15 April 2014

Lots of new stuff this week, so let's get right to it.


Peace - World Pleasure
The first release from their forthcoming second album, the tricky one so the cliché goes. They made quite a splash with their first and this is a promising start to the second.

Ruen Brothers - Aces
Scunthorpe rockabilly. It works. Rupert and Henry Stansall are the aforementioned brothers and there's an album coming.

Knuckle - Living Hell
A two-piece blues outfit from right here in Huddersfield. I've seen them live and they are loud and energetic. This track is available as a pay-what-you-like download from their bandcamp page.

Cover Version Corner
The Monkees/Robert Wyatt - I'm A Believer
That was Robert Wyatt's first solo single post-Soft Machine in 1974. There was something of a kerfuffle when he performed it on Top Of The Pops when a producer thought losing the wheelchair was a good idea. Before that, of course the Monkees. From 1966 and the album More Of The Monkees.
Wyatt also lends his name to the phenomenon of Wyatting, by which you stick on a very challenging record umpteen times on a jukebox and clear off. Strange House In The Snow by Teardrop Explodes is a good one.

Duane Eddy - Rebel Rouser
From 1958 and the album Have 'Twangy' Guitar Will Travel, but getting a release on Record Store Day which is this Saturday. It's a fun record and it's good to introduce this sort of stuff, back when rock and roll began, to a new generation.

Wolf Alice - Moaning Lisa Smile
Brilliant. Very grungey, but the vocals offset against the rough-edged guitars lift it to something else. That's off the album Creature Songs which is out on May 26.

Black Lips - Funny
A band that have become in vogue simply by never changing and allowing fashion to catch up with them. That's a very now sound and comes off the album Underneath The Rainbow which came out last month.

The Horrors - So Now You Know
New from these, off the forthcoming album Luminous which is out on May 5. Sounds a bit like late-period Simple Minds, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

One Degree of Separation
The Smiths - The Headmaster Ritual
Nirvana - School
Nirvana from their debut album Bleach from back in 1989. Before that, The Smiths at the height of their powers and the Meat is Murder album from 1985. One of the great intros.
The link should be obvious.

Honeyblood - Killer Bangs
A two-piece from Glasgow - Stina Tweeddale and Shona McVicar make up the band - that's off their self-titled debut which is out in July. Great stuff.

Oxygen Thieves - To Boast
To the Wirral now, and some more new grunge type stuff. Reckon it's safe to say Nirvana were an influence here. That's off the EP We found The thieves which is out on May 5.

Teleman - 23 Floors Up
These have been touring with Maximo Park, but are about to embark on a tour of their own and are well worth seeking out. This is off Breakfast which is out on June 2. Sounds a little bit Floyd, methinks.

Todd Terje - Inspector Norse
He's from Norway. Inspector Norse. See what you did there. His first album, It's Album Time, came out last week and has done extremely well so far. No better reason to play another track off it than that.

Applescal - The Veil
And to finish, another new cut from Amsterdam producer and DJ Pascal Terstappen. We're fans.

Here's most of that on YouTube:


And most of it on Soundcloud:


Back next week...

8 October 2013

More goodies from musics rich tapestry.

The Evens - All These Governors
Quite apposite for the shutdown of the US government. "When things should work but don't work, that's the work of all these governors". That's from 2005 from their debut album, 'The Evens'.

Drugstore - El President
Featuring Thom Yorke on vocals, that's from the 1998 album 'White Magic For Lovers'. I play it for two reasons. One, it's a paean to Salvador Allende, the democratically elected Chilean Marxist who was overthrown in a US-backed coup just over 40 years ago and also as it's on a new 'Best Of...' album out soon.

Mourning Birds - Oh Yeh
Why take 10 minutes to say what you can fit into 105 seconds? Another one of those bands I came across via the magic of twitter. A deliberately vague 3-piece from Kent, they say, and this is their debut single.

Cover Version Corner
Faine Jade/MGMT - Introspection
That's MGMT's new single from the new album, their third, also called 'MGMT'. That came out on September 17. They've really put their stamp on it. Before that, the original from 1968's 'Introspection: A Faine Jade Recital'. A proper upstate New York hippy anthem.



The Magic of Mr Adrian Flanagan - I Don't Wanna Be Nice
It was National Poetry Day last week and of the many things was this oddity from the man behind show favourites the Eccentronic Research Council. It's a reworking of the John Cooper Clarke poem in his own, inimitable style and dates from 2009.


Silver Arm - Mind The Falcons
Another band  using social media to get out there, we have played their new single - Dead Tongues - before and it seemed to go down quite well, so I asked if there anything else they had. This is their previous single and is what I've come to expect from them.

Yuck - Middle Sea
Their debut album, 'Glow and Behold', came out on September 30 and this, the first single off it, got a lot of airplay a while ago prior to release. No reason not to play it again. Pleasingly jaunty stuff.

Daniel Avery - Drone Logic
Love that. Seven-and-a-half minutes of bliss. The debut album, also called 'Drone Logic', came out yesterday.

Atari Teenage Riot - Collapse Of History
I wasn't familiar with these until a week ago or so, but the name spiked my interest so I went to find out more. They're from Berlin and this was out last year on the album 'Is This Hyperreal?'

One Degree of Separation
Dobie Gray - Out On The Floor
Al Wilson - The Snake
On the back of Paul Mason's excellent BBC mini-documentary on the subject, it's a Northern Soul special here. All spins and drops in the studio while these are on. If you were putting together a primer on the topic, these would be up near the top of the list. First, Dobie Gray from 1975 and second Al Wilson from 1968. Glorious.

Wolf Alice - She
A London 5-piece with a debut EP, called 'Blush', coming out on November 7 and this is my pick from that record.


Gary Numan - I Am Dust
Yes, that Gary Numan. His 20th studio album is out next week and this is the lead track from it. It's called 'Splinter (Songs From A Broken Mind)' and he's been doing stuff like this for quite some time. Elements of past hits, but all utterly up-to-date.

Sabres Of Paradise - Wilmot
From the 1994 album 'Haunted Dance Hall'. They'd largely passed me by at the time, which is odd as this is the sort of stuff I was listening to back then. Fortunately, I still enjoy it today.

Cinematic Orchestra - Flite
Winding down into the Down Tempo show that follows, now. From back in 2002, off the album 'Every Day'. And... relax.

All that's cobbled together in a YouTube playlist here apart from the ones that aren't which are above. Back next week with more of the same.