Another Form of Relief

The Light Footwork have been off my radar for a while now. It’s been a couple of years since their debut album, and with only one EP since, I’ve perhaps paid them less attention than I should have done. That changed suddenly upon watching the excellent Beulah documentary, A Good Band Is Easy To Kill. I’d completely forgotten that Jay, one half of the Light Footwork, toured with the Beulah as an intern, and it was something of a surprise to see him popping up every now again in the film.

While watching the film kicked off my love of Beulah once again, it also had me returning to that Light Footwork album. The good news is that it’s still as good as I recall, a lovely laid back record that wouldn’t feel out of place in the mid-90s. Which as we all know is when the best music was being made. With a bit of luck we’ll get a new album from them this year and all will be right in the world once more.

Yep, I may just get this done in time for the 2008 list.

This is one of those songs that you listen to once, think it’s okay and then don’t really come back. Then you hear it again, wonder what it is and think it’s rather good. By the time you’ve heard it four or five times, it’s that catchy song that you already seem to know all of the words to.

There’s nothing here that’s any different from their previous material, but what does it matter? When pop is this jangly, sweeping and melancholy all at once, I’m certainly not going to argue.

The Light Footwork came in at number two on this list last time, and while their position may be a bit lower this time around, they are still just as good as they always were. Releasing a split EP with Tereu, Tereu (which incidentally had the best artwork of the year), they unleashed three new songs upon us, the best of them being Rebellion Time. All of the Light Footwork hallmarks at here, from the Beulah-esque melodies to the back and forth male-female vocals. With a bit of luck, we’ll get a new full length from them in 2008.

How did I go so long not knowing anything about The Thermals? Seemingly the only band genuinely pissed off at the state of the world, each album seems to get angrier than the last, with the latest almost a concept album about living under a fascistic Christian state. Which is obviously not based in reality at all. Anyways, combine the political comment with near perfect song constructions, and you’ve got one of the most exciting bands working today.

Partying like it’s 1959, Friends of the Bride’s music sounds like it could have come from the era of swing and big band music, but it somehow manages to remain fresh at the same time. Cut Down On My Friends is an obvious standout, a bitter tirade about needy friends accousing the singer of being anti-social, followed by a declaration that he’s going to have less to do with them by moving to the suburbs. This was the b-side to the band’s first single, so they are setting the bar pretty high, given this could have been a superb single in itself.

The Punks Are Writing Love Songs shows that little has changed in the Tullyland. A look at current music trends, jangly guitars and the obligatory ‘ooh-oohs’ are here. While it’s not quite the self aware anthems that Twee and Pop Songs were, it’s three minutes of joy that you’ll be hard pressed to find from other bands.

An Icelandic rock band that references Paul Giamatti? Grounds for a top twenty placing right there.

Seemingly this years love it or hate it indie hit, as there seems to be no middle ground on this one at all. Personally I fall into the love it camp, and while I can see the formula becoming stale across several songs, Thou Shalt Always Kill hits all the right spots. A glorious manifesto for modern life that wants to right as many wrongs as possible in this country, no matter how big or small they may be. It’s ridiculously quotable too.

Scrappy guitar playing? Distortion all over the melodies? Deliberately fuzzy vocals about nothing? You will find none of these things in the music of Assembly Now. The guitars are clean and crisp, every nuance can be clearly heard, and the vocals are both clear and literate. Of course none of these things are new concepts, but they certainly seem to be things that are out of favour at the moment. This makes Assembly Now all the more refreshing.

#9
Hello Saferide
‘The Quiz’

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Myspace

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’.

#8
Art Brut
‘Nag Nag Nag Nag’

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Myspace

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.

#7
4 or 5 Magicians
‘Forever On The Edge’

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Myspace

“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.

#6
Belle & Sebastian
‘Funny Little Frog’

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Myspace

By far the best song on ‘The Life Pursuit’ and one of the finest that Belle and Sebastian 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.

#5
Voxtrot
‘The Start of Something’

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Myspace

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 The Smiths, and it’s incredibly good, particularly given that I don’t like The Smiths 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.

#4
Kate Nash
‘The Nicest Thing’

Website
Myspace

“‘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.

#3
The Young Republic
‘Girl From The Northern States’

Website
Myspace

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.

#2
The Light Footwork
‘The Art of Everyday Communication Part 1′

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Myspace

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.

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

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Myspace

“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.

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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.

#19
Emmy The Great
‘Paper Trails’

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Myspace

I’ve really tried to get into the music of Emmy the Great, but I can’t seem to do it. Maybe I’ve been hearing the wrong songs or something, but all of the tracks that I’ve picked up from various blogs haven’t done very much for me. All except this one anyway. It’s quite a feat for an artist I don’t particularly like to get to get a song in my top 20 songs of the year, but ‘Paper Trails’ somehow gets there. I can’t even tell you what it is that I like about it. Possibly the song itself, but it makes so little sense that it’s probably not. It could be her voice, but if it is, why don’t I like her other songs? It’s all very confusing really. Rest assured that this is a fine song though, and certainly worthy of it’s place here.

#18
Sky Larkin
‘Keepsakes’

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Myspace

I wrote earlier on in the year that ‘Keepsakes’ was one of my favourite songs of the year, and the fact it’s made this list confirms that very little has changed. It’s not their most complex song, but it’s the one that I’ve enjoyed more than any of the others in the past year. There’s something a little creepy about the whole thing, but it’s mainly just an outlet for Katie’s increasingly powerful voice.

#17
Play Radio Play
‘Jello’

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Myspace

The first time that I heard the early parts of ‘Jello’ I genuinely thought that I was listening to The Postal Service. Nearly everything comes across as uncannily similar: the song structure, the random electronic bits and the vocal is pretty much a perfect Gibbard. Of course, this leads to an ineviatble question of why I’m including a song so highly here if it’s just a rip-off of another band. I’m not even sure if I can answer that question entirely though. I just really like the song. It’s simplistic and some of the words are a little awkward, but it’s just incredibly catchy.

#16
The Light Footwork
‘Coastlines Are Landmines’

Website
Myspace

The Light Footwork seemed to arrive entirely out of nowhere with an already perfected sound. Primarily the creative outlet for Jay Underwood and Becca Wilhelm, they combine the musical sounds of Beulah with the songwriting finesse of Stephen Malkmus. If I was putting together an album list for the year, there is no doubt that their debut release, ‘One State Two State’ would feature very highly, if not in the number one position. I don’t think I’ve played any other complete albums as consistantly in the past year. Anyway, ‘Coastlines Are Landmines’ is just one standout song on an incredible album.

#15
The Elected
‘It Was Love’

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Myspace

“I’m still not a big fan of ‘Sun, Sun, Sun’, but this song is just about my favourite of any song that The Elected have put out. If there’s one thing Blake Sennett can do well, it’s sounding melancholy while doing his best Elliott Smith impression. An entirely depressing story about two people who stay together because they know no better (”I just put up with you / Kid, I stayed because you wouldn’t leave”). I don’t know if it’s supposed to be positive or not when Blake describes this time as “It was love / Or at least the closest I got”, but it certainly doesn’t seem that way even if it’s supposed to be.” – originally posted June 2.

#14
Pony Up!
‘What’s Free Is Yours’

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Myspace

I discovered Pony Up! toward the end of the year, and have since obtained a lot of their material. To be perfectly honestly, a lot of it isn’t all that interesting to me. What is interesting to me though are perfect pop songs, and ‘What’s Free Is Yours’ certainly falls into that category. An upbeat song from a slightly bitter woman who is changing her perception of the past to make the guy she’s broken up with seem like the bad guy (“I don’t believe / you’d be here if you could / But then again / you never said you would / I make up promises you never made”). It’s this perfect capturing of the quirky little things that people do that allow Pony Up! to have some fantastic songs. They just need seeking out amongst all the rest.

#13
Pocketbooks
‘Cross The Line’

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Myspace

“‘Cross the Line’ is the first song released from their new batch of recordings, and it’s easily cemented itself in place as one of my favourites of the year so far. Full of lovely imagery (it opens with “I’m asleep on a train on the Zone 2 boundary”) and basically continues as a back and forth conversation between the male and female vocalists. This takes on a nicely self-aware twist when she starts calling him on the honesty of his lyrics (”As a kid I would run through the fields and orchards” / “What about your hayfever though?” / “I’d climb the branches to the top” / “What, with your vertigo?” / “Look, I’m making all this up”). Extra points also have to be awarded for being the first song I’m aware of that actually slots in the term “Oyster card” without being entirely tacky.” – originally posted November 4.

#12
Beeches
‘Make Your Own Luck’

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Myspace

Proclaimed as “a fucking excellent song” by at least one attendee gig Beeches played for AFoR a month ago, ‘Make Your Own Luck’ is my favourite song of theirs and one of the best I’ve heard this year. Musically it comes across as a crazy drunk person, jumping from energetic bursts of aggression to slowed down gentle parts and back again. Lyrically, it’s a hell of a lot of fun. Essentially the story of man singing to his new step daughter after he met her mother at “the filming of Trisha” before they “married on Kilroy”. Of course, it’s all rather whimsical, but who can resist it when it leaps into high gear for the second time?

#11
Jenny Owen Youngs
‘Fuck Was I’

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Myspace

Firmly a part of my “big in 2007″ list is Jenny Owen Youngs, something that was made stronger by a recent signing to Canadian indie label Nettwerk, who will be re-releasing her 2005 album ‘Batten The Hatches’ early next year. Despite initially being kind of indifferent to it, ‘Fuck Was I’ quickly became one of my favourite songs of the year. Pretty much the anthem of any breakup, mournfully looking back and asking “what the fuck was I thinking?” All sung by a wonderful voice with a gentle strings arrangement in the background, sad songs really don’t come much better than this.

#10
Born Ruffians
‘This Sentence Will Ruin/Save Your Life’

Website
Myspace

The world has been decidedly short of slacker anthems since the loss of Pavement, so a song like this from Canada’s Born Ruffians fills in the void perfectly. Two and a half loud, noisy minutes about the things the singer wants from life (a girl, nice car, a meaning to his life) while seemingly accepting that he’s too lazy to do anything about it. This certainly isn’t an epiphany song, more one that proclaims what will never be had. Making the whole thing rather a downer to be honest.

And with that we’re down to the final nine songs that make up best songs of 2006. In my opinion of course. If you read the blog regularly you can probably guess a few of the songs that will make up the top end of the chart, but hopefully there will be a couple of surprises in there too. Be sure to come back tomorrow to find out what they are.

Boy, someone has sure been drinking their Pavement juice. While The Light Footwork’s album from earlier this year, ‘One State Two State’ featured a bunch of Pavement and Malkmus influences, it was also heavily coated in other weird and wacky pop like that of Beulah. ‘Melville’ sounds like something that wouldn’t have seemed out of place on ‘Crooked Rain Crooked Rain’ or ‘Wowee Zowee’ though.

I lost count of how many times the pace of this song jumps from slow to fast or there’s a key change. It’s continually surprising through all of it’s five minute running time. The vocals are all over the place too, moving from restrained one minute to urgent the next. It doesn’t make a great deal of sense as a song, but since when has that ever mattered? It sounds good and is a lot of fun to listen to, and it’s nice to see bands not afraid to throw a little insanity into the proceedings.

If you’re still not familiar with The Light Footwork, you’re really missing out on something special. ‘One State Two State’ has proved to be one of the finest albums from this year, and with new songs like this, it looks as if that was no fluke. It’s baffling to me how these guys don’t have a proper record deal by now, but that’s the crazy nature of the industry I guess.

MP3 The Light Footwork – Melville (expired)

The Light Footwork have also released a video for ‘The Art Of Everyday Communication Part 1′, the best song on ‘One State Two State’. You can watch it here on Youtube.

The Light Footwork: Website || Myspace || AFoR Interview

When I first emailed The Light Footwork about doing an email interview for Another Form of Relief, they accepted but warned me that it might take them a while to get answers to me. This was back in may, proving they really weren’t kidding. I tell you this not as a complaint or anything like that, but more because it was a pleasant surprise for me that they would still take the time to get this back to me all those months later when most would have just tossed it aside. I mean this isn’t exactly an important publication I have going here, just a blog with a few crazy readers. I guess my main point here is that The Light Footwork are very cool people.

For those of you not familiar with The Light Footwork, their album, ‘One State Two State’ is one of my favourites from this year, and with good reason. It’s a charming, witty record that’s generally a joy to the ears. Think something along the lines of the lyrical stylings of early Pavement crossed with the wonderful sounds of Beulah while still sounding entirely fresh and you’re on the right track. The band is the project of songwriting duo Jay Underwood and Becca Willhelm, both of whom were kind enough to answer my inane questions.

How are you today?

Becca: I’m pretty good. I don’t have a hernia. I thought I did, but I don’t.

Jay: Nothing a snort of paddy couldn’t fix.

How did The Light Footwork originally come about?

Becca: Sometime in early 2004, we’d both recently moved to Palo Alto and were looking for something musical to do. As luck would have it I heard some of Jay’s stuff and he heard some of mine and we thought we’d try out playing together. I was a little concerned that he might be a psycho killer, but he seemed pretty normal on the phone, so we arranged to meet at the Caltrain station in Palo Alto. I would be wearing a brown backpack, and he would be in a Subaru. That night we ate Taco Bell bean burritos and drank whatever beer he had, and then we wrote The Art of Communication Part 1. And we’ve been neglecting our families, significant others, and jobs ever since.

Jay: I am a psycho killer.

Where did the name The Light Footwork come from?

Jay: It came from the google translation of an email written to me in Japanese. I don’t know what the Japanese character meant, but google thought it meant “Light Footwork” so I added that to the mental list of possible band names, and then it grew on me, and I convinced Becca it didn’t suck. I’m not sure if she was ever really convinced, but i still like it. What do you think?

Is it true that the two of you are on entirely different continents much of the time? How does this impact your ability to make music?

Becca: It is true, Jay is in Ireland and I’m in California. It has been this way for the last year. This has put quite a damper on touring, but Jay is coming back in a week and I anticipate that it’ll make this all much easier. We’ve both continued writing new material, mainly just small pieces of songs which I suspect will all fuse together during the first month that we’re back together in person. I’m really excited for Jay to get back. YAY!

Jay: I’m now back, hence the delay in returning these answers to you. Sorry about that.

There are a lot of comparisons between your music and that of Beulah. Given Jay’s connection to the band this would be inevitable, but who else do you cite as the major influences on your music?

Becca: We’re big on Malkmus. Other than that, I’m probably most influenced by random classical music (most recently, I’ve been on a Scarlatti kick).

Jay: I like random music too, 70s prog is big.

How helpful do you think the internet has been in getting the word out about your music?

Becca: Since we’ve been in different countries, the internet has been the sole source of getting the word out. The blogs have been amazing – we’ve reached far more people through word-of-blog than through formal reviews and radio combined.

Jay: True dat.

What do you think you’d both be doing if you weren’t making music?

Becca: Since the time we’re making music is basically in our spare time, I suppose if I wasn’t making music then I’d spend more time outside, bikeriding and playing more team sports. Actually, I’ve always wanted to take up boxing. Every time I go on business travel I watch boxing in the hotel (I normally can’t watch boxing because I don’t have cable at home). Yes, I think I’d join a small boxing gym and start getting my nose all smashed flat and my ears all cauliflowered.

What does the future hold for The Light Footwork?

Becca: Well, if we get big then I’m going to do celebrity boxing. Other than that, I’ve got no idea. We’re definitely planning to put out some more albums and finally play some shows. We’ve got half of a music video filmed, so we’ll probably finish that up sometime soon. After that, I’ll probably die prematurely of a cancerous brain tumor and Jay will sit on the organ recipient list waiting for a new liver because he probably ruined his in Ireland, and that’ll be the end of us. So we’d better smoke it while we’ve got it.

Jay: The transplant went well and I’m back to writing songs, which will be easier to rehearse now that we share a house again and have a new practice space. Viva las light footwork

MP3 The Light Footwork – Coastlines Are Landmines (expired)
MP3 The Light Footwork – Exit Row (expired)

The Light Footwork: Website || Myspace

I always thought when I started this thing that I wouldn’t bother with “lame” things like lists of the top ten of the year and stuff like that, but now that we’ve reached the halfway point of the year, I feel the need to look back over just some of the fantastic music I’ve discovered since I started the blog. With that in mind, I now present my top ten songs of the year so far. Obviously this list isn’t perfect, and probably contains some 2005 songs too, but they are all ones that I’ve discovered this year. Seeing as all of these songs are so good, I’m not even going to try and rank them, so they are here in a nice and simple alphabetical order.

MP3 The Foundry Field Recordings – Buried Beneath The Winter Frames (expired) (Prompts/Miscues)
Grandaddy-esque lo-fi rock from Billy Schuh’s Missouri band. This entire album is quickly becoming one of my favourites, and is perfectly represented by ‘Buried Beneath The Winter Frames’, an upbeat, distortion coated guitar song, topped off by Schuh’s abstract words and restrained voice.
The Foundry Field Recordings: Website || Myspace

MP3 I’m From Barcelona – We’re From Barcelona (expired) (Let Me Introduce My Friends)
Wonderfully cheerful music from the 29 band members that make up Sweden’s I’m From Barcelona. It’s all pretty non-sensical and silly, but boy can it brighten up a day. ‘Let Me Introduce My Friends’, their debut album, is full of numbers like this, and performed in such a way that it never becomes grating.
I’m From Barcelona: Website || Myspace

MP3 Jenny Owen Youngs – Fuck Was I (Batten The Hatches)
An insanely good songwriting talent from New York, with a voice that’s far more developed than her years would have you believe. Backed up with an impressive array of strings, ‘Fuck Was I’ is pretty much the ultimate regret song. If this girl hasn’t made it big in the next couple of years, something is very wrong in the world.
Jenny Owen Youngs: Website || Myspace

MP3 Kate Nash – The Nicest Thing (expired)
I’m not sure what I can say about Kate Nash here that I haven’t said over the past couple of weeks. Simply one of the finest songwriters I have heard recently, backed up with a fantastic voice. Dodgy production aside, ‘The Nicest Thing’ is just a beautiful song.
Kate Nash: Myspace

MP3 The Light Footwork – Coastlines Are Landmines (expired) (One State Two State)
‘One State Two State’ is about my favourite album that I’ve bought this year, and it still sounds entirely fresh several months on. The Light Footwork are a two-piece making simply great music. With lyrical skills similar to that of Malkmus and Beulah like melodies, these guys should be something big in the near future.
The Light Footwork: Website || Myspace

MP3 The Mountain Goats – Woke Up New (expired) (Get Lonely)
The prolific Mountain Goats are back once more with yet another album, and ‘Woke Up New’ is an excellent preview of what is hopefully to come. More restrained and introspective than ‘The Sunset Tree’, the song covers the period immediately after a break-up. As such, it isn’t the happiest songs, but the little observations give the song a realism not often found.
The Mountain Goats: Website

MP3 Nathan Asher & The Infantry – Turn Up The Faders (expired) (Sex Without Love)
New band Nathan Asher & The Infantry somehow managed to bridge the gap between Bright Eyes and Bruce Springsteen, combining shaky, uncertain vocals with flashes of hard rock and the odd piano breakdown. If these guys haven’t signed to a major label yet, it’ll be happening very soon.
Nathan Asher & The Infantry: Website || Myspace

MP3 Sky Larkin – Keepsakes (expired)
A fantastic little band from Leeds who keep putting out demos that are getting better and better. ‘Keepsakes’ comes from the latest batch of these, and allows them to reach new heights, both musically and lyrically. One of the few British bands that I’m genuinely excited to hear more songs from.
Sky Larkin: Website || Myspace

MP3 Voxtrot – Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives (Mothers, Daughters, Sisters & Wives EP)
The songs on the ‘Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives’ EP never quite reach the brilliance that was ‘The Start Of Something’ from last years ‘Raised By Wolves’ EP, but they are still great songs. This title track is the best of them, a pounding number that brings together 80’s British rock with the sounds of the 60’s. Throw in Ramesh Srivastava’s voice and you have the perfect combination for success. I’ll put money on them being somewhere on The OC soundtrack in the next twelve months.
Voxtrot: Website || Myspace

MP3 The Young Republic – Modern Plays (Modern Plays)
The Young Republic are a nine-piece from Boston making some fantastic orchestral pop music. ‘Modern Plays’ is the title song from their latest release, a more abstract affair than their previous works, allowing them to pull away from the inevitable Belle & Sebastian comparisons a little. Oh, and did I mention that this why they are all still in college? They will go a very long way if they stick with this into the future.
The Young Republic: Website || Myspace

Other mid-year goodness..

Mike at Nothing But Green Lights has a 19 song mix of the best music from the first six months of year, including more Sky Larkin and Voxtrot, as well as some fantastic music that may be brand new to you.

Ryan at Good Hodgkins has posted up his seven essential albums of the year so far, including Belle & Sebastian, Figurines and Band of Horses.

Calum at Mocking Music has numbers 5-10 of his top ten albums of the year so far. Presumably the top five will be following soon, and there’s sure to be some good stuff in there.

Like many people, I owe my discovery of The Light Footwork to Matt over at You Ain’t No Picasso, who has seemingly been on a one man crusade to get them the recognition they deserve. Which seems to be paying off given I’m seeing them all over various music blogs now, which can only be a good thing. This does lead to an inevitable question about why I’d still write about them here, but I’m not attempting to constantly “break” new bands here, I’m happy just writing about the ones I’m enjoying right now.

And for me, The Light Footwork is about the most interesting thing that I’ve currently got on my iPod. It didn’t happen straight away though. I downloaded these songs several weeks ago and it’s only in the past week or so it’s hit me just how good they really are. So don’t dismiss these after a single listen, it’s the kind of music that grows on you. As for what they sound like, I suppose the closest connection would be Beulah (some of their band members actually play on TLF’s album), but the most interesting similarity is Pavement. I read that comparison on a number of pages, but it didn’t really sink in until I heard Rapture Good Rupture Bad which could quite easily have come straight off of Crooked Rain Crooked Rain. Anyone who knows me will also know I’m a sucker for male-female vocals, meaning the back and forth vocals on songs like The Art Of Everyday Communication Part 1 work perfectly for me. Check them out:

MP3 The Light Footwork – Coastlines Are Landmines (expired)
MP3 The Light Footwork – Rapture Good Rupture Bad (expired)
MP3 The Light Footwork – The Art Of Everyday Communication Part 1 (expired)

You’ll find their self-released album ‘One State Two State’ availble seemingly exclusively from Insound (I’ve looked elsewhere, found nothing). If you’re looking for more on The Light Footwork, you can’t really go wrong with the fascinating interview with them recently posted on YANP.

I’d also like to welcome all of the new visitors I’ve been getting over the past couple of days, largely thanks to Take Your Medicine and Mocking Music both linking here. That might not seem like a big deal in itself, but having two sites of such calibre linking here within my first fortnight feels pretty damn good to me. I’d tell you to go and check out their fine work, but seeing as you’re all coming from there anyway, it seems rather pointless. Still, feel free to stick around and enjoy the (hopefully) awesome music.