Judging a book by its cover is one thing, but judging a band by a name isn’t something that really happens. Let’s be honest, most times you’ll hear the music first, so band names are pretty irrelevant. However, while scanning a playlist a couple of days ago, one name jumped out. Boxed Wine. Any band who would decide to name their creative output after such a thing clearly deserve my attention. And as it turns out, they make some good noises. Particularly good is ‘Dayglow (Why Can’t We Stay)’ from their 2013 EP, ‘Cheap, Fun EP’, bringing to mind the likes of Funeral Party with their churning bass lines and disco rock.
Well somehow January managed to pass by without getting the Spotify Playlist treatment. Lucky January. Instead, here’s 10 musical nuggets to tide you over for the time being.
There’s new discoveries for me from Oxford’s-own Traps, The History of Apple Pie and Rat vs Possum. There’s some excellent tracks from new albums, thanks to the likes of Local Natives, Toro Y Moi and Everything Everything. And finally, a motley collection of other stuff, such as Youth Lagoon (who I’m suddenly completely obsessed with), Deap Valley, and FIDLAR. So something for everyone, as long as everyone likes alternative music that is. Yep, sorry about that.
The Blessing Force crew can do no wrong these days, and living in Oxford means I’m lucky enough to see my fair share of it in the flesh. Recently I’ve been gushing about Chad Valley and Rhosyn (plus Foals, obviously). But Pet Moon are a new one for me.
A free download called ‘Hold The Divide’ popped up onto their Soundcloud page a month or so ago, and it’s brilliant fun. Both Pet Moon and Blessing Force in general make clever pop music seem so easy. ‘Hold The Divide’ drapes noodly guitar bursts with thick electro beats and a warm broth of synths bubbling underneath. Have a listen below, and download (what now appears to be Japanese noodle soup in song form) for free!
After a snowy, somewhat internet neglected time in Germany last week , I managed to fight my way back to Heathrow, minus my missing luggage (thanks Lufthansa), and ensconced myself away from people getting a bit too panicky about THE ATTACK OF THE FROZEN WATER that the UK recently faced. Well, now it’s melted and a torrent of dead snowmen are heading to a flooded river near you. But anyway, onto the reason we’re all here. Unsigned music!
Well, I’ve been sent a veritable orgy of music, as well as stumbling across some other stuff on my own mystical journey. So now it’s time to pick my way through and talk about some of my favourites.
The Ugly Club – You Belong To The Minutes
Far and away the best music I’ve been sent. This isn’t to do a disservice to everyone else, but The Ugly Club’s album You Belong To The Minutes sounds so complete, polished and, most importantly, so good. They’re able to showcase a great depth and variety in their arrangements on each track. Occasionally there’s a surprising burst of trumpet that adds to the pre-existing alt rock + keys formula. ‘Wasted On You’ is just such a track, with an enjoyable enough opening gambit, before a flutter of trumpet helps lift the chorus. Have a listen to another great track, ‘Loosen Up’, below.
You can hear the album for free on their Bandcamp page, or buy the album on a pay as much as you want deal, as long as it’s more than $1!
Heartbeeps – Burning Ghat
I stumbled across Heartbeeps like how one may stumble drunkenly out of a cab at 3 in the morning, so probably best not to explain. This is just a fun little track showing the ridiculous things you can do with a keyboard, seemingly. I mean, I don’t know much about keyboards, or anything really. But this a jerking, jumpy fun slice of pop that makes me think of Kirk Spencer’s excellent Hota Hai with its Asian sound (minus the dubstep wobbles, obviously).
Stuart Newman – Feel The Temperature Rising
The most instant thing you’ll hear is the voice. There is no doubt that it is interesting and unique, but with the likes of Wild Beasts and Alt-J, we shouldn’t spend too much time getting hung up on its unusualness. The one thing that I would say is that it lends itself well to the atmosphere of the track. It’s has a broody lo-fi feel which opens up for a more punchy and driving chorus. Well worth a listen.
End Of Neil – The Ocean Is My Guide
An acoustic track from the Scottish artist End Of Neil. He’s got a great sounding voice and the double tracking in the chorus really helps to add a layer of intrigue. However, the chorus is repeated probably a few too many times at the end, but the desolate snowy video adds a nice touch.
So, new year, new start. Horses Playing Harps has been running for a year or so now, and it’s something that I’ve enjoyed doing. It works as a handy outlet for me to write about different musical things that pop up on my horizon. The work I do for other sites is obviously led by what we get sent to review. In the last year on this site, I’ve been able to write about some of my favourite new things, like AlunaGeorge // Tall Ships // Miguel // Alarm Bells // Castrovalva // MYSTYRYS // Bwani Junction, and plenty more.
While I intend to keep up that side of the site as before, I want to expand the focus and direction of this site to incorporate unsigned artists and bands. There’s something so exciting in burying oneself under a pile of music that you’ve never heard before, playing your way through it, and unearthing something unique and incredible. So this unsigned section will essentially be used to champion the best unsigned music that gets thrown in my direction. By and large, I’ll be using social media to bring it in, but I’ll be on my bike gallivanting through sites such as the wonderful Bandcamp to try to dig out more.
There will be a monthly round-up of the best unsigned music I’ve heard in the last month, and the very best will be singled out with unique reviews where I rant and rave about how brilliant they are.
For any unsigned bands or artists reading this, my contact details are in the contact tab at the top, or you can leave a comment on this post directing me where to go (hell, myspace, etc).
So here we all are. Patiently waiting for January to actually get going, so we can start hearing some of the exciting new albums we’ve been waiting so long for. I’ve reviewed the new Joy Formidable album that comes out in a couple of weeks for a magazine, but otherwise I’m all dried up. 2012 was pretty brilliant but I’m ready for the new.
That’s why, in this slight lull in action, like a half time orange break, I’m venturing back into my archives. One of those things I returned to today has been able to spur me on, as it sounds as fresh as it always does.
The Music were a strange band. At first, they were a kind of tripped-out psychedelic rock band, then with tracks like ‘Strength in Numbers’, they seemed to become every skinheads favourite. Either way, they’ve long since been one of my stalwarts that I often find myself returning to. One of my favourite tracks of their’s is one of their earliest, a track called ‘Karma’ from their 2001 EP, You Might As Well Try To Fuck Me. It starts off being very much wrapped up in the aforementioned trippy vibe, before the guitar and drums get mangled up in the loopyness of it all. Have a listen below.
This thought seems to occur quite often at the moment. Why are there three members in the XX? Can’t Romy and the other one just bugger off and keep quiet while Jamie XX does EVERYTHING. Ok, so perhaps that might not work too well. But the XX’s follow-up LP, Coexist, is OK. But it felt a bit derivative. Since LP1, Jamie XX has become the real star. His remix album of Gil-Scott Heron was phenomenal, and a couple of his own tracks he put out, such as ‘Far Nearer’, are just plain brilliant.
So here we have an XX track, remixed by a member of the XX. Like dogs eating dogs. But this is one tasty dog.
Dev Hynes. A name that is no doubt fairly well-known in our strange little music criticism world. But beyond our obsessive compulsive fanaticism of the music industry, amongst the musical ‘plebs’ if you will (thanks Andrew Mitchell), he certainly is not as revered as he deserves to be. His musical path hasn’t been straight forwards. It’s been a windy river, journeying into the murky depths of dance-punk as part of the band Test Icicles, flowing to the eddies of a solo acoustic-folk project called Lightspeed Champion. From there, he jumped ship to create grooved-out R ‘n B under the moniker Blood Orange. And now he’s moved away from the spotlight to work with Solange, the oh-so-obviously sister of Beyonce. So this here is a bit of an ode to the man.
Test Icicles
The band that described their success as something of a joke gone awry, their sound was a visceral collision of confusing genre strands. It’s equal measures punk, pop, metal, and a little math-rock. The band name was originally Balls, but switched to the much more subtle Test Icicles. The first track I heard was ‘Boa vs Python’, a blizzard of noise and fiery biscuits, but beneath all of that there’s some sneaky melodies and hooks in there. A bidding war broke out to sign the band, they ultimately signed to Domino, released one full length record, and split up not so long after. Hynes explained to NME that “We were never, ever that keen on the music. I understand that people liked it, but we personally, er, didn’t.”
Lightspeed Champion
This is where I have to take a bit of a backseat. I never really got into Lightspeed Champion. There’s no particular reason why, sometimes things just don’t work out. So, here’s a picture of a kitten.
Blood Orange
For some reason I just fell for Blood Orange straight off the bat. I love the sparse R ‘n B atmosphere, where an artist doesn’t try to hang too many bells and whistles onto a beat, and Hynes as Blood Orange found a way of making that happen. Tracks like ‘Dinner’ and ‘Champagne Coast’ just have a warm fuzzyness to them. Delicate flickerings of guitar or keys come fluttering across, but at no point become overbearing. I love listening to one of these tracks and then jumping back to a Test Icicles track, it sounds like the equivalent of Lars Ulrich of Metallica announcing he’s going to embark on a folk-rap side project.
Blood Orange’s only LP, ‘Coastal Grooves’ came out in 2011, so what has Hynes been up to since then? Well. . . (besides working with Theophilus London and Sky Ferreira).
Solange
Why, he’s been working with Beyonce’s little sister of course! The UK is going a little crazy over her track ‘Losing You’ at the moment, and it sounds like Hynes has still got his Blood Orange hat on. It sounds easy, uncomplicated and effortless. The track comes from a forthcoming 7-track EP to come in January 2013 and I’d expect to hear more of the same. And then after that, what’s next for Dev Hynes? Who the funk knows. But the odds are that it’ll be worth a listen, and I can leave the kitten pictures where they should be, on Tumblr.
Towards the end of the year it’s a bit of a tradition to get a bit listy. But this year, borne partly out of the fact that I’ve read a million year-end lists on music sites, and already contributed to other lists, I’ve decided the world doesn’t need another. But what I will do is post up a few highlights and Spotify playlists instead.
Ohio’s Cloud Nothings ‘Attack on Memory’ came early in 2012, and for me it was a beautifully unexpected smack in the face, but it set the tone for a great year for Punk. From the visceral fiercness of Metz to the pop-punk overtures of Gnarwolves, and plenty in between. Japandroids 2nd LP is easily one of my favourite records of the year; an anthemic ode to maximalist guitars and euphoric vocals.
And finally, hey! Blink 182 have a new EP out! And it’s good! When have Blink ever released an EP before? Part of me thinks (and is too lazy to research) that they haven’t, at least for a long long time, but it feels like a smart move.
So all this, and a little bit more, is in the Spotify playist below!
Late last night, the BBC Sound of 2013 longlist was announced, with 15 different artists populating the list. As has been said before, it’s obviously a very self-fulfilling prophecy. The panel aren’t going to pick a 21-year old playing with a triangle in Stranraer. Pretty much all of the artists and groups selected have a long form release coming out in 2013, and are all doing so for the first time. So it leaves things feeling a little bit obvious and contrite. Also, the overbearing hype that these 15 will get means that it’ll further boost their profile.
This sounds like a bit of angry rant, and I’m not sure that it isn’t. However, there are some artists on there that I am very excited to hear what they have to offer in 2013. AlunaGeorge first and foremost. First mentioned in these parts back in April, their debut LP has the potential to be brilliant. Chvrches is another band on the list that has caught my eye recently. ‘The Mother We Share’ is a great track, with a clear and obvious parallel to be drawn to the likes of M83. Even the ‘oh’s’ at the end sound like they’ve been pulled off of an M83 track, but it’s still its own beast, with a bubblegum sweetness and squirreling synths.
So where does this have to do with the headline? Well, shortly after hearing the list announced, I finally got around to listening to the Miguel album, Kaleidoscope Dream. It’s one of those albums that I’ve heard thrown around endlessly for the last couple of months, but I’d never got around to listening to it. So last night, I took the plunge.
It’s something special. It’s R n’ B without the overbearing bells and tassels of R-Kelly. It’s got the laid back groove of Frank Ocean (and drug references to boot). But really, it’s just a smooth, hook-filled monster.
I’ve listened endlessly to ‘Do You’ today, from the album. It starts of in a Washed Out meets R n’ B at the beach, before sharpening up and flexing its muscles. Just after a minute, the bass and drums come back-flipping in, magnifying the excellence of what’s already been layered up. Lyrically, it’s a little sickly and schmultzy, but after expressing my fanaticism for Bon Iver’s ‘Beth/Rest’ last year, you’ll know that it works sometimes. And with a line like “I’m gonna do you like drugs,” you can see it’s not all puppydogs and flowers.
So while this seems like two different points here, there is some logic behind it. Yes, it is terribly exciting that there is this new list of 15 artists that everyone will be getting very excited about over the next month or two (AlunaGeorge will win), my point is, there’s plenty going on outside this little bubble, and lots of brilliant new music just waiting to be heard. This is Miguel’s second album, far better than the first, and sometimes artists and groups need that time to grow. My fear is that the BBC Sound of 2013 can place an overbearing and overwhelming pressure on all 15 to come up with something amazing, or be doomed to fail. But failing is fine. One way or another, we all get a second chance.
Horses Playing Harps 