Its not Blur and its not Gorrilaz, can you guess what it is?

You will probably have been right it is the new song from Damon Albarn's new new group The Good The Bad And The Queen which could even be considered a SUPER Group with not only Mr Albarn but also Paul Simonon on bass (dude he was in The Clash and is the front cover star of the 'London Calling' album), Simon Tong on guitar (formerly of The Verve and also plays with Gorrilaz), and Tony Allen (who on drums who played with Africa 70 and Fela Kuti) and the whole thing is being produced by a certain Mr Dangermouse which all sound very exciting, but how does it actually sound? Well in a way it probably sounds as you expect but possibly more relaxed. Basically it does sound kind of like a half-way house between Gorrilaz and Blur (especially with those distinctive vocals) it probably sounds closer to Gorrilaz especially 'Don't Get Lost In Heaven' off of the end of 'Demon Days' but there is also a very Punkish Clashy taste waiting in the background (playing the bass) which is very eveident on 'History Song' for which the bassline does resemble the one for 'Guns Of Brixton'. To be honest it sounds like a bunch of musicians having a good time playing around with their own influences and recording some excellent music, so have a listen and leave your comments about the track and the band.

MP3:

The Good The Bad And The Queen-History Song

hear more on their MySpace

Pre-Order:

The Good The Bad And the Queen-Kingdom Of Doom (download single released 15th Jan '07)

The Good The Bad And the Queen-s/t US link (released 22nd January)

Great Danes

Well this might be the worst time to start introducing a new band on ya'll as its basically a kind of dead time in music, but I received a MySpace friend request from a band named The Elephants who hail from Copenhagen, and seeing as they turned out to be a rather excellent little group I just decided to post about them. I only checked out my friend requests list because I was bored and saw The Elephants on there and had a gander just out of fleeting interest and was pleasantly surprised to find a Indie-Surf band (is that even a genre?) who come across like a band stuck in limbo between the Indie-Alt Country sounds of Wilco and the 60's surf-pop sound of The Beach Boys and thus create a brand new genre (possibly). One of my New Years resolutions will be to write better blog posts but give this band a look, I mean they've already toured the US and are currently recording their first album.

MP3:
The Elephants-Shivers
The Elephants-Caroline Knows
more at their MySpace

Classic Video Day-Did I Step On Your Trumpet?

Oh yes a fantastic song, one of the best of 2006 and one of the best videos of the year as well, if thats not classic I don't know what is.

MP3:
Danielson-Did I Step On Your Trumpet?

Buy:
Danielson-Ships

Its Chriiisssttmaaassss

OK so I missed what was going to be my Christmas radio show on Friday, which was annoying, so I decided to do a podcast instead but I've been unable to upload it because as usual the wireless internet was annoying and wouldn't let me do it. So I tried to do that on Friday and Saturday and again today I apparently suceeded on filecrunch but then it told me that it hadn't worked, so instead of that The Knife shall provide you with some chilly electro christmas cheer with their free website download Christmas Reindeer, as well as that lets look forward to 2007 with some excellent albums looking to come out including the new one from Deerhoof, and from that album +81 sounds like an exellent cut with trumpets (always good), a great little guitar riff and proper Deerhoof vocals. You could also go to IGIF or YANP to see some excellent Chistmassy mixtapes.

MP3s (complements to P'fork):
The Knife-Christmas Reindeer
Deerhoof-+81

MyFriend feature..sort of

Well I was going to post some more 3 word album reviews yesterday but the Internet as usual was a complete bitch, but today I thought I'd go with the Thursday MyFriend feature except for this time I'm cheating because I didn't actually find this new band on some well known band's MySpace, but they do have Bjork as a friend on theirs. This band is Connan and the Mockasins a happy go lucky group of bluesy psycos hailing from the land of New Zealand. They include a Auto Harp and an Upright Acoustic Bass amongst their instruments and their songs alternate between psycadelic 60's style slow-moving melodies and funky little numbers reminicent of early Chilli Peppers stuff (see Naughty Holidays) and sometimes a mixture of both which sounds more like Hendrix. Fitted to the music is a voice that can only be described as Bob Dylan, Ray Davies and Jimi Hendrix all singing at the same time then compressed to sound like one person. Damm it you just have to here it (their currently playing some dates in New Zealand if you happen to live there).

MP3s:
Connan and the Mockasins-Blues
Connan and the Mockasins-Naughty Holidays
Connan and the Mockasins-Hello View
more here and on their MySpace

3 words, 3 albums, 2006

I don't really want to do a 2006 list thing because there are so many, and mine would probably look pretty similar to other blogs lists, instead of that I'll describe three of my favourite albums of 2006 in three words because it seems like a good idea at this time, basically its like writing a best of 2006 list without actually doing it, anyway on with the non-list.
Neko Case-Fox Confessor Brings The Flood

3 words: magical, stunning vocals


MP3: Neko Case-Star Witness

Website, MySpace, Buy


Mission Of Burma-The Obiterati


3 words: visceral post-punk blast


MP3:Mission Of Burma-2wice

Website, Buy


Belle & Sebastian-The Life Pursuit


3 words: sunny, sublime indie-pop


MP3:Belle & Sebastian-Another Sunny Day

Website, Buy

Classic Video Day-The Mighty Boosh

So I was in Edinburgh this weekend with my Erasmus friends, which was awesome especially since I'd never been there before, it was highly enjoyable yet tiring. So here is the old favorite feature the Classic video and todays is a full episode of the utterly awesome Mighty Boosh called 'Electro' its just fantastic.

Another Radio Show Post

So this show was bad in terms of the fact that I couldn't get into the studio until ten minutes in but good in terms of the music, so here is your tracklisting:
Ten Storey Love Song-The Stone Roses
Weekend Without Makeup-The Long Blondes
The Prayer-Bloc Party
Good Feeling-Travis
Back To Back
Man In Black-Johnny Cash
Gods Gonna Cut You Down-Johnny Cash
Rough Gem-Islands
Swing Your Heartache-Young Galaxy
Splintering-Arizona
The Crane Wife 3-The Decemberists
choose an album track
Rock And Roll-Led Zeppelin (mp3)
to download the whole show clck save as here.

Friend Of The Stars

So I got the essay done earlier then expected yay, so I can now present the continuation of this here blogs Thursday MySpace feature, todays well known band whos top 8 I took a look at are mellow indie romantics Stars. So on their MySpace amongst some well known faces and their record label there was Young Galaxy (who are also signed to the fantastic Arts & Crafts label) a band that I hadn't heard of and sound like the soundtrack to a futuristic entry into space. With a waft of shoegaze and a heap of mellow indie rock you may find yourself hypnotised by this Canadian duo from Montreal (where else) who also have that whole male/female vocal thing going on (not that dissimilar to Stars in that respect). So check out Stephen Ramsay and Catherine McCandless (their names).

MP3:
Young Galaxy-Swing Your Heartache

Buy:
Swing Your Heartache Tour EP

Shoegaze Wednesday

Its not a feature on Sessions of Breakfast, its just that I find shoegaze is particularly good music to work with (and to relax to as well), so I thought I' d do a quick post about The Insect Guide who I just saw on DiS Discover page (which looks great) and currently really like the sound of, and thats the post. Back to the essay.

Caaaliforniaaaa

Just got an essay on at the moment so may not post tommorow or the next day, and I'm going to Edinburgh at the weekend, so I thought that I should make the effort to post today. So I thought why not throw some brand new folk/antifolk, acoustic music at ya'll (seriously there is something wrong with me at the moment) in the shape of a certain Thomas Barret a singer-songwriter type hailing from California (thats why this post has that title) currently competing to become the NBT in the BBC World Service band competition. So when I had a listen to this music I couldn't help thinking at first that this guy was a Bob Dylan-Elliot Smith split (musically like Dylan and vocally like Smith) which is true in a way but in no way a terrible thing, but with a few more listens I gradually saw there was a bit more to it then just that, there are clearly more influences with echoes from the likes of MMJ and Animal Collective which is why its folk/antifolk. Hey its a great sound so ch-ch-ch-ch-check it out (oh dear).

MP3s:
Thomas Barret-Forever And Ever Again
Thomas Barret-Lip Gloss

Buy:
Info

Classic Video Day: Nirvana-Rape Me/Lithium (live)

Just Brilliant and more then a little bit cheeky in the sense that the MTV execs at the time nearly had heart attacks when they heard the beginning chords and lyrics of Rape Me. Also Dave Grohl repeating "Hi Axl" refers to the fact that Axl Rose was at the show but it was supposed to be a secret.

Alt-Country, Rap and Hardcore together at last.

So Ryan Adams has quite literally gone ape and decided to release 11 albums worth of quite strange sounding (I haven't properly listerned to it yet) rap and hardcore under the pseudonyms of DJ Reggie, The Shit and Werewolph. In fact why don't you the reader have a listen to all of it here. In the meantime enjoy this more Ryan Adams like track from last years Cold Roses its the clean version of Let It Ride.

MP3:
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals-Let It Ride

2 hour show!

Oh yes the 9am dude didn't turn up today so I got myself a 2 hour Breakfast Session just like old times, plus I was on time again so its all good, heres what I played:
Nausea-Beck
We Are The Pigs-Suede
Scream To A Sigh(La Tristesse Durera)-Manic Street Preachers
Rivers-Sleeping States
Dark Trance-Hockey Night
Strasbourg-The Rakes
and now for something completely different
Rasberry Beret-Prince
Little House Of Savages-The Walkmen
Jacksonville-Sufjan Stevens
Baby C'mon-Stephen Malkmus
Dedicated Follower Of Fashion-The Kinks
California-Low
9am
choose a cover version
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction-Cat Power
Wreck Of The Old '97-Johnny Cash
We Were Born The Mutants Again With Leafing-Of Montreal (mp3)
101-Albert Hammond Jr
Set The Fire To The Third Bar feat. Martha Wainwright-Snow Patrol
Knights Of Cydonia-Muse
Uniform-Bloc Party
Dream Song-Scott Matthews
War Of The Worlds-Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly
Sittin' Pretty-Brendan Benson
Long Hot Summer Night-Jimi Hendrix
Subject To The Kill-De Novo Dahl (mp3)
Steal The Blueprints-+/-
Come As You Are-Nirvana
So you can listen to the first hour here and the second hour here (just click open). Or download each hour first hour and the second hour.

Thursday MyFriend Feature

Yes the feature I started last Thursday is back, when I take a well known band or artist (to me) look at their Top friends on MySpace and see if I can discover a new band or artist that sounds good to my ears. Anyway today I looked at Maximo Park's profile, a great band who not only are absolutely mind-blowing live but also in my opinion produced one of the finest albums of 2005 (and I can't wait for their follow up), so I looked at their top 8 which mostly had people profiles rather then band profiles on, but there was one band namely De Novo Dahl, so I clicked on that profile and once again (like last week) I was surprised to find a band that I hadn't heard of (although considering that at one point Stereogum, CMG, Pitchfork and Spin have talked about them before now, some people probably have heard of them) anyway I liked their style, very indie pop (in the best sense of the genre) with more then a hint of experimental leanings. Or if you want a clumsy comparison as I usually do imagine a collaboration between The New Pornographers and Super Furry Animals combining the complex yet catchy song structures of the Canadian oufit with the grand experimental vision seen from those Welsh wizards particularly in their more recent albums. Also vocally take a drop of David Bowie mix it with some A.C Newman and a dash of Morrisey and you'll have an odd cocktail which might sound like lead singer Joel J. Dahl. So enjoy this music and remember the Breakfast Session is on tommorow morning 8-9am GMT, so make sure to tune in to the best radio show in the universe (and thats scientific fact).

MP3s:
De Novo Dahl-Subject Of The Kill
De Novo Dahl-Market Place

Buy:
see their MySpace for any details
Maximo Park-A Certain Trigger (go on you know you want to its only about 5 quid used&new)

Thats it I'm going to Sweden

Propts once again to ace Swedish dedicated blog swedesplease for posting about Pernilla Anderson, a jazzy pop singer from Stockholm who is hot and frankly makes some damm catchy music which really has to be labelled under 'guilty pleasure', its got a seriously polished sound slightly akin to KT Tunstall although the guitar in 'Alright' (the single out now) makes me think of Dire Straits for some reason. In other news the new Of Montreal album is as excellent as could be expected from that brilliant Elephant 6 band and you can hear the whole thing on a stream right here, its released on January 23rd and if you pre-order right now you can get their E.P for an extra $3, its just so damm funky (and now I'm going to the U.S after I go to Sweden).

MP3s:
Pernilla Anderson-Alright
of Montreal-Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse

Pre-Order:
of Montreal- "Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?"

Pull the other one

No seriously Rough Trade Digital has been launched and they have shared with P'fork their track they are giving away free to anyone who signs up from Pull Tiger Tail (imagine a cool english CYHSY and your half-way there) for a limited time only and its excellent so here it is for a limited time only. Also in response to Anoymous person's comment I have not got Yellow House yet it's on my lengthy to do list at the moment.

MP3 (from Pitchfork so for a limited time only):
Pull Tiger Tail-Loki(demo)

Classic Video Day-The Beatles - Rain

Well its a classic for sure (also quite appropriate as its been raining virtually non-stop here in Reading)one of my absolute favourite Beatles songs, and I guess they did invent the music video in a way as opposed to just having a video showing the band playing the music. Some of Ringo's finest drumming as well.

MP3:
The Beatles-Rain

Buy:
The Beatles-Past Masters Vol 1&2 vinyl

Sunday Cover

So I wanted to post about something today, and couldn't really get any inspiration so I cast my eye round the various blogs and music websites searching for something interesting or cool to post about, what did catch my eye was on largehearted boy and this was a cover of Whole Lotta Love by Tim Reynolds a bluesy type singer with an excellent voice. So what you the reader gets is this pretty lazy post about a cool cover version.

MP3:
Tim Reynolds-Whole Lotta Love (live)

ZZZZZZ

Something of a current buzz artist amongst the blogosphere (see IGIF, Stereogum, Nbgl and StG) is Sleeping States all thanks to a post in Grizzly Bear's blog (although playlouder have been championing his cause before now) describing this London based singer-songwriters music as "So gorgeous and beautiful" which is quite true, I'd like to add to that that Sleeping States is an incredibly appropriate name for the music he produces not in the sense that you listen to it and you fall asleep, but that you listen to it and it relaxes your mind and can in affect put you in a state ready for sleep, this is highly experimental folky type music as Markland Starkie the lead singer uses various different noises spliced together at points in the songs so not exactly a dead cert for mainstream success but gorgeous and beautful nonetheless.

MP3s:
Sleeping States-A Trip To NYC
Sleeping States-December
More here

Buy:
there are plenty of record available to buy all listed at his MySpace

Show Time

I begin right at the start of todays show, although I had the backing music up a bit too loud, so here is the tracklisting:
Substitute-The Who
Go-Danielle Duval (mp3)
Ticket To Immorality-The Dears
Turn On Me-The Shins
Picture This-Blondie
Cold Wind-The Arcade Fire
Back To Back
Panic-The Smiths
There Is A Light That Never Goes Out-The Smiths
Chelsea Dagger-The Fratellis
Oh Shoplifter-The Stills
Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands-Elliott Smith
Hold On, Hold On-Neko Case (mp3)
This Isn't Farm Life-The Essex Green
choose an album track
Cut Your Hair-Pavement
You can download this lovely show here or just listen here. Oh and to all readers from the U.S Happy Thanksgiving for yesterday.

Dear Friend or the new MySpace feature

Ah MySpace don't you just love it (or not) especially the politics and many mind games that take place all revolving around the Top 8 friends basically why am I not in your Top 8 (or 4 or 16 etc) and so and so is. Anyway it made me think I wonder how many lesser known but great bands or artists are on the Top friends list of the more well known great bands, and thus we have the new MySpace feature (which I will try to do every Thursday). For todays first MySpace Friends feature I chose Canadian Indie-Pop/Rock Superheros The Dears. So I took a look at their Top Friends (at this point with more then a little apprehension as this feature could just die on it's arse if they don't actually have any bands or singers on their top friend list) and as luck would have it happened to find an excellent Canadian Singer-Songwriter who I had not heard of named Danielle Duval, she hails from good ol'Montreal and is currently based in Toronto and has been writing and making music since she was 14, and from what I have heard of her music thus far it at points has a certain disjointed catchiness that is quite reminicent of alt-rockers Pavement, however this also veers into some more conventional indie-pop melodies similar to that which Rilo Kiley and others use, or if you want a 'quote' I would say alt-rock meets indie-pop and explodes on the hot bed of talent that is Montreal. She certainly could well be set up for greater things with support from The Dears for one thing, but also Greg Keelor of Blue Rodeo who helped to mix her album, and Jim Creeggan of the Barenaked Ladies who plays bass on "Go" her 'single' which has been picked up by a local Canadian radio station (and may well get a play on a certain Junction 11 show tommorow hint, hint Breakfast Session, 8-9am GMT, www.1287am.com), so watch this space as it were this music could well be set to be the soundtrack to all drinking games and road trips though not both at the same time. Go have a listen. Going back to The Dears MySpace another one of their top friends is Kramer so Giddy Up.


MP3s:
Danielle Duval-Go
Danielle Duval-Stay Another Day

Buy:
more info here and here
The Dears-Gang Of Losers (brilliant album)

The Struggle

My Internet connection is terrible, at the moment which has made posting an uphill stuggle. All I have to say is that the BBC Radio 1 Unsigned Podcast is rather excellent and certainly worth a listen so go to it, more coming up hopefully if my connection gets better.

MP3:
BBC Radio 1 Best Of Unsigned Podcast

Classic Video Day- Cat Power (live)

Any excuse to show this rather sublime live performance of 'The Greatest'(on Later with Jools Holland) quite possibly the most achingly beautiful song of the year, off of the album of the same name which in turn is one of the best of this year, really worth getting.

MP3:
Cat Power-The Greatest

Buy:
Cat Power-The Greatest (UK) (US)

Always a pleasure

As anyone who listens to my show or reads my (and pretty much any other blog) blog, Bishop Allen are a rather excellent charming band who decided to release an EP for every month this year, and pretty impressively they are managing to follow through with this so far as the October EP is out now, and Clementines is the free sample offered from it, so sit back, dim the lights or switch them off if you don't have dimmers and enjoy.

MP3s:
Bishop Allen-Clementines
Bishop Allen-Butterfly Nets (from May E.P)
Bishop Allen-Corazon (from January E.P)

Buy:
all E.Ps and their full-length album from their shop

Hey Mr DJ

I come in at about 5:30 into the hour, I thought I did ok today really, with some excellent music.
Race For The Prize-The Flaming Lips
Little Wing-Jimi Hendrix
Hunting For Witches-Bloc Party
Giddy Stratosphere-The Long Blondes
O Valencia-The Decemberists
Back To Back
A Shot In The Arm-Wilco
Kamera-Wilco
20 To 9-Tiny Dancers (mp3)
Suspicious Character-The Blood Arm
Wasted Little DJs-The View
We're Here-Guillemots (at least most of it)
Choose A Cover Version
Here Comes Your Man-Kate Rogers

You can listen here (click open) and download here. The last bit is here.

Really very small

Tiny Dancers everyone, heard of them? Well you have now. Not a band that has exactly caught fire on the Blogosphere for some unknown reason, because this band are going to be big (certainly in the UK at least, and maybe to a certain extent in the US being much more difficult to break). They fuse the intensity of folk-rock with the melodic sound of 60's-70's pop (Low meets The Beach Boys perhaps) and bring off a sound of their own into the bargain. The song available to download (for a limited period so get it while its hot and cooling on the proverbial window sill) demonstrates this sound perfectly kicking off with almost tribal drums and building up first with a big guitar melody (taken from the earth itself if you want to get fancy) and then vocals which sound a bit like Brett Anderson, which all build up to a stomach-shaking chorus line. It's a song that grabs you straight away and doesn't let go until four minutes and thirty five seconds later.

MP3:
Tiny Dancers-20 To 9
hear more at their MySpace

Pre-Order:
Tiny Dancers-Lions And Tigers And Lions E.P, released 20th November (UK) (US)

R.I.P

No ones dead, its just a post about a band named Dave Is Dead a band who found their way on to the Channel 4 slashmusic podcast. Vocally they are a mix of Damon Albarn and Morrisey, musically they are quite close to Belle and Sebastian. Essentially imagine and indie-pop outfit with a heavy Britpop vibe about them. There are a whole heap of other bands which could be counted as influences though they manage to sound fresh and catchy so defintely worth a listen.

MP3s:
Dave Is Dead-21
Dave Is Dead-Question
more at MySpace

Not like one of those fake freakshows

Yes they are A Genuine Freakshow, who also happen to be the first band from Reading (where I am currently) , and I've got to be honest I was finding it difficult to find a genuinely good unsigned band to post about today (I've been writing an essay until recently which has played havoc with blog posts, also I've had a cold which hasnt been helpful). They have got an excellent and different sound going on, think shoegaze meets folk in a pressure cooker, or if you can't imagine a group that manages to sound like Mogwai, Bob Dylan and Radiohead sometimes all at the same time and you might be some where there. If you still need some help have a listen to some MP3s.

MP3:
A Genuine Freakshow - The Horrible Truth
more at MySpace, and their site

Buy:
Their E.P

Its...

I had a cough today, and just wasn't quite at the races, best to listen for the music and a jazzy new jingle, the show starts after a couple of songs.
Australia-The Shins
All Along The Watchtower-Bob Dylan
Answering Bell-Ryan Adams
Inaction-We Are Scientists
Elevator Music-Beck
I Walk The Line-Johnny Cash
and now for something...
Numb-Portishead
Pumping On Your Stereo-Supergrass
Click Click Click Click-Bishop Allen (mp3)
5-22-02-Golden Smog
Part-Timer-The Young Knives
Walking With A Ghost-Tegan and Sara
choose an album track
Grace-Jeff Buckley
listen here just click open) or download here

Erupt!

Its been a bit difficult getting the blog posts in recently as I have had a right stinker of a cold (on and off) for the past two weeks also I've had a lot of work to do, anywho todays post is about a band quite popular on NME.com's New Music section and with good reason i.e. they are actually good and have potential. So what do they sound like? I hear you cry (or possibly moan)...Well now imagine those Arctic Monkeys and Kings Of Leon meeting in a large hall and proceeding to knock the crap out of each other whilst writing some music, there are also some other influences floating around there, their music certainly grabs you by the jugular with many a fast-paced opening, basically its some good ol' rock 'n' roll. I've just realised I haven't mentioned their name yet they are Volcanoes they are currently unsigned, they are from Sheffield and Leeds and they are good as I mentioned above.

MP3s:
Volcanoes-King Of The Hill
Volcanoes-Black and Blue
more on their MySpace

Buy:
all details found on their website

Classic Video Day- Here Comes Your Man

Monday is classic video day here on Sessions, and todays pick comes from seminal college rock band Pixies. I would certainly argue that although this song isn't their best known it is probably their most accsesible (mostly because it sounds less like their usual output), definitely benefiting from the start chord which is almost exactly the same used in 'Hard Days Night'. The video itself is also a classic, at first seeming to be fairly normal (the band just playing the song) but then they chose the simple but effective technique of simply opening their mouths rather then actually miming, its brilliant really in it's very odd way.

Back To Back

Yes indeed, West Ham now have back to back victories against Blackburn and Arsenal, come on this is the reverse of the season (from the living hell its been since the Villa match). Now we go on to Boro who we hopefully should beat. In other news if you would like to hear my show which I did on Friday with guest star Joe, here is the tracklisting:
Blues Are Still Blue-Belle and Sebastian
Rain-The Beatles
Don't Call Me Whitney, Bobby-Islands
King Of Carrot Flowers Part 1-Neutral Milk Hotel
Disco 2000-Nick Cave
Phantom Limb-The Shins
Waiting To Happen-Super Furry Animals
Bones-The Killers
Some Kind of Chill-Arizona
Eeany Meany-Jim Noir
You can download the show (with link at the bottom) or just listen here (click open). Finally I'd thought that I'd give a mention to In Civilian Clothing a band featured on P'forks free downloads page, who make some elegant and intriguing Ambient-Indie. See you in another life brothers and sisters.

MP3:
Breakfast Session Show
In Civilian Clothing-Current Therapist

Ye-Haa

Well its been two days since my last post so I thought I'd get up off my ass and post today about a rather excellent electro-indie three-piece by the name of Cowboy Racer who are the current band of the week on Channel 4's slashmusic pages. Their sound is a mixture of various bands from classic (Blondie) to fairly current (Hot Chip, Goldfrapp) all put into a blender and set to liquidise resulting in a nourishing electronic-indie-female vocal smothie. Probably best if you don't read that and just listen to the music.

MP3s:
Cowboy Racer-Yellow Horse
Cowboy Racer-Hey Cowboy

Buy:
all details on shop section

Buzzing with excitement

Hooray for our buzz bands, we just get so many and The Wombats are a buzz band (who hail from Liverpool) of the moment with praise raining in from all quarters from Radio 1 to Drowned In Sound, and frankly they deserve it for playing really exciting pop-punk (imagine if the Buzzcocks formed in 2006 and you might be close) with oodles of charm, some seriously catchy and punchy guitars, some keyboard melodies and a sense of madness that at any point of any song they could just start going ape. If you don't know about The Wombats yet you will soon they could well be the Next Big Thing, they are currently touring their guts out across this island here, more details on their MySpace.

MP3:
The Wombats-Dr Suzanne Mattox
more here

Buy:
The Wombats shop

Bwa ha ha ha haaaa

Yes Happy Halloween from Bowser King of all Coopers and Sessions Of Breakfast, for some excellent Halloween music head on over to the good ol' Contrast Podcast with a contribution from yours truly (for the first time in a while).

Relax

Its Monday evening, I've just been home and come back and I have a cold so this is going to be quick. Listen to Red Cassette the song below sounds a bit like the Scrubs theme at the start (if the Scrubs theme was recorded by Devendra Banhart) basically relax with some acousticy, banjo-tinged, mellow music, and forget your troubles (maybe daydream that you live on an island with Evangeline Lilly and Maggie Grace for company, or Josh Holloway and Matthew Fox for the ladies in the audience) and drift off.

MP3:
Red Cassette-His Monikor Was An Alias
more at myspace

Buy:
go here for details

More Numberwang

The fantastic Mitchell and Webb Look with some more Numberwang, just a little something to enjoy for the weekend. Also you can play Numberwang (link to BBC site)

MP3:
Angel Summoner & BMX Bandit Theme tune (also from Mitchell and Webb)

The Show must go on

For this blog post I've decided to make my show earlier the main subject, it ran for about an hour (I was a bit late, but the last song went past 9am) and the tracklisting is as follows:

Never Even Told Me Her Name-Air Traffic
Electioneering-Radiohead
Like Eating Glass-Bloc Party
Phantom Limb-The Shins
Bones-The Killers
Back to Back
Summersong-The Decemberists (mp3)
The Infanti-The Decemberists
Me Plus One-Kasabian
Death Or Life We Want You-The Dears (mp3)
Girl From Mars-Ash
Talk Too Much-The God Damm Doo Wop Band (mp3)
choose a cover version
Gold Digger-The Automatic

You can listen to the thing here (just click open I come in after about 6 minutes) and download it here (just click save as).

Some Consequences for Air Traffic

This post Numberwang post today is in tribute (in a way) to two excellent quality blogs namely swedesplease (a blog entirely devoted to Swedish music) and the brilliantly named Good Weather For Airstrikes as its about two bands who have been recently featured on these blogs, these two bands are The Consequences and Air Traffic. The Consequences hail from Sweden and produce some excellent catchy radio-rock (big British influence with a Swedish twist) it certainly doesn't suggest a lack of ambition (I especially like the background mandolin used in the intro for 'Release Me From Love'), basically very good see swedesplease for more details. So secondly we have Air Traffic a band that has seen backing from a certain Mr Lowe and has also recently signed a deal with EMI (and considering that they have just recently appeared on the scene you can tell they're going to be good) they make extremely fun, infectious, piano-driven indie rock/pop certainly worth taking a look, so read more at Good Weather For Airstrikes. On other fronts you may remember when I posted about Slo-Mo Fireworks, well I received feedback from them asking if I would like their demo CD which I'm about to reply to. Finally of course my radio show on Junction 11 is on tommorow 8-9am BST (thats UTC+1) and if any readers want to tune in please do.

MP3s:

Slo-Mo Firewoks-The Tape

Slo-Mo Fireworks-Number One Fan

Thats Numberwang

Its awesome it really is top quality comedy, it has nothing to do with music but what are you gonna do about it. More to come from SOB after we rotate those boards.

Good Afternoon

Yesterday I posted about The God Damm Doo Wop Band, who signed with Afternoon Records in Minneapolis and today I was once again perusing my friend request list and came across One for the Team who are also signed to the Afternoon label and are actually also pretty darn good Indie-Powerpop outfit, I shall use the power of metaphor (and band comparison) to describe them, imagine Weezer (Blue album era) and The Subways stealing the clothes from Death Cab For Cutie's rider and then proceeding to rock out. Its a terrible description which doesn't tell you very much so give them a listen, theres four tracks on their MySpace fyi.

MP3:
One For The Team-Take Cover

Buy:
One For The Team-Good Boys Don't Make Noise

So God Damm Crazy

That last post really made little sense so I've decided to make up for it, just a few minutes ago I was scrolling down my myspace friend requests list (theres a lot of them because I've basically being ignoring them for a while) and happened to come a cross a band with an interesting name which intrigued me enough to take a look and as it happens was pleasatly surprised to find out that the god damm doo wop band are actually rather good, their name gives away something of their sound so let me just say if your a fan of The Pipettes and The Zutons you'll love these guys and girls as their 'sound like' section says "a guitar, playing with drums and a bass, along with a saxaphone, and when it feels right, a keyboard, and then three girls singing different notes all pretty like over it. and i mean like ALL over it...yeah..." they are pretty, pretty good as Larry David would say. In other non-music news I whole-heartedly suggest you go and purchase the DVD of Garth Marenghi's Darkplace as I explain here its pure comedy gold.

MP3:
The God Damm Doo Wop Band-Talk Too Much
The God Damm Doo Wop Band -Rooftops of Bangor

Video:
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace- Episode 2 - Hell Hath Fury

Buy:
The God Damm Doo Wop Band-Broken Hearts (Afternoon Records)
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace DVD

Inspiration needed

I really need some inspiration for writing this here blog, I'm going to start doing a myspace friend link feature soon which should be cool as long as the well known artists on myspace actually have good but lesser known banda or artists on their top friends list, yeah I'll see how that goes. More posts will follow this and they will make some sense and actually be interesting to read. Actually now I come to think of it you can check out my new Junction 11 show homepage for my Friday slot here. Also here is the new Lily Allen video (you've probably seen it already but just in case) .

Its Back

Yes indeed I have wireless internet sorted at my house, and although I have quite a lot on this year at uni I will try to make as many posts as possible, and there is a lot to talk about seeing as I've been effectively off the blogosphere since June. One of the best pieces of news though is that The Shins have announced that they have finished their third album called 'Wincing The Night Away' (what a brilliant title) and released on 23rd January next year (I smell a 2007 album list entry) with 'Phantom Limb' as the single released 16th November, the tracklisting is as follow
1.Sleeping Lessons (3:58)
2.Australia (3:56)
3.Pam Berry (0:56)
4.Phantom Limb (4:47)
5.Sea Legs (5:22)
6.Red Rabbits (4:30)
7.Turn On Me (3:41)
8.Black Wave (3:19)
9.Spilt Needles (3:45)
10.Girl Sailor (3:44)
11.A Comet Appears (3:49)
So plenty of short pure indie pop gems to look forward to, although as expected the album has already leaked so if you want a taster of the new album take a listen to Australia which is a perfect Shins song really absolutely one of their best yet (I can't upload it because file lodge is being annoying).

This time its for real

Yes at 8-9am tommorow (although theres always a possibility it will continue on further) I will definitely be presenting the Breakfast Session on Junction 11. So accept it and enjoy it.
MP3s (just to helpfully get some attention):
Love Is All-Kiss Kiss Kiss
Bound Stems-Western Biographic
Asobi Seksu-Thursday

The Return of the B.S

Hello again from a uni computer (still haven't got wireless broadband set-up) this post is just telling anyone who reads this blog that the world-famous Breakfast Session presented by me on Junction 11 is returning from a long hiatus and will start again this Friday from 8am, so be there or be square.

Watch this Space

This blog will be restarting very soon (as soon as I get wireless broadband sorted at my house) and seeing as I've been away from the 'blogosphere' (which is fast moving even from day to day) I have plenty to catch up with, I should also be restarting my radio show which will probably be Fridays 8-10am this time round, catch you on the flipside dudes and remember to keep pushing the button.

MP3s (nabbed from P'fork):
Grizzly Bear-Lullabye
Swan Lake-All Fires
Belle and Sebastian-Another Sunny Day

If 1 a.m. Had A Sound

Johnette Napolitano (of Concrete Blonde) was once quoted as saying "if 3 a.m. had a sound, it would be the sound of Iggy (Pop)'s voice." Not many would agrue with me when I say that Iggy, the godfather of punk, has a sound that is unique and unparalleled. That being said, I think I might have just discovered the sound of 1 a.m., in the form of the band Mink. Frontman Neal Carlson was a finalist in the television competition 'Rockstar: INXS,' and even though I don't watch t.v. (and thus had no idea what 'Rockstar' was about), I'm quite glad that he lost out. This band is by far too good to be connected in any way with shotty reality television. Mink has all the New York punk swagger and gritty 70's rock sounds that ought to make fans scream and jeans cream. Their sound recalls the glory days of The Stooges and the New York Dolls, and throws in some Rolling Stones-esque guitar riffs for good measure. Forget all the power-pop-punk-wannabes and garage rock posers; Mink is the dirty N.Y. rock and roll band we've been waiting on.

Mink's Myspace
Mink - In The Halls
Mink - Madame Chung

This is getting frustrating

Hi there, no doubt people would have noticed that there haven't been any updates for a while on the good ship S.O.B so I thought I'd post something (even if it did mean having to go to my library to use a computer) thanking everybody whos sent e-mails in my prolonged absence and when I get Sessions back up and running properly I'll certainly post about some of the stuff I've been sent. In the mean time I strongly suggest you purchase a copy of 'Fox Confessor Brings The Flood' already highly recomended by many blogs and critics it is just a magical brilliant album which I can't stop listening too (and I mean that litterally I physically can't stop it) Neko Case just rules generally o.k.

MP3:
Neko Case-Star Witness
more at MySpace

CBGBs to Sin City?

The legendary CBGBs will be shutting it's doors soon and packing out to the desert. Due to rent/lease issues, the owner is looking at possibly relocating to Las Vegas. Such a shame really, cos New York is losing a real peice of music history. CBGBs is often credited as the birthplace of American punk, and was the early stomping grounds for such acts as the Ramones, Talking Heads, Patti Smith, and Blondie.

read more about it HERE and HERE.

I dunno anyone that still uses VHS or Beta

So now that Jim's back in the land of crappy internet, I figure I ought to pick up the slack and post a bit more. So instead of once a week-ish posts, I'll try to get 2 or 3 up. Sounds good eh. But first off, I'd like to address the world cup final: what the fuck was Zidane thinking?! ... That's actually all I have to say about that.

I was looking through my music library for some of my recent discoveries that I might be able to write about, when I realized something odd. A bit of an anomaly really. I have very little music by American artists (most of my tunes have the artists nationality in the comment space cos I'm quite anal about trying to have correct tags on all my music). Compared to Canadian and British artists, I have only a teeny tiny bit. In fact, I have more tunes by German artist than I do American. I thought that odd, and have yet to come up a suitable reason as to why this may be. So I decided to write about one of my new favourite American artists: the cleverly named VHS Or Beta. These lovely lads from Kentucky offer up amazingly catchy new wave-ish dance rock. The Killers may be the pre-eminent new wave-ish group of the day, but give it time and I'll bet they'll be losing that crown to VHS Or Beta cos they rock harder than The Killers. Other comparisions might be drawn to fellow compatriots Radio 4 and Canada's Death From Above 1979. Give a listen to the track 'Night On Fire' and you'll probably be hearing shades of Duran Duran too.

Listen To:
VHS Or Beta - 'Night On Fire'
VHS Or Beta - 'You Got Me'
VHS Or Beta - 'No Cabaret'

Err, what just happened?

Yes you may have wondered what happened to my almost daily posts, well I'm actually currently back home and away from a broadband connection (and will be until October) so its extremely unlikely that there will be very regular posts from me until then, in some brief music news you can listen to the entire Thom Yorke album at Radio Indie Pop as its their album of the month. As for the World Cup well I don't want to talk about it.

Happy Canada Day!

so today (well, it will be the 2nd by the time this gets posted ... been into my cups in celebration) is our (actually, mine, not jim's) country's birthday! happy birthday canada! so many reasons to be a proud canadian, but i'm gonna get weepy if i start being patriotic bout now (as i said, cups were filled and promptly emptied). so i'm gonna keep this short and sweet. i've uploading 4 tunes for your sampling pleasure: 2 by more popular canadian acts, and 2 by indie (but still quite popular) canadian acts. the first is by The Tragically Hip. many would probably say The Hip are overrated. quite possible. but they're canada's R.E.M. or Oasis. kings of popular canadian arena rock. they're barely known beyond our borders, but sell out constantly across the country. they're almost too canadian to be marketable elsewhere. which is fine by me. the second is by Sloan, loverly 60's flavoured power pop. the two indie acts are Arcade Fire and The Weakerthans. Arcade Fire really kick started the whole canadian indie trend and garnered our music scene a lot of international attention. and The Weakerthans are finally getting their due because of said indie trend.

also, i would just like to mention that i am rather heartbroken right now. perhaps i should just stop watching sports, it would make my life a whole lot less stressful. 'e' teams seems to not appreciate my support *cough*edmonton*cough*england*cough* ... excuse me.

mp3s
The Tragically Hip - Wheat Kings
Sloan - Rest Of My Life
Arcade Fire - Rebllion (lies)
The Weakerthans - Anchorless

Beck, Beck, Beck

Ahh some more Beck news from NME about his new album "Beck has revealed that his next album will feature predominantly hip-hop tracks.Recorded with Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, the as-yet untitled LP will feature tracks such as 'Soldier Jane', 'Nausea' and '1000 BPM'.Speaking to MTV, Beck also announced that the artwork is complete: "It's really pretty amazing. The artwork is laid out in stickers, it's modular, the cover is blank and you get a sheet of stickers and you make your own cover."The star also revealed the inspiration behind the album's style: "Before we started, Nigel said he wanted to do a hip-hop record. And in a way it is, and in a way it isn't. It has hip-hop songs, and my previous work with him was 'Mutations' (1998) and 'Sea Change' (2002), these sort of introspective records, and so this new one is sort of bringing those two worlds together.The new album is to be released sometime in the autumn." Predominately hip-hop? Blank cover on which you can make you own with stickers? You never know what that crazy Beck is going to do next apart from the fact that it will be brilliant, in other music news from NME again the new Killers album (due out September 18th) was a 'experience' for Brandon Flowers "this is the album. I feel totally empowered by singing it. There's a spiritual element to the music that wasn't there before." Does anyone else think that it will actually not be that great (or at least not the best album of the past twenty years) or maybe its just me. Around a couple of blogs I Guess I'm Floating proclaims Arizona to be awesome and just maybe 'the next big thing', they are actually awesome think in musical terms pitched half-way between Radiohead during their Bends era and The Beatles at their most mellow and you might be half way there (or perhaps just confused), and Gorrila Vs Bear has some excellent female-fronted electro pop in the form of The Evening Episode (think Portishead and your quite close). On the World Cup front Australia harshly beaten by a extra time penalty from Totti, and Italy will play the winner of Switzerland-Ukraine (kicking off about now). Also the Portugal-Netherlands match was a complete joke, and now we have to face Scolari and Portugal again in the Quarter-Finals (although they will be without Deco thanks to the idiotic referee who dealt out 15 yellow cards in that match). Lastly I'd like to remind everyone that my radio show tommorow at 8am will be the last till hopefully October (Junction 11 will be under new management so maybe it won't).

MP3s:
Beck-Cancelled Check (live)
Beck-Qué Onda Guero

On to the Quarter-Finals

What a awesome free-kick from Beckham just sublime, we played generally well except for a few hiccups at the back the whole team played well (basically we are gradually getting better), so now we go on to play Portugal or Holland in the quarters and frankly lets hope its third time lucky for Sven with regards to the quarter-final fixture (and potentially facing Scolari again), but basically I'm reasonably optimistic that we can go all the way, so Come On England (has to be in capitals), aside from England the Argentina-Mexico match was bloody excellent and has set up a quarter-final between Germany and Argentina, which could well be very tasty likewise with the Portugal-Netherlands match coming up a bit later (also looking forward to Italy-Australia and Spain-France). So once again Come On England.

MP3:
Badiel & Skinner-Three Lions
New Order-World In Motion
(definitely our two best football songs)