25 July 2017

A longer than expected break - got my dates wrong. Anyway, back in the saddle with loads of good stuff and a return of the featured album.

Talk Like Tigers - It Isn't Over
This has been on my radar for quite some time, so it's overdue to be played. Twin sisters Charlotte and Stephanie from Newcastle are Talk Like Tigers and this is infectious.

Burning Ferns - Go On, Make Me
More top stuff from South Wales, which is really a hotbed of great new music. This is off the LP See Saw Seen. Easy for you to say. Hints of Teenage Fanclub, which is always a good thing.

Birdskulls - Over It
Noise from Brighton from their self-titled LP. Reminds me of Dinosaur Jr to an extent.

Featured album: The Cuban Boys - Machines
Theme For A Revolution
The Pop Machine
A return of the featured album... err... feature. And I bring it back because there's an album out that warrants multiple tracks playing from it. It's been ages since the Cuban Boys put out an LP and, as the name may suggest, it's about machines, specifically the industrial revolution. Yes, it's a concept album, but before you run away give it a listen. Thematically, it's entirely on point and it works as a whole. But by the same token, individual tracks work just fine in isolation. It's fabulous. Go buy it.

The Debt Stars - Shallow Grave
From Liverpool via Sydney. Enjoyably noisome rockabilly-tinged punk. And I'm reminded of the Membranes.

Meatraffle - Love Hz
The flip side of the latest single Brother. This is Ian Dury level stuff.

Cambodian Space Project - Summer Wine
A cover of the old Lee Hazlewood classic from the LP Spaced Out In Wonderland which is flippin ace.

Toy - Dream Orchestrator (TVAM remix)
Well I like Toy and I like TVAM, so this should be a slam dunk. And it is.

Featured album: The Cuban Boys - Machines
Kids From The Rotating Door Of Fame
One of a few tracks off the album that samples the old Ealing comedy I'm Alright Jack to good effect.

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - An Intention
Lovely track from the LA singer from the LP The Kid.

Tricky - When We Die feat. Martina Topley-Bird
Reviving a partnership that goes back to 1995, it's new stuff from the Bristol godfather of trip-hop. ununiform is the new LP.

Four Tet - Two Thousand And Seventeen
A new one from Kieran Hebden, which is always a joy.

Aphex Twin - Korg Funk 5
And a new one from Richard D James, featuring his son on vocals. A new LP on the way, we all hope.

Youtube:



Soundcloud (for as long as they're still going):



Bandcamp:



Back next week

13 December 2016

Last regular show of the year.

Froth - Contact
Kind of mixing krautrock and psych and shoegaze. A heady mix. These are from LA and this is the lead single from the new LP Outside (briefly).

Orange Bomb - School Disco
Four-piece DIY garage band from Surrey. I like the cut of their jib.

Arro Jones - Great Northern Street
Local artist with a story about the working girls down that Huddersfield byway.

Featured album: The Wedding Present - George Best
Shatner
What Did Your Last Servant Die Of?
Well why not? I bloody love the Weddoes. Feels like I always have. George Best was their first album, released in 1987 after a few singles. It chuffing ace and has one of the coolest covers ever.

Toy - Another Dimension
Their first two albums were a big hit here and here comes the third. Clear Shot is out now, but without the driving keyboards of the departed Alejandra Diez, it's a different sound. I want to like it and there are a couple of good ideas here, just that they're lacking a unifying... thing. I dunno. Maybe I need to listen to it more, I think.

Dead Naked Hippies - Lights Out
To Leeds for this one. A three-piece with their debut single.

New Apostles - Avalanche
Back from a lengthy hiatus a couple of years back, here's a new single from the Nottingham outfit who are making up for lost time.

The Nightingales - Booze, Broads And Beauty
Speaking of Midlands veterans... This is off the new EP Become Not Becoming which is up for pre-order now.

Neurotic Fiction - Mediator
On the ever-reliable Art Is Hard label, a follow-up to their debut EP.

Featured album: The Wedding Present - George Best

You Can't Moan, Can You?
The closing track from the album. And signs of what the band would be were already surfacing as they emerged from this with a different drummer.

Allo Darlin' - Hymn On The 45
A farewell now, as Allo Darlin' are calling it a day and this is their final single. There are a handful of shows and then that's it.

Bad Family - My Body Pines
From their imaginatively titled debut EP, EP1. 

TCF - NLeZ7tnzzjTXBsMtD1OO0xPEZ0MmnSKsGZA/yHfSV1gfKH+//xR9oW+uUJO4i3N0lRghdsuEoRSOKjJMZApfoA==
Catchy title. Berlin-based composer TCF has this out now, on 10" vinyl and in a vacuum-sealed silver bag. Of course.

Youtube:



Soundcloud:



and Bandcamp:




Christmas special next week.

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.

Here's your Youtube:

and your Soundcloud:

and bandcamp:



Back in a week.

29 July 2014

Still on the goofballs. I'll level with you - having this to prepare is at least giving me something to focus on during the week. Anyway, no time for self-pity. Let's crack on.


Joanna Gruesome - Jerome (Liar)
Show favourites from Cardiff return with a split single alongside Trust Fund. Not sure how they're going to spin that into a 12" at 100 seconds long, but hey ho. It's out in September.

Toy - As We Turn
Not my favourite off Join The Dots, but still better than most things around at the moment. This is the new single.

Menace Beach - Lowtalkin'
From Leeds, this is the reverse of the double-A side with Tennis Court that we played a few weeks ago. Out on September 1, top stuff as ever.

Cover Version Corner
Dionne Warwick/Julia Holter - Don't Make Me Over
Two great voices. Julia Holter's version came out yesterday on a double-A with a cover of Hello Stranger, the old Barbara Lewis record. Warwick's version is from 1962, her debut single in fact. You can find that on the album Presenting Dionne Warwick.

Kid Wave - All I Want
When I was putting the show together, I don't remember liking that as much as I did just then. Terrific. That's their debut single and comes out on August 8.

Keel Her - Single Room
Big fan of hers, here's more evidence as to her brilliance. Always inventive, always worth listening to.

Tacocat - Bridge To Hawaii
How good's that? Not sure logistics is their thing though, as wherever you started building the bridge, it'd take a lot of doing. That's the first release from their new album NVM.

Autobahn - Pale Skin
I've been after playing these for a wee while now. They're from Leeds and this is off their EP called 2. It's right up my street, that's for sure.

The Drums - Magic Mountain
A new album is coming from these. Encyclopedia is the title and it hits the shelves on September 23. This is the first single and if it's indicative of the rest of the LP, it'll be a winner.

Horsebeach - Dull
Odd title, great tune. It came out in February but totally passed me by at the time. Happy to have rectified that.

One Degree of Separation
Fredrika Stahl - Midday Moon
DJ Shadow - High Noon
Another great voice on Stockholm's Fredrika Stahl. A beautiful record, that. That's off an LP called Off To Dance which came out last year. Second, off Pre-Emptive Strike from 1998, unmistakeably DJ Shadow. 12pm is your connection, obviously.

Gidge - I Fell In Love
Gidge are also Swedish. Jonatan Nilsson and Ludvig Stolterman, more sepcifically. That's the first release from their forthcoming and as yet untitled debut LP.

Dayglo Maradona - Rock Section
Julian Cope, right. He wrote this novel called One Three One. It's brilliant and the (anti) hero is called Rock Section. He (Rock Section) had hits in the '80s and '90s and Cope has made some of them; fill the back story, like. This is Section's 1989 smash as baggy morphed into rave and all that. Either way, it stands up on it's own. Available now as a pay-what-you-like download from Bandcamp.


Here's that on YouTube:



and Soundcloud:


More next week.

4 March 2014

A bit of time off does you a power of good, eh? It's meant I've missed hakf a week's worth of new releases, but still plenty to go at for this week's show.

Dead Kennedys - California Uber Alles
No reason behind playing this, other than it's ace.Which is kind of the point of this. That's off the 1980 album 'Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables'.

Neneh Cherry feat Robyn - Out Of The Black
Another track off the 'Blank Project' album, this time with Robyn on vocals as well. It makes you wonder what happened in the intervening 16 years or however long it's been. It's a cracking album. Get on it.

Ross Taylor - May The Road Rise
Local lad and Fat Stanley singer does solo stuff. I'd tell him it had a Tom Waits feel to it if I didn't think it'dgo to his head. And I'm delighted to say that Ross wll be coming in to do a live session for us in the not-too-distant future - a new departure for the show.

Cover Version Corner
Webb Pierce/CTMF - There Stands The Glass
CTMF - Chatham Forts, that is - with Wild Billy Chyldish on vocals for their version of the old Webb Pierce classic which came out last year on the album '36 Years Later'. The original before that from 1953. And why not.

Scott Walker- The Old Man's Back Again (Dedicated To The Neo-Staliist Regime)
One of the great basslines in rock, one of the best subtitles in parentheses in rock. From his fifth album, which everyone knows was 'Scott 4' in 1969.

Magic Arm - Put Your Collar Up
One I've been meaning to play for ages. Magic Arm is Mancunian Marc Rigelsford and this came out last June on the album 'Images Rolling'.

Deerhunter - Back To The Middle
A track from last year's long-player 'Monomania' which I've ad a couple from in the meantime. No reason not to play some more though, just to remind you that it was really good.

Silkken Laumann - House Of Common Problems
Vying for the ttle of my favourite act of the moment, these are from Ottawa in Canada. The album is 'Not Forever Enough'; I've heard it through a number of times now and flippin' love it.

One Degree of Separation
The Lovely Eggs - Food
Bird To Beast - Elephant
That Bird To Beast track, from the EP 'To Lips From Lungs' which came out last month, is getting a fair bit of radio play. I still can't decide if I like it or hat my defences have just been broken down. Before that, The Lovely Eggs from 2012's 'Wildlife' album. Double link klaxon! They're both Lancastrian and both are husband and wife duos.

Cornershop - Sleep On The Left Side
They are so much more than Brimful Of Asha. This is off the same album, as it goes - 'When I Was Born For The Seventh Time' - from 1997.

Kele feat Lucy Taylor - What Did I Do?
Bloc Party singer Kele Okereke's solo proect from a couple of years back. This is off the EP 'The Hunter'

Toy - Motoring
Did I mention I went away? Wel I did, to Newcastle, to see a couple of mates and to see Toy at The Cluny. And they were fantastc. Loud and fantastic. So here's a track from their first album for your delectation.

Jim James - State Of The Art (A.E.I.O.U)
Another one from a while back that I've not got round to, but worth the wait, I think. It came out just over a year ago on the album 'Regions Of Light And Sound Of God'. Just a stunning track.

Factory Floor - How You Say (Daniel Avery remix)
And we continue to take it down tempo to feed into the following programme with thisbrand spanking new remix of the best track off the Factory Floor album. I like Factory Floor, I like Daniel Avery. So of course this wrks beautifully.

Here's that on YouTube:



and Soundcloud:



Back next week.

4 February 2014

More of the usual for your listening pleasure.

Heavyball - Black Eye Friday
Out last Friday, this is the new one from these Nottingham lads now based out of London. Terrific stuff. More please.

Container - Glaze
This fair blew my socks off when I first heard it. Stunning stuff from Ren Schofield off the new EP 'Adhesive'.

Toy - It's Been So Long
Been a while since we played these. Off their second album 'Join The Dots', it's another winner.

Cover Version Corner
Chris Isaak/London Grammar - Wicked Game
London Grammar were last year's big thing, but largely by-passed me. She's got a hell of a voice. The original before that from 1990 and the album 'Heart-Shaped World'.

Deadwall - Eyes-White-Shut
We saw these supporting Hookworms at Hebden Trades Club and this track, off the new album 'Bukimi No Tani', really made my ears prick up. The album is great and it's out as of yesterday. The unusual name comes from a book by roboticist Masahiro Mori in which he espouses the theory that we shouldn't make robots to human-like. Presumably that's how Skynet starts.



Balthazar - Leipzig
To Belgium now. These had a lovely album out last year called 'Rats'. This is a new single, out now.

Mogwai - Remurdered
A new album, 'Rave Tapes', is out now and ticks all the Mogwai boxes.

One Degree of Separation
Half Man Half Biscuit - Paradise Lost (You're The Reason Why)
Calvin Party - 8 Days
Label-mates and regular touring compadres is your link. The venerable Probe Plus put out both of these bands and Calvin Party are regular support for HMHB. The Biscuits are playing Holmfirth in April. Bit of luck, so will Calvin Party.

Pete Seeger - Rye Whiskey
The news of Pete Seeger's death came too late for last week's show. I could have picked out anything from his back-catalogue, but this old Scottish drinking song stands out. Off the 1954 album 'Frontier Ballads'.

Eight Rounds Rapid - Talent
That's traduced a popular TV show. It's a fair point. Britain has lots of talent, but most of us don't. New single from these. I think they're ace.

Smog - In The Pines
I should probably have put this after Pete Seeger. It's another old song, done here by Bill Callahan in 2005, most famously recorded by Leadbelly back in the day. It's had various names, various lyrics, various numbers of verses, but this is lovely. Gives the impression of a stream babbling by. Off Smog's 'A River Ain't Too Much Love' album.

Pizzicato Five - Baby Love Child
To Japan, now. These are from Hokkaido and this came out in 1991 on the 'Last Year's Girl' album. It's been used in many films and TV shows; Futurama and the Adam Curtis documentary All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace for two.

TCTS - Lose Control
Tuesday night banger. Sam O'Neill from Manchester is TCTS and that's off an EP called 'These Heights'.

The Fall - Hey! Luciani
And to finish, The Fall. A song about the conspiracy theories surrounding the death of Pope John Paul I after just 33 days in office. That's from 1986 and couldn't possibly be any other band.

Here's a YouTube playlist, missing Deadwall:


And a bit less of it all on Soundcloud:

22 October 2013

Another Tuesday, another varied selection for you all.

The Michael Ainsley Band - Jerry Garcya Later
John: Like that a lot. From Wakefield, I only came across them a couple of weeks back.
Carolyn: I see what they've done with the title...
John: I like that a lot. Good energy to it.


Melt-Banana - Candy Gun
John: A new album from the Tokyo punksters.'Fetch' is the title and it's out next month. Bit of a long intro to that, but marvellous nonetheless. Always a treat.

Dharma Protocol ft Boy George - Coming Home
John: This came out in June, but I'm only just getting round to playing it now. It's a collaboration between Boy George and fellow Culture Club veteran Mikey Craig. Whether it's any more than just this track, I don't know.
Carolyn: It didn't immediately sound like Boy George. His voice has changed quite a lot, which I suppose is understandable.

Cover Version Corner
R Dean Taylor/The Fall - There's A Ghost In My House
John: That was The Fall's first top 40 hit, all the way back in 1987. It's on the album 'The Frenz Experiment'. Suffice to say they've had a few line-up changes since then... Before that, R Dean Taylor with a Northern Soul classic. That came out in 1966, but only became a hit after a re-release in 1974.
Carolyn: Is that an early Hallowe'en theme?
John: No. In fact I hadn't twigged that it was coming around until you said that just then. Pure coincidence.

Los Campensinos! - What Death Leaves Behind
John: A new album from these - the Cardiff collective's fifth - is out next week. 'No Blues' is the title and this is the first single taken from it.
Carolyn: Sounds exactly like your sort of thing. Lyrically intelligent and bouncy.

Toy - Join The Dots
John: It's 13 months since Toy's debut album, 'Toy', hit the shelves. It's great and we've played loads of stuff from it. Well they're not resting on any laurels. Here's the title track from the forthcoming second album, 'Join The Dots'. A long intro to this and it starts quietly, but it picks up where 'Toy' left off. Brilliant stuff.
Carolyn: I know you like them a lot, but I find them a bit hit and miss. This is just too long. You could lose a minute - maybe two - and not lose much, if anything, from the record. Not bad, but I'm not as gushing about it as you.
John: Fine then.... Be like that...

Girls In Hawaii - Misses
John: To Belgium now. This comes from an album called 'Everest' which came out last month and is jolly pleasant indeed.
Carolyn: Blissful, even. Very chilled.

Matt Berry - Medicine
John: Now you may know Matt Berry from roles in The IT Crowd, Garth Marenghi's Darkplace or as struggling thespian Stephen Toast. But he can also bang out a tune. That's off the album 'Kill The Wolf' which is really rather good. Nothing jokey about it - it's a proper record.
Carolyn: Well I never would have put two and two together. That's really nice, that is.

One Degree of Separation
Kenny Rogers and First Edition - Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)
Soggy Bottom Boys - Man Of Constant Sorrow
John: That was Kenny Rogers' first top 10 hit, way back in 1966.
Carolyn: Obviously the second one was from the soundtrack of 'O Brother Where Art Thou', but I'm not sure whether the first one was on a soundtrack. Are they both off either films starring George Clooney or directed by the Coen brothers?
John: Right second time. You're right about the Soggy Bottom Boys. Just Dropped In was from The Big Lebowski.
Carolyn: Oh, of course.

John Foxx and The Belbury Circle - Empty Avenues
John: Something new from ex-Ultravox man John Foxx and his latest project. This is the lead track off and EP also called 'Empty Avenues' and is wonderfully rich and textured. Lovely.


Jackson and His Computerband - Dead Living Things
John: And to finish, Parisian artist Jackson Fourgeaud. This is off his second album, 'Glow', which came out last month, a long-awaited follow-up to his 2005 debut 'Smash'. Very cinematic.

And that's all we've got time for this week. That's all wrapped up by the magic of YouTube here except the John Foxx and Michael Ainsley tracks which you can find above. Back again same time next week.

1 October 2013

Settling into Tuesdays now...

Future Of The Left - The Male Gaze
Probably the most important album of the year is the new one from Future Of The Left. It comes out in a couple of weeks and it's called 'How To Stop Your Brain In An Accident'. Get it.

Razmataz Lorry Excitement - Skin
New from Kev Dosdale, Newcastle producer who operates as Razmataz Lorry Excitement and here has Natasha Hawes on vocals. This is out on the 21st of this month. One that I wanted to play last week but ran out of time for.


Parquet Courts - You've Got Me Wondering Now
New from these, who we've had before and hail from Brooklyn. This is off the EP 'Tally The Things You Broke' which came out last....  no, not last month. It's October now isn't it. It came out in August.

Cover Version Corner
Velvet Underground/Toy - What Goes On
Not played any Toy for a while and this is as good a reason as any to rectify that. That was recorded in February. Before that, off the album 'The Velvet Underground' in 1969. Toy have really brought that up to date while also fitting it into their own idiom.

Bill Callahan - Expanding Dub
An interesting chap - from Maryland but spent part of his formative years in Knaresborough. His latest album is 'Dream River' and this is a dub version of the track Javelin Unlanding which features on that. Quite fabulous.

Four Tet - Parallel Jalebi
From the new album 'Beautiful Rewind'. That's Kieran Hebden's seventh studio album in his Four Tet guise.

Moodoïd - De Folie Pure
We played these Parisian funsters last week and it went down so well, we're doing it again. From the EP 'Moodoïd', that's got a lot going on in it. In a good way.

One Degree of Separation
La Femme - Sur La Planche
Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip feat. Flux Pavilion - Gold Teeth
OK, this one is tenuous. Keeping the French vibe going, first we had La Femme from April's 'Psycho Tropical Berlin' album which is excellent. Second, from the forthcoming new long player from Messrs le Sac and Pip 'Repent, Replenish, Repeat' comes their second advance release. They've always got something to say that's worth listening to and some heavy beats into the bargain. Thanks to Sunday Best records for sending me a radio edit that I could actually play on the radio.
The link? Well the La Femme record does include a line 'sur la planche, dans le sac' - on the plate, in the bag. It's good enough for me.

Les Jupes - Hold Me Down
Back on a French kick - ish. Canadian, this time, from Winnipeg. This is off an EP called 'Negative Space'.

Arcade Fire - Reflektor
And sticking on a Canadian kick - honestly, it sometimes appears like I haven't just thrown this together - the new one from these, the title track from their new album which comes out on the 28th of the month.

And that'll do us for this week. All that's bundled up for you in a YouTube playlist here bar the Razmataz Lorry Excitement track which you can find above. Back again same time next week.

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.

17 June 2013

A full 100 minutes of the show tonight due to a combination of poor planning and unforeseen circumstances. Oh well, an opportunity to work through that ever-growing backlog.

Ruen Brothers - Walk Like A Man
John: Sounding like they're from 1960s Tennessee or something, these lads are very much au courant and from sunny Scunthorpe. They are Henry and Rupert Ruen and that's their debut single.

Disclosure - When A Fire Starts To Burn
John: Another pair of brothers, this time from Surrey. Guy and Howard Lawrence are Disclosure and they're very much the new big thing. Their debut album 'Settle' came out two weeks ago and went straight to number one.

Bat For Lashes and Toy - The Bride
John: Take two of our favourite bands, mix together and tell them to make a record with Jefferson Airplane overtones and this is what you get.
Carolyn: That does sound a lot like White Rabbit. I liked the start and the end, but it went a bit strange in the middle.
John: No idea if it's anything other than this one-off, but I hope it is. Marvellous stuff.

Cover Version Corner
Inspiral Carpets/Carter USM - This Is How It Feels
John: From the Carpets' debut album 'Life' from all the way back in 1990. Carter had it on the B-side of After The Watershed a year later.
Carolyn: All I know about Carter is the rugby tackle on Phillip Schofield.
John: After The Watershed was what they played immediately before that incident.

Hooded Fang - Ode To Subterranea
John: We're awaiting a new album from these. 'Gravez' - with a Z, inevitably - is it and is due soon. A bit of good old San Francisco psychedelia from Toronto.

Money - Bluebell Fields
John: A new band, these are a four-piece from Manchester and this is their debut release. They've just signed to Bella Union records and the finishing touches to an album are being applied sort of now. That's awfully relaxing.
Carolyn: I'll say. Nearly dozing off, here.

Virals - Wax Work
John: Something a bit livelier then. Virals is Shaun Henscher from Worcester and that's available as a free download right now.

Tame Impala - Apocalypse Dreams
John: We've played a few tracks off the hit album 'Lonerism' and this is the latest. Top notch.

Jagwar Ma - Man I Need
John: And another Aussie band with a smash on their hands. This is the Sydney duo's (Tame Impala are from Perth) latest release from the album 'Howlin''.

One Degree of Separation
The Durutti Column - Sketch For Summer
Neon Neon - Hammer And Sickle
John: That's the second single from Neon Neon's second album 'Praxis Makes Perfect' which is a concept album about Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, the subversive publisher and left-wing agitator during the Years Of Lead - the 1960s to '80s in Italy, a time marked by tit-for-tat political assassinations and complete political turmoil. Before that, The Durutti Column from back in 1980 off the debut album 'The Return Of The Durutti Column'. They were named after Buenaventura Durutti, Spanish anarchist who was active pre- and during the Civil War.
Carolyn: Wow. Not just a music show, this...
John: That Durutti Column album - on Factory - was notable also for coming in a sandpaper sleeve, an homage to Situationist writer Guy Debord whose 'Mémoires' did likewise, in order that other books on the shelf are destroyed every time you take it out. Not the only time Factory did something daft with a record cover - the Blue Monday 12", for instance, which famously cost more to produce than it was sold for.

Liars - I Saw You From The Lifeboat
John: This is off the forthcoming album 'Synth's Not Dead' and boy am I glad it's not.
Carolyn: I didn't like it.
John: I appreciate it's an opinion-divider. Personally, in an era when a lot of music is made with computers, there's still room for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum.

Art Brut - We Make Pop Music
John: I'm not a fan of bands putting new material on 'best of...' albums, but I'll let them off. That's off the new album 'Art Brut Top Of The Pops' and is an anthem to misanthropy. Misanthem?

Time and Space Machine - River Theme
John: Wasn't that pleasant? That is on the flip side of the Dubwood Allstars single we played last week.

Fuck Buttons - The Red Wing
John: Always exciting to get new stuff from these, a Bristol duo comprising Benjamin John Power and Andrew Hung. This is off the forthcoming album 'Slow Focus'.

Temples - Colours To Life
John: Bringing a bit of psychedelia to Kettering, this is their second single and comes out on June 24, so you're bang up to date with it.


Mount Kimbie - So Many Times, So Many Ways
John: From the album 'Cold Spring Fault Less Youth' which came out a few weeks ago, I really like that. All floaty and light and... ahhhh....

Outfit - I Want What's Best
John: A new band, a Liverpool five-piece. This is their first single off the album 'Performance' which is out in August.

The Juan Maclean - You Are My Destiny
John: John Maclean from Rhode Island performs as The Juan Maclean. I don't know.
Carolyn: To differentiate from the main protagonist of the Die Hard films? Could disappoint a lot of people if they're expecting someone in a vest.
John: That's been doing the rounds for a while and is part of the massive backlog I'm getting to clear out today.

Kurt Vile - Air Bud
John: Let's end on a summery one. Again, it's been around a wee while, off the album 'Wakin' On A Pretty Daze'.

Phew. A marathon session. Here's all that in a bonus long-format YouTube playlist, except the Time And Space Machine track which is here.

11 March 2013

The usual mix of new and old, a football theme later on, but we start with an old favourite.

Len - Steal My Sunshine
John: From way back in 1999, that. Their only hit, from the album 'You Can't Stop The Bum Rush'.
Carolyn: Takes us both back a bit, there. And why are we playing that?
John: Well for two days last week, it felt like spring. And then someone nicked the sun and it's freezing now.

British Sea Power - Machineries Of Joy
John: New from these, from the forthcoming album also called 'Machineries Of Joy' which is out on April 1 and I really like that.

B>E>A>K - Night Owls
John: A Sunderland supergroup, that's a paean to a popular nightspot in the town.
Carolyn: Are there enough bands to form a supergroup?
John: There are members of Field Music, Futureheads, Lake Poets, Lorry... That's available as a free download from their bandcamp page.

Cover Version Corner
Lykke Li/Triggerfinger - I Follow Rivers
John: A pan-European cover version corner. Triggerfinger are from Antwerp and that was a non-album single that then cropped up on a 'B-sides/various' compilation last year. It's a bit of a cheat on the first one as it's the Magician Mix of Lykke Li's 2011 single off the album 'Wounded Rhymes'.

High Hazels - French Rue
John: I've been after this for a while. From Sheffield, which might be why I'm drawing parallels with Richard Hawley.
Carolyn: Yeah, it's got a bit of a Sheffield sound.

Public Service Broadcasting - Signal 30
John: Favourites of ours, this is off the forthcoming album 'Educate, Entertain' which I am very much looking forward to.
Carolyn: Yes, very much like these. I think it only works with American and received pronunciation in a 1950s style. I don't think a modern public information film would work.
John: And perhaps Chris Huhne could have done to listen to the original films about 10 years ago.

The Besnard Lakes - People Of The Sticks
John: From Montreal, the driving force behind these is husband and wife Jake Lasek and Olga Goreas. That's off the album 'Until In Excess, Imperceptible UFO' which is out on the 2nd of April.
Carolyn: There's something about that I didn't like. Something underneath that made me think about swimming underwater.

One Degree of Separation
Art Brut - St Pauli
The Fall - Theme From Sparta FC #2
John: 26 shows and this is the first time we've played The Fall. That's slacking. That came out in 2004, off the album 'The Real New Fall LP, Formerly Country On The Click'. Art Brut are one of those bands that cling to silly names - Eddie Argos, Freddie Feedback and suchlike - and that was off their second album 'It's A Bit Complicated' from 2007.
Carolyn: And the link?
John: European football clubs. St Pauli are from Hamburg while Sparta FC... Well it could be Rotterdam or Prague, I suppose.
Carolyn: It's a bit tenuous. You just wanted to play those records, didn't you?
John: I wanted to play Art Brut, then went looking for a link elsewhere and, like I say, it's high time we played The Fall.

Toy - My Heart Skips A Beat
John: Another band we've played a few times. That's the new single from the debut album 'Toy' which really is something. Such a variety on there, from poppy tracks like Lose My Way, through this which is just damned pleasant to the 10-minute epic that is Kopter. It really is very good indeed.
Carolyn: Yes, we like those a lot. That's just a lovely track.


Haight Ashbury - Blow Your Mind
John: Another one I've been after for a while. These are from Glasgow, but named after the area of San Francisco, and it's off the album 'Perhaps?', their third, which is out in May. Psych-folk, I think they call it.
Carolyn: Oh, that's a genre is it? I'd have filed it under 'nice'.
John: Well, it's got folk elements and a bit of a '60s/'70s San Francisco hippy vibe, hasn't it?

Lapalux - Guuurl
John: Lapalux is Stuart Howard from Essex and that's 'Guuurl', with three Us.
Carolyn: Another daft spelling... I don't particularly like that, the distortion effects.
John: That's what sets it apart for me. You'll like the album title, I think: 'Nostalchic'.
Carolyn: Yeah, alright. I'll let him off.

Mogwai - Modern
John: To finish, the new one from Glasgow favourites Mogwai. From the forthcoming album 'Les Revenants' which, as you don't need me to tell you, is French for ghosts.
Carolyn: I was just about to...
John: Nothing too much new there. The usual cinematic qualities, which is no bad thing.

And here's all that in a YouTube playlist.

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.

19 November 2012

Maximo Park - The National Health
John: From the album of the same name that came out earlier this year

Gang Of Four - To Hell With Poverty
John: From Leeds, that was them railing against a previous age of austerity and worth another listen now.
Carolyn: Am I detecting a theme?
John: A little bit. A lot of things got me angry in the week.

Camper Van Beethoven - Take The Skinheads Bowling
John: But here's a solution to all the problems - just go bowling
Carolyn: With your knees?
John: Yes, last time I went, I was laid up for a week.

Cover Version Corner
Edith Piaf - Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien
Half Man Half Biscuit featuring Margi Clarke - No Regrets
John: Unmistakably Edith Piaf first, then the greatest band in the world singing it in English. Can't believe it's taken me so long to play them.
Carolyn: Yes, I know you like them.
John: They are the greatest band in the world. That's a non-album track from 1991.


Paws - Sore Tummy
John: This has been doing the rounds for a bit and I've finally got my hands on it. It's their first single from the album Cokefloat which is out about now.

Belly - Feed The Tree
John: From back in 1993, off their debut album Star. They kind of got lost in that glut of 1990s, female-fronted indie bands like Elastica, Sleeper and Echobelly, but worth digging out.
Carolyn: Is she singing 'take your hat off' or 'take your head off'?

DJ Shadow - Midnight In A Perfect World
John: From his debut album Endtroducing, which I discovered isn't easy to say out loud.

Toy - Make It Mine
John: We've played these a few times before, including the ten-minute epic Kopter. This is a little more laid back, but also off their debut album which is also called Toy.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Swim And Sleep (Like A Shark)
John: A US/NZ project based in Portland, Oregon. This is off their forthcoming second album, II, which is out in February.
Carolyn: So we're bang up to date then?
John: And our next track is from 1987...
Carolyn: Ah.

One Degree Of Separation
Echo And The Bunnymen - Lips Like Sugar
The KLF - 3am Eternal
John: The KLF with a rave classic from the early '90s, one of Bill Drummond's many and varied projects. Your link here is that Echo and the Bunnymen released their early stuff on Drummond's label, Zoo, which he ran with Dave Balfe. That was Lips Like Sugar from their fifth album, called Echo And The Bunnymen. They did four thinking up original names and then got to five and phoned it in. Pfft.

Friends - Va Fan Gör Du
John: Bright, poppy, short. They're from Brooklyn and I like that 1970s hand-clap vibe.
Carolyn: Yeah, it has a sort of playground feel.
John: The title, I believe, is Swedish for 'what the hell do you want?'

Tegan and Sara - I'm Not Your Hero
John: Identical twin sisters from Calgary, that's off the album Heart Throb which is out in January. I like that a lot - it reminds me of something, but I can't think what.
Carolyn: It does sound familiar.
John: I'll just have to listen to it more, which wouldn't be a chore as I really like it.

Cheatahs - The Swan
John: From their debut EP, Sans, which was out last month.

Here's your YouTube playlist.

8 October 2012

We don't theme shows, but this week we did go for a few really long tracks. Hey, less work ain't it?

Palma Violets - Best Of Friends

Ride - Leave Them All Behind
John: There is a four-minute radio edit of that, but you need all nine for me. Love it, love it, love it. Can't believe it's 20 years old.
Carolyn: Not feeling it

Cover Version Corner
Eddie Cochran/Guitar Wolf - Summertime Blues
John: Guitar Wolf, a Nagasaki-based punk group that have been around since the '80s. That was on the Scott Pilgrim vs The World soundtrack


Tame Impala - Music To Walk Home By

Pollens - Helping Hands
John: I like how it ends up as a totally different record to how it starts. It's like it's in three movements

Toy - Kopter 
John: How about that? Ten minutes of Krautrock brilliance. Don't know how you can take your ears off it.

(Still no name for this format idea - suggestions please)
Super Furry Animals - (Drawing) Rings Around The World
Neon Neon - I Told Her On Alderaan
John: You can tell immediately what the link is
Carolyn: The singer
John: Yep. Gruff Rhys, lead singer of the Super Furry Animals who you heard first and his side project, Neon Neon, with producer Boom Bip

Beth Jeans Houghton and the Hooves of Destiny - Lilliput
Carolyn: It's good that someone can hit the range of notes she does without warbling
John: She comes from more of a folk tradition which might have something to do with it. Maybe?

Tamaryn - The Waves

And here's your YouTube playlist.