The Devil is dedicated to unearthing unknown, unheard, unseen, unheralded, unfamiliar or down right unbelievable bands old or new that have not yet hit the radars of the British public. If you are a new band or artist and would like to be considered for inclusion then please contact me via email, twitter, myspace or facebook.
Natural Snow Buildings Genre: Experimental / Psychedelic / Ambient From: Bourgogne, France There are so many bands and artists releasing so many songs that it is easy to miss some amazing stuff. There are not enough hours in the day for even dedicated bloggers like The Devil to pick up on everything. So it's no surprise that I've overlooked, until today that is, Natural Snow Buildings an experimental duo from France.
The prolific duo formed in 1997 and have released just short of two records of ambient psych folk a year since then, many of which have been extremely limited editions. It's bewitching, captivating almost mystical music which flows from the speakers like magical mist moving you to the spot where light and shadow meet. If you want to find out more about the albums the duo have released then head over to The Siren Sound which has as close to a full discography as I've been able to find.
If you like the Natural Snow Buildings sound then you should also check out the duo's solo work. Mehdi Ameziane records as TwinSisterMoon and Solange Gularte as Isengrind.
Go Try
MP3 - Natural Snow Buildings - Nuclear Winter (Dispatches) If anyone from the IFPI is reading this track is linked direct from the VNatural Snow Buildings Last.FM site and is therefore already freely available so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright. Go Visit
Choir Of Young Believers Genre: Indie / Folk / Pop From: Wonderful Wonderful Copenhagen, Denmark
There is a whole world of beautiful, awe inspiring music out there which never gets the attention it deserves. Tonight the Devil brings you Denmark's Choir of Young Believers with a skull cup of music that anchors it's longboat somewhere between low key folk and orchestral indie pop creating a solemn, stoic and unmistakeably nordic sound.
Check out 'Apart' which will leave your gast more flabbered than it's ever been. It starts out sounding like The Cowboy Junkies tuning up, before turning into an unholy alliance between The Teardrop Explodes at their most ethereal and Joy Division at their most morbid and ending up sounding like an indie version of The Eagles. By the end of the song I was convinced that they'd invented Adult Oriented Indie! And I love it!
Go Try
MP3 - Choir Of Young Believers - Apart If anyone from the IFPI is reading this track is linked direct from the Choir of Young Believers Last.FM site and is therefore already freely available so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright. Go Visit
Royal Chant Genre: Garage / Folk / Indie From: Anywhere/Everywhere/Nowhere Australia
Sickboy (featured on the Devil's blog back in August 2008, Bank Holiday Buffet) have finally succumbed to the inevitable and changed their name to avoid being confused with the Dublin punks Sickboy. They are now called Royal Chant, a name taken from an Olde French poetic form and therefore less likely to be shared with any other band.
The band have just released their debut EP under their new name, Right On/Write Off, and are currently riding around Australia in a van playing shows, getting a few spins on the radio, and unfairly flying under the radar.
To celebrate their new name and the release of their debut EP the Devil has an oldish Sickboy song 'Sea Chanty' for download. The track, which starts off sounding like Australia huge, expansive and full of space before brilliantly morphing into The Clash, is already a contender for the Devil's track of the year for 2010 and 2009 hasn't even breathed it's last. Yeah it's an oldish track and therefore could have been a contender for the best tracks of 2009 (or even 2008) but revisiting it at the end of 2009 it somehow seems to have even more energy and has matured like an Australian pace bowler.
Go Try MP3 - Royal Chant - Sea Chanty If anyone from the IFPI is reading this track is published with the permission of Royal Chant so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright.
Victoria & Jacob Genre: Electro / Pop From: London, United Kingdom
Jacob of London electro pop duo Victoria & Jacob (number 8 in the Devil's top 10 tracks of the year) has taken some took time out from wrapping presents, singing carols and feasting on brussel sprouts to chat with the Devil about their influences, the worst place they've performed, morris dancing parents and his favourite joke.
The Devil - What other names did you ponder before deciding on Victoria & Jacob?
Jacob - Umm... I don’t remember, my brother actually suggested we call ourselves Victoria and Jacob, I told him we were struggling to think of anything. Not being particularly bothered didn’t help with making a decision. Promoters and soundmen always remember our names.
The Devil - Who are your biggest influences?
Jacob - We both contribute different things to the music, and I think the most obvious influences are noticeable in the music. For me, I remember hearing Four Tet’sRounds album and being absolutely blown away by it, I realised then that I wanted to make electronic music that was built from acoustic samples and make sounds which blur the line between acoustic and electronic. We listen to a lot of different stuff; Aphex Twin, The Knife, Cocorosie, The Books, Burial, and Animal Collective are personal favourites for both of us. Aside from current bands, our lecturers at university were hugely inspirational, they encouraged us to approach sound in different ways, and makes creative use of ‘non musical’ sounds.
The Devil - Which band or artist would you least like to be compared to and why?
Jacob - We’ve already been compared to an artist who is worth attempting to eliminate any association with in Kate Nash. On our first EP Vic’s voice was a little similar in style to hers, she adopted a kind of spoken word approach, and it’s funny because she had never listened to her, and I brought it to her attention after she emailed me the vocals for ‘Clash’. I didn’t have a problem with the singing style, just that journalist seemed to only want to bring attention to this part of the music, namely NME who unsurprisingly were unable to actually talk about our music, rather just how we hang out in East London with Kate Nash scenesters, not true. It’s never nice being misunderstood or compared to music you dislike.
The Devil - What was the first record you owned and what was the first record you ever bought?
Jacob - I bought some dance hits compilation on cassette when I was eleven, and one of the first singles I ever bought on CD was Run-D.M.C vs. Jason Nevins. I had rubbish music tastes as a kid; my parents played folk music and were morris dancers, so I was surrounded by folk music, which at the time obviously wasn’t cool. But now of course I am eternally grateful.
The Devil - What makes Victoria & Jacob stand out from the millions of other artists in the world? What makes you unique?
Jacob - We have a good balance I think of experimental and pop, we studied academic electronic music at University, studying composers like John Cage, Stockhausen, and Steve Reich, this encouraged us to think about different approaches to sound. Our music will always have a pop sensibility at its core, but we like to focus also on texture and sonic detail, trying to create a fusion of acoustic homemade samples with synthetic sounds. It’s incredible what you can do with a computer nowadays; your computer can be your main instrument but your music doesn’t necessarily have to sound electronic.
The Devil - What's the strangest place you've ever played and would you go back there?
Jacob - We played in an old Fish market in Northampton. This has now been turned into a craft market with a cafe, so not much is left which resembles a fish market, we would go back there. Most of the venues we’ve played have been pretty conventional.
The Devil - Other than Victoria & Jacob who are the most exciting bands on the music scene at the moment? Jacob - I really loved the latest album from Animal Collective; I think in terms of exploration of sound and texture they are in a league of their own. There’s a band from Denmark called Chimes & Bells who have just recently signed to Bella Union, their debut EP “Into pieces of wood” is incredible, it’s really moody, reminds me of Beach House, with really ethereal female vocals, sparse drum machine beats and reverb soaked electric guitar. We are going to be supporting them in February in London. There’s an artist from America called Toro Y Moi who makes awesome pop music, it reminds me of Prefuse 73; with chopped up beats and glitches, with a hip-hop groove.
The Devil - If you weren't in Victoria & Jacob how would you keep yourself occupied?
Jacob - Probably in another band doing something very similar. Or morris dancing.
The Devil - What are you doing to beat the recession? Any tips on saving money for the Devil's readers?
Jacob - Always cook too much, get the Tupperware out and get freezing your meals. The Devil - If you were interviewing yourself what would be your killer question and how would you answer it?
Jacob - If you had to live without sleep or food which one would it be? Baring in mind if you choose sleep, then you will never be tired, and if you choose food, you will never be hungry. I would choose Food, because without sleep you cannot dream.
The Devil - What's your favourite joke?
Jacob - Okay I wrote this one. It’s by no means my favourite, but I’m proud of it. Here Goes... “So there’s this new internet cafe that’s just opened up in Shoreditch, it’s controversial because they only accept customers who are using a Mac. I say, that’s not very PC is it?
The Devil - Anything else you'd like to say the the Devil's readers?
Jacob - Buy our debut single “With No Certainty” on 3rd March, its out on Voga Parochia.
Go Try
MP3 - Victoria & Jacob - Lion Hunting If anyone from the IFPI is reading this track is linked direct from the Victoria & Jacob Last.FM site and is therefore already freely available so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright. Go Visit
Check out one of Jacob's favourite acts on the music scene Chimes & Bells...
MP3 - Chimes & Bells - Stand Still If anyone from the IFPI is reading this track is linked direct from the Chimes & Bells Last.FM site and is therefore already freely available so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright.
The last 12 months have gone by in a blur. They (although I don't know who this mysterious they actually are!) say that the older you get time passes much more quickly and it's true that the past 12 months have disappeared exceptionally quickly. It doesn't seem like 12 months since I sat down to compile the festive top 10 for 2008 and now it's here again. The only top 10 that counts (well in my house anyway). Twelve months ago the Devil's wish for 2009 was for the IFPI to spend more time and money nurturing young talent and less effort on the pointless pursuit of bloggers nurturing the lifeblood of tomorrow's music scene.Sadly this proved to be naive and the music industry continues to devote far too much effort and attention pursuing music lovers and far too little effort and attention on finding new talent.
So here are the top 10 tracks from the twilight zone of the music world, an indie wonderland well beyond the mainstream and the A&R rosters of the major labels. Tracks which soundtracked 2009 for the Devil and made it a happier place (not necessarily just tracks released in 2009).
It was difficult to separate a number of the tracks this year and the race to be the Devil's favourite track was a much closer run thing this year with no one track standing out as much as last year's Lovely Eggs song. It was so close that it needed a stewards enquiry and has lead to calls for the use of video in future decisions!
But, after much deliberation in the Devil household, and in keeping with the tradition started last year here is the Devil's favourite track of 2009...
1. The 18 Carat Love Affair - Constructs
Whisper it quietly but could that much maligned musical form D.I.S.C.O be about to make a bid for the musical phenomenon of 2010. Probably not but if it did then The 18 Carat Love Affair's mighty, majestic monster of a song 'Construct' could well be the genre's John The Baptist. It's almost definitely the only track in the Devil's top 10 that comes with it's own dance which I guess makes it the indie Cha Cha Slide but don't let that put you off! Back in June the Devil said that 18 Carat Love Affair are the real thing and there's never been a better time to return to the gold standard. After six months reflection this is still as true as the day it was written!
The best track of the year by a very short distance and the only one that made the Devil's feet twitch and head for the dancefloor! Check out the track at the 18 Carat Love Affair myspace site
or check out the video (the quality of the sound on the video is not too good but it gives you a chance to practice your dance moves!)... 18 Carat Love Affair Constructs (Boombox Version)
2 . Jerri - Go Fight Your War
If this time last year you'd told me that a stereo rap sparring session between two Skinneresque 'singers' would come so close to track of the year I'd have told you to go lie down in a darkened room and take your tablets.
Jerri's brilliant 'Go Fight Your War' was just, and only just, pipped at the post by 18 Carat Love Affair's Constructs. It was the perfect track for a year when Obama's promises of peace in our time have amounted to very little and the body bags are still arriving from Afghanistan.
Although this track, which sounds like Crash Test Dummies covering Arcade Fire's'Funeral' while Jeff Tweedy plays with his straggly beard, was actually first featured on the Devil's blog in September 2008 it was unfairly excluded from the Devil's top 10 of 2008. To correct this clear injustice to such a brilliant song it's managed to secure a place in the top 5 of 2009.
In the early part of the year it had an almost permanent place on the Devil's CD player and, in a year which saw the death of Tom, my father-in-law, Sally my daughter's godmother and our beloved dog Molly, it's chorus of 'I don't wanna cry my heart out' perfectly reflects the most emotional year of my life.
Check out the video Marvelous Toy You Were Brighter
4. Gaggle - I Like Cigarettes
A 20 strong female only alt indie choir calling themselves Gaggle were one of the most original, exciting and thrilling bands to emerge in 2009 and their celebration of the wonders of nicotine and guitars was a perfect alternative to the 'z' list obsessed media and 'X' Factor mediocrity.
In 2009 too much music was over produced owing more to focus groups and marketing than passion. The straightforward and stunningly beautiful Belle & Sebastian like 'Love Me Aimlessly' was therefore a bracing breath of fresh Irish air.
Go Try
MP3 - Groom - Love Me Aimlessly If anyone from the IFPI is reading this track is linked direct from the Groom Last.fm site and is therefore already freely available so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright.
and if you like 'Love Me Aimlessly' then you'll probably want this on your Ipod... MP3 - Groom - Green Fingers, Black Heart If anyone from the IFPI is reading this track is linked direct from the Groom Last.fm site and is therefore already freely available so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright. Go Visit
In sixth place, just behind Groom, are The Lie Ins who include the drummer and singer of, you've guessed it, Groom. The indie poptastic 'We Were Born Into Corduroy', is catchier than a folkies beard in a velcro factory, poppier than a popgun in a balloon and more fun than a barrel of drunken monkeys. It's a tonic for a jaded world and well deserving of it's place in the Devil's top 10.
7. Club Smith - I Didn't Want To Show You That I’d Lost Faith
Club Smith's 'I Didn't Want To Show You That I'd Lost Faith' sounds like the Cold War Kidsand it made the Devil's spine tingle more than any other song during 2009. Go Visit
Club Smith I Didn't Want To Show You That I'd Lost Faith
8. Victoria & Jacob - Clash
Sounding like a clash between Lily Allen and The Postal Service'Clash' is poppier than poppy flavoured lemonade and it couldn't be more now if it'd been incubated in a test tube by Lady Gaga until five minutes ago. If there's any justice in the world Victoria & Jacob will own 2010.
MP3 - Victoria & Jacob - Clash If anyone from the IFPI is reading this track is linked direct from the Victoria & Jacob Last.FM site and is therefore already freely available so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright. and if you like 'Clash' then you'll probably want to grab yourself a piece of this... MP3 - Victoria & Jacob - Baram If anyone from the IFPI is reading this track is linked direct from the Victoria & Jacob Last.FM site and is therefore already freely available so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright.
The Patio Set's 'Highgate Owl Nightmare' grabbed the Devil by the unmentionables back in January 2009 and has held me hostage ever since. It is uncompromisingly unpredictable cramming an albums worth of ideas into just short of four minutes of alt-rock that borders on genius. It's not every day that you hear a song that has echoes of Julian Cope, Fugazi, The Cure, The Young Knives and Echo & The Bunnymen which is why it deserves it's place in the Devil's top 10 of 2009.
Check out the track at the Patio Set myspace site.
10. Liz Janes - Wonderkiller
Yeah it's a song that wasn't actually released in 2009 but as the Devil stumbled across it for the first time this year and because it's so good that Jenny Lewis would kill a Watson Twin just to cover it it deserves a place in the top 10 of 2009. Go Try
MP3 - Liz Janes - Wonderkiller If anyone from the IFPI is reading this track is linked direct from the Asthmatic Kitty website and is therefore already freely available so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright.
and if you like 'Wonderkiller' then you'll probably fall in love with this as well...
MP3 - Liz Janes - Poison & Snakes If anyone from the IFPI is reading this track is linked direct from the Liz Janes Last.fm site and is therefore already freely available so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright.
Go Visit
Liz Janes - Myspace // Last.FM And that's it, the year in music boiled down to 10 amazing tracks that seem to have unfairly slipped between the cracks.
The Devil's wish for 2010 is that people power, as seen in the amazing grass roots internet based campaign to keep X Factor from hyping their way to another Christmas Number One in the UK, can sweep away the complacent major record labels ushering in a new era of independence!
Have a prosperous, and independent 2010 with love from the Devil
In a slight deviation from tradition today's post provides an insight into those tracks that were most loved by visitors to The Hype Machine's siteas an appetiser before the Devil unveils his favourite tracks of the year later this week. The top 20 was spread fairly evenly throughout the year with only February and March not having a track included in the top 20. It is also a fairly cosmopolitan selection with seven countries represented including Sweden, Iceland and Northern Ireland demonstrating that music has no boundaries!
Interestingly very few of those that were most loved by Hype Machine visitors have ended up in the Devil's top 10 (all will be revealed later this week!). Also a number of the most loved tracks were by, or covers of track, by established or well known artists. I'm not sure whether that means that the Devil is ahead of his time or just out of step with the rest of the world (quite probably both!) or that Hype Machine visitors are more likely to check out tracks by artists that they are already familiar with. If it's the latter then they are going to miss out on so much amazing music, music that will no doubt be appearing in the Devil's festive top 10 and on the blog in 2010.
If anyone from the IFPI is reading all tracks in this post are linked direct from the artists website and are therefore already freely available for download so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright.
It's Christmas again and time for Santa (which is, as you are no doubt aware, an anagram of Satan go figure!) to empty his sack. So to celebrate the season of goodwill to all men the Devil has collected some festive treats for you to digest after your feasting.
Go Try
MP3 - Ivan Dirtblonde - Christmas Time If anyone from the IFPI is reading this track is linked direct from the Filthy Little Angels site and is therefore already freely available so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright. MP3 - Mascott & Gramercy Arms - This Christmas Time If anyone from the IFPI is reading this track is published with the permission of Stay Loose so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright. Go View
Liam Frost (Frost geddit??) Maybe This Christmas (Ron Sexsmith Cover)
Filthy Little Angels Genre: Truly Independent From: The World of Indie Earlier this year vicious rumours circulated that Filthy Little Angels were on the verge of becoming extinct and no amount of hot air at Copenhagen would save them. After five years of filling the hole in the indie world left by the death of John Peel it was reported (by Woon himself) that the irrepressible Woon has finally decided to pack up the FLA bag and retain what little sanity he has left! Well, thankfully Woon, putting on his best Mark Twain accent, has confirmed that the reports of FLA's death have been greatly exaggerated!
As if to commemorate their near death experience FLA have not one but two albums of free (with the emphasis on the free!) range indie out at the moment . The first (and contender for longest title of the year) 'Oh Come, All Ye Filthy (Now, That's What We Call The Best Filthy Little Angels Christmas Album In The World Ever: Volume 5½)' is reviewed on the blog today and the second 'Five Years Of Filth: Music vs Money' will be reviewed later in the week.
As you'd expect from an FLA compilation Oh Come, All Ye Filthy is a stonking compilation of the outrageous, the funny, the unbelievable and the downright brilliant. It's a mix of tracks from FLA Christmas past and some new tracks previously unreleased on FLA. Also, as you'd expect, it includes some pretty unique interpretations of classic Christmas tracks that'll have the original artists reaching for the Anadin.
There's Frommars (who appear to have morphed into Science Bastard) spunking their punkishness all over Wham's 'Last Christmas', Billy Ruffian with Mike Chavez Dawson stomping all over 'Feliz Navidad' in their size nines, Hyperbubble updating the traditional 'Away in a Manger', a version that sounds like the Westminster Abbey choir Christmas 2099, and the late Alex Kidd's (RIP) more straight up version of Stop the Cavalry. Of the original tracks Ginger Tom's'Christmas Day Alone' sounds like it was beamed in from Santa's indieland grotto, The Lovely Eggs get all competitive over their snowman building with 'I'm Going To Build My Snowman Better Than Yours', and And What Will Be Left Of Them's (another of FLA's friends that have bitten the dust) 'Have Yourself A Filthy Christmas' bangs like a nuclear strength Christmas cracker.
The album also includes the acoustic harmonics of Rod Jones (Idlewild guitarist and no relation to Christmas perennial Aled I'm reliably informed), Listen Lisse's'Wake Me Up When Christmas Is Over' which sounds like Scrooge covering the Velvet Underground and Osni's'Pere Noel' which starts like The Osmond'sCrazy Horses (Crazy Reindeer anyone?) with bells on before morphing, appropriately given the time of year, into The Jesus & Mary Chain Christmas special.
Don't forget FLA is for life, not just for Christmas!
Club Smith Genre: Afro-beat / Club / Soul From: Northeast, United Kingdom
It's getting ever closer to the time of the year when the Devil reveals his favourite tracks of the year and every day there seems to be another brilliant track turning up that edges it's way into the end of year top 10.
That's certainly true of Club Smith's 'I Didn't Want To Show You That I'd Lost Faith' which sounds like the Cold War Kids after the fall of the Berlin Wall. It's forced itself into the Devil's top tracks of the year by virtue of being brilliant. Check it out in the video below and check out another couple of great tracks too.
Go Try
MP3 - Club Smith - Courtyard If anyone from the IFPI is reading this track is published with the permission of I Like Press so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright. MP3 - Club Smith - No Friend Of Mine If anyone from the IFPI is reading this track is linked direct from the Club Smith Last.FM site and is therefore already freely available so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright. Go Visit Club Smith - Myspace // Website // Last.FM
Go View
Club Smith I Didn't Want To Show You That I'd Lost Faith
My First Tooth Genre: Country / Folk / Spanish pop From: Northampton, United Kingdom
Sounding like Eels, Okkervil River and Neutral Milk Hotel fighting in a sack My First Tooth are possibly the worlds first and only Northampercana band.
The Northampton duo, first featured on the Devil's blog earlier this year (Spooky Tooth), have just released 'Margaret Yen' a new four track taster for their forthcoming debut album.
The EP's four tracks slowly tingle the spine like a night lying naked on an Eskimo's bed. Four beautiful tracks that creep up and whisper gently in your ear while gently tugging at your heart.
Go Try
MP3 - My First Tooth - Judge & Jury If anyone from the IFPI is reading this track is published with the permission of Alcopop so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright. Go Visit
Fervours Genre: Alternative / Rock From: London, United Kingdom Hailing from Blur's old stomping ground of Colchester and with a lead singer that looks like Jarvis Cocker's younger brother I was kinda expecting Fervours to be a sardonic son of britpop type of band. I couldn't have been more wrong. They're a noisy Post-Hardcore five piece formed from the ashes of Street Light Youth and Exit Music.
Fervours is the perfect name because there's an almost religious passion to the band's sound. Singer, the interestingly monickered Samuel Caradog Fisher, howls like a feral hellhound with a hangover while behind him the band are noisier than a pneumatic jackhammer in a drum factory. It's not so much Britpop as Britstrop! Get the passion, get the fevour, get Fervours. Go Try
MP3 - Fervours - Jigsaw If anyone from the IFPI is reading this track is published with the permission of Fervours so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright.
The Lexingtons Genre: Pop / Indie / A'cappella From: Providence, Rhode Island United States
Today the Devil brings you a whole lorry load of lo-fi loveliness from The Lexingtons (not to be confused with their Teeside cousins The Lexingtons) .
Their new album the presumably non ironically titled 'Get Lo-Fi' purports to be their second album but is the first to be released! Apparently their previous album 'Sahara Desert' hasn't yet been released. Which is like the 21st centruy equivalent of the old philosophical question 'if a tree falls in a forest and no-one hears it does it make a sound'. If a band produces an album that no-one hears does it exist?
The album opens with a 20 second burst of vocal harmonies called, again non ironically, 'The Gospel' before bursting into the fuzzy cod philosophies of 'We're On A Mission'. 'Trouble' is another fuzzy little gem as catchy as an airborne virus but much more welcome. Then, at around the 3 minute 23 mark it sounds like The Lexington's left the room and Rick Wakeman walked on! Very odd. But that's not the strangest track on the album that's left to final track Sailing On An Oceanwhich ends with nearly three minutes of just the sound of a storm (on the ocean?) with a piano playing occasionally in the background. Not even John Lennon or Brian Wilson would have tried that even after some bad acid! Could the Lexingtons have invented experimental lo-fi? The Devil's favourite Lexington's track, a cover of Big Star's 'Thirteen' (check it out below), doesn't make it onto the album which is a pity because it's the sound of tears falling and hearts breaking that'll have your tear ducts demanding overtime pay.
Without 'Thirteen' the Lexington's second (first?) album is merely great, with Thirteen it'd be outstanding.
Kittens Ablaze Genre: Americana / Folk Rock / Indie From: Brooklyn, United States
Time was, an indie rock band would catch more than a few sideways stares for enlisting a – gasp! – string player. So sacrosanct was the gilded less-is-more template favored by the genre’s progenitors (one more time with feeling, Malkmus, Marsch, etc.) violinist and cellists made a band seem bloated, seem like grubby over-reachers. But that was then, back before the likes of Kittens Ablaze (and contemporaries Ra Ra Riot, Cursive, etc.) proved that indie rock wasn’t about instrumentation as much as it was about implementation. After all, you can play intricate rhythms on a cello, too, people! Hence, wonderfully rickety orchestral rock music gets its shot.
Today, the six Brooklynites in Kittens Ablaze specialize in the stuff, turning parts of classical music, protest folk and punk rock into one disarming whole. In 2007 they bowed with their five-track debut EP. And earlier this year, with assistance from Nic Hard (Bravery console-minder) the band returned with The Monstrous Vanguard, a record that’s landed Kittens Ablaze on stages at SXSW and CMJ and in the pages of Vice Mag, and RollingStone.com .
Find out why with the magnificent MP3s below. And be sure to look out for more from Kittens Ablaze in 2010 when they will be releasing two new singles.
Go Try
MP3 - Kittens Ablaze - Gloom Doom Buttercups If anyone from the IFPI is reading this track is published with the permission of Musebox so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright. MP3 - Kittens Ablaze - Evangeline If anyone from the IFPI is reading this track is linked direct from the Kittens Ablaze Last.FM site and is therefore already freely available so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright.
The Stilts Genre: Rock / Rock / Rock Genre: London, United Kingdom
Way back in February this year the Devil introduced a gang of London power poppers called The Stilts who sounded a little like a harder rocking version of The Knack.
Since their introduction on the Devil's blog the band have spent their time hardening their sound. They've ditched their trad dad rock leanings and occasional forays into Dire Straits territory and they sound all the better for it. Of the new tracks their paeon to Superman's love interest Lois Lane is the stand out track and sure to be a live favourite with their growing fan base.
The Stilts are walking taller than ever. Go Try
MP3 - The Stilts - Lois Lane If anyone from the IFPI is reading this track is published with the permission of The Stilts so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright.
Cocktail Slippers are a foxy female fivesome from Oslo, Norway, who combine the girl-group harmonies of The Ronettes with the sass of Debbie Harry and the gritty rock ‘n’ roll of The Runaways to produce a high-octane hybrid that'll rock you world more than a bomb disposal expert with a twitchy finger.
As it's Christmas the girls have recorded a rocking version of Wham's festive perennial 'Last Christmas'. Check out their Hard Day's Night style video of the girls romping around their hometown.
Screaming Maldini Genre: French pop / 2-step / Pop From: Northeast, United Kingdom
Screaming Maldini are a British group from Sheffield and not, as might be expected from their name a scary circus act or an ex Italian footballer after a particularly horrific tackle. The six piece band love guitars, horns, keys, cowbells, tambourines, choirs, horses, bicycles and excitement!! All of which they throw into their songs with a wild abandon like a particularly energetic bull in a musical instrument shop.
Check out their amazing track The Extraordinary which sounds like someone threw Burt Bacharach, Prefab Sprout and The Style Council into a liquidiser. It's smoother than a lounge lizard's lies, less Screaming Maldini more Crooning Maldini. If this isn't a massive hit then I'll eat my own arse without HP sauce.
Go Try
MP3 - Screaming Maldini - The Extraordinary If anyone from the IFPI is reading this track is published with the permission of Alcopop! Records so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright. Go Visit
Fyfe Dangerfield Genre: Pop / Soul / Indie From: London, United Kingdom
Ahead of the release of his debut solo album 'Fly Yellow Moon' on 18th January gUiLLeMoTS front man Fyfe Dangerfield is releasing a brilliant single'She Needs Me'. Part Jamie Cullam (well he plays a piano in the video) and part McAlmont & Butler's 'Yes', 'She Needs Me' will blow away the post Christmas cobwebs and launch the New Year in fine style. Go Visit
Natural Snow Buildings
