Twin » Music

Days Of Del Rey

Carla — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 09:49:42 +0000

No overnight YouTube success can sing a tune quite like Lana Del Rey.

Ever the DIY recording star, the 24-year-old’s self-edited clip of debut single Video Games has garnered over 2 million hits and spawned the album Born To Die, set for release in early 2012.

The New Yorker, whose stage name is derived from a combination of film noir actress Lana Turner and the Ford Del Rey automobile, cites Nirvana and Biggie Smalls as two of her biggest musical influences.

It is through this combination of retro nostalgia and catchy lyrics such as “you fit me better than my favourite sweater” that the artist also known as Lizzy Grant evokes the days of Sixties sirens singing in small jazz club venues, served with a 21st Century twist.

Del Rey kicks off her UK tour on November 4th in Manchester. It will be the chance to prove to her critics what we already know: she doesn’t just meet the hype surrounding her persona; she exceeds it.

The double single Video Games/Blue Jeans is out now.

lanadelrey.com

Words by Carla Seipp

Killing it

Aimee — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 07:47:54 +0000

Alison Mosshart is one of the most genuinely rock and roll women alive. Once again – with her musical partner Jamie Hince of The Kills – Mosshart is the face of the brand Zadig & Voltaire. Ok, the merger between fashion and music has been seen before – think Mark Ronson with Gucci, Kanye West with Louis Vuitton – but we love it anyway! Photographed by Olivier Zahm – the editor of Purple magazine and France’s answer to Terry Richardson – the band’s poise and pout is enough to make us head to their shop to find out whether their collection is as cool as their campaign.

www.zadig-et-voltaire.com/eu/

Words by Felicity Shaw

Here they go again

Lucia — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:49:21 +0000

American rock band, OK Go, are in danger of becoming better-known for their videos than for their songs. The latest, This Too Shall Pass, took several months, around 60 people and more than 60 takes to realise. The result is an insanely good chain reaction filmed in a single shot. Put together in a two storey warehouse in Echo Park, L.A, the chain reaction machine was designed and built by the band, with the help of members of Syyn Labs.

Geek facts: The wooden tracks that guide the metal balls at the beginning of the video had to be waxed after each take to prevent dust from slowing them down, and the angle of the board had to be at a precise incline of 3.4 degrees.

The video has already had over 2 million hits on YouTube.

See it for yourself here.

Keep it up

boudicca — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 09:27:38 +0000

LoneLady, AKA Julie Campbell is a self-styled writer, vocalist and super-tight guitarist. Recorded in a ramshackle studio in one of Manchester’s crumbling mills, her debut album ‘Nerve Up’ invokes the ghosts of Joy Division, Wire and The Fall. Though her inspirations are dark and dour, her post-punk tunes are positively popping.

‘Nerve Up’ is out on 22nd February on Warp Records.

music on my mind

Lucia — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 10:42:41 +0000

At 13, Charlotte Gainsbourg made her musical debut with her father, Serge, on a record intriguingly titled, ‘Lemon Incest’. 24 years later comes a moving, and rather magical, album, ‘IRM’, made with Beck. Tellingly, the title is the French abbreviation for MRI, and explores the after effects of the cerebral hemorrhage that Gainsbourg experienced after a water-skiing accident in 2007. But far from being dour, the resulting album is an evocative mix of industrial clank, beating electronica and ethereal Gallic pop. We’re enchanted.

‘IRM’ is released today on Because Records.

www.charlottegainsbourg.com

Joana Preiss’s picks

Aimee — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 18:25:09 +0000

Twin’s cultural connoisseur in Paris, actor and DJ Joana Preiss shares her top ten tracks with us…

1/ Harry Crews : Naked In Garden Hills
2/ Lizzy Mercier Descloux : Torso Corso / Fire
3/ Joan La Barbara : Three Voices (Morton Feldman) / The Wonderful Widow (John Cage )
4/ Teenage Jesus and the Jerks : Everything
5/ Anna Karina : Ma Ligne De Chance (Pierrot Le Fou)
6/ Diamanda Galas : Gloomy Sunday
7/ Gina X : Nice Mover
8/ Lydia Lunch (and Rowland S.Howard) : Some Velvet Morning
9/ Millie Small : My Boy Lollipop
10/ Laurie Anderson : Born, Never Asked / O Superman (live version with David Bowie)

Joana Preiss's picks

Aimee — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 18:25:09 +0000

Twin’s cultural connoisseur in Paris, actor and DJ Joana Preiss shares her top ten tracks with us…