New Music: The Julie Ruin- Ha Ha Ha

With the release of "Oh Come On", the first single from Kathleen Hannah's new band The Julie Ruin, it sounded like she was going back to her punk rock Bikini Kill roots. Now the band have released a second single titled "Ha Ha Ha" that reminds of the music of Hannah's other group, the dance punk band Le Tigre. At least both songs retain a punk aesthetic. Listen below:

The Julie Ruin will release their new LP Run Fast on September 3rd via TJR Records.

New Music: !!! (Chk Chk Chk)- Slyd

Everybody's favourite dance band-who's name are punctuation marks-are back with a brilliant new tune from their forthcoming new album. !!! (Chk Chk Chk) have indicated that their new LP, THRI!!ER will be their high water mark and judging by the first single, Slyd, they are well on their way. Listen to the track below and head over to the band's website for a free download of the song.

THRI!!LER will be out April 30th on Warp.

For fans of The Juan MacLean, Fujiya & Miyagi, YACHT

New Music: Bloc Party- Day Four

Bloc Party are back with the second single from their forthcoming new album Four. The song is called Day Four and I like this better then their debut single that was released a couple of weeks ago. The music is more focused on Kele Okereke's soft voice and is backed by gentle synths with a hint of lush angular guitar. Stream the new song below.

Bloc Party's new album Four is out on August 21st via Arts & Crafts

New Music: Bloc Party- Octopus (Video)

Finally got around to listening to the new Bloc Party single Octopus and I am not sure how I feel about it. I was a huge fan of the band's first album Silent Alarm but I must admit I found their follow up albums, A Weekend in the City and Intimacy, kind of boring.

Bloc Party has been on hiatus for the last few years and in that time lead singer Kele Okereke released a solo album called Boxer. Kele was also voted 2012's Sexiest Man in Indie Rock by Nerve Magazine just a couple of weeks ago.

Their sound on this new single still channels the same Gang of Four dance punk style that they have had over their previous three albums. There is also a cheezy guitar solo near the end of the song. Feel indifferent about this song.....but maybe it will grow on me.

The video is also pretty standard with the band playing in a warehouse or a loft and rhythmic gymnasts dancing around. Warning: The video may give you an epileptic seizure.

Bloc Party are set to release their new album called Four on August 21st. The album is available now for pre-order on iTunes.

!!! (Chk Chk Chk)-Live at Lee's Palace

When I was perusing through the concert listings last Thursday I was shocked to see that dance punk act !!! were playing a show at Lee's Palace on the following Saturday. They haven't released a new album since their 2010 release Strange Weather, Isn't It and there has not been any news about them releasing any new material. I had heard a lot of good things about their live show and I knew I had to see them. I always love it when bands come through town and they are not promoting a new album or there is no buzz surrounding them. It usually means that the show will not sell out. This was the case on Saturday as Lee's Palace was only at 75 % capacity.
The show opened with a band called Dopes led by former Tangiers and Bad Tits singer Josh Reichmann. The band consisted of two members-one playing guitar and Josh playing a keyboard which was perched on top of two of Lee's infamous red stools. They were backed by a Macbook that provided pre-recoded backing tracks. The songs were an odd experimental mix of post punk and pop music. The last two songs were sung with auto tune-I'm not a big fan of auto tune and songs came across too weird for me.
After a 45 minute wait it was time for !!! to take the stage. Lead singer Nic Offer came onto the stage wearing only a pair of boxer shorts. Apparently they were porno shorts, but I was too far back of the stage to see what pictures were emblazoned on them.  He later explained that he bought them at a Thrift shop in Athens Georgia. The first song was the classic All My Heroes are Weirdoes. Nic Offer started doing the frenetic dancing he is famous for and the rest of Lee's Palace followed suit. Nobody was left sitting at the side tables or the previously mentioned stools.The band raced through some of their classic material like Must Be the Moon,Yadnus and Heart of Hearts leaving the crowd in a sweating frenzy. Nic Offer also made a couple of forays into the crowd and did a few tightrope acts on the wooden side bars around Lee's pit. Kudo's to the dude in the Pure Energy T Shirt who jumped up on stage and out danced Offer. Offer didn't mind as he danced along with him and invited him back for the encore. The band played two new songs called Except Death and Jack Ruby. Offer also announced that they have completed recording a new album and it would be released "whenever the internet says it is cool to do so." Looking forward to it. They only played one encore song which is probably a good thing as the crowd and the band looked like they were drowning in sweat due to the crazy amount of dancing mixed with the sweltering venue. However myself and the rest of the crowd were left wanting more.
Next time.....

Here is the set list from the show

All My Heroes are Weirdos
Jamie, My Intentions are Bass
Except Death
Must Be The Moon
Byron
Jack Ruby
Yadnus
Cokie
Heart of Hearts