25 March 2013

Britain resides in winter's icy grip. As such, the studio remains closed today and with good reason, as our John went flying on the ice yesterday and bashed his head quite badly. So for both these reasons, tonight's show is cancelled. And it being Easter next week, we are having the day off in favour of live coverage of Huddersfield Giants against Widnes in Super League.
However, by the power of this blog, here's what we would be playing if we were in the studio tonight.

Bonzo Dog Doodah Band - No Matter Who You Vote For, The Government Always Gets In
Sublime silliness from the genius of Neil Innes and one of Britain's great eccentrics, the late Vivian Stanshall. And with all the major political parties posturing over immigration, the cynicism alluded to in the record seems as apt as ever. Come on, Labour - offer us a proper alternative and stand up for the things you were created to stand up for. Spineless goons. Rant over.
That's from 1992 and got a re-release in 1997. They could do worse than have another go in 2015.

Edwyn Collins - Dilemna
New from the former Orange Juice front man. This is off the forthcoming album 'Understated'. The brain haemorrhage he suffered in 2005 left his speech badly affected, but it seems that singing is a different matter. Apparently, the misspelling of the title was an innocent mistake. I'm told it's quite common, but I've never heard of anyone spelling 'dilemma' with an N before. Odd.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Let The Day Begin
New from these, off the album 'Specter At The Feast' which came out last week. Their misspelling is purely an Americanism.

Cover Version Corner
Pulp/William Shatner - Common People
A classic from Pulp. Can it really be 18 years old? Blimey, it's old enough to drink in pubs. Off their smash hit album 'Different Class'. I tried describing the Bill Shatner version to people and all I could think was 'it's exactly as you'd imagine it to be'. That's off 'Has Been' which came out in 2004.

Lorelle Meets The Obsolete - Medicine To Cure Medicine Sickness
I've been after playing this for a while. They're from Guadalajara in Mexico and this is off the 'Psych For Sore Eyes' EP from Sonic Cathedral which features other favourites of ours like Hookworms.

Sarah Williams White - Close To The Equator
I first came across the vocal stylings of Sarah Williams White on Dan Le Sac's album 'Space Between The Words' which was one of my favourite releases of last year. This is available as a free download.

Foster The People - Helena Beat
Time to get you up and grooving. A couple of years old now, this is off the album 'Torches'.

Suuns - 2020
From Montreal, this is off their second album 'Images du Futur' which came out three weeks ago. It's very different. In a good way.

One Degree of Separation
The The - The Beat(en) Generation
Modest Mouse - I've Got It All (Most)
The first of those is off the 1989 album 'Mind Bomb'. The second closes 2009's 'No-one's First And You're Next'. As well as both having parentheses in the title, ex-Smiths man Johnny Marr played on both of them, two of his many post-Smiths projects. The latest of these has finally seen him release a solo album, 'The Messenger', which we might have a few tracks off in future weeks.

Mazes - Skulking
What's to say here? Fits the style of a few of our favourite recent bands. This is off their second album, 'Ores And Minerals' which came out last month.

Youth Lagoon - Mute
Youth Lagoon is Trevor Powers from Boise, Idaho. I don't know; I quite like the concept of Trevor Powers. An ordinary man, bitten by a radioactive Trevor and now he has Trevor Powers... I digress. I've been trying to fit this in for a while, but at over six minutes it's proven tricky. It's off his second album, 'Wondrous Bughouse', which came out three weeks ago and looks a lot like 'Wondrous Brighouse' when written down. That's a very different album for someone to make.

Soldier's Heart - African Fire
New stuff from Belgium, this debut single came out a couple of weeks ago and is quite a delight.



Bibio - A Tout A L'Heure
Stephen Wilkinson from the West Midlands is Bibio. Not sure how you'd describe that. It's the first release from the forthcoming album - his seventh, titled 'Silver Wilkinson' - which is out in May. Hat tip to friend John for the recommendation.

The Orb - Little Fluffy Clouds
A classic. Off the 1991 album 'The Orb's Adventures In The Underworld' which was the first CD I ever bought.

The Fall - Hit The North
We'll finish with another oldie-but-goody from the immortal Fall. This was released in 1987 and if you're after an easy way into their enormous back-catalogue, it's not a bad place to start.

That's your lot. Listen to the whole shebang here on the YouTube. We're back in a fortnight.