Posts tagged Betty and The Werewolves

Top 24 Songs of 2010

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1 year ago
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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. – 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. Tigercats – 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.

Top 10 Records of 2010

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So 2010 turned out to be the year where my enjoyment of indiepop turned into a full blown obsession.  Pretty much everything I’ve listened to (or rather, listened to and liked) this year falls into the genre, or at the very least, flirts with it in some way.  So any end of year lists will be rather myopic genre wise.  I simply haven’t listened to most of the critically acclaimed albums released this year, nor do I care to.  Regularly now I will look at Pitchfork and not even recognise a single band on it’s front page.  A few years ago that would have bothered me.  Not now.  So if indiepop isn’t your thing, this probably isn’t for you.  But then given that’s about all I post these days anyway, you probably buggered off months ago anyway.

A small caveat to this list: I originally planned to write this as an album list, but then it occurred that some of my favourite releases this year have been EPs.  So I opened it up a bit to include them.  Because it’s my blog, and my list, and I can do whatever the hell I like.

1. ! – Romance is Boring

So let’s talk about you for a minute..

So opens the third Los Campesinos! record, before proceeding to spend fifteen songs doing exactly the opposite.  Which on the basis of the previous two albums is hardly a surprise.  Gareth has always been a horribly/wonderfully solipsistic songwriter, and while the imagery may have grown more elaborate, the same basis premise is here: Airing ones issues through the medium of song.

It’s an idea that may have started to grow tired by now, if not for the fact the band behind him have evolved greatly too.  While certain songs (There Are Listed Buildings, Straight In At 101) are recognisable when compared to the Hold On Now, Youngster… era, much of the album isn’t.  We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed hinted at grander things, and Romance is Boring follows though.  As an album, it’s remarkable how all over the place it is, and yet it still works as a coherent whole.

It would have been easy for a band like Los Campesinos! to keep churning out You! Me! Dancing! on record after record, but they seem to have no interest in doing so.  It’s a gamble, and one that sometimes misfires (Who Fell Asleep In still feels slightly out of place), but overall, it’s a stunningly well constructed album.  The intimidating part is how much further they can go down this route.  We’re a long way from even two and a half years ago, when I boldly proclaimed that they would be the “best band to only release one album”.  That I’m happy to be proved wrong is one thing, that each album manages to improve on the last is astounding.

MP3 Los Campesinos! – The Sea is a Good Place to Place of the Future

2. Allo Darlin’ – Allo Darlin’

I feel like dancing on my own, to a record that I do not own

Allo Darlin’ were a band I was drawn to in 2009, and fell in love with in 2010.  They also managed to become my most seen live band too, with me managing to squeeze in six of their gigs over the course of the year.  There’s nothing particularly original about Allo Darlin’, and indeed, many have written them off as “the usual twee bollocks” or the such.  Which is fine, but they aren’t claiming to do anything particularly new.  The point is that they do what they do incredibly well.

What we’ve got here are straight up, simple, jangly pop songs.  Call and response male-female vocals are here.  Handclaps are here.  Excerpts of Weezer and others are here.  Lyrically, you’re running through the usual subjects: unrequited love, pop culture and exactly why you keep playing in a band when making no money.  As a representation of exactly what the DIY scene of today, nothing tops it.

MP3 Allo Darlin’ – My Heart is a Drummer

3. – The Noyelle Beat

I’m only twenty two, I still don’t know what it is that I’m supposed to do

It’s hard for me to disassociate Standard Fare from Allo Darlin’, which may explain their similar position here.  Both were noticed by me around the same kind of time, I’ve seen the two play together repeatedly, and both released stunning debut albums in the first part of the year.  The Noyelle Beat is a scrappier album than it’s counterpart, and one that leaves you wondering just how three people manage to make so much noise.

MP3 Standard Fare – Dancing

4. – Dead Crow Blues

All those people who come to my gigs and talk through my set / To them it’s just another half hour in the pub, but I’ll never forget

There’s something depressing about Dead Crow Blues, the fourth Superman Revenge Squad release, and it’s not just in the music.  Sure, Ben Parker isn’t the happiest of souls, but this stems more from the fact no one seems to be taking any notice.  Between the stunning Nosferatu D2 album (only £3.99 – GO!) and these SRS EPs, the man is proving himself as one of the best songwriters in the country.  Lack of recognition aside though, this is by far his strongest work yet.  Musically little has changed (a guitar, the odd strings, and for the first time, a drum machine on one song), but that’s for the best as Parker’s delivery of his lyrics is by far the main appeal here.

MP3 Superman Revenge Squad – Fairweather Friends

5. – Life! Death! Prizes!

Maybe we should run to my dirty flat, talk about the things that make us sad

I didn’t get on with Shrag’s first album for the longest time, and it really only clicked for me a few months before I picked up this one.  Life! Death! Prizes! works far more immediately than it’s predecessor, even if it’s hard to tell why.  The music is slightly more developed, and some of the more abrasive vocal deliveries have been restrained, but it’s pretty much more of the same.  It’s loud, fast and catchy.  All elements that likely explain why it spent more time in my car CD player than any other record this year.

MP3 Shrag – Tights in August

..and rounding out the top ten:

6. – Shouting at Wildlife

7. – Teatime Favourites

8. – Living and Growing

9. – 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

10. – City of Glass

Indietracks lineup takes shape

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Video: Indietracks 2009 in 7 Minutes by LastNightFromGlasgow

The Indietracks lineup seems to be pretty much complete now (though a few more bands are still to come) with Everybody Was In The French Resistance… Now and both being added to the bill.  Perhaps more excitingly though, the day by day breakdowns have now been announced, giving us a festival that looks something like this:

Friday

Everybody Was In The French Resistance…Now, Allo Darlin’, Veronica Falls

Saturday

The Primitives, , , Ballboy, , , , , , , , , La La Love You, , , , Linda Guilala, The Give It Ups, , , The Hillfields, Urbantramper, Paisley and Charlie, , Jam On Bread, Lime Chalks

Sunday

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, The Pooh Sticks, , Slow Club, Springfactory, Stars of Aviation, , , Sarandon, The Cannanes, Internet Forever, The Sunny Street, Printed Circuit, The Blanche Hudson Weekend, The Millipedes, The Loves, Onward Chariots, Winston Echo, Standard Fare, MJ Hibbett and the Validators, , The Specific Heats, Mexican Kids at Home, The Middle Ones, Yokoko, Clint Play People

Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good.  On a personal level, the lineup is quite nice for me with a decent split across the days of the bands that I like, though it looks like Sunday has the possibility of being clash central.  Not that it matters too much at Indietracks though.  I had great fun last year watching bands I hadn’t even heard of even if I didn’t get to see all of the ones I would have liked to.

Indietracks takes place between 23-25 July at the Midland Railway Centre in Swanwick, located a little way off of the M1 north of Nottingham.  Bands play across four stages, one of which is located in a moving steam train.  Various workshops and discos happen around the site, and it’s quite simply the nicest place you’ll ever go.  Tickets cost £60 for all three days or £32.50 per day, and can be purchased here.

First band announcements for Indietracks 2010

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Indietracks 2009

Now that London Popfest is out of the way, it’s time to turn our attention to this year’s Indietracks festival, which will take place 23-25 July at the lovely Midland Railway Centre in Derbyshire.  Last year we covered the event quite extensively, and this year will be no different.  Previews of the bands in the run up to the event, followed by reports and a shit ton of photos of the weekend itself.  I’m not exaggerating when I call Indietracks the highlight of my musical year.  Where else can you get a non-stop indiepop while surrounded by (and sometimes on!) steam trains?

Rather excitingly, the first band announcements are now out, giving us our first 24 bands that will be playing the festival:

Highlights for myself amongst that lot include Allo Darlin’, Ballboy and Standard Fare, but there’s a lot there already that I’m looking forward to.  A number that I’m not familiar with that I look forward to getting acquainted with too.  No word on any headliners just yet, but announcements seem to be coming thick and fast now, so hopefully we’ll have more soon.

Update: Of course, mere hours after I post this, 8 new additions have revealed: Internet Forever, , , , , Stars in Coma, , .

Indietracks Website / Blog / Twitter

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