David West//Surrey, England//[Spot The Monster]
David hails from Bagshot, a village whose website proudly proclaims that it "has its own railway station". His dream job is being a music journo or A&R "so writing a blog seemed like a good way to write whenever I wanted to and not having to rely on the school magazine which was what I was doing at the time".
He sent me 'Sunday', a recent b-side by Yorkshire tykes Slow Club as the best track he'd-wanted-to-post-but-didn't-manage-to. A slight error on my original design brief but fine by me. "This is just a perfect example of twee indie pop. The song depicts a day of misfortunate events ('I missed the bus and then the train and my boots filled up with dew') until coming home to the one they love".
David is confident Hadouken! and Cajun Dance Party are approaching mainstream success but instead focuses his recommendations on the "anti-folk thing going on in London, with people like Lightspeed Champion, Emmy The Great and Johnny Flynn and The Sussex Wit who are worth looking out for". He also mentions Dustin & Garret who make "incredible electronic art rock".
Slow Club - Sunday (BBC Radio 1 Session) [Yousendit link]//[Sendspace link]
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Sarah Stilettos//Surrey, England//[Ugly Writing]
So apparently Surrey is a blogging hotspot. Sarah is from Fetcham which, unlike David's clearly futuristic area of Bagshot, lacks a railway station but "but you can go for lovely walks" at least. She started Ugly Writing following stints at Artrocker and Playlouder "but even those relatively open minded folk gave me too many restrictions in terms of word count/not wanting double page features on bands no one had heard of/having to keep reviews features and news distinct/not writing things that were completely unpublishable".
Sarah suggests The Low Miffs as a band to watch for, "Simply for managing to include the lyric, 'a song for for extramarital affairs to be discovered to' in a dark, sardonic showtune, and then singing it at White Heat dangling off the stage like a stripper as though it were some kind of twisted lovesong dedicated to the proprieter". For those wondering about White Heat, it's a London clubnight held in a bizarre venue that in all probability, was a strip club. And still might be actually.
Yet another mention (and deservedly so!) for East Midlanders Late Of The Pier on this blog, this time as 'The Bears Are Coming' is Sarah's favourite track that she's written about on Ugly Writing so far. If like me you live your life in a permanent state of paranoia you will relate to the music of Late Of The Pier".
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John Mutch//Essex, England//[Pop Register]
John's area has a train station. But apparently not a forward thinking local paper. "With just a few opportunities down at the local paper to write, I thought I'd create my own platform. And voila, the Pop Register is born." John also emailed me a photo of his legs claiming it's "enigmatic". I'm not so sure but here it is anyway...
"My favourite tune that I have posted will have to be a Wombats one. I can't get enough of their fluffy goodness. If I had to choose which of their songs I'd settle for the latest single ['Let's Dance To Joy Division'] as I'm by no means bored of it yet, despite MANY listens".
John is obviously a big fan of The Wombats and goes on to recommend them as ones of his bands to go listen to right now, along with Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man, The Jessica Fletchers, Los Campesinos! and The Whip. He also singles out Cajun Dance Party who "have been under the media spotlight for over a year now but have only just started to get their releases around. Lots of buzz surrounding them. All completely justifiable too when you listen to 'Amylase' or 'The Next Untouchable'.
The Wombats - Let's Dance To Joy Division [Yousendit link]//[Alt link]
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The FINAL part of Y!M!B! will be coming soon, after I finish packing a million leaflets for the new international students at my uni :(
We're a collaborative British music, film and TV blog. "Trying to find the perfect match between pretentious and pop."
