Los Campesinos! return in November with new album Hello Sadness and they've made lead single 'By Your Hand' available to download for free. And it's brilliant. Really, it's a case of the more things change, the more they stay the same - the opening salvo has a very Vampire Weekend / Harlem Shakes / Dale Earndhart Jr Jr feel about it and Gareth's vocals take on a level of affectation unheard of on previous LC! recordings, certainly sounding miles away from the scratchy rawness of his singing on tracks like International Tweecore Underground. But the theme of a deteriorating love affair racked with mixed emotions is very familiar, and lyrics such as "I'm not sure if it's love any more, but I've been thinking of you fondly for sure" and "I have been dreaming you've been dreaming about me" are classic Los Campesinos! And there's those reassuring hand-claps as well. So the lyrical content that's made them one of the most interesting and affecting bands of recent years is still here, while the band is also trying new things - all in all Los Campesinos! look to be on course to make a corking 3rd album.
With more than a hint of The Vaselines about it Trips & Falls dreamy lo-fi Marginally More Than Annoying bounces and lurches along its fantastic path for a little over two and a half minutes and raises my anticipation still further for their new album, People Have To Be Told, which will be released at the end of this month on Song By Toad records.
And finally, it's my pick from the August edition of the Music Alliance Pact - @peace by @peace. The hip hop collaboration from Auckland, New Zealand have released their debut album (unsurprisingly also called @peace) and this chilled out meditation on nature, poverty and politics is a definite highlight from it. Sparse piano, violin and sounds of nature back tight, thoughtful flows from the various collaborators as they "bang beats from the soul". Other highlights from the MAP this month include tracks from Holiday Shores, Klak Tik, Oh Minnows, The Areola Treat, Possimisle and Tim Neuhaus.
Ipswich’s The B Goodes have been creating a storm in the local area since their formation in 2009, thanks to a slew of gigs, including a triumphant performance on the LakeStage at this year’s Latitude Festival. It’s not hard to see why – their brilliantly written songs and obvious musical talent are brought together into energetic, feel-good performances – whether they are playing to tens or to hundreds of people.
What you get, first and foremost, with the B Goodes is fun, and fun in a big way – the band are having fun, everyone around you is having fun and, if they haven’t plastered a big, stupid grin across your mush by the end of their set, then you are, most likely, clinically dead. Described by Tom Robinson at 6 Music as “Daft, splendid, retro” the band have an infectious enjoyment of what they do that spreads like wildfire.
The B Goodes performing Feel Alright at Latitude 2011 - download the studio version at www.bgoodes.com
But The B Goodes are not some kind of silly purveyors of novelty, oh no. At the heart of all the excitement are a bunch of extremely well written songs. Borrowing from a range of rock n roll influences – such as The Beatles, Sam Cooke and The Sonics, the band still breathe freshness into a sound that has been around for 60 years.
Every member of the band – John B on guitar, Phil on piano/guitar, Jay on bass and John R on drums - is extremely good at what they do and the different elements of the music all demand your attention without ever stepping on each other’s toes. This gives tremendous depth to songs that seem deceptively simple at first, and demands that they be listened to repeatedly. And loudly. With friends, lovers or just on your todd. Songs such as Feel Alright, Never Forget You, Sleep So Soundly and Girl on the Carousel get firmly lodged in your brain and you find yourself singing them for days after you hear them.
Will I Remember In The Morning - including a piano lick that Jerry Lee Lewis himself would be proud of
Not only are The B Goodes boys very talented and great fun, they're also generous, giving away a free download of their set-closing, rabble-rousing, roof-raising track Feel Alright on their website www.bgoodes.com
The band's next scheduled gig is at The Bull in Colchester on Friday 14th October and their debut album is due for release before the end of the year.
There are many ways you can find the B Goodes online (they're not shy boys) -
To coincide with Domino signing up the fantastic Twin Sister for their debut album the band have put this awesome little track out for free download on their website. The quintet are touring North America for the next 6 weeks (and if you're going to the show on the 18th in Brooklyn you also get to see the amazing Allo Darlin'). Bad Street is an awesome slice of chilled out, funky electro with traces of C.S.S. and The Fun Lovin' Criminals and bodes very very well for the band's first release.
STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS - SENATOR http://cdn.stereogum.com/files/mp3/Stephen%20Malkmus%20And%20The%20Jicks%20-%20Senator.mp3
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks are another band with an album coming out soon. Theirs is called Mirror Traffic, was produced by Beck and contains this fantastic track about what politicians really want. Sounding a lot like American indie, but in a very good way, Senator carries on effortlessly for four and a half minutes, sounding at times like The Pixies, Nick Cave (who I know isn't American!), The Dandy Warhols and (surprisingly) Pavement. Mirror Traffic comes out on August 22nd.
And so we end with a third song that comes in at well over 4 minutes long. After the electro funk and American indie, here's a bit of atmospheric, piano-led folk. Dark Dark Dark hail from Minnesota and are led, sonically at least, by Nona Marie Invie and her touching, dark vocals. Daydreaming is off the latest Dark Dark Dark album Wild Go, released last year. The track drags you in then swirls around you beautifully, always sounding slightly threatening, as it moves with an assured touch.
So there we go - 3 free, legal MP3s - enjoy! See you later this week for the introduction of another new band in Lend Them Your Ears.
Welcome back to This Does Not Make Me a Journalist for another Lend Them Your Ears, where we highlight a new band that we think deserve your attention. This week, all the way from Buffalo, New York, it's... The Stay Lows
This quintet, who aim to find the "midpoint between pretentious and geek", have been busy bees already, forming their current incarnation in 2006 and self-releasing 2 albums and an EP, all of which can be picked up here. Largely instrumental, the band's music drags you gently but firmly into its embrace, its mix of cello, synths, guitars, bass, drums and an occasional vocal, showcasing the band as the collaborative effort it is. The sound is warm, atmospheric and complex, at times sounding a bit like a more introverted Modest Mouse, with rougher edges and sharper elbows.
The band's latest album Signature Bridge came out last year and the 9 tracks of the band's post rock/math rock blend are well worth a listen. Quality track titles such as Ugly Babies, Haunted Mouse and To Evil! (Waltz) are a nice added bonus as well. According to The Stay Low's Twitter account they are currently working on new material with the odd gig thrown in now and again around their native Buffalo, with the next date seemingly August 1st at Mohawk Place.
So, off we go with The Primitives and a stunning track off their new EP Never Kill A Secret. You may know the band for their 1988 single Crash, which reached number 5 and number 3 in the UK and American charts respectively. The new EP is a collection of covers of lesser-known female-fronted tracks, with Need All The Help I Can Get being a reworking of Suzi Jane Hokom's 1966 track. The Primitives give it a slightly more polished feel, but keep the edge and groove from the original to produce a kind of fresh-retro feel that rivals Hokom's version for sheer quality. (You can check out the original here)
Hopefully by now you don't need me to tell you how fantastic Fleet Foxes are. Their debut, eponymous album garnered praise from all over the place, and rightly so. This taster from the second album, which also happens to be the title track, is 5 minutes of utter majesty, with urgent guitars powering around a magical vocal singing words of profundity. I don't think I've gone more than a few waking hours without listening to it over the last few days, it is truly amazing.
DEMS - JARNDYCE VS JARNDYCE
OK, so I'm a bit late getting in on the dems (to give the proper, grammatically incorrect name) love-in with Tom Robinson, Rob Da Bank, NME and Vic Galloway, but better late than never. The music is a kind of lo-fi urban-tinged folktronica and Jarndyce vs Jarndyce is rather poetically described as "a story about waiting for things". The XX and Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. are the most obvious recent touching points when describing the sound of dems' mellow vocals and pulsing electronica, but the waves that are being made by this London-based outfit are likely to mean they step away from such comparisons and become established in their own right.
So there you go, that's your 3 free, legal tracks for this week. Enjoy them and I'll be bringing you another Lend Them Your Ears on Monday.
Hello! In that age old blogger's tradition I haven't posted for several weeks, and for no particular reason. I've been busy - working, feeling an almost violent apathy towards the royal wedding and getting a haircut. But enough about me, here's They're Heading West.
This is why indie kids make awful police sketch artists.
I first discovered Portuguese band They're Heading West through the April edition of the Music Alliance Pact's free downloads. If you're unaware of the MAP it's a collection of 36 blogs from around the world, each from a different country. Every month each blog recommends one track by a band from their homeland and all 36 tracks get put together as a download giving you a brief snapshot of what's happening around the musical world. Find Aprill's selection here - http://thepopcop.co.uk/2011/04/music-alliance-pact-april-2011/ .
Anyway, They're Heading West's song My Case Is A Different One was recommended by the good people at Posso Ouvir Um Disco. Well, I imagine they're good people, I can't actually understand anything they write, given that it's all in Portuguese. But they can't be that bad as they like the chilled, multi-vocal sounds of THW. The quartet consists of three singer-songwriters and a drummer and with each singer-songwriter contributing individual songs the band's repertoire is nicely varied. Some songs feature delicate ukulele strains, others nod towards a more relaxed version of Blur's 13 era, whilst still others sound like Laura Marling slightly channelling the Mummers.
Although the band only formed earlier this year, and the members all appear to have slightly different musical outlooks, they already seem to be working well and it's not hard to believe that they "all enjoy playing each other's music immensely", as their Myspace states. All in all, despite the various inputs and variations THW make a wonderfully relaxing, bouncy sound that is perfect for summer listening, for tapping flip-flop encased feet in sunny parks and for listening weights from shoulders.
You can download their self-titled 6 track EP for $5 (about £3) from www.theyreheadingwest.bandcamp.com and, if you happen to be in Lisbon, you can catch them at Bar A Barraca on May 31st. More information can be found at www.myspace.com/theyreheadingwest
Hello there, peeps and peepettes. Since there hasn't been a 3-4-FREE for a few weeks I thought I'd treat you to one featuring 32 songs this week! Oh yes, that's the way uh-huh, uh-huh, I like it. Anyway, let's start with...
TRIPS AND FALLS - THIS IS ALL GOING TO END BADLY
So kicking off this mammoth edition of 3-4-FREE is The Song By Toad record sampler, the highlight of which, for me at least, is Montreal's Trips and Falls. Their bluegrass-infused indie is utterly wonderful and tinged with melancholy. Male and female vocals sing sweetly over simple guitar picking and military-esque drums in This Is All Going To End Badly. The 4-piece brought out their debut album on Song By Toad just over a year ago and continue to work with the Edinburgh-based label, hence their inclusion on the record sampler. All 13 tracks (plus a couple of toad-based skits) are available for free from Song By Toad's bandcamp page and show the pure quality of the artists on this amazing little label.
CRYSTAL FIGHTERS - AT HOME (TRUFIX MIX)
And from Montreal to Navarra, Spain and electronic folk 5-piece Crystal Fighters, who have been given the remix treatment from London dubstep type Trufix. The remix sees the original slowed down then have the aggression element pushed hard. The vocal still has a sweetness to it but it exists within a harshly swirling, stamping dubstep backing. This makes it less accessible than the original version but is still utterly brilliant, albeit in a somewhat different way. The band are planning Europe-wide gigs in the summer, including a performance at the Latitude Festival in Suffolk.
And finally, we have Seattle based Craft Spells, who have popped up on Stereogum's list of '18 Dark Bands to Watch Out For' (a list which also contains aTelecine and Brighton's Esben & The Witch). As the site acknowledges, Craft Spells stand out a little from the rest of the bands on the list, as they have a far more summery, blissful feel to their music, perfectly exhibited in You Should Close The Door. However, the darkness is there - the Ian Curtis comparison is obvious, but no less relevant for it and the synths are tinged with New Romantic misery. Craft Spellsstart their North American tour on Sunday, in their hometown, but here's hoping they'll be in the UK before too long, because they are utterly ace!
And that's your lot for this week, do have a spiffy weekend!
Hello one and all, sorry about the absence over the last few weeks, I've been protecting the free world.
But I'm back, TDNMMAJ is back and right here, right now, Lend Them Your Ears is back, to showcase Let's Buy Happiness
Let's Buy Happiness are fast becoming a very badly kept secret - they supported Frankie & The Heartstrings at a Topman-sponsored gig earlier in the month, have been picked up by Lauren Laverne, Tom Robinson, Drowned in Sound, Amazing Radio and NME; and will be playing a gig in Newcastle curated by Huw Stephens in May, as well as Kendal Calling later in the summer. Oh and they've supported Idlewild, Vivian Girls, The Futureheads, Sky Larkin and The Temper Trap. And played Glastonbury last year. But still, they're ace and deserve even more attention and that's why I'm going to go on about them for a few more paragraphs. You strapped in? Good.
The Northeastern quintet of experimental indie-types have been together for a couple of years, releasing their debut EP No Hot Ashes in 2009. Since then they've also released singles Six Wolves and Fast Fast (which you can hear below) on their own label Ghost Arc Records. The band's affection for the North American alt-indie scene and bands such as Modest Mouse and Tokyo Police Club is evident in their fuzzy soundscapes, understated vocals and general soaring-ness.
Listening to Let's Buy Happiness leaves you feeling like you've had some kind of bodily experience, like the music is seeping into you with snippets of sounds you can almost grasp coming in and out and basically making it seem like something has happened to you. The band also work acoustically with the B-side to Fast Fast, entitled Devil Show, exhibiting a much more gentle, sweet, soothing side.
All in all the two sides and one EP that Let's Buy Happiness have created shows them to already be, despite their young age, masters of moving, atmospheric indie music and to hint at the potential to be even better. There will be plenty of opportunities to see them honing their craft on-stage over the coming months as they do shows all over the UK. I'm hoping to catch them at some point, to sample their wonderfulness live and I do so hope that you will do the same, and lend them your ears.
Word, quite literally, to your mother. It's Thursday which means another 3-4-FREE for your delectation. Let's get it on...
BASS DRUM OF DEATH - YOUNG PROS
Bass Drum of Death are a couple of likely lads from Mississippi who make music that sounds like The Cribs and The Fratellis getting together for a grunge-influenced jam. If that doesn't sell this track to you on the basis of pure curiosity at least then you're just plain weird. Looking to bring themselves to wider attention through SXSW 2011 there's a good chance they may just set Austin alight with their brash, distortion-laden style.
San Franciscans The Dodos are back with their 4th album No Color this month, which heavily features the wonderful vocals of Neko Case on most tracks. However, that is not so on this little preview of the album. Don't Stop is engrossing from the first moment starting, as it does, with spirited folksy finger-picking before a slightly threatening distorted guitar line looms in the background. Before we can become too pre-occupied with that Meric and Logan get started with their imploring vocals and from there the song just keeps soaring and soaring.
Pure, awesome elctro synthy goodness from the fantastic Summer Camp. This is such unadulterated excellence that it makes me a little big weak in the knees. The synthy intro, overlaid with a clip of children talking (I'm guessing it's from some film, give us a shout if you know what film!) is good, the vocal starts very well indeed but the change of pace as we hit the vocal is pure brilliance. And if you like this be sure to check out Summer Camp when they support Wild Beasts on their tour of the UK in May. Now those are going to be fantastic gigs!
So I hope you've enjoyed your free music for this week. If you're still hungry for more check out yesterday's interview with Louise from Wartime Sweethearts which includes 3 free MP3s from the band!
Hello one and all, and welcome to a special post on This Does Not Make Me A Journalist - an interview with Louise from the band Wartime Sweethearts. And not only that, some free MP3s! Wartime Sweethearts were responsible for one of my top 10 albums of 2010, Pancake Orion, which blew my mind a little with its giddy chaos and general brilliance. Louise was nice enough to answer a few questions for us which are located just about here...
TDMMAJ: Firstly, why and how did you get started with making music? LOUISE: Hmmm, I suppose I started singing when I was 5, because I was often complimented on my voice in preschool. A couple of years later I started recording onto cassette tapes in my bedroom, trying to layer my voice for a choir effect - it got really distorted but was still kind of exhilarating, and if you half depressed the pause button while playing it you got a badass chipmunk version in double time. My family (particularly dad) were really encouraging and they're all very musical. My dad, my sister and I got lessons together in various instruments. I chose keys and started writing my own songs on them when I was 10... I think they were all instrumentals in C minor on a harpsichord synth sound.
What's the significance of the name Wartime Sweethearts? When I was conjuring up some band name inspiration a sepia photo of my great Aunty Betty was gazing at me from my desk - it seemed like the kind of photo you would take to war with you and refer to now and then to draw strength from before battle. Not that I support war. But I really liked the idea of a bandname that carried a whiff of a romantic story. It was that or "Bird Atlas"....whew.
A good choice I think! Who else is in the band and how did the current formation come together? It's still a little up in the air, but my sister Kirsten is playing drums and singing harmonies, a lovely dude by the name of Bryce Kerr plays bass and my housemate Angus Cornwell sings awesome baritone harmonies and sometimes plays cello. My bf Wyatt Moss-Wellington was playing guitar and singing with us but he's taking the year off gigging so I'm looking around for a new guitarist as we speak. He'll be super hard to replace... Resisting urge to refer to his "magic hands".
Keep it clean! Your debut album Pancake Orion seems to cover a lot of ground musically, was it a conscious decision to make a record with a very varied sound? Hmmm, no! I was trying to reign my tastes into something a little more matchy matchy. Damn. Next time perhaps.
What are Wartime Sweethearts' live shows like, both for yourselves and the audience? For us they're usually a mixture of wootiness and stress. The stress comes from my decision to almost always include a fresh song that was written last minute... but that I like too much to exclude. My bandmates are generally good at putting up with my neuroticism over these things. Having a "omg-shit-a-brick-this-is-difficult-and-new" song in the set makes the rest of the stage time feel pretty breezy though. If the show comes together the audience generally has a hoot or two - we try to throw some comedic songs (e.g. Your Button or I've also done a cannibal love song version of At Last) or some woefully bad poems or something to entertain. I really appreciate it when we get approached by audience members afterwards with compliments about the music and our skillz of an artist - it's really something for the heart to dine out on.
Who and what would you say are your main influences? (Not necessarily musical acts if there are other things that influence you!) Haha I trust you're referring to the "moths" on our myspace. (On the band's myspace page Moths are listed as an influence) I guess I put there because I get influenced by visual things a lot, and I was enjoying a lot of brown, mothy autumnal colours and patterns at the time. I like the idea of trying to express very visual things with sound. I'd like to play with that connection more in the future. I grew up loving Sega megadrive game music and Disney, but I was probably more heavily influenced by Jeff Buckley and Radiohead who catered to my escapist whims during my late teens.
Which musicians/bands are you really into at the moment? Are there any new acts you think we should be looking out for? In the last couple of years I've been enjoying St Vincent and the Dirty Projectors - I think they're amazing. Here in Sydney my bf Wyatt Moss-Wellington plays a radically mean tune and Brian Campeau does some magnificent stuff too.
If you could invite 5 people, living or dead, round for dinner and to hang out with, who would they be? 1. Stephen Hawking 2. Geoffrey Rush 3. Richard Feynman 4. Jeff Buckley 5. Julie Andrews.Wouldn't it be cool to jam with the latter two? Though I'm sure Hawking could lend something saucy to the mix.
Most definitely! What was the first song you fell in love with? And the first album? Either "Wind in the Willows" by Judy Collins or perhaps something from Mary Poppins. I also loooved the Monster Mash when I was 8, but my first purchase was Ace of Base - Happy Nation after hearing "All That She Wants" on the radio.
What does the future hold for you? The immediate future holds the last year of my Graduate Diploma in Psychology then hopefully Honours - but I'm looking forward to a little gigging this year, and would really love to record another album soon when time and money permits. Pancake Orion stirred up so many other ideas that are starting to bloat my brain
One final question - When you sing "She keeps coming back like a bad boomerang" what do you mean? Surely a boomerang that comes back is a good boomerang?! Or am I missing the point...? Bah! You're clearly off the chart there Chris. If you look at the context her "badness" was evident in the earlier lyrics, and the boomerang refers to the cyclical nature of her problematic relationships with men. They're probably some of my crueller lyrics - I don't like the idea of bad people - just bad behaviour. But that was too many syllables. Just sayin'!
Well, that's me put in my place! So I'll retreat with my tail between my legs and see you back here tomorrow with another edition of 3-4-FREE! Take care!
As I predicted in last week's Lend Them Your Ears, March has got off to a pretty miserable start weather-wise. So I offer you a latin-tinged electro-pop tonic called Poppy Perezz...
Despite having a distinctly solo artist-esque name this Bristol-based band is actually a two-piece, consisting of Poppy Villiers-Stuart and Pablo Perezzarate (you may have noticed where they get their name from...). I was first introduced to this band thanks to Ruth Barnes, author of the excellent The Other Women Music blog (http://theotherwomanmusic.blogspot.com) when she sat in for Tom Robinson on his BBC 6 Music Introducing show and, ever since, I have been rather hooked on their electro powerpop and its distinctly latin underpinnings.
The band's influences are incredibly eclectic, from Bjork to MIA, The Pixies to the Ibrahim Ferrer and give the music a fresh sound throughout, always twisting and turning when you think you're about to be able to predict its next move. Actually, for that reason they also remind me of a previous LTYE act, Wartime Sweethearts (Check back tomorrow for an interview with Louise from Wartime Sweethearts by the way!), which can only be a good thing, as I freaking love Wartime Sweetheart, like a fat kid loves cake, in fact.
Hmmm... Doesn't look like Bristol to me.
I also rather enjoy Poppy Perezz's lyrics, which mix the sweet, the poetic and the weird with assured awesomeness. My Heart is a personal favourite (you can hear it below) with Poppy's description of the chimney in her heart and skylight in her mind making her sound more like a game of Operation than anything else. There are other more melancholic examples that spring to mind as well such as "Oh I wish I knew why you never joined me when I danced with you" and "I pressed them to my lips like warm autumn leaves but I couldn't breathe". To be honest, the lyrics aren't the first thing that hit you when listening to the band's music, as the interesting, catchy and varied instrumentation takes centre stage initially. However, they show that Poppy Perezz are most definitely worth multiple listens.
Currently gigging mainly in Bristol, although they have played in London, Paris, Bordeaux, Berlin and Mexico City, the band combines alternately cutesy and jazzy vocals with a wide range of instrumentation, from synths to trumpets and plenty of production effects to help the music squelch, bounce and bop it's way into your little heart. And once it's there, it's so catchy it may never leave. And that's no bad thing. Let it nestle joyfully and warm the very cockles of that heart. This metaphor has gone a little awry I feel, but you get the point.
Hello one and all, ready for some more free music? I thought so...
THE KABEEDIES - SANTIAGO
Let's start with wonderful, Norwich and Woodbridge-based indie-popsters The Kabeedies. As the name suggests, this track has a somewhat Hispanic vibe to it while still keeping everything that has always made the Kabeedies awesome - urgent boy-girl vocals, frantic drumming and pure, unadulterated danceability. And it's got trumpets on it and all! Whilst you're over at their Bandcamp page you should also check out the 3-track EP they've put up called 'Bonus Tracks' which is also available as a free download - result!
And next up is Architecture in Helsinki, who in the vein of I'm From Barcelona and Tokyo Police Club, aren't from anywhere near the location in their name but are, in fact, Aussies. From Melbourne to be precise. In Contact High you have an awesome bit of falsetto-laden electro lusciousness, which somehow manages to simultaneously bounce and swagger out of your speakers. All in all, this is a very promising indicator of their forthcoming album Moving Bends, which is out on April 11th in Europe.
THE COLD WAR KIDS - MINE IS YOURS (BLENDED BABIES REMIX)
Finally, we have the charmingly named Blended Babies Remix of the brilliant Cold War Kids track, Mine is Yours. Much in the style of what Metermaids did with Sufjan Stevens' tracks on their EP Nightlife in Chicago, this reworking turns the mellow indie rock track into a sloping hip hop track. Sir Michael Rocks of The Cool Kids is on MC duties and does an excellent job, with a nostalgic, reminiscing flow that just seems to tie in very well with the low key Nathan Fillett vocal of the chorus.
Well, that's your lot for this week, hope you like them!
Hello everyone, as the miserable weather of February looks to give way to the equally miserable, but slightly warmer, weather of March I come to you bearing the gift of melancholic indie pop, in the form of We Show Up On RadaR
A threesome from Nottingham, We Show Up On RadaR produce a rather wonderful, low key type of indie that you could probably find nestled somewhere in the corner of a low budget, British-made Ellen Page film. Songs featuring singing spiders, the use of biological warfare as a metaphor for love and animal sports days (complete with commentary) mark out the bittersweet territory the band patrol with their glockenspiels, keyboards and acoustic guitars. Having supported Bright Eyes earlier this month, WSUOR are working on their album at the moment, with the rather ace I'll Be A Ghost having been made available as a free download on their Bandcamp page. You can get it just below, because I'm nice like that.
Sounding at times like The Boy Least Likely To, after they've listened to a lot of Super Furry Animals and then got somewhat upset about the fact, WSUOR certainly strum at some pretty effective heartstrings. So far they've released Mountain Top and Spider on a Thread as a limited run double A-side single and a 6 track EP entitled A Loaf Of Bread, A Container Of Milk & A Stick Of Butter and do a really quite wonderful line in charming artwork and animated videos as seen in this delightful visual accompaniment for It Should Be You and Me...
So, all in all, WSUOR are making the kind of music to cuddle up to, sweet but tinged with sadness, laden with school music class percussion and charm by the bucketful. And that is why, dear Sir/Madam/other, you should lend them your ears.
Jamie from the XX once again puts his remixer hat on and adds to his dazzling array of reworkings with this mess-around of Adele's most recent single. It's not quite up there with his unbelievable remix of Florence & The Machine - You Got the Love but the minimalist electronica additions to the bluesy, ballsy original make for a rather brilliant listen. Also available at the link above is an entire album of recent remixes collected by Stereogum, including Mogwai re-imagining Yuck's Rubber and Diplo's remix of Sleigh Bells' fantastic Tell 'Em.
Ipswich singer-songwriter Jack Rundell is nice enough to make pretty much everything he wrote from 2005-2009 up on his website to download for free. My favourite of his songs, which tend to channel the spirits of Adam Green, The Holy Modal Rounders and The White Stripes to make a brilliantly quirky anti-folk-punk-rock racket, is Smallest Kid in School. The song is a tale of befriending, and feigning affection for, a weirdo so as to get to drive his awesome car.
Moby is back with his own unique brand of chin-stroking, radio friendly vegan techno music in the form of the Be The One EP, available to download all over the place. Whilst, in these days where we have things such as MGMT and Holy Ghost!, this may seem to be rather less relevant than when Moby was first becoming something of an icon there is still something equally soothing and challenging about Sevastopol as it beeps and boops and soars in equal measures.
Unfortunately The Loves are splitting, having recorded their 4th album ...Love You but, judging by this beguiling tale of heartbreak, it is going to be a rather ace way to end 10 years of music-making. Their infectious, fuzzy 60s inspired pop fuses with sad lyrics on this track to create a bittersweet experience that needs to be repeated over and over. Also check out the suitably cute video above - you'll either throw up or cry into your second-hand cardigan...
The Loves are doing a few more live shows before they split, culminating at the Lexington in London on February 13th with a gig featuring support from Comet Gains, The Lovely Eggs, The School and Pocketbooks. Full details of the dates can be found at www.fortunapop.com
From a homage to 1960s pop music to a homage of 1980s pop music. Holy Ghost caught the ear a couple of years back with Say My Name, possibly the best electro based song not made by MGMT or LCD Soundsytem in recent years. Now, after remixing the likes of Moby, MGMT, Phoenix and Cut Copy, the duo are putting together their debut release on DFA records, scheduled for April. On the basis of Do It Again, it could well be the party album of 2011.
BORDEAUXXX - MOTHER'S RUIN
As promised in Monday's Lend Them Your Ears, here's some glockenspiel! Smiths references, Los Campesinos-esque strings, lyrics ("It was a short-lived, long-term romance") and speak-y bits - there was always going to be a strong chance that I would enjoy this track. It's available to download, along with the rest of the 4-track EP (also entitled Mother's Ruin) from the band's Bandcamp page. If you want to hear Bordeauxxx's twee indie-pop stylings livethey're are playing dates around London and the South East in February and March - www.myspace.com/bordeauxxxmusic for more info.
Good day one and all, here is another Lend Them Your Ears, where I offer up a new act for your listening pleasure - this week, it's incredible purveyors of "highly emotive minimalist guitar pop music" - Low Duo.
As their name (and the above picture) suggests, Low Duo are a duo. In fact, they are a pair of brothers from Sheffield, if we're going to get all precise about it. Listening to their tracks, it is easy to forget that they were formed just 5 months ago - the sparse sound of their songs crackles with a quite remarkable depth of feeling that lures you in, gently but firmly.
Despite being such a young band Low Duo already have a 5 track EP out, available from http://lowduo.bandcamp.com/ for just £1, which is incredible value - what can you even get for a quid these days? One and a half Creme Eggs? 117 Nepalese Rupees? Anything in Poundland? Needless to say, the EP, entitled The EP of Hope and Despair, offers much better value than all of theseand purchasing it could turn out to be one of the wisest things you do with your money all year. To give you a taster, the opening track It Was You and Me is available as a free download below.
All 5 tracks follow a similar template - a single voice over a single guitar or piano, singing songs of, yes, hope and despair which are equal parts romantic and dark ("some people will die, some people will fly to the moon" ). These songs get under your skin and creep up and down your spine, firmly lodging themselves somewhere deep inside you, their simplicity making them incredibly easy to get immersed in. It really is amazing how much Low Duo get out of such simple, stripped back arrangements - they leave you on the edge of your seat, genuinely touched, and there's so little going on musically that you really wonder how they do it. Maybe they're a pair of shamans, who knows. What I do know however is that this is truly brilliant music that you, yes you, should be listening to.
The band are already working on a follow up EP and have a slot supporting Sound of 2011 nominee Anna Calvi in February to look forward to, as well as other live dates over the next 2 months.
You can find more information at www.myspace.com/lowduo and http://www.facebook.com/lowduo
After the mash-ups of Girl Talk, the industrial goth of Silk Flowers and now the minimalist melancholy of Low Duo it feels like something is out of kilter around here but don't worry, I'm sure there will be something with some glockenspiel, ukulele and hand-clapping mentioned on this blog in the not too distant future...
Hello and welcome to what, hopefully, marks the beginning of a regularly scheduled This Does Not Make Me A Journalist in 2011 with 3-4-FREE every Thursday and Lend Them Your Ears every Monday.
Whilst the above link gives you access to the entire Girl Talk album All Day (you are spoilt you know...) it is Triple Double, the 11th track on the record, that I keep playing at the moment - 6 and a half minutes of mash-up madness featuring Phoenix, Ludacris, The Rolling Stones and Willow Smith, amongst others. It is utterly barmy but also great fun, which is an approach TDMMAJ likes very much.
Far from the chipper indie-pop I normally immerse myself in, this gothic, industrial, down in the mouth track from NYC's Silk Flowers caught me completely off-guard, as it turns out I really, really like it. There's a great deal going on in this song as Avarim Cohen's dark vocal is backed by some well-layered downbeat electro shenanigans. The band will be touring the USA and Canada in March.
JON DOTS - THE GREAT DICTATOR
And lastly, a fantastic track from Irish bedroom singer-songwriter-producer Jon Dots, The Great Dictator. Inspired by Charlie Chaplin's film of the same name, and promising to be the first of the artist's songs to be based on films, this is a catchy, twinkling shimmy of an electrio-indie track. Hopefully this guy will have a long career of making equalling interesting and listenable songs for our pleasure...
So there we go - 2 tracks and a whole album for you to enjoy! We'll be back on Monday for Lend Them Your Ears. Have a good weekend!
Here's the first Lend Them Your Ears of 2011 (which will now be going up every Monday evening), it features the absolutely wonderful Lail Arad, who was nice enough to do an interview with This Does Not Make Me this week. Here. We. Go...
Lail Arad is a fantastic London-based singer songwriter, whose wonderful, off-kilter poppy folk songs remind me of a mixture of Regina Spektor, Kimya Dawson, Feist and Lily Allen. She has a whole ton of tricks and ideas up those long, twisted sleeves you see in the picture above and they're all rather good, as demonstrated by her debut album, Someone New, which came out last year. Whether she's looking with wide eyed wonderment at the universe, exploring notions of identity or attempting to save a relationship, Lail does everything with a spark and such wit as to be instantly endearing and likeable.
As well as all this, her brilliant track Everyone Is Moving To Berlin is available as a free download from Soundcloud (see below), y'know, just in case you needed another reason to like her.
And as I say Lail was nice enough to answer some questions for this here blog, so let's see what she had to say...
TDNMMAJ: Firstly, why and how did you get started with making music?
LAIL ARAD: It's quite easy to re-write the past... If I look back now it's clear to me that I always loved singing when I was growing up, and I became quite good at writing (essays, emails..) as I got older... so to put the two together and start writing songs made a lot of sense. In reality it wasn't that thought out, it just sort of happened.
Who and what would you say are your main influences?
Sesame Street was a big deal for me. And Fawlty Towers - I knew every word of every episode by heart. Then Joni Mitchell got thrown into the mix somewhere along the line, and my first boyfriend introduced me to The Moldy Peaches... 'Feelin' Groovy' by Simon & Garfunkle epitomises by early adolescence and I was big into No Doubt for a while there. Good thing I got out alive.
Which musicians/bands are you really into at the moment? Are there any new acts you think we should be looking out for?
A Human and La Shark are doing a co-headline tour and double A-side release together soon. They're two of the hottest bands in London, I'm very excited about it.
But I'm still pretty stuck on The Band and Lou Reed and The Incredible String Band to be honest...
Many of your songs are great fun (your cover of Let's Talk About Sex for Indie Ghetto being a case in point), do you think that this is down to your general outlook on life and music or because of something else?
I suppose it is my general outlook... if we can find some humour or shared experience in all the crazy, scary, sad things that happen maybe we'll come out the other end. I never set out to write funny songs, but if you don't take life too seriously there's often a funny side. Or at least a sunny side.
You're signed to French label Notify Music, how did that happen and what are they like to work with?
It's a new independent label and I feel very lucky to be working with them. I met them and it rolled very organically. The industry is falling apart so fast, which makes it an exciting time for inventing new ways of doing things - and that we're doing!
And what was it like playing a show with Devendra Banhart?
I didn't exactly play a show with Devendra. I went to see his show a few years ago, as a punter, and somehow I ended up on stage singing a song I'd just written called Winter. It was amazing! And he's so cool for taking risks like that!
If you could invite 5 people, living or dead, round for dinner and to hang out with, who would they be?
Well I won't won't this on the living because there's always a slim chance of meeting anyone in an elevator one day, so I'll take this opportunity to invite some corpses..
Janis Joplin, Kurt Kobain, John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix and Mama Cass
And what does the future hold for you? Any plans for festival appearances in 2011?
I'm starting to work with a band for the first time! We'll be playing some London shows and in March I'm on a great touring festival in France in called Les Femmes S'en Melent - they put together amazing line-ups of female artists! Think I'm going to Memphis, Tennessee for a folk festival in between too! My album is getting it's physical release soon.. should be an interesting year!
I'm sure it will be an interesting year for Lail, with her infectious, clever songs deserving everyone's attention and, indeed, your ears.
Lail is opening for Jeffrey Lewis and Peter Stampfel at The Windmill in Brixton on January 18th, which is now sold out. Lail resides in cyberspace at www.myspace.com/lailarad and her debut album, Someone New, is currently available as a digital release through iTunes and Amazon.
So, 2010, remember that? Those giddy days of snow and Chilean miners and the General Election? Well the depressing start to 2011 (I mean, seriously – Dick King-Smith, Pete Postlethwaite, Gerry Rafferty AND Mick Karn already?!) has had me casting a wistful eye back on last year and I, like every man and his dog, have compiled my list of the Top 10 albums of 2010. Here it is…
Honourable Mentions –
Firstly, a few albums that seriously impressed but didn’t quite make it into the Top 10, a polite round of applause please for…
Standard Fare – Noyelle Beat,
Meaursault – All Creatures Will Make Merry,
Everybody Was in the French Resistance… Now – Fixin’ The Charts Vol. 1,
The Divine Comedy – Bang Goes The Knighthood and
Antarctica Takes It! – Constellations.
And now onto the Top 10…
10. Kid Canaveral – Shouting At Wildlife (Straight To Video Records)
“Juicy chewy pop-kids to savour” is the ideal way of summing up Kid Canaveral. Too bad I didn’t come up with it myself. Still, Shouting At Wildlife is a great indie-pop record to jump around to and have a big smile about. It gets off to a corking start with Good Morning, followed by You Only Went Out To Get Drunk Last Night and Left and Right and then… actually if I keep doing that you’ll just end up with the album’s tracklisting. Every song has it’s own personality but the album is still tied together by the way it gives a snapshot of the lifestyle of 20-somethings in 21st Century Britain. More proof that guitar music, if done right, is far from dead.
9. The School – Loveless Unbeliever (Elefant Records)
At Number 9 it’s an album with Phil Spector’s er.. spectre all over it – Loveless Unbeliever by The School. A wonderful throwback to 1960s girl groups, this album is sweet, bouncy and full of handclaps – i.e. right up my alley. Despite the uber dance-ability of the songs there is a melancholic undercurrent throughout a lot of the album that gives the record far more depth than you might get from it on first listen. The tunes and lead singer Liz’s soft, pretty voice gives the whole record an air of innocence that is ultimately incredibly endearing.
Well it took 3 years of patient waiting and the creation of his own record label to release it, but the debut album by Gideon Conn arrived in 2010 and well worth the wait it was too. From the opening seconds, where the groove and the audience are literally introduced to each other, New Bop Sounds makes it clear what it is all about – fun covered fun, coated with fun sauce and chopped fun. The album has a real spring in its step and, whilst later tracks such as I Thought I Knew Love and Inside slow things down a bit, it is the boisterous tracks of the first half such as Eccentric, Yes No Maybe and Mighty Lightning that will really leave their mark on you. Putting the ‘fun’ in ‘indie-dance-funk’ New Bop Sounds is an intricate album of pure class.
A late entry into my Top 10, this album arrived with me mere weeks before the end of 2010 and made an immediate impression, which is why I featured the band in Lend Them Your Ears. That review covers the album in proper depth but suffice to say the conclusion was something along the lines of – this is a brilliant album that does many things and throws them together into an incredibly listenable pot of madness. I want more from this band and I want it now, if not sooner!
(I can't seem to find any embeddable songs or videos from the album but if you go to Wartime Sweethearts' Myspace there are a couple of tracks there)
6. Yeasayer – Odd Blood (Secretly Canadian Records)
Pysch-folk with a distinctly poppy edge Odd Blood is more synthy, toe tapping fun from brilliant Brooklyn 5-piece Yeasayer. Taking in a wide range of lyrical inspirations including Joe Louis, Miami drug lords, Fox news and kissing a woman on a plane, the album at once feels experimental, yet accessible, which is no mean feat. In equal parts touching and rousing, Odd Blood is a real triumph and came from within a hair’s breadth of making it into the Top 5 of this list.
More 1960s girl group throwback now with The Like. More punchy compared to The School’s softer, fuzzier feyness, and both approaches most definitely have their merits. Release Me is broadly a concept album about the aftermath of a break up (First clue is the track 1 being entitled ‘Wishing He Was Dead’…). There is certainly a darker, more vicious streak running through this album than in Loveless Unbeliever that really gets under your skin and compels you to listen. Consistent quality, as well as big catchy singles like He’s Not A Boy, Release Me and Wishing He Was Dead means Release Me demands, and deserves, repeat listens.
4. Bark Bark Disco - Say Hello To Your Mum (Parasol Records)
www.barkbarkdisco.com
The most childishly named album in the top ten and also the cheapest – it is still available free from www.barkbarkdisco.com ! This is fantastic lo-fi indie-pop – catchy and cheeky, bouncy and vibrant and best of all it will put a big fat smile all over your mush. Half-Maltese, half-German, completely awesome Bark Bark Disco and their debut album are utterly wonderful. Amusing lyrics, genuine emotion and charm, there really is nothing to fault about this brilliant debut release from the two-piece.
3. Allo Darlin' - Allo Darlin' (Fortuna Pop Records) www.allodarlin.com
Another female led indie-pop band, I know, I know. But Allo Darlin's eponymous debut album is just so brilliant that it can't be overlooked - yearning vocals, twinkling melodies, heartfelt lyrics and piles of ukulele - the band have got it all so right and created an indie-pop masterpiece. Sweet without being saccharine, emotional without being overly sentimental, it is a quite wonderful balancing act with sparkling moments of humour (most obvious in tracks such as Kiss Your Lips and Woody Allen).
2. Sufjan Stevens - Age of Adz (Asthmatic Kitty Records) www.sufjan.com
Nearly to the top of the list and we find Sufjan Stevens near inevitably up towards the upper end of this chart. Eschewing his more traditional, if epic, indie soundscapes for a much more electronic sound was a bold move and one that Sufjan Stevens has managed to pull off with aplomb. Maintaining the humanity that always lays at the core of his work, however vast and ambitious, he jams it through synths, drum machines and electronic sound effects but in such a way as to retain the essence that has always made his work so appealing. Singles Too Much and I Walked stand out for their immediacy but, as ever with Sufjan Steven's work, Age of Adz is to be taken as a whole, when it becomes even greater than the sum of its parts.
1. Los Campesinos! - Romance is Boring (Wichita Records) www.loscampesinos.com
And so to the number album of 2010, in my humble opinion. I've never made any secret of my utter adoration of Los Campesinos! - they are one of my favourite bands ever and certainly my favourite band around at the moment (Pulp reformation notwithstanding). This is their 3rd or 2nd album (depending on your classification of We are Beautiful, We Are Doomed) and marks a maturation of their sound. What is remarkable about this is that it never means they lose any of the energy, enthusiasm or excitement that have always made them such an amazing band. The Sea Is A Good Place To Think About The Future is particularly epic and jaw-dropping but every single song on this record has something very special about it - whether it's the pure punch of There Are Listed Buildings or the tragi-comedy of Straight in at 101, Romance is Boring shows Los Campesinos! taking a bold step and standing up for what they want to do and how they want to evolve. And it works brilliantly - this is intelligent, human, spirited, endearing indie-pop at its finest and, for that reason, is my personal choice as the best album of 2010.
