3/15/09

MP3 Mondays on MOTORCITYBLOG

MP3 Mondays on MOTORCITYBLOG
Photo by Paul Hitz

take a look / listen


Miss Kittin’s latest DJ mix (MP3),

check out the trippy video for “Suspicious Minds”.


Miss Kittin (Caroline Hervé) & The Hacker (Michel Amato) are back together again, double the trouble and double the fun, with a brand new album, TWO.

It all started back in 2001with a little electro ditty called "Frank Sinatra". (Actually it all started at a rave in the early 90s, but that’s a longer story…) The cool melody and cutting wit behind “Frank Sinatra” were simply irresistible, dripping with Kittin’s now-infamously deadpan vocals: "To be famous is so nice. Suck my dick! Lick my ass! In limousines we have sex, every night with my famous friends." Karl Lagerfeld, Marilyn Manson and Elton John (who says he gave a copy to all his friends) proclaimed themselves fans, and the masses followed suit.

Miss Kittin & The Hacker were the new “it” duo, their debut full-length, First Album, a smash.The duo eventually went their separate ways in pursuit of other endeavors. Miss Kittin released the critically acclaimed I Com (2004), and became a well-known voice on the club scene (collaborating with Felix Da Housecat, Sven Väth), as well as DJ star with an eclectic ear (demonstrated by her mix CDs: Radio Caroline, and A Bugged Out Mix)).

The Hacker became an unrivalled electro and techno DJ, going from EPs to remixes (Marc Almond, Laurent Garnier, Air, Nitzer Ebb), and releasing his own full-length, Rêves Mécaniques (2004), propelled by the hit "Flesh & Bone".But the scene being what it is, the two couldn’t stay apart for long, and by 2006, spontaneously, without any pressure and just for the fun, the French duo were at it again, composing new tunes, two of which came out in the spring of 2007 on the Hometown EP (Goodlife). Soon they were playing together live again, kicking things off with a huge gig in front of thousands of people under the famous "Pont du Gard" bridge in the South France that summer. Each date is the same: A massive turnout.The duo used this experience to define a new on-stage style.On TWO, Miss Kittin & The Hacker leave behind electroclash contrariness and unmask a perfectly accessible, more elegant, more mature and more distinct - yet, still pop – side.

The album serves up a stellar sprinkling of metallic soul, glamorous space disco, glossy vocal nuances, crystalline beats and swirling melodies, the upcoming single, “1000 Dreams,” "PPPO," and the superb cover of Elvis Presley's "Suspicious Minds".Miss Kittin and The Hacker will tour extensively in 2009, and will be hitting the U.S. this fall.


THE SOFT PACK
The Muslims EP
March 10, 2009
Free Downloads!


The Year of the Ox is a big year for So-Cal’s The Soft Pack.With twelve stellar CMJ performances in October and a slew of packed shows across the US this winter under their belts, The Soft Pack have hit the ground running.

Recognized for their “no bull shit” rock ‘n roll, energetic live shows and DIY aesthetic. Brooklyn – based label Kemado Records no doubt saw eye to eye with the band’s growing and enthusiastic fanbase when they signed them this January. And with this wave of success, The Soft Pack will release an EP The Muslims ep on March 10th, 2009 via all digital outlets.

Fans who didn’t have a chance to purchase one of the band’s sold-out self-released 12”’s will get to crank up the volume on ten Soft Pack originals, including soon-to-be-classic “Extinction”.

TOUR DATES
03/19/09 Austin, TX @ Club 1808 (Gigotron SXSW Day Party)
03/19/09 Austin, TX @ Opal Divine’s (Green Label Sound Event)
03/20/09 Austin, TX @ Mohawk (Official SXSW Showcase Event)
03/21/09 Austin, TX @ French Legation (Press Here Garden Party)
03/21/09 Austin, TX @ Waterloo Park (Don’t Mess with Texas Party)
03/24/09 Washington, D.C. @ Black Cat
03/25/09 Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church
03/26/09 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
03/27/09 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
03/28/09 Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
03/30/09 Montreal, QC @ Les Saints
03/31/09 Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace
04/01/09 Ann Arbor, MI @ Blind Pig
04/02/09 Indianapolis, IN @ Radio Radio
04/03/09 Chicago, IL @ Double Door
04/04/09 Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock Social Club
04/07/09 Seattle, WA @Neumos Crystal Ball Reading Room
04/08/09 Vancouver, BC @ Richard’s on Richards Cabaret

Don’t miss Melissa McClelland Live @ SXSW:
Thurs, March 19 @ SESAC Day Stage Café (5:30 pm set)
Thurs, March 19 @ Velveeta Room (Six Shooter Showcase, 10 pm set)
Friday, March 20 @ Headhunters (Six Shooter Hootenanny 2-5pm)

Glen Rio” (MP3)

Melissa McClelland returns with her highly anticipated third album, Victoria Day. Produced by husband Luke Doucet, her Six Shooter Records debut finds McClelland deeply in touch with a sense of melody and wordplay that rivals any of her contemporaries.
Like a roadmap tracing the veins of a country one can only dream of visiting, Victoria Day is both seductive and compelling. “Glenrio” invites us to a rusty locale where one can only leave with bloody knuckles.

Snow falls slowly over the gentle “Seasoned Lovers,” which also features a stunning vocal performance by Ron Sexsmith. McClelland’s virtuosity as a lyricist is best illustrated in “When the Lights Went Off In Hogtown,” which immortalizes the Toronto blackout of 2003 with a playful and surreal command of imagery. Victoria Day is a work constituted of anthems and odes, of harlequins and hymnals, penned by a quiet poet in a corner of the bar.

The songs rendered on this recording extend their hands and lean against the May wind as though the world were their shoulder. “Today is Victoria Day,” they say. “Enjoy yourselves.”Melissa’s impressive talent is particular compelling when she performs, which is why she has with such notable artists as Sarah McLachlan, and Luke Doucet, and was the single guest vocal appearance on Blue Rodeo’s lauded Live at Massey Hall (2008).

Melissa’s song crafting skills have not gone unnoticed south of the border, where “Passenger 24” from the album Thumbelina’s One Night Stand captured the title of “Best Americana Song” at the Independent Music Awards.



EULOGIES ON TOUR
3/19 - Official Showcase @ The Ranch - SXSW Austin, TX (w/ Dappled Cities)
3/20 - 1:00pm - +1 House Party @ Legendary Hand Sinatra’s - SXSW Austin TX
3/22 - Vaudeville Mews - Des Moines, IA *
3/23 - 7th Street Entry - Minneapolis, MN *
3/24 - Bottom Lounge - Chicago, IL *
3/25 - Magic Bag - Ferndale, MI *
3/27 - Thunderbird Cafe - Pittsburgh, PA *
3/28 - PIOTA Club & Cafe - Arlington, VA *
3/29 - Metro Gallery - Baltimore, MA *
3/31 - Pianos - New York, NY*

w/ Middle Distance Runner


If you are at SXSW make sure to stop in and hang with the Bloodshot Records crew
Go to the website and download free MP3's for all bands


Blues wasn’t born accessible.
But Melbourne’s Whiskey Go Gos seem determined to transform the raw-boned Southern stomp of the genre into unabashed, sing-along pop music. On their debut LP Proud Tales To Them of Us, out on Warner in Australia, lead singer Matt Hutchinson belts out the sort of stuff you can waste away with at the bottom of a bottle, or pump your fists to in a fit of glee.
The beauty? It’s your choice.
Indeed, the duo’s tunes are hauntingly heartfelt, pub-uniting howlers – an endless stream of backwoods Americana effortlessly convincing everyone from Nokia, Billabong and Vice Magazine to take note.
One listen to the track below, and it’s easy to see why.
Download MP3: Whiskey Rain
Video: Rodeo

PETER DOHERTY SOLO ALBUM GRACE/WASTELAND OUT MARCH 24
Think you know Peter Doherty?

Vilified by the world’s press and written off at every turn, Peter Doherty finds himself constantly at the centre of a media maelstrom, a frenzy that bombards his private life with allegations, accusations, invasions and intrusions. They say that it’s calmest in the eye of the hurricane, and that’s where you’ll find Peter; coolly strumming his guitar while the storm around him carries him ever closer to Arcadia.
That quest for utopia still propels Peter in everything he does.

DOWNLOAD A FREE MP3 OF "NEW LOVE GROWS ON TREES"



With the Libertines - Peter ‘n’ Carl sailed devotedly through a life with no restrictions, where “if you’ve lost your faith in love and music then the end won’t be long”.

Peter Doherty was the people’s poet.

Then, Peter found himself canonized by other artists who saw in him the heart of a bohemian with the face of a cherub. He became the muse for fashion designers and became a fashion icon in his own right, effortlessly mixing vintage chic with high-end couture. With Babyshambles, Peter Doherty is free to test the limits of his creativity. Babyshambles have defied their critics to become everything that rock and roll in the 21st Century should be: dangerous, provocative, edgy and unpredictable.


With Doherty at the helm, what else could they be?
http://mailsend.vectorcomp.com/t/r/l/jklyjj/bxlttjr/i
Peter Doherty on Facebook


HONEY CLAWS

(Austin, TX/New Zealand) - Unsigned

Listen to “Shout Out”

The Drones play SXSW followed by US tour ~ Havilah out now on ATP Recordings

Download "The Minotaur"

Australia's The Drones are kicking off a US tour next week in support of their recently released album, Havilah. Dates include several shows in Austin for SXSW followed by dates with The War on Drugs and Band of Horses.Havilah, like everything The Drones have done, is an album of contradictions, wherebombast meets beauty, melancholy wrestles with violent guitars. Singer Liddiard's incendiary voice lights up his angular poetry on the nature of, in no particular order, the moon (Penumbra), divorce (The Drifting Housewife) and the acquisition of godlike power and the cult of John Frum (I Am the Supercargo). It's an album that's brimful of the innovation and artistic integrity that has made The Drones one of Australian rock's most critically acclaimed acts here and overseas during the past four years.