Christmas was celebrated a little early this year to pre-empt the mass exodus from London. In a couple of days we’ll be heading out of the city to see family/friends, relax and generally get away. There is no such thing as a holiday from this blog though so expect a feature on the top artists/releases for the year that was.
In other news: producer to the stars Ben G. has released his annual Christmas compilation. Going strong since 2004, this years edition features tracks sung exclusively by female vocalists. Usually they come on neat 8cm CDRs but it seems the credit crunch (or possibly a move to Canada) is affecting our Christmas entertainment too. Despite this minor detail I really enjoyed this year’s edition and Macmacmac rock.
Happy Christmas/Hanukkah or anything else you are celebrating to you all. Here are a couple of tunes with a twist to get you into the holiday spirit. I feel I should be sitting in front of a fireplace with my new robe on, a glass of port and a Cuban cigar.
How did Cyndi Lauper go from just wanting to have fun to “going down on your mother”? Easy, introduce her to The Hives. This is soon becoming the ultimate anti-christmas anthem.
Sherwood have released their single for the holiday period titled ‘Snowing In Seattle‘. Despite penning a contemplative song, and even setting it in colder climes, they just can’t lose those sugar sweet melodies that are seemingly part of any Californian’s DNA. They may not be reinventing the wheel but they succeed in hitting that melodic college rock sound to perfection.
The band will be releasing a full length in summer 2009 and will be touring again no doubt.If this track is anything to go by expect more slick production and enough hooks to enter an angling competition. Download it now from the bands myspace.
Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins has revealed to The Chicago Tribune that his band will not be releasing any new albums. Apparently:
“People don’t even listen to it all [an album]. They put it on their iPod, they drag over the two singles, and skip over the rest.” He also stated that the band will no longer be laying traditional tours adding “We’ll go small and do exactly what we want to do and stop playing catalogue. We’ll be like a new band that can’t rely on old gimmicks“
I wish he would realise 2 important things here: Firstly, if he released an album worth taking notice of people might actually go out and buy the whole thing. More importantly the reason he is even able to consider playing small one off shows for a wage is because in the past (millions of) people have bought his releases. Those same people want to hear the tracks they fell in love with all those years back, By all means mix some new stuff into the set but remember the tracks you built your reputation on that are now allowing you the privilege to act like a spoilt brat.
I honestly think Billy Corgan is an amazing songwriter and Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie are albums I loved, it is precisely for this reason that those tracks deserve to be heard. Now, can anyone give him James Iha and D’arcy‘s numbers!
Encyclopedia sound like they should have been scoring the soundtracks for all my favourite Commodore 64 games back in the days. I first noticed their brand of riffs, midi tracks and adolescent (yet endearing) vocals when I was sent their ‘Young Hearts‘ EP back in 2004. The band even managed to bag a spot on the third instalment of Deep Elm‘s auspiciously titled This Is Indie Rock compilation series before disappearing off my radar. Their myspace page shows the band is still going, albeit in a somewhat on-off way. This is music guaranteed to make you smile.
The first time I watched ‘The Future Is Unwritten‘ was in a jam-packed cinema in November last year. The Joe Strummer documentary/biopic had just been released and watching it with a large enthusiastic audience added a quasi-religious feel to the event. They sang along to every song and marvelled as a series of respected friends, contemporaries and fans highlighted The Clash‘s talent and Joe Strummer‘s influence.
Though I was too young when The Clash were in their heyday I did manage to catch a set by The Mescaleros back in 97. It was raining like there was no tomorrow and we were huddled around my shitty car’s dashboard trying to get some heat into our bones at what could only be described as a festival gone wrong. We suddenly heard a loud roar as the opening chords for ‘Rudie Can’t Fail‘ played over the huge muddy field. I turned to my shivering comrade friend and said: “you realise we are missing out on an absolute legend here” and without another word we simultaneously jumped out of the car and splashed towards the stage.
Last week ‘The Future Is Unwritten‘ was shown for the first time on British terrestrial TV. Watching it again reminded me of that initial movie-going experience and how The Clash‘s music lives on through the years. Though the documentary occasionally resorts to what is unabashedly idolisation for Strummer this is suitably augmented with footage and tales where Joe Strummer the man doesn’t quite match up to Joe Strummer the myth. Ultimately Strummer comes across as a passionate, and sometimes difficult, man whose heart is true to his beliefs.
There is a scene in the movie where Joe Strummer is handing out flyers to try and entice passers-bye to come see The Mescaleros live performance somewhere in the USA . This man had played stadiums not so long ago, he is a living legend for fuck sakes! Yet he was promoting his show like a budding artist at the first ropes. There was no ego, there was no entourage. It was just Joe Strummer trying to build a crowd to see him doing what he did best, standing on stage and giving 110%
That night in 1997 we drove back in our boxer shorts because our clothes were completely soaked but we had the sweet sound of ‘London Calling‘ ringing in our ears. Epic.
The title of this post is straight from ‘Turn Up The Faders‘ which turned out to be somewhat prophetic last week. Winter has ambushed us again and it feels like, as the image suggests, London is no more. Commuting to work is just like an episode of the Twilight Zone with people coughing or dozing off as if in midst of a strange epidermic. It could be that my own cough/cold combination and subsequent assumption of all sorts of dubious remedies is having an effect on how I perceive everyone. Maybe I’m just being paranoid…
My time in New York ended just a little over a week ago and I miss it. London is a great city but Gotham just outdoes it
I’m slowly settling back into “normal” life is and will be back with two posts a week on Cougar Microbes. In the meantime here are two tracks that remind me of this visit.
This song captures the alienation felt when travelling in any big city. There is a mix of opportunity and paranoia felt around and Nathan Asher’s lyrics describe this mixed emotion to chilling effect.
For some reason I was constantly humming this Leonard Cohen tune whilst in the US. All around me the kids were spontaneously writing and directing films, holding last minute fashion shoots and generally having a care free time. I sensed camaraderie between the various New Yorkers and adopted New Yorkers which was enviable. They could easily take Manhattan (and Brooklyn) and this could be their anthem
In preparation for my trip to Big Apple this week I spun as many bands from the NYC area as i could. The one band that got more attention than any other was TV On The Radio largely due to the release of their new record ‘Dear Science,‘
I am the first to admit that i have a difficult relationship with the Brooklyn gang. In the past press for their endeavours made me to believe I would automatically enjoy their releases with little or no effort. The truth is that, as anyone who “gets” the band knows, TV On The Radio are not a band designed to be consumed rapidly and disposed of but rather one that should be slowly savoured and enjoyed over time.
Having finally come to terms with and grown to love ‘Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes‘ and ‘Return To Cookie Mountain‘ i eagerly anticipated their new release would blow my proverbial socks off. However, this wouldn’t be a TOTR review if I had been love at first spin. No ladies and gentlemen, I was in for another struggle. You see, The band appear to have ditched the elaborate multi layered instrumentalism and paranoid melodies for a more concise effort that, dare i say, could be ready for mainstream consumption.
This was not what I was expecting at all and I had to effectively force the album on my ears for a week for the pieces of the puzzle to come together but when they did it was very gratifying. All of a sudden I was recognising familiar melodies and appreciating the subtle developments that only a band like TV On The Radio could pull off. The lyrical content remains dark, and often cryptic, but this time it is all embellished by a crazy juxtaposition of new wave, funk, pop, rock and electronica and even 60s doo-wop all while maintaining that detached New York cool.
Other artists have toyed with the dangerous balancing act of trying to enhance their sound whilst increasing their audience and failed miserably. TV On The Radio differ here because the band have not compromised their instincts for a killer melody, try for yourself.
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