Model Warships Merchant [Beat Is Murder, 2009] - download the whole album for free! Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE [...]
The Lemonheads "Varshons" [Cooking Vinyl, out 22nd June] Let's face it, The Lemonheads' 2006 comeback album was a disappointment; while occasional tracks like 'No Backbone' and 'Pittsburgh' reminded people why Evan Dando (and longtime songwriting partner Tom Morgan, who was behind 'Backbone') was once a force to be reckoned with, the album as a whole seemed as aimless and lazy as its title ( The Lemonheads ), especially when compared to Dando's 2003 'solo' album Baby I'm Bored , his most coherant and rewarding set in a [...]
MORRISSEY "SOUTHPAW GRAMMAR" and "MALADJUSTED" (RCA, 1995/1997 - reissued 2009) "The choice I have made may seem strange to you..." Morrissey 'Alma Matters' In the wake of his recent Years of Refusal album - a commercial success, but one that left this fan cold - Morrissey is reclaiming his past. Smiths tracks, untouched for decades, have made live appearances - though anyone who saw his [...]
It's just sleeping, and consequently needs poking with a stick every now and again. Sorry for not updating since 2008 - I've been stuck in student hell. Not to say there's been nothing to write about, but I've been doing it for other places. This place will continue to get infrequently updated, but in the meantime, do check out some of the other places I speak my branes. The Singles Jukebox Returning from internet purgatory, the man, the legend William B. Swygart has resurrected his Singles Jukebox (synopsis: jaded rock hacks write about pop [...]
Shitting crikey, it's... THE KISS ME, I'VE QUIT SMOKING FESTIVE FIFTY! This has been a pretty good year for music, all told, and given that I'm the neurotic, compulsive-listmaker type, what better way to see it out than to a ttempt to channel all of that good music into a handy top 50. The rules are simple - no more than one song per band, singles from 2007 albums are alright, but nothing from reissues. As for how long it [...]
LOS CAMPESINOS! "WE ARE BEAUTIFUL, WE ARE DOOMED" [Wichita Records -released October 13th] "...having been touring the album constantly since its release in February, maybe the band are just getting tired of playing its songs" Boy is my face red. Call it fate, but within a week of me posting that blog, the news was out that everyone-bar- Steven-Wells ' favourite indiepopstars Los Campesinos! were releasing "We Are Beautiful, [...]
INDIETRACKS FESTIVAL, 26th-27th July 2008, Midlands Railway Butterley (Part Two - Sunday!) Sunday brought with it the meat and bones of the festival, with incredible acts spilling out from every stage...at least once the technical difficulties on the outdoor stage were fixed. Indeed these technical difficulties ended up improving the festival no end; set times were rearranged, and almost every band I actually wanted to see was relocated to the superior outdoor stage. The first [...]
INDIETRACKS FESTIVAL, 26th-27th July 2008, Midlands Railway Butterley (Part One - Saturday!) This weekend saw the return of the happiest, most polka-dotted and pudding-bowled festival in the entire world - Indietracks. Located in rural Derbyshire, the festival played host to a hundred indiepop bands from across the globe, with punters going to and from the site in an antique steam-train. The site itself was hardly built for masses of people, but the organisers managed [...]
Blake Babies "Out There" [taken from the album Sunburn - Hollywood Records, 1990] Sometimes, a pop song just hits you in the right place at the right time. I'd never heard anything by Juliana Hatfield, save from a glimpse of a video on an episode of Beavis & Butthead, outside of her enchanting work as Evan Dando's foil (and muse) in the Lemonheads. It took a chance encounter in the Union Bookshop at my university for her songs to fall into my lap; [...]
Weezer "Miss Sweeney" [taken from the deluxe edition of Weezer (aka: the Red album) - Geffen, 2008] It's no secret that I think Weezer are one of the best bands in the entire world; yes, their output since 1996 has been patchy, but each album has had its charms. 2001's Weezer (aka: the Green album) was allegedly an attempt to write ten perfect pop songs, none longer than three and a half minutes, all following the same [...]
The Lodger "A Year Since Last Summer" [taken from the 2008 album Life is Sweet - Bad Sneakers Records, 2008] Everyone knows the best pop songs are the short ones; Life Is Sweet , the wonderful second album by Leeds indiepop heroes The Lodger, is an understated 35 minute flurry of handclaps and heartbreak. One of its highlights, 'A Year Since Last Summer', rushes by in a brief two [...]
Ten City Nation - Exhibition Time Again Ten City Nation - Everyone's a Tourist [both taken from the 2008 album Ten City Nation - download it for absolutely free right here! ] Formed from the ashes of undeservedly forgotten agitpopstars Miss Black America, Ten City Nation have just released their blinding debut album for free on their website . Seven years on from the first album this lot ever put out [...]
Fosca "Confused and Proud" [taken from the 2008 album The Painted Side of the Rocket on But Is It Art? Records - order the album here! ] Sorry I've been just as lax with updating this thing as ever. Still, to make up for it here's a review of a rather splended new album by Fosca, which you should all check out. Like...right now. ---- There's a school of literary criticism which [...]
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds "Accidents Will Happen" [b-side from Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! single] Yet another Nick Cave-related post, I'm afraid. Thanks to the uni paper, I've recently acquired a copy of the man and his Seeds' new album Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! I'm terrified witless by all the blurb on the back of the sleeve of the promo (words to the effect of "You must not lend a copy of this album to anyone, you must not play this album to anyone [...]
The Wave Pictures "Now You Are Pregnant" I first heard about The Wave Pictures when I saw Darren Hayman play upstairs at a pub in Leeds late last year. Unlike the majority of those who hear them for the first time, I wasn't overly taken, and went downstairs to get a drink and some fresh air. If I'd stayed, I would have been subjected to the kind of jangly indiepop that I hold so dear, with a lyrical flair that tends to have me swooning by [...]
Shane MacGowan - Lucy Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - Lucy Not content with coming up with instant classics of his own, Nick Cave, as proven by his superlative 1986 album Kicking Against The Pricks , is a master interpreter of songs. Shane MacGowan is similarly an extremely talented singer when it comes to other peoples' songs (witness "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda" from the Rum, Sodomy & The Lash album), as well as [...]
The Weakerthans - Plea From A Cat Named Virtute First off, apologies for not being as prolific with this blog as I would have hoped - returning to uni, and having to cope with revision and exams seems, at this point in time, slightly more important than telling people what to listen to. However, this is a track I've been meaning to thrust in peoples' general direction for some time, so best to get this done now, and then service will resume as normal sometime in [...]
Prefab Sprout - Goodbye Lucille #1 Steve McQueen by Prefab Sprout and Rattlesnakes by Lloyd Cole and The Commotions: two of the drabbest album covers ever made. Side-by-side, you can immediately tell when both of them came from - the mid-80s, the most tasteless part of the so-called Decade That Taste Forgot. And yet, for students everywhere these two records were, aside from the holy trinity of the Smiths, New Order and the Bunnymen, part [...]
The Go-Betweens - Love Goes On! 16 Lovers Lane by The Go-Betweens is one of those records that strikes me in a very subtle way; I've had it for about 18 months now, give or take, and while it's not one that I make a point of digging out, or going "I MUST listen to 16 Lovers Lane ", it's an album that I find myself playing at least once a month. For the past week, [...]
Electronic - The Patience of a Saint Looking back on my first term at university, I've realised I've fallen into a bad way; not only am I conforming to the stereotype of being a student and falling in love with New Order (a band whose name, in conversation, I had previously followed with vomit noises), but I've befriended a group of people who actively indulge and encourage this filthy, filthy habit...that is to say, it's got to the extent where I now own an [...]
Kiss Me, I've Quit Smoking
The Shins: “September” (b-side of “Simple Song” 7”)
St. Vincent - 'Cheerleader'
Jay-Z & Kanye West - Ni**as In Paris (Explicit)
OK Go - Needing/Getting - Official Video
M.I.A. - Bad Girls (Official Video)
Lana Del Rey - Without You (Kill Paris Remix) [Dubstep]
Download: James Blake Live Album (Unofficial)
Miike Snow - “Paddling Out” Jacques Lu Cont Remix (MP3 Stream)
Iron & Wine and Patty Griffin
New single from Gemini Club
