8 July 2013

Another Monday, another week to get kicked off.

Nothankyou - Know Yourself
John: I've barely been able to tear myself away from this since I first heard it. This is a collaboration between Tom Vek and Dirty Projectors vocalist Olga Bell and it's flipping brilliant. This is out on a double-A side single released on August 5.

Hookworms - Radio Tokyo
John: We like these. From Leeds, this is off their album 'Pearl Mystic' and is probably the most accessible record on there.
Carolyn: What - in terms of length?
John: Yes and less... experimental.

Owiny Sigoma Band - Harpoon Land
John: Another band we've had before, taking London beats and Kenyan traditions. Short and sweet, that's off 'Power Punch' which came out in April.
Carolyn: It sounds like it should be older than a couple of months ago. Stuff I like normally turns out to be 20 years old and more.


Cover Version Corner
Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band/The Black Keys - Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles
John: I've been threatening to play Beefheart for ages, and finally I have. That's a relatively easy way in to his oeuvre, before it all went a bit skew-whiff with Trout Mask Replica. That's off the 1972 album 'Clear Spot'. Then the Black Keys version which is remarkable for sounding more Beefheart than Beefheart did and is off a split single with the Flaming Lips from 2009.

Pinkunoizu - Moped
John: New stuff from Denmark. That's off an album called 'Drop' which is out next month.

Toy - She's Out Of My Head
John: We like these and we've not played them for a while. This isn't off their critically acclaimed album 'Toy', rather a B-side to the single version of My Heart Skips A Beat which we've also played. Really like that.

Disclosure - Stimulation
John: A proper foot-stomping, old-school floor-filler. These are big and, for me, won Glastonbury. That's the third track we've played off their hit album 'Settle'.

Boards Of Canada - New Seeds
John: I'm a big fan of these and a new album is something to savour. Dark, moody, brooding, cinematic... The album is 'Tomorrow's Harvest' and came out last month.

Hot Chip - Dark And Stormy
John: New stuff from these, which is always fun. Hopefully a new album to follow shortly.

One Degree Of Separation
The Lemonheads - It's A Shame About Ray
Lemon Jelly - Space Walk
John: Not a tricky link this week. If life gives you lemons, play Lemon Jelly - that's what I reckon. That's off 2002's 'Lost Horizons' album and features astronaut Ed White on 1965's Gemini 4 mission which is one of the more unique samples you'll find. Before that, Evan Dando and the Lemonheads off the 1992 album of the same name.
Carolyn: Given it was an easy link today, is next week's going to be one of your obscure ones?
John: I don't know yet.

Young Rising Sons - I Want It All
John: I like Twitter. It allows me to share the stuff I play each week and also allows people to recommend stuff to me. Which these did. They're from New Jersey, have an album called 'Highway Town' out now and available for free download. Very commercial, that, in a Black Keys style.
Carolyn: By commercial do you just mean that I like it?
John: It has mass appeal is all. I just hope they appreciate we don't have a wide listenership and I'm not a massively influential player in the music industry.

Inspiral Carpets - Directing Traffik
John: Unmistakeable. That's off their 1990 debut album 'Life' and is probably my favourite of all their stuff.
Carolyn: 1990... I feel old.
John: Still going strong and making new stuff. More power to their collective elbow.

The Horrors - I Can See Through You
John: From Southend, this is a couple of years old now, off 2011's 'Skying'.


And that's your lot for this week. That's all packaged up for you in a neat YouTube playlist except the Hookworms track which is over here.

11 February 2013

Back to normal this week.

The Black Keys - Tighten Up
John: We've had these a couple of times before. This is another from their smash hit album 'El Camino' which came out in 2011. I could just play the whole album one week and not have to plan anything.

Public Service Broadcasting - New Dimensions In Sound
John: We've had these before too.
Carolyn: I like that one a lot. Their stuff is really interesting.
John: We're due an album soon too. 'Educate, Entertain'. Very Reithian.

Cayucas - High School Lover
John: Cayucas being Zach Yudin from Santa Monica and that's off the forthcoming album 'Bigfoot' which comes out in April.

Cover Version Corner
Wedding Present/Toquiwa - Kennedy
John: From the 1988 album 'Bizarro', that's one of my favourite Wedding Present records. Toquiwa are an all-girl 3-piece from Tokyo who have toured with the Wedding Present and are on the same record label.
Carolyn: That's nice and cosy.

My Bloody Valentine - New You
John: Back after 22 years, a new album, 'm b v', came out last week. I found a lot of it not to my taste, but that one I like.
Carolyn: You can't go wrong with a few doo-doo-doos. What were they up to for 22 years anyway?
John: I don't know, but it makes the 7 years for the Stone Roses' 'Second Coming' look positively prompt.

The Knife - Full Of Fire
John: Now I'm expecting this to divide opinion. It's over 9 minutes long and pretty experimental. It's by brother and sister team The Knife who are Olof Dreijer and Karin Dreijer Andersson.
Carolyn: I liked bits. Some other bits didn't work and it was probably too long, but you had warned me and I'm not totally against it.
John: Well that's something. I think it's quite astonishing. Off the album 'Shaking The Habitual'.
Carolyn: We'll no doubt have something less challenging next.
John: ...

Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät - Mä Vihaan Maailma
John: Finnish punk from Pertti Kurikan and his band formed in 2008. The four of them all have some sort of learning disability and work in a not-for-profit music workshop for the disabled. Mä Vihaan Maailma means 'I Hate The World'.

Woodkid - Iron
John: That's something isn't it? Yoann Lemoine is Woodkid, better known for his music videos. This originally appeared on an EP in 2011 and also features on the album 'The Golden Age' which comes out next month.


One Degree Of Separation
Dalek, I Love You - This Is My Uniform
Teardrop Explodes - Treason
John: Two records from 1980. Your connection is Dave Balfe who played keyboards for both acts.

Yacht - Le Goudron
John: That's actually a cover of a Brigitte Fontaine record, reinvented for a neon-filled dancefloor it says here. Yacht are from Portland, Oregon and that came out last year.

Juaneco Y Su Combo - La Cumbia Del Pacurro
John: More Peruvian rarities off the Tiger's Milk label. That's from 1978.

Melt Yourself Down - Fix My Life
John: Jazz/funk excellence. And a flute.

And here's that lot wrapped up into a YouTube playlist.

22 October 2012

Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons - The Night
John: Reached number seven in 1975, but it's got a real contemporary feel to it. Mark Ronson's doing this, basically.
Carolyn: It's certainly stood the test of time.

The Vaccines - I Always Knew
Carolyn: That's two for two off that album now. Teenage Icon is catchy and so is this.
John: That's the new single and it's out on November 11.

Little Comets - A Little Opus
John: From Newcastle and the album, Life Is Elsewhere, was out last week.

Cover Version Corner
Velvet Underground and Nico/Record Club - Femme Fatale
John: Record Club is a project Beck has put together where they cover a whole album in a day and this is off their first one. Also, Velvet Underground and Nico is re-released after a coat of varnish this week for it's 35th anniversary.

Django Django - Life's A Beach
John: The fourth or fifth record from the album we've played on the show. It's terrific.
Carolyn: It has a real '60s vibe.

The Go! Team - Buy Nothing Day
John: As peppy a pop record as you could wish for.

No Ceremony - feelsolow
John: I don't know anything about these, because there's nothing to know.

The Kingstonians - Sufferer
John: Skanking round the studio to that one. We don't play enough ska.
Carolyn: Well you pick the records!
John: Originally out in 1970, that's on a Trojan Records compilation called Boss Reggae

The Black Keys - Lonely Boy
John: Less of a country feel to that than some of their others.
Carolyn: I like the woah-woah-woahs


One Degree Of Separation
The Streets - Let's Push Things Forward
The d.o.t. feat. Claire Maguire and Danny Brown - You Never Asked
John: Your link here is Mike Skinner, formerly recording as The Streets and that was his second single from way back in 2002. His new project with Rob Harvey, formerly of The Music, is The d.o.t. and their debut album, And That, is out today.

Vampire Weekend - Giving Up The Gun 
John: From the album Contra from 2010.

Grimes - Genesis
John: Grimes is Canadian chanteuse Claire Boucher.

Peace - Bloodshake
John: From their debut EP Delicious which was out in August.

We're away next week. Back in a fortnight. In the meantime, here's your YouTube playlist.

24 September 2012

Calexico - Crystal Frontier

Kid Koala - 2-Bit Blues
John: From the new album 12-Bit Blues which has such track titles as 1-bit Blues, 2-Bit Blues, 3-Bit Blues...
Carolyn: Needs a bit of inspiration there, but otherwise it's very good


Public Service Broadcasting - Spitfire
John: A very interesting project, snipping up old public service broadcasts and putting this sort of thing out.

The Black Keys - Little Black Submarines

Cover Version Corner
Junior Murvin/The Clash - Police and Thieves
John: That Clash one is a short version. The proper one is six and a bit minutes.

Blende - Fake Love

Marmalade Sky - Showmen
John: A Bristol-based mod-revivalist band and thanks to my mate Chappers for pointing me in their direction

Buzzcocks - Sixteen Again
Magazine - Definitive Gaze

John: A new format idea which we haven't really got a name for. Rock Family Trees was what I came up with, but I don't really like it. Suggestions please. (Drop us a tweet or leave a comment)
Carolyn: So what's the connection?
John: Howard de Voto was a founder member of the Buzzcocks, but was kicked out before they hit the big time and formed Magazine which was itself a pretty influential band. They're all back together now though, riding the wave of reunions

Melody's Echo Chamber - I Follow You
John: An interesting project between Australian multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker and French singer Melody Prochet
Carolyn: That's not working for me

David Holmes - I Heard Wonders
John: Is that a Krautrock influence I hear?

Wire - Eardrum Buzz

All those tracks have been compiled into a YouTube playlist here.