A few months back, “Kiss with a Fist” [video below] by Florence and the Machine was posted here as Video of the Moment and dedicated to my lover. Today, whilst web browsing I came across a great mix by that I needed to share with you. Please take the time out to get into Florence and the Machine!
July 30th 2010, Brussels – Malaysian electropop singer Ze! premieres new music video “Boys I Like” simultaneously in 5 different cities around the globe at midnight tonight.
“Boys I Like” was shot in Hollywood last April by a team of new and upcoming film directors collectively known as Schlub Films. Ze! met director Eugene Lee back in 2008 when she was participating in an Asian Talent Show called, Sutasi in which Lee was a host. The two decided to work together on this music video when Ze! visited LA, stayed in Lee’s apartment and met his friendly group of actor-friends.
“Working with the Schlubs was a lot of fun” says Ze!. “They’re a hyperactive bunch with an eternity of ideas. They’ve done a few really good short films but it was their first time producing a music video, which was maybe what made the process even more exciting.”
“Hanging out with Eugene’s friends was a great experience as it gave me an insight as to what life is really like as actors. The annoying thing is they’re all amazing actors which only made me feel like a goofball on set. They were at least nice enough not to laugh at me.”
‘Boys I Like’ is written by Ze! and producer Ruben Debusschere; a track taken off of Ze!’s new electro-pop album I Am Glam and was the first single released in 2007 along with 3 remixes. I Am Glam is distributed worldwide by Believe Digital and now available for download via all major digital music stores including iTunes, Amazon, eMusic, Napster, Nokia Music Store and more.
For seven years, Alison Arngrim played a wretched, scheming, selfish, lying, manipulative brat on one of TV history’s most beloved series. Though millions of Little House on the Prairie viewers hated Nellie Oleson and her evil antics, Arngrim grew to love her character—and the freedom and confidence Nellie inspired in her.
In Confessions of a Prairie Bitch, Arngrim describes growing up in Hollywood with her eccentric parents: Thor Arngrim, a talent manager to Liberace and others, whose appetite for publicity was insatiable, and legendary voice actress Norma MacMillan, who played both Gumby and Casper the Friendly Ghost. She recalls her most cherished and often wickedly funny moments behind the scenes of Little House: Michael Landon’s “unsaintly” habit of not wearing underwear; how she and Melissa Gilbert (who played her TV nemesis, Laura Ingalls) became best friends and accidentally got drunk on rum cakes at 7-Eleven; and the only time she and Katherine MacGregor (who played Nellie’s mom) appeared in public in costume, provoking a posse of elementary schoolgirls to attack them.
Arngrim relays all this and more with biting wit, but she also bravely recounts her life’s challenges: her struggle to survive a history of traumatic abuse, depression, and paralyzing shyness; the “secret” her father kept from her for twenty years; and the devastating loss of her “Little House husband” and best friend, Steve Tracy, to AIDS, which inspired her second career in social and political activism. Arngrim describes how Nellie Oleson taught her to be bold, daring, and determined, and how she is eternally grateful to have had the biggest little bitch on the prairie to show her the way.
Lately, I’ve been listening to a lot of Grum since watching the music video for “Can’t Shake This Feeling” (see below). “Heartbeart” filled with big-beat synths, (all that other music jargon that I cannot make my own) and good-time head nods has to be my favourite on my Grum playlist.
In many ways, [aesthetically] Sia reminds me of Cornelia, Robyn, and Björk. She is an Australian soulful jazz-styled pop singer and songwriter who is [vocally] exciting — no matter the genre — every time! I wanted to listen to Sia’s album on Spotify to make this post more of an album review, but I was unsuccessful. For now, I bring you “Clap Your Hands” from her latest album, “We Are Born” and a personal favourite, “Buttons” by Sia from her album, “Some People Have Real Problems“. Enjoy. For the fashion junkies, feed your stomachs by reading Elle‘s article on her wardrobe.
The second single from Aloe Blacc’s forthcoming Good Things is a 7-inch of “Femme Fatale”, Aloe Blacc & Truth+Soul’s take on the Velvet Underground classic. The instrumental is on the flip side of this heavy 7-inch slab of vinyl.
The Like are set to release their sophomore album ‘Release Me’ – produced by Mark Ronso, Alex Greenwald, and the soul and studio sophistication of the Dap-Kings’ Tommy Brenneck, Homer Steinweiss, and Victor Axelrod – on June 15th (Downtown Records). The album came to life at Dunham Studios in Brooklyn. The girls stepped into another time – recorded only on analog equipment, used gear from the sixties, and let go. Drummer Tennessee Thomas adds, “Before Mark, we recorded everything nit-picky and perfect, track by track. But on those great 60′s records, thoe mistakes were some of the best parts of it. Mark shouted at us – it was chaos a lot of the time ? but it absolutely brought us together as a band. We recorded for six days with Mark ? and we got nine songs. Then we did four days with Alex Greenwald and the Dap-Kings. It was miraculous.”
Accidental Seabirds is the moniker of the Brooklyn based musician Jesse Herdman. Jesse has composed three unofficially released albums since 2002. His fourth album “The Snow and the Full Moon” will be officially released August 2010.
Releasing her debut album I Am Glam on May 12, 2010, recording artist Ze! has lent her time to GrungeCake Magazine to formally introduce herself to our readers, share her definition of glam, speak on her recording process, who she has joined forces with, her image comparison to M.I.A., and what’s next. We are grateful. Short for Zebra, the Kuala Lumpur born musician has played SXSW in the United States of America, signed to Catapult Creative, and desires to play at a pride festival. Ze has captured the sounds of New York City house, dance, electro music and vocals of a Madonna offspring.
We Have Band are Darren Bancroft (vocals, drums, percussion, sampler), Dede W-P (vocals, percussion, sampler) and husband Thomas W-P (vocals, guitar, bass, programming). They are a do-it-yourself trio who encompass the grooves of Talking Heads and the best bits of Hot Chip. They all live in London.