SoundsXP.com - indie, folk and alt-country reviews

A Classic Education interview

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:34:03 PST

A Classic Education

A Classic Education are a six-piece band from Bologna, Italy whose epic melodramas seem to attracting much attention. They played Indietracks in 2008 and are frequent visitors to London and further afield. Following a trip to CMJ in New York in October, they’re back in the UK this month: they play at the Lexington on 26 November and the Buffalo Bar the following night. They have released two records: an eponymous, self-released one sided 12” in 2008 and a 7” Best Regards/ Rest on Balilwick Records in July 2009. We spoke to singer-guitarist Jonathan Clancy in November 2009.

SXP: Jonathan, I understand that you’re Italian-Canadian while the rest of the band is Italian. When and how did the band form?

Jonathan: That's right, although I've been living back and forth for quite some time. We have all been playing in different bands for a long period of time and then a few Xmas's ago we just decided we wanted a shift and we were looking for something new. Luca, Paul and I started just fleshing out songs at home and then gradually we grew into a band adding the others (Giulia, Federico & Stefano). We all live near or around Bologna, apart from one of us who live on Lake Garda - a great place to zone out and go practice when we need to.

SXP: I know the band is from Bologna, which has a big student population. Is there much of an indie scene there and in other cities?

Jonathan: Italy has a pretty good scene, might have actually been better a few years ago. Nowadays the "big thing" is to sing in Italian and we're not really about that...but there are a ton of amazing bands that regularly tour outside of the country. Bologna is special, it's a natural stop for all touring bands so we had the luck of seeing great shows at an early age, even more experimental stuff. I think it gave us a good background and it has helped the city with a tradition of strong bands that tend to look outside of Italy instead of "inside" Italy if you know what I mean. Hopefully this trend of singing in Italian will die down a bit in the future. Not that we have anything against it, it's just that now bands that sing in English seem to not be recognized at all. I mean it's just a language, people should be able to express themselves in whatever language they prefer. I'd love maybe next time to make a long list of all the amazing Italian bands around!

SXP: You seem to make fairly frequent trips to the UK (which we like!) and you’ve played South By South West. Are you developing an international following now?

Jonathan: I don't really know how it works with creating a "following" nowadays. We seem to be doing ok and we are just so happy and honoured that we get to travel as much as we do and find a small but attentive crowd. Our 12" did pretty well considering it was self-released, we finished it in a few months and have recently repressed it. We're not going to stop, we love playing all over the place, and hope to do more. We think it's the only way of making a band work.

SXP: Your songs seem to have strong lyrical content. ‘Best Regards’, for example, is the story of a theatrical couple whose lives unravel after they cheat their way to the top. Would you say that sort of depth of meaning is typical of A Classic Education song?

Jonathan: I would hope so, I try to at least convey some depth. With lyrics it's always hard, I'm always tied between giving imagery, telling a story and making the song work. I often end up making up a lot of the lyrics while we are playing live and settle on something just when we record. I think ‘Best Regards’ is definitely one of the better examples amongst our songs. I think lyrics are very important, but I also know not many people really pay attention to them. I definitely would love to be able to spend more and more time on lyrics... sometimes I just catch myself saying "Jonathan, you could do better."

SXP: There’s a sense of epic-ness and melodrama in your songs that reminds us of Arcade Fire and the Decemberists, to name two bands. Do you see any similarity – and do you like those bands?

Jonathan: Yeah I think we definitely have that sense, especially in the first stuff we put out. Now we are trying to be a bit more sombre, I think we have a darker aspect than those bands, also we tend to be a little less folky maybe...not sure. We've been trying to insert a lot of 50's and 60's stuff into our songwriting recently. We definitely think the Arcade Fire is an amazing band, I wouldn't say we are big Decemberists fans, although that's a guy that can write lyrics! I don't think we necessarily want to convey that sense of grandeur in the music we make, we want it to be tinier, shadier and a little more timid!

SXP: Jeremy Warmsley produced your last record ‘Best Regards’/ ‘Rest’. Was that a one-off or are you likely to work together again?

Jonathan: I don't know, we had a great time together, a real special moment up in the mountains in this amazing recording studio. I know Jeremy is really busy with all his projects but who knows something cool could come up, he's an amazing musician! We actually just recorded some new stuff in London at this place called Unit Rad with Paul Jones.

SXP: The artwork on your releases is really striking. Who is Ester Grossi and what do you like about it? Does she paint it with A Classic Education in mind?

Jonathan: She's Italy's best kept secret or that is what I always tell her. She's a real close friend that happens to be our fave artist. If there is one thing I think is right in this band it's Ester's artwork, I just find it so beautiful even on its own, she just has a way of creating something that is pop and, yeah, striking and mysterious. She's definitely going to be doing all our artwork. She paints with the band in mind; as soon as we finish songs I pass ‘em on to her and we discussed a couple of themes, especially for the Best Regards single. I can't wait to see what she comes up with on our album.

SXP: You’ve produced a couple of excellent cover versions. First there was a wonderful English language version of ‘Toi’, which was originally sung by Gilbert Becaud in Antonio Pietrangeli’s 1965 film Io La Conoscero Bene. Why choose that - was it the film or song that seduced you?

Jonathan: First of all, thanks! One day I heard the song on TV and just instantly fell in love with it. I looked for it all over and watched the movie and just obsessed about it. I felt the song was perfect, and so modern, and we just had to cover it. I also really liked translating it to English, it just works so nicely and we had so much fun recording it. In a way that song even helped us focus on what we wanted to achieve on our newer songs.

SXP: More recently, you've offered your version of the Jerry Leiber/ Phil Spector classic ‘Spanish Harlem’ as a MP3. It works very well in your simple arrangement but were you daunted by the fact that it's so recognisable and so many great artists (e.g. Aretha Franklin) have covered it?

Jonathan: It's funny, I'm quite a geek for old tunes and I actually had not really paid attention to Aretha's version. We were having breakfast in London about a month ago and it came on. I knew Ben E. King's version and didn't like it that much...so when I heard Spector's version I just though: “Wow! what a simple and perfect tune!”. Plus I started romanticizing on the story of that recording, it literally sounds like Spector was in the studio, picked up a guitar and played and recorded the tune. Once again we recorded the song at Paul's (bassist) home studio and fell in love with it even more.

SXP: The scenes from the film that you used in the video for ‘Toi’ featured a beautiful actress and the iconic Fiat 500. It looked amazing but would you use such distinctive Italian imagery again?

Jonathan: That's the actual scene for the movie, we just put our cover over Becaud's version. That's a tough question, I don't really know, Italy was so classy back in those days and then everything went downhill. Nowadays Italy is like a mirror that's been smashed into a million pieces, and it's lying on the floor and we keep walking over it and getting cuts on our feet. We are obviously proud of where we live and all but I doubt we'd associate anything from these times to our music. Back then I don't thing it was that distinctive of Italy, I think it was just beautiful imagery....

SXP: What’s coming up next for A Classic Education? We'd love to hear an album from you!

Jonathan: We'd love to hear one...hehe. I don't know; it's weird, we've kind of gotten into a slump where we don't really talk about making a record. I don't know why. We definitely should get our act together and do it this winter, I think that is the plan. In the meanwhile we are really excited, we have a digital single coming out on Holiday Records. I love the things they are doing with Surfer Blood, Knight School, The Drums, Horse Shoes etc..That should be out on November 27th. Thanks so much for this interview, we had such a great time when we played that SoundsXP show!

A cluster of releases from new Warp signings Nice Nice and Lone Lady

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:41:02 PST

Nice Nice of Portland, Oregon are to release a Ronseal of a single on 23rd of this month, entitled One Hit. It’s a highly charged battering ram of a song in the Boredoms/Battles mould and will be available on 7” vinyl for the purists and free download for those with a record shop phobia, which is nice.

Apparently, they’re an exciting force live so make sure you catch them on one of the following dates:

Thu 26th Nov/ London / 93 feet east w/ Wavves
Fri 27th Nov/ London / Cargo 'Free Fridays: Adventures in the Beetroot Field presents'
Sat 28th Nov / Utrecht / Le Guess Who Festival
Mon 30th Nov / Gent / Cafe Video
Wed 2nd Dec / Antwerp / De Trix w/ BLK JKS
Fri 4th Dec / Berlin / Berghain Warp20 (Berlin) - w/ Battles
Sat 5th Dec / London / Warp20 (London) Coronet w/ Battles, Broadcast & more
Mon 7th Dec / Manchester / Manchester Academy w/ Battles / Flying Lotus
Tue 8th Dec / Paris / Elysee Montmartre w/ Battles, Flying Lotus

Warp's other recent signing Lone Lady has an album out early next year called Nerve Up and you can pick up a free download from the website here. If you like ESG and Peaches this Mancunian act will be up your street and through your front door!

UK tour and iTunes EP for Fanfarlo

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:41:26 PST

After a few dates in the States, Fanfarlo return home to the UK in the new year for a short UK tour including a headline date at London’s ULU on 12th February.

While in America the band recorded a new 7-track EP for iTunes, which will be made available exclusively via the platform early next year. Featuring their counter-intuitive cover of Smashing Pumpkins’ ‘We Only Come Out At Night’, the EP also includes deconstructed readings of six tracks from their album ‘Reservoir’, among them a Krautrock take on ‘Comets’.

The February UK dates are as follows…

09 – Bristol, Thekla
10 – Birmingham, Hare & Hounds
11 – Leeds, Brudenell Centre
12 – London, ULU
13 – Brighton, Audio

The Raveonettes - In & Out of Control

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:19:37 PST

Usually three songs into a Raveonettes record, you can pretty much bet your wages, your house and a few vital organs on what the remaining eight or so tracks have in store; everything from the guitar sound, lyrical theme, drum pattern, and the artists they’ll pilfer from. While they’ve undoubtedly produced some terrific music (especially on the last LP), each concept being mercilessly stretched over an entire album can leave your enthusiasm waning long before the finishing line. This time things are different.

Initially however, it’s Raves-by-numbers: opener ‘Bang!’ is the type of fuzzy guitar pop tune the band revel in. With a splash of stolen guitar courtesy of the Crystals, it bounces along very nicely. Next up though is ‘Gone Forever’ which takes an age to emerge from a wall-of-feedback and then proceeds to cover ground that’s just way too familiar, and once the painful, glossy pop chirping of ‘Last Dance’ draws to a rather irritating close, the signs aren’t good. Granted, the album’s only ten minutes old but the nagging thought that the band has run dry of ideas is growing ever more vociferous.

However, if one were to glance at the LP’s tracklisting then the next song should, at the very least, hint towards a change of tone. ‘Boys who Rape (should all be destroyed)’ arrives on a wave of distorted keyboards and immediately jolts the album back into life...and then Sharin Foo delivers lyrics with the most incongruously sweet and innocent-sounding voice she can muster, ensuring lines such as “those fuckers stay in your head” are rendered as unsettling as audibly possible. Both a musical and lyrical departure, it’s like someone hiring Ladytron to soundtrack a Valerie Solanas treatise. It’s not going to be to everyone’s taste but it undeniably frees the album from any sense of predictability. While there’s no further S.C.U.M manifesto sing-a-longs, darker themes continue to be explored, with the keyboards thankfully making repeat visits also.

The guitars are never put away for long though, and with ‘Suicide’ and ‘Heart of Stone’ it seems the aforementioned synth injection has even had a revitalising effect on the band’s traditional set-up. The latter especially fizzles with energy; a cracking little tune that shamelessly (and wonderfully) pinches the riff from The Yardbirds’ ‘Heart Full of Soul’. These sit comfortably alongside tracks like ‘D.R.U.G.S’ - a camp, 80s-style electro stomper.

The production is not as lush or dominating as the previous album and this allows for any change of direction to proceed more easily, so while the lead instrument may switch suddenly from one track to the next there remains a sense of coherence, regardless of what the album title suggests. Their strongest and most rewarding work to date.

Stanley Brinks & Wave Pictures single and album

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:46:38 PST

Stanley Brinks

Stanley Brinks (aka Andre Herman Dune) teams up with The Wave Pictures for his new single End Of The World released 14th December on Ciao Ketchup.

Taken from his forthcoming album Stanley Brinks & The Wave Pictures, End of The World is a rough-hewn exercise in ‘cowboy indie’.

The former member of French/Swedish anti-folk trio Herman Dune, Stanley Brinks released his debut solo album ‘Dank U’ last year. This time, alongside The Wave Pictures (Moshi Moshi), Stan’s simple, memorable lyrics come punctuated by the guitar shredding of Dave Tattersall and is pushed along with the skiffling beats of rhythm section – Jonny Helm and Franic Rozycki.

New album Stanley Brinks and The Wave Pictures, is out in January 2010 on Ciao Ketchup Recordings.

God Help The Girl - new EP, free MP3 and film update

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:34:12 PST

God Help The Girl - Stills

An update email from God Help The Girl, brimming with news on the tour, a new EP, the film and more. Here goes:

"The second installment of songs from last year's recordings is now available digitally. The 'Stills' EP features five songs which didn't make the album, but which were recorded at the same time in Glasgow, with some orchestral parts being added in London. The EP was originally available as a 10 inch vinyl release for subscribers to GHTG, but these were fairly thin on the ground and won't be repressed or released on CD.

However, the tracks are now available via all the usual digital distributors (iTunes, We7, 7digital, Spotify/ Rhapsody) depending on your location for both streaming and download. They feature the 3 singers who have been involved in the God Help The Girl live shows - Catherine Ireton, Celia Garcia and Alex Klobouk. The songs are:

I'm In Love With the City (leads vocals: Catherine)
He's a Loving Kind of Boy (lead vocals: Stuart)
Stills (lead vocals: Alex)
Baby's Just Waiting (lead vocals: Celia)
The Psychiatrist Is In (lead vocals: Catherine)

You can hear / download the title track for free from the God Help The Girl website.

We are also pretty excited about some live shows later this month. . . because everyone is scattered around the country/ world and have zillions of other commitments, it is always good to have everyone together, even if it is only briefly!

Each of the shows promises to be different and a never to be repeated experience! They are at Nationaal Toneel in Den Haag on Friday 20th November as part of the Crossing Border festival, The 100 Club in London on Saturday 21st November and The Usher Hall in Edinburgh on Sunday 29th November.

In Den Haag we are supporting the lovely Tegan and Sara, but have been promised an impromptu appearance on the bill of James Kelman - well, it is a music and literature festival! In keeping with this, Stuart is also doing an interview with Dutch journalist Gijsbert Kamer in one of the smaller rooms in the same venue earlier in the evening.

The London show promises to be altogether more intimate as we squeeze into the 100 Club on Oxford Street. Tickets for this one have already sold out.

It's all back to work and study for a week before the final show in Edinburgh - which is with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. As well as accompanying us, they are also playing music from the BBC's 'A History of Scotland' series, while other guests on the bill include Eddi Reader and McIntosh Ross. Details about tickets for all these shows can be found here

You can get some idea of what God Help The Girl sounds like live by trawling our video archive on the website which includes the Channel 4 documentary 'We Play A Show' about the only previous gig in Glasgow as well as a complete clip of the title track from the album recorded at the same show.

Stuart has been talking about the album, the shows and more besides with Paul Morley of The Observer: you can listen to the interview in full here

The script for the film is now also in a state of (near) completion (film scripts are never really ever finished) and things are moving slowly towards going into production. Most likely there will be a Belle and Sebastian record first during 2010, so filming should get properly underway in 2011.

The last song for now to be recorded for God Help The Girl, Baby You're Blind, is all set for mastering and will be released early next year. It features Linnea Jonsson from Swedish group Those Dancing Days and may well be a case of saving the best 'til last - but then we would say that! A video is being planned for Stockholm in December - the winter clothes are packed".

Blanche Hudson Weekend debut single out next week

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:13:14 PST

Details of the debut single from The Blanche Hudson Weekend have been announced. The Letters To Daddy EP will be released on 7" on 23rd November 2009. The band features Caroline and Darren (ex-The Manhattan Love Suicides) along with a bunch of other Weekenders, and promises to deliver noise, fuzz, melody, dissonance, rawness, killer tunes and buzzsaw pop with a bit of 1960s girl group and Girls In The Garage type ramshackle production for good measure. Tracks will be Crying Shame, The Last Ride and Noise And Fury. It's available on pre-order from Squirrel Records at £3.50 (inc. P&P).

Fiery Furnaces - Keep Me In The Dark Again Free MP3

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:09:53 PST

Today's free MP3 is by The Fiery Furnaces and is a track from their forthcoming, er, covers of their own songs LP, Take Me 'Round Again. The track is Keep Me in the Dark.

kabeedies rumpus album

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:12:45 PST

The Kabeedies - rolling their terrible eyes and gnashing their terrible teeth

Make an album. That's what proper bands do isn't it? Well, it used to be, nowadays I'm not so sure why some bother. When you make bouncy unapologetic guitar pop like the Kabeedies do, the single is probably the best way to get it out. Most of your audience doesn't buy albums anyway, surely? A good chunk of the songs here have appeared on lovely 7" or download anyway and a couple of the re-recordings, while adding depth, have lost half a yard of pace (though come to think of it, that might just be my temperamental turntable...). There's a couple of other hmm moments too - lifting out a backing vocal that should have stayed buried in the mix, and a PC switch from dissing Persians to Gorgons, which renders the back-covering "what they're fine" retort unnecessary rather than endearing.

But those are the niggles of a miserable old git. Even over a longer time the Kabeedies' mix of glottal stops, sing-along choruses and general poptastic youthful goodness stays thoroughly engaging. Wide of eye and bushy of tail, what keeps them firmly on the right side of the landfill indie border is the all-pervasive sound of fun rather than ambition - not to mention the sheer quality and energy of their tunes. So no chin-stroking points for this lot, but frankly who's got time to stroke their chin when they could be leaping around grinning like a loon? And you don't have to stop to flip sides either.

akron/family set em wild set em free

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:02:52 PST

Akron/Family - The United States of Blibble

The pastiche of the US flag on the cover is apt, for their latest Akron/Family have surpassed their own eclectic standard by tipping every aspect of US rock and folk music in a blender with a large measure of thoroughly unfashionable enthusiasm.

So you've got Minutemen bass, bucolic flutes and strings, the urgent chorus from a lost 70s musical and smooth sax - the sound the Polyphonic Spree would make for the brief seconds after they'd supped the Kool-Aid basically. And that's just the first song, Everyone is Guilty. They follow that with River which, rather than taking the 80s U2 sound (martial drums and chiming guitar) into stodgy stadium indie, marries it with twee folkiness for a jaunty singalong; the hippy-alt-folk Tuungery of Creatures; the gently weary Lewis/Oberst loveliness of The Alps and Their Orange Evergreen; the Palace-like alt.country fragment Set 'Em Free; the... Oh, you get the picture - there's a lot here.

To be honest I stopped at the point where the general goodness gives way to more patience testing experiments. Gravelly Mountains of the Moon could tempt the finger of the most twee- and noodling-tolerant space case towards the skip button, even the interjection of some thundering guitar only saving it for a minute or so. But, even though you could say the same for a couple more of the remaining tracks, there's still a few good ideas and euphoric moments left in the tank.

Not one for the casual listener, but if you're feeling robust and want a rather different take on Americana, then you'll find plenty of reward here.

The Raincoats: The Raincoats

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:31:39 PST

The Raincoats

For all its claims to be revolutionary, punk was at least as sexist and patriarchal as the society it nominally attacked and the music it despised. Consequently, much punk rock is just another branch on the rock family tree. Instead, some of the most inventive music was made by bands fighting musical, cultural and gender stereotypes, key among them being the Slits, Kleenex and the Raincoats. It was these bands that took the lo-fi, anyone-can-do-it attitude of punk and joined it to a political, artistic and avant garde sensibility that set the tone for the whole post-punk scene.

To hear what that insurgent noise sounded like, you can now hear The Raincoats’ 1979 album, originally on Rough Trade Records, which has just been re-released on their own label. It’s not the first time it’s been re-released though; in 1993 it was reissued with sleeve notes by Kurt Cobain and Kim Gordon after the former had outed himself as a fanboy when he tried to buy it at the Rough Trade shop.

The Raincoats had their own sound and voice (and a female manager who wasn’t just playing a man’s game). They sang songs critiquing shopping, war and patriarchy, among other things, and they played an angular, pared down sort of rock’n’roll – ‘The Void’ has a guitar solo that’s almost picked out note by note. Vicky Aspinall’s violin frequently takes the lead while Palmolive’s drumming is always spare, unshowy but essential. Unlike the punk bands, they harmonise a lot and their voices work generously together. Tracks like the oddly time-signatured ‘Off Duty Trip’ and the zig-zagging ‘Black and White’, prominently adorned by Laura Logic’s skronking sax, show the influence of the avant garde, the latter seeming to conflate the New York Dolls and Captain Beefheart. It’s hard to pick standouts but in this strange iTunes world I’d mention two: ‘Fairytale in the Supermarket’ is an amazing arrangement of scratchy violin, sputtering guitar riffs and slow-fast rhythms, and has a vocal from Ana da Silva that just oozes control. Their cover of the Kinks’ ‘Lola’, meanwhile, loses the comedy and builds to an intensity that wasn’t in the original and is both weird but wonderful.

Thirty years on this is still brilliant music, both for their individual sound and for the influence they’ve cast on the Riot Grrrl movement and all our favourite Brooklyn bands, to name but a few of those inspired. As Mr Cobain knew, this is one of the records that you just have to have.

Hush Arbors: Yankee Reality

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:58:52 PST

Hush Arbors: Yankee Reality

On the self-titled first album, Hush Arbors’ main man, Keith Wood, was aided by Ben Chasny (plus his usual foil Leon Dufficy); for the second, it’s J Mascis. The effect is to add a Dinosaur Jr overdrive to a mixture of psych-folk and country-rock – which is pleasant enough on first hearing but has an insidiously compelling effect on subsequent spins. Mascis produces and plays on three tracks and his influence is very apparent: the strongly 'American Girl'sounding 'For While You Slept' has Mascis' wild soloing all over it while he adds dramatic, strings-sounding Mellotron to the soulfully choogling country beat of 'Coming Home'. And the album ends with 'Devil Made You High', a garage rock wall-of-sound wig out which shows a clear Dinosaur Jr inspiration.

What makes it so listenable is the wealth of influences, some apparent and some buried deep. For sure, Wood’s relocation to London has given him new perspective, as has his collaboration with experimental weird-folkers Current 93, when you untangle the skeins that make up the album. There’s a country strain that reminds me most of the See See and their 70s-ish West Coast-inspired rock. There’s a dedication to Link Wray on the sleeve that’s borne out by the fuzz guitar that adorns the brilliant 'Lisbon'. 'Fast Asleep' is haunted psych rock that burns slowly while the languid atmospheres of 'So They Say' remind you of early Neil Young. It’s a strange cauldron of old ideas from which bubble up some great songs. The first record has purer influences but this one has the catchiest.

Piney Gir: Say I’m Sorry

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:53:29 PST

‘Say I’m Sorry’ is the most obvious single from The Yearling, a twinkling pop confection that just oozes Beatles-y catchiness with a sprinkle of accordion exoticness. Listen to it and feel a happy tingling for hours afterwards. Strangely for a single the other tracks are also worth hearing, especially a version of ‘Early Days’ that reminds you that there was an inventive, electropop Piney while Pixie LaRoux Little Boots and the rest were still showing off in stage school.

The Real Tuesday Weld: Live At the End of the World

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:47:30 PST

The Real Tuesday Weld: Live At the End of the World

This is a work of imagination. Conceived in the same period as the London Book of the Dead album, the concept is that this is a Valentine’s Eve performance at the mythical End of the World Club in 2012. So far, so Roland Emmerich, although Mayans don’t get a mention and it’s not clear if this is THE apocalypse or just a sort of Weimar-Republic-gathering-storm moment. If this had been an extra disc with the previous album, it would have been an intriguing bonus but on its own it just falls flat. Partly that’s because it’s a very straight supper club cabaret performance, with the Clerkenwell Kid crooning like a junior Bing Crosby on songs like the 1924 standard ‘I’ll See You In My Dreams’ and generally creating a mood of gloomy romanticism that will have listeners reaching for the free blank ‘last will and testament’ that will be included with the album.

On his other albums he adds an avant twist to his musical excavations, using plenty of samples and beats, and creates a soundscape that blends 'then' and 'now' to unusual effect; here he plays it very straight, and comes up with a pretty dull, noodling jazz album. Mara Carlyle is a very good singer, as Will Hodgkinson’s Song Man book shows, but here she’s just another jazzer on the Brief Encounter-themed ‘Nightingales’. If there are dark times ahead, we’ll need something brighter than this to illuminate the dusk. Lighten up, man!

First announcements for End of the Road 2010 - Wilco headlines

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:19:34 PST

End of the Road Festival 2010

Tickets have gone on sale for next year's End of the Road Festival, being held 10-12 September 2010 at Larmer Tree Gardens, Dorset and the first six artists named.

Wilco can today be confirmed as a headliner. The Mountain Goats, The Low Anthem, Diane Cluck with Anders Griffin and AA Bondy will also be appearing, as will Canadian folk band The Wilderness of Manitoba.

The announcement coincides with tickets for the 3-day festival going on sale. As of right now they can be bought from http://www.endoftheroadfestival.com.

Changes have also been made to some of the facilities. The festival will be increasing the size of the Tipi Tent, which will now be a circular tent of Tipis which are joined together, creating more viewing area.

As 'The Local' booked such popular bands for their stage last year, The End of the Road has also decided to increase the size of their venue and give them their own mini Big Top.

The festival will also have an increased program of workshops for both children and adults, with sessions that carry on longer into the evening.

Ticket prices for the festival are as follows:

Adult weekend (incl. camping): £130
Youth 13-17 years (must be accompanied by an adult): £120
Child 6-12 years (must be accompanied by an adult): £50
Child 0 - 5 years (must be purchased in advance & accompanied by an adult): FREE
Campervan / Caravan pass £45

SoundsXP Xmas Party with Shrag, the Blue Velvets, Standard Fare and the Understudies

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:59:28 PST

Shrag

Ok pppppppop pickers. The line-up has been finalised for one of our irregular gig nights. The event, an Xmas Party no less (so expect mince pies and photocopied posteriors), occurs on the 10th of December at our spiritual home, the Windmill in Brixton. The line-up is a veritable feast of indiepop fun, featuring the following wonderful people:

Shrag
The Blue Velvets
Standard Fare
The Understudies

Tickets are £4.50 in advance from here or a fiver on the door for the kRaZy risk takers.

Singles Round Up: The Miserable Rich / Arrows of Love / tUnE-YaRdS / Holly Miranda / Standard Fare

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 21:35:06 PST

A bunch of 45s!

Ah the cover version, the tatty blanket of the divorced bedsit dwelling pub act? Well, with their strings and obvious classical bent, Brighton’s The Miserable Rich are unlikely to have their tinkling cello drowned out by a fat bloke in a Chelsea shirt yelling for “2 lager tops and a bag of cheese and onion, over here, chief”. However, what they should of course be saying with their chamber pop take on four 80s classics is, yes we know you’re familiar with the originals of these tracks but, clever us, we’ve transformed them by using different instruments and slowed them down/sped them up, etc thereby making the exercise worthwhile. Unfortunately, two on here, Golden Brown and Sweet Dreams , are hugely familiar and keyboard hits, and although the strings replace piano the pace remains the same and the re-dressing doesn’t really add any value to the original. Meanwhile Shades merely loses Iggy Pop’s cheeky charm so it’s left to the rather delicate unscuzzed take on Pixies’ Gigantic to rescue things. And fortunately it does. The Covers EP is out on Humble Soul on 16th November.

Also plundering the work of others is Arrows of Love, who redo the 1960s apocalyptic classic In the Year 2525, although apparently it’s all in the name of art. The band, a ‘supergroup’ of musicians who’ve worked with Courtney Love, Loverman, Jamie T, Kid Harpoon, etc, will only release twenty physical copies, each one accompanied by a unique item, ranging from tattoos to sculptures. I’d go onto rehash a lot more of their press release if it wasn’t for the fact that the music is actually pish and therefore the whole exercise, no matter how worthy, is pointless. Out 7th December.

Hatari by tUnE-YaRdS is a right bag of kooky weirdness. The work of New England’s Merrill Garbus, it’s all jarring guitars, African yodelling and clanking great drums. It sounds like it should be a horrible mess but her tribal post punk is actually terribly compelling. Out now on limited 7” on 4AD.

There’s also something very appealing about Holly Miranda and Forest Green Oh Forest Green. It’s not so much the song which seems to float along without an obvious hook but the atmospheric hooting owl effects, pleasant harmonies, cheery brass and backward tape outro sustains interest. I’m not sure I’ll be playing it next week but I’ll certainly be looking out for the young New Yorker’s album. Out now on XL Recordings.

Fifteen by Sheffield’s Standard Fare most definitely does have a hook; a bloody great big one and it’s hauled me in. A terrific galloping slice of jangly indiepop, it even pitches up with a more than decent flipside, the mournful but lush Understand. Out on 7” on Thee SPC on January 11th 2010.

Port O'Brien - Threadbare review

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 09:45:21 PST

Port O'Brien - Threadbare

Obviously nothing dictates the mood of a recording more significantly than the events impacting lives of the performers at the time of creating it. You really don’t need to ask Justin Vernon how chuffed he was when he conceived Bon Iver’s For Ever, Forever Ago for example. So, as Port O’Brien’s Threadbare was produced only a few months after the younger brother of key band member Cambria Goodwin had passed away, melancholia understandably oozes from every groove of this, their second long player. With the subsequent obsession with love, death and loss, it’s unsurprisingly all tender, pensive and most of all, sad, delivered almost entirely at a respectful gentle pace. You’d have to have a heart of stone not to be affected by it all and the tear stained haunting folk is at times quite beautiful, particularly the two lovely versions of High Without the Hope that bookend the album, the strident My Will is Good and the twangy Oslo Campfire. Wonderful stuff but sitting through all forty five minutes of it without seeking either the Samaritans or something a bit livelier to jitterbug to is another matter.

future of the left tour end 09

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 09:07:28 PST

Future of the Left

Anyone wishing to open themselves up to a verbal pasting should don an ill-advised band t-shirt and go heckle Future of the Left on their forthcoming tour of the southern outposts of the tattered remains of empire (before naffing of to the former southernmost outposts. Australia that is, rather than the Falklands).

Norwich Arts Centre (Nov 28)
Oxford Bullingdon Arms (29)
Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms (30)
Birmingham Academy 3 (Dec 1)
London Relentless Garage (3)
Brighton Freebutt (4)
Bristol Thekla (5)

If you haven't got Travels With Myself Or Another yet, then grab it now or when you inevitably do (as a person of taste and discernment) your internet salesbot of choice will tag you as someone who responds to end of year polls and try endlessly to flog you Florence and the Machine albums...

Sambassadeur - Days Free MP3

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 22:00:20 PST

Time for some swoonsome Scando indiepop from Labrador's Sambassadeur and Days

Realism release date for Magnetic Fields

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 14:54:18 PST

The Magnetic Fields' new album, "Realism," will be released on Nonesuch Records on January 26, 2010. Swerving from the unrelenting feedback pop of "Distortion," this record explores the various genres under the umbrella of folk. Stephin says, "I thought of the two records as a pair, and I initially wanted them to be called 'True' and 'False.' But I couldn't decide which I wanted to be called 'True' and which I wanted to be called 'False.'"

Tracklisting:

1.You Must Be Out of Your Mind
2.Interlude
3.We Are Having a Hootenanny
4.I Don't Know What to Say
5.The Dolls' Tea Party
6.Everything Is One Big Christmas Tree
7.Walk a Lonely Road
8.Always Already Gone
9.Seduced and Abandoned
10.Better Things
11.Painted Flower
12.The Dada Polka
13.From a Sinking Boat

Tindersticks - Black Smoke Free MP3

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:41:00 PST

Today's free MP3 is by Tindersticks and is a taster for their forthcoming album Falling Down A Mountain, out 25th January 2010. The track is Black Smoke.

The album features new band members Earl Harvin (drums and vocals) and David Kitt (guitar and vocals), and a duet with Mary Margaret O’Hara.

Tracks:

1. Falling Down A Mountain, 2. Keep You Beautiful, 3. Harmony Around My Table, 4. Peanuts, 5. She Rode Me Down, 6. Hubbards Hills, 7. Black Smoke, 8. No Place So Alone, 9. Factory Girls, 10. Piano Music.

Free crimbo MP3 from Das Wanderlust

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:59:01 PST

Cheeky frantic indiepop merchants Das Wanderlust release ‘Someone To Pull Crackers With’ from 1st December 2009 as a free mp3 download from their web site with the option to donate to The Brooke Animal Hospital.

The track is a bonkers five-and-a-half minute mini-epic - over twice as long as the average Das Wanderlust song - that sounds like it could have come from an aborted Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.

The song is also available as a track on Cherryade Records 'A Very Cherry Christmas Vol. 5'.

David Cronenberg’s Wife: Hypnagogues

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:18:50 PST

David Cronenberg's Wife: Hypnogogues

The scene everyone remembers in Goodfellas is Joe Pesci’s character flipping in an instant: “I'm funny how? I mean funny like I'm a clown, I amuse you? I make you laugh, I'm here to fuckin' amuse you?” There are times here when you get the same sense of comedy-turned-danger from Tom Mayne and company on their second album; one moment you’re embracing their strange poetry (‘Can’t Keep Doing What You Do’) or laughing at ‘The Lou Reed Song’ (“I even liked him when he had a guy on stage with him doing Tai Chi”), next song you’re catapulted into some bluesy tale of jealousy, paranoia and relationship breakdown (‘Fight Song’) or battling a sense of desperation in ‘Make Me A Channel of Your Peace’ (an apocalyptic rereading of St Francis’s prayer).

It’s a breathtaking musical and emotional rollercoaster ride. The best track is the stream of consciousness ‘Sweden’, where the band show off their mastery of repetition, repetition, repetition. There’s a hint of country and western, some frantic punk, even the sound of a very creepy carnival on ‘You Should’ve Closed The Curtain’. But it’s hard to find an adequate comparison for David Cronenberg’s Wife - perhaps the Nightingales, the Fall or a Bad Seeds gone rotten - as they’re a law unto themselves. There isn’t a song here you can ignore but this band does like rolling around in the shit - luckily they keep on finding these little gems for us.

Local Natives: Camera Talk

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:16:45 PST

‘Camera Talk’ is impressively muscular – pounding drums, sawing violins, a piano being attacked - but it has no real heart: there’s a weak Police-esque chorus that makes you wonder: “is that it?” The b-side is a cover version, and although releasing a cover this early in a career can be fatal (witness Glasvegas’ dire second single version of ‘Be My Baby’ that pegged them as witless copyists), this b-side pulls it off. ‘Warning Sign’ has all of Talking Heads’ art-weirdness but adds sumptuous harmonies a la Fleet Foxes to create something different and very listenable. I’ve liked earlier material by Local Natives but it’s alarming to hear them put out something so lame as ‘Camera Talk’ so early.

Mary Epworth and the Jubilee Band: Black Doe

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:05:36 PST

The follow up to the wonderful ‘Saddle Song’ is excellent in its own way. This psychedelic folk has a pagan power; a banjo picks out a rhythm while synths oscillate wildly around it, and then the song crashes into a sort of industrial metal stomp for the ultra-catchy chorus, to the accompaniment of strident strings and bold horns. It’s alive with some supernatural force that makes it utterly irresistible. By contrast, ‘Lean’ on the flipside is back to her folky roots; the lone organ accompaniment shows off Mary’s gorgeous melancholic tones perfectly. Brilliant.

Samara Lubelski: Future Slip

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:02:01 PST

Samara Lubelski: Future Slip

I’ve seen Samara Lubelski’s name on various albums in a supporting role (including with Thurston Moore, whose label she’s now on). But I was surprised to find that this is her fifth solo album. It’s so understated that it takes a couple of plays to reveal its qualities. The songs have a psychedelic buzz, aided by her floaty voice, which put me in mind of Espers (especially ‘Walking In The Waves’). But there’s also a European pop-feel evident on songs like ‘Culture King ‘66’, which sounds like Stereolab with fewer synths. Maybe it’s all a matter of geography (Samara is from New York but her second home is Stuttgart) but it all comes together on the final track, when those gentle Europop rhythms vye politely with a whispery psych haze in and out of which her vocals weave. It’s a little underwhelming but has a soothing charm that seeps out a little more on each spin.

The Millipedes: Shake Your Bones

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:54:43 PST

The Millipedes: Shake Your Bones

Box sets are probably a bad financial deal in the last days of the music biz but a box is the perfect home for a collection of impressive 7” singles by the Millipedes. The pseudonymous band (guitarist “Rocking Oliver D’World” has a name of cryptic genius) is a veritable Steel City supergroup, comprising former members of the Long Blondes, Smokers Die Younger, Thee Motherfuckers and Velodrome 2000.

Their horror-infected garage rock and sleazy r’n’b – served in 10 bites across the three records (the CD version adds a bonus song) – bring to mind the fuzztoned, organ-driven mayhem of ? And The Mysterians and the saucy soul of Andre Williams. There’s something beautifully raw and savage about the wailing organ and reverby guitars (Link Wray risen from his grave) but the Millipedes keep one (severed) foot in the pop camp with ‘Hey Boy’ echoing Comet Gain’s racing indiepop. The distinctively odd ‘Do Do Do Dare Dare Dare’ meanwhile might best be described as Satanic-ska.

The Millipedes have fun with the b-movie ideas of alien invasion and lycanthropy matrimony but never ham it up like, say, Zombina and the Skeletones, who were pure pork. Single one is led by the insane cowboy-garage hoedown of ‘Make Something Happen’. The awesome second single ‘Ooh-Wee’ is relentless rock’n’roll guaranteed to get Teds, heads and indie-wet-the-beds on the dancefloor while the third offering ‘Humans of Earth (We Salute You)’ is lunatic bubblegum pop. They cleverly balance the sassy come-on of ‘Shake Your Bones’ with the Irma Thomas-style ballad ‘Never Wanted to Go’ and show off their love of great rock’n’roll with obvious nods to ‘Shakin All Over’, ‘Helter Skelter’ and Wipeout’. I can’t tell the A-sides from the B-sides, which makes the whole thing essential. I make no bones about it.

Lucky Soul single, album and London gig

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:41:50 PST

South London's 60s flecked indiepopsters Lucky Soul have plenty of news for fans. A single ‘White Russian Doll’ is released on January 11th 2010 on their Ruffa Lane label. It's the first single from thir forthcoming album ‘A Coming Of Age’, which is due March 2010. And if that wasn't enough on Dec 1st they play London Monarch for an album preview show.

Tickets £7.00 and available from the wegottickets link below.

Free gig for Rough Trade Indiepop comp

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:35:10 PST

Veronica Falls

Indiepop fans will be interested to hear there's a free instore gig at Rough Trade East on Monday 16 November to launch the new Rough Trade Shops Indiepop 09 compilation.

Veronica Falls, Pocketbooks, Betty and The Werewolves and Sad Day For Puppets will be playing live with DJ efforts from Ian Watson (How Does It Feel To Be Loved?) and John Jervis (Where It’s At Is Where You Are).

The running order is:

6.30 - 7.00 DJ John Jervis (Where it's At Is Where You Are)
7.00 - 7.20 Sad Day For Puppets
7.20 - 7.40 DJ John Jervis
7.40 - 8.00 Betty and The Werewolves
8.00 - 8.20 DJ Ian Watson (How Does It Feel To Be Loved?)
8.20 - 8.40 Pocketbooks
8.40 - 9.00 DJ Ian Watson
9.00 - 9.20 Veronica Falls
9.20 - 9.45 DJ Ian Watson
10pm shop closes

Details about how to get a wristband for the gig are available at the Rough Trade link below.

Stornoway and Beth Jeans Houghton tour together

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:41:29 PST

Twisted Folk

Twisted Folk have announced a double dose of folk poppery with the combination of the sweeping harmonies of Stornoway and the skiffle pop of Beth Jeans Houghton who join together for a national tour. Dates:

Mon 8 Feb EXETER PHOENIX ARTS CENTRE - 01392 667080 / www.exeterboxoffice.com
Tue 9 Feb READING SOUTH ST - 0118 960 6060
Wed 10 Feb BRIGHTON KOMEDIA - 01273 647100 / tickets@komedia.co.uk
Thu 11 Feb LONDON RICH MIX - 020 7613 7498
Sat 13 Feb NORWICH ARTS CENTRE - 01603 660 352
Sun 14 Feb GATESHEAD THE SAGE - 0191 443 4661
Mon 15 Feb LEEDS BRUDENELL SOCIAL CLUB - 0113 2454650 / www.lunatickets.co.uk
Tue 16 Feb MANCHESTER BAND ON THE WALL - 08452 500 500
Wed 17 Feb BIRMINGHAM GLEE CLUB - 0871 472 0400

The Feelies: Crazy Rhythms and The Good Earth

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:34:07 PST

The Feelies: Crazy Rhythms

If Domino continues to invest its Arctic Monkeys millions in remastered re-releases like this pair, I’ll have no complaints. Looking at my much-cherished vinyl copies I’ve always thought that these should be released in additional formats and my prayers to the god of pop have finally been answered.

Hailing from suburban New Jersey, the Feelies are clearly inspired by the Velvet Underground, Modern Lovers and Television. What they were doing on Stiff Records back then we’ll never know but Crazy Rhythms from 1980 is their masterpiece. They sound slightly nerdy and extremely edgy, Mercer and Million’s guitars skittering and stuttering around each other, and fitting perfectly together, while Anton Fier is on fire on drums, playing at a pace and complexity (lots of snappy clicks and rimshots) that apparently made him physically sick after live performances. The six-minute title track does what it says on the tin, the drummer earning his corn by laying down a powerful rhythm while Mercer whispers his anxiety: “I don’t talk much/ it just gets in the way”. Other highlights are the angular ‘Fa Ce La’ which is a template for everything nervously indiepop and the frantic White Album cover ‘Everybody Has Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey’. If you only have enough money to buy one album this month, buy this.

The Feelies: The Good Earth

But perhaps you should try surviving on beans-on-toast and using the savings for records as The Good Earth is almost as great. It took them another six years to release this after Crazy Rhythms, and it was produced with Peter Buck (REM being one of those many bands influenced by The Feelies). It’s a slightly more relaxed record, with a more pastoral sound, and Dave Weckerman is a more laidback percussionist that the mesmeric Anton Fier. Tracks like ‘Slipping (Into Something)’ and ‘The High Road’ smoulder before they catch fire several minutes into the song, while ‘The Last Roundup’ typifies the slightly country tones of the album. The downloadable digital extras on this record are the better of the two sets – covers of ‘She Said She Said’ and a wickedly punk take on ‘Sedan Delivery’, which were last heard on a 12” in the 80s. And divided between both releases as digital extras are three songs recorded in Washington DC earlier this year, showing that the Feelies aren’t prepare to fade into legend but are appearing in public again.

Like the best bands, these records sound as exciting now as they did in the 80s, and their enduring influence means they show no signs of aging. Domino have done us all a favour - now do them one and buy these as they're essential listening.

Glass Rock: Tall Firs Meets Soft Location

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:21:08 PST

Glass Rock: Tall Firs Meets Soft Location

Ecstatic Peace have a busy release schedule this Autumn, part of which is this collaboration between Tall Firs and Soft Location. I liked Tall Firs’ 2008 album Too Old To Die Young. This doesn’t quite work as well; on the plus side, Soft Location’s Kathy Leisen has a haunting voice that’s part Cat Power and part Siouxsie Sue. Her voice and the light psych-pop arrangements sound fine on ‘Ghost of A Dream’, with its Jefferson Airplane echoes, but Van Morrison-esque jazzy rhythms predominate, especially on the title track. The effect is very pastoral, very settled and, well, just a bit drowsy-dull.

Male Bonding/Cold Pumas/ Eat Skull split singles

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:15:58 PST

Male Bonding are the Dalston three piece who have just signed to Seattle’s SubPop Records: most appropriate as their lo-fi grunge-pop sounds very American. ‘Stare At My Problems’ (Faux Discx) is staccato and sparse at first and then bursts into fearsome rhythms as if their dentist had just drilled into a nerve. Their Tough Love track ‘Year’s Not Long’ is thrashy punk, with the melody buried deep within the mix. If it had the patience, it would sit nicely next to No Age and Times New Viking. Eat Skull from Portland, Oregon, on the Tough Love single, are Americans who sound English; ‘Heaven’s Stranger’ could be melodic lo-fi English indiepop, very catchy but with an intentionally muddy sound. Different again, Brighton's Cold Pumas are strange co-habitees of the Faux Discx release: ‘Altered Yeast’ is clanging, urgent sounding Krautrock with vocals that sound like ritual chanting. Both singles, all three bands, are prime examples of a more interesting and involving indiepop these days.

Andrew Morgan: As Long As We Are Together EP

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:16:53 PST

There doesn’t seem to be a standard length for an EP these days (compared to when it were all fields round here…) but there’s little to complain about with this 8 track, 23 minute offering from Andrew Morgan. It’s just one man but he paints sprawling canvasses filled with ornate chamber pop and romantic dreams. The title track gestures to Elliott Smith, but would sit perfectly alongside the wistful pop of the Real Tuesday Weld, while ‘Always In Dreams’ is beautifully crafted pop with sighing violin and drums beating in waltz time. He sums it up best himself on ‘Who Ever Knew’: “whoever knew/ that something so normal could be so magical?”

The Broken Family Band Garage gig

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:07:32 PST

The Broken Family Band formed in 2001 and we saw them many times in 2002 in some combination of the Windmill, the Arts Café and the Spitz. Then we followed them as they played the 100 Club, Cargo, the Scala and eventually Koko, overcoming our dislike of bigger venues to see how they fared (rather well actually). Some of us must have seen them maybe 30 or 40 times in total over the years. We caught them at festivals, interviewed them twice and even promoted a gig at work in 2004 where they managed to charm the scariest barmaid who ever lived (Annie Wilkes from ‘Misery’ crossed with a grumpy rottweiler) into plying them with free Belgian beer all night. Hell, we even knew Steven Adams when he was American. Now a number of us are present for their final London show before the band calls it a day on Halloween.

The set’s a long one, featuring songs from their first record to their last, from the Snowstorm days, through the Track and Field era to Cooking Vinyl; from ‘Queen of the Sea’ by way of ‘Song About Robots’ (what they think of as the archetypal TBFB song), ‘At the Back of the Chapel’, ‘The Booze and the Drugs’, ‘Walking Back to Jesus Part 2’, ‘A Place You Deserve’ and ‘Salivating’. Shit, just writing those titles out makes you realise how good a group the Broken Family Band have become while a song like the intricate ‘Devil in the Detail’ proves how fine a songwriter Steven Adams has always been.

There’s a tinge of sorrow but little room for disappointment tonight (the absence of ‘Mother o’Jesus’ is my only regret) and it’s like we’re stocking up on all the Broken Family Band we’ll need once they’re gone. Humour is much in evidence, Jay Williams calling for a show of hands of those who prefer their country phase and flipping them the finger when he receives it. Meanwhile Steve Adams typically changes the words to ‘(I Don’t Have Time To) Mess Around’ to its filthiest, RSPCA-baiting form yet. They resurrect long-time collaborator Tim Victor (sporting his worst haircut in a history of frightful barnetry) for a folky section, including their great cover of ‘Daisies’, and then with encores of ‘John Belushi’ and ‘Don’t Leave That Woman Unattended’ (respectively one of their best and definitely their worst songs) they reluctantly leave the stage for the last time. I don’t care that the last shows are in Cambridge; they’re not a Cambridge band. They were a constant London presence and pleasure for 8 years and the capital will be a little colder, duller and less profane without them. Now, for real, it’s all over.

The Vivian Girls: Everything Goes Wrong

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:50:16 PST

Vivian Girls: Everything Goes Wrong

We should have reviewed this a month ago but at the time I was wandering through Italian olive groves, thinking of the organic ‘slow food’ to come that night, and the Vivian Girls on my iPod sounded too harsh and urban for those bucolic surroundings. Once I arrived back in London, to dirt, stress and fast food, then it all started to fit into place again.

Everything Goes Wrong is a better album than the self-titled debut. In a series of 13 mostly short songs, totalling just 31 minutes, they expertly mix punk-pop with a 60s girl group feel. There’s a common approach to many of these songs: taut and driven by furiously pounded drums, with a gleaming melody shining out of a forest of guitars. ‘When I’m Gone’ in particular is a supernova of fuzzy energy while ‘Before I Start To Cry’ grinds it out at half speed. In best girl group fashion, broken hearts and women scorned are common themes, from the scads of guitar colouring the bubblegum ‘You’re My Guy’ to the harmony soaked early rock’n’roll rhythms in ‘Double Vision’ lamenting: “he has another woman/ you’ll never be the best”. It’s dramatic, edgy and relentlessly rhythmic pop music, and yet another brilliant Brooklyn record.

Filthy Little Angels to release back catalogue for free

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:26:35 PST

Those kind folk at Filthy Little Angels are giving away most of their back catalogue away free as some sort of bizarre act of generosity, normally associated with ruddy faced fellas dressed all in red. The material will be available in phases and each mp3 for only seven days so be quick, be nimble, er, etc.

With tradition firmly adhered to, they are starting at the beginning with:

FILTHY001 - Singles Club 7" One
A1 The Favours - Kill
A2 The Favours - Out Of Control
B1 The International Karate Plus - Nexus In A Chain Of Thought
B2 The International Karate Plus - Hats Off To Harry Kewell

Get it now from here

Dr Slaggleberry The Slagg Factory EP Review

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:48:29 PST

Dr Slaggleberry make music of sorts – apparently it’s a new genre, ‘Math Metal’. Or so I’ve read anyway. Whatever. ‘The Slagg Factory’ consists of 5 tracks of Heavy Metal instrumentals, all played with an aversion to 4/4 time and constraints of traditional ‘song’ writing. Played, however, competently and accurately, with decent production to boot. There’s little point in analysing each one individually, save to say that before a gentle evening’s self-mutilation ‘Grades Of Filth’ might be one’s preferred track of choice, whereas ‘Bastard Brew’ could well work best in preparing one mentally before striding off to school, with a pump-action shotgun concealed down the arm of one’s black leather greatcoat, and a mental note of every teacher and student that has contributed to this outcome. Every girl. Especially the girls…

The Raveonettes - The Chosen One Free MP3

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:44:40 PST

Today's free MP3 is by our old faves the Raveonettes and the track The Chosen One