Dazed’s puts together Lo-Fi playlist

To honour the growing trend towards lo-fi music, Dazed has put together an excellent little playlist, with many current bands including Trailer Trash Tracys, Grouper, Let’s Wrestle and genre daddy Lou Barlow contributing exclusive material. I’m never too sure why I like lo-fi - it seems akin to skinny jeans, walking to work or La Roux, where coolness doesn’t exactly bring pleasure – but there’s plenty to like here, even if the scratchy, raw sound can get a bit much. The Barlow song is a mellow pleasure, in particular, while Times New Viking’s number ends in an organ sound that reminds of DJ Shadow.

Listen to the Lo-Fi Revisited playlist here.

MP3: Lou Barlow – Gravitate (zSHARE)
MP3: The Almighty Defenders – Bow Down And Die (zSHARE)
MP3: Trailer Trash Tracys – Candy Girl (zSHARE)

London music: A Mountain Of One

A Mountain of One’s music crosses so many genres it’s pointless trying to define it.  But as with all enigmas, they entrance and entice…

So much so that I’ll have a stab at describing two of their songs, anyway.  Lie Awake sounds very Pink Floyd-ish, with lavish orchestral backings and slightly distant, chanty vocals, before a sexy saxophone solo at the end brings to mind Ibiza chill-out or Nescafe adverts. In the middle there’s some fluttering electronica, apocalyptic guitar solos a la Gary Moore and mellow, escapist lyrics.   As for Bones, it’s much more slender, with a part-soul, part-experimental feel. Electronic ripples and macho string work again make cameos, with the overall frazzled feel beautifully described by Rough Trade: “like JJ Cale wandering around Glastonbury at 5am”. 

The work of London lads Mo Morris and Zeben Jameson, these are songs for quiet moments: lying in a park at night staring at the stars; a quiet holiday villa in an undiscovered European paradise; long train rides through pretty countryside, in empty carriages where you dare to put your feet on the seat.  For someone like me, who adores walking through London’s many villages and vistas with an iPod in tow, it’s the perfect trainer-tapping fuel.

Live date:
Sat 7 November – Scala, King’s Cross (tickets here)

A Mountain of One on MySpace (a seriously annoying page)

MP3: A Mountain of One – Bones (zSHARE)

Exciting new stuff – incl. Kid Cudi, MGMT & Ratatat tie-up & first Julian Casablancas solo song

Several very exciting songs have surfaced in the last few days – here’s a rave run-through from a frothing London blogger:

Kid Cudi – Pursuit of Happiness (Feat. Ratatat & MGMT)
My chum Adrian and I were discussing in a rare quiet moment at Bestival a few weeks back that it’s hard to see where hip hop can go; it seemed to us a genre that had strict limitations.  Perhaps this is the answer though.  Never afraid to surf styles and sounds – see his Little Boots collaboration at SXSW  – upcoming star Kid Cudi has recorded a song with the daddies of our electro pop revolution, MGMT, and also the Ratatat duo (pictured below with Cudi), who remix this. 

The result is an engaging and ultimately uplifting five-minute flux through various moods.  I like this particularly as it seems to my uneducated ears that (unlike so many an unexpected link-up) no-one has compromised their style.  Cudi gets to MC smooth rap lines with characteristic swagger and lyrical straightforwardness; MGMT drop a cheery, singalong chorus laced, and a synth-tastic guitar section midway through; and Ratatat begins with big, undulating digital hoops and brings proceedings to a close via a distorted fade-out.

MP3: Kid Cudi – Pursuit of Happiness (Feat. MGMT & Ratatat) (zSHARE)

Devendra Banhart – Baby
Known for his quirky folk, often beautiful and always alluring, Devendra’s latest marks a step in a different, chirpier destination.  He even mentions “choo choo trains”!  Baby is far from rock’n'roll, but it’s faster and less frank than songs like Heard Somebody Say, if less satisfying in the long run.  The first track from new EP, What Will We Be, it has backing singers “ooh-ooh-oohing”, a kicking bass imprint and a glossily romantic sentimentality.  Banhart has always looked like a happy hippie, and now he’s finally sounding like one!  I suspect some devoted fans will be a bit put out, but I rather like this, if only because it’s nice to hear the bearded one lighten up a bit.

For a more , much more expert consideration of whether Baby “represents the watering down of a musician ditching his independent (or if it’s) illustrative of an artist continuing to broaden his horizons”, check the One Track Mind blog here.

MP3: Devendra Banhart – Baby (zSHARE)

Julian Casablancas – 11th Dimension
I mentioned a while ago that Strokes lead singer Julian was recording solo material, and here’s the first dribble from that.  If you’re expecting a Strokes-lite sound, think again if this is anything to go by.  Anchored around humorously-used 80s bounce-pop (think Phil Collins at his cheesiest) beats, this is fast, frantic and rather fabulous in a camp way.  There are high-pitch squeals, whirring motor-like vrooms, organ samples and a sudden cut-off ending, and that’s just the electro effects.  Casablancas’ vocals are slightly softer than in his Strokes mode but just as passionate; the mentality is, if anything, perkier still.  Passing by in a furious, blurry flash, this is an expected pop pleasure.

The album, Phrazes For The Young, comes out on 19 October.  You’ll be able to order it on Julian’s website here.  That’s the confirmed cover above.

MP3: Julian Casablancas – 11th Dimension (zSHARE)

The XX vs. Don’t Wait Animate – Fantasy
I blabbered excitedly about this one a while ago too, so no need for details.  Suffice to say it’s now available… and here it is:

MP3: The XX vs. Don’t Wait Animate – Fantasy (zSHARE)

Vouguk!

Once again this blog’s been schtum and once more it’s due to that enchantress in Paris.  For anyone interested, she continues to make my heart pound and purr in equal, blissful measure.  But she is definitely to blame for this blog’s stop-start updating, and I’m happy to provide her email address for any readers wanting to complain to her directly…

Back to the music though – on a related link, here’s a song from my present, but perhaps my past, too, and then a real slice of joy from Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes - just you try not to smile and sing along…:

MP3: Sunset Rubdown – Idiot Heart (zSHARE)
MP3: Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes – Home (zSHARE) (buy the album Up From Below here)

Starfucker changing names – suggestions needed!

Portland eclectro-pop band Starfucker have decided to change their name – and want fans to help find a replacement.  Details of how you can make suggestions below, but first the rationale (as told to the Portland Mercury):

“We’re changing our name because it just doesn’t make sense anymore. We never thought Starfucker would make it as far as it has, and never had any expectations of success. At this point we need to be able to either put more into music, or just stop doing it so we can get 9-5 jobs to pay our rent.  Right now we’re in this bardo where we don’t quite make a living off music but we put so much energy into it that we can’t put any time into a real job either.  We just need to get serious about one or the other.  The name has been a problem for us in a lot of ways.  We’ve missed out on opening slots with bands we really like, and we hope to tour europe soon where there is already a Starfucker.  Someone booked us once thinking we were the European Starfucker. The list goes on and on…”

Hmm – not sure about you, but that doesn’t exactly clear it up for me.  An earlier MySpace bulletin is more succinct: “we know our name sucks”. 

I like Starfucker because they seem to already offer plenty of variety: the radio-friendly refrains and infectious choruses of Passion Pit, some shrieky beats a la Miike Snow, bedlam-fast rhythms more reminiscent of Late of the Pier and gentle humdingers that remind me weirdly of Interpol and, weirder still, The Shins.

To suggest a good name, email: newnameideas@gmail.com.  Good luck!

Starfucker on MySpace

MP3: Starfucker – Pop Song (zSHARE)

Holly Throsby – down under the radar

Dalston’s Cafe Oto is always a great place to catch some under-the-radar musical talent - and that’s definitely true of this Tuesday, when Holly Throsby is playing.

She comes blessed with a voice as delicate as fine porcelain and sheer as the glass in champagne flutes.  The backdrop is either percussion or stringed and perhaps winged instruments, but the more prominent element each time is a real sense of silence, of space and fairytale simplicity.  There are echoes of Joanna Newsom, but Holly’s music is more serene and graceful.   It’s music for red wine, cushions and winter nights; for break-ups and introspection.

Holly hails from Sydney, and has released three full length albums since 2004.  She’s garnered acclaim and awards down under, but the success has never been replicated overseas, despite her touring with the likes of Newsom, Devendra Banhart , Mark Kozelek (he of Red House Painters and Sun Kil Moon).  It’s probably due to the sheer abundance of songstresses around, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t well worth checking out.  She is.

Live date:
Tues 22 September – Cafe Oto, Dalston (details and tickets here)

Holly Throsby on MySpace

MP3: Holly Throsby - A Heart Divided (zSHARE)
MP3: Holly Throsby – On Longing (zSHARE)

London Live Dates – Hope Sandoval, The xx, Lightning Dust and more…

A further batch of upcoming London live dates worth investigating, in date order with the soonest first:

Treetop Flyers
A West London folk act who sound like Mumford & Sons only with less clamour and chaos, this fivepiece can be relied on for gentle guitar strums, softly-howling vocals thick as woodsmoke and lyrics about roses, trees, dogs and other such honest things.  NME called them a 2009 Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, but I think they’re a bit less experimental and a tad darker than that, especially on standout track Mountain Song, more epic than the rest.
Tues 29 September – The Lexington, King’s Cross (EP launch) (tickets here)
Sun 4 October – The Albion, Hammersmith
Tues 17 November – The Slaughtered Lamb, Clerkenwell
Treetop Flyers on MySpace
MP3: Treetop Flyers – Mountain Song (zSHARE)

Gyratory System
If you’re really into your electro/techno, but a bit bored of the endless dance-club centred pap out there, here’s something for you.  Gyratory System make weird and wonderful tunes, like something out of a David Lynch soundtrack or the worst kind of comedown.  On Utility Music, an army of samples march along determinedly to a daisycutter beat, while Herald layers remote vocals over feverish string rips and Party Unlimited (along with others) has run around a horn solo.  This is angular, awkward and (in the right, healthy, mood) thrilling electronica
Thurs 8 October - The Lexington, King’s Cross (supporting Billy Mahonie) (details here)
Gyratory System on MySpace
MP3: GyratorySystem – Utility Music (zSHARE)

Kings Of Convenience
Shut the curtains, curl up under a duvet with a mug of hot brew, turn the lights down low, think of lost lovers and pretend Monday’s not just a few hours away… That’s approximately the ideal situation for listening to Kings of Convenience’s graceful, tranquil sound.  Full of wispy riffs, elegant string sections and velvety verses, this Norwegian duo’s sound is best described by themselves on their MySpace, as ”music your parents like too”.  Folk for your folks?  Hmm.  Anyway, KOC’s Barbican show in October has long sold-out, but an additional after-party has just been announced…
Weds 14 October – Hoxton Bar & Kitchen (afterparty)
Kings Of Convenience on MySpace
MP3: Kings Of Convenience – I Don’t Know What I Can Save You (zSHARE)

AA Bondy
Awwwl this here’s real country: swirling guitars, harmonicas ho-downs and mention of girls called Delia, Doris and Delilah. Okay, so I exaggerate slightly, but you get the picture.  Once in Verbena as Scott Bondy, AA is now onto his second solo album and making concise, solid guitar songs with pretty, often nature-focused lyrics and more than a hint of Creedance Clearwater Project and other former America troopers. Note the obsession with death, too: the moodier ‘Killed Myself When I Was Young’ being particularly glum.
Weds 21 October – The Social, Fitzrovia (details here)
Thurs 22 October – Shepherds Bush Empire (supporting the equally country-tastic Felice Brothers) (tickets here)
AA Bondy on MySpace
MP3: AA Bondy – When The Devil’s Loose (zSHARE)

The xx
What to say about The xx that hasn’t been said before?  Not that they produce gloomy fairytale, stealthy pop drenched in meekness and melancholy.  Neither that they’re a XX from XXX.  Nope, but in fact this somewhat underwhelming story of how their name came about, c/o girl singer Romy Madley Croft and the BBC: “Me and Oliver (other singer) were sitting typing on Word. And I was like ‘I like X’s, I really like X’s’. I just thought it was aesthetically pleasing. X is a really nice symbol.  People always laugh at me picking out X’s in like shadows and train bridges.”  So now you know.
Weds 28 October – Village Underground (tickets here)
The xx on MySpace
MP3: The xx – VCR (zSHARE)

Grouper
Grouper = Liz Harris, whom Ticketweb succinctly described as an “electro-acoustic ambient/noise musician”.  Who knows what that means; suffice to say though that as Grouper, Harris produced slow, slumberous songs, the vocals only an indistinct, distant part of the overall soundscape.  Having toured with Animal Collective and had best song Heavy Water/I’d Rather Be Sleeping featured on Skins. Harris’ star looks to definitely be on the rise.
Tues 3 November – St Giles in the Fields, Holborn
Thurs 5 November - The Luminaire, Kilburn (details and tickets here)
Grouper on MySpace
MP3: Grouper – Heavy Water/I’d Rather Be Sleeping (zSHARE)

Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions
Hope Sandoval is as annoying a MySpace friend as she is fabulous a singer.  On the social media site, she sends out approximately 944 bulletins about the same tour, and generally overdoes it; on record, she produces bewitching, tingle-tastic purrs as her band trundles on in the background.  These are small-town smoulderers, swooning along with a real air of danger and dreams.  Look into my crystal ball and I see a jazz-lounge feel: an ethereal affair in n appropriately dim chamber.  Let’s Hope so (ahaha)…
Sun 8 November – Queen Elizabeth Hall, South Bank Centre, Waterloo (tickets here)
Hope Sandoval & The Warm Intentions on Myspace
MP3: Hope Sandoval & The Warm Intentions – Blanchard (zSHARE)

Lightning Dust
Side project bands have never been cooler, and here’s one of the worthier examples: Amber Webber and Joshua Well’s music is more spartan, spooky and much mellower than the rock sound of their parent group, Black Mountain.  Songs like Never Seen and Listened On make me think of mornings when no-one else is up, and the sunrise is yours alone; the ominous organ chimes, echoey vocals and slow-build structure perfect for a little sleepy poetry or contemplation.  When they end, you wonder if they were ever there at all.  
Mon 30 November - Bush Hall, Queen’s Park (tickets here)
Lightning Dust on MySpace
MP3: Lightning Dust – Never Seen (zSHARE)

The Big Pink – go to the album launch tonight

The Big Pink are launching their album tonight in the fun and new-ish Charlotte St Blues Bar.    I’ve not sure if they’ll be playing, but you’ll at least get to be among the first to hear tracks from the record.  They’re a band I’ve previously hyped, and one that’s now getting pretty regular rave reviews in the mainstream press.

For your chance to attend, you need to RSVP to thebigpinkparty@gmail.com.

Live date:
Thurs 22 October – Electric Ballroom, Camden (tickets here)

The Big Pink on MySpace
The Big Pink’s website

MP3: The Big Pink – Tooyoungtolove (zSHARE)

Buy A Brief History of Love here (Rough Trade).  For more info about the album, head to 4AD.com.

Bestival review and best bands

Wow – it’s been ages since I wrote anything vaguely resembling a blog.  Apologies if you’ve been getting withdrawal symptoms and needlessly phoning the police… I’m back now, and ready to resume normal Some Of It Was True! service.

The reason for the sustained silence is simple: Bestival – including a lunatic, super-hurried build-up, and a slow, pained comedown, and return to drab office life.

How was the festival?  Pretty good on the whole, thank you.  Here’s a chart of the brilliant and the bad:

Good:
1. The fancy dress at Bestival is famous, but rightly so: it was incredible – a circus of colour, the most eclectic funfair.  In keeping with this year’s space theme, I saw entire armies of walking confectionery (Mars, Galaxy, Starburst, etc), a trio of Tony Harrisons (“This is an outrage”) and, easily best of all, a man dressed as a massive yellow alien, with 12-foot conveyor belt arms, and a flashing roadworks light on his head.
2. People’s kindness – without doubt this was the nicest festival I’ve attended.  If someone bumpd into you during an energetic dance, you got an apology.  If you lost your phone, it was returned.  If you asked someone for help, you got it, unreservedly and enthusiastically.  It’s how it should be.
3. The weather – more or less stunning sun, and perfecterly-blue-skies the whole way through.  And then rain from hell on Monday, when we’d all left.  Fabulous work, weather gods, and the polar opposite of 2008′s monsoon hell.
4. The creativity.  Away from the stages and tents, all sorts of wonderments awaited.  A toboggan run.  A huge wicker snail.  A rocket sending fireballs off to space.  The world’s tallest sculpture, a huge tree in the woods.  An insect circus.  Christmas dinners and high teas.  On and on it went, and I doubt I saw the half of it.
5. The Solace: a Christian-run cafe that provided free teas of 30+ varieties (including their own, delectable Spicy Chai) and free cakes, in a cosy, cushioned setting scored with happy chatter, contented snoozes and peaceful lounge music or spoken word.  In the midst of standard festival fleecing (£6 for sausage and mash?), this shone out like a beacon of goodness.  They wouldn’t accept payment, but the kindness inspired me to other, later acts of charity and other stabs at goodness.  Admiration isn’t close to a strong-enough word.

Bad
1. The main stage.  Moved to combat the floods and strife of last year, this is now located on a hill that slants from left to right as you watch bands, meaning you lose your balance if you even attempt a shuffle.  An additional problem is the height – it’s miles up in the air, meaning bands seem oddly distant.  But worst was the sound – it fluctuated in volume and clarity like a slowly-dying earphone.
2. The musical variety.  I know, it’s a dance festival.  It’s Rob da Bank’s festival.  And there was a little folk, rock, whatever, in some piffling outer tents.  But really, post-live music, the only options for partying into the night was loud, throbbing fast-pacery electro everywhere you directed your ears, and a likely need for chemical enhancement.  I went to, and loved Exit, so I’ve no problem with dance, but it is nice to have alternatives
3. Fooking this, fooking that.  An overwhelming majority of the audience seemed to be sheltered middle-class kids who said the fabled F word about five times a sentence, with ribald rebellion.  It grew to be a bit wearying, and plain depressing.
4. The journey.  By public transport it involves a train, a ferry, a bus and a long, hilly walk (uphill on the way out), with an additional bus if you go via Southampton.  Unless you’re exceedingly early or preposterously late, most stages come blessed with massive queues, too.  Thursdays and Mondays are never meant to be the fun festival days, but they’re rarely this depressing.
5. I’m struggling here… er… the coloured sections of the campsites could have been labelled more, er, clearly???

Overall it was great though, and I’d recommend it.  As for bands, I saw plenty of good stuff, but for me these were the three stand-out performances:

Passion Pit
I saw the Boston quartet much earlier this year at Koko, so was prepared for the incredible ability of singer Michael Angelakos to constantly produce falsetto screeches.  And I knew very well the addictiveness of their disco-tastic electro pop in the live surround.  But what was different was Passion Pit’s confidence: once geeky and awkward, they’re now seasoned pros ripping it up.  No complaints at all.

Klaxons
I was no Klaxons fan going in, and still can’t tell the old classics from the record company-rejected newbies, aside from anthems like Golden Skans.  Yet, hell, I enjoyed myself: every song was a rip-roarer, a bouncing brute of energy, big beats and thrashing guitars, and yet I didn’t feel remotely tired or bored.  The sun set and the air chilled, but the Klaxons thrilled – and the next album, whenever it finally does arrive, ought to be quite something.

Efterklang
Along with the two aforementioned acts, Efterklang seemed simply delighted to be playing, to be a band making and playing music.  Faced with the first slot in a silent, sleepy dance tent unlikely to be aware of their slow-fi alt pop (complete with occasional, rousing set-pieces), they played and thanked and played, and eventually everyone was standing, smiling and clapping in fanfare.  For me, this was the precise start of the festival, and set the tone beautifully.

Passion Pit on MySpace
Klaxons on MySpace
Efterklang on MySpace

Bestival website

MP3: Passion Pit – To Kingdom Come (zSHARE)
MP3: Efterklang – Step Aside (zSHARE)

frYars – simple but not superb?

frYars (the Y a tribute to KanYe) is one of those acts long talked-up in blogland and the trendier musical hills (witness The Guardian gushing as far back as November 2007), but apparently unable to make the consequent swathes in the world of the masses.  But recently there’s been a suggestion of the long-anticipated arrival, with increased media coverage and influential name-dropping.  Perhaps that’s due to the debut album finally arriving.

I find it a tad difficult to get excited based on the MP3s released so far, as the album samples available on the MySpace page.  A one-man synth-centred popster named Ben Garrett, frYars makes rather precise melodies that remind instantly of Esser and Frankmusik, but with less mischief.  What’s offputting is his vocal style: he speaks rather than sings, and nearly always at that in so low and booooming a baritone… He reminds of Dave Gahan (who has, perhaps uncoincedentally, performed with frYars) on Depeche Mode numbers like Enjoy The Silence, sounding almost a bit fey, a bit like a pisstake…

The problem with this lack of proper singing is that it means the songs are nigh on impossible to chant along with.  That said, what frYars does do well is intoxicating electronic beats (again like Depeche Mode) - sometimes swirly and chintzy, sometimes thick and unrepentant and very 80s, his fast-paced electro is always likeable.  This is instant-gratification in a good, simple way. 

Simple – but not superb?

Live dates:
Mon 21 September – Rough Trade East, Shoreditch
Thurs 24 September – Pure Groove Records, Farringdon

frYars on MySpace

MP3: frYars – Olive Eyes (zSHARE)
MP3: frYars – Visitors (Feat. Dave Gahan) (zSHARE)