LIST 72 - 21/10/11

Hello again,

No apologies at all for starting with the reliably, endearingly deranged Lovely Eggs this time, given that between this List and the next your editor will have seen them in action in both Sheffield and Leeds.

No apologies, either, for including some typically adept, peerless plucking from the late Bert Jansch at the end of the List. A colossus astride the Folk Revival for over four decades and as relevant and revered now as then, his is certainly one of music's most significant and sad losses of 2011.

J x



THE LOVELY EGGS – F*ck It (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOsFadmH584

CATHERINE A.D. – Going Wrong (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bwh806w0HY8

CARIBOU – Odessa (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiSa7THgxrI

ARNAUD REBOTINI – Personal Dictator (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXVcP1lifwE

HERMAN DUNE – Be A Doll (And Take My Heart) (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Buzf7MBkZFY

POSTAL SERVICE – Such Great Heights (2003)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wrsZog8qXg

DOWNDIME – The Chosen One (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVOjnKVcnkw

GIRLS – Honey Bunny (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxuDoYhQI2o

THE PRIMITIVES – Never Kill a Secret (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZ3wx2WevLQ

THE PRIMITIVES – Stop Killing Me (1986)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1so-4rS38A

LINKWOOD – B1 Untitled (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqewpf4oJjg

EVANS THE DEATH- I’m So Unclean (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZTebot8rJU

SCREAMING MALDINI – Secret Sounds (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN81xpZ5ido

POCKETBOOKS – Harbour Lights (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5bTTgd5_2w

A HAWK AND A HACKSAW – Cervantine (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYjfBZxhUzU

DRUNKEN BUTTERFLY – Der letzte Mann (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKq0kR28U1I

LANA DEL RAY – Video Games (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HO1OV5B_JDw

HAIKU SALUT – Snaffle (live at Indietracks) (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f5ShWQqzWU

BERT JANSCH – Blackwater Side (1966)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jY-xpa9GWuo

LIST 71 - 14/10/11

If Tiswas or Dick & Dom ever went into making music videos for other acts, then the Lisa Hannigan promo included this time around might be what they'd come up with. Aggressive but beautifully choreographed slapstick / gunging, all Lisa's own idea, and impressively all done in the one take, first time up.

Having also let herself be drenched in melted chocolate (albeit for an Oxfam Make Trade Fair campaign) in the recent past, one wonders whether she's making up for lost time fun-wise in these post-Mr Rice days...

Fun also seems to be on the agenda for Be Like Pablo, whose perky new single has elevated them in my estimations somewhat after never really getting the track they donated to the Indietracks compilation two years ago.

Elsewhere we have a Beastie Boys then and now; some quality techno japery of the sort Peel would have adored; a Field Mice song and the band who named themselves after it; and Darren Hayman looking alarmingly like Mike Read when rendered in Lego. Another uneventful List, then...

J x



KITTY, DAISY AND LEWIS – Don’t Make a Fool out of Me (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogqcc0CkMIo

DOBLE PLETINA – Música Para Cerrar Las Discotecas (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3NsKaKOnZQ

FIELD MUSIC – Measure (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x257xocl4_k

BE LIKE PABLO – The Post-It Song (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4wRJrIvr3k

LISA HANNIGAN – Knots (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYdPtcx-4mo

OMD – Sister Marie Says (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALQsqR1rmLM

YUCK – Get Away (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kz7vyrFhFE8

ARNAUD REBOTINI – All You Need Is Techno (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjOYZ2gu4AI

BEASTIE BOYS – Make Some Noise (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdgLMslbDuY

BEASTIE BOYS – Gratitude (1992)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdJ5e70Q8mw&ob=av2e

LOVE INKS – Leather Glove (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Scb5-Iv5Lc

ZOEY VAN GOEY – You Told The Drunks I Knew Karate (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EwBNm1Uhs0

SLEIGH BELLS – Tell ‘Em (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kJ05P-71gY

FISHBOY – Alyson Revere (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uv1-eqMkVYA

DARREN HAYMAN – My Dream Train (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEQEHx1w9yU

BLACK MILK – Brain (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldp-arHXRJg

THE FIELD MICE – Coach Station Reunion (1991)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm3J8yY-3As

COACH STATION REUNION – Johnny Cash (2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKgM0wxhiZg

EL HOMBRE PERCHA – Bocadillos de Jámon (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcdEIBT9KVA

KATIE KIM – Jennifer (live at the Daghdha Space Theatre, Limerick) (2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybSUrax_sME

LIST 70 - 07/10/11

Hello again,

No huge preamble this week, folks, but rather just a simple invitation to enjoy - among other things - some brand new product from everyone's favourite enduring US geek duo, yet another project involving Swedish indiepop kingpin Roger Gunnarsson, the delectable but lesser-spotted Mr Lekman, and Four Lads Who Shook The Wirral (and have plans for Jim Beglin, by the sounds of it...).

The Lou & Ginny track, meanwhile, washed up whilst I was searching for a write-up on some obscure mid-80s Marvel Comics characters. At this remove I can't for the life of me think how, but the best discoveries (and this girl-power late-1950s rock'n'roll nugget is certainly one of those) are often the accidental ones.

Hmmm, so that's just a medium-large preamble this week, then!

J x



ELECTRICITY IN OUR HOMES – Apple Tree (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJLCXb7r1Hk

TUNABUNNY – Only At Night (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-WohwiAd-4

THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS – Never Knew Love (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJk_4cnsWWA

MIKROFISCH – Mauro Farina (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4ppHCAbD4c

TOM VEK – Aroused (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49ZVEt2X3GA&ob=av2e

HALF MAN HALF BISCUIT – Fix It So She Dreams Of Me (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH66IB64UBA

SNOB SCRILLA – Heartbreak Scorsese (2009)
http://www.vimeo.com/5078027

SLOW DOWN TALLAHASSEE – Angel of Death (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_SfQiw_mGU

TIMES NEW VIKING – No Room to Live (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_R9dkoWFHI

DJ SHADOW – I Gotta Rokk (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0mrwAFUuGM

DJ SHADOW – High Noon (1997)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-flSzjEzP64&ob=av2n

LAURA J MARTIN & THE SIMONSOUND – Inside Your Bones (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2J7d3z9v7I

CSS – Hits Me Like a Rock (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atbY03rKrdA

BOB LOG III – My Shit Is Perfect (2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A76NeaxNpfQ

THE ANDERSEN TAPES – Visual Explanations (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zldsVAcRIIg

LOU & GINNY – Do I Do Right? (1958)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNvzO2dVGR4

JENS LEKMAN – An Argument With Myself (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=805cOEz4-wE

COLLECTIONS OF COLONIES OF BEES – Vorms (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsR-NtSRx8M

LIST 69 - 30/09/11

Hello again,

A general mixture for you again this week, including what must be the best ever stab at marrying doo-wop and shoegaze (The Louche FC); the engine room of New Order reimagined in spooky, sparse, acid splashes (Gillian and Stephen); a fantastically creepy track from the godmother of Welsh indie that I've somehow managed to overlook for nearly two years (Annalogue); and a reminder that the finest Nottingham band ever to walk the Earth isn't, wasn't and ain't ever gonna be any of these mentioned in the Guardian's article on the city's music scene this week (The Melons).

The joy of the week's latest musical discoveries has, however, been overshadowed markedly by the discovery today that Peter Sykes, guitarist with This Many Boyfriends, died of a brain haemorrhage earlier in the week. Upwardly mobile following a couple of great singles in recent months (of which "Young Lovers Go Pop!" concludes this List in Peter's memory) and one of the star turns of Indietracks 2010, the band will doubtlessly be much the poorer without him as member and friend. That Music List offers its unreserved condolences to Peter's family and friends.

J x



PAPA TOPO – La Chica Vampira (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVw8Y_t9QuE&ob=av3n

ALCIAN BLUE – Frozen Sleep (2006)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsSWuTtntdQ

DARREN HANLON – I Waited for the 17 (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ktXU7tYsvk

ANNALOGUE – Tony Wilson (2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfJrPphAkfw

THE LOUCHE FC – Only in a Dream (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOMSPdGvYmI

ACID HOUSE KINGS – Under Water (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6GzGpgaVrs

THE RETROSPECTIVES – It’s All Mine (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DChQj49E33E

I’M BEING GOOD – Thaddeus, Mask Of Thaddeus (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhKKhXYvwnI

I’M BEING GOOD – Flat Response (1994)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVH3K_JVb4Q

SCROOBIUS PIP – Let Em Come (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJ8TzuqpSQs

LONEY, DEAR – My Heart (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpPOynTcFuo

THE MELONS – Fast Lane (1997)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3ErDg_iyWo

LYKKE LI – I Follow Rivers (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZYbEL06lEU

DUTCH UNCLES – Cadenza (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMti9fN0VBQ

TENDER TRAP – Dansette Dansette (live at Indietracks) (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XqeOBPaKE8

GILLIAN AND STEPHEN – FF (Gabe Remix) (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfS64He49jk

THIS MANY BOYFRIENDS – Young Lovers Go Pop! (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZdPu9fnvkE

LIST 68 - 23/09/11 (a farewell to R.E.M.)

So that's that, then - Buck, Mills and Stipe (and up to a point Berry) are finally calling it a day after an impressive (if you like longevity) 31 years and 15 albums together, and that seemed as good a reason as any to challenge myself to compile a List which wasn't simply just Shiny Happy People and the other best-known hits. Indeed, fewer than half the tracks ultimately chosen even went top 40 in the UK.

Although I'd stop short of the assertion from Stewart Lee (looking forward to seeing you at the Lexington this Sunday, sir) that; "there's [not] anyone whose career trajectory has been so disappointing, starting so brilliantly and end[ing] up just so dreadful", it was nevertheless harder to find stuff either of merit or genuine curiosity value from the second half of the act's career than the first. No matter, at least in "Staring Down..." there is an inclusion that is both relatively recent and by the looks of it never to be released in any studio-recorded form.

I'm not entirely content with the final List, as there was no clip of "Chance" (one of the b-sides to "Everybody Hurts", and among my very favourite REM tracks ever) among the usual repositories of choice. The band's unfortunate habit for comedy cover versions is catered for courtesy of their interpretation of "Tom's Diner", though, likewise their penchant for side projects of various shapes and degrees of seriousness.

J x



R.E.M. – It’s The End Of The World As We Know It... (1987)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0GFRcFm-aY&ob=av3e

R.E.M. – Cuyahoga (1986)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APn_r6_VLCo

R.E.M. – At My Most Beautiful (1999)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIXs66BPooY

13111 [Bill Berry] – My Bible is the Latest TV Guide (1989)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEqTAX02tgg

R.E.M. – Near Wild Heaven (1991)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oC7er_6dpsI

R.E.M. – Bad Day (2003)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hyk-Vdd_Qrk&ob=av2e

R.E.M. – Stand (1988)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKKqLl_ZEEY&ob=av2e

KRISTIN HERSH ft MICHAEL STIPE – Your Ghost (1994)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igPvSBDt43I

R.E.M. – So. Central Rain (1985)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msWi0c4tHV8&ob=av3e

R.E.M. – Überlin (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZITh-XIikgI&ob=av3e

R.E.M. – Tom’s Diner (Live) (1991)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erq_h9fbSws

R.E.M. – Sweetness Follows (1992)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKTIelUzZEM

THE FULL TIME MEN [ft. Peter Buck] – I Got Wheels (1984)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NaK-ZJzxf0

R.E.M. – Crush with Eyeliner (1994)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycvJHQUqU1M&ob=av3e

R.E.M. – Exhuming McCarthy (demo) (1988)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGWT_eMpFBk

R.E.M. – Daysleeper (1998)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUcKeKt8C1k&ob=av3n

HINDU LOVE GODS [Berry, Buck, Mills & Warren Zevon] – Raspberry Beret (1990)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQmz8Cx8pbM

R.E.M. – Radio Free Europe (1981)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac0oaXhz1u8&ob=av3n

R.E.M. - Staring Down the Barrel of the Middle Distance (live premiere at Dublin Olympia) (2007)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUs-Ko-oPKE

R.E.M. – Nightswimming (1993)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahJ6Kh8klM4&ob=av3e

LIST 67 - 16/09/11

Hello again,

Back to a general mix of stuff this week, including something close to the "compare and contrast" feature Annie Nightingale regularly used to run. If Let's Whisper's borrowing of the chorus to The Field Mice's "Willow" for their new single wasn't by design, I'll eat my socks! Either way, it's a lovely track, and a trip to York to see them play with Standard Fare a fortnight hence is already in the diary.

Inclusions of tracks by the recently dearly departed usually concern musicians, but the loss of snooker referee Len Ganley this week just gone absolutely had to be commemorated with an appearance of "his" song here.

Elsewhere, and with the seventh anniversary of his passing not so many weeks away now, I wonder what Peel would have made of "About A Girl", part of an entire Little Roy album comprising roots reggae covers of Nirvana tracks (and this 20 years to the week since "Nevermind" was released, though not all the tracks on Roy's work are from that album). I reckon he'd have bloody loved it. I know I do.

J x



TODDLA T – Take it Back (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAqENlABNQk

HALF MAN HALF BISCUIT – The Len Ganley Stance (1986)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVSd74XdZ_E

I’M FROM BARCELONA – Always Spring (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W0-9ii8ycE

PAISLEY AND CHARLIE – Julia Misbehaves (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8HRiigMY9A

ST VINCENT – Cruel (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Itt0rALeHE8&ob=av2e

LIANNE HALL – Telephone in a Foreign City (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpjbNqGKS6U

CASSOLETTE – Cars (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU_U1wt3EwY

DAVID WRENCH – A Radical Song (1816 / 2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CbWtjPHmNM

THE RAPTURE – How Deep is Your Love? (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRSe-V28Mmk

THE RAPTURE – The Chair That Squeaks (1998)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHxnsPsrVSA

LET’S WRESTLE – In Dreams Part II (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6woVBFWrmPU

LET’S WHISPER – All Happy Endings (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWTXPLFxzlI

THE FIELD MICE – Willow (1991)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIJFzQz4Png

AUSTRA – Lose It (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LJtMrhb558

TINARIWEN – Tenere Taqhim Tossam (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOV5jEa-vwc

THE VERY MOST – Patricia (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSTV5t8Iyk4

LITTLE ROY – About A Girl (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3mT_haHXRU

DARREN HANLON – The Unmade Bed (2004)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-HEWb0eeRw

LIST 66 - 09/09/11 (Then And Now special)

List regulars will be familiar with the "Then And Now" feature, wherein a recent song by a long-established act is listed alongside something from as far down the other end of their career as possible.

Such was the backlog of "Then And Now" candidates I'd somehow managed to accummulate in recent weeks, it seemed perfectly feasible to devote an entire List to them and them alone. So here it is. Its arrival in the same week as Polly Jean Harvey scooped her second Mercury Music Prize represents a coincidence of timing I'd usually fail miserably to pull off successfully if I'd tried to!

J x



PJ HARVEY – The Words That Maketh Murder (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va0w5pxFkAM

PJ HARVEY – Rid Of Me (1993)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36G15OR6jvY

THE STREETS – Going Through Hell (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_ulRwXIzbo

THE STREETS – Don’t Mug Yourself (2002)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veAIHDGghP4

THE HIT PARADE – The Boy Who Loves Brighter (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=328IrHZE6zY

THE HIT PARADE- I Get So Sentimental (1987)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjG5TeaHvjY

MOGWAI – Letters to the Metro (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBTax_2Qh10

MOGWAI – Yes! I Am A Long Way From Home (1997)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxZr6u9fT1I

PETE ASTOR – The Perfect Crime (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSxJVOqe7s8

THE LOFT – Up The Hill And Down The Slope (1985)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnJLsP7cHG8

BJORK – Moon (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sWdeMRJIRA

BJORK – Bænin (1977)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXKw3Y1Ie_E

DRUGSTORE – Sweet Chili Girl (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUAgFJL0cMI

DRUGSTORE – Fader (1995)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQ9Aoe7i1tA

LADYTRON – Ambulances (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hjf7JkQqwfE

LADYTRON – Paco! (2000)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woK8sqt-V5U

LOW – Try To Sleep (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXgc0I0zsYs

LOW – Throw Out The Line (1995)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9j3_z793O8

TODDLA T ft ROOTS MANUVA – Watch Me Dance (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rw9yeS6nqA

ROOTS MANUVA – Witness (2001)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbuSdXKtJX4