MANCHESTER GIGS IN MUSIC: February 2010 Pt.1

The usual monthly mix-tape of a selection of bands playing Manchester this February to help plan this month's gig-going - download link in the post following [45 mins/52 MB]

Xiu Xiu Gray Death [2.54] (23 Feb Islington Mill BUY TICKETS)
Tune-Yards News [6.19] (13 Feb Ruby Lounge BUY TICKETS)
Internet Forever Pages of Books [8.52] (19 Feb Kro Bar BUY TICKETS)
Jesca Hoop Four Dream [13.48] (18 Feb Deaf Institute BUY TICKETS)
Thao with the Get Down Stay Down Know Better Learn Faster [17.32] (2 Feb Deaf Institute BUY TICKETS)
These New Puritans Attack Music [22.16] (3 Feb Deaf Institute BUY TICKETS)
First Aid Kit In The Morning [24.50] (23 Feb Deaf Institute BUY TICKETS)
Shearwater Castaways [27.50] (24 Feb Ruby Lounge BUY TICKETS)
The Low Anthem To Ohio [31.05] (9 Feb Academy 2 BUY TICKETS)
Adam Green Buddy Bradley [33.01] (1 Feb Club Academy BUY TICKETS)
Field Music Effortlessly [36.52] (26 Feb Islington Mill BUY TICKETS)
Surfer Blood Swim [39.48] (6 Feb Sound Control BUY TICKETS)
She Keeps Bees Cold Eye [42.38] (6 Feb Dulcimer BUY TICKETS)
Midlake Acts of Man [45.36] (17 Feb Academy 2 BUY TICKETS)

Not forgetting:
2 Feb Johnny Foreigner Ruby Lounge / 4 Feb The Ex and Brass Unbound Deaf Institute / 7 Feb Imogen Heap Academy 1 / 8 Feb Brett Anderson Academy 3 / 8 Feb Dan Friel The Corner / 9 Feb Band of Skulls Ruby Lounge/ 9 Feb Yasmin Levy Band on the Wall / 11 Feb Sian Alice Group + Esben and the Witch Deaf Institute / 11 Feb Liam Frost MoHo Live / 11 Feb Beach House Islington Mill / 11 Feb Jess Klein Night & Day / 12 Feb MV & EE Islington Mill / 13 Feb Alan Pownall Nexus Art Café / 13 Feb Dick Gaughan Band on the Wall / 14 Feb I Am Kloot Academy 3 / 15 Feb Hot Club de Paris Deaf Institute / 15 Feb Spoon Academy 3 / 15 Feb Everybody Was In The French Resistance…Now Ruby Lounge / 16 Feb Stornoway + Beth Jeans Houghton Band on the Wall / 17 Feb Erland and the Carnival Deaf Institute / 17 Feb Fionn Regan Academy 3 / 19 Feb The Soft Pack The Ruby Lounge / 20 Feb Lowline Academy 3 / 21 Feb James Taylor Quartet RNCM / 21 Feb Yeasayer Academy 3 / 21 Feb Swimming The Corner / 25 Feb Japandroids Deaf Institute / 25 Feb Hockey Academy 2 / 26 Feb Mugison Club Academy / 26 Feb The Telescopes Chorlton Irish Club / 28 Feb African Soul Rebels Bridgewater Hall / 28 Feb Kong Ruby Lounge

And here is the first single from Everybody Was In The French Resistance...Now! in which Art Brut's Eddie Argos and The Blood Arm's Dyan Valdes take on Avril Lavigne. Playing at the Ruby Lounge on 15 February.

MANCHESTER GIGS IN MUSIC: February 2010 Pt.2

Monthly mixtape: download here [45 mins/52MB].

TONIGHT IN MANCHESTER: Choir of Young Belivers + Table

The Danish orchestral-pop collective Choir of Young Believers plays the intimate folk bar Dulcimer in Chorlton, Manchester tonight.

Here's what promoter Hey Manchester says: "Musically, Choir Of Young Believers is located somewhere between low-key folk and orchestral indie pop. The simple yet perfectly crafted melodies are arranged around piano, guitar, banjo, drums and percussion, and draped in lush, dramatic and imaginative arrangements, resulting in a sound that is both solemn, stoic, achingly beautiful and unmistakably ‘nordic’".

If you've heard songs from the album "This Is For The White In Your Eyes" or reading the above description you may wonder how they will pull off the sound live. Well this video, 'a short introduction' to Choir Of Young Belivers visiting to New York, shows how they work as a two-piece. Whether they appear as an eight- or two-piece tonight, expect gorgeously poignant melodies.



Support tonight is the highly recommended six-piece Table, also specialists in gorgeously poignant orchestral-pop. Table have just released their debut single 'Songs You Can Sing' on Humble Soul, home of The Miserable Rich and Liz Green. This is a more minimalist and low-key take on their sound but quite solemnly beautiful. The seven inch vinyl version comes with CDR of the two songs and hessian sleeve if ordered direct or you can buy the regular version from Piccadilly Records.



What promises to be a memorable evening of delicate music and beautiful introspection for just £8 in advance. Or pay more on the door.

CLAUSTROPHOBIA [Spotify] [Last.fm]
Choir of Young Believers
This Is For The White In Your Eyes [BUY]

'Just Because We're Running': DEER PARK

Mark Grassick of Deer Park clearly has a good address book. The eponymous debut record by this Anglo-Irish four-piece was produced by Paul Hollingsworth and mastered by Billy Stull (Okkervil River, Centro-matic, Midlake, Shearwater). It features appearances from Mark Hamilton of Woodpigeon, Tom Lewis of Stagecoach and Paul Megna of The Oxygen Ponies. The album cover illustration is from artist Julie Miller (worked with Centro-matic and South San Gabriel) and the whole package was put together by ex-Sub-Pop’s art director and illustrator Jesse Le Doux (responsible for The Shins’ Chutes Too Narrow). However this self-released debut is more than simply the product of good connections and second-hand inspiration.

‘Sounds like: Bottled Misery’ says the band’s Myspace page. This self-description and that list of contributors and collaborators hint at the world-weary, wide-screen and whisky-soaked sounds of Deer Park. But they don’t reveal the variety, depth or the quality of music on offer. Even within the first three songs, Deer Park moves with ease from the confessional misery-blues of ‘Decanonised Saints’ (think Conor Oberst) to the tense punkish roots-rock 'n' roll of ‘Just Because We’re Running’ (think The Hold Steady).

The well-worn Americana genre is respected (if not revered) but given an injection of feisty Irish swagger or a literate, melancholic dose of Catholic guilt and despair. Or sometimes both in the same song – see ‘Your Future Is All Used Up’. In a sprightly but deeply satisfying 32 minutes, these ten songs touch on saints, J Edgar Hoover, Spanish movies, Elmore Leonard novels, escape, loss and redemption, fitting in along the way a last-drink-of-the evening bar-room duet with Randi Russo (‘My Drunkard, My Navigator’) and closing with the final cathartic intensity of ‘Nails’. Highly, highly recommended.

Attention London folk: Deer Park are playing two support slots at the Luminaire this month: Thursday 28th January with Malcolm Holcombe [BUY TICKETS] and Friday 29 January with Will Hoge [BUY TICKETS].

JUST BECAUSE WE'RE RUNNING
DECANONISED SAINTS
Deer Park
Deer Park [BUY]

TONIGHT IN MANCHESTER: Vivian Girls

Second album from Vivian Girls "Everything Goes Wrong" did not create the sensation their 2008 debut did; mainly because it was the same formula repeated. And it lacked the breathless sprint that their eponymous 22 minute debut album had. However when the formula is this good ("short, sharp, and punky songs influenced by C-86, shoegaze, girl groups, and classic punk rock played with a ramshackle abandon and with no real musical chops" - Allmusic) why change?


I'm not expecting any future changes in musical direction for the Brooklyn trio of Cassie Ramone, Kickball Katy, and Ali. But you should make sure you catch their gritty lofi melodies now just in case they do decide to go all mature on us.

Vivian Girls play The Deaf Institute tonight with support from much-fancied boy-girl indie-poppers Veronica Falls and local lads Get Serious. Advance tickets just £8 here and here. Vivian Girls continue their UK tour until 24 January - dates here.

TENSION
Vivian Girls
Everything Goes Wrong [BUY]

BEACHY HEAD
Veronica Falls
Rough Trade Indiepop 09 [BUY]

'I thought I was a bohemian already': Stanley Brinks & The Wave Pictures

In late 2006, André Herman Düne played his last show with the French indie-band Herman Düne and after toying with a range of aliases (including Ben Dope, Ben Haschish, Klaus Bong, John Trawling, John Andreas and Lord Stanislas no less), finally settled on the name of Stanley Brinks.

The lastest Stanley Brinks album, another collaboration with Loughborough's The Wave Pictures but the first in which they get equal billing, is out this month on Ciao Ketchup. If you know their earlier records or are familiar with Herman Düne, you know what to expect: shuffling, uncomplicated indie-pop shamblings, shot through with a healthy dose of bohemian charm.

As ever, these travelling troubadour tales, crammed with characters and incidents where the line between auto-biography and fiction is (probably) blurred beyond recognition, reinforce the image of Stanley Brinks as the itinerant bohemian and romantic. And for me, more-of-the-same is not necessarily a bad thing.

Some songs midway through the album do drag a little - the amiable shuffle becomes a morose trudge at a couple of points - but in gloriously big-hearted songs like 'End of the World', 'Hi Jane' and 'Keep Your Head High' - and even the Jonathan Richman-esque whimsy of 'Why The Martians Are Gone' - there is plenty to recommend this whole album to you. The fanzine-photocopy quality cover may make it look like an amateurish affair but it is far, far from that.

The sessions for this album in Berlin in 2008 also provided (I think) the recordings that would form The Wave Pictures's largely acoustic "If You Leave It Alone" album from last year. There is rumoured to be an 'electric' companion-piece album from these sessions possibly due out soon. Plus drummer Jonny Helm has recorded an album of covers (including Stanley Brinks' 'Blues About The Size Of Someone Else's Heart') and later this year singer David Tattersall's solo album will be released. Wiaiwya Records are giving away first single 'Happy For A While' free here. And guess what? It's co-written with Stanley Brinks....

HI JANE
Stanley Brinks and The Wave Pictures
Stanley Brinks and The Wave Pictures [BUY]

BLUES ABOUT THE SIZE OF SOMEONE ELSE'S HEART
Jonny 'Huddersfield' Helm CD-R [BUY]

Celebrating Love and Disaster.

Sometimes more than just the music is something to be celebrated and applauded. New imprint Love & Disaster has just released a four track EP ‘Love & Disaster 1: New Music from New Manchester artists’. As well as digital download, it is available as, wait for it, gatefold-sleeve ten inch vinyl (and this photo does NOT do it justice at all).

I don’t get into the game of predicting who is going to ‘big’ and neither does Love & Disaster (in the main I just follow the also-rans, should-have-beens and overlooked of this world). Instead this EP is trying to capture an eclectic mix of Manchester artists at a certain point in time – with two future two releases planned which you could pledge support to here - rather than pigeonhole a 'scene'.
You can listen to the four artists – Airship, Dutch Uncles, Jo Rose and a remix of Delphic from Everything Everything – on the Love and Disaster website. But at £1.79 for all four songs (digitally via 7 Digital) or £5.99 on that limited gatefold vinyl (from Piccadilly Records this week, everywhere else next week) you should probably go straight for a purchase.

It’s an eclectic mix; my favourites being the magnificently gloomy piano-led Americana of Jo Rose and the angular prog-wave of Dutch Uncles. I'm also pleasantly enjoying the indie pop-rush of Airship who have surprised me with this song; my previous experience seeing one live support slot last year was not a good one.

In this interview with L&D main-man Dan Parrott on the Hey Manchester site you can read more about his motivations and belief in music made in Manchester, the reason why the sleeve is gatefold and how these artists aren’t in thrall to the Hacienda era/mythology... because given their age most of them were watching Blue Peter not visiting the club.

Spoiler Alert: the reason the sleeve is gatefold is to accommodate the above photograph of all the artists without cropping it. Aesthetic principles over business sense? ‘Broad church’ and artist-led approach to recording and releasing music? Doesn’t this sound familiar?? Scratch that thought, Love & Disaster is refreshingly free from nostalgia for a bygone era or from trying to capture or define a ‘scene’. That and the label's quiet ambition and gorgeous packaging deserves applause.

But if like me you buy the vinyl, before ripping a digital copy you should read the section of the L&D website that I missed: "Order the vinyl from any of these stores and email us a photo of you and your vinyl and we’ll send you the MP3s".

TAKEOVER [last.fm]
Dutch Uncles
Dutch Uncles [BUY]

TONIGHT IN MANCHESTER: Beat The Radar

Beat The Radar are four Cumbrian exiles relocated to Manchester and tonight they are playing at Cafe Saki as part of an Underachievers Please Try Harder night: "Downstairs we have This Many Boyfriends from Leeds, making their Manchester debut. Currently receiving some much deserved blogging hype on the ole megaweb. Alongside them we have an absolute gem of a band in Uranium Lake, and the consistently brilliant Beat the Radar"

"To The City, From The Sea" the debut album from Beat The Radar came out late last year on Akoustik Anarkhy. Whereas some AA bands lean more to obtusely ramshackle, Beat The Radar are not in that mould. They play tightly executed, slightly shouty but marvellously old-fashioned indie. Indie as it used to be.

The AA website waxes lyrical about their latest signings:
"If you’re starting to feel that indie music has lost its heart, then Beat The Radar may be the antidote to your malaise. BTR’s debut album, To The City, From The Sea, is packed with heart-on-their-sleeve lyrics, raw vocals, chunky guitars and big, pop choruses. Named for their move from the wilds of the far northwest coast to inner city Manchester, To The City, From The Sea was recorded with producer Tom Knott (Micah P Hinson, King Creosote, The Courteeners, Emmy The Great, The Ting Tings) at Airtight Studios in Chorlton. The finished result is a proper, old fashioned debut album: plenty of upbeat songs, a couple of downbeat ones, and a brilliantly raw distillation of Beat The Radar’s raucous live shows".

I can't comment on their live shows (yet) but the album is an enjoyably punchy 34 minute listen and promises great things. (One of the standout tracks '18, 19, 20, 21, 22' was on this month's mixtape). And you can get a copy for just £7 in the Akoustick Anarkhy Shop. I just hope the current recruitment drive for a new drummer doesn't interrupt their upward trajectory or tonight's performance.

Not sure if there are any advance tickets for tonight but at these prices who's complaining? "Bands open at 9. Clubnight upstairs opens 10.30. And the fun doesn't stop til half 3. All for £4 or £3 before half 10/ anytime with a flyer".

PRETEND YOU PLAY GUITAR [Spotify] [last.fm]
Beat The Radar
To The City From The Sea [BUY]

'What's So Bad About Dying?': Joe Pernice's "It Feels So Good When I Stop"

In the early 90s I fell heavily for 'alt-country' starting with Uncle Tupelo and Giant Sand; moving on to Palace Brothers, Lambchop and anything else in the genre (or close to it) especially anything released on Loose Music. One band that eluded me though was Scud Mountain Boys, despite them cropping up on several of the Loose "New Sounds of the Old West" compilations that I was buying compulsively. I just never got their sparse, brooding take on country-rock despite the critical plaudits.

Scud Mountain Boys disbanded in 1997 after just two records and leader Joe Pernice formed Pernice Brothers (with his brother Bob would you believe), releasing their debut "Overcome by Happiness" in 1998. And THIS is where I got interested.

I fell hook, line and sinker for the lush arrangements of tracks like 'Crestfallen', 'Clear Spot' and 'Monkey Suit' on that record. This wasn't alt-country - although Pernice did sound a little like Josh Rouse's older brother to me - this was glorious orch-pop, more in debt to Brian Wilson, the Left Banke and Todd Rundgren than Gram Parsons. Pernice Brothers released four more albums up to and including 2006's "Live A Little" but all has been quiet since. And then at the end of last year came "It Feels So Good When I Stop: A Novel Soundtrack".
Now it's not an album of Pernice originals (although one is planned for later this year apparently) but an album of cover versions to accompany Joe's debut novel of the same name 'a story of a deeply flawed but irrepressibly likeable hero stumbling towards adulthood, learning about heartbreak and redemption, and struggling to love and commit on his own terms'. It gets even more "Hi-Fidelity" according to Joe:
"Though the book is not explicitly about music, there are quite a few cover and fictional songs mentioned, so I thought it would be a cool idea for me to record some of those songs and release them, as a soundtrack album to the novel". Now not having read the book I can't comment on whether it is any good or whether this album 'works' as a soundtrack. But the ten songs (and three brief excerpts from the book) work pretty well as a listen in its own right.

It's a motely collection of covers spanning Del Shannon, Plush, Sebadoh, Todd Rundgren, Tom T. Hall and The Dream Syndicate but all held together by Joe's familiar weary-wistful voice and a clear affection for the material.

Not all songs and arrangements work: I find it hard to listen to 'Soul and Fire' without the deranged intensity of the Sebadoh original. However there is enough hazy swoon and romantic ache on offer to keep me more than happy. And in an astonishingly brave move, Pernice somehow makes a cover of 'Chim Chim Cheroo' (yes the chimney sweep song from "Mary Poppins") so captivating I forget the original Dick van Dyke original.

So not perfect but perfectly-good until that new album of originals comes along. And there's more - a short tour to accompany the record that accompanies the book. Joe is playing three solo shows this month (his first appearances outside North America since 2003):

26 Jan The Union Chapel, London [BUY TICKETS]
27 Jan Oran Mor, Glasgow [BUY TICKETS]
28 Jan Academy 3, Manchester [BUY TICKETS]

Not sure how much of the book is on offer on this evenings; but the music will be definitely worth catching.

FOUND A LITTLE BABY
Joe Pernice
It Feels So Good When I Stop [BUY]

CRESTFALLEN
Pernice Brothers
Overcome by Happiness [BUY]

PENTHOUSE IN THE WOODS
Scud Mountain Boys
Massachusetts [BUY]

MANCHESTER GIGS IN MUSIC: January 2010 Pt.1

New year, new music I say. January may be quiet month for gigs but there's still plenty to discover with gigs from new Manchester bands (Beat The Radar, Delphic, Egyptian Hip Hop, The Answering Machine) as well as from visitors from American, Denmark and Finland. Plus what looks to be the first ever live performance from New Jersey's Memory Tapes. This will sell out so don't miss out on this or other treats this chilly month.

As usual a monthly mix-tape of a selection of bands playing Manchester this month - download link in the post following [38 mins/44MB].

The Answering Machine Obviously Cold (29 Jan Academy BUY TICKETS)
Vivian Girls Moped Girls (17 Jan Deaf Institute BUY TICKETS)
Future of the Left Arming Eriteria (19 Jan Ruby Lounge BUY TICKETS)
Memory Tapes Bicycle (16 Jan The Corner BUY TICKETS)
Real Estate Fake Blues (27 Jan Deaf Institute BUY TICKETS)
Bird Names People Should Get More Aware (18 Jan Retro Bar BUY TICKETS)
Joe Pernice I'm Your Puppet (28 Jan Academy 3 BUY TICKETS)
Beat The Radar 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 (9 Jan Café Saki BUY TICKETS)
Joensuu 1685 I'm On Fire (20 Jan Ruby Lounge BUY TICKETS)
Laura Veirs Wide-Eyed, Legless (19 Jan Club Academy BUY TICKETS)
Choir of Young Believers Apart (26 Jan Dulcimer BUY TICKETS)

And not forgetting:
16 Jan The Austins Night & Day Café /16 Jan The Stupids Retro Bar / 16 Jan Denis Jones Band on the Wall / 17 Jan Wolfmother Academy / 18 Jan Rolo Tomassi Deaf Institute / 19 Jan Fyfe Dangerfield Deaf Institute / 20 Jan Mancunia Americana Night & Day / 23 Jan John Cooper Clarke Ruby Lounge / 24 Jan Durutti Column The Lowry / 28 Jan Marble Valley Dulcimer / 29 Jan Delphic Islington Mill / 29 Jan Egyptian Hip Hop Sound Control

MANCHESTER GIGS IN MUSIC: January 2010 Pt.2

Monthly mixtape: download here [38 mins/44MB].

Christmas? Thanks for Nothing

The title of Slow Club's Xmas EP sums it all up for me: 'Christmas Thanks for Nothing'. A festival of consumerism and fake sentiment and bad TV in which very little of interest happens. And it blights the musical landscape too; so much so the only music happening by most accounts has been a mediocre 17 year old song beating a reality TV 'star' covering Miley Cyrus.

But wait. You don't have to look very far to find some decent festive music released by decent bands - and with a lot of it being given away for nothing.



So the three singles you should part money for are:
Slow Club 'Christmas Thanks For Nothing' [BUY]
Camera Obscura 'The Blizzard' [BUY]
The Brute Chorus '(This Christmas) Bury Me in Hawaii' [BUY]

The Brute Chorus: 'Bury Me In Hawaii' from ILL FIT RECORDINGS & PROMOTION on Vimeo.

And elsewhere here is some of the free stuff:

Dean & Britta 'He's Coming Home' [FREE download]
The Joy Formidable 'My Beerdrunk Soul is Sadder Than a Hundred Dead Christmas Trees' [FREE download]
Kill It Kid 'Just Like Christmas' [FREE download]
Johnny Foreigner 'Winterval' [FREE download]
Slaraffenland 'Little Drummer Boy' [FREE download] courtesy of Hometapes
Amy Gore 'Dear Santa' [FREE download] courtesy of Bloodshot Records
The Silos '(Christmas Comes Once A Year) You Are Always In My Heart' [FREE download] courtesy of Bloodshot Records
Dex Romweber Duo "Dark Christmas" [FREE download] courtesy of Bloodshot Records
Kevin Devine 'Splitting Up Christmas' [FREE download] courtesy of Big Scary Monster Records
The Lost Cavalry 'Stop The Cavlary' [FREE download]
The 10p Mixes 'A Christmas Gift from..' [FREE download]

And finally via The Line of Best Fit I discovered this: "Oh! Canada has been working with a whole host of Canadian acts to bring you 25 (see what we did there?) tracks to celebrate the winter and the upcoming festive season: "Ho! Ho! Ho! Canada"'. Artists on this compilation include The Wilderness of Manitoba, The Acorn, Woodpigeon, Zumpano and Ohbijou.
Ho! Ho! Ho! Canada [FREE download but donations encouraged details here]

As well as donations where suggested make sure you save up some of your Xmas spends and gift tokens to support these artists and those releasing new music in 2010.

And that's as festive as I get. Bah humbug one and all.

TONIGHT IN MANCHESTER: Fruit Bats

Chicago residents Fruit Bats play The Roadhouse in Manchester tonight as part of a short European tour (possibly their first visit to Manchester?). Formed around main man Eric D Johnson, Fruit Bats have been an on/off affair since the early noughties. This year they released their fourth - and possibly best - album "The Ruminant Band" on Sub Pop.

Like their earlier records, the Fruit Bats sound on this album sits at the softer end of Sub Pop's roster alongside The Shins, The Postal Service and Iron & Wine. Drowned in Sound summed up their easy-going folksy indie-rock on "The Ruminant Band" thus: "It’s the sound of a band coming into its own: psychedelia-tinged stomps rubbing shoulders with profoundly romantic tales spun of the warmest yarn. All set against an evocative backdrop of Michigan skylines, woozy piano and twinkling slide guitar, this is one made like they used to make ‘em – and it’s utterly gorgeous to boot."



Eric talks about Fruit Bats and his stint as a touring member of The Shins with Hey Manchester (who are promoting) here. Support tonight from Piney Gir and Puzzle Muteson. A heartily recommended evening - especially to avoid the Xmas party season hell elsewhere on offer.

Advance tickets here or pay more on the door.

BEAUTIFUL MORNING LIGHT
Fruit Bats
The Ruminant Band [BUY]

TOP TEN ALBUMS OF 2009

Was it me or did End of Year lists start early this year?

I remember seeing definitive Top Ten Albums in November when there was a still a FULL MONTH of the year to go. Well I shouldn’t complain because I started thinking about this in June. So whether early or late, here is my Top Ten Albums of the Year. Despite advice to the contrary I have kept it to ten – for no other reason than it’s tradition. But that’s not to say there hasn’t been PLENTY of good music I have enjoyed.

So thanks to Times New Viking, Sonic Youth and Titus Andronicus for the art-rock noise. Old favourites – The Wave Pictures, Yo La Tengo, Loney Dear, Malcolm Middleton, Bishop Allen, The Mountain Goats, The Broken Family Band – have all delivered excellent records. I’ve enjoyed first albums from Cate le Bon, The XX, The Low Anthem and Girls; and second albums from The Young Republic, The Victorian English Gentlemens Club, Taken By Trees and Atlas Sound. There’s been great garage-rock from Kid Congo & The Monkey Birds and The Strange Boys; and this was the year when I finally GOT Andrew Bird with the sublime “Noble Beast”. Finally thanks to The Pains of Being Pure At Heart and Dent May and his Magnificent Ukulele – an unofficial 12th and 11th placing (the latter sound-tracking an over-long journey back from Green Man where Dent May’s Saturday night show was a festival highlight).

But what defines my Top Ten is these are the albums that not only I listened to the most, but they are the ones that I talked about /enthused about / made copies of /cajoled people to buy the most.

10. DEAD MAN'S BONES Dead Man's Bones [BUY] [YouTube] [last.fm]
Two actors and a children's choir make macabre cabaret music for an imagined film soundtrack about zombies and werewolves. It should not work. It does - brilliantly.

9. SWEET BABOO Hello Wave [BUY] [YouTube] [last.fm]
Achingly beautiful acoustic folk-blues with a big heart and a wry smile.

8. SLOW CLUB Yeah So [BUY] [YouTube] [last.fm]
Bruised and imperfect (like all good relationships) skiffle-pop that veers between raucous and heart-breaking.

7. CAMERA OBSCURA My Maudlin Career [BUY] [YouTube] [last.fm]
Just when you thought C.O. couldn't better 2006's "Let's Get Out Of This Country". Sublime.

6. TUNE-YARDS Bird-brains [BUY] [YouTube] [last.fm]
Lo-fi folk, nursery rhyme chants, African rhythms - all delivered in glorious home-recording fidelity. A danceable avant-pop triumph.



5. BILL CALLAHAN Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle [BUY] [YouTube] [last.fm]
Philosophic reflections on love and nature draped in gossamer-light orchestral-folk arrangements. Can I say sublime again?



4. THE PHANTOM BAND Checkmate Savage [BUY] [YouTube] [last.fm]
A thrillingly potent mix of motorik rhythms and voodoo-swamp-blues-rock - with a touch of psychedelic jamming - from Glasgow's genre-defying art-rockers. Difficult to describe - best just played loud.

3. WINDMILL Epcot Starfields [BUY] [YouTube] [last.fm]
Like sitting in a planetarium in awe at the beauty and wonder of the universe but also feeling small, insignificant and vulnerable. An astonishingly beautiful record: a 41 minute treatise on loneliness, love, death and the end of our planet. And he claims he's retiring from music?!

2. MY SAD CAPTAINS Here and Elsewhere [BUY] [YouTube] [last.fm]
Superior indie-pop with a hint of Americana, all lovingly arranged and blending bitter-sweet reflection with joy and melody. A quiet triumph that deserved more, much more, of a fanfare this year.

1. FANFARLO Resevoir [BUY] [YouTube] [last.fm]
Well it's been in pole position since early summer and although they have come close, none of the records above have dislodged it. It combines clever orch-pop (Sufjan Stevens, Andrew Bird) with swooning indie-pop (most things Swedish or on Fortuna Pop) with literate pop nous (say The Shins) with a great rock dynamic (say Arcade Fire, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! on their first album). BUT sounding completely original and not in the shadow of anyone. I've lost count of how many different editions of this album have been issued this year. But whatever edition or format, you should own this.


Spotify playlist of a selection of tracks from 8.5 of these albums is here (no Bill Callahan and only one Slow Club track from the album).

Also highly recommended:
AC Newman / Adrian Crowley / James Yorkston & The Big Eyes Family Players / The Oxygen Ponies / Jim O’Rourke / Wavves / Broken Records / Califone / The Hidden Cameras / Animal Collective / Darren Hayman & The Secondary Modern / Great Lake Swimmers / Its A Buffalo / Cymbals Eat Guitars / Lord Cut Glass / British Sea Power / The Voluntary Butler Scheme / Euros Childs / The Bookhouse Boys / Forest Fire / White Denim

Maybe I do need a Top Thirty or a Top Fifty next year?

WRAPPING UP 2009 with My Sad Captains

My Sad Captains take their time to do things. But they do them properly and with great attention to detail. I first heard and saw them in 2007. And bought the single ‘Bad Decisions’ asking in the same breathe “When’s the album out?”

But it wasn’t until nearly two years later said album came out this year in June on Stolen Recordings. “Here and Elsewhere” is beautifully summed up by Rough Trade Shops: "A delicately wrought blend of male and female vocals, sitting on top of sparkling, jangly guitars, warm organs and a remarkably deft sense of melody. Recalling the bittersweet memories of childhood summers, and the yearning of love and loss, but with a definite sense of joy among the moments of reflection. A melodic indie-pop classic in the making".



Here singer and guitarist Ed Wallis reflects on the last 12 months:

What I/we will remember most about 2009 is...
Going to South By South west was probably all round the best experience. It was good for the band and felt like a bit of validation after all the work we'd put in, and good preparation for the album coming out. And then we just had a really good, slightly mad time, staying in Austin with a really friendly Texan with a foot in both Texan camps: the liberal Austin scene of SXSW and the good ol' boy Southerness that shoots squirrels, drinks whisky and wrestles pigs.
Also, it would be remiss not to send an honourable mention to our album coming out this year. We'd been working on it for a while - the oldest song was probably about 4 years old by the time the record came out - so for it to see the light of day, turn out pretty good, and come out on one of our favourite labels deserves a pat on the back.

What should be forgotten about 2009…
Shooting the video we did for 'A Change of Scenery'. Nick had what was a very good idea: to go out in a boat on a river and have swarms of umbrellas floating by while we were playing. but we did it in January/February, and rain stopped play on a couple of occasions; - the river burst its banks; - and then when we did manage to film it was snowing and incredibly windy and cold, which made for some nice shots but a very disgruntled band.

The best gig we played was...
For me it was the day we came back from SXSW. We had a show at the Macbeth with the excellent and much lamented Plan B magazine: we came back with our peckers up and just felt really confident and so kind of nailed it. Another show that sticks in the mind was supporting Pete and The Pirates at the Borderline - it was a Stolen Recordings night, it was sold out, Pete and the Pirates were brilliant as they always seem to be and we tend respond well to fuller rooms and a bit more pressure.

The best gig I/we saw was...
Deerhunter at the Scala I think. they surprised me: I really love the band but hadn't expected the vastness of it live, nor how engaging Bradford Cox would be. Also, Blur at Hyde Park was pretty fun and emotional.

A record from 2009 that will be still be played in 10 years time?
Cass McCombs has again probably done my favourite record of the past year ["Catacombs"]. I went to see him last year expecting to hear all the 'Dropping the Writ' songs and he played almost entirely new songs, and its rare that someone could do that and you wouldn't mind because they were so good. It was at the Luminaire, you could hear a pin drop and it was one of the best shows i've seen. A lot of the songs I remembered and are on this record, which is spare, intriguing and lovely. The man deserves more props.

Overlooked in 2009?
Apart from Cass, the Sparklehorse/Dangermouse collaboration 'Dark Night of the Soul'. It strikes me as madness that it hasn't been properly released. The songs and production are brilliant, and it's got many of my fave people singing and doing their best work in years - Jason Lytle, The Flaming Lips, James Mercer.

And what can we look forward to from My Sad Captains in 2010?
We are having a break from gigging to properly work on new songs. We've got lots that we haven't had time to flesh out, so are going to concentrate on that rather than playing shows. I'm getting pretty excited about the prospect of making a new record and am feeling good about the direction things are going, so fingers crossed we might get something out by the end of the year, or early 2011.

2011?! We haven’t even got to 2010 yet and that feels an awfully long way away. The only consolation is that when that second album arrives it will no doubt be as lovingly crafted as this year’s record. As well as the album (available here), My Sad Captains also released a six track digital EP available for the bargain price of 79p. Trust me – you need both album and EP.



GOOD TO GO
My Sad Captains
Here and Elsewhere [BUY]

WRAPPING UP 2009 with The Miserable Rich

After Clinic yesterday, here is another band who didn’t release an album in 2009. “Twelve Ways To Count”, the debut album from The Miserable Rich, came out late in 2008 and the single from that album ‘Pisshead’ made it – just – on to later copies of my songs of the year compilation. This year the Brighton-based five piece did release an EP of cover versions in November. However I will associate 2009 with The Miserable Rich as they were the single band I saw most this year (at Dulcimer, The Deaf Institute, Sacred Trinity Church and Fuel).



The band’s singer/percussionist James de Malplaquet shares his thoughts about the year:

What I will remember most about 2009 is...
It's a toss-up between recording our second album, and trying to do a photo shoot in a freezing Austrian river the morning after a gig. Certainly blew away the cobwebs.

What should be forgotten about 2009...
All the shitty money stuff.

The best gig we played was...
The Orange Blossom Festival in Northern Germany. Wonderful 2000 crowd, sold 200 CDs in an hour, and they had bottles of absinthe back stage. The memories are a little hazy from there on in.....

The best gig I saw was...
I wasn't there myself but everybody tells me I missed the gig of the year with Andrew Bird at the Green Man. No sour grapes - just wish I'd been there.

A record from 2009 that will be still be played in 10 years time?
Andrew Bird - Noble Beast. Grizzly Bear - Veckatamist

Overlooked in 2009?
Yes, the thought had crossed our minds.

And what can we look forward to in 2010 from The Miserable Rich?
We''ll be back with our new record “Of Flight And Fury”. It's got a life of its own - and a fiery little number it is too.

The band have been playing some of those new songs this year – I filmed Wolfie at Fuel plus elsewhere on You Tube you can hear Oliver, Somerhill, Bye Bye Kitty and Chestnut Sunday. "Of Flight and Fury" will be released on Humble Soul in the Spring. Looking forward to 2010 already!



THE KNIFE-THROWER'S HAND [last.fm]
The Miserable Rich
Twelve Ways To Count [BUY]

WRAPPING UP 2009 with Clinic

As part of the countdown to my Top Ten Albums of 2009 on Tuesday, here’s Clinic a band who didn’t release a record this year (but “Do It!” was fifth in last year’s Top Ten). However the band did tour to Italy, Belgium, Estonia, Slovakia, Austria and Mexico; and they (nearly) played an autopsy theatre in Liverpool, played the Offset Festival in Hainault Country Park, shared a bill with Shearwater in Leeds, supported Dinosaur Jr in London and headlined three nights of their own Mass Freakout festival in October.


Sadly I didn’t get to see any of these gigs. Must try harder in 2010.

However last month I put forward ‘Distortions’ as one of the key songs of the Noughties. Now I’ve been hard-pressed to finalise a Top Ten of the last twelve months let alone the last ten years, but if put on the spot I do think “Internal Wrangler” by Clinic would top that list of albums of the decade.

Pitchfork rated it 53rd in its Top 200 albums of the decade saying "this album is a precise procedure, opening an incision with a trio of sharp, jabbing songs, exploring with a jumble of fragments, and finally implanting itself permanently in a way few records so scattered and damaged can. Clinic never quite took another little piece of our hearts that way they did on their first album, but Internal Wrangler offers enough emotional surgery to last a lifetime".

Taking a break from recording studio album number six, Clinic gives these brief verdicts on this year.

What I will remember most about 2009 is...
Everything and probably nothing.

What should be forgotten about 2009...
March and April.

The best gig we played was...
Mexico City.

The best gig I saw was...
Pere Ubu, Berlin.

A record from 2009 that will be still be played in 10 years time?
Sun Araw “Heavy Deeds”.

Overlooked in 2009?
The Lotharios

And what can we look forward to in 2010 from Clinic?
New album: David Soul and a bit of Electric Eels influence.

The Lotharios?? Me neither. So overlooked in fact they are invisible on the internet. Unless they are this scratch band from Liverpool playing ‘Penguins in the Rigging’?? Or this refers to The Lothars, a three-thereminists-and-one-guitarist, improvisational drone quartet?? Typical Clinic misdirection methinks.

But more importantly, a new Clinic album in 2010 taking inspiration from David Soul AND the Electric Eels: now that’s something to be excited about! Sounds like a contender for album of next decade already.



INTERNAL WRANGLER [Spotify] [last.fm]
Clinic
Internal Wrangler [BUY]

WRAPPING UP 2009 with Windmill

“Puddle City Racing Lights” by Windmill from 2007 was a very good record indeed. This year’s record “Epcot Starfields” is an EXCEPTIONALLY good record. There will be fans of the former record who will still prefer it over this year’s but “Epcot Starfields” moved me in a way Windmill’s debut didn’t begin to.



I wrote about it previously here and on Altsounds.com saying: This second album by Windmill is a suite of ten songs about dust particles, space, Carl Sagan and planetary doom. All inspired by a childhood visit to the Epcot space center in Florida… an astonishingly beautiful record: a 41 minute treatise on loneliness, love, death and the end of our planet, touchingly realised and quite moving... "Epcot Starfields" is an evocative and engaging journey, like sitting in a planetarium in awe at the beauty and wonder of the universe but also feeling small, insignificant and vulnerable. And like those feelings, the mood this album creates stays with you long after it has finished. (And am chuffed that those reviews are quoted on the Windmill Myspace page). It is not just me who rates this record as you can see from reviews on Drowned in Sound, The Line of Best Fit, The 405 and Paste Magazine.

Released in September officially, Windmill took this record on tour during September and October (there is a series of video tour diaries on YouTube documenting this) Here, succinctly, Matthew Dillon (aka Windmill) talks about the last 12 months and what the future holds.

What I will remember most about 2009 is...
District 9. That was very good, indeed.

What should be forgotten about 2009
My bad back.

The best gig we played was...
Blimey... They all blend into one. Maybe something in Austria with mountains and chocolate.

The best gig I saw was...
Paperplain.

A record from 2009 that will be still be played in 10 years time?
I'm sure that every record released will have found at least one listener that will adopt the record for life.

Overlooked in 2009?
A bit.

And what can we look forward to in 2010 from Windmill?
"Epcot Starfields" marks the end of Windmill for the foreseeable future. I have reached the end of my desire to tour and to produce music. I would like to make one more record someday, but, I can't see it happening anytime soon.

Yikes! Not only wrapping up 2009 but wrapping up Windmill?! I hope this is only a temporary pause or disillusionment. When Matthew talks about making this record in one of those tour diaries, even casually over a beer, you get a strong sense of what a labour of love this record was and is. And that intensity of feeling is summed up in the closing paragraph of The Line of Best Fit review:

“Epcot Starfields”, like the album that preceded it, is a showcase of the wonderful talent of Matthew Thomas Dillon. There are some spectacular moments on it, and when everything clicks Windmill can be phenomenally beautiful. It can also be such an emotionally draining listen at times that it’s hard not to be concerned for Dillon. After all we can turn the stereo off; this stuff is banging around in his head constantly.

I hope making music is not such a personal drain on Matthew as this suggests – a future without another Windmill record is quite a bleak one.

"Epcot Starfields" is available to buy direct in numerous formats including MP3, FLAC, vinyl and CD with a T-shirt option too if you want. It will come as no surprise when I say I heartily recommend you do so.



ELLEN SAVE OUR ENERGY
Windmill
Epcot Starfields [BUY]

WRAPPING UP 2009 with The Phantom Band

As we wind up the year, I asked a few bands who have made an impression of me and on this year to share their thoughts on the last 12 months. So here's the first of four interviews as part of the countdown to posting my Top Ten Albums of 2009 next Monday.

One of those albums is “Checkmate Savage” from Glasgow’s The Phantom Band. Released in January on Chemikal Underground and finishing the year as number one in the Piccadilly Records Best of 2009 chart, “Checkmate Savage” is a thrillingly potent mix of motorik rhythms and voodoo-swamp-blues-rock - with a touch of psychedelic jamming. "Proto-robofolk" in their words. I only got to see them live twice this year, first at the Deaf Institute in March and then at Green Man Festival in August, but the album has been on constant rotation since the beginning of the year.

Duncan Marquiss (guitar) and Andy Wake (keyboards) shared their thoughts separately but as you see they agree on many things: the highlights of 2009 are also the things they want to forget; and that 2010 for The Phantom Band will be a year of bespoke merchandise as well as a new (third?!) album.

What I will remember most about 2009 is...
Duncan The release of “Checkmate Savage”
Andy Sitting naked round a fire in the middle of a Norwegian Festival arena

What should be forgotten about 2009…
Duncan “Checkmate Savage”
Andy Sitting naked round a fire in the middle of a Norwegian Festival arena

The best gig we played was...
Duncan ...hard to say as there were quite few belters for us, for many different reasons - nudity in Norway, stage invasion in Inverness, sublime execution in St. Gallen. Maybe, our first show in Paris, I've never seen French people so enthusiastic and it was really nice that it was our fault.
Andy In terms of our performance I think the show in an old cinema in St.Gallan, Switzerland is up there as one of our best ever. It was either that or Belladrum Festival. Or maybe Storas Festival in Norway. Can't decide... let's go with Green Man Festival.

The best gig I saw was...
Duncan Chromehoof and Cluster at Rich Mix in Bethnal Green.
Andy Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds at T in the Park.

A record from 2009 that will be still be played in 10 years time?
Duncan “Spoils” by Alasdair Roberts, even though he doesn't like it himself apparently.
Andy Alasdair Roberts “Spoils”

Overlooked in 2009?
Duncan Climate change.
Andy Gnod - Gnod LP01

And what can we look forward to in 2010 from The Phantom Band?
Duncan Another album, tour videos and bespoke phantom knitwear.
Andy Hopefully our as yet untitled third album (we're going to release our third album before our second - we'll probably release our second album fourth or fifth) if we can get it recorded in time. Other than that, more tours etc - the usual stuff, but as well as that we are thinking of releasing a line of custom pedals and effects that we've been tinkering on as well... maybe by this time next year people will be twiddling with their own Phantomators. We're also planning to give away a lot more free stuff. And open a bank, a radio station, a mechanics workshop and launch a line of designer suits. Aftershave?

Final words from Piccadilly Records:
“Checkmate Savage” is otherworldly, and hard to pin down, with a freeform spaciousness that band’s only usually discover on their third or fourth albums, and in that respect The Phantom Band are most certainly way ahead of the game, one can only wonder what their next album will bring. They’ve been compared to the Beta Band, krautrock legends Neu! and Can, as well the likes of Nick Cave, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, the Violent Femmes and Captain Beefheart, but The Phantom Band are truly out on their own. A quite fitting, and truly exceptional album of the year.

BURIAL SOUNDS [Spotify] [last.fm]
The Phantom Band
Checkmate Savage [BUY]