Sleephouse Radio

An Aborted Frog Eyes Review From Last Year

2011-03-31T03:18:00.001-07:00

I tried to write a review last year of Frog Eyes' latest record. Below is what I came up with. It made me realise I wasn't a music writer.

Frog Eyes - Paul's Tomb

(Dead Oceans)

I visited Frog Eyes' home town of Victoria, British Columbia once. Like almost no other place I've been it struck me as a city that longs for history. It has one already, of course, but you get the feeling that the past it posesses isn't quite the past it desires. Victoria longs for a grand and sweeping past, a past of deep traditional and historical significance.

And so it overreaches itself in a constant quest for something it supposes can simply be created. This is the new world after all. They were told it would be possible.

But, predictably, Victoria gets it all wrong. A postmodern Baudrillian similacrum if ever there was one - fake plastic stone mansions, fairytale horse drawn carriages and double decker buses fight for the attention of your eye as you sit taking afternoon tea in the shadow of the legislative parliament building of the troubled province of British Columbia, Canada.

The irony presents itself that the dream of pushing westward simply results in a historical homesickness, an overpowering nostalgic longing for what has been left far, far behind. And the quest to re-produce it is a difficult, problematic and dangerously distracting one.

One can't help but see Frog Eyes' and their main man Carey Mercer as a product of this environment. And certainly in this sense Mercer has done his home town proud; if there is to be a monument constructed - a common reference used in Frog Eyes' music - then it would be erected to him, right in Victoria's faux-historic town centre.

Frog Eyes have dug deep into an old European sensibility that is almost entirely absent in contemporary European bands themselves. And Europe's just the start. Mercer is often found to be quoting the old testement, the torah, even ancient Chinese wisdom and what's more, unlike his hometown, one feels that he really gets it.

Consequently, Frog Eyes are a band without easy contemporary comparison - as the references swirl, it becomes impossible to place them easily in any point in history and in that sense of course they're far more contemporary than most bands.

And make no mistake the contemporary is very definitely a concern of Mercer's - he might be singing about kings, saints, hunters and even an anonymous work of Christian mysticism written in 14th century, but Mercer's history book is a tool with which we can probe the present. Quite unlike Victoria's dazzling sheen of fake old world charm - which seeks to obliterate the present. Mercer is using this old world wisdom to shine a bright beam of light on current problems troubling British Columbia as a whole.

Check out their most recent press photo - what exactly is happening here? Is this just coincidence that the members of the band are presented as blinded to (or even by) their immediate surroundings. "We are the enemies of our light, and we command them to fall upon their swords," Mercer sings on 'Lear In Love' and one can't help but see this light as something evil, authoritarian and made to blind its subjects to their imediate reality.

Certainly a case could be made that this light is anologious to the massive PR campaign that draped the whole province in a glossy sheen so that it could present itself to the world for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Mercer was extremely vocal about the infringment of artist rights by the Vancouver Olympic commitee, highlighting the issue in this excellent Op-Ed piece in Stereogum.

But artist rights and even the Olympics themselves are just a a trivial issue compared to the real problems that beset British Colombia. Mercer seems to refer to them directly in a recent interview with the blog mbvmusic.com, making following hard-hitting statement:

"I write now about ignoble and debased hunting. I can't take this world: it's acidic and corrosive and it eats women. I live in a region that consumes and kills women and no one knows what to say or what to do. I write these words through a veil of tears, thinking about a highway of tears in my province where so many women have disappeared. I do not mean to suggest that all men are killers; I do mean to suggest that patriarchy is a killer. I do not know what to say or what to do. I am not entirely sure if writing about these things is the thing to do."

'The Highway of Tears' Mercer is referring to is Highway 16, that winds it way through the entire province. Since 1969, at least 32 women, many of them aboriginal, have been killed or suspiciously disappeared along a 500-mile stretch of the road.

Add to this the extremely disturbing case of Robert Pickton, a man who claims to have aducted and murdered 49 women (mainly of whom were prostitutes of native origin) and disposted of their bodies on his pig farm. Pickton is, thankfully, behind bars but investigations continue into this stomach churning and grisly case.

But although Pickton is in jail serving time with no hope of release - women still frequently disappear from Vancouver's notorious Lower East Side. And it's in the shadow of these disturbing societal shocks the album's concerns burst urgently to life. When Mercer sings that the female protagonist of the title track - "Donna", as he calls her - is "never going to get through" this is not just a literary construction, this is really happening.

The second song on the record - 'Sensitive Girls' - is most forthright in addressing a major British Columbia problem - the drug and prostitution problem of the lower east side in Vancouver. A part of town that Frog Eyes are more than familiar with. In fact, I first saw them playing live at a venue smack bang in the heart of this painful place. East Hastings and the surrounding area is a decaying urban zone (the ambient recordings on Godspeed, You Black Emperor's track 'East Hastings' where captured there) and it's full of broken down hotels, boarded up store fronts inhabited most obviously by addicts, beggers and prostitutes:

"But do you really love this place?

And your penchant for drugs shall ensure that you will always
Love this place,

And your penchant for drugs shall surely end in something close to ruinous
You don't need Cassandra to gaze over the edge

Deep-boned readers and community leaders all notice the stumble in your gait,
Do you really love this place?

You don't need Cassandra to gaze over the edge,

But you do need to get yourself out of the doom of this zone;
For there is nothing mystic or storytelling about this zone."

And consequently just when it seems Mercer might be assuming the role of moral judge or artist profiteer - he draws the line full circle around even his work and rebukes even himself. 'Paul's Tomb' is an album riddled with struggle so why should it stop at the boundry of its creator's inner self.

Sonically too - the struggle is present. Push and pull. Frog Eyes are still a band seemingly on the edge of falling apart on every single song they write. They're still a storm of treble - a howling gale punctuated by clanging alarum bells of shredding guitar and drums of oar-like rythmn. The listener is lashed to the mast, a turner-esque witness to the savage power and beauty of the waves that crash upon the deck.

But the power here in this record is not its sonics - no matter how difficult they may be on the ear at times. The power in this record comes from the challenge that Mercer makes to the listener. The challenge to look at our world - in all its painful reality - and realise that it's up to us to change it and stop the injustice that is all too easy to ignore. We have the power to help the vulnerable women and oppressed minorities - and read correctly this record is a both a powerful wake-up and an invitatation to do just that.

The tomb is not built for the past - it's meant for the present. The past is far enough away to be allowed to exist and to be showcased even. The present, however, is much too painful and inconvenient to be allowed to escape, and as a consquence it must be buried.

Frog Eyes' triumph is that they don't allow this to happen. And even as they toil they spot a chink of light...

"Wretched palms, violent psalms, violet fades from the cheek of my babe,
I shall cover you and swaddle you in Eden's last light,

I shall hope for the end of dark, dark days."

Podcast 20

2010-03-25T10:32:00.000-07:00

Welcome good people to this week's podcast. New music awaits...

Click here to listen now!

Sleephouse Radio - Podcast 20 by sleephouseradio

Tracklisting:
1. Felt Letters - '600,000 Bands'
2. Chain And The Gang - 'Interview With Chain Gang'
3. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - 'Evolution's A Lie'
4. The War On Drugs - 'Taking The Farm'
5. Art Museums - 'S.H.O.P.P.I.N.G'
6. Prins Thomas - 'Wendy Not Walter'
7. Anthony 'Shake' Shakir - 'Assimilated'
8. Richard McGraw - 'Asheville'
9. Clogs - 'Last Song' (Featuring Matt Berninger)

1. Felt Letters - '600,000 Bands'
2. Chain And The Gang - 'Interview With Chain Gang'

The damn near inscrutable Ian Svenonious does it again. A deft puncturing of ego-inflated balloons on both sides of the artist / critic divide here. The first from Felt Letters is out on 7 inch right now and the second comes from last year's Chain And The Gang LP. Chain And The Gang are touring right now too. Check the MySpace for details.

Felt Letters MySpace

Chain And The Gang

3. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - 'Evolution's A Lie'

There's been a massive amount of focus on Ariel Pink's forthcoming album and quite rightly so - the current vogue for chillwave, hypnogogic pop and tape hiss (and hipness) certainly wouldn't have happened without him.

I'm disappointed in the new teaser track though - 'Round and Round' showcases Ariel's 80s FM Radio fascination, while I prefer the flipside hazy experimental Ariel Pink. I was hoping with the help of a full band and proper studio he'd go in the direction suggested by this awesome krautrocking, Darwin-baiting B-side from last year's 'I Can't Hear My Eyes' single.

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti MySpace

4. The War On Drugs - 'Taking The Farm'

I've been digging Kurt Vile for a good while now - but I've had this MP3 unlistened on my computer for much longer than that. Random rediscovery threw it up again and I'll be damned if I haven't fallen in love.

If you love Vile and you haven't checked out The War On Drugs - the band of his like-minded best friend Adam Granduciel - then you're missing out.

From the 2008 album 'Wagonwheel Blues'.

The War On Drugs MySpace

5. Art Museums - 'S.H.O.P.P.I.N.G'

More melodious goodness from Woodsist records - this time it's Guided By Voices as re-imagined by the house band in a John Hughes movie. Or something. Excellent stuff once again.

Art Museums MySpace

6. Prins Thomas - 'Wendy Not Walter'

I have a love/hate thing going with the Norwegian Space Disco scene. I want to love them but some of their smoother tones keep pushing me away.

Not this track though. Could this be the start of something beautiful? From Prins Thomas' hotly-anticipated "nye plate" (that's "new record" in Norwegian, folks).

More info at Prins Thomas' Full Pupp Record Label MySpace

7. Anthony 'Shake' Shakir - 'Assimilated'

If you think inspirational music journalism is dead then you really should read Dusted Magazine's review of Anthony 'Shake' Shakir's retrospective anthology Frictionalism 1994-2009

Journalist Ben Tausig does everything right and there's samples of the music too. It got me so excited that I had to check this record out and I'm sure glad I did.

Frictionalism is a fantastic record of Anthony Skakir's radiant brilliance and it's all brand new to me. Three CDs worth of wonder await. Thank you Mr Skakir and Mr Tausig.

8. Richard McGraw - 'Asheville'

Illustration by Kevin Sprouls

Flat out "fucking" flawless songwriting from a fella I'd never previously heard of. I can't remember how I found out about him either.

Then again, all you need to know is that he's a fantastic songwriter, has a cracking new album out and spending sometime with his music would be a damn good investment.

Also, it's the modern age people - visit his MySpace below and do your own damn homework. Lots more music and videos await you.

Richard McGraw MySpace

9. Clogs - 'Last Song' (Featuring Matt Berninger)

The National are on their way back as we speak - and I personally can't wait to have another one of their excellently crafted records to cherish.

Until then - and not counting the mp3 leaks that have already begun - there's a brand new Clogs record out. It's called 'The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton' and this time it not only features National guitarist Bryce Dessner but also lead singer Matt Berninger, guesting on this epic piece of late night stillness.

Clogs MySpace

The Sleephouse Radio Mixtape - Number One

2010-03-18T04:42:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd try something a little different this week and roll all the songs into one coherent and calming whole. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present the very first Sleephouse Radio mixtape...

Click here to listen now!

Sleephouse Radio - Mixtape One by sleephouseradio

Tracklisting:

1. Brain Machine – Pulsations
(taken from Thisisnotanexit Manifesto One CD)

2. Nest - 'Amroth'
(taken from the album 'Retold')

3. Sun Araw - 'Bump Up (High Step)
(taken from the 7" 'Sun Ark')

4. Liars - 'No Barrier Fun'
(taken from the album 'Sisterworld')

5. Inch-time - 'Icicles & Snowflakes'

6. Lemonade - 'Bliss Out (Gold Panda remix)'
(taken from Ewan Pearson's excellent 'We Are Proud Of Our Choices' compilation CD)

7. A Ldric - 'Birds On Tree'
(taken from Ewan Pearson's excellent 'We Are Proud Of Our Choices' compilation CD)

8. Mokira - 'Storspov / Fjäderreverb'
(taken from Various Artists – Ström - Pausfågeln Remixad - More info here)

9. Stimming - 'Song For Isabelle'
(taken from the album 'Reflections')

10. Fieldhead - 'Of October'

11. Paul Simon - 'Can't Run But'
(taken from the album 'The Rhythm Of The Saints')

12. Lucky Dragons - 'Take Turns'
(taken from the album 'Rara Speaks')

13. Cults - 'Go Outside'

Join the Sleephouse Radio Facebook Page now - and get the podcast in your news feed.

Podcast 18 - The Save 6music Special

2010-03-04T13:22:00.000-08:00

The sad news - the rumour that the BBC is to close down its often excellent radio station 6music was confirmed this week.

The good news - there's been widespread condemnation of the decision and a massive amount of public support for the campaign to save the station from the controller's axe.

This week I've turned Sleephouse over to tunes that've been played on the station (and the Asian Network, which is also facing closure) during the past week.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is precisely what we'll be losing...

Click here to listen now!

Tracklisting:
1. The Impressions - 'We're A Winner'
2. Django Django - 'Wor'
3. Captain Beefheart - 'Big Eyed Beans From Venus'
4. Martin Carthy - 'The Devil And The Feathery Wife'
5. Canned Heat - 'On The Road Again'
6. Ulrich Schnauss: 'Knuddelmaus'
7. Asha Bhosle & Mohammed Rafi — 'Chura Liya Hai'
8. The Fall - 'Edinburgh Man'
9. Eden Ahbez - 'Full Moon'

Join the campaign:

1. The Impressions - 'We're A Winner'

A more fitting way to start the podcast I couldn't think of - Curtis Mayfield really knew how to write a protest song. Lesson number 1: Always focus on the positive. In this case, the incredible music.

A cut from this week's edition of the ever enthusiastic Craig Charles' Funk and Soul Show which goes out prime time on Saturday night.

2. Django Django - 'Wor'

Marc Riley's weekday evening show is often an essential listen, not least for those of us who grew up with the classic Mark and Lard show in the mid-90s. Live sessions, the best in new music and some cracking banter make this show an important part of any emerging band's bread and butter.

Django Django are a case in point - Marc's been hammering the releases of these up-and-coming young chaps for almost a year and he's already had them in for a live session.

Listen to Marc Riley weeknights right here - and buy this 7" single from Django Django's Bandcamp site.

3. Captain Beefheart - 'Big Eyed Beans From Venus'

Stuart Maconie's Freak Zone is a national treasure (© Luke Turner of The Quietus) - and it represents just the kind of show that wouldn't even get elbow room on any other station. Every Sunday evening from 5.30pm Stuart pries the lid of a a great big barrel of crazy and broadcasts a show that heads straight for the outerlimits.

This week's featured album was apparently "Beefheart's most accessible album" - 1972's blistering 'Clear Spot' - but as is normal with music from The Freak Zone that still means it's about as twitchy as a tree full of itchy monkeys.

4. Martin Carthy - 'The Devil And The Feathery Wife'

The ghost of John Peel hovers above everything that 6music does and one of the greatest things about the station is their ability to showcase the incredible 'John Peel Session' Archive.

This week the Freakzone dipped in and pulled out a stunning acoustic set by Martin Carthy, recorded for John Peel's show in 1983 and beginning with a rather endearing flub.

Click here to listen to The Freakzone every Sunday - it will definitely improve your life.

[INTERLUDE - Guy Garvey introduces Canned Heat]

5. Canned Heat - 'On The Road Again'

One of the things that 6music really does well is true passion for music and Guy Garvey's show is perhaps the most obvious example of this. The Elbow lead singer is clearly completely in love with the music he plays and he does a great job of making you fall head over heels too.

He's doesn't really have to try hard with this classic but the story with which he introduced this week was just the kind of a priceless and unique insight that 6music listeners won't get anywhere else.

Listen to Guy Garvey's Finest Hour every Sunday night from 10pm

And yeah, I know this is an obvious track but it's still amazing and that's what 6music is all about - not being a snob, just being an enthusiast.

6. Ulrich Schnauss: 'Knuddelmaus'

Of course, it's not just 6music that's faced with the chop - it's the Asian Network too. And there's been a hell of a lot of "What about the Asian Network? Don't you Indie music types care about that?" comments flying about. I personally have never listened to the Asian Network before but this week I've dipped in my toe.

What I found wasn't Asian in the slightest - he was German and he was making a wonderful DJ mix on a show called 'Pathaan's Musical Rickshaw'. Ulrich Schnauss popped up somewhat unexpectedly and you can listen his DJ mix right here until Sunday (7th March). I'd highly recommend it.

'Knuddelmaus' comes from Ulrich's excellent 'Far Away Trains Passing By' album which came out in 2002.

7. Asha Bhosle & Mohammed Rafi — 'Chura Liya Hai'

It's probably tokenism of the highest order - stereotypical certainly - but I simply had to include this fantastic track from Bollywood great Asha Bhosle. I heard it on this week's edition of Retro Selection on the Asian Network. I have no idea what this song is about but it's beautiful nonetheless. Just like the show that played it.

For me, the bottom line is that a good public service radio station is a something that only a non-commercial entity like the BBC can properly provide. Cut the websites, the magazines, and the expensive foreign TV imports - but keep the things that contribute to understanding, education and community in the UK. Asian Network and 6music are two such things.

8. The Fall - 'Edinburgh Man'

6music and Jarvis Cocker are a match made in broadcasting heaven. His new Sunday Service show is superb - featuring music, art and poetry discussion and readings by Jarvis himself - it's a uniquely English gem.

Just like The Fall, without whom a podcast supporting a station that champions UK independent music would by no means be complete.

This week Jarvis chose this unusually gentle track from 1991's 'Shift Work' album - like John Peel used to say of The Fall: "Always the same, always different."

[INTERLUDE - Jarvis reads 'The Goalkeepers Revenge' by Bill Naughton. Now you don't hear that kinda thing on many radio stations.]

9. Eden Ahbez - 'Full Moon'

It's also thanks to Jarvis' that I now know about the enigmatic Eden Ahbez - a proto hippy in the late 50s who was also responsible for writing the song 'Nature Boy' for Nat King Cole.

I'll be investigating Eden Ahbez further and this is what I love about 6music - and the BBC in general - they both entertain and educate me. One of the very principles at the heart of the corporation's foundation all those years ago.

Help 6music (and The Asian Network hopefully) - join the Facebook group here and find out what you can do to keep these stations alive.

Podcast 17

2010-02-25T01:56:00.000-08:00

I missed a week but I've come out the otherside with a Sleephouse podcast that's somehow decided to theme itself on night and the dawn...

Click here to listen now!

Tracklisting:
1. The Walker Brothers - 'Nite Flights'
2. Archie Bronson Outfit - 'Shark's Tooth'
3. Balam Acab - 'Heavy Living Things'
4. Carl Sagan -'Glorious Dawn' (Featuring Stephen Hawking)
5. Oneohtrix Point Never - 'Hyperdawn'
6. Gil Scott Heron -'I'm New Here'
7. Bill Callahan - 'Night'
8. Jurgen Paape - ' 864M'
9. The Orb - 'Glen Coe'

1. The Walker Brothers - 'Nite Flights'

In 1978 the Walker Brother came together to record an album they all knew would be their last. Their record company was closing down and Scott Walker grabbed the opportunity to record 4 incredible mould-breaking compositions.

This is one of them - the amazing title track. It set Scott Walker on the path to his solo career and as Eno said of the record "it's a disgrace [...] we (musicians) still haven't gotten any further than this."

Track this record down, if you can, download it from iTunes or listen to it on Spotify right here.

It really really needs a physical re-release - so I've started a campaign - join here.

2. Archie Bronson Outfit - 'Shark's Tooth'

The Bronson are back. A new record on Domino, a new lazer viking oddessy of a video and an enhanced chrome-plated sound - their album, 'Coconut', is out March 1st.

Download this song at their website: archiebronsonoutfit.com

3. Balam Acab - 'Heavy Living Things'

Satisfyingly mysterious, Balam Acab are yet another great producer of pleasingly menacing sounds that I was introduced to by the ever-excellent 20 Jazz Funk Greats blog.

Balam Acab MySpace

4. Carl Sagan - 'Glorious Dawn' (Featuring Stephen Hawking)

To lighten the mood, but keeping with this issue's theme of Night, dawn, rebirth and new beginnings, here's autotune's finest moment. For those of us who grew up watching the BBC's Sky At Night and 2001: A Space Odyssey.

You can even buy it on vinyl now apparently - visit Third Man Records here to get it.

5. Oneohtrix Point Never - 'Hyperdawn'

Unpronounceable but flawless synth work that might seem distant and cold at first but really rewards upon repeat listening. I highly recommend the album 'Rifts' for further investigation. At least stick this track out until the dawn chorus breaks. Another one for sci-fi fans.

Oneohtrix Point Never

6. Gil Scott Heron - 'I'm New Here'

Gil Scott Heron's road to this record has been a long one; tiring too, as the mood of this song attests. His new album, his first for 13 years, is really fantastic achievement from a man who from the sounds of it is lucky to still be here, but who's work is worthy of far more credit.

This song, the title track from the record and a Smog cover (from 'River Ain't Too Much To Love') and makes it his own - which is no mean feat.

Visit gilscottheron.net

7. Bill Callahan - 'Night'

A classic but oft-ignored track from Bill's 'Woke On A Whaleheart' record from 2007; a true masterpiece upon looking back.

8. Jurgen Paape - ' 864M'
9. The Orb - 'Glen Coe'

Two tracks from the latest instalment of Kompakt's now almost historic Pop Ambient series, which turns 10 years old this year. Pop Ambient 10 marks the anniversary fittingly with an album that bears an incredible amount of repeat plays and deserves to be as essential a part of your household as your favourite furniture.

Click here to buy this album right now - you will not be disappointed.

Podcast 16

2010-02-11T03:34:00.000-08:00

Yet more Sleephouse Radio... this is becoming somewhat of a habit.

Click here to listen now!

Tracklisting:

1. Beak> - 'Iron Acton'
2. Caribou - 'Odessa'
3. Memory Tapes - 'Green Knight'
4. The Sundays - 'Can't Be Sure'
5. Laura Veirs - 'July Flame'
6. Jarvis Cocker - 'You're In My Eyes' (Discosong) Pilooski Remix
7. Pilooski - 'AAA'
8. Flying Lotus - 'Quakes'
9. Pangaea - 'Because Of You'

Read on for further complications...

1. Beak> - 'Iron Acton'

A cracking piece of motorik krautrocking from a Bristol based band comprising of members of Fuzz Against Junk and Team Brick, not to mention Geoff Barrow from Portishead. Listen to the whole album and buy it at Beak>'s Bandcamp site.

Beak> MySpace

2. Caribou - 'Odessa'

Brand new stuff from the ever dependable Dan Snaith. Heading into hyponogic waters with this new free download (available now at his website) from his forthcoming longplayer 'Swim'.

Caribou MySpace

3. Memory Tapes - 'Green Knight'

I don't believe you really need a reason to play one of the best songs from last year. Other than I thought it would go really great with the Caribou track. If you haven't already got acquainted with Memory Tapes or you've been holding off...

Memory Tapes MySpace

4. The Sundays - 'Can't Be Sure'

Hard to believe that this music is now over 20 years old. It was brought back into my mind this week by a cracking article that celebrates their classic album 'Reading, Writing And Arithmetic' on "quality music website' The Quietus.

Read the article here

5. Laura Veirs - 'July Flame'

Laura Veirs just seems to release album after album of flawless music. The songwriting cannot be faulted while the production subtly draws upon genres of music as wide-ranging as contemporary classical, mathrock, ambient and electronica. It just doesn't shout about it - that's all. The new album 'July Flame', like all those preceding it, is highly recommended.

Laura Veirs Website

6. Jarvis Cocker - 'You're In My Eyes' (Discosong) Pilooski Remix

Jarvis is now broadcasting live to the UK and confirming his national treasure status with aplomb. His 6music show is well worth a listen of a Sunday afternoon. As is this pretty damn dirty remix from French Edit Maestro Pilooski, which rescues a frankly forgettable song from Jarvis' last album 'Further Complications'. Download it below:

7. Pilooski - 'AAA'

More way-out and lost-in-the-jungle genius from Pilooski. A real treat that I can't even begin to classify. It's damn hard to get hold of too. I think Rough Trade still have some copies, so click here and get this tasty vinyl now.

Pilooski MySpace

8. Flying Lotus - 'Quakes'

Living up to its name, this latest offering from Flying Lotus is earthshakingly bass heavy. It's not on the forthcoming album - entitled 'Cosmogramma', out in May and featuring Thom Yorke's vocal chords - but you can find it on this nice and fresh 2010 Warp Records sampler.

Flying Lotus MySpace

9. Pangaea - 'Because Of You'

Really excellent cut (as I believe the kids call it) from London's Pangaea. You can find this dark, brooding little beauty on recently released Pangaea EP and buy it right here.

Pangaea MySpace

Podcast 15

2010-02-04T05:36:00.000-08:00

Happy Official 'End-Of-The-Great-Recession' everyone! Hands-up who's in a party mood?

Don't worry, Sleephouse Radio are offering cheap loans on some excellent high interest soundwaves...

Click here to listen now!

Podcast 15 by sleephouseradio

Tracklisting:
1. The Silvertones - 'Financial Crisis'
2. Stereolab - 'Ping Pong'
3. Joanna Newsom - '81'
4. Pantha Du Prince - 'The Splendour'
5. Bachelorette - 'The National Grid'
6. Grouper - 'Vessel'
7. Frog Eyes - 'A Flower In A Glove'
8. Emeralds - 'Up In The Air'
9. James Blackshaw - 'Cross'

Join The New Sleephouse Facebook Page Now!

Read on for the finer detail...

1. The Silvertones - 'Financial Crisis'

Lee Perry produced reggae to sooth away those recession blues. Find it on a compilation albym entitled 'Produced and Directed By The Upsetter'.

2. Stereolab - 'Ping Pong'

A classic from their 1994 'Mars Audiac Quintet' album, and a pretty stinging, sarcastic but cogent critique of global capitalism from everyone's favourite Marxist pop futurists.

www.stereolab.co.uk

3. Joanna Newsom - '81'

Everybody's talkin'.... and quite rightly so. Ms Newsom serves up some more stunning work. Taken from her triple album, 'Have One On Me', which gets released at the end of the month.

Joanna Newsom @ Drag City

4. Pantha Du Prince - 'The Splendour'

Chilly minimal electro perfectly pitched for this glacial winter weather. Taken from the forthcoming 'Black Noise' record on Rough Trade.

Pantha Du Prince @ MySpace

5. Bachelorette - 'The National Grid'

More goodness from Drag City, Bachelorette hails from New Zealand and makes some blissfully blasted electronic hymns.

Bachelorette @ Drag City

Bachelorette @ MySpace

6. Grouper - 'Vessel'

Liz Harris is becoming unapproachably flawless in her output these days. Unapproachably mysterious too, which is fine by me, as music this good speaks for itself.

Grouper @ MySpace

7. Frog Eyes - 'A Flower In A Glove'

Frog Eyes have just announced a new album, 'Paul's Tomb: A Triumph', to be released April on Dead Oceans. This is the song that opens the record and features the band at their labyrinthine best.

Get more info from Frog Eyes @ Dead Oceans

8. Emeralds - 'Up In The Air'

Continuing Sleephouse's exploration in the recently resurgent ambient music scene, we turn up this little gem (pun intended). Emeralds hail from Cleveland, Ohio and this comes from last year's 'What Happened' record.

Buy Emeralds @ iTunes

www.nofunproductions.com/

9. James Blackshaw - 'Cross'

James Blackshaw makes glorious instrumental chamber music, touched equally by back porch folk musicianship and the concert hall orchestra. John Fahey is a very easy comparison to make, but when I use that comparison it's meant as a high compliment.

James Blackshaw MySpace

James Blackshaw @ Young God Records

Podcast 14

2010-01-28T03:20:00.000-08:00

Welcome, welcome. There's some cracking songs in Sleephouse Radio this week - even if I do say so myself...

Click here to listen now!

Sleephouse Radio - Podcast 14 by sleephouseradio

Tracklisting:

1. Lido Pimienta - 'Mueve'
2. Twin Sister - 'I Want A House'
3. Papercuts - 'White Are The Waves'
4. Matthew Young - 'Objects In Mirror'
5. Benge - '1975 Moog Polymoog'
6. Frightened Rabbit - 'Fun Stuff' (Demo)
7. Nina Nastasia - 'You Can Take Your Time'
8. Tape - 'Come Madellena'
9. Mountains - 'Choral'

Further illumination on this week's music...

1. Lido Pimienta - 'Mueve'

It's not often you come across an artist as instantly impressive as Lido Pimienta - a Colombian who currently makes her home in Canada and quite obviously makes tremendous music there.

I'm on shaky ground of course, as I have no idea what she's singing about - but it's difficult not to get swept up in the blooming euphoria of this song. In fact, I dare you not to love it. The ever-so-slightly warped brass interludes are a particular treat.

Lido Pimienta, one to watch then - in big neon capital letters!

Find out much more about this one women creative powerhouse by visiting her MySpace here - and by reading this great blog about this song. I believe a self-released EP is in the works.

2. Twin Sister - 'I Want A House'

A delicately woven piece of blissed out daydreaming - that strangely puts one in mind of Barry White's Love Unlimited Orchestra - signals the arrival of Twin Sister.

They seem to be offering the whole mini album that this track comes from over at their website for free download. And, while I'm not so sure that is a good idea, there's no doubting the impressiveness of this New York band.

Plus, you can always buy it from iTunes too. I suggest you pay them a visit then:

http://twinsistermusic.com

3. Papercuts - 'White Are The Waves'

Papercuts released a great album last year, an album that quietly bubbled under, garnered a bit of praise but never really broke through. Now they're back with this excellent single and I'm frightened the same thing will happen again. Don't let it.

Download or buy the 7" right here >>>>

4. Matthew Young - 'Objects In Mirror'

When a man wants to make a record with hammered dulcimer, banjo, Casio synth and drum machines - he should bloody well be allowed to. If he wants to take the lyrics "verbatim from a couple of car manuals", I would also fight to the death to maintain his right to do so.

Such was the genesis of this cracking 1986 self-released curio from Matthew Young, which is now being re-issued on Yoga Records.

You can read more about Matthew at the Yoga Records website here, download their $4 dollar sampler album from Other Music here, or - if you don't live in the States - download just this track from iTunes right here.

5. Benge - '1975 Moog Polymoog'

A real gem from 2008, when Benge released a record called 'Twenty Systems' which charted the history of the modern synthesiser and did it beautifully all on one beautifully presented CD.

That's 20 tracks, showcasing 20 different synthesizers, one from each year, and covering the period 1968-1987. "From the first commercially available systems in the late 1960s to the introduction of fully digital systems in the late 1980s. What you hear on each track is the pure sound of an individual instrument."

For more on this record - read an excellent interview with Ben Edwards (or Benge) right here at the fine online magazine The Quietus.

Plus - check out the packaging of 'Twenty Systems' right here!

Benge's Twenty Systems MySpace

6. Frightened Rabbit - 'Fun Stuff' (Demo)

7. Nina Nastasia - 'You Can Take Your Time'

A bit of a label showcase here - from the ever reliable and frequently drop-dead amazing FatCat Records.

Both these two tracks (and much more besides) are featured on a free 13 track sampler which you can download for free if you sign up to the label's mailing list. Click here to do it now! The offer is only on for a month.

I could tell you more, but the quality speaks for itself - besides the folks from FatCat will tell you everything you need to know, direct to your inbox.

Frightened Rabbit MySpace
Nina Nastasia MySpace

8. Tape - 'Come Madellena'

9. Mountains - 'Choral'

Tape are a pastoral instrumental band from Sweden - Mountains are an ambient duo who release on Thrill Jockey. Both are currently on tour with each other in the States. If you are lucky enough to live near any of the shows - which you can see right here - attendance is surely a must. An excellent evening of music surely awaits you.

What's more - the Tape song is a Ennio Morricone cover and you can download it right here for free - and listen to the original right here on Spotify.

Tape MySpace

Mountains MySpace

Issue 13

2010-01-20T03:42:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the first real edition of Sleephouse of 2010...

Click here to listen now!

Tracklisting:
1. Vic Thrill - 'Brevia Buzz Storm'
2. Here We Go Magic - 'Fangela'
3. Sam Amidon - 'How Come That Blood'
4. Fourtet & Burial - 'Wolf Cub'
5. Mount Kimbie - 'Maybes'
6. Skriet - 'Fåglarna'
7. Mount Eerie - 'Ancient Questions'
8. Loscil & Destroyer - 'Certain Things You Ought To Know'
9. Loscil - 'Union Dusk'

Or a fuller explanation...

1. Vic Thrill - 'Brevia Buzz Storm'

Photo: John Brassil

Marc Riley's 6music show is more and more filling the gap left by John Peel's profound absence, especially when he drops lunatic stuff like this right out of the blue.

Released in 2007 and surely beggin' for a re-release, this 9 minute 'Beefheart goes Bollywood' freakout just gets better and better throughout its trance-inducing duration. If you want to find out more about this Brooklyn's Vic Thrill - I'd suggest starting here.

2. Here We Go Magic - 'Fangela'

A real classic that I missed out of the end of year credits. A damn near perfect marriage of dream pop with a strangely appropriate electro underpinning.

Main man, Luke Temple oversees this song's gentle and charming cascades with a winning charm, making me think that there might be just be something in this hypnogogia, afterall.

Here We Go Magic MySpace

3. Sam Amidon - 'How Come That Blood'

The tradional folk runs strong in Sam Amidon's family, but he serves up a real fresh treat for the ears on this song, a complete reworking of an old Appalachian standard, and a song that seems to me haunted by Arthur Russell's Iowa farmboy personna.

Better still he's offering the track for free download right here in exchange for your email address. Not a bad deal, as I'm sure he'll be dropping you a line come March when the full album, 'I See The Sign', is released.

4. Fourtet & Burial - 'Wolf Cub'

It's surely official - after a string of lukewarm releases - Four Tet is thoroughly back on track. The excellent Joy Orbison remix of 'Love Cry' is doing great business and he's just unleashed a fantastic mix from his London DJ reisidency at Plastic People (you can listen to it right here).

Seems to me that Mr Hebden's brush with the dark side (i.e. his collaboration with Burial) has done his the world of good and he's returned rejuvinated from the land of shadows ready to release an album that's as anticipated as anything I can remember from Four Tet. While we wait for 'There Is Love In You''s release, let's celebrate his return to form with the my favourite side of 2009's Four Tet / Burial split 12".

Visit Fourtet.net to listen to a preview of the new record!

5. Mount Kimbie - 'Maybes'

More dubstep influenced stuff from London's Mount Kimbie, this time from the more melodic and sunny side of the genre, courtesy of Hotflush Records.

And although I'm not entirely sure this technically is actually dubstep - I'm pretty goddamn pleased that the genre has sparked a renewed interest in this kind of electronic music again. As I'm sure are these fellas.

Mount Kimbie

6. Skriet - 'Fåglarna'

Photo: Anna Sundström

My further adventures in Scandinavian music continue with this cracker from Swedish band Skriet.

In the old days, when writers had to make you listen to the song without being able to let you listen to it, comparisions with Joy Division would have been banded around. Thank god then for the internet. Just click here and listen to them for yourself and save me the embarrassement. The song title means 'The Birds', by the way.

Skriet MySpace

7. Mount Eerie - 'Ancient Questions'

When I read that Mount Eerie's latest album was "black metal" influenced, I swore I wouldn't listen to it. I softened my position somewhat, but was put off by the loud guitars on the first track when I finally got round to giving it a proper listen.

I don't even know how I came to hear the rest of the record, but somehow it's wormed its way into my heart regardless of my better judgement. In fact, I think it's Phil Elverum's best record in some time. Dammit.

Visit Pwelverumandsun.com for all things Elverum

8. Loscil & Destroyer - 'Certain Things You Ought To Know'
9. Loscil - 'Union Dusk'

After reading a few scraps of hesistant predictions and sniffing the gathering wind - I'm gonna put all my money on a pronounced comeback for drone and ambient this year. Afterall, what do I care? Even if I'm wrong I'll still get to play you some glorious records.

And we're gonna start with the very best - Vancouver's Loscil.

By day, Scott Morgan is a mild-mannered Sound Designer for the video game industry - by night he's one of the finest exponents of minimal ambient around, having released a glittering string of releases over that last decade, all of which I can thoroughly recommend.

He's also played drums with Destroyer and remains a collaborator with Dan Bejar - as evidenced by the first track, a live rehearsal recording of Destroyer's 'Certain Things You Ought To Know' that he posted on his excellent blog last year.

He also quietly slipped out the three track 'Strathcona Variations' as a digital-only release on Ghostly International in the fall of 2009, and 'Union Dusk' is taken from that. You can buy it right here.

I'm sure I've heard rumours of a full length release in 2010 too. Or maybe that's just my wishful thinking. I really hope not.

Visit loscil.ca

Issue 12: Vic Chesnutt Tribute

2010-01-07T06:33:00.000-08:00

This issue of Sleephouse celebrates the life and work of Vic Chesnutt. A wonderful songwriter who died on Christmas Day just gone.

Click here to listen now!

Tracklisting:
1. 'Speed Racer'
2. 'Dying Young'
3. 'Guilty By Association'
4. 'Degenerate'
5. 'Bernadette & Her Crowd'
6. 'Like A Monkey In A Zoo'
7. 'Splendid'
8. 'And How'
9. 'Flirted With You All My Life'

Click here to contribute a donation to help Vic's family pay his medical debts.

Click below for the full versions of the interviews which feature in this show.

Vic's final radio interview on NPR: Songs Of Survival And Reflection: 'At The Cut' (Listen here)

Issue 11: 2009 End Of Term Special

2009-12-17T05:35:00.000-08:00

Welcome weary travelers - this week, not so much a best of 2009 but more of an end of term knees-up mixed with some tongue-in-cheek prize giving. It's by no means completist and it's certainly not in any kind of order.

Click here to listen now!

(Oh yeah, and the videos don't correspond to the songs in the podcast, it's more of a bonus-type thing.)

1. Wild Beasts - 'We've Still Got The Taste Dancin' On Our Tongues'

A stunning and swift return for these young men from Cumbria, The Wild Beasts would get a prize simply for being the only UK band deserving of your faith this year.

Their previous album, 'Limbo Panto', was great, but this year's 'Two Dancers' was even better. Intelligent, original and now thoroughly exhilarating - never has not running with the pack sounded so good.

Wild Beasts MySpace

2. Bob Hund - 'Blommor På Brinnande Fartyg'

Bob Hund have been Sweden's best band for more than 15 years now. I love everything about them, even though I don't understand everything about them. Least of all the lyrics, which are sung in the regional Skåne dialect of Southern Sweden. I certainly have no idea where their unique twisted toy town plink-plonk sound comes from, but the Super Furry Animals always strikes me as a good comparison.

Their album 'Folkmusik För Folk Som Inte Kan Bete Sig Som Folk', released this year after a six year break, is arguably their best yet and a great place to begin your brand new new year's resolution: Learning Swedish!

Bob Hund MySpace

3. Telex - 'En Route Vers de Nouvelles Aventures'

One of my favourite re-issues of the year - and a complete oddball from Belgium (though I'm told they're actually quite well known there).

The song popped up randomly on a blog I was reading and I had to find out more. Early '80s innovators, situationist-type pop personalities with tunes that are catchy as hell. They even entered Eurovision once, you can watch the video of their entry above.

Download The 'Ultimate Best Of Telex' From iTunes right here or visit their site for more information.

4. Atlas Sound- 'Quick Canal' (feat. Laetitia Sadier)

I've always preferred Bradford Cox's solo stuff to Deerhunter and this song is, for me, the best thing he's ever done.

He's certainly a fantastic sonic stylist, but with the help of an eminently qualified quest vocalist to really nail the whole thing down, this is 8 minutes of blissful haze that I can't resist.

Bradford Cox's Amazing Blog!

5. Wooden Shjips - 'Contact'

More haze, gaze or whatever you want to call it from San Francisco's Wooden Shjips now. A band that reward both deep listening or just drifting depending on what mood you are in.

This song is culled from a 12" on the amazing Mexican Summer label and I highly recommend you click here and find out more.

Wooden Shjips MySpace

6. Animal Collective - 'Daily Routine'

There's no doubt in my mind that when we look back on the '00s, the Animal Collective will easily stand out as Band of the Decade.

I'm still waiting for them to put out something that isn't worth listening to - and 'Merriweather Post Pavilion' was a predictably heavy rotation winner in my house.

Animal Collective MySpace

7. Lucky Dragons - 'We Made Our Own Government'

Lucky Dragons were my most exciting musical find of the year, but I don't know why I hadn't heard them before. With their tribal/digital punk Steve Reich sound – they make the same noise as the idea of the perfect band that has always lived in my head.

Thanks to Norman Records for turning me onto them and selling me the beautiful white vinyl LP that is currently my Sunday morning record of choice. I advise you head over to the band's website too, where you can try a hell of a lot of free mp3s before you buy.

Lucky Dragons MySpace

8. Bill Callahan - 'All Thoughts Are Prey To Some Beast'

My favourite quote of the 2009 occurred when Bill Callahan was asked at the end of an interview whether he had anything further to add. He simply said "Can I just say that I made a really great album? "

That might sound arrogant - but once you've spent time with 'Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle', you'll know exactly what he means. Sometimes people really should just shut the fuck up and listen. I thoroughly applaud Bill for both his direct approach and one of his best records yet.

Bill Callahan at Drag City

9. Fever Ray - 'Here Before'

Karin Dreijer Andersson's Fever Ray project has hovered over my 2009 like a rich, dark, black cloud and its unflinching relentless reality has proved comforting, somehow. It's been a really difficult year in many respects and I"m extremely glad that I've had such a mature and honest companion.

Critics and fans alike seem to have embraced this record too - so I guess there's nothing more to do than to play this stunning Vashti Bunyan cover and award a well-deserved Album of the Year honour.

Fever Ray Official Website

Issue 10: End Of Decade Special

2009-12-10T06:27:00.000-08:00

This week we take a trawl through a decade's worth of listening to dig up some oldies but goldies that seemed to have slipped through the net of most of the recent End Of Decade lists.

I'm not saying these are the best songs of the 2000s. Just sayin' they're good songs. I purposely left out a shedload of songs by bands and albums that have been well represented already.

Click here to listen now!

1. The New Year - 'The End's Not Near' (2004)

Helmed by brothers Matt and Bubba Kadane, The New Year have quietly released three flawless long players this decade.

More accessible and alive than their previous '90s incarnation Bedhead, The Kadane Brothers have nevertheless ramped up the misery and ennui to the point where their songs are left dangling somewhere between the deeply moving and the darkly comic.

The New Year MySpace

2. Ugly Casanova - 'Things I Don't Remember' (2002)

Lord knows - Isaac Brock has been more than adequately represented in the End of Decade praise. Modest Mouse's 'Moon and Antarctica' is a fabulous record, but for me it's this 2002 curio that really represents his decade's best work.

Working with Tim Rutili, John Orth and most importantly producer Brian Deck, Brock crafted a record that was entirely representative of its time. The genre was never given a name, but the sound of indie rock embracing sampling and ideas from the avant garde was certainly a new development and Deck was one of its pre-eminent exponents.

An incredible video accompanied the song too. Click above to watch it in all its childish glory now.

Ugly Casanova @ Subpop

3. Tunng - 'Bullets' (2007)

I could never make it through a whole album by Tunng, but in small doses they write some damn catchy melodies. The dark subject matter tastefully cuts the sweetness of the harmonies too.

Mottled with just the kind of audio experimentalism I alluded too in the Ugly Casanova description, 'Bullets' is for me their finest work to date.

Tunng MySpace

4. Tujiko Noriko - 'Narita Made' (2003)

This song features probably my favourite production of all time, minimal but huge and perfectly pitched to please my ear, this song in headphones is a real brain-tickler.

I remember seeing Tujiko Noriko in Vancouver the year this came out and being utterly amazed. Fennesz and Tim Hecker played at the same festival and in retrospect it was probably the last time laptop music would be so exciting as a movement.

Tujiko Noriko Website

5. Donnacha Costello - 'Orange A' (2004)

An incredibly warm and accessible example of minimal tech house or whatever you care to call it.

Dublin-based Costello released a series of colour-themed 12 inches throughout the decade and they're more than worthy of a little attention. You can purchase the collected Colorseries works right here.

Donnacha Costello MySpace

6. Einstürzende Neubauten - 'Youme & Meyou' (2004)

Stately song craft and pleasing aural arrangements are not what people instantly think of when Einstürzende Neubauten get mentioned. Then again, there's a fair amount of myth and confusion connected to this band.

As perfect a song as you could ever hope to hear, featuring an percussion instrument made of pipes that's captured my imagination ever since. Watch the video and tell me you aren't tempted to build one yourself.

Einstürzende Neubauten Website

7. Sieben - 'Rite For The Unfulfilled' (2007)

Photo credit: Pyhai

I used to work in a cinema and I can confirm that this song resonates with a certain ring of truth.

Sieben is the solo project of Matt Howden and features work he creates with just violin, loop pedal and voice. Completely ignored by anything approaching mainstream attention, he's nevertheless created some excellent work over the years and it more than deserves your ear. So go seek him out.

Sieben MySpace

8. Do Make Say Think - 'White Light Of' (2002)

Post Rock will remain forever the sound of the previous decade but one of its finest moment actually occurred in 2002 with the release of an album called '& Yet & Yet' by Do Make Say Think.

I know they call it Canadian Space Rock themselves, and I'm perfectly okay with that. Especially if they continue to be one of the finest live bands on the planet. A serious must see - and that's not just a clichéd turn of phrase.

Do Make Say Think MySpace

9. Songs: Ohia - 'Peoria Lunch Box Blues' (2003)

Photo credit: Steve Gullick

I've always known that Jason Molina has an army of diehard followers but I've never been one of them. I can't even remember how I found this song.

I think it may have been because of the guest vocalist Scout Niblett. I've always been fond of her ever-so-slightly off kilter vocals and I don't ever think they've ever been deployed as effectively as on this stand-out from Song Ohia's 2003 Magnolia Electric record.

Songs: Ohia MySpace

Issue 9

2009-12-03T05:32:00.000-08:00

Oh god... not more music from Sleephouse Radio....

Click the image to download, or listen using the player to the right. This show can also be subscribed to as a podcast by copying the address of the RSS link in the sidebar into the podcast receiver of your choice. It's all so simple

(40MB, 44 mins. MP3 file)

1. Units - 'High Pressure Days'

Simply stunning - and almost unbelievable - electro punk from 1979. I'd never heard Units until this week when their retrospective album caught my eye while I looking for vinyl finds at my favourite online record shop.

Coincidentally, one of my favourite online magazines ran a great interview with the lead singer the very next day. I could tell you about the hitherto unknown history of the early days of synth punk in San Francisco - but you'd be far better off getting it from the horse's mouth by reading John Doran's excellent interview here.

Units MySpace

2. Major Lazer - 'Hold The Line'

2009 listmania has everyone foaming at the mouth right now. And to be honest, I'm wondering whether it's worth adding my voice to the hue and cry - but I will use the occasion to play what is, hands down, my favourite pop single of the year.

I so wanted 'Hold The Line' to be an authentic exotic artefact, but now I'm quite happy knowing that it's the hyperactive product of arguably the world's best production team (Diplo and Switch), a Jamaican Dancehall legend (Mr Lexx) and a fairly atypical US pop star (Santogold).

I'm making no claims to its intellectual worth - all I know is that it makes me smile, dance and, most importantly, get damn excited about how even the craziest of sounds can be sculpted into something as additively listenable as this.

Major Lazor MySpace

3. Early B - 'Deaf Ears'

While we're making lists and handing out accolades - Simon Reynolds is by far the best music in the world ever. The contest is over, people. I've recently been reading his 'Bring The Noise' compilation and the chapter on Dancehall got me so excited that I had to check out this completely unfamiliar genre.

This, in turn, lead me to Soul Jazz's The Rise Of Jamaican Dancehall compilation from last year and this excellent track here from the now sadly deceased Early B.

There's something so refreshing about discovering a genre of music so alien and I'm still a bit lost in the rush and haze of discovery to have anything meaningful to say.

The Soul Jazz compilation is well worth your time though, especially as it comes as the partner to a book of pictures from the period taken by Beth Lesser. Peep some right here.

Buy At Soul Jazz Records

4. Small Black - 'Despicable Dogs'

Pleasingly distorted keyboards and synths seem to be one of the things we'll remember about 2009 - I know they've called it hypnagogic pop - and I'm certain that Small Black will be included together with the breaking Chillwave.

I'm sure you've heard them all talking about it - and I'm sure it's pretty unfair on Small Black to mention in conjunction with them. Bands have feelings too, you know?

This is simply a good song, like they used to make with guitars before all these kids muscled out the grandpas and took over.

Small Black MySpace

5. Apollo Ghosts - 'Dobermanns'

Vancouver is always a good stop-off if you’re looking for a decent band. Apollo Ghosts are just another great hidden gem from a city that really has a lot to recommend it.

Local radio station CiTR is always worth a listen and be sure to check out Apollo Ghosts and buy all their lovely records.

Apollo Ghosts MySpace

6. Real Estate – 'Suburban Dogs'

There’s been something in the water of the garden state of New Jersey this year – something psychedelic from the sound of the great musical output that’s been flowing from the place in recent months.

Real Estate are certainly the best of the bunch in my estimation and they totally sound like a band that’s going places with their music… they’re just going quite slowly that’s all. No need to rush. No need at all. Beautiful relaxed stuff.

Real Estate MySpace

7. Ducktails – 'Parasailing'

Matt Mondale is Ducktails. He’s also a member of Real Estate. And his releases have been yet another reason why this small nexus of bands and musicians have been getting wider attention.

Pleasingly knockabout punkish-prog ambience from a fella who clearly knows where it’s at.

Ducktails MySpace

8. Bjørn Torske - 'Møljekalas'

I recently set up a new home in the socialist winter paradise of Norway and I've been doing my bit to learn the lingo and get with the local colour, habits, and lifestyle.

I'm a big fan of most stuff here, but the music scene still eludes my grasp somewhat. This is the first in what will probably prove to be a casual series charting my exploration of Norwegian music over the last few years.

I'm reliably informed that Bjørn Torske's 'Feil Knapp' is one of the finest examples of the cosmic disco that's been beaming live out of Oslo's Smalltown Supersound scene in recent years. Damn good it is too.

Plus, it seems to be named after a Christmas food, so it's also kinda topical.

Bjørn Torske MySpace

9. Beach House - 'Norway'

I'm still not entirely sure about the woozy keyboard pitch shifting - and I'm even less sure about it's connection to my new home of Norway - but if you needed proof that sometimes the majority does get it right - then look no further than this song.

Massively popular over the last few weeks, this new nugget from Beach House has set expectation ablaze for their forthcoming album 'Teen Dream'. And, indeed, only a true cynic would deny them or the greatness of this song.

Beach House MySpace

Issue 8

2009-11-25T16:06:00.000-08:00

Hey there folks! Remember me? Your favourite neighbourhood purveyor of musical nuggets?

I do hope so because I've got some more cracking gems for you in this return issue. Afterall, what's four years wait among friends?

To listen, click the book image below or use the flash player in the sidebar.

This show can also be subscribed to as a podcast by copying the address of the RSS link in the sidebar into the podcast receiver of your choice. It's all so simple

(60MB, 63 mins. MP3 file)

1. The Dirty Projectors - 'My Offwhite Flag'

As it's pretty much certain that Dirty Projectors will quite rightly claim the top spot in most end of year polls, I couldn't think of a better way of begin Sleephouse again after a long hiatus than with this roughly-hewn gem.

Despite the relentless progress this band have made throughout the latter half of the decade, for me it's the first song that I ever heard from Dave Longstreth that remains my own personal favourite.

"It's been a while since I played the game..."

Dirty Projectors MySpace

2. Tune-Yards - 'Hatari'

This song - the product of one woman, a ukulele, drums and a loop pedal - snuck up on me one day while listening to Marc Riley's 6music show.

Merrill Garbus - for that is her name - turned in a stunning live version of 'Hatari' that night and I've been trying in vain to track down an mp3 of the performance ever since.

This album version nearly captures the magic I heard on the radio, but it seems she's getting better the more she tours and plays - comparing the album recordings with this great 4AD live session bears this assessment out and makes me expectant of future releases.

Tune-Yards MySpace

3. Cold Cave - 'Life Magazine'

Their name is tripping off all the right tongues at the moment but I'm yet to be fully convinced by them for an entire album's duration but they come close. I'll just never be that drawn to the dark side.

That said, this track is a sure fire winner - all buzzing synths and vocals that echo in your head way after the song's finished.

Cold Cave MySpace

4. Gentle Friendly - 'RIP Static'

Something stirs in South London and it's very probably shaking the grime from the buildings there with what looks like a ferocious live equipment set-up. I mean, jesus - look at that all those control panels and mixings desks.

Accordingly, Gentle Friendly set controls for the heart of the sun, and navigate their psychedelic voyage with no mean amount of radio-friendly skill. their freshly released debut album 'Ride Slow' is a real grower, buzzing with exuberance and shot through with a shitload of fuzzy ideas.

Gentle Friendly MySpace

5. Kurt Vile - 'Freak Train'

The word on the street has been feverish for Kurt Vile all-year-long. Three massive releases had already bubbled under before he dropped his "major indie label" debut with 'Childish Prodigy' on Matador last month.

'Freak Train' is taken from that Matador release and I don't really wanna say anything other than recommending it as a damn good listen.

Kurt Vile MySpace

6. Kurt Vile - 'Best Love'

The previous song showcases Kurt Vile's ability to mash together accepted rock cliches and come out with something fresh and exciting - that's no mean feat considering we're some 40-odd years from 'Subterranean Homesick Blues'.

This song flips to the otherside of the coin: with Kurt casting himself as the bedroom recording ambient mystic. It's equally as essential and I can highly recommend the purchase of any of his releases over the past year or so.

'Best Love' is taken from 'Constant Hitmaker' but 'God Is Saying This To You' and 'The Hunchback' EP are just as winning.

Kurt Vile MySpace

7. Harmonia & Eno 76 - 'Sometimes In Autumn' (Shackleton Remix)

A wetdream inside the malfunctioning brain of a HAL 9000 - this remix ticks just about every box a geek could ever hope for.

Legendary 70s ambient masterpiece- check! Present-day minimal-tech refit - check! Available on 12" vinyl with an Appleblim remix on the b-side - check, mate! Direct your hard-earned dollars earnt while programming C++ in the direction of Norman Records or some such reputable outlet.

Amazing Records Website

8. Yoko Ono + John Lennon - 'Every Man Has A Woman Who Loves Him'

Reunions are never what you expect them to be - this year I've had the pleasure of a reunion with my vinyl record collection after a decade of separation (It was stored in my parent's garage - fact fans)

For some reason 'Double Fantasy' has been a sticker on my turntable ever since, and has resonated through my house since January.

While listening, it's really struck me how much I must have grown since I last heard the record. I still love John's songs but now it's Yoko's stuff that has caught my presumably more mature attention.

The Beatles-loving teenager had invariably skipped these songs but now I'm really loving them. It's weird how an album that I thought of as so familiar has proved to be so alien and exciting. And it's all thanks to Yoko and the impatient teenager I used to be. Thanks be to both.

9. Yoko Ono & The Plastic Ono Band - 'Mind Train'

The second train song this week, the second Yoko Ono song too and my second explanation of why I'm showcasing her stuff. From the 1971 album 'Fly'

I'm happy to see that a critical acceptance of her and her multifarious talents has been growing in the public mind over recent years. I fully support this and to advance her standing further in the eyes of any dinosaur-minded doubters that still remain I offer up this unsteady load of fatback groove to career us all out of the show this week. Enjoy the ride and I'll see you next week.

Top 30 Songs of 2008 - Part Three

2008-12-24T14:40:00.000-08:00

Ladies and gentlemen - the final furlong: the 10 Best Songs Of 2008. Enjoy them all via the magic of the youtube playlist below:

10. Vic Chesnutt, Elf Power And The Amorphous Strums: 'And How'
Vic Chesnutt teams up with Elf Power for a song that pitches the listener an absurdist curveball. An urban fairytale, complete with nursery rhyme jauntiness that leaves one just as confused about its subject matter as its possible to be. Catchy hell it is too.

9. Jonquil: 'The Weight Of Lying On Your Back'
Sometimes songs are just so perfectly conceived, so full of energy and excitement that you can't help but surf the surge of joy that wells up every time you hear them. This is one of those songs. A cracking tune and a band to watch.

8. Grouper: 'Heavy Water / I'd Rather Be Sleeping'
I'm a huge fan of delay and reverb, especially when it's so deftly controlled as it is here. In fact, this song is so beautiful and finely spun that to say any thing more would run the risk of destroying the delicate magic that holds it together.

7. High Places: ' From Stardust To Sentience'
A band well and truly of their time and all the better for it. We're now at the point where skillful practitioners of the form, like Rob Barber and Mary Pearson, can not only make the machines talk and sing but breath too.

6. One More Grain: 'Jon Hassellhoff'
I wasn't in this band when they recorded this song, but when I heard it I knew I had to join. The marriage of Daniel Patrick Quinn's thick freeform thought soup and Andrew Blick's fine eerie trumpet drone and call. The rhythm section is excellent too. It's a shame that the band is no more, but this song will always sound this way, and that's the important thing. It's pretty much the only thing I care about.

5. Sigur Ros: 'Goobledigook'
By far and away the best song that Sigur Ros have ever written, as swirling, tempestuous and invigorating as the wind that blows in off the North Atlantic to torment the Icelandic people.

4. The New Year: 'The Company I Can Get'
This was the year I woke up and realised I don't want my musical heroes to be drug-adled stargazy waifs anymore - I want them to be learned men, men who've seen life and what it's got to give. Maybe they could even be history professors, then I'd really respect them.

3. Wild Beasts: 'His Grinning Skull'
The one truly exciting British band to emerge this year, and one with more than a whiff of The Smiths stately otherworldly poise. Not that the Beasts sounded like anything other than themselves, you understand. Thrillingly original and willfully obtuse at times. I saw them live more times than I can remember and was consistently flawed. Cheers to you, chaps!

2. Animal Collective: 'Street Flash'
Their alchemistic fingerprints were everywhere this year, and not just on their own record: the 'Water Curses' EP. But it was this release that contained their finest work to date. 'Street Flash' feels like the distillation of what this band have always promised, a swirling dayglow psychedelic masterpiece that's as accessible and welcoming as it is playful and interesting.

1. Destroyer: 'Shooting Rockets (From The Desk Of Night's Ape)'
From the moment 'Trouble In Dreams' arrived in the bleak tail end of winter there was something about this song that perfectly encapsulated 2008; the financial crisis, the end of decadence, even the sickening Chinese Olympic fervour was somehow conjured. It's the sound of something huge and overblown collapsing and falling in on itself and a song so huge and nebulous that I was lost in it for weeks. A masterfully arch piece of work that turned summer breeze into an ill wind.

"It's a terrible feast we've been stuffing our faces on..."

Top 30 Songs of 2008 - Part Two

2008-12-23T16:26:00.000-08:00

Yet more pointless self-important compulsive listing is to be found in Part Two of Sleephouse's Top 30 songs of 2008.

Listen to or watch the lot in the youtube playlist below:

20. Mountain Goats: 'San Bernardino'
Yet more predictably awesome songwriting from John Darnielle, and the song that most consistently stopped me in my tracks from his 'Heretic Pride' record.

19. Invisible Conga People: 'Cable Dazed'
Everyone lost their shit for the Italians Do It Better label this year, but I often failed to see the attraction. This ICP 12" was the only release that really moved me. A snaky little piece of future hippy bleep that made me want to dance. In an art gallery. In slow motion.

18. Vapid: 'Do The Earthquake'
An intensely catchy 7" nugget of wax from a friend's label in Vancouver. A part Riot Grrrl, part pissed-up punk shaker. This band might be the start of something new, or they might not. Who cares? Let's all dance before "The Big One" hits and we're all sucked into the ocean.

17. The Constantines: 'Our Age'
They switched from Subpop to the lovely Arts & Crafts label but the move didn't make them miss a single step. They still make the best "proper" music going and 'Kensington Heights' was their most mature release yet. Is anyone listening though?

16. Dosh: 'If You Want To, You Have To'
I've never been an Anticon head, but the 'Wolves And Wishes' record from Dosh was a big favourite of mine this year. The intro to this makes me think of the theme to 'Chariots Of Fire' and I was often to be found sprinting to catch the 390 bus while this played in my ears and spurred me to a photo finish...

15. Chad VanGaalen: 'City Of Electric Light'
I haven't lived in Canada for almost 5 years now, but I miss it like hell sometimes. Chad VanGaalen's 'Soft Airplane' is just another reason why I wish I was back there.

14. No Kids: 'Bluster In The Air'
After previewing a few taster tracks, I truly thought this album would be an underground hit. However, after hearing the rest of the record, I can now understand why the world might not yet be ready for a librarians-only slowjam block party. I'd be there though, trying to blend in with my fake glasses, getting jiggy between the shelving.

13. Beach House: 'Gila'
Stately majestic improvements to a previously modest but perfectly respectable dwelling. Flawlessly finished throughout.

12. Fleet Foxes: 'White Winter Hymnal'
There's no need to contribute to the hyperbolic snowstorm that surrounds this record and its worthy makers. A now-classic song and perfect for this time of year too. "Keep their little heads from falling in the snow..."

11. Samamidon: 'Wedding Dress'
I spent pretty much all of 2008 thinking "This has been a crap year for music." Then, quite recently, I found this song in an end of year list and realised I was wrong. There's been some great music made in 2008. I'd just been listening to British radio.

Top 30 Songs Of 2008 - Part One

2008-12-22T15:58:00.000-08:00

After much stalling and a hiatus that was truly epic - Sleephouse Radio emerges from the wilderness just in time for a Christmas treat - a Top 30 Songs Of 2008 rundown (in order no less).

Part One is below, Part Two comes tomorrow and Part 3 will be slipped under your tree on Christmas Eve. Enjoy...

Listen to 30 to 21 right here (in this Youtube playlist):

30. El Guincho: 'Palmitos Park'
29. Dodos: 'Fools'
2008 was the year when the Animal Collective's influence was truly felt in indie music. Plenty of releases proudly wore the eclectic tribal allegiance to their heroes on their sleeve, including these two excellent efforts from El Guincho and Dodos, the former aping the loopy party vibes of Panda Bear's 'Person Pitch' album and the latter stealing some of 'Sung Tongs'' ample acoustic joy.

28. Fennesz: 'Vacuum'
For whatever reason, I listened to a hell of a lot of ambient music this year. Most of it old stuff and a large portion of it was made by Fennesz. Truth be told I'm still getting to grips with this new work from the old master but the song functions perfectly as a deft representation of what 2008 sounded like for me most of the time.

27. Portishead: 'The Rip'
I can't say that I was looking forward to Portishead's return very much. I didn't even spend much time listening to it. A performance of this song on Jools Holland's TV show stuck in my head though. Never has restraint been such an effective tool.

26. Silver Jews: 'San Francisco B.C.'
The first in a number of songs introduced to me by the ever magnificent Chris-a-riffic and his unmissable radio show on CiTR. A picaresque adventure from Dave Berman revealing a teemingly febrile imagination lurking in the cracks of what was an ultimately disappointing Silver Jews record.

25. Those Dancing Days: 'Hitten'
A solid gold office favourite where I work. We went to see them and it was hard not to feel like a dirty old man - a total indie boy boner party (arguably the “ Pop Culture Term Of The Year” courtesy of my good friend Saelan). Question: Why are Swedish girls so fucking stylish in just that particular way?

24. Mount Eerie: 'Voice In Headphones'
Phil Elverum and Bjork are two large gravitational forces in my record collection. 'Voice In Headphones' is Phil's homage to her genius and probably his best recording in years.

23. The Sea & Cake: 'Weekend'
One of my all-time favourite bands, seemingly back on form with an all-too-short summer time blast of electro-jazz-what-have-you. It's probably best listened to while watching the song's video - a Gus Van Sant jizz flick if ever I saw one.

22. David Byrne + Brian Eno: 'Strange Overtones'
I've been going for Talking Heads in a big way in the last quarter of this year, so this album came just at the right time. I'm still not sure about some of the production, but David Byrne bucks the usual trend and to show that songcraft can indeed be something that gets better with age.

21. Neon Neon: 'Belfast'
A neat little history lesson wrapped in song. Check it out people - that's what wikipedia's there for. Gruff Rhys, and his cohort Boom Bip, really achieved something with this record. Well-read and intelligent pop that retains a playful edge. A perfect postmodern piece of work that flew mostly over the heads of the entire population.

Stay tuned for Part Two tomorrow.

Anyone got a kazoo?

2006-09-15T05:25:00.000-07:00

Sleephouse's extended summer holiday is almost over and I'll be back with a new issue in the near future. Here's a little something to keep you going until then.

Climbing gingerly on the back of the beast of hyperbole, last night I was fortunate enough to witness one of the best gigs I've ever seen in my short little life. It was I'm From Barcelona's debut London show and it was an absolute belter. I guarantee that unless you are a complete stone-cold-hearted bastard there is no way that you will leave their show without a smile on your face.

To the alarming operatic strains of Freddy Mercury's and Montserrat Caballé's 'Barcelona' I'm From Barcelona took to the stage in hail of enthusiasm, confetti and balloons and they just didn't stop until the whole of the audience was either on stage dancing or completely swept away in a tsunami of grinning good vibes. I can honestly say that I've never seen so many hearts melt and faces beam in my entire life.

Here's two songs from last night's performance.

'Chicken Pox'

'Collection of Stamps'

I'm From Barcelona have a few more shows in England coming up in the near future. Here they are:

Friday 15th September @ How Does It Feel To Be Loved?, Jamm, London
Saturday 16th September @ Rough Trade Shop, Covent Garden, London
Sunday 17 September @ The End of The Road Festival

You really need to see this band, and don't forget to bring your kazoo!

Buy their album too. Here's my review of it for Playlouder.com:

I'm From Barcelona: Let Me Introduce My Friends (Mute)

Have A 'Little Heart'

2006-05-30T11:44:00.000-07:00

Setting Up (Small), originally uploaded by sleephouseradio.

Hey there people! Well, it’s been quite a while, hasn’t it? Sleephouse 8 is coming soon, most probably later in the week. Apologies, but as I’m always telling you—I’m real lazy.

Until then, here’s hoping that this update holds you over. Sleephouse hasn’t been completely idle in the intervening weeks since Issue 7. No, my dear listeners, the summer’s here (almost) and I’ve been out and about. Since the last show I’ve taken in some excellent gigs from the likes of Black Mountain, The Pink Mountaintops, The Shins, The Gossip and Serena Maneesh.

I’ve been drinking heavily and abusing my body in a most grotesque manner, so last Wednesday afternoon’s genteel outing to see Mount Eerie was welcome indeed. Held at the hangover-accommodating hour of 1pm, and a free gig to boot ( though I contributed £3 voluntarily), the show’s venue was, inexplicably, but somehow fittingly, a beautiful old library in the London School of Economics. The very university where Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones was first taught the principles of penny-pinching on a grand scale, and from which he would ultimately drop out of, in order to, according to his professor, “form a skiffle band.”

And, though no pouty snake-hipped dancing was in evidence, the gig was a great little intimate affair, with Phil Elverum playing some of his lesser known stuff, in an attempt to not repeat anything from a set he had played at a show the previous evening. He was supported by Geneviève Castrée, who is the wonderful Woelv and Elverum’s partner. The show was put together by the excellent London/Northampton-based collective called Undereducated. They release records, put out zines and organise shows. Make yourself friendly with them at their myspace or their very own website.

Here’s a little bit of film I managed to catch, a performance of the song 'O Little Heart'.

And, in a further attempt to convert you to his cause, here’s my favourite ever Mount Eerie song:

Wooly Mammoth's Absence (MP3)

It’s taken from the Seven New Songs of Mt. Eerie EP. Phil’s website sells loads of goodies, and though this EP is currently out of print, the ever generous Mr Elverum has provided the whole thing for free download. All you have to do is go to this site (which seems to be down right now but I’m sure it’ll come back soon).

I’ll see you later in the week.

Issue 7

2006-04-21T09:20:00.000-07:00

There’s more than a whiff of retro-ism about Issue 7 of Sleephouse Radio. But am I apologetic? Of course not—you have to know your history to be able to separate the wheat from the chaff. And with so many musical thieves out there these days, just waiting for the appropriate opportunity to pass off some old tat as their own work of original genius, you can thank your lucky stars that Sleephouse is here to disseminate the good from the bad. What follows is the good stuff, artists that take from the past but add something new to it in some small way. There’s a genuine lost gem of an oldie too.

To listen, simply download the audio file of the show (by clicking the image below) or use the flash player in the sidebar. This show can also be subscribed to as a podcast by copying the address of the RSS link in the sidebar into the podcast receiver of your choice. It’s all so simple…

(40MB, 43 mins. MP3 file)

1. Jens Lekman: A Sweet Summer’s Night on Hammer Hill (Secretly Canadian)

Nothing adds to the career of a pop singer like a bit of “will he?/won’t he?” speculation. Devotees of this politely spoken Swede were dismayed earlier this year when reports emerged of his intention to quit the music business for an extended period of soul searching and life adjustment.

Thankfully, whether this was actually a fully-formed idea in the mind of Lekman or just a bit of unsavoury media insinuation, Jens now seems to have shelved the plan and is throwing himself into his musical career wholeheartedly. He’s got a spritely US tour in the offing and will hopefully soon follow up his intermittently magnificent album, When I Said I Wanted to be Your Dog, with something truly befitting of his genius. This track comes from the rarities and b-sides collection Oh You’re So Silent Jens and it shows that the young man knows a thing or two about how to make a track sound classic.

2. Sunset Rubdown: A Day in the Graveyard II (Global Symphonic)

Just what a “Sunset Rubdown” involves is anybody’s guess. But as long as it’s soundtracked by this talented Canadian (Spencer Krug, Top Right) and includes a “happy ending” then count me in.

Long before Wolf Parade took the maple leaf to parts unknown, Spencer Krug’s bedroom project Sunset Rubdown has allowed his musical creativity free reign to develop unchecked. To be honest, this made for music that was pretty hit and miss: plenty of towering highs but plenty of indulgent lows too. But let’s not be too hard on the boy, after all he was a member of the first incarnation of Frog Eyes at the same time and one’s creativity can only stretch so far, right?

Sunset Rubdown is a different proposition these days, however. Now decked out with a full complement of permanent band members, and preparing to release the album Shut Up I am Dreaming, it seems they have sharpened their focus dramatically. The songs still meander and sprawl in an alarming number of different directions, but they now satisfy the listener with a distinct sense of purpose. As is evidenced from this song, taken from an album teaser of an EP released on Global Symphonic earlier this year, what was once a sideline could end up overshadowing Spencer's already successful day job.

3. Lilys: With Candy (Manifesto)

When The Shins shot to fame and Natalie Portman uttered those immortal words in the film Garden State: “[They’ll] change your life.” The Lilys frontman Kurt Heasley must have a cursed a blue streak a mile long. The Lilys have toiled in indie mines of obscurity for years now, forever on the lip of mainstream acceptance but always having to settle for the frustrating moniker of cult band.

Well, with their new album, Everything Wrong Is Imaginary, just dropped, hope may come from the unlikeliest of sources, that of a potty-mouthed ingénue helming a two-piece shoegazing band who write songs with titles like 'You Fuck Like Your Dad'. That’s right Annie Hardy of Giant Drag, NME’s latest flavour of the month, is a big fan of Lilys and can be found on her website spouting the following eulogy:

“What am I so excited about that I feel the need to exclaim it?! […]i will tell you what i am excited about: the new Lilys record! […] why are the lilys the greatest? i suppose the bigger question is why don’t more people know and love them? is everyone way dumb or has there been some foul play? i suspect a bit of each. tell your mothers all you want for christmas is the entire lilys catalog. oh, and giant drag’s hearts and unicorns...sorry, they make me say that.”

Well, the girl does make a point now, doesn’t she? Why haven’t you bought this record already? If you haven’t, and you own a copy of either Oh Inverted World or Chutes Too Narrow, at least do the decent thing and support the band that made all this possible. That band, my friend, is Lilys.

4. Euros Childs: Costa Rita (Wichita)

The Welsh have always have always exhibited a very particular grasp on reality. And before you go burning down my holiday cottage, let me say that I’m almost always a fan of any music that appears from this valley-riven and well-mountained territory. Converted to the power of Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci during a particularly extreme doubleheader of gig headlined by a pre-crap Spiritualised at the Sheffield Octagon in 1997, I’ve been a devotee of their mushroom-headed psych pop for a good few years now.

I’ve always seen Euros Childs as the driving force behind Gorky’s and that (perhaps unfair) assessment is born out by the evidence of his first solo album Chops. Mellifluous harmonies ride on the backs of donkeys while Bossa Nova beats help sell ice creams on a British sea front. Hardened cynics may find Childs' world a tad too sugary sweet, but anyone who’s inner child has survived into today’s brutal adulthood will be delighted by an album that flouts reality’s usual conventions with such glee. No album will turn this spring into summer so quickly as Euros Childs’ Chops. Play it loud, open your windows and coax nature into action.

5. El Perro Del Mar: God Knows (You Gotta Give To Get) (Memphis Industries)

Phil Spector’s ludicrously vain afro looms large over many a new hope for music this year. Up and coming acts like The Pipettes and The Long Blondes both owe a certain amount of their studied charm to Spector’s patented Wall of Sound/Girl Group template.

But despite the undoubted talent of the aforementioned artists, no one nails the ethereal calm and otherworldly appeal of the old nutter’s music like El Perro Del Mar and her song ‘God Knows’.

El Perro Del Mar is the gorgeous work of sultry Swede Sarah, who gained a fair amount of deserved attention when she appeared on a split release with fellow countryman Jens Lekman last year. She’s recently signed to Memphis Industries and is preparing to release an album from which ‘God Knows’ shimmies forth. A song so classic the Twelve Inch probably smells of thirty-year-old dust and charity shops, and were there any justice in the world this song would be number one with a bullet. This song aims for great things and hits the target dead centre. If only the beleaguered Mr Spector had done the same. Don’t miss it! Shall I go on? No…you got it, right? Here’s a hint.

6. Mia Doi Todd: My Room is White [Flying Lotus Remix] (Plug Research)

If there’s one genre that Sleephouse has ignored in the past, it’s hip hop. Call me a hopeless indie white boy if you will (hey, I deserve it), but I just don’t feel qualified to direct you to the next big smoking hip hop joint, blood. (Though: Gnarls Barkley--now I like the cut of that young fellas jib, what what?)

But I do know a crispy fried beat when I hear one and if the grapevine is anything to go by then Flying Lotus is set to be the next big producer in the leftfield hip hop world. He might sound like your favourite Chinese restaurant, but the way Flying Lotus chops and dices Mia Doi Todd’s ‘My Room Is White’ would make this song dish of the day in many a fine establishment.

To be fair Mia Doi Todd might have something to do with it as well. Her smoky tones have always eluded me in the past, but the soon to be released remix album, La Ninja: Amor and Other Dreams of Manzanita, from which this song is taken, might just have hooked me. I look forward to investigating these artists further, and should you wish to you can do the same. Set browsers to stun and teleport to Myspace station A or B.

7. Add N to (X): King Wasp (Family Recordings)

Jarvis Cocker has a funny name, a funny dress sense and, on the evidence of the compilation album The Trip (Family Recordings), a bloody funny taste in music too. But like his unlikely moniker and his geek chic threads the music presented on this album just plain works.

Put together in collaboration with his fellow Pulp-ster Steve Mackey, The Trip is fantastic journey through the baroque and freakish record collection of these two northern gentlemen. Lee Hazelwood rubs shoulders with the Birthday Party, while The Fall barge past 60s crooner Gene Pitney spilling his drink all over OMD and The Human League. Yup, it’s hardly your average post party comedown mix. In fact, were you to slip this on in the company of the average popped-out pillhead you’d have to scrap him off the ceiling before you’d got round to the second CD.

A song with particular paranoia-producing prowess is this crawling king snake of a song from late-90s boffins Add N to (X). Originally released in 1997, with a 3D cover illustration no less, this is a true lost wonder that buzzes white hot noise all over Bo Diddley’s gently shuffling ‘50s slacks. Absolute crookedly, crackling genius.

8. Screaming Lord Sutch: Flashing Lights (Family Recordings)

Screaming Lord Sutch might be better known as the perennial comedy vote in British General Elections of the ‘80s: His Monster Raving Loony Party was the only welcome political raspberry any child growing up in Thatcher’s Britain could look forward to on the Election Day 5 o’clock News. I will always thank Lord Sutch for his humour and steadfast commitment in the face of certain defeat and many a lost deposit. He brightened my early life. Little did I know that he’d also been a pop star in waiting in the early '70s, one that unfortunately failed to launch into the famous firmament.

In this second song from The Trip compilation Cocker and Mackey have dug up a great cod-psych work out that, despite the critical panning that all Sutch’s albums received, 'Flashing Lights' is actually a hell of a lot of fun. Consider, too, that it features some supremely muscular session work from the recently Led-Zepped Jimmy Page (who also produced the album) and John Bonham and an unemployed Noel Reading (fresh from his dismissal from the Jimi Hendrix Experience). Even more interesting is the fact that it appears to be the place where the Stones Roses originally plundered their fool’s gold. The cheeky Manc monkeys.

9. Liars: The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack (Mute)

Emerging from the smoking rubble of the NYC new wave explosion at the turn of the millennium, Angus Andrew and his fellow Liars found themselves missing half their band and a captivating musical direction.

Settling down as a three piece, and trying to live up to the frighteningly gargantuan hype that surrounded their debut They Threw Us All in a Trench… Angus and the boys decided musical salvation lurked in a sound roughly similar to the kiss of an angle-grinder on sheet metal and a hastily thought-out predilection for the occult. Unfortunately critics disagreed with this belief, and their second album They Were Wrong, So We Drowned was widely panned as an unlistenable folly.

They returned this year with a counterpunch of sorts, an album that’s most definitely listenable, and might just be their best work to date. It’s called Drum’s Not Dead and ‘The Other Side of Mount Heart Attack’ is the next single to be taken from it. It’ll be released on April 11th on Mute Records.

That's all for this issue, but don't forget to check out the Sleephouse Notes Blog for updates between times, and don't forget that you can now add Sleephouse Radio to your livejournal friends page. What's next?! Myspace? Why, yes.

Issue 6

2006-03-06T07:19:00.000-08:00

It's said that good things come to those who wait. But you, dear Sleephouse listener, have waited so very long. Therefore, without further ado, I present to you: Sleephouse Issue 6. Please accept my humblest apologies for the delay.

To listen, simply download the audio file of the show (by clicking the image below) or use the flash player in the sidebar. This show can also be subscribed to as a podcast by copying the address of the RSS link in the sidebar into the podcast receiver of your choice. It’s all so simple…

(42MB, 45 mins. MP3 file)

1. McLusky: Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues (Too Pure)

Any excuse to play foaming Welsh punkers McLusky is always welcomed here at Sleephouse. And though they imploded nigh on a year ago now, the greatest hits set, Mcluskyism, proves that the touch of Father Time’s wizened hands shall never dilute their legendary piss and vinegar.

The greatest hits compilation is out now and comes in two handy sizes: a mega-blowout 3 CD odds, sods and rarities version, and the perhaps more sensible straight-up single CD version. A messy, sweary, sonic juggernaut of misanthropy, McLusky were made for days when your boss treats you like shit, you step in dog turd as you trudge home in the rain and then the man at the corner shop informs you that your bankcard has been declined. Listening back to the raw energy of their greatest work only confirms the fact that their demise leaves a hole like an exit wound in the British music scene—and I’m sure that’s just the way the miserable bastards would have wanted it.

2. The Gossip: Standing In The Way Of Control (Kill Rockstars)

If the world in my head ever became a reality, The Gossip would be a top pop band. Their killer single releases would consistently strafe the upper echelon of the billboard charts, singer Beth Ditto would be a regular guest on The View and Oprah, and anyone switching on Cribs would be greeted by guitarist Brace Paine showing off his broken guitar collection and the inside of his empty fridge.

Until such a day, however, we’ll just have to make do with the Portland-based honeys releasing yet another indie label-based album that garners just a little bit more praise and public awareness than the last, not to mention patronage and props from the likes of Le Tigre and Sonic Youth.

Though I can’t say that I don’t miss the old recorded-in-a-leaky-shed Gossip sound slightly, this new taut punk funk version fairly rollicks along, and Beth Ditto’s southern howl could still strip paint from a wall at fifty paces. Hey kids, why don’t you just buy this fucking album? Make this old man happy. I just want to see Brace turn the camera and say, “MTV. This is how we do. Portland-style!”

3. Guillemots: Trains To Brazil (Fantastic Plastic)

Trying to avoid music hype while living in the UK is like trying to run through rain drops without getting hit: bloody hard. And you can trust me—I’ve had plenty of practice. So when the BBC listed Guillemots as one of those bands to watch in 2006, I snorted with derision and continued tapping my foot along to the obscure punjabi nose-flute record I had just ordered from Syphilitic Pigeon Records.

Well, somewhere along the line, I stupidly allowed a rogue mp3 from Guillemots to be downloaded onto my system. A week later, and I’m completely in thrall to their Aztec Camera as-produced-by Belle and Sebastian preppy indie pomp.

Maybe it’s the fact that ‘Trains to Brazil’ pushes all the right pop buttons, exhilaratingly teetering on the edge of cheesy but never fully falling into the syrup, or that it captures the mood of London during the summer terrorist attacks perfectly. Whatever it is, I’m sure Guillemots will find much success in 2006 and I will begrudge them not a jot of it. After all, it’s nice to hear pop that’s actually about something.

4. Man Man: Engwish Bwudd (Ace Fu)

Drifting into the arena of the unwell and crowbarring even more WEIRD into the term New Weird America we have Man Man. This Philadelphia five piece are neither shy of moustaches, facepaint nor mining nursery rhymes for lyrical content. To their credit it all comes off amazingly well--musical pirates sailing the high seas with a wailing Tom Waits tied to the mast while Captain Beefheart sights land from the crow's nest.

Their second album, Six Demon Bag drops on Ace Fu this month, and you can catch their, by all accounts, frantic live show on a short tour, or at the by now essential SXSW showcase at the end of March.

You can also check out an interview with lead singer, Honus Honus, over at the jaw-droppingly brilliant Indie Interviews Podcast.

5. Os Mutantes: A Minha Menina (Souljazz)

In the mid sixties Brazil was ruled by a military junta, while its music scene was dominated by the Bossa Nova and Samba that had prevailed since the 50s. Not unsurprisingly, the younger generation, by now exposed to American Rock and Roll, British Psychedelia and French New Wave cinema, decided a revolution was in order.

Soul Jazz's recently released Tropicália: A Brazilian Revolution in Sound compilation seeks to highlight and celebrate the movement that from 1967-1969 initiated a sea change in Brazilian popular culture. It was a movement of imagination and of revolution, a cannibalisation of foreign music and a new take on Brazilian styles. Spearheaded by Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Tom Ze and Os Mutantes the movement challenged the military government and regular listeners alike. Perhaps most importantly it asked what Brazilians could achieve in the realm of the arts. The answer was “Everything is Possible!”, a sentiment borrowed for the title of Os Mutantes' Greatest Hits collection released years later by David Byrne on his Luaka Bop label, and something very much in evidence when one listens to the music that the Souljazz compilation offers. Os Mutantes, my personal favourite, exemplify the philosophy whole-heartedly, and sound every bit the unhinged psychedelic space warriors that they were. ‘A Minha Menina’ is simply one of the best songs ever, sheer joy and creative zeal transferred directly onto a piece of magnetic tape. If we broadcasted songs like this into space we’d be fighting off extra-terrestrial visitors with a specially constructed, atmosphere-scraping stick.

The super hot news is that Os Mutantes (well, two thirds of them) are reforming for one concert to be held in London. The show takes place on May 22 at the Barbican. Tickets will be, shall we say, scarce.

6. Gilberto Gil: Procissao (Souljazz)

The second presentation from the Souljazz’s Tropicalia compilation comes from Brazil’s current Minister for Culture Gilberto Gil. An appointment roughly approximate to the UK handing the post to John Lennon, and a move whose strange refreshing genius is clear when one reads articles on Gil that feature lines like:

“The minister himself […] sat on the floor, cross-legged and barefoot, cradling an acoustic guitar in his lap.”

And to think, Tony Blair once thought he could nervously strum a Telecaster to get the youth vote. All glibness aside, Gil was not always so popular with Brazilian government bods. The Tropicalia movement was effectively ended when Gil and Caetano Veloso were imprisoned in the 1969, accused of anti-government activities, and forced to flee the country, living in exile for years before being able to return. The movement may have ended in a concrete sense but what Gil, Veloso and others started continues to inspire today. Listening to ‘Procissao’ and, indeed, the whole of the Tropicalia compilation, it’s easy to see why. I therefore recommend this compilation like no other record released this year. This music is essential to existence. Find out more here or you might just expire.

7. Églantine Gouzy: 12h12 (Monika)

After I featured a wonderful song from Monika-based recording artists Cobra Killer a couple of issues ago, a regular listener and friend suggested I check out a compilation released on the very same label earlier in 2005. Well, that compilation was 4 Women No Cry and I’m very grateful for the heads-up.

The compilation does exactly what is says on the tin: four female artists, some great music and absolutely no tears. Of the four it’s Églantine Gouzy that burns brightest, re-igniting the kind of laptop electronica that offered such hope just a few short years back but has of late had to take a back seat to more organic music from, well, anyone with a bongo, an acoustic guitar and some windchimes, really. Gouzy’s Gallic cool very definitely re-enforces the notion that if you’re looking for refreshing computer music the backstreets of Paris might just be the place to begin your search, and with 4 Women No Cry being promised as the beginning of a series of compilation releases, Germany’s Monika records is a similarly worthy port of call.

8. Tape: Sand Dunes (Hapna)

Beautiful acoustic guitar based ambient music straight from rural Sweden. Tape have been going for a few years now, and I’m ashamed to say that I have no previous experience of them until their album Rideau was released at the end of last year. But these three musicians work together to seamlessly weave processed loops into their delicate beatless chamber music, creating a sound that’s as welcome and warming as the morning sun breaking through your bedroom window. Unless, of course, it’s Monday morning and that’s another story.

9. Psychic Ills: Another Day, Another Night (Social Registry)

Although it’s been threatening to make a come back for umpteen odd years now, I find it entirely appropriate that a genre that’s built on a certain apathetic distain seems to find it so hard to jumpstart a proper movement into motion. 2006, however, might just be the year that shoegazing and spacerock finally makes a ramshackle bid for the mainstream yet again.

Giant Drag may have already gathered a commendable amount of column inches with a more radio-friendly unit-shifter variety, but Psychic Ills are now staking a claim for the more esoteric end of the market. Releasing their debut full length, Dins, on the stonkingly cool Social Registry label, the band drifts in on a hazy reverbed flight of fantasy, repetitive melody line and a mix that keeps the vocals just this side of incomprehensible. Which is as it should be. If everything goes to plan okay we’ll have you chugging cough mixture, wearing cardigans and growing that all-important fringe by Christmas. Just remember to start scouring eBay now for those original Spacemen 3 vinyl releases, it’ll make it so much easier to claim you’ve been into it all along, when you’ve got convincing concrete evidence to back up your scurrilous claims. You lying dawg, you.

Issue 5

2006-01-30T07:04:00.000-08:00

After a relaxing Christmas hiatus Sleephouse Radio is back. I apologise for the delay but January is a slow old month in the world of music and rather than waste your time with a sub-standard show I thought a prolonged break would allow me to cobble together something a little more warmingly wholesome for this, Sleephouse’s first show of 2006.

So a belated Happy New Year to everyone! Try not to worry about wonky religious theocracies and their nuclear ambitions, corporate robber barons exporting democracy at the barrel of a gun or the looming threat of a Bird Flu pandemic. Instead, let me crack the permafrost of the Season of Un-Joy with these delightful indie ice picks (plus written interview with Karl Blau!). Just you be careful though, iPods may look all cool, slick and white but they’re a bugger to find if you drop them in the snow.

To listen, simply download the audio file of the show (by clicking the image below) or use the flash player in the sidebar. This show can also be subscribed to as a podcast by copying the address of the RSS link in the sidebar into the podcast receiver of your choice. It’s all so simple…

(40MB, 42 mins. MP3 file)

1. Ivor Cutler Trio: Good Morning! How Are You? Shut Up! (Rev-Ola)

Ivor Cutler performed his last show in Feburary 2004 at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall at the grand old age of 81. Behind him stretched a life as magical and unconventional as any you’d care to mention. Cutler, the perennial outsider, was born to Jewish immigrant parents in Scotland in 1923. He went on to record numerous albums, a number of John Peel Sessions, be a teacher in an experimental school and also star as Buster Bloodvessel in the Beatles' ill-fated Magical Mystery Tour.

‘Good Morning! How Are You? Shut Up!’ is a contrary old gem from the George Martin produced 1967 album Ludo, and it provides ample insight into why Ivor found much success in his parallel career as a children’s book author. Cutler’s music is always playful, some might even dismiss him as a comedy act, but something about this curmudgeonly Glaswegian shines an enlightening seriousness through even his most unhinged and naive works. It’s as if the true nature of reality can only be glimpsed through a child’s kaleidoscope.

A DVD documentary of Ivor Cutler’s life was released last year. It’s called Looking For Truth With A Pin and it’s great.

2. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah: Over And Over Again [Lost & Found] (Wichita)

There’s definitely something to be said about a band that gets off its arse and does it themselves. The year may barely have started but, in the UK at least, it looks as if 2006 belongs to this industrious bunch of New Yorkers. While the music industry bemoans the proliferation of file trading, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah have proved that there’s nothing detrimental about a few well-placed free downloads being passed around cyberspace ad infinitum. In fact, they seem to have built a career on it.

No doubt you’ve all heard this song by now, but with a European tour in the offing and most UK based media screaming themselves hoarse over the band, I felt the time was right to revel in this song’s brilliance once more. Good songs, after all, are good songs. No amount of media saturation can change that. But consider yourselves warned nonetheless.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s album gets a Europe wide release on Wichita this month with a tour to follow, details of which can be found here.

3. Destroyer: European Oils (Merge)

If you’ve never heard of either Destroyer or its mastermind Dan Bejar, then you really are a lucky individual. For what awaits you, my dear friend, once your conversion has taken place, is one of most sumptuous and consuming back catalogues in music today. I almost envy the fresh initiate. So much wonder awaits you. Just the new album, Rubies (Released on February 21) alone, is so Dylanesque in scope you may need to book a two-week holiday in which to soak it all up.

Bejar shoots barbed arrows of referenced insight from deep within a '70s glam/MOR rock tradition and over the years he’s created a world that’s uniquely his own. A world populated by reoccurring characters, situations and signifiers. There’s so much going on here, Rubies is an album that would possibly benefit from York Notes. One rather hopes that this time round it will be the album that breaks the man from Vancouver into a wider acceptance. Rubies will certainly be found at the top of my best of 2006 list even though the year is barely a month old.

There’s really no choosing between tracks on an album that I’m so in love with but ‘European Oils’ stands out from the pack by virtue of the fact that it contains my favourite lyrics from the album, lyrics I faithfully reproduce below:

“When I'm at war I insist on a slaughter and getting it on with the hangman's daughter.
She needs release. She needs to feel at peace with her father, the fucking maniac...”

4. Islands: Don’t Call Me Whitney, Bobby (Rough Trade)

Though many teenage lives fell apart in a frenzy of torn posters and saline, when the Unicorns split in 2004 the smart money always maintained that various members would return to fulfil the promise dangled by the Unicorn’s exceedingly twisted pop. Islands' Return To The Sea satisfies that prophecy and then some.

Of course, the Unicorns remain the central reference point for this music. The vocals still squiggle with mischief and ghosts and skeletons still jump out from behind parping synths. But something new has been added and something has changed. Don’t worry people—it’s all good.

For a start, Nick Diamonds appears to have matured as a songwriter. But not too much—he’s just got better. The production too is cleaner, less muddied. All this makes for better music. What’s new is the rhythms. Drummer Jaime Tambeur and Nick have stated that Islands was started out of their love for African music and this love reveals itself in the way this record jumps and skips on its merry way. A playful incessant beat drives this record on, a holiday calypso vibe that places a cocktail into your hand every time you play the record.

‘Don’t Call Me Whitney, Bobby’ should keep you in coconut oil until you can get your hands on the album which will be released on Rough Trade at the end of January.

[Edit] Though all news reports point to a Rough Trade January release for this album, no evidence can be gained from Rough Trade as to whether this is the case. One suspects that the release has been delayed (perhaps until March). So just sit on your keisters and hang tight for more news.

5. Karl Blau: Into The Nada [Live] (K Records + Kelp! Monthly)

The sleepy Pacific Northwest town of Anacortes, WA, has become an unlikely hub of underground American indie music in recent years, and proved that isolation and a little DIY ethic can be a powerful creative force. Ostensibly a port town set amid stunning natural beauty, its music draws inspiration from nature as much as it does human relationships. Anacortes plays host to number of wonderful artists, the most famous being Phil Elverum of Mount Eerie/Microphones fame, but it’s Karl Blau that we focus on today and whose mystical music will give you some idea of this town’s signature sound. It’s gentle but awe-inspiring like the landscape which nurtures it.

Karl Blau has played with a number of musicians over the years, from the aforementioned Phil Elverum to Seattle’s Laura Veirs, but this month sees the release of his latest solo work, Beneath Waves on K Records. I took the opportunity to send Karl an email and ask him a few questions about the album, the local Anacortes scene and the fantastic mailorder record club, Kelp! Monthly, which he runs.

Sleephouse: Could I ask you directly about the song "Into the Nada"? Is there a story behind it at all? Is there anything you'd like to tell us about it?
Karl Blau: There is a story behind this song: the music was crafted directly from this African pop song that eight or so years ago a friend gave to me on a mix tape unlabeled. It is a total rip-off of this song. I need to give credit to the artist/s, but I'm still searching. Maybe one of your listeners can decipher the roots?

In fact, the first time I recorded this song, I transcribed the recording directly onto the recording device for the first track and then just tracked over it and eventually removed the original. The lyrics came to me quickly; I wanted to match the African language.

Specifically, it's talking of singing: "When it's with nothing that you have so much to give / And it's in nowhere that you've found your place to live" etc. "Vocalise into the nada," I think of as singing out into nothing and the satisfaction is implied there. This song is a celebration. Being alive is the gift; singing is saying "I believe this is happening.”

You live in Anacortes and there's a great independent music scene there. What does the place mean to you? Would your music sound the same if you didn't live there?
I am very excited to be more and more part of the community of Anacortes. I find myself touring or preparing for this most of the year, so when I can be at home and walk through the town with my family, I feel great pride. I am smiling with people, some of which I've known for a decade, and I go to shows and see kids and parents and elders—this is quite fulfilling.

I may have a somewhat unique perspective on music, I try to not try for anything when I am writing or recording so I am heavily influenced by surroundings and the wind is sure to get into the microphone.

Living in town is nice. I think it's awesome that there is a perspective that Anacortes has this amazing scene of music, but here in Anacortes, there is the baker, the photographer, the accupuncturist, the musician, it's real low key.

Tell us a bit about recording the album. You recorded it at the Department of Safety (Anacortes’s amazing gig venue and creative space). You must have had a great time recording it there.
Recording Beneath Waves was magical. I practised the songs with two groups at the Department of Safety. One was a ROCK band—Laura Veirs, Dave Matthies on guitar, Nate Ashley playing bass and lead guitar—and the other was an ORCHESTRA—Alex Mahan on bass, Steve Moore performed the Wurlitzer and trombone, Johanna Kunin played keyboards, Dave Matthies played guitar with Eddy Blau, and Alex Blau played keyboard and tambourine. We recorded it there live—except the vocals—and then to Vibe Control Studio for mixing. Dave Matthies (of the Gift Machine) is a wizard at sound production, and it's heavy thanks to him that this record was made.

What can you tell us about the album? Do you see it as a departure or a progression from your previous recordings? What can people expect?
Beneath Waves is a rerecording of the four-track album Dark, Magic Sea more or less. These songs were written while I was working at my family's oyster plant. My father died, my baby was born, and it encompasses a period under the influence of heavy emotions. Beneath Waves is taking these very intimate songs and giving the energy to a group of trusted artists to add their influence. It was risky, but I need to feel like something can come out of it that is powerful.

Tell us a bit about your Kelp! Monthly mailorder club and what prompted you to start up this enterprise?
Kelp! is music and packaging produced by me so that people may subscribe to a certain number of releases and get these mysterious packages regularly. Kelp! started out because I wanted to record everything and have a venue to make available my past recordings. Oops, Ciel, my daughter, is flicking the lights on and off. I guess I should go.

Anyway, you can check out www.kelpmonthly.com for lots more info and songs.

What does the rest of the year hold for Karl Blau?
Touring like crazy. I am really looking forward to we, the people, rising up against our oppressors. I'm really serious. ●

The song I play in the show is a live version of “Into The Nada” which appeared on a Kelp! Monthly release (You can listen and then buy it here). Karl has rerecorded the song for inclusion on his new album. You can download the album version here as a sampler for the album Beneath Waves. Karl is playing small number of North American West Coast shows to promote the record, and the tour culminates in a Beneath Waves release party at the Department of Safety on Saturday, February 11.

6. Love Is All: Make Out Fall Out Make Up (What’s Your Rupture?)

Time was when a good review was a good review. These days it’s a bloody curse. One wonders how quickly members of Love Is All will tire of Pitchfork’s tag “The First Great Band of 2006”. Regardless they shouldn’t worry—the blogs are all over their record Nine Times That Same Song. And with good reason. My blogging barometer is reading “hot” with only the odd twinge of the needle towards “changeable”.

Calvin Johnson, leaning down from the mountain, described Love Is All as "a spiraling cacophony that drives one to the dance floor to pogo like a maniac." And the old soothsayer’s not wrong. This Swedish five-piece slap drums, keyboard, guitar and even saxophone together and come up with a enthusiastic brew of indie pop that have you shaking your denim clad tush in even the greasiest of indie clubs. Just be careful not to get your studded belt caught in the hair of that weird cider-drinking goth guy—he’s called Ian and he’s never touched a girl before, the excitement might kill him. The mix is lo-fi but just right. As the volume increases the sound bleeds through the speakers, distorts and whips up the frenzy just that little bit more. In the dark days of January music like this really helps.

7. Pierre Bastien: Eke (Rephlex)

Often ideas and concepts have far more appeal in the mind than the reality of them being put into practice. Take Pierre Bastien, he’s been making music for over twenty years with the help of a mechanical orchestra he calls the Mecanium. Surely what greets you on record could never compete with the mental image of a man sat on stage playing keyboard and trumpet surrounded and accompanied by a small army of whirring Mecano robots?

But Pierre Bastien’s album Pop is at least as good any image that may have just formed in your head. A fragile hypnotic “craftwerk”, for 43 minutes the inner mechanisms of his clockwork workshop are laid bare, as the ‘ickle machines thrum plinky microbeats and Pierre overlays them with the merest hint of smoky leftbank free jazz. It’s easy to see why after a career of working with some of the greats in European experimental music (Pascal Comelade and Robert Wyatt to mention but two) Bastien has, for his last two records, found a home on Aphex Twin’s Rephlex label. Bastien is the handmade analogue of modern electronic music. In fact without the prior knowledge of Bastien’s methods you’d be hard pressed to separate this album from one made on a laptop. Indeed Pop is an album that’s as thought provoking as it is soothing; as enjoyable in sound as it is in concept.

8. Telefauna: Phantom Limb (Self Released)

Even now a lot of people still maintain that Jimi Hendrix died by choking on his own vomit. I can exclusively reveal however that it was actually for the crime of Wah Wah pedal abuse for which Jimi was prematurely taken from us. Yes kids, the poor man put his Cuban-healed foot on that most oppressive of pedals just one time too many and the next moment he was gone.

Fortunately for Telefauna, their career is still so young that even ‘Phantom Limb’'s Wah Wah-drenched criminality can excused for the foreseeable future. In fact, it’s a damn fine song and one that announces the arrival of yet another bunch of youthful upstarts from the absurdly busy creative hatchery that is the Canadian music scene.

Quite what is being put into the water over there is anyone’s guess but you’ll wanna get yourself over to the band’s website and find out all about their debut EP before the pancakes get cold or the maple syrup congeals. (Boom boom…seriously, someone just tell me to stop.)

9. Panda Bear: Comfy In Nautica (Uunited Acoustic)

Judging from this song, it’s only a matter of time before Panda Bear (of the Animal Collective) grows a beard, gains 200 pounds, buys himself a piano in a sandpit and becomes Brian Wilson Part II – The Resurrection Reloaded.

What at first resembles a man sat in a busy abattoir spanking a bucket with a Koi Carp through a delay pedal quickly manifests itself into a pure hit of sunshine joy. Built around the simplest of vocal lines ‘Comfy In Nautica’ easily insinuates itself into the heady pantheon of the Animal Collective’s best work. Panda Bear currently resides in Portugal and it’s clear the climate and relaxed Iberian surroundings are doing him no harm whatsoever.

You can buy the CD/7 Inch from Boomkat, Other Music and various other reputable stockists.
[Panda Bear photo by Hana Macdonald]

Issue 4

2005-12-22T17:07:00.000-08:00

"He's making a list. He's checking it twice. He's gonna find out whether it correctly adheres to the strictly defined editorial policy…eh? Excuse me?"

Yes kids, it's that time of year again. The festive beast is at our backs once more, and while bloggers have been feverishly posting Best of Year lists with an ever increasing desperation (Hello Mum!), scandal rocked the music publishing world when The NME was accused of fixing its Best Of Year Poll for commercial reasons. Well, here at Sleephouse I can assure you that no such thing occurs. Chance would be a fine thing. Here's my review of 2005. It's untouched by economic considerations of any kind. It's also untouched by anything I've ever played in Sleephouse before, so for a complete best of year list: just play every episode back to back and miss out anything that wasn't released this year.

To listen, simply download the audio file of the show (by clicking the image below) or use the flash player in the sidebar. This show can also be subscribed to as a podcast by copying the address of the RSS link in the sidebar into the podcast receiver of your choice. It’s all so simple…

(42MB, 45 mins. MP3 file)

1. Destroyer & Frog Eyes : An Actor's Revenge (Merge)

Throughout 2005 most critics marvelled at the brilliance of the Canadian music scene, placing Arcade Fire and Wolf Parade quite correctly in their best of year lists, but way back in January two of my favourite Canadian bands got together to record an EP's worth of music and no one batted an eyelid.

Over the course of his six or so albums Destroyer's Dan Bejar has quietly become one of the most pleasingly idiosyncratic stylists in indie music today, while Victoria-based Frog Eyes warped minds, and possibly eardrums, in 2003 with their breakthrough record The Golden River. Notorious Lightning And Other Works sees Frog Eyes backing Bejar's barbed hipster reportage with their trademark scraped guitars and wayward bluster. It's all delightfully messy, and the recordings devilishly unleash songs that were previously, and perhaps unfairly, sealed the antiseptic MIDI synth production on 2004's Your Blues.

Destroyer releases his new album Rubies in the New Year and it's an absolute cracker. Stayed tuned to Sleephouse for more updates on this elusive songwriter's latest opus in the next issue. Or you could go here for the best goddam blog entry I've ever read.

2. The National: Mr November (Beggars Banquet)

Providing proof positive that there still remain heroes for the 30-something raincoat-wearing indie rock fan to look up to, The National's studied six-string misanthropy cut through 2005 like a knife. Refreshingly unconcerned with trends and fads, the boys from this New York-based outfit simply mounted the stage and did the business.

Their album Alligator is a shady beast indeed, lurking on the periphery, dappled with the light and shade of The Tindersticks and Nick Cave, but brimming with the stadium-bating confidence of The Walkmen and even (though I hate to say it) early U2.

'Mr November' was my favourite track of the year bar none, and made me want to drive very fast down a deserted highway in search of a possibly dangerous future. And I don't even own a car.

3. Vashti Bunyan: Here Before(Fat Cat)

The story of Vashti Bunyan's return to music making after a 35-year-hiatus has warmed many a heart during 2005. Few would have predicted that a 60-year-old forgotten folkie would have captured the zeitgeist in the way that Vashti has this year. I spent the majority of 2004 tucked up with the startling Just Another Diamond Day re-issue, but even I never imagined her return to record would prove so vital.

Perhaps fired by an impressive list of collaborators (Joanna Newsom, Devendra Banhart, Mice Parade, Adem and producer Max Richter), and buoyed-up by the experience of recording the magnificently playful Prospect Hummer EP with The Animal Collective, Lookaftering sees Vashti casting aside her much publicized lack of confidence and producing an album every bit as good as its predecessor. 'Here Before' sums up the triumphant formula of the album perfectly: Vashti's haunting voice and plucked folk stylings delicately colliding with a modern production so deftly handled it already sounds classic.

4. Lau Nau: Kuula (Locust)

One of the strangest tributaries of the flood of the weird folk music that engulfed 2005 was surely to be found in Finland. Prior to 2005 my only other previous experience of Finnish music was restricted to 22-Pistepirkko and Jimi Tenor, but this year it's been a pleasure to dream my way through nearly a dozen psych-folk albums by bands whose consonant and vowel combinations correctly memorised would catapult me to unrivalled supremacy in the Scrabble world were proper nouns from foreign languages acceptable.

'Kuula' comes from the album Kuutarha (Locust), and is the solo work of Laura Naukkarinen, a key mover in the Finnish scene and member of a good number of its bands including Kiila, Kemialliset Ystävät and Päivänsäde.

Everything you will ever need to know about Finland's politely invading psych-folk warriors is covered in this great Pitchfork article. And cheap european flights to Finland are available here. Book now to avoid any Folk backlash-related disappointment.

5. Arthur Russell: This Is How We Walk On The Moon (Phillips)

While not originally released this year, this decade or even this century, Arthur Russell 's back catalogue has proved to be an endearing personal soundtrack for 2005. I discovered him in January when the fantastic album World Of Echo was re-issued, and since becoming familiar with his ethereal magic, I've noticed his name everywhere: bubbling under people's influences and hidden away in discerning record collections, a Nick Drake-like figure on the brink of a huge posthumous breakthrough.

Russell was an early dance music producer and innovator in the late '70s and '80s, but it's his gentler delay-drenched solo work that's really startling. Working solely with cello, drum machine and the odd bit of sparse orchestration Arthur Russell's albums (World Of Echo, Another Thought and Calling Out of Context) are truly lost shards of wonder. That he escaped a mention in LCD Soundsystem's 'Losing My Edge' is perhaps even more amazing.

6. Jan Jelinek: Im Diskodickicht (Scape)

Truly groundbreaking electronic music has been a bit thin on the ground this year. But Berliner Jan Jelinek's album is one of the few in this genre which truly stood out. Part of the problem seems to be that pop and RnB producers have taken over from the left of field artists, and now innovate directly onto MTV and straight into the mainstream.

This was not the case for Jelinek however, who copped a few tricks from his country's krautrocking history books and produced Kosmischer Pitch (Scape Records), an album of steadily shifting, mesmerising loops that wrap themselves tightly around your brain and beg for your undivided attention. This is definitely not just background music.

7. P:ano: Covered Wagons (Mint Records)

Brian Wilson may have resurrected a live facsimile of his Smile album and toured it around the world, but anyone searching for the true spirit of classic-era Beach Boys need have looked no further than 'Covered Wagons' by P:ano. Bursting out everywhere with beatific brass and mellifluous harmony 'Covered Wagons' is just one of the reasons why Vancouver's P:ano should not remain a local secret for too much longer. They've recently released their second album in a year, Ghost Pirates Without Heads, but this song comes from the spring-released Brigadoon—neither of which you'll wanna be without.

8. M Ward: Hi-fi (Merge)

It feels just plain wrong to write about M Ward's Transistor Radio as being one of the best albums of 2005. Truly a man out of time, M Ward's output proves the argument that thousands of years from now no one will be able to tell who came first: The Beatles or Beethoven.

A songwriter so much in the classic mould, that simply playing one of his mp3s turns your computer into a wood-panelled valve radio, Ward's records consistently come up with the goods for anyone patient enough to give him a proper listen. Transistor Radio begins with his Fahey-like instrumental reworking of The Beach Boys 'You Still Believe In Me' and gently fades out with his take on Bach's 'Well Tempered Clavier'. In between Ward's songwriting reassures your fragile soul like an old friend even while his voice raises the hairs on the back of your neck like a cold draught in the night.

Now, if you haven't just swallowed back a little bit of up-sick after the last couple of paragraphs, maybe you'll wanna go and check out M Ward's performances for KRCW here and here. You can, of course, buy all the albums from very fine and upstanding people at Merge Records.

9. Casiotone For The Painfully Alone: Cold White Christmas (Tomlab)

This last song is a Christmas gift from Casiotone For The Painfully Alone and Tomlab Records to you, the listening public. This seasonal nugget is available for download from the Myspace.com profiles of both Casiotone and Tomlab Records until December 26th. So I suggest you get yourself over there quick.

I've been a fan of Casiotone's whinsome organ-driven indie soap operas for a good while now and so when I discovered this song I took the opportunity to shoot Owen Ashworth an email to ask him about 'Cold White Christmas' and his forthcoming album.

Sleephouse: Where does the song 'Cold White Christmas' come from? When did you record it? Is it going to be on the new record?
Owen Ashworth: I recorded 'Cold White Christmas' in early August. The tracking and mixing was done at Pan American Recording Studio in San Francisco. Jason Quever from The Papercuts engineered the session and played the drums and Alex deLanda, also a Papercut, played the bass. I played the pianos and organs and sang it. 'Cold White Christmas' is one of three songs I recorded with Jason for the new album. The rest of the album was recorded with Jherek Bischoff in Seattle, except for the last song, which I recorded myself.

When is the new record due? Have you finished recording it? Have you settled on a title yet?
The new album is called Etiquette and it will be released on March 7, 2006. I finished it in September.

I've noticed that you seem to be using more instruments and orchestration on the most recent recordings, are you stepping away from the solely keyboard-driven stuff? Do you feel that you've taken that sound as far as you can? And was this change motivated by the re-recordings you did for the Tomlab Alphabet series?
When I started writing and recording for Twinkle Echo, I knew it was the last Casio album I was going to make. I finished my trilogy and I was ready to try different things. Jherek Bischoff played contrabass on one song on Twinkle Echo, and he would have played on more if logistics had worked out.

That "Alphabet" single was the next thing we recorded together, but at that point we were playing shows together as often as possible and I was writing new songs with him in mind. I was writing on a piano and a Korg EM-1 sequencer/drum machine that I named Baby Cousin. I was living in Portland last winter and every few weeks I would drive up to Seattle with Baby Cousin to work on arrangements with Jherek. There are two songs on Etiquette that use Casios, and in both cases it was by Jherek's insistance. I wanted to use string arrangements.

What are you planning for Christmas?
I'm going to listen to my Charlie Brown Christmas CD and probably drink some egg nog.

Best record of the year?
I didn't buy too many new records this year, but I liked that Antony and the Johnsons album a lot.

What will you remember most about 2005?
2005 was kind of a big year for lots of personal reasons that don't belong in this interview. I can tell you that I did a lot of growing up and I made a really great record.

What does the next year hold for you? I know you're planning a tour...
I'm moving to Chicago in early January, and I'll be on tour for most of the Spring, and probably again in the Fall. I will probably get really famous and have to stop being so nice. Just kidding.

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That's all for this year folks. I'm sat in a little farmhouse in Norway as I type this entry and I long to rush outside and frollick in the crisp white snow. So without further ado, I'll wish you a happy and relaxing festive season and I'll see you back here for Sleephouse 5 in January. Take care.

Issue 3

2005-12-07T08:03:00.000-08:00

In these last few weeks London has become a cold bitter wasteland. Winds whip in from the north and my tiny flat assumes the all the life preserving qualities of a carpeted Frigidaire. Only the hot air kickout of my computer fan provides warmth and so I keep working, huddled close to the screen, bringing you the newest issue of Sleephouse.

To listen, simply download the audio file of the show (by clicking the image below) or use the flash player in the sidebar. This show can also be subscribed to as a podcast by copying the address of the RSS link in the sidebar into the podcast receiver of your choice. It’s all so simple…

(44MB, 48 mins. MP3 file)

Here’s this week’s artist info:

1. Broken Social Scene: 7/4 (Shoreline) (Arts & Crafts/City Slang)

The chugging guitars, lolloping brass and pummelling crash cymbals of ‘7/4 (Shoreline)’ signal the return of one of the most unlikely success stories in recent years: An eleven strong Toronto collective that conquered the world. Or at least should have.

You Forgot It In People made a huge splash in indie world, but it passed by the "Great Unwashed" unnoticed. No crass car commercials hammered the songs down our throats, no stick thin socialites feigned interest while Broken Social Scene headlined The Bait Shop, and no political leaders waltzed their way to victory with ‘I’m Still Your Fag’ as their campaign song. And, actually, now that I think about it, thank heaven for that, we’ll keep this band for ourselves.

Their new album is out now in North America, but it gets a Europe-wide release in January on City Slang. It’s simply titled Broken Social Scene, but it’s anything but simple. An album more densely packed with ideas you’ll be hard pressed to find.

Broken Social Scene have an extensive Europe, North America and Australia tour lined up. Be warned though: tickets will be as rare as rockinghorse shit.

2. Caribou: Hello Hammerheads (Domino/Leaf)

Musical boffins don’t come better qualified than Dan Snaith of Caribou, a man whose 2005 has not only included a lawsuit-hastened change of name and the release of a career-peaking album, but also the completion of a PhD in some kind of head-scratching Mathematics.

Recognising that it’s still a tad early in the calendar for the best of year lists, I’ve been searching for an excuse to feature Caribou’s excellent Milk Of Human Kindness album on Sleephouse for a while now. Thankfully that excuse is conveniently provided by the release of a DVD collection of animations used by Caribou in his live show.

It’s entitled Marino and it was released at the beginning of November by Domino or Leaf - depending on which side of the pond you live. It not only includes videos for almost every song from Snaith's two most recent records, but also comes with an EP’s worth of material left over from the Milk of Human Kindness sessions. And with Snaith’s sound growing to encompass everything from electronica, folk, shoegazing and krautrock, your home entertainment system will never be better utilised. This DVD is the reason you installed surround sound.

Sample Caribou's music with free mp3s from the Leaf Label

3. Cobra Killer & Kapajkos: Heavy Rotation (Monika)

On any normal record Berlin duo Cobra Killer would meet you head-on with an explosion of sample heavy metal box electro. But this is no ordinary record. This is genius.

Aided by hitherto unknown mandolin wranglers Kapajkos, Cobra Killer have plundered their back catalogue and reconfigured an album’s worth of songs as coked-up, blood-sucking Romanian folk tunes. Or something. Weird folk music is bloody everywhere right now, but unlike the majority of recent beardy snoozefests, this record is so fresh it wriggles. And hopefully you will too, as woozy malevolent melodies dance magnificently around these two girls’ thoroughly modern lyrics.

For my money Das Mandolinenorchester is by far the best work these two have ever produced, and it's an inspired record that craves your attention. Or one rather gets the feeling that these two girls might turn nasty.

Grab your German dictionary and head over to Monika Records for more information on Das Mandolinenorchester. [Photo by Gill May]

4. Grizzly Bear: Fix It (Rumraket)

Can you be part of a local scene if you never leave your bedroom? It’s a question that those who wish to overemphasise Grizzly Bear’s Brooklyn roots really should ask themselves. Judging from the back story, and, indeed, the actual sound of this record, their debut could have been produced anywhere, provided of course that there was access to a home recording setup and the odd inspirational bong lying around.

Grizzly Bear started out as the bedroom project of Edward Droste and was partly realised during an impressively misanthropic-sounding 15 month domestic shut-in. By the time his friend Christopher Bear (apparently no relation to The Animal Collective’s Panda Bear) added guitars and vocals Horn of Plenty was complete. It’s a quietly rewarding debut of cracked folk and hushed indie pop and on this evidence future Grizzly Bear releases promise much.

Horn of Plenty is being re-released by Efterklang’s Rumraket record label here in Europe and comes backed with a stunning remix album, which you’ll find out more about if you read on….

5. Grizzly Bear: Don’t Ask [Final Fantasy Remix] (Rumraket)

That the Horn of Plenty remix album improves on the original version is—although perhaps slightly unfair to Grizzly Bear—not really all that surprising when one takes a quick glance down the list of contributors. Ariel Pink, Safety Scissors, Simon Bookish, Dntel, Hisham Bharoocha and Rusty Santos, Castanets and The Soft Pink Truth are just a few names that bend and twist Grizzly Bear’s original material into magnificently different starry shapes. And although some songs make repeat appearances and the range of interpretations is diverse, the remixes hold together to form an album that easily holds its own as a complete long player.

Final Fantasy is one Owen Pallett, a man who gains instant cache in the grave digging community for arranging strings for every undertaker’s favourite indie rockers The Arcade Fire. Owen’s violin traps Grizzly Bear’s ‘Don’t Ask’ in its wintry clutches, and transports it to a windy plateau of sorrow. I wouldn’t recommend listening to this song on the radio while shaving with a cutthroat razor in the bath, just in case its mournful tone gets the better of you, but I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s a quite sublime piece of aching beauty nonetheless.

‘Don’t Ask’ is a more than good enough reason for moving your mouse over to this link and investigating how you can get your hands on the whole goddam Horn of Plenty/Remix package.

6. Dreamies: Program Ten [Excerpt] (Wilmington Studios)

In 1972, Bill Holt, inspired by the Beach Boys and The Beatles ‘Revolution #9’, decided to quit his corporate job with 3M and retreat to his basement with a guitar, a moog, and a reel-to-reel tape machine. When he emerged a year later, he was on the verge of bankruptcy but his album, Dreamies, was complete. Eventually released in 1973, the album made little impact, but its cult status has grown every day since.

At once both of and ahead of its time, Dreamies is an incredibly interesting sonic document, an pean to the kind of '60s ideals that only became a reality for the average person during the 1970s. It’s basically two 25-minute aural collages that weave together droning acoustic guitar phrases and bubbling moog blasts with news reel snippets and amazingly melodic West Coast harmonies. This is musique concrete as played by the Byrds or ‘70s folk opportunists America.

The album is now available on CD or the more authentic choice of vinyl (just get up off the beanbag and turn the bloody thing over!). Hopefully the time is right for Bill Holt to gain the mass recognition he so rightfully deserves.

Bill Holt currently runs a website that produces strange little chunks of political satire and ambient weirdness—it’s like The Daily Show on very subtle acid and it very definitely merits your attention.

7. Michael Johnson: The Natives Going Under (Must Delicious)

At the beginning of the year, Amanda Petrusich wrote an article for Paste Magazine that attempted to sum up a movement in American music that has gained real precedence in recent years. She spoke of “a handful of pioneering musicians… catering mostly to the twenty-something/T-shirt-and-Pumas set, but playing a new, weird kind of Americana, punctuated by twittering Moog synths and prickly classical guitar, harp strums and free-jazz sax wails."

Among the bands sited by Petrusich as part of this New Weird America movement are The Animal Collective, Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom, Sufjan Stevens and Holopaw. And while most of these bands are pretty well known by now, she also reserved high praise for someone less well known: one Michael Johnson.

Familiar to some as Holopaw’s drummer, Johnson is actually much more important to the Florida neo-folksmiths than this simple album credit suggests. Holopaw have always stood out for the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach they take when constructing their music, and Nonsense Goes Mudslide, Michael Johnson first solo effort, proves just how much influence Johnson has on this aspect of the group’s work.

Nonsense Goes Mudslide is a quite astonishing record. A veritable overflowing junkshop of sound, the album twitters with laptop beats, acoustic guitars, vintage moogs, sampled brass and sun kissed vocals. If New Weird America is becoming the Main Street of independent music then Michael Johnson’s Nonsense Goes Mudslide is a Thanksgiving Day parade turning back on itself and tripping over each other when the marchers get comically lost in a back alley.

And if that doesn’t convince you that it’s worth checking out, perhaps this wonderfully sweet note from Michael himself will melt your icy heart:

“Nonsense Goes Mudslide, my first record, has been received well critically, but received not at all consumerly. If you want to buy a copy, it's available direct from Must!Delicious at malc@mustdelicious.com. $10 ppd, I believe. Drop a note so I don't feel too bad about bankrupting him. It's also available at Tonevendor and Insound. If you downloaded it, you owe me a beer.”

8. Indian Jewelry: Lost My Sight (Girlgang)

Most people give MySpace a pretty bad rap, but if it wasn’t for this vanity-driven hall of mirrors I would never have been able to plunge my head into the wailing noise washing machine that is Indian Jewelry’s ‘Lost My Sight’, a choice find from some psyched-out LA mentalists cast from the same mould as Sun City Girls, Boredoms and Suicide.

I have to confess I know very little about this band aside from the fact that this track comes from the album, Health and Wellbeing, released this spring, and it’s very much worth checking out if you’re interested in where the margins of modern American music lie right now.

9. AIDS Wolf: We Multiply (Lovepump United)

Fans of raw throats, vicious hardcore and patently silly band names will think Christmas has come early when they discover AIDS Wolf. Actually, it hasn’t--the album, The Lovvers LP, is not out until January. So I guess technically for them Christmas has actually been delayed. But what are you gonna do? Everyone just cross your fingers and hope that Goblin Cock album keeps you going past the Winter Solstice.

Seriously though, Aids Wolf are far more than the previous pithy paragraph suggests. Don’t ask me how—I thought I’d heard enough noise to last me a lifetime—but they’ve successfully managed to breath fresh excitement into a genre I have penchant for calling Spazzcore.

True, ‘We Multiply’ might kick your ass and leave you cold the first, second, or even third time around but something like a coherent structure will reveal itself after significantly prolonged exposure. And blow me if it isn’t an addictive little bugger—I have an unhealthy tendency to keep this song on repeat for hours, which is probably why my brain is mush and writing this is such hard going.

Key members of AIDS Wolf are also responsible for the Montréal based Seripop. Which is very cool—and unless you wanna have your hipster status revoked, you’ll wanna check it out. Thankfully it is explained by a good friend of Sleephouse here. Phew, I though I’d lost it there for a second. Nope--still cool.

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Please remain cool until Sleephouse returns in around two week’s time (I promise).

Xo daddio.

Issue 2

2005-11-03T00:48:00.000-08:00

Battling through technical issues that include complete mp3 audio naivety and a sellotape-repaired computer microphone bought sometime back in the early nineties, Sleephouse Radio is back with its second instalment.

To listen, simply download the audio file of the show (by clicking the image below) or use the flash player in the sidebar. This show can also be subscribed to as a podcast by copying the address of the RSS link in the sidebar into the podcast receiver of your choice. It’s all so simple…

(59MB, 42 mins. MP3 file)

Here’s this week’s artist info:

1. Au Revoir Simone: Through The Backyards (Moshi Moshi)

Aside from the obvious blips of brilliance provided by The Postal Service and Noriko Tujiko, synth pop has been a quiet genre of late. But Brooklyn trio Au Revoir Simone are here to give you a blissful reminder of why you spent all that money obsessively collecting Morr Music’s back catalogue all those years ago.

Their mini-album Verses of Comfort, Assurance and Salvation, which finally gets a British release on the Moshi Moshi record label this month, is an endearing little nugget of popping Casio drum machines, pulsing synths and luminous optimism. ‘Through The Backyards’ kicks off the album in fine style, opening a door back to the kind of magic you last experienced on Lali Puna’s Scary World Theory album.

2 . Brakes: Heard About Your Band (Rough Trade)

Months after its initial release and inspired by a tip from my brother, I was finally moved to inspect the ramshackle delights of this British indie supergroup’s debut, Give Blood, this week. And so addictive is their country/punk petulance that there’s barely been room for anything else to squeeze through my speakers for days now.

If the history of music has shown us anything, it’s that spontaneity and casual collaborations often win out over the more obsessively planned and bloated projects. And so it is with Give Blood. Pacey, racy and ever so tasty—this whippet-lean album easily eclipses anything that its members have produced in their regular day jobs with British Sea Power, Electric Soft Parade or The Tenderfoot. Chock full of brutal comedy and tongue-in-cheek genre tributes, I doubt you’ll hear a brighter British guitar album this year.

3. Wolf Parade: Shine A Light (Sub Pop)

Be sure to refer to it as “The Canadian Invasion” only if you really have to, but there’s no doubt that the Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene, Death From Above 1979 and the (now sadly departed) Unicorns have kicked down whatever barriers had previously prevented the rest of the world from enjoying the music of the Great White North. And Montreal’s Wolf Parade are now perfectly placed to capitalise on this new-found “I-Kissed-A-Mountie/I’ve-Always-Loved-Maple Syrup” adventurism.

‘Shine a Light’ comes from the Isaac Brock recorded album, Apologies To The Queen Mary, and provides all the proof you needed that Wolf Parade hold the keys to your unhinged indie pop-loving heart. Sweaty-palmed adoration from NME journalists and David Bowie surely beckons.

Wolf Parade tour Europe in November—Cowichans and facial hair is de rigour!!

4. Songs of Green Pheasant: The Wraith of Loving (Fat Cat)

For me, the image of a guy sitting alone recording his music while the world without continues oblivious is an immensely seductive one. So when Fat Cat Records announced they’d be releasing the home demo of one Duncan Sumpner under the moniker of Songs of Green Pheasant, I was intrigued and mightily hopeful. And upon hearing the record it was clear that these high hopes were entirely justified—Songs of Green Pheasant is a modest but beguiling debut, made all the more impressive by the story of its journey from genesis to release.

While it was recorded three years ago, in the culturally isolated climbs of Northern England—and it took Fat Cat two years to track down the person responsible for the demo that had found a natural home on their office stereo—it sits so comfortably among the current climate of folk revivalism that one could be forgiven for thinking that Sumpner ran with the same crowd that currently smiles out from the photo on the cover of Devendra Banhart’s recent Cripple Crow record. In fact, Sumpner is a teacher who currently plies his trade in the Yorkshire city of Sheffield and the album sees him refreshing the traditional folk form with dream pop inflections that shoegazers like My Bloody Valentine would have spent months of professional studio time perfecting.

Please visit Fat Cat’s Green Pheasant website and support inspired amateur endeavour by buying this great album.

5. José González: Crosses (Hidden Agenda)

Internet chatter singing José González’s praises has recently risen to a deafening shout and after cosying up to his album Veneer in recent weeks I’m more than ready to add my frail voice to the maelstrom.

A Swede born to Argentinean parents, 25-year-old Jose provides hits of crystal clear, hushed folk, and if you do feel moved to mention Nick Drake, at least have the common courtesy to whisper it.

6. Hauschka: Fernpunkt (Karaoke Kalk)

All the background music in this week's show comes from Hauschka, but so refreshing and deserving is his album The Prepared Piano (Karaoke Kalk Records) that to not give it a featured slot would be criminal.

Hauschka is actually one Volker Bertelmann, a man who sticks things in his piano and produces the most wonderful sounds. Working almost solely with this modified piano, Bertelmann stretches what some would perceive to be a limited palette into a whole album’s worth of material that never once slips into tedium. While muted strings plonk beats, Reichian repetition buzzes and tinkles through pieces of music that call to mind an organic and less threatening version of Aphex Twin’s Drukqs as played by Schroeder from Charlie Brown. It’s a must for that hangover-damaged Sunday morning when the sunrise bursts through the shutters and the call of tea, toast and that weighty newspaper simply cannot be denied. [Photo by Estelle Klawitter]

7. Weird Weeds: Holy Train Wrecks (Edition Manifold)

When Xiu Xiu’s Jamie Stewart mentioned The Weird Weeds as one of his favourite live bands on Pitchfork, the Weird Weeds website saw an unprecedented and dramatic spike in its visitor hits. Such is the power wielded by the all-conquering ‘Fork.

Rampant unchecked taste-making influence can be a force for mighty evil, but here, as is so often with the trusty ‘Fork, their powerful divining spotlight was rightly turned upon a deserving band. The Weird Weeds debut, Hold Me, squirms and escapes classification, even as it grows towards the sunlight once provided by great bands like The For Carnation, Low and even the long lost sinister folk improv of Comus.

Be sure to check out the band’s website for numerous free downloads of their music and details of their forthcoming North American tour with Deerhoof and Xiu Xiu.

8. Harald “Sack” Ziegler: Bungalow (Staubgold)

Harald “Sack” Ziegler is the kind of artist you could spend your lifetime looking for but never find. I myself was only recently introduced to the wonder of this crazy German, and it’s all thanks the amazing Flux Blog (a damn near essential mp3 blog that you simply must visit right now).

It’s early days for me and “Sack”, but from what I can gather from the greatest hits compilation Punkt (Staubgold), I think this is gonna be a long and happy relationship. He’s been recording for some 20 years, so at least I’ve got something to go at. Apparently, he’s been working with Mouse on Mars for years, but I’ve never noticed him. Maybe I wasn’t reading the liner notes closely enough. I’m just off to go and root through my record collection in search of Niun Niggung.

9. The Animal Collective: Banshee Beat (Fat Cat)

With their sixth album Feels, the Animal Collective continue to confound and delight in pretty equal measure. Never a band to bring out the non-committal in a listener—it’s pretty safe to say that you either love the Animal Collective or absolutely can’t stand them. Speaking personally, I’ve been a massive fan of this band since they reconfigured my brain sometime back in 2003 with the searing psychedelia of Here Comes The Indian, and for me, Feels sees this New York-based collective scaling the purest of virgin pop pinnacles. Their inventiveness and naivety ensures they succeed, once again, in planting flags where others have yet to tread.

Buy Feels from Fat Cat Records

Issue 1

2005-10-11T12:49:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the very first issue of Sleephouse Radio--a regular show of music just leftfield of popular. To listen, simply download the audio file of the show (by clicking the image below) or use the flash player in the sidebar. This show can also be subscribed to as a podcast.

(33.8 MB, 25 mins. MP3 file)

Here's a rundown of the show...

1. Jennifer Gentle : I Do Dream You (Sub Pop Records)

Jennifer Gentle are a two-piece psychedelic explosion from Italy. Channelling Syd Barrett’s ghost even though he’s not dead, Jennifer Gentle have somehow fused the ex-Pink Floyd singer's restless spirit with an urgency that the great man could rarely achieve. Earlier this year they released Valende, their third album, on Sub Pop Records, after a session on WFMU brought them stateside attention. 'I Do Dream You' is taken from this acid-soaked field trip and features, quite possibly, the finest children’s party balloon solo ever recorded. Watch the video for this song here.

2. Ariel Pink: Interesting Results (Ballbearings Pinatas)

Opinion seems divi ded on the subject of Ariel Pink. Some think he’s a no-good art school chancer, others maintain his naïf-like genius. It really doesn’t matter. Just listen to the music and think for yourself.

The hard biographic facts on this 27-year-old LA native go a little something like this: Inspired and mentored by legendary but mostly-ignored home taper R Stevie Moore (who you should check out right bloody now), Ariel Pink had beavered away on his eight track cassette recorder producing five albums in obscurity before his first homemade CDR “Doldrums” was re-released by Animal Collective’s Paw Tracks imprint last year. The meat was tossed to the lions and the critical fur flew.

Paw Tracks has since re-released 2003’s Worn Copy (originally available on Rhystop Records), but this track comes from 2002’s House Arrest, a record that originally saw the light of day via Ballbearings Pinatas, but is set to be re-released by Paw Tracks this coming January. The song is a cracked, phased and compressed nugget of Byrdsian jangle filtered through the innocence of an early-eighties Daniel Johnston home recording and it's just a little taster of what you can get your hands on in the New Year.

3. Benji Cossa: April (Uunited Acoustic)

I wish I knew more about Benji Cossa. His song 'April' arrived like a bolt of ‘70s pop lightning, carried on the back of the Hisham Bharoocha’s state of NYC complilation, “They Keep Me Smiling”, on Unnited Acoustic Recordings (an offshoot of United Bamboo) and I’ve been scrabbling around for details ever since. Even though information is scant, I’ve managed to glean that Benji Cossa is an Animation/Film School graduate who made songs for fun in his spare time and has just released a collection of this material on the Magic Marker imprint. You can visit his website here where you can listen to a good number of his songs and get more information on the mysterious New Yorker.

“April” comes off like a likeable throwaway from John Lennon’s “Instant Karma” sessions, and once heard you’ll be humming this catchy little bugger for days. As the title suggests it’s all the youthful joys of spring committed to two inch tape. It trickles through your speakers, the birds sing, the spark of young love is rekindled etc, etc. What could be better?

4. David Shrigley: Don’ts (Azuli Records)

There’s absolutely no point in trying to describe artist David Shrigley’s work. You could try and theorize but there’s no point in that either. David draws doodles, sketches, childish graffiti even. He used to make sculpture and cheeky opportunistic urban installations, like putting up fake lost posters (see the "Lost" poster above). Then he decided he would stop doing anything that took more than a day. When he draws, he just puts pen to paper and if it’s not right first time he throws it into the bin and moves on.

His work makes you laugh, mainly. Sad sometimes. There a madness to it, but it’s an everyday madness that you’ll recognise. Sad and funny and heart-warmingly desperate, like a bald man clutching to his wig in the wind. But here I go theorising--I’m describing and I said I wouldn’t.

This track is the first audio project by Shrigley I’ve ever come across. It appeared on Four Tet’s Late Night Tales compilation (Azuli Records). You’re gonna love it. And you should buy the whole album and all of David’s books too. They’ll make your life better. Go to his website and laugh your ass off now.

5. Bakelite: Function Cliché (Scratch Records)

If you were a straight edge computer game loving punk rock kid in the eighties chances are that you’ve already heard Bakelite. Well, not Bakelite exactly. But as the screech of your tape-loading Commodore 64 blended with the yelping vocals of a Dischord record, I’m sure a similar sound would’ve been born.

That’s right, Vancouver’s Bakelite bolt a ferocious undercarriage of crunchy glitch electro to the angry spat-out vocals of D.C. hardcore. And who would’ve though it’d be a perfect fit? No doubt their sound is annoying as all hell if you’re not in the mood, but caught right, after a bad day at the office, in a club or at a show maybe, Bakelite’s sound is the perfect hybrid to shake you free of any earth bound shackles that you’d need releasing from.

Expect big things from these three boys (they’ve recently added a real drummer to their sound though he’s not on any recordings as of yet). Skinny-hipped fans of the Blood Brothers, Death From Above and any dirty electro should form a disorderly, but fashionably-dressed, queue at their website and await further developments.

You can watch some tasty live performance by Bakelite on Canada’s super kewl Zed TV:

6. Can: Moonshake(Mute Records)

If you ever a band has legitimately earned its status as hipster cause celebre, it's '70s German mentalists Can. All that needs to be said about Can already has been, so I can merely offer up their music and let you discover them for yourself. Many might disagree, but for me Can reached their creative peak with their 1973 album Future Days, their last with singer Damo Suzuki. Future Days has recently been remastered re-released by Mute Records and it's well worth your hard-earned dollar. 'Moonshake', the shortest track on the album provides proof, if any were needed, that this was one important band. Read about them here and get the album here.

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Please feel free to leave comments and rants. You can also find an email address in the sidebar with which you can contact me.

Toodle-pip. Until next time then.