17 SECONDS

Idlewild -’Queen Of the Troubled Teens.’ (Human Condition Records, March 1997)

From little acorns…This was Idlewild’s very first single. Raw as anything, the sheer joy of this single remains ten years later, as well as an amazement of how much they would develop over the years. The lineup for this single was Roddy Woomble on vocals (sounding very American here!), Rod Jones on guitar, Phil Scanlon on bass and Colin Newton on drums. Roddy’s sister Kirsty is the girl on the front cover, though she isn’t credited.

Of course, as the years would pass they would get magazine covers, Top of the Pops appearances, sign to an EMI subsidiary (since left!) and Roddy would make a folk album. And Wim Wenders would direct the video for their 2002 single ‘Live In A Hiding Place’.

This single has long since been unavailable and rumours of it changing hands for £50 are true (not me, I bought it not long after it came out!) It comes up on ebay occasionally, so good luck hunting. In the meantime though, here are the three ssongs from the single:

Idlewild -’Queen Of The Troubled Teens.’ mp3

Idlewild -’Faster.’ mp3(NB Not the Manic Street Preachers song!)

Idlewild -’Self-Healer.’ mp3

Bang Bang Machine ‘Geek Love’ (Jimmi Kidd Records, 1992)

As old-school British indie-kids (i.e. were into indie before Britpop) know, this song was No.1 in John Peel’s Festive Fifty in 1992, the annual poll where Peel’s listeners would vote for their song of the year.

Hailing from Evesham, Wocestershire in England’s West Country, this song was their debut single. The band would go on to release two albums Eternal Happiness and Amphibian before they called it a day in 1996.

How to describe BBM? This track -and this is meant as a compliment - is a shoegazing epic with goth overtones. Even considering what a rubbish year 1992 was for music (and if you disagree, leave a message saying why!) it would be nice to think that this would have done well in the Festive Fifty in any year. John Peel said that even if they never made another record they would have achieved more than most of us do.

Bang Bang Machine -’Geek Love.’ mp3

A Bang Bang Machine fan-site is here and their Wikipedia page is here. Try to buy the track if you can, on Amazon or ebay, there are no tracks available that I can see on iTunes (UK anyway).

Not long after I started 17 Seconds just over as year ago, I received an email from a friendly sounding chap called gav, who runs a label called Letterbox records. I have done several features on Letterbox records since I started this blog, including the Amateurs and Morning Bride, this time I would like to focus on Sweden’s Penny Century.

Penny Century hail from the North of Sweden, and have released four eps before signing to Letterbox. Whilst comparisons to a well-known ’seminal’ cassette released 21 years ago through the NME or certain Swedish bands of the last fifteen years ago are too obvious to make, it’s also unfair because these songs deserve to be heard on their own terms. Their debut ‘Between A Hundred Lies’ will be out in two weeks’ time, from where ‘What You never Learned To Say’ comes from. In addition to this, I’d like to direct your attention to two earlier tracks that give a taste of what Penny Century are like. To me, they sound like summer.

Penny Century -’What You Never Learned To Say.’ mp3

Penny Century -’Summer Outside.’ mp3

Penny Century -’Tangled Up In My Sheets.’ mp3

and a reminder of edinburgh’s The Amateurs’ double A-side from earlier this year;

Amateurs -’Things You Only Know If You Don’t Drive.’ mp3

Amateurs -’Cool By Me.’ mp3

Letterbox records can be found here, including the shop, and the requisite myspaces for the bands are here for Penny Century and here for The Amateurs.

If you like what you hear, please go and investigate. Best of all, this is 100% with the record companies blessing! See you soon…

[Edinburgh's X-Vectors]

Yup, just as it says on the tin, this is the 200th post of 17 Seconds. I started writing this blog over a year ago now, doing my first post on July 15 2006. the reason I didn’t do a anniversary one was that it was the day after my wedding and I know which side my bread is buttered (generally the side that lands face down, particularly if it’s a carpet).

During the time of doing writing 17 Seconds so far, I have posted all manor of weird and wonderful sounds, from the unsigned to the massively successful. Anyone who says it’s all just ‘indie’ hasn’t been paying attention (Wiley? Dizzee rascal? Missy Elliott). I can’t claim to have launched any bands, and a few of the bands I have written about have split (Arab Strap, Death From Above 1979 and The Cooper Temple Clause) although there are one or two who have a higher profile, which I can’t really claim to much credit for, but hey…There have been people who have thanked me for bringing them to the attention of stuff they hadn’t heard before, so RESULT!

Thanks to everyone who has read this blog, encouraged me, and helped, in what ever way. It’s been an interesting year -getting cats, starting my first ever full-time teaching post, being signed off work and getting married. And more than just a bit of music along the way.

Now that Mrs. 17 Seconds and I are the owners of a USB turntable, expect more ‘interesting’ types of stuff to continue appearing here.

For the 200th post, I present an Arab Strap cover version, doing a Van Halen song…

Arab Strap-’Why Can’t This Be Love? (Van Halen cover).’ mp3(taken from The Shy Retirer ep)

…and also two tracks from a 12″ single that was no.6 in last year’s festive 50 on this site, Edinburgh band the X-vectors.

X-Vectors -’Now Is The Winter Of Our Discotheque.’ mp3

X-Vectors -’Your Love.’ mp3

(both tracks from Now Is the Winter Of Our Discotheque/Your Love 12″ single)

X-Vectors’ MySpace is here, with details of how to buy their music.

As always, tracks will be up here for one week only -if you like what you hear GO BUY IT.

Just a brief post on this one, but having spent a lot of time trying to get my head around the finer points of editing on the USB turntable programme, I present for your pleasure two great mixes of New Order’s ‘Fine Time’, from their masterpiece album, 1989’s Technique, which the Vinyl Villain posted on a couple of months ago. Oh, and just in case you haven’t heard it-and shame on you! the original. Acid House? House? Indie dance??
Whatever…

New Order-’Fine Time.’ mp3

New Order-’Fine Time (Silk Mix).’ mp3

New Order-’Fine Time (Messed Around Mix).’ mp3

As always…if you like what you hear, GO AND BUY IT! Links up for one week.

(The Killers)

One of the wedding presents Mrs. 17 Seconds and I received was a USB turntable, which as you might imagine, is already getting a fair bit of use, not least for all the stuff I want to put on my iPod. Here for your listening pleasure are five 12″ mixes - Dance? Indie? Electronica?!? You decide, but hey…

First up, this came out in early 2005, just as Mylo and the Killers were starting to get big not only critically but commercially in the UK. This is from the 12″:

The Killers-’Somebody Told Me (Mylo mix).’ mp3

I said there would be more Arab Strap soon, and I was not kidding. Here, from the 2001 12″ of Turbulence mixes (original version on ‘The Red Thread’ album) is the song remixed by Bis (who subsequently split, but have since reformed):

Arab Strap -’Turbulence (Bis mix).’ mp3

Also from 2001, orginally from their ‘Origin of Symmetry’ album, here is Muse’s ‘Newborn’ remixed by Paul Oakenfold, who transforms it from a mini-prog masterpiece, into a trance masterpiece (Glowsticks optional):

Muse-’Newborn (Paul Oakenfold’s Perfecto remix).’ mp3

Trevor Jackson’s Playgroup act must have put out numerous 12″s of remixes of this track (I own at least four 12″s of this) but here is the original extended mix in all it’s nine minute glory. Altogether now: ‘I can see it in your eyes…I can see it in your face…MAKE IT HAPPEN.’

Playgroup -’Make It Happen (extended mix).’

Finally, from 2003, Electrix Six promised much, were great in their briefly lived original line-up, then ultimately delivered little, but this track is still fab. (Can you tell what track was an influence on this?!)

Electrix Six -’Danger! High Voltage (Soulchild 12″ Blitz mix).’ mp3

You know the score. The tracks will be up for a week. If you like what you hear, support the artists involved. If you cannot find these tracks in your local independent record shop, or even your local capitalist chain, then try Amazon or ebay. There are many, many more where these came from…

Arab Strap -’Here We Go/Trippy’ (Chemikal Underground, 1998)

I first heard Arab Strap on the John Peel show, when he played Here We Go. Somehow the release of ‘The First Big Weekend’ had passed me by, but looking at the vinyl on the record shelves in my flat, I guess I made up for lost time. In this song, Aidan Moffat starts off by wondering how he’s supposed to walk his girlfriend home, when she’s some way in front of him, having stormed off in a huff. Hmm, I guess one or two of us might have been there, too… Sad and beautiful. The ‘AA’ side (I know, it’s just I still tend to think in terms of vinyl) Trippy is just that, showing that Aidan Moffat’s later electronica work as Lucky Pierre has a far earlier beginning than might be thought. The track also features ‘Tremendan O’Hare’, almost certainly one-time Teenage Fanclub drummer, and Mogwai’s musician without portfolio (sic) Brendan O’Hare.

‘Here We Go’ is still available on their second album ‘Philophobia’; for Trippy, try e-bay or Amazon (it’s not on the UK version of iTunes as far as I can see).

Arab Strap -’Here We Go.’ mp3

Arab Strap -’Trippy.’ mp3

As always, if you like what you hear, please support the artists involved. Tracks posted will be up for one week only. More Arab Strap coming very, very soon…