vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Dec 20, 2010 8:26:32 GMT 1
Tegan & SaraNot much time today, thanks to ginormous transport problems, so let's just say that the Quin twinsare from Canada, have released six albums and their complete oeuvre is now available as one convenient digital download bundle. Started recording together in 1997, when they were 16, with a demo on school equipment; won a competition for local Alberta bands in 1998 which allowed them to produce professional demos; these attracted the attention of Neil Young, who signed them to his Vapor label; their sixth album "Sainthood" came out last year and broke them into the US top thirty; and they have baaaaad sleeve tattoos. 20
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Dec 21, 2010 8:21:22 GMT 1
John & JehnLike the Besnard Lakes, a Francophone couple; however these come from la belle France itself. Also, unlike the Lakes, whose contacts within the industry enable them to put together full bands for recording, this duo relies on backing tapes and samples live. Still compelling though. Camille Berthomier was a comedic actress and singer in the band Motel until 2006, when she met Nicolas Congé, fellow musician (with the group Asyl), and started writing together; the first fruit was "20L07", which also became their second single. The Joy Division influence was evident from their first release, which translates as "Love Won't Tear Us Apart"....a friend sent it to Rough Trade Records, it caught the imagination of the playlisters, and getting fed up with the cross-Channel commute for ever-more-well-regarded concerts they moved to London by the end of the year. Their first album (eponymous) was over 2 CDs, one John's and the other Jehn's. Like John's tattoos? The album cover was done by his tattooist. They released their second album, "Time For The Devil", in March this year. To critical acclaim and, as expected, commercial ignorance. 21
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Dec 22, 2010 8:03:51 GMT 1
Electrelane" There are too many bands that act lame Sound tame I believe in Electrelane" -St Etienne, "Finisterre"" You met Electrelane Hey hey, hey hey hey!!" -Brakes, "Heard About Your Band" Two mentions from two brilliant bands. Woo. Electrelane are a rare breed; an all-female band, which is rare enough, but also one that's just as confident with instrumentals as with actual songs. And, like a number of acts on this list, got more critical acclaim than commercial success. (And were namechecked by St Etienne as well.) They centre(d) around the core duo of singer/guitarist Verity Susman and drummer Emma Gaze, and got their first break in 2000 when Norman Cook signed them to his Skint offshoot Indenial. By the time of their first album Mia Clarke (guitar) and Rachel Dalley (bass) had joined as permanent members (Clarke while still studying for her A-levels), and they recorded four albums, the most recent (in 2007) being "No Shouts No Calls", which featured "Tram 21". Dalley left after the second, replaced by Ros Murray (like Susman, a classically-trained musician), and that foursome has been together ever since. Not long after the release, Electrelane announced they were going on hiatus. Boo. The hiatus is still going on...they've done some other things, Mia Clarke making a semi-improvised album "Guitargument" with Andy Moor of The Ex, continuing with her music journalism, and forming Follows with Electrelane's sound engineer. Ros has a solo project called Ray Rumours and is performing with twee-ish group It Hugs Back, and in typical Brighton hometown stylee Verity has recorded with the same group as well as recording under the name Vera November. Emma has relocated to Los Angeles, and is working as a stage artist and set painter (she designed the Electrelane sleeves). No further music from her as yet. 22
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Dec 23, 2010 8:37:19 GMT 1
The DearsBack to Montreal. This time, not la Francophonie, but l'Indiephonie. Around since 1995, albeit with only one original member, Murray Lightburn, son of a jazz musician-cum-pastor, who is also the chief songwriter. There's another Besnard Lakes link - Lightburn is married to current keyboardist Natalia Yanchak. They've recorded four albums, the first of which was recorded on a budget of $1,000, and after the second ("No Cities Left") the band (barring keyboardist Natalia Yanchuk, soon to be Mrs Lightburn) left, fed up with the manic-depressive drug- and alcohol-addicted Lightburn. He sorted himself out and recruited a new band, which included but by the time they started to record their fourth album "Missiles", The Dears was just down to Lightburn and Yanchuk. Then inspiration struck. They brought back some former members - Roberto Arquilla (bass), Robert Benvie and Patrick Krief (guitars) - to record it and they have stuck around since then. Since then they have added drummer Jeff Luciani for the current incarnation.and a fifth ("Degeneration Street") is on its way in February 2011. Unusually, "Degeneration Street" is being toured before release, rather than after, as an attempt to get around the instant gratification culture. None of their albums has made the charts, although they have had a couple of hit singles (both from "No Cities Left"), the latter of which, "22: The Death Of All The Romance" (and the song above), was their second (and last) in May 2005. Unusual in these days, when Dearsesque bands would normally have more album success...2005 was perhaps the last year when it was possible for unknowns to make the singles charts. 23
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madmurray
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Post by madmurray on Dec 23, 2010 8:46:15 GMT 1
Can I just praise you on an excellent read. I havent went through all your posts yet, but I will do tonight. Particularly enjoyed the Adam Ant post and as a fan, totally agreed with what you wrote.
Thanks for a great post, one that brought back memories.
cheers.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Dec 24, 2010 10:13:28 GMT 1
*does little bow* What gets me about the current playlisting policies is that it turns the music industry into North Korea. People are so blinded by their own exclusive little world that they never hear that there is far better stuff outside the comfort zone...but that wouldn't suit the industry, would it? Here's a case in point. Blonde RedheadIf at first you don't succeed, try, try, try, try, and try again. Sixth time lucky for the trio; their sixth album "Misery Is A Butterfly" gave them their first US chart entry, albeit down at number 180. Follow-up "23" from which the title track comes brought them into the top 100. Not yet into the top ten though... We're almost back to Montreal again, as the Pace twins - Simone and Amadeo, Italian-born - were brought up there. However, their real musical education was American, as they studied jazz in Boston before moving into the Noo Yoik underground. Where they met Japanese singer/guitarist Kazu Makino (now Amedeo's wife) on a musical date arranged by a mutual friend who thought they would fit sonically and formed Blonde Redhead, named after a song by DNA (not the Suzanne Vega remixers, but a discordant new wave act along the lines of James Chance and the Contortions). It's perhaps not surprising that it took so long for BR to make some sort of breakthrough; they started off very much in the no wave mode of things and only when they toned down the dissonance did they begin to make their way into the wider world. In 2000 the hippophile Kazu was seriously injured when trampled by a horse and needed extensive face reconstruction and vocal surgery; the four year hiatus produced a change of emphasis as she incorporated the experience into "Misery Is A Butterfly", including the song "Equus", and for some reason it caught on. "23" is still their major commercial success, and live the sparser version of the title track sounds even better. Their most recent album, September's "Penny Sparkle" (named after one of Kazu's horses) also made the top 100 Stateside, but they haven't done anything other than bubble under in the UK. 24
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Dec 25, 2010 9:43:00 GMT 1
Half Man Half BiscuitTrouble Over Bridgwater. I Left My Heart In Papworth General. With Goth On My Side. Dickie Davies Eyes. Prag Vec At The Melkweg. Me And My Girl Sealclubbing. The Trumpton Riots. There is no question that the Bisc have the best song- and album-titles that have ever been created. So there is no way I could miss them out... Perhaps they are most famous for not being famous. They turned down the chance to appear on The Tube because it clashed with a Tranmere Rovers match. And they were never meant to be a recording act; they cut the demo for "Back In The DHSS" because a friend who operated a studio wanted someone to test out some new equipment. In the end they touted it around a few labels for a laugh and found Probe Plus, based in a flat above the Probe record shop on Merseyside, fancied releasing it. They've been with them ever since. An almost wilful refusal to follow the pop dream. I remember "DHSS" being passed around at school, like a samizdat pamphlet, with everyone falling in love with the sheer absurdity of it all, and delight at the various cultural references that flickered at the back of our minds (Precious McKenzie, Hannu Mikkola, Bob Todd, Dukla Prague...). Indeed, after "DHSS" (the biggest-selling genuine indie album of 1985, nearly 200,000 sales) they pretty much gave up, having achieved their purpose, but the genius laureate behind them, Nigel Blackwell, was still writing, and so they got back together in 1990. Naturally, they were favourites of John Peel and played 13 sessions, the last in October 2004, and were promoted by various other taste makers like Jemma from Byker Grove. Despite their cult following, HMHB never made the singles charts ("DHSS" did make the album chart), until the 6music campaign propelled "Joy Division Oven Gloves" to number 59. A 25 year gap between debut appearances in the albums and singles charts. Not quite a record, Led Zep managed 28, but for successive appearances? Possibly. Last album "CSI: Ambleside" came out in 2008, but a new album is being recorded, possibly right now. In the meantime, you can enjoy the Half Map Half Biscuit project, an attempt to pinpoint every geographical reference in an HMHB song (although The Wrekin is certainly not there. Next thing Tony Hawks will be trying to visit them all...I bet it would be called "Tonight I'm Sitting On Lord Hereford's Knob". And to finish off the thread...the song which inspired the title... Frank KellyDRINK! FECK! GIRLS! THAT WOULD BE AN ECUMENICAL MATTER!!!
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