我想大家都喜歡活躍於90年代的美國樂隊Grandaddy吧？我是，解散後的Grandaddy Frontman Jason Lytle玩自己的個人project,之前已推出過一張碟，今年十月會推出第二張大碟《Dept. of Disappearance》。哇，這一首就根本是Grandaddy本身的作品吧？電氣工業化的處理，密密的結他聲卻加上暖暖nostalgic和音的迴旋，那種纏繞在心頭的感覺，噢，就好像在烈日當空，在湖邊灌一杯烈洒然後跳進湖裏後，在草地上躺著的奇妙愉快經歴，好聽到爆炸。
via pitchfork
挪威新樂隊Disaster in the Universe只是發表兩支單曲，第二首《Beach House》已經成為今個夏天的Summer hit。難怪，又好跳又好玩的節奏，電子加熱帶風情再加派對瘋狂情緒，可謂一撃即中。作為挪威樂隊，反而佢地冇話要唱挪威文，佢地咁講
The band has created an exciting sound combining rock, electronica, psychedelia and tropical instruments and rhythms, and performs their songs in English, French, Portugese and Ronga.
嘻嘻，佢地已經開始在大場表演，已剛在一大音樂節slottsfjell演出。簽新label New Times的佢地，又出奇地兩支singles都做到production上唔小野的mv，幾神奇。能否殺出歐洲？
Bob Dylan之子 Jakob Dylan領軍的The Wallflowers曾幾何時其實係小弟年輕時的歌單之一，但真係好耐好耐沒有再聽過佢地了。休息一輪，牆花再出動，更夥拍Mick Jones(The Clash, Big Audio Dynamite..)推出首支單曲《Reboot the Mission》。很不錯呢，低沉一點，加上garage一點的結他聲，再有Mick Jones的funky演唱，嘻嘻。仲有封面玩Magritte呢，嘻嘻。
來自瑞典哥德堡(Gothenborg)，在Sincerely Yours旗下的Air France最近宣佈散band了。讀到這裡，還不禁有點心酸。
「And we have probably produced 7 albums since No Way Down; a UK Garage record, a house record, an r ‘n’ b record… but we’ve never been able to finish anything, nothing was ever good enough. We have tried so hard, and we truly gave it all we had. And now we have decided to stop trying, even though it breaks our hearts. But for all the reasons mentioned above, and for a thousand more, we don’t regret a thing.」
玩樂團從來都不易，香港人玩band要成名，要賺錢；相反北歐的玩band朋友真的很多為玩音樂，為追求自己的藝術情趣。我們當然不會忘記Air France為我們提供過比真的Air France更舒暢的電子飛行體驗，在此以表敬意。
我敢說，Elton John vs Pnau這張【Good Morning to the Night】真係意想不到地又懷舊又新潮。其實早在收音機聽單曲《Sad》一輪，但不認真聽也沒有留意。到今日唱片正式推出，聽下聽下，哇，我相信係其中一張老一輩歌手同新一輩歌手合作最成功的一個project。我真係估唔到歸於最老土最傳統pop的Elton John 會響六十幾歲時忽然會咁潮，你會想像到響舞池聽到呢張碟的歌時會幾興奮！
Elton John你當然識啦，但Pnau就未必知。 來自澳洲的Pnau其實是二人電子跳舞duo，由Nick Littlemore 及Peter Mayes組成。而Nick 就係澳洲紅到爆組合 Empire of the Sun的一子。
單聽單曲《Sad》你已經覺得神奇，屬於Elton John 那個年代的keyboard riff 及melody 但卻出現如在未來城市一般的fuzzy riff及節奏中。再正係用o既聲又有真又有電，又有極度懷舊的brass 但你又好似star trek咁的感覺。哇，好鬼好聽o者。成張碟都係類似感覺，surreal 後現代，十分神奇迷幻，睇埋你就知有幾正，睇佢點玩舊電影同蒙太奇(montage)同埋elton john個iconic 就知正。look
英倫樂團Mystery Jets新碟【Radlands】基本上首首好聽，有一貫的懷舊及的好玩外，亦有那份像回到brit pop 時期的樂團的氣質。當然，最新單曲《Greatest Hits》便係其中一首我聽得十分高興的作品，老土其實唔一定要用最老土手法玩，呢首歌就既老土又玩味又有廿一世紀guitar pop 的味道。內容就其實有d 似The Divine Comedy的《Indie Disco》，一樣好玩。
Mystery Jets Greatest Hits
You can take ‘The Lexicon of Love’ away but I’m keeping Remain in Light’
You can take away ‘It’s a Shame About Ray’ but I’m holding on to ‘Country
Life’ (Ohhh)
You can keep ‘No Need to Argue’ and I’ll keep ‘The Aeroplane Over the Sea’
But hold on to ‘The Boy with the Arab Strap’ cos I’m holding on to ‘Village
Green’
I don’t know if the knot just needs untangling cos the tapes get stuck all
The time
Either way I’m keeping ‘Double Nickles on the Dime’
These were our greatest hits (Shalalalalalalala Shalalalala)
The best of me and you(Shalalalalalalala Shalalalala)
These were our greatest hits (Shalalalalalalala Shalalalala)
The best of me and you
I still remember buying you ‘Band on the Run’ on the first day that we
Kissed
But you always did prefer ‘McCartney I’ because it reminded you of being a
Kid
No way your having ‘This Nation’s Saving Grace’ you only listen to it when
Your pissed
But when you sober up it’s always “Why the fuck are you still listening to
Mark E. Smith?”
I don’t know if the knot just needs untangling or if we forgot which way’s
Up and which way is down
But still the tape keeps going round and round
These were our greatest hits (Shalalalalalala lalalalala)
The best of me and you (Shalalalalalala Shalalalala)
The best of me and you
Of me and you
Still the tape keeps going round and round.
The tape keeps going round [repeat til the end]
These were our greatest hits (Shalalalalalalala Shalalalala)
The best of me and you (Shalalalalalalala Shalalalala)
Our Desert Island Discs (Shalalalalalalala Shalalalala)
The best of me and you (Shalalalalalalala Shalalalala)
最近再踏足一次冰島，破了產的冰島依舊是那個冷酷仙景，沒有半點不變。到冰島當然要拜訪冰島音樂，怎知我又遇上了這個冰島唱作人Eberg。
翻查記錄，上一次寫Eberg原來正係六年前了(link)，真係時日如飛，當天像我跟你⋯⋯
不過無謂講無聊話，Eberg 在幾天前正發佈了第四張專輯的首支單曲《Long Since I Have Felt This Good》，依舊輕鬆趣怪的電子風格，今次尾段仲多了點warm-tone的聲，有幾分mum?
