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.

28 January 2013

Finally, we got back in the studio.

Petula Clark - Cut Copy Me
John: A wonderful record and I had no idea who it was by on first hearing it.
Carolyn: If you'd not told me who it was before we got here, I'd not have known. How old is she now?
John: 80. And sounds as good as ever.
Carolyn: Sounds better than McCartney and he's not that old... My dad was kissed on the cheek by Petula. In Bradford. He was a big fan. He won't know she's got new stuff out.

John Grant - Pale Green Ghosts
John: Six minutes and I make no apology for it. That is quite astonishing. There is a shorter radio edit, but I prefer this - it's stark, bleak and interesting.
Carolyn: Quite like you then.
John: Cheeky. Grant is from Denver, formerly of The Czars, but based in Reykjavik now and if I hear a better record this year, I'm in for a treat. This is out on March 11.


Concrete Knives - Greyhound Racing
Carolyn: I like that one.
John: These are from Caen in northern France and it's off the forthcoming album 'Be Your Own King'.

Cover Version Corner
Etienne Daho - Weekend A Rome
St Etienne - He's On The Phone
John: I'm cheating here - it's not strictly speaking a cover, rather two records that share the same melody, but Etienne Daho did work with St Etienne on their 'version'.
Carolyn: You've undermined the whole concept! Just to get a St Etienne record in there somehow.
John: Daho is from Algeria and that was out in 1984 on the album 'La Notte, La Notte'. The St Etienne one reached number 11 in 1995.

On An On - The Hunter
John: From Chicago, that's out tomorrow, off the album 'Give In'.
Carolyn: Didn't like it.
John: I thought you'd go for those big swoopy late '80s/early '90s bits.
Carolyn: Yeah, that bit was OK. The auto-tuney bits might get a bit annoying on repeat listening though.

Suede - Barriers
John: Their first stuff for ten years, that's the new single off the forthcoming album 'Bloodsports'.
Carolyn: It might be new, but it's instantly familiar. They've not changed much. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Dutch Uncles - Flexxin'
John: From Marple, near Stockport, I reckon these are going to be huge in 2013. That's Flexxin', the new single off the debut album 'Out Of touch In The Wild'. Two Xs, no G.
Carolyn: Bloomin' spelling again! What do they teach these kids?

Virals - Summer Girls
John: From Worcester, that's off an EP called 'Strange Fruit'.
Carolyn: I like that. Sounds like The Vaccines a bit, and I like them.

Jacco Gardner - Clear The Air
John: That's out on February 19 and he's from Zwaag in The Netherlands. It reminds me a bit of the Randall And Hopkirk (Deceased) theme tune.
Carolyn: I see where you're coming from.

One Degree Of Separation
The Specials - Why?
Fun Boy Three - Tunnel Of Love
Carolyn: So have you subverted this format idea as well?
John: You know I haven't. It's a simple one this one. I played some Fun Boy Three as you've previously expressed an interest, and before that it was The Specials with Why? which was the B-side to Ghost Town.
Carolyn: The link being..??
John: Terry Hall, Neville Staples and Lynval Golding formed the latter from the remnants of the former.

Peace - Wraith
John: Bringing it bang up to date, the new one from these. Another band of whom great things are expected.

Jagwar Ma - The Throw
John: A 7-minuter, but again I don't apologise. I really like that.
Carolyn: Yeah, me too. I'm getting a bit of Happy Mondays from it, if you see what I mean.
John: Aye, a bit. And something else I can't put my finger on. Jagwar Ma are Jono Ma and Gabriel Winterfield from Sydney. In Australia, that is, in case you were thinking of a different Sydney.

Wave Machines - I Hold Loneliness
John: New one from these who are from Liverpool off the album 'Pollen' which is out now.

Sweet Baboo - Let's Go Swimming Wild
John: Sweet Baboo is Stephen Black from north Wales and that came out at the back end of last year.


Here's this weeks YouTube playlist.