New Bloc Party Tracks

With just a week before the physical release of Bloc's latest, we're seeing a few bonus tracks popping up here and there. Below you'll find the most recent two. Keep in mind that these are rips from the internet, so they're not the best of quality. Honestly though, don't worry about it. This is just more throwaway material from Bloc Party. I actually like the weird little atmospheric guitar sounds in Letter To My Son, but Kele Okereke's new voice just kills it. I'm really getting tired of this pseudo-pop with vocals that have been through all sorts of auto-tune gizmos. Kele... Please stop ruining my favorite band.

Sigh... Here they are anyway. Enjoy them if you can.

MP3s
Bloc Party - Letter To My Son
Bloc Party - Your Visits Are Getting Shorter

Oh, and somehow every single music file I had uploaded since post one has been deleted. So if you see something on here that's been deleted, I'm sorry but I don't have the time to re-up everything. Hopefully this won't happen again because I originally planned to keep every file up permanently.

The Chewinggum Weekend

Today is a good day. My relentless quest for any material from Japanese pop-rock band The Chewinggum Weekend has finally come to an end. I managed to nab both of their studio lengths, and two singles. Japanese pop-rock. It's good stuff. Seriously.

A Japanese Weezer, this is not. In fact, I think they might be better. The rhythms are faster. The guitar lines more intricate. The melodies... Possibly even catchier. It's a shame they disbanded in 1999. But if you like what you hear, go check out The Pillows, who picked up Jun Suzuki (The Chewinggum Weekend bassist) the year they disbanded.

If you can put up with the Japanese vocals, check this stuff out. It's infectious.

MP3s
The Chewinggum Weekend - Ice
The Chewinggum Weekend - Eleking
The Chewinggum Weekend - Parallel
The Chewinggum Weekend - Fine

The Pillows - Ride On A Shooting Star
The Pillows - Ladybird Girl

I Would Die 4 U - Flux

I never thought I'd have any praise for anything Flux related (Other than the GoodBooks Magnetism Remix, which I find to be better than the original song) but Bloc Party mixed things up back in August, and I've just come across the MP3. I wouldn't exactly call it a mashup, but Kele starts off Flux with a pretty straightforward cover of Prince's "I Would Die 4 U" before segueing into Flux around the 1:30 mark. A while ago I would have found it to be an odd occurrence, but these days I don't really know what to expect from Bloc Party anymore.

MP3
Bloc Party - I Would Die 4 U - Flux (Reading 2008)

ROW ROW FIGHT THE POWAH

I'm back! So much has happened since I last posted on here. Bloc Party released a surprisingly decent 3rd album over the internet, TV On The Radio got funky on our asses, Noel Gallagher was assaulted mid-song, the entire planet wasn't actually sucked into a black hole due to the Large Hadron Collider... But you already know all this, so I'll just get back to the usual routine.

Here's an obscure song I'm posting on impulse. Some of you will know where I found this. (Hai guise.) I've no idea where this song originated from, but I'm pretty sure it's some new anime. I won't even get into how much I despise anime. Regardless, the song is pretty bad-ass, even if there's not much to it.

Barren Saturdie - Row Row (Fight The Power)

PS
Bands! Start sending me your stuff again. I miss you...

Gone For The Summer

Obviously I haven't made a post on here in a long time. I've got really limited access to a computer at the moment (And probably for most of the summer.) I'm definitely not quitting for good, it's just that it's pretty hard to keep this thing going at the moment. I'll be back with constant posts in a few months. Sorry to all the bands who sent me their stuff. I honestly love hearing from you, I just don't have the time right now.

- Tim

Pomegranates - Everything Is Alive

Local Cincinnati band Pomegranates have definitely made it big. I wish I could say it's been like watching a child grow up, but I've only been aware of them for about a year. One thing's for sure, and that's that it definitely didn't take long to happen. It's been just shy of a year since their debut EP, and the release of their first full length LP tomorrow (May 13th) is pretty exciting. They've managed to gain some well deserved publicity by playing sessions with WOXY and Daytrotter (Coming soon), and associating themselves with some pretty big names. The band has opened for acts such as Islands and Peter Bjorn And John. This is pretty remarkable considering how young the group is. Usually bands don't like to pigeonhole their sound, but the boys have classified themselves as "art pop". For once, I actually agree. It's a pretty suitable genre for the band. They consistently throw down some extremely catchy hooks and melodies, yet keep things nice and intricate at the same time. Below you'll find a couple of MP3s and a link to stream the whole album. This is definitely a band to keep your eye on.

Myspace
Band's Personal Blog
Stream "Everything Is Alive"

MP3s
Pomegranates - Whom/Who
Pomegranates - Thunder Meadow

Elephant Shell Bonus Disc

I'm kind of busy today, so I thought I'd just get a quick post in. My UK import of Tokyo Police Club's "Elephant Shell" just arrived with the bonus disc included. Featuring remixes by Dntel, Tom Campesinos, Flowers Forever, The Good Life, and Field Music, it actually sounds quite promising. Unfortunately, other than the last two tracks it's really nothing special. Most of the remixes are just kind of slow, awkward sounding, and uneventful. Aside from the mixes, New New Song and the Friends of P cover almost make up for this completely. I'm curious as to why they didn't stick these on the actual album, considering it's only 28 minutes as it is. Anyway, I've posted the two non remix tracks below just in case you haven't found them yet.

MP3s
Tokyo Police Club - New New Song
Tokyo Police Club - Friends Of P