We Share Our Crystal Castles’ Health

As a natural follow-on from yesterday’s post on No Age, here we have Health, fellow LA scenesters and hangers-out at The Smell. I don’t know so much about their music because they’ve not got an album out yet – that comes out on Lovepump United on 18 September. Until then, we’ve got the split 7 inch with so-hot-they’re-liquid Toronto duo Crystal Castles, which is getting people excited all over the blogs at the moment. Thing is though, there are actually two of these sevens.

The above-mentioned one, which seems to be the US release, features Health’s Crimewave (pleasingly rhythmic piece of lo-fi noise) b/w Crystal Castles’ Mother's Knows Best (decent glitchy shouty electro-pop). The other is one due to hit shops over here next month on the London label Trouble which features a remix of Crimewave by Crystal Castles that completely transforms the track into a blissed-out electro groove. Rough Trade has got it up for pre-order already, probably because it’ll sell out in a flash.

It’ll apparently be available on nice red vinyl when Crystal Castles play their instore at the new Rough Trade East sometime next month. Maybe the association with the over-exposed Canadians will mean that more people will take notice of Health too. They’ve over here themselves in August, and UTR are putting them on at Barden’s. Should be good.

Anyway, here are the tunes:

Download: Health – Crimewave
Download: Health – Bitter Pills
Download: Crystal Castles – Mother Knows Best
Download: Crystal Castles vs. Health – Crimewave

Pre-order the 7 inch from Rough Trade.

Bitter Pills and the Crimewave reworking taken from the BiBaBDi blog, which also has a nice feature on Health.

No Age. Yeah!

No Age is another band who crept up on me unawares. I think the first time I heard about them was on the Upset! The Rhythm website, who put on a few gigs by the LA band in London recently. Then a heap of their records seemed to land in Rough Trade all at once a few weeks ago. So I endeavoured to check them out.

No Age consist of two guys – the excellently named Dean Spunt and Randy Randall – who formed the band last year after finishing their previous outfit Wives. They’re involved in DIY underground art and music venue The Smell, in downtown LA, which also features on the cover of their new album Wierdo Rippers (below). It’s the sort of venue that seems like it might make Barden’s Boudoir look like The Ritz. But in my book, that’s a good thing. I’d go there if I ever went to LA.

That’s because I like what No Age have got going on. Wierdo Rippers – which is a compilation of various limited vinyl releases that came out earlier this year – is not quite what I was expecting. I guess I thought it might be full of frenetic lo-fi punk rock, but although there is some of that, there seems to be more to No Age that thrashing one chord and flailing hair. Sure, lo-fi is what it is. There’s plenty scuzzy guitar licks and distortion, but they also do fuzzy atmospherics and it always seems like there’s a pop song waiting to break through, somewhere behind the noise. And it usually does. It’s a decent album, and a perfect introduction to Dean and Randy’s thing.

Given the low-grade production (which is fine with me, actually), I get the impression that the best No Age experience is live. I’ve heard good things, not least from Fiona at The Wirewool who reported on them tearing up Dublin recently. All of which just makes me wish that I could have seen them on their recent shows in London. Oh well, there’ll be another time I’m sure.

Download: No Age – Every Artist Needs a Tragedy
Download: No Age – Everybody's Down

Buy Wierdo Rippers. Or if you’ve got more money or love for the band, a selection of the vinyl EPs.

No Age @ Barden's photo from clxmxncx's Flickr.

Rough Trade is dead, Long live Rough Trade!

After all the articles about the ‘death of the single’ (that seems so long ago now) and more recently about the ‘death of the album’, it looks like we’re seeing the start of features on the death of the record shop. This one in The Guardian, was precipitated by the sad demise of the Fopp chain, and to a lesser extent the recent announcement by HMV of a 73% drop in profits.

It really is a shame for Fopp – where will I go to get my classic albums for a fiver now? – but it’s obviously too late to go writing off the good old record shop. Fopp’s untimely end isn’t so much to do with lack of punters in the shops (the London branches were always pretty busy), but unwise business decisions in expanding too quickly too soon. That, and maybe straying a bit too far from its original market position as a decent alternative to HMV and Virgin and the like, where you could get less mainstream music for cheaper prices. The past few years they’ve been as much concerned with DVDs and books as they were with music.


But anyway, as the Guardian article suggests, the independents still seem to be in rude health. Or nicely ticking over at least. Which brings me to Rough Trade. I was pretty unhappy to hear a couple of months ago about the closure of their Covent Garden shop. This was one of London’s greatest hidden music treasures, tucked away down a spiral staircase at the back of a skateboard shop in Neal’s Yard. Now I’ve always thought that this part of Covent Garden was a little hippy enclave, untouched by the rampant commercialism that has torn through the rest of the area, threatening to turn what was a genuinely interesting part of central London in to something that might easily be Reading. But not so. It may be that the same-old-shops syndrome is coming even there. The reason Rough Trade is moving out of their basement den after 20 years is that rents have got silly. It’s obviously no longer feasible to run a specialist indie store when your landlords have pound signs for eyes and imagine a branch of Next or something like that there instead.


So big shame. No longer will I be able to take that familiar detour on the way home from work to listen to records and buy interesting new music. But all is not lost! Even before the news of the closure of Covent Garden, Rough Trade had announced the opening of a new, far bigger store in the Truman Brewery off Brick Lane. It was considered a brave move then, and in the current climate, even more so. Elsewhere on the Guardian website, this blog wondered if the likes of Rough Trade are the brave new hope for physical record shopping.

However, as I pointed out in my comment on the same article, you can never really compare the likes of Rough Trade with Fopp and other chains. The specialist stores have dedicated customer bases that will always make a special effort to get there, and will buy stuff that the people who work in the mainstream shops have never heard of, far less stock. They may not be big on bargains, but that’s not why we go there. We go for interesting, new and exciting music, sold to us by passionate staff. And that’s why I think (and hope) that the new Rough Trade East will be a roaring success.


One of the things I’m looking forward to is more space for instore gigs. There have been so many great ones in Covent Garden, and no doubt the opening of the new shop will see more. They’ve already booked Crystal Castles. Can’t wait to hear more news…

So what to post? Well, naturally the Covent Garden shop is having a closing down sale, and I loaded up on 50p 7 inches yesterday. But I’ve not got round to listening to these yet, far less ripping them, so I’ll go with songs from a couple of neat little 7 inches that came out in 2003 on the Shop’s own in-house label For Us Records. Of course, aficionados will know that although they confusingly share the same logo, Rough Trade the record label and Rough Trade the shop have been totally separate entities since 1982. But the Shop used to have its own label where they put out a stream of limited sevens.

This is where I first came across King Creosote, on a fantastic little double A side that he shares with fellow Fence collective artist Pip Dylan (aka his brother). The Track Lavender Moon (written by Pip) also cropped up on KCs first album Kenny & Beth’s Musikal Boat Rides. More obscurely, I have a double A side from defunct Liverpool duo The Hokum Clones. Despite causing a minor stir back in 2003, this single was the only release to come under their own name (the others were all on compilations). I saw them opening for The Polyphonic Spree that year. I liked their bluesy-skiffle sound, which although it was indebted to the music of the Deep South, had that jaunty Souse vibe as well. Despite that, it would probably been better suited to a small club than the vast expanses of a mostly-empty Brixton Academy.

Anyway, that’s way enough waffle. Here are the tunes. The pictures are a tribute to one of the world’s greatest music shops. Rough Trade Covent Garden is dead! Long live Rough Trade East!

Download: King Creosote & Pip Dylan – Lavender Moon
Download: King Creosote & Pip Dylan – Love Your Present

Download: The Hokum Clones – Breakin’ From a Jailhouse Blues
Download: The Hokum Clones – You Ain’t Foolin’ Me

Quiet Village

It’s funny how music can creep up on you totally unawares, and before you know it, very quickly become a bit of an obsession. The other day I was having a chat with my record collecting colleague about Map of Africa and their super limited and in-demand self-titled album. I had a listen, but didn’t care that much for their sludgy psychedelic rock groove thing. I guess a lot of the clamour around them at the moment has to do with the whole exclusivity of the vinyl copies of the album.

But then, whilst surfing around the Guardian’s music blogs, I came across this article by Alan McGee (no less) about just how cool the NYC label Whatever We Want Records is. Of course, Map of Africa is on that label. But so too is another artist called Quiet Village. Then I remembered there’s a remix by said artist on the lovely double 12 inch remix set of James Yorkston’s Woozy With Cider, sitting back in my house.

One thing led to another and I found myself repeatedly listening to a load of Quiet Village tunes, and really liking what I heard. They seem to have a couple of different things going on. The tracks under their own name have a sort of loose, toned down disco vibe. Their remixes are more dense, dubby and sparse. But both are very good.

I’ve also been searching for info on Quiet Village. There’s not really much out there, but I can discern two main facts:

1. Quiet Village is essentially Matt ‘Radioslave’ Edwards and Joel Martin.

2. They also have the same exclusive vinyl reputation as their labelmates. A quick internet search for their records, turns up lots of ‘out of stock’ notes. So that’s high crate-diggers’ prices on ebay then? Thankfully, they’ve made a couple of tracks available for download on their myspace, which I’ve posted below.

Quiet Village’s own tunes

Download: Quiet Village – Circus of Horror
Download: Quiet Village – Too High to Move

Quiet Village remixes

Download: Gorillaz – Kids With Guns (Quiet Village Remix)
Download: James Yorkston – Woozy With Cider (Quiet Village Remix)
Download: Black Devil with Quiet Village – I Regret the Flower Power (Fragments of Fear)

You can download more remixes at Bleep.com. If anyone has access to more mp3s of the rare-as-hen's-teeth Quiet Village tracks, I'd love to know.

PS. Sorry for the low quality bitrate on the Quiet Village tracks and the Gorillaz remix - that's MurdochSpace for you. The other two are fine.

Belated half-year review

It’s now well into the second week of July, so really way too late for me to do a half year review. But heck, I’m going to do one anyway. I’ve been meaning to for a while. But to keep it relatively short, I’m restricting it to albums and gigs. I’ll leave the other stuff and the ‘in-depth analysis’ till the end of the year. Here goes:

Albums of the year so far

There have been a load of great albums, but not really any that have totally blown me away. Nevertheless, the selection below are pretty damn fine, and are there because they’ve been the ones that I’ve played most, have excited me most, or just meant most to me so far this year.

1. LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver
[download: Us V Them]

2. Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
[download: No Cars Go]

3. Elvis Perkins – Ash Wednesday
[download: Emile’s Vietnam in the Sky]

4. Low – Drums and Guns
[download: Breaker]

5. The National – Boxer
[download: Slow Show]

6. Deerhoof – Friend Opportunity
[download: +81]

7. Electrelane – No Shouts, No Calls
[download: To The East]

8. Basia Bulat – Oh, My Darling
[download: I Was a Daughter]

9. Alasdair Roberts – The Amber Gatherers
[download: Waxwing]

10. Battles – Mirrored
[download: ddiamondd]


Gigs of the year so far

Unlike the album list above, this list is not so likely to change by the year’s end. The arrival of The Baby Growl has put a bit of a halt on my gig-going. Good job I got a load in before she arrived. Links go back to the original reviews.

1. Joanna Newsom @ The Barbican (Jan)

2. Arcade Fire/ Electrelane @ Brixton Academy (March)

3. Electrelane/ The Early Years @ The Scala (May)

4. A Hawk and A Hacksaw and the Hun Hangar Ensemble @ Bush Hall (May)

5. James Yorkston & The Athletes / Martin Carthy @ The Union Chapel (May)

6. Emmy the Great / Laura Groves / Noah and the Whale @ Hoxton Bar & Kitchen (Jan)

7. Black Lips / The Sticks @ Cargo (May)

8. Elvis Perkins in Dearland @ The Luminaire and Shepherd’s Bush Empire (May)

9. Basia Bulat @ The Fly (June)

10. Los Campesionos / Sky Larkin @ The Spitz (March)


That’ll do for now.

Singles going steady 7: The past is just a Blur

Next up in my painstaking CD single trawl, I come across a couple by Blur. First up, from the tail end of the last decade was No Distance Left to Run, off their 13 album. Funny that 13 wasn’t universally liked for some reason. Maybe people yearned after their cheeky boy knees-up-mockney days. But that’s just daft; The Great Escape was always the worst thing they ever did. My favourite Blur ‘period’ is definitely the Blur-13 late 90s time. These are their best albums, and surprisingly the ’99 Reading Festival is the only time I’ve even seen them live. Not sure why that is, but it just helps to enshrine that era of Blur in my memory.

From that single, I’ve posted the Cornelius remix of Tender, where he adds some amusing skittery beats over what is perhaps a too-earnest song. The result is probably better than the original. The other b-side To You, is a pleasingly lo-fi effort.

The autumn of the next year saw Blur’s next single release, which unusually wasn’t on an album. Well, it was on their greatest hits compilation, but that doesn’t really count. It’s probably the best single the band have ever put out, and is about as far from Britpop that they’ve travelled.

Music is My Radar has more skittery beats and interesting rhythms, fuzzed up guitars, Albarn’s odd singing and lyrics about Tony Allen getting him dancing. Black Book is even better, stretching out to over 8 minutes, with the band getting themselves locked into a groove that recalls both funk and Krautrock, with a gospel ending and Damon working himself into an almost silly falsetto. It might even be the best thing Blur have done.

Whatever, it shows why, despite differences in sales and crowds, Blur will always be in a different league to their Britpop rivals Oasis. While the Gallaghers continually plough the same old dreary pub-rock furrow, Albarn and co. were always willing to try something new. Who knows, maybe the rumours about them back together for a new album this year will prove to be true, and result in something good.

Download: Blur – Tender (Cornelius Remix)
Download: Blur – To You
Download: Blur – Music is My Radar
Download: Blur – Black Book

Belated best of May and June

Yeah, I know I’m wayyy behind with stuff on this blog, but I’m playing catch-up on a heap of stuff, and now on 5th July, it’s time to cast an overdue glance back (as I normally do) over the past month. Except this time it’s the past two months. My review of May didn’t happen for obvious reasons. Now the problem is that May seems too far away, and June passed in a bit of a blur, without much contact with the outside world. So forgive me for a less than coherent post. Still, I’ll try anyway.

Album of the month(s):

Boxer by The National. Yeah! This was probably going to be May’s choice, though that month was pretty crowded with possibilities. On the other hand, it might have been Battles, but this is definitely the album I’ve got most enjoyment out of. There’s a warmth and general memorableness to it, which makes it feel like an old friend already.

Download: The National – Gospel


Songs of the month(s)

Los Campesinos! – You! Me! Dancing!

I’ve posted this one before, but since then Los Campesinos! have signed to Witchita, re-recorded it and released in on delicious bright red vinyl. It still sounds great. Last night in my continued attempts to bond with my baby, I danced round the lounge to this with her in my arms. She fell asleep.

Emmy the Great – Easter Parade

I’ve acquired a load of new Emmy songs over the past couple of months and they’re all pretty fantastic, but this is the one that keeps popping into my head at all times of the day and night (yes, I’m up during the night).

Rufus Wainwright – Going to a Town

Mrs Growl has had the latest Rufus Wainwright album on steady rotation since it came out in mid-May. And despite my love for all things stripped down and low-fi, I’m actually really loving Rufus’ over-the top orchestrations. A little frilliness every now and then is no bad thing. I totally love this song. Simple as that.

The Young Republic – Girl from the Northern States

Sneaking in at the end of June is this brilliant slice of Americana-tinged indie-pop from a band who are on the way to becoming one of my favourites of the year. I’m not going to post the song – you should really go and buy it, but if you want to hear it, click back to my previous post for a live version.

The White Stripes – Icky Thump

A monstrously good return from Jack and Meg, which although it’s fresh and exciting, already seems familiar, like an old Stripes classic.

Bonde Do Role – Office Boy

OK, I know there’s been silly hype and all that, but it’s a infectious little thing, and another nice little 7 inch slab of vinyl. This time sky blue. This is also another baby dancing record. She stayed awake though this one though. I think she liked it.

The big catch-up 4: Electric Soft Parade

Truck Festival is 10 this year. What started off as a tiny festival has stayed fairly true to its DIY roots, despite becoming hugely popular (to the extent where it joins Glastonbury as being one of the very few festivals that sell out before the line-up is announced). What’s perhaps less well-known is that Truck also operate a record label, called naturally enough, Truck Records.

Which brings me nicely to The Electric Soft Parade. I’m glad Truck have signed them up for their latest album, because many others may not have. ESP are a classic example of what happens when a band becomes unfashionable. Not ‘becomes crap’ mind, because they clearly haven’t. Just unfashionable. Cast your mind back a few years, to just before the Brighton band had to add ‘Electric’ to their name (after being threatened by a Doors tribute band!) and just afterwards. Their stock was higher then. Their 2002 album Holes in the Wall was well received and even nominated for the Mercury Music Prize. So naturally they were snapped up by a major label for their second album The American Adventure. Now they’re back on an indie, and have recently released their third full-length effort No Need to be Downhearted (is that a self-motivating-against-the-odds statement?) to a complete lack of hype or media attention.

Maybe it’s because they don’t trade in spiky guitars, electro bleeps or earnest stadium indie. No, it’s all fairly straightforward, honest, melodic indie rock, and I don’t mean for that to damn them by faint praise. Sure, they do use synths on this album, but there’s nothing arch about them. Nothing to get scenesters’ vision turned away from Camden or East London. I’m not going to wax lyrical about the record because I know it’s not going to be in my top albums of the year. But I do really quite like it, albeit in a kinda low-key way. It's not about stand-out tracks or killer tunes - it's more of a overall feel, a cohesive whole. It accompanied my on my iPod on the way home tonight, and its warm, fuzzy riffs, pleasing melodies, sweet harmonies and echoes of other favourite bands like Teenage Fanclub made the journey so much more satisfactory. Sometimes that’s the sort of thing that I need from my music, and in this case, Electric Soft Parade are just the ticket.

Download: Electric Soft Parade – If That's The Case, Then I Don't Know
Download: Electric Soft Parade – Come Back Inside

Buy No Need to be Downhearted.

The big catch-up 3: Soft Hearted Scientists

On paper this might have been the perfect album for me. Seemed like psychedelic indie pop of a sunny disposition. The press release promised “an alarming flood of melody”. So why am I not totally sold on it?

It all starts so well too. Atmospheric intro, then gently picked guitar leading into a deep male vocal drone chanting "sunnnnnnn". But then it’s spoiled by someone singing “Drive the little white car up the A470…” All the romance disappears in the face of a song about a road! Then there’s the bit that gets a loyal urbanite like me “waterfalls and animals and glittering sky, there is nothing in the city which is half as pretty”. Sorry folks, it just doesn’t wash.

This is somewhat representative of how I feel about his album, the second from Welsh band Soft Hearted Scientists. Don’t get me wrong – there is a lot here to enjoy. There’s often the right amount of indie jangle, harmonies, swirly keyboards, echoey vocals and psychedelic colourings, but if often feels like there’s something holding it back. Is it the lyrics, which sometimes grate a little? Is it because it just seems a bit lightweight? I’m not really sure, but there is something preventing it having that special zing which lifts the whimsical tunes from something nice to something great. See what you think with these samples though. More tunes on their myspace as well.

Download: Soft Hearted Scientists – I Wanted You
Download: Soft Hearted Scientists – Meet Me in the Milky Way

Take Time To Wonder In A Whirling World. isn't out in pysical formats yet, but you can download it from iTunes.

A pleasant surprise: new M. Craft songs

Here’s something I discovered earlier today. New songs from M. Craft! Some random surfing led me to his official myspace, which in turn led me to his own myspace which he has set up to upload new songs and demos he’s been working on. Well, good to see he’s been busy since the release of last year’s fine Silver and Fire album. Two of the songs there are downloadable and are posted below. Diamond Mine happily continues in a similar vein to Silver and Fire, whereas Thriftstore Cowboy seems to be Martin’s attempt at Spaghetti Western soundtracking, which is actually better than it might sound. The other two songs, Little Rider and Girls on Bicycles seem to go off in a more melancholic direction. But it’s all good stuff. Looking forward to the next album already. The only thing that’s missing on both his myspace sites is live dates!

Download: M. Craft – Diamond Mine (demo)
Download: M. Craft – Thriftstore Cowboy (demo)

Not got Silver and Fire? Might be a good idea to get it.

The big catch-up 2: Beats, bleeps and remixes

Today it’s the turn of dancier side of the stuff that’s been sitting around my house and computer for the past month or so. Here are my picks.

First up, a couple of remixes. Kate Nash’s single Foundations has been a real grower for me, moving from indifference when I first heard it to totally loving it now. Looks like it’s her big breakthrough too – number bloody 2 in the charts this week! This is a fine reworking of that tune from the Metronomy boys. The other is a remix from the even-hotter-right-now talents of Crystal Castles making over Liars’ It Fit When I Was a Kid. Didn’t think you could dance to Liars? You can now.


Download: Kate Nash – Foundations (Metronomy Remix)
Download: Liars – It Fit When I Was a Kid (Crystal Castles Remix)


I’ve not really been that impressed by Messages, the new album from To My Boy. I’ve tried you know, and I can sort of appreciate the certain dash in singer Jack Snape’s voice – even when he tries on the John Lydon PiL affectations – but good vocals aren’t going to rescue an album that seems a bit short on decent tunes. Still, it’s not without its merits, and there are a few likeable tracks. Here are two of them. I’ve heard they’re pretty good live to, so maybe that’s where it’s at.

Download: To My Boy – I am X-Ray
Download: To My Boy – Oh, Metal

Better than this is the new single from German outfit MIT, who are making their English language debut with Good Book on Half Machine Records. This is a song that wears its influences well. I don’t know if this band are big fans of LCD Soundsystem or not, but they sure sound like it. But no matter – it’s as good as this sort of stuff gets – plenty of energy and zing with a shoutalong chorus and propulsive bassline. Some might say that it’s a perfect time to release this song, others may suggest maybe not because it might get lost amongst the trendier names (hello Simian Mobile Disco, Digitalism). That would be a shame, because together with its agreeable short and messy b-side Auf An Aus, it’s a tasty little 7 inch for you to get your mitts on.

Download: MIT – Good Book

Buy Messages and Good Book from Rough Trade.

The Mules and special guests goodness!

If I wasn't spending a lot of time looking after a little baby at the moment, I'd be going to these. Probably all of 'em.


Honestly, look at that line-up! If The Daily Growl was a series of gigs, this would be it, I think. Or near enough. And they're all FREE! If you're in London tonight in particular, and looking for something to do - get ye to The Big Chill House!

Who knows, maybe I'll make it out the house before this run is over.

In the meantime, have the title track from The Mules' recent Save Your Face album. It's good, but they're even better live.

Download: The Mules - Save Your Face

Buy Save Your Face.

The Young Republic @ Rough Trade, 28 June 2007

Look! I got to go to a gig! OK, it might have only been an instore performance, but as I’m not quite ready to leave the house in the evening yet – my baby’s need for being looked after being greater than my need for live music – it’ll do for now.

I’m particularly pleased that I managed to make it out to see The Young Republic too. I knew they were coming over for a short tour of England (well, Glastonbury, London and Brighton anyway) and there were three London shows that I couldn’t make. But the Rough Trade appearance was ideal – just sneak out of work a little early and hey! Live indie-pop on the way home.

The gig was also significant for another reason – it was the last ever instore in Rough Trade’s legendary Covent Garden shop which has seen many performances by now-famous bands in its time. Unfortunately it has to close due to increasing rents, which threatens to turn even this most hippy corner of Covent Garden into something resembling Reading. But more on that particular issue later…


The Young Republic are only five of their normal number on this visit. Three of them still have commitments at their college (Berklee Music College) in Boston, where they’re all finishing up this summer. They were supplemented by a friend taking up sticks for their usual drummer Matt Smith. They breezed their way, unamplified, through a selection of their finely-crafted songs, punctuated by frontman Julian Saporiti stopping to chat with the assembled fans about the downs and ups of Glastonbury and why American mini golf is much better than British crazy golf. The songs included the three they had played the night before when the band were on John Kennedy’s Xfm Xposure show. Check these out below.

So all in, a pretty good way to spend half an hour on the way home from work. To add to the pleasure, I bought a copy of their excellent new single Girl from the Northern States, got to chat some of the band (nice folks) and meet Ro from End of the Road Records and Simon, one of the organisers of what’s turning out to be easily the best festival of the year. So all good stuff, which should keep me going till next time I can make it out to a gig. At least I’ll be at the End of the Road Festival, and see The Young Republic again there. Full band next time, and by then their compilation album 12 Tales from a Winter City should be out. Can’t wait!

Download: The Young Republic – Girl from the Northern Sates (live on Xfm)
Download: The Young Republic – Girl in a Tree (live on Xfm)
Download: The Young Republic – Paper Ships (live on Xfm)

Buy Girl from the Northern States from Rough Trade.

Since I’ve recently changed my file host, I’ve re-uploaded the WOXY radio session songs from my previous YR post.

A few more photos from the show on my Flickr.

The big catch-up 1: The Voices

First up in my catch-up is The Voices, hailing from Port Talbot in South Wales, whose new album The Sound of Young America was amongst a bunch of stuff I got from the fine Welsh label My Kung Fu. I’d never heard of them before, and this is actually their second album. Mind you, it’s certainly not lack of quality material that’s keeping them from the glare of national publicity.

It really is a very good album, even if it is one that wears its influences clearly on its sleeve for all to see (or hear?). This is a record very much in debt to early 90s shoegaze bands and their ilk. The sound of young America it certainly ain’t. So we have blissed-out ethereal loveliness conjuring up the spirits of Slowdive on You Shared a Smile I Thought Was True… That’s song’s follow-on companion …You Broke a Heart I Gave to You is pure Spiritualized and the next track Don’t Let Go is even more so. Like other Daily Growl faves The Early Years, they also have a bit of a Krautrock thing going on too – most evident in the album’s title track and on I See Dark Times Ahead, the b-side of their upcoming single.

So far, so derivative it seems. Well, it is, but that’s not damning with faint praise. Honestly, this album is as good as thing shoegaze-Krautrock thing gets. And that is pretty damn good. I think I might even like this album more than The Early Years' self-titled debut, which I raved about quite a bit last year. If you like your wall of noise warm, melodic and shimmering, with a slight dash of femininity, this album is for you.

I wonder if they’re as good live as I hope they would be. Unfortunately chances to see them if you live outside of Cardiff are looking slim at the moment. Maybe soon…

Download: The Voices – Love
Download: The Voices - …You Broke a Heart I Gave to You
Download: The Voices – I See Dark Times Ahead

Buy The Sound of Young America.

A surfeit of pink

Bear with me. One last baby-related post, before I get back onto proper bands and reviews and things. I sort of need to get all the pink out of my system.

You see, you get a lot of pink when you have a baby girl. And not all of it is desired either. Not that Mrs Growl and I are opposed to pink per se – not even baby pink. But the surfeit of pink that has enveloped our house in the last few weeks is something else.

My parents came from Scotland a week or so ago, bearing many gifts which nicely managed to excise the nonsensical stereotype of tight Scots. We got stuff from folk who we don’t know, and are only acquaintances of my parents. Most of the pressies are pink, and there are only so many pink dresses you can take, really. I mean, we're grateful for folks' generosity, and some of the stuff is fine, but others are so evidently bought by people a generation or two older than us. What does one do with all these pink dresses? We’re not sure we want to inflict these on The Baby Growl. She may grow up to hate us for trussing her up in these synthetic, old-fashioned frills. Or maybe not. Maybe she’ll become one of these super-pink girls. I could tolerate that, only as long as she likes good music.

Speaking of which, here are some tenuous pink-related tracks. Not all of them are relevant or even appropriate for a baby theme, but they all share the word 'pink' and they’re all good.

Download: Blonde Redhead – Pink Love
Download: I Was a Cub Scout – Pink Squares
Download: The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (Part 1)
Download: Nick Drake – Pink Moon
Download: Pulp – Pink Glove
Download: Johnny Flynn & The Sussex Wit – Tickle Me Pink
Download: Nathan Fake – The Sky Was Pink
Download: Pink Mountaintops – Cold Criminals

OK, back to normal now…

I'm back! Let the catch-up commence!

I’m back at work today after three and a half weeks off for Baby Growl-related duties. Suddenly life got a whole lot easier. No matter what gets thrown at me over the next few days, it’ll be a dawdle compared to looking after a tiny baby.

The other good thing about being back here, with my view over The London Eye, is regular posting! So hopefully can I catch up with posts on loads of music I’ve been sent, bought or acquired over the last month and a bit. I’ve been out of the loop for a while too, so bear with me on any rustiness. June has gone past in a bit of a blur.

Before that though, I’ve got one more baby-related post to get out of the way…

Singles going steady 6: I heart Bjork

The next one up in my trawl through my decaying collection of CD singles is a timely one, following as it does Bjork’s stunning performance at Glastonbury last week. I’ve been caning her albums at home ever since, and Volta hasn’t even popped through my letterbox yet. This single is another CD that Mrs Growl brought to our marriage, but I’m very glad of it. It’s the 1997 single Bachelorette, off the Homogenic album, and features a couple of very handsome b-sides.

My Snare is another Mark Bell production, and it could easily be something she’s brought out this year. Scary is one for all those who lazily compared Joanna Newsom to Bjork (in the voice department at least), what with its harpsichord and all that. And last is a remix of Bachelorette from Howie ‘remember him?’ B, which wisely leaves the original fairly intact.

Download: Bjork – My Snare
Download: Bjork – Scary
Download: Bjork – Bachelorette (Howie “Spread” Remix)

I can’t leave this post without including the awesomeness that is Declare Independence from aforementioned Glastonbury show. I’ve always hated these festival flag-wavers, but somehow here it makes sense.

Glastonbury-by-TV: Saturday and Sunday

So, it seems that Friday was the best day at Glastonbury. On TV at least. Saturday and Sunday certainly gave slimmer pickings of quality – I mean, at one point last night there was a choice on BBCi between watching Mika, The Kaiser Chiefs and The Rakes. Come on BBC – surely there’s better stuff to show than that!


To be fair, I didn’t watch that much on Saturday. That evening Mrs Growl and I managed to get out the house purely for pleasure for the first time since the arrival of The Baby Growl almost three weeks ago. Never has dinner at a friend’s house seemed so revolutionary! When I got back, a set by Bat For Lashes was the perfect antidote to the boring bombast of The Killers on the other channel. I’ve never given Natasha Khan and co much of a listen, but the short set I saw more than whetted my appetite for their unique brand of spooky pop. Headlining the Other Stage, Iggy and the Stooges put on a pretty damn impressive show for blokes who could almost be drawing their pensions. The stage invasion was amusing too.


On Sunday, it was good to see the Go! Team again, but shame that we didn’t get to see much in the way of new material, since like many others I’m keen to hear what the new album has to offer. Amp Fiddler put on a pretty fine retro Blaxploitation-style show, complete with 70 jackets and backing singers with huge hair (who managed to totally outclass ‘special guest’ Corrine Bailey Rae). And the Chemical Brothers put on a stunning display of visuals and beats which made me wonder if it really was 2007 and not 1997. I mean that in the best possible way of course – the big beat survivors showing why they still matter today. It made me wonder why, a few DJ sets aside, I’ve never seen them properly live.


So all in, not a bad event on TV. I’m even more glad I wasn’t there now, when I hear the horror stories of people trying to get back home through the crowds and the mud. Thanks then BBC for all your coverage. I’ll even forgive you for not having any cameras at the smaller stages – I know that resources are limited. This is the kind of thing that makes me happy to pay the licence fee.

Last word from me is more of a snigger as I remember the looks on the faces of Lauren Laverne and Phill Jupitus as they were told that we were going to get shown yet another song by Paolo Nutini on Saturday. My own groans were perfectly reflected. Maybe the presenters’ gig is not always the rosy one that it seems...

Download: Bat for Lashes – The Wizard
Download: The Go! Team – Ladyflash (Simian Mobile Disco Mix)
Download: Amp Fiddler – Ridin’ (Carl Craig Version)
Download: The Chemical Brothers – Loops of Fury

If you want a report on Glastonbury from someone who was actually there, no doubt headphonesex will have something to say soon...

Pictures, as before, via the BBC Glastonbury website.

Mud and bands? Nah, not for me

It’s Glastonbury this weekend. Or Glaston-berry as the Americans call it. I’m not there. But even if I didn’t have a new small baby, I still wouldn’t be there. In past years I clamoured to go, and was bitterly disappointed when I failed to get tickets. But for the past few years I haven’t bothered.

It’s not the mud either, it’s just the sheer scale of it. Maybe it’s because I’m getting old, but somehow the prospect of standing in a field with 80,000 people watching a band a mile away doesn’t really appeal. Sure, I know there’s more to Glastonbury than the main stages, but I really can’t be bothered. These days I’m much happier to be found at the small festivals, where you might even bump into people more than once, and the headline bands are ones that would probably be relegated to some mid-afternoon slot at a major festival. Festivals like End of the Road, which now that it has confirmed the appearance of Danielson, is officially the best festival of the year!


Anyway, back to Somerset. I’m of the opinion now that the best place to experience Glastonbury is on TV. And with the BBC’s blanket coverage this weekend it’s not hard to catch something good. Two years ago, I enjoyed the White Stripes blistering headline set much more on TV than I did a few months later at the dreadful North London aircraft hangar that is Alexandra Palace. On TV you got the full-on glory of the performance. At Ally Pally we strained to see the tiny figures of Jack and Meg in the distance and lost any possible enjoyment. Goodness knows what it would have been like at Glastonbury where we’d probably have been straining to see the band on the big screens, let alone the stage. And with the space between the performers and the crowd bigger than most venues that I consider it acceptable to see bands, I really am much happier on my sofa with the vicarious experience.


Thanks to BBC4 and various other digital options presented by the Beeb, I managed to avoid nonsense like Kasabian and the Fratellis, and the mystifying amount of coverage given to super-average bands like Mumm-Ra and Tokyo Police Club, and settle down to enjoy extended footage of Rufus Wainwright, Arcade Fire, Bjork and possibly my favourite ever live band, Super Furry Animals. All of them were on top form. Rufus nattily making a stripey suit with a stripey shirt look good, Arcade Fire playing a similar set to the ones I’ve seen them play already this year – but including an immense version of My Body is a Cage which I haven’t seen; Bjork being as brilliantly batty as expected, with fantastic outfits, a dancing, face-painted brass section-cum-choir and spiders webs and lasers; and the Super Furries playing songs off their new album Venus, which sound like a fine return to form after the minor work that was Love Kraft. Everything was good – from the new facial hair through to Gruff’s helmet for Slow Life, via the three guitar clash at the end of Receptacle for the Respectable and the ‘Big Star version’ of Northern Lites.

You can watch SFA and Bjork on the BBC’s Glastonbury site (where these photos are from). Hopefully someone will have ripped the individual songs for YouTube-ing before too long.

Looking forward to more TV goodness later.

Download: Super Furry Animals – Northern Lites
Download: Arcade Fire – My Body is a Cage
Download: Rufus Wainwright – Between My Legs
Download: Bjork – All is Full of Love

Basia Bulat @ The Fly, 1 June 2007

This gig was only three weeks ago, but it seems like a lifetime away now. There’s a hell of a lot happened to me since then. But even though it’s late, I though it was worth writing a bit about it because firstly it was my last gig as a childless (man and probably my last gig for a while), and secondly because it was just really good.

Like her album release, Basia Bulat’s appearance in London over this weekend was a bit low-key. On the week her record came out, I found it hard to track down a copy of the excellent Oh, My Darling in major record stores (of course I found it in the ever-reliable Rough Trade). And for her first visit to London, Basia didn’t seem to be seeking the limelight in headline slots. Oh no. For her it was a place quite far down the bill at Adem’s Homefires Festival, and two days before, a gig as ostensible support act in this night put on by the nice people at A Badge of Friendship.

So after a set of agreeable and unusually jolly post rock from Future Corpses, Basia took to the tiny stage downstairs at The Fly with her band. “I’m from the other London” she told us. That’s London, Ontario to you, and despite the promise of inherited indie-cool just for coming from Canada these days, this lot don’t need it. They’re too good for that. Basia fronts the band (which also includes her brother Bobby on drums) with her autoharp and guitar, singing songs from the aforementioned album, which as I’ve told you previously is quite a lovely thing. And live, the songs are every bit as lovely, enhanced by Basia’s sweet, smiley charm.

She obviously had fun, we enjoyed watching her. In the end the set was all too short, but there was enough to make me hope for a quick return to this London for Bulat and her band, next time in a more prominent way. That’s the least she deserves. And hopefully by then, I’ll be able to make it out.

Download: Basia Bulat – Before I Knew

Buy Oh, My Darling

The Baby's number 1

Forgive me another baby-related post. It is my all-consuming preoccupation at the moment, so I’m sure you’ll understand. Anyway, amongst the many congratulatory emails we received after announcing the birth of The Baby Growl, one was from a friend who suggested that like her, we bought a copy of the number one single of the week in which she was born. If that sounds a bit sad, try being a new parent. We’ll be holding on to her hospital ankle tags as mementos, and we even got a bit annoyed when her cord clip disappeared.

But I digress. I thought this No. 1 single thing was a neat idea, so when out shopping for some essential infant products last Sunday, I popped into HMV to do some blind purchasing. After all, I don’t exactly pay much attention to the nation’s top 40 these days. It turned out that the number one single was Umbrella by Rihanna, featuring Jay-Z. It had also been pointed out to me that the indie number one was Heavyweight Champion of the World by Reverend and the Makers (also in the real top 20). How appropriate too, since at 3.83kg, The Baby Growl certainly wasn’t a lightweight at birth.

So I got my purchases home, and readied myself to listen to how the nation’s tastes had marked my baby’s birth week. The Rihanna single bore some promise. After all, a lot of these big R ‘n’ B artists have at least one blisteringly good song, even if the rest of their material is gash. Could be interesting? But in reality it’s awful. Really, really terrible. Jay-Z turns up at the start for a perfunctory rap, then collects his bag of money and disappears off before the rest of the track turns into a sort of R ‘n’ B power ballad, with none of the spark, exciting production or even just good tunes that allow some of her peers (like Amerie) to make occasionally brilliant tunes. And the remixes are even worse – seemingly conjured up just in time for the Reebok Classics brigade to board their planes to Ibeefa.


So what hope then for the indie number one? Not so sure, especially in these times when vacuous Big Brother contestants declare unironically that a new type of music called indie is taking over. The word just doesn’t mean much any more. And sure enough, the single is another stinker. The only good thing to say about it is that here’s a Sheffield band that isn’t another Arctic Monkeys identikit. Sure, singer Jon McClure’s lyrical flow sounds a bit like Alex Turner, but it’s not his fault he’s from the same city as his more famous peer. It’s sort of electro-pop-rock, but of the JD Sports variety. The sort of electro-pop that the aforementioned Reebok Classics brigade would find acceptable, in the absence of the Happy Mondays. Hold on, they’re back too, aren’t they? Groan.

So despite a having a memorable birth date (05/06/07), The Baby Growl didn’t have a good musical week to mark her introduction into the world. But maybe it doesn’t matter. I fully intend to bring her up well, instructing her in the true musical way (and yes, Matthew Song, By Toad, that does mean no boybands and emo – hopefully), and by the time she’s old enough to understand, I’ll probably have to explain what singles were anyway.

For what they’re worth, here are the smelly singles:

Download: Rihanna – Umbrella
Download: Reverend and the Makers – Heavyweight Champion of the World

No click to buy links here. I strongly advise you not to.

Quick and easy: Black Cab Sessions

Not much time for proper blogging at the moment, but I've got an excuse for that. Instead enjoy a couple of film clips of two of The Daily Growl's favorite artists playing songs in the back of London black cabs. These 'black cab sessions' are the work of the people at Hidden Fruit. Nice start folks - who next? Londoners can also try to work out where the cabs are driving.

Emmy the Great



Johnny Flynn



And this wouldn't be an mp3 blog without a couple of tracks:

Download: Johnny Flynn & The Sussex Wit - Cold Bread
Download: Emmy the Great - Two Steps Forward (a live band version of the song she's playing in the cab)

Thanks to Simon Sweeping the Nation for the heads up on the Youtube clips.

You might also be interested in my previous Johnny Flynn post with live radio tracks, now re-uploaded.

The Baby Growl is here

Apologies for my lack of posts recently, and for lack of posts in the near future too. There’s a good reason for this though. On Tuesday morning at 7:06am we were introduced to The Baby Growl for the first time, when she was forcibly evicted from the dark warm place she has called home for the last nine months. She even has a proper name now – Isobel Eve*. But she’s still The Baby Growl as well.

It’s been an intense and amazing experience so far, but also one marked by very little sleep. So catching up on rest and just generally getting used to being a parent is taking priority over blogging at the mo. Normal service should be resumed sometime in the not-too-distant future.

In the meantime, here are some songs. The first is hardly one of Stevie’s finer moments, but its icky sentimentalism is quite appropriate for me at the moment. The next track from folky oddball Devandra Banhart describes exactly what she is. Well, half of what she is anyway. And finally, a song that I’d completely forgotten about until a friend reminded us of it in a congratulatory text the other day. It is her name after all.

Download: Stevie Wonder – Isn’t She Lovely?

Download: Devendra Banhart – Chinese Children

Download: Bjork – Isobel

*In case anyone asks, she isn't named after Isobel Campbell. We just like the name.

Singles going steady 5: my Radio 2 tendencies

For the fifth instalment in my trawl through my old CD singles collection, I’m going a bit mainstream. Certainly a lot less cool. You don’t get many tracks on music blogs by these artists, and maybe there’s good reason for that. But that doesn’t mean that they’re entirely without merit and I’m not going to gloss over the less glamorous regions of my music stash. These are a mix of the good, the alright and the frankly bizarre.

First up we have Athlete. Although they’re now much-derided purveyors of epic stadium indie rock, a la Coldplay and Snow Patrol, it wasn’t always so. Back at the very start of 2002, a single appeared which was a bit of a hit on John Kennedy’s Xposure radio show, by a young band from Deptford (south east London). And it was pretty good, with its crackly lo-fi start, explosion into sparkly indie-pop and wry lyrics about wanting to be part of the rock scene (which brings me back to notions of ‘cool’ again). It boded well for things to come, and I eagerly bought a copy of the EP that the song was on. But alas, the early promise didn’t really lead anywhere and it’s the only thing by the band I own. A shame really, but at least we have this.

Download: Athlete – Westside

Next we go even more pop. In common with most machine-tooled chart pop acts, All Saints have got some great songs, but there’s never any point buying their albums. This is one of these songs, from back in 2000, just before the band fizzled out in mutual acrimony, egos and ill-advised solo projects. They actually returned, reformed and (apparently) reconciled last year, and had a hit. But by the time the next single and album came round, no-one was really bothered. My point exactly.

Download: All Saints – Black Coffee

Now it’s Tori Amos. This one comes to me courtesy of Mrs Growl (who’s a Tori fan) and our marital pooling of music collections. Now I do have time for Tori Amos, particularly when she’s on more of an oddball streak, which happily is more often than not, and no more so than on the b-side of her 1996 single Caught a Lite Sneeze, where she covers two songs by Cockney knees-up merchants Chas & Dave. Honestly. Here’s one of them. It defies further description.

Download: Tori Amos – London Girls


Finally, we have another Mrs Growl CD. It’s Aztec Camera’s single Birds from 1993. I’m a big fan of this band, but latter-period 'Camera, including this song, is far from their finest hour. It’s not very good, but thankfully, the b-sides hark back to better days. Maybe WEA didn’t have much confidence in the quality of Roddy Frame’s output at the time, because it’s surely an odd choice to go back almost 10 years for a b-side. But it was worth including the title track from the 1984 album Knife, just to make this release more bearable. Aztec Camera was always pretty much just Roddy Frame, and thankfully after discarding the band name after 1995 in favour of recording under his own name, a much better run of form was discovered. Most notably the brilliant acoustic album Surf from 2002 – easily as good as anything from Aztec Camera’s glory days.

Download: Aztec Camera – Knife

* for overseas readers, BBC Radio 2 is the most popular radio station in the UK. Its programming is generally, popular middle-of the road music. It’s lazy categorising I know, but I needed a title to cover all these tracks, and I’m fairly sure all these artists would fit comfortably on the R2 playlist today.