Music

One of the good things about going back to England is that it gives me the chance to thieve all the music my brother spends good money purchasing. Chile is a musical backwater so I tend to lose track of what's going on in the world.

To this end, I am now listening to:

Fleet Foxes-Fleet Foxes

MGMT-Oracular Spectacular (the singles are way better than the rest of the tracks)

Stereolab-Chemical Chords (I actually thought Stereolab had disbanded after the untimely death of Mary Hanson a few years ago)

TV On The Radio-Dear Science

Hot Chip-Made in the Dark

Herman Dune-his last 3 albums.

I've also recently got around to purchasing:

Vivian Girls-Vivian Girls

Bon Iver-For Emma, Forever Ago

El Guincho-Alegranza

All of the above is pretty good to be honest. I'm particularly enjoy Vivian Girls and TV On The Radio.

Now go check them out.

More Music

i-Tunes is accepting my credit card again after a total balls up so, yey, I can buy music once more.

This week I bought:

Santogold-Santogold-I've really enjoyed this album. She's a professional song writer for a number of well known 'artists' and this personal album shows off her many different styles. L.E.S Artistes and Lights Out are two of my favourite tracks but most of the album, with the exception of the execrable Unstoppable, is pretty great. Santogold is also a really good lyricist so try listening to what she's singing as well...

Elbow-The Seldom Seen Kid. I had Elbow's other 3 studio albums 'til i-Tunes auto-synced my ipod and deleted the lot. Bugger. The new album is really good. Mancs at their best.

Emmy the Great-My Bad EP. Cutesy folk guitar stuff. Much better than I make it sound. I really like it. Hope she releases a full album soon.

Coldplay-Viva la Vida. Frigging awful on first listen but it's starting to really grow on me. Not as girly pop as much as their other stuff. This is a good thing. 

More Music

It's hard keeping up with new music when you live in the land of cheesy reggaeton or obscure 80s hits. But I do try.

So this week, I have been mostly listening to:

Vampire Weekend-Vampire Weekend. Preppy college pop/rock that's a cut above the rest of the genre. It's not as fantastic as a lot of people seem to think but it's a really, really fun album and music shouldn't always have to be difficult to be good. And fun music is certainly necessary before listening to...

Portishead-Third. Easy listening this is not but...wow...what a comeback. 10 years after releasing Portishead and 14 after Dummy, the trip-hop pioneers are back with a truly awesome album. It's not a re-hash of their old style, it's a fluid transition into how they should sound in 2008. Just don't expect to feel particularly happy after listening to it.

The Raconteurs-Consolers of the Lonely. The Raconteurs' (Jack White's-White Stripes- side project) second album is a fair bit better than the pretty great Broken Boy Soldiers. Bluesy rock at its best, just as you think it's about to turn into wanky stadium rock, the music or lyrics take you as far away from that place as possible. Brilliant stuff.

Elastica-Elastica. It may be 14 years old but I still love this album. Totally underrated, it still feels contemporary, a sure sign of fantastic-ness.

Radiohead-In Rainbows. It's been out for 5 months or so but I'm still listening. Best Radiohead album since Ok Computer. Now if I can just get a cheap enough flight back to England for the end of June, I've got a ticket promised to me to see them in concert. First time I'll have seen them since Glastonbury 1994.

And I'm still loving my Josh Ritter collection.

It may be 6 months old...

...and I may be not blogging at the mo...but I'm still listening to it The Go Team's absolutely awesome second album. Buy. It. Now.

What's on my estereo at the moment

Not much to report about Valparaiso at the moment-i haven't had time to go out and take any photos, upstairs is a bit too messy to take any worthwhile pics as well. I've mainly been sitting in front on the computer emailing people and sorting out a load of stuff before heading off to Argentina for a couple of weeks...

Anyway, as i've not got much of anything to say, here's a list of what's been keeping me company over the last few days...

Super Furry Animals-Hey Venus! (the Welshmen back to their best)
Josh Ritter-The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter and also re-listening a lot to Golden Age of Radio (whiny yank at the top of his game)
Carla Bruni-No Promises (Sappy supermodel sings this time in English)
Interpol-Our Love to Admire (Brilliant third album)
Girls Aloud- Tangled Up (cheesy pop at its best)
Cocosuma- Pointing Excitedly to the Sky (Chilled out French group, good when you've got a headache)
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah- Some Loud Thunder (You either love them or hate them-that voice takes some getting used to...i love them)
Amy Winehouse- Back to Black (Completely crazy English lass is not to keen on rehab)
Elliot Smith -A mix of his stuff recorded before he stabbed himself in the heart (obviously)
Dizzee Rascal- Maths + English Ex-UK Garage Star raps about how lame being a gangster is
Arctic Monkeys- Favourite Worst Nightmare (Another pretty damn good second album)
A load of Brazilian stuff from the short lived Tropicalia movement of the late 1960s

I have impeccable musical tastes so go forth and investigate :)