My name is Lauren Zara. Actually, Zara’s the middle name, but,
a) There’s already a writer with my name. She writes about depression & Prozac & the like. That’s not fun. Not to mention the fact she’s hugely successful & therefore she’d always ‘whoop my ass’ in Google searches.
and b) My surname’s a bit ’Eastenders’. If you know me in person you’ll know what I mean.

So Lauren Zara it is for as long as I keep this blog up. Although I do debate whether I should have gone for a proper nom de plume…  ‘Ethel Spragg’ or something like that. I’m 21 years of age, currently residing in the sleepy town of Royal Leamington Spa, fresh out of the University of Lincoln having studied Drama for 3 years…until I realised that I was fed up of theatre.
A horrific waste of time & money, I hear you cry? Well… let’s just say Mum wasn’t best pleased when I strolled in one day and said, “Mother dearest! Let’s pack-in all this acting malarkey, shall we, and concentrate on something a little more serious!?” (you could almost see the vein in her forehead twitching with anger as she painfully recalled the 8 long years I spent ignoring her career advice…) 

However, in many other ways, it hasn’t been a waste at all. During my time at lovely Lincoln, when I wasn’t doing a native folk-dance, practicing my scales or pretending to be a tree, I quickly got myself involved in a truckload of television and radio programmes within the University’s Media School in the pursuit of one day entering the media industry rather than the theatrical one. And I figure I’ve been blogging personally for the past 5 years; it’s perhaps about time I started investing my blogging-days into something that people might actually fancy reading from time-to-time…rather than about the new pair of shoes I just bought and my Distract Manager at work who I quite fancy…(he’s married…he’s got kids…get over it Lauren.)

Now let’s face it; EVERYBODY LOVES MUSIC. I’m not going to sit here and tell you “I love music, it’s my life. I can barely breathe without music, that’s how much of a fan I am, I’d DIE if didn’t hear at least one song a day”. (Do you ever see that, on people’s Facebook or Myspace pages? Does anyone else think it’s absolutely ridiculous?) Nor am I going to pretend that I know everything there is to know about music. All I can tell you is what I think about stuff, share what I discover, add a few pictures, comments, rants and videos along the way and BANANARAMA.

Welcome to Questival., my quest for the best in new music, old music, indie music, pop music, alternative music, electro music, rock music, danceable music, good music, musical music and other music my ears heard this week.

But for now, whilst I try and meander the technical-labyrinth that is CSS, my favourite song of the moment:

‘Sleepyhead’, by Passion Pit. Music to make you smile.

Dagens spotifylänk går till Hot Club De Paris. Galet skön indierock. Jag är frälst samtidigt som jag skriver på två filmrecensioner samtidigt. Så intressant är mitt liv efter att ha jobbat hela dagen med alla tankar på morgondagens stora händelse. Jävla ångest.

When I listen to older songs, reminded of how good they actually are, it stuns and shock me to the core. In a good way. Imagine my surprise when I heard this oft forgotten gem from 2006 again –

Hot Club de Paris – Shipwreck
An amazingly good track, who’d of thought that those harmonies would work so well from the Scousers. I also got reminded how amazing Dizzee Rascal can be, by recently delving deeper into American Hip Hop, mostly the gangster variety, I sort of forgot about British stuff, there’s the brilliant Plan B and dizzee-hating WIley, the Rascal though does win out, listen to this gem –

Dizzee Rascal – Jezebel

It’s the obsession of the blogosphere to follow the biggest, most current trend, the new thing and all that, but looking back even a couple of years is sometimes rewarding.
:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

Got one for the Brighton students here. It’s only fair, as a growing section of The Recommenders fans are based at the Sussex University. And so as the clocks finally turned forwards and we welcomed in our long-awaited Spring season, the months in which it sits continue to bring us a fantastic selection of great gigs, many of which will be found at the multitude of Brighton’s upcoming festivals. We have one of those festivals highlighted below, alongside an awesome gig sitting proudly all on its own…

UNIFEST 2009
This is a festival that’s been rolling on for many years now. It’s placed amongst a handful of other live performances and mini-festivals that crop up through the year on the Sussex University site, in what is a busy and brilliantly entertaining campus. This event showcases a very wide selection of genres, from Dance to Indie, even including it’s own arena solely for Dub music! It’s definitely a ’something-for-everyone’ afternoon that reflects the complex diversity of the Brighton universities student population. Placing the acts across five stages in the heart of the campus itself seems a suitable location too, as it’s known to the students, is well connected and has plenty of space amongst the backdrop of the South Downs.  We list a handful of the acts below from our favourites on the listings to help guide you, but be aware that there a too many to fully list here, so get hunting out and your efforts will no doubt be rewarded.

ACTS: KISSY SELL OUT, KRAFTY KUTS, HOT CLUB DE PARIS, DAN LE SAC,
RED LIGHT COMPANY, JFB
VENUE:                  SUSSEX UNIVERSITY CAMPUS, FALMER, Nr BRIGHTON
COST:                    £ 16.50
DATE:                    Saturday 25th April 2009
WEBSITE:              Not available (see University publications)

WE HAVE BAND
Initially posted up on The Recommender 19, where we first embraced this wonderful band, you will be able to grab an mp3 of their tune, ‘Hear It In The Cans’. A superb track that showcases just why we love them here at The Recommender. Namely a cooler-than-cool Lo-Fi beat, covered over with a sharp chord of electronic sounds and a building vocal that overlaps, almost as if you’re listening to two tunes at once. It works so well and it is with this exciting, experimental gift that they are still our favourite band to emerge thus far in 2009. Backed with the trend-setting Parisian fashion/music label Kitsune, this London trio are sure to continue their success amongst the ’scenester’ fraternity. They’ll be welcomed with open arms in Brighton. Miss them here and you will have another couple of chances as they re-visit Brighton for both The Great Escape and The Loop festivals. However, it’s at this more personal venue that we think their real treasure will be discovered.

ACT:                    WE HAVE BAND
VENUE:                THE FREEBUTT
COST:                  £ 6.00 advance  (£7 on door)
DATE:                   Friday 17th April 2009
WEBSITE:            Myspace

As a footnote, The Freebutt is a venue that seems to be cropping up more and more on our radars too, as it continues to book the brightest in cutting edge bands. It’s fast becoming the place where taking a punt on an unknown listing can really reward the inquisitive punter…
Mike

It’s been a quiet day in Alcopop HQ today, before the storm no doubt, but while others amongst the industry have no doubt been a-beavering away on all sorts of musical related business, I’ve been listening to Cornershop (Lessons learned from Rocky I to Rocky III is no doubt quite the tune), wondering how I can make dishing out free MP3s sexy again (I thing I’ve got it you know) all the while planning a storming set for my DJ set at The Purple Turtle tonight in Oxford.

One exciting piece of Monday news however is that the finished artwork for goFASTERs upcoming EP, A Modern Education, has arrived courtesy of the talented Paul from Hot Club de Paris – and I think it looks rather nice. Litre upon litre of blackboard paint, and no doubt several packets of chalk down – he’s gone for that schoolyard charm, leaving me itching for a retro episode of Grange Hill (did anyone else used to watch that with their mum ). And here it is…. I hope you like!

Oh and incidentally, former Alcopop favourites (and now signed to the pretty damn ace Fear and Records) data.select.party are playing a FREE show at The Old Blue Last in London town tonight. If you’re around you should definitely go! The new album no doubt sounds awesome – and if you have an extra three sheets to spare on top of that, there are a few copies of their debut single limited to 500  (somehow) still available from the shop. Go figure…

It’s been a while!  I’m going to try to post more podcasts over the coming weeks and, in the meantime, I thought I’d record and post my recent DJ set at the Rooftop music venue in Second Life.  Enjoy

Tracklisting

We Smoke Fags – Lust Puppet

Hot Club De Paris – Who Am I?

Kid Carpet – Failed World Record Attempt

I Am Bones – Building Hospitals

Voxtrot – Easy

IMA Robot – Philosophofee

The Wave Pictures – Just Like A Drummer

The Dresden Dolls – Coin-Operated Boy

The Cure – Love Cats

The Jam – Town Called Malice

The Klaxons – Golden Skans

Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head – Iceage Babeland

Empire of the Sun – Standing On The Shore

Shiny Toy Guns – Ghost Town

Lucky Soul – Get Outta Town

Tullycraft – Bored To Hear Your Heart Still Breaks

Pocketbooks – Don’t Stop

The Indelicates – Stars

Noah And The Whale – Shape of My Heart

Scotland The Brave on Bagpipes!

Wolfsheim – Ruby Dont Take Your Love To Town

Pants Yell – Don’t Take It

Belle & Sebastian – Roy Walker

Malcolm Middleton – Four Cigarettes

The Dodos – Winter

The Electric Pop Group – Summer’s Day

The Waifs – Sweetness

1990s – Is There A Switch For That?

The Pixies – Debaser

Moving Units – Going For Adds

Hockey – Too Fake

Pop Levi – Sugar Assault Me Now

My Teenage Stride – Terror Bends

Hushpuppies – You’re Gonna Say Yeah

Rotary Ten – Idols of Our Own Design

Clear Tigers – Summertime

Blitzen Trapper – God & Suicide

Download this episode

Get a Job – The Silhouettes
Get out of Your Lazy Bed – Matt Bianco
Working on the Building – Elvis Presley
Government Centre – Jonathan Richman
Satisfaction – Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain
Satisfaction – Otis Redding
Loafers Corner – Orlando 7
Sans Travail – La Bolduc
No Money No Love – Byron Lee & The Mighty Sparrow
I’m Gonna Ask to Leave at Three so Call Me – Superthriller
I’m Gonna Quit While I’m Ahead – The Ronettes
Hello Comrade ( I Quit My Job) – Hot Club de Paris
Stock Exchange – Miss Kittin & The Hacker
You’re the Boss – Lavern Baker
Rat Race – The Specials
Feed My Cat – Jonny Trunk & Duncan Wisbey
Beat the Clock – Sparks
Working in a Coal Mine – Devo
Retirement Days – Darren Hayman
I’ve Retired – Alfred Fields, Tony Hollins & Johnny Shines

The Wombats earlier

Liverpool has always had a long lineage of musicians  and artists. In fact, there can’t be  many people who aren’t aware that Liverpool’s artists have reached the coverted Number 1 spot in Britain more than anywhere else. Well whoop-de-doo!

What on Earth does that mean ?  We have better P.R. companies ? Better haircuts ? What’s the relevance?

Who knows!   What I do know is that there is large amount of music being made in Liverpool that will never sink into ‘average Joe’s’  CD collection.

Music that seems to be intrinsically trying to put the listener off  can only be liked to a threshhold point by the normal music listening public!

Thank God, thank Dog.  It’s ours.

The Beatles 'Yesterday'

According to Wiki:

“1990s bands that enjoyed success were The Boo Radleys, The La’s, The Farm, Ooberman, Sian and Slug.

Since 2000 bands such as The Zutons, The Wombats and The Coral have become popular. As a backlash to this regular guitar pop music, another scene far more influenced by post punk and experimental music has emerged more recently,  spearheaded by bands such as  a.P.A.t.T. , Hot Club de Paris, Kling Klang and Stig “

So, there must be something that binds a lot of  bands together in Liverpool; well, progressive is one aspect…hmmm  and it’s safe to say that simply the music MUST  must be a little Wonky.

Wonk may refer to:

• Wonk, slang for a person preoccupied with arcane details or procedures in a specialised field

Wonky may refer to:

• Wonky, slang for off -kilter. Wonky face , Wonky throat etc

What else could these bands have in common? It’s safe to say all the bands embrace a DIY ethic. However, it’s not something to be surprised by, and it’s  not just complementary to the music but indicative of it.

This is a collection of  the Liverpool practitioners of Wonk and their goods!

.
“There’s a kind of bullishness to just DO stuff. Everyone seems to be always scheming things which is a very healthy sign. Of course, there’s the occasional whinger but they seem to be outvoted by those who just go out and grab some action – that’s very inspiring sometimes.”
-Shooman, Spank

“This is for us, this is ours, this is what we’re going to do, so some sponsor is not part of what we’re involved in.”
- Foxy, SS

“The minute we started it, it was slightly anti-music or something like that, but it’s absolutely guaranteed, set on, to be our life’s work, whatever goes on with it, this is what we’re going to do, even if it’s just goes back to giving out CD-Rs to our friends or something. And it’s me learning, the band learning, it’s us all learning together, and that’s why we enjoy it so much.”
-GM, a.P.A.t.T.

“We try to make what we consider to be good pop music with a progressive mindset. We like to make music which is melodic, innovative and sometimes needlessly complicated”
-Indica Ritual

“Crazy noise, granted, but nothing quite prepares for the flamenco-featuring random meandering, enthusiastically ploughing through unhinged rhythms, bewildering Henry Mancini-isms and Mclusky spikiness” .Rum N Brass. Dis. A semi-abandoned café, bring your own booze, donation entry, crusties, arties, old men with harps. THIS IS THE UNDERGROUND MUXXAFUXXXRS. The Stig Noise Soundsystem start as we’re likely to go on with intense, overwrought sounds. Based around brass and drums, it’s a fast improvised exploration of something approaching tribal doom jazz. As they batter their instruments with force and feeling, there’s odd wonderfully brain-searing moments. Class A Audio. -  Drowned In Sound.com About Stig Noise Sound System

monobrow @ Class A Audio Jne 2008

Already by the 19th century, Liverpool was a centre of musical innovation, in particular the development of the sea shanty. Many shanties specifically refer to Liverpool, such as “Heave Away”, “Liverpool Judies”, and “Maggie May”, which was later performed by The Rutles.

“A gleeful, Technicolour zombie stomp through the dark, B-movie underbelly of music. And if you don’t like the sound of that, well, you’re clearly too alive – Drowned in Sound about  Zombina & the Skeletones

Dirtblonde’s mini-album White Noise, Rubber Heart was recorded in their kitchen, and a reviewer has described them in these words: “You don’t have a Jack and Meg, you have more of Sid & Nancy meets Natural Born Killers’ Mickey and Mallory.”- Dirtblonde

Let’s simply list more of these D.I.Y. timewasters shall we :

a.P.A.t.T.

Balloons

Blue Demon

Dirtblonde

Hot Club de Paris

Indica Ritual

Kling Klang

Monobrow

Mugstar

Norwich Unicorn

Red Panda

Stig Noise Sound System

SSS

SCCC

The International

The Laze

Zombina and the Skeletones

The Wombats earlier

Liverpool has always had a long lineage of musicians  and artists. In fact, there can’t be  many people who aren’t aware that Liverpool’s artists have reached the coverted Number 1 spot in Britain more than anywhere else. Well whoop-de-doo!

What on Earth does that mean ?  We have better P.R. companies ? Better haircuts ? What’s the relevance?

Who knows!   What I do know is that there is large amount of music being made in Liverpool that will never sink into ‘average Joe’s’  CD collection.

Music that seems to be intrinsically trying to put the listener off  can only be liked to a threshhold point by the normal music listening public!

Thank God, thank Dog.  It’s ours.

The Beatles 'Yesterday'

According to Wiki:

“1990s bands that enjoyed success were The Boo Radleys, The La’s, The Farm, Ooberman, Scorpio Rising, Sian and Slug.

Since 2000 bands such as The Zutons, The Wombats and The Coral have become popular. As a backlash to this regular guitar pop music, another scene far more influenced by post punk and experimental music has emerged more recently,  spearheaded by bands such as  a.P.A.t.T. ,  Hot Club de Paris, Kling Klang and Stig”

So, there must be something that binds a lot of  bands together in Liverpool; well, progressive is one aspect…hmmm  and it’s safe to say that simply the music MUST  must be a little Wonky.

Wonk may refer to:

• Wonk, slang for a person preoccupied with arcane details or procedures in a specialised field

Wonky may refer to:

• Wonky, slang for off -kilter. Wonky face , Wonky throat etc

What else could these bands have in common? It’s safe to say all the bands embrace a DIY ethic. However, it’s not something to be surprised by, and it’s  not just complementary to the music but indicative of it.

This is a collection of  the Liverpool practitioners of Wonk and their goods!

.
“There’s a kind of bullishness to just DO stuff. Everyone seems to be always scheming things which is a very healthy sign. Of course, there’s the occasional whinger but they seem to be outvoted by those who just go out and grab some action – that’s very inspiring sometimes.”
-Shooman, Spank

“This is for us, this is ours, this is what we’re going to do, so some sponsor is not part of what we’re involved in.”
- Foxy, SS

“The minute we started it, it was slightly anti-music or something like that, but it’s absolutely guaranteed, set on, to be our life’s work, whatever goes on with it, this is what we’re going to do, even if it’s just goes back to giving out CD-Rs to our friends or something. And it’s me learning, the band learning, it’s us all learning together, and that’s why we enjoy it loads.”
-GM, a.P.A.t.T.

“We try to make what we consider to be good pop music with a progressive mindset. We like to make music which is melodic, innovative and sometimes needlessly complicated”
-Indica Ritual

“Crazy noise, granted, but nothing quite prepares for the flamenco-featuring random meandering, enthusiastically ploughing through unhinged rhythms, bewildering Henry Mancini-isms and Mclusky spikiness” .Rum N Brass. Dis. A semi-abandoned café, bring your own booze, donation entry, crusties, arties, old men with harps. THIS IS THE UNDERGROUND MUTHAFUCKERS.The Stig Noise Soundsystem start as we’re likely to go on with intense, overwrought sounds. Based around brass and drums, it’s a fast improvised exploration of something approaching tribal doom jazz. As they batter their instruments with force and feeling, there’s odd wonderfully brain-searing moments. Class A Audio. -  Drowned In Sound.com About Stig Noise Sound System

monobrow @ Class A Audio Jne 2008

Already by the 19th century, Liverpool was a centre of musical innovation, in particular the development of the sea shanty. Many shanties specifically refer to Liverpool, such as “Heave Away”, “Liverpool Judies”, and “Maggie May”, which was later performed by The Rutles.

“A gleeful, Technicolour zombie stomp through the dark, B-movie underbelly of music. And if you don’t like the sound of that, well, you’re clearly too alive”

- Drowned in Sound about Zombina & the Skeletones

Let’s simply list more of these D.I.Y. timewasters shall we :

a.P.A.t.T.

Balloons

Blue Demon

Hot Club de Paris

Indica Ritual

Kling Klang

Monobrow

Mugstar

Norwich Unicorn

Red Panda

Stig Noise Sound System

SSS

SCCC

The International

The Laze

Zombina and the Skeletones

THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2008 (and other things)

So, like any music-related blog, here’s a listing of my top albums this year. Some of it may seem a bit odd and arbitrary, but there’s some backings to my orderings. But, it’s all merely numbers – I’ve enjoyed all these albums throughout the year, and completely numberless. However, for the sake of order, here’s the list…

35. AmpLive – Rainydayz Remixes

Here’s a great album remix concept that works out all the way through. Rather than simply mashing up In Rainbows with another album, AmpLive rearranges the Radiohead tracks into completely new and downright great hip-hop songs. Del’s track (“Videotapez”) is one of the best hip-hop songs of the year.

34. High Places – 03/07 – 09/07

It’s a bit random, but this selection of songs recorded by High Places made from March to September of last year is, if anything, a mark at how great this band can be. “Head Spins” and “Jump In” offer up some fantastic experimental pop songs, bringing some heft to the album of mostly-studio experimentations.

33. Future Islands – Wave Like Home

Comparisons are pretty easy, but in this case, it’s impossible to ignore. Baltimore’s Future Islands sound a little something like if New Order used cheap laptop technology for their electronics and were fronted by a slightly subdued Iggy Pop. “Old Friend” is perhpas one of the most endearing beginnings to any album this year.

32. Fuck Buttons - Street Horrsing

Listen to the first two tracks and just try not getting hypnotized. Experimental-art-whatever-kind-of-rock that’s quite pallatable.

31. Lil Wayne – Tha Carter III

I’m not sure what convinced me about this record. Oh wait, it could be the brilliant minimalism of “A Milli” and Wayne dropping rhymes like “you drop em cuz we pop em like Orville Redenbacher.” Now that’s an imaginative and oddball line for you.

30. Atmosphere – When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold/Strictly Leakage

Sure, Slug’s fit of anger may have become… well, sluggish. But he’s surely got more to offer, as seen on When Life Gives You Lemons. Although there are some rough patches here and there, Slug melts his tales of woe and wisdom of everyday folks with Ant’s increasingly experimental neo-soul. Guest spots from TVOTR’s Tunde Adebimpe and Tom Waits sure do add to the mix. The free Strictly Leackage is a bit of a toss-away in comparison to the large amount of Atmosphere material out there, but pump those beats and you really can’t go wrong.

29. The Very Best – The Very Best Mixtape

This mixtape might be a little higher to the top if it weren’t for the fact that many of its best tracks are simply recylced instrumentals that are quite recognizable… then again, that is part of the appeal of most mixtapes. Even so, Esau Mwamwaya’s skillful flow brings a newfound musicality to the over-used Clash sample on “Paper Planes”… now, if I only new what he was saying…

28. Foals – Antidotes

When I saw Foals in a tiny club in London back in 2007, I was sold. But when Antidotes was released, I didn’t pick it up. Actually, I still haven’t. However, I’ve heard plenty of the album, and after having a sizeable amount of distance from the material and the British hype machine, I must say the things that brought me to the band are still there. There’s the quirky math-minimalist streak, combined with an ambience I originally pushed off in search of more post-punk punch but does the trick. If only some of the songs stood out a little more on their own, or rather, didn’t appear to repeate the tropes of other tracks, this album would have been in the top ten.

27. Pattern Is Movement – All Together

Punk drums and church-like organs with operatic singing, and tons of positive feedback. How can you go wrong?

26. Hercules and Love Affair – Hercules and Love Affair

The sound of Hercules and Love Affair breathes disco, but it seems to be missing part of the free-for-all effervescence that fills the best tracks of that era. But considering that the large majority of songs from that era get increasingly hard to listen to, consider HALA a neo-disco best of. Some of these songs are that great. Hats off to Antony Hegarty of Antony and the Johnsons, who’s trumpet-like warble makes the albums best songs.

25. Apollo Sunshine - Shall Noise Upon

Like the Beatles? Like classic rock? Anti-folk? Country? Jam? “Indie?” Well, it’d be best to run out and pick up this record immediately. It’s great to see Apollo Sunshine constantly producing great music, and their work in the studio has certainly begun to equal their live presence. What’s the worst thing about the record? The fact that it hasn’t been getting its proper due.

24. Kanye West – 808s and Heartbreak

Here’s what my friend had to say to me about this album while arguing about it the other day:

“He doesn’t rap!”

“It’s all electronics!”

Now, on paper/screen image, it’s impossible to register the confused disgust in my friends voice. That’s because he was just making statements, though ones marked with hatred towards the album. For a person who isn’t neccesarily looking for a formula, 808s and Heartbreaks is a solid pop record. The beats are, if anything, still fresh, “despite” the electronics of it. And the auto-tone? Well, it’s better than T-Pain. Moreover, songs like “Say You Will” and “Coldest Winter” seem to stick to the inside of your head no matter what the ratio of electronic singing to rapping may be.

23. Hot Chip – Made In The Dark

It’s got some of the best dance tunes of the year, and some of the oddest slow dance songs of the year. You have to give it a hand to Hot Chip to keep on revitalizing their sound and style and interspersing it with effects from reggaeton to two-step to old school soul.

22. The Black Keys – Attack & Release

Danger Mouse. Danger Mouse is like cowbell for those musicians who aren’t Blue Oyster Cult. With Attack & Release, DM revitalizes The Black Keys tired and true approach and certainly makes it less tired, working in to fill in the blanks that come with only having a guitar and drum. The funky bump of “Strange Times” and wistful ballad of “Psychotic Girl” have helped revitalize my own faith in this band.

21. Marnie Stern – This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That

Here’s a record for folks who think that the world of the guitar virtuoso is gender oriented. Marnie Stern can shred faster than most of those old phallic hair metal acts, and she does it well to boot. AC/DC-styled riffs at chipmunk paces, math-stylized song structures, and Zach Hill make for pop-fueled fun.

20. Wilderness – (k)no(w)here

When the vocals on “High Nero” kick in halfway through the song, it’s as if Wilderness grabs you and goes, “where have you been?” I can’t believe it took me until this band’s 3rd album to discover them, and what a treat it is. Stormy, ambient psych-folk combined with brutally haunting vocals that don’t so much scare as orate tales of loss and redemption. Too bad it’s over far too quickly.

19. Dr. Dog - Fate

Another band that took me far too long to discover, but this was purely out of my musical filtering mechanism: the name Dr. Dog just has no appeal. Fortunately, their music is an entirely different beast, a wonderful combination of Beatles melodies, country-fried guitar rants by The Band, and who-knows-where-we’ll-go-with-this-song of good ole’ indie rock. These guys might actually turn me on to classic rock instead of the other way around.

18. Chad VanGaalen – Soft Airplane

VanGaalen’s third album is also his best (so far at least), and a complete picture as well; previous records sounded like a mess of VanGaalen screwing around in his basement with random instruments he created and a few good tunes surviving. Well, here that process has paid off, with some of his most mind-gnawing work to date: death, freak-folk, and oftly odd melodies crash and collide to make a great listen all the way through.

17. Alias – Resurgam

It’s been a banner year for Anticon, and Resurgam is just one of many great records to come out of this Oakland collective over the last couple of years. Almost entirely composed of instrumental work, it’s an ambient take on old school hip-hop that will put you in a state of relaxation for hours on end. It even seems a bit unpleasant when the two vocal songs kick in, at least until you recognize that the same music sits at the foreground of the album.

16. Beach House – Devotion

I was itrigued to see how Beach House, a band who’s music could easily lull one to sleep, would perform under the insurmountable pressure that comes with taking the stage at Siren Music Festival. Facing the grueling heat, packed crowds of hipsters, and set time near the end of a long, long day, Beach House performed as beautifully as their melodies. Devotion is a spellbinding, ambient mess of tunes that work under any weather or state of emotion. Victoria Legrand’s voice is as soothing as it is soulful, and it carries the entire album to its sleepy-headed end.

15. No Age – Nouns

No Age’s Nouns is filled with the kind of songs you seem to know before you even hear them. They’re packed with anthemic punk-rock riffs and bursts, yet remain emotionally perplexing and experimentally arousing. And it’s loud as hell. It’s hardcore for the arty crowd, art for the little punks in us all, and something for everyone.

14. Wale – Mixtape About Nothing

Here’s a hip-hop artist with a good head on his shoulders and an ego that’s perfectly comfortable in a realm where folks have to defend theirs at every turn. That could be because Wale can crank out dozens of tunes about something as archaic to hip-hop as Seinfeld can be… and it’s great too. Infuse sick rhyming and lyrical foreplay with old school hip-hop meets go-go (and perhaps that genre’s ticket out of D.C.) and tons of rap’s biggest names and you wouldn’t feel the need to defend one’s ego either.

13. The Bug – London Zoo

In an odds-and-ends collection of articles, a close friend of Lester Bangs’ describes PiL’s Metal Box as a musical accompanyment to his depression. In many ways, London Zoo feels like an equally derranged equivalent; the record is so dark, intense, and angry, I’ve yet to listen to the entire album in one sitting. But its intensity displays its musical muscle, as deep-in-your-chest bass grinds with glitchy grime and head-banging dancehall to create one intensely personal meditation on the nadir of society. Not for the weak, but definitely for the musically ambitious.

12. Forest Fire – Survival

Here’s a summer record for you – sprawling lo-fi folk that mixes with Velvet Underground-style proto-punk and garage rock done on spare acoustic instruments. It’s enchanting and oft-aggressive, and man does it get in your head and stay there. And to think, they gave this gem away for free…

11. Subtle – Exiting Arm

The impact of collaborations with members of TV on the Radio bear their mark on Subtle, who’s Exiting Arm takes their sound and turns it to the noises in between. Whereas on earlier recordings Doseone could often be heard spitting rhymes at 100 mph, here his vocals are subdued and sink into the tapestry, which taverses across an odd array of sounds and vibrations, but is a whole product throughout. The minute I heard this thing in an ice cream place over the summer I knew it was stuck to me; months later it’s yet to leave my head.

10. Food For Animals – Belly

Noise and hip-hop? Whodathunkit? Food For Animals, that’s who. And that’s why Belly, the long-delayed first album from the DC/Baltimore group, is in the top 10. It’s hard to find an album more ambitious in its sound and execution than FFA’s, and it’s as accessible as any other hip-hop blaring on mainstream radio today. It’s glitchy, bass heavy, and dark as hell, but this trio certainly spins some sick off-beats and rhymes that are more shout-along-chorus-friendly than anything else.

9. Friendly Fires – Friendly Fires

This is what the Foals record could have been, and what I originally wished it was: a great post-punk dance piece. Infusing that genre with strains of disco, salsa, and Brit pop, Friendly Fires’ debut defines irresistible. The music is taught and catchy, the sound gets in your head and shakes your hips, and the hits keep coming. Friendly Fires sounds like a singles collection, with each track as pop-friendly as the last – funny to think this is the band’s first record.

8. The Dodos - Visiter

It may be due to the fact that I had this album on repeat for most of the spring, but Visiter seems to uphold a sense of rebirth and newborn energy that’s often so hard for musicians to capture. Some folks cast the band off as acoustic Animal Collective wannabes, but the album is a beast unto its creators, filled with child-like enthusiasm and sincerity that makes them altogether unique.

7. The Mae Shi – HLLLYH

2008 could be the year of concept albums, or, more correctly, the year that produced a handful of great concept albums. The Mae Shi’s tribute to the end of the world sounds positively, well, great. It’s scary, but the band’s mix of agit-punk, twee, and art pop have an endearing effect that carry through the morbid lyrics of “Run To Your Grave” (and that title to boot). It’s got energy and vigor that blasts through the entire album, one concept to the last. For such a depressing topic to tackle, these guys sure make it sound fun.

6. Neon Neon – Stainless Style

Nostalgia can be a killer, and it’s flogged the 80s past the state of decay, but man oh man do Neon Neon know how to make a bad thing sound great. To call it nostalgia however is making the great concept of Stainless Style seem passe, when in fact it’s a record more “with it” than countless other albums released this year. Much as Gnarls Barkley emphasized “neo” in their neo-soul mix debut two years ago, Neon Neon take the aesthetic tics of 80s pop and place it into an entirely new landscape. It makes it so that the chincy-sounding synth sounds altogether refreshing on tracks like “Dream Cars” or “I Told Her On Alderaan.” It also helps that this project came from the meeting between oddball producer Boom Bip and even-odderball Super Furry Animal Gruff Rhys, and they certainly saved their pop-tooth for this record.

5. Ponytail – Ice Cream Spiritual

Ponytail put on one of the best shows I’ve seen this year – so good, I saw them thrice. So I was immediately drawn to the record after grabbing an early release copy after seeing them, doing nothing but playing it for weeks straight. After my mania over the album subsided, I can safely say it’s still a fantastic record. It’s a swirling mess of punk-art-rawk, one that caterwauls off of every surface and smoothly glides through the down-tempos and down singer Molly Siegel’s over-worked larynx to create a record that seethes with passion and power. Kudos to producer J. Robbins for wrestling their great live sound into a well-preserved recording.

4. Sun Kil Moon - April

April opens with a song that nearly hits the 10 minute mark, and could have sustained my rapt attention tenfold. “Lost Verses” sweeps along like any Mark Kozelek song, yet there’s something profoundly new and slightly different than the frontman’s previous efforts. It could be his meditation over the death of a former muse, who’s image is never quite literally addressed, but who’s absence hangs over the entire record. Whatever it is, Kozelek delivers every last line with undue sincerity, and it’s probably because they are his own; in retrospect, the biggest problem with Tiny Cities, the last Sun Kil Moon album made entirely of Modest Mouse covers, is that the music wasn’t created by Kozelek himself (although he does a great job of re-imagining most of the songs on the album). But here, you get the sense that Kozelek’s body struggles with every pick at his guitar, even though all you’re left is with that voice and no image behind it. But what a voice it is.

3. Parts & Labor – Receivers/Escapers Two

For a band that makes a lot of noise, Parts & Labor have made music for just about everyone. Receivers is a fantastic opus of noise juxtaposed against anthemic, stadium-sized pop rock. The electronic bursts and blips are still there, but they’ve become a fixture of a larger pattern; noise doesn’t give way to bubblegum hooks and back again, but it’s all intertwined throughout the album. From “Satellites” to “Solemn Show World,” there’s a song for the punk in everyone (and every punk who submitted sound samples is in a song). For those who don’t like getting too close to accessiblity, Escapers Two offers 50+ “grind pop” songs, most of which barely hit the minute mark and have the mark of dark metal and hardcore punk bursting from the seems… at times, it’s quite beautiful to boot.

2. Why? – Alopecia

What a pleasant surprise Alopecia turned out to be. Why?’s previous work always had some inadvertantly beautiful quality to it, but it’d always been battling a range of sounds and ideas passed out by Yoni Wolf. On Alopecia it comes together in a brilliant and cohesive work, with Wolf’s lyrics and stories spilling into one another, but neither clouding up the music or his often enticing nasaly rasp. And, much like most of the top albums of the year, it is a whole product instead of a combination of some good songs repackaged for consumption.

1. TV On The Radio – Dear Science,

Numbers or not, there was no question this would be my number one album of the year. From the opening moments of “Halfway Home,” I knew this would be a fantastic album. Unlike Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes and Return To Cookie Mountain, Dear Science, is a fully fleshed-out album from beginning to end as each track seemlessly gluides from one to the next. The band’s turn to a poppier and all together accessable sound is just as natural as their work as a band in and of itself; they’re still pushing musical boundaries, using a wide array of feedback and avant-guard noises, but it’s an altogether cohesive and beautiful mess.

Albums I wish I had more time with, because they probably would have made this list:

For those of us who can’t get our hands on every available album to come out this year, it certainly made the “best of” list process a bit more difficult because, having heard at least snipets of the following albums, I wish I’d gotten them all. But, there is always time for more new music. Anyway, here are the ones I would have liked to have on my list:

High Places – High Places

Extra Life – Secular Works

Fall Out Boy – Folie á Deux

Beck – Modern Guilt

The Notwist - The Devil, You + Me

HEALTH – HEALTH/DISCO

Eddy Current Suppression Ring – Primary Colours

Lykke Li - Youth Novels

Dan Friel – Ghost Town

Eagles of Death Metal - Heart On

Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

Edie Sedgwick - Things Are Getting Sinister And Sinisterer

Heavy Heavy Low Low – Turtle Nipple and the Toxic Shock

Spiritualized – Songs in A&E

Death Vessel – Nothing Is Precious Enough For Us

Doomtree – Doomtree

Milosh – iii

El Ten Eleven – These Promises Are Being Videotaped

School of Seven Bells – Alpinisms

Fucked Up – The Chemistry of Common Life

Dananananaykroyd – Sissy Hits

Hot Club de Paris – Live at Dead Lake

Best of 2008 from 2007:

The albums from last year that made a lasting impact this year.

The Dillinger Escape Plan – Ire Works

Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago

Double Dagger – Ragged Rubble

Videohippos – Unbeast The Leash

Muscles – Guns Babes Lemonade

Vor knapp einem Monat veröffentlichten Hot Club De Paris mit “Live At Dead Lake” ihren Nachfolger zum Debüt “Drop It Till It Pops” und zeigten den Foals, wo der Math-Rock Hammer hängt. Auf ihrer zugehörigen Deutschland-Tour machten sich die drei Liverpooler nun auf, nicht nur für heiße Clubs in Paris zu sorgen. So erreichten sie auch trotz einiger Schwierigkeiten auf dem Weg das völlig ausegkühlte Gebäude 9.

Neben ihren Instrumenten hatten die drei Liverpooler vor allem eine große Portion Spielfreude im Gepäck und legten, kaum auf der Bühne, ein ordentliches Tempo vor. Dabei ließen sie sich auf nicht davon verunsichern, dass das Gebäude 9 nur etwa 50 Besucher zählte.

“We got stopped by the police” entschuldigte Sänger und Bassist Paul sich zwischen zwei Songs. “We don’t know why, but they stopped us, searched our van and then asked, do you have drugs? – We said no and he asked: are you musicians. – Well yeah.” Gitarrist Matthew nahm den Faden auf und meinte: “Well it’s pop, but also a little punk, saying that was my mistake, because the Police Man said: Punk do take drugs…”

Neben den Ansagen der Band stimmte aber natürlich auch das Zusammenspiel in den Songs, die um ein vielfaches schneller interpretiert waren, als auf den Alben. Das war wahrscheinlich der Punk, der mit den Dreien durchging und sie dazu verleitete beinahe alle Stücke der beiden Alben innerhalb einer Stunde durchzuspielen. Dabei zeigten sie sich dann auch als begnadete Musiker und schafften es trotz komplexer Songs und rasanter Spielweise beinahe fehlerfrei durch die Songs. Die markanten harmonischen Gesangsparts blieben dabei zwar etwas auf der Strecke, dafür steckte aber so viel Energie im Set, dass man gerne darüber hinweg sah. Nach einer Stunde und zwei Zugaben waren Hot Club De Paris dann auch schon durch und verabschiedeten sich von der Bühne, “We now want to party with you all night, or as long as we have Gin!”

Foto: Ariane WhiteTapes, mehr hier

Iain WhiteTapes

Dag blogvriendjes, dag blogvriendinnetjes,

Ondanks de stilte op deze blog, bent u nog niet van mij af. Nee inderdaad, onkruid vergaat niet. Zeer drukke dagen op het labo en een bezoek van mijn dierbaren hebben mijn blog wat in de kou laten staan, maar ik zal dat met de nodige warmte terug goed maken! Deze week stonden er twee concerten op het programma voor mij: op woensdag speelden de lichtjes fantastische Cold War Kids in Knust en gisterenavond was het de beurt aan The Rascals om de Kaiserkeller (Grosse Freiheit 7) onveilig te maken. All aboard the adventure!

Woensdag was toevallig of niet net mijn drukste dag op het labo. Op mijn ticket stond dat het concert van Cold War Kids begon om negen uur, al rekende ik er wel wat op dat er een voorprogramma was. Tot overmaat van ramp was ik m’n ticket op kot vergeten zodat ik niet rechtstreeks van het tropisch instituut naar Knust kon gaan (liggen beiden in Sankt-Pauli). Om kwart na negen heb ik mijn experimenten afgerond (was eigenlijk nog niet klaar, maar kom) en het boeltje daar afgesloten (was de laatste op de afdeling virologie), waarna ik een nieuw snelheidsrecord heb gevestigd in de wereldvermaarde klassieker Sankt-Pauli – Berliner Tor – Sankt-Pauli. Enkele tussenspurtjes en een creatief gebruikmaken van de verschillende, kruisende metrolijnen zorgden ervoor dat ik om tien uur stipt Knust binnenwandelde. Ik had mijn voet nog niet over de drempel gehesen, of Cold War Kids begonnen aan hun optreden. Die mannen stonden duidelijk te wachten op hun Belgische fan, enfin, beter getimed kon het eigenlijk niet zijn. Door mijn late aankomst stond ik wel helemaal achteraan, maar dat kon niet echt deren. Knust was immers niet meer dan een uit de kluiten gewassen, lichtjes groot uitgevallen café en de akoestiek was prima. Cold War Kids vielen meteen met de deur in huis met enkele knallende versies van Every Valley Is Not A Lake, We Used To Vacation, Mexican Dogs, Something Is Not Right With Me en Hang Me Up To Dry. De sound was geweldig (de CWK groove klonk overtuigender dan ooit) en zanger Nathan Willet was dan ook nog eens geweldig bij stem terwijl hij zijn piano teisterde (eat your heart out Keane!). De setting paste ook perfect bij een donkere band als Cold War Kids en maakte nog maar eens duidelijk wat een blunder het was van Chokri om deze band op een klaarlichte dag op de Main Stage te zetten voor een bende onverschillige Metallica fans. Na het overtuigende begin werd even gas teruggenomen om toch terug energiek te eindigen met Hospital Beds en een volledig losgeslagen versie van het op plaat al wervelende Saint John in de bis. Cold War Kids waren erin geslaagd mijn labo- en rushstress helemaal weg te spelen en stuurden mij met een voldaan gevoel richting bed. Van de drie keer dat ik deze band nu al live aan het werk zag, was dit absoluut de beste!

Cold War Kids

Vrijdag was er dan het optreden van The Rascals in de Kaiserkeller (de kelder van het grotere Grosse Freiheit 7, in een zijstraat van de Reeperbahn). De Kaiserkeller is samen met het ter zielen gegane Star Club één van de zaaltjes waar een jong stel Britten uit Liverpool begin de jaren zestig hun doorbraak zouden forceren. Ze noemden zichzelf the Beatles, de rest is wereldgeschiedenis. The Rascals is het Liverpools bandje (vandaar de keuze voor Kaiserkeller waarschijnlijk) van Miles Kane, ook wel bekend als de helft van the Last Shadow Puppets. Met the Last Shadow Puppets brachten Miles Kane en Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys) één van de beste (debuut)platen van het voorbije jaar uit en in de slipstream van die hype wist Miles Kane ook met z’n eigen bandje de aandacht te trekken. Op Pukkelpop speelden ze in het holst van de nacht een lekker smerige set in de Club die mij er meteen toe aanzette hun debuutplaat Rascalize in huis te halen. En dat heb ik me nog niet beklaagd: op de plaat wordt duidelijk dat het creatieve aandeel van Miles Kane in the Last Shadow Puppets misschien wel groter was dan dat van Alex Turner en dat Kane minstens even getalenteerd is als zijn veel beroemdere compagnon. The Rascals klinken als een donkerdere, smerigere versie van the Last Shadow Puppets waar de strijkers en het brede arrangement worden vervangen door prominentere gitaren. Het optreden dan. De Kaiserkeller bleek toch vooral een locatie van vergane glorie, echt keizerlijk was het alleszins niet. Stel je een derde van de Petrol voor met een lagere plafond: een echte kelder dus.. Tot overmaat van ramp was deze bescheiden locatie dan ook nog niet eens halfvol. Eerst was er nog een voorprogramma en dat luisterde naar de welluidende naam “Hot Club de Paris”. Het fenomeen voorprogramma kan men in twee categorieën indelen. Je hebt die categorie van tot dan toe onbekende bands die even goed/beter zijn dan de hoofdact zelf. Op die manier ontdekte ik bijvoorbeeld We Are Scientists in het voorprogramma van Editors, Guillemots op zijn beurt in het voorprogramma van We Are Scientists en St. Vincent voor Sufjan Stevens. Daarnaast zijn er die voorprogramma’s waarbij je al na vijf minuten op je klok kijkt en afvraagt wanneer de hoofdact gaat overnemen. Hot Club de Paris behoort tot die tweede categorie. De lads deden echt wel hun best, waren zeer communicatief met het (bijna afwezige) publiek en hadden de pech dat ze uit hun lood werden geslagen door een kapotte versterker zeer vroeg in het optreden, maar hun songs waren gewoonweg niet interessant genoeg en hun sound was al evenmin boeiend. Ik was dan ook blij wanneer het optreden (dat tegen het einde aan bijna gênant werd met nul publieke respons) voorbij was. Ondertussen was duidelijk geworden dat er wel al wat meer volk was dan helemaal in het begin maar toch nog altijd maar een man of 100. En dan waren ze daar, wandelend tussen het publiek naar het podium (een apart gevoel geeft dat), Miles Kane en de zijnen. In tegenstelling tot Hot Club de Paris, lieten the Rascals zich niet intimideren door de weinig volgelopen zaal en probeerden ze gewoon een strakke set af te leveren. Ergens vreesde ik misschien een beetje voor een onverschillige Miles Kane (met the Last Shadow Puppets heeft hij er net een tournee opzitten voor veel grotere en bovendien volledig uitverkochte zalen) maar de jonge Brit (vier dagen jonger dan mezelf) had geen last van capsones en gaf gewoon het beste van zichzelf. Hetgeen het weinige publiek dat er was wel kon appreciëren, inclusief een groep heren uit Manchester waaraan de in een strakke leren vest getooide Kane Stockings To Suit opdroeg. Zowat alle nummers van de prima debuutplaat passeerden de revue met als uitschieters singles Freakbeat Phantom en I’ll Give You Sympathy, het poppy I’d Be Lying To You en het schitterende Fear Infected Into The Perfect Stranger (de oerkreet “It’s a whorehouse in here” kreeg nog wat meer overtuiging dankzij de locatie op enkele tientallen meters van de Reeperbahn..). Met Diamond Trip werd ook een nieuw nummer gespeeld en afsluiten deden ze met een uitgesponnen versie van Is It Too Late van de Out Of Dreams EP. Even snel als ze gekomen waren verdwenen The Rascals weer tussen het publiek, een vreemd fenomeen: terwijl het publiek nog aan het applaudisseren is met het gezicht naar het podium gericht, passeren de bandleden tussen het publiek door al handjes schuddend met de fans. Een relatief korte (kan ook niet anders met nog maar één album in de koffer) maar energieke set: meer moest dat niet zijn. Voor de geïnteresseerden: the Rascals spelen op dinsdag 2 december voor de luttele som van 10€ in Trix in Borgerhout en het zou wel eens de laatste keer kunnen zijn dat je de band in zo’n kleine locatie aan het werk ziet. Allen daarheen dus!

Miles Kane op Pukkelpop (hij had gisteren volgens mij exact hetzelfde jasje aan…)

Tot zeer binnenkort!

It’s an unusually busy Monday this week, for some reason. Normally even one gig on a Monday would be midly unusual, but this week there would have been three, but for Come On Gang having to cancel their show a the Wee Red Bar relatively late last week.

Monday 13th October: Anni Rossi at Henry’s Cellar Bar.
I know about Anni Rossi from listening to The Waiting Room, presented by DC, one of the regulars here. Personally I am somewhat ambivalent about her – there’s a lot to enjoy, but some of the Bjorkish yelping means I do sometimes have my doubts. It’s all about proportions with these things though, so as long as it doesn’t overwhelm the music it might be no problem at all.
Anni Rossi – Wheelpusher

Monday 13th October: My Kappa Roots at Cabaret Voltaire.
My Kappa Roots used to be a staple of Tracer Trails lineups, back when the prettiest posters in town were yet to be retired. Pablo has moved through to Glasgow now, making an appearance in the capital all the more rare, so this gig might be the only chance I get to seem him play for a while.
My Kappa Roots – The Lord of Rosyth

Friday 17th October: Hot Club de Paris at Cabaret Voltaire.
I’ve never been entirely convinced by these guys on record, but live was how I first saw them and they were excellent – they were chirpy, witty and the music was much more arresting – so it might well be worth popping along to this.
Hot Club de Paris – This Thing Forever (Live on Welcome to Our TV Show)

Saturday 18th October: 7VWWVW play Trampoline at the Wee Red Bar.
Mammal set film-makers Super8Super8 the challenge of creating short films to run alongside three of their songs. So there will be multiple Super 8 projectors, apparently, and as Mammal perform three short live sets, the films will play. Sounds bloody intriguing if you ask me, and nice to see Trampoline mixing up the media a bit, which is something they have been keen to do for a while.
7VWWVW – SingerSongwriter

Neue Single “My Little Haunting”, neues Album “Live At Dead Lake” und bald auf Deutschland-Tour. Hot Club De Paris, nette Liverpooler, die im Herbst für “heiße Clubnächte” nicht nur in Paris, sorgen werden:

13. November, BERLIN, Magnet Club
14. November, HAMBURG, Prinzenbar
15. November, KÖLN, Gebäude 9
16. November, MÜNCHEN, Backstage Club

Video zu “My Little Haunting”:

Mehr Infos:
bei Cooperative Music
auf dem Myspace der Band

Iain WhiteTapes

So the reason I hadn’t posted in a while before the Bloc Party single review below was that I’d been on holiday. To make up for the lack of new music for you in that time, here’s the two new records that I was listening to while I was away.

Dananananaykroyd – Sissy Hits

Sissy Hits is the first EP from Glaswegian “fight-pop” sextet Dananananaykroyd to be released in the UK. After their original record label went bust earlier this year, the band had to find a new label before the EP could finally be released. It was well worth the wait! Sissy Hits is a series of songs that start off like Hot Club De Paris before working their way to The Blood Brothers via yourcodenameis:milo. An unbelievably good EP, and it joins Bloc Party’s self-titled EP and Death From Above 1979’s Heads Up! EP as one of my three favourite EPs ever. Can’t wait to hear more from these guys. Buy it here and bag yourself a bargain. You won’t be disappointed.

My Eductation – Bad Vibrations

I’ve never really been a massive fan of instrumental music, and most post-rock type bands can bore me at times. There are however, noteable exceptions. When I received this album in the post from the very helpful guys at Fanatic Promotion, I had my reservations, but I was pleasantly surprised. More laid back than the likes of Explosions In The Sky, the album reminded me more of Broken Social Scene’s album You Forgot It In People because of the varied instrumentation and the sense of space in the record. A beautifully put-together album, this will appeal to fans of Broken Social Scene and also fans of the post-rock hot-shots like Explosions In The Sky and This Will Destroy You who fancy something more subtle. Mellow, altmospheric and a very rewarding listen, Bad Vibrations is an excellent showpiece of what My Education can do. You can buy it here.

MP3: Dananananaykroyd – The Greater Than Symbol And The Hash

MP3: My Education – Arch

]]> http://onehundredb.com/2008/07/06/in-the-merry-merry-month-of-june/ Sun, 06 Jul 2008 04:03:36 +0000 tamboosh http://onehundredb.com/2008/07/06/in-the-merry-merry-month-of-june/

Ah June, the long warm (wet) days, the weddings, the new releases. This month of luuuve and new beginnings brought us two debuts that blew me away, and a couple of albums by more established artists that more than lived up to their preceding records.

Wolf Parade and Hot Club De Paris both had the unenviable job of following up extraordinary and much-loved debuts and did a great job. They delivered albums that don’t have quite the same instant impact, because when they first came out they were unlike anything we’ve heard at the time. Their respective second albums are an exploration and a maturity of their sound. They’re packed with staying-power and beautiful songs that are sure to become firm favorites after a couple of listens. Wolf Parade’s At mount Zoomer was a bit hard to get into at first, especially with the fantastic Apologies To The Queen Mary in mind, but once it gets under your skin, it’s there to stay. Hot Club De Paris had their work cut out with an outstanding debut like Drop It Till It Pops, but Live At Dead Lake is amazing. They kept their melodic wit but every once in a while songs like “The Dice Just Wasn’t Loaded From The Start” reveal a sweet sensitivity and tenderness that’ll break your heart.

   Hot Club De Paris – The Dice Just Wasn’t Loaded From The Start

Unless you reject all forms of media, it’s impossible to have missed Weezer’s so-called Red Album coming out last month. Highly anticipated albums like these are in danger of being drowned out by the hype surrounding it, but there’s no need to worry, it’s a gem. This time the rest of the band shares song-writing and vocal credits with Rock’s most elusive front man, with varied result. As always it’s self-deprecating and catchy, but it’s also slightly schitzo if you ask me, which is not a bad thing! When a thoroughly strange song like “The Greatest Man That Ever Lived”, which goes from metally to hip hoppy to Beach Boy ‘n Beatles-y, is sandwiched in between the über poppy “Troublemaker” and “Pork And Beans”, it makes it hard to pin-point what their next song is gonna sound like. It’s good, it’ll keep ya on your toes.

Then there’s the two debuts that made my ears flutter with delight. The first is by a band that caught aDawgg’s attention last year. White Denim’s Workout Holiday is an incredibly fun rabblerousing record that doesn’t always hit the right spot, but when it does, it’s magical. That’s OK, it just means they left some room for growth. Their, often psychedelic, interpretation of seventies, garage rock combined with a Sam & Dave-ish soulfulness is refreshing and so exciting. The second incredible debut is also my vote for favorite album that came out in June: wee pop pixie Lykke Li’s Youth Novels! A simple beat is really all she needs to create a mind-blowingly perfect Pop song. Her voice is so cute, so sweet, so little, and yet so commanding. From the beautiful Kate Bush-inspired “Time Flies” to the darker, repetitive “Complaint Department”, it’s Pop of the highest order.

   White Denim – Darksided Computer Mouth
   Lykke Li – Let It Fall

Moshi Moshi Records do indeed seem to be Record Label du Jour in the UK at the moment, which is no bad thing.  This month’s Welcome to Our TV Show is a Moshi Moshi special, with Slow Club, Hot Club de Paris and the superlative Wave Pictures turning up to play some stuff and do some interviews and such like.

I love the Our TV Show project – the production values are easily good enough, the music is phenomenally good and the atmosphere of the whole thing is excellent.  It just feels like the right way to go about music.  You can watch the whole lot on their YouTube page here, if you like, and here are a couple of mp3s as well:

The Wave Pictures – Now You Are Pregnant (Live on WtOTVS)

Now that Summer Festival Season is nothing but a distant fond memory again, we are faced with a WHOLE BLOODY WINTER to get through before the madness starts again. Never fear, for those lucky enough to reside in the cosmopolitan metropolis that is Dublin city, there is a lovely little selection of winter gigs to choose from to warm your cockles and lift your spirits.

Jape – The Button Factory, 9th October. Richie Egan at his finest, promoting his latest endeavour, Ritual.

In The Country and Susanna (of Susanna and the Magical Orchestra) bring a Norwegian double bill to Whelans on Saturday October 25th. Check out her amazing cover of Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart. Possibly one of the most widely covered songs around yet, unlike most, Susanna does it justice. Check out this clip of U2 and Arcade Fire making a haimes of the song for easy comparisons on how to and how not to do an Ian Curtis impression.

Roots Manuva – 1st November, The Academy. London based rapper Roots Manuva brings his mix of dub/funk/ragga/hip-hop (!) to Middle Abbey Street. Expect a cult following.

Cold War Kids – The Academy, 5th November. I’ve been raging that I missed their Ambassador date in November ‘07 for almost a year now. I won’t be making that mistake again, no sir-ee, uh uh. I suggest you don’t either.

Hot Club de Paris – The Button Factory, 8th November. I can’t recommend this Liverpool-based band more. A little bit indie, a little bit punk but also a little bit different to the usual blah blah indie-punk.

Bestival Reunion Tour feat. Florence & The Machine, Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip, DJ Yoda, 808 State and more – Tripod, Friday 14th November. Ahhh…. now this is the one that has me jumping up and down with excitement. 808 State, Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip AND Florence and the Machine, all in one night!!! I’ve developed something of an obsession with young Florence since hearing her mind-blowing cover of the Cold War Kids song Hospital Beds – see clip posted a few weeks ago, fantastic stuff altogether.

If that’s not really your bag, you could hop, skip or jump down to Middle Abbey Street on the same night – November 14th – to indulge in a spot of dubstep. Benga plays Traffic as part of the Twisted Pepper line-up (formerly Bodytonic). Altogether now… be be be be boo boo boo boo…….

Bon Iver – National Stadium, 3rd December. If you didn’t manage to get tickets for thew now sold-out Tripod show on the 7th October, then beg, steal or borrow a pair for Juston Vernon’s 3rd Irish date of the year.

So there you have it. For the time being. Ok so you’ll be poor. But we’re in the midst of a recession, you may as well be poor and happy.. and you don’t have to stand in a field.

Video Clips

Benga & Coki – Night

Cold War Kids dabbling in some pretty impressive instrumental ad-libbing…

Dan le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip -Thou Shalt Always Kill

Nach ihrem 2007 erschienen Debüt “Drop It Till It Pops” legen Hot Club De Paris nun mit “Live At Dead Lake” nach. Keine Sorge, eben so wenig, wie es sich bei I Am Kloots letztem Album “… Play Moolah Rouge” um ein Live-Album handelte, handelt es sich bei “Live At Dead Lake” um eines. Der Albumtitel bezieht sich ganz einfach darauf, dass das Album in Chicago eingespielt wurde, das ja bekanntlich am Lake Michigan liegt, der besonders in der Uferregion von Chicago ziemlich verschmutzt ist.

Diese Referenz im Albumtitel ist dann aber auch das einzige politische Statement der Band, die sich auf dem ganzen Album ähnlichen Themen wie schon auf dem Debüt hingibt, nämlich Mädchen, die Liebe und das Leben an sich und ausnahmsweise sogar Geistern (“My Little Haunting”). “Drop It Til It Pops” war als Albumtitel genau so verspielt, wie die Instumentierung, punkiger Math-Rock, der vor Ideenreichtum fast schon überquoll. Bei “Live At Dead Lake” haben HDcP ihren Ideenreichtum behalten, aber die Verspieltheit auf ein Maß zurückgeschraubt, dass den Sound der Band um einiges zugänglicher macht. Die Band scheint erwachsener geworden zu sein und die richtige Mischung aus vertrackten Rhythmen, abgehackten Akkordfolgen und abwechselnden Stakkato- und Sprechgesang gefunden zu haben. Tanzbar sind die Tracks nun umso mehr, Hits wie “Clockwork Toy” vom Debüt gibt es nun sogar mit Ohrwurmgarantie, wie bei “I Wasn’t Heartless When I Said Your Favourite Song Lacked Heart”, oder “Boy Awaits Return Of The Runaway Girl”, die auch die Liebe der Band zu ungewöhnlichen Songtiteln gut wiederspiegeln. Mit ihrem Sound haben HcDP den Weg für Math-Rock geebnet, den Durchbruch schafften jedoch andere, z.B. die Foals. Mit “Live At Dead Lake” könnte sie diesem Durchbruch noch ein Stück näher bringen und damit auch dafür sorgen, dass Bands wie sie und die Dartz die Aufmerksamkeit bekommen, die sie verdienen. Gerade die Live-Qualitäten dieser Band sprechen für sie, denn da bringt die Band ihren Sound um Einiges überzeugender und routinierter rüber als die bereits erwähnten Fohlen. Davon kann man sich übrigens auch diesen Herbst selbst überzeugen.

Video zu “Hey! Housebrick”:

Myspace der Band
Künstlerprofil bei Cooperative Music

Ariane WhiteTapes

Sex Drive: Players, Rednecks and....Donuts with Guns

ATTENDED….a press screening of Sex Drive. Verdict: Surprisingly Good. It was clearly pitched with “American Pie meets Road Trip for the Web 2.0 generation”, only it was much better than I’ve just made it sound. That’s why I don’t review films.

WATCHED….some bands at the Old Blue Last (including the Best New Band I’ve Seen This Year, Turbowolf, and the frustrating almost-great Upcdowncleftcrightcabcandstart)

FELT QUITE PLEASED WITH….the titles I jigged for this video interview we did with Matthew Smith of Hot Club de Paris at Leeds Festival 2008 (even if the sound quality is shit – curse you both, passers-by and Bloc Party):

Hello everyone,

You probably noticed the shiny new awesome poster for the European tours already, lovingly crafted by Mr. Dan Reeves, but here it is again, all nice and big!

We’re going to be taking 500 of these A3 babies on the road with us, so if you cross your fingers until we get back, there might just be one saved for you!

Oh oh oh, and also we’ve got some new t-shirt colours printed: Carolina Blue and Cardinal Red with the white clouds that we all know and love…

And and and, I thought seeing as we ran out of Swit-Swoo EPs so quickly, I would make a second run (Swit-Swoo 2). Different packaging, same ripping tunes!

Cor blimey, we’re spoiling Europe rotten! Its a chuffing good job we’re running around the UK with Hot Club De Paris in October, so we can regale you with our travellers tales, isn’t it?

Anyway, we’re going to be giving you a blow-by-blow account of our European Adventure, so fans of driving on the wrong side of the road and unusual food better stay tuned!

Love and understanding,

Nest (& co.) x

Whilst researching local bands on myspace, I keep coming across interesting events that are on at the Vale Park Bandstand. 

Some of the acts are fairly well known, take 30th August for example, the lineup is: Frank Sidebottom, Hot Club De Paris, VOO and SSS (Short Sharp Shock). 

But I wonder how many local people actually know they are on?  These concerts seem to be top secret – even in the park itself, aside from a list of brass bands playing on Sunday afternoons, there is rarely any reference to any of these kind of gigs on the noticeboard. 

Often the entry fee is only £2 – £3, some of them are even free! 

Also, the afternoon kids show Joytime seemed to make a comeback last year, but I can’t find any information on whether it is still on this year (will need to pop down one afternoon and check it out). 

Whilst New Brighton can’t compete with cheap flights for week-long holidays, it should be maximising it’s potential as a day-trip destination.  And it seems to me that there are plenty people for whom traditional seaside pleasures don’t hold much interest, but would make the journey to come and see bands – if only they knew they were on! 

Wirral Council do a fabulous job at maintaining the park, but if they put a bit more effort into promoting the park and the events going on there (even if they are put on by 3rd party promoters) it could really boost the economy of the local area.

Not a day goes by that a handful of articles on rising gas prices are written by our trusted news sources (usually in conjunction with stories on the economy). It’s just one tale in a long line of “worst evers” that are plaguing our current society. I can’t say from personal experience if this is indeed a collection of the worsts in the world at any given moment, but it’s always good to keep a positive spin on things.

gas prices get worse and worse

However, it’s times like these when one may feel the need to cast off from our society. In what may be the biggest stretch of my imagination, I can say that the current gas scenario reminds me of a little ditty called “St. Petersburg” by the UK band Dartz! It’s beyond the simple idea to flee society on a whim, but the mundane ideals that seem to construct our society that drive one to the point of leaving one’s life. And that’s all connected to gas with the following lyrics:

I don’t feel exalted driving Japanese cars

For some reason that line just jumps out and grabs me by the ear, screaming “this is brilliant!” in the way that only a select number of other artists and writers can do. That beautiful lyricism seems to capture the best moments of the band and stick in the back of my head, rearing themselves every so often.

Such as when I read news stories about the rising cost of gas.

A trio from a small part of the UK, Dartz! caught my attention when I saw them open for Hot Club de Paris over a year ago in London. I was immediately enthralled by their performance – this trio of gawky looking British kids bashing out hip-shaking, late 90s DC-inspired emo was immediately accessible. I didn’t know a damn word of any song, but I felt compelled to shout along to the lyrics… or try anyway. The band wears its influences proudly on its sleeve – their myspace page declares “Washington, DC” an influence, and you can certainly hear it – but they certainly have their own voice. Mixing a self-aware sense of “British-ness” (most noticeably contained in their vocals), cunning and observant lyrics, more angularity than a right triangle, and the nearest thing to math rock that emo knows, Dartz! are the UK’s Dismemberment Plan. But they’re also entirely their own, separate and unique entity.

Dartz! live

And so, after being inspired to re-listen to Dartz! after a brief-foray into the doomsday news day, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the band had their own bit of news… and good at that. The group is set to release a mini-album, entitled The Sad History of the Village of Alnerique, this coming September. Who knows when it will be available stateside. But until then, I’ll be more than happy to continually replay their debut, This Is My Ship, and ponder any and all positive movements.

Dartz! – St. Petersburg video:

]]> http://axeley.wordpress.com/2008/07/27/metronomy-remixes/ Sat, 26 Jul 2008 23:41:52 +0000 Axeley http://axeley.wordpress.com/2008/07/27/metronomy-remixes/

Voilà un “Cover me” un peu différent car il s’agit là de tous les remix de Metronomy en l’honneur de la sortie de leur nouvel album “Night Out“. Beaucoup on déjà tenté de tout réunir, c’est maintenant à mon tour de tenter l’expérience..

• Klaxons – Atlantis to Interzone
• Architecture in Helsinki – Do The Whirlwind
• Kate Nash – Foundations
• Franz Ferdinand – Do You Want To
• Sébastien Tellier – La Ritournelle
• Love Is All – Spinning and Scratching
• Late of the Pier - The Bears are Coming
• Goldfrapp – Happiness (Ft. The Teenagers)
• Midnight Juggernauts – Into The Galaxy
• Box Codax - Naked Smile
• CSS - Move
• Good Shoes – Morden
• Dead Disco – The Treatment
• Lykke Li - I’m Good I’m Gone
• The Infadels – Love Like Semtex
• Gorillaz – El Mañana
• Get Cape Wear Cape Fly – I Spy
• DNTEL – The Distance
• Charlotte Gainsbourg – 5:55
• Temposhark – Not that big
• Roots Manuva – Awfully Deep (Lambeth Blues)
• Zero 7 – Futures
• Max Sedgley – Slowly
• Magnet – Hold On
• The Young Knives – Weekends And Bleak Days (Hot Summer)
• Hot Club De Paris – Clockwork Toy
• Ladytron – Sugar
• Charlie Alex March – Piano Song

Sinon, tous les remixes : Part1. Part2.

TOUS LES LIENS ONT GENEREUSEMENT ETE DONNE PAR UN GENTIL DONNATEUR, VOIR DANS LES COMMENTAIRES.