Louder Than War

Smilex

2008-03-18T20:05:00.003Z

Smilex are the hell in your head, your darkest thoughts against dirty bass lines and colliding guitars.

Something about this band appeals to both misguided teenagers looking for a religion and lost adults disillusioned with everything that life hasn‘t offered. Smilex make you face what you’re most scared of - mundaneness, sex, violence and insanity. Each performance they give, no matter whether it’s to 5 people or 50, singer Lee strips himself naked in front of you metaphorically and physically as his art pours from him. It’s like witnessing a life speeded up - birth, puberty, insanity, senile dementia and death. I fear he won’t live very long before his anger breeds into cancer and eats out his black heart whilst ex-lovers and enemies team up in a angry mob and storm his Bastille, whilst Lee looks at them bemused and says 'but I told you all along I was like this...'.

Smilex are the throbbing vein in your head nagging at you that things aren’t right, you shouldn’t be accepting everything the way they are and you aren’t ok. Last November they produced an album, ‘7’, that aggressively and ground-shatteringly takes you on a journey through the dark places in the human psyche that contribute to the seven deadly sins. This is a serious piece of work - every scream and every guitar crescendo has been crafted out of sheer passion and a desire to be heard and understood. There is a sense in every song of the need to release all of the shit that life forces us to accept - often this manifests itself in the form sexual release but this sexual release is as much a way to hurt and punish each other as it is to get our rocks off. The message could be understood as - we’re all fucked and therefore we should just fuck our damaged hearts out until we die.

Smilex are anti-conformity, anti-boredom, anti-industry. They refuse to go away just because they aren’t producing music that is easily marketable in this sleepy age of bland guitar driven music. When Hard Fi are asleep they have nightmares where Smilex creep into their beds and rape them to death. Smilex embody why the underground is the underground but seeing them supporting The Damned at the Carling Academy last year it is clear they should be on larger stages and receiving well-deserved acknowledgment for their considerable talents. There is no other unsigned band around to rival their passion, determination and stage performance. As Lee roams about onstage and through his audience, looking for a focus for his rage or sexual expression, no one is safe. You could have this formidable, small man screaming into your groin or you could have his cock in your ear.

Smilex are on a mission to wake us up and get us up off our asses, whether they will achieve this in an age of apathy is yet to be seen but I think they are part of a one-band musical revolution that needs to happen. Maybe music isn’t on a downward spiral after all. Please save us, Smilex. We need you and we don’t mind what you want to do with us - we are willing victims. Buy this album, see this band - you need them in your life.

‘7’ their debut album is out now on itunes, Amazon.co.uk and Play.com. You can find out more about Smilex on their official website http://www.smilex.co.uk or their myspace page http://www.myspace.com/smilex.

More Radioshows!

2005-09-03T23:04:00.000+01:00

Hi,

So the following are mine and Paul's radio shows from last Saturday (28th August) and today (3rd September.

Radio Show 9 - Dave and Paul.

Radio Show 10 - Dave, Paul, Bob and James.

Check 'em out people!

Reba Hasko - Berlin piano chanteuse

2005-08-06T17:02:00.000+01:00

Hello - remember me?

So, Reba Hasko then. She's from Berlin, she's a bit Goth - what's not to like?

Hasko has a classical background and lived in New York and San Francisco, before moving to Berlin. She's experimental with a touch of Brechtian cabaret about her and a very distinctive style.

She's got an album called Live at Studio 43 - It's lush, it's otherworldly, it's vocally startling and most of all ot feels like she's singing directly to you straight through the speakers.

Yes she plays piano - but don't let the Tori Amos comparisons put you off (if indeed they do...).

You can listen to some Reba Hasko tracks on her myspace page and here at CDbaby, where you can also buy her CD.

What are you waiting for?

Guess what, it's another radio show!

2005-07-30T01:30:00.000+01:00

Here it is

If you like it, you might want to listen live! We're on on Saturdays, between 7 and 9pm BST...

Listen by going to http://radio.uknova.com and opening the stream in your favourite stream player!

Another Radio Show

2005-07-04T06:16:00.000+01:00

For those of you who enjoyed the first two, or didn't but for some reason are prepared to bare with us, here's the latest edition - 2 hours this time!!! Would love any comments you might have...By which I really mean compliments ;)

The first 20 minutes are a little random, we had problems connecting and it took us (/me) a little while to regain composure...I think it gets better after that though!

Nizlopi - JCB

2005-06-01T18:31:00.000+01:00

OK, fab song this.

It's actually another one from the car journey with Bob.

It's a truly beautiful song about parent - child relationships, about childhood, about idolising your Father.

The song has a website here, and the band's website is here.

The single's released on Monday, and if you buy it and post off the proof of purchase you can win a private gig with the band in your own living room with all your friends.

Get the song here.

JCB

Well I'm rumbling in this JCB
I'm five years old and my Dad's a giant sitting beside me
And the engine rattles my bum like berserk
While we're singing "don't forget your shovel if you want to go to work"

My Dad's probably had a bloody hard day
But he's been good fun and bubblin' and jokin' away
And the procession of cars stuck behind
Are getting all impatient and angry but we don't mind

CHORUS

We're holding up the bypass
Me and my Dad having a top laugh
Sitting on the toolbox
And I'm so glad I'm not in school boss
Glad I'm not in school, oh no

And we pull over to let cars pass
And pull off again speeding by this summer green grass
We're like giants up here in our big yellow digger
Like Zoids or Transformers or maybe even bigger

And I wanna transform into a Tyrannosaurus Rex
And eat up all the bullies and the teachers and their pets
And I'll tell all my mates my Dad's BA Baracus
Only with a JCB and Bruce Lee's nunchuckas

CHORUS X 2

Said I'm Luke, I'm five and my Dad's Bruce Lee
Drives my round in his JCB

The Jayhawks - You Look So Young

2005-05-30T22:20:00.000+01:00

I don't know much about this song. Actually I don't know anything about this song, or the band.

I just driving home from Somerset on Sunday night with Paul and Bob, and Bob was playing some compilation type CDs and this was one of the songs on one of the CDs.

I've listened to it quite a bit since and like it a lot. But then I like sparkly guitars, quite tambourines, doubled electric and acoustic guitars, and solid forward-thinking drums. Also they do the classic 3rd (major tonic) to dominant 5th(7th chord) change that I'm so fond of.

What more could you ask for?

Get it here!

Internet Radio Extravaganza: Parte the seconde

2005-05-26T09:20:00.000+01:00

We did it again! Anyone who wants to can get the show here. Hope you enjoy, and any comments welcomed!

Internet Radio Extravaganza

2005-05-15T23:11:00.000+01:00

So, me and fellow LTW member Dave did an internet radio show last night...

the results are here.

The file starts with The Final Countdown, by the mighty Europe, which was the last song of the previous set, then our set kicks in at the wrong speed, but soon gets sorted out by the powers that be...what follows is a selection of top tunes and some "comedy."

Hope you enjoy - any comments gratefully received...

Alrighty Then!

2005-05-10T19:18:00.000+01:00

OK, Paul thinks I should post stuff here, what with me being a member an' all.

So I am.

Joseph Cotton - No Touch the Style.

You might call this a song from my childhood. It's also fiendishly difficult to find. So hard to find is it that this version here isn't even complete.

I used to have a couple of friends call Leroy and Marlon who could accurately 'do' the entire song. Maybe I should get them to cover it. Although the last time I saw them do it was 14 years ago.

2005-04-21T22:44:00.000+01:00

The Mothers are a punk band featuring five mums from Derby in the UK. When they can arrange babysitting, they write songs and play gigs around the East Midlands.

The Mothers - We Love Kids

It isn't a publicity stunt, this is a real band. One of them even played a gig whilst 8 months pregnant (well ok, that might have been a publicity stunt, it did get in the Derby Evening Telegraph!).

Some of the song titles incluce: 'Babysitter', 'Toy Hell', 'Do You Need a Wee?' and my favourite 'Oh No! I burnt the dinner', the lyrics of which go:

I was boiling butter beans for some veggie stew
When the telephone rang
and I thought that it was you
but my instincts they were wrong
And the bloke who spoke to me
Was selling double glazing
For a kitchen company
He talked to me for quite a while
About my taste in kitchen style
But then, Oh no! something's burning!
Back to the cooker I was returning!

Oh no! Oh no! I burnt the dinner again .....
Lets get chips!

Genius is the only word for it.

The Mothers are playing at the EASTrogen Extravaganza Friday 29th April at Junktion7 in Nottingham.

It's been a long time - we shouldn't have left you, without a dope beat to step to.

2005-04-18T15:27:00.000+01:00

It's a Mash-up special here at Louder Than War - two tracks from t'internet...

The first is Break by the Kleptones. A mash up of the Beasty Boys and Queen? Yes please! It's an excellent taster of the excellent Kleptones. They've got a lot available via bittorrent from their downloads page and they are well worth checking out. (Thanks to D and G for the encouragement / insistence that I listen to them)

The second tune is from the legendary Parkspliced, which might be available in full somewhere, but I haven't been able to find it (I've only looked for 5 minutes though!) The tune is a drum n bass remix of End of the Century, by someone/some people called Gameover. Drum n Bass good! Blur good! Drum n Bass remixes of Blur good!

I killed my dinner, with karate

2005-04-04T23:25:00.000+01:00

Joanna Newsome - The Book of Right On

Beware. It'll get stuck in your head. But it's good man, really really good. Haunting and bizarrely reminiscent of a cross between Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians doing What I Am and The Pale doing Butterfly (shout out to the nineties massive and by the way, if anyone has that tune could they let us know via the comments?!)...

Anyway, it's great, and there's a harp in it, and the lyrics are odd, but it's definately got something about it, so enjoy!

The sound of the underground

2005-03-28T23:10:00.000+01:00

MC Pitman - Pitman Says
Mc Pitman on the Giles Peterson show

Have you ever thought The Streets were just too mainstream and polished? - then MC Pitman is for you. The foul mouthed tea and biscuits obsessed northern ex-miner raps about "proper tea the way it should be" - and a good plate of chips and beans. Is he real? Is it all just an elaborate joke? Well it's up to you and if you want to believe...

Pitman on tea: "On average I drink about ten cups of tea a day, I just like tea, biscuits come as a bonus to enhance the tea experience, people can relate to a good cup of tea, it's what we do, unless you're a coffee twat"

Pitman on derelict mines: "We should use closed mines as nightclubs. To get in the club you have to be dirty - there would be no alcohol served, just tea. Bring your own biscuits 'cause you can't have mine"

Pitman on why he releases 7" singles: “Seven inch records fit in my work bag better than 12's. A flask, pack of biscuits and some wax, and soap.”

Good old Sunday morning, bells are ringing everywhere

2005-03-22T22:52:00.000Z

The Allman Brothers Band - Blue Sky

Well, I heard this tune for the very first time today, and I thought I'd break with LTW tradition (such as it is) by posting a bona-fide Country Rock classic...I figure if I've never heard it before, lots of other people won't either. I came across it thanks to a random torrent, a collection of someone's idea of the 100 greatest guitar solos ever (bt client of some kind required if you're interested). Most famous here for the Top Gear tune, the Allman Brother's Band are new to me, but very much not new...and this lovely laid back love song is perfect for anyone who's up for a bit o' middle-of-the-road class...

Who says we don't cater to all tastes?

Meet Mystery Meat

2005-03-20T22:38:00.000Z

Mystery Meat - Kiss All My Lurid Elements (Demo)

The demise of Ikara Colt has left a gaping hole in my musical heart. Who will fill the gap? Step forward Mystery Meat.

Former Colt bass goddess Tracy Bellaries has been quick off the mark and has formed a new band called Mystery Meat ALREADY! Her partners in crime are none other than Ciaran AKA Simple Kid and Alex, ex singer from the Blood Valley/Blood Group. They're gigging around London at the moment and in the process of recording some demos and stuff.

It seems that Ikara Colt singer Paul and guitarist Clare may still be working together along with former bassist Jon. The whereabouts of drummer Dom is as yet unknown, but my indie rock information gathering pigeons are on the case!

This track is scuzzy and more punky than Ikara Colt. Of course it is very raw and rough because they've literally only been together for a few months.

If you are in London, you can see then on March 25th @ Dirty Water Club. The rest of us will have to wait a little bit longer.

Update: Mystery Meat are playing at Nottingham Social on Sunday April 17th supporting Lost Sounds.

Om Niwais Shiva

2005-03-16T23:37:00.000Z

Mahadeva - Astral Projection

Isn't it about time Louder than War jumped up and down and threw its hands in the air? I think it is, and what better way to do it than with a bit of Israeli psychadelic trance from nearly 10 years ago...

I don't know anything about this tune or the artists really, just that I really really really dig it, and it makes me want to dance around...I stumbled across it back in the Kazaalite days (it seems so long ago now...) and every so often am compelled to play it quite loud and throw shapes (by which I mean use my hands to make shapes in the air in front of me, not throw children's geometric toys around...) If I still went out "raving" as we called it in my day, this is the kind of thing I'd like the dj to play. (This and some nice progressive drum and bass , of which the beautiful Tokyo Dawn by Doc Scott is a fine example...)

And if that's not your bag, or it is and you just want to relax afterwards how about some nice geetar playing inna folk music stylee (Davy Graham and Alexis Korner - 3/4 AD)

Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole

2005-03-14T22:42:00.000Z

Martha Wainwright - Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole

Martha Wainwright - Factory

Here's a sobering tale - if you're a parent and you unavoidably have to upset/mistreat/neglect/leave your child, make sure that said child isn't going to one day turn into a beautifully outspoken and talented singer/song-writer on a mission to dispel all crap from her childhood and challenge all adulthood demons. If this happens, you may find yourself in the position that famous folk musician Louden Wainwright III now finds himself in as the subject of daughter, Martha's brilliant 2004 track, 'Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole'. If only he'd got her the pony - things could've been so different. Trivialising powerful emotion aside - what I really wanted to say is that this woman is pretty amazing. Her voice and lyrics on this track give you goosebumps and grip you in a fury usually reserved for ex lovers, traffic wardens and photography tutors (a slightly personal one that last one..) I'd feel sorry for the guy if I didn't completely understand the difficult relationship between father and daughter only too well myself.

So where might you have heard her before? Well, Martha is part of a musical family - younger sister of Rufus Wainwright and daughter of folk singers Kate McGarrigle and Louden Wainwright III. She often sang with her mother and aunt but it was whilst singing backing vocals for her brother and witnessing the adoration he received that she decided that she wanted a piece of this for herself. She wrote her first song at the age of 18, now 28 - it's about bloody time she got some recognition. She has a similar passion to that of recent Louder Than War recommended artists, Carina Round and Ruth Theodore but there is also a hint of a sixties protest singer in her voice. There is definitely beauty in her honesty, whether the subject matter is pleasant or not. Anyone who went to see recent Hollywood epic The Aviator may have seen her singing 'Ill Be Seeing You' by Bing Crosby in one scene.

Martha is on tour in the UK until May, calling in at all the important places, for more details visit
her official website. Her self-titled debut album is out on 4th April but the single, 'Factory' is available on 21st March - both on Drowned In Sound. Also available over here is the 'Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole' EP, released in November last year.

Back in grade school is where I learnt to street fight

2005-02-27T20:41:00.000Z

Juliette Lewis and the Licks - Comin' Around
Juliette Lewis and the Licks - Got Love To Kill

Hello music fans, I'm Katy. I'm a girl, don't be alarmed. My musical cv and case for having the right to inform you of what you should listen to goes like this: I once played guitar very badly in a punkgothpop band and yesterday I stood behind Thom Yorke in a coffee shop whilst he ordered a latte. For sure. I have obviously been sent from above to guide you, my disciples, into the land of good music. If you're feeling dead and asleep and like your heart needs a recharge, then be numb no longer! Here I bring to your attention the power that is early nineties grunge drummer goddess meeting alternative movie cult icon in a Distillers-fuelled punk pop marathon of dreams (too much?)! Yes, I bring to you the (surprising) greatness that is Juliette Lewis and the Licks.

If you haven't heard, Juliette Lewis (From Dusk Till Dawn etc etc) not content with being a Hollywood A Lister, being married to a Pro-Skateboarder and holding hands with Ville Valo in the 'Buried Alive By Love' HIM video (some people have all the luck) has teamed up with ex-Hole drummer Patty Schemel and some other semi-famous musicians for example, Kemble Walters (The Rise? Vise Versa? Nope, me neither.) and is touring the UK as we speak! After the fiasco that has been Minnie Driver recently, I wasn't expecting much from the actress-turned singer but hopefully like you will be, I was so glad I bothered to listen. This woman and this band rock a lot. It's cleaner than Schemel's musical past in Hole, it's kinder on the ears. The melodies may be nothing revolutionary but are fresh and make you want to jump around in some kind of fashion you haven't contemplated since you were a teenager. Occassionally Lewis' voice sounds a little try-hard but then this is to be expected - we know her as an actress we can only think of her as playing a part so therefore asume she is now. However, this is actually her and she is bloody sexy and should have done this ages ago.

The Licks are touring at the moment and their debut EP 'Like A Bolt of Lightning' is out tomorrow, it features 6 romping punky angsty tracks and is so worth a listen. Like a bolt of lighting indeed! For a taster, you can hear two whole tracks as soon as you enter the official website Juliette and The Licks. Go do it, it's time to wake up!

You're a stranger to me now

2005-02-14T00:49:00.001Z

Ruth Theodore hails from Southampton on the English south coast, a city previously famous for producing the terrible, terrible Craig David and having a solid mid-table Premiership football team...but don't let that put you off.

Ruth Theodore - Threat
Ruth Theodore - Be Here

What we have here is an outrageously talented singer-songwriter who is just putting the finishing touches to her debut album. These two tracks in particular remind me very much of the fragility and passion of some of early recordings by Carina Round.

She has had residences at the Platform Tavern and Talking Heads in Southampton, Cabaret Voltaire and at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh and at Mean Fiddler's Powers Bar in London.

'Threat' is just her voice and a guitar, showcasing her unusual aggressive fingerpicking style. Whilst 'Be Here' features a jaunty trumpet and a cowbell (never a bad thing!).

Ruth Theodore appears at:

A Different Kettle Of Fish
Wednesday 2 March.
Upstairs at the Bristol Pear, Bristol Road, Selly Oak
BIRMINGHAM, B29 6BJ
Doors 7:30pm
Entry £3 / £2 if you mention Louder Than War!
adifferentkettleoffish@gmail.com

See you there...

Yesterday, Matthew, I was a Factory completist

2005-02-07T16:42:00.000Z

Half Man Half Biscuit - Tonight Matthew I'm Going To Be With Jesus

Attention Americans, you've probably never heard of this band, but that's OK, I forgive you. Half Man Half Biscuit are a twisted genius called Nigel from Merseyside, near Liverpool. Almost as famous for their song titles as their songs themselves, the tunes are littered with references to English popular culture, so you probably wouldn't understand even if you wanted to (I'm joking of course!). John Peel (god rest his soul) was a huge fan of The Biscuit and it's easy to see why.

Half Man Half Biscuit - Bob Wilson Anchorman

Who else could write a track about the poor quality of sports anchormen, a subject close to my heart...

Glossary:

Bob Wilson - Former Arsenal goalkeeper, later became a sports presenter on ITV with mixed results and much to the chagrin of HMHB. Also coached England keeper David 'I've got a slug on my top lip' Seaman.
Jim Rosenthal - Fellow ITV sports presenter, career perhaps hampered by Bob Wilson, obviously nurses a grudge. Strongly resembles a gargoyle.
Matthew - Stars in Their Eyes host Matthew Kelly.
Factory - Mancunian Record label ran by Tony Wilson featured Joy Division/New Order and Happy Mondays.

Other Half Man Half Biscuit songs for your future consideration:

Paintball's Coming Home, Twenty Four Hour Garage People, Deep House Victims' Minibus Appeal, Hair Like Brian May Blues, Tending The Wrong Grave For 23 Years, See That My Bike's Kept Clean, The Light At The End Of The Tunnel (Is The Light Of An Oncoming Train), 27 Yards Of Dental Floss, Paradise Lost (You're The Reason Why), Ballad Of Climie Fisher, With Goth On Our Side, Used To Be In Evil Gazebo, It's Clichéd To Be Cynical At Christmas, Look Dad No Tunes, Keeping Two Chevrons Apart, Dead Men Don't Need Season Tickets, Sponsoring The Moshpits, Turned Up Clocked On Laid Off, Improv Workshop Mimeshow Gobshite, 13 Eurogoths Floating In The Dead Sea, Yipps (My Baby Got The), Everything's AOR, On Finding The Studio Banjo, Blood On The Quad, He Who Would Valium Take, Lock Up Your Mountain Bikes, 99% Of Gargoyles Look Like Bob Todd, The Trumpton Riots, All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit, I hate Nerys Hughes, Rod Hull is alive: Why?

Kaiser Chiefs & Bloc Party

2005-02-01T13:48:00.000Z

~~Kaiser Chiefs - Oh My God~~

The Kaiser Chiefs are the finest band ever to have been named after a South African football team. Fact.

Fans of the other Kaiser Chiefs

Touted as the next big thing by many in the British media, the Leeds-based quintet are a strange hybrid of other bands and genres. Guitarist Andrew White looks like a refugee from Ocean Colour Scene, keyboard player ‘Peanut’ is a cross between the fifth Libertine and an extra from Grange Hill. Whilst they sound like a jamming session between a clutch of classic British bands - Blur, The Kinks, The Jam and Madness.

Previous single I Predict A Riot told the tale of a violent night out in Leeds. This track, originally released as their first single, has been re-recorded with producer Stephen Street.

The Chiefs are currently occupying the opening slot on the NME tour making its way around the UK along with.....

~~Bloc Party - Positive Tension~~

Something glourious is about to happen and it's the release of Bloc Party's debut album Silent Alarm. The London four-piece etched their name onto the hearts of hip indie kids all around the UK last year with a string of blistering singles.

Bloc Party (l-r Matt Tong, Gordon Moakes, Kele Okereke, Russell Lissack)

Banquet, She’s Hearing Voices, Helicopter and Little Thoughts are all included on Silent Alarm (released on 14 February in the UK and March 22 in the US), along with this splendid track.

The band are known for their post-punk stylings and jagged guitars, but some of their newer songs such as this one posses an epic quality that sets the band apart from the indie-rock pack

With his simple, heartfelt lyrics, frontman Kele Okereke is able to convey genuine emotion and touch the listener in a way other bands of their ilk are unable to do.

Review: Trail of Dead - Worlds Apart

2005-01-26T23:45:00.000Z

...And You Shall Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - Worlds Apart

I have to say I encountered momentary excitement when I approached this album - I was a huge fan of the trail of dead back at the tender age of 16. Their debut, Madonna, remains an excellent example of art-punk noise and destruction combined with prog pomposity. They were quickly snapped up by Interscope records, and made the great Source Tags and Codes.

So its a shame then that Worlds Apart seems to be the sound of a band veering off the rails.

The LP opens with Overture, which orchestrates the dramatic atmos for the second track Will You Smile Again. This is already easily the best material on the album - not a hundred light years away from either Madonna or Source Tags, utilising the Trail's familiar veryveryloud-quiet-crescendo song form.

But it is the title track that colours the whole album. It might have been alright or excusable if it wasn't named after the album, or that the album was named after it. It comes quickly after Smile, after a rather childish sample of a Trailer shouting 'HEY FUCK YOU MAN'. The song kicks into what sounds vaguely like a Pogues parody with ever-so-slightly angrier guitars. Its upbeat, but the lyrics... the lyrics...

"Look at these cunts on MTV/ Cars and 'Cribs' and rings and shit/ Is that what being a celebrity means?"

and

"See corpses, rapes, and amputees/What do you think now of the American dream?"

Yes, evidently. But what does being a celebrity mean, Conrad? The truth is, Worlds Apart is the kind of lazy song someone like Britney Spears or Timberkake would attempt to pull off to gain some kind of credibility. Here, the opposite is true. Trail of Dead already basked in credibility; yet their song writing here is patently lazy. To add insult to injury, the War reference seems tacked on without any actual thought. Billy Bragg would be embarrassed.

Its a sorry start, in all. The song is riddled with so many cliches that it can only make you wonder what on earth drove them to pen the song? Was some major label big wig (they're on Interscope, remember) push them to write something so ironically mainstream in order to gain radio time? An element of hypocrisy can be called as well seeing as, being signed to a major, this is surely the kind of lifestyle that they would like to experience. Why else would have he sworn like he did at the end of track one? Because they want to be huge fucking rock stars that want to live like huge fucking rock stars who say fuck you a lot. Like Elton John.

The rest of the album feels like a mediocre slug of radio friendly rock. There's very, very little here that you couldn't get from other average XFM friendly rock band from the last 10 years. Almost nothing stands out as infectious, stirring or passionate as anything from Madonna or Source Tags. There is nothing as genuinely anthemic as A Perfect Teenhood or Relative Ways here. Forget anything as angry as Mistakes and Regrets. The rest of the words are unmemorable. You'd wish them to swear at you and really mean it... But its all empty gesture. On top of that, the orchestral interludes serve little purpose at all but merely to prolong the mediocrity.

The loss of the angst and speed may be seen by some as a kind of maturity, but the former was part of the very appeal, because they were very good at it. Without it they are just any other average rock band - trying to make up for the lack of imagination with a contrived rant about the state of the music industry. But at least he's thinking about the amputees.

Fuck you man.

There is too much noise, there is too much heat

2005-01-24T01:46:00.000Z

~~Young Marble Giants - Final Day~~
There is a temptation when creating and recording music to cram as much in as possible. More sounds, more ideas, more instruments, more samples, more, more, more.

Young Marble Giants were something else entirely. They were a band who valued quiet restraint, rather than empty bluster. For YMG, space and silence were something to be treasured and reveled in, only further serving to emphasise the icy, pure, clear voice of singer Alison Stratton.

In a 1980 article written in Sounds Magazine. Dave McCollough said: "Images the music makes are: tiny Welsh tearooms, childhood fear, coffee-bar intimacy, murder, lost love, sleep, tension and longing constantly underlied by an enduring eeriness in the music."

From South Wales, Young Marble Giants formed in the post punk era of 1978. Comprising the aforementioned Alison Stratton and the Moxham brothers Philip and Stuart. Isolated in the Welsh valleys, they created stark, otherworldly music that transported the listener to somewhere else, yet was as cold and emotionless as the provincial world they were seeking to escape from.

YMG were/are an enigma. Their debut album Colossal Youth was released in 1980 on Rough Trade and is a thing of understated beauty, comprising 15 gems of minimalist pop. The record remains a masterpiece and was/is like nothing else that came before or after. Simple, intimate and as sparse as an Arctic tundra, most songs just comprised vocals, bass and a guitar or organ, with perhaps a drum machine for backing.

In YMG songs, no note or lyric is wasted. Songs are skeletal and succinct. Each song says everything that the band wants to say, it is a statement of fact. There is no debate and no need for anything else.

After Colossal Youth the band released a few more tracks and EP's, before splitting up. Their career a mirror image of one of their songs. Short and to the point. Nothing wasted, never outstaying its welcome, but leaving the listener craving more.

Today, even in the wake of 'Cool Cymru', the band are largely unknown. However their influence on bands like The Sundays, Goldfrapp and Postishead is clear. In his journals, Kurt Cobain listed Colossal Youth as one of the ten records that changed his life:

"This music relaxes you, it's total atmospherics. It's just nice, pleasant music. I love it. The drum machine has to have the cheesiest sound ever. I had a crush on the singer for a while - didn't everyone?"

Who are we to disagree?

Links
Young Marble Giants Web archive
Stuart Moxham interview

A Different Kettle Of Fish

2005-01-19T13:41:00.000Z

A Different Kettle Of Fish
Upstairs @ The Bristol Pear, Selly Oak, Birmingham,
7:30 - 11pm,
£1 entry,
Featuring DJ Phillipe Bergeroo, Ideosphere and DJ Erised

I'll be taking to the wheels of steel at about 8:40 to play a few tracks like this:

~~Art Brut - Formed A Band~~
~~Art Brut - Modern Art~~

With the demise of Ikara Colt, it's left to Art Brut to take on the mantle of top dogs in the London Art Punk scene. Formed a band is their manifesto "I wanna be the boy, the man, who writes the song, that makes Israel and Palestine get along" A cursory glance at some music websites indicates that The Brut are already polarising opinions and are loved and hated in equal measure, much like The Colt.

Modern Art is the best song about dancing in art galleries ever written. FACT.

RIP 2/2: Ikara Colt + Les Savy Fav

2005-01-17T01:19:00.000Z

This week as been a double wammy of splits within indie. As Louder Than War have already reported, Mclusky went last Monday, and yesterday Ikara Colt decided to call it a day. Whilst not quite splitting, the excellent american post-punk act Les Savy Fav went on hiatus. Here are some good reasons to shed a tear or few.

~~Ikara Colt - Rudd (Live)~~

I saw Ikara Colt twice, once before Idlewild in May 2002 (they were better than the act that followed), and the second time at the following Reading festival. Ikara Colt starred as the headliners on the tiny Carling Stage - around the same time as the Foo Fighters were enthralling/boring everybody with how many times they had been at Reading festival in their various guises.

Their performance quite surprised me. Ikara Colt always seemed to be slightly reluctant on their records - like they would really like to do hardcore but settled on a more polite indie version of the punk that they loved. Yet, they were fucking mental. There wasn't a single point where the audience remained still through the beginning of the set - helped along by the fact that every song from Chat and Business sounded like a thumping art rock anthem. And then they misbehaved. They wanted to share the back stage beer.

"Come on, there's how many of you? And how many of them?"

Pardon?

Stage invade, oh we couldn't do that? Could we? Reading had long let go of its hard rock roots and simply wasn't attended by the sort who would.... oh, look, there goes one. The security guards got him, but thats OK, because another four have just jumped over the now seemingly pathetic fence and are drinking with the band. And dancing with them. For about 20 minutes, a seemingly endless run of chancers attempted to fuck with the increasingly rediculous social conventions that seperate the band from the audience - and decided to become part of the show. It was both an excellent moment in rock, proved that indie could fuck with the best of them, and proved to be something of an artisitic statement - all at the same time.

Of course it wasn't peace in paradise. By the end of the set the revellers who had joined the Colt on stage had taken it upon themselves to dismantle their instruments. They didn't play their last song, because they invited the audience to become part of the show, and the audience destroyed it. Ikara Colt were due to play Leeds the next day. They were cancelled.

Despite the set back, however, Ikara Colt showed that going to see a band did not have to be like seeing a film or an opera. It will remain one of the best and exciting shows I had ever seen . Their absence will be noted.

~~Les Savy Fav - Meet me in the dollar bin~~

I can't admit to being the greatest follower of Les Savy Fav. I discovered them only through their excellent singles collection Inches. Les Savy Fav are very much a post-punk outfit; their music laden with funk-inspired riffs. But they were never part of the mainstream 'revivial' lead by Radio 4, The Rapture or !!!. Many people also wrote them off as a joke - I never got to see them live, but UK reviews were rarely forgiving. Its a shame as Inches is some of the best enegetic, catchy and plain fun music that you will hear in this genre - far and away from the annoying pretentiousness of Bloc Party or the knowing excess of The Killers. Worth a look before they dissapear forever.

Britpop Girlbands: Sleeper & Echobelly

2005-01-16T15:58:00.000Z

Time for a bit of historical reconsideration. Legend would have it that Elastica were the premiere Britpop girlband of the 95/96/97 period and all others were mere pretenders. Whether it was the Damon Albarn factor or their shameless pilfering of entire Wire songs, clearly in NME quarters at least, Elastica were the queens of Britpop. I'm not going to dispute that Elastica were a great band, their first album being one of the sharpest of the period, but I think it's time that Sleeper and Echobelly were also considered.

~~Sleeper - Inbetweener~~
I have to confess that I always fancied Sleeper singer Louise Wener like mad, I've always been a sucker for posh girls. This is their breakthrough single and when released had a video that featured Supermarket Sweep presenter Dale Winton - genius. Sleeper were a great pop singles band, but never quite delivered on the album front and it's a shame that a lot of people only know them for the dodgy cover of Blondie's Atomic on the Trainspotting soundtrack. Outspoken vocalist Wener is now a novelist and has written two not bad books - Goodnight Steve McQueen and The Big Blind.

The band produced three albums, Smart, The It Girl and Pleased To Meet You. This particular track is from the 1995's Smart album and is a study in suburban misery, boredom and a doomed relationship - subjects covered by Blur to extensive praise in their album The Great Escape released later that year.

Find out more: Louise Wener website

~~Echobelly - Four Letter Word~~
Recently I found out that Echobelly are STILL going, ploughing on in the indie rock toilet scene. This isn't how it was meant to be. Their 1995 sophomore album On was a stone cold pop classic, featuring 12 great songs, including the heavenly Dark Therapy and this particular track.

Echobelly were always a band that should have been bigger than they were. Why? Well their third album Lustra was a bit of a disappointment compared to On. And then they were caught up in the Brit Pop backlash and suffered lineup changes, both putting pay to their chances of ever making it big.

They were a band that weren't afraid to tackle big issues, like when Anglo-Indian vocalist Sonya Aurora Madan was photographed in a T-Shirt proclaiming 'England: My home too'. However their impact may have been diluted by other acts such as Madan dressing up as a schoolgirl (pre Britney) for no apparent reason.

More info: Echobelly fan site

So both of these bands never delivered on their potential. Let's forget about that and enjoy these two Britpop gems.

RIP 1/2: Mclusky

2005-01-12T15:24:00.000Z

Mclusky - To Hell With Good Intentions - Epitonic.com (they might require your email address before you download).

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.

If you don't know already, one of the greatest not really welsh welsh bands ever split up Monday. This is probably their best single. Which none of you bought.

No, no of you bought this because you were, at the time, wanking off over copies of The Strokes 'Is This It?' or The Datsun's or whatever was in vogue at the time. Oh, the Vines. They were loud and stuff. They shouted. What they didn't do was COMPLETELY FUCKING DESTROY. Like Mclusky.

Famously (?) described by playlouder as
Nirvana-with-a-nuke-up-their-ass, Mclusky's typical songs were masterful liberal angry whinges plus a very, very good bassist. And its very, very funny. Not as in Bloodhound Gang 'funny', but amusing funny. Listen to Do Dallas. Its one of the best punk albums released in the last few years. Its both amusing, noisy, uses questionable swearing and, at its best moments, is fucking angular-mental-fast. If you're at all familiar with Steve Albini's work, you will be best pleased. Which isn't too much of a conincidence, as Albini produced their last two albums, and was heard to call them "the UK band eva", he was.

Falco is being tight-lipped about his next project. I look forward to hearing from him soon.

Don't eat yellow snow

2004-12-26T18:41:00.000Z

For the first time that I can remember it has snowed in Birmingham, England on Christmas Day. So to celebrate, here are some snow related songs to warm your cockles on these cold winter nights...there will however be NO Snow Patrol under any circumstances.

~~My Bloody Valentine - Soft As Snow (But Warm Inside)~~
This lovely little number is the opening track from the 1988 album 'Isn't Anything'. At it's time of release the album paved the way for 1991's legandary opus 'Loveless' (the one that nearly bankrupted Creation Records). Here Kevin Shields and co. display their trademark layered and distorted guitars and dreamy melodies. But this album is an excellent album in its own right and you can see its influence on the 'shoegazer' (ugh!) bands that followed like Ride, Lush and Slowdive.

~~Frank Zappa - Don't Eat The Yellow Snow~~
When my friend Dean went to live in Germany for three months, he leant us some DVD's. We refused his Frank Zappa DVD but he secretly left it in the car underneath a seat...the little scamp... There is also an excellent independent record shop in Birmingham called Swordfish run by an old man with long hair. Whenever you go in, it is almost guaranteed to be Frank Zappa or Captain Beefheart playing on the stereo...so this is dedicated to him.

~~Warsaw - Living In The Ice Age~~
This is a May 1978 recording, back from Joy Division were still called Warsaw. Presumably, fed up by being constantly asked why they were named after a small town in the Black Country, they changed their name. For some reason Bernard Sumner was at this time calling himself Bernard Albrecht. As a band, Joy Division produced a staggering body of work in just the space of a few years. In the 1978 sessions as Warsaw they are still very much a punk band, but you can see glimpses of something darker, both in the lyrics of Ian Curtis and the music of Hook, Morris and Sumner. This won't be the last Joy Division track featured on Louder Than War.

Ho ho ho, merry Go! Team and Alter Ego.

2004-12-23T09:14:00.000Z

Hello Christmas wh0res. I for one hope you are well and in the festive spirit. In the name of the season, take these musical wonders and hold them to your heart - like a mother to a baby.

~~Go! Team - Junior Kickstart~~

You're going to hear a barrel load about this lot in 2005. Go! Team are a instrumental six peice from London. Much like Junior Senior before them, Go! Team make dance/party music but insist on live instrumentation. You think you're listening to some FatBoy Van Hendlen sampled mush? Well you're a stupid fool. Some cockney little shit has slaved for ages to make sure he can drum at 200 bpm - just for you to doubt him. You should kill yourself.

(Unlike Junior Senior, though, Go! Team have more than one song and a catchy video. Natch.)

But really, unlike those haggered out of date dance/party outfits who are kind of amusing but are in many ways utterly underwhelming - who listens to their FatBoy CDs anymore? - Go! Team are throughly good fun. Not only is every note (bar a few) live, but they a insatisable 80s action TV show aesethtic. The Go! Team's debut 'Thunder Lightning Strike' conjours up Miami-5-O + A-Team esque desires to run around the house with a water pistol pretending to arrest your family for drug smuggling. Each track is hopelessly and utterly upbeat, very very well referenced, and completly danceable - even on a solo basis.

But remember. Keep safe - always use cold water when dealing with felons with your surname. Those crazy bastards.

~~Alter Ego - Rocker~~

Viewers of Television (and I know there's lots of you out there!) will understand their frustration when one will experience a work of musical greatness during a short adbreak or promotional item. The recent Radio 1 ads on the Beeb have lesser educated fools guessing as to their aural content.

Well, guess not. Alter Ego is taken from the Radio 1 ad where ppl are dancing and playing with window blinds. You remember that one? Yeah, classic it was. Its a nice little retro electro number that reminds me a lot of Mr Ozio (was that how u spelt it?) - lots of subbass and funny noises leading to a euphoric cresendo. It probably sums up the kind of 'computer' music that I like really - basic instrumentation combined with beeping noises that remind you of your little 8-bit computer as it failed to load Dizzy Panic (the little egg shit). Probably completly unplayable in a club due to its constant stops and starts.

As for the band, I don't know a thing about them. They were in an advert!

This is for the poor, not all you rich kids

2004-12-20T23:08:00.000Z

~~The Others - In The Background~~

This could be the start of a hot tips for 2005 type feature, but then again perhaps it won't - who knows! Here's a sneak preview from The Others twelve track self-titled debut album, released at the end of January 2005. Following hot in the slipstream of The Libertines, they've so far released just two singles on Alan McGee's Poptones label.

As it says on their press release "The Others want to inspire people to do what they really want to do. Live their dreams. Doing it themselves - be in a band, write fanzines, take photos, make videos, whatever."

The Others are the most exciting band in the UK right now, FACT!

They are legendary for their Guerilla gigs, places like on board a London tube train on the Hammersmith and City line, the lobby of BBC Radio 1, the Abbey Road Zebra Crossing and on the bumper cars at the Leeds Festival.

The Others are one of the few bands genuinely in touch with their fans, FACT!

Lead singer Dominic gives his mobile phone number out to fans and lists it on their website. Often the guest list at their gigs is larger than the actual capacity of the venue.

The band are ~~followed~~ worshipped by their loyal fans The 853 Kamikaze Stage Diving Division.

Bassist Johnny even has his own blog.

The Others have released two of the singles of the year, FACT!

First was the anthemic call to arms of 'This Is For The Poor' (kept out of the top 40 by the Milwall FA Cup Final song!). Then came 'Stan Bowles' - a hymn to the 1970's Queens Park Rangers footballer and/or Pete Doherty of Babyshambles, depending on who you believe.

The Others will be one of the bands of 2005, FACT!

You better believe it.

The album is a killer, so make sure you buy it when is released through Mercury Records on 31 January 2005

She came from Greece, she had a thirst for knowledge

2004-12-18T19:15:00.000Z

~~William Shatner - Common People~~

If you're looking for quirky cover versions, things don't get much stranger than this. Captain Kirk along with Joe Jackson, covering Pulp's Common People. Shatner turns it into a spoken word monologue with a kind of thrash rock chorus.

Shatner's album 'Has Been', produced by Ben Folds, was described slightly unfairly by NME as "one of the least highly anticipated albums of the year". It also features collaborations with Aimee Mann, Lemon Jelly and Henry Rollins.

The thing is, although this is of course frivolous novelty - I really rather like it.

Take it easy but take it

2004-12-18T18:18:00.000Z

Randall - Take it easy but take it

Now this is as sweet a piece of music as I've heard all year. It comes off an album called Eight Storeys which a friend of mine randomly bought having liked something else on the same record label. I'm very glad she did. The album is predominately the work of the guitarist and composer Dave Randall, and is mellow and soothing and haunting and beautiful and all the things you'd hope a kind of laid back electro album made with proper instruments instead of computers would be...This track is the one that had the most impact on me, the one that had me rushing out (ok, not so much rushing out as signing into messenger) to tell all my friends about the joyous discovery that had been shared with me.

It's lovely, I reckon it probably suits the cold dark winter evenings well, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

They bulit portholes for Bono so he could gaze across the bay and sing about mountains

2004-12-17T21:53:00.000Z

~~Whipping Boy - We Don't Need Nobody Else~~

Lust, revenge, sex, violence and mental illness, all in a days work for Whipping Boy.

Imagine if their fellow Irish four-piece U2 wrote songs that actually tried to say something, rather than just being full of empty bombast. Imagine if Shane McGowan could still string a sentence together.

Frontman Feargal McKee is a mixture of McGowan and Nick Cave, with a bit of Syd Barrett thrown in for good measure.

This particular track is from the stunning second album 'Heartworm' and deals with alcoholism and domestic violence. Not particuarly upbeat stuff and perhaps why it was almost universally ignored when it was released in the knees up party Britpop days of 1995.

The band won a host of awards in their native Ireland after the release of 'Heartworm', before being abruptly dropped by Sony.

The decision effectively destroyed the band and they limped towards a third release before splitting shortly afterwards. It was a sad end for an at times brilliant band. Judge for yourself.

You ain't going to Nirvana, or far-vana, you're coming straight back here to live out your karma

2004-12-16T10:21:00.000Z

Faithless - Mass Destruction

Dance scene legends Faithless are responsible for two of the most genre defining and well loved anthems of all time, Insomnia and God is a DJ. But there's a lot more to them than barn storming dance classics as this tune proves.

A lot of art is made in protest and a lot of is it good, but good art which really touches the central issues of our times is a rare treat and this, for me, is one such example. The tune alternates (I think) between the story of a young boy whose father goes off to war and an over-arching look at the reasons behind wars, with an emphasis on the fact that the real problems in our world are caused by people's mixed motivations and self-serving tendencies. They hold fear, greed, racism, inaction and especially "a wicked mind" to be weapons of mass destruction, and I couldn't agree more...

This tune comes of the album No Roots which is notable for being entirely written in the key of C.

Have a nice day!

I like you mostly late at night

2004-12-13T13:36:00.000Z

~~Life Without Buildings - The Leanover~~

Sadly Glaswegian art-punk quartet Life Without Buildings split up a few years ago, before I discovered them. Do not fear though, we still have the Slits/ESG/PIL genius of the album 'Any Other City' to remember them by,

The thing about Life Without Buildings that grabs you is the vocals. Sue Tompkins yelps, squeals and whispers her way through what is seemingly a random stream of consciousness.

Phrases and unfinished sentences are repeated over and over before morphing into something else entirely. At times it's almost as if a small child was brought in to do the vocals rather than a singer.

Difficult to pin down, she reminds me a bit of Bjork. But in the indie division, the only comparison I can think of would be Blonde Redhead.

Musically I think if you were so inclined, you could describe them as possessing an angular jangle or perhaps even jangular....?

Don't do it for the plays or to raise the bar, yeah it's raised anyway so amazing are the three LI brothers from the other way of thinking.

2004-12-13T13:05:00.000Z

De La Soul - Rock Co. Kane Flow

What can I say about the De La. The greatest hip hop act ever. Easily. So good they should have a genre all to themselves. From the laid back teenage excitement and wisdom beyond their years of the massive cross over album "3 feet high and rising" to this year's triumphant mix of flavours "The Grind Date" they have consistently innovated, changed direction and challenged their audience's expectations. Each album sounds distinctive, packed with different sounds and textures and styles, but always with an intellegence bereft in most of popular music.

This track comes from the Grind Date. The critical acclaim that this album has been received with appears to be almost universal, as a quick search reveals. The only thing I would disagree with is the suggestion that this is somehow a return to form. Their previous album Bionix has one of my favourite hip hop tracks of all time on it (there you go, two de la soul tracks in one post...) and is packed with memorable tunes.

They've definately put out tracks I haven't been into, indeed there are a couple (well, one) on The Grind Date, but the scope and quality of their back catalogue makes them stand out as being genuine innovators - continually growing and changing and making incredible music.

Me in my stars and stripes overcoat, you in your hammer and sickle tights

2004-12-11T20:53:00.000Z

~~Songdog - Days Of Armageddon~~

So imagine Allen Ginsberg was born in the Welsh valleys and became the lead singer of a band rather than a beat poet...this is how it might sound.

Like the Manics, Songdog hail from Blackwood in South Wales. Listening to his fractured lyrics, it's perhaps no surprise to discover that vocalist Lyndon Morgans is an award winning playwright.

I first heard this apocalyptic alt-folk gem a couple of years ago on one of those free CDs you get on the front of Q magazine.

And I'd quite like to buy a stars and stripes overcoat, but I can't find one on eBay anywhere...

Rollercoaster down by the water you made me feel more as I oughter.

2004-12-09T13:41:00.000Z

Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers - Roller Coaster by the Sea

Ah, the hangover song. Many years before I knew the title of this song I knew it as the hangover song as, during their early teenage flirtations with alcohol and various "other" intoxicants, friends of mine used to wake each other up the morning after wild nights making big fires in various south Birmingham parks by blasting it out at each other.

I don't know any other Jonathan Richman songs, so this isn't a taster designed necessarily to get you running out to your local bittorrent site (I mean record store) and getting hold of his entire ouevre (sp?), but if the need takes you, I won't stand in your way. It's something I've thought of doing on numerous occasions, and maybe I will one day. This song, however, should take pride of place in anyone's mp3 collection - I love the fact that it sounds very much like it was recorded on a four track in someone's bedroom, the fact that the rollercoaster helped make the person singing feel better and the fact that he says "Whoa. Scary." out of the blue during the instrumental break.

The track first appeared on the album Rock n Roll with the Modern Lovers in 1977 and was then a B-side on the Egyptian Reggae single, which is where I came across it some many years later...

BTW (as they say in this here interneterweb)my name's Paul and this track is not louder than war. Indeed few of the things I post will be, I'm gettin' old. And yes, I did meet Robert Mugabe once, but it was by accident, and before he went crazy...

Enjoy!

Peace out.

hurrah! another year!

2004-12-07T01:45:00.000Z

~~Youthmovie Soundtrack Strategies - Recovery Speak~~

Contrary to popular opinion, indie music did not dissapear during the late 1990s. Whilst anyone with any pretence to being trendy had adopted the various forms of dance as their bestest faveourite bestest genre, the rest of us were either bopping away to Idlewild in smelly moshpits full of Lamacq-listeners, or were listening to the intensly introspective 'post-rock' of illuiminaries Mogwai and Godspeed You Black Emperor!

I get the feeling that Youthmovie Soundtrack Strategies had the same kind of dualism going on at that age as I did. YMSS attempt to conjoin both the structural ideas of post-rock, and perhaps some prog, with a punk aesthetic. Recovery Speak easily exemplifies YMSS's style - at one moment it is introspective, star-gazing space rock, the next it is full of contorted Shellac-esque punk riffs. It is however quieter compared to the spaz sprawl of tracks off YMSS's recent 'A little late he staggered through the door', featured on YMSS's recent mini album, which manages to move from instrumental, to shouty guitars, to a male choir, to an anthemic singalong.

You do get the impression that YMSS are having their cake and eating it. Rather than concentrating their energies on one genre of music they it seems that they are attempting to cover as much as they can. The great thing about YMSS is that they manage to pull it off - the variously differential elements manage to make something verging on a luicid indie epic. If they can perfect it,Several times in re-listening to the mini-album for this blog, I found myself shouting the lyrics and guesticulating happiness. Either I am mad or this band are fucking great.
I just wish they would shorten their titles - the album I speak of is titled (and I shit you not) "hurrah! another year, surely this one will be better than the last; the inexorable march of progress will lead us all to happiness". Ah well.

They're from Oxford.

(BTW - I am Deans - author of the Kitty Killer livejournal. Please to meet yooz).

In the beginning, there was semen

2004-12-04T13:38:00.000Z

MP3 - The Faint - Birth (Wet From Birth)
MP3 - The Faint - I Disappear (Wet From Birth)

I went to see The Faint at the Custard Factory in Birmingham on Thursday and I think the phrase I'd have to use to describe them would be The Nebraskan Duran Duran. They shamelessly flaunt their 80's influences, whether it's the swirling synths of Jacob Thiele or the vocoder tinged vocals and Simon Le Bon mannerisms of Todd Baechle.

Their new album was written in a Washing Machine warehouse and has even had a bit of a savaging from Pitchfork, so that means it's got to be good!

The band formed in Omaha, Nebraska in 1994. Conor 'Bright Eyes' Oberst was part of the original line up, but was kicked out/quit before they enjoyed any success.

MP3 - The Faint - Call Call (Blank-Wave Arcade)
MP3 - The Faint - Worked Up So Sexual (Blank-Wave Arcade)

After a number of personnel changes, the band hit on a winning formula, embraced the synths and produced the album Blank Wave Arcade. Moderate success followed and the group expanded to include video in their live shows and began to create their second album.

MP3 - The Faint - Agenda Suicide (Danse Macabre)
MP3 - The Faint- Glass Danse (Danse Macabre)

Danse Macabre was the album that took The Faint into the mainstream. Riding on the back of bands like Radio4 and The Rapture, the 80's were now 'in' and the band perfectly meshed classic 80's influences with the punk funk sound around at that time.

Just an American girl, in the Tokyo streets

2004-12-01T19:54:00.000Z

~~Gwen Stefani - Harajuku Girls~~

No Doubt were always a band that produced the occasional brilliant single, but too often strayed towards embarrasing Ska. Well, Gwen Stefani has now ditched her band and only gone and produced one the the best pure pop albums of the year in Love Angel Music Baby.

Working with producers like Andre 3000, Dr. Dre, The Neptunes and even New Order - Stefani has succeeded in making an album that contains a few stone cold pop classics, even possibly marking her out as the natual successor to Madonna.

So yeah it's all a bit overblown, there are far too many people working on the project for it to be truly focused and there are still a few cringeworthy moments (Like her take on If I Were a Rich Girl).

Aside from the storming electro pop single What You Wating For, Harajuku Girls is my favourite track on the album - it even sounds like Papa Don't Preach at the start...

I could hold your cigarette on Oxford Street

2004-11-30T09:48:00.000Z

~~Ryan Adams - Karina~~

Ryan Adams is someone that tends to polarise people's opinions. Some think he is arrogant and overrated, others ridiculously talented - personally I think he's arrogant AND ridiculously talented...

I love the story (not sure if it's true) of a guy in the crowd at one of his concert shouting out Bryan Adams songs. The other Mr Adams promptly stopped the set and refused to carry on until the guy left - refunding him the entrance fee out of his own pocket on the spot.

Here is a song reputed to be written about Carina Round. Craftily Ryan has changed the first letter of the name of the person who is the subject of the song - but he doesn't fool me!

Ryan Adams and Carina Round toured together in the UK a few years ago and struck up a friendship. It is said that they wrote a song together, but it has yet to see the light of day. I'm not sure this track has been properly released anywhere either, but I could be wrong.

Carina Round on Ryan Adams: "I remember one line he said to me—-you probably had to be there, it was really personal—-he just said, ‘Don’t be a statue. For anyone. Don’t fit the mold of what they want you to be. You gotta be you, always.’ And that was the one part that stuck in my mind, and I think about that a lot. And that moment, to me, was the changing point of my life."

I wait all my life, just for the rush

2004-11-29T23:14:00.001Z

~~MP3 - Carina Round - Into My Blood~~

Carina Round is a singer-songwriter from Wolverhampton in the West Midlands, UK. However the term singer-songwriter doesn't really do her justice one bit. If you want to know more about her, then I suggest you read this interview.

You could say she is the new PJ Harvey/Patti Smith/etc etc, but in fact she has her own sound and her own voice. Passionate, soulful, intense and soothing in equal measure - that's Carina Round.

Earlier this year she signed to Interscope and is currently in LA beginning the recording of her third album, with the help of her band.

'Into My Blood' was the lead track of her fantastic second self-financed LP 'The Disconnection'.

So, when in a year or two everyone is raving about Carina Round - just remember where you heard her first.

Nameless Body Under Blackfriars Bridge

2004-11-28T18:59:00.000Z

MP3 - Ikara Colt - Repetition
MP3 - Ikara Colt - Don't They Know

I once wrote a letter that was printed in the NME and signed it with the above Ikara Colt lyric. Pretentious...of course not.

Ikara Colt hail from London, but aren't anything to do with the whole Libertines/Babyshambles/Razorlight scene that is being drooled over by trendy media types at the moment. So far they've released two albums, a clutch of killer singles, been banned from the Reading Festival and the charts (for including stickers with their debut LP!).

Named after an imaginary horse or two kind of gun depending on who you believe, the band line up Paul Resende - Vocals, Claire Ingram - Guitar, Tracy Bellaries - Bass, Dom Young - Drums. Their 2 boy, 2 girl split makes them the Art Punk Abba.

Most reviews of the band can't seem to get past the fact that Resende sounds a bit like Mark E Smith. Whilst that criticism might have been valid after their first album 'Chat and Business', subsequent releases 'Basic Instructions' EP and 'Modern Apprentice have shown that the band have a lot more depth.

Angular is one of my favourite words to describe the kind of bands I like and it springs instantly to mind when listening to Ikara Colt. They deliver intelligent blasts of art punk without the over-produced gloss of bands like Franz Ferdinand and The Killers.

"We are twenty-first century; it's all about disposable information. That idea of wanting to have been around in another era is totally what we're against..." - Paul Resende.

Let a little bit of Art-Punk into your life.

Hello, Good Evening and Welcome

2004-11-28T17:09:00.000Z

Well hello there and welcome to my MP3 blog. Let me introduce myself, my name is Phill and I can also be found writing over at Danger! High Postage.

Yes I know, there are a million MP3 blogs out there and this is just another one cluttering up cyberspace. But hopefully you will be able to find something different on here to what's on other sites.