Do you have some memories you keep locked in a box in your brain, only dwelling on them in soft, damp-eyed moments of vulnerability?  The music of Smoke Fairies - aka the London duo of Jessica Davies and Katherine Blamire – is imbued with that same spirituality and raw intensity: theirs are aching, beautiful tunes that threaten to explode like fireworks such is the passion in them.  The genre is a sort of gospel, folky blues, best listened to in a dimly-lit chamber rich with incense and red wine.  Celtic influences add to the atmosphere, and the music gradually becomes a swirling river to float away on, a hypnotic dream the colour of seaweed or dewy grass.

Smoke Fairies are playing the Camden Crawl this year if you fancy checking them out live, and reckon you can keep it all together…

MySpace | Website | Buy
MP3: Smoke Fairies – Now The Green Blade Rises

Manchester fourpiece The Heartbreaks are playing a couple of London shows as March turns to April, giving SOIWT all the excuse to need to flag them up.  They play atmospheric, pretty rock-pop songs that encourage eye-closing and giddy feelings.  Each one’s fast, but never overly intense or complicated; the most notable touch is Matthew’s expressive vocals, capable of both flinty chattiness and broad chorus sweeps.  Quirky hooks here and there add to the mix, and there’s a general euphoria and singalonability (dictionary it, Collins) that’s mightily appealing and a little bit classic.

Those aforementioned gigs are an in-store at Pure Groove on Weds 31 March, promoting single Liar, My Dear (video above) and a headline show at Barfly on Fri 2 April (tickets).

MySpace | Buy

You know that interlude between being asleep and waking up?  If an alarm clock has its way this fuzzy period lasts only a few seconds, but otherwise it can stretch for minutes – a bleary, confused and cosy episode where you try and cling to your dreams.  And here’s the perfect soundtrack for those slow mornings: Victoria & Jacob’s blissful chill-out pop, combining electronic ripples and synthetic samples with earnest female vocals and a general bubble-bath atmosphere that makes everything a little easier.  First Aid Kit, Imogen Heap, Lykke Li and Joanna Newsom are  all echoed, but Victoria & Jacob went down an altogether trippier rabbit hole.

The London duo’s single With Certainty is due on 5 April via Voga Parochia - and the B-side is available below.  Forthcoming gigs include The Flowerpot on Weds 17 March, There Goes The Fear’s Blog Off night (more on this soon) at Roundhouse on Sat 20 March and a Pure Groove lunchtime in-store on Tues 6 April.  Also worth checking out an interview on The Devil Has The Best Tuna – find out how Victoria’s previous singing style got her compared to Kate Nash. (Disclaimer: SOIWT like, totally hates Kate Nash)

MySpace | Website | Buy
MP3: Victoria & Jacob – There’s A War

When you look at it from afar, life’s a blurry series of disparate moments, random paces, ups and downs, drama after drama, with the occasional moment of peace, of blessed content.  The Do or Dies‘ Maps & Plans is much like that: it’s various sections eventually leading to a blissful, dreamy crest, but they only last so long.  Other songs by this emerging London quartet are just as enticing: Blast’s a ferris wheel of a tune, its rapid-fire vocals culminating in soaring highs, while Fools feels like a honeyed tragedy, like that sensation of crying at sad scenes in a film but having a good time doing it.  In fact, on record at least, every Do or Dies track has the same slightly euphoric, saturated quality: one that encourages to you to close your eyes, sway your head and…

The above suggests that, live, they’re a lot rowdier.  You can find out tomorrow night - The Do or Dies are once again playing Water Rats in support of Pickpockets & Skyrockets, with tickets here.

MySpace | Website

What is it with beguiling, surname-less women and besotted upcoming London bands?  First Al Cool & The Stranger Wines perved on lost love Celine, and now here’s Yuck (with members from Hiroshima and New Jersey as well as London) trying to empathise with a lady called Georgia.  They do so via a slice of bouncy punk that’s like a giddy wave of euphoria you know is only temporary, like a sneeze that you just can’t suppress, like a skip down a street.  The guitar sections are slightly 1990s rock (think Mr. Big) and the structure simple, but there’s a pleasingly blurry aspect, and some nicely distorted and slightly nostalgic boy-girl vocals.   A tour with Japandroids will apparently follow in May.

Thanks to Platform for alerting SOIWT to this – via its excellent new Jookbox music-blog round-up.

MySpace | Blog | Buy (from 15 March on Transparent)
MP3: Yuck – Georgia

While desperately sad at the imminent closure of BBC 6 Music (everyone seems to be handling BBC Asian’s demise much better) – and the absence of a Sunday night spent listening to weird and wonderful Mexican flute rock or Japanese tango, of a radio station daring enough to play daring new music, and of non-cringeworthy live sets –  SOIWT is a little over email petitions collecting signatures.

Praise be for Proud, then.  The Camden stables venue has organised an impromptu ‘Save 6 Music’ night tomorrow (Wednesday), with live performances from the excellent Kitty, Daisy & Lewis and hip hopper Master Shortie.  The bad news is that Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong will be there, but happily they’ll only be DJing, not making noxious racket as normal.  The Maccabees, The Holloways and Ali Love will also take up deck duties, with more acts apparently to be announced.  Rather than get names on paper, the evening pledges to raise awareness about the plight of “the most iconic radio station of our time”.  You might argue that anyone who’d heard about the event would surely already be aware by default, but they probably mean in the bigger sense…

The Save 6 Music Facebook group has above 150,000 members now; it’s being run by modern culture’s cheerleaders-in-chief, Jon and Tracy Morter – they of last Christmas’ campaign to get Rage Against The Machine in the No. 1 spot.  Mr Morter is clearly letting the fame get to him, though, as he’s also among tomorrow’s disk-jockeys.  Meanwhile, poor Auntie’s received around 8,000 letters of outrage.  People power is so clearly hip right now, but will Mark Thompson give a Beeb?  Let’s hope so.

Proud says tickets will go fast, which probably means they won’t.  But it’s worth booking now just in case.  Try here.  They total £5.50 and all profit goes to Shelter, the heroic homeless charity.

Y’see, once upon a time Lovebox was a Victoria Park festival one relied on for chart-friendly dance music (Mylo), middling indie bands whose better days had long passed (Super Furry Animals), and ageing soul legends with just one, achingly annoying hit-song (Candi Staton).   While the musicians were present were generally good – not least founders and every-yearers Groove Armada – none were especially controversial or, well, interesting. 

And the crowd?  Like, please.  This was the London festival when everyone got to pretend they were down with the East London kids: cue an invasion of “Vicky Park” by the sandals-and-sunnies brigade, glass of wine in hand, handbag on arm, and Sunday Times being obediently lugged by t-shirted boyf.  These were the ominous portents of Shoreditch’s subsequent westernisation, a troop of boutiquey bores who heralded the boom in bottled ciders and exulted in a weekend ’festival’ where you didn’t have to camp, or anything unnatural like that. 

But last year, the times, as Bob Dylan sort of said, were a-changing.  The line-up assumed an air of daring: N.E.R.D., Diplo, Gang of Four, Noah & The Whale (hardly barnstorming danceness), Nextmen, Fenech Soler… Even Florence & The Machine was vaguely unknown when the names were first broadcast, if you can remember those empty pre-Flo days.  Holy Smoky Robinson and the Bandits said Batman lovers to each other, this is almost exciting. 

And what of this year?  Well, the line-up’s just out and guess what?  It’s more o’ the same.  Ok, so there’s Grace Jones and Mark Ronson, but shuffle past that and the bill’s eclecticism positively leaps out and ruffles your side parting: Chromeo, Crookers, Ellie Goulding, Empire of the Sun, Hurts, Joy Orbison and Wild Beasts, to name a few.  None of these are as unlikely as, say, Afrikan Boy, would be, but still there is a notably cool, undiscovered kinda vibe going on, one more in keeping with the traditional East London ethos.  (SOIWT also applauds the appearance of the coolest ‘old band’ around, Roxy Music, pretty much guaranteeing a rendition of Shameless, the new Groove Armada track featuring Bryan Ferry.)

So did Lovebox get cool?  Maybe not quite yet – but definitely cooler.  It’s trendier, too – these days its hepcats feature in the pages of Vogue, bedecked in a charity shop, ethnic-style garb with a firm boho vibe.  It’ll never be a down-and-dirty do without the overnight element, but there’s a more than a little untidiness to be found at today’s Lovebox.  And untidiness is good.

Tickets here if you’re not too daunted.

MP3: Groove Armada – Shameless (Feat. Bryan Ferry)

Weird Tapes – The Walking Dead
A old song from when Dayve Hawke – a man who is to SOIWT’s ear what SOIWT’s girlfriend is to SOIWT’s… heart – called himself Weird Tapes rather than Memory Tapes.  As Weird Tapes, Hawke was a little more techno-based: this number has diluted lyrics, distant peels and sorrowful loops.  The main and most memorable sound is a startling simple do-do-dododo refrain that chills and thrills in equal, pulsating measure.  You never want it to end, making the purposefully abrupt ending especially unjust.

Morningbell – Stay In The Garden
Rich in smokey jazz tones and Deep South-style woodwind, this song sees Morningbell depart their usual rock territory for a land altogether more exotic and mysterious.  Instruments positively flirt with each other here, as Travis purrs biblical lyrics into the mike, strings are pregnantly plucked and time drifts by with all the urgency of a hot summer’s evening.  One of the sexiest songs you’ll hear all year.

U.S. Girls – Turnaround Time
Mondays, eh?  So pfftttt.  SOIWT’s thoughts on this dreadful day typically go a little like this: “ummmm, so that seemed like a fun weekend.  But how did I get from Manor House to Bow?  Who was that guy in the police helmet?  And where did I leave my scarf?”  Megan Remy, Philly’s U.S. Girls, can’t help answer those questions, but she can provide an apt soundtrack to your distorted, already-halcyon memories via this slice of dank and choppy lo-fi pop, full of beeps and confusion.  Think The Big Pink but female and ten times slurrier.

Four Tet – Angel Echoes
Here are five incredibly soft things: 1. Lamb’s Ear (that really strokable plant with grey hair).  2. Grizzly bears – not that SOIWT! has ever touched one, but, like, d’oh. 3. New towels.  4. Diane Kruger’sKruger’s skin in that L’Oreal advert on telly at the mo*.  5. Four Tet’s new song, Angel Echoes.  Hypnotic and haunting, this latest tune from Londoner Kieran Hebden’s current album is the sonic equivalent of a empty, musty church in early morning sunlight and shadows.  It lasts four minutes but feels like 94, such is the snoozy goodness on offer.
*L’Oreal has not paid this blog for the dream-like endorsement above, although a few free samples would no doubt be appreciated by Mrs SOIWT if L’Oreal felt obliged to repay this good turn. 

Erland & The Carnival – Trouble In Mind
Mellowness has dominated today’s round-up, but here’s a chirpy (despite the regretful lyrics) pearl from the excellent Erland & The Carnival to finish.  What’s particularly great about Trouble In Mind is not its pacy beat, nor Erland’s maudlin voice, nor the occasional fuzzy interludes, nor even the tender strings - but rather the way it all sounds so easy, so fabulously simple and effortless.  A fiver says you’ll be humming along all week.

Downloads via song titles.

Oxford’s Foals made a huge splash when they arrived on the music scene a couple of years back; offering a growling, chaotic and murderously funky disco rock, they were the Klaxons but ten times dirtier.  But after the auspicious start, the quintet hated their album and a long period of silence followed.  Thankfully, Foals have just announced a second album, Total Life Forever, to be out on 10 May.  A song from it, Spanish Sahara, is on video below, with a free Mount Kimbie remix available for download below too.   The tune suggests the ”lusher” sound the band recently pledged: a more elegant tumult while just as dark, the sound rarefied with a ghostly, trance-like feel.  For the shake-up, Mount Kimbie take that sense of foreboding and run with it.

There’s an Electric Ballroom date on Mon 10 May (tix on sale from Fri 12 March), and I have half a hunch that Foals might return to light up Field Day again in July.  We’ll see.

MySpace | Website | Buy
MP3: Foals – Spanish Sahara (Mount Kimbie remix)

Band Of Skulls – Honest
The TV show Skins continues to be one of SOIWT!’s most reliable musical dealers, and the most recent episode (Freddie & Effy) provided a particularly good fix.  This song played over the preview for next week’s show.  It’s a slow, slightly-emo track, with a lights-down-low sound, swirling female vocals, an itinerant structure and a likeable hint of madness in the lyrics.  Band Of Skulls are a UK trio very popular in the US, where they’ve toured with Metric and even made the dreaded Twilight soundtrack.  This is from a stripped-down Lounge Act session with Woxy.

Pretty Lights – I Can See Your Face
Pretty Lights is Derek Vincent Smith, a Coloradan who crafts his songs by fusing together loads of other songs.  Stupid?  Impossible?  Pointless? Uninventive?  In fact it’s none of these things – it’s stonkingly, thrillingly brilliant.  Witness this seven-minute belter, a murderous, funky-as-hell musical cocktail bursting with familiar whines, bass, some more bass and too many genres to name.  Three EPs will follow in 2010, with a drip-drip release schedule on PL’s website. File under ’shouldn’t work but does’. 

Os Mercúrios - Rimbaud de Bicicletta
As winter blows and blusters its last, festival line-ups filter out and H&M introduces new t-shirt ranges, so thoughts turn irresistibly to that most wonderful of times: summer.  Here’s a little early taste of it, courtesy of Brazilian trio Os Mercúrios.  Telling the tale of a cyclist they thought eerily resembled poet Arthur Rimbaud and a greeting he (possibly*) gave to them, this is a pysched-out lo-fi slice of Latin American pie, complete with insatiable ballroom bounce, tinkling drums, guitars and the most melodious of organ sounds. 
*The band members disagree on this point!

Bear in Heaven – Lovesick Teenagers
If you’re into richly-crafted, dense guitar songs with loads of layers and myriad compsition, with nostalgic lyrics and high-pitched vocals, and with syrupy bass-playing, then you’re a fussy bastard.  But you’re also in luck, as that’s just what Bear in Heaven provide here.  Look out for the rarefied feedback (which SOIWT! thinks sounds like drunken owls), be ready for the abrupt and criminally premature ending and look out for Brooklyn-based BIH’s forthcoming London live dates at The Lexington and The Windmill.

Not Squares – Asylum
A rollicking rock song from Belfast punk-dance (punce?) trio Not Squares, driven along by a taut bass, featuring cowbells and all manner of shouts and screams.  This is simple, old-fashioned fun, building up the pace and offering a pleasing amount of chaos mixed in with neat rhythms.  It’s like a particularly effervescent friend – when they’ve gone, or the song’s finished, the silence is sudden and stark – and most definitely what SOIWT! would call a going-out song.

Downloads via song titles.