New review on Read & Listen:

The Clientele – That Night, a Forest Grew EP
http://readlisten.wordpress.com/2008/09/09/the-clientele/

4 - Aphex Twin
Frogtoise - Schneider TM
a lovely sunday - Syclops
Ulysses - Murcof
Southern Comfort - Burial
Noor - Kiyo
Boreal Kiss Pt. 3 - Tim Hecker
Voices from the Front Line - The Halifax Pier
Made in Hong Kong - Fennesz
I Never Lose, Never Really - Belong
Grape A - Donnacha Costello
Bossa Nova - Kornel Lemon
1999 - Todosantos
Dragonfly Across an Ancient Sky - Helios
We Shall Not Be Urbanized (Primm & Propeller Remix) - The Decadent West
Blind & Faithless - Jesu
Hearts on Fire - Cut Copy
What We Wish - Bruno Pronsato
b1 - shatter proof - Marcel Dettmann
Volcan Veins - Clark
Penultimate Persian - Clark
Red Hot Drops - Chad VanGaalen
room and pillar - Early Day Miners
Where It Ends - Boy in Static
Pi Four - Andrew Coleman
Losing Haringey - The Clientele
Locks - Lusine + David Wingo
Memoria (Sutekh's Trisagion mix) - Murcof
Send You Back - Matthew Dear
"Sounds From The Village" Jan Jelinek - Phil Ranelin
Colors Shifting - Christopher Willits
Blindsided - Bon Iver
Stay Where You Are - Ambulance LTD

Otherwise known as "last.fm nerd from hell"

I do a lot of trying new music (new to me, that is).

Here's how I do it:

1 - any artist I want to try, I tag them (or an album) with
mtce tryout. The reasons for adding them could be endless... on my Amazon recommended list; similar to an artist I already like; reviewed somewhere; liked by a last.fm neighbour; (here's an unusual one) marked as similar on Pandora; on neighbourhood radio; the list goes on.

2. I spend a lot of time listening to this tag radio while I work (usually with "discovery mode" enabled so I only get each track once). Any time I hear a track I like (or dislike), I make a note. I keep a text file record of all tracks liked and disliked, by artist.

3. Every couple of weeks, I check through my text file. Any artist with loads of "likes" is promoted to my mtce new likes tag. Any artist with loads of "dislikes", or any that have been on for a while with no "likes" - these have the tryout tag removed... I usually put them in a "dont like" tag to remind me in future in case I forget about them and think of trying them again.

4. So I also listen to mtce new likes tag radio frequently. It's nice listening to this station because all the music on it is still new to me and I'm thinking, "Ooh this is good" almost every track. But I still keep a new log for each track along the lines of either *really good* or *to be blunt.. what was I thinking?!*

5 Just recently I did my first sweep of mtce new likes and moved the *really good* artists onto my new tag station mtce new fantastic. This station has only bands/albums which have caught my attention in a good way, multiple times in the last few months.

Here's the music that has passed muster:

Brookville, The Charlatans, Breathe (Leaves), JackInABox (Turin Brakes), Modern Times (Bob Dylan), Aimee Mann, Kelly Sweet, The Devlins, The Invisible Invasion (The Coral), It's Never Been Like That (Phoenix), Don't Kill (Rob), Hello Waveforms (William Orbit), Mute Math, Baron Bane, Tahiti 80, Metric, Baxter and The Clientele.

Have a listen to the tag if you like

Of these, I have to say, The Charlatans are probably my new favourite band.

Weekend’s bad weather… lots of rain. How I should be trapped at home by the whole day, decided creating what I love most… lists.
Yeah, I’m pretty fanatic for them… you know, ten most sad songs, the best 10 alternative British bands… whatever… lists and lists. The last one I saw that really impressed me was “The 50 greatest UK indie records of all-time” published by MOJO Magazine this march 2008.
Ok, The Smiths was on the top with “This Charming Man” and everybody who took a fast look at my most played artists here know that I love Morrissey… but the others 49 artists were carefully selected… most of them represented in my CDs collection.
Well let’s go to my new list.
I spent lots of time last cloudy week, walking around the city hearing Coldplay on my Ipod… don’t know hell why I picked up these guys for a listening… the thing is the sound really matched with the weather.
My new list it’s about the 10 bands I most listened these last couple weeks.

1. Travis - There are something wrong with these guys, don’t know why but every time I put “The Boy With No Name” I think that there is something that doesn’t work well. It’s not about to like or dislike it, because I know I like… I already wrote about it here when it was released. The point is I like so much the velvet sound of “The Man Who” and “The Invisible Band” that at least for me “The Boy With No Name” looks like a bit rough and raw. Big Chair, Closer and My Eyes are amazing… but there is something missing in their melodies.
By the way, a nice album and I gave it a long listening the last week but Fran Healy, when will the new album be ready?

2. Pet Shop Boys – This time maybe I went too far…
I started to listening pop music with those guys in the late 80’s, knowing every lyric and note of their songs. And besides they are a dance group, I still think they do nice pop songs. It has been a long time I didn’t listen any of their albums and the last one I bought – Fundamental – stayed among some not-so-interesting-CDs in my CD shelf for months… till now. I enjoyed the last days singing along the songs and remembering how I used to love Neil Tennant’s sharp lyrics.

3. Coldplay – While my Japanese special edition of Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends that I already bought don’t arrive here, I took some time to listen the other albums. My favorite Coldplay’s album is Parachutes and the others, for me, have their nice moments but aren’t as beautiful as the first one. I won’t deny that songs like “Rush to the blood to the head” , “Fix You” and “The Hardest Part” are awesome but as an album, Parachutes works better.
Lose my count of how many times I put “Spies” and “Everything's Not Lost” to run today… just perfect!

4. British Sea Power – On the first CD sleeve you can read: “…there is a land for the living and there is a land for the dead…”
This album is so intense like those lines that I agree when people compare them with Joy Division. It’s not about the sound but about the ideas and the entire dark environment inside their lyrics. “There is a land for nice British bands like them…”

5. The Bravery – When I bought the first album I did because I red something about it on internet that caught my attention. Can’t remember right now what was about but I remember getting inside some CD store and seeing that beautiful cover. I fall in love with that painting but when I gave it a listening… something didn’t sound so good. It seemed a bit untrue for me.
When they released The Sun And The Moon, I didn’t give any attention… and that cover it wasn’t an improvement for the band (in my point of view). Then appeared this new version of the album – The Sun And The Moon Complete – and I told myself… “Let’s give them another try”.
Yeah, I need to regret what I though before, I pretty enjoyed this one and the first makes more sense now. Those guys are nice and while I’m writing these lines the Moon is running in my Itunes.

6. The Clientele – This one I downloaded. Can’t explain yet how it likes for me because I just started yesterday hearing them. My favorite album till now is the more recent – God Save The Clientele. I discovered them while was searching an Itune’s pod cast called KCRW's… (http://www.kcrw.com/music/programs/mb) If you don’t know it you don’t know what you’re missing… lots of nice bands appears on it playing alive.
The Clientele is soft and easy listening…

7. Galaxie 500 – Dean Wareham… how I like his voice and I rather him singing on Galaxie 500 than on Luna, but both bands are cool.
Lots of friends whose I introduced this band didn’t enjoy the sound and I just can’t understand why because it’s so beautiful… and maybe it was one of the best choices for this raining days I’m facing here right now.

8. James – I was so anxious about the new James album that I spend several days hearing their old material. I just loved “Hey Ma”… Tim Booth voice’s still awesome and the new lyrics really impressed me. The sound are more closely to they late work than to the last two albums… Hope they keep playing together and releasing other materials for long time. Definitely one of my favorite bands.

9. Weezer – This one came to me as a surprise a week ago. Besides have been listened some songs before they weren’t so special to me. Saw in the internet the announcement of their new album and became a bit curious about it and looked for the Weezer (Blue) in my collection to try another listen and remember how it likes. I think I’ll need to by the others cause… yeah, they caught me this time.

10. Morrissey – Yeah… I never stop playing this guy. Everything he does sound perfect because he’s got a wonderful voice, writes fantastic lyrics and sounds every time more and more actual. Hope September arrives soon to I put my hands on the new album… while this doesn’t happen, I’ll keep hearing the others. This last collection called Greatest Hits received lots of bad reviews for critics because of the songs Moz decided to compile on it. I agree with that once, those songs don’t represent his entire career but… the art is beautiful and the two new songs are pretty great. All You Need Is Me is one of that Morrissey songs that I could listen forever… love the last verses: "YOU DON'T LIKE ME, BUT YOU LOVE ME
EITHER WAY, YOU'RE WRONG
YOU'RE GONNA MISS ME WHEN I'M GONE"

Originally posted on Everything's Swirling

There were four acts on the bill at the second Fat Cat Records night at the Theatre Royal in Brighton - the middle two Frightened Rabbit and The Twilight Sad were both enjoyable enough guitar rock bands…but they weren't the reason we were there. The first act Silje Nes also was not the reason we were there but was interesting and different enough to deserves more than a cursory comment.

Silje makes sweet and mostly quiet layered music using guitars a violin various bits of percussion and a loop pedal or two so that she could play them all at the same time...almost like a one woman band only she was accompanied by another musician who also had many instruments (drum kit, guitar, melodica and various other bits of percussion) and a loop pedal. Her voice and some of the gentler sounds were reminiscent of Little Star era Stina Nordenstam but the performance was unique and the songs were lovely and the wig-out that featured in one of them was perfect...the way a wig-out during a quiet set should be ((old) Low and (more recent) The Clientele do lovely wig-outs when quiet is what's expected).




Nina Nastasia was the reason we were there, the bit of paper at the bar implied that she had a set that should have started at 10 and finished at 10:40 - a weekend in Brighton for a 40 minute set might seem a little extreme but this was Nina whose five albums contain no sign of a dud track and whose voice I never tire of. But still...40 minutes...

She arrived on stage, sat down with a pen and a piece of paper and asked for requests - jotted down the shouted song titles (or near song titles or extracts of lyrics) and that was the setlist. And she played...it was a relief when she said "I have to be off by eleven" because by the time she started it was beginning to look like we mightn't get more than 30 minutes. A more talented person could think of better words thant stunning or sensational to describe the set, the singing and the playing but that’s all I have to offer - the sight of me open mouthed and on the edge of my seat for most of the performance might have made a more impressive description of just how good this was. So relaxed and funny and comfortable - Nina was in very fine form.

By eleven o'clock a fair chunk of the setlist was still unplayed...so she just kept on playing. She went off when she thought she probably ought ("I don’t want to get anyone in trouble") but the audience weren't going to let her get away so easily and despite the house lights coming up she was (literally) shoved back onto the stage for more...quite a lot more. I suspect that she would have played all night given the opportunity but by 11:25 the Theatre staff were obviously wanting out and the house lights came up again and Nina left us. An hour and a quarter and one of the most enjoyable gigs I’ve been to made the trip to cold and rainy Brighton more than worthwhile.


Sat 17 May – Nina Nastasia, The Twilight Sad, Frightened Rabbit, Silje Nes

MIX #1

Patricia's Moving Picture- The Go! Team
Crimewave-Crystal Castles
Let's Make Out- Does It Offend You, Yeah?
Art Bitch- Cansei de Ser Sexy
Bad reputation-The Radio Dept.
Goodbye Glaciers- Animal Style
Psychic Rainbow- Anna Oxygen
We Are Your Friends (Original Mix)- Justice vs. Simian
Again & Again- The Bird and the Bee
Mica-Mew
Cameltoe- Fanny Pack
Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse- of Montreal
The Exit- A Kiss Could Be Deadly
Alice Practice- Crystal Castles
Chrome's On it-Telepathe
DR LOVE TRIZZY'S REMIX- Bumblebeez
Smash Your Head- Girl Talk
I Want You Back- The Jackson 5
D.A.N.C.E. - Justice
Sister Self Doubt- Get Shakes
Fucking Boyfriend- The Bird and the Bee

MIX #2
West Coast-Coconut Records
Like A Call- Architecture in Helsinki
The Worst Taste In Music- The Radio Dept..
my favourite book- Stars
Sad Song- Au Revior Simone
By Your Side- CocoRosie
Rise- Azure Ray
Along the Quai- Berg Sans Nipple
Postcards From italy- Beirut
Somebody Changed- The Clientele
Click Click Click Click- Bishop Allen
Easy Girl- Coconut Records
I Found Out- Dressy Bessy
Lovers In Captivity-IMA Robot
Just Impolite- Plushgun
The Size Of Our Love- Sleater-Kinney
Billy Liar- The Decemberists
the night starts here -Stars
I Believe In You-Yacht
Bunny Ain't No Kind Of Rider- of Montreal

Take your top twenty artists overall, and list:

a) The first song you heard by them.
b) The song that really got you into them.
c) Your current favorite by them.

---

1. The Clientele 2,748
a) Emptily Through Holloway
b) When You And I Were Young
c) Since K Got Over Me
Downloaded the first song some time in 2003 but, for a reason that is beyond me, didn't immediately hear the genius in it. Then, in early 2005, I received a mixtape with Policeman Getting Lost on it (thanks starfriend) and was quite smitten. A couple of months later, I came across a second-hand copy of The Violet Hour and, as they say, the rest is history (and the future, I presume).

2. The National 1,179
a) Secret Meeting
b) Secret Meeting
c) Mr. November
Got Alligator from the library in August 2005 and couldn't believe my ears. Too bad that Boxer didn't quite do the same for me, but a great band nevertheless.

3. The American Analog Set 1,023
a) Continuous Hit Music
b) Come Home Baby Julie, Come Home
c) Come Home Baby Julie, Come Home
Found Promise of Love in the bargain bin of a local shop in August 2004. The name had come up here and there, so I decided to listen to the album and liked it right away. Since then, I've purchased every album they made, but that Julie song remains unparalleled in its beauty.

4. Joy Division 875
a) Love Will Tear Us Apart
b) Digital
c) A Means to an End
Can't remember when I first heard that obvious song, but I do remember being vaguely confused in a 'what's the big fuzz' kind of way. Later, in 2002 I think, I purchased Substance but didn't listen to it much. 'Nice enough but overrated', I thought to myself. Fast-forward to August 2007: I finally watch 24 Hour Party People and am completely blown away. So that's me, a Joy Division convert at the tender age of 32. Kind of embarrassing, but what can you do.

5. The Church 653
a) Aura
b) Under The Milky Way
c) Ripple
My girlfriend (who is now my wife) had Priest = Aura on tape back in 1994 when we got together. I think I tried listening to it once and wasn't impressed at all. Ten years later, I suddenly found myself buying all The Church albums I could. Older and wiser, I guess.

6. The Radio Dept. 641
a) Against the Tide [?]
b) Why Won't You Talk About It?
c) Why Won't You Talk About It?
Can't remember how I ended up on Labrador's site in 2004, but once I got there, I was impressed by many of the bands, this one in particular. WWYTAI? is still one of the best pieces of buzz-pop ever, and the band haven't fired many blanks since. Looking forward to the next album, which should be out in September.

7. The Field Mice 587
a) Emma's House [??]
b) Sensitive
c) Sensitive
Another 2004 discovery. Exciting times. It started out with a bunch of five or so songs, can't remember the first one for sure. But then I heard Where'd You Learn to Kiss That Way? in its entirety and it was love.

8. The Fall 556
a) Hit the North [???]
b) Couldn't Get Ahead
c) Smile
My first exposure to Mark E. Smith was on MTV's 120 Minutes, a show that played a crucial role in my musical education in the early 90s. I think he was co-hosting one night, and they showed a few videos by his band. One of them might have been Hit the North, but I can't be sure since it's been about 15 years. In any case, I deemed Smith's band 'crap' and forgot about it for years. But then, I think it was in 2001 or 2002, I borrowed a few albums by The Fall from the library and was hit on the head with a two-by-four.

9. Galaxie 500 550
a) Blue Thunder (w/sax)
b) Flowers
c) Don't Let Our Youth Go to Waste
This I remember clearly: It was early 2001. I was in a local shop with a 'free CD' voucher in my pocket, having a hard time making my choice. Suddenly I laid my eyes on The Portable Galaxie 500. The band name had been popping up here and there, so I decided to try it out on the shop's CD player. I was immediately immersed in the sound and cycled home with the album in my backpack. At first, I wasn't quite sure whether the vocals were just a bit too whiny, but that feeling was soon replaced by everlasting love. The following year, I ordered the box set, Galaxie 500, apparently just before it went out of print. Lucky me.

10. Teenage Fanclub 540
a) Star Sign
b) Sparky's Dream
c) Don't Hide
I first came across the band in Thrasher magazine, believe it or not. Then I heard Star Sign on 120 Minutes and wasn't very impressed. In spite of this, I bought a cheap second-hand copy of Bandwagonesque some time later and started to see what it was all about. Then I heard Grand Prix and couldn't stop listening. My interest waxed and waned a little with the subsequent albums, but in retrospect they are all great. I hope they make another album soon. Man-Made was such a superb offering, the final track just leaves you hungry for more.

11. Ronderlin 537
a) Three Times
b) Reflected
c) Reflected
Don't know how it's possible, but Three Times somehow slipped my radar on the Labrador Kingsize Vol #2 compilation. But then I heard Labrador 100 - A Complete History Of Popular Music and was reduced to tears by Reflected. One of the best songs ever, period. Wave Another Day Goodbye is a classic five-star album, and The Great Investigation doesn't come far behind. A criminally underrated band if there ever was one.

12. Codeine 525
a) Realize
b) Promise of Love
c) Promise of Love
Another late discovery. I came across Barely Real in 2006 and couldn't believe I'd managed to live so long without it.

13. The Kingsbury Manx 493
a) Let You Down
b) Let You Down
c) Do What You're Told
Another case of 'found it in a bargain bin and gave it a listen', Let You Down took me by complete surprise in 2001. This band is a hidden treasure.

14. The Thermals 487
a) It's Trivia
b) It's Trivia
c) No Culture Icons
Again, I have to thank Tampere City Library for this. As well as Antti Lähde from Rumba magazine, who wrote a rave review in which he dropped all the right names. What can I say, genius lo-fi rock. The second album is great as well, don't know about the third one yet.

15. Popsicle 484
a) Mayfly
b) Sunkissed
c) wonderful
In late 1994, I read about this Swedish band that had just gigged in Finland. A month or so later, I found Abstinence in the library (yet again) and became a life-long fan.

16. Nada Surf 466
a) Popular
b) Concrete Bed
c) All Is a Game
Became acquainted with this band around the time Popular became popular. I didn't really like it. A decade later, I bought a promo copy of The Weight Is a Gift and realised what I had been missing out on. Yes, I even like Popular now.

17. Granada 437
a) Time to pass
b) Everyplace We Went
c) Hey What's Going On Kerttu Orama
The bargain-bin find to end them all, Takes A Lot Of Walking walked into my life in the summer of 2004. The album looked interesting enough, so I didn't even listen to it before buying, given that it cost just one euro. Of course, some more money had to be spent soon, as I had to order the other albums right away. Anna Järvinen went on to solo success - good for her, but I prefer the Granada albums. Timeless stuff.

18. Editors 434
a) Fingers in the Factories
b) Bullets
c) Munich
Things got off to a decidedly bad start when I heard that finger song on the radio. (Leena Lehtinen, my favourite radio DJ, often plays non-single tracks, which is naturally a welcome practice, but in this case the choice went horribly wrong.) 'So this is supposed to be the great new band? What an irritating piece of...' Upon hearing Bullets a few months later, I had to adjust my opinion there and then. Another few months passed and I learned that The Back Room is an excellent album (and that Fingers in the Factories is alright after all, even though it always reminds me of fish-fingers for some reason). The second album was a slight letdown, but this is a well-deserved Top 20 spot anyway.

19. Pixies 412
a) Trompe le Monde
b) Planet of Sound
c) Bone Machine
In early 1993, I received a tape from my cousin Mikko (who passed away in 2006 - I miss him). I can no longer remember what the main course on the tape was, but what I do remember is that Mikko had filled the remaining space with tracks 1, 2, 3, 14 and 15 off Trompe le Monde. It didn't take me long to borrow and tape the rest of the tracks as well as the other Pixies albums. I got my driver's license in May 1993 and spent a good deal of the summer driving around in my parents' car, with my skateboard in the trunk and Pixies on the stereo. Oh, those were the times. I no longer like driving or cars, but I will love Pixies as long as I live. And Trompe le Monde will always have a special place in my heart - not only because of the personal history involved, but also because it kicks ass.

20. Stereolab 400
a) Ping Pong
b) Lo Boob Oscillator
c) Transona Five
1994: First exposure, again on 120 Minutes. I don't really get it (again).
2000: I see High Fidelity and start buying all Stereolab albums I can get my hands on.

---

This was fun. Got a bit carried away, but that's what music can do to you. Thanks to anyone who read (or scrolled) this far.

Looks like I just played my 60,000th track without even noticing it. How appropriate that it was The Clientele. The 'track' in question was Live on Gideon Coe, which is Alasdair's radio performance from 2005 (and definitely deserves to be heard more; 9 plays scrobbled on Last.fm).