Endor (Mark Church, Richard Ferguson, Calum Johnston & David McGinty) is a slow starter. Getting good reviews years ago for their ep's, reckoned to be more talented than Frightened Rabbit, it should take to the middle of 2010 before we saw light of a full blown album. But the wait has given us a stately and well played pop album drafting not at least on more or less obvious elements from jangle-pop and their native scottish folk-rock tradtions. It's a good album that slowly grows you and deserves the repeat button on your music player. I will be looking forward to the follow up and hoping (being my only critic) that David McGinty finds the real potential and spectra in his seemingly potent voice.
I the light of the reissue of Arab Straps first albums they made this quite funny promotion video. Could it be a hint of more to come? Well, we just have to wait and see.
Speaking of Arab Strap. Malcolm Middleton posted "Thank fuck for Withered Hand" on his twitter. What he was thinking of by this comment, I can only speculate. But I reckon it can only be positive. The Scottish troubadour Withered Hand sets a beautiful middleground between new scottish folk and acoustic americana. He could be compared to a lot of musician from either side of that dualism. I will do neither and just let you decide where to put him - if he should be categorised at all. But thank fuck for Withered Hand. His myspace
This is only a reminder about one of McCartneys finest individual moments. It's hard not to cry as a little toddler to this tune. This stuff is rock solid and will be remembered 100 years from now.
Warning: Don't catch Beach House at Roskilde Festival 2010! Or at least read on to learn about another great act, playing in another tent at the same time!
We will the next days post a couple of small VIP-tips for the upcoming Roskilde Festival. News you can use!
Right now everybody is planning which acts to catch when. This mini-guide will ensure you maximum fun with maximum musical input.
And why not start the guide with a warning about Beach House. We absolutely love their third album Teen Dream, but this act is set to play at Pavilion saturday at 19.00. The problem? Well the stage is the smallest of the stages at Roskilde and you can be absolutely sure that this tent will be hot as hell and not as airy and relaxed as the sound. Another argument - at least if you live in the Copenhagen area - is that Beach House will play one more concert in Denmark this year. At the venue Vega 12. of november.
So why not do something else, which could be tres cool?
Drag your drunk body to the largest of the tent, same time, Green Stage 19.00. Catch Bad Lieutenant. This band consists of former New Order lead singer Bernard Sumner and guitarist Phil Cunningham, along with Jake Evans of Rambo and Leroy.
As you all are aware New Order combined post-punk and electronic dance. If you take a look at this setlist Bad Lieutenant it's the place to be if you're into one of the absolutely most critically acclaimed bands of the 1980s. I mean, Joy Division AND New Order music from Bernard Sumner? The band Bad Lieutenant has one album out and it's not bad either, even though I personally like New Order better. Well. This was tip #1!
The World Cup is only one day away and I think it is something we should mark here at Indie Laundry. What better way to do that than looking back at the best football song ever - New Order's 'World in Motion' from 1990, featuring vintage rapping from Watford, Liverpool & England star John Barnes. And of course the insanely catchy 'EN-GER-LAND' chorus.
I didn't know these guys before I checked the Roskilde line-up. At first they looked to hip-I-got-a-moustache-animal-afro-indie to my taste. But after a few spins I get really sucked into the charm in these songs. I imagine they could deliver a wonderful afternoon-show at Roskilde! Try it out!
My social network is of the highest possible quality. Therefore I will not hesitate to recommend The Late Great Fitzcarraldos. They sound like stuff you want to have on the iPod this summer while drinking cocktails and relaxing in the sun. I bet that description would fit quite a lot of bands, so I'll just add that this is stripped down DIY-tunes, which are absolutely enjoyable. They have recently played a tour with Efterklang.
Everybody loves - or at least likes - Arcade Fire, it seems. I understand that. Their two albums are of very high quality - blending a rather straightforward rock style with quirky, even haunted lyrics, production and vocals. (There is no 'but' here, if you expected that)
Amazingly, their third album 'The Suburbs' could very well be their finest ever. That is the impression I get when listening the double a-side single, the Canadians spat out this week. Lend your ear to this, if you haven't already done it!
Swedish indie pop darling Robyn is putting the fun back in pop music and she has the dance moves to go with it! She is preparing a huge 2010 with three album releases. The first - 'Girl Talk pt. 1' - hits the stores just in time for her anticipated return to Roskilde Festival.
Indie Laundry saw her fabulous show two years ago - her best ever, according to herself. Be sure that we will be there this year as well. And with tracks like 'Dancing on my own' among her new material, the tent is bound to be cooking! Great tune, stunning production.
A fun little possibility for you to make your own mix of Electronic experiment gone wrong by Heliopause. Good song, simple technics, lots of possibilities. Try it here.
There is a new documentary on the making of the Rolling Stones classic 'Exile on Main St.' coming out soon. And yesterday, the album itself was released in a deluxe remastered version including a 10-song bonus disc. Yummy!
"Mick needs to know what he's going to do tomorrow. Me, I'm just happy to wake up and see who's hanging around. Mick's rock, I'm roll." - Keith Richards on the difference between Mick Jagger and himself.
So the date of the release of Silver Columns debut album YES AND DANCE is closing in on us (31-5-2010 on Moshi Moshi). And it is with excitement that it's nearing, since the hype about Silver Columns has been going on for quite awhile. And when we get YES AND DANCE in the our player a more firmly comment will be made here. But Hot Chip will be getting a run for their money, as some expects. And (now) knowing that Silver Columns are consisting of The Pictish Trail and Adem the hype isn't unfounded. But for now take a listen to their single Cavalier (being released on monday the 17th of May) + a few others things, incl. Joe Goddards remix of Brow Beaten.
Being at the edge of dislike can be a good thing. Especially if it's music this scepticism is provoked by. Because if so, you're are bound to listen to it again and again, over and over, until you reach some kind of clarity of this "dislike" (or at least I am). During the session of repeated listening, the good parts are due to take over if they really prevails the bad and instead reveals the qualities of the music. Over the last few days The Scottish Enlightenment have had their turn in my dislike-session, but are now turning me around towards the positive. As the second song of the Pascal EP proclaims (with another perspective): If you would just try a bit harder. I've done - and do - and my likening is on the rise. But so it often is when the starting point is an underplayed lo-fi-ish slow-core (for me anyway). But take a judge for yourself - which I recommend you do.
"Texas rose, the thaw, the beasts" by Castanets is just amazingly lovely. Castanets (aka Raymond Raposa) plays his music like a folk musician being evaporated into the future on the back of nostalgia, riding the possibilities in all its glory and downfall with his pockets filled with natures and cultures stimulants. I know that labeling music with meaningful tags is notoriously difficult, but some would name his music freak folk or New weird America. That actually doesn't give him enough credit. So instead think of the possibility that Pink Floyd, Vic Chesnutt and Bonnie Prince Billy is over for dinner at Portisheads - with the Geto Boys looming in the distant attic - then you might hear, dripping from the window, a vertiginious folk-hopping psychedelic space-rock. Until that happens just load "Texas rose, the thaw, the beasts", and let it drip from your speakers.
Endor (Mark Church, Richard Ferguson, Calum Johnston & David McGinty) is a slow starter. Getting good reviews years ago for their ep's, reckoned to be more talented than Frightened Rabbit, it should take to the middle of 2010 before we saw light of a full blown album. But the wait has given us a stately and well played pop album drafting not at least on more or less obvious elements from jangle-pop and their native scottish folk-rock tradtions. It's a good album that slowly grows you and deserves the repeat button on your music player. I will be looking forward to the follow up and hoping (being my only critic) that David McGinty finds the real potential and spectra in his seemingly potent voice.
