Another Form of Relief

I usually shy away from posting videos on here because it’s supposed to be all about the music and shit. I’m happy to make an exception in this case though. Johnny Foreigner are my favourite band at the moment. Salt, Peppa and Spinderella is my favourite Johnny Foreigner song. And this just may be my favourite music video ever. Seriously, I usually dislike videos, but I’ve watched this one over and over.

Constructed from over 68,000 individual photos on a digital camera, I dread to think the amount of hours that must have gone into it. In fact, now that I think about it, are there any videos that have more quick cuts than this one? It’d be pretty hard to beat this. Watch it in full screen and you may find yourself becoming slightly dizzy. Which suits the song perfectly well. Bring out the real fun. TURN ON THE REAL DRUMS.

I always welcome an excuse to talk about Johnny Foreigner on here, so it was rather pleasing today to receive a press release from Nettwerk announcing that they will be releasing JF’s Waited Up Til It Was Light album in the US in October. Now I’m sure that dedicated fans will have already got hold of it from the UK, but with a bit of luck, this deal will open up an entire new audience for The Best Band In The UK Right Now.

Our Bipolar Friends was the first single from that album over here, released exclusively on 7″ vinyl. My signed copy has sat here lovingly unplayed since I received because I don’t have a record player. Yet I bought the release anyway. If that isn’t a testament as to it’s quality, I don’t know what is.

So much for having permission for everything I post, but this is too good to pass up. From what I can tell, it isn’t commercially available anywhere, so no harm should be done. Anyway, Panda Love Unti were band that formed in 2001 and broke up in 2004. From what I can tell, they never reached any real level of success, which is both a curse and a blessing. A curse because songs like the one below are really quite awesome. A blessing because lead singer Alexei went on to form a new band called Johnny Foreigner.

Let’s just put this whole silly mess behind us.

Homecoming is the story of an English guy and an American girl, and the way they each view their relationship. Neither of these characters are likeable. He comes across as a dick (”I fuck my American cunt“) while she proves to be so vacuous (thinking he’s the perfect guy - “I love my English romance“) that she wouldn’t be out of place in Nada Surf’s Popular. I reference that song largely because this song covers much the same ground in both style and endorsing the lifestyle of the terminally stupid. It’s all lo-fi guitar and vocals that alternate between the subdued and the sweet. Without knowing what the song was about in the first place, you could easily listen to it and not even realise the darker undertones.

The first track from Under the Blacklight manages to set the bar a bit too high for the rest of it, aiding in the crushing disappointment that follows. No matter though, Silver Lining remains one of the finest Rilo songs in years, a joy in it’s simplicity and “hooray hooray” choruses. So good that one could almost believe it was held over from a previous album.

Quite possibly the finest song ever concerning Sodom and Gomorrah. Probably the only song concerning Sodom and Gomorrah.

I struggled with the first proper Los Campesinos! singles (this and We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives) because they just sounded wrong at first. Covered in distortion, overproduced, seemingly losing some of the joy of the original recordings. I kept listening to them though and they soon became staples on my playlists. Don’t Tell Me To Do The Math(s), over the course of the year, wormed it’s way into my favourite song list. I don’t really know how, but now it’s hard to listen to it without shouting out the words as loud as possible at the same time. And if that isn’t the mark of a great song, I don’t know what is.

Just close your eyes and listen to this song. Immerse yourself in it, take in every word. That should be more than enough to justify it’s place here.

Few bands have the kind of energy that Johnny Foreigner seem to bring to every song. Champagne Girls I Have Known is a noisy, confusing mess, with multiple vocals, guitars and drums all trying to be louder than each other. In other words, a glorious assault on the eardrums.

I’ll Kill Her is one of the those rare songs that will just sit on repeat for long periods at at time. SoKo Girl starts gently enough: she’s talking about how the guy she likes didn’t call her to go on their date. So far, so mundane. This evolves into anger as the song goes on about the “bitch” that is now in her place, through the eventual announcement that makes up the title of the song. The interesting part here though is that the narrator seems entirely unstable. It may all be as literal as it sounds on the initial listen, or it could be so much more. Even people bitter about a breakup don’t usually launch into detailed “what ifs” about the children they would have had (even naming them Tom and Susan). At the very least, this girl has some kind of issues. Listen again though, and you start to wonder if there was even a breakup involved. She never mentions one directly. For all we know, she has never even met the guy she’s bitter about losing to someone else. This could just be the most elaborate stalker scenario put to record. It doesn’t really matter exactly which scenario it is though. At the very least, it’s a fascinating stream of consciousness of a somewhat damaged person. It’s sung in such an informal (almost conversational) tone that it’s impossible to dislike her, no matter how crazy it may come across as at times.

I’ve been trying to write the blurb for this song for the last couple of days with little success. Which is a bit odd considering it’s my number one song of last year. I’ve listened to it repeatedly trying to pull some inspiration from it with no luck. Which isn’t a slight against the song itself. I adore it, probably more now than when I started listening to it last year. I just can’t seem to explain it in words. Sure, it has all of the hallmarks of what I like in music: vaguely twee, fragile yet amusing lyrics, even a trumpet. Yet I can’t seem to locate that “wow” factor which tips it over the top. Maybe, to it’s eternal credit, it doesn’t need one.

And.. stop.

Yay, we’re almost done. Which is good as I have a lot of other things I want to write about and I’m kind of bored of this list now.

Like Two Gallants earlier on in this list, Okkervil River are a band that I sort of like based on the songs I’ve heard, but have never been able to get hugely into. I never found the one song that managed to blow me away, despite vaguely enjoy the ones I did hear. Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe changed all that though. I don’t know what it is that does it, as it sounds like a lot of other Okkervil River songs, but something does it. Maybe it’s the gentle builds to lines crashing lines, the film referencing or the vague ambiguity of it all, I have no idea. But it works.

Opening lines don’t come much better than that. Granted, like me, you may have to look up ’solipsistic’, which incidentally is a great word, but one I sadly haven’t had the chance to drop into conversation yet. Laura Sings Liver is one girl (shockingly called Laura) with a guitar who makes these literate little songs that manage to evoke a an entire world in the course of three minutes. You know, kind of like Emmy, except great.

Far and away the biggest success story of 2007, Johnny Foreigner went from songs with potential that sounded awful to becoming the most exciting band in the country. Their debut EP type thing, Arcs Across the City, was my favourite release of last year, featuring six songs, all of which were stunning. Yes! You Talk Too Fast has always been a favourite, so it made the list, but like Laura Sings Liver above, any of those songs could have been here.

It’s almost as if Los Campesinos! had my checklist of things that make a song great when coming up with The International Tweexcore Underground. Sparring boy-girl vocals? Frequent time changes? References to seemingly forgotten twee artists? All present and accounted for. The song seems to be about a boy who likes twee and a girl who likes hardcore rock, and they come together by combining it to form tweecore? Something like that maybe? I really have no idea, as it’s far too tempting to ignore what the words are actually saying and just shout along with them anyway.

The first single from the second album by Brakes (I’m not calling them brakesbrakesbrakes, no matter how many promo emails try and get me to), and it’s better than anything that was on their impressive first album. Like most of their songs, it’s short and to the point, including a dig at our government’s draconian anti-terror legislation (”I woke up late and found my liberty lost / It had been written down in law as a security cost / 28 days and I’m presumed guilty”). It also scores extra points for being able to namedrop Scarlett Johannson, which must be something of an awkward name to work into song.

L’apathie de la bourgeoisie.

I was going to write about Conversational Karate, but since I started this list, 4 or 5 Magicians have put up a whole load of new songs on their Myspace. Just go there and listen to them instead. Every single one of them is fantastic. If these guys don’t get some kind of proper record deal and an album out sometime this year, there’s no justice in the world.

Get past their awkward name, and you’ve got a band that does genuinely invoke a 90s Americana kind of vibe from their music. Which is a pretty impressive for a band from London. The guitars guide the songs between the gentler verses to the bursts of noise that seem to prop up the choruses. It’s never over the top, giving a feel the whole time that they band could kick into high gear at any minute, but these guys are far too restrained for that.

A rather local band that has seemingly ended before it began, Andrej and Tim was two guys (can you guess their names?) who made fantastic Ben Folds Five style piano-rock songs. I’m don’t think Iraq ever made it past the demo stage, but it’s still an excellent song. The story of a relationship that’s falling apart while managing to pull in parallels to situation in a certain country, it remains one of the finest songs that I heard last year. The ninth finest in fact.

Great British Hopes will be a recurring feature between now and the end of the year, looking at the best bands on the verge of greatness the UK has to offer.

Yep, I’m awesome.

Here is what I said about Johnny Foreigner back in January:

Their recorded songs sound like they were recorded from the inside of a steel dustbin.

Here’s what I am saying about them now:

Johnny Foreigner are the best band in the country right now.

Which is technically inaccurate as they just flew out to New York, but we won’t be picky about the trivial details. It seems fitting that one of our Great British Hopes should be one of the first British bands I wrote about at the start of the year, and no one deserves it more than these guys. It was almost a year ago to the day that I first encountered Johnny Foreigner, playing second on a bill of four bands to a half empty room in the Dublin Castle. Their live performance blew me away, but their recorded material sounded terrible, hence the above quote.

What a difference a year can make though. Over the past twelve months, a bunch of new songs have appeared, each sounding better than the last. The production values have improved dramatically, as has their ability. The songwriting is far more refined, and even the recorded songs now capture the same reckless abandon that their live show did. The band made the finals of Channel 4’s Road to V contest, has supported Los Campesinos!, Idlewild and probably a bunch of other highly regarded bands.

All of which has led to them finally signing a record deal with Best Before Records, who will be releasing their first proper EP/mini album thing in the next few weeks. The new songs from it that I’ve heard are stunning, even blowing the ones below out the water. Seriously, this band has made me more excited about anything musically than I have been in quite some time. These guys will be huge. It’s only a matter of time.

MP3 Johnny Foreigner - Sometimes in the Bullring (expired)
MP3 Johnny Foreigner - Our Bipolar Friends (expired)

What others are saying..

“..quite incapable of producing anything other than an unholy racket.” - To Die By Your Side

“Very excitable, very inspiring, very potent” - The Runout Groove

Johnny Foreigner’s debut release, Arcs Across the City will be released via Best Before Records toward the end of November. At a guess, I’d say the 26th. You can listen to a bunch of the songs on it at the band’s Myspace. While there you can also download I Like You Mostly Late At Never, their 15 song demo.

Johnny Foreigner: Myspace

Everything seems to be coming up Johnny Foreigner at the moment. Fresh off the back of supporting Los Campesinos! and Sky Larkin on their recent tour, the band have now reached the finals of the Road To V competition. Road To V allows unsigned bands to battle for a place at the V Festival later on in the year, and Johnny Foreigner have made it to the final list of 14. This means they will now play for some industry types, and as I understand it, will be appearing on a Channel 4 program about it in the future.

With all this excitement, it would be easy to forgive the band if they focused on their established songs rather than coming up with new material at the moment, but they have gone and released three entirely new songs for free download. Production values, while still not the highest, are certainly improved here on many of the past songs. None of these songs deviate from the established Johnny Foreigner formula: these songs are the musical equivalent of a mosh pit. They jump around flailing limbs in all directions, and if anyone gets in the way, it’s not their problem. There’s such wreckless abandon to these songs, it’s surprising the band doesn’t need new instruments after every gig.

MP3 Johnny Foreigner - Suicide Pact Yeh (expired)
MP3 Johnny Foreigner - Our Bipolar Friends (expired)
MP3 Johnny Foreigner - Cranes and Cranes and Cranes (expired)

Johnny Foreigner’s new single, a split 7″ with Sunset Cinema Club featuring Yes, You Talk Too Fast and each band covering the other, is either out now or will be very soon. It even comes with 3D glasses apparently.

Johnny Foreigner: Website || Myspace

It sounds like Johnny Foreigner have finally pulled themselves out of the dustbin they were recording in, if the new recordings on their Myspace are anything to go by. The band have gone back and put together some new versions of old favourites ‘Sometimes, In The Bullring’ and ‘Sofacore’, and they sound fantastic. This isn’t an entire sea change though, as there is still very much a DIY feel to these recordings, but in a way where you can actually hear the words now.

MP3 Johhny Foreigner - Sometimes, In The Bullring (expired)
MP3 Johnny Foreigner - Sofacore (expired)

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Now I’m not one for things like karaoke, but if I were, this just might be the greatest thing ever. A fairly lengthy list of indie songs, all done in karaoke format (no vocal, guided lyrics). While it’s largely made up of “known” indie bands (meaning shit ones), there are a few obscure gems in there like Belle & Sebastian’s ‘She’s Losing It’, Malkmus’ ‘Jenny & The Ess Dog’ and Arcade Fire’s ‘Laika’. Guaranteed hours of fun, if you like that sort of thing.

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I’ve been loving this song for quite some time now, so it’s great that I’m finally able to write about it. It’s the first single from the second album by Brakes (I’m not calling them brakesbrakesbrakes, no matter how many promo emails try and get me to), and it’s better than anything that was on their impressive first album. Like most of their songs, it’s short and to the point, including a dig at our government’s draconian anti-terror legislation (I woke up late and found my liberty lost / It had been written down in law as a security cost / 28 days and I’m presumed guilty). It also scores extra points for being able to namedrop Scarlett Johannson, which must be something of an awkward name to work into song.

MP3 Brakes - Hold Me In The River (expired)

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Pitchfork ‘for the fiftieth time, we’re not a fucking music blog’ Media wins “Best Weblog about Music” at the 2007 Bloggies. Strangely don’t feature it in their news section.

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Assembly Now have now made another one of their singles available for free download on their website, meaning you can now get hold of all of their official releases for free. ‘Leigh-On-Sea’ is the single, ‘Tenement’ is the b-side, but they are both great songs. These guys will be supporting the also rather good Wombats on an upcoming tour of the UK, including a stop near my neck of the woods in Tunbridge Wells, which should be fun.

MP3 Assembly Now - Leigh-On-Sea (expired)
MP3 Assembly Now - Tenement (expired)

Three facts about Johnny Foreigner:

1. Their recorded songs sound like they were recorded from the inside of a steel dustbin.
2. There are no good pictures of them anywhere on the internet.
3. Despite points 1 & 2, they rock sufficiently well enough for me to write about them.

The difficult part for me is convincing you that they rock because of the aforementioned dustbin thing. I know that they rock personally because their live show is something wonderous. I saw them when I went to see Beeches, with them playing second of four bands, and they played one hell of a set. Driven songs that were full of energy, with a vocal that made them sound not a million miles from Los Campesinos!. At one point, lead singer Alexei even asked the audience why they were there and not watching Los Campesinos! who were playing round the corner. I’m not sure what telling you that part achieves. Maybe that Johnny Foreigner are down with the kids. Although they are the kids themselves. This paragraph is going to implode in on itself in a minute.

A couple of days later, I looked the band up on Myspace. At first I wasn’t sure that I’d found the same band. It looked like the same three people, but the songs on their player sounded pretty abysmal, even the single, ‘Sometimes, In The Bullring’. Despite the sound though, I kept going back to the page and listening to the songs. It was probably the live show that did it, as I doubt I would have returned to them based solely on the recordings. There was something about them though. Despite the recording quality, the songs were catchy and full of the bursts of energy that made seeing them live so enjoyable.

With access to some production values instead of a four-track in a living room, these songs would be stunning. Hopefully they will get to record more songs this year, fully unleashing the potential of what they could be. Both sides of their 7″ single can be found below. If that isn’t enough to convince you, I implore you to see them live. To make it all the offer all the more appealing, they will be supporting both Los Campesinos! and Sky Larkin in both Nottingham and their hometown of Birmingham in March.

MP3 Johnny Foreigner - Sometimes, In The Bullring (expired)
MP3 Johnny Foreigner - Camp Kelly Calm (expired)

Johnny Foreigner: Website || Myspace

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Speaking of Los Campesinos!, you are now able to listen to both sides of their upcoming double a-side single on the bands Myspace page. I’m kind of torn over them myself, sparking what may just be the world’s fastest backlash (their first single isn’t even out yet!). Both songs sound overproduced to me, too much distortion and effects, not enough vocal at the forefront. This may change though. Yesterday I didn’t like both of the songs, now it’s only the new version of ‘We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives’ that annoys me. I’m actually liking ‘Don’t Make Me Do The Math(s)’, even if it takes a little getting used to. Thoughts?

Los Campesinos!
Sky Larkin
Kate Nash
The Indelicates
Johnny Foreigner

What do all of these artists have in common? It isn’t that they are all great, even if that is indeed the case. It’s that I am a big fan of all of them and yet I don’t own a single thing that they have released. Why not? Because all of their releases are on vinyl.

Technically Los Campesinos!, Sky Larkin and Kate Nash haven’t actually released anything yet, but in the coming weeks they will all release debut singles. All of these will be on the 7″ format. I don’t know a great deal about how the industry works on a financial level, but can someone explain to me exactly why this is the case? Surely a CD is far cheaper to produce than vinyl, and surely more people have access to CD players than to record players. So what possible reason is there for cutting out a chunk of the market?

You could argue that there is always a digital alternative as most of these songs will made available as downloads at the same time. I’m sorry though, but the day I pay £1 for a DRM infested piece of crap from iTunes will be the day that I’m done with music. It isn’t an elitist “I want a tangiable product” thing, however nice that is. I understand that for small bands digital distribution is a fantastic thing, and would support it, if only I could do whatever I wanted with the songs I’d paid for on whatever devices I choose to.

All of which leaves me with no legal means with which to obtain releases from the above artists. This essentially forces my hand into downloading copies, which really doesn’t help anybody. It’s actually getting to the point where I’m considering getting a basic record player (and whatever I’d need to rip them to mp3) just to be able to get hold of these releases. Which all seems a bit silly in this day and age.

So can anyone explain this to me? Is there a good reason for the upsurge in vinyl releases? Am I missing out on something spectacular?