The return of Teenage Fanclub

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Teenage Fanclub have announced that they will release Here, their first album in six years, and their tenth overall, on September 9.

The follow-up to 2010’s Shadows, Here was recorded at Vega in rural Provence and at Raymond McGinley’s home in Glasgow before being mixed at Clouds Hill in the industrial heart of Hamburg.

Norman Blake: “Shadows came after a five-year gap; this one is coming after a six-year gap. Getting back together to work, even after all these years, does feel a lot like coming home. Thinking about it now, we really should get together a bit more often.”

The album tracklisting is as follows:

1. I’m In Love
2. Thin Air
3. Hold On
4. The Darkest Part Of The Night
5. I Have Nothing More To Say
6. I Was Beautiful When I Was Alive
7. The First Sight
8. Live In The Moment
9. Steady State
10. It’s A Sign
11. With You
12. Connected To Life

Presenting…Lenzie Moss

Lenzie Moss

Lenzie Moss is Finlay MacDonald, a former member of both Teenage Fanclub and BMX Bandits.

Reportedly he sees his music as more Gregory’s Girl than Trainspotting, which might be a very good way of describing his forthcoming single ‘Let’s Take The Day Off’ (****) which is -and this is definitely meant as a compliment – very much in the vein of both of the aforementioned bands.

Having released his debut album Introducing Lenzie Moss in 2012, his sophomore album will be released this September.

For now, turn this up – we’re starting to see signs of Spring here in Scotland, and as ever, it all needs a soundtrack. Why not Lenzie Moss?

‘Let’s Take The Day Off’ is released via bandcamp on March 31.

Coming up on 17 Seconds

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There’s a million and one posts I need to write and there’s the little matter of the end of year lists (albums and tracks) and next year’s tips.

Just to let you know there are interviews to write up from The Twilight Sad, We Were Promised Jetpacks and Jai McDowell; live review of Zappa Plays Zappa and come Sunday, I will start my annual Christmas posts as well, where I post various Christmas-related music.

I’ve heard over 350 albums this year, but I’d love to know what you think I should be including (or not). And if there’s Christmas music you think should be apppearing here.

This is not a Christmas related track, but I thought it went well with this (very brief) post:

Teenage Fanclub -‘December.’ mp3

This has been removed by a company who keep approaching my file provider rather than coming to me. Ironic to see that it is supposedly endorsed by record companies who are frequently trying to get me to feature stuff.

It’s Friday…so it’s covers time

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Utterly exhausted here.

Sorry for lack of posts over the last few days -yesterday evening I burned my hand and was more concerned with trying to make sure I was actually going to be able to get into work today.

There will be more reviews appearing here over the weekend – but for now enjoy these…

Ash -‘Does Your Mother Know? (Abba cover).’ mp3

Black Box Recorder -‘Seasons In the Sun (Terry Jacks cover).’ mp3

Teenage Fanclub -‘Like A Virgin (Madonna cover).’ mp3

Placebo -‘Johnny & Mary (Robert Palmer cover).’ mp3

Manic Street Preachers -‘Suicide Is Painless (Theme From M*A*S*H)( M*A*S*H cover).’ mp3

Siouxsie & the Banshees -‘The Passenger (Iggy Pop cover).’ mp3

Mercury Rev -‘I Don’t Want To Be A Soldier (John Lennon cover).’ mp3

Flying Saucer Attack -‘Outdoor Miner (Wire cover).’ mp3

Primal Scream -‘Know Your Rights (Clash cover).’ mp3

Sonic Youth -‘Hot Wire My Heart (Crime cover).’ mp3

Christmas posts part 4

edinburgh-snow

It is now December, the first door on the advent calendar is opened, and I couldn’t get into work today.

I guess to people who live in climates where it snows heavily every year are used to it, but here in the UK we tend to get mild winters (most of the time) and thus things like chains on your wheels or snow tyres are not legal requirements.

Whether these songs are Christmassy or Decembery (!) may be a moot point -but what the heck!

Teenage Fanclub -‘December.’ mp3 (from Bandwagonesque)

Kate Bush -‘December Will Be Magic Again.’ mp3

There will be more songs tomorrow…

A the end of a long weekend

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A great, if busy, few days! Feel like I need to get an early night…

This cover has had a lot of people enquiring about it, so for Liam from the Last Battle, here it is:

Teenage Fanclub -‘Like A Virgin (Madonna cover).’ mp3

..and as a bonus, Sonic Youth’s take on another Madonna classic:

Ciccone Youth -‘Into The Groove(y).’ mp3

Hope you have all had a great weekend…xx

Album review – Teenage Fanclub

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Teenage Fanclub -‘Shadows’ (Pema)

This year marks twenty years since the release of Teenage Fanclub’s seminal debut single ‘Everything Flows.’ At the time they were seen as being the bright young things; and famous fans included none other than Kurt Cobain. They’ve tasted chart success and critical adulation -but how are things as we find them on their latest LP?

Well, Teenage Fanclub started off as a marriage of Dinosuar Jr. and Big Star, but from 1995’s Grand Prix onwards, they substituted Dinosaur Jr for Neil Young. The days of the band rocking out or producing a song as insane as ‘Satan’ (from 1991’s awesome Bandwagonesque) seem to be long behind them. That’s not to say that their best days are behind them; they still pack a mighty punch live and I’d be willing to bet that the aforementioned Kurt Cobain would not be rewriting ‘Teen Spirit’ nineteen years later, were he still with us today (sigh).

By now you’ve probably (or at least hopefully) heard ‘Baby Lee’ which has been doing the rounds for a few months across the blogs. It’s classic Fanclub and another worthy addition to their cannon, and there’s certainly quite a few more great songs on here, like opener ‘Sometimes I Don’t Need To believe In Anything.’ But the feeling persists that whilst this is certainly a fine collection of songs, and they do deserve their status in not only the scottish music scene and beyond…that this isn’t quite worthy of the heights they have scaled in the past.

Is it worth hearing? Most definitely. Is it worth owning? If you’re a Fanclub fan, sure. It is perhaps unlikely to win them legions of new fans.

***1/2

Shadows is out now on PeMa.

Teenage Fanclub -‘Baby Lee.’ mp3

More goodies from the inbox

The new MGMT video for their current ‘free download’ ‘Flash Delirium’ has hit the inbox: weird, wonderful and quite odd…

Their new album is out on April 12, entitled Congratulations and you can stream the entire thing here.

If you fancy having ‘Flash Delirium’ here for your iPod or whatever…here you go!

MGMT -‘Flash Delirium.’ mp3

Meanwhile, Teenage Fanclub’s ‘Baby Lee’, from their forthcoming album Shadows is now available as a free download too…

Teenage Fanclub -‘The Shadows.’ mp3

More new music in my inbox

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Yet again…lots of brilliant music coming my way and I’m trying to get through it all! I’ve already heard at least thirty new albums this year, and still haven’t had time to write reviews for them all (in some cases, because I won’t get back the time required to advise people, constructively, that it’s not worth their time or money either). But three things that are most definitely floating my boat.

First up are 4AD’s The National, who will be releasing their new single ‘Bloodbuzz Ohio’ in May. This might be one of my favourite tracks so far this year. This is the first track to come from their forthcoming album High Violet and you can download it for free by going here:

Download ‘High Violet’ by the National here!

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Meanwhile, the New Pornographers, the Vancouver -based supergroup that includes A.C. Newman and Neko Case have just released an excellent track called ‘Crash years’ which can be downloaded from iTunes (not on eMusic when I checked two minutes ago). You can hear the track on their facebook page here. this is taken from their forthcoming fifth album Together.

Last, but most definitely not least, Teenage Fanclub are due to return with their first new album in five years at the end of May, entitled Shadows, to be released on May 31. This year will mark twenty years since the release of theirseminal debut single ‘Everything Flows’ and the attendant debut A Catholic Education.

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The tracklisting for the album is as follows:

1. Sometimes I Don’t Need To Believe In Anything
2. Baby Lee
3. The Fall
4. Into The City
5. Dark Clouds
6. The Past
7. Shock And Awe
8. When I Still Have Thee
9. Live With The Seasons
10. Sweet Days Waiting
11. The Back Of My Mind
12. Today Never Ends

Hear ‘Baby Lee’ here on Soundcloud.

Thank crunchie it’s Friday

crunchie

…does there have to be a reason? Just fancied posting some great covers, frankly.

New Age Steppers -‘Fade Away (Junior Byles cover).’ mp3

Schneider TM -‘The Light 3000 (The Smiths cover).’ mp3

Teenage Fanclub -‘Nothing To be Done (Pastels cover).’ mp3

X-Lion Tamer -‘Starsign (Teenage Fanclub cover).’ mp3

Biffy Clyro-‘Umbrella (Rihanna cover).’ mp3

Cud -‘You Sexy Thing (Hot Chocolate cover).’ mp3

Voxtrot -‘Love Vigilantes (New Order cover).’mp3

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

The Streets -‘Your Song (Elton John cover).’ mp3

My Bloody Valentine -‘We Have All The Time In the World (Louis Armstrong cover).’ mp3

Enjoy!

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