Florence IS the Machine

I have been digging on "Heavy in Your Arms" by Florence & the Machine since the Eclipse soundtrack came out months and months ago (and which I highly recommend: Beck, Jack White, Metric, Black Keys and on and on). Turns out, she's gonna release it as a single and also release her album Lungs as a two-disk re-introduction to our ears called Between Two Lungs (full track list below).

I like Lungs. Especially her voice and the percussion. It's just a little muted and I can't tell you exactly why. Her songs are almost there, but need a friend to pull out all the stops. Even on her current single, "Dog Days Are Over," the vocals and drums are what you remember, and the rest is retro-pop and Britty and cute...just not punchy enough--not dancey enough.

It's not all bad, not at all. "A Kiss With A Fist" is rocky bossy in the vain of early Strokes and 50s American rock-n-roll. "Drag my teeth across your chest to taste your beating heart." That's a great lyric.

I'm glad to hear she'll be collaborating with some Britrap people, including the effin' great Dizzee Rascall. I think it'd be cool if she worked with Mark Ronson too, but that's not happening just yet. Anyway, bottom line is, I like Lungs and I'm totally excited for its fuller, fatter big sister.

Tracks:

CD 1:

Dog Days Are Over

Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)

I'm Not Calling You A Liar

Howl

Kiss With A Fist

Girl With One Eye

Drumming

Between Two Lungs

Cosmic Love

My Boy Builds Coffins

Hurricane Drunk

Blinding

CD 2:
Heavy In Your Arms

You've Got the Dirtee Love (this features Dizzee Rascall!!)

Hurricane Drunk (The Horrors Remix)

Strangeness & Charm (Live from Hammersmith Apollo)

Swimming (Live from Hammersmith Apollo)

Dog Days Are Over (Yeasayer Remix)

Florence &The Machine perform acoustically Live from The Roundhouse:
Drumming Song
Girl With One Eye
Hurricane Drunk
Dog Days Are Over
My Boy Builds Coffins

Hospital Beds

Artorexia

Hannah just showed me these awesome skeleton pinups online.  I did a search and behold: this crazy find from a blog called Randommization. Turns out, they weren't arts & crafts, but are sales tools from an x-ray company. Can you say brilliant, creative marketing? Kudos. Here are a few more...

Great job. Reminds me subtly of Norfolk's own Stuntkid. I went to his gallery opening over the summer. Here's what I mean:

Stuntkid is Jason Levesque and he's one of the best artists around here (meaning Virginia and beyond...not meaning Norfolk). He does a lot with muted, yet vibrant colors and is a "pin-up" period (in a good way) right now. AltDaily wrote about him last spring when he illustrated the first ever issue of The Many Loves of the Amazing Spiderman with Marvel Comics, which shows some pinup but not the haunted skeletal vibe of th above works, which I really am digging on.