A NEW HOME

Hello, our blog now has a new home here where we intend to update it more often.

click the link now for our end of year list.

thanks

hadouken!

x

MY NEW FAVOURITE NEW BANDS

My favorite bands seem to be dropping like flies at the moment, so I'm getting some new ones, I'm sure they'll understand, you have to move on with your life, I don't want to die alone.

click the names...

This City



Blakfish



This Town Needs Guns



Pnau



Kasms




Architects



Tubelord



Maths Class




Colour
i couldn't find a video for colour




d
x

It doesn't rain it pours.

'The band are not planning any more gigs or releases for the foreseeable future - I should make it clear that the band members are all on amicable terms and are supportive of the need to call a halt.'

Absolutely gutted to hear this, one of my all time favorite bands without doubt.



Buy all the Reuben albums.

D

Some sad news.

We're all gutted to hear that our good friends and generally massively awesome band SHUT YOUR EYES AND YOU'LL BURST INTO FLAMES have decided to call it a day. James and I hatched the plan to start our label, Surface Noise Records at a Shut Your Eyes gig at the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds and they were one of a number of Leeds bands that inspired and excited us to put this band together. We've had a great time and learned a whole lot playing shows with them over the last year, we owe them a great deal and they will be very much missed.

Alas, I Cannot Swim

This really is very good isn't it? Not good like 'good given she's only young' or like 'good compared to the current crop of young songwriters' but genuinely, exceptionally ace. How exciting.

D

ELLE MILANO

Single out this week, the album 'Acres of Dead Space Cadets' follows 14th april.

Odd name, ace Band

people keep comparing TUBELORD to Biffy Clyro, this is presumably because there are three of them and they are very, very good.

Single is out on monday, buy it here.

YOU ARE DEAD KIDS

Remember the good old days when there were bands so exciting they had to be described with words like 'DANGEROUS'

DEAD KIDS are dangerous. they will blow your mind, stuff the remains in a party popper and fire it right at your eyeball.

VERSVECTORLO & THE TETRIS EFFECT

As J mentioned below, Jacknife's music collection is rather epic. Thankfully, he was kind enough to put together a playlist for us to explore and I'm currently enjoying working my way through it. Right now; Vector Lover's album 'Capsule for One.'

When discussing the influence of gaming on contemporary music for an interview a while back James pointed out that beyond the obvious 8-bit scene, there's a lot of music that far more subtly and perhaps even subconsciously adopts the sounds of computer games that soundtracked many young adults' childhood*. Some Vector Lovers' tracks, to my ears**, sound like a paradigm example of this, so I was amused on initial google based research to read that he is indeed an ex-games designer. For those not familiar with V.L. check out 'Arrival, Metropolis' (the melody that comes in at 1.10, to me, brings to mind the credits for something like Streets of Rage). For those who know his material, where should I go after Capsule for One?

The name, Vector Lovers, apparently represents the two contrasting elements of the music; 'the logical, mathematical process of synthesizing sounds and the sentimental element of the melodies.' I find a similar meeting of opposites between the nostalgia inducing effect of the gaming sounds and the otherwise futuristic metropolis soundscapes they are found in. Indeed in one interview he talks of a 'nostalgia for a future that never was' induced by the realization that our childhood ideas of the what the future had in store never came to pass.

D
x

*In an interview for the same feature, Cassette Playa made a very similar comment regarding the aesthetics of gaming and her fashion design; 'We're the generation who grew up on gaming, our minds are built out of tetris blocks, so they're the shapes our imaginations will build.'

**These ears are far from well educated on this subject, so apologies for naive or off the mark ramblings.

--

In other news, when DJing on Radio 1 earlier this year, we had the honor of the first play of Frank Turner's forthcoming single 'Photosynthesis.' Below is the recently unveiled, and rather charming, video for that track.

It's a Riot In An Arcade

WORD.

Just in the studio recording our album, with my new best mate Jacknife. He's got a cd collection that would take you 6 years to upload, an unlimited supply of wine and synths that make noises that sound like R2-D2 having an orgasm. Its good fun.

The album is probably going to have NINE new songs on it. Of those if you saw us on tour you probably only heard three.

Theres a track called Get Smashed Gate Crash about that house party you went to where you smashed up the living room, had sex in the pantry, pissed in the corner, stole the dvd collection and smoked crack in the laundry room aged approximately 13.

Another one currently called Wheres Your Head which has the lines...

''So where you at, And where's your head?
Your precious indie rocks dead, and I'll fuck up your life like crystal Meth.''

Daytime radio's gonna love it. I fully intend to press for it as our next single.

Everyone got together on Friday, and recorded some drums/guitars/bass, but there will be only be one track with live drums on the album, so don't expect anything similar to Leap of Faith (sorry emos.) Its a dance album first and formost, dare i say the word 'rave'?

I've been listening to the following music, Prodigy Experience, Pendulum, PRE, Kernkraft 400-Zombie Nation, Sonic Youth, David Cross (comedian), and a Dreamscape CD (thats Old Rave to the kids).

Now only got to overcome the small issue of having flu, earache, a cold, blocked nose etc and record some fucking vocals.

JAMES!

BBC RADIO1 NATIONWIDE

Last night James and I were honored to take over Zane Lowe's radio1 show for two hours while he chillaxes in NZ. Inflicting your taste on the nation is a lot of fun. Massive thankyou and much love to Zane and his team for having us and to Annie Mac for looking after us throughout. It was ace. Here's what we played...

Monday 7th January

19:00

Pendulum - 'Granite' (Ear Storm/Warner)
The Streets - 'Lets Push Things Forward' (Warner)
The Cribs - Hey Scensters' (wichita)
Burial - 'Archangel' (Hyperdub)
Bloc Party - 'Little Thoughts' (Wichita)
The Ting Tings - 'That's Not My Name' (Columbia)
Benga And Coki - 'Night' (Tempa)

Hottest Record In The World
Santogold - 'Creator' (Lizard King)

Lightspeed Champion - 'Galaxy of The Lost' (Domino)
Does It Offend You, Yeah? - 'Rockstars' (Virgin)
Late Of The Pier - 'Bathroom Gurgle' (Moshi Moshi)
The Hold Steady - 'Stuck Between Stations' (Vagrant)
Wiley -'Bow E3' (Big Dada)

20:00

The Good The Bad And The Queen - 'History Song' (Parlophone)
The Ghost Frequency - 'Nightmare' (City Rockers)
Patrick Wolf - 'Tristan' (Tomlab)
Radiohead - 'Videotape' (XL)
Frank Turner - 'Photosynthesis' (Xtra Mile Recordings)
Joker - 'Stuck In The System' (Ear Wax)
Reuben - 'Alpha Signal Three' (Xtra Mile)
Dubstitutes - '2 Faced Rasta' (Reso Remix)
Shut Your Eyes And You'll Burst Into Flames - 'Burning Chrome' (-)
Skepta - 'I'm There' (Boy Better Know)
Rolo Tomassi - 'Film Noir' (Holy Roar)

You can listen again at this link

or download the highlights as a podcast ici

The Pirate's Dilema

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Matt Mason's The Prisoner's Dilema is coming out on January 8th, 2008 in the U.S. through Free Press and May 2008 through Penguin in the uk.