Paul Banks has been rather prolific as of late. Even though we haven't seen an Interpol album since 2010's eponymous release, we have Julian Plenti Lives that was released at the end of June and now a new album called Banks coming out October 23. The first song is this most recent release is "The Base". You can grab yourself a free copy of the song from Matador.
Here's "Summertime is Coming" from Julian Plenti Lives. Download the song here.
In case you haven't heard it, here's "Games for Days" from the first Julian Plenti release Julian Plenti is... Skyscraper. Totally amazing song and fun video.
I wrote before about how I'm sometimes late to the party, either in hearing about an artist entirely, or in hearing a band, rejecting them and then re-discovering them later. Now that I know this about myself, I will often give a band that's hyped a second or even a third chance.
Now sometimes this just doesn't work out and I never really see the brilliance in a band that everyone else falls head over heels in love with. Like Arcade Fire. They're okay, but I don't see them as the most brilliant artist to come along in the last 20 years.
And sometimes I hear a band and I think, they have a cool sound, but the songs aren't grabbing me. And after a number of listens, the brilliance starts to show through. This is what happened to me in a big way with The National and Interpol. They have taught me that patience is a virtue, and reminded me of the fact that songs don't always show their brilliance with one listen. Sometimes songs take a while to show you their wonder. Their melodies unravel, layered musical parts show their beauty and lyrics reveal their imagery and meaning.
Here's a video from The National for "Conversation 16". I had previously posted a clip of them doing this song on Letterman. I love the song. And I really like the show Mad Men. Great TV show. And this video has the guy who plays Roger Sterling in it. So why do I hate this video? Who knows. Maybe it's brilliance will shine through after a number of listens.
I haven't been shy about my love of the song "Games for Days" from Paul Bank's solo project Julian Plenti. "This is how we learn."
Fun. with "All The Pretty Girls". These guys are totally channeling ELO on this tune. Their album Aim and Ignite is on emusic. Fun indeed.
Here's Julian Plenti with the awesome track "Games for Days" from his Julian Plenti Is... Skyscraper album. It's on emusic if you're interested. It's been out for a while now, but I just wanted to feature this track. It makes me look forward to the new Interpol album due in 2010. And yes, that's Emily Haines in the video.
And keeping things varied, here's Deadmau5 with "Ghosts n Stuff".
I read a number of RSS feeds on my Blackberry on my way to work every day. I save the one's I want to follow up on, either because they have some content I want to see or hear that doesn't come through on the Blackberry, or the feed is truncated and I want to read the rest of the article (I actively dislike it when feeds are truncated). Here are a few of the articles or posts I found interesting over the last while.
Scarlett Johansson is singing again. While the few songs I heard from her Tom Waits cover album didn't grab me, this new song with Scarlett and Pete Yorn sounds quite good. Spin has posted the video and has a brief article here.
Stereophonics are coming out with a new album called Keep Calm and Carry On. I've never been super into them, but I seem to have a lot of their music in my collection. I think that if I just spent some more time with their albums, they could really become a favourite. Guardian has an article on their pending release and about Ronseal records in general. Ronseal records are those albums that let the listener what they are via the album title.
NPR.org has a cool article on the Posies and how bands make money these days. Interesting that they never pocketed any money from their major-label albums. It's no wonder that the record business is in the tank and the music business seems to be going strong. When will those record company's realize that they are dinosaurs and that they're extinct?
Julian Plenti, also known as Paul Banks from Interpol, has released an album called Julian Plenti Is... Skyscraper. I really like Interpol and after giving this album a spin, I give it a thumbs up. It is available from emusic.
Spinnerette were on Letterman, sounding decidedly less keyboardy and poppy than they do on their latest, self-titled album.
