When I was first approached by BBC Music to put together a list of albums I think should be nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, I was initially hesitant. First of all because I don’t much care for awards, and if I’m honest, have never paid attention to the Mercury Prize. Secondly, because I hardly ever listen to complete albums these days. I want to be an elitist snob and pretend that I do, but most of my music is absorbed via an iPod on shuffle.
In July I will be attending Indietracks for the first time. Starting off as a one-off gig at the West Midland Railway, it’s now grown into a full three-day festival of indiepop goodness. A bunch of Another Form of Relief endorsed bands will be playing, including Pocketbooks, Butcher Boy, Emmy the Great, Camera Obscura, The Smittens and Lucky Soul. Given that the full lineup isn’t even announced yet, it’s going to be one hell of a weekend.
Lots of great releases to be had this week, with a few in particular that I personally recommend, which are Camera Obscura’s My Maudlin Career, Cryptacize’s Mythomania, and Pet Shop Boys’ Yes. There are some excellent songs that standout on Camera Obscura’s record, but I’m still not quite sure if I enjoy it from top to bottom. Though, I’ve been playing that Pet Shop Boys’ release almost non stop since listening to it for the first time just the other night.
Other worthwhile releases that I’ve heard bits and pieces of would include Super Furry Animals, King Khan and the Shrines, Art Brut, and Empire of the Sun. Anything else worth checking out this week? What are you excited about?
Clicky the link below to see the goods after the break…
Reading all of the news, emails and just about everything else revolving around SXSW has me a little sad that I once again (three times straight since I started blogging) am not able to partake in this year’s proceedings. As always, I say to myself “Hey, maybe next year!” but for the time being I will just stew here in my chair until next week. Knowing that isn’t really productive, I figured why not make a little mix to cheer myself up? What else can turn a frown upside down than a bunch of fun pop songs, or even for a random, lazy Sunday afternoon. Hope this finds you in happy spirits!
The Decemberists
The Hazards of Love
March 24th
Capitol Records
I suppose it shouldn't be surprising that The Decemberists would try and create a rock opera at some point in their career. Their last album, The Crane Wife, was damn close to being one itself and their has always been a cinematic feel to the stories within Colin Meloy's songs. But with everything linked together on The Hazards of Love, the songs kind of seem a little too overpowering at times. They are extremely dense songs, once again showing off Meloy's penchant for wordiness, but occasionally cluttered musically. It's almost as if The Decemberists tried to do too much for their rock opera. Still, there are a lot of good moments on here just none of those catchy moments that originally hooked us on this band.
We’re nearly a month and a half into 2009 and my music library has been growing steadily with good tunes. Today, I have first singles from three highly anticipated upcoming albums, starting with one of my favorite songs of the year so far from electro-pop maestros, Junior Boys.
It’s been awhile since I’ve posted a cover versions mix (and I’ve felt a little harried this week with both the volunteering and freelance work), so here’s my rather lazy attempt. I would like to mention the War Child Heroes album since it’s being touted as "The Ultimate Covers Album." As per usual, War Child is releasing an album with proceeds going to benefit children affected by war, but this year the idea was to get musical "heroes" to pick artists from the younger generation to cover a song from their back catalogue. I may not like all the tracks on the album, but there are some rather excellent ones, including TV on the Radio covering David Bowie’s "Heroes," Scissor Sisters covering Roxy Music’s Do the Strand, Rufus Wainwright covering Brian Wilson’s Wonderful and Song For Children, Hot Chip covering Joy Division’s Transmission, and Peaches covering Iggy Pop’s Search and Destroy. You can find out how to order the UK version and how to pre-order the North American versions on the War Child MySpace.
This mix has got a fair bit of 80s covering going on, but it also includes Camera Obscura’s excellent version of the most famous ode to a spotlight and Devendra Banhart’s stripped-down re-working of Oasis (he actually makes it relatively palatable with his Marc Bolanesque bleat). This one’s called Re-Make/Re-Model.
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Shots of North Carolina’s folk-rocking Avett Brothers’ stop in Glasgow - 22.08.11
Read the review of the gig here.
Take a look at the acts and art on offer at this year’s Latitude Festival in Suffolk. Included are the likes of Fight Like Apes, Lykke Li, Sea of Bees and Seasick Steve. Photos from our own...
Good time with Bad Guys. Photos from the May 29th gig at the Old Blue Last. Read the review by the Bad Guy himself, Stuart London after the jump.
Artrocker.com exclusive: for fans of White Lies and Crocodiles we’ve got some fresh pictures from their UK show at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire earlier this month, courtesy of Alessandro...
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