Athens66

Best Moment (from you know who)

After an endless search for this video, I was able to locate it. The trouble with this particular clip was the fact that it was removed from all the video hosting sites (just this particular clip; all other excerpts from the series were still available...probably he was too "policly incorrect" with this joke). I'm not sure if the clip will be available for long, so enjoy it while you can..

PS. This is B^a^r^n^e^y at his best (hehe...perhaps this will slow them down a bit)

Battles – Mirrored

This review should have preceded that of Foals but that’s bound to happen since I’m not planning my posts at all. Battles are the American representatives of modern math rock (with Foals being the British ones). While Foals have a more indie sound, Battles are pushing the boundaries of experimental and progressive rock.
Most of the songs in Mirrored (their debut album released back in 2007) are purely instrumental, with only a couple of them containing any lyrics (which in most cases don’t make much sense anyway). Their tracks are full of rim shots, repetitive guitar lines, drum beats, complex synth patterns and endless samples. If all this makes no sense to you, then you can just imagine some free-form experimental jazz sessions, only with guitars, drums, synths and chimpunk vocals all going mad.
To be honest, I’m starting to become a real fan of this new math rock scene and hope more bands come along and progress the style even further. I’m also really looking forward to seeing Battles in this year’s Roskilde (finally found another good band to attend during the festival…hopefully I’ll discover more before we get there) and from what I’ve read and seen from clips, they must really give an amazing show (their experimental style is well suited for unique gigs). This album gets my thumbs up but with a warning; their music is nowhere as popular as their counterparts Foals. If you’re not into progressive sounds it will most probably just irritate the hell out of you. But for those out there (care to believe that includes myself as well) seeking for something completely different, they are most definitely worth the time (and effort).

Atlas, Leyendecker and Race:out are my favorite tracks in an album that you cannot really separate tracks as singles, which actually makes a pretty good compliment.

The National - Boxer

Keeping faithful to my posting style (and probably music listening), it wasn’t until recently that I finally discovered another band to accompany my moody depressing times (with the other band being obviously Tindersticks). The National are a five-piece band from Ohio, although looking at their pictures and listening to their music you could easily mistaken them for a British band, writing their lyrics while spending most of their times down at the local pub.

The National made their debut back in 2001 with their self-titled album and ever since have kept their sound mostly unchanged. Poetic lyrics, finely orchestrated music that spans from dark pop to indie and mood that reminds the best of breed from bands like Joy Division, Tindersticks, Bad Seeds, Leonard Cohen and even Interpol (at least in their latest album). All of their albums have been a real treat to listen over and over again, deserving (and demanding) multiple listening before you really are drawn into their sound.

Boxer is their last album (released back in 2007). I was listening to it for the last week and I’m pretty sure I’ll keep on coming back to it for quite sometime. It was constantly playing in my car's cd-player while driving back yesterday night at pitch dark roads and it proved an absolutely warmth and conforming companion, with tracks that urge you to keep on driving away from everything that makes you miserable.
Boxer had definitely a more indie sound than their previous albums, retaining their unique style that has accompanied them from their beginning. Berninger’s voice is haunting as ever, Dessner and Scott Devendorf pinch in with their guitars in just the right places, Aaron sets the mood with his bass and Bryan Devendorf gives a Joy Division element with his drums. Newsome’s production has added some more strings and brass, giving them an ever more Tinderstick orchestration (from the old good Curtains period). This is champer pop at its best…

The first three songs of the album are my favorites, with Fake Empire slowly changing to joyful brass explosion, Mistaken for Strangers rocking it the National way (reminding me how all Interpol songs should sound like) and Brainy starts off with Joy Division’s classic drum beat before entering Tindersticks territory. Amazing stuff..

Bla Bla Gas

I just spent almost 2 hours searching and waiting in line to get some gas for my car. I was away all the previous couple of weeks and had no idea there was a strike going on. And of course today was one of the few days that I really needed my car (have to drive all the way out of Athens for a friend's wedding). At least I came out a winner (full tank), although I'm still skeptical if it was gas they were filling or mostly water (I'll just have to wait for the autopsy).

The only good thing about all this was a song I happened to hear in one of the shops (while searching for wrapping paper, which was actually harder to find than gas...in other words I failed to find any). It was Gigi D'Agostino's 'Bla Bla Bla' (quite a stupid nonsense song) which I had come upon a few months ago featured in Jim Carrey's classic SNL sketch on YouTube (of course the original sketch featured Haddaway's 'What is Love' but who cares).

Foals - Antidotes

We needed to wait three more years since the last release of a rock/indie record with a greek frontman. Last time around, it was up to Alex Kapranos with the second album of Franz Ferdinand to rock the Greek pride (that sounded quite cheesy). Now the time has come for Yannis Philippakis to step up to the mic, with his Oxford band Foals.
Foals have enjoyed quite some hype (yet another band taking advantage of all the internet buzz) and their album was eagerly anticipated (with BBC Radio One hosting them in their Top-10 list of artists to look out for in 2008). Along with Battles, they are considered the new breed of Math Rock (oh how I love genre labeling), a mix of post-rock, complex melodies and asychnronous guitar lines.

While the album does not provide the biggest variety in songs, it does give a distinct sound to the Foals which is quite different from most indie bands out there. And Yianni's voice is really suiting their style, nothing special but providing the necesary character to the group and letting the music do most of the talking. All in all, a really good debut album by a band that is definetly worth looking out for (hopefully we'll get the chance to see them live sometime soon...at least when Philippakis feels homesick).
Cassius and Mathematics are the best tracks for me on the album, along with Olympic Airways (just for the title!)

Datarock uncovered

After extensive research and sleepless hours of listening to music, we were able to discover the true identities behind the electronic-dance duo Datarock. As you can see by the evidents collected, it turns out that they're not coming from Norway (which was quite a good cover...who the hell knows anyone from Norway?? besides Royksopp, which we now doubt if they are Norwegian too). The true genious under those hoods is our own local singer/star/performer/gangstaman Giorgos Mazonakis!!

Electro nights

I have no clue why but lately I got a tendancy for more electro sounds, ranging from simple blip-blops to full dance beats. Hopefully I will not fall back into the techno/house period (I've buried that a long time ago), but I definetly need a break from indie pop/rock. So here are four tracks/clips from what I've been listening tonight (slowly increasing the tempo as we go along..)

The Ting Tings - shut up and let me go

Calvin Harris - Acceptable in the 80s

Datarock - Fa Fa Fa

MSTRKRFT - She's Good For Business

Follow Elina

A blast from the past for today's Clip of the Day. I was looking around for any news on Hal Hartley (one of my two favorite directors along with Gus Van Sant) and unfortunately after the release of Fay Grim back in 2006 (which I still haven't seen) he has disappeared. Hopefully he is still working on another twisted, satirical story.
For those not familiar with Hal's work, check out at least a couple of the following movies (only quoting his major releases and not his short films):

The Girl from Monday (2005)
No Such Thing (2001)
Fay Grim (2006)
The Book of Life (1998)
Henry Fool (1997)
Flirt (1995)
Amateur (1994)
Flirt (1993)
Simple Men (1992)
Surviving Desire (1991)
Trust (1990)
The Unbelievable Truth (1989)

His seven oldest films still remain his best work for me. Once you get used to the dialogues and his black humor, you'll either love or hate Hal. To me, he remains the best thing coming out of the American independent scene, without ever crossing over to the commercial side. Which other director would have featured a scene with Jesus and the Devil having a drink at a bar in NY and ingeniously cast PJ Harvey as Magdelena (in The Book of Life) or perform a dance sequence to Sonic Youth's 'Kool Thing' (from Simple Men, which is also today's Clip of the Day). Just like Martin Donovan and Bill Sage, all you need to do is follow Elina Lowensohn's moves..

Star Wars vs Saul Bass

I know this is really old (more than six months) but I just saw this and decided to post it even though it has already been posted in hundred other sites and blogs. It is a short project by a student on how the opening titles of star wars would look like if they had been created by the genius Saul Bass. Really amazing stuff worth reposting no matter what you may say..

What's the Frequency Kenneth?

Guess sometimes it's better to go ahead with what you've got rather than waiting around for everything to fall in place. Since it will probably take me a few days to write any reviews, here's a peek to what I've been listening to this week (some are quite old, others are relevantly recent). And in order to make this a real peek, I've compiled a mixtape including two songs from each album for you to enjoy.

Clinic / Do It! - They are back with a really strong album
Beach House / Devotion - Melodic rock for the painfully depressed
The National / Boxer - Amazing album from the American copycats of Tindersticks
Vampire Weekend / Vampire Weekend - The overhyped NYC indie band that fuses African sounds with pop and rock in the likes of the Police (in a good way)
The Raconteurs / Consolers of the Lonely - Jack White and his friends are back with another classic rock album
Nada Surf / Lucky - I've totally forgotten about this band (they managed to produce an interesting album without deviating from their mainstream sound)
Sun Kil Moon / April - Mark Kozelek produced a real gem which for me is only comparable to the likes of Bonnie "Prince" Billy (who appears on Unlit Hallway)