:D

Hey peeps,

While Coachella is seen as the big dealio for bands reforming and all that, there's one band that's about to make their big Irish comeback this December...HangingBox :O

While mentioning your friends' bands on your blog is pretty tacky:

1. We're super tacky

2.They're decent enough to warrant some kind of mention.

Their last Irish gig was the world first 3d gig, which ended with door being ripped off hinges and the police being called (i missed that bit) which rivals most stuff Fucked up and Crystal Castles brag about (maybe not crystal castles actually).Also i ended up getting another pair of 3d specs to add to my collection :D

Check em out at www.myspace.com/hangingbox anywayz.

Dead Disco ain't dead

Hey peeps,

We're gonna get back to regular posting since assignments are, well not dying down, but less crippling than they usually are.Although i'm just short of 3 weeks late on this one deadline...hmmm.....

Anyway, we've been getting hundreds of emails asking us to write about Little Boots.And by hundreds, i mean none.

She is, of course, the awesome former singer of Dead Disco (they're selling off the last of their merchanise apparently, so FTCZ may indulge in a tshirt.We don't care if they're girls ones or not.The lines are too blurred).

Anyway Mixmag, which we love for having loadsa hot girls in it, put her in their unusually good New School edition. Toddla T, Deadmau5 and Surkin all made it in the issue too which = epic win.

Anywayz, she seems to be doing a decent job of being solo so be sure to give her myspace, or if you're any bit repectable, her last fm/facebook a look.

If cd is to lighthouse, then dvd is to ________

Hey peeps,

Just a quick reminder that the end of the year is coming which means we'll be publishing our awesome (dragonforce-free) albums and singles of the year respectively. We've surpassed our life expectancy by a million billion days, or however many it's been, so we're gonna reward ourselves with something even more self-indulgent than usual (Mr. A is getting his nails done and a perm today to get the self indulgance rolling), while Big B, whose reverting to sploody i think (google it if you wanna see what message boards he hits), is indulging in c++ which is some engineering thing.

Anywayz, i wrote up a rough draft of both while neglecting my dissertation, so i'll send it around to several necessary parties to get their two cents, and if you have any suggestion, post em. You might get lucky and they'll already be on the list :)

In cross-promotional blog new, check back to findtehfadz soon for awesome halloween photos (what did you FTCZ guys do???) and be nice to saveourshoes and leave them a comment. We fully intend to launch findtehfashionZ in the future so we can be really boyish and win at fashion blogging, so they need all the help they can get. I kid you not...

Cool List Alert!

Hey peeps,

I have a headache and my lack of love for you is the reason i haven't been blogging.That and my dissertation. But then again, maybe you should moan at findtehchoons@gmail.com so i dpn't blatantly ignore to do so.

Anyway, NME cool list is out yet again :O

This year Alice Glass tops the list (way better than the Gallows guy from last year or Beth Ditto the year before) which was awesome.

But my personal favourite in at number 4 was her VVV



Ladyhawke is pretty awesome despite celeb sites latching on to her a little. Those sites should learn that she's none of their business. I'd rather she stayed alt and poor than have any publicity but that might be the headache talking.

Theres loadsa awesome people on the list apart from her ("like you" - no not like me sarcastic, i-visit-the-quietus-twice-a-day-and-read-rolling-stone-for-their-world-views, stupid reader). Its up for free on the nme office blog or,you know, in the magazine, so be sure to check it out.

Teh Finest!!

Sup Choonzhedz! (Note first use of nickname for you followers. Lol @ us having followers!!)

This week teh Band of Teh Wiik is Pride and Fall. They are some kind of Norwegian Futurepop/Darkwave band. Man are they awesome. Following on from the Ladytron 'classics' Sonic C loves, let me put up my own EBM tastes!

Check them out on Youtube, you will most likely be disappointed. They bought out their latest album 'In My Time of Dying' in '07, and have two previous to that. They're also mad depressing, so don't expect to have your fleeting positive thoughts reinforced if you listen to them. Darkwave @ teh Finest!!

Check out this hotlink to their Myspace which doesn't seem to be updated regularly!!

http://www.myspace.com/prideandfall

Big B

Teh ClassikZ #5

Hey peeps,

Our Electric Six album review finally came (Big B promised – that’s the guy that’s busy neglecting his college work and the fearless leader of Find The FilmZ, which he also neglects).

So with that horrendous thing out of the way, lets continue with our ‘who thought they had the ability to sit still long enough to keep doing this’ feature, the classikZ!

Next up, we go all the way to Dublin. Then we take the ferry (around 90 mins) until we arrive in Hollyhead and then from there we travel to the great city of Liverpool (European Capital of Culture '08 - Lol). Here we find: Ladytron!

The album in question of course is 'The Witching Hour' which is like a fine bottle of wine: ummm...good.

These choonZ are pretty cool and have defo been ripped off by a lot of people in the past 3 years. Fortunately for Ladytron, while the other bands may have made the money and gotten famous, they got the limited acclaim and this is their bold statement to the world. If you put the first two tracks from their newest album on this, then they'd have made one of those 'we're heroes 4 life ' kinda albums. Instead, its just seductive (it whispers in your ear 'you must be auxin, cause you are causing me to have rapid stem elongation').

Electric Six!!!!!

As I'm sure we are all aware the new Electric Six album came out on Monday. As per usual I found out about it and decided I would hate it off the cuff, this decision being maintained even when I was listening to it happily tapping along. What a fool I turned out to be!

Turns out it's not as bad as I hoped it would be. The band that are most famous for Gay Bar, that song that got annoying, have made this album's first song be 'Gay Bar Part 2.' This is an obvious attempt to regain some of the fame of their previous song, hopefully duping people into thinking its a remix. Dont be fooled, its not a remix, but it is quite a good song.

The whole album is kinda funny and has some pretty deep issues, like women staying in the kitchen and wasting the worlds' resources. This is all done in a reasonably satirical way with some lyrical gems thrown in there.

Like I already mentioned, it's not as bad as I thought it would, but while it was fun, I got the funny feeling that I had heard it all before. Little bits of songs seemed to be poached from other songs and thrown together, so it gets few marks for originality.

So nothing exceptional here, but thats not a negative!!

Big B

In teh mags - Double Edition

Salut internet peeps,

We're playing catch up here at FTCZ due to our out and out negligence of the blog as a result of being all over the place/being ill (quote - i had a nice gawk earlier - Big B is teh funnyZ)/having assignments coming out the you-know-where (and the lack of will to do them).

So now we'll simply have to cram the reviews of the last 2 issues of NME into one post :P "But Sonic C, why must you always review NME? Can't you give Q or Spin or Hot Press for once?" Sorry reader, but here: have free entry to your local roflbrothel on us :D While you're being lolled senseless, keep in mind that we have

Anywayz onto NME 2 weeks ago...









Before we get to what is clearly the talking point, let me just say how awesome any article looking into Soulwax's other aliases is. But of course the mag was better than that: Crystal Castles interview!


Having being accidentally ounched in the face by Alice Glass and with Big B being kicked in the face by her at Electric Picnic, and with me having felt her up a little bit by accident, we have a very strong connection with Alice.


But no way would I have imagined she'd tell the stories she does in this interview. People are murdered (one have their head smashed in with a hammer), there's fights with satanists using crowbars and condoms full of junky you-know-what. It is easily one of the best interviews I've read in the mag in the 4 years i've been doing it. Crystal Castles are simply badass in every way.








As for this weeks issue: talk about letdown central :( The Cribs are a'ight as long as they don't have 3 pages written about them. That's a bit much for our stomachs. And an A-Z of AC/DC is a waste of ink. Promoting an AC/DC album in 2008 = epic fail.

There were slight consolations though. Dananananakroyd got a full page story about how awesome they are and Gang Gang Dance didn't get mangles in the reviews section. All in all, it made for excellent 'waiting on the bus before it actually leaves' reading material. Since the Last Shadow Puppets seem to be next weeks big dealio, FTCZ will likely spend it's time reading proper books as opposed to NME next time we travel.

They're splitting all over the shop :O

Oh noes internet peeps!

One of our absolute favourite bands that we skipped over at Oxegen last year (we just had to see Arcade Fire) has split! I am of course speaking of one of the bands we cherish so dearly: The Long Blondes :(



Guitarist/songwriter Dorian Cox (the guy in the middle) had a stroke a few months back :( He doesn't think he'll be able to play again any time soon and since the rest don't seem to be able to write songs (except hot frontwoman Kate Jackson - the one standing apart - who is gonna give it a go), they've disbanded.

On the plus side, their early stuff got released this week and we're well psyched to here it. FTCZ hearts TLB foreva after all.

But let’s end this post on a more positive note: Boy Kill Boy have also split :)

As many of you know (or need to be reminded of) I’ve been really anti-BKB since day one. I even had a scathing review of their debut album heavily edited and censored by a significant publication two years ago (you know the one).

I wouldn’t have heard this delightful tidbit of news had I not browsed the comments below the piece on the Long Blondes at NME.com. To the guy that was up in arms about nme reporting about TLB and not BKB ( <---zomg @ this), please send your address so FTCZ can send you the biggest LOL it can find.

Album of the week

Hey internet peeps,

Sorry for the lack of 'Find teh' updates. None of the three of us are in the same city right now which makes for turbulent postings. One of us is also avoiding mumps (not me, i had it during my LC year) so I feel we have more than enough half assed excuses to suffice.

Anywayz, Gang Gang Dance have pulled off the unimaginable and claimed album of the week. A glance at the amount of listens i've given Marnie Stern on my last fm (i should really post that somewhere) would make you think otherwise but our cool *Buzz Band* pwns big time with their debut. They proudly follow in the footsteps of other album of the weekers like, um, vivian girls :( Hopefully we haven't cursed GGD. We'll just use our red voodoo dolls with french writing all over them (don't ask) to take down their competition.

Yay Gang Gang Dance :D

Don't Do That!!!!!!!!!1!!!!!1!!!!!

Hey internet peeps,

So I was very, very right in my prediction that media whores Oasis would play Slane Castle. It was officially announced yesterday in case you miss. Although oyu likely don't care. Anywayz...

(NB: i don't know what most of the band looks like coz it's not the original lineup so excuse the pics)

While not even the biggest gig in Ireland (phoenix park is way bigger) and kind of like a prehistoric version of the O2 gigs in LDN, it still hangs around and dissapoints everyone born post-punk era.

But the thing that really grinds the gearZ of everyone at FTCZ is the thing the Irish press does every single time: Irish it up!!!!

The super, super lame Hot Press (or dictators for anyone that watched the Hadouken! fiasco in the Hot Press Tent at Electric Picnic) are usually offenders, with their way of perverting even bands we like, but publications such as the Irish Times and even the Tabloids have a way of slipping in phrases like 'Irish roots'.

The Irish Times offended me greatly with the headline 'Oasis to come 'home' for Slane'. They talkabout Irish experiences in the piece and how close they are to the country and talk about places i've never heard of. Why is it Oasis know more obscure places in Ireland than me???

Anyway, I'm sick of reading about their childhood experiences here and about who's grandparents are Irish. The Irish press is so not rock n' roll these days >:(

Alexandra Burke

POPTASTIC!!!

Mr. A here,

X Factor is nothing more than one of those lame-ass manufactured pop-tart producing shows.

I never watch it ever, because I'm really buff and I ain't down with that.

But by accident the channel was on I and I saw Alexandra Burke singing she iz da bom...amazing...I tink she definatley gona win da show. She is the wel fit too. She better da Mariah and Beyonce and all dem put together. not da I like any of dem cos they iz shit girl girly pop stuff..so if you are a loza and watch d show..make shure u votez for her ...

Mobos

Anyone watch the Mobos last night? Neither did we. Why? Cos we don't care.

Still it appears that Leona Lewis and Dizzee Rascal got booed for not turning up! Why people booed them when they weren't there beats me, but it still sounds like fun. Looks like Leona is bleeding fans!

Serves them right mind. Oh and Estelle won best song with 'American Boy' in case anyone cares!

Big B

Teh ClassikZ #4

Hey peeps,

Time for our edition of our super frequent, super useless (no hidden agenda as far as you know) classikZ posting. Number 4 is none other than the epic (preferably bootleg version) of Fiona Apple's 'Extraordinary Machine'.

Hands up those of you who have been escorted out of a shopping centre by security while listening to this album? *raises hand* yup. it was Fiona Apple's bad influence that must have caused it ;)

Jon Brion, whom everyone knows as the producer of Kanye West's 'Late Registration' aka probably album of the decade and also for hooking up with Chloe from 24. He's on the hero chart right next to Bill Murray and Owen Wilson. Everyone should aspite to be Jon Brion.

The album is Fiona Apple being all unstable and angry only on a greater scale than usual and with way better songs than on 'When The Pawn...'

So give it a spin loyal readers!

Newbie Fad Band Alert!

Hey internet peeps,

So Gang Gang Dance seem to have a bit of buzz going so that's more than enough to become our new ****Buzz Band****. Chairlift have had their day. At least until they do something new. Or until they play that Cork gig that FTCZ may or may not attend (pending finances).

"But Sonic C - I've being listening to Chairlift round the clock like you said. Change scares me, the reader. My chest feels heavy *hyperventilation initiated*"

Calm down reader! No need to hyperventilate (unless you're Paranoid J - she has more to worry about than she's aware >:) whats that banging noise...). Gang Gang Dance are not exactly new and therefore not too scary a change.

They're from Brooklyn and they're a dance rock band and they're not very pretty but defo make up for it with the music. So check em out :)

Already?!?

Hey peeps,

I know there's at least 5 of you at this point coz the site counts unique visitors to the site :) Our trafficZ is gonna be huge once we expand outside of 'people we know and tell to look at this blog'.

Anywayz, here's the dealio: Los Campesinos! have a new album :O

Yep, that band with younger members than me (the youngest member of FTCZ by at least 6 months) and with several hot girls may have only released their debut at the start of the year while I was in France, but they're releasing their new album 'We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed' already!

FTCZ holds the debut in the highest regard (except for their mangling of 'You, Me, Dancing' - that was uncalled for. Its best that you get hold of the demo) so we're pretty chipper about this new offering. Expect lots of updates once we get it.

Teh ClassikZ #3

Hey internet peeps,


Believe it or not there is an actual list for teh classikZ. It only goes up to 25 at the moment but that's because i'm lazy and don't care about you all that much. Besides, Big B hasn't weighed in with his industrial gothcore classikZ (not that they cut it) and Mr. A hasn't weighed in with that band that sounds like Sigur Ros he was telling me about.

We would get feedback from the likes of Robo K, Paranoid J (people are writing about you while you're doing other things :O ) and even Mother F, but they don't contribute so no dice...

Anywayz, #3 on our list is Girl Talk's awesome Night Ripper.

A while back, and by a while back i mean not last week but something similar, someone mentionedhow well Girl Talk went down at a party and then an equally enthusiastic person seconded it. Take into account that nobody reacted violently to it at the recent infamous Knex Party (details of the party are to be brought to the grave - especially by those involved in the events before and after the firework fight), all signs point to this album being well liked.

This is as good as the best of 2 Many DJ's and has the added bonus of not sampling anything that anyone shouldn't already like (except for about half its smaples, but lets overlook those). It's an awesome mash-up and Scrubs is calling to me so i'm gonna stop typing.

In closing, listen to it loud and often.

Dananananananana....royd (aka Dananananakroyd)

Hey peeps,

We here at FTCZ heartZ bands with names that make the speaker feel stupid. Be it Get Cape.Wear Cape. Fly, Does It Offend You Yeah, Be Your Own Pet, !!! or Duffy, bands with silly names are super important nowadays.

Unfortunately, with the exception of BYOP, FTZ (lol) doesn't think any of those bands are worth obsessing over. So you can imagine how many self-praising high fives and 'go team FTCZ' were thrown around in a smug manner when we found Glasgow band Dananananakroyd.

Firstly, before you readers embarrass yourselves, thats 4 x Na.

Secondly, the band is way awesome with the exception of them not scheduling any Irish gigs for the near future (which is mad - Ireland is such an alt place to play after all. It's a brill place for Brit bands to play abroad without really going very far).

Anywayz, they're ace out (new '09 slang so get used to it). And be sure to check out their blog (Dananananakroyd.blogspot.com) to see them meeting Dan Akroyd accomplice/hero of in every sense of the word, Bill Murray.

Slane is teh suckZ

Hey peeps,

We haven't had a news/whatever we tell you is news stories for 3 days :O Why you ask? Coz this blog isn't my life i say. To make up for it, I (sonic c - those other fools probably haven't noticed yet) redid the blog a little so it doesn't look like poo. I also made a coolZ looking logo. I'm not able to make the hit counter thing work right yet though :( Help me out world wide web!

Anywayz, on to the music (i hate internet related stuff^).

The announcement of whose going to play Ireland's worst, most outdated gig, Slane Castle, is upon us with the announcement to be made real soon. Therefore, it's only right that we make a list of suspects (and known offenders) who will help rake in the monies thanks to the extortionist prices.

So here we go:




The Killers:

The Killers recently sold out their entire UK/Ireland tour (the one week ago kind of recent) in 2.5 hours, plus they have a new album out soon so they're in with a shot. However, shockingly enough, The Killers may be simply too tasteful for Slane and therefore unlikely.

AC/DC:

These guys have been rumoured for Slane for ages (mainly by people who want them to play and have no input whatsoever). They announced 3 UK dates today (no Irish dates) so they're in with a good shot.

Coldplay:

They've only ever supported at Slane, but they've never had an opportunity to steal everyone that attends' money on a grand scale so they seem like they woiuld play. However, i have an inkling that they have souls so they won't. Plus they're hitting up the O2 soon so that's plenty of Coldplay.

Kanye West:

*Sigh" Kanye West is far too good to play Slane unfortunately. He is simply too cool and his show sounds too cool (muppets anyone - talk about an 80s throwback). He'd defo rock the castle if he played. Which is won't be :(

Oasis:

These guys are pretty much favourites to play at this point. I've had enough of Oasis for a while, even though they don't really offend me. They'd be an a'ight choice and a million times better than the last choice.

U2:

I've seen U2 at Slane and they were lame. They have a new album coming so hopefully that'll be all they threaten us with. If they do play Slane, it'll mean both they and tens of thousands of U2 fans will be extracted from society for a day. We here at FTCZ can only dream everyday could be like this...

Teh ClassikZ #2

Hey peeps,

Up next in out list of super cool awesome classikZ is the type that i name-drop to make certain people (the paranoid ones whose names begin with J) go insane.

It's the super hawt Annie Hardy with 'Giant Drag - Hearts and Unicorns'.

This album is teh basis of the prototype music blog (FTCZ is a million times better - you should all send us money) i did back in '06.

IIRC, the blog entries consisted of me talking about how cool I was and something about some hot girl I knew (she turned out to be a skanky business student).

Anywayz, album awesome, listen to it lots.me want sprite.

Check yer wan out

Hey internet peeps,

So how can we match last weeks rec of the not-very-good-looking Vivian Girls? Why with the slightly more attrctive Marnie Stern of course!

She is an absolute shoe-in for our next album of the week and is looking pretty good for the end of year list too. Give her a listen when you're finished feeling ashamed for d/ling pornography (or if you don't feel remorse like Big B, do it at another time).

Album of the week G's...

Hey internet peeps,

You gotz to love an album that fights off stiff competition in order to achieve the absolutely useless accolade of our album of the week.

This week is of course the debut album from the not-so-attractive girl band (sorry vivian girls), the Vivian Girls.

We hope that our endorsement doesn't damage the band's credibility too much. I'm sure their right up in NME will probably do more harm.

Anywayz, the album is awesome so check it out.

In teh Magz....

Hey internet peeps,

The new NME should be out unreasonably soon (tomorrow I think) so when better to review the previous issue J The most striking memory I have off the bat involves me seeing some guy reading it when I was on the bus to visit someone last week and how alternative he was. From his hair, right down to his super skinny jeans, that guy was the shit.

I now know exactly what an NME reader who isn’t me looks like. He thumbed through the Glasvegas article and mercilessly flicked passed the lovvers article without giving it a chance. Asshole.


Anywayz, this weeks issure wasn’t as good as last weeks. Firstly, no student guide, free posters or awesome cover. Just Glasvegas. NME have gone a little overboard with the ‘most important band in britain’ comment. They also say that it’s ok to disapprove of people using that term so disapprove we will. Coz Glasvegas are the lamest sounding band and easily one of the biggest disappointments in an age. Not since the Les Savy Fav hype has FTCZ felt so used.

As for the rest (and by rest I mean everything excluding that annoyingly long Glasvegas feature) theres plenty of good and bad.

Firstly, there’s a hawt picture of Ladyhawke where she says she wants to do summat with MGMT. Theres also a feature on Lovvers (that’s some FTCZ approved muzak right there), a Crystal Castles live review (that’s a FTCZ endorsed gig right there) and a live review of Little Boots, who pwn all.

On the flip side, there’s lame oasis stuff, and a TV on The Radio article that’s all moany coz Dave Sitek (the guy responsible for ‘Show Your Bones’ you aurally challenged losers) wasn’t around for the interview. Instead they got to talk to the cool members of the band and not to some guy that is so lame that Foals jettisoned him from their album.

The best news is there’s an actual Crystal Castles interview in the new issue which is reason enough to buy the album for the first time ever.

Teh ClassikZ #1

Hey internet peeps,

Considering the fast pace of the internet and with the recession and everything (don't worry your pretty heads, thats a red herring comment), there needs to be perspective on albums that came out a while back and people somehow missed them and act completely clueless when i cleverly reference them (like about an hour ago).

FTCZ has taken note of its flooded inbox requesting more hip hop coverage so that's where we'll start. While one might see this as a sneaky way of gearing up for the 'best of the 00s' that every music blog has to write next year, we can assure you that it's only 3/4 of our intention.

Anywayz: album a haon (thats some irish right there g's)

While we (I) gave Method Man a super write up the other day (he is pretty awesome), Ghostface is teh king of the Clan. And it's easily one of the best albums of the decade (zomg @ Sonic C's trademark controversial statements).

For people that don't like rap, TS (:O). You gotz to give this a listen.

Jealous much :P

Hey internet peeps,

What would life be without a bit of gloating?

I feel it's my duty to inform you, the reader, that there might not be any FTCZ updates on November 15th because 2 of our more prominent bloggers (Big B and I) are going to TV on the Radio in Tripod.

"So what? They're rubbish! People just say they like them to sound cool" is what you may be thinking.Wrong! That'd be Radiohead and/or Kings Of Leon. TV on the Radio are one of the best things in the music world...

"it's not that big a deal sonic c". you may think that, but the likelihood is you're not going and therefore should feel jealous. I have no idea what Heineken Greenspheres is but TV on the Radio = FTW

Another Fujiya & Miyagi Live Review :O

POP-TASTIC!

Sorry for the delay my public :)

After accompanying the hallowed Sonic C to the Fugiya and Miyagi gig in Cyprus Avenue and propostum he promising that I would comment here it goes:

I'm surprised these guys have not had more chart success and recognition. Their sound is a very cool melting pot of, like one of those chain coffee house blends, -java/sumatra/kenya, that sings to a sweet tune on the lips and ears .

Mika/Chemical Brothers/Radiohead..like the coffee surprisingly the hap-hash mix works, and gives you that buzz fix.

Best's unique vocals while at first are enthralling bring a homogeneity to all songs after a while. Quirky songs like Knickerbocker and Fujiya and Miyagi are definite strong points.

I think thats all for now. Hope you enjoyed part one of my FTCZ invasion.

Mr. A

Method Man - Being a badass actor rather than badass rapper?

Hey peeps,

So last night i saw yet another awesome film with Method Man in it.

At this point, he's got more daycent films/tv shows under his belt than most A-Listers. You can slot 'The Wackness' in between his weird bit in Garden State and the eternal coolness that is him in The Wire.

"But Sonic C - we think filmZ are teh sucks. We want music newz. What's up with the Wu?"

Don't worry grammatically improper readers. Except if you want Wu coz they're not writing new stuff anytime soon. Don't worry in relation to Method Man releasing stuff! Wikipedia tells us that he's working on a new album called Crystal Method and RZA is producing some of it. Never mind the fact that everything with the word 'crystal' is turning to gold recently (castles,antlers or stilts anyone?) but RZA and Method Man is an awesome pairing.

As for his film career, he's now better than most comedians and a million times better than those annoying people that are at every awards show ever. Keep on trucking MM :)

"I swear officer - that band came outta nowhere..."

Hey peeps,

*Sigh* Its as if the music industry is happening even when i'm doing other stuff. Case in point, a band that is tearing up the blogosphere 9not ours till now) and which has pulled off the impressive feat of making pitchfork's holy grail of 'Best New Music', the Vivian Girls.

While the hotness factor isn't very high by any means, they do have the 'we're gonna release loadsa daycent albums that nobody buys' feel that hasn't been really there since fellow girl band Sleater-Kinney went on hiatus (we heart Sleater-kinney here).

Stay tuned for more stories on this lot (as well as a Chairlift review and ughh, another Dragonforce review).

Is creepy hawk imagery the new orange?

Hey internet peeps,

Hawks are the most creepy things on earth. Besides making the worst creatures ever list (along with those ants that eat everything, locusts, vultures and engineers), they're also cursed with the inability to look remorseful. They strike me as the type of creature that looks for sympathy when it's losing to its opponent too.

But despite their scores of faults, the awful creature has been gracing two too many (funny wording) album covers as of late.




While we here at FTCZ think it probably suits Kings Of Leon considering their lead singer sounds more hawk than man, for a band like Mogwai to put such spine-chilling image on their cover is unjustified. While it does suit their album title, they could have simply done more with the howling visuals of 'A Hawk Is Howling'.

While bands such as Chairlift, Lovvers, Eugene McGuinness and Kid Sister are avoiding this new fad of hawk imagery, FTCZ will be on the lookout in case it strikes again.As for whether it is actually the new orange, we'll simply have to wait and see....

3rd ever album of the week ;)

Hey peeps,

No real shocker this week (since we haven't gotten our hands on Cats in Paris or Vivian Girls yet).

It's our new favouritist band Chairlift of course! This album is defo up to the hype. Listen to it on the bus and you may very well like it more than the bus.

Delerium Still Plugging It

It seems that Delerium, the side project of FLA who released this clubbing anthem back in the early 00's are STILL plugging the old formula, remix 'Silence' as many times as you can. Its practically impossible to get a hold of the original anymore!!!!! Probably unless you request to remix it ;)



The new Silence 2008 ep was out in October. Still when you've made as much music as those guys do 3/4 more remixes really make a difference? It also helps that its still a fantastic song, and the new ep doesnt sound bad!!!

http://www.delerium.ca/sil08/Silence08.html

Big B

Covenant new demos!!

FTCZ has just recently noticed that Covenant, our favourite Swedish EBM band, has updated the demos on their Myspace. Since they were supposed to start recording in February by most accounts, this means they should be having an album out soon.

Watch this space for more news about your nouveau Depeche updates!!!

Big B

A Bird In The Hand (Zomg @ gangster rap reference)

Hey peeps,

So singer-songwriter Wallis Bird is about to start an Irish and subsequently other places tour in the near future. For those of you saying "wtf! wtf! wtf! i have no idea whats happening!!!!", Wallis Bird is an Irish musician who suffers from minor hawtness. Well...kinda. IMHO. By Irish mog singer-songwriter standards at the very least anyway...

Her choonage is unusually good too (check out Counting To Sleep). Anyway, her fun biography fact is that she sawed of 5 fingers with a lawnmower and had them re-attached (read the title again to fully appreciate the funnyZ).

Wallis Bird plays Cyprus Avenue on 22 and 23 October and The Button Factory on 30 October. I don't think anyone outside those places reads those blogs, so deal with it.

Elle S'appelle split up (Boo)

Hey peeps,

This actually happened like a month ago but FTCZ had no reason to go near their myspace really. They were just on a list of 'whens their album coming out' bands that I was shuffling through.

While Mr. A is beside himself (his glasses fogged from all the heavy breathing, nay, hyperventilating he was doing), we can still be thankful that they released one really killa choon (Little Flame doncha know) which could very well end up on our end of year list.

Viva Elle S'appelle ;)

Ice Cube, But Not Forgotten (<---wtf title)

Hey peeps,


I'm sure the rap fans among you were eager to eye up Ice Cube's 3rd Greatest Hits entitled 'the essentials', only to find that a mere 3 tracks off 'The Death Certificate' and 2 tracls off of 'AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted' made the cut. :O :O :O :O :O

"But Sonic C", the stranger readers who don't actually know me will say, " We already own both those albums. And Kill At Will and The Predator too. Yet you think we should potentially get a greatest hits anywayz. Are you illin?"

If you own said albums straanger readers, i think you're pretty well covered when it comes to the greatest rapper ever (zomg @ controversy, but its true). In fact, it'd be probably best to hold off for the new Kanye album 4 your rap fix. But what this track selection shows is that 'the suits' (*hissing noises*) are defo illin, and are gonna bollocks up any re-releases that may happen in the future.

For your ice cube fix (no, not an obvious fridge joke) i recommend that highly underrated/alternative pairing of 'Are We There Yet' and it's superior sequel 'Are We Done Yet?'

Ice Cube is teh funnyZ :)

Out with the Dragonforce, in with the Chairlift....

Hey internet peeps,

While we were going to cover more topics on Dragonforce (white power connection anyone?), a band has come out of seemingly nowhere in our sheltered Dragonforce world. And that band is................Chairlift!



We're hardly the first of you to hear them since they do have 500K + plays on myspace. Also they were covered in NME radar (the greatest section if any mag ever) last week and were equally praised by DiS who did a whole feature on them.


Their debut album is being set up to be a top tenner of the year too. Not only that, but they embrace the consumer within too. Their song 'Bruises' is the choonage for the 4th gen iPod adverts. Apple has entrusted them with selling iPods and have marked them as important enough to be in charge of ending the recession and making everyone shop again :)


BAnds that are entrusted to end global recessions are usually pretty important in my book. PLus 'Bruises' is defo of the quality of past iPod songs like 1-2-3-4 by Feist and Music Is My Hot, Hot Sex by CSS.


Be sure to give track 'Garbage' a listen too.


Chairlift also play Cyprus Avenue on November 23rd.

P2Pz!!!

Im sure most people reading this are aware of P2P resources on the internetz, and will probably at some stage have used them, hopefully for perfectly legit reasons such as sharing essays about how awesome Dragonforce are.

Recently P2P users have been coming under increasing pressure in some countries, what with the RIAA and other such organisations protecting the rights of artists and blah blah blah..... Recently though, these organisations have been made suck their own nines in many countries and have been dealt some heavy blows, mainly in America where the Dept of Justice told Congress that the RIAA wont be given any special treatment.

Aside from all the legal aspects (of which I know very little), im just happy that these people who are effectively trying to close off the internet are finally being stood up to.

Regardless of the legal aspects of pirated material, these laws that are being considered are so intrusive and restrictive that they are almost Chinese.

Its something that people should really be aware of if they care about their beloved internets, who knows what could happen to our beloved FTC blog? Wed have to set up a zine and write properly researched articles!

If you care check out https://www.isohunt.com/ for some interesting analysis and links to articles.

Big B

Fight Like Apes: Recession Victims?

Hey peeps,

We've finally gotten that review out of the way so it's time to turn our attention towards the future. And by that, i refer to a band that should have released their debut album long, long ago: Fight Like Apes.

From what i remember about a year back, they're really good live and they had that one killer song that i can't think of. But unfortunately for them, their album is going cheap :( They're going to be living on the street (most musicians do this, but they'll be ushered onto a particularly bad one. With traffic perhaps) by the look of things because their debut is going for only €11.99.

€11.99 you say? ZOMG! What a bargain! I would totally pay that if it weren't for the pesky recession. I teh heartZ teh fight like apes!!!1!1!!!

The album managed to beat out Mercury Rev, Jenny Lewis and Seasick Steve (that extortionist wants €21.99 for his :O what an asshole). The new TV on the Radio cost €5 more also, but that had a special 'its TV on the f'n Radio' purchase clause.

While buying lots of consumer goods would be an excellent way to bring an end to the big R, Fight Like Apes is going to have a tough time, what with TVOTR getting everyones monies and all...

Dragonforce!! Teh Rulez??

Dragonforce, the name on everyones tongue, admittedly on some for the wrong reasons. We all know them from the internet videos of kids playing 'Through the Fire and Flames' on Guitar Hero, but does anyone know much about them?

In order to assuage any derogatory comments I decided to review their new album 'Ultra Beatdown' and decide once and for all.

I personally love a bit of power metal, something about the falsetto screams and guitars on speed that make me ecstatic. The first 30 seconds of the album were no letdown for me, and indeed the first 3 songs are fantastic. Although the highlight of the album is in the second last song, 'Inside the Winter Storm' when the solo kicks in, all of this excellence comes at a great cost.


Listening to the album the second time round I was struck by how badly laid out their songs are. Computer game like sounds are thrown into each song, for no discernable reason, and they seem to find it easier to throw stops into songs to designate each section rather than make music to link the sections. By their own admission Dragonforce have tried to take the emphasis away from the guitars and concentrate more on vocals, but this doesnt work either. The backing vocals sound almost weak and suffer from the poor layout of the rest of the 'extras.'

Overall the album was disappointing but did yield some rather interesting insights, what other band has recently had huge overhype for an album, prominently features computer game sounds and have played in my hometown?? Not only this but have carried out acts of violence towards members of the public (see below)? None other than CC. Are Dragonforce the new Crystal Castles?

Big B