It doesn’t take long to realize that these aren’t the most normal people you know. Justice has been in the business of melting people’s brains for awhile now. If you need some reassurance of that, give their full-length debut LP, “†”, a quick listen, or its even more pupil-dilating live version, “A Cross the Universe”.

Samples of said insanity below:

Official Trailer (recommend this DVD if you don’t have it)

However, this isn’t a post about Justice circa-2007; this is a post about their new album, “Audio, Video, Disco”, to be released next week. Don’t be fooled by the giant stone cross on the cover, the similarity between the two albums mostly ends there. They get things kicked off with Horsepower, almost as a teaser that this is going to be “† vol. 2″. Here’s a sample:
Horsepower

You’ll quickly notice, though, that this is not another pulsing electro-rock-house album.The emphasis… is on the rock part. Tracks like On’N'On and Newlands sound as at home on rock records of the late 70′s and 80′s as they do here:
Newlands

Justice has never been a band (band? DJs?) that has been particularly focused on the tastes of their fans. Just as the crunchy, ears-bleeding electro-riffs of “†” freaked out a bunch of fans unaccustomed to these kinds of sounds (think about mainstream this album would be perceived as by today’s neon dubstep army), this album is going to piss off fans by being different. It’s worth a listen or ten, but probably won’t fuel your next couch-on-fire riot party.

Just around the corner. Get your sick days ready because Lolla is coming to town and bringing the noise. Rather than fill up this site with the usual paragraph after paragraph of word vomit, straight to the goods.

In order of appearance:

Fuck Buttons – Bright Tomorrow

Hot Chip – Hold On

Chromeo – 100%

Tiga – Luxury

The Strokes – Alone, Together

Metric – Help, I’m Alive

Spoon – I Turn My Camera On

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros – 40 Day Dream

Cut Copy – Lights and Music

Phoenix – If I Ever Feel Better

Yeasayer – Ambling Alp

MGMT - Brian Eno

Temper Trap – Sweet Disposition

Felix Da Housecat – We All Wanna Be Prince

Arcade Fire – Month of May

See you at Devo on Thursday night at the Congress – and at the beach on Monday.

Happy trails,

D

Nothing sucks worse than a second record… sometimes.

“You have your whole life to make your first record and 24 months to make your second”

How do you duplicate the experience and passion you put into your first [hit] album, the record that made you famous, into another commercially popular product that the public will both love again and you will be satisfied with?

Needless to say, this is a difficult process. Creating In Utero likely pushed Cobain over the edge (exception to the rule [mega hit] – but also not true second album). I don’t think Ezra Koenig went through the same angst to push Contra through production, but he didn’t have to worry about continuing to define his own genre.

With this in mind, in the face of huge expectations in the wake of The Rhumb Line, The Orchard doesn’t fall flat on its face. It lacks the powerful, emotional pace of its predecessor, explores new territory, and delivers some quality new tracks. It also maintains Ra Ra’s reputation for delivering music that is extremely tight, technically. It’s slower, more thoughtful, and maybe, like a lot of second albums, will be appreciated more by the fans that truly support the band than album before it.

A few of the choicer singles:

Shadowcasting (Jackson Browne, anyone?)

Do You Remember

You and I Know -> Note cellist Alexandra Lawn’s debut as lead vocals (another good reason to see them live)

Enjoy, and see these guys in concert as soon as possible (Oct 5th at SmartBar would be a good choice)
Duff

It had to happen eventually.

After over 2 years of waiting, Cut Copy fans are getting their first taste of new material from the Aussie synth-pop crew. But this isn’t your standard synth-o-matic affair that you have grown to know and love. The standard club banging mega-electropop that you’ve probably heard in your sleep has been replaced by a new brand of summer-y electro-rock that you might expect if one of the Beach Boys had stumbled onto DJ equipment.

Just imagine what music would sound like now.

Here’s the first track out so far - Where I’m Going

Sound like a good start to another good album. Catch them at Lollapalooza this weekend.

So….. the big question. Where have we been?

“Oh yeah those blogging assholes thought that they were really hot shit and then they disappeared”

Well….. true. Until recently. See there’s this really agonizing time-suck called work and it was jealous of the blog taking our leisure time – but no more excuses. We are lazy and the blog went into a coma.

So what do we do? Rather than go on about the endless details of stone polishing, insect taxidermy, and prostitution, I found it more useful to associate a picture of each of your favorite bloggers at work.
(Working theme songs upcoming upon my using a non-work typewriter to upload it)

Busybomb

blackbeard

kelbs

duff

Something musical-related coming soon.

Duchov

Youth is not wasted on the talented. Between ABX and STV SLV, the young prodigies of Neon Indian, the future of music becomes clear: it’s weird, it’s capable, and it’s so unpredictable that you cannot help but be excited. Traditional harmony, rhythm, pop melody don’t matter; only the notion of what sounds cool. It may be shocking, surprising, even uncomfortable, but in the end so good that you may not notice it tonight, or on XRT tomorrow, but these brains are far enough ahead of their time that you should be lucky to see them in a small venue now before the rest of their world realizes their talent. It’s not a deadbeat summer; it’s a new season altogether.

-dd

Enter Kent.

One of the most popular rock bands in Sweden and yet relatively unknown outside the country. Here are a couple off their newest offering, Röd. You can hear both sides of their emerging style: Half Radiohead-inspired rock on the first track, half synth-heavy power pop on the next two.

Svarta Linger

Taxmannen

Krossa Allt

I heard these guys are playing the Ice Hotel for Winter Break 2009

Duff

Coming to a Congress Theater near you (Sept. 20)

Get warmed up. A couple off his new album:

FML

Ghosts N’ Stuff (feat. Rob Swire)

Or better yet, sample this.

See you there…

Duchov