New Lark Video - Stole the Moon

Lark aka My Fave South African Band Ever Fronted By the Sexiest Woman in Music (Seriously Call Me Inge) have released a new video.




There is no moon-stealing in this video. I was hoping it would be a sequel to the Moonlight video with my Banshee Queen Inge Beckmann and her loyal robot dog engaging in moon theft but alas, twas not to be. Instead, there are two and a half minutes of Inge walking backwards and singing followed by 50 seconds of someone messing about on Google Earth.

The earth bits are nicely done - the director literally launched a camera into space - but as it's 50 less seconds of Inge camera-time, I consider it a drawback. To make the video, Inge had to learn the song backwards and at twice the speed. We don't need no stinking special effects in SA. We do our own special effects.

This video's great foreplay but at this point I am just desperate for the new album.

M.I.A Lives Fast, Flips the Bird

M.I.A gives the Saudi Government the metaphorical middle finger with her new video for Bad Girls. She again worked with Romain Gavros, the French director responsible for her Born Free video. This time around, they've moved from ginger-cide to car stunts heavy on the keffiyeh cool.

Dear Reader Does Dancing in the Dark

I like Dear Reader. I like them so much, I named a blog after one of their CDs. So it's no surprise I'm digging this beautiful, lilting acoustic guitar cover of Bruce Springsteen's Dancing in the Dark.



Sure, there's no young Courtney Cox in this version, but if you're a rapid Coxafarian, just put on a DVD of Friends on mute as you listen to this video. You shouldn't though because Cherilyn MacNeil is lovely in her own right and you get to see her emote.

Lana Del Rey on Saturday Night Live: A Study in Hype Blowback

Lana Del Rey, the officially anointed Next Big Thing who hasn't even released an album yet, appeared on Saturday Night Live. It was entertaining, at least if you enjoy the audition rounds of televised reality talent shows. In other words, she showed us that it was possible to suck and blow at the same time.

RAMfest Lineup and Some Depressing Thoughts on Local Music Fests

The first few bands of this year's RAMfest have been announced. The Joburg leg, which will be held in Riversands Farm in Fourways, will feature the likes of The Narrow, Fokofpolisiekar, the Shadowclub, Newtown Knife Gang and whoever else the organisers are frantically negotiate terms with. For big-name international acts, there's psychedelic trance DJ Infected Mushroom and metalheads In Flames. Tickets are R350, plus another R30 to R50 if you're planning on camping there for a night or two.

The Black Keys' El Camino and Other Awesome Road Music

According to that font of all internet knowledge Wikipedia, an El Camino is an American muscle car from the 60s manufactured by Chevrolet. Its name comes from the Spanish for 'the road'. It's fitting then that the Black Keys chose the name for their latest album, an album which evokes the time and place epitomised by classic cars and road-trips across dusty American landscapes with nothing but a cassette player for company.

The Eagles in SA: Big Concerts Parties Like It's 1979

Big Concerts' dedication to bring every washed-up Dad-Rock and 70s lite AC band to South Africa decades after they've been remotely relevant continues. After teasing a big announcement for days, they announced this morning that The Eagles are to perform in SA next year.

Major Lazer - Original Don feat. the Party Squad Music Video

This really needs a "Don't Try This at Home" warning because I really want to buy a sword and a pike and do a little weapon-dancing.

Trent Reznor and Karen O Tackle Led Zeppelin

The first trailer for David Fincher's upcoming Girl With a Dragon Tattoo was pretty cool, thanks in no small part to an amazing cover of Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song by Trent Reznor and Karen O. Now the full track is available on iTunes.



Whether the movie surpasses the Swedish version is anyone's guess, but the soundtrack certainly looks to be cracking. There's a free six-song sampler to wet your appetite. The full soundtrack will is three hours long so Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross obviously had a very productive few months.

Just Music Free Album Sampler

Just Music has given its customers a nice little Christmas present - an album sampler of their best and most successful acts. You get radio mainstays like Flash Republic, Zebra & Giraffe and Goodluck, alongside critically acclaimed exports such as Dear Reader and Yoav. The sampler goes beyond the radio tracks you've heard a million times over and focuses on non-single album tracks, acoustic versions and alternate mixes.

Head on over to the Just Music soundcloud and see what catches your fancy.

Free Music: Haezer, Yesterday's Pupil and Captain Stu

Everybody loves free shit. Everybody loves awesome South African music. And if they don't, they bloody well should.

If you love free shit, awesome South African music and have a computer and internet connection at your disposal (which you do unless you are reading this through the power of your mind, in which case download the music straight to your brain), then there are three local acts who have free releases just for you.

Fleet Foxes - The Shrine / An Argument Video

Fleet Foxes have released an absolute stunner of a video for their song The Shrine / An Argument. The 8-minute-long video uses an animated paper model technique. If you like this video, be sure to check out the band's first foray into stop-motion melancholia in White Winter Hymnal.



The Shrine / An Argument is available on the album Helplessness Blues.

Mondays are for Drinking to the Seldom-Seen Kid

You don't have to drink to me if you don't want to. But how about checking out Elbow's acoustic take on Grounds for Divorce? It's even bluesier than the album version - there's a harmonica involved.



Grounds for Divorce is from Elbow's (amazing, perfect, flawless) album Seldom Seen Kid.

Jax Panik Makes a Gag Video

Jax Panik's latest video has me seriously wondering if he's a hardcore vegetarian propagandist. The video for Touch Me Now follows an errant Vienna sausage in its efforts to...well, you'll quickly get the picture. As if wondering what goes into hot dogs isn't enough, now you have to worry about what your hot dog's been up to when you're not looking.



I feel like a knob giving a 'not for sensitive viewers' warning about a silly video of a stop motion sausage but trust me, it's warranted. Well done on making me nearly retch, Panik. The cheque from PETA is in the mail.