Last autumn Duncan and I went to the Montague Arms and saw some bands which included an act which we both thought were amazing called Micachu and the Shapes. Now they're all over 6Music and the broadsheet press, and their album is out now on Rough Trade, so check it out! When we saw her she was playing a modified toy guitar, and she also has an amplified CD rack (we won't spoil things by saying Mr Teeth has been doing that for about 5 years).
Some other things I've picked up from said radio station include:
Tim Exile: dj and 'tweaked out' electronic musician, not sure what track it was, but possibly Su Doku Wars from his 2006 Nuisance Gabbaret Lounge record on Planet Mu, so get that one too. www.timexile.com
The Big Pink: retro 80s indie 2piece on 4AD records. you can watch a video on their website and hear more on MySpace. They're touring the UK now including ICA (23 April). www.musicfromthebigpink.com www.myspace.com/musicfromthebigpink
Soap and Skin: a young skandinavian who plays haunting electronic songs. The album is out the middle of next month, but you can pre-order on 7Digital, and you can also download a track free now: http://soapandskin.piasrecordings.com/
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs: great new single called Zero, and an album out to buy soon (already available as a dwnload) which had be released early because someone had leaked it. www.yeahyeahyeahs.com
It might seem a bit odd to be effectively reviewing albums released almost 20 years ago, but Duncan lent me some CDs for a band called Shadowlands, and I think they are worthy of mention. Because they are awful (he thinks so too). To begin this story I have to bring us forward in time to this century, and the end of the last. At his request I bought Duncan the second album by The Tyde last Christmas. Also picked up an album by Beechwood Sparks from the library which he later borrowed and we both enjoyed. Both these bands involved two brothers who were in a great late-90s band Further. They wrote short and noisy lofi songs full of dreamy distortion, they CD covers were all hand written and in some cases illegible. A pretty good mix all in all, and it is usually a good idea to check out artists' and musicians' formative early works. So we were quite surprised how un-alike Shadowlands' music is to Further; and how, well, bad it is... Their covers feature hand painted retro flowers, and poorly montaged band photos of the four of them in skinny jeans and polo necks with shoulder length floppy hair. The lyrics are all 'yeah, baby, hey hey, yeah', despite the sleeve notes referencing people like Woodie Guthrie, Hemingway, Kerouac, Tristessa. They were on the same label as Sonic Youth and Nirvana and members of the Waterboys were involved in the recordings, but the ultimate sound reminds me of late Billy Idol, Quireboys, Dogs D'Amour, all with an unhealthy slice of The Byrds and beachfire whimsy. The singing is just really bad. To be fair, fan forums, and the brothers' own web presence say how bad and misguided their early works are; how they were naive and got sucked in by the record label bods. So its okay to forgive them and continue listening to their best work. The only problem for me is that I don't think Duncan will take the CDs back.
Indie Country post-rock mega-group The National will be playing the RFH on 10 August http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/music/productions/the-national-46073
When I heard The Prodigy and Pendulum where playing Download festival I thought that the combination with some good heavy rock would make for a great event. But then I looked up the website and saw it would be paying £135 to see Def Leppard, Whitesnake, Motley Crue, Dream Theater... I now find Faith No More are reforming to play which would be amazing, but still too pricey. And I don't think my wife would forgive me missing her birthday. I must say I'm quite surprised that Mike Patton would go back, but I bet the money's good and who can blame him.
Here are some free mp3s from Tomlab records:
Asthmatic Kitty, K Records and Tomlab mixtape http://asthmatickitty.com/mp3/Rafter_SXSW_AKTomlabK.mp3
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone 'Old Panda Days w/Nick Krgovich http://www.tomlab.com/promo/tom127_track1.mp3
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone 'Optimist vs. The Silent Alarm (When The Saints Go Marching In) http://www.tomlab.com/promo/tom128_track3.mp3
Niobe 'Fever' http://www.tomlab.com/promo/tom125_track8.mp3
Go to the Hayward, and alongside the Wallinger-curated main show, and the new Annette Messenger show, there is a sound and object installation by Ujino Munetero, until 24 April
http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/visual-arts/productions/ujino-and-the-rotators-79f/?utm_campaign=email_visual&utm_source=email_visual_090217&utm_content=email_visual090217_ujino
If you like your movie adaptations of dark graphic novels, see Watchmen. http://watchmenmovie.warnerbros.com/
Go to the Camden Arts Centre for two new contemporary artists' shows: Mircea Cantor and Liz Arnold. www.camdenartscentre.org
Chris Jones recommended this artist Dylan Martorell who creates amazing sculptures, installations and sound pieces: http://www.hiddenarchive.blogspot.com/
This Saturday coming art event/craft fair people Hunga Munga will be putting on a night at the Bethnal Green Working Mens Club called Woolworthless, themed around the lamentably demised store. www.hungamunga.co.uk
