Hot Chip will be touring their native UK as well as continental Europe and the U.S. between May 12 and October 22 in support of their sixth studio album which drops May 18. Entitled 'Why Make Sense?', it includes the stellar track "Need You Now". The excellent accompanying creepy-comic video features lead vocalist Alexis Taylor; the clip was directed by acclaimed London-based collective Shynola.
UK trio The Prodigy dropped their sixth studio album 'The Day Is My Enemy' March 30; it's the first since 2009. No less than five singles have been released so far, two of which are accompanied by very powerful animated videos that are a perfect match for the band's trademark kinetic sound.
The clip for the track "Wild Frontier" was created by Dutch stop motion animator Mascha Halberstad of Superfelix; "Nasty" was co-directed by Oliver Jones and Brandon Kahn of Midland based collective Better Feeling Films.
Liam Howlett, Keith Flint and Maxim (pluslive members Leo Crabtree and Rob Holliday) have ten UK shows May 4 - 16. Between June 5 and August 23 they'll be playing at seventeen summer festivals; most of them in continental Europe and in the UK; August 9 and August 14 however they'll be performing in Incheon, South Korea and in Tokyo, respectively.
On a personal and very trippy note relating to the two videos: today, for the first time in my life, I saw a fox. At dusk she/he dashed through the garden of the suburban house north of Copenhagen where I'm currently visiting. Life is stranger than fiction, n'est pas?
A stunning song + a stunning video = a very happy music blogger.
24-year-old Ghana-born/UK-raised Kwabena Sarkodee Adjepong aka Kwabs and London-based director George Belfield more than deliver with "Perfect Ruin", shot in and around Luleå in Northern Sweden. The track is taken from the singer-songwriter's debut full-length 'Love + War' which drops May 18.
Kwabs is currently on tour: he has a gig in Hamburg tomorrow Wednesday plus four UK gigs April 21, 22, 25, 26. Friday's show in Copenhagen has been cancelled; however, he will be at the Roskilde Festival which takes place June 27 - July 4. He is also scheduled to perform at several summer festivals in the UK, Ireland, Switzerland and Germany between June and September.
The season 1 finale of sublime Breaking Bad prequel/spin-off Better Call Saul premiered earlier this week on AMC and Netflix. Its many rabid fans - including this blogger - will no doubt be dealing with severe withdrawal symptoms until season 2 hits the small screen early next year.
The show's delicioustheme was commissioned by acclaimed music supervisor/DJ/record producer Thomas Golubic (Six Feet Under, Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, etc.), a longtime fan of British trio Little Barrie. Though they have enjoyed some degree of success in the UK/Europe and have achieved near cult status in Japan, they were virtually unknown in the U.S. before Better Call Saul. To seize momentum, the band's label Tummy Touch understandably issued a five-track intro album in late February, but here's hoping Little Barrie won't go down in history solely as "those guys who did that great TV show theme."
Founded in Nottingham in 1999, the London-based band (guitarist/lead singer Barrie Cadogan, drummer/vocalist Virgil Howe, bassist/vocalist Lewis Wharton) have released four stellar full-lengths in the past decade, the latest being last year's superb eleven-song album 'Shadow', my personal favorite. Last week a hot mess of a video was published to accompany the outstanding track "Eyes Were Young'.
NOTE: As evidenced by clip # 2 (uploaded by a fan) when crating the killer theme for Better Call Saul, Cardogan, Howe and Wharton clearly took inspiration from the track "Why Don't You Do It", from their second album 'Stand Your Ground', released in 2007.
Dates: Little Barrie will be playing a show in Belfast April 30 before embarking on a mini-tour of Japan and Vietnam May 22 to 27. They also have a UK gig scheduled for July 25.
The release of North London band Wolf Alice's debut full-length 'My Love Is Cool' is still three months away (June 22/23); fortunately the video accompanying the stellar track "Giant Peach" is already out.
The funny clip featuring a manager-from-hell was created by British directing duo 'Sblood aka Gareth Phillips and Simon Milner.
Ellie Rowsell, Joff Oddie, Theo Ellis, and Joel Amey performed at SXSW in Austin last week and are currently touring the UK. Between April 28 and May 23 they will be playing fifteen shows around the U.S.. They also have a close to a dozen European summer festival gigs lined up. (June 18 however they return to the U.S. for one date in NYC.)
I first discovered the music of now 22-year-old Berlin based Danish artist Asbjørn last year and was instantly taken in by the intricate soundscapes he creates on his own or in tandem with his frequent collaborator producerJonas Tranberg. This week he dropped his second full-length entitled 'Pseudo Visions', containing eleven tracks. I've chosen the sublime "Moonia" which I find best showcases his stunning vocals.
Several numbered videos were published last year to accompany eight of the songs found on the new album. Like the remaining seven, "Moonia" was curated by fellow Danes Anders Morre and Thomas Dyrhom of visual lab Powerclap.
Asbjørn will tour Denmark in late April and early May; most likely summer dates will be added shortly.
Danish quartet Turboweekend drop their fourth full-length 'Share My Thunder' March 30. The teaser single "Miles and Miles" was released in October; the second single "Asking for More" came out last week. Both tracks are outstanding and bode very well for the upcoming eleven-track album.
Their Denmarkspring tour runs from March 26 to May 9. Additionally, they have four dates scheduled around Germany where they also have a solid fan base: Cologne May 5, Munich May 6, Berlin May 7, Hamburg May 8.
NOTE on video # 2: Having already posted the excellent video accompanying "Miles and Miles" when it was published in early December, for today's blog I have instead chosen to include a stellar live acoustic version performance, taped by Danish Television last Christmas. (skip to 00:20 and stop at 4:14 to avoid the intro talk as well as the wrap up talk by the TV show hosts. Also, I should add: there's nothing wrong with your ears or your electronic device: unfortunately, two brief yet annoying technical glitches occur in the video at 1:48 and at 3:26.)
Published since 2008, The Nightfly is a non-profit one-woman operation based out of Long Beach/Los Angeles, California. An eclectic virtual music magazine with readers in more than 100 countries, it features videos along with interviews, reviews, news and points of views.
