Singles
Nothing to tear up the charts this week, but keep an eye out for Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan's unholy union bearing fruit of Ramblin' Man, North Eastern garage power trio The Motorettes' Super Heartbeats and the minute-long all-out primal charge of Be Your Own Pet's Let's Get Sandy. It seems the BYOP bandwagon has missed the mainstream altogether despite a series of gigs towards the end of last year that left one journalist comparing Jemina Pearl's stage antics to prime Iggy Pop. Iggy, of course, likes to strip to the waist and sometimes beyond on stage. Erm, excuse us for a moment...
Albums
It's a spectacular week for LP releases, and not just for the time of year but for any time of year, we'd say. Of course most of the attention, and point of sale purchases, will be focused on Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, and we're going to cover that in more detail this week here. Appropriately, we're going to do it... on the Internet! Hope you've been saving up, though, as also available this week are Cat Power's glorious excursion into maudlin Memphis soul The Greatest - has Ms Marshall ever been in finer voice? We doubt it - the throw it all at the wall and watch what sticks excitement of Broken Social Scene's eponymous second album proper, Pitchfork-aided Neutral Milk Hotel/Yo La Tengo's more pastoral moments/David Byrne starved of oxygen near behemoths Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, perhaps less than sum of parts but still intriguing Tortoise and Bonnie Prince Billy teamup The Brave And The Bold, Jenny Lewis' downbeat, Watson Twins harmony-aided solo project Rabbit Fur Coat and, as a neat summary, Rough Trade's 2005 edition of Counter Culture, which finds room for The Boy Least Likely To, Nurse With Wound, Lightning Bolt, David Shrigley, Brakes, Princess Superstar and the Brodsky Quartet. About average fare, in other words.
DVD
The long awaited Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds DVD upgrade is finally unleashed in two parts, namely 1990 US road movie The Road To God Knows Where and 1992 Amsterdam set Live At The Paradiso. Meanwhile, almost shamefully, none of the online clearing houses are listing The Go-Betweens: That Striped Sunlight Sound, out on the 27th on Tuition DVD and comprising both visual and audio discs of a Brisbane concert in 2005 and an acoustic session with Robert Forster and Grant McLennan explaining and reworking some of their greatest hits. They don't cover Spring Rain or He Lives My Life in the latter but they do do Cattle And Cane and Bachelor Kisses, which'll do nicely for us.
Sunday, January 22, 2006
The benefits of research
The Observer reminds us of that moment at the 2001 Brits when Eminem and Elton John duetted. You'll recall that year, of course, as the one in which the BPI moved the event to America and rechristened it the Grammys.
The Weekly Sweep
Franz Ferdinand - The Fallen
The Boy Least Likely To - Be Gentle With Me
Goodbooks - Passchendaele
¡Forward, Russia! - Twelve
Hamell On Trial - Inquiring Minds
Cat Power - Lived In Bars
Go! Team - Ladyflash
Gnarls Barkley - Crazy
Blues Brother Castro - Flirt
Shortwave Set - Repeat To Fade
The Boy Least Likely To - Be Gentle With Me
Goodbooks - Passchendaele
¡Forward, Russia! - Twelve
Hamell On Trial - Inquiring Minds
Cat Power - Lived In Bars
Go! Team - Ladyflash
Gnarls Barkley - Crazy
Blues Brother Castro - Flirt
Shortwave Set - Repeat To Fade
Friday, January 20, 2006
Tiding you over
* Domino Rally posts imperial Dexys and, oh, some other song that only real losers would take up as inspiration for their own ideas
* You Ain't No Picasso sources new Colin Meloy solo material and his recent KEXP solo session
* Bald, angry man with acoustic Hamell On Trial has a new album out next month and songs from it to share
* The Of Mirror Eye, a title we've never understood, lauds the Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs
* Clap Clap Blog and Popmatters take on the journos
* the blog we're never quite sure whether it's called M3 Online or Good Weather For Air Strike has the top 65 videos of 2005 (when it starts working again)
* The Art Of Noise A-Z Of Music gets to H
* Quite a few have this on various hosts, but Mr Red Penguin finds proper room for Arctic Aloud
* And very much finally, Period Pains - Spice Girls (Who Do You Think You Are?) Curiously, the singer has since performed a stylistic about turn and is in Pure Reason Revolution.
* You Ain't No Picasso sources new Colin Meloy solo material and his recent KEXP solo session
* Bald, angry man with acoustic Hamell On Trial has a new album out next month and songs from it to share
* The Of Mirror Eye, a title we've never understood, lauds the Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs
* Clap Clap Blog and Popmatters take on the journos
* the blog we're never quite sure whether it's called M3 Online or Good Weather For Air Strike has the top 65 videos of 2005 (when it starts working again)
* The Art Of Noise A-Z Of Music gets to H
* Quite a few have this on various hosts, but Mr Red Penguin finds proper room for Arctic Aloud
* And very much finally, Period Pains - Spice Girls (Who Do You Think You Are?) Curiously, the singer has since performed a stylistic about turn and is in Pure Reason Revolution.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Behind the music
Now it's calmed down from its insistence on current affairs catch-alls and need to promote Eastenders all the time BBC3 is settling into a decent niche. Its Story Of... series documenting the genesis and impact of great songs started with Do They Know It's Christmas? the Yuletide before last and has since taken on I Will Survive, Fairytale Of New York and now Common People, a song we remember hearing Steve Lamacq in the days when it was him and Jo Whiley on the Evening Session giving it its first play from an otherwise unmarked white label (the first show after 1995 Glastonbury, says some crevice in our brain, which would make sense on a timeline but we're not certain about). It's not the most obvious to add to the catalogue, teeming with resonance for those of its generation but probably not yet of the same all time top grade, but in terms of sheer sociological impact you can see how it rang so many bells. Of course, it might well have been held back from last August's Britpop anniversary hosannahs for all we know.
Plus of course it's a much loved band, so loved we suspect there were quite a few viewers looking darkly at the idea of treating it with such reverence, and one that's bound to reform sooner or later. In fact they pretty much did for this as the band, minus Steve Mackey for an unexplained reason although he was interviewed seperately, got back together in a converted room above Nick Banks' parents' pottery shop where they rehearsed, Jarvis finding a bag of sugar with a best before date of November 1995. And there's the other USP - Jarvis Cocker, the 1990s' biggest British pop force of nature, seen here in junior camcorder clips and his current post-hippy Mike Reid look, unashamed about being made to walk through Notting Hill with a keyboard under his arm to recreate the act of his buying one in Notting Hill and taking it home to tap out the riff, and in perhaps the best archive clip of the lot getting early girly screams on the Tarrant version of Pop Quiz with team-mates Chesney Hawkes and Des'Ree against the eventually standing ovation giving all-star line-up of Shakespeare's Sister foghorn Marcella Detroit, Little Angels singer Toby Jepson and, um, Patric.
At this stage of their careers Pulp were a band teeming with internal contradictions, right down to the reference in the documentary to Jarvis and Russell Senior's conscientious differences over the miner's strike, and maybe this could have done with more discussion of such ideas and ideals - it's a song written by someone who admits he was more lower middle class than working from the perspective of an art student being come on to by a class tourist who thinks he's 'common', a state of affairs that surely requires some subtle elucidation, if not full explanation, from both viewpoints - instead of letting the production team drag others into his private hell by unsuccessfully attempting to find the very girl from Greece. There wasn't a great effort made to establish their position beyond ideas of them being a band who sang about Spangles, as one person commented, who suddenly broke big, perhaps forgiveable in the context of a programme about one song, although we wonder if there was a private note of pessimism struck when Jarvis commented that the Glastonbury headline slot would be the big finish to the Pulp film but "life doesn't happen that way", knowing full well with the benefit of being outside the Britpop maelstrom that the dream of pop stardom died when it became such a standout single of the kind that doesn't come along every day. That might explain Relaxed Muscle at least, if anything at all does. On the positive side, there's the usual vaguely fascinating bits for this strand - the producer taking the master tape to metaphorical shreds and explaining how it was built up, Chris Thomas here isolating the stylophone deep in the mix while Jarvis gets highly unnerved by hearing the vocals alone ("I was probably pissed, wasn't I?"), a composer attempting to work out the themes and a proper discussion of the lyrics with Ian McMillan, that Irish psychologist who appears on highbrow TV occasionally and one of those It girls you vaguely heard about eight years ago. There was lots of good live footage and some usual suspects popped by - Jarvis' mum touting nearly embarrassing photos, Sadie Frost admitting she didn't actually like them, Pedro Romanyhi looking like Wayne Coyne, Alex Kapranos, and yes, of course there was a clip of Shatner's version, one of those covers that takes the route one approach to reworking by just reading the lyrics as a selection of words to recite. Of course Americans get irony, unless we've missed crucial biographical details about Larry David and Garry Shandling, but you can see why the cliche remains.
Common People is a song that a lot of people still don't fully get - the Wikipedia entry claims "the song is a put down of all the bands around at the time, who wanted to be like "common people" and attributed poverty with glamour", which is an interesting reading, as well as one that needs some work putting into it just to see the join. Other would read it as internecine class warfare of a kind, which is fairly glib but doesn't entirely ring true with Cocker's intentions, as he never really riffed on the class divide idea as much as, say, the Gallaghers would in contemporary interviews. Did the phrase even exist by itself before this? As we say, contradictory stands are half the intrigue. The programme didn't amount to a hill of beans in the end on this front but it didn't make anyone look any less endearing, which in a funny way must have been the point.
Plus of course it's a much loved band, so loved we suspect there were quite a few viewers looking darkly at the idea of treating it with such reverence, and one that's bound to reform sooner or later. In fact they pretty much did for this as the band, minus Steve Mackey for an unexplained reason although he was interviewed seperately, got back together in a converted room above Nick Banks' parents' pottery shop where they rehearsed, Jarvis finding a bag of sugar with a best before date of November 1995. And there's the other USP - Jarvis Cocker, the 1990s' biggest British pop force of nature, seen here in junior camcorder clips and his current post-hippy Mike Reid look, unashamed about being made to walk through Notting Hill with a keyboard under his arm to recreate the act of his buying one in Notting Hill and taking it home to tap out the riff, and in perhaps the best archive clip of the lot getting early girly screams on the Tarrant version of Pop Quiz with team-mates Chesney Hawkes and Des'Ree against the eventually standing ovation giving all-star line-up of Shakespeare's Sister foghorn Marcella Detroit, Little Angels singer Toby Jepson and, um, Patric.
At this stage of their careers Pulp were a band teeming with internal contradictions, right down to the reference in the documentary to Jarvis and Russell Senior's conscientious differences over the miner's strike, and maybe this could have done with more discussion of such ideas and ideals - it's a song written by someone who admits he was more lower middle class than working from the perspective of an art student being come on to by a class tourist who thinks he's 'common', a state of affairs that surely requires some subtle elucidation, if not full explanation, from both viewpoints - instead of letting the production team drag others into his private hell by unsuccessfully attempting to find the very girl from Greece. There wasn't a great effort made to establish their position beyond ideas of them being a band who sang about Spangles, as one person commented, who suddenly broke big, perhaps forgiveable in the context of a programme about one song, although we wonder if there was a private note of pessimism struck when Jarvis commented that the Glastonbury headline slot would be the big finish to the Pulp film but "life doesn't happen that way", knowing full well with the benefit of being outside the Britpop maelstrom that the dream of pop stardom died when it became such a standout single of the kind that doesn't come along every day. That might explain Relaxed Muscle at least, if anything at all does. On the positive side, there's the usual vaguely fascinating bits for this strand - the producer taking the master tape to metaphorical shreds and explaining how it was built up, Chris Thomas here isolating the stylophone deep in the mix while Jarvis gets highly unnerved by hearing the vocals alone ("I was probably pissed, wasn't I?"), a composer attempting to work out the themes and a proper discussion of the lyrics with Ian McMillan, that Irish psychologist who appears on highbrow TV occasionally and one of those It girls you vaguely heard about eight years ago. There was lots of good live footage and some usual suspects popped by - Jarvis' mum touting nearly embarrassing photos, Sadie Frost admitting she didn't actually like them, Pedro Romanyhi looking like Wayne Coyne, Alex Kapranos, and yes, of course there was a clip of Shatner's version, one of those covers that takes the route one approach to reworking by just reading the lyrics as a selection of words to recite. Of course Americans get irony, unless we've missed crucial biographical details about Larry David and Garry Shandling, but you can see why the cliche remains.
Common People is a song that a lot of people still don't fully get - the Wikipedia entry claims "the song is a put down of all the bands around at the time, who wanted to be like "common people" and attributed poverty with glamour", which is an interesting reading, as well as one that needs some work putting into it just to see the join. Other would read it as internecine class warfare of a kind, which is fairly glib but doesn't entirely ring true with Cocker's intentions, as he never really riffed on the class divide idea as much as, say, the Gallaghers would in contemporary interviews. Did the phrase even exist by itself before this? As we say, contradictory stands are half the intrigue. The programme didn't amount to a hill of beans in the end on this front but it didn't make anyone look any less endearing, which in a funny way must have been the point.
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
While we prevaricate on other stuff, watch the trailer for the US-only (at the moment) new Bloc Party DVD
Monday, January 16, 2006
Weekender
CHART OF DARKNESS: Shayne Ward makes it another week with the bare minimum of effort, from either the rest of the music industry or anyone surrounding him. Richard Ashcroft would have had his biggest solo hit otherwise, so be grateful for diminutive mercies. At 4 it's Waiting For A Star To Fall mania all over again as a second track using the same core sample, here the Baywatch theme, charts in successive weeks. It can't be true that Hasselhoff is making a musical comeback, can it? We seem to be alone in remaining impervious to this cult, but then we've always hated wanton irony. Texas can't manage better than 6 even with Peter Kay dusting off Marc Park from That Peter Kay Thing for the video, Jose Gonzalez pops by at 9, the Kooks manage 12, The Crimea are far too low at 31, while there's re-entries for the Ordinary Boys, understandably, and Kanye West, inexplicably. Big news in the album charts, in which James Blunt takes the top once more, is Editors' The Back Room up 15 to 3. Gonzalez rockets to 16, Notorious BIG's latest set of grave-digging - three dead people on duet duty with Biggie! - is a place below and we'd like full explanation of why Led Zeppelin IV has climbed for three consecutive weeks and is now at 28.
BARGAIN HUNT: Interpol's Turn On The Bright Lights seems to have become something of a US indie touchstone already, in airiness as much as the phalanx of black-clad Joy Division-listening gloom mongers following its lead. New York cares, and Virgin certainly do, selling it for £4.99.
FREE MUSIC: Television Personalities - May You Dream The Sweetest Dreams: Dan Treacy's back from some worrying personal depths with the TVPs first album in a few years, My Dark Places, out on Domino in February. Still sounds like it was recorded in a biscuit tin, still wilfully singular. From the same site, the classic Part Time Punks gets John Peel almost excited
HEY YOU GET OFFA MYSPACE: Goodbooks: minor members of the NME's Hot List for 2006, yet more clever-clever post-post-punk, but with a wise head on young shoulders. They claim in that same piece that their name was suggested by Holly Willoughby, which is just pushing their luck publicity-wise.
SECRET LIVES: We've covered Zane Lowe's band Breaks Co-Op before, but on the back of The Other Side winning Best Single at the New Zealand Music Awards and being named the country's most played record on national radio of 2005, their website suggests they've signed to Parlophone worldwide and are about to launch in the UK. Wonder how that'll go down with the press. New Zealand Herald interview and moody photo here
IN OTHER NEWS: Eamon leaves British Sea Power. Remember him this way:
EVERYBODY GET RANDOM: 'Paul Morressey' and Johnny Marr appear on 1984 TV-AM kids pop show Datarun. The woman at the start is Lulu's sister, the kids are from Stephen's old school, the live footage was recorded at a soundcheck, the rest is inexplicable.
BARGAIN HUNT: Interpol's Turn On The Bright Lights seems to have become something of a US indie touchstone already, in airiness as much as the phalanx of black-clad Joy Division-listening gloom mongers following its lead. New York cares, and Virgin certainly do, selling it for £4.99.
FREE MUSIC: Television Personalities - May You Dream The Sweetest Dreams: Dan Treacy's back from some worrying personal depths with the TVPs first album in a few years, My Dark Places, out on Domino in February. Still sounds like it was recorded in a biscuit tin, still wilfully singular. From the same site, the classic Part Time Punks gets John Peel almost excited
HEY YOU GET OFFA MYSPACE: Goodbooks: minor members of the NME's Hot List for 2006, yet more clever-clever post-post-punk, but with a wise head on young shoulders. They claim in that same piece that their name was suggested by Holly Willoughby, which is just pushing their luck publicity-wise.
SECRET LIVES: We've covered Zane Lowe's band Breaks Co-Op before, but on the back of The Other Side winning Best Single at the New Zealand Music Awards and being named the country's most played record on national radio of 2005, their website suggests they've signed to Parlophone worldwide and are about to launch in the UK. Wonder how that'll go down with the press. New Zealand Herald interview and moody photo here
IN OTHER NEWS: Eamon leaves British Sea Power. Remember him this way:
EVERYBODY GET RANDOM: 'Paul Morressey' and Johnny Marr appear on 1984 TV-AM kids pop show Datarun. The woman at the start is Lulu's sister, the kids are from Stephen's old school, the live footage was recorded at a soundcheck, the rest is inexplicable.
Sunday, January 15, 2006
In shops tomorrow: 16/1
Singles
Ah, now it's picking up. The big one is of course When The Sun Goes Down by the Arctic Monkeys, engaging itself in the year's first big number one battle against Will Young and Beyonce. Who'd have thought? Somewhere down the list we find Belle & Sebastian's opinion splitting return single Funny Little Frog, a horribly mislabelled on Amazon Twelve by !Forward, Russia!, perhaps their best invocation of post-Fugazi dynamics and annoying to type insistence on Cyrillic punctuation, and the fairly touted nu-shoegazers The Early Years debut properly with All Ones And Zeros. On vinyl look out for Clearlake's Good Clean Fun, Secret Machines' return in a grandiose if still much the same manner with Alone, Jealous & Stoned and our record of the week, Cat Power's sumptuous The Greatest, only on 7" but as previously mentioned here on Radio 2's playlist anyway, supported by an as usual mildly distracted interview with Australia's The Age.
Albums
It's ironic that a week ahead of the official UK release of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's album the first four Talking Heads albums are being reissued, this time on DualDisc format in Special Edition mode. What this means is the original versions have yet again been remastered, or you could turn the CD over, study the Bible on grain of rice-sized text around the hole just to make sure you're now on the DVDA side and listen to demos and live versions you don't need and a couple of videos and TV appearances. Alternatively you could just go to eBay and buy previous, non-bells and whistles versions on the cheap. Have fun with those 2006 profit margins, WEA. Like everyone Fear Of Music is our favourite, followed by Remain In Light, More Songs About Buildings And Food and Talking Heads: 77. Also in the re-release tray are Ride's OX4 best of and the Blue Aeroplanes' Swagger, the 1990 some say lost classic of lit-leftfield-rock also deluxing itself with live versions, rarities and demos. Among the new product that can only dream of remastering suites, the harmonic generation dreampop of Mazarin's We're Already There stands out.
Ah, now it's picking up. The big one is of course When The Sun Goes Down by the Arctic Monkeys, engaging itself in the year's first big number one battle against Will Young and Beyonce. Who'd have thought? Somewhere down the list we find Belle & Sebastian's opinion splitting return single Funny Little Frog, a horribly mislabelled on Amazon Twelve by !Forward, Russia!, perhaps their best invocation of post-Fugazi dynamics and annoying to type insistence on Cyrillic punctuation, and the fairly touted nu-shoegazers The Early Years debut properly with All Ones And Zeros. On vinyl look out for Clearlake's Good Clean Fun, Secret Machines' return in a grandiose if still much the same manner with Alone, Jealous & Stoned and our record of the week, Cat Power's sumptuous The Greatest, only on 7" but as previously mentioned here on Radio 2's playlist anyway, supported by an as usual mildly distracted interview with Australia's The Age.
Albums
It's ironic that a week ahead of the official UK release of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's album the first four Talking Heads albums are being reissued, this time on DualDisc format in Special Edition mode. What this means is the original versions have yet again been remastered, or you could turn the CD over, study the Bible on grain of rice-sized text around the hole just to make sure you're now on the DVDA side and listen to demos and live versions you don't need and a couple of videos and TV appearances. Alternatively you could just go to eBay and buy previous, non-bells and whistles versions on the cheap. Have fun with those 2006 profit margins, WEA. Like everyone Fear Of Music is our favourite, followed by Remain In Light, More Songs About Buildings And Food and Talking Heads: 77. Also in the re-release tray are Ride's OX4 best of and the Blue Aeroplanes' Swagger, the 1990 some say lost classic of lit-leftfield-rock also deluxing itself with live versions, rarities and demos. Among the new product that can only dream of remastering suites, the harmonic generation dreampop of Mazarin's We're Already There stands out.
The Weekly Sweep
Nectarine No 9 - South Of An Imaginary Line
Orange Juice - Felicity
Colorblind James Experience - Considering A Move To Memphis
Moneybrother - They're Building Walls Around Us
Del Tha Funkee Homosapien - Mistadobalina
Maximo Park - I Want You To Stay
Infadels - Can't Get Enough
Motorettes - Super Heartbeats
Scritti Politti - The Word Girl
William Campbell & Kevin MacNeil - Local Man Ruins Everything
Orange Juice - Felicity
Colorblind James Experience - Considering A Move To Memphis
Moneybrother - They're Building Walls Around Us
Del Tha Funkee Homosapien - Mistadobalina
Maximo Park - I Want You To Stay
Infadels - Can't Get Enough
Motorettes - Super Heartbeats
Scritti Politti - The Word Girl
William Campbell & Kevin MacNeil - Local Man Ruins Everything
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Feel The Quality
In among positive news about music sales over 2005 came the fact that the biggest faller (outside physical singles, we imagine) year on year was the humble compilation album, being nearly 16% down. The BPI blamed it on CDR swapping, the twats. We feel it is our duty to make sure the compilation retains its position as the fulcrum of the trade, or at least the handy way to fill those awkward last few racks, so here's this week's compilation chart top ten:
1 Clubbers Guide 2006
USP: Well, it's not like the attraction of a July in Ibiza or Ayia Napa will ever fade, is it? God bless Ministry Of Sound, sticking with the format no matter what prevailing dance music trends throw at it.
STICK THAT ON THE ADVERT: And my, what dance music trends are being thrown at us all these days. Tip to Naughty Boy - your Phat Beach bootleg may have sounded oh so radical in context, just don't keep the title when Leftfield refuse to make your Phat Planet sample legal.
WHAT'S THIS ONE, DAD?: Good to see Karin from The Knife there, obviously as the vocalist on Royksopp's What Else Is There, if not the Thin White Duke remix. We can't work out which is the more worrying title - Work This Pussy (Mad8) or I've Got The Music In Me (Boogie Pimps).
2 Now That's What I Call Music 62
USP: EMI/Virgin's cash cow, or pound-pertaining pig if you want to hark back to the glory days.
STICK THAT ON THE ADVERT: Well, it's all the hits, isn't it? We suspect Bad Day might be held over for about halfway through, though.
WHAT'S THIS ONE, DAD?: Can't see Elton John, Mattafix, Bon Jovi or Texas escaping the kids' Skip buttons. Welcome To Jamrock will just confuse them, or make them cry if it's not the really cautious radio edit.
3 Helter Skelter Presents Hardcore Classics
USP: Two blokes on a low grade PC in Rotterdam on 200bpm rather than four very short-haired college kids trying to play faster than Motorhead in San Francisco, of course.
STICK THAT ON THE ADVERT: Mixed by one Billy 'Daniel' Bunter, apparently. It's not an advert you'd see during Children's ITV, let's say that.
WHAT'S THIS ONE, DAD?: CLSM's semi-legendary John Peel Is Not Enough - an excellent concept, if bugger all use now.
4 Twice As Nice - Weekender
USP: Released on Boxing Day, because of course that's the optimum time for forward thinking superclub business.
STICK THAT ON THE ADVERT: A recent not too commercial R&B primer, essentially, bar the way it starts with Don't Cha and Ciara's 1 2 Step.
WHAT'S THIS ONE, DAD?: The Ying Yang Twins can fuck off, for a start. Plenty to represent the nation, even if it is Audio Bullys and, bloody hell, Wayne Marshall's Ooh Aah G Spot. Ginuwine's Pony crops up towards the end, much mocked at the time for its odd burping noises throughout, little realising that this was Timbaland's first venture into big time production and everyone would be extracting Warp Records-style noises from 303s before too long.
5 The Best Club Anthems Classics
USP: Perhaps the most famous compilation series in dance music, as it's the one with the logo that looks like a gold Letraset Airfix kit. This is their 3CD blowout.
STICK THAT ON THE ADVERT: Tip to compilers - if you're trying to make out that dance music is still as innovative and forward thinking as ever, don't start your big shot compilation with Call On Me, Lola's Theme, Out Of Touch and Somebody To Love.
WHAT'S THIS ONE, DAD?: If there's a track you don't recognise it's because you're too young for K-Klass or Urban Cookie Collective. Out Of Space is the Prodigy track, always good to hear the filtered disco zenith of Cassius 1999, and you'd be surprised how long it's been since you heard Groovejet.
6 The Annual 2006
USP: More state secretarial affairs at the Ministry Of Sound with the calendar event Sarah Cawood always used to do a moody voiceover for.
STICK THAT ON THE ADVERT: Mylo and whoever wrote Doctor Beat must be raking it in with the number of top selling compilations Doctor Pressure is appearing on. What was the point of D.O.N.S. Featuring Technotronic's Pump Up The Jam again?
WHAT'S THIS ONE, DAD?: Paul Epworth's transition from soundman to dance bod is complete as his Goldfrapp Phones Re-Edit is here. What the buggering fuckery is The Disco Boys Featuring Manfred Mann's Earth Band like?
7 NME Presents The Essential Bands
USP: Because the Shine compilers don't seem to be bothering any more.
STICK THAT ON THE ADVERT: I Predict A Riot opens CD1, Speed Of Sound CD2. That's the way, tempt them in early.
WHAT'S THIS ONE, DAD?: Actually less leftfield suggestions than the Best Bands Ever set, although oddly the Killers track is Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine. At least it's not Glamorous Indie Rock'n'Roll. What are the Kaiser kids meant to do when Test Icicles come on?
8 Housework Songs
USP: Completely does away with the need for local commercial radio, the cover shot of a woman singing into a hoover, or possibly an air pumping horn from the local garage, sets the scene.
STICK THAT ON THE ADVERT: Basically it's much the same as you'd get at hen party karaoke, from I Will Survive to Take A Chance On Me, even if it is Erasure's version.
WHAT'S THIS ONE, DAD?: Who gives it the full Aretha to Mike And The Mechanics' Over My Shoulder? Hadn't we all agreed to forget Can’t Fight The Moonlight?
9 The Number One Classical Album 2006
USP: Are there new contenders for the classical canon every year, then?
STICK THAT ON THE ADVERT: Well, interpretations obviously do, as this is classical in the 'classical additions to the tenor canon' sense of the term, ie an inaccurate one. Covering the full gamut of vocal expression from G4 and Bryn Terfel to Amici Forever and Vittorio Grigolo, it manages to find room for the Choirboys' Tears In Heaven, which surely doesn't count.
WHAT'S THIS ONE, DAD?: Allegretto (From Palladio). By Myleene Klass, obviously. How much was that popularising the classics album deal again?
10 The R&B Yearbook
USP: What it says on the tin, although someone appears to have left some of last year's Yearbook inside. How come Frank'ee never made much of her career, eh?
STICK THAT ON THE ADVERT: First four tracks: Lonely, Let Me Love You, Get Right, 1 Thing. From there it goes in much the same direction.
WHAT'S THIS ONE, DAD?: Apart from the inexplicable choice of the Fugees' version of No Woman No Cry, that is. And Terror Squad's Lean Back, which made a massive US impact and did bugger all here. And the oh so timely DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince's Summertime. Why is the Dirty Dancing soundtrack, Blow Monkeys track and all, at 11?
1 Clubbers Guide 2006
USP: Well, it's not like the attraction of a July in Ibiza or Ayia Napa will ever fade, is it? God bless Ministry Of Sound, sticking with the format no matter what prevailing dance music trends throw at it.
STICK THAT ON THE ADVERT: And my, what dance music trends are being thrown at us all these days. Tip to Naughty Boy - your Phat Beach bootleg may have sounded oh so radical in context, just don't keep the title when Leftfield refuse to make your Phat Planet sample legal.
WHAT'S THIS ONE, DAD?: Good to see Karin from The Knife there, obviously as the vocalist on Royksopp's What Else Is There, if not the Thin White Duke remix. We can't work out which is the more worrying title - Work This Pussy (Mad8) or I've Got The Music In Me (Boogie Pimps).
2 Now That's What I Call Music 62
USP: EMI/Virgin's cash cow, or pound-pertaining pig if you want to hark back to the glory days.
STICK THAT ON THE ADVERT: Well, it's all the hits, isn't it? We suspect Bad Day might be held over for about halfway through, though.
WHAT'S THIS ONE, DAD?: Can't see Elton John, Mattafix, Bon Jovi or Texas escaping the kids' Skip buttons. Welcome To Jamrock will just confuse them, or make them cry if it's not the really cautious radio edit.
3 Helter Skelter Presents Hardcore Classics
USP: Two blokes on a low grade PC in Rotterdam on 200bpm rather than four very short-haired college kids trying to play faster than Motorhead in San Francisco, of course.
STICK THAT ON THE ADVERT: Mixed by one Billy 'Daniel' Bunter, apparently. It's not an advert you'd see during Children's ITV, let's say that.
WHAT'S THIS ONE, DAD?: CLSM's semi-legendary John Peel Is Not Enough - an excellent concept, if bugger all use now.
4 Twice As Nice - Weekender
USP: Released on Boxing Day, because of course that's the optimum time for forward thinking superclub business.
STICK THAT ON THE ADVERT: A recent not too commercial R&B primer, essentially, bar the way it starts with Don't Cha and Ciara's 1 2 Step.
WHAT'S THIS ONE, DAD?: The Ying Yang Twins can fuck off, for a start. Plenty to represent the nation, even if it is Audio Bullys and, bloody hell, Wayne Marshall's Ooh Aah G Spot. Ginuwine's Pony crops up towards the end, much mocked at the time for its odd burping noises throughout, little realising that this was Timbaland's first venture into big time production and everyone would be extracting Warp Records-style noises from 303s before too long.
5 The Best Club Anthems Classics
USP: Perhaps the most famous compilation series in dance music, as it's the one with the logo that looks like a gold Letraset Airfix kit. This is their 3CD blowout.
STICK THAT ON THE ADVERT: Tip to compilers - if you're trying to make out that dance music is still as innovative and forward thinking as ever, don't start your big shot compilation with Call On Me, Lola's Theme, Out Of Touch and Somebody To Love.
WHAT'S THIS ONE, DAD?: If there's a track you don't recognise it's because you're too young for K-Klass or Urban Cookie Collective. Out Of Space is the Prodigy track, always good to hear the filtered disco zenith of Cassius 1999, and you'd be surprised how long it's been since you heard Groovejet.
6 The Annual 2006
USP: More state secretarial affairs at the Ministry Of Sound with the calendar event Sarah Cawood always used to do a moody voiceover for.
STICK THAT ON THE ADVERT: Mylo and whoever wrote Doctor Beat must be raking it in with the number of top selling compilations Doctor Pressure is appearing on. What was the point of D.O.N.S. Featuring Technotronic's Pump Up The Jam again?
WHAT'S THIS ONE, DAD?: Paul Epworth's transition from soundman to dance bod is complete as his Goldfrapp Phones Re-Edit is here. What the buggering fuckery is The Disco Boys Featuring Manfred Mann's Earth Band like?
7 NME Presents The Essential Bands
USP: Because the Shine compilers don't seem to be bothering any more.
STICK THAT ON THE ADVERT: I Predict A Riot opens CD1, Speed Of Sound CD2. That's the way, tempt them in early.
WHAT'S THIS ONE, DAD?: Actually less leftfield suggestions than the Best Bands Ever set, although oddly the Killers track is Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine. At least it's not Glamorous Indie Rock'n'Roll. What are the Kaiser kids meant to do when Test Icicles come on?
8 Housework Songs
USP: Completely does away with the need for local commercial radio, the cover shot of a woman singing into a hoover, or possibly an air pumping horn from the local garage, sets the scene.
STICK THAT ON THE ADVERT: Basically it's much the same as you'd get at hen party karaoke, from I Will Survive to Take A Chance On Me, even if it is Erasure's version.
WHAT'S THIS ONE, DAD?: Who gives it the full Aretha to Mike And The Mechanics' Over My Shoulder? Hadn't we all agreed to forget Can’t Fight The Moonlight?
9 The Number One Classical Album 2006
USP: Are there new contenders for the classical canon every year, then?
STICK THAT ON THE ADVERT: Well, interpretations obviously do, as this is classical in the 'classical additions to the tenor canon' sense of the term, ie an inaccurate one. Covering the full gamut of vocal expression from G4 and Bryn Terfel to Amici Forever and Vittorio Grigolo, it manages to find room for the Choirboys' Tears In Heaven, which surely doesn't count.
WHAT'S THIS ONE, DAD?: Allegretto (From Palladio). By Myleene Klass, obviously. How much was that popularising the classics album deal again?
10 The R&B Yearbook
USP: What it says on the tin, although someone appears to have left some of last year's Yearbook inside. How come Frank'ee never made much of her career, eh?
STICK THAT ON THE ADVERT: First four tracks: Lonely, Let Me Love You, Get Right, 1 Thing. From there it goes in much the same direction.
WHAT'S THIS ONE, DAD?: Apart from the inexplicable choice of the Fugees' version of No Woman No Cry, that is. And Terror Squad's Lean Back, which made a massive US impact and did bugger all here. And the oh so timely DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince's Summertime. Why is the Dirty Dancing soundtrack, Blow Monkeys track and all, at 11?
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Cupid & Psyche 06
We've always had a soft spot for Scritti Politti, who in retrospect stand a good metric mile away from the synth-soul crowd through Green Gartside's deconstructions of love and funk alike. Hell, we even liked the little we heard Anomie & Bonhomie, the hip-hop flavoured last hurrah from 1999. That, as was usually his want, was the last heard of Gartside for a while, bar backing vocals on a track on Kylie's last album, but like everyone else he's back, back, back, and even playing gigs, at the Brixton Windmill on Saturday supporting The Shortwave Set under the curious name Double G And The Treacherous 3. Baggage Reclaim were there, as was Melodiefabriek's man on the ground, and apparently there's an album under Green's own name later in the year.
In more solo/not solo revival news, Stephen Malkmus played a crowd request show in New York yesterday, including Pavement songs
In more solo/not solo revival news, Stephen Malkmus played a crowd request show in New York yesterday, including Pavement songs
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
A Brit on the side
Time, then, to look at the nominees for this year's Brit Awards, the annual event where labels spend far too much on otherwise simple live performances and the only worthwhile events are only reported on three days later:
Best British album: Aerial, Back To Bedlam, Demon Days, Employment, X&Y
The first of five mentions for the Chiefs and the guardsman. Good to see the Kate Bush nomination of cliche has got in, although you'd have to say it's fair enough in a year when she's actually released something. Probable winner: Kaisers.
British male solo artist: Antony and the Johnsons, Ian Brown, James Blunt, Robbie Williams, Will Young
Oh, don't start the "but he's American!" argument again, even if the steering group seem to imagine And The Johnsons is just his imagination, like in the film Harvey (there are permanent Johnsons, a string section and guitarist as we recall) Ian Brown gets nominated for this every single year. Probable winner: Robbie, just because he'd have to have something.
British female solo artist: Natasha Bedingfield, Kate Bush, Charlotte Church, Katie Melua, KT Tunstall
They think highly of Natasha in America, you understand, even if they've been sidelined here. What chance the much discussed other musical Bedingfields now? Probable winner: Bush.
British group: Coldplay, Franz Ferdinand, Gorillaz, Hard-Fi, Kaiser Chiefs
You or us could have named four of these twelve months ago, assuming we'd been told who was releasing albums in 2005. Probable winner: Coldplay, because they're going to be there.
British single (Voted by UK commercial radio listeners): Is This The Way To Amarillo?, Push The Button, Speed Of Sound, That's My Goal, You're Beautiful
One of those wasn't even a British single this year. We thought the nominees were automatically picked from the five most commercial radio played UK hits of the year, but That's My Goal can't have been played that much, and while four of them are four of the five biggest selling homegrown singles of the year (Mr Red Penguin has the top 200) Speed Of Sound is well done. Probable winner: That's My Goal, because it's the most recent
British breakthrough act (Voted by Radio 1 listeners and the Brits Academy): Arctic Monkeys, James Blunt, Kaiser Chiefs, KT Tunstall, Magic Numbers
Hang on, what are the Academy doing here? Getting ready to change the leader just in case ver Monkeys don't show up? Probable winner: Arctic Monkeys if purely on votes, Kaisers if seasonally adjusted.
British urban act (Voted by MTV Base viewers and the Brits Academy): Craig David, Dizzee Rascal, Kano, Lemar, Ms Dynamite
It's five years now since Craig David was nominated for a load of Brits and won nothing, and performing halfway through the ceremony he broke into a freestyle rap which included the line "no brits for CD". How did he know then? At least Joss Stone's not qualified. Probable winner: Lemar
British rock act (Voted by Kerrang! TV viewers and the Brits Academy): Franz Ferdinand, Hard-Fi, Kaiser Chiefs, Kasabian, Oasis
All Kerrang! target market, of course. Probable winner: Oasis if the 3am Girls reckon they'll turn up, Kaisers otherwise
Pop act (Voted by CD:UK viewers, The Sun Bizarre column readers and O2/Motorola customers): James Blunt, Kelly Clarkson, Katie Melua, Madonna, Westlife
Surely it should have been split into UK and international categories long before now to avoid confusion that doesn't already come into play by the redefinition of the word 'pop' exhibited here - the nominations could easily have been Charlotte Church, Girls Aloud, McFly, Nelly and Sugababes and it wouldn't have been any weaker for what it's been set up as. Probably stronger without Melua, actually. Probable winner: Westlife. It's a CD:UK and teen girls on phones vote, remember
British live act (Voted by Radio 2 and a panel of selectors): Coldplay, Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs, Oasis, KT Tunstall
Well, that was worth dropping Best Video for. The judging panel, via whoever was on it from the Independent, were supposedly furious that they'd been forced against their will to nominate acts who had played actual paid-for gigs that people could easily go to and not Pink Floyd. Diddums. Probable winner: Coldplay
International male solo artist: Beck, Jack Johnson, John Legend, Bruce Springsteen, Kanye West
A category that's often good for an unlikely nomination or two, although this year we won't get the Brits preview show talking heads being asked for their opinions on Tom Waits unlike 2005, worse luck. Probable winner: Kanye, and he'll be there
International female solo artist: Bjork, Mariah Carey, Kelly Clarkson, Missy Elliott, Madonna
Bjork seems to get into this one suspiciously often. Probable winner: Madonna
International album: American Idiot, Confessions On A Dancefloor, Funeral, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, Late Registration
Yes, Funeral, and you've not heard the last of Arcade Fire here yet. We won't mention ...Atomic Bomb came out in November 2004 and was nominated last year if you don't. Probable winner: if the committee notice that in time, Kanye again
International group: Arcade Fire, Black Eyed Peas, Green Day, U2, White Stripes
If we were organising the awards, we reckon we'd have gone "to hell with it" and incorporated Irish acts long before now, as it just looks slightly odd otherwise. Probable winner: they haven't, so U2.
International breakthrough act: Arcade Fire, Jack Johnson, John Legend, Daniel Powter, Pussycat Dolls
Daniel Powter? Did Snow get nominated in 1992? Probable winner: as great the thought of Win and Regine quickly trying to think of something to say as they approach the podium is, we suspect they'll play safe and go for the Radio 2 casting vote of Jack Johnson
Outstanding contribution to music: Paul Weller
Didn't say anything about never reforming the Style Council, you know.
The awards are on 15th February, the tie-in album (featuring some people who haven't been named above, which is just taking the piss) is tracklisted here, and we'll hopefully be augmenting every other UK music blog in providing a live minute by minute precis of the ceremony the following day. Chris Evans is presenting again. Whoopee.
Best British album: Aerial, Back To Bedlam, Demon Days, Employment, X&Y
The first of five mentions for the Chiefs and the guardsman. Good to see the Kate Bush nomination of cliche has got in, although you'd have to say it's fair enough in a year when she's actually released something. Probable winner: Kaisers.
British male solo artist: Antony and the Johnsons, Ian Brown, James Blunt, Robbie Williams, Will Young
Oh, don't start the "but he's American!" argument again, even if the steering group seem to imagine And The Johnsons is just his imagination, like in the film Harvey (there are permanent Johnsons, a string section and guitarist as we recall) Ian Brown gets nominated for this every single year. Probable winner: Robbie, just because he'd have to have something.
British female solo artist: Natasha Bedingfield, Kate Bush, Charlotte Church, Katie Melua, KT Tunstall
They think highly of Natasha in America, you understand, even if they've been sidelined here. What chance the much discussed other musical Bedingfields now? Probable winner: Bush.
British group: Coldplay, Franz Ferdinand, Gorillaz, Hard-Fi, Kaiser Chiefs
You or us could have named four of these twelve months ago, assuming we'd been told who was releasing albums in 2005. Probable winner: Coldplay, because they're going to be there.
British single (Voted by UK commercial radio listeners): Is This The Way To Amarillo?, Push The Button, Speed Of Sound, That's My Goal, You're Beautiful
One of those wasn't even a British single this year. We thought the nominees were automatically picked from the five most commercial radio played UK hits of the year, but That's My Goal can't have been played that much, and while four of them are four of the five biggest selling homegrown singles of the year (Mr Red Penguin has the top 200) Speed Of Sound is well done. Probable winner: That's My Goal, because it's the most recent
British breakthrough act (Voted by Radio 1 listeners and the Brits Academy): Arctic Monkeys, James Blunt, Kaiser Chiefs, KT Tunstall, Magic Numbers
Hang on, what are the Academy doing here? Getting ready to change the leader just in case ver Monkeys don't show up? Probable winner: Arctic Monkeys if purely on votes, Kaisers if seasonally adjusted.
British urban act (Voted by MTV Base viewers and the Brits Academy): Craig David, Dizzee Rascal, Kano, Lemar, Ms Dynamite
It's five years now since Craig David was nominated for a load of Brits and won nothing, and performing halfway through the ceremony he broke into a freestyle rap which included the line "no brits for CD". How did he know then? At least Joss Stone's not qualified. Probable winner: Lemar
British rock act (Voted by Kerrang! TV viewers and the Brits Academy): Franz Ferdinand, Hard-Fi, Kaiser Chiefs, Kasabian, Oasis
All Kerrang! target market, of course. Probable winner: Oasis if the 3am Girls reckon they'll turn up, Kaisers otherwise
Pop act (Voted by CD:UK viewers, The Sun Bizarre column readers and O2/Motorola customers): James Blunt, Kelly Clarkson, Katie Melua, Madonna, Westlife
Surely it should have been split into UK and international categories long before now to avoid confusion that doesn't already come into play by the redefinition of the word 'pop' exhibited here - the nominations could easily have been Charlotte Church, Girls Aloud, McFly, Nelly and Sugababes and it wouldn't have been any weaker for what it's been set up as. Probably stronger without Melua, actually. Probable winner: Westlife. It's a CD:UK and teen girls on phones vote, remember
British live act (Voted by Radio 2 and a panel of selectors): Coldplay, Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs, Oasis, KT Tunstall
Well, that was worth dropping Best Video for. The judging panel, via whoever was on it from the Independent, were supposedly furious that they'd been forced against their will to nominate acts who had played actual paid-for gigs that people could easily go to and not Pink Floyd. Diddums. Probable winner: Coldplay
International male solo artist: Beck, Jack Johnson, John Legend, Bruce Springsteen, Kanye West
A category that's often good for an unlikely nomination or two, although this year we won't get the Brits preview show talking heads being asked for their opinions on Tom Waits unlike 2005, worse luck. Probable winner: Kanye, and he'll be there
International female solo artist: Bjork, Mariah Carey, Kelly Clarkson, Missy Elliott, Madonna
Bjork seems to get into this one suspiciously often. Probable winner: Madonna
International album: American Idiot, Confessions On A Dancefloor, Funeral, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, Late Registration
Yes, Funeral, and you've not heard the last of Arcade Fire here yet. We won't mention ...Atomic Bomb came out in November 2004 and was nominated last year if you don't. Probable winner: if the committee notice that in time, Kanye again
International group: Arcade Fire, Black Eyed Peas, Green Day, U2, White Stripes
If we were organising the awards, we reckon we'd have gone "to hell with it" and incorporated Irish acts long before now, as it just looks slightly odd otherwise. Probable winner: they haven't, so U2.
International breakthrough act: Arcade Fire, Jack Johnson, John Legend, Daniel Powter, Pussycat Dolls
Daniel Powter? Did Snow get nominated in 1992? Probable winner: as great the thought of Win and Regine quickly trying to think of something to say as they approach the podium is, we suspect they'll play safe and go for the Radio 2 casting vote of Jack Johnson
Outstanding contribution to music: Paul Weller
Didn't say anything about never reforming the Style Council, you know.
The awards are on 15th February, the tie-in album (featuring some people who haven't been named above, which is just taking the piss) is tracklisted here, and we'll hopefully be augmenting every other UK music blog in providing a live minute by minute precis of the ceremony the following day. Chris Evans is presenting again. Whoopee.
Monday, January 09, 2006
Weekender
A new Monday service rounding up everything we've learned in the last couple of days:
CHART OF DARKNESS: Shayne Ward's still up there, and according to a list on CoolClarity last week it's comfortably among the ten best sellers of the decade so far. Go on, whistle it. Not to suggest this is a slow time for the singles market or anything, but of the three new entries in the top 40 one is Editors' right chancing (number 10 for Munich's re-release, one below where we put it in the 2005 list), one workaday Chicago house track and one Baywatch/Phat Planet mashup. We know Leftfield are no more, but surely they don't need money that urgently, and that's a week ahead of another Baywatch theme sampling dance track. Over in albums the Strokes are third time lucky, First Impressions Of Earth becoming their first number one where previously they'd been kept at number two by the unlikely duo of Slipknot and Dido, while 314 days after release Funeral finally makes it into the top forty. We're claiming the credit.
BARGAIN HUNT: The post-Christmas sales are still in full swing, and may we point you at HMV this week where Blur's Best Of is £4.99. Just ignore the new version of For Tomorrow.
FREE MUSIC: Celebration - War: a high speed collision between PJ Harvey, Rip Rig & Panic and Clint Boon's organ by TV On The Radio's mates (David Sitek produces).
EVERYBODY GET RANDOM: Village Voice ponder Korn's supposed secret member and from there the possible Sixth Beatle; entire comments box fails to get the joke
CHART OF DARKNESS: Shayne Ward's still up there, and according to a list on CoolClarity last week it's comfortably among the ten best sellers of the decade so far. Go on, whistle it. Not to suggest this is a slow time for the singles market or anything, but of the three new entries in the top 40 one is Editors' right chancing (number 10 for Munich's re-release, one below where we put it in the 2005 list), one workaday Chicago house track and one Baywatch/Phat Planet mashup. We know Leftfield are no more, but surely they don't need money that urgently, and that's a week ahead of another Baywatch theme sampling dance track. Over in albums the Strokes are third time lucky, First Impressions Of Earth becoming their first number one where previously they'd been kept at number two by the unlikely duo of Slipknot and Dido, while 314 days after release Funeral finally makes it into the top forty. We're claiming the credit.
BARGAIN HUNT: The post-Christmas sales are still in full swing, and may we point you at HMV this week where Blur's Best Of is £4.99. Just ignore the new version of For Tomorrow.
FREE MUSIC: Celebration - War: a high speed collision between PJ Harvey, Rip Rig & Panic and Clint Boon's organ by TV On The Radio's mates (David Sitek produces).
EVERYBODY GET RANDOM: Village Voice ponder Korn's supposed secret member and from there the possible Sixth Beatle; entire comments box fails to get the joke
Sunday, January 08, 2006
In shops tomorrow: 9/1
The record industry only really gets back up to full speed next week, so no albums to speak of - good that the Strokes got in there while they could, isn't it? - and on the singles racks it's looking slightly slow too. That one that samples the Baywatch theme in the modern dance way can fuck off, for a start. Not fucking off: Coldcut unleash their idea of folktronica on Man In A Garage, early Tips For '06 candidates The Crimea try not to let on that Lottery Winners On Acid first came out a touch more than three years ago and even Sony's most expensive TV advert ever fails to make Jose Gonzalez's superior cover of The Knife's Heartbeats attractive to most of radio. Tch.
The Weekly Sweep
Jegsy Dodd & The Original Sinners - Grumpy Old Men
The Crimea - Lottery Winners On Acid
Arctic Monkeys - A Certain Romance
¡Forward, Russia! - Twelve
Levy - On The Dance Floor
Cat Power - Where Is My Love
Go! Team - Ladyflash
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - In This Home On Ice
Vitalic - My Friend Dario
The Gossip - Listen Up
The Crimea - Lottery Winners On Acid
Arctic Monkeys - A Certain Romance
¡Forward, Russia! - Twelve
Levy - On The Dance Floor
Cat Power - Where Is My Love
Go! Team - Ladyflash
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - In This Home On Ice
Vitalic - My Friend Dario
The Gossip - Listen Up
Friday, January 06, 2006
While we recover from our busy December...
...just over there are links to Indie mp3, who are reminiscing about C86 with a typed up contemporary week of NME tie-in gig reviews, and Mr Red Penguin, hosting ¡Forward, Russia! and Young Knives tracks.
Thursday, January 05, 2006
Big Brother Boys Will Be Boys
Funny, we saw any number of those Celebrity Big Brother prediction pieces and none of them mentioned Preston from the Ordinary Boys, who surely doesn't so much as qualify for the D-list of cliche because you have to transcend your immediate circle to become famous in any way. As expected, the official site forum is trying desperately to convince itself that this is a good idea. Pete Burns, as was always going to be inevitable, is also in, as is Maggot from GLC, who will take some explaining to the unknowing.
(There's also a member of the public who must convince the others that she is famous. One of the apparently properly famous ones is her that had an affair with Sven-Goran Eriksson and then FA chief Mark Palios. That cracking sounds is our irony-ometer breaking.)
BREAKING NEWS: "The Ordinary Boys rise above the trivialities of a Big Brother world"
(There's also a member of the public who must convince the others that she is famous. One of the apparently properly famous ones is her that had an affair with Sven-Goran Eriksson and then FA chief Mark Palios. That cracking sounds is our irony-ometer breaking.)
BREAKING NEWS: "The Ordinary Boys rise above the trivialities of a Big Brother world"
Monday, January 02, 2006
UK Albums Of 2005 Poll
And so we reach what we like to think is the final word on 2005, as well as our shameless attempt to jump on the parochial music blogger poll bandwagon, as we asked UK bloggers for their lists of albums of the year and collated them into the list you see below. Among the voters were Take Your Medicine, Talent In A Previous Life, Silent Words Speak Loudest, Parallax View, Jamie's Runout Groove, Domino Rally, Delete As Appropriate, Snappish Thoughts, The Adventures Of Flossie and a special guest appearance from man about town and New Games Journalist Kieron Gillen. We also borrowed the lists from Mr Red Penguin and The Indie Credential, who we'd tried to ask but couldn't find e-mail addresses for. We hope they don't mind. (NB. Just to clarify, this poll was for albums released in the UK in 2005, rather than only UK acts)
20 RICHARD HAWLEY - Coles Corner
Sheffield singer-songwriter with the tones of a Roy Orbison or Scott Walker coming complete with a dramatic orchestral sweep, full of nostalgia and love pangs
19 LADYTRON - Witching Hour
Liverpudlian/Bulgarian electro axis coax shoegazing fuzz, vampiric menace and Depeche Modian darkness from their analogue synths
18 MY MORNING JACKET - Z
Jim James and co depart their echo-laden converted grain silo, hire John Leckie and head all over the alt-rock spectrum, from roots rock to Flaming Lips grandiosity
17 ANNIE - Anniemal
The indie Kylie, they've called her, pitching in between the revivalist electro part producer Richard X loves, St Etienne's knowing kitsch and the sheer fun of pop revivalism
16 STARS - Set Yourself On Fire
Named after the Fry and Laurie sketch about satanic messages in metal records, we'd hope. Unlikely, mind, given they're Canadians specialising in widescreen, often string-laden pop
15 M.I.A. - Arular
World music manque, as a Sri Lankan from East London takes on US East Coast Timbaland-inspired beats, Brazilian favela, Jamaican dancehall, Punjab bhangra and worldly dancefloor rhythm
14 KANYE WEST - Late Registration
The Route One method of hip hop superstardom - deliver a highyl singular album at once confident of its genre surroundings and redefining its boundaries and layers of work as it goes
13 ELBOW - Leaders Of The Free World
Guy Garvey, clearly now a big man out of shape, starts with the simple pleasures of returning home and ends mourning what he's lost there. Anthemists too clever to be as big as Coldplay
12 GIRLS ALOUD - Chemistry
Number one act in the UK list curated by Take Your Medicine and now setting out to prove it, Xenomania working overtime on electropop rushes, lyrical insouicance and pure fun energy
11 MARTHA WAINWRIGHT - Martha Wainwright
Rufus has the stage costumes and the French & Saunders guest slot, but Want Two was comprehensively outdone by little sis' fragile, autobiographical poetics and folk-blues delicacy
10 LOW - The Great Destroyer
They're not slowcore any more, it's fair to say. Instead we have huge, lush yet droning soundscapes that retain the harmonies and melodic ability but take a detour by an overdrive pedal
9 MEW - And The Glass Handed Kites
If they must be prog, at least it's easier to live with than the Mars Volta's version, the Danes relocating their Pixies/MBV dynamic intensity to a Sigur Ros-type singular atmosphere
8 THE DECEMBERISTS - Picaresque
"Writer of fictions" Colin Meloy does just that, but now finds his intricate short stories about spies, rent boys and lost sailors surrounded by complementary dramatic musical flourishes
7 ANTONY AND THE JOHNSONS - I Am A Bird Now
They've outdone the Kaiser Chiefs again. If they've got this far on Antony Hegarty's voice, maybe it's time now to talk up the quality of the torch song backings and emotive lyricism
6 EELS - Blinking Lights And Other Revelations
Mind if we're overly surprised by how this nearly made it to the top five? A sprawling double album filled with uncommon optimism next to heartfelt melancholia crafted with E's usual care and attention
5 MAXIMO PARK - A Certain Trigger
The album that pulled them right out of the suited post-punk pack, filled with curious charisma, an abundance of hooks and a kinetic energy of their own. Works as a straight up sequenced album, too
4 ART BRUT - Bang Bang Rock And Roll
Eddie Argos is the Noughties Jarvis the style mags will surely soon claim he is, with a wry sense of humour, an awareness of pop culture that extends to his band's amorphic indie sound and a well slipped sexual mask. Top of the pops, indeed
3 BLOC PARTY - Silent Alarm
The problem with formulating an art-rock backlash is that its main protagonists tend to ruin it by releasing albums like this one - angular, awash with propulsive energy, playing to its effects-laden strengths but perfectly aware of slower dynamics
2 SUFJAN STEVENS - Illinois
Oregon next, it's rumoured. It'll be going some to match this eclectic mix of personal and spiritual appropriation, lush and usually self-recorded musicianship, production inventiveness and exceptional songcraft filled with senses of place and character
1 ARCADE FIRE - Funeral
Our personal number one too, but it ran away from the rest regardless and stayed a mile clear throughout. Bringing light from the personal depths several of the band found themselves in, they drove themselves to create a virtually unique sound that references touchstones while pulling away from them, totally committed in emotional lyricism and musical landscaping. Just think - they've now got to work out how to follow it
20 RICHARD HAWLEY - Coles Corner
Sheffield singer-songwriter with the tones of a Roy Orbison or Scott Walker coming complete with a dramatic orchestral sweep, full of nostalgia and love pangs
19 LADYTRON - Witching Hour
Liverpudlian/Bulgarian electro axis coax shoegazing fuzz, vampiric menace and Depeche Modian darkness from their analogue synths
18 MY MORNING JACKET - Z
Jim James and co depart their echo-laden converted grain silo, hire John Leckie and head all over the alt-rock spectrum, from roots rock to Flaming Lips grandiosity
17 ANNIE - Anniemal
The indie Kylie, they've called her, pitching in between the revivalist electro part producer Richard X loves, St Etienne's knowing kitsch and the sheer fun of pop revivalism
16 STARS - Set Yourself On Fire
Named after the Fry and Laurie sketch about satanic messages in metal records, we'd hope. Unlikely, mind, given they're Canadians specialising in widescreen, often string-laden pop
15 M.I.A. - Arular
World music manque, as a Sri Lankan from East London takes on US East Coast Timbaland-inspired beats, Brazilian favela, Jamaican dancehall, Punjab bhangra and worldly dancefloor rhythm
14 KANYE WEST - Late Registration
The Route One method of hip hop superstardom - deliver a highyl singular album at once confident of its genre surroundings and redefining its boundaries and layers of work as it goes
13 ELBOW - Leaders Of The Free World
Guy Garvey, clearly now a big man out of shape, starts with the simple pleasures of returning home and ends mourning what he's lost there. Anthemists too clever to be as big as Coldplay
12 GIRLS ALOUD - Chemistry
Number one act in the UK list curated by Take Your Medicine and now setting out to prove it, Xenomania working overtime on electropop rushes, lyrical insouicance and pure fun energy
11 MARTHA WAINWRIGHT - Martha Wainwright
Rufus has the stage costumes and the French & Saunders guest slot, but Want Two was comprehensively outdone by little sis' fragile, autobiographical poetics and folk-blues delicacy
10 LOW - The Great Destroyer
They're not slowcore any more, it's fair to say. Instead we have huge, lush yet droning soundscapes that retain the harmonies and melodic ability but take a detour by an overdrive pedal
9 MEW - And The Glass Handed Kites
If they must be prog, at least it's easier to live with than the Mars Volta's version, the Danes relocating their Pixies/MBV dynamic intensity to a Sigur Ros-type singular atmosphere
8 THE DECEMBERISTS - Picaresque
"Writer of fictions" Colin Meloy does just that, but now finds his intricate short stories about spies, rent boys and lost sailors surrounded by complementary dramatic musical flourishes
7 ANTONY AND THE JOHNSONS - I Am A Bird Now
They've outdone the Kaiser Chiefs again. If they've got this far on Antony Hegarty's voice, maybe it's time now to talk up the quality of the torch song backings and emotive lyricism
6 EELS - Blinking Lights And Other Revelations
Mind if we're overly surprised by how this nearly made it to the top five? A sprawling double album filled with uncommon optimism next to heartfelt melancholia crafted with E's usual care and attention
5 MAXIMO PARK - A Certain Trigger
The album that pulled them right out of the suited post-punk pack, filled with curious charisma, an abundance of hooks and a kinetic energy of their own. Works as a straight up sequenced album, too
4 ART BRUT - Bang Bang Rock And Roll
Eddie Argos is the Noughties Jarvis the style mags will surely soon claim he is, with a wry sense of humour, an awareness of pop culture that extends to his band's amorphic indie sound and a well slipped sexual mask. Top of the pops, indeed
3 BLOC PARTY - Silent Alarm
The problem with formulating an art-rock backlash is that its main protagonists tend to ruin it by releasing albums like this one - angular, awash with propulsive energy, playing to its effects-laden strengths but perfectly aware of slower dynamics
2 SUFJAN STEVENS - Illinois
Oregon next, it's rumoured. It'll be going some to match this eclectic mix of personal and spiritual appropriation, lush and usually self-recorded musicianship, production inventiveness and exceptional songcraft filled with senses of place and character
1 ARCADE FIRE - Funeral
Our personal number one too, but it ran away from the rest regardless and stayed a mile clear throughout. Bringing light from the personal depths several of the band found themselves in, they drove themselves to create a virtually unique sound that references touchstones while pulling away from them, totally committed in emotional lyricism and musical landscaping. Just think - they've now got to work out how to follow it
Sunday, January 01, 2006
Every beginning has an end
A new year is supposed to be a time for change, and so it is that as loose STN associate Chris Brown begins The Hit Parade, digging into old UK charts and pulling out overlooked tracks therein, so New York London Paris Munich finishes up. We're fairly sure Tom Ewing and co's work throughout Freaky Trigger was some of the first pop culture writing of sustained quality we ever saw on the Net and has inspired quite a few, and fortunately it seems his own chart excursion Popular will continue.
So this is the new year
Of course, making predictions about what lies ahead in the year is a game for fools, as there'll be plenty of developments that we just won't be able to see coming from this distance. What we can do, though, is list eight indicators we'll be watching and waiting for in expectation of being able to look back at the end of the year and sigh about:
Jarvis Cocker's solo album
Well, it's been too long. In fact, it's just gone three years since Pulp were officially put on ice, since when Jarvis has somehow combined moving to France to settle down and gadding about town under the name Darren Spooner in Relaxed Muscle, perhaps wisely putting them aside once everyone realised it was him in a skeleton suit and facepaint. More recently he wrote songs for Nancy Sinatra's last album and fronted the house band in Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire with three new songs of variable quality, as you might expect being written to order for such a tough gig. Cocker's solo intentions are as yet unconfirmed but he played at an open mike night at a small LA club in October with film composer and erstwhile Gary Jules sidekick Michael Andrews and Beck/REM drummer Joey Waronker, apparently with a song called Cunts Are Still Running The World.
Cat Power is on the Radio 2 B-list
Look! It's only for a limited edition 7" too, after Ken Bruce of all people made it his record of the week, and one that's downloadable for free from Matador's website too. The album The Greatest, released on January 23rd, finds her in perhaps the best voice of her career - think the milky soft tones she applied in her Handsome Boy Modelling School cameo - handling love, loss and the usual darker matters, backed by smoky Memphis soul. Of course, this sense of publicity achievement will end after 4th March when she plays at the London Barbican with the nation's unforgiving broadsheet review pack in attendance but it's, frankly, nigh-on astonishing while it lasts.
The Black Box Recorder diaspora
Not that anyone who heard their last album - come on, there must be three or four of you - would have expected anything less but Sarah Nixey has gone all Alison Goldfrapp mid-nightmare, or alternately Sophie Ellis-Bextor soaking in cyanide, for her imminent solo releases. The fact she's actually properly singing is enough to take most aback, but the synth-pop stylings could take her deep into radio's heart much as BBR's The Facts Of Life did. Meanwhile Luke Haines' third solo album, due in April, bears the very Hainesish title Off My Rocker At The Art School Bop, and advance notice from his occasional solo shows reveal it's pretty much creepy misanthropy business as usual. John Moore's album is still available, and he's apparently writing a novel.
Pop films that don't feature David Bowie
It seems at times they started work on it round about their formation, but the Flaming Lips' Christmas On Mars is tentatively scheduled for next holidays. Wayne Coyne, breaking off from preparing April 3rd's release of At War With The Mystics (and they're playing the Albert Hall to support it), describes it as "maybe Eraserhead or Dead Man crossed with some kind of fantasy and space aspects, like The Wizard of Oz and maybe 2001: A Space Odyssey, except done without real actors or money, and set at Christmas-time." With real actors and money, and set at some indeterminate point of the year comes the Outkast musical movie currently set for 10th March release in America entitled Idlewild - no, no music press jokes to be had there - set in a Prohibition speakeasy wherein the two performers (oh, guess) contend with gangsters and the like.
The Young Knives finally release an album
We're sure they appeared in a Later spoof for much forgotten BBC Choice series The RDA in 2001, that's how long Oxford via Ashby de la Zouch's own have been in gestation. The wind has finally swung towards their skewed new wave, though, complete arseing up of their last and potential breakthrough single's distribution notwithstanding, and even if it's only as those funny men who wear tweed suits some sort of wider attention seems likely. Single on the ever evolving Transgressive Records in February, Andy Gill-produced album in summer, we'd imagine.
The North American renaissance
From the top: Broken Social Scene's decision to not limit one idea to one song when thirty will do fine has led to some positive, if slightly stunned, reviews - it crosses the pond in February. TV On The Radio's 2004 debut Desperate Youth Bloodthirsty Babes was an astounding work, and their follow-up is likely to sound more band-based, David Sitek warning us to expect a sound with "full production, personal, anthemic, and worthy of makeout sessions with the sky". Yeah. Mission Of Burma's second album after reunion is expected in early summer, one more album of the Shins' idea of power-pop should give them the long-awaited break, The Walkmen have the shimmering cult following of Bows And Arrows to build on, there's new Yeah Yeah Yeahs in March...
The Victorian English Gentlemens Club
A well kept Cardiff three-piece, one male singer-guitarist who looks disconcertingly like a young Boris Johnson, two women on bass and drums who don't. They sound like Wire being attacked by the Deal twins while flirting with the Magic Band, their first single The Tales Of Hermit Mark received the quality assurance mark a 7" on Fantastic Plastic usually delivers, and new single Amateur Man is imminent.
McLusky and Jarcrew have amalgamated
News that's unlikely to get JK & Joel excited, true, but those of us who appreciate a bit of scuzz are excited. A bit of backstory: McLusky made three spectacular albums of grotty guitars, overdriven bass and bizarre, caustic lyricism, while Ammanford's finest made it to a single collection of Fugazi-meets-Fall hyperactivity before disappearing. Now leader Andy Falkous and the drummer from the former, as well as overseeing an imminent three-CD (now come on...) compilation of McLusky's life works, have formed a new as yet unnamed band with, we think, three ex-Jarcrew including frontman Kelson, which Falkous describes as "bluesier, but not in the way you'd expect", and gigging is allegedly imminent. Jon from McLusky is now in Shooting At Unarmed Men, who released a typically splenetic nine track EP a couple of months ago and celebrated by, um, losing a member.
Jarvis Cocker's solo album
Well, it's been too long. In fact, it's just gone three years since Pulp were officially put on ice, since when Jarvis has somehow combined moving to France to settle down and gadding about town under the name Darren Spooner in Relaxed Muscle, perhaps wisely putting them aside once everyone realised it was him in a skeleton suit and facepaint. More recently he wrote songs for Nancy Sinatra's last album and fronted the house band in Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire with three new songs of variable quality, as you might expect being written to order for such a tough gig. Cocker's solo intentions are as yet unconfirmed but he played at an open mike night at a small LA club in October with film composer and erstwhile Gary Jules sidekick Michael Andrews and Beck/REM drummer Joey Waronker, apparently with a song called Cunts Are Still Running The World.
Cat Power is on the Radio 2 B-list
Look! It's only for a limited edition 7" too, after Ken Bruce of all people made it his record of the week, and one that's downloadable for free from Matador's website too. The album The Greatest, released on January 23rd, finds her in perhaps the best voice of her career - think the milky soft tones she applied in her Handsome Boy Modelling School cameo - handling love, loss and the usual darker matters, backed by smoky Memphis soul. Of course, this sense of publicity achievement will end after 4th March when she plays at the London Barbican with the nation's unforgiving broadsheet review pack in attendance but it's, frankly, nigh-on astonishing while it lasts.
The Black Box Recorder diaspora
Not that anyone who heard their last album - come on, there must be three or four of you - would have expected anything less but Sarah Nixey has gone all Alison Goldfrapp mid-nightmare, or alternately Sophie Ellis-Bextor soaking in cyanide, for her imminent solo releases. The fact she's actually properly singing is enough to take most aback, but the synth-pop stylings could take her deep into radio's heart much as BBR's The Facts Of Life did. Meanwhile Luke Haines' third solo album, due in April, bears the very Hainesish title Off My Rocker At The Art School Bop, and advance notice from his occasional solo shows reveal it's pretty much creepy misanthropy business as usual. John Moore's album is still available, and he's apparently writing a novel.
Pop films that don't feature David Bowie
It seems at times they started work on it round about their formation, but the Flaming Lips' Christmas On Mars is tentatively scheduled for next holidays. Wayne Coyne, breaking off from preparing April 3rd's release of At War With The Mystics (and they're playing the Albert Hall to support it), describes it as "maybe Eraserhead or Dead Man crossed with some kind of fantasy and space aspects, like The Wizard of Oz and maybe 2001: A Space Odyssey, except done without real actors or money, and set at Christmas-time." With real actors and money, and set at some indeterminate point of the year comes the Outkast musical movie currently set for 10th March release in America entitled Idlewild - no, no music press jokes to be had there - set in a Prohibition speakeasy wherein the two performers (oh, guess) contend with gangsters and the like.
The Young Knives finally release an album
We're sure they appeared in a Later spoof for much forgotten BBC Choice series The RDA in 2001, that's how long Oxford via Ashby de la Zouch's own have been in gestation. The wind has finally swung towards their skewed new wave, though, complete arseing up of their last and potential breakthrough single's distribution notwithstanding, and even if it's only as those funny men who wear tweed suits some sort of wider attention seems likely. Single on the ever evolving Transgressive Records in February, Andy Gill-produced album in summer, we'd imagine.
The North American renaissance
From the top: Broken Social Scene's decision to not limit one idea to one song when thirty will do fine has led to some positive, if slightly stunned, reviews - it crosses the pond in February. TV On The Radio's 2004 debut Desperate Youth Bloodthirsty Babes was an astounding work, and their follow-up is likely to sound more band-based, David Sitek warning us to expect a sound with "full production, personal, anthemic, and worthy of makeout sessions with the sky". Yeah. Mission Of Burma's second album after reunion is expected in early summer, one more album of the Shins' idea of power-pop should give them the long-awaited break, The Walkmen have the shimmering cult following of Bows And Arrows to build on, there's new Yeah Yeah Yeahs in March...
The Victorian English Gentlemens Club
A well kept Cardiff three-piece, one male singer-guitarist who looks disconcertingly like a young Boris Johnson, two women on bass and drums who don't. They sound like Wire being attacked by the Deal twins while flirting with the Magic Band, their first single The Tales Of Hermit Mark received the quality assurance mark a 7" on Fantastic Plastic usually delivers, and new single Amateur Man is imminent.
McLusky and Jarcrew have amalgamated
News that's unlikely to get JK & Joel excited, true, but those of us who appreciate a bit of scuzz are excited. A bit of backstory: McLusky made three spectacular albums of grotty guitars, overdriven bass and bizarre, caustic lyricism, while Ammanford's finest made it to a single collection of Fugazi-meets-Fall hyperactivity before disappearing. Now leader Andy Falkous and the drummer from the former, as well as overseeing an imminent three-CD (now come on...) compilation of McLusky's life works, have formed a new as yet unnamed band with, we think, three ex-Jarcrew including frontman Kelson, which Falkous describes as "bluesier, but not in the way you'd expect", and gigging is allegedly imminent. Jon from McLusky is now in Shooting At Unarmed Men, who released a typically splenetic nine track EP a couple of months ago and celebrated by, um, losing a member.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)