New Band: Walter Mitty & his Makeshift Orchestra

Walter Mitty... make ultra-lofi bedroom songs, but unlike a lot of stuff in that grouping their stuff is genuinely charming and also pretty catchy. The lyrics are mostly about things like letting friends vomit on floors, and they make heavy use of a kazoo - and it's as brilliant as that sounds. They deserve far more than the 34 (34!!!) listeners they currently have on last.fm, and to have better gigs coming up than just what appears from their website to be a week of busking in Portland - some of their songs are easily as good as modern american lo-fi king Adam Green, for example. They've got a couple of EPs for free download on Bandcamp - the better of the two is at this link.

As an illustration of how fun this band is, here's a live video of a mass-singalong they inspired during a gig at a donut shop. God, I wish stuff like this happened in this country. Can you imagine any current British indiepop/lo-fi bands doing this? Not at all.

New Band: Veronica Falls

Here's a quick post about this brilliant new band. Having seen them live last week (the write-up of which is still pending) I got a demo CD of their songs so far, and I love it. All the best songs from their live set are there. Formed in that most bounteous of cities, Glasgow, by ex-members of indiepoppers The Royal We (who I really need to investigate more) they released a 7" on Slumberland under the name Sexy Kids before becoming slightly darker and fuzzier, and taking on their current name. Staples of the live scene over the last year or so, they've built up a bit of a following, and were apparently due to have recorded their debut by the end of the year.

Sound-wise, they obviously draw a lot from the fuzzier end of indiepop, especially from the current New York scene - they owe a lot to Vivian Girls, but Veronica Falls have much better tunes than anything VG have written. The songs are mostly quite dark, especially their debut single Found Love In A Graveyard, a song about falling in love with a ghost. I've put a link to the mp3 at the end of this post. They also do an ace cover of 'Starry Eyes' by Roky Erickson, which is freely available of Spotify.

A bit like a slightly fey-er Siouxie and the Banshees, in summary. If that doesn't sound abolutely amazing, then shame on you. I can't wait for the album.

Veronica Falls - Found Love In A Graveyard

Live Review: (Not) The Track & Field Winter Sprinter, Part 1 - 04/01/2011

Over the last 3 days I've been to every night of this mini-festival at the Lexington. Organised by Fortuna Pop! supremo Sean, it was the perfect opportunity to get 2011 off to a great indiepoppy start. 3 nights, 3 bands on each, with bands taken from the whole spectrum of indiepop, from the C86 veterans The Loft, who featured on the original compilation that gave the scene its name, right through to Veronica Falls, an up-to-the-minute fuzzpop band for the Upset The Rhythm scenesters. I think I'll just do a post for each day, as otherwise it would get a big over-long, with a paragraph on each band.

Evans The Death started the first night, deputising for one of my most-anticipated bands of the week, Shrag, who had to drop out through illness. I saw them at the Buffalo Bar a couple of months ago, and wasn't that impressed, and they didn't do anything to change my mind this time. I liked the dual vocals, which sounded like they were singing the same thing just a third apart, and the rhythm section was fairly tight, but the guitarist was woefully out of tune for most of the set and all their songs sounded very similar. Luckily, they all looked about 13, so they've got enough time to hone their skills and develop a bit.

Standard Fare only played a fairly short set, but they were, as usual, brilliant. Playing all the better songs from their (slightly hit-and-miss, in my opinion) debut, they appeared to be having fun on stage, which is always a start, and some of their songs are in the very top echelon of modern indiepop.  Some really impressive musicianship also set them apart, in a scene where it isn't totally necessary. They closed the set with Fifteen, one of my songs of last year. They're just completely charming in everything they do, from the fact that their guitarist is the happiest man in indiepop (closely challenged by Allo Darlin's Bill Botting) to their apparent shyness between songs. I really have no idea how Standard Fare always seem to be so far down the bill at indiepop gigs - even with the original lineup for this gig, while Shrag were still scheduled, I'd have put them as headliners like a shot. As it was, they were originally due on stage at 8:30. Crazy.

Having only seen the Loves before on the large outdoor stage at Indietracks, and not having been completely convinced by them on record, I was very surprised by how good they were live. One of the few bands this week who stretched the definition of the term 'indiepop' to breaking point, they seemed far more inspired by 1966 than 1986 (apart from in the department of facial hair, unfortunately), playing a set that mainly consisted of Nuggets-y garage pop. This can be heard pretty well on the track they did for the Fortuna Pop! sampler a couple of years ago, Xs And Os. Much like Standard Fare, they were enjoying themselves on stage - it was the drummer's birthday, so they all got out small party hats half way through the set, and they brought Paul Wright, the founder of the Track & Field Organisation, onto the stage to play the part of Jesus in one song (a role performed on record by Doug Yule of Velvet Underground fame). It was fundamentally a great gig, both musically and for the atmosphere they generated in the crowd, and I'm pretty disappointed that I've finally got into them so late, with their last gig scheduled for Valentine's Day next month.

I'll do posts on the second and third days in the near future!

Album Review: The Felt Tips - Living and Growing

(I'm going to start doing Spotify links to songs in posts. There are a few embedded. Enjoy.)

[Plastilina, 2010]

Glasgow's Felt Tips have been around for a while, and have recorded a few singles over the last 3 years, but this is their debut album proper. A lot of the great songs I have been listening to in demo form for a while are re-recorded here, thankfully, meaning they can finally see wider release. Another in the long line of great Scottish indiepop bands, instrumentally the Felt Tips are just an above-average jangle pop band, albeit one with an ear for a great tune. It is lyrically where they really shine.

The lead singer Andrew's voice is perfect for the tales of teenage fumbles, the songs forming genuine stories with proper characters and everything. Bought And Sold, the tale of a trip down from Scotland to London, is a case in point, as is Silver Spoon, a much bleaker tale of a girl from a rich background who suffers horrendous injuries in a car crash. The backing music initially feels jangly and happy, but listening to more than a couple of these songs at once reveals depths, which try to emphasise just how empty and depressing the life that the singer appears to be trying to leave can be. I like to think the album is autobiographical, because the singer's experiences seem a lot more in tune with those of genuine people than a lot of their contemporaries. Maybe my favourite song on the album, however, is Dear Morrissey, a paean-of-sorts to the Morrissey of the 80s, and all that he stood for, which has in many ways been undermined by his latter-day actions (listened to Paint A Vulgar Picture recently?)

Had I realised this album had come out in 2010 when I wrote my run-down, it would definitely have made an appearance in the top 10. As it is, I think I'll just be listening to it for a good portion of 2011, at the very least.

Album Review: Yuck - Yuck

[Fat Possum, 2011]

Originally sold to the masses as a 'shoegazey Sonic Youth', Yuck have been building up a lot of hype recently. Chosen as one of the BBC's Sound of 2011 bands, and formed by some of the ex-members of Cajun Dance Party, they had a lot of potential to be truly terrible. The Vaccines, their rivals in the BBC poll, seem to be another in the line of terrible 'indie' NME bands of recent years, but Yuck are actually surprisingly good.

They claim to be influenced by Mark Kozelek and various shoegaze bands, but in reality at least half their songs could have been released by late 80s/early 90s Teenage Fanclub, while the rest draw heavily on a variety of sources, all of which I love. 'Georgia' is one of the lead singles from the album, and probably the most poppy this album gets, with echoes of various older American indiepop bands like Black Tambourine. 'Operation' is, essentially, exactly the same as 'Teen Age Riot', apart from lacking a bit of drive in certain sections. None of this is a bad thing in any way for a band still on their debut album, and they show the ability to be original as well, as in 'Rubber', the monolithic, devastating shoegaze ender to both the album and their live sets. Some of the guitar work really is exceptional, with jangle and fuzz both used to great effect.

Some of the slower songs are also worthy of praise. 'Suck', the only song where the Red House Painters influence really is evident, is much closer in spirit to their acoustic side-project, Yu(c)k, which released a really good EP late last year. Everything they've done until this album is downloadable on their website - I advise checking a lot of it out.

They basically just make bloody good 80s revivalist shoegazey rock music, the other side of the coin to the Pains Of Being Pure At Heart's 80s revivalist shoegazey pop music. And I think that was something that was lacking slightly in the music scene until Yuck came along.

Best Songs of 2010 (Spotify Playlist)

Here's a playlist for those of you with Spotify showcasing some of the better music released this year. I know it's skewed heavily towards the indiepop end of the spectrum, but I don't care.

There are a few songs that would have made the top 10 cut if they were on Spotify, such as Wive - Lazarvs and Dives, but I thought this was the best way to share them for listening convenience. The order isn't the order I would place them in, but is just so it works as a straight listen.

Best of 2010

My Albums of 2010, Part 2 (5-1)

Here's the second part of my 2010 rundown, slightly later than originally promised.

	5 - Best Coast - Crazy For You Definitely the most divisive album of the year. I come down solidly in the 'pro-' camp, though. It's neither clever - I lost count of the times she uses the same 'lazy-crazy' rhyme over the first half of the record - nor new, and it's potentially very annoying (especially the lead single, 'Boyfriend', as my housemates can attest). I just love it. There are few genres that can get under my skin more than this kind of summery fuzz-pop. Bethany Cosentino, who formed this band (it was rumoured, with her ex-babysitter) after leaving Pocahaunted, is scarily obsessed with the subject of these songs, enough for some lyrics to send a shiver down the spine, but instead of being a bad thing, this gives the whole album a cohesiveness which means it works well as a full album, something frequently lost in this mp3 age, and especially rare in throwaway pop like this. Not every album needs to be a challenging listen, and some of this album is just brilliant.
	4 - The Tallest Man On Earth - The Wild Hunt There are obvious easy comparisons with 3rd-album-era Dylan, but in my mind this stretches no further than the fact that a guy with a fairly nasal voice has made a folk album good enough and accessible enough to be taken on and lauded by the wider music community. He's a lot more like Nick Drake, to my ears. The guitar-work especially is a lot more intricate than Dylan ever managed in his pre-electric days, and despite the lyrics being fairly obvious ('I plan to be forgotten when I'm gone', etc.), they are undeniably heartfelt and effective. This album, his second, takes the extraordinary songwriting and emotion from certain songs on his debut and makes it work over a full album. The rise in emotionless pop-'folk' this year (Laura Marling and Mumford & Sons, to name two of the worst offenders) has, to its credit, made this kind of thing fashionable again, and I think we could be about to have a 2011 renaissance of genuine folk albums like this. Even if they do come from Sweden.
	3 - Wive - Pvll An album apparently recorded over the internet, with the band never completely assembling, this is probably the most beautiful, and underappreciated, record of the year. Primarily using a violin and some samples as percussion (including, most effectively, turntable hisses and pops), as well as a few guest musicians, London's own Wive managed to produce an album that combines the kind of rootsy melancholy of Bon Iver's debut with electronics and feedback. If I had to sum this up in one word, it would definitely be 'haunting', but that is to do a disservice to the variety that is present if you just scratch the surface of the record. Listen to 'Lazarvs and Dives' if nothing else.
	2 - The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night In the 'independent rock & pop' sections of the popular press, 2010 seems to have been the year of the Arcade Fire. Good as The Suburbs is, however, I think the Besnard Lakes wrote the best album to come out of the massively enviable Canadian indie scene this year. Very much an album to be listened to start-to-finish, the lush orchestrations and driving rhythms bring out the soaring melodies and implant them into your brain. The twin vocals of the husband-and-wife team of Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas work perfectly together, interlocking and alternating in style. Every single one of the tracks here, especially up to track 5 or so, is a potential highlight. The songs feel like I have always known them, without being 'catchy' per se. After this and their previous album, Dark Horse, the Besnard Lakes are well on their way to becoming one of my favourite bands.
	1 - The National - High Violet In the 3-year wait since their last, and best, album, Boxer, the National had built up some pretty big expectations. Their core fanbase, including  me, weren't originally completely convinced, with the new songs appearing to be their attempt to break into the mass market, lacking the  knowing witticism and intimacy of their previous albums. However, the album is a massive grower, and succeeds completely at what it tries to do, with songs like 'England' and 'Conversation 16' among the very best  of the year. Played live, even the weaker songs develop some remarkable character. In the last couple of months I have begun to appreciate this album a lot more, and think that it (unfortunately for their fans, fortunately for the band) could be the start of their ascent to genuine global levels. A worthy album of the year, from a band it's hard to imagine releasing anything that wouldn't also have claimed that title. Yes, I'm a bit of a fan-boy.