Blog: Another Form of Relief

Allo Darlin' – Tallulah

Jan 1, 2:43pm Another Form of Relief

I promise to be better at this blogging thing this year. It only seems fitting to start the year with Allo Darlin', without a doubt my favourite band of the last couple of years. Watching them come up from tiny indiepop shows to headlining a packed out Scala has been a lovely thing to watch. The band will release their second album, Europe , in May of this year, and above you'll find one of the songs from it. Tallulah is a reasonably old song, previously released on a Hangover Lounge EP, but [...]

MORE »

Colour Me Wednesday

Nov 30, 2011, 7:40pm Another Form of Relief

This is something of an odd choice for me to post today of all days. I'm someone who has found myself increasingly drifting to the right economically and has watched today's strikes with bemusement more than sympathy. Perhaps more shockingly for someone in the indiepop scene, I don't find Conservatives to be fundamentally reprehensible. So a song actually called Purge Your Inner Tor y probably isn't the most politically appropriate song for me today. I really like it though. It's everything that I want my indiepop to sound like, and while this won't necessarily work for [...]

• Colour Me Wednesday - Purge Your Inner Tory

MORE »

Artist:	Colour Me Wednesday
Title:	Purge Your Inner Tory
Link Text:	Colour Me Wednesday - Purge Your Inner Tory
File Name:	01-Purge-Your-Inner-Tory.mp3
Bitrate:	277 kbps

Playlist from Moogie Wonderland, October 1

Oct 8, 2011, 12:51pm Another Form of Relief

Last weekend the lovely folks at Moogie Wonderland were kind/foolish enough to invite me to DJ once again. On and off over the course of six hours, I played the following songs. There was a lot of dancing, and one of these songs somehow resulted in a twenty person singalong. Awesome. 1. This Many Boyfriends - #1 2. Herman Dune - Lay Your Head On My Chest 3. Hefner - Painting and Kissing 4. Tigercats - Banned at the Troxy 5. The Hidden Cameras - Death of a [...]

MORE »

Summer Camp – Better Off Without You

Sep 13, 2011, 5:01pm Another Form of Relief

Few bands are as committed to maintaining their image as Summer Camp . After managing to keep their identities secret for the best part of a year, Jeremy Warmsley and Elizabeth Sankey are proving that there's more legs in their project than the original one note idea seemed to suggest. Summer Camp aren't really a band that is focused on the present. California of the 70s and 80s seems to be far more interesting to them, and this style dominates their songs, videos and even their live shows. There's absolutely no reason why any of this should [...]

MORE »

Los Campesinos! – By Your Hand

Sep 10, 2011, 3:20pm Another Form of Relief

Click here to view the embedded video. If Los Campesinos ! were ever going to live up the Nosferatu D2 mantra of every band you love letting you down eventually, it seemed as if now would be that point. After three spectacular albums, the band has undergone a fundamental shift in it's lineup for fourth album Hello Sadness , with three of the seven members of the band departing and being replaced. As such, I've been a little bit wary about the direction the band would take from this point, so I'm [...]

MORE »

Indietracks 2011 in photos

Aug 5, 2011, 11:39am Another Form of Relief

As usual, Indietracks proved itself to be the highlight of the festival season. Full review with words in the next day or two, but here's the visual version of what makes Indietracks so special.

MORE »

Milky Wimpshake – Cherry Pop

Jun 26, 2011, 8:54am Another Form of Relief

" Milky Wimpshake join the MTV generation!!! Fuckin sellouts!" - Pete Dale When it comes to certain bands, there are just some things that you don't expect from them. If you'd told me a while ago that I'd be posting a somewhat amusing Milky Wimpshake music video on here, I'd have found the idea quite preposterous. Yet here we are. After nearly two decades of churning out songs and becoming legends within the indiepop scene, they've finally got around to making a video. And very good fun it is too, even with it's wanton destruction [...]

MORE »

Milky Wimpshake – Cherry Pop

Jun 26, 2011, 8:53am Another Form of Relief

Click here to view the embedded video. " Milky Wimpshake join the MTV generation!!! Fuckin sellouts!" - Pete Dale When it comes to certain bands, there are just some things that you don't expect from them. If you'd told me a while ago that I'd be posting a somewhat amusing Milky Wimpshake music video on here, I'd have found the idea quite preposterous. Yet here we are. After nearly two decades of churning out songs and becoming legends within the indiepop scene, they've finally got around to [...]

MORE »

Playlist from Moogie Wonderland 24 June

Jun 25, 2011, 4:48am Another Form of Relief

Last night was our second DJing experience, and it was rather a contrast to the first time around. It was all rather last minute, meaning I didn't have five weeks to fret about song choices. It was in a coffee shop instead of a bar with a dance floor, and given the rain and other factors, there wasn't exactly a big turnout. Didn't matter though as I still ended up enjoying myself immensely. Here's what I played: 1. Herman Düne - Tell Me Something I Don't Know 2. Belle & Sebastian - Your Cover's [...]

MORE »

Raymond & Maria – No One Notices Your Brand New T-Shirt

Jun 16, 2011, 9:52am Another Form of Relief

Click here to view the embedded video. There's several reasons to be wary about Raymond & Maria . Usually if I receive a press release about a platinum-selling, number one record, I'll tend to recoil in horror. Granted this is in their native land of Sweden, but it still suggests music perhaps a little too mainstream for an apparent snob such as myself. I also don't really like remakes, so recording your Swedish songs into English seems a little silly to me, even if I understand the commercial reasons behind doing so. Then [...]

• Raymond & Maria - No One Notices You... » Raymond & Maria - No One Notices Your Br....mp3

MORE »

Link Text:	Raymond & Maria - No One Notices Your Brand New T-Shirt
File Name:	Raymond & Maria - No One Notices Your Brand New T-Shirt.mp3

Guest post: My Top 5 Records That I'd Recommend To No One

Jun 14, 2011, 4:11pm Another Form of Relief

Audio Antihero label supremo Jamie takes us through five albums he owns that he simply couldn't justify to anyone else... All us real people have record collections. In these collections we have classics and then we have those other records. Not 'guilty pleasures' but records we can't explain or justify - ones you wouldn't play on the office stereo. Records that your friends just wouldn't understand… My Top 5 Records That I'd Recommend To No One Ciccone Youth – The Whitey Album (Blast First Records, [...]

MORE »

Indietracks Compilation 2011

Jun 13, 2011, 3:08pm Another Form of Relief

It's June, so it must mean it's time for the obligatory Indietracks compilation album. Sadly this year it won't be released on CD in an attempt to reduce costs, meaning you'll have to burn your own discs for the long drive up. On the other hand, as it's a download only, you can pay whatever you like for it with all proceeds going to the lovely Midland Railway Centre . Every year they put up with us descending on them, so it's nice to be able to give them a little something back. [...]

MORE »

Evans the Death – Threads

Jun 9, 2011, 9:18am Another Form of Relief

Click here to view the embedded video. Well this is really bloody excellent. Evans the Death have been floating around the indiepop scene for a little while now, building themselves a great reputation in the process. I finally managed to catch them at the Odd Box Weekender last month, where they were one of the highlights of the weekend. Newly signed to Fortuna POP!, their debut single Threads is loud, fast, and messy, and really, what more could you want from a band? So good. Threads will be [...]

MORE »

Tigercats – Banned at the Troxy

Jun 3, 2011, 1:04pm Another Form of Relief

You ain't seen nothing yet We're gonna get bigger than national debt So proclaim Tigercats toward the end of their sprawling new single, Banned at the Troxy , and it may just be true. The evolution of Tigercats has been an odd one. Forming from the ashes of the mighty Esiotrot, the band has quickly risen through the London indiepop ranks from go-to support band to a band capable of selling out gigs as headliners in their own right. Their earlier releases were [...]

• Tigercats - Skydiving

MORE »

Artist:	Tigercats
Title:	Skydiving
Link Text:	Tigercats - Skydiving
File Name:	Tigercats - Skydiving.mp3

Playlist from Moogie Wonderland

May 21, 2011, 5:14am Another Form of Relief

Last night was Another Form of Relief's first outing as a DJ, at the lovely Moogie Wonderland in Rochester. There were a lot of reasons why last night could have been a failure, from me not having a clue what I was doing to the event being moved to a new venue at a relatively late hour. I'd say it turned out rather well though, with a good number through the door, and there actually being a proper dance party through the second and third sets. Here's what I played across the four sets: [...]

MORE »

DJing in Rochester this Friday!

May 18, 2011, 5:57pm Another Form of Relief

A shameless bit of self promotion here, but I'll be guest DJing at the delightful Moogie Wonderland indiepop clubnight this Friday in merry olde Rochester. Free entry, 8pm-2am at Oliver's (which used to be Enigma) on the High Street. Full details available here . Things that may or may not be on the playlist: Click here to view the embedded video. Click here to view the embedded video. Click here to [...]

MORE »

Help Stamp Out Loneliness – Record Shop

May 10, 2011, 10:04am Another Form of Relief

You know those times where you judge a band incorrectly, rigidly stick with that initial impression for ages and then end up eating humble pie about them? That's my experience with Help Stamp Out Loneliness . The first time I encountered them was at Indietracks 2009, when they were on immediately before Art Brut and, assuming my memory is correct, I actually found them a bit boring. That opinion has stuck ever since, without any attempts to give them another chance. Over the past few months, buzz has been building for their debut album, and people whose [...]

• Help Stamp Out Loneliness - Record Shop

MORE »

Artist:	Help Stamp Out Loneliness
Title:	Record Shop
Link Text:	Help Stamp Out Loneliness - Record Shop
File Name:	Help Stamp Out Loneliness - Record Shop.mp3
Genre:	20
Year:	2011

Johnny Foreigner are Cursed

May 6, 2011, 9:14am Another Form of Relief

If you're a band or label faced with declining physical sales, exactly how do you buck that trend? Some will argue vinyl is answer, but those people are completely wrong about everything. Alcopop, never a label to do things by the book, have decided to release the new Johnny Foreigner EP in frisbee form. Yes, a frisbee . If this isn't the greatest evolution among physical releases of music in, well, forever, I don't know what is. As for the EP itself, if you're already a fan of Johnny Foreigner, you know exactly what to [...]

• Johnny Foreigner - Twin Sisterzz

MORE »

Artist:	Johnny Foreigner
Title:	Twin Sisterzz
Link Text:	Johnny Foreigner - Twin Sisterzz
File Name:	Johnny Foreigner - Twin Sisterzz.mp3
Genre:	148

Herman Düne – Tell Me Something I Don't Know

May 3, 2011, 7:29pm Another Form of Relief

Click here to view the embedded video. It's only in the last few months that I've got properly into Herman Düne , despite being a fan of one or two of their songs for a few years now. But I'm delighted to have discovered them just as a new album is on the way. In advance of that, we have this wonderful little video for first single Tell Me Something I Don't Know. It's one of those videos that could easily take away from the song, given you've got the band competing with [...]

MORE »

Fishboy – Classic Creeps

Apr 26, 2011, 8:44am Another Form of Relief

Click here to view the embedded video. I've always had a soft spot for the particularly type of whimsy put out by Texas indiepop band Fishboy . They've always gone down the hyper-literate route in their lyrics, making songs that are closer to full blown short stories than simple pop songs. Their latest album Classic Creeps takes this to it's logical evolution. The record is a concept album, with each song telling the story of a particular character, from Aaron the Afterthought Astronaut to Archibald Aspen to [...]

• Fishboy - Autumn the Owl (Mistakes the Feelings of Being In Love with the Feelings of Being an Owl)

MORE »

Artist:	Fishboy
Title:	Autumn the Owl (Mistakes the Feelings of Being In Love with the Feelings of Being an Owl)
Link Text:	Fishboy - Autumn the Owl (Mistakes the Feelings of Being In Love with the Feelings of Being an Owl)
File Name:	Fishboy - Autumn the Owl (Mistakes the Feelings of Being In Love with the Feelings of Being an Owl).mp3