We're Inexplicably Exhausted Today

...maybe it has something to do with the intense wave of oppressive heat that is whipping New York about the balls right now. But we will rustle the last few ounces of energy from our lethargic bodies to convey that--YAY!--someone has finally uploaded that new Hadouken! video to YouTube.



It's for "Liquid Lives" and it's brilliant. God we love Hadouken!. They need to get their neon asses to America, quick.

CONTROL!

At this year's Cannes Film Festival, photographer and music vid director, Anton Corbijn debuted his first feature film Control about the life of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis. Based on the book, Touching From A Distance by Deborah Curtis (Ian's wife) and "the new biography Torn Apart by longtime Mancunians Lindsay Reade (Tony Wilson's ex-wife) and Mick Middles. " Corbijn has worked with Depeche Mode, Echo & the Bunnymen, U2 and Nirvana to name a few.

This movie looks amazing...



YAY!

It's the sound...

Ok, we're getting our acts together. It's been a long weekend.
We're so ready for summer and here's your new favorite jam!

New Young Pony Club - Hiding in the Staircase (MP3)

Let Us Preface This Post By Saying We Love The Gossip

But seriously, WE GET IT.

We're not being ironic or anything when we say there's something very inspiring about gay people destroying stereotypes--or ANYONE destroying stereotypes for that matter--and yeah, Standing in the Way of Control is pretty good, though nowhere near the genius of Movement or Arkansas Heat. And we're sure that there are places in the world where people are still offended by people like Beth, and God bless her for being a role model for fat gay kids the world over. But we doubt the demographic that really needs to be reached is the NME readership. We're over it. OVER IT. We know we're just bitching and not even making a valid point, but there's something about seeing her naked ALL THE TIME that kind of demeans the entire point of what she's trying to convey (that said, we'd be totally behind that same image being used in the Post or something). We haven't read one interview during this whole campaign that talked about why they replaced Cathy the drummer with Hannah from Shoplifting or the fact that they made their first video despite being punk rock staples since the late '90s. it's just like, hey everyone, she's fat isn't that cool. And yes, it can be, but please let's talk about some tunes.

Thank God no ones reads this blog or we'd be in so much trouble right now.

In Which A New Hyperbolic Word Enters Our Lexicon Forever

As pop music journalists (or some dubious variations thereof) we possess, at our "fingertips", an arsenal of hyperbolic vocabulary fit for an issue of Smash Hits circa 1989. We often use, and misuse, words and phrases such as "amazing", "awesome", "brilliant", "fucking brilliant", "mind-blowing", etc etc. One word, however, is rarely used on DN, but given what we are about to demonstrate with our astute BLOGGING, its position in our lexicon is about to change, forever.

The word at hand is: "FANTASTIC".

First we have Dame* Sophie Ellis-Bextor's Trip the Light Fantastic, which will probably never be released in this Land of the Free Home of the Brave, but can we just say thank God for amazon.co.uk. The masterful first single, "Catch You", has been on heavy rotation since somewhere slightly before the Fall of Pompeii, and isn't going anywhere soon. It's sex, pop, love, guitars and synths devoid of all fucking-around and compressed into the Best Song Ever About Stalking A Man--an emotional depth we have all experienced at one point or another. Thus, readers, it is UNIVERSAL. And who are we to question The Universe. We ask you.

Here's the video. YES, AGAIN. If you don't like it go read some other blog where they talk freely of Sufjan Stevens and other Arcade Fires.



Another pop band (and not a new rave band as Klaxons would like you to believe) are making good use of the word "fantastic" this summer-- and of course we are referring to sexy kittens (yes, even the guys) New Young Pony Club, and their album Fantastic Playroom (DO YOU GET IT NOW?). We went through a phase, about 2 years ago (estimate) where we LOVED NYPC and their tune "Ice Cream", then we saw them live in 2006 and enjoyed it dare we say even profusely, then lost all interest whatsoever and moved on to liking Sexual Earthquake in Kobe instead. But our faith in Tahita Young Pony and co. has been rekindled with the shitloads of songs that have been leaked from Plyaroom, notably "Hiding On The Staircase" which we can't be bothered to upload to YouSendIt, so you'll have to take our "word" for it, or at least type into the Hype Machine.

This is the video for "The Bomb".



So, in conclusion, we'll be using the word "fantastic" much more as of this summer, because if two of the best pop records of the year are badgering it left and right, we believe that more people should be doing just the same. Fantastic, then.

*Not a real Dame.

Vid Kidz

CEC and I are super effing excited for tonight because they might have failed to cross the border twice before but we are going to see Crystal Castles for real this time. (refer back to our past misfortunes). We will post a full event recap on Monday.

The Secret Origins of 50 Cent Revealed

Just putting it out there.

Blogger Make Out: A Hamburger Today

There are few things we here at DNHQ love as much as a good, old fashioned pop band. AND ONE OF THOSE THINGS IS HAMBURGERS.

Rare, done, charcoal-broiled, with cheese, with bacon, mustard, ketchup, chipoltle sauce, etc etc, there's nothing better than a good burger. We've hardly ever passed a fast-food storefront in our LIVES without stopping in our tracks at devour a slab of minced cow meat slapped between two buns with all the trimmin's. Even thinking about it makes our mouths water in aching hunger.

SO. IMAGINE. OUR. JOY when we haphazardly discovered A Hamburger Today, a blog about HAMBURGERS!! OMG!! It has recipes, top 10 lists, restaurant links, everything to make anyone a veritable burger connoisseur.

A Hamburger Today: you have been APPROVED.

Oh God, Disconap is one.

Dear Lord in the Heavens Above, we started this blog a year ago today. ONE FULL YEAR. And it managed to look WORSE!

We were going to make a really long post about loads of shit no one cares about, so instead here are some of our favorite moments from the past 12 months, in easy-to-use index form.

May 2006: It begins. Basically.
June 2006: We discover Cajun Dance Party, and the worlds seems OK for about 9 seconds.
July 2006: KKH discovers powerpoint graphs, and the despair one can experience when an epsiode of Project Runway doesn't quite go your way.
August 2006: Brendan Urie from P!ATD gets owned by a bottle at the Reading Festival. We're sure his guyliner bled more than his head :(
September 2006: WAYF debuts at Fontana's. We'll never be alone again.
October 2006: Pull Tiger Tail bring ghost-riding to the indie scene.
November 2006: Kanye hates on Simian and Justice, thus confirming age-old rumors that he is a douche.
December 2006: Two of our favorite bands come together in holy musical matrimony--or at least were SUPPOSED TO. WTF is up, dudes?
January 2007: The best song of 2007 is prematurely unveiled. And we wet ourselves.
February 2007: Robyn is back! Back!! BACK!!!
March 2007: Reykjavik! make punk OK to listen to again. And also look like vikings.
April 2007: We develop a HUGE crush on French electro-punks Sexual Earthquake in Kobe.
May 2007: We see current girl crush Kaela of The Blow at Irving Plaza, and all is right in the world.

Yeah, there's been quite a few awesome posts over the past year, but one significant moment, one we didn't even report initially, has shaped us more than any other since we've been doing DN. It was magnificent, regal, moving.

And here it is.



We thank you.

CRYSTAL CASTLES + APACHE BEAT @ FUN

ALERT, ALERT!

Crystal Castles are making their way across the border to NYC! They are playing an early show at the First Fridays event at the Museum of Natural History sponsored by Flavorpill but if you're a night owl and like to dance - Studio B is the place to be! From our experience before when this event was held at the Guggenheim Museum (long lines!), we are advocates for making the trip to Brooklyn!

If you would like to be added to a reduced admission list, let us know - we'll make sure it's all good in the 'hood.

Editors are back! Back!! BACK!!!

It's been a while since we heard form our beloved Autistic Monkeys, and it's our great pleasure to inform you that they haven't pulled a Futureheads and changed their whole "thing". They're still Joy Division on uppers, with Tom making even crazier mouth-gestures and facial expressions.

Anyway, here's the new video for "Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors" (ah, such cheery "blokes"!)



That was quite good. What do you think, Tom?



We thought so!

strike a pose...

NEW Blonde Redhead + Miranda July = HEAVEN



Magical.

"Summer Might Not Suck Ass After All..."

Or at least that's what we thought when we saw this Sonny Jim video.



Kind of makes you miss early-'00s Avalanches also. :(

Hey Kelly, Bela Lugosi's Dead

So this is Kelly Clarkson's new album cover, then.



Looks to us like someone's been hitting the absinthe.

We've purposely been avoiding Kelly's new material because we don't want to tarnish "Since U Been Gone"'s prodigy but it looks like a quick listen may be inevitable.

Stuck in the middle of a pile of gold and loved every moment of it...

This Tuesday, we got excited...super excited because we got to see The Blow and Electrelane at the Fillmore at Irving Plaza. We wish we had brought our cameras so we could provide you with photos from the show, but we failed in that department. Forgive us. The DN's absolutely adore Khaela from The Blow. The set was not long enough. She totally held her own on stage with fun dance moves, captivating banter, not to mention she sounded great. It was truly magical when almost every girl (there were plenty of boys, lots of tall ones I might add) in the audience sang along to "Parentheses." It was a big love fest of swaying people. We already loved The Blow but now we are actually obsessed.

Just a thought...inclined floors at venues? It could be like an amusement park where there is a height requirement for where you have to situate yourself. Just a thought.

Yes, Another One Of Those Indie Dance Bands

It seems like DNHQ just keeps getting gayer and gayer. There was a time where we loved what young people call "rock and roll music", but frankly we are so disenchanted with bearded men playing guitars that we've immersed ourselves completely in electro-pop and are not looking back. There's a certain level of :( attached to this predicament, but we prefer to blame The State of Music and not any sort of Personal Crisis we may be going through.

Anyway.

We fucking love The Black Ghosts, who have joined Shiny Toy Guns and Chungking in out pantheon of awesome pop bands with dubious names. We just got a copy of their still-untitled debut album, and can we just say that track #4, entitled "The Repetition Kills You", is FUCKING ACE and will kill everything upon its release. Black Ghosts, if you are listening, please make this your second single and film a really slick, high-budget video to go with it. YOU'VE BEEN APPROVED. The song sounds like Gorillaz gone completely dance, with Damon Albarn being beaten senseless with a synthesizer. Unfortunately I don't think we can link to it because of THE LAW, but you'll have to trust us on this one. So. Good.

Here is The Black Ghosts' video for their current single, "Anyway You Choose To Give It".



They wear skeleton hoodies--what more can be said, really.

It Came From WTF: Modest Mouse's New "Dashboard" Video Trailer

We've never been big fans of Modest Mouse, but our interest was slightly piqued when Johnny Marr joined the band as an official member last year. As expected, this hasn't made Modest Mouse good and actually kind of makes us question Johnny's mental stability. Isaac Brock's, however, remains stable--stably insane, that is.



We CANNOT BELIEVE Johnny Marr is involved in this mess. It felt like Modest Mouse guesting on an episode of Spongebob, which would be actually kind of rad.

Anyway.

:(

LADIES NIGHT! GENTS welcome too!

WE ARE YOUR FRIENDS is back at 205 Club this week with DJ Jaclyn (The Bangers /'Sup Magazine) + DJ Lindsey (Negroclash)!

We are really excited because they ladies are rad and are going to tear up the dance floor! You won't know what hit you...

If you're in NY on Wednesday night, swing by for a drink, a PBJamwich and a sweet treat!

All about the drum machine

Mariko and Tony

Here's the UK's answer to Brooklyn's Mommy and Daddy.
Introducing Levelload providing a little lo-fi punk for the kids.

Listen to "If You Didn't Lie to Me" (streaming via Myspace)

Wow, We Blogged A Lot This Week...

...and to reward ourselves, we're posting the new Calvin Harris video for "The Girls". Check the sample at the beginning... it's like it's summer already!



Aw!

Once everyone finally gets their hands on that song Calvin wrote for the new Kylie record, all hell's going to break loose. Can't wait!

OK Dutch Rock Band Suddenly Transform Into Amazing Pop Band

This is Krezip.



They're Dutch, and apparently Felix and Jesper from The Sounds wrote songs on their new album, Plug It In. None of those songs were "Plug It In And Turn Me On" though, which is a perfect pop song in that it starts out like it might be not that great but then by the first chorus you are totally convinced that it is GENIUS.

Krezip - Plug It In And Turn Me On [streaming via MySpace]

It looks like Krezip have been around for a while, but as far as we can tell nothing they've done is half as good as "Plug It In...", so this may be on of those instances where we pretend this is their first album, and all that.

BONUS!

The Plug It In cover looks suspiciously like the cover of one of our favorite electro-punk albums of all time, Mommy and Daddy's Fighting Style Killer Panda:



Spooky.

Looks Like Someone Finally Uploaded The Fucking Chungking Video To YouTube

...and not a moment too soon because it's fucking brilliant.

Kind Of Like The Killers, But Gay On Purpose And Not Shit

There are two things we love in this world: really gay pop music, and finding out about bands through MySpace.

WELL. Aren't we the lucky ones then.

Bobby first entered our realm when they tried (and succeeded) to add us on MySpace, a campaign which intrigued us with two factors:

1. Bobby are Swedish
2. They are called Bobby.

Thus, we were hooked. Then came the songs: Erasure, Pet Shp Boys, Human League, Duran Duran, but with just enough of the '00s thrown in the mix to not make it sound totally boring and snoozy. Unfortunately for them, we also discovered Sexual Earthquake in Kobe that week and we sort of forgot all about Bobby, until we were reminded this afternoon by no other than our pop brother in arms, Doorknobz, while we were tearing our faces off at work. Bobby made the rest of the day bearable--not and easy task, and we salute them. Their new single is called "Another Day", it is an amazing pop song with shit artwork.

Bobby - "Another Day" [streaming via MySpace]

Lastly, as if this could get any more awesome, Bobby are named after a fictional drug. Says their website:

Bobby is namned after a "dream/drug" from the book Vurt by Jeff Noon. The drug is originaly called Bobdeniro but Bobby altered it to sound more pop.

Amazing.

Dizzee Rascal Is Back! Back!! BACK!!!

We've been wondering what Dizzee Rascal has been up to lately. We downloaded "Sirens", his new single, a few weeks ago off some random blog and have been bopping along to it off and on since, but kind of didn't get as obsessed with it as we thought we would. THAT IS UNTIL THIS CAME ALONG.



OH, SO WE GUESS HE'S BEEN GETTING CHASED BY COUNTRYMEN ON HORSES.

THERE. ARE. NO. WORDS. Thank God Britain's Greatest MC™ is back in the running.

All Day Long You'll Have Good Luck...

As you already know...the kids at DISCONAP love Portland band, The Blow (Khaela Maricich & Jona Bechtolt)! Well get geared up for Jona Bechtolt's solo project, YACHT if you haven't heard his music already.

See A Penny (Pick It Up)

We dig the vid too.

Merci Beaucoup, Thank You Very Much

Last night we got to hit up one of the shows during this month's Highline Festival curated by David Bowie. Air headlined last night's show at the Theatre at Madison Square Garden and were joined by Brooklyn's Tv on the Radio.

Jean-Benoît Dunckel and Nicolas Godin looked amazing in their white clad outfits in front of the dark backdrop and flashing lights. They played all the hits that made the audience a happy one. The set included one of their first hits, "Sexy Boy" from Moon Safari, songs from the Virgin Suicides soundtrack to "Cherry Blossom Girl" off of Talkie Walkie to their latest single off their latest album, Pocket Symphony (Astralwerks).

Watch the video below:


Air - Once Upon A Time

Not-Crazy Members Of New Order Not Aware Of Own Break Up

Lookin' good, Pete!
Funnily enough and as expected, Peter Hook may have been just blabbin' a whole bunch of gobbly-gook when he reported last week that New Order had split. According to The Guardian, Bernard Sumner's reaction was one of surprise, incredulity and total WTF-ness. Says the band's PR:

"As far as everyone is concerned, New Order will be going to Cannes next week, as a band, to promote the new Joy Division film [Control, a biopic based on the memoirs of Ian Curtis's wife Deborah]," she said. "This is probably just Hooky messing about. Everyone knows what he's like."

Probably just another case of Hooky on the sauce, then. Gotta love the grizzled old man though. They should have cast him as Keira Knightley's swashbuckling uncle in the new Pirates movie. That would have been prize.

Read the full article here.

This Video Was Not Directed By Michel Gondry

We love Fugiya & Miyagi--we mean, they set Mercury Lounge on fire when they played there a few months back, one of our friends wanted to bang the keyboardist and it turns out he works with people with disabilities: how sweet! They sound like white men trying to be Prince, but not in a totally gross JT way.

But this video is not "Fell In Love With a Girl".

That's all.

STOP PRESS!

NME.com has posted the new Los Campesinos! video for "You! Me! Dancing!" in their crappy media player. Watch it here (not that we can because our work computer doesn't let us do things like that).

In the meantime, there's this:



:(.

Stop! Zoo Time!

Mystery Jets are releasing their debut album in the US today, entitled Zootime. You may remember Mystery Jets from us telling everyone and their mother about then sometime in 2005. Shit was wild. "You Can't Fool Me Dennis" was our #1 single of 2005, and with good reason: the band's gypsy-pop good vibes makes life seem OK for the time of a song, until reality sets in and the unmovable black cloud that surrounds our existence engulfs us once again. Cheery!

Here are some MP3s off of Zootime (which we think is basically the same as their UK debut Making Dens, only slightly fudged with):

Mystery Jets - Diamonds in the Dark

Mystery Jets - The Boy Who Ran Away

And some tour dates:
05-28 Toronto, ONT Drake Hotel
05-29 Toronto, ONT Drake Hotel
05-31 Boston, MA Great Scott
06-01 New York, NY Joe's Pub (Acoustic Show)
06-02 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom
06-05 Chicago, IL Schubas
06-08 Seattle, WA Crocodile Cafe
06-09 Portland, OR Doug Fir
06-11 San Francisco, CA Café Du Nord (Acoustic Show)
06-12 San Francisco, CA Independent (Electric Show)
06-13 Los Angeles, CA Spaceland (CLUB NME NIGHT)
06-14 Los Angeles, CA Troubadour

Sweet x a billion.

MORDEN

Our love affair with Good Shoes still lingers and we just can't get enough! There sound is almost as if the little brothers of The Futureheads started a band and then some. They released their debut album, Think Before You Speak [Brille Records] this past March and here's the latest video for the single, "Morden."

Mmmmm... Pretty.

We were a bit apprehensive of Lavender Diamond at first. Their sunshine vibes and long, flowing locks were a little too flower power for us Joy Division fanatics. Seriously, their Myspace quote is "Peace on earth forever!". SO not punk rock!

Anyway, we got our hands on their Cavalry of Light EP, and fell in love with two tracks: "In Heaven There Is No Heat" and "Please", two amazing summer chill jams that will be racking up plays on our iTunes in the months to come. Lavender Diamond's debut album, Imagine Our Love, is out now on Matador (or is coming out soon, it's so hard to keep track of these things), and the Australian chanteuse and Zero 7 buddy Sia directed the video for their new single, "Open Your Heart" (Unfortch NOT a Human League cover). It is Very Good Indeed.



Lovely.

School of Seven Bells

What do you get when you combine ex-members of On!Air!Library! (we absolutely love twin sisters Alejandra and Claudia Deheza) and the Secret Machines? Welcome, School of Seven Bells . UK's Sonic Cathedral just released an early version of My Cabal from their upcoming album.

Here are some upcoming New York dates:

May 11 2007 8:00 PM Hammerstein Ballroom

May 19 2007 9:30 PM Mercury Lounge

June 3 2007 8:00 PM Monkey Town (Brooklyn)

So It Looks Like One Of Our Favorite Bands Ever Have Split

But then again, has Peter Hook's word ever been one of sobriety, sincerity, and value?

So It's Not Quite Kaiser Chiefs, Then...

Seems as if The Pigeon Detectives have made quite a "brooding" video for their new single, "I'm Not Sorry". We mean, we've always loved the dark types, but somehow the fluffy hair and bouncy demeanor doesn't really scream "delinquency", you know? They do key a car in it though. Tough!



Love the song. Not quite as immediately engaging as "Romantic Type", but it is millions of times better than anything The Strokes have slapped together in recent memory, so hats off to that.

Yes, We've Found Yet Another Quirky Female Multi-Instrumentalist To Obsess Over

Two nights ago we saw Bat For Lashes at Joe's Pub. We've raved about her before, but now we're fucking obsessed and want to see her smiling face and gold-headbanded hair every waking moment of our lives. Here are some easy points to refer to when you see BFL at your local indie venue:

1. She's like Cat Power having tea with Kate Bush
2. At a renaissance fair
3. Held at a Native American reserve.

This is the video for our current favorite song ever, "Prescilla".



TEARS. OF. JOY.

Oui Oui Party!

Come to Bar 13 and catch a live set by French band Neimo at MIDNIGHT! We'll be there in hopes of feeling like we're right in the middle of a Parisian underground dance floor surrounded by sweaty kids, people making out in corners and what not to Neimo's mix of indie-punk-new wave.

Here's the video for "Hot Girl:"