About 4 weeks ago I wrote a piece for this blog which I was genuinely proud of. Every so often the songs that feature on this blog conjure up some strong images and ideas for me and my favourite part of blogging is when these ideas translate into writing which, even if only for me, opens up another door into the same room as the song. The song was the latest single by Monument Valley, Your Cover Blown, and a few days a go i got a chance to meet the man AKA Ned Younger and have a quick chat about the new single, the tour and his lyrics.

Well Karima has been on a huge tour and I’ve kinda dipped in and out of it, I think we’ve only played about 8 shows together, this is the penultimate one before London on Thursday [TONIGHT!] at Hoxton Hall which I’m stoked for, it’s sold out and it’s a cool venue which I’ve never played before.

I write a lot when I’m walking around London, so I would say my subject matter is usually based on those walks in one way or another. I don’t know if that counts really as it’s quite overarching and within that there are lots of different themes.

Obviously the last record that came out was based on found photographs and so the narratives tied in to those images and ideas.

Yes basically, it all ties into the same thing. But the Your Cover Blown video is slightly different. The song is about a friend of mine that died a couple of years ago. One of my strongest memories of him was walking between these houses where I lived and where he lived and the video, basically, is me doing that walk.

Haha that’s a horrible question! I like the second verse of Your Cover’s Blown, it’s about a monument to the war dead in Euston.

What followed was me losing all pretence of being a journalist and succumbing to how much I love Your Cover’s Blown and telling Ned exactly this.

It pretty much brought the interview to a fading close as we wandered back into The Cavern in Exeter and compared stories of labels, music friends and other such pleasantries. Sadly I had switched the mic off by this point but it is a testament to how friendly the guy is that he can strike up a conversation so easily with someone he had only met 5 minutes ago and who occasionally lapsed into slightly starstruck gibberish.

A real pleasure and a great example of the joys of  running a scruffy blog which is read by the right people at the right time.

marcus

Dream pop is great isn’t it? Especially for this time of year, when summer dusk makes its slow march on winter nights. It’s the perfect genre for walking around empty streets trying to find meaning in life, and going round and round till the music stops. Other times it’s just nice to have a soundtrack. Whatever the case, Simian Ghost fill my dream pop needs. 

Simian Ghost is the project of Sebastian Arnström, and it’s typical Scandinavian pop. They released their second record, Youth, about tow months ago, and apparently they’re the first Swedish band since ABBA to get a lead review in the Times, so go check it out! 

Automation is a dreamy pop record. Although following a similar pattern to most kitchen sink girl-fronted indie pop, a la Allo Darlin‘, it is layered in reverb and accented with twinkly synths and staccato backing vocals. Arnström’s soft vocals are enveloped by the shimmering soundscape, but this not so much as to hide the excellent catchy song writing at the heart of the song. Automation leads you gently along then falls down into hazy bass synths and more dreamy reverb making the track perfect for a summer evening.

Much love

Tom xx

There’s a tendency for music to be populist. By that I don’t mean popular music, but pandering to what people instantly want – although much popular music does fall into this category. Populist music is usually upfront emotionally, either overly euphoric or heart-wrenchingly sad. Whilst I love Coldplay, they are very guilty of misuse of emotion in their music. They leave nothing to the imagination. They’re like the Kony 2012 of pop music. The other side of populist music is the ‘hook’. Something that’s repetitive enough that it will stick in your head. I unwittingly sat down to Britain’s Got Talent this Sunday with my house-mates and was bashed around the head with the catchy and profoundly named ‘Where me keys, where me phone’ (warning, link contains spoilers).

Unfortunately most pop music is cynically populist, giving the people what they are told that they want so they can make top dollar. How patronising.

Hilldrop Records (HDR) is a tiny label from Bristol with more acts on its roster than releases. It seems more like a living room with an internet cable than a label. They release their second mix-tape today, An Upward Artful Scarp, featuring the transatlantic Nicholas Stevenson, whose song Ernest I blogged about a while back. But it’s Dust by Eddie Halliday which I’d like to share. The crackle and pop of looped vinyl adds a subtlety and a faux nostalgia to the song, like dust in a strobe light, or summer home videos shot on Super8s. Eddie’s voice softly invites you to partake in his tale, and that’s the essence of Hilldrop, storytelling. Songs slowly drift along like that hazy summer day, but you’re not dragged. There is no brash populism here. Just chilled out summer vibzzz, blud.

(Papa O on the big bad internet)

Much love,

Tom xx

So every so often we like to ask our favourite artists to come up on the blog and write a little something about the incredible album they have just released. While I’m sure no one could ever get tired of our incredible writing style and razor sharp insight into the creative offerings floating around the internet, these features always excite me.

Today we have Belleruche’s Ricky Fabulous talking us through 3 tracks (Stormbird, Afan and 16 Minutes) from their new album, Rollerchain. Absolute pleasure.

A first it was just a little sub bass loop Tim had. I’d just bought my first proper pair of ear plugs after a show in Leeds and on the following Monday was the only person in the studio all day. The studio above were playing some pretty awful generic Balearic House nonsense. It was really starting to get me down so I turned our amps up as loud as they could go, put in my new ear plugs, and sampled some feedback from my guitar. When I played what I’d done to the others, Kathrin immediately thought about using dual vocals that kind of chase each other in spirals like the feedback. I thought this sounded quite cool and that’s how the song got going.

Began as a jam we did in our old basement studio. It was a pretty straight fast guitar song but we felt it was a little generic so we started playing with the drums and changed the chords under the vocal. We used 3 basslines in the harmony to create the chords which is something we have been toying with for a while. For playing this and other songs live Kathrin has learnt how to play bass so we have quite a few songs now with two basses live.

Started in an apartment after a festival in Auckland and finished in a windowless studio in East London. There’s something like 30 versions of this song as we couldn’t get it quite right. Kathrin’s vocals are great but nothing quite did the tone of them justice. One Friday evening DJ Modest (Tim)and I were getting somewhere with beat, but decided to stop and get some food. After that Tim said he was going back to the studio for a little bit. I went out for the night and the next day listened to what he had done with it and was floored by it. He’d sung backing vocals and chopped them to make a synth sound. I’ve known him for about 15 years and never heard him sing, but thought he sounded great. Kathrin came in later that day and she loved it too. We both then made some changes to the arrangement and that was basically the song. It was strange how we kept going round in circles with it for 6 months, and then one day it all fell into place within hours.

Go check out Belleruche and their new album.

A Pocket Full Of Seeds // Latitude Festival 2012. from APocketFullOfSeeds on 8tracks.

And so, as promised, with the start of a new week, we have the first in a lot of pretty cool features coming your way via A Pocket Full Of Seeds.

Aged 17, as pictured above, I bought my first weekend festival ticket to Latitude Festival 2007, and it was one of the best weekends I have ever spent. Bands like The National, Arcade Fire, CSS, The Hold Steady, Jarvis Cocker, Slow Club, New Young Pony Club and The Rapture all blew our paint covered teenage faces off. And now 5 years later Latitude festival is preparing to continue an astonishing pedigree having now played host to the likes of Sigur Ros, Thom Yorke, Nick Cave and almost anyone else you can think of who has made a great record in recent memory.

The lineup this year is really one of the best around in this Glaston-free year, although to be honest even if the music lineup was made up of poorly rehearsed local cover bands (of which there are plenty in Suffolk) I would still go for the tie-dye sheep, secret parties in the woods, Radio 4 stage (!), cabaret stage and endless hijinks always on offer.

To celebrate the phenomenal lineup we have banged heads with team Latitude and come up with this mix which showcases some of acts we think will remind you that if you don’t buy your ticket today it may well be too late by tomorrow! Rufus Wainwright is doing a lunchtime slot crying out loud! And if he doesn’t float your boat then Bon Iver, M83 (who is absurdly low down the bill), Lana Del Rey, Explosions In The Sky, Metronomy, Bat For Lashes, Wild Beasts and a whole host of other bands who have made huge impact in the last few years will be there.

Enjoy the mix, and we’ll see you on the East coast

Marcus 

Yeah we have been more than a little quiet on here this week, but rather huge things are coming you way as of tomorrow. Coming up we have are hosting the Official Latitude 2012 mixtape for the UK festival goers who know where they should be spending their festival sterling this Summer.

We also have an exclusive blog post coming your way written by Belleruche who are currently sitting on our favourite album of the year so far. As well as that we are promoting a gig in Exeter which is being headlined by JUNO award winners Said The Whale (going to be incredible, give us a shout for guestlist if your keen). AND I have an interview with Malcolm Middleton recorded on my phone which badly needs airing sooner rather than later. I will also be sitting my finals as of Thursday (Greek Mythology here we come, LET’S DO THIS!)

So yeah, stick with us son, we’ll do you good. Here are a bunch of tracks I’ve been listening to recently because they are excellent.

Such a good opening guitar larkery



 

Talk soon

Marcus

Tracklisting below, show it the love.

[Blog Tapes #3] Side Projects. from APocketFullOfSeeds on 8tracks.

Emanon – More Than You Know   

CANT – The Edge  

(Chris @ Daily Beatz)

There are more Grizzly Bear side projects than one can count (in fact, I think Grizzly Bear itself technically started out as a Department of Eagles side project?) but one of my favorites has to be CANT, the solo project of Chris Taylor.  He released Dreams Come True last year and I couldn’t get enough of it. Exactly as weird and abstract as I hoped it could be. Which I didn’t really notice until it was playing in the background when some friends were over and I started getting some weird looks. The Edge is one of the less out there tracks but just gets me every time. I think it’s most likely those sexy horns.

Behold the Hurricane - The Horrible Crowes

ceo – Come With Me   

(Marc @ Umstrum)

What would you do if you were one half of a successful and respected pop duo and decided to launch a completely new project? Would you be able to avoid obvious comparisons or would people put you in a box before they even heard your sound? These doubts probably gnawed at Eric Berglund (one half of The Tough Alliance) when he started his side project ceo but he found a solution: he just posted his music on the internet without releasing any other information and the blogosphere promptly started buzzing with rumors and stories. It was later established that Berglund was the man behind the mysterious moniker, but by then ceo had already met with both critical and popular success… on its own merits!

Dr. Gonzo Anthem – Crookers

(Ben @ Metrojolt)

Back in November, Dr. Gonzo mysteriously appeared on the EDM scene. A weird new sound that was strangely familiar.  The mystery didn’t last long, soon after the album was released ex MTV Italy hosts, AKA Crookers, took credit for the side project. I’m hopefully we’ll see more out of Dr. Gonzo, but there is not telling for sure.

I Can Make A Mess Like Nobody’s Business – Old Man…

(Frank @ Lost In The Sound)

Ace Enders has already been through so many projects that I have absolutely no idea what he considers his main project. One of his larger (and currently ongoing) projects is I Can Make A Mess Like Nobody’s Business, under which he has released three studio albums. The laid-back yet passionate vibe of Ace’s songs make his music incredibly endearing and an enjoyable listen for all.

The Dirtbombs – Don’t Break My Heart

(Marcus – A Pocket Full Of Seeds)

It’s hard to put my love of The Dirtbombs (originally a side-project to The Gories) into words. They were one of the first rock bands that I saw play live, back when I was 15. I remember not having a clue what was going on as I watched the thrashing animal of the man that is Mick Collins beating the shit our of his belt sanded Fender,  flanked by his 2 drummers and 2 bass players (sorry Dingus Khan but it’s been done before) while Everret True led a hand full of rioting fans before me. It sounded good, I bought the records and they have never been put down.

Sundays with Van Morrison are the best.

marcus

To Go Somewhere, Not To Get Somewhere from APocketFullOfSeeds on 8tracks.

Time to go now everyone, get your sounds together, forget yourself, you’re about to find the alternative, live out the alternative, create alternative patterns that would not have been created otherwise. Your journey from this point on will be utterly alternative and no convention of your previous lifestyle will find your place. It ends when you get used to it. At that point you must conventionalise and savour your experiences like you would sentimentalise your childhood belongings.

Time to go now everyone, there’s still that one childhood belonging waiting for you, the one you could never quite shake-off, there’s one that your mature education didn’t quite…eradicate. The one that sits at the corner of your eye but scatters and deforms the moment you indulge yourself its sight directly. Some might search for it. For that I would say you need to forget yourself, find the alternative, live out the alternative, create alternative patterns that would not have been created otherwise. You cannot teach yourself inspiration, you cannot teach yourself to be creatively engaged, to travel to a new original state… but you can travel somewhere can’t you..? You need to travel somewhere don’t you? You need to be somewhere else, surely? Why are you in the place where you are?

Time to go I think. To go somewhere, somewhere else. To go somewhere, not to get somewhere.

-So is the name of this 8tracks mix I have compiled – for a state of half daze, sitting on a train to somewhere in a spiral of sleepy thoughts and waffling words of vague concepts that, when written out as above, appear odd if not silly.

George

It’s unlike us to post an entire album, but then again it’s unlike albums to be as good as this. Even at almost a year old Submotion Orchestra‘s Finest Hour still rolls and breaks along, perfectly full of energy and yet still almost absurdly understated. The sound reminds me of Belleruche in that it combines the traditionally electronic genres with an acoustic, organic vibe which is hard to beat.

Choosing the right music to soundtrack these next few weeks is pretty important for me. Job applications have come good and the blog is flexing the occasional muscle in good directions which brings in a huge amount of satisfaction. But at the same time exams are exams and it’s good to do good in exams. So rather than trawl through 8tracks for study mixes which just end up leading me on a day long tangent of musical discovery I’m sticking to a diet made up purely of Submotion Orchestra, Belleruche and 2 playlists in my iTunes (Claudia Mix and Blaz Mix). I might dabble in a bit of arrange, some Griggleschpot and, if things get really bad, some Ludovicio Einaudi.

What will probably end up happening is I will spend days typing up a Malcolm Middleton interview we did yesterday followed by endless tweaks to the blog design, then sorting out the multi-blog mixtape we are hosting on Monday, then getting my festival diary together, then doing some promo for the gig we are curating on the 10th May in Exeter with Said The Whale…

“What you do instead of your work is your real work.“

-Roger Ebert

 marcus