Tunes of the week

Janelle Monae - 'Wondaland'



Tin Man - 'Stand By Me'

mp3 here:

http://www.20jazzfunkgreats.co.uk/wordpress/page/3/

Shigeto - 'What We Held On To'

what we held on to by SHIGETO

Com Truise - 'Sundriped'

Sundriped by Com Truise

Zola Jesus - 'Sea Talk'

Zola Jesus - Sea Talk by Nialler9

Wise Blood - 'Strt Srns'




Katy Perry feat. Snoop Dogg - 'California Gurls'



Gold Panda - 'You'

You by Gold Panda

Tennis - 'Baltimore'

Tennis - Baltimore by Nialler9

Frank (Just Frank) - 'Coeur Hante'



Joanna Newsom - 'Baby Birch'



Perfume Genius - 'Mr. Peterson'

PERFUME GENIUS // Mr Petersen by TheArtOf...

Video: Rafter - 'No Fucking Around'

Absolute genius video.

Logikparty EP on the way

(Photo by Naomi McArdle)

Good tidings ahoy. Logikparty, one of the most exciting bands on the domestic scene at the moment (which is saying something) will be releasing a 7-track EP on September 11. It's the follow-up to the excellent Good Hood/Iodine 7" released earlier this year. Dealing in atonal, no-wave influenced sonic assaults, the band will be supporting Liars in Whelan's next month, and recently collaborated with renowned artist Martha Colburn at the Belfast Trans Festival.

High Risk Narcissist will be released on their own label, White Plaque Records, as a limited edition 10" vinyl along with a download code. Launch details to come.

Mount Kimbie add Dublin and Galway shows

London post-dubstep duo Mount Kimbie have just released their first LP, Crooks & Lovers, which is the follow-up to the superb, boundary-pushing brace of EPs they released last year, Sketch on Glass and Maybes. They've announced a tour of the UK as well as a couple of Irish dates : Galway's Roisin Dubh on October 12th, and Dublin's Academy 2 on the 13th.

Mount Kimbie - Field (from Crooks & Lovers) by Hotflush

Foals - Spanish Sahara (Mount Kimbie Remix) by fabric

Video: Caribou - 'Odessa' (Live at Heaven, London)

Caribou plays at the Electric Picnic, and will also play a headline show at Crawdaddy, Dec. 9th. 'Sun' is the latest single to be taken from this year's excellent album Swim. Stream the full album below.


Swim by Caribouband

Video: Tennis - Cape Dory

Tennis - Cape Dory (Underwater Peoples Records) from RichsLaw on Vimeo.

Denver husband-and-wife duo Tennis release their new 7" at the end of the month, featuring the above tune, 'Baltimore' and 'Marathon'. Pre-order from here:

http://www.underwaterpeoples.com/index.php/up-catalog#tennismarathon

Tennis - Marathon by snipelondon

Adebisi Shank - 'International Dreambeat'

Nialler9 yesterday debuted the much-anticipated new track from Wexford noiseniks and general mentalists Adebisi Shank. It's the first taster from their upcoming second album This is the Second Album of a Band Called Adebisi Shank, and sees them in full-on guitar assault mode. Prepare to have your head pummelled. The album comes out on August 20th through the Richter Collective label (what a year they're having).

Adebisi Shank - International Dreambeat by Nialler9

Tour dates:


30 Jul 2010 Stiff Kitten, Belfast
31 Jul 2010 Castlepalooza Festival Tullamore, Offaly
1 Aug 2010 Indiependence Festival Mitchelstown, Cork
5 Aug 2010 Roisin Dubh, Galway (Strange Brew summer shindig, also featuring The Cast of Cheers and Windings)



Read more: http://www.myspace.com/adebisishank#ixzz0v05Uihkq

Cathy Davey - The Nameless

I had this album purchased a good while ago, but due to some iTunes mishaps I've only got around to listening to it very recently. And...wow. Another great Irish album to add to the pile that have been released this year, The Nameless is a gripping, engaging album from start to finish. There wasn't a whole lot wrong with her first two albums, Something Ilk and Tales of Silversleeve, but this album sees her step up to a whole new level. It's a cliche I'm not too fond of using, but she really has grown into her own voice : at this stage Davey has a truly inimitable, idiosyncratic aesthetic and style of delivery, and song-writing on her latest record glows with self-assurance and confidence.

Ranging from the pure pop thrills of 'Little Red' (which, despite its hook-filled immediacy, seems to sound better and better with each listen) to the dazzling baroque flourishes of 'Army of Tears' to the deceptively jaunty 'Happy Slapping' and the grandstanding sweep of 'Universe Tipping', this is the Dublin songwriter's first truly great album (again, the first two weren't far off), and one that's only going to grow in stature.

She's an interesting character too: there was a great interview with Peter Murphy in a recent issue of Hot Press where she spoke of, among other things, her excitement at the health of the current Irish music scene, the role blogs are playing in the promotion of new music, the taboos surrounding death in our culture, her pretty vehement hatred of X-Factor and all that shit, and her belief that the demo versions of her songs are often better than the mastered ones. Speaking of which, there's still some of those demos available to download from the Torture Garden blog:

http://thetorturegarden.blogspot.com/2009/04/happy-birthday-us.html

But, really, buy the album - I can't recommend it highly enough.



Army Of Tears by schlafshane

EDIT:

'Army of Tears' is the next single released from the album, and available now for download from iTunes, backed with a demo version and the b-side 'The Wandering'. Check the live video:

Grinderman - 'Heathen Child'

Grinderman's second album, Grinderman 2, will be released 6th September 2010. It's the follow-up to their raucous, well-received debut. Lead single 'Heathen Child' will be released on 6th September, but you can stream it from Soundcloud right now. It's a gritty, grinding slice of outlaw rock, with Cave, Ellis and co. sounding as irreverent and lascivious as ever.

Heathen Child by MuteRecords

Video: Ducktails - 'Apple Walk'

Via Pitchfork.

The brilliant Apple Walk/Mirror Image 7" is out now.

Ducktails - MirrorImage by statemagazine

Mogwai - Burning virtual screening

Mogwai's live film Burning will be getting a virtual screening this Tuesday 27th July at 8pm UK time (12pm PST/3pm EST/8pm GMT). A list of websites screening the film below. A Q & A with Stuart Braithwaite and the film's director Vincent Moon will follow after the film.

AOL, Artist Advocacy, Beachtapes, Bradley's Almanac, Brooklyn Vegan, Buddyhead, Cause=Time, Chromewaves, Clash, Clicky Clicky, Consequense of Sound, Daily Swarm, Drowned in Sound, Grimy Goods, Grooveshark, Hard Candy Music, International Tapes, Jinners, La Blogotheque, Loudersoft, Love Shack, Baby, Muzzle of Bees, OMG Vinyl, Pampelmoose, Pigeons and Planes, Prefix Magazine, Schmooze Blog, Some Velvet Blog, The 405, The Audio Perv, The Culture of Me, The Decibel Tolls, The Line of Best Fit, The Music Slut, The Needle Drop, The Quietus, The Walrus, Vice, Vinyl District, Welikeit.Indie, Y Rock on XPN, Yours Truly, yvynyl.

Top 10: New Order

From the bleak, edge-of-the-abyss masterpiece that was Closer to World Cup football anthems: the tale of Joy Division/New Order is a pretty interesting one. Although it's tempting to portray late Joy Division singer Ian Curtis as the tortured poet and the rest of the band who carried on with New Order as salt-of-the-earth raveheads, it's overly simplistic: Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Stephen Morris wrote the music for Joy Division, which was every bit as dark and foreboding as Curtis' devastating lyrics, while the pulse of dance music was evident in tracks like 'She's Lost Control' and 'Isolation' long before New Order explicitly embraced it.

New Order's earliest material saw them in an awkward transitional phase, with Sumner seemingly apeing his late friend in the vocal department, but once they laid down 'Everything's Gone Green' and 'Temptation' all bets were off: here was a band willing to experiment with the rhythms and textures of dance music while still retaining the essence of a post-punk guitar band. 'Blue Monday' soon followed and took on a life of its own, rewriting the rules and introducing New York's underground club sounds to the British mainstream. For the rest of the 80's they continued to release music both experimental and exuberant, before internal conflict slowed down their output and eventually saw them split. They returned in 2001 with the massive 'Crystal',and stuck around to witness the emergence of a host of bands such as The Killers and The Rapture who had been inspired by their back catalogue. Now seemingly split permanently, their legacy is formidable.

#1 - 'Your Silent Face' (Power, Corruption & Lies, 1983)

A glorious re-imagining of Kraftwerk's 'Neon Lights', its blissful glide punctuated by some typical Mancunian humour ("You've caught me at a bad time/ So why don't you piss off"). The interaction between Hook's melodic basslines and Sumner's guitar at the 2-minute mark is amazing.



#2 - 'Temptation' (12" version)(1982)

Although 'Everything's Gone Green' before it had embraced synthesisers in glorious fashion, the release of 'Temptation' marked the point at which New Order's sound and identity crystallised, with Sumner's nonsensical yet somehow genius lyrics the final piece of the jigsaw. 'Temptation''s exuberance and sense of abandon still utterly charms. You could hear its influence all over one of the finest indie anthems of recent years - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's 'Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth'. Important note though: there's about five if not more versions of this song in New Order's back catalogue, the most famous one used on the Trainspotting soundtrack, but the raw, intoxicating, nine-minute 12" version cannot be beaten. Trivia: Sumner's audible yelp at the 50-second mark was due to Hook stuffing a snowball down his top.



#3 - 'The Perfect Kiss' (12" version)(1985)

Again, despite the fact an edited version appeared on the album Low-Life, the nine-minute 12" version is absolutely essential. Sumner's lyrics are extremely cryptic and ambiguous here, and there's much debate about their meaning. "...Pretending not to see his gun/ I said let's go out and have some fun...My friend he took his final breath/ Now I know the perfect kiss is the kiss of death.." Was it about AIDS or violence? Or something else entirely? Musically, it's an epic, with a glorious build-up that the album version completely omits. "We believe in a land of love" seemed to sum up New Order's quest for dancefloor catharsis.



#4 - 'Blue Monday' (12" version) (1983)

Despite all the legends of sleeve design mishaps, despite the fact that this tune is so famous and influential it's long since taken on a life of its own, despite the fact it's been played, remixed and sampled to death, 'Blue Monday' is still undeniable. My favourite bit is from 5.50 onwards when the whole thing moves up a gear. The 12" version is the one, needless to say. I should have just made that the title of this whole article.



#5 - 'True Faith' (1987)

This synth-pop monster came on the back of Brotherhood, an album where the band seemed to be losing their experimental edge ever so slightly. 'True Faith' was more than enough to send the doubters scurrying, with a terrific vocal from Sumner and an anthemic chorus that seemed equally suited to hedonistic dancefloors and arenas alike. A definite highlight in their live sets. The video was pretty cool too.



#6 - 'Everything's Gone Green' (1981)

This was the last New Order track that troubled producer Martin Hannett, who had been so influential on Joy Division's sound and aesthetic, worked on. The late, great Tony Wilson:

"Blue Monday" is given the credit for being the first great modern music track which uses computers. In fact although I would never try and cross Bernard because he's extremely clever, (well New Order got the credit), but if you look at Bernard's production of Marcel King at the same time, and the 52nd Street band, Section 25 then it's obviously Bernard who was doing that. But Bernard learnt it all by watching Martin. In fact the most important track of all is "Everything's Gone Green". If you listen to it, is the beginning of modern music, and "Temptation" takes it one stage further. And then Martin and New Order break up and they go off to do "Blue Monday" as the next record, that's the one that quiet rightly is seen as this incredible break through, but nevertheless the important song is "Everything's Gone Green".

This has to be the most underrated New Order tune, but then again it was followed up by the might of 'Temptation' and 'Blue Monday'. Sometimes I imagine a DJ playing this in a club some night, but it'll probably never happen. It would be an insanely beautiful thing though.



#7 - 'Crystal' (Get Ready, 2001)

New Order split after the 1993 release of Republic, and it wasn't an amicable one. However, they managed to put their differences aside five years later and got back together for some touring, introducing Joy Division songs into their live sets for the first time. They contributed a spiky track to The Beach soundtrack, but nobody could have been prepared for the sheer brilliance of their comeback single proper. 'Crystal' was arguably the heaviest, most attitude-drenched, malevolent-sounding creation of their distinguished career: old dudes weren't supposed to sound this alive! Fun fact: The Killers took their name from the imaginary band that features in the promo video,'posing' as New Order. Never let it be said that Brandon Flowers and co. are lacking in knowing self-deprecation. Thus, I've included the video version below, but the album version wipes the floor with it.





#8 - 'Age of Consent' (Power, Corruption & Lies, 1983)

Driven by a wonderful Peter Hook bassline, the opening track on Power, Corruption & Lies sounded like a sequel of sorts to Joy Division's 'Digital', its despondent lyrics masked by buoyant synths and hyperactive though sparing guitar work from Sumner.



#9 - 'Regret' (Republic, 1993)

The song that every Irish person will forever associate with the morning radio news and weather, and yet that intro somehow sounds as majestic as ever. As does the rest of it.



#10 - 'Vanishing Point' (Technique, 1989)

I remember bedding down at Electric Picnic a couple of years back and hearing the strains of 'Vanishing Point' coming from a nearby tent, a completely unexpected but cool moment. This haunting soundscape seemed to be Sumner's rebuttal to critics who painted him as the simple, village idiot successor to Curtis' tortured soul - "My life ain't no holiday/ I've been through the point of no return...". It's the soaring highpoint on New Order's finest album, one that was described as Sumner's Blood on the Tracks due to its unflinchingly personal lyrical content.

Tunes of the week

Moon Duo - 'Motorcycle, I Love You'

Moon Duo - Motorcycle, I Love You by user287479

Fol Chen - 'In Ruins' (Baths remix)

Fol Chen - In Ruins (Baths Remix) by Nialler9

These New Puritans - 'Hologram' (SALEM remix)



BALAM ACAB - 'See Birds'

Balam Acab - See Birds by boingbumchak

Cut Copy - 'Where I'm Going'

Cut Copy - "Where I'm Going" by Some Kind of Awesome

Highlife - 'F Kenya RIP'

High Life - F Kenya Rip by musicmule

White Ring - 'Suffocation (Los Campesinos! remix)

http://downloads.pitchforkmedia.com/White%20Ring%20-%20Suffocation%20(Los%20Campesinos!%20Remix).mp3

Solar Bears - 'Neon Colony'



SALEM - 'Redlights'

Salem- Redlights by Iron Tuna

Marnie Stern - 'For Ash'

Marnie Stern - For Ash by souterraintransmissions

Jon Hopkins - 'Vessel' (Four Tet remix)

Jon Hopkins - Vessel (Four Tet remix) by Four Tet

unouomedude - 'Buildings'

Buildings by unouomedude

White Ring - 'Suffocation' (Los Campesinos! remix)

Speaking of witch house, which we were, one of its flagship artists, White Ring have had their tune 'Suffocation' remixed by the unlikeliest of bands: Welsh upstarts Los Campesinos!. They do some magical things to the source material though, putting a typically wistful, expansive spin on the dark, claustrophobic vibes of the original.

Via Pitchfork:

http://downloads.pitchforkmedia.com/White%20Ring%20-%20Suffocation%20(Los%20Campesinos!%20Remix).mp3

http://downloads.pitchforkmedia.com/White%20Ring%20-%20Suffocation.mp3

Witch House

There's been a plethora of strange band names of late, with symbols replacing letters and so on. It's no coincidence, however: most of these artists are singing from a similar hymn sheet aesthetically. Names used to describe this burgeoning movement/genre/scene include 'haunted house' 'drag' and 'ghost drone', but 'witch house' seems to be the one that's sticking. The characteristics of the genre include 'chopped and screwed' hip-hop influences (an earlier form of hip hop that slowed down street-rap's flow to create a drugged-out, eerie sound); slowed down, ghostly vocal samples; a fascination with the occult and ritualism/symbolism (reflected in the use of upper/lower case punctuation, triangular symbols etc.), and the twisting inside-out of conventional pop songs.

From Joe Colly's Pitchfork article 'Ghosts in the Machine':

"Each artist has his own take: Balam Acab sounds almost like rudimentary dubstep, oOoOO's songs are ethereal and sample heavy, and White Ring are on the darker edge of synth-pop. But they share some common traits. "Drag" tracks are always beat-driven but molasses-paced-- the bass is prominent, but drowsy and languid. Vocals are there, but no one's singing upfront. (Typically, vocals are manipulated in some way and buried in the mix.) It's not necessarily tech-y music-- there's a human quality to these songs but it's ghostly and distorted, as if the tracks themselves are haunted."

An excellent introductory mix can be found at http://dontmakelists.tumblr.com/post/807753756/mixtapetryangel.

These links are also essential:

http://pitchfork.com/features/articles/7806-ghosts-in-the-machine/

www.myspace.com/ffdisaro (DISARO Records)

http://witchtrial.tumblr.com/

http://www.myspace.com/triangledreams

Deerhunter - 'Revival'

New 7" from the ambient punk/shoegaze/noise rockers. Visit this link - http://halcyondigest.com/flyer/ - if you want to join the Deerhunter street team and promote their upcoming album Halcyon Digest (Sep. 28) in true guerilla style.

Deerhunter - Revival 7" by Some Kind of Awesome

Video: Broken Social Scene - Meet Me In The Basement

"This video was made as a response to the G20 Summit in Toronto June, 2010.
The rest speaks for itself.
It was sent to us by a lover of our music who wants to remain anonymous.
We are very proud to share this mash-up with you."

- Broken Social Scene

Broken Social Scene - Meet Me In The Basement from Arts & Crafts on Vimeo.

Cut Copy - 'Where I'm Going'

Really liking this: moving on from their superb 2008 album In Ghost Colours, this is less sleek and more messy, with a psychedelic vibe, but the Aussies' gift for an infectious hook remains. Cut Copy's third album is due in January 2011. I couldn't make their gig in Tripod the other night, but GoldenPlec has a review: http://www.goldenplec.com/2010/07/22/review-cut-copy-at-tripod-2/

Cut Copy - "Where I'm Going" by Some Kind of Awesome

Xiu Xiu/Former Ghosts for Hallowe'en show

Xiu Xiu will be returning to Europe later in the year with Zola Jesus and Xiu Xiu/Zola Jesus offshoot Former Ghosts in tow. Unfortunately, Zola Jesus won't be performing at the Irish date, but a double-bill of Xiu Xiu and Former Ghosts is still a pretty big deal. They'll be playing as part of the Darklight Festival 2010 (http://www.darklight.ie/) on Oct. 29th. Venue tba.

Stream Xiu Xiu's album from this year - Dear God, I Hate Myself - below:

XIU XIU Dear God, I Hate Myself by killrockstars

Mercury nominees announced

The 2010 Mercury prize nominees have been announced, and are as follows:

Biffy Clyro – Only Revolutions
Corinne Bailey Rae – The Sea
Dizzee Rascal – Tongue n' Cheek
Kit Downes Trio – Golden
Foals – Total Life Forever
I Am Kloot – Sky at Night
Laura Marling – I Speak Because I Can
Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More
Paul Weller – Wake Up the Nation
Villagers – Becoming a Jackal
Wild Beasts – Two Dancers
The xx – xx

If you're going to be idealistic and regard the Mercury as something that should reflect the health and creativity of the UK music scene, it's a disappointing list overall. Of course you have to remember that bands/artists often don't pay the entry fee in the first place, but all the same the presence of stuff like Mumford & Sons, Dizzee and Biffy Clyro in there does a disservice to a domestic scene that is currently home to some of the most innovative music being made anywhere (the Hyperdub stable in particular). Good to see Villagers get a nomination of course, and a few commentators have opined that they're in with a serious shout of winning it. Wild Beasts' Two Dancers flattered to deceive to these ears, and while xx won critical praise across the board, I think the album turned out more valuable as a canvas for remixers than as a truly great record in its own right. In fact, there's no-one on the list who i really want to see win it, though I've yet to hear the Foals album.

Villagers - Becoming A Jackal by DominoRecordCo

Stream: Nite Jewel - Am I Real? EP

The new EP from Nite Jewel is now streaming and available for download over at their website (http://www.nitejewel.com/). Nite Jewel, led by LA songwriter/multi-media artist Ramona Gonzalez, are purveyors of a hazy, hypnotic, layered form of 'bedroom dance', with submerged vocals and underwater beats. The Am I Real? EP features some tracks that first appeared on the tour-only You-F-O CD but have since been re-worked, as well as brand new material - including the title track, which boasts contributions from Daniel and Andrew Aged of Teen Inc.

Also, check out Nite Jewel's amazing remix of Caribou's 'Odessa':

Odessa (Nite Jewel Remix) by Caribouband

...and as a bonus, my favourite Nite Jewel joint so far, from the album Good Evening:

Patrick Kelleher, Meljoann to support Telepathe

Telepathe's upcoming visit to Whelan's on 14th August promises to be a great night, and now there's added excitement in store: Patrick Kelleher & His Cold Dead Hands and fast-rising electro-funk purveyor Meljoann will be supporting on the night. Kelleher recently followed up his acclaimed You Look Cold album with the 'Contact Sports' 7", while Meljoann's Tour Guide EP should be followed by an album in September.

WOLF005 - Patrick Kelleher & His Cold Dead Hands - Contact Sports 7" by SkinnyWolves

Meljoann - Exit by Nialler9

01 Tour Guide by meljoann

Liars Daytrotter session

Take a trip over to the relentlessly-updated Daytrotter site, where they've got a session from Whelan's-bound three-piece Liars. Free to download, it features four choice cuts from this year's alternately ferocious and spooked-out Sisterworld. Think 'Scarecrows on a Killer Slant' couldn't get any more vicious? Think again.

http://www.daytrotter.com/dt/liars-concert/20031262-4091.html

One day I'll manage to read one of Daytrotter's artist blurbs without giving up after a couple of sentences. But today's not that day.

Skinny Wolves mixes collected

Dublin-based record label Skinny Wolves have compiled eleven mixes from 2010 compiled for them by various bands, including new ones from Cap Pas Cap and Somadrome.

Skinny Wolves Mixes by SkinnyWolves

They've also made available a compilation of tracks from artists playing up-and-coming Skinny Wolves events, including Telepathe and These Are Powers:

Upcoming Skinny Wolves - Mix by SkinnyWolves

These Are Powers play at Andrew's Lane Theatre with support from Cap Pas Cap, Thread Pulls and Grey Mayhem next Thursday July 29th. It's a late show, tickets 13 euro.

The Antlers, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Tallest Man On Earth for Electric Picnic

A very strong batch of new additions to the now-mouthwatering Electric Picnic line-up:

Two Door Cinema Club
Robyn
Laura Marling
The Antlers
The Tallest Man on Earth
Cymbals Eat Guitars
Chew Lips
Fang Island
The Riptide Movement
Donal Dineen & Friends
Brian Deady

Below you can stream Robyn's newest record, Body Talk Pt. 1, as well as some other stuff.

Body Talk Pt. 1 by robyn

Of Montreal - False Priest trailer

False Priest is out September 14th. Sample two tracks from it below. Of Montreal play Tripod, Dublin on October 3rd.

Of Montreal - Hydra Fancies by Some Kind of Awesome

Of Montreal - Coquet Coquette by modernmysteryblog

Yeasayer return for Olympia show

They already played The Academy back in February and made an Oxegen appearance last weekend, but Yeasayer aren't finished with us yet: they're pencilled in for a date at Dublin's Olympia on 18th October. This year's album Odd Blood was a disappointment to these ears, playing down the mystical, world-music qualities of their earlier work in favour of a cloying pop sensibility. Still, 'Ambling Alp' should sound fantastic live.



Ambling Alp - Yeasayer by musicmanners

Wichita Recordings is 10

Wichita Recordings was founded in London by Mark Bowen and Dick Green back in the year 2000. In the ensuing ten years, the independent label has been responsible for releasing some terrific music. Here's five of their best:

Bloc Party - Silent Alarm

The tense, insistent guitars, the icy instrumental washes, the urgent, angst-ridden vocals, the dreamy soundscapes, the flashes of romance (‘This Modern Love’), the propulsive, supple rhythm section; for a debut record by a young guitar-bass-drums combo, it was both remarkably danceable and eerily atmospheric..





Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now, Youngster

Youthful exuberance and wistful melancholy collided beautifully on the debut album from the Cardiff-based seven-piece. It could be called mopey, bratty or even emo if it wasn't so much fun, with delightfully self-deprecating lyrics and neat turns-of-phrases galore "I'm not Bonnie Tyler, and I'm not Toni Braxton/ And this song is not gonna save your relationship/ Oh no... shit!/ And this sentimental movie marathon has taught us one thing/ It's the opposite of true love is as follows: Reality!"





Lovvers - Think

This Nottingham-based four-piece called to mind the likes of The Stooges and The Germs on their first release for Wichita, the Think EP. Frenetic, sneering, feral garage-rock with an unmistakeable swagger.




The Cribs - Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever

With the addition of Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos on production duties, The Cribs' third album saw them smoothing out their hitherto defiantly lo-fi sound without losing any of their vital edge. 'Girls Like Mystery' and 'Moving Pictures' had the melodic smarts, 'Ancient History' and 'Major's Titling Victory' brought the noise, while 'Be Safe' boasted an unlikely cameo from Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo - not the first time rock royalty would join forces with the Wakefield trio.




Best Coast - Crazy for You

And one from the present. LA-based lo-fi surf-pop/garage duo Best Coast have been making wavves (sic) for some time now, mainwoman Bethany Cosentino singing songs “about summer and the sun and the ocean and being a lazy creep”. They've already released a string of well-received 7"s, and debut LP Crazy for You is now streaming at http://www.wichita-recordings.com/index.php/single/listen_to_best_coasts_debut_album/. 'Tis the season.

Best Coast - Boyfriend by Ragged Words

Tracey Trance - Fountain 1

Via http://chocolatebobka.blogspot.com/: Odd, beguiling, barely-there electronica. Can't find much info about this guy, it's probably better that way.

http://c1931172.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/disk/Tracey%20Trance%20-%20Fountain%201.mp3