There's a lot to be said for being a miserable and cynical and (possibly) in your late thirties. It means you've seen fashions come and go at least three times, you can remember the Soviet Union, and you can moan about how much a packet of Quavers used to be when they weren't an extortionate 47p like they are today.
It also means you can laugh really hard at those who seem to think that every movement they make during the day (and I'm including those of the bowel in this) should be so instantly fascinating that they have to share it with the world. You know the sort...
Now, I'm not averse to being a gobshite all over the internet, and I can be as needy as the rest of them when it comes down to it, but it's rather satisfying to know that, out there in deepest Norfolk, there's a band who are writing splendid songs about that thing they call "social networking".
Before Scumbag Philosopher were called Scumbag Philosopher, they were called Fuck Dress. Suffice to say, they're never going to make it onto Radio 2 with that kind of attitude, but they are going to make it onto my Great List of Songs 2010, with 'Social Networking Site' - the video to which you are about to enjoy...
So, whilst the internet might have given us a load of self-obsessed, whining morons (physician, heal thyself!), it's also been responsible for this ace pop song. Lol, :-), etc...
Friday, 28 May 2010
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
Indietracks: it's all becoming clearer
Uber-cool indiefolkpop darlings Slow Club have been added to the bill at Indietracks, along with the either-love-them-or-hate-them Everybody Was In The French Resistance…Now! (and I quite enjoyed them a couple of months ago, since you ask).
So, dear pop dreamboat, that line-up now goes a little something like this:
Friday 23 July
Everybody Was In The French Resistance…Now!
+ Allo Darlin’ + Veronica Falls
Saturday 24 July
The Primitives + Love Is All + Ballboy + White Town + David Tattersall (Wave Pictures) +
The Smittens + The Orchids + over 20 more bands.
Sunday 25 July
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart + Slow Club + The Pooh Sticks + Shrag + Standard Fare +
The Specific Heats + over 20 more bands.
A full list of bands playing on each day is available here.
After May it's June. And after June it's Jul-indietracks-y. Yeah!
So, dear pop dreamboat, that line-up now goes a little something like this:
Friday 23 July
Everybody Was In The French Resistance…Now!
+ Allo Darlin’ + Veronica Falls
Saturday 24 July
The Primitives + Love Is All + Ballboy + White Town + David Tattersall (Wave Pictures) +
The Smittens + The Orchids + over 20 more bands.
Sunday 25 July
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart + Slow Club + The Pooh Sticks + Shrag + Standard Fare +
The Specific Heats + over 20 more bands.
A full list of bands playing on each day is available here.
After May it's June. And after June it's Jul-indietracks-y. Yeah!
Tuesday, 25 May 2010
A summer's dream: the Bart Cummings interview
I've been listening to that new Bart & Friends album I was rabbiting on about the other day constantly since Friday. One of the great things about it is you can listen to it five times in one hour. Suck on that, stats fans.
In a fit of love, I emailed Bart Cummings to thank him for sending me his new record, and then I asked him if he'd mind doing a bit of an interview. Him being the lovely bloke he is, he of course said yes. So, here's what he had to say.
How do you go about picking and choosing your co-conspirators for each B&F album?
It’s pretty intuitive, just people who I think I’ll enjoy spending an afternoon with and who will compliment the songs musically. On the first cd 10 songs about cars and girls it was a different lineup for each song and in a couple of cases Josh (sugargliders) and Laura (autocollants) were chosen because I was after someone to write the lyrics as well as sing.
With the present lineup, the idea for that came about 18 months ago. I hadn’t done anything musical since 2001. I hadn’t even so much as picked up a guitar. Mark was up helping me paint my house and I asked him if I wrote some songs would he help record them. And its kind of grown from there. I’ve outsourced a bit of the recruitment to Mark.
Tell me the best things about being in The Cat's Miaow, The Shapiros and B&F?
The other people in the bands. I’ve been really fortunate that each of those bands has had exactly the right lineup for what we were trying to achieve at the time. The music we made was good, but it’s the time spent with the people in the bands that means the most to me.
The most daunting thing about the present lineup of B&F is that everyone involved, from the drummer through to the producer is a better guitarist than me and also has a songwriting catalogue every bit as good if not better than mine. It can be a bit intimidating at times. I generally apply the rule when forming a band of surrounding myself with people more talented than me to make me look good, but this is ridiculous.
Your songs are so short; is this something that happens consciously - or just something you can't really help?
It’s a bit of both. I do try to be concise. If something isn’t working or adding to the song I tend to edit it out. Because the songs aren’t written with a live audience in mind it does allow me to have them any length the song requires. But take “Memories fade” for example, its got an intro, 2 verses, 3 choruses and an instrumental bit and still only goes for 2.02, You can put a lot into 2 minutes. With songs its not just what you put in that matters, its what you leave out as well.
Why did you pick 'Blue Moon' to cover on the new record?
I like the lyrics, specifically the line “you saw me standing alone, without a dream in my heart”. It’s a bit cheesy I guess, but I still like it. I’ve always been fascinated by the Elvis’ version from the sun sessions as well.
The covers to your records are beautiful. is this an important part of the whole recording/releasing a record process to you?
Thanks, I do like the CDs to look swish. The Cat's Miaow and Shapiros CD sleeves were done by a extremely talented guy (refer to above rule about surround yourself with talented people to make yourself look good) called Steve Crushworthy. He was a fan of the bands so you didn’t really have to explain things to him, just let him get on with it.
The sleeve for Make you blush was done by the very talented Matt Edwards who may be familiar to you for his blog Skatterbrain. I quite liked the sleeves he was doing for his monthly mixes so I asked if he’d like to do the CD sleeve.
Who is making music that excites you at the moment?
Is this the question where I pretend to be hip and in touch as apposed to a sad old bastard who only listens to music recorded pre 1995? My favourite band from the past couple of years would have to be the Motifs. Love the songs, the harmonies, the whole package. I’m also quite partial to Very truly yours, Metric mile, Zebras. Summer cats, Fireflies and countless Swedish bands. Its probably not an era of greatness, but its definitely an era of “lots of very good things”
What do you do in real life when you're not being a pop star?
I’m a librarian, specifically working in collection development. I buy all the books, dvds, cds etc for 12 libraries. It sounds more fun than it actually is, I’m not endlessly swanning round bookstores with a credit card. I’m mostly staring at a computer. Oh, and there’s a wife and kids as well. They take up a surprisingly large amount of my time.
And would you want to be a full-time pop star?
Oooh no. I couldn’t handle the stress of worrying if a song I was writing was going to pay the rent. I’m by nature pretty shy so the whole performing thing has never been big on my agenda either.
I do occasionally get envious of Mark when I get emails from him on tour in Europe or hanging out with indie legends in Brooklyn, but I get hugs from the kids and a kiss from my wife when I get home from work each night so I figure I’m in front. Either way, the boat has long sailed on me becoming full time pop star.
What's next, musically, for you?
I’ve retained the core of me, Mark and Louis and we’ve added Jeremy from the Zebras on drums. We’ve done 1 day recording which went really well and we’ve got 5 songs ¾ done. I need to redo the guide vocals. We tend to record really quickly. I live out in the provinces and only come into Melbourne once every 6 months or so to record. We rehearse a song for 15 minutes, press record then move onto the next one. Ive got a few songs half written which im hoping we’ll record later this year, so all going well another 8 song ep early next year?
You can, and you should, buy Bart & Friends' new album 'Make You Blush' here.
In a fit of love, I emailed Bart Cummings to thank him for sending me his new record, and then I asked him if he'd mind doing a bit of an interview. Him being the lovely bloke he is, he of course said yes. So, here's what he had to say.
How do you go about picking and choosing your co-conspirators for each B&F album?
It’s pretty intuitive, just people who I think I’ll enjoy spending an afternoon with and who will compliment the songs musically. On the first cd 10 songs about cars and girls it was a different lineup for each song and in a couple of cases Josh (sugargliders) and Laura (autocollants) were chosen because I was after someone to write the lyrics as well as sing.
With the present lineup, the idea for that came about 18 months ago. I hadn’t done anything musical since 2001. I hadn’t even so much as picked up a guitar. Mark was up helping me paint my house and I asked him if I wrote some songs would he help record them. And its kind of grown from there. I’ve outsourced a bit of the recruitment to Mark.
Tell me the best things about being in The Cat's Miaow, The Shapiros and B&F?
The other people in the bands. I’ve been really fortunate that each of those bands has had exactly the right lineup for what we were trying to achieve at the time. The music we made was good, but it’s the time spent with the people in the bands that means the most to me.
The most daunting thing about the present lineup of B&F is that everyone involved, from the drummer through to the producer is a better guitarist than me and also has a songwriting catalogue every bit as good if not better than mine. It can be a bit intimidating at times. I generally apply the rule when forming a band of surrounding myself with people more talented than me to make me look good, but this is ridiculous.
Your songs are so short; is this something that happens consciously - or just something you can't really help?
It’s a bit of both. I do try to be concise. If something isn’t working or adding to the song I tend to edit it out. Because the songs aren’t written with a live audience in mind it does allow me to have them any length the song requires. But take “Memories fade” for example, its got an intro, 2 verses, 3 choruses and an instrumental bit and still only goes for 2.02, You can put a lot into 2 minutes. With songs its not just what you put in that matters, its what you leave out as well.
Why did you pick 'Blue Moon' to cover on the new record?
I like the lyrics, specifically the line “you saw me standing alone, without a dream in my heart”. It’s a bit cheesy I guess, but I still like it. I’ve always been fascinated by the Elvis’ version from the sun sessions as well.
The covers to your records are beautiful. is this an important part of the whole recording/releasing a record process to you?
Thanks, I do like the CDs to look swish. The Cat's Miaow and Shapiros CD sleeves were done by a extremely talented guy (refer to above rule about surround yourself with talented people to make yourself look good) called Steve Crushworthy. He was a fan of the bands so you didn’t really have to explain things to him, just let him get on with it.
The sleeve for Make you blush was done by the very talented Matt Edwards who may be familiar to you for his blog Skatterbrain. I quite liked the sleeves he was doing for his monthly mixes so I asked if he’d like to do the CD sleeve.
Who is making music that excites you at the moment?
Is this the question where I pretend to be hip and in touch as apposed to a sad old bastard who only listens to music recorded pre 1995? My favourite band from the past couple of years would have to be the Motifs. Love the songs, the harmonies, the whole package. I’m also quite partial to Very truly yours, Metric mile, Zebras. Summer cats, Fireflies and countless Swedish bands. Its probably not an era of greatness, but its definitely an era of “lots of very good things”
What do you do in real life when you're not being a pop star?
I’m a librarian, specifically working in collection development. I buy all the books, dvds, cds etc for 12 libraries. It sounds more fun than it actually is, I’m not endlessly swanning round bookstores with a credit card. I’m mostly staring at a computer. Oh, and there’s a wife and kids as well. They take up a surprisingly large amount of my time.
And would you want to be a full-time pop star?
Oooh no. I couldn’t handle the stress of worrying if a song I was writing was going to pay the rent. I’m by nature pretty shy so the whole performing thing has never been big on my agenda either.
I do occasionally get envious of Mark when I get emails from him on tour in Europe or hanging out with indie legends in Brooklyn, but I get hugs from the kids and a kiss from my wife when I get home from work each night so I figure I’m in front. Either way, the boat has long sailed on me becoming full time pop star.
What's next, musically, for you?
I’ve retained the core of me, Mark and Louis and we’ve added Jeremy from the Zebras on drums. We’ve done 1 day recording which went really well and we’ve got 5 songs ¾ done. I need to redo the guide vocals. We tend to record really quickly. I live out in the provinces and only come into Melbourne once every 6 months or so to record. We rehearse a song for 15 minutes, press record then move onto the next one. Ive got a few songs half written which im hoping we’ll record later this year, so all going well another 8 song ep early next year?
You can, and you should, buy Bart & Friends' new album 'Make You Blush' here.
Monday, 24 May 2010
Getting sweaty with Betty (and the Werewolves)
Hey! Whilst I try and do something to stop me melting in this heat, I don't think I told you that Betty and the Werewolves are now confirmed for our all-dayer in Nottingham on September 25th, did I?
Well, they are. Hurray! I'd like to think the gig will be to celebrate the two year anniversary of their debut single, 'Euston Station'. Here, have a look at this.
There will be one or two more bands to announce, and if we see anyone we fall in love with at Indietracks (or before) we might extend the whole thing and put something on on the Friday night, too. But that sounds hopelessly ambitious.
Back to sitting on the top shelf of the fridge for me.
Well, they are. Hurray! I'd like to think the gig will be to celebrate the two year anniversary of their debut single, 'Euston Station'. Here, have a look at this.
There will be one or two more bands to announce, and if we see anyone we fall in love with at Indietracks (or before) we might extend the whole thing and put something on on the Friday night, too. But that sounds hopelessly ambitious.
Back to sitting on the top shelf of the fridge for me.
Sunday, 23 May 2010
Bart and Friends make me happy
Hot, isn't it?Which is why I'm sat inside listening to the new Bart & Friends album, "Make You Blush", and wondering how the whole world didn't explode when Pam Berry and two of The Lucksmiths got in a studio together to make an album.
Mark, Louis, Pam and Bart from The Cat's Miaow are most of Bart & Friends, and the sleeve notes to this album would have you believe that it's been produced by James Dean. All those people come together to perform songs as adorable as 'These Words Are Too Small' or 'Memories Fade' - both of which remind me of bands as diverse (well, you know what I mean) as Brighter and Belle and Sebastian in their long-gone prime.
But it's hard not to come back to Pam Berry's voice. That downbeat, lush, wonderfully familar voice that almost like no other in pop is like an extra instrument, and Bart and his mates provide the perfect backdrop.
My only gripe is that it's only eight songs long, and my the time of the almost tear-inducing 'Weave Your Name', it's nearly time to say goodbye - and then press play again, obviously. They leave us with 'None of These Things', which is about the only time the guitars sound threatening.
The eight songs come in at under 15 minutes, but it's a 15 minutes that'll live with for a long time. 'Make You Blush' has been the soundtrack to a weekend on the Lincolnshire Wolds for me this past two days. It's made a great weekend just about perfect. It'll do the same for you, wherever you are or wherever you're going.
Wednesday, 19 May 2010
Getting a life with This Many Boyfriends
Talking of whom, here's the first proper release from This Many Boyfriends on the increasingly wonderful Thee SPC.You might have TMB down as some bunch of shouty racketeers who can't play their instruments for toffee but who are, you know, great when you're drunk. You're completely wrong. 'I Don't Like You (Cos You Don't Like The Pastels)' and 'I Should be a Communist' show a band that have found their pop core pretty quickly and aren't willing to shift. The latter even nicks the bass line from 'Barbarism Begins at Home' right near the end, the cheeky scamps.
'#1' takes a Jeffrey Lewis turn, before 'Trying is Good' cranks things up a bit and takes the last train to Fuzzville and manages to take the piss out of those bands who want to remain in their micro-indie scenes. You might want to call it the new 'Punka' - I couldn't possibly comment.
Hey, what's this? It's the 'Be My Baby' drum beat on downers, and it's an ANTHEM called 'Three Year Itch', which, if it were released by Vivian Girls, or someone like that, would be drooled over from a great height. Lauren even does this spooky spoken-word thing half way through. Think 'Remember (Walking in the Sand)' but for the drainpipes generation.
Onwards!
'Diaries' reminds me of Mascot Fight or Plans and Apologies or any other ace Derby band you might want to mention, whilst the weepy 'It's Lethal' ends this life-affirming record on a stubbornly downbeat note. But so what? Here's an EP that sounds like it was recorded by people having fun, and that's a pretty fantastic thing to hear.
'Getting A Life With' is available now to pre-order on CD with immediate digital download from the This Many Boyfriends website, whilst 'I Don't Like You ('Cos You Don't Like The Pastels)' is available now as a free-download from the Thee SPC website.
Tuesday, 18 May 2010
Yeah, (I) like (The) Whatever(s)
The Whatevers are Mike and Kate from Leeds, and in their own words they make "indiepunky teenpop mess".That's a pretty cool description, but there's so much more to them than that.For a start there's those voices. They're almost like Standard Fare in reverse; Mike is all raw and vulnerable, Kate has the pretty vocals that meander all over the shop. And if you want to add another song to this year's cannon of instant classics, you should look no further to 'Rhapsody in Blue Jeans', which reminds me of Po! or The Girl With the Replaceable Head, or something like that, anyway. I'm not kidding you, this is a song that you've been waiting years to hear. Want heartbreaking lyrics? A killer harmony? A mad guitar bit halfway through that sounds like it's being played by a bag of rascals? You get all of that, you lucky so-and-so.
There are other songs, oh boy there are other songs. Some of them sound like the best Jonathan Richman songs he never wrote (and I'm not even much of a fan of JR), other sound like those amazing early Hefner tunes on 'Breaking God's Heart'.
They're really very special, and, together with This Many Boyfriends, Leeds now has at least two splendid pop bands.
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