Another Form of Relief

I’ve always thought that I should like Times New Viking. People whom I trust to have good taste seem to rave about them. They get compared to bands like Pavement all the time. Their songs come across as something akin to a lo-fi mess. The only thing is that I always found them to be too much of a mess. Ramshackle is one thing. Ramshackle to the point of having nothing to grab onto is quite another.

As such, I almost consigned this song straight to the bin when it arrived in my inbox. Lucky for me it had a title that made me press play though, as it’s really rather wonderful. I can’t tell what about is different from the previous TNV songs I heard, but for some reason this one clicked for me. The sound is still utterly shambolic, but it certainly has some charm, in the same way those early records from Malkmus & co. did way back when.

Times New Viking will release a new EP on 7″ and download only (boo!) on October 22. In the days leading up to that, they will be touring the UK and Ireland with Los Campesinos! and No Age as part of the Shred Yr Face tour:

14-Oct - Komedia, Brighton (£12/14 - 14+)
15-Oct - Carling Academy 2, LIverpool (£12/14 - All ages)
16-Oct - Irish Centre, Leeds (£10/12)
17-Oct - Whelans, Dublin (€13 - 18+)
18-Oct - School Of Arts, Glasgow (£10/12)
20-Oct - Electric Ballroom, London (£10 - All ages)
21-Oct - Fleece, Bristol (£10 - 18+)
22-Oct - Academy 3, Manchester (£10 - 14+)

With all the musical love poured on Sweden, it seems that the other Scandinavian countries never really get their chance to shine. In an effort to rectify this a little, I am delighted to bring you some Norwegian indiepop. Soda Fountain Rag is the one woman project of Ragnhild Hogstad Jordahl, whom I’m very thankful doesn’t record under her real name, or taking my mp3s would be a bitch. She sings and plays everything on her recordings, which is all the more impressive given the level of instrumentation involved. The main thing though is that it’s perfect indie pop, not a million miles away from what Belle & Sebastian may have sounded like had they surfaced in the sixties.

After scouring Youtube for a while and not finding anything, eventually I stumbled across this delightful little video of part of Los Campesinos! set at Reading. While the quality is kind of crappy, you don’t get to experience the joy of the “fuck you Ting Tings” chant that Gareth accidentally started, a brief cover of Pavement’s Frontwards* before the almighty sing-along that was You! Me! Dancing!. I was located somewhere down at the front, somehow taken aback by just how boisterous it all got.

* Correction: I’m a dumbass, it’s actually Box Elder.

If you’re like me, you spend hours and hours listening to mp3 after mp3 of terrible, terrible music. This blogging lark may seem like shits and giggles to you, but by god you get sent a ton of awful songs. Every now and again though, you will find something beautiful amongst it all. This evening, that four minutes of relief has been provided by Venice is Sinking.

Proving once again that Athens seems to be the only city (town?) in the US with a ridiculously consistent scene, Venice is Sinking bring that early nineties sound that I still can’t get enough of. It’s all rather loose with a ramshackle feeling that the song could fall apart at any moment. Thankfully it doesn’t, it’s melody holding out to the end. The video above keeps up the trend, looking terribly lo-fi yet being utterly charming at the same time. I know nothing about these guys, other than they apparently formed in 1726, which leads me to doubt anything their website may offer. No matter though, this song alone ensures that I will explore further.

Where the fuck were all the books?

Seriously though, fun time had, lots of good bands seen, nothing bad happened to me or my stuff. I did learn that you don’t capture the greatest pictures in a packed crowd with a phone camera, but there is enough to get a rough sense of things. I’m also never going to a festival without a ‘VIP/guest’ pass thing again either. Oh, to sit down on a vaguely comfortable seat.

I am heading off to the Reading Festival over the weekend, so updates are currently on hold.

I will return, hopefully with news, maybe with pictures, on Monday.

It’s been a little while since we had any twee pop again, so today is the turn of The Besties, a band I have loved for a couple of years now but have never had the chance to write about properly. Coming from New York (what is it about the northeast and twee?), I always thought that the band was a three-piece, although the photographic evidence above appears to disagree.

The Besties describe themselves as “60s girl groups dry humping 90s pop punk”, which is something I think we can all agree that more bands should aspire to. They certainly pull it off too, the sweet female harmonies mixing perfectly with the often shambolic musical sound that supports it. Their last album, Singer, was full of pop gems, from Prison Song to Sweden Song to Pirate Song to Zombie Song. I think they really like the word ’song’.

The Besties’ new album, Home Free, will be released on November 11.

Few bands seem to be as relentlessly optimistic as Bishop Allen are on Things Are What You Make Of Them. The entire song is set around that outlook, and how it can be applied to just about any situation. It’s all backed by some upbeat instrumentation, including drum loops that actually manage to sound pretty damn good. I’m quite surprised that Bishop Allen haven’t taken off more by this point. They seem to be perfect for the ‘used in a hit teen tv show’ route to indie superstardom.

The Young Knives seem to be a band that want to have fun, something quite rare when it comes to bands these days. Their songs obviously have no desire to be serious, and their stage show is (or at least was) littered with random self-depreciating banter throughout. Although when you appear to have John Hodgman in your lineup, what else can you expect?

Of course, all of this could have changed for all I know. Being as up to date as I am, the last thing I heard from them was 2006’s Voices of Animals and Men. Maybe they have taken a turn for the serious since then, but it seems unlikely. The Young Knives as their whimsical selves fills a whole that isn’t already filled by every other “indie” band. This will never be music that forms a classic album, but it can certainly make a fun one.

It’s hard to believe that this song is seven years old. For some reason I still tend to regard Stars as a rather new band, but that certainly isn’t the case anymore. Way back in 2001, Stars based their sound far more electronica than the full band setup they use today. While I’d usually welcome that kind of change, Stars are one of the rare bands where the electronic suits them perfectly. On Peak Hill combines this sound with their now standard nostalgic, mournful lyrics, leaving a song that despite being seven years old, hasn’t dated at all.