4 October 2016

Miss me?

Silver Arm - Do the Crow
Southern rockers with new material. Have that.

Federal Unicorn - State Of Decay
Great name. This is off the EP Substances which is out now. From Denmark.

Liines - Disappear
Big fan of this Manc trio. This is one side of a new double-A side out on October 28.

Featured Album: The Diagram Brothers - The Peel Sessions
Bricks
Bikers
The Diagram Brothers were proper quirky, using discordant sounds - Discordo, they called it - and formed in the post-punk era Manchester. Stuart Maconie described them as "funny, slightly scary and not like anything else on earth". These two tracks featured on the John Peel show in March 1980.
And yes, bricks aren't expensive. Until someone starts flogging designer ones.

This Becomes Us - Painter Man Is Coming feat. Black Francis
Future Of The Left bassist Julia Ruzicka follows husband Andy Falkous in producing a side-project. The names she's been able to call on are impressive, none moreso than Pixies singer Black Francis. The self-titled LP is out shortly.

The Wave Pictures - Pool Hall
The prolific trio's new album is Bamboo Diner In The Rain and this is a typically excellent track from it.

Smoove and Turrell - Fight On
I've been meaning to have these on for a while, so finally... From Newcastle and made up of DJ/producer Smoove and soulful singer John Turrell, their new album is Crown Posada and it out in a fortnight.

The Baggios - Saruê feat. Jorge du Peixe
To Brazil next and show favourites The Baggios have a new LP out. Brutown came out at the end of September.

The Early Years - Nocturne
Off the imaginatively-titled second LP II which is out now. Post-rock - maybe. Post-modern - almost definitely.

Fehm - Nullify
Leeds now and off the EP Content Nullify which is out at the back end of November.

Featured Album: The Diagram Brothers - The Peel Sessions

The Expert
From their last Peel session in June 1982 and easily my favourite track of theirs. The three sessions they did have been parsed and collated into a top album.

Hugh - Look Back In Laughter
John Idehen and Izzy Brooks front this London trip-hop outfit. This is out on October 12.

Knickerdropperglory - Something About you Girl
Superb name. Don't know much about these, just that they're from Bournemouth.

Yello - Limbo
A new LP - their 13th - from Swiss dance veterans Brois Blank and Dieter Meier. Toy came out last Friday. Ooooh, yeaah.

Larry Fisherman - Dang feat Anderson .Paak
And to finish, a light, frothy dance track from July's Divine Feminine LP.

Here's your Youtube:

and Soundcloud:

ta.

18 November 2014

Hello again. Show of two halves here, the back half being populated with some lengthy tunes.

Silver Arm - Scatterbrainzz
More noise from this bunch of noisy noisersons. Out yesterday as a digital-only single on Big Tea records.

The Crytearions - No Escaping
Jimmy Monaghan from Galway is The Crytearions. Also, I see what he's done there. Off his album These Songs Hate You which came out in September.

Moth - Young Future
Something of early Echo and The Bunnymen about this, which can't ever be a bad thing. They're from Copenhagen and it's off the album First Second which came out in June.

Cover Version Corner
Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot/Luna with Laetitia Sadier - Bonnie And Clyde
Lovely stuff. With Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab on vocals, the latter one switches the roles with the female singer the one who can actually sing. With the best will in the world, Bardot was a lot like when Nico sang with the Velvet Underground. Still, it works. The original came out in 1968 and was on two albums, Gainsbourg's Initials BB and the Gainsbourg/Bardot album called Bonnie And Clyde. The other one is from 1995 and is on Luna's LP Penthouse.


Shopping - Long Way Home
One that reminds me of something I can't quite put my finger on. In a good way, like. It's a year old now, but I'm only just getting to it. Off the album Consumer Complaints.

Poundstore Riot - Bobby's Basement
Two tracks that are collaborations between members of other bands now. First, this from Ash Cooke from Pulco and Stu Kidd from BMX Bandits. The album Writing The Wrongs is out now on Folkwit Records and is really good. This is particularly fine though - lyrically and musically beautiful.

Ultimate Painting - Three Piers
This one sees James Hoare from Mazes and Veronica Falls' Jack Cooper. The self-titled album came out three weeks ago. Well worth your time.

Samuraj Cities - The Things Kids Call Rock n Roll
Back to Scandinavia now, to Gothenburg. Another one from last year - May last year in fact - off the album Metallic.

Bonobo - Pelican
To the long records now, starting with this from Simon Green, aka Bonobo. His new EP is out on December 1, it's called Flashlight and it's predictably very good.

One Degree of Separation
Simple Minds - Theme For Great Cities
LaTour - Blue
One of the great instrumentals from Simple Minds. Easy to forget they were once at the cutting edge of something. It's been chopped up, sampled, covered and all sorts since, including that from William LaTour. That dates from 1991 and the album LaTour. It also featured on the Basic Instinct soundtrack. The original is from 1981 and you can find it on the compilation album Themes For Great Cities '79-'81.

Menj Kapálni - Népvándorlás
To Hungary now, which I believe is a first for this show. The album is Náspángoló which came out in July on Hudini Records. Just don't ask me how to pronounce any of this. I'm going to go learn what those accents mean in Hungarian later.

Stephan Bodzin and Marc Romboy - Kerberos
I've been trying to play this for ages in it's full, unadulterated, nine-minute form, but kept having to drop it as I simply didn't have the time. But here we are. Stephan is from Bremen and Marc from Mönchengladbach and this came out in September on Systematic Records.

Virginia Wing - Meshes
And we end with what might be my favourite track of the year. Certainly there isn't much time to come up with better. Absolutely top drawer stuff and right up my street. The band are from East London - as in the eastern part of the capital of the UK, not the city in South Africa - and their debut album, Measures Of Joy, is out now. This is just fantastic.

Some of that is on Youtube:


and some of it is on Soundcloud:


And we'll do it all again next week.

24 June 2014

More of the usual, so let's get straight to it.

Tennis - Never Work For Free
Not that we should still be having a debate about a fair days pay for a fair days work any more, but we are. Tennis are a husband and wife duo - Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley - and the album, Ritual In Repeat, is out in September.

Silver Arm - Bad Blood
Another track from the excellent He Of The Slow Creep EP which came out in March and probably my favourite.

Menace Beach - Tennis Court
I suppose I should have played this after the Tennis track, but didn't think of that when I was putting the show together. Oh well. From Leeds, this is out on a double-A side single in September.

Cover Version Corner
Nancy Sinatra/Pharmakon - Bang Bang
I've kind of stuffed this up a bit this week. I heard the Pharmakon version in the week and though immediately that it'd be a nice juxtaposition with the original, which I assumed to be the Nancy Sinatra one. It's certainly the first that springs to mind, but it is a cover itself, of a Sonny and Cher track. Oh well, as long as I don't let on, it'll be fine. Sinatra from 1966 and the album How Does That Grab You? Pharmakon is New York artist Margaret Chardiet and that is on the album Todo Muerde Volume 4 which came out in April.

Broadcast - I Found The F
From Birmingham and from 2005 on the album Tender Buttons. No reason. Just like it.

The Rhubarb Triangle - Wakefield City Blues
What a splendid name for a band. From the area for which they are named, that's their debut single which came out in April. Looking forward to hearing more from them.

The Archie Bronson Outfit - In White Relief
I'm never sure about saxophones in rock and feel it didn't really work here. Other than that, an excellent record. From the album Wild Crush which came out last month.

The Wytches - Wire Frame Mattress
Wonderful low-fi stuff from the Peterborough outfit. The album is Annabel Dream Reader and it's out on August 25.

Astral Pattern - Faraway
What an utter joy.  Off the EP Light Poems which is out next week.

Baston - Alamo
Don't know much about these other than they hail from Rennes. Good stuff whatever and I'll be seeking out more.

One Degree of Separation
The Stranglers - (Get A) Grip (On Yourself)
Stone Roses - (Song For My) Sugar Spun Sister
Parentheses is your link, rather obviously when it's written down. And they're both great records. First, from their 1977 debut Rattus Norvegicus and secondly from their self-titled debut in 1989.

Violeta Vil - Carne
Probably the first Venezuelan record I've played on the show, this was a non-album track from last year.

The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Vad Hände Med Dem?
The best record I've heard this week - suppose that makes it my record of the week - I don't know quite why a San Francisco rock band would record a track in Swedish, so just glory in the fact that they did. It means 'what happened with them?', as I know you were wondering. The album is Revelation which came out last month.

Dimitri Veimar - The Boys
Now based in Moscow, German producer Dimitri Veimar released an EP also called The Boys last year. Lovely stuff indeed.

Here's this split across online resources. YouTube:



and Soundcloud:



Back next week with more.

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.

26 November 2013

Eyes down for a full house...

Dum Dum Girls - Lost Boys And Girls Club
From LA and off an album called 'Too True' which comes out early next year. I can see this being a reasonable hit. And good luck to them.

B Negao e Seletores De Frequencia - Essa E Pra Tocar No Baile (Chernobyl Atomic mix)
More adventures of my trip into Brazilian music with next years World Cup in mind. No idea what they're on about. Apologies to any Portuguese speakers if it offends, but I reckon that's a cracker.

Kagoule - Adjust The Way
Something a bit closer to home. These are from Nottingham and this is available as a free download.

Cover Version Corner
SOS Band - Just Be Good To Me
Beats International - Dub Be Good To Me
That Beats International record still sounds so good. From 1990, would you believe, and of course it was Norman Cook's first post-Housemartins project. Amazing how much the addition of a Clash sample transforms it from the original which now does sound rather dated. That's off an album called 'On The Rise' from 1983.

Maximo Park - Brain Cells
New stuff from these is always a treat. This is the first single from the forthcoming album 'Too Much Information' which is due out early in the new year. Can't believe we're already talking about next year...

Lazyboy - Pica Disco
Time for a Tuesday banger. Lazyboy are Dan Carey and Radio 1's Rod Da Bank. That's a cracking tune. Out now on Sunday Best records.

Silver Arm - Steady Like A Vein
A new single from these. It's not normally the sort of stuff I go for, but there's an undeniable energy about it all that draws me in.

One Degree of Separation
Hey, Rube! - Bali Hai
Dino Lenny vs The Housemartins - Change The World (Dub mix)
Your link here is Hull, the beautiful and cultured city of Hull. The naming of the place as the 2017 Capital of Culture was easy to scoff at, which is why so many did, I presume. Hence why I put this 12-track playlist of Hull music up the other day and these are two favourites from that. The Hey, Rube! track is off last year's 'Can You Hear Me Mutha?' album, while the second is old favourites the Housemartins being mashed up in a rub-a-dub stylee by Italian DJ Dino Lenny.

Grandaddy - AM 180
Time for a couple more. First this, from 1997's 'Under The Western Freeway' album and which you may know from Charlie Brooker's TV shows.

Giorgio Moroder - The Chase
Throwing forward to Phil Brook's Down Tempo show which follows us, this from the Oscar-winning soundtrack to Midnight Express back in 1978.

And that'll do you. You can listen to these via a combination of the power of YouTube or via our Soundcloud page. Not all are on both, but you know what you're doing with a computer - you'll work it out.

8 October 2013

More goodies from musics rich tapestry.

The Evens - All These Governors
Quite apposite for the shutdown of the US government. "When things should work but don't work, that's the work of all these governors". That's from 2005 from their debut album, 'The Evens'.

Drugstore - El President
Featuring Thom Yorke on vocals, that's from the 1998 album 'White Magic For Lovers'. I play it for two reasons. One, it's a paean to Salvador Allende, the democratically elected Chilean Marxist who was overthrown in a US-backed coup just over 40 years ago and also as it's on a new 'Best Of...' album out soon.

Mourning Birds - Oh Yeh
Why take 10 minutes to say what you can fit into 105 seconds? Another one of those bands I came across via the magic of twitter. A deliberately vague 3-piece from Kent, they say, and this is their debut single.

Cover Version Corner
Faine Jade/MGMT - Introspection
That's MGMT's new single from the new album, their third, also called 'MGMT'. That came out on September 17. They've really put their stamp on it. Before that, the original from 1968's 'Introspection: A Faine Jade Recital'. A proper upstate New York hippy anthem.



The Magic of Mr Adrian Flanagan - I Don't Wanna Be Nice
It was National Poetry Day last week and of the many things was this oddity from the man behind show favourites the Eccentronic Research Council. It's a reworking of the John Cooper Clarke poem in his own, inimitable style and dates from 2009.


Silver Arm - Mind The Falcons
Another band  using social media to get out there, we have played their new single - Dead Tongues - before and it seemed to go down quite well, so I asked if there anything else they had. This is their previous single and is what I've come to expect from them.

Yuck - Middle Sea
Their debut album, 'Glow and Behold', came out on September 30 and this, the first single off it, got a lot of airplay a while ago prior to release. No reason not to play it again. Pleasingly jaunty stuff.

Daniel Avery - Drone Logic
Love that. Seven-and-a-half minutes of bliss. The debut album, also called 'Drone Logic', came out yesterday.

Atari Teenage Riot - Collapse Of History
I wasn't familiar with these until a week ago or so, but the name spiked my interest so I went to find out more. They're from Berlin and this was out last year on the album 'Is This Hyperreal?'

One Degree of Separation
Dobie Gray - Out On The Floor
Al Wilson - The Snake
On the back of Paul Mason's excellent BBC mini-documentary on the subject, it's a Northern Soul special here. All spins and drops in the studio while these are on. If you were putting together a primer on the topic, these would be up near the top of the list. First, Dobie Gray from 1975 and second Al Wilson from 1968. Glorious.

Wolf Alice - She
A London 5-piece with a debut EP, called 'Blush', coming out on November 7 and this is my pick from that record.


Gary Numan - I Am Dust
Yes, that Gary Numan. His 20th studio album is out next week and this is the lead track from it. It's called 'Splinter (Songs From A Broken Mind)' and he's been doing stuff like this for quite some time. Elements of past hits, but all utterly up-to-date.

Sabres Of Paradise - Wilmot
From the 1994 album 'Haunted Dance Hall'. They'd largely passed me by at the time, which is odd as this is the sort of stuff I was listening to back then. Fortunately, I still enjoy it today.

Cinematic Orchestra - Flite
Winding down into the Down Tempo show that follows, now. From back in 2002, off the album 'Every Day'. And... relax.

All that's cobbled together in a YouTube playlist here apart from the ones that aren't which are above. Back next week with more of the same.

22 July 2013

Bit cooler today and everything is working fine.

Drenge - Face Like A Skull
John: Show favourites, this is their new single. They suddenly gained national notoriety when namechecked in Tom Watson MP's letter of resignation from his post as Labour's election strategist. Not unwelcome publicity, but they seemed quite bemused by it all.
Carolyn: Yes, it was more about how he was urging Ed Miliband to make sure he had time for the wider pursuits in life. Either way, good band, good feel to it all and more power to them.

Warren Peace - FRANKLYSTVN
John: That's a couple of records in one from Warren Borg and Buddy Peace with some philosophising on love and life from one of our favourite artists Scroobius Pip.
Carolyn: And why not?
John: I guess we pronounce it 'frankly Steven'.

Silver Arm - Dead Tongues
John: Another band that came to my attention via Twitter. 'Listen to this if you like', they said, 'or if not, just imagine a horse with a machine gun ripping your face off'. Which is fair enough I suppose. I don't know a lot about them - they're from down south somewhere - but I like their energy and attitude.



Cover Version Corner
Small Faces/Ride - That Man
John: Same song, one stripped back and bare, the other massively produced and engineered within an inch of it's life. The original is off 1967's 'From The Beginning' while Ride's is off a compilation called 'Long Agos And Worlds Apart: A Tribute To The Small Faces' which came out in 1995. While trying to find out more about that record, I searched online for 'ride that man'. My advice - don't.
Carolyn: Ah. Yeah. Good point. Don't try that at home everyone.
John: Or do while you still can. Don't do it at work though. Four pages...

Hot Vestry - Commiserations
John: Also in the Drenge envelope a bit, these are from Macclesfield and it's off an EP called 'Tell Me How It's Done'. I like that a lot.
Carolyn: The ending drags out a bit. Otherwise, yeah.

The Vaccines - Melody Calling
John: New from these and a bit different to normal. Nice and summery though. Now you like these - how does that stack up?
Carolyn: I want a big chorus to sing along to. I can't sing that in the car.
John: Oh. No.

NYPC - Hard Knocks
John: NYPC is the new name for New Young Pony Club. The first half of the show was guitar-dominated, so it's time to electronicify it up a bit. That's new and is released on August 12.
Carolyn: It went a bit weird towards the end, but yeah, not bad.

Deutsche Amerikanische Freundschaft - Vershwenden Deine Jugend
John: More electronica, this time from 1981 and Dusseldorf. It means 'wasting our youth' and is off the album 'Gold Und Liebe'. I play that because we played a record by Gesaffelstein recently and these are an influence. You can see the lineage and that these things go in cycles. This sort of thing is back.

The Clean - Diamond Shine
John: From Dunedin in New Zealand, this is off their 1990 debut album 'Vehicle'. Always worth a revisit.

One Degree of Separation
The Altered Hours - Sweet Jelly Roll
Lemon Jelly - Nice Weather For Ducks
John: I play that Lemon Jelly track in an ironic sense of our recent weather. That's off the 2002 album 'Lost Horizons' which we've probably done to death on the show now. Last time they featured in this section, it was a lemon link. This time, it's the jelly. 'Sweet Jelly Roll' is the EP from Cork psych-rockers The Altered Hours and that came out in April.

Daughn Gibson - You Don't Fade
John: An interesting character. A former trucker from Pennsyvania, the album is 'Me, Moan' and it came out last month.
Carolyn: So not Dawn? I figured it was a bloke. That's a rich and interesting voice.

Pixies - Debaser
John: From way back in 1989 - where does the time go? - and the album 'Doolittle'. We play that as it contains oblique references to the Bunuel film Un Chien Andalou and we have Andalucian visitors in town on Wednesday when Town play Real Betis. Tenuous? Anyway, we'll be covering that game later in the week.

Here's all that in a YouTube playlist for you apart from the Warren Peace track. Links in the heading for that section. There's also a better, studio, version of the Drenge record up there too.