Lost Lander: Cold Feet

Is there a void left in your musical collection the wake of a new release from Menomena and the band’s many side projects including Lackthereof or Ramona Falls?

Well I think I’ve found the answer – Matt Sheehy’s  new band Lost Lander and it’s no surprise there’s quite a similarity between all the bands. Sheehy plays bass for Brent Knopf (ex Menomena/current Ramona Falls) and in turn Knopf has taken over knob twiddling duties for the band’s debut album “DRRT” which was funded by a “telethon” campagin. Indeed, it seems a bit like Portland musical incest but it’s definitely a good thing.

You can download Cold Feet by just visiting the band’s official site here in exchange for your e-mail.

Cold Feet:

New Cass McCombs – The Same Thing

Less than six months after releasing his dark and brooding Wit’s End LP, Domino has just announced that the California man will drop yet another new record this year. Humour Risk will be out on November 7th and judging by this mp3 it sounds to be a little lighter  than his last release (which currently tops my releases of this year so far).

The Same Thing:

Pre-order the album from Domino here

M83: Midnight City

The warm and blissful bass synths rise like fog beneath the klaxon fanfare that heralds the arrival of Midnight City, the first single from the forthcoming album by French electro dreamer M83. Fireworks erupt fast and bright and the drums roll like distant thunder across the neon city skyline. The intoxicated vocal washes over us like a head full valium. The fog recedes, the air is thinner and the verse floats weightlessly on the bounce of a muffled snare. By the second chorus we have fallen headlong, lost in woozy rapture. All good things that must end should do so with a shimmering sax outro like this, sending us home giddy with our heads reeling. This unmistakably French sound is unashamedly indebted to the best that the 80′s had to offer, but M83 aka Anthony Gonzalez has always reveled in such delights. The single is available for free now and the double album Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming is released October 18th on Mute Records. Hurry Up, We’re Waiting!

New Home On RTE 2XM

We are delighted to announce that the new home of the Needle Hits The Groove radio show is RTE 2xm. Shows will air Mondays at 16.00 and be repeated on Sundays at 22.00. First show is Monday coming August 1st . Lots of great music and discussion, and a look back at the Madchester music scene and its legacy. You can listen online at RTE 2xm, on DAB or on the telly on UPC channel 944.

Milk Maid

Ah Twitter. I still don’t really know what to use you for rather than shameless self promotion, sarcastic observations and odd revelations such as “I appeared at the back of a news report on my parish priest who locked himself in his house for 10 days”. Like any social media tool however, music fans use it as a recommendation service and when you follow a host of our favourite bands, labels and journalists you are sure to find a few gems, although you still have to ween out all the links to someone’s boyfriend’s friends’s aunt’s mother’s hairdresser’s latest tune.

Scott from Frightened Rabbit tweeted a link to this band ‘Milk Maid’ who have just signed to Fat Cat and as you will hear below – it is anything but a dud. Yes there are playing into the whole 80s/90s revival sound of the moment but there’s a Ramonesy energy to their Pavementy slobbishness that is quite infectious.

Milk Maid: Not Me

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Needle Hits The Groove: Radio Show 20.04.11

This is the Needle Hits The Groove radio show from 20.04.11. TV On The Radio Show’s Nine Types Of Light is the Release Of The Week, Níall talks about The La’s album in Record Collector and we put The Spotlight on Phil Spector. New music from Keren Anne, Mazes and Thurston Moore. Also lots more great tunes and music discussion.

The Parting Gifts: Strychnine Dandelion

Every now and then an older, world wisened bunch of musicians come along and show the young pretenders how it should be done. Much like The Jim Jones Revue did with their take on faster, harder rock n roll so too have The Parting Gifts done with their own brand of garage rock. While I am a huge fan of the bible that is the Nuggets box set, I usually wince when I see it referenced in reviews of new releases as it has unfortunately spawned a slew of unworthy wannabes over the years. No such worry here. In fact this is only one facet of The Parting Gift’s sound which has surprising breadth .

Greg Cartwright has been around a block or two. The Memphis native has played a relatively unnoticed but highly active role in the underground U.S. garage rock scene. Formerly of The Oblivians and Reigning Sound , he has honed his songwriting chops over many years and his production credits include The Detroit Cobras. On this outing he is joined by Coco Hames of Nashville outfit The Ettes as well as Dan Auerbach from The Black Keys and Patrick Keeler from The Raconteurs and The Greenhornes. While billed as a collaborative work the guts of this album is Cartwright, and it’s all guts, packing a serious visceral punch. However having said that the addition of Hames as a female counterpoint is also essential to the mix, as it brings the often much lacking female perspective to the male dominated garage rock idiom.

There is echoes of Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood on Born To Be Blue and Motown in the classic pop song craft of the organ driven I Don’t Wanna Be Like This. Elsewhere there are psychedelic country flourishes and even girl group intimations. It adds up to a cracking album of instant satisfaction; impassioned and defiant, lo fi and loose but wonderfully accomplished in all its ragged glory.

Don’t Hurt Me Now

Sleepy City (Rolling Stones Cover)

Catscars: I Wish I Had

 

The theory that recessions bring out the best in starvings artists and musicians is being held onto desperately by most culture vultures now more than ever. Maybe it’s our last hope, that instead of the cuts in funding and lack of income to be made, perhaps it will somehow provide something for art to respond to – surely music that says nothing has reached it’s saturation point (I’m willing myself not to list some examples emanating from this country but that just wouldn’t be productive). If the recession and financial hardship proves to be a source of inspiration and motivation then sooner rather than later Ireland is in for a landslide of genuinely exciting and enthralling artists, from the Box Social scene, Catscars may just be on the frontline of this wave. Their album Construction was released last month on White Plague Records, you can stream the album from the fantastic Swear I’m Not Paul.

Chris Taylor, Twin Shadow, Solange Knowles: Kenya

Does Chris Taylor ever sleep? Not content with being a member of Grizzly Bear, his production work and running his label, the Brooklyn superman has teamed up with his prodigee Twin Shadow (you can read the review of his Dublin gig here) and Beyonce’s infinitely cooler sister Solange (she’s been working with the likes of Of Montreal in the last few months) to record the track ‘Kenya’. The song is available to download of a donation on ‘Music For Rain’ and all the proceeds go to the charity Replenish Africa Initiative. The making of the song and reasons why the aforementioned musicians got involved is below:

Ed Droste of Grizzly Bear and Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes Collaboration

It is pretty much a match made in heaven alright. Both bands make music which is harmony laden, magnificently crafted and beautifully arranged.  Robin released the aptly titled Three Song EP as a free download, one song of which is a collaboration with Ed Drose of Grizzly Bear. I’ll admit to finding Grizzly Bear much more interesting as a band, especially live but their vocals mesh together in a really lovely way on this track. Perhaps Mr. Droste is giving Pecknold on how to wow the crowds at the Harmonic Festival in Cork during the summer as he and his band did last year.