Yeah, that’s Françoise Hardy. (via)

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Duran Duran’s Rio has undergone the “making of” treatment via the Classic Albums DVD series. In it the band looks back at how it happened that their second record catapulted them to international superstardom. Bassist John Taylor attributes the success to keeping things simple. Well, that and those videos, of course. Says Taylor: “It’s probably […]

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At a show the other night at La Cigale in Paris, Vampire Weekend did a bang-up job on this cover of Plastic Bertrand’s “Ça Plane Pour Moi”, the original of which was recently featured here. The band’s new single for “The Kids Don’t Stand A Chance” should be out soon backed with a version featuring […]

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Listening to Shugo reminded me of the songs of Argentina’s Juana Molina and Zoe Keating. Both use acoustic instruments combined with synths and samplers and sequencers to create one woman micro-symphonies. If you dig on the cello, Zoe Keating is highly recommended (though she’s not as cute as the Murder By Death Cellist, Sarah Balliet). […]

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A few weeks back, I caught Stephin Merritt and his merry quartet for a lovely acoustic show at GW’s Lisner Auditorium, and while that show was amazing, it was like the bazillionth time I’d seen Magnetic Fields in the last 15 years. It was, however, the first time I’d ever seen Shugo Tokumaru and he […]

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HRO says this is the next big thing. I believe everything I read at Hipster Runoff. So should you. Ok, maybe not. I’m still partial to Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head.

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I’m a total sucker for bands that take an electronica song and play it on real instruments. The Bad Plus’ version of Aphex Twin’s Flim is pretty awesome. Stephin Merritt’s re-interpretations of his sampler based songs from Holiday and Wayward Bus are pretty much as gorgeous as the originals. This cover of Daft Punk’s Harder […]

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