30 July 2018

Some old ones this week because why not

The Immediate - Sever
Off the new album More Sheep Than Humans which came out last month.

Kagoule - Egg Hunt
The lead track from the new LP Strange Entertainment.

Jon Spencer - Do the Trash Can
Without his Blues Explosion these days, this is off Spencer Sings The Hits.

Deux Furieuses - Silenced By The Roar
A track from this time last year that I'd not heard before. Worth catching up on.

Menace Beach - Crawl In Love
A new album from the Leeds band is out on September 7, titled Black Rainbow Sound.

Blam Blam Blam - No Depression In New Zealand
Going back to 1981 here and some Antipodean post-punk. Because why not.

Concretism - Magnox
Off the Essex band's 2015 EP EP06. Suitably apocalyptic.

Optiganally Yours - How Do You Feel?
From San Diego, this is off the LP O Y In Hi-Fi which is quirkily affecting.

Cornershop - Double Denim
Always a pleasure to bring new stuff from Cornershop to the table. This is half of a double A single with Sugar Sugar.

Darto - Brotherhood
From Seattle, this is off Fundamental Slime. Terrific title.

Dead Bambies - Meltdown Of Love
Japanese rock off a compilation from Thomas Impostor records. Tokyo Chikatetsu vol 1 is out now. Bloody brilliant.

Digital Shades - Blue
A new project from John Kunkel from The New Division and James Meays from Missing Words. An EP is due soon.

Beach Skulls - Ain't Easy
A second album from the Mancunians, Las Dunas is out now.

Mr Airplane Man - I'm In Love
This is off Jacaranda Blue which came out in March.

Vital Idles - Rising Damp
Nothing to do with Leonard Rossiter. This is off Left Hand, which the Glasgow band put out early this month.

Alone - Our National Shame
Still putting out tracks every month, always a pleasure.

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19 December 2017 - the Christmas special

Unforeseen circumstances kept me off these last two weeks. And as it's the last Tuesday before the festivities, it's time for this year's bunch of alternative Christmas records.

Kim Wilde vs Lawnmower Deth - F U Kristmas
Lawnmower Deth were around in the late-eighties/early-nineties and their most significant contribution to rock's rich tapestry was a thrash cover of Kim Wilde's Kids In America. Having reformed, here they team up with Ms Wilde for their festive offering.

Porridge Radio - O Christmas
The last of Art Is Hard's Postcard Club, the Brightonians got the nod to provide a festive close. Next year, the label have a different promotion to push their artists out there.

Modern Day Dukes - Merry Merry Merry Merry Merry Merry Christmas
The Yorkshire rockers with their 2014 song which they describe as "A f---ing stupid christmas record'.

Zach Schmidt - I'm Drunk Again This Christmas
Nashville singer with a slice of country Christmas. This is on a compilation LP from Bloodshot Records, The 13 Days Of Christmas.

Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer - The Saddest Christmas Advert
Mr B is the alter ego of Jim Burke, once of rap crew Collapsed Lung. Since 2007, he's been the chap hop superstar and in 2015, the inevitable christmas album appeared, the imaginatively titled The Mr B Christmas Album, from where this is taken.

Niagara Balls - Don't Be A Dick At Christmas
No really, don't. That's the advice of the Belfast band on their 2014 festive offering.

The Manhattan Love Suicides - Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer
The Leeds band with a their cover of the 1979 novelty record by Elmo & Patsy from last year.

The Primitives - You Trashed My Christmas
Who would do such a thing? This from five years ago on the compilation A Christmas Gift For You From Elefant Records.

The Immediate - The Stars Shine Brightly At Christmas
A new one from the Mold band whose LP Manbuoy made a large impression this year.

Piskie Sits - Christmas Eve (Die Hard, Home Alone, Elf)
Last year's offering from the Wakefield band on home-town label Philophobia.

Pure Phase Ensemble 6 - Blue Christmas
A 12-piece collective from the UK and Poland.

Sir Robert Orange Peel - Is God More Important Than The Queen?
The enigmatic producer with a track from the EP Plates Of Meat.

Feral Five - I Want U
"A feminist song about cutting out the crap from Christmas"  they say, omitting to add that it's bloody good.

BEAK> - (Merry Christmas) Face The Future
Geoff Barrow's side-project with their new single, proceeds from which are all going to mental health charities.

Nelson Can - On Christmas Night
The Danish three-piece with a very Scandinavian look at Christmas. It stays dark for long periods, but the solstice which falls just before Christmas signals the lengthening daylight hours.

Nat Lyon - Secular Winter Song (2017)
Yet another version of the song Lyon makes every year. Still not bored of hearing it's Grandaddy-esque sound.

Half Man Half Biscuit - All I Want For Christmas Is A Dulka Prague Away Kit
And, as is traditional, we close with the Biscuit classic. That officially opens Christmas as far as I'm concerned. Have a good one and we'll do all this again in 2018.

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Merry christmas, y'all

20 June 2017

Ow do.

Here Are The Young Men & Uncle Peanut & Eddie Argos - Pop Stars Down The Pub
Not always men, not always young, these are a collective from the south east with this being their new single.

Best Ex - Someday
Candy Hearts are now Best Ex and this is off Ice Cream Anti Social which is out in July.

The Sums - Hose Me Down
Liverpool four-piece. From their 2016 album Start At The Finish. Sounds like The Las.

Miraculous Mule - Ain't It Hard
Manchester band with a track off their new single Sound Of The Summer.

The Immediate - Not Shabby
Terrific track from the Chester band from their album Manbuoy. Sounds like Julian Cope.

Second Hand - Something You Got
The 1971 prog classic Death May Be Your Santa Claus has had a reissue.

Hater - Coming Down
These are from Malmo and this is the new single, recorded in the sessions for their LP You Tried.

Tigercub - By Design
Off the new album Abstract Figures In The Dark.

Natterers - Exist Or Live
Yorkshire punks with a cut from the forthcoming EP Toxic Care.

Current Affairs - Cheap Cut
Siouxsie-esque stuff from Glasgow.

Femme - Fire With Fire
A new track from the London chanteuse. A second album is in the offing, channelling her inner UK garage.

Pattern Language - Le Choc Des Etoiles
Chris Frain of Boulder, Colorado, is Pattern Language and this is off Total Squaresville.

Korma - Tears Of Wine
Seattle's Tommy Mertens is Korma and this is off a Cybersonic LA compilation.

Fit Of Body - 770-997-2341
Droney goodness from Atlanta's Ryan Parks off his EP, Healthcare.

Graham Dunning - Crude Oil
London producer with a cut from the EP Monochrome.

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30 August 2016

That time again

Fat White Family - Breaking Into Aldi
Not that we endorse the policy, Lias of the band explains ""This song is a post apocalyptic vision of a barely united United Kingdom bereft of quality German supermarkets and their insipid low prices; 'Breaking Into Aldi' is the anthem that never was, a call to arms for the senselessness of our future futility, an overcrowded shadow begging for a rerun, a sell out by sell outs for sell outs."

Fews - 100 Goosebumps
Taken from their LP MEANS which is getting well-deserved excellent reviews.

The Wave Pictures - The Running Man
A new track from the forthcoming LP Bamboo Diner In The Rain which promises to be excellent as ever. These lads are prolific.

Featured album: I, Ludicrous - It's like Everything Else
Three English Football Grounds
Preposterous Tales
The most underrated band in history, perhaps by their own singular lack of pursuit of fame. It's Like Everything Else was their first album, released in 1987. Little has changed, musically speaking, since.

Salary - Mini Moke
From Fremantle in Australia, this single came out in June.

Post War Glamour Girls - Welfare By Prozac
This is out on a split single with Menace Beach as the two Leeds bands celebrate Jumbo Records' 45th anniversary.

Bernaccia - Power To The Hills
To Newcastle next for some classy rock. This is their debut single with an LP knocking about somewhere soon.

Maggie8 - Connected
Back to Leeds and this is off a split single with our friends Ceiling Demons which comes out on September 23.

Teleman - Tangerine
The latest single taken from their second album Brilliant Sanity.

Toy - Fast Silver
A new track, and a portent of the new album Clear Shot which is due in autumn.

Featured album: I, Ludicrous - It's like Everything Else

Fabulous
This is all you need to know about I, Ludicrous. Piercing social comment and small-town tales wrapped in a dry humour.

The Rifles - Wall Around Your Heart
Off the album Big Life.

Sweet Williams - Come Swimming
A cover of a record by Plummets. The album Please let Me Sleep On Your Tonight is out on September 23.

The Immediate - Pockets
To Mold in North Wales off the EP Shadows And Ghosts with a full album to follow.

Fews - 10 Things (TVAM remix)
Another track from Fews which has been breathed on by Wiganer Joe Oxley in his TVAM guise.

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