Music Is Forever

'Music is forever; music should grow and mature with you, following you right on up until you die.' ~Paul Simon

I believe it is simply time for another assortment of music madness before the weekend, enabling you to sit inside while it rains (or suns) and simply listen, rather than having to deal with that whole 'outside' thing...

--------------------------------------

Two brothers who used to play with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver form Megafaun, a group that revels in the current wave of lo-fi folk rock that sounds so beautiful in so many settings. A lazy weaving of sounds and vocals make up the laid back but sumptuous sound that Megafaun project, apparent in the likes of meandering 'Lazy Suicide' and the contemplative nature that lies at the heart of 'Kaufman's Ballad'.

They have two fantastic albums out and are touring relentlessly this year around the USA and I have my fingers crossed they will return with a new album and a few dates in the UK sometime soon!

Megafaun's Myspace

--------------------------------------

Radiant Dragon is a pretty awesome name. And not a bad musician from all I have heard. It is rare for an electronic musician to catch my ear but his atmospheric indietronica is perfectly pitched using instruments and software to create tracks that must be heard through headphones without distraction, allowing for the immersion that they richly deserve. Somewhat cinematic and completely drenched in a layer of pop that shines through the wandering beats, bleeps and hums that make up the music of Radiant Dragon. Check out the peaceful momentum of 'Frost Satellite' whose pace allows you to drift away for some time, in a state of alternative bliss.

Radiant Dragon's Myspace

--------------------------------------

Only one song to listen to but its a gorgeous one. The sweetly named Kisses are a LA duo who have appeared with a song titled 'Bermuda'. The track and sound hints at disco, electronica, chillwave, indie and pop, bouncing along all-too-merrily on a wave of joy. It truly feels full of summer sun and makes me long to find a beach to dance to this song upon. A few DJ sets in London are tentatively set but I urge this group to bring out a few more tracks and get a live show on the road (to my road please...).

Kisses' Myspace

--------------------------------------

Anais Mitchell has created a simply brilliant Folk opera titled 'Hadestown' described as "the story of Orpheus and Eurydice set in post-apocalyptic Depression-era America." The record tells the story with different musicians as different characters, including Justin Vernon, Ben Knox Miller and Ani DiFranco. Standout tracks include 'Way Down in Hadestown', 'Wait For Me' and the awesome 'Wedding Song'. Check it out at Myspace before you buy the record!

Hadestown's Myspace
Hadestown Website

--------------------------------------

The maturing musical moreology (more crap basically)...

• Haunted Stereo are a lovely set of Southampton folk musicians who have released a bunch of beauteous EPs over the last couple of years and have a double A-Side on the way on Sotones Records, 'On A Pin/Lock The Door', out 17th May (but check out some of their previous work here).
• Summer Camp are an indie pop band with secret identities, appearing on myspace with a handful of simply wonderful tunes such as 'Ghost Train' and little else. A blog full of pretty, old pictures is run by them and they seem to be playing sporadic, secret shows here and there....Listen.....
• Check out 'Night Animal' from the Finnish, indie pop band Burning Hearts...
• I love Ben Gibbard (musically) but I hate Ben Gibbard (due to his current fiance)...here's some of his music, well a cover of someone else's music....
• Music related by the weakest of links, Bill Murray is a GOD! Hanging out with Wu Tang and bartending after SXSW....
• And finally, the biopic that needs to be made...WEIRD: The Story of Weird Al Yankovic

Albums out over the next week or so that you should buy include;

• 'I Will Be' by Dum Dum Girls [grrl-gaze awesomeness that howls along]
• 'Go' by Jonsi [pure and unadulterated dreampop from the frontman of Sigur Ros]
• 'Down The Way' by Angus & Julia Stone [folky acoustic pickings accompanied by soft, tender vocals and strings that melt hearts...]

--------------------------------------

I shall be updating in time for Day Of Eating Chocolate Eggs and will be venturing to Nottingham before then to attend the Student Radio Award Conference, so wish me luck in meeting Huw Stephens and falling in love with him!!

Ta Ta my lovelies!!
xxx
X
xx
X
x

How To Join A First Rate Yucky Cult....

'I like any reaction I can get with my music.' -Jim Morrison

My body is aching and dying thanks to something called 'exercise' that I decided to partake in yesterday, and my muscles are realising the effects of such actions this beautifully terrible day. Hopefully music, musicians and more music will alleviate my pain somewhat, as well as, maybe, a bit of alcohol and junk food. Allons-y!

--------------------------------------

I am going to try and avoid making puns with an excellent band recently discovered via other blogs, First Rate People. An old school soul ethos (with a gorgeous sample of The Stylistics) mixed with alt rock, that feeds a musical hunger I never knew I had. 'Orion' and 'Girls Night' are endlessly listenable popping and bopping modern pop songs that stretch across genres effortlessly, similar to Dirty Projectors. Check out this first rate band (damnit...) RIGHT NOW!

First Rate People's Myspace

--------------------------------------

Want an awesome free EP by an awesome new band?

Yes I hear you scream at your monitor?

Well, here you go: head here and listen away... http://cults.bandcamp.com/

Cults are a band without a myspace and with an un-google-able name but gosh darnit, they make some good indie pop. Drenched in the 60s and urging me to go to New York sooner rather than later, their sing-along style on the likes of 'Go Outside' pulls the corner of your mouth into something of a smile whether you want it or not. 'Most Wanted' resembles a lo-fi outtake from a Phil Spector production. Simply lovely...

--------------------------------------

A few years ago, in my younger days (ahh), I fell for a band called Cajun Dance Party, a riotous indie party band whose yelping, youth and vigour matched my own....
Now, after splitting up, members of the band are back with a more mature, shoegazey project known as Yuck, emitting a beautiful mixture of fuzz and murmuring. 'Georgia' is slightly 1990s, slightly euphoric and completely compelling. A myspace player full of awesome tracks makes for a day spent repeatedly clicking, so set to it!

Yuck's Myspace

--------------------------------------

Continuing the cacophony...

• Joanna Newsom is simply wonderful and any who says otherwise has probably never heard of her. Her new album has been out for a couple of weeks and here she is enunciating amazingly on Jimmy Kimmel in the US. I want to kiss that mouth...
• Yo Gabba Gabba is THE most amazing kids show in existence. Previous guests have included Mark Mothersbaugh and The Shins. Now we have Weezer as giant bugs, Of Montreal helping make upset tummies better and, best of freaking all, Mos Def as a superhero....fuck Postman Pat....
• A lovely bit of psychedelia indie from Neon Indian via his first release since their awesome album 'Psychic Chasms'. Tis called 'Sleep Paralysist' and is not too shabby.
• RIP to Mark Linkous, and whilst I knew little about him and his work before recent events, I have now chastised myself for not listening to Sparklehorse in the past and if you havent', push you to listen to 'Happy Man' as a starting point...
• Sigur Ros' frontman is know working as Jonsi and this epic blast of his ability is worth a few hundred listens atop a mountaintop at least; 'Tornado'.
  

Albums out over the next week or so that you should buy include;

• 'Volume Two' by She & Him [gorgeous indie pop from one gorgeous indie popstar and one pretty cool indie folk minister]
• 'The Big To Do' by Drive-By Truckers [Melodic southern rock stylings]
• 'Under Great White Northern Lights' by The White Stripes [live recorded DVD & CD of the iconic modern rock duo]

--------------------------------------

Happy Weekend Everybody!!
(oh and say hello to all of your lovely mothers for me!)
Ta Ta!
xXx
X
x

Stolen Sound...

'Music is enough for a lifetime but a lifetime is not enough for music' ~Sergei Rachmaninov

This week I have been mostly gaining a gamut of music via friends and their hard drives, taking my musical knowledge, breadth and width, and stretching it that teensy bit further. A mixture of soundtracks, modern folk and hip-hop has been tipped into the musical trough I feed from and in doing so, my musical joy busts open another button...

Enough with the terribly shitty description and onto some amazing music!

--------------------------------------

The number of fuzzy girl groups is slowly growing and so far, so good, if the likes of Dum Dum Girls are anything to go by. The four LA ladies that make up the group have the shadowy west coast sound that feeds on slurring guitars and lo-fi production methods, culminating in deliciously replayable tracks such as 'Jail La La', a blast of noise and melody.

Coated in black and oozing miserabilia, the groups debut album 'I Will Be' is released on 29th March and I, for one, am highly anticipating the takeover by reverberating girl groups.

Dum Dum Girls' Myspace

--------------------------------------

Air Waves is made up of a singer songwriter called Nicole and whichever friends she can get to play around her, and who wouldn't jump at the chance to work with such sweet and enveloping music. The current release sums her sound up in the title; 'Sweetness'. A slight fuzz sits alongside a solid beat and awesome songwriting skills, complemented by the soft and harmonious drone of Nicole's voice. Check out 'Keys' and 'Kingdom' whilst your ears are open.

Air Waves' Myspace

--------------------------------------

A musician recently splattered across many many blogs, all with praising and loving words besides, is Toro Y Moi, a young songwriter and producer, and I thought I might as well jump on the bandwagon. His music is pure groove laced with summer and sunshine, topped off with a lo-fi buzz and haunting melodies that chase oneanother through every track. Definitely someone to get excited about even though it has pushed me into LONGING for summer days, sunshine and a relaxing collapse on the beach accompanied by tracks such as 'You Hid' and 'Blessa' (with a good batch of rum nearby....)

Check out his debut album 'Causers Of This' and anticipate
anything new that he comes out with...

Toro Y Moi's Myspace

--------------------------------------

A bit of extra oomph...

• Maths rock act Foals are back with a new release this year and a song has appeared on the web titled 'Spanish Sahara'. A real slow burner that seems to show a progressing band...
• The insanely beautiful Zooey Deschanel and the talented M.Ward are back together as She & Him, ready to release their second album titled 'Volume 2' . A sumptuous track entitled 'Thieves' is out and charming the pants off everyone yet again.
• A few months late but thanks to Laura J Smith (check out her movie blog here), I have found Local Natives and the beautiful 'Gorilla Manor', a strikingly cheerful delight!
• Saw this guy from Leeds supporting Girls (who were immense), and not too shabby (though he is not Scouse as a friend mistakenly asserted over and over...). The act is hauntingly titled Spectrals ...

Albums out over the next week or so that you probably peek at;

• 'Sisterworld' by Liars [paranoid loner post punk with a heart of awesome]
• 'The Brutalist Bricks' by Ted Leo & the Pharmacists [intricate, intelligent punky rock]
• 'The Winter of Mixed Drinks' by Frightened Rabbit [Scottish trembling indie folk]
• 'Plastic Beach' by Gorillaz [cartoons & cameos = awesomely soaring modern pop]

--------------------------------------

I am off to steal more music (in the sort of legal way of course)
Go listen and love and learn and let me know...
byeeeeeeeeeeee....eeeeeeee...
xxx
XX
x

Bright Lights of Sound...

'Music is moonlight in the gloomy night of life.' ~Jean Paul Richter

A quick blast of new music before I escape this mortal realm this evening and sweep away on a magical mystery train to the musical mecca that is Brighton in order to revel and rebel in debauchery, alcohol, dancing, music, friends, floors, oceans, beaches and arcades....

--------------------------------------

Damon Albarn is nothing short of a modern musical maestro, stretching his mind and vision across so many artists and creations and managing to maintain such a high standard. His cartoon crafts, known internationally as Gorillaz, are set to release 'Plastic Beach', their third album. And joining the madcap, animated foursome on the record are a range of ridiculously awesome guests, including Snoop Dogg, Lou Reed, Gruff Rhys and Mick Jones.

The new single 'Stylo' is a simmering track featuring Mos Def and Bobby Womack, that stumbles along a dark corridor and emerges into a Disco Ball lit room where Womack growls amongst waves of noise. Definitely a slow burner that sets very high hopes for the upcoming record.

Gorillaz 'Stylo'

--------------------------------------

Rox is a beautiful singer songwriter from London town who has been featured on the BBC's Sound of 2010 but don't hold that against her. I was lucky enough to stumble across her myspace last year and played a track of hers on my radio show and want to continue the promotion of her voice, stylings and music as her new single, 'My Baby Left Me', is released

Ignore comparisons to Winehouse et all, she has elements of Lauryn Hill with a jazz background and the debut single bounces along atop lush production and an emotionally outright style. Check out her nu-soul before she explodes.

Rox's Myspace

--------------------------------------

A new band just cropping up on the musical radar are based in London as well, known as Foxx Bandits. They have a hard hitting debut demo titled 'Vodka Lines' which breathes a modern folk exhale even though the vocals ooze emotionally crippling lyrics through a subtle lo-fi effect.

One to watch out for, especially with a cracking gig lined up at the legendary Camden Barfly on the 18th March.

Foxx Bandits' Myspace
Go Get Tickets to see them...NOW!

--------------------------------------

Some Tuneful Tidbits...

• Serena Maneesh are back with a second album titled 'No 2. Abyss In B Minor' and the Norwegian's alt-rock act is as strong as forever in this cascading wall of sound and vocals that sidle up alongside you in a most seductive manner....Listen to a couple of tracks here
• Japandroids are pretty awesome if I haven't mentioned them before... LISTEN!
• I am going to see The Drums & Girls next week...you should too...

Albums out over the next week or so that you should buy include;

• 'The Golden Archipelago' by Shearwater [Simply pretty indie rumblings...]
• 'Dear God, I Hate Myself' by Xiu Xiu [Insanely amazing experimental fuzz]
• 'Magic Chairs' by Efterklang [Danish indie rockers post rock tinklings]

--------------------------------------

Ok, that is all, I shall update you all on new music
next week if I somehow manage to survive
Brighton town after everything I ingest...
BUH BYE! XXX xx X

What Would I Want? Music?

'Music is the poetry of the air.' ~Sviatoslav Richter

We near that event that some call Valentines Day but, for reasons too depressing to head into, I shall call Fuck You, Let's Listen To Some New Music Day. Not quite as catchy but it's a national holiday in progress. So, let's give you an agenda of new music for that lazy Sunday...

----------------------------------------------------------

Way back when I was still a student (last year), I hosted a specialist show on student radio (now known as Sonar Radio) all about brand spanking new music and the older influential artists that inspired the current trends, and had the pleasure of falling over many awesome artists, one of which I had the pleasure of seeing in Winchester not long ago.


Alessi's Ark is a solo folkstress with a style of music that can only be defined as Gorgeous, with a big ol' capital G. She has supported the likes of Mumford & Sons and Laura Marling, complementing their folk tales of woe and twee with her inventive and sweet songs such as 'The Horse' and 'Constellations'. The majority of my friends were deeply depressed that they missed the chance to purchase a copy of her album, wrapped in a hand-knitted bag, and I was deeply depressed that she didn't spot me from the stage and whisk me into a folk heaven involving her singing to me every night....

Alessi's Ark's Myspace

----------------------------------------------------------

She was supporting a huge group of folk troubadours from Brighton whose combined musical output swept the stage and the crowd into a folk frenzy (aka quiet, content and intelligent contemplation). Sons of Noel & Adrian use whistling and a whole host of musical instruments to craft intricate folk pop that tugs at the heart (and head) strings.

Sons of Noel & Adrian's Myspace

----------------------------------------------------------

Yet another group from Brighton AND another musical artist who I played on my specialist show last year, Esben and the Witch are making waves in the music-sphere at the moment, popping up on various Festival announcements. Very much a group rooted in literature and storytelling, tracks such as 'Marching Song' project an eery foreboding captivating when trapped within a four minute ditty. Echoes of Bjork and Portishead resonate through the sound of the group whilst allowing an individuality thanks to the emotion that embeds deep within their music.

Esben and the Witch's Myspace

----------------------------------------------------------

A few quickies to make sure you don't run low on New Music to munch on...

Male Bonding popped in to play for Huw Stephen's last night, whose show remains the last bastion of decency on Radio 1, showcasing their grunge-gaze rock that I love so much... Check out their Myspazz

Los Campesinos have a new album out NOW, so give this a listen and then go spend your pennies on it...Romance Is Boring...

These guys are pretty good; well I have listened to 'The Chemical Song' a few times over. They are called Citadels.

Gil Scott-Heron, the freaking legend that he is, has an amazing new album out called 'I'm New Here'. Hear the whole thing here on le Guardian and then go get it so you can listen to it FOREVER....

Finally, I have never been a big Peter Gabriel fan but this may change with an album covering David Bowie, Radiohead, Regina Spektor and Bon Iver...The Guardian, lovely people that they are, let you hear it here...

----------------------------------------------------------

So, go forth, listen and keep loving (except on Valentines Day, that is now for NOTHING but listening to new music, no lovey dovey crap there...)

Buh bye!
XxX
xx
X

The Loss of Soul and Punk

'Were it not for music, we might in these days say, the Beautiful is dead.' ~Benjamin Disraeli

A somewhat somber New Narcotics this week in remembrance of two great artists who died yesterday. Two very different musicians but both fondly remembered as innovative, brilliant voices that projected a unique stamp upon their respective genres.



Teddy Pendergrass first found fame with Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, starting as a drummer until his voice leapt to the front of the stage and the band invited him to act as lead singer. A mega hit in the shape of 'If You Don't Know Me By Now' from their debut album has since been covered a hundred times over but the afro-tastic favour of the original is unmatched in my opinion. A personal favourite from the bands catalogue is the groovy but sweet 'The Love I Lost' that chugs along on a disco riff but bellows forth a lovelorn story.

Teddy set out on a solo career in 1977, stretching his soul even further on classic ballads such as 'Turn Off The Light' and 'Close The Door' that oozed sexuality. More hit singles followed from upbeat, disco-tinged tracks like 'The More I Get, The More I Want' and the oft-covered and sampled 'Love TKO'.

The standout track of his career for me is the lovelorn 'The Whole Town's Laughing At Me' that sums up a harsh loss of love that culminates in the utter despair and paranoia that resides within the soulful stylings and voice that pleads and ponders.

A car accident in 1982 almost put an end to his career after he was paralysed from the waist down but after physical therapy he returned to music and recorded a duet with an unknown singer, now famous, Whitney Houston, called 'Hold Me'. He continued to perform live up until being diagnosed with colon cancer, the disease that would eventually take his life on January 13th 2010 at 59 years old.

--------------------------------

Born Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr in 1981, Jay Reatard began recording at age 15 and formed a band called the Reatards. He released a couple of EPs with a punk rock ethos that used distortion, lo-fi garage riffs and heavy drums to craft hard kicking tracks such as 'Your So Lewd' .

He also worked with The Lost Sounds and The Final Solutions, showing an impressive songwriting output, but, arguably, his best work came as a solo artist with 'Blood Visions' in 2006. An album full of aggression and quirk that bops, bounces and growls through tracks such as short, sharp opener 'Blood Visions' and the yelpy 'Nightmares'.


A relentless musician, composer and artist, he set up his own record label under the moniker Shattered Records, toured worldwide, collaborated with a number of musicians and bands and released a stream of EPs and records, such as this excellently angry B-Side 'An Ugly Death'.

His second album appeared mellower than previous output though retained the individual sense that Reatard injects into everything he touches. 'Watch Me Fall' is an album full of standout tracks that compliment and contradict oneanother. 'It Ain't Gonna Save Me' is catchy but filled with bile, whilst 'Man of Steel' seems as if it was assembled from a mish-mash of songs and riffs that somehow slot together perfectly.

Jay was an icon in the alternative punk world and his brashness, output and general demeanor towards the industry and music will let him live on in musical memory long after his death at the ridiculously tragic age of 29, under circumstances yet to be established.

-------------------------

Finally, a quick couple of new artists to keep you a little upbeat after all this gloom and doom!


From LA come Fool's Gold, a group whose afropop manages to sound somewhat like indie via the hipsters at the heart of the group (and probably thanks to the success of Vampire Weekend, those rascals). Their debut albums is available, titled 'IAMSOUND', and sounds just as joyous as that title does rolling out of your mouth. Tracks on repeat inside my head as I imagine some sunshine over an African plain (anything but ICE!) are 'Surprise Hotel' and 'Nadine'

Fool's Gold Myspace

From the Sunshine State, keeping up the warm and fuzzy feeling, are Surfer Blood, a lo-fi indie mess whose music is just pure jangle and jingle, against a backdrop of sun and summer. 'Swim (To Reach to the End)' is infinitely listenable as the garage guitars flash and melt away periodically, and 'Floating Vibes' does exactly what it says on the tin (I want to lie on a raft with this track buzzing in my ears...). Their debut album 'Astro Coast' is out on the 19th...so get on it...

Surfer Blood's Myspace

Albums out next week include...
'Romance Is Boring' by Los Campesinos
'Teen Dream' by Beach House
'Transference' by Spoon
'Campfire Songs' [Re-release] by Animal Collective

That is all for this week, keep on keeping on despite such sad losses to the world of music. Just remember them through a constant, loud blasting of their records and the legacy they leave behind!

Buh Bye!
xxx
xx
x

New Year = New Narcotics

'If music be the food of love; play on.' - William Shakespeare

Welcome to 2010; the FUTURE IS HERE!

I could try and predict the big bands of 2010 and then brag about how I predicted the musical outlook of the year when 1 out of my 10 bands become super/mega/sell-out famous, but bollocks to all that pomp and circumstance so LETS LISTEN TO SOME MUSIX! (yeahhhh but The Drums, Delphic and Darwin Deez SHOULD be big in 2010...)


MEN are an explosion of melody that manage to deal with sensitive and serious topics via the medium of electronica. Made up of two of Le Tigre and a third producer and DJ, the group use sexual politics and performance in their act to create a whole ideology that stimulates as well as pleases. 'Simultaneously' sounds like the xx with a dirtier mind whilst 'Credit Card Babies' provides a dancefloor ditty that discusses the complexity of gay fatherhood.

MEN Myspace

Guillemots were a happy-go-lucky, bouncy indie pop act who shone for a very short time before vanishing but the leading man, Fyfe Dangerfield (a Bond villain name), is back with a bit of solo work. It is pretty much exactly what you would expect from the man who bought us the romantic splendor of 'Made Up Love Song', as his sickly sweet voice strums out tunes of love and loss alongside pretty pianos.

Fyfe Dangerfield's Myspace

Vampire Weekend's second album 'Contra' is out on Monday and you can listen to it on their Myspace. So far, so Vampire Weekend; all sunshine and bop with all manner of sniping lyrical bolts and incessantly catchy percussive grooves. Highlights include the auto-tuned 'California English' proving that the method of vocal distortion can still prove effective and the softly cinematic closer 'I Think Ur A Contra'. It is hard for the group to top their dazzling debut but this effort, at first listen, could be a match at least.

Vampire Weekend's Myspace


Albums out in the next week or two that maybe you could check out, maybe?!
'Heartland' by Final Fantasy
'End Times' by Eels
'Astro Coast' by Surfer Blood ['Swim (To Reach To The End)' by Surfer Blood]


That's all for now folks, check you in week or two or three! BUH BYE!
xxx
xx
x