White Lies‘ year just seems to be getting better and better, what with their huge new tour, and now this: a remix from the amazing M83 (who, I, well, love).

Download and let us know what you think in the comments below.

MP3: White Lies – Nothing to Give (M83 Remix) (via Stereogum)

It’s been a pretty amazing year for music around the UK, and following on from my top 10 of 2007, here is my top 10 of 2008.

10 – Viva Stereo – Roar Lion Roar
You’ve probably not heard much about this Scottish collective. However, their third album was a surprise favourite for me – anthemic, accessible, slightly My Bloody Valentine and yet still so gorgeous.

Read more about Viva Stereo here.

Favourite: Knee High Boots.

9 – Sigur Rós – Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
As ever, an amazing collection from the Icelandic group. More pop than previous albums, their songs sound all the more amazing. I caught them live at Hydro Connect Festival in Scotland, where they preceded Franz Ferdinand and blew them out of the water. As the sun went down, they soundtracked the festival for us, showing their sense of humour and making beautiful music that had more than a few grown men in tears.

Favourite: Inní mér syngur vitleysingur

8 – Ra Ra Riot – The Rhumb Line
Dark in places, Ra Ra Riot come from the same school of musical geekiness as Vampire Weekend, but with a bit more serious and a bit less money. Dark in places, the group are still recovering from the death of their drummer in summer 2007, which shows on tracks like “Winter ‘05″.

Favourite: Dying is Fine

Read the rest of this entry »

I think you may have worked out by my live review the other week of M83 at London’s Scala, that I love the elfin Frenchman and his unique brand of shoegaze. Things just seem to be getting better and better for Anthony Gonzalez this year, having released one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the year (the amazing Saturdays=Youth, which you should buy if you haven’t already got a copy) and slowly making his way into the public consciousness.

To celebrate the amazing year, M83 are releasing new single “We Own The Sky” on Monday 1st December, along with Maps’ remix of the title track, previously available on a swap-mix 7” on Sonic Cathedral and described by the NME as “a space-disco rager” plus brand new song Je Vous Hais Petites Filles and ParkerLab’s Dusted remix of Graveyard Girl. Whilst Je Vous Hais Petites Filles is distinctly B-side material, Maps’ remix is worth the single alone – amaaaaaazing to say the least.

There isn’t an official video to go with the release, however there is a competition on youtube for people to enter videos – full details are here.

Anthony and his band of merry-makers are off on tour in December supporting the amazing Kings of Leon on their UK jaunt – Jared Followill recently said of M83, “You have to dive into “Saturdays = Youth”… They switch off between a guy and a girl on vocals, and they have such amazing sounds. They’re very experimental. This band sounds like they invented the sounds… When I first heard some of their lyrics, I got chill bumps.” (New York Times)

M83’s We Own The Sky is out on Monday 1st December on Mute records.

Normally the words shoegaze, pop, 80s, rave and enjoyable shouldn’t be put next to each other, let alone used to describe the same 90 minutes. However, those are just the words I’m going to use to describe last night’s M83 gig at London’s Scala.

Taking to a stage coveredwith enough cables to give even the most seasoned of electricians a heart attack, Anthony Gonzalez (who’s much smaller and more elflike in real life than I had realised…) made it clear it was his night, and with the help of a few supporting artists ploughed through an impressive selection of his work from the past 7 years.

Naturally, the focus of the evening was on new album Saturdays=Youth, with tracks like Couleurs, Graveyard Girl and Kim & Jessie getting some of the biggest cheers of the night. However, whilst his new pop direction was the reason Scala was so packed, he didn’t forget the diehard fans from his early days (and there were a few…), throwing in some harder dancier numbers which culminated in the encore with an almost full-on rave. Well, for about 5 minutes.

Shoegaze was the theme of the evening really though, with many songs blurring into one, and for the casual fan (like myself) it was easy to lose yourself in the music for 10 minutes, totally entranced by the teamwork and the skills of everyone.

M83 is out on the road again in December, supporting the Kings of Leon, which should be interesting – be sure to get there early if you’ve got tickets.

After the jump: photos, photos and photos.

Read the rest of this entry »