Band of the month : 2010 archive
DECEMBER 2010
Young Rebel Set are a 7 piece band from Stockton on Tees who list their influences as Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, The Clash & The Pogues. Their music is a winning combination of infectious guitar pop, vocals oozing with feeling, and honest, direct lyrics. The band seem to have a real togetherness. Andy Parmley : “With there being two sets of brothers in the band, and having known each other for a while, it’s very familiar, very close knit. It’s very much the gang spirit.”
Having self released a couple of singles, and brought out an EP earlier this year, their debut album is now finished and will be released early in the new year. As a taster for it, they’ve just released the single Measure of a Man :
This tune is the band’s best songwriting achievement to date, although one earlier song, If I Was, comes close :
Finally, from the EP, here’s Won’t Get Up Again :
Go on the band’s email list and get a free download of Common Touch
______________________________________________________________
NOVEMBER 2010
There’s so much going on here, it’s hard to know where to begin. Words tumbling out at a ferocious pace into what, depending on your point of view, is either an incredibly rich tapestry or a bewildering jungle of stream of consciousness ideas and cultural references. It’s hip hop without all the cliches and the bad attitudes, which is clever and funny and thought provoking, and which repays repeated listens.
The name of the band is Das Racist (meaning “that’s racist” – a typical in-joke). There are two rappers – Himanshu Suri from Queens, and Victor Vasquez from San Francisco – and one hype man. In 2010 they’ve released two highly acclaimed free mixtapes : Shut Up, Dude in March and Sit Down, Man in September. Sit Down, Man marks a clear progression : most of the 20 tracks are made by an array of different producers, which makes for some killer beats as well as a lot of variety.
For me, Das Racist are the most exciting thing to happen in hip hop for a long time. The music is fresh, it’s inventive, it’s packed full with great lines, and it’s fun. These guys are so talented, there is nothing they cannot do. What I hope they do next is to put together an album which is tighter and shorter and with fewer musical experiments which can really made the whole world sit up and take notice.
Selected tracks from Sit Down, Man
Hahahaha jk?
Amazing
Puerto Rican cousins
Return to Innocence
You Can Sell Anything
Free Jazzmatazz
Selected tracks from Shut Up, Dude
Who’s That Brooown!
Hugo Chavez
______________________________________________________________
OCTOBER 2010
September 28 saw the release of Everything in Between : the third album, and the second on Subpop, from No Age, who are Dean Spunt and Randy Randall, an art punk duo from LA. Their scuzzy DIY style has echoes of bands like My Bloody Valentine and Sonic Youth. But No Age avoid all the usual pitfalls of the genre. Each track on the album sounds different, yet they all hang together very well. Some 
tracks, mainly on the first half of the album, are more hooky and more accessible, but you seldom feel even on the instrumental tracks that they are being indulgent or boring. There are several highlights, and the selection below includes several tracks of real beauty.
No Age are closely associated with LA club The Smell, along with several other bands in LA’s punk scene. The Smell is staffed by volunteers, sells vegan food at cost and haircuts for $5, and boasts that its events are drug-free, alcohol-free, and open to all ages. For all their growing success, No Age are determined to hang on to this DIY punk ethos. Randall : “One punk can smell another one—it’s the stench of doing it yourself and hard work and suffering for years because you love it, and not being a careerist, but just enjoying music in general. I think you can sort of smell that on another musician. We’re almost like dogs; we sniff each other’s butts, and you can sort of smell when someone’s been a punk or has come from a place with that DIY attitude.”
Glitter (free download)
Depletion
Skinned
Fever Dreaming
Valley Hump Crash
Shed and Transcend
_______________________________________________________________
SEPTEMBER 2010
The Stone Foxes are a young 4 piece band from San Francisco who wear their influences on their sleeve. Much of their output is classic blues rock which wouldn’t have sounded out of place in the early 1970s. Contemporary bands who they’re often compared to are the Black Keys and the White Stripes. They grabbed my attention a few weeks back with the single I Killed Robert Johnson, a great retelling of the legend surrounding the blues singer’s death in 1938, which sounds better with every listen.
On the band’s website you can currently listen
to the whole of their new album Bears & Bulls, and you can download one of the songs, Stomp, for free. The album has been shaped through many months of playing the songs to live audiences before recording them. The single is the standout track, and generally the best tracks on the album are the rockers – Patience, Young Man, Reno. Below are some youtube links, particularly for those who miss the album stream; they include a live version of Little Red Rooster which is an improvement on the album version, and a track from their earlier debut album, Beneath Mt. Sinai.
Beneath Mt. Sinai
I killed Robert Johnson
Patience
Little Red Rooster
______________________________________________________________
AUGUST 2010
Over the last two decades, Ohio singer songwriter Mark Kozelek has released a long 
series of albums, first with the band Red House Painters, then more or less interchangeably as Mark Kozalek and Sun Kil Moon. Until recently though he’s passed under my radar. I’m now beginning to appreciate what I’ve missed. The new Sun Kil Moon album Admiral Fell Promises is a very sparse, tranquil acoustic record in which Kozelek simply picks at his guitar and sings haunting songs. Here’s how he describes the inspiration for the album :
“I was interested in classical guitar when I was younger, but got away from it. A few years ago, I picked up a Segovia 5-CD set in New Zealand. Then came home, bought some classical records – by Liona Boyd, Ana Vidovic, Julian Bream. But I really fell in love with this record by Segovia. It’s just called Segovia, composed by Tansman, Federico Mompou, and Maria Esteban de Valera. It was then that I decided, for my next record, that I wanted to play guitar and sing as beautifully as I could. With the classical guitar, the whole range of sounds is covered. Bass and drums would have swamped up the sound of this record. I wanted it to have the feel of those old classical guitar records.”
There are no great changes of pace or direction on the album. The tracks melt into one another, there’s an easy flow to them. The songs are personal, beautifully written, and nicely complemented by the guitar.
Alesund
Australian Winter
You are my sun
Church of the Pines
The Leaning Tree
_______________________________________________________________
JULY 2010
Glasgow’s Admiral Fallow do gentle indie rock with a twist of folk, a Scottish accent, and a real gift for songwriting. Louis Abbott, lead singer and songwriter, was previously in a group called Brother Louis Collective. 
Admiral Fallow’s recently released debut album, Boots Met My Face, features some clarinet, flute and double bass, and Sarah Hayes nicely complementing Abbott on backing vocals. What makes the songs so instantly engaging though are Abbott’s well crafted lyrics. According to Abbott, “All of the songs document the first chapter of my life, be it memories from school or kicking a ball about with my childhood chums. All of the songs are taken from real life events. There’s no fiction. I’m not into making up stories or characters for the sake of trying to stir emotions. They are songs about friends and family as well as a fair bit of self-evaluation.”
Squealing Pigs
Subbuteo
Old Balloons
Delivered
Taste the Coast
______________________________________________________________
JUNE 2010
Chances are you’re not going to be reading about this band anywhere else, so pay attention to this. Ten Foot Polecats make great kickass blues music. Follow the links, listen to them, then if you’ve caught the bug, catch them live if you can or buy the album.
Guitarist Jim Chilson and drummer Dave Darling had known each other over 30 years and were previously in the Boston blues rock combo Hoodoo Revelator. They put out an ad for a North Mississippi hill country blues singer, and that’s how they met Jay Scheffler. Jay who has a punk background delivers a great throaty dirty blues vocal and is credited as the band’s main songwriter, although according to Chilson ” most of our original songs are created from playing live by making things up on the spot”. The trio who have no bass player have developed a powerful raw blues sound with an energy and aggression to it which has helped to draw in younger audiences. As well as their originals they cover songs from a wonderful selection of some of the great oldtime blues singers (Charley Patton, RL Burnside, Tommy Johnson, Son House). Having signed with with Hillgrass Bluebilly Records they released their debut album I Get Blamed For Everything I Do a couple of months ago, and what caught the attention was the mellower track Couple More Miles which showed off another side of the band.
The youtube clips below give a sense of what the band are capable of when in full swing. I love the cover of Howlin’ Wolf’s Smokestack Lightning : why isn’t this on the album guys ?
Smokestack Lightning
Brokenhearted
Squeeze
______________________________________________________________
MAY 2010
The Monitor, the second album from the New Jersey band Titus Andronicus, is a piece of classic Americana delivered in a folk punk style. It has all the ingredients of an American epic : a Civil War setting, 
quotes from Abraham Lincoln, big themes, and physical and personal journeys. It’s a dark album : during its course both the singer and the nation have to confront some bitter truths.
There’s some rousing Clash-influenced guitar work, but to really appreciate this album you have to pay attention to the lyrics. Apart from two short and lively blues-punk numbers most of the songs are lengthy and lyric-driven. Theme from “Cheers” is about getting drunk and throwing your life away. Richard II is about Sherman’s March to the Sea and is devastating in its criticism of the scorched earth policy – “To whatever extent that you hate yourself, it isn’t enough”. To Old Friends And New is a song addressed to the singer’s lover on their relationship difficulties and it contains another great line – “Like the time traveler who killed his grandfather, these cycles are bringing me down.” But the album’s tour-de-force is its 14 minute concluding track The Battle Of Hampton Roads. The real-life battle of Hampton Roads was a naval battle where there was no clear victor; and in the song the singer stumbles back to New Jersey having found no glory and no redemption (the implied moral being that we have to take accountability for our own lives) :
And now i’m heading west on 84 again
And I’m as much of an asshole as I’ve ever been
And there is still nothing about myself I respect
Still haven’t done anything I did not later regret.
Titus Andronicus are appearing with Blood Red Shoes at the Zanzibar Club on Friday 21st May as part of Liverpool’s Sound City festival.
A More Perfect Union
Titus Andronicus Forever
Theme From ‘Cheers’
To Old Friends and New
______________________________________________________________
APRIL 2010
Australian brother and sister Angus and Julia Stone have only been working together since 2006. Their latest release Down The Way is their best yet. 
It’s gentle acoustic guitar driven music which grows on you the more that you listen to it.
Angus and Julia write songs independently, and each sing their own songs. They play on this : the 13 tracks on the album alternate between those sung by Angus and those sung by Julia. Both sets of songs are beautifully realised, but this is no time to sit on the fence, so I’m going to say that I feel that Angus’s vocals have a fuller, more enduring quality to them. He sounds a bit like Bon Iver, he has great sensitivity in his voice, and he would easily succeed as a solo artist. Julia has a precious, girlish voice and the two complement each other well.
This is a laidback album which drifts along at an easy pace. It’s an album to listen to by the campfire on a warm summer’s evening to the murmur of crickets. It has an appealing emotional honesty and some blissful guitar playing. There’s no obvious standout single, but there are links below to four of the better songs on the album. Big Jet Plane in particular I could just listen to again and again.
Hold On (Julia)
Big Jet Plane (Angus)
And The Boys (Julia)
Yellow Brick Road (Angus)
______________________________________________________________
MARCH 2010
The Sunshine Underground are a rock band based in Leeds whose name has been linked with the Arctic Monkeys ever since both Yorkshire bands released their debut albums in 2006. The Arctic Monkeys now have three albums under their belt, but The Sunshine Underground have waited until this time to release their second album, Nobody’s Coming To Save You. 
There may not have been any masterplan behind this, but hopefully the wait will help people to see that TSU aren’t part of any scene or trend but simply a British band who make great rock music.
The album opens with two tracks destined to become showstoppers. Coming to Save You has blistering drums and intense wailing vocals. Spell it Out has the big sweeping repeating singalong chorus. You can tell from these tracks that the band have a real sense of melody as well as making some powerful riffs and while the rest of the album doesn’t quite hit the same heights, it doesn’t fail to deliver. Other highlights include the stompy single We’ve Always Been Your Friends and the slower paced finale The Messiah.
While the band are hoping for bigger things for themselves, they’ve not forgotten where they came from. Last year the group launched a nationwide search to find fourteen of the best unsigned bands to support each date of their 2010 tour. 250 band applied, and were judged and rated by the four members themselves. “Completely different bands came forward,” says Wellington. “New bands seem to experiment a lot more than we did when we were starting out, with synths and stuff like that. We were really overwhelmed at the response but it is a great opportunity, playing Academy venues. “
As well as the youtube videos below, you can grab a free download here of From The City To The Sea, a fine track which didn’t make it onto the album.
Coming to Save You
In Your Arms (acoustic)
We’ve Always Been Your Friends (acoustic)
______________________________________________________________
FEBRUARY 2010
Fly Yellow Moon is Fyfe Dangerfield’s first solo album, having recorded two albums with the Guillemots. It came about almost accidentally. 
He’d been writing some songs, then “I had five days free, called up a mate, went into the studio and that was it. It was one of those times in life when everything’s aligned right.” The simplicity and immediacy of the songs has been preserved by a lighthanded production. Most of the songs are purely acoustic. The songwriting is effortlessly brilliant, the melodies are lush and nearly every song packs an emotional punch. Livewire is a simple and delightful folk tune; Don’t be Shy is a sparse reflective song; Barricades is gorgeous with its slow piano and the strings gently coming in during the second half of the track; and on When You Walk in the Room he goes for a bigger sound to capture that outpouring of joy. This is a collection of tender love songs to make your heart ache.
In an interview this week, Dangerfield seemed dissatisfied despite the album’s warm reception : “I’m having a bit of a crisis. I’m nearly out of my twenties now, but I feel I haven’t delivered an ounce of what I can deliver … Paul McCartney had left The Beatles by the time he was my age. It’s quite scary.”
______________________________________________________________
JANUARY 2010
Scout Niblett is English, but has lived and worked in the USA throughout her career.
She says “What I think I do fits in more with an American audience, I was on a label in America before anyone paid any attention to me in England.” An intelligent singer songwriter, she has sometimes been compared to Cat Power, but of the two Niblett has the greater vocal range. Below are three of her best songs to date : I find them very soulful and moving.
Her new album The Calcination of Scout Niblett is out on Drag City on January 19th (pre-order it here). According to her PR, “continuing her fruitful studio relationship with Steve Albini, her new record is her most tightly coiled long-player yet … People come to Emma Louise Scout Niblett for the joy of a scalding hot bath of sound amidst stark, bluesy emoting and she won’t let ‘em down this time. But something has shifted … The Calcination of Scout Niblett is an intense devotional, a determined spirit journey and a collection of great slow-dance songs.” The title track is available for free download from Drag City.
Kiss featuring Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy
