25 November 2014

New PSB this week! And two Faerground Accidents tracks, sort of. You'll see.

King Tuff - Danger In The Dark
Apparently used in a rum advert - I don't know, I'm one of those people that mute adverts the moment they come on. It's also on an album called Black Moon Spell which came out in September. Far more interesting. Kyle Thomas is King Tuff. He's from Vermont.

Girl One and The Grease Guns - Bashed, Beaten and Broken (Trip The Switch)
One band clinging to the old practice of having stupid names, a lot harder to do in the information age than last time it was popular. Sissy Space Echo, Warren Betamax, Bruce Leefax and Charles Bronson Burner. Good effort. This is out on Squirrel Records.

Cheatahs - Controller
Lovely stuff as Cheatahs follow up their well-received debut album with an EP called Sunne.

Cover Version Corner
Pulp/Bonar Faerground - Babies
It's probably a right of passage for Sheffield bands to do a Pulp cover. The lead singer of Faerground Accidents - of which more later - is a flamboyant chap and the stripped-back nature of this track really shows his voice off. Before that, from 1994's His n Hers. Wonderful.

Colleen Green - Pay Attention
Throwing forward to February now and Ms Green's new album I Want To Grow Up. There is nothing about this I do not like.

Ty Segall - It's Over
I've been meaning to play something off Segall's latest album for a while. It came out in August, but I just keep filling the show up with other stuff. Anyway, here you go. Manipulator is the album you're looking for.

Goodnight Lenin - You Were Always Waiting
West coast vibes from the West Midlands. Cracking track off In The Fullness Of Time which was released yesterday.

Thurston Moore - The Best Day
As for Ty Segall, so it goes here. This is the title track from his October release. It's splendid.

Public Service Broadcasting - Gagarin
New stuff from PSB! The forthcoming album is all space related, starting with this ode to the first great hero of the space race.

Faerground Accidents - Back In Town
The lyrics and general vibe could easily be Pulp. Psychotic pop, they call it. Fair enough. On a double-A side with We Hate The Same Things which was released yesterday.

One Degree of Separation
Modest Mouse - I've Got It All (Most)
The The - The Beat(en) Generation
A double link with the parentheses obvious and the involvement of Johnny Marr less so. That The The record easily as relevant today as it was in 1989.

Fumaça Preta - Vou Me Libertar
This has got the lot, including some Mark E Smith-esque keyboard noodling. A collective of UK, US and Venezuelan musicians, this is out now as a 7". I'm Gonna Be Free, before you ask.

Wand - Clearer
Retro, but entirely in vogue a la Toy, Temple Songs and suchlike. On an album called Ganglion Reef which is out now.

HVOB - Window
To Vienna to finish and this wonderful slice of trance. Her Voice Over Boys. The title track of their new EP which is out on the 28th.

Here's some of that on YouTube:



and some of it on Soundcloud:


More next week, including new Giorgio Moroder. Ooooohh.

18 November 2014

Hello again. Show of two halves here, the back half being populated with some lengthy tunes.

Silver Arm - Scatterbrainzz
More noise from this bunch of noisy noisersons. Out yesterday as a digital-only single on Big Tea records.

The Crytearions - No Escaping
Jimmy Monaghan from Galway is The Crytearions. Also, I see what he's done there. Off his album These Songs Hate You which came out in September.

Moth - Young Future
Something of early Echo and The Bunnymen about this, which can't ever be a bad thing. They're from Copenhagen and it's off the album First Second which came out in June.

Cover Version Corner
Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot/Luna with Laetitia Sadier - Bonnie And Clyde
Lovely stuff. With Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab on vocals, the latter one switches the roles with the female singer the one who can actually sing. With the best will in the world, Bardot was a lot like when Nico sang with the Velvet Underground. Still, it works. The original came out in 1968 and was on two albums, Gainsbourg's Initials BB and the Gainsbourg/Bardot album called Bonnie And Clyde. The other one is from 1995 and is on Luna's LP Penthouse.


Shopping - Long Way Home
One that reminds me of something I can't quite put my finger on. In a good way, like. It's a year old now, but I'm only just getting to it. Off the album Consumer Complaints.

Poundstore Riot - Bobby's Basement
Two tracks that are collaborations between members of other bands now. First, this from Ash Cooke from Pulco and Stu Kidd from BMX Bandits. The album Writing The Wrongs is out now on Folkwit Records and is really good. This is particularly fine though - lyrically and musically beautiful.

Ultimate Painting - Three Piers
This one sees James Hoare from Mazes and Veronica Falls' Jack Cooper. The self-titled album came out three weeks ago. Well worth your time.

Samuraj Cities - The Things Kids Call Rock n Roll
Back to Scandinavia now, to Gothenburg. Another one from last year - May last year in fact - off the album Metallic.

Bonobo - Pelican
To the long records now, starting with this from Simon Green, aka Bonobo. His new EP is out on December 1, it's called Flashlight and it's predictably very good.

One Degree of Separation
Simple Minds - Theme For Great Cities
LaTour - Blue
One of the great instrumentals from Simple Minds. Easy to forget they were once at the cutting edge of something. It's been chopped up, sampled, covered and all sorts since, including that from William LaTour. That dates from 1991 and the album LaTour. It also featured on the Basic Instinct soundtrack. The original is from 1981 and you can find it on the compilation album Themes For Great Cities '79-'81.

Menj Kapálni - Népvándorlás
To Hungary now, which I believe is a first for this show. The album is Náspángoló which came out in July on Hudini Records. Just don't ask me how to pronounce any of this. I'm going to go learn what those accents mean in Hungarian later.

Stephan Bodzin and Marc Romboy - Kerberos
I've been trying to play this for ages in it's full, unadulterated, nine-minute form, but kept having to drop it as I simply didn't have the time. But here we are. Stephan is from Bremen and Marc from Mönchengladbach and this came out in September on Systematic Records.

Virginia Wing - Meshes
And we end with what might be my favourite track of the year. Certainly there isn't much time to come up with better. Absolutely top drawer stuff and right up my street. The band are from East London - as in the eastern part of the capital of the UK, not the city in South Africa - and their debut album, Measures Of Joy, is out now. This is just fantastic.

Some of that is on Youtube:


and some of it is on Soundcloud:


And we'll do it all again next week.

11 November 2014

Well happy with what I've got for you tonight. Strap in.

Shellac - Riding Bikes
Off the new album Dude Incredible, their first in seven years, which came out in September on Touch & Go. Go get it. Go now, then get back here pronto.

The Blue Dawns - Refuse To Follow
From York, which is a city that hasn't been well-served musically down the years, with all due respect to Shed 7. This came out a couple of weeks ago on Glass Door Recordings.

The Young Sinclairs - You're Tied
Off the album This Is The Young Sinclairs, which is a nonsense tile. These Are... surely, not This Is... Anyway, these are The Young Sinclairs and they're from Roanoke in Virginia. The album is out now.

Cover Version Corner
Kraftwerk - Das Model
Polykeeper - The Model
I always prefer the German versions of Kraftwerk records. They're just so much more evocative and... efficient. From the 1978 album Der Mensch Maschine. The cover is available as a pay-what-you-like download from the Metal Postcards Bandcamp page and is part of a selection of Asian covers of Kraftwerk tracks. Disco-funk tastic!

Blank Realm - Cleaning Up My Mess
From Brisbane, this is off the album Grassed In which came out in January. Great stuff.

The Growlers - Not The Man
A unique sound that they call beach goth. Off the album Chinese Fountain that came out in September.

Dutch Uncles - In 'n' Out
Their fourth album O Shudder isn't out until February, but here's a taster. Picking up pretty much where they left off and ploughing a singular furrow.

Belle and Sebastian - The Party Line
It stands to reason that if Belle And Sebastian were going to go all disco pop on us, they'd do it better than anyone else. Their 9th album, and first in five years, is Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance and comes out in January.

Deerhoof - Mirror Monster
Here's a track from their 12th album, La Isla Bonita, which came out last week. Demands more ear time.

Fugazi - Merchandise
One from way back, well 1990 anyway. Still relevant - you are not what you own.

One Degree of Separation
Tyrannosaurus Dead - Bagged And Boarded
TEED - Stronger
TEED being Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, which gives you your connection. That track is off the 2012 release Trouble which is exquisite. Before that, a track from the new album, out yesterday, Flying Ant Day.

Tvardovsky - Behind The Universe
That's a belter from Svatoslav Tvartovsky, which I clearly cannot say on air after multiple failed attempts. He's from Kiev and there's an album planned which I trust your appetite is truly whetted for.

Tessela - Nancy's Pantry
A proper speaker-buster. Ed Russell, who is based in Bath these days, records as Tessela and that came out last month on R&S Records. Just a stunning record - more of a soundscape in fact.

Jiboia - Manasha
Save the best until last? Maybe. Oscar Silva from Portugal is a multi-instrumentalist and is the only artist on this track. On an EP called Jiboia, it's available as a pay-what-you-like download from Lovers And Lollipops. You'd be a fool not to.

YouTube clips:


Soundcloud bits:


Back next week with more.

4 November 2011

Early nights, cold nights... Cosy up with this week's selection.

CTMF - Zero Emission
Who needs records longer than two minutes? Given I have several over six minutes... Anyway. The B-side to their recent 7" Punk Rock Enough For Me, which I think I prefer.

Beau - The Night Before Trafalgar
I heard an acoustic version of this a couple of weeks ago, but this is the original from the 2012 album Fables And Facades.

Vision Thing - Living With Ghosts
Liverpool alt-folk band whose new LP is called Hauntology. I'll declare an interest - the bassist is a friend which is how I came across it. Still wouldn't have played it if I didn't like it.

Cover Version Corner
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds/PJ Harvey - Red Right Hand
PJ Harvey's version may be familiar to viewers of Peaky Blinders, which I understand is on television. Before that, from 1994's Let Love In.

Curxes - Valkyrie
Pronounced Curses and off a forthcoming album called Verxe, which is annoying. The music however, is fantastic. More of this please.

Ωracles - Melt Tonight
To Berlin now and another daft name, albeit replacing a letter with a Greek semi-equivalent rather than the wrong letter. Off their debut EP Standford Torus. 

The Horn The Hunt - Find It Free It
Bit closer to home now - Leeds to be clearer. Off their latest LP Terrafidella which is out now.

The Unfortunates - Margate Sands
There are a few bands called The Unfortunates. These ones are from London and this is off an EP called For Boys With One Track Minds which came out in August.

Ghost Society - Under The Sun
To Denmark now and a great track off an album called The Back Of His Hands, Then The Palms. No, me neither.

Hopeku - Ambush
Canada now, Quebec more precisely, off an EP called Kosoku, all of which I got through without tripping over my own tongue.

One Degree of Separation
Barcelona - Kasey Keller
John MOuse - Robbie Savage
Retired footballers for this week's. Exquisite story-telling from Cardiff's John MOuse off his current LP The Death Of John MOuse. Before that, from 2000 off the album Zero One Infinity.

Shift Work - Scaled To Fit
I know I've played this before, but so what when it's this good. Seriously, as good a track as I've heard in years.

Hells Kitchen - It's Not For Me
And we round off this week with this from Krasnodar in Russia. Reminds me a lot of mid-period Underworld which can never be a bad thing. The album is called Letters and is out on Festival Lounge.

Some of that's on YouTube:


and some of it on Soundcloud:


More next week.