Updated show list

Monday morning I was glad to find out Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin is coming to the Netherlands in june. Then I got home and found out Boris Yeltsin died. Weird...

Anyways, I was in the lab where participants were performing my first experiment (exciting times) and I couldn't really focus on other work there. So I spent some time updating my showlist. Lots of cool artists in the coming months!

Here are some video's from the artists I'm planning to see in the near future.

Video: Lonely, Dear - I am John


Video: Malcolm Middleton - A Brighter Beat


Video: Andrew Bird - Plasticities (live on Letterman)


Video: Architecture in Helsinki - The Cemetary


Video: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Pangea


Video: Modest Mouse - Dashboard


Video: Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Bomb.Repeat.Bomb


Video: The Hold Steady - Your Little Rathood Friend


Video: Bright Eyes - At The Bottom Of Everything

Finally Friday Video's Week 16 [2007]

Video: Black Flag - TV Party

Anticipated Records Do Not Dissapoint...Or Do They?

Oh seven is a year of highly anticipated records. Some of the best releases of 2005 have their follow up lined up this year. The New Pornographers will release their new one in august, Be Your Own Pet has started working on a new album and some albums have already been released. Do these albums live up to their high expectations? Here are my thought on some of them.

The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible

The internet buzz surrounding this album was almost scary. However, the band made a great album, a little less daunting than on Funeral, but much better than what I expected.

Video: The Arcade Fire - Keep The Car Running (Live)

Bright Eyes - Cassadega

Most mature Bright Eyes record to date and that's not a bad thing. There's still emotional intensity but packed in a somewhat different form and with a thicker production. Call it Americana or country or folk or something in between...I like this...a lot!

Video: Bright Eyes - Four Winds

The National - Boxer

An album less rocking than their previous effort (Alligator). However, the songs on this album suits the singer's distinct voice perfectly. Special stuff!

The Arcade Fire, Bright Eyes and The National had to fight against almost unrealistic expectations. With that in mind, I have nothing but the utmost respect voor these artist for putting out yet another great album. If you haven't fallen in love with these artists yet, this is the time to jump on the wagon!

Mp3:
The National - Fake Empire

Oh yeah, on a more negative note...the new Fountains of Wayne record....not so good.

Show Review: Camera Obscura @ De Balie, April 15th

Last night's show was planned at Paradiso, but for logistical purposes was moved to the nearby "De Balie". Definitely not a bad decision, because this venue -normally used as a theatre- perfectly suited the intimacy of Camera Obscura's show.

I really didn't have any expectations from the show, but I was pretty impressed. I can't really put my finger on what it is, but there's something about this band. Sure...one could argue that nothing happens on stage. The band just stands there performing some songs. The only member who shows some energy is the multinstrumentalist who played percussion, trumpet and at times guitar. I cant disagree with that, however, I argue that this stage presence complements the bands sound and style perfectly. Singer Tracyanne Campbell is the absolute star of the band. With a voice to die for she grabs your attention, almost like putting a spell on you. She made the slower songs sound so vulnerable and delicate that there was almost complete silence in the audience. A sight not often seen or heard at a show and it was beautiful. The faster songs sounded tight and more powerful than on record. Camera Obscura is definitely a band whose live show adds elements to their records. In fact, while travelling to work this morning, I played the albums Let's Get Out Of This Country and Underachievers, Please Try Harder and it's like I appreciate the band more...I get songs I didn't use to "get". It's definitely a plus to have these positive associations from the live experience!

Conclusion: definitely a great show. Intimate, fun and dreamy. As an encore the band played a decent cover of Abba's Super Trooper. Not bad. Not bad at all.

The band just released their fourth single (Tears For Affairs) of the album. Below you'll find all four video's from the Let's Get Out Of This Country album. Enjoy!

Video: Camera Obscura - Tears For Affairs


Video: Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out Of This Country


Video: Camera Obscura - If Looks Could Kill


Video: Camera Obscura - Hey Loyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken

Finally Friday Video's: week 14 [2007]

Yay! The Finally Friday Video series is back...

Stylus magazine published their top 50 one hit wonders this week. Here are two that made the cut...

Video: The Flying Lizards - Money

Video: Gary Numan - Cars

Show Review: I'm From Barcelona @ Melkweg

Zero percent pretentiousness, one hundred percent fun. That basically sums up an I'm from Barcelona show. Yesterday was no exception, though I have to admit that I liked last year's Utrecht show a little more. For instance, their were less Swedes (but I still counted 18) on stage than at the previous show and the Amsterdam audience was a little less excited (but still way more excited that normal at a sunday show).

The band's enthusiasm again was very contagious and you rarely see this amount of equality between a band and the audience. Although their setlist showed similarities with their previous show in the Netherlands, they played some other songs as well. At first I wasn't really (or really wasn't) into their Bryan Adams cover of Can't Stop This Thing We Started, but they managed to give this song a typical I'm from Barcelona sound. Singer Emanuel started the intro of Purple Rain, but unfortunately, they didn't pursue that one...

Adventure Kid, who made a techno 8bit version of their hit song We're from Barcelona delivered the after party, with bandmembers partying and dancing along with the audience...good times!

Download Adventure Kid's version of We're From Barcelona by clicking here!

Excusez moi!

I'm sorry for hardly putting up new blogs. File Transfer Complete has been falling victim to my new job/life, which by the way is working out quite fine! Though I could finish this blog with one final post, I have a feeling there's a future for this blog. I still have a need to inform you about my latest discoveries and with the purchase of my 80 gig I-pod (right now it contains over 2500 songs, probably one tenth of the final number :]) I at least have more time to listen to great new and not so new music.

This week I'm busy designing my first study, but I'm planning a reanimation of FTc in the coming weeks. For now I'll keep the shows section up to date.

Thanx for your patience...it's appreciated!