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Sunday, 21 December 2014

Flycasual's - Best 5 of 2014

2014 - Another Great Year For Music

This time of year always fills me with a sense of happy dread. Not only is Christmas round the corner with all the buffoonery that that entails but it's the real stress of compiling your best of the year. Never mind an eight month old baby and getting my head around a new job it was this exclusive list that was giving me sleepless nights. Many thanks as always to my fellow bloggers Old Pa, Sfw, London Scouser and Shell Hunter for providing class A material for the blog but also contributing to my soundtrack of the year. Props y'all!

Jungle - 'The Heat'

It's not very often a band comes along and completely knocks me out Frank Bruno style. These guys ticked all of my boxes since I first heard them earlier this year, they were elusive, their videos had some brilliant dance choreography and they had a retro vibe not heard since Hue and Cry in the 80's (ok maybe not them but they're definitely channeling a 80's white soul ting but light years better). Needless to say they didn't disappoint at Latitude either, the moshing (why?) kids did however. Band of the year, sound of the summer, stunning!

War On Drugs - 'Red Eyes'

On many a best ofs list and for good reason, it really doesn't get much better than this. Devastatingly brilliant, it gives me goose pimples every time. Beautiful melody, beautiful musicianship, a track perfectly put together...and then he goes "woo" and it kicks off! Almost Springsteen-esque. Oh stop gushing! We missed them at Latitude but we past the tent when this played and that was highly memorable. Thanks to Old Pa for the heads up, track of the year!

Royal Blood - 'Loose Change'

An absolute belter! That's a lot of noise coming from two guys. Watching them perform live is something else, this is only the beginning for the talented Brighton duo. A firm family favourite, 'Loose Change' is the brightest diamond from a solid debut album.

Run The Jewels - 'Close Your Eyes' feat Zach De La Rocha

Fierce, chaotic and rude, reminiscent to how I felt when I first listened to Public Enemy in the 80's. Run the Jewels is Rap's in form duo, EL-P and Killer Mike, with a VIP guest spot from Rocks very own, "I'm bloody annoyed", Zach De La Rocha (who incidentally did his verse in one take). Perfect for the middle aged dad to turn the stereo up to 11 in his Peugeot estate after the kids are safely dropped off at school/nursery. A Bombtrack fo' sho'.

Tony Allen - 'Go Back' feat Damon Albarn

It would have been hard to ignore Damon Albarn after he released his debut solo, Everyday Robots, earlier this year. Though it was a decent album with some notable standouts, it was the sobering collaboration with Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen that hit the spot.

It took lots of workin and twerkin to squeeze dem tracks into a top 20. A labour of love fo' sho' and I'm sharing it below, have a listen. Or if you're feeling a little adventurous try my B-sides for size here.....

sfw Pada 05:38 6 Komentar

Sunday, 4 May 2014

TRACKS OF THE WEEK 04/05/2014 - Jack White, We Are Scientists, Caveman, Royal Blood, Brian Jonestown Massacre

Brian Jonestown Massacre Caveman Jack White Royal Blood Tracks of the Week We Are Scientists

Happy Birthday Old Pa!...5 tracks to help you start life as a pensioner...

Shell Hunter:-
Jack White - 'Lazaretto' (2014)

Yeah! The music genius that is Jack white is back! This track has truly knocked my socks off! I was at work last week and fighting with 2 ancient telex printers, drowning in noise and reems of paper when my ears pricked up like a musical meerkat! A colleague of mine must have felt the same because he said "that is great, what is it?!" I said 'God knows, but it sounds like Rage Against the Machine!" He ran over to the radio but it was too late, the title had diappeared. Lucky for me and my amazing ears, I heard them announce it was the brand new title track from Jack white's second solo album due out next month. I'm excited to hear what else he's got in store! PS. Does anyone else think Jack White reminds them of Heath Ledgers depiction of Joker? How cool can you get!

London Scouser:-
We Are Scientists - 'Make It Easy' (2014)

My album of 2008 was by far and away 'Brain Thrust Mastery' and when Shellhunter and I saw 'Kings Of Leon' in Vegas that year I was pleasantly surprised to see that We Are Scientists were the support... They were really good, better than Messrs. Followill in my opinion. Their follow up album 'Barbara' in 2010 didn't float my boat as much but they seem back on form with their newly released album 'TV En Francais' I've listened to it a couple of times and already I'm liking it a lot. This is the first single off of the album and I can sense a difficult decision come December when I have to choose which track makes it into my #tracksoftheyear

Flycasual:-
Royal Blood - 'Come On Over' (2014)

Blog and now a firm family favourite, Royal Blood, did their credentials no harm after their aural assault on Jools Holland (22/04/14). It was pretty pulsating stuff, turned up to '11' and everything, with drummer, Ben Thatcher, giving a jaw dropping performance (honourable mention to Mike Kerr on the Bass), inspiring me to maybe pick up the sticks for my midlife crisis (cheaper than a Ferrari). As we eagerly await news of an album, 'Come on Over' is the third release from the Brighton duo. They have performed at SXSW this year and will be on the festival circuit performing at Glastonbury and Reading later, definitely a band to see live. Big ting awaits.

Unfortunately the performance of 'Come on Over' on Jools Holland wasn't available on video yet (official video has boobs and is a bit saucy) but you can catch them play 'Little Monster' here.....to see what I mean, a must watch.

Royal Blood website here....

Sfw:-

Caveman - Shut You Down (2014)

Like an Emperor Palpatine keeping an eye on a young Anakin Skywalker, I've followed Caveman since their 2011 debut CoCo Beware. Heavy on the reverb and a great guitar melody, this is their latest release from their self-titled second album. How can I describe them? They've been labelled "chamber pop, dreampop, folk with synths, ethereal, echo-laden alt country, guitar-heavy psychedelia and soft prog" - I usually say "They are awesome".

Old Pa's Corner :-
Brian Jonestown Massacre - Food For Clouds(2014)

This track Food for Clouds is taken from the new album of the same name by The Brian Jonestown Massacre.

This is pretty good, it has a 'trippy' 'dubby' feel with a thumping base all the way through. It also has a distinctive brass sound coming through at the end of each verse. Definitely my favourite track this week. Hope you like it. If you don't, you will find yourself on a slow boat to Guyana.

I can't choose between the 2 so what the 'ell its my birthday i'll do what I want! Here is Everything Fades to White it is just as good if not better.

Listen or even better, subscribe to our tracks of the week playlist here...

sfw Pada 00:14 2 Komentar

Sunday, 10 November 2013

TRACKS OF THE WEEK - 10/11/2013 - The National, Royal Blood, The Beatles, Franz Ferdinand, Keane

Franz Ferdinand Keane Royal Blood The Beatles The National Tracks of the Week

Five tracks that had us turning them up to 11...

Shell Hunter:-

Keane - 'Higher Than The Sun' (2013)

Cor blimey, has it really been 10 years since Keane first popped onto the scene? I loved their meloncholy piano based anthems. This month they release The Best Of Keane which is a lovingly crafted collection of all their singles including 2 new tracks. One of which is this one which I couldn't stop singing for the life of me the other day. If it has a hook that strong then they've still got it, which is a shame as the band have decided to 'take a break from being Keane' to persue other projects. Either way, I look forward to revisiting all their great ones namely favourites of mine like Bedshaped, Everybody's Changing and Spiralling. I'm still keen after all these years.....sorry!

Sfw:-

The National - 'Lean' (2013)

Am I breaking the rules? Only last week London Scouser had The Nationals Sea of Love as his TOTW and they are back again with Lean. In my defence this is hot off the press and features on the latest Soundtrack fro The Hunger Games - Catching Fire. I've read that they originally refused the track because the title was deemed "too dark", it was called "Dying Is Easy". Anyone who has seen the first film (or read the books) will raise a wry smile due to the irony of it all. The film franchise is about "fighting to the last" and features kids, killing kids. Dark as hell.

Flycasual:-

Royal Blood - 'Out of the Black' (2013)

I read recently that these Brit hot Rock prospects have been likened to early Muse and Queens of the Stone Age, "I'll have some of that!" I thought and I wasn't to be disappointed. The parallels justified, as the Brighton duo's debut single has all the hallmarks of such Rock royalty, big sound, great drumming and ferocious riffage but they'll probably be sick and tired of those comparison and will want to concentrate on their own sound. Ooh there's a bit of Jack White in there too I thought. Either way it's all good and it has left me wanting more. As well the single, they also have another track available on their Soundcloud site which you can catch here. Royal heirs indeed.

Royal Blood's domain here...

London Scouser:-

Franz Ferdinand - 'Evil Eye' (2013)

I don't normally watch adverts on the tv if I can help it. I push fast forward on the sky remote to x30 and try and stop it in time for when the program starts back. The other day I couldn't find the remote in time and for once I was glad. An advert came on for some new car and immediately I stopped looking for the remote and watched it. This song was selling the car (obviously not well enough cos I don't know what car it is) and I loved it immediately. Straight away I thought it was Franz Ferdinand and after shazam-ing the track I was right. It's got their almost trademarked catchy guitar style with Alex Kapranos' great vocals. I just saw the video (which looks like a low-budget slasher style from the 70's or 80's) for the first time and if you're squeamish I don't recommend it !!! I wish I'd chosen this last week as it would have been a great Halloween track.

Old Pa's Corner:-

The Beatles - 'If I Fell' (2013)

Well it just had to be done. It is not very often we have a new Beatles release. This is a track from On Air, Live at the BBC vol 2. (2013). I don't know if it is all that relevant considering there is nothing much new here and there are much more superior versions available. But completest will gobble this release up and why not.

There must be some great stuff in the vaults which would warrant a release and I hope they get round to doing it someday.

However, in the meantime here is If I fell a track originally on a Hard Days Night one of the best rock movies ever with a fabulous soundtrack. It's all about the melody folks!

Subscribe to our 2013 Tracks of the Week Spotify Playlist