act 9: some songs, some words about the songs

27.3.14
i'm tired, i've got a shitty, unshakeable cold and i want soup (which i have) and bed (which i don't).

on the plus side the menswe@ar show last night at bush hall was pretty special - i swear those old tunes NEVER sounded that good back in the day and the new material was genuinely great. here's a mis-labelled live clip from the show's climactic tune 'stardust':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB9CHZjSc0M

you can probably see from this that a great deal of fun was had. was the first time i''d seen the band play their own songs (there was a bowie tribute show earlier this year) since '95 at cardiff uni - and this time one of my best friends in the world was playing bass for them. good fuckin' times y'all. i'd be surprised if we don't hear more new, cool things from the 2.0 version of the band in coming months.

like dum dum girls? aye. like crocodiles? generally, aye as well. so may as well have a look at this sweet collaboration between dee dee penny from the former and brandon welchez from the latter...it's as purposely lo-fi and home-made looking a video as you'd expect while the tune is a stoned dreampopper with added fangs at the back. yip. they're calling themselves haunted hearts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bB_ZM9mW4XI

nextlies we have a bit of wayward, slalom-jumping electronica in the shape of the new order-loving derby pair ghost twins and the lead track from their upcoming album 'never fear total failure (out april 14th) called 'breaking friends'

https://soundcloud.com/ghosttwins/breaking-friends-2

it's sorta sad, sorta sunkissed, subtle but entirely slammin'. the more i'm hearing this the more i'm hearing m83, postal service et al and that's no bad thing. i laps it up.

last up today is the jaw-droppingly cool art-country rock n' roll of jessica lea mayfield, whose new album 'make my head sing' is out on june 2nd. this is the lead track from that and it's a taut, sleek slice of strangeness that dabbles with david lynch, tickles cowboy junkies and always keeps the tension ratcheted up to an uncomfortable level. it's also a CHOON.

https://soundcloud.com/ato_records/i-wanna-love-you-by-jessica

and yeah, i suppose it's a country song too. gorgeous. especially those three notes knocked off the back of blue oyster cult's lorry.

oooh let's have that anyway shall we? yeah, fuck it, it's basically the weekend:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClQcUyhoxTg

FEEL that cowbell.

hope yr enjoying the blog - please comment and share. bands and artists please send me your tracks direct - i want to be featuring more and more lesser known bands here. loves ya as usze.

xm