team9 have gone and hooked up with the good folk at Stereogum (winner of Spin Magazines best blog no less) and created Mysplice, an albums worth of mash ups as a kind of year in review of our favourite indie tracks of 06. In amongst this lot you'll find Thom Yorke, Hot Chip, Cold War Kids, CSS and Peter, Bjorn and John.
Certainly one of the best moments of my life. Seeing again the DeLeo brothers together in action with this great band was surreal. Having the chance to chat with them afterwards made a very special memory to me. Here's what I have to share with you: Live pictures, videos and recording of this great gig! Happy Xmas!!!
+ Complete gig here (pass: onediedsimply.blogspot.com)
I wonder if Providence's The Brother Kite began crafting their shoegaze-inflected rock sound in 2001. After a split 7" with Vaguely Starshaped on Losing Blueprint Records, The Brother Kite released their first full-length album on Clairecords, a self-titled and self-recorded serving of layered guitars and buoyant melodies. With the success of thebrotherkite, the band was poised to take a bold step, but knew the restrictions of traditional studio recording wouldn't allow for the creative freedom they needed. So they did what any band would do: built their own studio! Waiting For the Time To Be Right is the long-awaited result of this endeavor, a brave new rock album astonishing not only for its depth and maturity, but also for its willingness to stray from the shoegaze sound that defined their previous works. Layered guitar textures remain an important ingredient, but Boutwell's impassioned vocals are now pushed to the forefront, showcasing a Brian Wilson-esque gift for melody hinted at in earlier songs. The result is an album of dynamically orchestrated pop, equal parts Loveless and Smile, Quadrophenia and The Soft Bulletin. With Waiting... The Brother Kite respectfully pays homage to some of rock's great achievements while carving out an innovative spot for themselves in the world of today's independent music.
Although the album failed to chart in the US, "Girls & Boys" became a hit there, while Parklife became Blur's first UK #1 album, entering in the pole position upon its release, and staying there for one week. In fact, one of the most significant things that Blur (and the '90s Britpop movement, really) did was reintroduce the importance of the pop single. Blur realize that the A-side is as much an art as the album, and not just from a marketing sense. Pop singles are pop culture, and Parklife spawned four "proper" singles but probably three-quarters of the album could've easily fit in on the radio. Some might say that Parklife isn't for everyone -- too British, too lofty (or boring, to some) a concept, too poppy even. But no other album made me sit up and realize that pop music didn't have to be disposable -- didn't have to be about the MTV flavor of the month -- like this one did. And it still sounds just as good to this 29-year-old's ears as it did to that 18-year-olds ears.
Unplugged (The Official Bootleg) is a live unplugged performance by Paul McCartney, recorded and released in 1991. Following the enormity of his world tour recently captured on Tripping the Live Fantastic, McCartney relished the opportunity to strip back his songs and appear on the newly-launched acoustic-only show. Consequently, McCartney was among the first in a long line of artists to release an unplugged album.
The Belgian rock group Arid consists of vocalist/guitarist Jasper Steverlinck, guitarist David Du Pré, bassist Filip Ros, and drummer Steven Van Haver. Although released two years earlier in Europe under the title of 'Little things of venom, its critical acclaim won the group a gig opening for Counting Crows on their 2000 European tour, around the time that the album made its U.S. debut. 
Here are my favorites so far (thanks to Lders):
Main Set: Alive, Life Wasted, Severed Hand, Save You, Insignificance, Unemployable, Brain Of J., Red Mosquito, Given To Fly, Last Exit, Hail Hail, Small Town, Better Man, Daughter/(War), Whipping, Leatherman, Down, Do The Evolution, Undone, Rearviewmirror
Claus Ogerman, Frank Sinatra and Tom Jobim during the recordings
With a short set list including (It's Good) to be Free, Whatever and Slide Away, Noel Gallagher does this live and Un-Liamed acoustic set for AOL's Interface. Cool, check it out!
It was an unforgettable experience for me and to anyone who made to this gig (completely sold out). Certainly one of the most intense experiences of my life. I've been a fan of AiC then since the early 90's and I never had the chance to see them live before... until that day. It was by far one of their best performances, with a HUGE acoustic set which brought the 3000+ fans literally to heaven!
+ Junkhead
+ Nutshell - a masterpiece for me... sorry for the size (150 mbs), but the quality is great!
It's sad that Echobelly didn't crack America... Most critics point to Echobelly's first album, "Everybody's got one" as their defining moment. it was raw, angry, melodic, and trapped volatile lyrical messages in three-minute pop songs. The band's second album, "ON" lost a little bit of the former's bite (particularly in madan's decidedly feminist posturing), but it was still a huge album in many ways. Sonya's got this incredible voice, one that people compared to Morrissey, apparently because she wasn't afraid to hide her lovely British accent. Either way, she's terrific, and her voice combined with the crashing guitars by Glen Johanssen a superb musician stained backdrops for madan's otherworldly vocals. It was a nice marriage that fuled the Echobelly machine.
