The Playlist: Destiny's Child / Bondax / Stealing Sheep / Bondax / Trimbal / Frank Ocean / Sky Ferreira

Destiny's Child - Say My Name (Cyril Hahn Remix)



Stealing Sheep - Genevieve



Bondax - Baby I Got That



TRIMBAL - Confidence Boost



Frank Ocean - Blue Whale



Sky Ferreira - Everything is Embarrassing

Music Monday 65.

I'm very excited about this week's post, a couple of superb colloborations and a couple of highly anticipated comebacks.

Bon Iver and James Blake - Fall Creek Choir Boys



Wow. There was a huge amount of excitement when this was announced. Two of the most critically acclaimed artists of the last two years join forces, and wow. It is the perfect about of Bon Iver and the perfect amount of James Blake. I don't think anyone expected anything less.

Lady Gaga - You And I (Wild Beasts remix)



Now as far as expected colloborations goes, I don't think this can be put down as one of those. Wild Beasts, again, were one of the most critially acclaimed artists this year with the fantastic Smother album, and Gaga, is well, Gaga. This remix works perfectly. It is dark and haunting, and you get lost in the track, well done Wild Beasts (yes, I'm giving them most of the credit).

Florence And The Machine - What The Water Gave Me



Remember Florence? You know the one that played every festival and had her music on every advert and montage possible? All from her debut album? The debut album was fantastic and deserved the success it got, however, it is definitely nice to hear something new. And with almost a million and a half views in just a few days, I'm not the only one to hear something new. I can't say it is dramatically different from the first album, but if it ain't broke.

Ben Folds Five - House

http://www.nbc.com/sing-off/about/benfolds.shtml

Ok, I can't find a version of the song that I can embedd anywhere, so the link will do. But it's Ben Folds Five's first song in over a decade. Yep, a decade. If you don't know Ben Folds, he's covered Dr Dre with an orchestra and has had Chatroulette on a projector during a gig. Yeah, he's cool. And very talented, go listen.

City And Colour: Royal Albert Hall

Just over a year ago I journeyed to London town, Kentish Forum to be precise, and witnessed one of the best gigs I had ever been to in the form of City and Colour. I expected it to be good, I knew the man had talent and had seen him perform with Alexisonfire, but I did not expect the performance I got that night. The power and emotion in his voice surprised me and ran shivers through my spine. A year later, I traveled back to London, but this time to an even more illustrious venue, The Royal Albert Hall, to see the man Dallas Green again. And the night more than matched the night in Kentish Forum. I was expecting his incredible voice this time, and I expect more magic, and that is what I got.

It was slightly weird as the venue filled with tattoos, piercings, fringes and skinny jeans, a crowd very much juxtaposed to the venue. This is not a place for Alexisonfire and City And Colour fans. Just being sat down as opposed to being jostled around in a sweaty moshpit, in such a venue, seemed a little surreal and even uncomfortable for most. This is the job of support, to warm up the crowd and get them ready for the main act. That night the support was provided my a new favourite of mine, James Vincent McMorrow, much more suitable than Sharks who had supported the previous year, and he more than stepped upto the mark. It may have been daunting warming up a crowd of Dallas and Alexisonfire adorers especially when he's very much in the same singer-songwriter category, but it did not show. James' voice was just as powerful and emotional as the one that would follow, you could feel the songs and lyrics. Boy did good.

Then it was time for Dallas Green as City and Colour. As he walked onto the stage with his band, the noise level went up with cries of adoration and admiration from the crowd. It was soon clear that Dallas only gets better. I hate to repeat the words powerful and emotional, but those really are the words that can't be avoided when you hear Dallas live. The set followed a familiar format, with band, by himself and then rejoined by his band of hometown friends. It is when he holds the stage alone that you get sucked into the performance, it's memorizing and intense. His performance of Like Knives (video I filmed below) was one of the highlights for me, he told us that it was one of the first songs he wrote and played it to his mother for her approval.



Between songs Dallas spoke to the crowd with his usual shyness and humanity (saying "it's not me up here and you down there, we're all here together"), yet he proved he has wit and humor to match many. (As he asked for the house lights to be turned on to see the venue and crowd someone yelled "I've got an erection!", only for Dallas to reply "Well it's taken 9 songs to find the funny guy in the audience".) There was one stage, just before Body In A Box, where he asked the crowd to put away their phones and cameras, just for one song. Not because he had a problem with people filming or taking pictures, but because he felt that everyone tries so hard to make memories on an event, they forget to enjoy the event as it happens. Very true. He then apologised for sounding like a Dad. His setlist was a perfect mix of some of his earliest songs to tracks of his new album, out in June. Although one of the surprises of the night was his cover of Adele's Hometown Glory (below). Covers are often overused, and just seem like they are performed for the sake of it. However this cover seemed perfect, Dallas even said he wish he had written the song himself, not just in terms of a match of incredible voices but you could feel Dallas sing the lyrics, though it not his own song.



The gig could have gone on and no one would have minded apart from the Albert Hall staff, though there are worse ways to be earn a living than watch Dallas, but it had to end at some point. Even in the encore Dallas surprised the crowd with his song choices. He turned the end of Comin' Home into James Blake's Wilhelm Scream, a nice touch. And he then sat down at a piano for the first time that evening and performed a "sort of cover", Happiness By The Kilowatt, by his other band Alexisonfire (below). It was a special moment to see him draw on a song he helped write so many years ago, for a band so different to his solo performance, to end a special night. It's hard not to love Dallas Green, he's talented, emotional, funny, shy and humble and puts on a wonderful night on a consistent basis it would seem. I simple can't wait for him to come back this autumn.

Music Monday 36.

I'm cramming this into my lunch break, along with cooking a bacon sandwich, so apologies if it appears a little rushed.

James Blake - The Wilhelm Scream



I read earlier this week that not winning and coming runner up in the Sound of 2011 competition may have been the best thing to happen to Mr Blake. Everyone now knows of the artist that has been lingering in the shadows for sometime now, yet there is not the pressure to please. At least in a commercial sense. Now I'm not saying his music doesn't please, far from it, he can now make music he wants to make, and not to sell records. And thank God. Now we get to hear just plain and simple songs such as this one from the man, only great stuff to come.

Travis Barker - Carry It



Yep, everyone's favourite, occasionally one-armed drummer, Travis Barker is bringing out a solo album. And as an entire album of drumming, no matter how good, might become a tad boring Travis has got a load of mates from the worlds of rock and hip-hop to join him. Good move. This is the first track featuring RZA, Raekwon and Tom Morello, quite the mix. This track appears to be some lazy western guitars riffs, heavy drums with a couple of rappers over the top. Interesting.

Patrick Stump - Accapella



I'm excited to hear the solo album from Mr Stump, more so than I have been to hear from the other members' post-FOB projects. An incredible and pretty unique voice, great producing skills and what appears to be a hard-working ethic. This mash-up of: Empire State Of Mind - Jay-Z & Alicia Keys, Love The Way You Lie - Eminem Featuring Rihanna, Need You Now - Lady Antebellum, Nothin' On You - B.o.B Featuring Bruno Mars
and Fuck You - Cee Lo Green is pretty cool.

Lower Than Atlantis - Beech Like The Tree



Bit of a weirdly named song, but nevertheless I like it. It's a step up form their emo roots and there's definitely a massive Anberlin influence in there, and despite the fact that's it's pretty much built on the chorus and not a lot else, it's pretty cool.

Music Monday 34.5

This is just a quick update on a few songs that my blog seems to have passed by. They are songs that I have been listening to for a while, I just never got around to posting them (I like to at least try to keep MM as fresh as possible), so I though this half-way Music Monday could provide a little catch up for the songs.

N.B Take a moment to appreciate that all these bands are British. Proud to be and all that.

James Blake - Limit To Your Love



Great song, been around for a while, I'm sure you've all heard it.

Yasmin - On My Own



(Beautiful, beautiful women)

Yuck - Holing Out



Just an absolutely amazing bit of noise.

Noah And The Whale - L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N



Lovely simple little song. Nice video too.


Hope you enjoyed them, sorry I didn't post when they first poking their heads out the grass.
Come back on Monday for a full Music Monday update, it's gonna be biiiiig.