My New Favourite Band

fránçois & The Atlas Mountains... bonjour Bristol

2009-04-23T20:16:00.017+01:00

fránçois 'Golden Lips'

Even if he was back of a bus ugly like the singing woman fix-up on that Simon Cowell thing there'd still be plenty more to like about Bristol resident fránçois... like, say, his actual music.

The French ex-pat arrived in Bristol in 2003 and wasted little time in serving up his UK debut long-player in 2004. 'Les Anciennes Falaises' (probably doesn't translate as 'my false teeth taste like aniseed', but would be nice if it did) is terribly lo-fi even by lo-fi standards, but you can hear it's all there, you can hear what's to come - the deft touch with melody, the breathy bi-lingual vocal, the odd-sounding instruments, Casios, toy trumpets et al... and then he found a band, and with it his feet.

The Atlas Mountains collective are good, very good. They add that extra ping to fránçois. It would appear that they are to Bristol what The Fence Collective are to Edinburgh. And on closer inspection, Bristol would appear something of a hotbed. Try The Mountain Parade, Arctic Circle and The Bumblebees to name but three. Maybe Bristol can be my new Manchester...

Anyway, couldn't decide which fránçois track to wrap your ears in, so if you like this I can only implore you to hunt down 'Tour De France', a magnificent, bruised and swollen romp of a song. Oh, hang on... consider it hunted. And then there's the excellent 'The People To Forget' album, which for a mere £7.29 you can get from Norman Records. Look out also for a new 10-inch called 'Her River Raves Recollections', which is due soon.

More hear...
- A surprising amount of stuff to have a look-see at. First there's the proper website
- Then there's the old MS
- And lastly but not leastly, there's some record labels, where you should be buying his records... first, Bristol's StichStich, who also have a MS, and second, from Spanish Spain, the curious Lesjos Discos
- How about a last.fm page?

The Answering Machine... Manchester calling, again

2009-03-11T20:53:00.007Z

The Answering Machine 'Oh Christina'

Maybe it's just me, I don't think it is, but what is it about Manchester? I did seem to spend an inordinate amount of time there or there abouts in the olden days, so maybe it got into my blood, dunno, but as my regular reader will know, I am strangely drawn, virtually at least, more often than not to Manc music.

Poking around as usual tonight, and the Manchester correspondent in me kicked in once more while playing the friends of friends of friends of game on MySpace.

The Answering Machine are one of those bands that make me wish, like a lot of bands do these days, that Melody Maker was still around. We'd have been all over this lot like a rash. Rattling along, and with the kind of licks that could do a 99 in mere seconds, The Answering Machine have a hint of The Undertones about them or maybe it's a little bit Wedding Present-y. There's the mereist glimpse of early Blur in there too. But not only do they sound corking, they look pretty natty too. The complete package if you will.

Anyway, once again my research has proved incisive - by looking at their picture I know there is four of them and one of them is a lady, who plays bass. I suspect the other people in the picture do things like singing and playing other instruments that aren't the bass. I know Lamacq has given them a run out and there's a Riley session in the bag too. I should pay much more attention, but you know, I'm kind of glad I don't, I'm glad I can dip in and out and find gems like this.

Note to self - Keep up the good work.

More hear...
- The MS, natch
- And rather nicely, they provide a handy blog for reference
- They're on tour right now, dates on the MS
- Buy their new single, 'Cliffer', right here
- Finally, but not leastly, their record label, Heist or Hit, has a site. Nice.

Swedish Shoes... sweet sole music

2009-02-24T19:55:00.012Z

Swedish Shoes 'Sleep And Eat'

What's red and lies in the gutter? A dead bus. Or in our case, two or three, because see, they all appeared at once when we decided we were open for business again yesterday and all died of shock when we served up our second post in as many days. It won't last.

While I was rummaging yesterday, I came across Swedish Shoes on the previously mentioned swedesplease.net. This much I know - they're called Ola Angleby and Joakim Näslund, who may or may not look like the above picture. And that's it. I'm not even sure if they're just called Shoes, adding the Swedish bit to differentiate themselves from all those bands called Shoes in other parts of the world.

What I know for certain is they sound - to quote my old pal - literally quite good. Cleverer people than me have already said there's a hint of Antony off of the Johnsons, which you'd have to agree with. Not sure where their Depeche Mode comparison comes from though. No entirely sure it's necessary for the end of the song to descend into its odd folk wigout, but hey, who am I to complain when there's handclaps too. Who's anyone to complain when there's handclaps? Enormously likable stuff.

More hear...
- Erm, there's just the MySpace, which is here

hjaltalín... mjög góður örugglega

2009-02-23T20:11:00.009Z

hjaltalín 'Traffic Music'

Gosh, is that the month already? The sharper knives among you will have noticed we completely dropped out back there, and for some considerable time too. So long in fact we missed Xmas, New Year, the entire month of January and, indeed, most of February.

If this was a proper job and not our own do what we like, when we like sort of place we'd have been sacked some time ago. Thankfully, it is our very own do what we like place. Ha.

Easing ourselves back in like you'd ease yourself into a very cold swimming pool, we were stumbling around with our cloth ears flapping madly when we discovered The Music Alliance Pact.

Essentially a collection of MP3 blogs from around the world, serving up a track a month, we found MAP on the rather nice swedesplease.net and spent a happy evening listening to stuff from Brazil and Argentina, Canada, Chile, New Zealand... February's selection features tracks from 22 countries, the pick of the bunch, hands down, is Iceland's magnificent hjaltalín.

We're not sure how many of them there actually are, but we've studied pictures and have counted between seven and nine. A mini orchestra then, they come fully loaded with violins, cellos, bassoons, clarinets, accordions, trumpets, trombones, french horns, singing, the lot. They remind us of the very finest moments of Mr Jake Shillingford's My Life Story polished with a hankie from the very top draw of (inevitably) The Arcade Fire. There's probably some Paul Heaton in there too for good measure. Some say it's a bit Mercury Rev, which you suppose it might be.

hjaltalín are hardly a secret we know, but give us a chance. We're easing in slowly. They are uh-mazing. Louise, you will love them, but Simon won't.

More fine new music soon. No, really.

More hear...
- This year we will be mostly bigging up last.fm. Hear more hjaltalín here
- We will also be continuing to point out that every band in the world has a MS
- And it would be deeply amiss of us not to point out you can actually still BUY music. Their very fine debut album, 'Sleepdruk Sessions' is here for less than a tenner.

Ivan Campo... they shoot, they score

2008-12-22T21:13:00.003Z

Ivan Campo 'The Curse'

Mancester's Ivan Campo have been brewing via my headphones for a few weeks now, I should have written about them an age ago, but haven't. Apologies Ed. There's a good reason I've been so tardy though - I can't decide which flipping song I like best. I can't.

Named after the notorious big-haired Spanish defender (who is currently being over-looked for a place in the back four at Ipswich Town), I've been travelling a lot recently and the eight Ivan songs in my possession have been every mile.

I think 'Forgetful Fred' might be my favourite. I've listened to it a lot. A. Lot. How can you not like something that gently swells with delightful sunshine calypso? Where Manc lads get sunshine calypso from is anyone's guess. With not one song wandering over 2'40", it's easy to listen again and again and again. I have done and can confirm it's easy. 'Lotus Eater', with its Merseybeat bounce, is straight off the set of 'Ready Steady Go', while the foot-tapping twang of 'Rat Race' ambles off up I Am Kloot street, but i think, by a nose, the gentle shimmering plinky-plonk of 'The Curse' gets my vote.

If you need a peg to hang your coat on, it lands them in territory occupied by near neighbours The Coral, as does 'Darling Diva', which is just lovely, and it's alarm clock percussion is a delight on a stick. There's that proper off-kilter sensibility that we like so much round these parts, they also have a quite brilliant knack for a tune, and the kind of soul only bands from the North-West seem able to muster. And as your default Manchester correspondent, I should know.

As an aside, their new EP, 'Super 7', is produced by Yorkie who, fact fans, was in a band called Space. It feels odd having to explain who Space are. In the late Nineties they were properly famous. They were top boys, and I enjoyed their company enormously when I spent time with them for a Maker cover, which was a rare thing - enjoying the company of pop stars, not me writing Maker covers, no, no. I particularly recall Yorkie's football talk and finely tuned sense of humour. Glad to hear he's still making good use of himself.

You'll be hearing more from Ivan Campo I'd wager.

More hear...
- There's the MS then, but there's also a proper site with a ton of music that's NOT on MS. We like that.
- Their new EP, 'Super 7', will be with us in March 2009.

Junior Jaguar... pleasing to behold

2008-12-13T20:02:00.005Z

Junior Jaguar 'Divine'

The really, really nice thing about doing MNFB is the raft of emails we've started getting recently. People actually seem to to like what we're up to, and they want their music to be a part of it. People like Junior Jaguar, who kindly explained he'd mailed two other sites as well as us. Mp3hugger and 2UIBestow being the other two.

It's great that people seem to becoming more discerning, that they're not taking the kitchen sink approach and mailing everyone listed on HypeM, but they're picking and choosing. We are genuinely flattered that music is specifically coming in our direction too. Thanks, and keep it coming.

Things I know about Junior Jaguar then. He's 25 years old. He lives in America, somewhere. He does all this in his room. With insight like that, there's little wonder I was a music journo of some repute is there?

What I do know is that it's rare, very rare, to find an artist you can describe as unknown these days. Even the most hopeless artists have thousands of listens and hundreds of friends on MySpace. Junior Jaguar has precisely six friends on MySpace, where the two songs he has posted have been listened to 221 times... and I think I've contributed to half of those listens.

When JJ turned up on our virtual doorstep last week we were gobsmacked, not only because he's quite a secret, but at work here is some quality tunemongering. There's a fantastic timelessness too - it feels very seventies, and brilliantly so. A bit Steely Dan perhaps, a dash of Wings (or am I getting confused with The Killers?), some Nick Drake...

Of the two songs, we're honking like over-excited geese at 'Divine', although Kevin the Hugger is flapping his flippers in the direction of the more gentle 'Morning'. This really is music to get properly exited about. We love the loose, scampering Bowie-esque vocal on 'Divine', the swirling, soaring melody, and the stop and start bit before it gallops off towards its climax made us want to stand up and applaud. Thrilling stuff.

There's a full-length coming early in 2009, which we can't wait to hear. You also wonder how far down the playing live road he is... you get the feeling this would be quite something if he got it right.

Junior Jaguar is good. Very good. It's accomplished stuff, and we're going to be standing alongside MP3 Hugger saying told you so when JJ gets a break, which if there's any justice in the world he will.

More hear...
- All there is, is right here on his MS. You don't need much else for now. More soon!

Delorentos... this time next year, Rodders

2008-11-27T19:53:00.011Z

Delorentos 'All This Time'

MNFB has been dribbling away for almost a year now (new year's resolution - write about more music in 2009), and just recently the emails have started to become much more regular. The really nice thing is, the mails have started to be addressed to My New Favourite Band, rather than just being a name in a massive mass mailout. Must be doing something right I like to tell myself.

So anyway, Dublin four-piece Delorentos. They sent me a nice email with a quote from my old pal Jim Carroll who claimed in The Irish Times that their debut album, "In Love With Detail", was one of the best Irish debut albums of 2007, which sounds like a backhanded complement, until you listen. And if it's good enough for Jim, I usually listen.

First thought was that it's a shame they weren't around at the backend of the Nineties - if they were Melody Maker would have been all over them like one of those nice rashes you get when you like stuff. Having been in more MM cover meetings than is healthy for one lifetime, I would say that a cover wouldn't have been out of the question. I'm sure I'm also not wrong when I say this lot are probably much, much better live than on record. And on record they sound pretty flipping good.

There's something of the early U2s about them, with that thrumming, sparse punctuating bass rumble and the chiming guitar, but there's also the infectious pop mongering of my particular favourite Dublin sons, Ash, chucked in for good measure.

No slouches, this lot have got it worked out. Check out their MS for further proof if it were necessary that it looks and sounds like Delorentos more than ready to take a step up.

More hear...
- Ver space where you'll discover 'All This Time' isn't typical of their spiky pop thrum. Further listening is a must.
- £5.96 gets you their debut album from the music journos clearing house of choice, Amazon Marketplace.

Francis & Louis... goosebumps at 20 paces

2008-11-16T22:19:00.011Z

Francis & Louis 'Stuck In A Car'

Norwich, England, on an almost winter Sunday night isn't nearly as glamourous as it sounds. What? Oh. The draw tonight is the promise of seeing Francis & Louis at a record label launch in a pub called The Birdcage, but used to be called The Pottergate Tavern, in the olden days. I know this because I used to work in record shop just up the road, in the olden days. Back then, if people wanted to listen to music, they had to buy the stuff from somewhere. Imagine.

So, anyway, Francis & Louis. Moshi Moshi's gentle 10-year trundle into your ears has been like a country-sized carpet being slowly unrolled. So much so, it seems as a label, they have been generationally inspiring, if that's an expression. If it's not, it is now.

As James - my guide for the evening - points out, the eight bands on show here do 21st century punk rock. Punk rock where the young are mildly annoyed by stuff, and everyone sits down. Singers, audience, the pub cat, the lot.

Much to my amazement, it's quite a treat.

The label, Bare-Feet, is the brain child of Leeds-based producer David Nickerson and Norwich musical royalty, Alex Carson. A rummage is worth your time as it will serve up some real curios - we like The Middle Ones enormously, and think Chessboard Fanatics are interesting, if the piano got more of a workout, and the banjo less of one.

Francis & Louis, though, are a class apart as James knows, which is why we're here. The sound - a small PA in a small backroom - is the same for everyone, yet F&L sound fuller and richer through it, and have considerably more thrum than the other seven acts put together.

Louis, or Lucy to her friends, is utterly captivating, playing a guitar like a drum - twanging out a bass rhythm, she adds a thump here, a tap there - it's the old Jack White trick of making more sounds with one instrument than seems poss.

But it's the singing bit where F&L really step up. Louis takes the lead with an unnerving wobble to her voice that is almost spooky and at times sounds so delicate, so fragile, scooping it up and putting it in your pocket to keep it safe seems sensible. All the while Francis' more powerful voice - while wandering in and out, seemingly unplanned and like it was the most natural thing in the world - acts like the punctuation marks. I'm assured there's more and better to come, that they can swap lead vocal duties with ease and that Francis has an extra gear which is quite, quite gobsmacking.

Being on a bill with seven other acts, and on a Sunday night to boot, means only three songs. But for now, that was quite gobsmacking enough. We'll settle for the goosebumps at 20 paces, thanks very much. It's all quite, quite magical.

More hear...
- The MS, natch. Wondering at what point to bands start choosing names based on MySpace availability?
- Check the 'infix mix' of the corking 'Right Or Wrong' on their MS. There's something vaguely 'Sing It Back' about it. F&L, also available for disco dancing.
- If you are in Norwich, England (no idea why you would be, it is in the middle of nowhere), the girls are on at the Arts Centre on November 28.

Keyboard Rebel... hot tramp I love you so

2008-09-21T19:23:00.017+01:00

Keyboard Rebel 'My Lordship'

Hello, your default Manchester music scene correspondent here. After featuring Mr Aiden Smith on these very pages I have been inundated with an email from another Manchester band.

Nice as that makes me feel, I'm one step ahead of the very fine Keyboard Rebel. I said nice things about them a while back when I was working on DIY download site indiestore.com (to be honest, finding good stuff on indiestore was all a bit needle and haystack, so quality leapt at you like hungry hound in a sausage shop).

Has to be said though - even if I do have to say it myself - my cloth ears found a fair share of needles. I picked up on Glasvegas early doors. I did.

Anyway, Keyboard Rebel.

Turns out the Rebel have a debut long-player, 'Pop Grenade', heading your way on 13 October. And I can probably not exclusively reveal it's a proper treat. Think Hot Chip as Knights of the Round Table ('Mondeo'), Evan Dando does Robin Hood ('Forest Song'), Wall of Sound goes Lord of the Rings ('Northern Sherpa')... I could go on, but the band would probably thank me not to.

Lyrically the album is a double treat. Take the opening line of 'Justice' - "Lower the drawbridge/and ready the horses/we're taking a ride...". Wonderful. Turns out considerably more barbed than its bounce lets on too. Love the "I've got dudes pulling 16-hour shifts because of you" line. What on earth? Without frothing too much, it's an album that on closer inspection keeps serving up rewards, musically and lyrically.

When there's bands out of Manchester this good, it makes you wonder how the like of the Courteeners have got so far. You listening Jo Whiley? You should be.

More hear...
- Oh you know, myspace, natch.
- A website for the album.
- Might as well check out Slick Nine site too while you're all link clicking happy.

Panda Bear... keep a (black) eye on this one

2008-08-20T20:22:00.010+01:00

Panda Bear 'Bros'

My latest fortuitous stumble is Noah Lennox. Appreciate that for all the cool people I've utterly, utteterly missed the boat on Panda Bear. It's a boat that's come and gone more than a few times, and I've missed it every time.

Still, better late than never. I'm going to be rummaging further, but this jaw-dropper should keep me going for a while. Sounds like Brian Wilson on acid, someone said... erm, wasn't Brian Wilson was on acid? It's more like listening to the Walker Brothers late at night on a medium wave.

The six-minute edit we've got here doesn't do it justice, you do need the full 13-minute version... it would have killed my bandwidth, but there's a nice link below in the More Hear bit.

Oh, and there's a great review and interview with Noah on paperthinwalls.com, give that a go, it'll save me some time. It's a nice site, we liked it a lot and got a bit sidetracked and spent too much time there when we really should have been writing stuff for here. Still.

Anyway, pin your ears back and enjoy.

More hear...
- You can buy the full, gob-smacking, 13-minute version here. And you really should, believe us.
- You can visit his rather sparse myspace here

This week I have mostly been...

2008-08-17T19:32:00.009+01:00

... playing with music websites.

There's two that I'm liking a lot.

First up, there's muxtape.com. You probably won't be surprised to learn that it's an online mixtape. My first outing is just here.

Sign up for an account, upload 12 tracks, jiggle them around until they're in a nice-sounding order and that's it. Simple. Of course, says the disclaimer, you must own the copyright to anything you upload. Yup.

It's amazing how commonplace uploading music has become. Thing is, when music becomes entirely promotional, which it surely will do at some point in the not to distant future, the idea of trying to criminalise your customers will be as laughable as it actually is. And of course, file-sharing is only bad when it suits the labels. Here at MNFB we get emails from bands themselves (keep them coming), PRs and record labels, saying here's an MP3 feel free to do with it what you will. That's us, a tiny little mp3 site with a couple of hundred readers. Imagine how swamped properly popular sites must be. It's a real double standard - please promote our new artists with free music, but don't you dare do the same with our A-list. It makes no sense. The A-lists could afford to give the music away on every level, whereas the new artists need to be selling it, but give it away for promotional gain. It's a strange world.

Anyway, site number two that I'm liking a lot is blip.fm. Global music radar they say and who am I to argue. I'm still not entirely sure what it all does, or what it all means, but I like the blips and the props and the playlists. Mine is here.

The idea they want you to have is that you're a DJ programming your own show - there's music on the site (perhaps uploaded via the low profile upload tool, or perhaps just appearing by magic), which you can blip (which is a kind of musical Digg) or add to your playlist. Find other people you like and you can give them, as the young people say, props. Big up. Sweet.

The selection of music is impressively dizzying, there's some obscure stuff knocking around, trust me, which makes a very nice change. Type in who you're currently listening to and blip.fm will give you a big old list. You then blip (think Digg) the stuff you like, add a message and it joins the ever-scrolling homepage list.

It's very neat, and the fact I don't really get what all of it is about only makes it better. There feels like something big at work here, something that could be world-changing for music people. I'm intrigued by the possibilities of what seems to be the real beginning of social music sharing after the false starts of pandora and the very tedious last.fm.

Anyway, enough about me. Go have a look, post some muxtapes, post some blip playlists and post the links here, would love to get hand-crafted mixtapes again like I did in the olden days.

Aidan Smith... can you dig it? Oh yeah.

2008-07-25T21:54:00.009+01:00

Aidan Smith 'Drapes of Black'

I often found myself in Manchester in a previous life as a music journalist. These days I often find myself listening to bands from Manchester. There's lots of them. I took onboard the landfill indie (note new favourite expression) of The Courteeners early doors and decided nah, not for me, or words to that effect. How they got an NME cover is beyond me, says more about the sorry demise of NME than anything I guess. But what do I know? Ears of cloth, me.

Anyway... Quite how I've missed Aidan Smith is beyond me to be frank. Just look at his CV will you? Supported Badly Drawn Boy, warmed up for Turin Brakes, opened for the almighty I Am Kloot and wonderful Calexico. Impeccable.

In short, I hold my head in shame. The man is genius. His nimble tunemongery and little piano-playing fingers probably make him a sort of UK Ben Folds. There's a delicious hint of Andy Partridge in his voice, and very much an XTC sensibility about his music, which is slightly, delightfully off-kilter. And as regular readers will know (seriously doubt there are any regulars, but still), we do like a bit of off-kilter here.

Best of all, the fact he's in a jazz trio, Luke and the Dukes, who you can hire for weddings and stuff makes me honk like a goose. Like I said, genius. Why on earth don't other bands do that? Record labels take note - stop moaning about downloading and start hawking your bands out for weddings for all our sakes.

More hear...
- myspace blah blah
- Old version of his proper website and so on and so forth
- BUY BUY BUY HIS MUSIC HERE
- Oh, the can you dig it in the headline? New album called 'Allotments'. Do you see? Do you?

Cogwheel Dogs... sound as a hound

2008-07-10T21:08:00.004+01:00

Cogwheel Dogs 'Breathe'

There are many things that I like about writing about music when I feel like it. One of them is the peculiar thrill I get from seeing our posts on a site called Hype Machine.

Hype Machine is just about the most brilliant music site in the world, ever. What it does is present a snapshot of the music being posted right now to the many thousands of MP3 blogs around the world.

Aside from it being a great place for discovering some fine new music, seeing what everyone else is listening to, and reading what everyone else is writing about (it is NME for the 21st century, really it is), Hype Machine lists all the blogs it features in a handy A-Z format. Handy for bands looking for coverage.

We get quite a few mails this way. Most, you can tell, have just been knocked out to everyone, literally thousands of blogs. And to be frank, the music is crap.

Some mails, even if they have gone to everyone, make you feel special. And everyone likes to feel special now and again, right? Thanks then to Rebecca Mosley off of the wonderful Cogwheel Dogs for making us feel special this week. Nice email.

Cogwheel Dogs are Oxford duo, Rebecca on guitars and singing and cellist Tom Parnell. They make music that tip toes through the daisies one minute (see 'Breathe'), and is slashing at the pretty little flowers with a big spade the next (see 'Anticoagulant'). It's all everso slightly left of centre. And we do like ever so slightly left of centre.

Cogwheel Dogs have a faint shimmer of Dry period PJ Harvey about them, never a bad thing, and there's a very similar, very strong songwriting sensibility at work here. If we were betting folk (what? Oh), we'd say these two are going places. Ask Alan Mcgee who's booked them to for his Death Disco night at Notting Hill Arts Club on July 16. If you live in London, check them out for us will you and report back? Thanks.

And doesn't a cello make a quite gorgeous sound? It does.

More hear...
- A very nice site that actually isn't MySpace, from which you can download single 'Cress' for free.
- Oh, and a MySpace

My Chemical Romance... piano cover ahoy

2008-06-12T20:23:00.007+01:00

My Chemical Romance 'Teenagers'... on a piano

First, sorry about the enormous time lag between posts. Lots going on and little time for mucking around, which is a shame as mucking around should be compulsory for everyone.

So today then. I was in the car and "Teenagers" by My Chemical Romance came on the radio. Corking tune. I don't own it, but as I was sat at the machine it popped back into my head so I nipped over to hypem for another earful... where I found this beauty.

They say the best tunes work no matter what. You want the down and dirty "Teenagers" in a breezy Scott Joplin ragtime style? No problem. It's crawling all over the intraweb like piano-y spider, so I will take no credit for digging it up. Made me laugh out loud though, which is always a good thing to share.

Altogether now...

James Yuill... fame, remember his name

2008-05-16T20:18:00.010+01:00

James Yuill 'No Surprise'

Hello... quick one if you've a minute. A while back I was all a-gush about the excellent Moshi Moshi Singles Club compile. Tracks still pop up for my random listening pleasure and they still sound corking.

Discovered James Yuill the other day and guess what? So have Moshi Moshi. His second single will be released by the label in July. This here track, the one up there, is his debut released by Chess Club Records way, way, way back in February.

Anyway...

More hear...
- Oh you know. Unusually for a MySpace page Jamie has filled the blog bit with lots of handy links and useful info.
- His debut single, 'No Surprise', came out in February, and was limited to 500 copies, if you're real lucky you might still get one here
- July is a date for the diary because that's when the delightful Moshi Moshi have the good sense to release 'No Pins Allowed'. Do all his song titles start with the word "No"? Erm... no.
- And he actually has a proper website, not for him redirecting a URL. But then with a name like Yuill you'd guess you could actually buy a useful URL. Anyhoo, it's here.

Technically Men... music saved

2008-04-18T10:54:00.005+01:00

Technically Men 'I'm Your Girl'

Our job at The Maker, the way I saw it anyway, was to break new music. There was no MySpace (the internet was only on the production editor's machine for some odd reason), so we we had to get out there, every night, looking for bands. Sure, we had a mountain of post each day and the phones never stopped ringing, that all helped me fill the review pages, but what got me out of bed in the mornings was the discovery bit.

I found a few, and tried my damnedest to make them as famous as they all deserved to be. Of them all though, my absolute, total, complete favourites were The Lo-Fidelity Allstars. One of the finest live bands I've ever seen, some of the nicest people I've met.

I've often wondered what became of them.

Meet Technically Men. It's unmistakably Lo-fis - the corking, dark beats, the beaming melodies, and Phil's instantly recognisable Leeds drawl. I love the new-found fury, listen to 'The Questions' on their MySpace for example.

It is all utterly magnificent stuff. Thanks to James T for pointing me in the right direction. Good to hear your ears are still working despite the cold.

I've got some good memories of time spent with the Lo-fis. I first met Phil for a feature on the Camden Crawl in 1997 or thereabouts. Along for the ride were Barry Dub Pistols Ashworth, Symposium and Louis Warm Jet. We slogged round a few venues, saw some awful bands, drank a lot and managed to cop Louis Warm Jet off with Zoe Ball. Evenings out in Camden didn't get any less odd from there on in really.

I also feel slightly guilty that I hastened the departure of original singer, Dave Randall (or The Wrekked Train as he proved to be quite literally) with a typical Maker feature where I asked him a load of questions like would run naked down the street for £50 and so on. He hated every second.

Still, if I hadn't would we still have arrived at Technically Men? I probably did them a favour in the long run.

More hear...
- The MySpace, natch for more corking tunes, esp 'Netto Getto, and the aforementioned rant, 'The Questions'.
- There's a single out at the moment, perhaps on Play Louder, called 'Big Man' which is, of course, brilliant. Buy it now here, three tracks for £1.50.
- There also appears to be an album which needs investigating...

Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip... the mysterious missing Zane Lowe mix!

2008-04-07T19:31:00.011+01:00

Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip 'Look For The Woman'

Two blokes then, from Stanford Le Hope in Essex, everyone when mental for their 'Thou Shalt Always Kill' single last year, everyone frothed about their Radiohead-sampling free download 'Letter From God To Man'. Smart move that. If I was in a band the first thing I'd do is use an uncleared Radiohead sample to drum up a bit of business.

End of the month sees the release of 'Look For The Woman', the first single from their debut long one 'Angles', out on Rob da Bank's very fine Sunday Best label on May 12.

It's hard to believe the single is only out at the end of the month with the sort of battering it's been getting on Radio One. Zane Lowe has been giving it a very big 'un, which - and far be it from us to point the finger - isn't surprising when he has remixed the single.

An ultra smart bit of business from Robbie, you expect no less from him and his label really, but the thing is we can't see 'The Zane Lowe Mix' on any versions of the release. It's not on the seven-inch, the seven-inch picture disc or the CD, or the download bundle...

How so? We know Mr Lowe likes his beats, but he's hardly your first choice for a remix. We're all for giving people a chance, as is Robbie clearly, but why no sign of the mix on the single?

Far be it from us to be making mischief - perish the thought - but it suddenly occurred to have a look at Zane Lowe's MySpace, and guess what? Yup. We'd heard it described as Woodstock meets De la Soul groove' and you know what? That is what it is.

More hear...
- MySpace then for the proper, very excellent version of the single.
- Pre-order the single, and all the other remixes, from the Sunday Best site

The Tallest Man On Earth... already huge

2008-04-02T19:58:00.004+01:00

The Tallest Man On Earth 'I Won't Be Found'

Krist Novoselic and Andy Cato - the two tallest men in music I've ever met.

Krist was in his post-Nirvana band Sweet 75, and after refusing to play darts for Melody Maker I met him for brief interview. He was a massive 6'7". Andy, I went to university with before he formed Groove Armada. He is an even massiver 6'8".

The Tallest Man On Earth claims on his MySpace to be 'so tall I have a feeling that my funeral will be expensive, they'll have to saw my body in half and put the two parts in separate graves. I guess some people will mourn the top part, some the bottom.'

For someone with such a wonky moniker, and such a line in wacky humour – he cuts a very earnest dash on mp3.

TTMOE sings like a man abandoned as a child – in an abandoned farmhouse wherever it is in Sweden he's from, probably - who learnt language from a collection of scratchy Bob Dylan records (nasal croaking? Check. Atonal tuning? Check. Adenoidal vowels? Check).

But, in the most unlikely fashion it is the most touchingly, lovely sound. The track has the soaring, melancholy ring of Antony & The Johnson's 'Hope There's Someone'. With Nick Drake on acoustic guitar. And his voice removes any saccharine edge from the ringing country folk.

Single 'I Won't Be Found' is just brilliant. If all a little beard-strokey.

Not that you can tell if TTMOE has got a beard from is MySpace pic, reproduced here, above, up there. He's so tall, you see... they've had to miss his head off. Sigh.

Hilarious those Swedes. The long, long nights must fly by.

More hear:
- Erm, the old, watchamacallit for four tracks. And more tall pics.
- and here for the video to equally ace track, 'It Will Follow The Rain'. Which features a giant playing a tiny guitar.

She & Him... get her

2008-03-30T21:38:00.002+01:00

She & Him 'Why Do You Let Me Stay Here'

The 'blogsphere' has been getting all over-excited about lady actor Zooey Deschanel and man music wotsit M.Ward, erm, making music. It's not hard to hear why. The stupidly good-looking duo met making even more beautiful music for a film called 'The Go-Getter' in which young Zooey starred and the rest, as people like when to say when it's late and they can't think of anything clever, is history. Albeit very recent history.

Two points to make here, I think.

Zooey? What is going on with that name? Well... there's a story in the paper today that, and I paraphrase here, parents are increasingly falling a long, long way, right from the very top in fact, of the stupid tree when it comes to naming offspring... It's hard to fathom why you would punish your child with Samiul, Lora, Conna or An. There's more than one Cam'ron in the UK... and there are apparently 23 versions of Isabelle (including Izzabella and Yzabel). Ten parents called their little girl Lily-, and yes, that's not Lily-Rose, or Lily-May, just Lily hyphen. And a couple in New Zealand were stopped from calling their son 4Real because it contained a number. They called him Superman instead.

Second point? Completely forgotten. It'll come to me.

More hear...
- Yes. They do have a MySpace
- Doesn't look like debut album, 'Volume 1', has a UK release yet, but you can the thing on import for an unbelievable £7. That's CD, posted to you, from America, £7. And who says the music industry is in trouble.

The Rolling Stones... poor loves, they need the cash

2008-03-25T21:36:00.010Z

The Rolling Stones 'She's A Rainbow'

It's not all new, new, new round these parts. We do like a bit of old, old, old. Ask anyone who knows me well, that'll be Cuz, and he'll tell you I've never been much of one for 'old' music.

I've always meant to. Just kind of never got round to it. Too busy filling up on the new stuff. Interestingly, The Maker had a nothing pre-1990 without a reference rule. So if we mentioned The Who we had to prefix it with sixties rockers, The Who... Ridiculous, but there go. Apparently ver kids wouldn't know who The Who were.

So, The Stones then. The Sony ad isn't the only one that's used 'She's A Rainbow', easily my favourite Stones song, and one of the my favourite ever songs. Ever. Apple used it for i-Macs, the ones with, wait for it, the rainbow of colours. I had grape, it's all I could get in 1999 when I went freelance. It's still going, if a little slow, I only replaced it year before last. Surely they're not supposed to be built to last that long? Couple of months past the guarantee is the norm, right?

Anyway, waffling again. The point is Apple and Sony have used a great song by a band who just don't need the cash when there's a ton of great bands who do. See, bands are increasingly having to make cash from non-traditional sources, so surely these huge corps should be sticking some money back in by licensing music by new flesh.

And Sony really should know better what with being one of the remaining major labels. Couldn't they find a band worthy of soundtracking plasticine rabbits among their roster who could do with a few quid?

Fair play to Trident gum who slapped a wad in The Crimea's direction recently, hopefully that's just the tip of the iceberg. And who knows, if advertisers start supporting new talent maybe we'll stop fast forwarding through them on the old Sky+ and watch their adverts. How about advert breaks becoming the new MTV?

Just a thought.

Hot Club de Paris... can you dig it? Yes you can-can

2008-03-18T20:27:00.009Z

Hot Club de Paris 'Straight To Hell'

To cover The Clash you need two things. Kahunahs the size Wales or a musical death wish. The only other way you'll get away with doing The Clash justice would be if you were actually The Clash. And that ain't going to happen.

So, being a bit behind with listening (I have been slacking over the last couple of years, sorry) I have been doing my homework. I liked the Moshi compilation a lot so started rummaging through their back cat to find they had the fantastic Sukpatch onboard early doors. Sukpatch got me into a heap of trouble once. Got stuck at show in New York during CMJ and couldn't, literally, make it to the Bowery in time for the 'Patch. Slow cabs, too much traffic, massive queues, unreasonable bouncers and begging. Nothing. No big deal except Mike D, on whose Grand Royal label they were, paid for my flight specifically.

According to my rave review, they rocked. I suspect they probably did. It was the only time I reviewed a band I hadn't seen. Honest. I'll dig it out sometime.

Anyway, I found Hot Club de Paris while rummaging in Moshi Moshi's drawers and also unearthed this cover of The Clash's 'Straight To Hell' which is more than respectable. The Liverpool trio don't try too hard which is probably the key to this charming performance. Me, I like it. Big ballards then.

More hear...
- Naturally, the old wotsit
- Debut album 'Drop It Til It Pops' from last October is going for an unbelievable £2.28 +p&p on Amazon Marketplace. Music has surely never been cheaper. We should really start a campaign... or a site that sells secondhand music. Hm. Thinking.

Moshi Moshi... heap big musical dilemma

2008-03-10T20:09:00.011Z

Elle S'appelle 'Little Flame'

The end of the month sees the release of the Moshi Moshi Singles Club compilation. It's a refreshingly good record and it's giving me a proper headache. See, I'm reviewing it and my brief was to talk about the label, about why they're special, and then focus on a couple of the tracks. On the face of it, not much of a problem.

The problem is, of the 14 tracks, perhaps four (a real turkey from Kate Nash included) aren't so hot. The rest are un-put-downable. So I'm trying to choose two from Lykee Li (Swedish, cute, etc), Slow Club (junior Beautiful South), Pacific! (10cc!), The Wave Pictures (Richman meets Orange Juice/Velvets), Elle S'appelle (Altered Images), Friendly Fires (PSB)... oh, and Team Water Polo (The Killers got good) and Late of the Pier (early Human League)... I paraphrase of course, jus' saving better lines for the review. Ahem.

What's there not to like?

Oh, and I've just put my headphones back on to hear Matt and Kim's "Silver Tiles" which I didn't like on Saturday, but it's sounding pretty damn good tonight... and it also appears I have neglected the very decent Breakbot, who sound like Justice doing wall of sound (or the other way round)...

Decisions decisions. I can't even decide on a track to go here... what's it to be? The old iTunes is on shuffle so I'll post the next track up...

Reviewing music isn't as easy as it used to be. Either that, or music has got a whole, whole lot better in the last five years.

More hear...
- Huzzah, someone finally with their own website. Here.
- And MySpace, natch. And another Myspace for the Singles Club.
- And there's a free Moshi Moshi CD on the cover of this month's Artrocker. There is.

The Crimea... loopy tunes

2008-03-05T20:24:00.002Z

The Crimea 'Loop A Loop (Root Id Dub Remix)'

Forget about Radiohead, it's bands like The Crimea who are the true champions of future music. More importantly, they're the first band to have featured twice on MNFB. We should have a party or something. Or maybe I could just bang on for a bit... oh go on then...

As forward-thinking as Radiohead's pay what you want scheme was, it's going to be bands like The Crimea who will change the way things work. It has to be, because if they don't they'll have to get proper jobs.

The Crimea's new single, like their album, is entirely free... in 12 or so versions, from a raft of MP3 blogs. And this happens because? This happens because the amazing 'Loop A Loop' has been licensed for use in a TV ad for Trident chewing gum.

Of course, in the old days it would have been a massive sell out, these days it's just good sense. Funny how things change. See, the band not only get massive exposure and thousands of people asking, 'what is that chewing gum song?', they also get a healthy whack in the bank account... and best of all, no proper job.

There's usually a Peel story for most things in life, and this is no exception. He was a man of principal and refused to do ads for years, then his kids went to university and that needed paying for somehow. Perhaps he didn't need that swimming pool at Peel Acres, but hey, if Mr Sheen or baked beans are paying, what the heck, eh? Same idea.

I read an interesting piece somewhere or other of late in which it was suggested that historians will look back at the music industry in the 20th century and dismiss it as a blip, put it down to the business folk having collective brain-fade. People thought paying for bands to record and releasing albums was a viable model? My poor sides.

Oh, and you can call Radiohead as groundbreaking as you like, but anyone who downloaded the album for a couple quid soon discovered the payback when they were duly clobbered for £50 (that's per ticket) to see them play live in big parks across Europe this summer. Just saying.

More Hear...
All human life is here, well, more remixes of 'Loop A Loop' than you can eat at one sitting anyway. Enjoy.

Lightspeed Champion... I'll take a dozen please

2008-03-01T21:58:00.011Z

Lightspeed Champion 'Tell Me What It's Worth'

The thing about favourite bands is they're so unreliable. Either they split up, leaving behind a handful of decent albums if you're lucky, or they don't spilt up leaving you trying your best to like their average later works.

And even if they do manage to serve up just the right amount of musical joyousness, you will always find yourself wanting to listen to them, but it's not quite them you want to hear.

Which is why Domino Records recording artiste Dev Haynes, Mr Lightspeed Champion, is a gobsmacking addition to your new favourite band list. I'm not going to mention his previous band, Test Icicles, because then I'd have to say we had 'em on warchildmusic.com before nu rave was even invented and that would make it sound like I knew what I was doing and that won't do. 'War Child Music? Didn't they big up Kaiser Chiefs and Bloc Party early doors?' I hear you say. Indeed.

So, anyway, the point of the whole unreliable thing being? Lightspeed Champion does songwriting that tilts at just the right angle - it avoids being too mainstream, yet doesn't fall too far inside the leftfield which is a grand trick. Best, it draws from the good bits that have gone before without sounding too much like them. Lemondheads, Morrissey, Weezer, B&S, Ryan Adams, Bright Eyes, Dolly Parton, Phil Sepctor, The Arcade Fire, you know, the usual. Perhaps not Dolly Parton.

It's a constant disappointment when you find bands being raved about only to find they sound like other bands, who sound like other bands. Think six degrees of Kevin Bacon except you end up at The Beatles or Elvis, depending. In fact, you can probably link Kevin Bacon to The Beatles in six moves or less...

You could end up anywhere if you try trace Lightspeed Champion backwards. And that is very good thing indeed.

More Hear...
- You know the drill by now, obligatory MySpace page...
- Best price on Amazon Marketplace for his mighty fine 'Falling Off The Lavender Bridge' album is a frankly insulting £6.70. That's almost giving away what will be one of the albums of the year. Honestly.

Broken Records... Scottish yum yum

2008-02-28T20:27:00.002Z

Broken Records 'Nearly Home'

Forget about the Paul Simon Africa ham of Vampire Weekend already, and don't even get started with the very odd Yes-like prog of Yeasayer. NYC isn't where it's at. Nope. So where should we be looking?

Scotland.

Yup, we should all be looking at, gawping at no less, Edinburgh seven-piece (posher writers than me would call that a septet wouldn't they?) Broken Records. 'Nearly Home' is the pick of the tracks currently in their shop window. The glorious Scots burr on show is absolutely gobsmacking. That is a voice. And this is music that belts you right between the eyes and doesn't let up until about a second before you think your pounding heart is going burst. It's not often you hear music this exhilarating. Think I might need a little lie down now.

This is, hands down, the best thing I've heard this year. There's a Radio 1 Huw Stephens session lined up for next week, not to mention two London shows - I was tempted to make the 200-mile round-trip... were both shows not sold out.

Couldn't help but notice that Murray Chalmers is involved. He's the former head of press at EMI/Parlophone, did the job for 20 years. Knows a thing or two does Murray. Had a cracking falling out with him once over Mansun. All good fun.

His name alone is one of those signs that says you'll be hearing more about this lot. A lot more.

More Hear...
- You know, they do have a MySpace page.
- There's the debut four-track EP, for a bargain £5. Buy it here and call it an investment.

The Ting Tings... here come the drums

2008-02-26T19:01:00.015Z

The Ting Tings 'Great DJ (Calvin Harris Remix)'

While going about War Child business last week, I had the pleasure of Mike Smith's company. A doubly good thing. First he's a top chap, but also his company happens to be Columbia Records.

As well as his evident and infectious enthusiasm for Mark Ronson to get his deserved nod at the following night's Brit Awards – he was effusive in the recommendation of his new recruits, Salford duo The Ting Tings. He was clearly excited.

His previous latest loves take up much space on my CD shelves. Mike signed Blur, The White Stripes, Teenage Fanclub, Arcade Fire, to name a few.

Add in that The Ting Tings are a group already so hotly tipped they rank somewhere between a mid-drag Marlboro Light and a rocket re-entering earth’s atmosphere.

And this post has a disappointingly, twist-free conclusion: They really are great.

Great fun. Great image. Great tunes. And 'Great DJ' is their new single.
Oz Clarke would swill it around, and say 'I'm getting hints of Girls Aloud, mmm, a slight aroma of Blondie. Then there’s a clear top note of Gossip disco, with a bottom note of Supergrass chorus. Very nice, with only slight aftertaste of Republica.'

I'll wager that this time next year, The Tings Tings will be the onomatopoeic sound Mike’s champagne glass at the 2009 Brit Awards.

More hear...

- Watch the proper not remixed version of the single now... and aswrexham0emma comments: 'OMG i forgot to say people that don't like this song are jus smelly old people that obviously don't understand new music.'
- Usual tracks and info at ver MySpace. Will all band names from now on be chosen to ensure your MySpace url is available? Discuss.

Ok Go... the pop vid lives!

2008-02-25T09:55:00.006Z

Ok Go 'Here It Goes Again'
Look, before we get started I know I've missed the boat on this one. In fact, I'm so late that the boat would have moored in Sydney by now. And come back.

Anyway, was idly watching CBBC at the weekend. There was show that I think was called Chute, it's a bit like 'You've Been Framed' only for kids, therefore much better... Anyway, they showed this Ok Go video. I have no idea how it has passed me by, but it has.

In an age when the pop video has quickly become less interesting than wallpaper, this is utter genius. You do wonder how long it took them to a) learn the moves and b) get it right in one take. Or maybe that's just me. Anyway...

They have other videos, but only 'A Million Ways' is really worth watching. It apparently cost them a mere $10 to make. Wonder what they spent it on? Here's their YouTube 'channel' if you want more.

Vampire Weekend... fangtastic cover version

2008-02-20T09:00:00.008Z

Vampire Weekend 'Exit Music (For A Film)

I love this picture. What on earth? It's a lovely shot though.

Vampire Weekend are bigger than a big thing if you believe everything you read which you really shouldn't... and we should know.

New York is abuzz with them and little else apparently. Watch my back as I fly in the face of fashion, but it all sounds a bit odd, kind of out of place. But I guess that's probably the point. They call it Upper West Side Soweto, i think it used to be called Paul Simon. But hey, if a world music version of The Arcade Fire is your thing, it is time to fill your boots.

But, and it's a big but, they are what people like to call a "blog band" which is always good (attention caught without the $$$ of a major label marketing department and so on...) and they continue to redeem themselves in quite spectacular style by serving up a highly fashionable Radiohead cover.

Their version of 'Exit Music (From A Film)' is a bit special. I really like the bit where it sounds like they've all just fallen over. Brace yourselves.

More hear...
- Oh you know, it's the usual MySpace page. Check out 'Mansard Roofs', there's a glorious Rhodes at the beginning.
- And, the latest from the Amazon Marketplace Price Index, I'm happy to report the laws of supply and demand have kicked in and you can pick up their debut long one for a mere £4.50. Can't argue with that really.

Apes & Androids... Robot Monkey Pop

2008-02-18T10:20:00.014Z

Apes & Androids 'Nights Of The Week'

I sometimes find myself Romo-niscing - thinking wistfully of the most OTT, ridiculous Melody Maker days.

The Maker’s risk-taking verve pandered to my teenage years – unlike NME trainspotters, it was very much in touch with its feminine side.

It loved Liam for his eyes and Kurt for his lips. It was quicker to passionately embrace the glamorous, the pop, the effete... the different. And often with tongues. Shameless.

It allowed the likes of Daniel Booth to write within its pages. And it invented Romo. I daydream what it would have made of Emo? Heck, Julian Casablancas? Robyn? Klaxons? Scissor Sisters? X Factor? Buy me a pint sometime, there's bigger discussion here about...
a) was Romo when Melody Maker "jumped the shark" and...
b) does any of this matter post-web? Did it matter pre-web?

The world's oldest music weekly probably found its niche during those death throe years (there is yet another pint to be had as to when that actually began). Looking at what's going on with music today (the internet and all that), it's a shame the sages at IPC didn't think it was worth throwing a lifeline to, keep it ticking over.

And you do still double take in the newsagents when you see bands like The Wombats on the cover of the NME. And the point of closing The Maker was..?

Anyway. Apes & Androids. Prince. Gary Numan. Queen. David Bowie. Scissor Sisters. Spandex. Glitter make-up. In an illicit club in New York’s Meat Packing District. But way gayer. What would the Maker have made of them? They are either humiliatingly The Darkness of electro pop, and should be shunned as the new Electric Six.

Or... they are the sexomatic future of pop. As 'Nights Of The Week' suggests. Hm.

More hear...
- Total band myspace takeover.
- An album, 'Blood Moon', in handy real-life version is available from here, or get the download from iTunes
- And how about a bonus track? Oh go on then...
Apes & Androids 'Golden Prize'

Captain Black... we are the mysterons etc

2008-02-11T15:21:00.003Z

Captain Black 'Sister'

I found my new favourite record label and it all started with the Hawley Arms burning down in the great fire of Camden at the weekend.

The Hawley Arms, you see, was made famous by Mr Graham Coxon off of Blur, he used to pretty much live there. The Maker used to play pool against Food Records there too. Can't remember if I was involved, must have been, I do remember playing pool with Coxon at some do with Tony Judge. Tony was involved in an inordinate amount of chaos for a designer - always a pleasure, never chore.

Anyway, more recently The Hawley has been home to the not very tall Johnny Borrell off of Razorlight, the not very well Amy Winehouse, and The Mighty Boosch's Noel Fielding, who has been called Neil a lot in various places over the last couple of days.

And this is how long I've not lived in London - the people who own The Hawley have another pub called The Wilmington Arms, near Exmouth Market, Farringdon way. Sounds great. Must go there, apparently they do a mean pie.

So, they are home to the Bumpman45 label. And guess what? Their releases are aces. Their debut release was The Brute Chorus' 'Chateau' (more about them soon I think).

In the meantime, their next offering (out in April) is from the fantastic Captain Black. And seeing how well the Port O'Brien offering went down last week, you will be hoovering this up.

More hear...
Three more tracks on their MySpace, and erm, that's it so far. Debut single due in April

Port O'Brien... tunage ahoy

2008-02-08T04:09:00.002Z

Port O'Brien 'I Woke Up Today'

Everything I Know About Port O’Brien

1. The central duo have extra super cool names. Him: Van Pierszalowski. Her: Cambria Goodwin. That's the first-born sorted if it's a girl then.

2. Their MySpace biog makes a great deal – and an even bigger extended metaphor - about the importance of the pair’s formative careers on their sound. Him: Salmon fishing in Alaska. Her: Baking.

3. They’re from Oakland, California.

4. Oakland was also home to Sly Stone, Green Day, rap legends Hieroglyphics and rap idiot MC Hammer.

4a. And it's where The Black Panthers were formed.

5. Erm... She looks quite cute in the pictures.

6. Oh, and their track 'I Woke Up Today' is the best thing I've heard this year. Unhinged, infectious and destined to be 2008's rictus-grin-inducing classic. Very much in the mold of Polyphonic Spree's 'Soldier Girl', or Arcade Fire's 'Rebellion (Lies)'... with hidden fish and cake influences, naturally.

More hear...
- There's their MySpace page for that biography, and more tracks from their upcoming debut album.
- An interview with Van. If you're ever in Oakland he recommends you should go see a movie at the Parkway Theater, where they have couches.
- Oh, and they have a blog. With pics of them baking. And fishing for salmon.

Pete & The Pirates... pretty good then

2008-02-06T05:22:00.004Z

Pete & The Pirates 'She Doesn't Belong To Me'

Something's been bothering me lately. Just what, exactly, is the appeal of Scouting For Girls? Anyone?

Thankfully, for every band that bad, there is a band getting it right, doing it proper, like. And thank goodness. You have to feel sorry for a band whose role is to make major labels feel better about themselves. Then again.

The way forward as any right thinking person knows is indie labels. There's a raft of them again and they're casually going about their business of making us feel better by signing great bands. What? Like Stolen Recordings? Exactly. Don't they have mighty fine Reading fellas, Pete & The Pirates? They do.

They won't have far to go to play the biggest show of their lives this summer will they. Make room in your ears, they're coming in.

More hear...
- Of course, there's the MySpace
- You can find some MP3s from the fine Stolen Recordings, just here
- The debut album, 'Little Death', hits the shops or whatever or however things that get released hit these days, on February 18. The vinyl album is available from here, there's only 500 of them. Hurry hurry. You used to be able to buy a Banksy for £300 in 2003 you know. I'll tell you my Banksy story one day when I'm brave enough.
- Keeping a beady eye on the Amazon Marketplace Price Index, you can pick up a copy for £8.90. And if anyone can explain why Vampire Weekend shows up in a search for our Pete, I'd be grateful.

I Was A Cub Scout... Be Prepared

2008-02-05T04:33:00.002Z

I Was A Cub Scout 'Pink Squares'

There was an article in the Daily Mail a few weeks back about a set of new scout badges. A plan by Britain's Chief Scout – ex-Blue Peter presenter Peter Duncan, no really - to bring Baden-Powell's increasingly unfashionable youth movement saluting and woggling into the 21st century.

In the place of the Knot Tying and Bivouac Building, come Mountain Biking, Technology, Public Relations and Imagination. ("I'm surprised they don't have a badge for hairdressing," splutters one outraged Mail reader).

I Was A Cub Scout are Todd and William, a pair of barely-shaving teenagers from the remote wilds of the A1 corridor somewhere between Lincs and Notts. The sort of place you'd imagine the scout movement still holds sway.

And if Peter Duncan's new badges had included Tying Emo and Electro in Knots or Constructing a passable early New Order sound, then the Long Bennington Scout Hut's loss may well have never been joyous indie pop's gain.

Or maybe I'm taking the name too literally?

IWACS have been drip-feeding excellent tracks since late 2006, and release their debut long-player ('I Want You To Know That There Is Always Hope') in two weeks. While it's emotional and sensitive, the album is driven by distinctive beats and rhythms in the way Madchester's classics were. (and is overseen by production legend Hugh Padman – the man who created the drum sound for Phil Collins' 'In The Air Tonight').

New single 'Pink Squares' is a joy; shuffling between Postal Service synth-miserabilism and Klaxon guitar and beat exuberance, but it's previous single 'Our Smallest Adventures' that has worked its way towards the top of the iPod's 25 Most Played. Gorgeous synths, bleeps and plaintive vocals. Enjoy the YouTube video here... now...

Great stuff. Fresh, new and very exciting. Consider the Imagination badge earned, chaps.

More hear...
- What else? Oh yes, there's the single, 'Pink Squares', out now on XL, and the album, 'I Want You to Know That There Is Always Hope' which is out on Monday, February 18, on XL, who as everyone likes to say these days is the home of Radiohead.
- And here's their MySpace
- Oh and, nah, forgotten what I was going to say.

Last year we liked... Justice

2008-01-25T03:05:00.000Z

Justice 'D.A.N.C.E.'

GCSE Pop Music, Comprehension, Paper 1, French and the funk.
Time allowed 3mins 59secs
Question 1) Justice's 'D.A.N.C.E.' is hands down the finest slice of thumping funk to come out of French France since Daft Punk's 'Da Funk' in 1996. Which is 12 years ago. 12. How can that be possible? I know people with children who are 12 years old.

More hear...
- One debut album, ladies and gents, got a big cross on the cover and is called 'Cross'. What I will now be calling the Amazon Marketplace price index shows it holding its price nicely at exactly £10. AM is a decent gauge of supply and demand. That said, the thumping Simian Mobile Disco album is a piddly £4.98 which is almost giving it away. Buy now!

Last year we liked... Gruff Rhys

2008-01-23T17:50:00.000Z

Gruff Rhys 'Candylion'

As big a Super Furries fan as I am, their 'Hey Venus!' album passed me by last year, for some reason. It's sat in my iTunes, I've just not listened. Don't know why really, especially when you consider they are, hands down, the most creative band the UK has produced in the last decade. Yes, better even than Arctic Monkeys. Imagine.

No, for me last year was about the gentle lovliness of Gruff's second solo album (again, his first is sat in iTunes, unlistened to, but then it is in Welsh), 'Candylion'. It's as hit and miss as you'd expect, but when it's a hit, it's like a cod in the face. The title track, especially, is just gorgeousness on top of gorgeousness. Live sadly, it was all ghastly. Self-indulgent nonsense despite the marvellous huge TV stage set. Still, that's part of the joy of SFA.

BTW... It's funny how the old mind works... The last Furries album shares a name with a very fine My Petrol Emotion track which, I recall, Ross Allen used to 'play out' at the wrong speed. Sounded great, I will dig it out and give it a whirl. MP3 with you soon... ish.

More hear...
- Yr Atal Genhedlaeth (Jan 2005)
- Candylion (Jan 2007)
I've included links to Amazon Marketplace until I unearth a better buying option. I'm a big fan of AM, especially when you think of it like a library. And so long as you keep buying and selling, it works out lovely. Surprised that Gruff's solo efforts have held their price so well!
- I've also recently discovered Gruff has an electro-pop outfit, Neon Neon, whose concept album based on the life of John De Lorean is out next month. More research required I think...

Online music ding dong? Hurty head?

2008-01-23T04:15:00.001Z

"Listen sonny, buy the sodding music paper, or bugger off..."
In the old days it was simple. It was called Napster. We went bonkers for it at NME.COM. Admittedly, it's all a bit odd thinking back. Our downloads lived on our desktops. MP3 players were woefully short on memory and weepingly expensive. And iPods were still a twinkle in Apple's eye.

Still, didn't stop us scouring daily for leaked albums of which we turned up a fair few. If I remember correctly, we compiled 'Kid A' from live tracks, and then snagged the studio album, both very much upfront of release. Happy days.

Anyway, Stuart Dredge - off of Shiny Media's very fine Tech Digest - peers into the murk and sums up digital music 2008 all very neatly in his piece on 30 Trends in Digital Music.

Thought you might like a read. Especially, 15: MP3 blogs cause a stir, in which he flags up little Louis Patterson's piece from The Guardian last year in which... well, see for yourselves.

Back to the old days (and I'm only talking late 80s/early 90s), you'd read about great music in four weekly music publications (NME, MM, Sounds and Record Mirror) - I could only afford one, so each week I'd make half an hour to pour over them in the newsy before deciding which one to spend my cash on.

Then you'd have to listen to Peel from start to finish each night in the hope he'd play some of the stuff you'd read about. And some of the stuff he'd play, that you'd read about, you'd buy. And tape for your mate. So what's changed?

MP3 blogs are the new Peel. And while you're listening, you can read too. No longer am I stood, Wednesday morning, in the newsy on Sharrowvale Road, Sheffield, agonising. Now I'm at my laptop, MP3s churning, streaming, downloading, emailing, and they're all surrounded by people writing about music again.

See, everything the press writes about is already out there waiting. All they do is tell you what they think is best. And that's all Peel used to do. Play what he liked best.

The only people moaning about MP3 blogs are people who can't figure out how to use them to their advantage. The same lot who got stung by MTV, swore never again and then promptly got stung again by the internet while they were too busy watching their backs.

Best not get me started. Read Louis' piece though. Goes without saying, he's wrong.

Last year we liked... The Crimea

2008-01-21T17:57:00.000Z

The Crimea 'The 48A Waiting Steps'

As any sensible music writer knows, it is obligatory to have a soft spot for the not inconsiderable talents of Davey MacManus, nee Crockett, off of The Crocketts if you're over 30, and off The Crimea if you just like great music.

Quite why The Crimea aren't as popular as free bags of chewy sweets is beyond me. Their second album, 'The Secrets of the Witching Hour' was not only one of last year's finest, but they jolly well gave it away as a download, months before ver 'Head did the very same and were heralded as revolutionaries. Honestly.

I have to declare vested interest. Drummer Owen is fine, upstanding human who I like enormously. During my time at War Child he came up with an idea to to trade up a landmine for £1m to help the countless children suffering in Iraq. Great idea, we set up a site, and got as far as Trade 7 when the 'very talented' Radio One DJ, Annie Mac, came along and messed things up.

More hear...
- Two albums then, 'The Secrets of the Witching Hour' (available as a free download here), and the mighty fine debut 'Tragedy Rocks' which you can pick up from the marvellous Amazon Marketplace for a stupid £2.45 + p&p, which is a bargain in anyone's book.

Last year we liked... The National

2008-01-04T05:20:00.000Z

The National 'Fake Empire'

People used to ask what qualifications we had to be music journalists. 'None,' we would say. No NCTJ, no nothing. 'So anyone can do it then?' they'd say. Well, watching some 400 or so live bands a year and listening to the pile of CDs that arrive in the post each and every day is a leg up. 'It all kind of helps,' we'd say.

So when anyone i've worked with says I should listen to something, I do tend to listen. Absolutely loved New Yorkers, The National, last year. They're like the indie version of nu rave, all the best bits of The Bunnymen, Talk Talk, Cave, all rolled into one big, swollen musical heap of late night lovliness.

Hear also...
'Boxer', their fifth album, is the only one we've heard. We'll be checking the others in 2008 and will report back.

Last year we liked... Professor Murder

2008-01-03T00:25:00.000Z

Professor Murder 'Champion'

This lot are what they call a jam band. You'll recognise it when you hear it. There's little need to ask where this lot reside, it's got NYC written all over it. Block parties in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge and all that. Don't get me started. 'Champion' was the sound of my summmer, a lot Mark E Smith, a bit Beta Band, Mondays, Primals, oh, you know. Feel those storming nailed-down grooves and boy, do they have a very healthy cowbell obsession.

Hear also...
- The fantastic 'Dutch Hex' 12-inch via myspace.com/pmurdermusic
- Grab 'Flexit Formula' MP3 for free from the intriguing RCRC LBL

Ben Knowles

2008-01-01T17:01:00.000Z

Editor of NME when it proudly proclaimed the arrival of Coldplay, The Strokes, White Stripes and Andrew WK from its front pages. "Three out of four ain't bad," he reasons. He is ever so sorry about The Strokes. He really is.

Ben wrote for Smash Hits, Select and Melody Maker before the NME thing and these days you'll find him being Deputy Editor of the Daily Star and a director of War Child Music. In among all that somewhere he also helped invent the men's weekly magazine market with Zoo... which he is sorry about too.

Neil Mason

2008-01-01T17:00:00.001Z

Former Melody Maker reviews editor, blah, blah, and ex-features editor at NME.COM, blah, blah, has written for Rolling Stone, MixMag, Muzik, Zoo, and a ton of magazines and websites no one remembers anymore, etc. And so on. And so forth. He set up and ran warchildmusic.com, breaking an entirely fictitious record for the fastest-selling download album of all-time with 'Help: A Day In The Life'. It was fast though.

These days he lives in a house, a little terraced house in the country, blah, blah, works as an editor, runs a raft of football websites, occasionally gets his hands dirty with some A&R. Still likes music.

Never knowingly oversold

2008-01-01T09:30:00.001Z

My New Favourite Band then. We have the credentials for this malarky you know. A raft of experience on the UK music press, you know, quaint titles printed on that funny stuff called paper? No? Never mind, it's not that important.

So anyway, in the old days the music arrived in the post, the phone rang endlessly inviting you to this show or that. It was a bun fight, but it was easy.

In those days you had record labels who signed bands. These days who needs it? It's never been easier for musicians to get their stuff out there, it's never been harder to get noticed.

These days, we buy our music, we listen online and we pay for our live shows. Does it make things sound better? That's what we're wondering too.

We like the idea of just writing about music. We like the idea of listening to an old track and posting because, heck, it sounded good, we like the idea of posting a tune because there's a good story attached. Yup, we like the idea of all that and we really like the idea of showing you some new music too.

Please support the people featured on this site by buying their songs, going to their shows and generally telling anyone who'll listen how amazing they are. The music you hear, erm, here is for promotional purposes only. If you are a copywriter holder and would like us to remove your fine work our little music-loving site, please contact us at info(at)mynewfavouriteband(dot)com

Thank you.