Awesome Band in Animal Collective meets Grizzly Bear shocker!

 Le Loup are a charming little six-piece hailing from Washington DC. I've been a bit slow on the uptake on this one, Family was released last September but has only just wormed its way onto my ipod priority list. It's bloody good though. It kicks off with Saddle Mountain which has this awesome tribal energy, it's kind of like a folky funeral dirge except happy. Grow has amazing energy and is full of joy. Morning song is one of my favourites with fantastic harmonies and plucky banjo, yum. Title track Family starts out fairly dull and then explodes a few minutes in into a kind of Arcade Firey greatness, this only lasts about a minute though which is disappointing. Forgive me is all over the place, it's great- a kind of folky Animal Collective. Go East is like a rising sunset, lovely. I think my favourite track from the whole album is Sherpa- shouty and drummy with a smile-inducing melody. Celebration is also shouty, harmonised greatness. Go listen. 

Unfortunately, they don't have Family on spotify but they DO have their first release, 'The Throne of The Third Heaven Of The Nations Millenium General Assembly', a pretty unnecessary title but beautiful nonetheless. They use everything from banjos to telephones in their songs. It's a consistent album packed full of pretty little ditties but Fear Not is definitely the stand out track, other good un's include Planes Like Vultures, To the Stars To the Night and Breathing Raptures.

They remind me slightly of Bear in Heaven; a band getting a lot of attention following the recent SXSW Music Industry shindig in Austin, Texas. Except Bear in Heaven are a bit shit. Wholehearted Mess is a half-hearted mess attempt of a song. They have been compared (wrongly, in my opinion) to Atlas Sound who are amazing. Howeverrr, Lovesick Teenagers is quite interesting, it sounds like an 80s video game and Dust Cloud is pretty good. I've actually decided I hate them now but check them out for yourself.

Another gem I stumbled across recently is Memory Cassette; ethereal, pretty noise- a bit like Air France, in a good way. Asleep At A Party is pure class, you can hear the muffled rumblings of people talking in the background JUST LIKE WHEN YOU'RE ASLEEP AT A PARTY! I like, check it out.

Spotify all the above: Good shit

Hyped new band Summer Camp have a similar sound- dreamy, muffled backing and nostalgic vocals are the order of the day. It's a little bit twee but I love it anyway. Here's the video for new single Ghost Town:


Summer Camp - Ghost Train (viral) from Paddy Power on Vimeo.

Alice Fever

I can't wait to see Alice in Wonderland, I was trying to hold out for imax but it's sold out for a million years and anyway those stupid glasses hurt my face. I thought it would be fitting to create a homage to all things Alice as everyone is going mad as a hatter (ha) for anything remotely Wonderland-ful.

This remix did the rounds last year- it's FANTASTIC. They've taken sounds solely from the Disney Alice and made something beautiful. Well done.



The official soundtrack to the new film, 'Almost Alice', not only features Avril Lavigne and The All-American Rejects but also a cover of Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit. Several things about that sentence disturb me.

Here's my go at an Alice-inspired playlist:

Jefferson Airplane- White Rabbit.
Why the hell they didn't use the original in the soundtrack is beyond me, Grace Slick's vocals on this track never fail to send shivers down my spine. What starts off with gentle, spanish-infused guitar builds to a now-famous crescendo (Johnny Depp in Fear and Loathing tries to get him to chuck a toaster in the bath 'at the crescendo' because it's so beautiful. and because he's on lots of drugs.), it's just an awesome song really, you can practically smell the sweaty hippies dropping acid in a tie-dyed boudoir.

Little Dragon- Looking Glass. Nothing beats a bit of Swedish electronica now does it?

Tom Waits- Alice. What a lad. He actually wrote an entire album dedicated to Lewis Carroll's forbidden love with 11 year old Alice Liddell which supposedly inspired the Adventures in Wonderland.

Mad Hatter- The Stranglers. This song is kind of shit but it's very apt and it's the Stranglers!

Joe's Waltz- The Dodos. Pretty tenuous reference but the Dodo is an integral part to the story and I just like them so...

Mad World- Tears for Fears. I'm kind of struggling now, this isn't as easy as I'd thought.... I'm giving up now except I would also add that 'Alice- who the fuck is Alice?' song- I can't find it on Spotify, rage.

http://open.spotify.com/user/ronniemeade/playlist/1bZuxZHVETFTOxNGM4PQLo

Girls make big noise good

                                       
There's something about girls that can play good guitar. And I don't mean Alanis Morissette- did she even play her own guitar? Anyway she has marred many a European campsite (the spaniards are particularly keen), along with Hotel California. God I hate that song. I digress. Guitars are actually quite feminine instruments with their curves and penchants for being flung over boys legs and strummed... When a girl masters a guitar a beautiful thing occurs- she morphs into a masculine, delicate wonder. There is something innately attractive about a lady knowing how to handle a boy's toy. It's not quite the same as finding your brother in your lipstick and heels but there is something of the forbidden about it.

The epitome of the mix between delicacy and 'rockin with her cock out' is Feist- being able to write a song like The Park or Intuition whilst completely losing it on stage. Awesome. She just knows how it works- I've seen her live a few times now and each time the audience can't help but swoon at her feet and do her bidding. This is the best I could find but it doesn't do her justice, GO AND SEE HER.






By far the most impressive strummer of the bunch has to be Gabriela of Rodrigo y Gabriela fame. I don't know how she still has hands by the end of a set. Watch this solo, it looks more painful than childbirth.




Again I've got to give Cat Power a shout out. In this video you can't make out whether she's a grungey teenage boy or a totally awesome chic- luckily her fragile vocals give it away.

I can't get enough of the canadian band Land of Talk at the minute- the lead singer and undoubted leader of the band, Elizabeth Powell, has crafted a modern version of punky grunge and by golly I think she's on to something. I saw her live in the Wilmington Arms and she was propa divs though- she left the audience waiting on a couple of numbers while she yelled at the sound man.

She doesn't play the guitar but god can she make noise... my other eternal love affair is with Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I don't know how she makes the noises that she does but she is a complete ledgebag. I think I might make a shrine.

Last but not least, the lovely St Vincent. They are absolutely fantastic live. Love this chick, she's like a little doll and then this low, gutteral voice comes out of her.


I've made a playlist in homage to these rock goddesses plus a couple more new ones I've discovered including She Keeps Bees, Peggy Sue, Alessi's Ark  who are all pretty cool, relaxed guitary chicks (Check out Lonelady too, I reckon she could be pretty big... Pitchfork are bumming her right now.

spotify:user:ronniemeade:playlist:0uNNTNtwXbnb9MLjOYcuFg

Friday Spotify Playlist

It's Friday, the sun is shining and I'm having steak later- high time for an excellent playlist:Click me

Girls- Scala 23/02/10

I just went to my first gig by myself- unintentionally so it was a bit tragic. 'No, my plus one won't be coming'... not the most comforting thing to say. Girls weren't on for another half an hour and as I sipped my Corona scanning the crowd of haircuts, fur coats and leather jackets,  I worried I'd committed myself to trendy-gig hell. The band came on in all their hairy glory- the singer in a pvc hat, which only confirmed my suspicions...

BUT, they started out with 'Laura' and were a lot more bluesy than on the record. I sighed a sigh of relief. The boys in Girls can play good gee-tar. I could only fault it for lagging a bit in the middle and the singer saying 'this is the best song I've ever written' and it being the worst song of the set- it was about love, it was about a french girl, I didn't recognise it from the album but it was pretty dull. Hellhole Ratrace was a breakthrough- the tempo picked up and they broke into big boy guitars. After that it did start to lag- it might be because I needed a wee though. I got lost through some doors into this mad VIP lounge with a big glass screening area- much better than being crushed down on the floor- it was absolutely packed. I stayed for Lust for Life- my favourite song off the album. It was actually fairly so-so, which was surprising as it was the song that got me out into the cold to go and see them.

Overall I was impressed though- for songs I didn't think I would be. They are definitely worth catching at a festival or if they are supporting someone. Not sure I would go to one of their own gigs again though.

Check out their NSFW video- singing into willy's- inspired.
http://pitchfork.com/news/36932-nsfw-girls-lust-for-life-video-hardcore-xxx-version/

Little Cover Gems

 A cover song is a tricky little thing, is it better to depart so much from the original that it's almost unrecognisable to put your 'spin' on it or risk murdering it?
 A bad cover shows not only that you're a bit shit but that you think you're as talented as who you are covering and often this is proved not to be the case (Shakira- Back in Black... really?)

Nevertheless, a good cover can make a band- Nouvelle Vague produce albums almost entirely made up of covers and do it pretty well. Jimi Hendrix is most famous for his cover of Bob Dylan's 'All Along The Watchtower' and Alien Ant Farm pretty much just covered 'Smooth Criminal' by Michael Jackson and slipped back into anonymity (for me anyway... maybe they were very successful, meh).
By far the best album of Cover versions I've ever come across is the Stereogum edition of OK Computer by Radiohead. You can stream it here: http://stereogum.com/okx/

Stand Out Tracks: No Surprises by Marissa Nadler, Karma Police by John Vanderslice and Electioneering by Cold War Kids.

Incidentally if you like your favourite songs reinterpreted in the medium of smooth jazz(yazz flute), look no further... check out Smooth Jazz All Stars on Spotify for a whole evening of fun (it's actually pretty good, if not for their determination- they've whacked out about 60 albums of hip hop covers. Genius.)

Here are some good-un's...

Taken By Trees- Sweet Child 'O Mine (Guns & Roses)


God Guns'n'Roses are annoying, but this is a bearable version of a relatively hard song to cover without me wanting to claw my eyes out.



Hot Chip- Sexual Healing (Marvin Gaye)


They've gone for it and completely Hot Chip'ped it up... Much as I love the original, I think this pays off...



Ex Lovers- Wicked Game (Chris Isaak)


Just love this song.



Nouvelle Vague- Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division)


Good cover of a great song. Not as good as the original but a good shot.



CallmeKAT- The Lovecats (The Cure)
 Great original, nice little cover. Check her out on Spotify.




Klaxons- No Diggity (Blackstreet)


Niiiiice.





Arcade Fire- Maps (Yeah Yeah Yeahs)


Not the best cover in the world but it's my favourite band covering my favourite band...




White Stripes- I don't know what to do with myself (Burt Bacharach covered by Dusty Springfield)


Ace cover, ace video.

Folk Rocks!

I've become musically enchanted by all things American. Listen to the Schpotify playlist below...

My latest find is Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros- their single 'Home' has such a wholesome, comforting sound- perfect for those miserable tail-end-of-winter days, like a musical Irish Stew. I hope they make it big here, it's an excellent song.
There are about ten of them in the band and you get a real familial vibe from the choons, they burst into cheerful banter and laughter. The mixture of brass, whistling, guitars, banjos and keyboard work in harmony creating a happy, boisterous noise without becoming jumbled.

They remind me of a band I saw recently at Union Chapel called Moriarty who were supporting Andrew Bird who looked like they'd rocked right out of a traveling caravan. They put on an amazing show though; they were really magnetic to watch- the lead singer oozed confidence and mystery and they all crowded around the microphone gazing intently at the audience playing their harmonicas and strumming their banjos. 

There are plenty of really good folky exports making their way over from the Big Pond. One beginning to see success here is Local Natives- intricate, laid-back folk rock with melting harmonies and excellent facial hair. I've been hooked on their debut 'Gorilla Manor' on wintery walks to work.

Cat Power remains one of my favourite American 'folk rock' artists, so I've added a couple of her tracks on there too. She was notoriously unpredictable live due to alcohol problems and messy relationships, which adds to the magnetism. She's all about the breathy vocals and her songs have an oldy worldy feel to them. I love this photo of her- Not Safe For Work though!

I can't write about modern American folk without mentioning Bon Iver. For Emma, Forever Ago was a phenomenal album. The songs conjure up images of him sitting in that log cabin up the mountain, staring out at the wilderness with a big log fire strumming away... This is still the perfect soundtrack for cold, wintery walks.

It's not really folky but I've also added a Beach House track to my American gems playlist. Ethereal as fuck- I really like the new album 'Teen Dreams'.

I can't figure out how to add music to this bad boy yet so check the playlist out on Spotify if you've got it...(I sneaked some Sufjan on there). Enjoy.

spotify:user:ronniemeade:playlist:3bnL0b9TLE86crU47nrJyZ