…I had been meaning to do a post about great albums to listen to whils

t travelling for a while. Given the news yesterday, I figure I had better focus

on music I like listening to on trains – as opposed t

o in the car, when I often have to figure other people’s tastes in there. He

y, it’s only polite.

A while ago, I went to Oban for a Stag wee

kend, which was huge fun. The thought of the long train journey (no car at time) didn’t appeal, particularly, but until it got dark, the scenery was fantastic. And I had music with me.

So great travel albums? Razorlight’s Up All Night. Sigur Ros’ Agaetis Byrjun (see a couple of posts below). Kraftwerk are a definite – but I would put Man Machine ahead of Autobahn (ooh! sacrilege!!) REM’s Murmur…but my favourite travel album would have to be Give Up by The Postal Service. It’s just fantastic. Ben

Gibbard is a member of Death Cab For Cutie, who I like, but this is my favourite release of his that I have heard.

If you go to their website you can download three tracks, the same three you can download on the Subpop site. They do have a Myspace page as well. If ‘such Great Heights’ doesn’t make you want to dance around the room (though I appreciate this may be a bit, y’know, forward on a train, then shame on you!) Get there and get downloading!

Then go and buy the album.

This is take two of this post; I tried posting this last night, and then the internet connection in the flat started playing up…anyway. Hope you like the flowers.

The aim of this post was to post a few tracks to kick back with, that (with the exception, possibly, of TV On The Radio) you could dance to.

First up, Dizzee Rascal. I really liked the first Dizzee Rascal album, especially this track. There are all sorts of discussions about the merits of using the terms ‘grime’ or’UK Hip-Hop.’ Whatever. It justs grabs you.

Dizzee Rascal -‘Fix Up, Look Sharp.’ mp3 Buy Boy In Da Corner

I still have a wee thing for Karen O. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs seem part of the landscape now but they weren’t in 2002. I love the first album, and the second is a g

rower. But this

has a certain sort of rawness. And there’s just something about the way she says the word ‘baby.’ Just like that. As if it’s in inverted commas. Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah!

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – ‘Bang.’ mp3 Buy The Yeah Yeah Yeahs EP

…and doesn’t this sorta make ya wanna do the hokey-cokey? (y’know, when you turn around and that’s what it’s all about.)

The Strokes -‘Last Nite.’ mp3 Buy Is This It

OK, musically I felt this fitted in with this post, even if dancing to it might be hard (mind you, have you seen how hard it is to dance to a lot of the stuff st

uck in the ‘Dance’ section of record shops over the last twenty years? Just saying…)

TV On The Radio -‘Staring At The Sun.’ mp3 Buy Desperate Youth Bloodthirsty Babes

I know it might s

eem weird to some people posting the next track, but then, there ar

e actually people who haven’t heard the Pixies. I used to run a guitar group at the school where I taught. A lot of Nirvana fans there, and Sir (yup, me) was old enough to remember Nirvana. Don’t know if they all understood it, but as us cynical

teachers are fond of saying ‘ You can lead a h

orse to water…’

The Pixies -‘Debaser.’ mp3 Buy Debaser

As a sometime teacher of English as a Foreign Language, sometimes I have to go through the process of trying to explain a word or concept to someone who doesn’t speak English as their native tongue. However, if you had heard Sigur Ros, and knew someone who hadn’t; how would you go about it?

They come from Iceland, and can seriously be described as the most important act to come from there since Bjork and the Sugarcubes (yeah, I liked gus Gus too. BUT!) As for how they sound…NME once said

shoegazing (‘dream pop’ in American English) but they only vaguely remind me of My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Lush et al. As for the ethereal, sonic cathedrals that were always used to describe those bands (overused terms in much the same way that ‘angular’ keeps being applied to The Futureheads, Franz Ferdinand and The Editors)…perhaps a bit ethereal. They sing in Icelandic and their own madeup language (I have to confess that I don

‘t speak either; but I am not blaming anyone else for this). It sounds lush, beautiful, like waking up on a summer morning (hey! If John Tavener can get away with writing ‘Flows like the tears of the mother of God’ as a music description then I, a humble blogger, am allowed to get away with that one).

Rather like with Low last week, much as it amazes me that there might possibly be people who haven’t heard Sigur Ros, just , courtesy of mp3s on Insound and their own website I present you four tracks from their essential 1999 album Agaetis Byrjun:

Sigur Ros – ‘Agaetis Byrjun.’ mp3
Sigur Ros -‘Fludufrelsarinn.’ mp3
Sigur Ros – ‘Staralfur.’ mp3
Sigur Ros -‘Olsen Olsen.’ mp3

Like what you heard? I thought you would! Go Buy Agaetis Byrjun

I had been going to post something different today, then I came home and found out that Arthur Lee has died. Hmm.

For those who haven’t come across Arthur Lee, he fronted a band called Love, formed in 1965. Their third album, Forever Changes, is deservedly recognised as one of the key sixties records now, even if it wasn’t quite seen as that at the time. The opening track, Alone Again Or, is quite possibly on

e of the most sublime pieces of music ever recorded, and has been covered, amongst others by The Damned (see 1986 LP ‘Anything’) and Calexico (2003 single). He was also a huge influence on Michael Head and Shack.

Do yourself a favour or three: first of all, if you haven’t done so already, go and buy Forever Changes (my third favourite album of the sixties, after The Beatles’ Revolver and The Rolling Stones’ Beggars Banquet).

Check Lee’s official site; his myspace page. The NME meanwhile have, bless their collective cotton socks, put together a special on him. Hopefu

lly they’ll do a special issue on him like they did for Syd Barrett a couple of weeks ago.

Now go and play at least one his records loudly and pay the man the tribute he deserves.

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