Staygold - Backseat (Live P3 Guld 2010)

I felt I had to post this after having played it on repeat for the last few days. The Scandinavians just seem to make effortlessly brilliant pop music, as demonstrated here by Sweden's Staygold with Robyn, Damien Adore and Spank Rock playing Backseat live at P3 Guld awards show.

Also appearing were Teddybears, who played their track Rocket Scientist minus collaborator Eve but without losing any of the quality of the original:


I've still got my fingers crossed for a Junior Senior reunion.

Intel x Vice - The Creators Project

The Creators Project, a diverse multimedia exhibition curated by Intel and Vice Magazine, landed in London at Victoria House this weekend for the second of five scheduled stops in major cities around the world. Featuring a vast array of artists who push the boundaries of thought and technology to produce their works, the event was an eye-opening experience. The curators hope to expand the reach of the event to more cities next year after taking in New York, London, São Paulo, Seoul and Beijing in 2010.

Connect With Kinect

We were lucky enough to be invited to the Microsoft Christmas Showcase yesterday to get a preview of the new Kinect motion control system for Xbox360 at the Saatchi Gallery in London. Filling the gap between Nintendo's Wiimote/Sony's PlayStation Move and the futuristic technology of Minority Report, Kinect allows you to play games without traditional controllers by mapping your body to your on-screen avatar. This brings an even greater level of immersion the gaming experience.

Defeated by Apple...

So How did I, Apple-hater #1, end up bending over and letting in the Apple horde?    Read on...

So now I was ready for my next video-playing device, but I didn't want something I had to use to transcode video...

At this point, I was against device convergance, and thought a phone should be a phone and a media player a media player.  Looking around at my options, I decided to go back to my old friends Creative for a device that was again billed as an "Apple Beater"...

Dr Applehater - or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the iPhone.

So here sit I, the eternal iPhone/Apple hater. Listening to a nice Krafty Kuts mix on my new 32gig iPhone 3GS. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?  Read on to see how I lost my soul to the big A!

I used to hate iPhones and Apple. A lot. I respected their design, and their user-friendliness, but hated the closed ecosystem of iTunes, and their inability to play downloaded TV shows (without conversion).  Also, the fact that I couldn't move music around to wherever I wanted it was a big problem for me.

So, my rebellion against Steve Jobs began when all my mates were getting the 1st gen iPods, and I rebelled by...

Summer Mixtape!

I put together this mixtape to soundtrack my lazy Sunday lounging and thought I would share it so you can do the same. Years ago I helped out on music festivals on Morecambe promenade (Summerbreeze 1996-1999), and loved the sound of the bands drifting around the seafront like "aural lens flare" (© Joel Crookes 2010). If this were the soundtrack to a film, Sofia Coppola would most likely be directing it.

Tracklist:
1. Washed Out - #1
2. Summer Camp - Ghost Train
3. Atlas Sound - Walkabout
4. Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks
5. Breakbot - Baby I'm Yours (Siriusmo Remix)
6. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Round And Round
7. The Dum Dum Girls - Blank Girl
8. Tennis - South Carolina
9. Phoenix - Love Like A Sunset Pt 1 & 2

Summer Selection - June 2010 (Right-click, save as)

Summer Camp and Tennis

The year may be 2010, but for me the most exciting music being released at the moment is distinctly 1960s-influenced and experimental in its production values. Bands seem to surface on blogs weekly who are embracing lo-fi recording technology, or at least digital filters, which enable them to sound like they recorded their music on an old reel-to-reel tape in a garage just for fun. Two such acts who have taken this approach and made it their own are Summer Camp and Tennis, and I have had their releases on repeat for at least a month now. I am a nostalgia addict, and I have a Jones for less dangerous DIY Phil Spectors.

Tony Hawk Ride on wheels for real

Tony Hawk Ride pretty much failed at doing what it set out to: recreating the authentic thrill of skateboarding through a video game and plastic board peripheral. The controls and game were panned by reviewers, and in HMV's Oxford Street store I have seen huge piles of the unwanted game boxes in a corner with massive price reductions but still nobody wants to buy it. Even the TV spot for the game showed more of the player's carpet than the gameplay on-screen. Nice threads.

Some enterprising skaters have customised the plastic board with wheels and grip-tape, and it seems to stand up to the rigours of the ride. Unfortunately, the video does not catch any special move trick combos so we'll probably never know if the buttons still function.

[Via Kotaku]

Onra is on the beat

Onra - The One feat. T3 from Slum Village from Onra on Vimeo.

Another rising French producer, Onra, has just released his third album and it definitely hits the 80s old-school funk sweet-spot. Likened to Hudson Mohowke's debut record "Butter" (best track - "Joy Fantastic"), "Long Distance" also feature a collaboration with Olivier Daysoul ("Long Distance"), as well as T3 from Slum Village ("The One", see the video above), and a great cover of the S.O.S. Band's "High Hopes" with Reggie B. Love it.

Javelin!

I discovered Javelin a few days ago, and their Avalanches/Go! Team/DJ Shadow-esque style instantly had me hooked. "STD Fury" is a track they produced for a group called SEX/ED, and should probably be played in schools to teach the kids to strap it up.

Their album "No Mas" was released in May 2010, and you can download one of the stand-out tracks, "Oh! Centra", below courtesy of superb music blog RCRD LBL.