The World Of B-Sides & Rarities, #696

The Pipettes - Pull Shapes (RAC Mix)

Learn all about RAC here.

Visit The Pipettes on MySpace.

MP3: The Pipettes - Pull Shapes (RAC Mix) [alt link]

Hot Chip, Daft Punk, The Pipettes Design T-Shirts For Playboy

Here's more on the venture entitled 'Rock The Rabbit': *Rock The Rabbit artists will put their twist on the iconic Playboy Rabbit Head logo by creating limited edition t-shirt designs. Original prototypes of all t-shirt designs will be auctioned off, with proceeds benefiting Rock The Vote. A special collection of RTR t-shirts will be available nationwide at select Bloomingdale’s locations and online at ShopTheBunny.com.* Further info here.

Full list of participating artists below:

Iggy Pop
Duran Duran
Daft Punk
The Shins
T.I.
Gogol Bordello
Hot Chip
Ghostland Observatory
Jamie T
Tokyo Police Club
The Pipettes
New Young Pony Club
Margot & The Nuclear So And So’s
Little Ones
OFFICE
The Oohlas
The Heavy
Working For A Nuclear Free City
The Beasts Of Eden
Dimitri From Paris

MP3: Daft Punk - Aerodynamic

The World Of B-Sides & Rarities, #351

The Pipettes - White Christmas

Time to polka dot your holiday cheer.

Visit The Pipettes at their MySpace page.

Watch the trio's latest video here.

MP3: The Pipettes - White Christmas

The Pipettes Debut New Video

Enjoy the irresistibly catchy 'Because It's Not Love (But It's Still A Feeling)' below.


MP3: The Pipettes - Judy

Pipettes Gig Cut Short By Fire

NME reports: *The Pipettes were caught up in a fire drama on stage last night (November 14). Their Rock 'N' Rag charity gig in Boston was cut short after a fire broke out. A stage monitor caught on fire and the gig was pulled.

No one was injured, reports Alternative Press.*

Yikes!

MP3: The Pipettes - Dirty Mind (edit) (via Soundfix)

The Pipettes Return To North America In October

All dates, plus an MP3, below.

10/2 Chicago, IL - Park West
10/3 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick
10/4 Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom
10/5 Toronto, ON - Opera House
10/6 Montreal, QC - Petit Campus
10/8 New York, NY - Fillmore
10/9 Boston, MA - Paradise
10/10 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
10/11 Philly, PA - 1st Unitarian Church
10/13 Pittsburgh, PA - Venue TBA
10/15 Nashville, TN - Exit/In
10/16 Atlanta, GA - Vinyl
10/17 Birmingham, AL - Workplay Theater
10/18 New Orleans, LA - House of Blues
10/19 Austin, TX - The Parish
10/20 San Antonio, TX - Venue TBA
10/21 Dallas, TX - House of Blues
10/23 Denver, CO - Bluebird Theater
10/25 Los Angeles, CA - Avalon
10/29 San Francisco, CA - Bimbo’s
10/31 Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom
11/1 Seattle, WA - Crocodile Cafe

MP3: The Pipettes - ABC

New Pipettes Album Cover: Love It Or Hate It?

Though The Pipettes' debut LP has been out for well over a year across the pond, it won't get its official US release until late August. For full coverage on The Pipettes' invasion of the fifty states, hop over to Music Snobbery. In the meantime, do you love or loathe the album's cover art?

MP3: The Pipettes - One Night Stand

Live From London @ Bowery 3/14: Jamie Woon, The Pipettes & Amy Winehouse

Who knew that getting in to see a drunk British girl sing would be so hard?

It’s 7pm on the Lower East Side and a line is forming outside of The Bowery Ballroom. I find it hard to believe that it is already the line to get in, and I contemplate joining them for 5 minutes as I sit in my car staring but instead, head over to Mercury Lounge to catch the 8pm set by Winterkids. Mercury Lounge is also hosting the Live From London affair that evening, an event:

“produced by British Underground with the support of Creative London, part of the Mayor’s London Development Agency, and British government organization UK Trade & Investment. It has the support of London’s NME music paper, Time Out New York and Visit Britain alongside UK music trade bodies AIM, MMF, PPL and PRS.”

Whew. That’s a lot of bullshit. With buzz bands taking turns coming from either New York or the UK, you wouldn’t really think the country’s music industry would need the pr. On second thought…wait, I don’t know. But it doesn’t really matter either way. What does matter is that they shelled out the dough for some fantastic bands to come play New York last night that we might not have gotten to see, or at least not all at once. I only wish this mini-orgasm of Brit pop would have been spread out over two days. I wanted to see The Holloways.


You’ve already read all about the Winterkids’ show from Matt, so let’s fast forward. Imagine me speed walking down Allen Street, then west on Delancey, avoiding a bum in the middle of the sidewalk and running up to a friend waiting in line outside the venue. Our conversation went a little like this:
“Do you think I’ll start a riot if I get in line with you guys?”
“Uh, yeah” says friend a little incrediously. “I’ve been waiting since 7:40.”
“What?! Are you kidding? Well, I guess I’ll go to the back of the line…”
“Do you not have a ticket?”
“Wait, what? Oh yeah I have a ticket.”
“Well then go on in, we are waiting to buy extras.”
“Damn, well see ya.”

Once inside, I found myself in a half empty room as first act Jamie Woon serenaded the crowd. He performed a few originals, a few covers and won me over with his sweet demeanor and lovely, soft voice; just a lone boy strumming a guitar onstage with a blue spot-light on him.



With a relatively short set change over, The Pipettes hit the stage. Ever since I downloaded ‘Dirty Mind’ from Fluxblog in October of 2005, I’ve been on the Pipettes’ band wagon. Seeing them last night was the culmination of a year and half’s worth of adoration. I am always attracted to those artists whom juxstopose the beautiful and sinister. The Pipettes do just that with light 60’s girl group inspired music and ever so raunchy subjects that mostly revolve around sex.

“lets stop with all the talking, why not try something new? Because there's no need for any talking in what we're about to do”- ‘Sex’

The three girls might not have any rhythm, but their cute attempts at dancing, adorable costumes and, let’s face it, attractiveness factor coupled with an album full of fun, catchy songs makes for a great live show.

Not knowing much about Amy Winehouse, I never the less found myself willing to sell my soul for a ticket to see her. The countless pleading emails I clogged the music world’s inboxes with were well worth it. Amy Winehouse put on one of the best shows I have seen all year. It was soulful, it was beautiful and damn was it entertaining. My feet were hurting in my heels but I still danced my heart out to every track.

With a full band of ten very fine looking gentlemen, Amy Winehouse took the stage in a short black dress with white polka-dots and a matted looking bouffant hair-do. As she sipped at her Jack and lemonade, she ran through songs from her first and second albums, Frank and Back to Black, and received the greatest reception with the title track off of her latest effort and the notorious ‘Rehab.’

Like The Pipettes, Winehouse brings together the beautiful with the dirty. She infuses 60’s Aretha Franklin style soul with lyrics declaring she won’t go to rehab and “What kind of fuckery is this?” Every song in her repertoire is a hit and I for one am glad to see the resurgence of jazz into popular music, especially when it is done by a songstress such as Winehouse. Before Amy does really have to go to rehab, I suggest attempting to catch her.

Musicsnobbery and BrooklynVegan were dancing on my left, Greg Misshapes was grooving on my right and I was smack in the middle tearing it up all by my lonesome.

MP3: 'Back to Black'- Amy Winehouse

The Pipettes Get Some Major US Attention

Quite literally, I should add.

Long-loved UK 'modern girl group' the Pipettes will finally sign a US deal this week, with none other than Interscope. Can a mash-up album with AFI or 50 Cent be far behind? Well, actually, yes, let's hope so!

Billboard reports that Cherrytree, which is also home to Feist, a subdivision of Interscope, will release We Are The Pipettes this summer. The girls have 2 sold out shows at Brooklyn's Luna Lounge and a joint sold out show at Bowery Ballroom with Amy Winhouse, both next month. That's not including a string of highly anticipated dates throughout SXSW!

You go, girls!

MP3: The Pipettes - Magician Man

Dammit.

I really didn't want to start liking the Pipettes. Why? Because they were being uber-feted by a couple of blogs, and the first time I heard about them, I thought:

"Hurrah! They look like a cool-poppy-girl-group-tastic-sixtiesesque-harmonised-example-of-awesomeness that appeals directly to Skye's taste. And they're pretty, too, in those short, short skirts!"

Unfortunately, instead of the expected feeling of overwhelming joy that I was hoping for, I wasn't whelmed at all, not one teeny tiny bit. Oh, the disappointment.

So, off I went, and I didn't think about the Pipettes any more, except the odd feeling of disappointed bitterness. I went away for a couple of weekends; worked on my thesis; moved house, and more importantly, I moved on. Fast forward a couple of weeks: and it's my morning waking up to the dulcet tones of Terry Wogan on Radio 2 (I'm not ashamed). And they're playing a song... and it's "Pull Shapes" by the Pipettes. And it's AWESOME.




Cue obtaining a copy of the record, We are the Pipettes. And what can I say? I was wrong. I must have had a headache the first time I listened to the band, because, while I'm still not sure that they can pull off the faux-sixties stylings - they rely on it a bit too heavily and at the expense of the songs - they are just the poppy, harmonised fun I crave. Witty, urbane; I don't care that their tunes aren't that exciting. It's the package that counts; and I don't know what it is, but the Pipettes have it. And trumpets!

The Pipettes: Sex

Watch the video to Pull Shapes here.