Another Form of Relief

Takka Takka often seem like a stealth band on their way to the big time. Since the band settled on a final line up a couple of year ago, they have gone on tour with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, are putting out a new version of their debut album and have been featured on ABC’s mediocre-a-thon Eli Stone. And yet still no one seems to know who they are. One day soon, Takka Takka are going to breakthrough. The ingredients are all here, they just need that one chance. Whether it be via a hit song or appearing in a tv show that people actually like, Takka Takka will be huge.

The delightful Takka Takka have released their new EP, ‘Talk Faster’, on the internet for everyone to consume for free. It’s only three songs, but those three are among their best work to date, with ‘Draw a Map’ being their most radio friendly song yet. These guys should become something quite big over the next year or so, and they are also getting the same kind of deal The Young Republic has with End of the Road, who are bringing them across to the UK for a few shows before having them play their festival in September. You can get the other songs on the EP, as well as printable artwork, from their website.

MP3 Takka Takka – Draw a Map (expired)

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I’m probably way behind the times here, but I’ve just discovered the joy that is FabChannel. It’s a video archive of over 700 complete gigs, all recorded at the Paradiso in Amsterdam. There’s a lot of stuff in the archives that I’ve never heard of, but if you dig around, there are some great gigs in there. I’ve barely scratched the surface, but I’ve already found shows from Bright Eyes, Bloc Party, The Pipettes, Two Gallants, The Applies in Stereo and a ton of other indie favourites.

Best of all, for the blogger types who enjoying featuring a little video every now and then, you can embed entire gigs or your own custom playlists into your blog, which looks far less tacky than the Youtube player. Quality on the gigs ranges from fair to excellent, with the more recent ones obviously looking better than the older one. I’ve included one of the older ones below, a Bright Eyes set from 2002, which I watched in it’s entirity last night. It’s a great setlist, heavily relying on songs from ‘Lifted’, which must have been released around about the same time.

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You’d think if you write for the Guardian you would be expected to have some idea what you’re talking about, but this little “feature” on Los Campesinos! by Paul Lester suggests otherwise. If you don’t like a band, that’s fair enough, but at least get your facts straight when writing about them. This is the kind of “journalism” that I expect from The Sun.

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My Latest Novel were a band I intended to write about way back when I first started writing this blog. I never seemed to get around to them unfortunately, but I’ve recently found them again. Their album, ‘Wolves’, is certainly a grower, and I probably like it more now than I did when I first heard it about a year ago. Their sound is akin to Belle & Sebastian thrown in a blender with The Arcade Fire, which while lazy, is apt. Each of their songs seems to tell a rich story, often changing pace in the middle of a song. ‘The Reputation of Ross Francis’ seems to start off as a gentle acoustic tale, but then turns into a shouty, full band affair for it’s chorus.

MP3 My Latest Novel – The Reputation of Ross Francis (expired)

I found Takka Takka thanks to them being in the Myspace Top 8 of one Hartley Goldstein. One of the dirty little secrets in how I find new bands is to see who other artists I like put in their top 8 and explore from there. Usually it results in me listening to a lot of crap, other times it throws up something great like Takka Takka.

Takka Takka are a New York four piece who make fun, yet accomplished rock songs. There actually isn’t a great deal more to say about them beyond that. No prizes for originality here, but they know how to make a catchy song about life in the city and they do it well.

They are also one of the increasing number of bands that have embraced the internet as a way of getting the word out about their music. Earlier this year they released an entire EP, ‘Fall Apart Art’ onto the internet for free, including the full artwork. You can get hold of it by clicking here. They are currently recording a new full length album, and you’ll find some demo songs from it below.

MP3 Takka Takka – Do You Feel City?
MP3 Takka Takka – Sofia
MP3 Takka Takka – Subway Shanty
MP3 Takka Takka – Enough

You’ll find more about Takka Takka, including a bunch more songs, on their simple yet wonderful website, entitled The Misery News. They also have a Myspace, obviously. How else would I have found them?