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!

The Mind Without Maths

Have a listen to The Mind Without Maths a coming together of a few bands namely Cherubs a band i held in high regard for their album Uncovered By Heartbeat (they were also responsible for my favourite live gig at The Barfly)

Pretty dark and very sharp, seems like they are just getting on their feet at the moment with gigs thin on the ground but have a listen to track What You Advertise, not a bad tune at all..

Video Nasties - On All Fours

I have to say i am very impressed with the new Video Nasties album On All Fours.

Really captivating guitar led stuff here and even though my favourite track Hearts And Bones is MIA (Though mysterisouly a track called HNB with the same instrumental appears) it is a winner. Track Jellybean is a great bit of fun with the kind of chorus that you will be irritating your flatmates with all week. HNB is an epic piece with an eyebrow raising chorus of "memories of happiness, with my hands, down my pants) and tracks like Kaiser, Albatross and Rolling keep things ticking over nicely too.

Have a listen here, will catch these guys live soon i hope!

Banquet Records...

I buy a majority of my 'physical' music from Banquet Records and having just received some bits recently i thought i would convey my approval via the blog...

The thing i love about this independent over so many others is a) friendly, knowledgeable staff b) Decent prices (take note Puregrove and Rough Trade) and c) Over a period of 4 or 5 years they have put Kingston on the map by looking after a great shop, putting on some crazy instore gigs, showcasing a whole host of the biggest bands about at numerous venues in town (as well as nurturing the up and comers too...)

So, if you are in South London sometime soon go check them out or pop over to their site and support a real independent!