2011 albums (3) – odds and ends

I often find it hard to say much about some records that simply represent another strong addition to a band’s canon, or are a second album that follows on nicely from where the first left off. Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes and Carousel by Pocketbooks fit into this category, as do Into the Murky Water by the Leisure Society and Out of Town, Out of Mind by Standard Fare – all lovely records that have essentially the same strengths as their predecessors, usually even more so. Plenty has been written elsewhere about Mercury Prize nominees Let England Shake by PJ Harvey and Diamond Mine by Jon Hopkins and King Creosote, so I won’t attempt to add to the word-count other than to say I think they live up to the hype. On the subject of living up to hype, however, Bon Iver‘s self-titled effort is harder to pin down: I think I enjoy listening to it, though often it’s served as a reminder to me to give For Emma, Forever Ago a further chance (a record I am coming to like a great deal – I probably would have got there sooner if it hadn’t topped every end of year list going before I’d even bought it). And finally in the “another very good record” stakes, two Indietracks performers: Jeffrey Lewis‘s expectedly charming A Turn In The Dream-Songs, and Edwyn Collins‘s enjoyably stompy Losing Sleep.

There are a few more records that I enjoyed but perhaps could have listened to more, and that stand out in my mind more because of the excellent performances given to promote them: Gillian Welch‘s The Harrow and the Harvest, and the self-titled debut by Wild Flag. More about each in the gigs round-up.

I always find there’s a further category of record at this time each year: albums that I’m willing to accept may well be good (though they might not be), but which I simply didn’t get into; whether through lack of effort on my part of sheer unpenetrability (is that a word? Looks weird) is hard to tell. On that list are Circuital by My Morning Jacket, It’s All True by Junior Boys (much as I love their 2006 album So This Is Goodbye, that’s increasingly looking like a total fluke), Fuck You! I’m Keith Top Of The Pops by Keith Top of the Pops His Minor UK Indie All-Star Celebrity Backing Band, Strange Mercy by St Vincent (though I tend towards the view it’s simply less my cup of tea than previous album Actor, being considerably more angular and challenging) and Metals by Feist. Perhaps also on that list is Cadenza by Dutch Uncles, though I did enjoy seeing them doing it live later in the year.

To round things off, I was pleased to see the Rock of Travolta back in action with their album Fine Lines; it was much what you’d expect from them, and perhaps has the edge over 2003′s Uluru (it would have to go a long way to beat their 2001 debut mini-album). Meanwhile, I saw posters across London for Ryan Adams‘s Ashes and Fire; the dull, bland album sounded every inch like a record advertised on posters across London. At the end of the year I was pleased to see She and Him releasing a Christmas album, though the selection of songs was very conservative and some of them rather cruelly exposed the limitations of Zooey Deschanel’s voice; nonetheless, there were some nice moments with one or two unexpected arrangements on it.

2011 albums (2) – reviews

Slam Dunk – The Shivers
A squally, punky and rather fun album from a Canadian band featuring some of Immaculate Machine’s touring line-up from their final round-the-world jaunt in 2009. I picked this up as a free download at the start of the year and it kept my ears enjoyably busy in an otherwise quiet period for new releases.

British Sea Power – Valhalla Dancehall
I’m starting to think there might be a useful ‘four-album’ rule that applies to certain bands, and that British Sea Power are one of those ‘four album’ bands: basically, by the time they get to their fourth album they’ve done all they’re going to do and unless you’re a massive fan of that band’s particular thing, you don’t need it in your life. The Futureheads are another and Elbow, arguably, are a third – the difference being that they had perhaps been under-recognised by album 3 so it was the fourth that really took off for them and catapulted them into arena shows. But that’s by the by. Valhalla Dancehall was the first album I bought in 2011, and the first that disappointed me – there’s nothing on it that’s not been done better on previous BSP albums, and it’s overly prone to long and slightly aimless songs. The one thing I’m uncertain about regarding my ‘four album’ theory is whether these bands remain viable beyond that point – BSP have been going for well over a decade now, and didn’t seem to make any commercial leaps with this record; one wonders if it will be their swansong.

Iron and Wine – Kiss Each Other Clean
This was a contender for my top ten. It sees Sam Beam on excellent-as-ever lyrical form, presenting his reliably memorable melodies in rich and interesting arrangements, making full use of studio trickery when it benefits the song, but never gratuitously. The work that made Iron and Wine’s name primarily came out on a succession of EPs, which tended to put the emphasis on one or two stand-out songs at a time, so it might be tempting to conclude that this collection of songs doesn’t contain his best work. I’d disagree: this arguably lacks stand-out tracks precisely because it is a consistently excellent record throughout, and Beam’s greatest single achievement to date.

The Go! Team – Rolling Blackouts
This is a fun record, and I enjoyed seeing the band belt it out live at Glastonbury and at a headline show in London in November. Perhaps what the Go! Team do with their samples is no more interesting than the samples themselves, but the end product is an enjoyable, danceable and punchy record, so you won’t find me complaining. Arguably another ‘four album’ band though (is this album 3 or 4? Not got the others, and not sure I especially need them now I have this one…) so it remains to be seen what the future holds for them.

Gruff Rhys – Hotel Shampoo
I never got round to picking up Gruff’s previous solo outing Candylion, so I may have a skewed view of this record: I know Dan Paton for one feels it’s not as inventive or interesting as its predecessor. Nonetheless on its own merits I enjoyed it as, if nothing else, a frequently rather sweet and lovely album – with the bonus of a typically wonky-sounding collaboration with Andy Votel on lead single Shark Ridden Waters (a panellist on Lamacq’s roundtable slot suggested it sounded like Badly-Drawn Boy, but nobody made the connection… pathetic!). I’m glad to see it took Gruff to decent-sized venues as a solo artist, and also enjoyed its mini sequel, the Atheist Christmas EP, which I also recommend.

Destroyer – Kaputt
How and why Dan Bejar, aka Destroyer, came to play a single show in London this summer remains a bit of a puzzle to me. He reputedly has a crippling fear of flying which has prevented him ever visiting Europe with the New Pornographers, to whom he contributes about a quarter of their songs, yet he mysteriously popped up for one show in the UK, with his full band – not even as a prelude to a festival appearance as far as I could tell. Still, he was promoting an intriguing record: he never makes the same album twice, and for this album has taken his rambling, jazzy, stream-of-consciousness songs into 80s territory, bordering on New Romantic country and complete with abundant saxophone solos. The overall effect takes a bit of getting used to, but is seductive and listenable.

Radiohead – The King of Limbs
A bold and innovative record, I’m sure, but not one I’ve been inclined to listen to very much. Their surprise set at Glastonbury basically consisted of this record plus some cuts from In Rainbows, and made me resolve to revisit this album… but I still haven’t got round to it.

Frankie and the Heartstrings – Hunger
On one level this record is significant to me as only the second album released in the thirteen years since their split by a ‘post-Kenickie’ band, if Pete Gofton’s presence among the Heartstrings qualifies them as such (the first being his own These Acid Stars under the J Xaverre moniker… though I think he put out his EPs and singles as a compilation album too, so it depends what you count). It’s an enjoyable and immediate record of blokey pop/rock… but after about half a dozen listens I felt I’d exhausted all it has to offer and I haven’t gone back to it. Much more exciting, to me, is the prospect of the Cornshed Sisters album on Memphis Industries next year… and if only Rosita had managed to put out a full-length effort; it would by now undoubtedly have achieved that lusted-for Obscure Indie Classic In the Minds Of About 200 People status. All of this with apologies to Frankie and the Heartstrings for using their record as an excuse to bang on about Kenickie.

The Lovely Eggs – Cob Dominos
The Lovely Eggs have released a really excellent album… spread over two CDs, unfortunately. They walk a tightrope between eccentric and thrashy pop brilliance and twee ramblings that are lovely but don’t really require a second listen. At their best they’re brilliant however, and their single Don’t Look At Me (I Don’t Like It) is the best thing Holly’s done since Angelica’s Why Did You Let My Kitten Die? The best bits of this and their debut If You Were Fruit add up to a great playlist… but probably no two people will agree on which bits are the best of each. As it should be, probably.

Elbow – Build A Rocket Boys
Very much a sequel to The Seldom-Seen Kid, Elbow’s fifth album had the same strengths and weaknesses as its predecessor: it’s an endearing, emotional and at times uplifting record, but for my money the production is just too damn polite and restrained. With both records, hearing the songs belted out at high volume with some real oomph behind them improved the experience considerably, and by comparison Build A Rocket Boys verges on the insipid. There are however two items of Elbow merchandise that would redeem it if I’d managed to get hold of either of them: the first would be a DVD of their wonderful shows at the O2 Arena, which I had rather expected to see but which has yet to emerge; and the second is the ale they created with Manchester brewery Robinson’s, called Build A Rocket Boys, which I’d be curious to try. Sadly I’ve not been in the right pub at the right time. The Seldom-Seen Beer, anyone?

The Singing Adams – Everybody Friends Now
There’s an unsurprising continuity between this record and the later Broken Family Band albums, by which time the group had shorn themselves of most of the country stylings and developed a distinctive indie-rock sound of their own. Steve Adams has assembled a different band for this project, and it’s certainly not a replica of the BFB sound, but his songwriting is instantly recognisable with its biting tone and at times amusingly bizarre imagery. Also like most BFB albums, it’s split roughly 50-50 between good songs and great ones; the former are worth listening to, and the latter demand it.

Ron Sexsmith – Long Player Late Bloomer
Ron Sexsmith’s latest album was accompanied by a documentary film, rather blandly titled Love Shines, about its recording and also offering a retrospective on Sexsmith’s career to date. While Dan thought it was sweet, I must say I found it rather depressing: it showed a man seemingly struggling with some slight but real and undiagnosed (one presumes – it wasn’t mentioned) depressive illness, and unable to articulate himself or run his life successfully other than through his songs; it was a sad episode of ‘reader meets author’, made worse by Sexsmith’s feeling that he had never ‘broken through’ or got the recognition he deserved. In fact he tours the world and plays decent-sized venues (I’ve just paid over 30 quid to see him next year, making him among my most expensive gig tickets) – Steve Earle remarks in a talking-head slot in the film that he’s lucky anyone knows who the fuck he is, and draws a contrast with Townes van Zandt. And apparently Sexsmith struggles to make ends meet, which surely suggests he’s made some poor financial deals rather than that he’s not selling enough to get by. Still, what about the album? Well, it’s pretty much what you’d expect from a Ron Sexsmith album produced by Bob Rock: the familiar well-crafted tunes, beefed up with plenty of big-sounding instrumentation. In fact, the production helps bolster the songs and disguise their slight weakness, lyrically, compared to other Sexsmith albums like Retriever. But the insight offered into its making by the accompanying film was pretty dispiriting.

Those Dancing Days – Daydreams and Nightmares
I’ve repeatedly had Those Dancing Days mentioned to me as my type of band by people who know my taste. Indeed, I bought their first album on the strength of a review that described them as making exactly the sort of thin I like: girl harmony vocals, pop songs, catchy hooks, handclaps and so on. And they were indeed my kind of band: just not a very good version of it. The songs on the first album were mostly weak, and the playing basic and uninteresting. The second album is a step up: more driving, with more energy and more memorable hooks. But even then, all the songs sound melodically very similar. That said, I enjoyed their set at Glastonbury, where they played just as the sun came out after a wet and grey 24 hours, and caught the moment perfectly. They announced their hiatus shortly afterwards: still incredibly young, I would expect their lead singer to have a successful solo career if she can find a good songwriting partner – I’ve been told she’s capable of being a bit of a diva, but she’s undoubtedly a charismatic frontwoman with a good voice who elevated Those Dancing Days somewhat beyond their material.

Laura Cantrell – Kitty Wells Dresses
Motherhood led Laura Cantrell to a musically quiet six years after the release of her last album (and her last visit to the UK) in 2005. She returned with this tribute album to Kitty Wells, whose songs might sound quaint now but were pretty racy stuff for 1950s country music; as Laura herself jokes regularly, I Don’t Claim To Be An Angel would these days be called I Used To Be A Slut. It’s fascinating that this was released around the same time as the Jessica Lea Mayfield album, whose up-front songs about romantic and sexual misadventures are arguably the modern descendants of the songs Laura covers here. Musically, it is what you’d expect: a well-played and delightfully-sung set of renditions of the old-time numbers, never less than tasteful and listenable. It also features one Cantrell original, Kitty Well Dresses, somewhat spoiled for me when it was pointed out that melodically it’s basically Chariots of Fire.

Art Brut – Brilliant! Tragic!
It took me a long time to get Art Brut. The headline slot for Eddie Argos’s other band, Everybody Was In The French Resistance… Now! (sic) at last year’s Indietracks finally made his semi-spoken schtick click for me, so when Art Brut had their residence at the Lexington in the spring I somehow managed to get a ticket, and was totally sold. But where does that leave the band on record? Not making much sense, unless you’ve seen them live – which was my problem for many years, when I’d only heard the records. Still, Brilliant! Tragic! Is another very good Art Brut album, once you know why an Art Brut album is worth listening to.

Sons and Daughters – Mirror Mirror
Their album of 2008, This Gift, made me reappraise Sons and Daughters somewhat: far from being goth-y angst, the album was made up of spiky pop songs, produced to good effect by Bernard Butler. While Mirror Mirror is, ahem, a polished record, it’s gone back to the goth-y angst a bit, without the pop sensibilities so much. That said, there’s interesting stuff on here.

Thomas Tantrum – Mad By Moonlight
This is almost certainly the record that disappointed me more than any other this year – though that’s partly because I had high expectations of it. Thomas Tantrum’s debut hung around on my MP3 player much longer than most records: its jagged guitars and semi-shouted vocals made for an enjoyable racket, but there was often more lyrical substance behind it all than might seem to be the case at first blush. For their second album, the band have brought in a smoother sound, with the aggressive guitars toned down, synths added more prominently to the mix and Megan using her impressive voice to sing much more conventionally. Unfortunately all these changes have exposed shortcomings: Megan’s more orthodox singing, though lovely, reveals that the lyrics are often weak, while the guitars are often weedy and uninteresting. Some songs sound tremendous but are slight affairs, like opener Tick Tock (Satie), which is a terrible song but has a gorgeous production job on it; at other times more solid songs have been given unflattering productions, like Cold Gold which might have benefited from having the bass made bigger and nastier, but instead is blighted by those weedy guitars. The album was released with various bonus tracks on different editions: on the one I got, bonus song I Said It proved more interesting than almost anything else on the record (I was told on Twitter it was left off the running order because it didn’t really fit… like Belle and Sebastian’s Stay Loose almost suffering the same fate on Dear Catastrophe Waitress, when the best song doesn’t fit it suggests the bulk of the album isn’t up to snuff). In fact, Thomas Tantrum probably recorded an album’s worth of good material for this record but, like the slow version of Sleep, the GWAIIU remix of Hot Hot Summer and the free download The Last Kiss, most of it didn’t actually appear on the record as released. What did appear was a reasonably listenable record that ultimately lacked the hooks or tunes to make it the summery indie-pop classic many reviews inexplicably hailed it as.

Emmy the Great – Virtue
For someone who has been on the scene for so long, and earned a good deal of respect for her talent, Emmy the Great has released surprisingly few albums. This, her second, steps things up from her lovelorn debut, though is no less gruelling a listen for much of its duration. It feels like quite a literary record: Emmy layers her meaning within curious imagery and allegory, which makes it a rewarding experience to go from start to finish, but a record that can’t readily be dipped into. As a fan of records that work across their length as complete entities, I was rather impressed by this, and it was a contender for my top ten.

Frankie Machine – Squeeze the Life Back In
The original plan was to release two Frankie Machine albums in 2011, after a seven year gap since 2004′s Re-Unmelt My Heart. Rob evidently hoped nobody would notice when the second one didn’t turn up – not so! Still, it’s another record to look forward to in 2012, as it is due to feature Rob’s most recent songs, including How Great Thou Art as included to rather a lot of acclaim on this year’s Indietracks compilation, and others showcased at Rob’s most recent turn at Totally Acoustic (see www.totallyacoustic.com for the podcast). In the meantime, Squeeze the Life Back In is made up of songs from the long wait between records, and mostly showcases the warmer and more upbeat side of Frankie Machine, though still with the trademark acoustic arrangements that always do something interesting, but never more than they need to. Opener The Back Foot’s tales of being caught out when flat-sitting and, ahem, other things is even chucklesome. Yes, that’s right. A Frankie Machine album. Chucklesome. Deal with it.

Veronica Falls – Veronica Falls
It’s a rum old thing, C86. It exerts an enduring influence on the ‘proper’ indie scene in the UK, despite most of the records of the time sounding, to ears that didn’t hear them at the time, pretty uninspiring. Recent reformations like those of the Pooh Sticks and June Brides have proved the theory that these are bands that would have rocked a lot harder if not saddled with shitty, feeble 80s amps. Meanwhile Veronica Falls have done perhaps the most faithful job in recent years of recreating the C86 sound (and the pastel 16mm film looks of mid-80s indie videos, giving the game away only with an anachronistic 16:9 aspect ratio), treading a successful line between the thinness and scratchiness of old and the more full sound that can be achieved relatively easily today. I heard they ended up scrapping their first stab at this album and re-recording it to be more live and raw in sound, and the end result probably vindicates the decision. Whether they’re a band who can go much beyond what they’ve done on their debut remains to be seen – this might be all the Veronica Falls you’ll ever need.

Amy Winehouse – Lioness
Well, what can one say? Over on Roobarb’s, when news broke of Winehouse’s death a thread was started in the obituaries section whose first post read simply, “it’s happened.” What’s perhaps saddest about this release is that in the five years since Back to Black was released, Amy’s personal troubles clearly hit her creativity so comprehensively: while a posthumous off-cuts and outtakes album was an inevitability, it’s surprising how much this sounds like the scrapings of the bottom of a barrel rather than a first issue from a rich archive of unreleased work. Not only has finding the material for this record seemingly been a bit of a scramble, but its content doesn’t take Amy anywhere musically that she hadn’t been before bar the contribution from Nas on one track – a proper third album, on this evidence, would have been more of the same (though probably still good for all that). That said, while this isn’t mind-blowing it’s essentially a collection of decent material that shows Amy Winehouse as a considerable talent and capable of producing music far superior to the likes of Adele even when she was treading water.

Piney Gir – Geronimo!
It’s been three albums in three years for Piney, and this is perhaps her best and most direct. Although she has eschewed the Country Roadshow banner for this record, it’s a distinctly American sounding record, recorded in the US with a mix of country twang and Byrdsian jangle.

Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat – Everything Gets Older
I considered putting this in my top ten, but having only acquired it just before the end of the year I’m unsure to what extent I’ll end up revisiting it. It’s an immediately compelling record then, and rather like how I’d always hoped Arab Strap would sound. Bill Wells’ musical backing is not exactly cinematic, as the whole thing is more small-screen than that; but it’s redolent of gritty TV drama in rain-soaked towns, while Moffat’s narration is all the better for his maturing towards middle age. First loves turning up again and tempting the now-settled protagonist, reflective pints alone in the pub outside the crematorium, married men struggling with domestic life are all expertly painted. It’s not an uplifting listen, but it’s a rewarding one.

Little Dragon – Ritual Union
I caught Little Dragon by chance at Glastonbury, knowing nothing about them other than their name, courtesy of the banner behind them. I can’t remember the performance in detail, only that it was raining and I made a mental note to check them out further. I did so at the end of the year when their album came up for 4 quid on 7digital’s advent calendar. And I was a bit disappointed. The title track is absorbing and memorable, with characterful lead vocals complimenting a polished backing track… but the album never really develops from there, and descends too often into repetitive wibbling in its second half.

2011 albums (1) – my top ten

Most years I mean to review albums on here as I go along, but never manage to. So this is the now-traditional end of year scramble. There will be three posts: the second has individual reviews of albums that I think merit it, and the third will round up records I’ve less to say about; but to start with, here are my ten favourite albums. To a hear a track from each one, in order, you can listen to this 8tracks mix.

1. Jessica Lea Mayfield – Tell Me
This is a terribly bland title for an excellent record. My pick for album of the year in 2010 was Caitlin Rose’s Own Side Now, whose songs of heartbreak and misadventure were presented in the style of Gram Parsons and Linda Ronstadt. If Caitlin Rose is the young darling of indie country, Jessica Lea Mayfield is her alt-country counterpart, wrapping her songs in screaming guitars and apocalyptic clanking piano. The songs themselves are bleak, up-front about sex and infidelity and riddled with self-doubt, self-loathing and sleaze. It takes a good few listens to get into it, but it’s a dark, seductive world.

2. Misty’s Big Adventure – The Family Amusement Centre
I had a bit of an epiphany about Misty’s Big Adventure this year when I saw them live for the first time in about three and a half years: what was I doing only seeing a band as good as this at massive intervals? The new album didn’t veer off in any unexpected directions, but it perhaps provided the best realisation of the band’s approach to date: after a couple of lyrically downbeat offerings with 2007′s Funny Times and 2008′s Television’s People, The Family Amusement Centre offers a more balanced outlook. There is a rich vein of melancholy in the album, often coupled with a contemplation of mortality: Queen Betty is one such track, while album closer A Long Line Of People explores the same territory as 2007′s Long Conveyor Belt, but with warm reflection rather than bleak humour. Elsewhere there are upbeat moments, albeit shot through with annoyance at modern life: Mickey Mouse and Aggression fit the bill here. Other highlights are General Confusion, featuring a cameo by Patrick Moore and two of the most consoling, uplifting pop songs I’ve heard in years, Cheer Me Up and Just Another Day. Rather like Madness, Misty’s are musically much stronger than they’re often given credit for: all of the songs here have rich, interesting arrangements with an abundance of lovely detail and seldom any obvious choices. Above all, it’s a record made with great judgement and taste – I hope anyone reading this who hasn’t already will support the band and pick it up, or go to see them when they next get chance.

3. Kathryn Calder – Bright and Vivid
Kathryn Calder’s second album followed quickly on from her first, last year’s Are You My Mother, but it’s a big departure in terms of sound and if anything even more impressive. While her debut presented the songs with straightforward but well-judged and effective arrangements, Bright and Vivid is much more rich and adventurous. On the basis of lead single Who Are You I had feared that it would be a bit over-busy, but in context on the album the track works perfectly. Kathryn’s voice seems to get lovelier with each record, and she delivers the highly personal and emotional songs fabulously. Ultimately, I think what I like about this record is that it is mature, grown-up music for adults: musically strong, emotionally involving. A real achievement – I hope she comes to the UK again to promote the record further, as her European tour last year included the End of the Road festival as its only UK leg; by next year it will be five years since I last saw her play live, as part of Immaculate Machine.

4. Slow Club – Paradise
It’s a bit hard to understand how the endearingly bluff semi-shambles that Slow Club present on-stage can be the same band that produced such a well-judged and honed album as Paradise. There seems no choice other than to conclude that Charles and Rebecca are simply blessed with buckets of talent each and know how to use it to good effect. Paradise isn’t for the most part a happy album, and not unlike the Jessica Lea Mayfield album, I suppose, it draws on young love, failed relationships and romantic misadventures, presenting a picture of raw emotion with consistently memorable tunes. I’m really looking forward to seeing what Slow Club go on to do over the next decade, whether as part of the current duo or in separate careers – there is surely a lot more intriguing music to come from both of them.

5. Help Stamp Out Loneliness – Help Stamp Out Loneliness
How nice to have another great band come out of Manchester. HSOL’s sound at first seems a little dense and cluttered, but after a few listens the songs resolve themselves clearly into slices of top-notch indiepop, all sung with disarming clarity by D Lucille Campbell. Of the ‘current’ crop of indiepop bands, HSOL have established themselves alongside Shrag among my great favourites both live and on record.

6. Herman Dune – Strange Moosic
Herman Dune have apparently undergone something of a re-founding, with the departure of one of the two singer/guitarist brothers and addition of a bassist. The first album of the new era is something of a departure from the band’s back catalogue, which generally involved them going into a studio somewhere in the world and bashing out their latest twelve songs live. Strange Moosic, by contrast, is a relatively produced record, offering a spacious rock-pop sound, perhaps recalling Crosby Stills and Nash. Live they offer a more hard-rocking formula as showcased at Indietracks, though their more delicate side is apparently still on display if you catch them at the right venue. A confident record and a well-judged one.

7. Half Man Half Biscuit – 90 Bisodol (Crimond)
Obviously a new HMHB album is going to be in this list. 90 Bisodol (Crimond) is probably their best record, start to finish, for a good long time. It contains no end of quotable lyrics of course, but as well as being funny it’s also extraordinarily dark, with a teenage suicide and delirium-induced necrophilia forming the basis for two of the cuts, not to mention the joke about Dignitas. I will say however that one of my favourites lyrics is in fix It So She Dreams Of Me, about the girl who “rolls her eyes at the Gok Wan acolytes”.

8. Bearsuit – The Phantom Forest
Armed with a new rhythm section, Bearsuit returned in 2011 with a sharper, tighter, funkier sound than anything they’d previously presented. The Phantom Forest is a concept album about a group thrown together when their train crashes in the forest, and perhaps it’s this through-line that gives the album more focus than past outings, which I’ve always found a bit much for one sitting. Not only is this one of those records where every track could be a single, but the first five all got released (all with rather splendid videos as well). New material is apparently on the way, so I hope there will be an equally strong follow-up before too long.

9. Anna Calvi – Anna Calvi
I ummed and ahhed for a good while over what should take this slot in the top ten – as will be clear from the main reviews post, there were numerous contenders. I went for the Anna Calvi record in the end because it is so well considered as a work overall: true, its singles Desire and Blackout do immediately jump out, but it bears repeated listens all the way through. Calvi’s operatic vocals and distinctive guitar make her hard to pigeonhole: on first seeing her in 2010, supporting Kort, the best I could come up with was kraut-goth-alt-country-noir. I was very glad when the album took her to a Mercury nomination and headlining big venues like the Shepherds Bush Empire, and I will be fascinated to see where she goes next.

10. MJ Hibbett and the Validators – Dinosaur Planet
This album simply had to be on the list: very technically it is released in 2012, but that is a bit of a delay from the original plan, and I’ve been so involved with it for so long that leaving it another year would simply seem wrong. Of course, where to put it in the top ten is a tricky one, as I’m not a dispassionate listener to this: not only did I work with Mark Hibbett on a screenplay version of the album (still available for option!), but I’m actually on the record as part of the dinosaur chorus. So it seemed fair to put it in at number ten rather than try to assert a totally biased case against any of the other contenders. If you’re not aware of Dinosaur Planet (how, exactly?) it’s a concept album about what happens when the dinosaurs return to Earth to invade, featuring songs about dinosaurs, robots, and best practice in academic research. It’s GRATE.

2011 Gigs

Towards the end of 2010 I increasingly felt I’d been missing out on a lot of live music in London. To a large extent I think it was a combination of Songkick and a massive indiepop relapse courtesy of Indietracks that year that made me more aware of what was going on (though a third factor is the strength in depth of the indie scene in the UK at the moment – it’s going through a particularly strong patch, and if you’re not acquainted with the many excellent and charming bands knocking around, sort it out before they have kids and split up!).

So I made a sort-of resolution that in 2011 I’d try to miss out on fewer gigs and go to a lot more; it crossed my mind that an average of one a week might be doable. A few months in and I was well on course for that, so I made it a firm goal for the year, and was successful: 54 gigs plus two festivals (Indietracks again and Glastonbury, filling a big gap in my gigography). I know people in bands who will have played more gigs than that and in the music industry who will go to that many every few months, but for someone in neither I thought it was quite respectable. And a bit of an effort, frankly – a few less in 2012 would be fine by me.

This post selects a dozen of the best gigs I went to. I had intended to do an overview post of my entire gig-going career, having just completed the data as far as I can on Songkick (I went over the 300 mark this year… not actually that much in 13 years, you could argue). But as soon as I’d completed my gigography, Songkick took down the handy tools for breaking it down, so I can’t easily extract my most-seen bands, most-visited venues and so on. Hopefully they’ll restore those geeky but handy features in a future redevelopment of the site. I also took my camera along to gigs when I remembered – a bog-standard £100 digital camera can get you some OK gig photos these days, so there’s a collection on Flickr.

A few honourable mentioned before we get into the shows. Shrag remain one of my favourite bands, and I’m maybe being a little harsh not including one of their shows here – I saw them three times this year, the latter two shows in particular being fabulously noisy and exciting (the first of them being a bit lower-key and a run-out for new material). On the evidence of the airings given to the new songs so far, their next album Canines looks set to be a highlight of 2012… so it’s pretty frustrating we have to wait until May for it! Shrag and I did seem cursed at one point though: I left a gig in February early after the first support act, as I suddenly felt really ill (so Songkick says I’ve seen them six times in all; it’s only five); and in January the band had to pull out of a show with the Loves when Helen was poorly.

Ah yes, the Loves. They were only around for the first six weeks or so of the year, retiring after a final show on February 13th, with an all-star indie supporting cast including Pocketbooks and the Lovely Eggs. It was a top-notch show to end on, with the full line-up and dancing girls; a stripped-down line-up had played the aforementioned Winter Sprinter show in January. It annoys me a bit when the band are written off as ‘merely’ 60s pastiche: there’s not much original to be done with guitar bands any more; what matters is doing something well, and the Loves did it with style. I’m looking forward to seeing their equally 60s, though seemingly more soul-influenced, successor band Knickers at the 2012 Winter Sprinter.

Finally before getting into specific shows, 2011 saw the final performances of Dinosaur Planet (for now, anyway – the album is now available and getting an official launch in 2012) and the arrival of Moon Horse, both from MJ Hibbett (and Steve). If anything, Moon Horse worked even better than Dinosaur Planet as a bit of performance: written specifically for Mark and Steve to do with hats, wigs and silly voices, it was a rollicking 57 minutes of comedy and song (see this podcast for the first ‘episode’). Hibbett’s Totally Acoustic shows migrated from The Lamb to The King And Queen mid-year, but unfortunately I missed the final two due to prior gig bookings – doubly gutting given they were the final London performance of Moon Horse and the show featuring Otway (who I saw for the first time at Glastonbury – I’m not going to delve into individual festival sets here, but he was brilliant and I Get It!).

So, let’s dive into the gigs. Only my third one of the year was Laura Cantrell at the Water Rats on January 26th, doing her first UK show for over five years. She returned in the spring for a short UK tour, playing the Union Chapel on May 8th. Somehow there were two free seats right at the front for the latter, so for me it was an up-close and intimate gig in an amazing venue, mostly just Laura plus her guitarist. It was a beautiful set, augmented at the end by some shabby-looking bloke with round glasses and a ponytail coming onstage, subsequently introduced as Tim Burgess of the Charlatans! If she hadn’t told us, I wouldn’t have believed it.

Also on a country tip, Caitlin Rose returned to the Windmill in Brixton on March 10th. She’s really too big for a venue of this size now, and seems to play it out of affection; this time round they had to schedule two shows, one early and one later, to cope with the demand. As ever it was an endearing set, not especially slick and all the better for it, and worth attending simply to hear Caitlin’s fabulous voice live, with the bonus of Jeremy Fetzer’s ever-listenable work on guitar – the same features made for a great set on the sunny Sunday at Glastonbury too. Because I was at the early show, I was able to nip across town for a free show by Thomas Tantrum in Islington the same evening, which was good fun but full of young-looking people – give me the mix of the young and the gnarled at a Caitlin Rose show any day.
From small venues now to one of the biggest: the O2 Arena on March 29th, for only my fourth ever arena show. Two of the previous three (Morrissey at the MEN Arena in 2004 and Pet Shop Boys at the O2 on a snowy night in 2009) have been released on DVD, and it rather looked as though this show would follow – but no sign so far. It takes a band I’m particularly keen to see (or a cheap / free ticket) to tempt me to the awful O2, and this time it was Elbow – ten years ago I’d have put them on a Band Least Likely To Play Arenas list… yet here they were. Could they make it work?

Blimey, could they ever: they totally owned the place. The mix of Guy Garvey’s down to earth humour and the scale of more recent Elbow material made for a pitch-perfect combination, with a modest stage show (some nice visuals and a catwalk out into the crowd) that did exactly the right amount to frame the performance. Better still, the band’s more recent material undoubtedly sounds better at full volume than on the overly politely-recorded albums. My only disappointment was the absence of any songs from the first album, but never mind really: the band have come a long way since then. If this does ever get a DVD release I will buy it like a shot.

It’s always a greater challenge to enjoy a live set when you don’t know the artist or their songs. This was the prospect facing me for long-time friend of Elbow Jesca Hoop at the Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen two days after the Elbow show. It’s a mark of a great live act if they can hold your interest even if you’re unfamiliar with them, and Jesca did it superbly. The newer material (I now realise) was perhaps more energetic and fun, and the items that really made the set work, though I did find plenty of the songs I’d enjoyed on her most recent album Hunting My Dress when I tracked it down subsequently. Jesca builds her songs round a distinctive fingerpicking style, often on the lower strings (her ensemble had no bass), and the band built a rich and lively backing in turn around that. Tremendous.

Let’s skip forward now to June, to Art Brut‘s five-night residency at the Lexington. I got a ticket for the fourth or fifth night, June 3rd, with Bearsuit providing the support. Quite how I managed this is beyond me: it sold out quickly, but I happened to re-check for tickets just when a few returns had been released, I’d guess (and only then because I’d previously been booked up that evening and suddenly became free). It was a storming show: probably exactly what you’d expect from Art Brut on top form, but the first time I’d seen them (very slow on the uptake here). It was also the show that finally convinced me I needed to start wearing some earplugs at gigs, after even the audience members shouting by my ear started to sound distorted.

Exactly three months later, Help Stamp Out Loneliness hit the Bull and Gate (a venue that seems to have had some business taken away from it by the more central Lexington?). They’d been one of the great highlights of Indietracks, with a keen crowd, a top album to showcase and hot air balloons drifting over the site during their set. Their Bull and Gate set was a joyous recreation of this with, frankly, a lot of the same people in the crowd (but minus the hot air balloons, obviously), transplanted into a joyfully sweaty room in London. If all gigs were like this, I wouldn’t complain.

A bit more melancholy, but ultimately uplifting, was the Bluetones‘ penultimate London show prior to their split, on September 16th at the Shepherds Bush Empire. I’d bought a ticket for this when they announced it would be their last tour, only for them to add a final extra London date a few weeks later. I was tempted to double-dip but ultimately opted not to, as the standing tickets had sold out and I was upstairs for the earlier set. It was still bloody brilliant though: all the hits plus some less obvious numbers, dipping into all parts of the back catalogue, including After Hours from their singles collection and one of my great favourites, Never Going Nowhere from 2003′s Luxembourg, to close the main set after Slight Return. Mark Morris reflected on their career throughout: Solomon Bites the Work was regarded as a flop after charting at number 8, he recalled; “we’ll show them a flop, we thought…” Slight Return, by contrast, “maybe sold a few too many.” After the split, he urged us, “go and tell your friends they missed a fucking… quite good band.” Indeed they did – I can understand the Bluetones feeling they couldn’t keep trolling round with lower album sales, as the old material would be too much of a millstone; but all the same, it’s sad to see them go.

Still at the Shepherds Bush Empire, and still in September, Slow Club hit town on on the 26th for a show delayed from May to promote their excellent album Paradise. It was an energetic show, with neither Rebecca nor Charles being excessively slick large-venue front-people for the band… and it was all the better for it. “Could you see my knickers?” Rebecca fretted after a song behind the drumkit wearing a Sheffield Wednesday dress. “Yes!” someone gleefully shouted back – the crowd was an odd mix of the genuinely young (ie younger than me) and men of a certain age (ie older then me) politely lusting after Ms Taylor. More importantly, Rebecca’s tremendous voice is a true focus for the sound live, more so than on record. The band returned to London on December 19th for their now-traditional Union Chapel Christmas show, which was also a brilliant, joyous evening and a fitting final gig of the year for me.

Still back in the autumn, Iron and Wine played two London shows in October: the second was a full band effort, louder and with all manner of trickery; the first, which I was at, was a more stripped-down show at the Hackney Empire with a slightly experimental ensemble. I’d not really been in the mood for heading out that evening, but it was well worth the trek: the whole set showcased the strength in depth of Sam Beam’s back catalogue, with many songs presented in unexpected arrangements but always to great effect. I’m rather glad I got a ticket for this more reflective set than the bells-and-whistles one, though I bet that was great too.

A gig that seems more recent than I now see it was: Misty’s Big Adventure, Upstairs at the Garage on November 17th. They were mysteriously scheduled at 9pm, and played their longest ever set (they claimed) at an hour and three quarters. I’ve taken every chance to see Misty’s this year, after their set at 93 Feet East on May 11th reminded me not to take such a great band for granted. Their live show offers a lot that’s not available in record, not least of course the crazy dancing of Erotic Volvo. During political satire I Want A Biscuit (You Can’t Have One), depicting the relationship between Nick Clegg and David Cameron (sic), he ambles through the crowd offering out a packet of biscuits (I got one at the Garage show – chocolate hobnob, if you’re wondering), before dangling one over the head of Grandmaster Gareth (portraying Clegg), crumbling it to dust before his eyes and cackling manically into the microphone. It’s worth seeing, as is their cover of the Tammys’ Egyptian Shumba, one of the most demented bits of pop music I’ve ever encountered (and only then on a rather costly 60s girl group box set). At both the Garage and Proud Camden shows (June 21st, a gig marred by the stupidest venue layout I’ve ever seen) Gareth kicked off proceedings with a minute’s noise; at 93 Feet East he took a register. He also created the innovative musical experiment of kung-ducting. My favourite Misty’s moment of the year, however, was Erotic Volvo dancing downstairs at the Garage, where apparently a Smiths tribute band were playing. Heaven knows what the Smiths crowd made of him, but he reappeared a few minutes later waving a bunch of gladioli stems. I’m already looking forward to their next London show, whenever that turns out to be.

Otway’s appearance at Totally Acoustic clashed with the first UK show for Wild Flag, on December 8th; what would otherwise have been a tough dilemma was settled by silly old Hibbett leaving it late to confirm the Totally Acoustic date, so I already had a ticket for the Wild Flag show… and it was quite a treat. They essentially did the album, which was fair enough, and reinforced just how good many of those songs are. They also verged into the kind of psychedelic jams that Sleater-Kinney flirted with on The Woods (and, for that matter, that Quasi have become prone to) – but it was a masterful bluff, as when they kicked back into the main riff of the closing number, they were as tight as I’ve ever seen a band finishing a song. Mary Timony in particular added a lot, acting as a compelling joint frontwoman with Carrie Brownstein, and seemingly bringing a more fixed and poppy sensibility. Meanwhile, it was great to see Carrie back on-stage – six years since I last saw her, I’d forgotten what a compelling, dynamic presence she is. I’d already bought a ticket for their February show, and am looking forward to it all the more now.

Finally for this selection, a gig I for some reason felt indifferent about beforehand: I’d seen Gillian Welch in 2004, so what could she add to that in the surely excessively large venue of the Hammersmith Apollo on November 23rd? Rather a lot was the answer: while it was a sparse and, though I hesitate to use the word, pure line-up of her and David Rawlings plus whatever else they could play, the quality and range of their material, her voice and his playing made every moment memorable. I heard on the evening that Patrick Stewart was in the audience, and to my astonishment later discovered David Cameron had been as well. But even that couldn’t sully the experience – what a chump I would have been to have missed it.

Christmas Mixes

Back when I was doing the show on North Palace Radio, I had envisaged revisiting my usual festive spin on John Kell Vs Satan – the inevitable John Kell Vs Santa. Unfortunately the station didn’t last long enough for that (though there may be more JKVS in 2012… watch this space!), so I thought I’d put some mixes up on 8Tracks instead. I’ve ended up with rather a lot of choices, so I ended up doing four different ones. Here are the tracklistings, and direct links – just click to listen!

Bah Humbug (1) – Carols
Indie bands and others doing carols (though it’s not always obvious which ones from the titles!).

Broken Dog – Joy to the World
Johnny Domino – I Saw Three Ships
Belle and Sebastian – O Come O Come Emmanuel
Fat Man Rhythm Section – Unemployment Rock
The Weisstronoauts – Silent Night
Balor Knights – Gaudete
The 10p Mixes – Away In A Manger
The Singing Loins – Ding Dong Merrily on High
Plans and Apologies – Pandaz Xmaz

Bah Humbug (2) – sort-of Christmas songs [NSFW!]
A mix of anti-Christmas songs, rude Christmas songs, songs that are ambivalent about Christmas or just hate its guts.

TV Smith – Christmas Bloody Christmas
Tralala – Christmas Never Comes When You’re Alone
Shawn Lee – I’ll Be Fucking You This Christmas
The Just Joans – Card from a Multipack
The Pocket Gods – Wanking for Christmas
Erin McKeown – Christmas Waltz
Ten Benson – Black Snow
Departure Lounge – Christmas Downer
Christa Rebecca – You Still Come Home For Christmas
Shrag – Stop the Revelry
Velodrome 2000 – Christmas Sucks
HT and the OJs – Just Say No To Christmas
Helen Arney – Traditional Family Christmas Argument

Bah Humbug (3) – Christmas songs, plain and simple
MJ Hibbett and the Validators – The Advent Calendar of Fact
Misty’s Big Adventure – Where Do Jam Jars Go At Christmas Time?
The Pretenders – 2000 Miles
The Pipettes – Santa’s On His Way
Diana Ross and the Supremes – Little Bright Star
The Meditation Singers – Blue Christmas
The Gresham Flyers – Perfect Christmas Snow
Darlene Love – Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
Mitch Benn – Broke the Bank This Christmas
Half Man Half Biscuit – It’s Cliched to by Cynical at Christmas
The Futureheads – Christmas Was Better in the 80s
The Ronettes – Frosty the Snowman

Bah Humbug (4) – Covers
My favourite mix, I think – covers of mostly well-known Christmas songs, in unfamiliar (I hope!) guises.

Severe – Stop the Cavalry
She and Him – Little Saint Nick
Six By Seven – I Believe in Father Christmas
DJ Downfall – 2000 Miles
Hefner – Lonely This Christmas
Church Library – Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Low – Blue Christmas
MJ Hibbett – Walking in a Winter Wonderland
Hong Kong in the 60s – Walking in the Air
Cuckooland – Silver Bells
The Just Joans – Last Christmas

What should a calling card script do and what shouldn’t it do?

This year’s London Screenwriters’ Festival was hugely instructive in terms of both the craft and the business of being a screenwriter. I’ve got no track record at all in either, so I hadn’t intended to do any ‘advice’ type blog posts – I seldom write them, as there are plenty of people better qualified than me.

That said, looking back over my notes (almost 60 pages – typing them up took me a day and a half) it struck me that there are one or two things I’ve not read elsewhere, or at least not explicitly. This post covers one of them: spec scripts and calling card scripts. Much-discussed over the weekend, and not necessarily the same thing – any script that’s not been commissioned is written on spec, but that doesn’t mean any non-commissioned script is fit for use as a calling card script. Your early spec scripts probably just won’t be good enough to send out, and should be treated as learning exercises – the perils of sending stuff out too early, because either it’s not sufficiently developed or you’re not, were a recurring theme across many sessions.

But what about the calling card script? The script that shows what you can do and hopefully interests producers and agents in you. Conventional wisdom I’ve read and heard elsewhere starts from the premise that it won’t get made – it’s just there to get you noticed. That’s true (with vanishingly few exceptions). But some things that can be said to follow on from that aren’t so true: “write what you really want to, as it’ll never get made” can get you in trouble.

So here’s my conclusion, which wasn’t said explicitly by any of the speakers I heard, and one or two of them might even dispute it: but a calling card script should be commercial. It should not simply be a demonstration of storytelling and craft. It will be assessed by producers and agents as they would assess any other script: can they sell it, can they get it made? Even though formal events like the speed pitching at last weekend’s festival are essentially artificial and unusual events, the same yardstick will be applied: a project that elicits teeth-sucking and mutterings that it’s hard to get that kind of thing made is not useful, even if you’ve written the script really well.

TV series and serials are immediately more attractive than singles. Some genres and tones are more appealing than others, and it varies by channel. A brilliantly written script on an abhorrent topic would also probably be a bad idea. My 90-minute TV single will always be commercially problematic, no matter how good I can get it; a piece of hard sci-fi will also be hard to sell, albeit for subtly different reasons (niche genre, rather than format [EDIT see the comments below for more on this point]). “Ah,” you may say, “if it’s brilliant it’s brilliant, and it’ll get you somewhere no matter how difficult a sell it might first appear.” Maybe – but at the very least, you’ve made your job significantly harder, which you can ill afford in such a competitive environment. If you can’t get a script into someone’s hands or inbox, it doesn’t matter how well it showcases your talent and craft (on the up-side, it doesn’t so much matter if it’s rubbish, I suppose).

That said, a well-polished spec script that you don’t use as a calling card can still have its uses. Producers and agents, if they’re taken with your calling card script, may well ask to see a second piece of work, although this isn’t always crucial: Julian Friedmann insisted on one panel that he’d be willing to work with someone on the basis of a single script, if it was good enough; Rob Thorogood got his spec script produced by the BBC and when asked if he’d written anything else honestly answered no – but it didn’t matter, he still got his project made and it’s bloody good. But there were plenty of speakers who said they like to see a second sample, and it’s a common request from BBC Writersroom if they like the thing you’ve sent in. So I’m going to keep developing my 90-minute single as a credible writing sample, even though it’s the next project that will be ‘the’ calling card script: a TV pilot rather than something more tricky to sell. It’s still a story I’m keen to tell, of course – there’s never merit in trying to second-guess what people want and write it for the sake of your career rather than the story: if you’re not committed to writing it, your version will inevitably be tepid and unappealing. But there is merit in prioritising, from among all the ideas in your head or on your list of things to write, something that can be put in a commercially viable form.

There’s all sorts of other good advice about writing these scripts, and what might be commercially appealing: have an answer to the question of which channel it would suit, pitch it to appropriate agents and producers, and so on – but that stuff’s out there in abundance already. There was an excellent session on what the different channels are looking for, and when the video is out you should watch it if you’re on the delegates’ network. And there are of course arguments for writing what you really want to, and they should never be lost from sight: it will hopefully be distinctively yours, and put your voice across. But it will almost certainly be truly useful only if it can be pitched and sold.

 

John Kell Vs Satan playlist October 26th 2011

Here’s the playlist for the latest JKVS, which you can listen to again here on Mixcloud. It contains exclusive preview tracks from MJ Hibbett and the Validators’ forthcoming rock opera Dinosaur Planet, which is a particular treat!

MJ Hibbett and the Validators – (Theme from) Dinosaur Planet
Wild Flag – Glass Tambourine
Jeffrey Lewis – When You’re By Yourself
Allo Darlin – Darren
The French – Wu-Tang Clan
Veronica Falls – Bad Feeling
Kathryn Calder – Younger Than We’ve Ever Been
The Flaming Lips – Waitin’ for a Superman
Bis – I’m A Slut
Sleater-Kinney – Get Up
Hofman – The Girl With The Storm-Damaged Hair
Marine Research – Parallel Horizontal
Regular Fries – Dream Lottery
Seafruit – Looking for Sparks
Angelica – Why Did You Let My Kitten Die?
MJ Hibbett and the Validators – The Theory of a Dinosaur Planet
MJ Hibbett and the Validators – My Theory of a Dinosaur Planet
Harvey Half-Devoured – Backburner
Immaculate Machine – Invention 77
Iron and Wine – The Trapeze Swinger

John Kell Vs Satan playlist October 12th 2011

Here’s the playlist for the last edition of the show – I totally forgot to put it up at the time, so apologies for that. Here’s the link to listen again on Mixcloud. The next edition is already in the can and goes out at 9pm on Wednesday – though I say it myself, it’s rather a good one!

Anna Madeline – The Angel (joey2tits remix)
Half Man Half Biscuit – The Coroner’s Footnote
Gruff Rhys – If We Were Words We Would Rhyme
Slow Club – You, Earth or Ash
The Pretenders – 977
The Leisure Society – Into The Murky Water
Spector – What you Wanted
Victoria and Jacob – There’s A War
Withered Hand – Love In the Time of Ecstasy
Pulp – The Trees
Electrelane – The Invisible Dog
Murry the Hump – The House That Used To Be A Ship
Moldy Peaches – Who’s Got the Crack?
Rock of Travolta – Giant Robo
Elbow – Powder Blue
Pris – Blu Tack Baby
Dave Tyack – excerpt from Rip Van Winkle
Iron and Wine – Godless Brother In Love
Feist – Undiscovered First

John Kell Vs Satan playlist September 28th 2011

Sorry for the slight lateness of this one – last week’s show is now up on Mixcloud. Tracklisting below.

Misty Dixon – Are You Lost
Slow Club – Beginners
St Vincent – Northern Lights
Super Furry Animals – Northern Lites
Gillian Welch – The Way It Goes
Anna Madeline – Milk and Water
Flipron – Cerberus is as Cerberus does
Standard Fare – Dancing
Red Shoe Diaries – Infinity +1
Sons and Daughters – Darling
Thomas Tantrum – Work It
Manda Rin – Typeface
Glasvegas – Polmont on my Mind
Neon Neon – Dream Cars
My Morning Jacket – Touch Me I’m Going To Scream Pt 1
Astrid – Modes of Transport
The Boo Radleys – Lazarus
A Fine Day For Sailing – Blanket Girlfriend
The Bluetones – Never Going Nowhere

John Kell Vs Satan playlist September 14th 2011

Here’s the playlist for the latest edition of the show, to which you can listen again here on Mixcloud.

• Grandaddy – Summer, It’s Gone
• Pocketbooks – Promises, Promises
• Charles Latham – I’m Moving Back To May Parents’ House
• The Bluetones – Keep the Home Fires Burning
• Wild Flag – Romance
• Those Dancing Days – Can’t Find Entrance
• Kate Jackson Group – Date with Dawn
• Wake the President – Miss Tierney
• Shrag – The Habit Creep
• Rosita – Santa Poca’s Dream
• Yo La Tengo – The Crying of Lot G
• Hefner – The Day that Thatcher Dies
• Neko Case and her Boyfriends – Twist the Knife
• At the Drive-In – One Armed Scissor
• Badly Drawn Boy – Magic in the Air
• Help Stamp Out Loneliness – Cottonopolis
• PJ Harvey – On Battleship Hill
• Tarnation – Your Thoughts and Mine

It’s 90 minutes rather than an hour, which has had two consequences: firstly, I’ve tried to make a virtue of the extra running time and the increased necessity to dive into my record collection by focusing on a particular year from ‘my’ era of music (1998 onwards) for a section of each show, starting with 2000 this time round and 2008 next time – the rest to follow in a random order! Musical memories of either year? Pop ‘em in the comments below and I’ll compare notes on the next edition of the show.

The second consequence is that the show’s timing is a bit off and has far too much yakking from me. It’s a new format for JKVS, and I’ll fix it for next time!