What The Concretes did next...

Here’s a tale of former bandmates. In 2004, The Concretes released their self-titled debut long-player, which is an album I return to again and again, and it never fails to charm me three years on. In early 2006 they released their second record In Colour, which was another likeable collection of songs. Then last summer, disaster! Hot off the heels of her vocal contribution to Peter, Bjorn and John’s underground smash Young Folks, lead singer Victoria Bergsman left the band after what seemed to be a fairly acrimonious split. So no more Concretes then?

Ah, no. After a cooling-off period, the remaining band members got together again and decided to keep making music. Then Bergsman announced that she’d be doing a new solo project, going with the name Taken By Trees, rather than her own. So does two sets of former Concretes = double the goodness?

Alas, no. It seems that neither set of artists have benefited hugely from the split. The post-Bergsman Concretes' (with drummer Lisa Millberg taking up vocal duties) latest offering Hey Trouble! is a decent enough effort, but on the whole fairly underwhelming. That’s not to say that there aren’t some choice tracks – Oh Boy and Keep Yours in particular are fine tunes – but overall it’s just not exciting me too much.

And the Taken by Trees debut Open Field is similarly failing to get my pulses racing as much as I hoped it would. In fact my comments for Hey Trouble! could equally apply to Open Field, save for the song names. There’s noting particularly bad here, in fact it’s all quite nice, and Victoria's languid vocals are always a delight. But faint praise is about all I’m offering. However there is one standout track on the album, the new single Lost and Found, which is just wonderful. But look! On closer inspection it turns out to be written by Camera Obscura’s Traceyanne Campbell.

I think that this little fact helps to crystallise my slight disappointment with these two albums. In last year’s Let’s Get Out of This Country, Traceyanne and co. raised the bar for this particular brand of dreamy indie-pop, so that not just these Swedish artists, but so many other similar bands fall short by comparison. It’s not really their fault then, just that some others are doing it that little bit better.

Download: The Concretes – Oh Boy
Download: The Concretes – Keep Yours
Download: Taken By Trees – Lost and Found
Download: Taken By Trees – Julia

Buy Open Field and Hey Trouble!

Marry Me, St Vincent

I thought I had an idea of what to expect from the debut album by St Vincent. Maybe it’s the Sufjan connection. Both Annie Clark (for she is St Vincent) and Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond have served good quality time as part of Stevens’ touring band, and both now have solo projects not under their own names. So maybe I was expecting something of the epic sweep of MBD’s Bring Me the Workhorse. But although there are some similar reference points, Annie (who has also been part of The Polyphonic Spree) is an artist to confound expectations.

Clark doesn’t have Worden’s soaring voice (though she’s no slouch in the vocal stakes either) and the orchestrated intensity of Workhorse is only there in places on Marry Me. But where Annie differs is in the various directions she heads over the course of the album. She’s obviously a woman who’s spent a long time listening to rich sources of influences, which can be clearly heard, resulting in a diverse and wonderful album.

So we have skewed guitar riffs interspersed though tracks like Now Now which will do well to scare off the Corrine Bailey Rae crowd. We have do-wop start to Jesus Saves, I Spend as well as more ace riffing and synth noises which sound like babies’ chatter. Lips Are Red first comes on like a brooding storm, which then smoothes out into something rich and silky as Annie croons “your skin so fair it’s not fair”. Then there’s the simple beauty of title track, which in employing strings and restrained soul horns is exactly the sort of song that Chan Marshall would give her right arm to have written. Elsewhere we have the lush cabaret-pop of Paris is Burning, light jazzy touches to Landmines and What Me Worry (with the latter more than referencing Billie Holliday), folksy harp in Human Racing (which will no doubt see critics lazily reaching for Newsom comparisons) and All My Stars even approaches the Nashville Sound.

Phew, have I mentioned every track on the album there? Maybe not, but you get the picture. It’s a brilliant record and easily one of the strongest debuts of the year. Maybe even good enough for a few smitten fans to want to take Annie up on the proposition in her album title. Me? well I’m spoken for already.

Download: St Vincent – Paris is Burning
Download: St Vincent – What Me Worry

Marry Me is out in early September, but Rough Trade have got some advance copies in already. Go buy.

St Vincent is also onto this blogging thing, though these days it's mostly been video clips. Check out The Love Letters of St Vincent.

Top photo from Three Pink Monkeys' Flickr.

Still travelling at the Speed of Light

Here’s some more Lightspeed Champion for ye. I don’t need to write anything more about him, ‘cos he explains it all in this little film that’s been put together by the folks at Dazed for your watching pleasure. Hear about the connection between Lightspeed and maths! Find out more about his new album Falling off Lavender Bridge! Learn why he doesn’t have a TV! All interspersed with live tracks and the vid for Galaxy of the Lost.

All the remains for me to do is post some more tracks. We have Waiting Game, the b-side of Galaxy and a cover of Green Day’s Scattered, done with Florence, of the Machine fame. I fear that Dev may turn into a Green Day covers act, or maybe even a Weezer covers act. Who knows?

Download: Lightspeed Champion – Waiting Game
Download: Lightspeed Champion & Florence – Scattered (Green Day cover)

The latest Dev news is that he hit a spot of musical fecundity yesterday when he wrote and recorded an album in under 5 hours. Called the I Wrote and Recorded This Album in Less Than Five Hours LP, it comprises a whole 10 tracks. As you might expect from something done as quickly, the recording is pretty rough and most of the songs aren’t that great, but there are at least three decent enough ones, which I’ve bothered to post below. The rest? Well, you can download the whole thing here and hear for yourself. Don’t be surprised if some of it crops up in ‘official’ Lightspeed releases. Mind you, given that Lavender Bridge isn’t due out until Janauary, the next official album could be a long time in coming. By then, who knows how many more LPs Dev will randomly chuck out.

Download: Lightspeed Champion – One Day Record 1
Download: Lightspeed Champion – One Day Record 2
Download: Lightspeed Champion – One Day Record 8

Liverpool artists in retro music shocker

The Coral are one of these bands that I’m pretty familiar with, without having really spent that much time with their music. Maybe it’s because of the ubiquity of the first two albums – their eponymous debut and Magic and Medicine – coming hot on each other’s heels in 2002 and 2003. They seemed to find a way right into the hearts of the British record-buying public, a position that seemed under threat by the subsequent releases of an album of outtakes and a by-all-accounts underwhelming third ‘proper’ album, The Invisible Invasion.

Which is probably why on their fifth long player, The Coral are sticking with what they do best – retro guitar pop. They’re a band so obviously a product of their city, with its history of Merseybeat and other classic rock ‘n’ roll, and the very title of Roots and Echoes gives an indication of what lies inside. 'Roots' could mean their hometown heritage, or even the West Cost twang which is also evident on this record. 'Echoes', well, could be, er, the echoey production, which contributes even further to the retro sound. But it’s all pretty good, solid stuff. There’s something I admire about James Skelly, Nick Power and co, being as they are so seemingly oblivious to music trends. When the rest of the nation’s youth is chasing spiker guitar and synth sounds, they’re happy in their 60s furrow. And that doesn’t mean they’re stuck in a rut either – there’s something of a breeze about this album. A band who’re comfortable with themselves and aren’t looking to change to suit fashion. I hate the use the word ‘maturity’, because it’s so often a pejorative term, but here it’s both appropriate and no bad thing.

Download: The Coral – Jacqueline
Download: The Coral – Put the Sun Back


The other Liverpool artist under scrutiny today is Candie Payne. She hasn’t come from out of nowhere either. Her brother Howie was in the now defunct band The Stands, and other bro Sean still hits skins for The Zutons. I’m not sure if that gives her more of a leg up in the music biz or not, but there you go. In any case, she’s pursued her own line in retro-tinged pop, but slightly differently to her siblings and The Coral. Hers is more of an orchestrated sound. Think Scott Walker, John Barry or maybe even Dusty and you’re getting there. Not that Candie is in the same league though, but it’s her first album, so I’m not going to be too harsh on her.

There’s a clue in the album title too. Calling your album after the lead track suggests that maybe that song's the best thing you’ve got. And in Candie’s case this is definitely right. I Wish I Could Have Loved You More is a brilliant pop tune referencing classic Northern Soul as it sweeps through with its strings, ace piano break, propulsive rhythm and Candie’s voice soaring above. There’s nothing else quite as good as this on the rest of the album, though there are plenty other pleasures to be had, some of them more melancholy ones. In the end, like Roots and Echoes, it’s not an album to change your life, but both are decent albums that should certainly bring a certain little happiness your way, and further confirm Liverpool’s reputation as a home for quality retro pop.

Download: Candie Payne – I Wish I Could Have Loved You More
Download: Candie Payne – By Tomorrow

Candie’s new single One More Chance has been given a remix by homme du jour Mark Ronson. Check out the video here. She’s also about to be introduced to the wider public supporting Ronson on his upcoming tour. Dates on her myspace. The Coral are also touring this autumn. Their myspace too has the gen.

Buy Roots and Echoes and I Wish…

Arthur Russell: Legend

The second good new release out today is a nice liitle four-track EP on Rough Trade featuring four different artists doing covers of Arthur Russell songs. It’s the brainchild of Jens Lekman, who fell in love with Russell’s music, via the Another Thought compilation, whilst wandering round Germany when he was 19. He suggested a covers EP first to his friend Victoria Bergsman, then the ball got rolling and not only her but Electrelane’s Verity Susman and The Hidden Camera’s Joel Gibb were both on board.

Lekman called time there, not wanting to make a full tribute album which are “boring in my opinion and tend to lose focus halfway through” as he says. So we have four Arthur Russell songs by these four artists, and very fine it is too. Susman, under her Vera November alias tackles the obscure World of Echo demo Our Last Night Together as a lovely piano-led number. The lo-fi version of Take 1,2 was the first recording of Bergsman’s post Concretes project Taken by Trees. Jens himself uses the kalimba to replace Russell’s trademark cello on a very faithful rendition of A Little Lost. And Gibb had to be brought over to Sweden so he could finally record his take on That's Us / Wild Combination, but it was definitely worth the air fare.

Download: Jens Lekman – A Little Lost

All of which served to send me back to Another Thought, the same album that first inspired Jens. It’s a truly lovely thing. Arthur Russell is an interesting character. A classically trained cellist, he made his way from Iowa to New York via a San Fransiscan Buddhist colony and Allen Ginsberg in the early 70s. In NYC he became involved in the arts scene and produced disco music under names like Dinosaur (L) and Loose Joints, as well as more stripped down cello-based music under his own name. His prolific music career was sadly cut short when he died from AIDS in 1992, at which time he wasn’t really recognised for the genius he was. But the passage of time has smiled in his favour, and there have been a few posthumous compilations, including Another Thought. However, that tends to focus on his more downbeat recordings, so I’m off in search of Soul Jazz’s 2004 World of Arthur Russell compilation, which I’m reliably informed is excellent, for more AR goodies.

Here are a couple of tracks from Another Thought:

Download: Arthur Russell – A Little Lost
Download: Arthur Russell – Keeping Up

And the mighty Francois Kevorkian remix of Dinosaur L’s Go Bang! (one of the finest disco records ever?)

Download: Dinosaur L – Go Bang! #5

Buy Arthur Russell stuff and the Four Songs EP

MIA coming back with power!

I’ve got a burgeoning ‘intray’ of new albums to bring to ya, so let’s kick off with one that’s out today…

On the opening track on Kala, MIA declares that “MIA is coming back with power”. Unlike so many of R ‘n’ B contemporaries where increasing self-aggrandisement is equally matched by terminal lack of ideas and absence of artistic ability, this is not an idle boast. This is an album that both follows on stylistically from her debut Arular, but still refuses to tread old ground.

It’s a great record and a thrilling ride from start to finish. There’s just so much going on here, as you might expect from an album that was recorded in five different countries. Playground chants, pulsing basslines, Bollywood-style strings, Brazilian beats and hip-hop grooves. And that’s just the start. She co-opts both British grime MCs (Afrikan Boy) and an Aboriginal rap outfit (The Wilcannia Mob) to add to her exciting stew-pot of musical goings-on. It’s not just ‘dance’ music either – on $20 she recites from The Pixies’ Where is My Mind? and Jimmy is supercharged pop, so much that I can imagine it being covered by Girls Aloud. On Paper Planes she reduces the tempo, samples The Clash’s Straight to Hell, adds sounds of cash registers and gunshots and simple melody and ends up with one of the best things she’s ever done. And the stabbing synths on XR2 prove once again, the old rave is better than new rave. At the end of Kala, it’s a real testament to MIA’s talent when the Timbaland guest slot, so often the R ‘n’ B holy grail paydirt, results in Come Around being the weakest track on the album.

So it’s synths without skinny jeans, R ‘n’ B without the empty bling and world music without the worthiness. The cynic may suggest that MIA just checks too many 'multicultural boxes' to be really genuine. But I say nah. In any case, I don’t care. Kala too good to worry about what demographic it’s targeted at. It’s just one of the albums of the year so far.

Download: MIA – XR2
Download: MIA – Paper Planes

Buy Kala

Emmy the Great - live radio session

The second radio session of the day is by none other than Emmy the Great, making it a double Emmy whammy over the past couple of days on The Daily Growl.

She came into the very same Xfm studios to play another live Xfm session for John Kennedy. This time it was all about plugging her new My Bad EP of course, so she played City Song, MIA and The Woods, not this time featuring Lightspeed Champion, but instead ably backed up by mysterious friends who went by the names of The Stars of Sunday League and Young Husband (presumably not this one). I think they’re just the folks from her new band (it’s not Noah and the Whale backing her any more, as I found out on Tuesday night).

Anyway, it was all good stuff, and the songs plus an interview of sorts made for a very pleasing half hour or so of radio. So, download the three songs below and then go and buy the EP (there's also a cheeky extra track for download that's not on the vinyl). You know it’s the right thing to do.

Download: Emmy the Great – City Song (live on Xfm)
Download: Emmy the Great – MIA (live on Xfm)
Download: Emmy the Great – The Woods (live on Xfm)

New Iron & Wine

I’ve got a couple of good radio sessions for y’all today First up is Iron & Wine. Straight after his solo acoustic gig at The Spitz last week, Sam Beam hot-footed it over from the East End to Xfm to play a couple of tracks live in the studio for John Kennedy. He did the new single Boy with a Coin, and another song called Resurrection Fern which was even better. Both of which bode very well for the new album The Shepherd’s Dog, out in the UK on his new label Transgressive on 24 September. Enjoy.

Download: Iron & Wine – Boy with a Coin (live on Xfm)
Download: Iron & Wine – Resurrection Fern (live on Xfm)

Pre-order The Shepherd’s Dog.

Tuesday night, a hug and a pint (and two gigs)

It’s been 10 weeks. 1 June was the last time I was at a gig. That’s what having a baby does to your gig-going habit. But that’s OK – I haven’t exactly been bursting to get out. There are just too much other things to do, and tiredness is also a big factor. However, I have been getting itchy feet lately, so I nipped out on Tuesday night to head down to Rough Trade East for the Trouble Records party featuring Crystal Castles and HEALTH.

It was a shitty night, and I joined the gaggle of scenesters huddled under umbrellas round the door, waiting to get in. The show was obviously in big demand, and RTE were operating a strict one-in-one-out policy. I can see this being an ongoing problem. The shop has already assembled a pretty impressive line-up of gigs, and if you’re going to put on a load of hot bands, you’re going to get a big demand. I’m not exactly advocating a system of security guards and strict ticketing, but they need to sort something out, even if it’s just for the poor staff member who has to stand holding the door and saying ‘sorry’ to people.

Anyway, I got in to catch about 15 minutes of HEALTH doing their sonic noise terrorism thing. It’s even more ferocious live than it is on record. I couldn’t actually see that much apart from the hairy drummer hitting his skins really hard – the band seemed to be abusing instruments and equipment on the floor somewhere. But it was all pretty enjoyable stuff. So much that I’d like to see them doing their noisy groove thing tonight at Barden’s, but once out this week is quite enough.

After that I pondered staying for Crystal Castles, but I couldn’t be bothered. I was alone, the place was full of cooler-than-thou hipsters sporting bright, tight jeans and moustaches, and I got a text from my friends who were at the Macbeth up the road in Hoxton at Emmy the Great’s EP launch gig. So I went there, but not before buying the new Crystal Castles 7 inch – the remix of HEALTH’s Crimewave.

Download: Health – Zoothorns

The Macbeth was much more agreeable affair. The crowd was much more to my liking, it was strange but pleasant to be in a smoke-free pub (my first time in a bar since the start of the smoking ban), I had my first proper pint in 10 weeks, and there was some good music to be heard.

I’ve heard a lot of good things about Eugene McGuiness, and he did a nice little turn in support, knocking out a few songs with his band. I was quite impressed with his jaunty indie-pop and I’ve resolved to check out his debut album The Early Learnings of Eugene McGuinness as soon as I can.

Then, of course, there was Emmy. As I said, it was her EP launch show, which means that she has a new EP out! Yes, at last we have the second ever official release from Ms the Great, which is a genuine cause for rejoicing. I don’t think it’s in the shops till next week, but I got my order from Pure Groove the other day. It’s a nicely lo-fi job – all tracks recorded at home. At times it’s a bit too lo-fi, but I’d rather have that than something nastily over-produced. The EP contains a lovely new recording of Easter Parade, unmixed, straight from tape, new song MIA, a new version of The Woods, featuring Lightspeed Champion (returning the backing vocals compliment following Emmy’s BVs on his own album), and a differently arranged rendition of City Song, which is a bit slower than the other demo version doing the rounds, and not quite as good.

But I’m not complaining. It’s great to have a new slab of Emmy on vinyl. I can’t say too much about her performance at the Macbeth, as I had to leave two songs in. After openers Easter Parade and City Song, which were lovely of course, I had to dash back home just as she struck up City Song. According to my friends, it was a good set, which finished with an acoustic cover of Frank Mills. Shame I had to miss it, but as my friend said when I left “Emmy’s good, but your daughter is even better”. Too right – there’s not even a contest there. Sometimes these little sacrifices aren’t really much of a hardship.

Download: Emmy the Great - The Woods (feat. Lightspeed Champion)

Buy the My Bad EP

Buy the new HEALTH album

Straight outta my inbox

Like most music bloggers, I get a whole load of emails from bands, labels and artists keen to get their stuff featured on blogs. I guess they want to up their Hype Machine count at least, or at best become the next big ‘blog band’, like Beirut or Tapes ‘n’ Tapes. I often don’t bother with these, but I’ve become a little more conscientious of late. I’ve given some recent correspondents a listen and reckon they’re worth posting. See what you think.

First up we have Douglas Hall, a London-based singer songwriter. He describes his music as “a blend of aggressive acoustic folk, soul & blues”, which about sums it up really. Not really that aggressive though, though he does seem to have some passion in what he’s doing. He almost put me off by having Paolo Nutini in his top friends list, but he made up for it by having Jamie Lidell too.

He’s playing a gig tonight at Leonard’s Bar if you’re in London town and looking for something to do. He’s also at the Good Ship in Kilburn on 16 September. More details on his myspace.

Download: Douglas Hall – Man of the Century


Saint Paul, Minnesota band Amasser seem to think that they’re a bit more avant-garde than they actually are. Their myspace description reads indie/ experimental but that’s a bit of an exaggeration. So is their slightly pretentious description of the inspiration behind their new album Legal Wall – they’re trying just too hard to make themselves seem artier than they are. Instead, they trade in melodic indie-electronica, more along the lines of Stars and The Postal Service instead of anything more leftfield. But what’s wrong with that? Sure they have burbling synths and slightly distorted beats, but doesn’t everyone these days? Still, it’s decent enough stuff, and worth a listen. They should just be less afraid to play it straight.

Download: Amasser – Kilo Binge
Download: Amasser – Green Like the Sky


I got an email from Rumraket records, the label run by Danish band Efterklang, telling me about their latest signing, an American bloke from Nashville called Daniel James who goes by the name Canon Blue. Not a great name then, but the music is intriguing, and certainly nothing like his hometown might suggest. On this track Pilguin Pop, he’s got a fine ear for a melancholy melody married to decent electronics, beats and a bit of distortion. He’s one of these guys who records absolutely everything himself, but has roped in some impressive and better-known names to mix the album (Chris Taylor from Grizzly Bear) and master it (Christian Vogel). The album’s called Colonies and is out in September.

Download: Canon Blue – Pilgun Pop


The Whiskers aren’t really what I expected. I almost never bothered to listen to them, as a committed feline-o-phobe, the name was more than off-putting. Even getting beyond that, I was thinking twee indie-pop (you would, wouldn’t you?). But no. Instead, listening to the first track on their self-titled debut and most importantly free download album, I heard vocals that reminded me of The Killers. But thankfully the vocals were over the top of pleasing electronic beats and droning organ sounds instead of rock bombast. They’re an interesting lot, this band who hail from all over America (as per the graphic above - they have no real pics of themselves). The email I received simply said “You’ll dig this”. And I do. There are more oddball beats, wry lyrics and even guitars to be heard across the nine tracks on this album, which brings to mind a lo-fi Animal Collective. I think I can really get into this, and I can’t say any better than one of the comments on their myspace:

“Where did The Whiskers come from, fully formed, making this scary hairy music? You're precocious all over. Like a baby with a moustache. Super.”

Now they just need to sort out their rubbish name.

Download: The Whiskers – Roses
Download: The Whiskers – I Know

New Laura Groves

Here's something very nice that came my way the other day. The new single from lovely northern chanteuse Laura Groves. She's recently been signed to XL imprint Salvia Records, and it's the debut release for both the label and Laura. Of course, I've been on about her a few times before, and even posted the a-side track I am Leaving, but I was also pleased to hear the b-side - a slightly extended version of Bridges, which first appeared on the 50 minutes compilation of one-minute songs last autumn. It's all lovely stuff, and I'm glad to see that Laura's got signed. I await great new things...

Download: Laura Groves - Bridges

Vote for me!

It’s voting time again. Last year I came 17 in the UK Digital Music Awards. This time I’m aiming higher! So get clicking on that right hand button and give me your vote!

Mind you, I’m not really expecting to win. There are better blogs out there and blogs with far more readers (the two don’t necessarily go together), but I would like to get higher up the pecking order. But even more importantly, I want to see proper British music blogs occupying that top 10. Not like last year where the top 5 was taken up by ‘blogs’ by top-selling artists which I cynically see as just another promotional racket (yes, I’m looking at you Mike Skinner and Dave Gilmour) and others that weren’t really music blogs at all.

No, what I want to see this year is something reflecting the list of British blogs on my links over right there. So vote early and vote often. For me and for other good blogs. And let’s see a proper music blogger – i.e. a non-professional, just writing for sheer love of music – on the podium come 2 October.

Download: The Flaming Lips – Race for the Prize

Photo from jamie3529gq’s Flickr photostream.

Singles going steady 9: The mighty Beta Band

Next up on my journey though my CD singles is one of my favourite bands of all time – The Beta Band. Despite their all-too-short existence, they burned bright, and given time will no doubt prove to be one of the more influential bands of recent years. You can see this already in reviews which compare new bands to The Beta Band, in some attempt to covey a sense of leftfield, oddball-ness.

Steve Mason, Richard Greentree, Robin Jones and John MacLean burst onto the music scene back in 1997 with the now legendary Champion Sounds EP, a vinyl only release which soon became a sold-our rarity, fetching high prices in second hand record shops (in these pre-eBay days). Here was something unique in these times – a band with a broad musical palate, which combined indie, folk and a clear love for black music – mainly reggae and hip-hop.

So it was with some anticipation that the next two EPs were released – The Patty Patty Sound EP in March 1998 and Los Amigos Del Beta Bandidos a few months later. These too sold out quickly, and prompted the release of a compilation, naturally called The 3 EPs in September that year. It’s still the greatest collection of Beta Band songs ever.


Their first album proper, The Beta Band, received a bit of a critical cold shoulder when it came out in June 1999. Maybe because after the 3 EPs, expectations were so high. Maybe because the band themselves disowned the album, citing record company pressure not allowing them the time they’d have liked to record it. It’s not a terrible album, but there are better Betas records. One of these is the follow-up, 2001’s Hot Shots II. This was great, and even generated some top 40 ‘hits’ for them. But it wasn’t quite enough. The band seemed to be plagued by financial problems, and never quite made the money that their label was probably expecting them to. Not even John Cusack in High Fidelity could help them sell enough records. It was not long after the release of final album Heroes to Zeroes in 2004 that the band announced they were splitting up. The word was not that there were inter-band problems (though there may have been), but that they just owed the record company too much money. Perhaps a salutary reminder that an idiosyncratic band and major label politics are always uncomfortable bedfellows.

Whereas on record they were sometimes patchy, but often brilliant, it was live where they really excelled. To put it simply, they are one of the best live bands I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen them a good few times (around 10 I think). My first encounter with them was back in May 1998. I still remember it well. A sticky hot night in some venue near Great Portland Street tube called the International Students House. Basically a gym hall in student accommodation taken over by the Beta Band for the evening, and decorated with plants and their big collection of gear on a stage that seemed too small. It was the first time that I had experienced the whole visuals-as-part-of-a-gig thing, with the low-budget home-made videos for each song. But that aside, it was on stage where the real action was. Samples, scratching and mad drumming were all added to the standard guitar-bass-drums mix, and I hadn’t seen anything like it before. I was blown away and it still counts as one of the best gigs I’ve ever been to.

They always put on good shows, even when they were touring The Beta Band, which they made sound much better than it was on record. That tour they even left their greatest live favourite Dry the Rain out the set, but it was thankfully restored by the time the Hot Shots II gigs came around, when they were accompanied by rapper Exodus 77. The last time I saw them was at Summer Sundae in 2004. I thought that this was going to be their last ever gig, but they announced a farewell tour shortly afterwards. They sold out two nights at Shepherd’s Bush Empire, a fitting final testament to the esteem they were held in by music fans. I’m still wondering why I didn’t go. Maybe I felt I achieved closure in Leicester a few months earlier.

Since the split, Steve Mason has continued with his King Biscuit Time project, though he has suffered from mental health problems of late. Richard Greentree has a new band called The General and Duchess Collins, and Robin and John have teamed up with Beta Band founder member Gordon Anderson, aka Lone Pigeon (Anderson left the Beta Band at the very beginning because of health problems), to form The Aliens. I saw The Aliens last summer, and though I like their debut album Astronomy for Dogs (I’m well overdue a post on that one) my main problem with them is that they’re not The Beta Band. Maybe I’m being unrealistic in my expectations, but that’s just how it is. I just love the Betas a bit too much. Probably more than if they had still been around. But that’s how mythology is made, innit?

I’ve no problems giving you downloads for this, because I have everything they’ve ever released. Here are some tracks that I have on CD singles.

Download: The Beta Band – Inner Meet Me
Download: The Beta Band – Needles in My Eyes
Download: The Beta Band – To You Alone
Download: The Beta Band – Won
Download: The Beta Band – Human Being
Download: The Beta Band – Squares (Bloah Mix)
Download: The Beta Band – The House Song

Buy Beta Band stuff – I recommend starting with The 3 EPs, though for a handy catch-all, you could do worse than get the best of comp.

Rejoicing in the prospect of new Devendra Banhart material

OK, so it isn't the hot news anymore, but I am getting very excited about it. I'm talking of course about the new Devendra Banhart album, due out next month. To start the ball rolling, the first couple of tracks are getting aired, with more to come, on Devendra's myspace.

Download: Devendra Banhart - Seahorse

What can I say? Seahorse is an epic 8-minute piece of folk-morphing-into-70s-rock, and is quite magnificent. With that as a starter, I've got high hopes for when Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon drops. It's totally mad. Almost, in fact, as mad as the promo video which has also surfaced. There's some fine beard action going on there! One question though - what is Gael Garcia Bernal doing there? Wonderfully inexplicable.

Discovering Broken Social Scene through Kevin Drew

Somehow, I’ve never really gotten into Broken Social Scene. It’s just one of these things. Not that I think they’re bad or anything, it’s just that I’ve never spent any time with them. You know how it is. There’s just too much music out there. Perhaps perversely, I’m more familiar with their associates, like Metric/Emily Haines, Feist and Stars, than I am with the mothership.

But I’ve had an opportunity to acquaint myself with the Canadian supergroup, in the form of Spirit If… the new solo album by one of the main men, Kevin Drew. I say solo album, though it comes very much with the BSS stamp on it. It’s there on the cover – Broken Social Scene Presents Kevin Drew – and on the record itself, there are a good few of the ‘Scene’s sprawling membership helping Kevin out on various instrument duties.

And I’m pleased to say it’s a good introduction. It’s an album that rewards repeated listens, as that’s really the only way you’re going to appreciate it fully. It’s a dense, meaty affair, with plenty to get the teeth round, and clocking in at an hour, it’s also pretty long – too long maybe to digest properly in one go. There’s a lot to enjoy here – from the up-tempo rockers like the Boss-referencing Lucky Ones and the noisy opener Farewell to the Pressure Kids, to the more stripped down and downbeat likes of Where it Begins and Gang Bang Suicide. There’s nothing to complain about either, but there’s just something holding me back from proclaiming the true greatness of Spirit If… Maybe I need to just spend more time digesting it properly. I mean, it’s a good album, maybe even a very good album. But can you have too much of a good thing? Yeah, I think so.

Download: Kevin Drew – TBTF

Order your copy of Spirit If…

Nancy Elizabeth

I’ve been vaguely aware of Nancy Elizabeth for a while, but never got round to properly listening to her until very recently, when I received a copy of her current single Hey Son. The name rang a bell. Then I realised that I’d first heard of her as Nancy Elizabeth Cunliffe, a singer-songwriter from up north somewhere. It seems that for the release of her new singles and album this year, she’s dropped her surname, on the grounds that it’s too much of a mouthful and no-one outside of Wigan (her home town) can pronounce her name properly (so it’s not pronounced ‘cun-lif’ then?).

Whatever she’s called, then or now, she makes some pretty damn fine music. Her debut was a mini-album called The Wheel Turning King, which came out on Timbreland records last year. It’s six tracks of beautiful stripped down acoustic folk, apparently recorded in an old church in just two late night sessions, which sees Nancy accompanied by Celtic harp, Thai kim, violin and minimal percussion as well as acoustic guitar. Her voice reminds me a bit of Beth Orton, but I reckon her songs are better. Marissa Nadler might be a closer comparison musically.

If this mini-album is good, the new single takes it to another level. Lead track Hey Son is just fantastic, with its dense acoustic build-up through which Nancy’s lovely voice shines through. The b-side Live by the Sea is almost as good – nicely haunting with droning harmonium to set the mood. If this is a taster for her new album Battle and Victory (this time recorded in a stone cottage in Wales), it will be a magnificent thing indeed.

Download: Nancy Elizabeth – Hey Son
Download: Nancy Elizabeth Cunliffe – Place to Shelter

Battle and Victory is out on The Leaf Label in September. Pre-order here.

Good magazine, great festival. Bonus!

I don’t really read much music magazines these days, because I get pretty much all I need from the internet. But yesterday I bought Plan B magazine for the first time. I’ve seen it around, but never actually parted with hard cash for it until now. And I’m happy to say it’s very good. With big features on MIA, Super Furry Animals, Marnie Stern and Dirty Projectors, plus heaps of other decent features and reviews (including one of Strawberry Jam), it’s a winning combination.

The other reason to buy it is the ace covermount CD, done in partnership with the End of the Road Festival. Unsurprisingly it has songs (16 in all) from artists who are going to be appearing at the festival (including Micah P Hinson who has unfortunately since cancelled). Here are a couple of them to whet your appetite, before you buy.


Download: Jens Lekman – Friday Night at the Drive-in Bingo
Download: Malcolm Middleton – Stay Close at Night

The Ghost Frequency

Another week, another band from London playing electro-rock-spiky-punk stuff. Honestly, my eyes glaze over when I hear or hear of another one of these. There are only so many Shoreditch and Camden bars to accommodate this stuff, and I’m not sure if many other people in the outside world are that interested. Anyway, this was my initial response to The Ghost Frequency, but I went as far as to listen to one of their tracks after it was sent to me the other day, and you know what? It’s alright.

I’m not going to praise them too highly, but they do the electro-rock-spiky-punk thing with more spunk and verve than most. And decent tunes too. If you’re going to listen to this kind of thing, you could do a lot worse than check out The Ghost Frequency. They seem to put on a good live show too, if this review by Headphonesex is anything to go by.

This nicely follows on from yesterday’s post on Super Furry Animals – not because of any musical similarities, but just as SFA have long done the whole strange creature thing as part of their artwork (and I’m strangely warming to the new album artwork), so Ghost Frequency have got a thing with comic-book style monsters. Maybe the clue’s in their name.

If you’re in London today, and have time to spare, head down to the new Rough Trade East where they’re playing an instore at 8pm.

Download: The Ghost Frequency – Money on the Fire

The new single Nightmare, is out next Monday. Pre-order from Rough Trade.

Oh, and they have a blog too.

Finally, the video for Nightmare, complete with papier-mâché monsters!

Hey Venus! More Furry fun

I know the new Super Furry Animals album leaked a few weeks ago, but I didn’t rush out and get me a dodgy copy. I don’t do file sharing, and I couldn’t really find it anywhere else. There were some blogs with tracks, but I left off listening till yesterday when I got some tracks sent to me. All three of them were great, so I spent some quality time streaming more of Hey Venus! on the Hype Machine. It’s as good as I’d have hoped for.

In short, Super Furries are one of my favourite bands of all time. They’re possibly my top live band ever, and I’ve seen them more times than I care to remember. They were one of the things that Mrs Growl and I bonded over, way back in the day, and we go to see them pretty much every time they’re in town. Though with the Baby Growl around now, that’s going to take a bit more organising.

All their albums are good. Some of course are better than others, and it remains to be seen where Hey Venus! will sit within the SFA canon of greatness, but so far the signs are good. It seems to be a more stripped down affair than the previous albums, with less emphasis on electronic trickery and more on just the pure, simple great songs that always lie at the Furry heart of things. This back-to-basics approach is going to be also evident on stage this time around – none of the fancy video screens and surround sound of yore. “We’re going through a Willie Nelson tax period” explained Gruff Rhys in an interview in this week’s Sunday Times. But that shouldn’t matter. With Rhys and co, it’s always about the songs.

Here are a couple of them to whet your appetite if you too have failed to grab the many tracks currently resident in cyberspace. But they’re coming to CD and vinyl near you soon anyway. I can’t wait for that, or for End of the Road Festival, or for The Roundhouse in November. Because even if the new album turns out to be less great than their best, it’ll still be streets ahead of so many more British bands. They’re a national treasure.

Download: Super Furry Animals – Into the Night
Download: Super Furry Animals – Run Away

Pre-order Hey Venus!

Architecture in Helsinki

The last album by Architecture in Helsinki was a bit of a hit a couple of years ago. Loads of people (mainly music bloggers, as I remember) extolled the virtues of In Case We Die, but I never really gave it any time. Not that I thought it was poor, I just didn’t bother for some reason. So the release of the Aussie band’s new album Places Like These sees me approaching it like meeting a friend of a friend who comes with a glowing reputation. People have told me he’s a great guy, but I wonder he’s really like.

On the surface of things it’s all looking rosy. There’s a certain controlled chaos about the songs, which is eminently pleasing. There are shouty boy/girl vocals, which makes it sound like the whole band want to get in on the signing duties. There’s fuzzy guitars and squelchy synths. There’s singalong pop songs with big, meaty hooks. They even attempt pop-funk on occasions with a reasonable degree of success. At other times they come across as a more indie B-52s.

When this album works, particularly on tracks like Hold Music, Like it or Not and Debbie, it’s a real up-tempo delight. But at other times there’s just something that despite all the proper ingredients doesn’t seem to be quite working for me. I think it’s the fun factor. Now, this album does initially seem like a lot of fun, but I can’t help but feeling that some if it is trying just a bit too hard to be fun. It’s a bit like these times when you feel there’s too much pressure to have a good time, and as a result it comes away feeling a little forced, and not as free-flowing as it would like to be.

Who knows, maybe I’ll get to see them at the End of the Road Festival, and I’ll have my opinion changed. Maybe live is where it’s at, and the fun factor will make sense. We’ll see. In the meantime, embrace it if you want, just don’t expect fireworks. If Places Like These were a person, I’d sort of like them, but all the time I'd be wondering if they really were my type after all.

Download: Architecture in Helsinki – Heart it Races

Here's a bonus of a Heart it Races remix

Download: Architecture in Helsinki - Heart it Races (Trizzy's Rusty Tin Can Mix)
[via KEXP]

And even better than that, an ace recording of this track by the ever-excellent Vincent Moon.



Pre-order Places Like These (out later this month)

Singles going steady 8: The Bluetones

This installment in my trawl through my old CD singles is a bit more of a blowing-off-dust job than most. Although these singles are generally out of playing action, most of the tracks featured on the blog so far have had a few spins over the years. These ones however, have been untouched for over ten years.

I’m talking about The Bluetones, and it feels kind of funny to be listening to them again. I have three singles from the ‘golden period’ of 1995-96 and I’m not sure if my love for these has as much to do with hazy nostalgia as it does the quality of the tunes. I’m trying to look on them more objectively and think “if these songs were just released today by a new band, would I think they’re any good?” But it’s an impossible task.

For me, these singles mean Glasgow 1995-96, a particularly happy time in my life. Finishing my undergraduate degree and starting my postgrad one. A sunny summer. Good friends. Just general good times. There was also the Bluetones supporting fellow breaking new band Supergrass at King Tut’s. Youthful optimism and the rise of Britpop, which at the time seemed like a very good thing.

And The Bluetones sure surfed that Britpop wave. The first release was Are You Blue or Are You Blind? in the summer of 1995, a short burst of less-than-three-minutes indie-pop finery, and perfectly set out what the Bluetones were about. Oddly though, it didn’t make their debut album Expecting to Fly. What did though was the next single Bluetonic, which continued in a similar vein, and had just the right amount of jangle that I required at the time. Early ’96 saw the release of Slight Return, the one that broke it for them – going into the charts at number 2 and introducing them to a whole bigger audience.

But 1997 saw the wane of Britpop, and early 1998 was probably a bad time for the release of The Bluetones’ second album, Return to the Last Chance Saloon. It was poorly received critically, and didn’t do so well commercially either. That time also saw my arrival in London, along with as a large-scale departure from all things indie and jangly, as I discovered clubbing and the delights of breakbeats, drum ‘n’ bass, techno and hip-hop. So I left the Bluetones behind, never to explore any further. So it’s a bit of a pleasant surprise to me to find out that they’re still going, having released further albums in 2000, 2003 and last year. Not only that, they’re still touring and even playing Shepherd’s Bush Empire in November. Maybe they’re hoping that old former fans like me think this is a reunion and jump at the chance (this is the year for reunions after all), or perhaps the fact that they’ve never really gone away means that there are 2000 hardcore Bluetones fans out there to fill the Empire.

I don’t really know, and to be honest, I’m not that bothered. I mean, good luck to them and all that, but times have changed. I’ve moved on to other things, other music. And most of all, The Bluetones for me have a special but particular place in my musical history. Just that one debut album, and these singles, along with the memories are enough for me. And as much as I can extricate them from the context, these are great songs. Just about as good as jangly indie-pop gets.

Here are the singles:

Download: The Bluetones – Are You Blue or Are You Blind?
Download: The Bluetones – Bluetonic
Download: The Bluetones – Slight Return

Plus a bonus of one of the b-sides, which despite the title is pretty good.

Download: The Bluetones - Colorado Beetle

Buy Bluetones albums.

Here's to your good Health

There are all sort of badly-punning titles that you can get from a band called Health, so you got off lightly there. This is a neat follow-on from my recent posts on No Age and Crystal Castles. Like No Age, Health (or maybe that should read HEALTH) are part of the exciting LA scene that centres around downtown music and arts space The Smell, where they recorded their debut self-titled album, due out on Lovepump United next month.

Before that though, they’re due to hit the public consciousness a bit more due to their split 7 inch releases with hipsters' favourites Crystal Castles – one out on Lovepump United in the US, another out on Trouble Records over here. That can only be a good thing, as the album is a rare treat that needs to be brought to wider attention. It probably isn’t for everyone though.

Health have got the noisy, distorted guitar and electronics thing off very nicely. As well as pounding basslines and echoey drums, there’s also shrill, sharp screeches of guitar and synth noise, screams and controlled messing about, which arrives, makes its presence strongly felt, and ends less than 30 minutes later leaving you a bit breathless. It’s an album that can be as frustrating as it is thrilling, but in a world where music is often so much wallpaper, a bit of a challenge is very welcome. As the sleeve suggests, this is a record to be played at a high volume. Maybe then we can appreciate its quality even more.

Good though the album is, I’m sure that it’s live where Health really come into their element. The good news is that they’re due to hit London very soon, playing at the new Rough Trade East, as well as for Upset! The Rhythm at Barden’s Boudoir. Who knows, I may make it out to one of these. Then we can see how they kick it live. I’m sure it’ll be a blast.

Download: HEALTH – Heaven
Download: HEALTH – Perfect Skin

No pre-order links, 'cos I can't find any. Will add when they become available...

Best of July

Album of the month

Arthur & Yu – In Camera

July hasn’t been an amazing month for new albums, but there has still been some good stuff out there. This is one of these records that I ‘discovered’ all of a sudden without knowing anything about Arthur & Yu. An impulse buy which has turned out to be a bit of a firm favourite already. Read more in my previous album review.

Download: Arthur & Yu – Lion's Mouth


Songs of the Month

Lightspeed Champion – Galaxy of the Lost

A lovely detour into Americana from Dev Hynes, a former member of noisy rock kids Test Icicles, now branching out solo as Lightspeed Champion. The single is just out this week, so I won’t post the song – instead you can grab a live version by clicking on the link above.

The National – Pretty in Pink

I know I’m not supposed to post this (Daytrotter don’t like that), but The National Daytrotter session from earlier in the month was brilliant, and nothing more so than their covers of the Psychedelic Furs classic. And you know what? I think it’s better than the original. But then again, I love The National. [this will only be here for a few days, after that go here for the track and the rest of the session]

Vampire Weekend – Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa

Click the link for my previous post on these so-hot-right-now New York indie kids, as they mix infectious melodies with shrill post-punk riffs and African rhythms. A bit to Paul Simon’s Graceland for some? Maybe, but that’s probably a good thing.

Adrian Crowley – Bless Our Tiny Hearts

One of two beautifully understated seafaring songs released by Irish folkie Adrian Crowley on the ever-excellent Fence Records. Simple, but oh so effective. Again, the link takes you back to my previous review and the mp3.

No Age – Every Artist Needs a Tragedy

I can’t really leave this post without a track from my other album of the month, the debut long player from LA’s No Age. This one nicely captures the things they do best – dense guitar noise and fuzzed-up distorted punk – all in one song.

Johnny Flynn & The Sussex Wit – Eyeless in Holloway

The second single from a long-time Daily Growl favourite – the super-talented young Mr Flynn and his Sussex Wit buddies. Is it good? You bet. Two great tracks, but I’m going with this one, which sees Johnny going even more country than before, which is funny given that the titular Holloway is a none-too-pretty part of north London. Still, who’s complaining when the music’s this good.

Listen to Blog Fresh Radio

Have I mentioned Blog Fresh Radio before? No? That's a bit of an omission, eh? I've got a couple of reasons for bringing it up here, albeit a bit late.

First is that it's a good listen. The format is quite simple. Each week Alex talks to bloggers around the world (well, US and UK mainly) about what music is exciting them at the moment. Then it's broadcast in podcast/ streaming format with the songs and the bloggers talking about them. A good way to pick up on decent new stuff, I think.

Second is that I'm on it. I've been on a couple of times before - here talking about Emmy the Great and here going on about The Young Republic. I'll be on again in a couple of weeks blethering about No Age.

So now you know.

Let me see that fancy footwork!

So, the MSTRKFT remix of Chromeo’s Tenderoni was a bit of a hit when I posted it a couple of weeks back. That was before I managed to get a copy of the new Chromeo album on which the original version of that track resides. It’s no surprise then that Fancy Footwork is as good as I'd hoped. Although the MSTRKFT mix rocks it, the original Tenderoni can more than stand on its own two feet. Though ‘standing’ is probably the wrong word to use in a Chromeo review.

After all, this is a party album. Pure and simple. It’s not really there to be analysed or thought of as having any great meaning. It’s just there to move your feet, as the title suggests. If you have any liking for 80s funk, and that includes classic Prince and Michael Jackson, then this is for you. I was going to accuse it of dangerously straddling the line of cheesy pastiche, and sometimes crossing over, but I get the impression that tongues are firmly planted in the cheeks of Dave 1 and Pee Thug, the men behind Chromeo. This is not a record to be taken that seriously. If seriousness is what they’re after, would they have a cover like that? And even though they are doing their bit for international relations, being a successful Arab/Jewish partnership, I don’t think their minds dwell too long on such noble things. I reckon they just want to party.

And that’s the spirit Fancy Footwork should be taken in. Although over the course of 11 tracks it can be too much of the same thing, and although there’s only so much over-the-top guitar solos and smooth sax I can take, I’m prepared to just enjoy it for what it is. Heck, it’s the summer, and who knows, the weather may get warmer. If that happens, take a layer of clothes off, pour yourself a cocktail and slip Chromeo on your CD player / turntable and you’ll be glad you did.

Download: Chromeo – Fancy Footwork
Download: Chromeo – Outta Sight

Buy Fancy Footwork.