No more Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy, my favourite band of last year is no more! A cause for consternation you might think? Well not really. Owen Pallett has simply decided to release his music under his own name rather than FF (which was always more well known as a computer fantasy game anyway). Truth is it was a slightly naff name anyway. I'm really looking forward to the new album, "Heartland", now by Owen Pallett, which is out on January 11th.

Great article on MP3s vs hard copy music formats

The day after I distributed my end of year comp digitally (for the second year running) this article in the Boston Globe (sent to me by my friend Dave) is about the best I've read on the meaning of music collections in the digital age.

Nearly in the top 12 of the year

Weeding that list down to 12 was tough. I didn't include any drone music even though it's been a big thing for me this year. But it's difficult stuff to weave onto a mix CD. Chihei Hatakeyama has put out two excellent albums, full of dense and evolving harmonics which provide an incredibly immersive sonic experience when listened to as a whole. In a similar (but darker) style Black to Comm's album Alphabet 1968 was notable for its majestic sweeps of noise and found-sounds, but also featured one of the most beautiful songs of the year in "Hotel Freund" with it's haunting orchestral sample. Another track that missed out for simply practical reasons was Lars Horntveth's (of Jaga Jazzist) Kaleidoscopic, an incredibly ambitious Sibelius-like orchestral work which, at 37 minutes, was just too long to include. One of the true giants of the electronic music scene, AtomTM, put out a fabulous album Leidgut, which again works better as a whole. Dirty Projectors released what I think will turn out to be their best album yet in Bitte Orca - but I only got it last month so am still digesting it and I was truly charmed by the romanticism of the Leisure Society, whose Sleeper album is simply very pretty. And speaking of prettiness - Haruko's Wild Geese is an exquisite example of plaintive acoustic folk loveliness. One of my favourite artists, Broadcast, released their most experimental album to date, a collaboration with Ghost Box's Focus Group and very much in the "hauntological" style. But with two tracks already in the 12 from Ghost Box I felt this sound was already adequately represented. That said, the live show Broadcast did in support of this album was brilliant and bodes really well for next year's full album. Other things have crept onto my radar too late, such as Good Evening by the beguiling Nite Jewel, who may end up featuring on next year's comp. Likewise Dead Man's Bones and Joker's Daughter both of whom's albums are currently on repeat-play on the Griffiths iPod. With these late-comers and a veritable stack of eagerly anticipated releases early in 2010 (Jaga Jazzist, Beach House, Hot Chip AND Final Fantasy all have albums released in January) next year's compilation is almost writing itself!

Songs of the year 2009

Dear All - welcome to my songs of the year. I whittled it down from a huge 140 minutes double CD's worth to these 12 prime cuts (see who nearly made it - 12 was a struggle!). You can listen now via the play button just below or download the MP3s to burn to CD or play on your MP3 player. All the tracks are described below.

DOWNLOAD HERE

Merry Christmas, Love from David. xxxx

Summary: A golden year for British music was blessed with gems from Bristol in particular. It's a year when a characteristic that's long interested me in music seemed to crystallise around the idea of "hauntological". It's almost a musical equivalent of cubism where sound objects are rearranged and abstracted, but there's undoubtedly an added dose of nostalgia. Artists like the Advisory Circle exemplify the genre with music that collages samples of old public service announcements, vintage synths and degraded sound fragments of old folk tunes. It was interesting to see this coalesce as an unlikely "scene", but more so because it generated lots of interesting discussions on it, led by folks like Simon Reynolds and the Dissensus forum. But as it happens, my favourite of the year is from Canada and in no way "hauntological". Final Fantasy is the name and I explain more below! Finally, it was the year that my favourite band of the decade, Animal Collective, suddenly won mainstream approval with their eighth album!

2009 12 best - David's end of year compilation by Lightspeed Future Lullaby


Gig of the year: Final Fantasy / Cardiff
Album of the year: Animal Collective / Merriweather Post Pavilion
Song of the year: Animal Collective / My Girls
Artist of the year: Final Fantasy
Label of the year: Ghost Box

1. Civil Defence Is Common Sense / The Advisory Circle 2:52 (UK)
Retro-synths and samples of grainy public service announcements combine to evoke a Britain past, this, like much of the music on the label Ghost Box encapsulates the genre micro-genre now known as hauntological

2. My Girls / Animal Collective 5:41 (US)
I am evangelical where AC are concerned and I think they have featured on pretty much all of these comps since 2003. This year the band "broke through" and everyone and his uncle proclaimed their genius with the release of the latest album Merriweather Post Pavilion. This track - about the simple impulse of a fellow to wanna look after his girls (wife/daughter) had very special meaning to me for obvious reasons. In fact it was often a track that I used to rock my new daughter Isobel to sleep with, back in the early days of fatherhood.

3. Mood-ring Band / Final Fantasy 2:54 (Canada)
I wrote about my discovery of Final Fantasy way back in February and was bowled over that my impulse purchase of all their records based on hearing one track had paid off in spades. My admiration for this artist was later enhanced by a really special live show in Cardiff. As the biog unravelled with each google-stroke I was amazed to discover that Owen Pallet (who is Final Fantasy for all intents and purposes) has a stellar career helping out Arcade Fire and various other artists, including one of my own favourites, Beirut. It was exciting to find out that Beirut and Final Fantasy have collaborated so much and being able to revisit some of my Beirut faves with this in mind.

4. Where Were U in '92? / Zomby 2:04 (UK)
Zomby is a dubstep artist but one who has extended his oeuvre in an impressive and convincing way (not many others have as yet). Here he concocts a distillation of EVERYTHING that was great about early 90s rave music - all into a sublime 2 minutes.

5. The strangers / St Vincent 4:05 (US)
As soon as I heard this I thought of Doris Day and old musicals. Her voice has similarities but the melody and those little orchestral flourishes really evoke Nelson Riddle's or Billy May's 50s big-band arrangements. I subsequently heard that she was influenced by the Wizard of Oz on this album. A fantastic gig at the Thekla in Bristol sealed the deal for me.

6. Gardens Of The South / Sleeping States 4:13 (UK - Bristol)
If true love is that which is pure and without prejudice then this ranks very highly. I heard it on a Bella Union label comp and I had no idea who it was, but it stood out from the rest melodically and stylistically with its minimalism and nods to 50s American DooWop (an overlooked style that is criminally under-referenced in modern pop). On the strength of this song I bought the album from which it comes. The album is great too. But then the whammy kiss! they are based in Bristol. I find this a matter of some pride.

7. Scary Mansion / Scum Inside 2:28 (US)
I found out about this band through one of those serendipity routes that the internet makes so possible. I was checking Sleeping States' blog to see if they were playing in Bristol. That happened to recommend the latest by Francois and the Atlas Mountains (another fave from Bristol). From Francois's page I clicked to the label that is releasing his new album. That website started playing audio automatically (something I find really annoying). But just as I was trying to find a way of stopping the sound I realised I was enjoying it. And this was it - Scary Mansion - I bought the album - it's bloody great. The automatic audio feed worked - bugger!!

8. Destroyer / Bay of pigs 13:39 (Canada)
The word epic gets bandied about quite a lot in music. Usually its unjustified (when a song is merely meandering - long and dull). But here is a song which demands that description, a truly epic 12 inch single from Destroyer. Over 13 minutes it weaves it's way seamlessly through ambient electronica, prog-rock through torch disco and back again. Add to this Dan Bejar's brilliant allegorical lyrics and distinctive vocals and perhaps another superlative is justified - CLASSIC. So here it is a classic epic!

9. The Girl Who Fell to Earth / Jega 4:39 (UK)
It's funny to say that this glistening piece of icy electronica, no doubt created on cutting edge synths and music software, sounds dated, but in a strange way it is. No one seems to play this kind of melodic "futuristic" techno anymore. It reminds me most of the halcyon days of early Warp when this kind of thing got the awful moniker Intelligent Dance Music (IDM). But Jega, who is one of the giants of that scene from the 90s, has returned with a classic.

10. European Male / Bronnt Industries Kapital 5:09 (UK - Bristol)
Bronnt were probably the first band I discovered in the fragmented but brilliant Bristol scene, when I heard their soundtrack to a film about witch trials called Haxan. Four years ago that was a sound that fits perfectly into the "hauntological" thing that's going on now so they may be a band somewhat out of time because here Bronnt has moved on to a more meaty/beaty form of retro-futurism and created a wonderful homage to some of those dark synthy soundtracks of the 70s by bands like Goblin and John Carpenter.

11. The Hidden Door / Belbury Poly 5:08 (UK).
Belbury Poly is another of the artists on Ghost Box which is my label of the year. It inhabits a similar sound territory to the Advisory Circle, as do most of the artists on Ghost Box (the label is coherent in its vision) but like the Advisory Circle Belbury impress melodically as well as sonically. It's future-retro, it's "nostalgia for an age yet to come", it's ghostly, hauntological and it's hypnogogic pop (Google the last 2 for a wealth of information). The sound of yesterday from tomorrow.

12. Oktober / Bersarin Quartet 6:26 (Germany)
A recommendation from Norman Records, a great online indie shop, this obscure piece of neo-classical gorgeousness, sound-tracked many-a-late night for me and Isobel early in the year. Luscious and enveloping stuff.

Jaga Jazzist - One-Armed Bandit

At the end of October I went to the Barbican in London and finally got to see Jaga Jazzist perform, a circle finally squared after I missed them in Bristol 5 years ago. They were actually supporting Efterklang doing a performance with the Britten Sinfonia. The show was pretty exhilarating and I meant to post about it at the time. Anyway now is timely as a promo of the forthcoming JJ album is on Soundcloud. It's classic Jaga Jazzist, full of twists and turns and really sounding like no one else whatsoever. I look forward to the album.

Jaga Jazzist - One-Armed Bandit

Teach them early

DSC_0272.JPG, originally uploaded by bubtweeker1.

Here is my lovely daughter following in her daddy's footsteps. At this stage it's best not to hear the tune she made :-)

Scary Mansion

SCARY MANSION - "Make Me Cry"

I found out about this band last night through one of those serendipity routes that the internet makes so possible. I was checking Sleeping States' blog to see if they were playing in Bristol. That happened to recommend the latest by Francois and the Atlas Mountains (another fave from Bristol). From Francois's page I clicked to the label that is releasing his new album. That website started playing audio automatically (something I find really annoying). But just as I was trying to find a way of stopping the sound I realised I was enjoying it. And this was it - Scary Mansion - I bought the album - it's bloody great. The automatic audio feed worked - bugger!!

The Return of Walt Jabsco (feat Lightspeed Future Lullaby)

I'm very proud to announce my participation in a great new 12 track compilation of artists inspired by the music of Jerry Dammers and the Specials. I was chuffed that my single "Me and Jerry D" was chosen for inclusion. It's available to buy from Amazon and iTunes and all the proceeds go to charity so please buy it.

Lightspeed Future Lullaby new EP (free download)

When angels talk together by Lightspeed Future Lullaby

When angels talk together by Lightspeed Future Lullaby
Here's a new song by me 'specially for Xmas (yes it's a bit early). The voices are from kids talking about a nativity play.

Jega - "Variance" - Planet Mu - July 20 2009

The new LP by Jega - his first in almost 10 years is stunning - at least that's what my early impressions tell me. Worth the wait! Hearing about this one made me fish out "Spectrum" (an earlier album and an all time classic electronica release) in anticipation. It's early days but this new one might just be the match of it.

Ralf Hütter was not interviewed on the Culture Show - oh well!

Well, it was always going to be a long-shot that the elusive and media-shy leader of Kraftwerk (now the sole original member) would (as was billed) be interviewed on the BBC's Culture Show. Miranda Sawyer actually went head to head with Ralf's stage robot which in interview was a touch wooden and not too revealing. But it was a good little feature anyway about their performance at the Manchester Festival 2009. I loved the fact it happened at the velodrome with cyclists whizzing by.

Connections - Drone/Exotica/Minimal/Hauntological

Music (that hardly exists) was my first love.
A long long time ago (I'm talking 1984 here in the days of new-romantic flamboyance and post-punk noise fests) I went to see Jonathan Richman and was kind of amazed to witness the lengths he went to to play quietly. During the set, which culminated in an a cappella version of "Walter Johnson", Jonathan asked for instruments to be turned down, decided that the drummer should play with brushes, and then hands, before encoring without even a mic. He literally did go out with a whisper, which made the euphoric applause that greeted his unusual performance sound even louder than it was. This was not then or has ever been since seen as a conventional way to satisfy either performers or audiences in rock music, performances of which are often ruined by an over-reliance on brute-force volume. But it struck a chord with me and what it showed was how lightness and subtle nuance can truly rock your world.
Subsequently I've come to notice that a lot of music I love - and this may sound an odd way of expressing it - seems to barely exist, comprising of tiny ripples of sound with modulations and minute adjustments. It is almost tenuous. I guess it's why I took to acid house and why this year I have gone doolally over the music released on Ghost Box and a micro-genre generally called "drone". It's kind of given that this hazy approach to sound is key in those two. But this is also a defining characteristic of some other, less obvious music too. As noted in a pleased-with-myself earlier post, I just got a pristine copy of Arthur Lyman's Taboo. I was rather cooing about the actual item in that post and didn't say too much about the music, which I've been digesting in the last week. Lyman is very much a key figure in "exotica" and was one of those artists rediscovered during the "lounge-core" trend of the late 90s. This whole scene was very much based around an image of retro fun, frivolity and cocktail playfulness exemplified in titles such as "Space-Age Bachelor Pad Music" and saw a number of great artists like Esquivel, Martin Denny and Les Baxter restored from ignominious (qu)easy-listening posterity. In my mini-post I leapt onto the Esquivel similarities, of which there are many (extravagant use of percussion, lashings of spring reverb and a "kid in the toyshop" application of the then relatively uncommon and novel ability to record and release in stereo "hi-fidelity") but, there is a more potent vibe at work in the Lyman stuff. This guy really plays it quiet. There is an absence of those cartoonesque stabs of whacky percussion that were an Esquivel trademark and instead the music often fades in to the distance as ambient washes of wind, wave, bird or jungle sounds well up. In actual fact this is not a million miles away from the campfire vibe of some of Animal Collective's work and those washes of ambient noise bring to mind Basic Channel's dubby minimalism. This music is simply not "in your face". In terms of my very recent listening it sits beautifully alongside Belbury Poly (Ghost Box) and the beautiful drone ambience of Chihei Hatakeyama (whom I will be posting about soon).

Luke Haines' britpop memoir

"Bad Vibes: Britpop and my part in its downfall", by Luke Haines is definitely worth a peruse if you take your nostalgia un-rose-tinted and served with a good measure of misanthropy. It's mainly pretty funny and certainly gets off to a hilarious start with a recollection of how a stage-invading dwarf somewhat spoilt his band the Auteurs' swansong live show in France. It's pretty dark, very immodest (he has an appealingly over-inflated sense of his own place in musical history) and mentions plenty of actual names and places as it reveals to the reader how a sizable chunk of Britain's indie music scene in the 1990s evolved into (or came to be known as) britpop. Anyone with a fondness or interest in the era will enjoy the numerous anecdotes featuring characters from the scene (from household name Damon Albarn to the eternally cult Lawrence from Felt and Denim). But Mr Haines has few complimentary things to say about many of the great, the good (and the hardly-remembered also-rans) of that musical decade. In particular, I doubt Matt Johnson (The The) will likely be sharing a pint with Mr Haines any time soon. Oasis feature often as the object of the author's scorn and such is the cutting eloquence of these numerous put downs that I almost began to feel sorry for Noel Gallagher and co (I did say almost). He depicts himself as some kind of britpop fifth columnist - in there at the heart of the scene, agitating; quietly detesting and disdainful of the competition (more successful and otherwise). The odd grudging acknowledgment of rare good moments by peers (like Pulp's "Common People" for example) only serves to heighten the sense the reader gets of being on a journey with Mr Haines through a musical decade, kicking against the pricks, and cocking irreverent snoops to all and sundry along the way. But despite the spikiness you do empathise and the overall impression is that beneath the entertaining veil of superiority, a more humble present day Haines exists. In fact, as the author himself says in the intro, the impressions and views he describes were as he felt them at the time and do not necessarily reflect his current thinking (though it has to be said that the verve with which he regularly diminishes Oasis and its members seems rather too gleeful to be yesterday's feast). And as Mr Haines' band were indeed right in there at the start, this makes for a very insightful and witty dissection of the whole britpop phenomenon. Those familiar with his music will already know him as lyricist skilled at evoking and deconstructing past cultural eras. It's a strength he has managed to carry through to this enjoyable trek through a particular epoch in British music. Highly recommended especially if you have ever led a band yourself and fancied yourself as the greatest. And perhaps especially if you always thought Oasis were shit.

Taboo

Quite excited this morning that I managed to pick up an absolutely immaculate original pressing of Arthur Lyman's "Taboo" at my local market. I've been after this for a long time and always held back on copies I saw because of over-pricing and/or rubbish condition. This one's the bees knees though - the vinyl and the sleeve are near perfect. It's something to purr about. Look at the picture. The sleeve is still so shiny you can see my reflection in it! It's classic easy listening - but the kind of thing that never really deserved that tag, although it is undoubtedly easy on the ear. Very exotic sounding with a a definite South Pacific/Latin vibe but really "out there" sound and production-wise. File under "exotica" along with Esquivel, Martin Denny and the like.

Endless Bob Brown...music was my first love...

It's not at all the raison d'être of this little soap-box to self-aggrandise (just that one little link to my music over there on the right isn't much is it!!). But something slightly funny has happened, which I guess is a function of the fact that the great worldwide-blogosphere-webby-sponge eventually leaves no stone whatsoever unturned. And so it comes to pass that a band I was in as a thin gaunt youth in the 80s seems to be stirring some interest, more than two decades after the event. PleaseRainFall, the main blog in question, has even released an online EP. That band was Endless Bob Brown, so named after a chant a stage-invader repeated and repeated - religiously, loudly - at a very early Birthday Party gig. It left an impression on me and might explain to this chap, a fan of the music, that the name is not "mince" (used as an un-flattering adjective). On reflection I can sort of see what he means about the name, but yes - Endless Bob Brown was my band - along with my friends Bryn, Guy and Tim. We were from the provinces; the West Midlands; mainly Kidderminster but with a foot in the Black Country. We were pretty good. But we were (on reflection) perennial under-achievers - not Biz-ready - not street-wise - and certainly not confident (at least outside the garage where we rehearsed). I think this is the story of so many other bands like us. We were the children of our influences for sure, but not just musically. Successful, no-compromise bands like the Smiths and Joy Division fed our sense of pride in being "outsiders" who would not "play the game" and who would abide faithfully - come what may - to a pure idea of artistic endeavour. This approach was, to be truthful, an iron-clad guarantee of ZERO SUCCESS, but despite that I must admit, I still kind of believe in it. To this day I remain puritanical and obsessed about music; often to a perspective-distorting extent. I can't really take it lightly. I mean, should a 40-something father, who works for a leading current affairs magazine, feel that the financial-crisis pales as a news story besides the debate over the rights and wrongs of a Specials reunion (wrong by the way)?

But in truth we did have our chances; the offer of a tour with the Chills (a band of the moment), patronage and support from UB40's producer, to name just a couple, but a combination of laziness and distraction (we were all heading off to different worlds - university, jobs etc) foiled even these "open goals". We all continued to do music and we all do today. Bryn and I kept at it as a band on-and-off, well into the acid-fueled l'eighteis (with Elation). Then Super 8 was our Pulp-inspired Brit-pop affair right up until I left Birmingham for London in 1996 (where funnily enough I eventually found a modicum of "real" success with actual releases on a record label). I think all the bands were at least "pretty good" - but we always had that self-imposed ceiling on real-world ambition. It doesn't matter, because being in Endless Bob Brown and subsequent bands was great fun - sort of - but it is still gratifying to find that all these years later some people are discovering and loving the music. So I modestly suggest that if you are reading this (stupid comment eh) you have a little click here and on those earlier links to see some nice things that people have said about us. It's undoubtedly good for my ego, but really and truthfully I actually think the writings and enthusiasm of these folks deserves an audience too.

A matter of local pride

Well there I was, crammed sardine-like into a Southwark bound Jubilee line tube on Wednesday night, subconsciously scanning those banner ads they have on the trains (they work so well becasue folk so strenousuly try to avoid eye contact that what else are they going to look at) when I spotted the one below for The Times and being a vinyl head I began mentally thumbing through my list of London emporiums trying to get a match. Then it dawned on me. Yes I do know it. But it's not a London shop at all. In fact it's Plastic Wax on Bristol's Gloucester Road (probably one of the last streets in Britain where you can still do a record shop crawl). Quite exciting really. Gave me some joy on a bloody horrible tube anyway. Must go up there at the weekend.

Weren't the Woodentops good?

I don't know why but a song by the Woodentops popped into my head the other day, prompting me to fish out "Giant", their first album - on Rough Trade - which came out around the same time as the Smiths' debut in the mid-80s. There was quite a buzz about them at the time and I saw them live at least twice (they were top-notch live - very tight - very intense). But they seem to have become something of a forgotten band considering their prominence at the time. Anyway - I'm not about to write a potted history or a plea for recognition/reappraisal here. But I would like to say I massively enjoyed the first album on re-listening. I'll be putting at least a couple of Woodentops songs on February's compilation - freshly ripped and slightly scratchy from two decades old vinyl - nice.

Final Fantasy - and why impulse buying is cool

I wondered a couple of weeks back if last year's end of year round-up from Pitchfork would throw up any gems. The answer is a resounding YES. Final Fantasy is a band I hadn't come across before. It's actually not really a "band" so much as a quasi-solo project. In this case of Toronto-based Owen Pallett who seems to have flourished as a collaborator with high-flyers like the Arcade Fire ( he did the orchestral and string arrangements on both Funeral and Neon Bible) while his own rather brilliant output has dipped under many radars (including mine until now). Via the Pitchfork list I heard a track called "The Butcher" which it said was the 99th best track of 2008 (is that damning with faint praise?). I loved it and swiftly went online to research and ended up buying three CDs from this nice record shop in Canada, which is also a co-operative co-founded by Owen Pallett.



The discs duly arrived mid-January. Now it's always exciting receiving such exotic goodies from afar, but I don't mind admitting that my heart skips a few extra beats when I buy records I have hardly heard. It's a risky business; more so when your lead has come from a track already picked out as a standout which could just mean it'll be downhill from there. And undoubtedly, I've had my fair share of disappointments, but oh the joy, the delicious sense of EUREKA!, when a gem is uncovered. And to be perfectly honest, there's a distinct feeling of reflected brilliance when ones own nose for for sniffing out quality is shown to be so damn keen. Of course me blogging about me discovering this proves the latter point! Final Fantasy is what I'd call a true gem - a pearl in fact - and along with my newly acquired complete collection of Ghost Box recordings, the CDs have been on constant rotation since they arrived. The music couldn't be more different to Ghost Box's stuff mind you. This is baroque chamber pop with occasional operatic flourishes, in the vein of the Divine Comedy, circa "Promenade" (though stranger, more off kilter and just a little lo-fi). The prominence of strings and the excellence of the string arrangements are the most distinctive features but Owen's voice is smashing; a delicate, slightly tremulous tenor (which is occasionally winningly overwrought) . It's not unlike Zach Condon's (Beirut), another collaborator, who also contributed to the most recent of the records, "Spectrum, 14th Century". This is the one that features "The Butcher" along with four other tracks. It's great EP and like the others has some really good artwork.

It is actually true that "The Butcher" is probably the standout track from this EP but the pick of the three CDs is undoubtedly the second album "He Poos Clouds" (apparently a compliment - your shit don't smell natch). This is a magnificent collection featuring a number of beautifully rich songs. My favourite at the moment is the heart-wrenching "I'm Afraid of Japan" which reminds me of nothing so much as the existential movie masterpiece, Monsieur Hire. I'm doing some monthly compilations this year and it's plain that Final Fantasy and Ghost Box will feature prominently on January's and maybe beyond. Brilliant stuff.

Ghost Box

I have stumbled upon Ghost Box. This niche imprint releases records by "artists that find inspiration in library music, folklore, vintage electronics and haunted television soundtracks". I think the latter describes the frequent use of samples from grainy public service broadcasts. There is certainly an obvious debt to Boards of Canada's (BOC) seminal "Music Has the Right to Children" which mined a similar seam and has become something of a holy grail in terms of atomospheric electronica. Like that BOC album much of Ghost Box's output feels half-formed, dream-like and fragmented. It's also very nostalgic - music that feels like memories and evocations of the past. Bloggers like K-Punk and Simon Reynolds have said a lot of interesting stuff on it, and it may have been the former who dubbed it hauntological, a description which kind of gets to the crux of this music really - it really is quite haunting. My tardiness in finding this lovely music is amply demonstrated by the fact that even the Times has done an article on "hauntology". Rather fantastically the Guradian has called it psychogeographic rock. But names aside, this is essential listening for fans of the afore-mentioned BOC, but it also brings to mind Isan, Plone, Broadcast (who share an art-work designer with Ghost Box I believe) and that whole future-retro thing that got going in the late 90s. Other reference points are the soundtrack of Kes and the output of labels like Trunk and Mordant Music.

"DONK" - fun early 2009

I find myself laughing at this by the Blackout Crew http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ckMvj1piK58 - but bloomn' eck I like it too. I'd call this great pop. FACT is hilarious in its write up, like it thinks it's found some bizarre northern fun cult that it can't work out whether to love or mock, but Simon Reynolds has investigated without prejudice and seems to have some love. There is a joke here but who it's on is anyone's guess.