YELLOW OSTRICH

The think about keeping a blog is that it is surprisingly difficult to keep a track of; I thought I had shared Yellow Ostrich with the world, it turns out I haven’t so here goes.

Yellow Ostrich offers up some quirky, casiotone laced indie pop in the form of the LP, The Mistress. Alex Schaff, who is Yellow Ostrich, gets helps from some friends on this one to bring it together. The end result is rhythmic and catchy and does come with stand out moments, i.e. WHALE – a nice existential offering.

Like I say the album has been out for a while. It’s a pay what you like thing, so therefore available free, here.

Listening to: Jonquil

Because I’m the sort of person who is constantly thinking about this sort of thing, the other day  I was reflecting on what my favourite albums had been so far this year. So I got to thinking, trawling through the recesses, then thought Jonquil. Yeah, Jonquil they would be up there. If only for the slight twig that their One Hundred Suns EP came out in November.

So to make up for that fact I thought I would write about them here and now. Their One Hundred Suns EP is this mix of surf – rock and afrobeat. The rhythm is very catchy and the overall feel will take you drifting  to a beach. For both of these things you have to credit the succession of excellent guitar melodies.

Pop music, the sort that isn’t hugely commercial successful, is perhaps stronger than ever. Jonquil and their made for summer EP, One Hundred Suns, are proof of this.

You can get the EP here, or at least listen to it in full. If you're in LDN this weekend and have a ticket for Camden then, well, work it out.

 Jonquil - I Know I Don't Know by Jonquil 

fun fun fun

Music should be fun, right? I mean there aren’t any hard and fast rules about it, but if there were then having fun would surely be one of them. The Blue Onesies from NZ certainly sound like they are having fun – what with their lovely beach boys-esque sound and all, which doesn’t make me long for the beach, 1965 or a glass of Pinot Noir right about now.  

Here's some of their early demo-like stuff.

MATT CALVERT

Matt Calvert, one third of Three Trapped Tigers, has some music of his own out.

Under the name Evil Ex he has released a solo EP where some of the similarities are clear but so are the differences. To go along with the moments which are of all out drum and guitar aggression, there are some lovely moments of ambience. It's a nicely considered mix of the two ends of a spectrum and it should have you peering over to have a listen.

The EP, Bygones, is out now and available here.

Evil Ex - D'lin

 'D'Lin' - Evil Ex [Bygones EP] by mattcalvert 

The TTT album, is out in a couple of weeks. For those who love to do comparison between solo and group work here is one of the album tracks, Noise Trade. 

Three Trapped Tigers - Noise Trade

 Three Trapped Tigers - Noise Trade.mp3 by ZimbalamUK 

great

Tall Ships,  that great band which I have mentioned on here before, supported Three Trapped Tigers, another great band, the other day. Now they will be supporting We Are Scientist, yet another great band, on some UK tour dates in June.

Here are the tour dates:

1st June - Exeter, Lemon Grove (with We Are Scientists)
13th June - Middlesbrough, Empire (with WAS)
14th June - Leamington Spa, Assembly (with WAS)
15th June - London, Koko (with WAS)
16th June - Kingston, Banquet instore (6pm) and New Slang (11pm) 
17th June - Brighton, Concorde 2 (with WAS)

barn owl

So, so very glad that these boys are back with a new EP. Now there will be new music for me to fall asleep to.

Here is the title track of said EP, Shadowland. It comes out on 21 May.

Barn Owl - Shadowland
 Barn Owl - Shadowland (1) by TobyBakare

I wait tables too

If you're going to insist on a liking for electro pop with high pitched synths pushed to the max then it might as well  be good shit.

Garcon Garcon - Maybe Tonight

 Garcon Garcon: Maybe Tonight (Demo) by mobsessionblog

CARDINALS

I saw Cardinals play a few months ago now; they were the first on the bill and were a new band who I had never heard of. I didn’t hold out too much hope. But I was pleasantly surprised by a band who came across on stage as old hands at the game. I thought, even then, they would be ones to watch.

A few months later and they’ve released their first EP (which is self titled).

So then, to describe their sound. Well, this is what band member James had to say:

“I'd like to think our sound is a culmination of all our influences; ultimately elements of post-rock and modern indie. It's very guitar-driven, with heavy influence from 90's emo bands and other modern day ambient/crossover stuff like Brand New”.

James, I’d agree with you, but I think you're selling yourselves short a little here. Even after a few listens to the EP you can hear that there is a lot of experimentation. Case and point comes with The Salamander – a track which opens with acoustic guitar, again a pleasant surprise.

I must admit to feeling a bit of a rapport with this band (I suspect every one of a certain age and disposition will too), their experimenting with certain sounds, yet it still sounds very honest.

So then James, what does the future hold for Cardinals:

“We have started writing new material which will hopefully take shape of another EP at some point, we're really keen to carry on writing [and] this year we're going to have a lot more time for writing so it should come together pretty quickly."

Looking forward to it.

Cardinals – EP is out now and can be got from bandcamp. The band will tour in June. 

Listening to: Colour

Allow an old man to indulge in the past if you will: Colour came into my life in 2008, in the long hot summer of that year their music – which can be described as intelligent and poppy math rock - had my attention. I liked them. They were something new and different. Fast forward a whole 3 years and I realise just what a great outfit they were. I say were as they broke up a while back, creative tensions no doubt.

They succeeded where so many failed, along with the musical talent was a falsetto voice worthy of the name, lyrics which held up to some sort scrutiny and, to compliment the trickery of their long verses, catchy codas which were accessible, unashamedly so.

Now, as part of some inevitable nostalgia trip, and also because I finally found ‘Anthology’, an album (of sorts) of their work, I listen to them incessantly. You should too.

I’ve put Chutes on here. Anthology is on Spotify, if you’re still willing to go there. Silverbeast, Tallulah’s My Mother’s Name and Over The Moon come highly recommended.


 Colour - Chutes by TobyBakare 

Homage to Portland, OR

There is clearly something in the water (or more likely in the landscape) of this part of the world which is conducive to some of the most beautiful and interesting ambient music you’ll hear. Here is a taste:

Emeralds

Grouper

Eluvium (Four Tet remix)

 Emeralds - Genetic by dnr

   GROUPER - Alien Observer by ZDBmuzique 

 Eluvium - The Motion Makes Me Last (Four Tet Remix) by colorante 

For Japan

There is a lot of music out there to help the disaster relief effort in Japan.

This, in my opinion, is the best and ALL proceeds go to the tsunami relief effort.


http://japan.bandcamp.com/

Music and films

It will be films galore from Wednesday as the East End film festival gets under way. The six day festival will be showing a huge number of documentaries in a load of different places, the big ticket attraction being a new documentary on The Libertines. On a personal note I’m hoping to grab a ticket to ‘Good Times’. A film which charts one man’s journey to spread ‘Sound System Culture’ to the wider world through the Notting Hill Carnival.

Alternatively I'll try and see ‘Furious Force of Rhymes’. A film which spreads light on the “rebellious and controversial" language of hip-hop music from Israel to Columbia.

Here are some of my favourite musical docs.

Happy Easter

No Direction Home:

Charting the career of the great Bob Dylan the film, directed by Scorcese, goes from his beginnings in a small town, to his journey to New York to discover himself and his music to his subsequent superstardom upon the release of ‘The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan’.

The best thing about this is the how it exposes the political nature of folk music. My favourite scene in the whole film is when Bob Dylan plays a music festival with electric guitars. The elderly Pete Seeger, outraged at what he perceives to be crime against folk music, tries to unplug the whole thing. The ‘electrification’ of Dylan’s music is a touchy subject indeed. Did it betray the music? Did it open it up to new people? Did it evolve the genre? Debate, eh.

Heima:

I don’t really cry at films but Heima, the story of an epic homeland tour conducted by Sigur Ros, really got to me.  Their homeland of Iceland comes across on film as a beautiful place which the band really seem connected to. Even some of the instruments that the band used on their tour were taken from local mountains.

You get a sense throughout that the band are rooted to the landscape, that they draw inspiration from it and that they miss it, not only because they are coming home from an extended time away touring but also the landscape is changing. Old communities are dying out and big business is now ruining the landscape.

It made Iceland and the band seem quaint but inspirational and heart warming as well. The climax in Reykjavik is great.

Total Life Forever//Foals//:

Directed by Dave Ma (known lately for the new Wild Beast vid), this is more montage than documentary. The great thing about this is that it lets you in on the mechanics of an album; the album in question being one of my recent favourites, Total Life Forever. 

It starts in a house in Oxford as the band lay down some of the early riffs on tracks such as Spanish Sahara and takes us through to their time in the Svenska Grammafon studios outside Gothenberg in Sweden. Visually the environment of a studio, compared to say the epicness of Iceland, could be a bit of a stale backdrop, but the whole thing can keep your attention even if you’re not a fan of their music as you see the meticulousness that’s needed to put an album together. This is shown brilliantly by a guitarist tapping furiously at notes on the floor expecting the singers to replicate (Which to be fair they do, resulting in the excellent opening to This Orient).

BUNNY ON ACID

Jerusalem, Israel in general is not known for its underground music scene. Shame, really.

Bunny On Acid is 26 year old Izik Finley who took on the name and the sound as a result of an eye opening stint in Brixton, England – they too have an underground scene y’know.

He brings the Britishness of Drum and Bass, Dub and Garage to the heat of the Levant. And good on him too. His blend of sounds makes for good dance music which doesn’t do the whole ambient thing but rather gets you up on your feet.

His new album, ‘A Way Back Home,’ is out towards the end of the year on Holy Dubs Recordings. 

Here are couple of his previews of his work.

Bunny on Acid - In Luv

 In Luv! by BuNnY oN aCiD 

Bunny on Acid - Curls

 Curls [Unsigned_Preview] by BuNnY oN aCiD 

Listening to: Hurray For The Riff Raff

If folk music sounds new, fresh, off –beat and like nothing you’ve ever heard before then it’s probably being done wrong. Hurray For The Riff is led by Alynda Lee Segarra, the songs are old and familiar and the whole album would be difficult to place in a specific time.

The band and the leading lady are a rag – tag bunch, and in true Americana style, so are the influences; the rich tapestry of the southern United States with jazz and folk and vaudeville and blues all making an appearance. 

It’s a terrific album. Highly recommended. 

 I Know You - Hurray for the Riff Raff by HurrayForTheRiffRaff 

Grey Swan