(Getting back to blogging life.) Everyone is probably aware that one of the most hip ’seemingly child-movie’/art-bro stuff of the year is coming up. Where the Wild Things Are gathered massive anticipation and its indie-appeal has something to do with the soundtrack, I guess. The soundtrack is by Karen O and the Kids, in which the Kids have such names as Bradford Cox, Dean Fertita, Aaron Hemphill among others, so it’s a super-group. Wow. Without having seen the movie, I can say that the soundtrack is perfect for the world that the trailers projected. It’s surprising that it actually has good songs and it’s fun to listen to. Hard to achieve this while trying to sound like innocence, enchantment, dreamy, primordial, arty, etc. I’d say that they go back to some sorta roots, some country and folk but it has an experimental twist and it’s mixed with childish elements. The whole thing is very atmospheric and you can sense that you’re being pushed to immerse in a new mood. Karen O’s vocals are definetly highlights, she is just amazing…I mean this is quite different stuff than YYYs but she can even pretend to be a story-in-bed-mother an her voice delivers. This is not gonna be a traditional tale, let’s hope that Jonze’s movie is going to have the virtue of nice and, on the surface, simple story-telling and the alt, arty elements will blend in and just help with the magic.

Karen O and the Kids - Hideaway [mediafire] // [ysi]

Frank Turner is a singer-songwriter who plays an interesting combination of folk, indie and punk. This is sometimes cheesy. You know, like Offspring-pop cheesy with the vocals and stuff. However, I really enjoy the atmosphere of the new record titled Poetry of the Deed. He has a romantic-idealist drive and this, combined with his talents of expression, makes his music a great channel of energy. Seriously, you wanna rise up and fight. Not sure against what but when was punk sure about its enemies? Other than this, epic balladry, country-folk acoustic stuff, poetic lyrics and a total emotional attachment are what I think describe his sound. He is a kind of Bob Dylan character with a Clash-like ‘fuck you’ in his soul. Of course, the whole thing seems anachronic. This is one of its weaknesses and gives it some charm. The contradiction between T. S. Eliot-allusions in song titles and the sometimes too simplistic manifestos is charming in my view. Nevertheless, he has pretty cool songs if you’re willing to bypass certain intellectual barriers (it’s a hard task cause the music and the lyrics evoke them in the first place) and Poetry of the Deed is a good album. It came out on Epitaph, buy it (for example here)! My favourite song so far is The Road, it also has a video.

Frank Turner - The Road [mediafire] // [ysi]

Totally different stuff. Young Lords are a proper rock band from New York. They are nostalgic in a nice sense, meaning that they are not ready to give up rock which goes back to roots like The Velvet Underground. There are a couple of bands like this, starting with the Kings of Leon debut but to get more close, like tourmates The Virgins who are from NYC too. The surprising thing is that his genre seems cool: they were in i-D and Nylon. The country and southern rock influences should determine them for a less fashionable way to success but the world can be upside-down sometimes. Nevertheless, the cowboy-aesthetics, the ‘back in the day’ thing, the innocent yet Bob Dylan-drunk and “we recorded our demo at my dad’s garage” sound makes it so loveable that I nearly don’t care about the slight make-up artificality of it. BRMC Howl album comes to mind for a comparison. Let’s see what these young guys can make of it, I guess they should be destined for success.

Young Lords - Rodeo Songs [zshare] // Young Lords - Rodeo Songs [ysi]