Ghostland Observatory

Ghostland Observatory's ACL performance "was like a sonic countdown on its liftoff to stardom"
--Austin360.com

Ghostland at ACL

As I've mentioned a couple of times in the past few days, I (along with everyone else in within earshot) was absolutely blown away by Austin's Ghostland Observatory at ACL over the weekend. Ms. Cindy Hotpoint said it best in her Guide to ACL: "These guys don't let up...ever." I think everyone in the crowd for their set would echo that sentiment.

First off, this band is visually overwhelming: one dude (Thomas Turner) wears a fucking Dracula cape, and their frontman (Aaron Behrens) has pigtails and struts and peacocks around the stage like Mick Jagger channeling Prince channeling the ghost of the great Sitting Bull. The band gets a lot of comparisons to The Faint or The Rapture, but I think a more accurate comparison would be Freddie Mercury fronting an experimental electro-punk band masterminded by a dude in a Dracula cape.

Here are a couple tracks, the first from their new album, Paparazzi Lightning, and the second from their debut, delete.delete.i.eat.meat.

Ghostland Observatory Midnight Voyage mp3
Ghostland Observatory Silver City mp3

Buy both albums here. These dudes are not to be missed live, so do yourself a huge favor and check them out on their upcoming U.S. tour.

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elsewhere:

Ryan Gosling in Half Nelson

We saw Half Nelson last night, and we can't recommend it enough. Gosling gives the best performance of his life (sorry all you fans of The Notebook), Shareeka Epps should get Oscar consideration, and the wonderful soundtrack perfectly matches the restraint, subtlety, and emotional starkness of the film. Here's a song from the movie:

Broken Social Scene da da dada mp3

purchase the soundtrack here