Just a quickie from me today as I've a thousand and one things to do. I stumbled across this during one of my many bursts of procrastination this week and instantly fell in love with it. I'm not a massive Bob Dylan fan so I'm rather surprised that this struck me quite as much as it did.
Does anyone else also get the image of the World's tallest doctor (from Scrubs) when they see this act name?
I don't think I will ever get tired of hearing this man sing. Stunning. I love the way in which the crowd is hanging on his every indistinguishable word as well, I bet the atmosphere was incredible. To me that's what real music is about- any sound that can make a large crowd fall silent without the music being mind numbingly boring must be pretty powerful.
I splurged a bit and bought tickets to see him at Hammersmith Apollo, even though I already saw him in Bristol not too long ago. It's not every day that music as breathtaking as this comes into town (or at least that's my excuse).
If you want to catch him while he's still in the UK then be quick as his Hammersmith date is the last one over here for this tour. He's also playing Tokyo, Brussels and Washington if you're that obsessed (thankfully I'm not quite there yet).
I've been wanting to do a post about a certain youtubesensationturnedcomedytalent for a while now, but was worried it would lower the tone of this blog to near subterranean depths (and that's a very dark place folks). So after, well, minutes of deliberation, I thought fuck it, go on then. So here we are. Enjoy. And don't say I didn't warn you.
If you're the type who spends your working hours traipsing through videos of cute kittens and fat kids dancing on Youtube then you might have stumbled upon this fine gentleman before. He also performed a series of shows at this year's Edinburgh Festival to rave reviews. 20 year old Bo Burnham is one of the most refreshing comedy acts to emerge from America in a very long time (with maybe the exception of Rich Hall). No offense meant to my American readers of course, but it's no secret that you guys just don't get irony. Or sarcasm. Basically anything remotely resembling British humour. Burnham however seems to be the exception to the rule; he writes with an almost overbearing self awareness that lends itself to some brilliant (if at times graphic) one liners. Listening to his new album Words Words Words I can't decide whether to laugh out loud or cringe: either way it's quite an evocative and rather inspired album.
I struggle to believe Burnham is only 20, with music so versatile and lyrics drenched in world weary cynicism, you'd be forgiven in thinking he was much more experienced than a teenager who spends his free time in his bedroom with a keyboard and a camera.
Bo Burnham's new album Words Words Words is out now on iTunes and from his website here.
Canadian avant garde band Brasstronaut are set to release their critically acclaimed debut album Mount Chimera this next week, and by the sounds of it it's going to be one to watch out for. Recorded in the rocky mountains, this EP promises to be a burst of weird yet wonderful sounds, fusing elements of classical, experimental and jazz to create a rather intriguing pop album. Even Sigur Ros are impressed by the outfit, so much so that they invited them to play to a crowd of nearly 3000 people at the Art Museum in Reykjavik. Not bad for a new band eh?
Mount Chimera features all manner of bizarre instruments, including the beautifully named flugelhorn (make up your own jokes) and combines them, along with a more conventional pop set up, in order to create a thoroughly left field album with definitely more than a hint of Radiohead. This kind of stargazy vibe has been everywhere lately, with Brasstronaut just adding to the throng of new artists keen to impress the swathes of indie hipsters around America and Europe. Whilst I can imagine chilling to this with a nice bottle of Rose on a cold winter's eve, it's not exactly setting my heart alight with the urge to get up and boogie like something by Radiohead would. There's no doubt though that Brasstronaut produce thoroughly interesting music, both in composition and execution; for that alone I will definitely for buying the album.
After all the excitement of the halloween festivities and a heavy night on the cider, the thought of facing another working week may leave you feeling slightly zombified. Bits of decimated pumpkin scatter your street and your house looks post-apocalyptic after that ill advised halloween party (never again you say, until next year of course). Sound like you? Well, don't go fretting, all hope is not lost. The mighty power of Spotify will help you put the spring back in your step- slowly but surely.
Elephant Parade- Friday Night (perfect on a Monday morning)
Radiohead- Idioteque
Peaches- Give 'Er
Cold War Kids- Hang Me Up to Dry
Dan le Sac and Scroobius Pip- Thou Shalt Always Kill (a favourite here at Irrelevant Twaddle)
Metric- Gimme Sympathy
Frightened Rabbit- Keep Yourself Warm
Lykke Li- Dance, Dance, Dance
Alessi's Ark- Magic Weather
Pixies- Monkey Gone to Heaven
The Go! Team- Get It Together
Newton Faulkner- Feels Like Home
Babyshambles- Albion
The Postmarks- Summers Never Seem to Last
Nicholas Stevenson- Cambridge
Johnny Foreigner- Sofacore
Mumford & Sons- Sigh No More
Noah & the Whale- Love is an Orchestra
We don't pretend to be miracle workers here, but 9 times out of 10 it's been proven to inject some much needed oomph back into even the most hungover scoundrel (as tried and tested on the Irrelevant Twaddle minion).
