#128 – Friday Feeling

It’s Friday, at long last. Not because I’ve been working so hard (I’m currently jobless) but because shit is happening this weekend and I’ve been bored. As I’ve not been working I’ve been able to catch up on all sorts of music, new and old, and I thought I’d share some of it with you. It’s a varied mix, from Swedish alt-rock to some West Coast lo fi to one of my favourite Latin songs. Anyway, peruse, listen, browse and do any number of other things with the music. Finally, be sure to buy anything you like.

To start us off we’ve got some good old ska (actually of the modern variety, so ignore “good old”) from Antipodeans The Cat Empire. This is followed by a little something from the Buena Vista Social Club, and if you haven’t heard of them then correct that immediately.

#127 – Scattered Trees

Today is all about Chicago’s Scattered Trees. They’re a five piece who have been making music together for about six years, in one guise or another. I first appreciated them on account of the superb video for their song ‘Love And Leave‘. It is the kind of video that looks like it was amazing fun to make. I then got an email telling me that they’d just recorded a session for Daytrotter. I wasn’t aware of this pretty awesome website until about three days ago, but since then it’s been getting an enormous amount of attention from me. They catch bands that are touring the States and have them record four songs on a basic system, in one take.

#126 – Blackbirds

Blackbird, the Beatles song written by Paul McCartney in 1968, is one of my favourite songs by the Liverpool foursome. So when I saw that a guitar group had turned the two minute song into one that is over ten minutes long, I approached it with a certain amount of skepticism. I needn’t have. It’s become a whole different song, where they’ve taken the original and turned it into a theme for a piece that circles the original, only occasionally dropping back into it. Sadly, my words cannot do the song any justice. So you should listen to it and admire the virtuosic playing of the two sets of Australian brothers, Slava & Leonard Grigoryan and Joseph & James Tawadros. It’s a stonker.

Band Of Brothers – Blackbird [Buy]

#125 – Bass Drum Of Death

Here’s one for you. Harsh, thrashy, garage rock by a band with a lo fi sound, it’s Bass Drum Of Death. They’ve been featured on Vice.com’s Noisey, who have made a five video featurette on the band. It kicks off with a bit of an introduction and then has four live songs. If you’re a fan then it’s definitely for you. If you’re not, then you should head over and see what the fuss is about. Here are two songs that I reckon are worth listening to.

Bass Drum Of Death – Get Found [Buy]

#124 – Holy Ghost’s ‘Hold My Breath’

#123 – John Denver & TEED

John Denver... Too Cool For School

Here are two remixes that I’ve been listening to the past week or so. One is from Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosoars, who’s track ‘Trouble’ we featured yesterday. Today’s song is his newest single, due out in about two weeks on Polydor. Yesterday I mentioned that TEED and Joe Goddard are very much contemporaries, and this is a prime example of that. Here’s Goddard’s remix of ‘Garden’. Buy it on October 16th.

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosoars – Garden

Secondly here’s some John Denver.

#122 – New Videos

Hello all. Here are some new videos that I reckon are probably worth about 3-4 minutes of time each. The first is from London’s Is Tropical. They’re currently touring the UK (with European and US dates following, in case you’re not from our little island) in support of their debut album Native To. This video to ‘Lies’ is a great song, a little more electric and little less “tropical” than some of their previous releases, and the video has got boobies in it. So if you’re a fan of them (these guys are) then definitely watch it. If you’re not, watch it anyway, because I reckon you’ll like the song.

Is Tropical – Lies

Podcast V

"I'm being serious now. Listen to it."

After yet another long wait, here is the newest podcast for you. It’s got music from Asa, Cults and Zakee, among others. You can click on the links below to go to their respective pages and you can also listen to the songs on their own.

Safety, Fun & Learning Podcast #5 [Download]

#121 – “There’s Only One Thing A Man Can Do

When he’s suffering from a spiritual and existential funk….”

“Go to the zoo? Flip off some monkeys?”

“No. Buy new suits.”

It is a rare moment that such true words are said. Credit to Messrs Ferrel and Koechner for giving them to us. Now French Connection have given us a rather slick piece of advertising to reinforce this idea in their new TV advert. I saw it during the RWC match between Australia and Irelend this morning (it was a cracking game, in case you’re interested) and thoroughly enjoyed the ad. It’s long and, most importantly, it’s got a certain Mr Weezy (rapping) in it.

#120 – Unknown Mortal Orchestra

The fantastically named Unknown Mortal Orchestra, from New Zealand via Portland, OR, are pretty fantastic. The song Ffunny Ffriends (listen below) made waves about a year ago for all the right reasons. It’s part trippy, part funky and part lo-fi. The vocals remind me a little of that crunchy, compressed sound that Foster The People use, and they are probably a good band to compare this UMO’s sound to. The eponymous debut album came out earlier this summer on Fat Possum, the record label of Yuck, who are massive fans. In a feature on Noisey, they come across as people who like the band a lot. (Watch the video and count the number of “likes”, seriously.)