Bolster Your Holster

A friend of mine posted a video on facebook a couple weeks ago. It’s for a song called ‘Work’ by up and coming hip-hop artist Iggy Azalea (see video below). Sure I could be accused of hopping on the bandwagon, as some young know-it-alls might say, but Iggy Azalea really seems like she has everything going for her at the moment. Her debut album, The New Classic, is set to drop in June. The two songs released already, ‘Work’ and ‘Bounce’, are two slices of club-friendly electronic heavy hip-hop.

Oh wait, you’re not familiar with Iggy? Well, hell, that’s ok, I wasn’t either until a couple weeks ago. She’s an Australian rapper who gained popularity through the new celebrity maker, YouTube. Back in 2011 she released a couple videos that went viral, one for the track  ’Pu$$y’ and one in November 2011 for ‘My World’. Both tracks were featured on her first mixtape Ignorant Art. An official EP entitled Glory was released in May 2012 featuring guest appearances from T.I., B.o.B. and Pusha T. Her second mixtape produced by Diplo and FKi, Trap Gold, followed in late 2012 (available freely on her website). Besides being a hip-hop artist she’s also a model and is “The new face for Levi Jeans”.

Fast forward to 2013, as the release of her debut album approaches she released the afforementioned first single, ‘Work’ in March followed by ‘Bounce’ last week, with the video premiering today. The new video is direted by BRTHR and finds Azalea in India, extremely happy doing some Bollywood dancing and riding an elephant. Check it out:

If you like Iggy, why not follow her on Twitter, where she updates constantly (42000+ tweets) or on Facebook for song, album and mixtape updates.

Say Lou Lou, formerly Saint Lou Lou, have released their follow up single on the interwebs today.  Julian is another dreamy pop gem, in the same vein as Maybe you.  With artists such as Rhye and Jessie Ware making waves, I expect that Say Lou Lou may be one of the next it bands when they release their album.

You can hear the studio version through soundcloud below, and check out a stripped down version over at listenbeforeyoubuy.net.

-Shaun

While we finish up our best of the year posts, I thought I would share a new track from one of my Favourite current musicians.  Olafur Arnalds.  I know I speak about him all the time, so it should come as no surprise that I am rather excited he has a new album coming out in February.  The same week as my birthday even.  I have already pre-ordered it and anticipate this to be one of my most listened to albums of the year.  Especially since his other albums are listened to on a weekly basis.

The first tease of a track is heavy on the electronics, and the drama.  It is foreboding, yet has a lifting element to it.  I have posted the debut to the new single “This place was a shelter” below.  The album “For Now I am Winter” is available Feb. 25th.  Preorder it now!!!

- Shaun

As seen on JaJaJa

I first got into Macklemore + Ryan Lewis through their great video for “Wings”. “Wings” was a social commentary on the commercial consumerism of the Nike Air Movement of the 80′s and 90′s. Something that was instantly relatable for me, as I had several pairs of airs and Jordan’s.

Then “can’t hold us”hooked me. It was one of the bounciest hip hop/soul tracks of last year. A song you just had to dance to. Unfortunately there was no video to accompany it.

And now, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis have their first iTunes top 40 hit with “Thrift Shop”. If I take into account his social commentary on the aforementioned “Wings” and his recent track, “Same Love”, supporting gay marriage, I could assume that this is a parody of hipster culture and thrift shops. But, it could also just be taken as a fun track. Either way, this video is extremely entertaining, and the song is beyond catchy. The horn loop that drives this song gets ya dancing, and then the witty rhymes keeps ya going. I am very excited for the new album, The Heist, to be released in October. But the track is available in the iTunes store now.

Here is the fantastic video for this great track, followed by a well done trailer for the Heist. And PS, if you hadn’t figured it out from the title, there is some bad language in this song, so listen accordingly.

- Shaun

Things are happening. I returned home this evening with the thought to listen to the two new songs that had recently been released from The xx’s sophomore album Coexist. I was shocked to see that the new album had leaked onto the interwebs, so change of plan, I’m listening to the whole thing. I feel kind of bad hearing it this early before the release date, September 11, but I’m certainly going to pick it up when it comes out.

First single ‘Angels’ was a short, sweet track that confirmed that Coexist  would not stray far from the sound of their debut album. A simple guitar line, sparse drums and Romy Madley-Croft’s effortless vocals repeating, “Being as in love with you as i am, love, love, love”. Check out the video below:

‘Chained’ is about as dancey as The xx get without being remixed. Romy and Oliver share vocal duties over a Burial-esque beat that ends as abruptly as it starts. From there the album follows a very similar pattern to xx with a few new elements showing a gradual progression of their sound. While it could be concluded that they are not growing as a band, others believed that they would not be able to replicate the sound of their debut, citing it as a one-off. I’m happy to have more, similar sounding, record that gives 11 more songs to supplement the sublime tracks of 2009.

After a couple listens Coexist plays out as a late night dance party with a serious dose of coming down thrown on top. One second you might be able to get up and move, but with the next track you’re thrown back in the corner at 2am.Vocals sound more confident and play a stronger role in song dynamics, Oliver’s range has drastically improved after three years of touring. It’s still preliminary, but I expect to be listening to Coexist daily for the next few months.

Coexist is currently available for preorder from The xx website in multiple formats: MP3, CD, LP and Deluxe LP. Settling for the regular vinyl may not be enough for fans, as the deluxe is on 180g heavyweight vinyl, comes in a special die-cut gatefold sleeve with extra-large booklet and a CD version of the album. If you’re lucky enough to have a ticket to one of their North American tour dates, you’ll receive a full download of their album when it is released on September 11. Speaking of their tour, it will be amazing. Spanish electronic musician John Talabot is opening for them, his album Fin is critically acclaimed and is my favourite record of 2013 so far. I wouldn’t object to being offered tickets to an xx show, I’m willing to fly almost anywhere to see them.

As some of you very well know, we love the Swedish music. Some of our favourite artists like The Knife, Fever Ray, Lykke Li, Jose Gonzalez and Robyn are still on constant replay. And there is no shortage of great music as of late from this great land of Sweden. Recent albums by First Aid Kit and Niki and the Dove are solidifying their reign as the Pop capital of the world.

The next Swedish pop starlet looks to be Faye, formerly known as Fanny. Each of the singles she has released thus far is just fantastic. Her new video for the track “Water Against the Rocks” was just released, and the track will evoke comparisons to the aforementioned Lykke Li. The video is simple and emotional and perfectly suited to the track. Hopefully she becomes the hit she has the potential to be.

And just to emphasize her talent, here is an earlier gem.

Can’t wait for her debut album to be released.

- Shaun

One of the albums I am anticipating the most this year is the debut LP from the Swedish band Niki & The Dove. Their electro-pop music is exciting and makes you wanna dance. This most recent pre-release single just received a video companion. This space inspired video suits the track quite nicely.

Check out the track/video below and getting your dancing shoes ready for the release of Instinct on May 14th.

And here is my favourite so far. DJ, Ease my mind

-Shaun

You know that feeling, when you know something is coming, and then it announces, and you were more excited then you anticipated for the anticipation. Well this is one of those moments. Sigur Rós has announced their new album, their first studio album in 4 years. It is entitled Valtari (which means Steamroller) and will be released May 28th. Which will be a fantastic week for me. I will be seeing Bon Iver 2x a few days before, and then it will be all Sigur Rós for the remainder of the year (sorta joking). But to make me even more excited, they released a new video of their new song “Ekki Múkk” which is very much a Sigur Rós track. The track is a gorgeous atmospheric build, but I will let you listen to it on your own. The album is more centralized around electronics and strings claims Jonsi, so expect a lot of pretty moments. Check out the new song below.

“i really can’t remember why we started this record, i no longer know what we were trying to do back then. i do know session after session went pear-shaped, we lost focus and almost gave up…did give up for a while. but then something happened and form started to emerge, and now i can honestly say that it’s the only sigur rós record i have listened to for pleasure in my own house after we’ve finished it.” – georg

- Shaun

Hi everyone.  Welcome to the new blog.  All of the old posts have been imported here (some links may not be working) and are still available on the old site at www.bolsteryourholster.wordpress.com.  All future posts will be on this new site, and new features will be implemented as they come.  We also just reached our 100,000th visit to the site.  An achievement that we never thought we would reach.  We look forward to the next 100,000 visits.  To all email and RSS feed subscribers, please update your feeds to the new site.  Thank you all.

- Bolster your Holster

There appears to be a very large number of people coming to this site to learn about the great band fun. Well, the lovely folks over at ournameisfun.com have decided to let everyone hear the whole new album a week early. So make sure you listen to it. And after listening to it, I sure am happy I preordered it a few months ago. As much as I loved their debut album, this looks to be a step forward, kicking things up a couple notches, and will obviously be a commercial success.

The title track, Some Nights, is looking to be their next hit as it is a very upbeat anthem

Some nights I stay up cashing in my bad luck
some nights I call it a draw.

So listen to the full album here, or below, and then head over to their site and pre-order it.

- Shaun