Monthly Archives: December 2011

Christmas Posts 2011 #12

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withered-hand2

Dan Willson, AKA Withered Hand is a fine songwriter and I even know him, a little bit.

Having previously played in Barrichello and Peanut, he has been the main man behind Withered Hand since 2006. In 2009 he released the draw-dropping album, Good News. I was privileged to see him on a bill headlined by Broken Records and also featuring Jesus H. Foxx at Edinburgh’s Cabaret Voltaire. I was gobsmacked. By this stage, the album was getting not only great reviews but brilliant end of year notices, and I spent a month trying to get hold of it. In the end, it was Ed from SL Records who sent me a link, and even fixed it for me to interview Dan. Had I been able to get hold of the album before my end of year lists in 2009, they would probably have turned out very differently. Ah well…

This was a Christmas song that Withered Hand put out as a free download in 2009:

Withered Hand -‘It’s A Wonderful Lie.’ mp3

Dan has now signed to the mighty Fence Collective (which as well as being run by King Creosote and Jonny Pictish Trail is also home to the likes of Kid Canaveral and too many great acts to mention). According to the email from Jonny Pictish which arrived today ‘the song is being released on Fence Records as part of an exclusive to subscribers of our new EP series. If folk subscribe on our website (www.fencerecords.com) before December 16th, they will receive a Xmas card with a mini-CD inside which will have ‘Real Snow’ on it.’ Right. You know what to do, yes?

THere is an EP on the way. Oh, and this track was recorded by none other than Darren Hayman. WOW.

Christmas Posts 2011 #11

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wedding-present

The Wedding Present have made a significant contribution to Christmas over the years.

In 1992, they famously released a 7″ single a month, all of which made the top thirty (and were later collected, with attendant b-sides, all of them cover versions, on the Hit Parade 1 and Hit Parade 2 compilations). That Deecember they released ‘No Christmas’ with a cover of Elton John’s ‘Step Into Christmas’ as the b-side.

Wedding Present – No Christmas.’ mp3

Wedding Present -‘Step Into Christmas.’ mp3

This was their single in 2008; the b-side was a rather fab version of ‘White Christmas.’

Wedding Present -‘Holly Jolly Hollywood.’

Not only that, but next year marks 21 years since they released Seamonsters (produced by Steve Albini, who would go on to work with Low, PJ Harvey and of course, Nirvana). They are touring this but they have also lined up some dates for the end of this year:

29 December: Glasgow Garage

30 December: Leeds O2 Academy

31 December: London Camden Dingwalls

Their eighth studio album has been pencilled in for release on March 12, 2012. Get that in your diaries…

Christmas Posts 2011 #10

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how-to-swim

I did say that it was my intention to include more new stuff on my Christmas posts this year (not that there’s anything wrong with posting a few old faves, of course!)

I have long supported How To Swim on this blog, and indeed they made my Festive Fifty back in 2008, with ‘Genesis P and Me.’. They have just released a free, three-track EP for Christmas, entitled A Minor Key Christmas. This includes two new songs and a cover of Paul McCartney’s ‘Wonderful Christmastime.’

Now, this last song I hold to be one of the nadirs of Macca’s post-Beatles career. But How To Swim have shown that, amazingly, you CAN polish a turd and make it into a decent pop tune.

Serious respect.

This is in addition to last year’s Christmas EP, which was entitled Santa’s Got All The Best Tunes:

However, I would seriously beseech you to understand that How To Swim are not just for Christmas. Start by checking out their Bandcamp.

Christmas Posts 2011 #9

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idlewild

1988. A year of Acid House causing moral panic amongst the nation’s self-appointed moral guardians. UK Hip-Hop like Derek B, Cookie Crew and The Wee Papa Girl Rappers making it out of the clubs and into Smash Hits and Top Of The Pops. A massive 70th Birthday Concert at Wembley Stadium to honour Nelson Mandela, then still facing life imprisonment in South Africa for his entirely reasonable opposition to the Apartheid regime*.

However, Christmas seems to send people into conservative (note small ‘c’) mode and the biggest selling record of the year was Cliff Richard’s ‘Mistletoe and Wine.’ His first number one single since he had teamed up with the Young Ones on a re-working (for Charidee, obviously) of his old hit ‘Livin’ Doll’.

I have no idea to what extent Idlewild are followers of Cliff Richard, but they recorded this rather ace version of ‘Mistletoe and Wine’ for a radio session a couple of years ago.

Idlewild -‘Mistletoe and Wine.’ mp3

*BTW what the fuck was Eric Clapton doing there?

Blog Sound of 2012

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the-blog-sound-2012

Today, the BBC have published thier longlist of those who they reckon make their Sound of 2012. A few weeks ago, I was asked to take part in the Bloggers one (always nice to be asked to be involved!), so here is the longlist for this.

Many are new to me, but other acts like Meursault, French Wives and Beth Jeans Houghton are favourites.

Houdini Dax
Lianne De Haves
Theme Park
French Wives
The Good Natured
Alt J
The Jezabels
Lucy Rose
Bastille
Washington
Friends
Meursault
Daughter
Beth Jeans Houghton
Outfit

Big respect to Andy Von Pip for organising this; the full list of blogs involved was: Breaking More Waves, God Is In the TV, Sweeping The Nation, The Von Pip Musical Express, The Recommender, Faded Glamour, Drunken Werewolf, Flying With Anna, Not Many Experts, Underclassed idle Ideas, Sonic Masala, Mudkiss, The Pop Cop, The Ring Master, Both Bars On, Music From A Green Window, Dots And Dashes, Daily Growl, And Everyones A DJ, Kowolskiy, Just Music i Like, Cruel Rhythms, The Blue Walrus, Music Fans Mic, Seventeen Seconds, Eaten By Monsters, Seven Sevens, Unpeeled, New Rave Brain Wave, Peenko, Music Liberation, Song By Toad.

Album Review – Misty’s Big Adventure

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mistys-big-adventure

Misty’s Big Adventure -‘The Family Amusement Centre.’ (A Village Green For The Big Society Records)

Birmingham eight piece Misty’s Big Adventure have been around since 2004, and this is their fourth album. At one stage they were signed to Edinburgh’s SL Records, who also gave us the likes of ballboy, Saint Jude’s Infirmary and Withered Hand, amongst others. There’s no doubt that there are a lot of very clever ideas going on here and on the records in general (and the legendary John Peel was described mainman Grandmaster Gareth as the ‘new God.’)

Not only that, but album track ‘General Condusion’ features none other than Sir Patrick Moore (which is pretty cool, though I personally feel that Bjork trumped them by getting David Attnborough on her latest album). There’s twelve songs here, most of which are pretty good – the problem is that this album is a bit like the sonic equivalent of a rich fruit cake. It’s lovely in pieces, but taking the entire piece in one go is just overload and a bit much to cope with. And sometimes those clever ideas that I mentioned in the last paragraph seem like they need to be reigned in just a little bit.

However, given the strength of what’s on display here, it is worth persevering with. Whether this might have worked better as a series of EPs is a moot point, and there’s a lot of display to enjoy here.

***

The Family Amusement Centre is out on December 5 on A Village Green For The Big Society Records

Christmas 2011 Posts #8

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mark-e-smith

Whatever your views on religion, chances are if you grew up in the UK, at some point you went to a Christmas Carol Concert.

And much as I would no more wish to hear tuneless singing of these perennial favourites than many of you will, Christmas Eve’s essential soundtrack has got to include Carols from King’s College, Cambridge to hear them done well.

So, for today’s post, a selection of half a dozen songs you might hear at a Christmas concert done in the bands’ own inimitable styles. There may be many more of these out there, though I drew the line at posting Cliff Richard’s version of ‘O Little Town Of Bethlehem’ or Bros doing ‘Silent Night.’ There’s post-modernism and then there’s being stupid.

Can -‘Silent Night.’ mp3

Belle and Sebastian -‘O Come, O Come Emmanuel.’ mp3

Bare Naked Ladies and Sarah McLachlan -‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.’ mp3

Blondie -‘We Three Kings.’ mp3

Fall -‘Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.’ mp3 {Mark E. Smith above)

Camera Obscura -‘Little Donkey.’ mp3

EP review – Darren Hayman

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darren-hayman-christmas-ep

Darren Hayman -‘Christmas In Howarth.’ (Fika)

As I think I have probably commented before, Darren Hayman is a man whose recorded output has been so prolific over the past fifteen years that he makes The Fall seem like The Blue Nile by comparison. Only Will Oldham in his Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy guise seems to be able to match him.

Whereas my main recollection of last winter is my then very pregnant wife and I struggling to get about through a very snowy Scotland, Darren and his loved one took a different approach. Fed up with what sounds like a series of hideous family Christmases with his Mum crying over Monopoloy (this never happens in my home: my wife refuses to play as I am too competitive, apparently), they went off to Howarth in Yorkshire. Where, as Darren writes, Christmas looks like Christmas and four of the six songs on this 10″ EP were recorded.

Opener ‘The Christmas Wars’ is perhaps the finest track on offer here, but once again, there are six excellent new additions to his already impressive body of work, including two instrumentals. Limited to 300 copies, this EP is nevertheless, worth seeking out.

****

Christmas in Howarth is out now. Act quickly.

You may also find the Advent Calendar with lots of free downloads available here of interest…

…and the comments are now switched on.

2011 Christmas Posts #7

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saint-etienne

Today’s two Christmas related tracks have been posted before, but I thought I would give them another airing.

The rather fine -and increasingly, I feel, rather underrated – Saint Etienne had a minor hit with this track which also featured Tim Burgess on shared lead vocals, back in 1993. It still does the rounds today. 1993 had been a rather good year for the Etienne, with several hits, and their awesome second album So Tough. 1994 would see the release of Tiger Bay from Saint Etienne, and Burgess and The Charlatans releasing Up To Our Hips*.

Saint Etienne featuring Tim Burgess -‘I Was Born On Christmas Day.’ mp3

This track appears on the very rare, and not available in the shops Saint Etienne Christmas album A Glimpse Of Stocking (ooo-er missus, etc etc). This can be streamed, at least in part via Spotify.

Saint Etienne -’21st Century Christmas.’ mp3

Seriously, do yourself a favour and get your hands on as much Saint Etienne as you can. If you only get two albums, then So Tough and Foxbase Alpha, but really, go get far more.

*Both great albums, however, the media became fixated on Blur and Oasis, which would reach fever pitch in 1995.

Christmas Posts 2011 #6

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As well as posting a few favourites from years gone by, I do try and post new Christmas-related stuff during the festive season.

So, a few things that have arrived in my inbox that I’d like to share with you.

model-village

Model Village describe themselves as a folksy pop band from London and Cambridge, and they are Dan, Ian, Piers, Rachel, Mark, Kenny, Kev and Ellie. They have described this as ‘a Christmas song that’s not really about Christmas.’ It works for me.

Next up, this is a radical re-working of Frank Sinatra’s ‘Winter Wonderland’ by the Dirty Tees. It is clearly dividing people, which at least means it’s being listened to. You should, too.

sinatra

Frank Sinatra – Winter Wonderland (The Dirty Tees Remix) by thedirtytees

sundancer
Finally, follow this link to hear Glasgow’s The Sundancer and ‘Christmas Isn’t Just For Christmas.’