I'll walk you up - what time's the bus come?

Arctic Monkeys were amazing the other night. I reviewed the gig, so make sure you pick up a copy of the mag. Encapsulating the excitement of an entire year could be difficult, you'd think, but not for this Sheffield quartet. They played a blistering set, and it was a pleasure hearing one of my favourite songs 'A Certain Romance' live. But it was their next single - the stunning 'Leave Before The Lights Come On' that really grabbed me.
Fuck, these guys are just amazing. They release their debut album in January after one single ('I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor'), the next single 'When The Sun Goes Down' causes hysteria, and they play some stupidly massive tours. They also continue writing and recording.
For their third single 'The View From The Afternoon', the band decide to release it as an EP called Who The Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys?, complete with brand new track 'Despair In The Departure Lounge', the revamped 'Cigarette Smoke Fiona' (complete with new lyrics, which, to be honest, is confusing) and two newbies I hadn't heard (the pretty 'No Buses' and the EP title track).
This is commendable in itself. You could understand - expect, even - that the band would choose their next single from the album, there's so many to choose from!
But no, they continue writing and writing and recording, and decide to release a completely new song as their next single: 'Leave Before The Lights Come On'. And I think it's one of their finest songs to date, alongside 'A Certain Romance'.
Then the news that the b-sides are both new, too. And covers! One is a cover of the old 50s romantic ballad 'Baby, I'm Yours' - originally recorded by Barbara Lewis.

This is why I love Arctic Monkeys! Six months after their amazing debut is released, we are here with a new EP, a single with awesome b-sides (well, two actually, but 'I Bet You Look Good...' was released before the LP) and another completely new single is on the way.

God bless Arctic Monkeys.

PS: You can download 'Leave Before The Lights Come On' from one of my favourite blogs, Untouched By Work of Duty. Get it here. Or, watch the video for 'LBTLCO' here!

Download a radio rip of Arctic Monkeys covering 'Baby, I'm Yours' here.

Scientists Are Golden

My beloved Blog is back, friends. Let's hope I can keep it up! Yes, it's had a name change and I think it's all rather aesteticly pleasing, but the question is: can I keep it up?

We shall see!


Anyway, this morning I interviewed Keith Murray from We Are Scientists, pictured, which spawned this whole nostalgia for Blogger. No advertising; nice, neat and simple pages (compared to MySpace), and I remembered how much fun I was having during the two months I was an active Blogger.

Anyway, as many of you will know, I'm a fan of We Are Scientists. I came across the infectious 'The Great Escape' back in December 2005 on a CD that came with a copy of the NME, and was hooked. Alongside Giant Drag, WaS were my most anticipated tour this year. So imagine my horror when they decide to tour in August, when I'm in England for my mum's wedding. Everyone's telling me I'm stupid for being upset, because I'll be in the UK, but the fact of the matter is - this gig was something I was looking forward to ALL year and now it's been taken away from me.

As a consolation, Matt (my editor at Time Off) gave me the interview - which, by the way, was the most fun I've had so far - and that just made me even more gutted. I want to see We Are Scientists, dammit. So, you all must do me a favour and go see them. That is all I ask.

Keith (singer, guitarist - pictured right in photo) is a dude, to say the least. We spoke of the band's plans to steal Editors' new songs to record We Are Scientists' next record, and taking photos with koalas in the back alleys of Australian cities and potentially leaving minus a kidney. Then he told me to boycott my own mother's wedding so i can attend their show (haha), and reminisced about Patience making him fairy bread on their US tour, as well as revealing The Grates' secret heroin problem.*

Their debut With Love and Squalor - one of 2006's best releases - had unfortunately been collecting dust of late, along with The Grates, Giant Drag and Band of Horses' debuts. But when I was given the interview yesterday, I pulled my CD out and played it. And again. And again. This morning I've played it three times in a row. In fact, I just hit 'Play' again. It's brilliant. 'Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt', 'Cash Cow', 'The Great Escape', 'Textbook', 'Can't Loose' et al. are all great rock songs. And the guys are funny as fuck!

So, in fine tradition of posting links to audio you can hear (and hopefully download), here are a few WaS-related links:

Visit You Ain't No Picasso for downloads of WaS covering Sigur Ros' 'Hoppipolla' and an acoustic version of 'Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt'.

Or, how about the ultimate fanfest! Visit Nebulize My Mind to download their debut (independent) album, two EPs and some demos - all full length, and all free!

*Not true, obviously!

The lights have gone out

Ok, so I was kidding myself that I could keep two blogs. How many people read this? I have no idea. How many people read my MySpace blog? I still have no idea, but it's more than this. So yes, the lights have gone out on Blogger, but the music can still be heard here.

Peace out.

Band of Horses

Wow, it's disturbing how much I've become addicted to MySpace, but it's so easy to do! Like that brief moment of excitement when you finish work and are about to check your phone to see if you have any text messages, logging on to MySpace (or simply checking your email) opens a world of friend requests (mainly strangers which is a little weird) and comments and blog updates.

So, my apologies to Blogger for abandoning you for these past three weeks. And now without further adieu, here is a little musical update.

Band of Horses - Everything All the Time

Prior to last week, I'd never heard of this Seattle group. I was sent an email from my editor asking if I was interested in interviewing the band. Seeing they were on uber-cool label Sub Pop, and looking like they were in the same indie category as Death Cab for Cutie and co, I jumped at the chance.

I got a hold of the CD and what I heard was some of the most stunning music of 2006. I know I'm a bit of a sensationalist and a fan girl, but this is exquisite.

It's such an uplifting experience listening to Everything All the Time, and one feels quite euphoric when the CD ends. Seriously, it'd be a different music scene if Coldplay had taken this path. The first four tracks are stunning and I highly recommend you check them out.

The band was born out of the ashes of former Seattle scene favourites Carissa's Weird (which may or may not have something in common with the song of the same name by indie starlets Iron and Wine - who are friends of the band), in which Band of Horses songwriter and vocalist Ben Bridwell was the drummer.

Here are a few tracks to listen to:

Band of Horses - The Funeral (album highlight)

Demos

Band of Horses - Wicked Gil (very different version of the final album track)
Band of Horses - Bass Song (early demo of what became 'Our Swords' on the album)

PS: I have almost finished this new blog idea thingo, so expect it soon.

Shout out

I will be beginning a series of larger posts very soon. As you will be aware, most of my posts are merely shoutouts about a band or artist i recommend and a link to a song of theirs, so you can listen and make your own mind up. Of course, the fact it's on my blog is an indictation that I like it.

This new feature will be similar, but I plan to make it a lengthier piece and each one will revolve around a certain topic.

I'm going to be ambiguous about it until the first post, so stay tuned!