Live - Generator 2nd Floor

I don't normally spend lots of time on SXSW. No particular reason, and I'm not one of those people who hates SXSW because people like it. Anyway, enough rambling. This is from 2010's SXSW and I think it's fantastic.

Generator 2nd Floor (mp3) by Freelance Whales

Covers for Sunday

Sorry for the lack of Covers for Sunday last week, things are just a bit hectic at the moment. Also, I'm very sorry to everyone who has e-mailed me that I haven't gotten back to yet. I will as soon as I can.

On to the covers.

I Will Survive by Cake (originally by Gloria Gaynor). Even though I Will Survive is a song I detest, mainly because drunken recently single women think it'd be great to sing loudly and with feeling on a karaoke machine. It's not, you can't sing and no amount of bombast will ever make up for that.

Maps by Rogue Wave (originally by Yeah Yeah Yeahs). I know you've probably all heard this but on the off chance you haven't you should download and listen to it now, even if you don't like the original.

Bring Da Ruckus by El Michels Affair (originally by Wu Tang Clan). A really nice laid back, funky instrumental cover. Highly recommended.

Lay All Your Love On Me by Woodpigeon (originally by Abba). I don't like Abba at all. I know some people consider that some sort of sin. However my Abba dislike can't hide from me that this cover is absolutely fantastic.

You Can Call Me Al by Jens Lekman (originally by Paul Simon). Another song I'm not a fan of the original, it's just too tied into being a child in the 80's I suppose. But this is a lovely cover, very folky.

Hairshirt by Glen Hansard (originally by REM). The original is one of my favourite REM songs. Given how much I love REM that's a pretty big compliment. And this is one of my favourite covers. I'm surprised I haven't featured it before.

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoy all the covers.

Live - I Never Said I Was Deep

Still busy, sorry for the lack of posts and replies to e-mails. To make up for it here's Jarvis Cocker with the live debut of I Never Said I Was Deep. This is from 26th of October 2008 at Shepherd's Bush Empire. One of the comments for this video describes Jarvis Cocker as "a deranged Geography teacher, being possessed by the soul of Jacques Brel" which I think sums it up perfectly. Enjoy.

I Never Said I Was Deep by Jarvis Cocker, live at Shepherd's Bush Empire 26th of October 2008.

Live - Let's Get Clinical

Let's Get Clinical (mp3) - Maximo Park, live at Registratur Club in Munich, 2009.

This has a much faster tempo than the album version. Personally i think it sounds better, more intense. I guess part of that's the smallness of the venue.

Live - Worse Things Happen At Sea

Yesterday at work we had a power cut for a couple of hours. When the power came back on our computer systems didn't. And they still weren't online today. So I got to leave early, which is always nice. But while I was in work, trying to look busy, one of my colleagues forced me to listen to some Frank Turner and suggested I listen to Worse Things Happen At Sea when I got home. So I did, and here it is:

Worse Things Happen At Sea (mp3) by Frank Turner

Live - Out Of The Blue

If you've read this blog for a while you'll remember I ran a series called Live and let live, a poorly named series of posts with six live tracks in each. I was never really happy with it and eventually replaced it with the Uncovered series.

What I didn't like about it was it didn't really get across the fact that it was live music, it was just a bunch of mp3s. So I've decided to bring it back in an entirely different format. A few times each week I'll post a video of a live performance that I really enjoy watching and listening to. And for those of you that want it there'll be an mp3 of the live track as well.

Anyway, I've rambled on enough, here's the first in the series.

Out Of The Blue (mp3) by Julian Casablancas, live on The Letterman Show 6 January 2010.

Covers for Sunday

Even the less than observant amongst you will have noticed I haven't blogged for a while. No posts for a week and a half, and no answering e-mails either. So if you're waiting for a response from me you'll get it soon.

I hope you haven't missed me too much. Here are this weeks covers. Actually I chose them a couple of weeks ago ready for posting today. So I am slightly more organised than before. Small steps, I'm no Coltrane.

Suddenly Everything Has Changed by The Postal Service (originally by Flaming Lips). More Flaming Lips goodness. I didn't think Ben Gibbard's voice would work on this and it'd just seem awful compared to the original. I'm glad to be wrong.

Breed by Steve Earle (originally by Nirvana)

I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man by Eels (originally by Prince). E is, for my money, the possessor of the best beard in music.

All My Friends by The Main Drag (originally by LCD Soundsystem). This is the 3rd or 4th cover of this song I've featured. The new LCD Soundsystem album is due for release next month.

Friday I'm In Love by Glo-Worm (originally by The Cure). Some songs are part of your childhood and you love them but when you listen to them when you're older you realise they are terrible. But with some songs you listen to them and they're as good as ever and you love them even more. Friday I'm In Love is one of those songs.

True Love Will Find You In The End by Spiritualized (originally by Daniel Johnston). Just lovely in every way.

Black Grape reform

As you'll have noticed I don't normally do upcoming gigs here. But when I got an e-mail that Black Grape were going to be playing live for the first time since 1997.

That's right. Black Grape are playing live. So you can understand why I made this my first upcoming gig mention. One of the great British bands of the mid-90's they never really got the attention they deserved, despites their debut album getting to #1.

They're being supported by, among others, The Sunshine Underground. I guess you'll have heard quite a bit of them recently as they released their second album, Nobody's Coming to Save You, last month.

The gig is on 1st April at The Coronet, London. More specifically it's at Elephant and Castle (which I swear is a real place with a tube station and everything), in south London. I can't think of a better way to spend April Fools Day.

More information here.

Of course, here's a couple of tracks from the bands:

Kelly's Heroes by Black Grape, my personal favourite Black Grape track.

Panic Attack by The Sunshine Underground, from their debut album Raise The Alarm.

The Plastic Pals

One of the best things about writing this blog is getting e-mails from bands. Mostly they're new bands I haven't heard off, but not always. Generally they want me to listen to their music and feature it here, but again not always. Either way it's nice to see bands that don't treat blogs as the enemy.

Which brings me to The Plastic Pals. I got an e-mail from them and immediately liked them. They're from Stockholm although the songs are in English. They've got a sound that's hard to describe, for me at least. They appeal to the part of me that enjoy Loaded era Velvet Underground (that's a large part of me) and Television, but with a popier touch.

The lead vocalist Hawk Soold has an awesome voice with a bit of John Cale and just a touch of Jon Spencer mixed in. If that hasn't got you eager to listen to them then I don't know what will. Here's a track for you all:

She's Going Back

and here's a live video, you can really hear the Loaded-esque guitar playing:


There's A Wind On The Moon


Go here to download another couple of free tracks as well as buy the album (First track Here Comes The Sun is my personal favourite). Visit their myspace here and lastly, here's their homepage. Enjoy.

Covers for Sunday

Another week with a neglected blog. There should be some sort of organisation you can report me too where they send me to a re-education centre and teach me to write blogs in advance when I've got spare time.

I will start doing that and I will, eventually, make up for the missing blogs. Anyway, on to the covers.

The Killing Moon by Greg Laswell (originally by Echo & The Bunnymen). It's a really good cover of a really good song. what more can you want?

The Final Countdown - The Toy Dolls (originally by Europe). If the answer to the above question is kazoo's then this songs for you. Think about it. The Final Countdown, played with kazoos. If you don't listen to this, how could you ever look at yourself in the mirror again?

Times Like These - Ryan Adams (originally by Foo Fighters).
13 by Elliot Smith (originally by Big Star). With both of these covers you should pretty much be able to know what they sound like without hearing them. They're exactly as good as you imagine.

California Stars by Libby Donovan (originally by Wilco). A nice countrified cover.

Well, Well, Well by Cold War Kids (originally by John Lennon). I think this may be my favourite band name. Growing up in the 80's at the end of the Cold War, all the paranoia and siren tests and Thatcher and a divided Europe, I was always going to love this band. The fact that they are brilliant is merely a bonus.