Friends

This is where I "big up" friends websites and their blogs so you can pay them a nice visit.

Tracks Monkeys With Lasers
This is a blog, a blog about music...live reviews, album reviews, bands that have had a live review and are pissed off about it, lots of session stuff and photos (wow, I need photos).
TMWL is run by a young chap called Mark, he's a good bean, even though he's originally from Coventry, he writes better than I do.
Tracks monkeys with lasers


Estrella
Estrealla is a blog about a young girl called Sandy, Sandy works in PR in both London and New York (I think?). She seems like a very busy person and it reminds me of that film with Simon Pegg in it...no, not Shaun Of Dead, the other one. Anyway, check it out, there's loads of fashion stuff, music, films and other all round good stuff. (Plus there's pictures of women on there).
Estrella

Waste Your Youth
Does exactly what it says on the tin, apart from Matt, who writes on this site, doesn't actually have any youth left (some argue he never had a youth in the first place) and would rather steal yours in the disguise of a website. There is another writer on the site, he's too good that you're not even allowed to see his face or know his real name, most just know his as "Moff".
Waste Your Youth

thesearchivesaremonuments Podcast volume one...

is almost ready! I'm waiting on one band getting back to me with a track right now, I could possibly leave it and use it for the next one (some time next year by my working) but I really want it on this.

Big thanks to all those bands who wanted to get involved...and got excited by it. I've got a few Midland bands kicking it on this, two American bands and a few others from various parts of the UK.

Other stuffs:

I've got lots of write ups and focusing on a few bands that are sitting on my "things I've started, so I'll finish" list. A few of those feature on my podcast. Maybe one or two interviews if things go to plan.


The nice man at Audio Antihero, known to people as Jamie, has sent me a few links to listen to his labels first two releases, Benjamin Shaw and Nosferatu D2. I'm super excited about that, I'm a fan of both, so I'm going to review both of them and try to write sentences that make some kind of sense.


Also, I have nice EP from a young man called Gregk Foley to get through and type some nice words, he's a young singer songwriter from Horsham and from what I've heard on his myspace, I'm going to like this a lot.

Other than the millions of little bits piling up on me, I've got the Nightmare Before Christmas ATP coming up in a few sleeps, so I'm far too excited for that right now.

toodlesnoodlesxxx

New music from - Dead Spex and BronzeAge

They hail from Nottingham, they're called Dead Spex and they want your ears. "Her Knee, and She" is now up on the bands myspace, which if word on the street is to be believed, is a track taken from a forthcoming (yet unknown title) EP that should see the light of day early in the year two thousand and ten. It's probably my favourite thing that a band from Nottingham called Dead Spex have done. Hype. www.myspace.com/deadspex


BronzeAge are a newish band to the Leicester and world music scene, but they're old war horses at heart, made up of whatever waste was left lying around from the atom bomb that was Public Relatations Exercise. "Amberola" is now up on their myspace page for you to listen, marvel and bask in new glory. Click here www.myspace.com/bronzeageband for greatness.
There's also a link there somewhere to download the track for freebies, don't say bands don't do anything for the little guy.

Leicester Calling

The "Leicester Calling" compilation album is now officially available. Please download the podcast and tell lots of people about it. You will find links to the podcast at pineapster.com/profiles/pineapster_recordings, together with players for the individual tracks. If you can help promote it then please do.

Leicester Calling - Out Now

Leicester Calling is the latest compilation album from Leicester's Pineapster music community. Twenty tracks from new and established bands who are based in Leicester and Leicestershire - and sometimes further afield - and who all contribute to the local music scene. The album is now available for FREE via the Pineapster Recordings podcast. Follow the links on pineapster.com or search the iTunes music store for "pineapster".

Vol. 1

‘Unison’ by Autohype (3:38)
‘Pirates’ by Penfold Gate (3:54)
‘Probably Will’ by Produkty (2:36)
‘Forgotten’ by Themselves (2:05)
‘Plastic Painted Gold’ by The Chairmen (3:44)
‘Now We Are Weapons’ by Shortwave Fade (4:57)
‘Oblong’ by Logfox (3:35)
‘Simplest of Tools’ by Black Page Turns (3:47)
‘OK On The OK’ by Kill Chaos (3:22)
‘Amberola’ by Bronze Age (5:35)

Vol. 2

‘Shakerley’ by Distant Guns (5:15)
‘No-One Is Angry Just Afraid’ by Kyte (4:41)
‘Fakers’ by 40 Horses (4:24)
‘The Balloon’ by Free Control (5:29)
‘Six Pint Personality’ by The Tea Monkeys (2:56)
‘1965’ by The Friends Of Leonard (4:29)
‘So It Goes' by Kids in Cars (4:26)
‘Cold’ by Mentira (4:18)
‘Happiness Machines’ by Moscow Youth Cult (5:45)

Cover picture of Kyte by David Wilson Clarke.

Image and text both taken from pineapster.com

Paranormal Activity

An review of the blockbuster hit Paranormal Activity:

"**** **** *******"

WORST.FILM.EVER. Thank god for beer.

White Noise Christmas

It's almost that time of year again, White Noise Christmas kicks off once again on December 4th at Firebug in Leicester. Weekend wristbands are the pricey sum of five English pounds.


"The White Noise festivals began as ‘White Noise Christmas’ in 2008 as a gathering of musicians from in and around Leicester (and some of their friends from further afield) working together to promoter the wealth of musical talent within the city and to raise money for local charities.

The event runs twice yearly in December (as White Noise Christmas) and May (as White Noise Summer).

The entry fee is kept as low as possible to encourage as many people as possible to get down to the event. All the artists perform for free, and there is no guest list to ensure as much money as possible can be donated to charity.

All the curators ask in return is that you try to see as many acts as possible. If you can take home just one new artist that you’ve fallen in love with, then we’re doing our job right."

It's a shame that I'll be at ATP but if you want more info, go here:

www.whitenoisechristmas.com
http://www.last.fm/event/1272830+White+Noise+Christmas
www.wegottickets.com/event/62714

Things That Sound Like The Shins...But Are Not The Shins

Avi Buffalo

Avi Buffalo is the brain child of a youngster, seriously, I think he's just left high school or something, from Long Beach, California in the United States. Now playing as a five piece band and have recently signed to Sub Pop.

http://downloads.pitchforkmedia.com/Avi%20Buffalo%20-%20Whats%20In%20It%20For_.mp3


Surfer Blood

Surfer Blood from Florida in the good old US of A, they play more of a surf-y (dang, it's the name) much like The Shins sunshine sounding pop.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2143427/Swim%20(To%20Reach%20The%20End).mp3

Band Of The Week - Men

Hey do you like bearded men? Do you like music?

If answered yes to the above two questions then I suggest you check out Men, hailing from sunshine capital of the world, Norwich, the three piece play some melodic punk and some times gruff punk, much like Hot Water Music teaming up with Dillinger 4 to do a Superchunk covers album.

Either way, it's excellent, there's even free music offered out by the band!

Men are brimming to the top with win.

www.myspace.com/menoftheuk

9 (NINE!) videos for '09

So here it is...nine awesome videos from 2009, in no order:
A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS - IN YOUR HEART


NEW FOUND GLORY - DON'T LET HER PULL YOU DOWN


THE MIDDLE EAST - BLOOD


FEVER RAY - TRIANGLE WALKS


BATS - SHADOW FUCKING


CHICKENHAWK - I HATE THIS, DO YOU LIKE IT?


HEALTH - DIE SLOW


KEVIN DEVINE - I COULD BE WITH ANYONE


WE WERE PROMISED JETPACKS - QUIET LITTLE VOICES

Pianos Become The Teeth – Old Pride (2009)

(Top Shelf 2009)
Screamo/Post-Rock/Indie

RIYL: The Saddest Landscape, I Would Set Myself On Fire For You, Loma Prieta, Envy, City Of Caterpillar

I have to admit, I don’t listen to Pianos Become The Teeth often but when I do, they have the tools to blow me away, but I’m not sure if they have all the songs in their arsenal to keep me constantly on the edge of my seat.

At times this record is an ambient, uncompromising and very emotional assault on the ears, a style that hasn’t been championed as intensely in a while (or from my memory). It pushes boundaries; it makes the hair on the back of your neck stand. I love the post-rock-esque guitars on this so much; it even makes me wish that some instrumental post-rock bands would throw in some coarse/shouting/screaming vocals into the mix for good measure.

"Pensive” is possibly my favourites from this record, "I'm ready to let my hair down, I'm ready to move to the woods until the floor boards get raspy, I'm ready, I'm ready" is the frenziedly screaming vocal that fly out of my headphones, oh man, this is the height of everything good about this record.

I wish I could write more about this record and the fact that it has so much testosterone but I don’t care though as I have no idea where I am right now.

P.S. The Album artwork is seriously great, top notch. I hope it’s the same artwork when it’s released over here next year…otherwise I’m going to have to spend more money than I would want to on a poster.

8/10 Recommended



www.last.fm/music/Pianos+Become+The+Teeth
www.myspace.com/pianosbecometheteeth
www.topshelf-records.com

My Heart To Joy - Seasons In Verse (2009)

(Top Shelf 2009)
Emo/Post-Hardcore/Indie

When I saw this record and started to listen to it, it didn't even dawn on me that this was the same band as My Heart To Joy At The Same Tone, for some reason I just thought they were name ripping. It wasn't until I did a little reading up (checking their last.fm counts as reading, right?) that they were indeed the same and decided on a name change to suit their newer sound. Apparently they used to sound a lot like Hot Water Music before, coarse vocals but a little bit more emo (sounds like a million other bands in the history of music?) but they were able to hold their own and bring something new to the table. Anyway; onto the review!

The opener, Time Spent Breathing, is an instrumental, something that really builds up into a record. I like when indie emo bands do this, I'm always ready, half expecting scream that's going to make me jump before it skips right into the second track. That doesn't happen, which makes me glad, it actually gave me more of a Fugazi style start to a record.

Much like a lot of the other indie emo that's hit our years in the last couple of years, there's loads of coarse vocals, quirky guitar noodling, down tempo middle section, but with feeling like you're still in Hot Water Music and Braid territory here. There's also a new element, some added post-rock-esque moments that seem to be popping up in (almost) every record this year...but hey, if it feels and sounds right, then do it.

All the basses have been covered on this record, that said there's even a cover thrown in there for good measure (again, kudos to my reading skills) in the shape of Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory, which the original credits go to Guided By Voices. This is quite a surprise, if you're not much of a GBV fan like I, then you might like this, I've never heard the original though so don't pass any judgement on band until you have a listen yourself.

I don't think this is one of the stand out records of the year but it has some really solid moments and a couple of moments where they don't sound much like anyone else out there. It's still well worth a listen if you haven't already over indulged on Castevet, Snowing, Boy Problems, Title Fight...

7/10

www.last.fm/music/My+Heart+To+Joy
www.myhearttojoy.com
www.myspace.com/myhearttojoy

www.topshelf-records.com