We Need Secrets

Cor, I'm tired after a brute of a week at work. So, it's nice when things like this come your way...

We Need Secrets are a completely brand new band from Halifax. No, not the mildly depressing Yorkshire town, but Halifax in that America.

As far as I can make out they're about to release their second single 'Melancholy' (a split with a band called Sea Glasses) on Noyes Records, after making their debut on the label in October of last year.

It'd be perfectly easy for me to regress back to being 16 again and say that We Need Secrets sound a lot like Ride, Chapterhouse and early Swervedriver, and in parts they do. But there's also a hint of mid-90s American pop thrown in here, with other influences including Velo-Deluxe and Polara - two bands who I was crazy for back then.

All in all, it's pretty lovely to hear people still making this kind of music, and 'Melancholy' is just that, but at the same time pretty life-affirming and direct and vital. And as catchy as anything.

Here's a video:

Melancholy - by We Need Secrets from Daniel MacDonald on Vimeo.

This Many Boyfriends - Starling (Angular)

Try as you might (and you might), you can'T help love this new single from This Many Boyfriends. it's got all the ingredients to firmly plant itself in my head; it starts off sounding a little like something from The Smiths' 'Hatful of Hollow', before loitering  in the same post-C86 territory as the Man From Delmonte. And then there's a really lovely, crap guitar solo which is very endearing.

I've not been a massive fan of TMB up to now, deciding that their live shows have been less than enamouring, but this single is like the bar of chocolate sitting in your cupboard when you're on a diet. It's there, it's wrapped in something shiny, and it's pretty much irresistable.

Now, if only they didn't try so hard on stage I'd probably fall completely in love with them... I'm sure they're really taking note here...

TMB will be doing their thing around the country thus:

23 February 2012 - Manchester - with Allo Darlin', The Deaf Institute
24 February 2012 - Sheffield - with Allo Darlin', Queens Social Club
25 February 2012 - London Popfest - 100 Club, Oxford St
26 February 2012 - Leeds - with Allo Darlin', Brudenell Social Club
28 February 2012 - London - with The Cribs, ULU Live
29 February 2012 - Cardiff - with Allo Darlin', Buffalo Bar
01 March 2012 - Edinburgh - with The Cribs, The Liquid Room
02 March 2012 - Brighton - with The Cribs, Concorde 2
03 March 2012 - Leeds - with The Cribs, Metropolitan University

Here. Have a listen.

Azure Blue - Rule of Thirds (Matinee Recordings)

There's a terrible, terrible tendency amongst some pop fans to think that anything that comes out of Scandinavia is immediately to be pounced on and rubbed up against without any kind of rational thinking. It kind of annoys me slightly. Nationality and imaginary borders mean nothing in life, and therefore in pop music.

Let me say this: 'Rule of Thirds' is brilliant. It's the kind of electropop album that most often strive to make, but very often fail by trying to be too clever. Tobias Isaksson, who seems to be something of Real Pop Hero in his native Sweden, doesn't have to try too hard. Each of these songs seems to float by in a kind of cosy dreamlike state, never really asking you to think too hard, but always managing to catch your attention.

Azure Blue are the musical equivalent of Coronation Street, you might say: comfortable; assured; definitely pleasing; and certain to appeal to 65 year olds from Wigan. That last point might need some work, but you get my drift.

It's about ten years since I discovered Matinee Records (or Recordings, if you will). Back then they were putting stuff out by The Windmills and Airport Girl and it was great. Right now they're putting stuff out like Azure Blue and it's still as great. That there is the definition of not only a great group of bands, but a wonderful record label. Long may it continue.

Tigercats: in the vanguard of the new pop army

There are way too many good records coming out all at once at the moment. I'm getting old and struggling to keep up with the pace. I've hit the pop wall. So, when I'll get around to writing about the new MJ Hibbett & the Validators and Azure Blue albums I don't really know, but I will.

For now, I've been listening to the new set of songs from Tigercats for about the past week. The rough versions of the songs (which don't sound too rough to these ears, but then I know NOTHING of the recording process) are from an album out in March (I think) called 'Isle of Dogs' that will be released (again, I think) on Fika Records.

This album reminds me of a lot of things. It reminds me of being young and hearing Suede for the first time on the Evening Session and missing my bus into Grimsby because I didn't want to leave the radio.

It also reminds me of moving in to a crap flat on Mansfield Road in Nottingham with paper thin walls (BUT WE WERE HAPPY) and playing 'Breaking God's Heart' by Hefner over and over again whilst drinking cheap wine and gin.

One song reminds me of Northside, but - hey - that's okay.

Perhaps my favourute track on Isle of Dogs is 'Banned at the Troxy' - the heady tale of a night out that sounds like something ace off the first James album. It's simple and ambitious and a little bit sexy all at the same time, and it makes me want to go out and get drunk with people I hardly know.

See, if I was 16 right now I'd think this album was sent to save my life. 'Isle of Dogs', along with the new Allo Darlin', Shrag and Evans the Death records - that's quite a quartet to impress your slightly less cool mates with. Converting them is the easy part.

What Tigercats has come up with is a manifesto for what it means to be alive, to be in London and to be living life. Like Suede did twenty (gulp) years ago, and like Hefner did a little bit later. Those other three bands I mentioned earlier are doing it to, and however old you are you should cherish these times, because they're golden days for pop.


Tigercats - Banned At The Troxy from Niklas Vestberg on Vimeo.

Shrag+Tunabunny+Horowitz poster

Here's a poster for our upcoming Shrag/Tunabunny/Horowitz gig, courtesy of my fellow promoter, Andy Hart.

Don't forget to buy your tickets for this!

This has been an advertisement.

Fuck the Jubilee: a call to arms

The recent talk of this year's grotesque Jubilee parade, with all its yacht-shaped gifts, made my mind wander back ten years to anothert state-run display of Windsor worship. Back then I was heavily involved in the Socialist Alliance, a very wobbly, often tense, eternally doomed lash-up between the biggest extra-parliamentary left groups in the UK (bar a few of the more wacky ones, and Scargill's Socialist Labour Party).

We stood a candidate in the 2001 General Election and got a pretty respectable 3.7 per cent. On the back of this, the next year I organised a week of anti-Jubilee activity in Nottingham, culminating in a gig at the Rose of England in the city.

Three bands played, including Chris TT and humblebee's old band The Regulars. I charged a quid on the door and over 100 people turned up.

As I wrote in the Weekly Worker at the time:

"... the gig was predominantly attended by those of a non-political persuasion. This proved an excellent opportunity to expose a layer of young people to the Socialist Alliance's politics, and even when Chris TT, during his set, said that he opposed militantism, he was met with a hail of abuse from just about everyone in the room! All in all, a great success, and it is agreed that we will organise further, similar events later in the year to raise the profile of the SA amongst students and younger people in the city."

Ah, the optimism of youth! The Socialist Alliance was all but dead by the end of the year.

I was thinking about doing another gig this year. If anyone wants to get involved in any way (bands, other promoters, yacht onwers - anyone who wants to help out really) can you drop me a line and we'll try and get something sorted.

Tunabunny - a plague on your UK tour

I've managed to get a sneak preview of the Tunabunny side of their new split single with Shrag, which is out coming out in time for their tour of the UK in late Feb/early March, and, as ever the band has surprised me.

'Locusts' builds on Tunabunny's new found pop sensibilities, but adds a touch of new wave menace to it. Think Gang of Four mixed with early, better, Throwing Muses and you'd be about there.

To say I'm excited about seeing Tunabunny in March is an understatement. Sure, they aren't you typical indiepop band, but then I don't dress in aprons and rosettes all the time, you know. Some of my best friends wear North Face fleeces.

I really wish I could share 'Locusst' with you - suppose you'll just have to wait and buy the split single at the gigs. Especially, erm, at the Nottingham one

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