With each album since Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons, Blonde Redhead has made huge strides forward with their sound. Misery Is a Butterfly pitted fragile melodies against dark, swirling arrangements, and its tragic glamour turned the album into a cult favorite. On 23, the band trades the cloistered chamber ock of Butterfly for tone-bending dream pop and subtle electronics; while the wide open spaces sound a little bare at first, this streamlined approach ends up making this Blonde Redhead's loveliest and most accessible work yet. The group begins each album with a bold statement of purpose, and 23 is no different. The epic title track's delicate electronic rhythms, swooping, shimmering guitars, and majestically bittersweet melody pitch it somewhere between My Bloody Valentine and Asobi Seksu, showing how a more restrained Blonde Redhead can still sound lush and haunting. "Spring and Summer by Fall"'s streaming, comet-tail guitars and "Silently"'s thorny melody hark back to Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons, while "Heroine"'s vocoders sound surprisingly fresh, giving the song a fairy tale-meets-sci-fi vibe. This more whimsical, if not exactly lighthearted, feel flows through much of 23, especially on "Dr. Strangeluv," which boasts playful percussion and sparkling synths, and "Top Ranking," which layers Kazu Makino's vocals into futuristic girl group harmonies. However, Blonde Redhead hasn't ditched the brooding beauty of Misery Is a Butterfly entirely. "The Dress" is just as darkly stunning as any song on that album, with looping gasps and insistent guitars circling lyrics like "the fear starts creeping up when you have so much to lose," while "SW"'s melody and psychedelic brass interlude have a Butterfly-esque intensity. And as always, Blonde Redhead has a flair for haunting melodies, particularly on "Publisher," the chorus of which sounds peculiarly like Aerosmith's "Dream On." 23 is stunning -- in fact, its only flaw might be that its track listing is a little top-heavy, resulting in an album with an amazing first half and a flip side that is only very good. Nitpicking aside, 23 is mysterious and modern, with an artfully strange beauty that is more memorable than perfection.
So, number 8 of my best of top 10 2007 countdown!Band: Blonde RedheadTitle: 23Best Track: The DressBest Line: “Your love waits you while you are cheating.”Trivia: The seventh album of Blonde Redhead. “Silently” was the first single Saw them live in the 013 Mike Mills directed the vid of “Top Ranking”, starring Miranda JulyThey have been around for quite a while now, and B
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Blonde Redhead have released a video for "Top Ranking" - my favorite song on their recent album 23, which I like especially for its vocal harmonies. The video is directed by Mike Mills and features choreography and dance by Miranda July, the writer, performance artist, and film director (Me And You and Everyone We Know). Kudos to mogger mejeffb for posting a link to a high-resolution Quicktime ...
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That's more like it.Oh, hello. Didn't see you come in. I was just listening to a free stream of the new Blonde Redhead album entitled "23" over at "Spinner":http://spinner.aol.com/artists/new-releases-full-cds?defaultTab=3. Well, actually, for the first few minutes I was listening to some band called The Comas' new album, which didn't strike me as very Blonde Redheadish. Then I actually opened ...
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Happy Friday! If you need to catch up on your downloading (er, preordering albums on Amazon, of course), here are some early reviews on anticipated upcoming releases:The best of the bunch:Panda Bear: Person Pitch (4 stars)Following the paw prints of his parent group, Panda Bear's newest release is easily his most commercial. More commercial to you and I, maybe, but I also don't see anything wro...
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...and it sounds absolutely amazing.more details on hitchaser.com.
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I've put together a list of 30 album covers I've been impressed with over the course of 2007... I'm sure I've missed some (feel free to add your own or pick your favorites from the following list...) I've even added a cool tune to listen to while you check out the artwork... From Blonde Redhead's fantastic "23" album (one of my Top 11 of the year, which I posted on earlier)... here, in alphabet...
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Okay, here's the deal. I have resigned myself to knowing there are not enough hours in the day to become properly acquainted with all the new releases this year. I've spent a good deal of time catching up on older albums that somehow flew under my radar, and as such have not yet had the chance to fully listen to some newer albums I know my trusted moggers have fallen for. Alas, all in good time...
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New York City Indie group, Blonde Redhead are currently preparing for their North American tour in support of their new album ??23??. "Stereogum":SG has gone as far as to dub it as their "most pop effort to date'.SG also posted a "leaked" track from the new album "CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO NEW TRACK":TRK04/13 - Detroit, MI (Magic Stick)04/14 - Chicago, IL (Metro)04/15 - Minneapolis, MN (First Ave...
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Blonde Redhead have released a video for "Top Ranking" - my favorite song on their recent album 23, which I like especially for its vocal harmonies. The video is directed by Mike Mills and features choreography and dance by Miranda July, the writer, performance artist, and film director (Me And You and Everyone We Know). Kudos to mogger mejeffb for posting a link to a high-resolution Quicktime ...
More >
That's more like it.Oh, hello. Didn't see you come in. I was just listening to a free stream of the new Blonde Redhead album entitled "23" over at "Spinner":http://spinner.aol.com/artists/new-releases-full-cds?defaultTab=3. Well, actually, for the first few minutes I was listening to some band called The Comas' new album, which didn't strike me as very Blonde Redheadish. Then I actually opened ...
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So, number 8 of my best of top 10 2007 countdown!Band: Blonde RedheadTitle: 23Best Track: The DressBest Line: “Your love waits you while you are cheating.”Trivia: The seventh album of Blonde Redhead. “Silently” was the first single Saw them live in the 013 Mike Mills directed the vid of “Top Ranking”, starring Miranda JulyThey have been around for quite a while now, and B
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It's taken me all day to pick a song to add to this page of mine.I know i'll put one by The Redwalls on here!Err... maybe i should check first to see if someone else has already.Oh.... there is....the same song i chose, and not too long ago i see...hmmm maybe that new song by lovelikefire (who are just brilliant by the way) Whowhat? three already today and nice play by the way to all who did.Ho...
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if youre a fan of blonde redhead go check out their "myspace page":http://www.myspace.com/blonderedhead before april 10 because from now until then, they will have their new album "23" streaming in its entirety. and i dare say that it is good! better than good!ben
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Went to see Interpol @ Alexandra Palace on 29th Nov, and luckily saw Blonde Redhead supporting, one of the bands I wanted to see live.Especially this song 23 was superb, Paul Banks and Sam Fogarino of Interpol joined them (twin drums)!(And had enjoyed them more than Interpol...)
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After Thumbsucker, Mike Mills takes us to a journey down to minimal art with his new video for Blonde Redhead with actress Miranda July. It is reminiscent of Laurie Anderson's Oh, Superman.There are also eleven episodes of video podcast crafted by Mills, inspired by the Blonde Redhead's music.Subscribe to the Blonde Redhead 23 podcast
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Blonde Redhead + Miranda July + Director Mike Mills = pure quirky funhttp://www.thedirectorsbureau.com/bureau1/mills/BlondeRedhead-TopRanking.mov
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Blonde Redhead have been around for quite some time, I've only ever heard the name, never the music. So the other day while perusing Tower I purchased '23', again probably way later than everyone else, and I gotta say I love this album, from start to finish. Gorgeous chord sequences of a cyclical nature, drums than sound both live and programmed, ethereal reverb soaked vocals washed in spacious...
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...and it sounds absolutely amazing.more details on hitchaser.com.
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im sure you've all seen this.. its absolutley great.. Miranda July is super cool to do a Blonde Redhead video, or Blonde Redhead is really cool to have Miranda July in there video.. Either way.. Super wicked awesome.. If you don't know Miranda's work.. check out the Movie "Me and You and Everyone We Know" - she stars in it, as well as wrote and directed it.. and If you have any reason to b...
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Happy Friday! If you need to catch up on your downloading (er, preordering albums on Amazon, of course), here are some early reviews on anticipated upcoming releases:The best of the bunch:Panda Bear: Person Pitch (4 stars)Following the paw prints of his parent group, Panda Bear's newest release is easily his most commercial. More commercial to you and I, maybe, but I also don't see anything wro...
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| Title | Lyrics | Buy |
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| 1 23 |
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| 2 Dr. Strangeluv |
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| 3 The Dress |
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| 4 S.W. |
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| 5 Spring and by Summer Fall |
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| 6 Silently |
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| 7 Publisher |
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| 8 Heroine |
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| 9 Top Ranking |
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| 10 My Impure Hair |
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Click to purchase…
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 "23")
