wow

M. Ward - Let's Dance (zshare)

i think i've found a new favourite song (for the time being anyhow!)

photo credit: krisan

aois

tune of the week!

All Out In Stripes - I'm So Arrogant

i love it when you listen to a song once and it immediately grabs you. then you stick it on repeat for half an hour and wonder why you hadn't heard it before.
All Out In Stripes are three boys making synth-tastic music. the lyrics are clever. the beats are heavy. it's sort of brilliant.

download more from the band's myspace page! they also do remixes and mixes which are worth checking out.

we can travel through the air.

a while ago Tim from funfunfun posted about Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele (here) and i left a comment saying "all these tracks sound s0s0000ooo0o0os0sos00000ooooo good!!11" or something to that effect. what Tim said about Dent May.. sounding like "a 1960s pop band influenced by 80s electropop and soul" is completely spot on.

on 'A Brush With Velvet', the free EP (click here to download), Dent May does not disappoint. there's finger clicking, 'ooh la la la's, lots of ukulele-ing (.. that should be a word), clapping, tambourines and plenty of feel good vibes. oh, and a cover of Prince.

close your eyes whilst listening and you could almost be in a sepia tinted polaroid of people sitting in a field with daisies in their hair on a summer's day. it's retro but bang up-to-date simultaneously.
and i think i love it. i almost certainly will be asking for a ukulele this christmas.

Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele's Myspace

yes yes yes yes

i've written about Operator Please in this blog a few times before and my tune has never changed. they are one of the best bands around at the moment.

not only do they make fantastic pop music, they make it with style and charisma oozing from every single pore in all of their bodies.
their album 'Yes Yes Vindictive' is a collection of finely tuned guitar stomping, violin wheeling, shouty tunes.
Amandah Wilkinson's voice is almost hypnotic as she belts out lyrics with a touch of 'i know i fucking rock'. newer songs such as 'Cringe' and 'Yes Yes' take the classic components of catchy to the next level with clap claps and echoed shouts ('don't! don't! make me!' 'who! are! you!').
there are softer songs on the album, 'Other Song' and 'Pantomime', and they are dominated by the violin but not in an overbearing "wtf where's the guitar gone" type of way.

my favourite track is 'Ghost' (it MUST be the next single after 'Leave It Alone'). it's just seven shades of wonderful. fast drumming, the haunting bleat of the keyboard, speedy vocals.. everything is ace.

Operator Please have taken a soulful voice, surf rock (think 70s theme tunes and Bermuda shorts), a violin, the sunshine, a couple of genius kids and put them through some kind of magic processor.

'Yes Yes Vindictive' is a brilliant debut and i cannot wait to see this band live again.

Operator Please - Ghost
Operator Please - Cringe

it's not out in the UK yet but you can buy the album here! and 'Leave It Alone' is out on the 19th November!

mayhem.

in case anyone wanted to know, i reached my target of 52 gigs for this year. and i'm still counting. i won't do a rundown of the best ones yet as i suspect Patrick Wolf will have to take up a slot with his finale on the 20th December.

on thursday i saw Foals at Camden barfly as part of the Levi's Ones To Watch events. they were on such better form than they were at leeds fest, rattling out the tunes, a few new songs thrown in for fun.
the end of their set was "cut short" due to a stage invasion that prompted Yannis to throw his guitar down and storm offstage. as the person who started that stage invasion i'd just like to say 'wtf?'. i'm a bit sick of bands getting annoyed at people being enthusiastic. fair enough if everyone wanted to steal their equipment/beat the crap out of them/insert other bad things. but they didn't. i, for one, was happy enough dancing. i think more people should be grateful that they actually inspire people to dance. things could be worse; you could always be in a band that sounds like Embrace. not hatin' though! Foals are a fantastic band and Yannis is a lovely bloke. i guess everyone gets dramatic from time to time.

Foals - Hollaback Girl (Gwen Stefani cover, xfm session)

saturday was YACHT and The Whip at Push. both of whom were fantastic.
YACHT jumped around the crowd like a madman and the crowd jumped too. i cannot even begin to explain YACHT.

YACHT - The Magic Beat
(do what you love, love what you do - the best life philosophy ever)

The Whip make music that really doesn't sound like it comes from Levenshulme. electro beats with crushing guitars and intros that can work even grunge lovers into dancing frenzies. their single 'Sister Siam' is out today! buy it here.

The Whip - Divebomb

look at what we found.

they're back. and they mean business. and it sounds fucking great.

The Futureheads - Broke Up The Time (zshare)

the lyrics are witty, the guitars are fierce, the drums are heavy. it's catchy, it's poppy, it's fantastic.

i am such a geek i'm going to their King's College gig (29/11) AND one of the Sunderland Independent dates (7/12). the excitement is unbearable.

amazingness.

Yeasayer. amazing. their debut album is full of gems. and is possibly one of my favourite of the whole year.

songs like 'Forgiveness' take on Grizzly Bear esque vocals, Indian vibes and mash them together with jumps and skips and shakers and psychedelic guitars. they are truly something brilliant.

you can download a free track from the Yeasayer MYSPACE as well as find links to buy their phenomenal album, 'All Hour Cymbals'. do it, you won't regret it!

Yeasayer - Wintertime (zshare)

ps. I have a spare guestlist place for The Wombats tomorrow at ULU (london!) if anyone wants to go for free? you don't have to hang around with me or anything haha. email me ASAP if you're interested: yorkiethegreatest@gmail.com

raaaargh?

happy halloween and all that.



i figured this was a satisfying cross between scary and absolutely hilarious. watch and love.

antonyms, synonyms, meronyms, hyponyms..

talk about SWAMPED!!

i went out every night last week, four gigs, one bad incident, two days getting used to the light again.
now i have six weeks worth of university work to catch up on. and an exam on friday!

lots of exciting things happening re: the blogasphere so keep your ears to the ground.

song i cannot stop listening to, so much so i changed my ringtone to this and have missed too many calls due to dancing instead of answering the phone:

Friendly Fires - Bring Out Your Dead (zshare)

naked we made it.

last night i ventured to East London on my lonesome for a gig. a few of my friends said things that resembled "?@£@!!@&*?!" when i said i was going on my own for East London Is A Vampire (lololol). no. but seriously, most people would shit themselves and i've only been here a month.

but i'm brave like that.

i arrived at Cargo, only too eager to get inside as it was a little late and i was cold. the first band were already onstage. they were called Trouble Vs Glue and the woman in the Italian two piece was amazingly scary (i guess she's the Trouble). they made loud, erratic and furocious electro that was charming in the strangest of ways.

next onstage was Dirty Projectors. seeing as i am in love with this band, i knew straight away they were going to be really good. but they weren't. they were fucking IMMENSE. at one point i wanted to cry. their drummer is fierce and it seemed like he was beating the crap out of their songs but in a completely brilliant way. dave, singer and guitarist, was doing some sort of chicken bobbing impression (much like Wild Beasts) but his voice is so compelling you hardly noticed the strange moving. amber and angel (the names almost seem fitting!) sang their hearts out and it was beautiful.
i think i was slightly overwhelmed at just how good they were.

Dirty Projectors - Gimme Gimme Gimme

finally, Khaela Maricich, aka The Blow floated onstage wearing all white and looking fresh faced despite being heavily jet lagged.
Khaela gave us a running commentary to each one of her tracks and explained the stories behind her songs which was highly commical. she called it her song writing workshop and never once lost the concentration of anyone in the entire audience. with her singing over the electro infused beats from Paper Television and Poor Aim: Love Songs, and dancing like the best robot i've ever seen, i completely forgot i was on my own.
it was more of a performance than a gig which she gave but it was incredibly enjoyable and well worth going to.

The Blow - Hey Boy