We brought you this track from David Byrne and Fatboy Slim’s Imelda Marco concept album in January, and today Byrne debuted a video to go with it. Says Byrne: “We did a photo session for a magazine the other day, and I told the interviewer that on this song, by the time you get to the chorus, she owns it – she’s turned it into a Santigold song. Perfect.” This video, however, is all Imelda.

Read More...

Make this the third take on David Byrne’s highly collaborative bizarro concept album about shoe-loving dictator’s widow Imelda Marcos. Totally normal sentence. A co-credit on the sounds goes to Fatboy Slim, and credits on the vocals are spread among a deep cross-section of female headliners (from St. Vincent and Róisín Murphy to Sharon Jones) and Steve Earle. The dig into the double-disc began with the humid funk of Santigold  Byrne’s “Please Don’t,” continued with Florence The Machine Welch’s dramatic title-track/album-opener, marches on with the smoothly glam, brass-and-woodwinded dance jam “Why Don’t You Love Me?,” fronted by Tori Amos and Cyndi Lauper because why not. Here Lies that:

Read More...

“Here Lies Love” is the scene-setting title track from David Byrne and Fatboy Slim’s post-BPA Imelda Marcos concept album. As we’ve mentioned, each track on the 2-CD collection features a different guest vocalist — basically a number of accomplished female vocalists and Steve Earle. (That, and Byrne plays the “American Troglodyte,” duets with My Brightest Diamond, etc.) Our last taste of Here Lies Love came via Santigold putting her distinctive stamp on “Please Don’t.” This time Florence Welch of Florence + The Machine gives it a buoyant go with the dramatic, upbeat opener.

Read More...

Here lies the first listen from Here Lies Love, the weirdo concept album about Imelda Marcos, the shoe-obsessed widow of the Philippines’ former dictator. It comes courtesy of everyone’s favorite dignified oddball/indie rock renaissance man David Byrne, in collaboration with Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim. The two teamed up on Cook’s last collab-heavy project the BPA, and in that vein have corralled a different vocalist for each track. “Please Don’t” is the set’s first MP3, humid funk formed from clavinets, synth, whistles, and percussion, fronted by Santigold, indulging Imelda’s neuroses and namedropping Kissinger, Reagan, and Nixon. Says David: “I think Santi did a perfect version of this song, which describes, pretty much in her own words, Imelda Marcos’ adventures in what she called ‘handbag diplomacy.’” It’s Evita for the Talking Heads set.

Read More...

This year in music was great and we’rea gonna let it finish (sorry), but in terms of notable album releases the ship has sailed. No offense, 30 Seconds To Mars. While the Gummys’ virtual poll booth remains open for a few more days (did we mention filling out the ballot enters you to win the 50 Best Albums Of The Decade on vinyl and an Apple TV?), we’re gonna look to the future, Conan. And we like the sound of it! If 2010 is gonna be anything like 2009 — skyrocketing unemployment, a Summer Of Death, flu and vampire pandemics — we’re gonna need a bigger headphones. But today we’ve got 25 reasons why 2010 might even be > 2009. Our list was limited to releases (some of which we’ve even heard) that have been confirmed (or close enough), but don’t stop believin’ in Strokes IV, guys.

Read More...

Details are emerging on the Renaissance Man’s Here Lies Love, a concept album about Imelda Marcos, shoe-obsessed widow of the Philippines’ former dictator. Byrne wrote the project with Fatboy Slim and promises every song will have a different vocalist. Among them: Santigold, Roisin Murphy, Sharon Jones, Alice Russell, and Tori Amos. Read more at 6 Music.

The BPA, aka Brighton Port Authority, aka Fatboy Slim, is a conceptual project involving a dozen or so people. We showed you the infectious “Toe Jam” with David Byrne and Dizzee Rascal. Now you can hear “Seattle” with Emmy The Great. There’s also “The Tapes Have Been Found,” a (very unfunny) faux-history of the “band.”

A number of people get naked in “Toe Jam,” but the synchronized black boxes are good at covering up the naughty parts. Also, it’s not David Byrne or Dizzee Rascal doing the stripping. Though Byrne does use some strong language. And Fatboy Slim uses the BPA moniker so he can take a break from being Fatboy Slim. As you might be able to tell by that photo, there’s a ’70s vibe (and some bad hair on the dudes). Also, “Toe Jam” isn’t the most appealing word when related to a room full of naked people. So, NSFW? As mentioned, you don’t see anything, but your co-workers might ask you what the hell kind of porn you’ve discovered.

Read More...