Moon

I always liked the voice of Beth Orton and a many of their songs. As long as I know her she made her very own mixture of folk and electronica. During the last years she made collaborations with Red Snapper and Chemical Brothers and these song have an own kind of magic. Now Beth released a new record and it is much more based in club music than before. On this record for me it is like she has one finger on the acoustic string and the other on the loops. Very clearly, very much focused and emphasised the songs romp about between blustering Tribal beats, vague D'n'B clicks and Orton's inimitable voice. Another music for late at the evening.

Beth Orton - Moon

Running

It's not that I am a huge fan of Moderat but I like a bit of their music. The do for me a very unique combination of Synthie-Pop, bass dominated rave oriented sound. This one's a release from their upcoming new album III.

The Summer

After a longer period of rainy weather and a hailstorm yesterday it seems that the weather will turn into summer slowly here in Southern Germany. Therefore a song which has the summer in it's title. Spring King is a four piece band from Manchester. I don't know much about them but this song is magnificent. These four men are recommended there as boisterous, fresh executors of post-punk. And they add surf-pop, Indie-Sweetness and a lot of hooks to their songs. Probably a band for the upcoming summer.

As a bonus - here's a dub remix of the title track from their latest EP

Explosions In The Sky

Another band I am going to see live next weekend is Explosions In The Sky. It is a post-rock band formed in Austin 17 years ago. They have the classic line-up with guitars, bass and drums and make their own and very unique sound. Using no words they take you on a trip into sound. If you ever listened to Mogwai you will feel right at their music.

Enjoy.

Addition to George's ICA

In addition of George's very fine ICA-Compilation over at JC's place I checked out my records of The Faces. I am a long time friend of their music because they introduced me into music. Introduced means that the former boyfriend of my oldest mate  sister played The Faces to me when I was at my youngest days. Back in 1975 he took us to a concert by The Faces in Munich and it was the first time ever I was on a concert before. Me and my lad were astonished by the live appearance of the band. Notably Rod Stewart that impressed us with his unique voice. It was an evening we both stepped into another era. From this time on I followed Rod Stewart and The Faces. A lot of times since now I occasionally I slip back to their records. For me it was the entrance to rock music and made fundamentals to music that came to my ears during the last 40 years. Here are some songs by The Faces, George didn't put on his short list of 10 songs.

Hope you're enjoying them as much as me.

And this for Ronnie Lane on guitar. He was one of the most underrated guitar players during the last 40 years.

The Age Of Glam

I think I will continue this series of pop music more than 40 years ago and feature the golden age of glam when most of us were kids. One of those bands I was attracted to in my youngest days was Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel. Cockney Rebel was a band from the last days of glam but I liked the very much. Not only because they brought London dialect to my ears. If I have to say that a band was close to perfect pop songs - Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel were very close to it.

Loop

John Peel invited Loop for several sessions between 1987 and 1991. Loop was a band formed in Croydon in the late 80's and made a guitar dominated space rock influenced independent sound. It is a band that was almost forgotten and it was the same to me until I found the record in my collection a few days ago. They sounded a bit like Spaceman 3 with their harsh fuzz-laden, pulsing guitar riffs, monotonous vocals and distinctive drum patterns to built their unique soundscape. They were also influenced by German Krautrock and Detroit rock. Once more a band I am glad to rediscovered again.

Loop - Straight To Your Heart
Loop - Rocket USA
Loop - Collision

September Girls

It is not too bad when you name your band by a song from Big Star. And if you sound like a noisy version of British independent music it is much better. This five piece Dublin based band released a few weeks ago a record that could be great when it was released 30 years ago. It's an euphoric guitar/organ based sound with voices deep in the tradition of the well known punk sisters. To describe them in a simple way I would name them the nowadays guitar based Bangles.