NIN: Ghosts I-IV

Late, tired. New NIN musical experience is amazing value for $5. Buy it now.

Throbbing Gristle - Discipline

Since I seem to posting now I might as well get the last link off my list and point y'all in the direction of Throbbing Gristle's Discipline. I don't generally really "get" much TG but this live performance is punishing brilliant.

When the beat kicks off it's amazingly heavy but also surprisingly 4 to the floor modern. There is also an amazing moment near the start when the vocal delay and loop is taken off the mike and suddenly this kind of song appears from the midst of a cloud of discord.

Generally I prefer SPK for the misery music but this performance is fascinating because it is not simply proto-industrial. You have punk nihilism, post-punk performance, electronic beats and Kraftwerk electronic manipulation all going off in one place.

If you think it's rubbish then you can watch this and skip to 5:20 where someone agrees with you in a satisfyingly direct action sort of way.

Insanity in the sideband

If you have a digital radio I don't know if you've ever made use of the little text ticker that accompanies the broadcast. Usually I just use it to check what record is being played at the moment. However Marc Riley's 6Music show makes an insane amount of use of the ticker. In addition to telling you useful stuff like the release date of the new Tindersticks album they also just make up completely random stuff on there. Kewl!

Indelicates - Sixteen

I quite like the Indelicates but their current single is the kind of funny, catchy, clever and bitter pop song I love. The video captures the yearning, snideness of the lyrics and I think its hard not to be delighted by the swooping rhythms and rhymes of the song's chorus.

You can get more Indelicates at their Myspace page, I'm looking forward to their album but Sixteen is really their high point to date.

If you do take a look at the video (you are aren't you?) then also take the time to watch the Iggy and the Stooges Sixteen video that you'll probably get in the recommendations. It's amazing to watch some simply give themselves over to their performance with no irony and no reservations. It's mesmerising to watch Iggy at his best.

Listening to Tom Robinson can be expensive

Sometimes I listen to the Tom Robinson show on 6 Music when I am washing the dishes. Sometimes these shows can be expensive. I have ended up buying three EPs within weeks of each other due to airtime on Tom's show and at the end of tonight's show I have another five names in my notebook to follow up on.

First there is my new favourite shoegazer band, Ringo Deathstarr, you can buy their EP from Spoilt Victorian Child and you really should you know. Then there are the goth rock stomp charms of the Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster and the northern vaguely category defying Beneath Fire and Smoke. Listening to a radio show has never been so expensive.

New Google Feature

Que?

Google Music Search for Mum.

That was the year that was

Okay, year in reviews are kind of obligatory in the musical world. This year I read the OMM and The Wire and realised how hopeless and useless these kind of thing are. Pointing out overlooked gems only works if you have built up some kind of relationship with the reader over the previous year and this year no-one had so I was skeptical of what unknown quantities were chosen over music I had heard.

I think that there can be little doubt that one of the most outstanding albums of the year was Radiohead's In Rainbows. It managed to blend their experimental and conventionally rocky side into a more coherent whole. Some people said it was a retreat from the Kid A era but I think they are wrong, Kid A was exciting and unconventional but In Rainbows is holisitic rather than simply ditching everything done to date.

However personally I was suprised to find myself returning again and again to the math techno of Calabi Yau Space by Dopplereffekt. I liked their previous albums but would have to say they hardly kept me coming back for more. Calabi Yau Space has never left my MP3 player this year and has been a welcome listen in all kinds of situations.

Live the experience I look back on most fondly was watching Jeffery Lewis perform an acoustic version of one of his Crass covers. Lewis is whimsical nu-folker who has some funny kitschy songs but it was a strong of genius to see that aggressive anarchist punk lyrics would more be more plantive within a twee pop setting.

Sellaband and Co.

Julia Marcell is a female singer-songwriter, something that Sellaband isn't necessarily short of. However she is the real deal and has shot through to the 50K in no time at all. Having ignored her initially one listen made me realise I was up my own arse about it and that I needed to buy some parts. I am actually looking forward to her album.

However if you want to support some not so attractive but musically very worthy people then check out my list or simple look at this band, they're great!

Anyway there was a piece in Guardian Money reviewing the new set of websites that aim to link fans with money with bands wanting money. They mentioned Trail who I also thing should record an album (they are a bit mainstream but they are still better than some crap acts that actually have deals like Morning Runner) so hopefully there will be a little jump in parts purchased.

On the back of the article I tried SlicethePie which I found incredibly convoluted. I tried scouting but after acerbically reviewing two fucking awful RnB acts I realised that apart from being incredibly rude to musicians there was no point to the experience for me. There is no community interaction and the whole investment thing basically buys a CD and a weird spread betting-style purchase. The whole thing felt really negative instead of being about letting people connect to music they might actually like.

Amazing Tunes on the other hand seems to work. Listen to a track, like it, buy it DRM free for a fair price. Isn't that what this whole idea is meant to be about?

Bleep was robbed

iTunes won the best online music store at the BT awards. Bleep deservedly won last year and while they may not have been expected to win this year I cannot believe that iTunes got the prize instead. Have people actually used different music stores? iTunes is useless without it's own app, that would disqualify it immediately in my opinion.

iTunes winning this award is like announcing that beige was the most exciting colour of the year.

Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster: In the Garden

This is an awesome piece of gothic rock from a band I previously associated with limp-wristed indie fare. The EP costs £9 from HMV and while that is a lot for just one track it is actually a generous double cd affair with a live recording on the second disk. You can also get a digital download of the track via the band's website (although I had never heard of the site involved).

Thank you 6 Music for alerting me to this rocking track.

Roisin Murphy Video

I've just spotted this YouTube version of Roisin Murphy's (the lead singer of Moloko) new single, Overpowered, and I think it's a bit of a gem. The track is quite good but the trip home across London is one I recognise, lots to wryly smile about. Of course I tend not to have a stage costume when I'm heading home but maybe that's just me being unimaginative.

And on a related note have a look at this mashup (it pains me to use the word, mind) which while using two similar tunes is really very good and gains bonus points for noting the similarities in the videos.

SellaBand

Like all muso Guardianistas I read the story about Sellaband and immediately jumped over to have a look at the bands I could buy part of. The first disappointment is that all the bands who are gaining a lot of traction are really incredibly dull. If Sellaband intends to be something of a focus group on music then it's a depressing outcome with folky, souly, lumpen pub rock being the main recipients of most peoples money.

I chose some electronica bollocks which I think is good but to which I am rather in the minority at the moment. When it works the system seems good, you get to listen to some interesting music and you can put a stake in the ground and say "this would be even better with some professional production". However overall the experience is a bit depressing, the musical taste seems conservative and although 5000 people does not sound a lot it is probably a lot more sales than most bands make. A CDR release probably doesn' t go above 500 copies. There also a lot of intrusive advertising on the site and some of the flash items on the jukebox player actually end up showing you an advert rather than having any function.

On the plus side though there are some truly dreadful promotional pictures on the band pages. I find it hard to understand the logic of these. You are going to display a vision of your band to potentially thousands of people so you put your dad in the picture, you can't persuade the drummer to take his glasses off and drop the pony tail for five minutes or you mistakenly think that people desperately miss Venom.

Sellaband probably just shows why most bands can't get a record deal but I do hope that it leads to something interesting for decent independent artists.

The Enemy

I had the The Enemy inflicted on me when I went to see the Manics at the Forum the other week. The Enemy are an exercise in amplified tedium and the only pleasure in watching them was the vague hope that they might stop and leave the stage and the end of the song. I'm only really mentioning this because they are meant to be playing another show at the Astoria (which is apparently going to be demolished as part of Crossrail/London Olympics 2012).

Do yourself a favour, stay away.

FLAC

So I ordered my first FLAC album from Bleep this weekend. So it is a brand new of audiophillic glory?

Well it actually sounds pretty good and it is probably worth the extra two pounds but I still suspect that for all but the most distinguished ears there is a strict law of diminishing returns.

The Blog is Over

Ever since I discovered Rate Your Music (quite randomly through a tech blog) the purpose of this blog is pretty much over. The site is easy to use and actually music is one of those things where a good indication of the quality of a piece can be obtained by simply asking a lot of people.

Reading through a couple of the reviews does have that infinite Internet monkeys vibe but it's about numbers at the end of the day with the "reviews" really just being justification for the marks (rather like Boardgame Geek).

Dresden Dolls at the Roundhouse

I was delighted to find that the Dresden Dolls gig at the Camden Roundhouse still had tickets available. I have wanted to go to the refurbished Roundhouse for a while and the Dolls seem like the band who will make the most of the venue.

Nouvelle Vague - Dance with Me Video

I stumbled across this video on YouTube which is a mash of the Nouvelle Vague cover Dance With Me with the dance scene from Bande a Part. The two fit so seamlessly that I can only assume that the music was actually set to the timing of the film.

Regardless, it's a great scene and the music is fiendishly catchy. Having resisted the charms of French lounge music until now I gave in and purchased the album from Bleep.

The Mercury Prize 2006

Why deny worthy winners? The Arctic Monkeys are clearly the act of the year and are the rightful winners of the paltry 20K prize.

However in terms of the performances it is hard to beat Thom Yorke's spellbinding spot at the piano. Editors also managed the best TV performance I've seen from them although that's not saying much and they looked like they had turned up dressed for football in the park rather than to perform at a major awards ceremony, make an effort damn it! The Guillemots did an interesting turn as did Hot Chip (although I'm not sure I understand the appeal of the latter). Sway seemed a lot more interesting than I had initially thought (I'm a bit wary of Grime in general).

Other than that nothing really stayed with me from the TV show. That said though it was a superb selection of artists and albums on the very diverse shortlist. We seem to be at a very fortunate time for music where there is no dominant paradigm and all manner of great stuff has a chance to bloom and connect with people. For all the moaning about duffers like James Blunt et al they can hardly be said to have popular music in the vice-like grip that BritPop or Stock, Aitken and Waterman did.

No Bra - Munchausen

Apparently I've made the hideous mistake of not blogging about the absolutely phenomenal slice of satire that is the fantastic Munchausen. Hi, my name is Munchausen how are you?

There is no point in describing this song too much as it is work of complete genius and completely skewers every pretentious wanker you've ever met. Don't take my word for it click on the link and learn about the Anal Staircase and the hitherto uncommented on relationship between Germans and Ethiopians.

It's endlessly quotable and if you're not sobbing with laughter by the end go to KwikFit and see if they can't sort you out with a soul.

I actually went to see NoBra do an instore performance at Rough Trade. To be honest most of the people there were probably like me, enormously impressed by Munchausen and wanting to see if there was more in that vein. The performance seemed very awkward to me. Susanne seems excrutiating shy and has a near zero presence not to mention a weak voice. Performing topless was a bit of a surprise but just added to the general sense of awkwardness.

To be frank at the moment what NoBra is a one song novelty act with the remainder of the show consisting of a lot of rambling poetry being delivered like a brick to the head over the top of wandering electronic bleeping. It's not the worst thing I've seen (because I've seen Fennesz and Icarus live so you've got to be bloody bad to take that title) but it's nothing worth seeing at the moment.

Still that doesn't matter. Listen to Munchausen again, right now before Top Shop gives you syphilis again.

Schengen - The Beijing of Our Career

Schengen are a little Bristol two piece and they have produced some good stuff and some not quite as good stuff (you can hear the best on their MySpace page). Now though (provided you can forgive the punning title) they have released an unreservedly excellent album through their cooperative label MakeMineMusic.

Some tracks such as City and Macdafun have been released before but this recording of the tracks are far superior (perhaps the quality of the engineering and mastering, perhaps experience, possibly both). If you have the Flow sampler give City a listen and then listen to the Beijing version to see the difference.

As for the new tracks it is all of a similar quality and has the warm analogue sounds that characterise the best Schengen stuff so far. The percussion is generally the weak spot in most Schengen tracks and while you're not going to be blown away by it this time either it is well-mixed and supports the strong melody lines that flow through the tracks rather than distracting from them.

The CD has fifteen tracks and there's no better introduction to the sound of Schengen. It is also at a phenomenally good price of £5 so if you fancy a prime slice of mellow electronica get over to MakeMineMusic and buy it right now.