Now That's What I Call A Music Thread: 2009

[Turbo Yannis]

Although Snow Patrol are dull bollocks now, who else agress that Final Straw was a pretty good album?

There's actually 5 or 6 amazing songs on it.

[ADG]

Right so I'm getting a hold of as much summery type stuff as I can. You know the kind, music which just makes you smile so twee indie and power pop, dance music, acoustic and chill out, that kind of thing. So far I've got this list:

Air, Alphabeat, Barenaked Ladies, Basshunter , Beastie Boys, Belle and Sebastian, Ben Folds, Blink 182, Blur, Bob Marley, Bran Van 3000, Cheap Trick, Chemical Brothers, Colin Hay, Conor Oberst, Counting Crows, Daft Punk, David Guetta, Donovan Frankenreiter, Eiffel 65, Eric Clapton, Faithless, Fatboy Slim, Fleet Foxes, Fountains of Wayne, Frank Turner, Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly!, Gideon Conn, Gorillaz, Hellogoodbye, I’m From Barcelona, Ingrid Michaelson, Jack Johnson, James, Jason Mraz, Jose Gonzalez, Justice, Laker, LCD Soundsystem, Le Tigre, Maroon 5, MGMT, Michael Celedon, Mike Hale, Motion City Soundtrack, Newton Faulkner, Noah and the Whale, OK Go, Paolo Nutini, Patrick Wolf, Pavement, Pete and the Pirates, Richard Ashcroft, Robert Miles, Royksopp, Ryan Adams, Scissor Sisters, Scouting for Girls, Secrets in Stereo, Sigur Rós, Simian Mobile Disco, Sixpence None The Richer, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Soulwax, Sum 41, The Beach Boys, The Dandy Warhols, The Feeling, The Flaming Lips, The Format, The Gaslight Anthem, The Go! Team, The King Blues, The Klaxons, The Libertines, The Magic Numbers, The New Pornographers, The Offspring, The Pillcrushers, The Police, The Polyphonic Spree, The Postal Service, The Spinto Band, The Verve, The Wombats, Totally Michael, Underworld, Vampire Weekend, We Are Scientists, Xavier Rudd

Anything else anyone can recommend?

[YI]

My new favourite band (actually, not, they're not even that good);

http://www.myspace.com/thesealcubclubbingclub

But they're awesome for 2 reasons;

1) the name

2) "Dawn Lamb"....1:40....INME WARBLE!!!! THE MOTHERFUCKING INME WARBLE!!!! AMAZING!!!!

And Adgray;

Owl City

Peter Broderick ("Home", his piano works are quite cool too though)

Kyte

Slow Club

Styrofoam ("A Thousand Words" inparticular)

The Deer Tracks

Laura Marling

This Town Needs Guns

Imogen Heap

Gemma Hayes

Dredg ("Catch Without Arms" is PERFECT summer chillout)

The New Amsterdams

School Of Seven Bells

The Get Up Kids (later stuff)

Ava Leigh

American Football

Anna Ternheim

Joey Cape

Lights

Lali Puna

Fever Ray

The Sound Of Arrows ("M.A.G.I.C" will be on the next gaylist, I struggle to think of a happier song released so far this year)

Little Boots

Oliver The Penguin (if you find a link for the album, tell me )

Brighton Port Authority

Loney Dear

I've got hold of;

"Collider" by Left Side Brain (Reuben fans have to check out. Some pretty badass straight up UK rock, which isn't normally my thing)

"Science For The Living" by Kyte (have most of the songs, and putting the last EP on here was a bit gay...Japan release though, so, I guess there's a reason, haven't heard yet)

"City Of Thieves" by Sonic Boom Six (badass album cover. Ska/Punk/Hip-Hop hybrid at its best. "Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!" sounds like a Lady Sovereign song or something though, totally weird. Sounds really good from first listen, "Through The Eyes Of A Child" is my favourite so far)

"Common Struggles" by Single File (been waiting for this for a while, unfortunately ended up more like The Cartel than Jack's Mannequin That being said "Mannequin Loveseat" and "Zombies At My Neighbours" are still tunes...the rest, kind of meh)

"Controlling Crowds" by Archive (cool atmospheric, electronic/electro-pop album. Progressive vibe too. Gorgeous stuff, think this might be one of my favourites of the year)

Edited April 9, 2009 by YI

[John Stones' Paint Trophy]

ELO should be right on there. Beach Boys too. In fact, get some late 60s sunshine pop/psychedelica too. Some of it is incredibly strange, granted but there's some amazing stuff.

The Millenium

The Shaggs

Billy Nicholls

The Left Banke

The Turtles

Chad and Jeremy

Sagittarius

The Mamas and The Papas

The Free Design

The Partridge Family

The Buckinghams

For more recent stuff in that style, there's always The Junipers, The Offbeat and Greater California.

There's pretty much nothing better than sitting in the sun as the last couple of minutes of Hendrix's All Along The Watchtower blares too

[Skummy]

I really, really dislike living on an island sometimes.

Today, the reason is that The Lucksmiths are playing London in July. Even though tickets are only £12, it's going to end up costing me well over £100 if I go. And I'm really really tempted.

[Mr Evil Guy]

of Montreal. Do of Montreal.

Also, Architecture in Helsinki's first two albums.

[METALMAN]

Can't beat Village Green era Kinks for summery music.

Well you can I suppose. It's called Belle & Sebastian.

[YI]

Some news picked up from a show review (albeit from a 'reviewer' who was drunk ), Strung Out's new album will be out in September and it's apparently called "Agents Of The Underground".

Doesn't seem like a Strung Out-y name, but then again, there was a time when "Exile In Oblivion" and half of the song titles on there didn't seem like Strung Out-y names.

Edited April 10, 2009 by YI

[LittleDaniel]

Not sure if it was posted in here, but Suburban Homes is giving away free downloads of Mike Hale's "Lives Like Mine" on their website.

[YI]

HOLY FUCK!!! YOU LEGEND!!!

That must have only happened today, as I was on the site yesterday. Awesome.

http://liveslikemine.suburbanhomerecords.com/index2.html

[LittleDaniel]

Yeah, thought you might like that. No idea what gave me that impression....

When's the acoustic gaylist coming? I'd think something of his HAS to go on now.

[YI]

Yeah, thought you might like that. No idea what gave me that impression....

When's the acoustic gaylist coming? I'd think something of his HAS to go on now.

"When She Loved Me" was on anyway. Might have to replace it with something else.

I might up it this weekend, wasn't sure how long to leave it. Some good stuff on though (and I've managed to stay quite clear of folk-punk, as much as possible), mixture of some acoustic versions by Bloc Party/Four Year Strong/Gaslight Anthem etc, and legit acoustic artists.

Edited April 10, 2009 by YI

[LittleDaniel]

Yeah, thought you might like that. No idea what gave me that impression....

When's the acoustic gaylist coming? I'd think something of his HAS to go on now.

"When She Loved Me" was on anyway. Might have to replace it with something else.

I might up it this weekend, wasn't sure how long to leave it. Some good stuff on though (and I've managed to stay quite clear of folk-punk, as much as possible), mixture of some acoustic versions by Bloc Party/Four Year Strong/Gaslight Anthem etc, and legit acoustic artists.

Boo!

[YI]

Don't worry, there'll be a couple of folk-punk bands. Just whittling down which ones to actually include.

Okay, track by track breakdown (soooo pumped for this). Mike Hale's debut album "Broken With No Hope" was hands down my favourite record of last year, lets see how his follow-up fairs;

1. Lives Like Mine - Very much like the "Broken With No Hope" stuff, a little too much though, like the vocal line in the verse/chord progression sound like two of his first album songs thrown together. Female backing vocals make their first appearance towards the end. The bits where they split male/female sound really good actually. The chorus is nice. But not one of his best songs.

2. Indigo Blues - Different vibe to his first album, with the accompaniment in this. His voice, there's something about it, it's not as downtrodden/desperate as it was on the debut, which is really where a lot of his charm came from. However, his vibrato on the long notes is still absolutely fabulous. The male/female parts again are the highlights. But how long can he pull that one for? Again not one of his best songs.

3. When She Loved Me - Again feels slightly different to "Broken With No Hope", amazing, amazing riff. Really gets you fired up for the song. Probably his most 'exciting' solo song to date. I loved this on his myspace page, I love it here. I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up being one of my favourites on here. Again slight female backing vocals in the bridge, with the exception of the riff is the best part of the song, great vocal line. Simple repeating chorus, allowing the riff to shine through. Great song.

4. Losing Ground - Ooooh, piano! Gorgeous, gorgeous song. The opening reminds me of Attika! Attika! for some reason, the way his voice bends with the piano chords in the background. When he goes low on the left hand, oooh, I feel it all through me. Really like this. A change in instrument can do wonders to freshen up his material. Good song.

5. Red Tide - Really cool opening. I like the riff. There seems to be a recurring theme in a number of the songs so far, of a somewhat mediocre verse and a really beautiful chorus. As a whole entity the songs just don't seem as strong as they do on his first album. Okay song.

6. Your Heart Just May - Christ, it's another chord progression/vocal pattern ripped straight from his first album. I mean, it must be quite hard when you've got a style like Hale to keep some of the stuff fresh. But man. Come on! Then again, the chorus has just kicked in and it's good again. I'm nowhere near as impressed as I was with his debut at this point, but given the strength of the choruses on offer, and his vocals are still solid, lyrically while nothing jumps out at me (although "Broken With No Hope" was 'understated' as well) it's solid. So I can't really be too critical on it.

7. Eager To Die - Again a bit different to his first album stuff. Ooh, the verse here is really good. This one's really lo-fi...holy fuck...chorus is here...AWESOME! This is up here with "When She Loved Me", the finger clicks in the chorus, really add to this. Mike Hale is really one of those artists that goes to prove, stripped down, simple songs can still be the best.

8. Making History Today - Things are really picking up. I guess this could well be like "Broken With No Hope" where the 2nd half of the album is arguably better than the opening. His vocal patterns, when he gets them right are a joy to the ears. Hahahahahaa...total mid-90's britpop chorus, it's amazing. Woman backing vocal's back, he seems to have used her sparely.

9. All For That Working Hour - Piano's back! HOLY FUCK!!! HOW CHEESY IS THIS!!! OH MY GOD!!! Okay, okay, this is absolutely fucking amazing. The piano riff is absolute gold. His "ahhh's" are great. Okay, yeah, shit's definitely starting to pick up. Great tune.

10. If You Want To Know - Back to the acoustic. Cool riff. Yeah, he seems to have definitely put his better, more 'lively' songs towards the back. Oooh, hand claps this time. Not as good as the 3 before it, but still better than a good number of those early on.

11. Places Everyone - Oooh, this one's really laid back and nice. Gorgeous vocal line. Another really great song.

12. How To Walk Away - Little piano instrumental to finish things off. Realy nice.

Okay things definitely pick up towards the end. To be honest I was a little disappointed in the early going. But the 2nd part of the album was fabulous. And I'm hoping the earlier songs will grow on me. I doubt I'll look on it anywhere near the standard of "Broken With No Hope", but it's still got potential to be a real good album. "When She Loved Me", "Eager To Die", "All For That Working Hour" and "Places Everyone" are my early favourites.

Edited April 10, 2009 by YI

[YI]

Austin Lucas w/Mike Hale

20th June - Prince Albert - Brighton

21st June - The Windmill - London

22nd June - The White Rooms - Sunderland

23rd June - TBA - Edinburgh

24th June - Royal Park Cellars - Leeds

25th June - The Cavern - Exeter

26th June - Mozart Hotel - Swansea

27th June - Edge of The Wedge - Portsmouth

See you there.

Austin Lucas is pretty awesome too, you know, for a geet fat bloke who plays a banjo...his collaboration album with Chuck Ragan a year or two back was fabulous, I remember the opening track was amazing. Haven't really checked out his solo stuff though.

In other tour news, this time of the pop-punk variety. In July, The Wonder Years and All Or Nothing will be on the "Distances" tour, supporting their split EP of the same name. Both are absolutely fucking brilliant bands. Not sure what the full dates are, but I know there's no North East date, it's after term time, so depending on my cashflow situation I'll try and check a show out (apparently there's going to be an Underworld date, so might check that out). I mean, how can you not want to scream along to "WE'RE FINDING OUT SOME SCUMMY FUCK JUST THREW IT IN A 15-YEAR OLD!! I MEAN COME ON MAN, IS THAT THE LIFE YOU WANT!?!?"...man, what a tune.

Also, Paige will be back on the road in September in support of...The Years Gone By!!! Another shit hot American band. Their album which was released was a little hit and miss, but there's some absolutely killer tracks on there. Stuff like "Stay Close", "You Might As Well Be In Space", "The Problem Is Always You" are choooons. I get a bit of a more 'powerpunk' Something Corporate vibe to them.

Billy Talent are playing Camden Underworld June 9th...tickets on sale next Friday, gonna try and snag one.

Edited April 12, 2009 by YI

[TheRossWalker]

Ugh, Sunderland. What's wrong with playing the Cluny or somewhere? Sunderland's awkward as fuck for me to get to. Might go, depends how much money I have, since I'll be off to Glastonbury on the Thursday, and the week before's my sixth form ball.

[Cadj]

Ooooh

Edinburgh aswell, although that's still to be announced where.

Shall have to get to checking out Austin Lucas now.

[Monkey D. Lars]

this return single from Eminem, is just, just Eminem.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DptkI0EY6ZY

the clip is awesome and the song grows on you

[YI]

First album Angels & Airwaves, tracks; 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10 are fucking brilliant. Bollocks to what people say. Actually most of it's pretty fucking good. With the exception of

"Distraction", although I do love the "Wonderful Christmas Time" intro.

Also, Chief are at Trillians tonight. Off up town for a few pints, will pop in and hopefully catch them, not really sure when bands go on with this whole £1 Party thing Trillians run.

[YI]

Didn't make it to Chief. £2 Gotham trebles are just too inviting, and then Trillians is too much of a walk, we couldn't be arsed. Home early, watched RAW, talked some shit.

Roll on "Give It A Name Introduces..." tonight. Probably the weirdest line-up I've seen and the order was whack too. Whole Wheat Bread (rap-punk) opened and had the longest set. In This Moment (slag fronted metalcore ) were next and got the biggest reception half the place emptied after them (I will rant about something tomorrow, can't be arsed now, really pissed me off/was really pathetic, and it has nothing to do with people leaving), VersaEmerge (Paramore ) were canny good, and when they finished another lot went, and Lights (CHEESY ELECTRO-POP BRILLIANCE!) finished to a totally lackluster crowd that I don't know whether to laugh at or cry at.

Okay, the greatest heckle I have ever heard is "YOU HAVE PRETTY EYES!" during Lights set. Setlist was;

New Song (the worst of her new ones too, probably not the best song to try and get people interested in you)

February Air

New Song (was total 80's cheese, brilliant!)

Ice

I Want It That Way (Backstreet Boys cover)

New Song (which was AWESOME! Should have opened with this, probably the best of her songs on the night)

Drive My Soul

The Last Thing On Your Mind

2 things. Whole Wheat Bread are awesome, and were the best band on the bill, and seem like really awesome guys to boot. Got to have a bit banter with all three of them throughout the night. They'll be back over in September (or something "-ber" )...and the bassist is trying to shag the bird from VersaEmerge. Don't seem that good on record :/, but were great live, full of energy, tunes sound vastly better too.

2nd...MOTHERFUCKING PERVERTS!!! I mean, I'm a bit of a (massive) perv. But like. I'm not a fucking freak. During In This Moment, guys literally ogling, begging over the barrier for the singer to touch them, CONSTANTLY taking photographs of her, and not even like "the band", just her. Half the place left after them, but a good chunk were actually downstairs (still, after "Lights" set) trying to get photos and all sorts of shit with her...I mean, there's being a fan, there's finding someone attractive, and there's just complete and utter weirdness. Some guy who was in front of us before we moved to the back during their set, literally camera always in the air, pulling weird sex-stalker faces to his friend, complete creep. Just, their whole set made me feel a little uneasy. I mean, I'd have loved to stayed further forward during their set, as there were a lot of people really into it and they were the heaviest band playing, but a good amount of the people near the front just wanted to seemingly try and thrust their dick towards the singer.

But yeah, good gig.

http://www.myspace.com/lights - Lights

http://www.myspace.com/wholewheatbread - Whole Wheat Bread

http://www.myspace.com/inthismoment - In This Moment

http://www.myspace.com/versaemerge - VersaEmerge

Also, local-ites, got a flier, which I threw away for the new Friday night Rock Night in the Academy, "Redeemer" or something. How long's it been running? Any good? I used to pop into "Revolution" a fair bit a while back, the crack was brilliant (a lot more laid back security wise than "Bulletproof") and probably the funniest night I've ever had out was at "Revolution". But a mixture of the same tunes, worsening clientele and near impossibility to pull, meant we stopped going. So is this "Redeemer" any cop?

Edited April 15, 2009 by YI