Today sees us launch yet another new feature here at The Line Of Best Fit. Every Friday we’ll be bringing you V5, a weekly roundup of brand spanking new music videos for your delectation. Whats more, each week we’ll be posting up an all time classic video to whisk you down memory lane. This week sees videos from Other Passengers, Archie Bronson Outfit, iLikeTrains, The Maccabees & one of the greatest music videos ever made, Sabotage by The Beastie Boys.

Artist:Archie Bronson Outfit Title:Dart For My Sweetheart
Release Date:26/03/07 Label:Domino

Artist:The Maccabees Title:About Your Dress
Release Date:26/02/07 Label:Polydor

Artist:Other Passengers Title:Sick Sick Sick (You, Me & Everyone Else)
Release Date:23/04/07 Label:Something In Construction

Artist:iLIKETRAINS Title:Spencer Perceval
Release Date:26/03/07 Label:Beggers Banquet

Artist:Beastie Boys Title:Sabotage
Release Date:30/11/93 Label:Grand Royale

Do you have an all-time favourite music video? Want the world to see it? Email us at contact@thelineofbestfit.com and, if we like it, we’ll post it up on this very section.
Get interactive!

Well this is a turn up for the books. Something exciting musically is actually happening in Suffolk! July 12-15th sees the return of Latitude festival which is held at Henham Park in the olde world seaside town of Southwold. Acts confirmed to play at the festival so far are Arcade Fire, Damien Rice, The Good, The Bad & The Queen, Wilco, CSS, The Rapture, The National, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Magic Numbers, Midlake, The Gotan Project and Explosions In The Sky. I’m sure you’ll agree thats a pretty jaw droppingly good lineup so far.Tickets for the event, which also includes dance, comedy, theatre, literature, poetry and film are on sale now. Click here to be taken to the ticket merchant. Weekend tickets (including camping) are a snip at £112 or you can purchase a single day ticket for £45.

In other festival news, The Duke Spirit have confirmed they are playing this years O2 Wireless Festival which takes place over four days in June at Hyde Park in London and Leeds Harewood House. The band are appearing on the same lineup as Kaiser Chiefs, Editors, The Cribs, The Rakes & The Twang. Bit of a mixed line up there but a good gig for The Dukes. Full festival information can be found here. Other acts appearing over the four days are The White Stripes, Daft Punk, LCD Soundsystem and CSS.

Downloads:
The Duke Spirit - Autoharp (live) [download mp3 ♫]
The Arcade Fire (w/ David Bowie) - Wakeup (live) [download mp3 ♫]
The Good, The Bad & The Queen - Nature Springs (live) [download mp3 ♫]

Sweeeeet! The Hold Steady are set to play Londons finest venue, The Shepherds Bush Empire on 2nd July. The band are also playing Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms on 4th July and Manchester University on the 5th July. To my knowledge no more UK dates have been announced as yet though the band are in the capital next month (April 21st-25th) to promote single Stuck Between Stations so expect some last minute London shows to be announced.

The Hold Steady - Stuck Between Stations (live at Lollapalooza 2006)
[download mp3 ♫]
Download complete show here

The Bays are an interesting bunch. They operate largely outside of the normal channels of most bands. They don’t release music, they’re not signed to a label, they don’t rehearse and you’ll never hear them play the same set twice. As they put it themselves ’Performance is the Product’. The Line of Best Fit caught up with Chris Taylor, the bassist from the oddest band in the UK.

1. Describe your sound in 3 words.
Subaqueous, tensile, lascivious [what did we used to do before thesauri]
2. Diet coca-cola or normal coke?
Doesn’t Diet Coke contain spartacus or something like that and anyway, there is a warning on the can to people with phenylketonuria that Diet Coke contains phenylalanine. So probably normal coke. Or beer.
3. What would be your ideal holiday?
Somewhere like Lowestoft but not Lowestoft.
4. Whats the best cure for a hangover?
A pint of Adnams.
5. What’s on your rider?
A packet of Menthol cigarettes that someone who left the band 5 years ago used to smoke.
6. How do you get ready for a live show?
I practice along to records at home and then panic at the last minute before we go on.
7. Favourite song to play live?
We don’t play songs but in 1994 [6 years before The Bays even started] I played Alright Now by Free on a boat on The Thames. Playing Alright Now is great for the bass ’cos you get to stop for ages and then do a very important bit.
8. When was the last time you told a lie?
I mostly can’t afford to tell the truth, it often ends up being too costly either financially or emotionally.
9. Who would win in a fight, a stoat or a goat and why?
Well Stoats have probably got incisors and goats are ruminants so probably the stoat. Teeth can never be overrated.
10. What was the last album you bought?
I think it was an old album by The Nice, it’s probably terrible.
11. What’s your pet hate?
Babies crying or harsh noises in general when I’m trying to relax, I think I might have some kind of tinitus or some rare weird kind or ear disease. And hypochondriacs.
12. Dead or alive. What 5 acts would you have play with you at a festival.
Boards Of Canada, Stevie Wonder 20 years ago, Chic [Bernard Edwards back from the dead would be a thing to see], Spinal Tap and a kind of half Wombles half Slipknot combo that covered theme tunes from the late 80s.
13. Desert Island Disc? Pick only one.
Arachnophobia by LA Synthesis.
14. Most memorable on the road story.
In Mexico when we drove past a dead dog with shorts on.
15. Whats the best thing about being in The Bays?
Feeling uncompromised. Poor, but uncompromised.
16. Do you read your own reviews?
Do you know what, we’ve never had a bad review yet so yes, otherwise I’d say “praise and criticism treat these two imposters the same” or whatever the quote is.
17. Tell us a fact about yourself we probably don’t already know.
My son who’s 21 plays bass with Groove Armada.
18. Are you a morning bird or a night fox?
Night Fox.
19. If you could travel back in time where would you set the dial?
About 1968.
20. Least favourite person in the universe.
I hate everyone the same except maybe John Pertwee but even then sometimes…….

Links:
The Bays [official site]

It comes as no surprise to find out that, when you visit their website or myspace page, their registered domain is BigBigBusiness. There may only be two of them, but they don’t half make a racket. They make more noise than bands with three times the band members, crafting monstrous rock music with riffs the size of glaciers which create a fractured and angular landscape, one with epic peaks and deep dark canyons.

These guys first came to my attention at the ATP Festival last year where they blew my honking hangover into next week. They created a huge wall of sound, like Lightning Bolt but with a more firm footing in actual songs whilst their lyrics dealt with the more painful aspects of life. Here Come The Waterworks builds on their previous work, they sound a lot more focused, the production is a touch more sleek too, the guitar and drums (for that’s basically all that’s involved) are crisp and clear. The drum intro to Another Fourth of July… Ruined batters its way into your head, the faint howl of guitar feedback grows and grows into some deep and dark Sabbath-esque riff which dominates the song. The opening track, Just As The Day Was Dawning, sets the tone for the entire album. It rips, roars and tears it’s way through your speakers (beware headphone users!), the riffs are just so enormous that they dominate the entire record, the drums crash and clatter in a way the sounds impossible. Most of the songs are short bursts of angry energy, but the record ends with two epics. The nine minute I’ll Give You Something To Cry About and the seven minute Another Beautiful Day In The Pacific Northwest. The former shows that they can craft something more than just an aural assault, it wheels around, the guitars more guarded and slower, the drums build up a sinister atmosphere before the song descends into a whirlwind of feedback which builds into the final track. This is certainly something very different for the Big Business boys, more akin to Queens of the Stone Age, there’s a slow building clatter of feedback infused guitars with a hint of either processed guitars or keyboards. It’s actually more reminiscent of post-rock with the music generating images of faraway landscapes. If this is a hint of a things to come, their next album will certainly be something to look forward to.

There’s hints of plenty of classic rock acts hidden away in the mix including Sabbath, Iron Maiden and AC/DC. But the true joy here is that they’ve managed to spin something original out of this mix, the last track especially hinting at talents that could well be developed in their next album. They’re proving that they can’t just do loud and mad, that they can craft and write something really quite special. Bring on Big Business.

Links:
Big Business [official site] [myspace]

Taking over Ryan Adams (for Easy Tiger) in the race for oddest album title of the year, Spoon have unveiled that their latest album is to be called Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga! Due for release in April/May, no tracklist has been released yet but songs expected to appear are Don’t Make Me a Target, My Little Japanese Cigarette Case, Kindness Kills Them, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, Black Like Me, The Way You Said, Yeah He Did, and Eddie’s Ragga. More news as we get it.

Links:
Spoon [official site] [myspace]
Spoon - I Turn My Camera On (from Gimme Fiction) [download mp3 ♫]

The Mystery Jets have returned to the studio to record the follow-up to their vastly under-rated and overlooked debut, Making Dens, to be released at the end of this year.

An email communication from the band indicates that they’ve written "about 17 songs" and they’ve recruited Erol Alkan (Bloc Party, Scissor Sisters) to be their producer and Jimmy Robertson (Plan B, Klaxons) to be their engineer. Exciting stuff.

They’ve setup their own blog to recount tails of woe and wonder, which can be found by clicking on the lovely links below…

On other Jets related news, they’re going to be touring the States at the end of May to promote the release of Making Dens over there, dates can be found on their Myspace page.

Other than that, they wished everyone a great 2007 and signed it with "lots and lots of love". Ahhh. How sweet.

Links:
Mystery Jets [official site] [myspace] [album blog]

A bit of a quiet week on the old singles front this week, probably due to the Peter Kay / Proclaimers charity single - there was only going to be one winner this week. However, some brave souls have put out some singles this week, so lets delve into our sack of aural pleasure.

First up is the latest single from the hotly tipped Air Traffic. Appearing in many a “One to Watch” list for 2007, it’s not hard to see why. Mainly because it’s what you’ve come to expect from an NME hyped band - young men with guitars being all emotive. Nice. I have a real problem with being force fed an endless supply of this shite at the moment. Give me something different! It’s better than The Twang though.

This week also sees the release of Spencer Perceval by iLiKETRAiNS, a single from last years excellent EP. These guys deserve to be more well heard, an intriguing mix of Mogwai and British Sea Power to create this huge, expansive pieces of music that suck you in. This is no exception, it’s brooding guitars and sweeping vocals make it feel like it’s Autumn rather than Spring, but it’s not meant to be a feel good hit of the summer. It’s a great single, but one that’s not really going to inspire people to buy it. Go out and get last years EP instead.

Up next is a new release from Australian born Berlin based singer/songwriter/dj Justine Electra. Taken from her debut album Soft Rock, Killalady is a laid back electro pop ditty. Electra’s vocals here remind me of Leslie Feist, all smooth and velvety. Its a nice song, simple electric guitar mixed up with slightly distorted drum loops with a heavy synth riff thrown in for good measure topped off with witty razor sharp lyrics. Worthy of investigation for sure.

Something a little bit different is the latest single by Swedish popsters Love Is All. It’s a double a-side, the leader Nothing To Be Done is a cover of The Pastels track from the C86 movement many moons ago. It’s completely bonkers. It really is all over the shop. There’s saxophones, twisted guitars and vocals that sound like they were recorded in a bath. The flip side, Ageing Has Never Been His Friend, is a perfect, funky indie-pop gem, all Hammond organ and twee vocals. Great jangly pop music and it’s the single of the week for it’s sheer originality.

Whilst listening to any album by Laura Veirs, I’m always reminded of the opening sequences of Christopher Nolan’s film, Insomnia. The great white expanses of the upper reaches of North America and Canada, the remote and almost inaccesible areas of ice and thick forests. Her music seems to be the perfect soundtrack to these great environmental amazements. Each song always sounds intricately arranged and produced to feel at one turn open and expansive and the other, dark and claustraphobic. Her latest album, Saltbreakers, carries on these themes and develops them further, the music and songwriting seem more focused and, at times, more ambitious.

Opening track, Pink Light, bursts out of the ether and sparkles in the light, the guitars twist and turn, driving the song along whilst the minimal percussion clips and claps it’s way through the song. It feels as though there’s more substance to back up her songs when compared, certainly, to her earlier albums. However, Ocean Night Song wouldn’t have sounded out of place on her debut, all delicately picked acoustic guitars with a gentle tinkle of percussion and twisted strings. This then segues into Don’t Lose Yourself which could, quite possibly, be her first “pop” song with it’s shifting processed drums and a piano, forceful and driving, guitars seemingly a secondary instrument hidden in the mix. With this record it does feel as though Veirs is challenging herself, trying to stretch her artistic muscle and writing something a little different. It doesn’t always work, sometimes it feels a little forced. The title track feels like something that would appear on a children’s TV program with it’s bubblegum harmonies and rhythm by-numbers, it’s a real disappointment.

Whilst this change of direction is admirable and impressive, it feels as though she’s lost her innocence and left-field nature which brought her to the fore originally. That’s not to say that we all want to hear another Carbon Glacier, it’s just that this movement to the middle of the road takes away some of the originality that she possessed. However, she still has one of the most crystal clear voices I’ve ever heard and the highlights of this album definitely outweigh the more wayward choices. Listen to this on a chilly and foggy spring morning and tell me you’re not moved. Veirs hasn’t lost that.

Links:
Laura Veirs [official site] [myspace]

Monday is free music day here at TLOBF and seeing as The Decemberists have just released the live DVD The Decmberists: A Practical Handbook we thought we’d offer up this show, recorded at The Avalon Ballroom, Boston MA on 25th May 2005. As you can expect with all of our live downloads - the quality is second to none.

The Decemberists - The Avalon Ballroom, Boston MA. 25/05/05
1. The Infanta [download mp3 ♫]
2. Los Angeles, I’m Yours [download mp3 ♫]
3. The Sporting Life [download mp3 ♫]
4. The Soldiering Life [download mp3 ♫]
5. (From My Own True Love) Lost at Sea [download mp3 ♫]
6. We Both Go Down Together [download mp3 ♫]
7. The Bagman’s Gambit [download mp3 ♫]
8. The Engine Driver / On the Bus Mall [download mp3 ♫]
9. Wuthering Heights (Kate Bush Cover) [download mp3 ♫]
10. Song for Myla Goldberg [download mp3 ♫]
11. The Legionnaire’s Lament [download mp3 ♫]
12. Sixteen Military Wives [download mp3 ♫]
13. The Chimbley Sweep [download mp3 ♫]
14. Eli, The Barrow Boy [download mp3 ♫]
15. The Mariner’s Revenge Song [download mp3 ♫]

A few weeks before the release of one of the most anticipated debut records of the year, Fields took some time to answer our important and lifestyle defining 20 Questions.

1. Describe your sound in 3 words.
Expansive acid folk.
2. Diet coca-cola or normal coke?
Normal fat coke.
3. What would be your ideal holiday?
Hot weather, great food, culture and booze.
4. Popcorn: sweet or salted?
Sweet.
5. What’s on your rider?
Vodka and hummus.
6. How do you get ready for a live show?
By listening to power ballads and wrestling.
7. Favourite song to play live?
Song for the fields.
8. US or UK?
I love both.
9. Who would win in a fight, a stoat or a goat and why?
The goat though sheer body mass. The stoat would put up good fight but would get tired and then be trampled brutally to its death.
10. What was the last album you bought?
Linda Perhacs - Parallelograms.
11. What’s your pet hate?
Littering.
12. Bob Dylan or Neil Young?
Neil Young.
13. Desert Island Disk? Pick only one.
Deus - worst case scenario.
14. What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?
Mogwai at the Varsity in Wolverhampton. It was so loud I almost vomited.
15. Favourite Pizza Topping?
Parma ham, roquette, mozzarella, sunblush tomatoes.
16. Do you read your own reviews?
Only if they are good.
17. Tell us a fact about yourself we probably don’t already know.
I have a scar that looks like a number 10 on my right ankle.
18. What new music are you currently listening to?
Midlake, Bat for lashes, My Brightest Diamond, Hatebeak.
19. If you could travel back in time where would you set the dial?
Last week when it was warm outside.
20. Least favourite person in the universe.
Kerry Katona.

Links:
Fields [official site] [myspace]

The National have unveiled a track from their forthcoming album Boxer released on May 22nd through Beggars Banquet. Its a wonderful introduction to what could be a serious contender for TLOBF’s album of the year.

The National - Fake Empire [download]

Full album tracklisting is:

1. Fake Empire
2. Mistaken For Strangers
3. Brainy
4. Squalor Victoria
5. Green Gloves
6. Slow Show
7. Apartment Story
8. Start A War
9. Guest Room
10. Racing Like A Pro
11. Ada
12. Gospel

The band will set out on tour to promote the release, playing the London Astoria on the album release date.

Dates:
May 22 LONDON Astoria
May 23 PARIS La Maroquinerie
May 25 BERLIN Magnet
May 28 NEW YORK Bowery Ballroom (with The Broken West)
May 29 NEW YORK Bowery Ballroom (with Doveman)
May 30 NEW YORK Bowery Ballroom (with My Brightest Diamond)
May 31 NEW YORK Bowery Ballroom (with Elysian Fields)
Jun 02 PHILADELPHIA Johnny Brendas
Jun 04 MONTREAL Cabaret
Jun 05 TORONTO Opera House
Jun 06 DETROIT Magic Stick
Jun 07 CHICAGO Metro
Jun 08 MINNEAPOLIS 400 Bar
Jun 09 MADISON TBA
Jun 11 ST LOUIS Duck Room
Jun 12 LOUISVILLE Headliners
Jun 13 ATLANTA The Earl
Jun 14 MANCHESTER (US) Bonnaroo Music Festival
Jun 15 CINCINNATI 20th Century Theater
Jun 16 COLUMBUS The Basement
Jun 18 CLEVELAND Beachland Ballroom
Jun 19 PITTSBURGH Rex Theater
Jun 20 WASHINGTON DC 9:30 Club
Jun 21 BOSTON Middle East Downstairs
Jun 25 SAN DIEGO Casbah
Jun 26 LOS ANGELES El Rey Theater
Jun 27 SAN FRANCISCO Bimbos 365 Club
Jun 28 PORTLAND Berbatis Pan
Jun 29 VANCOUVER Richards On Richard
Jun 30 SEATTLE Neumos

Links:
The National [official site] [myspace]
Beggars Banquet [official site]

Twisted pop troubadours Of Montreal have announced a small tour of the UK, including a prestigious date at Cambridge’s very own Soul Tree. I’ll see you there!

Reports of main man Kevin Barnes getting “his cock out” are unconfirmed at present… However, their latest album Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? is, quite simply, a stunning creation. Catch them whilst you can.

May
28 Norwich Arts Centre
29 London Cargo
30 Cambridge Soul Tree
31 Nottingham Social

June
1 Manchester Roadhouse
2 London Scala

Tickets for the Cambridge date will be on Wegottickets shortly whilst the Scala date is available on Ticketweb.

Links:
Of Montreal [official site] [myspace]

Spine-tingling stuff this. Here is a stripped back acoustic set from Manchesters finest Doves. The songs were recorded at Capitol studios in the states back in 2004 whilst the band were on tour promoting The Last Broadcast. The quality of these recordings is second to none. Enjoy.

1. Caught By The River [download]
2. New York [download]
3. Friday’s Dust [download]
4. There Goes The Fear [download]
Bitrate: 160kbps

On the new album front nothing has been heard from the band since December of last year. Here’s a message from from the band, taken from their online blog.

December 21, 2006
Thought it was time to say hello & write another one of our regular blogs.

For anyone under the impression that we’ve been sitting back holidaying/taking it easy, they’d be mistaken, we’ve been grafting hard for the last few months, writing lots & lots of songs / music, last month we relocated temporarily to a cottage in the Peak District, Derbyshire (next to a llama farm - that’s the front cover of the album sorted) for a change from our regular M56 studio & it’s done us a lot of good, creatively that is.

This record has required a little more writing & work to find a direction, something that feels new to us, that’s just the way it us sometimes, but thank f**k we’re getting there now.

We’re hoping to get in the studio proper Feb ‘07 to record these songs fast (that’s the plan anyway) & we’re aiming, all being well, for summer/autumn 2007 release.

Andy,Jez,Jimi x

Doves - Black & White Town (music video)

Recent months have proven slightly dissapointing for second albums. The Rakes, Bloc Party, Maximo Park, Razorlight and The Killers all not hitting the mark, all losing the edge of their debuts. The Bees however, never had that problem. Their 2004 sophomore album Free The Bees was a huge success artistically, transforming the band into 60’s revivalists but somehow still managing to sound totally relevant.

Never one to fit into any one musical genre, The Bees have really found their feet with their third offering Octopus. In the solace of their own basement studio in the Isle Of Wight the band have cooked up an album of understated excellence. Mixing up soul, ska and funk to produce an album of shimmering beauty that grows with each listen. There is a new found confidence to each of the ten tracks on display here. The musical genres sit together seamlessly, from the sixties funk (mariachi style) of Got To Let Go to the gorgeous, lilting soul of Listening Man which, in a just world would be a sure fire hit. The folkiness of Love In The Harbour nestles up perfectly with the dub workout of Left Foot Stepdown, whilst the albums only clanger End Of The Street comes complete with comedy sound effects.

What intrigues and fascinates me most about this album is the quality of the production. It actually sounds like it was produced in another era, the vintage sound has to be heard to be believed. The range of styles and influences on display never seem forced or contrived, the band are doing what comes naturally to them and it is a joy to behold. This is the sound of a band feeling totally comfortable in their own skin.

Links
The Bees [official site] [myspace]

Now I don’t normally like cover versions, invariably they’re a mere shadow of the original and just sound, lets not be coy, shit. However, Mark Ronson has covered one of my favourite Smiths songs and I was exceedingly sceptical until I heard it. It’s brilliant. Featuring some guy named Daniel Merriweather on vocals, you can view the super video by clicking below!

Video [low quality] [high quality]

Ronson has also announced the full track listing from his hotly anticipated new album, Version, which is out on April 16th. Expect a comment or two on this very site.

1. God Put A Smile Upon Your Face feat. The Daptone Horns
(Coldplay)
2. Oh My God feat. Lily Allen
(Kaiser Chiefs)
3. Stop Me feat. Daniel Merriweather
Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before/You Keep Me Hangin’ On
(The Smiths/The Supremes)
4. Toxic (Version Revisited) feat. Tiggers
(Britney Spears)
5. Valerie (Version Revisted) feat. Amy Winehouse
(The Zutons)
6. Apply Some Pressure feat. Paul Smith
(Maximo Park)
7. Inversion
(Mark Ronson)
8. Pretty Green feat. Santo Gold
(The Jam)
9. Just feat. Phantom Planet
(Radiohead)
10. Amy feat. Kenna
(Ryan Adams)
11. The Only One I Know feat. Robbie Williams
(The Charlatans)
12. Diversion
(Mark Ronson)
13. L.S.F. (Version Revisited) feat. Kasabian
(Kasabian)
14. Outversion
(Mark Ronson)

As a record that comes from Devendra Banhart’s new label, you can already guess as to what to expect. This is a record that’s steeped in a mysterious past, full of music that harks back to the late 60’s and early 70’s. Not as strictly folk as you might think, this occupies some weird middle ground of Americana that could easily soundtrack some Cronenburg or Lynch movie, something with a delicate balance between the light and the dark. Can’t Go Back is truly a novel debut album.

Papercuts hail from the West Coast of California. San Francisco to be precise, and this Californian sunshine fills the entire album. Opener Dear Employee may have an air of depression around its lyrics but the whistful guitars and uplifting tempo makes it feel anything but. John Brown could have been taken directly from a Crosby, Stills & Nash record at their prime with it’s high vocals and duelling acoustic guitars. One of the standouts is Take The 227th Exit which seems to exist in some weird time bubble with it’s clunking guitars, roundhouse drums and rhythmic lyrics exactly matching the up-and-down piano, it sounds like it’s trapped in the deep and distant times, the production sounds dense and packed with music and yet its inextricably now and of our times. The beautiful Unavailable is a love song of twisted love, the protagonist longing for a girl who always complains her man of choice is unavailable and yet spurns their advances. This is all sung over some aching acoustic guitars, all picked and chiming together in unison. It’s not all acoustic guitars though, Outside Looking In has some wonderful West Coast Country Rock guitars all chunky and drenched in a throw-back to the 70’s.

The album closer The World I Love distills all that’s great about the Papercuts debut record into one song; the sunshine drenched vocals, simple piano and guitars all covered in a rich velvet blanket of retro production. The songs may all deal with alienation and heart break, but their music seems to hint at something beyond all this, a suggestion that there’s plenty more fish in the sea and we all know that, in the end, you can’t go back.

Links:
Papercuts [official site] [myspace]

From Pitchfork

The Hold Steady…acoustic? That’s odd. The hard-partying rock n roll juggernaut isn’t exactly the kind of band known for toning things down (unless they’re playing a high school), which makes their new EP all the more interesting. Live at Fingerprints, out April 17, showcases five songs recorded at the record store Fingerprints in Long Beach, California.

The EP costs a mere five bucks, but here’s the rub: it’s limited edition, and is only available from independent record stores that are part of the Think Indie consortium. Stickin’ it to the Man!

The Hold Steady wrap up a U.S. tour tomorrow night in happenin’ Lancaster, Pennsylvania, head to Europe in April, and play Sasquatch! and Bonnaroo this summer.

Tracklist:
01 Cattle and the Creeping Things
02 Chips Ahoy!
03 You Can Make Him Like You
04 Citrus
05 You Gotta Dance With Who You Came to Dance With

Dates:
03-21 Syracuse, NY - Schine Underground
03-22 Lancaster, PA - Chameleon Club
04-13 Rotterdam, Netherlands - Motel Mazaique Festival
04-13 Berlin, Germany - Knaack
04-15 Cologne, Germany - Gebaude 9
04-16 Paris, France - La Maroquinerie
04-18 Barcelona, Spain - Razzmatazz 3
04-19 Madrid, Spain - Moby Dick
05-26 George, WA - The Gorge (Sasquatch!)
06-16 Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo

Links:
The Hold Steady [official site] [myspace] [tlobf 20Q's] [live download]

The musical world of obscure indie-rock seems to be flourishing at the moment. Albums from the likes of TV On The Radio and Deerhoof are finding themselves topping polls and getting rave reviews, listeners seem to be opening themselves up to experience something a bit different. If this is the latest trend, then Menomena should be championed as one of its heroes. Their first album proper, Friend And Foe, is a glorious mesh of interwoven sounds and influences, creating an entertaining and impressive blanket of left-field indie pop. From their covert art to their website you get the feeling that they take the “art” aspect of what they do seriously. Not too seriously mind, but just enough to suggest at something driving them to push the boundaries of what they do.

If you’re looking for a reference to what they sound like TV On The Radio is the closest I can think of, expect TVotR if they’d listened to more pop songs as they grew up. There’s something intrinsically happy and joyful about Menomena, they don’t plough the same troubled furrow as the latter. The fantastic Wet And Rusting delicately starts with a sparse arrangement of electronica and high pitched vocals before a piercing piano line, simple and yet invoking percolates through, acoustic guitars sturm before a drum with ADDH kicks in, tripping and clattering around the piano. It’s glorious stuff. Weird starts off all krautrock before it flips round, saxophones thump and guitars slide, sparsely, around the vocals which seem to be dealing with relationship reconciliation. Whilst TVotR would take this further into the depths, Menomena keep it happy and fluffy, the music feels light and airy. Rotten Hell is the closest thing to an out-and-out song on here, gently shuffling drums skip over the piano and bass, sounding not unlike something Jim O’Rourke would produce. It builds into something uplifting, a chorus of vocals bring things into a happier realm. Then there’s Running, which sounds exactly as the name would suggest, a distant relative to Pink Floyd’s On The Run except with weirdly distorted vocals. And this is all before you encounter My My. It’s amazing blend of piano and fuzzed up guitars, the vocals coming across like Mercury Rev before it builds into something truly wonderful.

This year has already had its highlights of left-field indie, but Friend And Foe has just leap frogged them all. This is intelligent, challenging and, ultimately, brilliant weird indie-pop that could easily soundtrack a David Lynch film, but still has a light side. A side that makes you realise that not everything has to be dark and gruesome; beauty can be equally as challenging.

Links:
Menomena [official site] [myspace]
Barsuk [official site]

This reviewing lark isn’t always as easy as it looks. The amount of absolute rubbish that gets sent to you would make even Al Gore blush, but sometimes, just sometimes, a little gem of a record arrives which opens your eyes and your ears to something different. The Ponys lastest album, Turn The Lights Out, did exactly that. From the opening burst of guitars on Double Vision to the last guitar yelps on the closer Pickpocket Song I was mesmerised. This is a record brimming with chiming, crashing and angular guitar riffs all rolled into one thumping, hulking beast of an album.

Their sound seems to have found them in the mysterious zone between Sonic Youth and the garage rock bands of the 70’s like The Stooges. The production is heavy and murky, the guitars and drums all jostle for space whilst it sounds like they were recorded in a house but in very different rooms. The vocals sound as if they were recorded in the attic, all echoey and slightly strained, they’re deep but never forced. It comes a surprise, at least to me, that this album is, in fact, The Pony’s third effort. But going back to listen to their earlier material suggests that they’ve honed their sound, this is a development of ideas and music onto another level. The songs are full of intricate riffs and blemishes of Hammond organ here and there to just further augment the songs. The title track could be a dirtier 70’s rock brother to The Beatles’ With A Little Help From My Friends, whilst Exile On My Street brims with searching guitars and haunted vocals all pulsing through its two minutes. Album closer Pickpocket Song bleeds Sonic Youth through a curtain of indie-pop, the song sounds too full of hope and school-yard vocals to be Sonic Youth, but it’s wall of dripping, blipping guitars that is descends into is a heavy nod in their direction.

The only failing with this album is that it kicks off with it’s stand out track, but the following tracks are of such a high quality that in the end this slips your mind quickly and you find yourself falling into a dirty, dark and fucked up world that’s been created for you by The Ponys.

Links:
The Ponys [official site] [myspace]
Matador Records [record sampler]