Artigos

Track: One Eye Closed
Artist: CocknBullKid
Album: Adulthood (23 May 2011) [Spotify | We7 | mflow]
Tags: pop, electronica, my gang rotw
Video: Click the pic...

YouTube, official video

I first wrote about CocknBullKid in August 2009, catching her near enough at the start of her career. She released several tracks under her former name, thecocknbullkid.

The end of this period was marked with a name change and the release of 7" One Eye Closed (Moshi Moshi, 8 Nov 2010), this week's recommended track and my favourite from her debut album, Adulthood.

The track is upbeat, positive and cheerful, with a catchy chorus and a dancey beat. The video is a little silly, but creative with it. Pure pop at its finest.



Her upcoming gig on the 7th of October is brought to you by Last.fm Presents Live Fridays, a new series of nights curated by Last.fm's users, based on what's been listened to on their hype charts.

Last.fm group Last.fm Win Stuff is running an exclusive competition from 14 - 29 September to win a VIP package to meet CocknBullKid. Register your details via the link in the group overview to enter.

Taking place on 7th October at the Relentless Garage in London the night will be headlined by CocknBullKid and supported by Jess Mills and I am Harlequin culminating in an indie pop tag for the night.

We’ll also have the Last.fm DJs down there spinning some tracks for an indie disco afterwards. We want to offer you a money can’t buy VIP experience at the event. We will kit you out in a VIP area for you and a friend, you will be given the chance to meet CocknBullKid and have this filmed for you to keep. Once you’ve sampled the night of the hottest hype chart music we’ll make sure that you are sent home with a very special goody bag of treats.

Enter now to be in with the chance of winning and if you simply can’t wait and want some tickets then head to last.fm/presents to find out more and buy tickets.

This competition is open to the UK only.
See the group for Terms and Conditions


Babs

- My Gang

Reco of the Week archives
My Gang Reco of The Week

Disclaimer: Mines




Admin: Stats as of today:

Last.fm listeners of this track - 1,963
No. of plays scrobbled in Last.fm - 13,556
Position in Last 7 Days: 8 / 122
Position in Last 6 Months: 7 / 1,445

Video
Date Added: Oct 12, 2010
Views: 66,466, Comments: 80, Likes: 366, Dislikes: 14, Ratings: 380, Favorites: 464


Stats after 7 days:

Last.fm listeners of this track - 1,986
No. of plays scrobbled in Last.fm - 13,679
Position in Last 7 Days: 8 / 108
Position in Last 6 Months: 7 / 1,445

Video
Views: 66,938, Comments: 80, Likes: 369, Dislikes: 14, Ratings: 383, Favorites: 461




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Track: Blue Jeans (16 Oct)
Artist: Lana Del Rey
Album: due 2012
Tags: pop, my gang rotw
Video: Click the pic...

YouTube, official video

And we're back...

Introducing Lana Del Rey.



Blue Jeans is a double-A side, to be released alongside Video Games [watch] in October, with a debut album to follow in the new year.

Unique to her music is the amalgamation of disparate styles that shouldn't go together, but do. Soft, breathy vocals (she's a former jazz singer) and hard sounds; seductive as Bardot, hard as steel. The music is as complete as she is, not so much inviting as on a plate, take it or leave it. You'll take it, it's delicious.

In this track, she's like the female Chris Isaak, with a glamorous and sultry old-fashioned 50s Hollywood sound. This is her Wicked Game.

The video echoes the themes with aged film and 50s iconography, ending with what looks like old footage of Lombard Street in San Francisco and the American flag.

He went out every night
And Baby that's alright
I told you that no matter what you did I'd be by your side
Cause I'm a ride or die
Whether you fail or fly
Well shit at least you tried
But when you walked out that door - a piece of me died
I told you I wanted more - but that's not what I had in mind
I just want it like before
We were dancing all night
Then they took you away - stole you out of my life
You just need to remember
That I will love you till the end of time



Further reading:

Official site
The Guardian - new band of the day
http://www.primarytalent.com/lana-del-rey/


Babs

- My Gang

Reco of the Week archives
My Gang Reco of The Week

Disclaimer: Mines




Admin: Stats as of today:

Last.fm listeners of this track - 7
No. of plays scrobbled in Last.fm - 22
Position in Last 7 Days: 43 / 4
Position in Last 6 Months: - / -

Video
Date Added: Sep 9, 2011
Views: 78,314, Comments: 175, Likes: 1121, Dislikes: 6, Ratings: 1127, Favorites: 937


Stats after 7 days:

Last.fm listeners of this track - 2,928
No. of plays scrobbled in Last.fm - 14,721
Position in Last 7 Days: 2 / 1,026
Position in Last 6 Months: - / -

Video
Date Added: Sep 9, 2011
Views: 304,762, Comments: 431, Likes: 2503, Dislikes: 18, Ratings: 2521, Favorites: 2,790






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Track: The Best Person I Know [Soundcloud]
Artist: Cat's Eyes
Album: Cat's Eyes (11 April 2011, Polydor)
[ We7 | Spotify | mflow ]
Tags: pop, 60s, my gang rotw
Video: Click the pic...

YouTube, audio upload


I have two albums of the week this week, Cat's Eyes, the new side-project from The Horrors frontman, Faris Badwan, and The Rentals - The Rentals Present: Resilience (A Benefit Album for the Relief Effort In Japan), another side-project, this time from Matt Sharp, former bass player for Weezer.

In the days after the biggest and best royal wedding in 30 years, I thought a love song would be in order, but not being a fan of the mushy slushy stuff, this was a bit of a task for me. One that stands out is The Best Person I Know, a 60s girl-group sounding track that is not only beautifully done, but sweet enough without being saccharine and therefore, most acceptable.

But first, the happy couple.



According to reports, a third of the planet watched the royal wedding live, thanks to satellite television and the internet. Google had a link on its homepage to the live transmission on YouTube. Twitter was insane with hundreds of tweets per second; and for once, happy tweets far outweighed the miserable ones. The Palace itself kept people abreast of updates. Regardless of stance or cynicism, there was little doubt of the romance and the genuine friendship between the bride and groom. They each married their best friend.



'The Best Person I Know' appears both on the new album and the Broken Glass EP, released a few months ago. Pared back and minimal with pitch-perfect ethereal and echoey vocals, it's The Shangri-La's via dream pop. The music is familiar to fans of The Horrors, shoegaze and fuzzy, but introduced now is a Burt Bacharach sensibility and lush orchestration. The lyrics support the dreaminess of the music, repeating the same lines, themselves constructed as simply as possible. They could be lines written by a teenage hand on the cover of an exercise book. It's a back-to-basics love song, back to what really matters and what moves us most.



The track is typical of some of the album but not all. It reminds me a lot of the Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan albums, the voice of the fairy angel contrasted against the beastly devil-type. Faris Badwan and opera soprano Rachel Zeffira avoid going down the same road too much. Instead, they have created an album with an overall girl-group 60s feel with tracks that branch off to explore different avenues. So there are exceptionally light and airy tracks and later, some of those beastly devil ones. The gothic darkness of The Horrors remains and what we're seeing more of now is a sense of playfulness. I wrote about The Horrors before and I noticed it then. Now, it's more pronounced, and it's with that playfulness, with a light, unworried touch, that the album has been created.

BBC review:
As an album, Cat’s Eyes is simply remarkable. Sounding like all the spectral and slightly "woooh" music of yore, its makers throw in additional elements of Nick Cave gothery, Julee Cruise, early 4AD spook, Italian horror soundtracks and the more otherworldly elements of prime 1960s pop such as Scott Walker and Bobbie Gentry. The result is a hazy, somnambulant treat.



My second album of the week is The Rentals Present: Resilience (A Benefit Album for the Relief Effort In Japan). Prince William and Kate Middleton elected not to have a wedding list, requesting people donate to charity instead. It's a coincidence that I should choose this album too this week and, befitting the occasion, it's for a good cause. The digital download is available now and the CD is available for pre-order. http://www.therentals.com/ The whole thing is streaming here: [ We7 | Spotify | AOL Spinner until Sun 8 May ]

From Ernest Jenning Record Co.
[It] features 18 instrumental tracks by Matt Sharp and Lauren Chipman of The Rentals, all previously unavailable outside of the band's epic "Songs About Time" box set. ALL profits from this album are going directly to the Red Cross

The music is entirely instrumental, orchestral, largey piano-led, with some found sounds and recorded spoken voice added on top, except for track 15, July Twenty One, which incorporates vocals in French but is still not a song. Experimental, it has a foot in both pop and classical music, reminding me somewhat of the work of Michael Nyman but only in that it has a cinematic feel and borrows some of the cadences. More than that, it has a contemplative, thoughtful, dare I say it, zen feel. Nothing grabs, there are no hooks, it's as smooth as water and as refreshing, standing up to repeat plays and the kind of music that lasts a lifetime. Within the music is both the East and the West, obvious with the spoken word but less so in the sounds.

Guests contributors on the album include Portuguese actress dalila carmo, Nikolai Fraiture of The Strokes, Rodrigo Amarante of Little Joy/Los Hermanos, French musician Emilie Simon, Gorka Urbizu of Berri Txarrak, and renowned violinist Danielle Belen.

From the official site:
This album was originally recorded as part of Songs About Time, a photography, film, and music project that brought together a large group of accomplished artists who devoted themselves for 365 continuous days to create what the Germans call Gesamtkunstwerk—a total work of art. Originally titled “Tokyo Blues,” the album is a collection of eighteen original scores that were composed for the films of Songs About Time.

The original title of the album was inspired by Japanese author Haruki Murakami's fifth novel ノルウェイの森, also known as “Norwegian Wood,” which was retitled “Tokio Blues" for the Spanish translation. And now, appropriately enough, what was once “Tokyo Blues” has become “Resilience.”

The change of title is appropriate in more ways than one: The music collected has a touch of melancholy but ultimately, when one listens attentively, it expresses hope and a quiet countenance. The duo of Lauren Chipman and Matt Sharp, who shared the role of musical director, would often start from a simple chord progression that Sharp had intended for a traditional pop song. Chipman would then begin to substitute more complex "altered chords" which added a greater depth of color, creating a more experimental and modern arrangement. The result is what you hold in your hands: an elegant, invigorating and transcendent melodic synthesis.

With its orchestral gestures, delicate piano and poetic interludes, the music paints a fitting tribute to the character and resilience of the Japanese people.

-Derrick Taruc




Further reading:

The Guardian - Cat's Eyes interview
The Quietus - review
Wikipedia - Cat's Eyes

The Rentals official site
The Rentals - Facebook
Wikipedia - The Rentals - Resilience
Pitchfork - news in brief
radioIO - press release

Babs

- My Gang

Reco of the Week archives
My Gang Reco of The Week

Disclaimer: Mines




Admin: Stats as of today:

Last.fm listeners of this track - 13,793
No. of plays scrobbled in Last.fm - 45,101
Position in Last 7 Days: 1 / 1,372
Position in Last 6 Months: 6 / 5,960

Video
Date Added: Mar 15, 2011
Views: 61,079, Comments: 36, Likes: 402, Dislikes: 10, Ratings: 412, Favorites: 517


Stats after 7 days:




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Track: Blackout [Soundcloud]
Artist: Anna Calvi
Album: Anna Calvi (17 January 2011, Domino Records)
[ We7 | Spotify | mflow ]
Tags: romantic pop, female vocalists, singer-songwriter, my gang rotw
Video: Click the pic...

YouTube, official video

I've wanted to write about Anna Calvi since the beginning of January but had to wait; the only place her debut album was streaming was on the Guardian website and there were no videos yet.

Since then, Anna Calvi has appeared on Later...with Jools Holland, the album is widely available online and there's a shiny new video for this week's recommendation, Blackout.

Like the rest of the album, Blackout is all high drama, melodrama, passion and overblown sound. Here is a female vocalist writing romantic songs that comfortably compete with stadium rock artists such as Muse. Favourably compared with Nick Cave and PJ Harvey, the music is built on solid foundations; it is exquisite and detailed, both intimate and ranging, creating a sound that carries and sparkles as it goes.

Then her voice, operatic, intense and powerful. Calvi allows her voice to stand on its own and doesn't try to embellish it with ornamentation. The raw power of her vocals delivered straight and the surreal David Lynch/Angelo Badalamenti music together form an atmosphere of mystery and darkness at once disturbing and captivating, seducing the listener so nothing else matters.



Blackout begins with an ethereal shimmer before the curtain goes up and the song bolts ahead. The beat sets a relentless, galloping pace as Calvi's vocals are allowed free rein. It's so atypical of contemporary pop, it holds you in its thrall throughout, leaving you a little spent come the end, itself as abrupt as the beginning.

The video is very simple, focusing on Calvi and dazzling with glitter and lights. It serves not to detract from the song so you stay with it.



When the album first appeared online on the Guardian website, I played it on repeat. I was taken by her voice, at times just a whisper and others, pure power, trembling as she controls it, the virtuoso guitar and nods to Ennio Morricone, flamenco, blues rock and classical. I found the sinister, menacing tones appealing and what impressed me most was the consistent theatricality that she maintains throughout, changing its shape and colour with every song. There is depth and intensity contrasted against light that comes from shimmers and relief after tension in the music is released. Themes are of love, lust and devils as she broods on fears and longings.

Overriding everything is its sheer beauty. It's in your face with filigree and shadow. The album doesn't make for a light listen and I left it alone for a while, but I'm going to see her in concert tomorrow, hence the revisit and my choice for this week.


Further reading:

BBC review
The Quietus review
Pitchfork review
The Line Of Best Fit - interview with Anna Calvi
The Line Of Best Fit review



Babs

- My Gang

Reco of the Week archives
My Gang Reco of The Week

Disclaimer: Mines




Admin: Stats as of today:

Last.fm listeners of this track - 13,793
No. of plays scrobbled in Last.fm - 45,101
Position in Last 7 Days: 1 / 1,372
Position in Last 6 Months: 6 / 5,960

Video
Date Added: Mar 15, 2011
Views: 61,079, Comments: 36, Likes: 402, Dislikes: 10, Ratings: 412, Favorites: 517


Stats after 7 days:

Last.fm listeners of this track - 14,273
No. of plays scrobbled in Last.fm - 47,394
Position in Last 7 Days: 1 / 1,372
Position in Last 6 Months: 1 / 10,591

Video
Views: 71,189, Comments: 41, Likes: 443, Dislikes: 12, Ratings: 455, Favorites: 586

3,133 views in StumbleUpon



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Track: Pause
Artist: Stereolab
Album: Transient Random-Noise Bursts with Announcements (Elektra, 1993)
[ We7 | Spotify | mflow ]
Tags: experimental, avant garde, indie rock, 90s, my gang rotw
Video: Click the pic...

YouTube, audio upload


To celebrate the shiny new pause function for Last.fm radios [blog post], this week's recommended track is Pause by post-rock pioneers Stereolab from the classic Transient Random-Noise Bursts with Announcements.

Pause has one of them, a pause, just before the final minute when the track changes tack completely and becomes something else, ramping up the noise and painful distortion. Before that, dream pop is mixed with keyboards, noise, distorted spoken word, drone and fuzzy rock which, with their clever treatment and those gorgeous progressions, offers a moment to stop and reflect before the 18 minute masterpiece, Jenny Ondioline.



'The Groop's' American debut was not without its problems; the majority of the first 1500 vinyl copies had to be destroyed because of bad pressing quality and one of the tracks had to be re-recorded:

The original version of this LP had a George Harrison sample on 'Pack Yr Romantic Mind' for which we were denied clearance - we had to re-record the track without the sample but Elektra had already manufactured some promo cassettes with the sample. [Official site]



Though I was aware of Stereolab in the 90s, like a lot of people, I never really got into them. I appreciated they were good, admired what I heard, but bought something else. Me and everyone else, by the look of things. There is much high praise for 'the groop' and a similar guilt in a lot of user reviews. If I wasn't searching Last.fm for a song with the word 'pause' in the title today, I wouldn't have found this album.

The sound is ahead of its time for 1993 (when I was mostly listening to Saint Etienne's Foxbase Alpha and feeding my head with Megadog compilations). From Stereolab's inventiveness came both post-rock and britpop, Damon Albarn being a particular fan.

Stereolab either legitimized forms of music that were on the fringe of rock, or brought attention to strands of pop music -- bossa nova, lounge-pop, movie soundtracks -- that were traditionally banished from the rock lineage. The group's trademark sound -- a droning, hypnotic rhythm track overlaid with melodic, mesmerizing singsong vocals, often sung in French and often promoting revolutionary, Marxist politics -- was deceptively simple, providing the basis for a wide array of stylistic experiments over the course of their prolific career. Throughout it all, Stereolab relied heavily on forgotten methods of recording, whether it was analog synthesizers and electronics or a fondness for hi-fi test records, without ever sinking to the level of kitsch. [allmusic]


Once again, Last.fm wins hands down as my favourite music discovery site. I voted as much here. I like a lot of the other music sites too, but I didn't find this track on them and they didn't make me want to listen to Stereolab's entire discography, so fair's fair. Be sure to submit your vote too.



Further reading:

Stereolab - official site - discography
Stylus Magazine - review
Wikipedia - Transient Random-Noise Bursts with Announcements
allmusic.com - album review



Babs

- My Gang

Reco of the Week archives
My Gang Reco of The Week

Disclaimer: Mines





Admin: Stats as of today:

Last.fm listeners of this track - 10,846
No. of plays scrobbled in Last.fm - 26,946
Position in Last 7 Days: 89 / 81
Position in Last 6 Months: 89 / 1,396

Video
Date Added: Feb 2, 2009
Views: 7,723, Comments: 3, Likes: 26, Dislikes: 0


Stats after 7 days:

Last.fm listeners of this track - 10,872
No. of plays scrobbled in Last.fm - 27,049
Position in Last 7 Days: 60 / 98
Position in Last 6 Months: 89 / 1,396

Video
Views: 7,880, Comments: 3, Likes: 27, Dislikes: 0




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Track: Hotel Plaster
Artist: Nicole Atkins
Album: Mondo Amore (Proper Records, 4 April 2011)
[ 3VOOR12 ]
Tags: americana, blues rock, pop noir, soul, my gang rotw
Video: Click the pic...

YouTube, live at Paste


Mondo Amore is an album that works as a whole. Picking out tracks to highlight is difficult, like pulling out a feeling. For the purposes of this series, I've chosen the third track, Hotel Plaster, but it hasn't been an easy task.

There's romance, high drama and torch songs, drawing together old blues, classic rock, pop and country whilst experimenting with where they can be pushed to.

Hotel Plaster is a song about missing someone. It seems to be over but she's not letting go just yet.

I know we've hurt each other pretty bad,
But this midnight horoscope
It tells me there's a little more hope

It begins in dreamy echoes and long notes, her incredible voice dominating. The female Roy Orbison can cry a song. She's alone, not even at home, and lets it all out. Twangy guitars slide her emotions and a heavenly choir hears her prayers.



Her pain is palpable and can be felt throughout the album, which came about after a period of immense loss. She had split from her label, Columbia Records, her long-term boyfriend, Paul Ritchie (The Parlor Mob), and her band, The Sea. She focused on her work to help cope, resulting in forming a new band, Nicole Atkins & The Black Sea, and creating Mondo Amore. Her inspirations are Scott Walker, Nick Cave, David Lynch, Angelo Badalamenti and classic blues and 60s psychedelic rock.



The album begins with Vultures [Stereogum free download] which opens quietly, giving way to her powerful vocals and blues rock. Cry Cry Cry is a sad song sung in a cheerful manner, typical of the 60s, "Our love's a dark disaster". This week's track is next and is followed by my next favourite, You Come To Me, with driving beats, lush orchestra and loud rock. My Baby Don't Lie sounds old fashioned with Nicole Atkins angry, not wanting to believe the news she's hearing about her boyfriend, "if the little girl don't shut her mouth she's gonna get a black eye". This Is For Love softens things back and is about disappointment but hope for the future. In You Were The Devil you can hear Badalamenti's influence in the music. Lyrics are surreal and dark. "I gave my breath so I could suffocate your fire / Still it’s the hate in your words I came to admire". War Is Hell slows the pace down further, setting up the penultimate track, Heavy Boots, another personal favourite, ending on a high with the brilliant The Tower.

The emotions in these songs range from despair to distress, longing to loneliness. Dark and melancholic, she dives deep into the black sea and has a good look around. In the final track, The Tower, she allows herself to completely crumble, because it's not until she does that that she can put herself together again. The album, then, is personal and intimate, a snapshot of a bad time and what it felt like.


Further reading:

Paste Magazine - review
Wikipedia - Mondo Amore
allmusic.com - Mondo Amore
Interview Magazine
Facebook



Babs

- My Gang

Reco of the Week archives
My Gang Reco of The Week

Disclaimer: Mines



Admin: Stats as of today:

Last.fm listeners of this track - 1,016
No. of plays scrobbled in Last.fm - 2,793
Position in Last 7 Days: 6 / 125
Position in Last 6 Months: 16 / 266

Video
Date Added: Jan 5, 2010
Views: 1,481, Ratings: 11, Comments: 6, Favorites: 17, Likes: 11, Dislikes: 0


Stats after 7 days:

Last.fm listeners of this track - 1,085
No. of plays scrobbled in Last.fm - 2,999
Position in Last 7 Days: 5 / 125
Position in Last 6 Months: 14 / 800

Video
Views: 1,601, Ratings: 11, Comments: 6, Favorites: 17, Likes: 11, Dislikes: 0





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Track: Yosemite Theme [ Soundcloud ]
Artist: The Go! Team
Album: Rolling Blackouts (Memphis Industries, 31 Jan 2011)
[ Spotify | We7 ]
Tags: instrumental, indie, electronica, experimental, bollywood, my gang rotw
Video: Click the pic...

YouTube, audio upload


I thought I had written about The Go! Team before, when I first heard My World [YouTube], their cover of Alan Parker's The Free Life [Hype Machine], on Proof of Youth. Clearly not.

I'm glad I waited because their third album, Rolling Blackouts, released a couple of months ago, is their best yet. My recommendation of the week is the standout track, Yosemite Theme.

Like My World, it's an instrumental, but this time, it's their own, mashing together Ennio Morricone-type country themes, a banjo, a harmonica, a harp and Bollywood, incorporating elements of Yeh Ladka Hai Allah Kaisa Hai Deewana recorded by Mohammad Rafi [YouTube] and Ab To Hai Tumse recorded by Lata Mangeshkar [YouTube, first track].

Yosemite Theme is, like all their work, relentlessly upbeat and hyper, taking on a sophistication The Go! Team have yet to fully explore. It ends on schoolground chants which are kind of by-the-by, reminding you who you're listening to.



I can't honestly say I was much of a fan before. I found the lo-fi, gritty, sometimes shrill sound grating and the euphoria annoying. The inclusion of an exclamation mark in their name didn't help their case. Too hipster for me. However now, three albums down the line and their unique sound firmly established, with the confidence to explore and experiment, now I like them. They haven't lost their early unfinished lo-fi playfulness, it's still there, but now it's measured and balanced.

Musically, they're a mix of indie rock, indie pop, electronica, 80s hip-hop and old classic TV themes of the 70s, heading towards 60s girl bands and Motown, with an eye on Bollywood, Tokyo and the wild west; old school at school. In a sentence.

Like too much time spent with small children, The Go! Team on repeat are exhausting. There seem to be no breaks. This sense, along with the skipping rope chants, further underlines where they're coming from. It would be easy to dismiss them as a band for the pre-teens, but that would be to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Sonically, there is much for adult ears to enjoy, albeit perhaps in small doses.



The album begins with the explosive klaxon of a track T.O.R.N.A.D.O, which is too much for me and I skip. So my first track is the lovely Secretary Song, which sounds Japanese and uses real office sounds, featuring guest Satomi Matsuzaki of Deerhoof. Firmly enticed into Go! Team world, you may as well turn the volume up and join in. Best Coast's Bethany cosentino features on lead single Buy Nothing Day. Track after track, beat after beat, with pea whistles and cheers, it's a party and they're irresistible.

Welcome relief comes with this week's track, Yosemite Theme, the adorable j-pop Ready To Go Steady "Yeah we only just met but I'm ready to go steady", Super Triangle, which is a bit like the Alan Parker cover again, and the strange, acoustic piano piece Lazy Poltergeist.

Some critics have been quick to dismiss these tracks as failings. I think they are essential in order to fully appreciate the high energy of the other tracks. You may not hear them properly if you listen to the album in its entirety, so pick them out one by one.

Rolling Blackouts bounces along and punches the air with infectious, sunny joy. You can't help but smile at the very least. Where The Go! Team go from here, who can say. More of the same but better is always good, but I'd like to see them develop these (for them) quieter tracks.



Further reading:

BBC review
Pitchfork review
Wikipedia - The Go! Team
Titanic Fandalism song details

Babs

- My Gang

Reco of the Week archives
My Gang Reco of The Week

Disclaimer: Mines



Admin: Stats as of today:

Last.fm listeners of this track - 8,905
No. of plays scrobbled in Last.fm - 23,179
Position in Last 7 Days: 13 / 841
Position in Last 6 Months: 27 / 3,832

Video
Date Added: Jan 25, 2011
Views: 2,359, Comments: 4, Likes: 11, Dislikes: 0


Stats after 7 days:

Last.fm listeners of this track - 9,198
No. of plays scrobbled in Last.fm - 24,340
Position in Last 7 Days: 14 / 770
Position in Last 6 Months: 27 / 3,832

Video
Views: 2,566, Comments: 4, Likes: 12, Dislikes: 0




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Track: Shallow [ Spotify | We7 | Soundcloud ]
Artist: Found
Album: factorycraft (Chemikal Underground, 14 Mar 2011)
[ Spotify | We7 | mflow | Bandcamp | Soundcloud ]
Tags: art rock, garage, electronica, experimental, glitch, musique concrete, my gang rotw
Video: Click the pic...

YouTube, edit of Shallow


They had me at I only ever wanted to put my tongue in your dimples.

My recommendation of the week is the standout track, Shallow, from the new album, factorycraft, released this week.

Characterised by melty shoegaze swoons, surfy garage and Cocteau Twins pedal board, this catchy track shimmers whilst it bounces, slipping and sliding along the way. It is the only one on the album to have this treatment, making it memorable and moreish. The video, frustratingly, is only an edit. There isn't a full video for this track yet.

[Ziggy Campbell on Shallow]: This track was painfully difficult to get sounding right at Chem 19. Paul Savage agonised over it. At one point I declared it a complete write-off before Paul turned it round and managed to make it (in my opinion) one of the finest moments on Factorycraft. It’s a eulogy to all the empty factories, shops and houses in my dying hometown. (The Skinny)

I was torn between this and album closer, Blendbetter.
[Ziggy Campbell] The lyrics for this one include a slightly out of place nod to 80s blue-eyed soul boys Hue & Cry. I’ll say no more on that matter. We used a deliberately out-of-tune guitar and a sample of a hoover to create the moody, sci-fi inspired backdrop to this song. The outro features the only live drums on the entire record, which I insisted on playing much to everyone’s annoyance… because I’m painfully shite. We recorded all the vocals in one day due to a tight budget. I remember screaming the last colourful line of this tune right before my voice packed in. (The Skinny)




Formed in Aberdeen and now based in Edinburgh, FOUND do exactly that, take what they find and see what they can do with the sound it makes.
FOUND began life as an experimental arts collective putting on many weird and wonderful events in art galleries, warehouses and even storage containers.

Their most recent project, an emotional robot band called Cybraphon, captured the attention of the world’s press. Since its unveiling at the Edinburgh International Festival at the start of August, Cybraphon has been featured on national newspapers across the world (e.g. China, Brazil, Italy, Spain, UK), made the top story on the homepage of WIRED.com and has been covered by CNN and TV networks internationally including BBC’s primetime arts show The Culture Show. In November 2009 Cybraphon won a Scottish BAFTA in the Best Interactive category.

FOUND made their American debut at SXSW in March 2009 and followed up with a string of performances at CMJ in October 2009 where Brooklyn Vegan picked them out as ones to watch. In the UK they have built up a strong fan base and highlights of their live career to date include the BBC Electric Proms, T in the Park, Triptych, Brighton’s Great Escape, the Fence Collective’s ‘Homegame’ festival and Hydro Connect Festival. (Official site)



The album has a lo-fi, roughly finished sort of feel to it, with space for the sounds to breathe. Lead singer Ziggy doesn't disguise his Scottish accent, notably on Johnny I Can't Walk The Line, with the line Johnny I just cannae / Cannae walk the line. This track has one foot in OMD and the other in Ennio Morricone.

Album opener, Anti Climb Paint, features Nuala Kennedy on harmony. It sets the tone with jagged edged but gentle folk rock that sits apart from the average. It's the second track, I'll Wake With A Seismic Head No More, where my favourite line (above) comes from, that tells you how intelligent this album is. Machine Age Dancing is the most commercial sounding track and is followed by the glam Blackette. By this point, you're listening beyond the familiar indie rock to the glitchy electronica and whirrs and squeaks, admiring what they're doing with it. And this is where Shallow comes in. The second half of the album is slightly overshadowed by this track but carries on regardless, finishing on the brilliant psychedelic Blendbetter.

This album is outside the box whilst standing within it. The music spills out and soars around you, dazzling and confusing with its unexpected twists and references, done in a familiar and acceptable way. This is how you push people beyond their comfort zones without them feeling it.




Further reading and info:

http://foundtheband.com/
Twitter: @foundtheband http://twitter.com/#!/foundtheband
MySpace
Facebook
BBC review
FOUND’s Factorycraft: a track by track tour by Ziggy Campbell, 01 Mar 2011

Babs

- My Gang

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Admin: Stats as of today:

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Date Added: Jan 21, 2011
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