At the heart of everything

So the next band in our whistlestop tour of who's who at Indietracks is Ballboy. Like Allo Darlin', Ballboy are well known within the indiepop community, and beyond thanks to people like John Peel.

I first came across Ballboy through 'The Sash My Father Wore and Other Stories', perhaps not the best place to approach the band from, since it's obstensibly a Gordan McIntyre solo record, but it hooked me, I was especially taken by the cover of 'Born In The USA' given I'm a rather large Bruce Springsteen fan. From there I got the next record 'The Royal Theatre' which IS a band record. It's brilliant too, it has something that I think a lot of scottish artists have; a melonchalia mixed and juxtaposed with uplifting music, it's also a showcase for McIntyre's special brand of writing about people. It's life under a microscope. The first track being a case in point.

After hearing that record, I was able to copy it for someone who in turn copied me 'Club Anthems' an earlier Ballboy record. An aching, soothing, heart battering slab of a record. 'Donald in the bushes with a bag of glue' and 'A Day In Space' are songs I never tire of. If either of those are played at Indietracks I'll be very happy.

Ballboy or Gordon at least, have played Indietracks a few times already and I've not seen them, though Gordon is responsibly for one of my favourite moments of last year. Standing in a tent whilst everyone is singing along to an acoustic version of 'What do we do now' by The Just Joans, my girlfriend is bumped into by the man behind her. Turning round in a fury she is met by Gordon McIntyre himself who simply states "If I do that again, punch me in the face", which I think is a lovely thing to say. I also think it's a good indicator of what Indietracks is like for someone who hasn't been. Where else could you get a performing artist to suggest you punch them? Nowhere that's where.

Anyway, that's Ballboy then. I suspect you've heard of them. If not then you really should. Most of their back catalogue is waiting to be raided on Spotify. I'll leave you with the rather fantastic 'I hate Scotland'

The Start Of Something Else.

So bands have already been announced for Indietracks, suggestions of who people would like to see headline are filtering in and expectation levels are already being racheted up. Due to this I've hit on the idea of profiling each of the bands that have been announced(to a greater or lesser degree). I'll try and do this in alphabetical order, though of course as bands get added I'm bound to have to back that rule. I just think it's a good way to give me something to blog about most days, and in a selfish way, I imagine it will help me familiarise myself with the bands I don't know before Indietracks arrives, maybe it'll help you too. If you're not going then it might just turn you on to bands you wouldn't of heard otherwise. Who knows? I think I'll give it a go though. There may well be none indiepop festival related news too.

Anyway first up is Allo Darlin'. I imagine if you're the kind of person who wants to go to Indietracks, is going to go, or has any interest in Indiepop at all, you've probably heard of Allo Darlin, so I'm not really going to do much profiling on this one. Instead I recommend that you: -

A) Read Alayerofchips' review of the forthcoming record.

B) Check out the band's Myspace and listen to the new single 'Dreaming'. Check out Monster Bobbys, slight Calvin Johnson type vocal. It's aces.

C) Watch the really fun live video of 'Henry Rollins Don't Dance' below and do the opposite of Rollins himself.



So there you go, admittedly not the most indepth of profiles but I'm well excited, and they're only the first band to listen to of many.

Slight return

Really quick entry, though I'll try to blog again later today, but did you see there's a new 'A Smile and a ribbon' single being released by Cloudberry?

I love the band and I've been waiting for something new for awhile, I still isten to 'The Boy I Wish I Never Met' often, but a new record would be greatly appreciated. Until then we have the new single, which sounds lovely to these ears, loving the little "ba,ba,ba" harmonies. Great stuff.

Anyway you can give it a listen via this LINK have fun.

R.I.P Mark Linkous

It saddens me immensely to have to be writing another r.i.p blog entry so soon after the death of Jay Reatard, but the passing of Mark Linkous formerly of Sparklehorse deserves a blog entry.

Mark took his own life (he had attempted such a thing in the past), his family issued this statement "It is with great sadness that we share the news that our dear friend and family member, Mark Linkous, took his own life today. We are thankful for his time with us and will hold him forever in our hearts. May his journey be peaceful, happy and free. There's a heaven and there’s a star for you." I don't really think I could say anything else as eloquently as that, but I'd like to try.

I came across Mark and Sparklehorse through the single 'Hammering The Cramps' which I'd heard played on radio 1, but it wasn't until reading a review of 'Good Morning Spider' in the NME of all places that my love for him and his music really grew. I bought that record in the summer of 1998 and I've played it at least once every couple of months every year since. I think it's that good. It's lo-fi and experimental, but it's poppy and punky. It has heart in spades too. It's a dark record, but it's a joyful record, and contains some of the loveliest music and lyrics. Words such as "There will come a time gigantic waves will crush the junk I've saved. When the moon explodes or floats away, I'll lose the souvenirs I've made.
Anyway I loved it, and that record carried me through some quite sad times.

After that I followed Mark Linkous through his musical life and numerous collaborations. From his, perhaps, overlooked collaboration with Nina Persson (of the Cardigans) as A Camp; through to the record he made with Dangermouse last year, whilst taking in the 2 subsquent Sparklehorse records he released. The music of the man has permeated my life for so long it seems a little wrong to think he won't be with us.

My saddest moment, is that a few years ago I lived with my parents in Blackburn and never went to again gigs (I had no friends living near me). After years of nothing, Sparklehorse released 'Dreamt For Light Years In The Belly Of A Mountain and toured it. I got a ticket. I was so excited, then the day came and I chickened out of going taking the 1hr train ride to Manchester to see them. I regret that to this day, and it hurts that I won't ever get to see them now.

Another terribly sad thing is that Mark had apparently almost finished a new record, and that 'Dark Night Of The Soul' the album he recorded with Dangermouse was going to get an official release. So much promise still to come. I really feel that we've lost one of the greatest musicians of the past decade or two, and that's the saddest thing of all. But I hope that something good comes of his death; I really hope that people who have never had the fortune of listening to some of the wonderful stuff he did will discover it posthumously.

Nothing else to say really, I'm sorry I couldn't be more elegant or eloquent. Instead I want to leave you with some videos of a couple of my favourite Sparklehorse songs.





I like 'Hundreds Of Sparrows' best I think. "I'm so sorry, my spirits rarely in my body" Sadly accurate today. The song tells someone that they are "worth hundreds of sparrows" Mark was worth thousands.

Lazy Lines

What's that you say, where have I been? Just being lazy I'm afraid, but I'm back to darken your Friday.

First up, a little self indulgence. I'm rather excited about the fact that Belle and Sebastian have announced tour dates and the fact that they're going to be recording a new album this year. I'm still a big fan, even after the lacklustre 'The Life Pursuit'. I still think they have it in them to pull off something beautiful and wonderful (if Stuart's 'God Help The Girl' stuff was anything to go by they do) and I can't help but really look forward to that. Anyway here's the self indulgent bit; I'm only talking about this so I can post this video of 'Is it Wicked not to care'. It's one of my favourite songs of theirs from my favourite record. The album just reminds me completely of spring, which fits in perfectly with the weather today.




Elsewhere this week I've been listening to the new Morning Benders record, I mentioned them a few posts back, which you may remember of you are one of our infrequent visitors. Anyway the new record 'Big Echo' is really from good indeed. It sags slightly in the middle of the record, but for the best part it's all sweetly sung harmonies, glossy production, hooks galore and happiness. Better still you can stream it all here. I hope you enjoy it.

Continuing my theme of arriving at bands/artists slightly later than other people I've just encountered Zee Avi who makes sweet and soothing solo music, just the right thing for an early morning.

That's it today, I'll attempt to update this blog a little more regularly again from now on. Oh yes, one finally thing.. I've been told that the M.J from M.J Hibbett actually stands for Michael Jackson, as he's such a big fan.

Shorty

Hi. Let me apologise in advance for the extremely short blog post I'm going to deliver today. Just seems that music news, or more importantly music news that I want to report, seems a little thin on the ground today.

So because of that I've retreated to the refuge of Bandcamp again. This time I want talk about 'The Curiously Strong Peppermints', they're aren't new so perhaps you've heard them already, but I guess there's enough people out there who haven't to make posting about it worthwhile.

Anyway, apart from the rather strange name, the band make music that sounds a little like the Beach Boys, and wouldn't be out of place working with Elephant 6. Pop harmonies and strange sounds abound. My personal favourite is 'Flannery O'Connor' and not just because it's named after the fantastic southern gothic author, in fact it's pop sensibilities and sunshine are a world away from the darker elements of O'Connor's work.

You can have a listen right here if you should have the inclination.

Shirley Lee

Do you miss Spearmint? Or perhaps more importantly, do you remember Spearmint? You should. They had a fair bit of airplay in the mid 1990's, in particular with the song 'Sweeping The Nation', album 'A Week Away' was critically acclaimed all over the place, and then they seemed to drop out of the public conciousness. Which is a terrible shame because they followed it up with more cracking records, not least 2006's 'Paris In A Bottle' a concept album of sorts, packed to bursting with hooks and singalongs. If you've never heard them or forgotten how great they can be, you might want to listen to 'A Week Away' on Spotify - Spearmint – A Week Away (Special Edition). Why? Because towards the end of the year, the band release a new album and I expect it to be great; the reason for this is that lead Spearmint Shirley Lee (or Mr. Shirley Lee) as the press sometimes dub him, has just released his eponymous debut album with backing from the rest of Spearmint, so obstensibly a Spearmint record. It's good too, or as much as I've heard of it. It sounds like Spearmint, which is a great thing. Songs tinged with melancholy and nostalgia that occasionally sound a bit like the Lightning Seeds or at times a lighter touched Belle and Sebastian. It's definitely worth a listen, and it's quiet brilliance is quite likely to suck you in, plus rather brilliantly there's a fair number of tracks to listen to HERE, so you've really got no excuse.

Elsewhere I've been keeping an eye out for news of 'The Bundles'. The band lineup is a certain kind of indie-kids wet dream featuring as it does, Kimya Dawson, Jeffrey Lewis and Jack Lewis. Plus Anders Griffin who has played with Regina Spektor amongst others. With a line-up like that there's a chance that they could produce something brilliant. The album itself is due in March, I think, but I managed to find a song called 'Pirates Declare War' which promises some good stuff. It sounds like most of the songs from Jeffrey Lewis' '12 Crass Songs' album or some of 'City and Eastern Songs', which is of course a great thing. You can hear it by following the upcoming link.

Pirates Declare War

Finally, simply because I've got the urge to listen to more Jeffrey Lewis now, here's a short film for Lewis' song 'Champion Jim'. Like many of his short film songs I don't think that this has been officially released, but it's brilliant.