Album Review: Parka

Posted on May 5, 2008 by Ed

Parka -‘Attack Of the Hundred Yard Hardman.’ (Jeepster)

Many years ago, Jeepster signed and released albums by two acts based north of the border, one of whom did well under Jeepster (Belle and Sebastian), the other who left to a major label before they started to sell huge quantities of records and changed their main influence from Sebadoh to Coldplay (Snow Patrol). So where do Parka stand?

Musically speaking, Parka would appear to have more in common with the likes of the View or the Fratellis than either Belle and Sebastian or Snow Patrol. This is jolly, knees up vaguely ‘indie’ rather than groundbreakingly radical indie. Yet, I’m not sure how much that matters. Parka don’t seem to make any claims towards being radical, what they are is fun, and that they succeed at brilliantly.

Including the three singles released so far: ‘If You Wanna?’, ‘Disco Dancer’ and ‘Better Anyway’ Parka’s debut is worth checking out. The fun starts with opener ‘Bosses and Bastards’ and continues right through. It won’t change your life, but it could be the soundtrack to your summer. And that’s gotta be worth something.

****

Parka -‘Bosses and Bastards.’ mp3

Parks -‘Better Anyway.’ mp3

Parka’s website/Parka’s MySpace

[P.S. If you want new music and like Nine Inch Nails, their album is out today and it’s free. A review will appear here shortly…See their website for a free legal download of the entire album

New CSS and Coldplay

Posted on May 4, 2008 by Ed

…in which two hotly anticipated albums of 2008 make tracks available for free via their website. Glad to see record companies are finally waking up to this.

Firstly, CSS’ new LP Donkey is due out soon, and this track is entitled ‘Rat is Dead (Rage).’ mp3

CSS -‘Rat Is Dead (Rage).’ mp3

Meanwhile, Coldplay’s Viva La Vida is due out in June. I stand by liking Coldplay. Sure there are loads of godawful bands who have missed the subtleties of Coldplay (I’m perfectly serious; if you can’t hear them, then that kind of proves the point, doesn’t it?) and attempted to cash-in. I first got into them in 1999 when they released the Blue Room EP and have enjoyed them ever since. Remember: Nirvana shouldn’t be blamed for Nickleback, nor should Green Day be blamed for Sum 41and Blink 182.

Coldplay – ‘Violet Hill.’ mp3

The legendary c81 tape

Posted on May 3, 2008 by Ed

This cassette (and yes, I mean cassette) was utterly, utterly seminal, perhaps even more so than its sister release, the c86 cassette, also compiled by NME, in summing up the music and mood of an era. In his book Rip It Up And Start Again, Simon Reynolds calles it ‘Post-Punk’s Swan Song.’ Over the course of the next twelve months, the post-punk landscape continued to shift, change and develop into what became known as ‘New Pop’. On the one hand New Pop gave us the Human League, ABC, Depeche Mode, and incorporated a few of the acts on this tape (Scritti Politti, Wah!), but it also gave us acts that ruined classic songs, had big haircuts and egos, and still inspire people to go on about how much the eighties was good for cheese. Lord save us from those who buy into the ‘so rubbish it’s good’ myth.

Anyway, for more on this tape check out these entries at Indie-mp3 and at Wikipedia. In fact, if you like great music make sure you check out indie mp3 anyway for proper indie music.

Side One
1. The “Sweetest Girl”” – Scritti Politti
2. “Twist and Crawl Dub” – The Beat
3. “Misery Goats” – Pere Ubu
4. “7,000 Names of Wah!” – Wah! Heat
5. “Blue Boy” – Orange Juice
6. “Raising the Count” – Cabaret Voltaire
7. “Kebab Traume Live” – D.A.F
8. “Bare Pork” – Furious Pig
9. “Raquel” – The Specials
10. “I Look Alone” – Buzzcocks
11. “Fanfare in the Garden” – Essential Logic
12. “Born Again Cretin” – Robert Wyatt

Side Two

1. “Shouting Out Loud” – The Raincoats
2. “Endless Soul” – Josef K
3. “Low Profile” – Blue Orchids
4. “Red Nettle” – Virgin Prunes
5. “We Could Send Letters” – Aztec Camera
6. “Milkmaid” – Red Crayola
7. “Don’t Get in My Way” – Linx
8. “The Day My Pad Went Mad” – The Massed Carnaby St John Cooper Clarkes
9. “Jazz Is the Teacher, Funk Is the Preacher” – James Blood Ulmer
10. “Close to Home” – Ian Dury
11. “Greener Grass” – Gist
12. “Parallel Lines” – Subway Sect
13. “81 Minutes” – John Cooper Clarke

Enjoy folks!

Some Covers For Saturday Part VII

Posted on May 3, 2008 by Ed

The following covers came on a free CD given away by the NME a few months ago. Time to share with the 17 Seconds readers:

Manic Street Preachers – ‘Umbrella.’ mp3 (Rihanna cover)

The Futureheads -‘A Picture Of Dorian Gray.’ mp3 (Television personalities cover)

Lightspeed Champion -‘Back To Black.’ mp3 (Amy Winehouse cover)

CSS -‘Knife.’ mp3 (Grizzly Bear cover)

The Cribs -‘Modern Way.’ mp3 (Kaiser Chiefs cover)

Kaiser Chiefs -‘Golden Skans.’ mp3 (Klaxons cover)

The Kooks -‘Young Folks.’ mp3 (Peter Bjorn and John cover)

Does It Offend You, Yeah? -‘Whip It (live).’ mp3 (Devo cover)

Kate Nash -‘Men’s Needs.’ mp3 (Cribs cover)

My Chemical Romance -‘Song 2.’ mp3 (Blur cover)

Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly -‘D.A.N.C.E.’ mp3 (Justice cover)

The Wombats -‘Bleeding Love.’ mp3 (Leona Lewis cover)

Bloc Party -‘Say It Right.’ mp3 (Nelly Furtado cover)

And as a couple of bonuses:

The Streets -‘Your Song.’ mp3 (Elton John cover) (from a Radio 1 compilation)

Biffy Clyro -‘Umbrella.’ mp3 (from the same Radio 1 compilation)

More posts to come this weekend, including (hopefully) the long-searched for NME C81 tape…

Five festive Fifty Favourites for Friday

Posted on May 2, 2008 by Ed

…um, nice alliteration, I guess!

First up, one of those genuinely life-changing bands, Sonic Youth. The first album of theirs I heard was Goo, and while this may be indie heresy, I even prefer it to Daydream Nation (a few years ago, I played in a band with the working name of Daydream Nation. Our bassist hated it, and it transpired there is already a band of that name. Oh well). Never understood how ‘Dirty Boots’ from Goo didn;t make that year’s Festive Fifty, though…

Sonic Youth -‘Kool Thing.’ mp3

Sonic Youth -‘Tunic (Song For Karen).’ mp3

Does anyone else think this is a bit similar to ‘Kiss Them For Me’ by Siouxsie and the Banshees, which came out about the same time? Either way, cool record.

Chapterhouse -‘Pearl.’ mp3

‘I wanna die…I wanna die…’ Nowadays, a fifteen year old would embrace/shun this track for being ’emo’ with that lyric. But when it came out, I was fifteen, had never heard the word emo, and just thought it was drop dead cool. more than cood be said for me at the time.

Jesus and Mary Chain -‘Reverence.’ mp3

Fast forward to 1998, Britpop has gone down the plughole, and Norman Cook has yet another rebirth. This still makes me dance, really badly, mind…

Fatboy Slim -‘Rockafeller Skank.’ mp3

As I near to my 500th post, there will be more weird and wonderful music here. Watch this space…