All the good things I've heard since starting to commute again

Started a new job and have a commute again so that means back to RadMac on Radio 6!  I'm very pleased, only downer is that their daily show is supposed to end and they'll move to weekends some time soon.  But, that's what the iPlayer is for.  But honestly, thanks God for RadMac.  I'll start to think I'm over music, then listen to them and get into it all over again.  Thanks guys!  Thanks the BBC!  Thanks Blighty for your eclectic radio offerings and refusal to conform to commercial viability!! 

Just going to basically post tracks without a lot of commentary as time is limited.  Dev Hynes seems like a prolific character; I remember hearing about Test Icicles when they first came around some time in the last decade, but never checked them out.  I will now though, cos I like this track by Hynes aka Blood Orange:



I've featured BC Camplight on this blog before.  Don't know tons about him/them, but I do know the main songwriter is an American who's now based in the UK (Manchester?) -- always intriguing.  This track appeals due to it's dissonant sounds and it's 80's vibes.  There are at least two 80's tracks it reminds me of, but I can't quite put my finger on either of them. 



Just read a bit about my boy BC and turns out he's an American who sees himself as a Manc who got deported from the UK a couple of years ago and ended up living in his parents' basement, depressed.  He then got EU citizenship via Italian grandparents, only for the UK to vote for Brexit!  His latest album, Deportation Blues touches upon this.  See?  Intriguing. 

Gwenno is Welsh and does electronic music.  What more do you need to know??  Ok, this is off her second album, which is in Cornish, and she used to be in subversive indie throwback girl group the Pipettes. 



I'm almost done, but I'm not done.  Actually I'm only halfway through.  New Gorillaz track Tranz, I like it.  Surprised the band came out with album so quickly after the last one. 



I thought this was a remix of the Fall, but it was just them!  Can't take Mark E Smith for granted, or at least you shouldn't've, when he was alive.  People probably knew that though.



Never listened to a lot of Dinosaur Jr, which is a shame really, what I've heard I've liked.  Them, Sebadoh, and Pavement -- must make time one of these days.  Or one of these commutes. 

Got it covered

Nothing new here, just new to me; both tracks actually date back to 2014.  Well, really they're one track, the original song by East India Youth, and the cover by Hannah Peel, which I heard on the radio today.  I've got a lot going on right now and found the Hannah Peel version very soothing, which made me want to hear the original and do a post on both.  I've been meaning to check out East India Youth so coming across this has been a nice reminder.  To confuse matters a little Hannah Peel herself has two versions of this song, one a slightly simpler live rendition.  I'll post all below and you decide for yourself what you like!  I think I like Peel's delicate live version best.





I like this version; don't let the video put you off, even though it looks like she's playing in an East London shed on a home-made music box -- trust me, my hipster radar went beserk too.

Oh FFS!

I heard this track on this radio a few days ago and I wasn't sure if I'd like it on a second or third listen, but I do!  In fact it's grown on me every time I've heard it again.  At first I thought FFS were just some new band, but now I know that FFS is a collaboration between Franz Ferdinand and Sparks (you can read more about that here).  So, below is the new single Johnny Delusional, as well as some Franz Ferdinand tracks because, well, why not?

Easy now!

Right, I've got my cappuccino, got my chocolate croissant, got 15 minutes -- time to blog!  More songs I heard on the radio today, and they're nice and relaxed, so you can chillll Winston.  I'm feeling good cos I cooked last night, I worked out this morning, there's only three more hours of work to go, and then I can do something fun this evening!  Like perhaps buy some music?!  Stranger things have happened... If that does happen I'll be sure to blog my purchases.

First up, 'Dress Up' by School of Language -- a chap who is one half of UK act Field Music.  When this first came on the Radcliffe and Maconie show today I thought it was a very very early hip-hop track; then I thought it was a current track trying to sound really old, which is very annoying; later on I realised that Radcliffe was playing samples over the beginning of the track, which is in fact new and not hip-hop.  Here you go:


Next, 'A Simple Truth' by Wild Beasts, a track off their latest album 'Present Tense'.  I was a bit worried about Wild Beasts, as I really liked their last two albums but I'd heard they'd gone electronic on their latest -- all I could think was "what a cliched thing to do, an indie band going electronic".  Honestly, I thought I was done with them, especially when I heard some news about them criticising musicians who don't sing in their own accents (C'mon!  Who gives a monkeys??  In this day and age!)!  But this track has made me think again:


I don't know anything about this next artist, and I don't have time right now to look him up -- sorry.  Hopefully you don't mind doing your own research. He's a new one though, and his debut album is about to come out -- that much I know, and it'll be pretty obvious how soon.  Oh yeah, he goes by the name of Nick Mulvey:

One thing I do know now, he used to be in Portico Quartet, a Gilles Peterson fave who I also like, so that's good.

That's it for now.  I heard today that Laetitia Sadier is coming out with a new album later this year -- hopefully I'll have more about that as soon as there are some useful links up.  Ciao for now!