This weeks Indie Music Hour podcast has just been uploaded.  Tracklist this week is as follows:

Thou Shalt Always Kill by Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip

Add It Up by Violent Femmes

Sugarless by Autolux

Harry & Maggie by Swervedriver

Sister by She Wants Revenge

The Lights Went Out by The Cribs

Little Miss Pipedream by The Wombats

Speechless by Cibo Matto

Take Me To The River by Talking Heads

Talking, Talking by New Young Pony Club

Goodbye by Asobi Seksu

Lua by Bright Eyes

Jersey Clowns by Josh Rouse

Please leave your comments here.  Enjoy :)

Assim diz o Bobby Gillespie na Beautiful Future...

.... num mês estranhamente produtivo, mas onde vou certamente estar arrependido de enfiar qualquer coisa como 60 euros em CDs quando não vou a Paredes para poupar para you know what. No mês passado tinha deixado algumas dicas sobre algumas das possíveis compras que se iam seguir, e duas delas acabaram por se concretizar.

A começar pelo The Greatest, aquele que será o melhor álbum da Cat Power, e que após ter "falhado" a compra nas promoções na Jojo's no mês passado, tive a oportunidade de emendar dias mais tarde. É a slipcase edition, muito provavelmente para os que preferem ter a carinha laroca da srª Chan Marshall na capa em vez de um colar com dois pendentes em forma de luvas de boxe num fundo rosa-choque. Segue-se a faixa de abertura e que dá nome ao álbum, tocada ao vivo no programa de Jools Holland:

Outro que havia ameaçado comprar era We Can Create, o álbum de estreia dos Maps. Após ter falhado pela terceira (ou quarta ou quinta, já nem sei) vez a aquisição do Messages, decidi avançar antes para outro dos belos álbuns que saíram em 2007, sendo inclusivamente nomeado para o Mercury Prize. Essencialmente o projecto de James Chapman, o álbum foi gravado maioritariamente no seu quarto em Northampton  (cumprindo a profecia de Bill Drummond, onde dizia que a tecnologia japonesa iria evoluir ao ponto de tornar os estúdios obsoletos) e mostra um grande alcance de influências, principalmente os Galaxie500, num dos melhores discos britânicos de new-gaze. O novo álbum está a ser gravado as we speak, e por maravilhas das internets e dos youtubes, podem seguir o processo criativo no seu site. Fica uma versão ao vivo de You Don't Know Her Name, a que será a música mais forte do álbum.

Outro que embora não tenha referido era provável que comprasse era Doppelgänger dos Curve. Embora tenham sido algo esquecidos com o tempo (apesar da influência em bandas como os Garbage), Doppelgänger é uma mistura de diversos movimentos underground nos primeiros anos da década passada. Desde o shoegaze patente nas texturas sonoras, o dance-rock/baggy/madchester dos ritmos ou as secções electrónicas da nova vaga da música industrial que emergia do sucesso dos Nine Inch Nails e dos Ministry. Após ter falado de Horror Head vezes sem conta, aqui fica Clipped, a faixa que encerra o álbum na sua versão americana, a mesma que comprei. Lamenta-se só a falta de fotos de Toni Ha... da banda no livrinho.

Indo mais para o principio do mês, decidi passar os olhos pela lista de CDs da Muzzak, uma das lojas que costumo visitar, mas onde até agora só tinha comprado as revistas que uso para os scans do outro blog e para escrever sobre alguns assuntos mais pertinentes que requerem algum conhecimento contemporâneo. Encontrei alguns interessantes, um dos quais o LP dos Ambulance LTD, um álbum há muito sugerido pela Amazon (uma das minhas principais fontes de recomendações). Mais uma banda a sair da indie scene de NY, e tal como outras a ir buscar inspiração às bandas shoegaze/dream pop britânicas do começo dos anos 90. Desde a gravação de LP em 2004, a banda sofreu uma re-estruturação completa, mas já nada pode subtrair da qualidade demonstrada pela banda. Fica aqui uma das melhores músicas do álbum, Heavy Lifting:

Outro por lá ficou (bem como mais dois em que ainda esotu a pensar) que demorei alguns dias até considerar se valeria a pena comprar ou não. Saturdays = Youth, o último álbum dos M83 continua a ser um disco algo controverso na minha cabeça. Um ano mais velho que eu, certamente que o Anthony Gonzalez não ia ter uma visão dos anos 80 muito diferente da minha - no fundo, ambas influênciadas por rasgos de memórias da década e os filmes da altura, principalmente os do John Hughes. Se em termos sonoros acaba por estar longe de álbuns como Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts ou Before The Dawn Heals Us, isso não é sinal que a qualidade tenha desaparecido. Um álbum pop por excelência com muitos elementos emprestados da sonoridade típica dos anos 80, o 5º álbum do músico francês acaba por ser brilhante em todos os aspectos, excepto talvez na parte lírica. Saiu recentemente o terceiro single, Kim & Jessie, e por continuar a implicar com a letra de Graveyard Girl, prefiro voltar a promover o videoclip algo LGBT:

Ultimamente tenho comprado alguns CDs sem os ter ouvido antes. O dos Ambulance LTD foi assim, outro foi o EP Fireworks dos Embrace, uma banda que conhecia apenas das páginas de uma Select onde um anúncio de página inteira ao primeiro álbum. O preço era convidativo: €2.5, com os 20% de desconto na estante de singles da Jojo's tornou-se na companhia de regresso a casa do The Greatest. Quanto ao conteúdo musical, mais uma banda competente da escola do pós-Britpop, mas que devido à saturação do mercado acabaram por causar pouco impacto, mesmo no Reino Unido. Fica aqui The Last Gas:

Ainda na mesma onda, comprei também Equally Cursed and Blessed, o terceiro álbum dos galeses Catatonia. embora seja um álbum menos imediato que International Velvet, tem igualmente os seus momentos altos, No entanto, lançado na mesma ressaca do pós-Britpop e apesar de chegar igualmente ao topo das tabelas, teve uma reacção mais fria. Fica aqui Dead From The Waist Dow, o que mesmo assim é uma coisa mais agradável de se dizer que o "sheep shaggers" habitualmente direccionado aos galeses:

Outro que aproveitei para comprar foi o Beautiful Future, o novíssimo álbum dos Primal Scream. Sobre o álbum já falei bastante recentemente, e não me apetece estar a voltar a repetir o mesmo: fica só com a conclusão: após o XTRMNTR e o Screamadelica, junta-se ao Evil Heat e aoVanishing Point na minha lista de preferências do trabalho a solo do sr. Bobby Gillespie. Que confirma-se que parece não querer envelhecer. Menos novo, mas igualmente bom é o primeiro álbum dos Asobi Seksu. Com as notícias do terceiro álbum a aparecer, lá decidi comprar o álbum de estreia (embora ainda gostava de meter as mãos no EP dos Sportfuck, que diz-se serem a primeira encarnação) da banda. Não há muito que não possa dizer da banda que ainda não tenha dito: além de serem a melhor banda da esteira do new gaze (embora mais "adocicado" que o normal), significaram um ponto de viragem em que passei a ouvir música mais recente e a importar-me com concertos ao vivo. Algo que por motivos óbvios nunca pude referir é a qualidade do artwork que decora o digipak do álbum, responsabilidade de Sean McCabe. Como é possível ver no site, tem uma capacidade inata de captar o estilo gráfico dos anos 60, e o pequeno digipak consegue captar a essencia dos discos de vinil da era, como é possível ver na parte de trás do mesmo: Aqui fica Walk On The Moon, a única música do álbum com direito a videoclip, inclusivamente oferecido na re-edição Britânica da One Little Indian, juntamente com uma faixa extra de um disco que já tenho (isto parece ser uma constante comigo e os Asobi Seksu), o Live at the Echo, excelente para quando tenho saudades da noite de 1 de Dezembro de 2007.

Para terminar, mais um álbum de estreia, mas deste não há muito a falar. Fica o vídeo:

Asobi Seksu (formed in 2004) is a New York City, United States based dream pop/shoegaze band. Singer Yuki Chikudate often incorporates Japanese lyrics into her songs. The band’s name in Japanese consists of two words, “asobi” meaning “play” or “for fun”, and “sekkusu” the Japanese imported word referring to “sex” as in sexual intercourse.

Their sound has been said to draw influence from the shoegazing movement of the late 1980s to early 1990s, which was coined to describe the textured and effects-heavy sound of alternative rock in that era. The band consists of Yuki Chikudate (singing|vocals), James Hanna (guitar, vocals), Haji (bass guitar|bass) and Ben Shapiro (drum kit|drums).

Download: Asobi Seksu

Web: Myspace Page, Website

Asobi Seksu is a band from NYC.

But seriously, I was in the grocery store the other day, and, next to the Ladies Home Journal of Lose 5lbs FAST With Nooooo Side-Effects and Put an End to Fad Dieting FOREVURR! I noticed a new- not reprinted- issue of Double Digest. It looked like they had updated the look of the characters for the current Gossip Girl generation or something. Who knew?

Look at that shit! Veronica appears to be wearing SWEATS. Um, WHAT? Anybody who knows anything about Veronica knows that homegirl would not have been caught dead in sweats. Yet, here she is wearing big, outdated earrings with some seriously high-rise loungepants. In public. Uh, and what is going on with Betty? It's like the creators of this comic took their wardrobe cues from old Kathleen Turner movies. Like, "that's what all the kids are into these days, the 80s are back, so that includes War of the Roses right?"

Anyway, on with the stuff I like!

Like most people, the products/music/food and drinks I'm into vary by the season. Summer is in full swing, so here are a few of the Earthly delights keeping me in a good mood right now:

1. Circle skirts from Uniqlo and Anthropologie: I just went to Anthro and bough 3 skirts (one ivory with grasses and wildflowers, a brown one with frothy tulle underlay and jewel-toned flowers, and a solid Kelly green trumpet skirt) to go with the 3 I already have from years previous (shiny, blue cascading raindrops on ivory, a lemon yellow with vintage flowers, and one with an all-over print of a line drawing of Venice). Add in the fun, shiny, pleated brown one I got at Uniqlo in Nagoya, and I've got a whole week of feminine looks!

These skirts are flattering on most figures and the cool linen lining hides all of your underthings while still letting copious amounts of air flow though to keep you cool. But, all practicality aside, they make me feel like Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday.

2. Jergens Natural Glow Daily Moisturizer in Meduim: I don't like to tan, but I'm loath to spend the whole summer all pasty, while my neighbors rock this straight-outta-St. Lucia look. I'm late to the party on this product, I just got some this weekend, but I'm already believing the hype. No streaks, no fakey orange color, no nasty self-tanner smell, it conditions the skin well, and i've not stained my clothes or sheets with it yet!

3. Two-way tie: Bentley's Green Tea in Raspberry and The Perfect Summer Tea by way of Starbucks Hacking: The Bentley's tea is good hot or iced, and the little tins are so cute and handy to re-use for storing jewelry or art supplies or something. Hell, I'd even throw some flowers in it, for a shabby-chic vase.

OK, Starbucks hacking. It's risky, but you'll just have to trust me. I've ordered this many times, and only once did the corporate coffee drones give me shit about it. Do this: Order a grande hot tea with room- lots of room. So much room that you end up with a tall tea in a grande cup. Request 1 bag of Tazo Refresh tea, and 1 bag of some kind of green tea- I like the Lotus b/c it's mild and sweet tasting, anything will work except maybe green ginger- haven't tried that one. Also request a venti cup full of ice. Offer to pay for it if they give you crap. Steep the tea for 5 minutes, maybe even a little longer- then pour over the ice. It's LOVELY. If you're a sugar/artificial sweetener kind of person, do me a favor and resist the urge to saccharine-ify this drink. It's so lovely and refreshing on it's own, I'd imagine sugar kills it.

4. MAC Tendertones lip balm: All the benefits of balm with the look of gloss- minus the stickyness, plus a strawberry-kiwi scent. This stuff is summer in a wee little pot.

5. Asobi Seksu's album Citrus: you know how sometimes when you buy a record you listen to it and go "meh" and set it aside for so long you forget you even own it? Yeah. That's what kind of happened with this album. Except I lost track of it b/c we moved into out little 700 square foot shoebox and Mr. Panda had to consolidate his record collection, so he filed this away with his stuff by mistake. Anyway, I found this album again and it feels like fate, because it happens to be exactly what I want to listen to right now.

It's still as fuzzy-guitar-laden and spacey as the first album, but with a poppier, more effervescent feel. Less My Bloody Valentine-ish, more... cute.

Also I'm all about Midlake's Trials of Van Occupanther. Don't think. Don't wait for an explanation. Just go get this album.

6. My iPod: The best present I've ever gotten in my life. Where else can I hear Them, The Troggs, Rihanna, Elvis, and the collected workd of Marvin Gaye all in one place? Bless you, iPod. That's not music, what's flowing from those ubiquitous little white ear buds, it's magic.

7. Revlon A Floral Affair sheer blush in Pinking of You: It's cheap. It's light. It's a blushing, youthful, virginal pink blush with possibly the gayest name for a makeup ever.

8. N.V. Perricone Active Tinted Moisturizer: The thought of wearing foundation in the summer makes me want to cry. It's like I can feel me skin whining, "But I don't waaaannaaaa! Don't make meeee!" So instead, I use this stuff. Light coverage, SPF, vitamins that are good for the skin, AND I've come to find out, it doesn't come off in the pool!

9. Cold Noodles: Yummy. Cold. Refreshing. Spicy. Salty. Filling. Cheap. Low-calorie. You can eat them from a pouch, you can eat them on the couch, you can eat them on a veranda, you can eat them with Amanda. What I mean to say is, this is a versatile meal. Search for recipes online, or buy instant mixes from Asian grocers.

10. The pool at my apartment complex: (My pool is actually really nice. I just thought this inflate-o-pool was funny) Let's see: there are the tanorexic sorority girls, the chest-puffing body builder types, the 30-something divorcees using their young children to pick up chicks, and the Cuban party boys- all my douchey neighbors are there on the weekends. But whatever, despite the overabundance of cheap beer, bad music blaring, and juice boxes aplenty- I still manage to find my n'hood pool to be a bit of an oasis. I just turn the iPod up loud, keep my hat pulled down low, and stick my nose in a book- VOILA!- Instant Antisocial Paradise! If only Kadinsky would show up with those pool noodles, then it'll really be something.

How are you enjoying your summer?

About a hundred years ago when I used to hang out on South St, my then girlfriend (later to be ex-fiance) and I ducked into a record store to see what we could see. I picked up an EP from an indie rock trio called Rainer Maria called Atlantic. It was a strong three song EP, but with all the other records I was buying back then, it quickly got pushed out of regular rotation. Three years ago I was at a used CD shop and saw a live CD/DVD combo they released. It was $5, and I'm a sucker for anything live, and any concert DVD. The DVD, called Anyone in Love With You (Already Knows) is probably still available from PolyVinyl Records. But on the DVD was a video for the song I've uploaded, Ears Ring. It's one of their rockier songs with a quick and simple meledy which I think is a little bit of a contrast to their later songs. Caithlyn DeMarrais' vocals are the real standout, and have a Braid-type quality to them. The band broke up (as good bands tend to do), but guitarist Kyle Fischer has released a solo album, and Caithlyn is still active up in Brooklyn.

I don't have as personal an attachment to either of the other songs. Asobi Seksu's Walk on the Moon has a "wall of noise" feel. I've always hated that term, and I don't know many other people that use it. But particularly towards the end of the song the layers in the song build into an impressive crescendo.

I also included the song A Better Place by Joshua just because I like the hook.

None of these songs are going to fire you up during an all night Halo marathon. But if you like quality rock music, it will restore your faith. Since all these tracks were released around 2000 (I think), it may remind you that Fred Durst killed rock and roll. But at least we have the memories.

Click here for the rock.

Any comments for a more efficient way of delivering these musical gems would be greatly appreciated.

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A Girl Called Eddy
A Girl Called Eddy ••••
Anti-

Finally, a vibe worth tapping into. In fact, this debut album by New Jersey-born Erin Moran even goes so far as to reclaim the word from the stoned and surreal, bringing it back to the music in style. Make no mistake, this is rainy day music of the highest calibre. From the faux tattered sleeve in, the spirit of 1970s pop chic slinks and shimmies through each song, most often recalling Karen Carpenter at her most Bacharachian, with a nuance of Aimee Mann in the dusky, self-assured vocal.

As with all great records, the styles here are embodied and lived through rather than simply plucked off the peg and crowbarred into. The world-weary whispered vocals on ‘Tears All Over Town' (one of two songs here taken from her under-the-radar 2002 EP of the same name), the strident rock-tinged ‘The Long Goodbye' and the soulful swing of the first single, ‘Somebody Hurt You', seem to ebb and flow effortlessly.

Although such apparent ease could doom a less canny artist to the dreaded coffee table MOR limbo inhabited by Dido and Norah Jones, you get the sense here that Moran has actually lived and breathed these songs. The lump in the throated ‘Kathleen', for example, is a minor key memoriam to her late mum. Death is also dealt with in the swelling, glorious finale that is ‘Golden', a masterclass in the art of tension building. Points must also go to the subtle production by Colin Elliot and former Pulp guitarist, Richard Hawley.

Where this album stumbles slightly is that the lyrical hurdle is only half-heartedly jumped and may prove a touch pedestrian for aficionados of more forthright songwriters. ‘Did You See The Moon Tonight?' is a perfect example of this, yet Moran's skill as a mood-maker elevates it above the potential blandness to make it the standout cut. In this respect, she perhaps best recalls Chrissie Hynde or PJ Harvey, with whom the delivery is everything.

What this album exemplifies succinctly is that confessional and heartfelt can be done and done well without the bloodletting or shock tactics favoured by some. If you have time to savour the understatements on offer on this solid, hypnotic album, it will grab at your heartstrings. Equally, if you haven't, frankly, this is wasted as background music and is likely to pass you by. Next time it rains, you know what to do.

Alan Pedder 
originally published May 14th, 2005

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Mina Agossi
Well, You Needn't ••
Candid

Afro-French chanteuse Mina Agossi has been making serious waves on the European jazz circuit with her stripped back, to-the-bone approach to avant-garde jazz. This second album follows hot on the heels of her well-regarded debut Zaboum, taking further and more confident steps along her chosen, and certainly somewhat surrealist pathway. Standards, contemporary covers and original compositions are all present and each is delivered in Agossi's unmistakable, inimitable style, and therein lies the rub.

There's simply no arguing with Mina Agossi's skill as a jazz singer. With such commanding control over her warble cords, it's certain that to watch her and her band perform these songs in a dark, smoky jazz hole would be an experience equal parts exciting, unsettling and terrifically moving. You'd never quite be sure whether the swirls and pulses conjured would coalesce into perfect, pure jazz or collapse into a trainwreck of cacophony, which frankly would be half the attraction. But as has been proven by many who have come before, it is nigh on impossible to capture the adventure and controlled anarchy of this style of jazz on a recorded format. Sure the notes are all there but the danger is inevitably lacking. So often with more avant-garde or improvisational pieces, a moment that when experienced firsthand seems daring and risqué becomes merely sterile and contrived when frozen in time. Rather than a magnificent, wild snarling beast we're delivered a shadow, caged and pacing with no small amount of discomfort.

There's a clutch of more digestible songs such as ‘Drive', ‘Laundry Man Blues' and ‘May I Sit At Your Table', and most likely it's these that will work best for the casual listener. Other tracks take a rather less palatable approach - on ‘Don't Look At Me', Agossi's voice dissolves from an appealingly sultry croon to a wailing maelstrom not unlike scathing electric guitar feedback before resolving back into the calmer vocal line, while on the title track she employs an admittedly stunning scat technique on top of the skeletal backing. It's initially impressive but soon wears thin, taking on a tonality more Crazy Frog than Ella Fitzgerald. This is a double irony since the vocal on the mostly a cappella ‘After You've Gone' bears more than a passing resemblance to the grand old lady of jazz's velvet tones. Interestingly, Mina's signature approach works pretty well on a cover of Jimi Hendrix's ‘Voodoo Chile'. Her voice is given free reign and she achieves that rarest of things, an effective jazz interpretation of an iconic rock song. The fearless innovator in the late guitar hero would surely have approved.

Now back to that sorry looking rating. On a purely technical basis, this album is clearly deserving of praise. The sparse production is crystal clear, letting every nuance shine through, and Agossi's tightly skilled band are beyond reproach. For the jazz aficionado with leanings towards the modern and avant-garde forms, this will be manna from heaven. It really is that well done. But a casual listener, including myself, could find themselves enjoying each successive listen less and less. Elements and devices that first added interest soon begin to grate and it's a real shame. Those in the know in the jazz world will continue to beat a path to the door of Mina Agossi's concerts and form orderly queues at their local record stores to get their copies of her albums. For anyone else with merely a passing interest in the lighter ends of the jazz spectrum, the question remains: should you buy this album for your listening pleasure? And the honest answer is well, you needn't...

Trevor Raggatt
originally published June 8th, 2006 

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Christina Aguilera
Back To Basics •••
RCA

More superficial than supafly, it appears that the new Mrs Bratman has been sucked into her own marketing tailspin. The frustration is that it need not have been the case. The story is well known; using the nostalgic yesteryear approach and namechecking the likes of Ella, Etta, Aretha et al., Christina hopes to cement her own place in the American musical songbook and at the same time maintain the superior position she achieved in critical circles with the ridiculously successful Stripped.

Two points of interest are worth noting; in the majority of this overlong album (was a double really necessary?), RCA appears to be milking the sacred... well, you know... perhaps a little too much, maybe because it knows it may be the last throw of the dice. If it is, it's a shame, because Aguilera's music often stands up for itself without the need for props to past icons. Secondly, none of the music could hope to seriously offer a fitting tribute to them anyway, as it retains the smooth, polished production of 21st Century American R‘n'B and the funked-up beat manifesto beloved of the 13-25 year old market segment, many of whom wouldn't know Aretha from a reefer. When was she ever polished? When was Gaye anything but a tortured artist spilling his guts out for the sport of record producers? Back To Basics is marketing a mimic and a fashion statement, nothing more.

And yet, the music is good. It's not Stripped, but it's good. First single ‘Ain't No Other Man' struts four-inch stillettos over the parquet flooring, ‘Slow Down Baby' cleverly turns the boy-wants-girl scenario on its head, and ‘Nasty Naughty Boy' is, yes, teen porn for the masses; I quote: "gimme a little taste / put your icing on my cake". Consistently sassy and sometimes downright sexy, Aguilera pouts, preens and warbles it up when necessary with a voice that can cause a few tingles up the spine. Witness the use of her lower register on ‘Oh Mother', another in a long line of tributes to her hard-done-by parent, or the cod-gospel ‘Makes Me Wanna Pray', which gives a hefty nod to Christina's real idol, Guy Ritchie's ball and chain.

There's a very, very good single CD in here. E-mail me and I'll give you a listing. In the meantime, I wish Aguilera didn't feel the need to keep proving herself. She's admired for her strength, even by music fans such as myself who wouldn't normally listen to this genre. She's got a good voice and a good business brain. She's got a husband and money in the bank and she looks good. If she's smart enough, she'll turn all that into a career, with or without the enforced endorsement of past kings and queens of the Billboard charts. Ignore the hype. If you want Back To Basics in your collection, buy it because it's her.

Paul Woodgate 
originally published September 17th, 2006

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AIDS Wolf
The Lovvers LP ••½
Lovepump United / Skin Graft

Dissonance can refer to many things; in psychology, it represents a state of mental conflict, in poetry it implies a combination of sounds that clash, and in music it's a harmony, chord or interval that is unstable and unharmonised. In all instances, it represents something that is conflicting, and dissonant is the ideal adjective for which to characterise The Lovvers LP.

There is always an element of novelty when musicians reject the conventional verse-chorus-verse paradigm, and even more so when they also discard melody, euphony and a tuning pedal. But for AIDS Wolf, this is all according to plan. The raw cacophony that calls itself The Lovvers LP isn't the result of a badly made album or maladroit musicians, it is the album's contrived musical premise. As if pulling out random chords from a surrealist's hat, there is little order to be found here. With the exception of the 12-minute epic ‘Some Sexual Drawings', every song lasts less than two minutes, and, as a result, many of them seem unfinished and lost in their own self-perpetuating chaos.

'Special Deluxe', as singer Chloe Lum is known, along with bandmates 'Hiroshima Thunder', 'Barbarian Destroyer' and 'Him, the Maji' comprise this noisy foursome who would describe themselves as a commingling of noise and rock. Lum and Thunder (aka Yannick Desranleau to his mum) are the creators of the highly popular Montreal poster design shop Serigraphie Populaire, or Seripop, and the column inches afforded to their art in the band's press is nearly equal to the attention afforded to the music. While the cover art of The Lovvers LP is certainly interesting enough, it is really the naked photograph of the band on the inside that fascinates. Scrawled next to it in the bottom corner are the words "Stay freeeee dudes". Perhaps this is a proposal, or a warning, to open your mind and allow the soundtrack of your nightmares to manifest itself, because once you're done with The Lovvers LP, you're going to need some time for mental recovery.

AIDS Wolf macerates our senses and our wits. ‘Chinese Roulette' is a series of scraping, screechy high notes superimposed over declining scales and frenzied drums where the only audible lyric is, appropriately, "flinch". ‘We Multiply' is a perplexing battle of guitars where Lum's howling vocals are once again needlessly drowned out. Both ‘Opposing Walls' and ‘Spit Tastes Like Metal' feature frantic needling guitars that, at high volume, may well induce involuntary eye spasms. Rescuing the album from bleeding ear oblivion are ‘Pantymind' and ‘Vampire King'; the former's catchy riffs explode into a chaotic sea of noise and are complimented by delicate clanging cymbals, while the latter is packed with fun and sharply pointed chords that slowly dissolve into solemn madness and disarray.

The Lovvers LP is a dizzying whirlwind of noises that give you the sensation of stumbling through a dysfunctional house of magic mirrors in the circus that, post-AIDS Wolf, could well be your own mind. Whether intentional or not, the amalgamation of repetitious needling notes, confusing, chaotic time signatures, eruptions of clamour and incomprehensible vocals leave the listener with a feeling of deficiency. Certainly, the album is made to appeal to only a very select audience, and there are some very interesting musical ideas here and much to be said about the aesthetic statement the band is making. However, as a musical work it is strenuous to endure, let alone take pleasure in. It seems AIDS Wolf still has a way to go before affirming a musical expression that is truly equal to their artistic one. The Lovvers LP is a mad conductor knocking at your door; for many, the only escape lays in the 'STOP' button.

Lisa Komorowska 
originally published May 1st, 2006

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All About Eve
Keepsakes: A Collection •••½ 
Mercury

It is a universally acknowledged truth that a record company in possession of a good back catalogue must be in want of a career-spanning ‘best of' compilation. All too often the process of compiling such a package bears all the hallmarks of a minor Jane Austen character's courtship - more to do with expedience, contractual obligations and financial security than any great level of passion. The formula is well established; gather together all of the hits, sprinkle in a few album tracks and bung on a couple of songs that weren't really good enough even for B-sides, labelling the latter as ‘previously unreleased' to ensure the established fans will buy in to the party. Exceptions to this rule are few and far between. Fortunately, Keepsakes happens to be one of them.

Credit for this is down to All About Eve frontwoman Julianne Regan's determination to make it more than a mercenary exercise. Consulting the fans on the band's official website unlocked the power of informed opinions and interesting choices, all of which make Keepsakes a worthy addition to the band's canon. This double-disc set follows the band's career in chronological order, and all the expected hits are here. However, there's still plenty to engage the hardcore fan. In some cases, the obvious choices are made more interesting by choosing a rare extended 12" mix - such as for the opener ‘Flowers In Our Hair'. Elsewhere there are live recordings or radio sessions alongside modern reworkings.

CD1 blankets the band's early years and their most commercially successful phase. Cherry-picking tracks from their eponymous 1988 debut and the excellent follow-up, Scarlet & Other Stories, it serves to demonstrate what a good band they were and how sadly underrated they've been. Certainly, there are depths to All About Eve beyond the hauntingly beautiful acoustic compilation staple, ‘Martha's Harbour'. Their songs retain a certain timeless quality, making them as accessible to new listeners today as they were when first released nearly 20 years ago. Of course there are sonic elements that peg them to the late 1980s - heavily chorused guitars, big gated reverbs on the snares - but the strength of the songwriting and Regan's never less than heavenly vocals lifts them beyond that.

Actually, it's hard to praise the quality of Regan's pure, clear singing highly enough. In interviews she has often referred to her diffidence towards live performance and her struggles with stage fright; however, the live tracks included here belie any timidness, showing them to be an impressive live act, capable of rocking far beyond their twee Goth-folkie stereotype. The second disc launches with ‘Farewell Mr Sorrow', marking a watershed in the band's history - the departure of founder member, guitarist Tim Bricheno, who was replaced by Marty Willson-Piper from The Church. The change in personnel was accompanied by an altered sound that shifted towards a more commercial, pre-Madchester indie-pop.

The songs from 1991's Touched By Jesus show a record label-encouraged move away from folky acoustic noodlings towards a harder, electric feel. Although not a huge commercial success, it did produce some dividends. ‘Farewell Mr Sorrow', a stinging riposte to Regan's former guitarist/lover, remains a perfect slice of jangle-pop that, if justice were served, should be hailed alongside contemporary songs by The La's et al. There is much to admire from this section of All About Eve's history, particularly ‘Wishing The Hours Away', which benefits from a liberal sprinkling of Dave Gilmour's unmistakable guitar sound. Ironic, then, that the band's subsequent move to a more psychedelic, electro-tinged sound on 1992's Ultraviolet is marked by a previously unreleased version of Pink Floyd's classic, ‘See Emily Play'. Even here, though, the chord structures, guitar sounds and Regan's always-beautiful voice retain the band's hallmark.

The album closes with 2004's abortive comeback single ‘Let Me Go Home' and two new tracks, ‘Keepsakes' and ‘Raindrops', that fittingly avoid any foolish attempt to rehash their early days. All in all, Keepsakes is an effective summary, full of gems for casual and avid listeners alike. Also available is a limited edition run containing an additional DVD with videos of all the band's singles and a range of live/TV studio appearances, including the famous 'Top Of The Pops' taping of ‘Martha's Harbour' where no one thinks to cue in the band or provide them with music to mime to - oops! Despite a muddy sound quality that betrays the age of these films they make a satisfying addition to the CD and are guaranteed to bring out the inner pre-Raphaelite in anyone.

Trevor Raggatt
originally published May 24th, 2006 

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Lily Allen
Alright, Still •••••
EMI

With her debut album Alright, Still Lily Allen has officially established herself as the Queen of London. She may be Keith Allen's daughter (and so unavoidably categorised alongside fellow ‘fame borrowers' Peaches Geldof, Lizzie Jagger and Kelly Osbourne) but it's her personable character and musical talent that has propelled her album to the top of the charts. She's genre defying: indie kids love her, mainstream listeners fight over her gig tickets and even the Queen invites her to parties. She isn't unbearably considerate or inconsiderate about bad reviews and she doesn't let fame go to her head. After all, she's been wearing the same Reebok trainers for the past year. Neither does she succumb to the pressures of being an admired female; ‘Everything's Just Wonderful' may seem as though she's contemplating weight loss, but just one look at her downing beer and chain smoking onstage tells us she's too strong to give in to societal pressures. In every sense she keeps it 4 REAL.

Throughout the album Allen's Lahndan accent is paraded both loudly and proudly, causing a certain amount of controversy in the process with critics claiming she's copying the likes of The Streets. Truth is, Allen is simply one of the first female artists to tackle the chav culture head on. She is also one of the few young artists unafraid to give a very blunt, honest and not-dictated-by-management opinion on everyone and everything she meets. Who needs songs about old news like Top Shop girls and binge drinking when you have a witty, spectacularly real lady singing about embracing the ‘bad' side of London (‘LDN') and her little brother smoking dope (‘Alfie')?

Trading on Allen's unflinching brutal honesty is the album's major selling point. She's verbally attacked practically everyone she's met along the way to the top: she's waged a war with Girls Aloud, claimed (probably justifiably) that ex-Libertine Carl Barat is an egotist and, hilariously, spat on Peaches Geldof's shoes. Yet, in spite of all her newly acquired enemies and their apparent popularity among the youth of Britain, Alright, Still has been an unqualified success story. Why? Because kids wanted some spokesperson, male or female, that did all of these things. Everyone has a little red devil on his or her shoulder, whispering that the girl on stage wearing Gucci thinks she's it but equally thinks that she's part of every culture within the gates of London. With her reggae, pop and R'n'B routes Lily successfully asserts her point of view and generally mouths off. Bravo! She could spit on my shoes any day.

Tiffany Daniels
previously unpublished 

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Annie
Live at the Magnet Club, Berlin •••½
October 26th, 2005

Annie is an odd 'un. On one hand, she's been proclaimed by many to be the saviour of modern pop, with this year's kitsch electro debut, Anniemal, receiving widespread broadsheet acclaim. On the other hand, she has yet to appear on Top Of The Pops, she writes her own material, runs her own club night in Bergen, Norway, and, when playing live, finds herself on stages more accustomed to unwashed indie sorts, rather than the aircraft hanger-like arenas of her pop princess peers. Add to that the fact that her Richard X-produced single, ‘Chewing Gum', is a favourite in the cool London indie clubs like Trash and White Heat, and it's clear she's no Rachel Stevens.

With her album hitting the German shops in September, almost six months after its release in the UK (where it has yet to make an impact), Annie made a trip to the country as part of the ‘Monsters of Spex' tour with Danish punk-funk newcomers, WhoMadeWho, for the influential leftfield music magazine, Spex. Despite having released her first single, ‘The Greatest Hit', in 1999, it wasn't until this year that Annie has begun to play live. At first, so uncomfortable was she with being on stage that she would sing from the DJ booth. However, by the time the tour touched down in Berlin, she was dancing and singing like a bona fide popstar on the Magnet Club's tiny stage. But there was no suspended-in-air entrance - she arrived from under a banner strewn over the headline act's drum kit - and there were no dancers. Only her longtime collaborator Timo, playing with keys and samples, and an aging rock guitarist joined her. None of the trappings were needed in the end; Annie utterly inhabited the space. Charismatic and involving, she often made eye contact with the dancing front row fans and smiling, pointing her fingers as though she was playing a stadium and giggling at her own mistakes.

With a heavy cold straining her vocals and explosions of coughing between every song, the show was not especially polished, especially in light of the additional sound problems. But despite her obvious frustration, Annie duly proved her indie credentials by soldiering on in the face of hitches that would probably cause Madonna to throw the most embarrassing of tantrums. It's a brave move, but more importantly, it left the crowd of curious music fans and determined Zeitgeist spotters with a warm fuzzy impression.

With new song ‘The Wedding' (taken from her recently released DJ Kicks compilation) getting rapturous whoops and applause, it seems that Annie's already formidable acclaim and support will only grow. The game of pop stardom is one of chance without that cynical major label backing, but Annie is good for a gamble. Global adulation and the iconic stature of her idol Debbie Harry is waiting in the wings, but for now it seems this pop idealist is happy to take the Earth one indie kid at a time, Vorsprung durch Musik.

Robbie de Santos
originally published December 19th, 2005 

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Fiona Apple
Extraordinary Machine ••••
SonyBMG

The birth of Fiona Apple's third album follows what you might call a somewhat complicated pregnancy. If you were prone to brazen understatement, that is. Originally finished in the summer of 2003, already four years on from 1999's attention-grabbing When The Pawn Hits The Conflict Blah Blah Blah..., the Jon Brion-produced originals were rejected by (quite possibly deaf) Sony executives because they couldn't hear a single. So, rather than put faith in their already multi-platinum selling charge, the tapes were allegedly put in a box stamped ‘Don't Open Ever, Or Else' and locked in a big steel vault. Wisely, Brion leaked this information to the fans, who promptly drummed up an unprecedented protest and bombarded the suits at Sony with thousands of plastic apples, each bearing the name of an outraged signatory. Things became more curious when a leaked version of the album found its way into the hands of a radio programmer and subsequently onto the internet. Rumours then abounded that Apple had given up music altogether, but when Brion claimed that some of the leaked MP3s were not his originals, a rat was swiftly smelled.

As it turns out, Apple had sort of given up. In her own words, she was "sitting [on her sofa] watching Columbo in my bathrobe!", but after the Free Fiona campaign filtered through to her, that famous fiery spirit reignited and the gears of Extraordinary Machine finally started to shift once more. Two new producers, Mike Elizondo (Eminem, Macy Gray, Nelly Furtado) and Brian Kehew (Beck, Air, Eleni Mandell), were brought in and the album underwent a near-complete reconstruction. Ultimately, despite a painful gestation that could have destroyed its cohesion, it's a relief to find that the album delivers what it was always meant to - pure, unadulterated Apple.

With its odd rhythms and joyful tones, the utterly unique opener and title track spelunks along merrily and will knock flat anyone who still believes that Apple is some dark and tortured queen. Here, her vocals have grown thicker and loftier with age and she sounds, well, happier than ever. Fans of the leaked MP3s will recognise the hallmarks of Jon Brion's production, the only other relic of which, ‘Waltz (Better Than Fine)', rounds out the album in style. Of course, the angsty Apple of old is here too, and her highly publicised break-up with film director Paul Thomas Anderson is an obvious inspiration. The melancholic ‘Window' positively drips with despair, while the fine first single ‘O' Sailor' is an archetypal breakup song that finds Apple lamenting with a maturity never before seen. In fact, it is the lyrical content that elevates Extraordinary Machine above her earlier work. Gone is the well-thumbed thesaurus-inspired, bloated teenage verse that pocked many of her previous songs. Apple is a woman now and rather than soak in her own sadness, she uses her words more strategically, battling the blows of a broken relationship with a logical finesse.

The beauty of having Extraordinary Machine out there in both its forms is that it should just about please everyone - fans have the liberty of cherry picking their favourite versions, be they the bold Brion originals or this stately, more considered collection that Apple herself is so proud of. Although it may not be the pinnacle of what she is capable of, the promise and ebullient sadness of these songs marks an impressive entry in the oeuvre of an artist quite extraordinary too.

Alan Pedder
originally published November 7th, 2005 

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Asobi Seksu
Citrus ••••
Friendly Fire

Currently garnering lots of rave reviews in America and recently selling out a string of shows at the Bowery, Asobi Seksu are super hot property and most definitely in vogue. Never heard of them? Never fear! Here's a few factoids for you: Asobi Seksu means ‘playful sex' in colloquial Japanese; there's four of them; frontwoman Yuki Chikudate sings in both English and Japanese; and the band's 2004 self-titled debut earned them a reputation as modern-day shoegazers, a pigeonhole that they try hard to break out of on this rockier follow-up.

So keen are they to hammer this point home that their press release emphatically states that the band "have outgrown the comparisons to My Bloody Valentine and Lush", but to these ears that's not altogether the case. There are several parallels with Lush's Lovelife in particular, but Asobi Seksu are more sonically and structurally adventurous and pack a more powerful and insistent punch, ratcheting up the noise level more than Lush ever did. Come the midpoint of ‘Red Sea', for example, Mitch Spivak's frenetic drumming and James Hannah's guitars are creating such a maelstrom of curiously melodic noise that you wonder where on the earth the track can possibly go from there; the answer is into a plunging sea of reverb and feedback. Fantastic! ‘Exotic Animal Paradise', on the other hand, is every bit as beautiful as its title would suggest, for the first two minutes at least, shimmering languidly and recalling Yo La Tengo at their most perfectly poppy before going off on a tangent with a sudden and exhilarating twist of manic energy.

Listeners not au fait with the Japanese language might find it a little more difficult to engage with some of the songs, but the impassioned soundscapes and squalling guitars carry more than enough emotional charge to render this minor concern practically irrelevant. ‘New Years', for example, is one of the album's highlights; a soaring wall of guitars is overtaken towards the end of the song by feedback that sucks in the sounds around it like a black hole, only for the melody to re-emerge even more powerfully. Even if you don't understand what Chikudate is saying, her voice lends meaning to the words with vocals that are sweet but edged with a knowing tone, sometimes reminiscent of The Cardigans' Nina Persson.

Citrus is very much an album for these times. If Asobi Seksu can be lumped in with the footwear fixated crowd, it's only because they're the most forward-looking shoegazers of 2006 - how's that for a paradox? - and certainly not looking to retread the steps of their predecessors. Even if they were, you could guarantee that the shoes on their eight well-turned heels would be oh so terribly chic.

Danny Weddup
originally published March 7th, 2006

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Au Revoir Simone
Verses Of Comfort, Assurance & Salvation ••••
Moshi Moshi

Welcome to the keyboard overload of Erika, Annie and Heather, the three members of Au Revoir Simone. Or to put it another way, alight here for Super Casioworld. Maybe this is the future sound of Brooklyn, but more than likely it's simply the audioscape for their private little world. Named after a tiny book of Biblical prose, this debut mini-album was recorded in a shower stall (converted into a vocal booth with the aid of a few handy quilts) in their manager's basement apartment. Now if that doesn't rack up the intrigue as to what it actually sounds like, maybe nothing will. So if you're still with us, read on...

Lead track 'Backyards Of Our Neighbours' starts with a mere hiss of synth behind the sweetest voice imaginable as it sings about cherry trees and dreams come true. It's the sound of having your cake and eating it, with a cherry on top and lashings of cream. Next up, 'Hurricanes' crackles and pops, while the singer struggles a little to keep up. It employs a 'la la la' chorus (always a surefire hit) before it hops, skips and changes tack completely - the music skitters while the vocalist intones, "this message is for all the people, the people who are always waiting". There's also a charming keyboard interlude, which may sound like an odd thing to say about a synth-based album, but the moment when things get stripped back and become even purer.

At this point, perhaps I should apologise for not picking out who sings what, but all three blend together so well that it's difficult to distinguish between them. Whoever sings on 'Disco Song' makes a very good job of making the tune sound like something by Piney Gir, complimented by some lovely harmonies while the words "and you say" are buffeted from speaker to speaker to quite disorientating effect. 'Where You Go' proves to be a pivotal point. An interesting turn up for the books, it's an icy slab of electro reminiscent of Ladytron, and marks the start of some ambitious moments where Au Revoir Simone break out of their self-imposed shackles. 'Back In Time' is a hushed, hymn-like mantra about not going over old ground, especially in relationships. 'Winter Song' couldn't be more aptly titled, conjuring up images of snowbound scenes as it shuffles along. And 'Sleep Al Mar' is a sensual, Spanish-sounding tune that may well be about Mexican boys if I'm hearing things correctly. The slow synth blues of 'Stay Golden' wraps things up.

Three girls, as many keyboards, a drum machine and hand percussion. Bet you never thought that would work did you? But it does, beautifully.

Russell Barker
originally published March 7th, 2006

I saw the photograph, an image of you
Things have never looked, looked like this
It's never been like this
I'm swimming in gray
I'm just swimming in gray

Let them all walk away, all walk away
So there's no one to blame
They all feel the same
Let them all walk away, all walk away
I'll be left with the shame

You saw the photograph, an image of me
You'll never see me like this
It's never felt like this
I'm swimming in gray
I'm just swimming in gray

Let them all walk away, all walk away
So there's no one to blame
They all feel same
Let them all walk away, all walk away
I'll be left with the shame

Walk on the Moon mp3

http://www.myspace.com/asobiseksu

Depois de comprar o Distortion, comecei a pensar que mais álbuns a sair este ano é que podem ser interessantes. E como penso melhor com uma folha ou algo onde escrever à frente, por algum motivo lá achei que este podia ser um assunto interessante para aqui. Começando...

3º dos My Bloody Valentine

Prometido pelo gordo, que ainda em Dezembro dizia, no seu melhor badocha, que até podia sair ainda em 2007, é um dos regressos mais esperados da música: os MBV desapareceram numa nuvem de fumo, e o culargo anda há mais de 10 anos a dizer que o melhor está para vir. Deve sair pelo Verão, por altura das tours, a não ser que a recusa do Colm O'Ciosoig em alinhar nas tours deixe tudo a perder. Ou dar a telha do perfeccionismo no Shields, e ficar na calha mais uns meses a afinar as faixas, algumas restos pós-Loveless, outras novas. Com uma caixa (de novo) anunciada com o currículo da banda, este pode ser o regresso de uma das poucas bandas que continuará sempre a ser "alternativa".

PS: Deixo de o chamar gordo quando meter o álbum cá fora. E a Box.

7º dos The Jesus and Mary Chain

Apesar da carreira ter sido sempre a descer após o Darklands, os Reids ainda têm um peso e influência enorme na música dita alternativa. Tirando algumas músicas, a maior parte dos álbums pós-Honey's Dead mostram uma banda que quase se tornou uma banda de tributo deles mesmos. Seja como for, o regresso em 2007 teve os seus pontos altos, e entre alguns momentos menos inspirados (a presença no SBSR foi uma amostra disso) conseguiram recuperar alguma da forma que mostravam no início dos anos 90 pelo final da tour.

Não será certamente um regresso às origens, mas será o suficiente para se mostrar porque ainda são uma banda de referência.

3º dos Asobi Seksu

Enquanto os My Bloody Valentine eram apenas uma memória e os regressos apenas um rumor, a banda nova-iorquina composta na base por Yuki Chikudate (voz, teclados) e James Hanna (guitarra) começava a subir a pulso na esteira do Newgaze. O primeiro álbum homónimo prometia, Citrus foi a confirmação de que o lado mais "adocicado" do género está vivo. No entanto, tal como a banda-matriz do género, o terceiro álbum é esperado com expectativas elevadas - Não se podem dar ao luxo de fazer mais do mesmo, mas a única fuga possível é para cima.

3º dos Franz Ferdinand

Muito se tem falado do terceiro álbum da banda escocesa considerada por muitos como a maior da década. Desde o anúncio de sintetizadores, Brian "Xenomania" Higgins como produtor com as declarações de um "pop sujo", Kapranos e companhia já despediram o produtor e assumiram-se como uma banda que afinal não era pop, mas atravessa todo o espectro dela. O interesse em sintetizadores deverá manter-se, resta saber para onde vai o resto do som.

Há 12 anos os Suede re-inventaram-se por necessidade como um grupo pop. Os Franz Ferdinand não têm essa necessidade, mas após um segundo álbum que era justamente reconhecido como uma versão mais polida do primeiro, não deverá existir espaço para um terceiro que já seria "mais do mesmo".

9º dos Primal Scream

De presença marcada em Paredes de Coura, Bobby Gillespie é dos músicos mais imprevisíveis dos últimos 25 anos. Desde as batidas monocórdicas de Psychocandy, o indie pop dos primeiros anos, o delírio acídico de Screamadelica, o desastre Stonesiano de Give Out But Don't Give Up, o regresso à forma com Vanishing Point e a intensidade sónica de XTRMNTR e Evil Heat e nova decepção com o rock tradicional de Riot City Blues, Bobby G nunca soube ficar parado e soube sempre rodear-se dos melhores músicos disponíveis para a banda.

Este regresso vai ser "barulhento" - palavras do próprio. A olhar para a carreira da banda, está visto que é nos ritmos mais dançáveis e barulhentos que a banda mostra tudo que é feita. Caso cumpra a promessa, então será difícil que não esteja aqui um dos discos do ano.

3º dos Amusement Parks on Fire

De projecto de um homem só até à banda de Out Of The Angeles, 2008 pode ser um ano interessante para Michael Feerick. O interesse no shoegaze deverá subir com o regresso dos MBV, e os APOF estão na fila da frente onde antes estavam Ride ou Slowdive. A gravar em Praga depois da idílica (suponho) Álafoss, o material novo vai aparecendo, e apesar de já não apanhar ninguém de surpresa, pode estar aqui um bom álbum para 2008.

2º dos The Sunshine Underground

Enquanto o NME levava os Uhuhuhaaaahxons ao colo, a banda de Leeds mostravam mais que era mais que uma música - depois de abrir para os Happy Mondays (de certa forma, os avôs do movimento dance-punk/nu-rave), a banda começou a estrear alguns dos temas do álbum que iria seguir-se a Raise The Alarm, a mais conhecida das quais será Fall In Line. Tudo indica que não irá ser nada de revolucionário - uma consolidação do talento mostrado no primeiro álbum.

Velocifero - Ladytron

Uma das bandas Electropop mais populares desde que o género voltou a entrar na moda (aliás, se não foram eles os principais responsáveis por isso, ficam perto), uma nova editora, já uma faixa disponibilizada,

2º dos White Rose Movement

Depois da mistura post-punk (whatever that is) com electropop de Kick, os WRM estão a trabalhar no segundo álbum, mas perderam Erica "Taxxi" MacArthur, substituída por Poppy Corby-Tuech. Mais estranho é a falta de uma editora - principalmente após a banda ter acompanhado os Nine Inch Nails por dois dias na Austrália e até ter obtido algum reconhecimento nas restantes tours e pelo primeiro álbum.
A ver pela amostra no MySpace da banda, o som parece ser algo diferente do exibido no primeiro álbum. Seja como for, parece que têm videoclips um pouco melhores - embora pior que os dos singles do primeiro álbum seja difícil. Há que esperar por ver qual vai ser a sorte da banda.

Estreia dos The Pains of Being Pure at Heart ?

Ainda estão na fase dos EPs e singles, mas 2008 pode ser o ano que a banda tem o tão ambicionado contrato discográfico. Já com um bom número de músicas no currículo, começa a ser tempo da banda de twee/indie pop pensar em dar o salto. Talento não falta, resta aproveitar uma oportunidade.

3º dos Keane

Hopes and Fears é excelente, Under The Iron Sea tem os seus momentos. Ambos venderam milhões, para desespero dos antis. Seja como for, um dos problemas que uma banda que ao vivo está limitada a dois instrumentos é que a fórmula esgota-se muito rapidamente, mas eles parecem ser os primeiros com a noção disso. Entre as entradas mais bizarras do site oficial da banda (agora transformado em diário), é possível ver fotos de Tom Chaplin e Tim Rice-Oxley com uma guitarra e com os rumores da entrada de um novo membro na banda, é possível supor que vá existir uma alteração na sonoridade da banda. Resta saber para que sentido.

Anywhere I Lay My Head - Scarlett Johannson

Este será mais uma curiosidade que propriamente um lançamento esperado: uma das novas "meninas bonitas" de Holywood decide lançar um album de covers de Tom Waits, com colaboração de David Bowie. A ver pela amostra em Lost In Translation e com os The Jesus And Mary Chain no Verão passado, não se vai esperar uma grande voz (embora o estúdio tudo consiga), mas vá, não deixa de ser uma curiosidade para 2008. Mas tal como li algures, I'll try not to listen to the album with my cock. O mais natural é ser algo que se ouve uma vez e não se volta.

I don't want to go too far into the details of the events leading up to me breaking my arm. I drank a lot of beer and GT's and just had to climb up on a fence round a construction area. I still can recall what I shouted when I started climbing..
"What the fuck is this doing in the middle of the street, no fucking way, the street is for walking. I'm going over this 2 meter high fence, It has no power over ME, nonono. Take THIS you godamn fence, I'm coming over"

And I jumped down with some sort of cool move I learned from American Ninja 4 or something in that vain.
Arm broken and elbow smashed.

Aaaand.. In case you didn't know, The Twelves make magic, every single remix is pure feet-stompin' MAGICK (sry). Even the Yelle remix is awesomeness, with all that tectonic crap getting popular.

And I realized that music is like trends for some (REALLY!?), It doesn't really make a difference if it looks/sounds like shit, as long as some dickhead says it's the bomb there is always some other guy saying it's enriched from uranium. And beauty is not always in the eye of the beholder, sometimes it's just better to stay on the bus-stop and wait for a better bandwagon or take an old reliable one.

HERE! TAKE IT!! (the song that is)

4,5/5

By Jan

Para começar, o que não encaixa em mais lado nenhum: a banda sonora do A Clockwork Orange, uma amostra da música electrónica no começo dos anos 70 misturada com diversos registos de música clássica da Deutsche Gramphon.

Quem diria que pancadaria da grossa e música clássica iriam combinar tão bem.

Do Britpop e derivados, algumas entradas novas com o Coming Up, o álbum dos Suede que devia ter sido o primeiro a comprar já há bastante tempo, e acabou por ser o último (PS: Brett, fode-te que o A New Morning não é um álbum dos Suede, ok? Ai é? Ok, eu compro, parece que há muita gente desesperada para se livrar dele. Toma toma!), e para a pilha dos DVDs entrou o Blur: The Best Of, oferecido by the much missed Katie, perdida nas longínquas terras do Offline. Sem serem Britpop, vale a pena referir a compra do Do It Yourself, álbum dos Seahorses, a banda de John Squire após ter-se fartado de aturar o Ian Brown nos Stone Roses. No que diz respeito ao mais próximo de Britpop que há agora, finalmente adicionei o Franz Ferdinand à colecção. Já devia estar aqui desde 2004, mas ainda vai a tempo. Fica aqui a Take Me Out, a música que me introduziu aos rapazes de Glasgow:

Talvez a compra menos inspirada, o Echo Dek dos Primal Scream, um álbum de remixes estilo dub do fantástico Vanishing Point, mas que acaba por ser um "mais do mesmo" algo esquecível. Mas fica bem lá no monte.

Para a secção de shoegaze/noise pop/dreampop/twee, muitas entradas novas, a começar pela obra-prima dos Ride, Nowhere, de quem já meti uma música no mês passado, mas volto a meter, só pelo acaso:

[audio=http://www.filefreak.com/pfiles/53230/04%20Polar%20Bear.mp3]

Não menos importante, vindo directamente de Londres graças a uma amiga minha, o EP com o mesmo nome dos The Pains of Being Our At Heart, uma banda indie pop com um futuro brilhante (ou seja, pode ser que 20 pessoas gostem deles), e de quem espero um dia ver um concerto, ou no mínimo, comprar o primeiro LP. Fica aqui Orchard Of My Eye:

[audio=http://www.filefreak.com/pfiles/53230/Pains%20Of%20Being%20Pure%20At%20Heart%20-02-Orchard%20Of%20My%20Eye.mp3]

PS: o avatar do MSN com os coraçõezinhos é da parte de trás do CD. Podem culpá-los a eles, se quiserem. Também aproveitei para adicionar mais uns items à colecção dos Asobi Seksu, nomeadamente três singles: A versão CD do single natalício e cover dos Ramones Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight) e da Thursday, bem como o vinil da Strawberries (cujo plástico apresenta-se num vermelho vivo e a sleeve interior um certo aroma a morango - mas segundo a capa é mesmo assim, não esteve guardado junto a uma caixa de Trident). No entanto, há uma coisa que precisa de ser dita: Se ter a New Years num single metido para aproveitar a altura Natalícia até faz algum sentido (guilty as charged), era escusado também ser o B-Side da Thursday, já que (ainda por cima) é uma faixa do mesmo álbum.

Para encerrar a secção e as compras, aproveitei a promoção que a Jojo's/CDGo está a fazer em todos os materiais da 4AD para trazer para casa o magnífico Treasure dos Cocteau Twins, de onde, entre muitas outras, destaca-se a Lorelei...

... aqui numa versão mais aguda e Jesusandmarychain-y da coisa, e com a Liz Fraser a decidir inventar ainda mais que o costume a partir dos dois minutos. Embora tendo em conta que nunca teve uma letra escrita, "inventar" é uma palavra um bocado forte. E como já andava para comprar este aos anos...

Merece.

Para terminar, o que será porventura uma compra algo estranha:

Revistas. 6 Select. Do meio dos anos 90. I'm so retro I buy old magazines for news. Ou talvez não - existem aqui entrevistas que não se encontram facilmente noutros lado, como esta do Trent Reznor, entre diversas fotos com bastante qualidade. Não será ao gosto de todos, mas para quem quiser estudar como a música Britânica se desenvolveu, é um must.

O [adult swim], pra quem não sabe, é um segmento de desenhos adultos que passa na Cartoon Network, aqui e nos EUA. Tem desenhos sensacionais como Laboratório Submarino 2029, Harvey o Advogado (o Homem-Pássaro praticando advocacia), Mission Hill (meu favorito) e vários outros. Pena que aqui no Brasil eles não renovam os desenhos há dois anos, colocaram num horário absurdo e, como resultado, ninguém mais assiste.

NP: of Montreal - A Sentence Of Sorts In Kongsvinger 

The song is Thursday by Asobi Seksu, and was used in the first episode of the new series of Skins.  I'd never seen Skins until last week but as there was nothing else on TV and I'd heard so much about the programme I thought it was time to give it a go.  It wasn't a bad programme but to me the music was the highlight, and Thursday was the best track on it.  You can see for yourself here:

Apart from this, the songs I can't stop listening to at the moment are:

Ready for the Floor by Hot Chip
Split Lips by Sons and Daughters
Valerie by Mark Ronson
anything by Sigur Ros
and strangely... Letter from America by The Proclaimers

According to Mr Wiki, Shoegazing is a genre of music, getting its name because "the musicians in these bands often maintained a motionless performing style, standing on stage and staring at the floor while playing their instruments; hence, the idea that they were gazing at their shoes. The shoegazing sound featured extensive use of guitar effects, and indistinguishable vocal melodies that blended into the creative noise of the guitars." I couldn't put it better myself.

On Friday I saw two bands more shoegazer than the rest, one Asobi Seksu, the other one Mr Ulrich Schnauss. Mr Schnauss was first up in this double A-side gig, and to be fair, I wasn't impressed... Mr Schnauss has the impression of a man who lived at home with his mother, playing on his apple mac all day trying to find a new type of bleep sound, while his mum makes him cheese and pickle sandwiches (quite a good existence, if you think about it)... the bleeps were good, just on the wrong side of repetition. I ended up going to the toilet twice just to find something to do.

The main act Asobi Seksu then rocked up, and their sound was a hell of a lot louder than what I've heard from their almost ambient, but outstanding albums. Distorted keyboards and guitars filled my ears, which sounded good, but it was just too much for Yuki (their lead singer), who sounded drowned out by the wall of noise they created. I quickly worked out that their best songs were the ones without the effects pedals, where you can hear the beautiful singing voice of Yuki, along with the addictive guitar work, in its true glory... As a result, I only really enjoyed half the set...

However, for me they were both upstaged by the warm up act, the non-shoegaze Canadian indie rock stylings of Land of Talk. The three-piece didn't need all the effect pedal distorition of Asobi Seksu or all the computer bleeps and synths of Henrich What-ever-his-name-was... Their songs were beautiful without all that crap... For me, they sounded like what I've wanted from indie rock from a long time. Their lead singer Lizzie took my breath away, as even though they were a loud band, she never sounded drowned out. This band brought a broad smile on my face, and I suppose this leads to my top tip... If you want to live a happier life, avoid shoegazers live...

Land of Talk - Summer Special

Buy their 10 track debut album, Applause Cheer Boo Hiss, from Rough Trade (£11.99 including postage)

Joe Lean & the Jing Jang Jong may have a ridiculous name, but they've already been tagged as a band on the rise in 2008. No surprise on the evidence of Lonely Buoy (***, 18 Feb), with its Bloc Party pace and Cribs-y guitars. [Although they fairly divide opinion, as Ally shows in his hilarious rant.] With the exception of their last single, Biffy Clyro have been going a bit American of late, and Who's Got a Match? (***, 4 Feb) is another barn-torching Foos-scale rock-out. I'm roughly a decade too old to appreciate angst-laden pop-punk - or emo, as the Daily Mail shrieks. But You're the Designers We're the Deciders (**, 11 Feb) by Southampton's Not Advised is more likeable than should be advised. The market in girl-boy, minimal garage rock has been thoroughly stitched up, but Blood Red Shoes pick at the seams regardless. You Bring Me Down (***, 4 Feb) lacks no raw emotion, and yet still feels strained by its instrumental limitations.

What to write of a song with the Disneyland refrain, "You are all beautiful/ And you are all magical"? Well I can't return the compliment, because Beautiful (*, 4 Feb), by South Africans The Parlotones is just creepy, like the evil cartoon empire. Damn the NME! Because its summation of Letting Go (***, 25 Feb) by Preston band Team Waterpolo as “like Franz's Take Me Out played to the tune of Mamma Mia” is spot-on, and I would have surely said the same if they hadn't beaten me to it. This column praised The Coral's comeback single last year, but their latest '60s whirl Put the Sun Back (**, 11 Feb) is just too lacklustre to shout about. You wait for one bunch of melodic Scousers and two come along at once. Britney's Tears (***, 4 Feb) by The Steeples has exactly the right sound for mainstream indie: breezy, upbeat, endearing – unlike the disastrous pop wench of the title.

Proving that ska never dies (it just hibernates in the winter), The King Blues bring a premature burst of sunshine with Mr Music Man (***, 18 Feb). The live buzz suggests a chaotic, renegade spirit, so it's a shame that this is, at best, reggae-lite. You cool cats might be turned off by Eoghan Colgan's debut single That First Time (***, 4 Feb), given its Lenor-conditioned softness and Coldplay guitar, but the industry is about to gobble this sweet-voiced ex-doctor up and hawk him out in massive pre-packaged globules. Asobi Seksu's Citrus was a standout album of 2007, and with Goodbye (****, 25 Feb), the New Yorkers give us a wee nudge of a reminder - gorgeous, Electrelane-meets-Mary Chain guitar pop. On a first listen to I Could Love You (****, 4 Feb) by former Edinburgh native Alice McLaughlin, aka Alice and the Majesty, the thing that strikes you is her voice: unique, expressive, world-weary. The pared-down alt-folk only adds to her allure - single of the month.

Muchos de los artistas participantes, entre los que se encuentran Feist, Of Montreal, Deerhoof, Muse o Bloc Party, por poner algunos ejemplos, han contribuido con algún tema previamente inédito. En el dvd, además de media docena de vídeos, también se incluye una entrevista con el co-fundador de la Energy Action Coalition, Billy Parish.

Cd 1:

1. The Appletrees - Look Up to the Sky
2. Feist - Hone Honey (BBC Session)
3. Harper Simon - Henrieta
4. Young Love - Underground
5. Muse - Knights of Cydonia (live)
6. The Exit - Hey Man
7. Of Montreal - Feminine Effects
8. Pete Yorn - Old Boy
9. London Souls - Someday
10. Citizens Band - Fortune Teller
11. Violens - Trance Like Turn
12. Bloc Party - The Prayer (Hadouken remix)
13. School of Seven Bells - Trance Figure
14. Deerhoof - +81 (BBC Session)
15. Juliana Hatfield - Back to Freedom
16. Satori - Intimate Revolution

Cd 2 :

1. The Bad Plus - Casa Particular
2. Carina Round - Hookah
3. Asobi Seksu - Strawberries (CSS Remix)
4. Dragons of Zynth - Xerathyn
5. Earl Greyhound - This Tree
6. The Appletrees - Messin Around
7. A Place to Bury Strangers -NeverGoing Down
8. State Radio - Camilo

dvd:

1. The Appletrees - Messin Around
2. Young Love - Underground
3. The Exit - Hey Man
4. Satori - A Clear View
5. Violens - Trance Like Turn
6. Rebecca Schiffman - Penguins and Igloos
7. Interview wirh Billy Parish

Vía: Pitchfork

Asobi Seksu; "And Then He Kissed Me"

Parte 1 (porque esta webcam é uma desgraça e não apanha tudo)

Da direita para a esquerda: Single 7" da re-edição da Love Will Tear Us Apart que por motivos óbvios, ainda não foi ouvida - porque me garantiram que não iam receber o CD-Single... que há umas semanas estava por lá, DVD da NewOrder Story (comprada hoje, a alguém que conheci sexta passada na Louie Louie e me passou uma lista de dvds que estava a vender) que penso que o nome é bem claro do que se trata, mas talvez fale dele noutra ocasião e do New Order 3 16, um DVD com os New Order ao vivo em Nova Iorque (1981, ainda com a banda algo verde) e o de regresso em Reading (1998). DVD que foi abandonado na loja onde dizem que trabalho às vezes. Infelizmente nada tem o concerto de 93, mas que já tive a oportunidade de ouvir graças à Ana. Vamos à foto seguinte...

O Funeral dos Arcade Fire (que após muito martelar, fui en-musado [isto existe?] a gostar deles), e o Neon Bible Deluxe só não está aqui porque fui muito lento. MAS EVENTUALMENTE, vai estar. Mesmo que isso me custe o orçamento de CDs por dois meses. À direita, o Citrus dos Asobi Seksu, devidamente autografado pela Yuki após o concerto no início deste mês. Penso que não preciso de falar de novo na aventura, principalmente a parte de voltar a pé da Boavista até casa. Next photo...

... Discovery dos Daft Punk e o 10.000 Hz Legend dos Air. Ambos vindos de uma Makro algures a sul do Tejo, enviados pelo correspondente do MiP em Lisboa, o Mr. C0rp0rat3 Wh0r3. O que me lembra que ainda não lhe paguei, mas bem vistas as coisas, devo fazê-lo antes de começar o blog dele.

finalmente, três que arranjei 100% à borla. Free All Angels dos Ash (que me eleva a quantidade de cds dos rapazes da Irlanda do Norte para 3, num gasto total de... cinco euros), Supergrass Ltd Edition dos respectivos, que comprei trouxe porque me lembrava de um fantástico total de 3 músicas deles. E fez-me companhia numa das vezes que este PC deu o berro. E não o ouvi desde aí. Acho. Talvez. Não sei. Para terminar, o Pablo Honey dos Radiohead, que trouxe porque assim posso dizer que "até tenho um álbum deles" enquanto digo que 90% da discografia aborrece-me. Mas gosto da Creep. Considerem-se com sorte.

Agora, brevemente na estante, Takk dos Sigúr Rós, Asobi Seksu Live at Echo, Neon Bible Deluxe dos Arcádia Flamejante e o The Holy Bible dos Manics ou o XTRMNTR dos PRML SCRM... perdão, Primal Scream, para não falar do Love And Poison, a biografia oficial dos Suede. Parece-me que Janeiro vai ser um mês jeitoso... tirando para a estante.

Para terminar, vejam o meu ar de felicidade agora que há um ano novo a começar:

[redthreat] Awards '07: Best of the Rest: Singles & Remixes

Despite what the news may have been telling you, '07 has been an exciting year. So much great music to distract you from what other people deem as important. So much so, that this has all been quite the agonizing process. But below I've listed all of the singles and remixes that demand their recognition. This will be the second & last of my year-end summations of greatness.

If you feel that I've missed something important, don't hesitate to comment and set me straight. No worries. I left some tracks out because of the best albums post- obviously the list would be different had I not taken that into account. Also, there are always different songs for different times, and you also may notice that most of these tracks are electronic & that most of the songs are reposts. That is because I post what I like, not what people tell me to post. Call me crazy, that's just what I do.

01. Good Books - Leni (Crystal Castles Remix)

02. Does It Offend You, Yeah? - We Are Rockstars

03. The Black Ghosts - Any Way You Choose...(The Whip Remix)

04. The Futureheads - Hounds of Love (Phones Remix)

05. Walter Meego - Wanna Be A Star (Walter Sees Stars Remix)

06. Tepr - Minuit Jacuzzi (datA Remix)

07. Daft Punk - Around The World (Villain's More Cowbell DJ Edit)

08. Danger - 11H30 (DatA Remix)

09. Health - Crimewave (Crystal Castles Remix)

10. Cazals - To Cut A Long Story Short (autoKratz 80s Heartthrob Mix)

11. Midlake - Roscoe (Beyond The Wizards Sleeve Remix)

12. The Shins - Sleeping Lessons (RAC Mix)

13. Klaxons - It's Not Over Yet (Blende Remix)

14. The Teenagers - Homecoming (Gentlemen Drivers Rave Remix)

15. Shitdisco - Ok (Yuksek Remix)

17. Shinichi Osawa - Star Guitar

18. Bonde Do Role - Solta O Frango(Bitchee Bitchee Ya Ya Ya Remix)

19. Fergie - Glamorous (Treasure Fingers Remix)

20. Villains - Thrilla

21. Cassidy - Drink & My 2-Step (Cousin Cole Remix)

22. Big Face - I Wanna Be A Style Crusader (DatA Remix)

23. Asobi Seksu - Thursday (The Twelves Remix)

24. Telepopmusik - Breathe (Ultra Tiger Remix)

25. Timbaland - Miscommunication (The Bloody Beetroots Remix)

26. Snowden - Anti-Anti (Treasure Fingers Remix)

27. Mr. Oizo - Patrick 122

28. Klaxons - Gravity's Rainbow (Kavinsky Remix)

29. Dragonette - I Get Around (Van She Vocal Mix)

30. Photek - Love and War (LA Riots Mix)

31. Yelle - A Cause Des Garcons (TEPR Remix)

32. Plimsouls - Rebecca (Re-Edit)

33. Eskimo Joe - London Bombs (Sneaky Sound System)

LALALALALA

Acordei de manhã com uma musiquinha irritante de Natal, daquelas que ouvimos todos os anos e desejamos que o Natal acabe depressa, porque não há paciência para tanta musiquinha da treta...

E pensei:

Mas não haverá uma musiquinha catita de Natal?!

Lancei-me à pesquisa assim que tive oportunidade e voilá!

[audio http://dukeofstraw.com/wild/1-23.mp3]

“Merry Christmas, I don’t want to fight tonight - The Ramones (1989)

Doravante também designada de " A minha musiquinha catita de Natal"...

Adenda:

Alguns minutos depois da publicação deste post descobri uma versão também ela muito catita.

ora vejam lá!

[audio http://www.asobiseksu.com/mp3/merry_xmas.mp3]

Asobi Seksu

Recentemente estiveram por cá, na Casa da Música no Porto e quem viu diz: "Still, I Regret Nothing"...