The XX Release Album. Crowd Goes Wild.

With Twitter proving to be a contemporary barometer of consumer opinion, it appears that The XX have been strongly received both critically and commercially. Indeed, it seems quite remarkable that a minimalist dubtronica album has managed to breach the UK Top 40 albums chart.


The blog buzz is also generating thick and fast, with the likes of Said The Gramophone, The Daily Growl, Pinglewood and Gorilla vs Bear all chiming in with their vociferous support for The XX. In some senses, I find that (pleasantly) surprising. For once, it appears I was ahead of the curve, talking up The XX on one of my podcasts in May last year. Back then, there were plenty of sweet murmurings about The XX but I could never have predicted that the band would be so in vogue. Why the popularity?

Is it the minimalism? The beats? The constrastingly soulful vocals? The R&B influences? Or perhaps their melancholy strikes a resonant chord with the gloomy economic climate that we're all suffering from? Whichever way you look at it, the debut album from The XX is a flickering beacon of despondence, from which we must celebrate the coming of age of one of Britain's finest young bands.

Download the BBC Radio 1 session recorded for Steve Lamacq's show from April, which I presume is pretty unavailable now. Consider it also a tribute to Lamacq's show, which is sadly soon to disappear.

THE XX - CRYSTALISED (BBC RADIO 1 SESSION)
THE XX - STARS (BBC RADIO 1 SESSION)

Listen in full to the eponymously titled debut album by The XX at we7.com then buy at Rough Trade or on iTunes.

Website // MySpace

My Old Pair Of Good Shoes

At one time it seemed like Morden's finest off-kilter indie pop combo Good Shoes may well break the mainstream, especially the period following their debut single 'Small Town Girl' on the tastemaking label, Young & Lost Club. The buzz built up following the release of a clutch of brilliant singles on their newly found home at Brille Records but despite a favourable critical response to their debut LP, the band never really kicked on.

This month has seen their official return, with a free sample of their new material ('The Way My Heart Beats') and a nationwide tour announced. In some respects, they've almost gone backwards. Certainly, the venues they've chosen reflect their early career more than their 2007 peak. But best to fill out those small venues than play to half empty ones. Bassist Joel Cox also departed the band to form his eerily experimental solo outfit Lime Headed Dog, establishing him as the male version of Micachu.

Strangely, 'The Way My Heart Beats' is somewhat reminiscent of Lime Headed Dog, particularly in terms of its ramshackle production and habitual agitation. Less immediate than their earlier material but still along the same old lines. A return to form? No. They never dipped in the first place.

GOOD SHOES - THE WAY MY HEART BEATS
LIME HEADED DOG - I DON'T WANT TO BE MURDERED

Tour dates from Good Shoes available at their MySpace. Lime Headed Dog's debut album is on sale at Pure Groove.

Teething Problems

On a scale of one to useless, I am pretty useless. I think I successfully managed to ruin both my existing RSS feeds so let's start afresh. Here's the York notes for this blog.

- Keep Hope Inside recently changed its name to Faded Glamour
- Although it's at the same address, you can now also reach it at fadedglamour.co.uk
- In terms of content and ethos, not much has changed
- The new RSS feed is http://feeds.feedburner.com/fadedglamourblog, please do subscribe
- New Twitter address is /saamFG

Sorry for being useless, Saam FG x

I Forgot About That

A lot of musicians seem to regularly produce artwork for their respective singles and/or albums. It's not often though, that a musician is also a bonafide artist. Or vice versa, I guess. Craig Coulthard is one of those special few, recently exhibited works in Manchester, London and Edinburgh alongside his participation in Randan Discotheque, the vehicle for his musical inklings.

New single 'Daily Record May 18th 1993' is part psych, part beats, part weird. It's almost as if Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip were birthed in an alternative Scottish universe where all communication was in the form of news headlines. All the more bizarre considering the bittersweet acoustica Randan Discotheque appear to specialise in, with two previous albums under their belt already. The Frightened Rabbit-esque 'Let's Call It Dirt' being a new found favourite of mine. Nonetheless, any song that namechecks Colin Hendry (the former international footballer and as close to the Scottish Hercules as we're likely to get) is worthy of anyone's attention. Plus, they're based in Edinburgh and I love Edinburgh.

RANDAN DISCOTHEQUE - DAILY RECORD MAY 18TH 1993

'Daily Record May 18th 1993' is out on 7" and digital download on August 31st on The Bonjour Branch label. Buying a 7" vinyl enters you into a raffle where you can win band related prizes, like t-shirts and other fun things.

MySpace // Last.fm // Twitter

The Big Pink

Stream the debut album from the "much hyped" (2009 NME award winners, BBC Sound of 2009 etc) duo The Big Pink in the embedded player below, for the next few days. Or listen at on their website, where you can also procure a free download of 'Dominos', their new anthemic single.

To me, it's sounding like an intriguing mix of The Stone Roses, My Bloody Valentine and Maps. Kind of what I hoped the Glasvegas album would end up sounding like. And not a million miles away from the experimentalism of The Longcut, which begs the question of why that band isn't receiving more attention.



The debut album, 'A Brief History Of Love' will be released on the 14th September on 4AD. Pre-order links in the embedded player.



MySpace // Website

I'm Not Upside Down

Banjo Or Freakout is Alessio Natalizia, a twenty-something Italian living in London who discovered a wonderful talent for crafting fuzzy dream pop when let loose on his girlfriend's computer a couple of years ago.

In that time, he's churned out several popular cover versions (taking on a diverse range of artists from Burial to Florence & The Machine) as well as dabbling in remixing the likes of Bloc Party and Bombay Bicycle Club. Not forgetting the stunning, tabla-infused former single 'Mr No'. Much of his output occupies a similar niche to that of Animal Collective, a veritable psychedelic orchestra.

Banjo or Freakout - Upside Down (Official Video) from Blake Salzman on Vimeo.

His last single, 'Upside Down', may have dropped a couple of months back but the video's only just appeared so I've embedded it here. Don't ask me what's going on in the vid but do pick up the 12" vinyl from Half Machine Records or digitally via iTunes etc.

MySpace // Blog // Twitter

Arthur

It came to my attention earlier, via the Exitfare blog that Hampshire upstarts Arthur called it quits a couple of weeks ago.

A bit of a shame considering their early potential, songs like 'Complications' and 'Last Night Honey' hinted at a poppier version of Help She Can't Swim and while they moved away from that sound over the last couple of years, recent single 'Tortured Artist' still captured a similarly exciting vibe.

I suspect that lead vocalist Hannah may well be branching out as a solo artist consequently, having apparently played Guilfest recently. Her last.fm page is here and might be worth keeping an eye on.

Download 'Tortured Artist' and much of their recent output for free at Mediafire.

Arthur's MySpace