One of my favorite Christmas themes is homecoming. The concentrated call for togetherness, whether wistful or wanton, is tied tightly to the seasonal trend towards family and friends, the desire for closeness around hearth and heart, a ward against the chill and the commercialism. The intimacy that results - just us and the tree, or perhaps the crowd brought into the home - frames a set of a songs that celebrate being home, or express a longing for it, depending on the narrative stance. But in all cases, the motif [...]
On Tuesday night I went to the Allo Darlin' album launch at The Lexington. It was an excellent night all round. Allo Darlin' played to the packed and appreciative room that they deserve and Standard Fare continue to get better each time I see them. Nothing I say though is going to sum up the night in as lovely a way as this . The third band on the bill were The Middle Ones , who I wasn't familiar with. I tend to be pretty sceptical of opening bands. Mostly you just get someone local thrown [...]
On Tuesday night I went to the Allo Darlin' album launch at The Lexington. It was an excellent night all round. Allo Darlin' played to the packed and appreciative room that they deserve and Standard Fare continue to get better each time I see them. Nothing I say though is going to sum up the night in as lovely a way as this . The third band on the bill were The Middle Ones , who I wasn't familiar with. I tend to be pretty sceptical of opening bands. Mostly you just get someone local thrown [...]
Click here to view the embedded video. Video: Indietracks 2009 in 7 Minutes by LastNightFromGlasgow The Indietracks lineup seems to be pretty much complete now (though a few more bands are still to come) with Everybody Was In The French Resistance... Now and Slow Club both being added to the bill. Perhaps more excitingly though, the day by day breakdowns have now been announced, giving us a festival that looks something like this: Friday [...]
![The Middle Ones: Young Explorer [mp3]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/2120071_lg.jpg)
Lovely and light acoustic guitar with matching dual harmony vocals would be an adequate description for, say, a band like Kings of Convenience. Along the same folk-pop lines is The Middle Ones , though the similarities between the two bands are few. The Middle Ones, instead, creates in "Young Explorer" a sound that is so lo-fi and entirely acoustic that it finds a home somewhere between K and Bicycle Records. Definitely Olympia-based, a throwback to the acoustic-twee era with an injection of pop and, no surprise, total greatness. [...]
New Favorite Band alert! I know I tend to throw the word "adorable" around this joint a lot, but really, look at this photo - what else could I say? But the Middle Ones are more than just adorable - they've got the depth and bite that run throughout all of my favorite at-first-glance-gentle British pop. Their debut 103 can be purchased through Rough Trade or by emailing their label . They're also selling a four-song CD through their MySpace , but judging by the price (three pounds [...]
I woke up this morning groggier than usual. I'm pretty much always groggy on a Monday, but this is usually the result of drinking too much on Sunday night (fun fact: I like to drink!). In today's case, though, the overindulgence was not on alcohol, but on sleep itself. After a busy weekend in which I barely slept, my main priority on Sunday night (after three beers and a shot of whiskey) was to get as much uninterrupted sleep as possible. About 11 hours of shut-eye definitely did the job. Though it felt good to get so much [...]
anfang des jahres hatten wir über sie berichtet , da stand "bourgeois beat" noch aus, nun ist das album draußen und svc hat sich neben fridabear records stark gemacht, bravo!: the skydrops - swimming with fishes (2009) the skydrops - truth is (2009) the skydrops - hang on (2007) indiecater records hat das wahr gemacht, was andere online (download only) labels wohl auch [...]
Anna and Grace, from Norwich and Manchester respectively, make colourful, twee pop-folk. Their music suggests images of best mates on rainy afternoon expeditions through the quiet corners of a ramshackle antique-thrift store. Drops pitches a beautiful, criss-crossing vocal duet, sparkling with poppy tenderness, against simple guitar, slightly out of tune, and enthusiastic egg-shaking. Listening to the singing, there's no dout they were smiling throughout the recording of the song, and fair play, they have reason to. This recoding is lofi, but it's hard to imagine it presented any other way. Hard not [...]
*My First Earthquake-Fa-La-Freezing ( mp3 ) ( web ) *The Raveonettes-Come On Santa ( mp3 ) ( web ) *Tiac-It's Christmas But Not For You ( mp3 ) ( web ) *Eux Autres-Merry Christmas Everybody ( mp3 ) ( web ) *The Middle Ones-Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) ( mp3 ) ( web ) *Allo, Darlin'-Baby, It's Cold Outside ( mp3 ) ( web ) *Hissing at Swans-Christmas Wrapping ( mp3 ) ( web ) *Twiggy Frostbite-Lanterns ( mp3 ) ( web ) *The Left Outsides-Gower Wassail ( mp3 ) ( web )
I don't often go to gigs where I'm not very familiar with the headliner's material. I'd heard a handful of tracks from Jeffrey Lewis but beyond some enthusiastic reviews and recommendations from friends, I really wasn't sure what to expect so it was with a sense of curiosity that I ventured to the Norwich Arts Centre (One of the best venues in the United Kingdom, ladies and gentlemen). Of the two supports, I'm struggling to remember anything from Tiger MCs set; enjoyable enough but nothing at all to lift above any [...]
Next up in our whistlestop chatathon with the faces of Indietracks 2008, are Anna and Grace, frequently known as The Middle Ones . This girl duo have been spending their days in Norwich gathering up enthusiastic friends, strange instruments, dance trios and themed costumes, all in the name of super-harmonised folky-pop. If you're very quick, you may even be in time to join the vote on their Myspace to help decide their future costume choices! Anna writes the songs, [...]
Cover Lay Down
Another Form of Relief
Fensepost
Hello Vegetables
The Opening Acts
das klienicum
Lofi Hifi
Planeta Pop
The Mark Out
Indietracks festival
Jack White – Love Interruption (MP3, Video)
Usher - Climax (Produced by Diplo)
Ed Sheeran & Yelawolf - The Slumdon Bridge EP
Weekly Download 2/15/12 (Fanfarlo, Jean Caffine and more)
