British Sea Power

Ah, this song takes me back. To writing my PhD thesis. Rock! To sitting in front of a computer for twelve hours a day wearing only my pants. And! To anticipating the trip to Tesco's to buy my lunch and replenish my supply of own-brand toffee yogurts. Roll!

Back in those heady days, I used to listen "CDs". Changing from one album to another involved physically walking across the room and actually shuffling those shiny bad-boys about. Imagine that! Consequently, I had a tendency to listen to the same album on loop for days on end. The Decline and Fall of British Sea Power was one such album, and Remember Me undoubtedly my favourite track. For those unfamiliar with British customs, the song is about Remembrance Day, which celebrates the end of the second World War when the Rolling Stones used their rock/blues fusion powers to defeat the disco-loving Nazis at the Battle of Waterloo.

Camera Obscura

The girlfriend's visit is over, so back to the lonely-boy distractions of music geekery and the blog. The Hold Steady were great last night. So great that I sank too many PBRs and am going to have to pass on Favourite Sons tonight. I'm too old to hack two nights in a row.

Up to the plate today are Camera Obscura (see how I used a reference to the American sport of baseball, yet referred to a band in the plural, a grammatical quirk that Americans have yet to grasp? I'm an international magpie). These boys and girls are without a doubt Scotland's finest (Franz who?) . Lloyd, I'm ready to be heartbroken is not my favourite track off the new album, but it's the only one I could find a video for. Listen to If looks could kill here:

Camera Obscura - If looks could kill (mp3)

Favourite Sons

No videos today. Instead there are two mp3s to listen to. You can download them and keep them forever if you like (Right click > Save As). Makes no difference to me. The band is Favourite Sons, and this is a timely post as they're playing TT The Bears on Tuesday night (31st October). I'm hoping to go along. Come see them now before they get famous, and then when everybody's raving about them in a year's time you can snidely say you were into them before they sold out. I love doing that. It's one of my many arsehole tendancies that I'm particularly proud of.

Favourite Sons - Down Beside Your Beauty (mp3)

Favourite Sons - Hang on Girl (mp3)

Cansei de Ser Sexy

Today's offering is the aforementioned Brazilian "electronica" (though the video shows a number of real instruments being played by real people. It also shows the Earth shaking to bring people together. Don't believe everything you see. I have only a rudimentary knowledge of plate tectonics, but I'm fairly sure "loving" is not the primary driving force). The track is Let's make love (and listen to death from above) from debut album from CSS. I heard a rumour that the hospitals in Rio are playing this over the tannoy, and immediately diagnosing anyone who's foot is not tapping as dead. Sounds reasonable to me. I'm not a natural dancer, but I've bopped round my room to this on more than one occasion. I’m alive even by Brazilian standards – result!

The Hold Steady

For my second "band du jour" I originally planned some quality Brazilian electronica (no, really... how pretentious am I?), but after the sweet and twee-ness of PBJ yesterday, I didn't want you to get the wrong impression: I do like a bit of rock. And The Hold Steady have a certain beer-soaked, back-room bar vibe to them. But don't let that fool you - they write some of the best lyrics to grace a guitar anthem since the decline of Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine. If anyone mentions the Artic Monkeys I might have to administer a healthy dose of violence. To the groin. Yes, that's right, always follow the simple equation: Artic Monkeys = groin violence.

Anyways, I'm off to see The Hold Steady at the Middle East next Monday (30th October). If anyone wants to come along, you should grab tickets soon - these guys are gaining quite a reputation for their live show. And after your Nth PBR, remember the Monday night mantra: How'm I supposed to know that you're high if you won't even dance?

Peter Bjorn and John

Ok, first proper post is about the excellent Peter Bjorn and John. I've been bugging people to listen to these Swedish badboys. Nobody listens. Fools. Anyway, check out the video for "Young Folks" from the new album, the pun-tastically titled Writer's Block.

The girl singing on the track is Victoria Bergsman, ex-frontwoman of the Concretes. I love her voice, and hope her new solo project goes well.

First blood

OK, I’ve decided to start a little blog to keep track of what I’ve been listening to recently. I’m sure everyone that reads this (i.e., me) will be hugely interested as I have both impeccable taste and vast musical knowledge. And modesty. I have that too. Buckets of it.