One day in the future, at the time of the invasion of the Intergalactic Crown Prince of Martalia, we have it on sound authority that the anthems of all the nations will be scraped. The peoples of the earth will unite under one banner to defend our increasingly frail lands. They will march into battle with only one song as their anthem – Favorite Place by Black Books.

It’s true, we’ve seen the future and it’s all about Black Books dear friends. The alien invaders will quake at the sounds of the hypersonic galactic southern rock of Black Books and will be repelled. You couldn’t make this stuff up, HQ Wells tried but fell short (though Jeff Wayne is a legend).

Don’t believe us? Well listen to the ET destroying tune below:

See, I’m right.

Black Books are in the UK for the first time this week and we’re pretty sure they’ll leave triumphant. Their stellar interpretation of psych rock is bold, ambitious and doesn’t fall short. This is the slightly abrasive, unshaven and not quite sober older brother of dream pop. We love it.

Their debut album is out now and you can get a taster of it below:

MORE INFO:

Find Black Books on Twitter

Find them on Facebook

Buy their debut album Black Books on Amazon

Post by Matt Simmonds

]]> http://soundsgoodtometoo.com/2013/05/21/black-books-favorite-place/feed/ 0 http://soundsgoodtometoo.com/2013/05/21/black-books-favorite-place/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/soundsgoodtometoo/qhyV/~3/VH0AYGuBfwM/ http://soundsgoodtometoo.com/2013/05/20/now-now-threads-lp/#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 11:03:24 +0000 Tom Careless http://soundsgoodtometoo.com/?p=9654 SGTMT, and our mothers say that's a good thing. (Good things also come in small packages. It's what's inside that counts. And winning isn't everything).]]> Tweet

We’re different at SGTMT, and our mothers say that’s a good thing.

(Good things also come in small packages. It’s what’s inside that counts. And winning isn’t everything).

Whilst everyone else is off listening to the brand new record, released today, from two gallic robots, we’ve set up camp with a cup of tea in front of the turntable in the Listening Room at SGTMT Headquarters and we’re listening to a record that came out last year.

New music is great. Without it, well, there would only be old music. And semi-recently released music we guess. But that would become old music too pretty soon. So there would only be old music. The same old old music though. No new old music. For us new old music is often better than new music. Old old music is fine, but we’ve heard that before. Try and concentrate at the back guys, come on let’s focus here.

We’ve recently discovered Minnesota-born, Minneapolis-based indie trio Now, Now and so their second Threads LP is new old music to us. We bought it on a whim, having stumbled across them via Chris Walla‘s Trans Records Soundcloud Page and since it popped through the door downstairs we’ve been giving it some quality time.

Here’s Dead Oaks:

And School Friends:

And Wolf:

They are so lovely, and there’s a lot to discover on this record. We’re going in for another spin. Here’s to great new old music.

MORE INFO:

Find Now, Now on Twitter

Find them on Facebook

Post by Tom Careless

Threads LP is out now on Trans Records

]]> http://soundsgoodtometoo.com/2013/05/20/now-now-threads-lp/feed/ 0 http://soundsgoodtometoo.com/2013/05/20/now-now-threads-lp/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/soundsgoodtometoo/qhyV/~3/ZZrXXE9dLXk/ http://soundsgoodtometoo.com/2013/05/17/young-hunting-hazel-ep/#comments Fri, 17 May 2013 09:22:53 +0000 Matt Simmonds http://soundsgoodtometoo.com/?p=9648 Tweet

Bands from Los Angeles have to work twice as hard to impress us. Is that a general rule of just one of team SGTMT? We imagine all musicians from LA to be part human / part rubber. They have glitter balls for eyes and bleed a mixture of champagne and mountain dew. This is all true right?

Of course the city has a rich history of fine music but it’s increasingly plastic persona still hinders our perceptions. Excuse our ignorance and be thankful that our vision is not so skewed to have missed Young Hunting. Before I say anymore listen to Maze:

Now, we’re no Pop Princesses at SGTMT (except Tom of course) but this summer time brand of Dream Pop spins quite delightfully on our gramophone.

Tracks for Hazel were allegedly recorded in various locations around Southern California, including a
former ranger’s station in the Angeles National Forest, Grandma’s Dojo studio in LA’s Koreatown, a rented one-bedroom desert house outside of Joshua Tree. I feel like we should know who Grandma Dojo is and the Joshua Tree, that’s like the Faraway Tree right? You climb to the top and enter a parallel universe inhabited solely by a giant pair of Bono’s sunglasses.

Forget Bono, forget Grandma Dojo; just get lost in the subtleties and slight superphonics of Young Hunting.

Before another utterance, enjoy Baby’s First Steps:

Young Hunting are signed to Gold Robot Records and release the Hazel EP shortly. We’ll be following their progress.

And in closing Wrecking Ball:

MORE INFO:

Find Young Hunting on Twitter

Find them on Facebook

Buy their new EP Hazel on Amazon

Post by Matt Simmonds

]]> http://soundsgoodtometoo.com/2013/05/17/young-hunting-hazel-ep/feed/ 0 http://soundsgoodtometoo.com/2013/05/17/young-hunting-hazel-ep/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/soundsgoodtometoo/qhyV/~3/ztV9IvGvw68/ http://soundsgoodtometoo.com/2013/05/15/mo/#comments Wed, 15 May 2013 12:50:54 +0000 Tom Careless http://soundsgoodtometoo.com/?p=9642 MØ that we'd go see her show at London's Cargo. You know those nights where you hope that the set is nice and short so you can get it over and done with and crawl back into the bunk beds at the SGTMT Dorm Room? It was one of those.]]> Tweet

Last night Team SGTMT went out for a little boogie.

It had been a long old day, and we were pretty pooped, but we’d promised Danish pop sensation MØ that we’d go see her show at London’s Cargo. You know those nights where you hope that the set is nice and short so you can get it over and done with and crawl back into the bunk beds at the SGTMT Dorm Room? It was one of those.

Tell you what though guys; MØ is pretty amazing live. I mean, she’s seriously good. A ball of unhinged energy throwing herself around the stage, and with a quite incredible voice. She’s also got a lot of good songs. And great homemade video visuals. We were well impressed. High fives all round everyone.

One highlight was forthcoming single Waste Of Time which her guitarist really went to town on. He can really noodle:

Here’s an idea of her live show, Pilgrim recorded at Moonlab Studios. When I saw this video a little while ago, I was suspicious over how live the vocals were. She obviously has some recorded vocals helping out, but I wasn’t sure anything was live. Turns out she can really wail, 100% in tune, commanding complete control over that voice. Whilst convulsing her way around a stage. Splendid.

MØ has been busy putting the finishing touches to her debut LP. We’re pretty excited for it. She’ll also be at Latitude this summer, which will be nice. (She may well be doing other festivals, but we’re not going to them, and since we don’t do research at SGTMT you’ll have to find out for yourself). If you get a chance to see her, make sure you grab it. Even if you’re pooped.

MORE INFO:

Find MØ on Twitter

Find her on Facebook

Post by Tom Careless

]]> http://soundsgoodtometoo.com/2013/05/15/mo/feed/ 0 http://soundsgoodtometoo.com/2013/05/15/mo/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/soundsgoodtometoo/qhyV/~3/vc4gIB1fVIQ/ http://soundsgoodtometoo.com/2013/05/15/big-deal-dream-machines/#comments Wed, 15 May 2013 07:58:55 +0000 Matt Simmonds http://soundsgoodtometoo.com/?p=9637 Tweet

We’ve been big fans of Big Deal for a while now. We’ve been, like, making a Big Deal about them. HA HA HA HA HA HA. HA. HAHAHAHAH. Ha ha… Ahem.

First came (at least on this blog) Teradactol, then In Your Car and now the elegantly bruising Dream Machines.

Good grief that’s quite the business.

Big Deal release their debut album June Gloom on the 4th June and embark on a UK tour later this week, starting at the Great Escape in Brighton. If you’re new to them they describe themselves as ‘cheese cringe, post cringe, hard cheese, cheesegaze, cringe-core’. Sure.

We’re very much looking forward to June Gloom. Big Deal’s progression over the last few years (SoundCloud gives a good indication of it) has been quite remarkable and we’re eager to hear what they’ll do next.

MORE INFO:

Find Big Deal on Twitter

Find them on Facebook

Buy their debut album June Gloom on Amazon

Post by Matt Simmonds

]]> http://soundsgoodtometoo.com/2013/05/15/big-deal-dream-machines/feed/ 0 http://soundsgoodtometoo.com/2013/05/15/big-deal-dream-machines/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/soundsgoodtometoo/qhyV/~3/G4PPoKXlr-c/ http://soundsgoodtometoo.com/2013/05/14/we-dont-talk-enough-about-the-boxer-rebellion/#comments Tue, 14 May 2013 21:04:50 +0000 Matt Simmonds http://soundsgoodtometoo.com/?p=9633 Tweet

At SGTMT HQ we’ve had a spate of frightening incidents involving Moonlight Shadow (the Mike Oldfield song, not the actual shadow of the moon, though that might make more sense…). First Tom got buried under a mountain of vinyl for a week, A WEEK, whilst trying to locate his copy of the aforementioned record (true story); and then we discovered a Turkish cover version of the song and blogged it (sorry) which nearly ruined our once prestigious reputation.

So the last few days we’ve been in a state of recovery, best described as an ELO / Mike O cold turkey. We needed to wean ourselves away you see, Mike is obviously bad for our collective health (Tom’s ok by the way, he’s chuffed you asked). And when we’re in recovery mode we hunt down our old musical favourites, melodic comfort blankets if you will. This survival period led us to The Boxer Rebellion.

Now it’s not often we blog a globally successful indie band who’ve been around for 12 years, I’m sure you’ll appreciate the extreme stress we’ve been under and forgive us this once. The Boxer Rebellion are one of those peculiar English bands who seem to have gained respect and a size-able following in yankland but remain relatively anonymous back here in the UK (think Bush, remember them?). Sadly we fear history may recall them in a similar fashion to Bush (a poor man’s Nirvana) and forever they’ll be known as a crap version of Coldplay. Ouch. Even if that’s true let’s agree this tune is beyond agreeable:

MORE INFO:

Find The Boxer Rebellion on Twitter

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Buy their latest album Promises on Amazon

Post by Matt Simmonds

]]> http://soundsgoodtometoo.com/2013/05/14/we-dont-talk-enough-about-the-boxer-rebellion/feed/ 0 http://soundsgoodtometoo.com/2013/05/14/we-dont-talk-enough-about-the-boxer-rebellion/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/soundsgoodtometoo/qhyV/~3/CGUuGWxoRR4/ http://soundsgoodtometoo.com/2013/05/13/banks-warm-water-prod-totally-enormous-extinct-dinosaurs/#comments Mon, 13 May 2013 19:01:03 +0000 Tom Careless http://soundsgoodtometoo.com/?p=9626 SGTMT are hiring! We need a new masseuse. So we've spent the entire day doing back to back interviews in a Watford hotel where there was a rude receptionist but free breakfast. Interviewing all day is an oddly exhausting experience. Talking. Listening. Talking. Listening. It's weird. Anyway, we found a good one; the one that looked like Sky Ferreira. That done we've headed back to the SGTMT Headquarters Listening Room (shelves now repaired after *this* tragic accident) and we've been having a root around the music portal. We've found a real treat, let us tell you.]]> Tweet

SGTMT are hiring! We need a new masseuse.

So we’ve spent the entire day doing back to back interviews in a Watford hotel where there was a rude receptionist but free breakfast. Interviewing all day is an oddly exhausting experience. Talking. Listening. Talking. Listening. It’s weird. Anyway, we found a good one; the one that looked like Sky Ferreira.

That done we’ve headed back to the SGTMT Headquarters Listening Room (shelves now repaired after *this* tragic accident) and we’ve been having a root around the music portal. We’ve found a real treat, let us tell you.

Here we go. New music from Banks, produced by Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs. This is Warm Water:

Oh heck, we’re a complete sucker for a stripped-back understated production like that. We’re dying for it to be let off the leash, and yet, we love the tension that’s created when it never is. And Banks has a heck of a voice. Finally, great melody, gal.

On repeat.

Warm Water is released on May 27th on Good Years Recordings.

Find Banks on Twitter

Find her on Facebook

Post by Tom Careless

]]> http://soundsgoodtometoo.com/2013/05/13/banks-warm-water-prod-totally-enormous-extinct-dinosaurs/feed/ 0 http://soundsgoodtometoo.com/2013/05/13/banks-warm-water-prod-totally-enormous-extinct-dinosaurs/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/soundsgoodtometoo/qhyV/~3/VL1CsIYiGjc/ http://soundsgoodtometoo.com/2013/05/12/the-national-sea-of-love/#comments Sun, 12 May 2013 21:06:21 +0000 Matt Simmonds http://soundsgoodtometoo.com/?p=9622 Tweet

In just over a weeks time The National release their sixth album Trouble Will Find Me.

In our role as greatest and most respected of all online music emporiums (FACT), we felt it highly appropriate to give our own opinion on this latest release. I mean, what would the world do without our expert view and analysis? Seriously, what would you do? Would you cope? Would you survive? Would life continue with any meaning at all without SGTMT? We think probably not.

Of course this surely raises a wider question, perhaps even THE question. Will Spurs clinch the final Champions League spot? Only Emmanuel Adebayors right boot currently knows.

I’m pretty sure this post needs at least one more non sequitur…

Moonlight Shadow, you know the Mike Oldfield track? We’ve written about it on 2 of our last 3 posts on this blog so we thought it right and proper to do so at least once more.

WHAT IS GOING ON. So, well, what happened was I realised we had nothing of any value to write about Sea Of Love, the first video, to come from Trouble Will Find Me. So there. Watch / listen whatever:

MORE INFO:

Find The National on Facebook

Pre order Trouble Will Find Me on Amazon

Buy High Violet on Amazon

Post by Matt Simmonds

]]> http://soundsgoodtometoo.com/2013/05/12/the-national-sea-of-love/feed/ 2 http://soundsgoodtometoo.com/2013/05/12/the-national-sea-of-love/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/soundsgoodtometoo/qhyV/~3/5qTzNIrlpGM/ http://soundsgoodtometoo.com/2013/05/10/calibre/#comments Fri, 10 May 2013 11:31:10 +0000 Tom Careless http://soundsgoodtometoo.com/?p=9602 Tweet

There has been a terrible accident at SGTMT Headquarters.

I’d been telling the lads that we need to get the shelves looked at for weeks. The ones in the Listening Room which hold all the vinyl. They’re an accident waiting to happen, I said. Matt said it would cost too much to get someone in to fiddle with them. Furthermore, we spent the whole maintenance budget on re-sealing the bath (probably a reference to my over-excited bath behaviour I noted with narrowed eyes), so the shelves would have to wait.

I was at said shelves the other day, flicking through the sleeves trying to find my copy of Mike Oldfield‘s Crises LP (so I could have yet another listen to Moonlight Shadow) and there was an ominous creak from the shelf brackets. I looked up just as they came away from the wall, and found myself pinned to the ground under an avalanche of vinyl.

(Interestingly, this is one of the ways I’d like to die. But not yet thanks).

I was trapped. Unable to shift the weight of records. Nobody heard my whimpers or pleas for help. I began to think I might die on the floor of the room in which I’d had so many wonderful experiences, underneath the things which had brought me so much joy. I found it hard to breathe. The other chaps came and went and continued listening to records of course, they just rooted around in the pile until they found what they wanted. It was only when Matt lifted up our copy of Wham‘s Club Tropicana and my tiny, helpless face was revealed that I was rescued. “toldyou” I croaked as he lifted me out.

I’d been under there over a week, guys, over a week.

Having been nursed back to health, like a hedgehog retrieved from the jaws of the neighbour’s dog; cuddled and fed on a nursery bottle of milk (is milk good for hedgehogs or does it kill them? Subs, please check, thanks) I’m fit to return to the world and see what I’ve missed.

A new album appearing on the horizon from our favourite drum n bass producer, Calibre, that’s what I’ve missed! This is Key Flix:

Ahh. Better. There’s nobody who does drum n bass with such a deft touch and authority as Calibre, aka Dominick Martin. For us, any of his releases are subject to a buy-on-sight policy. The quality is always there.

Calibre is fresh from mixing the 68th edition of the FABRICLIVE series, which was well good. Here’s a 30 minute mix to give you a taster:

Find Signature Recordings on Facebook

Pre-order Calibre’s Spill LP here with free MP3s if you buy the vinyl. Released 20th May.

Post by Tom Careless

]]> http://soundsgoodtometoo.com/2013/05/10/calibre/feed/ 0 http://soundsgoodtometoo.com/2013/05/10/calibre/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/soundsgoodtometoo/qhyV/~3/w9Rk5oDHrTA/ http://soundsgoodtometoo.com/2013/05/09/wilsen-dusk/#comments Thu, 09 May 2013 07:57:08 +0000 Matt Simmonds http://soundsgoodtometoo.com/?p=9597 Tweet

Back at the dawn of the year we instructed you all to ‘keep an eye on‘ Wilsen. We trust you’ve been doing so. So, if you’ve been obedient, you’ll be aware of their new release Dusk. It’s super fantastical.

If you’re not familiar with dream folk (basically folk music for hipsters) then Wilsen are a pretty good introduction. They’re fronted by English singer Tamsin Wilson but the rest of the crew herald from Yankland.

Wilsen specalise in slowly melting cold hearts through intense, anthemic, yet soothingly lackadaisical adventures. Tamsin’s voice rules the roost, like an oddly tender Cockerel. As she sings ‘Dusk is rolling in’, you can almost feel yourself being enveloped within the misty clouds of a winters morn.

MORE INFO:

Find Wilsen on Twitter

Find them on Facebook

Buy their debut mini-album Sirens on Amazon

Post by Matt Simmonds

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