Author: Dave Prowse

Dave is Spotisfaction's Editor-in-Chief and founded the site in February 2010. He can often be found acting as web designer, code-monkey, writer, people manager, editor, tea boy, and sometimes all of the above at the same time. Dave lives in Gloucester with his wife and two cats.

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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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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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Playlists

Girls, Girls, Girls

Morning all. I’m only in the office for Monday and Tuesday this week before I head out to London for a spot of schmoozing with industry-types (read: going to visit Spotisfaction editor James TAE for his birthday, bless’im), so this week will be a bit manic. If any of you fine folks are in London this week, though, let me know on Twitter and we’ll go for a drink or something.

Today’s playlist is by staff-member Simon Mogg and is entitled “Girls, Girls, Girls”. Hope you enjoy as much as I am currently.

Cheers,
Dave

Moggy Says:

I do not like Female Vocallists. I cant really explain why, I think it could be the genral lack of gravellyness (clearly not a word). At least thats what I thought until I started making a list of the songs with female vocals that I do like. Turns out there’s quite a few.

I love this Justice track. Best one on the album in my opinion. In the Bodyrox track I like the way Luciana’s voice kind of cracks at the end of some of the songs lines. When I was VP of my university Rock Music Society we booked Zombina and the Skeletones to support [spunge] at our alternative May Ball. I’ve liked them ever since. Live performance is particularly good. Look forward to seeing them again in November. Yeah Yeah Yeahs = Awesome. Need I say more.

I liked No Doubt as a spotty teenager (partly because of a big crush on Gwen Stefani). Then they went away from their Ska style and I lost interest. Having said that, going back to Tragic Kingdom is always a pleasure. The Shangri-Las were my mothers teenage angst put to music so she used to play them a lot. Thats why they feature here. This song sticks in your mind like you wouldnt believe.

I really like the Noisettes at the moment. Wild Young Hearts has a particularly nice retro feel to it and the track I’ve picked is my favourite. I first heard the Tori Amos track in an episode of The West Wing and thought it was beautifully haunting. Finally, Skin’s vocal in all Skunk Anansie songs has such passion and power that I can’t help but be impressed.

Well, enjoy my selection of girls. Any other recommendations of quality female vocal would be greatly appreciated. Put them in the comments box below.

Ta, MOGGY.

Categories
Playlists

119 Spotisfaction Friday – 1st October 2010 – Dave Christensen

Happy Friday, kids. Another week, another inbox full of cracking submissions from you lovely people. If you’ve recently started reading/listening to Spotisfaction and you’d like to get involved, send us your playlists, reviews, articles, news and anything else you find interesting. We’re always looking for the odd one-off piece, and we’re also looking for a couple of regular staff members, too. Let us know if you’re interested.

Today’s playlist is by Dave Christensen and is entitled “Accent”. I really enjoyed the blurb today, and I’m finding it quite fun Googling interviews with some of these singers to see just what they sound like in real life. Thanks hugely for the submission!

Take care, folks.
Dave

Dave Says:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/7922639/Rock-n-roll-best-sung-in-American-accents.html

I”™m a scientist and I hate it when science is reported badly or when bad science is reported. This article from the Daily Telegraph really irritated me because it was obviously rubbish. The word “science” isn”™t actually used in the article and the researcher doesn”™t claim to be a scientist, but it is written by their science correspondent and is found in the science section on the website. So it is reporting the work as science, which, I feel, is unfairly associating those researchers doing useful things with their time with people like Andy Gibson. If you can”™t be bothered to read the article (and it”™s only short so you should), it”™s suggesting that it”™s more natural to sing pop or rock songs with an American accent and that it”™s actually difficult to sing in your own accent. Of course it is possible to put on accents when singing, like the “Mockney” of Lily Allen or my own imitation of whoever I”™m singing along with, but where the spoken voice of a singer has a similar sound to the singing voice, surely this would suggest a natural accent? Obviously not, so here are a load of fakers with accents as bad as Dick van Dyke”™s.

Categories
Playlists

117 Spotisfaction Monday – 27th September 2010 – Marc Williams

Morning folks. I trust you all had a lovely weekend? Not an awful lot to report this fine Monday morning, to be honest, other than to remind you that CounterCulture is still ongoing and would still love to see you. Also, although I had a fairly manic weekend, but this EP has really chilled me out today so I thoroughly recommend you check it out.

Today’s playlist is by Marc Williams, and has the distinction of being the first playlist to feature a certain ornithological piece. I’m pretty sure everyone has heard by now, but if not this should make amends.

As always, let us know what you think of today’s playlist in the comments section. We love your feedback, and it helps us shape future content too. Win/win, really.

Finally, if you’d like to make your own Spotify playlist for us, we’d love to feature it. Just send us an email, or sign up for an account on the sidebar to the left and follow the submission guidelines above.

Love, etc.
Dave

Marc Says:

One of the best things about Spotify for me is how easy it is to discover new music. Not only new bands but stuff I wasn’t so familiar with. This playlist is all about this with a few old favourites thrown in for good measure.

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Playlists

116 Spotisfaction Friday – 24th September 2010 – James Battin

Afternoon, kids. I’ll keep it brief since things are a little busy behind the scenes today. If anyone is out and about this weekend (and why wouldn’t you be, what with CounterCulture‘s launch, Frogfest and Underground Festival?), let us know what you’re up to.

Today’s playlist is by staff-member James Battin (aka Battinski) and is entitled Rhythm and Blues Friday.

Have a lovely weekend,
Dave

James Says:

Hi Guys,

I thought it about time I got in the playlist groove again and what better day than a Friday? Everyone’s on the wind-down anyway, so I know you’ll all listen to this as opposed to doing some work ;)

My picks this playlist are a mix of funk, soul, rhythm and blues. I’ve tried to mix some classics with some more modern interpretations just to keep it fresh and hopefully its not all too dark – I don’t want to bring you down on a Friday, but the core of my musical roots is around the blues genre in its various forms so I’d like to bring some great music to as wide an audience as possible.

All the tunes are great examples of the artists and I hope if you like them you’ll explore some back catalogues, as pretty much every artist below has a very rich back catalogue of great music be it Detroit garage blues, Motown soul or Mississippi Delta blues

Peace , Love and Music
Battinski

Categories
Reviews

Review: Les Savy Fav – Root For Ruin

Les Savy Fav, then. It’s been 15 years since this hugely influential yet often overlooked art-rock/post-hardcore band formed, and you’d be forgiven for thinking that they may now, like other similarly-aged bands, be phoning in their records. I had the same initial concern, especially since 2007’s Let’s Stay Friends saw the band’s greatest work to date, embellishing their hardcore roots with a growing maturity they had discovered in the 6 year hiatus since Go Forth in 2001. Surely things must have gone down-hill since then?

The band get straight to work in dismissing these claims, with frontman Tim Harrington screaming “we’ve still got our appetite” on album opener, Appetites. I’m unsure as to whether this track is a statement of intent or a wakeup call to themselves, but it’s hugely exciting, driving and vicious and really sets the tone for the rest of the album. The guitar work by Seth Jabour and Andrew Reuland on this track is simply mesmerising. The intelligence in writing such complimentary yet challenging guitar hooks is evident, and it seems as though their apparent one-upmanship is the driving force behind the band, each colourful layer adding hugely to the overall asthetic of the track. This continues into the jackhammer punch that is Dirty Knails, a track that reminds me of Future of the Left – fitting, really, since that band count Les Savy Fav as one of their prime influences.

Continue reading “Review: Les Savy Fav – Root For Ruin”
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Playlists

115 Spotisfaction Wednesday – 22nd September 2010 – Woody Whyte

Hey kids. Happy hump day for those labouring away at work. In my opinion, Wednesday is the perfect time to start planning your weekend, so if you’ve not yet sorted your plans for world domination, get yourself to CounterCulture‘s opening weekend under the capital’s London Bridge Station. It looks, frankly, intense – Friday night kicks off with live sets by The Subs and Man Like Me, along with DJ sets by The Whip, Sunday Girl, RightClickSaveAs and many other acts. The following 98 days are shaping up to be equally as awesome. I fully encourage you to give them some love.

Today’s playlist is by staff member Woody Whyte. He’s a bit ashamed of this playlist, and in the interest of being open and honest I’m also a bit ashamed to say I quite enjoyed it…

Laters,
Dave

Woody Says:

Rarely does anyone in the world think to themselves “Hmmm, I wonder what happened to Ashanti?”. However, one afternoon procrastinating in my room avoiding writing my dissertation, I experienced this dreaded thought. It bought back memories from when I was 11/12 going to an under 18s disco at a seedy nightclub, bump ‘n’ grindin’ somewhat inappropriately for my age along to many of the tunes in this here playlist. What dark times we (ok, I) was living in. But for a bit of nostalgia (and because I love public humiliation) I decided to make a playlist about it.

I decided to go solely for American female R’n’B singers and rappers from around ’95 till ’05 although that might be a few odd ones in there. Stand outs have to be Aaliyah or Kelis. These songs bring back many memories; the sticky dance floor, punch-ups every week and the smell of teenagers throwing up in the corners, *sigh* those were the days. Eventually the night got closed down and I discovered Muse and Less Than Jake, although I suspect a majority of the clientele didn’t move on. This will either make your skin crawl or you’ll laugh your face off. I do hope it’s the latter.

Categories
Playlists

114 Spotisfaction Monday – 20th September 2010 – Kev Atkinson

Hi folks. We’re a little busy this morning over at Spotisfaction HQ, but the net result is that we’ve got a great week lined up for your aural consumption. Today we welcome back staff members Woody and Richard who have been on holiday, and we’re now back at full strength again. Woop, etc. Expect good things incoming shortly.

Today’s playlist is by Kev Atkinson and is entitled “Bored At Work”. Thanks Kev.

Have a lovely day, kids.
Dave

Kev Says:

Ok I created this playlist during a brief quiet period at work recently when I was immensely bored. I thought I”™d try and create an upbeat, up-tempo playlist to lift my spirits. The problem with that was that the majority of artists in my collection are not upbeat or up-tempo so I didn”™t quite achieve my original goal. However I did manage to alleviate my boredom at work for a period so at least I achieved something with the playlist apart from realising just how much of a melancholy personality I have.

Some of the highlights for me include Machismo by Gomez simply because it is so unalike what you would normally expect from the band, Going Underground by The Jam which is one of my all time favourite Jam tracks, and Hysteria by Muse which for me was the stand out track on Absolution which was the last decent album that Muse have done

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Playlists

113 Spotisfaction Friday – 17th September 2010 – James TAE

Morning all. I won’t keep you long this morning, since there’s a lot of blurb to get through. Hopefully I’ll see some of you tonight at Slak.

Today’s playlist is one I’ve been looking forward to for a long while. I still play the first installment regularly, and now consider the DZ remix of Feist/Boys Noize’s ‘My Moon My Man’ as one of my favourite tracks. So, here’s James TAE – hope you enjoy; I know I will.

Have a lovely weekend, folks.
Dave

James Says:

So, my first dubstep playlist, Dubisfiction, is perhaps my favourite of the mixlists I’ve done, because the genre is so vastly under-represented on Spotify, meaning I had to spend a lot of time unearthing tracks from the further reaches of the library.  Crafting a mixlist that worked was therefore an interesting and eye-opening project.

Dubstep has had a very big summer, culminating in the release of the Skream album (which still isn’t on Spotify – I told you it was an under-represented genre) which sadly hasn’t been particularly well received.  I can sort of see why.  What the genre needed, at a time when its sub-mainstream momentum was at its peak, was not a wimpery stab at the popworld from one of the genre’s primary representatives.  It was an empty step too far.  I thought, then, it was time to hunt out some more of the truly great dubstep that’s out there.

I give you, therefore, Dubisfiction 2.

Continue reading “113 Spotisfaction Friday – 17th September 2010 – James TAE”

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Playlists

112 Spotisfaction Wednesday – 15th September 2010 – Becky Mogg

Morning folks. This week sees the return of The Cheltenham Underground, Cheltenham’s premier live music night. The Wilderness of Manitoba are headlining this Friday at Slak, so please do go check them out. We’ve got a brief feature on Ch’underground incoming shortly.

Today’s playlist is by regular contributor Simon “Moggy” Mogg‘s lovely wife, Becky Mogg.

Love, etc.
Dave

Moggy Says:

So I was wondering what the theme of my next playlist should be. I couldnt think of one so I got lazy and got my wife, Becky, to do one instead. So here it is (entitled Wifeisfaction) and her blurb to go with it. Enjoy.

Becky Says:

This is a selection of some of my favourite songs. There are reasons for all which range from making me happy to reminding me of stuff and occasions. Enjoy

[A note from Moggy: A few tracks Becky chose weren’t on Spotify. Imagine these were present! –
Pendulum – Slam
Moloko – Mother
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Give It Away]

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News

News: Abe Vigoda

Bella Union, one of the most accessible record labels around at the moment in my opinion, have very kindly uploaded Abe Vigoda‘s new album, Crush, to their SoundCloud page for our aural pleasure. It’s a delightful listen and you should certainly check it out.

We’ve embedded the stream below. Let us know what you think in the comments, and check out this Friday’s Gig Rig for info on when they’ll be touring near you.

The album is out on the 20th of this month.

Abe Vigoda – Crush by Bella Union

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Playlists

111 Spotisfaction Monday – 13th September 2010 – Dan Herlin

Morning all. This week is shaping up to be one of the most exciting of the year, in terms of album releases. New to Spotify today we’ve got one of the albums I’ve most been anticipating, Interpol – Interpol. There’s also Les Savy Fav – Root For Ruin, Weezer – Hurley and Summer Camp – Young EP. Between our regular Spotisfaction playlists and these beauties, I’m pretty sure my headphones will adorn my head for the entirety of the week. We’ll try and get reviews to you as soon as possible, which reminds me: if you would like to review for us, please get in touch.

Just wanted to quickly apologise for not getting our newsletter out this week. As I mentioned on Twitter and FB, we weren’t overly happy with the software package we were using, so decided to postpone instead of releasing something we weren’t 100% happy with. It’ll be back soon, and we’ll even throw in a little subscriber-only competition for you, too. In the meantime, please feel free to signup here.

Today’s playlist is by Dan Herlin (his Spotify Social profile is here). It’s a lovely, nostalgic mix including some of my favourite tracks from years gone by. Thanks, Dan.

Take care, folks, and happy listening.
Dave

Dan says:

In any PL, all tracks should be connected by some common denominator, a theme, a niche, that does not necessarily need a name but that shines through out the whole list. It might be that such subtle similarities that makes up affinity are subjective in nature, however I am sure that you all can get what I mean here.

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Playlists

110 Spotisfaction Friday – 10th September 2010 – Dave Christensen

Hi kids. So, Friday. Your loving embrace warms the very extremes of my cold, worn heart… or something like that, anyway. I hope you’re all well today.

We’re sending out the first of our brand-new Newsletters today [rain delayed play, so to speak – once technical difficulties are sorted we’ll get them out], so if you’ve not yet subscribed then you can do so here. After you’ve read it, please feel free to let us know what you thought – it’s a new format for us, so your suggestions on what to include in the future would be appreciated.

To business! Today’s playlist is from guest author Dave Christensen, and is hugely enjoyable in my opinion. Without ruining Dave’s blurb, I shall certainly be watching the show based on his recommendation so thanks hugely for the submission!

See you Monday.
Dave

Dave C Says:

Ordinarily I don”™t really get playlists for TV series, but Treme (the latest offering from David Simon ”“ one of the guys behind The Wire) is no ordinary TV series. Treme (pronounced treh-may) is about New Orleans in the months after Hurricane Katrina and tells this story through a mixed group of people and through the music they play and love. Even though there are some quite depressing storylines, the spirit of the characters and the enjoyment they get out of their music keeps the programme watchable and uplifting. Sorry, I”™m not really supposed to do a TV review here, so I”™ll focus on the music… It”™s great. And quite a few of these artists in this playlist also appear in the show, including Elvis Costello, Dr. John, Kermit Ruffins, John Boutte and Steve Earle. Listen to this playlist, but more importantly watch the TV show.

Categories
News

News: Royksopp

Evening folks. Some grand news for you – Röyksopp have uploaded their new album Senior to SoundCloud so that we can stream it before the September 13th release! Here’s a little information from the band’s SoundCloud page:

“Senior is the introverted, dwelling and sometimes graceful counterpart to last year’s Junior: brim-full with dark secrets and distorted memories, insisting I’m old, I’ve got experience… Senior is furthermore an album about age, horses and being subdued, with devils breathing down your neck. Each track is equally as important as its predecessor and successor. We feel that none of the tracks should be regarded outside of this context. Quite a “brave”/stupid thing to do in this day & age of iPods and cherrypicking, one might suggest. We couldn’t agree more – hell that’s even probably why we did it.”

I’m only a couple of tracks in, but so far it’s an awesome listen. I encourage you to check it out below, and head over to their website where you can pre-order the album.

Senior by Röyksopp