Merry après Christmas

HO HO HO peeps!
How y'all doing after that festive period?
I know I've been eating like a scummy greedy chocolate muncher. Yummy yummy.
Things have been going good in Brighton so far. Managed to get at least one overwhelming hangover and isn't that always the sign of a banging holiday?
Crashed some random persons (not Jesus) birthday party as well but can't really tell y'all more about it 'cos I honestly can't remember it.

I've got my fingers crossed in anticipation of what 2010 is got in store for me and the lovely lovely city of Turku...
Got tickets to see Florence and the machine in March at Tavastia so at least I've got that to look forward to. Whooh.

So yeah last Wednesday went to the Freebutt for the release party for OIB records Christmas compilation 'Krampus is coming'

OIB records have got some very good and very versatile acts on their label. The better known bands being Casiotone for the Painfully alone who actually played the same venue the night before. Total bummer I missed this, Electropunk boys The Death Set whose gig at Redrum I was gutted to miss during the summer and AndygoesdowntoChinatown favourites Lovvers. Lovvers played Turun Klubi last January and even though there was only a handful of people in the crowd the bands energy was massive.

Blahblahblah I'm going on and on again.
I'd have loooved to take pictures but. I didn't. Get over it.
Wednesdays gig had the following line up:

Foxes!
This four-piece was down to three members but still managed to be extremely cutesycute. And I loved the drummers pleading looks towards the other members like she wasn't entirely sure what she was doing. Beautiful voice and otherwise very nice performance. Very Belle & Sebastian-ey, not a bad thing at all.

My Device
A Brighton based noise-generating trio definitely were lively during their slot, layering lots of distortion onto some nice drumming. Had it's moments with some nifty riffs from the singer/guitarist. Harsh to say but ultimately quite average.

Curly Hair
Now this lot were my favourites. Lovely arrangements for the violin (the violin player was apparently just standing in for the real one who couldn't make the show. Brilliant!) and very catchy melodies. Highlight of the night and I haven't been able to stop listening to them on spotify since. Would not mind seeing these again sometime soon.

The Hornblower brothers
I didn't mind these lot at all. In fact I had a great time just following what the bass player had to say, because he must have been if not Alan Carr then definitely his son! Good stuff from the Brighton band, sometimes teetering on the dangerous verge of ska-punk. If there's one thing in the world that f##ks me right off it's ska! AARGH the memories of doing my national service and the lad sleeping on top bunk listening to the f####ng Skatalites every night.

I probably had something more to write about but can't remember.
Need to go now. Maybe have beer. Coolio
Here's to waiting for 2010!
Cheers
xxx

Brighton town

Salut!

I left the harsh cold snowy winter of Finland today for the hopefully sunny coast of Brighton.
Landing at Gatwick I looked out of the plane window and honestly I thought we must have turned around and come back to Helsinki. Snowy fields and trees everywhere. Eeesh the weathers horrible here aswell.

Bollocks to the weather though, I want to talk about Violet Violet. The Norwich based grrrl duo released their second album 'This City is Full of Beasts' last month getting rave reviews in magazines such as Artrocker.

Nice.

Following up 2007 album Bitchbox and it's wicked moustache cover, Violet Violet draws comparisons to Le Tigre (<3) and sometimes brings to mind Finnish crowdpleasers Pintandwefall. Me likey and if you don't then we're going to fall out.

Here's a video. Violet Violet - Love this band

Good to be in England, but I need to see some gigs, because it isn't going to happen back in Turku. I noticed 'The Hornblower Brothers' are playing on wednesday so will probably check that out. More on that later.
Now it's time for beddybyes
Laterz y'all
T-Bone
xxx

Wednesday in the countryside.

Howdyhowdy.
What a cool cool week i've had so far. Cool as in really really cold.
I'm in Sauvo (population 2700) and it's pumping...
The reason for this sudden dip in cultural surroundings = free eating á la mummy-man.
I'm off to England next week so I need the money.
I keep losing my internet connection every two minutes, which is a bit frustrating so I end up ¨having to watch¨ Prison Break: Season 65, episode 34. It's either that or trudge around in the snow lifting tree trunks and pulling horse carriages in anticipation of an epic boxing match against Dolph Lundgren and the Soviet Union. Goddamn those commies.

Hmm. Made a Spotify playlist. Can't listen to it through lack of connection.
Oh well I've got a guitar here with 4 intact strings (no it's not a bass). sexy ballads ahoy!

TomTomTomlist1

almost christmas...

As a general rule, I fucking hate waiting. Probably goes for almost everyone I suppose.
Only just recently have I started not wetting myself in anticipation of christmas. Don't get me wrong, it's still a wicked holiday. Good for a bit of family time and hearing/watching Bono and Geldof do another version of 'Do They Know It's Christmas'.
Anyway waiting for something you really want is torture like nothing else. Well chinese water torture is probably torture like nothing else. Waiting for something new by Late of the Pier was somewhere between the two.
Fantasy Black Channel was just ridiculous. And amazing.
From the bed-slat banging and tea cup tapping on The Bears are Coming to the Queen-esque operatics on Bathroom Gurgle the whole album spans the whole genre 'playing field' like a seasoned pro.
So the on the 23rd of November Zane Lowe plays the brand new track 'Blueberry' by noneother than Late of the Pier on BBC Radio 1. YAY!
Here's the youtube link:
Late of the Pier - Blueberry

As soon as it starts it so obviously LOTP, synths layers and drums... but then stop all that. It becomes a lost Beatles track with just the vocals, drums and guitars. Bring in some Bowie and there it is again: LOTP.
Nice tune but apparently the album is nowhere near ready so whether or not this'll satisfy my LOTP hunger until it is ready remains to be seen.

My Tiger my Timing

Hey!

I've been giving the new Kitsune compilation 8 a lot of my time lately and i've got to say i'm left feeling a bit dissapointed. Fair Play it's got some tunes on it.
Memory Tapes - Bicycle is one hell of a tune
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EgbtNMcdwM

The Drums - Let's go surfing is also a banger. Kinda like a whistling Vampire Weekend. I got their Summertime EP about a month ago and it sounds fresh as hell. Shame it's not summer so can't blast this out whilst actually on the beach swimming but pretending to surf.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OsTUnkqSi4

les corps mince de francoise - Something Golden. Seen these girls a couple of times now and haven't been dissapointed yet. but HOW LONG CAN IT TAKE TO RELEASE AN ALBUM?!
LCMDF have been hyped about for a couple of years or so but still no sign of a LP.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TbUL6W3KL4

My favourite track on Kitsune 8 is My Tiger My Timing - I Am the Sound with it's upbeat synths and a beat that's bound to shake up some dancefloors.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQwenjL7otI

Other than that I feel Kitsune 8 is a bland mass of generic electro. Heartsrevolution have some cracking tunes but "dance till dawn" doesn't really do it for me. Shame. Check out "switchblade" instead.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QioM5W8JupI

Clean Equations

Over the summer I had the pleasure of getting to see Vivian Girls and A Place to Bury Strangers live. In Finland. Wow! Both gigs were spot on. Vivian girls were at Flow festival in Helsinki and just sounded so good. Not to mention the fact that on-stage the guitarist and bass player looked proper fit! APtBS played at Klubi in Turku. Quite a small venue and quite empty which was a shame because it's rare we get anyone decent playing in our little city. A lot of people left during the gig and later I heard from someone there that they found it way too loud and frustrating how they kept building up the songs to end up amounting to nothing. For a band that's been given the title "Loudest band in New York" I don't find it too surprising that the music might even be a bit loud.

Anyway the reason why I brought this up is because I like these two bands, imagine my delight when I found a compilation LP with both of these bands on it + loads of bands i'd never heard of before from the brooklyn music scene and thereabouts.
http://www.statecapitalrecords.com/fieldrecordings.html

Apparently only 500 copies of this were printed so I consider myself privileged to have it. And after listening to it, one band firmly stuck to my mind:
Clean Equations. I had to listen to their myspace and turns out they've only got just over 1000 listens. They've got 6 songs on their profile.
The song thats on State Capital Records Field Recording called French Noise Piece features some tidy drumming and and a wicked wicked chorus.
The pretty piano-driven songs like Ohio Turnpike and Alison leave me wanting more. Turns out they've just released an EP. Coolio. Check them out.
http://www.myspace.com/cleanequations

best of 2009

yo Yo YO.
Everyone's doing it now so I thought I might as well jump on the bandwagon and do the whole "my favourite albums of 2009" thing.
So here it goes:


5. Raveonettes - In and out of Control
The Raveonettes are Danish and you can definitely heard "scandinavia" in their latest album. Their earlier records have been more Jesus and Mary Chain, whereas now I recognise something more local. Although darker this could maybe be what The Sounds would sound like if they sonically toned it down a bit and were actually any good.






4. Wavves - Wavves
If I was a surferpunk from California this is what I'd want my life to sound like. I absolutely love the almost inaudible vocals, lo-fi fuzzy guitars and simple but banging drums. If I didn't live in Finland I could almost imagine the scorching sun burning me to a crisp like the near-albino I am. But if burning to a crisp sounds this good then bring it on.



3. A Place to Bury Strangers - Exploding Head
So APtBS debut album was my favourite album of last year and beating that with the follow up Exploding Head was going to take something special. I don't find it quite as good as the first one as It's missing stand out tunes like "missing you" and "she dies" but stick this record on full blast like it's supposed to be listened to and... it albeit not literally but in a sense delivers the albums title. (in a good way)

2. Passion Pit - Manners
Passion Pit and me have a wierd love affair. More so with the Chunk of Change EP where Michael Angelakos' vocals were sometimes just awful but still at the same time all the melodies were just ridiculously cute and happy. And that's what I love about them. Listening to this just makes me smile and want to dance. What more could a good record do?


1. The xx - The xx
Probably the most talked/blogged about band in the world after Animal Collective but rightly so! Everything about this album shouts out cool. The intertwining guitars sound so simple but are still captivatingly beautiful. The almost half-heartedly sung vocals of the back and forth female-male parts sound so fresh standing alone, but when the chopped beats are added I feel that's when it really starts to sound like now. Best album of 2009!

Jumping hot cakes!

Uuh Andy is really angry, and busy not setting fire to babies. That would indeed be criminal activity.

Yeah Andy's angry coz he's got so many scorching hot jingles stuck in the maze of the brain trying to find their way out.

"Checkmate! your boat is gonna sink, but ya mama needs to think 'bout all those dirty things she did when she lived down in the bins wearing hats made of tomato soup tins."

Yeah, some lyrical prowess there 4 ya. Super superio

- Andy loves all ya mamas-

luv breakfast