What the Funk?

I've started a path of discovery towards all things funk - over the next weeks I'll be digging through the records at Alan's to see what I can unearth. First up, an awesome tune from the Jones Girls. Disco classic!

The Jones Girls : Nights Over Egypt

Bank Holiday

It's an extra long weekend. Some of you will be relaxing, some of you partying. If you're working, then I'm sorry but I've been too busy relaxing and partying to find anything for you.

For relaxing:
Avi Buffalo : What's in it for?

For partying:
Crydajam : If You Give Me The Love I Want

Also, after my rather reactionary lash-out at UK music a few days ago, I have also been scouring for the best of new UK music. Expect a post in a few days.

Madvillain // New track

As the world waits with baited breath for the (real) new Madvillain album to come, you can download the new song Papermill for free from Adult Swim here.

Madvillain : Papermill [Edit: Link corrected]

Wolf Parade

For those of you less inclined to follow the activities of Dan Boeckner and Spencer Krug, individual projects have been put aside and a new Wolf Parade record, Expo 86, is released soon. The output of these two is prolific, and despite strong points on the last record At Mount Zoomer, you got the sense of a record which wasn't as crafted or coherent as their first outing.

From what I've heard of Expo 86, it reminds me of why I loved Wolf Parade and the procession of trailing acts so much in the first place. The simplicity of great pop songs is there but with enough meat and substance to keep you interested. The songs are definitely split in Lennon-McCartneyesque fashion, but Dan Boeckner is one of the coolest people ever invented and can carry off most things with aplomb. I don't know how the record will be received more generally, but I'm very excited.

Incidentally, the wikipedia article on the world Expo 86 is really interesting - apparently the monorail pictured above ended up at Alton Towers. I wish I was old enough to remember the 80s vision of the future.

In other news: for those of you intrigued by the hiatus of Klaxons, their new single is streaming on their website. Not terribly different to the old stuff. But you might have guessed that.


Wolf Parade - Yulia
- Little Golden Age
- Ghost Pressure

Blind Man's Colour // Fantasy Coves

Blind Man's Colour - Fantasy Coves from ∞∞∞ on Vimeo.

Stag and Dagger // Round-up

Something is wrong with English music. Aside from a seemingly endless tranche of lad-rock, some decent Scottish indie and a few chop-and-mix artists, there are frustratingly few blow-you-away-alt acts.

Stag and Dagger should have been a revelation. Highlights included: Fierce Panda stage openers Mazes, who flitted from punchy punk jams to an exercise in successful Supergrass-by-numbers generi-rock.

Mazes : Painting of Tupac Shakur [via]

Also La Shark - who presumably are engaging in some gender deconstruction - were touted by the promoter as The Best Live Act I've Seen In Six Months. The lead singer, dressed as part clown, spent most of the set riding a hobby horse around the crowd which wins many audience participation points and handily leaves you distracted from the actual musical output, too excited with shaking maracas on the stage. It might've been good. On record, listening is dramatically less interesting.

La Shark : 1958

And then, some other shouty/ravey/electro crap which defies genres in its mediocrity. Maybe I chose the wrong venues. Maybe I chose the wrong bands. But it seems that all the genuinely inspired indie acts are coming out of somewhere other than the Shoreditch scene. Surprised?

///

Newish release from the fledgling Forest Family Records.

Gauntlet Hair : I Was Thinking

Anni Rossi

Good little jam from Anni Rossi. You can only imagine how long I spent searching for pictures of The Terminator's final scene.

Anni Rossi : Crushing Limbs

Zola Jesus // Night video

New video for the excellent Zola Jesus' Night.

ZOLA JESUS "NIGHT" MUSIC VIDEO from FUTURE PRIMITIVE FILMS on Vimeo.

Zola Jesus : Night

Aloe Blacc // Live

Stones Throw favourite Aloe Blacc will be playing at independent music experts Pure Groove, on Tuesday 1st June. As if that isn't enough Paul White will also be there continuing the London trend of chop-and-mix experimental mash-up a la Bullion/Gold Panda.

Aloe Blacc : I Need A Dollar

Crystal Castles // Crystal Castles

SNESpop was never meant to last. Sometime in the past couple of years, a host of acts were all gaily attaching a Gameboy to an amp and relaying snippets of late 90s videogames trying to drum up some sort of substance. Then, in 2008 Crystal Castles released the best effort of the lot but it still wasn't the genre defining moment that might've been.

Now, two years later, comes what should have been. Crystal Castles latest offering distils the Sega Mega-fi sound into punching, driving loops, which relentlessly accompany even the poppiest of overtones. It isn't typical of this blog to delve into conventional record reviews but, I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting this. Celestica has been all over the blogosphere for a few weeks now, but the obvious club hit will surely be Baptism. And, probably, all the others too.

Crystal Castles : Baptism

Something for the Weekend

Some tunes for the weekend...
Robyn : Dancing on my own (Chew Fu remix)
Dom : Living in America

Also this debut single from The Knocks, not quite up to that Andrew WK mixtape but still one to make moves to on the dance floor.

The Knocks : Blackout

And who said I didn't like pop?

[Via]

Unnatural Helpers // Album

New album from Unnatural Helpers on Hardly Art. Go, fetch.

Unnatural Helpers : Girl in the Window
Unnatural Helpers : Sunshine/Pretty Girls

Eddy Current Suppression Ring // They're Good!

With a song title like 'Memory Lane' (already a part of 2008's history) and a new(ish) album title like Rush To Relax, there are a lot of ponderous musings to be had. Regret, nostalgia, a nice cup of tea. Currently doing none of those things on tour in the US, there is still no news of a UK tour.

Cruelly underrated despite good reviews, it is not too late to jump on the (albeit slow) bandwagon. And, let's be honest, we are all bandwagon jumpers. Just different bandwagons. There is probably a lazy metaphor about what kind of wagon this band has, but I'm too slow to come up with it. Oh, and the band is called Eddy Current Suppression Ring. Go and buy an album and crank it up.

Eddy Current Suppression Ring : Memory Lane

Let's Wrestle

Let's Wrestle. As an opening gambit, I'd say it offers a range of possibilities. Given the nature of this blog and its ongoing self-examination around generic values, this would be an appropriate place to go into a discussion of wrestling with concepts, tastes and musical trends.

But no, let's wrestle with fat men in leotards, chalky hands and sweaty crotches, low-budget production values, cheap cups of tea and elderly ladies braying for pantomime violence. Let's Wrestle peddle raw and infectious guitar pop, with a knowingness and self-referentiality throughout.

I came across Let's Wrestle through Stolen Recordings, who incidentally have a new sampler out here. It also includes the excellent Hot Silk Pockets and my new favourite band Screaming Tea Party. I think they will deserve their own fully fledged blog post soon.

Let's Wrestle: We are the Men you'll Grow to Love Soon
I'm so Lazy
I won't Lie to You

From In the Court of the Wrestling Let's, out now on Stolen Recordings.