John & Jehn

Are an amazing French indie-electro duo who I started listening to about a month ago. Sometimes they sound like Au Revoir Simone, sometimes they sound like Velvet Underground, and are definitely worth checking out. Theyre releasing an album strangely off FMM (Faculty Music Media?) in mid April.

http://www.myspace.com/johnjehn

t.

Foreign-ophones make music too!

I thought id just upload a few songs that arent sung in English, or are just a bit different or y'know. Done by foreign folk. Whetever. A "Eurovision" of sounds if you will..
:( ...

...NOT IN MY NAME!

Icelandic!
Spanish!
Swedish!
Scotch!


t.

reflection. my favourite bands today

If I was you (which I am guv), I'd get off my April in Paris and 'av a Captain Cook at these here bands.

Held by Hands
Jonquil
Dananananaykroyd
El Guincho
Munch Munch
Franni Benali

no real direction. just listen.

t.

Crystal Castles and inverted commas

So yeah, Crystal Castles. Those wacky guys off skins who did a party/gig event with loads of suitably cocained up teens, like foals, are actually quite good. Without drawing too much attention to the fact that this article is rooted in the darkest depths of music snobbery, i direct you to listen to and appreciate the Canadian electro duo (whenever and wherever is appropriate) without giving much thought to contemporaries "Shit-disco", "Party-shank". and "We-smoke-fags". Even though the CC train has arrived, bringing with it an army of terrible terrible fisher price NeU RavE!!!! outfits, thier sound is too exciting, listenable and "partayable" to ignore.



Back when I quite liked the Little Ones (they kind of disappeared a bit didnt they?), I found an Oh MJ promo at COLLECTORS RECORDS GUILDFORD and as a result was pleasantly suprised to find a remix by Crystal Castles on the B side. This I give to you. Use it wisely friend(s).

t.

Lovers Who Uncover (Crystal Castles Remix) - The Little Ones
Untrust Us - Crystal Castles

Looks like the blog's back then!

And to celebrate, here are my latest favourite albums:

Why? - Alopecia

The lyrics (or "words" seeing as there isn't a lot of singing as such) on this album aren't the kind of thing you'd normally expect of a rap record, although I'm not entirely sure if I should be calling this rap... Actually, I definitely shouldn't. Either way, it's a solid effort with some brilliantly memorable tracks - well worth a listen! I've been assured that "Alopecia" has nothing on Why?'s previous offering, "Elephant Eyelash", so I guess that's worth checking out too.

www.myspace.com/whyanticon
See also: cLOUDDEAD

You Slut! - Critical Meat
This lot are from Nottingham, but until recently their album was only available in Japan so clearly Japanese labels/fans have superior taste to those in the UK. I'm not really sure how to describe it... Post-rock on speed? Anti-post-rock? EITS with a short attention span? Whatever... it's instrumental, pretty full-on, full of great riffs and thoroughly enjoyable.

www.myspace.com/youslut1
Watch the video for "MyBloodyJesusExplorerOnFire" below, but be aware that those pretty girls in the video are not actually the band members:

Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing

This is probably the first noise record I've ever really loved, and I'm hoping it will help me get into more in this genre. "Street Horrrsing" really is brilliant stuff - it completely fills your ears without losing any sense of melody... Stick on your headphones and turn up the volume!
www.myspace.com/fuckbuttons
See the video for "Bright Tomorrow" below:

Gossamer Albatross

Gossamer Albatross is Lewis with band from Hereford. They come with a cello, two violins and a singer.

They're a really good band like many others but also especially nice as cooking background music.

a.

http://www.myspace.com/gossameralbatross

Gossamer Albatross - Raging Bulls

Atlas Sound

Atlas Sound is the new project of Bradford James Cox aka 'that one from Deerhunter'.

The song i picked is from the new album “Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel“ and does not really represent the album as the song is a lot easier to listen to than the other tracks.

Oh, and Atlas Sound aren't one of those projects where the solo work sounds exactly like the band, so fans of “Deerhunter“ should be warned

a.

Quarantined - Atlas Sound


http://www.myspace.com/bradfordcox

Held by hands

So yes, no posts in a while but thats because the world lacks new music i'm interested in (fuck you world)

Held by hands are folkey soft and delightful. Imagine Bright Eyes, but the band member(s) arent cunts, and they dont singlikethisinsongsbecausetheythinkitscoolandstuff. If you like Joanna Newsom/Grizzly Bear/folk, these are ubergood! Theirs is a sound of a delicate subtelty and finely tuned melodies. You kind of have to turn your speakers up to appreciate Held By Hands, but that doesnt matter, because its an amazing ep. 'Found It Hard To Find Your Feet' is woefuly short and could easily be the best track on the record if it werent for its abruptness. Howeber, thankfully this isnt true of Held By Hands, who lack neither Depth or charm, and if i were you i'd download the song below and then go and see them post haste before the split up (as is procedure for bands i love)

t.

Held By Hands - Trading On Past Treasures

www.myspace.com/heldbyhands.