Another Form of Relief

Well, Eddie Argos at least. I don’t know enough about what the other members look like to tell if they are here, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they were.

This video is for the upcoming single release of Julia, We Don’t Live In The 60s, which will be released next month on Weekender Records. The video features our merry band marching on Camden with placards declaring “it could be worse”, “it’s fine” and “the grass is green enough”. Which must have baffled the locals a little.

MP3 The Indelicates - Fun Is For The Feeble Minded
MP3 The Indelicates - New Art For The People
MP3 The Indelicates - Waiting For Pete Doherty To Die

The Indelicates: Website || Myspace

David Cronenberg’s Wife is made up of three guys and a girl, and I have the sneaky feeling that none of them are actually married to the Canadian director. That said, their name is rather appropriate. While Cronenberg makes dark, twisted and vaguely amusing films, David Cronenberg’s Wife seem to do the same for music.

On the front page of their website, the band have a list of some of their songs alongside a brief description of what each is about. While I haven’t heard much of their material, I’m pretty much sold on things like Suicide Pit/Stretch Out (”Train coming - Do you want to jump or push someone?”), Yes, I Am A Model (”Photographer eyes up model for possible threesome with German friend”) and The Dude of Love (”Were we still laughing about the funny Negro?”).

The band are at the forefront of the UK antifolk scene, which I admit was a genre I wasn’t familiar with before I discovered the band. Apparently the genre is something of a hybrid between the punk scene and the traditional American folk scene, which sounds like a great combination to me, particularly if the results usually sound like David Cronenberg’s Wife.

MP3 David Cronenberg’s Wife - Coming To Your Hometown (expired)
MP3 David Cronenberg’s Wife - My Ukrainian Girlfriend (expired)

David Cronenberg’s Wife: Website || Myspace

Yes, I’ve been gone for several weeks again. Among the list of lame excuses this time around:

- My continuing recovery from an ear infection.
- My computer only playing music out of one speaker, which makes listening to music a bit more challenging.
- The death and subsequent replacement of my car, followed by multiple return trips to the dealer to sort out random niggles.
- Going to the Great Escape festival in Brighton, where I spectacularly managed to see no more than a handful of bands.

I’m also incredibly lazy, and these things have unfortunately had to take priority. Tomorrow though, normal service will resume. For real this time, with posts every day and everything. Of course I’m sure it’ll last only a few days before I fall off the wagon again, but boy is there going to be some good stuff before I do.

Without getting all self-satisified, I’d also like to point out that from tomorrow, this blog will be going 100% legal in the music that I post. It’s been pretty close to that for a while now, only posting commercial tracks occasionally, but I’m finally going to take the plunge into legality and see how it works out. This will probably mean more obscure bands and songs at times, unless of course the major labels get on board with this free music thing. I’ll also probably end up cheating by including things like Youtube video content instead too, like this lovely new video from Kate Nash below:

It’s called Foundations and it’s probably only being released on vinyl or something, but who cares? It’s catchy as hell, and most importantly, it’s not Caroline’s a Fucking Victim. And if a lovely, lovely person would like to send me an mp3 of it (you can ignore this now - thanks to everyone that hooked me up!), I’d be their bestest friend forever.

In the meantime, go and check out some cool new kids on the indie bloggering scene like Fucking Dance and Hi-Fi Heart. Both are writing about great music in an entertaining way, so go and say hello or something.

I think I’ll just sit on my own and listen to indie rock
Find a song to make me feel alright when you reject me for the second time

I’m going to come right out and say it: The song below called Emily Scott is the best song that I’ve heard this year. I’ve been trying to cut down on my use of hyperbole of late, so I’m not saying that lightly. You know that warm and fuzzy feeling you get from the second you first hear a band that they are going to be something special? Esiotrot bring that feeling in a big way.

Esiotrot are a band from Brighton. There are seven of them. At least there was when I wrote this, but their number may well have swelled by now, given that the band apparently expands “like a big expandy thing” according to their Myspace. The best thing about this is that they actually sound like there is an army of them playing each of their songs. Each one is loaded with random instruments playing complex arrangements. Trombone? Check. Trumpet? Check. The mighty glockenspiel? Here and accounted for.

I hesitate to use the term twee, but these are undoubtably “nice” pop songs. They don’t rock particularly hard, and while their songs contain some anger, it’s more a gentle resignation rather than anything that would require direct action. “I can’t believe you’d rather date a man with a skateboard than spend time with me” laments the singer on the optimistically titled There’ll Be A Time For Nice Guys. Rather than pluck up the courage to try and speak out and win the girl, you get the sense these guys are more comfortable writing a song about it instead.

There’s a lot more to their songs than the unrequited love indie rock staple. Songs about nature, realising the school bully is now a loser, and most bizarrely, a song about a guy who punches a quiz show presenter and ends up in prison after getting knocked out in the first round. Every song is constructed with such pitch perfect tone while still sounding so delightfully rough. I really can’t recommend these guys enough. If there is any justice in the world, Esiotrot will be the poster band of the quiet indie kids who stand in the corner of the disco. If they actually put up posters.

MP3 Esiotrot - Emily Scott (expired)
MP3 Esiotrot - Marianne (expired)

You can get hold of Esiotrot’s latest EP, the six song Esiotrotsky (aka The Dirtiest Birthday Present) from Unpopular Records for a stupidly cheap £2.

You can also purchase Esiotrot’s full length album, entitled Schmesiotrot, from Mentalist Association for only £5. It even comes with six interchangeable covers, which is just downright awesome.

Esiotrot: Website || Myspace