among the aisles

Gladeyes album as great as you'd expect

cmgburns@gmail.com (Chris) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:18:00 +0000

After a reported two years of tireless work The Gladeyes' debut album 'Psychosis of Love' is finally released. The album sits interestingly alongside previous last release - 'The Prospect Palace Tapes' CD-R. The two releases are largely made of the same songs, with Psychosis of Love adding only two new songs and re-recording two songs from their first EP 'Hearts-N-Amour'. Considering four of the songs from the Prospect Tapes were on their second EP 'A Heart Full of Love' it's pretty clear prolific songwriting is not The Gladeyes primary concern. I don't know how other people feel about this, but I think it's great. I love hearing up to three radically different recordings of these songs and hearing the songs played differently each time I see them. It's an approach to music making I sincerely wish more bands would consider.

As mentioned before Jade and Gwen spent two solid years working on 'Psychosis of Love' and basically it sounds like it. It's a big, lush sound that is constantly punctuated by unexpected twists and frills. That may not necessarily sound like a good thing, but trust me it works. In a way the meticulous arrangements seem to act out the themes of obsession and escape that dominate their records. Furthermore, it's radically different from the Prospect Palace Tapes - which was recorded in a single day, and sounds like they could have been done in a single take. So different trying to evaluate which I love more is near impossible to say. Probably the best thing to do is let you listen for yourself Monika is being released as their first 'single' and available for download - so give it a listen and compare with the Prospect version.

Monika

Monika (Prospect)

When you're done you can listen to more at their myspace. The song Psychosis of Love isn't included on the album and is radically different from anything else of their's of heard. Whether it's the sign of a new direction remains to be seen.

new pants yell! song

cmgburns@gmail.com (Chris) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 08:07:00 +0000

At some point about 18 months ago you may have heard me say something along the lines of "Pants Yell!, they're nothing special". Then I suddenly got hooked and pretty much listened to nothing but them.

So now I can sit here in envy of all those lucky lucky people in Boston who get to go see them this weekend play with Still Flyin' and hear all the songs from their new record (which I thought was going to be called Jessica Griffin but isn't)

But at least while I'm sitting I can listen to 'Cold Hands' the first song to be streaming on their myspace. Get there

radio going live

cmgburns@gmail.com (Chris) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 08:40:00 +0000

My neglect of this thing is likely to continue into the near future - well until I finish my uni stuff at the end of October. But in the mean time three exciting peices of news.

1) 'best band in the world' The Gladeyes are releasing their first "proper" album in November and doing a wee national tour.

2) everyone loves Wildwood Lights. After spending a forever on the top of bfm's top ten you can now listen to 'Town and Country' on their myspace. But you should buy the EP too.

3) and

Simply Thrilled is going 'live' in our first little club night. Don't know how the world feels about just stealing book covers to make posters, hopefully I won't be laughed at.

Simply Thrilled 01 Aug

cmgburns@gmail.com (Chris) — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 07:57:00 +0000

As I'm picking songs to play for this week's radio a show I should really post last weeks. This week's show will probably be the first time in a while I won't play anything from the Summer Cats' album. The internet seems to be suitably excited about it, which is entirely deserved - here's more info. But I should jet so here's a link to last week's show, and for those who simply want to critique I'll put the playlist in the comments.

Simply Thrilled 01.08.09

oh and everyone should buy the Wildwood Lights EP. They're just about the best thing ever - more on them later.

A Declaration

cmgburns@gmail.com (Chris) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 06:06:00 +0000

General consensus seems to be that the Felt DVD A Declaration is terrible. For the most part I agree, filmed on a hand held camera from the balcony at ULU, with the sound just coming from the camera microphone it sits uncomfortably with the rest of Felt's back catalogue. It goes against so much of the image Lawrence went to such pains to manufacture I find it hard to believe he endorsed its release. Yet it's not the poor quality of the recording that interests me, it's the uneasy feeling that even if the recording was better quality, even if I was there, I still wouldn't enjoy it that much. They simply don't seem that good. For someone who spent of few of his teenage years and most of his adult years thinking Felt achieved a kind of untouchable perfection this is something of a revelation. Yet the feeling that Felt were just a band like any other fills me not with disillusionment but, rather, the optimistic feeling that all the new bands I love and follow are just as great as those of the eighties canon. Pedestals are boring and pointless and the more cultural artifacts I can find that demolish those bands aura of mystery and flawlessness the happier I'll be.

As an aside am I wrong to love this more than any other Felt video accompaniment I've seen.

I Wonder Who We Are

cmgburns@gmail.com (Chris) — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 06:31:00 +0000

There's something about 'I Wonder Who We Are', the first 'single' from the upcoming The Clientele album, that reminds me of Belle and Sebastian's 'Your Cover's Blown'. Well the beginning of it anyway. But then I remember when I first heard 'Your Cover's Blown' it somehow reminded me of 'Rip It Up'. Anyway it's great stuff. Happily The Clientele seem to have resisted any kind of career narrative, it doesn't seem to me like they're tied any kind of bland 'maturity' trajectory. Maybe they're not recording vocals through bass amps anymore, but they're certainly not aiming for any mainstream crossover; or if they are they're going the wrong way about it. Have a listen and see what you think. And admire the beautiful cover art, reminds me of the Marble Arch releases, maybe that's the point.

I Wonder Who We Are

Some Velvet Painting

cmgburns@gmail.com (Chris) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 10:04:00 +0000

I've had a wealth of stuff to post about recently, but been struggling get myself to write about. So let me just say now The Cavalcade are great and so is the Liechtenstein album. They deserve more effort than this and hopefully I will do something soon. Although the most exciting thing of all has been Ed Cake's new album under the moniker Pie Warmer - hopefully this one gets promoted big time.

Speaking of promotion; my motivation for posting now is to mention that some friends and I now have a semi permanent radio show on Auckland's Fleet Fm on Saturday evening from 9 till 11, which I think is currently 10am-12pm Saturday morning in the UK. So you can listen online, or I will be posting a recording of most of the show each week here. So just click this to hear last week's one.

second hand bookshop's greatest hits

cmgburns@gmail.com (Chris) — Sun, 31 May 2009 02:22:00 +0000

Blogging on the job may feel mildly illicit, but when i'm trapped behind a counter all day it's one of the few things I can do.

So what's been playing in the shop today? Cause Co-Motion's Because Because Because is pretty much coolest record out right now, which is fairly predictable since Cause Co-Motion are pretty much the coolest band around right now. If only the rest of the world will work it out. Recorded in a single day at Gary Olsen's place it's much the same as their singles, which Slumberland lovingly compiled last year. The most obvious departure is the less frantic 'You Lose', which is the only song to extend over the two minute mark and is also available for free download from the Slumberland site. I'm guessing the band may start to face a little criticism for venturing down a bit of a stylistic dead end, but I think that's garbage. I imagine Beat Happening or The Pastels could have faced the same criticism twenty five years ago and I feel Cause Co-Motion not having an obvious "maturity" path set in front of them only makes it more exciting.

But its not really bookshop music is it? I gave it a blast when I opened up, but since the pace is picked up a bit I've been pretty much locked on The Castaway Stones lone album 'Make Love To You'. I'm on my fourth listen of the day and I can't believe that after years of loving both Pam Berry and The Saturday People I've never given this record much attention. Maybe its just for today and I won't feel the same tomorrow, but right now this sounds like the dreamiest, catchiest, mostly beautiful pop imaginable. Furthermore (oh god I've been writing too many essays recently), I think it's the best I've ever heard Pam's voice, and yeah I realise that's a pretty big claim. I also realise the album is out of print and pretty tough to find - so I may have to upload it when I get home.

Cheap Red and Cheap Radio

cmgburns@gmail.com (Chris) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 03:02:00 +0000

Cheap Red seem to be the most talked about band of the last ten hours or so, why? The cynical answer is because it's basically Boyrace plus Kanda, so everyone's up to hear more from bands they already love. But I'm not the cynical type, so I'm going to say it's because the songs streaming on their myspace at the moment sound great - go listen now.

Not so great is my radio show. I still can't work any of the equipment and never know what to say on air - but if you fancy it you can have a listen here - I really need to think of a name for the show now that it's semi permanent. I'm afraid not a lot of thought really goes into the play lists, so for the most it's always the same old songs - not too much new or obscure stuff.

radio on!

cmgburns@gmail.com (Chris) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 23:58:00 +0000

So in a couple of weeks I'm putting on a Jonathan Richman themed club night. It should be a lot of fun and a welcome distraction from an endless pile of reading. I decided to put this on after seeing he was touring UK to alleviate the disappointment of being on the wrong side of the world. I was lucky enough to be able to see him in May last year and it was truly amazing - I spent pretty much the whole time unable to believe it was him standing up there on stage. He didn't play any of my favourite songs, but it hardly seemed to matter. He just does whatever he feels like and that suits me fine.

If anybody knows of great Modern Lovers and/or Jonathan Richman covers let me know.

stuck to a sheep's bottom

cmgburns@gmail.com (Chris) — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 07:46:00 +0000

Debates about "twee" seem to have been a pretty permanent feature of the internet for as long as I can remember. So it's pretty interesting to read a defense of twee that has nothing at all to do with music. Maybe the world doesn't revolve around indiepop after all?

I haven't been writing in here much at all these days as life seems to be pretty dominated by uni - and unless I wanna start posting about New Zealand's movement from "Greater Britain" to "Better Britain" it's likely to stay that way.

my favourite radio friendly wednesday afternoon

cmgburns@gmail.com (Chris) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 03:30:00 +0000

If you've ever wondered how I spend a wednesday afternoon, wonder no longer. Here's a link to a recording of the radio show I do with my friend Alex, and more recently Kris from Heaven Is Above Your Head. It's actually only the last 40 minutes or so - so you don't have to listen to the loooong Fall song I played (but you do have to listen to the looooooong Felt song Alex played).

http://audio.substep.com/fleetfm/tuesday311.mp3

Alley Oop!

cmgburns@gmail.com (Chris) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 11:26:00 +0000

So my first proper trip to Wellington in years ended up being far more profitable than I imagined. I assumed it would be full of over sized coffees and funk rock, but instead it was amazing Tex Mex food and the best record shop in New Zealand. I expected Slow Boat to be a bit better than Auckland's Real Groovy, but really it put us to shame. I ended up leaving with as good a haul as I could afford and sadly had to leave a fair bit behind. Best find? Three issues of Alley Oop; pretty much the best fanzine I've ever read.

I can't really find any information on Alley Oop, I'd only seen an issue once before when a workmate from the library brought one in he'd borrowed off someone else. But that brief look was enough to let me know this was something I needed to track down. Published around 1988 and seemingly lead by Bruce Russell (guitarist in Dead C and founder of Xpressway). It's a near perfect document of an exciting and important period in music history (to me anyway). It's fascinating to read contemporary and often critical accounts of "classic records", partically Russell's muted review of The Bats' Daddy's Highway. Although it's not all Flying Nun and what was to become Xpressway bands. There's a great review of Miles Davis' NZ tour and record reviews of any internation albums considered worthwhile. Almost all the writing could be held up as perfect examples of how to capture the excitement of music, but also combined with a critical confidence which reflects immense knowledge and wisdom. I'm considering scanning the whole thing and posting it up somewhere, but for now we can make do with a review of the last ever Look Blue Go Purple show. Memorize it and pretend you were there!!

cd revival

cmgburns@gmail.com (Chris) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 21:12:00 +0000

You know when your dad says to you; "I've got a cd player I got off trademe* for $5 you can have, I don't need it anymore" the universe is almost certainly about to explode. Although I suppose dads are always instinctively drawn to cut price technology. Anyway, I have a cd player and I'm having the best time looking through boxes of old cds and being able to play them without going on my computer. Great.

So I present to you my improved, if slightly cumbersome stereo:

*kinda like New Zealand's ebay, only more informal.

Invisible bands

cmgburns@gmail.com (Chris) — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 22:05:00 +0000

I imagine most people have records they love, by bands they know nothing about. I guess the internet should end this phenomena, but there are a few records I know and love where everything I know about the band is deduced by looking at the cover. So basically it's all made up, I'll look at the band photo (if there is one) and think "oh those two look like they hate each other" or "I bet they're a couple".

So what records fall into this category for me? Well these days it International Airport and The Bristols. Both bands are fairly recent, but seemed to have petered out by the time I got into them. They are also remarkable for having amazing sounding records. International Airport's Nothing We Can Control just sounds so perfectly balanced. Chief band dude Tom Crossley seemed/seems to be loosely linked to The Pastels and there's clearly a similar sound to Pastels circa Mobile Safari. Only I think they manage the sound better than The Pastels do, each layer delicately stacked on another until you're left with no so much a wall of sound as a forest of sound. I wish I'd bought up more of their stuff when I was in Monorail last year, but I just didn't expect to become so obsessed when I rediscovered the record.

The garage rock revival of c2001 didn't really interest me too much at the time. Although now I think if the bands had sounded more like The Bristols and less like The Von Bondies it would have been very different. Their record In Tune With The Bristols is an absolute blast. I remember I bought it a couple years ago, but never really gave it much of chance. But since arriving back in New Zealand it hasn't left my 'currently listening' shelf. It's suitably recorded at the famous Toe Rag studios in London and is probably the best example I've heard of what that studio represents. It's analogue and vintage equipment used not out of nostalgia, but out of a recognition of quality. Liam Watson who ran the studio also seemed to run The Bristols, so it's hardly a surprise I guess. To me The Bristols interpretation 60s garage rock doesn't feel 'retro', rather just the natural way the songs and the band sound.

happy new year and all that

cmgburns@gmail.com (Chris) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 02:33:00 +0000

Like a lot of people I find end of year lists both absurd and irresistible. There's no such thing as the 'Best Album of 2008' and I tend to assume anyone who says there is is trying to sell me something. But then they're fun and interesting and all that, so I should probably stop complaining right? Of course it's great to have people telling the world what record hasn't left their record player/mp3 player/car stereo over the past year. Provided that album isn't by Fleet Foxes of course.

Plus, when I think about it I realise I've stayed remarkably quiet about most of my favourite records. Crystal Stilt's self titled EP, The Motifs compilation and The Andersen Tapes Cloudberry single have been suitably gushed over; but Minisnap's Bounce Around has been kind of ignored and I haven't engaged in Vivian Girl's debate much (for the record I love them, think they sound nothing like The Shop Assistants and think people label them sound a likes are mildly sexist/stupid). Plus, I've also avoided writing about No Age for some reason, so I'll say now Nouns is an absolute killer and about as exciting as I imagine music can be. I was a bit disappointed when I saw them at ATP, but hopefully their Auckland show with Jay Retard will make up for it.

Then there's been The Gladeye's 'album' The Prospect Palace Practice Tapes. Recorded in one day with Tim Guy on bass and chief Ruby Sun Ryan McPhun on drum it has all the spontaneity and excitement that makes seeing bands live worthwhile. I'm in danger of becoming a bit of a joke if I keep gushing over these guys so I'll I'm just going to say I think they're the best lo-fi pop band around (and that includes Times New Viking) and mention the CDs only NZ$15 (which is like the equivalent in price of a packet of crisps in most countries) and you can buy it from here.

Oh, and I feel I have enough distance now to say Pants Yell!'s Allison Statton is my favourite album of 2007. So maybe check back in twelve months time for a more confident review of 2008.

The Bats!

cmgburns@gmail.com (Chris) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 06:29:00 +0000

The Bats! They've got a new album out! And I'm going to see them tonight!

The Bats are would be pretty good contenders for my most listened to band of this year. For whatever reason I seem to have gone from being a casual fan to ranking them as probably my favourite Flying Nun related band. So I'm very, very excited about seeing them - and the prospect of the new album. Although I'll probably hold out on buying it tonight as Little Teddy will be releasing it on vinyl soonish.

Can't Wait!!

Record Fair!

cmgburns@gmail.com (Chris) — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 20:49:00 +0000

So apparently something's wrong with the economy or something. I can't even pretend to understand any of it, and as long as it doesn't effect libraries or second hand bookstore I guess I don't have to worry, but bugger me if records aren't getting expensive. The New Zealand dollar used to be worth almost 80 US cents, and now it's just a little over 50. And to make matters worse everybody seems to be releasing amazing records; as well as the Crystal Stilts and caUSE co-MOTION lps Slumberland keep releasing an irresponsible number of great singles, then Comet Gain have got their new album and single (I don't think the world needs me to rant about their video too, but lets just say I disapprove), and there's the cute little Vivian Girls package. It's almost enough to make me get a real job. Almost.

So maybe I should just stick to New Zealand record shops right? Problem is Real Groovy (which pretty much is New Zealand record shops) have gone into receivership and haven't been buying new stock for a few months now. So you can imagine when I saw flyer for a record fair I was pretty excited. Records! I love those things. And it's just a short walk from my flat. Unfortunately, it was mostly classic rock stuff - but I managed to leave with a half decent haul....

The real find is that 'Folk Music At Moller's', which was actually picked up by my girlfriend. It's a selection of recordings from the Auckland Folk Music Festival in Oratia in 1978. I think she bought it just because she liked the cover, but it's genuinely really great. I've been meaning to convert it to mp3 so I can share some of the songs around, but lets just say for now that Amazing Hoggett are perhaps my new favourite band.

Living Room Dancing

cmgburns@gmail.com (Chris) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 05:23:00 +0000

In my last post I made brief mention to one of life's great pastimes, bedroom dancing. However, the truth is I've recently made the leap from thebedroom to living room dancing. One perk of moving back to Auckland is I can have a place of my own, which means I can freely dance around the living room without bumbing in to flatmates or their crap. So what's been my most danced to record of late? Moejadkatebarry!

I don't quite get what why this is officially a Moe Tucker record, rather than being Jad Fair, Kaye Messer or Barry Stock, but that's hardly important. The album's an absolute blast; quickly recorded, with all the enthusiasm and joy you would expect from anything to do with Jad Fair. I bought it quite a while ago and it never excited me too much before, but now it just seems perfect. Plus to make things even more exciting I've recently worked out how to covert vinyl to mp3. It's pretty terrible sound quality but who cares, I've always been more interested in song quality.

So here's Jad Is A Fink, it's basically just a groove rattled along for a minute and a half - but I damn good one.

Moe Tucker fans should also pop over to Fire Escape Talking for an mp3 of Moe and Jonathan Richman playing, 'I'm Sticking With You'.

Mysterious Records

cmgburns@gmail.com (Chris) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 23:18:00 +0000

Anyone listening to Auckland's Fleet FM at some point last week may have had the pleasure of hearing me say something along the lines of "okay I'm going to play an great song by Crystal Stilts, which is either called 'The Sinking' or 'Shattered Shine', I'm not really sure." Then later on I say I'm about to play 'Backwards' by The Motifs, only to play 'Yours & Mine' instead. Then do it all over again when I played Henry Dress' 'Zero Zero Zero' instead of 'Hey Allison'. In the space of one radio show I was foiled by three different mysterious records.

My definition of a mysterious record is one whereby it's impossible, or at least difficult, to know side a from side b. The Crystal Stilts has three tracks on each side and there's nothing on the label to tell you which side is which. So I get to know one side as the side with writing on it, and the other as the one with the Woodsist logo - but I've no clue how that relates to the track. Okay so the sides are etched on that bit inbetween the label and the vinyl where hip labels like to leave little messages, but it took me a while to notice that.

The Motif's record has completely blank labels and no etching at all, so they only way to tell side a from b is to count the tracks - 12 on side a, and 11 on b - but who can be bothered counting that high.
But Henry Dress' lone LP 'Bust 'Em Green' is the most confusing of all. On side has 'Stop' on it and the other 'Go' - and despite what you may think the album starts with 'Stop'. But then the track listing is listed in just one big block of text with nothing to distuigish tracks, let along sides. So unless you have some prior knowledge of the songs (from mix tapes and the like) it's truly impossible to work out which side is which.

This is probably also a good time to point out the Crystal Stilts EP and the Motifs LP are two of the best records I've heard this year. The Motifs LP compiles some older singles they've recentyl released, as well as a bunch of new stuff too. There's only 200 being pressed so, if it hasn't sold out already, get to Knock Yr Socks Off's myspace to order yourself a copy. The Crystal Stilts LP has just been released by Slumberland and is pretty awesome, though I think I still prefer this EP. They keep getting compared to New Zealand bands, mostly just because Hamish Kilgour "discovered" them, but that doesn't mke much sense to me. To me they sound like early Felt, only much more dancable - that's bedroom dancing, not the silly club type.

On Returning

cmgburns@gmail.com (Chris) — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 02:16:00 +0000

So I've been away from here for a good few months now. After moving back to New Zealand I've been largely without the internet and kind of forgot about its world. So I've probably missed a ton of great new releases, but this has been more than made up for by rediscovering all my favourite old records.

Top of this pile has been Sneaky Feelings' first album, Send You. I find it pretty hard to think about Sneaky Feelings without taking Matthew Bannister's book 'Positively George Street' into consideration. The basic gist of the book is Sneaky Feelings were the best band on the Flying Nun roster and that they were held back simply because Roger Shepherd and Chris Knox didn't like them. Based on their contribution to the Dunedin Double EP this sentiment would seem pretty deluded. The Chills and The Verlaines blow them out of the water, and then they follow it up with singles like 'Pink Frost' and 'Death and the Maiden'. But then, in my opinion, neither of those bands released an album as strong as Send You, or even it's follow up Sentimental Education. Bannister and David Pine songwriting was far more direct than Dunedin's resident "poets" Graham Downes and Martin Phillips, but numbers like 'Not To Take Sides' and 'P.I.T. Song' easily challenge their very best - and then you've got songs like 'Won't Change' and 'Someone Else's Eyes', which show a pretty significant Elvis Costello (after whom the band was named) influence.

Sneakies are getting a fair amount of recognition these days which is, of course, great. They may not have got championed by the label the way some of the other Flying Nun bands did, but it seems these days there's no shortage of the love they never felt when they were together. Maybe it's changing tastes or something I don't know; but their heart on sleeves sentiment and an unabashed love of POP! music is perhaps considered a bit more acceptable these days. Either way they were a great band and if someone could just make the Flying Nun back catalogue a little bit less deleted I'm sure there are hoardes of potential fans.

Hopefully this is the start of me writing in this thing more often again - I've got some serious Crystal Stilts gushing to do.

War On Drugs

cmgburns@gmail.com (Chris) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:13:00 +0000

I can't comment on their recorded material (I haven't heard much), but based on their show on Monday I feel pretty confident in saying War On Drugs are a pretty amazing band.

Doris

cmgburns@gmail.com (Chris) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 11:44:00 +0000

My introduction to Doris came counrtesy of the Anorak Forum's mixchange earlier in the year. Her song 'Did You Give The World Some Love Today, Baby' stood out because, as well as being totally ace, it's bloody HUGE. Big powerful production, complete with a bigger, more powerful voice, it's the kind of track that's about as easy to ignore as a Celine Dion belter - only good. So, as you can imagine, I was thrilled to find a copy of her sole album Did You Give The World Some Love Today Baby on a trip to Crouch End's Flashback this weekend. Coming out of Sweden in 1970 it comes across to me as a fascinating outsider's perspective on all forms of American pop from the previous twenty years.

I took it home just expecting a solid collection of soul pop, I had Dusty in Memphis in mind; but was totally shocked to hear the variation and musical range on offer. 'Don't' is fairly similar to the title track and the kind of thing I was expecting, but then other songs like 'You Never Come Closer' and a cover of The Band's 'Whispering Pine' are something else entirely. The fireworks are help back and sound like the work of a completely different artist. The male vocals on 'Whispering Pine' may sound a bit constipated, but that doesn't stop it from being a perfectly tasteful bit of folk pop. But then how do I explain dark, unsettling 'You Never Come Closer'? I guess I'll just let you have a listen for yourself.

You Never Come Closer

and here are some others for good measure

Whispering Pine

Don't

In what may be viewed as being an attempt to fully transport myself to Sweden year 1970, Lee Hazlewood's Cowboy in Sweden is currently stuck on my record player too. And before you ask Lee Hazlewood didn't play any part in recording the Doris album, even if it does share the same mix of lounge, country, psychedelia and pop. If I was fancy enough to be able to upload vinyl onto my computer I could post of mp3 of 'Hey Cowboy', but instead you'll have to make do with a video of Jens Lekman singing the Swedish lullaby and Cowboy In Sweden closer 'Vem Kan Segla'. When I saw Jens in early 2006 he was playing this accompanied by an old recording the song being sung by a school choir Jens claimed to be a member of, therefore making it a duet with himself. Only I'm not too sure I believe him.

back from the dead

cmgburns@gmail.com (Chris) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 11:43:00 +0000

As everyone else on the internet has been pointing out, details are out for a new Pains single and album to be released on Slumberland in the not too distant single. There are also a few new songs available to download from their myspace. While their London shows earlier in the year were impossibly brilliant, I do have to confess to being a touch non-fussed by their EP. I love 'Hey Paul' and 'Orchard Of My Eye', but I found the others a touch "theme songy". I'm not entirely sure what that means, but I'm happy to find I really love all the new songs. My favourite thing about them is they don't show the fear of classic rock you in plenty of indie bands; just because something is delicate and sincere doesn't mean it can't have fat riffs and killer solos.

There are a number of reasons for my recent absence from this blog. One is that I have found myself listening to pretty much no new music recently. Currently stuck on my stereo is Lee Hazlewood's 'Trouble Is A Lonesome Town', Denim's 'Back In Denim' and The Clientele/Relict split 7". I hate when this happens, especially when I hear new stuff by Cause Co-Motion! and Crystal Stilts and hear what I'm depriving myself of. I know the best why to remedy this is to buy a bunch of new releases, but every time I'm about to I spy some record on ebay I should be saving my money for.

In less than two months I'm going to be moving back to New Zealand so I'm trying to make the most of the pop shows on before then. So it's Ballboy tonight, Sunny Day In Glasgow on Saturday and Love Is All / Je Suis Animal on Tuesday - phew. I was deeply disappointed to not be able to make Indietracks last weekend, but am doing my best to be happy to hear it was such a success.

[edit] I meant to post this yesterday, but forgot. So I can now confirm Ballboy were great last night. Although I have to say they were possibly upstaged by their supports: Pocketbooks and The Smittens. I wasn't that interested in Pocketbooks first time I saw them, but they just keep getting better.

closed week saviours

cmgburns@gmail.com (Chris) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:54:00 +0000

"Librarians shelve to catchy romantic pop songs" may not be as catchy as "cows milk to Mozart", but based on my experience over the past week it's just as accurate. It seems that for me 'Closed Week' means a week of shelving and to get through this requires lots of music. After experimenting with loads of different music it seems the likes of The Bats, Pants Yell! and The Aislers Set are the best for getting me through it. Although, as well as these old favourites I've also been going for Boy Genius album 'Anchorage' a lot.

They've been written about fairly steadily throughout this year and seem to have already been compared to pretty much every band ever. Though of all the bands it seems REM and Pavement crop up the most, so maybe I'll just go with that. To me it's intersting these two bands get mentioned, as in my mind they seem slightly contradictory. When I think of Pavement the first thing that comes to mind is that label 'slacker rock' they had forced upon them, then with REM I always think of the frenzy that characterised their early albums. But I guess what makes Boy Genius interesting is that this makes sense, as they combine these two simultaneously and effortlessly. It's fun pop songs full of life and enthuasiasm, but cut with enough ennui to keep it worthwhile and interesting. A large chunk of the songs are streaming from their myspace, so if you're interested you can head there and make up your own mind.