28 April 2015

Me again...

Kassassin Street - Centre Straight Atom
Another one from these and off an EP of the same name, immediately familiar yet completely fresh. Really good stuff.

METZ - Spit You Out
Imagination in album titles isn't this lots strong point. Following on from METZ comes METZ II. It's out on May 6 and if this is anything to go by, should be splendid stuff.

Cheatahs - Murasaki
Something that's getting a lot of airplay, but no reason not to play it here. From an EP of the same name, inspired by Japanese novelist Murasaki Shikibu.

Cover Version Corner
McCarthy/Manic Street Preachers - Charles Windsor
Bit of a republican anthem as we await another royal leech. Off the flip-side of Life Becoming A Landslide, the Manics 1994 single, and before that and off their debut album I Am A Wallet, McCarthy, who burned all too briefly in the late '80s.

Bruising - Think About Death
To Leeds now and off Family Portrait Pt 2 which is out on May 11. I like these a lot.

Slug - Running To Get Past Your Heart
Another track from the wonderful Ripe. It's just so different and inventive. The album really is superb.

Babe - The Warbling
Off an EP called The Hereaftergo'ers which is out now-ish. Definitely wants to make me find out more.

Marsicans - Gone In A Second
Back to Leeds for another one that sounds familiar and yet also doesn't. It took me a few listens to really get into it, but now I think it's great.

The Bitter Springs - My Life As A Dog In A Pig Sty
Something from a few years ago now, 2010 in fact. Not a band I'd heard much of, but that's the beauty of twitter for you.

Rumble - Nvr Surrrender
Lacking in vowels, but making up for that in Gallic tones and a Nancy Sinatra sort of feel, these are from LA. EP1 - distinct lack of imagination again - came out in January.

One Degree of Separation
Half Man Half Biscuit - The Light At The End Of The Tunnel (Is The Light Of An Oncoming Train)
Fun Boy Three - Tunnel Of Love
Tunnels! And an excuse to play HMHB again, the best band in history. That's from the 2002 album Cammell Laird Social Club. After that, off their second and final album Waiting from 1982.

Suzy Condrad - Blood On The Bathroom Floor
Suzy Condrad plays with loops and it's quite a process to witness. I saw her at Hebden Trades Club supporting the Sleaford Mods - a band that could not be more opposite. This is on the LP She Of Little Faith which came out in 2013 and is well worth your time investigating.

De La Soul ft Nas - God It
Yes! A new LP, their first since 2004, is due and the crowdfunding project is still ongoing. As a taster/pour encourager les autres, they put this out. Get in. Cannot wait.

Squarepusher - Stor Eiglass
The new album, his 16th studio LP, Damogen Furies came out last week. As ever, it can be quite hard to penetrate, but this is an easier access point.

Here's that on YouTube:



And Soundcloud:



And we'll do it all again next week eh?

25 November 2014

New PSB this week! And two Faerground Accidents tracks, sort of. You'll see.

King Tuff - Danger In The Dark
Apparently used in a rum advert - I don't know, I'm one of those people that mute adverts the moment they come on. It's also on an album called Black Moon Spell which came out in September. Far more interesting. Kyle Thomas is King Tuff. He's from Vermont.

Girl One and The Grease Guns - Bashed, Beaten and Broken (Trip The Switch)
One band clinging to the old practice of having stupid names, a lot harder to do in the information age than last time it was popular. Sissy Space Echo, Warren Betamax, Bruce Leefax and Charles Bronson Burner. Good effort. This is out on Squirrel Records.

Cheatahs - Controller
Lovely stuff as Cheatahs follow up their well-received debut album with an EP called Sunne.

Cover Version Corner
Pulp/Bonar Faerground - Babies
It's probably a right of passage for Sheffield bands to do a Pulp cover. The lead singer of Faerground Accidents - of which more later - is a flamboyant chap and the stripped-back nature of this track really shows his voice off. Before that, from 1994's His n Hers. Wonderful.

Colleen Green - Pay Attention
Throwing forward to February now and Ms Green's new album I Want To Grow Up. There is nothing about this I do not like.

Ty Segall - It's Over
I've been meaning to play something off Segall's latest album for a while. It came out in August, but I just keep filling the show up with other stuff. Anyway, here you go. Manipulator is the album you're looking for.

Goodnight Lenin - You Were Always Waiting
West coast vibes from the West Midlands. Cracking track off In The Fullness Of Time which was released yesterday.

Thurston Moore - The Best Day
As for Ty Segall, so it goes here. This is the title track from his October release. It's splendid.

Public Service Broadcasting - Gagarin
New stuff from PSB! The forthcoming album is all space related, starting with this ode to the first great hero of the space race.

Faerground Accidents - Back In Town
The lyrics and general vibe could easily be Pulp. Psychotic pop, they call it. Fair enough. On a double-A side with We Hate The Same Things which was released yesterday.

One Degree of Separation
Modest Mouse - I've Got It All (Most)
The The - The Beat(en) Generation
A double link with the parentheses obvious and the involvement of Johnny Marr less so. That The The record easily as relevant today as it was in 1989.

Fumaça Preta - Vou Me Libertar
This has got the lot, including some Mark E Smith-esque keyboard noodling. A collective of UK, US and Venezuelan musicians, this is out now as a 7". I'm Gonna Be Free, before you ask.

Wand - Clearer
Retro, but entirely in vogue a la Toy, Temple Songs and suchlike. On an album called Ganglion Reef which is out now.

HVOB - Window
To Vienna to finish and this wonderful slice of trance. Her Voice Over Boys. The title track of their new EP which is out on the 28th.

Here's some of that on YouTube:



and some of it on Soundcloud:


More next week, including new Giorgio Moroder. Ooooohh.

18 February 2014

A week off last week (for some) due to live football taking over the airwaves, so lots to catch up on this week.

Malachai - I Deserve To No
Fusing Asian influences to create a thoroughly modern record. Malachai are a 2-piece from Bristol and that's off 'Beyond Ugly' which is out on March 31.

Neneh Cherry - Everything
It's been ages since we had a solo effort from Neneh Cherry. With Four Tet in the producers chair, she's created something a bit special. First time I heard this track, it took me a couple of minutes to get into it, but glad I stuck with it. The album is 'Blank Project' and it's out next week.

The Bohicas - Swarm
Some good old-fashioned rock and roll. These are from Essex and that's out now on a double-A single.

Cover Version Corner
Bronski Beat/Heavyball - Smalltown Boy
That's what we want to achieve with this section. Heavyball take a thoroughly familiar track and give it a whole new spin in their ska-influenced fashion. Lovely stuff. Before them, of course it was Bronski Beat, from 1984 and from the album 'The Age Of Consent'.

Cheatahs - Geographic
The long-awaited, self-titled album is out now. I like this track a lot, but I've not yet had chance to peruse the rest of the record. Fingers crossed.

Au Revoir Simone - More Than
From Brooklyn, that is quite lovely. I missed the album at the time - 'Move In Spectrums' came out last autumn - so I'm just getting to it now.

Flyying Colours - Wavygravy
To Australia now. These are from Melbourne and this, their debut single, is out on April 12. There a pun in being two Ys, but I'm not sure what it is.

The Crookes - Play Dumb
I like these. From Sheffield - named for a Sheffield suburb - the much-anticipated album 'Soapbox' is due out on April 14.

One Degree of Separation
The Stranglers - Toiler On The Sea
A Flock Of Seagulls - I Ran
Any excuse to play The Stranglers. One of my favourites of theirs, off the 'Black and White' album of 1978 and followed by some classic '80s electro-pop from a band who took their name from a line in Toiler On The Sea. That track is taken from their debut, self-titled album from 1981.

Tropical Contact - Bagsy Shotgun
Local band who I like a lot. This didn't make their EP which is out now, but that doesn't mean it's terrible.

Illum Sphere - Sleeprunner
Ryan Hunn is Illum Spehere and this is from 'Ghosts Of Then And Now' which came out last week. Mean, dark, moody. Like it.

Black Submarine - Here So Rain
Formerly Black Ships - don't know what happened there - these are from Liverpool. 'New Shores' is the album which came out two weeks ago.

Beats For Beginners - Baby What's Your Sound
Something I only heard last week, but came out in 2007. 'Lazer Beams For Eyes' is the EP. Sounds every bit as current as anything else in the same vain I've heard lately.

Phantogram - Nothing but Trouble
We finish with the lead track from the new album 'Voices' which is out today. A frankly stunning track from an album which is a superior work of art.

Here's all that via the magic of YouTube:


and Soundcloud:


Back next week.

19 November 2012

Maximo Park - The National Health
John: From the album of the same name that came out earlier this year

Gang Of Four - To Hell With Poverty
John: From Leeds, that was them railing against a previous age of austerity and worth another listen now.
Carolyn: Am I detecting a theme?
John: A little bit. A lot of things got me angry in the week.

Camper Van Beethoven - Take The Skinheads Bowling
John: But here's a solution to all the problems - just go bowling
Carolyn: With your knees?
John: Yes, last time I went, I was laid up for a week.

Cover Version Corner
Edith Piaf - Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien
Half Man Half Biscuit featuring Margi Clarke - No Regrets
John: Unmistakably Edith Piaf first, then the greatest band in the world singing it in English. Can't believe it's taken me so long to play them.
Carolyn: Yes, I know you like them.
John: They are the greatest band in the world. That's a non-album track from 1991.


Paws - Sore Tummy
John: This has been doing the rounds for a bit and I've finally got my hands on it. It's their first single from the album Cokefloat which is out about now.

Belly - Feed The Tree
John: From back in 1993, off their debut album Star. They kind of got lost in that glut of 1990s, female-fronted indie bands like Elastica, Sleeper and Echobelly, but worth digging out.
Carolyn: Is she singing 'take your hat off' or 'take your head off'?

DJ Shadow - Midnight In A Perfect World
John: From his debut album Endtroducing, which I discovered isn't easy to say out loud.

Toy - Make It Mine
John: We've played these a few times before, including the ten-minute epic Kopter. This is a little more laid back, but also off their debut album which is also called Toy.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Swim And Sleep (Like A Shark)
John: A US/NZ project based in Portland, Oregon. This is off their forthcoming second album, II, which is out in February.
Carolyn: So we're bang up to date then?
John: And our next track is from 1987...
Carolyn: Ah.

One Degree Of Separation
Echo And The Bunnymen - Lips Like Sugar
The KLF - 3am Eternal
John: The KLF with a rave classic from the early '90s, one of Bill Drummond's many and varied projects. Your link here is that Echo and the Bunnymen released their early stuff on Drummond's label, Zoo, which he ran with Dave Balfe. That was Lips Like Sugar from their fifth album, called Echo And The Bunnymen. They did four thinking up original names and then got to five and phoned it in. Pfft.

Friends - Va Fan Gör Du
John: Bright, poppy, short. They're from Brooklyn and I like that 1970s hand-clap vibe.
Carolyn: Yeah, it has a sort of playground feel.
John: The title, I believe, is Swedish for 'what the hell do you want?'

Tegan and Sara - I'm Not Your Hero
John: Identical twin sisters from Calgary, that's off the album Heart Throb which is out in January. I like that a lot - it reminds me of something, but I can't think what.
Carolyn: It does sound familiar.
John: I'll just have to listen to it more, which wouldn't be a chore as I really like it.

Cheatahs - The Swan
John: From their debut EP, Sans, which was out last month.

Here's your YouTube playlist.