electric music aka

Tangentially related to my recent post about the Associates, 'North London Spiritualist Church' was the first album from Electric Music AKA, a band featuring Tam Doyle, the author of the excellent Billy Mackenzie biography "The Glamour Chase", and fellow Dundee ex-pat Anth Brown - from vague memories of an NME piece at the time, both had been members of a failed "baggy" band and found themselves in London. The album was released in 2000 on ZubiZaretta, a short-lived UK offshoot of the Beastie Boys' Grand Royal label, if I remember correctly. Despite positive reviews, the record never broke through, though Sanctuary did release an equally excellent follow up ('The Resurrection Show') in 2003. Now recording as Boo Hooray, the duo have completed a third album which they are hoping to release this year.

Both albums are full of mid-tempo, slightly downbeat, pop songs, taking cues from the likes of the Blue Nile, Spiritualized, The Flaming Lips and Talk Talk. Highlights are "If The Good Times Are Killing Me" from 'NLSC' and "Something Up With the Stars" from 'TRS', so start with those if you need to start somewhere - both are lovely, especially the overlapping vocals on the latter. The first album is available to download from the link below.

I remember listening to 'The Resurrection Show' quite a lot over the summer of 2003, it definitely was one of the many influences I was working from when we started The A Forest.

[MP3] Electric Music AKA - 'North London Spiritualist Church'
[Stream] Electric Music AKA - 'The Resurrection Show'

the horrors - "sea within a sea"

Rather surprisingly, this is quite good. I never took to anything I heard from the first album at all, but "Sea Within A Sea" is really promising - the band seem to have moved on from scratchy garage rock to krautrock, early electronica and maybe a touch of shoegaze. The synth appregios that kick in around the halfway mark are quite lovely, though they do possibly betray the involvement of Geoff Barrow of Portishead on production duties (see also "The Rip" by Portishead). "SWaS" also reminds me a little of Echoboy's "Kit and Holly" at the start, but I'm sure that too was referencing something much cooler and older than I realise...

[MP3] The Horrors - "A Sea Within A Sea" (requires sign-up)

northern alliance - "when the clocks go forward"

A seasonally-appropriate old favourite from Fence-affiliate Edinburgh 3-piece Northern Alliance. "When The Clocks Go Forward" is a lovely piece of Sparklehorse/Low-style melancholy from their first mini-album 'Hope In Little Things' (2003). If you like it, all of their subsequent releases are highly recommended. I was trying to get them to play in Dundee with The A Forest for a while, but it never worked out. The (admittedly terrible) picture is from Homegame V.

Outside of the band, singer/guitarist/gentleman Doug Johnstone is a nuclear physicist-turned writer, with two excellent novels published ('Tombstoning' and 'The Ossians') alongside journalistic work - in the latter capacity he made our split 7" with Mercury Tilt Switch "Single of the Week" in The List, obviously a man of taste. The books are highly recommended too.


[MP3] Northern Alliance - "When The Clocks Go Forward"

super furry animals - "inaugral trams" / placebo - "battle for the sun"

It's retro night! Two previews of the new albums from bands I was big on in the last couple of years of school, though only one of whom I still hold dear to my heart (and no, it's not Placebo).

I've probably regarded the Super Furries as one of my favourite bands consistently over the last ten years, even if I've not been an avid listener I have still been an avid follower. Despite 2007's 'Hey Venus!' being somewhat of a return to early form, I've probably been more taken with Gruff Rhys' extra-curricular activities in the wake of the forgettable 'Love Kraft' (2005) - the Neon Neon album is a phenomenal piece of work, and 'Candylion' had some lovely moments. "Inaugral Trams" feels a bit slight on first listen, a jaunty glam/krautrock/electro-pop hybrid about the completion of a public transport system, complete with a "rap" in German from Franz Ferdinand's Nick McCarthy. It's since revealed itself to be a little gem, and at least it sounds like the band are still enjoying what they do - not an easy feat nine albums in! I still anticipate new SFA albums because they are still not entirely predictable. The album 'Dark Days / Light Years' is available now to download/pre-order from their website, and once that's been purchased I'll be following up with an orderly run-through the back catalogue. They need to get Pete Fowler back on the artwork though, currently it looks like we're getting another 'Hey Venus!'-style shocker!

The Placebo track, "Battle For The Sun" is dreary, going-through-the-motions "alternative rock". Not particularly offensive or awful, and not that different to some of the first album material, but just lacking much of a spark to it. Placebo have never really shown much musical adventurism beyond trying to sound a bit more like The Cure, and that's fine, but at the same time I've clearly not missed out on much since I stopped paying attention.

[MP3] Super Furry Animals - "Inaugral Trams"
[MP3] Placebo - "Battle For The Sun" (requires sign up)

animal collective / la roux / skint & demoralised

Over the last few years, I've become a lot more relaxed about music. I like to think that I've shed the skin of the youthful indie snob, and instead defined myself more by what I like that what I don't. I don't really pay attention Pop Idol, or Britain's Got Talent, and I'm not upset by "manufactured pop" - at the very least it's honest about what it really is in a way that most landfill indie acts could never comprehend. Predictably, I am very fond of Girls Aloud, occasionally admiring of Sugababes, end even warming to the Saturdays - well, thery're better than the Kooks, aren't they?

In fact, the only two records that have really irked me this year have come from "credible" quarters. First was Animal Collective's Emperor's-New-Clothes magnum opus 'Merriweather Post Pavillion' - sheer, abject boredom given a sound. I like repetition, I like Steve Reich and I like the idea of what Animal Collective might sound like based on much of what's been written about them. I just can't get any enjoyment out of the reality.

All of which brings me on to the start of the post, La Roux. Widely hailed as part of the Female Electro Pop Class of 2009 in all the start of year round ups, La Roux (Elly Jackson) is about to unleash her first full single release, "In For The Kill", on Polydor after an introductory release last year on trendy French electro label Kitsune. I've not yet explored Microsoft's Songsmith software, but can only assume that Jackson has and quickly found the "techno" setting and bashed forward. Vocally, it sounds like she's well above her natural range, and the phrasing is awkward - though I don't think the lyrics help with that. The whole thing is just completely unappealing, and no matter how good any of the rest of her material is (reportedly consisting of another 5 completed songs!), it just doesn't seem good enough to justify any of the hype. The Skream remix is a slight improvement though, even if it doesn't really go anywhere until right at the end.

I'm still undecided on Skint & Demoralised. For starters, it's a pretty awful name for a band, and the spoken word vocals don't always work. I heard their debut single "The Thrill of Thirty Seconds" a few times on BBC 6music and was fairly unimpressed, sounding as it did like a polished demo by a bunch of Arctic Monkeys loving kids who had missed their mark and ended up somewhere around One Night Only. Second single "This Song Is Definitely Not About You" is a vast improvement, coming on like a laddish take on Spearmint, with touches of The Boy Least Likely To. The fact that the album was recorded with The Dap Kings at least bodes well. Reserving judgement until I've heard that, at least.

I think that's enough negativity for one night.


[Stream] Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion (via Spotify)
[Video] La Roux - "In For The Kill" (while it lasts!)
[MP3] La Roux - "In For The Kill (Skream's Let's Get Ravey Remix)"
[Video] Skint & Demoralised - "This Song Is Definitely Not About You" (while it lasts!)