Self explanatory. Ugh. Bitterness ensues.

Five Songs For Boy-Based Fuck-Ups

1. Do You Remember The First Time? – Pulp: We’ve all been there. You fancy someone, but they’re practically married. This song shows what happens when you act on it. How you can be mad about someone but completely hate them all at once for what they’re doing to you. The lines ‘Well at least there’s someone there that you can talk to/And you never have to face up to the night on your own!’ always makes me want to break down, because the desperation in Jarvis Cocker’s voice just sums it all up; that it’s shit being someone’s sloppy seconds.

2. You Could Have Both – The Long Blondes: I love the way the perspectives are all over the place in this song. You get the man, his poor henpecked girlfriend and the femme fatale all putting their opinions into the mix. I especially love the spoken bit of the song, which sounds like the kind of argument that would turn into something with at least a 15 Certificate. Anyway, all about men fucking girls over, having their cake, and eating it.. Lovely. I especially like the line ‘And who was it who sang “I know you can love one/So why can’t you love two”?’.

3. Gray Or Blue – Jaymay: God, this song is so sad. My best friend Lara and I went to watch Cherry Ghost nearly 3 years ago, and Jaymay was supporting. We’d never heard this song before, and when she sang it, we had to leave the room afterwards because we’d actually broken down in tears. Here are the words- very simple, but throat-lump inducing (for me, anyway):

‘I feel so helpless now
My guitar is not around
And I’m struggling with the xylophone
To make these feelings sound
And I’m remembering you singing
And bringin’ you to life
It’s raining out the window
And today it looks like night

You haven’t written to me in a week
I’m wondering why that is
Are you too nervous to be lovers
Friendship’s ruined with just one kiss?
I watched you very closely, I saw you look away
Your eyes are either gray or blue
I’m never close enough to say

But your sweatshirt says it all
With the hood over your face
I can’t keep starin’ at your mouth
Without wonderin’ how it tastes
I’m with another boy
(He’s asleep, I’m wide awake )
And he tried to win my heart
But it’s taken
(Time…)

I know the shape of your hands
Because I watch ‘em when you talk
And I know the shape of your body
‘Cause I watch it when you walk
And I want to know it all
But I’m giving you the lead
So go on, go on and take it
Don’t fake it, shake it

(Crazy eyes have you
Are they gray or blue?
I won’t make the move
You must make the move
If you make the move
I will then approve
If you do not move
We will surely lose…)

Don’t second-guess your feelings
You were right from the start
And I notice she’s your lover
But she’s nowhere near your heart
This city is for strangers
Like the sky is for the stars
But I think it’s very dangerous
If we do not take what’s ours

And I’m winning you with words
Because I have no other way
I’d love to look into your face
Without your eyes turning away
Last night I watched you sing
Because a person has to try
And I walked home in the rain
Because a person cannot lie… ‘

4. Shiver- Coldplay: It’s apparently not very cool to like Coldplay anymore, but I still think their first and second albums are two of the best I’ve heard. Chris Martin just has an amazing way with words on them. This song is one of my favourites- I adore the way the guitar noises sound like they’re swooping around the vocals, which are just beautiful in a Jeff Buckley-style way. It’s so sweetly about infatuation that Martin sounds a bit like he’s pleading, and it makes me wish someone would be like that about me when I’m like that about them.

5. Skinny Love – Bon Iver: Bon Iver’s album, ‘For Emma, Forever Ago’ was written after a particularly messy break-up, and is full of stories of heartache and loss. ‘Skinny Love’ is my favourite, because it’s a perfect lament to the end of a relationship. Especially when it isn’t your choice. The whole tone of it is just very, very sad, like whenever anything finishes, and the way that Justin Vernon is promising to ‘always be with’ the girl in question just gets me completely. Beautiful.

Bedtime, I think.

End of the year = listmania! Every self-respecting music publication will have a list of the best songs and/or albums of the year. Except this year they won’t; it’ll be the best of the decade.

I do really quite like the NME, but their list of the top 100 songs of the “noughties” (inverted commas because I absoultely hate the phrase) left me cold.

I could see their logic when it came to albums of the decade – The Strokes’s ‘Is This It? may not have been my favourite album of the past 10 years, but it’s a damn good one and it did give music a bit of a shake-up.

So, what’s NME’s best song of the decade?

No, I am not joking (how I wish I was!)

I don’t like this song. I accept that this is a subjective judgement – the “uh-oh” bit has never done anything but annoy me – but is this really the zenith of the world’s songwriting over the past 10 years?

Of course not; it’s a populist, all-permeating choice. Everyone will have heard of it, and it’s non-indie nature is somewhat akin to the NME saying “hey! Look at us! We don’t take ourselves too seriously!”

Everyone knows that the best pop song of the decade was this one:

The original version did clock in at number 16 on the NME chart, but still.

I couldn’t pick a song of the decade; I’m far too indecisive for that. I do, however, think that one of the best songs of the decade was this:

Even if just for the intro alone.

Or this one:

God, I miss The Long Blondes (despite their largely mediocre second album.)

But where were these on NME’s list? Nowhere, sadly.

So Mika Miko have split up. This saddens me because I loved them. A LOT. Such a shame when bands you love, that are tallented,call it a day.

This has led me onto listening to a band that from the first time I listened to them, I fell totally in love and played their debut album to death during my first year of university (I feel old now!)

A year ago exactly, The Long Blondes split up. I’m pretty sure I shouted various profanities as the computer screen and cried a little bit. Playing both albums on rpeat for a week. I felt like I lost a band that..could say what I couldn’t. That felt what I felt without me feeling alone. I know, I know, this makes me sound stupid and weird. But I’m guessing you probably have a band that mean the world to you, and you feel the same way about them like I did (and still do) towards The Long Blondes.

One thing that gets to me is that I never saw them live. I met them (bar Kate Jackson, she was sick) and Screech Powers was infront of me on the train from Birmingham to Manchester the day I met them in Manchester. I also skipped a lecture to be at the signing. I did this a lot, I’d say I don’t condone such behaviour, but I really do.

The Long Blondes, although they werem’t around that long, they gave us two fantastic albums. And yes, Kate Jackson is beautiful, there I said it. Dorian wrote some witty,clever lines that reminded me of Morrissey, which is probably why I love The Long Blondes dearly.

Dear The Long Blondes, my record collection seems quite dull without you. Please get back together and/or Kate, release some solo stuff you’ve been promising us!

Weekend Without Makeup (live).

Five Ways To End It (live)

Someone To Drive You Home cover, Rough Trade 2006/2007; image courtesy of pitchfork.com

Two areas I don’t recall covering in the blog so far are 1) bands whose songs focus on cinephilia and 2) female musicians who use their visual arts training in the service of their bands. Today, we can focus on both by considering The Long Blondes’ debut full-length Someone To Drive You Home and lead singer Kate Jackson’s artwork for said album.

So I’m new to this band, who I guess are no longer a band. That’s a bummer, but at least I’ve had fun pumping this album at full volume in my car this past week as the skies became increasingly overcast. And singing at full volume. As my friend Brea mentioned in her entry about records that made her a feminist, it’s important for women and girls to find singers whose vocal ranges match their own. It’s really true. Perhaps we could think of it as double-identification — being able to relate to a female singer’s persona as conveyed through her lyrics, performance style, fashion sense or whatever on one level and being able to replicate, mirror, or blend her tone, pitch, and timbre with your own. However we want to theorize it, I’m glad that my notes can work with Jackson’s strong, supple alto. 

Matching a singer’s range also makes shouting easier. I love Animal Collective, but screaming along to Avey Tare doesn’t make any sense for me. We can try and make it queer or whatever, but it really just feels silly and strained to my throat and ears. Screaming “Edie Sedgwick! Anna Karina! Arlene Dahl!” along with Jackson, on the other hand, makes perfect sense. 

Edie Sedgwick; image courtesy of fashionista.com

The opening track, appropriately titled “Lust In the Movies,” is a good transition into the defunct band’s cinephilic leanings. Indeed, the movies are everywhere. Specifically movies from the post-war era, a considerable amount of them of the film noir tradition or have some kind of sinister edge, while others are campy b-movies that have since cashed in on retro chic. 

Imagined film snob boys corrupt willing schoolgirls with Russ Meyer films in “Fulwood Babylon.” Girls want to be cool enough for the movies that play in film snob boys’ heads in “Lust in the Movies.” A boy and a girl compare themselves to C.C. Baxter, The Apartment’s love-lorn protagonist in “You Could Have Both.” Obscure references to British celebrities of the 1940s and 1950s like Hattie Jacques and Peter Rogers thread through break-up narratives like “Five Ways to End It.” Greta Garbo is looked upon with envy (and irony?) as the woman who snagged all the handsome men in “Never to Be Repeated.” “Only Lovers Left Alive” is inspired by Fred Zinnemann’s From Here to Eternity, a romantic sentiment perhaps echoed in Jackson’s sleeve art, which references Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern’s frenzied lovers in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart.

As many of these movies are classic Hollywood, iconographic art house, and/or have the Criterion stamp of approval, we might call them films instead of movies, if the writer of this blog held fast to making such a distinction.

Now, we could get into a discussion of what this means in terms of prefence and why more clearly feminist classics don’t get shout-outs like, say, Douglas Sirk’s All That Heaven Allows, Agnès Varda’s Cléo de 5 à 7, or Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles. Maybe they haven’t seen these movies. Maybe they thought the last movie I mentioned was boring (with a 200-minute running time, that has kept me from seeing it, though it is in my Netflix queue). However, I’d hazard to guess that the Russ Meyer reference in “Fulwood Babylon” might be done with a bit of feminist cheek, and while I have trouble reading the nuances of intentional camp in Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, I’m sure my friend Curran would smile and nod in recognition of the reference.

And yet. I find how film references are used in these songs to be particularly interesting. For one, I think especially in “Lust in the Movies” and “Fulwood Babylon,” a critique is being made by Kate (and her chorus of singing fans) against the sorts of boys who live in movies (perhaps including Dorian Cox, a former Long Blonde who co-wrote the majority of the album with Jackson). These boys are too busy looking for Edie Sedgwick, Anna Karina, and Arlene Dahl to notice the real woman in front of them. Fools. 

For another, I find the blurring between fantasy and reality, the projected and the lived, the fantastical and the mundane heartening and relateable. Many of these songs are not actually about being in the movies, but wishing you could be or pretending you are to get over a failed relationship, get through your boring day job, get ready for a night out, get in the car to leave town, or simply get through your 20s.

There’s a lot of humanity in these songs, particularly between women and girls. Two lonely girls flee their humdrum lives together in “Separated By Motorways.” A spurned lover empathizes hopes her ex’s new love fares better than she did after the break-up in “Heaven Help the New Girl.” A twentysomething tells a 19-year-old girl that she’s going to get through that stupid, cursed age in “Once and Never Again,” a solidarity anthem so catchy and sweet that I just requested it be added to the Karaoke Underground song list. Won’t that one feel great singing with a gaggle of drunk girls? I think so. 

And while the movies being referenced aren’t explicitly feminist (or argued and/or championed as such by theoretically florid film scholars), I’d argue that there’s much going on with the female movie icons that Jackson’s and her songs’ protagonists (which may be iterations of herself) identify. Having brought up Sedgwick, Karina, Dahl, Garbo, this is where I’ll fold in Jackson’s spare, mysterious cover. The woman in the cover is recognizable to many as Bonnie Parker, as played by Faye Dunaway in Arthur Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde, a divisive and galvanizing picture that marked a sea change in American cinema, upped the ante for screen violence, reflected the shift in generational values, presupposed the turbulent year that would be 1968, and made thousands of women cut and straighten their hair into sleek bobs by Dunaway’s influence. It might have made them want to tote guns, fire bullets, and rob banks too. In short, this was seen as a dangerous film that still holds some cache as a countercultural, generational text that appeals to men and women.

Some of those women may still be shuffling through their 20s, figuring it out. They might not be compelled to rob a bank, but they might be tempted to quit their job, or at least bitch about work at the local bar. And there’s something nice about being reassured that someone, whether a movie character or a friend, will be there to drive you home. Even if your car is riddled with bullet holes.

Si alguna cosa està fent ferida de l’Spotify (de la mateixa manera que passa amb el Facebook) és que posa en xarxa records, persones, fotos, vinils amb les seves fundes arrugades i transparents. Queen Live Killers era un dels discos que més posava el meu germà a casa, i la versió en directe que trobareu a la llista de Love of my life sempre em posava la pell de gallina quan era petit. La llista d’aquesta setmana però comença amb les Long Blondes (un escàndol…), continua amb un dels primers singles de la factoria Bankrobber, i òbviament té referències a la final de demà, amb un grup de Manchester (New Order), i una cançó, La Copa de Europa de Los Planetas que tanca un dels grans discos del rock espanyol. Cito al mateix J, “Cuando Koeman tiró la falta esa, mientras el balón iba por el aire, me pasaron todas esas ideas por la cabeza. Eso es lo más grande, ser feliz: La Copa de Europa”. Mai una estrella del rock havia estat capaç d’emocionar així a un culé… Espero que algun dia tinguem un president que enlloc de fer sortir a la Roser, la Beth, el Pep Sala i tota la seva caspa, ens porti culers de debò a l’estadi. A tot això però la lletra diu:

Ahora pienso que no merece la pena,
arriesgarme traerá más problemas.
Así que elijo
lo que tengo más cerca.
Por lo menos tendré la certeza
de que existo,
de que puedo decidir,
de que elijo por mí,
sólo por mí.

…i més aviat juraria que aquesta serà la tàctica de Fergusson demà.

<<<<//// la llista //// >>>>

Visca el Barça i bona setmana.

For this edition of my 1000 Minutes I decided to concentrate on some tracks I haven’t listened to in awhile, all of which are female fronted and all of which fill me with inspiration and awe. Thats all I’m going to say on this one…enjoy..

57. The Kills – Cat Claw [3:33] [time remaining 783:57] (Drop Io) (Alt Link YSI)

This track, as you know, comes from The Kills 2003 release, ‘Keep On Your Mean Side’ which was also their full length debut. I genuinely love this album from start to finish, its raw, unapologetic and to the point. ‘Cat Claw’ in particular for me is real stand out track, full of energy, guts and pure dirt. A classic for certain.

58. The Long Blondes – Once And Never Again [3:00] [time remaining 780:57] (Drop Io) (Alt Link YSI)

The day I heard that The Long Blondes were no more was quite a sad one for me. But at the same time I appreciated that there wasn’t really anything they could do to take their sound in a different or better direction. If I’m brutally honest infact, I thought their second album was a real let down. At the time of its release this track was everywhere and I couldn’t play a set without at least three groups of indie girls requesting that I play it. It was never a track that grew boring for me and after a long break its retained its appeal. This is summer time indie music at its best, as it should be and I think it’ll be a long time before anyone else tops it.

59. Sneaker Pimps – Spin Spin Sugar [4:20] [time remaining 776:37] (Drop Io) (Alt YSI)

I wouldn’t be as bold as to call myself a fan of Sneaker Pimps, but of this track? Definitely. Nothing of their pre or post ‘Spin Spin Sugar’ catalogue really grabbed me and still doesn’t, but something about this particular track hits the right spot. The bassline and vocal line are incredibly sexy and never fail to hold my attention. Just a genius track all round really.

60. The Distillers - Gypsy Rose Lee [3:54] [time remaining 772:43] (Drop Io) (Alt Link YSI)

My musical taste has changed alot since my days of wearing out this album, to the point of not really listening to it at all. But something about leaving The Distillers out of this list just doesn’t feel right. At one point in my life I lived and breathed punk music but hardly any of the bands I listened to during that time have stayed with me in terms of life importance, except this one. There are a few songs by The Distillers I could’ve chosen to fit into my 1000 minutes, all with the same thing in common, they give me goosebumps. Brody Dalle’s vocal at the beginning of this track is divine, pure and simple, I don’t think I’ve ever come across a vocal style even half as sexy as hers and probably never will.

tbc…

x

მიყვარს როდესაც ქალი მღერის. უფრო მეტად მიყვარს თუ კარგად მღერის.  მაგ:The long blondes, PJ Harvey, The Go! Team, CocoRosie და ა.შ ეს ის ჯგუფები და შემსრულებლებია რომელთა კომპოზიციებს სიამოვნებით ვუსმენ ხოლმე. ნუ Yeah yeah yeahs და მისი ვოკალი კერენ ოუ ჩემთვის საერთოდ სხვა მოვლენაა. მოკლედ რა ხდება. დღეს გადავხედე upcoming ალბომებს და ორი ძალიან კარგი პროექტის შესახებ შევიტყვე, კიდევ უფრო კარგია ის ამბავი, რომ ეს ალბომები ივლისში გამოდის და დიდხანს ლოდინი არ მომიწევს.

Regina Spektor – Far

რეჯინა სადღაც ორი წლის წინ გავიცანი. თავისი ნაზი ხმით მომხიბლა. პიანინოზე კარგად უკრავს, როგორც წესი მისი სიმღერები მთლიანად აკუსტიკურია და ეს ერთგვარ ხიბლს ძენს მის ტრეკებს. დიდი მსმენელი ნამდვილად არ ვარ სპექტორის, მაგრამ ერთმა ტრეკმა რომელიც ახალ ალბომში შევა გადამაწყვეტინა ამ ალბომს თავიდან ბოლომდე გავეცნო, როცა გამოვა.

აგერ გთავაზობთ ამ ტრეკის, Blue Lips-ის, ლაივ ვერსიას. 4 წუთი აუცილებლად უნდა გამონახოთ, რომ ამ სიმღერით თავიდან ბოლომდე დატკბეთ.

Blue Lips

Florence and the Machine – Lungs

ეს ჯგუფი ალბათ ძალიან ცოტას თუ გეცნობათ. სულ ახალბედა ქმნილებაა. სადებიუტო ალბომს უშვებენ წელს და არც დავინტერესდებოდი საერთოდ, რომ არა ერთი ტრეკი რომელსაც აგერ უკვე მეორე დღეა შეუწყვეტლივ ვუსმენ.

Rabbit Heart(Raise It Up) სიმღერა კი არა რა ვიცი მე რა არის. საოცარი ქმნილებაა. კლიპიც ზედგამოჭრილია სიმღერაზე. მუსიკა, ფლორიანის ვოკალი რომელიც ენერგიით მავსებს, შესანიშნავი ფერები კლიპში, ეს ყველაფერი ერთად ქმნის სიმღერას რომელიც აგერ უკვე ორი დღეა “ჩემს ჩარტებში”ლიდერობს და რომლის  გულისთვისაც მე მთლიან ალბომს  გავეცნობი.

ჩემი თხოვნაა, თუ მოუსმენთ ამ სიმღერას თავიდან ბოლომდე გააკეთეთ ს საქმე. შუაში გაწყვეტით მთლიანად იკარგება შთაბეჭდილება.

Rabbit Heart(Raise It Up)

2009 წელს კიდევ უამრავი საინტერესო მუსიკალური პროექტია რომლებზეც აუცილებლად ვისაუბრებ უახლოეს მომავალში, როგორც კი გადავაგორებ გამოცდებს და კოლოკვიუმებს უნივერსიტეტში. მანამდე კი დატკბით ამ ორი ტრეკით.

ალბომები როგორც კი გამოვა, აუცილებლად ავტვირთავ და დავდებ ლინკს ბლოგზე.

©ნიკა ესებუა(Leonard Shelby/Leito)

Reading Festival 2007 was a mega scale event with lots of artists performing live in front of millions of screaming people. It held from Friday 24th – Sunday 26th August 07 at Little Johns Farm, Richfield Avenue, Reading, Berkshire. The Ticket cost was £145 for weekend (including camping), £62.50 for any day each day.

Reading Festival was back in 2007 on the August Bank Holiday weekend. The headliners are Razorlight, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Smashing Pumpkins. In 2007 Reading Festival, the capacity of the Reading site was 80,000 audiences.

On site facilities include: Bars, Cash Points, First Aid & Paramedics, Food & Non Food Stalls, Information. The silent disco will also be making an appearance.

The line up included Ash, Bloc Party, Brand New, Crystal Castles, Eagles of Death Metal, Enter Shikari, Fall Out Boy, Funeral For A Friend, Gallows, Gogol Bordello, Gossip, Hadouken!, Kate Nash, Klaxons, Maximo Park, New Young Pony Club, Nine Inch Nails, Panic! At The Disco, The Long Blondes, The Pipettes, The Sounds, The Subways, We Are Scientists at Reading Festval 2007 and many more.

the long blondes.

Kate Jackson of the Long Blondes is a total babe. Not only does she love vintage clothing, have a killer voice and is a feminist but she also studied History and English at Uni. Can we please be BFF? The Long Blondes ended up breaking up this past Fall due to one of the members having a stroke but Kate is apparently releasing a solo album sometime this year. 

damn straight.

Until tonight, I’d failed to see Emmy The Great three times. Twice I even had tickets. No-one wanted to come.

Tonight, I failed to see her for a fourth time. Well, I saw her. I just didn’t see her peform.

She was playing an in-store at Rough Trade, which is only a fifteen minute walk from my house – perfect. She sent out a lovely email, informing us believers that she was playing an in-store that started at 6:30. So I left my house at 6, and wandered down Whitechapel high street, past the asexually multiplying pirate DVD sellers, the chicken emporiums, and a man with “soldier of allah” written across the back of a grey tracksuit.

Through bangla town and I was there: Rough Trade East, with lots of people who looked a bit like me, only ten years younger and wearing indoor hats.

I wandered back and forth for a bit, looking confused, while a band who I assumed was hers sound-checked. But then I got suspicious, as they sounded a bit too interpol for the folk-pop stylings I was expecting.

I found a poster and my heart sank: three bands on, with Emmy The Great on last. This isn’t what I had promised myself. This wasn’t what I wanted. I was tired and hungry – this was supposed to be a smash and grab in-store session, then home in time for tea.

I drifted, at a loss. I spotted the woman herself: conspiring with her second love* between the shelves.

I stayed for the first band, ex-lovers. They had good hair, and were very tight; but the tunes weren’t there. The female vocalist’s xylaphone sat uselessly at her waist. Why tease me with the xylaphone, female vocalist? Why lead me on to expect tinkles?

The band finished, and it was already 7pm. Rumble went my belly. There was always the option of grabbing a bagel from brick lane, laden with salt beef and mustard, then coming back, but I wasn’t of the psychological conditioning to spend the whole evening hanging out on my own**. I already felt a bit shifty.

Thus I came home, and ate food. Yum.

So: Emmy might have been great, she might have been rubbish. I’ll never know. But I have been listening to her album so let me say a few things about that instead.

It’s alright. it’s a bit frustrating because it could, and should, have been so much better. A similar thing happened to me with The Pipettes and The Long Blondes – I loved and obsessively bought all their early singles, and by the time the album proper came along I was either fed up with the songs or frustrated at the over-tinkered production. You can’t help it, I suppose first album syndrome means this is a set of songs you’ve built up and cherished your whole life – and you know you only have one go at putting these songs on your debut album, where they’ll live and die forever. You have to get it right.

But like The Pipettes and It’s Not Love, and The Long Blondes with Giddy Stratospheres, Emmy The Great: why did you re-record Easter Parade? It was already perfect. You’ve pared it down instrumentally but beefed it up production-wise, and the effect has been like a jester trying to fix a watch.The impossible equation of beauty the song had has been lost, and t’is a crying shame.

–

* Her album is called first love, and it charts her first serious relationship. See what I did there? But I’m being presumptuous really – she could have got back with the same bloke. I have no idea. It’s really none of my business. I should stop rummaging in her bins

** I’ve moaned about this sort of thing before. See here.

“Romantic Rights” By The Bon-Bon Club

‘Sup dawgs!!‘ When I heard I might be interviewing a member of a  band who are enthusiastic  proponents of  drum and bass I was worried , after all, I don’t know much about all this Jungle D&B nonsense with its fast break beats and ludicrous use of the word “Yo”.  I felt out of my depth and decided to consult with my “homies”, in “the hood“, for practical advice. What would be the best way to approach this interview? I was soon informed by my “crew” -”Don’t be trippin! Don’t be hatin! Break yo’self! fo sho, aye?” which sadly, left me none the wiser. But the ground rules relating to D&B etiquette were quickly established, for example if I liked something, and found it agreeable I should refer to it as   ’sick’, ‘wack’, ‘fresh’, and indeed  ‘tight’. It was also recommended that I  should  liberally pepper my questions with nonsensical words such as “snizzle, izzle bizzle, pha-shiz” and say “Fo’ sho‘” by way of tacit approval.  Demented hand gestures, resembling somebody with chronic St.Vitus Dance, are also a  key component,  in convincing  members of the “jungelist” community that Iam indeed “dope”. Females, apparently, should be told in no uncertain that they are indeed “the bomb” (or in this case the bomb, bomb) and reference to their bootie (bottom) being “damn fine” is quite appropriate, and indeed welcomed! Oh and  also, if something is “the sh*t,” it actually means it’s quite good and not sh*t  Confused? Yup!

Thus prepared and dressed like Tim Westwood by way of  Alan Ticthmarsh, I trekked across the Pennines to the strange land of Yorkshire within whose hills and dales lies Sheffield, to speak to one member of The Bon Bon Club.  However Reenie (Sushi Quatro) wasn’t, as I soon discovered a “jungleist”, yes, she likes drum and bass but not the sort I had “prepped with my posse” .

She explained that The Bon Bon Club started out initially as the rhythm section—Screech and Renee—from the Long Blondes who were joined by Claire from Slow Down Tallahassee and Navvy. The idea was to produce stark minimal songs using the drum and the bass, the end result was a sinister, yet sexy EP of cover versions,” Rather than slow the songs down on acoustic guitar to ‘show the great song writing’ like every Jo Wiley Live Lounge Indie plodder, the songs get the Bon-Bon treatment, strip ‘em down and rip ‘em up to the real essentials.”

It sounds bloody great, and, is thankfully devoid of  break beats and village idiots “hollering” “Yo!” Yo!” Yo!”, every fifteen seconds. Yorkshire folk have little truck with such tomfoolery.  The EP itself contains a fabulous take on the Cure’s eerie gynophobic masterpiece “Lullaby”, a pounding version of “Love Is Blind” by fellow Sheffield legends Pulp and is produced by the same studio genius, Alan Smyth, who was involved with the original. Things are  rounded off  nicely with a rip roaring version of fellow rhythm -section-only band Death from Above 1979 as “Romantic Rights” is given  the Bon Bon Club treatment !

VP: Your previous band The Long Blondes decided to call it a day last year after guitarist/songwriter Dorian suffered a stroke… That in itself must have been a big shock, how is Dorian doing?

REENIE: He’s doing well, loads better. I get to see him quite a bit at the moment cos he’s living near by. He has plans to make music again as soon as he can,  and I can’t wait cos I’m sure it will be ace.

VP:   Was it a difficult decision for you all to make when you decided the band couldn’t really go on?

REENIE: Not really, cos the circumstances forced the decision. It was sad though.

VP: What are your favourite memories of your time in The Long Blondes?

REENIE: Some of my best memories are from early on when we didn’t have a clue what we were aiming for, when we were just young pups… A bit ago, Screech, Dorian and I went on a memory binge looking through old stuff we had collected. I felt quite proud of all we’d done… too many good memories to mention really.

VP:  Your current band the Bon-Bon Club was originally a side project when you were in the LB’s. Initially you started off covering your favourite songs using just drum and bass. Have you any plans to expand the sound or does your original idea still hold sway? Is drum, bass and vox the future!

REENIE: For sure! I think the original idea came from me and Screech agreeing that all our LB’s recordings sounded ace with just the rhythm track, then we’d go out for a bit, come back, and we’d be like “Where’s all the good stuff gone?? It’s BURIED!”. So we (I) picked some songs we (I) liked and off we went. But now, well, inevitably our stark criteria have become somewhat watered down, and we now have keys too… but Kim is a considerate synth player and not afraid to NOT play when it’s not needed, and so the sound is deffo enhanced, but not drastically altered. And yep, we’re still doing covers.

VP:  Who are the current members of the Bon-Bon Club?

REENIE: Myself, aka Sushi Quatro playing the bass and singing; Chapatti Smith (aka Claire from Navvy and Slow Town Tallahassee) playing stand-up drums and singing also, and our newest addition, Boozie Sioux (Kim) providing synth / percussion / more singing.

VP:  You’ve released an EP on Thee SPC last year,  have you get any more releases up your sleeve for 2009?

REENIE: We’ve got some studio time booked soon, with the view of releasing one of those cute little 3 inch CD’s, something I’ve wanted to do for ages.  When… I can’t say. We are a bit slack.

VP:  What other songs would you like to give the Bon-Bon treatment to?

REENIE: Conceitedly, I think loadsa songs would benefit from the Bon Bon treatment. But often I try it and it really doesn’t work. A couple of weeks ago I spent an hour working out the bass part to ‘Ruby‘ By Kenny Rogers, and it really didn’t work. So then I tried it on the ukulele, and that sounded shocking too. Fail!

VP:  How did you rate 2008 in musical terms and what sort of stuff did you listen too?

REENIE: 2008 kinda passed me by in terms of new music; everything that I heard / liked was old. My mum knows more about the current music scene than I do. The last gig I went to was Darren Hayman. And the next gig I’m going to is: Darren Hayman.

VP: What did you get for Christmas?

REENIE: A watering can, Sheffield monopoly and about 500 bath bombs.

VP: Five words which concisely sum up The Bon-Bon Club?

REENIE: Pick, kick, snare, hat, rat. Or as a friend of ours said “a band of “little people”‘. We are all almost exactly the same height, and that height ain’t big.

Links

On myspace

Facebook

Thee SPC

Wallpapers

Thanks Darren and Elz

Most years are pretty good for music if you know where to look, and 2008 was no exception. It’s a shame that you have to search so hard, of course – once upon a time all you needed to keep track of what was good in the world of music was a radio. These days it requires a little effort, though, and while I lost count a long time ago, I probably sampled a few hundred CDs in the last 365. Thank the gods for the Internet and a growing network of friends who make sure to let me know whenever they hear something worthy, huh?

This is part one of three. The Platinum LP Awards will be along soon, and that will be followed by the CD of the Year post. So here we go with last year’s Gold Awards for Very Good CDs. These are in alphabetical order, more or less. Band Web sites link to the band name, and if the CD is available via eMusic, that links to the CD title. If you want to purchase from eMusic, click on the link in the right column for a really good deal (as in lots of free downloads).

The 2008 Gold LPs

Big Head Todd & the Monsters – All the Love You Need

The hardest CDs to evaluate for me are the ones from bands that don’t have a lot of off days. Bands like BHT&tM, for instance – all they do is write good songs, play the hell out of them, put on great live shows, and in general set such a consistently high standard that all the excellence begins to run together. There aren’t nearly enough bands in the world like this to suit me, frankly.

All the Love You Need is more of the same, and I mean that as a compliment. It’s thoughtful, meticulously crafted, and executed with such professionalism that it’s easy, over time, to lose sight of just how much better they are than most other bands out there.

Dave Barnes – Me and You and the World

I discovered this one completely by accident one day, as I was surfing around eMusic looking for something new. Barnes has apparently been a pure blues guy in the past, but here he tips in the direction of more commercial-sounding fare, including my favorite track, “Brothers and Sisters,” a Lewis Taylor-esque Pop-R&B excursion that would have been right at home on any good FM station during the ‘70s.

The Chevelles – Barbarella Girl God

“Garage Pop” is the term being used to describe this incredibly fun band of Aussies, and that’s probably as good as any. The formula is simple: start with uncomplicated, hook-laden guitar-pop songs that recall everything from Cheap Trick to The Plimsouls to The Raspberries, then whang ‘em out like … well, like Cheap Trick, The Plimsouls and The Raspberries. The Chevelles don’t set out to do anything terribly groundbreaking, but if you’re looking to put the top down and drive around town with your friends enjoying a crystal-clear summer night, you can’t beat it.

The Del Bombers – vol. 2

Back in the ‘80s there was a remarkable run of roots-inflected bar-boogie bands that found interesting ways of extracting the essential character of their respective regional heritages and packing it into something that was extremely cool: Los Lobos and The BoDeans were the two that enjoyed the greatest success, but you also had Lone Justice, Jason & the Scorchers, The Right Profile and The Blasters, as well as a couple of bands with “Del” in their names: The Del Lords and The Del Fuegos.

So when I tripped across a new San Francisco band called The Del Bombers I couldn’t help recalling that fantastic moment from a couple decades back. Turns out, this new crowd fits right in – twangy, slightly countryish (a little Ryan Adams meets a heavy dose of Social Distortion, maybe) rock that’s about as unpretentious as it gets. If you like your rock & roll smart, engaging and honest, you’ll want to give them a listen.

Doco – The Fossil Record

Let me be up front here. I don’t much care for Doco’s style of music, which is a measure of blues, another measure of hip-hop, and way too much Sublime for my taste. But I’ve known Trevor and Josh Booth since … well, since they were born, pretty much, so I felt obliged to give them a listen. And here’s the truth. I may not be much enamored of their stylistic choices in places, but these boys can flat-out play.

Josh is better than a lot of the people we think of as great bassists and I haven’t heard more than a handful of guitarists in my life who are as good at the same age as Trevor. The band is at its best, I think, when they’re locked into the blues, and that seems to happen more live than on TFR. But this isn’t all about me. I have a feeling that a lot of folks reading this are going to love Doco. And my taste shouldn’t stand in the way of that, huh?

The Dreaming – Etched in Blood

Do you remember Stabbing Westward? If not, they were one of the most successful industrial rock bands of the ‘90s and early ‘00s. They called it quits after 2001’s s/t disc failed (I’m speculating here) to get the kind of commercial traction they’d hoped for. While that CD was still pretty noisy, they had taken a clear tack in the hard pop direction being mined more successfully by Fuel.

SW front man Christopher Hall is back with his new band, The Dreaming, and I think we can put it like this: if you liked the last Stabbing Westward record, there’s a good chance you’re going to like Etched in Blood. Extremely crunchy and hard, it’s also quite melodic – if you can make the phrase “bonecrushing beauty” work in your head, then this disc is for you.

The Foxboro Hot Tubs – Stop Drop & Roll

Let’s say you’ve just produced an instantly epic CD, a work that’s one of the two greatest punk records in history. A landmark political commentary that expressed the rage that millions of citizens felt but that most other bands were too afraid to take on.

Whatcha gonna do next? Well, if you’re smart, you’re going to do something a little different, because no way in hell you’re going to equal, let alone exceed, American Idiot.

Green Day was, in fact, smart, so they decided to take a breather. Enter their alter-egos, The Foxboro Hot Tubs, and their decidedly non-political landmark, Stop Drop & Roll. In a nutshell, the boys decided to get back to what they once were – a fun-loving, melodic California pop band. Tremendous fun for the masses…

The Gaslight Anthem – The ‘59 Sound

In a way, this was the Marah CD I was hoping for in 2008. The Springsteen influence is unmistakable, but there’s a vitality that we haven’t heard from The Boss since the ‘80s. Bruce was always at his best when he echoed the melancholy of the no-place-to-go mid-Atlantic working class, and the same minor-chord ethos haunts The ‘59 Sound from one end to the other. TGA is still fairly early in their career – it will be interesting to see how their sound evolves as they grow.

Hooverphonic – The President of the LSD Golf Club

Trippy, downbeat, etherial, atmospheric – pretty much what you expect a Hooverphonic disc to be. Some listeners might find TPotLSDGC to be a little more accessible than some past efforts, though. It’s not as though the band is terribly alienating, of course, but in my experience music this cool – and that’s cool as in chilly, not cool as in hip – is hard for some people to hook into. Perhaps this is because it’s possible to be very pretty without being engaging for some. In any case, if this isn’t the band’s best effort ever, it’s close.

The Lost Patrol – Midnight Matinée

Imagine Duane Eddy teaming up with Hope Sandoval, Jon Crosby and The Church to do a soundtrack for a new David Lynch Western Gothic epic starring Johnny Depp and a wrung-out Elisabeth Shue, with powerful supporting turns from Zooey Deschanel and Javier Bardem, you’re probably more or less on the right track. Or this, from the blurb at CD Baby: “A sweeping, cinematic, wide-screen journey that combines ethereal soundscapes with surf-tinged guitar. Perfect for those late night rides across the desert with the top down…Uniquely original retro-futurism.” Marketing language, sure, but it sounds about right.

Genre? Good luck. Its aching beauty, bespeaking a loneliness bigger than the Wyoming sky at dusk, argues for a spot on the fringes of Goth. The reverberating twang of Steve Masucci’s guitars reminds me not of Country, but of traditional Western. While it’s not industrial by any stretch, it’s right at home on a playlist with bands like Fiction 8 and The Birthday Massacre. Fans of DreamPop and Shoegazer will have no problem slotting it alongside Lush, Catherine Wheel, Blonde Redhead or The Raveonettes. And I think somebody needs to put “Blue Lullabies” in the soundtrack of a surfing flick.

TLP was on my list last year, too, and if they keep this up they’ll be on it again in the future.

Marti Jones & Don Dixon – Lucky Stars: New Lullabies For Old Souls

I was a little taken aback by this one. I bring some expectations to the table where Don and Marti are concerned, so the folky moments were as anticipated. But there are places on the disc where the word “lullabies” is intended pretty literally and others where it’s almost like listening to Loreena McKennitt – these were less anticipated. Still, what a wonderful surprise. Marti is a gorgeous singer and songwriter, and this effort flows logically, I guess, from some experimentations Don was working on a couple of years back. All in all, a beautiful collaboration from two of our more talented and underappreciated artists.

The Long Blondes – Couples

I always loved Elastica, so when I run across a band that apparently shares the sentiment it’s great news. Enter The Long Blondes, whose catchy brand of neo-UK New Wave may also remind you of The Fall, Wire, Kaiser Chiefs and Franz Ferdinand – all good things. Unfortunately, while my discovery of TLB was very good news, in October we got some very bad news. From guitarist Dorian Cox on the band’s Web site:

“We have decided to call it a day.

The main reason for this is that I suffered from a stroke in June and unfortunately I do not know when / if I will be well enough to play guitar again.”

It’s bad enough when a band you like breaks up. But a stroke, at such a young age? Awful. So here’s to one of 2008’s best, and best wishes for a speedy recovery and return to the best of list.

Nine Inch Nails – The Slip

Three releases in two years. One thing’s for sure, Trent Reznor isn’t slowing down. Maybe he’s really found freedom in the brave new world of music downloading. Whatever the case, it’s good news.

If you read the pro critics on this one you’ll notice a lot of words like “focus,” “tight” and “lean,” and in truth, there isn’t a lot of fat on the bones here. As is always the case when Reznor is at his best, there’s a powerful sense of control about The Slip – whether he’s in laser drill mode or unwinding into the ambient, there’s never, ever a second where he isn’t doing precisely what he intends.

REM – Accelerate

In an interview preceding the release of Accelerate, Michael Stipe said he wants to do a truly epic American rock album, and that he doesn’t feel like REM has yet accomplished that. Which is ridiculous – they’ve done it at least three times (Murmur, Reckoning and Automatic for the People) and maybe more (Fables of the Reconstruction, Life’s Rich Pageant). But it’s been awhile since Automatic, and while REM has had some very good moments, they haven’t sustained greatness over the span of an entire CD since 1992.

And they don’t quite pull it off here, either, although they do manage their best effort since Automatic. The problem, I think, lies with their insistence on stripping down and rocking. Nothing wrong with this formula, in and of itself, except that all of REM’s greatest moments emerged from the moody, atmospheric, even muddy brand of Southern Gothic that established them early on. Sure, AftP was more polished sonically, but it was, in its way, as haunted as Reckoning.

Take away the haunt and you’ve neutered the band of what makes them truly great. By this standard, then, I believe Accelerate is as good a disc as they’re capable of crafting from their current mode of thinking. If they ever do produce another five-star masterpiece, I promise you it will sound more like Life’s Rich Pageant than Accelerate.

School of Seven Bells – Alpinisms

SVIIB is the new project from Ben Curtis, formerly of The Secret Machines, and you’ll hear a certain kinship right away. While the overall effect owes rather obviously to the legacy of My Bloody Valentine and Cocteau Twins, Alpinisms is also decidedly more global, with a variety of Eastern influences finding their way into the mix (the lead track, “Iamundernodisguise,” provides a meditative glimpse of things to come). If you come away reminded a bit of mid-period Delerium) think Semantic Spaces, just before they caught on with a broader audience) you won’t be alone.

Alpinisms is a little more challenging than most of what’s on this year’s list, but it rewards the effort handsomely.

She & Him – Volume One

There’s been a run of Hollywood types making records lately. A couple years ago we had a surprisingly good release from Juliette Lewis (Juliette & the Licks, Four on the Floor), for instance, and this year we had Scarlett Johansson’s thoroughly non-essential CD of Tom Waits covers. So when I heard that Zooey Deschanel (who was in Elf and who played the cool older sister in Almost Famous) had done a disc with alt-country artist M. Ward I had no idea what to expect. But I like Deschanel the actress, so what the heck.

Turns out the record is pretty damned good. The songs themselves run a stylistic gamut, including some very worthy Patsy Cline-ish C&W to neo-Supremes style ‘60s girl group throwbacks. (The Patsy-covers-The-Beatles take on “I Should Have Known Better” is pleasant enough, but I can’t say it made the CD any stronger, either.) The real revelation here is Deschanel’s voice – we knew from Elf that she could sing a little, but we didn’t fully understand just how talented she is until now.

The Stills – Oceans Will Rise

Fans who were hoping for more of the same neo-post-punk from The Stills probably came away from Oceans Will Rise a little disappointed. No, they haven’t abandoned their roots altogether – there’s plenty of continuity to be found in the technical execution of the new release (chord progressions, vocal phrasing, etc.) – but they appear to have made a deliberate decision to step out of the long and oppressive shadow of Joy Division so as to better establish their own identities. The result takes a little listening to get used to, simply because it refuses to play into an existing template. Once you get your ears and expectations adjusted, though, you may well come to appreciate the new diversity of a band that seems determined to keep growing.

The Well Wishers – Jigsaw Days

This was one of the year’s more eagerly awaited CDs among the power pop underground set, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. Here’s what I wrote when it was released: “This new release from Jeff Shelton (ex-Spinning Jennies) is among the top Power Pop discs of the year to date, and in addition to recalling artists like The Posies, Teenage Fanclub, Sloan, Supergrass and XTC, also has moments where it leans a bit heavier into the ‘Power’ than the ‘Pop.’ If you’re not familiar with contemporary underground pop, think Matthew Sweet meets Bob Mould (and if you don’t know them, just go to the darned site and click to sample). Like most bands working this genre, Shelton isn’t really looking to do anything new. But he’s doing a very good job cranking out earnest, tuneful guitar pop.”

It was true then and it’s true now.

And now, a few words about the year’s Honorable Mentions

Black Mountain – In the Future

These guys can’t make up their minds whether they’re Led Zeppelin or Deep Purple. I guess if you have to develop a serious retro-identity crisis, that’s not a bad one to have, though. The disc is noteworthy for its willingness to put the hammer down and rock, and it’s taking its cues from some worthy artists. For now it comes off as a tad derivative, but I’ll be interested to see where they go next as they seek their own voice.

Built by Snow – MEGA

For some reason I keep seeing that this is 2009 release, but I have the whole thing right now, so I’m not sure what the story is. Regardless, the Austin-based techno-geek rockers have an impeccable pop sensibility that echoes some of the niftiest UK New Wavers of the late ‘70s. And The Cars. Interesting enough to bear close scrutiny, and the sort of disc that you definitely want to spin at your next house party. You might have to spin it two or three times, though – the whole thing clocks in at a spare 21 minutes.

Goldfrapp – The Seventh Tree

Goldfrapp fans may have been taken aback by this one – I know I was. The band’s modus operandi has traditionally revolved around pulsating, electronic songs so ice cold they made your nipples stand on end. But here the crew has crawled off the sybian and commenced to hugging trees. The Seventh Tree is warm, sunny, lush, organic – in short, it’s the antithesis of everything they’ve ever been in the past.

At a purely critical level I can’t say that it’s a bad record. It isn’t – it’s full of well-crafted, well-performed songs. But I also can’t tell you that it connected with me, either. Which is odd – flesh should resonate in ways that a refrigerator can’t. My sense is that Alison and Co. had it right on Black Cherry and Supernature, and here’s hoping that their next outing will see the return of the ice cold sexuality that made us lust for them in the first place.

Marah – Angels of Destruction!

I’ve been a big Marah fan for the past few records, but the truth is that I’ve liked the last two the least of all. Critics are applauding them for their growth and for the fact that they’re really becoming their own band (as opposed to a band that hews too closely to their Springsteenish roots), and there’s no doubt that they’re a band in command of their sound. But I keep feeling like the more original they get, the less compelling their songs are.

This isn’t a diss, exactly, but for my money their newer efforts lack whatever it was that hooked me in the first place.

The Best CDs of 2008

• CD of the Year
  
• Pt. 2: the Platinum LPs

You know she’s no good

Poor Amy Winehouse has been nominated as Villain Of The Year in the Shockwaves NME Awards for the second year in a row. Named alongside perennial asshats George W Bush (last year’s winner) and Gordon Brown and, this year, fellow mishap attractant Pete Doherty and the bumbling John McCain, Amy’s wayward antics are conceivably right up there with shafting the world economy into an age of wild disequilibrium. It’s a good job she’s clean now that drugs are presumably more of a luxury item in a popstar’s unofficial rider. And as if that wasn’t enough, she’s suffered the ignominy of being forced to defend her title in the Worst Dressed category too, alongside Katy Perry, Killers frontman Brandon Flowers, scruffy Pete and Razorlight’s chief prat Johnny Borrell (put a shirt on, I mean really). Faring slightly better are the nominees for Sexiest Female, which include Paramore’s Hayley Williams, ex-Long Blonde Kate Jackson, The Kills’ Alison Mosshart, Lykke Li and – seemingly out of nowhere – Stephanie Dosen. I guess those shows she did with Massive Attack last year had a real impact. Looking forward to new music from her.

Last year’s NME Cool List chart topper Alice Glass and her band Crystal Castles have the most nominations in categories that actually have something to do with music – Best International Band and Best Dancefloor Filler (‘Courtship Dating’) – while Ladyhawke and Laura Marling get a look in for Best Solo Artist. Other relevant nominees are The Ting Tings (Best Track for ‘That’s Not My Name’) and Britney Spears (Worst Album for Circus), and not forgetting the female drummer in Glasvegas, who are up for two awards.

Full list of nominations and details on how to cast your vote here. The winners will be announced at a ceremony to be held on February 25th at Brixton Academy in London.

There’s no mention of Florence & The Machine, already announced as this year’s Critics’ Choice Award winner at the upcoming Brits, but this year’s NME Awards Tour will go with the Flo – as well as Glasvegas, White Lies and Friendly Fires – all around the country from this Thursday. Catch the action here:

29.01.09 University, Liverpool
30.01.09 Academy, Glasgow
01.02.09 Academy, Newcastle
03.02.09 Academy, Sheffield 
04.02.09 Academy, Birmingham
06.02.09 Academy, Manchester
08.02.09 Academy, Leeds
10.02.09 Engine Shed, Lincoln
11.02.09 Rock City, Nottingham
12.02.09 UEA, Norwich
14.02.09 University, Cardiff
15.02.09 Academy, Bristol
16.02.09 Dome, Brighton
17.02.09 Academy, Oxford
19.02.09 Pyramids, Portsmouth
20.02.09 Corn Exchange, Cambridge
21.02.09 Brixton Academy, London 

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Alan Pedder

Following hot on the hooves of last year’s sold-out The Horse EP [review], Alessi’s Ark is giving away a brand new song from her forthcoming debut album Notes From The Tree House, for a limited time only. To get your sticky mitts on ‘Magic Weather’, all you have to do is sign up to her mailing list. It’s on her Myspace if you want to hear it first. And don’t forget you can still listen to ‘The Asteroids Collide’ over at Lomography.com, even though the competition to be a part of the accompanying video has ended.

* * *

Jewel Kilcher is working on a new album of original lullabies, marking a return to the simpler acoustic compositions of Pieces Of You. If you’re thinking ‘yeah, yeah, I’ve heard that before and Goodbye Alice… was a badly polished turd’, get yourself over to Perez Hilton for an exclusive listen to new song ‘Raven’. There is still hope.

* * *

Another year, another chance to dredge more cash out of Robyn’s 2005 self-titled album. After countless singles, a treasure trove of remixes and a repackaged deluxe edition comes a new EP of acoustic versions recorded live at Cherrytree House studios, including her reworking of ‘Be Mine’ that somehow still sounds amazing after the zillionth spin. The other two songs to get the stripped-down treatment are the chart-topping ‘With Every Heartbeat’ and album track ‘Bum Like You’. The Cherrytree Sessions EP will be available to download exclusively through iTunes from February 3rd. Physical copies will be available at Borders only, and probably only in the US.

* * *

Ex-Long Blondes singer Kate Jackson features on a new song by Scottish indie rock trio, 1990s. She will duet with frontman Jackie McKeown on ‘Kickstrasse’, reportedly about the German left-wing extremists Baader-Meinhof (or Red Army Faction), many of whom were women. The album, Kicks, was produced by Bernard Butler and is out on March 23rd.

* * *

Lisa Milberg, The Concretes’ singing drummer, has set up a Myspace for her forthcoming solo material. There’s only a demo of new song ‘Lovestruck’ up there at the moment, but she reliably informs us that more music will be coming on February 1st. Mark it in your diaries.

* * *

Alan Pedder

Ever been dumped just before Christmas? Ever dumped someone just before Christmas? Ever spent Christmas wondering if you’ve been dumped? Ever spent Christmas wondering if you should have dumped her/him? Living in the past? Can’t let go?

This song is for you.

One of Sheffield doomed romanticists The Long Blondes’ finest numbers, this is best enjoyed on your own, in the dark, with a bottle of wine and the phone off the hook.

“Just raise a glass to two more people spending Christmas Day alone…”

Available as a free download from those lovely people at angular records.

During the week, two of us old codgers were imbibing a copious amount of alcohol and debating the current state of British popular music. I have been railing against the current scene for some time, but my friend has remained a staunch supporter of it. It is generally a good dispute that usually results in a happy barman, if nothing else. However, it would seem that even my friend is beginning to despair at the never-ending conveyor belt of dreadful dross that is being spat out right now. Dark days have, indeed, come upon us!

Anyway, here is a mixtape of some of the names that we were bandying about – and nary a sign of the sickening six that are Coldplay, Keane, Kasabian, Kaiser Chiefs, Fratellis, and Kooks to be had, let me assure you! A touch derivative in places, I will admit, but see what you think of it by listening here.

Moreover, with many of you heading out to parties this weather, the emphasis is on up-tempo tunes designed to get your feet moving! So do not say that we do nothing for you around here… even if we don’t really!

Here is the track listing on the tape:

1. Atom – British Sea Power

2. Terra Firma – The Young Knives

3. Colours – These New Puritans

4. Knots – Pete and the Pirates

5. Casualty – Look See Proof

6. Guilt – The Long Blondes

7. Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants – Wild Beasts

8. Alarm Clock – The Rumble Strips

9. Gilt Complex – Sons & Daughters

Sleater Kinney, the Delgados, Arab Strap and now the Long Blondes: All recent favorite bands of mine, all of them now broken up. It’s enough to drive a music fan to stop having favorite bands, or at least declaring them publicly. The Long Blondes (Kate Jackson, Dorian Cox, Reenie Hollis, Emma Chaplin and Screech Louder) combined a punk and New Wave sensibility with sometimes sardonically witty, sometimes despairing lyrics. They released two excellent albums before they broke up in October of this year after guitarist and songwriter Dorian Cox suffered a stroke. (Cox is currently undergoing therapy and hopes to eventually be able to play guitar again.) Singles collects the music the Long Blondes released before their debut album in 2006, and there’s not a dud to be heard among the 13 tracks collected here. The digital release gets major demerits for the muddy, distorted versions of “New Idols” and “Long Blonde,” which are otherwise terrific songs. Hopefully, this will be corrected in the near future. The rest of the album sounds great, however, and even features an alternate version of “Separated By Motorways.” I would say Singles is an essential collection for Long Blondes fans while making a pretty decent introduction for newcomers to one of this decade’s most memorable British bands. Standout cuts: “Autonomy Boy,” “Giddy Stratospheres,” “Appropriation (By Any Other Name)” and “Peterborough.”

http://www.myspace.com/thelongblondes

Although this one has been about for a while, I purposely ignored it. A somewhat strange combination the Long Blondes, a generic indie-pop band, and Henrik (Pantha) who produces music as an art form. I’m guessing he seen this tune as a challenge, something to change peoples’ perception of disposable indie bands.

Maybe you actually can polish a turd!

The remix sees Pantha stamp his ambient deep house sound on things. The twisted moog bass line holds the tune and becomes its most defining factor. I’m rather impressed, probably should have trusted Pantha’s judgment!!

Here is a rapidshare (128kbps sorry) buy the 320 version and support The Long Blondes and their fine work!

The Long Blondes- Guilt (Pantha du Prince Remix)

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