Off the Dial

So, OtD contributor Andy Stewart (aka ‘Show’) sent me a link to this video of Thom York performing live at the Big Chill 2010 this past weekend in Herefordshire. I love Thom and all things Radiohead but I can’t say I was all that impressed with the tune. I was more bewildered by the shaggy hair and unkempt beard. My words to ‘Show’ upon seeing the video;

“wow…Thom Yorke with a beard = fucking bizarre”

That being said, the man is still a musical genius and I was curious if there were any other videos from his festival performance and naturally, there were. In addition to “Give Up the Ghost”, Thom performed Radiohead’s “I Might Be Wrong” and my favourite (hence it being VotD), “Reckoner”;

Parting thoughts with ‘Show’ upon viewing the above video? “In Rainbows is one of the greatest albums of all time”. I challenge anyone to argue with me. Noel Gallagher need not apply.

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So there’s a little story running around the internets that former Fugees member and famed solo artist Wyclef Jean could make an announcement tomorrow (August 5th) that he’ll be running for the presidency of earthquake torn island nation Haiti.

Jean, who was born in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti (he later moved to New York as a small boy) is said to be making an announcement tomorrow in Haiti, although his ‘people’ are refusing to confirm the report that he’s running for office there. He has done a lot for his home country since an earthquake killed hundreds of thousands and destroyed much of the impoverished country this past January. You can read the CBC news story here.

Having found this out, I thought it fitting to make this Video of the Day. Although I personally prefer the acoustic version he performed on Chappelle’s Show, this is still fantastic (and I’m pretty sure he won’t have to worry about the message he sings during the chorus);

And in the words of OtD contributor Andy Stewart, “Too bad George Clinton isn’t from Haiti. Funkiest. Country.Ever. One nation under the funk!”

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This video is just too great not to share.

I’ll have to admin that until OtD contributing writer Andy Stewart passed this link along to me, I’d never even heard of Rodrigo y Gabriela. The duo hail from Mexico and as you can see from the video, their speedy, acoustic guitar driven music is astonishing. Funny enough, the two met in Mexico City while playing in thrash metal band Tierra Ácida but later moved to Europe where they began to get noticed. And with good reason!

They’ve already released four studio albums, with the latest 11:11 coming out last year and two live albums.

Once you watch this, it’ll be no wonder that the NPR Music host is so enamoured with Rodrigo y Gabriela.

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You probably know OK Go from any number of things; From their debut single “Get Over It”, their cover of the Pixies’ “gigantic to their landmark video for “Here It Goes Again” and the subsequent run of equally compelling clips.

With the release of their latest album, Of the Blue Colour of the Sky comes yet another video, this time for the track “End Love”. Like the Grammy award winning “Here It Goes Again” video, “End Love” looks to make a mark of it’s own.

As OtD contributing writer put is, “OK Go, continues to push the boundaries of visual accompaniment through the simple presentation of exceptionally intricate ideas. Their ability to pair seemingly unrelated ideas with their music has once again served as a method of strengthening the impact of their music.”

He concluded, “And their jump suits are rad.”

You can download your own copy of this video through the OK Go official web site.

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How to Destroy Angels is a new project that Trent Reznor and wife Mariqueen Maandig revealed to us recently (with a video clip featuring 40 seconds of music and the subsequent official announcement). By now we all know that HTDA (which also features Atticus Ross of 12 Rounds and recent Nine Inch Nails producer/programmer) are planning on releasing a 6-song EP this summer.

Earlier this month, the first song to emerge from the forth-coming EP titled “A Drowning” was digitally released. Late last week, a second song surfaced accompanied by the following video. The video is fairly graphic as Reznor and Mariqueen not only appear to have been bludgeoned to death (despite her still being able to sing), but they are also then engulfed in flames as a very much alive couple in the same hotel room sit idly by, watching a dirt-bike race and having a seemingly pleasant conversation on the phone, no less.

Both the video and the song bear some strong resemblances to Reznor’s previous work (not surprisingly) as the song sounds very much like it could’ve been pulled from NIN’s back catalogue with the only difference being the female vocals. I do have to say though, hers fits in quite well in the song. It almost appears as if the song ends too soon, as though this video is incomplete but there’s nothing I could find to support that this is just a sample and not a finished product.

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This is how much I love Danko Jones: Less than three weeks ago, I published a Song of the Day for the new Danko Jones track “Full of Regret” off the new album Below the Belt, coming out next Tuesday (May 18th). It’s a great, infectious, straight-up, balls-out rock song. So why not give people a double-dose of this often over-looked Canadian rock trio with the video for said song?

As mentioned before, the video features Mike Watt (of the Stooges and Minutemen, who does an excellent intro/outro), Motörhead‘s Lemmy Kilmister and actors Elijah Wood and Selma Blair. The video is done up movie-style, looked like it was a lot of fun to shoot and overall, is a pretty cool clip.

Funny though, how sometimes the funniest thing about YouTube videos is the comments. My early favourite for Comment of the Week? This from MJSalls;

My nipples just exploded, and my balls packed up and are moving to Canada……

Fantastic! Just like the video:

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I know this is what, three years old? I don’t care…this has to be one of the best SNL musical performances of all time.

It still makes me giddy to see Win Butler smash his guitar at the end of that phenomenal performance by Arcade Fire. It was even more exciting to see that live to air and watch his frustration grow as his strings kept snapping.

A classic performance to say the least.

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Written by: Tiffany Naugler

Last spring, during their 2009 North American tour, the guys of Scotland’s Mogwai recruited directors Vincent Moon and Nathaniel La Souanec to film their 3 gig stint in Brooklyn, NY on April 27th, 28th and 29th 2009 at the Music Hall Of Williamsburg.

The Result? Burning, a 50 min look into the experience which is Mogwai live. Artfully shot in black & white with performance scenes and sporadic footage of the band walking the streets of New York, the film features music only, no narratives or dialog.

The film’s featured tracks include “The Precipice”, “Hunted By A Freak”, “Like Herod”, “New Paths to Helicon pt1″, “Mogwai Fear Satan” and “Batcat”.

The debut of Burning to the world was made at the Glasgow Film Festival back on February 28th 2010. Now a second screening at The Scala in London is now set for Thursday, 3rd June.

Burning will be released to the public as part of a box set under the name Special Moves. The formats will be CD/DVD and limited deluxe triple vinyl box set, which will also include the DVD of Burning, set lists and a poster.

Adian Moffat, of Arab Strap fame, is responsible for the packages artwork.

The track list for the the CD/DVD version of Special Moves is:

• “I’m Jim Morrison, I’m Dead”
• “Friend Of The Night”
• “Hunted By A Freak”
• “Mogwai Fear Satan”
• “Cody”
• “You Don’t Know Jesus”
• “I Know You Are But What Am I”
• “I Love You, I’m Going To Blow Up Your School”
• “2 Rights Make 1 Wrong”
• “Like Herod”
• “Glasgow Megasnake”

Check out two teaser videos for the film Burning;

Tiffany Naugler is a photographer, regular photographic contributor to Off the Dial and runs her own web site called Noisography.com. Go check it out!

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From our good friend James Callsen over at x92.9;

Word is Reznor and his wife Mariqueen Maandig (ex-West Indian Girl) are getting ready to release a project called How To Destroy Angels (the title of a Coil album, one of Reznor’s favorite records).

Apparently their mutual publicist sent out a cryptic e-mail stating:

“Self-titled 6-track EP out this summer. Exact date TBA. More details to be announced as they become available at http://howtodestroyangels.com/

If you hit up the website, you also get this little snippet:

Editors note: Sounds a lot like Nine Inch Nails to me but then again, NIN IS Trent Reznor so who knows. Sounds decent enough though and personally, most anything Reznor does is good in my books.

You can hear James, a.k.a. Newsboy, dish out the news weekday afternoons on x92.9 fm in Calgary. Make sure to check out his blog too.

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We are about a month away from the release of Diamond Eyes, the sixth full length release from Sacramento, California’s Deftones. You may be as excited as I am (and those who know me well know how excited I am about all things Deftones) so fans like me should be salivating at this point.

The group already release a video for the first song release, “Rocket Skates” (which you can see here) and although the title track “Diamond Eyes” isn’t as good both in video or in song, it’s still a nice treat; a little something more for us to carry us over until May 18th when the album is officially released.

Of course, with a new album comes touring. They have sporadic dates scheduled in Mexico and the U.S. in April and May with a bunch of international dates in June including shows in Moscow, Copenhagen, Brussels, Amsterdam and more. Visit www.deftones.com for more info!


Deftones - Diamond Eyes (Official)

Deftones | MySpace Music Videos

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