Whoops!

So I've just remembered that James asked me to look after the blog whilst he's hitchhiking his way across Europe. It would seem that I've disregarded my duties somewhat so I'm hoping to remedy this by writing a quick post now and hopefully something a bit meatier in the next couple of days.

Well, in a bit of a cop-out, I'll write about some bands that I've been listening to recently:

High Places
High Places are a duo from Brooklyn that play experimental, electronic folky kinda stuff. Their sound lies somewhere between Jimmy Tamoerello's Dntel and Animal Collective. I think they're excellent so check 'em:

High Places - From Stardust

The Acorn
My Friend lent me the album 'Glory Hope Mountain' a couple of weeks ago and I've been listening to it ever since. The Acorn are a band from Ottawa, Canada that play some really beautiful indie folk. They are playing at the Fuse festival in Leeds on 2nd May so I'd recommend giving them a listen before then.

The Acorn - Flood Pt.1

Sung Tongs
This Animal Collective album was recorded in 2004 by Avey Tare and Panda Bear. It was recorded using only acoustic guitars and tribal drums and demonstrates a greatly stripped back sound. I only discovered this album a few weeks ago but I think its one of my favourites, although its a much calmer and more peaceful affair it loses none of what make Animal Collective great.

Animal Collective - Winters Love

Just to finish, I wondered if James really meant you should 'defiantly check out' those bands on his Stag and Dagger post? Check them out even though you know you're not supposed to? I don't know...

That Driving Beat // New Venue // Friday 27th March

That Driving Beat have had a few months down at Milo's which have been going well so they have decided to move to a bigger venue. They have chosen The Underground - Leeds O2 Academy.

They will still be spinning 60's Soul, Rare Motown, 70's Northern Soul, 60's R&B, Funk & a twist of Latin!

For the re-launch they have got special guest DJ Matty Sherlock.

Friday 27th March @ The Underground - Leeds 02 Academy
10pm - 3am
£4 b4 11pm £5 after

The Clean // Influential Artist

The Clean are little known first-wave punk band from New Zealand who have been making music since the late 70's. The bands line-up has changed over the years but has always been revolving around brothers Hamish and David Kilgour. The band disbanded for much of the 80's allowing members to work on other projects but came back together at the end of the 80's to continue making music. After reuniting their sound became more commercial but still had an experimental edge. In 2007 they went on their first world tour and released a live album from that tour. The band although only ever having any success in their native country of New Zealand have been influential for many bands. I'd defiantly recommend getting "Anthology" which is a collection of their early material which was put out in 2002 as many of the records were hard to get hold of. Here are some of my favorites from that album.

The Clean - Anything Could Happen
The Clean - Point That Thing

David Byrne // Live

David Byrne will be performing live at Sheffeild City Hall on the 4th April. Sheffeild is only a 40 minute train journey away so it will be definately worth the trip. David will be performing material from his latest colabartion with Brian Eno "Everything that Happens will Happen Today" but also his songs from all his previous works, including Talking Heads songs. Check out a new song where David Byrne colaborated with Dirty Projectors.

Dirty Projectors & David Byrne - Knotty Pine

Stag and Dagger // Line-Up

The initial line-up for Stag and Dagger has been revealed, and so far looks like it's not one to miss.

Confirmed so far:
COLD WAR KIDS
THE MAE SHI
CURSIVE
TWILIGHT SAD
ABE VIGODA (Defiantly Check Out)
ANDREW WEATHERALL
MAPS
JAMES YUILL
RUSKO
N-TYPE
WILD BEASTS
FILTHY DUKES
MARINA & THE DIAMONDS
DAN BLACK
PHANTOM BAND
MICACHU AND THE SHAPES
VIVIAN GIRLS (Defiantly Check Out)
MARINA & THE DIAMONDS
TELEPATHE (Defiantly Check Out)
DANANANANAYKROYD
MAGISTRATES (DJ SET)
SOY UN CABALLO
HIGH RANKIN
TOMB CREW
DJ SLUGZ
ED-DL
MOODIE MAXMILLION
WE HAVE BAND
YOUR TWENTIES
PLUGS
TRAILER TRASH TRACYS
EX LOVERS
LET'S WRESTLE
TUBELORD
THE VIRGIN PASSAGES
MALE BONDING (Defiantly Check Out)
ARCH M
YOUNG TURKS
YOUNG & LOST
PURE GROOVE
CASPER C
GIRLCORE
DE DE MOUSE
80 KIDZ RIDDIM
SAUNTER
TUCKER
ME MY HEAD
THE SPOLKESTRA
AGASKODO TELIVEREK
ARTHUR DELANEY
UNGDOMSKULEN

We'll keep you posted it anymore are added to the line-up. Limited Early Bird Ticket offer available now for all 3 cities at £10 per ticket.

Tickets can be bought from: See Tickets, We Got Tickets and Gigantic.

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart // Live Video

Since posting about The Pains of Being Pure at Heart I found these live video's of them on the Offset blog.

Wavves // New Album

I know i've been blogging about this kid Wavves a lot since starting the blog, but he just keeps impressing me. Seeing him live was sick, his first record "Wavves" although a lot of it was a sonic assault of noise was great and now the release of his second album slightly confusingly also titled "Wavves" is even better. The songs in the second record are much more melodic but don't worry he still assaulting your ears with just as much loud noises. Check out some of my highlights.

Wavves - Sun Opens My Eyes
Wavves - No Hope Kids

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

I hadn't heard a thing about The Pains of Being Pure at Heart until a friend played me their record, I then realised that their self titled debut is one of only two records sold in Urban Outfitters. I must be finding out about them a bit late. These Brooklyn kids have made a pop band but you can see their shoegaze influences coming through to make a great noise-pop album. Definately one of the best albums of this year so far and one to get. Check out a few songs below.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Stay Alive
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Come Saturday

New York Dolls // New Album

New York Dolls's today have announced that they will be releasing a new studio album on the 4th May. The new album is going to be titled 'Cause I Sez So' and has been produced by Todd Rundgren. The album will feature 11 new tracks and a new version on 'Trash' if you don't know the punk classic, you can download it below.

New York Dolls - Trash

The Horrors // Countdown Over // Sea Within A Sea

The countdown on The Horrors website ended at midnight and revealed their new music video. The video is for a track called 'Sea Within A Sea' and is a big departure from their debut album 'Strange House'. Douglas Hart from The Jesus and Mary Chain has directed the new video which shows that the band have gone in a shoegaze direction, which I am a big fan of. Other changed are Rhys now on bass and Tom on synth.

The single which has been taken from their forthcoming album 'Primary Colours' which is due to be released on the 4th May. It has been produced by Geoff Barrow from Portishead and the single is available to download for free from their website if you join the mailing list.

The band have also released dates of a U.K tour and they are coming to Leeds on the 25th May and are playing The Brudenell Social Club. Tickets can be brought from here.

Worriedaboutstan // Album Teaser

I have been very kindly sent a track from Leeds electronic music duo Worriedaboutstan. The band say that they make a mixture of post rock and IDM, although their newer material is heavily influenced by minimal techno. Their new album Arrivals is going to be released on Leeds based Gizeh Records in May but luckily we have a track for you to download of free now.

Worriedaboutstan - You're In My Thoughts

Releases // Monday 16th March

The Kills - Black Baloon 10"

The indie rock duo The Kills release their next single from their 2008 album "Midnight Boom". Although this isn't a signature song from The Kills with it being very much calmer and melodic, it's still one of my favourites from the album. On the flip side is two exclusive tracks '44' and 'weedkiller.

Televised Crimewave - Listen and Repeat 7"

This is the debut release, from one of the bands which emerged after Black Wire split up- Televised Crimewave. It's being released on Puregroove and has already been Artrocker's single of the week.

Hatcham Social - You Dig The Tunnel, I'll Hide The Soil - L.P

This is Hatcham Social's debut album, which has been produced by Tim Burgess (The Charlatans). Hatcham Social have received good reviews for this catchy indie pop album which has been put out by Fierce Panda.

Black Lips - 200 Million Thousdand - LP

The Black Lips return with their third studio album "200 Million Thousand". After the huge success of 2007's "Good Bad Not Evil" I'm sure this one will be just as well received.

Wavves - Wavves - LP
After seeing Wavves play at The Fenton a couple weeks ago I've been listening to his first record loads, it's a great mix of Lo-Fi and grunge. I can't wait to here his new album "Wavves" hopefully it will be just as good as the last one.

Rough Trade // BBC // TV Programme

Currently on BBC iPlayer there are two programmes about the indie record label Rough Trade. The first is titled Rough Trade At The BBC which is a series of live performances from artists who were signed to the label, it features The Smiths, Violent Femmes, Pulp and Antony and the Johnsons. My favourite performance is from Leeds Delta 5 who perform "Anticipation" a great post-punk tune.

The second show is called Do It Yourself: The Story Of Rough Trade. The show goes through the history of Rough Trade from it's humble beginnings of a record shop to becoming a record label.

Cage and Aviary // DFA

After playing all my disco records for hours last night I went to the record store today to go buy a few more. I found this offering from my favorite record label DFA. It's Cage & Aviary's single "Television Train", another great disco-house tune from James Murphy's label. Slightly more down tempo than most of the DFA stuff but still another good song. Check it out.

If your into italo-disco you should check out FABRICLIVE.36 mixed by James Murphy and Pat Mahoney. It's been out a couple years now but been listening to it a lot recently and still think it's great.

Cage & Aviary - Television Train

SXSW

Alright Scenesters?

As hopeful bands around the world prepare to bend over for the musical big-wigs in Austin I thought I'd give you a few acts from the festival that I reckon are worth a listen.

Maps and Atlases
Maps and Atlases's first EP 'Trees, Swallows, Houses' offered a delightful mash of spazzy guitar work, chaotic drumming and elegant vocal melodies. Their second EP 'You And Me And The Mountain' showed a move away from the math-rock workouts of their first and delivered a more mature sound full of layered textures and harmonies. They are currently working on their first full length album which I can't wait for.



Titus Andronicus
Taking their name from Shakespeare's first tragedy, this New Jersey band play loud and raucous lo-fi punk that drips in angst and emotion. Their debut album 'The Airing of Grievances' is a rough and ready record laden with brilliant lyrics and melodies that seem to spring from nowhere. The Guardian called it 'An unholy collision of the Pogues, Bruce Springsteen, Arcade Fire, the Jesus and Mary Chain and even lost Leeds shouters the Three Johns'.



Sky Larkin
I'm sure that this band need little introduction. The Leeds band hit SXSW having just released their debut 'The Golden Spike'.



Grizzly Bear
I may well be preaching to the choir here, but hey ho. Grizzly Bear, a band from Brooklyn NY, play a dreamy blend of folky experimentalism. Their latest record 'Yellow House' is an album awash with colours and textures. Grizzly Bear use flutes, chimes, percussion and electronics to create songs that build to shimmering climaxes.



Obviously I'm not suggesting that these are the only worthwhile bands playing at SXSW but I hope you like some, or one, of the bands I've mentioned.

DIY Punk // Leeds // Next Week

On Tuesday (17th March) the Leeds hardcore scene's (relatively) elder statesmen The Dauntless Elite are playing at The Packhorse with Crazy Arm, Bangers and Pure Graft. The Dauntless Elite have been fairly quiet since the release of their excellent album "Graft" on Leeds' own Bombed Out Records almost two years ago, but they appear to be playing more regularly now and have returned with some excellent new material. This is one of several great shows Tiger Bear Promotions have in the pipeline, so keep checking this blog for more on those.

Then on Thursday (19th March) Dirty Otter presents Pneu (France), Shield Your Eyes and (the excellent) Uprights at Royal Park Cellars in Hyde Park. Pneu are a noisy lo-fi post-rock band, currently touring the UK extensively with Shield Your Eyes.

Heartbreak // NME Tour // New Remix

The italo-disco duo Heartbreak are due to be playing The Cockpit on 7th May. Unfortunately this is on an NME Radar tour alongside La Roux, Magistrates and The Chapman Family.

In anticipation for the tour Heartbreak have remixed La Roux - In For The Kill. They have managed to turn the song into a great disco tune, which you can download here.

Lunar Jam // Secret Location // Saturday 14th March

This Saturday if your not into going to Brighton Beach or Ipso Facto and Little Boots at Bad Sneakers maybe check out this underground disco party, Lunar Jam. It's being held in a secret location in Leeds which is an art gallery space, with special guest DJ Phoreski.

You can download a Phoreski mix here.

Entry is £5. Venue and ticket information will be released closer to the event.

DEVO // First Album In 19 Years // Released This Autumn

DEVO after announcing that they will be performing their 1978 album 'Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo?' in full at the London Kentish Town Forum on May 6th. The pioneers of new wave have announced that they will be releasing a new album later this year. The album which is still yet to be named will be released in autumn this year. It's the first new music that the band will release since their 2007 single "Watch Us Work It".

Spider and the Flies // Vice Magazine // Mix pt. 1

Spider and the Flies is a side project of Tom Furse and Rhys Webb from The Horrors. They brought a bunch of old synths went into a studio with Barry 7 from Add N to (X) and produced a fantastic mini LP "Something Clockwork This Way Comes", which if you haven't already heard you should really check out. My personal favorite from the LP is "Jungle Planet".

Vice Magazine had the brilliant idea of asking these "record heads" to make a mix which you can download here. It is titled "Up" and is absolutely fantastic and luckily it's only pt. 1 of the mix. Pt. 2 "Down" is coming soon so we'll keep you posted.