truck festival '09

truck is a small, independent, quirky, not-for-profit festival located at a farm in the village of steventon, near abingdon, oxfordshire. truck is usually a place for smaller bands, and often an opportunity for the annual average of 5,000 festival-goers to discover new bands they havn't seen or heard of before. the festival prides itself on its family atmosphere and community ethics, and farm itself remains a working farm, shutting down only temporarily to allow the festival to take place. bands which have played at truck in previous years include british sea power, the futureheads, goldrush, biffy clyro, the magic numbers, the mystery jets, regina spektor, the young knives, the electric soft parade, laura marling, foals, metronomy, youth movies, and many many more.


the lineup for this year has not yet been released in its entirety, although several acts have been confirmed - local favourites supergrass will be headlining on sunday night, and ASH will be playing on saturday night. smaller bands playing this year will include the red light company and detroit social club. this year's festival takes place on the 25th and 26th of july and tickets are available to buy online at...

wegottickets

seetickets

four tet/burial split release

with very few details to go on, word has it that a split 12" vinyl is being released by four tet and burial, named 'moth/wolf club'. according to bleep the LP, which is largely shrouded in mystery at the moment, is due for release on may 4th. there is no artwork, no sales notes, and no audio previews or promos; hopefully the music in this collaboration will do the talking. in the mean time, here's a track from burial's 2007 album 'untrue'.

burial - 'archangel' [mediafire]

burial - 'archangel' [sharebee]

anything but love

listening to songs you'd almost forgotten about is always nice. 'anything but love' featured on the libertines' 'legs 11' session. this particular session was recorded in 2000 and showcased the band's eight best tracks at that time. it has become one of the most popular of the band's many bootleg recordings probably due to the variety of instruments used, giving these demos a distinctive sound uncaptured in many other recordings.

the libertines - 'anything but love' (legs 11 session) [mediafire]

the libertines - 'anything but love' (legs 11 session) [sharebee]

one foot in the grave reissue

beck is set to reissue a deluxe version of his 1994 album 'one foot in the grave' with 13 bonus tracks, several of these being previously unreleased songs. the tracklisting for the bonus tracks featured on the reissued version of 'one foot in the grave' reads...

it's all in your mind (k records 7")
whiskey can can (k records 7")
mattress*
woe on me*
teenage wastebasket*
your love is weird*
favorite nerve’*
piss on the door*
close to god*
sweet satan*
burning boyfriend*
black lake morning*
feather in your cap (k records 7")
one foot in the grave*
i get lonesome*

*never before released

the long lost (daedelus)

the long lost consists of alfred darlington (aka daedelus) and his wife laura collaborating for a self-titled album. daedelus is an experimental music producer from california who pioneered the use of the minimalist monome controller. his music is often built upon vintage or analog sounding samples giving it a very distinct and almost nostalgic nature; it is clear how much the rhythms of the 30's, 40's and 70's influence his music. this particular project of daedelus is said to have arisen as a result of a renewed courtship of the couple following a four year separation. the album has been described by the label (ninja tune) as the work of two hopeless romantics making "psychedelic lullabies for lovers and the lovelorn", which seems to be an accurate description upon listening.

'the art of kissing' features a gentle acoustic guitar matching the softness of laura's vocals, and has daedelus's signature-sounding lo-fi drums as a backdrop. 'subliance' has a very groovy drumline which increases in depth as the song unfolds, with short bursts of violin helping the romantic tone. the songs are very delicate, sad at times and joyful at others, with experimental electro-acoustic melodies. as far as i can see, most (if not all) of the tracks from the album can be heard on their website which is linked below the live dates.

the long lost - s/t [streamed]

as serious as your life

'as serious as your life' was a single released from the 2003 album 'rounds' by four tet, otherwise known as kieran hebden. hebden is primarily an electronic musician under the name four tet, but some of his sounds, melodies, and samples are lifted from or incorporate elements of hip-hop, psychedelic rock, abstract electronica, jazz, and folk music. much of hebden's work has a dreamy atmosphere about it, but 'as serious as your life' is slightly more punchy, and undoubtedly quite accessible. a looped funky riff accounts for the calmest parts of the track, with a mayhem of drums and cymbals interspersed for the hectic elements. the twinkling sitar actually gives the track a less 'serious' feel i think, and relates back to the music-box melody in previous tracks on the album. the real drum samples and stuttered handclaps throughout the song give it a more organic feel, balancing well with the electronically generated sounds, the cut-up rhythms, and the experimental atmospherics.

four tet - 'as serious as your life' [sharebee]

four tet - 'as serious as your life' [mediafire]

unkle - heaven

UNKLE's latest video is for the track 'heaven' which featured on the 'end titles... stories for film' album of recent collective recordings, and it continues UNKLE's tendency to produce unforgettable music videos. the footage for this piece was originally from lakai's 'fully flared' skateboarding film; collaborative directors spike jonze and ty evans re-edited a sequence which shows southern californian skaters demonstrating their skills. footage of skaters is slowed down to a snail pace which makes you focus on minute details like t-shirts rippling in the wind, or the skaters wavering in balance when making impact with the ground. what separates this from a simple homage to skaters is of course the unexpected explosions of parts of the skate park which the skaters navigate through. this is really where the slowed down speed of the film has maximum effect as we see sparks flying, concrete shattering, clouds of rubble hanging in the air - all in precise detail. the album this track featured on, 'end titles... stories for film', was made to harness a relationship between music and images, an area of audio-visual association. in the credits to the album james lavelle described making music for film or television as "frustrating" because:

"a lot of the music you're making ends up sitting on the shelf, neither properly released or heard. a waste really, we thought. so this album is our attempt to alleviate our musical frustrations whilst hoping that it will find a wider audience."

the menacing 'heaven' is a great track in it's own right, and this video could be their best since the groundbreaking work on 'rabbit in your headlights' by chris cunningham. the video builds slowly in tension and expectancy, like the song, towards a gallant conclusion. the images are successfully related with the musical backdrop in both matter and timing, producing an extraordinary relationship between sound and picture that lavelle clearly wanted to achieve when making his music.

strokes writing new material

with recent reports suggesting julian casablancas and nick valensi have started writing new material for the band's fourth album, i think it's safe to say anticipation can officially begin. by now we can assume all members have convened in new york as planned to continue writing and to start rehearsing. fabrizio moretti spoke to the bbc towards the end of january explaining that all members of the band were meeting very soon. moretti also said that the stokes are "the kind of band that it's not finished until everyone's in one room and everyone's got their parts perfectly. we're a very mechanical band." so it seems that there may be some time to wait until we hear material from the new album. in the meantime, here's an old demo version of 'i'll try anything once' with julian singing and playing keyboard.

the strokes - 'i'll try anything once' (julian on keyboard) [mediafire]

the strokes - 'i'll try anything once' (julian on keyboard) [yousendit]

birdy nam nam

birdy nam nam consists of four french djs who believe in using the turntable as an actual instrument. they scratch, cut, cross-fade and loop in harmony to create some really unique tracks – often complimented at their shows with live percussion, strings, and keys. their first album which i have posted below is a great little contemporary jazz record. the clever thing about it is that you wouldn't notice it was four turntablists using vinyl as the only sound source unless you read about it. it has a very vintage style of sound, obviously originating from the vinyl samples used, yet a fresh style is present with the modern production techniques. stand-out tracks in this album include the more traditional lounge-jazz effort 'kind of laid back', the heavily scratched yet infectious 'jazz it at home', and the more epic 'abbesses'. some of their vinyl compositions are breathtaking when you consider how they are assembled; with clear influences ranging from 1990’s electronic experts to 1980’s rap producers.


1. ready for war, ready for what?
2. body, mind, spirit...
3. too much skunk tonight!
4. transition
5. kind of laid back
6. jazz it at home
7. we drummin'
8. new birth
9. escape
10. l'interlude de qualité
11. engineer fear
12. rainstorming
13. il y a un cauchemar dans mon placard (ft. d-styles & mike boo)
14. migration
15. abbesses
16. new steps breaking barriers [bonus track]
17. from here to there [bonus track]

download [megaupload]

password: featherinyourcap