19 July 2016

Me again.

Seratones - Necromancer
One from last year I missed at the time, a bit of soulful rock n roll from Shreveport, Louisiana.

Orchestra Of Spheres - Anklung Song
Seven-piece psych-rock outfit from Wellington, New Zealand. The LP Brothers And Sisters If The Black Lagoon came out in May and is founded in a deep sense of disillusionment with the state of NZ politics.

Beau - The Patriot
Trevor Midgeley, still going strong, is Beau and released the album An Original Thought to coincide with his 70th birthday. Here, he picks apart the far-right vote.

Featured album: Julian Cope and The Black Sheep
These Things I Know
Come The Revolution
If you've listened to me at any length, you'll know that only Half Man Half Biscuit outdo Julian Cope in terms of my musical appreciation. The Black Sheep was a double album released in 2008, described by Cope as "a musical exploration of what it is to be an outsider in modern Western culture". The result is quite astonishing and yet thoroughly accessible.

Howard Marks - Death Shall Have No Dominion
Another one I've had on the radar for some time. Marks died on April 11 this year and the EP 'Do Not Go Gentle... Howard Marks Reads Dylan Thomas' came out five days later as a Record Store Day release.

Ukepunk - From The North
DIY ukulele punk rockers from the north-west. This is the title track to the latest EP which came out in April. Terrific, refreshing, different.

Thee AHs - Davie
These are from Vancouver and the LP Names is a playful beast. All ten tracks take the title of somebody's first name. The eponymous Davie in this one gets dumped, hard.

Teen - Free Time
New York art-pop quartet with a track taken from their Love Yes LP which came out in February.

The Gotobeds - Real Maths/Too Much
From Pittsburgh, their second album came out in June. Blood//Sugar//Secs//Traffic is out on Sub Pop.

Holy Holy - History
An Australian duo, albeit with 1000 miles of land between them. They met as English teachers in south-east Asia and eventually ended up in Europe. Their debut LP When The Storms Would Come is out in the autumn.

Shotgun Runners - Reflection
Here's curious. Japanese garage rock released on Lisbon label Groovie Records. It features on a compilation released by Groovie last winter called Kaminari - Nineteen Japanese Garage Monsters. Throwback.

Featured album: Julian Cope and The Black Sheep
Psychedelic Odin
A wonder of epic song writing from the pen of the mighty Archdrude. It encompasses everything he's become known for in the latter part of his career.

Boxed In - Running Out feat. Formation
Heralding a new Speedy Wunderground compilation. That is Dan Carey getting bands in and giving them 24 hours to record a track.

Unholy Sights - Gateway To The Hesh
A trio from Annapolis, Maryland, whose EP Esoteric Domine came out in April.

Rendez-Vous - Workout
Post-punk, industrialist rock from Paris with hints of Manchester. This is off their second EP, Distance, which is quite the thing. It oozes grey smog, in a good way.

Here's your Youtube:



soundcloud:



and Bandcamp:








Phew.

19 November 2013

12tree - Sugamomma
John: The working name of  Robin Twelftree. New single, available now and it's a reet banger.


Tony Von - N'Hoca
John: A big hello to the nation of Angola! This is off a compilation, 'Soul of Angola, 1965-70'. I was reading something the other day about the development of music in the country in the face of the protracted civil war following independence and how it's come along in different ways to surrounding countries. Interesting stuff.
Carolyn: We've not really played much from Africa. Should do more often, but it's how you get to hear about these things.
John: I'll keep my eyes out.

Lucas Santtana - Lycra Limao (Dub version)
John: Continuing the Lusophone theme... The World Cup is in Brazil next year, as we all know, and I've been co-opted to do some stuff about Brazilian music in the run-up to that for another project, so you might get more of this. This is something I turned up in my initial investigations. Super stuff.


Cover Version Corner
Blue Oyster Cult/The Beautiful South - Don't Fear The Reaper
John: If you even know another Blue Oyster Cult record, I'll be surprised. I don't. That's the first Beautiful South record we've played in 50-odd attempts. I can't quite believe that.
Carolyn: That does seem an alarming oversight. A very different version, that.
John: Yeah, it's got that bossa nova feel to it, keeping the South American theme going. That's off an album of covers called 'Golddiggas, Headnodders and Pholk Songs' from 2004 which we may well be coming back to. Blue Oyster Cult's is off 'Agents of Fortune' from 1976.

Daniel Avery - Free Floating
John: I've been meaning to play this for a while. Divine stuff, off the album 'Drone Logic' which came out earlier in the year.

Teen - Big Talk
John: Reckon you liked that.
Carolyn: Yes, I did. It doesn't all have to be about the bleeps and breaks you go for.
John: Of course not. Teen are an all-girl 4-piece from Brooklyn and that's out now.


Fuzz - Loose Sutures
John: That's how you end a record. About six or seven false endings, then thrash the living bits out of every piece of percussion before a power chord. Fuzz are a band Ty Segall is involved with and that's off a self-titled album.

Swim Deep - Honey
John: Another one I've been meaning to play for ages.
Carolyn: I like that too. Really nice melodies and one I can see me singing along to.
John: Another one I thought you'd like too. That's off 'Where The Heaven Are We' which came out in August.

One Degree of Separation
Moon Duo - Rolling Out
Wooden Shjips - Back To The Land
John: Wooden Shjips from the album 'Back To Land' which is out now and before that, Moon Duo from 2012's 'Circles'. Both with a similar vibe, largely because Ripley Johnson is a driving force behind both bands. I think you can get a sense of where Hookworms and others are coming from as well with the organ-driven nature of both.
Carolyn: Not quite as loud. Hookworms were loud.

Popstrangers - Rats In The Palm Trees
Carolyn: Another one you can put a tick next to for me.
John: They're from New Zealand and this is following on from their album 'Antipodes' which came out a while ago.


Trampolene - My Bourgeoisie Girl
John: New stuff from Swansea. This is out next Monday, November 25.

Julian Cope - Dust
John: And dare we cite Julian Cope as an influence on Trampolene? After all, he had a hit of the same name, same spelling. This is off 1996's 'Interpreter' which marked something of a return to normality after the.... err.... experimentalism of 'Autogeddon' which preceded it. I didn't like that one.

And that's where we end it for this week. Here's all that in a YouTube playlist apart from that which isn't. They're above.
Back same time next week.