Gloomy Scottish indy rock, dancefloor bangers & Japanese post rock

I'll start with one that I missed last week, just because it was not on the list of releases I work from, but I ended up listening to it most last week, Pour It On, by New Build - electropop from the band that consists of two from Hot Chip, and one from LCD Soundsystem (although one of them was in both bands) so of course, I'm going to like this. This one's a classic case of let it settle in for a bit, it needs a few listens, and you'll find a great album to work/study/run/clean kitchens to, and whatever it is you're doing will be a bit more fun.  The NME gave this album 3/10, so they're obviously dicks.

Remember when Prince released two albums in one week, well it's now a thing. Japanese post rockers, Mono have two new albums out today; The Last Dawn & Rays of Darkness - I'm not sure if there's a difference in style between the two, but you'll probably get lots of soft melodic beginnings, big apocalyptic middles, and either abrupt ends or gentle fade outs. Both will be worth listening to on your best sound equipment. Ideal music for driving through a misty Glencoe and destined to be incidental music in Scandinavian thrillers and David Attenborough documentaries. Personally, I love this stuff.

Then there was The Twilight Sad - Nobody Wants to Be Here and Nobody Wants to Leave. Have you ever heard a more gloomy album name, by a more gloomy sounding band? Jeez - cheer up guys, your music is great, and life's not that bad! Think The National with broad Scottish accents and you'll be there. If you like the sound of that, listen to their first album too, Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters (another gloomy title), it's a genuine all-time great.

All albums to get lost in this week, if that's not your thing there's always Taylor Swift's new album, 1989.

The first Christmas albums are here. Really!

Anyone fancy the Elvis Christmas Album by err.... Elvis Presley? No?

Ok, let's try and find something a bit more....   us.  Heard of Mark Lanegan? He's an old style rocker with a great CV, having worked with Kurt Cobain, Queens of the Stone Age and his own band, the Screaming Trees; one of the original Seattle grunge bands. For me, his best moment came with the collaboration with Isobel Campbell, one time singer and cellist with Scotland's finest, Belle & Sebastian. They did three albums together and Ballad of the Broken Seas is one of the best 20 albums of the last 10 years (it's really that good). If you get a chance have a listen, the contrast in their two voices couldn't be starker, one fey Scottish indie whispering and the other sounding like a sack of gravel that smoked 60 Marlboro a day. It's wonderful.

Anyways, Mark Lanegan has a new album out today and it's a bit of a departure (slight) in that there's no bluesy rock, it's more tunes and ballads. But he can play, sing and obviously knows how to put a good album together. So this week's must listen is Mark Lanegan Band - Phantom Radio.

Another one that might be worth a visit is Inspiral Carpets, by Inspiral Carpets - their first album for 20 years. A band that was famous for being one of the lesser lights of the Madchester scene (The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays being leaders of the pack), and also for having a roadie, or guitar technician, called Noel Gallagher. Where's he now eh? If you liked their one big hit "This Is How It Feels", then you should give this album a listen. If you've never heard it, make sure you do - it's a classic of it's kind.

Not much else that I can see in today's releases, and we're getting into Christmas, greatest hits and x-factor failure (that's all of them imho) season - so stay with me through the storm, I'll try and find some light amongst the dark.

2 Bears... and not much else.

But no worries folks, for all you need to listen to this week is the new album from The 2 Bears - The Night is Young.

There's albums out today from Jessies J & Ware, Ozzy Osbourne, U2, and others, if that's your bag, but I'll only be listening to The 2 Bears this week. And dancing.

The 2 Bears consist of Joe Goddard, from dad dance band Hot Chip, and producer Raf Rundell, of whom I know very little. Originally there was going to be a third Bear, in Joseph Mount of Metronomy, but I guess there can only be one Bear called Joe. Or something.

In truth, I've had a busy weekend and not managed to look into/listen to this week's releases, but this album, or bits of it, have been up on Soundcloud for a while and it's an instant hit with me.  You know the feeling when you walk into a club* and there's a tune playing, and you just must find out what and who?  Well this is an album of these tunes, there's a bit of rap, a bit of reggae, a bit of African music and lots and lots of dance tunes. Old school dance tunes.

So, if you're having a party, put this on. If not, organise one. If you can't do that, just listen to it wherever and whenever this week and I'll bet you a beer that you won't be able to resist dancing. If anyone is on the Stansted Express this week and you see a middle aged man doing a ridiculous foot tapping shuffle, with a pair of Sennheisers stuck to his head, that will be me. Say hello!








*I think it's 20 years since I walked into a club, but I'm sure things haven't changed that much.

Clever music.... .... and a new album from Weezer

Five albums to listen to this week (or maybe four within the strict rules, but one is a bit of a mystery):

First is Caribou - Our Love: if you only listen to one album this week, make it this one and make sure you concentrate when you listen. Caribou is basically one Canadian bloke that does electronica with smarts. I've listened to a couple of tracks already, and it's clever stuff, as you would expect from someone with a doctorate in pure maths from Imperial College. He also made his first album whilst working for HP's research facility in Bristol, so as well as being an ace at music, he's also cleverer than you. Or me, at least.

Next is Zola Jesus - Taiga: I'm going to see her in Camden next month, so this needs a good listen. It starts off just like her previous stuff, sort of dark and deep synths and wail(y) vocals but it then moves into the sort of Scandi synth pop that Robyn does. And as anyone who knows me knows; I like Robyn.

There's always a band that you don't want to like, but can't help liking. The band that made an album when you were young*, that got played and played and you never got sick of it. They then made another album, and another, and another - and you felt the same about each one, even though they were all the same basic album. Well now they've made their ninth and I'm probably going to play it over and over and over again - it's Weezer - Everything Will Be Alright In The End.

*it's a relative term

Anais Mitchell - xoa - is the wildcard this week, and included because I married someone called Annie Mitchell, and that's all really. If you like folk, American folk, you'll like this one.

Finally an album that I'm sure came out last year, as I've heard most of it before, but it's appeared in the list of today's new releases so that's why it's here. When I'm at a festival (ok Latitude for I don't go to any other festival) I often mark up a few acts that I might pop in to listen to, just to see what they are like live, and often discover music that sticks with me. Only once however have I been completely ignorant of what I was going to see, and then so transfixed by that music that I couldn't leave until it was finished, even though I had other stuff I had planned to see. A piano, a singer, two cellos and a violin (or viola maybe) can make a great racket you know! Have a listen to Agnes Obel -Avantine and turn the volume up to 11.