Blog: Some Of It Was True!

There's something about wild, rainswept, raggedy days like these that leaves me feeling dangerously reckless: a risky freedom to roam through memories best ignored, and to voice truths that shouldn't ever come out. The whip of the wind and the scattergun rain only encourages me further. So too does the electronic, shoegazey drudge of Roman 's latest, Dangerous Love : where previously came dizzy, rappy digitalism and disco tassels (second track below) now appears a honky guitar, lucid vocals and a shimmering, suggestive drum beat, all encouraging me on. (via Don't Die Wondering ) [...]

Bristling with anger, this epic rock rouser from Kent (meh - it's near London) sixpiece Lion is the most pulsating song I've heard in yonks. The guitars carve out grimly-determined chords, while the singer seems to scream with the last, starchiest realms of his throat; listening almost has to involve an furrowed face, as if the music's very intensity translates physically. If it were a food, Lion Share ( mp3 ) would be a mustard-and-adrenaline burger ; if it were a car, a snarky old Mustang that refuses to go quietly. And yet, behind all this boombast, the track boasts a solemn, toe-tapping goodness. Thanks to BBC Kent Introducing for unearthing [...]

• Lion - Lion Share

Monday Music's the one weekly post where Some Of It Was True! drops its London-only focus. Dirty Gold - California Sunrise Ahhh, is that ocean spray on my face? No, its mild acid rain. BUT I CAN DREAM. San Diegan Dirty Gold's California Sunrise has that hazy, happy summer sound, with seagulls (literally, seagulls squawking. Nothing beats the power of suggestion) and sand being kicked in your eyes as you skip over dunes, laughing, smiling, having fun. Until you fall and land on [...]

Due to be launched (at a Barfly gig ) on 21 June, Channel Cairo 's second single (for gaspings about the first, see here ) A Year is a thing of rare accomplishment: soaring, swirling pop-rock that seems to have been tailormade for those back-of-the-neck hairs. It's nostalgic, whimsical, fraught, fulsome and destined to make for some real 'moments' at this summer's festivals. No surprise then to learn that, when featured in a weekly battle of new songs on 6 Music DJ Tom Robinson 's blog, Fresh On The Net , it won by a mile. [...]

According to an excellent interview with singer and main man Guy Connelly by Londonist , Clock Opera 's latest single Man Made is partly "constructed from a story in a 50p magazine about a beauty pageant in a Siberian women's prison, whereby the winner was granted parole". This case history aptly demonstrates the breathless inventiveness of this fourpiece, and that fact's also loudly, proudly on show in the newest offering. For here are vintage Clock Opera touches: jangly and catchy up-tempo beats, a powerful video and vocals packed with emotion and feeling. [...]

Back in January we wrote about Future Sound Share , a brilliant London-based project dedicated to supporting new and emerging artists, and mentioned its first forthcoming gig. That show went so well that one band, Trophys , have subsequently been signed - especially good news since a second show is now looming large. Taking place at The Star of Kings bar, near Kings Cross, it features various bands I've not heard of (such as Tree Pit and Saturday Night Gym Club ) but who are probably ace, and one that I know are great - [...]

When we first wrote about Toy , the London quintet were merely a hot tip; fast-forward a few months and you've got The Guardian writing sentences like "the Brighton outfit with the cult-rock credentials might just be an exceptional prospect." Not sure where they get the Brighton bit from, but otherwise we're not disagreeing. The latest offering is a slower, more drifting proposition, but just as classy: a video of them playing the Motoring B-side When I Went Back for Topman CTRL last month. [...]

Sometimes it feels nice and indulgent to be sad, to wallow like a hopeless hippopotamus.

Monday Music's the one weekly post where Some Of It Was True! drops its London-only focus Alt-J - Fitzpleasure Named as headliners of the fabulous, invite-only In The Woods festival (for which the below video is an enticing advert), Leeds lads Alt-J proffer a highly unusual 'folk-step' style, complete with lashings of genuine dub, pop, rock and electronica. They'll be sodding brilliant on the main stage at ITW; before that, debut album An Awesome Wave is [...]

Recently we featured High Hopes , a side project for the Fair Ohs ' drummer Joe, and now it's time for singer/guitarist Eddy's own hobby, Les Pharaons . Including the free Amandine ( mp3 ), the EP, Opio , features a quartet of short, sexy songs, each sung in French and each a lusty, heady timeport back to the carefree Gallic '60s music. This is the s0-called 'YeYe' style: psychedelic, fun-in-the-sun type stuff from those days of yore. Fans of Fair Ohs' previous Bardot cover should be first in line.

• Les Pharaons - Amandine 3

When we last looked in on Tigercats , they were producing lo-fi bedroom ditties about Blue Peter presenters and Hackney Downs. These days, though, the East London outfit are a much bigger, more polished deal, with rave reviews in the Sunday Times and waves of 6 Music love fuelling them on. The appearance of a debut album, Isle of Dogs , is the trigger for all this; Full Moon Reggae Party ( mp3 ), below, hails from it, and provides a short, summery blast of indie pop, all perky guitars and frivolous catchiness. The [...]

• Tigercats - full moon reggae party 140112 1

Yoofs ' excellent recent single Hazy Dayz ( mp3 ) is the musical version of how you feel after a balmy summer afternoon and too many beers in the park: hot, woozy, a bit desperate for something, someone, you don't know what. Scroll to Top

• YOOFS - Hazy Dayz

Molly's Lipps ' Scars commands the attention like few songs I've heard recently; listening to it is like being pinned roughly against a wall with the hint of dire ramifications should you dare to lose concentratation. Generating the tune's pulsating magnetism are rancorous guitar crashes, boomy vocals, soaring final section and constant pace-changes. It's as exhilarating and frantic as something by Breton, and that seems set to be an apt comparison when the London sixpiece's forthcoming EP's teaser is digested. Judging by these three chaotic minutes, this subsequent record will be a breathless melange of electro, rock, punk and the occasional louche lounge sound.

I'm tired. I did a bit too much today, and now I just want to lay and be quiet, be still, be stable. Fortunately, I have the perfect medicine to hand: the sleepy, slumberous soul of new Chile-via-London talent Jassy Grez . Serve with a supersize cup of Horlicks for best effects. (via Don't Die Wondering )

From the depths of South East London emerges the mysterious and intoxicating Black Seas . They write: "[we] have decided to record ourselves in an attempt to raise ourselves up out of the state of imperfection we were born into ('man is a god in ruins' as Waldo Emerson said). We made our tune to emotionally connect, to howl our emotions outward and achieve some kind of glory for a few fleeting moments." 'Nuff said really. Apart from the *slight* imperfection which they are yet to raise themselves up from, being that the below is [...]

From the depths of South East London emerges the mysterious and intoxicating Black Seas . They write: "[we] have decided to record ourselves in an attempt to raise ourselves up out of the state of imperfection we were born into ('man is a god in ruins' as Waldo Emerson said). We made our tune to emotionally connect, to howl our emotions outward and achieve some kind of glory for a few fleeting moments." 'Nuff said really. Apart from the *slight* imperfection which they are yet to raise themselves up from, being that the below is all [...]

Gawd.. this sweet, summery, vocal-less song by newcomers Honey Luvv makes me feel so good. It makes me want to jump off my bed and run down the stairs, forgetting to put my shoes on, straight out the door, down the road, down the next road, up the hill, up, up, up, to the top of the hill where I rip off my clothes, a storm of split buttons and dragging trouserlegs, and then rock back, arms out to the side, screaming, screaming, screaming, letting it all out, letting all of my life out, an unstoppable torrent. I want [...]

The Smooth Maria - Abandoned Town For the foulest of moods, try the Smooth Maria's Abandoned Town . This simple, rolling tune, with an unusual chord progression provides the perfect pathetic fallacy and will lure your angry self in to a state of numb calm. You'll be hypnotised be Matt Kanelos's dry voice and evocative lyrics that you won't realise that you're bouncing about as the song reaches an up-beat climax by the sixth verse. Great track. Seems a shame that the band's name sounds like some kind of pubic wax. Hey ho. Total Warr [...]

I'm comfortably ensconced back at family HQ and full of the serenity and sanctuary that only trips back to childhood homes can deliver. There's always something of a nostalgia trip being back here, and right now that's being exacerbated by Pete Hickman & The Divers . The London quartet's chalky, easy-on-the-ears rock style recalls some of my teenage loves: Pearl Jam, Bush and, later, Matchbox 20. That's not to say they're simply a '90s throwback, though - there's plenty more to them than that. But I'll leave that to you to find out... [...]

I featured this 2:54 song recently in Friday Films , but it bears repeating: partly for its sublime stalkery-goth-trance feel, and partly because it makes me feel similarly to the below great poem by Rod McKuen , about a captured early-hours moment in a fragile relationship. Click here to view the embedded video. 'Stanyan Street' You lie bent up in embryo sleep below the painting of the blue fisherman without a pillow. The checkered [...]