Backstage Pass

If there's one thing I love, it's a Euro-pop cutie, and the latest one to hit the States is Yelle, a 24-year old French girl from Brittany (how fitting). Yelle is also one of those MySpace phenoms that record labels love -- her page has reportedly racked up 2.5 million hits. Her album, "Pop Up," on Caroline Records, comes out here April 1.

Yelle apparently sings about pornography, sex toys and genitalia -- all the things that tend to make teenagers snicker. Her lyrics, not printable here, seem a little jejune, but fortunately I can't understand what she's saying. She sings in French, and I only speak 'Merican.

More important, though, is the music -- bleepy, bippy, brightly-colored electronic rave-pop with lots of whomping beats and handclaps. The album is produced by someone called GrandMarnier -- great name, non?  Standout tracks include the single "Je Veux Te Voir" ("I Wanna See You") and the lead track "Ce Jeu," which borrows its pulsing bass-beat from the 1983 new-wave classic "Let Me Go," by Heaven 17.

Check out her video for "Je Veux Te Voir:"

It might be a while before the troubled Amy Winehouse produces her next disc, so Universal Republic is rushing out "Frank," the singer's debut disc, originally released in the U.K. back in 2003.

The move may seem like sleight-of-hand: Universal is calling this a "new release" when it's clearly not. But "Frank" happens to be an excellent album that reveals a side of Winehouse unfamiliar to Americans: torchy, jazzy, poetic (but still foulmouthed, of course).

Check out a younger, unbeehived and arguably healthier-looking Winehouse in this video for "Stronger Than Me," originally the first single from "Frank."

Island Def Jam, home to The Killers, has leaked the cover of the band's upcoming album, "Sawdust," hinting that it will be released later this year.

What's noticeable here (aside from the surreal, '70s-style "trippy" artwork) is the nature theme, which is somewhat reminiscent of Interpol's latest, "Our Love To Admire." Is going au naturel becoming a trend for ultra-urban rock bands? If Yeah Yeah Yeahs' next album features, like, flowers or something, remember you read it here first.

The Norwegian singer-songwriter Sondre Lerche isn't exactly a new face -- his 2002 Astralwerks album, "Faces Down," established him as a shy folkie type, but this year he broke out of his shell with "Phantom Punch," an uptempo, electrified pop disc that stands as one of 2007's underrated gems.

Now Lerche is spearheading the soundtrack to "Dan In Real Life," the Steve Carell comedy-drama from Touchstone Pictures opening Oct. 26. The soundtrack, available Oct. 2, features four new songs, seven cue tracks written for the movie, several cuts from earlier albums and collaborations with the quirky pop singer Regina Spektor and the one-woman band A Fine Frenzy (aka Alison Sudol). Lerche also co-produced the album.

These days, soundtracks are notoriously scattershot affairs, as movie studios partner with record companies to boost sales by lumping together as many bands as possible. Often, the "hit" song rolls only during the end credits, and some buzzworthy bands get squeezed into the film for mere seconds, seemingly just so they can be touted on the album cover.

Lerche's new song "To Be Surprised" is a good example of his distinctive happy/sad style, with a wistfully trilling guitar over a catchy beat. Check it out here.

Photo: Sondrelerche.com

The British rapper Jamie T falls somewhere between Arctic Monkeys, Lily Allen and The Streets, and while his accent is thicker than all theirs combined, you can clearly hear the anger, sadness and sputtered obscenities on his debut disc, "Panic Prevention" (Caroline).

A critical hit in England -- he was nominated for the UK's Nationwide Music Prize and recently played the famous Glastonbury festival -- Jamie T raps/sings mostly about the rough-and-tumble life of Britain's young drinking class. He's still relatively unknown here in the States, but he's making one of his first appearances in this country with a much-anticipated show at The Bowery Ballroom on Thursday.

For a sample of Jamie T's intriguing blend of dyspeptic hip-hop and wistful pop, get a free download of his song "Salvador" here, or check out the new video for "Sheila," below, featuring the British actor Bob Hoskins doing his best rap-lip-synch.

Nightmare of You will release a new five-song EP titled "Bang" on the band's own Bevenshire label. It's due out Sept. 11, just in time to steal some thunder from Kanye and 50.

Recorded in June 2007 in Brooklyn, "Bang" features bold cover art by the street artist Todd James who has worked with the Beastie Boys and also designed the puppets for "Crank Yankers."

The EP features a few tracks that are identifiably Nightmarish, such as the Smithsy "I Never Was a Normal Boy," but also a few surprises, including the danceable title track and an unconventional track called "Herbal Jazz Cigarette."

One song that mixes old and new quite nicely is "I Don't Want to Dance Anymore." Stream it here.

Every time The Fiery Furnaces release a new album, I get excited about music again. The Brooklyn-based brother-sister duo of Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger are set to release "Widow City" (Thrill Jockey) on Oct. 9, and to my ears it sounds like an attempt to widen the fanbase with highly accessible and surprisingly hard-rocking tunes. (None of that backwards-tape stuff here.)

Expect to hear some new Furnaces material during their free concert at Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City, Queens, this Sunday, Aug. 26.

Meantime, Thrill Jockey just gave me permission to post a stream of "Ex-Guru," so there it is. 

Anathallo was one of my favorite discoveries of this year's South by Southwest Music Conference and its delicate "Floating World" album has filled that pretty, experimental space between Arcade Fire and Sigur Ros.

Backstage Pass pal Steve Knopper talks to the Mount Pleasant, Mich., band, describing "Floating World " as "the world's first rock and roll album based on a Japanese folk tale about a magical dog whose murder leads to an apocalypse of tornadoes, falling trees and cracked earth."

Anathallo rocks their weird world [Newsday]

Listen to "Floating World" here

Anathallo plays at 8:30 p.m. Friday at Mercury Lounge, 217 E. Houston St., Manhattan, 212-260-4700. Tickets are $10 in advance; $12 at the door at ticketweb.com.

Video: "Well Thought Out Twinkles"

Silversun Pickups singer-guitarist Brian Aubert likes surprises.

So when the Los Angeles indie-rockers set out to record its first full album "Carnavas" (Dangerbird), they wanted to startle their fans a bit.

"When we did the EP [2005's "Pikul" (Dangerbird)], we knew we wanted it to be warm and a little loose - a lot of it was acoustic, there was a lot of cello," Aubert said. "The EP grew legs and it was adopted by many people as our first record. Then people would see us live and they would be stunned - happily surprised, I hope, but still surprised. We're loud."

Paging Daryl Hall!

Gym Class Heroes is after you.

"I really want him to be on our next record," said the band's singer Travis McCoy.
Other '80s stars that get shout-outs from McCoy: Pebbles, Sade, Terence Trent D'Arby, Poison and, of course, Jermaine Stewart.

Of course, there's a whole lot of hip-hop and emo that influence the band's eclectic sound too.

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The Scissor Sisters, who are still based in Manhattan, say they feel more at home in England these days.

"They have really adopted us as their own," said singer Jake Shears, calling from a tour stop in Chicago. "It's always fun to play New York, and we have a lot of friends in the crowd, but London just feels like more of a homecoming show for us, now. There's more love there."

"Love" may be an understatement. The Scissor Sisters' eponymous debut album, with its flamboyant '70s pop strutter "Take Your Mama" and the discofied cover of Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb," came from nowhere to become Britain's biggest-selling album in 2004. Their latest album, "Ta-Dah" (Universal Motown), and its first single, "I Don't Feel Like Dancin'," have both already hit No. 1 there, beating out American chart-toppers Justin Timberlake and Beyoncé.

"I have no idea why it's so different," Shears said. "But I'm not losing any sleep over it. We're perfectly happy. Even without the success in England, we're really proud of what we've done. It's more than I've ever expected. If you told me five years ago that we would have an album in the Top 20, I would've said you were crazy."

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PHOTO by Joseph Gultice

Joseph Arthur is twirling a cigarette rapidly in his right hand and a lighter at a slower pace in his left, as he talks about his future.

Sure, the Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter could just be jonesing for a smoke, which, of course, is verboten inside the little East Village breakfast spot where he is crammed into the corner. But it's also another sign of his well-documented multitasking - an ability to finish gallery-worthy paintings and critically praised albums such as "Come to Where I'm From" (RealWorld/Virgin) and "Redemption's Son" (Vector) simultaneously, or, more famously, build songs onstage, by recording loops of guitar sounds and his voice and then playing them back layered on top of each other as he continues to perform. [More...]

Listen to "Nuclear Daydream" here
PHOTO; Joseph Arthur by Steve Gullick / Lonely Astronaut

M. Ward doesn’t want people to take the title of his new album “Post-War” (Merge) too literally. The singer-songwriter from Portland, Ore., isn’t calling for an end to the war in Iraq and he isn’t reliving the days after World War II, though there are moments on the album that could refer to either or both.

“I’ve never had a great, burning desire to use music to get things off my chest,” said Ward, calling from a tour stop in Omaha, Neb. “That’s not very interesting to me. I just want to create something that’s good.” [More...]

PHOTO: M. Ward by De Wilde / Merge Records
Video for "Chinese Translation" on the jump

Lots of Long Island scenesters on TV this week. Taking Back Sunday will be on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" tonight and "Last Call with Carson Daly" on Friday. Ashanti will be repping her new movie "John Tucker Must Die" on "Live with Regis and Kelly" tomorrow. Of course, there's Ryan Star and Jill Gioia still hanging tough on "Rock Star: Supernova" on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. And, maybe my favorite, because I end up seeing it a bunch of times a day,1-800-OK-CABLE has started running that catchy Early Edison jingle again in its campaign -- this time with a new video.

After a long hiatus, Fiona Apple's at Jones Beach, back on tour: grown, happy, independent.

Full story here.

When the British band Art Brut released "Bang Bang Rock & Roll," it seemed tailor-made to appeal to the jaded music intelligentsia.

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Listen to three Art Brut songs here.

Donavon Frankenreiter's professional surfer past seeps into everything in his life, including his relatively new career as a singer-songwriter.

"Surfing has taken me around the world, and it has shown me the world's a beautiful place," Frankenreiter said, calling from a tour stop in Paris, where he was soaking in the atmosphere at an outdoor cafe in the middle of World Cup mania. "Southern California is my home, but I feel like a global citizen. When you see how beautiful a wave looks, you think, 'This is what it is all about.' Music is like that, too. I can get on a plane and fly 22 hours to South Africa, and when I get to play for people, connect with them in their hometown, that's worth it to me."

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