Roberto

Joanna & Polly reach live glory

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JOANNA NEWSOM-Colleen (Live at the Royal Albert Hall)
In a terrific weekend for live music in the UK capital, Joanna Newsom and PJ Harvey, two of the Academy’s favourite female artists, played respectively two triumphant gigs, which have placed them both ahead as favourites for the Rober, heating up the race for this year’s Best live … Read more

The revolution will be Radioheaded…

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The most critically acclaimed band in the planet today ended weeks of internet especulations, cyphered codes and hidden clues about the fate of their new material by anouncing the release of a new album exclusively through their web www.inrainbows.com .
The news are sending shock waves through the industry as this is widely regarded as an … Read more

Blitzen Trapper do the Daytrotter

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The excellent Daytrotter Sessions provided us with another dose of the most interesting music from the US indie panorama. This time Portland, Oregon alt-folk combo Blitzen Trapper did their 4 track format with an excellent set, focused in their Neil Young-like alt-folk side. The band included an unreleased song “Jericho” and three excellent versions of … Read more

The Go!-Team’s “Proof Of youth” in full!!

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You can listen to The Go!-Team second album in its entirety though their myspace page. Even if we weren’t fully convinced by the first leaked track “Grip like a vice”, the band has wisely applied the principle “It ain’t broken, don’t fix it” , sticking to their winning mixture of anthemic chants, stylishly retro cut … Read more

First trailer of Dylan’s biopic

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Had to happen. Finally, the biography of popular culture icon Bob Dylan is going to be given the Hollywood treatment. The film titled “I’m not there” counts with a touch of indie pedigree courtesy of former herald of new queer cinema Todd Haynes, whose career has moved progressively into the mainstream, without losing his creative arty spirit in the process.

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Field Day Festival: Portrait Gallery

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It was a great day of music. The Field Festival celebrated his first edition, conveniently located at Victoria Park in London; held during a single day from 12:00 to 10:30 pm and with an amazing, quality selection of independent artists. Four stages curated by four of the city’s most challenging club and gig promoters: The “Eat Your Own Ears” main stage for the better known names; the smallest, open air “Homefires”, surrounded by bales of hay for “ambiance”, focused on new folky artists; The “Adventures in the beetroot field” circus-like tent dedicated to the up and coming acts and “Bugged Out” for the cream of the dance world from Erol Alkan to Andrew Weatherall.
A scorching sun helped to lift the spirits, even when we needed to face endless queues for the rather insufficient food and drink facilities. Only black point in an excellent event that we hope will establish itself as a yearly date with the most cutting-edge side of popular music.
Music wise, the bill was so packed with Rober favourites that many sacrifices had to be made: We resorted to painfully give a miss to Liars –who were schedule to play just before Justice but came onstage an hour late-; Bat For Lashes; Four Tet; The Aliens and Vetiver gigs, whereas we were able to catch only a couple of songs from Gruff Rhys, Euros Child, The Concretes and Matthew Dear, whose sets overlapped other artists’.

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However, what we choose to watch left us with a great taste in our mouths. Here’s our Festival’s photo gallery: All The artists, the images, the glory after the jump!!

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The madness of Prince Billy.

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Must be his increased flirting with the celluloid world -he recently starred in the critically aclaimed indie flick “Old Joy”-, but Rober awards multiple winner Will Oldham, former explorer of the darkest corners of the human soul under ever changing monikers from Palace to the latest Bonnie “Prince” Billy seems to be lightening up:

First, he has covered “Can’t take that away”, originally by Mariah Carey -shock, shock, horror, horror-, for a project called “Guilt By Association” in which a bunch of credible artists recorded a cover of their guilty pleasure. In the tracklist you can also find Devendra Banhart doing Oasis’ “Don’t look back in anger”; Luna taking on Paula Abdul’s “Straight Up”; The Concretes going all boyband with Take That’s “Back For Good”; Jim O’Rourke going al girlband with Spice Girls’ “Viva Forever” and the queen of covers herself, Petra Haden, applying her trademark acappella imprint to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing”, recently brought back to life as the soundtrack for The Soprano’s grand finale.

A video competition was launched to make the clips for the album and, apart from Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s one, you can see a selection of the entries here.

And if recreating the sounds of Mimi wasn’t mad enough, Will Oldham carried on surprising the world. How? Find out after the jump.

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Listen to M.I.A. “Kala” In Full

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You have been knocked out by the “punch in your face”, epilepsy inducing style of her artworks and promotions; you have listened to the singles -that impossibly catchy “Boyz”-; seen the videos with the latest, “Jimmy” being an immersion in Bollywood kitch from the Eighties; and been overexposed to M.I.A.’s hype machine for the last … Read more

Sinphonola: Queens of Summer

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Finally enjoying the late arrival of the heat, this year it brings an unusual number of female artists from all styles and backgrounds, ready to claim their Summer queen crowd.

THE GLOBAL QUEEN.

London based, revolutionary Sri Lankan rapper M.I.A. Arulpragasam’s second album “Kala” will hit the shops on August the 20th and for those who were complaining about it lacking of a song with the potential of “Galang” or “Bucky Done Gun”, here’s what will shut them up: M.I.A. goes all disco kitch with “Jimmy”, a very faithful reinterpretation taken from the soundtrack of Bollywood 80’s movie “Disco Dancer”, blends old and new in an irresistibly colourful sonic cocktail.

Runners up: Gloria Estefan, the Latin megastar is back with a Spanish speaking album, “90 Millas”, and the whole Latino star-system helping. Although most of her English career flirts with the dull and the formulaic and could be included in the Rober Academy’s black books; whenever she’s back to her roots, her artistic calibre gets proven, “Mi Tierra” being the best example. Santana, José Feliciano and Sheila E, among others, feature in her new single “No Llores”. Somewhere else, in the Caribbean, Che’nelle helped by dancehall’s latest star Cham, throws the best soca-party of the summer with “I Fell in Love with the DJ”.

Watch Gloria Estefan video “No Llores” here.
Watch Che’nelle’s “I fell in love with the DJ”.

More Queens after the jump.

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Of Montreal brings the Scala down

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Oops!! the camera fell 90 degrees.
After a decade together, Athens; Georgia psychedelic indie popsters Of Montreal (No, they are not Canadians) are having the sweetest time of their career. Last night, they brought their live magic to London, playing at the Scala where they gave a hugely entertaining and thrilling show. Their colourful and theatrical … Read more

Low@Daytrotter sessions

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Rober Awards multiple winners’ Low were the subject of the latest Daytrotter Session. Right before the beginning of their North American tour supporting Wilco, Mimi, Alan and latest addition to the trio, bassist Matt Livingstone, recorded four tracks from their recent album of the year contender “Drums and Guns” for the no-less excellent website. Stripped-down … Read more

When pop artists make movies…

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…they are normally victims of their own ego mania or some ill advice and their project ends up being a stinker. For every “Purple rain” (and arguably that was only successful, not that good) there are many “Spiceworlds”. Latest painful example was Outkast’s western musical “Idlewild”.
That’s why we are a bit shocked to find out … Read more