ALUNAGEORGE - YOUR DRUMS, YOUR LOVE

Now, amazingly Madlib’s Freddie Gibbs’ n Co’s ‘Shame’ has stayed with me throughout this time of hiatus. I have only just recently uploaded it to my mp3 player and it has unleashed a whole new wave on endless playing. I don’t know what it is about that song, but play count may well be in the 300-400 now. It STILL never gets old.

Anyway, yes – in addition to Disclosure, I should have mentioned a band that are still really dear to my heart, if, in part, due to their obscurity and wackiness, but also incredibleness and impossible to define sense of effortless pop: that is Philco Fiction. I will not be around when they play Rough Trade East for the release (FINALLY FINALLY) of Take It Personal, which came out last month, but seriously go and see this band. The guys have been knocking around town since last year with this album (got meself two signed LPs innit, see below J) and they just seem to be genuinely enjoying themselves. Some press has been floating about, if you check the Google.

ELSEWHERE, the fun shall continue with this song: ‘Your Drums, Your Love’ by AlunaGeorge. Now I thought about posting when this duo hit with their debut You Know You Like It EP on TriAngle records (formerly How to Dress Well, Clams Casino, Holy Other- go check it out), but just didn’t quite feel that the sterile pop polish worked for me so thought against it (such are the exceptional perfectionist tendencies we (read: I) have on this blog). But anyway – firstly, the artwork for that EP was the nads. See here. IMHO, anything that simple and breathy somehow, irrationally, but very rationally, signals something worth paying attention to. And secondly, and more importantly, ‘Your Drums, Your Love’ is simply a massive step forward. I have already heard this being played on the radio and was pleased to see that an act so clearly suited to the mainstream crossover of dance, R&B and pop that is so popular right now and finally making strides.

Here is the video. AlunaGeorge are an amalgamation of their two names George Reid and Aluna Francis by the way, just to clear that up. Touring the UK in November.  

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin- Tape Club

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin- Tape Club

(2011, Polyvinyl Records)

For when there’s a lull with nothing to post about, I’ve kept this back in reserve. One of my favourite bands of the last 10 years who create music that occasionally hits me like a truck (‘House Fire’, ‘Some Constellation’) or takes a while to sink in (most of Broom), but always succeeds in wriggling inside my brain-box and building a nest for itself: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin. I wrote about them earlier (see here) and as you may know, they were an "of the moment" band on US-based indie blogs around 2005 when recording Broom, their first album. This was a home-recorded, extremely lo-fi record and had very little to say for itself in the way of production, but stood out promisingly for its tunes. An internet following was born.

Since Polyvinyl picked Broom up and released it, the commercial fortunes of Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin- or SSLYBY for short, arguably waned slightly according to speculation from loyal adherents. Thankfully though, their music and passion didn’t. Two diverse, lively and enjoyable records followed in 2008 and 2010, Pershing and Let it Sway respectively, filled with shamelessly catchy pop tunes. Broom, re-released for Record Store Day in April this year with some new tracks- that first home-recorded record, now sits atop a small number of dreamy indie kids’ post-2000 lists as a cult pop classic. I give mine a listen quite regularly, and often wonder what in those loosely formed arrangements and hushed vocals keeps me coming back. But it does. And regularly.

Their honeyed sound and image isn't for everyone. However, if you’re a fan of good music without pretence; a follower of healthy tunes over fashion, SSLYBY are one of the best bands to draw into your listening arsenal. Cavorting with my ears through train journeys, helping while away 40 minutes in town or sound-tracking an evening with friends before heading out, SSLYBY can be taken anywhere (and will take you anywhere) with their infinite lightness.

I turn to the reason for this post: Tape Club, a 26-song compendium of b-sides that SSLYBY will release in October. How impossible to imagine that a band as lo-fi as SSLYBY would even have b-sides. How much more demo-like could they be, especially the b-sides from Broom?! Well in their seven-year fringe-of-the-public-zeitgeist tenure, and ten years as a band, their production values have wilfully soared and plummeted as much as a kite on the breeze. It makes SSLYBY sound like two different bands, one playing at Will Knauer’s house in a suburb of Springfield, Missouri, and one recording in a high-tech, gee whizz, sound-proofed studio. (In reality, even the uber-polished Pershing was recorded at Knauer’s aunt’s house).

So sound varies wildly. At the end of ‘What We’ll Do’, you can literally hear the tape stop; on ‘Song 1000’, the band just about hold things together while they muck around with (what sound like) kazoos. At the other end of the scale, Let It Sway’s lush mid-range pours out of the speakers on ‘Bended’ and ‘Letter Divine’, a richness and warmth, employed from Pershing onwards, to give singles like ‘Think I Wanna Die’, ‘Glue Girls’, ‘Banned (By The Man)’ and ‘Critical Drain’ their glamour and anthemic charm.

A few songs don’t really fit into either of these two categories and float innocuously between them: ‘Sweet Owl’ is the sort of tune I thought SSLYBY would never record, just because it’s so folksy, and ‘Yellow Missing Signs’ (the first song leaked from Tape Club) adopts an electro edge that makes you wonder what the band were up to when non-rock influences took hold in jamming sessions.

Diamonds in the rough tease themselves out, as is often the case with SSLYBY. Campfire ditty ‘Bigger Than Yr Yard’ could have made it onto Broom to close it with a late-night sing-a-long. Some of the newer, cleaner production stuff also grabs hold of you after a few listens: ‘New Day’ and ‘Coming Through’ are a class act placed by side by side. They’re probably my highlights of the album and shimmer with an innocent, harmonious glow. They're much like the flowering of confidence that seemed to resonate in Pershing: the realisation of the group's creative energy and pop prowess.

It's a great collection. There's no doubting that. I say it as a fan and as an advocate, but also because I think Tape Club shows quite clearly how enjoyable a band can be with a few chords running round their heads spontaneously knocked out on tape. Purveyors of lo-fi fun, nonsense and slivers of brilliance, SSLYBY are pop stalwarts.

Indie-blog praise hasn’t quite lived up to expectation: the objective 'standard' that artists are supposedly aiming for, but that is too crude. Even if ubiquity doesn't come calling, it doesn't need to, for many of us are just happy listening to SSLYBY….and occasionally writing about them.

Tape Club is in stores on 18^th October and comes in all sorts of formats (see here). The band are currently touring the States, as always. Fingers crossed for European dates. See above to stream the album.

a bit of a New Look fiend at present but...

...summary of recent New Look news:

1. New Look will be touring the UK and Europe from October onwards, including two nights in London. See their website for details.

2. On 7th October during the day they will be playing a special gig at Rough Trade East, London for those who purchased the album. Entry by wristband only: click here for details

3. The self-titled album will be released on 26th September. Click here to check out three of the tracks (Nap on the Bow, You & I and Drive You Home).

4. New Look got mainstream British attention by being The Guardian's New Band of the Day for 14th September. In it, the upcoming record was hailed as "one of the albums of the year."

Wow, all this New Look news in only three days! The internet works in mysterious ways.

Baxter Dury- Happy Soup

Baxter Dury- Happy Soup

(2011, Parlophone)

The problem, the paradox with children of popstars is that no matter to whom and to what they align themselves, it is nearly impossible for the public to stop seeing parents in them. These often more successful forerunners to their offspring loom large like menacing spirits in the room, dampening it must be said, the pursuits of their children. Where music is concerned, critics very often take aim with their metaphorical rotten fruit; yet when your Dad is a rock n roll icon, it isn’t easy to realise your own qualities at the best of times, let alone live up to the expectation that has been foisted upon you.

This is not Baxter Dury’s first album; however, in the two weeks since its release, Happy Soup has already proved to be his most widely publicised. The son of Ian Dury and the Blockheads singer Ian Dury, Baxter, now nearly 40, has had two previous LP- Len Parrot’s Memorial Lift in 2002 and Floor Show in 2005. The film Sex & Drugs & Roll revealed some of the tumultuous experiences he went through as a child under his Dad’s heady rock n roll influence.

That back-story though clearly did not get in the way of critics’ response to this latest Dury outing. No. You see Happy Soup­ is an odd, ramshackle, cockney Londoner’s album. It’s Baxter’s, not Ian’s, teasing out and celebrating as it does the idiosyncrasies of his own unusual persona. Dury’s voice is striking: strikingly plain, dour, direct and deadpan. Unsentimentally recalling personal events that really should warrant some kind of emotion or cracking of the mask, his style is like a male Lily Allen in middle-age, Alan Donohue from London band The Rakes in positively sombre form. With witty urban social commentary and pokerfaced delivery giving the impression that Dury is jaded, quietly brooding and disconnected from his own depictions, Happy Soup in many ways appears mildly cathartic. Indeed he apparently didn’t change the names of ‘Claire’ of ‘Isabel’, which describe former relationships. “I think my mate slept with you when you were in Portugal” is one such revelation, yet Dury delivers it like trying to get his words recognised on an automated booking line.

If Dury’s songs are about personal experience, he tries not to wallow in their sorry bog, both in terms of his disconnected delivery and the music itself. In the spirit of the English rock everyman, ‘Trellic’ delivers a simple riff and vocal that would put the best Rakes and Art Brut tracks to shame. Yet, even when trying to sound hopeful, the morose atmosphere usually wins. On ‘Leak at the Disco’ (a song closely resembling Maximo Park’s ‘Acrobat’ from 2005), he sings to a thudding bass drum and carefully chosen synth notes: “Love has all but broken you” goes the grim chorus line. In these moments, Dury finds tenderness and beauty. There is an implication somewhere in the music that sadness and reflection will one day bring redemption; that all is not lost, but we cannot find a way out just now. The song soars to its anxious close. Elsewhere, Dury uses sparse instrumentation to draw attention to his voice and lyrics.

Happy Soup is a great and unusual album. It is well-imagined, easy to listen to and while in betrayal of its title it is a little downhearted, excellent instrumentation and Dury’s sensitively summoned vocal transform its defeatism into a rich, human and vivid charm that belie its simplicity. For those who are interested, Happy Soup is one of Rough Trade's picks of the month. Baxter will also be touring the UK in October/November this year.

lucy rose- middle of the bed

Lucy Rose is a good friend of the British band Bombay Bicycle Club and a rising star on the country’s indie scene. Featured in the ‘Shuffle’ video and lending her voice to ‘Flaws’, Rose is currently on a UK tour promoting debut single ‘Middle of the Bed’, a reflective, sombre song reminiscent of fellow country-woman Laura Marling.

It is for her writing though that comparisons with the 2010 Mercury-nominated Marling are made. ‘Middle of the Bed’s candid autobiographical style would feel right at home with any of Marling’s works. However, hoping to find a middle-ground between the female pop and folk genres, the music accompanying Rose’s despondent, jaded voice is occasionally more upbeat. Various live performances on the web testify to her ability as a performer as much as a songwriter. Quiet and introspective, Rose manages to remain the right side of mawkish and banal, infusing a delicate charm into her voice to retain your attention.

That is precious and easily scuppered in the saturated world of acoustic music. However when song-craft comes this good, it is a pleasure to be reminded that the humble acoustic pop song can be made as fresh, tingling and delightful as it ever was.

Middle Of The Bed - Single Version by Black Book Management