Tennis- 'Tell Her No' (The Zombies cover)

Tell Her No by tennisinc

Ahhh it feels good to be back.

I had an email Q&A exchange with the awesome Lucky Number Music (home of Caged Animals and Friends), which was rudely botched by a website I occasionally do some writing for- but never mind: my musical mojo is still intact. I’m going to endeavour to bring you everything great and spongy that I’ve heard of late, for your great and spongy ears!

The first piece- saying that- is lifted from gorillavsbear.net- a recent post about husband and wife duo Tennis, who we featured earlier this year on the site.

They’ve covered (download here) The Zombies’ 1965 chart hit ‘Tell Her No’. It’s a classic Beatles-cum-Beach Boys-esque song but with a cruel anti-romance twist. The lyrics go: “And if she tempts you with her charms, Tell her no, no, no […] Don’t hurt me now for her love belongs to me.” It could have fitted pretty well on their debut LP Cape Dory if you ask me, due to all the 60s-style throwbacks.

A follow-up to 2011's debut is in the pipeline. Here’re some words:

“We’ve spent the last several months writing and preparing for what we hope will keep us busy all winter. We will be announcing a Forest Family release in the next couple of weeks as well as tour dates to make up for the Vaccines tour cancellations. Also, we are excited to announce the existence of our next album (produced by our new friend Patrick Carney coming out early next year. In the meantime, we made this cover of the Zombies “Tell Her No.” It’s been a long time favorite of ours and is the best use of a lone-clap we’ve ever heard.”

new best coast- how they want me to be

Hey folks! Here's some new Best Coast for you. It's called 'How They Want Me To Be' and it is a typically laid back, unassuming affair. Here's a note that accompanied it:

"You guys have been some of the most wonderful fans this past year, and I want to thank each and every one of you for supporting Best Coast. When times are rough for me, and I am traveling and not sleeping, and am worried about daily life, it always makes me feel better to know that my fans are out there.

I know I've been talking a lot about our second album, but it's still very far away from being created. I wanted to share a bit of life from recent Best Coast with you guys, so I thought I would post this song for you all to hear as a little teaser for the album.

This song was recorded a few months ago at Black Iris, the same studio we recorded "Crazy For You." This song is not properly mixed, it's mostly a rough studio demo of a song I wrote and wanted to record. I am about 99% sure that this song will get re-recorded and changed up a bit and will end up on our second album. It's called "How They Want Me To Be."

It's just a small taste of what's to come, and I wanted to give you guys something to get excited about since you've been the best fans in the whole world!

I am off to New York to start a weekend of fly in dates, so wish me luck, and I hope you all love this song and I can't wait to record more."

Love,

Bethany

Arctic Monkeys Suck It and See

Czjeck it out. For those of you who don’t know what 'Suck It And See' might refer to, it’s either the dirty thing that goes on in local parks, shopping centres, public spaces and occasionally at home, or it’s a reference to the once widely-championed British independent music store Fopp that shut its doors some four years ago now, before being re-opened as part of the HMV chain. Its very slogan used to be: “suck it and see” (a fun but oblique reference to their returns policy). I don’t know if it’s still there like that.

Anyway, that’s not the point. Big news people: and this blog is only 10 days late in bringing it to you, so you probably already know about it. The Arctic Monkeys have a new song, called ‘Brick by Brick’, to be followed by an album calllled….Suck It and See. Personally I lost track (and admittedly interest), after Favourite Worst Nightmare in 2007. But, with what will be now three albums in four years, whatever this record is like, that is good going- and a damn fine example too for all those bands taking time- damn them- over writing, recording and releasing albums.

Apparently Josh Homme did NOT have a hand in producing this album, which is thankfully a marked break. But, clearly, with that statement in mind, shouldn’t the release lack Homme’s influence? Obviously yes. But perhaps, evidently, not. Check out 'Brick by Brick'. It’s ok, I’ll wait…



…can you guess what it is yet? Yes, I know- I thought it too. This is QOTSA. Rockin' guitar solo in check with the same Homme-style distortion; that dank, driving rhythm. This very confuzzles brain machine. Anywho, let’s not get bogged down with production semantics. What do you think of the song? I think it’s awesome. Exciting. Alex Turner has lost his Sheffield drawl (not that there was anything wrong with it, but this sees him explore a new identity and demeanour maybe), and he has thrown some meat on those musical bones. Just look at the video. Wowee, they’re so comfortable they don’t even use a proper video.

Ok, so a bit of sarcasm there.

The album is out 6th June in the UK and 7th in the US.

The Strokes- Under Cover of Darkness

The terminal question about The Strokes that is asked repeatedly ever since Room on Fire is whether they are just a band who suffered too much hype, encouraged a resurgence of indie guitar music in the mid 00s nonetheless and then collapsed in a pool of their own image-too-chilled out-to-even-care musical undoing. Every flipping article seems to start with a mighty great pretext and sets The Strokes up for a fall. So I won’t, only so far as mentioning it.

For five years since their last outing, First Impressions of Earth has brought a new day and many new dawns have since passed. The Strokes know that more than anyone, right?

And their new single was officially put online this week. ‘Under Cover Of Darkness’ is a characteristically jangly number, swaggering along with Julian Casablancas’ slurring, an inoffensive solo and catchy rhythm. It will be interesting to see how the band step out from life as solo artists (…well at least for Casablancas and Albert Hammond Jr.) and regain the attitude, character and energy of life as one of the world’s biggest straight indie rock ‘n’ roll groups. An album, Angles, is in the pipeline for March we are told.