I'd not heard of Kitty, Daisy and Lewis, but found the review in the Saturday Times to sound sufficiently intriguing to make me buy it. It's a strange sort of thing, combining a selection of music styles from parts of the 20th Century up until about the 70s. Some jazz, some ska, some surf, combined in a way that yields nice enough songs. The ( Read more... )

When I noticed that there was a new Thurston Moore album out, the Sonic Youth completist in me mechanically picked it up and took it to the desk to buy. It's unmistakenly Thurston Moore, with his distinctive voice and acoustic guitar playing and key changes, with the addition of a string section, including harp and violin ( Read more... )

At the recommendation (and a quick listen) to this album at People Music in Guildford, I thought I'd go for it. I'd never heard of Danger Mouse aside as a superior TV cartoon character. The proprietor of the shop (Howard from the Vapours) erroneously thought that I'd probably recognise some of the songs from the radio. I've certainly not heard ( Read more... )

Yo La Tengo are one of those bands that I know I should probably like a lot, and though I've heard very little of their output over their years I can name a couple of their songs that I do really like. I came across their most recent album (Popular Songs, from 2009) in the record shop and thought that I'd give it a go. It took a few listens, but ( Read more... )

Oh, I'm rather late reviewing this one. I really thought I had done it, but it's not here. Oops. Well. I've never heard of Doug Paisley, but he was recommended to my by Record Store Guy. He played it a bit and it sounded nice - the sort of new folky country stuff I've learnt to realise that he likes. Of all the things along those lines that I ( Read more... )

I'd never heard of Mazes, and bought on the strength of a review from a newspaper posted on the pinboard of the record shop. It described them as being quite like Pavement. And so they are. I like Pavement, and listening to Mazes, I wonder if there is room in my life for two bands that sounds like Pavement. Pavement definitely appeal to the ( Read more... )

The Unthanks' Here's the Tender Coming is a beautiful song. I never got into the whole album with that song on, but thought the new one would be worth a try when I noticed it in People Records in Guildford. The album consists of folky songs in Northumbrian dialect. Songs that are beautifully sung, but with accompaniment that sounds a bit over- ( Read more... )

Before leaving for Japan, I bought two records for the two weeks I'll be away. First up is Farm by Dinosaur Jr. It's their most recent album, released last year. If you ever liked any Dinosaur Jr, you'll like this. It sounds just like them with the usual fuzzy guitar sound and J Mascis slightly pained sounding voice delivered at half the speed ( Read more... )

I was unfaithful this week, and bought my record from another independent record shop, this time in Glasgow. There was a section of local music, and it seemed like a reasonable place to look for something I might not come across in Howard's shop in Guildford ( Read more... )

It's near the end of week 14 - I'm getting slightly behind here... Well, last week's choice was something suggested to me by Howard, the owner of the record shop. It's a collaboration between folky King Creosote and ambient musician (and university) Jon Hopkins. It has amongst the most beautiful songs I've heard all year, in particular "Your ( Read more... )