Wild Beasts - Two Dancers (OneOhTronixPN Remix)

Whether they deserved the Mercury or not, Wild Beasts 'Two Dancers' remains a stunningly rich and rewarding album of eccentric, lusty British pop. Later in the year the band will release a 12" of remixes including this ONO Point Never remix of the albums title track. Bringing some tech into the archaic lyrical wordplay this is just one of four excellent remixes available to stream now.

Read More »»

Wild Beasts: Live KCRW Session

There are very fiew album reviews I wish I could change. One would be The Cribs third album which I criticised but (especially bearing in mind how iffy their fourth album 'Ignore The Ignorant is/was) is actually pretty good. Another would be fellow Yorkshiremen Wild Beasts. Last year I didn't click with 'Two Dancers' by Wild Beasts until late on. It made it into the top ten of the year but really should have been up in the top two or three, such an amazing album by a band of endearing oddballs. Here the band are live in session in America doing what they do best.

Read More »»

BoringMix: 001

Last week I broke the charger for my iPod and am too broke to replace it so have been listening to a lot more music on Spotify than usual. Bored this afternoon I decided to make a mixtape of a few things I'm listening to at the moment. The tracklisting is below and you can open it up by following this link here.

J Dilla (aka Jay Dee) – Workinonit
Jay-Z – Dirt Off Your Shoulder
These New Puritans – We Want War - Sbtrkt Remix
Thom Yorke – Harrowdown Hill (The Bug Remix)
The xx – Islands (Nosaj Thing Remix)
Skream – Sub Island
Gold Panda – Quitter's Raga
Gil Scott-Heron – Me And The Devil
Charlotte Gainsbourg – Heaven Can Wait
Atlas Sound – Walkabout (w. Noah Lennox)
Vampire Weekend – Giving Up The Gun
Rihanna – Rude Boy
Flying Lotus – Auntie's Harp
Esben and the Witch – Skeleton Swoon
Wild Beasts – Hooting & Howling (Debukas Remix) - Debukas Remix
Yeasayer – Ambling Alp (Memory Tapes Remix)

Read More »»

News Round 17/02/10

I'm ill hence the lack of anything good on the blog this week (honestly that Little Girls post = worst.thing.ever). Besides regretting my decision to enter the germ pit that was a dental hospital on Monday I wish I was seeing Hole tonight. Instead I'm watching football and listening to Quasi. Just thought I'd rear my head and post a few things I've seen worth mentioning.

The new MGMT album cover (Pictured) is hilarious/ ridiculous. Given how horribly indulgent that band are I can only imagine what the new album will be like.

I managed to grab 2 tickets to see Rage Against The Machine at Finsbury Park in June this morning. Hopefully this time I will remember more than when I saw them drunk in 2008 and an errant mosher broke my phone.

The BRIT's was an unmitigated disaster saved only by Jay Z and Alicia Keys. Peter Kay called Liam Gallgher a 'knobhead', Liam tweeted his respone thusly,

Liam, you've lived in a part of London reserved for millionaires for well over ten years now. You're married to an All Saint and divorced from Patsy Kensit. Your 'real' Northern credentials are buried deep beneath your Selfridges stocked clothing line.

True Panther Records (Girls, Magic Kids etc) have curated Bento #7 and also given a load of stuff away on the NME Radar blog.

Silver Columns have been unveiled as Adem and Johnny Lynch. When I was told that it was 'household' names behind SC I wasn't aware they meant Adem's Mum and Dad's house...

Wild Beasts have gone disco

Normal service should resume tomorrow and I've got stuff from Gorillaz, Perfume Genius, Blood Red Shoes, Holly Miranda, Soft Pack, Field Music, Errors, Lightspeed Champion, She and Him, Wilder, Keepaway and the NME tour finale to come.

Read More »»

News Round 08/02/10

First in a new thing I'm going to do, rounding up the days goings on in a few handy links. Hopefully this way I won't miss much of what is going on but won't have to spin a full post out of tiny internet morsels. Here goes nothing...

• Liam Gallagher has been watching a lot of TV, doesn't like Florence much. (Digital Spy)
• Vampire Weekend cover Rancid (Abeano)
• Grizzly Bear's 'Two Weeks' was used in a Superbowl ad feat Glastonbury's worst kept secret. (Stereogum)
• New Diamond Rings - 'Wait and See' (Pitchfork)
• Ferry Gouw directed video for Mathew Dear's remix of The xx (Youtube)
• Zooey Deschanel to play ATP. Indie boys girlfriends said to be 'annoyed' (Gigwise)
  
• Wild Beasts premiere video for 'We Still Got The Taste Dancing On Our Tongues' (Pitchfork)
• The Guardian's excellent Buzz Graph is back (Guardian)

Two songs I forgot to mention

MP3: I Blame Coco - 'Ceaser' (Diplo Remix)
MP3: Caribou - 'Odessa'

Read More »»

Singles of the year 10-1

1.Wild Beasts- Hooting and HowlingTwo years in a row, two singles of the year titles for Wild Beasts. I honestly didn’t think they’d ever top 2008’s ‘The Devil’s Crayon’ but to be quite honest I could pick three or four songs from ‘Two Dancers’ which are better than anything else released this year. ‘Hooting and Howling’ is my favourite though. The first song we got to hear from the Lake District bands second album it boasts a calm and controlled demeanour but you can hear the spiky theatrics and passionate longing just bursting to explode. Lyrically this song is on another level as well. Where else in 2009 did we hear something as unique and special as a man singing, “I’m not saying the lads always deserve a braying, and I’m not saying the girls are worth the fines are paying, we’re just bruised, bored in our bother boots, we’re just bruised clowning round in cahoots.” There are more stunning things about Wild Beasts than I have time to mention but pretty much every single one is packed into the four and a half minutes of eloquent perfection on ‘Hooting and Howling’.

2. Arctic Monkeys- CornerstoneIf you want to get really obsessive over great musical moments one of my favourite from this year has been they way Alex Turner sings the words “Parrots beak” on ‘Cornerstone’. With added emphasis on the final syllable it makes an almost clicking sound, one that is repeated throughout the song. A swooning croon ‘Cornerstone’ is not the song that the critics would have you believe exists on Arctic Monkeys third album ‘Humbug’ but amongst the Homme approved riffs is buried this absolute gem of a song. An instant classic it sounds like a Kinks song given the cinematic Scott Walker treatment and ranks alongside ‘505’ and ‘A Certain Romance’ as one of the very best Arctic Monkeys songs.

3.Bat For Lashes- Daniel

The line ‘When I run in the dark’ from this song is an odd one as I think we all know Natasha Khan rides her bike in the dark. Pop star lies aside this is simply a wonderful slice of 80’s inspired pop from BFL which sounded like everything I’d ever wanted her to sound like and more. Direct and focused yet still pretty beyond belief ‘Daniel’ is the purest moment from the excellent ‘Two Suns’ album and easily one of the best singles of the year.

4.Dirty Projectors- Stillness Is The Move

There are some bands who I really struggle to get into, desperately waiting for the moment they click in my brain and I can appreciate what so many other people hear in them. For a long time it was Radiohead, nowadays it’s probably Animal Collective and you can definitely rank Dirty Projectors in the same category. I hated the Black Flag covers album they recorded and didn’t really dig ‘Bitte Orca’ but ‘Stillness Is The Move’ remains a firm favourite- lodged in my brain for evermore. Thick with layers and playing with the R’n’B template to art-school perfection the Brooklyn band have achieved their perfect moment on ‘Stillness…’.

5.Girls- Lust For Life

I like pizza, I like wine, not too fussed about boyfriends but as simple love equations go I think Chris Owen’s has this one down.

6.Dum Dum Girls- Jail La La
7.Camera Obscura- French Navy
8. PJ Harvey- Black Hearted Love
9. Simian Mobile Disco- Audacity Of Huge
10. The Big Pink- Velvet

Singles of 2009 by BoringByTheSea

Read More »»

July- September in 32 Tracks

Karen O- All Is Love
Editors- Papillon
Memory Tapes- Bicycle
Trailer Trash Tracey's- Candy Girl
The xx- Basic Space (Pariah remix)
Sky Larkin- Smarts
Male Bonding- Year's Not Long
HEALTH- Die Slow
Mariachi El Bronx- Cell Mates
Diamond Rings- All Yr Songs

Brand New- At The Bottom
Julian Casablancas- 11th Dimension
Friendly Fires- Kiss Of Life
The Drums- Let's Go Surfing
Joy Orbison- Hyph Mngo
Arctic Monkeys- Cornerstone
Wale Ft. Lady GaGa- Chillin'
The Very Best- Warm Heart Of Africa
The Cribs- We Were Aborted
Wild Beasts- All The Kings Men



Jamie T- Emily's Heart
Gossip- Heavy Cross
Girls- Lauren Marie
Grizzly Bear- Two Weeks
Lumina- I'l Be With You
Delorean- Big Dipper
Japandroids- Wet Hair
Los Campesinos- The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future
Vivian Girls- Walking Alone At Night
Washed Out- Get Up
Acres Acres- Diamonds From Coal
Florence and The Machine- You Got The Love (xx remix)

These tracks on Spotify

Jan- March playlist
April- June

Read More »»

July- September Quarterly Review

July

The Summer months are not particularly great for releases and July started us off with only two really great albums of note. First up there was the Kills/ White Stripes meeting of minds The Dead Weather. 'Horehound' is not a flawless record but when it works it's as good as anything Jack White or Alison Mosshart have achieved in their respective day jobs. Second up, and far better, is the debut album from Florence and The Machine, 'Lungs'. A non stop, bombastic harps and hearts assault it captures the ostentatious nature of it's creator perfectly and has gone on to become a Platinum selling album. No bones about it Florence is now a massive bona-fide popstar.

August

Another relatively quiet month but one which came with 3 of the best albums of the year so far. Arctic Monkeys returned with their third album 'Humbug' and showed their teeth for the first time with a beefed up sound courtesy of producer Josh Homme and the Mojave Desert. Still cryptic of lyric and catchy of chorus 'Humbug shows a new found confidence and a willing to e+xplore the less obvious path which results in tracks like 'My Propellor' and the brilliant 'Pretty Visitors'. Wild Beasts built on their stunning but inconsistent first album with it's follow up 'Two Dancers'. Featuring the brilliant 'Hooting and Howling' and 'All The Kings Men' it's a controlled yet triumphant and emotional journey. Finally we get to The xx. Their self titled album is arguably the best of the year (currently only tipped by Yeah Yeah Yeah's for me). Taking in a disparate range of influences and channeling youthful heartbreak through them all 'XX' is a stunning piece of 3am introspection showcasing some of the most natural and impressive songwriting heard for years.

September

Jamie T released the follow up to 'Panic Prevention' with the brilliant 'Kings and Queens'. The album is good, you know that I know it so who really cares what else I type about it. Other good albums from the month can be found here.

Read More »»

Offset 2009

Squeezing the last blood from the Summer festival stone is London’s Offset, a two day event with one of the best alternative line-ups of the whole season. Forcing the Shoreditch glitterati up against hardcore bands such as Rolo Tomassi and more traditional indie groups makes for an interesting dynamic and provides something for almost everyone.

Pulled Apart By Horses tear through their set with an energy and zest that enthrals the converted and more than turns the heads of those yet to fall for the Leeds based band. What should be a similar triumph for Future Of The Left however turns out to be something of a damp squib. Handicapped by a short set time Falco and Kelson’s jokes fall flat as they focus too much on the quirkier songs from ‘Travels With Myself And Another’ leaving the whole show airing dangerously close to sounding like a novelty act.

Elsewhere on the Saturday Bombay Bicycle Club play a set full of songs you didn’t realise you knew with Jack Steadman’s twitchy performance a highlight. Even though many whispers of how much they sound like The Maccabees in earshot seeing songs such as ‘Always Like This’ and ‘Dust On The Ground’ played live make you wonder why this band are not bigger. One band who were very big but have now found themselves levelled out is The Futureheads. Their contemporaries were once The Killers, Bloc Party and Kaiser Chiefs but now they find themselves playing the same songs but to much smaller audiences. Going by this festival appearance however this is a miscarriage of justice as the group from the North East tear through hits from across their three albums focussing mainly on their fantastic self-titled debut airing the likes of ‘Le Garage’, ‘Carnival Kids’ and festival favourite ‘Hounds Of Love’.

The second day of Offset sees the opportunity to hear some of the year’s best albums given a live airing. Very few would argue that Wild Beasts, The XX and The Horrors have not made some of the most innovative and exciting records of 2009 and it is a pleasure to hear them all come to life on the stage. Wild Beasts in particular enrapture with tracks from their ‘Two Dancers’ album with ‘Hooting and Howling’ impressing alongside ‘All The Kings Men’ and first album cuts such as the sublime ‘Devil’s Crayon’. A truly bizarre and unique band yet one anchored down by a sense of romance Wild Beasts are quickly making themselves one of the bands of the year. Relative new kids on the block The XX might have made an amazing album but surely it wouldn’t hurt them to crack a smile every once in a while. With songs as beguiling and soft as ‘Basic Space’ and ‘VCR’ to unleash surely they must be on cloud nine? If anyone can make them chuckle by the end of the year please let us know. One band who need no encouragement to have fun are Dananananaykroyd and the Glaswegian sextet propel their live show at 100mph towards the audience. Undoubtedly the performance of the weekend the visceral pounding of their music is juxtaposed by the catchy choruses and like a comic book At The Drive In the group leave the stage to a mass of smiles and tapping toes.

Some, if not all, of the hype surrounding The Horrors second album ‘Primary Colours’ seems to have died down recently perhaps due to the fact the album does not translate very well to a festival audience. Appearing, through no fault of their own, forty five minutes late does not help and those who have to return to London are making their way towards the tube station as Faris Badwan stomps his way around the tiny main stage. Perhaps they need the absolute pitch black surroundings of a gig venue or the sweaty enclosed walls but having seen The Horrors twice over the Summer it’s fair to say that they are not representing a fantastic album to the best of its abilities across the fields of Britain. No matter how many times Badwan spits or guitarist Joshua postures there is no hiding that The Horrors need a dingy hall to make things work.

Photo via Helen Boast@ DiS

Read More »»

Wild Beasts- 'Two Dancers'

Having charmed and beguiled many in 2008 Wild Beasts return little over a year later with their second album and bring to it a more taught and defined sound. For many Wild Beasts are a (to use an ugly phrase) WTF? type band. Their liberal use of falsetto twinned with a general demeanour not suited to the ruthless decade we live in made them an easy target for the haters and even easier for those looking for a band to fall deeply and madly in love with.

Having seemingly taken some constructive criticism on board the vocal performance of Hayden Thorpe and Tom Fleming is markedly more restrained on ‘Two Dancers’. Bar the feral croon of ‘All The Kings Men’ the high pitched tones are few and far between with reverb and a beautiful guitar tone providing the defining sound of the record. It’s a sign of maturity that what is indisputably the Kendal bands unique selling point is used sparingly and therefore more effectively. ‘Hooting and Howling’ aside there is not a stand out track to define ‘Two Dancers’, it works far better as a whole and picking singles to promote the record will be a tricky task indeed. Lacking a ‘Devil’s Crayon’ style track may well be a weakness in the long run but ‘Two Dancers’ is an album that works like a stream of conscious. The way the skiffle of ‘This Is Our Lot’ morphs into the theatrics of ‘Underbelly’ is a delight to the ears as are the dense and atmospheric dynamics of the album’s core ‘Two Dancers’ and ‘Two Dancers II’.

All the eccentricities that make the band unique still remain (read the lyrics to ‘Hooting and Howling’ then ring Morrissey to tell him his time is up) but ‘Two Dancers’ is a solid step sideways for Wild Beasts. Not in a bad way you understand, they have enforced the foundations they laid on their debut record and tidied up the ragged edges. From here on in we expect progress and on the strength of ‘Two Dancers’ it could well be a glorious outcome.

7/10

Read More »»

April- June in 38 Tracks

The best tracks of the past three months not included in the albums previously mentioned are:

1. The XX- Crystalised
2. Wild Beasts- Hooting and Howling
3. The Big Pink- Velvet
4. Bombay Bicycle Club- Always Like This
5. Simian Mobile Disco- Audacity Of Huge
6. Dizzee Rascal- Bonkers
7. Graffiti Island- Wolf Guy
8. Lost Knives- Solstice (Neo Tokyo remix)
9. Jamie T- Sticks 'n' Stones
10. Dirty Projectors- Stillness Is In The Move
    
    
11. Discovery- Osaka Loop Line
12. Kill It Kid- Send Me An Angel Down
13. Julian Plenti- Fun That We Had
14. The Dead Weather- Treat Me Like Your Mother
15. Mumford and Sons- The Cave
16. Marina and The Diamonds- I Am Not A Robot
17. Magic Wands- Black Magic
18. The Northwestern- All The Ones
19. Mika Miko- I Got A Lot (New New New)
    
    
20. Django Django- Storm
21. Bloc Party- One More Chance
    
22. Kurt Vile- Freeway
23. Crystal Fighters- Xtatic Truth
24. Perfume Genius- Write To Your Brother
25. Everything Everything- Photoshop Handsome
26. Cocknbullkid- Clean Apart
27. Wave Machines- I Go I Go I Go
28. Local Natives- Sun Hands
29. Girls- Hellhole Ratrace
30. Cymbals Eat Guitars- All The Hazy Sea
31. Slow Club- When I Go
32. Amanda Blank- Might Like You Better
33. Crocodiles- I Wanna Kill
34. Delphic- Counterpoint
35. Three Trapped Tigers- 7
36. MPHO- Box 'n' Locks
37. Johnny Foreigner- Feels Like Summer
38. Friendship- Graveyard Shift.

April- June quarterly review

April-June Spotify playlist

Read More »»

Wild Beasts- 'Hooting & Howling'

"A crude art, a bovver boot ballet - equally elegant and ugly.
I was as thrilled as I was appalled, courting him in fisticuffing waltz.
Now I’m not saying the lads always deserve a braying.
And I’m not saying the girls are worth the fines I’m paying.
We’re just brutes bored in our bovver boots. We’re just brutes clowning ‘round in cahoots. We’re just brutes looking for shops to loot. We’re just brutes hoping to have a hoot…
Hooting, hooting and howling."

Last year Wild Beasts provided the Single of the Year with 'Devil's Crayon' and lo and behold they might just go and do it again for 2009 with 'Hooting and Howling'. More accessible whilst still beautifully eccentric the Kendal band have channeled all their awkward charm into a poetic masterpiece that boasts stunning lyrics and a less off putting vocal delivery. Word on the street is that the bands second album 'Two Dancers' is a masterpiece and 'Hooting and Howling' certainly hints at great things to come. I could read those lyrics all day long....

Read More »»

Single Of The Year- Wild Beasts: Devil's Crayon

Music doesn't sound like this anymore. So much music, even in this list, is made for markets, men in suits, demographics and demanding labels. Wild Beasts don't play that game though. Their music is selfish and indulgent in the best possible way. With no eye on the Radio 1 playlist and not giving a thought to NME covers they are free to craft a song as unique as any you will hear in the next ten years. 'The Devil's Crayon sees Hayden Thorpe's falsetto vocals crash like waves into Tom Fleming's growl set over the top of a super tight backing that explodes into apoplectic fits of rage at any given moment. Wild Beasts, a band that sound as classic as they do distinctive, have made the best song of 2008.

Read More »»

Singles- October 13th

Wild Beasts- Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants-
One of THE bands of the year release one of THE singles of the year, only surpassed by their previous effort 'Devil's Crayon'. Bad Sneakers have come up trumps with Wild Beasts- a one off, eccentric and innately English band. In lineage with The Smiths in terms of literate and intelligent mentally challenging pop music Wild Beasts are a joy to the ears. 'Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants' is trademark Beasts with Hayden Thorpes extraordinary vocals claiming all the credit. It soars and swells in equal measure, disappearing down rabbit holes and emerging with a grin. Wonderful.

MGMT- Kids-
And you thought 'Time To Pretend' was the hit? MGMT come up trumps with this electro tinged smash. Possibly the most frustratingly 'almost incredible' bands of recent years MGMT show here that when they stop being daydreaming self-indulgers they write incredible pop songs. Alongside 'Time To Pretend' and 'Electric Feel' the band have produced some of 2008's finest singles. Now if I can just erase all memories of their gigs....

The Last Shadow Puppets- My Mistakes Were Made For You-
A third fine single from the Arctic/ Rascals offshoot. Alex Turner takes the lead here telling a tale of a relationship torn apart (By "innocence and arrogance entwined"). Much is said of the Scott Walker influence in LSP work and his presence undoubtedly looms large over songs like this. Having said that this is as lush and classic as either Turner or Miles Kane's previous output.

M.I.A- Paper Planes-
Only M.I.A could make a song about immigration and make it into the smash 'Paper Planes' is. Having seemingly been around for ages ('Kala' was released in August 2007) the song has had a re-invigoration of interest being on soundtrack to the Seth Rogen film 'Pineapple Express'. The gun Shots and cash registers are still as attention grabbing as ever (and poignantly drown out the childrens voices too). A great song from a great talent.

A Place To Bury Strangers- I Know I'll See You-
Another fine slab of industrial gloom from the New York duo. It may be less abarasive than previous singles but 'I Know I'll See You' still loses none of APTBS intense darkness. Oliver Ackermann's nonplussed vocals sit well with the metronomic sonic swoops developing in the background. It's not as instant as 'To Fix The Gash In Your Head' was but this shows the depth of the band. Catch them supporting on the upcoming MGMT tour/ borefest.

Times New Viking- Call & Respond-
Currently shredding their faces alongside No Age and Los Campesinos on the Dis approved tour Times New Viking unleash 'Call And Respond'. A typically lo-fi affair it pitches somewhere between Moldy Peaches esque off key vocals twinned with Seattle style distorted guitars. A nagging incessant refrain permeates throughout clawing it's way into the listeners mind and making this more accesiable than you assume the band want it to be.

The Cool Kids- Mikey Rocks-
The Hip-hop duo from Chicago, Illinois and Detroit, Michigan release 'Mikey Rocks' named after group member Antoine Reed. A slow hypnotic beat is the bed for this track with Reed and Even Ingersolls raps taking on a similarly lethargic nature. Whilst not bad it's hardly single material and would probably be better left on 'The Bake Sale' as part of an ensemble.

Snow Patrol- Take Back The City-
That band from X Factor? Chasing Cars? Yeah I love that song. They have a new single? Urgh, power chords? Yuck. This can't be played over karaoke singers crying over dead relatives. Next!

The Decemberists- Valerie Plame-
Colin Meloy et al return with two minutes of plodding sub Ben Folds gumpf followed by a more uplifting second half reminiscent of The Polyphonic Spree. Nothing special on show here.

Sia- Soon We'll Be Found-
Post- Tori Amos self aware quirk. The press quotes on her jump from superlative to superlative but to these ears there is nothing more than bog-standard Radio 2 B List material. Bat For Lashes does this ten times better.

Read More »»