2 June 2015

I've had a week off, so this is one of those times when I dig back through stuff I haven't got round to playing over the last few months.

Man Made - TV Broke My Brain
And they're not alone judging by the number of complaints about a tightrope-walking dog. Anyway, they're from Manchester and include Nile Marr. Son of.

Thomas Wilby Gang - Lordy O
Swampy, gospel-infused blues rock from Wakey. And why not?

Martyr Privates - Sores
This is one I've been after for ages. They're from Brisbane and their self-titled LP came out last September and I've finally got my hands on it. Worth the wait.

Cover Version Corner
Consuelo Velazquez - Besame Mucho
Morrissey - Kiss Me A Lot
Not strictly speaking a cover, but it's my rules and I don't care. Besame Mucho means Kiss Me A Lot and you can pick out bossa-nova cues in Morrissey's track which is on last year's World Peace In None Of Your Business. The original is from 1940. Still sounds great.

The Fall - Venice With The Girls
Another track from the new LP Sub-Lingual Tablet. An ever-changing line-up, but always the same.

Firestations - French Caves
I've had this on my list for ages. Never Closer came out the back end of last year and it's very good.

Frog - King Kong
From New York and off their second album, Kind Of Blah, which came out last week. Quirky, original.

Naturkunde Museum Ostkreuz - Zaragoza Variations
Here's something different. Off an EP that came out in March called Tropycalyptic Excursions.

Gerstaffelen - Invisible Ghosts
And in a similar vein, this from an EP called Night Flowing North And South.

One Degree of Separation
Half Man Half Biscuit - A Shropshire Lad
Wild Billy Chyldish and The Spartan Dreggs - A Shropshire Lad
Two totally unrelated tracks that share a title. From the Spartan Dreggs' 2012 album Coastel Command and from 1997's Voyage To The Bottom Of The Road.

Erosynilegt - Astar Bref
Couple of new ones to finish with. First, this from a Keflavik band that I'm certain I haven't pronounced properly. The name translates as Love Letters anyway. Off an EP of the same name.

Dementio13 - Barley Dance
And to finish, something from the relatively new album Vkhutemas vol 2 which is well worth your time seeking out.

Here's that on YouTube:



and a bit of it on Soundcloud:



Normality next week.

26 May 2015

Hope you enjoyed your Bank Holiday. Back at it now, yeah?

Yeah Yeah Noh - Let's Start A War
The Leicester unpoppers reformed in 2012 and their first album since then is Automatically Saturday.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Multi-Love
The title track from their new one which is out today.

Outfit - New Air
The difficult second album, says the cliche. Well this is great for starters from Outfit's second. Slowness is the title and it's out next month. There just isn't anything else that sounds like this.

Cover Version Corner
Desmond Dekker & The Aces/Wild Billy Chyldish & CTMF - Israelites
It's hard to keep up with Billy Childish, in terms of volume of recording - he's a discography as long as your arm - collaborators - his latest is with the Spartan Dreggs - and spellings of Childish. This is off 2013's Die Hinterstoisser Traverse. Before that, from 1968, a UK number 1 and off the album Israelites. Well, one of two albums called Israelites.

Dommengang - Everybody's Boogie
Song of the week, intro of the year. The title track to their debut album which is out now.

Houndstooth - Bliss Boat
The lead track from the album No News From Home which came out in March.

Quailbones - Sunny Side Repulsion
From Kentucky and off a compilation from Sad Sack Records.

Stealing Sheep - Not Real
The title track - few of those this week - from their new album. Well, it's been out a while, but this is the new single.

Y CVn - La Superba
I'm not even trying to pronounce this. Either way, they're from Bristol and this is off Seducted which came out in December.

Tinariwen - Cler Achel
From Mali, a tip from a friend who, in discussing this year's Glastonbury festival, said they were the best thing he saw last year. This is from the 2007 album Aman Iman - Water Is Life to you.

One Degree of Separation
Nervous Twitch - This Modern World
Leo Brazil And His Twitch - I'm Free
Gloriously bonkers from Huddersfield's own Leo Brazil. That's off Born To Bow Down which came out last November. Before that, from Leeds and off Get Back In Line.

Moonlandingz - Psyche Ersatz
Another track from the Moonlandingz EP, a companion piece the Eccentronic Research Council's new album Johnny Rocket, Narcissist and Music Machine... I'm Your Biggest Fan. In it, Maxine Peake plays an obsessed fan of the lead singer of a band called Moonlandingz, and that band become real when the ERC and the Fat White Family - on whose label the album is released on - combine. Got that? Good.

DJ Yoda - 2468
Off his latest, DJ Yoda Presents Breakfast Of Champions.

Corner Control - Integer
Continuing Sheffield's long tradition in electronic music, this came out last May on an EP called Infrastructure.

Here's that on YouTube:



and Soundcloud:



and we go again next week.

19 May 2015

Hello again. I'm tired and behind schedule, so less chat more music.

Thee Faction - Employment
Still annoyed with the election and work very much is a four-letter word. Off 2013's Good Politics.

The Novatones - Daddy Didn't Know
You know, sometimes I play tracks that at the time of putting the show together I'm not sure about. Now, I really can't see what I saw in this Jamie-bloody-T-doing-an-impression-of-The-fucking-Libertines effort. Learned my lesson though.

Happy Hollows - Astrid
That's more like it. Out on May 24.

Cover Version Corner
The Cure/8:58 - A Forest
A classic from 1980 and the album Seventeen Seconds. And then, from the album 8:58, Paul Hartnoll's version with vocal assistance from the Unthanks.

Suck Puppet - Happy Meal
Grunge-tastic from Connecticut.

Birdskulls - Good Enough
Good enough for me, that's for sure. These are from Brighton and that's on an LP called Trickle.

Wild Billy Childish And The Spartan Dreggs - Fen Raft Spider
Record of the week. Off the new album called Archaeopteryx Vs Coelacanth. Of course. Out now on Squoodge.

FFS - Johnny Delusional
When it was announced that Franz Ferdinand and Sparks were merging to form FFS and their debut single was called Piss Off, it was April 1. I assumed it was a joke then and I'm still not certain that it isn't. Anyway, the LP FFS is due on June 9 unless I am right and it's all a massive hoax. Which it still might be. FFS indeed. Good though, innit.

JD Meatyard - Waves
John Donaldson, erstwhile of Levellers Three and Calvin Party, is JD Meatyard. The new album is Taking The Asylum and it's very good indeed.

Kid Wave - Honey
Splendid. More where that came from on Wonderlust, out June 1.

One Degree of Separation
Extradition Order - Boy In Uniform
Gang Of Four - I Love A Man In Uniform
Flipping love Gang Of Four. That's from 1982 and the LP Songs Of the Free. Before that, from Warrington and off the new album Kennedy. It's not biographical as such, but draws on the JFK era. They say it contains "the only disco anthem about Lyndon B Johnson seeking the Democratic nomination for the 1960 Presidential Election". Fair enough.

Summer Camp - Bad Love
The title track to their new LP out next week. 

Saffron - Morning Levine
Not the former lead singer of Republica, rather a Canadian producer (damn you, internet). The new album is Petra II. Different from what Republica did with their hit.

The Cyclist - Heart Of Stone
And to finish, Derry's Andrew Morrison is The Cyclist and the EP Hothouse came out last month. And this is just superb.

Here's that on Youtube:



and Soundcloud:



and I'll see you next week.

23 December 2014 - Christmas special

Our 100th show! Wooo... And also our third christmas spectacular. A bumper crop this year.

Wild Billy Childish and The Musicians Of The British Empire - Poundland Christmas
2008 was when capitalism fell and was propped up on the backs of the people at the bottom of that particular pyramid scheme. That's when this was recorded and it's as relevant now as then. Thatcher's Children is the album and there's new stuff from Childish coming soon, both with his band CTMF and in collaboration with the Wave Pictures. Both are keenly anticipated round these parts.

The Fall - Jingle Bell Rock
The traditional Fall festive cover version. This is off a Peel session from 1994. Unmistakeable.

Broken Down Lorry - All I Want For Christmas Is A Bit Of Peace And Quiet
Twitter is, contrary to popular opinion, a wonderful thing. I put a plea out for new and unsigned to send me their christmas records and one that came back was this. Recorded around 2010 for no particular reason. Key change!

Eels - Christmas Is Going To The Dogs
Originally recorded in 2000, you can find this on Useless Trinkets... a collection of B-sides, rarities and previously unreleased stuff which came out in 2008.

Slow Club - Christmas TV
To Sheffield and this lovely number dates from 2009 and the Christmas Thanks For Nothing EP. Just a lovely record.

Teenage Fanclub - Christmas Eve
You can't beat Teenage Fanclub. Indeed, I've been a fan since I was a teenager. This is on a compilation done by XFM for the Big Issue which came out in 2000 called It's A Cool Cool Christmas.

Alton Ellis and The Lipsticks - Merry Merry Christmas
The legendary Trojan Christmas Album has many gems on it and this is no exception. The album is just wonderful and gets such an airing round ours that christmas without ska just isn't a real christmas.

Bootsy Collins - Diss Christmiss
And now to funk it all up. From the 2006 album Christmas Is 4 Real. I play those last two to reflect how christmas is celebrated in other parts of the world where it isn't grey, miserable and damp. Just a totally different mindset.

Lullaby For The Working Class - The Utilitarian Christmas Jingle
This really paints a Dickensian - maybe even Hogarthian - image of christmas past. I don't know too much about it other than they're from Lincoln, Nebraska and it came out in 1998.

Los Campesinos! - The Trains Don't Run It's Christmas Day
The Crookes - You're Just Like Christmas
Two new releases for this christmas and two of my favourites - I'm holding my favourite back until later in the show. The Crookes are from Sheffield and that's very jolly while Cardiff's Los Campesinos! do something different. It's quite like I see the season. It can be boring, you do the same things year after year, it can be fraught and tetchy, but you know what? I wouldn't change it for anything.

The Kinks - Father Christmas
A traditional story of a department store Santa getting mugged. From 1977 and made an appearance on the 1978 reissue of the album Misfits.

Tomorrow's World - I Don't Intend To Spend Christmas Without You
We've played these a few times before, it's Jean-Benoit Dunckel, erstwhile of Air, and Lou Hayter from New Young Pony Club. This is from 2009 and the Cherry Red Records compilation Christmas Cocktails.

Broken Record - My Beer-Drunk Soul Is Sadder Than All The Dead Christmas Trees In The World
Hell of a title. Hell of a tune as well to be fair. This is brand spanking new from the Edinburgh outfit.

Matt Bouvier - Santa Give Me Something To Live For
To Sweden now, Malmo in fact, and another brand new record. This starts horribly, but that doesn't last for long before it gets going. Out now on a Small Bear Records compilation.

Clinic - Christmas
The B-side to the 2002 single Come Into Our Room, that's a jolly pleasant tune.

Christ. - Making A Snow Angel
Straight out of the Boards Of Canada envelope, Christ. is Scotsman Christopher Horne and that's off the 2007 album Blue Shift Emissions.

Mike Harding - Christmas 1914
From 1977, but in this centenary year even more poignant. Just what did happen that christmas may never be truly known, but the accepted tale certainly has an air of the myth about it. Anyway, top record.

DJ Yoda - 5-Minute Christmas Mini-Mix
The star of Huddersfield's Festival of Light earlier this month, here's him doing his thing with christmas clips and samples back in 2010.

John MOuse - When A Child Is Born
This is the christmas record of this very christmas time. Bloody brilliant. His album The Death Of John MOuse was one of the highlights of the year and this caps off 2014 nicely. Absolutely love it. The right balance of bitter and light.

Half Man Half Biscuit - All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit
Got to finish with this one, as is now traditional. From 1986 and the EP Trumpton Riots, an all-time classic.

Here's that on YouTube:



and a tiny bit of it on Soundcloud:


So there we are. 100 shows. Raise of the bat, acknowledge the crowd on all four sides before digging back in. The 90s were nervous, but we got there. Now, nothing silly for a few overs and get focus back.
Merry christmas to you all. Back for one more time in 2014 next week.

14 January 2014

Possibly our shortest ever Cover Version Corner and a fraternal One Degree this week, plus new stuff and old stuff coming out anew. Onward, travellers...

Big Wave - GW Bridge
A cracking wee tune which came out last May on the quite wonderful Art Is Hard label. We play that for the fact that the George Washington Bridge has become such a political football lately, with the New Jersey governor's office causing hold-ups for people getting across it.

Hospitality - I Miss Your Bones
From Brooklyn, this is on the album 'Trouble' which is out in a fortnight. Can't quite put my finger on what that reminds me of... Good, though.

Joanna Gruesome - Madison
The new single from these who we like a lot. The album 'Weird Sister' came out last October.

Wild Billy Chyldish and CTMF - Joseph Beuys Flies Again
Poet, author, painter, sculptor, Stuckist, Wild Billy Chyldish and CTMF - Chatham Forts, that is - singing about German artist Joseph Beuys who was in the Luftwaffe during WWII. That's off last summer's album 'All Our Forts Are With You'.

Cover Version Corner
Stone Roses/Ke$ha and The Flaming Lips - Elizabeth My Dear
Told you it was short and sweet. 50 seconds of the Stone Roses, from the 'Stone Roses' album from 1989, and about twice that for the Flaming Lips. Theirs comes off an album of Stone Roses covers called 'The Time Has Come To Shoot You Down... What A Sound' which I think I need to explore more.

Pilote - Shapeshifter Blues
I like that a lot. Pilote is Stuart Cullen from Somerset and that is off the album 'The Slowdown' which came out last May.

Mike Hughes - (That Girl Is) Misery
From Sheffield, this was his debut single which came out last autumn. Shades of Richard Hawley stylings, perhaps? Unless I'm imagining it.

Menace Beach - Fortune Teller
That is ace. I like these a lot. Something of a Leeds supergroup, their debut EP 'Lowtalker' is out today. It's good. Get it.

One Degree of Separation
Attempted Moustache - Superman
Half Man Half Biscuit - Ordinary To Enschede
Simon Blackwell and Paul Wright were Attempted Moustache and that's from 1980's 'A Trip To The Dentist' EP. Four years after that, Simon and his brother Nigel - along with Paul Wright - began the greatest band in the world, Half Man Half Biscuit. That one is the B-side to the 1990 single 'Let's Not'.

Silkken Laumann - Obvious Water (Yer A Kitten)
I've been listening to these a lot. They're from Ottawa and the name is a misspelling of a Canadian Olympic rower, Silken Laumann. Anyway, the album 'Not Forever Enough' is available now and you can get it free from their website.

Sultans Of Ping FC - Give Him A Ball (And A Yard Of Grass)
A permanently overlooked bunch of geniuses, this is from their debut album 'Casual Sex In The Multiplex' from 1993. The title is about Nottingham Forest midfielder John Robertson. As Brian Clough said of his less-than-attractive player "I'd sit next to him and be Errol Flynn. But give him a ball and a yard of grass and he was an artist".

Les Pachas du Canapé Vert - Desordre Musical
From Haiti, this is from 1972, but will be on a compilation of Haitian music - 'Haiti Direct' - which comes out on January 27.

Frankie Knuckles - Your Love
A Chicago classic. It's been cut up, sampled and covered many times, but always worth a listen. From 1984 originally, but sounds as good as ever.

Severed Heads - Dead Eyes Opened
And another '80s electronic classic, this time from Sydney. From 1987, this. Fantastic.


YouTube and Soundcloud playlists below. Back with more next week.