We've blogged about Real Fur before ( here ) so let's skip the bio. But what we didn't do was talk about The Fool, an excellently angular, alt-rock number full of lovely jangles. So now we are. Because it's great. [There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]
I look at her and think of all the things I want to say. I'll tell her about this great book I just read, and an exhibition we'll both like. I'll comment on her bag and say oh, I've shopped there too. I'll let her know how gaspingly pretty she looks, how it almost makes me cry. I'll reveal my innermost fears, my deepest failings, my fatal flaws, because I know she'll forgive them. I'll pledge everlasting loyalty. I'll tell her my email password and give her my pin number. I'll propose. Except I won't, I don't, I shan't say [...]
photo by Harry Mitchell Available for free via their Facebook page, Breton 's new five-track EP Blanket Rule feels like a return to their squat-party-playing days . The quintet - who live together at bretonLABS, where they also make video and doubtless other wacky stuff - throw dirty industrial bass, fizzing beats, scratchy vocals and regular changes of pace into an experimental cauldron, and emerge with a record that feels very underground, very visceral. It's fast and thrilling, then slow and muttered; an antidote to fresh air, a soundtrack for painkiller [...]
As Guy Connelly and the rest of Clock Opera 's debut album nears (it's due in spring), an advance single, Once And For All , comes out tomorrow. It's more straightforwardly indie than some of their fare, and feels full of fondness, nostalgia and optimism; of hard-learned lessons and euphoric new beginnings. This being Clock Opera, it's backed by a superb, moving video: Click here to view the embedded video.
Last time SOIWT profiled Charli XCX , we had her down as a queen of darkness, due to both mascara and morose music - and all that before we heard Salem's remix of Stay Away . But on more recent effort Nuclear Seasons , while the industrial, noir-pop elements remain discernible, a softer sound is revealed - a Top of the Pops friendliness - and perhaps we got her all wrong. Click here to view the embedded video. [...]
The throbbing, groggy bass in Fever Dream 's murky post-punk songs sounds like an addict who just can't quit his habit. Every so often, triumphantly, he flushes all the drugs down the toilet; "this time it's for ever", the real deal, except it's not, it never is, and inside his head he knows it's not, he knows that in two months he'll be repeating this symbolic performance, and it'll be just as pointless, just as contrived, and the only truly brave thing to do would be to admit that he can't quit, that he's weak, that the resolve is lacking, that the need is just too [...]
Breaking from SOIWT's normal musicians focus, here's a new-music initiative well worth knowing about: Future Sound Share is a London-based project dedicated to supporting new and emerging artists. It plays their music to lucky online visitors; bands and artists keen to appear can send in their demos or singles (details here ) for consideration. Currently it's just on Facebook , but a devoted website will soon follow. Says founder David J. Houston: "I started Future Sound Share because of a passion for new music that started [...]
Newly signed to Young & Lost Club , London rocksters Whales in Cubicles recently announce themselves with two-faced single You'll Never Win : initially weathered and understated, it finishes in a brash, punkish fit of pique, all hot and bothered. Check their Bandcamp for news of imminent gigs. [There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]
Bold, brassy and brash, Comet Sands ' single Andromeda ( mp3 ) veers dementedly from angular-rock quirkiness through cocaine strings to a sort of all-in racket, before finishing with something akin to a burp, spent and pleased with itself. Other tunes on the London act's free collection of songs - catchily called Recordings and Live Demos - are similarly careering, such as the his-and-hers hoopla of Somehow , or just super-snarey, like Lake Baikal , which must be the screwiest song ever recorded about a deep Russian pond. And then there's the proggy [...]
photo by Hanna-Katrina In some typical city, amid an unremarkable neighbourhood, within a featureless flat, inside a plaid room, under a watery yellow light, a svelte figure dances intently: twirling, twisting, writhing, exulting, existing. She's not scared, not anymore. She dances to the elegant , noirish pop music of London fourpiece Woman's Hour . She's free. Woman's Hour - Jenni ( mp3 )
Brother Reade - Lucifer As dark, dense and sweet as treacle, this dubby, reverb-drenched muttering from LA hip-hop duo Brother Reade is best suited to antisocial hours - until 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 in the morning... (track six below) * Damu - Ridin' The Hype (Feat. Trim) It's 8am and you're still at the party listening to some sexy, glitched-up haze rap by Manchester's Damu. The drugs are wearing off, the vodka's [...]
Great news for all SOIWT readers: as of this week, my chum Harriet (that's her, up there, a lot) will be joining me (Richard) on the writing duties - Monday Musics, new-band blogs, the works. She writes brilliantly and is suitably strange, so there's lots to look forward to. She also lives in Clapham and likes bananagrams, but no-one's perfect. From now on, look out for the name at the top of each blog to see who's writing it. [youtube 3UnA06HHW8Q
One day I say super-significant things, and speak surely of potential holidays, meeting friends, Valentine's Day, plans. Then another day, soon after, I feel I'd rather be alone, that I'm not as besotted as I should be, that I'm not sure at all. Why? I don't know. The answer is impenetrable: a language I don't speak, a key under a too-heavy rock. The answer is the core of these shadowy, compelling songs by rising London stars Ghost Eyes . All I know is how stupidly sorry I am for the pain caused. They Left by [...]
After a two-year silence, Hackney psych-rockers Django Django finally have a new, self-titled album due, on 30 January. The three songs below give some idea of what to expect. A penchant for discord apparently remains present and correct, such are varying styles of Waveforms and Drumforms ' trance-laden atmospherica and Default 's chirpy, radio-friendly hooks. That latter song also appears to foretell more of a mainstream appeal; this from a band whose furious anthems previously made for unconvinced first-time listeners and the hardcorest of devotee fans. The new stuff sounds excellent either way, and one thing's [...]
Last night in the Old Queen's Head, normal rules didn't apply. During a wondrous, spellbinding set by Wilde - aka Ollie Briggs, recently featured here - the Islington institution's upstairs room was packed, but Logic clearly hadn't made it. It was obvious by how Wilde was the first act on stage, and yet instead of the mandatory sparse room, he had a packed, attentive audience. And then by how, despite this being a London gig by an unheralded act, there was hushed wonder rather than an irritating volume of drunken chatter. I couldn't have [...]
Check out this stately, slumberous rock number, the title-track from London band Colours , part of a three-track 73 due out on Marshall Teller next month. It's a limited run of only 250 vinyl presses, with a bonus MP3 thrown in for good measure. (via SEXBEAT ) COLOURS // Drip Haze Colours are also playing a couple of good-sounding gigs imminently: supported by Crushed Beaks at The Drop on Saturday 28 January, and then a free-entry release-celebration night, with help from Dignan [...]
Ever tempted to go travelling? To cancel your credit card, grow a silly beard and live out of a tatty rucksack for nine months? If so, you'd better to listen to this free new album by London act Flamingods (previously featured here ) - it's all about being brave enough to leave the western world behind, and live somewhere foreign and exotic. It's also absolutely ideal for listening during that bit of a house party where you sit with silent strangers around a mesmerising bonfire, sharing wholesome joints and smiling pointlessly.
Some Of It Was True!
No Church In The Wild
Nas - Daughters
The Rains of Castamere by The National
CHROMATICS "THESE STREETS WILL NEVER LOOK THE SAME"
DIIV "How Long Have You Known?" (OFFICIAL VIDEO)
iamamiwhoami: kin - Teaser
Album Review: alt-J – An Awesome Wave
Azealia Banks – ’1991′ & ‘Van Vouge’
Big Boi & Theophilus London (feat. TRE LUCE) - 'She Said OK'
