What if the Outsideleft Week in Music fell in love?
SINGLES
KAMIKAZE PALM TREE - The Hit (Drag City)
by Ancient Champion
Four hearts for the organ. Just for Kamikaze Palm Tree's organ. From the new LP, Mint Chip comes The Hit, what an ace tune. It's just like sleeping gas it's so ethereal. And the guitars do do what you want guitars to do. Altogether Fabulously excellent music from people who it would appear have large record collections to draw inspiration from and lots of time for listening to things. Probably not always records.
AAYUSHI - My Two Hands (Soundcloud)
by Ancient Champion
Aayushi is about as exciting as anything I've heard in a reasonable while. An incredibly cool very labour intensive mid-western-country-folk feel, sometimes druggy haze, sometimes wholly alien to where I am. Supremely spare acoustic guitar renderings of emotions not faced easily or through choice, accompanied by smatterings of piano shards and understated harmonies. Indie reverie. Truly, if Kevin Morby recorded something as falteringly brilliant as this, critics would be tossing off very bon mots at each other. Unique talent like Aayushi in any other land, would be revered like ye gods. (Playing soon at Lakeside Live Festival in Walsall, a good reason to go to that town.)
ELLIE BLEACH - Tupperware Party (Sad Club Records)
by Tim Sparks
I'm less than a minute into Tupperware Party from Ellie Bleach (Sad Club Records) and the cool laid back Piano vibe has got my interest, I'm sure it's live Piano, a keen ear can tell, then a super slick vocal tone with a little slapback delay sets the scene for a nice building melody backed up by some lush strings and smooth drums. The song pulls you along in its undercurrent through the chorus and into a nice guitar solo before drifting to the close. A great summer feel to this one, I pushed the cans volume up a notch which is always a good sign.
DAN LYONS AND THE TENANTS - The Price is Right (Shaker records)
by Tim Sparks
The opening descending solo guitar arpeggio meanders into the verse in a Beatle-esque way, and is soon joined by an up front vocal sitting perfectly in the mix, then the major chords and melody take us to a chorus with some nice backing vocals. As the song progresses we are treated to some strings and an almost fairground scene with a mix of melodic vocal harmonies and sounds, then Boom!... It kicks in double time all guns blazing for the last few bars before finally coming to a halt, all in all a very enjoyable few minutes.
THE WEDDING PRESENT - Each Time You Open Your Eyes (Scopitines)
by Ancient Champion
The Wedding Present have gone all architectural on their record sleeves of late and each one makes me grimace since I have been very weirdly bothered by tall buildings since 9/11. I can't even look at Lunch Atop A Skyscraper. Yep, that's my problem I know. Those record sleeves depict giants. Each Time You Open Your Eyes is an architectural construct of balladeering in that careening manner, most sensitively, on the ledge while many floors down someone is winding up the cement mixer, putting the steels onto a palette. That doesn't arrive for a while, instead so, so very much is held together by the lightest of ride cymbals. It takes something to hold everything together. Maybe only the Wedding Present can do that this way. Not one obvious moment. Tree-mendous. Here's a live version for you to enjoy with the type of additional thrashing at the end, my preferred type of thrashing, that caused me to reconsider the position of the selector switch on my Thinline when I started my band for old men earlier this summer.
PANDA BEAR AND SONIC BOOM - Danger (Domino)
by Ancient Champion
Beloved superstars of the underground unite and fight for psychedelic pop rights. It's just not my bag man. Not my man bag. Not even saved by cool percussion. I wonder what an instrumental would be like though, now that would be way cool I am sure. I just can't on the whole stand singing anymore. Bring me the silvery tongue of someone who has something to say.
SHIRLEY NANETTE - All Of Your Life (Big Crown Records)
by Ancient Champion
Someone at Big Crown records has exquisite taste. When there was a supper club in the Ambassador Hotel, they were probably listening to something just like this on a tinny radio in the kitchen before RFK went down. All Of Your Life has that great sound of... What things were like before, before we began to feel like this. And Shirley Nanette's voice, soars like another redoubtable Shirley beginning with a B, effortlessly, unimpeachably. What are guitar licks, I think this has them. I like them. Here.
ONE ELEVEN HEAVY - Tyrant King (Kith & Kin)
by Tim London
One of those strangulated voices somewhere between Donald Fagen and Howard Devoto but hung with the worn denim threads of a trucker pissing on a hippy. The glory happens on the chorus when the good ole boys kick in the harmonies and a banjo enters the bar on Main wearing a pink T shirt.
THE BETHS - Knees Deep (CarPark Records)
by Tim Sparks
Guitar, Bass, Drums, vocals...basic ingredients for this catchy upbeat Pop track, Elizabeth Stokes' vocal compliments it perfectly, whilst the guitars and Bass combo backed by a pumping rhythm track drive the song with no intention of stopping at the lights. It's like a song you think you know already, its comfortable, and happy. The video has a really nice vibe too!.. I shall go and listen to some more of The Beths.
INDIGO SPARKLE - Blue (Sacred Bones)
by Toon Traveller
EPs
SURPRISE CHEF - Money Music (Big Crown Records)
by Ancient Champion
Alright this is pure groove from beginning until it isn't any more. So. A lot of percussive facets and a lot of space I like for sure. Can you get into the groove or what the fuck is up with you? It really is a zero sum game today as I write this.
Other Materials
GENERATION X - King Rocker (Chrysalis)
by Ancient Champion
King Rocker is an all time fave of mine... This week, Jeremy Gluck dug his Generation X interview out of his archive for OL to reprint. Great read if you're at all interested in what happens to kids when they get into the thrall of the music biz...
WEILS - To Apreiron (None)
by Ancient Champion
Like the instrumental somnambulance of ambient blues? Weils may well be for you. Perfect to loop all afternoon while you faff about in the kitchen getting the meal ready to impress your friends. You know they are your friends, you know you don't have to impress them, but you still do. You're only going to be sitting on the couch immersed in Scandi crimes still because going out is a risk these days. To Apeiron is a lot of things, but mainly just that. It's for that. Not even slightly sloppy instrumental blues in the key of that would be giving way too much away. Fascinating on every level. Why.
Essential Info
Main Image: Kamikaze Palm Tree screengrab
