the Wales, part 4

Finally getting round to writing about the band that first inspired my "the Wales" posts, but it's taken me so long to get round to it that the band has broken up in the meantime!  That band was Racehorses, who I first heard on 6 Music.  I was immediately captured by their sound -- a very clean indie sound that sounded like it could be from 1986 except it was just too clean.  I got fooled the first few times I heard them on the radio, thinking it was a band from the past, only to be told it was Racehorses.   I'm going to post the two songs I heard on the radio somewhere below.  Sadly, they really have broken up, as of a few weeks ago, boo hoo.

The two songs I heard are both tunes I really like, 'Mates' and 'Sisters'.  Both have a sad quality that appeals to me, hidden beneath the pop, and the latter reminds me a bit of Pulp.  I think that has less to do with the sound of the song and more to do with the content and the use of the word 'sister'.  If you've heard 'Babies' you may understand what I'm talking about.





Another Welsh artist I heard recently is Sweet Baboo.  Not much info on the lad from me, you can check out the link if you'd like to know more, but I heard him singing 'Cate's Song' on the radio and enjoyed it so here you go.  Could only find this link to it, which is to a British Council session (had no idea they do those), but the first song is the one I'm talking about, which makes things easier.

Cold night monday morning

Popped in Pulp's album "Different Class" a little bit ago and this really good song came up. Here's "Monday Morning"!


Continuing on this 90's kick, Tracey Thorn from EBTG released a Christmas album a few weeks ago. I've always loved her voice and she does this cover of a White Stripes song quite well. If she had a whole album that sounded like this (not a Christmas album) I'd definitely get it! Her Christmas album is released by Buzzin' Fly Records, which is owned by her husband and partner from EBTG, Ben Watt. Aww :-D I love their love story!

ps happy new year!

Croonin'

Couple of artists I've wanted to cover for a bit and am finally getting round to here, plus one old tune that can be put under the crooner category (not really, but i'm gonna do it anyway). Ok, so, both James Blake and Jamie Woon have been getting tipped for big things in 2011. I've had them on my new-headphone enhanced mp3 player and do think their tunes are worth mentioning. Couldn't pick which version I liked so I'm going to put a selection up. First up is James Blake, who's getting the most buzz. This track is 'Limit to Your Love' and it's actually got a decent video. On initial listen I wasn't sure if he (skinny little white bloke) could be singing this song, but the vid seems to indicate that he is, which is pretty astonishing before you even get to the deep bass and use of space in the track. Check it (best heard with decent sound so you can actually hear the deep bass when things get shuddery -- it's there):



I'm going to put two version of a Jamie Woon track up. The track is recent single 'Night Air' and I'm putting up a live version and a remix. I think the live version is quite good as the song seems to hold up well in a basement club setting while actually sung live. The remix is by Deadboy; I like it on my headphones but it doesn't sound as good to me on the PC -- maybe you'll feel differently:





Last is an oldish Pulp track that popped up recently when I listening to something else by them. Had forgotten how well put together the track and lyrics are, and the high-production-value video seems a bit of a throwback when seen now -- can't imagine many bands having much of a budget for videos nowadays, and it's funny to think that Pulp were themselves big enough for a video like this. But this is post-'Different Class', when they were briefly massive and could probably do whatever they wanted -- including disintegrate:



BONUS:

Discodeine feat. Jarvis Cocker - Synchronize from Pschent on Vimeo.