Tough Love are 4...

A favourite label of mine Tough Love Records are having their 4th Birthday celebrations this weekend coming.

It takes place at Old Blue Last, London on Saturday 25th July. The soon to split Favours For Sailors will headline an all dayer that also sees William, Munch Munch The Bridge Gang and Gold Panda playing live.

The event will also included Zineswap Workshops downstairs at the venue and DJ's mixing it up until late.

Tickets are £5 and can be bought here.

Mind Without Maths - Name Change

Mind Without Maths have had a name change, now playing as The Bela Lugosi Blues.

Was never a fan of the name....and er this one isn't much better. However don't let it put you off at all, they are a really good up and comer as i said here

Favours For Sailors Split

Yup it's all official and on proper websites, Favours For Sailors have split. I booked the band earlier this month and they said it was on the cards, a real shame. I will remember the band for their indie pop tunes, just real fun, day brightening stuff!

Tough Love are releasing a tape of demos that never saw the light of day, only 100 copies at £3 and can be bought here.

Bombay Bicycle Club - Review coming soon...

...Promise! For now here is the new video for Dust On The Ground, not as good as Magnets but a pretty tune (oh how that review is coming along!)

Blur!!

To avoid gushing i will keep this one short...Was at Hyde Park on Friday for Blur, a band who i never thought i would get the chance to see live but thankfully i was proved wrong with this years reunion tour.

The band were on top form on the evening, even in the vast and potentially inpersonal surroundings of Hyde Park it was a really electric night. The band tore through loads of tracks from the obvious Song 2, Park Life, There's No Other Way style material to the less so like a personal fave Oily Water.

Track of the night goes to Out Of Time, amazing vocals, tender guitar and touching sentiment. It just summed up the nights precious feel - you really are seeing one of the best bands ever!...Ok a bit of gushing there!

Club KKBB last night...

I wasn't there but it looked like a dandy! Thanks to Attack/Switch/Attack, The Males and Team Waterpolo.

Check out 30th June for our next gig at Bull and Gate in Kentish Town. Favours For Sailors, Kids Love Lies and a TBA playing! Tickets are dirt cheap! Check us out here

Graham Coxon

I think i was talking about Banquet Records a week ago on the blog and then this week i was looking at a few bits and pieces and saw this up for grabs...

It is a print by Graham Coxon limited to a 1000 copies and a bargain at just £10!

I really like the artwork on all of Coxon's stuff and i am happy to say that i have my copy pride of place in the flat. Will be picking up the new album In The Morning sometimes soon and will leave my feed back on the blog.

The Answering Machine @ Great Escape

Nice little video from The Fly @ Great Escape. The Answering Machine playing Oklahoma.


The Fly - The Answering Machine 'Oklahoma' FlyTV In The Courtyard on MUZU.

Quicken The Heart

So the Maximo Park album Quicken The Heart has been receiving some mixed reviews and having picked the album up yesterday i though i'd throw my thoughts out there...blog style!

After four or five listens i've come to the conclusion that this is A) a good album, certainly better then Our Earthly Pleasures (An album i hold in high regard) and B) An album that needs (and deserves) a bit of time invested into listening (A conclusion i came to with album two as well). I think alot of the reviews that you'll see in magazines and the web will probably stumble with that fact that it will need a week to get a proper prospective on the album as a whole, and many hacks will bang out 800 words of a listen or three (but hey i'm doing the same and writing less words too lol!)

But anyway back to the album Calm is a banging track, classic Maximo Park that feels a little like a harder faster Books From Boxes, a great keyboard outro as well. Questing, Not Coasting has some of Paul Smith's best vocals, which hit their peak during the albums best chorus (Can't wait for this one live!) The Kids Are Sick Again is a track i heard a while ago and wasn't too sure on but it has grown on me in a huge way. In Another World and Overland, West of Suez also deserve a mention as strong album tracks.

So for me the album is a winner, it flows really well and the tempo and pacing are spot on. Paul Smiths reputation as a great lyrasist will be done no harm by this effort either, with some great brewding numbers like “I don’t mind losing self respect, I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again” This album is also some of their best produced work, i found especially when DJing that the first two albums are a wee bit quiet but this one is razor sharp and with all the layers of sound that are going on its just as well!

i'm seeing the band in a few weeks so i'll pop my live thoughts up then..

'Em Are I - Jeffrey Lewis

Bought the new Jeffrey Lewis album 'Em Are I this week, nice to see that his profile seems to be on the up in the UK with his album readily available in a number of highstreet stores.

The album itself is very good, maybe not to the level of City and Eastern Songs but certainly a very strong record. City and Easterns more neurotic side has been toned down with laid back tracks like Roll Bus Roll and To Be Objectified seeping through. Jeffrey Lewis very reflective style of lyricism and humour is still very evident with If Life Exists 'girlfriend' lyrics being a great example (have a listen and you'll see what i mean) and as always it this charm that makes his album very listenable.

Broken Broken Heart is one of Jeffrey Lewis's most mainstream efforts to date, a real happy summery feel (albeit still very DIY) and even considering the subject matter it is still very upbeat.

Having seen a few reviews for the album so far i know one of the major critisicms is that this isn't much of departure from previous releases and in a way i can undertand that. However i think that as a) a one man band and b) having the..er vocal range of Jeffrey Lewis you are never going to see any radical changes in the formula (and why would you want that anyway?) So overall i'd say very nice....go and have a listen!