The wonderful Dischord Records label have announced this week that they will re-issue 2 classic albums this winter. Collectors will be stoked to hear that Pass And Stow by Lungfish and also Dark Days Coming by Three (a Crossfire favourite) will both be available once again on vinyl and CD formats. Check the Dischord site for more updates and enjoy Gray Matter covering Three’s Swann Street track below.
Category: Music
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Stream the new Bring Me The Horizon
The new album from Steel-City metallers Bring Me The Horizon is now streaming on the band’s Myspace.
There Is A Hell, Believe Me I’ve Seen It. There Is A Heaven, Let’s Keep It A Secret may be an unnecessary mouthful but the album has proven to be hugely popular in Crossfire HQ and has been recieving rave reviews already. It’s due out on October 4th and features the single ‘It Never Ends’ which you can see the video for below.
Click the album artwork to hear it.
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Every Time I Die – Live
Islington Academy, London
25.09.2010
The Hell on Earth tour hit the capital this weekend, with the line-up of Thick As Blood, Down To Nothing, All Shall Perish, Terror and Every Time I Die lining up at the Islington Academy for a whole day’s worth of hardcore. Arriving as late as I did, I only caught the last couple of songs of Terror’s set which were as standardly macho and foot stamp-inducing as you’d expect from the band, which went down well with the hoards of steaming, sweaty fans in attendance.
But it was always going to be about the headliners and as soon as the Buffalo natives jumped on stage, there was no doubt who the party stealers were going to be. Every Time I Die are always fun and you can guarantee that their groove-laden riffs will bring smiles to the most miserable of crowds and Saturday’s showing did just that within seconds of the first track. Sporting a bushier-than-usual beard, Keith Buckley throw himself into the opening tracks with brother Jordan diving into the crowd in only the second song.
Rolling through both old and new material as well as a Nirvana cover, the band mixed in heavier favourites like Floater, I Been Gone A Long Time and Ebolarama which saw the already heaving crowd ramp up their energy that extra notch and tracks such as The New Black and We’rewolf were proof that this band are the most fun you can have with a guitar. Always good bantering with the crowd, Buckley told those watching that a certain word just wasn’t used in America, but that it meant almost nothing over here, before throwing down Bored Stiff, with the infamous “Hey girls, I’m a cunt” line.
When it came to the finale – the aforementioned We’rewolf – nigh-on 40 fans swarmed the stage for a sing-a-long before the huffy sound woman decided too much fun was being had and cut the sound. The sight of that many people in amongst the band [one girl even tapped Andy on the shoulder for a photo mid-song] with smiles on their faces just went to show what a great gig it was. A band as good as this just looking to party is what everyone wants. Thank fuck they love London so much eh?
Abjekt
Sadly there’s no clips from the London show online yet, but enjoy this pretty spectacular performance of We’rewolf at Antwerp the following day…
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The Attika State offer free download
The Attika State will be releasing their new album ‘Measures‘ next week on October 4th. But to generate a wee bit of hype the band are offering a free download of ‘5 strings, No Wins‘ here in exchange for nothing more than a Facebook or Twitter post.
In addition to that, watch them cover a Weezer classic at a recent London show below…
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Jimmy Eat World
Invented
Interscope Records
With Invented, Jimmy Eat World have won back my undivided attention. For some reason, Chase This Light fell a bit flat but this latest album takes on some of the vigorous and almost sinister tack that Futures took. There’s also some more expansion into the sounds explored with Stay On My Side Tonight.
Jimmy Eat World are a band that often kick off their albums with the most stunning of their material but Invented sees the band bury the gems within the body of the record. Heart Is Hard To Find is a pleasant opener and a great introduction track but it’s the thrilling riffs of the songs that follow which start to send chills down your spine in a way that only JEW can do. A pattern throughout seems to be the relative gentle pacing of verses played out against a more searing onslaught of riffs when bridges and choruses kick in. Evidence is the perfect example of this as the huge-sounding main riff bursts in with an overwhelming presence in between vocalist Jim Adkins’ perfectly pitched melodies. The production is punchy as ever, really bringing out these juxtapositions in dynamic.
Movielike has an anthemic feel with a lilting goodness that leads into a group “woah” vocal. Coffee And Cigarettes is a particular standout track and perfectly creates a nostalgic feel. It also employs the use of the boy/girl vocal which the band most heavily featured on their self-titled album. Action Needs An Audience features guitarist Tom Linton’s vocals in his most highlighted vocal presence since fan favourite Blister which appeared on the band’s 1999 album Clarity. And it’s sure to become another firm fan favourite. There are some epicly long tracks here with Invented (7 minutes) and Mixtape (6.5 minutes) rounding off the album. Some bands can’t get away with dragging a song out this long but hey, JEW wrote the epic 15 minute long Goodbye Sky Harbor and that’s a masterpiece of songwriting so they’ve certainly got the skills to pull it off.
All in all, there are really too many standout tracks to single them all out and that’s really the mark of a brilliant album. Jimmy Eat World have meshed together elements of all their albums throughout the years to create another outstanding collection of songs that fans will be putting on their stereo (or iPod) and singing along to for years to come. This is a band that have really solidified their reputation as accomplished songwriters whose songs mean so much to so many.
Winegums
It has been announced that the heavily-anticipated soundtrack for Tron Legacy, better known as the first all-new Daft Punk album in five years, will be released on November 22nd.
The record has been shrouded in mystery, with more or less all the supposed leaks dismissed as fakes and just small snippets available through this official website.
Film director, Joseph Kosinski, has stated that the album marks a change of sound for the influential duo. Rick McCrank is excited, are you?
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Chillwave Name Generator
In case you’re not aware, chillwave is one of the many growing and controversial genre labels that journalists seemingly conjure out their arse every month. Imagine Panda Bear washed with Boards Of Canada nostalgia and I’m sure you’ll be thinking of something good, but chillwave is the label given to the artists who try to do just that but end up failing.
One of the more pleasant things to crop up in amongst the blogs filled with increasingly uninspired mixtapes is this Chillwave Name Generator, which as if by magic plucks out the perfect name for your pretentious music project.
The names are also pretty spot on for your infrequently updated skate/photography/art blog too! So jump in and have some fun.
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Watch: New Glassjaw!
Glassjaw have posted a video for ‘Stars‘ online.
The band have been releasing tidbits since 2002’s Worship and Tribute and although there is no news of a full release from the band, I’m sure this will do more than satisfy their strong fanbase.
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First Aid Kit reveal new video
First Aid Kit have posted the video for ‘Ghost Town‘ online.
The Swedish folk sisters spent a great deal of this year warming critic’s hearts whilst touring the world after releasing their stunning debut ‘The Big Black and the Blue‘. ‘Ghost Town‘ drew a lot of attention by frequently being played totally unplugged and acoustic, regardless of how big the venue was.
The video is just as chill-inducing. Watch it below.
With a string of sold out shows under their belt taking them to all four corners of the globe and a Grammy Award winning album for Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, we catch Laurent Brancowitz and Christian Mazzalai of Phoenix at Fracophone festival Francofolies and ask if they’ve picked up on any influences on the way and shaping where there heading to next…
Interview and portrait: Nazlee Jannoo
You’ve been on the road for a long while now, without much of a break! Do you find time to pick up any new literature on the way?
Christian: Right know I’m reading Deleures – a French philosopher who writes about cinema. It’s very complicated, quite complex but we have a profound respect for cinematographers…
In terms of developing you music video it must help reading these philosophers and critiques – would you ever try you hand in making a music video? You must be very involved in the process…
Christian: As we have a lot of respect for cinematography as an art form it would be something very hard for us to create ourselves. It’s a very rich art form that we couldn’t attempt to create – we wouldn’t know where to start! It would take ten year worth of work on our part – as we have ten-year worth in music – to be good at it. We very much respect that craft and tradition.
On the other hand and we really love the fact that now with Youtube other people are creating their music videos, showing their visions and interpretations. We think it’s really cool – there are quite a few amazing ones for Lisztomania. They’re some of our favourites.”
As you are so impressed with some of the ‘alternative’ videos out on Youtube would you consider allowing a fan to direct an official music video…?
Laurent: The beauty with Youtube is that we don’t have any involvement – fans have made the video for themselves. The videos have a life of their own and gaining hits so we feel we don’t want to meddle with the process.
You are playing Field Day which is considered as one of the most important festival for alternative music – is it still important for you as a band to still acknowledge your alternative rock origins? Some bands throughout the careers have consciously changed direction throughout their music careers however Phoenix has remained constant. Was this a conscious decision?
Christian: We’ve never questioned this as this is something that has never crossed our minds but for us it’s very important to be, and still remain part of a counter culture – and to play this kind of festival.
Why have you decided to perform at Francofolies now? It’s one of the most highly respected music festivals for artist of French origin….
Christian: It’s a Francophone festival yes but it’s the first year its been open to other language but with French origin.
Any new acts which have caught your attention on your travels?
Christian: I’m really into this guy John Mouse, he’s great.
On Hype machine there are dozens of new remixes that filter through the chart regularly. Do you approve many of these remixes that spread across the web?
Christian: Some of them we put on our blog – we love the idea that our music is being engaged with.
We’ve actually released a collection of our favourite remixes out there – it’s semi official, but it’s out there……
You’ve been together as a band for a long while, and being based with you music community, you’ve seen your peers go on to great things (Previous incarnations include short-lived band Darlin’ who Laurent, Christian’s older brother had formed with Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo who together became Daft Punk) and success feels like its long time due – have there been any fundamental changes with being awarded with a Grammy for instance?
Laurent: It’s meaningless but it makes things easier. We wrote this album with a few friends in mind and our idea was to touch very people with it – that was our goal.
Christian: It’s impossible to try to please everyone so this time we tried to please as few people as possible – but within intention to please these friends a lot – and it turned out to be the most successful album. One thing that did come out of the success of the album is put in a very good position, but it almost happened organically. This is album that sounds the most like what we were trying to do since the beginning of us recording.