One Beat - Best of 2013 Playlist

I now spend so much time speaking to other (much more capable) writers about new music, that I'm left with pretty much no time to actually keep up with my own writing. It's a small price to pay though, as this little playlist will show.

So here is a selection of a few of my favourite tracks that I've worked on from the past year. (Note: I've picked solely from my freelance roster rather than including the [PIAS] Cooperative stuff too, simply because otherwise it would go on for HOURS and HOURS. Expect that little round-up to appear online soon.) It was also strange to realise that I'd already written about so many of the bands long before I got the chance to work with them. Seems being a massive fangirl does pay off sometimes, who'd have thought?!

Follow at: https://www.facebook.com/OneBeatDigital

Primitive Parts - Another Day

Last week, Primitive Parts performed at Upset The Rhythm's Raymond Pettibon film screening night at SPACE gallery, and the setting couldn't have been better - with no stage, the trio took over a corner of the room, backed by a large stack of TV's looping the bright frames of an undisclosed movie, guitars held high, soft-shoe shuffling their way through a set of unperturbed brilliance.

With Kev and Robin also 2/3rds of Male Bonding and Lindsay splitting time with Sauna Youth, this new venture leaves behind their renowned pulse-racing immediacy and wanders a more languid and considered path. Listen to 'Another Night' here...

They play the Victoria in Dalston on 8th March with The Homosexuals.
There are no other links, yet.

Sauna Youth - False Jesii Pt II / Oh Joel

Way back in the early months of 2011, a single Soundcloud link was mysteriously shared by a band calling themselves 'Distractions'. The track was a cover of Pissed Jeans' 'False Jesii Pt II'; a totally sweetened version with the shouts swapped for harmonies, bathed in the soft distortion of C86 and lightened melodies. I listened to it so often than I almost ended up forgetting it was a cover, as it grew to be a brilliant pop song in its own right.

And now, the mystery is no more - Distractions was a side project of two Sauna Youths, and now the band are releasing it as their very own via Static Shock Records on Jan 21st. The 7" will be backed with 'Oh Joel', an entirely new song that continues to delve into the Slumberland sound.

Stream 'em both here...
 

And come to the Garage in Islington on Wednesday 19th December for the record release show! Human Hair, Vision Fortune and Edible Arrangements support.

http://lostinidea.blogspot.co.uk/

Sauna Youth - Dreamlands [Stream]

IT'S FINALLY HERE. Feast yr ears...

Still obsessing over this record. Preorder right now to get an immediate digital download and the vinyl sent to your house one whole week before the release...


http://fauxdiscx.bandcamp.com/album/dreamlands

Proper updates to follow soon.

SAUNA YOUTH - PSI GIRLS

An evolving band of young future humans making truly irregular punk not quite comparable to anything else; the always excellent Sauna Youth will FINALLY release their debut long-player, DREAMLANDS on 3rd September, as a joint release between Gringo Records and Faux Discx. The band, attracted to the possibilities apparent within a DIY philosophy, have been self-recording and self-releasing their own music since 2010, creating a number of seven inches, splits and cassettes. DREAMLANDS will be the band's first long-player, marking the mutation of their sound and a new line-up.

Listen to the first song to come from within - 'PSI GIRLS'; an eloquent reflection of the lost ability to communicate, blunt of pace and with a brain-burrowing chorus that might just be the poppiest thing they've written to date. It's also a free download if you want to listen away from the computer screen...

SAUNA YOUTH – PSI Girls by Faux Discx


Disclaimer: I would NEVER usually crib the press release, but it was co-written with the band (with an extract from a recent gig event, which I can't seem to find), so I can be a bit lazy, just for tonight. Sorry.

http://lostinidea.blogspot.co.uk/

Blog: Sasquatch Nation

I have a confession, and I'm not proud to share it. Until recently, I found the world of guitar gear to be an overwhelming and intimidating one. It's certainly not a honourable thing to admit to, but I relied heavily on the Sniffin' Glue school of power chords and just plugging straight in, and any attempt to talk pedals in a music shop always left me feeling like even more of an amateur than I already feared. I had the ill-advised belief that this was a realm that belonged to my Dad and (sometimes slightly patronising) ex-boyfriends, and that after playing guitar (questionably) for ten years, it was too late to start joining in now.

But the past few months, something changed. I found myself staying up late watching YouTube videos of pedal demonstrations, researching on message boards and having long phone calls home to discuss the benefits of loop pedals. The fog started to lift and my nerding out began to takeover. And I really, really enjoyed it.

So, when my friend Jen told me about this new blog, Sasquatch Nation, I was intrigued. The blog is a self-defined "Internet place about gear and bands, but mostly gear", where musicians are encouraged to completely nerd out and to talk about nothing but their set-up for as long as they wish. No overt plugging of records or shows, or discussing 'influences' for the zillionth time, but unabashed geekery, detailing equipment must-haves and throwing around names like 'Moogerfooger' and 'Holy Stain'.

The interviews (with the likes of  James from Keel Her / Bhurgeist, Oli from Cold Pumas & Lindsay from Sauna Youth) are light-hearted  and informative, and never get all serious and insular and self-involved, which is something these conversations can sometimes lead to if you're asking the wrong kind of person. Even if you know sod-all about gear it doesn't really matter as each interview is a great read.

I imagine for those fully informed it's a chance to nod knowingly/theatrically disagree with choices, but for newcomers into this techy realm it's a total goldmine of information that can usually only be gleaned from plucking up the courage to ask directly in person, which is sometimes hard to do.

Go and have a ganders, and don't blame me when your Paypal account takes a beating and this becomes your future:

http://sasquatch-nation.tumblr.com/

Split: Ale Mania / Sauna Youth

Sauna Youth know how to put on a show. In a field at midday, shielded from the bright sunlight by a thin tent with a mass of silent onlookers, they still manage to summon up the energy of a sweaty basement gig, mutating from mild mannered guys into a surging mass of wild abandon and charging riffs all looped in by stray microphone cord that circles the crowd.

They have a new split called 'Magenta', put out on Faux Disc and shared by Ale Mania (who I've gotta admit, are brand new to me, but listening to track 'Peoline' makes me feel like I've been missing out). The 7" is available to preorder here.

Thanks to modern technology you can also preview the tracks on the cute little widget below, if you're of a cautious nature:



The split is out on the 25th July, with a limited run of 300.