John Hamm as Don Draper is brilliantly cast but I’ve always been a bit disappointed in other things I’ve seen him in. He couldn’t really pull off comedy in 30 rock and he was just the wrong guy for Sucker Punch. While I wait for him to be cast as the next Superman I can sit back and watch something else I quite like him in. Not quite big screen but Hamm actually does well to play the nice but slightly creepy hitchhiker picker upper (I have no idea what the right name for that is). The video is for Herman Dune – Tell Me Something I Don’t Know and is a great little folky track.

Herman Dune – Tell Me Something I Don’t Know (official video, long version) from City Slang on Vimeo.

CS

Like buses these posts are coming in thick and fast.

Newest track to listen to is by NewVillager called Lighthouse. Video is pretty crazy but worth a listen. Vocals remind of Anthony and the Johnsons at a lot quicker tempo.

NewVillager – “LightHouse” from stereogum on Vimeo.

CS

There’s been a bit of a hiatus recently but I’m back.

Short and sweet one. Song by King Charles called Love Lust. It’s a bit Mumford and Sons but enjoy.

Playing in London Electric Ballroom this April 30th if you want to hear more!

CS

Right, if you haven’t heard Kanye West has a new album and feature length music out and it’s pretty awesome. Personally, I was dissapointed by 808s and Kanye didn’t do himself any favours by casting himself as the MTV music villain but he’s spent his reflecting and coming out with some of his best work.

However, whilst it does feature on Kanye’s album I’d like to highlight the contribution by Nicki Minaj on the track Monster. The Trinidad female rapper steals the show with her raw contribution. If you can’t wait for more her album is out now.

This one for all the geeks out there. If Jay-Z only had a Gameboy to create his beats this is what you’d get. Created by Tugboat, this is a medley of hip hop tracks that you should recognise. All played in 8 bit format.

Dangermouse and James Mercer make up Broken Bells

Since the Grey Album, Dangermouse seems to be able to do no wrong. He’s produced albums for the Gorillaz and Beck, been half of Gnarls Barkley and now he’s plying his trade with James Mercer from the Shins.

Brian Burton aka Dangermouse and James Mercer now make up Broken Bells. Their debut album released this year was a success in the US charts but this post is more about their newest single and online video for “October”. Staying on the interactive video theme from my last post, I thought it was worth mentioning the Broken Bells site. Whilst it doesn’t have the personal touch which Arcade Fire had, it does still have a mesmerising effect. Despite looking like an old school winamp visualisation you just can help but play about with the page whilst being submerged in the hypnotic music being played.

Have a listen and a play here.

CS

I’m mentioned Rivers Cuomo a couple times on this blog before and his foray into hip hop. With songs with Lil Wayne and Jermaine Dupri it was only natural for him to hook up with B.o.B a.k.a Bobby Ray. Now, I knew about this song a good while ago but I’ve only just seen a tweet from Rivers saying that the video is now live on YouTube. The song itself is quite catchy but I just couldn’t wait to see whether Rivers made a cameo in the video and see the results of it. It’s pretty much everything I could have wished for. Bobby Ray and Rivers on a stage singing, Bobby Ray doing his thing and Rivers jumping about like an uncle at a wedding. Love it!

CS

Its been a while since my last post. Mainly due to lack of time and lack of inspiration. After a bit of time out of the game I wanted to come back with a post worth mentioning and this is it. Not only due to it being a new song from the Arcade Fire but also due to the great piece of work put together behind this personalised video.

The video uses Arcade Fire’s “We Used to Wait’ to narrate a story of someone running back home. The song itself doesn’t have a clear meaning and can be interpreted in many different ways. Personally I see it as being a way to seize opportunities as we get older. Chris Milk, the director has interpreted it as a story of learning from our regrets that we had as a child and going back to our childhood to give advice and words of wisdom to the next batch of youngsters or even your younger self. To do this Milk has created a HTML5 site which uses his own interpretation and allows the user to personalise it to his or her hometown. As a interactive music video I think it’s great. Its new, innovative, personal and has an awesome soundtrack. The beat does almost follow the rhythm of footsteps and using Google maps to take you through the journey of running back through your own home town and streets is great way to showcase how technology can be used for music videos.

Have a play around with it here at The Wilderness Downtown. You’ll need a HTML5 capable browser, Google Chrome definitely supports it but give any browser a try.

Other than collecting GQ awards and hitting the party scene Mark Ronson hasn’t done a great deal music-wise since the launch of his super album Versus. In that time he’s honed his Duran Duran keyboard skills and his latest single Bang Bang featuring Q-Tip and The Business Intl is set to be launched today (11th July). Whilst it’s less likely to hit the dance floors as much as Winehouse’s cover of the Zutons’ Valerie, Bang Bang Bang will still be on my playlist for when I’m lounging by the pool this summer.

A couple of weeks ago I posted Diesel’s collaboration with Josep to promote their new range. Not to be outdone on the “we’re a denim company who are all about the music” front Levi’s have launched a site dedicated to music and exclusive to Levi’s. The site’s called Levi Pioneer Sessions and have bands ranging from The Shins, Passion Pit, Jason Mraz and The Kills.

Although there’s a variety of songs in there I’ve picked out two for you.

The First is a Passion Pit cover of Smashing Pumpkins Tonight, Tonight

The second is a cover of the Squeeze’s Goodbye Girl sung by the Shins

There are a load more to download for free if you visit the Levi Pioneer Sessions Website

CS