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.