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Archive for the 'Florence and the Machine' Category

Song of the Day : Florence and the Machine – Last Xmas

December 24th. The year flew by without me noticing. Since today’s Xmas eve, here’s a cover of one of the most popular Christmas themed songs – Wham!’s Last Christmas. This is a version by one of my favourite artists/bands of 2009 : Florence and the Machine.

Enjoy the cozy acoustic guitar, keys, harp and voice combo :

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FLORENCE & THE MACHINE

Props to The Music Slut for providing the song in the first place. You should visit them, they have a wicked taste in music!

Concert review : 2009 11 06 : Les Inrocks

non music-related note :

If someone faints next to you, please don’t try to get them back up while they’re still unconscious. Instead, give them some space so they can breathe, call for help and keep an eye on them. When they regain consciousness, have them sit down, give them some water and try to get them out for some fresh air. If they remain unconscious, roll them on their side in recovery position. If you don’t know how to do this, again, ask for help. Thanks for them.

The initial bill for Les Inrocks festival was : La Roux, Florence and the Machine, Passion Pit, Boy Crisis, Lissy Trullie.

The bands that showed up were : Two Door Cinema Club, Lissy Trullie, Florence and the Machine and Passion Pit. So it was disappointing not to see La Roux but apparently she cancelled the whole French tour for health issue so : Get well soon!

Two Door Cinema Club [myspace] were the surprise act as they were called in the day before the show to play in front of a small crowd of people who didn’t know them for the most part. The guys are bouncy and the music is full of energy so it was a good start for the evening.

Two Door Cinema Club

Lissy Trullie [myspace] came up second and after the high energy opener, it felt a bit calm even though they still play very good pop-rock, they just don’t bounce around for half an hour. I was eager to see LT live for the first time, I wasn’t sure what to expect since there’s only been an eight song EP out but they clearly had everything under control and were having fun playing for us. The crowd was a bit shy at first but everyone was liking the music. The bass was actually really loud but that gave the whole melodies a good edge since they rely a lot on it. They played one new song that only made the wait till the full release a little harder to bare. A setlist ending with Boy Boy was a non surprise but it was a sweet cherry on a tasty cake.

Lissy Trullie

Then came the time for Florence and the Machine [myspace] to take the stage. Flowers everywhere, a backdrop matching the album cover, bird cages, a harp, keys, percussions and the usual guitar/bass/drums combo were part of the scenery. Flo entered like a fairy here to welcome us to her world and everyone was in awe right from the very first notes of Between Two Lungs.  45 minutes were way too short. At some point, Flo asked everyone to jump. Once, twice, a third time… until the whole audience was in for her crazy plan. It was : “now that you know what to do, you will do it as I say “Go” and don’t stop”. “Go” came, 2000 people jumped as one and that was amazingly fun (and crazy knowing l’Aéronef is on the second floor of a building that may not have been made to undergo such treatment). Each member of the band ended up with a broad smile on their face plus everything was filmed! So watch out for it, whenever it gets released. After showing off she can hold a note for more than 30 seconds (or was it a minute? either way it was impressive) and coming to the conclusion of the show with Rabbit Heart, Flo clearly won the non-yet-existing thealmightyoracle.info Best Performer of The Year award. I’ll definitely see Florence and the Machine live again whenever I get the chance, and you should plan on doing so too.

Florence

Passion Pit [myspace] was last and while I didn’t know them that well, they were very good. Their electro-pop combo is very addictive and makes you want to dance around. And we did dance, just as much as we jumped with Florence and the Machine. Good times!
Passion Pit

Weekly stats : August 10 – August 16

lastfmstats20090816

Having my top 5 reach more than 30 plays each is quite exceptional but it’s explained by the fact I spent a lot of time working on articles and sleeping too little.

The xx were already present last week but they top the charts with their ambient, wonderfully soothing album simply entitled xx. Whether it’s the guitar lines, the underlining bass, the soft percussions or the duetting voices everything sounds extremely good together and I can’t help but listen to it all on repeat.

Shelter :

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The rest of the top has been mentioned before except for Rachael Cantu who’s having a fundraiser for her upcoming album. If you buy her latest EP, all the money is used to produced the full length, it’s pretty cool since it comes signed and personalized. The music is sweet folkish pop and addictive. My favorite is Genius and a Wizard and you can listen to it right here :

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Weekly stats July 13 – July 19

Stats thanks to Last.fm

lastfmstats20090719

Common point : female artists / female fronted bands.

#1 : Florence And The Machine’s debut album, Lungs,  is one of the best release of 2009. I’ve been trying to post a coherent review of it for weeks but I can’t articulate how hauntingly wonderful it is. It’s no surprise it hit #2 on the UK charts on its first release week. Apparently, my favourite song off this LP is Cosmic Love; makes sense, it’s epic.

Cosmic Love :

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#2 : Emily Wells and her 2 LPs plus latest EP Dirty make a come back in my charts, I admire her musical vision, the instruments overlaying each other,  the fragile voice and the multiple genres blending together.

Symphony 6: Fair Thee Well & The Requiem Mix :

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#3 : La Roux is the new synth-pop phenomenon from the UK. Simple, effective and full of good energy. Every song on the album is good enough to be released as a single and that’s a proof that this is very enjoyable and even very danceable music.

Bulletproof :

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#4 : The only reason why Gossip is not in my top 3 is because last.fm doesn’t register what plays in my car. I’ve had Music For Men driving me to and from work everyday since the day it was released and I still love it very much. The best Gossip album so far and one major release of 2009.

#5 : I recently re-discovered Uh Huh Her and their LP, Common Reaction. It’s so strange to listen to songs you haven’t heard in many months, it’s like meeting up with a long lost friend and wondering why you lost contact for all this time. Still a solid album that makes me look forward to the new release.