Blog: New Ears

Music blogs are stale

Oct 30, 2009, 4:46pm New Ears
...and this is no exception. Thanks and bye!
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Let's. Make. Breakfast!

Oct 17, 2009, 3:48pm New Ears
Let's. Make. Breakfast! Auntie showed a more than decent documentary about synth music's beginnings in depressing 70s Britain last night. The Sheffield bands along with Throbbing Gristle in London existed primarily as a reaction to the staleness of punk, musically at least. It reminded me in many ways of what was happening in New York amongst a troupe of nihilists and deconstructionists (aka the No Wave scene) at about the same time . The main difference, paricularly with Phil Oakey, was No Wavers completely rejected any idea of success or careerism, back then [...]
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Artist:impLOG
Title:Breakfast
Link Text:impLOG - 'Breakfast'.mp3
File Name:Breakfast.mp3
Bitrate:192 kbps
Artist:impLOG
Title:Holland Tunnel Dive
File Name:HollandTunnelDive.mp3
Bitrate:128 kbps
Year:1978

"Where's the stash?"

Sep 14, 2009, 4:34pm New Ears
"Where's the stash?" Ever wondered quite why SALEM 's music is so dark and dank? This picture of a coked-up, deranged and physically abusive Melissa Joan Hart, aka Sabrina The Teenage Witch, tells more than words ever could. SALEM have a new limited release ('Frost'/'Legend') coming out Stateside via Audraglint . UK visit plans can't be too far off being announced either (hopefully). SALEM - Frost SALEM - Trap Door.mp3 [YSI] [...]
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Artist:SALEM
Title:TRAP DOOR
Link Text:SALEM - Trap Door.mp3
File Name:SALEM - TRAPDOOR.mp3
Bitrate:160 kbps
Year:2008

ESQUEEZY EXPLAINS IT ALL: THE NEW-NEW RAVE

Sep 7, 2009, 6:45pm New Ears
ESQUEEZY EXPLAINS IT ALL: THE NEW-NEW RAVE 'Old Rave' E's are Good, E's are Good, He's Ebeneezer Goode! Rave is back, and we’re not talking the fashion indie-electro obsessed New Rave Class of ’06 & ’07. No, a classier rehash which is a lot more musically minded and much less about getting hysterical over Hadouken and looking like a glo-stick has puked on your face. Think of it more like an episode of Hitman & Her minus dodgy men from Bradford telling us how good of a dancer they are as Michaela Strachan chews her own face off. [...]
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So Much To Answer For: Cottonopolis Top 20

Sep 5, 2009, 4:51pm New Ears
So Much To Answer For: Cottonopolis Top 20 We were recently asked to name our top 20 albums by Manchester-based artists for a forthcoming feature for SoundProof magazine . We limited ourselves to two LPs per band and based our selections purely on what were our favourite records. And that alone. Obviously this gives us the perfect excuse to post a load of great music... 1. Autechre – Tri Repetae (Warp) [1995] 2. Buzzcocks – Love Bites (United Artists) [1978] [...]
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Artist:A Certain Ratio
Title:Do The Du
Link Text:Do the Du.mp3
File Name:1-01 Do The Du.mp3
Bitrate:192 kbps
Year:1981
Artist:Joy Division
Title:Disorder
Link Text:Disorder.mp3
File Name:01 Disorder.mp3
Bitrate:192 kbps
Year:1979
Artist:Magazine
Title:Because You're Frightened
Link Text:Because You're Frightened.mp3
File Name:01 Because You\\'re Frightened.mp3
Bitrate:192 kbps
Year:1980
Artist:The Fall
Title:Industrial estate
Link Text:Industrial Estate.mp3
File Name:Industrial estate.mp3
Artist:The Smiths
Title:The Queen is dead
Link Text:The Queen is Dead.mp3
File Name:01 The Queen is dead.mp3
Bitrate:192 kbps
Year:1986
Artist:Von Südenfed
Title:Fledermaus Can't Get It
Link Text:Fledermaus Can't Get It.mp3
File Name:01 Fledermaus Can\\'t Get It.mp3
Bitrate:192 kbps
Year:2007

Oasis Split

Sep 3, 2009, 1:58pm New Ears
Hitler's Reaction to the Oasis Split
Personally, I thought they were about as relevant as the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, but others have not taken the split so well...
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DIY Bank Holiday

Aug 31, 2009, 5:44am New Ears
DIY Bank Holiday We're rapidly reaching the point of saturation with lo fi/DIY. Nathan Williams' personal implosion appeared indicative of a sound pushed beyond its own sustainability (Wavves' new output suggests this is something he's fully aware of). But no, we're not there quite YET. Mainly because the emerging bands ( Teen Sheikhs ) and releases (Manchester's Mazes via Sex Is Disgusting ) are still ace enough to hold our attention. But the best reason to revive your interest in this sound is Leeds' Spectrals [...]
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Artist:Spectrals
Title:Leave Me Be
Link Text:Spectrals - 'Leave me be'.mp3
File Name:Leave-me-be.mp3
Bitrate:160 kbps

A date which will live in infamy

Aug 22, 2009, 5:02am New Ears
A date which will live in infamy Yeah that's right, these guys hung out together . It's a stark image, one of the starkest. It's something which Richard D. James can only aspire to create himself. The best he could do, when he played under Piccadilly Rail Station back in December 2007, was three professional gurners giving it their all up on stage with him, a good effort, but it dosen't imprint on your soul the way this picture does. We'll soon see what RDJ can come up with next as Kevin [...]
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Link Text:AFX - 'Laughable Butane Bob'.mp3
File Name:03 Laughable butane bob.m4a
Link Text:Aphex Twin - 'Inkey$'.mp3
File Name:03 Inkey$.m4a
Link Text:The Tuss - 'Rushup I Bank 12'.mp3
File Name:04 Track 04.m4a

Disco-noir

Aug 18, 2009, 2:35pm New Ears
Disco-noir Contracting ‘Swine Flu’ really sucks. I mean for a start you have to let someone else pick up all your food/medication/washing and do pretty much everything for you round the house. Even your employers aren’t looking to rush you back to wellness and work, advising instead to ‘just come back when you feel ready’ and ‘give us a call later on in the week’. Luckily it’s not just a licence for complete domestic negligence and enforced leisure; believe it or not there are actually a few perks to it as well. Aside from allowing you to [...]
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Artist:Nite Jewel
Title:Weak For Me
Link Text:Nite Jewel - 'Weak For Me'.mp3
File Name:04 Weak For Me.mp3
Year:2008

Grammar Rodeo

Jul 17, 2009, 12:22pm New Ears
Dave.i.d - Why Weren't the Message Sent
Seemingly out of nowhere, London's Dave I.D. has released an ace double single of dark electronic pop on new label, Off The Uncertain Button . Get your mits on it here . Dave I.D. - 'ILikeTheSoundOfThemWithoutMe' myspace.com/daveidspace
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Hollerin' the rinsin' sound: New Pictureplane!

Jul 16, 2009, 6:40am New Ears
Hollerin' the rinsin' sound: New Pictureplane! Back in June 2008 we wrote about this amazing electro grime chap we’d just discovered in HEALTH’s top friends. Travis Egedy, aka Pictureplane, had released this ace album called Turquoise Trail , he’d remixed the likes of Crystal Castles and HEALTH and he ran a DIY art space/gig venue, which was also his home, called Rhinoceropolis in Denver, Colorado. Naturally he was our hero and we pulled him tight to our collective bosom, naming him our favourite artist of [...]
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Gotta get Thru this

Jul 9, 2009, 4:24am New Ears
Gotta get Thru this The good people over at BreakThru Radio , an internet radio station based in New York which focuses on independent and unsigned artists, were kind enough to nominate us as their 'Blogger Of The Week'. Yay! You can listen to an hour of New Ears music (unfortunately no local stuff) online by following these easy steps: 1. Visit breakthruradio.com 2. Click on 'Multimedia Archive' 3. Select 'DJ DoseU' and 'last 30 days' and click 'Search' [...]
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Best In Show

Jul 7, 2009, 10:52am New Ears
Best In Show Mike Sniper (aka Blank Dogs) has been spending a lot of time in his bedroom this year. And I’m not about to tell a rude joke. Sniper - the misleadingly solo Brooklynite - it turns out is a musical machine of real pedigree, whose dedication to all things drum machine, analogue synth and reverb guitar has sent Blank Dogs and his side project, The Mayfair Set, leaping into New Ears’ sweaty lap. As he freely admits to being "an avid conspiracy theory junkie" you'd be forgiven for thinking that he was barking mad. [...]
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Glastonbury 2009

Jul 3, 2009, 6:47am New Ears
Glastonbury 2009 My favourite overheard conversation at this year's (almost too) sunny festival was, "I think I saw Annie Mac earlier, but it might have just been a girl with curly hair". I know, a real corker! If the BBC's suffocating, insipid and neverending coverage of this year's Glastonbury has not yet bored you to tears, prepare to leave base camp for that summit by the end of this post. Sadly the festival will mostly be remembered for the death of Michael Jackson, not because there was some sort of outpouring of emotion in homage to [...]
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Amerika-ka-ka

Jun 23, 2009, 8:45am New Ears
Amerika-ka-ka Well this sucks. I just found out about the Adam Curtis - Punchdrunk Theatre Company collaboration, part of the Manchester International Festival, and it's completely sold out. The interactive theatre production features Curtis' new documentary, 'It Felt Like A Kiss', across five floors of a derelict building in Spinningfields. In theory this is the sort of thing I would normally shy away from, but Adam Curtis' involvement has me more than intrigued. Curtis is a documentary filmmaker [...]
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Gang Time

Jun 20, 2009, 8:45am New Ears
Gang Time Shalom shalom shalloo. It's Dan Szor here! It's been a while but I've been 'darn sarffff' in Londinium, sewing the seeds of a velvet revolution from the inside - and yes, I live on Kingsland Road, the main artery from Shoreditch to Dalston, so basically I'm living on the front line. It's so trendy you know, everyone's grown a moustache, is in a band and uses times new roman type face for their one-word or too many words band name. These are challanging times I hear them cry over their sub post pump, no [...]
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NEW EARS BBQ: HOLIDAY!

Jun 18, 2009, 12:40pm New Ears
NEW EARS BBQ: HOLIDAY! Next month, Saturday 11 July to be precise, New Ears takes over the upstairs terrace area at Trof in Fallowfield to bring you an afternoon of sizzlin' summer jams and BBQ (veggie and meat) treats. Expect classic hip hop, 90's dance and beach party anthems all afternoon...kinda like this... Naughty By Nature - 'O.P.P' Livin' Joy - 'Dreamer' Come come, [...]
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Cloudy and then clearing

Jun 16, 2009, 6:28am New Ears
Cloudy and then clearing The good people over at No Pain In Pop are getting rather hot under the collar over London's emerging young beat collective, with Joy Orbison , Floatingpoints and Pariah getting muchos kudos. And with good reason. But New Ears has been drawn more to the palls of crunk clouds drifting over the Atlantic from North America, yeah I'm talking about the much blogged and much ace SALEM, but I also want to highlight the fresh bare atmospherics of Canada's Babe Rainbow, which currently has me bonered into next week. Babe [...]
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Cycling shorts are mandatory

Jun 5, 2009, 9:45am New Ears
Kraftwerk - Pocket Calculator
Manchester Velodrome , 2 July 2009, is a must. kraftwerk.com/
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"Stick your enemies in front of daytime TV"

May 15, 2009, 4:02am New Ears
"Stick your enemies in front of daytime TV" is Mark E. Smith's advice this year via his annual missive to his fans, which in the wake of the public's disgust with our political nomenklatura could result in the entirely justifiable erection of an enormous outdoor screen in Westminister broadcasting Jeremy Kyle and Loose Women 24/7. My own advice this weekend is to stick your friends in front of Zomby, playing live for the first time in Manchester this Saturday (16 May) at Club Underground as part of the anually (usually naff) Futuresonic Festival. First recommended by [...]
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