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Au Revoir Simone * Deerhoof * Lardpony * Another Day Comp * Detektivbyran
Posted on 2007.04.07 at 15:42Current Music: Beatnik Filmstars - In Great Shape * Finches - Human Like A House
More really great albums, its looking like a great year so far, you can see my top five albums Jan to March here
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Au Revoir Simone – The Bird of Music (Moshi Moshi)
Remember you can subscribe to the blog on myspace here or add us as your friend.
Au Revoir Simone – The Bird of Music (Moshi Moshi)
“and since we met I simply cannot forget/you are on my mind/yes since the day we met I think I haven’t slept more than a hour at a time/ you make me wanna measure stars/ in the backyard with a calculator and a ruler baby/ I found the letter that describes how the moonlight will lead me to a distant place that you will be” – Stars
You can hear those very stars twinkling and chimes blowing in the wind on opening track The Lucky One. Au Revoir Simone are three girls from Sweden who make the sweetest most delicate and definite synth pop. Not synth pop like the harsh synths you hear in the charts, they have their purpose, they are songs to dance to. Instead these are songs to be quietly triumphant to, brittle songs that are dripping in melancholy, songs like The Lucky One, I Couldn’t Sleep, A Violent Yet Flammable World & Don’t See The Sorrow, yet at the same time when the need arises they can lift the mood. In come the synthesised handclaps, the cheap drum machines and melodies to die for, melodies to make you get up, open the curtains, welcome the new day open armed and make the most of the short summer.
Sad Song couldn’t be happier if it tried, Fallen Snow reminds us of the sadly little known The Shermans, a band once quoted as having more Ba-ba-ba’s than the Jim’ll Fix It theme tune. At times you can hear Mates of State, as at the start of Dark Hall and the excellent, beguiling summer singalong of Night Majestic and Stars, other times a less serrated, smooth edged Architecture in Helsinki, The Blows more recent output (see Lark’s opening bars) or the delicate synth pop of 555 records Kanda, the perfect summer girly pop of the Icicles or the lyrical obsessiveness of All Girl Summer Fun Band less their guitars and twee pop riffery.
“We want to celebrate/ and there’s a place that we go/ where the horses are for show/ and they race for a prize at the end of the line/ and it impresses us” - Night Majestic
You’ll find it no surprise to find out that this is on the ever more reliable Moshi Moshi label, this could well be the sound track to the summer.
www.aurevoirsimone.com
www.myspace.com/aurevoirsimone
Deerhoof – Friend Opportunity (ATP/Kill Rock Stars)
There is nothing better (perhaps a slight exaggeration) in my eyes than Marmite on freshly toasted granary bread, it’s a daily staple. And in the musical world Deerhoof are my regular helping, and yet as anyone will tell you, you either love it or you hate it. It had never occurred to me that so many of my friends would despise such a wonderful imaginative band, so much so that one described them as the worlds most annoying band. Another had to turn the Runners Four off after four songs claiming her grating voice gave him the most unbearable headache. So perhaps they are a band you either love or hate, me I choose to love and here on their 10th (??) album They again, with the exception perhaps of closer Look Away (a bit of a filler) continue to amaze. Yes there is nothing that quite reaches the giddy heights of Diamond Star Car and Dummy Discards Heart from the legendary Apple’O album (if I may take this opportunity to raise another argument and make the bold statement that in fact Milkman is their best album. This almost got me killed last time I had the pleasure of seeing them live) but as usual songs like The Perfect Me, +81 and Believe ESP are full of the wonky and skronky melodies and bizarre structures that we (or should I say I) have come to love about Deerhoof, like a jazz band after a binge on blue smarties, melodies and ideas popping out of every foreseeable avenue, like an American Bearsuit. The Galaxist is dreamy and messed up, Choco Fight truly extraordinary and sweeter that candy. Cast Off Crown as tradition would have it is track 7 and therefore belongs to the dreamy voice of guitarist John Deiterich, whereas Kidz Are So Small is a twisted sister of such songs as Dog on the Sidewalk and Panda Panda Panda.
www.atpfestival.com/atp-recordings
www.myspace.com/deerhoof
www.myspace.com/killrockstars5rc
Various – Everyday You Live , Another Way I Die (Tiny Little Creatures)
I’ve always had a passing interest in the heavier side of music but been put off by the horrible screaming and lack of melody so often associated with such music. I’ve also long been a fan of all thing post rock but been let down time and again after reading reviews that tell me “this is LOUD!!” and yet its exactly the same as everything else you’ve ever heard, for instance the latest album from Pelican, although good (perhaps a little long) its really never THAT LOUD, not like the speaker punishing unashamed force of Let Airplanes Circle Overhead, unafraid to interrupt the gentle quiet bits gradually, like interference on a radio station or someone desperate to make their point clear, not afraid to go one louder again and again until their point is made clear. I’d hate Let Airplanes Circle Overhead as a friend, musically however they are perfect. The Last Man of the 9th Michigan Infantry likewise are loud and unforgiving, the screams tough are bearable, throaty and raw and reminiscent of a band I fondly loved in my moody teenage days, Cay.
This is an incredibly cheap and incredibly good compilation, full of the darker side of post rock/ progressive metal/ hardcore. Artica take advantage of passionate preachers much to the same effect as GY!BE against dark soundscapes as conjured up by the back cover, The Quiller Memorandum likewise though perhaps more like the recently reviewed Long Distance Calling, the narrative nearer to a Morgan Freeman style monologue, the title as pretentious and appropriate as possible, March Into The Sweater Apocalypse and Find Your Own Warmth. We live in dark times and this is a near perfect soundtrack to them.
www.myspace.com/tinylittlecreatures
www.myspace.com/everydaycomp 
Lardpony – The Greatest Invention Ever (Cowboy Democracy)
I find it hard to believe that anyone could fail to love Lardpony and that’s not because they’re local and perhaps our closest contemporary’s in the world of East Midlands Indie Pop, instead because their songs are so good, “I know this isn’t love/ this is hypnosis/ but I can’t figure how to reverse the process” the lyrics a so easy to relate to, the songs in themselves so triumphant, just like The Research they have a euphoric ability to get you through a bad time, to help you out of a bad mood, to get it off your chest.
“I made her out of yesterdays technology/ the stuff that didn’t pass the test/ her heart ossicillated wildly/ until it burst out of her chest”
I sometimes wonder where these bands go though, what place they have in the bigger picture, their contemporaries being in my eyes Airport Girl, MJ Hibbett, Mistys Big Adventure, bands that share that great sound and lyrics so clever, so relevant you find yourself quoting them almost as often as those annoying people at work who spend the whole day recreating Peter Kaye and Lee Evans sketches. Maybe they will never make it onto the cover of the NME but they really should have a more special place in your life, don’t say you weren’t warned.
“I met a girl I liked her face/ she added me to her myspace/ she said she didn’t like my shoes/ I cried into my rucksack/ I liked the badges that she wore/ she shared my taste in emocore/ I bought a brand new cardigan/ but it was not enough”
Tales of rejection by a boy with a beard, catchy arpeggios and wonky Envelopes-esque keyboards, what is there not to love?
“you say that you love maths/ well I predicted it/ when you tried to join the dots and drew a line of best fit/ you thinking hexadecimal/ which starts to explain why you put two and two together and got pi...well I tried to use a compass to draw rings around your heart/ bit you expressed the probability on a series of charts/ and if I understand correctly what your trying to say/ its no way no way no way”
www.cowbboydemocracy.co.uk
www.myspace.com/lardponyband
Detektivbyran – Hemvagen
Its amazing how walking down Normanton Road in Derby (not the most pleasant of all places) that the sound of an accordion can instantly evoke thoughts of Paris, and all the magic that I’m led to believe that the city holds and suddenly change your outlook on everything around you, the bright colours stand out, buildings appear different to how you’ve seen them previously and suddenly each and every face that passes by has its own story to tell, a character with a life of experiences to share each one magically written in his or her face.
Have you ever wondered what Fortdax might have sounded like if he rode a bike, if he was French and had learned accordion? No me neither but I wish I had and maybe I would’ve been responsible for this beautiful seven track EP of majestic tunes, each one very French, slightly electronic and magical, chimes twinkle like fairies wings no doubt do if you were to get close enough, each one sprinkled in magic like a dust of icing on a freshly baked cake, like the first frost of the winter, bitter, cold and icy yet strangely beautiful and life affirming, this is the sound of Detektivbyran.
http://www.detektivbyran.net/
www.myspace.com/detektivbyran