Happy New Year everyone. I got a bit bored of lists by the end of 2009 - which is one of the reasons why my list is a bit late - but this year I'm going to do mine a bit diff erently. I have very crudely erased the artists and album titles from my 15 favourite albums o f the year and it is your job to work out what they are. The first person who gets them all right will win something, a priz e of some sorts that [...]
Slow Club released one of funfunfun's favourite albums of 2009, Yeah So (my list will be up before the new year). I spoke to Rebecca from the band ages ago for the second issue of the funfunfun zine and seeing as how I never got round to publishing it, here's the interview in all its glory: Depending on when I finished this zine, your album Yeah So will either be just about to come out or will already have been released. Are you happy with [...]
Sky Larkin released one of funfunfun's favourite albums of 2009, The Golden Spike (To find out how much I liked it, check back next week for my end of year list). They also released a cassette ep back in May, headed by, and entitled after, my fav track off the album, Antibodies , and which contained personal b-sides created by each member of the band. Singer/guitarist Katie took some precious time out of the band's hectic schedule to answer some questions posed to her by funfunfun. Her responses were meant to feature in funfunfun zine #2 but it [...]
Fang Island are back. Back with tunes that are as riffing and rocking as ever . Daisy sounds confident and triumphant. It's Thin-Lizzy guitar lines, chanted lyrics and bold key strokes combined to make a soaring and thrilling three minutes and nineteen seconds. Life Coach is a more stacatto affair with pounding chords and thudding drumsticks but the band get all Arcade Fire on us halfway through with group chanting and a climax of epic proportions. My socks were thoroughly rocked. These tracks are off the band's debut full length Fang Island [...]
I wrote about White Collar Weapons a while back , before my "disappearance" and I describe their sound as "halfway between Vampire Weekend and Arctic Monkeys." While you can still hear these slight influences in their sound, when I saw them at Betsy Trotwood a week ago, they had got a bit softer. Not in a bad way. More in a subtle harmonies, acoustic-y, lovely way. They've teamed up with another band called Summer Holiday to make a super collection of musicians, like that idiot on that mobile phone advert but much much better, [...]
The last year has been interesting for British music. There has been so many great albums that past under the radar of the public and were seemingly ignored by the media whereas there has been tons of bland, boring and uninspiring releases that have been lauded, praised, hyped and bought by the public, who I sometimes think don't like music at all. I've been asked by the BBC, as have many music blogs/sites, who I would nominate for this year's Mercury Music Prize . Now, I never really agree with the winner, or [...]
I've been trying to stay out of the mayhem that has been the media reaction to Michael Jackson 's death but it seems like I can't. Too much hyperbole and exaggeration has meant the man's legacy has been slightly distorted. In the next few minutes, on pretty much every TV channel, MJ's memorial will be screened live. Even in death, he couldn't escaped the cameras. I've only seen two pieces of journalism that I feel do Michael's legacy proud. Firstly there's Smash Hits . The once, fortnightly pop magazine has resurrected itself for a MJ special and its [...]
I think it was sometime during Foals' set that it dawned on me. I was just about to see Blur . I mean Blur, the band that started my whole obsession with music, the band that create Parklife, the soundtrack to my life aged 10, the band that I've wanted to see live since then. They were going to take to the stage in matter of minutes. I was excited to say the least. This was the first of two nights at a full capacity Hyde Park and after hours of sitting/standing in [...]
More b-sides for you lovely people. This time round the secondary songs are taken from singles off Blur 's eponymous album, Blur (obviously). All Your Life and A Spell For Money were the b-sides to Beetlebum and they really show off the direction that the band took on Blur. All Your Life begins like a Pavement track with its scuzzy, off-kilter guitar that doesn't sound quite right but totally is. Saying that, the chorus is classic Blur with Damon's lyric all cheeky and bursting with charm. The odd synth notes [...]
Continuing on from Monday's Blur track, I thought I'd posts some b-sides for your listening enjoyment. I'll start off with some from The Great Escape era. One Born Every Minute comes from the Country House single and while Blur won the 'Battle of Britpop' with Country House over Roll With It , I'm not sure this b-side can compete with Oasis' Rocking Chair . While the melody and chorus are both pretty darn catchy, it just seems like a bit of a joke with all the stupid, [...]
Great news folks! Brummie noisemakers Johnny Foreigner have released three new, well almost new, tunes today in anticipation for their forthcoming album Grace And The Bigger Picture , which is out in October. Everyone should have heard the lightning speed Feels Like Summer already and alot of you will have Camp Kelly Cam p, mainly because I posted it on funfunfun about a month ago, But Wow, Just Wow is brand new to me. It sounds like many other Johnny Foreigner tracks. Lots of yelping vocals,driving rhythms and guitar strings pulverised and [...]
If you want some scuzzy, lo-fi, noisy goodness you don't have to search across the pond, that's wasting energy. Some of the scuzziest, lo-fiest and noisiest noise is coming straight out of Nottingham in the form of Lovvers . I posted about them back in 2007 and since then they've been tearing venues up all over the places in support of last year's Think EP, which got great reviews. Their next offering is OCD Go Go Go Girls , their second full length due out on August 10th and from it is AXTXTXIXTXUXDXE . It's garagey and [...]
I forgot how crazy hardcore fans can be. This was a post ATP show for The Bronx and having already performing under the guise Mariachi El Bronx earlier in the night to a rapturous reception (the review of this will be in funfunfun zine #2, out soon...hopefully), I was worried that the band might be a little bit weary. Oh how my fears were instantly quashed as soon as Matt and the boys took to the stage. I wasn't prepare for the onslaught from the band and the crowd. Seemingly fuelled by the kineticism [...]
Its not often that I stumble across something on Myspace that has such an instant impact on me but when I first opened Eureka Brown 's page and the first notes from ¡Digitalia! stampeded from my speakers I knew I'd found something special. I think it was the drum sound on the title track that did it. It sounds like someone hammering an oil drum and it gives the track a mechanical feel but the rest of the instrumentation is so warm [...]
Cheatahs are the solo project of Canadian born, London-living, guitar/vocalist in Little Death, Nathan Hewitt. He creates his distorted, spooky and slightly awkward pop songs all on Garageband in his bedroom and they have such a gorgeous edge to them. Some Powers feels worn, like your favourite hoodie that has holes in the cuffs and you wear only when you want to be really cosy. The sound that Garageband gives Nathan's acoustic guitar is full and scuzzy like a scribble with thick felt-pins. There's something haunting in the vocals. They are very melodic and melancholic and [...]
Having played around the London circuit for over a year, White Collar Weapons have definitely developed an ear for a good tune. Glad I Am That's Not Me is the sort of track that will have you bouncing joyfully around any room you hear it in with its punchy riff and glorious melody. Singer and songwriter Kieran definitely know his way round a song and from the evidence of the previews on their myspace, White Collar Weapons have a promising sounding ep, Four To Forget, up their sleeves. They produce a sound that is halfway between [...]
Just a quick note to say that funfunfun zine #1.5 is available to download. I started putting it together about a year ago but got a job and lost time and enthusiasm for it. Now, since I'm putting together the next issue which I assure you will see the light of day, I thought I should probably make this issue available. Contents include an interview with Jetplane Landing, live reviews of Slow Club and Rolo Tomassi, features on Inlets and Ultcult and reviews of Johnny Foreigner and Little Boots. All great acts! You can download it from [...]
As I'm working on the next issue of the, seemingly annual, funfunfun zine, I don't have much time to scribe a detailed review of Johnny Foreigner 's performance at Flowerpot . I'll just say that it was cochlea-crunching loud - my ears weren't the same for a good few days after -, the new tracks sound amazing and I still get mesmerized by Alexei's guitar playing, I couldn't take my eyes of his fretboard. I love the way he pushes his guitar to the limit. Highlights were probably new single Feels Like Summer , [...]
I was up in London last Thursday, with not much to do and a whole day's travelcard to make use of so I popped over to Rough Trade East , near Brick Lane, to see Alessi's Ark . I hadn't really heard much of her stuff before this but had heard and read a lot of positive things about Alessi, so I was intrigued. My intrigue turned into delight as Alessi performed 6 or 7 tracks of pure wonderment. Her simple guitar patterns were the perfect canvas for her to paint glorious pictures with a clever turn of [...]
funfunfun
Azealia Banks - '1991' [Listen]
Metric Debuts Album via Synthetica Hide+Seek, Tickets On Sale Now For Fall Tour
THE MASTERSONS — BIRDS FLY SOUTH
