Drenge - Backwaters
John: I like these. Brothers Eoin and Rory Loveless from Castleton in the Peak District, but now firmly established in the Sheffield pantheon. This is the new single, telling of those years growing up in the middle of nowhere, and was launched with a great video.
Carolyn: We'd play them a lot more if they didn't swear quite so much. This is a family show.
The Orwells - Mallrats (La La La)
John: That's how you end a record. From the suburbs of Chicago, these are five teenagers making raw, energetic music. Sort of sounds like early Strokes or Hives.
Carolyn: Another tale of misspent youth as well. Are you trying to tell us something?
The Dubwood Allstars - Under Dub Wood
John: What a treat. I've been trying to insist to people how good that is and telling them that it's Richard Burton reading Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood over the top of a King Tubby dub beat and it sounds ridiculous. But it's anything but. It works and it's great.
Carolyn: It's certainly very interesting. The echo effect on Burton's voice adds a depth to it as well.
John: It came out recently on a limited edition 7" on Rivertones Records.
Cover Version Corner
The Psychedelic Furs/The National - Pretty In Pink
John: Now, I think the organ on the National's version of that lends it a melancholic tone that the original doesn't have and makes it a very different thing to listen to.
Carolyn: Yeah, it changes the whole tone. I wondered where it was going when the organ kicked in.
John: That's off 'Daytrotter Session' from 2007. The original is from 1981 and the album 'Talk Talk Talk'.
Mutiny On The Bounty - Myanmar
John: So that's what all the kids are listening to in downtown Luxembourg.
Carolyn: When you said they were from Luxembourg, I did wonder what language they were going to sing in. Answer: None.
John: They call it 'math rock', a term that I don't really get. Sounds more like prog for a new generation to me.
Billy Bragg - Handyman Blues
John: A new album from the Bard of Barking, his 15th, called 'Tooth And Nails' and it's less political and more love songs.
Carolyn: A nice change of pace and just a really nice song. All I could think while listening to it is you, yesterday, mowing the lawn and one of the wheels falling off the mower.
John: I got it back on! The album came out in March and a cracking video of this was released last week. Directed by Johnny Vegas, it stars a Who's Who of British comedy.
Splashh - All I Wanna Do
John: We've had these before and we have been expecting an album at some point. Now we know that it'll be called 'Comfort' and this will be on it and I really like it. That's Splashh with two aitches.
Carolyn: Of course with two aitches...
One Degree of Separation
Jurassic 5 - Swing Set
Delta 5 - Mind Your Own Business
John: Delta 5, from Leeds, very much part of the thing termed post-punk, that was from 1979. And before that, Jurassic 5.
Carolyn: The link being the number 5 then, I presume?
John: Of course.
Carolyn: You could have gone for Five Star.
John: But I don't like them. That Jurassic 5 track is off the 2000 album 'Quality Control'. I thought it'd be right up your street.
Inspiral Carpets - Fix Your Smile
John: If I'd not said that this was an Inspiral Carpets record, I reckon you'd have worked it out for yourself. The unmistakeable organ stylings of Clint Boon. That was their release for Record Store Day in April which we've had a few things from.
Carolyn: You're right, it's fairly distinctive.
John: I went to see them in March as a birthday treat. Brilliant.
Carolyn: And the audience full of blokes your age, give or take, all in polos, jeans and trainers trying to rediscover lost youth.
John: Like that's a bad thing?
Waldeck - Midsummer Night Blues
John: That's Klaus Waldeck from Vienna off an album called 'Ballroom Stories' from 2007. We play that because it's been midsummery lately.
Carolyn: And a sample of Ella Fitzgerald.
Marnie - The Hunter
John: This is ex-Ladytron singer Helen Marnie going solo. This is the first single off her solo debut 'Crystal World' which is out some time this month.
And that's all we've got time for. We've barely made a dent on that backlog. Ah well, it'll keep. Here's all that in a YouTube playlist except for the Dubwood Allstars track which is here. Go here and listen to it. Here. Over here. Go. Go now.
