Albums of the year: 2009

50 Julian Plenti – Julian Plenti Is... Skyscraper
49 Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs
48 Dinosaur Jr. – Farm
47 Jesus H. Foxx – Matter.
46 Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More
45 Malcolm Middleton – Waxing Gibbous
44 Manic Street Preachers - Journal For Plague Lovers
43 Gong Fei – Fifty Fifty in 1940
42 Florence and The Machine – Lungs
41 Wheat – White Ink, Black Ink
40 White Lies – To Lose My Life
39 Washed out – Life Of Leisure
38 Sweet Billy Pilgrim – Twice Born Men
37 Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career
36 The Cribs – Ignore The Ignorant
35 Owen – New Leaves
34 Maxïmo Park – Quicken the Heart
33 Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It's Blitz!
32 Spyamp – Settlement
31 Fever Ray – Fever Ray
30 The Raveonettes – In And Out Of Control
29 Yahweh – Tug Of Love
28 Little Boots – Hands
27 Why? – Eskimo Snow
26 El Perro Del Mar - Love is Not Pop
25 The Thermals – Now We Can See
24 The Sea and Cake – Car Alarm
23 The Whitest Boy Alive – Rules
22 Jack Peñate – Everything is new
21 Johnny Foreigner – Grace And The Bigger Picture
20 Japandroids – Post-Nothing
19 Zoey Van Goey – The Cage Was Unlocked All Along
18 Slow Club – Yeah So
17 Noah and the Whale – The First Days Of Spring
16 Richard Hawley - Truelove's Gutter
15 My Latest Novel – Deaths & Entrances
14 Passion Pit – Manners
13 Kings of Convenience – Declaration Of Dependence
12 The Twilight Sad – Forget The Night Ahead
11 Frankmusik – Complete Me
10 Dananananaykroyd – Hey Everyone!
9 Wild Beasts – Two Dancers
8 Fight Like Apes – Fight Like Apes and the Mystery of the Golden Medallion
7 Annie – Don't Stop
6 De Rosa – Prevention
5 Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
4 Idlewild – Post Electric Blues
3 Marions – Origin of Birds
2 King Creosote – Flick the Vs
1 The xx – xx

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'

associates / alan rankine - 'the glamour chase'

The following is my report of the recent showing of the Associates documentary 'The Glamour Chase' at the DCA, and the accompanying Q+A with founding member Alan Rankine. Originally posted on the Associates thread on I Love Music, just felt like re-posting here.

The full 40 minute edit of the documentary "The Glamour Chase" was given only it's second public airing at the DCA in Dundee tonight. It was originally made in 1999 for Grampian and STV. It's good, fairly zips through the life and times, I never saw the original 23 minute version when it was broadcast, but it must have battered through at a fair pace! Most of the detail is familiar from Tom Doyle's book of the same name, unsurprising as he was involved in the making of the documentary and the fact that the book itself was fairly exhaustive. There's talking-head contributions from the likes of Michael Dempsey, Max Hole, Chris Parry (a "Kiwi c-nt", according to Rankine...), Billy's father and sister, Boris Blank, Martin Fry, Glen Gregory, Marc Almond, Siouxie Sioux, Noko from Apollo440 and others. There's a few clips of the Ronnie Scotts performance in 1984 in a kind of jazz trio arrangement, not sure how widely available that has been but it looked great - the sound quality was good and clear, it would be great to have the audio of that.

Afterwards we got "Billy Sloan in Conversation With Alan Rankine", which was quite enjoyable. Sloan was knowledgeable and understated and not at all playing up to his reputation. Sloan basically asked him about his time in the band from beginning to end, his memories of Billy, that sort of thing. A few questions from the audience at one point but I couldn't think of anything to ask. On the subject of "William It Was Really Nothing", Rankine said that he doesn't know if anything ever happened between Billy and Morrissey, but if he knew Billy as well as he thought he did then he probably shagged Morrissey ragged... By the sound of it, they had fun at the time. He also mentioned that they got their rights back for recordings a month ago, I assume he meant "Fourth Drawer Down" and "Sulk" and the "Double Hipness" material which was previously licenced to V2, and that they'll probably be doing something with it. On the subject of watching Billy carry on as Associates after his departure, he did say that other than some of the songs on "Perhaps", he didn't really rate the post-"Sulk" output, and that it was clear by the "Wild and Lonely"-era videos that Billy's heart wasn't in it.

The Q+A was finished off with the playback of a recently made recording of the lost Associates song "The Twins of Gemini". Rankine said that they'd worked on it at the time, but never recorded it, finished the lyrics or properly performed it other than maybe accapella at parties. Apparently this version was only finished the night before, and features Steven Lindsay on vocals, Craig Armstrong on piano and Rankine on bass. Someone asked him later if it was getting a release, he said they'd maybe be doing some more work on it but that it was a possibility.

Got the chance to shake Rankine's hand on my way out, didn't really have much to say. He had a few signed, unplayed 12"s of "White Car in Germany" that he was handing out, got one of those.

The picture above is indeed the signed copy of "White Car In Germany".

Although I was aware of the Associates before hand, they first captured my imagination properly in the Autumn of 2002 when I first moved to Dundee and bought Tom Doyle's Billy Mackenzie biography 'The Glamour Chase'. It's a great read, partly because Billy's life itself is so fascinating and partly so because it was the first time I'd read a "rock biography" and been familiar with the not just the places named, but also some of the social backdrop to the story. The book appears to be out of print now.

The beauty of Billy's music for me is in it's unpredictability - both in terms of how other worldly it can be, but also how varying in quality it can be. I won't pretend I like every note that Billy/the Associates ever committed to tape, but when they hit their mark they were fantastic - "The Affectionate Punch", "Tell Me Easter's on Friday", "White Car In Germany" and, of course, "Party Fears Two" amongst many others.

The play 'Balgay Hill', inspired by Billy Mackenzie, runs at Dundee Rep until 27th June. Hopefully I'll get a chance to go and see it after my night shifts.

[Video] Associates - "Party Fears Two" ('Top of the Pops, 1982)
[Video] Associates - "White Car In Germany" (Dutch TV, 1982)

bad behaviour / idlewild - 'post electric blues'

After (almost) being a saint last month, I've fallen off the wagon in a big way when it comes to the CDs/records this month... I'm not really prepared to write full reviews of everything though!

Idlewild, having found themselves out of contract, have taken a direct route to releasing their latest album 'Post Electric Blues'. The record was funded by a pre-order offer for fans, where for an upfront payment of £15, 3,000+ fans were promised an exclusive advance CD of the new record before its commercial release, as well as bonuses such as their name in the artwork, downloads of live recordings from some of the retrospective album shows at King Tuts, and some competitions.

The finished CD of 'Post Electric Blues' finally arrived on Thursday, after some delays at the pressing plant. The package contains a poster with all the subscribers names listed, and there's an exclusive bonus track on the album. Musically, I'd say it's somewhere between 'Warnings/Promises' and 'The Remote Part' - specifically the songs of the former and the production of the latter - with hints of Roddy Woomble's first solo album, 'My Secret Is My Silence'. Overall it's a pretty solid record, the opening three songs are particularly strong, but it's unlikely to become my favourite. I can see "Readers & Writers" doing well on Radio 2 when the album gets its full commercial release later in the year.

The new Phoenix album, 'Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix' is fantastic. It's a big, bright, summer pop record that takes all the best bits of the first three records and rolls them into one. I never thought they'd be able to better "Too Young" and "If I Ever Feel Better" from their debut album 'United', but with "1901" and "Lisztomania" they run close. Listen to them on Spotify from the links.

The ongoing clearance sale at Head in Dundee (formerly Zavvi, formerly Virgin Megastore) continues to throw up the odd item of interest, even if I really can't face going through all those boxes of CDs yet again! They've now got a few boxes of vinyl singles, and in amongst the 12"s I found a still-sealed copy of the double-vinyl of Stereolab's 'Margerine Eclipse'. I already have the CD, but at £1 I could hardly pass it by! I'm a big fan of their artwork/packaging, so it will look good on the wall. I got a few other things, but nothing as exciting to me. It's actually pretty sad to see a shop I was so fond of (worked for Virgin Megastores for three years) reduced to little more than a clearance outlet/"pound shop".

The Zoey Van Goey album ('The Cage Was Unlocked All Along') is pretty good based on a couple of listens. Particularly enjoying the opening track "The Best Treasure Stays Buried" and the former single "Foxtrot Vandals".

Finally, I guess I'll give honourable mentions to Grouchos 3-for-£3 specials 'Mission Control' by The Whigs and 'Invitation Songs' by The Cave Singers. The former is no frills Buffalo Tom-style college rock, the latter more of the weird-American-folk of the Fleet Foxes/Devandra Banhart variety. Musically it's lovely, but the singing takes a little getting used to.

life without buildings - "is is and the i.r.s."

So, after all that effort, this is what broke the camel's back. On the 25th of May, my 25th day of abstinence, I finally cracked and in a moment of madness spent a whole 1p (+ £1.21 p+p) on a "Used - Like New" copy of Life Without Buildings' second single. "Is Is and the I.R.S." was not included on their sole studio album, 'Any Other City' (Tugboat, 2000), and is otherwise only available on the Australian "Love Trinity" single with (the only?) two other non-album tracks.

There's also a live album, 'Live at the Annandale Hotel' (Gargleblast, 2007) that's probably easier/cheaper to pick up than 'Any Other City' and is equally as worthwhile. The sound quality is excellent, and many of the performances are actually better than their studio counterparts. It's probably the only live album that off the top of my head I would actually recommend. The myspace has a few tracks from it on the player. "Love Trinity" is one of my all-time favourite songs, but the singing seems to be offputting to some. Their loss.

While I do feel I've let myself down by not making it to the end of the month, I'm glad to have picked up something I've been looking for for probably six or seven years at such a reasonable price. For comparison, the "Love Trinity" single is currently listed on Amazon by a third party seller at £14.47, and the "Young Offenders" single at £15.99 - it was £66 the other night! Not to say that they are actually worth that, but still.

Barring this blip, I'm still going to wait until the 1st of June before buying anything else (hello awesome new Phoenix album!), purely out of misguided principle.

I'm still in the process of ripping all my old CD singles, probably over half way there. There's been some things that have been nice to hear again, but it's been a bit of a slog going through some sections where there's little that interests me anymore. It's interesting to see how taste/perception changes over time. I was trying to tag all the good stuff on Last.fm, but that seems to have fallen to the wayside a little.

The boxes at the top of top of the picture are completely done, one and a half of the ones at the bottom to go...

laeto - "ecuador"

First new Laeto track in five years! From the eternally forthcoming 3rd LP, picks up pretty much where 'Zwoa' left off. Good stuff. This is a nice stop motion-style video. Enjoy!

fm belfast - "par avion"

FM Belfast: Par Avion from Torfi Frans Olafsson on Vimeo.

I've mentioned FM Belfast before, briefly in my Best of 2008 round up. I stumbled accross them when I went to Stockholm, playing an outdoor stage in a small garden surrounded by office blocks as part of the culture festival. On that occasion there were three members performing (male and female vocals and synth/laptop guy), but they can number as many as eight. While they're good on record, I think they come across better live - generally good fun, and dropping in little covers/interludes and musical jokes adding to the party atmosphere.

This video for the excellent "Par Avion" has been pieced together from 2,500 still photographs of the full band's performance at the 2007 Iceland Airwaves festival. It did make me feel a little wobbly to begin with, but it's a neat trick.

I never did get around to a write-up of all the great bands I saw largely by chance over that weekend, so in lieu of that here's a list of highlights:

Rigas - Hot Chip style electro-pop.
Ost & Kjex - Norwegian funky house, live set is like Prince fronting Underworld.
Rickard Jäverling - beautiful slow-core.
Marions - lovely! Already covered here.
Yamon Yamon - brilliant melodic post-rock, very Sea & Cake, American Analog Set, Life Without Buildings.
Robert Svensson - 80's style pop.

If that's not enough, The Swedish Model is a label collective with an excellent website with plenty of MP3s to download from most of their artists.

In predictable fashion, I took quite a few photos of most of those bands, which you can find here.

clear sky at the westport bar, wed 1st april 2009

I've been slacking a bit on the photo posts, so here's the first of a few catch-ups. This set is everything I could salvage from those I took at Clear Sky's first gig at the Westie last month. Due to the low light in the venue I was struggling with long exposures and various aperture/ISO settings to try and get a balance, rather than use the built in flash. Sometimes I almost had some luck - it's certainly given me plenty to think about, anyway.

Clear Sky are a bit of a Dundee c.2001 supergroup - Gav from Merocaine, George from Ill Funk (and, of course, The A Forest!) and Stuart and Alan from Skintwire. Pretty tight for a first show, shame the new PA wasn't a patch on what Stu Firm used to use in there.


[Photos] Clear Sky at the Westport Bar

in place of real insight

For want of anything proper to write about, I'm pretty much at the halfway mark of my month of abstention, and in that time have not purchased any CDs, downloads, vinyl, cassettes or any other form of sound carrier. I did lend Katie the money for a Lisa Knapp CD at the James Yorkston/Lisa Knapp show at the Rep last night, but it was for her so ther rules aren't broken. Anyway, the massive pile of CD singles surrounding me is giving me plenty of "new" old stuff to listen to. Some gems, some crap.

Year 2 of my Cineworld Unlimited card was finally kicked off today, only 6 weeks in. Went to see 'Fighting', not for any particular reason other than that it seemed the least poor option - hadn't heard of it before looking at the board. Nothing particularly remarkable about it, to be honest. It just trundles along for a couple of hours to a fairly obvious conclusion. Click the link for the IMDB page, if you've any curiosity. I think I'll try and catch up on my moneys worth so far then cancel the card, can't help but thinking that joining the DCA is a better idea - all the films I've actually wanted to see lately have been on there. 'In The Loop' was hilarious, and 'Let The Right One In' is absolutely brilliant. I think if I tried to describe it, I couldn't do any justice. For a vampire film, it's surprisingly sweet, and also really nicely shot. I honestly can't see any need for the Hollywood remake currently in production, it's hardly heavy on the dialogue so the subtitles really shouldn't be a challenge for anyone.

no (new) music may

I've decided to make May a month of "no new music" - I'm going to try my hardest not to buy any CDs, vinyl or downloads or any other form of sound carrier for the whole month. I'm using up my remaining eMusic credits as we speak so they don't go to waste (new Casiotone For The Painfully Alone album and "The Golden Band" by American Analog Set, for reference). Exceptions can be made for anything already ordered before midnight tonight, i.e. the new Idlewild album.

The reason for this is that it's only just sunk in quite how much music I already have - lost count of artist CD albums, but probably somewhere in excess of 3,000 as a conservative estimate, with singles, MP3s and a little bit of vinyl on top of that - and the total is ever growing. New purchases don't always get time to sink in and old stuff languishes. A month isn't going to make much of a dent on things, but hopefully I'll make some rediscoveries.

Over the last few months I've started a stupid-boy-project to get all my CDs onto the computer. When I was growing up I always wanted a jukebox, and this is my way to have it. I reckon I'm maybe about a third of my way through the albums, but have taken a break to do the singles to let me pack them away properly. To be honest this is making me question the point of the whole thing - should i, as planned, do everything to make it complete, or cherry-pick and have to go back later. At the moment I'm ripping stuff that I may never get around to listening to again!

The sheer volume of music is pretty staggering. Going back to that earlier estimate of 3,000 CD albums and assuming that there's an average of 12 tracks on each, then that gives 36,000 tracks. Rounding down my current last.fm daily plays of 54 to 50, then it would take 720 (nearly 2 years!) of normal listening to get through the whole lot just once. And that's a conservative estimate. I doubt pausing for a month will make much difference.

All the same, I know that my excitement for music is waning slightly at the moment. The excitement of having a new CD is long gone, mainly because I buy too many out of curiosity because they're cheap. Add on to that all the other music floating out there on the internet for free (and I just mean the legal stuff), then it just gets ridiculous, the notion of trying to keep up with everything new. I never thought I'd be someone who'd stop following discovering new music, but I really think I need a break! I just have no enthusiasm for checking things out on myspace or blogs, and to be honest maybe feel it's best that way, if only to retain my sanity.

Anyway, bit of a formless ramble but I'm done now. I'll report back on how I get on with things over the coming month, and we'll see if it helps any. There may yet be need for "Silent September"...

bad lieutenant / post-new order

Not entirely sure how I feel about this, It's from what appears to be a post-New Order project involving Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris and Phil Cunningham. I sounds like an acoustic version of what they were doing on the last couple of albums, with more than a hint of James.

It's pleasant enough, but I'll wait to hear some more from them, and hope they change the name too.

annie - "anthonio"

Full version of the new Annie single "Anthonio" finally been online. I've been trying to make up my mind based on clips for weeks now, so this is A Good Thing. Produced by Richard X, and hopefully from a forthcoming album.

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)

avast! + popolo + andrew mitchell at dexters, sat 14 mar 2009

Some photos taken at the Avast! et al gig last night at Dexters. Still getting to grips with the D40x so they're not amazing, but I think I'm maybe getting somewhere with it. Only managed to get one vaguely salvageable shot of Andrew, which is a bit of a shame. All shots taken without a flash - general light levels were pretty low so they are all quite dark. Tips, comments, etc all welcome.

The gig itself was really good. Andrew Mitchell from the Hazey Janes opened up with a solo set on electric guitar, with some nice looped elements and drums from Donald from Avast! later on. Not sure if the songs were new Hazeys ones or something seperate, but they were quite lovely, slow, coutry tinged efforts. There was even a touch of Codeine or Low to them at points.

Popolo continue to be generally awesome. Something I've liked about them right from the start has been their ability to keep things nice and concise - generally, instrumental math-rock tends to be a bit over indulgent for me, but one of Popolo's strengths is to keep things nice and short, and not let an idea overstay it's welcome. Most importantly, they are fun and you can dance to them.

Avast! were mostly playing new songs from their forthcoming (I assume!) second album, and it was the second time I'd seen them with their new guitarist Graham. The extra guitar fills out the sound nicely, and most of the new material sits well against the 'Faultlines' stuff, I just wish there were more vocals on a lot of it. Just a minor gripe, I guess, they were on great form last night. It's a shame I couldn't get any clear shots of Donald, the man put in a good shift behind the kit.

Avast! + Popolo + Andrew Mitchell, Dexters, Dundee

dananananaykroyd - "black wax"

In order to counter the grumpiness of the last post, here's the video for Dananananaykroyd's great new single, "Black Wax". It's all about the Byker Grove "Woo!"s. I missed them due to work that time they actually made it to Dundee, and it looks like work will again stop me from going to either of the Edinburgh or Glasgow dates on the forthcoming tour. Maybe one day!

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!)

findo gask - "one eight zero"

This has been out a while, but I've only just spotted the lovely animated for it - Findo Gask's recent single "One Eight Zero". I have fond memories of playing shows with the early incarnation of Findo back in 2004, when they were barely out of school and before they had migrated to Glasgow. They were great then too, but pretty different to what they are now - pretty shoegazey. "Bright Ideas" was a great tune, would love to hear an updated version of it.

Anyway, things seem to be going really well for them, 2 well received singles in the last year or so and remixes for Bloc Party, Psapp and the Long Blondes. Can't be long now before there's an album and superstardom - frankly, if La Roux is the best that the "industry" has to offer, it'll be a massive crime for Findo Gask to become anything less than gods.

As for the single itself, all three tracks are fantastic - it actually sounds more like the opening three songs of an album. "One Eight Zero" you can hear for yourself above, "Jigsaw" is similar but more downbeat, with big trancey synth stabs and "Nubo" is gorgeous, all languid trumpet lines, vocal harmonies and chiming guitar. Overall, the sound is somewhere between Hot Chip, Cocteau Twins, Cornelius and Barbara Morgenstern.

Buy/download here.

the elecrolites + descartes at destroy disco, sat 21 feb 2009

After my recent experiments with 35mm film SLRs, my urge to get a digital SLR grew stronger. I finally gave in last week and got a Nikon D40x with 18-55mm lens. I've had a play about with it, and acting as the Electrolites driver on Saturday night gave me an opportunity to try it out properly.

Destroy Disco was an event at Kinkell Byre, just outside St Andrews, in a converted barn that's available for basically whatever you want to use it for. The line up was mostly DJs (headlined by Mylo and Erol Alkan) with the exception of Descartes and the Electrolites, both from Dundee, opening with live sets in the main room.

The shots were all taken in low light with no flash. Not all the results were perfect, but I think the success rate was definitely higher than with my Fujifilm S5700 - the benefit of a better lens was felt.

I've still got a set of photos taken on film to scan and upload, will hopefully get through them soon.