Each and every year I look through the Mercury Prize list and tally it up with the list I have in my head. Sometimes the list is good and includes virtually everything that I too considered to be the best of that period. Other times, and particularly in recent years, the list seems to consist of two groups: the year’s big financial hitters and some seemingly willful curve balls. Continue reading »
“I was there in 1974 at the first Suicide practice in a loft in New York City. I was working on the organ sounds…”
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” vinyl
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.
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
Morton Valence: Bob And Veronica Ride Again
Released 4th May 2009
Bastard Recordings
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: 
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)
Myspace
You can buy the CD version of the album that comes with the novella from the band’s website.
This coming Saturday sees International Record Store Day, a chance to celebrate the culture of the independent record shop. Started in 2007 the celebration mainly focuses on the US but this year sees two of the biggest London indies joining in the shindig. Rough Trade East is hosting a free all-dayer featuring Betty & The Werewolves, Wave Machines and many more. Pure Groove hosts Graham Coxon and Patrick Wolf in their bash. Not only this but there are some exclusive releases floating around too – with two free compilations being given out, one featuring the guitar-led style of indie, one the beats-led dance stuff.
Here on Stereo Jealousy, I’ll be running a week-long rundown of my five favourite record shops. I’ve come up with a pretty lengthy shortlist, so whittling it down to five will be tricky. Sadly, there won’t be a mention for two of the shops that shaped my young musical taste – Andy’s Records and Mike Lloyd Music, both former shops in my glorious home town of Stoke. The latter brought me my first experience of record shop snobbery – being told that my Lightning Seeds best of wasn’t worth squat as a trade!
I think Damon Albarn sums up my feelings pretty well: “I think independent record shops will outlive the music industry as we know it because long term their value to people is far greater, because even in our era of file-sharing and blogs, you cant replace the actual look on someone’s face when they are playing something they really rate and think you should listen to it too. It’s special.“
I’d love to see comments from you too – what’s your favourite record shop? Have you got music that you treasure, solely bought on the strength of a record-shop recommendation? Have you abandoned the local store and now raid the racks online? I wanna see some comments!
