3 May 2016

I refuse to believe it's May already.

Eat Fast - Stammer
Sleazy lo-fi rock from a mystery outfit formerly known as Eat until a clash of names forced a change. New single, out now.

Frankie Cosmos - Sinister
Greta Kline - daughter of Kevin Kline and Phoebe Cates, fact fans - records as Frankie Cosmos and does it very pleasantly. Her latest LP is Next Thing and came out early in April.

Iyesaya - Monster
Tackling mental health stigma in song is Dorset's William Dop in the guise of Iyesaya.

Featured album: Recordiau Prin - Iechyd Da
Stuart Kidd - If Fingers Were Xylophones
Nat Lyon - Freckles
Iechyd Da is a compilation of Gorky's Zygotic Mynci songs recorded by other Welsh DIY artists. Incredibly, it's free! And well worth your time downloading. Gorky's made some great records and all the artists featured on this LP treat those songs with love and care. Tremendous work by all involved.
Get it from bandcamp.

Wild Billy Childish and CTMF - A Song For Kylie Minogue
More of the customary brilliance. I do hope those stories are true and Beck is a nob and Kylie is lovely. The album SQ1 is forthcoming. Consider it ordered.

Kingsley Chapman and The Murder - Ghost
Another new track from one of our favourites at the moment.

Kaninchen - Shown On The News
Huddersfield artist using vocal loops to create her sound. The name means rabbit in German.

Keel Her - Fantasy
A cover of a Paul Nova song from Rose Keeler-Schaeffler taken from a split 7" with Claire Cottrill.

Something Anorak - Shake Fist At Sky
Another split 7", this time with Gorgeous Bully.

The Bin Bags - Church For Psychopaths
Featuring Keel Her again, this is off the LP The Bin Bags which came out late March.

Featured album: Recordiau Prin - Iechyd Da
Bad Mood - Waking For Winter
Lovely interpretation of one of Gorky's best.

Seazoo - Telephone Jones
More Welshness from the EP Jumbo.

The Limiñanas - Garden Of Love
To the lovely city of Perpignan now. The new LP Malamore came out a couple of weeks ago and features Peter Hook on bass and vocals.

Tea Street Band - Feel It
Marvellous stuff. Their second LP is due out later in the year and this will feature.

Nathan Melja - No, No, No
Title track from the new EP from the Parisian producer which is due out on May 13.

Here's your YouTube:



and Soundcloud playlists:



and we'll have another bash at this in a week.

29 July 2014

Still on the goofballs. I'll level with you - having this to prepare is at least giving me something to focus on during the week. Anyway, no time for self-pity. Let's crack on.


Joanna Gruesome - Jerome (Liar)
Show favourites from Cardiff return with a split single alongside Trust Fund. Not sure how they're going to spin that into a 12" at 100 seconds long, but hey ho. It's out in September.

Toy - As We Turn
Not my favourite off Join The Dots, but still better than most things around at the moment. This is the new single.

Menace Beach - Lowtalkin'
From Leeds, this is the reverse of the double-A side with Tennis Court that we played a few weeks ago. Out on September 1, top stuff as ever.

Cover Version Corner
Dionne Warwick/Julia Holter - Don't Make Me Over
Two great voices. Julia Holter's version came out yesterday on a double-A with a cover of Hello Stranger, the old Barbara Lewis record. Warwick's version is from 1962, her debut single in fact. You can find that on the album Presenting Dionne Warwick.

Kid Wave - All I Want
When I was putting the show together, I don't remember liking that as much as I did just then. Terrific. That's their debut single and comes out on August 8.

Keel Her - Single Room
Big fan of hers, here's more evidence as to her brilliance. Always inventive, always worth listening to.

Tacocat - Bridge To Hawaii
How good's that? Not sure logistics is their thing though, as wherever you started building the bridge, it'd take a lot of doing. That's the first release from their new album NVM.

Autobahn - Pale Skin
I've been after playing these for a wee while now. They're from Leeds and this is off their EP called 2. It's right up my street, that's for sure.

The Drums - Magic Mountain
A new album is coming from these. Encyclopedia is the title and it hits the shelves on September 23. This is the first single and if it's indicative of the rest of the LP, it'll be a winner.

Horsebeach - Dull
Odd title, great tune. It came out in February but totally passed me by at the time. Happy to have rectified that.

One Degree of Separation
Fredrika Stahl - Midday Moon
DJ Shadow - High Noon
Another great voice on Stockholm's Fredrika Stahl. A beautiful record, that. That's off an LP called Off To Dance which came out last year. Second, off Pre-Emptive Strike from 1998, unmistakeably DJ Shadow. 12pm is your connection, obviously.

Gidge - I Fell In Love
Gidge are also Swedish. Jonatan Nilsson and Ludvig Stolterman, more sepcifically. That's the first release from their forthcoming and as yet untitled debut LP.

Dayglo Maradona - Rock Section
Julian Cope, right. He wrote this novel called One Three One. It's brilliant and the (anti) hero is called Rock Section. He (Rock Section) had hits in the '80s and '90s and Cope has made some of them; fill the back story, like. This is Section's 1989 smash as baggy morphed into rave and all that. Either way, it stands up on it's own. Available now as a pay-what-you-like download from Bandcamp.


Here's that on YouTube:



and Soundcloud:


More next week.

3 December 2013

December already. This will remain a festive-free zone of sanity until Christmas Eve at the earliest. With that in mind, we start with one of the pertinent questions of the age.

Captain Ska - What's The Point Of Nick Clegg?
South-coast ska with a political edge. What's not to like? This came out in January 2012, but is no less relevant now than it was then. Quite the reverse, in fact - perhaps even more so.

Billy Bragg - No-one Knows Nothing Any More
Sticking with that sort of theme, the Bard of Barking and his thesis on what it wrong and what we do about it. This is from his last album, 'Tooth And Nail', which came out in March. Musically, that's as good as he's ever been.

††† - Bi†ches Brew
Crosses, they call themselves, despite the three-dagger motif. Needless to say, the T in 'Bitches' is also stylised the same. Suit yourself. Chino Moreno of the Deftones is behind this act and they've an album coming in February.

Cover Version Corner
K-Klass/Cut Copy - Let Me Show You
I doubt I've heard that K-Klass tune since 1994 when it came out. Second year at university. That's a long time ago now... I digress. A proper club classic that's now had a thoroughly modern spin put on it by Cut Copy. They're from Melbourne and that's off 'Free Your Mind' which came out last month.

Keel Her - Don't Look At Me
The multi-talented Rose Keeler-Shaeffler's new single. And there's an album coming in February, which is exciting.

Resigned - New Cross Nervous Breakdown
These are new to me. I gave them a listen after noticing they were gigging with the year's stand-out breakthrough band, Eight Rounds Rapid. Not quite in the same vein, but jolly good nevertheless. The album 'Pleasure Unit' is out this month.

Tropical Contact - Nightmare Baby
A local band and I don't know a lot about them. I've not seen them in the pubs around and about or anything. I only found out about them as a friend did a photoshoot for them recently and thought it rude to not give them a listen. I'll certainly be checking local listings to find them in a live environment.

Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers - The Modern World
From 1972, a bit of a classic. That's off the album 'The Modern Lovers'. Typical of the era. Sounds a lot like The Stooges, which is never a bad thing.

One Degree of Separation
The Delgados - I Fought The Angels
Abdoujaparov - Air Odeon Disco Pub (Here Comes Trouble remix)
A two-wheeled theme today. First, from 2004's 'Universal Audio' album, Motherwell's long lamented The Delgados named after 1988 Tour de France winner, the Spaniard Pedro Delgado. After that, one of the few Abdoujaparov records I can play on a family station, though I urge you to check out their back catalogue. They're Les Carter's - Fruitbat out of Carter USM - band and named after the Tashkent Terror, Djamolidine Abdoujaparov, one of the few cyclists to win the points jerseys in all three Grand Tours.

Pariis Opera House - Dragndrop
Pariis with two Is and their first single off an EP called 'Uniiverse I', also with two Is. I guess that's going to be a recurring theme. "UK electro space-funk mavericks", they call themselves. Fair enough.

White Punks On Dope - Destination:House (Aniki remix)
Not sure how you'd define this. Just... there. And interesting. It's off a 2009 compilation 'Total Electro House volume 1'.

Dead Skeletons - Dead Mantra
To Iceland for a closer. Again, beyond easy pigeon-holing. It's stripped, bleak... Love it. From 2011 and off the album 'Dead Magick'.

Between the YouTube playlist here



and the Soundcloud one here


you can find all of those tracks.
Back next week with more of the same.

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.

13 May 2013

Another Bank Holiday last week meant another week off for us, but we're back and we brought some thumping tunes.

Kraftwerk - Radioaktivität
John: The original of this was out in 1975, off the album also called 'Radioaktivität', but this version is from 1991's 'The Mix', an album of remixes of their bigger hits. It started as an homage to the discovery and power of nuclear energy, but as time went on became more and more anti-nuke. I'll put both on the playlist for comparison's sake. I think I prefer them in German.
Carolyn: More authentic maybe?
John: Perhaps. Just a bit more exotic. We play that as our cat died last week and it was her favourite song.
Carolyn: Well, she liked the flashing lights.
John: Basically the same thing. Either way, she was transfixed by it and we both miss her.

Brannigan Dobson: August 2000-May 2013

Rex The Dog - Do You Feel What I Feel
John: Bloomin' love that, I've been listening to this most of the week.
Carolyn: Heavily influenced by Donna Summer, I'd say. Like all of it.
John: Think you're being a bit harsh. Rex The Dog is Jake Williams from Brighton and this came out last week.


Public Service Broadcasting - Inform Educate Entertain
John: Finally, the album came out last week and we've got our hands on it. This is the title track and is a bit of a sampler for the rest of the album, so if you like this, you're quids in.
Carolyn: We do, and we're off to see them at the Leadmill next week.

Cover Version Corner
The Cure/Art Brut - Catch
John: I think the Art Brut version is where Eddie Falco finally just gave up pretending to have some singing ability, but they're about so much more than that. We play that as there's a new greatest hits album out - 'Art Brut Top Of The Pops' - which this features on. It first appeared on an NME album of Cure covers, 'Pictures Of You', in 2009. The original was on 'Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me' from 1987.

Musa Okwonga - Heavyweight
John: Some spoken word from poet/sports writer/journalist/author/broadcaster/polymath Musa Okwonga, subtitled 'A Love Letter To London'. I think a lot of that applies to the rest of Britain as well.
Carolyn: Yes, possibly. And it's not a town. It's a city. A mega-city.

The Fall - Sir William Wray
John: Out today, the 30th studio album by The Fall. It's called 'Re-Mit' and this is the first single off it which came out at the back end of last month for record store day. As noisy and belligerent as ever.

Razmataz Lorry Excitement - China Town (Razmataz Lorry Excitement remix)
John: To Newcastle now and also out today, this is off an EP of remixes of China Town. The original came out in December last year on the album 'If It Takes Me All Night'.
Carolyn: Sounds very '90s. I can see me dancing to this in the Plaza.
John: Not that there's anything wrong with that.

One Degree of Separation
Aphex Twin - Analogue Bubblebath 1
Cocteau Twins - Pearly Dewdrops' Drop
John: The Cocteaus from Grangemouth, that's from 1984. Aphex Twin is Richard James from Limerick and that's off the 'Didgeridoo' EP from 1992.
Carolyn: The link being twins then?
John: Yes, but not quite. They're all called twins without being twins. There's four of them in the Cocteaus, for starters.
Carolyn: And they're not related.

Keel Her - Riot Grrrl
John: How many people are playing on that record, d'you reckon?
Carolyn: One.
John: Dammit. That's Rose Keeler-Shaeffeler from Brighton.
(We have subsequently been told that there were three people playing on that track)

Gladkazuka - El Untitled
John: A big hello to the nation of Colombia. These are from Medellin and it's off an EP on Cómeme records which I'll be keeping an eye on in future.

The Crookes - Bear's Blood
John: From Sheffield, this is their new single which comes out on May 21, so you're bang up to date with it.

And that's your lot. Gladkazuka and PSB aren't on the YouTube playlist we've put together, but there are links to find those tracks elsewhere.