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Wednesday, May 15, 2013
by PopMatters Staff
Steve Buscemi of 'Fargo' and 'Boardwalk Empire' fame steps behind the lens to direct this mini-film of Vampire Weekend's recent performance at New York's Roseland where the band plays some new material from their stellar 'Modern Vampires of the City'.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013
by PopMatters Staff
A$AP Mob members take verbal turns on this remix of "Work".

 



Wednesday, May 15, 2013
by PopMatters Staff
Glasgow's Camera Obscura give us a gorgeous dreamy ballad as their follow-up to the poppy "Do It Again". "Fifth in Line to the Throne" is from the group's new album 'Desire Lines' releasing 4 June.


Wednesday, May 15, 2013
by PopMatters Staff
Jim Lauderdale plays a Reverend as the Pistols use a church picnic to trade gossip in this rockin' number from 'Annie Up' released this week. A delicious poke at hypocrisy.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Ben Watt's rain-soaked number of pop-folk melodrama, "North Marine Drive", didn't exactly make him a household name when he released it a long time back. But it leaves behind the lingering air of cold nostalgia decades later.

Ben Watt, better known as one-half of alterna-pop British duo Everything But the Girl and now a successful DJ and remixer in his own right, humbly began his career with his debut indie effort, North Marine Drive back in 1983. While the album reached number one on the UK indie charts, the success of Drive was ultimately overshadowed when Watt teamed up with Tracey Thorn to create the band that became synonymous with a burgeoning sophisti-pop trend, taken to mountainous heights by other acts like the Style Council. Everything But the Girl displayed a keen sense of irony and literary wit that gave their brand of new wave bossa nova a sharper, biting edge. Later on, they would transform their twee sound into a grander, nearly cinematic form of electronic pop that not only brought them wider attention but much more lucrative rewards as well. Watt’s indie solo album was all but forgotten at this point, at times appearing in-print and then later disappearing from the market in accordance to the ebb and flow of EBTG’s success.


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