Non ci sono stati grandi album da poter vagamente ricordare il 2007 e/o il 2006: i ‘big’ hanno deciso di prendere del tempo (molti dei quali alle prese col fatidico 3° album) e ci siamo trovati in mezzo a qualcosa di super nuovo dal quale avremo conferme solo nei prossimi anni.

Best New Face

1. Foals
2. Ting Tings
3. Operator Please
4. Does it offend you, yeah?
5. Hercules and Love Affair

Best Group

1. MGMT
2. Tv On The Radio
3. Foals
4. Mystery Jets
5. The Raconteurs

Best Video

1. Infadels - Make Mistakes
2. Coldplay - Viva La Vida
3. Foals - Olympic Airways
4. Mystery Jets - Young Love
5. MGMT - Time To Pretend

Best Song

1. MGMT - Time To Pretend
2. The Last Shadow Puppets - Standing Next To Me
3. Correcto - Do It Better
4. MGMT - Kids
5. Kaiser Chiefs - Never Miss A Beat
6. The Fashion – Like Knives
7. Foals - Olympic Airways
8. Foals - Red Socks Pugie
9. Mystery Jets - Two Doors Down
10. SoMe - Decalcomania

Best Album

1. The Last Shadows Puppets - The Age Of The Understatement
2. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
3. Foals - Antidotes
4. Correcto - Correcto
5. Kaiser Chiefs - Off With Their Heads
6. Mystery Jets - 21
7. Bugo - Contatti
8. Ting Tings - We Started Nothing
9. Infadels - Universe In Reverse

Since 7th October 2007, I’ve collected 20000 plays.

Here the top charts.

Top Artists

• 1 Arctic Monkeys
• 2 Kaiser Chiefs
• 3 Bloc Party
• 4 Gorillaz
• 5 Justice
• 6 The Last Shadow Puppets
• 7 Franz Ferdinand
• 8 MGMT
• 9 Radiohead
• 10 The Strokes
• 11 Correcto
• 12 Klaxons
• 13 DJ Mehdi
• 14 Menomena
• 15 Muse
• 16 Interpol
• 17 Albert Hammond, Jr.
• 18 Mystery Jets
• 19 Daft Punk
• 20 The Pigeon Detectives
• 21 Death From Above 1979
• 22 MSTRKRFT
• 23 Verdena
• 24 Editors
• 25 Uffie

Top Tracks

• 1 Bloc Party – Flux
• 2 Bloc Party – Helicopter
• 3 Radiohead – Jigsaw Falling Into Place
• 4 The Last Shadow Puppets – Standing Next To Me
• 5 Arctic Monkeys – Brianstorm
• 6 Death From Above 1979 – Romantic Rights
• 6 Arctic Monkeys – Settle For A Draw
• 8 Gorillaz – Rock It
• 9 Interpol – Slow Hands
• 10 Kaiser Chiefs – Never Miss a Beat
• 11 MGMT – Time to Pretend
• 11 Arctic Monkeys – Teddy Picker
• 13 Kaiser Chiefs – Spanish Metal
• 13 Menomena – Muscle’n Flo
• 15 The Last Shadow Puppets – The Age Of The Understatement
• 15 The Fashion – Like Knives
• 17 Mystery Jets – You Can’t Fool Me Dennis
• 18 Justice – Electric Feel (MGMT)
• 19 MGMT – Kids
• 20 Bloc Party – Mercury
• 21 Bloc Party – Banquet
• 21 Bloc Party – Hunting For Witches
• 23 Fall Out Boy – The Take Over, The Break’s Over
• 23 Franz Ferdinand – Outsiders
• 25 Arctic Monkeys – Nettles

Top Albums

• 1 The Last Shadow Puppets – The Age Of The Understatement
• 2 Kaiser Chiefs – Off With Their Heads
• 3 Arctic Monkeys – Favourite Worst Nightmare
• 4 MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
• 5 Kaiser Chiefs – Employment
• 6 Klaxons – Myths Of The Near Future
• 7 Correcto – Correcto
• 8 DJ Mehdi – Lucky Boy
• 9 Kaiser Chiefs – Yours Truly, Angry Mob
• 10 Gorillaz – D-sides
• 11 Albert Hammond, Jr. – Yours To Keep
• 12 Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand
• 13 Bloc Party – Silent Alarm
• 14 Interpol – Antics
• 15 Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
• 16 The Strokes – First Impressions of Earth
• 17 Gorillaz – Demon Days
• 18 Franz Ferdinand – You Could Have It So Much Better
• 19 Arctic Monkeys – Live at the Apollo
• 20 Death From Above 1979 – You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine
• 21 Arctic Monkeys – Who the Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys?
• 22 Bloc Party – A Weekend In the City
• 23 Arctic Monkeys – When the Sun Goes Down
• 23 Menomena – Friend and Foe
• 25 Radiohead – In Rainbows

La sera del 21 Novembre, sono arrivate solo smentite.

Jennifer Gentle.

Jennifer chi? Nuovo singolo dei Franz? Una ragazza che ho conosciuto?

No. Un fantastico gruppo di rock psichedelico di Padova, spalla dei Franz per quella sera.

Si presentano in due: tastiera e chitarra con qualche pezzo di batteria pre-registrata come base.

Il duo fa saltellare qualche culo e comunque prepara agli FF con la carica giusta, con delle simpatiche strimpellate di chitarra stile ‘Far West’ accompagnati da testi romantici.

Ed ecco i quattri scozzesi. Non sembra cambiato niente: solite camicie (se non per Robert, al basso), pantaloni stretti a vita alta e scarpe super lucide.

Solo due cose mi colpiscono: un mega tatuaggio (una sorta di rosa) sulla parte sinistra del collo di Paul, alla batteria, e questa doppia tastiera con una ventina di manopole.

Una partenza alquanto lenta con un sottofondo di pianoforte sul quale Alex canta a bassa voce, per i primi 40 secondi, per poi esplodere in stile Franz con “Bite Hard”, che già ci spiega come sarà il nuovo album: qualche strimpellata di chitarra in meno con qualche suono elettronico in più.

Gli animi sono caldi abbastanza: inizia “Do You Want To” e inizia il pogo infinito, o quasi.

Dico ‘quasi’, perchè durante le nuove canzoni, ancora sconosciute, la gente si fermava, forse per ascoltare, forse stanca, forse non sapendo cosa aspettarsi.

Scaletta praticamente perfetta. Si alternano bene 2 canzoni vecchie e 1 nuova, o quasi.

Magnifica prestazione delle vecchie canzoni, in particolare “Walk Away” e “40′”, cantate da tutto il pubblico e “This Fire” che ha che ha chiuso alla perfezione il tutto (specialmente quando Alex si è appoggiato ai fan in prima fila, tra cui l’autore di questa recensione)

La cosa più bella, a mio parere, è stata la “Drum Session” durante “Outsiders”, in cui i 4 Franz più uno dello staff si sono messi a suonare la batteria, ognuno su un pezzo diverso. Un po’ come fecero al “Later… with Jools Holland” mesi fa.

Da sottolineare qualche altra cosa:

• i Magazzini hanno retto tutto sufficientemente. A mio parere l’acustica era accettabile e, ovviamente, il posto era quello che era.
• qualche voce (compresa la mia) ha cantato “Laaa, lallà lallà”, coro di “Ulysses”, nonostate la canzone sia disponibile da pochi giorni sul myspace della band.
• Alex è un gran ballerino: qualche volta ha strisciato coi piedi per il palco, in puro stile Micheal Jackson
• qualcuno ha capito perchè prima di “Walk Away”, Alex si sia tolto le scarpe e abbia mostrato degli scarponi neri?

Cosa portare a casa da questo live?

Ovviamente tante emozioni, perchè chi ama un gruppo e lo vede/ascolta dal vivo, prova qualcosa di scioccante e una carica infinita. Per quanto riguarda l’aspetto meno soggettivo, come già dicevo, “Tonight: Franz Ferdinand”, atteso per il 29 Gennaio, ci porterà qualche suono davvero elettronico rude e grezzo, ma non qualcosa di completamente diverso. Lo stile Franz è rimasto, si è solo aggiunta un po’ di novità, quindi i fan più pazzi possono dormire sonni tranquilli.

Three incredible and fantastic DVD have also arrived with it.

The first is called “Artic Monkeys @ The Apollo”: a cinematic feast with impressive, intuitive, confidently held master shots - a film that invites the audience to immerse themselves in the style and force of the uk’s most striking band as they deliver one of their most intense performances to date.

Here the teaser (here in HD)

The second is called “A Cross The Universe”, is a CD/DVD documentary about Justice. In the CD we’ll find a choice of the best live song and in the DVD instead, a sort of the best of their live around the world.

Here the teaser

The third is called “Kaiser Chiefs Live At Elland Road”.

The Elland Road show was the band’s biggest headline show so far, with 40,000 fans attending.

The teaser is not available yet, so I post the intro of the DVD.

Wish you’ll enjoy it

Aerosmith - Just Push Play

Agoria - The Green Armchair

Albert Hammond Jr. - Yours To Keep

Architecture In Helsinki - Places Like This

Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty

Björk - Volta

Blur - Think Tank

Bugo - Contatti

Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head

Death From Above 1979 - You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine

Fall Out Boy - Infinity On High

Fort Minor - The Rising Tied

Four Tet - Everything Ecstatic

Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere

Gym Class Heroes - The Papercut Chronicles

Hot Chip - The Warning

Infadels - Universe In Reverse

Jamiroquai - A Funk Odyssey

Jet - Get Born

Empire - Kasabian

Kate Nash - Made Of Bricks

Keane - Under the Iron Sea

Korn - Follow The Leader

L’aura - OKUMUKI

Llily Allen - Alright, Still

Linkin Park - Reanimation

Lupe Fiasco - Food & Liquor

Madonna - Confessions On A Dance Floor

Manic Street Preachers - Know Your Enemy

Maroon 5 -It Won’t Be Soon Before Long

Meg - Psychodelice

Menomena - Friend And Foe

Mika - Live in Cartoon Motion

Muse - Absolution

Operator Please - Yes Yes Vindictive

Placebo - Sleeping With Ghosts

Robbie Williams - Intensive Care

Radiohead - In Rainbows

Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Stadium Arcadium

Shitdisco - Kingdom Of Fear

Smashin Pupnkins - Zeitgeist

Stylophonic - If Everybody In The World…

The Hives - Tyrannosaurus Hives

The Killers - Sam’s Town

The Magic Numbers - The Magic Numbers

The Offspirng - Splinter

The Roots - Phrenology

The Whitest boy alive - Dreams

Weezer - Make Believe

Wolfmother - Wolfmother

Someone tells me it sucks ’cause there’s no a cool header, it’s too ‘black&white’ and too simple.

Yes, it’s really: too simple, a little bit of colours and no header… but… THAT WAS I WANT!!!

It’s simple, accessible and you can simply understand who I am, what I do etc.

NO?

So… if you have something to tell me about it, write it here.

See you

Bloc Party - Helicopter

Muse - Feelin’ Good

Jamiroquai - Canned Heat

Klaxons - Gravity’s Rainbow

Oasis - Wonderwall

Bjork - Declare Indipendence

The Strokes - Heart In A Cage

The Killers - Bones

Sigur Ros - Hoppipolla

Kasabian - Shoot The Runner

Franz Ferdinand - Outsiders

The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age of the Understatement

Battles - Atlas

Kaiser Chiefs - Oh My God

Arctic Monkeys - When The Sun Goes Down

Blur - Song 2

The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony

Keane - Cristal Ball

Lily Allen - LDN

We Are Scientists - Nobody Moves, Nobody Gets Hurt

Editors - The Racing Rats

Foo Fighters - Best Of You

If you dont know, abduzzedo is one the strongest site for design inspiration/tutorial

5 days ago I sent ‘em my tutorial and my opinions about the methods to create a HDR.

They liked it so they decided to publish it

I dont publish it on my post… maybe in future.

If you want to read it follow this link and enjoy it

The starry sky

To create the famous sky (I teach you how to make a pattern, so you can use it not once):

Open a new file (200×200px)

Fill it with the black colour

Go to Filter -> Noise -> Add Noise

Set this values

Go to Image -> Adjustament -> Brightness/Contrast

Now you must increase or decrease the two values many times as you want to get your favourite effect. Mine was this

Now go to Edit -> Define Pattern and then choose a name.

Nice and simple galaxies

Open a new file (900×450)

Go to the Layer Style and select Pattern Overlay

From the menu select the Patter you’ve just created and click ok.
Now select two colors you want (it’s better if you choose black [#000000] for one of these)

Go to Filter -> Render -> Clouds

Now you must warp the layer, so go to Edit -> Transoform -> Warp

Transform the layer as you want, don’t think about its beauty

Now go to Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur. Give a value between 20px and 30px

Now you must have a sort of cloud. Now re-wrap it and use a bit of gaussian blur again. Then put the opacity very low (I usually put it between 20% and 35%. If yo need, you can delete some parts of the cloud with the Eraser Tool or with a Mask Layer). Here my first cloud

Now you must only repeat these steps 2/3 times changin’ the colour, the shapes and the position. And here my final clouds

I found this song in a live version and the sound was too bad.

A month later… 19th March, Arctic Monkeys came in Milan.

I was there.

Love and magic started since that night.

Now I watch/listen to that song 4-5 times per day.

YouTube.com today can offer you a good choice of live of this song.

Here are mine preferred.

Live @ Rolling Stones, Milan - 19th March 2007

Live @ Jonathan Ross - 6th June 2007 (dressed as clowns)

Live @ Le Grand Journal, Canal Plus - 5th December 2007 (Alex starts laughing)

Live @ Glastonbury - 22nd June 2007