9 April 2018

Back refreshed and with the return of the featured album section.

Flies On You - Can You Smell That Burning Noise
But we start on a sad note. I bloody love Flies On You, so it was with tremendous sadness that I read of the death of Andrew Watkins at the age of 50. Along with Doug Aikman, they made some ruddy marvellous music, so by way of tribute here's a track off their second album, etcetera.

Stella Diana - Lurine Rae
Bit of shoegaze from Napoli now from the upcoming sixth studio LP, 57. DIY stuff, this is their second English-language LP.

Cocoa Futures - Sink In The Water
Recorded in the old Granada TV studios in Manchester, Scotsman Greg Sanderson and his band follow up their acclaimed Blue EP with this cracking new single.

The Room In The Wood - Magical Thinking
The title track of the new EP from the Liverpool outfit, out on the 20th.

Featured album: Nervous Twitch - I Won't Hide
Put Me Back Together
Look At You Now
Saw these at Northern Quarter on Saturday and they're chuffing great. Nothing beyond two and a half minutes ("that's prog for us" says lead singer and bassist Erin) for proper punk throwback vibes. I Won't Hide came out late last year on Odd Box. It's terrific. Go buy it.

Wedding - Hands In The Till
From Manchester via Berlin, Wedding are newly signed to Art Is Hard records and this is their first release for them.

Mollusc - Anxiety
So much good stuff coming out of Australia at the moment, and here's another brace. First, a duo from Melbourne with a track from their self-titled debut EP.

The Native Cats - Nixon Nevada
And thence to Hobart and a track from the album John Sharp Toro which came out in February.

The Spook School - I Only Dance When I Want To
Another brilliant track from the outstanding album Could It Be Different?

Featured album: Nervous Twitch - I Won't Hide

Torment Me

She's So Hip

They're from Leeds. They rock. Go seek them out.

Table Scraps - Lyin' Thru Yer Teeth

Trio from Birmingham, this is off the album Autonomy.

Concrete Knives - Gold Digger

From Caen in Normandy, this is from the album Our Hearts which came out in February.

Snapped Ankles - CIA Man (NSA Man Violation)

A reworking of an old Fugs track to reflect the modern threat to your privacy and democracy, the NSA. This came out as a 7" last month.

Giuseppe Leonardi - Jack Of All Trades

The title track of the Balearic styled EP from the young Viennese producer.

The Micronaut - Earlylate

Stefan Streck of Leipzig is The Micronaut and this is off the brilliant EP Contrast. Came out in February.

Youtube:

Soundcloud:

Bandcamp:

Back in a week

8 November 2016

Quite pleased with the selection this week.

Big Quiet - Why Do We Bother?
From a while ago, March last year in fact, this is off the Brooklyn outfit's self-titled debut album.

Eureka Brown - We're All Gonna Die
Kris Bauer is Eureka Brown. This is off O Utopia which came out in August.

Flies On You - Darkening My Doors
Leeds DIY-ers return with a taster from the forthcoming new album. Can't wait. These guys are ace.

Featured album: Mr Bongo's Record Club volume 1
Big Youth - Mammy Hot Daddy Cool
Tappa Zukie - Freak
Mr Bongo is a record shop in Brighton, but with fingers in many pies. They specialise in hard-to-find Latin American stuff, especially but not constricted to Brazil, and have just put out the first - hopefully of many - compilation LP. The first of these is from a British artist in 1975 while the Tappa Zukie one his only foray into disco.

The History Of Colour TV - Wreck
A trio from Berlin, this is out on the 25th while an album is due to follow early in 2017.

Dog, Paper, Submarine - View From The Sidewalk
From Malmö, this is off Trouble On Earth which came out last month.

Jinko Vilova - You're Standing
To Barcelona for this slice of psychedelia. Came out last April.

The Hand - Here Comes Mr Sunshine
This, from Minnesota, is off their second EP. The Hand vol 2 is the ambitious title. Comes out on the 24th.

One Day, After School - When I Loved Music, When Everything Was New
Wakefield next and these describe themselves not as post-rock, but 'post-everything'. Came out last month.

The Kumari - Abyss
The fifth 7" from this London outfit with an album to follow.

Featured album: Mr Bongo's Record Club volume 1

Claudia - Jesus Cristo
Here is a Brazilian speciality from the sainted Mr Bongo. Came out in 1971.

Spaceheads - Laughing Water
Here's clever. Andy Diagram of the Diagram Brothers is the trumpeter using loops and sequences with additional double bass and drums. It's the title track to the LP out on the Electric Brass imprint.

808 State - In Yer Face (Bicep remix)
Rave classic with a new mix from Belfast duo Bicep. Brilliant.

Here's your Youtube:

and your Soundcloud:

Let's try and match it next time, yes?

5 April 2016

Backlog more or less cleared, so the featured album makes a return alongside the usual gubbins.

Sir Robert Orange Peel - The Spiral
What's not to like? It's Mark E Smith reading the classified football results set to and electronic beat. No box left unticked there.

Rauschenberg - Bad Sister
Off their self-titled LP which came out in January.

The Entrepreneurs - Routine Lines
Danish noise-makers whose EP Tony Rominger came out a week or two ago. Really good stuff.

Featured Album: Teleman - Breakfast
In Your Fur
Lady Low
I went to see these on Saturday as they tour ahead of the release of their second LP, Brilliant Sanity. But we feature their 2014 debut Breakfast here. It's just delicious. Not a bad track on it.

Flies On You - Property Vacant
One of my favourites, the Leeds DIY-ers put out Etcetera last year. However, some of the offcuts that didn't make it onto the LP were collated into an EP which came out on Christmas Day. Gloriously, it's titled Fan Base Repellent.

False Nines - Can't Afford To Wonder
Mancunian tune-smiths, this was released last November, but has only just reached my radar. A band formed thanks to the power of social media.

Nine Tons - Bullpup
These noisy chaps are from Tyneside. No Frills came out in January.

Psychic Soviets - Full Greek Salad
Glasgow now, from November's Eight And A Half On Each Foot.

Kingsley Chapman and The Murder - The Children Scream
Great band from Middlesbrough and this is their new single.

TVAM - Gas And Air
Joe Oxley from Wigan follows up the brilliant Porsche Majeure with the equally fantastic Gas And Air.

Featured Album: Teleman - Breakfast
I'm Not In Control
Our third track from Breakfast is the hidden track at the end of the album. Probably their best. Sounds amazing live.

Karl Bartos - Life
Former Kraftwerker re-releases the 'lost' album Communication. Originally released in 2003, it still sounds box fresh.

El Speaker - Zapapaya feat. Jhnsy and Highdiwaan
Bit of a curio from Paris. A song about a duck and a monkey, apparently.

Erasmus - Ti Recordi Di Me
The Dewaele brothers - aka Soulwax - come back with another alter ego to record the soundtrack to the film Belgica. The album was launched in February.

Oligarkh - Hallelujah
And finally, some Russian electronica off the LP Anatoly. It's dead good.

Here's your YouTube bits:



and Soundcloud:



and Bandcamp:

More next week.

5 May 2015

All refreshed after the Bank Holiday? Let's do this.

The Vinyl Records - Whims
And we'll start in New Delhi and the title track from their January EP. Perky, quirky, excellent.

Brawlers - Windowmisser
The first of a number of tracks from Leeds bands this week. This is off their debut LP Romantic Errors Of Our Youth which came out last month on Alcopop! Records.

Thee Faction - Choose Your Enemy
And an even longer album title... Songs That Remind The Class Of The Glorious Victory To Come And The Work That Must Be Done To Get There. There's an election soon, y'know.

Cover Version Corner
The Wedding Present/Heathers - Dalliance
Back to Leeds and possibly my favourite Weddoes track, definitely off my favourite of their albums, Seamonsters from 1991. LA's Heathers put their version out on an EP called I Know (Part-Time Punk Session) in May last year.

Flies On You - Action Stations!
And yet another Leeds band... I finally got hold of their latest album Etcetera this week and it is excellent. Did I mention that election?

Crybabycry - Love Got Me Wrong
To Wakey now and one of my favourite bands du jour with a new track.

Serpent Power - Last Ape In Space
Ian Skelly, formerly of The Coral, and Paul Molloy of The Zutons with some contemporary San Francisco psych.

The Vaccines - Dream Lover
A couple of tracks that lean more to the commercial side now, but I'll be independent in my own choice of music thank you. Everything I know suggests I shouldn't like The Vaccines, but I do, so there. This is the second single taken from the album English Graffiti which comes out on the 25th.

The Maccabees - Marks To Prove It
A new single from a forthcoming and as yet unnamed album. Ploughing a unique furrow.

Nueva Costa - Glacé
And now for something completely different... This is lovely. It came out last September on an EP called Ave Del Paraiso. That's all I've got.

One Degree of Separation
Pete & The Pirates - Blood Gets Thin
Teleman - Not In Control
I've played Teleman quite a bit and here's another track from their acclaimed debut album Breakfast, possibly my favourite track off it. But while I've played Teleman often, I've not played the band that spawned them before. Three-quarters of Teleman are three of the Pirates from Pete & The Pirates. And that track is pretty much perfect.

The Smiling Disease - The Klingon Race
A debut album from Olly Moss, bassist from Evans The Death. But as well as a debut, it's also a collection of recordings from the last six years, hence the title Beach Bodies: 2008-2014.

(m+a) - Ninja ft Spank Rock
The m is Michele Ducci, the a is Alessandro Degli Agnoli and that track is ace. Off the EP Anyway Milkyway which came out last month.

Julian Cope - Double Vegetation
And finally, great news for gig-goers in the area, such as myself, as the second-best recording artist ever is playing Holmfirth in July. I've got my ticket already and I'm excited beyond belief. So here's a track from the 1991 album Peggy Suicide.

Here that on YouTube:



and Soundcloud:



and we'll do it again next week. See you.

10 March 2015

Hello again.

Drenge - Never Awake
Another track from the new album Undertow due in a month.

Flies On You - Hangdog
Another new album, Etcetera which came out last week. Played a few tracks off this before, but the LP has finally landed. Terrific stuff.

Mutiny On The Bounty - Mkl Jksn
To Luxembourg now and if you ever wondered what post-core or math-rock is, this is it. I still have no idea what those terms are supposed to mean. Anyway, this is ace and Digital Tropics is out in May.

Cover Version Corner
Ray Charles/Cowbell - Unchain My Heart
A samba feel to the 1962 original, but more bluesy from the London duo Cowbell who are Jack Sandham and Wednesday Lyle. Very nice.

Tellison - Tact Is Dead
New to me, Tellison have just signed to Alcopop! records. An album is coming, but this will whet many an appetite.

JOHN - Homme d'Affaires
Sensory overload from this duo of lads called John from their EP called John. More of this please.

Braids - Taste
Change of pace as we head to Calgary in Canada. Lovely stuff from the album Deep In The Iris which is out at the end of April.

Nai Harvest - Sick On My Heart
Another new album, Hairball, again due late April. Add these to the litany of bands from Sheffield.

The Baggios - Afro
No new album from these, I just like them. Another track from the 2013 album Sina. Well worth your time tracking down.

The Salient Braves - Out To Lunch
To Barnsley now, and a new EP from these lads with more of a hint of Wedding Present about them. Somewhere Sordid is out now and you can get it from their bandcamp page.

One Degree of Separation
Cutty Ranks - Limb By Limb (DJ SS remix)
The Divine Comedy - Songs Of Love
The unmistakeable and dulcet tones of Neil Hannon. You'll remember that as the theme tune to Father Ted. The Cutty Ranks track also features on the show. It's the tune Fr Fintan Stack is playing as he drills holes in the wall.

From Kid - Underground
Switzerland isn't known for it's musical output, really. There is some worth checking out though, including this pleasant little number. The album You Can Have All The Wonders is out now.

Moth Effect - Look Nicely
Here's something special. Moth Effect is a one-man outfit from Sussex and the album is Crocodilians and is out on March 30.

Applescal - Airports
And to wrap up, a new cut from Dutch producer Pascal Terstappen. The new album, For, is out in May and is virtually guaranteed to take us to new places in trance.

Here's that on Youtube:



and Soundcloud:


Not in next week. Back in a fortnight. See thee.

Best of 2014

If you're not aware, I also do some stuff over at In Bed With Maradona. There's some cross-over, inevitably, but any stuff I like that's... shall we say 'not exactly radio-friendly' tends to end up there.
Anyway, as part of that, the editor said a few weeks ago, 'why not make a playlist of your 50 favourite tracks of the year?' So I did. On Spotify. It's not in any particular order - not a chart or anything.
It's here, in this link. Go listen at your leisure.

The thing is, however, that not everything I wanted to put on it lives on Spotify. So here are the things that should be on that list but aren't.