Are you ready for the summer? Are you ready for the good times? Are you ready for the birds and bees? The apple trees? And a whole lot of indie rock? Well you're in luck because that's what we have here with the first mix of Summer Fridays 2012.* I am hoping to do these every Friday, though I'm gainfully employed now (we don't get summer Fridays at my job, unfortunately) and have a lot less time - and energy - than I have the last four years. Which is good! Anyway, we'll see how I do. This kickoff mix [...]
Race Horses have signed to Stolen Recordings and an album will be released later in the year. In the meantime you can head over to the band's Facebook page ( here ) and grab yourself a free download of the track Mates. Enjoy!
Optimistically touted the 'first major festival of the summer', with the Saturday of this year's Camden Crawl quite factually cooler than Christmas the notorious bank holiday blowout gets off to a somewhat slow and strangely tepid start. Three Trapped Tigers bemuse with virtuoso, if exquisitely accomplished aspirational unpleasantness that's ultimately as insipid as an infinity wired into Xfm, whilst Samuel Manville's Hymns breed a reedy unholiness in the grim depths of The Underworld. Its newly snazzed exterior belies its inner filth, just as Manville et al. negate any originality through the assimilation of the [...]
A rather splendid looking vinyl, 'zines and bands line-up awaits those Londoners not sated by Record Store Day's excitement. The CAME Expo and Lexington Record Fair will have live bands, including Race Horses and TOY, playing during its free daytime event including: SATURDAY Evi Vine Race Horses Sauna Youth SUN Dutch Uncles Toy Blacklisters The address is St Michael's Church, Camden Road, St Pancras, London, NW1 9LQ Open 1pm-8pm, Saturday 5th May to Monday 7th May [...]
If December represented a rather frivolous month filled with excess, intrigue and ATP then January, by (excessively, almost unfairly stark) contrast feels all the more enthusiasm-exhausting, ultimately, utterly dismal. How fitting then that come the first of February, the time by which we'll all presumably be waving white socks in surrender to the relentless sombreness of the worst month of the Gregorian calendar, Wild Flag return to cajole us back into a mirthful sense of worth. Are we in need? To paraphrase the self-professed "veterans", Oh Yeah. Ahead of the quartet's debut UK show at a wet-through [...]
Two thousand and eleven has been an odd year for me, and I think for music as well. Between acclimating to a completely different environment and being fully immersed in the music world, I foresaw a serious evolution and transformation of my music tastes prior to compiling my "Best of" lists. After the completion of said lists, it seems that not much has actually changed - not only in the last year, but the last five, when observing which names were included. To be honest, it was quite difficult to decide on 10 full albums I really [...]
Bands In Transit were present at the Huw Stephens-curated SWN Festival in late October to capture the best of the bill in front of the iconic Cardiff Castle. Clock Opera (pictured above) previously toured with Everything Everything (read Luke's review of their support slot in 2010 in Leeds here ) and been associated with Metronomy (download their remix of 'The Bay' on this previous MP3 of the Day post ). In the first video, they play 'Lesson Number [...]
The calm before the storm. Literally. New York is bracing for the biggest hurricane it's ever faced (named after Irene Ryan, Granny Clampett was one tough cookie) and I'm just hoping my 100 year-old building will survive the winds. (It survived the earthquake on Monday... what a week!) Until then, or if you're somewhere not on the East Coast of the United States, please enjoy the collection of mostly jangly pop. This week mostly ping-pongs between now and the mid-'80s (hey, that's new for me!), with a few stops in the '90s as well. Cover art this week [...]
Tune in at NOON ET to channel 35 on your SIRIUS and XM dials to catch today's episode of My Old Kentucky Blog Radio on SIRIUS XMU . The program will also be replayed again at Midnight ET! You can listen online with a free trial here . Check out this week's playlist below! Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Spazz Milagres - Here To Stay Bare Wires - Cheap Perfume [...]
Here's some new music from Welsh dark-wonk-pop wonders Race Horse. It's called 'Benidorm' and it's a beaut.
I was having one of those mornings where absolutely everything sounded dull as hell - until this little gem popped up. 'Benidorm' by Race Horses is a sparkling, unashamedly funky, fucking brilliant song. It starts off a bit like Supertramp's 'Breakfast In America', sounds a bit like Kate Bush in the middle, and then ends up rather like the more interesting regions of Britpop. Throughout, though, it remains hilariously melodramatic, beautifully arranged, and ridiculously tight. Absolutely one of my favourite pop songs of the year, from a band to which [...]
Puns about placing bets on this band aside, Race Horses have made the excellent 'Benidorm' available to download for free – and it's certainly favourite to win. Taken from their debut album, Goodbye Falkenberg , the track doesn't quite sound like what you'd expect the actual Benidorm's residents to listen to, and that's a good thing. With a darkly pop tinge to it in places, 'Benidorm' is a catchy, dramatic slice of a-little-bit-of-everything, dabbling in folk and psychedelia, and excelling in the band's use of synth and keys. Vocals similarly go [...]
La Sera, the new solo project of Katy Goodman, of Vivian Girls fame, graced the stage of Madame Jojo's in Soho, for the weekly White Heat club night that regularly hosts good bands. They had Tennis there a little while back, which, annoyingly, I missed. Entering the place, you descend a flight of stairs into what seems like an oriental boudoir. This decor is so striking that I almost missed Kickball Katy herself at the merch table. I'll admit, I was star-struck at this moment and barely managed to ask how much the tees were. After having [...]
Looking at the lists from the indie cognoscenti this year my eyes tend to get heavy and it becomes hard to stay awake. I'm beginning to see why my grandfather wasn't able to stay awake when he watched the Dukes of Hazzard with me when I was a kid. I'm not quite to that point yet, as I was able to keep myself lucid long enough to compile my top 25 albums of the year. Have at it. 1. Eddy [...]
Whilst we incessantly question quite what it is that makes The Strokes so intrinsically untouchable, and the ceaseless and unfounded nonchalance protruding through The Drums' vacuous vapidity so alluring, few acts chewed up and spat out onto the world by the five boroughs are as instantaneously intriguing as Violens . Seemingly suckling on the 80s, the New York trio's Tim Burton-esque quirk pop showcased on Amoral is infused with the histrionic, towering guitar theatrics of Mew and vocals that recall the Wikipedia thesaurus of singers your parents were reared on, from Bernard Sumner's sarcasm-stained monotone, to Morrissey's enamoured demeanour, [...]
Race Horses plan to bring fine wine, a kite and some BBQ Pringles to Latitude....oh, and a gospel choir and Noel Gallagher
With Stuart Cable popping his clocks a little over 12 hours ago (R.I.P. the only acceptable Stereophonic) and the impending demise of Gruff Rhys' superlative Super Furry Animals, Welsh music's in need of some tender loving care and the sort of rejuvenation offered by a springtime Joe's ice cream sundae . Race Horses effectively are that band, with their luscious swoon harmonies and borderline insanity. Alun talks festival tactics, The Beano and THAT SECOND ALBUM... Dots: God only knows why, but Wales has garnered quite a reputation for the wild and wooly, [...]
Let's face it; there isn't exactly a dearth of great Welsh music about nowadays. Is that because Welsh isn't the most musical of languages? Or is it because most new alternative bands who come from there are eventually crushed by the weight of being tagged the 'next Supper Furries'? Maybe, maybe not, but neither of these are a factor when it comes to Race Horses . While the foursome from Aberystwyth certainly wear their influences on their collective sleeve, there is nothing overtly derivative on their debut LP. Goodbye Falkenburg is an [...]
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