2011: Tracks of the Year
1. Macintosh Plus ‘リサフランク420 / 現代のコンピュー’
2. D/R/U/G/S ‘Unified Field’
3. Love Inks ‘Blackeye’
4. Leather ‘Relapse’
5. Holiday Shores ‘Spells’
6. New Look ‘Janet’
7. The Antlers ‘French Exit’
8. Death Grips ‘Spread Eagle Across The Block’
9. SebastiAn ‘Embody’
10. Ferguson & Geronimo ‘Girls With English Accents’
2011: Albums of the year
1. Death Grips ‘Exmilitary’
2. M83 ‘Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming’
3. Dum Dum Girls ‘Only In Dreams’
4. Tennis ’Cape Dory’
5. The Antlers ‘Burst Apart’
6. Ferguson & Geronimo ‘Unlearn’
7. Gang Gang Dance ’Eye Contact’
8. Love Inks ‘ESP’
9. SebastiAn ’Total’
10. Girls ‘Father, Son and Holy Ghost’
NIGHT: Macintosh Plus
I hate genre names these days, it always feels so desperate, clutching onto something new because you don’t want to be drowned by the decline of ‘sex-wave’.. ANYWHO, today not am I only jumping on the bandwagon with coining such said genres but I’m creating my own. Macintosh Plus have been in my ears for a few weeks now, you can listen to their album via the Beer On The Rug Bandcamp page. Their track ‘リサフランク420 / 現代のコンピュータ’ to epitomises everything that ‘Slow-Jam’ should be. The beautifully steady tempo, the waves of analogue layers all topped with the smoothest of vocals. Another track of theirs ‘花の専門店’ is what I can only describe as ‘Skip-hop’ (sorry I know).. but the tracks jumps and builds with short bursts of continuous music before skipping again.. its frustrating yet satisfying when the track finally comes through.
Compliments to Rose Quartz for this one.
SUMMER IS OVER: White Ninja
After our 2-day ‘Indian Summer’ (thanks Metro!!!!!) I thought I’d share something beautifully summery. I can only describe White Ninja as what I imagine Neon Indian fronted by Jamie Lidell would sound like.. There’s something fragile about the whole sound, like its about to fall apart at any time. EP opener ‘El Alfa’ has been nicely synced to some what I can only describe as ‘office lunch viewing’ visuals.
NIGHT: Shannon & The Clams
I’m not sure how I feel about music when it sounds and looks more like a remake than just an influential nod but Shannon And The Clams is incredibly infectious so I guess all rules out the window… yeah? Charles from Slow Club put me onto the band and it wasn’t until I googled it myself I realised it was something new(ish). It really could be ripped from an old rock’n’roll compilation, its warm, chaotic and I’m sure produced to sound like it was taken straight from a jukebox.
Shannon & The Clams - ‘You Can Come Over’
NIGHT: The Long Lost
I love France. I’ve been about 3 times for I’d say collectively 72 hours.. Its not so much the visits that have fueled such a love its more the story I’ve created around it. I love the language, the music, the films and the general idea that they live in this cafe culture with all the cliches whilst Serge Gainsbourg subtlety whispers out the stereo. The Long Long are what I’d imagine I’d listen to whilst sipping my Jus d’orange.. ‘Amiss’ is a beautiful subtle but pokey jazz song with what I can only describe as ‘Rolph Harris Wobbles’ in the chorus. Enjoy Monsieur et Madamme.
SUMMER NIGHT: Milagres
I say the term ‘warms your ears’ a lot when describing music. This probably means nothing to most people but its meant to refer to music that is warm in tone, deep with layers and essentially a comfortable yet pleasing listen.. still got no idea? Thought so. Well listen to Milagres, for me it epitomises such a saying. Its beautifully steady, confidently tempoed at a pace that pulls you along, building up layers of warm keys and ranging vocal tones. The track is also up for a free download so I suggest you spend some time listening in a quiet room with some cake.
Milagres - Glowing Mouth (Radio Edit)
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Sorry no time for rubbish commentary or ponsy imagery but lovely held-back pop from from Holiday Shores with their track ‘Spells.’ Beautifully subtle.
OLD: Modey Lemon
What the bloody hell happened to Modey Lemon? I think its pretty much practice that a few decent rock bands come through the ranks (usually from somewhere obscure in America or Australia/NZ) every now and then. What tends to happen is they end up making a few waves, people get excited and they go away and make the follow-up to which is never released/or released to damming reviews. This was the case with The Datsuns, Wolfmother but not with Modey Lemon. Back in 2003 the band were making brash rock music, letting mic’s distort and cymbals crack.. its a winning formula. Look at The Black Keys first offering ThickFreakness, recorded in one day and bar a little bit of filler its a pretty amazing debut. Modey Lemon had the formula right but for one reason or another the album didn’t capture that.. Anyway, enjoy this headphone-distorting debut ‘Crows.’
SUMMER (20 years ago): Gross Magic / Weird Dreams
Every band I was ever in the standard format for creating names was: an everyday noun + unrelated word/object. This obviously (90% of the time) created a bunch of terrible names that will only end up haunting you in future interviews when the infamous question gets asked. Two bands who have chose to embrace such a formula (and I’d argue successfully) are Gross Magic and Weird Dreams (ok their name does makes sense.. big whoop?). Both bands give a contemporary take on 90’s guitar music, with Gross Magic’s ‘Sweetest Thing’ video proving this (rather unashamedly..) Weird Dreams leave more to think about, although live it still feels early there’s something about Doran Edwards songwriting that suggests the best it come.
Gross Magic - Sweetest Thing
Weird Dreams - Hypnagogic Lullaby
