Twenty Tardy Songs
Twenty Songs, 17th September 2006
To be fair the songs we listened to mostly this week were on OhSpace, in the form of Gay Against You, Cutting Pink With Knives and so forth but the first rule of the Twenty is that we have to own the song and have purchased it or been given it somewhat more officially than a drafty Space version or briefly caught MTV2 video shoved between advert breaks. Ya? Yah.
Which gives us The Walkmen's The Rat early doors, a massive drop from last week but to be fair we've been hearing it at our indie jaunt week in week out for ages, the fact it's still here at all is a testiment to how rabble rousing it is. And it is. Next up is a bit of Grime in the form of Footsie and Jammer's Right Hooks, a dirty little bass drop number which signaled all that time ago the genius that was to be grime's next evolution, dubstep. We need to start going back to grime (away fom the increasingly shit Channel U) and re-acquaint ourselves with where it's off to next. No doubt a little like Boxcutter, dubstep artist himself albeit more minimal and less violent than the grime we love, still a formidable music maker and here with his excellent Grub.
Next up and a mile from grime is Jarvis Cocker which is super little fuck you to die capitalist pigs Running The World, which we still enjoy thanks to it's melancholy arrangment and cheeky swearing. Similarly rabscallion are Hot Club de Paris albeit in an infinitely less world weary way. We had our doubts about them but we love I Quit My Job and, since the Twenty was produced we got the album too. Good stuff. Surprise entry of the week goes to Godspeed You! Black Emperor who are here with Motherfucker=Redeemer, probably, although we were listening to the song for a full twenty minutes but cuz the stereo was upstairs we're not actually sure which it was and aren't going to listen to five twenty minute songs just to get this list completely accurate. Let's face it, it's Godspeed, you know the score.
You may not be so familiar with Jeremy Warmsley though, who has appeared in this chart before for two totally different things, neither of which is particularly like his album, although his album is quite nice too, the standout track of which, Modern Children, featuring here. We also gave yet another spot to The Futurheads and Worry About It Later (Switch Remix) as, wow, Bleep.com have the entire song available to buy, rather than just the edit which is what 679 felt fit to put on the 7", bizarrely. The full version is only about five minutes and, while that's better than two and a half it's still not as good as ALL DAY AND NIGHT which is how long you'd want the song to last for.
Above this is Boards Of Canada who featured because they're pure dripping class but bizarrely, like Autolux before them, not because we specifically listened to the song any great amount, simply because so many things recently referenced it. And cuz it's awesome. As is Cham's Ghetto Story, albeit in a totally different way. We like Cham and he appeared on the recent HMV Playlist CD which is what prompted us to buy the Ghetto Story single which is a very nice slice of dancehall storytelling.
Above that and into the top half are stopstarts and their wonderful Short Breaks track which is due for release next month we believe. Definitely worth tracking down and possibly buying twice cuz heaven knows it'll be worth megabucks on eBay before too long. Unlike Milanese vs Virus Syndicate which is probably gonna languish in obscurity for some time yet despite being an absolutely blinding slice of that grime/dubstep mix we mentioned early. This track, Dead Man Walking VIP, is dark and murky and almost guaranteed to kidnap you late at night. Unlike Pete And The Pirates who are just lovely. Aren't they? Yes they are. We love the entire Stop Wait Begin EP and Come On Feet is one of the highlights of that so we thought we'd include it cuz it probably didn't get enough airtime first time we mentioned it.
We also think Godlike & Electric should get more airtime. This week it's Godlike again, the main track, also called Tired Of The Show according to one anonymous source. Hopefully Bent will stick with the Godlike & Electric moniker because it fits the music perfectly, being as the music is indeed, both. Very much like Hot Chip albeit less staticky in their electricty and more subdued. That said, (Just Like We) Breakdown is no slouch and features a rich blend of wonderful harmonies, sumptuous melodies, wicked bass and superb lyrics.
with a fist and a fall we meet with the floor
Keeping it grimey we meet dubstep champeen Pinch at the bottom of the top five, with his recent Punisher punisher, slaughtering bass bins the country wide - or, at least, it would be were there any justice in the world (as my supposed favourite artist ever once said). Above him is that man Thom Yorke again, brother of Dwight Yorke and creator of the Yorkie bar, he returns to music with the wonderful Harrowdown Hill, a song which is pushing us to buy the The Eraser album with a force we didn't think was possible.
The top three this week consists of two newies and a slightly less new-y. First up is the fizzy new single by local heroes Das Wanderlust, The Orange Shop (Rude As Version). We'll admit we love this song at least in part because we love the phrase "rude as", bless their northern scamp hearts. However it also happens to be a bleepy joy of pop mayhem. Not as madcap as we'd hoped from them - they're capable of even more detachment from reality - however a fine opening salvo on their debut single and quite a splendid little song from a thoroughly nice band.
Secondly is unlx favourites, Hot Chip again, with Playboy the standout song from their debut album which we bought the other day just to see if we were missing out on much. Coming On Strong is not as good an album, by any stretch, as the amazing The Warning but it's still Good and Playboy is as good as anything the band have penned which means, well, it's bloody great.
Which brings us to band du jour we are THE PHYSICS whose Less Than Three has been on the Unlixes stereo all week. They're one of our ones to watch - which to be fair is a bit of a kiss of death since our last ones to watch recently disbanded (come back Data Panik, we love you and miss you)- but better than that they seem to be picking up interest in all sorts of Right places outside the Unlixes Studio walls. Which is thoroughly good news because they deserve infinitely more success than, I dunno, Boy Kill Boy do. Less Than Three is a fine song and if you buy the CD single you get access to a Gay Against You remix. Which brings us full cirle, I think. I love it when a plan comes together.
To be fair the songs we listened to mostly this week were on OhSpace, in the form of Gay Against You, Cutting Pink With Knives and so forth but the first rule of the Twenty is that we have to own the song and have purchased it or been given it somewhat more officially than a drafty Space version or briefly caught MTV2 video shoved between advert breaks. Ya? Yah.
Which gives us The Walkmen's The Rat early doors, a massive drop from last week but to be fair we've been hearing it at our indie jaunt week in week out for ages, the fact it's still here at all is a testiment to how rabble rousing it is. And it is. Next up is a bit of Grime in the form of Footsie and Jammer's Right Hooks, a dirty little bass drop number which signaled all that time ago the genius that was to be grime's next evolution, dubstep. We need to start going back to grime (away fom the increasingly shit Channel U) and re-acquaint ourselves with where it's off to next. No doubt a little like Boxcutter, dubstep artist himself albeit more minimal and less violent than the grime we love, still a formidable music maker and here with his excellent Grub.
Next up and a mile from grime is Jarvis Cocker which is super little fuck you to die capitalist pigs Running The World, which we still enjoy thanks to it's melancholy arrangment and cheeky swearing. Similarly rabscallion are Hot Club de Paris albeit in an infinitely less world weary way. We had our doubts about them but we love I Quit My Job and, since the Twenty was produced we got the album too. Good stuff. Surprise entry of the week goes to Godspeed You! Black Emperor who are here with Motherfucker=Redeemer, probably, although we were listening to the song for a full twenty minutes but cuz the stereo was upstairs we're not actually sure which it was and aren't going to listen to five twenty minute songs just to get this list completely accurate. Let's face it, it's Godspeed, you know the score.
You may not be so familiar with Jeremy Warmsley though, who has appeared in this chart before for two totally different things, neither of which is particularly like his album, although his album is quite nice too, the standout track of which, Modern Children, featuring here. We also gave yet another spot to The Futurheads and Worry About It Later (Switch Remix) as, wow, Bleep.com have the entire song available to buy, rather than just the edit which is what 679 felt fit to put on the 7", bizarrely. The full version is only about five minutes and, while that's better than two and a half it's still not as good as ALL DAY AND NIGHT which is how long you'd want the song to last for.
Above this is Boards Of Canada who featured because they're pure dripping class but bizarrely, like Autolux before them, not because we specifically listened to the song any great amount, simply because so many things recently referenced it. And cuz it's awesome. As is Cham's Ghetto Story, albeit in a totally different way. We like Cham and he appeared on the recent HMV Playlist CD which is what prompted us to buy the Ghetto Story single which is a very nice slice of dancehall storytelling.
Above that and into the top half are stopstarts and their wonderful Short Breaks track which is due for release next month we believe. Definitely worth tracking down and possibly buying twice cuz heaven knows it'll be worth megabucks on eBay before too long. Unlike Milanese vs Virus Syndicate which is probably gonna languish in obscurity for some time yet despite being an absolutely blinding slice of that grime/dubstep mix we mentioned early. This track, Dead Man Walking VIP, is dark and murky and almost guaranteed to kidnap you late at night. Unlike Pete And The Pirates who are just lovely. Aren't they? Yes they are. We love the entire Stop Wait Begin EP and Come On Feet is one of the highlights of that so we thought we'd include it cuz it probably didn't get enough airtime first time we mentioned it.
We also think Godlike & Electric should get more airtime. This week it's Godlike again, the main track, also called Tired Of The Show according to one anonymous source. Hopefully Bent will stick with the Godlike & Electric moniker because it fits the music perfectly, being as the music is indeed, both. Very much like Hot Chip albeit less staticky in their electricty and more subdued. That said, (Just Like We) Breakdown is no slouch and features a rich blend of wonderful harmonies, sumptuous melodies, wicked bass and superb lyrics.
with a fist and a fall we meet with the floor
Keeping it grimey we meet dubstep champeen Pinch at the bottom of the top five, with his recent Punisher punisher, slaughtering bass bins the country wide - or, at least, it would be were there any justice in the world (as my supposed favourite artist ever once said). Above him is that man Thom Yorke again, brother of Dwight Yorke and creator of the Yorkie bar, he returns to music with the wonderful Harrowdown Hill, a song which is pushing us to buy the The Eraser album with a force we didn't think was possible.
The top three this week consists of two newies and a slightly less new-y. First up is the fizzy new single by local heroes Das Wanderlust, The Orange Shop (Rude As Version). We'll admit we love this song at least in part because we love the phrase "rude as", bless their northern scamp hearts. However it also happens to be a bleepy joy of pop mayhem. Not as madcap as we'd hoped from them - they're capable of even more detachment from reality - however a fine opening salvo on their debut single and quite a splendid little song from a thoroughly nice band.
Secondly is unlx favourites, Hot Chip again, with Playboy the standout song from their debut album which we bought the other day just to see if we were missing out on much. Coming On Strong is not as good an album, by any stretch, as the amazing The Warning but it's still Good and Playboy is as good as anything the band have penned which means, well, it's bloody great.
Which brings us to band du jour we are THE PHYSICS whose Less Than Three has been on the Unlixes stereo all week. They're one of our ones to watch - which to be fair is a bit of a kiss of death since our last ones to watch recently disbanded (come back Data Panik, we love you and miss you)- but better than that they seem to be picking up interest in all sorts of Right places outside the Unlixes Studio walls. Which is thoroughly good news because they deserve infinitely more success than, I dunno, Boy Kill Boy do. Less Than Three is a fine song and if you buy the CD single you get access to a Gay Against You remix. Which brings us full cirle, I think. I love it when a plan comes together.