Having A Crush On Crash

Ahem! Attention all hardcore Belle & Sebastian fanatics. I hope you don't get offended but this band has great power to generate bitterness and nostalgia in people with their full of sorrow and grief-stricken tunes. Only THEY are able to convert one of the most popular cheerful anthems into a sad and bitter song, and yet the final result somehow fascinates me.

The Scot band has recorded a delicate cover of the 1988 hit Crash by British indie pop group The Primitives, which appears on their second installment of the compilation series Late Night Tales, out TODAY. It follows their 2006 entry in the series. Check out the video that features the band exploring London as cuddly paper cutout characters.

Here you have the original version. Yep, it is the same, although not everybody will notice it, huh?

But this is not the only cover done for this song. There are many, many more; even though all of them are quite alike and have nothing to do with the original by The Primitives (IMHO). Among them (and much to my regret), I've included the one by El Canto del Loco, a band I hate with a passion, containing dreadful lyrics translation into Spanish. Enjoy (or maybe not)!

(Rock &) Roll

I love sushi. You get to savor lots of delicious small bites full of different colors, flavors, textures and spices that all come together in one big tasty explosion. My curiosity about these delectable little morsels of raw seafood got the best of me this past weekend, so I went online to see if there was something to these cravings. You know, kind of like how they say they put something addictive in McDonald's hamburgers to make you hungry for them. I thought for sure I'd find some conspiracy theory about it but I didn't. If you know something on this matter, please share.

 Kyle Andrews - Sushi 

  Tunng - Sashimi

Kojak - My Futomaki

Wait & See Them (In Chile)

Saturday, 14th April. It's 1:00 am on a rainy Santiago night. I just got to the venue. Holy Ghost! - the new kids from DFA Records, house of bands such as Hercules & Love Affair, Hot Chip or LCD Soundsystem - are playing tonight.

As soon as the clock hits 1:30 am sharp, the American electro-pop band appears on stage. By this time, the dancing floor is pretty much filled with fans. In less than five seconds, the whole vibe is shifted to party-mode.


They play It's Not Over, and when the song is finally over (I know, a bit contradictory), they greet the audience.

They seem utterly humble and easygoing. Also their attitude is very friendly. They haven't been "rockstarized" yet, but the show-goers are boosting their egos. When they play my favorite, Hold My Breath, I begin feeling more and more euphoric. Suddenly I start realizing that this day will be truly special.

They play Hold On, I close my eyes... for one moment I feel complete. I'm enjoying the present, nothing more, nothing less, a perfect way to crown this busy week of work… Carpe Diem!

If I have to choose a hit from their stuff, it'd be Wait And See. As soon as they hit the first key, people go wild dancing. I scream, and so does the rest of the audience. When you get a crowd chanting onomatopoeias, you just KNOW you have a hit.

Just push play if you wanna get an idea of the wild atmosphere at the gig that night. The video was recorded by my friend @nicolasdeppe.

The guys feel at home, Alex starts smoking a cigarette, totally needed after all that extasy...

Holy Ghost! is a duo consisting of Nick Millhiser and Alex Frankel, but when they play live shows such as this, they need four more musicians for instruments and synths. They carry out a fantastic live show. Six guys playing with precise coordination. Every man doing his own thing, but his own contribution to this "Swiss clockwork". Impressive.

The show is coming to an end. They'll finish with Jam For Jerry and leave us waiting for their DJ set later… but NO, they are not done yet, they come back for an encore. The funny thing is that they play Wait And See again, due to the lack of possible choices; they already played the whole set of songs from their debut homonym album. The onlookers won't let them play anything but the hit, and it's great. As soon as it ends, the the whole audience keeps on chanting.

...

Around me I don't see an ocean of people, but a bunch of real music lovers, who are enjoying their regular dose of musical pleasure in a world filled with disappointing sounds. A group of rare black sheep, where being part of the crowd is the default and only the nonconformists attain real passion for music… I'm glad to be part of them.

Having bands such as this one in the end of the world, aka Chile, is only possible thanks to Club Fauna, the first enterprise to take the risk of bringing up and coming indie bands here. Click on the logo for further details about its vision and mission statements.

Open SEAson

The Holy Week begins and many people take a short vacation around this time, as a preview for the summer holidays. As can be expected, I am doing the same thing, hehe. Thus, folks, the sea is waiting for me! Yay!

Special thanks to Bulent who showed me this awesomely appropriate song by Mint Julep, a husband-and-wife duo who formed in Boston around 2007. Since then, they have not ceased to surprise us with their ambient electronic tracks. To The Sea is the latest sultry and engaging stuff contained in their brand new LP, Save Your Season, a heady mix of lulling vocals and mesmerizing compositions. The song is both sad and anxiety-inducing–put it together with a video that jerks left and right, while taking us to the homes of women on the verge of madness. 

Check out this superb short film where two similar camera angles were rapidly alternated, creating a 3D effect. Also a great source of book recommendations! So, enjoy.

Ah, to stream the album in its entirety just click here.