| Author | Message | ||
     Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10616 Registered: 05-2005 |
The Gutter Twins - Saturnalia | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 774 Registered: 08-2005 |
The Chills - Kaleidoscope World and Brave Words, the new CDs. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10618 Registered: 05-2005 |
Smug Brothers - In The Book Of Bad Ideas | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 1542 Registered: 04-2005 |
I eventually got round to getting the remastered "Brave Words" too and it was worth the wait (is that really 36 years ???). As Pádraig already said, it's not a radical reworking but it just sounds a lot more "alive". I bought the record when it was released and it sounded like there was constantly a huge clump of dust on the stylus  What's a shame is that I decided against getting the CD version this time and went for a digital download. Since the Brexit I get hammered on taxes for anything coming from the UK. I've never got to the bottom of what these mysterious taxes actually are ! They appear as "frais de douane" (customs duties ?) but when you question them the customs people say that it's nothing to do with them and it's the La Poste adding supplements. And when you ask La Poste they say that they never add anything and it's the customs who impose these charges. Ah French administration ! | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10621 Registered: 05-2005 |
Peter Cat Recording Co. - Bismillah. They're playing in Sydney in a couple of weeks. Hopefully I will be there. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10623 Registered: 05-2005 |
An Underworld playlist I’ve made (divided into three parts as it’s three hours and 13 minutes long) using the tracks chosen here https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2024 /jan/04/underworld-20-best-songs-ranked | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10625 Registered: 05-2005 |
David Bowie - Scary Monsters | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Hugh_nimmo Post Number: 1481 Registered: 03-2007 |
Ducks Ltd. - Train Full Of Gasoline https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_8fmcCT DfE Track from their new album 'Harm's Way' which will be released in the U.K. on 9th February, 2024. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10627 Registered: 05-2005 |
Now Then The Very Best Of Richard Hawley. Having given a glowing review to his debut mini album in The Irish Times 23 years ago, I’m claiming credit for his subsequent success. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10630 Registered: 05-2005 |
And because I know you are all desperate to know what I wrote about Richard Hawley in 2001, here it is. Richard Hawley **** Richard Hawley Setanta Very occasionally a record sounds so utterly different the second time you hear it that you wonder what planet you were on the first time round. Such is the case with the eponymous debut of ex-Pulp guitarist Richard Hawley. The mini-album's seven songs slowly and subtly reveal a genuinely maverick talent. Coming Home sounds like Roy Orbison fronting Giant Sand with their desert, rather than country, persona to the fore. The instrumental Caravan should soundtrack an Arizona road-movie while Naked In Pitsmoor is a near-perfect 3 a.m. heartbreak song. Wonderful voice, brilliant guitarist. Guns won't stop his march to success. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10632 Registered: 05-2005 |
No Mono - Islands part 1. An Alice Springs/Melbourne duo and I’m pretty sure it’s the first non-Indigenous music I’ve heard from the red centre. Tom Snowdon’s voice is an extraordinary thing and Tom Iansek’s musicianship and production does it justice. I’m listening to it on CD, but it’s on Bandcamp and I’d be very curious to see what others (looking at you Randy, Hugh, SWx2 and Andrew in particular) think. Snowdon’s vocals remind me a bit of David McAlmont, and that’s definitely a compliment. If Iansek’s name rings a bell, it’s because he’s in Big Scary and #1Dads. https://yesnomono.bandcamp.com/album/isl ands-part-1-lp-2018 | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 2251 Registered: 10-2006 |
Well, not my cup of tea, Pádraig! Voices that muffle or mask the words, especially when electronically treated (not sure in this case) annoy me in general, as do certain tonalities. Rufus Wainwright, for example - very different, of course - almost always gives me a headache, a real non-metaphorical one. Don't know why. This kind of thing is going in that same direction for me! | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10633 Registered: 05-2005 |
Fair enough, Stuart. I think that album caught me at the right moment. On another day it may have annoyed me too. I’m with you on Rufus Wainright. I heard his song April Fools - and loved it - on a CMJ promo in 1998 before his debut album came out. I got the album on the strength of it and was disappointed. I bought at least one more of his albums after that, then gave up. Nothing I’ve heard by him since has been to my liking. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10635 Registered: 05-2005 |
The Smile - Wall Of Eyes. Loving it so far. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10636 Registered: 05-2005 |
The Revelons - Anthology. They had one 7” released in 1979 and that was it until Anthology was released in 2004. I knocked over a bunch of CDs and there it was. I presume I found it in a bargain bin somewhere. It’s fantastic. Thank goodness for labels - one called Sepia Tone in this case - who put money and time into rescuing bands from obscurity. The Revlons are still utterly obscure, of course, but at least they finally got their music released decades later. Fred Smith plays on several tracks, so it’s no surprise their closest comparison is Television, but The Revelons are no cheap knockoff. Have any of you ever come across them? Randy and Rob, maybe? | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10637 Registered: 05-2005 |
Aeon Station - Observatory | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10640 Registered: 05-2005 |
Money For Rope - Money For Rope. 2012 album by a Melbourne band I found in a JB Hi-fi bargain bin for a dollar or maybe two. I read an interview where they said they wanted to sound like an Australian band. Well, they didn't succeed there. They sound like an American garage band with a Hammond organ and occasional sax. And I really liked it. They're not reinventing garage rock 'n' roll, but they do it very well. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10644 Registered: 05-2005 |
Peter Gabriel - i/o. It sounds better every time I hear it. | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Hugh_nimmo Post Number: 1482 Registered: 03-2007 |
Blueprints - Wild Foxes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEHqg_JU Vjw Blueprints is Marc Regueiro-McKelvie and Mia Schoen who are also members of the Melbourne based band New Estate who released their last album ( 5 ) in 2023. Padraig, Discogs lists No Mono as Ambient / Electronic / Chillwave which are not genres that really appeal to me. Lo-Fi indie is mainly my thing. Sorry. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10645 Registered: 05-2005 |
Hi Hugh, a description of Ambient / Electronic / Chillwave would put me off too! And it's probably accurate, but I liked it very much nonetheless. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10646 Registered: 05-2005 |
The Waterboys - 1985. I’ve ordered the six CD box set, but I’m listening to the stream in meantime. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10647 Registered: 05-2005 |
John Bramwell - The Light Fantastic. The second solo album by the former I Am Kloot frontman. Twelve bucolic pop songs in 36 minutes. That’s the way to do it. | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Hugh_nimmo Post Number: 1483 Registered: 03-2007 |
Dumb Things - Instant Coffee https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGgYuPs_ ZtQ The second single released in the last few months by this Brisbane based band so hopefully there is a new album on the way. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10648 Registered: 05-2005 |
I just streamed the Liam Gallagher and John Squire album. I can’t imagine doing so again. Too many nondescript, quotidian plodders among the few good songs. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 2259 Registered: 10-2006 |
Irrationally delighted to hear Finding you on Nicky Wire’s radio prog, don’t know if they get a lot of play generally on international radio, probably not. Mr Wire also played a Beefheart favourite from the Captain’s enforced easy-listening days, but without easy-listening Beefheart on Whistle Test I might never have found my way to his more obstreperously poetic work. He played some other good stuff as well, and has fully mastered the crucial dj jargon of “That was…” and “This is…” Following on from a cracking Guy Garvey show that started off with Nina Simone’s rampaging Sinnerman it all made for a fine Sunday afternoon’s listening (if spread over several days). | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 779 Registered: 08-2005 |
Bit on eighties kick at the moment... Ed Kuepper and the Yard Goes on Forever: Everybody's Got To The Chills Crowded House: Temple of Low Men | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10654 Registered: 05-2005 |
Eyelids - No Jigsaw. A compilation of a new to me Portland band who have the Flying Nun sound down to a tee, and also cover The Clean, JPS Experience and Straitjacket Fits. Some great stuff here https://musicofeyelids.bandcamp.com/albu m/no-jigsaw | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Hugh_nimmo Post Number: 1484 Registered: 03-2007 |
The Smittens - Believe Me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCGtLNT- iSc Let's Whisper - The In-Between Times https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7c8jhDnr EAs | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10656 Registered: 05-2005 |
Peter Garrett - The True North. Just released today, and it’s very good, sometimes great. He played last in Sydney last night, but I was working. | ||
| TROU Member Username: Trou Post Number: 568 Registered: 05-2005 |
Bill Ryder-Jones – Iechyd Da.Very good album even if I still prefer the previous one, Yawn. Real Estate - Daniel. Irresistible music... For both I have tickets for the concert. | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Hugh_nimmo Post Number: 1485 Registered: 03-2007 |
Skink Tank - Livin Under Rock https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmWonlgo k-A The band hail from Melbourne and this release collects together their entire back catalogue to date ( 13 songs.) Released on digital and vinyl only on 27th April,2024. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10660 Registered: 05-2005 |
Lod - Folder 12” EP. Danish band (with Danish vocals) playing Krautrock. I’m listening to the vinyl, but it’s also on Bandcamp. https://lod-folder.bandcamp.com/album/fo lder | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10661 Registered: 05-2005 |
Romero - Turn It On! Their guitarist Adam Johnstone died from cancer last October, aged just 32, so I don’t know if these Melburnians will ever make a second album. I hope he died knowing what a great record he made. As with my previous post, I’m listening to this on vinyl, but there is a download/stream available https://romeromelbourne.bandcamp.com/alb um/turn-it-on | ||
| TROU Member Username: Trou Post Number: 569 Registered: 05-2005 |
This week, I went to see Bill Ryder-Jones in the flemish region of Belgium. He was accompanied by 6 (six!)excellent musicians for a gig without downtime. I wouldn't have minded if it all lasted longer. By far my best post-covid concert. can only dream of a concert by Robert accompanied by a band | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10665 Registered: 05-2005 |
R.E. Seraphin – Fool’s Mate. Oh, this is so good. Until 15 minutes ago I’d never heard of him, but one good review was enough for me to stream the album. It reminds me of every indie band I’ve ever loved - if they all had Jim Reid on vocals. See, music reviews still matter and newspapers and magazines that dropped them are human scum. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4896 Registered: 03-2005 |
From Vallejo of all places! Vallejo is one of the grittier towns in California's San Francisco Bay Area. It filed for bankruptcy in the wake of the Great Recession. That's what I love about the Bandcamp music world: it opens up the possibility of music to people from unexpected places. No, it's not likely that you'll be able to rake up piles of money like the big Boomer generation acts did or like Taylor Swift does today but you get to explore your musical vision and put it out there. I find these more personal, idiosyncratic musical visions more interesting and when one clicks with me it's that much more satisfying. What still needs to develop is a compensation model that allows more people to perhaps support themselves with their creativity but what I personally hope to never see again is a narrow group of gatekeepers. The old-style big record labels and corporate, programmed radio stations horribly limited what we had access to in my younger years. As a listener, I don't miss them at all. A link to Pádraig's recommendation: https://reseraphin.bandcamp.com/album/fo ols-mate | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10668 Registered: 05-2005 |
Jody Harris & Robert Quine - Escape | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Hugh_nimmo Post Number: 1486 Registered: 03-2007 |
Kindsight - No Shame No Fame https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wmEeV3D _I4 The band hail from Copenhagen, Denmark, and this is their second album release on Rama Lama Records | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4898 Registered: 03-2005 |
François & the Atlas Mountains - Plaine Inondable I'm late to this outfit, apparently from Bristol even though their main guy is a Frenchman. There's none of the borderline snarky wit that I associate with the Bristol music scenesters. According to Discogs they've released 8 albums so far and the one above dates from 2009. It was one of the recommendations made to me by the proprietor of Handsandarms Records in Paris and a clear winner. The entire album is wonderful in its scope and range but for some reason youtube in my market blocks the video for the first song so here are the sixth and ninth songs, just because: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0ErtjRl Kao&list=OLAK5uy_lBxC5ACpJ55GeRjLUGP4nRw VCKVuVxrkg&index=6 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqZ363ro 14s&list=OLAK5uy_lBxC5ACpJ55GeRjLUGP4nRw VCKVuVxrkg&index=9 I've only heard it once so far so it's likely that different songs will yet jockey for position as favorites. | ||
| David Gagen Member Username: David_g Post Number: 529 Registered: 02-2007 |
Prefab Sprout - Jordan The Comeback | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4906 Registered: 03-2005 |
I've had the CD version for a few years but I just took delivery of the vinyl reissue of this twee pop wimpy boy rock classic album: Julen y la gente sola -- s/t I was surprised to find the hype sticker in English. It is spot on: "Julen Y La Gente Sola's debut is one of the most remarkable Uruguayan albums of the last decade. The ten songs included here trace a path that unites twee pop with indie rock, filtered by clear influences from Montevidean singer-songwriters. Their lyrics narrate, with a bittersweet look at mundane details, acid humor and honest sentimentality, stories about what it means to be young and lost in a small country." Yes, really. My only additional explanation is to say that from my anglophone perspective I think I hear clear influences from the likes of Robert and Grant and Roddy Frame. I reserve the purchase of redundant vinyl versions of things I already have on CD for my very favorite records, because even though the sound on the vinyl is almost never as good as on the CD the five (or six) song suites that each record side provides allows a great album to breathe as it was intended. And it's just nice to have the full sized artifact. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ6jUxc3 Dvo&list=OLAK5uy_l-EPOPhar050K5nCVL_T-Tk xTlYpHpOmc&index=8 | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10675 Registered: 05-2005 |
Polite Company - Please Go Wild. It's the first album in 21 years by Alan Gregg, formerly of The Mutton Birds. His previous one was as Marshmallow. The working title for the new one was The Gilbertweens - a tribute to Gilbert O'Sullivan and you know who. https://hearasingle.blogspot.com/2024/05 /polite-company-please-go-wild.html | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4909 Registered: 03-2005 |
The Girl with the Replaceable Head - Sometimes She Lives in the Dark Featuring Lindy on drums! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8bWKub6 vWs | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10684 Registered: 05-2005 |
John Cale - POPtical Illusion | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 2280 Registered: 10-2006 |
Worth a listen? | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10685 Registered: 05-2005 |
Definitely, Stuart. I'm very glad that the 'rock and pop music is for the young' nonsense has long been disproved by the likes of John Cale, 82, Kevin Godley, 78, Graham Gouldman, 78, Bob Dylan, 83, Peter Gabriel, 74, and so many more. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10686 Registered: 05-2005 |
Aisha Kandisha's Jarring Effects - El Buya. A Moroccan band's 1991 album. I wish I could be really cool and say I've been listening to it for a third of a century, rather than buying it this morning and having just listened to it for the first time. https://allnightflightrecords.com/produc ts/aisha-kandishas-jarring-effects-el-bu ya | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10690 Registered: 05-2005 |
Mabe Fratti – Sentir Que No Sabes. Probably the best Spanish language, cello driven, art rock album from Guatemala via Mexico I’ve ever heard. https://tinangelrecords.bandcamp.com/alb um/sentir-que-no-sabes |