Calories

I'd feel like a bit of a dick saying that this is 'myspace trawling' given that they've got over 2,000 listens on last.fm and 73,000 profile views on Myspace, but that's how I found them, just for reference. Their name is Calories and they're a very good three piece from the UK. Over the coming months you'll be able to see them with Dananananaykroyd and Youves.

The double header with Danana... is probably the closest comparison you'll be able to find to Calories. They make a joyous sound filled with jaunty guitar and some catchy chants/choruses. It's a bit chaotic, but that is never a bad thing, and the end product is thrilling. The songs are short and snappy, which is all they need to be - the band get in, say what they want to say and get out, leaving a trail of mess in their wake. The standout track from their msyapce is their single, Adventuring, but the awesome a bear, a bison and to encounter a deer are excellent as well. Their debut album has already been released, but here's the demo of Adventuring:

Calories - Adventuring mediafire

The Pains of being Pure at Heart December UK Tour

Right, everyone already knows about The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. everyone. they're even being sold in Urban outfitters, just like Los Campesinos! before them. it troubles me that two of my favourite bands are being played in high-street shops, but that's because I'm a bit of a dick. Anyway, this post is more for me. POBPAH are playing the UK this winter but I cannot for the life of me find out who's supporting them. I know that in the US it's with Cymbals Eat Guitars, and the same over here would be amazing, but yeah, could anyone pour any light onto this?

Here;s the tour dates, and a collection of their old MP3s that I posted a while back:

Several Pains of being pure at heart songs - mediafire

tour dates:

Tour Details for Pains of Being Pure at Heart
11/21 – Poitiers, FR – Confort Moderne
11/22 – Paris, FR – Point Ephemere
11/28 – London, UK – Reverence @ ICA
11/30 – Bristol, UK – Thekla
12/01 – Liverpool, UK – Academy 2
12/02 – Newcastle, UK – Academy 2
12/03 – Glasgow, UK – Stereo
12/04 – Manchester, UK – Academy 2
12/05 – Birmingham, UK – Academy 2

p.s. US style dates.

Polychromatic!

As someone who writes a blog, it's always nice to get any kind of interaction with someone about what you write. The reason I started this thing was mainly so I could make myself purposely search out new music rather than listening to the same CDs that I'd had since I'd left high school, which was a horrible, horrible rut. Something that makes it a little bit easier is when the bands come to you and promote themselves. Of course, having my email on the left-hand side has lead to David Gray's PR man e-mailing me all the time about that band who did the music for the iPhone adverts (Orba Square, if yr asking), promoting bland background music. On the other hand, it also leads to people like Robert J Lake e-mailing me about his musical project, Polychromatic! Whilst I'm aware that it's been e-mailed to other blogs, it's still nice to be in with the crowd every now and then.

From the admitedly limited amount of tracks that I've managed to get my hands on, Polychromatic! sound like a fresher version of the seminal Postal Service, with a hint of first album Yeah Yeah Yeah's thrown in. Indeed, on standout track Good Enough, the synth seems so reminscent of the beginning of Y Control it's startling, which can only be a good thing. Some of the lyrics lack the inspiration that made The Postal Service one of the most important side-projects ever, but I said the same of them back when I first heard We will become Silhouettes, so what do I know.

Get the tracks below, and here's the myspace:

Polychromatic - Good Enough mediafire
Polychromatic - CSI mediafire
Polychromatic - Diamonds are for never and for always mediafire

New Jeremy Warmsley tour

When I was getting with my girlfriend, we were at Leeds Festival and jeremy Warmsley was playing a set. However, by this point we were both extremely tired and a little bit worse-for-wear after a very long weekend, so we missed him. We promised to see him in the future, and it looks like we'll finally manage to fulfill our wish after I recieved this from his mailing list:

I have some gigs coming up before the end of the year: shows in New York and London this month, and then a tour of England & Scotland in late October/early November. Tickets available on the door except where noted.

SEPTEMBER
23rd - New York, Pianos - Argh! First US show in two years. Please come!
26th - London, Union Chapel with Johnny Flynn (liable to sell out - buy tix in advance!). This is prrrrrrobably going to be my last big full band gig for a while.

OCTOBER - BIG SOLO TOUR THING

For some reason I always go on tour in October. Dunno why. This year is no exception. This is going to be a pretty special set of shows - really intimate venues, so I'll be playing solo, taking requests, doing lots of covers & stuff. My new band Acres, Acres is going to be a bit of a priority for me for the foreseeable future, so this could be the last tour I do under this name for a while.

22nd - Reading, Oakford Social Club
23rd - Brighton, New Hero
24th - Bristol, The Louisiana
25th - Oxford, The Wheatsheaf
26th - Derby, The Royal
27th - Birmingham, The Hare & Hounds
28th - Leicester, The Firebug
29th - Norwich, The Birdcage
30th - Winchester, The Railway

NOVEMBER - THE SHOW MUST GO ON
1st TBC
2nd - Aberdeen, Tunnels
3rd - Inverness, Mad Hatters (TB absolutely C but looking 90% likely)
4th - Fort William, Fired Earth
5th - Glasgow, Brel
6th - Wakefield, Escobar

Actually, I just presumed he'd be playing Manchester, but it turns out he isn't. Oh dear, looks like I'm going to have to wait to see Acres whenever they tour. In the meantime, there's always the Boat Song, which features Emmy the Great:

Jeremy Warmsley - The Boat Song mediafire

Tigers That Talked

Now at:

http://thepigeonpost.wordpress.com/2009/09/11/tigers-that-talked/

Internet Forever - New Release!

This is good news for all of you Internet Forever fans living in 1980 - the band have released a collection of their songs exclusively on cassette. rather than being their long (long, long) awaited debut album, this is more a collection of odds and ends, forced together into one reel-to-reel. It's exciting, and it means that I'll have reason to dig out my old Tesco Value walkman, which is always a good thing. the problem is that the batteries to run the thing will cost more than the cassette itself, as Laura wolf and the boys are only asking for £3, including postage. Very much worth it, especially given the tracklisting:

SIDE A:
1. Cover the Walls (Live Dreamtrak Session)
2. Walk of Life (Live Dreamtrak Session)
3. Break Bones
4. 3D
5. Pages of Books
6. Bewitched (Live)

SIDE B:
7. Instrumental
8. Gemini Song
9. Break Bones (Live)
10. 3D (Live)
11. Pages of Books (Live)
12. Broken Keyboard

You can buy it through the internet forever blog, and here's Break Bones for you to download if yr not a convert yet:

Internet Forever - Break Bones mediafire

Be in Good Shoes new album artwork!

It's a bit short notice, but Good Shoes are offering fans of the band a chance to be in the cover art of their new album. Well, they said cover art - it's actually the inlay. Either way, if you're interested then read what the e-mail said below:

hope you're enjoying the new song and the little video from underage that tom made! not the most classy document of our lifestyle but funny none the less. we are emailing to ask for your help really, after a long time negotiating with crystal palace swimming pool they have kindly let us use their frankly beautiful and amazing swimming pool for our album cover, the cover will be an empty photo of the pool, but the inside booklet will be the same pool completely full of people, we are looking for around 50 people to come along to the pool on sunday morning to be in the photo and if any of you are interested please email info@brillemusic.com to the contact address below, all details are there and directions to the swimming pool. i guess first come first served! its an early start but hopefully it will be worth it!

rhysxx

Anyway, this is mainly a post so that I can link once again to Dev 'Lightspeed Champion' Hynes' cover of Good Shoe's Never Meant to hurt you. excellent:

Lightspeed Champion - Never meant to hurt you mediafire

Johnny Foreigner - free gig this saturday

I've got a few things to post about today and very little time to do it, but I'll power on.


If you've never heard of them before, then Johnny Foreigner are one of the best noise-pop bands about. they make a sound that sound joyous, slightly resentful, sweet, twee and loud. They've released a couple of EPs and their debut album was very, very good, but now they're moving onto their second. Called Grace and the Bigger Picture, it's out on the 22nd of October, and I cannot wait.

However, if you can't wait for the inevitable gigs to support it (and the very special guests that are lined up) then you can see them for FREE this saturday at the Borderline in London. Doors are at 1 p.m. and it's being recorded for a special edition live DVD. If yr interested, email johnnyfreestuff@gmail.com. There are only a few tickets available, so you'll have to be fast. If yr not sure then here's one of my favourite tracks from the first album, Yes! You talk too fast:

Johnny Foreigner - Yes! You talk too fast mediafire

Corrections from Anon. in the comments:

doors are at 12pm. Stagetime is 1pm. You need to get in before stagetime for entrance.
The album is released on October 26th.
:)

Thanks, Anon.

NEW Los Campesinos song - The Sea is a good place to think of the future

I literally screamed when I read this on the Los Campesinos! blog. they're matured and matured over since their Sticking Fingers into sockets EP way back when, and on this free download you can really feel it. Absolutely excellent and FREE FREE FREE download and not even illegal in the slightest. Bask in the glow of reflective glory and nibble your fingernails in anticpation of what is surely going to be the album of 2010 for me. here's the video they posted for it:

The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future from Los Campesinos! on Vimeo.

And here is the download:

Los Campesinos - The Sea is a Good Place to think of the Future witchita

Current favourite line is the one about not being able to kiss a Tory boy (slightly right-centre party that are going to win the next election, for non-U.K. readers. It makes me sad to write this.)

Oh boy, I am excited.

And also, lyrics stolen from the comments on LC!'s website:

THE SEA IS A GOOD PLACE TO THINK OF THE FUTURE

I grabbed hold of her wrist and my hand closed from tip to tip
I said “you’ve taken the diet too far, you have got to let it slip”
But she’s not eating again, she’s not eating again, she’s not eating again, she’s not eating again.
I ask her to speak French and then I need her to translate, I get the feeling she makes the meaning more significant.
She was always far too pretty for me to believe in a single word she said, believe a word she said.
At fourteen her mother died in a routine operation, from allergic reaction to a general anesthetic. She spent the rest of her teens experimenting with prescriptions, in a futile attempt to know more than the doctors.
She said one day to leave her, sand up to her shoulders waiting for the tide
to drag her to the ocean, to another sea’s shore.
This thing hurts like hell,
but what did you expect?

And all you can hear is the sound of your own heart
And all you can feel is your lungs flood and the blood course
But oh I can see five hundred years dead set ahead of me
Five hundred behind,
A thousand years in perfect symmetry

Best known left wrist right finger, through all the Southern States, on every video games machine they call her triple A.
There were racists on the radio trying to give up smoking, the chat show host, he joked “you have to wait for the government program”.
You talk about your politics, and I wonder if you could be one of them, but you could never kiss a Tory boy without wanting to cut off your tongue again.
A good place to look to the future is when you are sat at the sea, with the salt up to your ankles and a view of the end of the pier, you may look down at your model’s feet and wish that you’d just float away, and the weather here is overcast and the sea is the same shade of grey, so the landscape before you looks just like the edge of the world, but to the left side and the right side, either way is a crazy golf course.
The sea is a good place to think of the future.

And all you can hear is the sound of your own heart
And all you can feel is your lungs flood and the blood course
But oh I can see five hundred years dead set ahead of me
Five hundred behind,
A thousand years in perfect symmetry
A thousand years no getting rid of me
A thousand years in perfect symmetry.

Myspace Trawling - Shrieking Violets

Claiming to be an 'indie supergroup' is something that very few can do, and even fewer can pull off. But when Grace from the Middle Ones has called you 'The best band in the world' and you feature what seems like an ensemble cast of some of Manchester's finer unsigned bands, then it's a title you've earned.

You might never have heard of The Shrieking Violets, but if you've been coming to this blog for any amount of time then you'll have read many love letters to members of it's tributary acts - from Jam on Bread to Mat Riverie as well as parts of The Middle Ones, it's unsuprising that the noise they make is high on twee plinking and plonking, on harmonies and slow happiness, with little emphasis on production value. Like a nice hazy memory or a good daydream after a very filling lunch on a Sunday, it makes you feel warm and happy inside. Maybe it's just me.

25 listeners on Last.fm, which is a shame seeing as they have this nice free download for you:

The Shrieking Violets - Song for Matt mediafire

Los Campesinos Record Box Collection

Just a short line on the Los Campesinos! Record box collection competition. The band have been collecting some of the finest 7" records from throughout their stay in the US, and are offering YOU (and me) the chance to win it. Find out how here.

If you've not been following the blog though, yr in for a long night. Pity. Well worth the effort for some of those records, though

And yes, very old photo. I like it.

Former Ghosts

I love Xiu Xiu. About 12 months ago, I didn't ever think i'd be writing those words. I'd downloaded a lotof Jamie Stewart's stuff after hearing Boy Soprano on 120 minutes or something and tried to give it a listen, but it didn't really click for me. However, having a lot of time free over the summer has meant that I've had time to give his albums a full and proper listen - and, by god, some of the stuff on their is magnificent. A lot of it is a bit experimental, but if you haven't already listened to Xiu Xiu, then please do.



A love of Xiu Xiu isn't necessary to be a fan of Former Ghosts, but it might help as it contains the band's Jamie Stewart, as well as Zola Jesus's Nika Rosa as well as This song is a mess but so am I's Freddy Ruppert. Now, those are both bands for another day, but with this side project moving on at quite a pace, and with an album ready, their day jobs may be on the back-burner for some time. If you're a fan of moody, atmospheric music, this may be for you - from the few tracks that I've gotten a hold of, it seems as if Jamie Stewart's own agenda has taken a backseat in order to incoperate the much grander sound of the band. It's amazing, and very much worth listening to.

Only a short one today as I've been in a school and need feeding. My favourite is 'The bull and the ram'. Excellent.

Former Ghosts - 4 Songs mediafire

Myspace Trawling - Doris and the Jumpers

Following on from the some-time series that has one installment so far, I've logged back onto myspace and in search of some nice bands to listen to. So far, Trash Kit have given me nothing but happiness, and Wikipedia.org have spent many happy plays on my itunes, so it's not gone too badly so far.

I'm a sucker for a good band name, or at least an interesting band name. Which is why my computer is filled with songs by 'Tunes for bears to dance to' and 'Giraffes! Giraffes!'. Well, it's mainly animals in band names that I like, in fairness. Which is why today's myspace band Doris and the Jumpers are different - they've got clothing in their name. They do, however, follow the kind of music formulae that I really seem to like - very few production values, limited focus on the technical abilities of the musicians involved and a female vocalist. God knows what this says about me as a person.

Doris and the Jumpers myspace only has 4 songs, which is a pity as the few that are featured are quite good. The final song, Dust, may only have a measly 5 plays, but it's fuzzy, mysterious and beautiful in equal measure and is my personal highlight, though the brilliantly titled instrumental 'On a German Holiday' is just and entertaining, despite it's brevity. They've no gigs coming up, have a paltry 314 friends, but you should definitely give them a go, if only for the comic cynicism of 'My boyfriend is worse than your boyfriend':

Doris and the Jumpers - My Boyfriend is worse than your Boyfriend (demo) mediafire
Doris and the Jumpers - Paintgun (demo)

Doris and the Jumpers Myspace

Oh, and apparently they're supporting Slow Club at Moho Live Manchester soon. Excellent.