hell is chrome.

Jingle All The Dayer

2007-12-21T22:04:00.000Z

Hello! I'm not dead, honest: things have just been going on.

Anyway, for all the Leeds people out there, tomorrow I will helping run this:

It's going to be loads of fun! Full details can be found at The Deku Tree's myspace. I'll probably be wearing a Santa hat. That's gotta be worth coming to see, right?

Videodrone #2: Elliott Smith

2007-10-26T14:21:00.000Z

Something a bit different with this one. Last Sunday was the fourth anniversary of Elliott Smith's death. I'll refrain from making any tributes or trying to write anything, as many people have done so already and in ways I couldn't hope to approach.

So here, instead, are some lovely videos:

"Lucky Three"

This is a short film made by Jem Cohen, who is best known (at least in music circles) for making Fugazi's Instrument film. Tracks featured are "Between The Bars" and "Angeles" from 1997's Either/Or LP, and a cover of Big Star's "Thirteen". I don't feel the need to say any more: the film speaks for itself.

Elliott Smith - Son of Sam

Promotional video for "Son of Sam", from 2000's Figure 8 LP. The building he walks into at the end is the same as on the LP's front cover. It looks quite a bit different now.

Elliott Smith - Say Yes (Live 19/09/2003)

Recorded at his last ever show, and apparently the last song of his that he played in the set.

Elliott Smith - Waltz #2 (XO)

Live performance of "Waltz #2 (XO)" from 1998's XO and a short interview, from Swedish TV.

If you don't have any Elliott Smith LPs, I suggest you buy some. They're all great, although I'd recommend either 1997's Either/Or or 1998's XO as good starting points.

links: sweetadeline.net

Turbo Fruits

2007-10-22T18:27:00.000Z

So who has be your own PET's self-titled debut album of last year? It's pretty good, isn't it? Anyone see them tear up Reds at the Thurston Moore-curated ATP last December? Pretty awesome, right? Have you listened to the self-titled album so many times now, you're getting a bit kinda bored with it?

If you've answered "yes" to these questions, you're probably quite looking forward to their new record, which is due out early next year. Oh, unless you answered "yes" to the last one, in which case you're a) wrong, that record doesn't get boring and b) NOT MY FRIEND.

Whatever you answered, you could do worse than to check out Turbo Fruits, the side project/other band of BYOP's Jonas Stein (guitar) and John Eatherly (drums). Their self-titled debut album came out through the wonderful Ecstatic Peace! label in the US and a label called Ark Recordings here this past summer.

I actually really love that front cover.

It's, as you would expect, very BYOP in tone - essentially, slightly crude and kinda sludgy garage rock played with bucketloads of velocity and enthusiasm and a tremendous sense of fun. It never quite achieves the breakneck velocities of their day job, but the band seem aware that without a frontperson of the calibre of BYOP's Jemina that could end up as something of a folly. But, hey, it's still a fun listen full of it's own charm, and they're after catching them in the afternoon heat at Reading this year they're a good live prospect as well.

And, hell, if nothing else it should tide you over until that elusive new Pet record arrives.

mp3: Turbo Fruits - Pocket Full of Thistles
mp3: Turbo Fruits - Tennessee, Baby

links: turbo fruits @ myspace | esctatic peace! website | ark recordings @ myspace

Dirty Projectors - Rise Above

2007-10-15T06:47:00.000Z

Anyone who's been keeping a keen eye over what people on the internets are chattering about can't fail to have notice the hubba building around Dirty Projector's new release, Rise Above (out this week through Rough Trade, I believe - I'd check the press release but it's gone AWOL somewhere between here and my old flat). If you're not up to speed, I shall get you there:

Dirty Projectors is the musical project of maverick writer/arranger/producer/multi-instrumentalist/'musical director' Dave Longstreth. He's been making records under this name in his own, idiosyncratic little way since 2001. Previous releases include 2003's The Glad Fact, which includes songs about finches and cars, and 2005' The Getty Address, a concept album about about Don Henley. Y'know, Don Henley From The Eagles Don Henley.

Which brings us nicely to their new record, the aforementioned Rise Above. The audacious project this time (at least, as far as the press release goes - believe it as much as you will, I guess) is that Longstreth attempted to remake/reimagine Black Flag's seminal 1981 Damaged LP entirely from scratch, despite the fact that he hadn't heard it since he was in high school (I'm not sure of his age, I think mid/late 20s. Which is.. er.. a pretty audacious idea, you've got to dmit.

Anyway, I've had this record for a few weeks now and I've listened to it five or six times now and I genuinely have no idea what I think about it. Unnerving blogger honest there, eh? First things first, it sounds NOTHING like Black Flag. The only real touch points are the lyrics, and in it's own strange way the intensity of the songs. There's a real carryover there between the two, the way they're put together and the performances here really lend themselves to the crushing paranoia and coldness of the original material. When Longstreth sings "i tell them to go get fucked / they put me away" in 'Police Story' it is, in it's own way, as tense as when Henry Rollins first roared the same words 25 years ago, even though Longstreth is doing it over some plucked acoustic guitar. The female vocals singing the chorus on 'Six Pack' have the same sarcastic tone as the original. Longstreth vocals are, in their own way, as tortured/torturing as Rollins were.

And, I guess, by reinventing this using their own musical palette (acoustic guitar, horns, big arrangements) it's a damn sight more 'punk' than an album of straight-up covers could have ever been.

But still, it confounds me. Do I actually like it? At this stage, I'm just not sure. What I will say, though, is this: I'm actually happy with this situation. It's clearly not a record that you'll 'get' straight away, it's one that I think will reward perseverance and repeated listens and actually paying attention. Much like Black Flag's original, really. Hell, what do I know anyway? I didn't like OK Computer the first time I listened to it. OBLIGATORY RADIOHEAD REFERENCE!!!!!

Anyway, to coincide with the release, Dirty Projectors are in the UK for a week of shows, including one with The Blow and a bunch with "puzzle pop" (OH DEAR NME) titans Battles. Those'll be fun.

mp3: Dirty Projectors - Depression
mp3: Dirty Projectors - Police Story

links: Dirty Projectors @ Myspace | Dirty Projectors @ Wikipedia

Videodrone #1 : week ending 12th October 2007

2007-10-12T10:09:00.000Z

Look, another supposedly-regular feature that I'll probably be really lazy in doing. I do want to try this time though, promise.

Anyway, here's some video fun I've come across this week.

They Came From The Stars, I Saw Them - (It's Always) Boomtime, Part One

Let's get one thing out of the way first of all: They Came From The Stars, I Saw Them are probably the most fun live band in London. I've seen them twice now, and they're just wonderful - a big mess of people making huge, joyous music. If you get a chance, go and see them. I MEAN THIS. Anyway, this is their new video, and it's, predictably, a whole lot of fun from start to finish. Think Flaming Lips, think Polyphonic Spree, think acid-fried mentalists dancing and singing about... hell, I dunno, but I want some.

Also, something tells me they don't like The Rakes.

Animal Collective - #1 (Live on Late Night With Conan O'Brian)

OK, so Conan O'Brian is known for booking more 'alternative' acts onto his show (Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Le Tigre etc) but I'm really curious who on his staff thought Animal Collective were a good choice. As, clearly, do some of the viewers - sample quote (from here: "The show ended with a performance by mood rockers, Animal Collective. There was lots of singing, but no words. You would get the same effect if you played a Gregorian chant under water, or listened to U-2 with oatmeal in your ears. They gave me a Radioheadache." Still, it's a wonderful performance (the original can be found on their recent Strawberry Jam LP out on Domino) and is exceedingly welcome in a week where everyone is raving about a past-his-prime estate agent and his gang of chancers topping the UK Top 40. Given such circumstances, it's nice to see something that actually encapsulates the spirit of doing whatever-the-hell-you-want being broadcast into millions of homes across the United States.

Pagan Wanderer Lu - The Tree Of Knowledge

Pagan Wanderer Lu is pretty DIY. He's released more music over the past five years on handmade CDRs than most bands with major label big bucks contracts manage in twice that time. He's also bloody good - last year's The Independent Scrutineer was a great little slice of intelligent, literate pop and follow up Perfection R.I.P. (from which this is taken, out next month on Brainlove Records) looks to continue this trend. Accordingly, and from the mouth of the man himself, this video had a budget of £20, which was "...spent entirely on buying coffee for the people who appeared in it". And it's great.

Scout Niblett - Kiss (feat. Will Oldham)

This video leaves me feeling slightly unsettled, and I can't work out why. It's a feeling of unease, of being slightly on edge, but for no tangible reason. Incidentally, this is what a lot of Scout Niblett's music does to me, so I suppose it's only fitting. Taken from her forthcoming This Fool Can Die Now LP (out Monday on Too Pure!), it features Will Oldham and portrays possibly the creepiest date ever. Still, don't they look cute running around on that beach and doing handstands? Er, kinda..

links: they came from the stars, i saw them @ myspace | animal collective @ myspace | domino recording company official site | pagan wanderer lu @ myspace | brainlove records @ myspace | scout niblett official site | too pure official site | will oldham @ wikipedia

Adam Gnade - "tonight, our past means nothing"

2007-10-07T14:13:00.000Z

You may remember me raving about the Adam Gnade & Youthmovies collaborative EP Honey Slides a few weeks ago. Hopefully you listened to the track I posted, and are going to see them live on their massive joint tour. Or maybe you already did, because they've been on the road for two weeks or so now. I hear they played to about ten people in Harrogate, maybe one of those was you? I DON'T KNOW.

Anyway, I "caught up" (this was actually done via email, because I'm just so 21st century or something) with Adam to ask him a few questions. Questions about stuff. Like, Music and stuff. You know what I mean.

My questions are in bold, Adam's responses are not.

You're coming back to the UK, although this isn't your first trip as you toured here late last year with Youthmovies and Blood Red Shoes. How did we treat you last time? Any fond memories you'd like to share?

Let’s just say, after the second day I was ready to become a British citizen. America, for all its good sides, is a brutal place to live if you don’t jibe with status quo—and nobody worth two shits does. We have all these great new laws that outlaw freedoms, take away privacy, and render unlawful the kind of nonviolent civil disobedience that people like Dr. King changed the world with. We’re spied upon. Blacklisted. The place I live was under FBI surveillance for months. But I guess if you’re gonna make a living writing songs and stories about how much you hate and love your country, you can’t ditch out on the fight when shit is at its worst. But, man, Youthmovies, Blood Red Shoes, and Drowned in Sound treated me like a prince.

This is a pretty comprehensive tour - you're actually playing some places I've never even heard of before! Is there anywhere in particular you're looking forward to playing in or exploring?

STONEHENGE!

Your next record is Honey Slides, a collaboration with Youthmovies. I understand that you recorded two of the tracks when you all toured together last year, and it was originally touted as just being a 7". What spurred the decision to upgrade it to a full CD? How did the long distance affect the creative processes you had all worked out when touring together and writing the initial material?

Good question... I’m not sure when it officially became a full-on CD, but the other three tracks were done via the post. I recorded vocals on my tape recorder, mailed the tape to Youthmovies, and they turned them into what they are now.

That's an interesting way of working. Did you have any idea what sort of music they were crafting to go with your vocals? That's got to require a certain amount of trust! I assume the Drowned in Sound tour last year the first time you'd come across each other – did it just 'click' straight away with you all?

To be perfectly honest, I really had no idea, but I trust those guys and their taste without question. But it was like that from the beginning. Last tour, the tour’s photographer, Rob Queenin, and I got insanely drunk after we got off the plane and got lost en route to the first show in Hertford. Got there right when I was supposed to go on, and they took me in just like that. We were instant pals. Their next CD is going to make so many people fall in love with them. Their track “The Naughtiest Girl is a Monitor” is one of the best songs I’ve ever heard.

Beyond this, you've got a double EP set coming out through Bad Drone Media. Give us a bit of gossip about these records - what inspired you while making them?

The first side we recorded, Whidbey Island, was inspired by the place it’s named after. My buddy Thad and I were hanging out on the island back in January and we figured why not just set up some mics and try and capture the vibe. It was beautiful; a roomy little house on the cliff’s edge, all big sunny windows and a wide view of Puget Sound and the Olympic Peninsula. You should see the pictures!

The Palaces side I wrote on tour this spring. They both share characters and themes, y’know both haunted by the same group of girls—two sisters and their cousin. Palaces has lots of noise and different instruments, where Whidbey Island is clean and simple—vocals, minimal acoustic bass, a track of mandolin, David’s guitar, no effects, just a couple takes and two mics. On Palaces I got to play banjo, piano, kalimba, modified 5-string guitar, and bells—probably some other stuff I’m forgetting.

Also, we might’ve accidentally caught a murder going down in the background. It’s in the first track; really low in the ambient sound that came through the window. I don’t want to say any more and implicate any of my asshole neighbors, but you can hear it if you listen close.

Your lyrics do seem to have a lot of recurring characters in them. Are they actual people from your life, or fictionalised versions? I understand your forthcoming book will explore some of them in more detail, care to give us any more details?

Everyone’s real and nothing’s fictionalized. I change some of the names, depending upon who it is, but some of the songs use real names just because… I guess just because that’s how they feel best. Run Hide Retreat Surrender and the early stuff before that was all real names. The book, Hymn California, takes a lot of their stories further and, actually, a few of the stories include parts of the songs because that’s where they came from first. I won’t have the book in time for tour, but I will have a little novella with a lot of those same characters. It’s called Seasons Loving Nothing. I’m getting copies today. I leave tomorrow morning. Everything is last minute. In fact, I just got a box from the record company with the Palaces / Whidbey Island CDs a couple minutes ago. Up until now I hadn’t seen them. They look like pieces of candy. Hand-painted by Bobby and Jax at Bad Drone. Really beautiful.

You're quite a unique (at least, in my view!) frontman as far as "indie" (speaking in the wider sense) goes, both in your delivery and the way you construct your lyrics. What lead you down this particular path?

I’ve answered this question differently a few times in interviews and I’m guessing that’s because I don’t really know the answer. I used to pick stuff apart and analyze each piece of sound, outline the lyrics, hone the metaphors, and work within several levels of understanding with the narrative structure, but I’ve given up on dissecting it. I started to feel like a fucking frog on a plastic tray with its skinned pinned off to the side and its guts hanging out. Now I just do it and let whatever goes down go down. I’d rather get drunk and stupid and let the tape roll until something happens. People are too fucking conscious.

Your vocals on Honey Slides have an urgency to them that's not really been seen in your earlier work, both in content and delivery. It's quite a contrast to Run Hide Retreat Surrender, which comes across as quite a dark, downbeat and world-weary record. If you listen to both records as a pair, the charge is quite startling - it's like you've gone from a resigned shoulder shrug to an angry Southern preacher or something. Was this down to touring and working with Youthmovies? I've always considered them quite an aggressive, confrontational band, maybe not in a strictly technical way but certainly in the way they put their songs across live.

That’s a great question. The urgency in the music is definitely thanks to the energy those guys put into their stuff, but as far as the lyrics and the delivery, Run Hide Retreat Surrender was me at my most suicidally depressed. I was ready, and willing, to end it all and I think that record was my final attempt to give voice to all that and get rid of the darkness — which was, at the time, overwhelming. I can’t listen to Run Hide Retreat Surrender. There are too many hard things in there that bring it all back. I had to make that record and move on. The way the vocals are on that one, and the way the music is, all that silence, was the only way I could’ve done it at the time. I was in bad shape. It’s a direct transcription of my soul sort of... dying I guess. So now, two long years later, it’s so nice not to think about killing myself all the time and it’s great to not be insanely sad 24 hours a day. I still get low, but there’s more of a balance. “Honey Slides,” the song, is actually Run Hide Retreat Surrender’s epilogue. I did that on purpose, referencing back to the original album and to some of the older songs, to give myself some closure. You can’t live long with those kinds of demons in you. Need to do a space-clearing ceremony or some shit.

You spent a chunk of the spring on a long US tour, which seemed pretty unstructured and largely booked as you went along. Your tour diary painted an interesting picture of it, with some lows and some highs. How do you feel, looking back on it - do you regret doing it in such a way, or did it make it a more fun experience overall?

We ran out of money and got stranded a few times, stumbled into windfalls of cash from shows we thought would bankrupt us, swam in a couple different oceans, got snowed on in eastern woods, sunburned in the desert, almost died a couple times, and were chased by heavy tornado weather in Texas. It was incredible. I have no regrets. As bad as it is having a terrorist for a president, America—the land—is fantastic. Have you been out here?

Yeah, I spent a month last year traveling across the US via Amtrak. I had a really great time, and met lots of awesome people doing awesome things for little tangible personal gain, and some of the best music venues and record shops I've ever been to. I remember you saying in your tour diaries that you prefer playing in smaller cities. Do you find people in such places more appreciative of live music? Some of the best promoters in the UK are in the smaller, less obvious places that often get overlooked, so people have to work harder to get good music to come to them. Is it similar in the States? You've certainly played some really interesting-sounding places this year!

There’s generally a different caliber of person in the small towns. The way they’re raised. They have to work harder for everything and aren’t exposed to as much crazy sensory input and staccato psychic rhythms as you are in the city. They come out... I guess more grounded. A lot of people talk a lot of shit about the Midwestern states in the US. Y’know, it’s the “Bible belt” and all and some young people are afraid of that. But, really, the people you’ll meet there are some of the best in the country. Really caring, dedicated, hardworking, down-to-earth people. No bullshit, y’know. You also have to understand that Americans don’t travel. They don’t actually know the people they’re hating on; they’re just parroting back something they heard on TV or read in magazines. Culture-culture can be really bigoted. If I don’t end up in the South after I decide it’s time to hide from the world and disappear, I know I have a home in the farm-states.

Finally, one of my friends would like to visit Portland sometime soon, and he asks what you would definitely recommend he do if has four days only to spend there.

Tell your friend to let me know beforehand and I’ll show him around. Portland is this great “creative bubble” like all the magazine articles say. Ignore that. The best Portland has nothing to do with bands. If you want to see Portland at its truest, head out to the edge of town. Go up the 84 freeway and see Multnomah Falls. The Columbia River is incredible; you can swim in it in the summer and pick blackberries in the surrounding woods. Sauvie Island is like a Hawaiian plantation by the time July rolls around. So, yeah, there are famous bands, house parties everywhere, and the best strip-club on Earth, but they don’t add up to much next to the jungle islands and hobo camps in the middle of the Willamette River. You can feel the ghosts of fur-trappers, bootleggers, and shanghaied sailors all over the place.

I’ve collaborated with some great musicians here in Portland, but I try and stay away from artistland. I don’t like artists anyway. Too much false reality, living for posterity, and posing.

These days, I live in this wonderful old mansion surrounded in plum and walnut trees and blackberry vine and none of us that live in the place can afford the rent. Nobody works office jobs, or really makes any money, so every penny we pull in—for me that means CDs sold at shows—goes to make rent at the end of the month. When we pull that off, we gather what’s left, go buy a bunch of booze and Chinese food and raise hell until we die. Tell your friend to show up for THAT.

Adam is on tour at the moment, and Honey Slides is now out in shops across the UK. The Palaces/Whidbey Island 12" will hopefully be out by the end of the year in the US through Bad Drone Media, although if you go see Adam on tour he has a limited, handmade double CD set of it for sale. He also has some snazzy, handmade unique badges. Hit up the links below for more details, and tour dates are on his myspace.

links: Adam Gnade @ Myspace | Adam Gnade Official Website | Try Harder Records | Bad Drone Media | Whidbey Island @ Wikipedia

Look See Proof - Local Hero

2007-10-05T15:39:00.000Z

So it's a Friday, right, and nobody wants anything heavy on a Friday, do they? Weekends, parties, drinking, hangovers etc etc. So, y'know, have something that encapsulates all faces of that elusive thing called 'fun'!

It's the video for the new single from Look See Proof, their fourth overall since kicking into action last year. They're kindasortajustabout from Bedford, which happens to be where I spent the majority of my teenage years. When I lived there, all the local kids seemed to do was form crap skate punk bands. I would've killed for a local band as good as Look See Proof are.

Anyway, enough with my leftover teenage angst! They kinda do that skinny jeans bouncy dual-vocals oh-so-popular-with-the-kids indie rock thing, but they do it really well and in a way that's packed with joy and bouncy tunes and stuff. I really like them, yes I do. Have a listen:

Look See Proof - Local Hero

The single is out on 7"/CD/download on November 12th, just after the band complete a stint supporting The Twang. Seriously.

Lots of dates on their myspace, anyway. Go see them - if you don't leave with a grin, you're probably doomed to eternal damnation in the land of beard-stroking post-rockery. OR SOMETHING.

They're also giving away mp3s of both tracks from their first 7":

mp3: Look See Proof - Tell Me Tell Me Tell Me (hosted externally)
mp3: Look See Proof - Start Again (hosted externally)

links: Look See Proof @ Myspace

Celebration - The Modern Tribe

2007-10-03T17:26:00.000Z

Look, we're back! I moved. It was stressful and time consuming, but it's done with. Onwards...

Hey, indie kids! Yes, you! Do you miss TV On The Radio, and their big-haired wall of sound tunes that just make you want to shake your ass? If so, you'll want to give the new Celebration LP a listen, as it's sure to fill the Tunde'n'Dave'n'theothers-shaped hole in your life.

'Jokes' aside, there really are a lot of similarities between the two acts, which mostly fall on the production side. The reason? TV On The Radio's David Sitek handles production duties here. It's very much his "standard fare" (big, big production with lots going on) but if you've heard Return To Cookie Mountain, you'll probably agree with me that this isn't really a bad thing.

So what do the band bring to the table themselves? Great songs, for a start. Fun noisy sections that you wouldn't get in that 'other' band. Superb vocals from frontwoman Katrina Ford, who you can tell could have one hell of a Beth Ditto-style holler in her if she wasn't putting it to far greater use here. Plus, this record HAS BEEN PRODUCED BY DAVID ANDREW SITEK. If you cannot grasp what this means, you are silly. Very silly indeed.

Check out the tracks below, and the new record (entitled The Modern Tribe) is out October 8th through 4AD.

mp3: Celebration - Pony
mp3: Celebration - Tame The Savage

links: Celebration Official Website | Celebration @ Myspace | Celebration @ 4AD.com | 4AD Official Site

ONFIRE001: A Sunny Day In Glasgow

2007-09-26T08:29:00.001Z

Apologies for the complete absence of updates recently, but I'm moving to a new flat on Friday and that, coupled with a growing addiction to Chocolate Orange-flavour Options, is monopolising my time somewhat. There is some stuff on the way though, including an interview with Adam Gnade. Exciting!

On to the point of this update: I am promoting a show tonight! It's the first event under my new "On Fire" banner, which I'm running with a friend and in co-ordination with Smalltown America. Check out my rubbish flyer:

Advance tickets can be bought here until about 3pm today, and if you'd like to know what we / On Fire are going to be up to in future (hopefully there'll be quite a bit!), add us on myspace here. You'll also find links to all three bands' myspace pages there. I'll also be DJing for a bit as well, playing mostly dream pop / shoegaze / Dntel I think. Should be a fun evening!

Holy Fuck - LP

2007-09-11T19:53:00.000Z

Holy Fuck are from Canada, and have a discography that seems designed to perplex. In 2005, they released a full length album that was either self-titled or untitled. Earlier this year, they released an EP that was either self-titled or untitled. About a week ago, their latest release plonked through my letterbox, and it's a new full length album that's apparently called LP. So that, too, is basically either self-titled or untitled. It's also, just to add further confusion, referred to as their debut album in the press release from their label. CONFUSING, CONFUSING PEOPLE.

Anyway, here's something not confusing: Holy Fuck are great. They create huge, irrepressible rhythms that bash on and on in your head and refuse to leave, largely improved live and worked up while on tour. This new album sees them develop this unusual method of songwriting further than has been seen in the past, adding some nice additional instruments (possibly due to the influence of Broken Social Scene's David Newfield, on production duties here) and some fun sci-fi keyboard effects into the mix. It's really a lot of fun to listen to, and the layering is such that there are always new things to discover and pick up on. One also imagines that they would rather, rather good live. Probably quite loud, as well.

That's the front cover, that is. Have a pair of tunes to enjoy:

mp3: Holy Fuck - Milkshake
mp3: Holy Fuck - Frenchy's

The album itself is out October 22nd on Young Turks / XL (I believe Arts & Crafts are handling it in North America), and the band are touring Europe touring with !!! around that time. That's going to be a nice double-header, f'sure, although I'm not sure it beats the US dates they're playing this month with Wolf Parade. Lucky Americans!

links: holy fuck official site | holy fuck @ myspace | xl recordings official site

Adam Gnade & Youthmovies

2007-09-06T17:27:00.000Z

Cor, this is a special one. Out later this month is a release I've been looking forward to for quite a long time. It's called Honey Slides, and it's a collaborative effort between Oxford's finest proponents of postprogpoprock, Youthmovies (neé Soundtrack Strategies), and Oregon's finest proponent of postweirdfolktalkingsongs, Adam Gnade. As I understand it, the history of this record begins with a Drowned In Sound-sponsored tour last year that they all ended up on together, and was originally planned as a two-track 7". However, releases take time in the indie world and in the year since that tour took place, the 7" expanded to a 5 track CDEP. And what a good thing that is. For us, the listeners. Yeah. US!

I can remember exactly when I fell in love with both sides of this meeting. With Youthmovies, it was the very first time I ever saw them, shoehorned into the opening slot of a Death Cab For Cutie show in early 2004. They had a thirty minute slot but lasted only twenty before the drum kit fell apart from just how hard it was being hit. With Adam Gnade, I spent a miserable, wet Sunday afternoon repeatedly listening to the 4 tracks on his myspace player over and over and over and over and over and over. His words and vocal delivery sucked me in, and a part of me has stayed in his world of dusty highways, failed lives and drunkenness ever since.

For a record that only just tops twenty minutes, there are a huge number of bases touched here. The title track is a skittish, beat-pounding dance number, with Gnade ranting like a man possessed, while "It's Five O'Clock In America", underpinned by it's marching band drums, sounds like a rallying battlecry for a society on it's deathbed. The second half of the the record is a lot more of an ethereal experience, with "We Were Born From Floodwaters" featuring some skittish electronics and looped guitars that build and build and build under a typically-apocalyptic Gnade lyric. Indeed, Gnade's contributions are one of the unassailable strengths of this record - while his "talking songs" (see his website for more details of what this entails) vocal delivery may take a while to adjust to, and you may not always know what he's on about, there's just something about what he's saying that you cannot ignore. Can-not-ig-nore. Although that isn't to sell short Youthmovies' contributions, who manage to turn out music that sounds almost nothing like what they usually offer. It's an inspiring turn for them, and shows really quite how versatile they are.

Simply put: I love this record.

So here's a track for your listening pleasure, the snappily-titled "We're Unknowing In The Crosshairs, We Walk Unknowing In The Crosshairs".

mp3: Adam Gnade & Youthmovies - We're Unknowing In The Crosshairs, We Walk Unknowing In The Crosshairs

If you want more, a couple of other tracks are scattered across myspace right now.

Adam Gnade joins Youthmovies for a massive tour of the UK next month, and for a full list of dates check either his or their myspace in the links below. It's well worth your time going out to see them, as they're also taking along some fantastic support bands. Tour of the year? Maybe so... The EP is out to coincide on September 24th, through Try Harder Records. Hit up these links for more info:

links: adam gnade @ myspace | adam gnade official site | youthmovies @ myspace | try harder records @ myspace | try harder records official site

Johnny Cash - I Hung My Head

2007-09-02T18:18:00.000Z

Just a quick, spur-of-the-moment update..

I shan't attempt to write any words on Mr Johnny Cash, as millions of others have done so since his death a few years ago, and there's nothing new I could add. So just download and listen to this song, because it's one of the finest pieces of music I've ever heard. It's from his American IV: The Man Comes Around LP, which was the last one released before his death.

mp3: Johnny Cash - I Hung My Head

Would you believe it was originally written by Sting?

Devastations - Yes, Them

2007-08-20T18:18:00.000Z

I stumbled upon Australia's Devastations at April's Dirty Three-curated All Tomorrow's Party festival. The programme had an amusingly pretentious description of their music, claiming it was about 'silence' and the noise one can make to fill the gaps in between the periods of 'silence'. I decided that, with a write up that.. well... wanky, I couldn't really miss them. So I didn't, and I was very very glad I didn't - they completely blew me away. I was expecting (based on a combination of the programme and the name) something incredibly 'wacky' and heavy, and (thankfully) I was wrong on both counts. What I got was a 45 minutes of intense, intense music, stuff that was layered and clustered beyond belief, and - in a way - about gaps in silence. Gaps in silence that were filled with huge, beautiful noises. Unfortunately, I didn't actually buy any of their CDs that weekend because I spent all my money on cider and pizza. Festivals, eh?

Anyway, a kind person at Beggars, their new label, decided to mail me a copy of their new record Yes, U, which is out in early September (the 17th, according to the press release). It's lovely, and exactly what I was hoping it would sound like: big, immersive, noisy, warm and fuzzy - music that seems to soar forever upwards. Post rock (used in the loosest sense!) with a heart and soul? Kinda. But it's a broken heart and a dirrrty soul full of infidelities. There's also a lot of urgency here, the kind of urgency that the best pop music has, and the knowledge that you should never stay around in one place for too long because there's always an end point that must be reached.

Hey, would you look at that - I'm writing like the ATP programme!

In all seriousness, this is great stuff. Also great: the band are playing in the UK soon, taking in the End Of The Road festival on September 15th, and a headline show at the Water Rats in London on September 18th. Can anyone spot me a tenner for a ticket? I have to move soon, and I don't think I can afford one. No? SADFACE.

Here are two tracks to check out. 'Rosa' is a screaming beast of a track, a bloody murder caused by pounding drums and guitar abuse Sonic Youth would be proud of, while 'The Pest' is a mellower affair, underpinned by a fuzzy drumbeat and featuring some ace vocals and guitar work. Coupled together, I think they perfectly illustrate the dual nature of this album..

mp3: Devastations - Rosa
mp3: Devastations - The Pest

links: official website | devastations @ myspace | devastations @ flickr

The Sunday Morning Twee #2: Colin Clary

2007-08-19T07:53:00.000Z

Colin Clary is, according to his myspace, from Vermont in the United States. I've never been there, but I did once get very drunk on some cider made from Vermont apples at a Gang Gang Dance show in Chicago. It was about £1.50/pint and very, very tasty. True story!

He also writes a lot of songs in a lot of different projects, some of which he has released on the absolutely-wonderful Asaurus Records. By 'some of which', I mean 'the ones I have'. Basically, it's just simple indiepop, with all the indiepop hallmarks - fuzzy production, drum machines, cheap keyboards, crooning vocals, the whole caboodle - but there's a sense of glee and wonder in his songs that few others match.

He's also, apparently, a key proponent of the "Be Nice Revolution". Awwwwwwwwww! That definitely needs a webpage...

Check out some tracks below, all taken from his 2005 solo album Sweater Weather Or Not, These Are The Songs I Got. The album actually comes in a minature sweater, y'know. Seriously, I love Asaurus Records so much it's slightly disturbing. They're also putting out a new album for him, hopefully before the end of the year, so I guess they'll be getting more of my money...

mp3: Colin Clary - The Engine Light's Always On
mp3: Colin Clary - The Mixtape On My Mind
mp3: Colin Clary - Tiny Teeth

There are some links below as well, although I'm not sure how much use a lot of them are besides the Asaurus Records one (which has a complete discography) as a lot of the links seem to be dead or un-updated. Sadface. NOTE TO MUSICIANS: PROPER WEBSITES ARE GREAT.

Some nice PR/label people have sent me some awesome records in the last two weeks, so hopefully there'll be some more updates coming before Thursday, when I'm off to Reading to spend four days getting drunk in muddy fields and paying over the odds for poorly-cooked food.

links: colin clary @ myspace | asaurus records

The Sunday Morning Twee #1: Cheese On Bread

2007-08-05T07:49:00.000Z

Cheese On Bread are from the United States somewhere, formed while the two main guilty parties were at university a few years ago. No, wait! Don't run away! There's no third-gen copy-of-a-copy-of-something-that-wasn't-really-that-great-in-the-first-place "angular" rubbish here, and certainly no bland pub rock. Apparently, when American students form bands, they write cheeky, funny lyrics and turn the twee up to 13.

So yeah, Cheese On Bread. Underpinned by co-front-people Sara (who, with four months to go, wins the Daniel's Cute Indie Girl Of 2007 prize) and Dan (quality name there), their tracks have that wonderful ramshackle quality of the best indie pop, bringing to mind the obvious likes of Beat Happening and that whole C86 scene THING. Plus, in style of a lot of twee bands, they have a lot of silly promotional pictures:

We love the silly. On top of his, however, they posess a lyrical style that seems designed to produce the maximum number of smiles possible within the confine of a two minute song. Observe:

"'my last boyfriend was a bit of a snob' / 'but you should've known it from the sound of his job / he was a corporate bank investment whore'" - 'Where The Fuck Are They?'
"when i talk to you, i can't tell what's diseased and what's your heart / yeah, talking to you is like walking through a modern art gallery" - 'Modern Art Gallery'

Wonderful, wonderful stuff, and that's without including any of 'Biological Romance', which includes a short monologue about a gay frog changing sex because his parents don't approve of his relationship.

So far they have two albums, 2004's Maybe Maybe Maybe Baby, and 2007's The Search for Colonel Mustard, which came out a few short weeks ago so I don't have it yet. They also completed their first ever (I think, anyway) tour of Europe last month, and I unfortunately had to miss the London date. Well, I say 'unfortunate', but I missed it because I had a ticket to see Animal Collective at the Coronet in grim grim grim grim GRIM Elephant & Castle that night. They were great, so it wasn't too bad. But, note for promoters: PLZ AVOID ANNOYING CLASHES IN FUTURE THANKS BYE.

Here are three songs, all taken fro Maybe Maybe Maybe Baby. When I finally get around to picking up The Search for Colonel Mustard, expect a post about that as well, if for no other reason so I can put the song 'Sexy Anarchist Boy' up for download, as it's even better than the title suggests.

mp3: Modern Art Gallery
mp3: I Like Cheese
mp3: Stepping Out Of Ketosis

Before I finish this one up, I should point out that UK people can, with the current wonderful exchange rate, buy both of their albums for about £5 each online (excluding shipping). Which is dead cheap. So, really, you have no excuse..

links: official website | cheese on bread @ myspace

Overlooked Records of 2007 #1: Dntel - Dumb Luck

2007-07-26T17:34:00.000Z

I think numbering this entry as so is more blind optimism than anything else, but there you go.

Dntel is one of the projects of James Tamborello, who's also released music under the name of James Figurine, as part of Figurine itself, and most notably as half of the million-selling-massive-cult-superstars The Postal Service. Yeah, you know them - they did that song, Such Great Heights, which you probably left running all night so your Last FM would look 5upEr C00oooool!!1!! Or you've danced to it in a club / your bedroom with a massive gleeful grin on your face.

Did you know that Give Up by The Postal Service is the second biggest selling album Sub Pop have released, beaten only by Nirvana's Bleach? Now you do.

Back on track: The Postal Service was a spin off of one of the tracks on 2001's Life Is Full Of Possibilities Dntel LP, an album that saw Tamborello's indie-flecked glitchy electronica paired with a number of different vocalists. Dumb Luck, released at the end of April, takes a similar tack - title track aside (which features Tamborello's own vocals), each track features a different guest vocalist, including turns from Jenny Lewis, Conor Oberst and Andrew Broder. Musically, it's a shimmering beast of a record, almost-electro/shoegaze in tones. It reminds me a lot in places of M83, but with the big pop choons that made The Postal Service such a joy.

It seems to have largely been either ignored or passed over with indifference by the press, which I think is something of a shame.

Here are two tracks, the title track and Breakfast In Bed, which features a star vocal turn from Conor Oberst.

mp3: Dntel - Dumb Luck
mp3: Dntel - Breakfast In Bed

links: official myspace | dntel @ wikipedia

The Boyish Charms - They Lie In Their Record Titles!

2007-07-16T19:46:00.000Z

Here are the two most inaccurately named records ever produced:

1/ Sum 41 - All Killer, No Filler
2/ The Boyish Charms - Nothing Spectacular Awaits

Two very different albums with very, very misleading titles. If it's all right with everyone, however, I'm going to focus on the one in the number 2 position...

The Boyish Charms are a four-piece from San Diego, California, and their most recent album, the aforementioned Nothing Spectacular Awaits, emerged at the start of this year through the rather-rather-incredibly-so-actually Asaurus Records.

[A brief interruption - Asaurus Records are fanfuckingtastic. The majority of their releases are beautiful hand made CDR efforts that cost, at current exchange rates, around £3 each. You should buy some. I should buy some more. They're fantastic, end of.]

The record consists of 15 tracks of lovely, gentle folk-tinged indiepop, with some lovely, effective instrumentation on some tracks. I'm struggling for more to say, really - I suppose it's just proof that sometimes the best things in life are the things that are uncluttered and simple!

Here are two tracks from said album.

mp3: The Boyish Charms - Because I Swear
mp3: The Boyish Charms - All My Knives

links: official website | official myspace | Asaurus Records

Black Box Recorder - Life Is Unfair...

2007-07-09T21:24:00.000Z

While on holiday, I picked up the collected edition of the first six issues of a rather fine little comic entitled Phonogram, the subject of which is a heady mixture of magic and indie - basically, the lead character is a mage who gains his power from music, specifically Britpop. I highly recommend you check out, it's a great read and fantastically drawn. Much like my favourite albums, it's charms are slowly revealed with multiple reads.

Anyway, certain Britpop stars have cameo appearances, but none more important (really) than a certain longtime indie curmudgeon, Mr Luke Haines. As a result of reading it, I've realised that he's someone who despite owning LPs by both his 'main' projects (The Auteurs and Black Box Recorder respectively), I didn't really have much of an opinion on either of them.

So I decided to alleviate my boredom at work today by giving both a spin - in one corner The Auteur's 1996 Steve Albini-produced After Murder Park, and in the other Black Box Recorder's 1998 debut England Made Me. To be honest, in an opinion that got me no little amount of abuse, I really do prefer the Black Box Recorder album. They're very, very different beasts, but BBR's combination of ambient / lush backing, Sarah Nixey's gorgeous vocals and Haines' biting, sarcastic lyrics just works for me a lot more.

Here are a couple of tracks to check out, anyway. The first is absolutely gorgeous, and makes me wish the end of the world would hurray up, and the second one apparently caused some level of outrage when released, due to the lyrics in the chorus. I can't possibly think why...

mp3: Black Box Recorder - It's Only The End Of The World
mp3: Black Box Recorder - Child Psychology

links: Black Box Recorder @ Wikipedia | Luke Haines @ Wikipedia | Luke Haines Official Website

The Moist Towelettes - Get Moist. Stay Moist. Fly.

2007-07-07T21:13:00.000Z

Warning: If you do not like twee music, I'd advise against proceeding. Really.

Last warning.

Onwards.

I spent the last week of June away from the seemingly-unending rain the UK is currently experiencing in sunny, sunny, incredibly sunny Toronto. While I was there, I did my usual holiday gig choosing formula - scanning through the local listings for anything that sounded interesting or unusual, and then going. This led me to see The Moist Towelettes, a Canadian/Japanese (really: two Canadian boys, two Japanese girls, formed in Tokyo) pop band.

It was an, uhm, interesting experience. Their emphasis is firmly on the pop, with harmonies and keyboards and co-ordinated dancing (thankfully, just from the girls); stylistically I suppose, they reminded me of The Pipettes, but there was something a lot more honest and fun and just plain adorable about them. Here's a silly photo:

This photo also graces the back cover of the EP I picked up at the show. Really.

Anyway, here are two songs from said EP - it's self-released (and looks lovely!), so probably a bit tricky to get hold of, and while it doesn't quite capture the sheer amounts of fun that come spilling off the stage at one of their live shows, it's definitely a bundle of the small and joyous variety.

GET MOIST HERE:

mp3: The Moist Towelettes - Shibuya Station
mp3: The Moist Towelettes - Sunshine (Hey, Hey, Hey)

links: official website | official myspace

Galaxie 500 - Don't Let Your Youth Go To Waste

2007-06-20T18:45:00.000Z

If you'd tried to look for me last night, you'd have found sweltering in the heat at The Metro on Oxford Street. Why? Two reasons; firstly, the debut London show by Noo Yoik shoegaze wonderkids Asobi Seksu (more on them in another post!), and secondly a headline set by Dean & Britta. The Dean in the aforementioned act is a guy named Dean Wareham, who once upon a time fronted a band called Galaxie 500.

Galaxie 500 are, in many ways, one of the most forgotten and most influential bands of the last 20 years. Forming while studying at Harvard in 1986, they produced three albums of slow, beautiful pop songs that conjure up images of long, lazy summer days and teenage infatuation. With their debut album, 1988's Today, they basically invented shoegaze, and created a template that other acts would copy and add to but rarely better. They put out two other LPs during their life time, all critically-acclaimed but commercially-ignored, and split in 1991 when Wareham left the band. All three of their albums were reissued a few years ago by Ryokodisc, with bonus tracks and interesting liner notes. Oh, and tinted jewel cases. Can't forget those..

This post has come about because midway through Dean & Britta's set, they dropped in Galaxie 500's debut single Tugboat. Which was very nice indeed. So here it is, along with original b-side King Of Spain. Both tracks originally came out as a 7" in early 1988, and can now be found on the Ryokodisc reissue of Today.

mp3: Galaxie 500 - Tugboat
mp3: Galaxie 500 - King Of Spain

Links: Galaxie 500 @ Wikipedia | Dean & Britta Official Site | Dean & Britta Official Myspace

| A Head Full Of Wishes

Okkervil River - new album!

2007-06-03T09:38:00.000Z

I love festivals. I especially love festivals that take place in a holiday camp that has nice chalets, wandering ducks, arcades with Time Crisis and House Of The Dead and onsite chip shops that do amazing chips & cheese. So, y'know, I really, really like All Tomorrow's Parties. Really. Lots.

I went to both of the recent weekenders (April's Dirty Three-curated event, and May's incredible ATP Vs The Fans one), and had absolutely incredible times at both.

One of my highlights of the Vs The Fans weekend were Austin's Okkervil River, in their first UK show since 2006. I love Okkervil River, their songs manage to be melancholic and sinster and wistful all at the same time, and frontman Will Sheff has an incredible voice. He's also really, really hot. Ahem.

Anyway, they have a new album out soon! August, to be precise. August the 7th (US date, innit) on long-time-home-and-fab-little-label Jagjaguwar, to be preciser. It's called The Stage Names, and the front cover looks like this:

Exciting! Also exciting: they're going to be back in the UK before the end of the year for a full tour to support the new album. Dear Mr Okkervil River Man: please can I have a job selling merch when you are here? Please? PLEASE?

Here are three highlights from their back catalogue. The first two tracks are taken from 2005's rather incredible Black Sheep Boy LP, while the third is from their 2002 debut album Don't Fall In Love With Everyone You See (wise advice..) and features vocals from Daniel Johnston. It's divine.

mp3: Okkervil River - For Real
mp3: Okkervil River - Song Of Our So-Called Friend
mp3: Okkervil River - Happy Hearts

links: the okkervil river navigation auxiliary guild | official myspace | jagjaguwar records | okkervil river @ wikipedia

Wolf Parade - new live tracks

2007-05-13T13:06:00.000Z

Good news, everyone - Wolf Parade are back! They're announced some new North American tour dates (they're playing at the Black Cat in Washington DC, which is basically the best venue everrrrrrrrrrr) and that they've nearly finished a new album!

This is very good news, as 2005's debut album Apologies To The Queen Mary is a real joy of a record, full of pounding beats and yelping and songs that can't help but make you smile with their wistfulness (is that a word?).

They also played a load of new material while touring the album, and here's some of it! Three new tracks, all live, and all (according to the tags) recorded at Seattle's Showbox Theatre on August 21st 2006. Not sure if any of these will make it onto the forthcoming album, but they're all rather good (especially Cathedral Bells, which has some amazing distressed vocals going on) and the quality, while not amazing, is listenable. Enjoy, and check out the Sub Pop link below for some more mp3s to download!

mp3: Wolf Parade - Bed's Exploding (Live Seattle Showbox Theatre 21.08.2006)
mp3: Wolf Parade - Cathedral Bells (Live Seattle Showbox Theatre 21.08.2006)
mp3: Wolf Parade - Things I Don't Know (Live Seattle Showbox Theatre 21.08.2006)

links: official myspace | sub pop records band page

Optimist Club - back in action!

2007-05-07T16:41:00.000Z

Long time, no updates. Bad Daniel... But you can now add us as a "friend" on myspace, should you so want. Exciting!

For about eight months of last year, Optimist Club were one of the most exciting bands tearing up the London 'scene'. Their shows were loud, sweaty, explosions of frantic drumming and pummelling guitar. An amp even exploded at one show I saw. Their debut album, entitled Ripped & Psyched: How To Be A Winner, came out in September (although it sadly still lacks decent distribution), and managed what so many bands of their type fail to do - it accurately captured the intensity and ferocity of their live shows, and also added in some crazy sax playing. All seemed peachy for them. Sadly, just before the end of 2006 they lost their drummer, and this has seen them out of action for the last six months.

But fear not, for they're back! Reunited with their original drummer, named Adam, the band return to gigging tomorrow, playing at a launch party for a new zine called This Is Bad News. This, obviously, is good news. They're playing at The Horse & Groom on Curtain Road E1, and to make this an even better prospect, they're playing with the alsoveryace Tiger Force. And there's free cake. Cor!

Here are two tracks from the previously-mentioned debut album. You can buy the album either from the band at shows or via the paypal mail order button on their myspace. DO IT! They've also got some more dates coming up, so go see them if you can!

mp3: Optimist Club - 40,000 Years
mp3: Optimist Club - Red Wizard Is About To Die

links: official myspace | dumb beasts records | this is bad news zine

Sonic Youth live

2007-04-24T20:38:00.000Z

I promised more Sonic Youth last week, yes I did. Actually, I promised it last week, but I seemed to spend most of the week drunk and watching bands, so it never happened. I'd apologise, but I'm not sure I'm sorry so much..

Anyway, here's some more. My copy of the previously-discussed Washing Machine album came with a bonus CD, featuring four tracks recorded, according to the excellent (if out of date) Sonic Youth discography, at a show in Paris on September 12th 1995, for a French radio station. You get a cut-down version of Washing Machine's epic/badass (delete as appropriate) closer 'The Diamond Sea', two cuts from 1988's classic Daydream Nation (including a rather brutal take on 'Eric's Trip') and 'The Starfield Road' from previous LP Experimental Jet Set, Trash And No Star. Which I don't have. Is it good? Should I buy it? Anyway, It all sounds quite brutal live, I remember listening to it on headphones once and feeling as if I were having shards of metal rammed into my ears.

Not a bad thing, I think you'll agree.

mp3: Sonic Youth - Starfield Road (Live Paris 12.09.1995)
mp3: Sonic Youth - Eric's Trip (Live Paris 12.09.1995)
mp3: Sonic Youth - The Diamond Sea (Live Paris 12.09.1995)
mp3: Sonic Youth - Teenage Riot (Live Paris 12.09.1995)

links: sonic youth | washing machine discog entry

Petition - Save The Spitz!

2007-04-21T16:53:00.000Z

THIS IS IMPORTANT! As has been reported in various bits of the UK music press over the last few weeks, The Spitz, a simply fantastic venue in East London with a really elclectic and interesting booking program, has been given six months to vacate the premises by their landlords.

This is, apparently, to replace it with a gastropub and some 'luxury apartments'. Because, in seems, London doesn't already have enough of these. Hmmmm.

What can be done?

Well, the easiest thing to do is to sign this online petition that has been set up.

Beyond that, the best thing you can do is actually go there as much as possible. See bands, have a drink or a meal - don't put off going to shows there, because it might be gone. You can check out a list of their upcoming events right here, and their restaurant has a page here.

It'd be terrible to lose The Spitz, it really would.

Sonic Youth - Washing Machine

2007-04-15T17:08:00.000Z

I really do love Sonic Youth. I'm not sure I can say anything about them that hasn't been said a million times previously and in a far more eloquent way than I could ever do. Go read their chapter in Our Band Could Be Your Life if you want to know how important, unique and magical they really are. In fact, just go and read that book anyway, as it's fantastic.

This afternoon I've been listening to one of the more overlooked parts of their discog, 1995's Washing Machine LP. It's something of a mellow record for the time period, probably a result of Kim Gordon's pregnancy keeping them off the road for a few years, but it has a nice summery sound that's working well with the wonderful, wonderful weather today has provided.

I've uploaded three tracks from the album. The first is a Thurston Moore truck, and one of the album's heavier moments, and quite bitter - wonder who it was aimed at, eh? EH?. The second is a Kim Gordon one, and it's not only incredibly dreamy and offbeat, but also features a wonder guest vocal from Kim Deal (yeah, her of Pixies / The Breeders). Finally, we have 'The Diamond Sea', which is the album's monumental closing track, and at over 19 minutes the longest (non-SYR, anyway) Sonic Youth album track. It's one hell of a song.

mp3: Sonic Youth - Junkie's Promise
mp3: Sonic Youth - Little Trouble Girl
mp3: Sonic Youth - The Diamond Sea

Oh, and there'll be some more Sonic Youth along later this week. Oh yes..

links: sonic youth | washing machine discog entry

Alan MX - he does his own stunts

2007-04-11T20:04:00.000Z

Alan MX is one of increasingly-rare finds - an unsigned artist on myspace who contacts via myspace you who doesn't completely and utterly suck. Seriously, think about it - how many bands have tried to add you in the last, oooh, two weeks, and how many of them have ben so bad you wouldn't even bother bottling them if they were playing ten feet in front of you? 'zactly.

Anyway, he spins out what could vaguely be termed lo-fi bedroom electronica. Imagine Beck if he was in his early 20s now, and had access to all the gadgets we have, but with tip offs from the likes of Björk, Peaches, The Eraser and suchlike. He also spins a lot of this stuff, with apparently three albums worth of material complete despite the fact he's never played live. Crazy. Note to promoters: BOOK HIM AND MAKE HIM START!

Here are two tracks from a CDR entitled I Do My Own Stunts, and a Peaches cover (yeah, THAT Peaches song) taken from a covers project he's also currently working on. I think he promised to do me a cover of Born To Run as part of that. If he does that, he'll get another entry, I guarantee it.

mp3: Alan MX - Conceal/Reveal/Go
mp3: Alan MX - These Caves
mp3: Alan MX - Fuck The Pain Away

Oh yeah, time for a bit of JAGing: another track from I Do My Own Stunts is going to appear on a compilation CD I've put together for Smalltown America. It's out on July 2nd, and more details can be found here.

links: myspace

The Wedding Present - some fun covers!

2007-04-08T20:17:00.000Z

Just a quick one tonight!

I've long been of the opinion that most songs can be improved by:

a) playing them faster.
b) playing them louder.
c) shouting the lyrics in the style of The Bitterest Man In The World™

Apparently, David Gedge of The Wedding Present agrees with me. In that style, here are two covers of theirs, the first taken from the reissue of 1989's Bizarro, the second from the reissue of 1991's Seamonsters. Incidentally, both of these reissues are available for a measly five pounds in most branches of Fopp, and are well worth your money. Enjoy!

mp3: The Wedding Present - It's Not Unusual
mp3: The Wedding Present - Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me)

links: Scopitones

Ryan Adams - 48 Hours

2007-04-01T19:49:00.000Z

If you were to know only one thing about Ryan Adams, it'd probably be that he was incredibly, incredibly productive. If you were to know only one thing about me, it'd probably be that I absolutely adore most of what he does.

Between 1994 and 1999 Adams was frontman and chief songwriter with Whiskeytown, who produced three official LPs and a bunch of singles. Since the band's dissolution, he's produced eight solo albums. Yeah, eight. Three of which came out in 2005. Album number nine, Easy Tiger is due in June. As if this wasn't enough, there are a number of unreleased sessions floating around in the dark corners of the internets. This is one of them. Here is it's story.

In early 2001, Adams produced what was to be his second solo album, and his solo major label debut, the critically lauded and well-selling Gold. That album was the flipside of his first solo album. While Heartbreaker was a tender, stripped back album, Gold was a big, big record, with layer upon layer of instrumentation and backing singers. As the "legend" has it, the night he finished Gold, he called up producer Ethan Johns and said he wanted to go into the studio and cut another record, a much-more stripped back one, and to do it quickly with minimal fuss. Eleven brand new songs were recorded across two days (hence the title, I guess), mostly live in the studio and with minimal (if any) overdubs.

Obviously, his new label wasn't willing to release a new album straight after Gold, so it was put on hold. Across 2001 and during a hefty touring schedule, a number of sessions were recorded, so at one point there were four possible successor records to Gold. With no chance of a major label unleashing that many albums for a relatively untested artist, the four were trimmed down into one, 2002's Demolition record (see the title? geddit? GEDDIT?). There were rumours of a 4-CD boxset to finally release the full versions, but this never happened. Eventually the sessions made their way onto the internet in full.

So what we have here is a rough, unfinished (unmastered and in need of better mixing) 'album'. It's rootsy, it's very country (lots of acoustic guitars and harmonica) and while it's not one of his best, it's well worth a listen. Three of the tracks made it onto Demolition (I've not uploaded those, go buy it!) and they're all great, and it completely baffles me that Karina never did - it's one of my favourite Adams compositions, breezy and bitter at the same time. Out of the rest, Walls is nice, Angelina was eventually recycled as Dance All Night on 2005's Cold Roses and Blue has that ache that so many of his slower numbers do. Here it is, anyway:

Ryan Adams - 48 Hours
01 - Hallelujah
02 - Walls
03 - Desire
04 - Angelina
05 - Like The Twilight
06 - Chin Up, Cheer Up
07 - Born Yesterday
08 - Blue
09 - One For The Rose
10 - Karina (False Start)
11 - Karina
12 - Little Moon

I didn't make the dodgy bootleg artwork, by the way.

And with that, I'm done geeking out about Ryan Adams. For now. FOR NOW!!!!!

links: official website | answering bell

Jetplane Landing - exclusive new track!

2007-03-31T09:33:00.000Z

If I were to write some kind of High Fidelity-esque Top 5 Bands Of All Time What I Have Loved And Stalked On Tour™ list, Jetplane Landing would most definitely make the cut. But I won't, because it'd be a terrible, terrible list.

I first encountered them supporting Seafood (someone else who'd probably make that list, actually..) at the Electric Ballroom in Camden Town in May 2002, and from then on I started trying to see them play as often as possible. Their live sets were loud, intense, sweaty and often accompanied by a lot of alcohol. The first record was the meeting point between Pavement, At The Drive-In and Elliott Smith. The second was a raging, angry beast, chock full of massive riffs and born of two years of touring the UK's toilet scene. Members of the band set up their own label to release the band's music, and started a non-profit compilation series that to date has seen eight volumes and profiled around 150 bands. They were articulate, gave great interviews, always had a sense of humour about themselves, and would gladly talk to / drink with their fans after their shows. Like Black Flag or the Minutemen or the Manics in their heyday, they were a band you could believe in. Our band could be your life? For a glorious year, this band was my life! On the tours to support their second album, 2003's Once Like A Spark, I saw them play eleven times. Eleven times. Never once was I bored.

Gosh, I went off on one there, didn't I? Anyway...

A slot at last year's Truck Festival aisde, they've pretty quiet since late 2004. However, a new record has now been completed! It's called Backlash Cop, and it's currently due for release June 4th through Smalltown America. I don't want to say too much about it, but any reports you've heard of a new "funk" direction shouldn't be discounted..

A new track entitled "Lungs Of Punk" was released online a few weeks ago, but I'm proud to be presenting another new track. It's entitled Why Do They Never Play Les Savy Fav On The Radio?. Seriously. Actually, I'm probably not allowed to call it an "exclusive" as it was played on Radio 1 recently, but this is sure as heck the only place where you can download it...

As well as this, I've also uploaded some older tracks - This Is Not Revolution Rock was their bands debut single, and The New Standard was a b-side to the Brave Gravity CD single. It's pretty rockin', and a personal favourite.

mp3: Jetplane Landing - Why Do They Never Play Les Savy Fav On The Radio?
mp3: Jetplane Landing - This Is Not Revolution Rock
mp3: Jetplane Landing - The New Standard

Enjoy, and who knows - I may have another one for you soon...

links: official website | official myspace | smalltown america records

Help She Can't Swim - Hospital Drama

2007-03-29T18:29:00.000Z

Another slack week for updates! It's also become apparent to me that, at some point, my bandwidth limit was reached, and downloads stopped working. This has now been fixed, so apologies if you were trying to download something and couldn't. I've also added an RSS feed option, if you're that way inclined. As always, please feel free to email me if you spot any problems!

Rejoice, for Help She Can't Swim's new album finally has a release date! April 30th is (apparently) the date set for the release of The Death Of Nightlife. It's been much delayed for various reasons (a lineup change chiefly) - I have a postcard somewhere advertising a "summer '06" release - but it's finally nearly with us. If you don't know the band, they're kindof how I imagine The Blood Brothers would sound if they were English and had a sneaking love for Belle & Sebastian and Bearsuit. Their debut album, from waaaaaaaaay back in late 2004, was a 25 minute orgy of guitar abuse, vocals that sound downright painful at times, and cheap keyboards, yet all done in a slightly twee way.

Don't worry, I'm not really sure that description makes much sense to me either. Anyway, having heard their new album I'm quite happy and confident to say that it builds on the strengths of the first one and discards it's weaknesses, and is an alltogether much better record very much deserving of your hard-earned money. Hurrah!

In advance of the album's release, they have a new single out this week. Entitled Hospital Drama, it's available on two 7"s (one a picture disc, one not), and it's probably their finest single to date. I saw them play the first date of their UK tour to support the release on Monday night, and jolly good they were too. The reports from their tour supporting The Blood Brothers were very mixed, and when I saw them in Oxford they weren't brilliant. But, tucked back in a tiny, hot club, they really gave it all they could. They looked a lot happier to be playing a smaller venue, and a lot happier to be playing as a four piece.

Here are some MP3s: you've got the single itself, two tracks from Fashionista Super Dance Troupe (the aforementioned debut) and as a bonus, the video for the single.

mp3: Help She Can't Swim - Hospital Drama
mp3: Help She Can't Swim - Are You Feeling Fashionable?
mp3: Help She Can't Swim - The Dance Party Turned Into A Wake

As previously mentioned, The Death Of Nightlife is out on April 30th, through Fantastic Plastic Records. The band are on tour across the UK in the meantime, dates on their myspace page.

links: official myspace | fantastic plastic records

The Smashing Pumpkins - 1993 VPRO acoustic session

2007-03-19T20:36:00.000Z

No updates recently, I'm afraid I've been out stalking bands. Five gigs in five nights is quite hard work...

Anyway, as you may or may not have noticed, tonight The Smashing Pumpkins were announced as one of the headliners for this year's Reading & Leeds Festivals. It's the band's first UK dates since their arena dates in late 2000, and since Billy Corgan announced he was resurrecting the band in summer 2005. Being said, the only band member to confirm inclusion so far is drummer Jimmy Chamberlain, so the extent to which the band is "back" is open to debate. It also remains to be seen if the forthcoming album (due in July) will actually be any cop.. Still, I never saw them live, so I'm very excited about getting a chance to this year.

So, as a small celebration, here's something nice from the archives. It's taken from arguably the band's finest period, the length tour in support of 1993's Siamese Dream LP. While that LP saw the multi-tracked guitars cranked up to maximum, and supporting shows awash with carthartic feedback and extended jams (and James Iha's raygun!), this live performance sees the band completely stripped back and playing acoustically. You get five tracks from the album, and a cover of Thin Lizzy's "Dancing In The Moonlight". No, not that song Toploader did...

All tracks recorded live for VPRO Radio in the Netherlands on the 6th June 1993.

mp3: The Smashing Pumpkins - Rocket (VPRO Acoustic Session)
mp3: The Smashing Pumpkins - Cherub Rock (VPRO Acoustic Session)
mp3: The Smashing Pumpkins - Today (VPRO Acoustic Session)
mp3: The Smashing Pumpkins - Disarm (VPRO Acoustic Session)
mp3: The Smashing Pumpkins - Spaceboy (VPRO Acoustic Session)
mp3: The Smashing Pumpkins - Dancing In The Moonlight (VPRO Acoustic Session)

links: official website / smashing pumpkins fan collaborative

Bright Eyes - new album!

2007-03-13T21:40:00.000Z

Even with as much abuse as it gets me from certain quarters, I still absolutely adore Bright Eyes. After twenty-odd releases of various sorts over the last eight years, there's very little I don't like. Thus, I'm very much looking forward to new album Cassadaga (named after a community if central Florida for psychics, fact fans!), which is due out here on April 9th. To build anticipation for the release, Saddle Creek recently issued the Four Winds EP in North America, which features one track from the upcoming full-length, and five b-sides. As I'm a big geek, and because it's not getting a UK release, I imported it. It's pretty good, managing to take in stuff that would appeal to folk rock fans, M Ward fans and Wilco fans. Buh?

I'm also going to be spending the best part of this weekend stalking Mr Oberst, as I'm seeing them play in both London on Friday night, and Oxford on Sunday night. To say I'm looking forward to it would be something of an understatement...

Anyway, here are some tracks. 'Four Winds' is, as said, the first single from the album - I believe the UK CD/7" release is due April 2nd - while 'Endless Entertainment' is an outtake that was given away recently as a free download when you signed up for the official mailing list. If it will appear elsewhere remains to be seen. Finally, 'Weather Reports' is taken from last year's Noise Floor compilation album; a true highlight of the album, it was originally slated to appear on a split 7" with M Ward in 2005 that was never released. I think it's magical, and I'm glad it finally surfaced.

mp3: Bright Eyes - Four Winds
mp3: Bright Eyes - Endless Entertainment
mp3: Bright Eyes - Weather Reports

Enjoy!

Appeal - Soma FM need money!

2007-03-10T18:56:00.000Z

No music tonight I'm afraid, just an appeal for your hard-earned £££/$$$/whatevers.

Soma FM is an online radio station operating out of the San Francisco Bay Area, and it's been running for about six years now. They operate eleven different audio streams at present, catering to a wide range of tastes. What's important about Soma FM is that they operate as a advertising-free enterprise, supported entirely by donations from their listeners. This means they can operate without commercial pressures on their playlists or content.

Of course, what's even more importantly is that they play loads of really fucking ace music. I like their "Indie Pop Rocks!" station - it's just finished playing Asobi Seksu, and now +/- are on. Hell, it was Soma that really introduced me to Elliott Smith, so for that I'm forever in their debt.

However, due to some changes in internet licensing rules in the United States, the amount they have to pay in licensing fees has increased by around 2700%, meaning they now have to raise $15,000 a month to stay on air. So they're asking for money.

Have a listen, and maybe give them some money if you can. More information on donating can be found here - heck, you may even get some free stuff out of it. All I'll say is that music needs more stations like Soma.

With that, I'm off out to see Future Of The Left, a.k.a. two-thirds of deceased punk heroes Mclusky. More MP3s coming next week, including an exclusive track from Jetplane Landing. It's going to be the world's first taste of their forthcoming third album, and I'm more than excited about unleashing it upon the world.

TV On The Radio - Rob Da Bank Session, April 2006

2007-03-07T22:01:00.001Z

TV On The Radio are from Brooklyn, New York, and a couple of them sport some totally awesome beards. Their debut album, the wonderfully-titled Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes arrived in 2004, and the follow-up Return To Cookie Mountain in mid-2006. I was intially not totally convinced of them, until I saw them lay waste to the Carling Stage at last year's Reading Festival. From the moment they started playing, until the minute they stopped, I was completely hypnotised by them, all the time dancing like the sort of drunken loon you find at festivals. You know, the ones who stand in front of you and tread on your toes repeatedly. Uh.. sorry. Anyway, they were fantastic, and probably one of the most unique-sounding bands I've ever seen, mashing up indie rock with electro and gospel and stuff into something for perfectly suited for.. well.. the previously-mentioned drunken dancing.

I found this session on a livejournal community (I didn't transfer it myself), and it's ace. I think the take on "Wolf Like Me" tops the album version, actually. It was originally broadcast on the Rob Da Bank Show on BBC Radio 1 on 20th April 2006.

mp3: TV On The Radio - Wolf Like Me (Rob Da Bank Session)
mp3: TV On The Radio - Blues From Down There (Rob Da Bank Session)
mp3: TV On The Radio - Let The Devil In (Rob Da Bank Session)
mp3: TV On The Radio - Tonight (Rob Da Bank Session)

Enjoy!

Links: official website / official myspace

An Emergency

2007-03-05T21:37:00.000Z

Someone pointed out to me that none of the live Jenny Lewis mp3s I previously posted actually worked. Whoops! Anyway, I've fixed them now, and they should be workin' fine. Obviously, any further problems, please let me know.

Saturday was partially spent in the Notting Hill Arts Club, watching some fine bands courtesy of Drowned In Sound's regular "DiScover" club.. er.. afternoons. See what they did with the name there, eh? EH? EHHHH?

While all three bands on were excellent (check out both Twentysixfeet and October All Over), it was Exeter's An Emergency that really stole the show. A blend of frantic, dischordant riffs, danceable beats and good old screaming, they rock in the same way that Dischord almost-legends Q and Not U did. For a while. Before they split up. By which I mean LOUD AND FUNK-EH. They also have some badass artwork, courtest of guitarist Dan - I've posted some of it up there, but check out his design site. He's one seriously talented boy.

Here are two tracks from their EP/mini-album We Are The Octagonists, which came out in late 2005 on the Captains Of Industry label.

mp3: An Emergency - Irony Nein Danke
mp3: An Emergency - Stability Mock-Up

Enjoy, and see them live if you get the chance. Which may not be for a while, as they've just finished a tour and they're now saying they're going to work on recording their proper debut album. So, really, I'm a week or so late with this. Good one, Daniel!

links: official website / official myspace

Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins - live show

2007-03-03T15:01:00.000Z

I fully intend that, one day, I will make Jenny Lewis my wife. Until then, I guess I'll just have to keep buying her albums..

Anyway.

She's the co/main/whatever frontperson of Rilo Kiley and a semi-member of The Postal Service and a former child actress and blah blah blah. Yeah. Last year, she put out her 'solo' debut (although it was co-credited to The Watson Twins) Rabbit Fur Coat. It's a much more country/folk album album than her dayjob, with the Watsons providing some lovely harmonies, and contributions from all her postfolkindiescene celeb mates - M Ward (who also co-produces along wih Saddle Creek vetern Mike Mogis), Conor Oberst, Ben Gibbard and Johnathon Rice, amongst others. A real love-in, then. Truth be told, it didn't really grab me at first, but I went to see Ms Lewis and her band play while I was in Washington, DC last year, and, to my surprise, it was a superb show. While I'm still not convinced the album is quite all that, her natural charisma and stage presence really helped change my opinion on a lot of the material.

In a stroke of luck, I've found a recording of the very show I went to. It's taken from a webcast, so the sound quality is a bit ropey in places (usually when there's a lot of acoustic guitar in use), but it's still a joy to listen to. You get the majority of Rabbit Fur Coat's original material, a bunch of new tracks that may or may not appear on the upcoming Rilo Kiley album or a future solo release, and covers of Travelling Wilburys' 'Handle With Care' and The Shirelles' 'I Met Him On Sunday'. The latter, in particular, is/was very nice. When they actually got it right. The finale of 'Handle With Care' brought some added comedy, as members of support band Vietnam invaded the stage to add extra vocals. They'd all clearly be enjoying the contents of their rider, and most of them didn't actually know the words and ended just looking confused and drunk. Superb effort, guys!

All tracks recorded live at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC on the 15th October 2006.

01 - Run Devil Run
02 - The Big Guns
03 - You Are What You Love
04 - Melt Your Heart
05 - The Changing Sky
06 - Happy
07 - Fernando Intro (Costume Change)
08 - Fernando
09 - Rise Up With Fists!!
10 - Carpetbagger
11 - I Met Him On Sunday
12 - When Jack Killed Mom
13 - Born Secular
14 - Arlo
15 - Rabbit Fur Coat
16 - Acid Tongue Intro
17 - Acid Tongue
18 - Handle With Care

There actually was a costume change during #7 - Jenny and the Watson Twins started off in black dresses (hence the extra lyrics in 'Run Devil Run') and changed into sparkly ones. As far as I'm aware, #8, #10, #12 and #17 are all new songs, and most feature added vocals from Johnathon Rice. Who also happens to be Ms Lewis' current man. Maybe they're going to do some kind Johnny'n'June-style duets album? Whatever. I'm sure I'm way cooler than him. She'll work it out eventually.

Los Campesinos! - demo tracks

2007-02-28T10:47:00.000Z

Los Campesinos! are a seven-piece from Cardiff, but not actually from Wales. Yeah, whatever, says I. Anyway, I first encountered them when I drunkenly gatecrashed their chalet at last May's United States Of ATP festival, when I was locked out of my chalet, bored of Sleater-Kinney and out of £1 coins to feed into the Star Wars Arcade machine. Actually, that's a total lie, I'm just trying to sound far more rock'n'roll than I really am. While it's true to say I did meet some of them at ATP, I didn't know or hear the band until sometime in the summer, when their myspace page was plugged on the Drowned In Sound boards. ANYWAY. A copy of their demo CDR fell into my grubby mits sometime in July, and barely left my CD player for a week or so, their little pop songs spinning round and round my old studio flat and probably pissing my neighbours off something chronic. They're kindof twee but not really, with big tunes and what one could describe as "passionate performances" if one was so inclined. I'm not sure I am. Think Architecure In Helsinki but chunkier and slightly less irritating, and you're about halfway there. Anyway...

Six months later, after a lot of hype from various blogs and more 'aware' sections of the press, a Radio 1 session and a debut London show that sold out in advance (I was there, they were good but couldn't really play their songs very well), and they signed with the nice people over at Wichita. Their debut single, on yellow 7" vinyl and limited to 1000 copies, came out this week. It looks like this, apparently:

Oooh, pretty. I don't have one, though, and it's probably already sold out. Sadface.

Fortunately for all us vinyl-less peons, the band - because they're just that nice, I guess - have put both songs up on their website to download, along with the video and the artwork. In addition, I've uploaded three of the tracks from their demo CDR. The other one is missing because my copy is fucked on that track. Sorry!

mp3: ~~Los Campesinos! - We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives~~
mp3: ~~Los Campesinos! - Don't Tell Me To Do The Math(s)~~
video: ~~Los Campesinos! - We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives~~
artwork: ~~Los Campesinos - We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives / Don't Tell Me To Do The Math(s)~~

(update 19/08/2007: looks like the free tracks are gone from their site. sorry!)

mp3: Los Campesinos! - You! Me! Dancing! (2006 Demo)
mp3: Los Campesinos! - It Started With A Mixx (2006 Demo)
mp3: Los Campesinos! - Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks (2006 Demo)

You know, I once heard "You! Me! Dancing!" being played at London's Afterskool clubnight, and it was pretty much the Best Thing Ever™. I hope they sell a million, billion albums, and headline 25 nights in a row at Brixton Academy. In the meantime, however, they have some upcoming dates, all of which are on their website and myspace pages. I have a ticket for the show on June 5th at the Scala, oh yes...

Links: band website / band myspace / wichita recordings