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Pop Musicology - "The Second Drummer Drowned"

Pop Musicology - December 2006

Finlay... and Happy New Year from PM!

December 31st 2006 19:16
So the lists weren't posted in time for year's end, but who cares, yeah? Not PM, we just care about getting drunk tonight. Which, let me assure you, is already a task in the completing. Go Finlay!

Album No. 3: Finlay – The Fall Of Mary (Fortuna POP!)

'The Fall Of Mary' is, at the outset, bigger and bolder, choppier, a bit cheekier, and just as much fun as their first record, 'I Dreams And Visions'. Perhaps Finlay wouldn’t like to describe themselves as being all that much fun, but anyone who’s seen their rather transcendental live shows will surely disagree. This is a record where the line between chaos and order is not so much blurred as intentionally set on fire and doused liberally with Cointreau while the smacked-up invitees to the ball start a fight with tonality.


The vigour of stand-out smash-along 'Phantasmagoria' reaches, for Finlay, new heights of sonic insanity with its ludicrously fun finale, and the slow-burning epicentre of 'Mary IV' just needs to be heard to be fully taken in. Astute, frequently wonderful production lends a haze and a fuzzy milieu to singer Adam Straw's already lackadaisical vocal performances, but he is matched every inch by his ensemble's knack of catching him up and reminding him that they're still a pop band.

Go to this place and listen.

Finlay at F-POP! Fest
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Euros Childs - Chops

December 29th 2006 23:56
Album No. 4: Euros Childs – Chops (Wichita)

After the sad demise of his former group, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, one could expect front man Euros Childs to rest on his laurels for a while and take stock of what was left. But no. For Childs, the best thing to do was write some clearly beautiful and insanely idiosyncratic songs about donkeys, ice cream and surfing and then perform them in every venue available for about 10 months. This was a good idea.

Not only is 'Chops' a glorious album, peppered with sublime harmonic interest and plain good songwriting, it is the beginning of a new chapter for Childs. With the promise of this record and the massive strength of his live shows taken on board and thoroughly well executed, material for album no. 2 is setting up camp in the top end of next year's list as well. 'Chops' remains, though, a wonderful collection of weird ideas (the half-sung sleeping mania of 'Billy the Seagull'), acid folk frippery (the eight minute stomp of 'First Time I Saw You') and genuinely beautiful folk-pop genius (the quality insanity of 'Donkey Island'). A truly exploratory and invigorating listen every time.


Yeah, you go here. There's links to a load of stuff PM dun for Indie Workshop and some feckenace MP3s. Enjoy and "recogg"!

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Am I Repeating Myself? Eh, DST?

December 29th 2006 19:49
Another band that is literally invading PM's lists...

Album No. 5: Daniel Striped Tiger – Condition (Alone Records)

Immediately arresting, Daniel Striped Tiger are a rather blunt but brilliant band that are as ferocious as their feline namesake, but shot through with a sensitivity to catapult them into the guise of a slinkier, more domesticated pussy. While they spend a great deal more time in the jungle-cat role, the importance of balance and wielding control is a principle clearly grasped by this Boston-based gaggle. Centrepiece track on this, their second LP, "The Untuned Piano In The Assembly Room" is so very careful in its escalation towards an inevitable climax that one could be forgiven for thinking they were witness to the birth of a new Godspeed side-project. Such well-placed techniques are what have become really necessary to stand out from the hardcore crowd these days.

Daniel Striped Tiger have an uncanny sense of riffery. Never stale or re-treading trodden paths, the sheer ferocity of the guitar work on Condition is powerfully original. The final song, "Beeves & Elthake", showcases every side to Daniel Striped Tiger – burly, haphazard, perfectly off-kilter and brainy. As the crushingly effective final riff yields to simple white noise and a reflective keyboard motif, one is left bruised but euphoric, as if having just won a round of fisticuffs when the safe bet was on the other guy.

You know where to go! Here!

Daniel Striped Tiger
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The Flaming Lips - At War With The Mystics

December 29th 2006 07:19
Album No. 6: The Flaming Lips – At War With The Mystics (Warner)

"They'll never do it!" the crowd screamed, "not after the last two albums being so damn good!" But the Lips managed to keep all the central tenets of what makes them special and apply it to a rather cosmic new collection of songs: the fuzzy aesthetic, the wonderful dementia of Wayne Coyne's words, Stephen Drozd's watery production, the scope and spectacle of recent years. It's all there. With "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song" they announced themselves (not for the first time) as pop composers of impeccable loftiness, with "My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion" they announced themselves (not for the first time) as psychedelic mood-setters par excellence, and with "Pompeii am Gotterdammerung" they announced themselves (not for the first time) as epic crafters of monumental sadness. In short, this is a part of the bigger picture, a step on the way to sonic perfection for this most inimitable of bands.
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The Low Lows... again...

December 28th 2006 23:18
Grr, get out of PM's lists...

Song No. 7: The Low Lows – St. Neil from 'Fire On The Bright Sky' (Warm Electronic Recordings)
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Christmas and Daniel Striped Tiger...

December 26th 2006 19:02
Sincerely, PM hopes you all had a wonderful Christmas. I can tell you with no hesitance that the red wine truly did flow in a most festive direction all the live long Christmas Day, it certainly made it a specatcle...

But we're still counting sirs!
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Laetitia Sadier Interview

December 21st 2006 16:13
Now it's not very often that PM will blown its own trumpet. But today is one of those rare occasions. Go here to Drowned in Sound and look what the head honcho from Monade and one of the core founders of Stereolab has to say about philosophy, material similarities, atmospheric records, movement, tele-transportation and fear when I caught up with her in Kilburn. Mmm, intense!

Once again, you should go here. And then here for some lovely music from Monade. Then maybe you can go here as well and read a review of the gig PM went to see. Yeah!
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New Precious Fathers Session Tracks!

December 20th 2006 17:33
Sweet Merciful Crap!

It's Winter. And to celebrate, you should immediately go here and listen to six disgustingly good Precious Fathers session tracks off some radio station or other in Vancouver. Truly, the minutiae of their song construction knows no living rivals. Listen and marvel at the humbly un-distorted guitars, the confidently slappy (certainly not sloppy) drumming and the most ethereal of icy atmospheres. '100% Pure Rock' vibes is a standard PF lulling towards the floor of your heart, and 'Past It Pastures' (from their self-titled debut record, which everyone in the world should own) is typically prone to wonderful accelerations and reclines into steay buoyancy like no-one else. The real interest, though, is 'Pock Lips', a hypnotic departure from what we've come to expect. All the rotaional guitars locking like a lock with the drums seem somehow temporalised and overruled by some weird spoken word gibberish, completing a frightening textural innovation for Precious Fathers.
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Weez Countin! The Low Lows - Fire On The Bright Sky

December 20th 2006 09:02
Album No. 7: The Low Lows – Fire On The Bright Sky (Warm Electronic Recordings)

As 'Fire On The Bright Sky' relaxes around you, its luxuriant atmosphere caressing the surrounding air, it becomes utterly obvious that this is the work of people who are well-versed in delicate constructions and who know the value of waiting before giving a musical pay-off. The stop-start slapdash of '(No Such Thing As) Sarah Jane' is expertly paced with an ending so impeccably woven through with viscous horns and strings that satisfaction is not so much guaranteed as gospel-intoned.
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Still Counting Down...

December 19th 2006 08:59
Yep. Can't be bothered to find any news. So stick around and enjoy the countdown! Maybe be some pictures of Dark Captain Light Captain up a little later in the week, provided PM makes it to their show tomorrow night. Huzz-yeah!

Album No. 8: My Latest Novel – Wolves (Bella Union)
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Fanfarlo - Tuesday (Come When We Call)

December 18th 2006 14:24
Song No. 9: Fanfarlo - Tuesday (Come When We Call) (Fortuna POP!)

Fanfarlo have announced themselves this year, under the gentle fist of Simon Aurell, as an avenue for the future of pop. His gentle compositions are brimmed with a genuinely exciting combination of mainstream saleability and pure craft. This tune, the B-Side from the 'Talking Backwards' single, exemplifies everything that Fanfarlo can become. Quirky, beautifully tuneful and completely heart-breaking, its paean to suggestibility and caving in is perfectly judged. When Aurell laments that his subject 'swallowed all that we put on your plate', it is wrenching but compulsive. The winding saxophones and plopping recorder lines intertwine to wonderful effect, slithering around eachother and withering with time like Aurell's lovely narrative. These elements combine with impeccable balance to create a minor emotional miracle, a minor miracle that, one hopes, is a mere drop in the ocean. It is important that people buy Fanfarlo's records - their pop is new and good. 'Tuesday' is proof of that.
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Jim Noir - Tower Of Love

December 16th 2006 14:29
Yeah, weez countin still, braaap!

Album no. 9: Jim Noir - Tower Of Love (Barsuk)
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New Dark Captain Light Captain Songs, Yeah!

December 15th 2006 06:28
PM has posted about DCLC a couple of times now, and with each time it happens I find myself falling for a different part of their music. Today, they have uploaded 4 new songs to their MySpace, so you can imagine what difficulty I'm having getting anything done.

Dark Captain Light Captain

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New Beat Radio MP3

December 14th 2006 12:34
One to safely file under 'finds of the year', Brian Sendrowitz's New York indie-pop collective have posted a new MP3! Huzzah! Interestingly, it's a cover of a song by friends of Beat Radio, The Diggs and, even more interestingly, it's wonderful. It apparently is taken from a forthcoming covers EP which sounds like a damn good idea to PM. Listen to it melt the snow! Typically, it has the same shimmer and wobbly glory as their LP 'The Great Big Sea', which is heartening to know. That record is free as well! Get it!

Get the MP-FREE here, as well as 'The Great Big Sea' LP, you won't regret it! You'd be a fucking fetid, servile idiot not to. I jest, we love you...
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Puffy AmiYumi

December 12th 2006 19:01
The countdown continues, dunnit! Today we can kick off with songs.

Song no. 10: Puffy AmiYumi - Nice Buddy (from their 'Splurge' record on Tofu)
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End of Year Already? Err... Yeah! Album and Song Top Ten Begins!

December 11th 2006 23:03
PM is, as usual, unbelievably sorry for any lack of posting over the last few days. Trust me, uni stuff has been piling up as fast as the pile of empty cups and biopot carcasses strewn about my hole. Thankfully, it'll all be over soon and normal service can resume, yeah? Yeah! So, in the spirit of being dull, lazy and nicking other people's ideas, PM is going to start posting a top ten albums and songs of the year. Starting today!

In case you're wondering (and chances are that you're not), I had to compile one or two end-of-year sorts of lists for a couple of different places. The first of which, Treble, worked on a writer-voting system and BARELY ANY OF MY CHOICES GOT IN! But y'know, go there (here) anyway for the first chunk of their song list. Just wait till my choices pop up nearer the top... and I had to pick 50 albums and 50 songs for Treble... grr... not really, I love those guys.
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Six Organs of Admittance Live Pics

December 8th 2006 13:11
Eh, it wasn't a great show on the whole. Supports were disappointing, particularly the often-majestic Sunburned Hand of the Man who, after a triumphant set at this year's Green Man Festival, played a monumentally indulgent set soundtracking rather frightening Ira Cohen film. Very noisy, lots of atonal crashing and smashing...

But Six Organs went a long way to restoring the faith, thankfully doing a great deal of Ben Chasny's more tuneful stuff. Opening with 'Torn By Wolves' was a good idea. Lovely stuff. Not many pictures, but yeah.
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Best SFA News Ever

December 7th 2006 15:37
Super Furry Animals have recorded 20 hours of music. End of post.

Nah. But that's amazing, innit? According to Gruff Rhys, there could well be an instrumental sort of affair coming out amongst it all, an idea that could fill one with dread and fears of a 'difficult period' ahead, but SFA's albums are all utterly perfect so there's just no way. The next one to be released, though, full of rocky numbers, a reaction against the more plaintive stuff on the last album, Love Kraft (which was fucking great, really). So the next year is gonna be a smiley one.
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Sodastream on Tour!

December 5th 2006 11:37
Well, Tuesday mornings are proving to be just as shit as Monday mornings, it has to be said. PM was DJing in a bar last night, drinks were drunk, shapes were thrown, it all got out of whack. But the assembled throng did seem to enjoy Status Quo's 'Rockin All Over The World', so there's some consolation...

But yeah, on with business. Sodastream, whose sublime third album 'Reservations' should be in your collection already, are heading across fair Brittania early next year. The lovely sorts at Fortuna POP! are excelling themselves once again with this kind of post-Christmas cheer. Thankyou. Thankyou.
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Father Of Boon

December 3rd 2006 22:18
Monday mornings are SHIT aren't they? That's why PM has deemed it appropriate... nay... mandatory that you go and listen to Father Of Boon. In their own words, they are "...a ten-legged, wrong-headed beast hailing from the frenzied wilds of the East London/Essex borders." Sounds like a laff, dunnit? Sharing members of pitch black folk whimsy-bringers Dark Captain Light Captain is also no bad thing to brag about. And seeing as we're knocking around the East London/Essex borders, one can truly appreciate the hilarious accents deployed and spat out on every track like the fires of racial hatred for Kramer. But nicer, obviously.

On first listen, it's all a bit silly. But then you actually stop thinking 'oh yeah, that Streets guy, he's got the well-funny accent too, dunt he?' and understand the frustrations that FoB are gacking up in your face. There's a non-descript fury to it all that could smack of laziness, but joyfully, so joyfully it just smacks of random attacks on the listener, of child-like lashings to get attention. That's a compulsive base. Insurrectionary, guerilla violence and the veiled tunefulness (look hard, they're actually dead ringers for Guns 'n' Roses widdles and chonks, in the best way possible) combine to massively entertaining effect. Saxy squawks and gnat's-chuff drumming keep it light, saving it from sounding like The Fall's depressingly leaden output of late, and there's just enough venom in the varied vocal displays to ensure we don't wander into self-nullifying idiocy. When you read and discover that FoB were partying with Mclusky when they were still going, it kind of makes sense. They have the same disjointed mania for minutiae that made them so simultaneously frivolous and destructive, but FoB are probably a bit more 'street'.
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Monade, Fugu and Ueh Pictures

December 2nd 2006 15:57
Last thursday saw the close of The French Disconnection's seasonal shows for French acts to pop over to London and make us dance. Laetita Sadier's Monade headlined the evening in fantastically wispy and complex style, while ample support came from Fugu (the French McFly but good?) and Ueh (Acid Mother's Temple collaborators and drone perfectionsists), whose double album PM has now bought and is enjoying at night-times immeasurably. In short, it was another wonderful gig from this wonderful strand. Highlights included the bowed-bass transistor radio freeform exploration of Ueh, who claimed their regular drummer was unavailable due to being in prison, and the climax of Monade's wonderful 'Wash And Dance'. Dangerously propulsive. PM was lucky enough to snag an interview with Ms. Sadier, who is utterly charming, a tad potty-mouthed ("Shitshitshit!!") and wonderfully enthusiastic about her music. She hangs out with Dave Pajo, you know!

Here are pics (I went a bit black and white crazy...):
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