Ring out the old, ring in the new

We visited my grandmother last week, for the first time with our Sam.
She is 87 years old, he is 7 months old.

She is so busy dying, he is so busy being born.

When I looked at my grandmother, so old, so tired, so confused, and then looked at my son, so young, so eager to discover, so alive, I got one of those rare lumps in my throat. You know the kind: it tells you that you're sad, but at the same time it tells you you're happy and especially lucky.

Scarily, it also made me realise that nowadays I often behave more towards the way my grandma feels than the way may son feels. Obviously not in such an extreme way, but somewhere in this year suddenly I seem to have passed that invisible but dangerous line that seperates young people from old people.

What? Hey, I'm 31!

I know. I know. You're old when you decide to be. Or, no. You're old when you decide not to keep doing new things. You're old when you stop discovering.

In 2010 I'll put a lot of effort in giving myself a huge kick up the butt. Bear with me until I find my way back please. I don't want to be old yet.

That's a start, right?

Have an exciting new year everyone, full of wonderful discoveries of all kinds.

Cats On Fire - The Hague

I'm coming out of my Christmas hibernation for just a minute to point you in the direction of the new and free single by Cats On Fire on Cosy Recordings.

Download here (follow link)

Undercover poplover, part 19

"Well, she wrote me a letter
Said she couldn't live without me no more
Listen mister can't you see I got to get back
To my baby once more"

Download (Mediafire)
1. Pianosaurus - The letter
2. Jesus And Mary Chain - My girl
3. The King Of Luxembourg - Happy together

The Raveonettes - In and out of control

The point of having a weblog is to bring music to the attention of people. There's a lot more satisfaction for all parties involved to be the only one or one of only a few to recommend a certain band or release. To be the thousandth blog to say something trivial about a record seems mostly pointless, no matter how much I love that record.

When the new Reveonettes album arrived, I played it for the first time and immediately liked it a lot. I didn't consider writing about it though. Then I played it for the tenth time and I loved these songs so much. All over the web there were other sites recommending In and out of control, so I didn't have to. By the time I played this for the hundredth time I realised this is possibly my favourite album of the year. So here you go, I can't resist any longer:

In and out of control is a fabulous pop album, and if you didn't listen to it yet you should.

The Raveonettes website
The Raveonettes myspace

Download (right click, save as)
1. The Raveonettes - Suicide
2. The Raveonettes - Last dance

Interview: Pants Yell!

I showed my feelings towards this band already a couple of weeks ago, when I wrote a bit about the new album. No need to add a lot to that from my side: Pants Yell! are fantastic. Let's hear what the band's frontman Andrew Churchman has to say instead.

Hello Andrew! Can you please give us a short history of the band so far? How did the three of you meet, and why did you decide to start making music together?

I began writing songs under the name Pants Yell in 2001 while a senior in high school. In 2003 Sterling and I, along with our first drummer Carly, began playing as a proper band. We all met at art school. We started playing music together because Carly was the only drummer I knew. Sterling saw our first show and wanted to be a part of the group so he joined as a keyboard player but soon took up the bass. In 2006 Casey joined the band as our new drummer.

New album Received Pronunciation is out this month on the legendary Slumberland Records. On their website the label calls itself your ‘spiritual home’. Do you feel that way too? How did you end up releasing this album on Slumberland?

Yes, we do feel that Slumberland Records is our spiritual home. They have been one of my favorite record label since I was a teenager and we've been hugely influenced by the bands they've put out. I think we're a perfect fit for the label.

Is it true that Received Pronunciation will be the final Pants Yell! album? If so, why?

Yes, this will be our final album. I want to end the band on a high note and not drag on. This is our fourth album - that's a good number for an indie-pop band.

Can you tell us a little bit more about the album? I notice you’re still an impressive and subtle storyteller. I also notice the horns and strings that coloured the previous album have gone. How did the songs and sound for this album come about? And how did you choose the title?

I wanted this album to be sparse and a little rawer. I wanted it to sound like us playing in a live in a living room, but with a coupel of extra guitar players. I was very influenced by the Sea and Cake album The Biz. It just sounds like a bunch of dudes playing music in a basement. The album title comes from Jessica of the Would-Be-Goods accent.

Your last album was called Alison Statton. On your myspace there’s a little video message from Alison Statton herself. How did that happen? Did you ever consider asking her for recording a song together? I’m sure it’d sound rather great!

You know what, I never thought of approaching her to record a song together - that's a great idea!

That video was taken by some friends of ours in Paris who went to a Young Marble Giants gig and had her tape that message. They posted it on the internet to surprise us. It was a big surprise.

Apart from the already mentioned Alison Statton and her Young Marble Giants, what kind of music did you grow up with? Do you remember what music did make you want to be in a band yourselves?

I grew up listening to Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Polvo - lots of indierock. I started getting into indie-pop when I began high school - Belle & Sebastian, Aislers Set, Felt. Nirvana was the band that made me want to be in a band myself. Kurt Cobain made me want to start playing guitar. I got my first guitar when I was 10 years old and the first song I learned how to play was Smells Like Teen Spirit.

Pants Yell!’s own music stands out for being so… elegant? Ooh, that sounds a bit boring, doesn’t it? That’s not at all what I mean though. ‘Subtle’ might be a better word. It seems like you deliberately hold back in your way of singing and playing to draw attention to the flow of the words and melody. Are you never tempted to be more raucous?

Yes, we get much more raucous live. I think it's a nice dynamic to have the album and the live show be two different things.

Sorry, but I need to ask: what’s the story behind the name Pants Yell!?

There is no story - I just liked how the two words looked together. I've always been a fan of band names that start with P.

What’s coming up for Pants Yell! in the coming year? Can we hope for a European tour?

Well, we've announced that this is going to be our final record so we will be disbanding in the spring, but we will be playing plenty of shows before that time and will more than likely have a 7" single being released in the spring as well.

Let's hope the end of Pants Yell! won't be the end of you making music. I'm looking forward to hearing about your next project in the future. Thanks Andrew!

Pants Yell! myspace
Slumberland Records
Soft Abuse

Download (right click, save as)
1. Pants Yell! - Cold hands
2. Pants Yell! - Kids are the same
3. Pants Yell! - Magenta and green

Undercover poplover, part 18

"Sometimes I feel I gotta get away
Bells chime, I know I gotta get away
And I know if I don't, I'll go out of my mind"

Download (mediafire)
1. The Motorcycle Boy - His latest flame
2. Les Calamités - The kids are alright
3. Mo-Dettes - Milord

The Ballet - Bear life

It's been a couple of years since The Ballet released their impressive debut Mattachine!, which has been out of print for a long time. Now finally there's new album Bear life, released November 21.

Still very melodic, still very gay, still very Stephin Merritt. In short: still very great.

Buy Bear life
Buy Mattachine! from iTunes

The Ballet website
The Ballet myspace

Download (right click, save as)
The Ballet - The house on fire (from Bear life)
The Ballet - I hate the war (from Mattachine!)
The Ballet - In my head (from Mattachine!)

Been hiding

Website NYCTaper has an ace and excellent recording up of the already legendary set at the Slumberland 20th Anniversary Concert, where Linton performed Henry's Dress- and The Aislers Set songs backed by the Crystal Stilts.

"The biggest surprise at the Slumberland 20th Anniversary Concert at Bell House on Saturday was the completely unannounced appearance by Amy Linton, who performed three of her songs backed by JB, Kyle and Andy of Crystal Stilts. While technically not an Henry’s Dress or The Aislers Set reunion, the brief set was raw and fun."

Let's hope Linton loved this as much as we do, and picks up performing and recording soon.

Setlist November 14, 2009:
01 Introduction
02 You Killed a Boy For Me (Henry’s Dress)
03 Banter/tuning
04 Target Practice (Henry’s Dress)
05 Banter/tuning
06 The Red Door (The Aislers Set)

Download here (follow link)