The Outroversion Blog (Formerly RetroSpeedLab)

Site Moving

2010-02-14T21:24:00.001Z

For now update your bookmarks to http://outroversion.wordpress.com as that's where I'm writing for the time being. Thankyou for you patience and continued support (:

http://outroversion.wordpress.com

2010-02-14T00:28:00.002Z

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New Kate Nash Track

2010-02-12T15:03:00.000Z

Get it here

Quick One: Elbow

2010-02-12T00:27:00.000Z

I just liked the picture :)

Albums:
Asleep in the back
Cast of thousands
Leaders of the free world
Seldom Seen Kid

Outro's Birthday Mixtape #2

2010-02-11T10:45:00.000Z

This mixtape is a little more modern, just great tracks from the last few years that I think are great and tracks/bands I found through this blog like Jupiter one, Fanfarlo, Sad Day for puppets, Flying Tourbillon Orchestra, Eisley, 6 day riot, Cogwheel Dogs, Baddies and Joy formidable.

This one is in two parts as otherwise it would take ages to upload.

Outroversion's Birthday Mixtape #2 (2006-2010)
Part 1 Part 2

Frank Turner- Nashville Tennesee, Sunday, Isabel
Golden Silvers- Another Universe
MGMT- Time to Pretend
Camera Obscura- French Navy
Gaslight Anthem- 59 Sound, Miles Davis and the cool, The patient ferris wheel
Bombay Bicycle Club- Always Like this
Marina and the Diamonds- Mowgli's road
Sad day for puppets- Marble Gods
Howling Bells- Cities Burning Down
Yeah Yeah Yeahs- Heads will Roll
Cogwheel Dogs- Cress
Empire of the sun- Walking on a dream
Lightspeed Champion- Tell me what it's worth
Laura Marling- My manic and I
Vampire Weekend- A punk/Dimplomat's son
Green Day- Heart's Collide
Leisure Society- Last of the melting snow
Elbow- Grounds for divorce
Metric- Gimme Sympathy
Fanfarlo- The Walls are coming down
Nick Cave- Call upon the author/More news from nowhere
Los Campesinos- You! Me! Dancing!
Black Kids- Look at me when I rock Witchoo
Courteeners- Not 19 forever/Acrylic
Monsters of Folk- Map of the world
Marnie Stern- Patterns on a diamond ceiling
Scary Mansion- Sorry we took all yr money
Joy Formidable- Cradle
Pete Doherty- Last of the english roses/New love grows on trees
Andrew Bird- Fake Palindromes
Xiu Xiu- Bunny Gamer
Eisley- Marvellous things
Radiohead- Weird Fishes
Dead man's bones- Pa pa power
Killers- Romeo and Juliette
Fun.- Stay calm
Rihanna- Bubble pop
Builders and butchers- Bottom of the lake
Flying Tourbillon Orchestra- In a dream
Jupiter one- Volcano
Nada Surf- From now on

I accidentally missed these off the last rar so they're on this-

Kooks- She moves in her own way
Oasis- Talk Tonight/Rock and roll star

Quick One: REM- Best of

2010-02-11T00:18:00.000Z

R.E.M
Best of

Everyone loves R.E.M. Thing is most people don't consciously realise they do. I myself don't really think about it too much but when I hear songs like Man on the moon, What's the Frequency Kenneth, Shiny Happy People, Bad Day, Losing My Religion, End of the world, Everybody hurts and Imitation of life all in one sitting i'm thinking these guys should be bigger than U2. But hey, if Michael Stipe was an idiot fame whore like Bono i'm sure we'd hate him too, however he's a cool guy and has made some really great tunes. Enjoy.

Outro's birthday mixtape #1

2010-02-10T23:47:00.007Z

So here is my first mixtape to celebrate making it a year and in particular a prosperous early 2010 in which my expectations have been surpassed exceptionally. Thanks for everyone's support.

Most of the songs on this mix I could give 10 minute speeches on what they mean to me, I have stories behind literally every song here so if you want some great new music or understand the enigma that is Simon D. check it out-

Outroversion's Birthday Mixtape #1 (1950-2005)

The unicorns- I do it
Pinback- Loro
Third Eye Blind- Semi Charmed Life
Neutral Milk Hotel- King of the carrot flowers
Beatles- Tomorrow Never Knows, Blackbird
Eels- Guest List
Tom Petty- Last dance with mary jane
Bright Eyes- Easy/Lucky/Free, Goldmine
Paul Mccartney- Jet, Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey, Jenny Wren
Blur- Yuko and Hiro, Tender
Bic Runga- Dust
MC Lars- Signing Emo
Our Lady Peace- Innocent
Outkast- Prototype
Vanessa Carlton- Wreckage
All-Time Quarterback- Dinner at 8 in the suburbs
Beach Boys- I just wasn't made for these times
Interpol- Evil
Yellowcard- Ocean Avenue
Broken Social Scene- Anthems for a 17 year old girl
REM- Shiny Happy People
Modest Mouse- Fire it up, The good times are killing me
Laura Marling- My manic and I
Miles Davis- Little Blue Frog
Air France- Collapsing at your doorstep
Camera Obscura- I don't want to see u
CSS- Let's make love and listen DFA
Paramore- Misery Business
Optiganally Yours- Remo
Bloc Party- Banquet
Fall Out Boy- Golden, Thriller
Death Cab- Lowell, Ma, Debate Exposes Doubt, Kelly Huckerby
John Denver- Poems Prayers and Promises
Red Hot Chili Peppers- Power of Equality, Scar Tissue
The Smiths- How soon is now
The libertines- Ha ha wall, last post on the bugle, Time for heroes
Long Blondes- Seperated By Motorways
John Vanderslice- Continuation, Trance Manual

Outroversion's first birthday

2010-02-10T06:56:00.004Z

So it was a year ago today that I made my first post here, fittingly titled "the debut".

I started this blog originally as a place to play my favourite tracks when I was at University when I don't have my ipod. I'd always carry a spare pair of headphones, stick them in the the port and bam play tracks from this blog.

Actually it originally started out as the retrospeed lab and that started some 5 months before but I forgot the password and made this, but hey this is where it's really at.

The tracks on my first post weren't great- The Young Knives, CSS, Rumble Strips, THE ENEMY?! I don't even like that band what was I thinking?!

But like I say that was from the old blog, the first original post was when I sold my favourite guitar.

Thankyou for all your support from the very beginning. It was kind of a slow start but then what blog isn't? Let me know what you've been liking and what you don't. I feel like it's gotten to a pretty good standard and format...

It's been pretty great, my target was just to take stock each month and make sure i've made improvements and that's definately happened. Obviously it's a great help working in conjunction with blalock's indie rock playlist and both have fitted around one another great so good times.

Let's make this year even better and spread the word! Tweet about outroversion, add a link to your blog, share the love :) This would be the best gift for me really. Or money, donate here hehe. Seriously though, next step's getting a .com.

As a gift to you i've decided to make a couple of mixtapes of my actual favourite tracks, one the best of the last couple of years and one with a retro feel, tracks from the 1950's to around 2004. I'll post one today and one tomorrow.

Here's a preview

Simon D.

Huge thanks to-

My followers
Everyone who has read this over the past year
My twitter followers
Blalock's indie rock playlist (Josh, Whipple, RebJukebox, ADR et al.)
Candy Warhol
Gabby Young
Cogwheel Dogs
Baby Gravy
MP!nk (wherever you maybe thankyou for the moral support early on)
RealityDistortd
Megz
This_anthology
Vicky
CodaQueen

I may have missed some people due to absent mindedness if you feel this could be you, shout me to say WTF!!

Quick One: Paramore

2010-02-10T00:02:00.000Z

Quick one: Paramore

Albums:
All we know is falling
Riot
Brand new eyes
B-sides

Erland and the Carnival- S/T (2010)

2010-02-09T12:45:00.005Z

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Erland and the Carnival- ST (2010)
Essential- Troubled in mind, my name is carnival, love is a killing thing, you don't have to be lonely

Erland and the Carnival are a supergroup of sorts, in the way of the fictional biblical/red dwarf character Legion E&TC are composed of minds that have worked with damon albarn, paul mccartney and richard ashcroft. If you were asked to relay what the sound is that would best represent this name, that is how they sound.

They certainly play to their strengths; keys a plenty, abstract musical melodies and thankfully; original lyrical themes.

They're on the hot plate right now and it's been turned up to number 6 but this kind of stove takes a little while to warm up so grab it while it's still heating up and manageable as if you leave it for too long you're going to end up with something that's hotter than you can handle.

Downloading a few albums

2010-02-09T11:11:00.001Z

I'm just going through a list of albums I need to check out this week but wouldn't nessicarily be posting and figured i'd post them here in case anyone else needed one or more of the same...

Deeprooted- Self Titled (Crazy, Closer, Deeprooted)
El Goodo- Coyote (Information overload, I saw her today, Aren't you grand, Be my girl)
Built to spill- There is no enemy (Aisle 1, Hindsight, Life's a dream
Massive Attack- Heligoland (Girl I love you, Paradise Circus, Rush Minute)

Quick One: Lily Allen

2010-02-09T00:53:00.002Z

Quick One: Lily Allen

Proof anyone looks goo... better, with pink hair

Albums:
Alright Still
It's not me it's you

Think that's it tbh.

I blame coco

2010-02-08T10:37:00.005Z

I blame coco
_________________________________________________
Picture the scene:

Lily allen is the daughter of an actor. She doesn't want this to be her free ticket to fame blah blah etc...

Lily Allen: Oh my father's famous but I don't want to be famous because of that
World: Uh who's your father?
Lily Allen: Oh just Kieth Allen
World: Uh... oh I don't quite... what band was he in?
Lily Allen: Oh he's a famous actor
World: Um Lily I don't think that really matters if you're a singer there's no reason why it would make a difference.. But yeah that's cool if he's a huge hollywood actor, I guess i'm just not up on the names...
Lily Allen: Kieth Allen he was in lots of movies but ya know w/e i'll be famous just because of me (and my desperate need for attention).

Her entire fame is built on celebrity culture and her early success funded entirely by her father. Talentless and fame hungry, the product of an erroding sense of moral values in society.
____________________________________________________

I love Sting. However i've no idea what his surname is, but refreshingly self-aware the satin voiced coco, daughter of the lute enthusiast won't even risk using it for fear of being grouped in the same cess pool as the Lily lites.

I blame Coco's style is such that it's a pleasure for the senses. Laid back, reggae/ska influences, if it was twice the speed the mainstream would be all over this and she's be up for all the brit awards next week. I like to think everything about this project is conscious and self-aware with the aim of filling the perfect niche.

Her title track is gorgeous and symptomatic of her style. Sometimes labelled "how did all these people get in my room" such is the nature of demos, which is all we have right now unfortunately but they are sublime. The track "I blame Coco" with the line "it's late and i'm tired but Jasmine wants to dance" epitomises the carefree love in atmosphere that this exquisitely crafted music attracts, one can only imagine the live shows are a sight to behold.

I blame coco
Never be
Ceaser ft. Robyn
Bohemian Love
Control
2B 2D or not 2B

Outro's Issues: Getting the right headphones

2010-02-08T06:03:00.003Z

Since I started listening to good music around 8 years ago i've endeavoured to find the perfect pair of earphones. A couple of occasions I've paid £20+ for pairs that promised to be life affirming and either sucked or were destroyed by the hand of fate.

Regularly i've had to settle for mono ear phones or ones that grate the inside of your ears or old ones i've found in drawers.

Now i'm not one for big retro ones as, whether you like it or not they make you look stupid.

Early 09 I found the answer when another set of my ipod earphones started to fail. I did alot of research into what exactly I wanted as I felt like I needed a definitive go to source for whenever I (and all of these have happened) left my earbuds dangling in a cup of water overnight, had the ends pulled off when i've shut them in my car door, let my cat play with them/left them within my cat's general jurisdiction.

T hese are the answer.

The sound is as better than any earphone i've heard, they fit so comfy in your ears and they work faultlessly in stereo. I literally haven't got a bad word to say about these, I absolutely swear by them. Of course they're not idiot proof, but even with my history i've only had to buy like one pair every 6 months and they're so inexpensive.

Do yourself a favour and hook yourself up. Keep it bookmarked for audio emergencies and spread the word.

Florence and the Machine- Lungs (2009)

2010-02-08T00:45:00.002Z

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Florence and the Machine - Lungs (2009)

Dog Days Are Over
Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)
I'm Not Calling You A Liar
Howl
Kiss With A Fist
Girl With One Eye
Drumming Song
Between Two Lungs
Cosmic Love
My Boy Builds Coffins
Hurricane
Blinding
You've Got The Love (Bonus Track)

Password: www.downloadbox.org

Gorillaz

2010-02-07T02:00:00.002Z

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Gorillaz

With the impending release of their 3rd album I figured it would be a good idea to make sure everyone is up to speed. Now Gorillaz owe a lot to some amazing videos but I'm going to try and go half and half here but I think i'd love them a little less were it not for their thought tapping visuals. You can download all the tracks at the bottom of the page.

Personally I hate reading interviews with the "characters" because it seems kinda pointless but I do have an admiration for the world they have created and continue to build upon with their new residence-

[Insert predictable Dylan Thomas quote] with Clint Eastwood, essentially the Gorillaz theme. It encapsulates everything that makes them great; brillaint bass lines, imaginative, atmospheric musicianshop, excellent rhythm, awesome rapping, dozey yet profound lyricism and non-sensicle but irresistable hooks oh and zombie monkeys. This also gave you a glimse into each of the characters Drummer andEmCee Duncan, Bassist Murdoch, guitarist/vocalist Noodles and lead vocalist D2.

19-2000 is the vocal debut of Noodle, it was more of the fun side of the band but still remained true to themselves "get the cool shoe shine" being the hook here. This was back in the day when having a song on a FIFA game was a gauranteed #1. The video goes really well with the music which is incredible as the music is all over the place. mainly keys and electronix but the lyrics are just mental.

Tomorrow comes today answered the question, "So what... I don't get it... Is this band a joke or what, I don't see what.. Is it for kids or... I just don't..?" was answered and this was when I decided this was a quality project. This song has a haunting, apocolyptic feel that the video represents beautifully. One of the lesser heard of the singles but it truly is excellent.

[Tomorrow comes today video]

Rock the house could almost be a club track; looped bass and brass with light rap never really hitting his usual excellent stride, the video is basic if a little showy but still quite fitting.

Feel Good Inc. was an intro to their island in the sky which is a gorgeous visual repeated in future videos. More dismissive but catchier than thou hooks "windmill windmill for the land..."

DARE is an amazing track with an equally amazing video. Noodle on vocals again with Shaun Ryder as a giant head. It's all brilliant and borderline genius.

I have little difficulty with El Manana, Kids with Guns and Last living Souls. Technically they're not great tracks but the video for El Manana is excellent and the other two the stay in your head for days no idea why.

So there you have it. I may have left some off that I haven't seen or really heard but here's stylo to make up for it.

Stylo from Plastic Beach

Singles:

Clint Eastwood
19-2000
Rock the House
Tomorrow Comes today
Feel Good Inc.
Dare
Last living souls
El Manana
Kids with guns

Albums:

Gorillaz
Demon Days

Band of the week: The sounds

2010-02-07T00:28:00.000Z

"The Sounds are a New Wave group which formed in Helsingborg, Sweden in 1999. They consist of Maja Ivarsson (vocals) Felix Rodriguez (guitar), Johan Bengtsson (bass), Jesper Anderberg (keyboards) and Fredrik Nillson (drums). The band has released three albums to date: 2002’s Living in America, 2006’s Dying to Say This to You, and their most recent, Crossing the Rubicon on Original Signal Recordings."

The sounds

Tracks:
Dorchester Hotel
4 songs and a fight

Albums:
Dying to say this to you
Crossing the Rubicon

The XX- The XX (2009)

2010-02-07T00:04:00.001Z

"Formed in 2005, The xx are an alternative trio hailing from London, England, featuring the dual lead vocals of Romy Madley Croft (lead guitar) and Oliver Sim (bass guitar), and backed by Jamie Smith (beats, MPC sampler). Rounding out the group was keyboardist Baria Qureshi, who left the group because of the pressures of an intensive touring schedule.

Bonding over a shared love of dark, emotive 80s guitar sounds and the high-end sheen of American R&B, The xx’s unique sound befits a band whose wide range of influences combine beautiful, hushed vocal duets and a brilliantly inventive use of samples and low-end frequencies to produce stark, sweet, melancholic pop."

The XX

01 - Intro
02 - Vcr
03 - Crystalised
04 - Islands
05 - Heart Skipped A Beat
06 - Fantasy
07 - Shelter
08 - Basic Space
09 - Infinity
10 - Night Time
11 - Stars

Ox. Eagle. Lion. Man

2010-02-06T01:30:00.003Z

Ox. Eagle. Lion. Man

These guys are one of my favourite criminally underrated bands. Lead by the brilliant Frederick Blood-Royale, a lyrical genius in his own right and backed up with mathematically improbbable percussion, twisted, drowned, looped keys and prog heavy, abstract guitar layers. Somehow these elements come together to make dark, post-apocolyptic lyrical themes and make them seem like pop music of the renaissance played by a band from a desolate pangaea ultima centuries from now.

You simply have to get these tracks-

The drowned and the saved
Where dead voices gather

st. mt. helens vietnam band

2010-02-06T00:01:00.001Z

"In an unusual move, the Seattle based Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band gathered considerable attention before releasing a single song. Instead the band relied on word of mouth, their quirky sensibility and several original ‘PSA-style’ youtube videos which don’t even feature their music. Anticipation proved to be a great ally to the band, and upon the release of several songs from their upcoming EP they succeeded in providing a legitimate basis for all the internet hype.

The band is composed of Benjamin Verdoes (Guitar, and vocals), Verdoes’ wife, the mult-instrumentalist Traci Eggleston-Verdoes, his 12-year old adoptive brother Marshall Verdoes (drums), and friends Matthew Dammer (moog, guitar) and Jared Price (bass)."

St. mt. helens vietnam band

1. Who's Asking
2. Masquerade
3. Cheer For Fate
4. Anchors Dropped
5. Going On A Hunt
6. A Year Or Two
7. Albatross, Albatross, Albatross
8. Dull Reason
9. Little Red Shoes
10. En Fuego
11. On The Collar

Jesca Hoop- Hunting My Dress (2009)

2010-02-05T23:04:00.002Z

"One of five children in a fifth generation Mormon couple, Hoop was steeped in a musical environment created by her family. She began performing as a child and starred in her high school choir.

Hoop broke away from the strictures of Mormonism just as her parents were separating. During this time, her mother Janette turned the basement into a theatre, and brought in all sorts of eccentrics to rehearse and put on musical plays for the community."

Jesca Hoop - Hunting My dress (2009)

Reccomended- Whispering Light, The Kingdom, Murder of birds, Tulip

Two Door Cinema Club- Tourist History (2010)

2010-02-05T11:22:00.002Z

"Two Door Cinema Club are 3 people with the help of technology and a thirst for anything quirky. If you were to pose the question, “Where do Two Door Cinema Club live?” and someone was to answer, “Why, Bangor!” That someone would only be 66.67% correct because Two Door Cinema Club are a Bangor/Donaghadee based electro pop band. Their music has been loosely compared to the likes of Death Cab for Cutie and Broken Social Scene but without a definitive capacity to be pigeon-holed. Melodic vocals, which hail from all three members of the outfit, infuse with guitar riffs that have been described as “oceanic” and rhythm described as “pulsing”. To get the symbolism out of the way, take your seats; it’s going to be a blockbuster!"

Two Door Cinema Club- Tourist History (2010)

1. "Cigarettes In The Theatre"
2. "Come Back Home"
3. "Do You Want It All?"
4. "This Is The Life"
5. "Something Good Can Work"
6. "I Can Talk"
7. "Undercover Martyn"
8. "What You Know"
9. "Eat That Up, It's Good For You"
10."You're Not Stubborn"

Essential D/L: Undercover Martyn, Something Good can Work, I can talk, Cigarettes in the theatre

Rogue Wave- Permalight (2010)

2010-02-05T01:34:00.001Z

Rogue Wave- Permalight (2010)

1. Solitary Gun
2. Good Morning (The Future)
3. Sleepwalker
4. Stars and Stripes
5. Permalight
6. Fear Itself
7. Right With You
8. We Will Make A Song Destroy
9. I'll Never Leave You
10. Per Anger
11. You Have Boarded
12. All That Remains

Peter and the wolf- Lightness (2006)

2010-02-04T00:01:00.000Z

Peter and the wolf- Lightness

1 Midnight Train
2 The Ivy
3 Safe Travels
4 My Grey Overcoat
5 The Highway
6 The Owl
7 Anna Maria
8 The Bonsai Tree
9 The Apple Tree
10 Canada
11 Dear Old Robyn
12 Captain Dan
13 Black Saltwater
14 Holy Water
15 Silent Movies
16 Lightness

Reccomended (in order of quality):
silent movies, safe travels, the apple tree, the owl and the bonsai tree

Plan B- Stay too long (2010)

2010-02-03T21:51:00.007Z

You wanna see a guy you shouldn't like? (based on social stereotypes and prejudices..)

Well when this same bile spitting chav (Ben Drew) starts dressing in designer suits and performing soul infused rap and revealing a stunning vocal range, I wonder why I ever listened to anything else.

The focal point of this transformation is "stay too long", which is just relentlessly brilliant. I was literally AGHAST when I saw the video. how had I not heard this guy before?! Well don't go and rush over to google to download his back catalogue because it is violent misogynistic nonsense but good news- he's a changed man. Catch him live in April-

Bristol Anson Rooms – 8th
Oxford Academy – 9th
Birmingham Academy 2 – 10th
Brighton Concorde 2 - 11th
Glasgow Classic Grand - 13th
Leeds Cockpit - 14th
Manchester Academy 2 - 15th
London Shepherds Bush Empire – 16th

And download the track below...

Stay too long

Kaki King

2010-02-03T17:55:00.001Z

Kaki King

"Kaki King (born 24th August 1979 as Katherine Elizabeth King) is an American guitarist and singer from Atlanta, Georgia, United States.

When Kaki King went into the studio in upstate New York to record the tracks for her fourth album, Dreaming Of Revenge, her producer, Malcolm Burn, had one condition: “He said, If someone can’t be sawing a log in half and whistling along to the song, I don’t want it on the record"

Yellowcake.mp3
Dreaming of revenge (Life being what it is, Pull me out alive, Bone chaos in the castle)
Legs to make us longer (Playing with pink noise, Doing the wrong thing)
Everybody loves you (Night after sidewalk)

Bands you Should know: Say Hi (to your mom)

2010-02-03T15:21:00.007Z

Apologies for fewer updates than usual, I switched web browsers a couple of times over the past few days and both googlechrome and safari were really frustrating to use. Anyway I started writing this one and it got to a point where I just said, that's it- i'm going back to firefox.

Say hi to your mom

I found Eric Elbogen's band through 3hive.com around 5 years ago, a blog that is still going strong today; read more about it here. As I mentioned in that post I went through a phase of downloading bands with either great names or great track titles (Suburban kids with biblical names, updownleftrightababstart and Minus the bear's thanks for the killer game of Krisco twister and wanna throw up? get me naked parts I and II). Strangely this strategy rarely steered me wrong, I guess the theory is you have to be good to have a name as austentacious as say hi to your mom, particularly in the early parts of the previous decade. Not so much in the latter.

The first track I heard was "super" and back in the day it wouldn't be a big deal if your blog's track labelling wasn't itunes savvy and, I know it was only 5 or 6 years ago but the blogging world was not what it has come to be and word of mouth was not an ideal route to infamy and finding out who this band was took, no foolin- upwards of 10 minutes...

So, back when burning music onto CD-Rs and taking them around your friend's house to play in a real life CD player was all the rage, I took this very route. Waxing lyrical about a band with songs about relationships with androids, websites so popular they crash servers, insanely catchy songs about laundry and relationships failing due to a girl's superior gaming prowess, as we spent the afternoon on the ps2 (that's right!) we were busy digging the hell out of this band.

I sort of had a mix of the first few albums on there but the first one I physically bought (that's right kids, bought, with real money, from an actual music store) was Ferocious Mopes. This had such legendary tracks as "yeah, i'm in love with an android', 'the forest scares the hell out of me' which retrospectively is reminiscent of scary mansion's "sorry we took all yr money" with the bass and strangled vocals.

"Poor pete is a bit self conscious" is a nice track, great lyrics like "Tonight is not the gonna be when his daily horoscope comes true, he knows venus is in retrograde but not if the moon is new". "I think i'll be a good ghost" is also great and a bit creepy which was what has always been comforting, in a weird way, about say hi, though he was never too serious about it all back then but of course later on that changed.

Numbers and mumbles is the other great album by him, it's the album with super on. It's immensely fun, "pop music of the future", "hit in sweden" "let's talk about spaceships (or anything except you and me)" "but she beat my high score" and their bass driven cover of the beatles' track "i'm so tired" are the highlights but other tracks like a kiss to make it better and your brains vs. my tractor beam are also great. Definately download these two albums but i'll post the others with a couple of reccomended downloads but I haven't given them enough time to warrent any kind of a review. Although I will say "spiders" is brilliant, listen to the lyrics they're actually genius, a genuinely creepy track.

Discosadness (2002) The fritz, Laundry, Super
Numbers & Mumbles (2004) Pop music of the future, A hit in sweden, But she beat my high score, Let's talk about spaceships, i'm so tired, a kiss to make it better, your brains vs. my tractor beam
Ferocious Mopes (2005) The forest scares the hell out of me, Yeah i'm in love with an android, I think i'll be a good ghost, Poor pete is a bit self-conscious
Impeccable Blahs (2006) These Fangs
Wishes and the glitch (2008) Spiders
OOhs and AAhs (2009) The stars they blink only for us, One, Two ... One,

Retrospeed Lab Mixtape #1

2010-02-01T23:50:00.000Z

So in addition to my monthly collection i'm going to bring back the retrospeedlab as a mixtape, a dozen or so tracks from times gone by that i've been enjoying retrospectively.

I'll give a little description of each track as to why they're included. This one's obviously the first and I sort of got it together at the last minute so with a little foresight the future of the RSL mix will be a little better thought out.

RetroSpeed Lab Mixtape #1

M.O.P- Ante Up
One of my favourite youtube videos is Bert and Ernie rapping along to this track. I recently uploaded it to my ipod and once you've seen that video it's hard to seperate the two :)

NRBQ- Wild Weekend, The Zombies- Time of the season, The strawberry alarm- Incense Peppermints
These are included for the reasons outlined in this blog the opening to TSA is just perfect "incense peppermints, the colour of time" psychedelia at its best

Blur- Tracy Jacks/Out of time
I've been listening to Blur more and more of late, no idea why but Out of time from around 2002 was great and you've got to love Tracy Jacks, it's just a great tune- doo doo dooo dahdahdahdahdah do do dooo dadadadada do do dooo etc :D

The vernacular- Make good
Chris Walla and Sean Nelson of Death Cab and Harvey Danger respectively. Both bands I used to hold in high esteem but have kinda gone off. A while back they started this side project and it sounded better than either of their contributions to their regular bands, I expected good things but never really happened. Good track though.

Sisqo- Unleash the dragon/Thong Song
He was in celebrity big brother in England recently, I blogged about him quite prophetically a little while before here UTD is a cool track but maybe not for everyone's tastes. The thong song on the other hand is legendary!

Rod Stewart and Cher- Bewitched
Oh man, this song is beautiful. When I first heard this track I was like dayummmm those two got it goin own! Well, not in so many words. Rob and Cher have such a chemistry oozing through this recording that it feels like an intrusion listening to it. If you don't really like Rod Stewart you'll appreciate him at least on some level after this if it's only his ability to score mature hotties..

White Strips- Doorbell
I had an impulse the other night, to listen to white stripes. No idea why. In my entire life this has never happened but I did and yeah I like what they're selling. Thing is though this is the only track I rated on my ipod, I mean i'd reccomend them but htey seem to be a bit of an whole album band which is great if you really like Jack White but I kinda don't like him enough to dedicate that much time.

Nelly- Girlfriend
Haha oh wow. So this is here because I recently updated my workout playlist and put some nelly on there. This track's great, Nelly picks up a weak N*sync track and spits all over it turning it into something that is actually quite cool.

Greenday- Longview
What a great guitar riff and cool lyrics. Went through a bit of a Greenday phase last year, saw them live in November and this was definately one of the best memories of the gig and one of the tracks I didn't really know before getting into their stuff leading up to the gig. It's great.

Best of January

2010-02-01T23:17:00.000Z

It's a pretty huge selection this month, 73 tracks in fact. It's been a great month. At the end of December we (the collective music blogging conscience), were worried the start of the year would be a slow burner but with Vampire Weekend taking an early shot for the album of the year, M.I.A, Courteeners and Gorillaz leaking tracks and Stornoway finally deciding to release music outside of Oxfordshire it's turned out to be one of the best in recent memory.

There are a couple of tracks on there that are "old" but this in that there is an acoustic version of Marina and the Diamonds "I am not a robot" and Babyshambles "stone me". The reasons for these are the former is gorgeous, the original only has 3 stars on my ipod but when I heard this reimagining it was an instant 5 stars. Pete's band are on there as this track is supposedly going to be on their next album, it was released as a b-side, it's brilliant but not many will have heard it.

Also I will be doing a retro playlist as well which I think i'm going to start doing each month too, it was what the retrospeed lab was originally and I think it's great that I can pay homage to that as well as doing this blog and working with Blalock on his playlist. Music wise it's great times.

Also this month I can incorporate the number of tracks into the title neat eh? I think there's actually 72 tracks. Ah well still it's something I did, so what.

I'll denote the highlights for people with small diskspace or short on time or patience or whatever with "**"

Ou7rov3rsion February 2010

Vampire Weekend- Dimplomat's son**, Run**, Holiday**
United Nations of Sound- Are you ready?**
M.I.A- There are spaces for all that I see
Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man- The drowned and the saved/Where dead voices gather**
Stornoway- You don't know anything**/The pupil of your eye/Zorbing
The little flames- Isobella
New Young Pony Club- Lost a girl
Pelle Carlberg- Clever girls like clever boys much more than clever boys like clever girls
Birds of Tokyo- White witch
Gorillaz- Stylo
Xiu Xiu- Gray Death**
Jukebox the Ghost- Good Day**
Fionn Regan- Put a penny in the slot
Darwin Deez- Up in the clouds**/Deep sea divers
Wiretree- Across my mind/Satellite song/Constellations**
Backseat Goodbye- Summer Drive Song/Technicolour Eyes**
OK Go- White Knuckles/End Love
Lady of the Sunshine- White rose parade
Yeti Lane- This Day**
Today the moon, Tomorrow the sun- Bones**
Spoon- Don't make me a target/You got that cherry bomb**
Besnark Lakes- Albatross
Low vs. Diamond- Heart Attack**
Hot silk pockets- What's the matter**
Performance- Reptile
New Buffalo- I've got you...
The Courteeners- You overdid it, doll
Marina and the diamonds- I am not a robot (acoustic)**
Babyshambles- Stone Me**
Mr. Gnome- Night of the crickets**
Everything Everything- Photoshop Handsome
Dawes- When my time comes**
Via Audio- Olga
Titles Tracks- Every little bit hurts
Chris Garneau- Fireflies
Nedry- A42
Chapel Club- All the eastern girls
Slideshow Freak- ElectroRock Therapy
Gloriana- How far do you wanna go?
Rocket Uppercut- We'll always love the stars
PocketBooks- Falling Leaves**/Fleeting Moments
Anna Calvi- Blackout**
Summer Camp- Ghost train
White Hinterland- Icarus**
Jemina Pearl- Heartbeats
The avett Brothers- I would be sad/DieDieDie
Shad- I don't like to**/Compromise
Wetdog- Lower Leg
Celestial- Crystal Heights
Acid House Kings- This heart is a stone**
Magnetic Fields- The dolls' tea party
Captain Polaroid- Dust will settle on this lifeless town
The international karate plus- Brides Abroad
Monkey Swallows the universe- Jimmy Down the well**
French Semester- The large Bouquet**
Strawberry Fair- Put yourself in my place
Summer cats- Super

Follow the blog, spread the word, tweet the link etc. Enjoy the music.

2010-02-01T00:37:00.000Z

Blalock's Indie/Rock Playlist: February (2010)

1. (00:00:20) Blalock - 1 Year Anniversary
2. (00:04:37) Shout Out Louds - 1999
3. (00:04:35) The Besnard Lakes - Albatross
4. (00:02:41) Lawrence Arabia - Apple Pie Bed
5. (00:03:46) Pandit - Artichoke
6. (00:02:44) Toro Y Moi - Blessa
7. (00:05:18) The Middle East - Blood
8. (00:05:13) Balmorhea - Bowsprit
9. (00:04:02) Grizzly Bear - Boy From School (Hot Chip Cover)
10. (00:04:22) Hot Chip - Brothers
11. (00:03:03) The Nightgowns - Buoy
12. (00:04:27) Geographer - Can't You Wait
13. (00:05:07) Class Actress - Careful What You Say
14. (00:04:35) Threes and Nines - Carnival
15. (00:02:44) Run Toto Run - Catch My Breath
16. (00:02:13) The Soft Pack - C'mon
17. (00:03:11) Darwin Deez - Constellations
18. (00:02:08) Coma Cinema - Cop Caller
19. (00:04:24) The Rest - Cried Wolf (and Other Animals)
20. (00:02:59) Beach Fossils - Daydream
21. (00:04:24) Dirty Dancing - Delicate Chains
22. (00:06:01) Vampire Weekend - Dipomat's Son
23. (00:04:26) Exit Clov - District Menagerie
24. (00:04:53) Tunng - Don't Look Down Or Back
25. (00:03:03) Grave Babies - Eating Babies
26. (00:04:15) Slideshow Freak - Electro Rock Therapy
27. (00:02:55) Bicycle Voice - Ellis The Trellis
28. (00:03:57) Dirty Projectors - Emblem Of The World
29. (00:04:04) Ready Nena - En Silencio
30. (00:03:34) Pomegranates - Everybody Come Outside
31. (00:05:30) The Go Find - Everybody Knows It's Gonna Happen Only Not Tonight
32. (00:04:21) Golden Ages - Everything Will Be Alright
33. (00:02:32) PS I Love You - Facelove
34. (00:04:57) Album Leaf - Falling from the Sun
35. (00:03:13) Electric President - Feathers
36. (00:02:53) Spirit Spine - Flashes
37. (00:03:32) Letting Up Despite Great Faults - Folding Under Stories Told
38. (00:02:22) Sore Eros - Fooled Me
39. (00:02:54) Holly Miranda - Forest Green Oh Forest Green
40. (00:02:53) Happy Birthday - Girls FM
41. (00:02:27) First Rate People - Girl's Night
42. (00:04:06) Rogue Wave - Good Morning
43. (00:02:46) Xiu Xiu - Gray Death
44. (00:02:36) Yeasayer - Grizelda
45. (00:02:51) The Crown Vandals - Guenevere
46. (00:05:14) The Delta Mirror - He Was Worse Than The Needle He Gave You
47. (00:01:56) Whale Tooth - Hibernation Song
48. (00:03:12) Retribution Gospel Choir - Hide It Away
49. (00:04:29) Dreamboat Money - I Can't Wait To Come Home
50. (00:04:58) Oberhofer - I Could Go
51. (00:03:36) White Hinterland - Icarus
52. (00:03:12) Skybox - In a Dream
53. (00:02:40) Phillip Oskar Augustine - Internal Combustion
54. (00:03:54) New Buffalo - I've Got You And You've Got Me (Song Of Contentment)
55. (00:01:58) DOM - Jesus
56. (00:03:46) Laura Veirs - July Flame
57. (00:02:37) Yawn - Kind of Guy
58. (00:02:38) History Books - Kink In My Neck
59. (00:03:07) Magneta Lane - Lady bones
60. (00:04:04) Lemonade - Lifted
61. (00:04:14) Eat Your Birthday Cake - Lightweight Stars
62. (00:03:38) Seabear - Lion Face Boy
63. (00:03:40) Cassis Orange - Listen Heartbeat
64. (00:03:08) Wetdog - Lower Leg
65. (00:03:24) ArpLine - Make It Rain
66. (00:20:16) Moonface - Marimba and Shit-Drums
67. (00:02:49) Burn Before Reading - Markers
68. (00:02:32) Benjamin E. Morsberger - Midnight Tomorrow
69. (00:05:51) Magic Man - Monster
70. (00:04:33) Dark Mean - Music Box
71. (00:05:06) mr. Gnome - Night of The Crickets
72. (00:03:21) Her Space Holiday - No More Good Ideas (ballad version)
73. (00:02:18) Owen - No More No Where
74. (00:02:47) Frightened Rabbit - Nothing Like You
75. (00:05:16) Caribou - Odessa
76. (00:02:59) Via Audio - Olga
77. (00:04:45) Clara Clara - One on One
78. (00:02:48) Baby Birds Don't Drink Milk - Our Girls
79. (00:04:08) My Luminaries - Parasol
80. (00:03:28) Trouble Books - Past the New Parking Deck (single version)
81. (00:02:56) Title Tracks - Piles Of Paper
82. (00:02:32) Fionn Regan - Protection Racket
83. (00:04:11) Tanlines - Real Life (Basic Needs Remix)
84. (00:02:57) The Silent League - Resignation Studies
85. (00:03:19) Bikinians - Rhinocirrhosis
86. (00:02:36) MiniBoone - Rosalina Must Dance Alone
87. (00:04:30) Wildlife - Sea Dreamer
88. (00:03:20) downtown harvest - Shimmy
89. (00:07:15) Louis Aguilar - Six Feet Under
90. (00:05:17) Bearhug - Smack That
91. (00:03:43) matt pond PA - Starting
92. (00:02:45) Tape The Radio - Stay Inside
93. (00:03:55) Los Campesinos - Straight in at 101
94. (00:01:57) Field - Sunday
95. (00:06:00) Jukebox the Ghost - Temptation (New Order Cover)
96. (00:03:22) Steve Goldberg and the Arch Enemies - The Ballad of Cherry Hill
97. (00:03:29) The Incredible Flight of Birdman - The Frustrations of H
98. (00:03:47) The Knife - The Height of Summer
99. (00:03:54) Broken Bells - The High Road
100. (00:04:47) Vampire Weekend - The Kids Don't Stand A Chance (Miike Snow remix)
101. (00:03:40) Wolf Gang - The King And All Of His Men
102. (00:03:58) The Bloodsugars - The Pedestrian Boogie
103. (00:04:16) Efterklang - The Soft Beating
104. (00:02:51) Josiah Wolf - The Trailer And The Truck
105. (00:18:21) Good Shoes - The Way My Heart Beats
106. (00:03:32) Middle Distance Runner - The Wrong Hole
107. (00:04:02) M.I.A. - Theres Space For Ol Dat I See
108. (00:03:08) OK Go - This Too Shall Pass
109. (00:03:03) Memoryhouse - To The Light House (Millionyoung Remix)
110. (00:03:38) Surfer Blood - Twin Peaks
111. (00:02:16) The Watson Twins - U-N-Me
112. (00:03:43) Young Jesus - Up All Night With Stereotypes
113. (00:03:50) Sun Airway - Waiting on You
114. (00:03:06) Bear Hands - What A Drag
115. (00:04:22) Reagan - What's Left Behind (ft. Pandit)
116. (00:04:57) Dawes - When My Time Comes
117. (00:03:29) Sunglasses - Whiplash
118. (00:03:00) Feral Children - Woodland Mutts
119. (00:04:19) Spoon - Written in Reverse
120. (00:02:55) Yarn Owl - Yarn Blues
121. (00:03:06) The Magnetic Fields - You Must Be Out Of Your Mind
122. (00:03:48) IMMOOR - Young Intentions (Feat. Goddamn Electric Bill)
123. (00:03:07) Broadcast 2000 - Your Own Worst Enemy
124. (00:03:35) Stornoway - Zorbing

Playing Time.........: 08:02:45
Total Size...........: 782.03 MB

NFO generated on.....: 2/1/2010 12:48:24 AM

A couple of great covers

2010-01-31T21:13:00.003Z

Mechanical Bride
Umbrella (Rihanna cover)

There's one thing I hate and that's people doing ironic covers of other peoples' work. I lost respect for Ben Gibbard when he did it solo and I don't think I've listened to manic street preachers since I saw them do this live.

Mechanical Bride however do this song and the writers justice with the evocative and hauting melodies of Lauren Doss on a piano laden reimagining of a classic piece of modern popular music.

Melissa Laveaux
Needle in the Hay (Elliott Smith cover)

Melissa Laveaux delivers an original performance that stays true to the isolation and insecurity of the original but without relying upon it. It's soulful and, as covers should; feels like it means something to the artist.

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Band of the week: Friendly Foes

2010-01-31T05:10:00.000Z

Friendly Foes

I hadn't heard of friendly foes until yesterday which is a damn shame, no idea why but we've found them now and they're amazing which is the most important thing.

The three tracks I've heard are full moon morning, couch surfing and get yr shit together; all of which got rated on my ipod. A huge rarity but these are worthy of even higher praise. The latter is heart breaking because they seem to remain criminally under rated. I'm hoping that they're just under the radar and their inclusion on the indie rock playlist next month and festivals in the summer will give them the notoriety they deserve.

Friendly Foes are Ryan Allen, Liz Wittman and Sean Sommer who together make up a self-proclaimed verse-chorus-verse FFM indie-pop band from Michigan. They're in sort of the same vein as The Subways if Subways had a good male singer and Ash if they were fun and still had Charlotte Hatherley.

Full moon morning
Couch surfing
Get yr shit together
My body (is a strange place to live)

Lightspeed Champion- Marlene EP (2010)

2010-01-30T10:08:00.001Z

Lightspeed Champion- Marlene EP (2010)

1.Marlene
2.Concerto .2 "So Long! So Long!"
3.69 Année Érotique
4.He's The Great Imposter
5.Tête Morte

jj- no 3 (2010)

2010-01-30T09:54:00.004Z

jj- no 3 (2010)

"The Swedish duo JJ emerged on Gothenburg’s Sincerely Yours Records in 2009, with a particularly gratifying take on the musical preoccupations common to much of the label’s roster. Their take on neo-Balearic indie pop filters Air France’s tropical haze, the Tough Alliance’s penchant for slyly irreverent appropriation, and the Honeydrips’ fragile twee pop melodicism into a beguilingly lush, gently electronic style reminiscent of prime Saint Etienne with a smoother, beachier sheen."

Mp3:

Let go
Push up

Oxford Bands: Cogwheel Dogs & BabyGravy

2010-01-29T19:09:00.005Z

Cogwheel Dogs

Greenhorn EP

Kitchen
The Greenhorn EP begins with the incessant tapping of metal on metal which then underscore plucked acoustics before intermittant drumming and high tops introduce the vocals. The percussion her is refreshingly unique as it is there to add effect rather than keep time, a feature that endeared me to the their stylings way back when.

The double bass, plucked early on before being bowed later, is haunting enough on its own but with the light background guitars, progressive drums and menacing vocals with perfectly introverted lyricism it adds to a heady concoction that makes for a great opener.

Spit
The ensuing track starts off more traditionally but the layered instrumentation seeps into the track independently to ensure a cocophonic, controlled, yet energetic performance and the vocals are solid in parts where others might waiver. In other words; this chick got a VOICE!

Power in Paper
The music here is a little more sparse as the lyrics take the front seat that they are worthy of. Supported well by driving strings, the delivery is excellant on this track. Possibly the pick of a great bunch.

Octavia
Kicking off much like Alan's Psychadelic Breakfast with what sounds like an egg being fried... Maybe not though who knows, sounds cool though. The sizzling fades out for an acoustic guitar backed up by light bass. The lyricism here is exceptional, I dig the hell out of this track.

Overall the EP is mega impressive. Home recorded faultlessly and, the thing that impresses me the most is that what was great about BIRP inclusion cress and their first single Ducking stool they've taken and built upon to glorious effect.

BabyGravy
Not Waiting/Hot Night

"Not waiting" is a stylish track, the drums that I have eulogised with high praise in the past lead the way with light tabbed electric guitar and sharp vocals following where they drive. Things get heavier with a metal inspired guitar solo which underscores the second verse superbly without ever threatening to drown out the other aspects that make BabyGravy a great band live as well as on record.

The B-side is a little more electro with disco keys and a hook that will stick with you as you step out of the doors into the apocolyptic tempatures of the english streets from the venue. Or the bus. Or wherever you're listening.

Owl City

2010-01-28T05:50:00.005Z

Owl City

I'm going to be completely honest and say I like Owl City and was pretty close to deciding to go see him live in Oxford and even though I also like Lights I decided the whole evening would be a little affeminate and now the english have jumped on the bandwagon it all became a little less cool.

I first became aware of him through working on Blalock's Indie Rock playlist and liked a few tracks, firstly the saltwater room ft. Breanne Duren from his first album. And then I downloaded Ocean Eyes in which I'd reccomend downloading Hot air balloon, Hello Seattle and yes, fireflies is a good song but as the western world is if there is anything that does sound nice it will be played to death until you begin to hate it.

If you just have the songs mentioned above you won't be missing out on an incredible amount however the album as a whole is a really nice listen. The only exception being a song called "Dental Care" which is just dreadful, the lyrics are terrible, the tune sounds like it was written for children and the delivery is pathetic and whiney. The latter is something that he skates around a lot of the time but manages to steer ever so, just clear.

Of course his story is exaggerated, it goes along the lines of; aww he turned to music at his parent's house as a result of his insomnia (which i'm assuming is to link people to other meteoric rises in Seattle as in, "curt cobain turned to heroin as a result of his back pain") while working at a coca-cola warehouse. If his parents aren't mega rich and his job working for the world's largest drinks manufacturer was to pay for either tuition or to feed his family then I apologise but I'm thinking this isn't the case.

I'll level with you, his lyrics are FULL of cliches and songs like "on the wing" is just a list of words and phrases that sound nice in pop songs. BUT it's all a very unintrusive listen, it's nice to have on and as you float in and out it probably will make your day a bit better and sometimes that's all music needs to be.

Sunny Day Real Estate

2010-01-28T01:17:00.001Z

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Sunny Day Real Estate
Essential D/L- Seven, In circles, song about an angel, Round, 47

Sunny Day real estate are seen as the pioneers of emo. I thought I better check them out as I further my e(mo)ducation. Now I'm not emo, people just say that because I'm incredibly morbid and talk about death all the time lol :)

These guys split up before I was even listening to good music but reunited last year on a north american tour and are playing coachella this year before coming over to europe and playing england for the first time ever.

The album I posted above is essentially a greatest hits (in that it's their best songs) so you may as well get the whole thing but the 4 I posted are definately the standouts.

Great bands from '09 that will be even better in '10

2010-01-27T07:26:00.006Z

I would like to reitterate some great bands I saw live in 2009 that I expect to be going on to even greater things this year.

Fanfarlo

I've said alot of things about fanfarlo, most of them at the very least mildly phrophetic of a band so perfect they'll be talked about with revery in folklore towards the second half of this century.

They've been playing the perfect reservoir live almost constantly and are going to keep going, check the dates here. They've been playing a few new tracks too and they sound incredibly promising.

6 Day Riot

Have a plan was just magnificent. I saw them last year and wasn't perfectly sure what to expect but they were brilliant, an absolute pleasure to catch live. I expect they'll be at festivals this summer too and from what I hear they're warming up for a new album right now. They're having a small tour early this year so check the dates here.

Courteeners

They're releasing Falcon pretty soon. St. Jude was brilliant, an absolutely majestic retrospective over a the band's early career. Of course they are flourishing now and have gained a great live reputation and judging from the two tracks released from it are moving on a bit from the early oasis inspired youthful exhubberance of their debut. Definately something to look forward to.

Gaslight Anthem

Since declaring the '59 sound my album of 2000-2010 Gaslight Anthem, surely inspired by such an accolade have gotten back in the studio. Now i'm not expecting '59 sound part 2 but nor would I be dissapointed if they didn't change a thing as that was a perfect moment in modern music. Im sure that whatever they do bring out it'll be a nice encore to it rather than a removal.

Lightspeed Champion

Now Dev Hynes is releasing his second album. The first was the truly imperious falling of the lavender bridge which was just an inspirational piece of musical artistry. Of course he did have a hand from Bright Eyes' Mike Mogis on it and that guy knows how to steady a ship. I heard lead single marlene live years ago and didn't really get it. It's now 2010 he's just released the marlene ep and nothing on that EP stuck with me. However he's great live, a really charming and humble performer who is content in the knowledge of what he and those around him are capable of.

Quadrophenia

2010-01-27T06:31:00.004Z

When I first started this blog I used to give little introductions into how things were going in real life. I kinda stopped this as it seemed a little bit pointless! There's twitter for getting updates on what I had for breakfast (weetabix btw ;)) but recently i've felt like crap constantly and never felt even remotely ok. Anyway turns out- mould all over the bottom half of my curtains which i've been breathing in for months while I slept. Got rid of it, now I feel great. Woke up at 6am this morning not feeling sick for the first time in ages! I had such bad panda eyes as well I looked like death and even those are fading away! Lol so yeah check for mould in your room it's super bad for you.

The Who- Quadrophenia (1979)
[Essential Downloads- The punk and the godfather, I've had enough, Love rain o'er me, My generation]

I saw this for the first time the other day. It was highly anticipated as over the past year or so I've gained an attention span for watching movies that I never thought possible. True I could really only manage to sit through 20 minute american sit coms prior to this. Besides the basic message of this movie is fuck being part of a scene and be who you wanna be.

This movie is about music and that's why it's great. The underlying thing is the mod -v- rocker culture clash but I'm not even 100% what a mod is and still enjoyed the undertones as much as the musical journey that we are led upon along with Phil Daniels who I think Alex Turner would get away with playing in a remake, although obviously that'd be pointless they just look similar.

There's great scenes, Louie Louie and My Generation at a house party early on, Jimmy dancing in the club before getting thrown out and sleeping on the beach and finally going back to the scenes of a great time which as we all know you should never do but which is hard to resist. BELLBOY!!!

Download the movie or you can probably get it off ebay for a few pounds. It's worth having in your collection. As good for living in the moment as I'd imagine it is for nostalgia.

My new music routines...

2010-01-27T04:38:00.003Z

I figured it might actually be sensible to post when i'm going through these. Basically there's online and offline research. Offline tends to be through magazines and other publications such as NME and Kerrang. Online a myriad of blogs are at our disposal and as well as going through my favourites regularly I also search for ones that are probably amazing but I haven't heard of yet.

You're catching me on a wednesday which is the day I get nme delivered. Now, I've grown increasingly frustrated with NME as it doesn't really give any new information except for opinions which tend to be outlandish and ill researched. They have a few good features though, the new album releases, the 10 tracks you have to hear this week and the reason I can't cancel my subscription- academic gig listings.

So right now i'm on the album page reading about these guys...

Everybody was in the french resistance... Now!

This is Eddie Argos of Art Brut and his Girlfriend from Blood Arm. It's a concept album that not so much meets inbetween their two bands but meets halfway between "inspired" and "stupid" there's a few good tracks but also a track written from Billie Jean's child's point of view. Yeah, that Billie Jean. So make up your own mind whether this is a positive use of resources, i'd reccomend the top one but check out the others if you like it-

G.I.R.L.F.R.E.N (You Know I’ve Got A)
Scarborough Faire
Hey it's Jimmy Mack

Race Horses

You may be aware of race horses as they released the two best songs from this their debut album last year. You can get that here. Cake and man in my mind are great tracks, yeah they're welsh so get comparisons to every other welsh artist there is; Super Furry Animals, Manic Street Preachers. I don't think there are any others... Tom Jones and Catatonia... ah you know bullet for my valentine are from bridgend? Intense.

I fear I may have swayed off topic here. So, if you do nothing else make sure you download "cake" it's brilliant. Great chorus, it sounds like it's straight out of the 60s.

I'm just going to post links to the rest as i'm weary-

Midlake- The courage of others
Lawrence of arabia- Chant Darling
Erland and the carnival- S/T (these guys are awesome)

White Hinterland

2010-01-21T18:24:00.002Z

White Hinterland

"White Hinterland is the artist name of Portland, Oregon based Casey Dienel (born March 10, 1985), an American singer-songwriter and pianist. She released her debut album, Wind-Up Canary, in 2006 on Hush Records under her own name. Dienel presently performs and records as White Hinterland, whose first album, titled Phylactery Factory, was released on March 4, 2008, by the independent record label Dead Oceans"

Phylactery Factory
(Rec- Dreaming of the plum trees, Calliope and the destruction of the art deco house)
Icarus

Smith Westerns

2010-01-21T00:35:00.000Z

Smith Westerns
Reccomended: Boys are fine, Be My Girl, Girl in Love, Dreams

"The Smith Westerns are from Chicago, and as far as we can tell are either named after a tourist trinket manufacturer in Tacoma or a chain of honkytonk restaurants in south England. Maybe both. Imagine being on family vacation somewhere kind of corny and sucky but running into a girl or boy who is also on family vacation in the same corny, sucky place. You guys buy each other pins from the gift shop at the foot of a rollercoaster, maybe they’re little cowboy hats. You throw some skeeball. Then you go back to your hometowns and write each other crazy letters for the rest of the summer while listening to Marc Bolan. That’s what this song sounds like. So maybe they know what they’re doing with the name. Regardless, this shit is so good we had to learn all the words just so we could yell it at grumpy snitches on the subway." ~ Last.fm

First aid kit- The big black and the blue (2010)

2010-01-21T00:12:00.007Z

First aid kit- The big black and the blue (2010)
Essential: Sailor song, waltz for richard

My original FAK post-

My favourite band of the week for sure! Such an accolade might sound trivial but literally each week I have a favourite band that I listen to loads and each of them hold a place in my music library (heart) forever.

I found them because fanfarlo announced they're replaying the gig I missed at the jericho which first of all was the best news I could possibly have gotten, anyway these guys are supporting...

First aid kit

O.K as ever I barely even think about what an artist might look like let alone actually search it out, the only time this method ever really did me a disservice was with patrick wolf, lol I just had no way to prepare for that! Anyway these guys are YOUNG. 15 and 18 to be precise. My knee jerk response would be to say yeah so what so are smoosh but here's the thing- first aid kit's lyrics are not at all representative of their age. When I first listened to them I had in mind the chick was like 32! Smoosh's lyrics are very teen, these.. just are not.

The guardian gave them a bit of a slating in their new band of the day review so now i'm saying fuck the gaurdian's lists because they've been giving up and coming bands a really fucking hard time the past couple of weeks and it is NOT. COOL. tossers.

Beach House- Teen Dream (2010)

2010-01-21T00:02:00.000Z

Beach house- teen dream (2010)
Essential D/L: Norway, Silver soul and take care

"Beach House is an indie rock/dream pop group which formed in 2005 in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The group consists of Victoria Legrand (vocals, organ) and Alex Scally (guitar, keyboards). Legrand is the niece of french composer Michel Legrand. The group has released three albums: 2006’s “Beach House”, 2008’s “Devotion” and “Teen Dream” in early 2010.""

United Nations of Sound

2010-01-21T00:01:00.000Z

Richard Ashcroft

"Since The Verve broke up again (for the third time) after releasing 'Forth' in 2008, Ashcroft has started a new band - the awkwardly named United Nations of Sound (his ex-Verve bandmates Nick McCabe and Simon Jones have also started a new band - The Black Ships - with Davide Rossi from Goldfrapp).

The band has just released their first single: Are You Ready - which thumps and pounds along to Ashcroft's distinct vocals (and theosophical lyrics) before crescendoing into a Stones-like wall of guitar. The single was produced by No I.D. (Common, Kanye West) and is from the debut album, due to be released in late March." ~ National Post

Are you ready?

Stornoway

2010-01-20T05:48:00.000Z

Stornoway

It's been a while in coming but i'm finally giving a heads up about Stornoway. I first became aware of them at a local Oxford festival where they played a tent and it was absolutely packed, you couldn't even see them there were so many people, my first taste of "Stornomania"...

O.K maybe that phrase isn't particularly cogent when referencing a folk band from Oxford but they're passionately revered around the town. The first time I actually got to SEE them was on my birthday, in the oxford botanical gardens-

It was as picturesque and intimate a performance as you could ever wish for. My education from that day I have to pass on is thus; the name was chosen as it's a place none of them had ever been. The lead singer Brian Briggs had become engaged the night before which is why there is champagne in the bottom left of that picture.

It was a weird thing because the whole thing was go to see stornoway then go to another gig at the academy later on but after this I just thought nothing could top that and went home happy about 5pm.

I love a band who play unique venues, when Long Blondes played a library back in 2005, Gaby Young playing vintage clothes stores and recently Stornoway became the first band to play the Sheldonian- Yeah that's right, a gig in the sheldonion-

The real reason for the timing of this post is that Stornoway's album has recently become available. The first thing that struck me was that I've got all of the songs already and I don't know whether it's because i'm local as most are from different sources but my thoughts on this are as follows. An album ideally should capture a period of a band's career and rather than being some huge production the original opus should ideally chronicle their rise to releasing their debut and having listened to these songs for a while now I think it captures that perfectly.

My favourite track is "you don't know anything" complete with three way harmonies and local references. Zorbing and Unfaithful are the two other tracks that I tend to point people towards when originally getting into them but the style of "Pupil of your eye" really is worth a check out.

Last.fm
Myspace
Facebook
Wiki

And stylo was it's name...

2010-01-20T00:04:00.000Z

O.. sheesh y'all i meant to blog about gorillaz. I'll do it when the album comes out- mean time...

Gorillaz- Stylo (single 2010)

big bang theory

2010-01-19T11:46:00.004Z

Gotta love big bang theory, I seriously think Sheldon is the best character since Homer Simpson.

The brilliant Strike it gently has all the episodes of series 3 so far and all the past episodes.

Big bang theory

Cloud Cult

2010-01-19T05:09:00.000Z

Cloud Cult

I wanted to post a couple of songs by these guys they're one of my most cherished bands. I heard about them through this track, I was sent it when my grandfather died-

Transistor Radio

"I heard grandpa on my transistor radio
He said, "Kid, its time for me to go,
And I know that there was something that I wanted to show you,
But its time for you to find it on your own."
Let me tell you about rage when a signal died that day,
Theres nothing out there and I don't care--its to take my life away
"I'm not ready and I don't want to see, Nope"

So I checked them out, I was at university in canada at the time and the second song I heard was "moving to canada" and it seemed like this band was writing for me. That song isn't particularly great but it sounds upset yet optimistic and that was where I was at that point. However the second song I wanted to highlight is as beautiful as the first-

The song of the deaf girl

"Did you hear about the deaf girl
The one whose song's gone number one
Three minutes of silence on the radio
It's the best damn gift for everyone"

Hear is that song if you're curious-

The deaf girl's song

Ash- The A to Z Series

2010-01-19T01:39:00.001Z

Most people probably know Ash from the 90s. When I saw them last summer it was a primarily nostalgic time, awesome but dated. Last year they announced (during the "what can other bands do to "do a radio head"" period) they decided to release one single a month and then release those 12 songs as a collection at the end of the year (each year?). The first I heard was white rabbit which was great. Here's the rest-

Ash- A-Z (2010)

01 Return of White Rabbit
02 True Love 1980
03 Joy Kicks Darkness
04 Arcadia
05 Tracers
06 The dead disciples
07 Pripyat
08 Lay down your arms
09 Ichiban
10 Space shot

Psychedelic/College Rock

2010-01-15T19:34:00.006Z

I've been wanting to do a post on psychedelic/stoner/college rock for a while and here's my favourite tracks from this genre. If you don't know the tracks i'm going to post where they were featured in simpsons episodes ;)

QBRC- Wild Weekend The episode where Homer goes to the Superbowl and Lisa and Marge try their hand at Vincent Price's egg magic. This song is in the episode and briefly at the end after they say "don't you find it weird in an episode about the superbowl and featuring Dolly Parton we didn't see any football OR singing?"

Byrds- Turn Turn Turn This is from "Three men and a comic book" where Barts drinking a shake and starts thinking in the wonderyears voice.

Strawberry Alarm Clock - Incense Peppermints This is from the stonerific perfection that is "weekend at burnsies" this is the part where homer is going about his day high and as he's shaving rainbows come out of his face :)

Zombies- Time of the season From "d'oh in the wind" where homer becomes a hippie

Jefferson airplane- White Rabbit This is from the same episode as the one above but has also been used in two other (newer and worse) episodes. It's also used in pretty much every stoner movie ever.

Enjoy and if you can, smoke along to these tracks! I myself don't so have one for me ;)

The new lightspeed champion album

2010-01-14T17:30:00.002Z

I just wanted to highlight my anticipation for the new lightspeed champion album by making sure everyone else has already fallen for his debut-

First up, I have a lot of respect for brandon flowers. Yeah shock right? It's just he doesn't seem to be in it for the money, he writes soooo much good music that isn't put on major release I mean- don't shoot me santa, romeo and juliet, the ballad of michael valentine- he could have put all these on day and age and it would have been the biggest album of the year, I like to think there's a reason he doesn't..

There was no real reason I mentioned the killers, it was just something that had been on my mind and I wanted to let it out...

Lightspeed champion
Essential Downloads: galaxy of the lost, tell me what it's worth, dry lips and no surprise for wendela

Former test icicle, younger than me but let's not hate! I saw him for the first time in birmingham supporting bright eyes in one of the most uncomfortable warm ups i've seen. His plane was late so had to do like a 20 minute acoustic performance, some of the crowd was disgustingly poor mannered, it was in birmingham though so... *isolates certain portion of audience!*

He was alright that night but saw him at the charlotte in leicester and he was spectacular. I believe his debut album went to number one in the english popular music charts but maybe it didn't. Either way it was awesome, love it- plus emmy the great does backing vocals on it. That night he was supported by the amazing Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man which I am going to write about soon as i've rediscovered their apocolyptic awesomeness of late.

The comparison to mr. flowers is due to how many sessions this guy puts on the net for his fans, titles like "this album was written and recorded in a day" and "album in a day 2" and "house sitting sessions" and an album of greenday covers he works hard man and loves music. Although one time I read he dug "pork and beans" by weezer so much he listened to it constantly for a week... This hopefully is not true as that song is more puke and balls than anything else.

His music is visceral, maybe I use that adjective too much just cos I know it and it makes me feel superior or maybe it's relevant here. The music is expansive, thanks i'm sure in part to mike mogis' hand, you can really hear his input throughout the album. And the lyrical themes are original (Hate to think what would happen if I started to drink like you, maybe I will loosen up..well, pour me another gin. Guzzle down, my neck will burn as we kiss and I'm sick in your mouth.) backing from emmy the great perfects an already great album.

Highlights of the album are galaxy of the lost, tell me what it's worth, dry lips and no surprise for wendela. That's if you don't like getting a feel for the whole album and *goes on rant about popular music*... Enjoy!

The Spill Canvas- Abnormalities EP (2010)

2010-01-14T01:16:00.001Z

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The Spill Canvas- Abnormalities EP

Remember the days where you'd pick up an album just because you liked the look of their album art? They're not totally gone, actually in theory they should be more prominant what with the freeness of everything. However this is why I picked up this recently leaked EP.

These guys are like Patrick Stump doing Rocket Summer covers, which is even better than it sounds. Oh god yeah, so emo get over it. Basically you'll really like this band if you like that sort of thing.

This streaming track gives you the best idea of their sound.

Birds of Tokyo- Universes (2009)

2010-01-14T00:06:00.000Z

Birds of Tokyo - Universes (2009)

When this band came on my recently added playlist on my ipod I went to skip as I was looking for new music and didn't have time to listen to accomplished bands. It turns out however, that Birds of Tokyo aren't seasoned pro's but just really, really good.

Loads of streaming tracks at their last.fm for you to check out but you could do worse than have these guys on your ipod. They sound like any quite good rock bands of today in 20 years when they're doing greatest hits tours.

R.I.P Jay Reatard

2010-01-13T21:50:00.002Z

Jay Reatard 1980-2010

It's always sad when a young artist passes away, obviously this is no exception. May his music live on.

My shadow
Blood Visions
It's so easy

Rest in peace.

The Avett Brothers

2010-01-13T10:39:00.005Z

The Avett Brothers
I and Love and You, January Wedding, Kick Drum Heart, Laundry Room

You're perfectly welcome to the apprehension that you hold. If Oasis were called The Salford Siblings, the cribs were called the Jumpin' Jarman Bros or Kings of Leon the "ridiculously inbred family who write songs about firey sex with each other but there's nothing weird going on, honest... band" then you'd probably have held them in the same disregard. But alas your fears are unfounded and your apprehension? moronic!

They're now a four piece and so with the bluesgrass vibe they got goin own it'd be easy to compare them to Mumford and sons. They're not quite that though. You know that split EP Ben Gibbard did with Andrew Kenny called home and it was all quite countryfied, this is very reminiscent of that.

They play nice acoustic melodies, write quite good songs and harmonise without it getting a bit much. They've been in a lot of tips for 2010 but I wouldn't go that far. Their inclusion is on the back of Mumford and sons who had immense blog hype and an album that was anticipated for three quarters of a year. The Avett brothers' album in which the hype is built is already available and unless you're vampire weekend it'll take a lot to still have people getting that excited in 11 months' time.

Yeasayer- Odd Blood (2010)

2010-01-13T10:16:00.006Z

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Yeasayer- Odd Blood (2010)
Recommended Downloads: Ambling Alp, I remember, The Children, Madder Red

They're labelled as experimental and psychadelic but I'd be wary of calling anyone that since the garbage that was animal collective and besides- they're not really. They have elements sure, but the best ones and if those elements improve the track then it happens but otherwise they're not doing anything for the sake of it which is a relief with copycat AC's and the originals still unfortunately in existence.

I want to give a huge shout out to the bassist on this album, Ira Wolf Tuton. It's brilliant, it doesn't drive the tracks so much as adding alot to the journey. Think of it like being lost but having someone who stops the atmosphere from getting too intense.

Catalogue this one next to local natives and mgmt in your collection.

Shad

2010-01-12T00:51:00.000Z

Shad

One of the only things that come close to the impact rush of discovering a great new act is finding someone else who can actually rap and this guy is the best rapper i've stumbled upon since Mr. Shaodow. His flow reminds me of Deltron 3030 in the late 90's. It's seemless, effortless and passionate. Best of all- he's canadian!

His sound is encompassed by three key points; a great beat, a masterful flow and ingenious lyricism. There are so many more layers to his rhymes though. There's the usual name dropping that you get in rap but they aren't there just for the sake of it, those big names fit around his rhymes. Then there's his honesty,

"When i'm writing I repeatedly edit words and rework tracks, i'll admit i'm like the Raptors- I got weak first drafts", O.K, get over the brilliance of that simile and compare it to Lil' Wayne's "I don't write shit cos I aint got time", Oh little weezy you do, you write a hell of a lot of shit; i've not heard as much shit as your latest album since i roomed with Robert Coultrane...

The two tracks i've put here have both been given coveted 4 star ratings on my ipod. You're missing out if you don't check this guy out-

I don't like to
Compromise

Eilen Jewell

2010-01-11T15:57:00.004Z

Eilen Jewell

When this first came on my recently added playlist on my ipod today, I was bemused as to how a country artist had made their way through a pretty ruthless screening process. The closest to country i've allowed in the past is Jenny Lewis and that's exactly the reason she's on there.

She has the smoke and fire of the Rilo Kiley frontwoman with the darkness and whiskey tinge of Chan Marshall. The instrumentation too, is gorgeous. Slow downstrokes that sound like spilling a thousand tiny diamonds. Lyrically the themes are what you would expect but it's the original perspective that makes her stand out. It's all undeniably rooted in country but with an irresistable edge.

As a rule I only reccomend one country artist a century but I have no problem making an exception here. Seriously though if you know of any other great non cliche artists from this genre i've got a pretty open mind right about now.

Sea of tears

Delphic- Acolyte (2010)

2010-01-11T00:01:00.002Z

Delphic- Acolyte (2010)

I blogged about delphic in the first half of last year, heard counterpoint to the extent I didn't want to hear it for another 6 months. Cue their inclusion in alot of big in 2010 lists, I go to check them out again and they're not even on my ipod. Still though that made me think I should get reacquainted and check out their album, it's in the title and here's counterpoint for the uninitiated.

The gigwise review

Penguin Prison

2010-01-10T22:46:00.004Z

Really weird thing about penguin prison seems I had a track by them on my ipod since early last year and the second I heard it today I remembered it as if it was one of my most played. Preeeeetty high praise I think!?

Penguin Prison

So there's been a lot of electro indie around and i've not been a huge fan. Golden Silvers opened my eyes to the road of acceptance last year but i think i'll always be a bit wary. So the guys from new york and someone once said to me if you can make it there you can't make it anywhere... when i say said, i mean sang and when i say someone i mean Frank Sinatra and when I say to me I mean to my Grandma 50 years ago, but you get the idea. O.K I'm thinking about deleting this whole paragraph...

Bottom line is, you know what the deal is- it's electro with intermittent vocals, it's catchy and enjoyable but without too much depth. Get these two tracks and they're a definate good addition to your pallette but you won't be missing out too much if you don't but his album if electro artists make those?

The track in question- Funny thing
Animal Animal
Marina and the diamonds- I am not a robot (Penguin Prison remix)

This is the worst blog i've ever written. I'm going to bed :p

Sharks

2010-01-10T22:08:00.004Z

Smalltalk: Leamington is a town near where I grew up. Sharks are the first worthwhile band since Nizlopi to come out of that void of an area and I thought they were were a mention.

Sharks

I first became aware of Sharks through Kerrang which i've recently been favouring over any other music publication and indeed any competing music publication but was reminded of them when I referred to my old port of call from back in the day, NME for they were featured on this rather fantastic mixtape.

I've been hearing a lot of comparisons to "ghost of a thousand" a band which i couldn't get away from last year. These guys are a lot more coherant and wouldn't be so bad to wake up to at 10am. I mean from the point of view I woke up to GOAT last summer at about 10am and they blew my fragile face off.

The guitars are sharp metal, the vocals are 90s indie and the harmonies? well they push these guys from middle of the road to likeable. Even Frank Carter thinks so.

OK Go! Of the blue colour of the sky (2010)

2010-01-07T18:33:00.004Z

OK Go! Of the blue colour of the sky (2010)

WTF
Shall Pass
All Is Not Lost
Needing Getting
Skyscrapers
White Knuckles
I Want You So Bad I Cant Breathe
End Love
Before The Earth Was Round
Last Leaf
Back From Kathmandu
While You Were Asleep
In The Glass

Internet darlings Ok Go's third album. Their second was brilliant, 2006 was a great summer and that album was a soundtrack to it. It was however one of those albums that to someone who didn't have it on their playlist that summer will probably think it was kind of lame. Good memories though, here's to making some more with this one.

Their videos for "here is goes again" and "a million ways" were incredibly popular back in the day when newscasters would say "A rock band has gained massive success on a video sharing website known as "you. tube". where ordinary people can "up. load" videos..." after the first one people thought that was it, the second one was maybe a stretch i mean they were no "college jocks get lonely and bored"... and yet, here they go. again.

Courteeners- You overdid it doll (2010)

2010-01-06T14:09:00.002Z

Courteeners- You overdid it doll

Thanks to Naomi Preston for the link

Time For Heroes: Peter Doherty

2010-01-06T00:01:00.001Z

The inspiration for the title of this blog and the inspiration to a generation-

Peter Doherty

It's hard to talk to people who have decided they don't like Pete Doherty. So I don't.

For everyone else I figured the best way to go about doing justice to the spokesperson for a flailing generation is to focus on the three defining acts of his career so far.

There's around 3 links in each of the titles so make sure you don't miss any.

The Li berti nes
Essential Downloads- Vertigo, Don't look back into the sun, Time for heroes, Up the bracket, What a waster, Boys in the band, The good old days, Can't stand me now, Last post on the bugle, Music when the lights go out, HaHa wall, Arbeit Mach Frei, The Saga, what katie did, campaign of hate, What became of the likely lads

It would just make sense to download both albums as they are both flawless. It's a shame the majority of this generation won't get to see them live because they are the iconic band of that period but it's another question as to whether the majority of them really deserve it.

These albums for me are raw passion and energy mixed with some great music and some of the best songwriting of recent times. I tend to point to this as one of his finer moments-

Is it cruel or kind
Not to speak my mind
And to lie to you
Rather than hurt you?
Well, I'll confess all of my sins
After several large gins
But still I'll hide from you
I'll hide what's inside from you.
And alarm bells ring
When you say your heart still sings
When you're with me
Oh darling, please forgive me
But I no longer hear the music

The geurilla gigs and live shows merely go down in folklore for the time being.

The video for up the bracket is a nice snapshot of such times-

Baby shambles
Essential Downloads: La Belle Et La Bete, Fuck Forever, in love with a feeling, down in albion, back from the dead, 32nd december, carry on up the morning, delivery, you talk, un bilo titled, unstookie titled, baddies boogie, lost art of murder, beg steal and borrow, the blinding.

Babyshambles' gigs are unique in that there's the sense of nostalgia of the Libertines' times, the enigma that is Pete Doherty, the great music that Babyshambles made in the wake of the split and in the past two years seeing a great band with huge tracks that don't need any of that. Well except pete.

At university after a night of high times I'd put on old cd's of libertines and babyshambles sessions and drown in the portrait of a distinct moment in his career that they encapsulated. The nearest thing to those cd's are Miles Davis' bitches brew sessions in terms of the atmosphere they capture and convey. This demo like feel encapsulates their debut album, down in albion. It's marvellously intoxicating.

The first time I saw Babyshambles was in 2004. I was completely sober, Pete wasn't and by the end of the night made everyone feel like they were on one hell of a trip, such was his charisma. He came on about midnight, just as the place was ready to fall apart with the riotous crowd, such were the early days of the shambles. He went off after around 15 minutes and said he couldn't play any longer unless he paid something like £2000 to pay the venue's fine.

So I left around 4am slowly walking out, exhausted as pete played acoustically on his own. I've no idea when the gig finished but it was one hell of a time.

That night he played a lot of Libertines tracks. Next time I went to see him up in Manchester he played zero. Shotter's nation was an incredible album and Pete was becoming a pretty polished performer, I mean as much as is physically possible for him to be. He wasn't totally clean but I saw him solo in the summer and last month in Birmingham and he looks as healthy as i've ever seen and the gigs were flawless, intertwining classic Libertines and Babyshambles with some astounding stuff from their upcoming LP. Rarely do you get the kind of reception those tracks get when you announce you're playing something new but these are already huge amoung fans.

Peter Doherty
Essential Downloads- Last of the english roses, A little death around the eyes, New love grows on trees, For lovers, Arcadie, Broken love song

So that's Peter Doherty. If you read tabloid newspapers you've got no reason to like him because who wants to pay any attention to a talentless druggie who's in and out of prison constantly? Of course if you listen to the music and have the remotest appreciation for passionate artistry you probably already dig his bones. There's probably some stuff on this page you haven't gotten already though, there was a lot I didn't! Thankyou for having an open mind.

Brazos- Phosphorescent Blues (2009)

2010-01-05T14:22:00.001Z

Brazos - Phosphorescent Blues (2009).rar

01 My Buddy
02 Kid
03 The Observer
04 Avignon
05 Pues
06 Day Glo
07 Tell
08 We Understand Each Other
09 Downtown Boys
10 For So Long Now

Time For Heroes: Eminem

2010-01-05T12:02:00.005Z

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The first in my series focusing on the people who were there for people who needed them for the past decade and for the people to take those into the next decade. There'll be about 50 of these. First up-

Marshall Bruce Mathers III

I first heard eminem in high school around 1998. When Busta Rhymes first heard him, his reaction was to put his face through the windscreen of his tour bus. My reaction was symbolically similar but no way was I cool enough to pull off the physical act.

I was around 13 at the time and now I realise quite how supportive my parents were putting up with me playing Dre's 2001 album and Eminem's Slim Shady LP in the car relentlessly until I went to college.

It's a crime that people aren't aware of some of Eminem's lesser known tracks which tend to be the ones where he isn't playing dress up. I feel it pretty important to do a retrospective of 1998-2005 as he was on top the whole time.

The Slim Shady LP (1999)
Essential Downloads- Guilty Conscience, Brain Damage, If I had, My fault

Yeah. So the lead off single off this took rap into the mainsteam, my name is. I think it made a lot of people realise rap isn't everything it's made to be and is a pretty good time. This started off his thing with releasing a joke single to lead off the album but that's all those tracks were and if you don't listen to the rest of the albums then- ya know.

Guilty Conscience was the track I mentioned above relating to Busta Rhymes. At the time the track was pretty revolutionary and reading Dre's biography he says he made the beat and did a sort of back and forth with Em relating to these three stories and he suddenly came out with the now infamous line "who's gonna take advice from somebody who slapped dee barnes" and then went on with "what's wrong didn't think I'd remember, temper temper mr. dre, mr. NWA, mr AKA, mr coming straight outta compton y'all better make way".

Brain Damage was one of Eminem's early lawsuits as it's about his time at high school and a few incidents regarding a guy called DeAngelo Bailey. It's a pretty intense track and if you've been bullied it resonates and his anger in this track but the reason it was thrown out of court is the same reason it's not "that" intense and that's that the scenarios detailed in the song are quite abstract and obviously not a realistic detailing of actual events.

'97 Bonnie and Clyde depicts a recurring theme in Eminem's works and that is describing murderous fantasies of his on off wife Kim. If you don't think about it too much the track is quite good but I think people thinking about the reality of Eminem's debut and not being able to suspend a reasonable sense of disbelief is why there was a little tiny bit of an uproar over it.

The lyrics on Role Model hark to his next album, it could easily have been on it. The backing track on it is infectious as hell. This track showed great potential. My Fault shows brilliant ability in capturing a scene with lyricism and quite an accurate relaying of drug abuse at house parties and how from one point of view it can be good times and from others it can be pretty bad news.

If I keep going into this much detail this post is going to be massive so basically get the tracks i've mentioned above to get a good grasp on Eminem's earlier stuff. It really is perfect for that sort of high school age. I'm not saying get it for your kids cos that'd be mental but if you just don't give a fuck and haven't heard anyone else say it yet, get it. It's good but really pales in comparison to the follow up.

Dr. Dre- 2001

In between his debut and me going to college Dre released his amazing follow up to the chronic and it featured a couple of tracks with eminem, one was what's the difference but one was forgot about dre and featured this verse which pretty much went down in history-

So what do you say to somebody you hate
Or anybody tryna bring trouble your way
Wanna resolve things in a bloodier way
Just study your tape of NWA.
One day I was walkin by
Wit a walkmen on
When I caught a guy givin me an awkward eye
And strangled him off in the parkin lot wit his Karl Kani
I don't give a fuck if it's dark or not
I'm harder than me tryna park a Dodge
But I'm drunk as fuck
Right next to a humungous truck in a two car garage
Hoppin out wit two broken legs tryna walk it off
Fuck you too bitch call the cops
I'ma kill you and them loud ass mother fuckin barkin dogs

Marshall Mathers LP
Essential Downloads- Kill you, Stan, Who knew?, I'm back, The way I am, kids.

Where the Slim Shady LP was autobiographical in an exaggerated comic way the Marshall Mathers LP was plain brutal honesty. Even the comic tracks like "real slim shady". It was released about a year after the slim shady ep and sold about 2 million in the first week which is enough to make susan boyle question her very existence.

It kicks off with kill you which is such a good track, the dexterity he shows in his language as well as his ability to sum up the whirlwind of the past 12 months into a few lines is incredible.

Stan is next and what can you say about this that hasn't already. It's the most original concept for a song and his delivery is mind blowing like how can anyone come up with this kind of stuff? This track is what elevated Eminem to legendary status, number ones all over the place, yeah pissing all over everyone and he could do nothing wrong for the next few years. If you don't know stan, it's the tale of having no hope and putting all your faith into somebody that there is no way they can give you all the help you need.

The way I am, lyrically is as potent as it gets. The references to his own life along with modern society, gun crime, violence and general celebrity culture are interweaved to make a track that just doesn't let up for its entire duration. Drug Ballad is just as brilliant. It's one of my favourite Em tracks without a doubt.

The whole album is brilliant although, bit of advice, don't download Kim. I don't think i've ever recovered from having it come on in shuffle on my ipod in 2003 while I was having a nap haha. I literally haven't heard that track in 6 years, it's mental. If you want to hear just why some people have taken umbridge to being namechecked on some of his tracks give it a listen.

There's a bonus track on the end of this called kids which you really should give a few minutes of your life to. It's 9 years later and i still think it's great.

There are a few guest appearences on the album that aren't so good. Bizarre and Xzibit being the worst of these but there's a funny bit in Bitch Please II where snoop dogg goes "nu-uh no he didn't? what what? You shit on those niggas two times?!" I've never been a fan of snoop dogg but I always take everything he says literally...

D12

In between MM and the Eminem show he helped bring a few of his chums up into the public eye. Proof, who died a year or so ago, was greatly talented and for that i'm thankful that we were graced with D12 but for the large part it was a bit pointless. As fun as tracks like my band and purple hills were that's all they were. However there was one track on D12 World where Eminem gives one of the best performances of his career. Unfortunately there are other people on the track but his verse is the best delivery I have ever heard.

Git Up

The Eminem Show
Reccomended Downloads- Cleanin' out my closet, Sing for the moment, My dad's gone crazy, Til I collapse

In terms of Eminem's post Infinite albums, Relapse aside, The Eminem show tends to be held in the lowest regard. I mean forget sales figures because they were as mental as ever but in terms of solid material the album was, to put it lightly- patchy.

I think any bad blood would be down to the carnival atmosphere of the album, it all seemed a little bit celebratory and even the serious tracks like cleaning out my closet and sing for the moment were still marketed as mainstream tracks which I guess was the right way to go from a money making point of view.

The difference between this album and the others were that yes, there were great tracks but the rest of the album lacked the same depth as others. The two tracks mentioned above would have been album tracks on any others, not singles.

One track which you might not have heard "My dad's gone crazy" is a brilliant track masquarading as a joke track. It features his daughter but has lyrics like "... pain inside of my brain, in the eyes of a little girl inside of a plane aimed at the world trade... screaming at the sky til clouds gather..." but also, "fuck that shit bitch eat a mother fucking dick chew on a dick and lick a million mother fucking cocks per second i'd rather put out a motherfucking gospel record". The contrast of those lyrics really highlight the highs compared to the lows of this album, the highs are great but the lows are kind of lame and embarrasing at times.

8 Mile

8 Mile is a brilliant movie. Inspiring as it gets but the soundtrack, for which Eminem one a M-F'ing Oscar, is as good as all the accolades it garnered. There are 3 tracks that have to be highlighted. Firstly Lose Yourself in which Eminem condenses an entire movie into 4 breathtaking minutes. Rabbit Run is incredible, it is a masterpiece in terms of a encapsulating and building on a feeling into a lyrical and crescendo, the beat getting progressively faster with no chorus. The self titled 8 mile is probably the least heard of all the tracks but still worth a listen.

Encore
Recommended Downloads- Evil Deeds, Mosh, Rain Man, Curtains Down.

People also give Encore a hard time but for me I was as excited about this as I was for the Marshall Mathers LP. It's a proper albumand showcases everything that is great about eminem, kicking off fairly self-referentially with Evil Deeds a pretty relentless flow but nothing too serious. The focus shifts on toy soldiers and it gets back to that inpirational anger that was missing from the previous album. The track is pretty much a prelude to Mosh which was released in the lead up to the Bush/Kerry election and really grabs hold of a nation's feelings responding with an unrepenting fire.

There's a few joke tracks in the middle, my first single, big weenie and rain man which despite the light hearted nature of them really show how talented eminem is at writing and spitting rhymes.

I really like the close to this album, it starts off about 3 tracks in with one shot 2 shot which is pretty good as it tells a pretty good story of a night at a club with d12, then curtains down with dre and 50 cent is a killer closer. Thinking about it maybe it wasn't that great of an album but at the time I loved it. It did start off that stupid indian voice he does but there's a few tracks you should really hear on here if you haven't.

________________________________________

That's it, that's Eminem. Tomorrow, Peter Doherty.

Great albums from the 00's: Jem- Finally Woken (2004)

2010-01-05T04:29:00.001Z

I will be spending a bit of time wrapping up a few things from the past decade that I feel deserve to be documented on this blog. Today I begin with a pop album from 2004, yeah that's right pop. That's right 2004.

Speaking of which I'm also going to feature Avril Lavigne, Maroon 5, Ashlee Simpson, Natasha Bedingfield and Michael Jackson so get used to it. Nah I'm kidding... Not about featuring them as I will be but, as became custom towards the end of last year i'll be doing a few posts a day and these will pretty much be the bottom of the pile in terms of focal points. Fecal points, if you will. I wonder if i'm the first person ever to say that? No, plenty of other people are just as immature and GENIUS.

Jem- Finally Woken (2004)

1. They
2. Come On Closer
3. Finally Woken
4. Save Me
5. 24
6. Missing You
7. Wish I
8. Just A Ride
9. Falling For You
10. Stay Now
11. Flying High

Essential Downloads: They, Come on closer, 24, Falling for you

Jem was definately one of the lesser known artists to benefit from the O.C's relentless mainstream exposure but thinking back there was a lot of press over here too. The album is quite the visceral experience, lots of original instrumentation and Jem's voice was quite irresitable.

There are two sides to the album, one a poppy infectious aspect which meant when I went to see her the gig was full of parents with their kids and another a dark side which meant I was there. The tracks i've reccomended to download are those but tracks like just a ride and finally woken are nice but don't bother downloading wish i or stay now.

The rest of the album however, was a pleasure. I don't know if it's really stood the test of time like I'm listening to it now and even for nostalgia purposes it's a bit trying. You might be ok just downloading the essential tracks above.

dd/mm/yyyy

2010-01-04T14:09:00.002Z

Sometimes I write up somebody simply because they have a great name. This is one of those occasions. From the impulsiveness that brought you UUVVWWZ and !!! I bring you dd/mm/yyyy which is pronounced day month year. Firstly I thought 2 days, 2 months and 4 years would've been a nice swing on that but still, you gotta like it. Plus they're from canada and I have certain duties.

I can imagine live they're a great time, on record they sound like testicicles and personally I didn't 'get' them. DDMMYYY have supported crystal castles on tour and if you think of a great band to warm you up for watching CRYSTAL CASTLES then you'll get a pretty good idea of what these guys are like.

You can hear all manner of material on their last.fm and they're playing the jericho in oxford at the end of February.

And the world has contra

2010-01-04T13:46:00.004Z

So this morning the impressively well guarded contra by vampire weekend was made available to the online community. Whether it was on their own terms (the first few copies were a webrip from their own myspace) or whether the myspace stream was forced due to to a leak which became more widely available around 6 hours after the rips, this isn't really important but what is the we finally can hear what the indie world has been waiting incredibly patiently for. Listen here. The only questionable track is california english otherwise the album seems like what makes them great.

In other news Sisqo has reentered the public consciousness, read my blog on him from a little while ago here. Apparently Samatha Mumba is actually single though so good times.

Via Audio

2010-01-03T05:25:00.001Z

They're the best band i've found in 2010 so far! I don't know if they count as I was just going through some unplayed tracks from the last time i synced my ipod in 2009 but either way, what a band!

I don't know how I found them. I've started making notes on where I did like I was in an internet cafe the other day and wrote down the band who some guy was looking at on myspace. They weren't good but still imagine if they had, what a find that would've been...

Via Audio

On face value Via Audio which is what V/A means in technical terms you doofus, are loveable and their music is just the same. They fill a very nice niche inbetween fun. and the dark side of los campesinos. They're a four piece from NYC and have been plugging away in various forms since forming at college in 2003.

Apparently Chris Walla of the cab also called them his favourite band a while back on the hall of justice, he does have good taste in music whatever else is said about him. I don't know if I'd have found destroyer or laura viers without his blog.

The tracks i've posted here are from their debut saysomethingsaysomethingsaysomething, which you can get most of on their last.fm but animalore is coming out in febrauary, the track listing and a free mp3 of "babies" can be found here.

Developing active people
Modern Day saint
Presents

BBC Sound Tips for 2010 Pt III

2010-01-02T04:56:00.001Z

Everything Everything

It was difficult knowing which picture of these guys to pic they've got some brilliant ones. From manchester they are said to be pigeonholed as "surrealist neo-classical avant-pop for the digital age". They're getting a lot of attention from the johnny marr perspective but from me, who wasn't in the smith, modest mouse OR the cribs- i don't get it. It's mainly that the lyrics aren't very good that bothers me, the music's fine but as Morrisey might say with a dismissive yet flourishing waft of his right hand, it all seems so futile.

My keys your boyfriend

Gold Panda

You can only hope when searching images for "gold panda" that there are going to be pictures of gold pandas. Well if that's what you're into you're not going to be disappointed! I don't know if any of those are affilliated with the band but I figure it must have had some sort of play in the name considering the guy is more than a bit interested in oriental culture. His music owes a lot to this and his music is... very different. In a really exciting way. Like people this inventive don't come around every day but I feel a duty to say if you're going to listen to this do so with an open mind.

Like Totally

Hurts

Like that video by mystery jets and days hurts are indebted the 80's in a non ironic way. The name, hurts as well is great because you can put it at the end of most phrases (like your mom) and it will end up as a witty observation, a fact they shamelessly exploit. For example you can check out their myspace at myspace.com/ithurts or their website at informationhurts.com now we all know I like a bit of innovation but that isn't it.

The video for wonderful life pretty much embodies all that is this band; mournful lyrics, an upbeat chorus and a random dancer-

Wonderful Life mp3
______________________________________________

Thus concludes my review of the BBC sound tips for 2010 although if you've been paying attention there is one noteable absence. Well Stornoway are getting their own post. It's been a while in coming!

Happy New Year from Outroversion

2010-01-01T00:01:00.000Z

I'm at a frank turner gig at the moment, hope you're doing something comparable.

In celebration i'm going to post the most downloaded track off my blog since it started-

With

12,724 downloads

The most downloaded track from the outroversion blog iiiiis-

Dizzee. Rascal. Bonkers.

W.T.F indeed Dizznee...

I don't even know why I posted that track originally...

*meanders off in an anti-climactic fashion*

Ha. The rest are quite predicatable to be honest but one nice surprise is a track I heard on MTV over in France and posted it on here, it's entirely in french but also entirely catchy- Olivia Ruiz- Elle Panique

Happy new year, have a great 2010!

Has Vampire Weekend leaked yet?!

BBC Sound Tips for 2010 Part II

2009-12-31T05:58:00.005Z

I'm going to continue with a few acts that you, as I'm assuming you listen to good music if you read this, have probably heard of already this year..

Delphic

Formerly known by the quite fantastic name "Snowfight In The City Centre", Delphic are a four piece indie-rave band in cut from the same cloth as the cure and new order. One of the reasons they're hyped to be big is the stadium potential for tracks like this, reminiscent of klaxons circa golden skans with a major plus that the tone of lead singer James Cook's voice is so much more clear and with actual resonant lyrics rather than sounds that just go with the music. These guys are good.

Counterpoint

The Drums

Comparisons to the beach boys, the first hyped 2010 leak in 2009, the NME tour at the start of the year, pretty much all signs point to yes. With blissed out surfer pop there are drawbacks, a lack of substance (literal substance) being one and that which 2009's "girls" lacked and that 2010's surfer blood seem to have in droves. It would be easy to say that this band are somewhere in between the two and I'm on a tight schedule so there ya go :) bottom line is they're as catchy as any communicable disease you could possibly envisage.

Let's go surfing

Owl City

Pushed this guy on BIRP pretty hard since its inception really and he's gotten huge independant success which is now turning into major success with billboard #1's and shizz! You know this kind of music it's light electro-emo so like in between trees, secret handshake, rocket to the moon. I'm still kiiiiinda surprised at all the attention he's gotten because like i'm a fan of this kind of music and no one has really come close to getting this kind of mainstream press the past couple of years. And yes, it was a bit difficult not to mention the postal service... I like it alot though, it's familiar. I like it. ALOT. I'm really quite impressed with the BBC for this particular tip.

Hot air balloon
Fire flies

Two Door Cinema Club

They played truck last year and are an indefinable qauntity in that they're a great time but also have a great depth. Formidable lyricism and masterful instrumentation mean that TDCC have something to fall back onto but they don't need it because they have great tunes for that. They call themselves "electropop" but then so would the XX (who suck) so i'd like to steer clear of such labelling. You know on the postal service's give up where they underscore JT's music with guitars, hand claps and inventive swirling instrumentation, that is exactly where these guys are at. Oh they're also from bangor which (don't shoot me...) I thiiiink is in wales? and Donaghee which I gotta be honest, sounds made up :p
______________________________________

I'm off to see Frank Turner tonight for the close of the decade. So I've just done a double blog today as i'll be in gloucester tomorrow but I plan on sticking around for the next decade so get ready for some good stuff!

BBC Music tips for 2010

2009-12-29T09:50:00.001Z

The "BBC sound tips for 2010" were released this week and in terms of that, not so niche brit award market they tend to be right. Last year's list included La Roux, little boots, florence and the machine, lady gaga, vv brown and dan black.

The reason i'm posting it here is that it also included Mumford and sons, empire of the sun and, although i can't tell the difference between these three apparently they're alright- the big pink, passion pit and temper trap. So I've done all the work to make sure there's no confusion between the Adele's, Duffy's and Ting Ting's and the vampire weekend's, MGMT's and black kid's.

I'm not a fan of the others mentioned in the list, I did write a little about them but if you can't say etceterawr...

I'm going to kick start this three part post with two promising female artists-

M a r i n a and the Diamonds

I figure I should probably just start off with this fine filly. I've been going on about her ever since this blog was created and it looks like 2010 is her year. I've featured her on no less than ten occasions over the past 12 months, second only to bright eyes and death cab... which I guess makes her third... However, I digress to my first impression-

"I haven't written about this girl before because I wasn't sure if I was being swayed by just how stunningly beautiful she is. She's getting comparisons to kate nash because like she says, "I've got a keyboard and I've got a vagina". She has a deeper range which I personally dig and darker themes which are a huge plus. Some of her stuff is quite theatrical which I can only imagine will make for a great stage show, Kate Nash seemed to have very few places to go with her stuff but I can Imagine MATD will make for a killer time." Outroversion 2009

Quite right, live she's quite the performer and has a huge voice but without it being annoying (dontmentionflorencedontmentionflorencedontmentionflorence..).. Unlike some other artists who emerged in the past year who shall remain nameless. I'm kidding FATM weren't that bad, I liked my boy builds coffins but this blog isn't about her and never will be :p Umm anyway, back to Ms.Diamandis. The lack of a coherent narrative in this post is pretty much just me saying it doesn't matter what I say because she's going to be huge and you're going to love her. It is the year of the diamonds. And not of the rat or the pig or whatever the chinese are making out ;)

Mowgli's road
Seventeen
Obsessions

Ellie Goulding

You've probably heard of Ellie Goulding, I'm not sure how big she's been getting maybe i'm just more aware because I follow her on twitter but with this head's up from the BBC it's probably not going to do her too much harm! Her music is made by super producer StarSmith and she's very much in the same vein as little boots but is actually really good and a little more independant. Starry Eyed and Under the sheets have both been featured on BIRP, they're all over nme radio and they're worth the download. She records a lot of music so i'm hoping that those two tracks won't be all that she's known for in 2010 but most people are dumb so maybe she will be.

Starry Eyed
Under the sheets
The Wolves Acts 1 & 2 (bon iver cover)

Part II tomorrow :)

Album of the year: Fanfarlo- Reservoir

2009-12-27T13:35:00.003Z

Big surprise right?! When I think about 2009 I'll think of them. Here are some of outroversion's testemonial's from the past year-

"Dreampop, it's one of those abstract nondescript genres that still seems to fit some bands perfectly, this is one. Great for the summer, they're a mixture between the floatysunshinecatchiness of empire of the sun and the rhythmic intrumentation consciousness of an arcade fire. I really like these guys, they are probably the band that i've been most excited to discover in this blog, they really make stunning music. In the trunk is when it really struck me. Unbelievably endorphene inducing" ~ Outroversion, 25th March 2009

"YEEAAAHH!!! I know i've gone on and on about fanfarlo but I think they're going to be massive. I'm seeing them in a couple of weeks, the night before I leave for france. This track emphasises all they're great for; haunting backing, deep bass, high strings, introspective lyrics, hopeful sounding vocals with intense lyrics. So glad I found this band. "If you look at the horizon there is always something ducking out of sight" I wrote fucking the first time I wrote that :)" ~ Outroversion, 15th May 2009

Fanfarlo- Reservoir (2009)

The review

Before listening to this album the first thing I noticed was that standout track from the demo cd "you are one of the few outsiders that understand us" isn't included but then neither is "in the trunk**" which were the first two tracks I heard by them and what hooked me in. Well it's 9 months later and every single track from the album has 4 stars or higher on my ipod so that pretty much speaks for itself...

"I am a pilot" is a heavenly track, starts the album off perfectly, and purposefully. The strings are magnificent and add a haunting atmosphere to the dark lyrics which are masked by an upbeat tempo and clapped beats which underly the piano perfectly. Part of what sounds like percussion is actually a lot of people playing the same part on guitars.

I didn't really notice until I saw them live but Cathy underscores alot of Simon Balthazar's vocals on the album and once you listen out for her you'll fall in love with her-

The similarities and indeed comparison musically to arcade fire are both obvious and unignorable. The strings and brass heavy tunes, where the flowing vocals and harmonies maybe owe a little more to Beirut but in my opinion they do both better than either band can because it really seems like the entire band has a common goal as each track builds and support each other well. Like sometimes you don't care about the other members of the band but each member of Fanfarlo is integral to the scenes they create.

After the first 6 listens to the album I considered it a consistant and not overly ambitious debut, which was by no means a bad thing, they just know what they're good at and what they can pull off live and have aimed at hitting those highs first.

For the generation that can't listen to an entire album you simply have to hear the walls are coming down, finish line and fire escape. For those that can you've probably already got this and made it your album of the year, if not, do yourself a huge favour and invest your time in this band. They tour relentlessly and will no doubt be playing within your vacinity in 2010.

**If anyone has an mp3 of this I would be eternally greatful if you could send it my way

Happy Holidays.

2009-12-25T00:01:00.003Z

Happy Christmas from the outroversion blog.

I've made a little cartoon to make some people remember that there are people worse off than them in the world and to remind other people that they are not alone.
(Right click, view image to see full version)

Thankyou for visiting in 2009.

Best of December 2009

2009-12-23T20:22:00.006Z

Best of Outroversion December 2009

Yeah been a heck of a month right? Still christmas in a couple of days. The rest of the year i'm pretty well restrained but christmas time I eat like.. well to put it mildly, a greedy person :) I shant bore you with christmas tales but I was walking down the street earlier on and some kid, like 8 years old said to his friend "I don't care if I don't get any gifts this year, as long as I've got my brother and my mom I'll be happy". Quite poignant but that kid should probably relax he's 8 years old like you can probably afford to just be a kid right? Anyway there's like 60 tracks and it took alot of time so i am relieved to put this up, enjoy and happy holidays from outroversion and f r i e nd s s s s s s s s ss.

I've marked the must downloads with a couple of christmassy stars or asterisks if you're not into pretending that things are other things when they're not-

Low- A Dinosaur Act/Just like Christmas
Sloth Bear- Number 58
Gold Motel- Perfect in my mind
The Isolation- Dancing away
Doll and the kicks- Leaving the race
World's Greatest Ghosts- Magick Words
Princeton- Sadie and Andy
Absent Elk- Sun and water
Comet Gain- The fists in pocket
Mariee Souix- Wizard Flurry Home
Freelance Whales- Hannah/Starring/Ghosting
Eminem- Hell Breaks Loose
Baddies- Open One Eye
Uh huh her- Explode
Brazos- Day Glo/my buddy
Rye N Clover- Black Hoody
A rocket to the moon- I'm not saying goodbye
Gabby Young and other animals- Ones that got away/We're all in this together**
Cats on fire- The borders of this land
Seth lakeman- Blood red Sky
Charlotte Gainsbourg- Heaven can wait
Jose Vanders- Summer
Slow Club- Christmas TV
Savoir Adore- The Scientific.../We talk like machines
Tim Williams- Ozone Street
Guitar- Hira Hira
Brakes- Why tell the truth?
The Balconies- Battle Royale
The Raincoats- Noone's little girl?
Wintermitts- Schoolyard
Cloud Cult- The grandson of jesus
Swimming in Speakers- In Knowing *TRACK OF THE MONTH*
Grouper- Pale Through
Shinedown- Second Chance
Aficianado- The myth...
Singing Bridges- Crazy Street
Cantinero- My House
Boxer Rebellion- Evacuate
Burbank Cartel- Leonard Jones Potential
Shelby Sifters- Are you devo?
Auld Lang Syne- My first soul **
Darwin Deez- Bad day
The yes pleases- Don't say we're there yet/From whence it came
Feral Children- Saint
God help the girl- God help the girl **
Marina and the diamonds- Girls
Killers- Happy Bday Guadalupe
Kinetic Stereokids- Play
Timber Timbre- Lay down in the tall grass
Wetdog- lower leg
Erland and the carnival- My name is carnival **
Penguin Prison- A funny thing
Blood Orange- S'cooled
Le Corps Mince de Francoise- Something Golden **

Best of 2009 Part III

2009-12-21T03:26:00.001Z

Part III

These are the best 15 tracks of the past year-

Frank Turner- Sunday Nights
Fanfarlo- The walls are coming down/Finish Line
Leisure Society- Last of the melting snow
Conor Oberst- Map of the world
Peter Doherty- Last of the english roses
Bombay Bicycle Club- Always like this
Camera Obscura- French Navy
Emmy the great- First love
Fun. - At least i'm not as sad (as i used to be)
Golden Silvers- Another universe
Howling Bells- Treasure Hunt
Jamie T.- Sticks and stones
Jupiter one- Volcano
Marina and the diamonds- Mowgli's road

Best of 2009 Part II

2009-12-19T03:30:00.004Z

Small one today and the poppiest, most mainstream of all 3 of the posts...

Part II

Paramore- All I wanted
Jay-Z- DOA
Los Campesinos!- Death to Los Campesinos!/The sea is a good place...
MC Lars- Hipster Girl
Mountain Goats- Genesis 3:23
Paloma Faith- Stone cold sober
Rihanna- Bubble Pop
6 Day Riot- O, Those Kids!
Baddies- Open one eye

Top 20 tracks of 2009 Pt. 1

2009-12-17T03:14:00.004Z

Pretty self explanatory, these are the best tracks of the past year. This is both in my opinion and as a matter of fact :D This will be in 3 parts, here is part 1-

Part I

Monsters of folk- Baby Boomer
Muse- United states of Eurasia
Arctic Monkeys- Crying Lightning
Sad Day for puppets- Marble gods
Scary Mansion- Scum Inside II
Vampire Weekend- Cousins
Asher Roth- I love College
Editors- Papillion
Joy Formidable- Greyhound in the slips
Gabby Young- We're all in this together
Asteroids Galaxy Tour- Around the bend
Big Pink- Dominos
Green Day- Before the labotomy
Metric- Gimme Sympathy

Albums of the year: Eels- Hombre Lobo

2009-12-16T09:24:00.003Z

Eels - Hombre Lobo

01. Prizefighter ( 2:53)
02. That Look You Gave That Guy ( 4:15)
03. Lilac Breeze ( 2:35)
04. In My Dreams ( 3:22)
05. Tremendous Dynamite ( 2:45)
06. The Longing ( 4:22)
07. Fresh Blood ( 4:24)
08. What’s A Fella Gotta Do ( 3:25)
09. My Timing Is Off ( 2:57)
10. Alll The Beautiful Things ( 2:22)
11. Beginner’s Luck ( 3:37)
12. Ordinary Men ( 3:15)

Essential Downloads: 7, 11, 3

This album came out the same time as Rumble Strips' 2009 effort, it was when I got these two albums that I decided this was going to be a hell of a year for new music if I was open to it and it has been amazing.

I love the eels, I think Mark Oliver Everitt is a genius and his success through personal tragedy should give us all hope. As with all of his albums there are some great pop gems and some really dark moments. Blinking lights was a little heavy on the latter but this has a nice mix. Fresh blood is dark but catchy and tuneful and beginner's luck is as good as any pop song you'll hear this year. Lilac breeze is so pretty. At least get the ones i've suggested as listening to a whole eels album is always a bit heavy, like i say each album has like 3 or 4 special tracks on and the ones i've reccomended are those here but the whole album is as good as any of his others if you don't mind jumping on the rollercoaster.

Lil Wayne- Drop the world Ft. Eminem

2009-12-16T00:57:00.000Z

Lil Wayne- Drop the world Ft. Eminem

It's actually quite interesting how the little wayne album leaked. What a huge mess up. Good to hear more from Eminem too, I haven't listened yet so maybe it's crap like the other two that leaked a bit ago, man they were not good at all. Anyway check it if ya want.

Sisqo

2009-12-16T00:04:00.004Z

Last night I was going through my old cds that I hadn't bothered putting on my ipod. The year I left high school (2000) I was very into Rap and what back then was called RnB, t'was a different animal back then to how it was but yeah fact of the matter is there was one cd that brought back certain memories.

Thong song came out in my last year of high school, when I was at college I was all about girls andI Sisqo's album "unleash the dragon", along with Nelly's "nellyville" soundtracking what was going down back in the day.

Things I liked about Sisqo-
He has silver hair
He's married to Samantha Mumba who I was so hot for as a mid teen
His music seemed to be like a magnet for crazy ass girls
He looks like Kel from Kenan and Kel

Times have changed a lot for sure but the nostalgia of these albums are pretty hilarious.

Unleash the dragon
Return of the dragon

Now i'm more mature I have a feeling dragon might be a metaphor for something. Maybe not, I dunno..

Albums of the year: Peter Doherty- Grace/Wastelands

2009-12-15T05:16:00.001Z

Peter Doherty- Grace/Wastelands

1. Arcadie
2. Last Of English Roses
3. 1939 Returning
4. A Little Death Around The Eyes
5. Salome
6. Through The Looking Glass
7. Sweet By And By
8. Palace Of Bone
9. Sheep Skin Tearaway
10. Broken Love Song
11. New Love Grows On Trees

Essential Downloads: 1, 2, 4, 10, 11

I would say you don't need me to tell you about pete doherty but some people do need telling. He's an incredibly talented poet and musician who has recovered from drug addiction. Next to Ben Gibbard he is the artist I've seen perform more times than any other and one of few musicians I have and would travel anywhere to see.

The idiots who are so close minded as not to listen to his music are missing out. I'm not going to go on a huge rant here as I've learned in the past you can't win when you're talking about pete because talent and passion aren't valid points against tabloid sheep. Fuck you if you're one of them. Fuck. You. Cunts.

:) So the album came after babyshambles second brilliant album and was released while on tour with Blur's graham coxon. He carried on touring solo relentlessly until only recently when he got back on the road with babyshambles. He'd been playing some of these songs as far back as in the days of the libertines, New Love Grows On Trees is the masterpiece of those days. Last of the English Roses is so well written it's amazing, no one can write like him because he writes for himself and it's only because it's so good that the world listens in.

Just get it yeah.

Eels- end times (2010)

2009-12-15T00:02:00.001Z

Eels- End of days (2010)

01. The Beginning
02. Gone Man
03. In My Younger Days
04. Mansions Of Los Feliz
05. A Line In The Dirt
06. End Times
07. Apple Trees
08. Paradise Blues
09. Nowadays
10. Unhigned
11. High And Lonesome
12. I Need A Mother
13. Little Bird
14. On My Feet

Albums of the year: Yeah Yeah Yeahs- it's blitz

2009-12-14T05:52:00.003Z

Yeah Yeah Yeahs- It's blitz

1. Zero
2. Heads Will Roll
3. Soft Shock
4. Skeletons
5. Dull Life
6. Shame and Fortune
7. Runaway
8. Dragon Queen
9. Hysteric
10. Little Shadow

Essential Downloads: 1, 2, 3, 5

Yeah that's not the album cover but I thought it was a bit brilliant. So yeah, this album one of this year's nice surprises I think. I mean I know eeeeveryone else loves YYY's but I never got them. This album however is flawless and such a pleasure to listen to the whole way through. It's dancey, dark and everything that karen o does best. You can get the other albums in the NME post a couple of weeks ago and they are good but this is brilliant. The video to heads will roll is awesome too-

Dirty Projectors- Bitte Orca (2009)

2009-12-14T02:07:00.001Z

Dirty Projectors- Bitte Orca (2009)

01 Cannibal Resource
02 Temecula Sunrise
03 The Bride
04 Stillness Is The Move
05 Two Doves
06 Useful Chamber
07 No Intention
08 Remade Horizon
09 Fluorescent Half Dome

Reccomended Downloads: 1, 4, 5

This was going to be one of my albums of the year but I've relistened to it and not only do I not think it qualifies for such an accolade but I really don't like it. Thought why waste the post though, check it out if you like :D

You make me want to listen to metal

2009-12-14T00:01:00.003Z

I'm having a bit of a metal downloading spree at the mo. About once a year I feel like i've got no idea about metal and I hate to think anything's passing me by. I obviously love gaslight anthem, but that's a bit light and I love CKY of late but I'm talking heavy stuff up in here-

Slipknot
Motley Crue
Avenged Sevenfold
Five finger death punch
Disturbed
Poison
Hate Breed
Atreyu
Rancid
Korn
KillSwitch Engage
Lamb of God
Metallica

Pretty sure i'm going to be doing a goth metal mainly featuring hot chicks post pretty soon :p

Albums of the year- Monsters of Folk

2009-12-13T07:50:00.001Z

Monsters of Folk

1. Dear God (sincerely M.O.F.)
2. Say Please
3. Whole Lotta Losin'
4. Temazcal
5. The Right Place
6. Baby Boomer
7. Man Named Truth
8. Goodway
9. Ahead of the Curve
10. Slow Down Jo
11. Losin Yo Head
12. Magic Marker
13. Map Of The World
14. The Sandman, the Brakeman and Me
15. His Master's Voice

Essential Downloads: 13, 6, 2

"Upon first listen, it didn't blow my brains out. I mean do you reeeaaaally want that from an alt.folk album anyway right? I was ready to receive this as my album of the year to be honest, I was ready to listen to it on loop, buy it on cd, all that 20th century jazz. Unfortunately it didn't grab me. That is to say it hasn't, yet. I still hold out hope. One thing though- map of the world by conor oberst is incredible, it's up there with his best (by that I mean theme from pinata, rainy days and weather reports)." ~ Outroversion August 2009

Now the end of the year is coming around I would say yes, this is in my top 5 albums of the year. If it was just conor, mike and m. ward and the other guy didn't sing then it would probably be in the top 3. M. Ward's tracks are excellent, conor's great as ever and mogis always adds something, it's a nice mix, a really pleasant album.

2009-12-13T00:25:00.000Z

NeverShoutNever Ep

I secretly love this band.

Albums of the year: Metric- Fantasies

2009-12-12T05:34:00.000Z

Metric- Fantasies

‘Help I'm Alive’
‘Sick Muse’
‘Satellite Mind’
‘Twilight Galaxy’
‘Gold Guns Girls’
‘Gimme Sympathy’
‘Collect Call’
‘ Front Row’
‘Blindness’
‘Stadium Love’

Essential Downloads: Stadium Love,
Gimme Sympathy, Help i'm alive and Sick Muse

Probably the most underrated album on this list. This year was my first year seeing Metric having fell for "Old World Underground" in 2005 and they were so finely tuned and there was a feeling of this being the pinnacle of their powers playing something they were truly proud of. One criticism you can have for metric, though this is hardly a criticism- is that they seem to have two great lead tracks on albums and then the rest just fitting a certain mood. Thing is with this album they've got four HUGE songs, help i'm alive is just immense and embodies everything that makes haines a great front women and musically what makes metric such a formidable force. Stadium Love is anthemic in all the right ways and you've heard gimme sympathy enough times by now and it's not even the best song on the album. It's brilliant but just make sure you get those tracks at the very least (as well as old world underground).

Baddies - Do The Job (2009)

2009-12-11T11:44:00.004Z

Baddies - Do The Job (2009)
01 - Tiffany, I'm Sorry
02 - Open One Eye
03 - Battleships
04 - Colin
05 - At The Party
06 - Pisces
07 - We Beat Our Chests
08 - Holler For My Holiday
09 - I Am Not A Machine
10 - To The Lions
11 - Baddies
12 - Paint The City

Baddies were responsible for some unforgettable live performances in 2009 and fortunately I witnessed quite a few of these. I haven't heard much about the new album but hopefully it hasn't been recieved badly. I do appreciate that live they're another animal altogether but I still loved the last EP. Fact of the matter is they're touring with joy formidable in 2010 and those are going to be epics, tickets are on sale now i think so do it up.

You may also like to notice that the track listing is either in the shape of a vase or a fish making a kissy face.

Outroversion's Xmas Mixtape

2009-12-11T05:10:00.003Z

Outroversion's Xmas Mixtape 2009

Happy holidays guys. Here's my gift to you, another mixtape, this one with a seasonal feel. It's obviously not as dark as the halloween one, just a few tracks from my favourite artists but bright eyes and the killers do make sure things don't get too upbeat cos we wouldn't want that.

You can either download some of the files individually from the track listing below or the whole thing in the link at the top of the page...

Eels- Christmas is going to the dogs
Death Cab- Christmas Baby please come home
Bright eyes- Little drummer boy
Fall Out Boy- Yule Shoot your eye out
Killers- Don't shoot me santa/¡Happy Birthday Guadalupe !
Emmy the great- Christmas in Prison
Ron Sexsmith- Maybe this christmas
Hello Saferide- Ipod Christmas

Doll and the kicks and formspring.me

2009-12-10T21:27:00.004Z

Formspring is the new thing all us cool people are using, my address is http://formspring.me/notme7okitis and this was my first serious reccomendation from that site and i like the looks of this outfit..

Doll and the kicks

1. Leaving The Race
2. Roll Up The Red Carpet
3. He's A Believer
4. If You Care
5. You Turn Up
6. Pictures
7. If You're Gonna Leave Me
8. Cry In The Kitchen
9. He Was A Dancer
10. Superstar

Reccomended Downloads: 2, 4, 5, 9

Albums of the year: Golden Silvers- True Romance

2009-12-10T21:23:00.000Z

Golden Silvers- True Romance

1. Another Universe 4:54
2. True Romance (True No. 9 Blues) 3:34
3. Magic Touch 4:07
4. The Seed 4:06
5. Here Comes The King 4:07
6. Shakes 3:53
7. Queen Of The 21st Century 5:03
8. Please Venus 5:02
9. Arrows Of Eros 5:40
10. Fade To Black 2:49

Essential Downloads: 1, 2, 3, 9

Albums of the year: Local natives- Gorilla Manor

2009-12-10T07:23:00.003Z

Probably the latest inclusion in my albums of the year list. Just so you know, it replaced kasabian's west pauper lunatic asylum ;) I only got it a week ago but I'd been listening to the tracks I did have for about half a year and saw them live a few months ago so check out my other posts on them. They're really smooth, mgmt like in terms of atmospheric vocals and the comparisons to RaRaRiot are undeniable. Oh, also killers like in terms of having brandon flowers' moustaches. The whole album is a really gorgeous listen but the tracks I've reccomended below are absolute no question must haves.

Local Natives- Gorilla Manor

1. Wide Eyes
2. Airplanes
3. Sun Hands
4. World News
5. Shape Shifter
6. Camera Talk
7. Cards & Quarters
8. Warning Sign
9. Who Knows Who Cares
10. Cubism Dream
11. Stranger Things
12. Sticky Thread

Essential Downloads: 2, 3, 4

Charlotte Gainsbourg – IRM (2009)

2009-12-10T04:37:00.003Z

CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG + BECK – IRM

If you downloaded the halloween mixtape you'll know this chick, she's dark and haunting and her album has jeff beck on it. It leaked today and doesn't come out til next year, probably check it out.

01. Master’s Hand 02:49
02. IRM 02:35
03. Le Chat du Café des Artistes 04:03
04. In The End 02:00
05. Heaven Can Wait 02:40
06. Me And Jane Doe 03:20
07. Vanities 03:38
08. Time Of The Assassins 02:45
09. Trick Pony 02:52
10. Greenwich Mean Time 02:25
11. Dandelion 03:17
12. Voyage 05:16
13. La Collectionneuse 02:22

Reccomended Downloads: 2, 5, 1, 4, 6

Track of the day/Dev Hynes: Blood Orange/CIA: Mind Control

2009-12-09T19:04:00.007Z

So turns out Dev Hynes has another side project called blood orange, I was going to write about it a bit but i've got something more sinister I need to discuss, first here's the link to the track- Blood orange

Ok so I was in bed reading a book and wasn't really focusing because I was getting tired so I decided i'd read NME as it's a lighter read than what I was reading, I read a bit about Dev Hynes of lightspeed champion fame having a side project called blood orange. I thought I better write that on my arm so i don't forget, this I did.

I started to drift off so put on some music. It was originally a track by the get up kids and i thought this is nice and atmospheric exactly what i feel like listening to right now so i clicked genius. The genius picked out the next track to be Blood Red Shoes "it's getting boring here by the sea" it was the first time I heard it and I loved it, instant 4 stars and I thought I HAVE to blog about this awesome song so i wrote that on my arm as well.

Here's the track.

Here's the video for boring by the sea-

So, I googled Dev Hynes side project blood orange and I was taken to a site called "it's getting boring here by the sea" here. For about 30 seconds I could not understand what was going on like I don't know HOW MANY websites there are on the internet but surely this was incredibly unlikely? Like I feel like i could kill myself right now and the detective would read this blog and be like that's messed up that's probably what pushed him over the edge how the hell are you supposed to get your head around that?

Like I don't know what the fuck right now. Am I in the fucking TRUMAN show or what? I mean I never write on my arm except TWLOHA sometimes but to write JUST these two things and then wake up and go on the computer and that happen? Like. Please someone tell me what the fuck. Am I overreacting? is this actually really likely? Really likely that out of an unlimited number of websites I write two things on my arm and the first website i go to have both those things on one page? Yeah? O.K then right.

Albums of the year: Frank Turner- Poetry of the deed

2009-12-09T07:09:00.003Z

This is the album where Frank Turner fulfilled everything he set out to and deservedly so.

I have about 8 playlists of my favourite bands best tracks "ultimate xxxxx" Beatles have about 67, Death cab 46, Bright Eyes 38, John Vanderslice 21, Chili peppers 45... You get the idea anyway were I to have an ultimate Frank Turner playlist it would either have zero or 128 and that's why he doesn't have one. If I want to listen to FT, which I do want to, all day if I could then I just listen to anything he's got to offer and love it as if it was his defining moment.

As an artist Frank Turner is a person I respect more than anybody but as a person I feel a little differently as he seems to be everything I wish I was. A successful musician, confident, qualified in something other than his career, has friends... you know stuff like that. His early work was angsty and frustrated and the journey from then to now has been a pleasure to watch. Poetry of the deed is truly the sound of euphoric celebration, he's got everything he wants and is using the vent as well as he always has.

Frank Turner- Poetry of the deed

1. Live Fast Die Old
2. Try This At Home
3. Dan's Song
4. Poetry Of The Deed
5. Isabel
6. The Fastest Way Back Home
7. Sons Of Liberty
8. The Road
9. Faithful Son
10. Richard Divine
11. Sunday Nights
12. Our Lady Of The Campfire
13. Journey Of The Magi

Sorry if I gushed...