We love them and so should you. New York’s High Places have worked their way into our hearts, first with their collection of early work and now with their full length, selt-titled, debut album, which was out on a few weeks ago. If you missed it, our own Tom Whyman reviewed the album here. So, before you read that, we’ve had a chance to quiz them on their answers to our World Famous 20 Questions…

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Ace Bushy Striptease are this generation’s Beatles.

I started saying that for LOLs on a music forum I post on but now I sincerely believe it and will maintain it to my dying day. Ace Bushy Striptease are four student type lads from Birmingham and one seemingly constantly rotating female singer who construct numerous ramshackle, somehow stylistically diverse guitar pop songs with wonderful titles like ‘Panda Love Unit’ (pre-Johnny Foreigner Alexei reference) and ‘Arrogance Is My Middle Name, Said Will Davis Arrogantly’. And ‘For A Star You Don’t Have Much Sparkle’. And ‘We Care For Each Other A Bit Still’. I’m not sure quite what it is that makes them this generation’s Beatles just yet, but its probably not entirely the songs. Its also the fanzines that they hand out at shows. And the fact, on a personal level, we clearly share the same musical ideology (their ‘cuddlecore’ is basically the Birmingham equivalent of my semi-imagined Manchester ‘tweexcore’). I put them on in a church in Salford and half expected them to tear up the place by accident, but actually they were surprisingly unflailing. This could be partly due to the fact their drummer is currently in India, though. But they’re still gigging, just with tapes and a drum machine or something, I don’t know. 

In short, Ace Bushy Striptease are the latest in a recently very consistent line of fantastic Birmingham-based guitar pop bands, flagshipped by Johnny Foreigner and Dystoph (and also with the likes of Sunset Cinema Club and Calories somewhere near behind). There’s something distinctly ‘un-proper’ about them as a band… the type of band that is just a bunch of mates who never practise and aren’t even quite sure what instrument they all play, but that’s just part of their magic. Part of me suspects that behind all the fanzines and cuddlecore, bassist Simon has the cold head for image of a veteran spin doctor or advertising executive. Although actually not. 

Realistically, I know in my heart of hearts that Ace Bushy Striptease aren’t *actually* this generation’s Beatles (that ‘dying day’ comment was, in hindsight, probably a bit hasty). But they might just be this generation’s Mekons. Give yrself up to their ramshackle magic. 

Ace Bushy Striptease on MySpace

In my boyish, bug-eyed enthusiasm, every now and then a song will come along into my life and I’ll hear it and just be like: “yup, *that’s* pretty much where music is right now, my life from hereon out is basically going to be defined by this song. This song… this is the song for me.” I’ve felt that way about all sorts- ‘Mr Your On Fire Mr’ by Liars, ‘The Leanover’ by Life Without Buildings, ‘The End And Everything After’ by Johnny Foreigner, ‘I Wish I Was A Manatee’ by Jam On Bread, ‘Legg’ by I’m Widely Spread… all sorts. And anyway, I pretty much feel that way about ‘Sleepy Head’ by Passion Pit right now. Continue Reading

This unsigned London band are named after the fact that all of their members have that singularly curious trait – they are left-handed. Formed by brother and sister Jim and Jen Robottom and also comprising drummer Ben Rawlence, multi-instrumentalist Isabel Why and vocalist/guitarist Alex Rennie, they had the tastefulness to invite TLOBF to listen to their demo recordings.

That demo comprises four tracks of painstakingly-constructed, energetic populist rock, all jangly guitars and vocal harmonies. The band’s mandate is to create deceptively simple pop tunes whilst incorporating witty, intriguing lyrics and lots of changes in key and time signature. This approach results in songs like “Decisions”, a piece that starts with sunny guitar riffs but quickly evolves into something a driving, pulsing confection laden with up-tempo backing vocals and insistent drums, through which we hear that “we are made up of decisions…” Continue Reading

Music makes connections. Through their music, lead vocalist/songwriter Simone Rubi and bassist/vocalist Terri Lowenthal of the Oakland bedroom disco band Rubies strive to make human connection their ultimate modus operandi.

Friends for seven years and former members of the now defunct Oakland pop ensemble Call and Response, Lowenthal and Rubi form the nucleus of the band, rounded out for live shows by Nicolas Dobbratz on guitar and vocals, and Øyvind Skarbø on drums. Currently signed to Tellé Records (Europe), Hybris (Sweden) and Rallye (Japan), Rubies began as a one-woman managed band. “I funded the album, managed the band, and booked shows,” says Rubi. “Most of that was done solely through the relationships I have.” Continue Reading

Glancing at a photo of Fear Of Music, some people might disregard them on the assumption that they are yet another generic indie band. Well, all that can be said is ‘more fool them’. These fresh-faced Mancunians are anything but generic.

Since being spotted in 2001 during their teenage years, Fear Of Music have been pricking up ears nationwide, give or take a few line-up changes along the way. Having provided support for some impressive names including Manic Street Preachers, Silversun Pickups and Mute Math, and with a handful of impressive EPs under their wing already, it isn’t surprising that they have established a fast-growing fanbase. Continue Reading

frYars, aka the nineteen year old Ben Garrett, is something of a prodigy. His first two releases, EPs entitled ‘The Ides’ and ‘Olive Eyes’, combine lo-fi electronics with a rich, timbred voice and songs about childhood, jealousy, incest, cannibalism, war and murder; but there’s a contrasting lightness in frYars’ pop ditties that shows a pleasing sense of perversity.

Trying to pigeonhole frYars’ has proved tricky to the journos that have tried - widespread Nick Cave comparisons that have been bandied about in the London crapsheets seem like witless press release recycling. More viable links might include the “Dramatic Boy” school of pop, recently exponents of which include Patrick Wolf and Simon Bookish, or the vaguely experimental, literate alt-indie of clever young men like Jeremy Warmsley and Eugene McGuinness. Musically, there are echoes of one-hit-wonder White Town’s plinky bedroom-studio keyboard sound, and Cursor Miner’s more expansive take on ‘readymade’ synth sound palette. Piano-led ballad ‘The Novelist’s Wife’ is remniscent of Anthony & The Johnsons. But tellingly, none of these comparisons quite tell the whole story - frYars has evolved a pleasingly individual aesthetic. Continue Reading

Formed in late 2006 The Last Dinosaur started out as a project between two friends, Jamie Cameron and Luke Hayden. Brought together by a mutual love of Peep Show, crisps, late nights and kids television programs -surely the vital foundation for any longterm friendship? One evening (possibly after one too many episodes of Peep Show), the pair for no other reason than that they were a little bit bored and felt a tad creative layed down the first fruits of what would be later known as ‘The First Last Dinosaur Song’. A four minute lo-fi jam (and I hate to use the word ‘jam’) that glides over a backdrop of handclaps, piano, organ, saxaphone and what only sounds like a chest of drawers being hit by a wooden spoon - Jesus, I haven’t done a very good job at explaining that have I? It kind of sounds like something from The Bees debut album if you had to pin a tag on it. I have to admit though, ‘The First Last Dinosaur Song’ isn’t a great introduction to the band, it’s more of a mere experiment, simply a catalyst for what was to follow. According to Cameron; “a creative flood gate opened and we started recording more, waiting until it was dark and just experimenting, seeing what happened, playing whatever our fingers told us to”. The only way is up, so they say. Continue Reading

J. Tillman is from Seattle, he used to play drums in a post-rock band called Saxon Shore, but left after one album. Soon after he started writing and performing singer/songwriter type music, mixing folk, country and blues, releasing a couple of limited release and not widely well known albums.

Now, I hesitate to use the word ‘sensitive’ because of various negative connotations that it has accrued over the last decade or so, but when I first heard ‘Darling Night’, the first track off Minor Works, it was what immediately came to mind. There is a fragility and a hurt in Tillman’s voice that can knock you flat the first time you hear it, and it embodies some of the best things I look for when listening to country/Americana influenced music. His voice is strong, but high up in the register and with the ability to pull out a thinness when needed. A country twang hovers just out of sight and there is a strong but indefinable, (to this English guy, anyway), American accent. That’s not all, because there is also a stoic solidity in there too, borne out in the lyrical content as well as the delivery, hardly ever do you sense that the guy is feeling sorry for himself, he just talks about the realities and the sadness of relationships and life sans schmaltz. Continue Reading

Photographs by Bryan Bruchman

I have a confession to make. My name is Ro Cemm, and I am addicted to big bands. It started when going to see Godspeed!, moved on to following the Polyphonic Spree round the country, and then to begging the End of The Road people to bring over a then unheard of 26 peice twee pop band from Sweden going by the name of I’m From Barcelona. Throw in The Young Republic (12 piece when I met them) and Sons of Noel and Adrian, and I think it is fair to say I have a fairly strong habit.

Imagine my delight then when I stumbled across Athens, GA Dark Meat then. Here was a band who, depending on numbers changed even the length of their name. While Dark Meat is the core band section, they have also gone under the brilliant/ disgusting ‘Dark Meat and the Vomit Lasers Family Band’. Another act to come out of the Orange Twin community, a 150 acre Eco-Community near Athens, which provides support for artists by providing an affordable place to record and sell records, artworks and the like. The band feature members of other Orange Twin residents Olivia Tremor Control, We Versus The Shark and Elf Power amongst its masses.

The sound then: imagine Speedo from Rocket From The Crypt infiltrating the Polyphonic Spree, and converting them to his good time, larynx shredding rock n’ roll with horns sound, but then letting the horn section indulge in their love of Ayler, Sun Ra and Free Jazz. Phew. Song after song the horn section bellows out and drives along the organised chaos, the joyful, sing along rock and roll and beckons in the good times, with no doubt a whiskey or two into the bargin. If the bands debut album, ‘Universal Indians’ (released on the Orange Twin label in 2006, but shortly to be re-issue by Vice), was all like this, it might perhaps become old hat. However, halfway through they throw in the deliciously titled ‘Angel of Meth’, by far the ‘cleanest’ cut on the record, which comes on all Phil Spector drum lines and glorious nearly-there harmonies and some fine pedal steel. As for the title, there’s more where that title came from, see ‘Assholes for Eyeballs’, or the shout-at-the-top-of-your-lungs ‘Well Fuck You Then’. Predictably, they follow this with more RFTC meets the Stones rama-lama on ‘One More Trip’, which seems to take the idea of ‘Sympathy For The Devil’, and mix it with some sour-mash and some moonshine and see what happens (for the record there are even some ‘whoo-oo-oo’s on it’).There’s even time to fit in a droning, sitar laden psychedelic workout into the mix as well, swirling round into near white noise by the end of the record, the saxaphones squeal, bells jangle and a glorious mess of noise brings the record to an end.

If the photos from their flickr account are to to be believed, the live show is quite something to be seen as well. Having bought Universal Indians in late 2006, and telling as many people about it as I could, I still keep going back to it, and am glad that hopefully more people will get to listen to it thanks to the forthcoming reissue.

The lead track off Universal Indians, ‘Freedom Ritual’ is available to download over at Vice. Do yourself a favour and have a listen.

If you believe The Buggles, “Video killed the Radio Star”. Well, I’m afraid to say, they were wrong. Radio is, in my opinion at least, having a bit of a renaissance at the moment. The advent of digital and web radio has seen the number of stations on offer explode, whilst MTV and VH-1 have taken to showing endless repeats of Pimp My Ride and documentaries on Whitney Houston. But I’m straying from the point. Thanks to Huw Stephens, a fellow Welshman (so obviously an all-round great person), played a track one evening that sent me into a bit of a tiz. It was ‘Other cars Go’ by It Hugs Back . Now, I didn’t realise this at first because I missed the intro, so the next day I had to trawl through the filth that is the Radio 1 website to find the playlist… And lo and behold, it was in front of me; It Hugs Back. What a rubbish name… Continue Reading

I discovered Doncaster’s finest (OK, I’m guessing here), Toykult, via a random friends invitation on mySpace – love it or loathe it, it has its uses - and I immediately took to their playful brand of dancy electronica. While there was an obvious sophistication, there was also a good dose of northern humour thrown in and while there was a dark, almost gothy edge to many of the tunes, they were also undeniably danceable.

The closest comparison I can think of is the mighty Renegade Soundwave, which is high praise from me - they were one of the bands that drew me to the indie/dance crossover thing in the late 80s, and their album In Dub is still a regular in my CD player. RS were cited as a major influence by The Chemical Brothers, and are seen as a forerunner of both big beat and drum ‘n’ bass. Not a bad CV. Continue Reading

Once in a while an album comes along that, right from the first bars, that makes itself so cozily at home on your shelf it feels like you’ve owned it for years. Wilco and Billy Bragg did it with Mermaid Avenue, but they had a slight advantage in the form of fame, fortune (relatively speaking) and thousands of unpublished Woody Guthrie songs to work with. If you’re the Family Machine though, a debut from four lads from Oxford who’ve been playing together barely 18 months, it’s another. It curls up on your hearth like a tabby mog and is just as reluctant to budge.

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Cats In Paris are named after a scene from a dream in which a giant cat with paws the size of dump trucks scales the Eiffel Tower like a feline King Kong, swiping away helicopters like flies as it’s huge claws lock over the girders… imagine it, this monstrous beast, with a purr that feels like an earthquake, tectonic blinking lids sliding over it’s vast green eyes, and that sinister cat smile that says “I’m going to eat you, sure - but I’m gonna play with you first”.

The only thing nearly as frightening in the music of Cats In Paris is the similarly vivid level of imagination at play. They meld together a seemingly endless series of sonic textures - sweeping strings with chimes and glockenspiel, synth and recorder, chugging bass and acrobatic percussion, sweet instrumental breakdowns and ragged shoutalongs - into beautifully complex and wonky indie-pop anthems.

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California may not be as inexorably linked to surf music as it was before the collapse of The Beach Boys but tenuous threads still connect the waves with the Golden State. The Botticellis’ debut, aptly titled Old Home Movies, is a shimmering analog paean to sun-bleached daydreaming. And like those Super 8 movies your parents dust off, the grainy pictures blur at the edges. Movies was recorded at Tiny Telephone at at the ensemble’s communal home in the foggy Outer Richmond district in San Francisco. Guest musicians include violinist Anton Patzner (Bright Eyes) and Jason Quever (Papercuts), who played drums on one song and helped the band commit the album to analog tape.

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What do you get when you mix together Trunk Records co-founder (Stephen Cracknell), a member of Tunng (Sam Genders), one half of the Fence Collective duo The Bicycle Thieves (Hannah Caughlin) and the singer-songwriter Liam Bailey? The answer is the wonderfully hypnotic melodrama of The Accidental. Continue Reading

London/New Zealand band The Veils have released two albums in two different incarnations – 2001’s The Runaway Found and 2006’s Nux Vomica - the common denominator for both being tortured-soul frontman Finn Andrews.

Andrews (son of XTC and Shriekback’s Barru Andrews) has one of modern music’s genuinely impressive and distinctive voices, and an intense-yet-frail beauty to accompany it. Often coming across like a croaking impassioned torch singer, he is probably one of those performers that you’ll either hate or totally fall for, and is – if anything – more intense when seen live than on record.

The subject matter that the band covers manages to be simultaneously theatrical and gritty, successfully negotiating the no-mans’ land between high drama and melodrama.  From The Runway Found, check out ‘My Guiding Light’, ‘The Tide That Left And Never Came Back’ or ‘The Nowhere Man’.  From Nux Vomica – arguably the greater of the two albums – check out pretty much every track, but with particular attention to the overwrought opener ‘Not Yet’, ‘Calliope!’, the touching yet rather depressing ’Advice For Young Mothers To Be’ and the regretfully nostalgic ‘The House Where We All Live’.  

This band are a dark, intense and mysterious delight, and left an awed crowd at London’s Borderline almost stunned into silence when they played last year.  Give way to your darker side and investigate them further.

Toumani Diabaté is one in a long line of Malian musicians or griots. Reknowned for their musicianship and vocal skills, members of his family have accompanied warriors on to the battle field to document the event in song for centuries. These griots were a counterpart to the western idea of a bard, a musical CNN, telling tales of battles, births, deaths, marriages and continuing to pass down the Mande folklore of West Africa. Although no longer documenting battles, the Diabaté Family has maintained its storytelling reputation. Diabaté father, Sidiki Diabaté was considered the ‘King of the Kora’, and was responsible for the first recorded album of Kora music in 1970. Too busy touring and recording to pass down his knowledge to his son, Toumani began to teach himself how to play, giving his first live appearance aged just 13. Since then he has continued to play the roots music of Mali, while also fusing it with more Western influences such as flamenco, jazz and blues. Continue Reading

Benjamin Blower is part of the Zang Collective, a group of musicians based in Birmingham, self-producing, and releasing their own material under the Zang Productions label. The key members of Zang record as The University of the King, a band that can be best described (although they defy any category) as philosophical hip-hoppers, fusing beats and verbally intricate rap into a fusion of musical styles. Their 2006 album Zang Hibidy is a hip hop epic on the philosophy of unconditional love, a journey into the mind of a trio of foetuses, trapped in the womb pondering the world outside and the experience of life before and after birth. Continue Reading

Fanfarlo has put some zest back into pop for me, the singles released in 2006/2007 shine out amongst shiny things, your back leg thumps on the floor and your tail waggles, as if they were tickling your belly, and etc when you listen to them. They are a really good guitar pop band with a predilection for horns and violins, basically. Continue Reading