2009: The Ones That Got Away #7: Mumford & Sons
I have a terrible habit of ignoring bands because of my innate prejudices. In the case of Mumford & Sons, I thought it was an awful name, reminiscent of a terrible prime time sitcom starring Dawn French. Plus they’re apparently from London, but they do folky music, and frankly I wanted to keep that ...
2009: The Ones That Got Away #6: François & The Atlas Mountains – Plaine Inondable
Though predominantly a Scottish label, Fence Records seem to have found a rich vein to mine in Bristol, with OLO Worms, Rozi Plain, and now François Marry all being signed to the label. Marry is, as his name suggests French, but came to the label’s attention through playing with Rozi Plain, and clearly has excellent ...
2009: The Ones That Got Away #5: Girls
I knew nothing about Girls before I listened to their album. I knew I liked it but I hadn’t listened enough to know how much in time for my top ten of the year. They’re simple songs really, Beach Boys, Buddy Holly, Elvis Costello, hell, Elvis-simple. Some of them do seem to be about girls, ...
2009: The Ones That Got Away #4: Kraftwerk: The Catalogue
Self-styled “Man Machine” Milo McLaughlin delves into The Catalogue, a box set of 8 remastered versions of classic Kraftwerk albums from 1975′s Autobahn to 2003′s Tour De France Soundtracks. Note: This was originally written in November previous to the release of the box set but was held back for the January 2010 issue of The Skinny Magazine ...
2009: The Ones That Got Away #3: Paper Planes – Doris Day
Can’t believe I didn’t listen to this one until now. This Glasgow band has all the ingredients that are likely to excite me: they count the likes of the Cramps, the Velvet Underground and Uncle John & Whitelock as their influences; they’re working with Lucky Number Nine and Say Dirty Records who have an excellent ...
2009: The Ones That Got Away #2: Yusuf Azak – Light Procession EP
I met Yusuf Azak in 2009 and he gave me a sampler of his most recent EP so I feel perfectly justified in adding it to this series, even though the EP actually came out in 2008. Having heard Yusuf Azak play acoustically at a Song By Toad event at The Bowery last year, I ...
2009: The Ones That Got Away #1: Emily Scott – “abcdefg.. etc…”
I was a bit crap in 2009 and spent a lot of time pointlessly soul-searching instead of writing. This year I intend to make up for it and catch up on a few things I should have written about ages ago. This is the first. Emily Scott – abcdefg.. etc.. This little gem arrived in ...
The Japanese War Effort – King of Poland
Quite frankly, Martin Moog appears to be taking the piss. This EP begins with a rousing sample from the King’s College Choir and then Moog weighs in with the lyrics “I will be clean, wash me clean as the snow”. He lets loose juddering drum beats made from coins falling on the ground, layers of ...
Found, Meursault & Panda Su @ Roxy Art House, Friday 4th December
The stunning picture above of a tiny Neil Pennycook of Meursault onstage at the Roxy Art House is by Dylan Matthews, who has a bunch of other excellent photos from the gig (and numerous other gigs) over at Blueback Hotrod. I’m pretty sure he gave me permission to use his photos on the night, however ...
Sleep The Winter – eagleowl
The wind is battering the windows, whistling through the doors and buzzing through the nooks and crannies of my ancient old tenement flat. It’s winter alright. I’m playing the new single by eagleowl, Sleep The Winter. It’s achingly sad, like standing on the windswept petrol-perfumed deck of a ferry and seeing a beautiful coastline of a ...