>> Please do not construe our silence on the release of Big Deal 's full-length debut Lights Out as anything other than a lack of time on our part. We followed the band closely through the release of their early singles in 2010 and 2011, and wrote about Big Deal most recently here in October. We are pleased that the charming and hazy full-length Lights Out lives up to all that early promise. As Mr. Yang pointed out in his spot-on assessment here , yes, the London-based duo is working [...]
>> Fans of hazy, dreamy minimalist indie rock rejoice! Boston duo Travels will release Dec. 1 a limited edition, 7" vinyl single and download package. The A-side of the single, "The Sun Shines Down On Me," is a Daniel Johnston cover, and the flip is a gently bouncing strummer titled "Stencil." The single comes with a download code to get digital versions of those songs as well as three more, turning the whole shebang into a digital EP, no? But wait, there's more: the physical package also includes a 7" x 7" colored still from an [...]
>> We were excited to hear from Mike Quinn , who in the prior decade fronted erstwhile Scranton, PA-based indie rock champions Okay Paddy . That band's 2006 set The Cactus Has A Point [ review here ] was one of our favorite records of 2006 . Around the time Okay Paddy hung up its gloves for the last time, Quinn moved on to the more trad-leaning folk/vaudeville/bluegrass concern ...And The Moneynotes , which put out a couple nifty, sometimes wacky, releases including New Cornucopia! , which we reviewed here [...]
>> Fans of Glaswegian indie rock heroes Projekt A-ko received a thrill Sunday when an email went out to purchasers of the band's towering 2009 debut Yoyodyne . The email included a link to an only-recently completed cover of Drop Nineteen 's landmark tune "Winona," which was featured on the erstwhile Boston band's 1990 Caroline Records debut Delaware . The email from Projekt A-ko also announced the band was taking pre-orders for a planned sophomore set that is to be complete by the end of the year; 10 pounds gets the you the [...]
I've missed far too much music in the past year to make a proper best of list, so instead, here's a list of 22 songs that I've loved from 2009. Listed in alphabetical order, not preference. Even though all of them are bloody good. 4 or 5 Magicians - Preaching to the Converted So 2009 didn't turn out to be the year that 4 or 5 Magicians finally "made it". They did manage to put out their first proper album though, and despite a few missteps, it's an excellent start. [...]
So that was 2009, huh? Besides all the day-job stuff, we'd be happy for another year just like it, musically and personally. We loathe when people say "this year wasn't very good for music" or crap like that, because, frankly, if you're saying that you weren't trying hard enough. There's always more music, and there is always great music. But enough of that rant. We're pleased with the array of artists we spotlight below; we hope you'll find some things here that had escaped your attention heretofore, and that you derive as much enjoyment from listening to them as we [...]
Here it is, our annual salute to the greatest of the (contemporary) greatest: our most-listened-to tracks of 2009. The usual rules apply: each band only gets one song, so despite the fact that most of our Top 10 most-listened-to 2009 tracks in ITunes are from Johnny Foreigner 's superlative Grace And The Bigger Picture , only the most-played track gets a slot on our list below. The main reason for doing this list is to spotlight great songs that might not have been on an album that warrants best-of-the-best status for the year. The inclusion of George [...]
>> We were rapping with our tweeps last week on the Interzizzles about the wonderful Glaswegian indie rock trio Projeckt A-ko , who released the superlative full-length Yoyodyne this past spring. The discussion reminded us that when we had communicated with band fronter Fergus Lawrie last he had mentioned that writing and recording for a new Projekt A-ko was already in the works. We checked back in with Mr. Lawrie last weekend, who provided us with an update on all things A-ko. Recording started a year ago at The Diving Bell studio in Glasgow, at [...]
I covered Projekt A-ko six months ago just before their album Yoyodyne was released. In the time since, I've discovered that album is superb, and certainly in contention for best of the year. I don't have any reason to write about them again now (no new single or anything), but hey, some of you might have overlooked this on release. You'll be doing yourself a large disservice if you continue to do so. Projekt A-ko utilise all of those elements that made the 90s indie rock scene so interesting. [...]
Johnny Foreigner will headline a tour of the UK in October to celebrate the release of their sophomore full-length Grace And The Bigger Picture , an album that we expect will be our favorite of the year (although it already has stiff competition in the form of Projekt A-ko 's absurdly perfect Yoyodyne ). Grace And The Bigger Picture will be released 26 October in the UK on Best Before Records. It is preceded 12 October by a second single from the set, "Criminals," whose tiny cover art you can see here . [...]
Hey, it's contest time! We need a name for our weekly, "here's ten songs that we think are really good" column. Please submit a comment with your suggestion. The winner will win....stuff. We'll give you an option of something nifty from our box of delicious promos, passes to a show in your area from any of the bands we've featured on TDOA or....the opportunity to ask one question of a band that we're interviewing in the near future! We think that last one is nifty, but we'll leave that option up to the winner. Contest ends on Sunday, August 2nd. [...]
I will have to admit a bit of a bias towards Projekt A-ko . I have been following the music of these crazy kids from Glasgow, Scotland for at least 13 years. Those in the know might remember Fergus Lawrie, Elaine Graham, & Ian Graham from their hugely popular previous band Urusei Yatsura (in the US, they were released simply as Yatsura). The music of Projekt A-ko still contains the high energy, fun loving spirit of Yatsura, but it is beautifully tempered by years of experience and the natural musical maturation process. The result is a [...]
May 17, 2009, 5:03am
»78s
Morgen geht der Sommer auf 78s los, im Bewusstsein, dass die Langzeit-Wetterprognosen für diesen Sommer nicht sehr gut stehen. Wir können uns aber nicht um alles kümmern, sondern lediglich für die musikalischen Rahmenbedingungen sorgen. Den esten Paukenschlag gibt's morgen Montag. Heute stimmen wir euch darauf ein und zwar mit einer brandheissen Band aus Glasgow, die sich aus den Überresten von Urusei Yatsura geformt hat, die sich 2001 augelöst haben: Projekt A-Ko. Die Kollegen von No Conclusion schreiben zurecht: "The most pavementy since Pavement". Das Debüt ist Ende April erschienen und wir haben [...]
![[MP3] Projekt A-Ko](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/1702566_lg.jpg)
Nýverið bauðst mér áframhaldandi staða sem gestapenni á breska vefritinu indie-mp3.co.uk. Ég hef nú ekki mikinn tíma þessa dagana til ritstarfa, en tókst þó að hósta upp úr mér núna nýverið viðtali við skosku sveitina Projekt A-Ko, sem var stofnuð upp úr rústum frábærrar sveitar sem hét Urusei Yatsura. Projekt A-Ko varð til árið 2001 og gaf núna nýverið út fyrstu breiðskífu sína, Yoyodyne. Ég náði tali af forsprakka sveitarinnar, Fergus Lawrie, og læt hér fylgja með viðtalið og tóndæmi. Njótið vel. Some of you might remember a little band from Glasgow, [...]
[PHOTO CREDIT: Alex Woodward/Crimson Glow Photography ] We've raved about Projekt A-ko 's towering debut Yoyodyne so much already that a review at this point would be superfluous. Instead, we've asked band fronter Fergus Lawrie for a track-by-track breakdown of the record, whose official release date is Monday in the U.K. Mr. Lawrie was kind enough to oblige, but first we do have these remarks: if there is anything disappointing about Projekt A-ko 's full-length debut it is that, at least for the time being, the band is solely a recording unit, and no [...]
>> The wait is over, and it was surprisingly short: the first single from the planned sophomore set from Birmingham, England noise-pop titans Johnny Foreigner will be for the new tune "Feels Like Summer." The single, which will be issued by Best Before Records in the UK in May, is likely to appear on the forthcoming record, which according to our intrepid KSDS colleague Luke Cotton will be released in September or October. Mr. Cotton, who saw Johnny Foreigner Monday night at Islington Academy in London, also reports that the tune "Custom [...]
You know I'm smitten with three things when it comes to a band; a good heavy bass beat, some reverb, and if they're from the UK I'm more than happy. Well, I bring you Projekt A-ko , my dears. I've been hoarding this for far too long and it's damn well time to share. Their album is out April 20 and you can get it directly from them. They have a great combination of sound, girl/guy vocals, and chutzpa which results in this killer little album, which you are gonna find quite addicting. Fergus Lawrie [...]
We suppose we should start at the beginning of the story, which is this: when we were music director at the radio station of our small liberal arts college in Connecticut in 1996 we took delivery of copious excellent records. And in those days, pre- ubiquitous Interhoozle and MySpazzz and all that, one reliable indicator of whether the indie rock you were about to hear was any good was what label it was released on. So when we saw a new CD EP come through the door that spring from the very respectable Che Records, we took notice. The disc [...]
Two Great British Hopes in a row. Both from Glasgow. Both really bloody good. Every now and then a band I've never heard of previously will come out of nowhere that I immediately fall in love with. Usually these bands tend to be ones that play on my nostalgia for the US indie scene of the 90s. Projekt A-ko is no exception to this, drawing from the Pavement, Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jnr playbook. Marching in as if it's still 1993, the band instantly assault the ears with lots and [...]
I received a very nice e-mail from Darren who runs Filthy Little Angels in the UK. He not only wrote to me regarding his own label but also mentioned a band that I might like. It's like this guy knows me! He gave me a heads up about Projekt A-ko featuring three former members of Urusei Yatsura who happen to be a band I enjoyed quite a bit in their day. Now I have a new band to enjoy! Frankly, I think we all need new bands to enjoy. I [...]
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Didn’t We Almost Have It All – Whitney Houston 1963-2012
