Super Furry Animals. Songbook - The Singles Vol.1. Sony.
Words | 28/10/2004 at 14:03:00
When I was a wee lass I used to make endless SFA mixtapes - B-sides, favourite album tracks, dodgy remixes...I'd move the sequence around listen to the tape a few times and then start again from scratch. Over and over. I would painstakingly recreate album artwork for my cassette covers - copying the logo and the type, drawing fuzzy little creatures. I also spent a really, REALLY long time making sure there were no Welsh typos in my tracklistings. I loved the band. I still do. I reviewed Sony's own version of a SFA mixtape for <a href="http://www.planbmag.com/albums/archives/00000129.php">Plan B Magazine</a> this week. It's seriously not as good as one of mine.
Bloc Party. Lock 17. 12/10/04
Words | 28/10/2004 at 14:02:48
Bloc Party are my favourite band right now. Hands down. Really catchy and seemingly getting better by the day. I've been listening to their US released EP since I got my hands on an advance back in the summer and it's wonderful stuff - particularly 'The Marshals Are Dead' and 'The Answer'. They make me dance around my bedroom like a loon. I really can't think of higher praise than that. Anyway, yes - the gig. Awesome. The review is on <a href="http://www.drownedinsound.com/articles/10496">Drowned in Sound.</a>
Oxford Collapse - Mercury Lounge, NYC. 17/08/04.
Words | 17/10/2004 at 14:08:20
This Brooklyn art punk trio specialise in running pop songs ragged. they throw together the same new wave/post punk influences as all those famous punk funk bands but end up with something fresher and way more fun. Unlike the aforementioned slicker borough-buddies, Oxford Collapse aren't too precious about their forebears. They pile their influences high, like a precarious tower of Jenga blocks, and gleefully watch them crash to the floor. Songs like 'Totally Gay, Totally Fat' and 'Grasses of Anne' mash up straightahead tuneful punk, shards of no wave and a babbling weirdness all of their own, with glorious results.
Playing to a sparser crowd than they deserve, OC fling themselves around the stage, wringing an impressive sound from their instruments. Disappointingly, the vocals are treated as something of an afterthought, with singer/guitarist Micheal Pace requesting that his mic be turned down after the first song. Indeed, Pace delivers much of his singing with his back to the audience, which is a real shame. Still, I guess they are a shambles. Long may they fall apart.
<b>Appeared in the Sept/Oct 04 issue of Plan B Magazine</b>
Bloc Party Live
Photos | 15/10/2004 at 17:06:01
Went to see Bloc Party play at Lock 17 in Camden this week. The show was pretty awesome - although the crowd was kind of obnoxiously full of industry types which meant that it was more restrained than it should have been. The set was short and perfectly formed however and I'll be reviewing the show for Drowned in Sound asap.
Panda Bear - Young Prayer. Paw Tracks.
Words | 14/10/2004 at 19:50:34
Panda Bear is one of the dudes in Animal Collective. He's just released a solo record and it's pretty good, if a little slight. It's kind of perfect for listening to sitting on the bus with the windows steaming up and the night's drawing in, if you know what I mean. I reviewed it this week for <a href="http://www.angryape.com/reviews/432">Angry Ape.</a>
