14 June 2016

Well it was supposed to be the 14th, but we had a snafu with transport. So you can have it now.

Unqualified Nurse - Getting Sweaty
Noisy Derby bunch whose debut album Debasement Tapes is out in the autumn.

The Editor - Partly Cloudy
Not something I know much about other than the artist hails from Michigan. Saxy.

Oh Boy! - A Bird In The Hand
From Northampton with a new single that came out last Friday.

Featured album: The Fall - The Unutterable
Cyber Insekt
Two Librans
Their 21st LP came out in 2000 and was seen as one of their best. A career peak according to The Guardian, in fact. It is really good. And that's why it's here. Two Librans is probably my favourite track of theirs ever.

Alice Jemima - So
Devonian songstress with a hint of late '90s UK garage about it. The EP is Liquorice and it's out on Friday.

Trust Fund - Together
A new album coming soon from these. We Have Always Lived In The Harolds is out in two weeks.

Plaid - Do Matter
A new album from these too, which is always welcome. The Digging Remedy came out last week.

The KVB - White Walls
Their latest LP came out in March, but this is the first I've heard. Pretty darn good I reckon.

Cobby & Mallinder - Trans Europe Express
Former Hey, Rube! partners team up once again with a cover of the Kraftwerk classic.

Featured album: The Fall - The Unutterable
Devolute
If you don't love The Fall, we'll struggle to be friends.

Dan Le Sac - Frederick
10 years on from his debut with Scroobius Pip comes an album of assorted works. Cherished, Overthrow [06-16] is available as a pay-what-you-like download.

Holy Fuck - Xed Eyes
The first LP in six years from the Toronto electronica merchants. Congrats came out late last month.

Public Service Broadcasting - E.V.A (Dutch Uncles remix)
A new LP of remixes of their last album, The Race For Space, is out on Friday and this is the pick, mixed by Dutch Uncles. Two top bands in one spot. What's not to like?

Stone Roses - Beautiful Thing
The first track released since their reformation was rubbish. Paint by numbers boredom. This is not. This is a Stone Roses track, ideal for people of a certain vintage.

Here's your YouTube:



and Soundcloud:



Back next week, all being well.

17 May 2016

Held over from last week because I had a raging sore throat that was definitely not radio friendly.

Bent Shapes - What We Do Is Public
Perky stuff from these Bostonians. Wolves Of Want is the album.

Meilyr Jones - Strange/Emotional
Bowie-esque. This guy is going places. The album, his debut as a solo artist, is 2013 and very highly rated.

Red Cabin - Follow Me Home
The solo project of Jonathan Foster of Long Island who has songs that don't fit the idiom of his other band, Snowday.

Featured album: Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip - Angles
Beat That My Heart Skipped
Letter From God To Man
The 2007 debut from these two left a big impression. There's lyrical intelligence and banging beats and it's great. One of those that I keep going back to.

Parquet Courts - Dust
Always nice to get new stuff from these - a band that could only possibly come from New York. Human Performance is the new LP.

Martha - Goldman's Detective Agency
More sunshiney pop from Durham town Pity Me. The LP Blisters In The Pit Of My Heart is out in July.

Lower Slaughter - Hands
Raucous stuff from Brighton, the title track off their EP which came out in February.

Mugstar - Time Machine
Gorgeous krautrocky stuff from Liverpool. This is off the album Magnetic Seasons which came out in March.

The Coathangers - Down Down
More than a little element of psych about this. They're from Atlanta and the LP Nosebleed Weekend came out on February 29.

Black Mountain - Florian Saucer Attack
The Jagjaguwar label is normally a reliable badge of quality and this is from them. IV is the Vancouver band's first LP since 2010.

Featured album
Thou Shalt Always Kill
This had been doing the rounds a lot before it's release. I remember it on YouTube from way back before seeing it on a pub jukebox in York just before the LP came out. It's a modern classic.

The Dandelion Set - Judy Switched Off The TV
Bizarre and sublime, this is from their debut LP A Thousand Strands 1975-2015 and featuring the vocals of Alan Moore, writer of V For Vendetta and Watchmen.

Malcolm Middleton - Steps
Another new one from the LP Summer of '13. Which is great. More than a hint of Gary Numan about this one.

NZCA Lines - Two Hearts
These have been played plenty, but I got a new appreciation for their art after seeing them support Teleman. The LP Infinite Summer came out in January. It's good.

Krywald and Farrer - Spoon-Billed Sandpiper
A club banger to finish from this London duo. The EP Top Pocket Persies came out in March.

Here's your YouTube playlist:



and it's Soundcloud cousin:



More next week.

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.

1 October 2013

Settling into Tuesdays now...

Future Of The Left - The Male Gaze
Probably the most important album of the year is the new one from Future Of The Left. It comes out in a couple of weeks and it's called 'How To Stop Your Brain In An Accident'. Get it.

Razmataz Lorry Excitement - Skin
New from Kev Dosdale, Newcastle producer who operates as Razmataz Lorry Excitement and here has Natasha Hawes on vocals. This is out on the 21st of this month. One that I wanted to play last week but ran out of time for.


Parquet Courts - You've Got Me Wondering Now
New from these, who we've had before and hail from Brooklyn. This is off the EP 'Tally The Things You Broke' which came out last....  no, not last month. It's October now isn't it. It came out in August.

Cover Version Corner
Velvet Underground/Toy - What Goes On
Not played any Toy for a while and this is as good a reason as any to rectify that. That was recorded in February. Before that, off the album 'The Velvet Underground' in 1969. Toy have really brought that up to date while also fitting it into their own idiom.

Bill Callahan - Expanding Dub
An interesting chap - from Maryland but spent part of his formative years in Knaresborough. His latest album is 'Dream River' and this is a dub version of the track Javelin Unlanding which features on that. Quite fabulous.

Four Tet - Parallel Jalebi
From the new album 'Beautiful Rewind'. That's Kieran Hebden's seventh studio album in his Four Tet guise.

Moodoïd - De Folie Pure
We played these Parisian funsters last week and it went down so well, we're doing it again. From the EP 'Moodoïd', that's got a lot going on in it. In a good way.

One Degree of Separation
La Femme - Sur La Planche
Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip feat. Flux Pavilion - Gold Teeth
OK, this one is tenuous. Keeping the French vibe going, first we had La Femme from April's 'Psycho Tropical Berlin' album which is excellent. Second, from the forthcoming new long player from Messrs le Sac and Pip 'Repent, Replenish, Repeat' comes their second advance release. They've always got something to say that's worth listening to and some heavy beats into the bargain. Thanks to Sunday Best records for sending me a radio edit that I could actually play on the radio.
The link? Well the La Femme record does include a line 'sur la planche, dans le sac' - on the plate, in the bag. It's good enough for me.

Les Jupes - Hold Me Down
Back on a French kick - ish. Canadian, this time, from Winnipeg. This is off an EP called 'Negative Space'.

Arcade Fire - Reflektor
And sticking on a Canadian kick - honestly, it sometimes appears like I haven't just thrown this together - the new one from these, the title track from their new album which comes out on the 28th of the month.

And that'll do us for this week. All that's bundled up for you in a YouTube playlist here bar the Razmataz Lorry Excitement track which you can find above. Back again same time next week.

8 April 2013

Back after the Easter break, and John's bang on the bonce, with some Monday night bangers.

Dan Le Sac - Four Thousand Thumbnails
John: One of our favourites with a treat for his fans on his recent birthday. Once this hit 4000 views on YouTube, he gave it away as a free download. Which was nice.


Mat Zo and Porter Robinson - Easy
John: In a proper late '90s/early 2000s club style, that's proper banging.
Carolyn: Listeners should note that when we had this on in the car yesterday, John was throwing some serious shapes. Good job we were in a massive queue.
John: That's Matan Zohar from London and Porter Robinson from North Carolina and it's out now.

Visuals - Levitation
John: From Brooklyn, that's Marshall Ryan and Andrew Fox. It's got a real Joy Division-y feel to it, certainly in the bass and the guitars. It's available as a pay-what-you-like download from their bandcamp site.

Cover Version Corner
Rolling Stones/Devo - (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
John: Devo, very much of the burgeoning MTV scene, had a very visual element to their work. That's from the 1977 EP 'Be Stiff'. The Stones, of course, need no introduction. We play them as they've been in the news lately with concerts in Hyde Park - not free, £300 this time - and headlining Glastonbury. That's from 1965.

Vitalic - Fade Away
John: Vitalic is Frenchman Pascal Arbez. That's off the album 'Rave Age' which came out last December. It sounds like a number of things, none of which I can place.

Tomorrow's World - Drive
John: Keeping it French, this is Jean-Benoit Dunkel - him out of Air - and Lou Hayter. We've played them before, but this is the second track from the album 'Tomorrow's World' which is out today. And yes they are named after the TV show.

Spectrals - Milky Way
John: Someone else we've had before, this is Louis Smith from Heckmondwike, now firmly part of the Leeds scene. It's off the forthcoming long-player 'Sob Story' and is very jaunty indeed.
Carolyn: Always good to play local stuff. We do a lot from all over the world, which is great, but also good not to forget those closer to home.

One Degree Of Separation
Boards Of Canada - roygbiv
Public Service Broadcasting - roygbiv
John: We've been championing PSB like few others. 'Inform, Educate, Entertain' is out next month and I can't wait to get hold of it.
Carolyn: We like them.
John: Before that, a track we have played before, a 1998 10" single which I adore. The link is the title. Nothing else.

Menace Beach - Drop Outs
John: Back to Leeds now for some lo-fi goodness. It's out on a limited release on Rough Trade records.

Tricky - Nothing's Changed
John: New from the Bristol trip-hop veteran, from the forthcoming album 'False Idols' which is out next month. You can grab this as a free download from his website.

Serafina Steer - Disco Compilation
John: Not enough harp on this show. This is off the album 'The Moths Are Real' which is out about now, I think.
Carolyn: A bit bass-heavy isn't it?
John: No such thing as too much bass.

And here's a website-only bonus, apropos of nothing:


Here's all that wrapped up in a YouTube playlist for you, minus the Visuals track which isn't on there.

Review: Space Between The Words by Dan le Sac

I don't do many of these, but as it's a music blog, it seems borderline relevant. I wrote this for another project initially, but it'll do to go here as well. John



Formerly known as the ranty noise-maker behind poet/rapper Scroobius Pip, Dan le Sac's debut album was released in July.

After two albums as a duo – Angles in 2008 and Logic of Chance two years later – both let themselves off the leash with solo projects, Pip with Distraction Pieces last year and now this, Space Between The Words, where le Sac collaborates with a range of artists to produce something unique and stylish.

On Distraction Pieces, Pip takes a turn for the dark side, but his producer proves to be quite the magpie, flitting from style to style, artist to artist with ease and a deftness of touch that certainly wasn't present on Angles. Clearly he wasn't about to start singing, but the range and quality of the artists he's been able to work with on this album speaks volumes for the regard he's held in as a producer. There's a clear trust that he's not about to butcher their babies, their songs.

The two tracks released to the world ahead of the album are the most obvious singles. Play Along, featuring Sarah Williams White, has the air of Lily Allen's evil twin sister about it. Pip collaborator B Dolan voices Caretaker, a Lyrically intelligent piece with the chart appeal of something like Gangster's Paradise. Perhaps it needs adding to a film soundtrack to push it over the top – there's certainly plenty on here that would not sounds out of place in a cinematic environment.



Memorial is reminiscent of early Portishead, Emmy the Great's vocal sounding uncannily like Beth Gibbons, while the thumping beat – with vocals to match from Joshua Idehen – of Tuning is a foot-stomping floor-filler.

But the masterpiece is saved to last and it's the album in microcosm. Cherubs begins like a Sigur Ros record, all floaty and ethereal with an idiosyncratic percussion track. Then Pete Hefferan's vocals – he of Pete and the Pirates – kick in with a Robert Smith quality lending a Cure vibe to things, though never enough to overwhelm the unique sound Dan has been able to infuse the whole album with.

Comparisons are inevitable, but putting that to one side, this is a mightily impressive piece of work. So often, producer-led projects can sound cold, clinical, just too damn efficient. Not this; this is varied, warm and engaging. Thou shalt not make repetitive generic music seems a life lesson well lived.

15 October 2012

My Life Story - I Dive
Carolyn: I chose this. I love the lyrics - you don't fall in love, you dive.
John: They kind of got lost in all that Britpop stuff, but deserve a wider audience.

Rachel Zeffira - Break The Spell
John: She's a Canadian singer and her debut album, The Deserters, is out in December.

The Zolas - Knot In My Heart
John: Also Canadian. It's not like we just throw this together. I was hooked by the Doctor Who-like opening.
Carolyn: I wonder who they're named after.
John: Emile, Gianfranco... Calvin?



Cover Version Corner
The Cure/Dinosaur Jr - Just Like Heaven
John: That Dinosaur Jr version ends abruptly. They're back together and recording again - new album out too.

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs - Your Love
Carolyn: Two Dinosaurs in a row. You really have planned this.
John: Oh yeah. I hadn't noticed.

Mr Shiraz - Let It Burn
John: A local band (local to Huddersfield, that is) and they're well worth seeing. Lots of energy.

Cat Power - Cherokee
John: Her first album in four years, Sun, came out last month. What a great voice.

One Degree of Separation
Ash - Burn Baby Burn
Sylver Tongue - Hook You Up
John: Your connection here is Charlotte Hatherley, ex Ash guitarist and Sylver Tongue is her new solo project. That's Sylver with a Y.
Carolyn: Instead of..... Oh yeah, the I.

Dan le Sac feat Merz - Long Night of Life
John: From the album Space Between The Words which is fabulous

Boys Noize - Ich R U
John: Boys Noize the name Hamburg DJ Alex Ridha performs under. More than a hint of Kraftwerk in that.
Carolyn: It might be Boys Noize, but I really liked it too.

Diiv - Sometime
John: That's 'dive' spelled D I I V.
Carolyn: That's just silly.

Cocteau Twins - Iceblink Luck
John: Not called Cocteau, there's three of them and they're not related. Possibly the most '80s song ever, but it was from 1990

Here it is, all compiled into a YouTube playlist.

6 August 2012

John: Our first show. My note-keeping wasn't very good, so I haven't got a running order. Or a full list. I do know what the first record was though and what we played out with...

Django Django - Default
John: Thumping good foot-stomper from the Edinburgh art-rockers

Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out

Foe - The Black Lodge

The Kinks - Victoria
John: Victoria Pendleton had won gold at the Olympics during the week

Foo Fighters - Monkey Wrench

Manic Street Preachers - You Stole The Sun From My Heart

Cover Version Corner
Dan le Sac feat. Pete Hefferan - Cherubs
John: Our first format idea - play a cracking cover of an old song. This is an old Arab Strap record done in a totally different way and it is bloody brilliant.

Belle and Sebastian - Boy With The Arab Strap

Jack White - Freedom At 21

Bob Marley and the Wailers - Redemption Song
John: It was Jamaican Independence Day the previous weekend, the 50th anniversary, so we had to really



John: That's all I can remember. My record-taking picked up subsequently.

Here's your YouTube playlist, albeit with the Arab Strap original of Cherubs and not the Dan Le Sac/Pete Hefferan version.