Japandroids. Your new love affair.

Tweet

DOWNLOAD: Japandroids- Young Hearts Spark Fire

Waiting to finish work so I can see their instore at Rough Trade East, they've been whoring away in London this week. I've fallen for their debut album 'Post-Nothing' pretty bad, it's an album you fall in love, I said this of the album on the website I wrote for...

"Japandroids evoke the romantic naivety of being a teenager, with songs about leaving the dullness of a small town, dreaming of the adventures of the big city, getting drunk at sweaty parties, listening to The Ramones and Dinosaur Jr. really loud and French kissing French girls. A record that sounds like it's come straight out of a garage in suburbia, with one guitarist and a drummer making fuzzed up, infectious, unpretentious American punk."

That about sums it up really, now listen for yourself...

SPOTIFY LINK: Japandroids- Post-Nothing

The dictionary now uses a youtube link to define cool.

Tweet

Possibly the coolest song ever, Lee Hazlewood was one cool mother, it was effortless. Motley Crue, Carl Barat and Liam Gallagher would ebay their penises to be as cool as Lee and Hazlewood doesn't even know it, that's how he bags girls like Nancy Sinatra.
I prefer Nancy to her dad, when I think of Ol' Blue Eyes I think of cockney taxi drivers "lavve a bi' of fran'kee", they don't put me off him he just always seemed like such a smug prick.

There's Musical Talent on X Factor; Shame It's None Of The Dullards Singing For Their Supper

Tweet

DOWNLOAD: The Box Tops- Neon Rainbow

More revelatory words from me: X Factor is a crock of shit. Sadly I’ve fallen into the trap of keeping up with it, once Harry Hill has finished I’ve fallen into its satanic, soulless grasp.

The only redeeming feature is that the music used by their sponsors Talk Talk is The Box Tops ‘Neon Rainbow’; the band Alex Chilton was in before my darling Big Star. X Factor seems to take a whole night of anybodies life, it’s draining, the contestants are simply awful who would want to own a disk with Afro Jamie singing? What do any of them have to offer music? The Box Tops and Alex Chilton are the only thing worth hearing on the whole thing, Simon Cowell wouldn’t like Alex Chilton or Big Star because he doesn’t like music, why else would someone force Robson & Jerome on the world? The sick fuck.

Atlas Sound- Walkabout w/ Noah 'Panda Bear' Lennox

Tweet

This was never not gonna be great was it?

Let's all join a commune and eat only what the wild provides; Espers are back.

Tweet
DOWNLOAD: Espers- Caroline
DOWNLOAD: Espers- I Can't See Clear

Espers have a new record out. They’ve called it ‘Espers III’, I like it when bands give their albums straight forward titles, just numbers. Worked for Led Zeppelin, Scott Walker and Bob James, it’s simple.

They have a good hippy look, have I said this before? But “hippies” looked cool in the 60's and 70's, the day one of them decided dreadlocking was a good day everything went down hill and they started listening to The Levellers *shudder*.

Espers could be part of a commune I’m pretty sure they won’t own a television, entertainment is make whimsical psychedelic folk and if they’re not doing that watching the whisps from an incense stick, they're a mixture of boys and girls I suppose you say Fairport Convention in relation to them. Check out their previous albums on spotify.

Espers.

Tweet
DOWNLOAD: Espers- Caroline

Espers have a new record out. They’ve called it ‘Espers III’, I like it when bands give their albums straight forward titles, just numbers. Worked for Led Zeppelin, Scott Walker and Bob James, it’s simple.

They have a good hippy look, have I said this before? But “hippies” looked cool in the 70s, the day one of them decided dreadlocking was a good day everything went down hill and they started listening to The Levellers *shudder*.

The Nose Run 100: Essential Spotify Listening

Tweet
SPOTIFY LINK: Nose Run 100

100 essential listens: these are 100 of some of my favourite tunes that are on Spotify, it’d probably be quite different next week, there are tunes even now I wish I added, for this week it stays as this. Gonna throw up regular lists. Until then, enjoy this.

The Rakes Split Up... Boooo

Tweet

SPOTIFY LINK: The Rakes - Capture/Release

Found this out today, that’s when it happened, put that note in your diary. Their debut Capture/Release was one of the decades finest releases and actually sums up this decade quite well sure lines like “shower and a scrub still smell like the smoking bit in Wetherspoons pub” are redundant post smoking ban. In my last year of uni I could relate to The Rakes, it's not often I actually can relate to a bands lyrics on such a level and I don’t really think it’s always too important. But Alan had a sharp tongue and was a keen observant on the blandness of life, work, relationships, personal routine and drink.

I met him on the tube once, that album was a constant CD player fixture; had to talk to him and it was nice, he was nice. I told him I was studying media studies and bought him up on the lyric “in a crap job when you’re media course is done”, luckily bar a couple of dull data entry jobs he wasn’t entirely correct- although he’s usually bang on.

The second album was for most part pretty shit, but ‘The World Was A Mess But His Hair Was Perfect’ was possibly their greatest moment and one of my favourite song title’s ever. By the third album I was not too interested, I failed them and now they’re gone. I’d like to see how they handle their future’s Alan is a heck of a lyricist I’m sure/hope he won’t go to waste. Take a listen to their debut and remember how great they were.

Dreaming of Paul McCartney's Temporary Secretary

Tweet

Had a crap night sleep the other night, all I could think about was Paul McCartney's Temporary Secretary, it's like fucking electro maaan. Or not. The synth loop and the chorus was running like a never ending music bed throughout my dream, to the point where I started dreaming about Sir Paul mashing a synthesiser with wine glasses and the palms of his hands to make this.

People didn't realise this at the time but this song is great, they're starting to now though.

DOWNLOAD: Paul McCartney- Temporary Secretary (box)

A Month of Sundays with Danny & Gaz from Supergrass

Tweet

A recommended listen for those with access to Britain’s latest national treasure: the BBC iplayer, A Month of Sundays with Gaz Coombes and Danny Goffey of Supergrass.

I remember Supergrass being described in as being “everybody’s second favourite band”, they were pretty much the 90’s Kinks and made great pop tunes like them too, there aren’t many Best Of’s or Greatest Hits worth getting but the Supergrass collection of singles is a near perfect compilation.

Go on have a listen, they don’t do duff singles. Although you can skip ‘Alright’ I’m bored of it too.
Spotify Link: Supergrass is 10: Best of 94-04

They love music and they play what they love, they really bounce off each over the way; people who have been friends for life and spent most of their adult lives in a bus together, can. It’s a joyous two hours and all their picks are absolute dynamite the latest show has some Neil Young, Serge Gainsborg, Bowie, Television, Ian Dury, Can, Hendrix and the utterly missed genius Nilsson, they don’t go for obscure or show off a snob faux-diversity, they pick out essential listens.

A real gem of a radio show, take a listen here.

My passion never went away it just wanted to be played at 45 and 33 1/3 rpm.

Tweet
So I'm no music-writing revolutionary here, and I'm not saying "oh foolish slaves to the digital age, where is the soul in your EmPegFree's? Turn your backs on your informationPods and join me" But I've recently purchased a record player, 24 year old/young and this is my first Long Player Player, proper.

Part of the reason for getting one was because although I love CD shopping, I've always envied people sifting through dog eared vinyl's, they seem to be on some treasure hunt never knowing what's gonna emerge from the pile, while this can and has happened to me many times, it's a rare thing as they're such a mass made thing that they're never too far away. But it seems that some people, older people, people who should know better seem to have given up on listening to music and those dusty old records they once fell in love are given away.
Luckily I've joined a club that is more than happy to horde your discarded memories and recycle them as my own.

I did think later "man I'm doing this for the environment...man", because some of these records would make landfill. But then again, they must've made a fuck load of Phil Collins and Sting records; much like their makers no matter how much we ignore them they will never be destroyed. They could be made into a fruit bowl, frankly I'd rather get scurvy or ricketts than grab an orange or banana from a self riotious bowl made of Sting.

Naturally the first thing I did (after stopping for a lunch lager) was go straight to the record shop, bet the record shop owners could smell me a mile off, "look Clive, some prick has decided vinyl is ace, bet he's gonna buy a Clash best of or something, fucking idiot."
Oh no my friends. Today I will be scooping up a delicious slice of West Coast Country curtousy of Poco, how'd you like those onions? They couldn't be arsed really, they tend not to be, they always seem to be the least exciteable people on the planet the record shop attendent, one of retails great stereotypes, a cliche that is slowly dying. They're gloomier than ever.
"Fear not awkward virgin! I've come to breath life into your business". That's unfair, at times I've dreamt of owning a record store, I've considered turning myself a eunuch just so I could sit around all day drinking coffee listening to obscure Tribal Jazz that I'm not gonna let you buy because that would make it ever so slightly less obscure, they could tell friends about this great album they got, then their mates buy it and this obscure act can start making a living from music. It'd be a disaster.
This however is a dream and record shops simply can't sustain themselves as well as they could, they're not the social hub they used to be. People can talk records online, they can buy online, it's often cheaper and it's easier to find obscurities.

I'm treading no new ground here, but I'm even more in love with collecting music than ever. So expect a lot more posts of me proclaiming my love of more forgotten gems, records that have been overlooked, plus songs and albums you need to fall in love with all over again.

John Lennon and Cathy's (haunted) Clown

Tweet It's been a while I know. There is no excuse, apart from needing to give this blog a serious facelift.
Until I actually do this I'm gonna begin posting and will put up a mega spotify list in the week. This last month or so has seen the release of some great albums, it'd be silly to ignore.

In the meantime here is a haunting cover of a stripped down John Lennon singing the ever amazing Everly Brothers Cathy's Clown.