Instant Snaps

Yay-uh. Polaroid 600 film is back. Yeah, it is selling at £18.99 for a 10 photo film but that's got to be better than Urban Outfitter's apparent £160 camera + single film deal. If you've got an old Polaroid camera hanging about that you were thinking of giving away/throwing away/melting down, now's the time to get your snap on again.

images courtesy of me and olivia

Thanks, Drag City Records

If you like your new things all pretty-sounding and sweet, you'll be pleased to hear that Joanna Newsom's latest album came out on Tuesday. In fairness, there's unlikely to be a major departure from her signature sound here but I reckon the record is worth a listen. Joanna's childlike vocals and delicate plucks on those harp-strings (there's room for a heart strings joke here, but I'll ignore it) maintain appeal and relevance when placed within the orchestral arrangements she so often crafts. Check out '81 below for a wee taster.

images courtesy of pitchfork, papermag, grapevine.is

Kevin Drew & the Crew are back

there are like 20 people in this band. literally

incl Feist, Brendan Canning, Evan Cranley (Stars), everyone cool in Toronto etcEmily Haines (Metric) & Kevin Drew

So, it's been a long five years but at last Broken Social Scene are back in our lives. My New Thing today is "World Sick", the first song they've given us as a taster from Forgiveness Rock Record (out May 3rd on City Slang/Cooperative in the UK). Pushing seven minutes, the song gives us all the old favourites from their sound: them crashing cymbals and anthemic choruses, multiple vocal lines tracking the main melody and a jagged guitar hook that does its best to stick in your mind.

There's a definite similarity between this track and several on 2002's You Forgot It In People, so it will be interesting to see what the rest of the album has in store. In other news, the indie-rock collective will be hitting Brighton's shores for the Great Escape Festival on May 15th. YES.

Pop your email address into the widget to get a free download of the track.

Roll on May the 3rd.

images courtesy of pitchfork, MTV subcast, ATP festival, soundproof mag, salt lake tribune

Not for the faint-hearted

mary & the boy on SpotifyL-R: the Boy, Mary, the Exotic, Christian Daniel

This is Mary and the Boy: Mary, the Boy, the Exotic and sometimes a guy known as Christmas Daniel. The Greek band features on the soundtrack for Alexis Dos Santos' Unmade Beds, erupting with an opening track that sums up their early sound. Raw male and female vocals, a grinding organ, smutty lyrics, and a general disregard for what is meant to sound pleasant are the order of the day.

Their eponymous release on Low Impedance Records (2005) howls and screeches with a loose abandon often compared to the vocal prowess of Diamanda Galas or PJ Harvey pre- Dance Hall at Louse Point. Their most recent release is 2008's Time Machine, available from Greek label Inner Ear Records. While the duo blows out their vocal chords, the Exotic dances all sexy-like.

When are they next playing London?

images courtesy of bloodonourshoes, myspace/maryandtheboy

Pick my jaw up off the floor

Colin Firth + Julianne Moore + gin&tonics on the floorOh Tom, you made me happy.I'm no film reviewer and shan't pretend to be one but Tom Ford's debut effort was INCREDIBLE. To be precise, it was incredibly beautiful. It's my New Thing to Like for today: let's face it, Ford deserves yet another set of props from some girl on the internet whom he doesn't know. Under his direction, Colin Firth steps out of his oh-so-yawn-inducing typecast role as the bumbling yet loveable Brit and explores a depth never really allowed for in his lite rom-coms.

Ford (obviously aided by his talented visual effects team) plays with colour saturation throughout, sychronising George's (Firth) sense of happiness or nostalgic joy with intense and overly vibrant colour flushes. Visually, the eye struggles to take everything in at times. Then again, this may also be because I love to see men and women dressing sharp and there's so much of this going on in the 1960s set that I was constantly exclaiming about people's eyeliner, skinny ties, turn-up jeans, cuff-links yeah you get the idea.

I understand that some people may feel this film is getting too much love because Ford is a well-connected designer dabbling in something new, but I think he's earned it. Honourable mention given to model-turned-actor Jon Kortajarena for being freaky hot as Carlos, a gigolo/aspiring actor who propositions George in a gorgeous scene. Here he is showing how he probably nabbed the job.

Kortajarena. Swoon.

Go see this if you haven't already, and like pretty new things.

"The Empire Strikes Black"

Yuh, I know I'm about 100 years late on this, but am still loving this 2008 V Magazine editorial. Let's call it an old thing to like. The epitome of crazy/beautiful herself, Naomi Campbell, just smoulders. And makes me want to be her a little bit.

Don't worry, I wouldn't throw my Nokia at loads of people.

images courtesy of V Magazine, issue 54, Aug 2008

"I'm not your fantasy flesh..."

Ok, so there's no simple way to describe the vocal acrobatics pulled by Tune-Yards' Merrill Garbus. When she played the Freebutt last week (Tuesday Feb. 9th) she stunned and impressed the audience with her range and ridiculous ability to project. I mean, the mics were there but she didn't really need them.

Falling somewhere between the throat-singing techniques of the Congolese Mbuti and the powerful diva-like belt used by Chaka Khan and Cee-Lo of Gnarls Barkley (yup, she kinda sounds like a black dude sometimes) she still etches out a niche all her own.

Playing several songs from her debut effort "Bird-Brains", and some newer ones she's penned since then, Garbus' set undulated at a relentless pace. She was basically awesome. I got to enjoy her with Sharon, Zives, Mark and Rowan. Yum.

images courtesy of boomkat.com, permanentrecords.info

Oh, hello world

Blogging itself is my new thing. What will feel like a new thing when it finally comes around again: summer.

"I want you bad, bad, bad."

images courtesy of princessrachael3.xanga, jewelry expert, dsvfocus, thislovelycity, bbcgoodfood