Blog: SoundsXP

You couldn't avoid Record Store Day over the last couple of months, to the extent that they were even discussing it on the sofa on BBC Breakfast TV. But now, after all the hype has died down comes the backlash... First it was the queues on the day, with many fans spending hours just to be told "Sorry, we've sold out", followed by the disappointment of checking eBay and seeing similar items on there going for ten times the shop price. Then there's the horror of getting home and realising that the ultra rare slab of coloured [...]

A rather splendid looking vinyl, 'zines and bands line-up awaits those Londoners not sated by Record Store Day's excitement. The CAME Expo and Lexington Record Fair will have live bands, including Race Horses and TOY, playing during its free daytime event including: SATURDAY Evi Vine Race Horses Sauna Youth SUN Dutch Uncles Toy Blacklisters The address is St Michael's Church, Camden Road, St Pancras, London, NW1 9LQ Open 1pm-8pm, Saturday 5th May to Monday 7th May [...]

There were two stages to the career of insane Welsh experimentalists Gorkys Zygotic Mynci. The first, beginning when they were still at school, was bonkers, multi-instrumental, round-the-bend brilliance that made you feel as though you'd stumbled upon a crazy psychedelic world where nothing was quite as it should be. As they grew older (and signed to a bigger label) things took a turn for the pastoral, with later albums being made up of delightful acoustic folk which still contained glimmers of their acid-fried past. Founder member Richard James ' debut solo album was a comfortable but [...]

Launching a record label in the current climate is unlikely to be a wise move financially as - a) the economy is buggered, and - b) nobody bothers buying records anyway. The power of music, as we all know, transcends common sense and it's a testament to this fact that French label Howlin Banana Records have chosen this moment to embark on their maiden voyage as purveyors of that distinctly non-commercial genre: dirty garage-punk. Hats off to them for the passion and integrity of their mission, but what about the music? Well, that's pretty darn good too. [...]

The prolific White Fence only released an album a few weeks ago and have another due in May, still they've found the time for a collaborative LP with TY Segall . 'Hair' is out this week and you can get a glimpse of what they have in store by downloading the psychedelic pop of free track 'I Am Not A Game'.

Pond - nicked George Galloway's 'to do' list So not the old Subpop band then. Thought it sounded a bit cheery. Spacey might be a better call though, cos this is all late 60s/early 70s starchild stuff. Wide eyed and ebullient, rocking, funky or simply floating this is psychedelic rock/pop in excelsis. Because of that there are several points during the record that you just wish it would stop expressing wonder/drivelling and get on with it. Or [...]

AU - Both Lights Those of you who haven't blocked out any memory of sitting through double chemistry at school will remember that AU is the chemical symbol for gold. They're also an experimental pop trio from Portland, Oregon led by Luke Wyland, and their third album 'Both Lights', is split fairly equally between the aurum and the ho-hum. Opener Epic almost lives up to its name with its thundering drums and [...]

Sea Pinks are a new project by Girls Names drummer Neil. Sea Pinks channels similar influences (80s indiepop, 60s garage, girl groups, etc) while substituting GNs pastel shades of grey for a sunnier disposition and more stripped down sound. Staycation is taken from the new cassette "The Flip Side - Demos and Outtakes Vol.1" which collects together eleven previously unreleased Sea Pinks songs recorded during and in between sessions for the first two albums "Youth is Wasted" and "Dead Seas". It's available in a super limited run of 100 tapes (including download) [...]

Spiritualized , whose new album 'Sweet Heart Sweet Light' entered straight into the UK Top 20 and #1 on the Record Store chart and is out now on Double Six/ Spaceman Recordings, have confirmed a six-date UK tour in support of the album this November. They also perform at the Wilderness Festival, Cornbury Park, August 10-12 and Bestival, Newport, Isle of Wight 6-9 September. They are set to embark on an extensive tour of the US in May. Tickets go on sale at 9am on Wednesday 25th April. Dates/prices are as follows: [...]

Crocodiles cross the pond for a short European tour, including two in London. Dates will be: THURSDAY 31 MAY 2012 with SMART COPS and Dum Dum Girls Bi Nuu Berlin, Germany FRIDAY 01 JUNE 2012 Kelder Paradiso Amsterdam, Netherlands SATURDAY 02 JUNE 2012 Field Day 2012 with Franz Ferdinand, Beirut, Andrew Bird, The Vaccines, Metronomy, SBTRKT, Mazzy Star, Gold Panda, etc Victoria Park London, UK TUESDAY 05 JUNE 2012 with Dum Dum Girls Nouveau [...]

Head Of Light Entertainment are honest enough to admit that their debut album didn't exactly find an appreciative audience. That was essentially a solo record, but follow up 'The English Don't Care' was recorded as a trio ("two middle aged men with a girl half their age") and is unlikely to do anything to change things. There are some intriguing and delightful songs here but they seem intent on ruining things by punctuating them with ill-advised forays in to the world of music hall. The excellent and mysterious 'Edwardian Fog' and the wondrous chorus of 'The [...]

This latest edition of the 'Shaking Through' series features the gentle, dreamy nu-folk soundscape of 'I Promise' by Cat Martino which also has Sufjan Stevens as a guest.

Katy Goodman may be just another cog in the slightly shambling C86 indiepop machine that is The Vivian Girls, but it's when fronting her own outfit, La Sera , that she really shines. This is their second release, only a year after the debut and the progression is marked. 2011's eponymous effort was gentle, dreamy and soporific, and its tranquil beauty soothed rather shook you. Sees the Light is a far brasher beast and, dare I say, all the better for it. The soaring harmonies and bitter sweet lyrics may hint [...]

Warm Digits are a duo with a clear taste for vintage analogue electronica and their debut album 'Keep Warm With The Warm Digits' is out now. You can pick up a freebie from it here. A Warm Front, Coming from the North by warm digits

Norwegians The Avalanche will be releasing their debut album in the UK later this year, until then have a listen to shoegazey free download 'Throw Away The Rest'.

Over the course of three singles and an album, West Sussex songwriter Paul Messis hasn't exactly borrowed from the 1960s, it's more a case of smashing the decade's shop front and wholesale looting and pillaging everything it has to offer. They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and that's the sense you get from all of Messis's recordings, from the threadbare west-coast garage rattle of previous tracks through to this latest offering: sincerity. There's a clear passion and will to replicate those sounds as faithfully as possible. Such tendencies can be overbearing when [...]

Brooklyn's The Hairs make ragged and addictive lo-fi pop. The work of Kevin Alvir (Knight School) plus Alex Naidoo (The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart), 'I've Been Working Out' constantly infects you with its strummy fuzzpop charm and then blows you away with a suckerpunch chorus, while the zippy little 'Satan Says' cooks up acoustic and electric guitars in a bubbling cauldron of captivating, quirky indiepop.

Now I wouldn't normally give much time to someone who'd sung and played bass for the likes of Tricky, A-Ha and I Blame Coco and others. But Laura Kidd, a.k.a. She Makes War, is a little different. She's an Amazonian, independent spirit in the lineage of, though not necessarily the sound of, Bikini Kill, the Slits and PJ Harvey. Mostly it's just her and her confessional tales, looping her voice and perhaps adding ukulele, a smidge of keyboards or autoharp, as on 'Disarm', to add textures. But she's also joined by friends [...]

Recorded at the same time as last year's 'Arabia Mountain' album, 'Dance With You' is a previously unreleased piece of trademark messy garage/psych.

The Café Oto continues to prove itself as a fortress of madness in the otherwise grey boredom of the mainstream live music scene. Cam Deas opened proceedings with an extended piece of part-improvised part-composed acoustic guitar revelations. He seemed at times to be trying to physically manifest the glistening chords that were being thrown around the room. Such was the thickness of sound; it almost achieved a topography I felt I could have walked over. This was profoundly exciting stuff; wrestling every available drop of noise from his 12 strings, Cam Deas poured turbulent [...]