Wednesday, April 30, 2014

MV : "I love you" by Franny & Zooey

Off their new EP due soon on Dufflecoat.

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Your Imaginary Friends - one dreamy indeterminate hum

Your Imaginary Friends purveyors of quality indie pop, masters of the lovely pop hook and instantly catchy melody. This was their debut EP and a great collection of tunes it is too. "Hey Rowena!" is a masterful, catchy and laid-back. Simple and effective right down to the "la la"s that come in half-way through. "By beautiful intentions" is dreamy and laid-back. "Oh Liza" more upbeat and shining through with beautiful jingly jangle guitar chords.

"Nikita" isn't an Elton John but a lovely indie pop song in its own right. Finally the intriguingly titled "She's all sirens (and i am fiction)" is a little twee epic. Your Imaginary Friends are still around though have changed their names to We Are Imaginary, hopefully more great tunes are coming no matter what they are called.


Friday, April 25, 2014

MV : "One little bomb" by Outcasts Of The Universe

This is da bomb!

Thursday, April 24, 2014

False-Heads - tunnel vision EP

This EP from London/Chichester based False-Heads is being re-released after being re-recorded and  repackaged and refined in June with an new track.

False-Heads have a sound thats quite retro in some ways bringing to mind early 90s indie with razor edge guitar in abundance and grungey overtones. "Fall around" has a good rumble to it and some decent pop hooks as well as screeches of rock noise attack. I like the fact the vocals are clear in the mix and arn't drowned out by noise, a mistake some bands make. "Without a doubt" has a more punky anarchist feel, good alternative rock thrash.

"Remedy" is sparser, bass driven near emptiness punctuated by shards of guitar noise. "Anything else" starts off fairly conventionally before erupting into a great thrash half-way through.


Tuesday, April 22, 2014

The essential Mary Chapin Carpenter

Of course its essential to us as Mary Chapin Carpenter has our favourite voice in the whole world. Yeah we've been fans of her since we were 18, and thats a long time ago. The Berlin Wall was still up (just) for a start. So this is a compilation of the Columbia years, her older material up until the mid-90s and there are some seriously good songs on here.

The wonderful country-rock of "Quittin' time" for example, a song thats never grown old to these ears despite being listened to like millions of times. The beautiful "Long way home" with its simple yet effective message. "Halley comes to Jackson" is also a terrific song, and its a song about Halley's Comet no less!

There are a couple of songs that are probably missing but thats the same with any compilation covering a long career and a hatful of albums. But its a great album and is indeed essential. But we could have told you that for decades.

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Linda Guilala - xeristar EP (Elefant)

Linda Guilala's EP is fuzzy and spacey, in fact its pretty awesome too. "Chicas guapas" shimmers with a retro-synth backing overlaid by razor sharp and razor thin guitars. It all ends with a crescendo that sounds like the end of the space station or Godzilla's revenge. Yet despite that its also incredibly poppy but also very intense.

"Lo siento mucho" erupts with a wall of guitar noise before returning to the retro-future. "Verano" is a punk-pop masterpiece, frenetic and uplifting. A terrific racket too. Listen to "No me veis" and waves of pop noise feedback wash over you. It can only be wonderful.

"Haciendo dano" is driven by harsh guitars and urgent keyboards. Its brutal and beautiful at the same time. Finally "sabados de tormenta" is the perfect way to end the EP, with a punk-pop thrash! Truly amazing music you should check out... NOW!



Tuesday, April 15, 2014

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - simple and sure

The new single ahead of POBPAH's (as i lazily will now call them for the rest of this review) third album due next month then. The new song "Simple and sure" can give us a hint as to the new album and that hint is that it will be light, poppy and joyous. The pop tones are perfect and uplifting. The chorus soaring and life affirming. So POBPAH's new album could be pretty special indeed. A noticeable lack of fuzz though but no lack of jingle jangle guitar and ..er.. hand claps.

B-side (not that really exists anyone in the age of the digital single) "Impossible" is a bit more down beat and reflective but still full of glorious pop highlights.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Cashew Chemists (SEA Indie)

Singaporean pop group Cashew Chemists* play a pleasing melodic guitar pop. "Whats the matter" has some nice dinky guitar work and some classic song structure going on with solid pop melodies to the fore. "Winter sun" rocks it up a bit but still has plenty of pop fun.

* MP3 download available on linked page


Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Bob Dylan - self-portrait

Received wisdom is that this Bob Dylan album from 1970 is rubbish. Largely a collection of folk and country covers even Bob himself the album was a bit of a joke and was intended to try and get rid of the "spokesman of a generation|" tag. Well as you may have guessed by now Trip-TV make up their own minds (and seldom "receive" wisdom) and do not follow the crowd. Therefore we disagree even with his Bob-ness, "Self-portrait" is actually a pretty good album.

Thats not to say its perfect but songs like "All the tired horses" with its slightly falsetto singing are definitely enjoyable. Country weepy tracks like "I forgot more than you ever know" are superb, even if you get the impression Bob was laying it on a bit thick. How about "Woogie boogie" which is a great romp, and a ..er.. boogie. The cover of "The mighty Quinn" is surely a worthy groovy track?

Well there are 24 tracks and its hard not to find at least something to enjoy. Its not classic but its very good and well-worth checking out.

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Corniche Camomile ‎- onepiece recording

Japanese pop duo Corniche Camomile produced lovely twee indie pop in the late 1990s. Rather Cardigan-ese with added sweetness and sunshine. Songs like "Chelsea walk" evoke an idealised  nostalgic bubble pop view of swinging 60s London, all polka dots beehives and ITC TV programmes about space ships. The reality was not as cool alas but never mind, we can imagine.

The song titles of this mini-lp can't help make one smile,  for example "Wink service" which is a lovely little song even if its just a lot of la la-ings over an acoustic melody, it reminds me of a 70s daytime ITV programme's theme tune. "Banana desperation" (now thats a song title!) even rocks a bit, but still in a twee and nostalgic way.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

The Byrds - sweethearts of the rodeo

"Sweethearts of the rodeo" is a highly influential album from 1968, it saw the Byrds develop a full country rock sound and was one of the first major label albums of its type. The album bought recent band recruit Gram Parsons to the fore and while commercially unsuccessful it is considered a highly influential album, even inspiring the band name of 80s country act Sweethearts of the Rodeo.

But is it any good? Actually its brilliant though it is pretty uncompromising in its love of country music, if you don't like that genre you might find the album a bit hard to get into. This is no parody or post-modern smug fest, they meant it maaaan.

The cover of Bob Dylan's "You ain't going nowhere" is a wonderful opener, the steel guitars searing through. "This Christian life" is as back to basics as you can imagine. "You don't miss your water" has wonderful harmonies.

Overall its simply beautiful music. Its the sound of the saloon doors, honey tonks, rodeos and the frontier.