Posted at 10:47 PM in Music | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
The Self Help Group, Green Door Store, Brighton
They're a six piece, got 2 guitars, banjo, xylophone and one of those skiffle box drums. They have sad songs, happy songs and gorgeous folky 3 way harmonies and each song has an interesting story behind it ... There's the one about a Seattle based crime solving super hero Phoenix Jones. Then there's the one about some 1930s Glasgow school kids that read a comic book about a vampire that lives in a graveyard, this in turn leads to 200 school kids spending a night in their local cemetery together looking out for said vampire. And then there is the twisted one about the kid that celebrated the end of the world by swimming in a river but then drowned. It's all enough to keep the audience well entertained tonight and for the band to go home having sold some cds and made a few new fans. A Brighton collective worth looking out for.
The Self Help Group on Facebook
The Self Help Group on Twitter
Posted at 10:36 PM in Music | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
PJ Harvey - Let England Shake [Island]
Peepholes - Caligula [Upset the Rhythm]
Peaking Lights - 936 [Not Not Fun]
Maria Minerva - Cabaret Cixous [Not Not Fun]
Teeth - Whatever [Moshi Moshi]
David Lynch - Crazy Clown Time [Sunday Best]
Deerhoof vs Evil [ATP Recordings]
Yuck - Yuck [Mercury Records]
Art Department - The Drawing Board [Crosstown Rebels]
Crystal Stilts - In Love with Oblivion [Foruna Pop]
Posted at 06:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
true widow - skull eyes
This song (and band) just took me by surprise. One day it somehow showed itself up amongst all the usual inbox drivel, I was drawn in and clicked. And I got what one could describe as The Kills gone sludge or Yuck slowed down. It was melancholy vocals with a solid yet sleepy warm fuzziness that won me over.
yuck - get away
This song is a pop song and it just sticks.
peaking lights - all the sun that shines
Lo fi indie dub psych out, something new and interesting.
fear of men - spirit house (cassette mix)
Released in August 2011 on Italian Beach Babes and underhyped. But there it is an eerily catchy guitar song about liars and dreaming with pretty backing vocals reminiscent of old style 4AD outputtings.
braids - lemonade
crystal slits - through the floor
factory floor - (REALLOVE) - Optimo Remix
teeth - shawty
craft spells - after the moment
Posted at 06:31 PM in Music | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Posted at 06:08 PM in Music | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: album, electronica, music, post rock, review, rock, shoegaze
The XX - The XX
Micachu & The Shapes - Jewellery
Silversun Pickups - Swoon
Posted at 09:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Tension building xylophone and ukulele open the track immediately drawing you in. Then the humming starts and soon turns into harmonious folky vocals, not unlike Kate Nash, just more delicate and dreamy. Apparently this track was written whilst cycling to France on New Year's Eve and explains the running undercurrent of the rhythm and the change in time signature - like a bike stopping at traffic lights then speeding on ahead. Singer Luisa's lyrics on the other hand describe an adventure into unknown territories - drink the
wine to the bottom of the glass
The other track here is 'Rose Tint' and is more of the same, slightly less upbeat with even more hand claps and hooky vocal aahs. These Lampshades are ornate, detailed and well designed.
Posted at 11:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: 7", Feet To The Sky, folk, harmonies, indie, Kate Nash, Lulu & The Lampshades, Rose Tint, single, youtube
Posted at 06:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: Conan, experimental, flowerpot, folk, kentish town, lampshades, lulu, Micachu, Mockasin, review, Shapes
To coincide with her latest single rerelease, the catchy, evocative, party out tune 'Paris is Burning' is available as a free download here. Remixed by Alex Metric signed to Marine Parade, Adam Freeland's label, Mr Metric gives 'Paris is Burning' a late night electro house Soulwax type feel.
And as if that wasn't enough, there is a competition to win 5 Ladyhawke t-shirts - currently only available at her live shows.
Posted at 09:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: adam freeland, alex metric, competition, download, electro, free, house, ladyhawke, paris is burning, remix, rock, single
How about some scattered beats? How about some mysteriously warped vocal samples and persistent atmospheric stops and starts? How about Andrea Parker’s new label adventure? Yep it’s been a while since we heard what Parker was up to. From her early trip hop heritage on Mo’ Wax to her electro and
Miami bass investigations, this lady has shown us the darkside of electronic experimentation. Now her path mysteriously unravels in a new unchartered direction, as always, keeping ahead of mainstream trends. Here on offer is the first release on Aperture and it defies easy catergorisation falling somewhere between dubstep warriorism and WARP’s sci fi oscillations.
Real name: Nigel Truswell.
Origin:
Occupation: Graphic designer.
Mission: using three pieces of software, a minidisc
recorder and a cheap mic, to creatively dodge the painstaking
technical talk of the usual electronic artist.
Result: he has delved into an
unconscious realm of concrete jungles and back street laboratories to produce haunting,
deep rumbling, sounds where each irregularity unveils a new area of soundscape.
Nigel has been identified as being under the influence of Mira Calix and Autechre’s
techno manglings.
With song titles like ‘Indomine Rhittiger Plans By Four’ and ‘Holtzen Anger Mine’ you can begin to imagine what to unexpect. Just when you think a groove is building up, the bottom drops out and the musical configuration resets and flows into another space like on ‘Beckerton First Draft’. And there are no lyrics here, no vocal harmonies but cybernetic mutterings and mutations like on ‘Motor Sepple Freak’ - the music on offer here wouldn’t be out of place as a backdrop to an early Cronenberg remake.
This is a
complete antithesis to the status quo and refreshingly so. Push the ‘venture
forth’ button and experience a strange new world.
Posted at 11:38 PM in Music | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: andrea parker, aperture, Autechre, dubstep, electro, electronic, electronica, experimental, miami bass, Mira Calix, mo wax, oberman knocks, techno, trip hop, WARP