November 2015

Mitski – Townie

One of the highlights of this year's Halloween event at the Brudenell was solo artist Mitski, at what I believe was her first UK show. Unlike on record she performed with only an acoustic guitar, but still managed to lodge the chorus of 'Townie' in my head  where it has stayed since. From this year's album Bury Me At Makeout Creek it's a wonky, a little noisy and utterly captivating.

Protomartyr – The Devil In His Youth

Playing just below headliners Metz at the aforementioned Brudenell gig was the fantastic Protomartyr. Where Metz were all noisy thrash (I didn't stay until the end), Protomartyr were all about post-punk tension, translating their records superbly to the live arena. I struggle to recall when I was last this impressed by a live performance of a band that I was largely unfamiliar with. 'The Devil In His Youth' as the opening track from The Agent Intellect is as good a place as any to start with them.

Field Music – The Noisy Days Are Over

I've not been able to turn the radio on this last few weeks without hearing the latest single from Field Music. In many ways it's the band career to date in a nutshell; hard to pin down, it starts off brilliantly before becoming more complex and even better as it goes along. The album (due in January) is going to be great.

Los Campesinos! - We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed

Preparing to go and see Los Campesinos! for the first time since around Romance Is Boring I got a little excited and decided to revisit their second record for the first time in what must be quite a few years. It was a timely reminder of its brilliance and by happy coincidence their set drew fairly heavily from the material, as did (for more feels) the latest issue of Phonogram which used quotes from WAB,WAD as well as The Long Blondes “Couples” for it's chapter headings.

Low – What Part Of Me

Aside from a charity shop purchased copy of C'mon, Low aren't really a band that I've spent any time listening to. 'What Part Of Me' came my way this month on a cover-mount CD that seemed to launch this year's End Of Year list deluge and simply sounds magical. It's minimal and Wintery with sublime vocal harmonies that I just want to sink into. It captivated me so much that I pretty much went straight out to purchase the album Ones And Sixes at a time when I'm really trying to do less of that.