Best songs:
dEUS – Twice
Drums Are For Parades – One (Bochez Deadstep RMX)
Eefje De Visser – Afdwaalt
Girls – Vomit
Jack White – Love Is Blindness (U2 cover)
Jannes Addiction – Irresistible Force
Lana Del Rey – Blue Jeans
Lykke Li – I Follow Rivers
Mogwai – San Pedro
School Is Cool – Warpaint
SX – Black Video
The Vaccines – Post Break-Up Sex
Those Dancing Days – Reaching Forward (live)
U2 – Love Is Blindness (Kindergarten version)
Best albums:
dEUS – Keep You Close
Expats – Cover sessions
Ladytron – Gravity The Seducer
My Morning Jacket – Circuital
Mogwai – Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
Nicole Atkins – Mondo Amore
School Is Cool – Entropology
The Vaccines – What did u expect from The Vaccines?
U2 – Achtung Baby (Kindergarten version)
Most annoying album:
Radiohead – King Of Limbs
Most silly new-age album that for some strange reason will end up in all the end of year lists
Balam Acab – Wander / Wonder
Best gigs:
Mauro & The Grooms @ Kreun, Kortrijk 28/01/2011
Paramount Styles @ Botanique, Brussels 6/04/2011
Ash @ Mezz, Breda 12/06/2011
Morrissey @ Lokerse Feesten 4/08/2011
Sebadoh @ Effenaar, Eindhoven 19/08/2011
The Hickey Underworld @ Play festival, Hasselt 1/10/2011
Broken Glass Heroes @ Arenberg, Antwerp 13/10/2011
My Morning Jacket @ Trix, Antwerp 10/11/2011
Girls @ Trix, Antwerp 15/11/2011
dEUS @ Lotto Arena, Antwerp 16/12/2011
Best cover art:
Gold Panda – Companion
Broken Bells – Meyrin Fields
Filed under: Music | Tags: I'm under the house I'm dying, new album, second album, The Hickey Underworld
It’s no secret that here at Weapon of Beauty HQ we’re big fans of noise rockers The Hickey Underworld.
So the announcement of their second full album is a perfectly valid reason to come out of our hibernation. In true Hickey style the album is mysteriously titled “I’m under the house, I’m dying” and will be released in the Benelux and France in February 2012. Production was once again done by the boys from Das Pop and none other than Dave Sardy (ex-Barkmarket and now producer to the stars) did the mix.
For the past half year the Hickeys have done a series of small club gigs, road testing the new material. Having attended 5 of them the outlines of the new material became quite clear: there are no outlines. The tracks vary from heavy stomping old-school THU, via surprisingly poppy tracks to a 10 minute psychedelic behemoth. This last one is already a live favourite and reminds us of that other 10-minute live favourite and show closer ‘VRMNSMR’. They’re equally compelling and both are some of the most exciting stuff to have been released in the past decade. Yes, it’s thàt good.
The gig at Hasselt’s PLAY festival in October proved that the band are now ready to take it to the next step. The gig was an exciting and intricate mix of new and old material and ranked up there with the best THU gigs I’ve seen (30 and counting).
Want a chance to see for yourself? Check the tour dates below:
| 10/Feb | Trix | Antwerpen (BE) |
| 11/Feb | Rotown | Rotterdam (NL) |
| 12/Feb | Paradiso | Amsterdam (NL) |
| 17/Feb | Nouveau Casino | Paris (FR) |
| 18/Feb | De Kreun | Kortrijk (BE) |
| 19/Feb | Cactus | Brugge (BE) |
| 22/Feb | AB Club | Brussel (BE) |
| 23/Feb | Het Depot | Leuven (BE) |
| 25/Feb | De Casino | Sint-Niklaas (BE) |
| 26/Feb | Vooruit | Gent (BE) |
Filed under: Design, Music | Tags: Goose, Gravity The Seducer, Hipgnosis, Ladytron, Neil Krug, synrise
A follow-up on the follow-up.
After seeing my previous post, George Yanakiev got his hands dirty and mixed Ladytron’s new album cover with Goose’s “Synrise”. Proportions turned out to be perfectly equal…
(photo via georgetheniteversion)
Filed under: Design, Music | Tags: Album Cover, Gravity The Seducer, Hipgnosis, houses of the holy, Ladytron, Neil Krug, Storm Thorgerson
A little follow-up post to the previous Ladytron post. Last week Pitchfork premiered the new Ladytron album cover (made by Neil Krug) and quite rightly pointed out that it looks quite a bit like something that might have come from the Hipgnosis design team (famous for their covers for Pink Floyd, Muse,…).
They should have put it next to the cover of the 2010 ‘Synrise’ album by GOOSE album which was actually designed by Hipgnosis. The similarities are quite striking.
Ladytron: Gravity The Seducer
GOOSE: Synrise
While I had a further look at Krug’s work I even found a second Hipgnosis rip-off.
Neil Krug:
Led Zeppelin – Houses Of The Holy
Coincidence or not?
That said, I quite like Neil Krug’s work.
It’s heavily based on the whole Polaroid retro color scheme.
Check out his work here: http://www.neilkrug.com
Filed under: Design, Music | Tags: Gravity The Seducer, Hipgnosis, Ladytron, Neil Krug, White Elephants
Ladytron are gearing up for the release of a new studio album ‘Gravity The Seducer’ on September 12.
Last year we got a first track ‘Ace of Hz’, now there’s a second single ‘White Elephant’s. It’s a bit Ladytron by numbers I’m afraid. I’d like to see them push the boundaries again, like they did with ‘Witching Hour’, an album that was quite a shift from what they had released before.
Listen to ‘White Elephants’ here:
Filed under: Art, Literature, Music | Tags: Dennis Tyfus, dEUS, Hong Kong Dong, Keep You Close, Luc Tuymans, Michiel Ceulers, School Is Cool
LOOKING FORWARD TO:
ART
Luc Tuymans @ Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp (27 jan 2011)
Luc Tuymans Retrospective @ Bozar, Brussels (18 feb 2011)
Erwin Wurm @ Middelheimmusem, Antwerp (29 may 2011)
Young Belgian Painters Award 2011 @ Bozar, Brussels (8 jun 2011)
Rinus Van de Velde @ Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp (8 sep 2011)
Michiel Ceulers @ Maes en Matthys Gallery, Antwerp (oct 2011)
(Michiel Ceulers - Who’s afraid of red white and blue, 2008)
MUSIC
Das Pop – untitled new album
dEUS – Keep You Close (sep 2011)
Future Of The Left – third album
Glasvegas – second album
Hong Kong Dong – untitled debut album
Jane’s Addiction – new album
Nicole Atkins – Mondo Amore (8 feb 2011)
School Is Cool – debut album
Sophia – Collections:Two
The Hickey Underworld – second album
The Twilight Singers – Dynamite Steps (18 feb 2011)
The Vaccines - What Did You Expect From The Vaccines? (21 mar 2011)
BOOKS
Chuck Palahniuk – Damned (6 sep 2011)
Daan – retrospective book @ Ludion Publishers
Filed under: Music
Best albums (alphabetical)
- Blood Red Shoes – Fire Like This
- Broken Bells – Broken Bells
- Broken Glass Heroes – Broken Glass Heroes
- Drums Are For Parades – Master
- Klaxons – Surfing The Void
- Melissa Auf Der Maur – Out Of Our Minds
- Paramount Styles – Heaven’s Alright
- Piano Club – Andromedia (incl. bonus EP)
- Roadburg – Raise Cain
- Yeasayer – Odd Blood
Best songs (not on one of the above albums)
- Anna Ternheim – What have I done (acoustic)
- Cee-Lo Green – Georgia
- Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse – Little Girl (feat. Julian Casablancas)
- Die Antwoord – Fish Paste
- Eat Lions – Jewel In The Mire (live)
- Fever Ray - Mersey Street
- LCD Soundsystem – I Can Change
- M.I.A. – Born Free
- Nicole Atkins – Vultures
- The Hickey Underworld – Indianen
- The Knife - Colouring Of Pigeons
- The Unwinding Hours & RM Hubbert – Spirit Ditch (Sparklehorse cover)
Best gigs (chronogical)
- Admiral Freebee @ Monty, Antwerp (17/02/2010)
- Blood Red Shoes @ Flex, Vienna (27/03/2010)
- Eat Lions @ De Knoet, Aarschot (24/04/2010)
- Creature With The Atom Brain @ Bar Mondial, Antwerp (28/04/2010)
- The XX @ Primavera Sound Festival, Barcelona (27/05/2010)
- Pavement @ Primavera Sound Festival, Barcelona (27/05/2010)
- Beak> @ Primavera Sound Festival, Barcelona (28/05/2010)
- Broken Bells @ Pukkelpop, Kiewit (21/08/2010)
- Broken Glass Heroes @ K-Nal, Brussels (24/10/2010)
- Sophia @ TAG, Vienna (5/12/2010)
- Helmet @ Vooruit, Gent (14/12/2010)
Best Festival Food
hamburguesas completas @ Primavera Sound Festival, Barcelona
Best Album Covers
Klaxons – Surfing The Void
Drums Are For Parades – Master
LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening
Filed under: Music
With Greg Dulli’s acoustic performance at the Trix in mind, I thought this might be the perfect moment to wave a little flag and guide you all to The Afghan Whigs’ What Jail Is Like EP. This 7 track EP (released as a single from their magnum opus Gentlemen) is a perfect introduction to the band. Not only does it showcase Dulli’s own song writing talents, it also gives you a glimpse of the power that were the Whigs live and also shows off Dulli’s extraordinary ability to take on old soul tracks and turn them into something truly wonderful. A must-have!
I copy/pasted the text below from AllMusic, because frankly I can’t write a better review than they did:
“Aside from the Gentlemen standout, this EP features the Afghan Whigs’ abilities both with cover versions and in the live arena. The three studio covers demonstrate an interesting range — the Ass Ponys’ “Mr. Superlove” (with banjo thrown into the usual Whigs soul crunch for an impressive reading), and “Dark End of the Street” and the Rodgers & Hart standard “Little Girl Blue,” both given slow and low renditions accentuated by cello and piano, the latter played by longtime Whigs sideman Harold Chichester. The three live cuts, taken from a Denver show, include another take on “What Jail Is Like” and another Gentlemen track, “Now You Know.” The absolute winner, though, and possibly the best thing the Whigs have ever recorded, is a mind-blowing medley of the Supremes’ Motown classics “My World Is Empty Without You” (originally recorded in studio as a single) and “I Hear a Symphony.” Given a slow, menacing but not trudging pace, both songs are exquisitely reworked by the band while Greg Dulli burns with wounded power.”
You can find the EP for very little money on sites like Amazon or eBay.
Track list:
What Jail Is Like (Dulli)
Mr. Superlove (Ass Ponys)
The Dark End Of The Street (Penn/Moman)
Little Girl Blue (Rodgers/Hart)
What Jail Is Like (Dulli)
Now You Know (Dulli)
My World Is Empty Without You/I Hear A Symphony (Holland/Dozier/Holland)
Filed under: Design, Music | Tags: 12 inch vinyl, Grinderman, heathen child
A few weeks ago I picked up a copy of the Grinderman ‘Heathen Child’ 12 inch, in part because of the great cover. Not only does it feature a haunting shot of the bloody eyed and orange-haired nubile from the accompanying music video, the cover also has the text in a gothic gold foil blocked font (see photo below). Nice.
The single is released on red coloured vinyl and also contains a poster of said girl (and her orange dyed nether regions) and the band.
As for the music, the single also features b-side ‘Star Charmer’ plus the bonus track ‘Super Heathen Child’ which is a collaboration between Grinderman and legendary guitarist Robert Fripp who added some sterling guitar work to an expanded version of the song.
And all this sweetness for just a baby fistful of euros*!
* FYI: a baby fist can hold 5 euros**.
** Yes, i know that the plural of euro is ‘euro’ and not ‘euros’, but I’m talking about the actual coins, in which case you have to add the ‘s’.
Filed under: Music | Tags: Humo, Indianen, Jean Kluger, The Hickey Underworld, Turalura
HUMO magazine commissioned a second Turalura cd, for which rock bands were asked to record a cover of a song by Belgian crooner Will Tura. These kind of albums are often a bit of hit and miss and many covers fail to reach the quality of the originals. But the quality of this album is pretty decent, there’s only a few tracks that require us of the skip button. And in this case it’s not hard to surpass the quality of the originals either. The album has contributions of Mauro Pawlowski, Mintzkov, The Van Jets, Arid, Arno, Triggerfinger, Daan, etcetera.
But the main reason why you should buy this album is the track recorded by The Hickey Underworld. I’ve mentioned before that The Hickey Underworld are the best thing to come out of Belgium since dEUS (and considering the quality of bands we’ve had in Belgium in the past 15 years, that’s quite something) and with this track they once again prove why.
They chose to cover an obscure track called ‘Indianen’ (translation: red indians). Music and lyrics were originally written for Tura by Jean Kluger. It’s quite a strange song with absurd lyrics. They Hickeys made a rollercoaster of a song out of it with maximal use of tempo and pitch changes. The lyrics are in Dutch but don’t let this hold you back. When singer Younes starts screaming about “Cowboooooooys” you’ll know we have a winner. Best song of the year. Really. One can only hope the song gets added to their live set soon.
You can check out the song in full in the The Hickey Underworld Facebook page media player.
PS Just so you know: The Hickey Underworld are currently recording their second album.
