Blog

The future never sounded as good as it did in the past…and an especially big thanks to Matt Vaughan from Sydney Sunday night legend Loose Ends for reminding us of the splendour that is Tones on Tail!

Yours truly, Captain Stuck in the Future...


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Coming up Nextended -

Monday 23 November 09
"Monikas on 45" – Monika Enterprise Vinyl Special
This coming week we get into the black plastic groove with our newly arrived swag of Monika records twelves. Laurenz of Australia Pike’s 10 inches will also make a highly percussive appearance. Ach wie gut, dass niemand weiss…
Visit Monika and her friends online: www.monika-enterprise.de / www.myspace.com/monikaenterprise

More themes at your leisure, please, to extendedplay@2ser.com .
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# > Australian artist or release
---------------------------


Filewile - One Space Town
(“Blueskywell” - 2009, Mouthwatering)

John Foxx - He's A Liquid
(“Metamatic” - 1980, Virgin)

Eurythmics - You Take Some Lentils And You Take Some Rice
(“Who's That Girl” single - 1983, rca)

Chris & Cosey - Impulse
(“Trance” - 1982, Rough Trade)

Hard Corps - Des hommes
(“Metal & Flesh” - 1990, Concrete Prod.)

Anne Clark - Lovers Audition
(“Changing Places” - 1983, Red Flame)

Cabaret Voltaire - Over And Over
(“Liste Up With Cabaret Voltaire” 2xCD - 1990, Grey Area of Mute)

Fad Gadget - The Box
(“Fireside Favourites” - 1980, Mute)

Brian Eno & David Byrne - Two Against Three
(“My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts (reissue)” - 1981, Nonesuch)

Cupol - Like This For Ages
(“Like This For Ages” 12inch - 1980, 4AD)

XTC - The Somnambulist
(“Generals And Majors” 2x7inch - 1980, Virgin)

He Said - Do You Mean That?
(“Hail” - 1986, Mute)

Harold Budd, Simon Raymonde, Robin Guthrie, Elizabeth Fraser - Bloody And Blunt
(“The Moon And The Melodies” - 1986, 4AD)

Harmonia & Eno - When Shade Was Born
(“Tracks And Traces” - 2009, Grönland)

Virgin Prunes - Theme For Thought
(“If I Die, I Die” - 1982, Rough Trade)

Broadcast and The Focus Group - A Quiet Moment
(“Broadcast And The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults Of The Radio Age” - 2009, Warp)

Tones on Tail - Twist
(“Christian Says” 12inch - 1984, Beggars Banquet)

Qua - Good Morning Sun (Wagons Retelling)
(“Good Morning Sun Remix EP” EP - 2009, Love & Mercy) #

Curse ov Dialect - Runaway Tears
(“Crisis Tales” - 2009, Mistletone) #

The Wolfgang Press - Slow As A Child
(“The Burden Of Mules” - 1983, 4AD)


---------------------------
# > Australian artist or release
---------------------------


Do you like our playlists?
>Produce your own music?
>>Send us your demos:
ollo/Extended Play
PO Box 292
Enmore NSW 2042
Australia

in no particular order (yet)

The Clientele - Bonfires on the Heath
Current 93 - Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain
Tara Jane O'Neil - A Ways Away
Robin Guthrie - Carousel
Faust - C'est Com Com Complique
Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish We were an Eagle
Kronos Quartet - Flood Plain
The Tiger Lillies - Freakshow
Mike Doughty - Sad Man Happy Man
Hannu - Harhailua
Harold Budd & Clive Wright - Candylion
Durutti Column - Love in the Time of Recession
Nurse With Wound - Ød Lot
Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs
Cluster - Qua
The London Apartments - Signals & Cities are Forever
The Declining Winter - Haunt the Upper Hallways
Dakota Suite - The Night Just Keeps Coming In
Throbbing Gristle - The Third Mind Movements
Whitest Boy Alive - Rule
Pan•American - White Bird Release
Wilco - Wilco (The Album)
Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse - Dark Night of the Soul
Iggy Pop - Preliminaires
Sparklehorse + Fennesz - In the Fishtank 15
SoiSong - xAj3z

Yet again I've decided to waste my time- and maybe even yours- with another list of my favorite albums. This time, I've compiled a list of my 30 favorite albums from each year of the 2000s. Recommendations are greatly appreciated.


2009 so far

1. Isis- Wavering Radiant
2. Fen- The Malediction Fields
3. Wolves in the Throne Room- Black Cascade
4. maudlin of the Well- Part the Second
5. The Field- Yesterday and Today
6. Dereleech- Servant of Entropy
7. Blut aus Nord- Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue With the Stars
8. Animal Collective- Merriweather Post Pavilion
9. Grizzly Bear- Veckatimest
10. Steve Roach- Dynamic Stillness
11. Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O.- Lord of the Underground: Vishnu and the Magic Elixir
12. Telefon Tel Aviv- Immolate Yourself
13. Drudkh- Microcosmos
14. Tim Hecker- An Imaginary Country
15. Funebrarum- The Sleep of Morbid Dreams
16. disappearer- The Clearing
17. Squarepusher- Numbers Lucent EP
18. The Prophecy- Into the Light
19. Mono- Hymn to the Immortal Wind
20. Pelican- Ephemeral EP
21. Boxcutter- Arecibo Message
22. Wolves in the Throne Room- Malevolent Grain EP
23. Phillip Wilkerson- Constant 23
24. Mountains- Choral
25. Great Lake Swimmers- Lost Channels
26. Cobalt- Gin
27. Amorphis- Skyforger
28. Absu- Absu
29. Devin Townsend- Ki
30. Fleshgod Apocalypse- Oracles

2008

1. Jóhann Jóhannsson- Fordlândia
2. Sun Kil Moon- April
3. ColdWorld- Melancholie²
4. Dereleech- Downstream
5. Deepspace- The Glittering Domain
6. Agalloch- The White EP
7. Esoteric- The Maniacal Vale
8. Have a Nice Life- Deathconsciousness
9. Nadja- The Bungled & the Botched
10. M83- Saturdays = Youth
11. Darkspace- Dark Space III
12. Deerhunter- Microcastle / Weird Era Continued
13. Genghis Tron- Board Up the House
14. Ihsahn- angL
15. Virgin Black- Requiem - Fortissimo
16. This Will Destroy You- This Will Destroy You
17. All India Radio- These Winter Dreams
18. Deathspell Omega- Veritas Diaboli Manet in Aeternum: Chaining the Katechon
19. Steve Roach- Landmass
20. Aeveron- Existential Dead End
21. Portishead- Third
22. Moonsorrow- Tulimyrsky EP
23. Flying Lotus- Los Angeles
24. I Shalt Become- Requiem
25. Lifelover- Konkurs
26. Atmosphere- When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold
27. Leviathan- Massive Conspiracy Against All Life
28. Manual- Confluence
29. Ólafur Arnalds- Variations of Static EP
30. Enslaved- Vertebrae

2007

1. Wolves in the Throne Room- Two Hunters
2. Eluvium- Copia
3. Walknut- Graveforests and Their Shadows
4. Primordial- To The Nameless Dead
5. Lunar Aurora- Andacht
6. Blonde Redhead- 23
7. dälek- Abandoned Language
8. Deepspace- The Barometric Sea
9. The Marcia Blaine School for Girls- Halfway Into the Woods
10. Nadja- Thaumogenesis
11. Stars of the Lid- And Their Refinement of the Decline
12. Burial- Untrue
13. Robin Guthrie & Harold Budd- Before the Day Breaks
14. Drudkh- Estrangement
15. Alcest- Souvenirs d'un autre monde
16. Amon Tobin- Foley Room
17. Radiohead- In Rainbows
18. Moonsorrow- V: Hävitetty
19. Boxcutter- Glyphic
20. Krohm- The Haunting Presence
21. Explosions in the Sky- All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone
22. Electric Wizard- Witchcult Today
23. El-P- I'll Sleep When You're Dead
24. Rosetta- Wake/Lift
25. Legiac- Means Feaner
26. Nine Inch Nails- Year Zero
27. Dungen- Tio Bitar
28. The Angelic Process- Weighing Souls With Sand
29. Darkestrah- Epos
30. Christ.- Blue Shift Emissions

2006

1. Warning- Watching From a Distance
2. Wolves in the Throne Room- Diadem of 12 Stars
3. Agalloch- Ashes Against the Grain
4. Drudkh- Blood In Our Wells
5. Jesu- Silver EP
6. AFX- Chosen Lords
7. Tool- 10,000 Days
8. Mono- You Are There
9. Jóhann Jóhannsson- IBM 1401, A User's Manual
10. Nachtmystium- Instinct: Decay
11. God Is an Astronaut- A Moment of Stillness
12. Amesoeurs- Ruines humaines EP
13. Yndi Halda- Enjoy Eternal Bliss
14. Ahab- The Call of the Wretched Sea
15. Mahogany- Connectivity!
16. Insomnium- Above the Weeping World
17. Cult of Luna- Somewhere Along the Highway
18. Steve Roach- Storm Surge: Live at NEARfest
19. Geïst- Kainsmal
20. Robin Guthrie- Everlasting
21. Tenhi- Maaäet
22. The Knife- Silent Shout
23. Katharsis- VVorldVVithoutEnd
24. The Roots- Game Theory
25. Amon Amarth- With Oden on Our Side
26. Above & Beyond- Tri-State
27. Enslaved- Ruun
28. The Black Angels- Passover
29. Deftones- Saturday Night Wrist
30. Mastodon- Blood Mountain

2005

1. Steve Roach- New Life Dreaming
2. Boards of Canada- The Campfire Headphase
3. Jesu- Jesu
4. Boris- Pink
5. Oöphoi- Hymns to a Silent Sky
6. Rosetta- The Galilean Satellites
7. !T.O.O.H.!- Řád a Trest
8. Earth- Hex; or Printing in the Infernal Method
9. Darkspace- Dark Space II
10. Venetian Snares- Rossz csillag alatt született
11. Lurker of Chalice- Lurker of Chalice
12. Sigur Rós- Takk...
13. Robert Rich- Echo of Small Things
14. Deathspell Omega- Kénôse EP
15. Meshuggah- Catch 33
16. Akercocke- Words That Go Unspoken, Deeds That Go Undone
17. Kraftwerk- Minimum-Maximum
18. Gojira- From Mars to Sirius
19. Ulver- Blood Inside
20. Draconian- Arcane Rain Fell
21. Candlemass- Candlemass
22. CunninLynguist- A Piece of Strange
23. Biosphere- Dropsonde
24. dälek- Absence
25. William Basinski- Melancholia
26. Kriegsmaschine- Altered States of Divinity
27. Autechre- Untitled
28. Nadja- Truth Becomes Death
29. 65daysofstatic- One Time for All Time
30. Opeth- Ghost Reveries

2004

1. Drudkh- Autumn Aurora
2. Squarepusher- Ultravisitor
3. Enslaved- Isa
4. Deathspell Omega- Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice
5. Wintersun- Wintersun
6. Lunar Aurora- Elixir of Sorrow
7. Isis- Panopticon
8. Augury- Concealed
9. Meshuggah- I EP
10. Deinonychus- Insomnia
11. Proem- Socially Inept
12. Helios- Unomia
13. Sear Bliss- Glory and Perdition
14. Madvillain- Madvilliany
15. Iron & Wine- Our Endless Numbered Days
16. Leviathan- Tentacles of Whorror
17. Jonn Serrie- The Stargazer's Journey
18. Orphaned Land- Mabool: The Story of the Three Sons of Seven
19. Cult of Luna- Salvation
20. Robert Rich- Calling Down the Sky
21. The Flashbulb- Red Extensions of Me
22. Loscil- First Narrows
23. Vàli- Forlatt
24. Jesu- Heart Ache EP
25. Velvet Cacoon- Genevieve
26. The Dead Texan- The Dead Texan
27. Rotting Christ- Sanctus Diavolos
28. Aura Noir- The Merciless
29. Arcade Fire- Funeral
30. Fennesz- Venice

2003

1. Steve Roach- Mystic Chords & Sacred Spaces
2. Drudkh- Forgotten Legends
3. Enslaved- Below the Lights
4. Boris- Feedbacker
5. Sun Kil Moon- Ghosts of the Great Highway
6. Explosions in the Sky- The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place
7. Gridlock- Formless
8. Autechre- Draft 7.30
9. Prefuse 73- One Word Extinguisher
10. Opeth- Damnation
11. Blut aus Nord- The Work Which Transforms God
12. Hala Strana- Fielding
13. Forgotten Tomb- Springtime Depression
14. Ulver- A Quick Fix of Melancholy EP
15. The Gathering- Souvenirs
16. Kid606- Kill Sound Before Sound Kills You
17. Ulrich Schnauss- A Strangely Isolated Place
18. Steve Roach- Texture Maps: The Lost Pieces Vol. 3
19. Alias- Muted
20. Falkenbach- Ok Nefna Tysvar Ty
21. System 7- Live Transmissions
22. M83- Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts
23. William Basinski- The Disintegration Loops IV
24. Pan•American- The River Made No Sound
25. Virus- Carheart
26. The Angelic Process- Coma Waering
27. Madlib- Shades of Blue
28. Devin Townsend- Accelerated Evolution
29. Edge of Sanity- Crimson II
30. Solefald- In Harmonia Universali

2002

1. Agalloch- The Mantle
2. Boards of Canada- Geogaddi
3. Isis- Oceanic
4. Sigur Rós- ( )
5. Opeth- Deliverance
6. Arcturus- The Sham Mirrors
7. Nine Inch Nails- And All That Could Have Been/Still EP
8. Shining- III - Angst - Självdestruktivitetens Emissarie
9. The Flaming Lips- Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
10. múm- Finally We Are No One
11. Porcupine Tree- In Absentia
12. El-P- Fantastic Damage
13. Nile- In Their Darkened Shrines
14. Empyrium- Weiland
15. In Gowan Ring- Hazel Steps Through a Weathered Home
16. Wilco- Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
17. Biosphere- Shenzhou
18. ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead- Source Tags & Codes
19. Six Organs of Admittance- Dark Noontide
20. Judas Iscariot- To Embrace the Corpses Bleeding
21. Murcof- Martes
22. Immortal- Sons of Northern Darkness
23. Dark Tranquillity- Damage Done
24. Steve Roach- Streams & Currents
25. Diary of Dreams- Freak Perfume
26. !T.O.O.H.!- Pod vládou biče
27. Beck- Sea Change
28. dredg- El Cielo
29. Lustmord- Zeotrope
30. Jóhann Jóhannsson- Englabörn

2001

1. maudlin of the Well- Leaving Your Body Map (Also: Bath)
2. Aphex Twin- Drukqs
3. Tool- Lateralus
4. Opeth- Blackwater Park
5. Björk- Vespertine
6. Cannibal Ox- The Cold Vein
7. Autechre- Confield
8. Ulrich Schnauss- Far Away Trains Passing By
9. Devin Townsend- Terria
10. Emperor- Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire & Demise
11. Aesop Rock- Labor Days
12. Tim Hecker- Haunt Me, Haunt Me Do It Again
13. J-Live- The Best Part
14. My Dying Bride- The Dreadful Hours
15. Daft Punk- Discovery
16. Pete Namlook- Silence V
17. Absu- Tara
18. Plaid- Double Figure
19. Evoken- Quietus
20. Cult of Luna- Cult of Luna
21. Dolorian- Dolorian
22. Gorguts- From Wisdom to Hate
23. Neurosis- A Sun That Never Sets
24. DJ Tiësto- Magik, vol. 7: Live in Los Angeles
25. Liquid Morphine- GrijsGebied
26. Squarepusher- Go Plastic
27. Sigh- Imaginary Sonicscape
28. The Shins- Oh, Inverted World
29. André Estermann- Balloon
30. Therion- Secret of the Runes

2000

1. Weakling- Dead as Dreams
2. Radiohead- Kid A
3. Boards of Canada- In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country EP
4. Boris- Flood
5. Godspeed You! Black Emperor- Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
6. Lykathea Aflame- Elvenefris
7. DJ Tiësto- Magik, vol. 6: Live in Amsterdam
8. Harold Budd- The Room
9. Robert Rich- Humidity
10. Ulver- Perdition City
11. Jedi Mind Tricks- Violent by Design
12. The Gathering- If_Then_Else
13. Aesop Rock- Float
14. Reflection Eternal- Train of Thought
15. Sol Invictus- Trieste
16. Gas- Pop
17. Shape of Despair- Shades of...
18. Garden of Shadows- Oracle Moon
19. Deltron 3030- Deltron 3030
20. A Silver Mt. Zion- He Has Left Us Alone but Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corner of Our Rooms...
21. Hypocrisy- Into the Abyss
22. Primordial- Spirit the Earth Aflame
23. Bloodbath- Breeding Death EP
24. Amon Tobin- Supermodified
25. Immolation- Close to a World Below
26. A Perfect Circle- Mer de Noms
27. Morbid Angel- Gateways to Annihilation
28. Deftones- White Pony
29. Modest Mouse- The Moon & Antarctica
30. Behemoth- Thelema.6

A list of most of the bands I can remember seeing live since '96
Far too many. (326 in the list, but there's more that I don't remember, for example, who supported Geneva in the Lemon Tree in '97? Who were the 3 support bands for Alabama 3 in '09?)

!!!
29's Fell Shadow
65daysofstatic
Acadian
A Camp
Adebisi Shank
Adrian Crowley
Alabama 3
Alexander Tucker
alter of plagues
American Music Club
Amiina
Amy McGarrigle
Amy McGarrigle & Band
And So I Watch You From Afar
...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead
Andy McClenahan
AngelFall
Animal Collective
Aphex Twin
A Place to Bury Strangers
a plastic rose
Arab Strap
Arlo Guthrie
Arvo Part
Ash
Asian Dub Foundation
A Silver Mt Zion
Autechre
Autolux
Bardo Pond
Barry's Electric Workshop
Bat for Lashes
Beastie Boys
Belle & Sebastian
Ben Folds
Beth Orton
Bill Callahan
Bjork
Black Bear Saloon
Blackstar
Boathouse
Bob Dylan
Boris
Born Ruffians
Brightblack Morning Light
British Sea Power
Brokeback
Broken Social Scene
Bubblegum Screw
Bunkbed
Caribou
Cashier No 9
Cat Power
Cecil
Channel One
Charles Hayward
Chequerboard
Christina Carter
Clem Snide
Clinic
Coda
Comply or die
Confessions Of A Critic
Conway Savage
Crayonsmith
Crippled Black Phoenix
Cruz
Crystal Antlers
Cutaways
Damon & Naomi
Dave McNair
Dave Pajo
Death in Vegas
Death Vessel
Dent May
Deerhoof
De La Soul
delorentos
De Staat
dEUS
Devastations
Dinosaur Jr
Dinosaur Pile Up
Dirty Three
Dirty Projectors
DJ Format
DJ Shadow
Domino State
don cabellaro
Earth
Edgeweather
Ed Zealous
Efterklang
Einstürzende Neubauten
Eluvium
Enablers
Errors
Escape Act
Espers
Eugene McGuinness
Evens
Explosions in the Sky
Fighting With Wire
Fight Like Apes
Final Fantasy
Flatliners
Fly Pan Am
Four Tet
Frankie Sparo
Fennesz
Fuck Buttons
Fuzz Against Junk
Gary Moore
Geneva
Girls Names
Glenn Branca
God Is an Astronaut
Godspeed You Black Emperor
Great Lake Swimmers
Grinderman
Guitar Dectet
GZA
Hands On Heads
In Case of Fire
Iron & Wine
Isis
James Lavelle
Jandek
Janes Addiction
Japandroids
Jape
Jarvis Cocker
Jedi Jane
Jedi Jane and the Cocaine Collision
Jennifer Gentle
J. Mascis And The Fog
Joe Echo
Joe Lally
Joe Volk
Johann Johannsson
Josh T. Pearson
Julian Cope
Julip
Jurassic 5
Just A Word
Kaplin
Katie and the Carnival
Kasper Rosa
Kepler
Kid Koala
Kings Of Convienence
Kings of Leon
Kitty and the Can Openers
Kling Klang
Kristopher Åström
La Faro
Late Night Venture
LCD Soundsystem
Leonard Cohen
Liars
Lightning Bolt
lilies
LITE
LTJ Bukem
LoFi Allstars
Louisiana Joyride
Low
Lucky Dragons
M83
Madlib
Magnolia Electric Co
Maguire and I
Malcolm Middleton
Manic Street Preachers
Mansun
Mark Mulchy
Massive Attack
Max Tundra
Meat Puppets
melt banana
Menschen
Mix Master Mike
Modest Mouse
Mogwai
Mono
Monotonix
Mr Scruff
múm
My Bloody Valentine
Neil Halstead
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Nick Cave
Nietzche's Last Days
Nina Nastasia
Nine Black Alps
Nine Inch Nails
No Age
No Age & Bob Mould
NOFX
Northern State
Not Squares
of Montreal
Okkervil River
OM
One eskimO
Oneida
Open Jack
Oppenheimer
Out of Touch
Paddy Casey
Panda Kopanda
Papa M
Parhelia
Part Chimp
party weirdo
Paul Hartnoll
Pelican
Peter Broderick
Philip Glass
Pixies
Pixie Saytar
Plaid
Polar Bear
Portishead
Pour Habit
Primal Scream
Push Borders
Radiohead
Red Sirus
Red Sparowes
RL/VL
Robin Guthrie
robyn g shiels
Rod Thomas
Rosy Red Rash
Russian Circles
saw doctors
School of Seven Bells
Sebadoh
Selah
Serpentine Smile
Shannon Wright
Sigur Ros
Sketches
Skruff
SleaterKinny
Slint
Sonic Youth
Soul II Soul
Sparklehorse
Spectrum
Spiritualized
Stand Up Guy
st dudes
Strait Laces
Sunn O)))
Sun Ra Arkestra
Super Furry Animals
Swervedriver
Tara Jane O'Neil
Team Brick
Teenage Fanclub
Tegan & Sara
Television Personalities
The Aliens
The Benjamins
The Beta Band
The Bitter Tears
The Black Supremos
The Butterfly Explosion
The C64s
The Cave Singers
The Drones
The Evens
The Fall
The Flaming Lips
The Flatliners
The Frames
The Horrors
The Monroe Transfer
The National
The Only Ones
The Pastels
The Pipettes
The Polyphonic Spree
The Thermals
These Arms Are Snakes
The Sons of Robert Mitchum
The Summer Experiment
The Tyde
The Underscore Orkestra
The Verve
Th' Faith Healers
This Will Destroy You
Thread Pulls
Three Tales
Thurston Moore
Tinpot Operation
Tom McShane
Torche
Tori Amos
Tortoise
Tracer AMC
Turn
Two Door Cinema Club
Unbelievable Truth
Underscore Orkestra
Underworld
Vetiver
Wavves
Warrior Soul
We Are Knives
Weezer
what squares
What What
When Pilots Eject
White Magic
Wintersleep
Woods
Yakuza
Yann Tiersen
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
yes cadets
Yo La Tengo
Zu

Still need something for Q and X.
Wonder if Xui Xui are playing anywhere.

Thought it was about time I wrote a journal... anyway...

The idea is to go to the page of your number one artist, and follow the link of it's number one similar artist, then repeating that for this artist and so on, noting down each artist as you go. Do this until you've got to 50 artists. If you get any repeats, just go to the second similar artist or the nearest one that you haven't already had.

Starting with:

1. The Beatles
2. John Lennon
3. George Harrison (seeing a pattern here)
4. Paul McCartney
5. Paul McCartney & Wings
6. Paul & Linda McCartney (lol)
7. Wings
8. Ringo Starr
9. John Lennon & Yoko Ono
10. Yoko Ono
11. Nico
12. The Velvet Underground
13. Lou Reed
14. Lou Reed & John Cale
15. John Cale (hmmmm)
16. Brian Eno & John Cale
17. Brian Eno
18. Harold Budd/Brian Eno
19. Harold Budd
20. John Foxx & Harold Budd
21. Robin Guthrie & Harold Budd
22. Robin Guthrie
23. Cocteau Twins
24. This Mortal Coil (I stopped recognizing the names around here)
25. The Hope Blister
26. Dif Juz
27. The Wolfgang Press
28. Colourbox
29. Ultra Vivid Scene
30. Pale Saints
31. Chapterhouse
32. Ride
33. Slowdive
34. My Bloody Valentine
35. The Jesus and Mary Chain
36. Spacemen 3
37. Spiritualized
38. Spectrum
39. Sonic Boom
40. The Telescopes
41. Loop
42. Flying Saucer Attack
43. Bardo Pond
44. Hash Jar Tempo
45. Roy Montgomery
46. Dadamah
47. Dissolve
48. Magnog
49. Amp
50. Windy & Carl

So... wtf.

This is a journal of albums from 2009 ive heard so far! I will probably make a top 10 or 20 list by the end of the year.

36 - Hypersona (Ambient)
A Dancing Beggar - What We Left Behind (Post-Rock)
Aderlating - The Nectar Of Perversity Springs From The Well Of Repression (Dark Ambient)
All The Cold - One Year Of Cold (Atmospheric Black Metal)
Altar of Plagues - White Tomb (Black Metal)
Anduin + Jasper TX - The Bending of Light (Ambient)
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion (Electronic Pop)
Arcana Coelestia - Le Mirage De L'idéal (Funeral Black/Doom Metal)
Arckanum - ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ (Black Metal)
Atomtrakt - Nuklearchetyp (Dark Ambient)
Austere - To Lay Like Old Ashes (Black Metal)
Azarath - Praise The Beast (Death Metal)
Bann - Æschatologia (Black Metal)
Barzin - Notes To An Absent Lover (Slowcore)
Battlefields - Thresholds Of Imbalance (Sludge)
Bell Orchestre - As Seen Through Windows (Post-Rock)
Beyond Ye Grave - Raping The Creation Of God (Black Metal)
Birds of Prey- The Hellpreacher (Stoner/Sludge)
Black to Comm - Alphabet 1968 (Electronic)
Blastomycosis - The Putrid Smell Within (Goregrind)
Blut aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue With the Stars (Black Metal)
Carrion Wraith - Carrion Wraith (Black Metal)
Choked By Own Vomits - Shit Autopsy (Goregrind)
Christopher Hipgrave - Day (Ambient)
Christopher Hipgrave - Subtleties (Ambient)
Clubroot - Clubroot (Dubstep)
Cobalt - Gin (Black Metal)
Cry of Silence - Wandering Through Pagan Times (Black Metal)
Csejthe - La Mort du Prince Noir (Black Metal)
Current 93 - Aleph At Hallucinatory Mountain (Experimental)
Daggerspawn - Suffering Upon the Throne of Depravity (Death Metal)
Dan Deacon - Bromst (Indie Electronica)
Dark Fury - The Price of Treason (NSBM)
Den Saakaldte - Those Whom The Gods Detest (Black Metal)
Devourment - Unleash The Carnivore (Brutal Death Metal)
Disinfect - Screams Of Pleasure (Brutal Death Metal)
Dodsferd - Suicide and the Rest of Your Kind Will Follow (Black Metal)
Drowning the Light - The Blood of the Ancients (Black Metal)
eaststrikewest - w o l v v e s (Post-Rock)
Fat Freddy's Drop - Dr Boondigga & Big BW (Dub/Reggea)
Fäulnis - Gehirn zwischen Wahn und Sinn (Black Metal)
Fen - The Malediction Fields (Black Metal/Post-Rock)
French Teen Idol - El Siete Es La Luz (Post-Rock/Electronic)
From Monument to Masses - On Little Known Frequencies (Post-Rock)
Gorepoflesh - Gore Fucking Corpses (Brutal Death Metal)
Graveland - Spears of Heaven (Black Metal)
Gravsorg - Visions of Depression (Atmospheric Black Metal)
Gui Boratto - Take My Breath Away (Electronic)
Happy Days - Happiness Stops Here (Depressive Black Metal)
Human Rejection - Decrepit To Insanity (Brutal Death Metal)
I Shalt Become - The Pendle Witch Trials (Black Metal)
If These Trees Could Talk - Above The Earth, Below The Sky (Post-Rock)
Ingested - Surpassing the Boundaries of Human Suffering (Death Metal)
Intrusion - The Seduction Of Silence (Dub Techno)
Isis - Wavering Radiant (Post-Metal)
Jasper TX - Singing Stones (Ambient)
Joseph Auer - Freo (Ambient/Experimental)
Kraanium - The Art of Female Sodomy (Brutal Death Metal)
Kukan Dub Lagan - New Life New Vision (Psydub)
Kult ov Azazel - Destroying the Sacred (Black Metal)
Lawrence English - A Colour For Autumn (Experimental/Ambient)
Livsnekad - Den Sociala Vanförheten (Black/Doom Metal)
Lonesummer - What We Were (Experimental)
Longing For Dawn - Between Elation and Despair (Funeral Doom)
Lustmord - The Dark Places Of The Earth (Dark Ambient)
Machinefabriek - Shuffle (Ambient/Experimental)
Maybeshewill - Sing The Word Hope In Four-Part Harmony (Post-Rock)
Monarque - Ad Nauseam (Black Metal)
Mono - Hymn To The Immortal Wind (Post-Rock)
Mount Eerie - White Stag (Experimental Folk)
Mouse On The Keys - An Anxious Object (Math Rock)
Mósslonnrós - The Last Inch of Snow to Fall (Ambient)
Mournful Congregation - The June Frost (Funeral Doom)
Muse - The Resistance (Alternative Rock)
Nadja - Belles Bêtes (Drone/Doom/Ambient)
Nadja - When I See the Sun Always Shines on TV (Drone/Doom/Ambient)
Nihiling - M[e]iosis (Post-Rock)
Noah and the Whale - The First Days Of Spring (Alternative/Folk)
Novembers Doom - Into Night's Requiem Infernal (Doom/Death Metal)
Orla Wren - The One Two Bird and the Half Horse (Ambient)
Panopticon - Collapse (Atmospheric Black Metal)
Paroxysmal Descent - Paradigm of Decay (Black Metal)
Peste Noire - Ballade cuntre lo Anemi Francor (Black Metal)
Peter Broderick - Music For Falling From Trees (Modern Classical)
Pitbull Terrorist - White House Tapes (Grind)
Prurient - Rose Pillar (Noise)
Psoriasis - Lethal Treatment (Brutal Death Metal)
Robin Guthrie - Carousel (Shoegaze)
Rome - Flowers From Exile (Folk)
Russian Circles - Geneva (Post Rock/Metal)
Semiosis - Pictural (Post-Rock)
Sepsism - Distorting the Mortal Visage (Brutal Death Metal)
Skagos - Ást (Atmospheric Black Metal)
Skaldic Curse - World Suicide Machine (Black Metal)
Smashed Ruins - Silence (Instrumental Black Metal)
Solar Fields - Movements (Psychill)
Solar Wisdom - The Temple of Honour (NSBM)
Sui Caedere - Thrène (Black Metal)
Svart - Vanära, Vanmakt och Avsmak (Black Metal)
The Electones - If You'll Be Null, I'll Be Void (Electronic)
The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation - Succubus (Experimental)
The Rogue Element - Lumina (Electronic)
The Sweet Vandals - Love Lite (Soul/Funk)
Tiësto - Kaleidoscope (Electronic)
Tim Hecker - An Imaginary Country (Ambient)
Tombs - Winter Hours (Sludge)
Total Negation - Zeitenwende (Black Metal)
Unlucky Buried - Blast From The Underground (Brutal Death Metal)
Velvet Cacoon - P aa opal Poere Pr. 33 (Black Metal)
Vomepotro - Liturgy of Dissection (Brutal Death Metal)
Von Thronstahl - Germanium Metallicum (Industrial/Folk)
Vinterriket - Horizontmelancholie (Ambient/Folk)
When Mine Eyes Blacken - When Mine Eyes Blacken (Funeral Black/Doom)
William Basinski - 92982 (Minimalistic Drone/Ambient)
Wolok - Caput Mortuum (Black Metal)
Wolves in the Throne Room - Black Cascade (Black Metal)
:wumpscut: - Fuckit (Dark Electro)
Wyrd - Kalivägi (Black/Folk Metal)
Xasthur - All Reflections Drained (Black Metal)

Track: Another Day
Artist: Elizabeth Fraser for This Mortal Coil
Album: It'll End in Tears, 4AD (1984)
Tags: goth, gothic, dream pop, ethereal, alternative, dark, my gang rotw
Video: Click the pic...

YouTube

When I was at school, I got in the habit of borrowing cassette tapes from the library for 10p a week. I pretty much started at one end and worked my way across the shelves, nabbing new releases as they came in. This is how I heard what I consider to be a modern essential - This Mortal Coil - It'll End in Tears.

It was the cover that caught my attention first. Have a look:



What kind of music is all misty mysterious, punky and a bit old-fashioned at the same time?

I can't remember my first listen but I can the next day. Maybe that was the first listen. It was a Sunday evening, already dark out, the lamps were on and the curtains drawn in our upstairs bedroom. My younger sister was in bed with a book, which was all she ever did at the time, and I was ironing my clothes in preparation for the week. I told her she had to listen to this and put the tape in. Bearing in mind it was a big deal for my sister to be parted from her books, I noticed her attention slowly shift away from the pages to the music. It couldn't have been a better setting.

I had already heard Song to the Siren on Annie Nightingale's Radio One show, another one of those stopped-in-my-tracks-to-listen moments. The rest was new to me.

This was roughly around the time of the release, 1984. The memory and the album have stayed with me all this time. It was years before I heard the subsequent two albums in the series, Filigree & Shadow and Blood, and by then, I was either travelling or at university, ie skint. By the time I did have the money to buy them, they weren't available in record shops any more. I had to wait till somebody invented eBay and I had a home computer and broadband before I could get hold of them. Happily, they haven't been remastered.

I think I am not alone in my passion for this series of albums, this special mix of dark and light, goth and classical, rock, avant-garde and ambient. I think the people who have found them love them dearly. Or that's my impression.

The video I have chosen is a trippy amateur homemade one using very basic special effects but whoever made it knew what they were doing. It's got the misty mysteriousness, clouds, otherworldly flora and is in perfect time with the music.

I can't listen to Song to the Siren now, in the same way I can't listen to Ghosts by Japan. Sign of a true fan, is that. Another Day is also sung by Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins and is, in my opinion, a finer, more delicate song that sounds as good after decades of regular listening as on that first weekend.

The original was by Roy Harper, a British folk singer, and appears on his album Flat Baroque and Berserk (1970), reissued in Aug 2008. You can hear it at YouTube here.



From Wikipedia: Background - This Mortal Coil:

The gothic dream pop collective This Mortal Coil was one of the most representative bands on the 4AD label, not least because they were run by 4AD president and co-founder Ivo Watts-Russell. Whether they played covers (of Watts-Russell's favorite artists) or originals, their material epitomized the haunting, ethereal sound that came to be associated with the label. Lush, swirling arrangements drenched in echo, reverb, and other effects were the project's stock-in-trade, often approaching ambient music. A rotating cast of vocalists and musicians supplied the sounds heard on record, all overseen by Watts-Russell and co-producer John Fryer.

A studio entity only, the group started out as something of a 4AD all-star unit, but evolved into a way for Watts-Russell to collaborate with up-and-comers and other artists not signed to his label. Whoever was performing, the music was united by its gentle surges of melancholy and by Watts-Russell's highly influential aesthetic.


From Amazon, user review:

Cut to 1990. Some friends and I go to watch Ride play in Oxford. What was that intro music? Cut to a record shop in which I've just started working. A guy from The Grooveyard (of 'Czechoslavakian Moomin' non-fame) puts on a cd of This Mortal Coil's 'It'll end in Tears'. I am blown away- and pleased to find out the Ride intro music was Fyt. Cut to getting an advance on my meagre wages. Cut to getting home. To turning my stereo on. To pressing play. To listening to heaven.

This is an album that I always come back to; personally I thought the follow-up albums were too long. There were some great moments: Late Night, Morning Glory, The Jeweller, The Lacemaker, You & Your Sister- but nothing as great as the whole here...The album begins on Kangaroo, from Big Star's heartbreaking Third / Sister Lovers. Was there ever a perfect line as "I first saw you/it was at a party"?. Martin McGarrick (Siouxsie and the Banshees; Therapy?; Marc and the Mambas) and Simon Raymonde (Cocteau Twins; the producer of Billy Mackenzie's Beyond The Sun -as mindblowing an album as this) create a wonderful ambience for Gordon Sharp's vocal. It's not as good as the Big Star version...Song to the Siren is the famous one - used in adverts, (almost) used by David Lynch in 'Blue Velvet' (he couldn't afford it). Eventually used in 'Lost Highway' (though not on the soundtrack album) in one of its best scenes: whiteout headlights and a naked Patricia Arquette telling Bill Pullman he will never have her. Liz Fraser's vocal is as gorgeous as anything else she's done- Teardrop, Suckling The Mender, Aikea Guinea.It's written by Tim Buckley, from the wonderful Starsailor album- any chance of a reissue,Warners?..Howard Devoto, post-Magazine, sings a wonderful version of Third / Sister Lovers, Holocaust. Perfect...Fyt is a building ambient glory, fit to rank next to anything by Brian Eno, Steve Reich et al...Fond Affections is minimal-ballad, again sung by Gordon Sharp and leading to the Cocteau-barrage of Guthrie & Raymonde on instrumental The Last Ray. This builds to the return of Liz Fraser on Roy Harper's Another Day- I prefer this to Song to the Siren. Dead Can Dance vocalist Lisa Gerrard fuses with Ivo & Fryer for Waves Become Wings -as good as anything on The Serpent's Egg. Simon Raymonde joins her for Barramundi; while DCD partner Brendan Perry aids her on Dreams Made Flesh. This songs will move you towards A Passage in Time or the recent DCD box set...Not Me is from Colin Newman's post-Wire#1 (Pink Flag-154)album, A - Z- which also features the wonderful Alone, that is heard in 'Silence of the Lambs' and TMC perform on Filigree & Shadow. This is as close to rocking out as TMC get; Robbie Grey's vocals are VERY Colin Newman. A Single Wish is an original composition and brings a wonderful album to a conclusion. Add the awesome 23 Envelope cover and you have an album you cannot live without.

This is the direction- rather than formless 'chill out' music (a very 1991 concept). As with the first Portishead album, Cocteau Twins and Dead Can Dance- it's basically joss-sticks & shagging music. Oh, you're going to buy it now?



Official Site: This Mortal Coil - Lyrics and Photos

Another Day

(Roy Harper)

The kettle's on, the sun has gone, another day
She offers me, Tibetan tea, on a flower tray
She's at the door, she wants to score, she didn't means to say:
"I loved you a long time ago
Where the winds of forget-me-nots blow
But I just couldn't let myself go
Not knowing what on earth there is to know
How I wish that I had, 'cause I feel so sad
That I never had one of your children."
From across the room, inside a tomb, a chance is waxed and waned
The night is young, why are we so hung up in each other's chains?
I must take her, and I must make her, while the dove domains
And feel the juice run as she flies
Run my wings under her sighs
As the flames of eternity rise
To lick us with the first born lash of dawn
Oh really my dear, I can't see what we fear
Standing here with ourselves in between us
And at the door, we can't say more, than just another day
And without a sound, I turn around, and I walk away


Wikipedia: It'll End In Tears:

It'll End in Tears was an album released in 1984 by 4AD using the name This Mortal Coil as an umbrella title for a loose grouping of guest musicians and vocalists brought together by label boss Ivo Watts-Russell. The album features many of the artists on the 4AD roster at the time of issue, including Dead Can Dance, as well as key post-punk figure Howard Devoto, who sang "Holocaust", one of two covers of songs from the "Sister/Lovers" album by Big Star to appear on the album. Two key songs were performed by Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins, including "Song to the Siren" by Tim Buckley; this was released as a single. Fraser also performed "Another Day" by Roy Harper, a track which has also been covered by Peter Gabriel as a duet with Kate Bush. 4AD would go on to release two further albums under the This Mortal Coil name: Filigree & Shadow (1986) and Blood (1991).

Track Listing:

1. Kangaroo (Alex Chilton) – 3:30
2. Song to the Siren (Larry Beckett, Tim Buckley) – 3:30
3. Holocaust (Chilton) – 3:38
4. Fyt (Ivo Watts-Russell, John Fryer) – 4:23
5. Fond Affections (Rema-Rema) – 3:50
6. The Last Ray (Watts-Russell, Robin Guthrie, Simon Raymonde) – 4:08
7. Another Day (Roy Harper) – 2:54
8. Waves Become Wings (Lisa Gerrard) – 4:25
9. Barramundi (Raymonde) – 3:56
10. Dreams Made Flesh (Gerrard) – 3:48
11. Not Me (Colin Newman) – 3:44
12. A Single Wish (Gordon Sharp, Steven Young, Raymonde) – 2:26

YouTube: Filmed in 1979, Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel - Another Day. (brought a tear to my eye)

Official Site: 4AD - This Mortal Coil

I have taken over leadership of the Last.fm group for This Mortal Coil and have added all the relevant artists to group connections. If anyone is missing, please do let me know.


Babs _{My Gang}

Reco of the Week archives



Admin - Stats as of today:

Last.fm listeners of this track - 8,268
No. of plays scrobbled in Last.fm - 40,415
Position in Last 7 Days: 2 / 224
Position in Last 6 Months: 3 / 2,478

Main Video
Date Added: July 18, 2008
Views: 2,950, Ratings: 20, Responses: 0, Comments: 15, Favourited: 53 times

Roy Harper Video
Date Added: September 15, 2007
Views: 27,955, Ratings: 51, Responses: 0, Comments: 38, Favourited: 127 times

Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush Video
Date Added: May 02, 2007
Views: 25,471, Ratings: n/a, Responses: 0, Comments: n/a, Favourited: 299 times


Stats after 7 days:

Last.fm listeners of this track - 8,327
No. of plays scrobbled in Last.fm - 40,671
Position in Last 7 Days: 3 / 198
Position in Last 6 Months: 3 / 2,515

Main Video
Date Added: July 18, 2008
Views: 3,117, Ratings: 20, Responses: 0, Comments: 15, Favourited: 53 times

Roy Harper Video
Date Added: September 15, 2007
Views: 28,578, Ratings: 54, Responses: 0, Comments: 39, Favourited: 129 times

Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush Video
Date Added: May 02, 2007
Views: 25,813, Ratings: n/a, Responses: 0, Comments: n/a, Favourited: 303 times



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The Sunday Times guide to today's music scene : Part 1
The Sunday Times guide to today's music scene : Part 2
The Sunday Times guide to today's music scene : Part 4

Grabbed from the Sunday Times, linked up with Last.fm.

(Typos corrected where caught. Please let me know if you find any more)


Watch tracks from Culture's definitive guide to modern music

January 25, 2009

The Sunday Times guide to today's music scene part III

Ambient I Alt-country I Americana I Anti-folk I Art rock I Blue-eyed soul I Conscious Rap I Electro I Emo I Fence Collective I Folk traditionalist I Folktronica I Freak Folk I Fridmann's Freaks I Gangsta rap I Garage I Grime I Hardcore I Heavy Metal I House I Hip-Pop I Indie rock I Manufactured pop I Montreal scene I Neo-Psychedelia I Nordic pop I Post-rock I Power-pop I Progressive rock I R&B I Second Childhood I Singer-songwriters I Slowcore I Synth pop I Techno


From Ambient and Anti-Folk to Garage, Electro and Power Pop: part three of our definitive guide to modern music




AMBIENT

Brian Eno, Robert Fripp, Harold Budd, Robin Guthrie, Stars of the Lid, Tim Story

Back in the 1970s, when Brian Eno came up with the idea of music that should be “as ignorable as it is interesting”, the genre seemed destined for a limited life in a world with ever-decreasing attention spans. Low-key instrumental music with no great ambition to get anywhere? Next! Yet ambient music persists, in its own quiet way. Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works and albums by The Orb gave the genre a boost in the 1990s, and its influence spread throughout related areas: you can hear the influence of ambient on the likes of Air, Boards of Canada, royksopp, Sigur Ros and pretty much anyone who learnt from ambient that you could leave quiet bits in there and people wouldn’t stop listening. Pure ambient music is still heavily populated by the 1970s generation, with Harold Budd, Robert Fripp and Hans-Joachim Roedelius all still making exceptional music, alone and in collaboration. Occasionally, newer faces appear, notably Norway’s Geir Jenssen, whose albums as Biosphere seem to reflect the fact that his home is in the Arctic Circle; the British duo Marconi Union, who bring a darker edge to things; Japan’s genre-hopping Susumu Yokota; the drone-heavy Texans Stars of the Lid; and the Ohio-based Tim Story, whose collaborations with Roedelius are breathtaking.

ESSENTIAL RECORDINGS

Recent: Marconi Union, Distance (2006); Stars of the Lid, and Their Refinement of the Decline (2007); Robert Fripp, At the End of Time (2007)

Classic: Brian Eno, Music For Airports (1978); Harold Budd, Luxa (1996); Biosphere, Substrata (1997)

Key track: Hans-Joachim Roedelius & Tim Story, Downrivers (2008)


ANTI-FOLK

Jeffrey Lewis, Emmy the Great, Diane Cluck

First of all, it isn’t. anti-folk music, that is. In fact, many of its leading players make music that is, if not exactly folk, then folky. The Hong Kong-born, London-based singer Emma Lee Moss, aka Emmy the Great, is a good example of what the genre is supposed to be about: the songs on her debut album, First Love (due for release on February 9), combine intricate melodies, acute lyrics, intimacy, humour and candour. It takes its name from a dispute in mid-1980s New York involving a musician called Lach, whose raw, punk-infused songs led to him being barred from most of the city’s leading folk clubs. To coincide with the next NY Folk festival, Lach launched his own anti-folk jamboree, and thus was a movement — if something as disparate and disputatious as anti-folk can be called that — born. To give you some idea of how disparate: in America, it encompasses everything from the haunting, laid-bare minimalism of Diane Cluck to the slapstick and silly-costume-wearing of The Moldy Peaches. To give you some idea of how disputatious: in Britain, scenesters tend not to use the hyphen, make music that maxes on a kind of amateurish absurdity and misfit performance-art anarchy, and have little to do with folk or, in some cases, music (which isn’t to say some of them don’t possess their own startling gifts). Emmy the Great belongs in the hyphenated camp, as, arguably, does Laura Marling. They’re anti-folk, but not, you know, actually anti it. In fact, they rather like it. In an understated sort of way.

ESSENTIAL RECORDINGS

Diane Cluck, Macy’s Day Bird (2001); Jeffrey Lewis, The Last Time I Did Acid I went Insane and Other Favourites (2002); Emmy the Great, First Love (2009)

Key Track: Diane Cluck, Monte Carlo (2000)


GARAGE

Geeneus, T2, MJ Cole, DJ EZ, Burial, Benga, Kode9, Skream

You may remember a time, at the turn of the millennium, when uk garage was the big new thing, and acts such as Artful Dodger and So Solid Crew were scoring Top 10 singles. It had emerged from the chillout rooms at drum’n’bass nights and was originally a speeded-up version of the soulful us garage style. As it evolved, the bass lines became more ruthless and the rhythms more disjointed — especially in the 2-step style, with its characteristic missing second and fourth beats. Sadly, with success came a reputation for violence; in 2001, the police started to refuse licences for garage nights and all but shut down the scene. Back underground, the music sent off shoots in many directions. In east London, young crews came up with grime, the British version of hip-hop. In Croydon, a group of producers centred on the record shop Big Apple stripped out the singing, ramped up the bass and created dubstep. Within a few years, dubstep was being championed by a Radio 1 DJ, Mary Anne Hobbs, then it conquered the world.

This atmospheric style borrows from dub reggae its delay and echo effects, which create a striking sense of open space and a vivid atmosphere. Perhaps buoyed by dubstep’s success, garage producers set to work again, and the scene, with a strong element of nostalgia, is regaining ground, although part of the fraternity has moved into a lighter, supposedly more female-friendly style called funky house, or simply funky, which pretty much brings garage full circle. For those who like it raw, there is bassline, an abrasive Sheffield-born style that is the most pared-down garage sound yet.

ESSENTIAL RECORDINGS

Burial, Burial (2006); Various Artists, Box of Dub (2007) (Amazon UK); Various Artists, The Very Best of Pure Garage (2008) (Amazon UK)

Key track: Benga & Coki, Night (2008)


ELECTRO

DJ Hell, Aphex Twin, Kissy Sell Out, Soulwax, Daft Punk, Herve

Something big is happening in the clubs. Not for nothing did NME, the touchstone of young music-lovers, lead off its Scene 2009 roundup with the Dance & Electronic section. For NME, there was only one type of dance music to get excited about: a new electro sound that, with a breathtaking lack of respect for boundaries, throws a bit of everything into the pot, including old-fashioned rave riffs, a prurient interest in the 1980s and lots of threatening bass. Some types of dance music are as easily defined by what they are not as by what they are, and that is certainly true of electro, electronic music’s catch-all category. It began life in Detroit, descended from the stern rhythms of Kraftwerk and Throbbing Gristle and the experimental funk of George Clinton’s p-funk project, and was the precursor of techno. Dave Clarke, a techno DJ-producer, has a healthy sideline in electro and defines it as “held together by left-field spirit and no 4/4 beat programming”. To that, one might add the fact that whereas house, say, often aims for a smooth, organic feel, electro revels in the synthetic, the modern and the bumpy; often electro tracks have vocals and song-like forms, but you can bet the producer will have messed about with them irreverently. These days, the genre has three main strands: breaks (often called nu-skool breaks), the stop-start, poppy descendant of The Chemical Brothers-style big beat; the experimental, acquired-taste variety, whose tart, curious tones are increasingly taking on the bass fixation and open rhythms of dubstep; and the glitch, or fidget, style, the kind NME believes is 2009’s most exciting music — which is also developing a bass obsession. There’s a lot of it about at the moment.

ESSENTIAL RECORDINGS

Daft Punk, Alive (2007); FreQ Nasty, FabricLive 42: Freq Nasty (2008) (Amazon UK); Bomb the Bass, Future Chaos (2008)

Key track: Hervé & Kissy Sell Out, Rikkalicious (2008)


FOLK TRADITIONALIST

Kate Rusby, Karine Polwart, Roddy Woomble, Seth Lakeman, Cara Dillon, Eliza Carthy

While you will regularly hear tales of a “folk revival”, the truth is that, in the rock’n’roll era, folk music has never gone away. Each generation simply reinvents it. Recent years have spawned several mergers between folk and other genres — freak-folk, folktronica — but they have also seen the emergence of a new breed of folk traditionalists, who, while they might not quaff real ale and wear Shetland woollies, sound as if they might know someone who does. The 1990s band Equation never quite lived up to its billing as a “supergroup”, but it did unleash the talents of Kathryn Roberts, Seth and Sean Lakeman, Cara Dillon and Kate Rusby. Both Seth Lakeman’s aggressively played music, which hovers between folk and Singer-Songwriter territory, and Rusby’s gorgeous work, which stays true to its Yorkshire roots (brass bands and all), have been nominated for the Mercury prize — as was The Bairns, the second album by Rachel Unthank & The Winterset. Roddy Woomble, the lead singer of Idlewild, is the latest rocker to revert to folky roots, with great success. Both Scotland’s Karine Polwart and Ireland’s Damien Dempsey exemplify the ability of the modern folk singer to tackle current issues in a traditional format, Dempsey’s music, in particular, having an astonishing ability to move from the grim realities of today’s world to a state of transcendence.

ESSENTIAL RECORDINGS

Kate Rusby, Awkward Annie (2007), Karine Polwart, Scribbled in Chalk (2006); Roddy Woomble, My Secret Is My Silence (2006)

Key track: Damien Dempsey, It’s All Good (2004)


MANUFACTURED POP

Girls Aloud, Sugababes, Spice Girls

At its most blatant, manufactured pop (MP) is a puppets-on-a-string affair, with managers, producers and songwriters (and, more recently, stylists, make-up artists and designers) on hand to pull the levers and buff the product. Sometimes, the involvement of the actual singer or band can seem like an afterthought. Bands such as Spice Girls, S Club 7 and, further back, The Monkees were recruited through ads placed in the trade papers, and Girls Aloud were assembled on a talent show, lending weight to the idea that such acts serve merely as photogenic money machines for the svengalis behind the scenes. Today’s legions of gun-for-hire songwriters — Xenomania, Cathy Dennis, Max Martin et al — and impresarios as canny and ubiquitous as Simons Cowell and Fuller have a strike rate that is so consistently successful, and targeted with such precision at national radio’s current requirements, it is easy to concentrate on the manipulation, as it were, and forget about the quality, and eccentricity, of some of the records they contribute to (and that acts including Girls Aloud and Sugababes make their own, in some cases co-writing). A whiff of snobbery certainly attends perceptions of MP. Purists who doff their caps at the Brill Building greats — conveniently forgetting that the likes of Lieber, Stoller, Goffin and King often churned out songs to order — remain ostentatiously deaf to the pop perfection of singles such as S Club 7’s Don’t Stop Movin’ and Girls Aloud’s Biology. Less uptight folk have no such difficulty. Pop as product, sniff the critics. Oh, relax.

ESSENTIAL RECORDINGS

Recent: Rachel Stevens, Funky Dory (2003); Girls Aloud, Chemistry (2005); Sugababes, Taller in More Ways (2005)

Classic: The Monkees, More of the Monkees (1967); Take That, Everything Changes (1993); Spice Girls, Spice (1996)

Key track: Girls Aloud, Biology (2005)


POWER-POP

Fountains of Wayne, OK Go, The Feeling, Weezer, Jonas Brothers

As the word “pop” became debased, essentially being used to describe the worst kind of manufactured pop, we needed a new way to describe pop that was actually good. Hence power pop. Think of it, then, as anything that harks back to The Beatles (up to and including Revolver) and especially anything that brings in a little extra new-wave energy — as typified by the dumb but infectious hooks of The Knack’s My Sharona, the slick, more-power-in-reserve coolness of The Cars’ My Best Friend’s Girl and the driving riffery of Tom Petty’s American Girl. Power-pop classics of the 1990s, such as Matthew Sweet’s guitartastic Girlfriend and Jellyfish’s incomparable Bellybutton, failed to connect with a wider audience, but power-pop gained a new level of success this millennium when it was co-opted by the kind of boybands who protested that they weren’t boybands at all, such as Busted and McFly, and by American grunge-lite acts such as Blink 182 and Good Charlotte. The Disney popsters Jonas Brothers are currently continuing this tradition, while a classier version of power-pop can be heard in the works of Maxïmo Park and The Feeling. The spring in power-pop’s step is neatly symbolised in the video for OK Go’s Here It Goes Again, where the band perform their YouTube-famous dance on treadmills.

ESSENTIAL RECORDINGS

Recent: Busted, A Present For Everyone (2003); The Feeling, Twelve Stops and Home (2007); Fountains of Wayne, Welcome Interstate Managers (2003)

Classic: The Cars, The Cars (1978); Matthew Sweet, Girlfriend (1991); Jellyfish, Bellybutton (1990)

Key track: OK Go, Here It Goes Again (2005)


(Links not checked. Please let me know where amendments are required.)


Source: The Sunday Times guide to today's music scene part III

The Sunday Times guide to today's music scene : Part 1
The Sunday Times guide to today's music scene : Part 2


Babs _{My Gang}



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