HAMILTON YARNS
MP3: Bess

Experimental (and occasionally droning (= good)) sounds of the landscape waking rather abruptly after an Ice-Age, getting to it’s feet and stumbling lazily to the sea. The Hamilton Yarns sing a harmony over the event and they sound like they are singing a story of the land. All of their pastoral music is like the soundtrack to the film before it has even been dreamed up: It’s subtle, beautiful and minimal in that sort of way.

Villains and endings isn’t what Brighton’s The Hamiliton Yarns need, although they definitely like stories. Bess drifts, but just like seasonal drift it’s not something you need to make a big deal out of, just something worth a little of your appreciation, understanding and time.

The sort of places they play gives you an quick indication of the sort of band The Hamilton Yarns are.

An older tale, from 2005…

MP3: Paul Miller

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Thank you for the suggestion Jane. Play some folky music in Sheffield some time again soon, Ja?

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If liked that, you might like these:

16nd February: Held By Hands: “electric-guitar feedback shreds the stars and moon and scatters a light…a disconnected lofi-shape that is too infectious to not get excited about.”

2nd February: The Matinee Orchestra: “big sounds and samples delivered this morning through a soaking shower of lost, organic and journeying acoustic instruments”

10th October: The First Last Dinosaur: “A droning and jazzy march towards the dusk”

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NEW: Bands reviewed on Nothing But Green Lights who are playing shows in the next few days….

In the future this information will have a dedicated page. It’ll also cover the next few weeks/months: not days. So: those of you not fortunate enough to live in the U.K will not have to be subjected to a great list of dates every time I post. But the time is nigh! Go see some bands and buy yourself a t-shirt.

29th March:
Frightened Rabbit: Barfly : Glasgow
Johnny Foreigner: Cockpit w/Blood Red Shoes: Leeds
Jonquil: Matadero Viejo w/ Matt Elliott: Huesca, Spain
Puzzle: Pilgrim with Super Tennis: Liverpool
Slow Club: Thekla w/ Duke Spirit: Bristol
The Accidental: Cecil Sharp House: London
Elle SAppelle: @ Joseph Well: Leeds, Northwest

30th March:
Slow Club: G UNITs night: sheffield
The Wave Pictures: The Luminaire w/ Darren Hayman: London
Jonquil: Sala Zero: Tarragona, Spain

31st March:
Slow Club: The Enterprise w/ The Wave Pictures: London
The Wave Pictures: The Enterprise supporting Slow Club: London
Jonquil: Cafe la Palma: Madrid, Spain

1st April:
Frightened Rabbit: Bodega w/ Make Model: Nottingham
Johnny Foreigner: Cavern Club: FREE entry: Exeter
Jonquil: Radio3 / La2 TV: Madrid, Spain
Nancy Elizabeth: The Ruby Lounge, supporting Efterklang: Manchester
Owen Duff: The Goldhawk Sessions@The Goldhawk: London
Mathew Sawyer: 93 feet east: London
Fanfarlo: White Heat w/ El Guincho [Spain] and Munch Munch: London, London and South East

21st May
Hamilton Yarns: The Vaults Cafe: Oxford

Tags: Folk, Johnny 5 Is Alive, Not London by Mike Smith
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THE JOY FORMIDABLE
MP3: Cradle

This South-Eastern bright and chirpy, indie-pop music washes straight through you. It knocks you under the waves with a power rarely experienced on these shores. And as you hit the water your legs struggle to keep you afloat and you start seeing strange shapes, colours, bubbles and blinding light above (or below) as you balance between sand and sky. This is what The Joy Formidable manage: a balance a dream-like disorientation with the measured chaos of pop music.

myspace.com/thejoyformidable

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If liked that, you might like:

9.12.07: Jonquil
7.10.07 Napoleon IIIrd

Tags: Johnny 5 Is Alive, London, not-folk-music by Mike Smith
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SCREAMING TEA PARTY
MP3: Let’s Do Not Say Another Word

Screaming Tea Party charm, swoop and generally be very bird-of-prey like, hovering above watching everyone else struggle to string a few notes together down below, effortless going down for the kill. This London three piece sound familiar, but with added lo-fidelty venom, a few more high notes and a wider range they sound different to the last deja-vu. They’ll seek out and take you down with an impatience and to stick-it-to-you-ness. Run breathless, but they’ll catch you.

*****

Go listen to slower, but still awesome “Cracked up Dietrich” @ myspace. And buy their stuff @ Stolen.

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Similar artists featured in the past…

22/01/08: Let’s Wrestle.
16-01-08: Johnny Foreigner.
30.09.07: Cats In Paris.

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Tags: Johnny 5 Is Alive, London, not-folk-music by Mike Smith
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MP3: Sleeping States - Call Me

Last year I wrote about Mr Mark “Sleeping States’ ” release on The Caspian Label’s 7″ series. Back then I tried to describe “Tremoring psch-folk laying down for a moment, taking a brief pause, after some frantic energy exertion, perhaps awaking after a long nights sleep.” This is much more impatient, but it is crafted with the same recognisable, signature grain. The original is fast and direct: this is much more sideways looking and impromptu.

This track is half of a 7″ to be released by Felt Tip Records. The other half is by Fanfarlo: it’s sprite and chirpy, with this London 6-piece slipping and sliding their way up to a bigger sound without falling flat on their faces and losing all momentum.

MP3: Fanfarlo - Harold T Wilkins

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Upcoming tour dates featuring Fanfarlo AND Sleeping States

29th Feb Brighton @ Hope
1st March Bristol @ Louisiana
2nd March Nottingham @ Bodega

Fanfarlo are playing SXSW - go check them out.

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Said the Gramophone, one of my favourite mp3 blogs, are gradually announced the winners of their video competion: readers were encouraged to make . Check out the awesome runners up #1 and #2: Winners are announced on Monday.

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I didn’t win the NME award I’m afraid: I’m so sorry to let you all down, let’s hope we can all pick ourselves up and get on with our lives. In much more important news: cute hedgehog really enjoying fruit on youtube.

Tags: Folk, Johnny 5 Is Alive, London, Not London by Mike Smith
3 Comments »

Mr Jeremy Warmsley (and the mysterious Fay Buzzard) has created a web-tv show featuring live performances by a lot of cutting-edge British indie-pop-stars. You can watch the show on youtube, but here’s an mp3-flavoured-taster before diving into the main course: some deliciously lo-fi mp3s I’ve been sent to share with you.

LAURA GROVES (myspace)
MP3: I wish I (live)

Rather serene but suitably frayed folk music from the quick-sung Laura Groves, likely borned from the same stock as Ms Joanna Newsom, minus the harp. NME have recently bunched some of the musicians that have played this show “Anti-LDN” trying to hint at the anti-folk-prototypes that so many of these bands have been lumped in with.

But music like this hardly spends it time being anti-anything. Laura and the regularly featured Emmy the Great below are both positive without any sort of twee-abandon of rationality: they sing of failings, and sometimes loss but it opens your eyes, and you don’t turn away: perfect for television I guess, and ideally suited to this sort of production: embracing honest and soulful songwriting. Well done Jeremy. You win. As for Anti-LDN - I don’t see it catching on: I bet these artists love London a little too much to rise up against it.

EMMY THE GREAT (myspace)
MP3: 24 (live)

JEREMY WARMSLEY (feat. Emmy the Great) (myspace.com)
MP3: The Boat Song

http://youtube.com/welcometoourtvshow

Tags: Folk, Johnny 5 Is Alive, London by Mike Smith
2 Comments »