight times in one night. Of course, her obsession about the dude continued to resurface in our chats–even though she insisted she was over him–and she eventually told me his explanation for rejecting the idea of dating her. His reasoning? He “couldn’t date [her] because dating as an official couple is so conventional and overrated and why do people always have to put a label on things anyway?”

I responded to that by saying, “This guy is basically telling you ‘Thanks for the fuck. It’s been real!’” Enough time had passed for that conclusion to be a fair one. Oh, that phone call ended nice and cordially, but that didn’t stop her from calling me up a few days later while drunk only to scream about what an insensitive bastard I was for making such an inconsiderate statement about a guy she’d had relations with. In that entire call I think I only got to say two things: “I thought you were over him?” and “Sorry about that!” The rest was me getting chewed-out. That was the last I heard from her. Give someone a little taste of reality and they get all mad about it. Oblivion might be blissful, but delusion isn’t.

*End tangential story*

Happy, uptempo, commercial, pop music that works and does what its design intended. Good song. Sounds like The Killers at times, but that’s fine because it’s made up for by the beautiful Coldplay sound at other points.

Also, they’ve got a show coming up next month–February 12–at The Wiltern in LA with Young the Giant. Click here for more information and tickets.

Impressive.

“its just a cigarette”

Princess Chelsea – The Cigarette Duet

Via Blowing or Blowing Up.

gold plated tinfoil

Via Blowing or Blowing Up.

Music to sleep to.

Via Blowing or Blowing Up.

Very white L.A. club music. Sounds like it’s from ’02. Nothing changes…

Via Blowing or Blowing Up.

Burn It Down!

Via Blowing or Blowing Up.

In the dismal future, we’ll all be affixed to our respective wires and screens, dreaming about being virtually with the one that you love.

Dot & Effects was responsible for all aspects of Post-Production including; Projections, Editorial , Color, Visual Effects & Animation

Production Credits:
Music video for “Polish Girl” by Neon Indian

Tim Nackashi – Director
Asher Brown – Executive Producer
Jamie Kohn Rabineau – Co-Executive Producer
Erica Sterne – Producer
Kevin Phillips – Director of Photography
Simon & Nicki Haas – Production Design
Stella Berkofsky – Stylist
Garyl Jones – Make-up Artist
Editor – Mandy Brown
VFX by Dot & Effects
VFX Supervisor Jeff Dotson
VFX Producer Alex Valentine
VFX Artist: Brandon Lilly
Starring – Blake Brent (Humanoid) & Dawn Batson (Dream Girl)

Tim Nackashi on The Creator’s Project.

This past Saturday was the inaugural Newcastle Brown Ale “Walk The Dog” day, an annual event. In the UK, people affectionately refer to Newcastle Brown Ale as the ‘Dog.’ The euphemism of “Walk the Dog” originated in Newcastle, UK, and is code for heading over to the local pub for a pint of Newcastle Brown Ale. Trying the patience of significant others for years now, this drinking excuse has become an English classic.

The event was awesome. There was a sizeable turnout at Alex’s Bar, also known as Fangtasia or the vampire bar in the Showtime series True Blood. For just a minimum donation of $1 to the Los Angeles Art Association at the door, attendees gained access to plenty of complimentary Newcastle Brown Ale, food, live entertainment by LA-based band: Superhumanoids, free Newcastle shirts and accessories, and a professional photo booth. Naturally, everyone had a great time. With the temptation of that much complimentary Newcastle, it was hard to avoid getting a bit tipsy.

Newcastle really went all out and made it easy to enjoy the entertainment with a comfortable Ambiance created by Alex’s Bar. Alex’s is a fairly universal venue; so, if you’re looking to party and have fun, you should definitely check-out the place if you haven’t already.

Below are photos from the event and four videos from Superhumanoids. The sound of their live show was spectacular and is definitely worth seeing in person, even if you already love their music.

Remember that our art-submission contest is still open (more details here) so please keep submitting your digital art for a chance to win a limited edition painting by contemporary pop artist Ron English.

“There’s a point, when you’re in a certain headspace, where you feel you can actually do anything we want to do, and not really have any preconception about it,” says Nick Hallam. And for him and his long-time Stereo MCs partner, Rob Birch, their journey into sound has been constantly defined by the battles they’ve had to fight for creative freedom – not with record companies or industry figures, but from the pressures they put themselves under.

Britain’s first global rap stars, Stereo MCs paved the way for the Plan Bs and Dizzee Rascals. They were the first rap group to play at British rock festivals, and managed to fit everywhere and nowhere at once: appearing live with everyone from U2 to the Happy Mondays, from Living Colour and Peter Gabriel to Jane’s Addiction and De La Soul. The Stereos were exceptions to every rule – the rap band rock fans could dig, the dance act it was cool for indie fans to groove to, sought-after as remixers, producers or collaborators by everyone from the Jungle Brothers to Madonna.

At last feeling free from their early 90s work’s status as both musical milestone and creative millstone, Hallam and Birch are doing what they’d wanted all along – allowing hip hop’s liberating philosophy to help them make music that obeys no rules but their own. They’ve reached out beyond their core group of long-term friends and on-stage collaborators, and, for the first time, have written with other artists: Bruce Woolley (best known for his work in the ’70s and ’80s with Trevor Horn – he co-wrote “Video Killed the Radio Star” and “Slave to the Rhythm”),Nathan Drake and Greg Fleming (who go by the name Deekline and Wizard for their breaks work, or The London Punks in their live incarnation).

Freed from the pressure to rap simply because it’s expected, Rob sings on the record, much of which was written not how the Stereos have usually worked, by building up grooves from sampled loops and beats, but from old-school jam sessions, with bass, guitar, drums and vocals all playing together until they find a common thread. It’s a sound that will surprise those who think they know what the Stereos are all about because they’ve heard “Connected” used in ads for mobile phones for most of the nearly 20 years it’s been around, or who nostalgically remember “Elevate My Mind” and think they know what these guys are capable of. But to long-term fans who’ve grown up with Rob and Nick, and shared some of their adventures through sound, the record will feel like the next logical step forward for a band who’ve only ever been about making music that’s true to hip hop’s sense of limitless creativity and do-what-feels-right spirit.

“We’ve really had to re-learn how to make music,” Rob admits. “But when you actually start to see some progress, and hear yourself making some sounds that you’ve never made before, your enthusiasm really starts to generate again. And then you get a grip on it, and you start to see what you can do. It’s like we’re not really in the dark anymore.”

1. Wooden Heart
2. Boy (feat. Jamie Cullum)
3. Phase Me
4. Far Out Feeling
5. Sunny Day
6. Manner
7. Tales
8. 2cando
9. Bring It On (Path To The Mind And The Soul And The Spirit)
10. Levitation
11. Desert Song
12. Wooden Heart Reprise

Pretty impressive one-man band business.