Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Five song preview from Coals To Newcastle

Today, a welcome update from Domino on the Orange Juice boxset, Coals To Newcastle. The release date for the US has been put back until November 22nd but the European release remains November 8th.

You can listen on the Domino site here or below. Also, click here to pre-order the boxset.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Something Old: Hurrah!

From Newcastle, Hurrah! were one of the first bands signed to Kitchenware Records. For fans of Close Lobsters, Orange Juice and The Bodines. Which is me.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Something Old: Biff Bang Pow!

Loves Going Out Of Fashion



Biff Bang Pow! were an oddity. Starring Alan McGee, they formed in around 1983 and between then and 1991 released 6 albums and a handful of incredible singles. Love's Going Out Of Fashion, was their third single from 1984. It's carrion call delivery is clearly at the upper limits of it's singer's ability but the strained sadness only serves to haunt your memory of the hook. Clipping, electro-acoustic six strings sounding like Spanish guitars twist in and around the entire song, ill mixed as they are, until it finally gives into a wailing harmonica that it's fought with throughout. "Love's going out of fashion", he sings, almost shouting, and you believe him. You could be in the throes of a deeply passionate romance and, unbelievably, Alan McGee has just made you think twice.
Perhaps this is part of the problem with this bands legacy though, the sticking point that Alan McGee is a fairly unlike-able man and maybe somebody that you wouldn't ask for relationship advice in the first place. He certainly isn't a fashionable influence to name check any more.

That aside, the song that follows is one of the finest pieces of throwaway, half-finished jangle pop that I have ever heard.

Sunny Days

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Orange Juice / Coals To Newcastle


Edwyn Collins posted that photo on Facebook today. It is a photo of, surely, one the most overdue collections of all time. The six disks of 'Coals To Newcastle' collates the work of Orange Juice from their first single releases on Postcard Records, the studio albums and right through to a dvd of promo clips featuring the utterly brilliant concert 'Dada with the Juice'. How exciting!

For full play list click here. Released on November 8th on Domino

Foxtrot Echo Lima Tango

For all things Felt, find your way over to Foxtrot Echo Lima Tango. Clearly, a fanzine which is primarily about a band who haven't released an album in 20 years is going to have a limited shelflife and this is reflected in the editor's statment saying that the 2nd edition will be the last. See it, with its full 160 pages, as a useful reference and foil to your Strange idols and Seven cannons.

Felt/Dismantled King Is Off The Throne