M.I.A. is now a calm and more subdued musician. This is more mainstream music than ‘Galang’ and safer than ‘Bucky Done Gun’ I’m not sure safer is the correct word by I’m going with it. I know what I mean. The video is wonderful. It’s directed by Romain Gavras, the genius behind M.I.A.’s own controversial ‘Born Free’ and Justice’s ‘Stress’. I’m pretty sure that’s the one with the gangs in a highrise. I could be wrong though because I haven’t checked my facts. That was a bit controversial as well I think. There is a pattern forming here.

As a slight aside, it is hosted on Vice’s new youtube channel, noisey. Can I just say that the branding looks great. Apart from the colourful ‘O’. I’m not sold on that. Other than that, well done Vice.

Check out The Maccabees’ video for ‘Feel to Follow’ on this Friday and then #followfriday the band on twitter. And me while you’re there if you like.

I won’t lie, Fleet Foxes bore me at times. I appreciate the quality within and undoubted quality, but they do just bore me at times. The drummer, Josh Tillman, does not however. Here he is with his solo project thing he calls Father John Misty. The video to the pretty damn excellent ‘Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings’ goes even more exciting. It features Aubrey Plaza. For those that don’t watch Parks & Recreation (you fools), she plays one of the top three characters in the show. The other two are Ron Swanson (obviously) and Jean-Ralphio since you ask. Anyway, she’s in the video and this is obviously a good thing. Father John is also giving the track away as a free download. You can get it off the fancy new html5 soundcloud wotsit below.

Live Review: Toy. Shacklewell Arms, London. 25 January 2012.

“If you like the Horrors, you’ll like Toy” was the line I was using to get someone to go with me to this gig, the second week of the band’s monthly residence at East London’s Shacklewell Arms. It worked, I got gig friends, but I think it does them a disservice.

While they have the Krautrock and psychedelic wig-out of Southend-on-Sea’s finest, Toy have something different going for them. Less posturing, less 80s synth and a more authentic 60s sound are three things, and one of those rotating kaleidoscope projections that make you feel like you’re in Performance is another. Oh and hair. This London five-piece has lots of hair. Lots of hair grooving to long, proggy tracks. We, the audience, had earned our prog stripes by enduring the support band who never announced who they were, but whose songs were so long, it made Toy look like they were three minute power pop wonders. Toy’s latest single ‘Left Myself Behind’, clocking in at nigh-on eight minutes, was a walk in the park by comparison.

The fact I’m obliged to drop about Toy according to the lore of music reviewers is that three of them were in the ill-fated Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong. But you don’t really need to know that. What you do need to know is that you’ve got two weeks left to enjoy them for free at a Dalston dive bar and say you saw them before anyone else.

Words by Helen Parton (twitter)

this is the cast of cheers. that’s right, it is norm, ted danson and the fella that does the voice of the pig in toy story. brilliant. i imagine that is the first time that joke has ever been made. i’m the louis ck of the music blog world. anyway, if you’ve quite recovered from that hilarity, enjoy two minutes and twenty seconds of involuntary head jolting via their new video. and if you like that you’ll love the remix, which you can download below.

about three years ago a dj sent me a remix he did. i fell in love with it and i’d guess it is probably my most listened to remix (closely followed by the teenagers’ reworking of ‘the illness’ by good books since you ask). anyway, i was updating my linkedin profile the other day and up popped joel jaggar. the very man responsible for that remix. this reconnection resulted in joel sending me over some more recent work. he now goes under the de luxe moniker and you should keep an eye on his soundcloud if he’s going to be making music again.

start with the work he did for twin sister’s remix competition for ‘kimmi in a rice field’ last year. if you ask me it is a travesty that he didn’t win. the calming influence that he brings to an already beautiful track is wonderful stuff.

why not treat yourself to the track that first sparked my interest in him too – bloc party’s ‘ion square’, or ‘joel’s bright lights don’t bore me yet version’ as he like to call it.

if i was in a band in the south west of england i would be clambering all over the place to get art is hard records to release my music. hell, i would if i was in tasmania. they put so much time and thought into it that even if the music was rubbish you’d sit up and take notice. luckily, the music is always of an equally high standard to the packaging. ‘gorgeous bully’ is possibly my favourite output yet though. as you probably know, i like my music lo-fi and the young obese is certainly that. david from the label describes how “each minuscule of fuzz does nothing but add to the warmness of the recordings” and he’s spot on. this is super stuff.

this time around the cassette (you get the digital download as well of course) is presented in a fag packet. it looks classy to be honest. get yourself a taster in the shape of ‘never cry’ below and then head here to bandcamp and order the full ep.

the kills have been going for ten years. ten years. that’s quite a long time. i love the kills. they’ve got in hollywood start samantha morton to direct the video for the beautiful ‘the last goodbye’. it starts with alison in a photo booth. about two minutes in, jamie pops up as well. not just is alison looking very helena bonham carter, but jamie is looking very noah taylor. it’s uncanny.

album review: the maccabees. given to the wild. 9 january 2012. fiction records
(buy here)

i like it when a band doesn’t just sit back and rest on their laurels. releasing the same album again and again. whether throwing up three albums that you can tell are the same band but are completely different in sound, ala bloc party. or whether it is a natural progression of a band maturing. the latter is the stage at which we find the maccabees today.

listening back to colour it in now you can tell that is the album that was fun to make. whether singing about the, now famous, latchmere swimming baths or complaining about chewed pieces of lego making it tricky to build a castle the band were playing about with their sound. maybe they didn’t think they’d ever make. maybe this was just them having fun with friends. but they did make it. the album was a moderate success. certainly enough of a success to warrant a second album.

suddenly making music wasn’t just a pastime. this was their career. the perfect wall of arms was the album that set them on their way as a proper band. intelligent lyrics. soft instruments. not forgetting orlando weeks’ instantly recognisable voice.

this is of course all guess work. however it came about though, we are now enjoying given to the wild. and enjoying it we certainly are. another step forward and one that throws you around from light to dark from high to low. ‘unknow’ is like nothing they have released before, while ‘ayla’ wouldn’t feel out of place on either of their earlier records. every track is very maccabees but also very different. on ‘went away’ they even bring in vocals from elsewhere in the band. one of the white brothers i think.

what this album has done more than anything though is not make critics pleasantly surprised again. what this album has done has raised expectations in the band everywhere. even if we do a disservice to colour it in and put it down as just a fun debut, the maccabees have still released two excellent albums. that’s not a one-off fluke anymore. that’s a band with real talent.

8.5

this review originally appeared on the 405

how was your christmas? mine has been fun. present wise, i finally own a record player meaning that i can now play the piles of vinyl i’ve built up due to my complete lack of self restraint when faced with a pretty looking 12″. no longer will i have to shift uneasily or change the subject when somebody when i get home from flashback records and emma asks me why i’ve bought another record. having said that, 2011 has once again been dominated by digital music of course. your spotify account now links to your facebook, everybody has their top three played artists of the week feed through from their last.fm to twitter and you can’t move on the tube for people with a pair of beats headphones plugged into their iphone. some artists are fighting back though. it is not unusual to see a band release lovely vinyl versions of their albums with limited edition t-shirts, posters or chocolate brownies. but they still have to include that code for the digital download of course.

enough of all that though. let’s get on with the list. once again, i’ve nominated a top ten, with a single winner and then an extra addition which i simply couldn’t ignore. the 2011 apologies for just missing out go to battles, emmy the great, the kills, pj harvey, the pains of being pure at heart and last year’s winner cloud nothings.

bon iver. bon iver

he’s still a miserable fucker, but compared to for emma, forever ago this is positively rainbows & puppies. let mr iver take you on tour of his favourite places while he sits alone in a vets. (buy here)

girls. father, son, holy ghost

their ep was one of my favourites of 2010 and this full length is a worthy successor. in a year when the beach boys announced they’re reforming for 2012, girls released an album that any californian worth their salt would be proud off. (buy here)

the horrors. skying

i’m still at a loss as to how a band can improve so immeasurably (actually, you can measure it. only in terms of back to the future though). still debating whether it’s as good as primary colours, but who would i have thought they’d be anywhere near this list four years ago? (buy here)

lykke li. wounded rhymes

oh lykke. we all love lykke. her second album ticked all the boxes about growing up and while not as instantly pickupable (real word) as her first is far more accomplished overall. (buy here)

m+a. things.yes

this was the album that i could just put on this year and drift away. what a a truly beautiful album. (buy here)

metronomy. the english riviera

what isn’t to love about this album? nothing. the perfect advert for tourism of the english coast. (buy here)

times new viking. dancer enquired

there are lots of bands producing that lo-fi sound that i love so at the moment. the greatest example of the year though came not from a teenage genius in his bedroom, but a five-album veteran three piece. (buy here)

tom vek. leisure seizure

so excited i was about the release of this album that i dedicated a day to tom vek day. any other year he would have probably walked off with the winner’s badge. tom vek is back in a big way. (buy here)

yuck. yuck

the first new album i listened to of the year. a great start it was too. especially for a sonic youth and cajun dance party fan like myself. (buy here)

so, who wins? if you’ve been an avid reader of this blog over the year i’m sure you already know. a couple of years ago nobody knew whether they were a swedish collective or an east london teen. it transpired that they were in fact a guy who was already established as solo artist in his own right, and a girl who was a music journalist – and had in fact been asked to cover the band before people knew their true make up. i’ve seen them over a dozen times live and i hoped the album would live up to the high standards they’d set. it more than did.

summer camp. welcome to condale

summer camp introduced us to the fictional american town of condale. with teen crushes, a burgeoning rock band and ultimately death, welcome to condale and the accompanying fanzine takes us through an americana dream. it isn’t just the story that makes this album so good though. elizabeth has the sort of voice that is recognisable and easy to listen to. jeremy knows more about electronic instruments and how to use them than i know about cheese. the songs have more variety than early releases did and straight away remove the risk of becoming bored of the sound. this is a worthy winner. as an aside, if i was writing a list of my live performances of the year, i fancy summer camp’s gig at efes would top that too. (buy here)

alex turner. submarine original songs

i couldn’t complete the list without giving a shout out to alex turner’s soundtrack to submarine as well. my favourite film of the year was also my favourite soundtrack. just six tracks long, but it was pretty much all i listened to for a period earlier in the year. superb songs, brilliantly performed. (buy here)

in case you’ve ignored all of my subtle hints to buy the albums mentioned, you can listen to them all on this handy spotify playlist.