Crocodiles Across The Pond

Here’s a fabulous new pop tune from Scottish band Honey, released on September 27 over on their Bandcamp page. The band describes themselves as a “psychedelic collective”,  influenced by the shoegaze textures of My Bloody Valentine, the driving pop sound of The Velvet Underground and the unpredictable meandering of Love. Those past influences are definitely obvious, but Honey have their own unique way of creating dense, spiritual pop, weaving several guitars into a beautiful sonic mirage. Where others often end up relying on feedback to create alternative layers, Honey achieve a wonderfully lush sound. They’re definitely influenced by the shoegazers, but with twists of Brit-pop bands like Oasis, and Krautrockers Can and Tangerine Dream, the band fuse pop and progressive rock into an imposing, full-bodied wall of noise. It’s smooth and easy listening, but it achieves the objective of bringing fresh sounding pop music back from the brink of alternative extinction.

The band released their debut EP, titled Taste It And See, in June, which can be downloaded for free from their Bandcamp page. You can download a radio edit of Honey’s latest single ‘Nowhere Floating’ below, but head over to their Bandcamp if you want to download the full unedited version.

Honey- Nowhere Floating: MP3

Honey on Facebook

Posted by Nick Fulton under Glasgow, Scotland
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The Unicorn Lives

Having a penchant for silly things like unicorns is more common than you might think. If memory serves, I think that’s how I discovered insane band Gay Against You long ago, whose song ‘Gay Unicorn’ brought me endless joy (and still does). Nowadays Joe Howe has moved away from the high-pitched exuberant glee of that band and is making some spacier, deeper, but still crazy songs in their own right. Joined by Bastian Hagedorn, Joe now creates clumsy, fun and unpredictable messy electronics by the name Ben Butler & Mousepad, splitting their time between Berlin and Edinburgh. I think they are resigned to the idea that “more is more”, as every part of their songs are filled with silly synth wobbles, patchy drum beats and shattering stabs of higher notes.

They have some darker, denser songs like ‘Electric Bamber Boo’, where moogs battle over dance beats with the persistent, unbridled energy of Disasteradio, but I prefer the typically more light-hearted fare like ‘Hum Ghar Sajan’ and the friendly, bendy ‘High Life’.

Their output is varied – ‘Supermotion’ manages to sound both retrospective and futuristic, with its gleaming synths and shuddering bassline, replete with decorative keyboard swipes. And the mutant collage that is ‘Formed For Fantasy’ reminds me of parts of Jonny Greenwood’s epic Bodysong.

BB&M’s multi-pronged songs feel like they’re piecing apart your brain and replacing old memories of sounds with new ones. They’ve worked on a synth opera, and released an EP that was recorded using only analog vintage synths. Their latest, debut album Formed For Fantasy, is available for pre-order from their Tumblr, and will be out on London’s LOAF records.

Ben Butler & Mousepad- Future Tent: MP3

Ben Butler & Mousepad- Bandcamp

Posted by Sarah Gooding under Berlin, Edinburgh, Germany, Scotland, UK
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House Terrorist

If you’re familiar with tracks like ‘This Could Be Beautiful (it is)’, ‘Peter’s Pan’ and ‘How Say’ from Metronomy’s debut album Pip Paine (Pay the $5000 You Owe) then there’s a good chance you’ll like what Hahaha has to offer. Glasgow electronic producer Frazer Graham began the solo project in 2009, alongside his other two bands Alpine Ski Champion and Vendor Defender. All three electronic pop acts differ from their own being, Hahaha is the house incarnation, Alpine Ski Club is the gametune invader and Vendor Defender is the synth pop, bright light name some will already be familiar with. Graham sites Micachu as his biggest influence, for all her experimentation with different sounds, styles and genres, despite his music being based around traditional electronic tunes. Hahaha offers slow driving bass chords, plonky high pitch keys and perfectly engineered synth riffs, highlighted on his debut EP, being released on Halloween, October 31. The EP, titled Evil, is already streaming on his Bandcamp page.

Frazer is also an amazing illustrator, check out some of his drawings on his myspace page.

HaHaHa- Afraid Of Sharks: MP3

Hahaha- Myspace

Posted by Nick Fulton under Glasgow, Scotland
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I Ask About You Now and Then

The star of Belle and Sebastian front-man Stuart Murdoch’s recent God Help The Girl project was a little known Scottish singer named Catherine Ireton. Good news then; along with Michael John McCarthy, Ireton sings in her own band named Go Away Birds. In a similar style to Belle and Sebastian, Ireton and McCarthy make beautifully evanescent jazz pop, telling wonderful love stories and drafting a spellbinding mix of guitar and piano. Ireton’s voice sounds a lot like Auckland musician Chelsea Jade, while McCarthy’s voice is a strange mix of Antony Hegarty and Stuart Murdoch; when put together they work in perfect harmony.

The pair has been writing songs together for eight years, but it wasn’t until 2008 that they recorded some of their work. After several weeks recording in McCarty’s living room, the duo had a large pallet of material in their hands, according to the band they had “Too may songs.”  But nothing will go to waste, they plan to release an EP every season for the next eight years. Already they have released two, both available for free download from their website. If you can’t find the first one, it’s hidden here.

Titled Bells and Sundays, both EPs follow the theme contained in their title.

 Go Away Birds- The Year Of Letting You Down: MP3

 Go Away Birds- Myspace

Posted by Nick Fulton under Scotland
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 Patrick Wolf does The Beach Boys

I’ve always been a fan of a good cover, especially when a band takes an original and twists into something quite different. Patrick Wolf, the factory boy of hipster fashion, has recorded a cover of The Beach Boys’ classic Pet Sounds tune ‘I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times’.  It’s spoken like a poem put to music, with Wolf’s deep voice echoing loudly over a sea of drone.

Patrick Wolf- I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times: MP3

 Franz Ferdinand do Britney Spears

Franz Ferdinand recently covered Britney Spears ‘Womanizer’. It’s filled with Franz’s customary angular guitar hooks and Alex Kapranos has mastered the catchy lyrics. Sing your heart out!

Franz Ferdinand- Womanizer: MP3

 Of Montreal do M.I.A

This one isn’t so new (it first appeared in early 2008) but it’s probably my favourite. Of Montreal turn this song into a crazy pop tune, totally recreating the original. M.I.A’s version (or Parvati Khan’s if you want to be pedantic)  is still amazing in it’s own right, but this has such a smooth laid back psychedelic groove.

Of Montreal- Jimmy: MP3

The Flaming Lips do Queen

A few years ago The Flaming Lips released an album called At War With The Mystics, this song was apparently a bonus track on a limited edition version of the album released in the USA.  It’s The Flaming Lips covering Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and it’s killer; I like it a lot more than the original.

The Flaming Lips- Bohemian Rhapsody: MP3

Posted by Nick Fulton under Scotland, U.S.A
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The Melancholy Scotsman’s new album and mini-documentary

Malcolm Middleton’s new album Waxing Gibbous was released yesterday on Full Time Hobby, along with a mini-album directed and filmed by Blair Young from The Forest of Black collective. The largely sarcastic documentary takes Malcolm’s sense of humour and points it directly at him, informally interviewing Malcolm and his friends and bandmates past and present who seem to take the piss out of the famously melancholic musician. “He’s a dark bastard” says Aidan Moffat, Malcolm’s bandmate in the acclaimed and beautiful (now defunct) Arab Strap. “We used to call him the ‘ginger whinger’. We also find out from the mini-documentary that Malcolm learned to play bass guitar to Faith No More when he was young, and that he has to be in a certain kind of mood to write. The Pictish Trail said, “Malcolm’s in the winter of his career at the moment, it’s going to come back in the spring time.” Whatever, dude. It’s winter here and we’ve got new Malcolm Middleton, perfectly suited to these dark days and rainy nights. However it has been said that Malcolm plans to take a break from his usual songwriting and try his hand at something different. All power to him.

Watch the documentary below and also check out the live footage EMJ shot on our trusty little camera when Malcolm played at the King’s Arms early this year. It was an amazing, intimate and entertaining show, Malcolm sure knows how to hold an audience and whether he turns to metal like Moffat suggests or not, it’s sure to be interesting.

Malcolm says, “Waxing Gibbous, the new record, I think I was trying to make a return to some of the Into The Woods style, where I recorded stupid melodies at home and stuff and it’s a bit layered.” Free download two songs from Waxing Gibbous below.

TOUR DATES:
06/26 – Tolbooth Theatre – Stirling (w/ Pictish Trail)
06/27 – Tunnels – Aberdeen
06/28 – King Tuts – Glasgow (w/ Pictish Trail)
06/29 – Night & Day – Manchester (w/ Pictish Trail)
06/30 – I.C.A. – London (w/ Pictish Trail + Little Ray)
07/01 – Glee Club – Birmingham (w/ Pictish Trail)
07/02 – Thekla – Bristol (w/ Pictish Trail)
07/03 – Bodega – Nottingham (w/ Pictish Trail)
07/04 – The Cluny – Newcastle (w/ Pictish Trail)
08/01 – Field Day Festival – Victoria Park, London
08/22 – Sounds In The Grounds, Stornoway
09/12 – End Of The Road Festival – Dorset

Malcolm Middleton- Subset of the World: MP3

Malcolm Middleton- Red Travellin’ Socks: MP3

Malcolm Middleton- Website

Posted by Sarah Gooding under Scotland
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Manhawke

It just came to my attention that Scottish singer/songwriter Malcolm Middleton has been working on covering a number of prominent female artists. His latest cover is of Ladyhawke’s ‘My Delirium’ and he puts the original to song to shame. His Scottish accent brings a whole new life to the song, stripping away all the clichéd ’80s sounding synths and simply picking away at his guitar. It’s quite charming and sounds so pure, like Middleton just picked up his guitar and started playing without having to spend much time learning the song. I never found the original song to be that catchy, but Middleton makes it impossible to not sing along to “you’re playing with my delirium.”

Apparently Malcolm Middleton has been working on this project for a while now. I also found his cover of Girls Aloud’s ‘Call The Shots’, which is equally impressive. It’s funny how we often write songs off just because of who performs them. Most of you reading this probably wouldn’t take any notice of Girls Aloud. It’s funny how so many people worship bands like The Killers despite their song writing ability being very average, but are happy to dismiss artists like Girls Aloud or Katy Perry.

Middleton’s efforts have actually highlighted some good song writing and even if the original tracks were pretty rubbish, we now know that they at least had something worth pursuing behind it all.

Malcolm Middleton- My Delirium: MP3

Malcolm Middleton- Myspace

Posted by Nick Fulton under Scotland
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Weird electro space-pop in the vein of Lemon Jelly, The Beta Band or Hot Chip, Scotland’s The Paraffins are resolutely independent. I mean literally – Billy Samson is the only member of The Paraffins, who gathers a host of extra players only when he records or plays live. Billy emailed me the debut video single for his song Cardboard Cutout (above), created by the multi talented Lachlann from one of my all-time favourite midi/electro spazz-core anti-pop duos, Gay Against You, a band that has one of the most exciting and down-right weird aethetics I have ever seen. Employing his love of technicolour, Windows ’95-era primitive animation and weird, ancient mythological beings and beliefs, Lachlann has created a trippy masterpiece, embedded with colour and characters that will blow your mind. Admittedly slowing down the pace of his style to fit the slower, more ambient mood of The Paraffins’ more simplistic and moody music, the video (to me) sort of stems from brainwashing propaganda and Disney cartoons from the ’90s. I like it a whole lot.

Also, in proper Gay Against You-news, they have a new-ish song on their myspace called Sour Dudes, an inexplicably exciting segue into a prehistoric cyber-dominated domain filled with crazy bugs and spaceships and aliens (I’m guessing). Listening to hardcore/drone/experimental electro/free-spazz such as GVSY (don’t ask me why they call themselves that) will make you blabber uncontrollably like that, but hey, they’re that good.

Malcolm Middleton

live at the Kings Arms, Auckland

with Kirsten Morrell

12-05-08

It was a cold, wintry night that acclaimed ex-Arab Strap front man-turned-solo-artist Malcolm Middleton finally took to a New Zealand stage. Opened for first by another folk singer, ex-pat Kirsten Morrell, it was a significantly small turn out at first, but a high quality one at that. The atmosphere was akin to that old punk rock adage – “everybody who was there went out and formed bands.” Well, instead of forming bands, everybody that was at the King Arms that night just really enjoyed themselves immensely.

Though captivating the crowd, Morrell’s first solo gig showed her nerves; she had some visibly rough edges as she was clearly still trying to find her footing. But her trademark nervy squall and Beth Gibbon-esque bite won out, proving her to be not such a mismatched opener after all. Geoff Maddock (from Goldenhorse) and Jol Mulholland provided more than ample guitar and drums backing that made me wonder where they had been hiding.

Malcolm Middleton’s unexpectedly good set turned out to be the ultimate winner on the night. Arab Strap’s songs were always pretty fucking depressive, so I had no idea Malcolm’d be such a personable, witty and charming fellow – in a deathly ironic, self-deprecating kinda way. After his first song, he mused: “Well that was pretty fucking miserable. It’s my first time here, so I’m pretty excited to be here… but I’ll be excited later; right now I have to be miserable – cos that’s what you expect. Right, now this song is called Devastation, it’s a comedy skit…”

Posted by Sarah Gooding under New Zealand, Scotland
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