7 January 2013: Appendix A

After Carolyn had the airwaves last Monday to present her picks of what we played during 2012, here's John with his picks.

I want to concentrate on new music that we played. Also, as I'm not constrained by having to actually broadcast this, it doesn't have to fit an hour-long segment of air-time so I'm cheating a bit (a lot).

Django Django - Life's A Beach
If you've been listening to us at all, you'll know how much we like these guys. New and fresh while echoing the '60s is a tricky thing to pull off, but they do. It's a great album.

Everything Everything - Cough Cough
I like that these are avowedly different and "avoid the clichés expected of white men with guitars from Manchester".  It could be an acquired taste - I get that - but it clicks for me.

St Etienne - I've Got Your Music
I have always and probably will always love St Etienne. This, off Words And Music By St Etienne which came out in the summer, is as good as anything else they've ever done.



My favourite Cover Version Corner that we played:
Edith Piaf - Je Ne Regrette Rien
Half Man Half Biscuit with Margi Clarke - No Regrets
The greatest band in the world cover the Little Sparrow, only in English and with Margi Clarke. It's what this format section is supposed to be about.

Hookworms - Teen Dreams
This and the next few could form a new format section - Krautrock Corner. Hookworms are from Leeds and friends are beginning to tire of me plugging their wares on the Twitter.

Toy - Kopter
Make a cuppa before this one. 10 minutes of glorious brilliance from a band that have really made our ears prick up this last year.

David Holmes - I Heard Wonders
Recorded in 2008, but used during the opening ceremony to the London Olympics - and what a gloriously subversive triumph that turned out to be - without which it would have passed me by and fits the theme of the last couple of records. There was lots from the Olympics that could have made it - Orbital, for instance - but this is my pick of them.

Dan Croll - From Nowhere
Not quite in the Krautrock style of the last few, but there are cues there, I feel sure.

Matthew Dear - Earthforms
Dark, eerie, moody, bassy, brilliant.
After all that German-influenced stuff, a change of pace next.

My favourite One Degree of Separation:
Wedding Present - Don't Take Me Home Until I'm Drunk
The Ukrainians - Cherez Richku, Cherez Hai
Again, it's what we're trying to achieve with this format idea - totally different stuff, but with traceable roots. Back in the day, I was actually aware of The Ukrainians first and got into the Wedding Present on the back of that rather than the other way round.

Rhye - The Fall
Just a delight, yes even with the My Lovely Horse-style sax solo bit 3 minutes in.

Family of the Year - St Croix
And while it's dark and cold out there, here's to a summer in the Caribbean.

Foe - The Black Lodge
Heard this on the radio fairly early in the year and couldn't stop listening to it. Great song-writing, great tunes.

Bloc Party - Octopus
Back with a bang. Some of the tracks on the album have a harder edge than we're used to, but this is very accessible and provides a way in, if you like.

Paco Zambrano y su Combo - Meshkalina
Not new music - it's from 1968 - but had a release from a new label, Tiger's Milk, specialising in Latin American rarities. Right up my street, this.

The Zolas - Knot In My Heart
Hooked by the Doctor Who-esque intro.

Beth Jeans Houghton and The Hooves Of Destiny - Lilliput
What a voice. And what a thunderingly good gallop through the song. Magic.

And a cheeky bonus track to finish
Guitar Wolf - Summertime Blues
Lo-fi goodness. Last year, I both saw Scott Pilgrim vs The World for the first time (loved it from the second I saw the 8-bit Universal logo), the soundtrack of which this features on, and Adam Buxton's Bug which featured this as well. There's not enough Japanese punk on the radio.

So many more I'd like to include, but you've got to cap it somewhere or I'd just go on forever. Here's it all wrapped up in a YouTube playlist.

Enough retrospection. I've got bucketloads of new stuff ready to go for next week's show and there's loads to look forward to in 2013, including new albums by Delphic, Dutch Uncles, Rachel Zeffira, Haim and plenty others besides.

5 November 2012

Back after a week off and we start with a public service announcement...

Public Service Broadcasting - Everest
John: The new one from this intriguing project, this is out next Monday.
Carolyn: We've had them before. They've basically ripped it from Charley Says...



Rhye - The Fall
John: Details on these are sketchy. They're LA-based, but European in origin and that's all I've got on them.
Carolyn: How enigmatic

Cover Version Corner
Marvin Gaye/The Slits - Heard It Through The Grapevine
Carolyn: This is what Cover Version Corner is about - where they're completely different.
John: Well that is what we're trying to do here. The Slits, their debut single from 1979 from the album Cut and, of course, Marvin Gaye from 1969 off the album of the same name.

Two Door Cinema Club - Sun
John: The new single from these, out on the 23rd of this month.
Carolyn: Another one we've had before. It's good, that.

Elbow - Whisper Grass
John: From the new album Dead In The Boot, designed (it says here) to be listened to as an album.
Carolyn: Rather than piecemeal, as is the modern way with downloading individual tracks.

Manic Street Preachers - Your Love Alone Is Not Enough
John: With Nina Persson from The Cardigans on guest vocals. From the 2007 album Send Away The Tigers, but we play that because it's 20 years since their debut with Generation Terrorists.
Carolyn: I feel old.
John: There's loads of things like that. It's 20 years since Reservoir Dogs, for instance.
Carolyn: I think when it's 20 years since Pulp Fiction, I'll really feel old as it's the first film we went to see together.

Lianne La Havas - Forget
John: From her debut album Is Your Love Big Enough? which, scandalously, didn't win the Mercury Prize. Neither did our favourite, Django Django, or the sentimental option of Richard Hawley. Instead, it was the one album on the list I didn't like.
Carolyn: You were not happy about that. But, Alt-J, Leeds University, bit of a local connection?
John: I just don't like it. I realise I might be in a minority, but that's what makes the world go round.

One Degree Of Separation
Wedding Present - Don't Take Me Home Until I'm Drunk
The Ukrainians - Cherez Richku, Cherez Hai
Carolyn: Well I wasn't expecting that. Normally, the two records in this section are quite similar... Go on then, what is it?
John: Two Leeds bands. First, the Wedding Present, from their seventh album El Rey out in 2008. That was followed by The Ukrainians, a modernised Ukrainian folk band formed by Weddoes guitarist Peter Solowka as he tried to get in touch with his Ukrainian roots. The title means 'across the river, through the wood' and is from the album also called The Ukrainians.

El Perro Del Mar - Hold Off The Dawn
John: Back to Scandinavian singers here. El Perro del Mar - Sea Dog, I suppose - the name under which Sarah Assbring performs. She's from Gothenburg which is...
Carolyn: ...somewhere I've been. Lovely city. The people are really friendly.

Motorama - To The South
John: To Russia now. It's a cosmopolitan show tonight. These are from Rostov-on-Don and that's all I've got on these.

Dark Horses - Alone
John: And to finish, the new one from their debut album Black Music which was released last Monday. So much more I wanted to put in tonight - maybe next week.

Here's your YouTube playlist.