There are quite a few releases this year that i’m really excited for (Sleigh Bells, Islands, The xx…to name a few), but none more so than the debut LP from the UK “chop pop” maestros — Clock Opera.

It was Clock Opera’s superb remixes that originally caught my attention, but for the last couple of years, the group has been teasing us fans with original works and the promise of a full length release. But now this promise has become a reality, and the reality is Ways To Forget.

To celebrate the release, the group has put together videos of how the album came together. Part 1 (of 4) is below and you view the rest on Clock Opera’s youtube channel.

Ways To Forget will be released on April 9th via Moshi Moshi/Island Records. If you’re in the UK, you can preorder it here. International release plans coming soon. The album release will be followed by Clock Opera’s first UK headlining tour and they’ll be in NY and SXSW this March.

♪ Clock Opera – Belongings (from Belongings EP)

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2012, music

All Those Relays

February 9, 2012 Concrete Opinions Leave a comment

Forget everything you know about Scout.

With All Those Relays, the band’s first album since 2003, Ashen Keilyn has deconstructed her band and put it back together piece-by-piece — new players, new producers and, most importantly, the best songs of Keilyn’s career. Scout’s new chapter finds Keilyn simultaneously at her most emotionally raw and her toughest yet, creating an album both empowering and vulnerable — and catchy as hell.

One song, “Under Attack,” began as a sparse demo. In the studio, the band laid down 128 different tracks, including three drum sets, three basses and layers of vocals. The result? One of All Those Relays’ most powerful songs, four and a half minutes of propulsive percussion, haunting piano and Keilyn’s catchiest chorus yet.

Last fall the EP Pi introduced two songs from All Those Relays, along with a cover of Guided By Voices’ “Game of Pricks” and one unreleased track, “Songs to Strangers.”

With an EP released and a new record completed ready to go, what happens now?

“I’m allowing thing to happen at their own pace,” says Keilyn.

But on the strength of All Those Relays, that pace is going to be quick..

♪ Scout – So Close (from All Those Relays)

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[source: planetary group]

2012, music, video

[watch] Lana Del Rey’s “Hunger Games”

February 8, 2012 Concrete Opinions Leave a comment

What happens when you combine the vocal stylings of Lana Del Rey and the Hunger Games? One of the best parodies I’ve seen in awhile.

This was all made possible by the very talented Chicago writer, actor and improviser, Holly Laurent. Laurent’s channels Lana Del Rey flawlessly. Heck, if I didn’t know better, I could easily mistake this for a legitimate Del Rey track. Granted, if you know nothing of the Hunger Games, you may not enjoy this video as much, but it’s hard not to laugh at lines like “they drew the name of my sis, but don’t you fuck with Katniss, i’ll kill you fo’ sho’.”

But you don’t have to take my word for it, check out the video and decide for yourself.

And if you feel like comparing it to the original, “Video Games”

2012, music

[on the rise] Kitty Clementine

February 8, 2012 Concrete Opinions Leave a comment

Sydney’s unique soul-pop vocalist Kitty Clementine will release her debut self-titled album via Clumpty Records on March 6th. But, who is Kitty Clementine?

She began in the underworld of Sydney’s artist-run spaces, warehouses and speakeasies. She could be singing a jazz ballad one moment, a baroque aria the next, and screaming indeterminate noise for the encore. She was known for giving performances comprising of song, spoken word poetry, and performance art. She directed bands built out of hybrid instruments, junk percussion, and choirs. Though many knew her for these off-the-wall productions, few realized where she came from.

On her sixth birthday the family left South Africa. By this time she had already declared that when she grew up she was going to be a singer and a writer. The girl wrote her first song at eight, and never stopped. She studied baroque and opera through high school; performance, musicology and composition when she left; and finally was accepted into Sydney Conservatorium of Music’s Jazz Degree. “It was there that my mentor taught me something life-changing: In order to truly master your art form, it must be lived, not just studied.” So, supported by her mentor, she left the Conservatorium and took on the musical life.

I had nothing to lose.

I took a chance on whim and embarked on my dream.

The journey began with a plane ticket to New Orleans. She had two months in North America with little money, and no plans except to embrace every experience and use it to write enough material for an album. The trip took her from the bawdy bars and tattoo parlors of the French quarter, on a journey that had her hitching through Alabama, North Carolina, up to Seattle, through San Francisco and eventually back to Los Angeles.

Kitty Clementine arrived in LA off the back of a pickup truck, with a book full of new songs, to a serendipitous week in Jeff Bova’s studio. Together they laid down an album in seven days.

I am Kitty Clementine. I make reality magical and I run hot on the heels of revelry. I am sharp, I am fierce, and I have stories you won’t believe. So fluff up your feathers and run the road. Be brave and wild with me.