Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Feel good hits of the 18th June

1. 'Sleepwalking' - Deerhunter
One of Monomania's two classic Deerhunter tracks - not that, on repeated exposure, the rest of the album (frequently trashy, a bit glam, a whole lot of rollicking fun - unexpectedly so) isn't equally good.

2. 'Alighted' - Chelsea Light Moving
The climax and highlight of Friday's debut UK show at the Village Underground in Shoreditch (some great photos here). There's certainly life in the old dog yet.

3. 'Demons' - The National
Just as I've written off Trouble Will Find Me as nothing special, it starts to sink its teeth into me. Surely I should be wary of dismissing their albums prematurely by now? That said, it doesn't offer much new, despite the illustrious guest list (Owen Pallett, Nico Muhly, Richard Reed Parry, Sufjan Stevens).

4. 'Galang' - MIA
An extraordinary song that, somehow, I don't think I'd ever heard before until recently. It doesn't sound like something in which Justine Frischmann and Steve Mackay might have had a hand.

5. 'And Her Eyes Were Painted Gold' - The Besnard Lakes
Complete with a coda that dares you not to use the adjective "heart-melting". Guilty as charged.

6. 'Reach For The Dead' - Boards Of Canada
I've never been seduced by Boards Of Canada before (though Geogaddi came close), but this - from new album Tomorrow's Harvest - may just have done the trick.

7. 'Things We Be' - Charlie Boyer And The Voyeurs
Who says that too much Television is a bad thing for kids? This is clearly the epitome of NME-approved cool, and it's promising - though for the sake of historical context it's worth pointing out that that organ sound and, to a lesser extent, the vocals make them sound somewhat like long-forgotten dying-days-of-Britpop stragglers Tiger (who were actually significantly better than that implies).

8. 'Winter's Dream' - Merchandise
Still not sure I really like this, or Totale Nite as a whole. Perhaps I do - but I'm yet to be convinced they can genuinely be the Next Big Thing. If they can, and the world really is ready to embrace a black-clad Spandau Ballet drowning in dry ice (even if they are ex-punks, as every article on them ever points out), then I'm more out of touch than I thought.

9. 'Don't Look At Me (I Don't Like It)' - The Lovely Eggs
Very silly indeed. A Marmite band if ever there was one, but if nothing else they had me enjoying a whole load of John Shuttleworth snippets on YouTube last week.

10. 'Hippy Provider' - The Intelligence
Associates of Thee Oh Sees, endorsed by In The Red - another fine tip-off from my mate Dave, as adept as always at turning up goodies.

2 comments:

bushra said...

ah, that's gotta be a classic mistake with The National. i love Humiliation.

skif said...

Happy to help! :-)