Monthly Archives: August 2008

Hey did you hear? We’re on Twitter!

That’s right folks. Now you can get all that Anti Hype goodness sent automagically to you! Just head over to twitter.com/antihype and follow us! All our posts with a link to the page are fed directly to it so you don’t have to constantly visit to see what’s new or use RSS. (Although you can if you want to ;) ). Also exclusively to the Twitter feed we will post songs that we’ve recently found and liked that we aren’t doing a post on. So what are you waiting for? Free music and news and reviews sent straight to you? You’d be stupid not to!

-Alx

p.s. While you are at it follow Erick and I at twitter.com/erickd and twitter.com/omnialx for tweets of general awesomeness…

The Gossip

The Gossip, a three piece band, brings so much raw unfiltered energy it makes your  body want to dance and explode. I wish I could say I’m being hpyerbolic but I’m not. The song immediately starts and doesn’t let go of you. Though they are only a three piece band, their sound never becomes bare or simple.

Standing in the Way of Control is such an amazing song not only for its energy but also the sense of empowerment it gives, largely due to Beth Ditto’s spectacular voice. None of the instruments use any heavy effects, you can almost hear the fingers slide across the bass strings when the bumping bass line comes in. Be sure to check out their Myspace for their tour dates. Their live shows only ups the energy, a must see concert.

Definitely check out the Le Tigre remix, more of a slower electro-rock mix and the Soulwax Nite version adds a layer of electro-dance on top of the already infectious song.

MP3|Standing in the Way of Control – The Gossip

MP3|Standing in the Way of Control (Soulwax Nite Version) – The Gossip

MP3|Standing in the Way of Control (Le Tigre Remix) – The Gossip

-Erick

The Anti Hype Muxtape

We’re pleased to announce The Anti Hype’s weekly Muxtape! We’ve previously covered Muxtape, so I won’t go into details. All I’ll say is you just have to click on a song and your weekend starts, easy as that. It will updated every week with new tunes and remixes. Our first playlist is: Melodies perched on a Beat. Check it out and tell us what you think. Click here for a tracklist.

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Vampire Weekend (and the issue of overhype)


So I finally decided to try out Vampire Weekend‘s debut self titled album after weeks of buzz both from word of mouth and across the blogospere. I finally caved when I saw them on Uncrate.

Sound wise they are partially orchestral (ala Polyphonic Spree), have vocals that resemble Kings of Leon-meets-The Fratellis and a hint of Foals in there too (possibly in the percussion department and frenetic guitar in the song A-Punk).

The problem with overhypeing something is that it often leads to its own detriment. An example of this in the film world was the new Indiana Jones movie, it wasn’t the quintessential ending to the series that was being promised. It was good, at best it was as good as one of the originals but it wasn’t anything amazing. I feel the same way about VW. Don’t get me wrong, I like some of there stuff, but I was expecting the next Apes & Androids or something based on the buzz. The thing about Apes & Androids is that they weren’t nearly as hyped in the beginning, possibly do to their very “distinct” sound and bizarre performances at gigs in NYC. A&A‘s rise seemed more gradual and natural as opposed to VW which felt more forced. Leading to my conclusion of them having an image bigger than their sound, they seem… empty or like they are missing something.

But that’s not to say the band is bad. Not at all, I see a lot of potential. My favorite tracks from the album are Mansard Roof and M79. The first has a very interesting and fun beat. Seeming almost carribe in percussion at parts but then using more classic instruments throughout. M79 then has a surprising intro as the band uses a harpsichord and violins/violas. Again the use of these classical instruments in a new way is giving this band a distinct flavor that look forward to hearing more of in the future.

I’d like to know what you guys think. Am I being too hard on them or is there weight to my argument? Please leave a comment with you thoughts and possibly other examples of overhype.

-Alx

MP3| Mansard Roof – Vampire Weekend

MP3| M79 – Vampire Weekend

MP3| A-Punk – Vampire Weekend