Club Velocity presents A NEW YEARS EVE KNEES UP

Club Velocity presents a right royal new years knees up sponsored by editradio.org

Venue Rising Sun Arts Centre 30 Silver Street Reading RG1 2ST
Date December 31st 2010
Doors 8pm All Ages
Sponsored by www.editradio.org
Tax Six pounds door Five pounds advance www.wegottickets.com
Bands DOLLY AND THE CLOTHES PEGS/SKYLINE DOSSIER/THE DOTS AND STOPS

The best New Years Eve party in the whole of Berkshire

DOLLY AND THE CLOTHES PEGS
One of the best party live bands around.They know how to get the party
started.The band started out as
a bit of a giggle, played some gigs, found that they were good and
people liked it.Really,really liked it.Where
ever they play, they keep getting asked back.This will be the third
year in a row these local musicians
will be bringing their rebel rousing country-bluegrass-Kennet delta
blues to Silver Street.We hear that Dolly And
The Clothes will be appearing on an episode of the Archers in 2011!

SKYLINE DOSSIER
One of the best kept secrets, not only in Reading, but the whole of
the UK.Berkshires' answer to Frank Black aka Daniel Cooper.
He fronts this mighty rocknroll machine.This baby needs more than fuel
to make it hump.Psych-full on garage-freakbeat greatness.
Lock up your daughters there is a bad mother of a band hitting the
streets of Reading.

THE DOTS AND STOPS
Genius!!A local band reaching for the stars.............

www.velocityrecordings.com
www.myspace.com/velocityrecordings

[edit] radio's - Christmas Mixtape by Kevin Lawson

The affable Tom Crook opened his [edit] radio podcast with two Christmas based songs this week. When he announced that 'was enough' of the seasonal treats I found myself hankering for more. So I interigated my music library, sent out a facebook update for idea's and scoured Hype Machine. Three hours later the mix attached to this post was created for you to download and enjoy.

Happy Christmas from me and everyone at [edit] radio; your support really does mean the world to us.

Band - Song

1. Teenage Fanclub - Christmas Eve
2. Los Campesinos! - Kindle a flame in her heart
3. The Flaming Lips - Christmas at the Zoo
4. Guster - Tiny Tree Christmas
5. Death Cab For Cutie - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
6. Jenny O - Get Down for the Holidays
7. Grandaddy - Alan Parsons in a Winter Wonderland
8. Eels - Everything's Gonna Be Cool This Christmas
9. The Swell Season - Star Star
10. Johnny Cash - Silent Night
11. Sufjan Stevens - Christmas In The Room
12. Frightened Rabbit - It’s Christmas So We’ll Stop
13. Best Coast and Wavves - Got Something For You
14. Local Natives - We Come Back
15. Nerf Herder - I've Got a Boner for Christmas

[edit] radio Christmas mixtape 2010.mp3

Club Velocity presents a Christmas Party

Venue - Rising Sun Arts Centre 30 Silver Street Reading RG1 2ST
Date - Saturday December 18th 2010
Doors - 8pm ALL AGES
Sponsored by www.editradio.org
Tax - Five pounds gets you in.
Bands - PEERS/SIXTY WATT BAYONETS/DYLAN



Peers
Their last gig of 2010 and what a year it has been.First show in January,then asked by the BBC to play Reading/Leeds festival, gained national radio play fortheir twenty pound demo,secured tip top London management.Still stupidly young in age and history.The band deal in squeezing out the past and making it fresh for 2010 and beyond.Wonderful noise pop for the Top Shop generation.They have played some of the biggest and best live shows of 2010.If you havent checked them out, then hurry up and jump on board, before its too late.

Sixty Watt Bayonets
Firm living local legends now.Frantic full on female fronted popcore.Hey they are in fact the best female fronted UK popcore.Beth Ditto having a pillow fight with Minor Threat, or Mavis Staples headbutting Greg Ginn.Critically acclaimedfrom such heavyweights as Steve Lamacq and Kerrang!.They are not too be missed.Their live shows are legendary.Is Penny Readings answer to GG Allin(obviously without the nudity, voilence and pooing on stage-of course!) Happy Christmas to you etc etc Punk Is Love and do you not forget it!

Dylan
Our fave new solo 19 year old singer songwriter.Fab!!

Crystal Castles – Not In Love (feat Robert Smith) – By Kevin Lawson

Some relationships are solely based on the physical; the unrelenting desire to fuck each others brains out, with little regard for anything else. There are no common interests or aspirations. There are no idiosyncrasies which the other partner refers to as ‘cute’. You’re just going at it like rabbits and hoping that’s enough. When such primal relationships breakdown and end, there are no foundations of friendship on which to rebuild, nothing remains and it’s the breakdown of this type of relationship that ‘Not In Love’ chronicles.

Originally written by 80’s Canadian new wave rockers Platinum Blonde, the song was first covered by Crystal Castles on their excellent sophomore record (Crystal Castles II) released in April this year. Their first run at the track saw them submerge the track in a fog of bitterly cold synths and emotionally stunted vocals. It was rank with the hollow indifference that left with when such physical attraction dies. It was effective, but one dimensioned and didn’t make for the most memorable of covers.

Six months later they’ve had a second run at the track and the results are startling. The bitter synths have been retained and still throb with indifference. The emotionally stunted vocals have been ousted and replaced by the vocals provided by The Cure front man Robert Smith. His expert delivery gives the tracks verses new layers and depth by plunging you headfirst into what I call “break-up sickness”. A feeling composed of regrets, rejection, depression and bitterness that manifest as endless dull ache in your stomach. On this version each emotion is almost tangible, even painful.

However the collaborators weren’t content with adding just this, they wanted to go a step further. They wanted the cure (pun intended) for this ache to be included in the track. As Smith approaches the end of each verse, you can hear the resolve building in his voice. Until finally he proclaims “I’m not in love” and the track is awash with cathartic release and the warmth of a thick layer of house synths.

It hits home like the moment you let go of your final feelings of lust for your lover, when the sickness passes and your left with the question “What did I ever see in them?” The track has been transformed from easily forgettable to one of the best covers of the year, leaving me to wonder what would happen if more Crystal Castles songs were collaborations?

Not In Love (feat Robert Smith).mp3

Fluxblog 2010 Survey Mix

Matthew Perpetua is a great music journalist. His website http://www.fluxblog.org/ is well written, personal and an amazing source of new music.

This week he released an eight-disc, 157 song mix of some of the best and most notable music from 2010.

In Matts own words:

"It’s fairly comprehensive, covering indie, pop, rock, punk, folk, rap, R&B, soul, dance, country, modern classical, ambient and electronic music, and in many cases, hard-to-classify genre hybrids. I inevitably had to leave out some things, but I think you’ll find that this serves as both a helpful guide to some of the year’s most exciting music and a surprisingly listenable series of mixes. Discover new stuff! Rediscover familiar artists in a new context! Jam out to ten and a half hours of world-class tunes! If you enjoy this, please do pass it on."

Here's the link so you can do the same.

http://www.fluxblog.org/2010/12/fluxblog-2010-survey-mix

Club Velocity press release - By Sid Siddle

Club Velocity shows at Rising Sun Arts Centre 30 Silver Street Reading Berkshire RG1 2ST are proud to annouce sponsorship.
From December 1st our two shows a month at RSAC will be sponsored by [edit] radio http://www.editradio.org/

[edit] radio was founded by Kevin Lawson in the Spring of 2009. Each week you'll find a brand new 40 minute podcast that will play the best in New and Alternative music.
It has very much been a word of mouth concern to date.

Club Velocity started promoting at Silver Street March 2003.Since then, the likes of Bloc Party, Holly Golighty, Pete And The Pirates, Six Nation State, Prinzhorn Dance School, Beggars, Tripwires,
Ben Marwood, Midimidis,Tom Williams And The Boat, Peers and dozen others have treaded the boards.

With the help of sponsoring Club Velocity (RSCA), [edit] radio, should see their listenship increase month on month.

[edit] radio and Club Velocity are very much on the same wave length. They both have beating hearts, real soul and burning passion to champion  new bands and music
that they both believe in. Both based in Reading, Berkshire and both proud to be based in the town.

Kevin Lawson
founder of [edit] radio says

“The opportunities that Club Velocity at Silver Street gives talented musicians to perform to their audience was a direct inspiration for me to create the podcast. Our sponsorship is about repaying that inspiration; because without Club Velocity there’d never have been [edit] radio"

Sid Siddle
founder of Club Velocity says

"It took me  about a second, to say yes to get involved with Kevin and his website. He has been coming to Club Velocity for many a year. The website is a breath of fresh air.Its run by real music fans, who are doing it for all the right reasons.All the djs/writers are very passionate and knowledgeable about their music.I can not recomend it enough.I think this will be very good for both parties.Especially in 2011, it really does look like the Reading music scene, should finally really get the national recognition it deserves"

Any further infomation  sidsiddle@hotmail.com

www.velocityrecordings.com
www.myspace.com/velocityrecordings

Balam Acab – Regret Making Mistakes by Kevin Lawson

Alec Koone is the 19 year old Ithaca based music student behind Balam Acab. He’s part of this ‘witch house’ music genre, a genre which I think is imaginary and only exists in the mind of music bloggers and the writers of Pitchfork. But if such a thing does actually exist then I’m sure his song ‘Regret Making Mistakes’ would be the poster child for the sound.

The track opens gently, placing Balam in the comfort of a swing chair where the sounds of a nearby stream and the murmur of voices hum dimly in the background. But there is something else around too, something that stalks the inviting eastern strings that drift through the first few bars like a daydream. Casting a shadow across his thoughts and making them teem with regret.

Balam’s awareness of the outside world fades away and he descends deeper into himself, wandering into a foggy tomb of memories. Then as the rich reverb of the bass line starts, the horrors of where his thoughts have wondered start to become clear. He’s surrounded, surrounded by all the sorrows that haunt him. He embodies them with a stunningly haunting voice, one that’s soft on the ears but knife shaped to the soul.

The bass quietens, as the sound of a synthesizer sparkles you can almost see the tears begin to swell in his eyes. He’s recalling the wrong doing of his life, the lies, betrayals, deaths or worse. There release is built up over the remainder of the song brought about with a final cathartic hit of the bass and vocals but this time accompanied by the piano; you can almost see his tears falling as each note is played.

This swell of emotion falls away as quickly as it began, with Balam returning to the world at large. Re-sealing this regret to the tomb from which it was exhumed.

It’s a stunningly powerful song and one that I feel privileged to share with you today.

Regret Making Mistakes.mp3

Elliott Smith by Tom Crook

I remember reading a thing by Noel Gallagher about him saying how guys in Manchester who had guitars didn't really know what to do with them until the Stone Roses came along; the Roses focussed these lads, gave them direction, "that's what we should be doing!" they realised. That's how i felt when i first heard Elliott Smith. It was like being shown a sense of purpose. I immediately i knew this stuff. It felt familiar - well he wasn't reinventing the wheel or anything, you could hear his influences. Never specific bands or artists, more the influence of certain musical eras, of production techniques, of writing styles. And i remembered being struck by his fragile voice and his lack of confidence with it, so lacking that he would use that old pop-recording technique of double-tracking the vocal to try and bolster it a bit. With Elliott though, it always sounded like he was trying to hide his voice behind his own voice. But it gave me confidence to sing, and showed me that singing isn't about being good or bad or right or wrong, it's actually about being yourself and being honest and if you do something heartfelt, it will resonate somewhere with someone.

Apart from his voice, his playing was extraordinary. As each album developed he would play more and more instruments, showing himself to be a hugely talented pianist, drummer and bass player. His guitar skills were obvious from the start, always using complicated chord progressions rather than the tried and tested 12 bar of rock and roll. Any guitarist wanting to improve their technique should sit down and study 'Son Of Sam' or 'Everything Reminds Me Of Her', the progressions are so accomplished and never obvious, always avoiding the cliche. His arrangements got more and more ambitious with each album, from delicate acoustic recordings on Roman Candle to using big string sections and horn players on XO. He was obviously a fan of the Beatles, recording eventually at Abbey Road, and i think his writing owed a lot to George Harrison rather than Lennon & McCartney. But it was never pastiche; to my ears, Elliott Smith got a lot closer to the spirit of what the Beatles were about.

I only saw Elliott play live once, in London June 2000 at the Royal Festival Hall. Me and my brother went and i remember how we both thought he was great but how he was so obviously uncomfortable performing. I seem to remember that his backing band were basically Quasi and they were mostly playing material from XO and Figure 8. And although he was clearly not in his comfort zone on the stage, he didn't seem like the tortured artist people seem intent on making him out to be. I always assumed i'd see him play live again one day. He didn't seem like he was about to embark on a journey of self-destruction. I know a songwriter who spent time with Elliott in LA, due to them having the same publisher or something, and he said that the drug scene Elliott hung around in was a quite scuzzy, dirty little world that you just wouldn't want to glamourise.

I'm not sure how Elliott Smith died but the suicide thing doesn't really ring true for me. When people kill themselves with knives, usually it involves slicing a vein. To actually force a knife into your own heart is quite an achievement, no matter what state of mind you're in. Obviously i wish he hadn't died. Mainly because i think he probably had a load more great songs to write. But also because i hate all that rock 'n' roll martyr bullshit that comes with his death.

I'm not going to list my favourite songs or albums, that's all a bit puerile really. The whole catalogue is faultless; music written for all the right reasons; music as art, not product. Some songs i'll return to forever; some songs i'm only just discovering, only making sense as i get older. I've heard Domino are soon to release 'An Introduction To Elliott Smith', a compilation for the uninitiated. This is a good thing. More people need Elliott Smith's music in their lives.

Ben Folds/Nick Hornby – From Above

At my desk the other day I was listening to the fabulous BBC 6 Music when this song hurtled down the wires of my earphones sending pulses of pleasure throughout my being. I hadn’t been paying much attention before so I was suffering some form of brain atrophy and any song that can break through the indifference barrier is worthy of further investigation.

Once I’d got my bearings on the stream, I found it was a collaborative effort between Ben Folds (the music) and Nick Hornby (the lyrics). Which on paper, is like the wet dream of a hipster kid from 1995. A year that saw Ben Folds Five release their amazing debut album and Hornby had the musically themed High Fidelity published.

Taken from the forthcoming album Lonely Avenue the song opens with a quick roll of the drums and bounces along blissfully into the best pop song I’ve heard since Darwin Deez Radar Detector. Driven by Folds on the piano and teeming with synth embellishments in all the right places, it becomes very difficult not have it whirring around your head for the rest of the day.

Lyrically the song is a distinctly Hornby monologue. A daydream of two people who don’t realise they are soul mates. Comfortable in their current relationship and have no desire to search for a fairytale ending. Folds delivers Hornby’s words with gusto and is ably supported by female vocalist Kate Miller Heidke, who provides the soft edges to the track.

The sum of these parts creates a truly memorable pop song that is reminiscent of Jens Lekmans work and leaves me hoping that the rest of the album can match up to this high standard.

You can buy the Single “From Above” on iTunes and the album Lonely Avenue is out on September 28^th

From Above.mp3

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Lost Saint

In 2009 The Pains of Being Pure at Heart released a self titled album that I literally became addicted to. Listening to it is like basking in a hot and hazy summer day of shoegaze pop. Each song, crafted with meticulous care, was riddled with deeply intelligent and melancholy lyrics about young love and growing into adulthood. Such are the depths to be found in their music, anyone who dared brand the band could a mere copycat of the late 80's early 90's sound that they love, can only be described as a nincompoop.

And so when I was scouring Hype M and found two news songs from this Brooklyn band I was excited. Taken from the "Say No to Love" single (which is also excellent) Lost Saint details a youngster in love from within a Catholic education upbringing. Being branded sinful for confessing your feelings of forbidden love,  sympathising with the famed lover Heloise and her plight, knowing that she'd understand how you feel.

Its this sort intelligent output which make the band nothing short of astounding. I just hope the second album can live up to what has gone before.

Lost Saint.mp3
If you like what you hear please support the band by buying there first album here 

Japandroids - Younger Us

Last year Japandroid released ‘Post Nothing’ a thrilling lo-fi pop punk album that perfectly described what it was like moving into your early 20’s. The youthful angst, the continued obsession with the opposite sex and the highs/lows that ensue when you think your ‘in love’. Their new track ‘Younger Us’ picks up life a few years later. Recounting memories of ”that time you were in bed, said ‘fuck it’ got up and drank with me instead” when saying “I’ll sleep when i’m dead” was a mantra. Before hangovers actually hurt and the emotional toll of (not so) meaningless sexual encounters started to tell. Wishing you could feel that way again even if only for a day, but knowing deep down those carefree days are gone forever. Its a great track and not to be missed.

Younger Us.mp3

If you don't already own it, make sure you buy Post Nothing from iTunes

Los Campesinos! - Letters from Me to Charlotte (RSVP)

I’m not sure how Los Campesinos! releasing a mini EP got by me, but it did. Well until now that is. It’s really caught my ears as sees the band stepping out of their usual wall of fuzz and guitar riffs.

Instead these new versions of songs from their 3rd album Romance Is Boring contain violins, pianos and a stripped away to nothing production that cynics might say is them jumping on the folk bandwagon. Even if there is any truth in such cynicism I don’t care one bit as the results are startlingly good.

Los Campesinos! songs have always crafted with very idiosyncratic lyrics, that unless you listen often don’t reveal themselves as intimate confessions of character flaws and past wrong doings. But slowed to crawl and removed from the wall of noise their intimacy is at once immediate.

It’s something that caught me by surprise and hints that the bands future direction could be something very different but equally great. That my friends is something to be excited about.

Letters From Me To Charlotte (RSVP).mp3

Darwin Deez - Radar Detector

So it's been a while since I wrote one these things., Its an unfortunate by-product of just having way too much on at work and in my social life. Excuses aside I'm back and intend to be far more committed to this music blog than i have been in the last month.

So where to start? well there's only once place really and thats with this most amazing of Tracks from Darwin Deez. I first got wind of this via Ben Marwoods podcast for me on [edit] radio last month, he described it as possibly 'the best pop song of the year?'

I have to say that even after the 10th listen the track loses none of its luster. It has a boundless energy and sounds wee bit like Max Tundra but poppier (if thats even a word).

As I said in the podcast I released this week if you listen to this song without bopping along you don't deserve the power of hearing!

Darwin Deez - Radar Detector by LuckyNumberMusic

You can buy his amazing album from the link below

Los Campesinos! - Straight In at 101

Since arriving with a bang onto the music scene back in 2008 with their debut album Now Hold On Youngster, Los Campesinos have wasted little time in recording a follow up and even a third album. Such prolific songwriting can sometimes diminish the quality of the work. The opposite is true of these guys.

There third long player 'Romance Is Boring' takes the best elements from their first two albums and amalgamates them into the my favourite record of the year thus far. I could have picked any pretty much any song to blog off the new album and after some deliberation I settled on Straight In at 101.

The song reminds me of various ex-girlfriends. Where things hadn't been going so well and we had laid in bed together bemoaning how our lives were, instead of making love. With neither of us being comfortable in the relationship or our own skins and how frustrating our constant psychoanalysis of each other was.

Its these feelings that the band capture to magnificent effect on this track. Each line feels like a snippet of conversations or actions that i've had in my various failed relationships over the last 8 years. The depressing thing from a personal point of view is that whilst i've cared for all of them, I know i haven't really been in love with any of them.

You can buy Romance is Boring from 7digital

Straight In At 101.mp3

Zola Jesus - I Can't Stand

I've been reading a lot about Zola Jesus in the last few months. Everywhere in the music press keeps telling that they are gonna be 'great' which is fine, except everytime i've heard one of their tracks i've been left feeling underwhelmed.

So I was especially surprised to find this song last week, which I absolutely love. I put it on in the afternoons after i return home from work and let it wash over me whilst I catch up on personal e-mails.

It feels like Nika Rosa Danilova is singing directly at me, helping to release all my anxieties about about being single, about work and what the future holds, you know the things you think about when your bored and browsing the net at work.

She sings "It's not easy to fall in love, but if your lucky you just might someone" and "it's not easy to let it all go, but once in a while its good for your soul" And when she states me "so don't let it get you down" that "In the end your only one" I start to feel better.

And by the time she finishes the song by repeating "It's gonna be alright" I feel ready to believe her.

I Can't Stand.mp3

Jim Lockey - Atlases

Jim Lockey is one splendid fellow indeed. I had the great pleasure of getting drunk with him for an entire week last summer and to use one of his phrases it was a 'Safe' week.

Between now and then i have constantly listened to and recommended his brand of punk folk music to as many people as would listen. To be honest its not a hard sell when someone sounds as good as this.

This version of Atlases is taken from his Album of the same name. If you think its sounds  familiar its because Jim released an acoustic recording of this track last summer on broken tail records split EP exclamation at asterisk hash. In its new guise its lost none of its lustre. Jim's voice is as emotive and tuneful as it ever was and the growl in the line "And suits that fight like lions" is as good as it is live.

The song has benefited from the addition of a full band arrangement and i can safely say this is one my favourite tracks of the year thus far.

Atlases by Jim Lockey and the Solemn Sun is out on the 5th of June.

Atlases.mp3

Ami-Beth Phipps - Eat Out Of The Cans

Last year I went on a whistle stop tour of the UK to watch my good pal Ben Marwood promote his split EP with Jim Lockey and Oxygen Thief. It was one of the best weeks off work I’ve had in years and although my liver wouldn’t agree I would to do it all again at some point in the future.

Anyway along the travels of last year we rocked up to the Mothers Ruin in Bristol where an all day music event had been organized. During the course of the day a young lady by the name of Ami-Beth Phipps took to the stage. Outside of the guys I was following she was easily the best new act I discovered that week.

I snaffled an MP3 of her hauntingly amazing song ‘Eat Out of the Cans’ as soon as I returned home and have been eagerly waiting for more recordings ever since. Until then I thought I’d share this rare treat with y’all as it has been one of my favorite tracks of the last 12 months.

If you’d like to hear a bit more of Ami then head over to our sibling site at www.editradio.org and play podcast 22, which is hosted by a drunken Ami and her friend Pete.

Eat Out Of Cans.mp3

Liars - Scarecrows On A Killer Slant

Over the last couple of days my mind has been preoccupied by worry of what a newly elected Conservative government (albeit with as a coalition) might mean for our country. The thought of this political party in charge has me fearful, especially when I look back at their sustained record of social inequity and intolerance.

Those two issues are at the forefront of Liars “Scarecrows on a Killer Slant”. Taken from the bands new album Sisterworld the track is powered by its creepy tone and metronomic rhetoric that makes this listener feel ill at ease.

The song leads off with the band asking “Why’d you pass the bum on the street?” and “Why’d shoot the man with the gun?” The answers to both are returned as an emphatic “Cos he bothered you” it’s disconcerting and uncomfortable to think that more parts our society could digress into this territory.

Then the band strikes with the songs Coup de grâce. Starting as a whisper and ending as a scream they utter “We should take the creeps out at night, Drag them incomplete by their ears, We should nail their thoughts to the wall, Stand them in the street with a gun, AND THEN KILL THEM ALL!” like the inner mantra of a government who’d like nothing more than for everyone to agree with their views.

The song then begins to tick along to its conclusion, but not before it musters one last question that I'm sure rattles around the heads of those now in government.

“How can they be saved from the way they live every day?”

Maybe those with the power in Westminster should ask it of themselves.

Scarecrows on a Killer Slant.mp3

Joanna Newsom - Cosmia

Last night at the Royal Festival Hall in London’s Southbank I was part of especially lucky group of people that got to see Joanna Newsom perform. I’ve seen her play once before at the Royal Albert Hall and both times she and her cohorts have been incredible.

For the uninitiated Joanna Newsom music forms the culmination of some very unfashionable components that make a whole quite unlike any other artist that I know of. To start she plays a rather unwieldy (but elegant) harp, which is the focal instrument on most of her songs. These songs are often massive in length, the title track from her new album “Have One On Me” clocks in at huge 11 minutes long. Then throw in that her voice sounds a bit Lisa Simpsonish, but with more tone and depth. Then you can understand why she isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.

But for those of us who “get” her music she is almost without peer. Her songs whilst long never drag and leave you wishing you could see the world with the same beauty and myth as her lyrics describe.

I’ve decided to link my favorite of Joanna’s songs “Cosmia” taken from her second album Ys. I’ve been listening to this regularly since its release in 2006 and I still can’t get enough. If that’s not a mark of a truly great song, I don’t know what is.

Cosmia.mp3

Frank Turner - Thatcher F**ked The Kids

As people across the nation are currently voting on which idiot should be allowed to govern us, I thought I’d take the opportunity to tie my anti Tory colours to the mast. You’ve probably heard the spoof common people track doing the rounds on You Tube, but this effort from the always amazing Frank Turner beats them all hands down.

Thatcher F**ked the kids was probably the first Frank Turner song that I fell in love with. Once I had heard this sung in unison in an overfull tent at the Reading festival I was completely hooked.

Frank is currently on tour at various places around the world and I would whole heartily recommend you go to see him play if you get the chance

Thatcher F**ked The Kids.mp3

The Heartwear Process - Mean Season

A year or so ago one of my favorite local bands The Heartwear Process stopped playing shows and making music together. When it happened the local music scene seemed a little drabber without their energy and devilish sound to enjoy.

However this weekend the band reunite for (what I assume) is a one off gig to celebrate bassist Chris Sartin’s 30^th Birthday. The gig takes places this Sunday night at a (not so) secret location and will be kicked off by local country legend Damien A Passmore, followed by the Heartwear Process, then finished by the amazing Ben ‘God’ Marwood.

It’s going to be an wonderful night, so to get you all juiced up here is my favorite Heartwear process track ‘Mean Season’

Mean Season.mp3

And a download of Mr Ben Marwood’s cover of the Heartwear’s song about zombie re-animator ‘Herbert West’

Ben Marwood - Herbert West (Demo).mp3

See you there everyone

The Hold Steady - Hurricane J

I hate it when you can see someone you care for seeking out the solace of a relationship in a very self destructive way. Watching them hide behind a mask of indifference as they jump into bed with partner after partner. Not realising that every time they do so they make spotting the intimacy and care of a healthy relationship all the more difficult. It’s frustrating to say the least.

This is the situation that The Hold Steady’s latest single ‘Hurricane J’ describes perfectly. From their forthcoming album ‘Heaven is Wherever’ it finds the band in some of their finest form to date.

It’s heavily steeped in the musical dynamic that sits at the heart all of The Hold Steady’s best songs. Which when simplified is super catchy rock tempered by startlingly sad and honest lyrics. This is especially effective on Hurricane J as this dynamic mirrors the effort of the tracks protagonist ‘J’ in her effort to sound/look happy yet still reveling in her own self destruction.

It’s startlingly good and a fine way to kick off a new album.

‘Heaven is Wherever’ is out 3rd of May on Rough Trade records and can be be bought from

Hurricane J.mp3

Radiohead - How to Disappear Completely

Memories are weird; I don’t know why but when I recollect the past I see a series of Polaroid pictures in my minds eye. Like a comic storyboard of sorts, that I wander into whenever the right sensory trigger is processed by my brain.

More often than not I amble into these memory comics because of hearing some random song on the radio or my ipod. So today when Radiohead’s ‘How to Disappear Completely’ purred its way onto my earphones, the memories came to me like a flood.

The song (from the bands masterpiece album Kid A) takes me back to a point in my life where I had just lost my father. During the first week of his passing everything felt so very surreal and I spent a great deal of time hiding (possibly wallowing) in this song as it help sooth my pain. Its eerie nature served as a soundtrack for the events that were unfolding and Thom Yorke wailing “I’m not here, this isn’t happening” became a mantra for me to cope, whilst I made arrangements for his funeral and estate.

9 years on and the song has evolved into a great source of comfort to me, a connection to happier memories of my time with my father. God knows what sort of state I’d be in without it.

How To Disappear Completely.mp3

Crystal Castles - Doe Deer

Let's be frank from the outset, I have a soft spot for Crystal Castles. I've heard they are pretty shoddy live, but there's something about their recorded music that makes my brain think "If I had musical talent, I'd like to make something that sounds like that". To be honest I didn't have high hopes for their sophomore record as I find getting my hopes up only leads to eventual disappointment.

However that changed when I heard Doe Deer. This song packs so much unfettered lo-fi, energy and aggression into its 1:37 playtime that even after 20 listens it still leaves your heart racing and you gasping for air. I just hope the rest of the new album is as good.

Doe Deer.mp3