June Bug

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

New Nick Drake...sort of

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

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

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

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"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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