January 2011
17 posts
6 tags
Top 10 Albums of 2010 - 5
5 - Janelle Monáe - The ArchAndroid (Suites II and III)
“This is a cold war. You’d better know what you’re fighting for.”
For two reasons, today’s countdown segment is a slightly shorter one. Firstly, I’m pressed for time, fighting against the usual stream of bureaucracy and process. Lastly, I’m not sure there’s really too much point writing about...
3 tags
Top 10 Albums of 2010 - 6
6 - Archie Bronson Outfit - Coconut
“It’s just a trick of light - don’t let yourself fall apart”
Now, children, explain this one - how a dirty scuzz-blues band transform into a psychedelic whirlwind, wavering German krautrock vocals and overdriven bombast, production taken to Sun-Ra territory by the guy who worked with The Rapture, Massive Attack and UNKLE?
It...
7 tags
Satellite
Really quite disappointed in this. Where’s the sheer aimless nastiness of URA Fever? The fantastic off beat rhythms of Sour Cherry? The pathos of Goodnight Another Bad Morning?
http://www.thekills.tv/satellite.php
So you’re listening to dub all of a sudden, Jamie? This sounds like the Dead 60s played through a Polish radio, circa 1963, at the bottom of a bath.
I wonder, I just...
4 tags
Blue Moon
On the recommendation of two beerologically erudite workmates, I paid more for a single pint last night than I’ve ever done, ever, in any place that is not Copenhagen.
Worth it? Good god, yes. Stunning.
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5 tags
Nice review of Matt's gig with Cam Deas
http://quebelleepoque.wordpress.com/2011/01/27/cam-deas-the-banshee-labyrinth-edinburgh-26-01-2011/
“Three guitarists strummed purposefully on stage, an odd sight, only for fleeting moments did their action produce any equal reaction.”
I feel slightly like Steve Coogan in The Trip, with Rob Brydon screaming at him that he’s trapped in a metaphor. An odd sight with my actions rarely producing...
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Magnificent
I’m out of bed to watch a game of football that someone thought was a good idea to schedule for a noon kick off on a Sunday (Noon???), and in which someone else thinks it’s a good idea to start this fucking mongfest in midfield.
*sighs*
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2 tags
My to-do list is longer than a big willy
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9th December 2010
Seems an awful long time ago.
http://vimeo.com/19256065
Blitzkrieg, motherfucker.
8 tags
An Insection - A Tension Prism EP
Interrupting the Top 10 countdown for a second, I’d like to inject a different kind of indulgence into proceedings.
The new An Insection EP is finally out, our first release in over a year. We made this one to mark the end of 2010, a year I personally wanted to thoroughly fuck off by the end.
So what better way to celebrate than each pick our favourite song of 2010, and cover them in a...
4 tags
Top 10 Albums of 2010 - 7
7 - Delays - Star Tiger Star Ariel
“We’ll hunt the moon forever; we’ll slay it together”
Pop music can say an awful lot.
Delays spent the mid-2000s releasing two sumptuous, pure pop albums. The second of these, You See Colours, was produced by Graham Sutton of Bark Psychosis infamy and was as far removed from any aspect of Bark Psychosis’s sound as could...
4 tags
Top 10 Albums of 2010 - 8
8 - The Coral - Butterfly House
“Those silver sailing ships go sailing by - it’s in your mind, but it’s gonna be alright this time”
Easy to forget that The Coral are now on album number six. Not many rock bands go for a career, which is not at all the done thing. Bands who have careers are generally considered dull. Never mind the handful of ageless 60s stalwart...
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Top 10 Albums of 2010 - 9
9 - Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
“If I was scared, I would. And if I was bored, you know I would. And if I was yours, but I’m not.”
Arcade Fire have a perennial problem - they once released Funeral.
Funeral is one of those uncanny records, one that carries a novelty value because it feels so genuine, contains such soul. Win, Reginé and co. have, eventually, proved wise in...
4 tags
Top 10 Albums of 2010 - 10
With apologies to those who have read this before - countdown time. Again.
10 - Lindstrøm & Christabelle - Real Life Is No Cool
I had never heard of this kitschcore Norwegian duo til a gig at Roskilde festival in July that put me in such a good mood that I thought it would be a good idea to go and watch Muse directly afterwards (It wasn’t). The L&C show was an intoxicating mix...
Well, it’s just pop music. Unsubtle, uproarious, brash, unsightly pop music. But Shiny Toy Guns made We Are Pilots last for more time than a boorish West Coast electro collective should have done. Flock Of Seagulls v2? Fuck off. It was far more joyous than that.
And now we’ll see what’s what when the hype and immediacy have receded, ether-like, and everyone’s grown up...
Flags Of A Dead Ship
Very nice review of Matthew Collings’s performance of Flags Of A Dead Ship from 12th January. You can listen to the recording of the show here too.
http://themuseinmusic.com/2011/01/22/flags-of-a-dead-ship-by-matthew-collings/
It’s an ethereal privilege to be one of those three guitars.
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How pleasant. One would have thought it was 2007 again.
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