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When I was first approached by BBC Music to put together a list of albums I think should be nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, I was initially hesitant. First of all because I don’t much care for awards, and if I’m honest, have never paid attention to the Mercury Prize. Secondly, because I hardly ever listen to complete albums these days. I want to be an elitist snob and pretend that I do, but most of my music is absorbed via an iPod on shuffle.
Throwing around the year’s music in my head though, I realised that it’s actually been a bloody good year for British music. I initially came up with a couple of albums, then a couple more, and it kept going from there. In the interests of brevity, I’ve limited the final tally to seven exceptional albums and a handful of honourable mentions at the end. I don’t expect a single one of these to actually be nominated for the prize, but hey, I’m happy to be proved wrong.
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God Help The Girl – God Help The Girl
Okay, so it’s not a radical departure for the Belle & Sebastian mould for Stuart Murdoch’s solo/side/whatever project, but that’s no bad thing. It’s not often these days that albums tend to tell a complete story, and that is what we have here. Ably held together by Catherine Ireton and an array of guests, it’s not absolutely perfect – the Funny Little Frog cover is especially misguided – but it unashamedly embraces the album format when everyone else seems to be fleeing from it.
MP3 God Help The Girl – Come Monday Night
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Dananananaykroyd – Hey Everyone!
I’m under no illusions that the prize would ever get near an album like this, but that doesn’t make it any less deserving. To find a band with this much energy on stage is rare enough in itself, but to get the same urgency on record is near impossible. Dananananaykroyd manage it, giving us one of the finest debut albums in years. It’s loud, it’s messy, and it’s a hell of a lot of fun.
MP3 Dananananaykroyd – Pink Sabbath
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Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career
Camera Obscura give us three out of three so far for the Scots. It felt like Camera Obscura had reached their peak with their previous album Let’s Get Out Of This Country. Then My Maudlin Career pops up and blows it out of the water with it’s beautifully textured songs. It’s taken more than a decade, but this is the album Camera Obscura were destined to make.
MP3 Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career
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Emmy the Great – First Love
Out of all of the albums on this list, I’d imagine First Love is the one most likely to turn up on any Mercury lists if any of them do. I can’t quite pinpoint why, but Emmy does seem to fit the slightly left of the centre singer-songwriter style that seems to have made the lists in previous years. The album is a grower for sure, but there is some stunning songwriting on display here. Emmy has only barely scratched the surface of what she is capable of.
MP3 Emmy the Great – We Almost Had A Baby
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Los Campesinos! – We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
Los Campesinos! remain the most posted band on this blog, and rightly so. Coming out with a good first album and then following it up with one of the best albums of the year within six months is no mean feat. Evolving beyond the “tweexcore” fun of the first, this is an album that actually has emotional depth and philosophy added to the proceedings. All while still continuing to sound like quite nothing else that’s around at the moment.
MP3 Los Campesinos! – We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
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Thomas Tantrum – Thomas Tantrum
Thomas Tantrum pick up right where the dearly missed Life Without Buildings left off. Rough, random songs jump all over the place, but the appeal here is in the voice of Megan Thomas. Breezily floating between gentle and slightly unhinged, she gives the songs an unpredictable air. That their debut album is so strong is all the more impressive given they were a pretty mediocre live band only a year earlier.
Video Thomas Tantrum – Work It
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Aidan Moffat & The Best Ofs – How To Get To Heaven From Scotland
Seems only fitting that we end with yet another Scottish album, resulting in them making up more than half of the list. It’s taken Aidan Moffat a little while to find the project that suits him after Arab Strap split, but The Best Ofs seems to be it. Allowing his songwriting and voice to be front and centre plays right into his strengths and results in an album more consistent than anything he and Middleton put out.
MP3 Aidan Moffat & The Best Ofs – Big Blonde
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Honourable mentions
Fanfarlo – Reservoir
It Hugs Back – Inside Your Guitar
Ballboy – I Worked On The Ships
Sky Larkin – The Golden Spike
As part as our ongoing attempts to cover what little exists of a Kent music scene, it seemed only prudent to put together a brief guide to the major music festivals taking place in the county over the next couple of months. A few years ago such a thing would have been impossible due to a lack of said events, but now new festivals seem to be popping up each year. Obviously not all of them work (like Electric Gardens) and some will probably have their organisers lynched if they ever come back (Zoo8) but it’s good to see a varied selection appearing.
When June 4-6
Where Hope Farm, Ashford
How much £55 weekend / £35 daily
Lineup (AFOR endorsements in bold)
Supergrass, The Holloways, Emmy the Great, Ben’s Brother, Red Light Company, Alessi’s Ark, Cut La Roc, Hoxton Whores, Thomas Tantrum, The Answering Machine, Karima Francis, The Young Knives, Tubelord, Marina and the Diamonds, Alex Cornish, Oh, Atoms, Royal Treatment Plant, Bender, The Rosie Taylor Project, William, 4 or 5 Magicians, motion picture soundtrack, Video Nasties, Bobby Long, The Domino State, The Ryes, Micky Slim, Silvery, Hungry Ghosts, Los Salvadores, Minnaars, Lucy and the Caterpillar, Kids Love Lies, Barefoot Confessor, Right Turn Left, Tin Soldiers, Far From The Dance, Seven Story Down, Ten Bears, Tom Williams & The Boat, The Suggestions, Elephants, The Dirty Disco, Junkstar, Brandon Block, Mr Basista, Monday Street, Romanov, Polka Party, HANDSHAKE, Greg McDonald, The Quirk Burglars, The SheBeats, Alma Mahler, Floors & Walls, Eddy Temple-Morris, Rob Cockerton, Adam Bloom, Haunted Stereo, Small Fry, Joe Mac, The Streetlight Conspiracy, The Little Philistines, Illegitimate Sons of the King, AEF, Shadow Aspect, Vagner Love, Peter Andrews, Twisted DJs, Rhys morgan, Krissy and the Jackdaws, The Hidden Revolution, Bruised Beauties, Groove Monkey, Cocos Lovers, Everybody Be cool, Waterhorse, Lotte Mullan, Lucy Holliday, Circle of Rage, Kouncilhouse, Amoriste, Sean Mooney, Steve Day, Spooka, Jamie Abbott, Robbie Styles, Nic Bennett, Hal Cruttenden, Jamie Ley, Nathan Caton, Outa City Committee, Lester Clayton, Jeff Barker, Kev Harris, Lizzy Spit, Jarmean?, Pete Jonas, Delta Connection, danny reject, Matt Rudge, Adam Crow, Sally-Anne Hayward, Christian Reilly and 3 Parts DJ
In 2007, Sellindge was populated by bands you’ve never heard of. Last year, they managed to nab Idlewild to headline more bands you’ve never heard of. This year, there are a few solid bands at the top of the bill, a handful of decent ones underneath, and of course, a whole slew that you’ve never heard of. Still, for the money you can’t really go wrong.
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When July 5-6
Where The Hop Farm, Paddock Wood
How much £125 weekend / £65 daily
Lineup (AFOR endorsements in bold)
The Fratellis, Editors, Doves, Echo & The Bunnymen, Ash, The Pigeon Detectives, The View, Mystery Jets, Super Furry Animals, Paul Weller, Ladyhawke, 65daysofstatic, British Sea Power, The Rifles, Alex Gopher, Noah and the Whale, Bell X1, Cage the Elephant, The Twang, The Twilight Sad, Howling Bells, Florence and The Machine, Johnny Foreigner, Eight Legs, Dananananaykroyd, Jape, Fight Like Apes, Etienne De Crecy, That Petrol Emotion, Let’s Wrestle, Dr. Lektroluv, D.I.M, The Chapman Family, Burn The Negative, The Good the Bad, R.S.A.G, and 2Manydj’s
The Hop Farm Festival has jumped from being a one-day event last year to a two day festival this year. It’s gimmick is that it has no sponsorship (yay!) and no VIP areas (boo!). Of course, such things come at a price, which results in the excessive £125 cost for the weekend. Which is a shame as I actually quite like the lineup. The main stage doesn’t do much for me, but the creatively named “third stage” with the likes of Johnny Foreigner, Let’s Wrestle and Dananananaykroyd looks like the place to be.
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When July 10-12
Where Merton Farm, Canterbury
How much £85 weekend / £35 daily
Lineup (AFOR endorsements in bold)
Dub Pistols, Bent, DJ Food, The Horrors, Nostalgia 77, Cage the Elephant, Edwyn Collins, The James Taylor Quartet, Horse Feathers, DJ Format, A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip, The Aliens, Krafty Kuts, Jeremy Warmsley, Lights, DJ Food & DK, Zomby, Wild Beasts, The King Blues, Chris Murray, Kid Harpoon, Mr Scruff, Ipso Facto, Solid Steel, Golden Silvers, Portico Quartet, Jonquil, Son Of Dave, Chris Difford, It Hugs Back, The Temper Trap, Jay Jay Pistolet, Flamboyant Bella, The Invisible, Sargasso Trio, Trost, 6 Day Riot, DK, Mumford & Sons, James Taylor Quartet, Baddies, Chris T-T, Toddla T, Greg Wilson, Pete Molinari, Casiokids, The XX, Drums Of Death, Cha Cha, The Pan I Am, The Congregation, Peggy sue, Congregation, Greco Roman, Rae, S.C.U.M, Joe Gideon & The Shark, Josh Weller, Skeleton, cherbourg, Wave Pictures, Tom Allalone, Elephants, Black Market Karma, Psychotic Reaction, Onlookers, Ghost of a thousand, Tom Williams and The Boat, Monday Street, The Simonsound, Syd Arthur, Hobo Jones & the Junkyard Dogs, Wheeler Street, The Goodtimes, Moon Music Orchestra, Zombie Met Girl, The 18 Carat Love Affair, Amber Room, J*Star, Zoo for you, The Lovedays, Cocos Lovers, The Startover, The Wild Wolves, Trevor Moss, Trevor Moss & Hannah-Lou, Samondi, Mr Lovebucket, Mc Serocee, MC Honeybrown, djbunjy, Ukulele Gangstas, The Chihuahuas, The Mind Without Maths, The Steve Hillage Band, calico street riots, Greco Roman Soundsystem w/ Ross Allen, Raf Daddy & Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, VJ LSDave, Comfy Porn DJs, Hannah Lou and Boxing Octopus
Lounge on the Farm is the almost the little festival that could. Growing from strength to strength over since the first in 2006, the event now boasts over 100 acts including a decent mix between minor recognisable bands and a ton of local talent. Operated by the same team that run the delightful Farmhouse in Canterbury, they really do seem to be doing everything they can to foster a local scene.
Thomas Tantrum are band that played a gig night I was part of last year, and if I’m honest, I wasn’t all that thrilled by their set. It certainly wasn’t bad, and the crowd seemed to enjoy them, but it was too all over the place for my own tastes. Since then I haven’t really listened to them any further, until I got hold of their first full length album a few days. If I didn’t know it to be the case, I wouldn’t even think it was the same band. Every song is precise, melodic and knows exactly what it wants to do, and then does it. I don’t know what has changed, whether it’s just a more refined songwriting style or a producer has reigned them in somewhat, but it’s a massive improvement. Songs like Work It above and the superb Shake It Shake It position them perfectly as the logical successors to the mighty Life Without Buildings.
 So this blog turns a year old and I disappear entirely for more than a week. That was on the most part an accident as I’ve had a lot going on lately (some good, some not so good), but it seems like an appropriate time as any to have a little break. I’m back now though, and the list of bands to tell you about is even longer than ever, so normal service will be resuming immediately.
The first thing I should get to is the gig I was involved with last Thursday. It was a joint venture with the great folks at Life:Temper:Riot, and saw us putting on four bands in the heart of London. Now I’m a little wary about how to approach writing about this, largely because I’m involved in it and something seems a little wrong about telling you how great it was. So this will be a relatively brief run through of the night, with some mp3s included, so you can try out some of the bands yourself.
Our setting for the evening was the Horse & Groom pub in Shoreditch, a lovely little pub in a Shoreditch backstreet that seems to have not aged since it opened, even though it’s now surrounded by modern office developments. Due to a small organisational error, the night had to be run downstairs, which is the first time the pub has had live music in the main bar area. An impromptu stage is constructed toward the back of the bar, leading to fun things like the “backstage” area also doubling as the route to the toilets.
Captain Phoenix are our first band to take to the stage, and set a suitably rocking tone. I was a little wary about these guys before seeing them, fearing their set would be a little “rock-by-numbers”, but that thankfully turned out to be wrong. By the end of the first song, the not insubstantial crowd seemed to be into them, with upbeat numbers like ‘Living On The Guest List’ being the highly. Given how young the members of the band are, they already sound like they know exactly what they are doing, and they seem destined to break out of the small indie circuit in the near future.
The next band on the bill were rather more polarising. Thomas Tantrum put on a set that I enjoyed on the most part, but they seem to suffer the Ryan Adams syndrome of not knowing when to edit their own output. The good songs in their set are fantastic, but the weaker ones are pretty bad at times. Each song was interesting, and they certainly weren’t afraid to try something new, but they are in need of a producer that will reign in their eccentricities. That said, a lot of the audience did seem to be into them in quite a big way, so who am I to judge?
Talk Taxis were the last band to be added to our lineup, coming straight off the back of touring with the Maccabees. Their set seemed to go by very quickly, although I don’t know if this was due to it being short or me just really enjoying it. Every one of their songs sounded great, bringing a driven, garage rock kind of sound. ‘Publicity’ was the highlight of this, but other songs like ‘Mother’s Eyes’ and ‘Liverless’ also came over very well. These guys will be playing all over London in the coming weeks, so try and check them out if you can.
Our headliners for the evening are Royal Treatment Plant, and they turn in a storming set of songs, from the opening rock out of ‘You Don’t Need Me’, through to their single ‘Carry Me’ and the brutality of ‘Playing Dumb’. Lead singer PP throws herself into the set with such energy that it’s impossible not to be drawn into it. The whole band comes together wonderful, with their guitars, drums and keyboards all getting their chance to shine, without ever sounding too choreographed. By the time we reach our conclusion with the fantastic ‘Trained’, the entire crowd have been won over.
All in all it was a very enjoyable night, and everyone there did seem to have a good time. Now, in case you think I’m just hyping up something I had a vested interest in, here’s another review from Forty Shades Of Noise. They even have some tiny pictures, unlike me, because I didn’t think to take any.
MP3 Royal Treatment Plant – You Don’t Need Me (expired)
MP3 Royal Treatment Plant – Trained (expired)
MP3 Talk Taxis – Publicity (expired)
MP3 Talk Taxis – Mother’s Eyes (expired)
Bands: Royal Treatment Plant || Talk Taxis || Thomas Tantrum || Captain Phoenix
There are a number and probably quite boring reasons that have resulted in me telling you about this without a great deal of notice. Next week though, Another Form of Relief will be presenting another gig, in association with the good folks of the Life:Temper:Riot club night. Full details of the night are on the poster above, but if for some bizarre reason you can’t see it or something, here are the basics:
What? Another Form of Relief at Life:Temper:Riot.
Who? Royal Treatment Plant, Talk Taxis, Thomas Tantrum, Captain Phoenix.
When? Thursday 1 March (that’s next week!) at 8pm.
Where? The Horse & Groom, which can be located at 26 Curtain Road, Shoreditch. Which is in London.
So you get four excellent bands, in London, and it’ll only cost you a mere £3.99 to enter. You can’t really go wrong with that, can you? If you need further convincing, allow me to tell you about our bands:
 Full of driving guitars and some fantastic passive-agressive vocals sung with an urgency that doesn’t often seem to crop up from female fronted British bands, Royal Treatment Plant are one of my surprise favourites from last year. It seems that the mainstream music outlets are catching on to them too with plays on Radio 1, 6Music and XFM in recent months. I didn’t expect to enjoy their CD when it dropped into my post box, but I found myself enjoying as much as some of my favourite albums. Which is a pretty impressive feat when it’s only a three track single. I enjoyed every song on there though, and exploring the songs that were available online turned out to be most fruitful. From the gentle builds to the full on riffs that seem to punctuate every song, Royal Treatment always seem to make for an often surprising, always satisfying listen.
MP3 Royal Treatment Plant – You Don’t Need Me (expired)
MP3 Royal Treatment Plant – Trained (expired)
Royal Treatment Plant: Website || Myspace
Talk Taxis are currently touring the UK in support of The Maccabees to sold out venues, attracting a lot of attention in the process. This is largely thanks to their daring sound, a wonderful combination of opposing influences. You’ll hear elements of funk, punk and dance mixed in with a more familiar indie rock sound, a move that should be destined to failure. Talk Taxis pull it off with such finesse that they sound like old pros, when in reality they only got together two years ago “with a shared enthusiasm for music and badgering inept tutors”. And if you don’t find a band that uses a stylophone “in Rolf Harris inspired moments” appealing, you obviously have no soul.
MP3 Talk Taxis – Publicity (expired)
MP3 Talk Taxis – Mother’s Eyes (expired)
Talk Taxis: Myspace
More female fronted rock goodness comes in the form of Southampton four-piece Thomas Tantrum. While you may not initially hear anything new in their music, as soon as the vocals kick in, you know you’re listening to something unique. It’s hard to put my finger on exactly what makes them so appealing, as lead singer Mega Thomas (seriously) has the kind of voice that sounds like it would be out of place in rock and/or roll. The able support of her band though means we’re left with songs that manage to get themselves stuck into your head without you even noticing.
Thomas Tantrum: Website || Myspace
Captain Phoenix are the kind of band that you know are going to be on the cover of NME sooner or later. Their sound seems to arrive already fully formed, expertly crafted songs that are already far better than the majority of things within that very magazine. After playing in excess of 100 gigs around their home town of Winchester, they are now doing much the same around London and the UK as a whole, bringing their sound to the unsuspecting masses.
Captain Phoenix: Website || Myspace
Convinced now? Excellent. We look forward to seeing you there.
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