I’m currently watching a really great documentary on synthesizers in Britain that is an incredible look at the early days of synth-pop. As a kid I was hugely into Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys, New Order, The Cure, and plenty of other UK bands that were using synths in their music, so this video is pretty much taking me down memory lane.

From the BBC web site:
In the late Seventies small pockets of electronic artists such as The Human League, Cabaret Voltaire and Throbbing Gristle were inspired by Kraftwerk and J G Ballard to dream of the sound of the future against the backdrop of bleak, high-rise Britain.

Gary Numan’s 1979 appearance on Top Of The Pops heralded the invention of synthpop, which would provide the soundtrack as Britain entered a new, ruthless era in the Eighties.

Depeche Mode, four lads from Basildon, came to embody the new sound, while post-punk bands such as Ultravox, Soft Cell, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark and Yazoo took the synth from the pages of the NME and onto the front cover of Smash Hits.

By 1983 the Pet Shop Boys and New Order were pointing to where the future of electronic music lay – in dance.

Contributors to Synth Britannia include Philip Oakey, Vince Clarke, Martin Gore, Bernard Sumner, Gary Numan and Neil Tennant.

For more information visit the BBC web site here.

Lollapalooza 2009 has come and gone, and it was another great weekend in Chicago full of the usual hot weather and great rock and roll. I was fortunate to once again have Guest passes from C3 Presents (Lollapalooza’s production company) and it made the weekend a pretty unforgettable event all the way around. This year, we discovered the “Fest Express” golf carts that took us from stage to stage along Lake Shore Drive, eliminating the need to trek back and forth through the crowds to rarely make the start time of a performance. One of my best friends and his girlfriend were up from Texas for the second year in a row, and we had an incredible time. I got to see plenty of my favorite bands, with White Lies being a huge highlight since I am terribly addicted to their debut album, To Lose My Life. I had stage access to about a dozen performances, allowing for some great photos and a much more up close and personal experience.

Nothing, however, beats my girlfriend randomly getting her arm signed by Snoop Dogg as we hung out in the Chicago 2016 backstage area after his show. He was surrounded by his security entourage, and was signing a few things for people while walking to a van. Even better, I got a photo of him while he was signing her arm. She’s got real street cred now!

Across all three days, I took in White Lies, Bon Iver, Crystal Castles, Thievery Corporation, Depeche Mode, Kings of Leon, Delta Spirit, Miike Snow, Atmosphere, Arctic Monkeys, Glasvegas, TV On The Radio, Lykke Li, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Bat For Lashes, Kaiser Chiefs, The Raveonettes, Neko Case, Passion Pit, Cold War Kids, Snoop Dogg, The Killers, and Jane’s Addiction.

To view my photos from the festival, click the photos above, or click here. Enjoy!

White Lies are really one of my favorites out there right now. Infectiously good, great rhythms, great songs. Their set in the rain at Lollapalooza 2009 on Friday was one of my best moments of the festival.

Record label Ghostly International has just released perhaps the coolest and most unique iPhone music app ever. I just downloaded this to my phone today and have easily spent 3-4 hours today listening to some great selections from their catalog.

I came to know of Ghostly International through one of my favorite design and music blogs, iso50.com, which is the blog and portfolio of Scott Hansen. Scott is a musician on the Ghostly label, recording and releasing music under the name Tycho.  Scott and other blog contributors post a really great variety of music to the site, with quite a few Ghostly releases included here. The music covers a good range of electronic styles, and this is where the Discovery app really spreads it’s wings.

Using the selection screen pictured above, users choose a mood from the mood wheel, and can use a slider to blend the overall desired musical style. A custom streaming playlist from Ghostly’s catalog then appears based on these selections, and let’s just say I wasn’ t disappointed with a single thing I’ve listened to all day.

I’m not sure of any other record labels that have anything nearly as innovative as this (as far as apps are concerned) but this is certainly a model that could work for every label out there - though I think it serves its purpose best in something as wide-ranging as the electronic genre. I’m entirely impressed both with the creativity put into how it works, and the access to the label’s catalog. I doubt I would hear or discover 1/4 of the artists here if I were simply browsing their site.

I highly suggest downloading this app while it’s still free, but should they chose to charge for it I wouldn’t be dissapointed paying aroudn $5 for this. One catch: it appears to only work with a network connection, so you’ll need wi-fi to use it. My 3G connection would not allow the streaming service to begin.

As I always have with new Placebo albums, I was expecting something special. Meds, Sleeping With Ghosts, and Black Market Music were each consistently phenomenal albums, so naturally I expected Battle for the Sun to keep up that track record. Sadly, it does not. There is too much space; too much waiting for something to kick in. They have also grossly overused the soft/quiet formula here. The lyrics - usually a Placebo high point - feel very basic and lack the sense that a listener can really focus on them and do their best to figure out what Molko is singing about. Surprisingly, the loss of their longtime drummer in this current lineup really has nothing to do with the album’s shortcomings; the drumming is great, but overall the songs just aren’t there. I found myself watching each track queue up hoping something was about to blow my socks off, either sonically or melodically, but it never happens. I expected much more from such a great band. Honestly, I don’t think I can give this much more than a few listens.

The only song that really grabbed me was the very last track, In A Funk - apparently a bonus song on the itunes download. It’s wholly ironic that every song before this finds Placebo in exactly that.

Lightspeed Champion are the current band of Devonte Hynes, formerly of Test-Icicles, and the contrast in style couldn’t be more noticeable. Test Icicles were a brash, explosive band of grating guitars and shouted lyrics, and they’d have been the perfect tourmates for Death From Above 1979 - another great band that closed up shop too soon.

From Wikipedia:

Lightspeed Champion is the name of the new musical venture by ex-Test Icicle Devonte Hynes. He is currently signed to Domino Records. Containing musical elements from a variety of genres, Lightspeed Champion has a radically different sound to Hynes’ previous band. The name ‘Lightspeed Champion’ comes from a series of comic strips Hynes did as a teenager in his school mathematics books. Hynes was born in Houston, Texas and raised in Essex, England.

In early 2007, Hynes went to Omaha, Nebraska to record Lightspeed Champion’s debut album with Saddle Creekproducer Mike Mogis, also a member of the band Bright Eyes. A number of Omaha-based musicians appear on the record including Mogis himself, trumpet player and pianist Nate Walcott (also of Bright Eyes), The Faint’s drummer Clark Baechle and guest vocalist Emmy The Great - along with moonlighting members of Cursive and Tilly And The Wall. 

The result of those recording sessions is the album Falling Off the Lavender Bridge which was released on January 21, 2008. The first single from the album is “Galaxy of the Lost”, which was released on July 30, 2007. (Additional wikipedia entry here)

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I’ve been a huge fan of this album since a friend suggested it and I love seeing the diversity of a songwriter I previously knew only for what Test-Icicles had produced. There’s a great blend of instrumentation here - strings, horns, and acoustic guitars.

Read more about Lightspeed Champion at metacritic.com.

Listen: Lightspeed Champion - Tell Me What It’s Worth

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Recap
This was the first Lollapalooza I’ve attended since it found it’s new home in Chicago two year ago, and the entire thing was a great three-days of music. It was way too hot on Friday and Sunday, but we made it through and had a blast. The last big festivals I’ve been to were in Dallas - Ft. Worth, and I must say the crowds here in Chicago are far more polite than anything I ever experienced down there. Maybe it was just where it was, maybe it was the lack of macho-aggression that seemed to accompany some festivals down there, maybe people are just different here. Either way, everyone had a great time and there was a ridiculous amount of music to enjoy.

Day One - Friday:

The Polyphonic Spree: They’re a band made for a festival like this. The Flaming Lips/Wayne Coyne comparisons are totally correct. They were lots of fun and it was my first time to see them. I remember when they started as a complete one-off joke down in Dallas. Really enjoyable and they go nuts out of pure happiness.

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I’ve always been a fan of Nine Inch Nails since given a cassette of Pretty Hate Machine long long ago, and it’s hard to believe it was only last year that With Teeth was released. Year Zero is one of the best things I’ve heard so far this year, a constant barrage of terror and mystery and chaos and explosiveness I feel only they can pull off. So much of this album is head-scratchingly impressive, and by that I mean I don’t have the first clue how some of that music is dreamed up let alone played and recorded. Track 13, The Great Destroyer, starts off well, but at the 1:45 mark instantly turns into one of the coolest couple of minutes of digital music I’ve ever heard. Once the end of 2007 comes along it’s going to be a hell of a time ranking my favorite albums from this year… The Klaxons, NIN, Bloc Party, The Good The Bad & The Ugly, Kaiser Chiefs, Andrew Bird, and Explosions In The Sky are all vying for my top picks, and there’s still 3/4 of the year to go.

NIN Web Site

So, my band is taking our first trip out of town this week, travelling to Austin and Dallas to play shows in Texas. Very excited, looking forward to seeing friends and getting the chance to play for them for the first time. Got a variety of new albums added to my ipod, as you can see below:

Air - Pocket Symphony
On first listen, it’s just beatiful all the way around.

Cold War Kids - Robbers & Cowards
First time I listened to this at a store, I didn’t really like it much. Grabbed it this weekend and it’s sounding pretty good. Those guys don’t listen to Spoon much or anything…

Explosions In The Sky - All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone
One of my favorite bands, barely given it a listen but expecting good things.

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