This Charming Blog

Bangkok has him now

2011-05-30T09:01:00.003+01:00

That's me there with a soft ball bat in Bangkok, so yes I have been busy now as a English teacher living out in Thailand and perhaps I'll get back to actually posting on this here blog again now, but I probably wouldn't count on it, anyway I saw the Hangover 2 recently hence the quote.

Its been a while

2009-04-27T22:03:00.002+01:00

It really has been too long, so I'm just posting again to say that hopefully this time I can make it stick and start posting on this blog again, I'm posting now just to say I'm still here and still apprerciate all e-mails and comments. I've done a lot of things since I last posted on here by far and away the most notable was being on that freezing cold Washington Mall a certain day in January to witness history, I've also sent in a sitcom script to the BBC and most recently I may be back on the radio with a local radio station. So I want to post on this blog again and hopefully this time I'll keep it up.

A formidible leap

2008-02-29T23:28:00.000Z

It is no secret that this blog has clearly been neglected for some time now, the last post was three monts ago, and the last regular post was even further back, the truth is that I have had some life things to deal with (I now work 1-9 on week days) and I haven't really got organised with posting stuff on here, I still am not organised but I thought I'd post today just to see if I can start fairly regular posts going again and also I just checked one (of a lot) e-mail from a member of a band called The Joy Formidable it was a brief message but I thought 'hey why not' so I clicked on the bally ol' hyperlink and found to my slight (very good) surprise that rather then being a band like so many on MySpace sounding good but not great I found a band on the verge of greatness with a sound that manages to mash-up many influences into a big tasty music smoothy they'll remind you perhaps of the more anthemic sounding of Arcade Fire's songs and maybe the rock energy of the likes of the Duke Spirit, anyway they have three songs available on their MySpace to download, I would highly recommend that you get over there and download them all whilst you still can because if they don't get signed to a label sometime this year I'll eat my hat and become a reclusive newt obsessive. Well then right-ho hopefully I'll start posting at least a bit regularly from now on and all that rot.

My Shadow Falls over Blue Roses

2007-11-11T13:11:00.000Z

Something that caught my eye in my packed inbox (and believe me I will never get round to checking everything out but I'm going to attempt to do so this week, especially since I quit my evening part-time job) was a new musical duo of Dan Bejar and Sydney Vermont ( who are "romantically entwined" which sounds better then "going out with each other") who "conjure a timeless collection as Hello, Blue Roses" anyway it caught my eye and the available mp3 'Shadow Falls' caught my ear in that despite the presence of the highly recognisable (maybe even ubiquitous) vocals of Dan Bejar, and some of the guitar work certainly reminded me of Destroyer it actually sounded very different to a lot of music being pumped out at all times by everyone, I think that the fact that Sydney Vermont's vocals are really the lead vocals helps as she has a voice not entirely disimilar to the likes of Kate Bush and Elizabeth Frasier which lends a blissed-out 80s vibe enhanced also by the electronic backing sounds which sound like they have been taken straight from 'Blade Runner' at one point, worth a listen I would say and don't forget to check their MySpace for another different sounding but perhaps more immediate 'Hello, Blue Roses' (title track).

MP3: Hello, Blue Roses-Shadows Fall
Buy: Hello, Blue Roses-S/T (released January 22nd)

Frozen precipitation in German capital

2007-11-05T22:31:00.000Z

Or Snow In Berlin a newly available song from Austin's Zookeeper, a band I've taken a shine to recently. I think this song is an absolutely perfect song for the incoming long winter nights, not only does it have 'snow' in the title making it easy fodder for any winter compilation, its the sort of song that a family can gather round and enjoy as the nights come sooner and sooner.

MP3: Zookeeper-Snow In Berlin
Pre-Order: Zookeeper-Becoming All Things (with limited edition autographed booklet)

Classic Video Day-Galactica

2007-10-23T23:14:00.000+01:00

any Galactica fan probably knows about these series of Adama flashbacks to the first Cylon war but this one is particularly epic, I can't wait for Razor and the 4th (and last!!) series. If you haven't already checked out Battlestar Galactica you are probably living under a rock or something.

MP3:Battlestar Galactica Music (why not)
Pre-Order: Razor

Becoming Beautiful

2007-10-19T16:34:00.000+01:00

Well, haven't posted for a while and I have been sent so much music I thought "I'm going to sift through this and actually start posting regularly" so I started with the most recent e-mail which informed me about a band called Zookeeper who are releasing an album 'Becoming All Things' on November 6th (in the US), they are from Austin, Texas (quite a hotbed of talent recently) and I really enjoyed what I've heard from this album thus far a kind of indie-folk-pop mix with vocals that suit the music down to the ground, the two tracks made available are 'Trumpets' a sprawling, laid-back melodious number and the album title track which is a slow burning build with incredibly well done instrumentation gradually adding layers to the song before it reaches its climax. Well worth a listen. Moving away from that perhaps I should actually write a review for 'In Rainbows' to make up for the 'First Proper Review' which seems to have annoyed (although also entertained) some people, let me just say I'm not sure what possesed me to write it and I didn't think people would actually read it anyway, maybe I'll review the Britney Spears album after that, as thats "on my level" according to one anonymous remark who also used the phrase "faux witticisms" which I never expected to read in a blog comment, brilliant.

MP3s: Zookeeper-Trumpets
Zookeeper-Becoming All Things

Pre-Order (or more accurately buy when its available): Zookeper-Becoming All Things

Dig It

2007-10-11T23:11:00.000+01:00

I really liked this video that was on Pitchfork a while ago, I just found it very endearing maybe it was the fact that it was a cover of a Beatles throw-away yet still sounded great, or perhaps it was the "London the home of The Beatles, sort of" anyway enjoy, also get 'Marry Me' its a great album I'd say one of the best of this year or perhaps I'm being "idiotic" as I was when I typed up that review a few days ago as one anonymous person commented, yes I kind of made that stuff up on the spot (like most of these posts) so oh well I got plenty of visitors from it so my ego is fed in some strange way.

Buy: St Vincent-Marry Me
MP3: St Vincent-Paris Is Burning

New from Apple

2007-10-09T21:00:00.000+01:00

It is the way music should br heard, also Radiohead album coming out tommorow morning, see yesterday for a 'review'.

First Proper Review: Radiohead-In Rainbows

2007-10-08T23:43:00.000+01:00

Well I got 'In Rainbows' earlier today, Thom Yorke came round on his bike with a copy (all very carbon neutral) I paid him £2.51 for it just to be clever, and what can I say? What an album who would have thought '15 Steps' would see Thom and the boys take their sound in to a sort of country-stomp direction I mean the lyrics "take your partner by the hand/ go 15 steps forward and 3 steps back/ you do it to yourself you fool, you had too much to drink" were entirely unexpected as it saw Radiohead go in a completely new direction but also revisit a lyric from 'Just'. If that wasn't enough 'Bodysnatchers' was simply snippets of audio taken from the 1993 film of the same name, I would call it Radiohead's boldest step since OK Computer. 'Nude' was a very strange track because it wasn't even Radiohead (literally it was actually taken from the 1981 album of the same name by Camel) it really sounded nothing like a bold fusion of Hail To The Thief and all music released since by everybody even The Kooks. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi was undoubtedly the stand out track as Thom Yorke ditched his trademark vocal style and instead opted for a bad Elvis impersonation with lines like "Don't step on my Weird Fishes/ You ain't nothing but a case of Mxamatosis crying all the time" Radiohead decided to make a interesting step into the realm of comedy-rock. Finally 'All I Need/Faust ARP/Reckoner/House Of Cards/Jigsaw Falling Into Place/Videotape" was simply a very long recorded piece of white noise (recorded on a poor quality cassete from what I could tell) an even more experimental sound then we heard on Kid A, at one point you can hear Jonny Greenwood humming to himself in the background which was defnitely the high point. Overall I would say this is Radiohead as you've never heard them before they take the guitar-driven drive of 'The Bends', mix it with electronic noise which may have been on 'OK Computer', it really defies expectations in every sense of the word, so I gave it 9.7 (Best New Music) in my totally original scoring system.

Pre-Order:Radiohead-In Rainbows

Ghost Blog

2007-10-08T14:55:00.000+01:00

I honestly don't know why I can't quite stick to posting regularly on this blog, but it doesn't mean I'm giving up on it, even though this is a brief post really just to point you in the direction of this new Band Of Horses track which I think sounds excellent, more on the blog soon (hopefully).

MP3: Band Of Horses-Is There A Ghost
Pre-Order: Band Of Horses-Cease To Begin

----------------
Now playing: !!! - All My Heroes Are Weirdos
via FoxyTunes

album you should get...right now:Gold

2007-09-18T16:54:00.000+01:00

Well this a post I wanted to put up longer ago (but haven't mostly because I wanted to do it justice but partly because I've had other things to do) because I suspect quite a lot of blogs would have included this excellent album a while ago Aaron Scroeder's second album 'Black & Gold' is perhaps in overtly record company speak an absolute gem, not so much in terms of that theres a couple of great tracks which you can 'cherry-pick' to download sense (I mean sometimes I think almost 76% of 'great albums' come under this category and thats a statistic not proven by eminent scientists), but more in the way that it fits together well as an album and shows a variety of influences starting from an indie base and working outwards with a variety of instruments, I particularly like the alt-country vibe on 'Cold Country' perhaps because it remnds me a little of 'Cancelled Check' by Beck off of Mutations one of my favourite ever albums, also the contrast between the woozy ending of the song and the breezy stomp of the opening of 'If You Please' is very pleasing. The style of music on 'Black & Gold' mostly reminds me of the catchy pop of Paul Simon mixed with the charming indie vibe of Belle & Sebastian or if you want a 'kooky' crtic soundbite: "Jaunty tunes twitching with genius" I'm quite proud of that one, anyway are you still reading this or are you buying it.

MP3:Aaron Scroeder-Fake Crimes (Demo)
Buy:Aaron Scroeder-Black & Gold

Coming soon: Murder Mystery

Classic Video-Worst Ever Fight Scene Ever

2007-09-17T17:57:00.000+01:00

In some ways you have to admire how bad this fight scene is, although it's almost so bad its good...almost.

Time to wake up

2007-09-11T23:16:00.000+01:00

Hello again, its been quite some time (not a massive amount but still) since I last posted on the blog but I now fully intend to get some things up that I wanted to have up a while ago but just kind of had other things to do, as an interesting for instance a friend and I are currently working on a sitcom script, partly just to see if we can do it but also we have wondered if there is a possibilty it could get picked up which would be great, anyway I now feel like I can start posting on this ol'blog a bit more regularly, starting with a bit of info-tainment namely the folk legend known on Earth as Seth Lakeman is releasing an E.P 'Poor Man's Heaven' which is set to be released on the 15th October and he is also touring the country, playing these dates:
September
Wed 26 Southampton Guildhall www.bigwheelpromotions.com
Thu 27 Exeter Great Hall 01392 263 518
Fri 28 Cheltenham Town Hall 01242 227 979
Sat 29 Aberystwyth Arts Centre 01970 623 232
Sun 30 Sheffield Leadmill 0870 010 4555
October
Tue 02 Glasgow ABC 0870 169 0100
Wed 03 Newcastle Carling Academy 0870 771 2000
Thu 04 Liverpool Carling Academy 0870 771 2000
Fri 05 Northampton Roadmender 01604 604 020
Sat 06 Leeds Met University 0113 244 4600
Sun 07 Manchester Ritz 0161 832 1111
Tue 09 Brighton Concorde 2 www.bigwheelpromotions.com
Wed 10 Cambridge Junction 01223 511 511
Thu 11 Bristol Carling Academy 0870 771 2000
Fri 12 Wolverhampton Wulfrun 0870 320 7000
Sun 14 Lincoln Engine Shed www.bigwheelpromotions.com
Tue 16 Oxford Carling Academy 0870 771 2000
Wed 17 Norwich Waterfront 01603 508 050
Thu 18 London Shepherds Bush Empire 0870 771 2000

for my part I saw him live at the Lewes guitar festival near me and he was bloody excellent.

MP3: Seth Lakeman-The White Hare

Buy: Seth Lakeman-Freedom Field

Classic Live Video Day-Beck

2007-08-21T22:46:00.000+01:00

I bloody love Beck, I wish I could see him live some day soon but until then these rather awesome videos will have to do, like 'Tropicalia' arguably my favourite Beck song.

a slow rocking version of 'Loser', rather damm good.

Where Its At, well its right here.

Mutations is my favourite Beck album, and heres another great track off it.

MP3 (I think its one of the few songs that describes me oooh self-deprecation thats a new one): Beck-Loser

Album I'm looking forward too:smokin'

2007-08-18T10:51:00.000+01:00

I really love the sound Devendra Banhart is developing further in his fourth album 'Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon' with 'Seahorse' being the first single or official mp3 or something, anyway it starts off with Banhart's uniquely understated vocals and guitar before building into what can only be called a jazzy number before morphing into rock territory without sounding in the least bit contrived, but in fact keeping his trademark organic yet freaky sound or as he calls it 'space reggae' which can defnitely be applied to 'The Other Woman' another great slice (think a folky version of 'Ghost Town' and you may be close to how this song sounds) of the upcoming album which can be heard here along with 'Samba Vexillographica' which is a folky-jazzy-samba number sang in Spanish (that is so Banhart) anyway I'm looking forward to it.

MP3: Devendra Banhart-Seahorse
Pre-Order: Devendra Banhart -Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon

Third Post Of The Day:Bloody Hilarious

2007-08-14T17:20:00.000+01:00

Say No More

A Quick One:The Great Pretender

2007-08-14T17:01:00.000+01:00

Now I can't say I was a huge fan of the previous two Foos albums, barring a few tracks they were not really as good as their debut or 'The Colour And The Shape', but I still feel its newsworthy enough to say that the myspace stream of their upcoming single from their upcoming album is actually rather good, anyway enjoy some mp3s of particularly great Foos tracks.

Mp3s:Foo Fighters-Everlong
Foo Fighters-Big Me
Foo Fighters-Break Out
Pre-Order: Foo Fighters-Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace
Tracklisting:
The Pretender
Let It Die
Erase/Replace
Long Road To Ruin
Come Alive
Stranger Things Have Happened
Cheer Up, Boys (Your Make-Up Is Running)
Summers End
Ballad Of The Beaconsfield Miners
Statues
But, Honestly
Home

Classic Live Video Day-Cat Power

2007-08-14T15:03:00.000+01:00

I absolutely love this song and given the state of todays weather I think this will be a little escape portal for everybody brought down by the grim weather today, otherwise it is a great live performance and heres a few more.

a sublime solo performance.

taken with a mobile but with rather good sound and picture quality nonetheless, my favourite cover version of (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction.

a 'Rolling Stone' acoustic performance, its out of sync but its beautiful nonetheless. Finally for your listening pleasure another fine cover by Cat Power of 'Wonderwall'.

MP3: Cat Power-Wonderwall

Up All Night

2007-08-09T22:55:00.000+01:00

I'm still trying to thrash out some posts for some other new music which I want to give a good mention too and I wasn't entirely sure what to put on todays post until I just received an e-mail telling me to check out Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, who are by all means pretty big on the other side of the pond (given that they are appearing on chat shows and have just released their third album) but I hadn't honestly heard of, so I clicked on the freely available track 'Ah Mary' which I loved from the brief piano intro which for a milisecond sounds like the start of 'Rockin' All Over The World' and the general country-rock stylings of the band's sound (especially that guitar solo close to the end), needless to say I look forward to hearing more.

MP3: Grace Potter and the Nocturnals-Ah Mary
Buy: Grace Potter and the Nocturnals-This Is Somewhere
Buy:

Always use Mouthwash after brushing

2007-08-08T22:57:00.000+01:00

Its the next single from Kate Nash's surprisingly great 'Made of Bricks' album, I mean I wasn't entirely sure what I was going to get with the album but simply put if you take the best aspects of Lily Allen's music and stick them together with the most upbeat catchy moments from Regina Spacktor you may well end up with this album, although 'Foundations' is now beginning to grate with constant radio play, its an album well worth picking up (rather then downloading the odd track). Also thanks to some recent e-mails, I will aim to post about some new and lesser known stuff over the next few days (I just want to really do justice to some great stuff I've received, so keep on e-mailing).

MP3:Kate Nash-Pumpkin Song (great album track)
Buy: Kate Nash-Made Of Stone

Littlest Things that get you banned from the U.S...or not

2007-08-07T21:56:00.000+01:00

In another 'whats the deal?' post I'm really not sure about (even though it has really nothing to do with me in any remote sense as I don't live in the U.S) is the reports and backtracks surrounding the Lily Allen U.S airport saga (perhaps saga is a bit strong, maybe two part episode would be better) after all you would think that she either has a visa or not, apparently she said she doesn't and her manager is saying she does, who knows? Heres some spiky pop.

MP3s: Lily Allen-Alfie
Lily Allen-LDN(non-album version)
Lily Allen-Mix Tape part 2

Classic Live Video Day-Arcade Fire

2007-08-06T22:48:00.000+01:00

Back once again with the renegade feature, in other words here are some rather excellent live performances from one of the best bands on the block right now, namely Arcade Fire

next single, and a performance with typical passion

a modern classic performed with none other then a certain Mr Bowie

small stage, big sound

my favourite from 'Neon Bible'.

Well I wish I could say more but I'm feeling a bit off today, and besides I think the videos speak for themselves anyway.

MP3:Arcade Fire-Intervention

Album I'm looking forward too:limelight on blacklight

2007-08-03T10:27:00.000+01:00

So previously it was the upcoming New Pornographers album, but today it is the return and reinvention of Rilo Kiley, returning with from what I can tell a part funky rock ("The Moneymaker") and part folkish ("Silver Lining") so quite possibly something of a reinvention which is pretty refreshing with perhaps too many bands taking a "if it ain't broke..." sort of approach which can be good and even excellent depending on the band (although it could actually be broken and they just end up flogging a dead horse) but can get a little waring after a while, so this album could be a hit or it could fall, either way it should be pretty entertainining and hopefully a great album.

MP3s:Rilo Kiley-The Moneymaker
Rilo Kiley-The Frug

Pre-Order: Under The Blacklight (released 20th August)

I go out posting after midnight

2007-08-02T00:15:00.000+01:00

This post has nothing to do with the song in the title, it just seemed like a nice title in reference to this my second post-midnight blog post which will be brief, it is simply about a song which has been stuck in my head all day (and on my mp3 player) as I walked the streets of Brighton, namely it is the rather country rockin' 'Wild Mountain Nation' by Blitzen Trapper maybe its the oo-ooos, maybe its the well timed slide guitars but at the moment this song really sticks with me, and the album of the same name is a rather excellent piece of alt-country or folk-rock or whatever you want to call it (and you don't even have to take my word for it either). Anyway just thought I'd share that with ya'll.

MP3:Blitzen Trapper-Wild Mountain Nation
Buy:the album

Hey Ho its August

2007-08-01T00:25:00.000+01:00

Its just turned August (in the UK), and heres the new video from The White Stripes and my favourite track on the rather smashing album which is well worth getting hold of. I always love a good White Stripes video at 22 minutes past midnight, so enjoy that and pick up an mp3 of the first track I heard from The White Stripes the infectious 'Hotel Yorba'

MP3:The White Stripes-Hotel Yorba
Buy:Icky Thump

Confusion or just a Bizzare Love Triangle

2007-07-31T22:46:00.000+01:00

Is anyone else wondering what exactly is going on with New Order at the moment with Peter Hook saying that they had split and Sumner and Morris saying that they were going to continue without him as New Order which he has just said can't happen as he says on his MySpace This group [New Order] has split up! You are no more New Order than I am! You may have two thirds, but don't assume you have the rights to do anything 'New Order-ey', because you don't. I've still got a third! But I'm open to negotiation." As Jerry Seinfeld probably wouldn't say "whats the deal.." . Anyway enjoy some classic New Order.

MP3s:New Order-Crystal
New Order-Bizzarre Love Triangle
New Order-True Faith
New Order-Age Of Consent

Classic Live Video Day-The Who

2007-07-30T18:51:00.000+01:00

Its an old feature from Sessions of Breakfast with a new This Charming Blog twist, i.e its just about live performances and today its arguably (I mean some will argue a lot about that) the greatest live band ever (in their heyday at least) The Who.

The old favourite isn't it live from the Monteray festival.

Quite possibly their finest song from their finest album.

Very raw, black and white version of their first hit.

a rehearsal jam cover of 'I Saw Her Standing There' with Keith singing.

MP3:The Who-My Generation
Buy: Who's Next

Master Music

2007-07-24T23:10:00.000+01:00

You know how it is sometimes you just get the feeling to somehow renact a moment from the great new Doctor Who series quite possibly the scene in which the Master brilliantly portrayed by John Simm danced to the Scissor Sisters, well now you can (probably just me then).

MP3: Scissor Sisters-I Can't Decide

Deathly Hallows

2007-07-23T20:45:00.000+01:00

Its absolutely brilliant, that is all (oh go on have an MP3 from Spoon, their new album is brilliant also).

MP3s: Spoon-I Turn My Camera On

Saturday Beauty

2007-07-21T08:42:00.000+01:00

This Charming Blog may be mostly about music but I've decided that it will also be about whatever I want it to be about and for todays post I'm going to put up some pictures and videos of those in my own opinion are the ten most beatiful women in the world (I guess I should qualify this with famous women really) I think I'll mostly let the images and videos speak for themselves which is basically being pretty lazy, so in no particular order (because I often change my mind over this sort of thing anyway) my top ten are:

Rihanna

I'm actually starting to enjoy her music as a guilty pleasure sort of thing, but I mean wow, I have actually yet to find a bad picture of Rihanna which is fairly surprising.

Suprise MP3: Rihanna-SOS

Jessica Alba
The Sexiest Woman in the World according to FHM readers, and its not exatly difficult to see why.

Elisha Cuthbert
Basically the reason why anyone watched 'The Girl Next Door' also a great actress anyway.

Scarlett Johansson
First saw her in the excellent Lost In Translation, quite literally a perfect woman (although I don't know her personally).

Adriana Lima
The only actual model in my Top Ten , I find her heavily addictive.

Keira Knighley
The last 5 minutes of Pirates Of The Carribean, cinematic gold (or the whole of Domino).

(just put in on mute, you know you will)

Rosario Dawson
She was spectacular in Sin City and downright charming in Clerks 2 not to mention Death Proof.

Kelly Brook
No 1 Woman who men want to see in a bikini, again difficult to argue with that.

Eva Longoria
Recently got married, dang (thats all I have to say).

Evangeline Lilly
I love Lost, I really do and Evageline is actually great in it she is also smoking hot (ok maybe a bit too low brow, then again perhaps this whole post is anyway).

Thats it I probably should take a cold shower or something, more music posts will follow (almost all pictures from Hollywoodtuna).

Album I'm looking forward too:possibly a new feature

2007-07-20T11:22:00.000+01:00

I've been a fan of The New Pornographers since the release of Twin Cinema ("hang on a minute that was their last album your not a real fan" etc) and they have become one of my absolute favourite bands (honestly joint 4th place with Bob Dylan on my last.fm profile). I just love their sound particularly the meshing of their different members vocal talents (most obviously Neko Case, A.C Newman and Dan Bejar, all of whom have excellent solo stuff too of course) they are highly skilled musicians all round and their three albums so far have been uniformly superb, I actually can't think of a 'filler' track on any of them, if all that wasn't enough they formed in Vancouver a place I'd love to visit some day, they are signed to Matador a record company with a load of great bands and artists (boy I'd love a promo copy of this album right about now) and they are the most potentially embarrassing band to reccomend to any uptight friends and/or relatives. So needless to say having heard a couple of tracks from their upcoming release 'Challengers' I am greatly looking forward to it, and so should you, thats right you sitting there in front of your computer and if you lift up that cup in front of you you should see the Jack of Spades (if it actually happened that would be freaky). I haven't yet seen them live so hopefully they will be shortly touring the UK (and hopefully coming to Brighton as well hint, hint) but for those lucky lot in North America they are touring and here are the dates:

7-29 Toronto, Ontario - Rogers Picnic
09-13 Victoria, British Columbia - McPherson Ballroom #&
09-14 Seattle, WA - Showbox #!
09-15 Seattle, WA - Showbox #!
09-16 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom #!
09-17 San Francisco, CA - Warfield Theatre #!
09-18 San Diego, CA - House of Blues #!
09-19 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theater #!
09-20 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theater #@
09-21 Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theatre #@
09-22 Albuquerque, NM - Sunshine Theater #@
09-24 Boulder, CO - Boulder Theater #@
09-25 Salt Lake City, UT - The Depot #@
09-26 Boise, ID - The Egyptian Theatre #@
09-28 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom #!
10-11 Edmonton, Alberta - Edmonton Event Center $
10-12 Calgary, Alberta - MacEwen Hall $
10-13 Calgary, Alberta - MacEwen Hall $
10-14 Missoula, MT - University Theater $
10-15 Winnipeg, Manitoba - Garrick Center $
10-16 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue $^
10-17 Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theatre $^
10-18 Chicago, IL - The Metro $^
10-19 Chicago, IL - The Metro $^
10-20 Buffalo, NY - Riviera Theatre $^
10-21 Toronto, Ontario - Phoenix Concert Theatre $^
10-24 New York, NY - Webster Hall $^
10-25 New York, NY - Webster Hall $&
10-26 Philadelphia, PA - Trocadero $&
10-27 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club $^
10-31 New Orleans, LA - House of Blues $&
11-01 Houston, TX - Warehouse Live $+
11-02 Dallas, TX - House of Blues $+
11-03 Austin, TX - Fun Fun Fun Festival
11-05 Denver, CO - Gothic Theatre $

(& with Immaculate Machine
# with Lavender Diamond
! with Fancey
@ with the Awkward Stage
$ with Emma Pollock
^ with Benjy Ferree
+ with Spoon)

as if that wasn't enough you can also buy the album early and get it now if you live in North America. Anyway aside from that tune in to 6music from 4pm to hear Richard Hawley on Steve Lamacq's show, and until the next post be careful out there (your supposed to say good hunting).

MP3s: The New Pornographers-My Rights Versus Yours
The New Pornographers-Mass Romantic
The New Pornographers-Twin Cinema

Per-Order (UK style): The New Pornographers-Challengers

Sessions of Breakfast?

2007-07-19T22:36:00.000+01:00

Hi there, its been a good long time since my last post, this is a result of some serious upheaval in my life including the end of my time at University and the Breakfast Session show itself, which may now mean that I change the title of this blog as I hope to sort of restart the whole thing. I went to see Final Fantasy on Monday of this week at the Brighton Komedia, and it was a truly awesome gig all round (can't wait for heartlands), and it was straight after seeing Harry Potter and the Order of The Phoenix at the cinema which was actually a great film in contrast to the others which have been pretty poor to average.

MP3: Final Fantasy-He Poos Clouds

June Bug

2007-06-01T22:39:00.000+01:00

Didn't post anything in this month, it was a month of transition

New Nick Drake...sort of

2007-05-08T17:48:00.000+01:00

A song from the upcoming 'Family Tree' of rare and unreleased Nick Drake songs, actually a cover version by another tragic figure (albeit much lesser known) Jackson C. Frank, more on Forkcast, its truly beautiful.

MP3:
Nick Drake-Blues Run The Game

Pre-order:
Nick Drake-Family Tree

Classic Video Day-11

2007-05-07T11:02:00.000+01:00

I know its Monday, and for most of you its back to the week, although its a bank holiday here, look out the window its hardly the best holiday is it.

MP3:
New Order-Blue Monday

Sunday Lunch

2007-05-06T12:28:00.000+01:00

If like me you are celebrating (kind of anyway because I have final exams this week) the fantastic victory of West Ham over Bolton, which almost secures our Premiership future, or if your just after a large collection of music, this is another new future where I taking a leaf out of Largehearted boy's book post a load of music which for some reason or another I haven't been able to write in depth about, so feast your ears on these MP3s:

Ruby Isle-Atom Bomb
Ruby Isle-Into The Black
MySpace, E-Card
The Basement-I Just Caught A Face
The Basement-Its A Kind Of Love
Official Website, MySpace, E-Card
Bang Gang-It's Alright
Bang Gang-Something Wrong
U.S Competition: Remix 'Its Alright' and send it with your full name to banggang@fanaticpromotion.com to win a trip to Iceland
Official Website, MySpace, E-Card
The Clutters-9999(Ways To Hate Us)
The Clutters-Temperature
Official Website, MySpace, E-Card
Winterpills-A Folded Cloth
Winterpills-Broken Arm
Winterpills-Handkercheifs
Official Website, MySpace, E-Card

Bonus Video:

I just couldn't help myself.

and finally Happy Birthday Joe, if you would like to wish my friend Joe, who has been my sidekick twice on my radio show, go over to his MySpace, this is him here

Friday Review: a new feature

2007-05-04T16:54:00.000+01:00

Well it could be a new feature, seeing as I have got a few promo CDs to review, mostly from going to my first Junction 11 music meeting, something I've meant to do for a while but have either a) forgot about it or b) had work to do at the time, but I've decided that since I actually received a offer of a good album from a record company purely through this blog I thought that I'll leave my postal address now open to (hopefully) more good promo CD albums, did I mention my Junction 11 show on Tuesdays from 10am, anyway I have a few CDs to review, starting with the new album from The National.

The National-Boxer (Beggars Banquet)

The National follow up their 2005 breakthrough album 'Alligator', and retain their downbeat, melancholic sound (some would say depressing), vocally a mid-way point between Ian Curtis and Michael Stipe, Matt Berninger continues to deliver in his own monotone style. All this suggests that this album is depressing, and lets be honest it certainly isn't a 'soundtrack to the summer' type album, however there is more to this then deppression, from the opener 'Fake Empire' which begins with a simple but evocative piano track through songs like 'Guest Room' which sounds like a otherworldly version of U2 before they became MOR, the whole album shines through with a surprisingly rousing beauty which overcomes the superficial 'depressing' tag, this album will get under your skin and become a 'soundtrack to your soul'.
Score: 9/10

Candie Payne-I Wish I Could Have Loved You More (Deltasonic)

Opens with what can only be described as a blast from the past, almost verging on 'James Bond' theme music territory, single and album opener 'I Wish I Could Have Loved You More' sounds like its been pulled right from the 60s a fact acknowledged by the replicated needle scratches at the end, the same can be said for the whole album. The influences of the likes of Dusty Springfield although vocally Candie Payne doesn't quite rise to the level of the greats, then again not many do. The album has a rich sound, and changes between upbeat and downbeat at points beginning to sound like more recent artists, like 'A Different You' which could almost fit on an early Bjork album. Overall if you enjoy the sound of 60s revival from the likes of The Coral, The Zutons (Candie Payne also comes from Liverpool and is signed to Deltasonic) and The Pipettes, then you'll almost certainly enjoy this sonically large and vocally soulful (and occasionaly both at the same time) offering which just might become the sound track to lazy summer evenings.
Score 8/10

Seymore Saves the World-S/T (Royalty, Etc)

Keyboards, keyboards and more keyboards, all three members of SSW are credited as playing them, and they are at the core of the bands sound, which is ultamately highly jaunty and appealing as it is keyboardy (thats not even a word), they mostly sound a mix between fellow Minneapolis band Tapes 'n tapes and Hot Hot Heat although perhaps add some anti-depressants into the mix, although lyrically more downbeat the uptempo keyboard sounds do tend to drown out the vocals. All in all a fun pop album which undoubtedly shows its strongest card first with the rather excellent 'Love Song', which is The Feeling but actually good, the rest of the album is still good, but that song shows off the real potential of the band.
Score: 7/10

MP3s:
The National-Fake Empire
Seymore Saves The World-Love Song

Buy:
Seymore Saves The World-S/T

Pre-Order (released May 21st)
The National-Boxer
Candie Payne-I Wish I Could Have Loved You More

Classic Video Day-"I came upon a doctor who appeared in quite poor health"

2007-05-01T16:13:00.000+01:00

Its the video for the Bright Eyes son 'Bowl of Oranges' from his seminal 'Lifted..'. I just love the animation in this video, and as an extra bonus a fine photograph video for Nick Drake's 'Day Is Done'

MP3:
Bright Eyes-Bowl Of Oranges

Buy:
Bright Eyes-Lifted...
Nick Drake-Five Leaves Left

1,2,3,4

2007-04-25T13:35:00.000+01:00

O.K so its been a very long time since my last blog post (over a month) so why is this? Well it is a combination of writers block, laziness and the 12,ooo word dissertation which I handed in last Monday, oh and my finals coming up a little too shortly. Anyway, enough excuses first of all I want to thank everyone who e-mailed in during this period, and I will get back to some sort of posting pattern soon. Having done a Top 10 of January albums list I probably should do another one possibly February, March and April albums top 10 or something. The big highlight of my recent life though was undoubtedly seeing Feist at the Komedia, it was an intimate venue and I was right at the front, its a shame that I don't have a digital camera because well I think I'm in love, the gig itself featured a large amount of new 'Reminder' tracks and in itself was just brilliant, the live versions of the songs were kind of like souped up versions of the songs if that makes any sense anyway it was awesome. On non-music matters isn't Lost a brilliant show the 3rd series has been a absolutely top-notch t.v, especially 'One of Us' which has to be one of my favourite ever episodes, just great acting all round particularly from Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet)Anywho, watch this space for some more blog posts, hopefully.

MP3s:
Feist-My Man, My Moon
Feist-Mushaboom
(both got played, both rocked)

Bonus Video:

filmed in Austria, and yet another superb video from Feist.

Edit: Go to Feist's MySpace to here 'The Reminder' in full.

MyFriend feature Return

2007-03-22T19:37:00.001Z

So a few months back on this here blog I started a fairly adventurous feature where I take a band or artist and look at their MySpace page and see if among the top 8 (or however many friends there are) there is a good or great band or artist there, now todays return of the feature which actually features a band or duo who I just heard about on StG a blog that everyone should read just for the writing, and as luck would have it they happened to be on the top 8 of another Ontario based artist who I knew about already namely the fantasticly epic Basia Bulat, so I could link them in with the feature. Now Habitat (pictured above) are a band who make some oddly compelling indie-pop, songs driven by either guitar or keyboard with a nice male/female vocal combination, its good stuff.

MP3:
Habitat-Snow Song

Buy:
Self-titled E.P and download more tracks at their MySpace

Slightly tired

2007-03-21T01:03:00.000Z

Maybe its because its getting late and I'm quite tired, but the music (from p4k) of Archives is very cathatic to me at the moment, in the best possible sense, and the title Sleepdriving feels very appropriate, enjoy and good night (or morning or afternoon, whatever).

MP3:
Archives-Sleepdriving
download another great track at their MySpace

Classic Video Day-Warning may cause Brian storm whatever that is

2007-03-19T23:24:00.001Z

Hey its the new video from those Monkeys from the Arctic, certainly a new species, and its a rather well timed video suited to the barrage of guitar riffs and the overall frenetic fast pace of the song. Also my last radio show for a few weeks will be airing tommorow morning from 10am to 12pm as usual, with the usual mix of great music and more great music on Junction 11 around the globe from 1287am.com.

MP3:
Arctic Monkeys-Brianstorm

Pre-Order:
Arctic Monkeys-Favourite Worst Nightmare (go on, I have already)

Punk kick-start

2007-03-15T11:54:00.000Z

Hi there its been a while (10 whole days) since my last post, this has been a result of certain things in my life right now, including but not limited to my dissertation, anyway I thought I'd make a quick post just to say if you happen to be at SXSW right this second (if you are I'm very envious of you by the way) then its well worth checking out a certain Jay Reatard, who essentially combines the punk ethic of The Ramones and Wire with a new wave sound, whilst hardly sounding original does manage to kick a hole in your ear and demand attention, and hes playing at Beerland, Red River Street apparently at 1pm today (although that might have already happened I'm not sure about time difference.

MP3 sample:
Jay Reatard-Hammer I Miss You

Buy:
Jay Reatard-Blood Visions

Classic Video Day-Its a whole army of me

2007-03-05T16:04:00.000Z

Well with all the recent brilliant news about Bjork's upcoming brand new album Volta released May 7th I thought that this great old Bjork Video would be appropriate and it features a gorrila dentist as well.

Bring on the backlash...oh

2007-03-01T10:18:00.000Z

So Uncle Zane cooked up a special treat on his show last night in the form of the brand spanking new Arctic Monkeys single, which was actually great, it sounded a bit like Klaxons which isn't a bad thing but still kept a element of Arctic Monkey sound and energy in a very full on almost metal sense (if you try dancing to this you will probably lose a few pounds). This is taken from their second album 'Favourite Worst Nightmare' released on Domino on the 23rd April. In other music news The White Stripes have suddenly (to me this came out of nowhere I thought Jack White was concentrating on The Raconteurs for now) got a new album ready, named 'Icky Thump' "We are doing our best (whatever that is) to release the album as soon as corporately possible. And though we are tired, worn, weary, hungry, cold and left without an ounce of nutrition amongst ourselves, we are in the midst of planning performance type shows around the world."

The tracklisting includes:

'Catch Hell Blues'
'Little Cream Soda'
'Rag And Bone'
'Clicky Bump'
'You Don't Know What Love Is (Just Do As You're Told)'
'I'm Slowly Turning Into You'
(from NME)

sounds cool

MP3:
Arctic Monkeys-Brainstorm (radio rip)
The White Stripes-Fell In Love With A Girl

Pre-Order
Arctic Monkeys-Favourite Worst Nightmare

Those damm Teenagers

2007-02-28T12:54:00.000Z

I've been meaning to post about My Teenage Stride for a while now, basically before I saw a ton of other blogs post about them, the blog that first brought them to my attention was rhe always excellent Skatterbrain. Well what can I say about them? Well never before have I said that in many ways they sound almost like their beaming their music from the past (somewhere in the late 80s or early 90s) and that they do certainly show their influences clearly (Idolator said it best with the great quote "(their latest album, Ears Like Golden Bats) wears its influences like one-inch pins bearing the logos of Orange Juice and the Go-Betweens") but despite these potential obstacles they do not sound derivative in any sense, essentially down to a fantastic song-craft, great vocals and a indefatigable attitude (you could freeze that quote a put in on the CD cover if you want). In another thing which you hopefully didn't miss IGIF posted a brand new song from Arizona which is utterly out of this world, its called Thimble (it starts with the freaking sounds of the rainforest man before launching into one of their best songs yet, and a taster of what their second album will sound like (hopefully). Just realised that both bands are from Brooklyn, I guess I'll get no sleep till I get there. Oh and one last thing I did my radio show yesterday and you can listen to the whole two hour show here.

MP3s:
My Teenage Stride-To Live And Die In The Airpot Lounge
My Teenage Stride-Ears Like Golden Bats
Arizona-Thimble

Buy:
My Teenage Stride-Ears Like Golden Bats
Arizona-Welcome Back Dear Children

Classic Video Day-Wait What Do I Throw?

2007-02-26T18:04:00.000Z

We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives

Its the new song from welsh wonders Los Campesinos! who I posted about back in the heady days of last month and even then I called the buzz surrounding them something of a bandwagon and now NME has waded in to their corner (this was expected, and hopefully it won't destroy this excellent band with an unreasonable amount of hype by which if they don't do a Wyld Stallions its a bit of a let down). Anyway the video has a real almost iconic style about it with the faceless soldiers and the 'Another Brick In The Wall' style marching feet, also the animation is incredibly well-timed with the song. The song itself combines punchy verses and epic chorus parts superbly and with a simple but effective message behind the song providing a insight into the genuine potential of Los Campesinos!.

MP3s:
Los Campesinos!-Sweet Dreams Sweet Cheeks
Los Campesinos!-Death To Los Campesinos
download video and song and artwork from their official website for free (dude that is truly most excellent)

Buy:
a Los Campesinos! t-shirt

(thats two Bill & Ted references there too)

Behave and watch

2007-02-23T16:37:00.000Z

Heads up to the Forkcast, I think this is a really excellent video for Charlotte Hatherley's upcoming single 'Behave' its a great comic book/Sin City esq video that just suits the the slightly woozy (musically) yet focused (lyrically) song perfectly. Taken from her second solo album 'The Deep Blue' released on 5th March. As an extra treat I'll post an excellent track that was featured on her first solo effort 'Grey Will Fade' the uber-catchy 'Kim Wilde'.

MP3:
Charlotte Hatherley-Kim Wilde

Pre-Order
The Deep Blue

Absolutely Diamond

2007-02-20T18:54:00.001Z

I have something of a love/hate relationship with finding out about bands who have already been on the scene as it were for a few years but I've just discovered them first of all you get the love, as in "wow this stuff is really great" (I don't think I actually say that though), then you get the hate, "hey they've just toured round the UK" and "why haven't I heard of this band before now they are signed to Rough Trade". This brings me on to Lavender Diamond who are a group signed to Rough Trade (in the UK) and Matador, and I've just heard about them on Idolator as their 'Stuck On Repeat' feature with the song 'Open Your Heart' which draws upon acoustic guitars, pianos, violins and an excellent drum together with vocals that almost get overwhelmed by the instruments before bursting into a chorus that will give you goosebumps and possibly cause temporary blindness (in the best possible sense), this is a song that will open your heart. Aside from that, I was pleasantly surprised that my little Feist post got a fairly large amount of attention, it was nice though so I thought I'd post the Mushaboom (radio edit) video as well

MP3:
Lavender Diamond-Open Your Heart

You'll need to make a memo

2007-02-19T13:19:00.000Z

Yes its been posted to death all over the blogosphere, but there is a reason for that, its because it is a sublime slice of what looks set to be a must-buy album, it is My Man, My Moon, and for some reason the piano part in it bizarrely reminds me of Empire by Kasabian, however it really is beautifully minamalist and I really can't say enough about it, I will certainly be playing it on my show tommorow. For those of you who don't know Feist, well you probably know one of her songs anyway and that would be Mushaboom, which has featured on a few things on TV, and truly is awesome. Also seeing as this is also 'Classic Video Day' on this blog, I'll post the rather funky video for 'One Evening' where you constantly wish you were the guy in the video, except without the "end in one evening".

oh heck heres some more great Feist videos

and guess what I've just got tickets to see her in Brighton on 16th April, oh yeah I really can't wait.
Go and be Feist's friend, buy 'Let It Die' I insist upon it. 'The Reminder' will be out on April 23rd in the UK (and Rest Of the World), and May 1st in US and Canada.

Embedded Video Day- I'll get you next time Timberlake, next tiiiime

2007-02-12T18:56:00.000Z

not really a classic video as such just an excuse to include Scarlett Johansson on this blog and just say that Mr Timberlake is a lucky bastard really (I'm not jealous, honest.....well actually thats a big fat whopping lie). Anyway a great video from Arcade Fire is here its a cover of 'Guns Of Brixton' which is cool. Also the sureally brilliant video for Knife by Grizzly Bear is great so check that out right here (thanks to Stereogum). Can I also remind everybody to tune in to my show 10am-12pm tommorow, on Junction 11.

MP3s
The Avalanches-Ray Of Zdarlight (WOOOO The Avalanches are back)
Dinosaur Jr-Almost Ready (Double WOOOO Dino Jr return from the dead)
(Cheers P4K)

Pictures (thanks Egotastic):

Join the Club

2007-02-09T23:53:00.001Z

I'll start of this post by saying theres a heck of a lot of great music floating about on the Blogosphere and I am currently going slightly insane deciding what to post about, basically for now check out the sidebar links (theres also a few blogs which may join the Blogosaurus) anyway you may remember I posted about Tiny Dancers a band obviously going places (well they are signed to EMI which is probably an indication) well they have started a free MP3 club where by those who join get a free Tiny Dancers Mp3 every month which ain't all bad.

MP3:
Tiny Dancers-20 to 9

Buy:
Tiny Dancers-Lions and Tigers and Lions EP

Sound of Silver

2007-02-08T11:18:00.000Z

So Silver Pyre a band from 19th Century Somerset by the sounds of 'Sovereign' a traditional sea shanty, but hang on a second their singing about "a hundred odd meatheads", seriously though if the musical genres of shoegaze and electro existed in the 19th Century then 'Saline' and 'Shurtan Bars Ammonite' (boy what a catchy song title) respectively would be how they would sound. Back to 'Sovereign' then as it sounds a bit like The Decemberists blowing up with a roaring accordion. Seriously this stuff will rouse some sort of collective cultural memory out of everybody, and their playing a session on Huw Steven's Radio 1 show tonight, so listen and enjoy this odd folky musique.

MP3s (samples):
Silver Pyre-Sovereign
Silver Pyre-Saline
more on their MySpace

Buy:
Silver Pyre-EP(i)

Classic Video Day-Mon The Park

2007-02-07T22:12:00.000Z

I know its not Monday but I wanted to post something and I thought why not the video for the new single 'Our Velocity' from the awesome Maximo Park.

Geeky Post with added post-rock

2007-02-02T15:46:00.000Z

OK lets get the geeky non-music part out of the way first, I'm rather excited to say that Deathly Hallows the seventh book in the superb Harry Potter series is being released on the 21st July 2007. Right now having got that out the way I should also mention my radio show which I broad casted on Tuesday which was kind of my anniversary edition you can listen to that here, I haven't posted the tracklisting because I've been a bit busy with a presentation as well as the 'mammoth' Best Albums of January 2007 post, which I was quite pleased about (although I don't really know why). Anyway on to the music and what great music it is from the already highly recommended Somme, a duo from Chicago who combine post-rock shoegaze (pretty experimentally) with conventional indie rhythms, see the handclaps in 'Massless' as well as some almost 'Pavement' like guitars to start 'Forge', I haven't heard the E.P but it should be awesome. It is certainly ear catching stuff and just to make this post extra geeky "it's post-rock jim, but not as we know it" (I'm not a trekkie though I probably should highlight that fact).

MP3s:
Somme-Massless
Somme-Forge

Buy:
Weight E.P should be available soon just keep checking their MySpace

Best Albums Of January 2007

2007-01-31T23:59:00.000Z

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? (Polyviny l)
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

2007-01-27T12:43:00.000Z

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

2007-01-25T23:16:00.000Z

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

2007-01-24T16:53:00.000Z

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

2007-01-23T16:46:00.000Z

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 .

Classic Videos Day-No Direction, Period and Arcade Fire (live)

2007-01-22T10:51:00.000Z

Dylan again for this feature (I listened to a heck of a lot of Dylan last week (98 times according to last.fm) but slightly different to last Monday, I can guarantee that if you've had or are having a bad day this will not only cheer you up but also give you someone to blame for 'every single popular song of the last 35 years every single one'. Also check IGIF for all the details on by all accounts an awesome secret show by Arcade Fire which got put on YouTube (also covered by Torture Garden and GvB) and for your pleasure here is one of the songs performed last night in St Michaels Church in Montreal (I have to go there some day, seriously if anyone happens to be going there or lives there and has a lot of money to spare can you take me along/let me stay with you) its the first UK single that will be taken from Neon Bible its 'Keep The Car Running'

and lastly remember 10am-12pm tommorow, repeat it over and over again in conjunction with 1287am.com.

MP3s:
Arcade Fire-Neighbourhood #3(Power Out)
Bob Dylan-Like A Rolling Stone

Buy:
Arcade Fire-Neon Bible (UK) (US)
Bob Dylan-Essential (does not include My Humps, Toxic or Mmm Bop)

Mr Blue Sky Blue

2007-01-21T11:48:00.000Z

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

2007-01-20T19:52:00.000Z

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?

2007-01-18T18:37:00.000Z

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

2007-01-17T16:03:00.000Z

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

2007-01-16T18:47:00.000Z

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)

2007-01-15T19:42:00.000Z

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

2007-01-14T16:53:00.000Z

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

2007-01-12T22:10:00.000Z

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

2007-01-11T12:35:00.001Z

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

2007-01-10T14:11:00.000Z

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

2007-01-09T13:30:00.000Z

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?

2007-01-08T14:24:00.000Z

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?

2007-01-07T19:14:00.000Z

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!

2007-01-02T13:50:00.000Z

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

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

2006-12-22T18:47:00.000Z

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

2006-12-20T00:21:00.001Z

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?

2006-12-18T14:51:00.000Z

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

2006-12-17T16:30:00.000Z

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

2006-12-14T18:02:00.000Z

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

2006-12-12T10:55:00.000Z

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

2006-12-11T19:10:00.000Z

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

2006-12-08T13:18:00.000Z

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

2006-12-07T19:44:00.000Z

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

2006-12-06T23:47:00.000Z

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

2006-12-05T17:02:00.000Z

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)

2006-12-04T13:16:00.000Z

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.

2006-12-03T21:09:00.000Z

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!

2006-12-01T14:51:00.000Z

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

2006-11-30T14:46:00.000Z

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

2006-11-29T14:55:00.000Z

Propts once again to ace Swedish dedicated blog swe desplease 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

2006-11-28T16:14:00.000Z

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

2006-11-27T21:27:00.000Z

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

2006-11-26T19:27:00.000Z

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

2006-11-25T22:10:00.000Z

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

2006-11-24T11:37:00.000Z

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

2006-11-23T15:22:00.000Z

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

2006-11-22T19:43:00.000Z

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)

2006-11-20T13:56:00.000Z

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)