17 December 2012 - the Christmas special (postponed)

John isn't well. As such, we had to cancel our Christmas special we had scheduled for the 17th. This is particularly annoying, as John had put loads of work into it, even going and buying props as well as spending an age compiling some festive treats. Instead, valued reader, you get first look at what would have been played had leaving the house for a couple of hours seemed like a good idea.

The Fall - Hark, The Herald Angels
I love The Fall. Their continued existence is a minor miracle in itself. This is off a 1994 Peel session.

Half Man Half Biscuit - It's Cliched To Be Cynical At Christmas
The greatest band in the world, themselves no stranger to the chippy and cynical, give the likes of me a lesson that it's not cool to sneer at this time of year. This is from the 2000 album Trouble Over Bridgwater.

Pomplamoose - Always In The Season
An interesting bunch, these are from Corte Madera in California and this is from the 2010 EP Christmas In Space.

Belle and Sebastian - Are You Coming Over For Christmas?
The Glasgow aesthetes with their 2007 festive single

Tim Minchin - White Wine In The Sun
The Australian poet/comedian/everything else with his admittedly sentimental paean to the Christmases of the ex-pat. Released as a single in 2009.

Sufjan Stevens - That Was The Worst Christmas Ever
Yeah, OK, not the cheeriest of lyrics or anything, but it's a lovely tune and fits the theme. This was on 2006's Songs For Christmas.

Jethro Tull - A Christmas Song
Getting our folk on with a slating of the inherent hypocrisy this time of year brings out. As relevant now as it was in 1976 when this was released on the EP Ring Out, Solstice Bells.

The Sonics - Don't Believe In Christmas
105 seconds of old school garage. From the 1965 compilation Merry Christmas which came out on the Etiquette label.

Thurl Ravenscroft - The Grinch Song
The theme from the 1966 animated film How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Ravenscroft was originally uncredited for his performance. The film (spoiler alert) shows the indefatigability of the spirit of man which The Grinch finally comes to see. So it's a heart-warming Christmas tale, right?

The Pretenders - 2000 Miles
Just about the only one of the usual suspects I can abide. This acoustic version is particularly delightful.

Wedding Present and Simone White - Holly Jolly Hollywood
Ah, Mr Gedge. Gone all Hollywood on us, eh? From the 2008 EP of the same name.

Ramones - Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight)
A 1987 offering from the New Yorkers, and no, let's not fight this year eh?

Cocteau Twins - Frosty The Snowman
The question you have to ask is why wouldn't some Scottish art-poppers cover Frosty The Snowman? This is from the EP Snow released in 1993.

Eels - Everything's Gonna Be Cool This Christmas
And unless the Mayans were right, it probably will be. From "B-sides and Rarities" which came out in 2005.

I Break Horses - Winter Beats
Possibly not even a Christmas record in the grander scheme, but it has the word 'winter' in the title and I like it, so I'm having it. I Break Horses are Maria Linden and Fredrik Balck from Stockholm and this is off the album Hearts which came out last August.

The Leisure Society - Last Of The Melting Snow
From Brighton, this is off the 2009 album The Sleeper.

Shonen Knife - Sweet Christmas
Osaka's finest all-girl pop-punk outfit, they've done loads of Christmas songs. This one's about making a cake and was released as a single in 2011.

Half Man Half Biscuit - All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit
I couldn't do Christmas without this, could I? From 1986's EP Trumpton Riots and subsequently on the re-issue of their debut album Back In The DHSS.


So disappointed we couldn't do this last night, but... well, y'know. And it was going to be our last show for a while too. We're not back on air until January 7 now as we, in line with all the major European leagues except England, take our winter break.
Merry Christmas to all our readers and listeners.

Here your YouTube playlist with a couple of extras on the end. Merry Christmas!

10 December 2012

The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Take Five
John: We don't play enough jazz on this show, so let's put that right. The unmistakeable tones of Dave Brubeck who died last week aged 91, that's from 1959.

Haim - Don't Save Me
John: Three sisters - Este, Danielle and Alana - from LA, that's from the album Forever which came out last week.
Carolyn: That's a big '80s vibe right there.

Temples - Shelter Song
John: While this has a big '60s feel to it, much in the way Tame Impala and Django Django do.
Carolyn: Are we just repeating things now?
John: Well, I guess the first things you hear are your parents record collection and it leaves an impression.

Cover Version Corner
Jacques Brel/Scott Walker - Jackie
John: A proper foot-stomper that. Scott Walker, one of the Walker Brothers who were neither brothers nor called Walker - he's Noel Engel - in a Trade Descriptions nightmare. That's from the imaginatively titled second album Scott 2 back in 1967. Brel's original is a year earlier and you find pretty much everything he recorded has been covered by someone. Walker has a new album out - Bish Bosch - and he sounds as good as ever.

The Raveonettes - The Enemy
John: From Copenhagen, that's off the new album Observator.

Suzi Chunk - No Stone Unturned
John: More '60s stylings, that could pass for Dusty Springfield. She's from Teesside and that's off Girl From The Neck Down.

Paco Zambrano Y Su Combo - Meshkalina
John: Originally recorded in 1969, that's on a new release from Tiger's Milk records which is a label specialising in hard-to-find Latin records.
Carolyn: Sounds pretty much your sort of thing.
John: It is, yeah. They're from Peru.

Yeasayer - Reagan's Skeleton
John: From Brooklyn, that's off the album Fragrant World, but what does it sound like?
Carolyn: The Beloved - Sweet Harmony.





One Degree Of Separation
Pugwash - Take Me Away
The Divine Comedy - I Like
John: One of the great songwriters of the age, that's a joyful one from the Divine Comedy. Off the 2010 album Bang Goes The Knighthood. Before that was Pugwash from 2008 and the album Eleven Modern Antiquities. Tommy Walsh from Pugwash and Neil Hannon collaborated on the seminal cricket concept album under the guise of The Duckworth Lewis Method.
Carolyn: Not Tommy Walsh from those DIY shows?
John: No. You know, it's not unheard of that people can have the same name as someone else.

Ultraista - Bad Insect
John: From the album Ultraista which is out now.

Talulah Gosh - Beatnik Boy
John: We play that as Elizabeth Price, formerly of Talulah Gosh, won the Turner Prizer this week for her video installation The Woolworth's Choir Of 1979. That's from 1986.

Swiss Lips - In The Water
John: Not got much on these. They're from Manchester is about it.

Website bonus tracks that we didn't play for time reasons:
Gorillaz - On Melancholy Hill
Richard Hell and The Voidoids - Blank Generation
LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends
Section 25 - Looking From A Hilltop

Christmas special next week. Meanwhile, here's your YouTube playlist.

3 December 2012

Packed the box for tonight and didn't get anywhere near playing it all.

Mystery Jets - Saviour (The Hale Bop)
John: New one from these off the album Radlands which was out earlier this year

Boards of Canada - Dawn Chorus
John: Seeing as the Bank of England is about to be run by a Canadian
Carolyn: Didn't like that at all
John: Ten years old, off 2002's Geogaddi

Foals - Inhaler
John: New one from these off Holy Fire which comes out in February. Bit of a harder edge to previous stuff.

Cover Version Corner
Paul Revere and the Raiders/Modern Rocketry - (I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone
John: There are dozens of covers of this. We could have chosen the Sex Pistols, Minor Threat, Johnny Thunders, The Farm... Instead, we went for Modern Rocketry's 12" mix on the basis this is supposed to show two totally different interpretations. That was from 1983, Paul Revere from 1966.

Tame Impala - Mind Mischief
John: New from these off the album Lonerism
Carolyn: Really like that. We've had a few from these before haven't we?
John: We have. One of the albums of the year

The Damned - New Rose
John: Their debut single from 1976. They played Leeds last week and stormed it.

Delphic - Baiya
John: It went a bit '80s in the middle there.
Carolyn: It started a bit '80s and stayed there. Not that there's anything wrong with that
John: That's off the album Collections which comes out in January

Majestyy - The Notion
John: With two Ys, that's available as a free download from their Soundcloud page

One Degree of Separation
Martin Rossiter - Drop Anchor
Gene - Haunted By You
John: The Gene track is from 1995 and their debut album Olympian. They were notable for being a bit Smiths-esque
Carolyn: A bit? Very.
John: Martin Rossiter took a long sabbatical and is back with this single which is off the album The Defenestration Of St Martin which came out last week and is a sublime piece of song writing

Nathan Fake - Paean
John: Off the album Steam Days, that's out sort of now-ish. I think

Seasick Steve - Don't Know Why She Loves Me But She Do
John: Love that. If that hasn't got your foot tapping, something's wrong.
Carolyn: Mine was going
John: He's 71 (to the best of anyone's knowledge) is Steven Gene Wold and makes a lot of his own instruments. I've seen him play a single-string contraption, guitars made from hubcaps, cigar boxes... That's off last year's album Can't Teach An Old Dog New Tricks


Miike Snow - Paddling Out
John: With two Is
Caarolyyn: I'm going to start spelling my name with two As and two Ys
John: Miike Snow is Christian Karlsson and Pontus Winnberg from Stockholm and that's from 2010's album Happy To You

Bonus website extras:
Stuff in the box we didn't get round to playing on a time/total disorganisation basis...

Friendly Fires - Jump In The Pool
Fuckpony - Real Love Is Forever
Stereolab - French Disko
Underworld - Scribble
Justice - DVNO
The Specials - Enjoy Yourself
"I'm Terry and I'm going to enjoy myself first"

And here's your YouTube playlist.

26 November 2012

Usual guff, but this time with guest Matt in the studio with us

The Beatles - Taxman
John: George didn't want to pay his taxes back in 1966. Dangerously close to jumping the shark there, you class warriors.

Eric B and Rakim - Paid In Full
John: Yeah, which we'd rather be too. Some early hip-hop there from 1987, a time when there was no such thing as too many samples.
Carolyn: Yes, like 'we've got all these bits, let's shove another one in'

The Divine Comedy - Complete Banker
John: From the 2010 album Bang Goes The Knighthood. I think I've thumped that tub enough now.
Carolyn: Yes dear, shall we move on?

Cover Version Corner
Royal Festival Orchestra/The Cats - Swan Lake
John: The Royal Festival Orchestra playing Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake - well, a bit of it - and a ska'd up version which is great for when the sun's out, roof down on the car and the volume up.

The Shins - Simple Song
John: From the current album Port Of Morrow. They are from Albuquerque.

Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy
John: In what is becoming a feature where we make everyone feel old, that's off Blue Lines which is 21 years old.
Carolyn: It can't be. I refuse to accept time has passed so quickly.
John: This show is becoming like a musical Logan's Run. 'I'm still young!'

Groove Armada - Paper Romance
John: They have a new single out, Pull Up, but this is from a couple of years ago off the album Black Light.

Adam Green and Binki Shapiro - Here I Am
John: Out now, that's off the album also called Adam Green and Binki Shapiro and jolly pleasant it is too.
Carolyn: Binki?

Professor Kliq - Moth Returns
John: Chicago artist Mike Else performs as Professor Kliq - with a K and a Q.

One Degree Of Separation
The Smiths - I Want The One I Can't Have
Morrissey - You're The One For Me, Fatty
John: Not exactly going for a massive leap here. These are Matt's choices. Any reason behind picking those tracks?
Matt: I still think he's among the best live artists around today and they're two really good tunes.
John: First the Smiths from Meat Is Murder back in 1985 and the second from Your Arsenal in 1992.

Steve Mason - Lost and Found
John: The ex-Beta Band man, that's off Boys Outside which came out in 2010.

The Primitives - Crash
John: Another one to make us feel old, that's from 1988. Two minutes, bosh, done, perfect.
Carolyn: I was looking for that the other day. And now we have it. That's not the single version though is it?
John: No, that was a recording from an Andy Kershaw session.



White Denim - Street Joy
John: From Austin, Texas, that's off last year's album D. As in the letter D.
Carolyn: White Denim had to be from Texas.

Ty Segall - Thank God For Sinners
John: From San Francisco, that's off the album Twins which is out now.
Carolyn: Lots of old stuff tonight, but finish on something new.

Here's your YouTube playlist.

19 November 2012

Maximo Park - The National Health
John: From the album of the same name that came out earlier this year

Gang Of Four - To Hell With Poverty
John: From Leeds, that was them railing against a previous age of austerity and worth another listen now.
Carolyn: Am I detecting a theme?
John: A little bit. A lot of things got me angry in the week.

Camper Van Beethoven - Take The Skinheads Bowling
John: But here's a solution to all the problems - just go bowling
Carolyn: With your knees?
John: Yes, last time I went, I was laid up for a week.

Cover Version Corner
Edith Piaf - Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien
Half Man Half Biscuit featuring Margi Clarke - No Regrets
John: Unmistakably Edith Piaf first, then the greatest band in the world singing it in English. Can't believe it's taken me so long to play them.
Carolyn: Yes, I know you like them.
John: They are the greatest band in the world. That's a non-album track from 1991.


Paws - Sore Tummy
John: This has been doing the rounds for a bit and I've finally got my hands on it. It's their first single from the album Cokefloat which is out about now.

Belly - Feed The Tree
John: From back in 1993, off their debut album Star. They kind of got lost in that glut of 1990s, female-fronted indie bands like Elastica, Sleeper and Echobelly, but worth digging out.
Carolyn: Is she singing 'take your hat off' or 'take your head off'?

DJ Shadow - Midnight In A Perfect World
John: From his debut album Endtroducing, which I discovered isn't easy to say out loud.

Toy - Make It Mine
John: We've played these a few times before, including the ten-minute epic Kopter. This is a little more laid back, but also off their debut album which is also called Toy.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Swim And Sleep (Like A Shark)
John: A US/NZ project based in Portland, Oregon. This is off their forthcoming second album, II, which is out in February.
Carolyn: So we're bang up to date then?
John: And our next track is from 1987...
Carolyn: Ah.

One Degree Of Separation
Echo And The Bunnymen - Lips Like Sugar
The KLF - 3am Eternal
John: The KLF with a rave classic from the early '90s, one of Bill Drummond's many and varied projects. Your link here is that Echo and the Bunnymen released their early stuff on Drummond's label, Zoo, which he ran with Dave Balfe. That was Lips Like Sugar from their fifth album, called Echo And The Bunnymen. They did four thinking up original names and then got to five and phoned it in. Pfft.

Friends - Va Fan Gör Du
John: Bright, poppy, short. They're from Brooklyn and I like that 1970s hand-clap vibe.
Carolyn: Yeah, it has a sort of playground feel.
John: The title, I believe, is Swedish for 'what the hell do you want?'

Tegan and Sara - I'm Not Your Hero
John: Identical twin sisters from Calgary, that's off the album Heart Throb which is out in January. I like that a lot - it reminds me of something, but I can't think what.
Carolyn: It does sound familiar.
John: I'll just have to listen to it more, which wouldn't be a chore as I really like it.

Cheatahs - The Swan
John: From their debut EP, Sans, which was out last month.

Here's your YouTube playlist.

Forward planning

I know I've previously said we don't have themes as such on the show, even if we did play a bunch of eight/nine-minuters a few weeks back, but...

It can't have escaped your notice that it's getting dark early. Indeed, there are only six broadcasting weeks to christmas. Now, on christmas morning last year, I did a sort of Twitter playlist-type thing with all sorts of not-so-common christmas records and for our last show before this year's festivities I'm planning on reprising that and extending it (and replacing those records unsuitable for broadcast like Splodgenessabounds' 'Bollocks To Christmas').
The staples will be in there - All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit, 2000 Miles, The Grinch Song - but if you've got any suggestions, stick them in the comments or tweet me or Carolyn.

In planning next week's show, I seem to have a bunch of records with brackets (in the title). Is it possible to make an hour show - including the usual format ideas - solely of records with brackets (in the title)? I suspect it might be and I'm now determined to prove it. So again, any suggestions for that, let us know.

I think they call this crowdsourcing...

12 November 2012

Buzzcocks - Everybody's Happy Nowadays
John: Start with a cheery one, why not?

Vessels - The Sky Was Pink
Carolyn: Didn't like that at all. Five minutes I'm not getting back.
John: From Leeds, that's available on a free download
Carolyn: So they can't even sell it?
John: Yeah, you've made your point. Split the room has that

Opossom - Blue Meanies
John: Opossom is Kody Nielson from Auckland. Got a bit of a Beck feel to it.

Dinosaur Jr - Pierce The Morning Rain
John: You can't mistake them for anyone else. The new single from the album I Bet On Sky

Cover Version Corner
Louis Armstrong/Joey Ramone - What A Wonderful World
Carolyn: Two totally different interpretations, which is what this is about
John: The Joey Ramone one was from 2002, released posthumously after his untimely death in 2001. Armstrong from 1968 from the album also titled What A Wonderful World

Melt Yourself Down - We Are Enough
John: Alt jazz, it says here. Not sure what that means, but that's got a killer bassline. A 6-piece band with a couple of saxophones, that was released a couple of weeks ago.

Roosevelt - Sea
John: From Cologne. We're having another cosmopolitan show

Caribou - Odessa
John: Speaking of cosmopolitan, Caribou is Daniel Smith from Ontario. That's off the album Swim from 2010

One Degree Of Separation
Blur - There's No Other Way
Graham Coxon - Freakin' Out
John: Coxon left Blur and released a few albums. That track is off Happiness In Magazines from 2004. But they all got back together for the lucrative reunion this year. 21 years ago, that's when There's No Other Way was released.
Carolyn: Is this another one you put in just to make me feel old?

Dutch Uncles - Fester
John: Played these before. They're from Stockport and that's out from the album Out Of Touch With The Wild that's released in January



The Horrors - I Can See Through You
John: From Southend, that was off last year's album Skying

The Invisible - Generational
John: From the album Rispah which came out in July

And here's your YouTube playlist.

5 November 2012

Back after a week off and we start with a public service announcement...

Public Service Broadcasting - Everest
John: The new one from this intriguing project, this is out next Monday.
Carolyn: We've had them before. They've basically ripped it from Charley Says...



Rhye - The Fall
John: Details on these are sketchy. They're LA-based, but European in origin and that's all I've got on them.
Carolyn: How enigmatic

Cover Version Corner
Marvin Gaye/The Slits - Heard It Through The Grapevine
Carolyn: This is what Cover Version Corner is about - where they're completely different.
John: Well that is what we're trying to do here. The Slits, their debut single from 1979 from the album Cut and, of course, Marvin Gaye from 1969 off the album of the same name.

Two Door Cinema Club - Sun
John: The new single from these, out on the 23rd of this month.
Carolyn: Another one we've had before. It's good, that.

Elbow - Whisper Grass
John: From the new album Dead In The Boot, designed (it says here) to be listened to as an album.
Carolyn: Rather than piecemeal, as is the modern way with downloading individual tracks.

Manic Street Preachers - Your Love Alone Is Not Enough
John: With Nina Persson from The Cardigans on guest vocals. From the 2007 album Send Away The Tigers, but we play that because it's 20 years since their debut with Generation Terrorists.
Carolyn: I feel old.
John: There's loads of things like that. It's 20 years since Reservoir Dogs, for instance.
Carolyn: I think when it's 20 years since Pulp Fiction, I'll really feel old as it's the first film we went to see together.

Lianne La Havas - Forget
John: From her debut album Is Your Love Big Enough? which, scandalously, didn't win the Mercury Prize. Neither did our favourite, Django Django, or the sentimental option of Richard Hawley. Instead, it was the one album on the list I didn't like.
Carolyn: You were not happy about that. But, Alt-J, Leeds University, bit of a local connection?
John: I just don't like it. I realise I might be in a minority, but that's what makes the world go round.

One Degree Of Separation
Wedding Present - Don't Take Me Home Until I'm Drunk
The Ukrainians - Cherez Richku, Cherez Hai
Carolyn: Well I wasn't expecting that. Normally, the two records in this section are quite similar... Go on then, what is it?
John: Two Leeds bands. First, the Wedding Present, from their seventh album El Rey out in 2008. That was followed by The Ukrainians, a modernised Ukrainian folk band formed by Weddoes guitarist Peter Solowka as he tried to get in touch with his Ukrainian roots. The title means 'across the river, through the wood' and is from the album also called The Ukrainians.

El Perro Del Mar - Hold Off The Dawn
John: Back to Scandinavian singers here. El Perro del Mar - Sea Dog, I suppose - the name under which Sarah Assbring performs. She's from Gothenburg which is...
Carolyn: ...somewhere I've been. Lovely city. The people are really friendly.

Motorama - To The South
John: To Russia now. It's a cosmopolitan show tonight. These are from Rostov-on-Don and that's all I've got on these.

Dark Horses - Alone
John: And to finish, the new one from their debut album Black Music which was released last Monday. So much more I wanted to put in tonight - maybe next week.

Here's your YouTube playlist.

Review: Space Between The Words by Dan le Sac

I don't do many of these, but as it's a music blog, it seems borderline relevant. I wrote this for another project initially, but it'll do to go here as well. John



Formerly known as the ranty noise-maker behind poet/rapper Scroobius Pip, Dan le Sac's debut album was released in July.

After two albums as a duo – Angles in 2008 and Logic of Chance two years later – both let themselves off the leash with solo projects, Pip with Distraction Pieces last year and now this, Space Between The Words, where le Sac collaborates with a range of artists to produce something unique and stylish.

On Distraction Pieces, Pip takes a turn for the dark side, but his producer proves to be quite the magpie, flitting from style to style, artist to artist with ease and a deftness of touch that certainly wasn't present on Angles. Clearly he wasn't about to start singing, but the range and quality of the artists he's been able to work with on this album speaks volumes for the regard he's held in as a producer. There's a clear trust that he's not about to butcher their babies, their songs.

The two tracks released to the world ahead of the album are the most obvious singles. Play Along, featuring Sarah Williams White, has the air of Lily Allen's evil twin sister about it. Pip collaborator B Dolan voices Caretaker, a Lyrically intelligent piece with the chart appeal of something like Gangster's Paradise. Perhaps it needs adding to a film soundtrack to push it over the top – there's certainly plenty on here that would not sounds out of place in a cinematic environment.



Memorial is reminiscent of early Portishead, Emmy the Great's vocal sounding uncannily like Beth Gibbons, while the thumping beat – with vocals to match from Joshua Idehen – of Tuning is a foot-stomping floor-filler.

But the masterpiece is saved to last and it's the album in microcosm. Cherubs begins like a Sigur Ros record, all floaty and ethereal with an idiosyncratic percussion track. Then Pete Hefferan's vocals – he of Pete and the Pirates – kick in with a Robert Smith quality lending a Cure vibe to things, though never enough to overwhelm the unique sound Dan has been able to infuse the whole album with.

Comparisons are inevitable, but putting that to one side, this is a mightily impressive piece of work. So often, producer-led projects can sound cold, clinical, just too damn efficient. Not this; this is varied, warm and engaging. Thou shalt not make repetitive generic music seems a life lesson well lived.

Moderately relevant music news

It was the Q Awards last night, apparently. Anyway, show favourites Django Django won the Best New Act gong. Well done them. It really is a cracking album and no I'm not on a commission.

22 October 2012

Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons - The Night
John: Reached number seven in 1975, but it's got a real contemporary feel to it. Mark Ronson's doing this, basically.
Carolyn: It's certainly stood the test of time.

The Vaccines - I Always Knew
Carolyn: That's two for two off that album now. Teenage Icon is catchy and so is this.
John: That's the new single and it's out on November 11.

Little Comets - A Little Opus
John: From Newcastle and the album, Life Is Elsewhere, was out last week.

Cover Version Corner
Velvet Underground and Nico/Record Club - Femme Fatale
John: Record Club is a project Beck has put together where they cover a whole album in a day and this is off their first one. Also, Velvet Underground and Nico is re-released after a coat of varnish this week for it's 35th anniversary.

Django Django - Life's A Beach
John: The fourth or fifth record from the album we've played on the show. It's terrific.
Carolyn: It has a real '60s vibe.

The Go! Team - Buy Nothing Day
John: As peppy a pop record as you could wish for.

No Ceremony - feelsolow
John: I don't know anything about these, because there's nothing to know.

The Kingstonians - Sufferer
John: Skanking round the studio to that one. We don't play enough ska.
Carolyn: Well you pick the records!
John: Originally out in 1970, that's on a Trojan Records compilation called Boss Reggae

The Black Keys - Lonely Boy
John: Less of a country feel to that than some of their others.
Carolyn: I like the woah-woah-woahs


One Degree Of Separation
The Streets - Let's Push Things Forward
The d.o.t. feat. Claire Maguire and Danny Brown - You Never Asked
John: Your link here is Mike Skinner, formerly recording as The Streets and that was his second single from way back in 2002. His new project with Rob Harvey, formerly of The Music, is The d.o.t. and their debut album, And That, is out today.

Vampire Weekend - Giving Up The Gun 
John: From the album Contra from 2010.

Grimes - Genesis
John: Grimes is Canadian chanteuse Claire Boucher.

Peace - Bloodshake
John: From their debut EP Delicious which was out in August.

We're away next week. Back in a fortnight. In the meantime, here's your YouTube playlist.

15 October 2012

My Life Story - I Dive
Carolyn: I chose this. I love the lyrics - you don't fall in love, you dive.
John: They kind of got lost in all that Britpop stuff, but deserve a wider audience.

Rachel Zeffira - Break The Spell
John: She's a Canadian singer and her debut album, The Deserters, is out in December.

The Zolas - Knot In My Heart
John: Also Canadian. It's not like we just throw this together. I was hooked by the Doctor Who-like opening.
Carolyn: I wonder who they're named after.
John: Emile, Gianfranco... Calvin?



Cover Version Corner
The Cure/Dinosaur Jr - Just Like Heaven
John: That Dinosaur Jr version ends abruptly. They're back together and recording again - new album out too.

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs - Your Love
Carolyn: Two Dinosaurs in a row. You really have planned this.
John: Oh yeah. I hadn't noticed.

Mr Shiraz - Let It Burn
John: A local band (local to Huddersfield, that is) and they're well worth seeing. Lots of energy.

Cat Power - Cherokee
John: Her first album in four years, Sun, came out last month. What a great voice.

One Degree of Separation
Ash - Burn Baby Burn
Sylver Tongue - Hook You Up
John: Your connection here is Charlotte Hatherley, ex Ash guitarist and Sylver Tongue is her new solo project. That's Sylver with a Y.
Carolyn: Instead of..... Oh yeah, the I.

Dan le Sac feat Merz - Long Night of Life
John: From the album Space Between The Words which is fabulous

Boys Noize - Ich R U
John: Boys Noize the name Hamburg DJ Alex Ridha performs under. More than a hint of Kraftwerk in that.
Carolyn: It might be Boys Noize, but I really liked it too.

Diiv - Sometime
John: That's 'dive' spelled D I I V.
Carolyn: That's just silly.

Cocteau Twins - Iceblink Luck
John: Not called Cocteau, there's three of them and they're not related. Possibly the most '80s song ever, but it was from 1990

Here it is, all compiled into a YouTube playlist.

8 October 2012

We don't theme shows, but this week we did go for a few really long tracks. Hey, less work ain't it?

Palma Violets - Best Of Friends

Ride - Leave Them All Behind
John: There is a four-minute radio edit of that, but you need all nine for me. Love it, love it, love it. Can't believe it's 20 years old.
Carolyn: Not feeling it

Cover Version Corner
Eddie Cochran/Guitar Wolf - Summertime Blues
John: Guitar Wolf, a Nagasaki-based punk group that have been around since the '80s. That was on the Scott Pilgrim vs The World soundtrack


Tame Impala - Music To Walk Home By

Pollens - Helping Hands
John: I like how it ends up as a totally different record to how it starts. It's like it's in three movements

Toy - Kopter 
John: How about that? Ten minutes of Krautrock brilliance. Don't know how you can take your ears off it.

(Still no name for this format idea - suggestions please)
Super Furry Animals - (Drawing) Rings Around The World
Neon Neon - I Told Her On Alderaan
John: You can tell immediately what the link is
Carolyn: The singer
John: Yep. Gruff Rhys, lead singer of the Super Furry Animals who you heard first and his side project, Neon Neon, with producer Boom Bip

Beth Jeans Houghton and the Hooves of Destiny - Lilliput
Carolyn: It's good that someone can hit the range of notes she does without warbling
John: She comes from more of a folk tradition which might have something to do with it. Maybe?

Tamaryn - The Waves

And here's your YouTube playlist.

1 October 2012

Everything Everything - Cough Cough

Polica - Lay Your Cards Out
John: Because 'autotune' isn't necessarily a dirty word

Dutch Uncles - X-O

Super Furry Animals - Golden Retriever

Cover Version Corner
Tears For Fears/Gary Jules and Michael Andrews - Mad World
John: The Gary Jules version featured on the soundtrack to Donnie Darko of course and was a christmas number one.
Carolyn: I love how the two versions stir totally different emotions

Hookworms - Teen Dreams
John: Very definitely influenced by the Krautrock scene - early Kraftwerk, Can and Neu! as part of a general revival we're noticing

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll

Coves - No Ladder

M83 - Midnight City

Pixies - Here Comes Your Man
The Breeders - Cannonball
John: Still not got a name for this section. Still want suggestions. Frank Black and Joey Santiago formed the Pixies and hired Kim Deal on bass. Kim and Kelley Deal formed the Breeders in one of the Pixies' numerous hiatuses

Django Django - Storm
John: Yes, again. Show favourites.

The Count and Sinden feat The Mystery Jets - After Dark

iamamiwhoami - Goods
John: We're only getting half of this here as it's very much an audio-visual project by Swedish duo Jonna Lee and Claes Bjorklund. Fortunately, this being both audio and visual....


The Flaming Lips - The W.A.N.D
John: It stands for 'The will always negates defeat'

Talking Heads - And She Was

The Stranglers - Duchess

Here's your YouTube playlist.

24 September 2012

Calexico - Crystal Frontier

Kid Koala - 2-Bit Blues
John: From the new album 12-Bit Blues which has such track titles as 1-bit Blues, 2-Bit Blues, 3-Bit Blues...
Carolyn: Needs a bit of inspiration there, but otherwise it's very good


Public Service Broadcasting - Spitfire
John: A very interesting project, snipping up old public service broadcasts and putting this sort of thing out.

The Black Keys - Little Black Submarines

Cover Version Corner
Junior Murvin/The Clash - Police and Thieves
John: That Clash one is a short version. The proper one is six and a bit minutes.

Blende - Fake Love

Marmalade Sky - Showmen
John: A Bristol-based mod-revivalist band and thanks to my mate Chappers for pointing me in their direction

Buzzcocks - Sixteen Again
Magazine - Definitive Gaze

John: A new format idea which we haven't really got a name for. Rock Family Trees was what I came up with, but I don't really like it. Suggestions please. (Drop us a tweet or leave a comment)
Carolyn: So what's the connection?
John: Howard de Voto was a founder member of the Buzzcocks, but was kicked out before they hit the big time and formed Magazine which was itself a pretty influential band. They're all back together now though, riding the wave of reunions

Melody's Echo Chamber - I Follow You
John: An interesting project between Australian multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker and French singer Melody Prochet
Carolyn: That's not working for me

David Holmes - I Heard Wonders
John: Is that a Krautrock influence I hear?

Wire - Eardrum Buzz

All those tracks have been compiled into a YouTube playlist here.

17 September 2012

Orbital - Where Is It Going?
John: How good is that?

Band Of Horses - Knock Knock

The Pond - The River

Django Django - Default
Macabees - Pelican
John: Both of these bands were nominated for the Mercury Music Prize this week and we'll have two more later

Simian Mobile Disco feat Beth Ditto - Cruel Intentions

Kele - Tenderoni



Cover Version Corner
Simon and Garfunkel/The Lemonheads - Mrs Robinson
John: Simon and Garfunkel's version from which film?
Carolyn: The Graduate
John: And The Lemonheads?
Carolyn: Not a clue
John: Wayne's World 2
Carolyn: Only you would know enough to care

Los Saicos - El Enterrio de los Gatos
John: There's a new documentary out that says punk didn't start in mid-'70s New York, but Lima a good ten years earlier and this band at the forefront. The title means 'the burial of the cats' and I do think you can see blues moving in a direction towards what we know as punk

Grizzly Bear - Yet Again

M83 - Reunion

Julian Cope - If You Loved Me At All
John: Possibly my second-favourite artist/band/whatever
Carolyn: You want me to ask who your favourite is don't you
John: You know who that is surely
Carolyn: Half Man Half Biscuit

Richard Hawley - Seek It
Field Music - Who'll Pay The Bills
John: Two more Mercury nominees. The others are: Ben Howard, Roller Trio, Sam Lee, Plan B, Alt-J, Jessie Ware, Michael Kiwanuka and Lianne La Havas
Carolyn: Who do you want to win?
John: It'd be nice if it was Richard Hawley, but Django Django is probably my favourite. Not Alt-J will be acceptable

Boards Of Canada - Roygbiv

Tom Tom Club - Wordy Rappinghood

And your YouTube playlist is here.

10 September 2012

Another one where we had an extra half hour

Jack White - I'm Shakin'
John: He's 'noivous'

Pet Shop Boys - Everything Means Something
John: A new album from the Pet Shop Boys is always an event. Elysium is their 11th.

Dan Croll - From Nowhere
John: Bloomin' love this


Lovely Eggs - I Like Birds But I Like Other Animals Too
John: Cuckoo-coo indeed

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Only In My Dreams

The Vaccines - Teenage Icon
John: Not sure their target audience are going to be too familiar with Frankie Avalon
Carolyn: I like that. That's going to stick in my head

Cover Version Corner
Kate Bush/The Futureheads - Hounds Of Love


Family Of The Year - St Croix

Two Door Cinema Club - Sleep Alone
Carolyn: How many doors do cinemas clubs normally have?

Fun Boy Three - Our Lips Are Sealed

PJ Harvey - Good Fortune
John: One of the country's great songwriters

Bloc Party - Truth

We Are Augustines - Book Of James
Carolyn: There's a lot going on in that and I'm not sure all of it works

A Certain Ratio - Shack Up

Liminanas - Hospital Boogie
John: File under C for curio

Metronomy - Everything Goes My Way

Toy - Lose My Way
John: Toy were losing their way, but it's all going Metronomy's. It's almost like I plan this show sometimes

Matthew Dear - Earthforms

Here's your YouTube playlist.

3 September 2012

After a week off for the August Bank Holiday, we were back and this time with proper notes and running order.

Hot Chip - How Do You Do?

Polica - Wandering Star

Everything Everything - Photoshop Handsome
Carolyn: That's different. In a good way

The xx - VCR
John: They've a new album out, but this is off the first one

New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle
John: From 1986, that
Carolyn: And still sounds fresh, if very obviously New Order

The Youth Anxiety - The Double Image
John: Available on a free download. I know the drummer's dad

Cover Version Corner
Neil Young/St Etienne - Only Love Can Break Your Heart

Air - Seven Stars
John: From the album Voyage Dans La Lune which is a re-imagining, as I believe they have it these days, of the score to the film of that name by the Lumiere Brothers

Richard Hawley - Seek It

Cornershop feat Bubbley Kaur - Topknot
John: If you only know Cornershop from the Fatboy Slim remix of Brimful Of Asha, it might surprise you. This is them getting back in touch with their Punjabi roots with a previously unrecorded singer

Stealing Sheep - Genevieve

Headless Heroes - The North Wind Blew South

Here's your YouTube playlist.

20 August 2012

Small Faces - Tin Soldier

B-52s - Roam

Richard Hawley - Down In The Woods
John: Bit of a departure for the venerable Mr Hawley
Carolyn: I don't know him
John: He's Sheffield royalty!

Divine Comedy - Commuter Love

Crystal Castles - Celestica

St Etienne - I've Got Your Music
John: A new album for St Etienne is always a special thing. More power to their elbow

Beach House - Lazuli

Ry Cooder - No Banker Left Behind
John: A good old-fashioned protest song

Electronic - Getting Away With It
Carolyn: I chose this one!

Cover Version Corner
The Kinks - David Watts
The Jam - David Watts
John: Not too different to each other, but it's like the Kinks are lamenting a lost time where the Jam are actively fighting against it

Tame Impala - Elephant
John: If T-Rex were still around, they'd sound like this

Kaiser Chiefs - Love's Not A Competition
Carolyn: That doesn't sound like a Kaiser Chiefs record. I like it

Maximo Park - Hips And Lips
John: There aren't enough bands that sing in their own accent
Carolyn: The Proclaimers.... Yeah, you're right

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs - Garden

Justice - Civilization
John: With a 'z', not misspelled

The Shins - It's Only Life

The Cramps - Human Fly
Carolyn: What the hell was that?
John: Great isn't it


And here's your YouTube playlist.

13 August 2012

Bloc Party - Octopus
John: Pick that one out. What a way to start.

Peter, Bjorn and John - Young Folks
John: Whatever happened to a tune you could whistle?

Eugene McGuinness - Harlequinade

Django Django - Hail Bop
John: Two weeks in and we're already calling these guys 'show favourites'

Chemical Brothers - Theme for Velodrome
John: One of a series of pieces commissioned for the Olympics. Impossible to not to draw comparisons to Kraftwerk

Euros Childs - That's Better
John: I'm really not sure whether I like this, but threw it in anyway for people to make their own minds up
Carolyn: I'm not sure either
John: Is it me or does it sound a bit like Cockney Rebel?

Beck - Girl
John: Beck released a new work in the week only available as sheet music
Carolyn: That's odd. Why?
John: Part of that whole debate about how to make music pay in the digital era. If it's illegal copying he's worried about though, he's clearly not heard of fax machines or photocopiers

Cover Version Corner
Bird - I Wanna Be Your Dog
John: A folk-funk version of the old Stooges record
Carolyn: I don't know the original. Maybe we should play that as well in future

Of Monsters And Men - Little Talks

Beat Connection - Further Out

Longpigs - On And On
John: Bloody love this one. Can't believe it's nearly 20 years old

Smoke Fairies - Let Me Know

Housemartins - Me And The Farmer
John: I had a look at the video when I was putting the show together. Blimey, they look young. Top record though


Here's your YouTube playlist.

6 August 2012

John: Our first show. My note-keeping wasn't very good, so I haven't got a running order. Or a full list. I do know what the first record was though and what we played out with...

Django Django - Default
John: Thumping good foot-stomper from the Edinburgh art-rockers

Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out

Foe - The Black Lodge

The Kinks - Victoria
John: Victoria Pendleton had won gold at the Olympics during the week

Foo Fighters - Monkey Wrench

Manic Street Preachers - You Stole The Sun From My Heart

Cover Version Corner
Dan le Sac feat. Pete Hefferan - Cherubs
John: Our first format idea - play a cracking cover of an old song. This is an old Arab Strap record done in a totally different way and it is bloody brilliant.

Belle and Sebastian - Boy With The Arab Strap

Jack White - Freedom At 21

Bob Marley and the Wailers - Redemption Song
John: It was Jamaican Independence Day the previous weekend, the 50th anniversary, so we had to really



John: That's all I can remember. My record-taking picked up subsequently.

Here's your YouTube playlist, albeit with the Arab Strap original of Cherubs and not the Dan Le Sac/Pete Hefferan version.

Kick Off The Blog

Hi-Fi Curious airs Tuesdays between 7 and 8pm on 2HR, Huddersfield Hospital Radio, and is presented by Carolyn and John. Here's John in the studio, as viewed from Carolyn's engineer's seat:

He's probably air-drumming with his pen - he does that.

2HR only broadcasts to the hospital buildings at Huddersfield - licensing innit - so the show is only available to those unfortunate enough to find themselves in the HRI of a Tuesday evening. This companion blog will feature track listings, maybe some clips of the records we play and some comments about them from the pair of us.

We don't have a theme or a remit as such, just put together an entertaining hour of new music, old music, stuff you know, stuff you don't and a couple of format ideas (it's not just flung together, y'know). Hopefully there's something for everyone in there. That's the idea anyway.

One thing that never changes is our theme tune:


which plays us in and out every week.