Friday 28 October 2011

Fright Night Mix


Tracklist:
Radio Vago - Shotgun
Siouxsie & The Banshees - Spellbound
The Sonics - The Witch
Veronica Falls - Found Love In A Graveyard
Broadcast - Black Cat
Plug - Fresh Pleasures
Las Robertas - Ghost Lover
The Cure - A Forest
Unwound - Murder Movies
The Cramps - Zombie Dance
Nervous Norvus - Transfusion
Bobby "Boris" Pickett - Monster Mash


Happy Halloween, guys and ghouls.

Thursday 27 October 2011

Citizens! - True Romance

Kitsune's latest addition Citizens! have just shared their first official video for upcoming debut single 'True Romance', and like Veronica Falls' use of 80s interpretive dance shots in the 'Come On Over' vid, it's a lovely montage of retro Bollywood-esque footage, set on grassy hills and snow-covered slopes.




Their album is due for release in 2012, but for now you can see them live on tour with The Rapture all around the UK for the next 7 days. Keep an ear out - there's a lot more to come.

Tuesday 18 October 2011

Visit: My Band T-Shirt

I got a little bit obsessed with this site last week. It's music geekery in its finest form - fans sharing long and personal stories about what is essentially just some smelly fabric with a logo printed on. Band tee's have long been the ultimate badge of pride, resulting in the wearer either getting happily knowing looks from fellow fans or braving ridicule by proudly advertising what's in your headphones (well, before Topshop and the like got in the act and ruined everything with their mindless replicas).



With more stories added every day, it's tough to keep up with them all, but two favourites have to be the Hole 'Teenage Whore' shirt that led the wearer to a (thankfully positive) meeting with Ms Love herself, and Sarah Drinkwater's sad story of a Blur fan too young to make the trip to witness Britpop at its height.

You can contribute your own tales at mybandtshirt(at)gmail(dot)com.

http://mybandtshirt.tumblr.com/

Saturday 8 October 2011

Listen: Veronica Falls - Veronica Falls


It's high time I gave Veronica Falls a mention - especially as ever since 'Beachy Head' first made an appearance online (a love song set around Brighton's infamous suicide spot) and I was lucky enough to catch their first show, I've had a serious soft spot for their spooky, melancholy 60s-via-Black Tamborine-tinged tales of tragedy and deceased lovers.

Having played in Sexy Kids (their track 'Sisters Are Forever' has become a bit of a jokey theme song between my sibling & I), Your Twenties and The Royal We previously, they're seasoned songwriters, and manage the tricky task of combining the sonics of ghosts past with their own delicate and tense sound.


They've released a few quickly-grabbed 7 inches on No Pain In Pop and demo recordings, but the 17th October will see the release of their first full-length record, Veronica Falls. Thanks to my day job I've been listening to the record non-stop for the past few months, and as well as the adored early stuff there's plenty of new heartbreak to be found in tracks such as 'Misery', 'Bad Feeling' and 'The Fountain', plus the more upbeat and hopeful skip of 'Come On Over'.

To celebrate the release, Rough Trade will also be selling limited edition Veronica Falls Covers LPs, featuring six covers, paying homage to the Eurythmics and Rolling Stones, and including their stunning rendition of Roky Erickson's 'Starry Eyes', which is a more tender take on the original.

Find out more (and get a free mp3) over at http://veronicafalls.com/









Thursday 6 October 2011

Read: Girl Gang Zine


I've been a regular visitor to Maren's blog for a while now - every entry makes me want to book an impromptu flight straight to Berlin to see the subjects of her beautiful photography in person; her illustrations are delicate and ALWAYS depicting super cool girls (Wild Flag, 'Rebel Girl', the Las Robertas design for their recent European tour) and she has impeccable taste in music.

About a year ago, she told me about her idea for a zine around the theme of 'Role Models', and I must have typed out some answers to a few questions she emailed over. And then promptly forgot all about it in the midst of some winter blues and job worries.



But Girl Gang Zine has arrived! And what a fine papery read she is. I have no idea how Maren and Kristina managed to get SO many well known women involved - the contents page reads like the best party ever: Grass Widow, Brilliant Colors, Super Wild Horses, Cassie from Vivian Girls, Electrelane, Marnie Stern, Tavi Gevinson (Style Rookie/ Rookie Mag), Karin from Fever Ray/The Knife, Kate Nash, Zola Jesus & others, all openly chatting about their music, art, feminism, love, life and all the rest of it, in an incredibly candid manner. To have a page of my own about my zine, Shebang, is quite mindblowing & a total honour.

The zine is as lovely as you'd expect from two such talented girls - all images are illustrated, with text a mixture of hand-written intro's and typed Q&A's. A few of the women featured are new to me (The Blow, signed to K Records, in particular), so I've got plenty to look up, as well as others to revisit. With a quote from Kathleen Hanna kicking everything off, it was always set to be a winning read.



The zine is available from the Girl Gang Zine site - get yours quick!