Thom Yorke dances to 'All The Single Ladies'

I found this and other Thom dancing videos here: Dancing Thom Yorke Dances To Everything

In other Thom Yorke news:

Stream: Radiohead's 'The King Of Limbs': here.

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Album Review : Today The Moon, Tomorrow The Sun "Heavyweight Champions" EP

Today The Moon, Tomorrow The Sun hail from Atlanta, Georgia. They are a four-piece electro pop band, and their most recent EP, “Heavyweight Champions” was released in October of this year.

This record is definitely catchy. Nearly every song has me moving a bit and singing along while it plays. Lead singer Lauren Gibson has a great voice; in turns sweet, powerful, pained, and sinister. The band is also quite versatile. Each song has a distinct personality. Track one, “Bones” is strong, opening with an explosive feedback sound and continuing with fuzzed guitars and a solid beat all the way through. Two, “Apologia” continues Bones’ strength – a little slower, but just as in-charge, guitar and drum driven with a few well-placed space-age electric sounds. The third and title track, “Heavyweight Champions” changes the mood – starting with electronic sounds and piano, the body of the song has a slower, shuffled beat and sultry, noirish tone that would be well at home in a divey lounge of the Blade Runner future. Tracks 4 and 5, “The Atlantan” and “Faster Than Some” share a more acoustic, stripped down sound with less drums; in case you need a rest and an intimate chat after all that dancing.

The final three tracks are the weakest. “Like it (remix a)” and “Or Not (remix b)” are two different versions of the same song. Both have more processed vocals, drum machine sounds and layered vocal samples. The first one is busier, very clubby, lots of electronic breaks; the second a bit gentler, with an echo-y a cappella intro and synth strings. The final track, “Never. Always. Good” continues the theme with handclaps, X-files-soundtrack type synth sounds over a heavy beat which sounds like a mix of drum machine and acoustic, processed robot-style vocals and electronically produced stutter echo.

Now, the last three tracks are by no means bad. They are decent songs, and well done dance club remixes. I may be an unfair judge, since I don’t listen to dance music. However, after the individuality and quality of the first five tracks, a dance club remix that sounds like any other dance club remix is a letdown. Today The Moon, Tomorrow The Sun is a great band, and Lauren Gibson a great singer. I’d like to hear them do more of what makes them great and forget about trying to sound like everybody else – they’re better than that.

From their myspace page "Southeast Performer Magazine Shoot (OhSnapkid.com)"

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International Band Review - "Don't Wait, Animate"

A little while ago, I received a promotional email announcing that Don’t wait, Animate, a band from Britain, was pioneering a new genre, a fusion of Indie and Dubstep known as ‘strumstep’. A whole new genre? What anticipation! But I have to admit, I was thoroughly underwhelmed.

I was provided with two songs, "Screwface" and "Atlas moans". The first was all instrumental, with a strong beat, and combination of three simple repeating melodies. It was pleasant enough, but no ‘spark’ – didn’t do much for me. The second was shorter with sparse music and mumbled, incomprehensible words.

Since I had so little to base my opinions on, I investigated DWA’s myspace to hear what other offerings they had. In this case, I was pleasantly surprised. The recordings are better, with British-accented vocals clearly audible. The music is better, too. “6174” starts with a vibrato-drenched, surfy solo guitar riff and moves on to angular guitar melodies over a punchy, danceable beat and shouted vocals. “Noah Sparks”, my favourite of their current offerings, combines subdued, depressing verses with dancey choruses and a command to dance and enjoy life. Now that’s what I call music. The only disappointments were the formerly mentioned “Screwface” and “Signum”, apparently a cover, which is also more instrumentally based and resembles that electronic dance music those kids are listening to nowadays in a rather unremarkable fashion.

I do have one bone to pick with Don’t Wait, Animate – they did not, in fact, invent a new genre of music. Indie musicians have been influenced by dub and reggae before, in fact, even British ones. The Clash, or the Homosexuals, anyone? I’m not too up on my genres, but I think we maybe call this “post punk” or something like that. The premise of a “new” genre suggests extreme innovation, and while these guys have some good songs, their sound is not unique. They also seem to be at a bit of a crossroads between more lyric driven type rock songs and more instrumentally based dance songs. In my opinion, they should work on more vocal heavy songs – these got me feeling good and wanting to dance, while the instrumental ones made me think of when a person gets drunk or high in their basement and ‘jams’ for a while, then listens to the recording and thinks, “Man, that was way more epic when I was stoned.” DWA leaves me with mixed feelings as of now, but if they focus on what they’re good at, and provide reviewers with their best work rather than their worst, they could become a favourite in the future.

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