The National: Bloodbuzz Ohio

A good smattering of doom-and-gloom-rock today from New York band The National. They’re releasing their new album “High Violet” very soon indeed and this is the first single to be taken from it. “Bloodbuzz Ohio” is sentimental, gloomy, swooning and hazily shoegaze-y in a sort of good way. Well it has to be a good way, otherwise I wouldn’t be featuring this song, would I? Enjoy it, it’s a grower:

The Very Best: Julia

Another not very freshly squeezed effort again from me today folks, although maybe you've not heard of The Very Best before? If you haven't, they were a project that emerged last year who melded together world beats and ideas with tinges of western dance and electro to great effect. Their debut album "Warm Heart of Africa" came out last year and the title track featured Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig on vocal duties. Here the singing is by Esau Mwamwaya who brings a good sprinkle of African tribal authenticity to "Julia". I have to say that the track takes a while to get going, but don't let that put you off: the backing track may be slight and perhaps undercooked, but that's just to let Esau and the rest of the backing singers really shine through. It'll grow on you:

Crystal Castles: Celestica

Canadian electro noise-makers Crystal Castles are back with their second (rush-released) album “Crystal Castles (II)” – the fact that they’ve named this effort exactly the same as their debut album has caused slight problems during explanations. Personally, if you just say “Crystal Castles Two” then there should be no problem, right? Never mind that, on to “Celestica” which is a more accessible slice of pie from the often thrashy duo. While their take on electro normally takes no prisoners (imagine someone like Slipknot transferred to synthesisers with strange Nintendo-style bleeps and a screaming banshee in the form of Alice Glass singing), this track is actually quite lovely. Well, anything where we can actually hear Alice singing instead of, er, shouting. It’s still a bit edgy but it’s also a bit dreamy and swooning too:

New Playlist Loaded!

Hey guys, just letting you know that yesterday I added a new playlist to my radio station, JAMJARSUPERSTAR, for you to listen to! I hope you enjoy it. If you want to know what tracks I've put up this time, I've pasted it all below! I've also added a new widget so that you can click on to my radio station from my Blogger page whenever you like - I've done the same on my sister site too!

MGMT – It’s Working
New Young Pony Club – Lost A Girl
Caribou – Odessa
The Knife – Silent Shout
Delphic – Doubt
Basement Jaxx – Raindrops
Wild Beasts – All The King’s Men
Chew Lips – Slick
Hot Chip – One Life Stand
Yeasayer – ONE
Vampire Weekend – Giving Up The Gun
We Have Band – Centrefolds and Empty Screens
Arcade Fire – Power Cut
Bat For Lashes – Glass
Beck – Youthless
Bjork – Violently Happy
Black Kids – Hurricane Jane
Cajun Dance Party – The Next Untouchable
Camille – Kfir
Charlotte Hatherley – White
Chairlift – Garbage
CSS – Jager Yoga
Daft Punk – Robot Rock
Depeche Mode – Miles Away
Editors – Lights
Empire of the Sun – Walking on a Dream
Friendly Fires – Skeleton Boy
Frou Frou – Psychobabble
Goldfrapp – Koko
Grace Jones – Hurricane
Howling Bells – Cities Burning Down
Interpol – Slow Hands
Kate Bush – Be Kind to My Mistakes
Kings of Leon – The Bucket
Ladyhawke – Professional Suicide
LCD Soundsystem – Daft Punk Is Playing at My House
MIA – Amazon
Martina Topley Bird – Carnies
Metric – Stadium Love
Neon Neon – I Told Her On Alderaan
Passion Pit – Little Secrets
Phoenix – Lisztomania
Roxy Music- Editions of You
Roisin Murphy – Ruby Blue
Royksopp – The Girl And the Robot
Siouxsie and the Banshees – Spellbound
The Cribs – Cheat On Me
The Gossip – Heavy Cross
The Kills – What New York Used To Be
The Raconteurs – Steady As She Goes
The Rapture – Pieces of the People We Love
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Soft Shock

JJS and SCG: Branching Out!

Hey guys! You can now become a fan of my personal page on Facebook! Exciting times! If you want to do so, just click on my badge to the right of this and if you do become a fan then I'll respect you forever - seriously, at the minute I don't have any fans so I'll really appreciate your support in this new endeavour. Hopefully you'll get your friends to follow me as well so we can have an even bigger community here on JJS and my sister site Scarlet's Culture Garden (if you haven't already looked, find the link on my sidebar to find my other site!).

Thank guys!

Mos Def and Talib Kweli: History

I'm not usually into R'n'B/ hip hop/ rap, but this song has been getting some air time and I kinda like it. Mos Def has kind of dropped off the musical radar since he went into acting; he was mostly seen guesting on songs by Gorillaz (most recently Stylo) in-between acting jobs like in Michel Gondry's Be Kind Rewind and appearing in TV shows like House. But here he is in a very likeable tune that's a little bit old-school, very accessible and very summery. It makes you think of having drinks on a beach somewhere sunny.