Los Campesinos! - "Too Many Flesh Suppers"

Los Campesinos! are quite simply one of the best indie bands around at the moment. I thought of ways to dress up the start of this post and slide smoothly from some semi-relevant opening sentence into the above declaration, but I couldn't think of a way to do it and- quite simply- you need to be told.

They released one of this year's best albums, Romance is Boring, back in January, and it's undoubtedly the best of their albums. It's a classic example of a band just honing everything that's good and lovable about them in the first place to a place where it just strikes every chord right when you're listening to it, and it truly engrosses you and is just a hell of a lot of fun as well. (It may feature of my much anticipated Top 11 Albums of 2011. Tune in later to find out...) Also, my Fantasy Football Team are named "Los Premierleagueos!" in dedication to them.

But earlier today the band announced via Twitter (oh yeah- they have one of the best musician Twitter accounts around- follow @loscampesinos, surprisingly enough- they announced the free download of their song "Too Many Flesh Suppers". It was the B-side to the single of "Romance is Boring", which, as the band themselves have said, "nobody bought". It's not a new track by any means, and is from the recording sessions of their album.



Nevertheless, it is brilliant. They said it didn't fit on the album and I can see why, for various reasons. But still, as I said- brilliant! It opens with atonal violin streaks which glide over a slightly menacing lollop of a guitar line which is something they got VERY good at on Romance is Boring. The vocals are as wrenched, emotional and compellingly uncomfortable as ever from frontman Gareth, and that's one of the things I really love about this band. The vocals veer from high, forced shouts to low, nasal sneers that brutally yet beautifully bastardize any and all melody, so that it hides beneath the surface, but it is very much there. It's melody on their terms. I can easily imagine someone somewhere fobbing the vocal style off as pretentious, but I find the vocals truly affecting and reckon that Los Campesinos! are fully aware of the problems people could raise with their sound, showcased so perfectly in this track.

Lyrically, it shares one of the major themes from the album- sex. Specifically, sexual guilt. The lyrics are dense and physical, like all Los Camp lyrics, and ache with a self loathing and disatisfaction that is painfully human. Gareth Campesinos! is undoubtedly one of the best lyricists across any genre, anywhere right now- and probably one of the best of the last 10 years.

So the download is available here from their blog. Click the little hyperlink that says 'RiB 7"'. I hope you enjoy it and can't recommend these guys enough. They're laying the 02 Empire Shepherds Bush in February and I'm gonna pull out all the stops to be there!

My Top 12 Albums of 2010: #12-7

So it's that time of year! I love end of year lists and have been quite excited about writing and publishing my own for a while. Now. I thoroughly belief that there is music that is objectively good and objectively bad. It does not come down to opinion. Fact. There are lots of things that go into that, but it's fact. I considered compiling a list of the objectively best albums of the year and those I personally prefer, but couldn't be bothered... so these are my favourite albums of the year, painstakingly put in rough order or preference. Though all of them are objectively very good music it would seem! And bear in mind this is only the albums that I've heard this year. There's always plenty we miss. Oh to have time to listen to them all! So I hope you enjoy, agree and disagree. Do feedback to me :)


Honourable Mentions:
'One Life Stand' by Hot Chip
'Teen Dream' by Beach House
'Plastic Beach' by Gorillaz
'The End of Irony' by Captain Ahab
'Belle & Sebastian Write About Love' by Belle & Sebastian
'Go' by Jónsi

12. 'The Family Jewels' by Marina & The Diamonds



Marina Diamandis is the best thing to happen to pop music this side of GaGa. She's clever, witty, perceptive, original and incredibly sexy - all hallmarks of a great popstar. And those qualities spill over into a phenomenally accomplished debut that is both a posing pastiche but also incredibly human. The album is basically about fame, the obsession with ("Hollywood", "Shampain", "Are You Satisfied?") and the vacuous underbelly of the commercial 21st century ("Girls", "Numb", "I Am Not A Robot"). "It's been done!" right? Maybe. But lyrically, this album is something else. Marina is so fantastically self aware - critical of fame and commercialism but fully aware of how enamoured she can be by it all. Spectacular, sparkling, seductive pop - a hard thing to come by in 2010.

11. 'I Speak Because I Can' by Laura Marling


Laura Marling is arguably a very strong contrast with Marina Diamandis, but is still endlessly deserving of a spot in my top albums. I fell in love with her and her debut, and her sophomore album is so much more than just a good second album. This album is beautifully and quiveringly personal, a beautiful memoir into the mind of a young girl becoming a woman (she's only 20!) She sings about independence ("Made by Maid", "Rambling Man"), urban alienation ("Alpha Shallows") and recounts memories of men in her life across the whole spectrum of emotional experience ("Goodbye England (Covered in Snow)", "What He Wrote", "I Speak Because I Can"). Her delivery is downbeat and subtle, beautifully vulnerable, allowing the emotion to push through with ease. The arrangements are more traditionally folky than the last album, and her guitar ability has become more accomplished and a more central part of the sound. Lyrically, she's only gotten better and is one of the most mind blowingly talented song writers. And she's hardly unattractive...

10. 'Romance is Boring' by Los Campesinos!


Los Campesinos! are a fantastic example of a band who have refined their sound through successive albums, working out what they're best at, where they excel, where they hit the mark, and then putting all of that into a fantastic record. This album is undoubtedly the best thing they've recorded, for so many reasons. A lot of it is mile a minute indie rock, and quite simply makes you want to thrash and jump around ("These Are Listed Buildings, Romance is Boring") but the band have a new grasp of texture and scale back for unbelievably earnest and tearful slower numbers ("The Sea is a Good Place to Think of the Future", "Who Fell Asleep In") though it all remains euphorically noisy. Frontman and songwriter Gareth has long been gestating as one of the UK's best lyricist, and that shines through in his musings about love, sex, football and religion. Gareth writes about his differences with religion in a way that is very candid and sceptical, though never outwardly biting or critical. As a Christian, I find it refreshing that a non-Christian is able to write about the church in such a way, without descending into offensive and childish Dawkins style insults. A truly accomplished record from an increasingly individual and inspiring band.

9. 'Treats' by Sleigh Bells


There's not a VAST deal to say about this album. But that's not a disadvantage. Quite the opposite. Sleigh Bells are probably the most enjoyable band of the entire year. This album has one setting- REALLY FRIGGIN' LOUD AND REALLY FRIGGIN' AWESOME!!! Lead songwriter Derek Miller takes pop music structures and melodies and bastardises them with terrifying heavy metal guitars and insurmountably huge beats ("Tell 'Em", "Infinity Guitars", "Crown on the Ground" - heck, every bloody song) and then the absurdly attractive front woman, Alexis Krauss, laces the mixture with a voice like poison bubblegum made from fire. This album is balls out, amps up, heads thrashing, bodies brawling. Hell yes.

8. 'Contra' by Vampire Weekend


It's safe to say that the indie community fell a little bit in love with Vampire Weekend when they released their debut a couple of years ago. That coupled with "A-Punk" soundtracking everything from Come Dine With Me to The Inbetweeners made me wonder how they could successfully follow it up. But they delivered. Oh yes they did. Thematically, it's not as unified as their debut, songs here based on rice drinks ("Horchata"), Joe Strummer ("Diplomat's Son") and Japanese history ("Giving Up The Gun") But that doesn't matter. Every song on this album is irresistibly melodic; the whole thing is bursting with hooks. At the same time, it's all exquisitely arranged and proves that Vampire Weekend are sublimely talented musicians. This is truly progressive pop music. Call them pretentious, preppy, whatever you will. Something tells me these guys don't care. And when the music is as upbeat, original and funky as this, I'm inclined to side with them.

7. 'Total Life Forever' by Foals


No one could quite believe it when new Foals material appeared. The shouty, prickly sounding landfill indie band of yesteryear had vanished. They'd been submerged beneath a warm tide of oceanic guitar, enveloping bass, funky drums and full, tender crooning. The transformation was sublime and the British indie world fell to its knees. This album is just brilliant to listen to. Standout, massive tracks like "Miami", "Total Life Forever" and "After Glow" are just incredibly well written indie pop songs, stamped with the intoxicating dance vibe that Foals have cracked into on this album. Then there's the magnificent beauty of "Blue Blood" and "This Orient", marked by some superbly emotional and vulnerable lyrics. The album ends in the stop-dead-in-your-tracks threesome of "Alabaster", "2 Trees" and "What Remains". This album is such an accomplishment for the band, but is also an enveloping, comforting piece of music. Sublime.

Kanye West: Remember His Black Balls

I, like the rest of the world, have had a chequered relationship with old Kanye West. First time I heard "Touch the Sky" back in 2005I loved it. I borrowed Graduation from a friend when it came out and listened to it pretty much non-stop. Then I started to branch off into other realms of hip-hop- mostly early 90s stuff like Arrested Development, A Tribe Called Quest etc. but more recent and more intense stuff like Immortal Technique. And I began to doubt Kanye. I thought that, in comparison to the happy, chirpy early 90s rappers and the serious, political stuff I was listening to, Kanye seemed a bit juvenile, shallow and commercial. He was one step close too Jay-Z (who, contrary to popular belief, is not the best thing to happen to hip-hop ever). This probably also came at the same time as when I started getting into alternative music and made the childish mistake of rejecting ANYTHING in the charts as inherently crap. Also, I was in a phase of listening to almost EVERYTHING my brother said about music, and he is DEFINITELY no Kanye fan.

Then of course came Kanye's classic moments- saying live on TV that "George Bush doesn't care about black people", and then of course THIS. That started an internet meme. No one has ever recovered from an internet meme. And there was just a general load of what one may fairly describe as "douchebaggery". Plus, the release of 808's and Heartbreak, a huge departure for West but, to be honest, it didn't set the world on fire. It was met with a universal shrug, despite or maybe because of the personal nature of the songs.

So Kanye, about a year ago, was incredibly low in my estimations. And probably in all of our estimations.

But things changed.
OH how things changed!

First of all, Kanye rose rapidly up through the ranks of Twitter. His feed became one of the most popular on the network, and it made (and still makes) fascinating reading. Most artists and musicians on Twitter generally just tweet about gigs, releases, thankyous to fans and casual banter. Kanye was different though. Kanye was wearing his heart on his sleeve. Following Kanye on Twitter, you got a play by play rundown of what was going on in his head and his heart, 140 characters at a time. It was truly astonishing. He poured his heart out over the Taylor Swift thing- see here for the top tweets from that. I was genuinely shocked and moved by that. Since when does a musician- especially in a genre so egotistical and self aggrandising as hip-hop- come out and hands down admit they were wrong, without needing to it through music, and just publicly dress themselves down?! Kanye went up in my books.

And yet there were still seemingly contrived tweets saying things like "Let me be great!" We just couldn't get it! Was he humble? Arrogant? I don't know. I don't think the guy was striving to create a consistent public image. He was, in his own words, "human" and "real". Kanye gave us a living, breathing picture of the real person behind the media images, behind the furore, behind the meme. I think doing that really is the only thing that has saved him from forever being a raging internet joke.

So. Was it just the tweets that meant Kanye started going up in my books again? No. Kanye launched his "G.O.O.D Fridays" project- a vow to release a new piece of music every Friday until Christmas 2010, just because he loved his fans and wanted to give them something. I know that all great bands and artists love their fans, and their albums are for them, and lots release EPs, downloads etc, to give something back. But Kanye's was just on a such a grand, frequent and sincere scale. The first track I heard form it was the fantastic "See Me Now" featuring Beyonce and Charlie Wilson. I loved it. A couple of my favourite lyrics of the year actually:

"I'm like Socrates, 'cept my skin more chocolatey!"
"I'mma let you finish but I got Beyonce on the track y'all!"

That last lyric is just hilarious! It just showed me that Kanye was incredibly self aware- he knew exactly what people thought of him. But he'd apologised. Now it was time to move on. It was time for business.

And business has been good.



This week, Kanye's much hyped new album My Beautiful Dark Twisted fantasy was unleashed upon the world.

My first reaction?

W

O

W.

Guys, let's break the fourth wall for a minute. This album is amazing. Really. It is OUT OF THIS WORLD good. It's a hip-hop MASTERPIECE. It's a pop MASTERPIECE. Buy it. You can't not listen to this album.

It's not that Kanye has re-written the hip-hop rule book- but he doesn't bloody need to! There is just everything good to say about this album. It's got blanket sensational reviews and Pitchfork- either the Holy Grail or the height of pretension to many- gave it the site's first 10.0/10.0 rating for a new album in a good few years.

Now, I don't need to sit here and write about how huge and epic each of the tracks on this album are, without sounding gross and hollow like a Kings of Leon or U2 track. You can go (and really DO!) and listen to "Power", "All of the Lights", "Monster", "So Appalled", "Runaway", "Lost in the Woods"... hell the whole sodding album, and realise that every track is- for want of a better word- BANGING! Every track is pop perfection.

But I just want to say, having had a few days and a good few listens, why this album just works.

I've read a few articles that have been sceptical of the universal praise for My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Not that many, but they are out there. A common criticism I've found is that, apparently, reviews have spent more time talking about Kanye's past controversies and his Twitter account than they have actually talking about the album. A slight exaggeration probably, but every review I've read (and this article!) has spent a decent chunk recounting the gaffes and the Twitter rants? Why?

You've got to think about context! How many great albums lose something (or all) of their greatness if you remove them from their context? Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles, Nevermind by Nirvana, Is This It? by The Strokes. Those albums mean so much more, and gain their status in history, because of their context. And this record is contextually perfect! Though not on a societal level- it's not London Calling or anything. But in the context of everything Kanye has done and said- and had done and said to him- this album is perfect. It is a totally spot on response to everything Kanye related over the last couple of years. He's become such a sensation, such a figure, that he's just created this whole context around himself and risen gloriously out of it.

This album is jointly a humble confession, an audacious statement of self belief, a huge middle finger to a media that totally turned against him, a massive a acknowledgement of his own precarious stardom, an insight into grandiose life of a pop superstar that is at times stunningly rewarding yet at others lonely, vacuous and heartbreaking. The two sides of the coin are best seen in the absolutely stunning chorus of "Runaway", featuring Pusha-T:

"Let's have a toast for the douche bags!
Let's have a toast for the ass holes!
Let's have a toast for the scum bags!
Every one of them that I know!"

When Kanye sings that, he's singing about all the haters who've been on him for the last two years- but he's also singing about himself! He's saying "you guys, you're douches, screw you!" and at the same time recognising "I'm a douche bag too. I screw up. I have screwed up. So screw me I guess". The way he's captured that duality is just mind blowing! He's captured two disparate emotions and blended them together in a way that even great literature probably can't. Plus- what a chorus to singalong too!

Also, I think this album really turns Kanye into a mainstream superstar who's a true artist. Aside from creating brilliant music that will find its way into the charts, he's made some stunning lyrical insights into the life of someone as insanely famous as himself. Rhianna sings on her guest spot on the PHENOMENAL "All the Lights":

"Turn up the lights in here, baby
Extra bright, I want y'all to see this
Turn up the lights in here, baby
You know what I need, want you to see everything
Want you to see all of the lights"

Kanye's got this desire to be exposed! To just bleed and wear his heart on his sleeve. Yeah yeah, he's rolling in it- but he's a human being. He's got a mother who loves him. "All The Lights" goes on to give insights into the troubled life of being a rap superstar- "Restraining order/ Can't see my daughter/ Her mother, brother, grandmother hate me in that order" being a choice line Perhaps a nod to Eminem, but still a stunningly human, truly emotional insight into the life of the superstar. And what I love is also is that the album is in one way very Lady GaGa- it is ostentatious, it is pop music on a totally new level- but the music is pure, raw Kanye. I love GaGa- but we never see Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta. We only see the facade, the front, the creation- brilliant as that is. Kanye has all that- but it's him. Pure, raw, flawed, conflicted, unadulterated human being. I think Kanye himself had a bit of a revelation in regards to this a while ago when he Tweeted (and I paraphrase from memory): "It just hit me- I make commercial art!!!" Oh you do Kanye. And it's stunning.

This album is an event as far as I'm concerned. It's not just empty grandiosity and bluster. It demands that you listen to it- as a musical event, a pop culture event, a collection of unbelievable songs, a frank and honest confession of one man's beautifully flawed humanity. If you harbour bad thoughts or feelings to Kanye, listen to this. It's his side of the story. And you'll be surprised at just how engrossing the world of Kanye is.

I'll leave you with the lyric that this post draws its title from, from the track "Gorgeous" featuring Kid Cudi and Raekwon:

"You blowin' up, that's good, fantastic
That, y'all, it's like that, y'all
I don't really give a fuck about it at all
'Cause the same people that tryna blackball me
Forgot about two things- my black balls!"

Sleigh Bells Rang. I Was Listening.

Sleigh Bells
XOYO, London
Sunday 21st November 2010



I really hope you've heard Sleigh Bells before. If you haven't then turn your speakers up as loud as possible. Literally louder. No louder. Now right click on the little speaker icon on the bottom right of your computer screen and make sure EVERYTHING is as loud as possible. Done? Now click here. Wait for 2:03. And now here.

Understand?
Good.

So last night my friend Will and I set out- both clearly a little tired still from a party the night before- to go and see Sleigh Bells at XOYO. We had no sodding idea where the venue was so left in plenty of time... and found it straight away. We were less than encouraged though as it was down some dingy back street in North London and the only other people hanging around outside reminded me of the opening credits of Shaun of the Dead. After a wee bit of fretting for our middle class lives (ok, maybe just our phones) we got into the club, bought an overpriced drink each and waited for the support acts. First up were Teeth, who were fantastically noisy. I just spent a good while trying to discover their MySpace, and FINALLY got there! Click here, and you can also read this interview. Their frontwoman looked like Knives Chau from Scott Pilgrim when she goes all kick-ass towards the end. Swaggered onstage looking every inch the unassuming but clearly bat crap insane front girl- complete with plaid shirt tied around her waist. The club was only just filling up so the bands frenetically noisy sounds and Veronica So's crazed thrashings and screaming seemed a little bit wasted, and I felt for them. Kudos to them though- they played on and rocked out through that as well as Veronica being clearly sick as a dog and what looked to me (a musician) like a few cunningly concealed technical hitches. I'm definitely checking these guys out more, and they got me and Will warmed up even if the rest of the venue seemed a touch apathetic. Twats.

As the club gradually filled up, the second warm up act took to the stage- The Knocks. I'd heard of these guys in passing somewhere, but only knew that they were in some way electronic. Well bugger me, were these guys good! Their set began with two dancers- who looked like Cell Jr equivalents of Lady GaGa (if you don't get the Dragonball Z reference, watch this)- spreading huge plastic Icharus wings across the stage, then shedding them and freestyling either side of the stage whilst The Knocks- a US dance duo- launched into their stunning set! Seriously. They got the whole venue moving and dancing in a couple of minutes! Hands in the air, hips shaking all around- it was magical! Click here for their MySpace. I grabbed a copy of their single from the merchandise stand straight after they finished. I had to shove it down the front of my trousers for safety though.

Because I knew.
I knew the onslaught was only a brief way over the horizon.

By this time I was PUMPED for Sleigh Bells. Will was PUMPED for Sleigh Bells. The whole crowed was visibly getting PUMPED for Sleigh Bells. Which reminds me- the crows was absurdly diverse. There was a massive dude at the front who looked like Hurley from Lost. Three incredibly lanky lesbians stood right in front of me and Will. A large amount of muggish looking indie types who were making painful attempts to look like Yannis from Foals. A buxom black girl with a MASSIVE afro who for some reason was with a blonde, mid-50s white woman who clearly had no idea what she was in for. But I didn't care. I was there for Sleigh Bells.

Everything I had heard about Sleigh Bells live just had my mouth simply FLOODING in salivation.
It was meant to be glorious, sweaty, chaotic, intense, thrashing euphoria, all crammed into a 35 minute set. It was meant to be a true experience.

And it was.



From the minute Derek Miller sprinted onto the stage, wielding his guitar in a way that would make Thor sheepishly conceal his thunderous hammer, there was just this feeling that the stakes were high, that we were all there to just go nuts. Alexis Krauss strutted our gloriously onto the stage like some tattooed, leather clad raven. It was go time. They launched into "Tell 'Em" and we the crowd were off. Thrashing, jumping, sweating, literally screaming the words back at Alexis. Hell, most of the time we were just screaming. There was no barrier between stage and crowd, and with a band like Sleigh Bells there couldn't be. The whole tiny venue was pressing onto the stage, and Alexis was giving it right back. I managed to work my way RIGHT to the front. All of our hands went up, and she returned in kind, constantly grabbing and stroking hands, pressing them up against her (I can say though that I didn't get a grab on any sensitive areas, which is more than I can say for the girl next to me) She would lean right into the crowd, ruffling her own jet black hair, and the crowd were more than content to give her several dozen hands. There was a massive surge to get even a finger on that gorgeous woman, who prowled, leapt, slunk and thrashed around the stage and over the audience. I got more than a few ruffles of her hair and strokes of her arm. It was just so intense! I've not been to a gig like that before- where the crowd are just baying for the front woman who's more than content to lean in, share the microphone and just scream inaudibly with you and at you, with none of us caring because it's so friggin' awesome. It would be hard to pick a particular song as a highlight because Sleigh Bells only have one album of material and all the songs on that have one setting- LOUD AND AWESOME. In the final song though, I had the privelege of being right underneath Alexis Krauss as she leapt from an amp, stagediving into the crowd. Good grief it was unbelievable.

This gig was just such a brilliant experience. It really brought music alive for me in a way that lots of gigs don't. Musicians who make brilliant music that I love and respect were RIGHT THERE, literally inches away from me, most of the time even less than that- so close that I could touch them, carry them over my head and feel their sweat. Awesome. That's how it should be.

I don't know what the future holds for Sleigh Bells. Their album Treats is one of my highlights from 2010 and it's a masterpiece, a lesson in taking pop music and shaping it into something unrecognisable, new, exciting and just bloody awesome. Maybe there's bigger things. Unlikely mainstream success. I don't know. I don't REALLY care. All I know is that I got to see them in a tiny London venue, playing songs from a brilliant album, in a crampt, sweaty gig and I managed to get my hands on Alexis Krauss. Epic.

Minks

I came across Minks a good few months ago, either on Pitchfork or NME, I'm not quite sure, but I downloaded their March single "Funeral Song" and loved it. Shimmering guitar chords, bass line that carried you along on a stunning rush of a journey, synth lines that soared over the whole mix. There were obvious comparisons to Joy Division and The Cure, but informed by happy bouncy indie pop rather than death. But for one reason or another I never got round to investigating them further.

So much was my delight when I logged onto Pitchfork and discovered a new track available! "Cemetery Rain" is in very much the same style as "Funeral Song". It's a sweet, chilled, bittersweet dream-pop gem with a subtly catchy chorus that has warmly wormed its way into my brain and heart over the last few icy November days. It shimmers and bounces in all the right places, and slides into a nifty guitar solo and outro, which maybe suggests some psychedelic potential from these guys. It's a little similar to some of the new stuff from California's Girls. They've got a little bit of a goth-pop thing going on- cemeteries, funerals, a song named after Hamlet's crazy sister ("Ophelia"), a slightly gothy exterior in the few pictures available. I can't find a great deal about the band though other than that they're from New York. Aisde from that no lineup, no history, nothing! Last FM, Wikipedia and other profile have left me uninformed. But hey ho. People managed without extensive band biographies 50 years ago!

Their album By The Hedge is due out January 12th and I'm now getting a wee bit excited about it! Minks are one of those difficult bands to Google though- life the aforementioned Girls or Women or Mickey Mickey Rourke. I keep ending up with stuff like this.

Click here for their MySpace , or here for their slightly bizarre photographic blog and also click here for a Pitchfork page where you can grab downloads of the three tracks I've mentioned. Enjoy!

Minks - "Funeral Song" from LANCE DRAKE on Vimeo.

Just Lovely: Simian Ghost

Sometimes you just want to hear something that's lovely. Something that's disarmingly soft and lush and tender that warms the cockles of your heart like Christmas. There are a number of bands who possess that quality- Belle & Sebastian being a prime example. The other night I was scouring music blogs and felt my heartstrings being tugged as if my small, gorgeous child, when I came across Simian Ghost. These guys tick a lit of the boxes on the adorable tweeness criteria. They're Swedish. They have arty, cryptic song titles like "All I Know is But A Fog". The lead singer sounds a hell of a lot like Jonsi. But it works!

I've mentioned Belle & Sebastian and Jonsi thusfar, but Simian Disco don't bear a vast resemblance to either band. If you've heard The Postal Service, I guess they're quite similar to them. The three piece have a very layered sound, and everything is blended so well that on the first few listens of their album Infinite Traffic Everywhere- available to stream for free here- I didn't notice everything that going on. Gently fluttering synths, guitar parts ranging from dirty guzzlign riffs to echo drenched lines that soar up and down to sprase and lonely acoustic pickery, drum machine beats, classic indie guitar pop "oos" and "aaas"all deftly woven together into something that at times really is enchanting.

These guys aren't the saviours of music, but that's besides the point. They're another example of Scandinavia's uncanny ability to create intelligent, glimmering music that, if you let it, will pick you up and drift you off into a gentle, beautiful state of mind.

Click here to go to music blog Tympanogram and grab a free download of their new single "Transparent is OK", or here to go the their MySpace, or here to stream the album! Hope you enjoy!

Damon Albarn: King of the Jungle

There's a long roster of unsung heroes in musical history. People who died long before their time, leaving small, unheard bodies of music that change the lives of those who hear them- Nick Drake, Elliott Smith. Bands who totally changed the way modern music works but are probably entirely unknown to the audiences of the bands they influenced- Kraftwerk, The Velvet Underground. Cult heroes who inspire worrying but euphoric devotion from their fans- Pavement, Big Star. These guys are often little known, little heralded and only gain respect and recognition as time passes on. You could find hundreds of die hard 30-somethings who will spend hours telling you why Stephen Malkmus from Pavement is the greatest lyricist of the past 25 years. Or why Nick Drake is probably one of the greatest guitarists of all time (I'd be one of those). I love it when people are devoted to someone who is totally unknown, even sometimes by the indie community as well as the mainstream.

But Damon Albarn- frontman of Blur and Gorillaz, two of the world's most critically and commercially successful bands- is, I think, a criminally unsung hero. Even in the indie community. Like I just said, the list of unsung heroes who disappeared without a trace goes on and on. Damon has the peculiar position, I feel, of being a musician who has hardly left the charts or public eye for the past 20 years, and yet remains unsung in the way he should be.

This post has been prompted by the release of the video for new Gorillaz single "Doncamatic (All Played Out)";


Doncamatic (feat. Daley)

Gorillaz Featuring Daley | Myspace Music Videos

I took a few listens but I've quite warmed to it actually, even if Daley does look like a horrendous Topman clad indie Cindy. But watching this video and thinking about the sheer scale of Gorillaz right now, I realised that- even in the midst of Blur reuniting last year- no one seems to have ever really said that Damon Albarn is one of the most gobsmackingly brilliant musicians, not just of the past 20 years, but ever. He is up there. He really is a genius.

Just think about it! Blur. Blur really were (and hopefully still are!) a sen-SATIONAL band. First album Leisure was pretty standard as debuts go, but starting with an ok debut isn't a bad thing. It gives us a marker for how far Blur and Damon went and have gone. Damon himself said it's "awful", so the bloke's got some self awareness! Plus, it had "She's So High" and "There's No Other Way", which are still awesome.



Modern Life Is Rubbish was the first major event of Britpop, and is still a phenomenal album and showed that Damon Albarn was a mastermind. He oversaw a total makeover for the band, both in sound and image. And by gosh it worked. That album is where Damon started to exhibit that stunning quality possessed by few other musicians- Blur and Thom Yorke being good examples- of being able to cast his keen, magpie eye around and pick the most sublime influences, then bleed them together into a cohesive whole that has a single idea and tone, but has reference points coming out its ears- and it still very much his own. Parklife did that as well even more so, to produce a definitely superior album. Some of the songs on that album just blow me away every time. "Parklife". "This Is A Low". "Girls & Boys". "Bank Holiday". "Badhead". "Tracy Jacks" (I'm slowly doing the whole album...)

The Great Escape was a bit messy, but still full of fantastic, very distinct songs, and on the albums after that- even when Graham Coxon (most underrated guitarist ever) left on Think Tank- it became clear what a powerhouse Damon was, even though Blur relied on the individual talents of all the members.

And after Blur? Damon devoted himself to Gorillaz. Some people have been getting sceptical of Gorillaz recently, citing that for a group so large, they lack any real resonance or soul (that particularly came up during their last minute Glastonbury headline slot) I firstly would disagree but also say that that's slightly not the point. I don't think Gorillaz are, were or ever will be a massively life altering band. But I do know that they make stunningly good, epically subversive, unremittingly original pop music.

The first album, Gorillaz, is a fascinating melting pot of sounds and genres, and produced some great hits. Demon Days was Damon's attempt at full world domination, and it came off in spectacular style. Exepertimental, funk infused, pop hook laden hip-hop? This from the same guy who pretty much started Britpop, arguably one of the whitest things ever? Genius. Pure genius. It is in no way too much to call Damon Albarn a pop Mozart.



And now Plastic Beach has made us all realise that this is Damon's world and we're just living in it. Oh and he wrote an opera. And he's just recorded an album on an iPad. And Blur are probably doing something again next year. Does the man sleep?

So why is Damon an unsung hero? Well. He's a household name. He's all over the radio. Yet I think familiarity and his constancy has led to us forgetting that despite his huge presence and commercial appeal, he is making, and always has made, music that pushes boundaries. That's one of many phrases that gets batted arounded so much that no one give a toss when they read it any more and probably assume that whoever it's being applied to is just messy and pretentious. But not Damon. He's always been one step ahead. Always grabbing hold of whatever influence fills his beautiful head and reshaping it in his own image. That inventiveness, which he pulls off with an almost elf like mischief, is what has made him probably the most important figure in pop today. I mean is there really anyone else? And it's definitely what has helped him adapt and survive unlike ex-rivals-but-not-really-rivals Oasis who made crap then, made crap for the whole of this decade and are now making crap in their new projects. But it's not like Damon has adapted for adaptation's sake, just to be able to survive and carry on his career. This guy cares. Really. In every interview I've seen he's always been 2 things.

1) Potentially a wee bit drunk
2) Earnest. So, so earnest.

And that just gives him the perfect cocktail of everything which I think you need to make good music. True musical ability. Musical knowledge. An awareness of the times. A heart for what you're doing. A desire to communicate. And earnestness.

Damon Albarn is a genius. He is a national treasure. He really is an unsung hero. I was blessed enough to see Blur at their reunion gig on the 3rd of July 2009. It was the best gig I've ever been to. And Damon had me in the palm of his hand. He had that crowed in the palm of his hand. And right now, he's got the whole musical world in it too.

The Boys From School and Someone Great

Hot Chip & LCD Soundsystem
Alexandra Palace
10/11/10

I went to this gig the night after seeing Marina & The Diamonds at the HMV Forum and, no bones about it, I was way more excited about this one. The thought of this gig had me foaming at the mouth in a Pitchfork Media like manner. Two of the most inventive, progressive, quirky and clever acts from the past ten years who have both released stunning albums this year, topping off incredible back catalogues. I was psyched.

The gig was at the MASSIVE Alexandra Palace, which I had never been to before. My older brother gave me a couple of warnings about the place. 1) As I live in Surrey and Ally Pally is in Tottenham it would be a TREK, and getting home would be a mission. 2) The place is like an airplane hanger- so get to the front.

Alexandra Palace Interior

My two companions and I got going just after four, got to Wood Green tube station, got hopelessly lost walking up to the venue, but thankfully arrived and virtually no one was there. Slap bang at the front. The only way at any gig as far as I'm concerned. Despite being accosted by a rather drank and exceptionally camp American called Tony (who apparently works for Wedding TV...) my excitement was building and building and building parallel to the increasing amount of audience members arriving.

The lights went down, the crowd cheered, screamed, whistled, and in such a massive venue, the effect was fantastic. When Hot Chip wandered out, I was not let down! Lead singer Alexis Taylor was clad in characteristically strange attire- what appeared to be hugely baggy blue and white stripy pyjamas, with curly hair held back with hair band. And his massive specs of course. He looked like the indiest teddy bear around.



They opened with huge classic "And I Was A Boy From School", which was a great move. It really reinforced that these guys have some stunning songs which their fans just love and adore as hits. They followed with "One Pure Thought" which went down MASSIVELY WELL and the front was a sea of dancing, flailing, jumping, whatever you can think. "Thieves in the Night" inspired a great singalong (well, from me at least...) "Over and Over" was everything I wanted it to be. The intro was reworked and made noisier and pretty intense, and the whole venue was leaping, thrashing, sweating in unison. "Alleys Cats" was beautiful and I was so glad they played it as it's one of my favourites from the new album, and just demonstrated that these guys can take electronic music from one extreme of thrashing and leaping to to other of spaced out melodic reflection. The set was heavy on material from the new album, but that's ok because One Life Stand is brilliant and the fans clearly love it as much as anything else the band have done. Having said that, they closed with biggest hit "Ready for the Floor". Alexis Taylor launched into an absurd leg kicking dance, but couldn't beat his band mate Owen Clarke who whipped out some of the funniest dad dancing I have ever seen in my entire life.

One thing I loved so much about this set is that, whilst I love Hot Chip more and more as I listen to them, the tendency in their music to shift texture mid song, have things like intros totally detached from the rest of the song etc. have sometimes been hard for me to reconcile with their music as a whole. But when I experienced it all in a live setting, I just got it. It all came together and I was caught up in everything about the music and their albums have been in heavy rotation since Wednesday! Oh and Alexis Taylor told me that he loved me!



After leaving the stage to rapturous applause, the wait for LCD Soundsystem began. My friends, myself and a couple of girls in the audience we befriended had been chatting about who we thought more people had come to see- Hot Chip or LCD. That question began to be answered as more people tried to push their way to the front in the gap between the two bands. It was answered a little more when LCD Soundsystem started playing. The applause and rapture when James Murphy non-chalantly swaggered on stage was phenomenal. Adoration was POURING off of the audience onto the stage. But the question was REALLY answered when the distinctive drums of opener "Dance Yrself Clean" began, accompanied by lone keyboard throbs which were layered with bright flashes from a wall of strobes. The slow build in the song was a feeling I could never even hope to replicate, the aura James Murphy had around him just unbelievable. Then when the song kicked up several gears and and the whole band stormed in, the front went MENTAL. It's definitely the craziest I've ever seen the front of an audience during the first song of a gig. There was no question about it. This was LCD's night.



"Dance Yrself Clean" gave way quickly to "Drunk Girls" which was just unbelievable. The whole front section knew every word and yelled the chorus back at James Murphy in one euphoric, heaving mass of bodies. "I Can Change" inspired a huge singalong, gave us a rest, before smashing into "Daft Punk Is Playing At My House"- probably my highlight of the show. The energy- band and crowd- was unbelievable. James Murphy just howled, totally lost in it, moving around stage, smashing the drum kit along with epically good drummer Pat Mahoney. "All My Friends" drew out an unashamedly overwhelmed response from me. I bloody love that song. First LCD song I heard, and hearing that intro just took me to another place and, once again, the crowed poured their adoration and the lyrics back onto the stage, engulfing James Murphy. And I finally learned that the piano part is played live, not looped. MAJOR kudos to the beyboard plater. At the end of the main set, "Yeah" was drawn out for a good 15 minutes and was joyful, sweaty anarchy. It got ridiculous, but neither me nor anyone else at the front cared. There was one girl in front of me though who literally moved hardly a single muscle during the WHOLE gig. I may have used "Yeah" as a chance to take a couple of digs at the back of her legs...

The band disappeared briefly and returned to launch into "Someone Great"- a necessity at LCD concerts, and the crowd rose and rose with every word. They closed with "Home" and part of me really wanted them to finish with "New York, I Love You, But You're Bringing Me Down", but there was NOTHING to complain about. I was able to stay for the release of a ride of white balloons and had to cut the last song short by a minute or two to get home, but this set was phenomenal. The set was heavily weighted between the first and third albums, eschewing some of the most popular songs from (arguably most popular album) Sound of Silver, but it was so clear that this band have a fan base who love every inch of what they create, so whatever they played was reverently, euphorically received. Just sensational. One of my friends had this as his first gig. Oh how I envy that privilege! After a few days tired reflection (got home at 2am after a route involving McDonald's, a drunk auntie and a replacement bus service...) I've decided it hasn't usurped Blur's Hyde Park reunion gig as my best gig ever, but it came so, so, so SO close. There was definitely the same sense of true, proper love between the band and their audience- an audience who adore their music and really take it into their hearts and lives. Oh gosh it was amazing.

James Murphy has said he's shutting LCD Soundsystem down after this album has run its course. Oh please James. Don't leave us.

Inside With The Outsider

Marina & The Diamonds
HMV Forum, London
9/11/10



This post may seem a tad irrelevant, but as someone who wants to hopefully make a career out of writing about music, I really want to share my reviews and experiences of gigs with you, and also practice writing live reviews. And who knows, we may generate some chit-chat!

It's been a few months since I last went to a proper gig so I was understandably excited about going to see Marina & The Diamonds, one of my favourite acts to surface this year who has left the interminable dross of people like Ellie Goulding far behind in her dust. I'd watched live footage of her plenty of times and, being honest, I unashamedly find her and everything about her mind-blowingly attractive. Like REALLY. So. Tension was high!

I'd never been to the Forum before and loved the look of it when I got in there! Marina herself described it as "old and theatrical", and it was. But it did strike me as one of those places where lots of people would stand and just have a drink rather than get moving like I VERY MUCH think you should at a gig.

She was supported by thecocknbullkid, who was ok but didn't really get the crowd moving, didn't have much stage presence. I had to feel for the girl really. I know that she's been round for a good couple of years longer than Marina and was a little bit hyped by the NME a while ago, but nothing's happened for her and now she's supporting a much more fresh, more potent act. She didn't really have a definite image or thing going on, which sadly you very much need if you're a young female pop act trying to make it in today's music world. Her backing band were incredibly tight but the set wasn't great. She said she has her first headline show in a while coming up at the start of December, so who knows.

thecocknbullkid

This didn't dampen my appetite to see Marina though. When the lights went down and the the opening music kicked in, I was on the edge! The band swanned out, clad sleekly in black and looking pretty pro. Projections started swimming across the backdrop- Marina's silouhette in a James Bond opening credits style animations which did wonders for my forlorn indie crush fantasies. But opening track "The Family Jewels" (not on the album- brave move!) was brilliant. Marina slunk out in a beautiful, figure hugging velvet dress, in which she was impressibely agile and managed to leap around the stage (and I mean leap) in it during "Girls" and "The Outsider". My main problem though was the sodding crowd. I was right at the front and they were TERRIBLE. I was surrounded by total morons who barely moved a muscle and spent literally the whole gig with their phones and cameras in the air. I could SEE the pictures they were taking. They were terrible! I felt like punching someone in the back of the head it was horrendous. A genuinely terrible effect of Facebook right there for you folks. Marina tactfully worked this out and after a wardrobe change into an outfit similar to the photo at the top, though accompanied by a novelty size flashing love heart belt, managed to get the whole crowed jumping in "Oh No!". All of her idiosyncracies and quirks, both vocal and otherwise, were present and amplified and I was fauning all over her, as was an especially dedicated contingent on the other side of the venue from me.

What I found fascinating was her effortless transition between the quirky, absurdist, zoned out, alluringly scary Marina who could prance around wearing an Indian headdress or absurdly coloured US flag tracksuit and the genuinely overwhelmed, colloquial, everyday Marina. It's a huge contrast from someone like Lady GaGa, where the facade never comes down. It was a strange thing, having her flick between the two, but created a lovely warm atmosphere and rapport with the members of the crowd who gave a toss.

The gap before the encore inspired mass chanting and Marina reappeared, alone, and launched into a solo rendition of "Numb"- just her and a piano- which was just delightful. It reminded me what a great melody and chorus that song has and inspired a great singalong. Then she finished on a huge note with "Hollywood", her biggest hit, which was everything it needed to be. As a girl with only one album of material it was her only option for finishing really, but still managed to get the terrible crowd jumping around for the duration, before a huge plastic burger was lowered from the ceiling in the last chorus. Which was a lil' bit odd.

Despite the shameful display from the crowd, Marina was stunning in every way. She's a genuinely strange figure in British pop at the moment and I hope so much that bigger things are in store for her.




Set List

THE FAMILY JEWELS
THE OUTSIDER
GIRLS
SEVENTEEN
ARE YOU SATISFIED?
ROOTLESS
HERMIT THE FROG
I AM NOT A ROBOT
OBSESSIONS
JEALOUSY
OH NO!
SHAMPAIN
MOWGLI'S ROAD
GUILTY
--------------------------
NUMB
HOLLYWOOD

Long Long Long

Alanis Morrisette.
Nickelback.
Celine Dion.
Bryan Adams.
Avril Lavigne.

The above rogues gallery does not (I hope) make for a particularly impressive musical line up. And sadly, these deplorable excuses for musicians (Nickelback especially. Friggin' hate Nickelback) represent the primary musical output of the Western world's favourite peculiar cousin- Canada.

It's often said, and clearly with good reason, that Canadian's just don't make good music. Apart from Neil Young, The Band and (yes I'm serious) Michael Buble, they've not produced any great evidence to the contrary.*



That's why I was incredibly intrigued when, over the weekend, I logged onto music website The Line of Best Fit and saw an article entitled "Oh! Canada Road Trip Part 4: Halifax Pop Explosion". Huh? Canada on a credible and respected indie music website? This had to be investigated.

So I clicked and began reading and was rewarded almost instantly. First of all, I had no idea that the Halifax Pop Explosion explosion existed. It's a city wide indie music festival lasting 5 days, similar to Texas' SXSW Festival. TLOBF have covered the week on their musical tour of Canada and the first band in their coverage was Long Long Long.

I got drawn to this band a) because the article said that they already had a big local following and that their fans/friends were drunkenly singing along to every word at their Pop Exlosion set and b) there was a picture.

My enquiries have been richly rewarded! If you like upbeat indie guitar music then this has your name written all over it. These guys have definitely got something of the recent US indie surf revival thing going on, a la The Drums (but they're actually very different from The Drums). Their songs are oddly structured and lilt and tilt all over the place, but in a wonderfully catchy way that just sounds so poppy and upbeat! Their guitar lines bounce and leap all over the place, the bass stabs at fantastically exotic rhythmical intervals, the drumming is just downright funky. They really remind of Vampire Weekend musically, though they're reminiscent of bands like Pixies too. It's fantastic guitar music, and though it may sound like it owes a lot to Long Long Long's American cousins, there is something very different between these guys and, let's say, The Drums. These songs just seem a lot more clever and experimental than stuff that The Drums and their wave of imitators produce. More than anyone I'd say they remind me of Los Campesinos!, one of the cleverest and most charming yet energetic British bands of recent years. Now I'm not suggesting that Long Long Long will change your life or spearhead a sudden takeover of new, ingenious Canadian indie bands. Or am I?.......

Click here for their MySpace and if you like that and want to go one better, click here to download their brilliant EP Shorts all for free. My favourite track is "Mandarin Collars With Women". Hope you enjoy, and if you investigate please comment below with your thoughts!



*PS- I humbly confess that I forgot Crystal Castles and Arcade Fire are Canadian. But still. Nickelback may just be THAT bad...

The House of Love: One of the UK's Forgotten Greats

The first time I came across The House of Love was whilst reading music magazine Q. These guys are probably the only good thing I have ever got from reading that dreadful magazine, and they weren't even being reviewed or featured- they were mentioned briefly in passing in John Niven's column (the best thing in that magazine).

I got hold of a couple of their songs- "Christine" and "Beatles and the Stones" and just adored them. I immediately thought that they were simpply brilliant songs- fantastically written, great choruses and guitar parts. But more listens made me feel and see an aesthetic and quality about the band that I just loved. Something really individual and compelling.

Their heyday was 1988-1993 and their sound is really firmly grounded in late 80s British indie music, and they sound really pre-emptive of shoegaze and Britpop groups like Blur, Suede and Pulp. They came a little too late for the 80s indie scene and a little too early for Britpop and ended up overshadowed by grunge, so their lack of acclaim and publicity isn't inexplicable but is still tragic. They've got that wonderfully articulate, slightly wonky British-ness inherited from The Kinks which went on to be shared by Blur and a couple of other Britpop bands. These guys deserved so much more success and a much wider audience. They're not even one of these old UK indie bands who have enjoyed a resurgence in popularity in recent years!

Most of the material I listen to from them is from their second album The House of Love, which is confusingly the same title as their first album. It's sometimes known as "The Butterfly Album". I bought it after buying a John Peel compilation which featured the song "Destroy the Heart". It's not on the album, but gave me a kick up the backside to buy it!

I really haven't looked back since I bought their second album, it really is a fantastically good. There's so much to love about it. The songwriting is brilliant- choruses can be massive, the lyrics are clever and really heartfelt. The vocal delivery from frontman Guy Chadwick is just so spot on-- it's got that kind of lazy but involved quality. The guitar parts can shimmer and twinkle as well as pound and thunder.

My favourite is undoubtedly "Beatles and The Stones". It's such a sentimental track, the chorus is just sublime and really wormed its way into my mind and I've been singing it under my breath for months. The lyrics are just fantastic, and I think Guy Chadwick does an amazing job as he takes two bands who are so engrained in history that they can become distant and lose their emotional resonance and connectivity, and blows that distance away and makes the impact those two bands had on him clearly and beautifully felt in one of my favourite lyrics of all time- "The Beatles and the Stones/ Sucked the marrow out of bones/ Put the V in Vietnam/ The Beatles and The Stones made it good to be alone/ To be alone".

Put simply, this is great guitar music and I think The House of Love are one of the most under appreciated bands of the past 25 years. If you like Blur, The La's, Pulp or Suede these guys should stir similar chords, and the same if you like other kinds of thoughtful indie guitar music. Videos below, I hope you enjoy and buy some of their brilliant music.

True Love: Belle & Sebastian

There are certain bands that you will just never ever come round to liking, regardless of what they may say or do. On the opposite side of the coin, there are certain band who you will loyally, unremittingly love, regardless of their future antics or releases. And often, the bands that you just devote yourself to and would physically fight for is the band that one person just loathes in every aspect. The band (the band you love) is, for me, Belle & Sebastian.

I first came across them when watching Juno, which include their songs "Piazza, New York Catcher" (nearly my favourite, after one featured below) and "Expectations" and I just fell in love with them instantly.

The reasons people wouldn't like them are fully understandable to me. They're called twee, pretentious, wet, repetitive and were described by a friend of mine as "the pussiest band like... ever!" I can fully understand that. But I find them heartfelt, honest, sweet, thoughtful and exciting, and their music is tied up with some wonderful memories for me. Songwriter and singer Stuart Murdoch's voice is a make or break kind of voice and I think is what either attracts or repels most people. But it's a lot more than that that pulls me in. The instrumentation is just so lush and well put together, and yet the songs can be relentlessly catchy. The lyrics are a big thing- Stuart Murdoch has this incredible ability to both flit between and combine extremely autobiographical lyrics and brilliant third person stories. So much of their music captures those wonderful moods and feelings that lie outside the boundaires of lots of pop, rock or indie songs- bittersweetness, melancholy, ironic happiness. The ability to do that is part of what I think makes them, not necessarily geniuses, but a band who are incredibly able to be spot on, hit the nail on the head, gentle twang on your emotional chords.

However, if you've heard Belle & Sebastian before and don't like them then nothing in this post or the songs I'm recommending will change your mind I'm afraid (but you could keep reading if you like ;) ) That's not a criticism of them- I've made it clear that I love them! It's just that the songs I'm recommending are classic Belle & Sebastian.

FluxBlog, the internet's oldest mp3 blog (it's been going since 2002!) run by Pitchfork writer Matthew Perpetua posted up a free downloads of two of the stand out tracks from the band's new album Belle & Sebastian Write About Love- "I Want the World To Stop" and "Write About Love", as well as a BBC Session version of classic "Judy and the Dream of Horses". They are all brilliant tracks and I would thoroughly recommend the new album. It's pretty much as good as anything they've done. It's just brimming with sentiment, melody, stories, quirky guitar lines and the unidentifiable quality that I just find so lovable in this band. The album's a grower, but has been sensationally rewarding for me. Even the duet with Norah Jones.

Click here for "I Want the World to Stop" and "Judy and the Dream of Horses".

Click here for "Write About Love".


THIS is my favourite of their songs, from their first album, Tigermilk

Lonely Galaxy- Free MP3 Download and Session Video!

I hope that if you read my post on Sunday about this new guy I discovered, Lonely Galaxy, that you became as entranced and touched by his beautiful music as I did.

At the time I had links for his MySpace and videos but no links to free mp3s. But today, after examining the blog of his label, Transparent Records, I discovered a free download of his track "Nutts", which was my immediate favourite when I listened to his MySpace.

Link below to the brilliant free download, courtesy of Transparent Records, as well as a stripped down session for The Line of Best Fit:

Nutts: http://www.transparentblog.com/blog/834/wait-until?commented=1#c015065

TLOBF Sessions // Lonely Galaxy: 'June' from TLOBF.COM on Vimeo.

Captain Ahab: Possibly The Most Ridiculous Band of the Year

There are times when your response to a song or a piece of music is just so overwhelming or stunningly out-there that you will never ever forget it, and that moment becomes reference point for you, something by which you remember all other pieces of music like it. I can pick out times the the first time I heard Dizzee Rascal's "Bonkers" and the beat kicks in after you hear "BONKERS!" come out of nowhere. Still gets me at any party. For me, that's my high point for a dance track hilariously stopping before it drops into the beat. Or the first time I listened to The Cure's album "Disintegration" and opening track "Plainsong" kicked in. Its like beautiful punch in the heart. For me, all bittersweet and heart wrenchingly beautiful music will properly, on some level, be measured against that album and that first song. It's not just when something is instantly recognsiable to you- like the riff to "Smoke on the Water"- but when you're just overwhelmed somehow by something about a piece of music and part of you just thinks "YES! I get this! I want to be part of this!"

Well, that's a lil' bit like my reaction when I first heard Captain Ahab. Except my reaction wasn't to start thrashing around on the dancefloor. Nor was it to raise my arms and cry. No.

I was wetting myself.
I was grinning like a maniac.

Captain Ahab are genuinely, mind bendinly, arse kickingly, bat crap insane. Their music (and from what I've read, their live shows) is one of the most overloaded, preposterous, over the top, actually ridiculous things I think I've come across. It all reeks of throw-in-the-kitchen-sink mentality.

But that's what's so brilliant about it! Back in April they released their second album The End of Irony, and that album title is pretty important. There's nothing ironic about these guys. It's not pretentious. They're fully aware of how ridiculous their music is, but they're not even trying to be ironic about it. If you want to open your album up with a harsh hip-hop vocal line which is then backed up by male voice choir that sounds like its comprised of dozens of monks before descending into thumping dancefloor filler full of dirty synths, which descends further into distorted screamo then you frigging do it! I'm talking about album opener "Acting Hard" and that really is just the beginning.

The album takes in spoken word mixed with creepy electro and melodramatic hospital-drama theme tune piano and piercing dance beats ("I Don't Have a Dick"). Punk rock vocals slapped over dirty, thumping synths and ambient trance breaks before flowering into almost Pendulum like drum'n'bass ("Death to False Techno") and heavy metal power riffs lashed with swirling electronic sounds reminiscent of the Doctor Who theme tune which all back up an absurdly epic male baritone and that monkish choir I mentioned earlier, in a track that sounds like something from Genghis Khan: A Rock Musical, before dropping into the obligatory fat, wobbly dub bass breakdown. And a brass section ("The Calm Before The Sword").

This last track is the one I've got a link for, from one of my favourite blogs- Get Off the Coast. Download it and bask in the ridiculousness. If you don't like it then genuinely try other stuff from the album, the only common theme is being as absurd and inhibition free as possible. Enjoy! Link below:

P.S- play it loud.
Very loud.

The Calm Before the Sword: http://getoffthecoast.blogspot.com/2010/06/calm-before-sword.html

Captain Ahab - I Don't Have a Dick LIVE @ the Smell from Captain Ahab on Vimeo.

Crystal Castles ft. Robert Smith- "Not in Love"

It's rare in indie music circles nowadays that you truly find a match made in heaven. But last week, we were rewarded with just that. The darkest, most gothic and terrifyingly emotional of weddings, just in time for Halloween. Robert Smith, frontman of The Cure and Emperortr of all that is dark and terrible yet beautiful and uplifting joined forces with Crystal Castles, the genuinely disturbing and enchanting masters of nihilistic yet evocative electro.

They released a cover of a song from the 80s by Platinum Blonde. Blogs and sites across the internet mentioned that casually as if we are all oh so familiar with the original. But of course, none of us are (and seeing as the original isn't on Spotify, I doubt it's been listened too much)!



But I really couldn't give a toss about the original because this track is stunning. It hits the mark on every level. It's insanely huge and on paper should be one of the most depressing things ever put to record, but Crystal Castles and Robert Smith work their mysterious, shadowy magic and make it positively anthemic and uplifiting. An apt word to use is "banger". The first time the beat drops into an almost defiant chorus will lift you off the ground like a polo ball being swung at by a 40ft high Horseman of the Apocalypse.

If I were a DJ, this would be at the intense, swirling climax of my set.

Link below for free download, once again from Gorilla vs Bear:

http://www.gorillavsbear.net/2010/10/28/mp3-crystal-castles-not-in-love-feat-robert-smith/