5 April 2016

Backlog more or less cleared, so the featured album makes a return alongside the usual gubbins.

Sir Robert Orange Peel - The Spiral
What's not to like? It's Mark E Smith reading the classified football results set to and electronic beat. No box left unticked there.

Rauschenberg - Bad Sister
Off their self-titled LP which came out in January.

The Entrepreneurs - Routine Lines
Danish noise-makers whose EP Tony Rominger came out a week or two ago. Really good stuff.

Featured Album: Teleman - Breakfast
In Your Fur
Lady Low
I went to see these on Saturday as they tour ahead of the release of their second LP, Brilliant Sanity. But we feature their 2014 debut Breakfast here. It's just delicious. Not a bad track on it.

Flies On You - Property Vacant
One of my favourites, the Leeds DIY-ers put out Etcetera last year. However, some of the offcuts that didn't make it onto the LP were collated into an EP which came out on Christmas Day. Gloriously, it's titled Fan Base Repellent.

False Nines - Can't Afford To Wonder
Mancunian tune-smiths, this was released last November, but has only just reached my radar. A band formed thanks to the power of social media.

Nine Tons - Bullpup
These noisy chaps are from Tyneside. No Frills came out in January.

Psychic Soviets - Full Greek Salad
Glasgow now, from November's Eight And A Half On Each Foot.

Kingsley Chapman and The Murder - The Children Scream
Great band from Middlesbrough and this is their new single.

TVAM - Gas And Air
Joe Oxley from Wigan follows up the brilliant Porsche Majeure with the equally fantastic Gas And Air.

Featured Album: Teleman - Breakfast
I'm Not In Control
Our third track from Breakfast is the hidden track at the end of the album. Probably their best. Sounds amazing live.

Karl Bartos - Life
Former Kraftwerker re-releases the 'lost' album Communication. Originally released in 2003, it still sounds box fresh.

El Speaker - Zapapaya feat. Jhnsy and Highdiwaan
Bit of a curio from Paris. A song about a duck and a monkey, apparently.

Erasmus - Ti Recordi Di Me
The Dewaele brothers - aka Soulwax - come back with another alter ego to record the soundtrack to the film Belgica. The album was launched in February.

Oligarkh - Hallelujah
And finally, some Russian electronica off the LP Anatoly. It's dead good.

Here's your YouTube bits:



and Soundcloud:



and Bandcamp:

More next week.

29 March 2016

Hello again.

Two Car Family - Land Is Mine
Shoegazey type of stuff from out of Leeds. That's all I got.

Liines - Blackout
Manchester now, the new single from these. They're really good, especially live. This came out on the 11th.

Pale Kids - Sick (For A While)
Perky punky stuff from Durham. The EP is Home By Nine and came out last Friday.

Right Hand Left Hand - Tarts And Darts
Cardiff next, from their self-titled second album which came out in February.

Skeleton Frames - Leech
On South-Western label Art Is Hard come these south-westerners. Great grungey stuff.

Blood Lips - Burn After Breeding
About as metal as I get. It's got something about it that draws me in. They're Welsh, incidentally.

Steve Taylor and The Danielson Foil - Nonchalant
Steve Taylor and the Perfect Foil team up with Daniel Smith of Danielson to produce something new. Lo-fi goodness from the EP Wow To The Deadness which is out on April 22.

Nishe - Out Of Place
London 5-piece from the EP Underlaps which came out last December.

Loose Tooth - Everything Changes
Another one from the Melbourne slacker-rock scene. This is off Saturn Returns which is out on Friday.

Cold Pumas - A Change Of Course
Brighton next, and the album Saturn Returns, their second, is out in summer. It has a real summery vibe, so that should work.

Sunface - Sunface
I got nothing. Just enjoy it.

Tail Feather - Space Travel
Glorious. Reading psych-rockers with their new single which came out a few weeks ago.

exmagician - Place Your Bets
Belfast duo that we have played before. Scan The Blue is the LP, came out on Thursday.

Mull Historical Society - The Ballad Of Ivor Punch
Colin Macintyre is Mull Historical Society and his novel The Letters Of Ivor Punch is released on April 8, the same day as the LP Dear Satellite. Call it a companion piece if you like.

Twinfield - Ceri Dwi Angen Cysgu
Welsh, innit. It means 'Ceri, I Need To Sleep'.

Happy Meals - If You Want Me Now
Glaswegian duo whose new EP, Fruit Juice, is out in May. Lovely.

Here's that on YouTube:



and Soundcloud:



and we go again next week. Ta ta.

22 March 2016

That was a longer break than expected, for a variety of reasons. Anyway, what it means is that I've got a massive backlog, so I'm putting the featured album on hold for a couple of weeks while I whittle it down a bit. So let's catch up with what's been tickling my ears these last few weeks.

Asian Dub Foundation - Blade Ragga
Another one from last year's More Signal More Noise LP and a track for which a video was released a couple of weeks ago. Instrumental, this is everything that underpins what ADF do with added flute.

The Cravats - Jingo Bells
Familiar theme. Old band, long hiatus, back on the scene. Redditch's Cravats return with their first release in 10 years - second in 30 - an ageing punks talk state of the nation. Fortunately, they're still quite good.

Bad Mood - May 2nd
T'other end of the youth spectrum, but also clearly unhappy with the state of things. This is the Liverpool band's debut single, out on Friday.

Nai Harvest - Just Like You
A new one from these, off a double-A single which I believe is out now. Sheffield continuing to churn out top acts.

Eagulls - My Life In Rewind
Another from the forthcoming second album from these. We now have a title too. Following their acclaimed debut 'Eagulls', comes Ullages. See what they did there. They're from Leeds, by the way.

Future Of The Left - If AT&T Drank Tea, What Would BP Do?
Another teaser from the forthcoming The Peace And Truce Of The Future Of The Left which I cannot wait for. But must. Obviously. Because that's how time works.

Life - Popular Music
Hull next. Another boot in the balls of anyone scoffing at it's UK Capital Of Culture nod. This is great stuff. Came out back end of January.

Super Besse - Nasilie
Easily the best thing to come out of Belarus since Vasil Kiriyenka. No, flippancy aside, I bloody love these. Like a post-Soviet Joy Division. This is the new single. It means 'violence' and it came out last month.

Beak> - Timeshare
To Bristol and the side project of Portishead's Geoff Barrow who have put together the soundtrack for the film Couple In A Hole.

Tehnoloogiline Päike - Remember Me
Estonia now, which I think is breaking new ground for us. Either way, delightful, floaty electronica with a French influence from their LP Technological Sun which came out at the back end of February.

Wire - Nocturnal Koreans
The title track from their new EP, this surpasses recent releases by a long way. It might be the best thing they've ever done, or I might be getting carried away. Either way, I love it.

Oh, The Guilt - White Car
More Bristolians. This is their debut single and it's out in May. It's that relentless, driving guitar that reminds me of a couple of things I can't quite put my finger on. Like it.

Sad Culture - Raspberry Ooze
Another track from the latest Art Is Hard Records singles club. This time, subscribe and you get a pin badge and a download code, which is a nice touch. Anyway, these are from London and it's pure, sunshiney pop with that little ska edge which lifts it beyond it's contemporaries.

Replica Jesus - Everything Rots
Derby now. Loud, raucous and excellent. This actually came out last September, so lord knows where it's been hiding. Great stuff.

Seize the Chair - Knew You'd Never Been There
Back to Sheffield for this. And that's all I really know other than I like it a lot. Sort of slacker-rock, just a level above lo-fi.

Solar Bears - Gravity Calling
And we finish with more electronica, this time from Irish duo John Kowalski and Rian Trench. The LP is called Advancements and came out last Friday. Very Boards of Canada.

Here's that on YouTube:



and Soundcloud:



and I'll clear some more of this backlog next week.

23 February 2016

Me again.

Soda - Blonde On Blonde
A debut long player from these who come from Gainesville, Florida. Without A Head is the title and it came out last month. It's out on Dull Tools which is run by Andrew Savage of Parquet Courts and it certainly fits that sort of template.

Drug Pizza - No Reaction
Staying with American lo-fi, this time from New York. This is off the new EP due out next month titled Return To Content Mountain.

Peat Moss - Red Velvet Records
Although formed in 1987, this is just their third LP. Moustache Vending Machine - great title - was recorded over five years. No rush lads.

Featured album: Therapy? - Babyteeth
Meat Abstract
Innocent X
Their debut consisted of two mini-albums, the first of which was Babyteeth. Released in July 1991, I was hooked instantly. And finally, I go see them play live this Friday in Sheffield. Meat Abstract is the first track. The use of samples was unusual, but helped it stand out. The track names too - both of these named for pieces of art by Helen Chadwick and Francis Bacon respectively. And they're still going strong and the world is better place because of that.

Yeti Lane - Good Words Gone
Some psych-rock from Paris. Ben Pleng and Charlie B are Yeti Lane and this is from their third album, L'Aurore, which is out on March 4.

Deny All Robots - Knife Games
Fuzzy guitars abound on this. They're from Lichfield and this, their latest single, came out on January 1.

The Haiduks - Diamond Drop
To Canada now for something from a while back but having just been re-issued by Burger Records. 1968 is the name of the album.

Cavern Of Anti-Matter - Melody In High Feedback Tones
These have been around a while and though there have been a couple of 12" releases, they describe 'beats/innovation trex' as their first album "proper". Tim Gane and Joe Dilworth of Stereolab and Holger Zapf make up CoAM while several guests crop up on the LP. This could be Neu! if you didn't know. That is A Good Thing.

Aesop Rock - Rings
A new LP from Portland rapper Ian Bavitz, his first in nearly four years. The Impossible Kid is out on April 29 and if this is representative of the rest of it, it'll be brilliant. This is astonishingly good.

Featured album
Therapy? - Dancin' With Manson
The closer of Babyteeth and possibly still my favourite track of all that they've ever done. Anthony Hopkins is on the sample here.

Acid Arab - Hafla
More from Paris now. Guido Minisky and Hervé Carvalho make up Acid Arab and the EP Djazirat El Maghreb came out last October. Very Muslimgauze.

Thin Films - Mantis
It's been eleven years since Dan McRae released his debut LP Eskimo, but this is a portent of things to come. It's lovely.

David Bowie - Love Is Lost (Hello Steve Reich Mix)
Just the five minute edit, not the full 630 seconds. This is from the LP The Next Day Extra which came out in 2013, an album of remixes of tracks from his penultimate album. LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy is on the mixing duties for this one.

Here's that on Youtube:



and Soundcloud:



Not in next week and it's football the week after, so I'll be back in three weeks.

16 February 2016

Urgh, gross. As in, this is my 144th show.

The King Blues - Off With Their Heads
Three and a half years on, they've reformed and have lots to be angry about. This is the title track from the new LP due out on the 26th.

Penny Mob - War On The Streets
Don't know much about these, but they're from Coatbridge although now based in that there London. And they make cracking tunes.

Syd.31 - Hate
Angry Mancunian thrash punk. The EP Drowning In Air came out last December.

Featured album(ish)
Viola Beach - Boys That Sing/Cherry Vimto
Awful news at the weekend as Warrington indie-poppers Viola Beach were involved in a car crash in Sweden on their first overseas tour. All were killed. So instead of a normal featured album, I'm playing some of their tracks by way of small tribute.

Future Of The Left - The Limits Of Battleships
A taster off the forthcoming LP, due April 8, which is titled The Peace And Truce Of... Can not wait.

My-Ra Superstar - Pig Skull
A new one on me and another to add to the growing list of exciting South Wales stuff. This is from a while ago, off the 2014 album What Separates Us From The Beasts. Their latest one, Some Of These Objects Are Cursed, came out last October. And who doesn't love long album titles?

Nine Tons - No Go
Self-styled 'shautrock' band from Tyneside, this is off their debut album No Frills which came out last month.

Teleman - Dusseldorf
Another track taken from the forthcoming second LP Brilliant Sanity. Wonderful stuff.

Phobophobes - No Flavour
We played an old one of theirs last week, so let's bring it bang up to date. This is the new single. Their live shows are getting rave reviews too.

Shonen Knife - Jump Into The New World
35 years and still going strong. The new LP, their 19th, is called Adventure and comes out in March. What a treat it is to be alive at the same time as these.

Featured album(ish)
Viola Beach - Swings And Waterslides
It's just all so terribly sad. This is the latest single which has made it into the top 40 after a bit of a social media campaign.

Larusso - Fever
Proving there's more to Utah than Mormonism, this is the Salt Lake City band's new single, following up the 2014 album Life In Static.

Ulrika Spacek - I Don't Know
This is amazing. Krautrock lives on. These are from Berlin and it's off their debut album, The Album Paranoia.

Yeyey - Wild Things
Ben Shepard is Yeyey, alumnus of numerous acts but most known for Uzi And Ari. The new album is The Vision and it's sublime.

Applescal - Leone Highway
House favourite producer Pascal Terstappen is back with an EP also called Leone Highway on the highly impressive Atomnation label. It came out last month and will be spinning for a while yet.

Here's that on YouTube:



and Soundcloud:



Doing owt next week? Great, I'll see you back here.

9 February 2016

Hello again.

Eagulls - Lemontrees
Leeds band returning with a new track off their forthcoming second album. Plaintive, Smiths-esque vocals adorn darkly punkish guitars.

Ten Benson - Rock Cottage
An oldie from the London swamp-rockers for no real reason. It's off the 2000 album Hiss which is pretty good fun.

Half Japanese - That Is That
A new album, their fifteenth studio LP, Perfect came out at the back end of last month and sees them in typical form. Art punk, they call it, which seems fair enough.

Featured Album
Primal Scream - Movin' On Up
Primal Scream - Shine Like Stars
Primal Scream truly landed with Screamadelica. Their first two LPs were not commercial hits, but the grounding from those all came together on their third. That and it's timing. In 1991, it crossed the gap between indie and acid house. I hate to use the term zeitgeist, but... well it is apt.

Malcolm Middleton - You And I
Lovely stuff from a grossly underrated artist. The new LP is Summer Of '13 and was made with producer Miaoux Miaoux, which might explain the more electronic aspect. Record of the week.

Phobophobes - Advertise Your Life
Grungey, grimy and passed me by initially. This came out last May and it's terrific. They're from Peckham and I'll be making sure I don't miss out in future.

Desert Mountain Tribe - Runway
More London-based rock as a debut album is lined up for release in March.

The Baggios - Adios Baggio
Easily my favourite Brazilian blues-rock outfit. This is a bonus track off the 2013 album Sina and I'm playing it because I like it and for no other reason.

Fuzzy Vox - Distracted
While you expect French acts to be all ethereal and electronic a la Daft Punk, Air, M83 and so on, here are some Parisians playing some good old-fashioned garage rock. No Landing Plan is out on the 26th of this month.

Melt Yourself Down - Dot To Dot
The title track of the new LP from the avant-garde jazz funk combo which came out last month. They do make a glorious racket.

Featured Album
Primal Scream - Come Together
The longest track off Screamadelica, a real late-night come-down track. Beats the track of the same name by The Beatles into a cocked hat.

The Country Dark - Demon In Bambi Lee
To Finland now, and a band clearly influenced by Nick Cave and that whole murder ballad thing. Hypnic Jerk is the name of their third LP which this is the lead track from. Out now. Go get it.

Manuka Honeys - Let It Go
A new single from Brighton band Manuka Honeys - great name, incidentally. You'd be forgiven for thinking it was Kurt Cobain on vocals.

Burnt Palms - Last Time
Classic Californian slacker rock. The LP Back On My Wall came out last week.

Sweet Baboo - Blowing Up My Mind
Stephen Black returns with a new EP. Titled Dennis, it's out on February 26 and features this cover of an old Northern Soul classic. And it comes with a video of chopped together public information films.

Here's that on YouTube:



and Soundcloud:



And we'll see what next week brings up.

2 February 2016

Right, back to it after those couple of weeks when everything went off. I shan't bore you with it.

Birdskulls - Clawing At The Door
Noisy. These are from Brighton and the debut album is Trickle.

OhBoy! - The Carrot And The Stick
From Northampton and signed to Alcopop! Records, this came out on January 22. You can get it as a single and t-shirt package, inventively. Perky, but that ending just isn't working for me.

PJ Harvey - The Wheel
She's back. A ninth studio album, The Hope Six Demolition Project, is coming in April. This is classic Polly Jane.

Featured Album
The Long Ryders - Looking For Lewis And Clark
The Long Ryders - State Of My Union
An overdue retrospective of the alt-country rockers active in the mid- to late-80s. A four-disc compilation, Final Wild Songs, is out on Cherry Red as of last week. Worth checking out. Looking For Lewis And Clark in particular is still a cracking record.

USA Nails - They'd Name An Age
Released back in November on the LP No Pleasure, this is ace. Grungy, grimy goodness.

Joe Bone and The Dark Vibes - The Exorcist
To Glasgow next and ex-Coffins front man Bone with his latest project release an EP called Four Shades Of Dark. Nick Cave-esque, it's dark and gothic and great. This track also features the suitably biblical vocals of The Very Rev D Wayne Love of Alabama 3.

gharials - Maschera
Don't know much about these. They're from St Helens and this is really cool. And that's it.

Anchorsong - Expo
Absolutely love this. Japanese producer Masaaki Yoshida is Anchorsong, albeit now based in Europe. That bass...

Portishead - Magic Doors
Because why not. From the imaginatively titled third album, Third, back in 2008. Still great.

Featured Album
The Long Ryders - Gunslinger Man
Another one you can find on Final Wild Songs which is simply bloody great fun.

Lenzman - Golden Age feat Steo
I don't play enough drum and bass. It's more laid back than most of that genre. It's the title track from a 6-track mini-album that came out a few weeks ago on Metalheadz.

Underworld - I Exhale
Exciting new stuff from Underworld and back on some sort of form after Karl Hyde's Eno collaboration which I didn't get. They sound like The Fall here. Barbara Barbara, We Face A Shining Future is the new LP, due March.

Vessels - 4AM
Delicious late-night wind-down/chill-out stuff from the Leeds electronica merchants. Dilate is the LP, out on April 1. No kidding.

Here's that on YouTube:



and Soundcloud:



and providing nothing goes wrong, I'll be back in a week.