ALBUM: Jonsi & Alex - Riceboy Sleeps

There are many words that spring to mind around this side-project of Sigur Ros' lead singer Jonsi Birgisson: Ambient, Ethereal, other-wordly and erm... bindun?

While admittedly the compositions are more stripped back than the full band, they feature Sigur Ros' string section Amiina, the occasional choir, and a penchant for the epic. A return to Sigur Ros pre-Takk without any of their darkness. But the overall sound is pretty darn similar, complete with twisted pianos and rewinded reverb.

That being said, it still is an amazingly beautiful and intimate record, whose only real reference points being the aforementioned Sigur Ros, undisputed kings of their own "Slow-motion Rock" as well as the softer ends of "post-rock" veterans such as Explosions in the Sky or Godspeed You Black Emperor. But even Godspeed's quietest lolloping is much too busy being grand and epic to be compared to the sonic beauty on display here.

While songs by other artists seem to have been made longer in the name of being "EPIC", these songs, with many clocking in over 8 minutes, are long because that's exactly what they need. A record made by lovers, but not necessarily for them.

For those already fans of Sigur Ros, there's not huge amount of new ideas here, yet what is here is still extremely enjoyable. For those who aren't yet acquainted with those Icelandic masters, this is another example of how you are really missing out.

8/10

Riceboy Sleeps is out now in Europe on EMI/Parlophone.

Media Mogul, right?

We've now got a muther-trucking twitter page ready to update everything ever. I'll post a permanent link when I've got more than five minutes.

Also, if you want to be reviewed or review something, feel free to get in touch on there.

Or something.

New Atlas Sound Album

Strangely obsessed fans of this blog (please, get in touch) will remember that Atlas Sound's (AKA Deerhunter's Bradford Cox) debut album achieved a top 15 place in Does Not Compute!'s official Satisfactory Albums of Two Thousand and Eight. An achievement that can only be surpassed by actually getting up in the morning.

Well, having finished another round with the normal band, Cox is back to his solo moniker with new album Logos, and he's brought some friends along for the ride. Most notably, Animal Collective's Panda Bear on the now widely availiable track "Walkabout", availiable below.

To say I'm slow on this sort of thing would not be inaccurate. The album was accidentally leaked (unmixed and incomplete) by Cox himself sometime between his debut and the Microcastle, and was practically disowned. Judging by the tracks that are now availiable, I for one and extremely glad that he didn't.

MP3: Atlas Sound - Walkabout (Feat. Panda Bear) *

Logos will be availiable on October 10th via Kranky in the US, and sometime shortly afterwards in the UK.

*Link uncunningly stolen from other blogs, will be removed upon request. Music remains property of owners and publishers, mp3 is intended for promotional use only, if you like the music, please buy it.

ALBUM: Double Dagger - More

At first listen, Double Dagger's music is easy to place: Washington DC, 1992. But there is a depth to this garagey post-hardcore that goes beyond the first listen and the easy comparison to Fugazi. There's also a bit of Q and Not U in there, albeit with a bit more bass.

In fact, its all bass, but pleasingly the sound is ultimately filled by the distorted bassline or the contorted chanted vocals, coupled with the frantic drumming of a man possessed. They have more than a passing resemblance, probably through common influences, with our very own Dananananaykroyd.

Those common influences, apparently, besides The Dismemberment Plan, are clearly the discography of the world (in)famous Dischord Records, invoking the attitude of Fugazi beside the rhythm of Q and Not U.

While this album is not perfect, and other preferred bass/drum/vocal combinations are out there (See: Death From Above 1979), it is certainly somewhat of a hidden gem that fans of noise and American Indie in general should check out.

My personal favourite tracks are opener "No Allies" and the first track that I listened to "The Lies/The Truth".

7.5/10

More is out now on Thrill Jockey Records.

Great Eskimo Hoax/Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs

Only two degrees of separation from math-poppers Foals, whom I was checking for information about their new album (soon, please), both of these bands caught my attention.

Firstly, the Worcestershire Math-poppers Great Eskimo Hoax, who while they may be blessed with a sixth form band name, play a number of tracks in the same vein of foals, with more than a passing nod to Kinsella brother's latter day ands such as American Football and Joan of Arc.

Myspace

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, however, share not only the dinosaur obsession with a certain Diplo (formerly Diplodocus) but also his uncanny ability to make something sound absolutely toss yet genius at the same time. Taking 80s beats and pads that really were horrible at the time and making them sound new and vaguely exciting: proof that you can polish a turd.

T.E.E.D. will be supporting Bent's greatest hits tour and have an EP out now.

Myspace

ALBUM: Magic Arm - Make Lists, Do Something

Magic Arm is the solo project of Manchester's Marc Rigelsford, who while big in Indie circles, has yet to hit the bigtime himself. He travels the musical world from early Blues to the Beta Band, sounding like all of them and none of them at the same time.

"Widths and Heights" opens like the themetune to the gameshow of the future, albeit a cheap future built in the 80s, but quickly comes back to ballady singer songwriter-ness. Sounds a bit like if Beck wasn't so crazy and I'm not sure that's a good thing. Its certainly lively, livelier than "disco-folk" like Whitest Boy Alive. "Bootsy Bootsy" certainly has the same feel to it, and the same drawbacks. Both the lyrics and melody are somewhat contrived and not particularly original, denying the true power that this music can have.

But thats not to say that the rest is as bad. Former single "Outdoor Games" is certainly more of a chilled acoustic number, luckily one thats way more Bon Iver than James Blunt. The mechanical drums also seem to touch upon Death Cab For Cutie and its side project The Postal Service, if they'd spent more time listening to Lemon Jelly and less time being all mopey in the middle of nowhere in the American Northwest.

"Move Out" is pure Hot Chip, whereas "Coach House" goes back to finger-picked acoustic nonsense, this time touching gloves with Scandi-poppers Kings Of Convenience whilst also serving as a relatively welcome musical interlude within the album itself.

The second half of the album, featuring an improved combination of lyrics and music, sees Marc finally find some form and emotion, on the tracks "Getting The Way" and "Slates On A Roof", both of which I feel would be much better in place of the actual album openers "Widths & Heights" and "Bootsy Bootsy", simply because they are miles better.

While the inclusion of covers on an album of original material is one that is hotly debated, there is ammunition for both sides with two of the tracks here. "Six Feet Cold In The Ground" is a track by highly influential, yet tragic Leroy Carr, who died at the age of 30 in 1935. Magic Arm have made the track a brand new entity which I'm sure pays an apt tribute to the original.

However, why the amazing (and recent) LCD Soundsystem track "Daft Punk Is Playing In My House" needs to be included I'll never truly know. Perhaps he wanted it on there. Perhaps the label wanted another track and he couldn't be bothered to write one. Perhaps friends and fans insisted that what is surely be a live favourite should be included? Unfortunately its lazy and barely pays lip service to the original, sounding like Bedouin Soundclash on a live lounge session trying to reference a band that were way cooler than they were. Whatever the reason, its inclusion on the album sticks out like a sore thumb.

"Sound Of The Night" is a complex album closer that references classic rock in a way only bands like this one and The Beta Band can, but the inclusion of a "hidden track" on a debut album on an independent label does seem to smack of self-importance, moreso than it would for a band on a larger label.

While Marc is clearly very talented, it is not entirely clear what he's set out to achieve with this album - it's merely the sum of its parts and apparently a collection of what has been done to date. Unfortunately this means that individual songs do not fit well together, and some not even so well on their own. However, this is indeed a good thing. For starters, it means that Magic Arm's second album will be all the better for it, with Marc having the experience from this album to learn from his mistakes. Hopefully the second album, which I eagerly await, will be released to a far greater audience than this one. I've certainly heard debuts that are a whole lot worse.

7/10

Make Lists, Do Something is out now on Switchflicker/Peace Frog Records.

New múm album!

As far back as I can remember, I've always wanted to go to Iceland. And ever since I saw the Kings of of Icelandic music Sigur Ros' documentary "Heima", I've REALLY wanted to go to Iceland. One of the standout albums of 2007 to me was múm's Go Go Smear The Poison Ivy, who had only come to my attention thanks to their association with the aforementioned Sigur Ros and my then obsession with Queen of Icelandic music Bjork.

I don't know if its the lack of trees (or indeed, looking like anywhere else on Earth, at all), the fashion for wearing thick knitted jumpers or their relative remoteness, but all the music produced in Iceland has its own unique style and sensibility.

So when I heard that múm were releasing a new album, literally some ten minutes ago, I couldn't wait to post a vacuous raving blog post about my love of Icelandic music. As you may have guessed from the picture above, it will be called Sing Along To Songs You Don't Know and continues their vein of quirky indie folk.

I've heard opening track "If I Were A Fish", which is not only amazingly titled, but sounds amazing too.

Sing Along To Songs You Don't Know is released on August 24.

Double Dagger

So a for the last few months, up until a couple of weeks ago at least, I was totally in love with the American Underground music scene from the 80s, after a friend gave me the awesome book "Our Band Could Be Your Life" chronicling the scene(s) from the Hardcore punk of Minor Threat and Black Flag through to Grunge and the beginnings of "Indie" becoming mainstream. It helped me listen to a lot of bands I may never have listened to, including Butthole Surfers, The Minutemen and The Replacements. All brilliant bands I would heartily recommend.

So when I heard Double Dagger, I immediately assumed that they were just another of the hundreds of bands from this time, long split up after playing to a crowds of dozens and self-financing vinyl EPs with hand-drawn covers. So when I realised that they are a band of the here and now, with a slightly new twist on the sound I currently love, I thought that I should share it here.

Sounding like the Dismemberment Plan if they had signed to Dischord instead of Interscope (i.e. better), this Baltimore, MD outfit have been plodding along for a fair few years now and have a couple of albums already released on indie labels in the US.

Their most recent album More contains my favourite track "The Lie/The Truth", which touches on just about every American Indie band ever yet somehow still finding its own voice.

Check them out here.

More is out now on Thrill Jockey.

Run Toto Run remixed by Magic Arm

Yes yes, I've given Run Toto Run quite a bit of blogspace recently, but this is all entirely justified, I promise. They've let slip to the blogosphere a sneak preview of new single Catch My Breath (due out mid-September) with a remix by fellow folktronica fella (geddit) and Manchester co-habitant Magic Arm.

While you should expect a feature on their debut album at some point in the future, for now you should definately check out what he's done to Run Toto Run; in their own words, he's made them "sound like Dizzee Rascal".

Have a listen:

MP3: Run Toto Run - Catch My Breath (Magic Arm Remix)

Remember Shoegaze?

Me neither. But apparently it's back. Thanks to THE BIG PINK, and their My Bloody Valentine noisewalls and driving, forceful basslines.

But its in the wonkily pop arrangements that they really shine, sounding like a twisted boyband with a broken drum machine and an odd obsession with Elvis. And I really like it. Something really isn't adding up here.

Either way, "Velvet" is an absolutely sodding tune that I've got stuck on repeat, and they are definately worth checking out, currently set to play T In The Park, Reading and Leeds Festivals, Bestival, and annoyingly, my old stomping ground of Portsmouth, at the Wedgewood Rooms, which was not only an awesome venue, but a five minute walk from my house. Bastards.

Myspace

Blur @ Hyde Park, London, 3rd July 2009

When this gig was announced in December, I'm not sorry to say that I had £50 saved up spare for just such an eventuality. I would happily pay this much for a chance to see Blur's first gig back together, but as it turned out, it ended up being the last of a short comeback tour that took in railway museums, record stores and the Glastonbury Festival.

Still, I was, understandably, pretty glad to be able to watch my favourite band from my childhood, Parklife being one of the first albums I ever bought, and still one my personal favourites. So to say I was looking forward to this gig was an understatement.

Further delight was found when San Francisan (ish) 4 piece DEERHOOF were announced to be the opening act. Playing to a modest crowd of early entrants, they plucked tracks from all over their extensive discography, possibly finding new fans with the energetic "Panda Panda Panda", the slightly creepy "The Perfect Me" before finishing on a track from their most recent album Offend Maggie "Basketball Get Your Groove Back".

Although I am admittedly a little off the pace in terms of this years influx of (over)hype bands, I am overtly aware of the number of indiosyncratic female-fronted acts. Unfortunately the combination of their joint arrival and my lack of attention means that I don't really make much of a distinction between, say La Roux or Little Boots despite their obvious musical differences. Luckily, FLORENCE & THE MACHINE was someone whom I had heard at least one song that I vaguely enjoyed. I enjoyed so much that I didn't realise they had played it until it was at least halfway through. The best Kate Bush rip off I've heard since Bat For Lashes' latest. And I really mean it.

AMADOU & MARIAM were a completely unknown quantity to me, and to be quite honest, were absolutely amazing, with Amadou's guitar playing particularly impressive, and their anthemic mixture of African and traditional rock music being all the more appreciated being that the pair are blind. My favourite part of their set was when Amadou introduced, not only the entire band, but also the entire road crew to less and less enthusiatic applause from a frankly amused crowd. Also the fact that he sounded suspiciously like my old Somalian GP when he kept asking "Do you feel alriiiiiigght?"

It was interesting how well VAMPIRE WEEKEND came across on the big stage. With tracks that unbelievably managed to fill the park and the stage presence and confidence to talk to the crowd more than all of the previous acts combined. Frontman Ezra Koenig, who was dressed more for a sailing weekend than an outdoor gig, introducing each song (including a couple of new tracks) with a slightly underhand request that they danced a bit. Last year's hype band finished their anthemic set with my personal favourite "Walcott".

BLUR reached the stage after some 15 years of anticipation on my part, having been too young to enjoy them live before, and them having splitting up during my "wilderness years" in terms of music. They find a crowd in good humour, somehow making their somewhat weak debut single "She's So High" sound up to date and exciting.

The set is chock full of classics, featuring early singles "There's No Other Way", Parklife opener "Girls & Boys" as well as fan-favourite album tracks "Tracy Jacks" and "Badhead".

"Beetlebum" receives a big cheers as the band explored their post-britpop albums, including the Coxon-less "Out Of Time" (although he plays on it tonight) and 13 fan favourite "Trimm Trabb", which sees Coxon in fine energetic form.

This section is finished with their last big hit "Tender", seeing the band joined their entire backing contingent of 4 singers and a brass section, as well as all of the 55,000 people in the crowd. While "Tender" is controversially my least favourite of all of Blur's singles, its power with this crowd is intense, seeing sections still singing the chorus as the band continue with the set into the next song.

"Country House" is the almost ironic return to the Britpop part of Blur's discography, seeing a hattrick of Modern Life Is Rubbish tracks in "Oily Water" (where Damon knocked over his mic stand and so shouts through a loudspeaker for the majority of the song), "Chemical World" and "Sunday Sunday", the last with Damon asking the crowd to run on the spot for the fast section.

At this point, a mischevious Phil Daniels appears onstage, not unlike the Tango genie from those banned adverts, albeit wearing glasses, being fully clothed and not orange. Predictably, and to the largest cheer of the night (from this reviewer at least) the band launch into an energetic version of "Parklife", and another life ambition is crossed off the list.

Next up, a trio of tracks from the album of the same name aptly close what is an amazing first set. "End of A Century", "To The End" segway into a brilliant version of my favourite track "This Is A Low", before a clearly overcome band briefly leave the stage.

The natural frontman Damon, clearly enthused for their two week jaunt (this being the first gig announced, but somewhat ironically, the last they play for the moment) is full of energy all night, and this is reflected in the band. The famously shy Graham lets his guitar do the talking, which according to Alex's autobiography, is all he ever wanted to do, and the effect is mesmering. While I was lucky enough to wander towards a stage where he was playing some of his solo work, seeing work as part of Blur is absolutely awe-inspiring in his devastating skill. While Dave is the happy timekeeper who is willing to bash the drums at the back, the largely static Alex is effortlessly cool, affirming his skinny presence in a plain white t-shirt and jeans which would frankly look ridiculous on any other man his age.

The band return to play electrifying versions of "Popscene" and "Advert" to a largely bemused crowd, before a long drum solo melts into the iconic beat of that really famous Blur song. You know, the one where they say "woo-hoo" a lot. I remember the first time I heard that song. I was 10, playing FIFA 98 Road To World Cup on my brother's PlayStation, desperately trying to find out who did the music for the intro, as I was so sure that my friend's observation that it was Blur was completely and utterly wrong. These guys do songs like "Parklife" and "Girls and Boys", not heavy shit like this.

Meanwhile, back in the present, the band again briefly dissapear backstage before coming back to play Blur track "Death Of A Party". At this point I'm pretty sure I'm the only person in my section singing along but by this point I don't really care. "For Tomorrow" is banged out to the park before an amazing rendition of current British Gas theme "The Universal", leaving the entire crowd singing "well it really really really could happen/and the days they seem to run from you/well, just, let them gooooo" for a good twenty minutes afterwards. Well, at least in my head.

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure the whole thing happened. It was such an achievement of a long held ambition that I can't actually believe I've finally seen them. And they were absolutely as fantastic as both my childhood and previous spectators would have me believe.

I finally got to see Blur play "Parklife" live, and now I can die happy.

Video - Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll

The latest Yeah Yeah Yeahs' track, which I've had stuck in my head for days, from their excellent 3rd album It's Blitz.

Watching a back, doesn't the werewolf look a bit like a certain newly dead celebrity? I dont mean Farrah Fawcett...

Enjoy, and tomorrow I will have a very special (for me) live review.

CD freaks

You know how you still get those guys who swear by Vinyl and love the rawness and the reality of the sound that comes out. The fact that not every listen is exactly the same as the last because the turntables could play them a slightly different speed at a certain point, or that natural wear and tear means that over time the discs get worn and slightly warped is something these people live and breath for.

My brother used to own vinyl purely professionally and found it a dangerous medium for dragging everywhere Friday and Saturday nights. A couple of friends spent their entire student loans on their collections of Animal Collective re-releases and vinyl only singles. Even I've been known to purchase a Los Campesino's EP purely because the disc was bright yellow. I mean, ridiculously yellow.

So although I've bought into a little, I don't have a massive interest in building up a huge library of vinyl: - They're expensive to buy, expensive to keep and the records don't even retain their sound!

On the other hand, I'm not a big fan of this digital revolution either. I only got an iPod a few months ago and that's because it was free. And the battery barely lasts an album before crackling and dying. If I could find it I'd still use my Minidisc player. Maybe.

iTunes is a horrible application, as is its bastard child Spotify. Not wishing to sell it at all, Spotify is essentially an online library of music that is free to stream if you don't mind hearing the odd advert about how amazing spotify is, how the great benevolent spotify has our best interests at heart.

But this is the idea I cannot stand. I recently hit a landmark number of CDs that I have ever bought, and they are arranged lovingly on one wall in my room. I love that I own all of these CDs, and frequently enjoy buying more, whether I can afford them or not. I love it when I get a couple of new CDs and have to re-arrange to fit them all in. These albums are all mine.

On Spotify, nothing is mine. The money spent on buying these CDs, the memories that may be attached is not even worth it. People are selling their CDs and listening to albums, perfectly legally, for free, online. I hate this. It means that you can't cast your eye of judgement over someone's collection, filling in the gaps in your knowledge about them by whether or not they do own any Nick Drake or they were just trying to impress you. If they display a Take That album proudly or hastily stowed with other guilty pleasures. How can Spotify's last ten searches top that?

While nowadays most people's (mine included) collections are shaped by what is stocked in their local HMV, in the future will the boundaries be a presumed omniscient online database. I was trying to find Sunny Day Real Estate's masterpiece Diary on their Spotify account only to find it wasn't there.

What I find annoying is how those who would gladly sue you on the spot for "stealing" their millions by downloading are more than happy to have their music featured here. What's even more annoying is when certain albums I can only find on Spotify.

Twelebrities are creating spotify playlists, using them as yet another social networking site that I don't really want to a part of, but it seems like I might need to be.

The only benefit, as I can see, is for parties. The host is no longer expected to have an amazing collection, and you as the guest are no longer required to sit through another boring Lily Allen album as it was the most tolerable of what was availiable.

In summary, don't use Spotify, unless you want to host a party.