Ok, I'm not gonna write a 10 million words post just to explain why Xiu Xiu is one of the best bands in the world. We all know that Jamie Stewart is a genius, we all remember the brilliant former album, "The Air Force".

 

 

All I'm about to do is to let you people know – the ones who somehow missed it – that Xiu Xiu will be back with a new album by the end of the month. The shiny album will be called "Women as Lovers" and the first single, "I Do What I Want When I Want" is already out there and as you probably assumed, is beautiful.

 

You can download the full song here or just watch the official video for it, which is just my idea of art. Spectacular!

 

Edit: The all-mighty Alice just told me that Xiu Xiu are letting us stream-listen their whole new album in their MySpace page. Double SWEEEET!

 

Are IDM and Braindance too hard on your soul? C'mon, these days it's as easy as candy. We heard Alicia Keys is into it, but she is too scared to say it out loud.

 

The first time I heard of Bogdan Raczynski I was mad. It was sometime in the year 2000 when IDM was sizzling like crazy and I was just about to go and see Richard D. James, A.K.A. Aphex Twin, live. But the godfather of braindance bailed, and Rephlex, his legendary-and-still-to-this-day-kicking record label sent an obscure Polish replacement by the name of Bogdan Raczynski. Boy was I disappointed!

 

 

But, as most youngsters, I was an idiot. Bogdan preformed his ridiculously hyper music while hiding behind his laptops (literally hiding, he was sitting so low that no one could see him) and I just fell for his music – seriously, I'd never heard anything quite like him before that evening.

 

 

Today, his music isn't that strange, but back then it was as fresh as could be. Bogdan took the music of Autechre and Squarepusher to the absolute extreme. He turned up the BPMs, broke the beat into the tiniest pieces possible, threw in chopped voices and made the Aphex Twin's albums sound like the softest cuddly music available.

 

That's not to say Bogdan's music had no soul to it. He always mixed in some charming melodies or some breath taking child voices with the overall feel of lovely chaos or sweet mayhem.

 

Bogdan & Bjork. You might know it with a different production, but this is the original.

 

As I said, with the years, Bogdan seemed to grow softer. It's not that he had changed that much – sure, he made a weird Polish folk album called "My Love I Love" – but that was only one release out of many. Also, a lot of artists, like for example Venetian Snares, started to do it even harder than him. But what really changed is well, us - the people of earth. What seemed to be insanely hardcore back in the day is just plain normal music today. Bogdan's new album, "Alright!" is the perfect example of this fact.

 

 

I don't know if I should say hip hop liners like "he is keeping it real" or "he'll never change, he's too stuck in his ways" but the fact is that Bogdan Raczynski's work in 2007 is not that far from what he did in 1999. Actually, it's magically the same!

 

"Alright!" possesses the familiar hard rave beats and broken samples that we always got from Bogdan. Don't get me wrong… I love how it brings me back to those perfect sounds that I used to enjoy so much back in the day – honestly, I can't find anything bad to say about this release.

 

 

What's weird is that if you'll put "Alright!" next to, let's say, "Boku Mo Wakaran", Bogdan's debut, you'll find that they are very similar. Still, when I heard "Boku" it felt almost revolutionary, and most people that walked by my room had some sort of a nasty remark that indicated that what I'm listening to isn't really music.

 

With "Alright!" the attitude of the environment has sure changed. When I played it at home, my girlfriend, who is usually into indie pop and some jumpy punk said: "what is this?! It's fun!" and when I listened to it here in the office it didn't seem to bother anyone.

 

So, as I said – we all changed, and it's only been seven years! Makes you wonder why pop music is getting simpler by the day, because as I see it, Britney and the girls should start covering Two Lone Swordsmen – there's no way it will bomb. It just can't.

 

 

DAT Politics will make your head explode. They are extreme, fast & childish. They use toys, keyboards, laptops and human voices, mostly on a high pitch.

 

 

They started around 1999, in France. I remember seeing them live like six years ago – they were so incredibly cute and fun, and they made music that was perfect to that so called "braindance" era.

 

But unlike many of the electronic acts from back then, DAT Politics didn't stay in the same place. They have printed many releases over the last seven or eight years and each one was a bit more advanced than the other.

 

 

Their sound is very original, so you can always tell when a DAT Politics track is playing. But still, you can't compare early works such as the brilliant "Plugs Plus" to a newer release such as "Are Oui Phony??".

 

These days they are very poppy and using loads of vocals. I always liked them, so did the 8hands' octopus, but a lot of people claimed that they are too hard on the ears – now DAT Politics got to a point where almost everybody could enjoy them. That is, if they don't have a bad heart condition.

 

 

These days, nothing soothes me down more than the music of A Lily. It takes after Boards of Canada perfectly – the super-melodic music, the magical atmosphere, the cuddly feel. I loved A Lily's debut album "Wake:Sleep" so much, but I could hardly find any info regarding the project – so I've sent a MySpace message to James Vella, the main man behind A Lily, and asked him to do an interview for 8hands. Of course he said "yes" – you can hear through his music how nice of a person he is.

 

Dreamy music in a blurred photo. James Vella.

 

So… what is A Lily?

 

"My full time band, Yndi Halda, are often quite geographically scattered – we’re all at university, and so during term time we rarely have any opportunity to play together. During those times, I keep writing songs, some of which become Yndi songs, and others, which are a lot quieter and more suited to acoustic/electronic music becoming A Lily songs. The project was previously dedicated entirely to songs for a girl - my first record, "Wake:Sleep", was written for her".

 

What happened between you two?

 

"I'd rather not answer questions about the girl..."

 

 

OK, so let's leave it. What have you been up to since "Wake:Sleep"?

 

"I’ve mostly been working with Yndi. Our record was released in January of 2007, 6 months after the A Lily record, so during that time I was busy making arrangements and touring and recording with that band. For a while I had in mind that I was planning on abandoning A Lily and moving on to something different – a new band or solo project to occupy my time away from Yndi, but recently I’ve changed my mind and have just started work on some new songs, which I’m confident are the best I’ve done".

 

 

That's Great. I think my favourite A Lily song so far is "Lights Shone Brighter. My Delicate Sun Is My Sparklin' Sun" – it's just so magical! Does that atmosphere reflect your everyday life?

 

"That song was written to express a certain serenity that I found with the girl I mentioned, but I was thinking of one specific moment when I wrote it - it’s not demonstrative of everyday life, but more of one millisecond of time when it really felt like the lights were shining brighter. I hope that I’ve expressed that magical sensation well enough in the song for people to perceive the same thing".

 

Which artist would you describe as the complete opposite to A Lily?

 

"I find that any artist that intends to express a sentiment really shares such similar ground to any other that no-one is really different. I guess musically, a band like Merzbow or Wolf Eyes, who seem to work with unease and distress than the converse (which is what I find most appealing), is probably at the opposite end of the spectrum from my songs".

 

 

I guess that you know that 8hands is all about social networks (MySpace, Last.fm, imeem and such). How do you fit into that online world?

 

"I find that as an artist, those sites are so closely linked to success that it’s difficult to fight the urge to rely on them completely. Of course, we still work hard and play lots of shows and maintain more tangible contact with the people we work with. I visited Philadelphia recently to spend some time with the guys from Burnt Toast Vinyl, who release Yndi’s records in the US, during which time I wrote and recorded some songs with Soporus – a Saxon Shore side project – which will hopefully find a release soon".

 

"I also run a label, O Rosa Records, and really find that a combination of good use of sites like those you mention and the ability to work outside of their domains suggests a band that I would be encouraged to work with".

 

"As a band, we use MySpace actively, and tend to sporadically check out last.fm and YouTube. Personally, I just use MySpace to keep in touch with friends and YouTube to watch live performances of bands I like, but none of the others".

 

Yndi Halda

 

Do you think that networks like these helped you to achieve recognition?

 

"I think the fact that we made initial contact with the labels we work with in the UK and in Japan through MySpace, and contact by proxy with the guys in the US and Taiwan and Hong Kong suggests that we’re quite indebted to that site. I think the ability to search through a network dedicated to bands, and that the bands are able to upload free songs on that network is something that is undeniably a huge help for bands like ours that people might not necessarily hear otherwise".

 

Does it bother you that a lot of fans will listen to your music online instead of buying the album?

 

"I guess as an artist, my interest and concern is just expression of sentiment, rather than earning anything from the physical CD or achieving any particular notoriety. In some respects it does feel a little frustrating that so much time and effort was spent on the artwork and packaging of both the yndi and A Lily records, and that aspect of the actual CD is important to the songs themselves, and so if people just download their copy of the record, then they miss out on part of what makes it a whole".

 

I completely agree… But do you still find new music online?

 

"Yes, but not exclusively. I work in a record store at home, so I’m exposed to a lot of new music there, and also in working with the band and with the label, I spend a lot of time with people in the industry, people whose main area of conversation is new bands, and so I share a lot of recommendations with friends and colleagues, and we keep each other informed and up to date. Working in this business necessarily equates to being constantly bombarded with new bands and their songs".

 

 

And what are your recent findings?

 

"Asobi Seksu – Citrus. We played with this band in Taiwan, on our recent tour to the Far East. I had heard the name before through our booking agent in Japan, who also works with this band, but after seeing their live set I was very keen to track down the record; Fionn Regan – The End of History. Recommended to me by friends who work for Bella Union, the label that released this record; Artanker Convoy – Cozy Endings. Found online through their label’s site; V.A. – Ghana Soundz Vol. 1 and 2. I’ve been interested in Ghanaian music for a while, and wasn’t aware of this comp until recently when I was looking for some African recordings on ebay; Brightblack Morning Light – s/t. Recommended by a friend who works with Joel from Matador; The Drift – Noumena. The Drift emailed yndi to say hello a few months ago and we’ve been in touch and mutually admiring each other’s bands since then; Noughts and Exes – Act I / Scene I. My friend Nic Tse, who used to play in Unwed Sailor, came to a yndi show in Hong Kong recently, and bought this CD of one of his new bands with him, and it’s excellent; Tubelord – s/t. These guys are teenagers from the UK, and they’re a sort of poppy, dancey At The Drive-In style band. I’m very impressed with their home-recorded demo CD-r. Their drummer came to a yndi show recently to give us their CD".

 

What would you do if you had eight hands?

 

Have a fist-fight with an octopus, or eight snakes.

 

 

No Age are two youngsters from the Los Angeles Skate / Art / Punk Scene. They make beautiful noise-pop music. Most of the people will claim it's too monotonic - even boring. But these people can't notice the magic underneath – the hidden melody, the broken youth souls. It's disturbing, intense & as hard as it gets. It's really difficult to explain, so you gotta check them out and decide for yourself, it's one of these cases that you just can't trust no one.