Friday, 9 August 2013
Not much news is good news.
I've not got too much to write today, but I have just discovered that The Just Joans have announced a new ep, which is very exciting news for a slow Friday. A few details available here:-
http://www.weepop.net/?p=161
I'm just using it as an excuse to post this song.
Will be back with some proper updates next week.
Thursday, 1 August 2013
Colour Me Wednesday - I thought it was morning
Colour Me Wednesday are a four piece band who reside, and this is taken from their website, "mostly in uxbridge". Actually you can just look at their website if you want to know more about them. The important thing, for me at least is that they've just released a record through Discount Horse called "I thought it was morning"
To keep it short, it's an excellent little record, short, sharp and pretty damn angry; probably at you if you're the wrong sort of person. It's an album that lives in the now, it's concerned with the world and it's concerned about how we live in it; a song like Purge Your Inner Tory should make that very clear to you. If it doesn't you probably shouldn't be listening.
Musically, it's pretty punky and exciting, a rush of guitars married to sweet vocals, but there's enough happening here to keep one interested for the duration of the record, it's not the same one song over again, which happens to lesser bands. So there's the ska (but good ska, don't be put off) of Carefree, the rather menacing bass heavy sound of Lost On The High Street or the delicious kiss off of Bitter Boys which to these ears at least sounds reminiscent of Lush - always a good thing.
I could write reams of rubbish about what each individual song sounds like or whatever but the important thing here is that it sounds so VITAL, and that right at this minute, we need more bands like this. We need more female bands, we need more bands concerned with what's going on in the world, who'll write lyrics that mean something and make terrific records at the same time.
Colour Me Wednesday deserve your ears. You can listen to the record on their bandcamp
and as you'll see when you're there you can buy the record in a variety of packages. I really think you should.
Musically, it's pretty punky and exciting, a rush of guitars married to sweet vocals, but there's enough happening here to keep one interested for the duration of the record, it's not the same one song over again, which happens to lesser bands. So there's the ska (but good ska, don't be put off) of Carefree, the rather menacing bass heavy sound of Lost On The High Street or the delicious kiss off of Bitter Boys which to these ears at least sounds reminiscent of Lush - always a good thing.
I could write reams of rubbish about what each individual song sounds like or whatever but the important thing here is that it sounds so VITAL, and that right at this minute, we need more bands like this. We need more female bands, we need more bands concerned with what's going on in the world, who'll write lyrics that mean something and make terrific records at the same time.
Colour Me Wednesday deserve your ears. You can listen to the record on their bandcamp
and as you'll see when you're there you can buy the record in a variety of packages. I really think you should.
Tuesday, 30 July 2013
Back In The Room
If repetition is the key to comedy then Beerandbands must be hilarious, because it seems like every other post is the one where I apologise about not posting for ages, and that I'll rectify this by posting more often. This is another one of those (sorry).
I do feel more invigorated and ready to write though; until the last week I'd not really been to many gigs, listened to much new music or immersed myself in anything worthy of bloggery really, but last week I went to see a few bands at The Maze in Nottingham (Cars Can Be Blue, Spook School, Big Wave, Tunabunny) of whom all were excellent, and then over the last weekend I made a return to Indietracks after skipping the last year. So yes, this is a blog about that festival (yeah I know I've done loads about Indietracks in the past too. What did I say about repetition? (keep up at the back).
We get there early on Friday and managed to go and have a swift one and a half at The Talbot tap in Ripley. It's a lovely pub, dead close to the festival site and worthy of a trip. Whilst on the little train that runs between Swanwick and Butterley we talked to a family (mum, dad and daughter) who were visiting for the first time. Whilst extolling the joys of the festival, we also mentioned how we had to go back every morning and feed our rabbit, prompting the daughter to tell us about a bunny rabbit toy she had and for them all to tell us how excited they were about getting to see The Pastels. It was nice to talk to completely new people at Indietracks albeit briefly and find them just as pleasant as everyone else who goes. Coming back we catch the latter half of The Tuts sets, who I'm not sure about but judging by the number of Tuts t-shirts on show for the rest of the festival everyone else loved them. Bis headline on Friday, and are what everyone wanted I think, close your eyes for a few seconds during Kandy Pop, and it's like it's that first TOTP performance all over again and that the last 18 (18? Jesus!) years haven't happened. Friday closes with sweaty after hours dancing in the disco tent to the djing skills of Show yr In Love who plays an excellent set which I dimly remember but definitely contained both Idlewild and Little Pink Stars by Radish.
Saturday dawns bright and harsh on hungover heads and tired feet, but a refreshing drive back to feed the rabbit and then a return to take the, always longer then I think, walk to the festival site is enough to wake me all over again. First up are The Art Club who I've not heard before. I don't know any of the songs but they make a very good impression on me. In some places they sound like The Sound, maybe a bit of Orange Juice/Postal Records stuff. A definite post punk element to them. They even do a quick little cover of 'Going Down' by the mighty Springsteen which was always going to curry favour in these parts.
There's time for a wander around and a catch up with people during which I feel like everyone seems a bit subdued which is odd for indietracks. I think I still remember it as knowing everyone there and everybody all sat together in one big group, and it's not quite like that, it can't be as so many extra people have taken the festival into their hearts over the years that it's not possible and it's a good thing too of course. I catch a bit of Pale Spectres who sound pretty great, and then dare to take a seat in the super hot tin church for Woog Riots. They're great, electro and silly and fun. They have quite a few interesting noise making machines (technical term) and almost spoken boy/girl vocals, songs about GG Allin and lo fi and the future. I want to say that they sound like Kraftwerk, but as they are (at least part) German that sounds lazy, but they do. Well like a kids reimaging of anyway. They end their set by turning off the euro beats and just playing with a saw and ukulele and the church goes utterly silent, and it's wonderful.
We sit down to watch The Secret History who I've been looking forward to, but for the most part they don't quite connect with me, but some of the songs, Johnny Anorak in particular, sound rocking and brilliant. It's while sitting down that the family mentioned above catch up with us again. The daughter eager to show us her toy bunny and the bag and pom pom pet she has made, whilst her mum extols how brilliant indietracks is and how much fun she's had including doing the cheerleading workshops. I think I take Indietracks for granted sometimes. Through gigs, and forums and doing this kind of thing for years, I know a lot of people who go and I know what to expect, and I know that all the people I see every year are going to have the best time. So it's lovely to be reminded that the festival provides for everyone, not just those involved in the indiepop 'scene', but those who have never heard the bands and don't really know anyone. The smiles on the faces of that family and hearing about how much fun they were having was a wonderful moment. You'll see on the internet how often everyone goes on about how welcoming Indietracks is, and how friendly and fun for everybody. Having that reaffirmed was an excellent and suprisingly moving thing. If you've never been and fear being the outsider, let this assuage your fears. This is a music festival for all.
After that I catch The Wave Pictures, who are on unbelievably good form. Long Island sounds excellent as always, the more recent stuff sounds as good as I've heard it, and Dave grinds out some phenomenal solos. Which make me smile because I remember the last time they played at the festival and loads of people really not liking it because of the soloing, and this time I reckon there was exponentially more of them then the first time. But they all fit, and it's not just noodling for noodlings sake, unlike some other bands I could mention (Herman Dune I'm looking in your direction)
Alas soon after the heavens split apart and all the rain that ever was spills out onto the festival. Retreating to the comfort of a nearby train I listen to the Brilliant Corners who sound absolutely ace, doing a full on greatest hits set. Soon after I run into Astrid Northern Spies, who has never really heard any Brilliant Corners, and has loved it. I'm never sure about the wisdom of reformed bands, but if they can continue to inspire and attract a new generation of fans then all power to them.
Sadly I miss Camera Obscura because they've been moved from the outdoor stage to the indoor due to rain, and it's so busy in there that the claustrophobia in me just can't take it, so we take the walk back to the campsite (which unsuprisingly seems like it takes forever this time). On the way I see Niall from Spook School, holding an umbrella and wearing shorts in a pounding storm; he's stewarding. I ask him if he's ok. "I'm doing my bit" he replies with a smile. Another little example of how much people love and will do for the festival. By the time I get back it's too soaking wet to dare to go back outside, so I listen to the campsite disco inside the tent, it's Lipstick On Your Collar doing the djing, and it sounds like it must have been amazing. The closing rendition of 'Total Eclipse Of The Heart' at 3am will stay with me for a good while yet.
Sunday is suprisingly warm and fairly dry by the time we get back on site, the day's threat of thunderstorms and rain never really manifests itself. We catch a bit of Bloomer who sound pretty rocking from where I'm standing and then head to the front to catch Seabirds.
I'd not seen Seabirds yet, though I saw Red Shoe Diaries a fair few times, and think I know what to expect, but they catch me by suprise. A much more robust sound than the RSD, new additions Ian Horowitz and Dan bringing added power. The songs are all suprisingly fully formed for such a new band, but it's the last song which may or may not be called 'Independent Horses' which really stands out. It's a future single and deserves to be massive. Really promising for the future all round really.
The next band I see/hear properly are Good Grief who are outstanding, playing totally catchy, punky songs. They really, really, impress me and I really want to see them again already. My friend Andrew and I actually end up singing along to some of the songs despite never having heard them before. They are that immediate.
We somehow manage to miss both Flowers and Alpaca Sports despite hearing great things about both, but are down the front for Lardpony. The last time I saw them at Indietracks it was in the church and Tom looked like he might just melt away in the heat, they were great then, and they are as great now. It's wonderful to have them back, and the new songs sound just as good as the old ones - Teen Wolf, Noxious Gas and Who Loves The Sol are all wheeled out for a delighted crowd.
After that it's Frozy in the church. I'm falling asleep a little at this point from the heat, but I appreciate the loveliness and the soft vocals, to me they sound a little like Yo La Tengo in places, my girlfriend says they are very anti-folk which I suspect they probably are. They have a very appreciate crowd, and the Middle Ones come and sing with them on one song which is a lovely little suprise.
Back to the indoor shed and The Ballet. I've waited to see the Ballet and I'm not disappointed. They are magnificent. Beautiful music, there's always the touch of The Magnetic Fields about the band and they definitely sound like them in places, but they've developed a lot over the years I think, and the material from their recent(and excellent) album pulls big cheers from the crowd. New single 'Turn You' is a particular highlight.
After that it's time for a sit down, before Helen Love. Who, well, sound exactly like Helen Love. They play all the hits and don't disappoint a rapturous crowd. Again I can't take the crowded indoor shed for too long (why on earth weren't they outside?) so I miss the finale. Stage invasion and glitter cannons ahoy!
The end of the festival is dawning but before it does there's the small matter of an indiepop singalong. A whole bunch of smiling faces, provided with toy instruments and ably encouraged/goaded by Markie and Toniee into belting out such classics as I'm From Barcelona and The Just Joans' 'What do We do Now'. They manage to rope in some special guests to, a nice turn from The Wendy Darlings is a highlight, and then it's all over and all that remains if for everyone to belt out 'If You Don't Pull' in their best/worst scottish accents. It's a tremendously fitting end. Whenever I think of indietracks past it's always the communal memories that stay with me; people bellowing out Belle and Sebastian songs outside the train shed the first year; everyone singing along to Love Is In The Air at La Casa Azul; The platform singalongs in 2008. This was definitely one of those. A reminder of the feeling of community that indiepop and this fesitval inspires. It's what it's all about. More of this sort of thing.
So another one comes to an end, and the exuberant feeling slowly fades into melancholia and the long wait til the next one, but the memories remain, and on top of all the great music if I take anything away with me this year, it's konwing that community spirit, big hearts, open arms, egalitarianism and the simple joy of being kind to your fellow man and woman all still exist in this country - Take that Cameron.
Well done to everyone who organises it every year; your efforts don't go unnoticed. Here's to many more.
I do feel more invigorated and ready to write though; until the last week I'd not really been to many gigs, listened to much new music or immersed myself in anything worthy of bloggery really, but last week I went to see a few bands at The Maze in Nottingham (Cars Can Be Blue, Spook School, Big Wave, Tunabunny) of whom all were excellent, and then over the last weekend I made a return to Indietracks after skipping the last year. So yes, this is a blog about that festival (yeah I know I've done loads about Indietracks in the past too. What did I say about repetition? (keep up at the back).
We get there early on Friday and managed to go and have a swift one and a half at The Talbot tap in Ripley. It's a lovely pub, dead close to the festival site and worthy of a trip. Whilst on the little train that runs between Swanwick and Butterley we talked to a family (mum, dad and daughter) who were visiting for the first time. Whilst extolling the joys of the festival, we also mentioned how we had to go back every morning and feed our rabbit, prompting the daughter to tell us about a bunny rabbit toy she had and for them all to tell us how excited they were about getting to see The Pastels. It was nice to talk to completely new people at Indietracks albeit briefly and find them just as pleasant as everyone else who goes. Coming back we catch the latter half of The Tuts sets, who I'm not sure about but judging by the number of Tuts t-shirts on show for the rest of the festival everyone else loved them. Bis headline on Friday, and are what everyone wanted I think, close your eyes for a few seconds during Kandy Pop, and it's like it's that first TOTP performance all over again and that the last 18 (18? Jesus!) years haven't happened. Friday closes with sweaty after hours dancing in the disco tent to the djing skills of Show yr In Love who plays an excellent set which I dimly remember but definitely contained both Idlewild and Little Pink Stars by Radish.
Saturday dawns bright and harsh on hungover heads and tired feet, but a refreshing drive back to feed the rabbit and then a return to take the, always longer then I think, walk to the festival site is enough to wake me all over again. First up are The Art Club who I've not heard before. I don't know any of the songs but they make a very good impression on me. In some places they sound like The Sound, maybe a bit of Orange Juice/Postal Records stuff. A definite post punk element to them. They even do a quick little cover of 'Going Down' by the mighty Springsteen which was always going to curry favour in these parts.
There's time for a wander around and a catch up with people during which I feel like everyone seems a bit subdued which is odd for indietracks. I think I still remember it as knowing everyone there and everybody all sat together in one big group, and it's not quite like that, it can't be as so many extra people have taken the festival into their hearts over the years that it's not possible and it's a good thing too of course. I catch a bit of Pale Spectres who sound pretty great, and then dare to take a seat in the super hot tin church for Woog Riots. They're great, electro and silly and fun. They have quite a few interesting noise making machines (technical term) and almost spoken boy/girl vocals, songs about GG Allin and lo fi and the future. I want to say that they sound like Kraftwerk, but as they are (at least part) German that sounds lazy, but they do. Well like a kids reimaging of anyway. They end their set by turning off the euro beats and just playing with a saw and ukulele and the church goes utterly silent, and it's wonderful.
We sit down to watch The Secret History who I've been looking forward to, but for the most part they don't quite connect with me, but some of the songs, Johnny Anorak in particular, sound rocking and brilliant. It's while sitting down that the family mentioned above catch up with us again. The daughter eager to show us her toy bunny and the bag and pom pom pet she has made, whilst her mum extols how brilliant indietracks is and how much fun she's had including doing the cheerleading workshops. I think I take Indietracks for granted sometimes. Through gigs, and forums and doing this kind of thing for years, I know a lot of people who go and I know what to expect, and I know that all the people I see every year are going to have the best time. So it's lovely to be reminded that the festival provides for everyone, not just those involved in the indiepop 'scene', but those who have never heard the bands and don't really know anyone. The smiles on the faces of that family and hearing about how much fun they were having was a wonderful moment. You'll see on the internet how often everyone goes on about how welcoming Indietracks is, and how friendly and fun for everybody. Having that reaffirmed was an excellent and suprisingly moving thing. If you've never been and fear being the outsider, let this assuage your fears. This is a music festival for all.
After that I catch The Wave Pictures, who are on unbelievably good form. Long Island sounds excellent as always, the more recent stuff sounds as good as I've heard it, and Dave grinds out some phenomenal solos. Which make me smile because I remember the last time they played at the festival and loads of people really not liking it because of the soloing, and this time I reckon there was exponentially more of them then the first time. But they all fit, and it's not just noodling for noodlings sake, unlike some other bands I could mention (Herman Dune I'm looking in your direction)
Alas soon after the heavens split apart and all the rain that ever was spills out onto the festival. Retreating to the comfort of a nearby train I listen to the Brilliant Corners who sound absolutely ace, doing a full on greatest hits set. Soon after I run into Astrid Northern Spies, who has never really heard any Brilliant Corners, and has loved it. I'm never sure about the wisdom of reformed bands, but if they can continue to inspire and attract a new generation of fans then all power to them.
Sadly I miss Camera Obscura because they've been moved from the outdoor stage to the indoor due to rain, and it's so busy in there that the claustrophobia in me just can't take it, so we take the walk back to the campsite (which unsuprisingly seems like it takes forever this time). On the way I see Niall from Spook School, holding an umbrella and wearing shorts in a pounding storm; he's stewarding. I ask him if he's ok. "I'm doing my bit" he replies with a smile. Another little example of how much people love and will do for the festival. By the time I get back it's too soaking wet to dare to go back outside, so I listen to the campsite disco inside the tent, it's Lipstick On Your Collar doing the djing, and it sounds like it must have been amazing. The closing rendition of 'Total Eclipse Of The Heart' at 3am will stay with me for a good while yet.
Sunday is suprisingly warm and fairly dry by the time we get back on site, the day's threat of thunderstorms and rain never really manifests itself. We catch a bit of Bloomer who sound pretty rocking from where I'm standing and then head to the front to catch Seabirds.
I'd not seen Seabirds yet, though I saw Red Shoe Diaries a fair few times, and think I know what to expect, but they catch me by suprise. A much more robust sound than the RSD, new additions Ian Horowitz and Dan bringing added power. The songs are all suprisingly fully formed for such a new band, but it's the last song which may or may not be called 'Independent Horses' which really stands out. It's a future single and deserves to be massive. Really promising for the future all round really.
The next band I see/hear properly are Good Grief who are outstanding, playing totally catchy, punky songs. They really, really, impress me and I really want to see them again already. My friend Andrew and I actually end up singing along to some of the songs despite never having heard them before. They are that immediate.
We somehow manage to miss both Flowers and Alpaca Sports despite hearing great things about both, but are down the front for Lardpony. The last time I saw them at Indietracks it was in the church and Tom looked like he might just melt away in the heat, they were great then, and they are as great now. It's wonderful to have them back, and the new songs sound just as good as the old ones - Teen Wolf, Noxious Gas and Who Loves The Sol are all wheeled out for a delighted crowd.
After that it's Frozy in the church. I'm falling asleep a little at this point from the heat, but I appreciate the loveliness and the soft vocals, to me they sound a little like Yo La Tengo in places, my girlfriend says they are very anti-folk which I suspect they probably are. They have a very appreciate crowd, and the Middle Ones come and sing with them on one song which is a lovely little suprise.
Back to the indoor shed and The Ballet. I've waited to see the Ballet and I'm not disappointed. They are magnificent. Beautiful music, there's always the touch of The Magnetic Fields about the band and they definitely sound like them in places, but they've developed a lot over the years I think, and the material from their recent(and excellent) album pulls big cheers from the crowd. New single 'Turn You' is a particular highlight.
After that it's time for a sit down, before Helen Love. Who, well, sound exactly like Helen Love. They play all the hits and don't disappoint a rapturous crowd. Again I can't take the crowded indoor shed for too long (why on earth weren't they outside?) so I miss the finale. Stage invasion and glitter cannons ahoy!
The end of the festival is dawning but before it does there's the small matter of an indiepop singalong. A whole bunch of smiling faces, provided with toy instruments and ably encouraged/goaded by Markie and Toniee into belting out such classics as I'm From Barcelona and The Just Joans' 'What do We do Now'. They manage to rope in some special guests to, a nice turn from The Wendy Darlings is a highlight, and then it's all over and all that remains if for everyone to belt out 'If You Don't Pull' in their best/worst scottish accents. It's a tremendously fitting end. Whenever I think of indietracks past it's always the communal memories that stay with me; people bellowing out Belle and Sebastian songs outside the train shed the first year; everyone singing along to Love Is In The Air at La Casa Azul; The platform singalongs in 2008. This was definitely one of those. A reminder of the feeling of community that indiepop and this fesitval inspires. It's what it's all about. More of this sort of thing.
So another one comes to an end, and the exuberant feeling slowly fades into melancholia and the long wait til the next one, but the memories remain, and on top of all the great music if I take anything away with me this year, it's konwing that community spirit, big hearts, open arms, egalitarianism and the simple joy of being kind to your fellow man and woman all still exist in this country - Take that Cameron.
Well done to everyone who organises it every year; your efforts don't go unnoticed. Here's to many more.
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
Video Tuesday
There's times, like a dismally grey day in February; or the comedown after a weeks festival, or just the impenatrable fog of ennui derived from another working day, when you don't feel like doing anything. Just cannot be bothered. It's moments like those when I find music is at it's best, I think everyone has experienced the mood changing power of music, and at this moment in time there's nothing I want more than a little pop pick me up. Luckily for me then that there's three great pop songs (and videos) knocking about at the moment. Not a lot more to be said then just let these little nuggets of brilliance brighten your day.
Allo Darlin' - Capricornia
Eux Autres - Home Tonight
MJ Hibbett - A Little Bit
Also there's a little bit (ahem) on the making of the video on Hibbett's website which you should read.
Allo Darlin' - Capricornia
Eux Autres - Home Tonight
MJ Hibbett - A Little Bit
Also there's a little bit (ahem) on the making of the video on Hibbett's website which you should read.
Friday, 24 February 2012
Start All Over
Like a bedraggled phoenix struggling from the flames; like a snowdrop waiting to be crushed by a jackboot, Beerandbands rises again ready to hobble into action. To misquote a dour Mancunian "7 months is a long time", and that is truly the case; new bands and music rise and fall, ebb and flow, and vanish before anyone even noticed, and whilst I may have missed out on reporting on stuff over the last however long, it's pleasing to note that there's still a lot going on.
In fact it's a flurry of activity out there at the minute; exciting enough to move me to (relative) action.
Firstly, London Popfest. It was on last night and it's on over the weekend; allday on Saturday and from 1:00pm on Sunday. I believe Saturday is sold out but there's tickets for Friday and Sunday, both of which boast fantastic line-ups. If sadly you can't make it (much like me) then there's at least the brilliant consolation of a free download compilation of this years line-up. Which is more than worth the 5 - 10 minutes of your time it will take to download it.
Details of popfest - tickets, times, etc can be found on their website.
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
If London Popfest isn't enough to get you excited then surely the prospect of Indietracks must do. For some waiting for the first announcements of indietracks is a traditional. Bands waiting to be see if they can play, fans with fingerscrossed that their favourite will get a chance. The fact that a band who played the previous year won't usually play the next year, adds a nice spice to the mix. So yes, anyway, Indietracks have already announced there first few acts, and it looks as promising as ever. Go on HAVE A LOOK. It's a nice mix of the big hitter (Allo Darlin', Tender Trap), the new flavours (Colour Me Wednesday, Evans The Death, GoldBears) and the mysterious (Doggy.) I must admit I'm mostly excited about Language Of Flowers, I saw them once supporting Camera Obscura in, oh 2006 I think, and they were wonderful. I had no idea they were going to reform to do this. There are early bird tickets on the indietracks website I linked up there; and it's worth noting that the festival takes place earlier this year, just in case you're on auto pilot and have booked the wrong days off work! Finally the last couple of pages of the indietracks announcements page on anorakforum.com has some videos of the announced bands so far.
One last indiepop festival to mention before I go, and it's a new one. On the 24th Of March there's going to be an indiepop alldayer in Leicester. I like the fact that there are more and more of these 'popfests' popping up all over the country it can only be a very, very good thing. This one has the always entertaining M.J Hibbett and Tender Trap for starters, but the line up is very good indeed.
There's a facebook events page for this one.
In fact it's a flurry of activity out there at the minute; exciting enough to move me to (relative) action.
Firstly, London Popfest. It was on last night and it's on over the weekend; allday on Saturday and from 1:00pm on Sunday. I believe Saturday is sold out but there's tickets for Friday and Sunday, both of which boast fantastic line-ups. If sadly you can't make it (much like me) then there's at least the brilliant consolation of a free download compilation of this years line-up. Which is more than worth the 5 - 10 minutes of your time it will take to download it.
Details of popfest - tickets, times, etc can be found on their website.
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
If London Popfest isn't enough to get you excited then surely the prospect of Indietracks must do. For some waiting for the first announcements of indietracks is a traditional. Bands waiting to be see if they can play, fans with fingerscrossed that their favourite will get a chance. The fact that a band who played the previous year won't usually play the next year, adds a nice spice to the mix. So yes, anyway, Indietracks have already announced there first few acts, and it looks as promising as ever. Go on HAVE A LOOK. It's a nice mix of the big hitter (Allo Darlin', Tender Trap), the new flavours (Colour Me Wednesday, Evans The Death, GoldBears) and the mysterious (Doggy.) I must admit I'm mostly excited about Language Of Flowers, I saw them once supporting Camera Obscura in, oh 2006 I think, and they were wonderful. I had no idea they were going to reform to do this. There are early bird tickets on the indietracks website I linked up there; and it's worth noting that the festival takes place earlier this year, just in case you're on auto pilot and have booked the wrong days off work! Finally the last couple of pages of the indietracks announcements page on anorakforum.com has some videos of the announced bands so far.
One last indiepop festival to mention before I go, and it's a new one. On the 24th Of March there's going to be an indiepop alldayer in Leicester. I like the fact that there are more and more of these 'popfests' popping up all over the country it can only be a very, very good thing. This one has the always entertaining M.J Hibbett and Tender Trap for starters, but the line up is very good indeed.
There's a facebook events page for this one.
Tuesday, 19 July 2011
Promise fulfilled
There's something about the band Pocketbooks that always makes me think of summer, it's probably the bright sound that lingers in the music, a lyrical hint of it here and there or maybe there's an association there with Indietracks, it could be a whole host of other things too.
What I do know is that it makes me very happy that Pocketbooks have a new free to download single called 'Promises, Promises', a single which is definitely in keeping with the summer ideal.
It's properly excellent. Building on the sound they had on their album Flight Paths, it sounds more mature. Not in a serious boring sense, but in a way that sees them building on the potential they've always had and creating something even better with it. Typically bittersweet lyrically, there's lovely melodies on it, some great violin and best of all a fab tune. It's great to have something new from them, and it's even better that it's as good as this is. The artwork is ace too. If this is anything to go by the new album is going to be something quite, quite special.
You can download the track for FREE (and you'd be daft not to) -
http://www.box.net/shared/e7uipl4kt9l5yu3jkhvs
While your at it you can early order the album from the always excellent Odd Box records right now too. Go on!
Tuesday, 12 July 2011
Apple Eyes
Blimey it's been awhile again, hasn't it? I've been (in between bouts of doing nothing) playing gigs with the band I'm in and job hunting, oh and looking forward to the festival at the end of this month of course, speaking of which...
Me and my girlfriend were going through the list of bands playing Indietracks the other day to try and find out which ones we'd not heard before that we'd like to watch; she's not a massive indiepop fan so it's a little difficult. That said we were both interested in the description of Apples Eyes, and had a quick listen to some of their stuff and enjoyed it. Highly fortuitous then that a few days ago, said band got in touch with me to see if I wanted to tell you readers about them; and do you know what? I do.
The band began as the brainchild of Claire Hadidjenar and producer Matthew Walker, who together started putting together a whole bunch of instruments with a dash of electronics before topping it off with some vocal harmonies. They soon had interest from various places including BBC6 music's Tom Robinson (great taste that man has). It's not suprising he paid attention, they share music tastes as diverse as Phoenix, Flaming Lips, Cornelius, Bat for Lashes, Deerhoof and Elliott Smith.
The 2 have now gathered together a live band and are setting out on a tour in support of debut single 'Wild Beasts', which just happens to be released digitally this week, on the 14th to be precise. It's an excellent piece of music too. At it's most basic it's a bang on pop song, with a ace chorus. But there's much more to it then that, musically inventive, it doesn't keep still. It's bubbling with ideas, but they all combine to make a song that is as good as the sum of it's parts and then some? It's it electronic, yes but then it's folky too, and then there's that chorus. Whatever it's ace. You can have a listen to if you like :-
Wild Beasts by Apple Eyes
The other side of the release 'Lost Between The Lines' is just as good, which is a highly impressive feat.
As I say the single is out on the 14th as a download only release, so you'll be able to get that via Itunes and such outlets. You can check out stuff on Myspace too. They'll also be playing some gigs too:-
14th July with Pocketbooks and Wolventrix at The Wilmington Arms, London
16th July with Allo, Darlin' amongst others at The Haymakers in Cambridge.
31st July - INDIETRACKS - Indoor stage 13:45. See you there!
They'll also playing with some bands at Indietracks too in various capacities, but you'll have to find those out for yourself...
Me and my girlfriend were going through the list of bands playing Indietracks the other day to try and find out which ones we'd not heard before that we'd like to watch; she's not a massive indiepop fan so it's a little difficult. That said we were both interested in the description of Apples Eyes, and had a quick listen to some of their stuff and enjoyed it. Highly fortuitous then that a few days ago, said band got in touch with me to see if I wanted to tell you readers about them; and do you know what? I do.
The band began as the brainchild of Claire Hadidjenar and producer Matthew Walker, who together started putting together a whole bunch of instruments with a dash of electronics before topping it off with some vocal harmonies. They soon had interest from various places including BBC6 music's Tom Robinson (great taste that man has). It's not suprising he paid attention, they share music tastes as diverse as Phoenix, Flaming Lips, Cornelius, Bat for Lashes, Deerhoof and Elliott Smith.
The 2 have now gathered together a live band and are setting out on a tour in support of debut single 'Wild Beasts', which just happens to be released digitally this week, on the 14th to be precise. It's an excellent piece of music too. At it's most basic it's a bang on pop song, with a ace chorus. But there's much more to it then that, musically inventive, it doesn't keep still. It's bubbling with ideas, but they all combine to make a song that is as good as the sum of it's parts and then some? It's it electronic, yes but then it's folky too, and then there's that chorus. Whatever it's ace. You can have a listen to if you like :-
Wild Beasts by Apple Eyes
The other side of the release 'Lost Between The Lines' is just as good, which is a highly impressive feat.
As I say the single is out on the 14th as a download only release, so you'll be able to get that via Itunes and such outlets. You can check out stuff on Myspace too. They'll also be playing some gigs too:-
14th July with Pocketbooks and Wolventrix at The Wilmington Arms, London
16th July with Allo, Darlin' amongst others at The Haymakers in Cambridge.
31st July - INDIETRACKS - Indoor stage 13:45. See you there!
They'll also playing with some bands at Indietracks too in various capacities, but you'll have to find those out for yourself...
Tuesday, 14 June 2011
Indietracks Compilation 2011
I tend to mention Indietracks quite a lot on this blog, but that's because it's a truly terrific thing; a festival that does it's own thing, promotes lesser known bands, supports the midland railway charity and puts smiles on peoples faces. Whats not to love?
If I wrote a book blog I'd spend most of it yelling about the 'Great Gatsby' or if I wrote a film blog it'd be full of my enjoyment of the works of Brian De Palma.
Anyway to get back to to that opening paragraph it's the line about supporting the Midland railway that's pertinent to this blog post as you'll find out shortly; you see every year Indietracks puts off a compilation of the band's that are going to be playing; a taster, a veritable smorgasbord of indiepop if you will. This year is no different in that respect. The album is download only, and it's a pay what you want affair with all proceeds going to the Midland Railway charity; which means of course that you can just give what you can afford, whilst helping the site which puts on the festival in the process. It's brilliant.
The compilation itself, as you might expect, is excellent. It's clearly been put together with a lot of love, it's sequenced really well. Like the best mixtape, the one that got worn out from being played so much. The kind of thing that's so good you expect to hear it from every bedroom window and every passing car, and can't believe that other people aren't aware of it. There's so much good stuff here (40 tracks worth), lots of it new to me, that it would be a futile excercise to try and write about every track but from the perfect indiepop of The Procters through the jangle of The Whatevers and giddy joy of Papa Topo it's all ace.
It's being released by Make Do And Mend Records and you can find, listen and download it from Bandcamp
If I wrote a book blog I'd spend most of it yelling about the 'Great Gatsby' or if I wrote a film blog it'd be full of my enjoyment of the works of Brian De Palma.
Anyway to get back to to that opening paragraph it's the line about supporting the Midland railway that's pertinent to this blog post as you'll find out shortly; you see every year Indietracks puts off a compilation of the band's that are going to be playing; a taster, a veritable smorgasbord of indiepop if you will. This year is no different in that respect. The album is download only, and it's a pay what you want affair with all proceeds going to the Midland Railway charity; which means of course that you can just give what you can afford, whilst helping the site which puts on the festival in the process. It's brilliant.
The compilation itself, as you might expect, is excellent. It's clearly been put together with a lot of love, it's sequenced really well. Like the best mixtape, the one that got worn out from being played so much. The kind of thing that's so good you expect to hear it from every bedroom window and every passing car, and can't believe that other people aren't aware of it. There's so much good stuff here (40 tracks worth), lots of it new to me, that it would be a futile excercise to try and write about every track but from the perfect indiepop of The Procters through the jangle of The Whatevers and giddy joy of Papa Topo it's all ace.
It's being released by Make Do And Mend Records and you can find, listen and download it from Bandcamp
Thursday, 9 June 2011
Cults - Cults
You may have heard of Cults, they're Ep which was on Bandcamp generated a fair bit of buzz; especially the song 'Go Outside' which was praised pretty damn highly. If you have heard the band then, you probably know what to expect from their debut album. If you haven't heard them (or heard of them) then think 60's inspired indie pop with ever so slight sinister undertones and you're pretty much there.
It's a half hour long triumph of an album, full of hooks and joy, and whilst it feels all joyous and happy and lovestruck, the reverb applied makes things feel just a little uneasy (coupled with spoken excerts from cult leader). Then there's the bitterness as well, 'Never Heal Myself' is a case in point with it's lyric "I can never heal myself, so fuck you'.
It's an album of the frustations then, but it never allows that to get in the way of it's Spectoresque musical tendancies or it's melodic joys. Sure there are moments when the album misses a little, and it could have done with a closer with a bit more oomph as 'Rave On' as great as it is, doesn't quite hit the mark. Still there are more than enough excellent songs here - 'Bumper', 'Abducted', 'Never Heal Myself', 'Go Outside' - to make this an album definitely worth getting or making sure you hear at any rate.
Cults have made a great summertime pop album here, taking it's cue from 50's/60's pop and surf and bringing it bang up to date and pointing towards an excellent future.
Here's the video for abducted :-
and here's the album on Spotify
It's a half hour long triumph of an album, full of hooks and joy, and whilst it feels all joyous and happy and lovestruck, the reverb applied makes things feel just a little uneasy (coupled with spoken excerts from cult leader). Then there's the bitterness as well, 'Never Heal Myself' is a case in point with it's lyric "I can never heal myself, so fuck you'.
It's an album of the frustations then, but it never allows that to get in the way of it's Spectoresque musical tendancies or it's melodic joys. Sure there are moments when the album misses a little, and it could have done with a closer with a bit more oomph as 'Rave On' as great as it is, doesn't quite hit the mark. Still there are more than enough excellent songs here - 'Bumper', 'Abducted', 'Never Heal Myself', 'Go Outside' - to make this an album definitely worth getting or making sure you hear at any rate.
Cults have made a great summertime pop album here, taking it's cue from 50's/60's pop and surf and bringing it bang up to date and pointing towards an excellent future.
Here's the video for abducted :-
and here's the album on Spotify
Thursday, 21 April 2011
Indietracks announcement 3
So Indietracks has announced the next bunch of bands and, as suspected already, it really is shaping up to be a cracker. I know this isn't much of an inspired blog post considering I'm more or less just copying and pasting from the indietracks blog, but I think the bands speak for themselves; just look at them:-
Help Stamp Out Loneliness are being raved about across the net, Milky Wimpshake are always great value. Elsewhere there's local boys (the mighty) Horowitz and it's fantastic to see that they'll be back at the festival again. Then there's Haiku Salut, who although they contain former members of the Dierdres are really very different to that band, all beautiful instrumentation and swoonsomeness. It's varied further by the brilliantly named and riotiously entertaining Anguish Sandwich.
So, yeah, it's a varied and brilliant line up this year as you can see from the below plagiarism. So what are you waiting for you've only got another 3 weeks to get those early bird tickets. Snap to it! Announcement follows...
"Help Stamp Out Loneliness, whose Krautrock-inspired poptastic debut record is a clear contender for the album of the year.
Milky Wimpshake, Newcastle’s punk pop legends, with three ace albums and numerous fantastic singles under their belts.
Just Handshakes (We’re British), described by Rough Trade as “officially one of the best UK indie pop bands around”, and with a recent single on the legendary Elefant Records.
Band A Part, a charming Spanish indiepop duo, again continuing our festival’s Elefant Records connection.
Amor De Dias, amazing collaboration between The Clientele frontman Alasdair Maclean and Pipas’ Lupe Nunez-Fernandez.
They’re joined by bundles of other fantastic bands. The following have also been added to the main stages:
Guatafan (Spain), A Fine Day For Sailing, Sloppy Joe (Japan), The History of Apple Pie, Horowitz , Frankie Machine, Haiku Salut, Victoria & Jacob, World of Fox, Ace Bushy Striptease, Heroes of the Mexican Independence Movement, Moustache of Insanity, Anguish Sandwich, The Proctors.
And the following will be playing acoustically on the trains:
The Whatevers, Peru, Oxo Foxo, Graeme Elston (Love Parade/Pure/Slipside), Mat Patalano (The Specific Heats)(US), Remi Parson (Electrophonvintage/The Sunny Street).
Headliners already announced for this year’s Indietracks include Edwyn Collins, The Hidden Cameras, Jeffrey Lewis, Suburban Kids With Biblical Names, Jonny, Ringo Deathstarr and Math and Physics Club"
Help Stamp Out Loneliness are being raved about across the net, Milky Wimpshake are always great value. Elsewhere there's local boys (the mighty) Horowitz and it's fantastic to see that they'll be back at the festival again. Then there's Haiku Salut, who although they contain former members of the Dierdres are really very different to that band, all beautiful instrumentation and swoonsomeness. It's varied further by the brilliantly named and riotiously entertaining Anguish Sandwich.
So, yeah, it's a varied and brilliant line up this year as you can see from the below plagiarism. So what are you waiting for you've only got another 3 weeks to get those early bird tickets. Snap to it! Announcement follows...
"Help Stamp Out Loneliness, whose Krautrock-inspired poptastic debut record is a clear contender for the album of the year.
Milky Wimpshake, Newcastle’s punk pop legends, with three ace albums and numerous fantastic singles under their belts.
Just Handshakes (We’re British), described by Rough Trade as “officially one of the best UK indie pop bands around”, and with a recent single on the legendary Elefant Records.
Band A Part, a charming Spanish indiepop duo, again continuing our festival’s Elefant Records connection.
Amor De Dias, amazing collaboration between The Clientele frontman Alasdair Maclean and Pipas’ Lupe Nunez-Fernandez.
They’re joined by bundles of other fantastic bands. The following have also been added to the main stages:
Guatafan (Spain), A Fine Day For Sailing, Sloppy Joe (Japan), The History of Apple Pie, Horowitz , Frankie Machine, Haiku Salut, Victoria & Jacob, World of Fox, Ace Bushy Striptease, Heroes of the Mexican Independence Movement, Moustache of Insanity, Anguish Sandwich, The Proctors.
And the following will be playing acoustically on the trains:
The Whatevers, Peru, Oxo Foxo, Graeme Elston (Love Parade/Pure/Slipside), Mat Patalano (The Specific Heats)(US), Remi Parson (Electrophonvintage/The Sunny Street).
Headliners already announced for this year’s Indietracks include Edwyn Collins, The Hidden Cameras, Jeffrey Lewis, Suburban Kids With Biblical Names, Jonny, Ringo Deathstarr and Math and Physics Club"
Tuesday, 19 April 2011
That's No Moon
I mentioned a couple of post back posts back that I was looking forward to seeing Ringo Deathstarr at Indietracks, but that was after only hearing a few songs and not the new album. Now that I've heard 'Colour Trip' (over and over) I can safely say that I'm seriously excited.
Like yesterdays blogstars The Midgetmen, Ringo Deathstarr also hail from Austin, Texas, and are also pretty loud. However where the former are primarily punk, Ringo Deathstarr are for the most part shoegaze. Some would say derivatively so (I've seen JAMC mentioned lots of times in reference to the band), and whilst it's fair to say that you can play a fair amount of spot the influence listening to the album it would be unfair to say that that's all there is to the band.
For example whilst opener 'Imagine Hearts' is straight forward shoegaze, the following track 'Do It Ever Time' comes off like Calvin Johnson fronting Yo La Tengo, and contains the couplet "we're falling apart again, she took my cardigan". It's brilliant.
That vibe sort of flows into the next track 'So High' whose giddy pop just makes me want to dance. It's the sort of song that could have been the other A-side to 'C Is The Heavenly Option'.
Other highlights include 'Kaleidoscope' ,which is a utterly beautiful fuzzy pop gem. The sort of song that if it was corporeal you'd hug it to your chest and never let go; 'Tambourine Girl' whose chainsaw guitar kicks into the most joyous melody, and the sweet and tender closer 'Other Things'. It's all great though.
So yeah, even in the course of that review you can see how easy it is to compare the band to those that have gone before (but surely it's that way for most bands) and yes you could play spot the influence or be all snotty and dismiss this as derivative but that would be missing the point; that Ringo Deathstarr have produced a record that is a joyful, heartlifting, humalong, jumpalong, gem of a POP record. More of this sort of thing please!
You can hear the album on Spotify now
Listen to some stuff on Last FM
Oh and maybe see them live at Indietracks
Like yesterdays blogstars The Midgetmen, Ringo Deathstarr also hail from Austin, Texas, and are also pretty loud. However where the former are primarily punk, Ringo Deathstarr are for the most part shoegaze. Some would say derivatively so (I've seen JAMC mentioned lots of times in reference to the band), and whilst it's fair to say that you can play a fair amount of spot the influence listening to the album it would be unfair to say that that's all there is to the band.
For example whilst opener 'Imagine Hearts' is straight forward shoegaze, the following track 'Do It Ever Time' comes off like Calvin Johnson fronting Yo La Tengo, and contains the couplet "we're falling apart again, she took my cardigan". It's brilliant.
That vibe sort of flows into the next track 'So High' whose giddy pop just makes me want to dance. It's the sort of song that could have been the other A-side to 'C Is The Heavenly Option'.
Other highlights include 'Kaleidoscope' ,which is a utterly beautiful fuzzy pop gem. The sort of song that if it was corporeal you'd hug it to your chest and never let go; 'Tambourine Girl' whose chainsaw guitar kicks into the most joyous melody, and the sweet and tender closer 'Other Things'. It's all great though.
So yeah, even in the course of that review you can see how easy it is to compare the band to those that have gone before (but surely it's that way for most bands) and yes you could play spot the influence or be all snotty and dismiss this as derivative but that would be missing the point; that Ringo Deathstarr have produced a record that is a joyful, heartlifting, humalong, jumpalong, gem of a POP record. More of this sort of thing please!
You can hear the album on Spotify now
Listen to some stuff on Last FM
Oh and maybe see them live at Indietracks
Monday, 18 April 2011
The Midgetmen - Loud Enough
There's a number of things I love about writing a blog, the chance to be (albeit mildly) creative, and the joy of realising that there are genuinely people reading this, are two of the main ones. Another one is getting to hear music from bands, I may not have done otherwise. A case in point is The Midgetmen.
Until I recieved an email from the band asking if I'd be interested in reviewing their new album, I must confess I'd never heard of the band; and they're just about to celebrate their 9th anniversary. I do ;however; suspect I'm not alone in this, a suspicion backed up by the fact that a flyer which comes with the new record, Loud Enough, confirms. It reads "You've possibly and likely ignored our first three albums. It happens". They're right I have and it does, but I can tell you honestly that I wish I hadn't, because whilst Loud Enough is a truly accurate album title there's much more to this band then just noise.
I could write a bio of the band, but it would seem a little silly since I've admitted knowing fuck all about them, so I'll leave you to read the band doing that themselves on their website.
It opens with 'Beer's Gone'. A high energy opener, which probably proclaims that "when the beer's gone, we're gone". A sentiment I can happily agree with. This is followed by "Unforgettable" whose sing song lyrical melody is defiantly catchy in direct contrast to the title of the track. It's gloriously sloppy punk.
Third track 'King Kong' is the first here to demonstrate that the band are more than just another throwaway punk band here or indeed just "loud enough". Riding a punishing guitar line, it mainlines the same kind of sonic brilliance that the Pixies and more recently Titus Andronicus have peddled.
It contains in much the same excellent vein, 'Glue Factory' is a taut and wiry kick to the face, a less drunken, less Irish Dropkick Murphys. 'Race To The Bottom' is frenetic, 'Honus' will have you attempting to yelp along long before you know the words, 'Sword Fight' will take that even further. Try not to yell "SWORD FIGHT" whilst listening to it.
It doesn't stop there, 'Advice' is an earworm; 'Wheeling Downs' is touching and noisy, 'Sea Shanty' hits the kind of heights that the Replacements did at times, and 'Fly High Fly Low' pounds and shudders.
It comes to an end with 'The Dream' which is as an epic closer as you could ask for.
As I said at the beginning, it's a little sad to think that I've missed out on The Midgetmen until now, but at least I've finally heard them. Yes this record's title is accurate but beyond that the record is also big, fun, and very very good.
You can hear 'Kong' from the album on the band's site right now. You can buy it too and so you should.
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
Rip it up
Time flies, dunnit? Doesn't seem to long since I was at Indietracks; less time still since the first batch of bands were announced for this years, and now all of a sudden we have the second batch of announcements, and reet good ones they are too; let's have a look shall, we have (deep breath):-
Edwyn Collins, Jonny, Suburban Kids with Biblical Names (SKWBN), Butcher Boy, Withered Hand, Pocketbooks, Ringo Deathstarr, Chris T-T, A Little Orchestra, Dignan Porch, The Bumblebees, Papa Toco.
That's a nicely varied and this looks to be shaping to be a cracker. Edwyn played a fantastic set at End of the road last year, mixing up old Orange Juice stuff with new stuff, and the obligatory 'Girl Like You' he went down a storm and garnered excellent reviews. He'll be in his element at Indietracks and I would expect a rapturous crowd.
Jonny are Norman Blake, of former Indietracks headliners Teenage Fanclub, and Euros Childs (Gorky's Zygotic Mynci). They make music as beautiful and heart warming as you might expect given their track records. SKWBN's are a band who will get people up and dancing, Swedish indiepop at it's best and one of Labrador Records' finest bands, which is a pretty big deal when you consider their roster.
Elsewhere Pocketbooks return to Indietracks is bound to please a lot of people, their glorious take on indiepop always goes down well. Withered Hand will probably make you cry, but in a really good way.
Of the ones I've not heard or seen before, I'm really keen to see Ringo Deathstarr. I like their name, they are coming a long way and most importantly they promise to be excellent, fuzzy, melodic, shoegaze. What's not to like - check out 'So High' below - short sweet and excellent. A perfect pop tune in other words
As I've said several times now Indietracks is already looking like having one of the best line-ups it's ever had, and considering it's had some fantastic line ups you'd be mad to miss this one.
The festival takes place the last weekend of July and you can find out everything you need to know at their website. Tickets are available at an early bird price until May 7th.
Edwyn Collins, Jonny, Suburban Kids with Biblical Names (SKWBN), Butcher Boy, Withered Hand, Pocketbooks, Ringo Deathstarr, Chris T-T, A Little Orchestra, Dignan Porch, The Bumblebees, Papa Toco.
That's a nicely varied and this looks to be shaping to be a cracker. Edwyn played a fantastic set at End of the road last year, mixing up old Orange Juice stuff with new stuff, and the obligatory 'Girl Like You' he went down a storm and garnered excellent reviews. He'll be in his element at Indietracks and I would expect a rapturous crowd.
Jonny are Norman Blake, of former Indietracks headliners Teenage Fanclub, and Euros Childs (Gorky's Zygotic Mynci). They make music as beautiful and heart warming as you might expect given their track records. SKWBN's are a band who will get people up and dancing, Swedish indiepop at it's best and one of Labrador Records' finest bands, which is a pretty big deal when you consider their roster.
Elsewhere Pocketbooks return to Indietracks is bound to please a lot of people, their glorious take on indiepop always goes down well. Withered Hand will probably make you cry, but in a really good way.
Of the ones I've not heard or seen before, I'm really keen to see Ringo Deathstarr. I like their name, they are coming a long way and most importantly they promise to be excellent, fuzzy, melodic, shoegaze. What's not to like - check out 'So High' below - short sweet and excellent. A perfect pop tune in other words
As I've said several times now Indietracks is already looking like having one of the best line-ups it's ever had, and considering it's had some fantastic line ups you'd be mad to miss this one.
The festival takes place the last weekend of July and you can find out everything you need to know at their website. Tickets are available at an early bird price until May 7th.
Tuesday, 5 April 2011
HSOL
Just a short post today.
WIAIYWA are currently offering Help Stamp Out Loneliness' (HSOL) track 'Record Shop' as a free download of the month, and boy is it a good one.
I've mentioned HSOL recently when I talked about the first 3 tracks from their forthcoming album being up on Bandcamp. I pegged 'Record Shop' as a favourite then and it remains so. A beautiful and catchy paean to stalking and there is definitely a lack of songs on that subject. It hits with a Fight clubesque (musical) hook to the ear and continues unrelentingly until the track finishes and you want to stick it back on again. It has that same instant classic feel that 'The Start Of Something' by Voxtrot had or Standard Fare's 'Philadelphia. By this time you should have already downloaded the track, it's free for goodness sake, but if not go back to the top and click the link.
Also as I mentioned above HSOL had the first 3 tracks of their album available on Bandcamp. Since I last checked, their are now 3 more. All of which are equally excellent. If this continues there is little doubt that 1) we have an album of the year on our hands, and 2) HSOL have the potential to be big. They've already had a mention in the Guardian Don't be suprised if you see them cropping up all over the place fairly soon.
You can pre-order the record from WIAIWYA as well, I suggest you do.
WIAIYWA are currently offering Help Stamp Out Loneliness' (HSOL) track 'Record Shop' as a free download of the month, and boy is it a good one.
I've mentioned HSOL recently when I talked about the first 3 tracks from their forthcoming album being up on Bandcamp. I pegged 'Record Shop' as a favourite then and it remains so. A beautiful and catchy paean to stalking and there is definitely a lack of songs on that subject. It hits with a Fight clubesque (musical) hook to the ear and continues unrelentingly until the track finishes and you want to stick it back on again. It has that same instant classic feel that 'The Start Of Something' by Voxtrot had or Standard Fare's 'Philadelphia. By this time you should have already downloaded the track, it's free for goodness sake, but if not go back to the top and click the link.
Also as I mentioned above HSOL had the first 3 tracks of their album available on Bandcamp. Since I last checked, their are now 3 more. All of which are equally excellent. If this continues there is little doubt that 1) we have an album of the year on our hands, and 2) HSOL have the potential to be big. They've already had a mention in the Guardian Don't be suprised if you see them cropping up all over the place fairly soon.
You can pre-order the record from WIAIWYA as well, I suggest you do.
Friday, 1 April 2011
March playlist
Hello you lot,
Apologies for not updating the blog yesterday; sometimes it almost seems like I have too much time to do everything in and just don't get around to it. That may sound ridiculous, but if you've ever spent a weekend saying to yourself, "I'll do the washing up/painting/greco-roman wrestling practice in a bit, I've got all weekend", only to find that the weekend is suddenly gone and you've not done anything then you'll know what I mean.
Anyway, I do have a few things to review, but as I've not had much more than a cursory listen I'd rather not review them yet. Seems a little unfair to bands who put in time and effort on a release, only to have some cloth-eared blogger listen give it a perfunctory first listen and then cast it aside.
Instead then I've gone to the old fall-back staple and made another Spotify playlist, this time for the best (in my opinion) new stuff released in March. As always apologies if you don't have Spotify. Also the tracks aren't arranged in any real order so it might not flow to well, and of course this doesn't take into account albums released this month that aren't on Spotify. There's a lot of those, sadly.
The link is below anyway, it's not a very long playlist I'm afraid, but I hope you enjoy it and apologies for the lax post. Better things to come next week.
Best of March 2011
Apologies for not updating the blog yesterday; sometimes it almost seems like I have too much time to do everything in and just don't get around to it. That may sound ridiculous, but if you've ever spent a weekend saying to yourself, "I'll do the washing up/painting/greco-roman wrestling practice in a bit, I've got all weekend", only to find that the weekend is suddenly gone and you've not done anything then you'll know what I mean.
Anyway, I do have a few things to review, but as I've not had much more than a cursory listen I'd rather not review them yet. Seems a little unfair to bands who put in time and effort on a release, only to have some cloth-eared blogger listen give it a perfunctory first listen and then cast it aside.
Instead then I've gone to the old fall-back staple and made another Spotify playlist, this time for the best (in my opinion) new stuff released in March. As always apologies if you don't have Spotify. Also the tracks aren't arranged in any real order so it might not flow to well, and of course this doesn't take into account albums released this month that aren't on Spotify. There's a lot of those, sadly.
The link is below anyway, it's not a very long playlist I'm afraid, but I hope you enjoy it and apologies for the lax post. Better things to come next week.
Best of March 2011
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
Bourgeois Heroes - Olé/Hola
February Records are a label I've neglected of late; through no fault of their own I hasten to add, they've been consistently putting out great stuff. The latest in a long line of that great stuff is a new 7" single release by Bourgeois Heroes entitled "Ole/Hola"
The band comprises Eloise and Jason who formed the band on a road trip to Memphis, buying instruments when they reached Tennessee. They've released a few EPs up to this point, and currently pass their musical ideas between Austin and Northampton (the American one), this long distance way of working doesn't seem to have any detrimental effect on their music, it's great. Described as "60's inspired jangle pop" this turns out to be very true.
On one side of the single we have the title track 'Olé/Hola' which sounds classic from the off. It does have that 60's sound about it, definitely, but you could class it with more modern bands of the Elephant 6 camp too. I get Apples In Stereo or The Essex Green. It's pastoral/baroque pop and it's an excellent example of how that should sound. It's eminently hummable too, be warned.
The other side is 'When You're Dancing' which if anything is even better. I don't know why but I think the melody is slightly reminiscent of a Roy Orbison song. Again it could easily fit on an Essex Green album or Ladybug Transistor album or any band of that ilk, or going back a bunch of classic 60's records; but make no mistake Bourgeois Heroes have a sound all of their own.
This is a single that does everything you want a single to do. Two short sharp songs that are both excellent, and that as soon as they finish you want to put them right back on again. A vinyl single is made to be touched and loved, and played and played and played, and this one will be.
There's a nice video for Olé/Hola too, it looks a little bit like this:-
You can get the single from February records and I suggest you do so at once.
The band comprises Eloise and Jason who formed the band on a road trip to Memphis, buying instruments when they reached Tennessee. They've released a few EPs up to this point, and currently pass their musical ideas between Austin and Northampton (the American one), this long distance way of working doesn't seem to have any detrimental effect on their music, it's great. Described as "60's inspired jangle pop" this turns out to be very true.
On one side of the single we have the title track 'Olé/Hola' which sounds classic from the off. It does have that 60's sound about it, definitely, but you could class it with more modern bands of the Elephant 6 camp too. I get Apples In Stereo or The Essex Green. It's pastoral/baroque pop and it's an excellent example of how that should sound. It's eminently hummable too, be warned.
The other side is 'When You're Dancing' which if anything is even better. I don't know why but I think the melody is slightly reminiscent of a Roy Orbison song. Again it could easily fit on an Essex Green album or Ladybug Transistor album or any band of that ilk, or going back a bunch of classic 60's records; but make no mistake Bourgeois Heroes have a sound all of their own.
This is a single that does everything you want a single to do. Two short sharp songs that are both excellent, and that as soon as they finish you want to put them right back on again. A vinyl single is made to be touched and loved, and played and played and played, and this one will be.
There's a nice video for Olé/Hola too, it looks a little bit like this:-
You can get the single from February records and I suggest you do so at once.
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
Cats For Peru - We had this problem last winter
Cats for Peru (much like last time's blog-stars Japanese Sleepers) are a band whose new EP 'We had this problem last winter' has just been released by Sheffield's Thee SPC. I must confess to not knowing too much about the band, I've seen their name in gig listings a couple of times and I know they have a reputation for being strong live. Beyond that I really am at a loss, so I'm going to do a terrible thing and point you in the direction of an old Sandman magazine article for a bit of background, whilst I get on to the meat of reviewing the actual record.
It opens with 'Open House' which buzzes and fizzes before breaking into a punchy chorus and a gleeful shout. It's catchy; it's very very catchy. It's also (mild muso alert) 'sonically interesting'. Typing that makes me wince, but it's the truth. There's a lot going on here musically, and it sounds great.
'Duck In The Oven' is next. It feels almost tribal when it begins, but it sweeps and soars and twinkles, rising majestically. There's magic all over this, hints of winsome Americana, but mingled with a much more modern sound.
Third track 'Sleeping On Tightropes' begins by sounding quite a bit like Radiohead (not a bad thing or an easy feat in many ways) but it goes above mere pastiche in the middle, rising and elevating itself to a plateau of excellence.
The EP rounds off with 'Fear Of Better Things' is a slowy which rides along on some beautiful vocal harmonies to create the kind of anthemic ballad that someone like Chris Martin or Guy Garvey would die for, it's a fine closer to the whole thing.
I don't know why I've ignored Cats For Peru for so long, it's nothing short of lunacy. This EP proves that. It's almost a record of two halves, the first two being poppy and more upbeat, the latter being more introspective and slightly slower. Each showcases the bands strengths wonderfully, and put together make something altogether brilliant. In a just world they'd be massive; given a bit of time and luck and they may well be anyway. http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
The EP was released yesterday so do yourself a favour and get over to the main page of Thee SPC website and give it a listen, and then buy it.
Friday, 25 March 2011
Japanese Sleepers - Little Victories
Japanese Sleepers are a band who divide their members between Sheffield and Nottingham. They've been touring on and off for a good while now, and have quietly built up a following around the country; that Thee SPC have seen fit to issue their debut EP is a testament to the effort they've clearly put in.
This effort shows all over this EP too, it sits in it's own little niche; hard to categorise but easy to listen to and enjoy.
The opening track 'Whistler's Breath' is all shimmering synths and ethereal vocal. It works beautiful, there's the slightest feeling of 'Trembling Blue Stars' about the track, perhaps down to a feeling of melancholic treading in the songs wake.
Next track 'Celebrate' is a far more upbeat affair, propelled on by synths, and a machine gun, staccato beat drum. The pulse raised further by a joyous bit which encourages shouting along.
'These Are Our End Times' slows the pace again, it's probably the prettiest piece on here, with it's violin and glock carrying the song along. It builds beautiful too, it's probably the most accomplished track on the EP. There is (at least for this reviewer) elements of post rock about it. That's in a no way a damning comment, you can't make this kind of music without a large amount of skill.
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There then follows a short interlude (a coda if you will) before final track 'Song For A Satellite Town' kicks in. Though I said the previous track was the most accomplished (and it is) this is probably the highlight. The nostalgic/melanchic tinge to the music, beautifully backs and matches the lyrics, whilst the call and response of the vocal lends the song a rare power.
For a debut this really is an impressive EP, musically strong, it's merging of synths and folk, may be a little unusual bit it works tremendously well. If life is a string of battles then this EP represents more than a little victory for Japanese Sleepers. It's one to return to again and again.
Little Victories is released on Thee SPC on 28th March. You can listen to the record and purchase it here
Thursday, 24 March 2011
Indietracks 2011
I recognise that I've been a bit lax on the blogging front of late, (life, band practice and government red tape gets in the way) but if there's anything guaranteed to get the fingers jumping in frenzied arcs of excitement it's an Indietracks announcement.
Indietracks for those readers who are unaware of it's magnificence (and I doubt there's too many of you)is an indiepop festival set in the beautiful surrounds of the Derbyshire countryside. It's an unbelievably joyous festival, well run, friendly, fun, with trains and over far too soon; it would be considered lightning in a bottle if not for the fact that it continues to be so amazing year on year, and in it's fifth year it shows no signs of stopping. It's line ups are always a fine blend of the leading lights and lesser known (but just as good) bands of the indiepop scene (as evidenced here) and this year it's no different.
First headliner 'The Hidden Cameras' are as joyous a band as you could hope for. They play irrepressibly bouncy and fun music, and live they do it in almost theatrically. They will most likely create a frenzy of pinwheeling arms, maelstroming legs and motorway length grins. In short they'll be an utterly perfect fit, not just in terms of the music demands of the festival, but also in keeping with the feel of the thing, and if you've never been to Indietracks that's something you will notice almost immediately when you do, the atmosphere (camaderie etc) is as important as any of the bands themselves.
Second headliner Jeffrey Lewis may seem like less of a fit due to his background in the anti-folk movement, but in actual fact he's a superb choice and will also fit perfectly. Firstly because although there is a folk element to the music there's also a large amount of jangly, singalong pop in there too. Something that 'Broken Broken Broken Heart' from his most recent album will happily attest too, and there's a whole load more besides that. Aside from the music however it's also Jeff's aesthetic that fits indietracks, comic book creator (he turns them into 'movies', see below) made a record of Crass covers, and has a DIY ethic that matches Indietracks own. He's great live too.
Aside from those two, other acts announced are equally promising from the full steam ahead pop of 'Math and Physics Club' through shoutyness of 'The Wendy Darlings' by way of the delicate ire and sparkly jangle of 'The Sweet Nothings'
Indietracks, as I've stated countless times in the past has an atmosphere about that no other festival can replicate. In fact in a festival market that is becoming increasingly clogged up by chancers, it's nice to see one festival that remains true to it's roots and continues to book bands that fit in with what it and it's core audience wants rather than reaching out with corporate tendrils. This years lineup is a testament to that, and frankly you'd be a fool to miss this.
Earlybird tickets are on sale now, go and snap one up, it'll be the best purchase you make this year.
Indietracks for those readers who are unaware of it's magnificence (and I doubt there's too many of you)is an indiepop festival set in the beautiful surrounds of the Derbyshire countryside. It's an unbelievably joyous festival, well run, friendly, fun, with trains and over far too soon; it would be considered lightning in a bottle if not for the fact that it continues to be so amazing year on year, and in it's fifth year it shows no signs of stopping. It's line ups are always a fine blend of the leading lights and lesser known (but just as good) bands of the indiepop scene (as evidenced here) and this year it's no different.
First headliner 'The Hidden Cameras' are as joyous a band as you could hope for. They play irrepressibly bouncy and fun music, and live they do it in almost theatrically. They will most likely create a frenzy of pinwheeling arms, maelstroming legs and motorway length grins. In short they'll be an utterly perfect fit, not just in terms of the music demands of the festival, but also in keeping with the feel of the thing, and if you've never been to Indietracks that's something you will notice almost immediately when you do, the atmosphere (camaderie etc) is as important as any of the bands themselves.
Second headliner Jeffrey Lewis may seem like less of a fit due to his background in the anti-folk movement, but in actual fact he's a superb choice and will also fit perfectly. Firstly because although there is a folk element to the music there's also a large amount of jangly, singalong pop in there too. Something that 'Broken Broken Broken Heart' from his most recent album will happily attest too, and there's a whole load more besides that. Aside from the music however it's also Jeff's aesthetic that fits indietracks, comic book creator (he turns them into 'movies', see below) made a record of Crass covers, and has a DIY ethic that matches Indietracks own. He's great live too.
Aside from those two, other acts announced are equally promising from the full steam ahead pop of 'Math and Physics Club' through shoutyness of 'The Wendy Darlings' by way of the delicate ire and sparkly jangle of 'The Sweet Nothings'
Indietracks, as I've stated countless times in the past has an atmosphere about that no other festival can replicate. In fact in a festival market that is becoming increasingly clogged up by chancers, it's nice to see one festival that remains true to it's roots and continues to book bands that fit in with what it and it's core audience wants rather than reaching out with corporate tendrils. This years lineup is a testament to that, and frankly you'd be a fool to miss this.
Earlybird tickets are on sale now, go and snap one up, it'll be the best purchase you make this year.
Tuesday, 1 March 2011
Let's Whisper - The Shortest Days
Let's Whisper are Dana and Colin who also play with The Smittens. You may have heard of them. This is a whole other project though, not a side project and something they've been doing together since 2003. You might have even been lucky enough to catch them at Indietracks in a small train carriage. They have a their first record coming out in April - it's called The Shortest Days
This record finds the two of them trading songs, and vocals, ideas and words. It works tremendously well too( more of that in a moment). It's being released by Weepop, one of the few records labels that you can place utter trust in, in the knowledge that even if you buy something from them without ever hearing it it will be brilliant; oh and lovingly packaged. It's not just the band's first album, this is Weepop's first ever full-length album release too, and it's a cracker.
The album opens with 'California Girls', a song that may be familiar to some of you. It's immediately accessible. Jangly, with fine harmonies on the chorus and a nod to the Beach Boys for extra points. Fine opener.
'All Happy Endings' follows that - Colin sings and it's slightly faster. Again there's lovely harmonies but I won't need to keep telling you that, it's something that's there on everything. There's a definite dreamy element to it too, especially on the bit that quotes Willow by the field mice. It's instantly hummable and happy; the lyrics "Feel so happy I should be dancing" emphasising that.
Evy and Sarah drifts by with a "do, do, do" refrain, wrapped in melancholy. Whilst Heart On My Mirror carries the slight feel of melancholia through accompanied by a gorgeous guitar line.
It continues in this vein, 'Jackpot' is soft and tender, 'Meet Me On The Dancefloor' sounds like a future crowd pleaser. '2 hours' is beautiful, 'Let's Pretend' is endearingly touching.
Later there's 'Shortest Days' which sounds (to me at least) like The Sundays; certainly in the guitar lines. A splendid instrumental 'when the snow falls' and, of course, 'Let's Whisper' which is just fantastic.
This is such a pleasurable album, it really is. Dana and Colin manage to combine to create something lovely. Dana (it says here) is responsible for the tender, raw songs and Colin for the more upbeat ones, but they work together in such a fantastic way. It's varied enough to keep you listening over and over. It's melancholic, but in an endearing and optimistic way, it's upbeat but with a just a pinch of sadness. The best thing of all though is that it feels right instantly. It sounds like a record you've always owned and loved. Instantly familiar, touching and warming; and that really is a splendid thing.
You can pre-order the record from Weepop here . You really should, it's ace and their packaging and love is always evident in the physical release. Plus if you order one of the first 50 you can get an exclusive poster too.
You can also stream a couple of tracks from the album too (or right click and save as to download):-
California Girls
Shortest Days
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