30 September 2014

More of the same, so soap up and slide on in...

The Vaselines - High Tide Low Tide
That's how you start a show. From the new album V For Vaselines which came out yesterday. Wonderful stuff.

Bear In Heaven - Autumn
Well it is autumn now. The album Time Is Over One Day Old came out in August. I'm just catching up with that.

Coves - Wake Up
Played these before, but some time ago. The album Soft Friday came out in March, but it's worth going back to dig this out. Wonderful track.

Cover Version Corner
The Fall/Sonic Youth - My New House
The Fall now become my most played band in the two-and-a-bit years we've been doing this show. That's off the 1985 album This Nation's Saving Grace. After that, Sonic Youth. Never put the word 'youth' in a band name. It looks silly further down the line. Anyway, that's off the EP 4 Tunna Brix which came out in 1990.

Thee Faction - Better Than Wages
From last year, but no better time to play it than during the Conservative party conference as they seek out new ways to enfeeble the feeble. Good Politics is the album and they're from Reigate in Surrey.

Broncho - Class Historian
Bronco or Bron-cho? Dunno. I think this could split a room between those that like it and those that find the da-da-das a bit annoying. Anyway, I'm in the former camp. They're from Oklahoma and the album Just Enough Hip To Be A Woman came out two weeks ago.

Keen On Girls - Sea Wave
This is a collaboration of two Californian bands - The Bilinda Butchers and Pastel Ghost. The result is delightful and available on an Eardrums Pop compilation called Between Two Waves - The Second Wave.

Sleep Thieves - You Want The Night
To Dublin now. Off an album of the same name which came out in June.

Joanna Gruesome - Coffee Implosion
The latest single from the show favourites from Cardiff. This is the new release from the acclaimed Weird Sister album.

Vomitface - Sloppy Joes
Terrible, terrible name for a band offset by the fact that this is one of the best things I've heard all year. Off a self-titled EP available from their bandcamp page.

One Degree of Separation
Lemonade - Durutti Shores
Durutti Column - Otis
Both owing something to Spanish anarchist Buenventura Durruti who fought against the Francoists as Spain headed to civil war. That Lemonade track is off the album Minus Tide which came out earlier this month and the Durutti Column one from 1989 release Vini Reilly.

Medicine - Move Along Down The Road
When I was putting the show together I thought I liked this. Now I don't think I do. Ah well, that's how it goes sometimes. It's on the album Home Everywhere which is out next month.

The Soundcarriers - Let It Ride
Another poor effort for a name. Would-be bands; do check out @fantasy_bands on Twitter for some suggestions. But their LP Entropicalia which came out in May is bloody brilliant. There will be more from that coming up in future weeks.

Paul Read And The Invisible Band - Circles
A local bunch now. There's an EP due out soon and with a bit of luck some gigs in the vicinity. Hope so anyway. Good stuff, that.

Here's most of that on YouTube:


And much of it is on Soundcloud too.

Back for more next week.

19 August 2014

I seem to have picked out an awful lot of very similar things this week. I guess that's what I've been listening to in the previous week, so that's what you're getting. To business:

Allo Darlin' - Romance And Adventure
Can't believe that it's taken 85 shows for me to get round to these. They've a new album on the way, We Come From The Same Place, due in October and that's the first release from it. Delightful.

Trust Fund - Reading The Wrappers
A while ago, I played the latest from Joanna Gruesome which was a split 12" with Trust Fund. So I figured it was about time I played the Trust Fund contribution to that release. So here you are.

Dark Train - Battles
Don't know a lot about these. Just that they're from Brighton and I like this.

Cover Version Corner
Nancy Sinatra/Elastic Sleep - You Only Live Twice
Oft-covered Bond theme from 1967. But Cork's Elastic Sleep make it sort of other-wordly. Sheer delight.

Heavyball - Hands Up
More from London-based Nottingham ska merchants and show favourites. This, I suggest, is possibly their best yet, showing as it does a bit more range than previous stompers. Intelligent, lyrically and musically.

Los Angeles Police Department - She Came Through (Again)
From LA, unsurprisingly. That's so gentle and lovely.

Tyrannosaurus Dead - Post Holiday Dead Song
From Brighton, and with a debut album coming later in the year, that's a lot jollier than the rather morbid title suggests.

Virgin Kids - Life Support
I know virtually nothing about these other than this is great and is out on Art Is Hard records.

Abbatoir Blues - Blinded
Named, presumably, for the Nick Cave song. That's on a compilation by their record company, Beech Coma volume 2.

Slaves - Hey
Rocking Tonbridge to it's core. This is available as a free download from their record company, Fonthill Records.

Napolleon - Erasable Eraser
We've definitely not had anything from Indonesia before, so consider that rectified. I've no idea how much traction bands like Neu! or Mogwai have on the archipelago, but this is remarkable anyway.

One Degree of Separation
XTC - Dear God
The Vaselines - Jesus Don't Want Me For A Sunbeam
The link is great characters from ancient fiction. First, from 1987's Skylarking, then from the 1988 EP Dying For It.

Perfume Genius - Queen
Brilliant. Mike Hadreas is Perfume Genius. He's from Seattle and the album Too Bright is out no September 23.

Mega Emotion - B R A I N S
The EP Fake Feelings that this is on came out on April 21, but I've only just got round to it. Glad that I have. That's outstanding.

LV and Josh Idehen - Shake
Reconvening three years on from their debut collaboration, they're back with a new long player. Islands is out on September 15. Big, bassy, brilliant.

Here's that via a combination of YouTube:


and Soundcloud:


Back next week.

4 March 2013

Lots of short records, records by sibling duos, and a tribute to a Rentaghost actor.

Rodriguez - Sugar Man
John: It was the Oscars last week, but this featured on the 2012 best documentary winner, Searching For Sugar Man, in which two South Africans try to track down their favourite musician. Out originally in 1977, this also got a re-release in 2002.
Carolyn: It's all a bit swooshy.
John: Of it's time, methinks.

Bleached - Next Stop
John: They've got three chords and they're not afraid to use them. Like that a lot - very retro feel. That's Bleached who are Jessica and Jennifer Clavin from LA. That's off the album 'Ride Your Heart Out' which is out on April 2.
Carolyn: Fresh, yet immediately familiar. I like it when we play new stuff.

Django Django - Wor
John: For a record-breaking 10th time, they feature on the show. This is the new single off the acclaimed debut album, 'Django Django'.
Carolyn: I like these so much, they're pretty much on a loop in the car.
John: Bonus points for Klaxon usage.
Carolyn: Yeah, when that comes on, I'm checking around for blue lights in my mirrors.


Cover Version Corner
The Vaselines/Nirvana - Molly's Lips
John: 25 shows in before we play Nirvana. Ludicrous. As is Nirvana covering a Scottish band's tribute to Molly Weir who was Hazel McWitch in Rentaghost.
Carolyn: Was she in Supergran as well?
John: No. Or was she? I'm going to have to find out now... This section can normally take us 10 or 15 minutes, but this is less than five all in. Bosh, done, out. The Vaselines version is from 1988 off the EP 'Dying For It', Nirvana's was four years later and featured on the album 'Incesticide'.

Phenomenal Handclap Band - The Unknown Faces
John: Not much clapping of hands there, but pretty fine nonetheless. That's from the album 'Form and Control' which came out in February last year.

Masters In France - Flexin
John: Very much in the Hot Chip/Dutch Uncles envelope, I heard that the other day and have basically had it on a loop since. Layered. I like that. They're from Bangor in Wales.

Julia Kent - Transportation
John: From Vancouver, but based in New York, Julia Kent is a classical cellist who has put together a pop album.
Carolyn: Well, I wouldn't call it pop. It's a lovely piece of music, but I'm not calling it pop.
John: Well, no perhaps not. Haunting, I'd call it. The album is called 'Character' and is out later this month.

Heavyball - Small Town Hero
John: Hat tip to my chum Chris whose mate is in this band. That's off last year's EP 'Small Town Hero', but recently they've gone from playing back rooms of South London pubs to supporting the Kaiser Chiefs on tour.
Carolyn: That's a big leg up for a young band. Obvious ska influence, and pretty good.

Low - Just Make It Stop
John: From Duluth in Minnesota, that's off the album 'The Invisible Way' which comes out on March 19.

Drenge - Bloodsports
John: We had sisters earlier, and here's a pair of brothers. Eoin and Rory Loveless are from up-country Derbyshire, but very much part of the Sheffield music scene, and there have been a fair few successes from there down the years.
Carolyn: Again, it's all pretty stripped back and raw. Not that that's a bad thing.
John: Reminds me of The White Stripes a bit. That's their debut single which is out today. Drenge means 'boys' in Danish and is the name of an avant-garde 1977 Danish film of which they're big fans, apparently, and is ace to say.

One Degree of Separation
Tricky - Black Steel
Portishead - Glory Box
John: Almost 20 years old that Portishead track - unbelievable. Off their debut album 'Dummy' from 1994 which I've got on vinyl somewhere. Haven't listened to it in ages, but always worth reminding oneself of it. Tricky's anti-war Black Steel is off his 1995 breakthrough album 'Maxinquaye'.
Carolyn: And the link?
John: Both Bristolian, both part of that trip-hop scene down there in the mid-'90s and both excellent records.

Hidden Orchestra - Fourth Wall
John: From Edinburgh, that's off the album 'Archipelago' which came out last October.
Carolyn: Another more orchestral piece.
John: Oh yes. I don't just throw this together, y'know.

The King Blues - Five Bottles Of Shampoo
John: From 'Punk and Poetry' from a couple of years ago.

The Vanity Project - I Fear Nothing
John: End on a happy one, yeah?
Carolyn: Hmm, not exactly uplifting.
John: No, but very worthy. From the EP 'What Really Matters'.

Granville - Polaroid
John: From Caen, that was out last month on the album 'Les Voiles'.

And here's all that packaged up in a YouTube playlist.