Band Camp

Look at that title up there. Look at it and tell me what it means to you. Perhaps it makes you think of an American feature film circa 1999 featuring a gone to seed ginger girl and a slightly chubby guy, or perhaps you're thinking of the kind of summer pastime we don't seem to have in England. Though I wish we did. Anyway this post is about neither of those things, though a few days ago I'd have thought the same. Nah THIS band camp is a rather nifty website where bands can share music and people like you and me can listen to it. That's a good thing right? Yes, I know what you're thinking, "aren't there lots of these sites?" There are, yeah, but this one is really great because it seems to be a lot more diverse, and importantly it has a fairly good smattering of indie-pop bands (as well as other genres) sharing stuff on there, in some cases whole albums. Admittedly I have no idea how to get an account for it that isn't an account for bands, and I've not found a search bit on there either, and have had to use google BUT I have found some new (or new to me) bands and I thought I'd share a couple with you.

Firstly the rather brillant 'The Super Cutes'

I love this, I love how the first line of the first song is 'I dream of fluffy kittens' and how tongue in cheek it is, mentioning Zac Efron carries extra points too (as does having a song called Ice-cream and Nazis). I love the whole do it yourself sound of the thing and just the sheer joy and exuberance of it. I listened in a half-awake state this morning, and almost instantly had a big smile on my face and was wide awake, so there you are the musical equivalent of caffiene. I hope you like them as much as I do.

Then Beat radio. I don't quite know what it is about Beat Radio, whether it's the vocal or the crisp drum sound in the background, but there's something there that just gets it's hooks into me and won't let go. There's a hum and a buzz to the music that makes me think of cities (unsuprisingly Hefner's We Love The City pulls this off too), it gives the songs an underlying energy that keeps me wanting to listen. It's something I can see myself coming back to quite a lot.

Anyway, so there you go, Bandcamp. If you figure out how it works any better than I can, let me know.

Smorgasbored

Welcome back to the blog that no-one is calling a veritable musical smorgasboard. Apart from me of course, I'm getting t-shirts made up with that on them.

First up, yet another band that I've only just discovered that you may or may not have heard of. I like how this keeps happening, it suggests that there must be even more bands out there that I've yet to here, and that is a very warming and comforting though. The band I've stumbled across are called The Very Most. In grand 'Beerandbands' style, I know nothing about them, apart from the fact that the banner on their myspace says they had a new record out in January, and that the songs on said Myspace are very nice indeed, delicious indiepop of a fine order. Get over to their myspace and lend them your ears.

Billie The Vision and The Dancers on the other hand are a band I'm very aware of. I'm still unsure on whether I like their name, but I know that their last 'I used to wander these streets' was as good a record as emerged from Sweden in 2008, or indeed in the last couple of the years. It's great to hear, then, that they have a new single out called 'I'm alive'. Sadly I couldn't find an MP3 of it, but there's a nice live version of it up on youtube, so here it is :-



Finally 'The Morning Benders' are another band I'm quite a fan of, they make fun nostalgic pop to sing and swoon along too. Their covers album from a few years ago is a cracker too. Their website is currently offering a free mp3 from the new album to download, so i'd check out that if I were you, and here's the link to the page that has the covers album to download if it's still available - HERE. Oh and if you'll forgive me for posting yet another video, then you should watch the below, right now. It's wonderful.

Lovely things

Hello there! How are you today, good I hope.

Today I've been having a quick read of some of the Anorak forum, I never pay as much attention to some of the stuff on there (and it's a great site for finding out things first), but I stumbled across Pebble records. It's really nice to be able to browse (and buy records from) a whole lot of indiepop artists in one place. It's good work, and I therefore encourage you to go and have a look as soon as possibly.

Elsewhere, Laura Marling has announced that she'll be releasing another album of folky goodness, 'I speak because I can' in the UK and Eupore on March 22nd; Australia on the 19th March and the US on the 6th April. There's an official video for 'Devil's Spoke' a track of the album available on the 'net, but I've got it here for you. See what you think. I'm getting overtones of Beth Orton, but loving that guitar sound underneath, it's great.



Next, if you're lucky enough to live in London, then I've spotted a pretty good gig that you might not have been aware of. Owl Parliament. Just LOOK at that line-up. Mount Eerie solo, Aidan Moffat, Hayman. If you're able to go to this and you'd don't, I would suggest that you are extremely foolish.

Sadly that's it for today, sorry there's not more to report.

Seethers Digest

Hello! Sorry I've been away, my excuse this week is a passport form debacle and a new rabbit. Anyway to get back in the swing of the typing thing I thought I'd just write a quick digest on things that might interest you.

Firstly if you're in London and not doing a lot tonight, you could do a lot worse than dragging yourself down to THIS. Not only are there fantastic bands playing that, but it's for a good cause too, namely helping Allo Darlin' to play South By Southwest. In addition, I think Darren Hayman and Amelia Fletcher doing some songs from 'We Love The City' is not to be missed, if they do 'Good Fruit' that alone will be worth the price of admission. It's something I doubt we'll see again. Now would be a good time to post the wonderful 'Good Fruit' video actually, so I shall.


So anyway, yes, get yourself along to that, you won't regret it.

Elsewhere, The Melting Ice Caps have a rather lovely new single out now. Even better it's all for free. I've listened to the first song 'Our Lovely Afternoon' and found the band adopting a degage attitude mingled with a pleasant warmth. It's well worth hearing, and since it's a freebie you've got no reason at all not too. Get it from the website.

Continuing on the free theme, Where It's At Is Where You are, have just put up the next in there series of free monthly download singles. It's a goodie too, get over HERE and give it a listen.

Finally, and I hope she won't mind, a friend of mine puts together a lovely zine called Intercity Baby. More copies have just been reprinted and are on sale again. It's really such a pretty thing and definitely worth a read. Here's a little blurb

"The zine is full of wistful reminiscing on journeys – be they by train, car, or airplane – and the wonderful people and pop events that await us on the other end. I cannot fully express how genuine and fascinating the stories are. I really can’t wait for you to read them!

Some of the contributors include Laz of Bubblegum Lemonade, Pete Green, Jenny of Strawberry Fair, Charlie of Bears and The Golden Rule, and Pete of Horowitz.

I posed five questions (see them here) to a number of glittering international pop luminaries. Some of those who thoughtfully answered these questions are from The Orchids, Summer Cats, Pocketbooks, One Happy Island, Friends, The Foxgloves, Very Truly Yours, and more!

"I've always wanted more people to read the heartfelt stories, the daydreams through drizzly skies, the real-life wanderings through which I've lived vicariously while reading. So I'm hoping you might want a copy! We can do an exchange - send me anything you've made, be that a zine, a small piece of music, a poem, a postcard, a drawing. Or if you want, you can simply PayPal me 2 (popchicago@gmail.com) "

So, yeah, do your bit for the independant fanzine writer, and get yourself a copy.

Until next time then..

We Disappear

This morning I went downstairs to discover a little package from the lovely folks at Weepop. Said package contained the new Transmittens mini-album, a badge, a sweetie and a really lovingly designed envelope to hold the 3 inch CDR. It's nice to get something so delightful through the post, and I love it when a label puts such a lot of love and effort into what they do. With Weepop this extends to the bands, and Transmittens are no exception.

I mentioned that Transmittens had a new record, 'We Disappear' coming out a few posts ago, but now that I've actually recieved it, I think it definitely deserves a larger post and it's a good excuse to post the lovely looking artwork again.

What can I say about the record except that it's fantastic? It's really very short, 10 tracks and 20 minutes, but when has that impaired the quality of a record? I think A Smile and A Ribbon's first record was similarly short and similarly brilliant. Also when it's that short, it's a great excuse to put the record on again, like I'm just about to.

Music wise, where talking tinny, bouncy, happy keyboards and cute girl vocals for the most part, though there's some nice boy/girl vocal harmonies thrown in for good measure; this is especially evident on 'Summer won't End'. Every song is catchy as hell, and the keyboards helping to suck the listener in with more hooks then a Peter Pan convention. Elsewhere, 'Too Right To Sigh' carries a calypso feel, whilst the short but sweet 'Hot Dog Suit' is ridiculous and ridiculous lovely. As the aforementioned 'Summer won't End' may have led you to suspect, this album just vibrates with the feeling of hot days and long drinks. It'll be one to play over and over (and will sound fantastic) with friends in the park, or on summer lawns or in the car on the way to another festival. There's a slight sad and nostalgic feel to some of the songs too, just right to capture that wistful mood as the sun slowly fades and casts long shadows of dusk across a city park.

That said, there's no reason why you shouldn't be listening to it now. There's already been mention of albums of the year in indiepop circles (Standard Fare being the main one), but 'We Disappear' should definitely be up there. As I say I think it's a record a lot of people will be listening to for a large part of the year. Do yourself a favour and go and order it now. Oh and once again, if you missed my post from the other day, then you can listen to opening song from the record, on Weepop. I left the link at the top for you.

IRM

Often I think that my musical life (or at least this blog) can be likened to a man stumbling around in a darkened room until his hand alights on an object which can illuminate the darkness, except in my case it's music not objects.

One such band who've managed to permeate the deep dark of my musical ignorance this week are The July Days. I've never heard of them before, though I guess and hope that they're named for the events that occured one July in Russia over 90 years ago. Anyway, I know a little bit more now thanks to their Myspace. They are from Birmingham and have supported The Lovely Eggs and My Sad Captain as well as winning a Battle Of the Bands at Birmingham University. See what I mean about stumbling in the dark? This lot should have been on my radar ages ok, still I'm just glad I found them. Hopefully you will be too. I think one listen to 'I Said, You Said' should be enough to convince you. I can't quite explain why, but that song makes me giddy and tells my feet they want to dance, and only the best songs can do that. Give 'em a listen over here.

The other thing I've been listening to today is the new Charlotte Gainsbourg record. Charlotte of course is the daughter of the legendary Serge, in fact her first musical outing came on a Serge single. She's an actress as well as a musician and such a fine pedigree comes over on the record. Her current release IRM, is written, arranged, produced and parly played by oddball Beck.

In places it has elements of Beck's slightly darker pieces mixed with a chanteuses touch of the sublime. It's arranged beautiful, and Charlottes voice, although not perfect fits the music very well indeed. It's a lovely, fragile, thing to listen to, and I'd encourage you to do so if you get the chance.

Charlotte Gainsbourg – IRM

Transmittens recieved

Hello. First up I'd like to introduce you to a band I've been listening to a fair bit today. They're called 'The Devil, My Pocket'. I don't know much about them (for much, read nothing), there was a brief mention on The Icicles homepage and so I thought I'd check them out. I liked what I heard too, there's a certain element of Will Oldham/Smog to them, especially on the song 'While The House Burned' As is obligatory there are songs to hear on their Myspace, as well as a 4 song demo thing on the website, here. You should go listen.

In other exciting news I've just noticed that Weepop are going to put out the new Transmittens mini album (though 10 tracks feels like an album to me) on the 29th January, though they have it up for pre-order now. You probably know Weepop through such other great bands as 'The Smittens' and 'The Just Joans', the label has a high pedigree. So do the 'Transmittens'. Weepop released there last record 'Our Dreams' as well, and it was a cracker. Ignore the cuddly name, you won't find anything too overly twee or cutesy here. I say the band are more of the vein of The Magnetic Fields, or maybe Mates Of State. I have little doubt that this record is going to be superb, the first track (and the track available to listen to HERE on the weepop website) Marfa Texas is splendid and the second track 'The Sea At Night' is also great and on their Myspace. I can't wait to listen to the whole thing. So what now? You go to Weepop and pre-order the record that's what. It's ridiculously cheap and will almost definitely sell out. I've just ordered mine.