The first rule of Fight Club is…
So, my grand plan to update this blog with occasionally round-ups of tracks I’ve been enjoying has faltered slightly. Not that I haven’t been enjoying any new music lately (far from it), but, you know, I’ve been busy. I think I’m going to try to make it a monthly thing, rather than just random, so I have something to work towards.
Anyway, I was on holiday last week, so to fill the space in my Editor’s Letter column, where I would normally moan on about something that had happened during the week, I pre-prepared a list of ten tracks from new(ish) acts I’ve been listening to of late. And now, just for you, I’m reporting it here. Have a listen.
Suzanne Sundfør
There’s nothing quite like the feeling you get when you completely fall for a song on the first listen, and ‘White Foxes’ was one of those moments. There are few songs I’ve listened to as much this year and it runs excited chills through me every time I hear it still. The album it is taken from is available on iTunes now, and while you’re frantically downloading that, her previous album ‘The Brothel’ is also very much worth checking out.
John Talabot
Released through Permanent Vacation last month, John Talabot’s debut album, ‘Fin’, has been getting some heavy play in the CMU office of late. Taking his strong songwriting skills and drawing heavily on house, bringing to mind acts like Pantha Du Prince and fellow Spaniards Delorean, the record is filled with standout moments. Here’s one, ‘Destiny’, the first of two collaborations with Pional on the album.
Sleep Party People
The solo project of Scarlet Chives member Brian Batz, Sleep Party People’s music is slow, twisted pop that sits somewhere between dreamlike and nightmarish – mainly due to the heavily-effected vocals that are melted almost beyond recognition. This feeling often comes through in SPP videos too, particularly the one for the track below, ‘A Dark God Heart’, which slowly morphs from innocent to morbid. New album ‘We Are Drifting On A Sad Song’ is due out via Blood And Biscuits next month.
THEEsatisfaction
There’s no denying that THEEsatisfaction’s music is ambitious, but its success is in sounding effortless. Allowing hip hop, jazz, funk, Afro-Futurism and psychedlia to run together is not something that has never been attempted before, but to balance it so perfectly is no mean feat. ‘QueenS’ is taken from the duo’s debut album proper ‘awE naturalE’ which is out now via Sub Pop.
Clean George IV
Clean George IV, aka George McFall, first emerged in 2007, releasing the brilliant ‘First Blast Of The Trumpet Against The Monstrous Regiment Of Women’. But the project went on hold for a few years, in which time he began a classical music degree and got sued by Kraftwerk (I’m not sure if these two things are related). He returned last year with debut album ‘God Save The Clean’, sounding like Andrew WK on a bad comedown.
Julia Holter
Last year Julia Holter found herself with an underground hit on her hands with debut album proper ‘Tragedy’. Quickly snapped up by RVNG Intl, she released the follow-up, ‘Ekstasis’, earlier this month. Her sound is unusual and experimental but also warm and welcoming, never attempting to block the listener out with its weirdness. Even her FACT mix, which was largely made up of field recordings with the occasional track dropped in amongst them, manages to pull this off. Here’s the opening track from ‘Ekstasis’, ‘Marienard’:
Bernholz
It’s occurred to me now that I’ve started writing these blurbs, how much of the music here is experimental but with leanings towards pop. Bernholz is no different, although he stands out because while his early releases were completely abstract, latest single ‘Austerity Boy’ sees him attempt to step almost completely over into pop by creating a three minute update of Madonna’s ‘Material Girl’ for modern Britain.
Asbjørn
I first discovered Asbjørn at last year’s SPOT Festival in Denmark. Wandering into his show for no clear reason, he turned out to be very popular amongst his home audience already, performing to a capacity crowd of around 1500 people in the middle of the afternoon. It was clear to see why too. Still in his teens he makes highly polished, infectious pop and knows full well how to perform it.
Team Me
I bang on about Team Me quite a lot, so forgive me if I’m covering old ground here. They are my favourite indie-pop sextet of the moment though. Their debut album, ‘To The Treetops!’ was released earlier this month and features ten unashamedly poppy songs, including the wonderful ‘Dear Sister’, which first appeared on their eponymous 2010 debut EP.
ScHoolboy Q
‘There He Go’ by ScHoolboy Q has spent extended periods of time jammed in my brain since I first heard it on Jon Hillcock’s New Noise podcast back in January. His second album, ‘Habits & Contradictions’, was released the same month and, while maybe not treading much new ground in hip hop terms, it nonetheless does it well. It also features a roll call of other up and coming rappers, including that A$AP Rocky fella.
My dad saw Bono get kicked in the balls.
My dad met a drunk man in Dublin in the early 80s who claimed he used to play bass with the singer from a new band called U2. He invited my dad to see them play in a local pub.
The band were congregating outside the pub and the drunk tried to strike up conversation with Bono.
Bono told the drunk to “fuck off”.
The drunk kicked Bono in the balls, and ran away.
by ruairidunne
There was a point at the start of January when I was genuinely worried that I might not like hearing new music any more. For a few days early on in the month nothing I heard excited me. Then suddenly I was deluged by stuff, a chunk of which I posted here just over a week ago. And as I said in that post, it’s my plan to post up stuff I’ve heard and enjoyed every now and then just because there’s not the space to cover it all in CMU. I didn’t expect to have enough to warrant another post so soon, but by Tuesday this week I’d already heard a whole load of music that I really liked and the trend continued, thanks in no small part to item one on this list…
New Noise
Jon Hillcock’s New Noise podcast is always a great source of new music, but the first edition of 2012 was particularly good. After I listened to it I went and downloaded ever single track featured on it, because they’re all great. The likes of ScHoolBoy Q, Tonstartssbandht, and Altarboy particularly stand out. Listen to the whole podcast here.
Julia Holter
Julia Holter released a great album called Tragedy last year, and has another coming out via RVNG Intl in March, which, from the sound of the track below, Marienbad, will be even better. Aly at CMU has this one covered.
Mallard The Wonderdog
I think David Williams is a shockingly underrated songwriter. As frontman of Derby band Plans & Apologies he churned out countless brilliant songs, and has an amazing way with words. Now recording as Mallard The Wonderdog, he released his second proper solo album this week. It’s called Miserable Fuck and is only a quid on Bandcamp, why would you not buy it?
Rock Bottom
I’m not sure Rock Bottom is that great name to give a band, any band, but that’s what these guys have done and we’re just going to have to live with it. They make up for it by playing really good, no frills hardcore. There are three new demos streaming on their Facebook page now, which you can also download here.
Flight
This isn’t really new, it’s from 2010, but I only heard it last week thanks to DðlfinZ on a recent edition of the Song, By Toad podcast. Something about Witch Hunt Town by Flight instantly grabbed me, so I shot off and bought the whole The Lead Riders EP on Bandcamp, which contains yet more lo-fi joy.
Graphics
Producer Alfie MacGibbon has released a number of EPs as Graphics through various labels, with the latest, Mama Grizzlies, out via GETME! two weeks ago. The title track, which you can hear below, is a stunning piece of work that has no real business being a chilled as it is, considering its component parts.
Akira Kiteshi
When I first heard Akira Kiteshi a year or so ago he was already making fairly heavy dubstep. Since then he’s ramped the levels right up and branched out into other areas of bass music. I’m intrigued to hear the whole album, but for now here are some short snippets of each track.
Postiljonen
I don’t know a great deal about Postiljonen beyond the fact they’re from Sweden and what little I could decipher from the brief write up of this track on French blog Fluokids. And, yes, I could look them up, but until I absolutely have learn more about them I’m just enjoying the images the choir-heavy 7 conjures up by itself.
Skirt
Another one from Fluokids, this track by Skirt is a nice slice of creepy minimal techno. You can hear the first minute and a half here, or download the full track here.
Gracie
Every project needs a good back story, and Gracie‘s Andrew Balasia’s is that he’s a dog. I suspect he isn’t. Whatever, he has an EP called Treehouse coming out via Small Plates Records later this month. Check out the video for a track from, the laidback, dubby Southern Place, here.
Sleep Party People
I spent about an hour rifling through Sleep Party People videos on YouTube a few weeks ago, so when a new one popped up in my inbox this week, I hit play straight away. Accompanying what is probably their most beautiful song A Dark God Heart (from their We Are Drifting On A Sad Song album, which is out in the UK in April) the video is very good, but also a bit NSFW.
LUV - Oh come on. What are you, made of stone? How can you not be moved by:
a) A three-year-old girl writing to Sainsbury’s to ask why tiger bread is called tiger bread when it looks more like a giraffe (and then drawing a picture of Beaky, HER IMAGINARY DOG, at the bottom of the…
The first New Noise podcast of 2012 gathers up some of the songs I’ve been listening to relentlessly over the past month or so (the tracks from the Bathetic Records Expressway compilation, Sinkane, Hospitality, Altarboy, Amateur Best, Coolrunnings and Way Yes) alongside a few of the…
Graham Coxon told me about his bowel movements.
I saw Graham Coxon having a cigarette outside of The Cluny in Newcastle, where he was playing that evening, and I bumbled over to him to get him to sign a couple of CDs.
‘How’s the tour going so far?’ I nervously offered.
‘All right, I had a curry in Nottingham last night, it’s given me the shits!’
This derailed any further conversation.
by Ben Lowes Smith
