Posted by Matt | Posted in Music | Posted on 21-10-2010
Phoenix is currently touring North America and something quite unexpected happened during the performance they offered New York at the Madison Square Garden yesterday… They actually brought Daft Punk on stage to help them close their set and even threw a little curveball to the mix as they mashed up their Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger song with Phoenix very own If I Ever Feel Better and as you can see and hear in the chaotic video, it’s as epic as you might have imagined; they also stayed on stage until the very end backing them up on 1901, last song of the night.
To be honest, I am lost for words after watching the two videos, this is just so epic! I mean this marks the return of Daft Punk on stage after being away from it for three years… I would have killed to be at that show yesterday, KILLED. On a sidenote, Phoenix will be in Montreal tonight with Tokyo Police Club & Wavves at le Cepsum, but Daft Punk will probably not be there =(
Posted by Matt | Posted in Music | Posted on 08-03-2010
Okaaaaay, I stumbled on this video on my facebook feed yesterday, I don’t essentially remember who it was who posted it, but many thanks to that person, because that video made my day. It’s also been doing it’s rounds on twitter, but I’m not the most active person on twitter as of late so… Anyway the PS22 Chorus is a group of kids taking on songs of the like of Alicia Keys, Toris Amos, Coldplay, Passion Pit and most lately Phoenix, which they do an amazing rendition of their song Lisztomania which left me literally amazed on how good the song sounded.
The kids got raw talent because this recording is apparently their second rehersal! So imagine how even better it would sound with more practice under their belts. So yeah, this was the first time I heard of PS22, but I’ll definitely keep an eye open for their future video.
Posted by Matt | Posted in Music | Posted on 06-01-2010
While I thought the original video for the opening track of Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, was fairly decent, I litterally fell in love with Sarah Newhouse’s take of the song. She basically mashed up several scenes of some 80s movies (The Breakfast Club, Footloose, Pretty In Pink, Mannequin) making it almost seems like the scenes were made with Lisztomania in mind and just waited for Phoenix to just release it …
Nyle is an emerging emcee hailing from Brooklyn, New York and he really made his name with this video. It started as a school project that he had to do which he picked to perform his take of Lil Wayne track, Let The Beat Build, with live instruments and in one take. Which became the big selling point of the video when it surfaced on the internet. He was even invited on Alexa Chung as an aftermath of his new found popularity.
Minimalist aesthetic was definitely the name of the game for the video of CuDi’s lead single off his debut album. I think that it really set the vibe of what we had to expect from KiD CuDi album as the visuals are far from what we normally expect from rappers. No chains, no rims, no half-naked bitches, just great cinematography. It felt alot like an indie film vs a summer blockbuster. While I’m not saying that I’m not into ‘summer blockbusters’ as they definitely hold their appeal with explosions and shiny stuff, it’s good to have something different once in a while.
While this was the first single off Passion Pit debut album, it was really the second video that I had seen of them… The first one was actually To Kingdom Come where it visuals really impressed me. So I decided to backtrack through their library of very … few videos and stumbled on the one for The Reeling. An incredible video where the gritty quality and rip/tear style almost made me feel like I was watching the intro video of a gang in The Warriors.
Visually stunning and always challenging me to find all the reference movies every single time that I watch it, Dan Black really did the right decision to hire up Paris studio Chic & Artistic for the making of his video as I don’t see how it could have been anything better.
Natasha Khan videos always gave me the creeps, not as being afraid per se, but there’s always something odd and unsettling in each of her videos. It was no different for Daniel, where she replace bicycle riding bunnies by some odd looking touchy dancers that she has to fight off as the whole video is a big ode to the Karate Kid movie.
This video was possibly the most daring video I’ve seen in 2009, as Matt & Kim are allegedly really naked (and really got into troubles with the police). No matter how many times I watch it, I’m always as stunned when they start taking their clothes off in a cold February weather as surprised at the fact that they made it alive stealing the whole naked stunt in the Naked Cowboy territory… I mean that guy is a cowboy for godsake.
Ross Ching was a regular unemployed guy and as unemployement go, well let’s say that he had alot of time on his hands. Free time that he put to good use by creating a fan video for Death Cab For Cutie song, Little Bribes. Not only amazing, but the video was actually picked up by DCFC to become the official video of the song. I’m pretty sure he’s not unemployed anymore.
Here’s another fan video to hit up the list with Gabe Askew view on Grizzly Bear’s song Two Weeks. While the original version of the video was pretty good, Askew visuals and storytelling were really what made his video stand out for me.
Jack White newest side project, The Dead Weather, lead single was pretty good, but it’s really the video that nailed it for me. I wasn’t sure where the whole thing was going at first, as the only thing they do at the beginning is walking in an unbuilt suburbia housing lot, but my patience was rewarded as they start shooting each other in the face for the rest of the video, making it the baddest motherfracker video of the year.
worth mentioning : Chairlift – Evident Utensil, Coldplay – Life In Technicolor II, The xx – Crystalised, Handsome Furs – I’m Confused, Lady GaGa – Bad Romance, Charlotte Gainsbourg & Beck – Heaven Can Wait.
worth mentionning : The xx – Islands, Metric – Help I’m Alive, Empire of the Sun – Standing On The Shore, Japandroids – Young Hearts Spark Fire, Camera Obscura – French Navy, La Roux – Bulletproof, Florence + The Machine – You’ve Got The Love
Posted by Matt | Posted in Music | Posted on 04-01-2010
If last year retrospective was called ‘Laisse Moi Tranquille 2008‘ since it was quite fitting considering the fact that I wanted nothing else from it, 2009 on the other hand was quite different, like I said in my previous post, it shared it’s own of ups and downs but the pace was more stable than 2008… leaving me time to breathe, which was a very good thing.
Anyway, I’ve always found that making lists was a bit egotastic as everyone has different tastes and rarely you will find an universal list for anything, at least a list that is ranked. Which is why, my lists are not actually ranked as I also find it very hard to put music in order, especially when so many good albums came out in 2009.
I highly suggest to check out the albums that I listed down below if you never did or heard of them before. They’re also accompagnied by reviews, a thing that I never (or rarely) did before, something I’ll probably look up to in twenty ten.
worth mentioning: Jay-Z – Blueprint 3, Handsome Furs – Face Control, Metric – Fantasies, Japandroids – Post-Nothing, Patrick Watson – Wooden Arms, Fever Ray – Fever Ray, Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz, La Roux – La Roux, Bat For Lashes – Daniel, The xx – xx
ps. I had to make them as images, because I couldn’t format my post in ‘advanced html’ with the use of <div> nor <table> … somehow Tumblr does not allow that.
Posted by Matt | Posted in Music | Posted on 08-10-2009
Don Diablo got his hands on an acapella version of Jay-Z’ 99 Problems and mashed it up with Fences of Phoenix creating this fresh joint by putting together the King of New York & the hottest band out of France right now.
Posted by Matt | Posted in Music | Posted on 20-06-2009
After seeing them live on tuesday, I have to say that Phoenix was probably one of the best act I’ve ever seen on stage … and I’ve seen alot. Here’s a video of them performing 1901 on David Letterman.
ps. the singer is totally wearing the same outfit he was on tuesday too lol.
Posted by Matt | Posted in Music | Posted on 13-03-2009
Here’s three tracks from upcoming Phoenix album Wolfgang Amadeus which is due for May 25th. If the rest of the album is anything like the what’s been leaked so far, it will be amazing.
download : 
