Twenty Recorded Songs
Twenty Songs, 7th May 2006
A good week this week. What makes Twenty Songs difficult is that we listen to loads of music but with a random playlist you might hear something you love then not hear it again all week. Which is why it's usually only new stuff that gets in. This week, though, our music listening has been pretty concentrated. A few bursts here and there and then a long stint making a compilation tape for a friend's car. So. It's a pretty mixed bag. Which is good, right? Exactly.
Randomly, during the week, we caught the tail end of Kano's Backing My Boy and thought, yeah, we like Kano, we're putting that on. That whole album is still a superb one and well worth getting. Tall Blonde is one of the picks from the compilation tape with the Jungle Book cover Swingers (Original) and also an interesting inclusion as we've just got another of his songs from an Output sampler. Not his best work but then, his best work is Don't Stop and very little by anybody touches that. Autolux were also on that compilation with Turnstyle Blues, a bit of contraversion choice for a driving tape but oh well. It's a great song. We forgot that for a week because we'd overplayed the album while reviewing it, a mistake we won't make again.
Data Panik's Cubis (I Love You) would surely win an award for most appearances so long after release if that hadn't already been won by Sticky's All I Wanna Do, which has been banned from the chart for appearing there almost every week without fail. Disastronaut, similarly, continues to keep our pants wet with the sumptuous less in basslines that is Kick My Teeth Out. Both of these, plus The Diary Fire by Half Cousin, The Fabrics' Bingo, Zongamin's Spiral and Jolly Music's Crociera, were all on the tape. Where are the now, though, that's what I want to know. Disastronaut's album we must admit we got a promo to and never followed up on. Disastronaut has a very hectic release schedule and has a lot of different, mildly confusing guises, including a schlock rock air guitar band, I believe.
Half Cousin, The Fabrics, Zongamin and Jolly Music however we adore. I have a feeling Jolly Music have spit up which is the type of black armband day in music that will probably never get the recognition it deserves because the album didn't. Thank heavens for Sleazenation eh, otherwise I might never have found them either and that would've been a true tragedy. Zongamin I've no idea about but I have just got a Mystery Jets 10" which features a remix of Zoo Time by him, so that's better than nothing. The Fabrics and Half Cousin, really, have no such excuses and should just bloody well get on with it.
Field Music mark our entry into the top ten and it's with 17, one of immediate favourites of the non-single tracks on their debut album. Which, as we keep apologising about, we've only just bought. Still, I can imagine many more appearances for them over the coming weeks. O Fracas are the next highest placers and do so on the back of Follow Sue. Admittedly it's not as good as Zeroes And Ones but again, what is. None of the new music in this chart is as good as Zeroes And Ones, it's just a perfect song. Follow Sue however is definitely in the same class, which says it all. Fujiya & Miyagi's last single In One Ear & Out The Other is next up and is the final chart entry for a song featured on the tape. It ranks so high because it's so good and because we've just found out Fujiya, one of our favourite bands, like, ever, is on the verge of releasing a new album. Gosh.
Into the top ten and we start with The Longcut's best song to date A Quiet Life. Arguably not their most accomplished piece of music but definitely the most memorable and performed with aplomb last night when we saw them live. Middlesbrough's own The Oxford Glamour Models are the surprise entry at four but with lines like those on display in Kick Out The Grams they were bound to get some chart placing. However it's the interweaving mess of guitar noise and riffage that really has us sold. Hopefully that's how they sound all the time, cuz I'm pretty sure we're going to see them live soon too.
The top three looks very familar. This Et Al have absolutely peppered this week's chart, placing three times. Sabbatical is their most recent release, being their next single and due to hit HMV on 22nd May. It's a slower and less direct number than perhaps some others but they do it so well you can't help but flick through theasauruses for words of praise. Mother Was A Vulture you know becuase it's, like, our favourite song or something. Solemn As My Rifle is the b-side to Sabbatical and ups the pace with skyscraping guitars in back and punchy, uppercut riffs up front. ¡Forward, Russia! are next with the re-released, re-recorded Nine. Which we enjoy almost as much as the original Nine, except they pronounce some of the words differently and some of the guitar inflections have changed. Which, obviously, is something we can get over. This is their second placing after One appeared lower down. We love that song although it took a little while to get into. It's just frantic and all over the place. Our favourite part is the fact that it counts out the time signature at the beginning. one two three four five (one) one two three four five (two) one two three four five (three) one two three four five (four!). Hah.
Finally, then, topping the chart after coming second to GoodBooks three weeks ago, Fuck-Off Machete and the superb Copper And Lead Fight, which is a deliciously haphazard affair. As I've said before they're a lot like old favourites Life Without Buildings but more direct and with better, more coherent choruses. Life Without Buildings were always a little ill defined and slow paced for us but hooked us in with those sublime vocal and lyrical stylings. Copper And Lead Fight we already knew we loved but getting both Fuck-Off Machete singles today leads us to believe me may have found another band to hold close to our hearts. They do a cover of that lets get physical, physical, i wanna get, physical song, too. It's awesome.
A good week this week. What makes Twenty Songs difficult is that we listen to loads of music but with a random playlist you might hear something you love then not hear it again all week. Which is why it's usually only new stuff that gets in. This week, though, our music listening has been pretty concentrated. A few bursts here and there and then a long stint making a compilation tape for a friend's car. So. It's a pretty mixed bag. Which is good, right? Exactly.
Randomly, during the week, we caught the tail end of Kano's Backing My Boy and thought, yeah, we like Kano, we're putting that on. That whole album is still a superb one and well worth getting. Tall Blonde is one of the picks from the compilation tape with the Jungle Book cover Swingers (Original) and also an interesting inclusion as we've just got another of his songs from an Output sampler. Not his best work but then, his best work is Don't Stop and very little by anybody touches that. Autolux were also on that compilation with Turnstyle Blues, a bit of contraversion choice for a driving tape but oh well. It's a great song. We forgot that for a week because we'd overplayed the album while reviewing it, a mistake we won't make again.
Data Panik's Cubis (I Love You) would surely win an award for most appearances so long after release if that hadn't already been won by Sticky's All I Wanna Do, which has been banned from the chart for appearing there almost every week without fail. Disastronaut, similarly, continues to keep our pants wet with the sumptuous less in basslines that is Kick My Teeth Out. Both of these, plus The Diary Fire by Half Cousin, The Fabrics' Bingo, Zongamin's Spiral and Jolly Music's Crociera, were all on the tape. Where are the now, though, that's what I want to know. Disastronaut's album we must admit we got a promo to and never followed up on. Disastronaut has a very hectic release schedule and has a lot of different, mildly confusing guises, including a schlock rock air guitar band, I believe.
Half Cousin, The Fabrics, Zongamin and Jolly Music however we adore. I have a feeling Jolly Music have spit up which is the type of black armband day in music that will probably never get the recognition it deserves because the album didn't. Thank heavens for Sleazenation eh, otherwise I might never have found them either and that would've been a true tragedy. Zongamin I've no idea about but I have just got a Mystery Jets 10" which features a remix of Zoo Time by him, so that's better than nothing. The Fabrics and Half Cousin, really, have no such excuses and should just bloody well get on with it.
Field Music mark our entry into the top ten and it's with 17, one of immediate favourites of the non-single tracks on their debut album. Which, as we keep apologising about, we've only just bought. Still, I can imagine many more appearances for them over the coming weeks. O Fracas are the next highest placers and do so on the back of Follow Sue. Admittedly it's not as good as Zeroes And Ones but again, what is. None of the new music in this chart is as good as Zeroes And Ones, it's just a perfect song. Follow Sue however is definitely in the same class, which says it all. Fujiya & Miyagi's last single In One Ear & Out The Other is next up and is the final chart entry for a song featured on the tape. It ranks so high because it's so good and because we've just found out Fujiya, one of our favourite bands, like, ever, is on the verge of releasing a new album. Gosh.
Into the top ten and we start with The Longcut's best song to date A Quiet Life. Arguably not their most accomplished piece of music but definitely the most memorable and performed with aplomb last night when we saw them live. Middlesbrough's own The Oxford Glamour Models are the surprise entry at four but with lines like those on display in Kick Out The Grams they were bound to get some chart placing. However it's the interweaving mess of guitar noise and riffage that really has us sold. Hopefully that's how they sound all the time, cuz I'm pretty sure we're going to see them live soon too.
The top three looks very familar. This Et Al have absolutely peppered this week's chart, placing three times. Sabbatical is their most recent release, being their next single and due to hit HMV on 22nd May. It's a slower and less direct number than perhaps some others but they do it so well you can't help but flick through theasauruses for words of praise. Mother Was A Vulture you know becuase it's, like, our favourite song or something. Solemn As My Rifle is the b-side to Sabbatical and ups the pace with skyscraping guitars in back and punchy, uppercut riffs up front. ¡Forward, Russia! are next with the re-released, re-recorded Nine. Which we enjoy almost as much as the original Nine, except they pronounce some of the words differently and some of the guitar inflections have changed. Which, obviously, is something we can get over. This is their second placing after One appeared lower down. We love that song although it took a little while to get into. It's just frantic and all over the place. Our favourite part is the fact that it counts out the time signature at the beginning. one two three four five (one) one two three four five (two) one two three four five (three) one two three four five (four!). Hah.
Finally, then, topping the chart after coming second to GoodBooks three weeks ago, Fuck-Off Machete and the superb Copper And Lead Fight, which is a deliciously haphazard affair. As I've said before they're a lot like old favourites Life Without Buildings but more direct and with better, more coherent choruses. Life Without Buildings were always a little ill defined and slow paced for us but hooked us in with those sublime vocal and lyrical stylings. Copper And Lead Fight we already knew we loved but getting both Fuck-Off Machete singles today leads us to believe me may have found another band to hold close to our hearts. They do a cover of that lets get physical, physical, i wanna get, physical song, too. It's awesome.