#63 – Some New Stuff

Here’s a little collection of songs that are doing the rounds at the moments and that I like. First up we’ve got some Holy Ghost!, signed to one of the most consistently excellent labels, DFA. This is a new song from the band that’s floating about for free off the label’s Soundcloud as a bit of promo for their eponymous debut album which is due out on 25th April. For now, content yourselves with this…

Holy Ghost! – Wait & See [Buy]

Now we’ve got a song by emerging ‘Night Pop’ duo Alpines. I’m not so sure about the name of the genre they’re giving themselves (how many different ‘… Pop’ categories do we really need?!) but it’s a fairly big, bold song that’s well written and generally pretty enjoyable. In a dark way. So I guess ‘Night Pop’ probably isn’t too far off the mark. Anyway, I was sent it by the lovely people over at Track In The Box who send a track a day for free. All they want is your email address. Here’s the video for Alpine’s song ‘Ice & Arrows’.

Review: Galapaghost – Runnin’

This EP was sent to me about two weeks ago and I must have listened to it about a dozen times already. Considering I try and listen to a different album on the way to/from work every day, that’s pretty impressive. Galapaghost is the project of Casey Chandler and this is his third EP under this name. There are 7 songs on his EP and they are all good! It starts with ‘The Demise Of Me’, a ukulele driven song and a folky, four-on-the-floor double bass plodding on in the background. His harmonies are genuinely delightful; quaint and modest, they add real charm to all of the songs. This particular song has a real feel of Angus & Julia Stone about it. It’s good, good American folk.

He doesn’t restrict himself to ‘conventional’ folk though. The album goes through various moods, from the melancholy ‘Disintegration’ to the punky ‘Rise & Fall’, which is a particularly good song. It sounds startlingly like Green Day’s ‘Waiting’, with some Cat Power added in the mix. (Just so you know, in my book a comparison to Green Day pre-2003 is a good one.)

‘A Familiar Place’ is one of the prettiest songs I’ve heard in a really long time. It has got a lullaby quality to it that makes it immensely listenable. The Glockenspiel on this song is wonderfully quaint. It is also nice to have such a lighthearted song coming after the emotion of ‘Disintegration’. Moving towards the end of the EP, the title track is probably the most typically American of the songs on the album. The slide guitar and chunky chorus once again provide a good change of pace and I’m a particular fan of the solo that plays the song out.

“Well this is a celebration for you // Because you are so cool” – so begins the final song on Runnin’. If, as Chandler says, this is going to be his final EP, then it’s a fitting way to go out. The record is a great 31 minutes. His influences are varied: he claims Midlake, Simon & Garfunkel and Radiohead among them and I can hear them all. But he also goes through moments where he sounds like Phantom Planet (the good stuff), Death Cab and Mumford & Sons. This really is a treat: it’s difficult to pigeon-hole, which is exactly what I would look for in an EP. They should be a showcase of what an artist can do… Let them go for themes on albums! Listen to it once and you won’t be disappointed.

File next to: Cat Power, Midlake, Angus & Julia Stone

Listen to: Never Heard Nothin’

The good news is that this is free! So go and download it from his Soundcloud page.

Music For Horses no. 18

Bombay Dub Orchestra // Netsky

This installment is a couple of songs that have been recommended to me by people at work. The first is from Bombay Dub Orchestra. They manage to fuse cinematic classical music with traditional Indian instruments and melodies in a way that doesn’t patronise either genre. They also draw influences from Trip Hop, electronic, ambient / lounge and – if some of the promo for the next album is right – reggae. It’s a good long song too, coming in at just under seven and a half minutes, so you can just sit back and enjoy this instrumental.

Bombay Dub Orchestra – Amina [Buy]

The second song is a Drum & Bass song.

#62 – What’s That You Say… Summer?

It seems like we can rightly go and start talking about how amazing the summer is going to be about now. After all, where I am we’ve had three days in a row of glorious(ish) sun and in my book that’s good enough. Before you point it out, yes, I am very aware that by saying this I am probably destined for a summer of shitty weather, a shitty job and nothing fun to look forward to. But I will have this little mixtape to listen to. And that will go some way to brightening up the grey days.

#61 – Submarine

Hello folks. First off, sorry about the sporadic posting of late. I have to leave the house at 6am for work at the moment… Anyway, enough about that. I’m sure lots of you will have heard about Richard Ayoade’s directorial debut Submarine. The reason it’s taken me a little while to get around to posting about it (let’s face it, I was always going to!) was because I wanted to give Alex Turner’s soundtrack / EP for the album a good listen. And now I have. So have a look at the trailer for the film and listen to what I think is my favourite song off the the little 6-track release.

#60 – Burial & Four Tet… And Thom Yorke

Well isn’t this a stellar lineup! They’ve only gone and released a limited edition 12″, with the song ‘Ego’ as the A-side and ‘Mirrors’ on the reverse. It is pretty much exactly what you’re expecting from three such names; swirling, ominous sampling and beats from the first two with Thom Yorke lending his haunting vocals to create something that feels shrouded in a mist on the B-side. ‘Ego’ is more uptempo and it’s got some cracking xylophone lurking about in the background.

Anyway, enough chat. We’ve got the Rinse.FM radio rip that’s going around of ‘Ego’ up top and a stream of ‘Mirrors’ just underneath.

#59 – Is It Really Bigger Than Hip Hop?

By Josh Bowles
There’s Hip Hop and there’s “Hip Hop”. The East and West coasts of America are undoubtedly the two historical powerhouses and they fall into this second category.

It is well accepted that Hip Hop originated in New York City during the 1970s with lyrical dexterity that differs from all other old school Hip Hop. This original foundation can still be heard through the beats produced by the likes of Jay-Z, which have a tendency to focus on lyrics above all else. Notably, Biggie Smalls would be the perfect example of this with lines flowing like “either you sellin crack rock or you got a wicked jumpshot.” Its this dirty side that is inherent in all East coast artists from Nas to the duo that singlehandedly revolutionized the way MCs approach sets with multi-syllabic lyricism, Eric B and Rakim.

Eric B & Rakim – I Ain’t No Joke [Buy]

#58 – Nostalgia 77 Told Me To

Ben Lamdin, better known as Nostalgia 77 and head honcho of the Nostalgia 77 Octet has kindly decided to tell us about three of his favourite songs. The new album, called The Sleepwalking Society, is due out on Monday 21st March on Tru Thoughts and the lead single is just below. As well as making records he also manages to find the time to run his own record label called Impossible Ark Recordings. They are a small label who seem to like to do things the old fashioned way, with a small roster, vinyl releases and concentrating on getting some really good music out there. You can have a look at the website here and you can go and buy the new album from here. Anyway, on to the music.
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A Quick Music For Horses Update…

Just a couple of bits of news regarding our soon-to-be world famous playlist. You can now listen to the entire thing streaming on 8tracks by clicking here. There is also a selection of the songs on a Soundcloud set, which you can either listen to in the little player below or by going to our Music For Horses page by clicking here.

Hopefully these little changes will make it that much easier for you to just put the music on and not have to worry about pressing play every five minutes! And you can still look at the full list of songs in the playlist by clicking on the tab at the top of the page. If you want to see what we’ve said about the songs then click down to the right. As always, if you’ve got any suggestions of how to make it better or some songs you’d like to see on the list then let us know. If you can’t be arsed with clicking everywhere on the damn page or commenting, then just click on that big orange triangle below.

#57 – Mystery Jets ‘Serotonin’ Video

The Mystery Jets have just recently released this video of their latest single off their third album Serotonin. It is apparently going to be the last single from the album as they have already upped sticks and moved to Austin, Texas, to start work on album number four. Anyway, the video is good fun. A simple one with more twee sweaters and indie-bling than any three and a half minute video could ever need, it does do the song justice. There’s one particularly stoned-looking guy who is hilarious and another bloke who has hair that looks an awful lot like an Ewok. Awesome. Give the video a look and comment to your hearts’ content…