25 February 2014

Another Tuesday, so let's see what's in the box this week.

Outfit - Everything All The Time
What a way to start. That's lovely from one of the hottest bands around. The album 'Performance' is out now, but this is from an EP called 'Another Night's Dreams Reach Earth Again' which came out in 2012.

Pastel Colours - She Can't Decide
Another one from the Art Is Hard stable from down in the West Country.

Howling Bells - Slowburn
To Australia now, and the first release from Howling Bells in three years. This came out last week.

Cover Version Corner
Nirvana/Patti Smith - Smells Like Teen Spirit
That's what this section is all about. Completely different versions. Smith has turned it into something completely separate from the original.

Applescal - Give Me A Moabit
Pascal Terstappen is Applescal, a show favourite. This is new and off an Atomnation compilation.

Titeknots - Wordy
This passed me by on it's release last autumn, but I'm so glad I've caught up with it now. A very late-90s Balearic feel to it.

The Strypes - Hard To Say No
To Ireland now and these lads from County Cavan off an EP called '4-Track Mind'. A bit Bloc Party in feel, but certainly different enough to help it stand out in a crowded marketplace.

Retrojet - Murky Window
I don't think we've had a band from Doncaster on before, but that's been remedied now. The title track off a new EP, I really like that. Nice use of brass.

One Degree Of Separation
Tom Lehrer - The Elements
Lemon Jelly - Elements
Time listening to Lemon Jelly is always spent. We must have played every track off 'Lost Horizons' now. Before that, satirist, humorist, mathematician, polymath Tom Lehrer. Recorded in 1959 it includes all the elements up to Nobelium. There have been many more found since then and it wouldn't scan now.

Dust - 1515
Out this month on a Sisterjam compilation called 'Bushwick Is Melting volume 1'. On the back of this, very much looking forward to volume 2.

Ashley Beedle ft Earl Zinger -  Ghost Dancers
I've been after this for ages and finally got my hands on it. This came out last October and it's been on my list since then. Worth the wait.

Lee Bannon - Prime/Decent
Another one I've been waiting a long time to acquire. This is off the album 'Alternate/Endings' which came out last month. It's a belter.

Pins - Waiting For The End
An all-girl band from Manchester, the album 'Girls Like Us' came out last month. Perky, punky, bang on.

Colourmusic - Dreamgirl '82
And to end, from the forthcoming album 'May You Marry Rich', is this utter delight. It is pretty much everything I want from a record.

Here's that on a combination of YouTube:



and Soundcloud:



Back next week with more, after a refreshing mini-break.

18 February 2014

A week off last week (for some) due to live football taking over the airwaves, so lots to catch up on this week.

Malachai - I Deserve To No
Fusing Asian influences to create a thoroughly modern record. Malachai are a 2-piece from Bristol and that's off 'Beyond Ugly' which is out on March 31.

Neneh Cherry - Everything
It's been ages since we had a solo effort from Neneh Cherry. With Four Tet in the producers chair, she's created something a bit special. First time I heard this track, it took me a couple of minutes to get into it, but glad I stuck with it. The album is 'Blank Project' and it's out next week.

The Bohicas - Swarm
Some good old-fashioned rock and roll. These are from Essex and that's out now on a double-A single.

Cover Version Corner
Bronski Beat/Heavyball - Smalltown Boy
That's what we want to achieve with this section. Heavyball take a thoroughly familiar track and give it a whole new spin in their ska-influenced fashion. Lovely stuff. Before them, of course it was Bronski Beat, from 1984 and from the album 'The Age Of Consent'.

Cheatahs - Geographic
The long-awaited, self-titled album is out now. I like this track a lot, but I've not yet had chance to peruse the rest of the record. Fingers crossed.

Au Revoir Simone - More Than
From Brooklyn, that is quite lovely. I missed the album at the time - 'Move In Spectrums' came out last autumn - so I'm just getting to it now.

Flyying Colours - Wavygravy
To Australia now. These are from Melbourne and this, their debut single, is out on April 12. There a pun in being two Ys, but I'm not sure what it is.

The Crookes - Play Dumb
I like these. From Sheffield - named for a Sheffield suburb - the much-anticipated album 'Soapbox' is due out on April 14.

One Degree of Separation
The Stranglers - Toiler On The Sea
A Flock Of Seagulls - I Ran
Any excuse to play The Stranglers. One of my favourites of theirs, off the 'Black and White' album of 1978 and followed by some classic '80s electro-pop from a band who took their name from a line in Toiler On The Sea. That track is taken from their debut, self-titled album from 1981.

Tropical Contact - Bagsy Shotgun
Local band who I like a lot. This didn't make their EP which is out now, but that doesn't mean it's terrible.

Illum Sphere - Sleeprunner
Ryan Hunn is Illum Spehere and this is from 'Ghosts Of Then And Now' which came out last week. Mean, dark, moody. Like it.

Black Submarine - Here So Rain
Formerly Black Ships - don't know what happened there - these are from Liverpool. 'New Shores' is the album which came out two weeks ago.

Beats For Beginners - Baby What's Your Sound
Something I only heard last week, but came out in 2007. 'Lazer Beams For Eyes' is the EP. Sounds every bit as current as anything else in the same vain I've heard lately.

Phantogram - Nothing but Trouble
We finish with the lead track from the new album 'Voices' which is out today. A frankly stunning track from an album which is a superior work of art.

Here's all that via the magic of YouTube:


and Soundcloud:


Back next week.

4 February 2014

More of the usual for your listening pleasure.

Heavyball - Black Eye Friday
Out last Friday, this is the new one from these Nottingham lads now based out of London. Terrific stuff. More please.

Container - Glaze
This fair blew my socks off when I first heard it. Stunning stuff from Ren Schofield off the new EP 'Adhesive'.

Toy - It's Been So Long
Been a while since we played these. Off their second album 'Join The Dots', it's another winner.

Cover Version Corner
Chris Isaak/London Grammar - Wicked Game
London Grammar were last year's big thing, but largely by-passed me. She's got a hell of a voice. The original before that from 1990 and the album 'Heart-Shaped World'.

Deadwall - Eyes-White-Shut
We saw these supporting Hookworms at Hebden Trades Club and this track, off the new album 'Bukimi No Tani', really made my ears prick up. The album is great and it's out as of yesterday. The unusual name comes from a book by roboticist Masahiro Mori in which he espouses the theory that we shouldn't make robots to human-like. Presumably that's how Skynet starts.



Balthazar - Leipzig
To Belgium now. These had a lovely album out last year called 'Rats'. This is a new single, out now.

Mogwai - Remurdered
A new album, 'Rave Tapes', is out now and ticks all the Mogwai boxes.

One Degree of Separation
Half Man Half Biscuit - Paradise Lost (You're The Reason Why)
Calvin Party - 8 Days
Label-mates and regular touring compadres is your link. The venerable Probe Plus put out both of these bands and Calvin Party are regular support for HMHB. The Biscuits are playing Holmfirth in April. Bit of luck, so will Calvin Party.

Pete Seeger - Rye Whiskey
The news of Pete Seeger's death came too late for last week's show. I could have picked out anything from his back-catalogue, but this old Scottish drinking song stands out. Off the 1954 album 'Frontier Ballads'.

Eight Rounds Rapid - Talent
That's traduced a popular TV show. It's a fair point. Britain has lots of talent, but most of us don't. New single from these. I think they're ace.

Smog - In The Pines
I should probably have put this after Pete Seeger. It's another old song, done here by Bill Callahan in 2005, most famously recorded by Leadbelly back in the day. It's had various names, various lyrics, various numbers of verses, but this is lovely. Gives the impression of a stream babbling by. Off Smog's 'A River Ain't Too Much Love' album.

Pizzicato Five - Baby Love Child
To Japan, now. These are from Hokkaido and this came out in 1991 on the 'Last Year's Girl' album. It's been used in many films and TV shows; Futurama and the Adam Curtis documentary All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace for two.

TCTS - Lose Control
Tuesday night banger. Sam O'Neill from Manchester is TCTS and that's off an EP called 'These Heights'.

The Fall - Hey! Luciani
And to finish, The Fall. A song about the conspiracy theories surrounding the death of Pope John Paul I after just 33 days in office. That's from 1986 and couldn't possibly be any other band.

Here's a YouTube playlist, missing Deadwall:


And a bit less of it all on Soundcloud:

28 January 2014

A week off last week as I struggled with recalcitrant computers. Anyway, back in the saddle this week with some more solid gold.

Quilt - Tie Up The Tides
Off the forthcoming album 'Held In Splendor' (their spelling - they're from Boston, Massachusetts) which comes out on February 24. That's just lovely.

The Last Skeptik - Hero Mask
The album 'Thanks For Trying' is an audio/visual thing in that each trak comes with it's own short film. Innovative and out now.

The Amazing Snakeheads - Flatlining
Bringing back some good old-fashioned rock n roll to Glasgow. This came out last week and I liek what they do.

Cover Version Corner
Ivor Cutler/Yacht - Women Of The World
I couldn't agree more with the sentiment of the lyrics. We like to play two very different interpretations of a song in this section and the contrat there is quite marked. acht is Jona Bechtolt from Portland and that's from 2007's 'I Believe In You. Your Magic Is Real'. Before that, with the trademark harmonium, Ivor Cutler from 1983 and the album 'Privilege'.

Outfit - Thank God I Was Dreaming
Touted as Liverpool's most exciting band , that's off their acclaimed album 'Performance' which came out last summer.

St Vincent - Digital Witness
Ex-Polyphonic Spree-er Annie Clark is now St Vincent. This is off her eponymous album which comes out on February 24.

Chanteuse and The Crippled Claw - Are You One
I've had this on my list for ages. It came out in 2010, so I'm really behind on it. It's still great though. Adrian Flagan is The Crippled Claw as well as the brains behind the Eccentronic Research Council and his electronic twiddlings are perfectly accompanied by Candie Payne's vocals. A delight.

Practice - Artery
Not got much information about this. Good though, ain't it?

One Degree of Separation
Julian Cope - Bill Drummond Said
Bill Drummond - Julian Cope Is Dead
Bickering between two grown adults... Drummond was once the manager of the Teardrop Explodes before a big fall-out for which Cope lays fault at his feet, hence that track from 1984's 'Fried'. Drummond's respose took a couple of years later on the album 'The Man' where he opines that if he'd just shot Cope, the legend of the Teardrops' legend would have been ensured and their records much bigger sellers.

Civil Protection - From The Parish To The Pavement
Post-rock is not a term I like much, but the accepted definition encompasses what this Yorkshie band do. Very much in the Mogwai envelope, that's off 'Stolen Fire' which came out last autumn.

ESG - Dance
Back to 1983 now and off the debut album by the Scroggins sisters, ' Come Away With ESG'. It still sounds fresh. Emerald, sapphire, gold, if you were wondering.

Hugh Masakela and Letta Mbulu - Mahlalela
Further back now, to 1970 and South africa. Off the album 'Letta', this, again, still sounds contemporary.

Life Without Buildings - New Town
From 2000, but with overtones of early-80s post-punkery, these are from Glasgow and the album 'Any Other City'.

The Modern Lovers - Roadrunner
End with a classic. I've not heard this for an age and there are many worse reasons for playing a track than that. Recorded in 1972, released in 1976, that's off 'The Modern Lovers'. Marvellous.

Here's that in YouTube form:



And slightly less of it on Soundcloud:



More next week

14 January 2014

Possibly our shortest ever Cover Version Corner and a fraternal One Degree this week, plus new stuff and old stuff coming out anew. Onward, travellers...

Big Wave - GW Bridge
A cracking wee tune which came out last May on the quite wonderful Art Is Hard label. We play that for the fact that the George Washington Bridge has become such a political football lately, with the New Jersey governor's office causing hold-ups for people getting across it.

Hospitality - I Miss Your Bones
From Brooklyn, this is on the album 'Trouble' which is out in a fortnight. Can't quite put my finger on what that reminds me of... Good, though.

Joanna Gruesome - Madison
The new single from these who we like a lot. The album 'Weird Sister' came out last October.

Wild Billy Chyldish and CTMF - Joseph Beuys Flies Again
Poet, author, painter, sculptor, Stuckist, Wild Billy Chyldish and CTMF - Chatham Forts, that is - singing about German artist Joseph Beuys who was in the Luftwaffe during WWII. That's off last summer's album 'All Our Forts Are With You'.

Cover Version Corner
Stone Roses/Ke$ha and The Flaming Lips - Elizabeth My Dear
Told you it was short and sweet. 50 seconds of the Stone Roses, from the 'Stone Roses' album from 1989, and about twice that for the Flaming Lips. Theirs comes off an album of Stone Roses covers called 'The Time Has Come To Shoot You Down... What A Sound' which I think I need to explore more.

Pilote - Shapeshifter Blues
I like that a lot. Pilote is Stuart Cullen from Somerset and that is off the album 'The Slowdown' which came out last May.

Mike Hughes - (That Girl Is) Misery
From Sheffield, this was his debut single which came out last autumn. Shades of Richard Hawley stylings, perhaps? Unless I'm imagining it.

Menace Beach - Fortune Teller
That is ace. I like these a lot. Something of a Leeds supergroup, their debut EP 'Lowtalker' is out today. It's good. Get it.

One Degree of Separation
Attempted Moustache - Superman
Half Man Half Biscuit - Ordinary To Enschede
Simon Blackwell and Paul Wright were Attempted Moustache and that's from 1980's 'A Trip To The Dentist' EP. Four years after that, Simon and his brother Nigel - along with Paul Wright - began the greatest band in the world, Half Man Half Biscuit. That one is the B-side to the 1990 single 'Let's Not'.

Silkken Laumann - Obvious Water (Yer A Kitten)
I've been listening to these a lot. They're from Ottawa and the name is a misspelling of a Canadian Olympic rower, Silken Laumann. Anyway, the album 'Not Forever Enough' is available now and you can get it free from their website.

Sultans Of Ping FC - Give Him A Ball (And A Yard Of Grass)
A permanently overlooked bunch of geniuses, this is from their debut album 'Casual Sex In The Multiplex' from 1993. The title is about Nottingham Forest midfielder John Robertson. As Brian Clough said of his less-than-attractive player "I'd sit next to him and be Errol Flynn. But give him a ball and a yard of grass and he was an artist".

Les Pachas du Canapé Vert - Desordre Musical
From Haiti, this is from 1972, but will be on a compilation of Haitian music - 'Haiti Direct' - which comes out on January 27.

Frankie Knuckles - Your Love
A Chicago classic. It's been cut up, sampled and covered many times, but always worth a listen. From 1984 originally, but sounds as good as ever.

Severed Heads - Dead Eyes Opened
And another '80s electronic classic, this time from Sydney. From 1987, this. Fantastic.


YouTube and Soundcloud playlists below. Back with more next week.

7 January 2014

New year, a new you. Well, a new voice for me anyway. Sounding more like Howlin' Wolf after a heavy night on the whiskey and cigars (i.e. I had a bit of a sore throat), it's more tunes and less chat which probably suits the majority.

Pixies - Blue-Eyed Hexe
New from Pixies. Following up last year's EP1 comes the startlingly imaginatively named EP2. EP3 will follow in April and who knows, maybe they'll not change bassist for that one. That role is beginning to resemble that of Spinal Tap's drummer.

Maximo Park - Leave This Island
I'm a fan and the prospect of the forthcoming 'Too Much Information', due out on February 3, is exciting. This is just gorgeous.

Africa Express ft. Ghostpoet and Doucoura - Season Change
One of last year's more interesting projects was Africa Express, something Damon Albarn is involved in. This features Malian drum band Doucoura and the lyrical stylings of Ghostpoet. Lovely stuff.

Cover Version Corner
Kaiser Chiefs/Bonzo Dog Doodah Band - I Predict A Riot
Gloriously silly stuff from the Bonzos from whom it is always a pleasure to hear. That's off the 2007 reunion album 'Pour L'Amour Des Chiens - for the love of dog - albeit very sadly without Vivian Stanshall. Before that, of course the Kaiser Chiefs from their 2005 debut 'Employment'. Lots of woah-woah-woahs and la-la-las which have become their slightly tedious trademark.

Prefab Sprout - The Best Jewel Thief In The World
Another curio that largely by-passed me at the time was the album 'Crimson/Red' - a reference to Mark Rothko it says here - which came out last year. It's pretty much just Paddy McAloon these days, but none the worse for that. Not sure about the synthesised harmonica though.

Stupid Robots - Nightshift
Bryan Drummond from Dunblane is Stupid Robots and this is off 'The Rural Electrification Administration', which is easy for you to say. Delightful.



The War On Drugs - Red Eyes
A couple of records off the Secretly Canadian label now. First, Philadelphia's The War On Drugs. That's off 'Lost In The Dream' which comes out on March 18, when it will hopefully be less crappy weather than tonight.

Damien Jurado - Silver Timothy
He's from Seattle and 'Brothers And Sisters Of The Eternal Son' is out in a couple of weeks time. Kind of a bossa nova feel to that in places.

One Degree Of Separation
Gil Scott Heron - Johannesburg
Latin Quarter - No Rope As Long As Time
Of course the big story while we were on our break was the sad death of Nelson Mandela, so here are two records with an anti-apartheid message. First, and I can't believe we've not played anything by him before, Gil Scott Heron and Brian Jackson from the 1976 album 'From South Africa To South Carolina' and then Latin Quarter from 'Modern Times' which came out in 1985.

Holy Ghost! - Okay (a/jus/ted remix)
The album 'Dynamics' came out in September last year, but this track passed me by. A wonderful remix from Justin Strauss and Teddy Stuart.

East India Youth - Dripping Down
William Doyle is East India Youth and 'Total Strife Forever' is out next week. I did go looking for a different track for this week, but this one got in the way and stuck in my head. I'm sure I'll be playing more of young Master Doyle in the future.

I Break Horses - Denial
To Sweden now. These are from Stockholm and this came out last summer. Again, I question how I missed it at the time.

Colour Of Bone - Keep It That Way
Also from last summer, apparently these feature a lad who starred in Whitechapel. Which I've not seen, but remains one for trivia fans.

Donna Summer - I Feel Love
One chap who did have a good 2013 and something of a career revival, thanks in part to Daft Punk, was Giorgio Moroder. Here's where it started, back in 1977.

Iron Galaxy - The Attendant Army Of Rats
And we close with a dreamy slice of electronica. Iron Galaxy is Adam Hodgins from Montreal and this is off and EP called 'Things We Lost Along The Way' which is another one from last summer that I missed.

More next week when I hope to be able to talk in something other than a gravelly whisper.

Meantime, here's that on YouTube except for the Stupid Robots track which is above:

Pick of the year

In the absence of any air time until January 7, I've put together a selection of some of my favourite tracks from 2013. It's not definitive, I'm not claiming any authority and neither is it in any particular order. It's simply 21 tracks I've enjoyed this last year.
I haven't only enjoyed 21 tracks all year, obviously, but I had to stop somewhere and that just happens to be the number at which I stopped. Anyway, here you go:


Listen, enjoy, share if you like. Tell me what I'm missing, if you really want.
Merry festivities.