Team Macho

I’ve written about Team Macho for previous blogs but I feel that their work is go good it’s worth singing their praises again.  Team Macho is a Toronto based art collective comprising Lauchie Reid, Chris Buchan, Nicholas Aoki, Jacob Whibley, and Stephen Appleby-Barr. I don’t think I’ve seen a single thing they’ve created that I didn’t like.

Only Fades Away

Chris Balla of Knight School has joined forces with Jed Smith of My Teenage Stride and recorded a fantastic version of caUSE co-MOTION’s already brilliant Only Fades Away, a single from a few years back. The song sounds just beautiful slowed down substantially and with heaps of Byrds-esque guitar in place of the frantic jangle of the original. I don’t know if it’s going to get put out or anything as there only seems to be a YouTube video at the moment. Hopefully some bright spark will have the common sense to get this little gem out on a 7″.

John Malta

I think John Malta might be a genius. This is seriously some of the best illustration work I have seen in a long time. Very much up my street. Check out some of his work below, snap your dropped jaw back into place, then head on over to his blog for more ridiculousness. Who wants to buy me one of these bad boys?

Joel Gibb sings Arthur Russell

Okay, so this has been online for a couple of years now but I only stumbled across it a few days ago and I feel its worth sharing. Joel Gibb covered Arthur Russell‘s masterpiece That’s Us / Wild Combination for the compilation E.P Four Songs By Arthur Russell, released by Rough Trade in 2008. I’m not sure where or exactly when this live performance was filmed but I’m guess it’s from around the time of the E.P. I think Joel Gibb is a vastly underrated vocalist.  In part this is because his voice needs to be experienced live in order to fully appreciate it’s beauty. It really is something else, as this gorgeous performance ably demonstrates. Arthur would be proud!

Fun fact of the day: Arthur Russell once dabbled in hip-hop, producing tracks for aspiring rapper Mark Sinclair a.k.a Hollywood laughing stock Vin Diesel. So now you know.

Marcus Oakley – Various

French publishing house / record label Kaugummi has just put out Various, a new zine by Marcus Oakley, one of my all-time favourite artists. 20 coloured pages of Marcus’ trademark optimism and silliness, limited to a mere 100 copies. I’d get in there quick if I were you. While you’re buying that, have a peek at Kaugummi’s other zines. They’re awesome.

Fair Ohs on The Knocking Shop

Incredibly handsome afro-beat influenced punks Fair Ohs recently recorded two tracks for Vimeo show The Knocking Shop. Eden Lake is from their latest 7″ on Sleep All Day and Summer Lake can be found on their previous Sex Is Disgusting 7″. When the hell are these lads going to put out a full length? Let it be soon!

Eden Rock

Summer Lake

Katy Perry – Teenage Dream

Katy Perry can be hit-or-miss. Mostly miss. Her singles are downright enjoyable when heard faintly on the radio in work, blaring in a bar or caught by chance, flicking through the music channels of an evening. They don’t normally hold up well to the scrutiny of a proper listen, headphones on and with full attention focused on the quality of the songcraft. Take for example California Gurls; A killer chorus that manages (just) to compensate for flimsy lyrics that border on cringeworthy, barely-there synths and synthetic sounding slap bass. Oh, and the less said about the visually horrifying video, the better. Teenage Dream, on the other hand is the real deal. A modern pop classic on a par with Robyn’s best. Call me corny, but I’m a sucker for romance and I think the lyrics are rather lovely. The video is fairly dcent by her standards too. Watch below and enjoy!

Sometimes the Blues Is Just a Passing Bird

Everyone’s favourite Dylan-esque Swede has a new E.P coming out on November 9th. Sometimes the Blues Is Just a Passing Bird is the follow-up to his instant classic full length The Wild Hunt, released by Dead Oceans earlier this year. The five tracks on the E.P aren’t too much of a departure from what we’ve heard from him before. Basically, he still sounds like Bob Dylan singing Bob Dylan songs, but better. Is that blasphemous to say he’s better than Dylan? Maybe so, but it’s the truth. Yeah, that’s right. I said it. Have a listen to Like The Wheel below. You know if this was a Dylan song it’d be considered one of his all time greatest. It’ll stop you in your tracks.

Skream ft. Freckles – How Real

I can’t claim to know much of anything about Skream. I know he’s from London and that he’s affiliated with dubstep, a genre of music about which I am far from knowledgable. His second record, Outside The Box, just came out a few weeks ago. I heard How Real for the first time this afternoon and  I have been unable to stop playing it. I feel like I dreamt this song into existence, like I always knew for sure that one day it would exist. Freckles‘ vocals are just incredible. Cut up, auto-tuned, delayed and  pitch-shifted into something so melodic it has to be heard to be believed, playing off beautifully against the sputtering, snare-driven beat. I think I might have found my song of the year. Have a listen below!