A couple of days ago, I got a post

inviting me to go and check out Letterbox records and I am very glad I did so. They have two ban

ds signed to them currently, the Arrogants and the Amateurs.

You need to hear these guys now! The Arrogants have six mp3s on their site and an album out and the Amateurs are recording and have one mp3 at the moment, but they are both worth hearing. The Arrogants’ Cool Shoes reminds me of the Shop Assistants. Both bands would fit in nicely on the Rough Trade Shops Indiepop 1 compilation that came out a couple of years ago (that’s meant as a compliment). Cool Shoes had me pogoing around my room like only the best indiepop can. Bookmark these, keep checking on them and go and buy the Arrogants CD
Go get them mp3s!:

Ar

rogants

Amateurs

The fact that it’s now August reminds me that it is now three years since I discovered Franz Ferdinand. It seems odd to say this now when they are so popular, but at the time, no-one knew who they were. I heard ‘Darts of Pleasure’ on nme.com and thought that was wor

th checking out. So I and girlfriend of the time went to see them at the Liquid Rooms in Edinburgh, where they were opening for Hot Hot Heat. I still like Hot Hot Heat, and i think Make Up The Breakdown is a great album, but frankly, Franz Ferdinand blew me

away.

Hot Hot Heat – ‘Bandages.’ mp3 from Make Up the Breakdown*

Franz Ferdinand -‘Darts of Pleasure’ mp3 from Franz Ferdinand

The next time I saw Franz Ferdinand was on holiday in York, where they headlined the tiny but wonderful Fibbers. I was on holiday at the time, and actually met the band walking down the street. I haven’t met them since, but they were warm and very welcoming, posed for photographs, signed autographs etc.. They had just come from London by train and were walking down the middle of York’s pedestrian precinct.
The gig that night was warm and sweaty, and as well as the comfortable feeling that we really were seeing the next big thing, was the two support acts, Dogs Die In Hot Cars, who’d just put out their debut single ‘I Love You ‘Cos I Have To’ and Sons and Daughters. At the time, the latter’s album was only available on import, even though they come from Falkirk (midway between Edinburgh and Glasgow. Alright, that’s a simplification but it will do). I have subsequently seen Franz Ferdinand another four times, though pleased as I am to see them do well, it’s kinda frustrating not to be able to get tickets for shows for a band who sell out big venues when I saw them playing venues where you really could see the whites of their eyes.

Dogs Die In Hot Cars – ‘I Love You ‘Cos I have To.’ mp3 from Please Describe Yourself

I have now seen Sons and Daughters a grand total of seven times (they tie with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club for the band I have seen the most). The band, made up of Adele Bethel (vocals and guitars), Scott Paterson (vocals, guitar), Ailidh Lennon (bass, mandolin) and David Gow (drums) are just…something else, both live and on record. The interchange between Adele and Scott – a couple in real life – is just something that has to be seen to be believed. Now that The Delgados have split they are without a doubt my favourite Scottish band. They could be filed under indie…or country, but somehow, they just transcend those sort of labels. No, really. They also have managed to effectively make two debut albums – their mini-lp ‘Love the cup’ and ‘The Repulsion Box.’ Considering how long it isn’t -twenty-five minutes and seven tracks – Love The Cup feels spectacularly complete, an album that can be stuck on repeated play. The Repulsion Box should have been a big smash, taking things onto the next level.However, the big release the day it came out – at least in the UK – was Coldplay’s X & Y. Ah well…

Love The Cup

“Sons and Daughters – ‘Dance Me In.’ mp3 from The Repulsion Box

*I know Hot Hot Heat are Canadian, but as I began to write this post, I knew I had to have this track here.

OK, first of all I promised more covers – and here you are (see this as a part two to yesterday’s post):

First up, DeVotchKa )and yes, those caps ARE meant to b

e there!) covering the Velvet Underground’s Venus In Furs. This is, for those who don’t know, originaly on the VU’s debut The Velvet Underground & Nico. Brian Eno once said that this album may only have sold a few thousand copies when it came out – but everyone who heard it went and formed a band. Whilst the cynics may point out that it is going ot be impossible to

confirm this (Go away. Now!), I think their influence on David Bowie, Siouxsie and the Bans

hees, Primal Scream, the Jesus and Mary Chain…pu

nk, goth, indie…hmm. I think my record collection would be way, way different. And much poorer.

DeVotchKa – ‘Venus In Furs.’ mp3

To buy DeVotchKa’s Curse Your Little Heart EP click here

To buy The Velvet Underground and Nico click here

Surfing the web, I also came across this cover of Mercury Rev doing David Bowie’s Jean Genie. This is from their own website; Bowie’s original should also be heard-and owned.

Mercury Rev – ‘Jean Genie.’ mp3

If you don’t own any Mercury Rev albums, I suggest you start by buying Deserter’s Songs.

Bowie’s version can be heard on A

laddin Sane, as well as many compilations, such as this

The Spells, a side project from Carrie Brownstein of the about to be very sorely missed Sleater-Kinney, and Mary Timony of Helium covered The Who’s I Can’t Explain in 1999. Mmm, I like this!

The Spells -‘I Can’t Explain.’ mp3

Go here to buy it

I know I have put a fair bit up on Canasta already but if you haven’t been to their website already, you really should. Here they cover Al Green’s Let’s Stay Together and Suzanne Vega’s Tom’s Diner.

Canasta -‘Let’s Stay Together (live).’ mp3

Canasta -‘Tom’s Diner.’ mp3

Go here to buy Canasta music.

Follow this to buy Al Green and this to buy Suzanne Vega.

Hope you like these. Enjoy the sunshine.

Like a lot of people of a certain age, the first band I ever remember hearing was The Beatles. The album in question was A Hard day’s Night and not, as many might think, Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band (not a bad album, but let’s face it, the majority of people who say it’s their favourite album only own five albums. I like the two Terry Pratchett books I’ve read, I’d like to read more but at the moment it seems a bit much to express a favourite). Because there are so many covers of the Beatles’ songs it gets har

d at times to pick up on ones

that really stand out. (I do like The Breeders’ version of Happiness Is A Warm Gun on Pod). But – and I know I did a big post on Low last time – I figured you had to hear t

his:

Low – ‘Nowhere Man.’ mp3

And this is a cover by Low of one of John

Denver’s songs:

Low – ‘Back home Again.’ mp3

Thinking of the sixties, another classic band – The Beach Boys – get covered by Sonic Youth as the mp3 of the week at the Chromewaves site – the track in question is ‘I Know There’s An Answer.’ This, obviously, was on the seminal Pet Sounds. It was covered by Frank Black as ‘Hang Onto Your Ego on his first solo album. The New Order version can also be found on the re-issue of Goo, still my favourite Sonic Youth album.

The last Joy Division song or the start of

New Order? There are places for these debates – but check out Galaxie 500 covering Ceremony:

Galaxie

500 – ‘Ceremony.’

There will be more covers tomorrow, but right now enjoy these. I’ll be back…

Low. That’s right. There are people in this world who haven’t, and hungover as I am this Saturday morning (no-one to blame but myself) I decided that I wanted to make this post for these people. If you are already familiar with Low- I salute you.

Most people know ‘that’ feeling, when they hear a band and they realise that this is something truly, truly special. I don’t know, though, that it’s always the first time you hear a band. Back in 2000, in the Rough Trade Shop in Covent Garden, I picked up Low’s Christmas album, because I liked what I had heard, and

I had read about it, and I also picked u

p the ‘Dinosaur Act’ 7″ that was new out. Two great records BUT the moment of revelation came a couple of months later when I heard ‘Sunflower’ on John Peel. ‘Sadcore?’ Whatever. This is one of the most heartbrea

king songs ever released, yet life-affirming at the same time. I had to buy Things We Lost In The Fire.

Low – ‘Sunflower.’ mp3

This of course led me to other albums. About six months later their collaboration with Dirty 3, In a Fishtank 7

came ou

t. Worth it for the cover of Neil Young’s Down By the River alone.

I heard Secret Name and the following year

they put out Trust. They came and played in Edinburgh in February 2003, which was an amazing show. I remember walking out into one of the coldest nights I have ever felt. Somehow, it felt apt. This track is from Secret Name:

Low – ‘I Remember.’ mp3

Their box set, A Lifetime of Temporary Relief is also essential, partly because it contains this gem that they

put out as a 7″ for the mighty Sub Pop

Low – ‘Venus.’ mp3

2005 saw the release of The Great Destroyer which showed almost a rocky Low. Here are the two opening tracks – go get ’em!

Low – ‘

Monkey.’ mp3

Low – ‘ California.’ mp3

I gotta confess, I am absolutely shattered. And I have to thank those nice people at Dance To The Sun for the music behind th

e post this evening, so apologies if you’ve already read about this band there…

I know nothing about The Sunny Street – but they sound great, and perfect for a hazy summer evening. Their myspace page has four tracks – go get ’em!

It has been well-reported that Sleater-Kinney are breaking up. I

only got into the band a couple of years ago, so I feel like a bit of a Johnny-come-lately posting on them. However, let me point you in the following direction whether or not you are familiar with the band:

the band’s official home page and their myspace page

Their pages at Subpop, their record label also has a few mp3s
A Blog Soup has a hell of a lot of stuff!
(thanks to Copy, Right? for

pointing me in the direction of this. Go here to buy Sleater-Kinney if you like what you hear.

Finally, Victoria Bergsman has left The Concretes to pursue a solo career. It bugs me that The Concretes have not yet had the kind of success that they so clearly deserve. Courtesy of their webpage, check out these (snippets of)tracks, which should whet your appetite then go and buy their two very fine albums The Concretes and In Colour.

The Concretes – ‘Say Something

New.’ mp3

The Concretes – ‘Diana Ross.’ mp3
Finally, I will add more blogs and links to this page. Right now I really, really gotta sleep…

There are many fantastic albums out already this year (Belle and Sebastian, Sonic Youth, My Latest Novel, The Pipettes and above all, Camera Obscura- see links to the right of this post to find their websites). There are many I have yet to hear – the disadvantage of no longer working in a record shop is

that I simply don’t have the time to hear everything that comes out. However, even more than The Long Blondes album (according to this week’s NME it should be out sometime before the end of the year) the album I am most looking forward to hearing is the pride of Hoboken, NJ: Yo La Tengo’s ‘I am not afraid of you and I will beat your ass.’ The cover art is at the top of this post, and there is a link to a track below. Matador have posted another track from t

he album called ‘Pass The Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind.’ This is ten minutes long -as is my favourite Yo La Tengo track ‘Space Bebop,’ from 1997’s ‘I Can Hear The Heart Beating as One.’

Yo La Tengo – ‘Pass The Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind.’ mp3

Like what you hear? Try these:

Yo La Tengo – ‘ Little Eyes.’ mp3 from Summer Sun

Yo La Tengo – ‘Saturday.’mp3 from ‘And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out.’

Can’t commit yourself to three new albums? Honestly. This is a good place to start if you’ve never bought a Yo La Tengo album

To be fair, my girlfr

iend and I have actually agreed on many, many bands. We discovered My Latest Novel together, seeing them a fair few times before they even had a record out (including

buyin

g tickets for them supporting Smog last year, purely to see MLN). However, I discovered that early on I had nearly caused her to finish with me because I denounced Zero 7 as ‘coffee-table music for over 30s.’ Whoops. I have since decided that was an unfair, ageist remark and this album is worth investigating.

two bands that we have had to disagree on are Death From Above 1979 and The Libertines

She finds Death From Above 1979 too aggressive, and finds Pete doherty an arse. You can’t win them all, I guess. But she found me a copy of The Cure‘s Killing An Arab 7″ on Small Wonder (their interpretation of Camus’ the Outsider and most definitely not a racist song, just in case someone hasn’t heard it) for my birthday, so I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree on these two:

Death From Above 1979 – ‘Romantic Rights.’mp3

The Libertines – ‘Up the Bracket.’ mp3

As always, if you like The Liber

tines‘ or Death From Above 1979 tracks, follow the link

s in this paragraph and go and buy the albums! (And yes, I did discuss this post w

ith my girlfriend beforehand..)

To be fair, as I write this, this Monday has been okay so far. It’s not been unbearably hot, a minumum of work-related hassle, and no nasty letters when I got in the door. In fact, I’m quite chilled out and relaxed. Long may it last! Holidays are not so far away and the Edinburgh Festival and Fringe are imminent too. Hooray! I acn’t even get upset about the fact that this evening it seems impossible to upload images to the blog. Hell, it’s all about the writing and the msuic, yes?

Here are some covers for people to get their teeth into. Remember: if you like a track, support the artist by buying the records (unless it’s internet only, in which case, try and support the artist in any way you can). And obviously, if you don’t know the original, GO AND INVESTIGATE!

First up, Calexico’s cover of Alone Again Or by Love. Originally on Love’s Forever Changes album, Calexico do it in their own style. Bring it on (and bang a gong, if it makes you happy).

Calexico – ‘Alone Again Or.’ mp3

Before I introduce this next track, it should be pointed out that this cover of a Magnetic Fields song should under no circumstances be seen as an endorsement of taking drugs. Okay?

!!! – ‘Take Ecstasy With Me.’ mp3

Cover versions can take on bizarre new meanings (or not) when covered by the opposite sex (See also: the Raincoats covering Lola by The Kinks)

White Stripes – ‘Jolene(live).’ mp3

The original of this track (I really, REALLY should not have to point out the blindingly obvious, but it’s a cover version of ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’ by the Smiths) came out twenty years ago. I was pointed in the direction of this version by one of my then co-workers in a record shop in Edinburgh. Mark, wherever you are, thank you.

Schneider TM – ‘The Light 3000.’ mp3

The mere thought of this song, in the hands of anyone, sends a shiver of horror down my spine when I think of its’ subject matter. Add Elizabeth Fraser’s voice to that…

Cocteau Twins – ‘Strange Fruit.’ mp3

Hope people liked Canasta’s cover of The Model last week (see earlier posting). This is a live version from their website of the second track on Belle and sebastian’s If You’re Feeling Sinister.

Canasta – ‘Seeing Other People(live).’ mp3

Saturday has got to be my favourite day of the week without a doubt. A day to catch up on sleep, take gently and not have to worry about the week ahead (that may kick in about 5PM Sunday. It starts when you’re five and just continues from there on, probably into retirement!). However, it is now July, which means that Edinburgh is hot and sticky. Like every Saturday of the year, there are at the very least, slightly too many people whcih means they keep getting in everyone’s way (and I in theirs too, I suppose).

It’s now a week since I started blogging, and I’ve so far been pleased with the feedback, links and mentions and that I’ve had, including from other bloggers, such as those at Silence Is A Rhythm Too Another Form Of Relief, The Torture Garden, Your Moment Of Zen, mp3 Hugger, and indie mp3. Please remember to check out other blogs if you see them linked on here,

and if you download the music either here or there remember to support the artist if you like them and to read the posts that are written. It’s only good manners.

Seeing as

it’s the weekend, it see

ms like a nice idea to point you in the direction of some great covers: Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands has posted some great covers including REM doing Wichita Lineman. This needs to be heard, as it is a gorgeous live version of a fantastic song. It’s a blog I read pretty regularly too.

I really like Adam Green and Ben Kweller‘s cover of The Beach Boy’s Kokomo (yes, the one from Cocktail). Go to I am Fuel, You Are Friends to hear it. (I first heard this on the Jessica 7″ a couple of years ago. You can go here to buy it).

The Daily Growl has the lady of the moment, Lily Allen, doing her take on a 50 Cent track and her cover of the Kaiser Chief’s Oh My God. They also have some more on The Pipettes.

Spoilt Victorian Child have a cover of ZZ Top‘s Legs, done by an act called Like A Tim. Both Spoilt Victorian Child and mp3 hugger have paid thoughtful tribute to Rob Collins from the Charlatans, who died ten years ago today. It’s worth owning all the Charlatans albums in my opinion, but if you have to narrow it down to one, go and buy Telling Stories, the album they were making when he died.

Oh, and if the hot weather’s getting to you too, check out Berlioz’s The Shepherd’s Farewell at Hello, Gina Sung in French it is called ‘L’adieu Des Bergers.’