What if you’d mix Daft punk and The Fleet foxes? Would you get Midnight Juggernauts ? Probably not but the Australian band sure reminded me of them and that can’t be a bad thing. Tough there more then just the addition of of those two names, much more! Ill leave that for you to discover. Their last CD Dystopia is already from 2007 but its really worth making a post about it, better now then never!

Positive thing when you get introduced to a CD quiet a while after the release is that there are already a bunch of clips and singles out. My favorite clip and also delicious song is Road To Recovery !

Another nice song is To the Galaxy, which has a less impressive clip but a very addictive song. Australia is up? i’d think so too!

Song tips: Ending of an Era, To the Galaxy, Road to Recovery, So Many Frequencies.

Untitled Sound Objects is a sound installation and live performance project of Pe lang + Zimoun. There goal is to  go back to the essence of sound and give it back emotion. “The artists focus on creating acoustic architecture with an organic feel, investigating the properties of sound, materials, resonance and generative systems.” . The result is breathtaking installations and performances. If you ever have chance to see one of them live, don’t hesitate to go! You can keep yourself updated at their website. It gave me goosebumps and tastes like rain! Like rain!

The Horrors are expected to be releasing an all new cd  on the 4th of May 2009, produced by Geoff Barrow, of Portishead. The album will be called Primary Colours and will be released under XL Recordings!
If you subscribe to there site you can get their exciting new single “Sea Within A Sea” (check out the ending!)  for free! You can watch the clip for this single on youtube wich gradually impressed me more towards the end. I am curious what their album will bring us more.

Bat For Lashes is releasing there new CD Two Suns on April 6!  You can pre-listen some tracks now on there myspace which will make the waiting till Monday a bit easier.

On youtube you can watch the first clip of the single “Daniel”. “The Big Sleep” , the last track on the album, a cameo of Scott Walker. In Two Suns she presents an alter ego named Pearl. The whole album is build around the subject of duality. (1)

If you’re a fan of Super Furry Animals (if you’re not, you really should be), you can hear a new song of theirs over at the BBC Radio 1 site. The song, called Inaugural Trams, is on Colin Murray’s show, and starts around an hour and fifty minutes into the show, if you don’t feel like sitting through the entire thing. Not much to say about the song itself, just another great SFA track (do they make bad ones?), maybe a little more electronic than anything they’ve done recently, unless you count Gruff’s Neon Neon side project. Oh, and Nick McCarthy offers up a verse of German rapping, if for some strange reason you find that appealing. SFA’s new album, Dark Days/Light Years, is out digitally on March 16th, and physically on April 13th, through Rough Trade. The band’s been keeping a video diary of the making of the record, which you can check out at their official site, if you’re so inclined.

Mr. Donwood also informed us of  an exhibition of screen prints at Ink_d gallery in Brighton. Several rarities will be exhibited, wich will be “Exclusively” sold only there at the exhibition. The poster for this event looks very promising i must say. You can go and see the works from 20th March - 10th April. More info can be found at the Ink_d site.

If you don’t yet receive the Taglibro newsletter you can register your email adress for subscribtion here or frequently visit the news section at Slowly Downward.

To be continued !

Everything about this gig should have been fantastic.  The atmosphere was lovely;  intimate (only 80 tickets were sold), bathed in red light with the audience lounging around on persian rugs and floor cushions and relaxed feel from the various band members and crew.  Liz Harris took some time to relax and read a magazine sitting with her audience to be in the foyer, before the doors opened. However, the night did not quite live up to expectation.

Starting with Ian Wadley, the audience patiently listened to what was thought to be him tuning his guitar, until 15 minutes into the performance when incredulous looks began to pass from face to face and the realisation dawned that this was in fact his set.

The Rational Academy played a solid set mostly from their latest album “A Heart Against Your Own” as well as a lively new track. The audience seemed to appreciate the change of pace and the band looked like they were enjoying themselves, moving out into the audience from time to time creating a more interactive feel.

When Liz Harris took the stage, and a stillness descended upon the room, you could tell this was who everyone had come to see. She began her set with what sounded like “Disengaged” from “Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill”, however it was difficult to tell. The usual distortion and sonic wind type of noise that characterises her music all but drowned out everything else.   After some requests to the sound crew there was some improvement, and it was possible to catch her voice through the loops of bells, distortion and guitar effects.

Most of the set comprised material from “Wide” and perhaps some new material although with the sound issues, it was difficult to be sure. Disappointingly, there was very little, if any from Dragging a Dead Deer or “Way They crept”.

You can listen to three full tracks by Grouper, including her latest “False Horizon” here :

http://www.myspace.com/grouperrepuorg

And you can hear all four tracks from her EP “Grouper & Inca Ore split” on last fm:

Grouper on last fm

Appeared on the 29th of Januari of 2009.

Friends of the Earth launches ‘Big Ask’ climate campaign across Europe

Thom Yorke calls on governments and European Union to commit to year-on-year emission cuts

friends of the earth and yorke in brussels

Brussels (Belgium), February 27 - A Europe-wide climate campaign launched today (Wednesday 27 February) by Friends of the Earth Europe and the Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke aims to get governments and the European Union to commit to annual cuts in emissions to fight climate change.

The Big Ask brings together Friends of the Earth groups from 17 European countries [1] each of which is asking its government to introduce legally binding annual emission cuts. Together they are asking the European Union to force all member states to cut their emissions year-on-year

Thom Yorke launched the European campaign in Brussels where he presented a symbol of the Big Ask to the European Environment Commissioner, Stavros Dimas. Thom Yorke has supported the Big Ask campaign in the UK where thanks to two years of campaigning from Friends of the Earth, a ground-breaking climate change bill is currently being made law. Now he is bringing the campaign to the rest of Europe.

Thom Yorke said: “We will never wake from the nightmare of climate change unless our national governments and the European Union act. They are the ones who will write the laws that we must follow as citizens and in business. They are the only ones who can put the structures in place that will help us tackle climate change. That is why we are launching the Big Ask in seventeen countries in Europe. By committing to annual cuts in our emissions at a national and European level we can play our part in tackling climate change, and hopefully set an example for the rest of world to follow. Hundreds of thousands of people want to see their governments doing more about climate change. If you are one of them then find out more about Friends of the Earth Europe’s Big Ask campaign in your country at www.thebigask.eu.”

Around Europe people are being asked to send a message to their politicians asking them to commit to annual cuts in emissions. Individuals can find out more about their national campaign at the Big Ask website which is also being launched today: www.thebigask.eu

Different activities took place across the continent to mark the start of the European campaign. In Finland activists raised awareness with snowman rallies in 22 towns and cities while in the Netherlands activists built a dyke in front of the parliament building and invited politicians and celebrities to fill the gaps with sand-bags.

At a European level Friends of the Earth Europe wants to see annual emission reductions for all member states and a strong compliance system to guarantee that these cuts really take place [2].

Martin Rocholl, Chair of Friends of the Earth Europe said: “It is too easy for Governments to ignore long term targets on climate change. Annual targets will make today’s and tomorrow’s politicians accountable for cutting emissions and pressure them to actually deliver. The European Union also needs to put forward a strong penalty system to make sure countries really meet their targets every year and the cuts we urgently need really happen. Taking real action is a great chance for Europe to lead the world in the fight against climate change and to show how countries can boost their economies, stay competitive, create jobs and improve the environment at the same time.”

“Through the Big Ask, people across Europe will be able to call on their governments and the European Union to act against climate change. As a grassroots network Friends of the Earth is uniquely placed to generate this kind of people power and really make politicians sit up and listen.”

The Big Ask calls on the European Union to commit to at least 30 per cent reductions in greenhouse gas emissions within Europe by 2020 and 90 per cent by 2050. Friends of the Earth Europe has criticised the European Union’s recent proposal to cut emissions by only 20 per cent by 2020 and for giving no guarantee that these targets will be met. [3]

***

For more information please contact:

Francesca Gater, Friends of the Earth Europe, francesca.gater@foeeurope.org,

+32 2 542 6105, +32 485 930 515

***

NOTES:

[1] Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Scotland, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the UK.

[2] The current proposals of the EU for their emission reduction policies until 2020 (an amended Directive for the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) and a Decision on effort-sharing amongst EU Member States about non-ETS emissions) foresee a linear path with annual emission reductions. But neither proposes a specific direct compliance and penalty provisions against Member States if they fail to deliver. The effort-sharing directive is particularly weak on enforcement and compliance. Under this proposal EU Member States are only required to report their progress towards their reduction targets.

Friends of the Earth is calling for these EU climate proposals to be amended so that the European Commission can use the strongest enforcement tools available to it, including direct penalties towards Member States. The reporting about emission reductions in the Member States should be speeded up and take place every year. An independent agency should be set up and put in charge of compiling emission data from Member States, monitoring the advancements of the Member States towards their emission reduction targets. It could also have the power to manage the fund raised by the direct penalty procedure proposed.

For further information on this, please see Friends of the Earth’s summary of its demands for a better compliance structure for the European emission reduction policies until 2020 at www.thebigask.eu/background

[3] The EU has agreed to cut domestic greenhouse gas emissions by 30 per cent by 2020 but only if an international agreement is reached. The proposal for 30 per cent cuts, and that for 20 per cent cuts, includes the possibility for governments and industry to offset their emissions with a high number of climate projects outside the EU. No quality standards are given for these projects. Many projects, for example from the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), are strongly criticised by NGOs for not delivering the stated emissions cuts or for causing harm to people and the environment. See http://www.oekoinstitut.de/oekodoc/622/2007-162-en.pdf

The Big Ask is calling for domestic emissions cuts that amount to 30 per cent by 2020, instead of governments taking part in projects through e.g. the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and then ‘counting’ this as their own emissions reduction. Any external emission cuts should only be in addition to the 30 per cent of domestic reduction and only be allowed if it is guaranteed that real emission cuts take place and that the emissions reductions contribute to sustainable development and do not cause any social or environmental damage.

http://hodiaudirekton.ipbfree.com/index.php?showtopic=1103  (link for more info)

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