age of consent have come from the remains of shitdisco. we’re talking darker and more interesting output these days. their debut single isn’t out until the middle of next month, but they’ve gone and put together a video for it already. it works. i like it. they’re playing silver bullet in finsbury park tomorrow and nest in dalston next week. i might even see you there.

album review: css. la liberacion. 22 august 2011. v2
(buy here)

it seems like css have been away for a lot longer than three years. maybe it’s because donkey did very little in the way of commercial and critical success. that isn’t to say that it was a bad album. it was just a sort of nothing album. it seemed to disappear as quietly as it arrived. that was a complete contrast to the (sort of) self-titled debut. when that was released everybody and their mum were talking about lovefoxxx and the unusual brazilian band. initially dubbed as new rave, they beat klaxons in releasing an album that may have had its roots in new rave, but was so much more.

so to la liberacion. the band themselves wrote the tracks not as an album but as a collection of different songs. this lack of theme is evident from the off as we get lo-fi distortion, reggae, hip hop and even almost ballad-like vocals. it isn’t so much an experiment as the band having fun. they seem to run out of ideas slightly as the record goes on, but when the closer ‘fuck everything’ comes in and we’re back in familiar css territory you won’t mind on ounce.

after donkey lovefoxxx stated that she was tired and didn’t want to make music. she’d lost the love. it is evident from this album that the love is back.

oh. and lovefoxxx has cut her hair.

7.5

i had no idea who the bullitts were before they dropped into my inbox yesterday. i still don’t really know in fact. they have put together an album that chronicles the life of a murderer called amelia sparks. but the album isn’t called the diary of amelia sparks. that’s the accompanying film. the album is called they die by dawn and other short stories. or something. i’m confused. also, who’s amelia sparks? it’s either elisa lasowski (the french waitress in somers time) or lucy liu. idris elba comes into it somewhere as well.

i’ve worked out one thing though. this track, featuring jay electronica, is pretty fucking wonderful. there is also a video (with elisa lasowski) that goes with it. you can see it here. apparently tori amos and mos def feature on some of the other tracks. that’s good isn’t.

it should come as no surprise that this month’s playlist is a bit of an amy winehouse special. i wasn’t blogging very regularly last weekend so didn’t really mention her on here. enough has been said anyway, so it isn’t really worth saying much apart from how much she’ll be missed. especially her music. as it happens, i’m in the camp addiction is a disease and it doesn’t matter how what the situation around her life was, she was a young girl who lost her life. and that’s bad. just in case you haven’t read it by the way, russell brand wrote an amazing piece about her.

these playlists aren’t just about what i’ve written about on here, but also what i’ve been listening to in the background. as most new bits of music i like get included on the blog, the extras are often older stuff. this month i’ve broken out crazysexycool for a bit of tlc love. i had to include them on here. also on an rnb feel you’ll find some cassie. a few days ago i had her playing on youtube (she’s hot, so it’s always video rather than mp3 with her) and accidentally started ‘rudie can’t fail’ by the clash on itunes. suffice to say that the two mixed together brilliantly and i now rate myself as the next carl cox.

enjoy the playlist, which can be found here and any feedback (especially tlc love) is always appreciated. also a quick thank you to emma who chose the amy winehouse connected songs to close the set.

i wrote about hero and leander some time ago. they have recorded what i believe to be their first video proper. basically it involved going around dalston and filming people sleeping. both the long winded title of the track and the tuneful indie pop that within it are reminiscent of los campesinos! being a massive fan of the welsh group myself, this is a very good thing. i get the feeling there is a lot more to come from this band and i will enjoy watching (and hearing) it unfold. you can download a few of their tracks for free on their official site, but i’ve made that even easier for you by including my favourite, ‘one three four’, below.

just a quick gift for a saturday morning. frank ocean has just (adopts a voice to make me sound like i’m down with the kids) dropped a new track. ‘thinking about you’ will ease you into your weekend nice and smoothly. open your windows wide, soak in the sun and stick it on while you nurse your hangover. that’s what i’ve done and i think i’m now ready to go and buy a bookcase or two. thanks frank. i’ll let you know how i get on.

my newly arranged inbox is working a treat. this would have definitely slipped through before yesterday. instead i read it. saved it under ‘to listen’. transferred it to ‘to blog’. and now here we are.

the term haunting doesn’t do justice to peg simone. there is so much more than that. you’ll hear elements of very early pavement in her long drawn out guitar and even her voice resembles steven malkmus’ at times. if you like this track (which i’ve kindly been told i can let you download so that you can listen to to your heart’s content), then you might want to head here and download last year’s secrets from the storm. she’s working on her sixth album as we speak and it should be out before the olympics.

i’m back online at home so posts should start to come thick and fast (ie, one a day or so. let’s not get over excited) again. unfortunately i’ve spent most of this evening installing lion os x and sorting out my inbox. i still don’t know why lion is so good but i’ve done it anyway. as for the inbox, this is great news. i’ve got all pretty colours and shit going on so should be a bit better at responding now. it’s filter and label overload heaven. i’ve also updated my gigs graphic to the right which means nothing to anybody. i’m anal about stuff like that though. mentioning it does link nicely to the new wild beasts video though. my next gig is field day you see and they are playing perfect. perfect like this track in fact. remind me again how they didn’t get nominated for a mercury. ridiculous.

a few years ago i got all unnecessary about an essex foursome who i first saw support black kids (who? what the fuck happened to them?) at the ica. i followed them about the place, which as i lived in essex at the time wasn’t tricky. they started to get a bit of a following and it wasn’t long before you could see them on nme tv and all that jazz. the band were magistrates.

i was meant to interview them at v festival one year i remember. i say remember, but in fact i don’t. that’s because i got wasted instead, forgot what time i was meant to meet them and ended up a sweaty mess in the middle of the chemical brothers instead. i continued to hear the odd thing about magistrates and see them live now and again. then we received a facebook message. there were calling it a day. fuck.

anyway, the good news is that earlier this year they confirmed they are back together and recording some new stuff. they’ve now confirmed a couple of dates. you can see them at the queen of hoxton on the 25th august or at brownstock in chelmsford at the start of september. to celebrate let’s all don out usher* style golden jackets and listen to colour co-ordination in the very state i first heard it.

*paul usher. lead singer of magistrates. not the other one.

i bet you’ve never heard of one stop railway, have you? but maybe you should hear of them right now.

if you like your guitar to be calm yet oddly forceful, your singer to sound like a beautiful soul happily afflicted with a yorkshire edge, and your lyrics to pierce your fucking soul, then you’re probably on the right track with this lot.

“welcome to my town” proclaims matt on ‘the day we lost the city’ and that’s very much where you stand with one stop railway – you’re on their territory. but it’s not in a creepy way – they’re only too happy to pick up their instruments and whizz you away to somewhere wonderful.

don’t just take my word for it, who am i anyway? i could be a complete and utter liar for all you know. listen to them below via the fancy soundcloud thingy.

words by dave blackburn (twitter)