Oh yeah! Daft Punk return

Daft Punk - true innovators, genuine UPROCK idols and providers of perhaps the best live show ever - are about to return with their score for Tron Legacy:


Who knows what the film will be like, but the involvement of Daft Punk will keep us high on excitement for the next few months.

The early signs are promising, with what's said to be the theme (or 2 minute clip) sounding menacing yet not too disimilar to Human After All.

The Cryda Luv cut up, meanwhile, takes things back with some Homework era beats, albeit slowed down a bit.


Anyway, if that's not enough Daft Punk for you take a look at the idaft site (also an app for iPhone), which lets you recreate Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger:
iDaft

Finally, all this reminded me that last year as part of Out of Time Records' annual post Christmas sale (where all vinyl is £1), I spotted a young guy with Homework and Discovery in his hands and a slightly confused look on his face.

The excitement I felt on his behalf was both strange and immense.

Buy Daft Punk @ Amazon

Robot rock

When I was a kid I remember wanting an Omnibot more than anything else.

This was entirely due to Tomy's 30 second TV ad, which tapped directly into every aspiration a kid like me could have - if I had this little guy on my side, I thought, the rest of my life would be pretty damn sweet.

Sadly it never happened and I faced up to the brutal reality of a life where you have to carry orange juice and croissants around for yourself and find different ways to win friends (I'm still working on that bit).

Then, last week my Dad was clearing out a load of junk for his boss and there sat a still boxed, pretty much unplayed, Omnibot.
Turns out that someone else had the toy that I wanted and didn't even bother playing with him. And in the cold light of 2009 it was pretty underwhelming to finally pick Omnibot up, although the idea of having a robot servant that plays cassettes is still way up there as a concept.

If you've never seen the TV advert here it is - Tomy really pulled out all the stops on this one, you can see why I was hooked (and maybe why I ended up in marketing):

Obey the King

As seen in the woods at Latitude.

Latitude 09 review

Another year, another incredible three days' worth of entertainment right on our door-step.

Here are our highlights…

Fever Ray – Uncut Stage, Friday
In which Karin Dreijer-Andersson spends two thirds of the performance sheltered under her robe looking part tribal god, part costumed extra from Where The Wild Things Are.

Accompanied by a full laser show and a set of costumed accomplices (our favourite being the dog boy in a ruffled shirt), the aural experience somehow still succeeded in overtaking the visual, with a bewildering mix of beauty and nightmare.

The fact that it all happened before tea-time made it seem even more surreal.

Thom Yorke – Obelisk Arena, Sunday
If you could choose a way to start a day this would probably take some beating – waking up in the Latitude campsite to the sound of Thom Yorke’s sound-check drifting on the early morning breeze.

Come midday, Thom made his way back on stage and managed to make a headline performance to the biggest crowd of the weekend feel like the most intimate gig you’ve seen.

So beautiful it made you want to cry.



Local Natives – Sunrise Arena, Friday
Winning the best new band of the weekend accolade by a distance, Uprock’s heart was stolen by five charming guys from Los Angeles.

Wearing their hearts proudly on their sleeves and clearly touched by the response to their first ever festival performance, their tight harmonies and emotional edge made a massive impression on us. In return we bought them beer and begged them to come play for us.

Completing our stalking session, Ric also managed to record a couple of acoustic tracks backstage, which you can hear on BBC iPlayer.

Golden Silvers – Lake Stage, Friday
Following in the footsteps of fellow Uprock alumni, The Cheek, Golden Silvers were given the nod by Huw Stephens to headline the Lake Stage this year and have never looked more at home.

A criticism of Latitude could be the limited number of danceable acts in comparison to other festivals but this (admittedly made-up) argument was undone with a set that showcased their debut album in all its glory.

Jeffrey Lewis – Poetry Tent, Saturday
Scheduled to appear three times over the course of the weekend, things didn’t get off to a promising start when organisers explained that Jeffrey had broken down outside London and wouldn’t be delivering his thesis presentation on the artwork of Watchmen (the fact that this announcement was made to a packed film tent seconds before he was due to appear was a rare blip in the organisation of the festival).

But all was forgiven at 12:30am the next morning when Jeffrey shuffled on stage in the Poetry Tent and swung seamlessly between brand new and old material, a rap about mosquitoes, and the unveiling of his recently completed detective comic.

When he finished, Uprock and a handful of geeks (notice how we don’t put ourselves in that category) were treated to an ad hoc Watchmen Q&A with Jeffrey round the side of the Literature Tent. Most asked question – “What did you think of the movie?. Paraphrased answer – “It was okay, lacked emotion though”.

Phoenix – Obelisk Arena, Sunday
Ending our long wait to see them live, Uprock favourites Phoenix played the Sunday night and exceeded our already high expectations. Opening with ‘Lisztomania’ and ending with a beefed up ‘1901’, there couldn’t have been a more fitting way to end the weekend.

And kudos to Andy for winning delayed lol of the festival, claiming that the drummer looks like Carlton Banks in a text that arrived 14 hours after they finished their set.

Photos by Jen O Neil, Chris Gornell and BBC Suffolk

SwanFest - "shake what ya mama gave ya"

King Charles

Young talent

It's a sign of the times that writing a blog about two young boys and following it up with a video of two young girls makes us feel a bit odd, but there you go. We've got kids and one of us even had a recent successful CRB check, so deal with it.

Anyway....White Tea. An 11-year-old and a 14-year-old who say 'were half of what a ganster is'. They might not know how to use apostrophes, but they make a good tune.



And playing it on Saturday reminded us of how good Smoosh were.

Playing and dancing to Rad as part of the post Good Shoes/Pigeon Detectives UPROCK lives on as a special memory.



White Tea on MySpace

Boy of today swaps iPod for Walkman

What will he think?

Look here

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