Web Watch - Daytrotter Sessions

Anyone with even a passing interest in contemporary North American music in its myriad forms - from acoustic guitar wielding folksy troubadours to lavish preppy pop or raging, bile-spraying punk - should have a look at the amazing Daytrotter Sessions website. The premise is simple - invite band to studio, record few tracks, put them on web for general consumption. The genius of the site is in its subtleties - the quirky illustrations of each band, the tangential musings of the narrator and the features. Even Pitchfork will be quaking in their boots at the labyrinthine prospect of a writer documenting a WHOLE WEEK of listening to an album, day by day. The sessions are extensive, as a new one is updated pretty much every day. So here is a quick run-down of some recent highlights:

Princeton Ivy League indie band with an ear for a pop hook, cue 'This Year's Vampire Weekend' heraldings.

The Acorn Last seen supporting Fleet Foxes on a series of sold-out dates across Europe, these fellow Bella Union signings have a similarly captivating style, particularly on the amazing 'Hold Your Breath'.

Cold War Kids Big news in 2007, have they succumbed to the sophomore slump? Not on the evidence of the excellent 'Something Is Not Right With Me'.

The site is excellent for discovering new bands, but also great for getting free exlusives by more established acts such as Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, The National, Two Gallants, The Ting Tings(?) and Vampire Weekend (also known as 'Last Year's Vampire Weekend And This Year's As Well').

Howling Bells Interview on getcloser.com

Monday night I met and interviewed Australian ex-pats Howling Bells before their in-store gig at Covent Garden's Fopp store to mark the release of their new album 'Radio Wars'.

See the interview here.

Topics vary from label changes to Britney covers and performing in lifts and public toilets. Check out the live footage as well, showcasing the progression in the band's sound since they first surfaced a few years back.

Fopp's bargain potential was up to its usual impeccable standards as well - picked up exemplary mix albums by Madlib and Andy Smith for a measly total of six notes!

Fresh Produce '09 - The Best In New Music

The dust may just be starting to settle on 2008’s plentiful end of year polls of albums and artists, but Baltimore’s Animal Collective are an early certainty to be there come December. Their latest opus ‘Merriweather Post Pavilion’ fuses their previously disparate sonic experiments - ‘Sung Tongs’ wayward folk, Panda Bear’s ‘Person Pitch’ - into a cohesive whole. Multi-tracked vocals, rave synths and a throbbing pulse propel the likes of ‘My Girls’ and ‘Summertime Clothes’ into definite crossover territory, although they stay too wilfully obtuse to seriously bother charts as well as lists.
The Gaslight Anthem timed their breakthrough with Bruce Springsteen’s latest to remind the world of the anthemic ingredient which must inhabit the New Jersey waters, but fellow native sons Titus Andronicus put a more literate and furious spin on the blue-collar sing-a-longs of yore. In one of the finest London gigs of the year so far, they graced Hoxton Bar & Kitchen’s stage, singer Patrick Stickles orchestrating his bands’ perfectly choreographed chaos and raging in a voice reminiscent of Shane MacGowan at his most lucid and Conor Oberst at his most vitriolic. By the time he leaps into the appreciative crowd during their self-titled first single, their billing as a dynamic and dangerous live band was well and truly cemented. Supporting were the less reliable but equally promising Little Death, who boasted a drummer and bassist more than their last capital appearance at Madame Jojos. Second track ‘Baby Can You Dig Your Man’ captures their quiet-loud majesty perfectly and has something of the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s in the call and response dual between riff and beat.
While it is becoming more and more difficult to find truly great hip-hop albums nowadays, some mavericks are taking the more traditional aspects of the genre and skewing them to such an extent that they become difficult to recognise. MC/Producer duo Dalek recall Public Enemy and Dead Prez in ‘Gutter Tactics’ opening oratory salvo, provided by former Obama minister and notorious firebrand Rev. Wright. Here the concessions to traditional wisdom end - the harsh, chaotic soundscapes paying as much tribute to Sonic Youth and Lightning Bolt as the Bomb Squad or El-P. The MC’s voice is sunk very low in the mix as well, rendering his eloquent diatribes as rhythmic instrumentation unless you listen very closely. Probably not going to top any charts either then.
NASA’s star-studded ‘The Spirit Of Apollo’ boasts some of the stranger collaborations of recent times (Karen O and ODB? Tom Waits and Kool Keith?) and also some of the most predictable, (Kanye and Santogold, MIA and Spank Rock) the end result unfortunately falling well short of the sum of its parts.
Having started as a beat-maker for the legendary Ninja Tune label, Fink then performed a strange career about-turn, re-inventing himself as an earnest singer-songwriter. His latest collaborative project Sideshow is a joyous celebration of dub's space, vibe and texture. 'Admit One' sees guest vocalists Courtney Tidwell and Tina Grace contributing to this love letter to Trojan and Lee 'Scratch' Perry.
Charity albums are universally well-intentioned and invariably disappointing as lazy covers, ill-thought out demos and the like often make the cut. Refreshingly, Red Hot and War Child have bucked the trend of mediocrity with the excellent ‘Dark Was The Night’ and ‘Heroes’ collections respectively. Curated by The National’s Bryce and Aaron Dessner, ‘Dark Was The Night’ unites many of the finest similarly-minded artists operating in North America’s burgeoning alt-rock, Americana and folk scenes. Top marks for the first side go to Yeasayer and The National themselves, along with Antony’s delicate rendering of Bob Dylan’s ‘I Was Young When I Left Home’ and Sufjan Stevens‘ incredible ‘You Are The Blood‘. The second side ups the pace a little and boasts fine contributions from The New Pornographers, My Morning Jacket, Sharon Jones and TV On The Radio’s Dave Sitek.
Back to the day job, Sitek helps TVOTR dramatically re-interpret Bowie’s ‘Heroes’ for the War Child comp, where all the artists contributing have been selected by the original performers to cover one of their favourite hits. Hot Chip bring an unthinkable breeziness to Joy Division’s ‘Transmission’ complete with vocoder and steel drums, while The Hold Steady predictably honour Springsteen and the Scissor Sisters go all out to out-glam Roxy Music’s ‘Do The Strand’. Even if a few of the tracks miss the mark, it’s worth a listen a) Because it’s for an honourable cause and b) Because it’s interesting to weigh up who succeeds and who falls flat on their face. Or else why would people give a shit about the X-Factor?
Heading for the dancefloor, the upcoming Fabric Live offerings by A-Trak and Toddla T promise to be something special, but in the meantime head straight for Herve’s ‘Ghetto Bass’. A mind-boggling array of dancefloor dynamite resides in one half of the Count & Sinden’s record box, taking in fidget/tech house, electro, drum ‘n bass and dubstep. His remixes of Kidda’s ‘Under The Sun’ and Bloc Party’s ‘Mercury’ are worth the entrance fee alone. Following the success of Flying Lotus, Warp Records have released another winner in Glasgow beat maestro Hudson Mohawke’s EP ‘Polyfolk Dance’ which takes the glitch-heavy beats of his LA counterpart and expands them into jazzy, psychedelic terrain.
Upcoming delights are sure to include the new Bat For Lashes album - recorded with mavericks Yeasayer - and the Micachu debut, surely the only woman to have released a grime mix-tape and composed for the London Philharmonic Orchestra…