Music to drink tea by
Archive for year 2008
We Landed On The Moon! – Re: Your Letter
03 years ago
in MP3s
Occasionally over the course of this blog thing I’ll run across a band, quite like them, maybe write a little something about them, but then they drift out of my universe. We Landed On The Moon! are one such band. More than two years ago, I heard a handful of their songs, found them amiable enough and included them on here. Yet I don’t think I’ve listened to them in the time since outside of the odd shuffle pick on my iPod. They were brought crashing back into my world when a press release for their second album arrived in my inbox.
Without listening more, I have no idea if this second album is going to have the same enjoyable, yet ultimately throwaway quality to it. Initial listens suggest that it’s all rather more accomplished, and dare I say it, even a little more polished. That doesn’t always have to be a bad thing, and certainly in the case of a band that still have one foot in the eighties, it’s probably for the best. Still, at the moment the album is getting fairly consistent plays, which is no mean feat where there’s a new Los Campesinos! album floating around out there.
Video: Weezer – El Scorcho (Hootenanny version)
03 years ago
in Videos
I’m not sure how I didn’t find this earlier, but Weezer have been doing the ‘Hootenanny Tour’, where, fans can bring whatever instruments they can play, and join in the performances of the songs. While this may not be the greatest musical achievement ever, it must certainly be something that’s a lot of fun for the fans taking part. As a preview to this, the band played a live set for Yahoo, with a small number of fans all bringing their own instruments in. The video of El Scorcho above is the result. A rowdy group of people singing along, half of them on guitars, a bunch of people drumming on whatever they can find, and a few stragglers playing entirely random instruments. Above all though, it’s a lot of fun. Even if it’s kind of curious that Brian Bell takes on lead duties over Rivers.
You can view the entire Weezer set, including Say It Ain’t So, Jamie, a cover of Radiohead’s Creep and a whole bunch more here.
Cajun Dance Party – The Next Untouchable
03 years ago
in MP3s
Apparently this song is almost two years old, proving once again that I’m on the cutting edge of new music. Cajun Dance Party are one of those bands that I knew existed, but didn’t pay much attention to. The name doesn’t really help them in this regard, as I was half expecting some kind of dance outfit. What I actually found was five alarmingly young people playing frantic rock music. Which was something of a pleasant surprise. The Next Untouchable seems to have originated from recent, successful UK bands like The Libertines, but it’s littered with more than enough musical flourishes to raise it above being a mere rehash.
Of Montreal – So Begins Our Alabee
23 years ago
in MP3s
Of all of the wonderful things that Of Montreal get up to in their songs, sentimentality isn’t usually amongst them. This made So Begins Our Alabee all the more surprising the first time I heard it. By their standards, the song is deceptively simple. Sure, it throws it obscure references left, right and centre, but underneath, it’s simply a song about becoming a father. Of course, being Of Montreal, they stop this from being irritatingly cute by turning the whole exercise into an upbeat dabble with electronica, which ends up working out rather well for them.
Jenny Lewis – Acid Tongue
03 years ago
in MP3s
Two and a half years after her first solo album with one crapfest Rilo Kiley album last year and it’s time for the second proper Jenny Lewis record. I was getting ready to hail this as a great return to form, because it really is rather good, but then I discovered this song actually dates back two years itself. Which makes it kind of strange as the lead for a new album, but it’s good enough to not matter too much.
Obviously we’re back to the country/folk/gospel territory here, which is obviously what Lewis is interested in doing now as opposed to the shiny pop of her band. Her voice is perfectly suited to the songs of heartbreak that come with the genre, and when she sings about how rough giving up drugs and cigarettes was, she’s world weary enough that you believe it. I have no idea if the rest of the album will sound as good, but this song is certainly good enough to restore at least some hope.
Video: Thomas Tantrum – Work It
03 years ago
in Videos
Thomas Tantrum are band that played a gig night I was part of last year, and if I’m honest, I wasn’t all that thrilled by their set. It certainly wasn’t bad, and the crowd seemed to enjoy them, but it was too all over the place for my own tastes. Since then I haven’t really listened to them any further, until I got hold of their first full length album a few days. If I didn’t know it to be the case, I wouldn’t even think it was the same band. Every song is precise, melodic and knows exactly what it wants to do, and then does it. I don’t know what has changed, whether it’s just a more refined songwriting style or a producer has reigned them in somewhat, but it’s a massive improvement. Songs like Work It above and the superb Shake It Shake It position them perfectly as the logical successors to the mighty Life Without Buildings.
We Are Scientists – Inaction
13 years ago
in MP3s
I’m pretty sure that the last time I wrote about We Are Scientists there were three of them. Now there only appear to be two, making I Are Scientist not all that far away.
One of the more unfortunate things about the Reading Festival was that I was too busy ducking crowd surfers through the Los Campesinos! set to get to see We Are Scientists. Which is a shame, as even though I’m pretty indifferent to a lot of their songs, but they seem like the kind of band that would put on one hell of a live show.
This version of Inaction comes from some 2004 single, but I couldn’t tell you how it differs from the album version in any meaningful way. No matter though, it’s still one of their superior songs, a frantic three minute dash through binge drinking, sleeping on people’s floors and generally being out of control. Which strikes me as exactly the opposite of what these guys are actually like.
Hello Saferide – Anna
03 years ago
in MP3s
For a little while, I was starting to think we’d heard the last of Hello Saferide. Everything had been quiet for a while, while Annika Norlin’s other project, the Swedish language Säkert! seemed to keep moving forwards. Thankfully, my fears were unfounded, and we not only have a new song from the Saferide song, but a whole new album, entitled More Modern Short Stories From.., will be released on September 24.
Anna continues Norlin’s walking of the very fine line between the endearing and the vaguely creepy. The song is Norlin singing about a lost daughter through her entire life, from little things like learning to play guitar and hockey right up to the parental wishlist of winning a Nobel Prize and curing AIDS. It actually feels like a rather sweet tale about a child that had passed away and what their life could have included. Of course, it’s actually far simpler than that. The whole exercise turns out to be a bitter flight of fancy. Still, what else should we expect from the woman who judges potential partners on whether or not they talk while watching Seinfeld?
Video: It Hugs Back – Work Day
33 years ago
in Videos
It would appear that localish band It Hugs Back are finally on the verge of hitting the big time. Gone are the days of playing to ten people in Tunbridge Wells at tiny gigs organised by this very blog. The band recently signed with the always dependable 4AD Records, they will be releasing their first single through the label on September 29. In case you missed it above, it’s called Work Day, which appears to be one of their jollier offerings, and thus a good pick for a single.
From – One Spring Away
13 years ago
in MP3s
Now this is certainly an interesting one. From is the one woman project of Roni Brunn, who appears to be a fascinating character before we even get to the music. She graduated Harvard with a degree in Economics, launched a line of high-end handbags, started an organisation for recreational maths events and designed websites for Justin Timberlake and Ringo Starr. It’s people like her that leave people like me feeling like they are wasting their life.
Which leads us to her musical project. It’s upbeat “wonderpop”, using a bunch of interesting instruments and a unique voice throwing out words that flirt very carefully with the surreal. Rationally, I probably shouldn’t even like this. It’s not a million miles away from being a huge pop hit, which should send someone like me running in horror. It has something that appeals though. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but whatever it is, it’s good. It’s absurdly catchy though, and that’s good enough for me.
