Hourglass Sea – Once in a Lifetime / Imaginary Friends

First new Hourglass Sea of 2012, and it has been worth the wait. Bradford’s prodigal son comes back with a two track single – one original, one him remixing, and it is everything that we’ve come to demand from a man who seems to be without peer, very possibly in a literal sense. Brilliantly tagged as ‘popstep’, Hourglass does his usual samples and guitar thing to make tracks both giddily neon and recklessly ambitious. Sample for yourself below.

Work Them w/ patten // 3rd February, KRAAK Gallery // Exclusive mix

Following on from their extremely successful launch at the back end of 2011, Work Them returns to KRAAK Gallery on February 3rd. Marking itself as an “ALT DISCO DEDICATED TO FUTURE CLASSICS, CURRENT GROOVERS AND RECORDS THAT STILL SOUND FRESH AS ANY”, the latest incarnation sees the creator of one of the albums of 2011 perform, with patten playing Manchester for the first time. Just as Gold Panda seemed to be working on a different level to his peers back in 2010, there is no-one coming anywhere close to what patten is making now:

Drinking and dancing will be going on into the night, soundtracked by all sorts of things – some of which should be on this exclusive mix, made by John Thorp from the Work Them team. Tickets are £4 advance, available here http://www.wegottickets.com/event/148260

Hearing Aid Vol. 2

The first edition of Melodic’s compilation came out back in the heady days of Summer 2011 – and though a follow up was quickly planned, they’ve thankfully taken stock and allowed the new music scene to grow a few exciting bright new hopes in the meantime. Volume  arguably features a stronger line-up than it’s predecessor, as well as having a few genuine coups – an exclusive new Bos Angeles recording being one, an unheard track from one of the greatest bands to have emerged from Manchester in the past 12 months from G R E A T W A V E S as well as assorted excellence from the likes of Larry Gus, Death Masks and So Many Wizards. Enough words: have a listen. Best New Compilation.

2011 Digest

Bleeding Knees Club
1st January
A duo make up of two dudes from Australia’s Gold Coast, the songs they make are unmistakably brash, but in a playful way, like a hateful puppy

http://thepigeonpost.wordpress.com/2011/01/01/bleeding-knees-club/

Hourglass Sea
January 4th
The work of Dean Bentley, this is a project that sounds like Solar Bears being played on the wrong speed setting, a hyperactive mass of noise that doesn’t quite seem certain where it’s going.

http://thepigeonpost.wordpress.com/2011/01/04/hourglass-sea/

Fear of Men
January 12th
It’s lush, and feels gloriously analogue – a texture to the noise going deeper than the grit of their lo-fi recordings. It’s a sound that meanders, a hazy stumble through a dozen half remembered pop songs.

http://thepigeonpost.wordpress.com/2011/01/12/fear-of-men/

Tashaki Miyaki
February 12th
These kind of doo-wah inspired snippets can’t stay undiscovered for long

http://thepigeonpost.wordpress.com/2011/02/12/tashaki-miyaki/

Bos Angeles
April 9th
Coming from Boscombe (near Bournemouth, apparently), the shadow that Los Angeles casts runs through from their name into their sound, broad strokes of the surf-rock aethetic translated into naval gazing beauty.

http://thepigeonpost.wordpress.com/2011/04/09/bos-angeles/

Jewellers
April 13th
Lovely and worrying in equal measure

http://thepigeonpost.wordpress.com/2011/04/13/jewellers/

Woman’s Hour
April 17th
Imagine if Kate Bush was 20 today

http://thepigeonpost.wordpress.com/2011/04/17/womans-hour/

The Bell Peppers
May 2nd
Whilst everyone else had their eyes transfixed on the Royal Wedding (wasn’t her dress amazing? didn’t Pippa look great? and they kissed twice!) The Bell Peppers were in the process of uploading their languid, sweltering surf rock stylings to bandcamp

http://thepigeonpost.wordpress.com/2011/05/02/the-bell-peppers/

Regal Safari
May 16th
A darkness lurking throughout, the pressure slowly building throughout with the briefest glimpses of light offered intermittently

http://thepigeonpost.wordpress.com/2011/05/16/regal-safari/

YRRS
June 11th
Fuzzy bluster

http://thepigeonpost.wordpress.com/2011/06/11/3793/

BITE MARKS
July 31st
A mixture of the stark and the deeply textured

http://www.lostlostlost.com/2011/07/bite-marks-swarm.html

AC SLATER (now YOOFS)
17th September
They bring to mind sitting in terrible student houses and drinking budget whiskey with people that you don’t really know, just to feel alive.

http://www.lostlostlost.com/2011/09/ac-slater-all-my-whiskey.html

Xavier Leon
22nd September
A jittery concoction

http://www.lostlostlost.com/2011/09/xavier-leon-movin-on.html

Female Band
17th October
It’s a bit of a hipster thing to say you enjoyed Bethany Cosentino’s work back when she was making weirdo noise and having about 5 people listen to her tracks, but there was something mystically charming about those days, something that London’s Female Band manages to capture in these 4 minutes

http://www.lostlostlost.com/2011/10/female-band-one-day-sea-will-swallow-me.html

Embers
7th November
Brutal and atmospheric

http://www.lostlostlost.com/2011/11/embers-tunnel-vision.html

Spectral Park
21st November
Maybe if The Horrors had done their drug cocktails a bit differently and had a slightly different music selection to soundtrack their comedown, this could’ve been one of the b-sides for Skying.

http://www.lostlostlost.com/2011/11/spectral-park-lappel-du-vide.html

J£ZUS MILLION
30th November
This is fucking brilliant, like if Baths studied a bit more and procrastinated a lot less.

http://www.lostlostlost.com/2011/11/jzus-million.html

Shinies
4th December
You’ve got to appreciate a band who obey the first rule of appealing to the hipster crowd (which happens to be having a naked babe in your artwork) whilst making a racket that seems blissfully unaware of the hype it will create.

http://www.lostlostlost.com/2011/12/shinies-spent-youth.html

Diagrams – Antelope clip

Weird stuff from Streatham Hill’s very own Sam Genders. Pop music done through a few degrees of separation,it’s slightly overwhelming in parts – as the preview clip below illustrates. He’s playing The Lexington with Patterns on January 18th, which means you can experience .

Debut album out through Full Time Hobby on January 16th. Pre-order: http://fulltimehobby.sandbag.uk.com/Store/DII-3404-5-diagrams++black+light+cd+preorder.html

Fear of Men – Alice Munro demos

Fear of Men are probably this blog’s favourite new band of 2011. They’ve just put together a new set of demos, had them committed to cassette and have them up for sale. They’re called the Alice Munro demos and the video for Doldrums from the release can be seen above. There have been enough words written about Fear of Men elsewhere on these pages, but here are a few more that you can take your pick from: wonderful, excellent, beautiful, dreamy, excellence, enchanting, awe-inspiring, sublime. In truth, that handful of superlatives don’t even come close, either.

The cassette can be bought here: http://fearofmen.bigcartel.com/product/alice-munro-demos-cassette-tape-pre-order
Their last one sold out in about 2 hours. You have been warned.

Nissenmondai / Waiters split 7″

 

This one has been in waiting for longer than anybody cares to remember – but finally, Comfortable on a Tightrope have gotten their acts together, got the tracks sent off to whatever far flung pressing plant they’ve chosen and taken delivery of their vinyl babies. Nissenmondai are from Japan, Waiters come from these parts, and here are the tracks

NISENNENMONDAI – soundtrack 4 for Nobetsumakunashi

Really weird stuff, as you’d probably expect. Let it charm you, as it probably will anyway

Waiters – Tomorrowland

Almost as good as the video

Purchase here: http://comfortableonatightrope.bigcartel.com/product/nisennenmondai-waiters-split-7-pre-order

Secret show – Black Tamourines / Joanna Gruesome / Dolfinz – 16th December

Playing live in a basement near Fallowfield for your enjoyment

THE BLACK TAMOURINES

JOANNA GRUESOME

DOLFINZ

Text 07724767463 to get your name on the list. Limited availability. Details sent out on the 15th. It’s gonna be wild.

Iceage / Brown Brogues – December 8th, KRAAK Gallery

A late contender for gig of the year – the main competitors of which come from shows played by both Iceage and Brown Brogues. Gifting Manchester with an early Christmas present, Now Wave serve up one of the finest bills you’re likely to come across. If you need some reasons to shell out the £6 ticket price, listen below.

http://www.seetickets.com/Tour/ICEAGE

ICEAGE

Played Islington Mill earlier in the year, and everyone who attended still hasn’t properly recovered. Their album lasts about 20 minutes, and everything was played in triple speed and sounded fucking spectacular. They all look like they want to beat the shit out of you, and you kind of wish that they would as it would likely be euphoric.

BROWN BROGUES

Two hateful dicks from Wigan making a racket that you might find upsetting. It’s also likely that the singer (Mark) will, at some point, get horrendously drunk and kiss your girlfriend on the lips. The music is alright though – new single Wildman goes some way to making you forget all those past grievances, even though they will forever be etched into your mind.

PINS

No music online yet. Get down early.

Internet Forever – Break Bones

The first band that this blog ever really had a crush on. The debut album has been a long – long – time coming, but it feels as though it might have all been worth it. Break Bones has been re-recorded for the first single, and it even has a flashy new video. Life feels like it might be alright again – if you actually ignore what’s happening in the world and just pretend you’re always listening to Internet Forever, that is.

download it for a tweet: http://www.internetforever.co.uk/