Shoegaze is back !
MBV meets the Cocteau Twins - a swedish band singing about "f**king Leeds" !
https://soundcloud.com/hybris/nothing-ever-lasts-1
What have you discovered recently ?
Have recently listened to the latest Marmozets album and rather enjoyed it
Eee that's right nice that is
Not getting much Cocteau Twins from it (vocals are not really that style) but yes a bit MBV-goes-pop
They played last night in Nottingham but I was across town at the Girl Ray gig, not a totally recent discovery as I was enjoying them getting decent 6Music airplay last year, but for the purposes of this thread, they'll do
Try "Trouble" here. In keeping with your retro discovery, this is like the return of 80s-90s twee jangle pop like you'd hear on Sarah Records etc. I really like their basslines
https://soundcloud.com/girlray
Ah yes, I quite enjoyed them as & when they popped up on 6Music.
A recent discovery for me when they popped up doing a session on 6 for Craig Charles:
> Ah yes, I quite enjoyed them as & when they popped up on 6Music.
You make it sound as if they've already split up or they are someone whose sessions have been dug up from the 1980s
I do? I just meant I quite liked them on the radio, but wasn't quite enthused enough to seek them out.
How was the gig anyway, good night out?
Yes, I went to the cinema first, so a nice double of a film and a gig, but the best entertainment was on the train home where two attractive 30-year-old women took the opportunity to totally stitch up a very drunk student. I post here my executive summary of this (copy-paste from my FB)
So this 20-year-old student, 8 sheets to the wind and looking slightly messy, just sort of materialises - I missed the beginning of the conversation but he was braying on about rowing - initially I thought he'd recognised two people from his rowing club but now I think he was just using his rowing as some sort of icebreaker.
This was 11.15pm, apparently he was going to be up at 5am for training because he's - and I quote - "a student but not like most students, I'm actually DEDICATED to things"
The two ladies clearly saw a great opportunity to simultaneously humour, humiliate and educate the lad.
This lad was wearing a shirt and an undone tie and a blazer, fair enough, but also these ill-advised white jeans and weirdly, a fake tan which was obvious by dint of it a) being too dark for a ginger and b) starting to run, as evidenced on white jeans
There ensues 10 or so minutes of mildly prick-teasing chit-chat from the ladies, staying just the right side of decorum and entrapment. Best bit was the lad trying to guess what degrees they had. "Biology----geography type of thing"
"Nope"
Anyway let's fast forward to what was basically the executive summary, politely delivered by one of the women
She didn't have a Mrs Merton voice or accent at all, but it was that sort of tone, so read the following in a Mrs Merton voice for the full effect:
"So, Cameron. You're clearly a nice young chap in your day to day life, but you shouldn't get as drunk as this and then take ketamine - which you've obviously been trying - on top of it. You won't get far with the ladies wearing white jeans that you claim you've not pissed into and it's someone else's piss, plus fake tan running into them too. Don't do the fake tan thing, that's for middle aged men only. You've been unable to stop looking at my boobs - it's flattering once and only once, you are basically allowed a single initial glance but beyond that, it does start to feel demeaning. We don't like that. People aren't that interested in your rowing and bragging about being an athlete. Just bear all that in mind"
it was absolutely glorious, and done with no nastiness or malice from their side, and no anger or frustration on his side.
I thanked all three of them and said I'd just been to the cinema and then a concert, but that this train ride was totally the entertainment highlight of the night "
Heard Girl Ray on 6 music a few time - Marc Riley's a big fan - but it's a little too twee for me. Very similar to The Big Moon, but I prefer the grungier offshoot of that band - Our Girl. I didn't realise the connection until I saw both bands at Tramlines - having raced across town to a different venue it was a bit of a shock to see the singer from the last band now playing bass in the next one.
https://soundcloud.com/weareourgirl/our-girl-2
https://soundcloud.com/cannibalhymns/our-girl-sleeper-hymns003
Has to be said I'm a sucker for female vocals backed by fuzzy/thrashy guitar pop - and yes it goes back to 80s and The Shop Assistants, The Flatmates, The Darling Bud and The Primitives.
Excellent.
Young Cameron did ok out of that - don't know about you but I could have done with such sound advice once or twice when I was a student. (Not about white jeans or fake tan, I was never *that* daft.)
I was briefly dragged into when one of the Jens (both women were called Jen or Jenny) pointed out “look Cameron, that man’s laughing at all this” and Cameron’s reaction was to turn to introduce himself, offering a hand to shake and saying “Cameron Xavier, and what are YOUR names?” Which didn’t help me trying to stifle laughter
If you like guitars and footwear...
Ringo Death Star
Wooden Shjips
Psychic Ills
A Place to Bury Strangers
I'm also listening to Martha, a bunch of Durham indie punk scamps.
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, for soundscapes
Dawn Ray'd
Anarchist Black Metal. the LP is amazing. saw them live with the rudimentary peni style guitars and full force vocals. absolutely great.
go see them
One of my latest musical discoveries is - steady now - Gary Numan.
Despite Gary Numan's songs 'Are Friends Electric?' and 'Cars' being pretty much ever present fixtures on the cassette players of mates from when they came out through to when we lost touch sometime in the 1990s, I was never a fan; despite liking electronic music, my preference was always at the Tangerine Dream/Klaus Schultze/Neuronium end of the genre. Pop? Pah, I spit on your Gary Numan singles, I much prefer things that last for 20 minutes.
So, not a fan then. However, in reasonably quick order I both saw him perform on an Old Grey Whistle test anniversary programme and heard him interviewed on Radio 5 (covering Asperger's syndrome and genre-free music, both topics worth an independent discussion) and that rather piqued my interest.
So I bought his latest album. It is exactly what you might expect; synth-led, the sort of thing you might still expect to hear coming from a disaffected youth's bedroom. His voice is pretty much exactly the same as it was all those years ago too, despite him now being old enough to get a bus pass.
I rather like it. youtube.com/watch?v=lHomCiPFknY&
T.
Nice
When we lived in Heaton Chapel, the 192 late bus home after a Friday night in Manchester was often hilarious.
Black stone cherry
Well didn't expect to see a reference to Rudimentary Peni in this thread!
Not so much a bus route as a travelling theatre.
Black Cat Revue. Glasgow band I saw supporting The Fall last year, kinda 60's garage psych style. Great dual guitar riffage, dual vocals, great shoes.
Shame: saw them at Leadmill on Monday and loved it. Described as post punk. I get the Fall, Happy Mondays and Editors coming through. Enjoy:
I'm biased, my stepson is the drummer, but this band have been getting BBC airplay recently and have played quite a few gigs around the East Midlands. They are taking a hiatus right now for A levels but have a busy summer lining up.
https://open.spotify.com/album/18L64TGoLxCxblWN9K2rZ4?si=eDtbJSzyTCei5_3-So...
I think I've heard that before and thought, "Oh good, new stuff from Drenge"
Yep, it's good ! And soundcloud has just taken me on to Dream Wife, another band I want to hear more of.
P.S. Did the Leadmill sell out of Bitter on Monday ? I get annoyed by the fact that they think gig-goers drink nothing but Red Stripe or Carling !
I always get Royal Blood and Drenge mixed up.
Think I've heard a bit of Dream Wife on 6 Music, so will have to follow them up. Been trying to see the Orielles, but no gig that I can get too easily. Boy Azooga also on the radar, but going to see Kamazi Washington in Manchester on the night they play Cafe Totem in Sheffield. C'est la vie.
I don't like bitter from cans or electric pump and having only got back from holiday on the Sunday night I continued in the holiday drinking vein and glugged the San Miguel, so can't comment.
I wasn't too overwhelmed by Hookworms' first albums but I'm pretty impressed by Microshift.
From 2016...
Jon Hopkins remixes Disclosure and Lorde's "Magnets"
youtube.com/watch?v=hZKFsstVALk&
Both haunting and rapturous combined with a cinematic video
Not sure if an enigmatic one-off is allowed on here, but this was on the radio recently and instantly made me think "Losing My Edge by LCD Soundsystem, remade by Mike Leigh or Ken Loach"
an artist called "The Guest"
https://soundcloud.com/user-541493481/theme-from-failure-pt1
Hindemith- Mathis de Maler and Musik für Streichorkester und Blechbläser.
Was just about to mention Hookworms in relation to "All them witches"
I've bought my wife the album, but not listened to it properly myself yet - though what I've heard I've liked - especially Opener. Reminds me a bit of Mogwai
Have you heard of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard ?
A bit of a mixed bag - they released 6 albums in 2017 and we bought one that was dreadful, but this set is pretty good
Saw them in Glasgow. Incredible live experience. Really a bunch of kids but great tunes and amazing presence. A highlight of my gigging history. A mix between Sleaford Mods, The Fall and Sex Pistols.
Also saw Hookworms. Brilliant too. There's actually a lot of really good music about.
Yeh, I was blown away. The lead singer has that arrogance of youth t'ing off to a tee. They're playing the Leadmill again in November, but I'm on holiday.
Hookworms, another to add to the ever expanding list!!
I saw them the other year, really good live band. I think the quality suffers at times because they put out so much material, but I love the range of styles they try.
I think the lead guitarist should take up climbing - he must have fingers of steel to solo on 12-string the way he does!
This version of Rainy Night House - Joni Mitchell
youtube.com/watch?v=PU7KNbysm0M&
Have just discovered The Webb thanks to a new friend, I think they're loosely described as 'newwave goth electro punk'. I don't know a lot of their material yet, but finding a few songs one likes is always nice.
Speaking of Leeds - Wolfpeople are good if you like this sort of thing http://wolfpeople.co.uk/
youtube.com/watch?v=kmKt76_wtHs&
Not exactly my cup of tea, but nice video - looks like Snowdon and Llanberis to me, but it's been a few years since I was up there.
On the subject of bands from Leeds, this lot have obviously been listening to Sonic Youth, which is no bad thing
youtube.com/watch?v=nYDq4LTAwD8&
> Well...it's different that's for sure
Yes, wasn't sure what to make of it, then listened again and quite liked it.
The second discovery from that Old Grey Whistle Test programme I mentioned was Wildwood Kin. It's taken me a while to get round to listening to their album but now that I have, I rather like it.
youtube.com/watch?v=eBUi05nU0Ik&
T.
> Well...it's different that's for sure
It's bad form to start a thread like this and be none committal about other people's tastes. It's an unwritten rule.
> From 2016...
> Jon Hopkins remixes Disclosure and Lorde's "Magnets"
> Both haunting and rapturous combined with a cinematic video
Stunning. Wow
Just had a look at that video, quite good if not wholly my style. Interestingly, the billboard popping up after 5 sec announces Shaky Graves, one of the best (IMO) new Americana singer/songwriters:
youtube.com/watch?v=eUkSTnUK_T0&
Roughly staying with that genre, I also love Willy Tea Taylor
youtube.com/watch?v=J8t6kB4Ha8w&
and Grant Sabine
youtube.com/watch?v=Pv0SvTzPbNc&
CB
> From 2016...
> Jon Hopkins remixes Disclosure and Lorde's "Magnets"
> Both haunting and rapturous combined with a cinematic video
Thanks for that. Amazing. Will be listening to / watching that a few times.
More!
Just bought tickets to see Jon Hopkins in Glasgow in October.
Was seeing if I could pre-order his new album and found he is touring
My brother saw him live a couple of weeks ago and had a great night by all accounts - I've only ever see him perform via YouTube and find even this mesmerising! Hope you have a great night!!
Dead South, canadian country 4 piece of a chello, banjo, guitar and mandolin.
Found them on you tube and love them.
So much so the gf found the last tickets to see them for our anniversary.
Shakey Graves, awesome chap and there is a youtube clip explaining how he got his name. Think it was something that was created after plenty of acid.
Yes, he talks about this for a minute or so in the video I linked to above.
CB