Month: October 2010

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Features Playlists

Feature: Tomorrow’s Sounds Today

Hi everyone and welcome to another edition of Tomorrow’s Sounds Today, where we at Spotisfaction Towers exercise our inner domestic goddess and serve you hot, delicious spoonfuls of the latest and greatest tunes fresh from the Spotify Fridge.

A good mix of music this week, from the eclectic jazz of Afrocubism to current commercial darlings Kings of Leon. As always, we hope you enjoy our choices but I would welcome all your feedback on the highlights, lowlights and slow burners this week. Did we miss a glaringly obvious release? Let us know and it might make a revisited page or even warrant its own full length review! The comment section is below and remember that your voice empowers you (but please be polite). And so, to business!

Kings Of Leon ”“ Come Around Sundown ”“ I’ll be honest and say I’m not the world’s biggest Kings of Leon fan, but they are still very popular despite this, so I am sure that news of the album will be well received in some camps. Musically, this record doesn’t sound a huge departure from earlier work and that’s by no means a bad thing. I almost get the feeling they’ve played it safe, ensuring they hit the same target as before. It’s a competent, enjoyable album but I fear the only negative, if there is one, is that there is not the immediate impact that the singles of its predecessor had.

Belle & Sebastian ”“ Write About Love – So out with the politically neutral review of Kings of Leon, and into the selfish all-praising review of one of my favourite groups… Let’s not say we at Spotisfaction are not about balance! According to my Spotify, all the current Belle & Sebastian albums are 2010 releases so I suspect some contractual wrangling in the background or a mass re-issue. Earlier in the year we spoke about Push Barman To Open Old Wounds and how much I still enjoy listening to that record. This new LP is definitely a shift in direction but not a full-on change of lanes. It feels less relective and has a more dreamy shine to it, for want of a better description. Musically it is as strong as ever and I think will go down just as well with fans.

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Playlists

126 Spotisfaction Monday – 18th October 2010 – Kev Atkinson

Morning kids. Hopefully everyone had a fab weekend? Mine was pretty good. Saw MF Doom on Saturday night, and he was completely mind-blowingly incredible, as expected. The downside is that I’m completely pooped and I don’t really feel like I got enough sleep this weekend. Therefore, I’ve decided I’m going to sleep at my desk today. If you’re passing, bring me hot chocolate and biscuits, yeh?

Today’s playlist is by staff-member Kev Atkinson, and is entitled “Two Pigs”. A perfect hangover cure for a Monday that arrived far too quickly. Cheers Kev!

Later,
Dave

Kev Says:

This playlist is named after a nightclub in Cheltenham. The Two Pigs used to be one of my favourite places to go at the end of a night out, as it was a good place to hear a nice mix of alternative music, and you could drink and dance until a silly time in the morning.

The problem is that the last few times I”™ve been there the music selection has been too tame, too mainstream, and it feels like they have been pandering to the masses a bit too much. This is why I haven”™t been there for a while.

What I have done with this playlist is put together a few tracks and artists that I would like to hear more of (or in quite a few cases, at all) when I go to Two Pigs – basically this is the sort of thing you”™d hear if I had a DJ spot there!

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Features

Feature: Gig Rig

Howdy folks! The weekend is here and tomorrow night a few of us will be in attendance at the MF Doom gig in Bristol, which I’m rather looking forward to.

If you fancy re-living the ska punk days of the 90s, Less Than Jake will be performing in London, Birmingham and Bristol, as well as a few other locations around the UK.

Dare I say it, Christmas is fast approaching and the O2 Academy Brixton will be host to this year’s Soulwaxmas, which is sure to be a sell-out event – so get your tickets in quick!

There’s plenty of new music on the horizon for the new year that is slowly looming upon us, including Scottish post-rockers Mogwai, and The Go! Team, who will also be releasing a new album, the first since 2007’s Proof of Youth.

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Playlists

125 Spotisfaction Friday – 15th October 2010 – Dave Prowse

Morning folks. This week has been brutally busy for me – my wife and I told friends and family that we’re expecting a baby (woop!), so our feet haven’t really hit the floor between doctors appointments, dinner dates and showing people ultrasound photos. Fun times! Good thing I had a playlist in reserve, eh?

This weekend a few of us are going to see the DOOMTASTIC tour hit Bristol (tomorrow night, in fact), and it’s going to be mindblowing. MF Doom (plus his myriad alter egos), supported by Introducing (a nine-piece orchestra performing DJ Shadow‘s Endtroducing) and a DJ set by Jamie xx. Whoa. Tickets are still available, and I think I’ve got room in my car from the Gloucester area – let us know if you’re coming!

Love, etc.
Dave

My Blurb:

Today’s theme is movie scores. Each of the tracks are either from a film, inspired by a film (or vice versa) or were written by people famous for their film scores. I really enjoyed pulling this one together, and it’s amazing how you can find virtually any genre of music in a film somewhere. The thing I love about film music is that I always recollect the particular scene or moment in the film as I’m listening to the track, so this playlist was a real treat for me.

Hit the read more link for a list of where each track is from.

Continue reading “125 Spotisfaction Friday – 15th October 2010 – Dave Prowse”

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Reviews

Review: The Twilight Sad, XOYO London

The Twilight Sad and Errors are worlds apart. One is exploring post-indie, wall-of-noise melancholy, while the other creates jaunty, kraftwerk-indie electro. They are, however, geographic clansmen, hailing from Glasgow (or, in The Twilight Sad’s case, from nearby Kilsyth, which is basically ‘oot in the sticks’). Their joint headline tour (they take it in turns to headline) ended in Edinburgh on Tuesday, and Spotisfaction were lucky enough to catch them in London’s new XOYO venue on 7 October.

XOYO is a very new venue in Old Street. You know, that part of East London with the tube station, within walking distance of Shoreditch, or Hoxton, or wherever it is the dickheads are hanging out this week. Personally, I don’t subscribe to this completely. Dickheads are everywhere, you don’t need to be in East London, or London at all, to qualify as a dickhead, but they have to go somewhere, and, traditionally, this area is where they tend to congregate. But there are lots of honest people here too, the people who just like music, like art, without all the pretense and pomp and ceremony. Scottishness dictates that the two bands on show tonight are the latter.

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Reviews

Review: Baba Brinkman – Rap Guide to Human Nature

Baba Brinkman is a former tree planter from Vancouver who managed, personally, to sow over 1 million seedlings by the age of 24. He also has a Masters in Medieval and Renaissance English Literature. And he”™s recently released his Rap Guide to Human Nature; a guide to many of the current theories of evolutionary psychology. This brief description wouldn”™t necessarily make you think that this should be an album worth a listen, but it is. I should point out that this is his seventh solo album and that he started in hip-hop after writing his thesis comparing Chaucer”™s storytelling with modern day rap freestyling. After the success of his theatre show, “The Rap Canterbury Tales”, Baba was approached by a microbiologist from the University of Birmingham and asked to “do for Darwin what he did for Chaucer”. This led to the Rap Guide to Evolution and it seems that he has wanted to stick with science.

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Playlists

124 Spotisfaction Wednesday – 13th October 2010 – Simon Mogg

Morning kids. Quite a busy one today, so I’ll keep it brief. If anyone is going to see Doom (with support from Dangermouse – can anyone say Dangerdoom tracks?!) in Bristol this weekend, a few Spotisfaction staffers will be in attendence – let’s get our brew on, y’all.

Today’s playlist is by staff member Simon “Moggy” Mogg and is entitled “Super Dooper Upbeat Happy Songs”, which I think is probably the best playlist title I’ve ever read.

Peace and love, and other stuff like that.
Dave

Moggy Says:

Here is my playlist of happy songs to make you dance… DANCE MONKEY BOY DANCE! Sorry about that, got a little over excited. So, these tracks are not all ‘good’ as such (I highlight Professor Green for example) but that does not necessarily matter. They are all bouncy and unpretentious, and all round good fun (in my opinion).

Young MC‘s ‘Bust A Move’ is a classic hip hop track and one I like because it is not about bling and it is not entirely full of swearing, which makes a nice change. I am always quite surprised when I enjoy a Black Eyed Peas song. The fact that Travis Barker has had his hot little hands all over this one doesnt hurt. Think I might have a bit of a man-crush on him.

I remember ‘Boombastic’ from the claymation Levi’s Advert in the 90s. Later in life I remember it being played in clubs and finding it hilarious watching men and women alike gyrating to it. Brilliant. ‘Groove Is In The Heart’ is just a purely brilliant track as is the Fatboy Slim remix of ‘Body Movin’. I think it is a vast improvement from the version off the Hello Nasty album.

So there it is. Enjoy it all. I know I will.
MOGGY

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Reviews

Review: Of Montreal – False Priest

Originally part of the Elephant 6 collective, Of Montreal have been around for many years and now, ten albums in, they still maintain a lot of Elephant 6”™s group style with their penchant for musical experimentation and mixing of styles.

False Priest is essentially a very odd album. Even without the heavy psychedelic and funk influences that are obvious on many of the tracks, the album can easily be described as weird, ostentatious and at times hard to listen to.

Recent Of Montreal albums seemed to have themes and concepts that were bubbling to the surface, whereas False Priest would appear to be more of a bizarre mishmash of thoughts and ideas. Because of this, the album, at times, lacks inspiration and is too unconventional for its own good. It”™s like lead singer and songwriter Kevin Barnes, and his transsexual alter-ego Georgie Fruit, are being off the wall for the sake of being off the wall. There is a heavy funk influence on this album, and that genre is known for its space imagery, but lyrics like ”˜Unicorns eating baby meat, There”™s dragon rape if you want one”™ on ‘Like A Tourist’ are a bit over the top.

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Features Playlists

Feature: Classics Collected

Hi everyone and welcome to another edition of Classics Collected, where we at Spotisfaction have a little dig around the archives and bring out some classic records you may not have listened to for a little while. Whilst we always like to hail in the new, sometimes it’s good to blow the dust off an old record and enjoy the wonderful sounds you may have forgotten.

This week’s edition is an all-female edition with four great female artists to tempt your musical palette. In each case I’ve picked what I believe to be their breakthrough record, but for each example, to be frank, there is such an excellent catalogue of work you could pick any one of them and just enjoy their back catalogue for the day!

Tori Amos ”“ Under the Pink – Not her first album but in my mind the best of her early work, classic pianist and songwriter Tori has a lot in common with one of our later choices today, Joni Mitchell. Her sheer volume of work means you could probably spend the rest of the week enjoying her sound alone, she has kept up an unbelievable standard in the work. Whilst not as adaptive as, say, Madonna in changing sounds and trends,  as the core dynamic remains there still is plenty of growth in her work. This album is relatively stripped down compared to some of her later work and focuses on her technical talent on the piano and her simply gorgeous voice.

Björk ”“ Debut ”“ The album that started it all, before the increasingly eccentric costumes, the airport bust-ups and the media battles. This album demonstrated her talent so well it became an instant hit and was a clear disconnect from her previous work with the Sugarcubes. Whilst a musician from a young age, this work has some real human qualities and subtleties that come across as an honest, driven debut from someone out to show her talent. It spawned a number of popular singles and shows a surprising complexity in places with a simple heart in others. It’s not hard to see why it was popular at the time and despite some of the oddness that followed, it remains a timeless work today.

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Playlists

123 Spotisfaction Monday – 11th October 2010 – Kev Atkinson

Morning everyone. Sorry for leaving you high and dry last week, but London was fun and mucho dancing occurred. Success, in my opinion. Errors/The Twilight Sad was one of the very best gigs I’ve been to, ever, and I’m still completely overwhelmed four days later. We’ll have a review for you shortly.

Just a quick reminder that we’re always after your content. If you would like to create a playlist, write a review or come up with an interesting feature, we’d love to hear from you. If the one-off thing doesn’t appeal and you’d like to get involved as a fully-fledged staff member, we’re also recruiting a couple of people to regularly create content for us.

Today’s playlist is by senior contributor Kev Atkinson, and is entitled “Heartfelt and Heartbroken”. It’s a beautiful playlist, and a thoroughly challenging listen. Thanks Kev.

See you guys soon,
Dave

Kev Says:

Ok I”™m going to get straight to the point: despite the first track in this playlist being Happiness by Grant Lee Buffalo, this is not a happy playlist. I wasn”™t in a good place when I started creating this playlist, and to be honest, the first drafts were even worse than the finished article.

What I”™ve ended up with is a collection of songs that either have some deep meaning for me or that I find just touch that deep part of my soul. And because of that, I”™m not going to go into detail as to the individual meanings of any of the tracks.

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Features

Feature: Six Degrees

There are several ways of dealing with requests that you do not like when you are working in a night club. Option one; go with the “I”™m not doing requests” theory. This is all well and good on a quiet night, but on a Friday or Saturday you do tend to get abused by the customers and then promptly fired by the management. Not so good. Option two; try saying “I”™ll try and fit it in if I”™ve got time.” Unfortunately though, people tend to figure this out after a while. After all, it is just a polite way of saying “bugger off that song is a load of crap”…

Option three; (an option most DJs avoid at all costs) Just play the damn track. Swallow your pride, dust off your NOW albums, and search. This does, unfortunately, create an all new problem to deal with. That problem being that at the moment you are playing Iron Maiden ”“ Run To The Hills, and the attractive blonde that you want to impress has asked you to play Britney Spears ”“ Toxic. Now obviously you can’t just play it next – that would be a hideous contrast of styles. So what do you do? This is where my game comes in, based on the movie game “The Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” where in theory you can link any actor to Kevin Bacon within six movies. My game of “Six Degrees” is the challenge to link any one song to another within six other songs. For example,

Iron Maiden ”“ Run to the Hills has a similar metal feel to”¦

  1. Korn ”“ Freak on a Leash the Nu-Metal elements link to”¦
  2. Linkin Park ”“ Faint this more up beat track flows into”¦
  3. Hadouken! ”“ Liquid Lives the Nu-Rave dance style takes us to”¦
  4. Pendulum ”“ Granite the more poppy feeling guides us to”¦
  5. Bodyrox ”“ Yeah Yeah and this can finally lead to”¦

Britney Spears ”“ Toxic.

There we are, I have achieved it in five steps.

Now I thought, just for a bit of fun (there will be no prizes), I”™ll give you two songs to connect in the best way you can. Please reply with your entries in the comments section below and we will see what you all come up with. Lets all hope it is better than my attempt above…

Your two songs are Foo Fighters ”“ Monkey Wrench and Jordin Sparks featuring Chris Brown ”“ No Air.

Good Luck.
MOGGY

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Playlists

122 Spotisfaction Friday – 8th October 2010 – Mike Sheldrick

Morning folks. I’m posting this via the magic of scheduled publishing… wooooo… let me know what Friday’s like yeah? I’ll keep it short and sweet today, since I’m away galivanting in London-town. Today’s playlist comes from staff member Mike Sheldrick and is entitled “Easy Sunday”. Enjoy!

Love,
Dave

Mike Says:

Well hello again my friends. Today, the aim of the game is to relax. It seems to me that in this ever rushed, fast paced lifestyle we find ourselves in, seldom do we make time to sit down, relax and enjoy a little bit of quiet time. With this in mind, I have selected a small collection of tunes with the simple task of soothing the soul. So, I hope you find yourself in a position to perhaps put your feet up, relax, and let the gentle tones of today”™s track list refresh your mind.

We start with Lionel Richie, and I think you”™ll agree, a very ”˜Easy”™ way to introduce our theme. And in turn, I can think of no better way to conclude than with What a Wonderful World. Last time I heard it, myself and my better half were on a bus, on a daytrip from Rhodes town on the way back to our apartment. Without wishing to sound like a total wettie, it literally brought a tear to my eye. And I must say, it is delightful to be reminded of the power of music from time to time. But anyways, enough from me, I”™ll let Gomez and co speak for themselves. So yes, it may be autumn, but hang it. Open the window, for ”˜Here Comes The Breeze”™! Enjoy!

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News

News: Cheltenham Underground This Friday

Yes folks it’s that time again! It’s time for me to bleat on about my local music scene and big up my favourite music promotion team The Cheltenham Underground.

After successfully returning from their summer sabbatical with a tremendous show, The Cheltenham Underground have hardly given us time to get our breath back before presenting their next event. Returning to the Frog and Fiddle on the 8th October, The Cheltenham Underground are promising an evening of upbeat, uplifting, dance-your-socks off music.

On the bill for the evening are Waiting For Kate with their brand of alternative ska rock which never fails to get the crowd moving. Get ready to skank the night away!

Next are Emmett Brown and we aren”™t talking about the character from Back to the Future here. A funk rock fuelled explosion of ska-esque reggae this band gives a quite unique live experience.

And finally there is Zen Elephant and apart from having one of the best names for a band that I have heard in a while they create an acoustic-based groove accompanied by passionate vocals, and rhythms which encompass elements of traditional folk, reggae and roots music.

Once again it looks like it”™s going to be a great evening and I”™ve got my dancing shoes (or at least my skanking boots) ready, so come on down and join me for a fun filled evening.

Doors 8pm, £4 entry/£3 NUS

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Reviews

Review: The Spinto Band – Moonwink

Autumn has an image. The season is in full swing as the darkened leafs and conkers litter the ground, the nights creep in, and everyone starts wearing scarfs again. But rarely does Autumn have a signature sound. For me, the Delaware-based outfit The Spinto Band will always feature on my Autumn soundtrack. There’s something about their uniquely jerky yet enchantingly melodic character that fits perfectly with the withering scene outside.

Quality exudes out of the band’s 2006 debut album, Nice And Nicely Done; an album that flittered between styles and themes with a quaint elegance. With the release of Moonwink in 2008, it is clear that the group have tried to go further into solidifying their signature sound, but it seems as though they somehow fall short of the charm of their first effort.

Moonwink isn’t bad by any means. With upbeat tracks like ‘Vivian, Don’t’, ‘Pumpkins And Paisley’ and ‘The Carnival’, this sound bursts into life in a flurry of energy. There are also some slight nods back to the more soul-filled moments on their debut, as seen on the sullen ‘They All Laughed’ and the jaunty yet oddly delicate ‘Summer Grof’. One stand out gem, the anthemic ‘Needlepoint’, crystallises exactly what The Spinto Band do best, and that’s exciting the ears of the listener. However, despite these high points, the direction that the band have taken appears to have corrupted their former, rich character. It’s as if Moonwink is the band’s attempt at being younthful and exciting, as opposed to Nice And Nicely Done which now acts as the soulful maturing album. Whether or not this was intentional, Moonwink fails to deliver the same chills and goosebumps that were present in the debut, for example on tracks like ‘Oh Mandy’ and ‘Direct To Helmet’.

Having said all that, Moonwink still manages to impress and delight, and in turn leaves you longing for more material from the band – the hallmark of an engaging album. So, one question remains: what else would feature on the perfect Autumn soundtrack? Any suggestions?

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Playlists

121 Spotisfaction Wednesday – 6th October 2010 – James TAE

‘Ow doos. Dave is busy getting ready to come to Londonium, so I’m taking over the site today. And, shamelessly, I’m putting up one of my own playlists, deal. This one is a list of the best music that, I feel, has come out of Scotland. Being half Scottish (you didn’t know that? I’m sure I mentioned it. No, I definitely mentioned it) I love the personality (some would say I have a bit of it) and the place has generated some really great music (Bagpipe Reggae aside). A couple of these bands I shall be seeing with Davey boy on Thursday, so keep an eye-out for a joint review. Between us we’ll no doubt be updating our Twitter feeds with our escapades.
James

Me Says:

I was late to the Frightened Rabbit party, but vocalist Scott Hutchison is a fantastic example of the humourous cynicism and straight-up ‘don’t mince your words’ vocabulary I love. The Twilight Sad take both bleakness and being in your face to even further extremes, and I have to say that their indie/folk/wall-of-noise sound has been owning my ear drums for the last couple of years. I even met the band after a show once, got them to open their own album with their teeth and then sign the front cover.

I encourage you to follow the narrative of the James Yorkston track – don’t worry, I found the opening lines particularly cliché-ridden too, but, by the final line of the track, hopefully you’ll see that that’s the point.

Mogwai don’t need any introduction, but for me they are, along with Godspeed You(!) Black Emperor(!) they are at the pinnacle of post-rock.

The overblown Biffy Clyro are brought right back down to earth with the frankness of the hilarious Arab Strap.

Closing the playlist, I know Beck isn’t Scottish, but he feels this Boards Of Canada (who are Scottish) remix of Broken Drum is the best remix he’s ever heard, and I’m inclined to agree with him.

Hope you’re cracking out the Whisky and shortbread after that. Enjoy.