LIST 50 - 24/09/10

So there it is, the first single off the new Belle & Sebastian long-player, complete with top-name actress talent and that. Hasn't grabbed me as the strongest song of those I've heard so far by any means; and with guitar acts almost universally failing to grab any sort of toehold in the hit parade nowadays, I will be looking at its progress upon its imminent release with interest rather than the usual hope and expectation.

Elsewhere, several of the acts turning out at this weekend's Nottingham Indiepop festie get an airing, as does the newest Tunng release as vaunted last week. The OMD comeback album is anything but a total triumph (not surprising given its origin as mostly re-imagined session / lost tracks), but part one of the title track has rightly piqued its share of radio interest and is featured here alongside something all of 30 years its senior from the same source.

The Orb's "Loving You" is a song with a story, having existed in its original form commercially for not much time at all before Minnie Riperton's legal team stomped on the then duo of Alex Paterson and Jimmy (KLF) Cauty. Even all this time later, it's still probably my favourite piece of work from the band in any of its many guises.

Oh, apparently this is the fiftieth That Music List. Compiling them has been a lot of fun so far - hours of my life I'll neither get nor want back! ;-)



BELLE AND SEBASTIAN – Write about Love (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ7ZYSNrn-Y

TUNNG – Hustle (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oFf6Rg7ICM

MILKY WIMPSHAKE – Lemonade (2004)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOax5f0xbuE

CHROMEO – Don’t Turn the Lights on (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP7mxcvGejQ

THE ORB – Loving You (Bucket and Spade Mix) (1989)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyK6_oqLg5k

THE SUNNY STREET – Insull (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geTPTcgv3Lg

OMD – History of Modern Part 1 (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DV5mBT4rPk

OMD – Messages (1980)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SlWPQGMCfQ

DARREN HAYMAN AND THE SECONDARY MODERN – Two Tree Island (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc-LFy0XhAk

OI VA VOI – Waiting (2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEMYmOD9zns

HOLY F*CK – Red Lights (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AE_WBB97MU

BETTY AND THE WEREWOLVES – Euston Station (2008)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PfxLPtf-s4

THE VASELINES – Sex with an X (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXc_IHcodpk

BJORK – Declare Independence (2007)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igOWR_-BXJU

DAVID GEDGE & THE BBC BIG BAND – Brassneck (live at West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds, 29th April 2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTW1X4A1bY4

COCOROSIE – Lemonade (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu3EcAHdHlE&ob=av2e

POPGUNS – Still A World Away (1991)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSmFdg5VGks

PETE GREEN – Subterranean Moseley Blues (2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oR4fCgvSG90

LIST 49 - 17/09/10

Back once more, with the first upload to this list so far of anything from Belle and Sebastian's long-awaited "Write About Love" album. I don't think it disappoints - quite the opposite. Whether the remainder of the album entirely stacks up I have yet to discover, though.

It's not the only new produce I'm delighted to include after years of waiting. Neither Stars nor Blonde Redhead have exactly galloped to follow up their previous efforts, but the wait has been worth it in both instances. I'm advised the latter can thank Fever Ray's producer for some creative input this time round - certainly sounds like it if so, and definitely not unwelcome.

Midnight Juggernauts, Connan (still Mockasin but minus the Mockasins, if that makes sense) and Chromeo are other welcome returnees, whilst the appearance of Tunng's "Bullets" this week serves as a prelude for the inclusion of a new track by them / him next.

Oh, and apparently some people out there are still making what the late John Peel christened "bastard pop", so I've finished with some of that this time.



THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART – Come Saturday (2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjYFSyVF1Ks

PENGUIN PRISON – The Worse It Gets (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP1FwjsEivI

THREATMANTICS – Wedi Marw (2007)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcAeL3vIl-I

SUN KIL MOON – Third and Seneca (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMrYmEJXfY0

AKALA – XXL (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVp2ZHfUjSE

TUNNG – Bullets (2007)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AI1NgFYJCN4

MIDNIGHT JUGGERNAUTS – Vital Signs (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dc8Osb5zYm4

BELLE AND SEBASTIAN – I Didn’t See It Coming (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UeFaayyw3o

BELLE AND SEBASTIAN – The Stars of Track and Field (1996)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgohBw0hL-k

J DILLA – Sycamore (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgOugOqlBs4

MALAJUBE – Luna (2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uLwvbtZYL8

CONNAN MOCKASIN – It’s Choade My Dear (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkNwuY2JUHQ

GABRIELLES WISH – Go See the Doctor (1997)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMPd21FaoKA

BLONDE REDHEAD – Here Sometimes (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuaPdFGxNUQ

CHROMEO – Night By Night (2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppNC0uAaCv0

PETE GREEN – The Ballad of Phil Jevons (2007)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULUcOfcC27w

STARS – Fixed (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17jdZdVmEuk

WOODPIGEON – My Denial in Argyle (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN4LSJt4rMc

FELT – The Day the Rain Came Down (1985)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puoGwPo9Kgc

DJ LOBSTERDUST – Knock Out Eileen (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejuMfZdkM2o

LIST 48 - 10/09/10

A few favourites from a while back return with new produce in this list (though in some cases it's been out a few weeks and I've just missed it. Oops). The New Pornographers' "Sing Me Spanish Techno" is still one of the Youtube clips I return to the most, with both song and video guaranteed to make me smile. "Crash Years" is reassuringly up to par, and features lead vocals this time from what I presume must be Neko Case rather than Carl Newman, unless the latter has had an accident recently.

Teki Latex's contribution owes more than a little to Kraftwerk, likewise the Pipettes to Sophie Ellis-Bextor's first solo album, but don't let that damn either with faint praise, as pale facsimiles they are not. Cath Carroll, who - frighteningly for those of us who remember her as the fresh-faced singer / guitarist with C86 act Miaow - turned 50 earlier this year, gets the then and now treatment, whilst the terrifically named Mike Baker The Bike Maker offers up old school perv hiphop over some footage of Russ Meyer's notorious Return to the Valley of the Dolls. Oh, don't pull a face - it's not like I've uploaded The Human Centipede without warning you...

All this and I still haven't mentioned the triumphant return of James Yuill with another contender for my favourite single of the year (as "No Pins Allowed" had been in 2008), or that set-closers Elliot Jack play at the Midlands Art Centre at the Yardbird Jazz Club in Birmingham this Saturday, September 11th at 6pm. That endorsement for their innovative, warm-hearted electronica would have stood even if I hadn't worked with their bassist for two years way back when...


ARCADE FIRE – Ready to Start (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dJxEUS0FZQ

TEKI LATEX – Dinosaurs with Guns (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWl-Kryr0dk

PSAPP – I Want That (2008)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSmc7o2EN_g

DAVID HB DRAKE – Food of our Fathers (2007)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxlZojERaxs

BRIAN – Understand (1992)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AntYewyaVcs

THE PIPETTES – Stop the Music (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg_ri_vHuUo

AIRIEL – Thinktank (2007)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jP_JdJKBxM

THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS – Crash Years (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KZANuDcRO4

JAMES YUILL – On Your Own (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgFseMoI9DM

CATH CARROLL – It All Looks Good on You (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMMZZr1zY4s

CATH CARROLL – Moves Like You (1991)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6nZHK-NwYs

DATAROCK – The Pretender (2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mVPsCqSRAg&ob=av2n

THE DENTISTS – I Had an Excellent Dream (1985)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRBY41OuIvE

THE FLYERS & MIKE SONAR – Signalica (Original Mix) (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZJ_q86ilj4

JANINA ANGEL BATH – Life Everlasting Flowers part one (2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31B4ZqAxhU8

PLASTICINES - Loser (2007)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yAh7ytW3Wc&ob=av2n

MIKE BAKER THE BIKE MAKER – La La La (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOEgSFdhUu4

SHE & HIM – Thieves (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XB6fsQ87q1U

ELLIOT JACK – Go Home To The People That You Love (2008)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_LG_O36c68

LIST 47 - 03/09/10

I'm always willing to be surprised by an act I've never hitherto thought much of, and MGMT's splendid piece of chamber pop is probably the latest case in point - far more interesting and better executed to my mind than anything on the "Time to Pretend" album, though the comparatively modest sales of both single and parent album suggest this isn't the more widely held view. Bah.

Elsewhere this week, there's an Eels here and now feature, with the newer track evidently coming from the first of two albums slated for 2010. The Rodolfo Halffter composition marks a first foray into comptemporary South American classical music for this site, and similarly I don't think we've had too many Field Mice-influenced solo projects from Finland prior to Matador Jose!

Finally, and inexcusably overdue, for which apologies, I've given over the last few minutes to Frank Sidebottom by way of a tribute to his earthly keeper Chris Sievey, who as you'll know lost his battle with cancer this summer. Although mostly catching Chris's output in the Freshies retrospectively, I do remember hearing the first Radio Timperley Frank ever did on the James H Reeve show for Piccadilly Radio (I don't know if this was the first one ever) on the evening of broadcast. There's a near-complete set of all his Oink! cartoons in the other room, too.

To this undefatigable, eternally youthful, relentlessly optimistic comic creation I wish a fond farewell, and say thank you for the memories.


MGMT – It’s Working (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sCw8-mIEoM

LAURA VEIRS – July Flame (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLilpPtY2JU

TULLYCRAFT – Twee (2002)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7PN3YTzuYM&p=49AEC181E3F2B52B

HEALTH – USA Boys (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIbjjzXr1KA

BARBATUQUES – Barbapapa’s Groove (2007)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Q4aj_te-dw&p=C7C115AAC3766AA0

PILOT CLOUD – The Swell (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppk9Lfgqw1c

MATADOR JOSE – I Sure Will Miss You (2007)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E43JLgpcldA

EELS – Spectacular Girl (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IjbYBHhCC0&p=98813F72939E9CFD

EELS – Novocaine for the Soul (1996)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2yy141q8HQ&ob=av3e

THE FAUNS – Understand (2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNhJSq881js&p=4EBAF0F3A48C1119

SPAGHETTI ANYWHERE – Incredible Hulk (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4bbzKAMkDY

RODOLFO HALFFTER / CUARTETO REVUELTAS – Tiento No. 5 (1973 / 2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs_mU_fphrY

THE PRESETS – This Boy’s in Love (2008)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKwnc7QpUt0

THE BLANCHE HUDSON WEEKEND – Grip of Fear (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KRCDd7t7XU

TO MY BOY – Antarctica (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-ieZMZR3dc

HEAVENLY – P.U.N.K. Girl (1993)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jxPoJNfM4s

PATRICK WOLF – Bluebells (2006)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89yEOAapoMc

CLEM SNIDE – Walmart Parking Lot (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hu4TnsAuVlw

BEIRUT – No Dice (2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3M1YsGKgHXc

FRANK SIDEBOTTOM – Mr Custard (Channel M Test Card Version) (2007)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3VbrEetg18

FRANK SIDEBOTTOM – Mull of Timperley (1987)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ka75vhSh49o

LIST 46 - 27/08/10

Back to a regular sort of list again this week after the previous two excursions back to 1990, starting with a bit of shape-related serendipity over the first three tracks. Good to learn of the return to action of the splendid synthpop duo Lo-Fi-FNK after an absence of getting on for four years, and of the important news that Nick Cave's found the keys to his dressing-up box again....

Elsewhere there's some then and now treatment of Teenage Fanclub, Charlotte Hatherley getting a paint-job, and further evidence of why SPC Eco is an even better parent-and-child pairing up than Lieutenant Pigeon. No, really.

Oh yes, and another candidate for single of the year, this time from Animal Collective staple Panda Bear, who seems to have taken custody of Tim Smith's book of chords.



THE PARALLELOGRAMS – 1 2 3 Go! (2008)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=li1mpER2GCw

THE PARALLELOGRAMS (U.S.) – Hurt Like a Heart Attack (2006)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY19Oy6kZMc

LINDA PERHACS – Parallelograms (1970)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJkgnjSadgE

GRINDERMAN – Heathen Child (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwZXbAJ_fmk

LO-FI-FNK – Marchin’ In (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPgkz4zAHM4

TOM WILLIAMS AND THE BOAT – Train Station Carpark (2008)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhP-WWwM3JA

PANDA BEAR – Tomboy (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1Qq9wVcdH4

KIDS LOVE LIES – Under the Bed (2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUspwyyTJ3I

TEENAGE FANCLUB – Sweet Day’s Waiting (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqt7mQwcnKE

TEENAGE FANCLUB – Sparky’s Dream (1995)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9buNckusos0

THE PIPETTES – So I’ll Say Goodbye (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPRQqMJ38pA

ANAIS MITCHELL – Flowers (Eurydice’s Song) (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw4maxWNckE

SPC ECO – Better That Way (2008)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9gzJgp8dKk

MILKY WIMPSHAKE – Pearshaped (2003)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlmWUkwcR1c

FIELD MUSIC – Let’s Write a Book (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K06H-Zfwq0w

ALASKA IN WINTER – Berlin (2008)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYJpYW0q8cg

WHEN I WAS 12 – S is for Subway (2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ub6vdfNDqY

BIG BLACK – Kerosene (1986)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r5zTZthbFo

MYNABIRDS – Numbers Don’t Lie (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvPBXE2Ikjs

CHARLOTTE HATHERLEY – White (2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brS8pYY2dnY&p=90C051732A49C839