Monthly Playlist- October 2011

I forgot to explain the rules of my playlists/ mixtapes last time, so here they are to avoid confusion. 

-20 tracks only

-I must have listened to the song a lot during the month

-No track can be on more than one months playlist

So....

1) Sherry- Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons

2) Shake It Out- Florence & The Machine

3) Hello Sadness- Los Campesinos!

4) Cry Me A River- Justin Timberlake

5) I Need A Doctor- The Drums

6) Cross Your Fingers- Laura Marling

7) Somewhere Only We Know- Keane

8) Dust Bowl Dance- Mumford & Sons

9) A Case For You- James Blake

10) Loop The Loop- Wild Beasts

11) Hold It Now, Hit It- Beastie Boys

12) Garden- Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs

13) Whitechapel- S.C.U.M

14) Statue Of Liberty- XTC

15) Monica Gems- The Horrors

16) Guillotine- Death Grips

17) All Falls Down- Kanye West

18) Nodding Off- Wavves

19) Judy Is A Punk- The Ramones

20) Praise You- Fatboy Slim

Some choices are obvious, but I'll do some explaining for the others. Basically, I love Justin Timberlake right now. I picked up "Justified" in Poundland, and haven't looked back. He's a genius. It's the same with Keane. Los Campesinos! have featured on pretty much every one of these I've ever made, and I've been doing this about 2  years now. I love them. 

Jersey Boys

This isn't new I realise, but is technically music related. I got taken to this as a birthday present (thank you Georgie!) and it was AMAZING. The story itself is just the story of "Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons" and so is a good story. It's surprising how much stuff happened to a fairly innocent looking and sounding band. The staging was brilliant with fast moving sets and nice placing to give the whole play a really fast pace. I spent most the performance with my mouth hanging open. Or of course, singing along. The music was incredible, although I expected that. What I didn't expect was how many classics Frankie Valli has. Personal highlights are definitely Sherry, Big Girls Don't Cry, Beggin' and Can't Take My Eyes Off You. The songs were rarely weaved into the story and instead performed with a live band making it even better.

Oh and they played a lot of the songs on Fender Telecasters which made me jealous.

DOUBLE REVIEW! Garden- Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs AND Everybody Looks Better (In The Right Light)- Frankie & the Heartstrings

Garden- Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs maybe one of the worst artist names ever, but you can never judge a book by his cover. Or indeed on his home-made dinosaur stage costume or head-dresses. The name makes him sound like a poor 90's pop-punk band aimed at small girls, but TEED (real name Orlando Higginbottom) is anything but. He's remixed a lot of large chart hits recently (making Katy Perry's 'Firework' actually fun) but the solo stuff is much better. After you hear the first few bars of 'Garden' it does sound like a synth line from a chart smashing pop song, but it stays very minimalist and very simple. His vocals (both from him and guest vocalist Luisa from 'Lulu and Lampshade') are very soft and turn the song into something more than just a sparse House track. The emotion given from them and their simplicity is brilliant. 'Garden' sounds a lot like a more synth driven 'Metronomy' and that is definitely not a bad comparison. Now all TEED needs is a good album. And better name.

8/10

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-1HNnxb0WE


Everybody Looks Better (In the Right Light)- Frankie & the Heartstrings

This was only announced today and hasn't actually been released yet, but you can stream it from the link below. F&TH have been playing this live for quite a while now (I've seen it twice, not that I'm bragging) and it sounds a lot better properly recorded. It's more in the vein of 'Hunger' or 'Possibilities' than their more downbeat songs, but just don't pack the same punch as the others. The chorus is lost in the verses, and the weird time change throws you after the first few listens. It sounds a bit too much like a B side really. Having said that, it is still a pretty good song, just no where near the standard of their album. Maybe the B side will be better...

http://frankieandtheheartstrings.com/2011/10/its-a-heartstrings-news-explosion-with-a-new-song/

6/10 (Sorry Frankie, I do love you)

Hello Sadness Single Review

This review will most likely be very bias as Los Campesinos are my favorite band ever. This was put up as a free stream today and so I thought it was only fit I gave it a little review. First single off new album "Hello Sadness", "By Your Hand" was not what you'd expect from Los Camp. For one thing, Gareth actually, properly sung. It was definitely in a grower and seemed a little too upbeat for Los Camp on first listen the single, "Hello Sadness" continues in a similar vein with Gareth singing again, but this time it sounds less forced and the lyrics have more of a flow to them, and are more typical of the band. It sounds a lot more like Los Camp than the last single and the song is more instantly likable. The return of the violin also makes the song soar along with more typical self-depreciating lyrics. It's everything I wanted a new Los Camp song to sound like, and they completely deliver.

To be honest they could release anything and I'd love it, but it's nice to review it anyway

9/10

Click here to stream song

James Blake-Enough Thunder EP

I'll start this by saying that if you didn't like James Blake before, it's unlikely you're going to "get" this. His new EP has not made any major leaps away from his debut album, but change isn't always a great thing. I mean, look at the new Maroon 5 song. Complete bollocks. What James Blakes new EP does show is a more ballady side to him. "James Blake" was hardly the heaviest 'dubstep' album ever and that's what made it great. Blake's subtlety and ability to manipulate the samples he worked with make him such a groundbreaking artist. Enough Thunder doesn't move from this manipulation of sound had use of silence and he's even kept the weird hiss from the album on ( I thought it was just my computer messing up). The opening track "Once We All Agree" could have come straight off the album, with his lyrics being backed by his reverb heavy piano and occasional bass sample. But unlike the album, the song doesn't build up in anyway and continues on a same sound throughout. "Not Long Now" does find a build up and it sounds better for it. The collaboration with Bon Iver is good, but not good enough to be the best on here. More was expected of this track and it just seems to lose direction, and like most the other songs, just ends.

Although not as groundbreaking as his debut, this is still a good EP and shows that James Blake still has ideas. He seems to be buoyed by his Mercury nomination and is trying to push forward in the same direction, but it just doesn't really go anywhere unlike the album.

7/10

Best Track: Not Long Now      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5sKFy1Cxzk

New stuff

Thought I'd do another little post to tell everyone about new things I'm excited about.

James Blake- Enough Thunder EP
His album was brilliant, so this will probably be as good. PROBABLY. The Bon Iver collaboration is brilliant so All the other songs will be awesome. I saw him at Bestival and he was brilliant live as well.

Dry The River- Weights and Measures EP
These guys are definitely my favorite new band right now. They're kind of folky, but as an ex-metal band they have MASSIVE chorus'. Again, I saw them at Bestival and managed to get front row, so that was pretty cool. I cannot wait for this.

Florence and the Machine- Ceremonials
Ok so she has gone a little power crazy, but her debut is still brilliant and her new singles don't seem to have strayed too far away from that formula, so I'm happy. This will be huge.

Los Campesinos!- Hello Sadness
Already got this bad boy on pre-order, that's how excited I am. They are pretty much my favourite band ever. I think you can already guess at how much I'm going to love this.

First post!!!

Just to let everyone (anyone?) know, this is my first blog. It will probably be a bit rubbish, not really updated very much and a bit rambly.

This is mainly going to be used as a place to let my musical opinions out where people don't have to actually listen. So without further ado, here's my playlist for this month:

1) No Rest (Live at I-Tunes Festival)-Dry The River
2) I And Love And You- Avett Brothers
3) My Manic And I- Laura Marling
4) Awake My Soul- Mumford and Sons
5) Book Of Revelation- The Drums
6) Lovely Cup- Grouplove
7) Changing The Rain- The Horrors
8) Whitechapel- S.C.U.M
9) Balloons- Foals
10) Bug- Wavves
11) Rhymin & Stealin- Beastie Boys
12) By Your Hand- Los Campesinos
13) Loving Arm- Metronomy
14) Plainsong- The Cure
15) Give Me My Month- James Blake
16) Plaything- Wild Beasts
17) Interzone- Joy Division
18) Want You Back- Frankie & The Heartstrings
19) Sgt. Rock (Is Going To Help Me)- XTC
20) Space Oddity- David Bowie

These aren't loads of "cool new releases" I know, but they are songs I'm listening to, so there.