Wednesday 31st March 2010
JOOKBOX #2
I’ve just posted Jookbox #2 on Platform, which may be of interest to a few of you since there’s a lot of aesthetic crossover.
For the uninitiated, Jookbox is a regular column that rounds-up the best music of the past however-long (in this instance, a month), compiled with help from a number of fairly on-point blogs. Hopefully it’ll be pretty useful if you’ve missed out on a few things recently and want to catch up.
You can download all the songs as a zip, or stream them individually. Listed below is the tracklisting (you may recognise some songs from this very site). Here’s the direct link.
Tracklisting:
1. Cults – “Go Outside”
2. Kiss Kiss Fantastic – “Antisocial Butterflies”
3. Disclosure – “Offline Dexterity”
4. Beach Fossils – “Desert Sand”
5. Dunian – “Love To Match”
6. Kisses – “Bermuda”
7. Ale Mania – “Robust Universe”
8. Delorean – “Stay Close”
9. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – “Round and Round”
10. Bathcrones – “Vineyard of the Sea”
Girls Names are the latest addition to the Tough Love family. Some of you may already be familiar with the Belfast duo (soon to be a trio) following our blog post about their song “Graveyard” a while back. Or because you use the internet and have seen their name in a lot of places. Either way, I’m happy.
We’ll be providing more details on their forthcoming debut TLV release in the next week or so. For now, here’s a biog, alongside the requisite MySpace link >>> HERE <<<
“Formed in January 2009 with their first gig booked before even playing together, Belfast’s Girls Names unabashedly hark back to the early/mid eighties shadow world of Beat Happening, Black Tambourine, Felt, C86 and the Sound of Young Scotland. In their short existence they have quickly honed their craft in creating their own self-styled “disposable noise pop”, masking subdued bittersweet vocals and melodic hooks with reverb drenched guitars and Mary Chain primal drums.
Having sold out of their debut home taped demos on Cass/Flick (Belfast) last summer and after a string of support slots with the likes of Sic Alps, Wavves, Times New Viking, Lovvers and Gary War, Girls Names are set for their first release ‘proper’, with a 12″ EP on Brooklyn’s much talked about Captured Tracks label and a full UK tour with label buddies, La La Vasquez in the spring.”
Ordinarily, Beach Fossils are a fairly on-point lo-fi surf band, all tied up with the cool kids at Captured Tracks. So far, so good, so of the moment.
What makes this version of “Desert Sand” especially noteworthy is that some genius has decided to slow the song to half speed, in doing so, replacing the sprightly chimes of the original with some super dark cosmic vibes that’s akin to a body-draining slow motion waltz with The Cramps through the Sahara.
Wherever it is that Beach Fossils are from, they don’t sound like they’ve seen water for a while. And wherever it is they’re going, they’re gonna take their sweet (half)time getting there.
Beach Fossils – “Desert Sand”
(Photo: Dash Snow)
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Thanks to Conan from Italian Beach Babes for pointing us in the direction of this song. It’s worth checking out IBB’s Big Cartel, as it’s pretty much the cheapest place in the UK to get Captured Tracks/Art Fag/Zoo et al imports.
If time comes from the future which does not yet exist, travels into the present that has no duration, and moves into the past that no longer exists, then what the fuck is time?
I dunno. But somehow, right now, in this present moment, Bathcrones are squeezing like clockwork the whole of the 80s vision of tomorrow’s world into less than three minutes. Time is Bathcrones’ bitch.
Bathcrones – “Vineyard of the Sea”
“Round and Round” is the first Ariel Pink song to be unleashed on the public since the Clarissa Explains It All lookalike hooked up with 4AD late last year. And exactly as expected – as much as anything can be predictable with Ariel – signing with a label with more-money-than-no-money has led to a little better fidelity, showing up crisp(er) edges where previously there were only tangled balls of never-ending thread.
In terms of references points though, the bigger, more expensive room hasn’t really altered the aesthetic. The trademark Blitzkrieg of ideas is still on show, the only difference this time being that you can actually hear them all. There’s echoes of the last 35 years (probably the length of Ariel’s life, not coincidentally) of popular music fighting to be heard here, wrapped around one huge classic hook that for once doesn’t sound like it was recorded inside a washing machine in an Atlantis launderette.
Ariel Pink is to the indie world how I always imagined Burial to be to dance; an amalgamation of everything that came before and spat out anew. There’s a lot of bands channeling that vibe right now, enough to call it an established sensibility. And it makes sense – there’s a huge music history to draw, and it a lot easier to do so than ever before. What distinguishes Ariel Pink is that not only did he do it first, he kind of always did it a little better. “Round and Round” aint no different.
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – “Round and Round”
(Photo: Alex Webb)
Huw Stephens and his team of real gold were good enough to invite us to be featured as ‘DIY Record Label of the Week’ on their show last night. Quite an honour.
Since we’re only telling you about this now, you will have likely missed Huw reading out my answers to their questions, and hearing them play William‘s “Dilettante” and “Nightcycles” by Seams. But because it’s not 1987 and we’re not still taping the radio for posterity, you can Listen Again (for 7 days at least – history gets shorter) by following the link below. We feature around about the 1hr 33mins 30 secs mark. Roughly speaking.
iPlayer link
Huw Stephens’ micro-site and show playlist
And one more thing, listen out for a Fair Ohs session to be recorded and aired in the next month or so. Not sure what they’re going to do, but I’m excited about the prospect of new songs.
(Photo: Matt Mullen)
It’s with pleasure that we’re able to announce the release of TLV036: Seams – Nightcycles + RMXS, on 26th April 2010. Issued as a 12″ white label, containing the near-8 minute original track “Nightcycles” and four accompanying remixes, it’s hand-printed and limited to just 100 copies. If you pre-order through our site, we’ll email you a code to download the songs as MP3s. As with the Becoming Real 12″, the short run means these will not be available for long.
Coinciding with the record release, Seams will be going out on tour with Gold Panda (he of BBC Sound 2010 and our 4th birthday party fame) in April, the dates listed below. For those unaware of their work, I’ve also provided some biog and links for the remixers, so you can acquaint yourself with their excellent jams.
LIVE DATES / TOUR WITH GOLD PANDA:
March:
16 – The Social – London
April:
13 – Bungalows and Bears – Sheffield w/Gold Panda & Dam Mantle
14 – Stereo – Glasgow w/Gold Panda & Dam Mantle
15 – Kings Manor – Newcastle w/Gold Panda & Dam Mantle
16 – Spanky Van Dykes – Nottingham w/Gold Panda & Dam Mantle
17 – Start The Bus – Bristol w/Gold Panda & Dam Mantle
WEBSITE
MYSPACE
PRE-ORDER
Tracklisting:
A1: “Nightcycles”
B1: “Nightcycles (Dam Mantle Rmx)”
B2: “Nightcycles (Shells Rmx)”
B3: “Nightcycles (Becoming Real Rmx)”
B4: “Nightcycles (d’Eon Rmx)”
DAM MANTLE
“Glasgow based Dam Mantle is as much Machine as it is Animal. It often finds itself stuck in a loop, where various points in time and various cultures meet and refract each other. This forms a regurgitation of ‘now’.”
SHELLS
Shells is from Bath and involves someone by the name of Khalid Rafique. This is all the information I have.
BECOMING REAL
“Becoming Real is half human, half vampire, one whole something else. Becoming Real is ghost step, on the haunted dancefloor, where footsteps remind him, baby, of you. Becoming Real is always on his way. Becoming Real is never quite there.”
d’Eon
“d’Eon is a producer and singer. He started recording his experiments with keyboards and sequencing onto cassette starting at the age of four. After spending his early childhood learning theory, harmony and counterpoint, d’Eon later quit academic music to learn traditional Iranian, Arabic, Turkish and Central Asian music. He spent some months in a Tibetan monastery in the Himalayas while studying the Tibetan lute. He now lives in Montreal and makes electronic dance music.”
Tough Love Records presents…
OLD MONEY @The Stag’s Head, Dalston
Saturday 20th March
Fair Ohs/Spectrals split 7″ launch party
Fair Ohs – 22:30
Spectrals – 21:45
La La Vasquez – 21:10
Cosmic Thoughts – 20:30
Tough Love DJs
Home.Under.Ground DJs
Dummy Magazine DJs
FREE entry
20:00-01:00
Thanks again, as always and forever, to Ralph Wilson for the poster. This is perhaps my favourite yet
On Monday 22nd March we’ll be releasing a split single featuring two jams each from Fair Ohs and Spectrals (which you can buy here). You probably know all about this since we’ve hardly shut up about it, but give me a break, it’s cos it’s really good. And you probably know a lot more about the actual release then what it sounds like – that’s cos it’s not out until 22nd March, dummy.
I’d like to think you’ve already found out for yourself, but FYI, Fair Ohs are on a “Paul Simon but punk” vibe and Spectrals sways with blue eyed soul and, according to the girl reading The Stool Pigeon over my shoulder last night, “Teddy Pendergrass and shit like that”. I’m not sure how she could hear that through the ink and paper, but Louis (who’s definitely a boy, Muso’s Guide!) is certainly into soul, doo wop, Motown, girl groups, that kind of thing. You can hear it coursing through the music pretty clearly.
That in mind, I asked him to make us a mixtape collecting together some of his favourite tracks. And he did just that. You can download the entire thing as a zip, with the tracklisting featured below. Thanks to Ralph Wilson for the artwork and obviously to Louis himself for sharing the wealth.
Meanwhile, with the release of said split single coming up quickly over that hill, time’s about right to remind you of this launch night happening in a few weekends time. And here’s that reminder.
Spectrals Mixtape for Tough Love
Tracklisting:
1. The Fascinations – “The Girls Are Out To Get You”
2. The Cleftones – “Heart and Soul”
3. Shirley J. Scott – “Goose Pimples”
4. The Shirelles – “Baby It’s You”
5. The Opals – “You’re Gonna Be Sorry”
6. The Duprees – “You Belong To Me”
7. The Chiffons – “He’s So Fine”
8. The Ronettes – “How Does It Feel?”
9. The Charmaines – “Whenever I Get Lonely”
10. The Capris – “Tears In My Eyes”
11. The Marcells – “Goodbye To Love”
12. The Vogues – “You’re The One”
13. The Jellybeans – “I Wanna Love Him So Bad”
14. The Chantels – “So Real”
15. Blue Magic – “Look Me Up”
