Sunday 9 December 2012

Albums & Gigs of the year reprised

I've been thinking of my favourite gigs and releases of the year for a while and decided that I really ought to put them in some sort of order. Arguably the most difficult part has been deciding whether or not to and if so how to include compilations and whole series of 7" singles in my lists. In a broadly similar vein, how to categorise festivals and all dayers amongst my top gigs (should they count as entire huge shows or can each set count as an individual thing) caused no end of confusion!! Ultimately, I might not (in fact almost certainly didn't aside from deciding not to include singles in releases) resolve either side to any great degree so here are the somewhat jumbled outcomes in no particular order and as a top 14 (almost) and a top 11 (sort of);

Top Releases
Europe - Allo Darlin'
Mature Themes - Ariel Pinks Haunted Graffiti
T.O.Y.S EP - T.O.Y.S
Believe Me - The Smittens
Martha EP - Martha
Five: A WeePop Covers Compilation - Various
Wildlife - The Lovely Eggs
wiaiwya 7777777 series - Various
Shrines - Purity Ring
Outside Its Cold Just Like The Inside Of Your Body And - Ace Bushy Striptease
Ten Songs About Girls - Tender Trap
Blunderbuss - Jack White
This Many Boyfriends - This Many Boyfriends
The Roots of Love (Come Tumbling Down) - Big Wave


Top Gigs
Tune Yards @ Shepherds Bush Empire
Allo Darlin', Martha, Tigercats @ Kings College Student Union
The History of Apple Pie, Hooded Fang, Eagulls @ Barfly Camden
Ace Bushy Striptease, Cosines, Downdimes @ Wilmington Arms
La Sera, Novella @ The Lexington
Allo Darlin', Herman Dune @ Heaven
Darren Hayman and the Long Parliament @ The Lexington
Casual Sex, T.O.Y.S, Wake the President, Post @Wilmington Arms
Evans the Death, Big Wave, Model Village, Violet Woods @ George Tavern
The Lovely Eggs @ The Social
Trailer Trash Tracys @ Rough Trade East

and of course,


London Popfest
Indietracks
OddBox Weekender
End of the Road

which I can't split up into separate shows because I largely remember them as one, and perhaps more importantly, my lists would become needlessly and unmanageably large!
There could and potentially will be an addendum to this post just as soon as I remember more albums and gigs which I had temporarily forgotten about, but then perhaps they shouldn't make the list for that exact reason...









Thursday 22 November 2012

Female Singers

Listening to the radio this afternoon and hearing some Beth Orton I was struck by how much of a soft spot I have for some female singer songwriters, if that isn't too pointless and generic a genre. This didn't exactly come as groundbreaking news to me (I do broadly know what I like already after all, or at least you would imagine I do) but it does sometimes take hearing something unexpectedly to remind me! Perhaps I shouldn't have been entirely surprised as Rose Melberg's frankly beautiful Homemade Ship has been sneaking its way in to the cd player with alarming regularity this week, which has meant a somewhat large amount of Ramones live albums being played all the way through as a sort of counterbalance, but then they certainly knew their way around a tune as well, so perhaps not that different after all...
Anyway, alongside Homemade Ship (and in no particular order) Pearl, Gonna take a Miracle, Smell the Mitten, The Big Black and Blue, anything by Sandy Denny, and (as always) any faintly acousticy Allo Darlin' all need to be listened to. Each one is perfectly different while maintaining something that I'll always be drawn to, but that I'd struggle quite dramatically to explain. Suffice to say a certain happiness emanates from them which I at least find uplifting in a strange way.

On a semi related note, somehow circumstances have contrived against me again causing the missing of the Lovely Eggs tonight (for the second time this year. Strangely, the same seems to happen whenever I try to see Jack White!!) but they are playing at Rough Trade on Saturday afternoon so I'll just have to catch them and hopefully the new album then.

Wednesday 14 November 2012

Veronica Falls & The Lovely Eggs

Two startlingly fantastic and very much different but also in some ways (or at least sort of one way to me at least) similar singles are about to be released by Veronica Falls and the Lovely Eggs.
I Just Want Someone To Fall In Love With is the Eggs at close to if not in fact at (which it may well be) their finest. All spectacular chugging rhythm with the occasional blast of noise to stop the likes of me getting too melancholy and lovelorn. The video also happens to be perfect.

Teenage on the other hand is arguably the most beautifully pretty, jangly, poignant song that I've heard in quite some time. I was sort of expecting Bury Me Alive (I think) to be the next single having heard it a couple of times live and liking it a lot but Teenage might be even better!

To say that I'm looking forward to the new albums from both bands would be quite a massive understatement!! As far as I'm aware the releases are;
Waiting For Something To Happen by Veronica Falls on 4th February in the UK and 12th February for USA.
Wildlife from the Lovely Eggs released 26th November.

It would also appear that they are playing separate shows on the same night in London for those who might be interested, that night being 22nd November and one of the shows being 'secret'.

I'll leave the ways in which the two songs are either different or similar to your imaginations...



 

Sunday 11 November 2012

Bands & Songs of the year

Partly as a result of making playlists (and perhaps a little subconsciously from seeing regular reminders for the Dandelion Radio festive 50 which I still have to vote in!!) I've been considering what my favourite bands and songs have been this year, and am rapidly realising that the answer seems to vary quite dramatically from day to day. It also seems a little hasty to make any decisions quite yet as I have just received the new Ace Bushy Striptease album in the post and haven't had a proper chance to listen to it yet... It can safely be said however that Evans the Death, the School, the Spook School, Martha, Jeffrey Lewis, Horse Thief, the Lovely Eggs, the History of Apple Pie, Dirty Beaches, Methodist Centre, Standard Fare, One Happy Island, Allo Darlin' will be right up there somewhere, even if some of them haven't strictly released anything this year, and by that logic I might have to include Roky Erickson as well for having written my favourite song right now!! In fact, now that I think about it there are clearly far too many names on the list (which will continue to grow as I remember stuff that was released earlier in the year) so a complex system will have to be concocted to narrow down a top three or possibly five popular bands and songs...
Better get started.

Thursday 1 November 2012

Moody Electronica & Fortuna Pop! (again)

For anyone who enjoys a bit of moody electronica (and I'm quite sure that I can't be the only one) I can strongly recommend taking a look at an album called Ark by a guy called Halls. The word is that he's another young London based one man band fairly bass heavy producer who has no doubt been releasing all kinds of stuff that I haven't come across (perhaps unsurprisingly as I'm absolutely not an electro hipster and don't make a habit of frequenting underground east end warehouse parties) and now has this album out.
He most obviously appears to be in a similar vain to James Blake and to a lesser extent Burial so presumably is very much 'in' within certain circles, although that shouldn't put anyone off. The sound is relatively smooth with a broadly orchestral or perhaps chamber feel throughout, and as should maybe be expected, is very much on the minimal side of things. I could imagine that some people might dismiss it as somewhat background music straight away but I would urge anyone even slightly interested to give it a chance, and in particular to listen to the album in order the entire way through as it seems to make more sense as a whole.
If moody and brooding is even sometimes your scene then give it a go.


I have to admit that I temporarily forgot about the Fortuna Pop! Winter Sprinter taking place in early January while bemoaning the lack of all dayers to go to over winter in a post from a couple of weeks ago. As a result it came as an extremely pleasant surprise when the lineup began to be drip fed through twitter over the course of a week or so. Needless to say the lineup is exceptional and £30 for all four nights on the earlybird is almost unbelievable value!

Tuesday 8th January: Allo Darlin' + Tender Trap + The Spook School
Wednesday 9th January: Herman Düne + Withered Hand (solo) + Joanna Gruesome
Thursday 10th January: Darren Hayman And The Long Parliament + Shrag + Haiku Salut
Friday 11th January: Comet Gain + Milky Wimpshake + Evans The Death

I for one can hardly wait, particularly for the first night which I strongly suspect will set the bar spectacularly high for every other gig next year, but then it could be said that I'm a pretty big fan of all three bands.
Plenty of frankly awesome looking gigs still to happen this year though, so as ever, if you like a band and they play near you get out there and you won't be disappointed!!





Friday 26 October 2012

Dalston, The Proper Ornaments, Omi Palone, Echo Lake

I made my way out to Dalston last night (thursday) to see a No Pain In Pop show at the Shacklewell Arms which I later discovered was apparently a sort of a fundraiser for the British Heart Foundation.

The first band on was Omi Palone, who I happen to consider to be arguably the best indie rock band around at the moment. I'd seen them once before and been a fan ever since. suffice to say they didn't disappoint. Incredibly strong songs and a fantastic sound make for a pretty potent combination. Also, I'm frankly always happy to see an indie band not harking back to britpop or (still) trying to be the Strokes! Everyone needs to see Omi Palone in a small venue before they surely graduate to much bigger things.
Next up came my highlight of the night in the form of the Proper Ornaments who are now without doubt one of my favourite bands. I had heard of them around the place before and possibly heard the odd track but somehow before last night they had somehow largely passed me by which is doubly strange as I am pretty partial to Veronica Falls!
The set didn't start ideally as there appeared to be keyboard problems which were tinkered around with for a while and eventually solved by dumping the keyboard entirely!! However, after that the band soon got back into their stride and were spectacularly good. At first they seemed to be almost psychedelic, then shoegazey, and after a while I'm not sure what. What suddenly came to mind was the Jesus and Mary Chain playing American Beauty (the Grateful Dead album rather than the film of the same name), which as far as I'm concerned is absolutely perfect. The only shame was that there wasn't anything of theirs for me to buy.
The night was headlined by Echo Lake who I suddenly realised have a quite beautiful dreamy sound (even more so live than recorded), but at the same time manage not to drift off into the realms of easy listening and chillout which so many similar bands seem to struggle with. They periodically develop a harder edge when needed to jolt everyone back to reality and keep things lively. 

One of the best complete lineups I've seen recently, and it turns out that Dalston isn't as much of a hassle to get to and from as I had originally suspected.

Wednesday 17 October 2012

Lido

Finally got around to properly listening to Lido by Darren Hayman over the last few days. Although I've had it on vinyl for a while, a series of complications have meant that my record player has been somewhat out of action for almost the same period of time! Fortunately it is now back and in the same place as me. Anyway, I had heard parts of the album both on free download and when seeing Darren Hayman & the Long Parliament live and had been pleasantly surprised given the dread that instrumentals commonly inspire (I'm pretty sure that I can't think of a second genuinely good full length instrumental album, although perhaps someone can), and was as a result quite keen to see how Lido was as a whole.
I can now say that it is in reality a truly fantastic thing. As hard as it is to imagine I absolutely found myself transported to the world of the Lidos while listening to it the whole way through. Each piece seems to suit the different location in it's own way and tell a little imagined story about what might or might not have happened there over time, with the ones now closed seeming to incorporate that funny sense of loss without drifting in to being too sombre. Also, the drawings included in the notes are tremendous.
Certainly worth a listen or two as far as I'm concerned.

Sunday 7 October 2012

Odd Box, Gigs, 7" Vinyl

I attended an entirely fantastic gig at the Wilmington Arms in London last night. It was an Odd Box show so it was to be expected that it would be good, but even by the standards already laid down the quality was pretty much unparalleled. The lineup was; Post, Wake the President, T.O.Y.S, Casual Sex, of which I had only really heard of T.O.Y.S before who I had also tried and failed to see several times over the last six months or so. I can now safely say that I am extremely pleased to have seen them and almost certainly will be again. They and Wake the President were arguably my personal highlights of the night. On the one hand a periodically somewhat moody modern post punk (maybe post post punk is the term...) tinged with bouncy bass and keyboards, and on the other awesomely funky jangly Glaswegian indie pop  that deserves an infinitely wider audience than it's probably destined to receive.

It always seems that if even parts of sets as good as these could somehow be transmitted onto sky tv or computers live on a Saturday night then more people would see what they're missing out on and support something exciting and different by actually going out to see it. Especially at £6 a ticket on the door (and less in advance online for those like me who worry that everything will sell out) I consider it close to impossible to believe that someone could attend and not find something they like and by extension not do anything other than enjoy themselves.

Being at the gig caused me to listen to a whole load of 7" singles this morning as well, which is always good and was doubly so this time as it reminded me to listen to Chips for the Poor much more often!
A triumphant return to the Wilmington Arms by Odd Box!

Thursday 27 September 2012

One Happy Island

I'd forgotten how much I like listening to One Happy Island. A Purpose of the Surface is a fantastically rambunctious album from start to end, but at the same time comes peppered with heartfelt and moving moments which give real life to the songs. Even after repeated listening I'm still surprised by the unexpected nature of parts of the album when they come on. The styles and tone are so varied that listening to the album all the way through several times really pays dividends. I'll have to try not to leave such a long time between listens in the future!

Wednesday 19 September 2012

Allo Darlin', Perfection, Fortuna

Martha and Tender Trap have been on quite serious rotation over the last week or so, largely as a result of my having purchased both cds on Thursday at the previously mentioned Allo Darlin' gig. Which was spectacularly good and a huge amount of fun. Martha should be allowed to support everyone just so that all gigs can get off to an incredible start. Awesome pop punk (for want of a better term) without any of the generic flat spots which seem to plague so many otherwise interesting bands.
Tigercats still appear to be getting better and better every time I see them which is quite a feat when one considers how good they already are! Anyone who hasn't heard of them should have and everyone who has should see them live.
I'm still perpetually amazed by how perfect Allo Darlin' are. It is entirely impossible to not be drawn in to the world of their songs while watching them live. Even with slight amp issues (which I didn't really notice) the set was as flawless as always but also, somehow, completely different to the other times I've seen them. The band live seems to be so organic that a different crowd, venue and no doubt imperceptible changes between the individuals makes for an ever-changing feeling, and a good excuse for me to keep on seeing them! I just hope there'll be another London date announced before the end of the year...

Tender Trap clearly weren't playing at the gig (I believe they're playing on the 28th in London) but I did buy the album and have to say that so far it's pretty fantastic. 
It also has to be said that Fortuna Pop is a truly astounding label. Arguably the most consistently high quality releases around at the moment. I'd be surprised to be disappointed by anything bearing their mark.

Thursday 13 September 2012

Next Year

I suddenly realise that I'm at something of a loss as to what to do with myself now that Indietracks and End Of The Road have taken place and I've got to wait almost another year for them to come around again. And that apparent sense of loss doesn't even take into account the almost impossibly long wait before it's time to start thinking about earlybird tickets for the Oddbox Weekender, London Popfest and maybe even a day or two in Hyde Park. There quite certainly is, to me at least (obviously and perhaps unnecessarily I presume given that I am writing this) an essence which makes full camping type festivals, multi-day non camping sort of festivals, weekenders, alldayers a little extraordinary and almost always special. The opportunity to be entirely immersed in something that means so much to me might well have a baring on my feelings here. Just being somewhere (I suspect almost anywhere, I'm not sure that it matters although travelling a little can add something) with other people who clearly mostly feel the same way, and music playing constantly for whole days or longer has the ability to make me nothing but happy, and by extent makes me prone to sitting in a field / park / beer garden / terrace / campsite daydreaming about why life shouldn't be more like that particular pure moment much more often.
It would appear that the main reason for the specialness of these particular events to me is that they don't take place all that often. I would imagine that maybe after a much more regular year round bout of sort of festivalling some of the ignorable minor difficulties would begin to become exaggerated to such a point that they would ultimately detract from the otherwise perfection.
Not strictly sleeping for days at a time, expecting to see ten or so bands a day, watching films and attending workshops while also attempting to carry out full time jobs at the same time probably wouldn't work out tremendously successfully for most people after all!! Also, much more than three days would inevitably evolve any music event in to an entirely tiresome commune of some description which would in turn run the risk of ruining the music that I loved forever...
So for now it seems that I'll have to make do with really looking forward to individual gigs instead, which as it happens do seem to be back in full flow now that autumn is rapidly approaching. Allo Darlin', Tigercats & Martha later tonight immediately springs to mind partly due to the proximity, but mostly as a result of waiting for it to arrive since I bought my ticket what seems like a long long time ago. The same goes for the Lovely Eggs & Shrag together at the beginning of October which is certain to be a memorable night.
No doubt I'll stumble across plenty of new bands before next summer too, so will be getting excited about sort of mini festival season even more by the time it comes back. Then I'll be in my dream world all over again...at least some of the time.

Wednesday 5 September 2012

End Of The Road

I spent last weekend having a thoroughly fantastic time at End Of The Road festival. From the moment I arrived on the Friday morning and beginning setting up my little tent in bright sunshine it was immediately obvious that a fairly special time was going to be had. The tent only deserves a mention at this juncture due to it appearing somewhat dwarfed by my immediate neighbours for the weekend. Sensible people, and particularly couples, appear to go for tents which one could nearly or actually stand up in and which have incorporated porches separate from the sleeping area. clearly this allows space to move around and store things. Mine, in contrast, is just about big enough to fit me, the contents of a rucksack emptied rather haphazardly (often while attempting to establish whether or not I remembered to pack a phone charger) as well as a surprising amount of wildlife (but that's really a different story!). However, the plus side of having used said little tent twice at festivals this year is that I now imagine that I must be some sort of authority on taking skinnyish jeans on and off in confined spaces without causing injury... No doubt I'll be in the same position next year!
Once inside the 'arena' proper a multitude of options made it possible for just about anyone to be kept entertained and amused at all times of day and night. The music was my main focus but even that wasn't just a case of having stages with bands on at set times. While a schedule of bands very much existed across four quite different stages, it quickly became apparent that many of the bands would also play unlisted after hours sets well in to the night for those who found themselves in the right place at the right time, or who had done a little detective work, or who had seen a band earlier who happened to comment that they might play again. The fact that waiting for a band, or even to see who would come and do a soundcheck in these situations regularly involved sitting on the floor with some sort of beverage in hand made the whole thing even more perfect as far as I'm concerned, as did wondering through woodland lit up with faery lights in the early hours while considering whether to head for a forest disco and instead stumbling upon an acoustic band with fifteen people sitting around watching. 
In common with a huge majority of indie gigs / events that I've been to everyone was spectacularly easy going and friendly which created an absolutely ideal atmosphere throughout. 

Even with seeing almost as many bands as possible I did also manage to watch a couple of films in the awesome cinema setup, peruse some very interesting and different shops and eat a lot of pretty great food. 

Frankly the lineup across the Friday, Saturday and Sunday was nothing short of spectacular, with plenty of bands that I have been very keen to see, others which I knew although not that well and plenty of opportunity to check out stuff which I hadn't heard of at all. I must say that the excellently put together programme was a very handy thing to pick up as it contained extensive information on everything available throughout the festival as well as a short description of every band and artist playing. Extremely handy when attempting to decide between two bands on at the same time!
So many great memories; The ramblingly entertaining chat and really strong songs of Roy Harper, Patti Smith just being Patti Smith, the startling jazz funk odyssey that is Step Kids (who would guess that the new track was going to be 11 minutes long!!), noisy French post punk at 1pm from Savages, the awesome French pop of Concrete Knives, the entirely beautiful sound and slightly disturbing travel stories of Mountain Man, Dirty Beaches being even better than I had hoped even if the power did give up half way through their set, Porcelain Raft's dreamy electro pop, Outfit playing unexpectedly funky semi electronic pop while looking extremely sharp and serious!!

My immediate overall highlight however was Jeffrey Lewis & the Junkyard, who played two entirely different and utterly spectacular sets covering everything that I could possibly have wanted, including a short lecture on the history of punk, a musical comic book, and a set of songs that are even better live than recorded (which is quite something as they are very good recorded). If possible I actually like the music even more now than I did before the weekend.
Special mention also needs to go to Horse thief who I had never heard of before and who are now one of my favourite bands of the year. A really powerful americana type band who have a spectacular sound and clearly enjoy what they are doing.

I'm sure that I'll remember more which I meant to mention, but that can feature in a slightly less rambling post in the future.
For now, everyone listen to more indie anything...

Thursday 30 August 2012

An Idea

I went to see Darren Hayman & The Long Parliament at the Lexington. The whole night was fantastic. Support from the Understudies, who were far better than I remembered them being last year, and Pete Astor  who is always enjoyable (if that is in reality the correct term which it quite probably is not! Although in my defence, depressing songs can be enjoyable so perhaps it is suitable after all).
Anyway, during Darren Hayman's set I started to think that they ought to do a cover of Oh Sister by Bob Dylan, and then while walking out after the gig a Dylan song did come on which was a little peculiar, almost like someone else might have thought the same thing but quite reasonably didn't have a copy of Hard Rain with them to be able to put on a live version of aforementioned track.
I should say at this point that I thought the same thing last time I saw Darren Hayman and the only reason for it remains that there is a violin player in the band. Having said that, I do believe that the cover could suit the band (Darren Hayman's band that is as opposed to The Band who now that I think about it might have played on the Hard Rain live album, but equally might not have).

An indiepop Bob Dylan covers album would be quite outstanding.

Thursday 23 August 2012

Wire and so on

I've been going through a phase of listening to quite a lot of Wire recently. More particularly, and perhaps predictably, I should specify that the basis of said listening has been Pink Flag and Chairs Missing. In fact the latter is playing as I write. Marooned, Sand in My Joints, Being Sucked in Again, Heartbeat, Mercy, Outdoor Miner, I am the Fly, I feel Mysterious Today might well be the the strongest  run of songs on any album that I can think of right now, but then Outdoor Miner being one of my all time favourite songs might possibly make a huge contribution to that thought! Just an incredible mix of styles and emotion from one band in one album.
All this Wire listening has inevitably reminded me to listen to more Ace Bushy Striptease as well, which is never a bad thing. The key reason for this is an Oddbox promoted gig which I attended back in August featuring Cosines, Downdimes, Haiku Salut and Ace Bushy. The entire night was awesome as ever. Cosines, who I had previously seen at Indietracks a week or two earlier and now love, were particularly fantastic and need to release something (ideally at least some 7" vinyl) for me and no doubt plenty of others to start buying as soon as possible. If you haven't heard of them already start making up for it now! Actually, the same goes for Haiku Salut. An outrageously talented trio who absolutely need to be heard by anyone with a pulse.
Anyway, while watching Ace Bushy Striptease that night I was suddenly struck with the realisation that the sound in a couple of their live tracks reminded me in some ways of Wire. Later that same night  I came to realise that other people had been hit by the same thing. Now as far as I'm concerned this can only add to the already high regard in which I hold Ace Bushy. Ultimately (for anyone interested) if pushed I'd have to describe them as a modern day DIY noise pop / punk band, but that is frankly besides the point and almost certainly not of any great relevance. They already have a fair amount of stuff released and, I believe, are in the process of releasing a new album imminently. Certainly worth peeking in to Oddbox to check out releases and catching them live whenever the opportunity arises, which seems to be fairly regularly as far as I can tell!
While you're at it, get out and support all the DIY bands and labels that you enjoy, there's always fun to be had and you'll be helping out something tremendously important. After all, imagine how boring things would be without them...

So DIY, so perfect.

Friday 17 August 2012

Safe Choices

After all the comment surrounding the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies I've been thinking about whether or not there is a stage at which 'classic' bands ought to be let go from the public eye so that something else can be heard once in a while.
I'm all for hearing some Beatles, Kinks, Stones, Pink Floyd & particularly the Who occasionally, but there does seem to be an enormous over reliance on them both in live and recorded forms when any kind of spectacle is planned. After all there has been a huge amount of British music recorded since the mid 60's which younger generations feel represents Britain just as well, if not better than the same old stuff. Particularly when the bands and artists in question have been gone for quite some time. In the case of the closing ceremony (and in fact just generally) Queen and John Lennon need a mention here. Again, I don't have a problem with John Lennon's music at all, but clinging to Imagine seems a little strange so many years after his death, particularly as, according to popular biography at least, I couldn't think that he would have had much time for the Olympic Games or the mass outpouring of Britishness in the press. Queen are an entirely different but no less confusing thing. I absolutely can't understand why Queen keep on getting booked as Queen when Freddie Mercury has been gone for over 20 years! It clearly isn't the same band in any respect and I'm quite sure that none of the singers being dragged up to fill in could ever get anywhere near to doing the job required! Getting a little sidetracked here but the point still stands; surely it would make infinitely more sense to promote a different, living British band in these types of situation rather than going for the same safe choices over and over again.
On a similar, to me somewhat strange line, I find it a little perplexing that George Harrison is always entirely overlooked when choices are made. If Paul is going to play live, John is going to be resurrected  and Beatles songs are to be used at every possible opportunity, then why does George never get a look in? He was arguably the most interesting of the four after all, particularly in the post Beatle years...

Perhaps there is a reason behind all of these issues which makes perfect sense, but I suspect that what is really needed is to have some younger slightly less middle of the road people involved in the decision making processes.
Frankly, even Blur and Oasis (even being played by Beady Eye) are getting to be pretty tired and predictable headliners these days, but that is probably a post for another time.

Monday 13 August 2012

Melancholy

Currently a little obsessed with Temporary Tattoo by the Smittens and Sellotape My Hands by Owl + Mouse, both of which are on the previously mentioned WeePOP! covers compilation. Both are extremely pretty if somewhat melancholy songs which make them absolutely perfect for listening to while thinking about something, or more likely someone, that you might be missing even if  you haven't entirely realised it at the time...
On a related (in some respects at least) note I'm still listening to Europe (the Allo Darlin' album rather than the 80's rock band of The Final Countdown fame, although Europe the band do rock as it happens) a lot. It is almost certainly my favourite album released so far this year and is getting better each time I hear it. Northern Lights is probably getting most plays right now with Some People Say running fairly close, possibly due to the excellent alternative version on the b side of the Europe 7" single. It seems that there might be an almost entire alternate version of the album that was recorded then scrapped somewhere...Hopefully it'll come to light as a bootleg (if they still exist somewhere) then get added as a second disc on the 20th anniversary reissue of the album!! Can't wait to see them play live again in September.

On a slightly different tack, I also like the album Shrines from Purity Ring. I've largely been listening to the actual cd so don't really know the names of the tracks particularly well yet, but can safely say that it is an extremely interesting mix of minimal electronic, periodically bass heavy, sometimes almost pop style, maybe ballad influenced things which works pretty well for me. I keep thinking that Take My Breath Away is going to break out of the last track...should probably check the notes to see if it's a sample or just my imagination...

Saturday 11 August 2012

Lo-fi fuzzyness

Thought I would post about something that I find a little peculiar amongst my listening.
Now by and large I am a huge fan of all things fuzzy and lo-fi, and as it happens currently often American, although that isn't necessarily of tremendous importance. Right now I'm particularly enjoying Young & Old by Tennis which contains some real gems; My Better Self in particular is a beautiful, almost pensive song that has a strange ability to make me start daydreaming, while It All Feels the Same is a perfect opener and arguably a perfect introduction to Tennis, at least until I decide that Seafarer (From Cape Dory) is an even better introduction!
Since seeing them support Veronica Falls last year and then the Dum Dum Girls and La Sera this year I've become increasingly interested in Novella as well, who now have a pretty fantastic self titled ep out. The three girls (and guy drummer live, not sure if also on record) seem to have quietly created a sort of heavy rock tinged distortion filled drone fuzz sound that really needs to be experienced. You're   Not That Cool is currently getting a lot of plays, really cool guitar hook...listen to it now!

Anyway, back to the original point of things here. Over the last few years amongst everything else I have particularly liked the Dum Dum Girls, Best Coast, Frankie Rose, La Sera Crystal Stilts and Blank Dogs, although I must say I'm not entirely convinced about the new Best Coast album at the moment. Also, Katy Goodman has a quite beautiful voice and almost magnetic attraction, and mesmerising tattoos in the flesh.
The peculiar element, which the eagle eared might have picked up on already, is that I've never been particular fan of the Vivian Girls. I certainly like Where Do You Run To (in fact I can hardly stop listening to a demo version from a Frankie Rose bonus disc) and have recently been listening to Dance (If You Wanna), Take It As It Comes, and Death from Share The Joy quite a lot, but still struggle a bit with the earlier albums for some reason. I often think that they should be exactly the type of thing that I like, and realise that a lot of what I listen to is very much influenced by them, or has had an influence on them so find the whole situation to be something of a mystery.

Monday 6 August 2012

Current listening

I seem to be listening to an awful lot of Shrag, Smittens, Allo Darlin and Big Wave at the moment. The new albums from the first three (all released this year) are quite spectacular and at the same time all entirely different, but also entirely perfect! So for anyone who still thinks that all indie is the same (and sounds like the Smiths) give them a listen and start a new obsession.
I only stumbled across Big Wave a couple of weeks ago playing alongside Evans the Death at an OddBox show at the George Tavern in London. As a fan of fuzzy lo-fi type stuff they immediately jumped out to me as interesting. I immediately bought The Roots of Love Come Tumbling Down cassette ep which I've had on heavy rotation for the last couple of weeks. Certainly worth looking out for.

Monday 30 July 2012

Gigs last week

Went out to see Frankie Rose on Thursday 26th at XOYO (London). I'd previously seen her do a short instore with the Outs a couple of years ago which was good, but didn't entirely know what to expect this time. It turned out to be a pretty fantastic performance. Her new band played the songs from the new album really tightly and also managed to add something new and a little different to the older stuff. Even the harmonies worked with just Frankie and her keyboard player (who's name I unfortunately don't know). It has to be said that Frankie herself has a terrific voice, particularly highlighted on 'pair of wings' which she sang beautifully even though there was some pretty heavy unintended feedback squeal coming off of something! Great gig and they only managed to blow one bass amp!! At least as good as the Dum Dum Girls as a live prospect.



Also went to Daytime Music at the Union Chapel on Saturday, which was a WIAIWYA show with the Leaf Library, Hong Kong in the 60's, and Pete Astor. It was a free show, although the Union Chapel do ask for a donation of a couple of pounds which frankly is very reasonable as far as I'm concerned.
The first two bands were a good mix of dreamy electronic and at times almost folky type things which was quite perfect for a Saturday afternoon. Both definitely worth looking out for for anyone who doesn't already know them. Pete Astor is simply a great singer songwriter who could most probably hold the attention of a crowd almost indefinitely! John Jervis of WIAIWYA must be the most friendly person in the history of the music industry and also happens to put out a huge amount of thoroughly fantastic music. No doubt more about that later...

Thursday 26 July 2012

First Post

So this is my absolute first attempt at blogging!! I've been considering what the first post should be about, with various ideas coming in and out of favour throughout the morning...and then a 12" vinyl sized package with a WeePOP stamp arrived at my door. This could only be fate, so what better a place to start.
Just seeing the WeePOP stamp on a package puts me in a good mood which can only ever be added to by discovering the awesomeness within; in this case 'FIVE A WEEPOP COVERS COMPILATION'. While I've only heard one and a half sides of the red part of the double album so far (while writing this) I can safely say that anyone with any, even slight, interest in indie, pop, indiepop or frankly good music has to hear it as soon as possible. But then as far as I'm concerned the same goes for pretty much everything that the label releases, particularly when the lovely hand made 3" cds are involved.
So far extremely difficult to pick a favourite out as the quality just keeps on going.

In fact right now I would challenge anyone who finds themselves stressed about the heat, Olympics, traffic (vehicular rather than the band, unless they cause particular stress), holidays and so on to listen to any part of the compilation and not be immediately happy...even looking at the artwork and the blue and red vinyl should do the job if you don't have a record player to hand...

It has to be said that it's incredibly rare to find a 20+ track covers compilation which I can listen to in one sitting without skipping any tracks, but this is without doubt one in a very short list. Actually I can't think of any others right now which must say something about something.
anyway,

Sunshine and sublime covers by superb bands. Now that's living:)