The spoken word teamed with music connects with the listener in a different way. I don’t know why. I’m not even really sure what that difference is.

But anyone who has listened to Dead Flag Blues by Godspeed You! Black Emperor will have a remote and lonely part of their mind forever altered in testimony to the song’s agonising strength.

Matt Finney has been on ANBAD before, as part of the now-defunct Finneyerkes. He’s a musician and poet, and somehow, by sinister means unknown, met a Ukranian musical polymath called Heinali…

No ANBAD Donkey Antics this week. There just wasn’t time. Instead, here is a ‘greatest hits’ blast-from-the-past picture.

A poor show, yes – but here’s four genuinely fabulous bands to compensate, one of whom sounds a bit like The Killers. Of course, being the consummate professional, I will entirely gloss over such a glaringly glib comparison.

FIRST! Wild Party sound a bit like The Killers. This is worth getting out of the way right at the beginning, because it’ll be the observation everyone makes. A fairer assessment is that they…

Urgh – I’m still recovering from my kinda-holiday, but now have to face up to the reality that normal service must resume.

As last month was interrupted somewhat by a week or so off, there were fewer bands to choose from in the round-up – and yet, the standard of brilliant bands was as high as ever. Go figure.

ANBAD Radio Show // August 2010

So here’s the show, complete with gob-smackingly excellent bands from August – share and enjoy.

YUCK // The Shondes // Wolfy and The Bat Cubs // Young Mammals

Hell, I’m only just back from holiday. My hamster wheel isn’t spinning back at it’s proper speed yet. So my decision making may be impaired. Look, for example at today’s new band, Wolfy and The Bat Cubs. They’ve only had a thousand views on Myspace. Their songs have all been played less than ten times. What kind of choice is that?

Wolfy and The Bat Cubs // Forgive Me Baby

You could say that this band have been done before, many, many times. You could say that their look is a throwback. You…

OK, so it’s actually as close to the end of the week as it is to the middle. But I’ve been on holiday, so forgive me. Excitingly, the ‘web traffic’ to ANBAD has been exactly the same during the 10 days in which I have posted nothing whatsoever, so I can either take heart that my readership is loyal and wide-reaching, or turn sullen because my contributions to the site are entirely meaningless.

The ANBAD Donkey today reflects such duality of thought.

MIXTAPE:

FIRST! Symfoniorkestern - I’m featuring so many bands from the…

FYFI: ANBAD is on holiday for a week and a bit. That’s why the vaguely holiday-themed tag is dangling up there at the top of the page.

But because I a) am obsessive-compulsive; b) am outrageously kind and c) love the sound of my own idiot voice, here’s a special bonus ANBAD Radio Show, covering the ‘lost’ best-of shows from the months when I was moving flat and didn’t even have time to sob quietly in a corner, let alone record a radio show.

ANBAD Bonus Radio Show!

So clickaroo, listen, enjoy…

Last weekend, reader-turned-writer Mike clenched his fists and boldly dragged us on a quick tour of Wigan’s music scene. His assessment, like most of The View From… articles, is a dual-edged one of cautious optimism and scathing criticism. Though how a man living in the City That Donk Built can complain is beyond me, frankly.

The Suzukis are a product of Wigan too, and possibly began as a deliberate counterpoint to Donk’s strangely lovable bouncy ridiculousness.

By name alone, The Suzukis sound like they ought to be a zippy,…

I can’t even remember how I discovered today’s new band. I will tentatively claim that I received an email from a rapt fan about them, but frankly it could have been from anyone via any medium. It could have been a psychic visitation for all I know.

I’m going to blame old age for forgetting. The truth – that I’m too disorganised to really remember – is the greater of the two evils.

This forgetfulness may well signal of the Beginning Of The End, the descent into premature Middle Age that I’ve always…

It’s still holiday season, and so the ANBAD donkey is still on holiday, possibly sitting at a jauntily amusing angle by a pool somewhere, but definitely sipping some mmm… delicious Kopparberg cider as he does it.

Kopparberg is pear cider, though really there ought to be a portmanteau word – ‘pider’ – to make it easier for drunks to say. And what a nice bunch of people work for them: after tweeting a disparaging message about their annoying advert on Spotify, I received a love-bomb email asking me to contribute to the next…

It turns out there’s quite a lot of bands named after Douglas Firs. Who would have thought? In the interests of fairness, let us list them all:

• The Douglas Firs - a ‘Jam Funk’ band, influenced by – yikes! – Ben and Jerry’s favourites Phish;
• The Douglas Firs - a contemporary acoustic duo with ‘thought provoking lyrics’ who probably don’t know who Phish is (lucky them);
• The Douglas Fir – tantalisingly singular, and in possession of a song called I Think I Loathe You;
• Douglas Firs – Belgian Ryan Adams-a-likes drop the

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