The Cold Cut

The Cold Cut, as you know it, is in the process of migrating.

I've been keeping things on the down low for a while, but Blogger have been bugging me over my posts and its time that we parted ways. They have been a good home for me, but The Cold Cut needs to move on and become part of something bigger. That 'thing' is Be All/End All.

It's my new website, you see. But before you get worried about the wellbeing of The Cold Cut, let me explain...

Music is starting to take on a much larger role in my life. I love writing about music. I love singing. I love the process of making music. I want to develop my contribution to this industry- why spend all my time writing and listening to music when I'm not contributing myself? Therefore I made the expensive move of buying my first pair of decks, a mixer and Serato Scratch Live. I hope to be able to start remixing songs- in my first experiment (a remix of 'Violet Hill' on GarageBand) I managed to get to number 3 on the Hype Machine, so I'm going to look into this.

Be All/End All is going to grow as my tastes and ideas develop. I see it becoming a musical portal, with many types of content- music, posts, links, videos. The lot. The Cold Cut will be moving to www.thecoldcut.com over the next few days.

This new site also represents a move to my own self-hosted website. It's great to have complete freedom over design and content, and I am aiming for visually impressive content from now on. In my new job, I am exposed to IT everyday, and I now feel more confident with the challenges presented by CSS and PHP.

So what's been going on with me? I'm really sorry for my absence, but I've been busy these last two months. I'm currently applying to university in the US and have been settling into my new job; therefore I really haven't had any time or patience for the old blog. Things are beginning to settle down now (considering I have finished my SATs) and 250000 hits is a great time to revamp The Cold Cut.

I'll be spending some time on the migration over the next few days. Bear with me, and I promise you will not be dissapointed. Once again, thanks for your support, comments and readership.

Kanye West- Say You Will

What would I do without scheduled blogging? At this point in time, I will be happily walking around Barcelona, in the sweltering August temperatures. I'm away for four days, returning on Sunday evening.

I'm not going to let that stop me blogging, though. I have a little time today (Thursday ) to upload a few tracks, and prepare some posts for you. I'm sorry to say that the posts aren't going to be mind-blowing, but updates are better than a slowly stagnating blog. You can expect daily updates around lunch-time (for my American readers). So enjoy, and look after the blog for me, okay?

CRS- Sky High Graduates (Dub Floyd Screamixx) (Link 2)
CRS (Child Rebel Soldier) released a mixtape a while back- it kept well under the radar, but I got my hands on a copy, and it really doesn't dissapoint. The concept of Lupe, Pharrell and Kanye sharing a track is always enough to set me salivating, and the T-shirt above does nothing to lessen teh hype.

Daft Punk?- Daft Gang (Link 2)
People have made a huge deal out of this new track from Daft Punk. The fans are going crazy, which I find a little weird considering this is clearly a fake. Daft Punk would never willingly put their stamp on something so textbook. Will the real Daft Punk please stand up?

The Joy Formidable- The Greatest Light Is The Greatest Shade (Link 2)
Okay, this is getting ridiculous. Will someone in a priveliged position cotton on to the fact that The Joy Formidable are awesome? Another few months pass, another few corkers from the band. Injustice? [Myspace]

Gnarls Barkley- Reckoner (Radiohead Cover) (Link 2)
As if anyone needed more proof of Gnarls Barkley's pedigree? Well, if you're in the minority, listen to this tastefully interpreted cover of 'Reckoner'. Cee-Lo even adopts Thom's 'unique' style of dancing:

Wow. 50000 visitors. Its hard to believe The Cold Cut has only been going for 10 months, but I feel as if this blog is at least beginning to make an impact. I had a few issues at first- I didn't focus enough, but music is quickly becoming an even more important part of my life, and I'm really glad that its the focus of this blog.

I just want to thank everyone who has visited The Cold Cut, from a one-time visitor to those of you who come here everyday. Regardless of your standing, I urge you to subscribe to my RSS feed, tell your friends, spread the word and comment. Your contribution means more to me than you would believe.

It happened very quickly- some pretty cool stuff started happening about 3 months into this blog's life. I've had Dev Hynes of Lightspeed Champion commenting, a producer of Lupe Fiasco's (The Black Mage, or Chris of 'Chris N Drop) new album commenting numerous times, been on Rolling Stone's blog and much more. Lately, I've started to receive loads of band submissions, something I'm truly grateful for- I hope my posts have helped you all in some way or another. My popularity is increasing, with the Hype Machine indexing my blog (I've been number 1 on the popular list about 10 times now!), regular Paper Thin Walls spots and popular posts on Elbows. The page rank is going up as well- just as a side note, if you want to exchange links, drop me a line...

I have serious plans for this blog... I recently bought a new domain, www.thecoldcut.com, which is not functioning just yet, but will soon be up. With the new domain I will keep Blogger hosting for now, but may eventually move to Wordpress so I can integrate a much better template. I've put more advertising on the blog to offset the costs of file hosting- I will hopefully soon be making enough to buy a yousendit premium account.

Thanks for a great 10 months. Long may it continue... This one's for you!

Led Zeppelin- Thank You

Music enthusiasts, unite. The new Hype Machine is being instated as we speak, but wont be open to the public until 10000 people are looking at the homepage at once. Got all that? In short, get over there now, and we wont have to wait an age to be back in touch with the music world again. Roll on 10000 viewers...

I've been meaning to update the overall look of this blog for a while now, and today I finally got around to creating a new header and some better templates. Hope you like it- there will be some more changes coming over the next couple of weeks.

It just occured to me that I was sailing past the 2000 visits mark; it was only a couple of weeks ago when I broke 1000. Again, I would just like to say thanks, and I hope this makes interesting reading... the only reason I keep doing these "X visits" posts is because I so badly want this blog to become big. If you like my writing and the music I post, please promote this blog by recommending it to your friends. I am also always happy to take comments and recommendations: good new music is hard to come by nowadays, so if you have any tips, please tell me.

It has happened to all of us: you turn on the radio or MTV and that song is playing. Yes, that one: the one that has been the bane of your life for the last month, that song that penetrates your conscience due to the fact that it is radio-friendly and annoyingly memorable. Recent examples include Mika's Grace Kelly and Nickelback's How You Remind Me, but the latest one and the subject matter of this post is a band called Air Traffic. Their name might not be familiar to you, but you would have to be removed from society in order to not hear their hit single "Shooting Star", a song which at first seems blissfully innocent with its lovely piano and high vocals. After a while, though, it becomes unforgettable: I know the words to this song even though the only time I've heard it is through the wall separating me and my next-door neighbour at school!

Shooting Star: The Recorded Version

The thing is, Air Traffic are actually a really good band: they've just released debut album Fractured Life to generally positive reviews: initially comparisons were made between Air Traffic and the likes of Keane and Captain due to their music being piano driven... after listening to a few tracks, I can say this is definitely not the case. Whereas bands like Keane and Captain produce music that whilst being quaint isn't actually that good, Air Traffic produce songs like Shooting Star that are actually quite heavy, despite featuring piano. To top this off, most of the tracks on their album aren't half bad- this is probably due to the fact that the band are all in all very musically competent (see the comparative videos below of live and recorded performances of Shooting Star). Their singles- Just Abuse Me and Never Even Told Me Her Name- are two of the best piano driven pop-romp songs we've heard in a while: head over to hypem to hear them

I think it would be right for me to let you make up your own mind about this band: head over to the hype machine to hear some tracks; there are also two Youtube videos below. Please comment on your feelings about this band: I would like to know the readers of this blog think about my posts!

Shooting Star: The Live Version

You can buy their new album, Fractured Life, here

As usual with albums, I'm fairly late on this, but I only just listened to my Dad's copy of the new Editors album, An End Has A Start, which sees them changing their sound and turning dark in a big way. If you can't be bothered to listen to the tunes, you only have to look at the titles of some of the songs, which are mostly pessimistic: An End Has A Start, The Weight Of The World and When Anger Shows to name a few. If you delve a little deeper and listen to the album a few times, you will notice that whilst being good, there is a noticeable tail-off in quality as it progresses. The first three tracks in particular are brilliant, and the improved musicianship of the band is most evident here as they summon up moody choruses with piano-twinged refrains. The album starts on a massive high with the epic first single (check out the video at the bottom of this post), and the first few songs show signs that the band have progressed in both sound and their songwriting skills. Tom Smith, vocalist, is the real driving force behind this initial greatness: his baritone has developed, and he shows signs of improved songwriting, as well as a new hairstyle.

However, it's not to be; after the first few good tracks there is a moment when they revert back to their old ways: messy lyrics and unmemorable songs. I think the main problem is that on this album the band is taking themselves way too seriously: I can't remember an album with as many songs about death, disease and terrorism as this one.

All the tracks are available for download at the following page, or you can download them separately by clicking the links below:

Editors- Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors
Editors- An End Has A Start
Editors- The Weight Of The World
Editors- Bones
Editors- The Racing Rats

It appears that Justice have the smarts to match their seemingly endless ability to remix tracks and make them sound much better than the original; their new video for D.A.N.C.E.-their hit single- uses a frustratingly simple idea to great effect. Before I reveal too much, just watch the embedded video below, which features some cool t-shirts which I wish were real!

I kind of missed a large event on this blog a couple of days ago, but I can't really let 1000 unique visits to this site pass by without saying anything. Thanks very much to those of you who have been coming back to this blog frequently, and I would just like to urge you to tell anyone and everyone about it. As a gift to those who keep coming back, I hope to put some exclusive tracks up over the next week or so. Also, please don't miss out the opportunity to subscribe by RSS. Again, thanks, and I hope this blog continues to grow. Finally, please feel free to comment on my posts; its nice to know that there is someone on the other end...

Finally! The Stills have returned! My wait is over!

These were the thoughts running through my mind when I clicked on two of the latest songs by The Stills, Oh Shoplifter and Helicopter, releases which I have been anticipating for 4 years. When their debut album, Logic Will Break Your Heart, was released in 2003, I became an avid follower of this band, along with many others (the album was in many people's top 20 that year): I loved lead singer Dave Hamlin's sleepy vocals, and the characteristically American guitar licks which accompanied him. I loved their album from start to finish: the lifting Lola Stars And Stripes to Still In Love Song, it was a fantastic album. The only problem was after listening to the album 20 times I was craving something new, or different, but The Stills just seemed to disappear. I waited anxiously to hear something... anything that would give me a sense of what the band's plans were. But nothing came.... I didn't hear anything about them until about a month ago, when I was reading a blog which was detailing the most exciting upcoming releases. And there it was... The Stills- Without Feathers. The album came out on the 9th May, but I haven't got around to buying it yet. I have, though, got two tracks off the album, both of which are excellent, if a little different from the bands original stuff. Click the links below to get the two tracks:

The Stills- Oh Shoplifter
The Stills- Helicopter