Pitchfork, the music review website that is both pleasingly with it and, occasionally, maddeningly snobbish all at once, recently published a review of five re-issued versions of New Order's albums. It's a review which, for once, succinctly captures exactly what was so wonderful about them.

In contrast to The Charlatans (see yesterday's post) who failed to gain heroic status despite years of straining, New Order leapt there instantly without, seemingly, either trying or wanting to be there. I can't think of many bands who were so delightfully haphazard, arty and contrary, without any of those qualities being excruciatingly embarrassing. The only embarrassment present in New Order's case was the sense of awkwardness the band displayed when they suddenly realised they were, for a while, the most excitingly brilliant band in the world.

Unassuming, quiet and haphazard in their approach, they still managed to produce some of the most touching, belligerent and powerfully ecstatic music ever written. No posing, no pondering on how to achieve importance (hi, Bono!), just a heads-down approach to pushing boundaries and having a good time.

If you're like me, you'll already be scrolling through iTunes to find Power, Corruption and Lies, but before you take that trip back to 1983, how about Today's New Band, Thomas Tantrum?

Perhaps reminiscing about one of the greatest ever British bands immediately prior to introducing a new one is a bit unfair, but it doesn't really matter, 'cos Thomas Tantrum are great. Moreover, the rigid beats and polymedlodies of their super song Rage Against The Tantrum owe a bit to New Order, so perhaps it's all a neat circle. Rage Against... made me think of The Popguns a bit, which is enough to make these jaded ears prick up with joy.

Whether they're veering here and there on Warm Horse, or making the most disorientating pop music of all time on What What What, Thomas Tantrum are a true treat. They pull together the oft-disparate strands of noise rock and sparkly pop with true aplomb, and even find time to inadvertently bait the BNP with the swirling, heady Why The English Are Rubbish. Brilliant. Get confused in a kind of cute, pleasingly disarming way here!

Labels: 80's/90's, all over the shop, happy happy joy joy

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How do you like to end your week? In a rush of activity, clearing your desk/mind before the weekend? Or do you choose to take it easy on yourself from lunchtime onwards? Those Friday afternoons are a great bit of reflection time, and whilst a nostalgic glance backwards is a pleasant indulgence at the best of times, on a Friday, when winding down is the name of the game, it seems to fit that much better.

If you can identify with that, then Today's New Band might be just right for you, for now. I suppose in some ways, the fun of listening to The Complete Adventurer's songs like How Much Does a Polar Bear Weigh is nearly 50% nostalgia. Not that they sound old-fashioned - it's just that, as a band, their ethos seems to have rushed in from another time. It might be the Pavement-y nature of the half-spoken lyrics, or the enjoyment derived from the knowledge that a guitar can make big, bowel-loosening crunchy noises, and not just the tight jangle that is de riguer, but whatever it is they're doing, it seems worlds away from the norm.

The Complete Adventurer are pleasingly different because they have had the audacity to look a bit beyond Blondie and U2 when deciding their influences. The Meat And The Milk That Raised It, is, like its title suggests, pretty feral, the expansive guitars and thrashing drums battling with shouty vocals for attention, and yet attaining just the right balance.

If that description makes The Complete Adventurer sound like some awful thrash or two-bit punk band, I apologise. They aren't. They're strangely controlled, engaging and dynamic, but coupled with the need for shouty insanity. This is a good thing, right? Right. Listen to them here!

Labels: 80's/90's, yelping, your local band

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Women often get left behind in rock 'n' roll bands. Usually relegated to the status of either doe-eyed 'n' slutty hanger-on or occasionally bunged the token role of bassist (because it's 'easy' and 'not as strenuous as drumming'), women are severely underrepresented, with only the fearsome Courtney Love a household name.

I suppose one of the joys of hearing a woman-centric band is that, at a very basic level, they are simply a break from the masculine norm. As a male listener, it's a happy change to hear women singing about the same things as men - sex, having a good time all the time, etc - but from a different perspective. I presume (but may be wrong) that women enjoy hearing the same things for the same reasons.

It's therefore always a bit of a thrill to hear an all-female band, and Today's New Band, Spazzys are that bit of a thrill - a triple-pronged Australian one at that. On their Myspace page, they list a bewildering assortment of female movie and TV characters as 'influences' - some are cutesy, and some are obscure, but all of them could kick your arse.

Spazzys are more than 'just a break from the masculine norm' though. They have sex, sazz and guile - "When the show is over, drive off down the street and when it gets dark, slip into the back seat," they sing on Zatopeks, a buzzy song full of hooks and big, dumb, satisfying chord changes. Like their other songs, it's a heady mix of 60's Shirelles pop and 80's girl-punk - a neat link between two different eras.

I Want a Divorce is a straight-up punk thrash, and while the title is a request, it's actually a statement of intent. "I'm taking everything you own", they yelp, and then have the temerity to nick Tammy Wynnette's D.I.V.O.R.C.E. refrain too. Great. Listen to Spazzys here!

Labels: 80's/90's, female, punky

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So after frothing at the mouth a bit yesterday over Band Of The Day Indica Ritual, here's hoping for something a little less mentalistic and more soothing today. And that's exactly what Today's New Band, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, are. In many ways, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin are perfect A New Band A Day fodder - in so much that they fulfil all these precise and extensive A.N.B.A.D. criteria:

a) The band has great tunes; and, for bonus marks,
b) The band has needlessly complicated/amusing/pun-laden name.

Obviously a) is the most important parameter, but SSLYBY (much easier to type) don't disappoint on either count. Oregon Girl is one of those Byrds-y, 80's-Indie-y, Teenage Fanclub-y songs that sounds like it's a breeze to write, but isn't. It's a fantastic, fleet-footed dash of a song that touches all four corners of Jangly Summer Rock, and then goes around again on an excited lap of honour.

In fact, SSLYBY are so relentlessly upbeat that they make a song titled Think I Wanna Die sound like exactly the sort of song you'd want to listen to whilst driving a convertible down Highway 1 to Big Sur. Best of all might be the soaring Glue Girls, which is a happy, swift spin of fun.

SSLYBY are from a town called Springfield. Insert your own half-hearted Simpsons reference here. Then when you're done, listen to their super summer songs, right here!

Labels: 80's/90's, Indie, jangle

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I watched a BBC4 documentary about Britpop the other day. It'll be on Youtube if you look for it. There's loads of documentaries about Britpop, possibly because it was such a recent popular period in music, and possibly because it's all very simple to explain: UK bands get bored by grunge, look back to the 60's, make great songs, get coke bloat and collapse in on themselves.

However, it ended with One Very Important Thought: that trailblazing Britpop wonders like Suede, Blur and Pulp ultimately didn't affect music much at all - the bands that traded in inane, emotion-lite songs with huge, soft choruses, like Oasis and the Verve have spawned the similar big bands of today - I'm waggling my finger at you, Coldplay and Snow Patrol.

The point is that the early 90's were a fertile time for actually new, interesting music, before giving way back to cruddy average music. And so when I listened to Today's New Band, Sweden's Envelopes, I immediately thought of the early 90's. Possibly because their fabulous song Sister In Love somehow straddles the late 80's and early 90's, whilst luckily missing Shoegaze altogether - no mean feat. "Is your sister in love?" chants the chorus, joyously pinging from person to person in the party, kissing each on the cheek.

The chorus is so much fun, they don't waste much time on verses and get there as soon as possible, and Freejazz, similarly, is a big, fun-tastic romp through a delirous chorus. Party even is as cheeky enough to interpolate some of Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart, and guess what - it works. Brilliant. If only all music could stop and deviate from here. Listen to their great songs right here!

Labels: 80's/90's, actual brilliance, chorus-mageddon

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I always thought that being called 'pretentious' would be one of the worst labels you could pin to a band, with the image Über-punchable, po-faced, saint-wannabe Bono popping readily to mind. So when 'unpretentious' was the first word that I leant towards when describing today's new band, Record Hop, I was sure that I was on safe, appreciative ground.

But think about it - 'unpretentious' would be unfair: the word smacks of earnest trad-rock lumps who, you know, maaan, 'just make music we like, and if anyone else likes it, well, that's a bonus, yeah?'.

Well, Record Hop aren't anything like that. They say that 80's/90's underground rock is their thing, and it sounds like it too, crunchy guitars and drums that aren't influenced by either disco or New Wave. They make songs that pick from "exciting", "heartfelt" and "scrappy" as their points of reference. Listen to Giant Babies on their Myspace page (http://www.myspace.com/recordhop) to hear all three colliding at once on a sweaty dancefloor.

Record Hop sound like they were designed to play your, and only your, favourite local venue and become the band you tell everyone about in the hope they become much bigger. With songs like Giant Babies and Last Second, there's a good chance they will. They aren't pretentious, but are thoughtful; they're not unpretentious either but are happily shooting forward outside of the mainstream. Good for them.

P.S. Steve Albini engineered their last sessions, and I know that for some people this fact will make the difference between listening and not listening.

Labels: 80's/90's, steve albini, your local band

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