Ho-Ho-Holidays Are Coming: Los Campesinos!

On the 13th of December,
New Narcotics gives to you...
Los Campesinos!

Deck the halls with boughs of blah blah, as it is that time of year again and a smattering of alternative holiday songs begin to arrive down the musical chimney. Upbeat indie popstars Los Campesinos! have created a merry kind of melancholy with 'Kindle A Flame In Her Heart', free online and due to be released on a 7" with the band's own fanzine, Heat Rash.

Kindle A Flame In Her Heart by Los Campesinos!

Ho-Ho-Holidays Are Coming: The Forest & The Trees

Tis' the season to be merry (both in the drunken and jolly sense) and I am bloody madly merry at the moment. SO, without a doubt New Narcotics will be devoting some time each day to allow your ears some holiday happiness via some musical merriment!

I may not be Santa (despite my best attempts) but I can give the gift of spirited sounds of the most wonderful time of the year!!!!!!!!!

On the 12th of December,
New Narcotics gives to you...
The Forest & The Trees

Joel and Linnea Edin are a married Swedish couple who decided to make some music for their friends one holiday season, before realising the two of them sounded pretty darn pretty on record. So, they became The Forest & The Trees and branched out into more general tales of heartbreak and love, set to a jaunty indie pop soundtrack, fleshed out with a wonderful hook or two along the way.

Here is one of those first Christmas presents, originally for close friends and families, and now for the whole wide world! 'Santa Claus is Coming' bops along through a wilderness of bells and percussion and a gorgeously entwined vocal duet, with the striving vocals of Joel and the harmonious tones of Linnea, wrap the whole thing in a beautifully sonic ribbon. AND ALL FOR FREE!

#6: Foxx Bandits

Artist of the Day #6:

Foxx Bandits

It is always a tricky question of allegiance when a friend, or even close acquaintance, forms a musical making group and then invites you to a show, or to listen to their newly recorded work. God forbid, what happens if you happen to hate the sounds pouring out of your friends mind and mouths? WHAT DO YOU SAY?!

Thank GOD that a friend of mine has formed a band with their pulse on the music scene, alongside a trio of talented and musically minded individuals, who know how to manipulate instruments and words to squeeze pure emotional ethos into a track. Foxx Bandits are a foursome based out of London who have gone all over the place in one year of existence, from folk pop to shoegaze to lo-fi, all the whilst notching up a selection of surprisingly successful gigs at the likes of Koko and the Barfly.

An EP is long overdue but they are releasing 'Gold Dresses' this upcoming Monday the 6th December at the Social. This may seem like one big advertisment for the gig, which it sort of is, but HELL, when you give the likes of 'Kafka' a listen, I defy you not to get down on your knees and thank me (in a pleading rather than dirty way). 'Kafka' oozes sincerity and sentiment with the sweetest melodic mix of xylophone and softly sung vocals before dropping into an overbearing wall of sound in the final third, which rattles your heart when heard live. Similarly 'Youth' starts off with a hark back to indie rock riffdom before charging its way to an adolescent sing-along chorus that churns up shared collective memories of youth and young love, evocative of a much more upbeat (and fuzzy) version of The Smiths or a much more calm version of The Jesus and Mary Chain.

Nothing more can be said, except CHECK THEM OUT, give this wondrous cover a listen, and come to the Social on Monday FOR FREE (where I shall also be spinning some records inbetween musical acts)....

Foxx Bandits

#5: Rumour Cubes

I apologise for the delay in a NEW BAND but I blame the following things; weather, work, drinks, friends, pubs, shops, transport and family.....

And NOW, excuses out of the way, and some tuneful treats!!

Artist of the Day #5:

Rumour Cubes

Post rock was originally a musical genre beyond me, sprawling out for what seemed like hours in dreamy, far-off visions of wonderment. I was a youngster wrapped up in blares of soul, R&B and the swathes of indie rock that dominated adolescent stereos from the start of the new millennium. Then Sigur Ros came into view, approachable and sumptuous, a gateway into the world of dawdling instrumental meanders into melody and ambiance.

Thankfully my mind and ears have opened in harmony to billion different genres and supposed styles of songwriting, and now I offer forth Rumour Cubes as my band of the day. Consisting of six like-minded musicians centred around London town, they blend delicacy and power within the space of the same track, towering above the world and suddenly burrowing headfirst into the dirt.

Mucky guitars stand alongside sauntering violin and relentless percussion, eking out an altogether uplifting sound that scatters patches of disconsolate despair amidst the soaring string sections. 'The University is a Factory' seeps into life with a cinematic sentiment, before setting off into madness, rising and rising before the beautifully orchestrated decline into riotous fuzz, buzz and scuzz.

You can download their EP for FREE here at Bandcamp, titled 'We Have Sound Houses Also', and then check their soundscaping potential out live at the Workshop on December 8th (where you can come and buy me a drink for introducing you to such a wondrous act).

Rumour Cubes

#4: First Rate People

Artist of the Day #4:

First Rate People

I have discussed this band before, back in the bewilderingly sporadic and schizophrenic days of New Narcotics, and will continue to do so until every last man, woman and child (who drift by this blog) fall in love with them. They are a band from Toronto (the Canadian musical scene manages to churn out such effortless melody makers from time to time- Arcade Fire, Feist, New Pornographers, Bryan Adams(!)) who have spawned a musical free-for-all that churns up beautifully bop-along pop and heartfelt soul, then occasionally lobs in a grenade of electronica or folk. And yet still manage to maintain a consistently delicious sound that transcends genre.





First Rate people produce a range of songs that stretch from heartbreaking acoustic pluckings through to soul-sampling indie R&B. 'Orion' samples a snatch of 'Betcha By Golly Wow' by the Delfonics which manages to sidle up so gorgeously alongside the vocals and synth blares, it sounds like the two were recorded side by side, arm in arm (the fact that this is one of my favourite soul songs may influence my LOVE for this song and band).

But the likes of the dancefloor ditty 'Girl's Night', the electropop pulse of 'Gentleman's Club' and the deliriously weepworthy 'It's Never Not Happening' all add up to make these Canadians possibly my favourite band of the year. And all this without a proper release. I ache and screech for something to be crafted and pushed into my face at high speed from this group, and WISH AND DREAM AND HOPE that they find their way to London, hopefully to my house, to play me some of their music on our British shores.

For now, download a bunch of their tracks from Last FM here and simply fall in lust, love and longing for First Rate People.

First Rate People

#3: Yamon Yamon

Artist of the Day #3:

Yamon Yamon

A math rock sensibility feels very much part of an outdated fashion, from a mid 2000's scene that flourished and faded as quickly. The likes of Foals have gone on to develop their sound into something with longer, less noodly abstractions, garnering acclaim and new fans in the process. But, and it's a big but, in music (as in all art) consider no form, genre or style dead. A fresh approach, process or even just a slice of something damn good can bring back whatever you assumed lost.

Which brings me to Yamon Yamon, a Swedish band who peddle a relaxed math rock, resembling a stoner parallel of Minus the Bear. They tread the line between pop and post rock, managing to evoke the memory of a handful of bands from your adolescence whilst maintaining a distance up and away from those teenage addictions. The smoothly nonchalant pace feels like a mature act honing their musical talent after years of practice, evident in the subtle overdrive, fingertapping percussion and sparky guitar riffs, jabbing and poking in when suddenly required.


Vocally, lead singer Jon Lennblad possesses an aural quality that sedates and subdues in equal fashion, effortless underneath the delicious array of chords and hooks. 'Alonso' opens the new album This Wilderlessness and lays bare the sheer expression, understated emotional punch and drifting peacefulness that make Yamon Yamon utterly listenable at any point of the day. Album highlights include the ridiculously rhythmic 'Fast Walker' and the impeccably restrained 'No Depression'.

Check out the new album This Wilderlessness HERE and, if you like what you hear (and why shouldn't you!) it is only five English pounds.

Yamon Yamon

#2: Matthew and the Atlas

Artist of the Day #2:
Matthew and the Atlas

Americana folk should be seen as the bigger, bolder and brasher brother to the recent surge of British Mumford and Marling folk. For some reason, the home nation of Bob Dylan manages to evoke a stronger sense of true heritage when it comes to bedraggled vocals, steadily cautious guitar pickings and an array of traditional percussion.

So, to see a London band, with a vocalist from Aldershot, swell with folk stylings that so vividly recall dusty, backwater Wyoming wilderness, the split between Americana and British folk begins to shake and shatter in the wake of growling vocals about life and love. Matthew & the Atlas are fronted by Mathew Hegarty, a singer who expels a voice so mired in husk and whiskey, managing to resonate an American accent without the usual nasal schtick.

It is difficult to understand how such experience in terms of lyrical content, vocal strain and melodic meandering can spurn from such a young group of British musicians, but it is simply wonderful to listen to regardless. The Nick Drake-like purr of 'Come Out of the Woods' is singed with a slow burning flicker of soul and sadness, whilst 'Beneath The Sea' feels like Tom Waits with a taste for world music.

Give them a listen and maybe pop along to see them at the Luminaire on the 16th December, I shall see thee there.

Matthew and the Atlas