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Isn’t that serendipitous, Mr P. I was playing the following Sparks track just last night, after being tipped off about the video by someone on the
Tiswas Online
forum, for reasons that will become obvious;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JjbFWU6TqI
Little wrong with the Mael brothers’ most recent output, either. Oh, to still be this interesting and unpigeonholeable after nearly four decades in the business;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxULTFknss0&ob=av2e
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
Thanks for posting those, GC, very good. I certainly spotted the Tiswaz connection in the first one, had no idea there was an online forum
http://i54.tinypic.com/20f2c0l.png
For my old mucker Nathan…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz6iENNnf08
… and he thought I had no taste in music.
My son had me up on stage dancing with him to that song every night whilst on holiday Mr P……
Blackbeard to conquer the World
I’m just playing the clips semi-chronologically
Quite taken with the lovely Joanna Newsom at the moment..
http://www.gloriousnoise.com/reviews/20 … _on_me.php(17) MANHATTAN LOVE SUICIDES – Clusterf*ck
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDH9UfE9SMo
Wow, I’m suprised to see that band there. Then again, your music tastes do seem pretty comprehensive! …they’ve been in a few bands before, including Pop Threat, who were good too: http://www.myspace.com/popthreat) and Darran is the nicest guy you could ever meet (though surly on stage, which is only proper).
Suspect you may already know then, NWRA, but for everyone else Darran and Caroline of The Manhattan Love Suicides now front the equally ace and noisy The Blanche Hudson Weekend. Saw them at Indietracks in July, and goodness me they hit the spot in this incarnation as well;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUXQrfaBPUI
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
Just had a bet with my son in law who likes pretty obscure music as to how many of the bands gc mentioned he has heard of..I said 5 but now realise that people like PJ Harvey, Pet Shop Boys etc are too well known…..
Wonder how he’ll fare with this lot, then, Moe!! Yep, by law and by custom, here is my fifth annual Not The Festive 50 to bore the bejaysus out of all but a select few out there… Enjoy, if humanly possible!
gc
1) LAETITIA SADIER – One Million Year Trip
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxWnA7rcsoE[/i:26gok9aa]
Good lord. After 20 years’ frontline service cooing Marxist theory over impeccable but often stingingly cold space-age bachelor pad music ™ for Stereolab, along comes THIS. The suicide of her sister proved the catalyst for the content of this highlight track from Laetitia Sadier’s recent official debut album, but I’m not won over by it simply because it’s achingly, disarmingly candid and emotional by Laetitia’s previous standards – it’s all those things by anyone‘s standards. The five most affecting minutes you’ll give over to a pop song all year.2) SERENA-MANEESH – I Just Want to See Your Face
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-IPw9mv-J4[/i:26gok9aa]
A tiresome four-year wait for a follow-up album was quickly forgiven on hearing the thing! Even more in thrall to My Bloody Valentine’s noisier moments than ever before, but in the best way possible.3) FIELD MUSIC – Them That Do Nothing
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JV3dPrR0PY[/i:26gok9aa]
Two brothers from Sunderland with an immaculate grasp on the nuances of quintessentially English guitar pop from Stackridge to XTC (and most points inbetween). Prizes here also for the best executed sudden ending of any song this year.4) JAMES YUILL – On Your Own
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgFseMoI9DM[/i:26gok9aa]
Responsible for the Not The Festive 50 number one two years ago, and this would be no worse a track. Arguably more “tronica” and less “folk” than some of his efforts, but this track remains recognisably Yuill notwithstanding.5) LAURA VEIRS – July Flame
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLilpPtY2JU[/i:26gok9aa]
The stroky-chin music press’s general consensus that Veirs’ seventh album of pensive folk-tinged loveliness is her best actually ties in with my own, for once. This title track would have scored highly even without a the serpenticide (SIC) in the video – wish someone would do that to all snakes…6) MGMT – It’s Working
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sCw8-mIEoM[/i:26gok9aa]
Don’t you just hate it when a band you’ve never given an airborne about goes and produces something you thought utterly beyond their gift? Well, not really. I’d not have put money on MGMT producing the most glorious piece of chamber-pop of the entire year, but I’m glad they did.7) PANDA BEAR – Tomboy
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1Qq9wVcdH4[/i:26gok9aa]
No Animal Collective album for once this year, but quite a few solo project singles and at least one album from its constituent parts. This is the clear highlight of any of them – suspect Mr Bear might be familiar with Tim Smith’s solo album from ye long ago on this evidence…8) ALLO, DARLIN’ – Dreaming
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDM_DyoGGSA[/i:26gok9aa]
The year in which Allo, Darlin’ joined the indiepop elite thanks to a terrifically consistent, winsome self-titled debut album and a tireless commitment to touring. Lost count how many times I’ve seen and heard this one live, and how many more times I’d like to.9) THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS – Crash Years
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KZANuDcRO4[/i:26gok9aa]
The alt.country-power-pop supergroup isn’t singing about Spanish Techno and shooting transvestite-heavy videos this time round, but bless me this is still good (and rather outshone regular guest star Neko Case’s own latest album, truth be told).10) STARS OF AVIATION – Herman Düne Slept on My Floor
All met in a Russian lecture at uni, have spent around a decade since apparently making more babies than records, and play live once every blue moon. The late Steven Wells would probably despise everything about them, but nobody else I’ve encountered in years does the whole acoustic guitar / woodwind / percussion / accordion / violin pop thing so charmingly. No link to “Herman Düne…” as yet, but you can find it on the Indietracks 2010 festival compilation.11) ARCHIE BRONSON OUTFIT – Shark’s Tooth
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chmaBWe7oqI&feature=channel[/i:26gok9aa]
Earthy westcountrymen evidently acquire a budget and a secondhand copy of The Shamen’s pre-decline single Make It Mine, resulting in this career highlight.12) DARREN HAYMAN & EMMY THE GREAT – Calling Out Your Name Again
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bopPCZ-OjzU[/i:26gok9aa]
Beautiful paean to life and love in deepest darkest Essex, and easily the year’s most ingenious video. One piece of card, one set of crayons, one scanner. That’s it. Magic follows.13) GOLDFRAPP – Rocket
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJppnG1tflU[/i:26gok9aa]
Their best single ever ever ever. And none of you were even looking. Naughty you.14) OWEN PALLETT – Tryst with Mephistopheles
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzmS3bhbyE8[/i:26gok9aa]
From an incredibly inventive parent album by sometime Hidden Cameras cohort Pallett – everything bar the keys and drums is done on an electric violin with a loop pedal, ultimately sounding like far more than the sum of its parts.15) TREMBLING BLUE STARS – Cold Colours
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8rfUWhJtkM[/i:26gok9aa]
After 15 years of unwittingly soundtracking my life, Bob Wratten has finally retired the TBS brand and might just be quitting music altogether now. Impossible to quantify what a wrench to the guts that is. This, the most direct, nakedly honest track on the final album from barely six weeks ago, serves as a reminder of what we’re all going to miss.16) TENDER TRAP – Do You Want a Boyfriend?
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFbLEjsdQQY[/i:26gok9aa]
…No end in sight though for Amelia Fletcher, the First Lady of Indiepop for 25 years and counting and officially the world’s favourite eternal teenager (if not counting Jimmy Krankie ). The Londoners among you can play Spot The Pub in this promo if you so wish. 
17) BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE – Forced to Love
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-UZFQzfA1E[/i:26gok9aa]
Along with The New Pornographers, the other hugely engaging US supergroup which has popped up every so often and kept me entertained for a decade or so now. Kevin Drew seems intent on visiting a vision of 70s-influenced alt.AOR (if you can imagine that) on us this time around. Carry on, sir…18) BEARSUIT – Please Don’t Take Him Back
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwlBY5RDOzw[/i:26gok9aa]
Norwich’s second finest of all time (Farmers Boys still shade it, sorry!) and beloved of the late John Peel seem to have lost their brass section but maintained their innate charm within a more robust sound. Still mighty live, when the mood takes them (and my goodness it did when I saw them the other wek)…19) MIDNIGHT JUGGERNAUTS – Vital Signs
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dc8Osb5zYm4[/i:26gok9aa]
Insistent, rumbling lead track from the latest album by one of Australian electro-pop’s two titans. Hmm, now what prospects of The Presets digging themselves out again next term?20) SHE & HIM – In The Sun
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ3cTwI9bIw[/i:26gok9aa]
Almost Famous / HHG2G / Elf actress and alt.country bloke in stupendous, Spector- and Wilson-influenced album shocker! Times two! Lead track from sophomore effort, absolutely and positively too good to be used to promote that not dissimilarly named, sod-awful BBC3 sitcom, please God…21) BLONDE REDHEAD – Here Sometimes
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuaPdFGxNUQ[/i:26gok9aa]
Yet another shift in musical direction from the enduring Redheads, but spiky, slight electro-pop seems as much within their capabilities as the neo-shoegaze of last time on this evidence. Clever sods.22) STARS – Fixed
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17jdZdVmEuk[/i:26gok9aa]
Still prefer “Ageless Beauty”, Mr Pilsen (I think it was), but not by much!23) STANDARD FARE – Love Doesn’t Just Stop
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COxhr9AWzf0[/i:26gok9aa]
Ubiquitous at indiepop gigs and festies over the last 18 months or so, and like Allo Darlin’ the right side of a splendid debut album now. This was the opener.24) THE IMAGINED VILLAGE – Space Girl
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7ZgShUIfQc[/i:26gok9aa]
Another supergroup! What is it with them this year? They’re all over the place! Billy Bragg’s involved with this lot, albeit not on the track in question. The vocals here are unmistakably those of Eliza Carthy, though, and the song appears to owe more than a little to Shivaree, I reckon.25) LCD SOUNDSYSTEM – I Can Change
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW8FKkVnqng[/i:26gok9aa]
Reading that every LCD album is going to be the last because James Whatsit’s mined the well dry is becoming a bit cry-wolf, especially when he’s still got the likes of this in him. Roughly emulates the sound of an antique synth being violated by a pachinko machine. Win.26) TEENAGE FANCLUB – Baby Lee
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzRq8nRtLdA[/i:26gok9aa]
Ever more the pair of comfy slippers of the indiepop world, reassuring and durable. Norman Blake probably snores this melodiously too, the git.27) OWEN PALLETT – Lewis Takes Off His Shirt
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7G-cqAehehA[/i:26gok9aa]
More from indiepop violin virtuoso Pallett. The Lewis in question, by the way, is a violent farmer who appears in all the songs on his current album. Yep, guess that makes it a concept…28) DARREN HAYMAN AND THE SECONDARY MODERN – Two Tree Island
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc-LFy0XhAk[/i:26gok9aa]
Hazy, languid, compelling paean to Rayleigh and environs. As Stewart Lee has noted, “Shouldn’t Hayman have won some sort of award by now?”29) BELLE AND SEBASTIAN – I Didn’t See It Coming
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UeFaayyw3o[/i:26gok9aa]
Still not sold on the “…Talk About Love” album as a whole (Norah Jones duet, for crying out loud!), but this slow-burner still appeals as much of anything from their more recent output.30) CONNAN MOCKASIN – It’s Choade My Dear
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkNwuY2JUHQ[/i:26gok9aa]
Nasal, surreal New Zealander slows it right down for lead single off acclaimed fourth album. NB don’t look up what Choade means on a work PC.31) THE PIPETTES – Stop the Music
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9i28NoBdrM[/i:26gok9aa]
New line-up, fewer doo-wops, no polka-dot dresses, but instead the sort of songs that would have prolonged Sophie Ellis-Bexter’s chart career. Her loss…32) RADAR BROTHERS – Horses Warriors
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZfNHpG4U2E[/i:26gok9aa]
I love discovering bands with extensive back catalogues. Brian Wilson meets mid-period Teenage Fanclub on this effort, from apparently a sixth studio album all told. Yay!33) ARCHIE BRONSON OUTFIT – Hoola
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZg8qY9rh20[/i:26gok9aa]
Apparently the way to get the girls is to turn into a giant Wotsit. I’ll know next time.34) OMD – History of Modern Part 1
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DV5mBT4rPk[/i:26gok9aa]
Yes, that OMD. Still alive and back together for a first “new” album in 15-ish years in 2010. We’ll gloss over the fact that most of the songs were revisited demos Andy McCluskey never released first time around, given that this track – which wasn’t – is up there with anything off one of their halcyon day albums. Hope he’s given up the dancing.35) SODA FOUNTAIN RAG – I Wanna Be Your Cat (live at London Popfest)
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbR05vVq_ds[/i:26gok9aa]
A song title that could hardly betray their twee-pop status anymore fulsomely, though the track itself is more robust live (and quite sweet in any medium!).36) TEENAGE FANCLUB – Sometimes I Don’t Need to Believe In Anything
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmmckwDSPOI[/i:26gok9aa]
Recent album opener, and Gerard Love at his most effortlessly sublime.37) BEARSUIT – A Train Wreck
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhEgsur7VyU[/i:26gok9aa]
Second single off the comeback album, and particularly good live with the entire band ping-ponging lyrics at high speed.38) THE FELT TIPS – Silver Spoon
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZd6r9uJZOQ[/i:26gok9aa]
Another band following me everywhere this year, and this juxtaposition of black-hearted delight at posh boys getting horribly injured on the rugby pitch, up mountainsides, etc. on top of clear, sweet indiepop is very, very them. Tales of oral sex and Morrissey (though not on the same plate) nearly made the list as well.39) TREMBLING BLUE STARS – Tropic of Capricorn
“We met in the winter, and winter is our season”… Mine too, Bob. Thankyou and goodbye. No URL for this as yet.40) DAN LE SAC vs SCROOBIUS PIP – Great Britain
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeV2cExvnMI[/i:26gok9aa]
2007 Not The Festive 50 winners return with more jarring social commentary over contemporary beats. Exposure of knife crime figure fudging you can dance to.41) MYNABIRDS – Numbers Don’t Lie
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvPBXE2Ikjs[/i:26gok9aa]
In common with She And Him, some Spector-produced records may be owned. No Employee of the Month award for the poor sod in the video.42) CATH CARROLL – It All Looks Good on You
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMMZZr1zY4s[/i:26gok9aa]
Actually quite frightening to think Cath turned 50 this year having looked a mere slip of a thing when singer / guitarist with C86 midfielders Miaow. Mind, that was 24 years ago and counting. I. Feel. So. Old.43) LO-FI-FNK – Marchin’ In
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPgkz4zAHM4[/i:26gok9aa]
First sign of life in four years for Swedish-synth-boys-in-vests duo. Don’t know why there’s loads of whales and things in the video. Whales can’t march, you silly billys.44) YUCK – Georgia
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HfHGURWVnU[/i:26gok9aa]
Anglo-American fuzz-poppers touted as an act to follow in 2011 by all the lazy hacks everywhere. I’ve been all over them for months already. Do keep up…45) THE JUST JOANS – Stuart’s Got a Dirty Book
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUc7jE5t9Gk[/i:26gok9aa]
No delicate way of putting this, I fear – it’s a song about beschlonging one’s sword-hand during Bible class. Again, as with The Felt Tips, pitch humour very much in keeping with the band in question’s usual outlook on life!46) DAWN LANDES – Young Girl
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IeEwDt5eik[/i:26gok9aa]
Consistently appealing alt.bluegrass mainstay. And her feral Chuckle Brother drummer is still around, too!47) THE ORCHIDS – She’s My Girl
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sqDj5eO8mM[/i:26gok9aa]
Quickly becoming one of the least embarrassing comebacks ever. Former Sarah Records heroes’ first single off second album since resuming, and immaculate at Indietracks this summer despite a combined age of about 943.48) O.CHILDREN – Ruins
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmcHPk8_1N8[/i:26gok9aa]
Ever wondered who was buying up and listening to all those doomy 12”s on Situation 2 in the mid-1980s? Ta-daah!!!49) SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO ft BETH DITTO – Cruel Intentions
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIofSxwkkQE[/i:26gok9aa]
Sole meaningful sighting on record of the Gossip frontwoman this year, but allied to a fine soundtrack to the startling short film A Study In Cruel Intentions. Yep, that’s drug-taking and lesbianism in the video. And yes, that’s the woman who led Anthony Head a merry dance for years in the Gold Blend adverts doing most of it!50) THE EX – Maybe I Was The Pilot
[i:26gok9aa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTZvPSKAnWI[/i:26gok9aa]
Legendary anarcho-punk Dutch band that’s seen nearly as many line-up changes as The Fall, and not diminished despite retirement after 30 years of founder GW Sok last year. One of the best jump-up-and-down singles of 2010, as this live grab hopefully demonstrates.Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
- Total Posts 17716
The lovely EA… Liar.
Watched all those programmes on BBC4 about Tom Petty last Friday [one lasted 4 hours….I kept nodding off and waking up to find it was still on…] so have been listening to an old Tom Petty audio tape that I found in a drawer. Need to get a copy of Damn the Torpedoes now. I love those ‘making of’ programmes about albums. American bands seem to look younger as they get older; lots of botox use imo [not like our ageing rockers…..]
WH Auden:
"Every European visitor to the United States is struck by the comparative rarity of what he would call a face, by the frequency of men and women who look like elderly babies.
If he stays in the States for any length of time, he will learn that this cannot be put down to a lack of sensibility — the American feels the joys and sufferings of human life as keenly as anybody else.
The only plausible explanation I can find lies in his different attitude to the past. To have a face, in the European sense of the word, it would seem that one must not only enjoy and suffer but also desire to preserve the memory of even the most humiliating and unpleasant experiences of the past….
…My face looks like a wedding-cake left out in the rain."
…..can’t stop playing Refugee; until I saw the programme I just assumed The Heartbreaker’s line up changed throughout the years. Didn’t realise they’d been together forever and the lead guitarist is one of the best in the business [still can’t remember his name]. A very Procol Haremy organ running through the track and a brilliant video. Got a lot of Tom Petty stuff to catch up on…..
Although I’m not really a fan of AD, there’s something about this piece of brassy pop pap that … almost … gets me jiving.
The Boy Does Nothing…
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