Just Like 1985 All Over Again

I am currently in the process of re-ripping my CD collection, at a slightly higher sample rate, as I have just acquired a 160 GB iPod classic. It replaces my 120 GB Zune which has been well used over the 5 years I have owned it and is still going strong despite it now only holding a charge for 3-4 hours. If they still made the Zune, I would have definitely bought another as this one has been trouble free. It did cross my mind to get the battery replaced but I had a ominous feeling that the moment I replaced the battery something else would fail. So, I am going to use the trusty Zune as a music player, for the house, as it originally came as part of a package with a powered docking station.

Anyway, back to the new iPod.

One of the great joys of doing any reorganisation of music files or media is that the process stimulates you to re-listen to some old albums that maybe you had not listened to in a while. In this case it was, The Cure’s 1985 album “The Head On The Door”, that caught my attention while in the process of re-ripping the ‘C’s in my collection . I actually saw them on the tour for this album when they passed though Brighton (UK) in that same year.

Listening to this album both to and from work, on the transit, I started to think about what I was doing in 1985. I specifically remember going to a lot of gigs in Brighton that year. Also, that it was also a particularly good year for album releases generally. Bands like, Killing Joke, New Order, Sisters Of Mercy, The Cult, The Damned, The Alarm, just for starters.

However, as this is a blog that is primarily focused on new music, I figured I better find a new music ‘angle’ in all of this nostalgia.

So, that got me thinking…..

I wondered, in 2014, who might I consider to be representative of a band like the Cure? If I take a look at there Wikipedia entry for The Head On The Door album it notes the Genre(s) as being: Alternative Rock, New Wave, Gothic Rock. So, I wonder, are there any recent album releases that would fall into all of these genres?

Next stop, Allmusic.com, to see if I can use their, “Related Artists”, feature to locate later bands which fall into a similar area. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-cure-mn0000137390/related

I wonder if there is anyone of interest in the “Followed By” area of the page? Mmm, I notice that Interpol are mentioned, but they aren’t that recent. So, I drill down through Interpol to find that the Editors are listed in the “Related Artists” area for Interpol. I have heard of the band, but not listened to anything by them. Next, I take a look at the most recent album by the Editors. The most recent is The Weight Of Your Love from 2013. Not this year, but close enough for me to want to take a listen. So I fire up Spotify (the perks of still having a UK account in Canada) and give the album a listen.

Wow, this sounds really good. Obviously, the Baritone voice makes it sound quite different from someone like Robert Smith of the aforementioned Cure. However, initially it does remind me a lot of the male vocals in Dead Can Dance and then something interesting happens and ‘vocal register’ changes four tracks in. Actually, the more I listen to the earlier tracks the more I get thinking about the Mission (I did see them in 86 and again at the turn of the centaury).

I will definitely have to listen and read a bit more with regards to the Editors. Just another one of those bands I never got around to listening to and already regretting that.

So, new music mission accomplished. Well, in my little world anyway.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Weight_of_Your_Love

Civil Civic – 1

Civil Civic have a new single out in July, check out the release here http://shop.civilcivic.com/. In the meantime you could do a lot worse than check out their debut EP, the economically titled “1”.

Track listing:

• Less Unless
• Baghdad Break
• C27
• E8-4AH
• Stacks ON

The EP can be checked out on Spotify – http://open.spotify.com/album/4AsMofBSF82KTbDoS4tuCW

Genre(s):

• Electronic
• Experimental
• Instrumental
• Indie Rock

 

Similar artists:

• Sunday Girl
• Eric Hlljes
• Foster the People
• Florrie
• The Selfish Replicators
• Young Empires

 

Further information:

@CivilCivic.blogspot.com – http://civilcivic.blogspot.com/

@Myspace – http://www.myspace.com/civilcivic

@Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/civilcivic

@Twitter – http://twitter.com/civilcivic

Little Girls – Concepts

Reading through The Guardian’s New Band Of The Day, I picked up on the Canadian band, Little Girls, and their most recent album “Concepts”.

Track listing:

1. Youth Tunes
2. Seeing
3. Tambourine
4. Concepts
5. Imaginary Friends
6. Salt Swimmers
7. Thrills
8. Departure
9. Venom
10. Last Call
11. Growing

 

 

The bands earlier EPs are on Spotify – http://open.spotify.com/user/toxicmusic79/playlist/2fUZZYWPzbiEwleleRTq3Z

 

Reviewed at:

AWMusic – http://awmusic.ca/2010/01/04/little-girls-concepts-review/

The New Music – http://blog.thenewmusic.net/album-reviews-little-girls/

Pop Matters – http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/119680-little-girlsconcepts

Redefine Mag – http://www.redefinemag.com/music/reviews_album_2.php?artist=Little-Girls&id=1190

Hero Hill – http://www.herohill.com/2009/09/quick-hitters-little-girls-concepts.htm

 

Genre(s):

• Indie Rock
• Post-punk

 

Similar artists:

• Blank Dogs
• Silk Flowers
• TV Ghost
• Blessure Grave
• Pearl Harbour
• The Coathangers
• Crystal Stilts
• Future Islands
• Tamaryn
• Wetdog

 

Further information:

@MySpace – http://www.myspace.com/littlelittlegirls

@Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Girls_(band)

Fang Island – Fang Island

Yesterday, I stumbled across the first album by Fang Island, and it’s definitely worth checking out.

Track listing:

1. Dreams of Dreams
2. Careful Crossers
3. Daisy
4. Life Coach
5. Sideswiper
6. The Illinois
7. Treeton
8. Davey Crockett
9. Welcome Wagon
10. Dorian

Fang Island on Amazon

 

Reviewed at:

• Pitchfork -  http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14011-fang-island/
• Absolute Punk – http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=1573861
• Decoy Music – http://www.decoymusic.com/reviews/fang-island-fang-island
• Impose – http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/fang-island

 

Genre(s):

• Indie Rock
• Progressive Rock

 

Similar artists:

• Bear In Heaven
• Tera Melos
• Maps & Atlases
• Native
• By The End Of Tonight
• The Mercury Program
• Volta Do Mar
• Pele
• Bygones
• Sharks Keep Moving

 

Further information:

@Website – http://fangisland.com/

@MySpace – http://www.myspace.com/fangisland

@Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fang-Island/170097633234

@Twitter – http://twitter.com/fangisland

@Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fang_Island

 

Shearwater – Rook

I was trawling through some Magic: The Gathering videos for some inspiration for another blog that I have just started http://mtghunter.wordpress.com/, when I noticed that one of the tracks used as ‘music backing’ was Rook by Shearwater. As a result I have been listening to the album on Spotify.

Track listing:

• On the Death of the Waters
• Rooks
• Leviathan, Bound
• Home Life
• Lost Boys
• Century Eyes
• I Was a Cloud
• South Col
• The Snow Leopard
• The Hunter’s Star

 

I then put the band name through a similar artists look-up via last.fm and then looking the results up in AllMusic to get suggestions for key albums:

• Shearwater – Rook
• Okkervil River – Down the River Of Golden Dreams
• Magnolia Electric Co – Fading Trails
• Great Lake Swimmers – Bodies and Minds
• Midlake – The Trials of Van Occupanther
• Port O’Brien – The Wind And The Swell
• Songs: Ohia – Axxess And Ace
• Norfolk And Western – Winter Farewell
• Lightning Dust – Lightning Dust
• Sun Kil Moon – April

Enjoy!

Telegraphs I Don’t Navigate By You @ KCLSU

I was looking on YouTube for some Telegraphs’ stuff and found a great live clip that has been posted recently.

Engineers – Three Fact Fader

Track listing:

1. Clean Coloured Wire
2. Sometimes I Realise
3. International Dirge
4. Helped by Science
5. Brighter As We Fall
6. Hang Your Head
7. Crawl From the Wreckage
8. Three Fact Fader
9. Song For Andy
10. Emergency Room
11. The Fear Has Gone
12. Be What You Are
13. What Pushed Us Together

Engeeners second album, Three Fact Finder, is a trippy, loopy and laid back ride through laconic sonic diversity. Simon Phipps’ seductive vocals ride on a heady flow of lethargic angst. Shoegaze perfection!

Reviewed at:

Delusions of Adequacy – http://www.adequacy.net/2009/12/engineers-three-fact-fader/

Drowned In Sound – http://drownedinsound.com/releases/14482/reviews/4137217

musicOMH.com – http://www.musicomh.com/albums/engineers_0709.htm

New Musical Express – http://www.nme.com/reviews/engineers/10633

PopMatters – http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/116472-engineers-three-fact-fader/

Lost At Sea – http://www.lostatsea.net/review.phtml?id=10606239904b235b537f2c1

All Music Guide  – http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:0xftxztaldse~T1

Girls – Album

Girls - Album

Track Listing:

Lust for Life
Laura
Ghost Mouth
God Damned
Big Bad Mean Mother Fucker
Hellhole Ratrace
Headache
Summertime
Lauren Marie
Morning Light
Curls
Darling

Released in September 2009, the debut Girls album echos with reminders of Elvis Costello, Buddy Holly and the Beach Boys. Sonic diversity is the order of the day here, although, there is definitely a strong twangy rock ‘n’ roll undercurrent on the album which breaks through the surface of the more shoegaze and dreamy sound.

Reviewed at:

Allmusic – http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:dpfuxztaldje~T1
Drowned In Sound – http://drownedinsound.com/releases/14644/reviews/4137816
The Guardian – http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/sep/25/girls-album-review
NME – http://www.nme.com/reviews/girls/10844
Pitchfork – http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13477-album/
Rolling Stone – http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/29924136/review/29951403/album
Metacritic – http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/girls/album