24 January 2016

Hello again

Splashh - Waiting A Lifetime
The Australo-Londoners have a new LP coming in April, this being the title track.

Penelope Isles - Cut Your Hair
The first track from Art Is Hard records new singles club. Subscribe, get a single a month on a postcard. Genius.

Those Unfortunates - Welcome To Woodberry Down
I like the style of these guys. Definite elements of Biscuit. This was released last week.

Featured album: Daft Punk - Homework
Daftendirekt
Revolution 909
It's 20 years old. Good grief. 20 January 1997 saw Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo launch themselves into our consciousness and into robot suits. It still stands up.

Los Campesinos! - 5 Flucloxacillin
Another track from the forthcoming 6th studio album Sick Scenes. A reflection on a life on medication.

Diet Cig - Tummy Ache
New track from the New Yorker's album Swear I'm Good At This which is out on April 7.

Husky Loops - Fighting Myself
These are from London, a three-piece, and gaining a following. Easy to see why.

Angelic Milk - Gingerbread House
Going back a bit with this one. These are from St Petersburg and this is off the album Pale which came out at the end of 2014.

Julian Cope - As The Beer Flows Over Me
From a new LP of drinking songs, titled Drunken Songs, which is out now. Classic Cope.

Featured album: Daft Punk - Homework

Da Funk
Probably the most recognisable track from it. And came with that video with the bloke in the dog head.

Biscuit Mouth - Kenneth The Lampooner
Noisome Derby duo return with Hot Change, out now. Splendid stuff.

The Courtneys - Tour
To Canada for this one, Vancouver in fact, off the album II which is out on February 17.

Riviere - New Cancer
And we finish in Toulouse. Their debut LP Heal came out last Friday. A bit good.

Youtube:

Soundcloud:

Bandcamp:



All being well, same time next week.

9 September 2014

No live session this week, so back to the tried and trusted format of great records.

The Fall - Fibre Book Troll
Always exciting to hear new stuff from The Fall. This is just great. About abuse on social media, if you didn't quite get it. This is available on a compilation from Modeselektor. Volume 3.

Mazes - Salford
From a band from Salford to a track called Salford. They're from London though. From the album Wooden Aquarium which came out yesterday. Bit of a Kings Of Leon feel to it, but with more about it to lift above that level.

Tomorrows Tulips - Glued To You
Dreamy. This is off When which comes out on October 7. It threatens to take off at several points during the record, but always remains reserved. I like that.

Cover Version Corner
Teenage Fanclub/Nai Harvest - Ain't That Enough
You can't go too far wrong covering a Teenage Fanclub track. Did they ever make a bad tune? The original is off 1997's Songs From Northern Britain - which it remains at the moment. Nai Harvest are from Sheffield and that came out in March on Art Is Hard.

Zero 7 - Simple Science
About as poppy as I get, but this is the 12" version which I much prefer. All seven-and-three-quarter minutes of it. Gives it more time to develop than the cut-down radio edit.

Total Control - Flesh War
I sat through this trying to work out what it reminded me of. I think it's Sisters Of Mercy. A bit. That's not necessarily a bad thing, by the way. They're from Melbourne and that's off the album Typical System which came out in June.

Peaking Lights - Breakdown
A husband and wife duo from San Francisco, this slice of joy is on Cosmic Logic which is out on October 7.

Riot !n Magenta - Breaking Down
Our first foray to Singapore, which calls to mind an old joke to which the punchline is "well he was no Dean Martin". Anyway, that's the first of three tracks from last year which somehow slipped through the net. This is on an EP called Cloud.

Gap Dream - Shine Your Love
From Cleveland, Ohio this drew me in with those chords at the top that reminded me of Wendy Carlos and her Switched-On Bach. This is on an album called Shine Your Light, again from last year.

Bill Callahan - Ride My Arrow
Joyous. This is off last year's Dream River album of which there is a totally dub version that came out earlier this year. I genuinely don't know which I prefer.

One Degree of Separation
Breakwater - Release The Beast
Daft Punk - Robot Rock
Not too tricky this week - it's sampling, the latter of which does a lot of with the first. That Breakwater track is from 1980 and the album Splashdown. The Daft Punk one is from 2001's smaash hit Discovery.

Ought - Habit
From Montreal and the album More Than Any Other Day. Another one that reminds me of something I can't bring to mind. Maybe it doesn't. Bloody good though.

warrenpeace ft Natasha Fox - Indoor Voice
Another one from the quite brilliant album SDR007 and probably the last one I can play on a family station. Great vocals.

Aphex Twin - minipops 67 [120:2] (source field mix)
Here's exciting. The first album from Richard D James in 13 years. Syro is the title and this is the first track released from it. Immediately recognisable as an Aphex Twin track and no less bad for that.

Here's most of that on YouTube:


and most of it on Soundcloud:


Not back next week - football again - but the week after.

Pick of the year

In the absence of any air time until January 7, I've put together a selection of some of my favourite tracks from 2013. It's not definitive, I'm not claiming any authority and neither is it in any particular order. It's simply 21 tracks I've enjoyed this last year.
I haven't only enjoyed 21 tracks all year, obviously, but I had to stop somewhere and that just happens to be the number at which I stopped. Anyway, here you go:


Listen, enjoy, share if you like. Tell me what I'm missing, if you really want.
Merry festivities.

20 May 2013

A lot of instrumental electronica today. But don't let that put you off... But first, something topical.

Billy Bragg - Sexuality
John: His biggest hit from back in 1991, off the album 'Don't Try This At Home', and full of still-relevant themes as the marriage equality bill is currently being discussed in the Commons. Kirsty MacColl on backing vocals - still much missed.

Kraftwerk - Expo 2000
John: Not one of their more well-known ones. Imagine life in the 21st century.... That's a non-album single from 1999.
Carolyn: So life probably not that different.

Apache Tears - Barricades
John: A local band, these guys met at Rastrick High School. I heard this a couple of weeks ago and was fair blown away. It's their debut single which comes out on June 3 and I'll certainly be keeping an eye out in future. And was that a hint of of the Manic Street Preachers I could hear?
Carolyn: I see what you mean. A little bit, perhaps.

Cover Version Corner
Thin Lizzy/Happy Mondays - The Boys Are Back In Town
John: Different and yet immediately familiar, that Happy Mondays track was a B-side and appeared on their Greatest Hits album of 1999. Thin Lizzy, of course, requires no introduction. Off 'Jailbreak' from 1976.

Vessels - Attica
John: I'm absolutely blown away by that. Now, we went to see Public Service Broadcasting last week which gave lie to the notion that playing electronic music live is easy and just a few key presses. This was recorded live at The Garage in Leeds - that being their home town - and is an impressive sight.
Carolyn: I remember seeing the Pet Shop Boys and Chris Lowe didn't look like he was up to much. But PSB were working really hard. It kind of changed my outlook a bit.
John: This single came out last month. A real cinematic quality to it.


Jon Hopkins - Open Eye Signal
John: That split the room... I flippin' well love it and have had it on a loop for much of last weekend.
Carolyn: It wasn't bad, but I'm not as into it as you clearly are.
John: That's off the album 'Immunity' which is out June 3.

Physics House Band - Titan
John: Public Service Broadcasting plugged these on their Twitter last week, so naturally I followed it up and... wow. Three lads from Brighton, a multitude of instruments and a real energy to it. That's available as a free download and is off their debut EP 'Horizons/Rapture'.

One Degree of Separation
Jesus And Mary Chain - Some Candy Talking
Primal Scream - Invisible City
John: That's the new single off the latest Primal Scream long player 'More Light' which came out last week. Before that was the Jesus And Mary Chain from back in 1986. The link is Bobby Gillespie, driving force behind Primal Scream who was in Jesus And Mary Chain up to 1985.

Teleman - Steam Train Girl
John: Three ex-Pete And The Pirates combining to make something quite lovely.

Daft Punk - Giorgio by Moroder
John: Now, Daft Punk. You can't fail to have heard that they've a new record out - 'Random Access Memories'. It's all about collaborations and the debut single, Get Lucky, is precisely what you'd expect of a Nile Rodgers record. Polished within in an inch of it's life, but... but what? And some of the other tracks on the album leave me similarly cold, but this? This is a work of art. Giorgio Moroder talks through his career and it's period equipment for each stage of his life. But then, they also said they'd given him a microphone from the future at one stage, so that might be horse manure.

Keel Her - Don't Try This At Home
John: To prove the power of social media... We played Keel Her last week and Rose - who pretty much is Keel Her - got in touch with me on Twitter, saying thanks for playing her record. I said if she keeps making great music, I'd play some more, so she sent me this.
Carolyn: I hope she doesn't think you're some media mogul or this station gets a million listeners. But it was very nice anyway.

Junip - Your Life, Your Call
John: The latest single from these, off the album 'Junip'. Right out of the Hot Chip/Dutch Uncles envelope.

Still Corners - The Trip
John: Still Corners are Greg Hughes and Tessa Murray from London and this is the first track off the album 'Strange Pleasures' which came out a fortnight ago.

Here's your YouTube playlist with all that on bar the Teleman record (see link above for that one). Bank Holiday next week, so we're on holidays.

4 February 2013

With Carolyn unwell, John was flying solo this week. Who said men can't multi-task?

Adam Green and Binki Shapiro - Just To Make Me Feel Good
That's what we're here for - to make everyone feel good. This is the second one we've played off the album, also called 'Adam Green and Binki Shapiro' which came out last month.

Bat For Lashes - A Wall
Natasha Khan, aka Bat For Lashes. What a voice. This is the latest single off 'The Haunted Man' which came out last October.

Junip - Line Of Fire
Wonderful stuff. Don't know a lot about these other than they're Swedish and this is off an album also called 'Junip' which is out in April. This reminds me of a number of things, none of which immediately leap to mind. Maybe they will with repeat listens, which is definitely what this will be getting.

Cover Version Corner
Massiel/St Etienne - La La La
Massiel - Maria De Los Angeles Felisa Santamaria Espinosa to you - was Spain's 1968 Eurovision winning entry, bumping Cliff's 'Congratulations' into second. The St Etienne version was done for a Eurovision special of Eurotrash and was on the bonus disc of the deluxe edition of the 1998 album 'Good Humor'.

Django Django - Zumm Zumm
We haven't quite played everything off the Mercury-nominated - but scandalously not Mercury winning - album 'Django Django', but we're getting there.

Wedding Present - End Credits
Off the album 'Valentina' which came out last March and totally passed me by - what was I doing?? That's cracking, as good as they ever have been.

Matthew E White - Big Love
A huge slice of brand spanking new '70s Virginia funk, if you see what I mean. Off the album 'Big Inner' which came out last month. Big Inner.... Beginner.... I see what they've done there.

One Degree of Separation
LCD Soundsystem - Daft Punk Is Playing In My House
Daft Punk - Robot Rock
Where we tangentially link two records... The only link here are the words Daft and Punk. LCD Soundsystem sang about them playing in their house, so we play them on the radio. Both from 2005 as well, the former off 'LCD Soundsystem', the latter 'Human After All'.

Applescal - Spring and Life
That's quite fantastic. Applescal is Amsterdam-based producer Pascal Terstappen and that's off 'Dreaming In Key' which comes out tomorrow.



Delphic - Memeo
That ends quite abruptly. That's the new one from the Manchester band whose new album 'Collections' which came out last week.

Jesca Hoop - Ode To Banksy
That's nice and jaunty. From last year's album 'The House That Jack Built'.

Foals - My Number
Time to squeeze one more in, the new one from these off the forthcoming album 'Holy Fire' which is out next week.

Hopefully we'll be back to a team effort next week. In the meantime, here's your YouTube playlist.