Posts tagged Belle and Sebastian

Playlist from Moogie Wonderland 24 June

0
7 months ago
in

Last night was our second DJing experience, and it was rather a contrast to the first time around.  It was all rather last minute, meaning I didn’t have five weeks to fret about song choices.  It was in a coffee shop instead of a bar with a dance floor, and given the rain and other factors, there wasn’t exactly a big turnout.  Didn’t matter though as I still ended up enjoying myself immensely.  Here’s what I played:

1. – Tell Me Something I Don’t Know

2. Belle & Sebastian – Your Cover’s Blown

3. – The Mild Mannered Army

4. – Banned at the Troxy

5. – Carve a Pattern

6. – Lost Weekend

7. – Hopelessly Wasted

8. – You Can Hide Your Love Forever

9. – C Is The Option

10. – Perfection As A Hipster

11. – True Love/Youth

12. – Your Feelings Don’t Show

13. – My Terrible Friend

14. – Higher Grounds

15. – I Love You Like A Madman

16. – Dinner Party

17. Allo Darlin’ – Let’s Go Swimming

18. – Cross the Line

Top 24 Songs of 2010

1
1 year ago
in ,

The song list this year has a lot of crossover with the records list from yesterday.  I suppose that is to be expected to a certain degree, but I get it’s a little repetitive for me to be banging on about the same bands over and over again.  Still, that’s the nature of these lists, and I’m not going to throw in other things for the sake of it.

1. ! – A Heat Rash in the Shape of the Show Me State, or, Letters from Me to Charlotte

Los Campesinos! manage to win the double, taking both best record and song of the year.  If I’m perfectly honest, the song choice is pretty arbitrary.  Letters from Me to Charlotte just about stands out in front to me, but it could have just as easily been The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future or In Medias Res.  Or about half of the album to be honest.

2. – Fairweather Friends

Another one where I spent a fair bit of time trying to decide exactly which song from the record to go with, before settling on Fairweather Friends.  It’s probably best represents the EP, as well as the Superman Revenge Squad project as a whole.  The usual topics are on the agenda here: death, looking back on past relationships and irritating people at gigs.  All topped off with some beautiful strings.

MP3 Superman Revenge Squad – Fairweather Friends

3. – Dancing


Dancing is probably the most personal song on the Standard Fare album, yet it still sums up the band perfectly.  You’ve got heart on sleeve verses about breakups and getting back together interspersed with rapid sections about how dancing will make everything okay.  If any band could sum up the state of the current indiepop scene, it’s this.

MP3 Standard Fare – Dancing

4. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Say No to Love

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart just bring good feelings.  I was slower to warm to them than most, but in the past year, I’ve fallen for them completely.  Say No to Love is a lovely little bridge between the first and second albums, and while it doesn’t mess with the formula too much, it’s just too wonderful for me to complain about that.  Quite possibly my favourite current band for videos too.

MP3 The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Say No to Love

5. – Try Try Try

This song pretty much hit me out of nowhere in the summer when I saw Antarctica Takes It! live twice in a couple of days.   I was only familiar with their first album at that point, so Try Try Try was quite a surprise as there’s nothing like it on there.  The vocals on it might not be as strong as some of their others, but the lyrics and the way it’s constructed more than make up for that.

6. – Rabbit Kids

I love pretty much everything on Life! Death! Prizes! so you get Rabbit Kids pretty much entirely because I love the video so much.

7. – Harriet, by Proxy

It’d be easy to dismiss Johnny Foreigner at this point.  Two albums in and they haven’t achieved the success they rightly deserve, but hopefully a shift to the plucky Alcopop! will give them a new boost.  The brilliantly titled new EP You Thought You Saw A Shooting Star But Yr Eyes Were Blurred With Tears And That Lighthouse Can Be Pretty Deceiving With The Sky So Clear And Sea So Calm shows the band exploring newer territory too.  Harriet, by Proxy is the most obviously JoFo song on there, and reminds us exactly why we were so excited about the band in 2007.

Listen on Music Fan’s Mic

8. Allo Darlin’ – Dreaming

Allo Darlin’ could do no wrong this year, and Dreaming was the pinnacle of their work.  The song features the guest vocals of Monster Bobby that gives this a rather Heavenly-ish vibe, which is no bad thing.  The video was shot during London Popfest last year and is just lovely.  Wandering around London late at night has never looked so enjoyable.

9. – Smash Hits

Quite possibly the oldest song to be included here, but I only discovered it this year, and it was on Kid Canaveral’s debut album this year, so I’m going with it.  A brilliantly snobbish tale of the horrors of dating a girl whose “music taste’s shite” that’s just great fun.

10. The – I Need Your Mind

I came late to The Broken Family Band party, so I’m jumping in early with Singing Adams, the new band of BFB front man Steven Adams.  If you’re already familiar with his former band, you know what to expect here.  The alt-country leanings may have been toned down considerably, but there’s more than enough of the same catchy pop sensibilities and witty lyrics to go around.  As a debut single, I Need Your Mind is remarkably self-assured and firmly cements the band as one to go to big things this year.

11. – Euston Station


12. Belle & Sebastian – I Want the World to Stop


One of the few bright lights from a horrendously disappointing album.

13. – Are We Lovers or Are We Friends?

Playful enough to be a nice easy listen, while also resonating a little more for those who have been in such a situation.  Exactly what any good pop record should be doing then.

MP3 Acid House Kings – Are We Lovers or Are We Friends?

14. – I Don’t Like You (‘Cos You Don’t Like The Pastels)

This Many Boyfriends continue the long indiepop tradition of entirely songs based around references to other bands.  Not just the Pastels either.  Springsteen, The Go-Betweens and if I’m not mishearing, The Cribs all manage to get themselves mentioned in the song.  There’s not much more to it beyond these references, but it still has a rather endearing charm to it.  It sounds rough and ready, which is about the only style you can go with when your spending three minutes comparing music tastes with a loved one.

MP3 This Many Boyfriends – I Don’t Like You (‘Cos You Don’t Like The Pastels)

15. – Boyfriend Devoted

16. – Not Even Giles Would Say We’ll Be OK

Not Even Giles Would Say We’ll Be OK (which the nerd in me really hopes is a Buffy reference) may be their finest release yet, striking the perfect balance between 90s US indie rock throwback and their own sound.  If any band has a chance of making it big in 2011, it’s Stagecoach.

17. – Stuart’s Got a Dirty Book

A glorious tale that manages to combine two somewhat conflicting topics: religion and masturbation.  It’s hard to imagine many bands that could get away with lyrics like “struggling with the word of god / a hand on my bible, a hand on my knob”, putting The Just Joans into a rather unique position.

MP3 The Just Joans – Stuart’s Got a Dirty Book

18. – The Winter Stories

Listen on Myspace

19. – Afraid of Everyone

20. – Whitechapel Boys

Listen on Myspace

21. – Are Philosophers Lonely?

Short and to the point, Are Philosophers Lonely? addresses exactly what the title suggests.  Are philosophers destined to be by themselves?  Moving between wryly comic images (philosophers eating tv dinners) and something rather more melancholy (“even their sweethearts don’t know what they’re talking about”).

MP3 Soda Fountain Rag – Are Philosophers Lonely?

22. – There’s Room In My Tardis For Two

City of Glass, the debut album by Love Ends Disaster! was a favourite of the year, and while there’s some stunning songs on it, it’s this one that stands out.  Conventional wisdom would suggest I was swayed by a Doctor Who reference, but there’s more to it than that.  That might have got my attention in the first place, but it’s just a really good song regardless.  There’s the kind of melancholy vibe that always works for me, but it also has the “this should really be a hit anthem” quality to it too.  Throw in some actual TARDIS sounds as well and you’re on to a winner.

MP3 Love Ends Disaster! – There’s Room In My Tardis For Two (live)

23. – I’ve Just Been Told That a Woman Fancies Me

I’ve Just Been Told That a Woman Fancies Me is literally what it sounds like, a joyous celebration of the fact that a woman seems to like our narrator, despite the fact he knows absolutely nothing about her. Why let pesky details like that get in the way? That we end up with lines like “I can’t wait to tell my girlfriend” makes it all the more perfect.

MP3 Roadside Poppies – I’ve Just Been Told That A Woman Fancies Me

24. – The Bike Song

The Grave Architects really don’t sound like anything I’d expect a band (presumably) named after a Pavement song to sound like.  The first part of the song might just get away with it.  A little on the quaint side perhaps, but what do you expect for a song that starts “the first love of my life was not a girl, it was my very first bike”?  It tells a fun little story of learning how to ride a bike and falling in love with cycling.  Then about a minute in, it turns into, of all things, a rap epic.  Yes, rap.  And somehow it gets away with it.  Nothing I can say here is going to do justice to a terribly white man with his fluorescent shirt and cycle helmet rapping about evil motorists cutting him up.  Of course, that’s not it.  It then decides to just rock out a bit, proclaiming, with full earnestness “I love my bike!” over and over.  It’s all utterly stupid, but every time I watch the video above I find myself grinning from ear to ear.  I think my favourite part of it is actually watching the people biking in the background and their reaction to the singer’s antics.  Brilliant stuff.

Latitude 2010 in photos

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1 year ago
in

Had a lovely time at Latitude yesterday.  sounded superb, I was pleasantly surprised by and Belle & Sebastian proved once again why they are the greatest band ever.  Really liked the festival as a whole too.  So many random little things going on as you explore around.  Which is about as detailed as a review as I intend to write.  So here are some photos:

God Help The Girl, aka almost new Belle & Sebastian!

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2 years ago
in
God Help The Girl

It’s looking less and less likely that we’ll be getting a new album anytime soon, but thankfully is here with the next best thing. is a project of B&S frontman Stuart Murdoch, who came up with the idea back in 2004. Collaborating with a number of (usually female) singers, the project has created a “story set to music”. Back in my day, we used to call that an album, but I suppose that doesn’t appeal to the youth of today.

The album is mostly made up of new material, although reworked versions of Belle and Sebastian songs Funny Little Frog and Act of the Apostle have found their way into the mix. Various voices contribute to these songs, but it is little known Scottish singer Catherine Ireton that provides the vocals for the majority. And what a voice it is. Every word through Come Monday Night is clearly defined, her voice rising from gentle vulnerability to world weariness in the course of three minutes.

God Help The Girl will be released on June 22 via Rough Trade.

Scotland Yard Gospel Choir: Not a gospel choir, or detectives for that matter

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2 years ago
in
Scotland Yard Gospel Choir

It was about three years ago that I first encountered Scotland Yard Gospel Choir. I found a song on a blog that probably doesn’t exist anymore and was hooked. The song was called Then And Not A Moment Before, which sounded something like on a caffeine high. Investigating the band at the time, I’m sure I recall stories of band friction and came to they conclusion that they weren’t doing much together. Now, either I’m imagining things (quite possible) or they have sorted themselves out, as all I can find now is an active band that is now putting the finishing touches on their second full-length.

Scotland Yard Gospel Choir sound like a band trying to be everything to everyone. Upbeat jangly pop, catchy melodies, unexpected instrumentation, words that seem simplistic one moment, and then abstract the next. It could all too easily be a mess that collapses down on itself, but somehow it manages to hold it’s direction.

Aspidistra perhaps isn’t their strongest track, but it is one of the more memorable. Launching an assault on the eardrums that doesn’t let up for it’s two and a half minute length, detailing our narrator’s past dabbles in the drug trade. All set to a wonderfully cheerful melody and the obligatory handclaps.

Scotland Yard Gospel Choir’s self-titled album is available via Bloodshot Records.

The Young Republic change style completely; remain really bloody good

2
2 years ago
in
The Young Republic

It hasn’t been this bad since my grandpa was a kid
He made it through – he never told us what he did

Has any line summed up the state of the world currently as much as that?

Of all of the bands I’ve had the pleasure of writing about on here, it’s that have developed the most of a band in that time. If I’m honest, I’d been a little apprehensive about the direction the band had been taking of late. Moving to Nashville from Boston and trading in the gentle indiepop of their earlier releases for a more classic rock, Americana influenced kind of sound was a risky gambit. While the results were largely very good, nothing really blew me away in the way those earliest songs did.

That changed when a couple of songs from the band’s upcoming release Balletesque dropped into my inbox though. The instrumentation on The Wolf suggests a band far larger than it’s current six member lineup. Indeed, the band never sounded this rich even as an eight piece. The real revelation here though is the songwriting of Julian Saporiti. Each verse manages to outdo the previous in both content and wordplay. This is certainly the closest he has come to not just writing like Dylan, but sounding like him too. Sure, it’s a lazy comparison given their Isis cover a while back, but we’re well beyond sounding like at this point.

Balletesque will presumably be released in the nearish future.

Great British Hopes: Butcher Boy

0
3 years ago
in ,
Butcher Boy

Great British Hopes celebrates new British music that is really bloody good.

As I was preparing to write this, I came across a fact that threw this piece into question. I tend to write these Great British Hopes pieces as a way of talking up the absolute best from all of the new bands I hear. Doing some research on though, I discovered that they have been playing for 11 years. Which begs the question of whether they can really be hailed as a hope for the future of music. I decided to go with it though, as regardless of their longevity as a band, this is just too damn good.

Butcher Boy have floated around my mind for a while now. A Drowned In Sound review here, the odd promo email there. Even with that though, I never paid them much attention. I got the impression of another Scottish miserablist, and really, a man who already has a complete Arab Strap collection probably can’t take much more. Then the magic phrase appeared. “Compared to ” read the email, and I was in*.

Not that the end result is Belle & Sebastian exactly. Sure, you can hear those elements in the strings, but this is a band that is more down to the earth. Earnest lyrics sung out by someone who has listened to a lot of Smiths records but doesn’t quite know how to be . No, if I were to place this on this indie pop landscape, I’d slot it alongside recent Swedish offerings like or . The sound is certainly British, but it likes to travel.

This kind of indie pop seems to be short supply in the UK at the moment. Butcher Boy may have formed 11 years ago, but with their second album release in three years, one gets a sense that they may have finally found their way.

React or Die will be released in April, but the lovely How Does It Feel To Be Loved? is selling advance copies through their shop right now.


* It occurs that I’ll probably now getting death metal bands mentioning the fact they sound like Belle & Sebastian in their promo emails.

Belle & Sebastian – Take Your Carriage Clock and Shove It

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3 years ago
in
Belle & Sebastian

When you have as many excellent songs as do, it’s easy for ones that aren’t so immediate to slip through the cracks. I tend to centre most of my B&S listening around Tigermilk and If You’re Feeling Sinister, their first two albums. There is a lot of good stuff to be found elsewhere though, particularly in their EP releases. Take Your Carriage Clock and Shove It comes from their 2001 Jonathan David EP and it’s far better than I initially gave it credit for. Sweeping orchestral arrangements, verses that build perfectly, and a pleasant, if slightly sparse, story. While it may not rank amongst their best, a solid Belle and Sebastian is far better than the best songs of most bands.

Cover: Dream Bitches do Belle & Sebastian

0
3 years ago
in ,
Dream Bitches

I have absolutely no idea who are, and from a few quick listens to some of their other songs, I wasn’t won over. That said, I can never pass up a cover, particularly one from the If You’re Feeling Sinister era. It doesn’t get off to a great start given it’s lacking the harmonica that really makes the original, but it’s a pretty decent effort overall. It’s a much more straight up rock song than the original, and doesn’t really go anywhere surprising, but it’s a nice contrast with the original song.

Top 49 Songs of 2006: #9-1

5
5 years ago
in ,

Hello Saferide#9

‘The Quiz’

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I only discovered Hello Saferide at the end of the year so I haven’t had the chance to write a full post yet, but very few artists have grabbed my attention to the same degree in the past year. Hello Saferide is the solo project of Annika Norlin, a singer songwriter from Sweden. What appeals to me most is that each song has a ton of personality shining through. Norlin isn’t afraid to project herself entirely into her songs, leaving each one with a kind of brutal honesty. The darkness of this is countered by a ton of little knowing references and quirks that just make the whole thing seem so real. At the forefront of this is ‘The Quiz’, the first song from her recent ‘Would You Let Me Play This EP Ten Times A Day?’ EP. She’s found a guy that she gets on well with and likes (even if he has a bit too much scifi in his shelf of DVDs). She’s vulnerable though so she puts together a quiz for him, with questions that range from the mundane (“Do you talk in the middle of Seinfeld?”) to the insecure (“Do you still keep pictures of old girlfriends? / Are they prettier than me?”) to the all important (“If I’d fall / Would you pick me up?”). Kind of a far less annoying version of Alanis’ ’21 Things I Want In A Lover’.

Art Brut#8

‘Nag Nag Nag Nag’

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There isn’t really anything new here to the Art Brut formula, but surely that’s half the point? I had minor fears about new material not being a patch on the first album because the novelty would wear off, but despite it’s similarities, ‘Nag Nag Nag Nag’ works just as well for me as the old stuff. The whole thing can be seen as the story of ‘My Little Brother’ after the guy grows up, although I have no idea if that was intentional. Anyway, the Art Brut style remains the same as it was before: driving guitars, random bursts of energy and a witty song about a music dork delivered in Eddie Argos’ usual half-talking, half-shouting, half-singing (yes, I’m aware that’s three halves) style.

4 or 5 Magicians#7

‘Forever On The Edge’

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“4 or 5 Magicians are a four piece, led by Dan Ormsby, who did pretty much everything on their recorded songs, and takes charge of vocals and guitar duty when the band play live. The most obvious thing in Ormsby is that he has based his style on an influence not often seen in British bands: Stephen Malkmus. ‘Forever On The Edge’ has “slacker anthem” written all over it. A brash, honest song about wasting one’s life and almost depending on becoming famous to be successful (”I’m wasting my time in this band / Pinning all my hopes on getting signed / Well it could happen / Some idiot might sign us”). It’s this kind of witty, self-aware writing that first drew me to the band, and that they have the sound to back it up is even better.” – originally posted July 18.

Belle & Sebastian#6
Belle & Sebastian
‘Funny Little Frog’

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By far the best song on ‘The Life Pursuit’ and one of the finest that have put out in years. The usual B&S staples are here, as well as a couple of new things like a piano, which they really don’t utilise anywhere near enough. Murdoch really throws himself into the vocals too, giving one of his strongest performances since ‘Your Cover’s Blown’. It’s either the official theme song for stalking or a love letter to the Virgin Mary depending on how you listen, bringing just over three minutes of perfection.

Voxtrot#5

‘The Start of Something’

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I know this technically was released in 2005, but the ‘Raised By Wolves’ EP it’s taken from didn’t get released in the UK until 2006, so I’m going to go with that excuse. Anyway, if you’ve read more than a handful of music blog in your lifetime you’re probably aware of who they are and who they sound like. This one sounds rather like , and it’s incredibly good, particularly given that I don’t like very much. I’m not entirely sure what it all means, as it seems to change focus an awful lot, but it’s full of wonderful imagery that’s delivered beautifully. If a full album next year doesn’t make them explode into the limelight Death Cab style, I’ll be very surprised.

Kate Nash#4

‘The Nicest Thing’

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“‘The Nicest Thing’ is up there with the best new songs that I have heard this year. It’s her most stripped down effort, just a sparse acoustic guitar and her voice, which helps an awful lot. This allows her voice, which manages to be both mournful and grounded at the same time, to become the centrepiece of the song. There is also a wonderful knack for random conversational lyrics here (”I wish that you needed me / I wish that you knew when I said two sugars, actually I meant three”). Granted the production is pretty awful here, with the vocals becoming distorted in the louder parts, but even through that the strength of this song shines through. If it were to be cleaned up a little in a studio, it could be amazing.” – originally posted June 15.

The Young Republic#3

‘Girl From The Northern States’

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The Young Republic are an eight piece (I’m sure there used to be nine though) indie folk pop band from Boston. If you’ve ever been through this blog before, you will have read me rambling about them on a fairly regular basis, so I’ll spare you here. Despite finding it very early on in the year, ‘Girl From The Northern States’ is still one of my most regularly played songs. It’s a gentle, melancholy tale of lost love that sounds more cheerful than it really has any right to. Combine this with a delightful orchestral background and you’ve got what is, for me, an almost perfect pop song.

The Light Footwork#2

‘The Art of Everyday Communication Part 1′

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The Light Footwork were the perfect example of why I started this blog in the first place. Pushing a band as good them onto unsuspecting readers is what makes this whole thing so worthwhile. A lot of songs come and go, but there are some that grab you immediately and never let go. ‘The Art of Everyday Communication Part 1′ is one of those. It starts off interestingly enough and then jumps up a gear a little way in, morphing into an entirely different song. Constantly time shifting and styles and pitch perfect male-female vocals make for an always surprising but constantly enjoyable listen.

Los Campesinos!#1
!
‘You! Me! Dancing!’

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“Los Campesinos! are a seven-piece from Cardiff who have seemingly already mastered how to make the perfect pop song. Best of all, they manage to bring a glockenspiel to the proceedings. Standout song ‘You! Me! Dancing!’ is just sheer joy from start to finish, it’s six and a half minute runtime actually feeling like half that. Jangly guitars combined with harmonising combined with witty, gleeful lyrics, and you’ve got a winning combination.” – originally posted July 4.

I wrote that six months ago and I’ve only grown to love this band even more in the time since. During which I’ve posted more songs from them, including fun things like a Pavement cover and other songs have turned up on the net. I saw them live back in September and will be doing so again in March. When I (and a number of other blogs) first wrote about them, they had around 600 friends on Myspace. They now have over 3000. At that time, they had no label and just a four track demo. They are now signed to Wichita and will be releasing their debut double a-side single in the new year. It cost me £3 to see them last time. It’s going to cost £6.50 this time. What I’m getting at here is that Los Campesinos! have been by far the biggest success story of 2006. Few bands arrive so fully formed and garner so much attention so quickly. I can think of nowhere more deserving though. 2007 should be a hell of a year for them, and us.

—

Well that’s my favourite nine songs of the year. It turned into a little bit of a slog toward the end, but I’m pleased with how it all turned out in the end. This brings to an end any kind of organised posting structure until this kind of time last year. This will probably be the last thing that I post in 2006, so I’ll wish you all a happy calender change now. This year has been a hell of a lot of fun for me, and this blog has been a big part of that. So thanks to everybody that stopped by, even if it was just to grab the songs. I’ve got a lot of great music to write about in the early days of 2007, so come on back and let me share the good music with you.

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