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Lupe Fiasco garnishes a sample from Thom Yorke’s The Eraser with guest-stars Kanye West and Pharrell Williams.

Lupe Fiasco – Us Placers

New pulsating low frequency grooves from Mr. Murphy.

“If you do it again, I’m going to freak out. So, do it again.”

LCD Soundsystem – “Freak Out/Starry Eyes”

Last week on May 16th, the 60th edition of Cannes Festival opened. It’s arguably the most important and glamorous film festival in the world. The main competition, “Palme d’Or”, has 22 films this year which were selected amongst 1615 from 95 countries. The president of the this year’s jury is filmmaker Stephen Frears. Being British and with a more conservative approach it might be safe to say that surprises are not likely to happen. They are quite usual through history though, like when in 1999, the then obscure Dardenne brothers took the Palm d’Or with “Rosetta” in one of the most memorable editions of the festival, or in 1994 when the yet young Tarantino took the honors with “Pulp Fiction”. Tarantino is back this year alongside many Cannes regulars, Sokurov, Kar-wai, Gus Van Sant, Kim Ki Duk, Kusturica, to name a few. Check the complete list of what’s being featured this year in the eight sections of the festival. It’s impossible to speculate who the favorites are, given that it’s all premiere and the jury doesn’t always makes the best choice. After the first few days of competition, David Fincher’s “Zodiac” was very well received by critics and press while Kar-wai’s “My Blueberry Nights” had a tepid reception after high expectations because it’s the first time he made a film spoken in English with American actors and a NYC setting. One point of interest this year is that if Kusturica’s film wins, he’ll become the first person to get three best film Palm d’Or’s. Stay tuned at Cannes Festival’s official website to get daily updates.

Drone is not enjoyed by many people but maybe you’re one of the few that do. My suggestion to get a feel for Double Leopards’ style. While you listen to the songs here, check it out an uncommonly good AMG review of their 2003 album “Halve Maen”. AMG lists 2006 as date but that actually is the CD re-issue date.

The Fatal Affront

Viking Blood

Norwegian pop singer Maria (Viktoria) Mena (February 19, 1986) was raised in an artistic family. Her mother was a play writer and her father Charles was a drummer.

Her parents separated when she was nine and she went to live with her father at the age of thirteen. Many of her songs are about the pain she felt as a child. When young Mena had her debut (with ‘My Lullaby’, about the separation of her parents) at the age of fifteen she refused to become just the next popstar and wanted to find her own way.

Her first two albums, ‘Another Phase’ and ‘Mellow’, have only been released in Norway. With her third album, ‘White Turns Blue’, which is a mixture between the former two, she finally found her style and attracted a bigger crowd. This album can now also be bought in some countries other than Norway.

Her fourth album ‘Apparently Unaffected’, released in 2005, is distributed by Sony Music. This album sounds a lot more mature and fresh and more time has been spent on the musical compositions. Besides that, Maria Mena’s unique voice has become a lot fuller, you wouldn’t say this was only a twenty-year old. Her voice reminds a little of Björk, a little hoarse and with a clear accent. A very nice touch of this album is that there are three separate tracks, ‘If You’ll Stay in My Past 1, 2 and 3′, that, when played in order form one complete song.

I’m very much looking forward to seeing her perform at Pinkpop this month…

Sheffield, England, based indie rock band, Arctic Monkeys was formed in 2002 and was influenced by such bands as The Jam, The Clash and Pulp. They were an instant succes. Their first single went straight to number one in the English charts and after two weeks they were still in the top ten of BBC’s Top of the Pops. Something even someone like Franz Ferdinand hasn’t achieved.

Their first live performance was on June 13, 2003. After a few performances they recorded a demo which they handed out for free at gigs. These demo’s were very well received and spread across the internet in no time. This, together with the band’s MySpace profile (created by fans), gave the band enormous popularity. Their first official EP, ‘Five Minutes with Arctic Monkeys’, was released in 2005 and a record contract with Domino Records soon followed.

The British tabloids, NME and BBC Radio 1 now started paying attention and Alex Turner and his mates put themselves in the picture by entering the UK Singles Chart at number one with their debut single, ‘I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor’. Their debut album, that was released in 2006, is already the best selling debut album in the UK ever.

In June 2006 the band announced that Andy Nicholson would leave the band, after already having been replaced for several gigs by Nick O’Malley, who is now his permanent replacement.

In April 2007 they officialy released their new album (although it had already leaked onto the Internet two weeks earlier). This album is harder, darker and less of a sing along. The name ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’ comes from the track ‘D Is for Dangerous’. They are more then welcome at many of the big festivals this summer, it couldn’t go better for them…

Here is record that I always turn to when the weather turns back to spring. Teenage Fanclub has always been able to wear it’s influences on it’s sleeve without ever sounding rehashed or contrived. Songs from Northern Britain evokes all the usual suspects but there’s a new craftsmanship present here, the fuzzed out Big Star strum is all but absent and has been replaced with cleaner, more country-fied jangle. The singing has come a long a way too, with the boys serving up some of their finest harmonizing. It’s not better or worse than Bandwagonesque, it just possesses an entirely different sort of vibe. One of my all time favorites, my “summer” record. Go buy it.

Start Again

Ain’t That Enough

I Don’t Want Control Of You

On Gwen Steffani’s Yummy she notes her track, “Sounds like disco Tetris”. She was probably referring Pharrell’s futuristic 8-bit blips and beeps that back her vocals. However on A-trak’s remix she could just as easily be talking about how A-trak pieced together her vocals w/ LCD Soundsystem’s Time To Get Away.

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Happy Mondays were formed in 1985 in the mythical city of Manchester, England. If you’re not familiar with the huge scene that this city has produced since the mid 70′s it might be of your interest to watch the film “24 Hour Party People”, not coincidentally named after a Mondays’ song. Even though the film isn’t great, it works well as a starting point to Manchester’s music history. During the Mondays’ golden age, the city was rebranded as “Madchester” because of their song “Madchester Rave On” and the incipient rave culture that they played a major role in.

1990 presented “Pills ‘n’ Thrills and Bellyaches”. The title refers to effects and side-effects of ecstasy ingestion. While already an established band, this album sums up those years. Their songs have funk and soul oriented grooves, rock guitar textures, slacker punk vocals with that weird accent and slangs that became notorious, and 60′s psychedelic layers.

The Mondays are back but don’t waste your time, everyone knows they ended around 1991. There are several humorous stories as to how they spent their budget for 1992′s “Yes, Please”. Drug effects eventually expire but their experiences remain, not many epitomize an era but that has its price. Happy Mondays were one of the most idiosyncratic bands to reach the mainstream, in the U.K. that is.

Kinky Afro
Donovan
Step On

Summer is coming. You know that that means? Time to break out those crucial Saves the Day and Get Up Kids records you adored in high school. You remember, those songs about love and heartbreak that you listened to, at max volume, in your friend’s car, thinking about some boy or girl?
Well, apparently, these guys loved that stuff so much they took it to a whole new level. Enjoy.