Mixtape April 2016

Old Indie Kid's Mixtape April 2016

Welcome to April's monthly roundup of new songs from old bands, old songs from new bands and everything else that made my radar lately.

20 tracks to ease you into April in the Spotify playlist and a small blurb for each.

1) Gamma Knife by King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard.
New single from Melbourne's prolific Psych Rockers.

2) High Hopes by La Sera.
Taken from the new album "Music For Listening To Music To"produced by Ryan Adams.

3) For Good by REMI featuring Sampa the Great.  Fresh Aussie Skip Hop.
Sampa the Great features twice in this playlist also popping up on Urthboy's track.

4) Another Day by Steve Mason.
Taken from the excellent new album "Meet The Humans". This album is highly recommended - winner of the inaugural Old Indie Kid's Album of The Month.  Some of his catchiest tracks since his early work with the Beta Band in the late Nineties.

5)  Aviation by The Last Shadow Puppets.
Alex Turner and Miles Kane drop another track from their long awaited second album.

6) 1955 by Hilltop Hoods featuring Montaigne.
Kick back and dare I say "chillax"? with Adelaide's finest.

7) Today by The Billy Rubin Trio featuring Lady S.
A prime cut taken from the vaults of the 1930's grunge scene.

8)  California Kids by Weezer.
Joyous Indie Surf Pop taken from Weezer's long awaited White Album.

9) Caught By My Shadow by Albert Hammond Jr.
The Strokes' guitarist rocks out! (Or "disappears up his own arse" as my wife put it).

10) Human Ceremony by Sunflower Bean.
Reminds me of a trippier 80s R.E.M. Great album just released by this Brooklyn trio.

11) Second Heartbeat by Urthboy featuring Samba the Great.
The man behind the Aussie Hip Hop Elephant Traks label and The Herd requires no introduction...damn he just got one.

12) Jigsaw Falling Into Place by Off The Beat.
To celebrate Radiohead's tiny world tour, here's an A Capella cover version.

13) Bitch by James.
James released their 14th studio album of their 30 year career.  Nice to know they are still out there.

14) Sometimes You Win by Soul Elixr.
Another uplifting slab of skip hop to nod your heads to.

15) Menton by Palace Winter.
In the same ilk as The War On Drugs are Denmark's Palace Winter.

16) Nylon String by Underworld.
Underworld have released a new album called "Barbara, Barbara, We Face A Shining Future" and are going strong twenty years after Born Slippy.

17) Private Wars by Primal Scream.
An acoustic track lifted from the new Scream album "Chaosmosis".  Private Wars is untypical of the album which frankly left me cold for the most part.

18) White Winter Hymnal by Birdy.
Birdy is a twenty year old singer from Lymington in Hampshire's New Forest.  Here she covers a classic song originally by Fleet Foxes.

19) Big Jet Plane - Live by Tuka featuring Sarah Corry.
Tuka is a member of Thundamentals having a solo career with a cover of Angus & Julia Stone's hit.

20) Can You Kick It (J. Cole Remix) by A Tribe Called Quest.
In remembrance of  MC Phife Dwag a self proclaimed Funky Diabetic. 1971 - 2016 R.I.P.

Mixtape March 2016

March!* 

*sorry for lame Dad joke

A great selection this month with lots to whet your appetite for new albums due for release soon.

1) The Wheel by PJ Harvey
A haunting song and her first from this years' high anticipated PJ Harvey album.
Hopefully it will even surpass 2011's Let England Shake.

2) Pleasure Drive by The Jezabels
Australian band with a storming catchy song taken from new album Synthia.

3) I Walk The Line by Hasley
This is a great cover of the Johnny Cash classic prison song by New Jersey singer Hasley.  Sends chills down the spine and makes you re-evaluate the familiar lyrics.

4) You Are Killing Me by The Dandy Warhols
This is a return to form from so hopefully we will be hearing more from them in 2016.

5) What Part Of Me by Low
The Minnesota Mormons have been making great laid back pop for over two decades and this cut was taken from last year's Ones and Sixes album.

6) Find Yourself(Richard Norris Remix) by Jacco Gardener
Dutch artist Jacco Gardner released the great Find Yourself single in 2015 and this trippy remix feels like it has tumbled down the rabbit hole.

7) Where The Light Gets In by Primal Scream
An upbeat dance track with catchy chorus, a vocal duet with Sky Ferreira and typical Bobby Gillespie lyrics - what's not to like?

8) 1 in 100,000 by L-Fresh The Lion
Australian Rapper takes things up another notch and away from the commercial career he was previously pursuing.  He sounds angry.

9) Gimme The Love by Jake Bugg
Nottingham's Bob Dylan is back and releasing tracks off his forthcoming third album.

10) Turn Up by Dub Pistols
I've been loving their 2015 Return of the Pistoleros album all week.  I will soon be exploring the groovy back catalog.

11) Estuvo Bien (Suedehead) by Mexrrissey
Morrissey has a huge following in Mexico and they have embraced him with a tribute band playing his hits with full horn fanfare and Spanish vocals.  Three singles released to date.  Viva Mozza!

12) Ui Yia Uia by No Zu
Melbourne based band hard to describe - best I could think of is a funky Bentley Rhythm Ace.

13) God Walked Down by The Allergies
Taken from their excellent Kicking Up Dust EP this band make some damn fine music and are worth a follow!

14) Room To Breathe by Andy Cooper
A solo effort from a member from my favorite US hip hop act Ugly Duckling.  His album of the same name Room To Breathe has just dropped.

15) How's Your Life by Tricky
Taken from the new album Skilled Mechanics sees The Tricky Kid do what he does best - whispering sour nothings over laid back grooves.

16)  In The Moment by DMA's
The DMA's from Sydney have finally released Hills End their debut album of retro indie pop.

17) Nighttime by Turtle Giant
Another great album released in February was Many Mansions I by Turtle Giant.

18) You Cannot Call For Love Like A Dog by Holy Holy
Australian band who skirt just the right side of The War On Drugs.

19) 3 Miles High by Travis
First thing I've enjoyed by Travis in thirteen years.  In fact I haven't heard from them in over a decade but I assume they've been releasing the same old stuff to smaller audiences in the intervening years.  Nice little bass line has elevated this to my radar.  Fran has not aged well - his beard makes him look more farmer than hipster.

20) Black Rabbit by Turin Brakes
Along the same lines as Travis are The Turin Brakes who once wrote a song called Fishing For A Dream over ten years ago.  I didn't expect anything more from them until I stumbled upon their new album Lost Property and found it a quiet masterpiece.  Black Rabbit is the album's epic closer.

Hope you enjoy these sounds as much as I have - see you next month!

Mixtape Feb '16

Alright Music Lovers!

Hardest of all months to spell - Welcome to Febuary!

This is a new mix of indie shmindee dance and rock n roll.
Some great new tracks from the end of last year and the beginning of this one.
It is also a leap year so you can enjoy it for an extra day.

1) Too Soon by DMA's.  Hopeful of a debut album this year from these Sydney Rockers.

2) You Ruined My Chippy Thursday (Should Have Gone to Codrophenia) by The Eccentrontic Research Council.  Weirdest thing from Yorkshire since Pulp.

3) Hold It by The Allergies.  I know very little about this group apart from their funkiness.

4) Greasy Mind by Slug.  Slug evolved from Sunderland's Field Music to make this seedy funk.

5) Float On by Ben Lee.  Cover of the classic 2004 indie hit by Modest Mouse.

6) Makin' Babies by Reverend and the Maker.  Taken from the album Mirrors - a collection of great and very short songs.

7) Fast and Slow by Sons of the East.  The Aussie Mumford and Sons.  Better than it sounds!

8) The Man Who Sold The World live version by David Bowie R.I.P.

9) Out of my Mind by The Arcs.  The talented Dan Auerbach from the Black Keys knocked out this side project in his spare time last year.

10) Wide Open (Kolsch Remix) by The Chemical Brothers featuring Beck.  A widescreen remix.

11) Virtue by Bloc Party.  Taken from their 5th album Hymns released in January 2016.

12) Bad Habits by The Last Shadow Puppets.  2nd Album coming 8 years after their debut.

13) Silver Bullets by The Chills.  These guys are not Big In Japan they are Small in New Zealand.

14) Three Packs A Day by Courtney Barnett.  New tune from Australia's finest whinger.

15) Feel Free (Pianna Version) by Groove Armada.  House music with pianos - lush!

16) Tomorrow by The Skints.  Final track from the excellent album FM from these London reggae allstars.

17) Take It There by Massive Attack,Tricky & 3D.   More reasons to be cheerful in 2016

18) Cool Out by Matthew E. White & Natalie Prass.  Laid back duet.

19) T Shirt Weather by Circa Waves.  The sound of Summer.

20) Blaze Up The Fire by Major Lazer featuring Chronixx.  Lets go out with a banger!

Mixtape Jan '16

1) Into The Cave by Lonelady.  Let's kick off the New Year with a dirty bassline from Manchester.

2) Like Kids by Suede.  A return to form even ends with a kids choir.  Never going to top We Are The Pigs but certainly making some great music again.

3) The Good News by Bloc Party.  And the good news is that Bloc Party release their fifth album this month.

4) Never Gonna Hold You (Like I Do) by Fraser A Gorman.  A singer songwriter from Geelong.

5) Harry's Symphony by Joss Stone.  The Soul singer from Devon has been working with Damian Marley and there is a strong reggae influence on her latest album.

6) Get It All by DBFC.  They are French, groovy and sound like Django Django.

7) 1990's by Custard.  Brisbane Indie Rock band who have been recording since the 1990's.

8) Higher by The Hilltop Hoods.  Adelaide's Finest Skip Hop Act.

9) Just A Dream by Tobias Jesso Jr.  Canadian songwriter sings a lullaby for his newborn on the eve of the Apocalypse.

10) Eye To Eye by Wild Honey.  All I know is they are Australian (probably).

11) Dusty In Memphis by The Dreaming Spires.  I know a fair bit about these guys on the other hand.  Second album from this band from Oxford is their homage to all things Americana.  If the lyrics are autobiographical the singer was also born in London in the late 70's to a Catholic family.
If that helps?

12) Play Some Roots by Chronixx.  Reggae for your soul.

13) Adventure Of A Lifetime by Coldplay.  Released their 7th album in early December and thankfully Chris seems to have stopped mopping over his divorce which ruined their 6th effort.

14) Let It Happen (Soulwax Remix) by Tame Impala.  I love a good Soulwax remix and here is one of my favourite songs of 2015 under their steady scalpel hands.

15) Salvation Army by Darren Hanlon.  Australian folk singer with a lovely little ditty.

16) Cheer Up London by Slaves.  Modern punk rockers that don't suck!  In fact they're awesome.

17) Eagle by Southeast Desert Metal.  Sounds like Motorhead mixed with Iron Maiden but they are an Indigenous Australian metal band from the desert South East of Alice Springs.

18) Sympathy For The Devil by Motorhead.  Lemmy is now rocking on his Valhalla Tour.

19) Song for Josh by Frank Turner.  Live version of a sad song dedicated to a friend who took their own life.  Brings you to tears.

20) Tomorrow Never Knows by The Beatles.  2016 marks the 50th anniversary of Revolver.  This track was 30 years ahead of its time.  The Beatles music is finally available on Spotify so enjoy!

Tracks of the Year 2015

According to the Spotify, I have listened to over 2000 different artists and nearly 7000 different tracks during the last 12 months.  From this I conclude that I should get out more.

I have culled those options into a Top 40 Countdown list of my favourite tracks of 2015.
I'm too lazy to write about every song in this list but they all have merit.
In reverse order...




 #40 An Australian collaboration between Craig Nicholls of The Vines and Nick Littlemore from Empire of The Sun  under the supergroup name White Shadows they have taken a very ordinary Vines B-side called "Give Up Give Out Give In" and turned it into a classic tune.  The transformation is amazing and it is worth finding the original to compare.

#39 "Pedestrian At Best" by Courtney Barnett.  Courtney from Tasmania has divided opinion after winning Triple J's Australia Album of the Year ahead of more popular acts such as Tame Impala.  I loved her early singles but her debut album was disappointing as a non-stop wordy whinge-fest.

#38 "Stroking My Beard" The Beards.  This hairy Aussie band have made a career singing about their facial hair.  This is a prime example of why it works so well.

#37 Ryan Adams "My Wrecking Ball"

#36 Hymnal "In The Valley Below"

#35 Public Service Broadcasting "Gargarin" - Ode to an East German Soviet Spaceman.

#34 The Yetis "Little Surfer Girl" Fuzzy Beach Pop.

#33 Gaz Coombes "The English Ruse" - Supergrass Disco Pumpin' On The Stereo.

#32 The School "All I Want From You Is Everything" - Poppy Welsh Gold Miners strike again.

#31 Holy Holy "House of Cards"

#30 Pete Doherty "Flags of the Old Regime" - Pete's Tribute to his friend Amy Winehouse.

#29 Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds "Ballard of Mighty I" - Oasis don't need to reform yet.

#28 Sons of the East "Already Gone" - Sydney band who sound a bit like Mumford and Sons.

#27  Mystic Braves "Five Minute Dream Girl" - Retro Fuzzy and Awesome.

#26 DMA's "Lay Down" - Another reason why Oasis don't need to reform.

#25 Swim Deep "Fueiho Boogie" - The Brummie Unhinged Psychedelic Reel.

#24 Unknown Mortal Orchestra "Necessary Evil"

#23 Proteje "Protection" - New Jamaican Reggae Legend

#22 Jamie XX "Loud Places" - The XX go clubbing.

#21 The Libertines "Anthem For Doomed Youth"

#20 Pond "Zond" - Perth madmen

#19 Mercury Rev "Autumn's In The Air"  Lush orchestration and vocals.

#18 Gengahr "She's A Witch"   She turned me into a newt.

#17 Blur "Pyongyang" - Haunting ballad about Damon's trip to North Korea.

#16 The Chemical Brothers "Wide Open"

#15 Methyl Ethel "Rouges" - Singing stream of consciousness ramblings about being knocked down on The Causeway  (my nearest bridge), alien abduction and the heat of a Perth Summer.

#14 Jacco Gardner "Find Yourself" A very talented young Dutchman.

#13 Mini Mansions featuring Alex Turner "Vertigo" - Starved of Alex Turner material this year but hoping for the Last Shadow Puppets and Arctic Monkeys to release new albums in 2016.

#12 The Avener featuring Ane Brun "To Let Myself Go"

#11 Kurt Vile "Pretty Pimping"

#10 Alabama Shakes "Don't Wanna Fight"

#9 Beck "Dreams" Beck teases everyone with this gem of a pop record but holds off the album's release until 2016.

#8 Belle and Sebastian "Nobody's Empire" An autobiographical song from Stuart who was hospitalised suffering from M.E. back in the early Nineties.

#7 The Hives "Blood Red Moon"  A modern cowboy song that is screaming to be the theme tune to a new Netflix series.

#6 Unknown Mortal Orchestra "Multi-Love" 

#5 The Dead Weather "I Feel Love (Every Million Miles)"  Supergroup with a super riff.

#4 Mark Ronson, Bruno Mars "Uptown Funk"  Impossible not to enjoy and very hard to listen to without dancing 'round your kitchen.

#3 Blur "Lonesome Street" Classic Blur featuring the alternating mix of positive and cynical lyrics that give way to another bittersweet chorus.  The band are tight like it's '93 throwing in some "Woo Woos" and whistling.  Their whole musical career is mashed up on The Magic Whip and the only missing element is Phil Daniels' cockney diary extracts.

#2 Tame Impala "Let It Happen"  They went interstellar this time.

#1 Hot Chip "Huarache Lights"  A groovy repetitive Hot Chip workout. "Replace us with the things that do the job better" they sing until they get replaced by a robotic voice.  If Terminators were funky this would be the soundtrack of their revolution against the humans.



Happy New Year Pop Pickers!

Albums of the Year 2015

The nights are getting longer/shorter/not changing depending on your latitude, which means the end of the year polls are coming.  I have been making a list and checking it twice.  

I can now reveal my top ten albums of 2015 and some additional recommendations that missed out on the cut.  In reverse order to maintain the illusion of rising excitement...

10.  Oh Inhuman Spectacle - Methyl Ethel 

Methyl Ethel are a band from Freo in Western Australia who have released a handful of singles and this debut album.  They sound like a lazy Summer's day and are destined for further greatness in the next few years.  Listen to the single below and marvel at how they incorporate a saxophone solo without sounding cheesy.  Not an easy feat!

9. Why Make Sense - Hot Chip

Infectious grooves from and for dorky indie dads.

8. Ancient Future - Protoje

Jamacian reggae from one of the biggest reggae artists from the Reggae Revival scene.  Check out my earlier post  if you love a bit of reggae.  This is the third album by Protoje and the video below features Chronixx who is another big root reggae superstar.

7. Music Complete - New Order

New Order have returned with the best album since Republic.  Despite losing Peter Hook to musical and personal differences they are reunited with Gillian Gilbert who had ten years off and with Tom Rowlings (The Chemical Brothers) as the producer. The singles are loaded up front on this album but I find the more interesting material is found on the second half of the record, which gets better and better as it progresses.   Iggy Pop also appears on the track Stray Dog.

6. Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance - Belle & Sebastian

The Scottish Twee Overlords return to vanquish all before them armed with some pop songs.

This is the first studio album for five years and their ninth album in their twenty year career.

It's a fantastic return and adds some classic tunes to their repertoire.

5. Currents - Tame Impala

Perth's Tame Impala make the crossover into the big time with this album of psychedelic dance pop tunes.  This is the second WA band to make my top ten but they are not the last.

4. The Light In You - Mercury Rev

Mercury Rev release their most accessible album of the century which almost hits the highs of their timeless 1998 classic Deserter's Songs.  So many top spacey rock tunes to wash over you.

3. Man It Feels Like Space Again - Pond

The third and final Perth band to grace my list is the unhinged poppy psychedelia of Pond.

2. The Wanderings Of The Avener - The Avener

The French Producer behind the worldwide smash hit Fade Out Lines released his debut album in January 2015 containing plenty of deep house covers and guest vocalists including Hope Sandovol of Mazzy Star and Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys.  A great laid back collection of modern dance music.

1. The Magic Whip - Blur 

It was 1999 when Blur last released an album with full attendance.  Since then there have been many great solo albums and side projects.  Damon formed Gorillaz and Good The Bad and The Ugly. Graham had a series of lo-fi solo albums.  Dave stood for Parliament and became a lawyer.  Alex wrote an autobiography and become a Cheese Farmer.  Blur's Magic Whip was recorded in a dingy Hong Kong recording studio when the band found themselves with a week to kill following the cancellation of a festival.  Whether The Magic Whip will be Blur's swansong is unknown but with Gorillaz revival in 2016, it could be the last for a while so enjoy it.  

   

Honorable Mentions to the following albums that just missed the cut...

Wasting Away And Wondering - The School

Multi-Love - Unknown Mortal Orchestra

Born Under Saturn - Django Django 

A Dream Outside - Gengahr
Chasing Yesterday - Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

Mixtape Dec '15

December has sneaked up again.  Here's my new monthly mixtape to district you.

• 5 Minute Dream Girl - Mystic Braves.  New retro psychedelic pop from L.A.

• Already Gone - Sons of the East.  Indie folk band from Sydney.

• Business Suit Morning Struggle - Turtle Giant. Brazilian trips. 

• I'd Be Lost - Sarah Blasko. Icy Aussie vocals over minimalist disco.

• Ourson - Camel Power Club. Don't know anything about these guys.

• Anaesthetised Lesson - GUM. Solo project of Tame Impala/Pond musician. 

• Laid - the Pains of Being Pure of Heart.  Cover of the James' classic 1993 song. 

• Trouble - Cage The Elephant.   Kentucky rock band.

• This Must Be The Place - Iron & Wine.  Cover of Talking Heads 

• Impossible Winner - The Dead Weather.  Jack White & Alison Mosshart are cool. 

• Pish - The Brian Jonestown Massacre.  California Dreaming.

• Life Gives You Lemons - Citizen Kay.  Aussie Hip Hop over a funky horn sample.

• Goatslaves - Goat.  Swedish space cadets. 

• 'Cause I'm A Man - Tame Impala (HAIM Remix).  Great remix of the WA Overlords.

• 1979 - Freedom Fries.  Downbeat cover of Smashing Pumpkins 1995 hit.

• Burnout - The Lulu Raes.

• Nothing Like A Friend - Richard Hawley.  Northern crooner sings a ballad.

• Ong Ong - Blur.  I absolutely love it.  Please Sir, can I have some more?.

• Cantina Band - Ash.  Just because we get a new Star Wars film this month.

• Christmas Chime (Stocking Filler) - Orbital.  Christmas remix of 1990 techno tune.