Many people don’t know that John Frusciante (of the Red Hot Chili Peppers) is also an amazing solo artist. In fact, he has a whole catalogue of original solo work, including a stint where he managed to record 6 albums in 6 months. I haven’t had a chance to see him live yet (he doesn’t tour much on his own) but at some of his live shows he has been known to perform the occasional cover. Click below to download two of his live covers, one of Radiohead’s ‘Lucky’, and the other of Cat Steven’s ‘How Can I Tell You?’ Two great songs.
We talked recently about a soundtrack collaboration with Lee and Tyler Sargent from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and Colin Greenwood from Radiohead, for the upcoming film ‘Woodpecker’. As reported on Pitchfork, two of these songs are now available for listen! Here they are:
I have finally returned from my week in London. I would like to first and foremost apologize for my lack of bloggage last week. Internet in London was mucho expensive and to be honest I was quite busy seeing the sights. The good news is, the music did not stop! (does it ever?). Don’t worry I didn’t just listen to the Sex Pistols the whole week. The first thing that I found cool was on my hotel TV. On the second night in London on this random channel, there was this show that caught my attention because I heard them talking about Annie. And then to my surprise and delight there was a performance by my fellow Canadian Crystal Castles. So right away I was thinking, “London rocks!”. This was only the beginning.
One of my biggest musical highlights of the week was my trip to Rough Trade Records East. This store kinda blew my mind. I have never been to a record store with like 95% good music. Usually there’s a fair amount of shit music in every music store, but at Rough Trade this wasn’t the case. I made a list of bands that I discovered at the store to check out when I got home and I am in the process of doing so. Out of the bands I have checked out so far, Bodies of Water are really impressing me. I’m a little upset right now because I just saw on their myspace page that they played at Divan Orange in Montreal 3 hours ago. Oh well, I guess I’ll have to catch them the next time around.
As for shows in London, my luck wasn’t so great. I went to see Noah and the Whale play at Rough Trade, but we only got there for the last song! In London, when they say a show starts at 8:00, they mean it starts at 8:00! By 8:25, when we got there, they were just wrapping up. It’s too bad because I have been hearing some good things about this band.
The next show I went to see was Holly Throsby playing at this pub called The Slaughtered Lamb (or something like that). This time we were told she was playing at 10:00, but by the time we got there she only had 4 songs left, so obviously there were some communication problems there. I nevertheless got a good taste of Holly live, and I am glad for the 4 songs I did get to hear. Her voice is so soft and lovely on her albums, but live it’s just a whole new level of amazingness. I really can’t wait until I get a chance to see her play live again. Here is a pretty terrible quality video of Holly performing “The Shoulders and Bends”, a song from her album, Under the Town. The sound quality is pretty decent however. Check it out:
And finally I had a musical revelation in that I fell in love with Radiohead’s In Rainbows.
So what did I learn on this trip? Firstly, to listen to lots of Radiohead, always. Secondly, to go to shows EARLY (as if I have more important things to do). And finally, to return to London as often as possible, because it is a really great city.
In other news…
Have you seen what Torquil Campbell of Stars (not THE stars) had to say about his band’s nomination for the the 2008 Polaris Music Prize? Not only is he ultra talented…he’s funny too!
Well, that’s all for now…I must now get back to studying for my 2 final exams on the 15th and 16th. Wish me luck!
And stay tuned next week for a YBP exclusive interview with one of my favourite new artists, Birdie Busch! It will be a blog to remember!
If you’re anything like us, you’ve been sitting around, waiting impatiently, wondering when the next Clap Your Hands Say Yeah record is coming out. Why haven’t they been on tour? Where have they been? Well, CYHSY are now on their way to Hollywood. Rather, they’re already there. Not only have they composed the score for a new Tom Hanks/John Malkovich picture, The Great Buck Howard, a couple of them have also been writing film scores with Radiohead. To be more specific, Tyler and Lee collaborated with Colin Greenwood on a movie score for the film Woodpecker. Can someone send us Tom Hanks’ address so that we can send him a freakin’ t-shirt!??
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One of our mandates is to spread the word about music that we like. This blog is a way for us to do that. Any mp3s which are posted here are for your sampling pleasure. If you like what you hear, then go buy the CD! If you are the owner of a sound file and would like it removed, then please let us know.
