Best Albums Of January 2007

Having not actually made a list post for 2006 really I decided why not do one for every month of 2007? So here it is the first in a hopefully monthly feature it is the Sessions of Breakfast Top Ten Albums of January 2007. Enjoy, and feel free to criticise (constructively) or make suggestions (anything you want). Also these are official releases not leaks or otherwise and they are mostly available in the U.K and the U.S but some would be imports. Here goes nothing:

#10 The Earlies-The Enemy Chorus (679)
mixing piano driven melodies, indie rock, shoegaze and Psychedelic into one heck of a great music pie, an album that I’ve only recently started to listen to but it certainly feels a grower and ‘Enemy Chorus’ is one hell of a song to stick on the headphones with some great usage of stereo sound. If you like the musical sounds of Elbow and Sigur Ros, Earlies kind of sound like a middle-ground between the two.
Buy it, Official website, MySpace, Hype Machine
MP3: The Earlies-Enemy Chorus

#9Clap Your Hands Say Yeah-Some Loud Thunder (Wichita)
I’ve always found that Alec Ounsworth's vocals sometimes cause temporary insanity for me which does to some extent put me off their music, but CYHSY have released an interesting second album, darker in tone then their odd yet cheerful debut, I’d say that it has flaws but is an overall a non-Sophomore slump from former(?) blogosphere favourite, and the Tambourine and piano melodies of ‘Love Song No.7’ makes it my current favourite track.
Buy it, Official website, MySpace, Hype Machine
MP3: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah-Love Song No.7


#8

Deerhoof-Friend Oppotunity (Kill Rock Stars)
Is this rock ’n roll? A fantastically and bizarrely catchy new album in which Deerhoof turn their hands to some rock and just making (fairly) straight-forward rock (almost going stadium like at one point with ‘Matchbook seeks Maniac’) although it still sounds like Deerhoof with the help of Satomi’s incredibly distinctive music and that it doesn’t really sound like Rock in a AC/DC sense which would have been odd, its worth checking out.With added marching drums and trumpets which is always a huge bonus ‘+81’ might just be my favourite track, for now.
Buy it, Official website, MySpace, Hype Machine
MP3: Deerhoof-+81

#7Menomena-Friend And Foe (Barsuk)
Electronic-Indie with a warm heart, I’d never heard of Menomena before but this is an excellent album as a whole, it will guide you through your day (seriously) starting with the opening clash of drums in ‘Muscln’Flo’, great to wake up to, up till the blissful melodic ‘West’ closer which should see you to sleep, this is an album to live in for a month and see how your life will improve.
Buy it, Official website, MySpace, Hype Machine
MP3: Menomena-Wet And Rusting


#6The Good, The Bad And The Queen-S/T (Parlophone)
Damon Albarn is incredibly prolific with about five hundred side-projects and bands at the last count (but seriously he is writing an opera at the moment) and G,B,Q is the latest in the line, with a apparent Super-Group who honestly knew how it would sound, well its downbeat but soulful. The smooth production is excellent and really brings out the beauty in the songs and that’s thanks to a certain Mr Dangermouse (‘History Song’ is my favourite with a great bassline and managing to evoke memories of some of the best bits of Blur and Gorrilaz), and there is also a slight element of fun with some top musicians playing about a bit with their influences and back catalogue sounds.
Buy it, Official website, MySpace, Hype Machine
MP3: The Good, The Bad And The Queen-History Song



#5 Klaxons-Myths Of The Near Future (Polydor)
Does New-Rave actually exist? Well no probably not however this has not stopped Klaxons from making some excellent catchy art-rock indie (with an element of rave and Madchester) and an album which just has a loud almost Wall of Sound quality to it and it is incredibly danceable. ‘Atlantis To Interzone’ is the monolith that remains the best the Klaxons have delivered and the one that most obviously incorporates dance/rock crossover particularly with the obvious re-mix potential, and sticking the melodic ‘Golden Skans’ straight after was a great tracklisting move in my opinion it’s the come down after the rush .
Buy it, Official website, MySpace, Hype Machine
MP3: Klaxons-Gravity's Rainbow


#4Of Montreal-Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? (Polyvinyl)
This is an absolute blistering return from an excellent band, singer Kevin Smith remains most absolutely at the helm and completely re-works the bands sound to some sort of electro-glam complete with personal lyrics, this will make you giddy if not already with it’s driving chorus (still keeping some Elephant 6 elements in the music) and drum-machine sound in back up, the blogosphere loves this and with good reason, ‘Gronlandic Edit’ which summons up a disco bass-line, combines it with Bee Gee style vocals and still sounds modern, how is this possible?
Buy it, Official website, MySpace, Hype Machine
MP3: Of Montreal-Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse


#3Gruff Rhys-Candylion (Rough Trade)
An album that surely should make no sense when not heard in the summer preferably on a beach somewhere, yet its acoustic beauty just transcends any seasonal boundaries (besides it should keep you warm in this weather), Gruff just pulls brilliant melodies out of his bag, almost all of these songs could go on a SFA album, although they would make more sense as a B-sides collection in the very best sense. It also makes for a superb album which even has a jokey beginning track and a majestic story-telling finish with some absolutely joyous music in between, sometimes sung in Welsh or Spanish, I really like ‘Court of King Arthur’ currently with some excellent hi-hat and harmonica use on show, and there apparently is a Super Furrys album on the way, life is good.
Buy it, Official website, MySpace, Hype Machine
MP3: Gruff Rhys-Court Of King Arthur


#2The Shins-Wincing The Night Away (Sub Pop)
So the band that will ‘change your life’ return and what a strong return to make, they expand their sound bringing in a certain ambient electronic style similar to what Animal Collective do yet still sounding very definitely like The Shins also a certain number of less musically upbeat and jangly which still sound great and quite different to whats gone before, certainly enough to keep me a fan, and possibly enough to bring many more on board, and excellent as an album in full too, what more could you ask for? (Brafflash, what Brafflash? it's not even a word) I would say that ‘Australia’ is the best track on the album its just incredibly strong and sticks with you, even if it could have quite happily have fit on either of their previous albums (the la, la, la bit is great), true brilliance (it even has a banjo in there), maybe Natalie Portman was right then.
Buy it, Official website, MySpace, Hype Machine
MP3: The Shins-Australia

#1Field Music-Tones Of Town (Menphis Industries)
Now I bestow upon this second album from the fantastic Field Music, their debut was full of post-pop goodness, and they’ve followed it up with a great expansion, going a bit more pop, thinking a bit more grander and just making a sublime album. ‘Give It Lose It Take It’ has a great kick-in guitar riff and it’s heart complete with trademark Field Music vocals and a piano in the mix, ‘Sit Tight’ brings in a super walking bass line and some violins, the title track creates a uncertain melody that feels like an itch that just doesn’t gets scratched until 01:50 with a confident groove, then a reprise then a odd little bit to end almost ska like and I seriously could go on about each track on their, its such a great album which really sounds like nothing else about at the moment. I can't really reccomend it highly enough, it will make you forget your worries for a moment. Officially released in the U.S on 20th February, but you can get it from the MI shop with a PayPal account.
Buy it, Official website, MySpace, Hype Machine
MP3:Field Music-Tones Of Town

So there you have it Field Music have the masterpiece of January 2007, in next months edition expect to see Bloc Party, and the one after that is pretty likely to include Arcade Fire.

Saturdays Videos

As if one embedded video post a week wasn't enough I now give you three videos in one post, namely three of the best videos of 2007 so far....

Kaiser Chiefs-Ruby, I have to admit I'm quite surprised that after initial disappointment over this song I actually rather like it now, and the video is particularly groovy, in three words "Kaisers start civilisation".

Of Montreal-Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse, this song is amazingly catchy although I suspect prolonged listening could result in insanity presumably this goes someway to explain this bizzarrely brilliant video, in three words "COME ON CHEMICALS". This album is just awesome by the way, I'm throwing my hat in with the rest of the blogosphere.

The Good, The Bad and The Queen-Kingdom Of Doom, a video well suited to the song and the album really (check out the opener History Song, given that I study History it gets bonus points), although it is melancholic in a very good way. Plus the kitchen, oven and crokery in the video is not all that disimilar to my one here in Reading which gives it more bonus points, in three words "monochrome breakfast cooking".

Buy/Pre-Order:
Kaiser Chiefs-Yours Truly, Angry Mob
Of Montreal-Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
The Good, The Bad And The Queen-s/t

London, Ontario Calling

So once again I can't really take full credit for bringing Basia Bulat to your attention (that goes to StG via NBGL), still that doesn't stop me from talking about how darn exciting this lady's music is, and that's just the key its exciting with vocals that you could draw a comparison with Feist for example but they are actually striking enough to feel that trying to pin down a definite comparison, musically you can hear a piano that often sounds like it playing from a different time era, a acoustic guitar trying to keep things together, some strings lending a beautiful backdrop at times and then suddenly getting caught up in the song and as for the drums well they don't know if their supposed to be in a marching band or some sort of jungle beat thing. I'm very excited, and you should to or you could go and read what Sean at StG said.

MP3:
Basia Bulat-Snakes And Ladders
more excellence at her MySpace

Buy:
the album Oh, My Darling should be out in March on Rough Trade.

Edit: something I'd never thought I'd be typing but head over to Marathonpacks (now a Pitchfork reviewer) for a comprehensive post about James Mercer's face it is far more interesting then it sounds honest.

Thank you for the days

First of all big props to Skatterbrain for posting about Days earlier, its fast becoming a leading Blogosaurus which I am now starting to check daily, anyway about the band Days hailing from Sweden seemingly via mid to late 80s Manchester showing very definite influences from The Smiths at their most jangly and The Stone Roses at their most melodic, with vocals pitched somewhere between Ian Brown and Bernard Sumner, however this is not to say that Days are somehow inferior because they show their influences fairly obviously this is to say that they offer some of the finest indie pop mined from its very jangly core.

MP3:
Days-Echo of Last Summer
more on their MySpace

Buy:
They are signed to Shelflife

I love late morning radio

Yeah I love my new 2 hours slot which is right in Junction 11 prime time which is awesome, so here is the tracklisting with a couple of mp3s for your pleasure.
Hateful-The Clash
Black Mirror-The Arcade Fire
Don't Let Him Waste Your Time-Jarvis Cocker
Golden Skans-Klaxons
Australia-The Shins
Raoul-The Automatic
Back To Back
Northern Lites-Super Furry Animals
Golden Retriever-Super Furry Animals (stopped playing randomly)
A Day In The Life-Larrikin Love
Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse-Of Montreal (mp3)
Mr 100 Percent-Pull Tiger Tail
Time To Get Away-LCD Soundsystem
Dream Police-Cheap Trick
11.00
Same Jeans-The View
Once Upon A Time-Air
Endless Entertainment-Bright Eyes (mp3)
Save Myself-Willy Mason
The Coast Is Always Changing-Maximo Park
Karma Police-Radiohead
I Feel Like Dancin'
1999-Prince
Whoo Yeah Alright...Uh Huh-The Rapture
I Shall Be Free-Bob Dylan
(excerpt from joke Bob Dylan documentary)
The Prayer-Bloc Party
Kingdom Of Doom-The Good, the Bad and the Queen
Before I Fall To Pieces-Razorlight
Choose an album track
Hypnotize-The White Stripes
and you can hear the whole thing here .

Mr Blue Sky Blue

So indeed those giants of alt-country and americana who have also been known to go off and experiment and above all have created some excellent music which has done well for them in the US, although in the UK their biggest success so far was Summerteeth peaking at #38 in the charts, anywho they have confirmed their next album 'Blue Sky Blue' their sixth studio album with apparently 18+ songs recorded so far with working titles like 'Impossible Germany', 'Shake it Off', 'Glad it's Over', 'Side with the Seeds', 'Walken' and 'Either Way'. Lets hope this does better in the charts here when it is released here on May 14th.

MP3:
Wilco-Radio Cure

Buy:
Wilco albums

UK Chart faces time warp

So you may have already heard that a song that was made just to be in a 'Doctor Who' episode (awesome programme by the way) is heading into the Charts here because of the fans getting people to legally download it thus because of the new rules governing the chart any song available for legal download (from itunes and others I assume) without having a physical copy in the charts or even being released recently so in theory pretty much any song if enough people downloaded it could get in the charts (or get back in the charts) so lets have loads of people downloading all those songs that just should have been number 1, I honestly think we should start with 'Teenage Kicks' just because really (it charted at #31 before) so if enough people download it legally (wait till Monday after the next chart is released) in the UK it could get higher in the charts then before which would just be awesome.

Brunch Session?

Who is this handsome devil/hideous zombie type thing? Well its me in full "I'm a DJ, honest" pose, and this little blog entry is a announcement regarding my student radio show the Breakfast Session it will be restarting next week in a brand new time slot and day which is 10am-12pm (GMT) which is frankly a lot more sociable then 8-9am Fridays (and should hopefully result in more real time listeners (many people just listened again before), I'll be playing my usual awesome mix (if I say so myself) of alternative, indie and rock with mostly new music with a healthy selection of classics and once again spread out over two lovely hours, if you would like to be a part of the Breakfast Session experience (hello Mr Ego hows it going, wow your expanding at quite some rate") then you can simply by leaving a request in a comment perhaps or if you really want to be cool you can make a little recording of yourself saying something along the lines of "Hi this is insert name here (and maybe if your a blogger or in a band or something you can say) of (or) from insert band name or blog name, and your listening to the Breakfast Session on Junction 11 with Jim Campbell" and send it in an e-mail to jim_bill_campbell@hotmail.com, and remember to tune in at Junction 11. Aside from my show, you can't help but not have noticed that Pitchfork have launched their Forkcast section and generally cleaned up their homepage a bit, and there is some good mp3s there, including a couple from a band they enjoyed last year but somewhat passed over my head called Deerhunter, who sound good definitely worth a look.

MP3s:
Deerhunter-Heatherwood
Deerhunter-Spring Hall Convent

Clones, four of them

Hailing from Northern Ireland and carrying many props from amongst others Radio 1's Unsigned Podcast and Drowned In Sound they are Clone Quartet. They are something of a very good band potentially great with their interesting yet accessible sound as they mix together something of the catchy element in radio rock, together with some juicy indie electronic keys as well as a bag of crunchy hardcore crisps, man I'm hungry, anyway its very spiky but very tasty music with vocals to fit. Altogether they could well have an excellent 2007 having already been DiS's pick of the year in 2006. Now back to my dissertation draft.

Listen:
BBC Unsigned Podcast-Northern Ireland special (it has their song Carousel at the start)
hear more at their MySpace

og ég fæ blóðnasir

Thats "I get nosebleed" or something like that in Icelandic, so the big news of 13th January on their website or yesterday on the Pitchfork blog is that Sigur Ros are working on their fifth album and they "expect to finish it later this year". I recommend that people check out these almighty shoegazers if they haven't already, and this is good news.

MP3:
Sigur Ros-Starálfur

Buy:
their albums and stuff

Classic Video Day- Just Like A Woman (live)

Well I've been listening to a lot of Dylan recently especially Blonde On Blonde and its an absolute stone cold classic just like this song really.

MP3:
Bob Dylan-Just Like A Woman

Buy:
Blonde On Blonde

So much Monkey Love to give

So I'll set the scene for you, I posted about a track from an artist called Red Cassette and recently I received an e-mail from Sam of Monkey Love Records saying that she saw my post and wondered if I'd like some more info so I said yes and got the url for Monkey Love artists and one that immediately caught my eye was Joy Tourette, so I took a look see and was pleased to hear some music quite unlike pretty much everything floating about at the moment in the blogosphere (which apparently seems to be leaked Arcade Fire tracks right this second) this is slightly hypnotic electronica (kind of a bit like Cocteau Twins) mixed or even juxtaposed with a weird almost PJ Harvey like attitude and some darkly interesting (or perhaps just downright odd) lyrics, all in all worth some of your precious time. I expect there will be more from Monkey Love in the future on this here blog.

MP3s:
Joy Tourette-Lupine Man
Joy Tourette-Autoharp
more to hear on her MySpace

Raising Arizona

Go on vote for Arizona in this NYC Artist of the Month thing, because as I once said "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)" thanks to IGIF an really excellent blog.

MP3:
Arizona-Spintering

Buy:
Arizona-Welcome Back Dear Children

I use the NME

First off I'd like to thank Idolator for featuring my post on Los Campesinos! yesterday, a great fun band coming at you from Wales and with an exclamation mark in their name. Anyway today I'd like to talk about NME the very long running music newspaper/magazine I have to say that I used to be an avid reader of the NME for a few years (starting in 2001 and going on till about 2004) and I have to say I did enjoy many of the bands they championed during those heady days such as The Strokes, The White Stripes, The Coral, The Libertines and many other The... bands besides (and I still like a lot of those bands today) I generally enjoyed their excitable nature even if it got a little bit too much sometimes (making The Strokes a high ranking entrant into the Best Bands of All Time list, and sticking 'Get Free' by The Vines at No.38 in their Top 100 singles list and their unlimited love for Oasis which continues to this day, I mean I thought they were good but not that good) however now I rarely if ever pick up a copy of NME, but why? Well their excitable approach just seemed to go into complete overdrive especially with those Arctic Monkeys and this caught on in the rest of the UK but of course it couldn't last forever and eventually a backlash came (not from NME yet, wait for the second album though), and now look at the current issue it features The View , a decent band (potentially very good)with some great catchy numbers to their name such as 'Wasted Little DJs' and 'Same Jeans' who have yet to release their debut album as the front cover stars, relegating James Brown to the side (seriously I don't get that) just below the FREE MASSIVE POSTERS of either Oasis (what did I just say) or The Kooks (meh, they are alright but they are another massively hyped band from NME), I think I've made my point so rant over. So the new Modest Mouse song has been tickling the blogosphere's fancy recently and I must say its great funky, tropical number quite unlike Modest Mouse generally but there is nothing wrong with a band developing their sound.

MP3:
Modest Mouse-Dashboard
The View on Hype Machine (good luck to them I say)

Pre-Order:
The View-Hats Off To The Buskers

Its a bandwagon, jump on

Something of a UK buzz band right here, although in the sense that a lot of UK bloggers along with Huw Stevens on Radio 1 are giving a lot of love to this excellent 7 piece rather then NME putting them on the front cover several times before they release their debut album and proclaiming them to be the second coming and the coolest band ever. So this band can expect a good 2007 in independent terms at least rather then facing a backlash sometime in May. Anyway back to Los Campesinos! a band from Cardiff who have incorporated Glockenspiel and Violin into their highly enjoyable guitar driven sound and have taken a great deal of indie influences into their music to such an extent that its actually difficult to pinpoint them and as such comes out sounding original and fresh, if I was to pinpoint their sound I may say they soundlike Arcade Fire hosting a beach party inviting Broken Social Scene, The Shins and many other North American indie acts along but this party is gatecrashed by British bands like The Frattellis and at points sounds a bit chaotic but there is harmony in the chaos and great male/female interchanged vocals too, no wonder Wichita have signed them up, and look at their artist list.

MP3s:
Los Campesinos!-Sweet Dreams Sweet Cheeks
Los Campesinos!-Death To Los Campesinos

Buy:
presumably Hold On Youngster will be their debut album info will come on their MySpace

A welcome return

So I was listening to Colin Murray's show on Radio 1 last night for the first time really (I used to listen to evening weekday Radio 1 but haven't properly for a while) and was pleasantly surprised to hear a new single from a certain Mr Willy Mason, whose debut 'Where The Humans Eat' was an excellent album in the warm-hearted acoustic category and featured the famous (or as it ended up due to radio overplay) Oxygen single. I was even more pleased that the new single though not exactly expanding the sound was as good as anything on the debut and also appeared to have the sound of a shotgun being loaded and shot at the beginning (although this part isn't on the streamed MySpace version of 'Save Myself') which is always a good thing, I was just happy to hear it so I thought I'd give it a post. The album tracklisting is:
1. Gotta Keep Walking
2. World That I Wanted
3. We Can Be Strong
4. Save Myself
5. I Can't Sleep
6. Riptide
7. When The River Moves On
8. If The Ocean Gets Rough
9. Simple Town
10. End Of The Race
11. When The Leaves Have Fallen

MP3s:
Willy Mason-Oxygen
Willy Mason-Gotta Keep Moving

Pre-Order:
Willy Mason-If The Ocean Gets Rough (released 5th March)

Classic Video Day-Remember How Music Used To Make You Feel?

Its the new Arcade Fire album video which is pretty funny maybe not 'classic' as such but it does highlight what looks set to be one hell of a Sophomore non-slump for which the tracklisting is:
01 Black Mirror
02 Keep the Car Running
03 Neon Bible
04 Intervention
05 Black Wave/ Bad Vibrations
06 Ocean of Noise
07 The Well and the Lighthouse
08 (Antichrist Television Blues)
09 Windowsill
10 No Cars Go
11 My Body Is a Cage
wasn't No Cars Go on the Arcade Fire E.P released in 2005? Oh well still sounds awesome and Neon Bible will be out March 5 in Europe and March 6 in North America.

MP3s:
Arcade Fire-Wake Up
Arcade Fire-I'm Sleeping In a Submarine
Pre-Order:
Arcade Fire-Neon Bible (UK only)

Isn't it Ugly?

Well howdy, anyone broken their resolutions yet? Everybody? Well never mind you already know about Damon Albarn's new project /supergroup type thing called The Good The Bad and the Queen as they are creating quite a lot of buzz with their eclectic sound bouncing around the airwaves here in Blighty. Even I posted about them just before Christmas, so here is the second track off of their self-titled album named 80s Life which bizzarrely reminds me of Unchained Melody with the piano part in it only this is Unchained Melody if it was actually a cool, hip new song, so enjoy I guess.

MP3:
The Good The Bad and the Queen-80s Life

Pre-Order (and listen to more tracks) here

Happy New Year!

Hey everybody, sorry about the lack of posts but its been holiday time, I've also been ill and I haven't really been sure about what to write anyway, Happy New Year I hope you enjoyed your various New Years Eves and Days. I for one was in Plumpton on New Years Eve for some reason (for those of you who don't know Plumpton and thats most people it is a small village in East Sussex with two pubs) which was still randomly enjoyable, and then for New Years Day I went to the Big Beach Boutique 3 with Fatboy Slim which was wet, cold, windy, but super dancy fun was had by all down on Brighton beach. There will be more from Sessions of Breakfast in 2007, and it will hopefully be great.

MP3:Fatboy Slim-Praise You

Buy:Fatboy Slim-Greatest Hits