Category Archives: music

8 Albums To Preorder For Early 2013

I’ve been trawling through all the lists of imminent record releases, and here’s the pick of the litter. If your tastes are anything like mine, then you’d do well to put these dates in your diary.

Everything Everything – Arc

Released on 14-01-13. Sweeping the Nation summed up EE rather succinctly when they said they “have more ideas then they really know what to do with and more time than they think to get them all in.”

Villagers – Awayland

Released on 15-01-13. On 2010′s Becoming a Jackal it felt like Conor O’Brien was picking up where Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst had left off. That’s no bad thing in my book, so it’ll be interesting to see if that trend continues.

Pictish Trail – Secret Soundz Vol. 2

Released on 21-01. Vol. 1 is a firm favourite, so be sure not to miss this new installment of the Pictish Trail’s madcap adventures.

Eels – Wonderful, Glorious

Released on 05-02. You never know quite what you’re going to get with a new Eels album. All you can tell for sure is that it will be well worth a listen.

Frightened Rabbit – Pedestrian Verse

Released on 05-02. My love for all things FR is well documented, so it goes without saying this is the record I’ll be most looking forward to in 2013.

Foals – Holy Fire

Released on 11-02. I’ve yet to really fall in love with Foals, but both their past records have had elements that really excited me. Perhaps this is the year they tie it all together?

Shout Out Louds – Optica

Released on 26-02. SOL caused a stir before Christmas with their gimmicky record made out of ice, but will the actual LP be of any worth? Based on past performances, it probably will be.

Deptford Goth – After Defo

Released on 18-03. This has only recently turned up on my radar and it strays a little from my usual area of experience, but if the single Union is anything to go by, this record is going to be special.

No date for these ones yet, but we can count on LPs from all these chaps in 2013 as well: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The National, eagleowl, Arcade Fire, Laura Marling, Editors.

Finally, I’ve yet to hear anything concrete about a new Withered Hand LP, but we can but hope…

Blog Sound 2013 Result

Here it is folks, the top five acts that UK bloggers think will define the musical landscape in 2013.

Blog Sound of 2013 LogoRespect is due to Robin and Andy for running this poll, which I imagine was quite a challenge. A total of 170 acts were voted for by 49 bloggers, and such is the disparate nature of the blogosphere at the moment I’m guessing the majority of those nominated only received one vote. This, I’m assuming, explains why I wasn’t too excited about the longlist, as the more leftfield acts I was hoping to see weren’t able to generate the critical mass of both awareness and popularity to make the cut.

5. The Neighbourhood

There’s nothing about The Neighbourhood I like. Well, I guess they know how to spell neighourhood properly at least.

3=. Pins

Pins are a little too sixties-lo-fi for my taste, but they’re not actively terrible, which given the state of the longlist I guess counts as a win.

3=. Savages

I dislike some of the other acts in this list on genre grounds, but I ought to like Savages. I really don’t, though.

2. Chvrches

I’ve probably said enough about Chvrches on this blog already. I quite like them, but they’ve been getting so much coverage here that there’s a danger that people might miss out the ‘quite’ at the start of this sentence. They’re okay, and certainly the best of the top five, but I won’t go further than that.

1. Haim

I didn’t think people manufactured family soft-rock bands anymore, but apparently they still do. Haim sound like they’ve stepped right out of nineties American drive-time radio. In a bad way.

Honestly, while I wish all the bands in the top five well, I really don’t want this selection to define the music of 2013. The beauty of new bands, thankfully, is that they’re new, so the acts that will most likely shape the next twelve months haven’t been heard by anyone yet. If they sound like this, though, then it might be a pretty grim year.

Here’s the full list of all the bloggers who voted in the poll:

A New Band A Day, A Pocket Full Of Seeds, All Noise, Alphabet Bands,Both Bars On, Brapscallions, Breaking More Waves, Brighton Music Blog, Details Of My Life So Far, Don’t Watch Me Dancing, Dots And Dashes, Drunken Werewolf, Eaten By Monsters, Electronic Rumors,Faded Glamour, Folly Of Youth, Flying With Anna, God Is In The TV,Harder Blogger Faster, Howl, In Love Not Limbo, Just Music That I Like, Killing Moon, Kowalskiy,  Love Music : Love Life,  Mudkiss, Music Broke My Bones, Music Fans Mic, Music Liberation, Music Like Dirt, My Bands Better Than Your Band, Not Many Experts, Peenko, Real Horrorshow, Scottish Fiction, Skeletory,  Song By Toad, Sounds Good To Me Too, Storm’s Brewing, Sweeping The Nation, The Blue Walrus,The Electricity Club, The Mad Mackerel, The Metaphorical Boat, The Music Hoarder, The Recommender, This Must Be Pop, Von Pip Musical Express, 17 Seconds

12V/3A: Grandbrothers

8.9

Grandbrothers 12V/3A coverNow here’s a mysterious release to wrap your ears around. Whether Grandbrothers haven’t started their marketing campaign yet or are being elusive and secretive by choice I couldn’t tell you. I am told they’re looking for a UK promoter, so maybe we’ll learn more about them in due course. What we do know is that they hail from Germany and are peddling a bewitching blend of piano and The Books-esque rhythmic playfulness.

Their EP, 12V/3A is available to stream in its entirety on their Bandcamp page, although only the opening track Ezra Was Right can be downloaded. That track on it’s own is enough to keep anyone happy for far longer than its not-quite-eight minutes would suggest, but the real stand-out jaw-dropper track is 5gegen1. If you manage to find out anything about this elusive instrumental duo then do let me know, but in the meantime simply take pleasure in their magnificent music

UPDATE: Further detective work (a.k.a. googling) has revealed a rather sparse Grandbrothers blog containing several videos showing off the fancy machine that makes their distinct sound possible. While one of them plays the piano regularly, the other uses a series of laptops and home-soldered mechanics to trigger an array of little bolts that hammer down on the innards of the instrument. It’s an ingenious mechanism, and knowing how it’s done only adds to the wonder of their music.

BBC Sound of 2013: Longlist

Little Green Cars liveToday the BBC announced the longlist for their annual ‘Sound Of…’ poll of critics and tastemakers. As expected, there’s little difference between this 15 and the Blog Sound of 2013 announced last week. Mercifully for all concerned, there are at least a couple of differences; mercifully for the Blog Sound list because if they were both exactly the same then the Blog list would be rendered redundant, and mercifully for us music fans because this list is a little better.

I say a little better, mind. The vast majority of both lists is in my considered opinion utter dross, but at least that has the effect of highlighting the bands that actually are good. The Blog list had Randolph’s Leap, and while they’re sadly missing from the Beeb’s list, Auntie has redeemed herself a little with the inclusion of the frankly excellent Little Green Cars. There not a band I’ve heard of before today, but their track John Wayne is pure indie-pop perfection.

Elsewhere on the list, things aren’t looking so good, but while I can’t say I like King Krule or Kodaline or Peace or Palma Violets, at least they’re real bands. I’m not at all keen on the music the make, but unlike the majority of this list (and all but 3 of the Blogs’ list) I don’t hate their music (well, maybe a case could be made for Palma Violets being hateful, but that’s a whole other post).

What is immediately apparent, though, is that in terms of catchy songs and attitude and sheer slickness of presentation, Chvrches are head and shoulders above the rest of the pack. Their aesthetic is a little out of my comfort zone, and the fella’s voice isn’t as slick as the girls, but they certainly know what they’re doing when it comes to managing their PR and I reckon they’re going to be absolutely massive in 2013.

Little Green Cars – John Wayne

Chvrches – We Sink (live from Maida Vale)

You can see the live video of that Chvrches performance on the BBC website. I had embedded it here, but it turned out the Beeb’s video player insisted on autoplaying, and was summarily deleted.

Blog Sound of 2013: Long List Results

Blog Sound of 2013 LogoWoohoo! Finally it’s here! In all honesty I’ve been looking forward to ‘list season’ since January. My own yearly top 10 lists will make an appearance in the coming days, but before that here’s a more collaborative effort that looks to the future rather than the past. Spurred on by the ever-increasing irrelevance of the BBC’s annual “Sound Of…”  poll, Andy from the Von Pip Musical Express decided to start his own. This is the second year it’s run, and once again I’m proud to have been a part of it.

It’s an interesting project. Of last years recommendations, most sank without trace as so often happens when critics try to predict rather than react, but there were some exceptions. Crucially, the ‘Blog Sound’ list contained the now-world-conquering Alt J (or ∆ if  you prefer) who won this year’s Mercury Prize and weren’t featured on the Beeb’s list at all. Who knows what 2013 will bring, but some of us think it might contain some, all, or none of the acts on this years Blog Sound of 2013 Long List:

AlunaGeorge

Curxes

Chvrches

Daughter

Haim

Laura Mvula

MØ

Palma Violets

Pins

Randolph’s Leap

Rhye

Savages

Seasfire

The Neighbourhood

Tom Odell

I’m ashamed to say that none of those were my picks. Chvrches are obviously going places, and Randolph’s Leap are rather good, but there’s nothing else on the list that really excites me. Daughter was on last years BS list, and her track Medicine isn’t too offensive, but it’s going to be really interesting to compare this list with the Beeb’s own efforts.

Part of me is disappointed that my tastes don’t align with my peers, but equally I can take solace in the fact that I’m still cutting my own path through the new-music firmament. If I was only rehashing what other people thought then there’d be no point in my blogging at all. Interestingly, after all 49 contributors to this poll had cast their votes, over 170 acts received just one vote, so I guess the majority of bloggers are in a similar situation to me. While the top 15 may not meet with my personal approval, this poll does suggest that the blogosphere in general is a rather healthy place at the moment.

The top five of this poll will be announced on the 3rd January, and I’ll post a piece on my own picks for 2013 around that time too. But that’s looking to far ahead; we’ve got List Season to get through first!



And here’s the full list of all the bloggers who voted in the poll:

A New Band A Day, A Pocket Full Of Seeds, All Noise, Alphabet Bands,Both Bars On, Brapscallions, Breaking More Waves, Brighton Music Blog, Details Of My Life So Far, Don’t Watch Me Dancing, Dots And Dashes, Drunken Werewolf, Eaten By Monsters, Electronic Rumors,Faded Glamour, Folly Of Youth, Flying With Anna, God Is In The TV,Harder Blogger Faster, Howl, In Love Not Limbo, Just Music That I Like, Killing Moon, Kowalskiy,  Love Music : Love Life,  Mudkiss, Music Broke My Bones, Music Fans Mic, Music Liberation, Music Like Dirt, My Bands Better Than Your Band, Not Many Experts, Peenko, Real Horrorshow, Scottish Fiction, Skeletory,  Song By Toad, Sounds Good To Me Too, Storm’s Brewing, Sweeping The Nation, The Blue Walrus,The Electricity Club, The Mad Mackerel, The Metaphorical Boat, The Music Hoarder, The Recommender, This Must Be Pop, Von Pip Musical Express, 17 Seconds

Sinking Ship: Port Isla

6.8

Here’s a new single that quickly rose to the top of my inbox. A four-piece from Norwich, Port Isla peddle a rather pleasing mix of appalachian-inspired folksy harmonies and persuasive pop sensibility. Their single Sinking Ship has been released as a free download from Soundcloud, and is really rather special.

For the opening few bars I was a little worried that the band was just one guy and a loopstation trying to sound like KT Tunstall, but there is documentary evidence that this is a real band. And besides, once the chorus kicks in any similarities are quickly forgotten; this track has an energy and momentum that is all its own. The basic sound on offer here is one that’s very in vogue these days, but PI add enough of their own ideas to keep it fresh and intriguing. At the risk of making trite comparisons, imagine if Robin Pecknold actually liked music, had a decent drummer, and was more interested in rocking out than appearing fey and etherial. That’s Port Isla.

Aside from this single, there’s some good stuff to be found on the band’s Soundcloud page, and I’d imagine there’s plenty more to come. So far they’ve had some local radio play and performed at a few festivals, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Port Isla get much bigger much faster in 2013.

Amanda Palmer | Theatre Is Evil

5.9

It’s been a very long time since I’ve covered a full album on these pages, so it seems fitting that I break that streak with a record that’s actually been put together like a real album. So many records these days seem to be just a collection of songs that happen to have been written at the same time, with the best ones put at the start to be sure of grabbing the listener’s attention as quickly as possible. The worst ones are just a couple of singles strung haphazardly together with bona fide filler. A real album, by contrast, has an ebb and flow, a structure, a cohesive identity.

Theatre Is Evil, the result of Amanda Palmer‘s infamous Kickstarter campaign, may have it’s flaws but it is unequivocally an album proper. It’s not a concept album, and in fact the songs held within are a stylistically disparate bunch, but it is nonetheless a record built to be listened to from end to end. TIE comes in a deluxe 2-disc vinyl package, giving an extra couple of side-flips, but it’s the middle break that feels the most accomplished. There’s a fittingly climactic end to the first half of this album in the form of A Grand Theft Intermission, and a suitably punchy start to the second half with the strident drumkit opening for Lost.

Aesthetically the tracks yo-yo from rough and live-sounding to smooth and heavily-produced, but throughout the lynchpin holding this record together is Ms. Palmer’s voice – specifically her sometimes-delicate sometimes-overbearing delivery – and the narrative-rich quality of her songwriting. These two elements are put front-and-centre in the obvious singles Want It Back and The Killing Type, but it’s the less immediately accessible tracks like Bottom Feeder and The Bed Song that reward a listener with more patience.

Lyrically Palmer may be adept at setting a scene with subtle and effective gestures, but when it comes to the production values we’re into primary colours territory; when this record shows its rough edges they really are rough. A grating melodica-esque synth sound permeates most of the record, and coupled with the punk-by-numbers guitar riffs it alternates between being powerfully raw and intensely irritating. The result is that the album has a real bite to it that many of the overly smooth singer/songwriters of today could learn from, but ultimately Palmer’s mannered delivery ends up feeling simply fatiguing. Theatre Is Evil is taught and spiky and entertaining, but just too strident and earnest to be genuinely great, and ironically for an album I’m lauding for being a ‘complete work’ it’s far better taken in small doses.

Amanda Palmer – The Killing Type


Amanda Palmer - Bottomfeeder 

Want It Back: Amanda Palmer & The Grand Theft Orchestra

6.9

If you ignore the nipples, this is actually rather good.  Not being particularly familiar with Ms. Palmer, I assumed she was just, you know, yet another breathy, girly, away-with-the-fairies singer-songwriter.  Having heard this, and having made the connection between her name and the fantastic Map Of Tasmania I heard a while back, I wish I’d jumped on the million-dollar-plus Kickstarter campaign bandwagon.  The album from that massive influx of funds is called Theatre Is Evil, and will get it’s uk release through Cooking Vinyl.

Great typography in the video, and a great song to go with it.  I guess people will call her brave and a feminist and other silly things, but inside I’m still about ten years old and find boobs scary and intimidating…

(If you haven’t guessed by now, the video is a little NSFW).

Good Boy: Town Hall

Town Hall, who impressed me recently with their Sticky Notes & Paper Scraps EP, have a new single out in support of their upcoming album. The track is called Good Boy, and will released as a free download on the their Bandcamp page soon, but for now you can get your kicks from the music video they’ve made for the song (another sterling Mason Jar Music production).

It’s great to see a band that can so consistently keep up such high standards – I often find little videos like the one that alerted me to Town Hall’s existence, but rarely does my further exploration reveal more stuff of a similar quality, let alone better stuff, as is the case here.  The Town Hall album, Roots and Bells, comes out on the 15th of this month, and now I’m even more eager to hear it than I already was.

Heart Heart: Withered Hand

I finally got round to seeing Withered Hand recently, and when asked by a friend to describe what it was like I must admit I struggled. After wrestling with expressions like ‘deliberately lo-fi’ and ‘artfully artless’ – which apply to the early recordings and not the live sound – the only thing I felt comfortable setting in stone was ‘game changer’.  As someone who attempts to write my own songs from time to time, every so often I come across tracks that as well as simply liking I actually wish I’d written myself.  Hearing these songs can either be an inspiration – causing me to stop the track before it’s finished and run off and try to write something of my own – or (and this is more often the case) herald a fit of despair and self-pity – ‘I’ll never write anything that good’ and so on and so forth… Listening to Withered Hand, however, makes me want to unlearn everything I think I know about songwriting and start all over from the beginning again.

I say this, of course, with reference to recording by Withered Hand (the nom de’guerre of singer/songwriter Dan Wilson) that I’ve had time to get to know fairly intimately: 2009′s Good News album, and the smattering of EPs and single mp3s I’ve been able to get my hands on.  This new record, the Heart Heart EP, comes courtesy of the Fence Collective‘s Chart Ruse subscription scheme (although it can still be bought separately), and will probably take a little while to grow on me.  The lead track, Heart Heart, is fast becoming a favourite even though on first listen it struck me as something of a departure from the usual WH sound (although there are distinct parallels with the Religious Songs EP version of New Dawn).  The rest of the tracks (not counting the vinyl-only King Creosote remix) are in more familiar territory but have yet to stamp their identity on my ears in the way many of WH’s older songs already have.

Whether they do or not, there’s no getting round the fact that this EP is – music aside – quite simple a lovely object to own. To those who question the value of music in physical form I recommend feasting your eyes on this exquisitely designed sleeve, with its die-cut hole and beautiful illustrations.

Withered Hand – Heart Heart


And for those of you who are new to WH, here’s a couple of the ‘hits’:

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