Search

Search only in certain items:

    PicPlayPost

    PicPlayPost

    Photo & Video and Lifestyle

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    NEW FEATURE Stitch multiple collages together and create multi-collage slideshow with transitions ...

Moon Safari by Air
Moon Safari by Air
1998 | Electronic
8.7 (3 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"This was very, very hard to put together and I’ve left out so many great songs. I could do a list of 150 songs at least, but ‘La Femme D’argent’ really leapt out. It’s the most electronic of the songs that I’ve selected. To this day, every time I listen to Air, it makes me fall in love with electronic music but in a way that reminds me that you can marry electronic music and, let’s say, traditional instruments, especially the bass guitar. Air are absolute geniuses with basslines, they have a great tone and it’s such a good homage to Serge Gainsbourg and stuff like that. Their sense of melody and structure and building up a song is quite something. They make the best background music that you want to play louder than the conversation that you’re having. I love it for driving, if I don’t know what to listen to, I’ll probably stick on Moon Safari or Premiers Symptômes, which is an EP that’s not talked about that much. So many of their tracks - ‘La Femme D’argent’ being a strong example - are really inspiring from a production point of view. It’s all about the little world that these tracks live in, where it couldn’t be anyone but Air. Bands like Zero 7 have copied Air, but it’s just not as good. You know something has a really unique quality when if you were to try to write a song in that style, people would know straight away; it would be like, ‘Oh, that sounds like Air.’ I think there’s other bands that manage it, take The Strokes when they did Is This It - you can sound like Is This It, there’s a world that that record is in. I could literally go downstairs right now and make a song that’s like Air and people would definitely say it sounds like Air, but if I recorded a song in the style of a band that doesn’t really have a unique quality in terms of recording or production, people would say, ‘Oh, it just sounds like an indie band.’ I never go out and want to copy anything. Rather than listen to it, I basically fast on music when I’m writing and recording, because I’m afraid of subconsciously taking inspiration from somebody else. I mean, you do that any way - you can’t help it - but when I’m asked, ‘What music were you listening to when making this album?’ I tend to reply, ‘No one, really.’ Again, you can’t not listen to music as it’s everywhere, but it’s different in terms of immersing oneself. Like when I got into Scott Walker, I would just listen to his albums, Scott 1, 2, 3 and 4 all the time, but I don’t think you should do that when you’re recording your own music. A while back, I was listening to a song off the most recent Arctic Monkeys record, ‘Four Out of Five’ and it occurred to me that they obviously had been listening to Lou Reed, because there’s that one melody that sounds exactly like ‘Satellite of Love.’ The bit that goes, “Take it easy for a little while…” that’s very obviously “Satellite of Love”. It’s like, come on. They are very open about what they listen to, but that’s just lifted. I think it’s their best record, but in terms of that particular lift they were either aware of it or they were listening to Lou Reed on the tour bus or obsessed with the Bowie/Lou Reed partnership or something. Generally, I do worry about that, because people compare our songs to things. The worst is when people say ‘Shelter Song’ is just ‘Ticket to Ride’, it’s nothing like ‘Ticket To Ride', it’s got a twelve-string guitar on it, that’s like saying any guitar song sounds like Robert Johnson or the Edge or someone!"

Source
  
Party Bandimals
Party Bandimals
2019 | Animals, Card Game, Music
Band geeks. We all were bullied as kids. Walking to/from school with our super uncool instrument cases in our hands. All throughout our schooldays knowing that we were near the bottom of the popularity barrel. Then something happens. We become adults, join a band, sell merchandise, and all of a sudden it’s cool to be in a band and everyone wants to hang out. None of this has anything to do with the game I’m previewing right now, but this is a PSA – treat your band kids well so they can flourish and grow and become invincible bad-asses that seriously rock.

Party Bandimals is a card game where players are band managers looking to fill out their respective musical groups that feature anthropomorphic animals playing musical instruments. Each turn players are trying to boost their own bands with wicked rad band members while simultaneously subbing in the uncool members to their opponents’ bands.

DISCLAIMER: We were provided a prototype copy of this game for the purposes of this review. As this is a preview copy of the game, I do not know if the final rules or components will be similar or different to what we were provided. -T

A game of Party Bandimals takes place over a series of rounds. The first player to amass a band whose total strength equals or exceeds 11 (net). Each animal card has a number printed in the upper left hand corner indicating its strength, be it positive or negative. Positive numbered cards are played to your band tableau and negative cards to an opponent’s band – thus lowering their total strength score.

To setup shuffle the cards and deal three to each player. Any player that has received any cards with the “Play when drawn” icon must discard those and draw up to three. You are now ready to play.

On your turn you draw up to four cards and then play a card from your hand. Any card drawn with the “Play when drawn” icon (see “Bob” above) will be played immediately. Otherwise, you may choose any card in your hand to be played. These could be band members or other events. Some cards are designed to be played as reaction cards to other opponents’ plays and can be played out of turn. That’s it! The rules and game play are very light, and games are very quick.

Components: This is a card game. Mine came in a tin, though I do not know if that is the plan for when the game goes retail or as result of a successful Kickstarter campaign. The cards are good quality, and the art on them is very cool. The names are sometimes hilarious and the art reflects that as well. Each character has a personality, and some are even inspired by the designer’s friends and family. I didn’t see any trumpet playing Travis cards, so maybe that’s in the works…

So here are my thoughts on Party Bandimals. It’s a really quick game with some interesting decisions and LOTS of take that. I mean, you’re trying to put a band together of the sickest entertainers out there, but so are your opponents. You are pawning off the bad musicians on your friends opponents and keeping all the good musicians. It really works well when you want a super quick filler with a great theme, fun art (I mean, look at lil Elanor up there on that harmonica solo), and grudges to be formed. If your group likes take that games, or at least don’t get all bent out of shape, then you should check out Party Bandimals. It’s quick, fun, and has a great theme. What more do you want, people???