Song Of The Day 30/05/2011: Belle & Sebastian - Mayfly

Belle and Sebastian are a band I'd long given up seeing by the time they finally came out of hiatus last year and began playing live again. They're currently in the middle of a three-night residency at Camden's Roundhouse, and I'm going to be there tonight. I can't wait. I've had a look at some of the setlists from this tour so far, and they do seem to be fairly light on the early stuff, which is my favourite era, but it still has the potential to be a truly stellar gig. This song has only been played once in the 27 gigs the band has played so far in 2011, but I'll be crossing my fingers tonight.

Song Of The Day 28/04/2011: Belle & Sebastian - Another Sunny Day

Belle & Sebastian's 2005 album 'The Life Pursuit' isn't vintage B&S. A lot of the songs are fairly throwaway pop, and some (particularly on the second half of the album) are genuinely bad. There is one song on there, however, that is among the best things the band has ever done, that is 'Another Sunny Day'. Here it is, coupled with a pretty good animation I found on YouTube - it fits the song perfectly.

Song Of The Day 16/02/2011: Belle & Sebastian - Jonathan David

Originally released as the title track of B&S's 2001 EP, this was later re-released on their compilation 'Push Barman To Open Old Wounds'. Sung by Stevie Jackson rather than Stuart Murdoch, it draws on a Bible story (that of Jonathan & David, surprisingly - a tale of love that had to be hidden) to illustrate the story of a love triangle. The song is from the perspective of a guy who knows he doesn't really stand a chance with a girl, as she is in love with his best friend, but who at the same time is trying to tell himself that it's all OK, and that he shouldn't be angry or stand in the way of the other two. The whole song is basically him trying to reassure himself that everything's OK, and that in the greater scheme of things it doesn't really matter ("It's not as if I'm being sent off to war - there are worse things in this world", "It's not like we'll be parted, it's not like we'll never know love") but fundamentally I think he fails to convince himself - indeed, the song seems to end with the girl and the friend getting married, and them both disappearing out of his life. It's a really great song from an absolutely outstanding EP. Recently they seem to have lost a bit of their lyrical punch, but this song shows just how good B&S could be in their early career.

Belle and Sebastian – Jonathan David

My Albums of 2010, Part 1 (10-5 & Near Misses)

Seeing as it's New Year's Eve, I thought the time was right to do a rundown of the albums I have enjoyed most this year. Here's the first half, and I'll put up my 5 top albums of the year probably tomorrow.

	10 - Belle & Sebastian - Write About Love Of all the eagerly-anticipated albums this year, perhaps none had expectations so divided. Some people, fuelled by the couple of songs released on a B&S TV show a couple of months early, thought this had the potential to be a true return to their late-90s top form. Others, fuelled by the prospect of songs featuring Carey Mulligan and Norah Jones, thought it would be a further descent into the MOR, continuing along the lines of the second half of 2005's The Life Pursuit. In the end, they were probably both right. Some truly amazing indiepop is tempered by some dross, making for an album that is enjoyable but unmemorable. Hopefully they can get a couple more albums out over the next few years and re-find their stride.
	9 - Wild Nothing - Gemini In my review of Wild Nothing's neo-C86 debut, I said that it was a very good dreampop album with few ideas of its own. The couple of weeks since I wrote that review have slightly softened that position in my mind - it has improved even further with a few more listens, and I do now think that this is genuinely one of the best albums of the year. The accompanying Golden Haze EP is well worth picking up too. And, of course, I still love the cover art.
	8 - Shrag - Life! Death! Prizes! Previously much better live than on record, Shrag are one of those bands that seem to be able to churn out songs that feel like you've always known them. Post-punk (specifically post-X Ray Spex) in attitude but almost twee in melodies, they are the perfect band for a specific mood. This, their second record after they released a compilation of singles last year, is their first attempt at a proper long-player. It's just so fun - Tight in August is one of the year's angsty pop gems. Despite the lack of many potential singles, the like of which their previous record was stuffed with, I prefer this album, as it feels much more mature, without feeling like its anywhere near fulfilled the band's obviously massive potential. This makes me pretty excited for their follow-up, although I think it could be a while in coming as they cement their place in the London live music scene.
	7 - Beach House - Teen Dream Probably the biggest dream-pop album of the year, this record got pretty much universal acclaim form a variety of influential sources. I do think it is a genuinely stunning album. I can see how people might see it as slightly 'boring' and ineffectual, as it is not exactly imposing, but the melodies and harmonies gradually unfold and wrap themselves around you, in a similar way (although obviously not as powerfully) as 'Loveless'. Indeed, the more I listen to this album the more shoegazey I think it is, although with sweeter melodies and less abrasive noise than many albums of the genre - the most similar genuine oldschool shoegaze band would probably be Slowdive, but there are also a lot of other obvious influences among their contemporaries - I definitely think they've been listening to quite a lot of 'For Emma, Forever Ago'.
	6 - Allo Darlin' - Allo Darlin' I got fairly obsessed with this album back in the Spring. They, as with many bands this year, are incredibly open in their influences - in this case, 90s K and Sarah bands. 'Dreaming', the opening song, takes all the best elements of this scene - the boy-girl interplay vocals are straight out of 'C is the Heavenly Option' - and packages it with a ukulele. Some of the songs are weaker than others - I don't normally skip songs, but even I find 'Heartbeat Chilli' virtually unlistenable - but they seem to be able to put their mind to most things in the indiepop spectrum with a remarkable degree of success, and you can't help but be utterly charmed by the album as a whole. I think I definitely overplayed it, as I haven't listened to it much at all over the last couple of months, but there is no way I wouldn't put it up as my favourite British indiepop album of 2010, and there is some very strong competition.

Here are some other albums I heartily recommend from this year, but that didn't make the final top 10.

11 - Sufjan Stevens - The Age Of Adz
12 - Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest
13 - Avi Buffalo - Avi Buffalo
14 - Titus Andronicus - The Monitor
15 - James Blackshaw - All Is Falling
16 - Freelance Whales - Weathervanes
17 - Math And Physics Club - I Shouldn't Look As Good As I Do
18 - The Arcade Fire - Suburbs
19 - Free Energy - Stuck On Nothing
20 - Delorean - Subiza
21 - Standard Fare - The Noyelle Beat
22 - Teenage Fanclub - Shadows
23 - Thee Silver Mt. Zion & Tra-La-La Band - Kollaps Tradixionales
24 - Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Let It Sway
25 - Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me

I wish I had been to Bowlie this weekend.

Belle & Sebastian, the Vaselines, Teenage Fanclub, Isobel Campbell, the New Pornographers, Best Coast, Camera Obscura. A veritable Who's Who of both modern-day and classic indiepop. And I wasn't there.

Damn my lack of available holiday. But there's always YouTube!

Some lesser-known Christmas songs that are actually good

This time of year, Christmas music become pretty much ubiquitous. All the shops seem to be playing Slade, Wham! and whoever else will sell them the most scarves/toys/whatever. But there are actually some genuinely good Christmas songs, and here are some YouTube videos for them.



Big Star's overtly religious pop classic. The only thing that could possibly be holding this back from public affection is the slightly experimental opening. It has everything else needed for wider acceptance as a Christmas song - bells jingling, a catchy chorus and a solo by an instrument I can't for the life of me recognise. OK, maybe that last one isn't completely necessary for mass success.



Galaxie 500's Dean Wareham playing his old band's cover of Yoko Ono's Listen, The Snow Is Falling. Beautiful, and a perfect choice of cover - they have made it their own, in my opinion.



Yo La Tengo go easy on the feedback and heavy on the seasonal goodwill on this 2002 rarity from a Christmas EP.



To finish us off, a ridiculous rendition of The Twelve Days Of Christmas by Stuart Murdoch and friends, recorded for a John Peel Christmas Party session. It descends into Alan-Partridge-esque animal sound effects and laughter. Which is always a good thing.

Merry Christmas (for 2 weeks time)!