A.A. Bondy – DRMZ
November 30, 2011 § Leave a comment
High Highs + Tashaki Miyaki
November 28, 2011 § Leave a comment
‘Flowers Bloom’ from the ‘High Highs’ EP (Bandcamp)
Free ‘Flowers Bloom’ MP3 (courtesy I Guess I’m Floating) here
‘Get It Right’ from the ‘Tashaki Miyaki’ EP
Out now on on The Sounds Of Sweet Nothing (Bandcamp)
Stan says: #Monday. Two of the most hypnotic, dream inducing videos that have crossed our monitors in 2011. Wintry scenes with horses and young lovers at play … what’s not to like?
The Dø – Quake Mountain Quake
November 25, 2011 § Leave a comment
Taken from the album Both Ways Open Jaws (iTunes)
Out now on Village Green/Get Down!/Cinq7
Stream the album here
Stan says: #Friday. One of the shortest numbers from a record that has generated significant internal division at Stan HQ. Stick with it though and we think you can find much to love in between the kookiness and often packed to the rafters arrangements … or do we?
Active Child – You Are All I See
November 23, 2011 § Leave a comment
Taken from the album ‘You Are All I See’
Out now on Vagrant (iTunes)
Stan says: #Wednesday. The debut album by Active Child has more than a few similarly sculpted progenitors from the last few years, but in our view (and pretty much without exception), it achieves it’s goals better than all of them. Amongst the clutch of gems contained within it, the title track remains a firm autumn favourite on the GPS surround sound.
Lambchop – If Not I’ll Just Die + Up With The People
November 21, 2011 § Leave a comment
Taken from the album ‘Mr. M’
Released 20/02/2012 on City Slang/ Merge Records
Stan says: #Monday. We regularly find ourselves revisiting Lambchop records of times past, and since Kurt & Co. offered up this free download taster from the forthcoming new album Mr. M last week the frequency of these visitations has spiked once again. Is there any better soundtrack for a grey Monday morning in late November than this?
‘Up With The People’ (Zero 7 Mix) by Lambchop:
Extra Classic – Give Me Your Love
November 18, 2011 § Leave a comment
Taken from the album
‘Your Light Like White Lightning, Your Light Like A Laser Beam’
Out now on Manimal Vinyl (US Only).
Stan says: #Friday. There are times when the streets of London Town are keen to remind those who walk them of their mortality. In the aftermath of such reminders we often fall back on a familiar musical selection for comfort, (some ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ and ‘Graceland’ here, a spot of Millie Jackson and The Staples Singers there), records whose warmth and presence we hope will shield us from the realities of the world for at least short while. But what if the hand of god were to reach down and remove said records from our grasp, telling us (rather sternly through his chosen mouthpiece), “Henceforth thou shalt only be permitted to listen to records that have been released during the past three calendar months in moments of existential trauma!!”, … what songs then we hear you ask? Well in that particular scenario we have concluded that we could start out by listening to a track like this old school sounding belter by San Franciscan five piece Extra Classic, slipping into some flares, growing a handlebar and possibly lighting some incense in a bid to really seal the deal on the C’68 vibe. And now to locate the rest of the playlist.
Jim Noir – The Only Way
November 14, 2011 § Leave a comment
Taken from the album ‘Tower of Love’ (iTunes)
Released on My Dad Recordings
Stan says: # Monday. Until our friends at The Sound of Confusion steered us in the direction of the free download EP Jim Noir is currently offering up to non members on his website (here), we must confess that his music has not been often in our thoughts in recent times. But though our boat remains largely un-rocked by the contents of said sampler, hearing Noir’s voice again set in motion a chain of events that was never going to end without us listening to ‘The Only Way’ at volume this morning. When we first heard this track some six and a bit years ago it felt to us like a piece of near perfect pop music – incredibly moving and heartfelt yet magically uplifting at the same time. Thankfully it still does.
Unruly Dogs
November 11, 2011 § Leave a comment
Released 11/11/2011 (Grandpa Stan)
Cat number STAN015
Produced, Written & Performed by Unruly Dogs
Illustrations by Nathalie Bösch
Buy Name Your Price download
Unruly Dogs Tumblr
Debut album of illustrated concept pop par les chiens indisciplinés!
“Perfectly executed, diverse and crammed with imagination
… buying is a recommendation.” Sounds XP
“One hell of an album!” Bikini Island
“All that’s good about alternative indie pop.” Believe In Sound « Read the rest of this entry »
The Innocence Mission – Happy Birthday (Live)
November 9, 2011 § Leave a comment
Visit the Innocence Mission website here.
Stan says: #Wednesday. A lovely version of a beautiful song that (according to iTunes) we have not played since way back in ’08 – a glitch in our re-listening system that has now been corrected. Noting the birthday related lyrical content, we’d like to dedicate this post to the mighty Lou Ferrigno who today joins the ranks of the Sexagenarians. Lou, we appreciated your line in fake tan and your ability to dig that Dr Banner guy out of 20 tonnes of cement every Saturday afternoon more than you can know. And while Messrs Bana, Norton and Ruffalo might not be the worst actors in the world, it is to you who our thoughts will turn whenever we consider what it means to be truly hulky.
GRANDPA STAN 