So bang up to date with my latest review blog - though to be honest there's not much review, more on my top 10 musicals.
Having posted a Camden Crawl blog last week (and as I'm going to Stag & Dagger this week in Shoreditch, which will probably take a couple of weeks to write up) I was in need of some filler. I produced this top 10 as the first in a series for One Inch Badge records Zine in January with the idea of it being the first of an occasional series. As they haven't published another Zine (or indeed acknowledged receiving this piece despite numerous asks) I am not inclined to hold back something I worked quiet hard at any longer. It will be the first of an occasional series here instead (but good luck to them if they choose to use it) – don't hold your breath but the next 2 planned are Top 10 Heavy Rock Albums That You Don't Own But Should and Top Ten Tracks I Heard First On John Peel. The Peel one actually covers a pretty short time-span. Please keep looking below this for download recommendations and a quick gig write-up. Oh, and I'd like to make it clear this was all done long before I'd Do Anything!
Fascinating Rhythms 1
Notes From A Grumpy Old Fan
I am either blessed or burdened by very Catholic music tastes. How Catholic? They shit in the wood next to the Pope. The older I get, the more I like (I still like to think I have the quality control, it just takes in more areas). I doubt a week has passed in the last 25 years when I haven't bought some form of recorded music (I'm 42) and with downloads and MySpace freebies now on the menu there really aren't enough hours in the day.
In an attempt to start with a not-too-obvious Top 10 choice (I'm an "Indie Dad" on MySpace, my dance collection is pretty big and my knowledge of 70s/80s Rock and Metal vast) that still allows for trivia and obscurity -
My Favourite 10 Musicals
Please note – not the best 10 musicals, my favourite 10 musicals. No camp or ironic enjoyment here, just quality (apart from number 6).
10 – Fiddler On The Roof
Pogrom? Let's do the show right here! The soundtrack version for me, as it's passed through my family. Lead actor Topol (Doctor Zarkov in the cool, Queen soundtracked Flash Gordon) owns this from the outset as the Russian community head personifying humanity in the face of daily struggle and religious persecution. Despite taking place in pre-war ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Russia the spirit of the Nazis is like an unspoken presence –it's always worth reminding yourself intolerance can grow from any soil. "Sunrise, Sunset" sets me right off as it plays behind an enforced exodus and "If I Were A Rich Man" has the best lyrical description of untold wealth – owning "one long Staircase just going up and one even longer coming down and one more leading nowhere, just for show".
9 - Sweeney Todd
That this is the definitive version of the much retold Grand Guignol story of the Demon Barber of Fleet Street says a lot. I'll look like a bandwagon jumper with the Johnny Depp/Tim Burton version coming but I've had this Original Cast album for over 10 years and it replaced a version my Dad taped off the radio for me 20 plus years ago. The version I have is the U.S. cast with Len Cariou as Todd (the UK version has Dennis Quilly in a role he made his own for many years). What better excuse for a jolly sing-along than a man wrongly convicted and imprisoned so a Judge can rape his wife, who then exacts his revenge by throat slitting, preparatory to the manufacture of cannibal pies. Yowzah! When this musical appeared in 1980 it must have seemed like real envelope pushing, it did to me…
8 - Belle or The Ballad Of Doctor Crippen
…until I inherited this from my parents. Music and lyrics by Monty Norman (composer of the original James Bond theme) this is a concept that must rival Springtime For Hitler in inappropriateness. Retelling of the story of one of the most reviled UK figures of the 20th Century, Dr. Crippen – convicted and hanged for the murder of his wife. I can't do the real story justice so Google it – suffice to say it takes in ground breaking police procedure, a strong-woman named Vulcana and a head in a handbag. This 1961 musical is all a bit "Whoops, Dr. Crippen" Music Hall stylee.
7- The Family – A Manson Family Opera
Charles Manson isn't actually a (convicted) murderer like Crippen (real) or Todd (fictional). He seems however 10 times as evil, is forever linked with music and the end of the 60s dream. This doesn't have very memorable songs in all honesty. It does have a sense of dread and Iggy Pop as "The Judge". Now if that isn't "poacher turned gamekeeper"… It would be irresponsible to plug an album by a dangerous sociopath but there are several Manson compilations out there, including songs like Look To Your Game Girl as covered by Guns N Roses and Take Care Of Your Ego as recorded in different form by The Beach Boys. He's certainly a better song writer than David Koresh the Branch Dividian cult leader (see Voice Of Fire album 1993).
6 - Let My People Come 1974 Stage Musical
A musical version of Moses leading the children of Israel from bondage called Let My People Go? Possibly, but this is a musical based on various kinks – and I don't mean Ray and Dave Davies. Come In My Mouth is a sultry ballad, Dirty Words is frank – "Cunt, what an awful word is cunt…" and The Cunnilngus Champion Of Champion Of Co. C is a jazzy romp – "He likes to tickle gash when he's short of cash…" I swear I'm not making this up!
5 - My Fair Lady
Why this? The story of Pygmalion by G B Shaw on which it is based is a good 'un to start with, the songs woven through that conceit are excellent – some humorous, some very romantic. I Could Have Danced All Night and Street Where You Live are beautiful without being schmaltzy and Get Me To The Church On Time is the best (if not only) reason for marriage. The version of that song by Ska keyboard legend Jackie Mitto is a prized possession (album Evening Time) and the whole piece is swinging enough that there is a great Go-Go version of the whole album.
4 - Rocky Horror Show (in my case film soundtrack)
Obviously this has rarely left the stage in some form or other since the 70s and always seems to be touring. Strange then that I've never seen it live. One reason may be I find it hard to believe a cast could compete with the film version (most of whom's cast was in the original stage run). I first saw the film version when I was 14 and I don't recommend that. My future sex life was bound to fall short of the glamour and filth on show here, sadly it hasn't been an endless round of bisexual blow jobs! This cast is the essential one – Meatloaf's finest moment as Psycho Biker Eddie, writer Richard O'Brien as (possibly incestuous) butler Riff Raff & Tim Curry's iconic, show-stealing Frank-N-Furter. Curry has been a B-movie staple since, a sort of Architect Of Arch, when camp menace is required. He did a few albums in the 70s, as quite a credible R&R torch singer. The track Cold Gin from "Read My Lips" is a particular favourite (chorus "…so fucking lonely I could die!"). There was a follow up to Rocky…, a film called Shock Treatment that also had a soundtrack and is worth seeking out although far from essential. I am even sad enough to own the Audience Participation version of the soundtrack – basically the film sound with the audience shouting out the prescribed responses to scenes. All together now… "No Neck!"
3 - Phantom Of The Paradise (Film Soundtrack)
Between "Carrie" and getting Michael Caine to play a tranny serial killer in "Dressed To Kill" Brian De Palma directed this under seen gem. A cross between Phantom Of The Opera (obviously) and the story of Faust selling his soul to the Devil, brought up to date in the 70s rock business. The songs were written by Paul Williams a singer/songwriter (Evergreen, performed by Barbara Streisand, a couple of Carpenters biggies, auditioned for the Monkees) who also stars as The Devil (as a record mogul). Actually, more Dorian Gray as record mogul, the story takes from several sources. The setting allows Williams to do several parodies of 70's genres (Glam, R&R revival). The singing voice of Glam star "Beef" is performed by Ray Kennedy who sang with UFO, Jeff Beck and wrote Sail On Sailor with Brian Wilson. Buy the film for the tour bus, the music business takes your soul you know!
2 - Oliver
A family favourite, yes. But the story has real meat courtesy of Charles Dickens. Search out the easily found at car boot sale version with Steve Marriott of The Small Faces as the Artful Dodger. It must be Ron Moody as Fagin though. Also get any party started with Galliano's version of Reviewing The Situation.
1 - West Side Story
Top of the tree – the perfect marriage of composer Leonard Bernstein's classical and pop/rock sensibilities. It has the big "show" songs ("Maria", "Somewhere") along with tracks that rock bands can and did cover. The Nice did "America", Alice Cooper did "The Jets" (as "Gutter Cat Vs The Jets"). This reworking of Romeo & Juliet has it all – juvenile delinquents, knife fights and immigration issues all get a look in. And it doesn't have a happy ending!
MySpace Downloads (addresses at end)
1 star - go listen and make up your own mind
2 stars - listen and download
3 stars - essential download
Tin Can Telephone is the new project from Andy Tiger Force, and an altogether more gentle side. Cemetery Songs has a nursery keyboard with minimal guitar, Spak Attack sounds rather like The Research's take on outsider romance. ** www.myspace.com/tincantelephoneband
Roman Rappak looks like a Gypsy and sounds like the sweeter end of Nine Inch Nails – The Gentleman has something of we Will Rock You's baseline and come to think of it the style is similar to NIN's version of Queen's Get Down, Make Love. Insistence is a more laid back shuffle and not as much fun. *1/2 www.myspace.com/romanrappak
Mozzy Green were an act I missed at the Stockwell gig and I would have liked to stay on the strength of The Smile Of Sarah, sounding like a more folk vocal levellers with a bit of Andy White on top. Better than that sounds… ** www.myspace.com/mozzygreen
Absent - The Track Sleephunter 21has the circular rhythm of a Killing Joke track fronted by Gary Holton(Heavy Metal Kids & Auf Weidersien Pet)! (are you reading this Mr Dawkins?). Not sure quite what o make of it but it's good ** www.myspace.com/absenttheband
Superman Revenge Squad @ The Cavendish Arms, Stockwell 9th May 2008
A club night called My Friends Kill My Folks put on by Ben (or Superman Revenge Squad if you will) and his friend Tony draws me to Stockwell – and I'm pleased to report despite carrying a rucksack the worst thing to happen to me was getting lost trying to find the pub. Superman Revenge Squad generously took the opening slot and was dependably quality entertainment, plying his trade-mark Indie bittersweet tales. The lyrics manage to be both funny (sometimes very) and affecting – combining a nostalgic look at growing up under the influence of various NME approved bands while being generally slightly disappointed by life. On one song he wonders why he found Billy Corgan so meaningful, on another he ponders on how Kevin Rowland was damaged by the Wedding party sing-along success of Come On Eileen (a great song being consigned to 80s compilation Hell. He compares himself in lyric (not too seriously) with Rupert Pupkin, Robert De Niro's wannabe star character in the film King Of Comedy. Perhaps best of all he apologises for the entire second verse of one song for using Kate Moss, Chavs & Asbos in the chorus that has just preceded it. www.myspace.com/supermanrevengesquad
I only watch one of the remaining 3 acts but Laura Hocking makes it doubly worth the trek to South London. She has 6 downloads at www.myspace.com/laurahocking (rather oddly currently labelled Laura Sings Liver) which get a *** and should be gotten quick. She is slightly less indebted to Joni Mitchell live than the downloads suggest though there is a bit of that. However her lyrics are what set her apart from other current singer songwriters and leave only Emmy The Great in the same league. They are the work of an empowered woman dealing humorously with life and love rather than either moping or taking herself too seriously.
Next – Stag & Dagger, Shoreditch
If you like this shit you have a cavalier attitude. But please subscribe. If you want to use anything I write on your bio etc feel free but please put the address of my page to send readers my way.
INDIE DAD – A Wholly Owned Subsidiary Of I Blame The Parents Records
Monday, 19 May 2008
Overview of 2007 (classic blog 2!)
Right – quite amazingly I'm seeing fit to lay a second top 100 MySpace Downloads on yo punk ass. Will anyone from '06 be there? First some ground rules – though I do hate to give you "rules", follow your own path, Man. For inclusion the track must have been downloaded by me in 2007. It may have been up in 2006 unknown to me, it may have been recorded in 1966 – don't care. It may have only been up for an hour at midnight – don't care. This chart is CLEARLY COMPLETELY SUBJECTIVE. These tracks are all somewhere between GOOD and FUCKING EMMENSE. The fact that for a second year I can freely download the work of these artists (and lots I don't like) is worth celebrating. Some of these tracks are here because they showed tremendous promise, some because they showed a band ready to dominate 2008, most somewhere in between. I've also included a few review snippets below the positions – basically to show how great I am! Also below the chart are some high-lights of the year that I couldn't be bothered to order into any sort of chart. Lots of the downloads are still available. If someone I really like isn't here it's because I didn't download them from MySpace in 2007 (even if they had something up, I missed it). Sorry it's horribly scrappy, will try to improve but it took me hours to get them on one line each!
Top 100 MySpace Downloads 2007
Band Track Review Date
100Penny Broadhurst L Jaded Feb 10th
99 Trencher Ode To Exorcist Oct 3rd
98 Euan H (& The Terrapins) Actors And Actresses Mar 22nd
97 The Rapture Romancers Jerome Mar 4th
96 Beaton Track "No Name No.4" Apr 18th
95 Ross Drummond Drink Mar 29th
"You're singing along to Drink before you come to the conclusion it's about drowning yourself."
94 The Isles Flying Under Cheap Kites Mar 13th
93 Ed Mules Moblie Foreign Legion Feb 18th
92 Thom Stone Rats Jan 11th
91 Kissing Cousins We Ran May 21st
90 Odd Socks Stella In The Moonlight Jul 26th
89 Sha La Las Crazy Heartless Girl Feb 18th
88 Working Progress Mystery Mar 4th
87 Spinmaster Plantpot Cheese On The Side Mar 13th
86 Monsters From Mars We Are The Defenders Of Atlantis Dec 24th
85 Bono Must Die Saving Betty Picture Face Jan 11th
"A tabloid whore revolves on the spit in purgatory while the pitchfork wielding goblins drone "be part of the system". I think I'm becoming rather attached to them."
84 Retro Spankees My Sonic Driver Mar 13th
83 Prospect Gardens Amy's Umbrella Mar 22nd
82 The Auxiliaries Luke Feb 10th
81 We Are The Physics Bulimia Sisters Dec 11th
80 The Barker Band Rocking Out The Madness May 6th
79 Swimsuit Issue House Fire May 21st
"Menacing post punk, with death ray guitar."
78 We Smoke Fags Lust Puppets Mar 13th
77 Le Shark Shipwreck May 21st
76 One Trick Band Midnight May 24th
75 Constant State Of Terror Blood Is Blood Jun 22nd
74 It Hugs Back Soft Spot Mar 13th
73 Josh Weller Circus Jun 11th
72 Morgansorange Words From A Long Time Ago Mar 29th
"Anyone influenced by Jimi Hendrix's big cock can't be all bad."
71 The Prostitutes Eject Jun 11th
70 Travlin' Jephson & Cardboard Man Creatures May 6th
69 Julian Donkey-Boy Sunday Jul 1st
68 Burmese Days Early Hours May 24th
67 One Trick Band When Then Dust Has Settled Feb 18th
66 Subliminal Girls Self Obsession Is An Art Form Jul 26th
65 You Had Me At Hello Sorry The Break-up(?) Jun 17th
64 Electricity In Our Homes We Don't Need Honesty May 24th
"First impressions – art project, Residents, aptly named as they are the post punk sounding ffftzzz of the poorly insulated cables behind the wallpaper, Wire (a bit)."
63 Federal Drugs Administration Katie Melua Oct 22nd
62 Ectogram Small Things Crawling Jun 22nd
61 Exile Parade Bicycle Thieves Mar 13th
If the Kings Of Leon were lager louts from Warrington this is quite possibly what they would sound like
60 The Sessions So Wanna Go Nov 14th
59 Johnny Foreiener Suicide Pact Apr 27th
58 Johnny Foreigner Bipolar Friend Apr 27th
57 Spank Rock & Benny Blanco Bootay Sep 24th
56 Idiot Savant Emillone Jul 18th
55 Late Of The Pier A Heartbeat A Flicker Jul 1st
54 Air Cav So Others May Live Jul 26th
53 Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring New Favourite Band Feb 18th
52 I Was A Cub Scout Bear Fur Jan 11th
51 Superman Revenge Squad Idiot Food Jan 11th
"They ramble lyrically (quite deliberately) not exactly stream of consciousness, more stream of whiskey consciousness. Disaffected but realistic, he knows how disappointing life can be without entirely giving up on finding Miss Right. They are not bile filled but withering, songs for the lonely or those who all too well remember the isolation of loneliness and how it affects your world view. Every day takes the light at the end of the tunnel a few steps further away. But the songs are far too witty to be depressing, humour tempering the disillusion."
50 It Hugs Back Afterall May 21st
49 Liquid Sunshine Evil Tweetie Feb 10th
"The singer sounds, for no apparent reason Eastern European – the guitar is flanged to fuck – they funk like only white boys funk. It all works marvellously, down to name-checking Evil Tweety – the only worthwhile incarnation of the vile Tweety Pie."
48 Bojangles Medley Three Fingers Johnny Jun 11th
47 The Outdoor Types The Doll Enthusiast Mar 29th
"The cautionary tale of a man who, ahem, really likes dolls it sounds like something Robyn Hitchcock might have knocked up. And that's good."
46 The Teenagers Homecoming Jan 21st
"Surely any song with the chorus "I fucked my American cunt" should be number one for a Bryan Adams amount of time. Behind the rudeness this is a damning expose of the male female divide, where women crave love over sex and men crave sex over everything. Or it may just be an excuse to sing "I fucked my American cunt"."
45 Travlin' Jephson & Cardboard Man Iron Bridge May 6th
44 Lightspeed Champion Scattered Aug 12th
43 Tiny Masters Of Today Sticking It To The Man Jan 29th
42 Pink Mountaintops________________ Single Life______________________ May 6th
41 Pink Mountaintops Sweet Sixty Nine May 6th
40 Pink Mountaintops New Drug May 6th
39 Florence & The Machine Girl With One Eye Aug 12th
"…despite being a Jazzy Folk number is lyrically vindictive enough to please this misanthrope and the performance could give Amy Winehouse a run for her money."
38 The Outsoor Types Jungler Swifteye May 24th
37 Earl Grey & The Legomen Unsettling Time Dec 9th
"What they do sound like is Folk Music for the 21st century, reportage/political lyrics like a modern version of an 18th century broadsheet."
36 Extradition Order Precious Home Sep 24th
35 Pull In Emergency Girl With One Eye (live) Dec 24th
34 Dreamburger Ultimate Shamefest Jan 21st
33 Elle S'appelle Seasaw Dec 11th
32 The Rapture Romancers King Of The Rats Oct 14th
31 Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip Letter From God To Man Jan 21st
30 Rescue Cat 10 Pound Bag Apr 27th
29 The Chapman Family Never Gonna Know Me May 3rd
28 The Chapman Family You Do Something Jan 11th
27 Dash Delete Topman I'm Your Number 1 Fan *
26 Woodys Room Pipe Bucket and Bong July 18th
25 Woodys Room Nancy Knaggs July 18th
24 The Auxiliaries Trench Coat Mafia Jan 11th
23 Bojangles Medley If You Live Long Enough Sep 10th
22 Lo-Fi Culture Scene Catch 22 Sep 19th
21 Lo-Fi Culture Scene Meet Again Sep 19TH<>
20 Dreamburger Apocolypse Wow Feb 10th
"Charlie don't breakdance but he would if he copped an earful of this. Slightly more menacing than the last downloads but still FUN FUN FUN til their Daddy takes the beatbox away. Aah, I love the smell of Rimmel in the morning, marshal beats and shrill, brain-shredding, driller killing."
19 Thomas Function Flowers Oct 14th
18 Actionbeat Hookie Apr 4th
17 King Pest Invisible Ghosts Jul 18th
16 The Vichy Government Luke Haines Is Dead Oct 22nd
15 Bookstore Shotgun Johnny **
14 Los Camposinos Death To Los Camposinos Jan 11th
13 Los Camposinos Sweet Dreams Sweet Cheeks Jan 11th
12 Glasvegas Flowers And Football Shirts Jan 29th
11 Glasvegas Daddy's Gone Jan 29th
10 Glasvegas I'm Gonna Get Stabbed Jan 29th
09 The Von Erich Family SIMON style="mso-tab-count: 2" Ants Oct 14th
08 The Von Erich Family I'm Not Angry Anymore Oct 14th
07 The Von Erich Family Back Where The Old Folks Roam Oct 14th
06 The Von Erich Family Hey Peter Oct 14th
05 Extradition Order Cromwell Dec 24th
04 Extradition Order Grand Day Out Dec 24th
03 Extradition Order Penetrate Dec 24th
02 Jon Jones & The Beatniks Movement Pushin' Fuckin' Aug 12th
"Pushin' Fuckin' is pure filthy as you like scum rock, as with all the tracks the rhythm section is heavy and underpins the guitarist and singer going off into mad fuck territory. "
01 Glasvegas It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry July 7th
"Title aside this isn't the C&W ballad I might have thought. It builds on the more basic tracks gone before to become something of an anthem (don't worry though, their not encroaching on Keane territory yet). And it's an epic not afraid to be simple (sample lyric "liar, liar"… will he? "pant's on fire"… yes he will). It is on the one hand beautiful with a vocal building to an aching acceptance of the protagonists failings (basically he's full of self loathing for the cuntish, selfish things most men do). On the other, the down to earth but dense lyric (swearing and all) and accent heavy vocal show they're not about to suck the corporate cock yet. 3 listens in a row and it just gets more soaring, I'm not sure if he finds redemption or suicide at the end and that's good. I can picture the black and white crane shot as he falls to his knees on a rain-soaked Glasgow street at midnight for the finale. And…fade to black."
* Originally reviewed September 24th from Demo
** Originally reviewed July 1st from Demo
*** I'm guessing here – I had the Demo so didn't download – but they deserve two entries!
North of the Border romp home as Number One, and as with The Enemy last year the overall quality of all the downloads (not just this one track) make them most likely to breakthrough. On 10th Feb I mentioned first single "Go Square Go" was on Ebay for £1.99 and you should get in quick. It is now about £50 on Ebay. Mind you, I should have followed my own advice – second single "Daddys Gone" is doing about £30 and I missed it!
I'm not inclined to do top 10 singles etc so I'll just mention the tops
Singles – Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip "Thou Shall Always Kill", Ebony Bones "We Know All About You", Bloc Party "Flux". Yeah, I'm all about the beat.
Album – The Enemy "We'll Live And Die In These Towns". No great achievement – I bought about 4 albums released in 2007!
Finally the Top 5 Live Performances Of 2007
Health & Crystal Castles 17th August Rough Trade East, Brick Lane
Health – "They had seen fit to leave a mic accessible to the audience so the person in charge was making random announcements though the first songs ("Cider, the breakfast of women" etc). The set proper featured a fabulous and painful noise, like scalpel sharp feedback used as an instrument, the sort of screech that a combination of cow and abattoir might make. One track of this and the announcements had changed to "I can't hear anything any more, my ears don't work"."
CC – "While the "keyboard player" sets up we are treated to a loop of Rap, bringing it down to the component parts of "fuck" and "nigga". LOUDLY. And for many minutes. This builds atmosphere while keeping a hostile edge. The "keyboard player" (I don't know his name and the MySpace is not forthcoming) does not, throughout this "sound check you can see" look happy. He does not exude jollity and looks unlikely to suffer fools gladly. Things reach the required peak – of volume, anticipation, distain for sound men – and WHAM, Alice is on stage bouncing like a goth pixie tigger (maybe tigga, G) and the most wonderous BIG, DANCE MUTHA FUCKER DANCE electro has exploded and so have the crowd. Alice is in the crowd repeatedly, when not OWNING the stage, standing on the back-line or banging the mic on her head, tongue flicking in and out, fat and poisonous. This is clearly Star Quality. The music is a HUGE pulsing dance brute and you cannot keep still. 3 tracks keep the pressure up, then - bosh - they're gone that's your lot. But when your 3 tracks tear the roof off the sucka, that's all you need."
The Icarus Line 29th May The Old Blue Last, Shoreditch
"They played 1 song that took the roof off, stopped for five minutes while the drummer had a shit fit 'cos his kick drum was slipping. Then got going again, just as hot, really every song was kicking out the jams, dripping with commitment. They clearly believe wholeheartedly in the myths and magic of RnR, one of the bands that come up every few years and keep the pure spirit flame burning. It's not remotely original but when you're in a room with the real deal you know it. This is the sort of thing I would have listened to in the 80s and I did feel a yearning for my cowboy boots, but it was old then, now it's proved timeless. They got through two thirds of Johnny Thunders' Born To Lose before I realised, it fitted in so well and when I left during Up Against… it was the weakest track up to that point. This is the sort of dirt under the finger nails shit that keeps coming back because it's the very life-blood of Rock & Roll, the reason thousands strap on a guitar. It's about getting high, fucking, being alive in the "now", no more no less. And when you feel that alive for half an hour you should be pretty grateful."
Duke Garwood & Josh T Pearson 17th September The MacBeth Hoxton
Duke – "Rather than pluck or strum he seems to pass his hand across the strings in the area you'd strum looking for all the world like a magician coaxing noise from the ether."
Josh – "While he remains playing this size of venue you have the chance to see a real artist at close quarters and hear the stamp of his boot heels before he wanders. "
Exit Calm June 28th Camden Proud Gallery
"The few of us who could be bothered to come in from the (admittedly cool, Alice In Wonderland themed) roof garden got to see a rather brilliant band. It must be said, and let's get it out of the way and move on, they owe a large debt to early Verve. The music is about the heart rather than the head, floating guitar going on to soar and pull you to the skies with it."
Bloody loud too, a couple of weeks after this I had to have my ears syringed for the only time in 27 years of gigging!
Babyshambles in a venue the size of a large living room at the Camden Crawl April 19th (after being delivered there by taxis) – and yes, this one is just to show off!
"They start with Fuck Forever and Pete's straight in the audience. The momentum is lost slightly as his mike packs up for the second track but it matters little to the punters in the thick of it. I'm lead through an upstairs passage to get to the back of the basement where the view is supposed to be better. It isn't but it is cooler. After about 30 minutes the PA is toppled into the audience and Pete lobs out the small drum kit. I walk out the back exit behind Doherty who goes out for quick MTV interviews. He has a photo taken with a fan who, over come by the event AND booze, tells him how important he is. A minder (non burly sort) tries to push him away so PD can get in his motor and an argument starts. Once he's in the car it reverses at speed as Paparazzi, realising where he is, give chase. Another average day for him then. I have to say he didn't seem particularly out of it or difficult at any point I was watching."
Very honourable mentions to Ebony Bones, Jon Jones & The Beatniks Movement and Extradition Order.
The New Year promises a lot of Liverpool bands breaking through, though the current music of that city varies wildly. Whatever – if they don't sound dead 60s I'll listen.
Top 100 MySpace Downloads 2007
Band Track Review Date
100Penny Broadhurst L Jaded Feb 10th
99 Trencher Ode To Exorcist Oct 3rd
98 Euan H (& The Terrapins) Actors And Actresses Mar 22nd
97 The Rapture Romancers Jerome Mar 4th
96 Beaton Track "No Name No.4" Apr 18th
95 Ross Drummond Drink Mar 29th
"You're singing along to Drink before you come to the conclusion it's about drowning yourself."
94 The Isles Flying Under Cheap Kites Mar 13th
93 Ed Mules Moblie Foreign Legion Feb 18th
92 Thom Stone Rats Jan 11th
91 Kissing Cousins We Ran May 21st
90 Odd Socks Stella In The Moonlight Jul 26th
89 Sha La Las Crazy Heartless Girl Feb 18th
88 Working Progress Mystery Mar 4th
87 Spinmaster Plantpot Cheese On The Side Mar 13th
86 Monsters From Mars We Are The Defenders Of Atlantis Dec 24th
85 Bono Must Die Saving Betty Picture Face Jan 11th
"A tabloid whore revolves on the spit in purgatory while the pitchfork wielding goblins drone "be part of the system". I think I'm becoming rather attached to them."
84 Retro Spankees My Sonic Driver Mar 13th
83 Prospect Gardens Amy's Umbrella Mar 22nd
82 The Auxiliaries Luke Feb 10th
81 We Are The Physics Bulimia Sisters Dec 11th
80 The Barker Band Rocking Out The Madness May 6th
79 Swimsuit Issue House Fire May 21st
"Menacing post punk, with death ray guitar."
78 We Smoke Fags Lust Puppets Mar 13th
77 Le Shark Shipwreck May 21st
76 One Trick Band Midnight May 24th
75 Constant State Of Terror Blood Is Blood Jun 22nd
74 It Hugs Back Soft Spot Mar 13th
73 Josh Weller Circus Jun 11th
72 Morgansorange Words From A Long Time Ago Mar 29th
"Anyone influenced by Jimi Hendrix's big cock can't be all bad."
71 The Prostitutes Eject Jun 11th
70 Travlin' Jephson & Cardboard Man Creatures May 6th
69 Julian Donkey-Boy Sunday Jul 1st
68 Burmese Days Early Hours May 24th
67 One Trick Band When Then Dust Has Settled Feb 18th
66 Subliminal Girls Self Obsession Is An Art Form Jul 26th
65 You Had Me At Hello Sorry The Break-up(?) Jun 17th
64 Electricity In Our Homes We Don't Need Honesty May 24th
"First impressions – art project, Residents, aptly named as they are the post punk sounding ffftzzz of the poorly insulated cables behind the wallpaper, Wire (a bit)."
63 Federal Drugs Administration Katie Melua Oct 22nd
62 Ectogram Small Things Crawling Jun 22nd
61 Exile Parade Bicycle Thieves Mar 13th
If the Kings Of Leon were lager louts from Warrington this is quite possibly what they would sound like
60 The Sessions So Wanna Go Nov 14th
59 Johnny Foreiener Suicide Pact Apr 27th
58 Johnny Foreigner Bipolar Friend Apr 27th
57 Spank Rock & Benny Blanco Bootay Sep 24th
56 Idiot Savant Emillone Jul 18th
55 Late Of The Pier A Heartbeat A Flicker Jul 1st
54 Air Cav So Others May Live Jul 26th
53 Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring New Favourite Band Feb 18th
52 I Was A Cub Scout Bear Fur Jan 11th
51 Superman Revenge Squad Idiot Food Jan 11th
"They ramble lyrically (quite deliberately) not exactly stream of consciousness, more stream of whiskey consciousness. Disaffected but realistic, he knows how disappointing life can be without entirely giving up on finding Miss Right. They are not bile filled but withering, songs for the lonely or those who all too well remember the isolation of loneliness and how it affects your world view. Every day takes the light at the end of the tunnel a few steps further away. But the songs are far too witty to be depressing, humour tempering the disillusion."
50 It Hugs Back Afterall May 21st
49 Liquid Sunshine Evil Tweetie Feb 10th
"The singer sounds, for no apparent reason Eastern European – the guitar is flanged to fuck – they funk like only white boys funk. It all works marvellously, down to name-checking Evil Tweety – the only worthwhile incarnation of the vile Tweety Pie."
48 Bojangles Medley Three Fingers Johnny Jun 11th
47 The Outdoor Types The Doll Enthusiast Mar 29th
"The cautionary tale of a man who, ahem, really likes dolls it sounds like something Robyn Hitchcock might have knocked up. And that's good."
46 The Teenagers Homecoming Jan 21st
"Surely any song with the chorus "I fucked my American cunt" should be number one for a Bryan Adams amount of time. Behind the rudeness this is a damning expose of the male female divide, where women crave love over sex and men crave sex over everything. Or it may just be an excuse to sing "I fucked my American cunt"."
45 Travlin' Jephson & Cardboard Man Iron Bridge May 6th
44 Lightspeed Champion Scattered Aug 12th
43 Tiny Masters Of Today Sticking It To The Man Jan 29th
42 Pink Mountaintops________________ Single Life______________________ May 6th
41 Pink Mountaintops Sweet Sixty Nine May 6th
40 Pink Mountaintops New Drug May 6th
39 Florence & The Machine Girl With One Eye Aug 12th
"…despite being a Jazzy Folk number is lyrically vindictive enough to please this misanthrope and the performance could give Amy Winehouse a run for her money."
38 The Outsoor Types Jungler Swifteye May 24th
37 Earl Grey & The Legomen Unsettling Time Dec 9th
"What they do sound like is Folk Music for the 21st century, reportage/political lyrics like a modern version of an 18th century broadsheet."
36 Extradition Order Precious Home Sep 24th
35 Pull In Emergency Girl With One Eye (live) Dec 24th
34 Dreamburger Ultimate Shamefest Jan 21st
33 Elle S'appelle Seasaw Dec 11th
32 The Rapture Romancers King Of The Rats Oct 14th
31 Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip Letter From God To Man Jan 21st
30 Rescue Cat 10 Pound Bag Apr 27th
29 The Chapman Family Never Gonna Know Me May 3rd
28 The Chapman Family You Do Something Jan 11th
27 Dash Delete Topman I'm Your Number 1 Fan *
26 Woodys Room Pipe Bucket and Bong July 18th
25 Woodys Room Nancy Knaggs July 18th
24 The Auxiliaries Trench Coat Mafia Jan 11th
23 Bojangles Medley If You Live Long Enough Sep 10th
22 Lo-Fi Culture Scene Catch 22 Sep 19th
21 Lo-Fi Culture Scene Meet Again Sep 19TH<>
20 Dreamburger Apocolypse Wow Feb 10th
"Charlie don't breakdance but he would if he copped an earful of this. Slightly more menacing than the last downloads but still FUN FUN FUN til their Daddy takes the beatbox away. Aah, I love the smell of Rimmel in the morning, marshal beats and shrill, brain-shredding, driller killing."
19 Thomas Function Flowers Oct 14th
18 Actionbeat Hookie Apr 4th
17 King Pest Invisible Ghosts Jul 18th
16 The Vichy Government Luke Haines Is Dead Oct 22nd
15 Bookstore Shotgun Johnny **
14 Los Camposinos Death To Los Camposinos Jan 11th
13 Los Camposinos Sweet Dreams Sweet Cheeks Jan 11th
12 Glasvegas Flowers And Football Shirts Jan 29th
11 Glasvegas Daddy's Gone Jan 29th
10 Glasvegas I'm Gonna Get Stabbed Jan 29th
09 The Von Erich Family SIMON style="mso-tab-count: 2" Ants Oct 14th
08 The Von Erich Family I'm Not Angry Anymore Oct 14th
07 The Von Erich Family Back Where The Old Folks Roam Oct 14th
06 The Von Erich Family Hey Peter Oct 14th
05 Extradition Order Cromwell Dec 24th
04 Extradition Order Grand Day Out Dec 24th
03 Extradition Order Penetrate Dec 24th
02 Jon Jones & The Beatniks Movement Pushin' Fuckin' Aug 12th
"Pushin' Fuckin' is pure filthy as you like scum rock, as with all the tracks the rhythm section is heavy and underpins the guitarist and singer going off into mad fuck territory. "
01 Glasvegas It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry July 7th
"Title aside this isn't the C&W ballad I might have thought. It builds on the more basic tracks gone before to become something of an anthem (don't worry though, their not encroaching on Keane territory yet). And it's an epic not afraid to be simple (sample lyric "liar, liar"… will he? "pant's on fire"… yes he will). It is on the one hand beautiful with a vocal building to an aching acceptance of the protagonists failings (basically he's full of self loathing for the cuntish, selfish things most men do). On the other, the down to earth but dense lyric (swearing and all) and accent heavy vocal show they're not about to suck the corporate cock yet. 3 listens in a row and it just gets more soaring, I'm not sure if he finds redemption or suicide at the end and that's good. I can picture the black and white crane shot as he falls to his knees on a rain-soaked Glasgow street at midnight for the finale. And…fade to black."
* Originally reviewed September 24th from Demo
** Originally reviewed July 1st from Demo
*** I'm guessing here – I had the Demo so didn't download – but they deserve two entries!
North of the Border romp home as Number One, and as with The Enemy last year the overall quality of all the downloads (not just this one track) make them most likely to breakthrough. On 10th Feb I mentioned first single "Go Square Go" was on Ebay for £1.99 and you should get in quick. It is now about £50 on Ebay. Mind you, I should have followed my own advice – second single "Daddys Gone" is doing about £30 and I missed it!
I'm not inclined to do top 10 singles etc so I'll just mention the tops
Singles – Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip "Thou Shall Always Kill", Ebony Bones "We Know All About You", Bloc Party "Flux". Yeah, I'm all about the beat.
Album – The Enemy "We'll Live And Die In These Towns". No great achievement – I bought about 4 albums released in 2007!
Finally the Top 5 Live Performances Of 2007
Health & Crystal Castles 17th August Rough Trade East, Brick Lane
Health – "They had seen fit to leave a mic accessible to the audience so the person in charge was making random announcements though the first songs ("Cider, the breakfast of women" etc). The set proper featured a fabulous and painful noise, like scalpel sharp feedback used as an instrument, the sort of screech that a combination of cow and abattoir might make. One track of this and the announcements had changed to "I can't hear anything any more, my ears don't work"."
CC – "While the "keyboard player" sets up we are treated to a loop of Rap, bringing it down to the component parts of "fuck" and "nigga". LOUDLY. And for many minutes. This builds atmosphere while keeping a hostile edge. The "keyboard player" (I don't know his name and the MySpace is not forthcoming) does not, throughout this "sound check you can see" look happy. He does not exude jollity and looks unlikely to suffer fools gladly. Things reach the required peak – of volume, anticipation, distain for sound men – and WHAM, Alice is on stage bouncing like a goth pixie tigger (maybe tigga, G) and the most wonderous BIG, DANCE MUTHA FUCKER DANCE electro has exploded and so have the crowd. Alice is in the crowd repeatedly, when not OWNING the stage, standing on the back-line or banging the mic on her head, tongue flicking in and out, fat and poisonous. This is clearly Star Quality. The music is a HUGE pulsing dance brute and you cannot keep still. 3 tracks keep the pressure up, then - bosh - they're gone that's your lot. But when your 3 tracks tear the roof off the sucka, that's all you need."
The Icarus Line 29th May The Old Blue Last, Shoreditch
"They played 1 song that took the roof off, stopped for five minutes while the drummer had a shit fit 'cos his kick drum was slipping. Then got going again, just as hot, really every song was kicking out the jams, dripping with commitment. They clearly believe wholeheartedly in the myths and magic of RnR, one of the bands that come up every few years and keep the pure spirit flame burning. It's not remotely original but when you're in a room with the real deal you know it. This is the sort of thing I would have listened to in the 80s and I did feel a yearning for my cowboy boots, but it was old then, now it's proved timeless. They got through two thirds of Johnny Thunders' Born To Lose before I realised, it fitted in so well and when I left during Up Against… it was the weakest track up to that point. This is the sort of dirt under the finger nails shit that keeps coming back because it's the very life-blood of Rock & Roll, the reason thousands strap on a guitar. It's about getting high, fucking, being alive in the "now", no more no less. And when you feel that alive for half an hour you should be pretty grateful."
Duke Garwood & Josh T Pearson 17th September The MacBeth Hoxton
Duke – "Rather than pluck or strum he seems to pass his hand across the strings in the area you'd strum looking for all the world like a magician coaxing noise from the ether."
Josh – "While he remains playing this size of venue you have the chance to see a real artist at close quarters and hear the stamp of his boot heels before he wanders. "
Exit Calm June 28th Camden Proud Gallery
"The few of us who could be bothered to come in from the (admittedly cool, Alice In Wonderland themed) roof garden got to see a rather brilliant band. It must be said, and let's get it out of the way and move on, they owe a large debt to early Verve. The music is about the heart rather than the head, floating guitar going on to soar and pull you to the skies with it."
Bloody loud too, a couple of weeks after this I had to have my ears syringed for the only time in 27 years of gigging!
Babyshambles in a venue the size of a large living room at the Camden Crawl April 19th (after being delivered there by taxis) – and yes, this one is just to show off!
"They start with Fuck Forever and Pete's straight in the audience. The momentum is lost slightly as his mike packs up for the second track but it matters little to the punters in the thick of it. I'm lead through an upstairs passage to get to the back of the basement where the view is supposed to be better. It isn't but it is cooler. After about 30 minutes the PA is toppled into the audience and Pete lobs out the small drum kit. I walk out the back exit behind Doherty who goes out for quick MTV interviews. He has a photo taken with a fan who, over come by the event AND booze, tells him how important he is. A minder (non burly sort) tries to push him away so PD can get in his motor and an argument starts. Once he's in the car it reverses at speed as Paparazzi, realising where he is, give chase. Another average day for him then. I have to say he didn't seem particularly out of it or difficult at any point I was watching."
Very honourable mentions to Ebony Bones, Jon Jones & The Beatniks Movement and Extradition Order.
The New Year promises a lot of Liverpool bands breaking through, though the current music of that city varies wildly. Whatever – if they don't sound dead 60s I'll listen.
MySpace Overview Of 2006 (classic blog no.1!)
I started reviewing (mainly) MySpace download tracks in about April 2006. The first top 100 list blog below. In may well look as buggered up as it does on MySpace but here goes...
"Drum roll, fanfare. The inaugural top 100 download chart is here. Some codices. It's completely arbitrary. This week it's in this order, it could have changed next week if I'd prepared it then. I thought at the outset I'd tried to cast my net too wide by going for 100, I thought of about 50 off the top of my head. But going back over my reviews, plus the continuing new stuff appearing daily, it was more of a problem having to keep it to 100, to the extent that 1 track, at No.26 is reviewed for the first time here! The order reflects as much how often the track comes unbidden into my head as to how many times I've played it since downloading. To state the bleedin' obvious, it had to be on MySpace as a download to be reviewed and included. However these are genuinely great tracks that I reviewed positively on the dates mentioned. I started this in April so nothing before then. I've put tracks downloaded at the same time in consecutive positions i.e. if I downloaded 4 tracks on 1 date and like 2, those two will come one after the other on the chart. I've included a few review snippets, if it whets your appetite please go back and read more (and listen/download where still available). What's indisputable is that I've listened to a lot of music to get to this. At first I was too generous, I feel, and also too negative. The current Parental Advisory blog concentrates on stuff I really think has some worth but doesn't bother to slag stuff I don't. After all however shit I think you are you've had the balls to try. I can't be arsed with the site locations, mail me if you can't find any, apologies for poor spacing.
Indie Dad Top 100 MySpace Downloads 2006
Position Title Artist Date Reviewed
100 The Last Detail LT Hun 10th December
99 Lockdown London Fatels 18th July
98 I Was A Human Bomb For The F.B.I. Zombina & The skeletons 30th April
97 Disembowel The Demonkind Bearsuit 8th April
96 So Much Better Now The Tambourines 30th April "a great mono-riff pushes a dreamy heroin singalong (yes, there's a tambourine)"
95 Welcome To The Childhood Home… We're Wolves (RIP) 7th May
94 Drug Buddy It's A King Thing 3rd April
93 Melatonin Motorpsycho Nitemare 18th August
92 Black Grease Black Angels 5th April
91 Rhythm Rebel Penny Broadhurst 11th April
90 Caise Central Deli Band (RIP) 3rd April "great pervy fun, a soundtrack for a trailer orgy"
89 Young Persons Guide Cats & Cats & Cats 21st April
88 No Friends The Bobby McGees 18th July "… songs for the lonely AND angry little people…also bloody funny"
87 Parish Bell Captain Black 5th April
86 All My Life Death Before Dishonour 7th May
85 Behold, Coelacanth You & The Atom Bomb 16th April
84 A Different Road 2 Spinmaster Plantpot 18th July
83 Shake The Daze 25th June
82 Konxompax (remix) Pro Forma (RIP) 5th April
81 Nothing's Meant To Last Brookville 7th July
80 Hell Yeh old time LOOK LOOK (dancing boys) 22nd December "… lots of good swearing"
79 Sea Of Blasphemy The Black Lips 24th April
78 Fuck-Ups The Holloways 4th April "catchy like the Libs nice little brothers…lyrically awful"
77 Fresh Off The Boat The D'Archetypes 16th April
76 The People To Forget Francois 4th April "Gallic D.I.Y. charm"
75 Indifference TheSailplanes30th April
74 Window Shopping Neil's Children 18th April
73 Stitch Me Back Blood Red Shoes 8th April "Righteous but tuneful avalanches of riffola"
72 Architecture Idiot Savant 21st September
71 Washed White Blondelle 21st September
70 My Heart Is In Vienna Spinmaster Plantpot 10th June "We need him more than he needs us"
69 You Can't Have It Back The Juan MaClean 12th September
68 GVSUOMMMRMX oMMM 22nd December
67 Atom Truck oMMM 22nd December
66 Robotic Cock Liquor Store 5th October "Kung Fu androids with guitar synths goose-step through mirrored high-rise landscapes, occasionally felling a ragged post-apocalypse survivor with a pulse of musical muscle. Or something."
65 The Cowards Are Going To War C Wallbank & The Cowards 29th December
64 Gray Wave City The Bubonic Plague 16th June
63 John Cotton & Mr Topper Duncan Brown 5th November
62 Glad We Met Enjoy[(.)]Destroy 18th October
61 Come Along The Whole> Spinmaster Plantpot 15th September "His Magnum Opus, an epic of highs, lows and frightening intensity – oh, and I wet myself"
60 Depeche Mode The Loves 11th April "it's literally love & I'm off to buy the ring"
59 Geological Time Includes Now Shock Defeat! 25th June
58 Bass Line Foz Tee 7th May
57 Voodoo La Frange 15th September "This may be the one where to bass player pretends to be a zombie"
56 Use Your Feet Winter Kids 26th December
55 74-75 Shearwater 18th July "…instantly BIG, meaningful, anthemic. But not in a pompous U2 way."
54 Song 8000 FortyFives 5th November
53 I'm Always Right The Pigeon detectives 8th April
52 City Lights Prospect Gardens 21st October
51 Mornings Will Be Kind Midlake 21st May
50 Julianne (live) The Brooms 1st November
49 M16 Mekhong Mohanski 3rd April "Riders On The Storm reimagined as a collision of Ska & Jay K"
48 Williamsburg Will Oldham Jeff Lewis Band 26th September
47 Make My Butterfly My Passion 8th September
46 I Never Used To Andeh 15th October "really clever (not clever clever) pop lyricist completely belying his 18 years. Wry, amusing and touching."
45 Full Moon The Horrors 5th April "needed to come along to inject a bit of fun into the current scene…Garage Punk marvellous..."
44 Emily You Are Not My Mother Bono Must Die 21st October
43 What Did You Expect Pravda 10th June "…sadly timely anti right wing rise lyric" NEVER AGAIN
42 I May Cause… The Michelles 26th September "…brief and near perfect."
41 Song For The Fields The Fields 5th April "… CSN&Y have eaten indie pills, washed down with an ARP synth"
40 Pequena Petit Plastic Passion 3rd April
39 Brik A Brak Kid Harpoon 18th May "…will undoubtedly dog my steps as I rummage at the Sunday boot sale."
38 Shoot The Boy Toy Guns 14th November
37 Where's The Youth Jack Lewis 18th October
36 Get Your Mood On Dustin's Barmitzvah 18th July "Noel Coward doing The Clash"
35 Tu Cha Cha Antonin Bastian 7th July
34 Did I Step On YourTrumpet?Danielson 1st November No review but can get it out of my head
33 Never Gonna Glowstick The Chapman Family 27th November
32 Ambitious Career Nighttime & Damien 10th December
31 The Grass Dustin's Barmitzvah 29th December
30 Suburban Kings Rosemary 6th April
29 Smarty Pants Retro Spankees 5th April
28 Girl In The Corner Louie 10th December
27 Air WAr Crystal Castles 14th November "the impartial impulses that will send the message to the silos"
26 Screaming Out Out With Mummy 31st December (Now!) "Minimalist rock with New York attitude from the mean streets of Buckingshire. Not too like The Strokes this time (outside of the vocal phrasing), just dirty guitar riffing and a beat, impossible not to pogo to. Tight but loose, I think they've been sneaking Out Without Mummy to the pub! Nice production on all 3 prospective EP tracks, nothing flash just beautifully clear."
25 Wear You Down It Hugs Back 18th August
24 What You Say Pull In Emergency 10th December "…the surprise is the maturity of singer Faith's vocals. She must have had brandy with her rusks to sound that silky. It really is piss easy for A&R men these days, isn't it"
23 She Knows Which Way The Wind Blows Thom Stone 7th July
22 Colonel Parker Nosferatu D2 18th October
21 We Are Not The Doctors We Will Be Pilots 21st May "Slash & Burn, shit hot agit-rock"
20 Umbrellahead Mystery Jets 5th November mention "…brilliant meditation on the fear of growing up and leaving childhood. Sad & wise." Review 29th December
19 40 days & 40 nights The Enemy 21st May (well before NME, I mention for posterity)
18 Little Red Kate Nash 18th August
17 Four Leaved Six Toes 5th October
16 Single Siamese Soul Six Toes 5th October
15 Sexy In Latin Little Man Tate 21st May
14 Queen Of Hearts Thom Stone 26th October
13 Lenor Das Wanderlust 26th August (actually cd review but I think it had been downloadable. If I'm wrong this is a shocking example of chart rigging!)
12 Negative Tiger Korova 5th November
11 Dancing All Night The Enemy 23rd June "This stuff is LEGEND, the world is theirs."
10 Guilt Docksud 14th November
9 Your Machine To See Docksud 14thNovember
8HoneyDocksud 14th
November
7 Gay Unicorn Gay Against You 18th May "enough musicality to latch onto while offering uncompromising cut-ups of bleeping synth and compressed yelling"
6 Atlantis To Interzone Klaxons 10th April "quote William Burroughs in a dance track and it's bound to be good – see also Bug Powder Dust by Bomb The Bass"
5 SkeletonWith ChowChow 5th Oct
4 Last Of The Lookers The Metros 29th December Crashing the top 10! " fantastic, grubby little skank"
3 Who Stole Peter's Soul Out With Mummy 10TH April
2 Bad Poetry Korova 12th September "possibly the only use of coquettish in a song that makes you leap about like a loon."
1 Back Like A Heart Attack The Enemy 18th July "the best new band in Britain. Best as in , take on the world-big in America-sing it on the terraces. Cocky sods know it too. THEY CANNOT FAIL."
There you have it. Some are commercial, some "difficult" - I don't deliberately seek "out there" sounds but I'm drawn to them. I will possibly "go off" the commercial stuff first but maybe not. It would take a terminally useless A&R man not to have heard The Enemy and felt a twitch in the cheque book. It seems strange to me that Thom Stone remains unsigned - he is gifted AND surely must be attractive to a large enough demographic. His looks might not matter a damn against his talent but I'm cynical/sensible enough to know that talent plus pleasant looking is going to shift more product than talent plus a face like a bulldog licking piss off a nettle. Ditto Kate Nash though of course she's been signed. Nighttime & Damien have (outside of their songs) a manifesto which I believe they will soon expand upon. Mystery AND music.
I've seen a fair few of these acts live and they haven't disappointed. It is fantastic to have all this music freely (in the truest sense) available and certainly it's the recorded art that will live on if anything does. But there's nothing to beat the thrill of seeing a new band in a pub and knowing they are great. All the better if Carling don't own it and limit you to shit beers. So in this spirit, here as an added bonus, my top 5 gigs of '06. Yes, they are all in London. Sorry I live near it and I'm unlikely to keep my family if I went further a field. But having roadied for 8 years I know there are a lot of fantastic places nationwide (and by the looks of NME this is a boom time for the small venue).
Various Acts at the Camden Barfly one Saturday in January. The Holloways, Pistolas, Larrikin Love, Long Blondes (okay, I didn't like them), Jamie T, Young Knives, Mystery Jets all in one snakebite soaked day. Yes, I'm showing off.
Barfly again, March Fratellis (20 punters), The Morning After Girls, The Spinto Band.
The 100 Club Captain Black, Kid Harpoon, the Pigeon Detectives, The Holloways.
The Social W1 Sexton Ming, Emmy The Great, Benjamin Prosser & the Tap collective, Royal Gun, Josh T. Pearson/The Subway Sect.
The Dublin Castle Camden Holy Fuck, Cats & Cats & Cats, iLikeTrains
Not just 1 or 2 good bands a night, generally about 6-7 quid to get in. To give you some idea of how strong the field was I've left out a revelatory Cold War Kids first on the bill at The Metro and a storming set from The Enemy at The Luminaire.
And to finish, a hastily cobbled together top 20 singles of 2006. Nothing too obscure here, Snack Truck & Napoleon III may be good but they won't have you dancing round the handbag.
20 Jakobinafina His Lyrics Are Disastrous (Rough Trade)
19 Scully Who's A Terrorist Now? (Dust Up Records)
18 Red Organ Serpent Sound Autobhan (Baseball Furies remix 10")
17 Viking Moses Sandstorms (Poptones)
16 Larrikin Love Edwould – Edshould remix (Infectous Records)
15 CCS Let's Make Love & Listen To Death From Above (Sub-Pop)
14 Das Wanderlust The Orange Shop (Don't Tell Clare Records)
13 It Hugs Back Lights In The Trees (Tigertrap Records)
12 Crystal Castles EP – Alice Practice etc (Merok Records)
11 Out With Mummy Who Stole Peter's Soul (1965)
10 Klaxons Gravitys Rainbow remix 12" (Kitsune)
9 Jamie T Sheila (Vigin)
8 Little Man Tate What? What You Got (V2)
7 Hope Of The States Sing It Out (Sony BMG)
6 The Enemy 40 Days & 40 Nights (Stiff)
5 Korova Just Like Peter Cook (Tough Love Records)
4 The Young Knives Here Comes The Rumour Mill (Transgressive)
3 ChowChow Skeleton With Hair (Fantastic Plastic Records)
2 Peter Bjorn & John Young Folks (V2)
1 Hot Chip Over & Over (EMI)
Shocking amount of non indie Indie, eh? But come on, when you've had a few drinks you don't pull out the most obscure record you've got, you pull out Never Mind The Bollocks. And I'm pretty sure I'll still be listening to these when I'm 50."
3 of these last 20 bands have split up (in the tragic circumstance of the singers sudden death in the case of Chow Chow).
"Drum roll, fanfare. The inaugural top 100 download chart is here. Some codices. It's completely arbitrary. This week it's in this order, it could have changed next week if I'd prepared it then. I thought at the outset I'd tried to cast my net too wide by going for 100, I thought of about 50 off the top of my head. But going back over my reviews, plus the continuing new stuff appearing daily, it was more of a problem having to keep it to 100, to the extent that 1 track, at No.26 is reviewed for the first time here! The order reflects as much how often the track comes unbidden into my head as to how many times I've played it since downloading. To state the bleedin' obvious, it had to be on MySpace as a download to be reviewed and included. However these are genuinely great tracks that I reviewed positively on the dates mentioned. I started this in April so nothing before then. I've put tracks downloaded at the same time in consecutive positions i.e. if I downloaded 4 tracks on 1 date and like 2, those two will come one after the other on the chart. I've included a few review snippets, if it whets your appetite please go back and read more (and listen/download where still available). What's indisputable is that I've listened to a lot of music to get to this. At first I was too generous, I feel, and also too negative. The current Parental Advisory blog concentrates on stuff I really think has some worth but doesn't bother to slag stuff I don't. After all however shit I think you are you've had the balls to try. I can't be arsed with the site locations, mail me if you can't find any, apologies for poor spacing.
Indie Dad Top 100 MySpace Downloads 2006
Position Title Artist Date Reviewed
100 The Last Detail LT Hun 10th December
99 Lockdown London Fatels 18th July
98 I Was A Human Bomb For The F.B.I. Zombina & The skeletons 30th April
97 Disembowel The Demonkind Bearsuit 8th April
96 So Much Better Now The Tambourines 30th April "a great mono-riff pushes a dreamy heroin singalong (yes, there's a tambourine)"
95 Welcome To The Childhood Home… We're Wolves (RIP) 7th May
94 Drug Buddy It's A King Thing 3rd April
93 Melatonin Motorpsycho Nitemare 18th August
92 Black Grease Black Angels 5th April
91 Rhythm Rebel Penny Broadhurst 11th April
90 Caise Central Deli Band (RIP) 3rd April "great pervy fun, a soundtrack for a trailer orgy"
89 Young Persons Guide Cats & Cats & Cats 21st April
88 No Friends The Bobby McGees 18th July "… songs for the lonely AND angry little people…also bloody funny"
87 Parish Bell Captain Black 5th April
86 All My Life Death Before Dishonour 7th May
85 Behold, Coelacanth You & The Atom Bomb 16th April
84 A Different Road 2 Spinmaster Plantpot 18th July
83 Shake The Daze 25th June
82 Konxompax (remix) Pro Forma (RIP) 5th April
81 Nothing's Meant To Last Brookville 7th July
80 Hell Yeh old time LOOK LOOK (dancing boys) 22nd December "… lots of good swearing"
79 Sea Of Blasphemy The Black Lips 24th April
78 Fuck-Ups The Holloways 4th April "catchy like the Libs nice little brothers…lyrically awful"
77 Fresh Off The Boat The D'Archetypes 16th April
76 The People To Forget Francois 4th April "Gallic D.I.Y. charm"
75 Indifference TheSailplanes30th April
74 Window Shopping Neil's Children 18th April
73 Stitch Me Back Blood Red Shoes 8th April "Righteous but tuneful avalanches of riffola"
72 Architecture Idiot Savant 21st September
71 Washed White Blondelle 21st September
70 My Heart Is In Vienna Spinmaster Plantpot 10th June "We need him more than he needs us"
69 You Can't Have It Back The Juan MaClean 12th September
68 GVSUOMMMRMX oMMM 22nd December
67 Atom Truck oMMM 22nd December
66 Robotic Cock Liquor Store 5th October "Kung Fu androids with guitar synths goose-step through mirrored high-rise landscapes, occasionally felling a ragged post-apocalypse survivor with a pulse of musical muscle. Or something."
65 The Cowards Are Going To War C Wallbank & The Cowards 29th December
64 Gray Wave City The Bubonic Plague 16th June
63 John Cotton & Mr Topper Duncan Brown 5th November
62 Glad We Met Enjoy[(.)]Destroy 18th October
61 Come Along The Whole> Spinmaster Plantpot 15th September "His Magnum Opus, an epic of highs, lows and frightening intensity – oh, and I wet myself"
60 Depeche Mode The Loves 11th April "it's literally love & I'm off to buy the ring"
59 Geological Time Includes Now Shock Defeat! 25th June
58 Bass Line Foz Tee 7th May
57 Voodoo La Frange 15th September "This may be the one where to bass player pretends to be a zombie"
56 Use Your Feet Winter Kids 26th December
55 74-75 Shearwater 18th July "…instantly BIG, meaningful, anthemic. But not in a pompous U2 way."
54 Song 8000 FortyFives 5th November
53 I'm Always Right The Pigeon detectives 8th April
52 City Lights Prospect Gardens 21st October
51 Mornings Will Be Kind Midlake 21st May
50 Julianne (live) The Brooms 1st November
49 M16 Mekhong Mohanski 3rd April "Riders On The Storm reimagined as a collision of Ska & Jay K"
48 Williamsburg Will Oldham Jeff Lewis Band 26th September
47 Make My Butterfly My Passion 8th September
46 I Never Used To Andeh 15th October "really clever (not clever clever) pop lyricist completely belying his 18 years. Wry, amusing and touching."
45 Full Moon The Horrors 5th April "needed to come along to inject a bit of fun into the current scene…Garage Punk marvellous..."
44 Emily You Are Not My Mother Bono Must Die 21st October
43 What Did You Expect Pravda 10th June "…sadly timely anti right wing rise lyric" NEVER AGAIN
42 I May Cause… The Michelles 26th September "…brief and near perfect."
41 Song For The Fields The Fields 5th April "… CSN&Y have eaten indie pills, washed down with an ARP synth"
40 Pequena Petit Plastic Passion 3rd April
39 Brik A Brak Kid Harpoon 18th May "…will undoubtedly dog my steps as I rummage at the Sunday boot sale."
38 Shoot The Boy Toy Guns 14th November
37 Where's The Youth Jack Lewis 18th October
36 Get Your Mood On Dustin's Barmitzvah 18th July "Noel Coward doing The Clash"
35 Tu Cha Cha Antonin Bastian 7th July
34 Did I Step On YourTrumpet?Danielson 1st November No review but can get it out of my head
33 Never Gonna Glowstick The Chapman Family 27th November
32 Ambitious Career Nighttime & Damien 10th December
31 The Grass Dustin's Barmitzvah 29th December
30 Suburban Kings Rosemary 6th April
29 Smarty Pants Retro Spankees 5th April
28 Girl In The Corner Louie 10th December
27 Air WAr Crystal Castles 14th November "the impartial impulses that will send the message to the silos"
26 Screaming Out Out With Mummy 31st December (Now!) "Minimalist rock with New York attitude from the mean streets of Buckingshire. Not too like The Strokes this time (outside of the vocal phrasing), just dirty guitar riffing and a beat, impossible not to pogo to. Tight but loose, I think they've been sneaking Out Without Mummy to the pub! Nice production on all 3 prospective EP tracks, nothing flash just beautifully clear."
25 Wear You Down It Hugs Back 18th August
24 What You Say Pull In Emergency 10th December "…the surprise is the maturity of singer Faith's vocals. She must have had brandy with her rusks to sound that silky. It really is piss easy for A&R men these days, isn't it"
23 She Knows Which Way The Wind Blows Thom Stone 7th July
22 Colonel Parker Nosferatu D2 18th October
21 We Are Not The Doctors We Will Be Pilots 21st May "Slash & Burn, shit hot agit-rock"
20 Umbrellahead Mystery Jets 5th November mention "…brilliant meditation on the fear of growing up and leaving childhood. Sad & wise." Review 29th December
19 40 days & 40 nights The Enemy 21st May (well before NME, I mention for posterity)
18 Little Red Kate Nash 18th August
17 Four Leaved Six Toes 5th October
16 Single Siamese Soul Six Toes 5th October
15 Sexy In Latin Little Man Tate 21st May
14 Queen Of Hearts Thom Stone 26th October
13 Lenor Das Wanderlust 26th August (actually cd review but I think it had been downloadable. If I'm wrong this is a shocking example of chart rigging!)
12 Negative Tiger Korova 5th November
11 Dancing All Night The Enemy 23rd June "This stuff is LEGEND, the world is theirs."
10 Guilt Docksud 14th November
9 Your Machine To See Docksud 14thNovember
8HoneyDocksud 14th
November
7 Gay Unicorn Gay Against You 18th May "enough musicality to latch onto while offering uncompromising cut-ups of bleeping synth and compressed yelling"
6 Atlantis To Interzone Klaxons 10th April "quote William Burroughs in a dance track and it's bound to be good – see also Bug Powder Dust by Bomb The Bass"
5 SkeletonWith ChowChow 5th Oct
4 Last Of The Lookers The Metros 29th December Crashing the top 10! " fantastic, grubby little skank"
3 Who Stole Peter's Soul Out With Mummy 10TH April
2 Bad Poetry Korova 12th September "possibly the only use of coquettish in a song that makes you leap about like a loon."
1 Back Like A Heart Attack The Enemy 18th July "the best new band in Britain. Best as in , take on the world-big in America-sing it on the terraces. Cocky sods know it too. THEY CANNOT FAIL."
There you have it. Some are commercial, some "difficult" - I don't deliberately seek "out there" sounds but I'm drawn to them. I will possibly "go off" the commercial stuff first but maybe not. It would take a terminally useless A&R man not to have heard The Enemy and felt a twitch in the cheque book. It seems strange to me that Thom Stone remains unsigned - he is gifted AND surely must be attractive to a large enough demographic. His looks might not matter a damn against his talent but I'm cynical/sensible enough to know that talent plus pleasant looking is going to shift more product than talent plus a face like a bulldog licking piss off a nettle. Ditto Kate Nash though of course she's been signed. Nighttime & Damien have (outside of their songs) a manifesto which I believe they will soon expand upon. Mystery AND music.
I've seen a fair few of these acts live and they haven't disappointed. It is fantastic to have all this music freely (in the truest sense) available and certainly it's the recorded art that will live on if anything does. But there's nothing to beat the thrill of seeing a new band in a pub and knowing they are great. All the better if Carling don't own it and limit you to shit beers. So in this spirit, here as an added bonus, my top 5 gigs of '06. Yes, they are all in London. Sorry I live near it and I'm unlikely to keep my family if I went further a field. But having roadied for 8 years I know there are a lot of fantastic places nationwide (and by the looks of NME this is a boom time for the small venue).
Various Acts at the Camden Barfly one Saturday in January. The Holloways, Pistolas, Larrikin Love, Long Blondes (okay, I didn't like them), Jamie T, Young Knives, Mystery Jets all in one snakebite soaked day. Yes, I'm showing off.
Barfly again, March Fratellis (20 punters), The Morning After Girls, The Spinto Band.
The 100 Club Captain Black, Kid Harpoon, the Pigeon Detectives, The Holloways.
The Social W1 Sexton Ming, Emmy The Great, Benjamin Prosser & the Tap collective, Royal Gun, Josh T. Pearson/The Subway Sect.
The Dublin Castle Camden Holy Fuck, Cats & Cats & Cats, iLikeTrains
Not just 1 or 2 good bands a night, generally about 6-7 quid to get in. To give you some idea of how strong the field was I've left out a revelatory Cold War Kids first on the bill at The Metro and a storming set from The Enemy at The Luminaire.
And to finish, a hastily cobbled together top 20 singles of 2006. Nothing too obscure here, Snack Truck & Napoleon III may be good but they won't have you dancing round the handbag.
20 Jakobinafina His Lyrics Are Disastrous (Rough Trade)
19 Scully Who's A Terrorist Now? (Dust Up Records)
18 Red Organ Serpent Sound Autobhan (Baseball Furies remix 10")
17 Viking Moses Sandstorms (Poptones)
16 Larrikin Love Edwould – Edshould remix (Infectous Records)
15 CCS Let's Make Love & Listen To Death From Above (Sub-Pop)
14 Das Wanderlust The Orange Shop (Don't Tell Clare Records)
13 It Hugs Back Lights In The Trees (Tigertrap Records)
12 Crystal Castles EP – Alice Practice etc (Merok Records)
11 Out With Mummy Who Stole Peter's Soul (1965)
10 Klaxons Gravitys Rainbow remix 12" (Kitsune)
9 Jamie T Sheila (Vigin)
8 Little Man Tate What? What You Got (V2)
7 Hope Of The States Sing It Out (Sony BMG)
6 The Enemy 40 Days & 40 Nights (Stiff)
5 Korova Just Like Peter Cook (Tough Love Records)
4 The Young Knives Here Comes The Rumour Mill (Transgressive)
3 ChowChow Skeleton With Hair (Fantastic Plastic Records)
2 Peter Bjorn & John Young Folks (V2)
1 Hot Chip Over & Over (EMI)
Shocking amount of non indie Indie, eh? But come on, when you've had a few drinks you don't pull out the most obscure record you've got, you pull out Never Mind The Bollocks. And I'm pretty sure I'll still be listening to these when I'm 50."
3 of these last 20 bands have split up (in the tragic circumstance of the singers sudden death in the case of Chow Chow).
Tuesday, 13 May 2008
Indie Dad Blames The Parents
Having just discovered (read been bothered to look at) Blogger, I will be using it as an additional forum for the blogs I post on MySpace at www.myspace.com/indiedad and www.myspace.com/iblametheparentsrecords
I will also start off with a few retrospectives from past blogs from the last 2 years. Oh - the excitement.
So to demenstrate my uncanny powers of quality music detection the next blog up will "reprint" my Top 100 downloads of '06 and '07.
I will also start off with a few retrospectives from past blogs from the last 2 years. Oh - the excitement.
So to demenstrate my uncanny powers of quality music detection the next blog up will "reprint" my Top 100 downloads of '06 and '07.
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