I’ve been away for a while. Now I’m back to bring the blogging back to this here blog. I’m going to try and take a different approach to this in 2011, make it a bit more flexible, give it some variation beyond reviews of gigs and albums. Have some fun. Sure, there’ll be shows and records. I’m not buying a t-shirt though, I’m a bit past music t-shirts. We’ll see how it goes. One things for sure, I’m excited about what the year has to bring to my ears, and here’s my Top 5 things that are tickling my fancy.

1. PJ Harvey returns

White Chalk didn’t hit all the spots, A Man A Woman Walked By wasn’t her alone – I’m hoping this year sees Polly Jean Harvey return to the fray in fine solo form. Her new record, Let England Shake, lands on February 14 and already the hype is starting to build. Themes of violence and disillusionment are not exactly new ground for PJ, but this time it seems to be a wider commentary on the state of a nation than the state of a person’s relationships. Can Polly do politicking? I’d wager that she’ll smash it, and already her live performances are the peak of my 2011 anticipation. There’s plenty of chances to catch her; a short tour after the album release and then again at ATP’s I’ll Be Your Mirror event, curated by Portishead.

Listen – PJ Harvey: “Written On The Forehead”

2. The Pulp reunion

Oh yes. Oh yes indeed. Pulp graced my first ever Reading Festival with a stunning set, and it proved to be one of their last ever shows. Never did I think I’d see them reform – even though the band never really officially split, so you can imagine my joy when up popped that strange little email and the simple but effective website – Do You Remember The First Time? Just to make it all a bit more thrilling there’s a promise to plunder their glorious back catalogue during the sets, so casual fans and Pulp geeks should all rejoice. I’m down for the Hyde Park show, they’re making the festival rounds and so I’m also expecting them to pop up here…

Watch – Pulp performing “I Spy” on Jools Holland back in the mid 90s

3. Glastonbury

2011 will see my first visit to Worthy Farm. Unbelievable, I know. After a festival-less 2010 I felt I needed a change from a decade of Reading, and having looked on enviously at the BBC coverage for years thought I’d dip my toe in that hallowed Somerset water. Headliners? Well, supposedly that’s a little secondary to the event itself but I’d love to think that I might get to see Prince, or Kylie, or The Chemical Brothers. A killer line-up all round is virtually guaranteed however, if only the same could be said for the weather…

Watch – Pet Shop Boys owning last year’s Glastonbury, performing “It’s A Sin” and “West End Girls”

4. More Vivian Girls related projects

2010 couldn’t bring enough of that glorious girl racket. I loved the albums by Best Coast, Frankie Rose & The Outs and Dum Dum Girls, and yet still I don’t find myself sated for that lovely lo-fi, surf punk, noise pop. 2011 shouldn’t disappoint – the original NYC Vivian Girls trio are still spawning side projects. La Sera, headed up by Katy Goodman is perhaps the most promising, with the two 7″ singles bobbing around the blogosphere hitting the spot sweetly and a full length isn’t too far away. Catch her on a short tour in mid February. Also due is the album by the Cassie Ramone featuring The Babies, also hitting London stages in February. Musically a bit more rattling than her bandmate, it still tweaks the ears in a oh-so-good way.

Listen – La Sera: “Devils Hearts Grow Gold”

5. WILD FLAG

Coming hot on the tails of this new wave of girl bands comes a revival of some of the originals. 2010 saw a largely triumphant return from ex-Sleater-Kinney voice Corin Tucker, as her solo debut 1,000 Years beat a restrained path back into my mind. 2011 will see the return of her former bandmates Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss in their new guise WILD FLAG, and they could, just could, reach the heights of Sleater-Kinney’s glorious goodbye, The Woods. If it does, then undoubtedly 2011 will be theirs, in my eyes and ears at least.

Listen - WILD FLAG: “Dirty Water”

So those are mine – what are yours?

It was Record Store Day this Saturday. A serious lack of moolah in the Jealousy wallet meant no new purchases for me this year, but there was some great stuff available; Blur, MGMT, Foals, Black Keys etc. Most of it you can probably find for a fortune on Ebay, not that it was that cheap to start with! Not that this is going to be a rant about the somewhat backwards nature of RSD, it being backed by major labels and such…

There is however, something you can get for free! Pitchfork are showing, for a solitary week only, the documentary film I Need That Record. Subtitled ‘The death (or possible survival) of the independent record store’ it deals with the usual suspects; chain stores, the internet, record store owners being twats, apathy – but it does it with a fair wash of charm and some big names. You’ll find Thurston Moore, Ian Mackaye, Mike Watt, Glenn Branca and even Noam Chomsky alongside record store owners, past and present.

Go watch it, but remember – the future isn’t as bleak as this film makes out, at least not here in London. Our record shops are making a defiant stand against the high street hegemony of HMV! I really hope that when you hear about great music on this and other blogs that you head out to your local shop and support them – mine is Banquet Records down in Kingston and not only do they rock but they had their busiest day of trade in over ten years on RSD. The thing just might work…

Watch I Need That Record on Pitchfork

Buy I Need That Record on DVD – with added Thurston!

Saint Etienne – I Buy American Records (mp3)

James Murphy may not have been in the loft he described in 2002′s seminal “Losing My Edge” but he’s come as close as possible to working on the organ sounds on his new single – “Bye Bye Bayou“. A cover of Suicide vocalist Alan Vega’s 1981 track this new LCD cut unveils a flexing synth bassline underneath a typically restrained Murphy vocal. Taut, without ever really letting rip over its 7 minutes, this is reminiscent more of the early LCD singles rather than anything from Sound of Silver and I’m loving it. Bizarrely, this is the first decent thing I’ve heard about first from the radio in years, and it was Radio 1! Amazon has it listed as a 12” vinylavailable from November 9.  Hopefully this is a taster of the band’s upcoming material – a new album is eagerly awaited in these quarters in early 2010.

And if you fancy seeing Suicide, the band are playing as part of ATP’s ‘Don’t Look Back’ series in May next year, performing their eponymous debut record alongside the Stooges playing Raw Power. See the ATP website for tickets.

LCD Soundsystem – Bye Bye Bayou

Came across this lovely little shot at Lily Allen’s slant on the whole filesharing thang. Dan Bull has done this superbly – enjoy and give some love at Dan’s twitter here

Dan Bull – Dear Lily

Oi Va Voi were up first, and an enthusiastic crowd rose to their energetic performance, led by the engaging Bridgette Amofah. Whilst the frontwoman’s vocals ranged across the soul influenced end of the pop spectrum, the rest of the band mined a eclectic seam. There were the obvious Jewish klezmer influences (the band’s name roughly translates from the Yiddish for oh dear!), shot across by the Balkan folk strings from violinist Anna Phoebe, all revolving around a resolutely western European rhythm section. It struck me as slightly too busy, the highlight coming on the relatively laid back Photograph off the band’s recent Travelling The Face Of The Globe LP. Judging by the reaction of the crowd, who joined in clear favourite Refugee, they’d won a fair number of new fans.

Shortly afterwards an array of small amplifiers and acoustic guitars had lined the stage, and the seven members of Tinariwen appeared – clad, as always in traditional gear. As they began their set the band could seldom be heard amongst the hubbub of the more apathetic members of the crowd, sadly a trait that seems to be overcoming even the most expensive of London shows. Despite a quiet start the band quickly hit their stride, with vocal harmonies ringing across the stage. Percussive duties were filled by a single man and multiple hand claps, providing a playful rhythm around which multiple guitar lines wound.

In complete contrast to Oi Va Voi it was easy to place the sound of the band, not needing the colourful imagery of their homeland behind them to highlight its origin. However it was also in complete contrast to Amadou & Mariam, the Malian band I’d seen support Blur a few days earlier, despite sharing the same musical cues. This was undoubtedly the music of the desert, the wonderfully ceaseless and cyclical bass mimicking the never-ending dunes. And yet it fitted the venue perfectly. There was no jarring juxtaposition – Tinariwen deserve to playing venues like this to crowds this size and I doff my cap to iTunes for putting the band on an otherwise pretty conservative bill. A mesmeric performance by the former Touareg rebels.

Oi Va Voi – Photograph
Tinariwen – Imidiwan Afrik Tendam

Watch Tinariwen perform Amassakoul at Live 8 Eden

Morton Valence’s debut is an achingly British slab of pop, so desperate to tell us the story of the title’s namesakes that it comes packaged with a romantic novella. Thankfully, unlike many concept records, the album forms a coherent whole and begs to be listened to from start to finish. It does this whilst constantly shifting in style; dipping from Jesus And Mary Chain style shoegaze on the fantastic “I Must Go,”Said Veronica, “But I Will Always Come Back” through to classic electropop reminiscent of Saint Etienne or Black Box Recorder . The similarities to the latter don’t end there either, with Anne Gilpin recalling the glacial delivery of Sarah Nixey.

Whilst treading the same well worn boards as their pop peers Morton Valence carry the whole thing off with such charm, wit and panache that it never comes across as anything but original. I can’t wait for word to catch on about this glorious piece of work, and I suspect neither can the fans who invested in ‘shares’ of the album to ensure its release. A wonderful album that deserves to be near the top of the pile come the year end reckoning.

Rating: 5 out of 6 stars

For our London readers there are a couple of opportunities to catch Morton Valence over the next few weeks in the city. The first is on June 25 at the last of their Bob And Veronica Book Club events at The Enterprise, and also a chance for a bit of a boat party on July 9 as they play the Battersea Barge.

Morton Valence – Hang It On The Wall (mp3)
Morton Valence – Chandelier (video)

Band site

Last.fm

Myspace
You can buy the CD version of the album that comes with the novella from the band’s website.

UK readers can see the full show, featuring a vampish Lily Allen and a rejuvenated Depeche Mode for a week here

Sonic Youth – Sacred Trixter
Sonic Youth – Teen Age Riot

Star Find: Less of a record, more the experience of first seeing Los Campesinos! for the first time. The sound in New Slang’s old venue, decrepid Kingston hole The Works, was dreadful but the Welsh whizzkids really lit the place up. I’d been keen to see them since the release of You! Me! Dancing but was a bit suspect they’d be a one trick pony – not at all. My first trip to New Slang, despite being a local for years – the first of many!

Los Campesinos! – Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks

Streets ahead though was Rebel Rebel Records. Take a gander at the picture above – total chaos. I’d have quite happily spent hours browsing away in here, but we had sights to see and galleries to muse through. The chap poking out through the piles littering the counter quite happily chatted away to me about the London scene, how Burial records were difficult to get hold of and how good it was for us Brits shopping in the Big Apple. The kind of interaction you’d expect from your own local record shop, only I was thousands of miles away. I turned away to rummage through a few likely looking boxes, randomly picking the ones that might hold a gem…

Star Find: In the end I found pretty much exactly what I wanted, the latest Blonde Redhead LP, 23.  A New York record by a New York band, and one of the very finest albums of 2007.

Blonde Redhead – 23

Photo: ChrisB

Star Find: Back in 2004 when The Killers weren’t a band of language manglers (or maybe they were, but I was younger then…) there was a limited edition light blue vinyl of Hot Fuss that I had trawled most of London’s stores for, chain and independent. I’d driven my lady insane with this wild wax chase, and we’d probably escaped to Brighton to get away from record shops. Wandering past Rounder I couldn’t help but notice that they’d assigned LCD’s seminal Yeah one of their singles of ’03 – I had to go in, and there it was, no. 2919. Done.

The Killers – Mr Brightside

Photo: Brighton Photo Daily