KIDS DIG IT!

Because pop culture affects nobody.

[kidsdigit-blog]

KANDLE ''KNOW MY NAME''

Dis post → mostly 'cause Tumblr was pretty much the only platform left on which I hadn't aggressively promoted blogged this haunting, bluesy ditty courtesy of ex-Blue Violet Kandle.

I've met Kandle a bunch of times. Last summer, the week before her Osheaga debut, I joined her + her peepz for post-gig drinx, where her and I chatted about exes & stuff. I also had the pleasure of hearing about some fan poetry she'd recently received from someone having so much sadness in their hair / brushing the sadness out of my hair.

I've seen her play four times in total-- each new set displaying an irrefutable growth in confidence/stage banter skillz.

According to this recent Lab Magazine interview, baby doll is back in hometown Vic. A single from her upcoming full-length is due out in the summer, with the album following in the fall.

Almost there, special K.

In the meantime...

[whatshouldwecallyourgirlfriend]

The milkshake failed. The yard was dug up and a forest grew back over it. The boys went to grad school. I have not changed my pronoun or earned a second degree. I accepted my fate. Except for on days like these. 

This song is the soundtrack to my existence. 

[kidsdigit-blog]

THE FOUNDATIONS ''BUILD ME UP BUTTERCUP''

Today : mon premier reblog.

And it couldn't have been for words better than those of lovely powerfriend Jordan Arsenault who may or may not have forgotten to log out of his FB account on our shared office computer and paid the price for it.

[kidsdigit-blog]

Just... what kind of uneducated nitwit could *possibly* have been sleeping both ears when Stockholmare dreampop sylph Molly Nilsson had just released her oustanding History LP (2011) ?

SPOILER : Me.

Well, I hope you feel terrible.

I do.

[kidsdigit-blog]

y'all motherfuckers can say watchu want but I'm still not over the awesome brain stroke I felt when I heard this song's punchline drop for the very first time.

[kidsdigit-blog]

MAC DEMARCO ''FREAKING OUT THE NEIGHBORHOOD'' ♫

❥ I ❥

❥ I think ❥

❥ I think I'll probably get bored ❥

❥ I think I'll probably get bored of listening to my favourite album ❥

❥ Before ❥

❥ Before I stop getting urges to listen ❥

❥ Urges to listen to Mac Demarco's 2 ❥

❥ Urges to listen to Mac Demarco ❥

❥ Listen to Mac Demarco ❥

❥ Mac Demarco ❥

[kidsdigit-blog]

ALUNAGEORGE ”ATTRACTING FLIES” ♫

There's something about AlunaGeorge.

I'll confess none of the songs released by the London pop duo so far managed to make tremendous impression on me-- until Attracting Flies, that is.

I'm not exactly a sucker for childish vocals, but beautiful, beautiful Aluna Francis' voice strikes the perfect balance between bubbly and aloof for me. It helps that the arrangements, courtesy of second half George Reid, showcase an eminently sparkly, bouncy (not to mention likeable) quality.

Right from the top of its high-concept music video, it's easy to see 90% of the places where Attracting Flies could have gone wrong. But it's a testament to AlunaGeorge's pop sensibilities that the first big-budget mini-movie opportunity they were awarded, they completely nailed.

In short, if by the end of '13 the duo isn't pretty big (that means bigger than 'internet big'), odds are they ended up doing something wrong. Watching Attracting Flies for the third or fourth time, though, I'm more convinced than not that it won't be the case.

*****

Bonus : an awful remix of the single made by some artist with a number-as-a-letter in his name that neatly encapsulates the very type of sound AlunaGeorge should best stay the fuck away from.

[kidsdigit-blog]

GOLD AND YOUTH ''JEWEL'' ♫

Do you know about Gold & Youth ?

If not, well, you're kind of about to. This Victoria quartet, who used to go by moniker The Raccoons, put out a fairly good EP under the name Islomania in 2010; it was a starry, perfectly decent set of songs from a driven rock'n'roll guy band. Only element lacking was just that little something to differenciate the whole shebang from countless similar musical projects.

For my money, the only top-to-bottom flawless demo-- which I believe wasn't even on Islomania-- was a song called Anglophones. 

... fuckin' Anglophones.

Maaaan, how I played Anglophones. Chances are you won't be able to find it online because I was the one who posted the track on YouTube, only to have my fav member of the band politely ask me to take it down because they were reworking it for an upcoming release on the Arts & Crafts label, (Beyond Wilderness) under a different name, Young Blood.

It should not by any means come across as a surprise that my body can. not. wait. for Young Blood Beyond Wilderness.

Gold & Youth has since added an extra member to their lineup. And said new member, turns out, is as far as can be from 'new guy Greg on drums'.

Enter Louise Burns.

Just ... what is there left for me to say, really, about The Weez? Let me just suggest it amounts to quite a lenghty (or, thoroughly embarrassing) story of deranged fanboyism. Anyway, the lovely bassist has been bumped to ethereal lead vocalist status on the track Jewel-- and if that's any indication of what to expect from Gold & Youth's May 14th release, well, you might as well shit yar pants now. 'cause, not to assume anything, but everyone loves a good, noirish new wave debut.

[kidsdigit-blog]

LA BIONDA ''I WANNA BE YOUR LOVER'' ♫

This is for dem boys.

[kidsdigit-blog]

LIGHT ASYLUM ''HEART OF DUST'' ♫

Last November, I went to a Matthew Dear/Light Asylum concert.

It was a pleasant evening. Mm-hmmm.

OH and I ended up hanging out backstage/doing shots with Shannon Funchess, priestess of the latter act. As striking and inspiring as her possessed stage presence can manifest itself, I can safely attest the real-life version of Shannon is immensely friendly and cool.

I was also given a free tee because why the fuck not. Shannon is now my second favourite Shannon in the entire world.

You not believe? Wellllll tough shit boo 'cause I just dug up their (*hot*) tour manager's FB page (he's the one who photographed us in all kinds of ecstatic/embarrassing poses)... and that's what he said.

So, soon.

Blessed.

This darkwave realness is also equally mesmerizing.

[kidsdigit-blog]

MICHAEL YONKERS ''JASONTOWN'' ♫

Can somebody please try to explain to me how the actual fuck can Michael Yonkers' work be so obscure? His wiki is, like, a footnote. And Microminiature Love (his most famousest release) is pretty much brillz.

It took a whopping 34 (thirty four/trente-quatre) years for said psych-rock mini-masterpiece to see the light of the day, courtesy of the kind folx at Sub Pop Records.

Some crimes shall not be overlooked.

Wanna impress your friends at school, kids? Dig this succulent grumbly lil' jam & watch magical stuff happen.

[kidsdigit-blog]

AZEALIA BANKS ''YUNG RAPUNXEL'' ♫

If you cannot fathom how fucking sick the first single aiming to propulse Ms. Banks' long, long long delayed Broke With Expensive Taste LP is ...

... well, it's probs 'cause you've given up on her due to the brain cramp-inducing streak of twitter beefs her name has managed to be associated with in less than a year. I mean, were this mess instigated only since the dawn of '13, it'd already be pretty horrific. But even just the thought of attempting to compile a list of all the industry peepz Azealia has managed to turn against her since her first moves in the game ...

... gur, plea.

AND YET IN TYPICAL BANKS FASHION the very second every human being with two iotas of common sense was about to write her off as little more than an arrogant, wayyyy out-of-her-league newbie whose talent is only matched by her temperament issues, Bambi/Vamp/Succubi/Yung Rapunxel decides to drop a nü track whose arrival effortlessly does this to just about every soul in doubt.

[kidsdigit-blog]

SKY FERREIRA ''SAD DREAM'' ♫

Just snatched my tix to see everybody's favourite po-faced angst vortex Sky Ferreira at Sala Rossa on the 25th. 

Two urgent observations :

Opener Sad Dream off of her Ghost EP (the one that doesn't unwillingly suck corporate dick all the way back to '11) totally flew under my radar during my coupla first spins, but it has since then unexpectedly grown on me. It's that Jon Brion shit, man. Perhaps I should've forced myself to check out the music video before, which is lovely and cinematic and haunting and everything we request when we are unsure whether or model-gorgeous singer-songwriter is a) seriously quite great or b) just plain ol' stunning but not much else.

Her show evening here (which will also feature opener How To Dress Well, whose rhythmic soul I'm sure is really neat but has always left me indifferent) will mark the very first time I pay dem bucks to see a n artist younger than me (1990 > 1992) perform live.

Bitch.

[kidsdigit-blog]

COMMON ''PLAY YOUR CARDS RIGHT'' (f. BILAL) ♫

Soooooooo, definitely not unattractive motherfucker Bilal has just put out his first full-length in 36 years and The Pitch seems to like it. Might just give it a spin.

Know that to me, though, Bilal will forever 'n always be the jazzy voice breathing all kinds of life in the chorus of Common's Play Your Cards Right.

...where is that ditty from again? RIGHT RIGHT it's ripped straight from the soundtrack of not-at-all forgotten '07 caper classic Smokin' Aces. Which would explain the LOLcameo of Ari Gold Jeremy Piven on bongos in the live perf video above.

[kidsdigit-blog]

IGGY AZALEA ''WORK'' ♫

It's pretty much a no-brainer than our hypermodern standards on the sexualization of up-and-coming female entertainers make it hard to be especially shocked by something like the viddy for Iggy Azalea's debut single off of her first major release. But whatevs. Call me a prude-- I'm not exactly offended by the sheer multitude of porny closeups on the star's notorious assets, just a wee bit discouraged that her marketing team still seems to unanimously agree on the fact that the #1 interesting thing about Azalea remains →OMFG WHITE GIRL CAKES←.

You've got to admit that what we have here is a remarkably athletic pair of thighs, though.

I am now 100% done talking about her (bangin') bod, though. There's quite a bit more to Iggy as a female emcee than that-- though judging by the comments section on the YouTube page for Work, this potential for substance does not seem to matter in the slightest. I did listen to her three previous mixtape releases (Ignorant Art, Glory and TRAPGOLD) and even though none of them positively wowed me, there proved to be certainly enough in there to warrant a considerable level of hype. Certainly nothing on par with her everyone else's nemesis' still-stratospheric 212, but nevertheless a handful of nicely-produced jams displaying an unfakeable charisma & confidence for a relative newcomer to the scene.

What the material did leave to be desired, though, was any kind of overt mention pointing towards her personal experience as an Australian immigrant. And Work, despite visuals that go out of their way to make sure we get the nods to Death Proof, Bombs Over Baghdad & Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, is elevated by somewhat detailed lyrics that paint Ms. Azalea not just as a runway-ready gangstress but a hard-working, determined rap wannabe.

Anyhow, it's quite darling, all in all. I'm not exactly sure where the inspirational ends and the exploitative starts, but you could certainly do a lot worse in your attempts to make a notorious web phenomenon graduate to the post-MTV, post-iTunes real playa industry.