Kilto Take

Kilto Take are the first band to be signed to Medical Records/ 4 The Record Management, alongside singer/ songwriter Katey Brooks. They will be, without doubt, huge...

They played their first acoustic session for a Medical Records showcase.

Wake In The Lie

Holding The Enemy

Fallen

Tainted States

Morning Benders

This band make wonderfully fresh, loose-limbed music. 

Have a listen to/ download two tracks from their debut: Crosseyed, and Boarded Doors.

Centro-matic, South San Gabriel

It would be hard to overstate my liking for this band (well, these bands, if I'm being strict). Downloaded the new Dual Hawks album from iTunes this morning, and I'm revelling in some new Will Johnson music...

So nice to hear the two bands on the same album. Will post more thoughts in time...

Head here to hear I, The Kite from the Centro-matic side of the album, Trust To Lose from the SSG side, or, even better, here to go straight to iTunes to download the whole album.

Lou Barlow

I could try to be all grown-up about this, but occasionally I hear a song that I fall for in a big way...

I missed Lou Barlow's Mirror The Eye EP when it came out last year. And I deeply regret that now - it's not uniformly great, but one track, Yawning Blue Messiah, has become this month's Serpentine for me - I can't repeat it fast enough...

Colour Revolt

Really enjoying the debut by this band (and thanks to Manchester Orchestra for the tip). I'd describe it (in that 'x meets y' way that seems to upset half of everyone, and please the other half - so here we go my 'other half') as Queens of the Stone Age meets Pavement. But probably more than that...

Judge for yourself: here is the first track on the disc, Naked and Red. And A Siren...

MP3s of the week

I still find it astonishing that there is so much great music available for free - even if you're not some pikey music thief...

My two favourite tracks of the week are both available direct from the artists:

Thao - Swimming Pools

School of Language - Rockist part 1

Frightened Rabbit

Frightened Rabbit's first album, Sing The Greys, was a great start. But, the track released from their follow up (Modern Leper) has me looking forward to their second immensely. Have a listen (and download)...  I love the bit where the drum starts...

Land of Talk

I still miss Jen Trynin. She's still with us and seems happy, if her site's up to date... She was an amazing female songwriter, with an incredible ability to make a song rock hard. But, she stopped recording.

So, I've missed a female-fronted band to get excited about for a while - I though Gemma Hayes was going to get there, but her record company seemed to mishandle her (or, her PR company suck... Actually, that is more likely to be true - all my dealings with them suggest that they do, indeed, suck.). Belly, Letters to Cleo, even the Cardigans (in their occasional highlight)...

That brings me to Land of Talk, whose Sea Foam on One Little Indian's sampler (from Applause Cheer Boo Hiss) was the standout track. I don't know much about them, except that they come from Montreal. This track, Speak To Me Bones, is also a great intro...

I hope to find out more.

Chris Bathgate

I listen to about 300 full albums every year and thousands of songs by new bands, so it is rare that one leaps out and commands the kind of attention that makes you immediately go find (and buy) the back catalogue. Chris Bathgate managed that with the opening track of his new album A Cork Tale Wake - Serpentine. I wish that was available as an mp3... It's not clever, it's not especially new, but it is one of the most haunting songs I've heard in an age.

As I can't offer Serpentine, I can only recommend that you go buy it.

Here's another outstanding Chris Bathgate track, however, buffalo girl, from his previous album, throatsleep.

Kevin McDermott

Kevin McDermott is a friend of mine. Let me start with that preface... I like the chap immensely, and like his music an awful lot... I hope that I'll be able to get an Adult Alternative video session with him soon... Because, well, after some long time away, he's released an excellent album of new stuff, which is really exciting.

Here's my review:

Kevin McDermott, Wise To The Fade

Kevin McDermott is, simply, Glasgow's finest singer-songwriter. Which, when you think about the competition from that fair city (Travis, Franz Ferdinand, Belle and Sebastian, Snow Patrol), Dogs Die In Hot Cars, and Teenage Fanclub to cite but a few), makes him something special - like Bob Dylan sung by Robbie Williams (but in a good way...), his songs seem at once like old eloquent storytelling friends and like the best new thing you've heard in a long time - anthemic, melodic songs that fit like your best mates after 2 pints in the local. Wise To The Fade is a return to the studio for the first time since 1997's For Those In Peril From The Sea, and a welcome return it is. This is Scotland's best singer-songwriter's best set of songs in a long while - as witty, articulate, and intensely melodic as ever, and with the unshackled feel of his second album - Bedazzled. If there's a criticism, it is perhaps that the McDermott humour dial is cranked up a touch too much. But when an album closes with songs as strong as September Songs (among his best ever – think Robbie Williams’ Angels, but cooler) and the quiet, elegiac Voices, that's a minor nitpick. If there's a precedent, it is to 1991's Bedazzled, McDermott's follow-up to his Island debut - Wise To The Fade opens the album like Hole In The Ground opens its predecessor, with a drum assault bang and a statement of intent, followed by songs that excite and affect at turns. Remarkably, Kevin McDermott's best work is done live, and this long-overdue return to the studio hopefully signals a revitalized touring schedule.

There is a BBC Radio session here. Or you could have a listen at his MySpace page. Or, you can head over to iTunes and buy it right now...

My 2007 Top 20

It is hard to remember a better year. Maybe there are fewer standout albums, but for strength in depth, 2007 has been a stunner. From over 150 albums reviewed, there was a strong case for about 50 making it to the Top 20... How to leave out Spoon and the Foo Fighters, Arcade Fire and MIA? In the end, these were my favourite ten albums of 2007, the ones I already go back to time and time again. 

1. Stephen Fretwell - Man On The Roof

    Britain's best singer-songwriter. This second album is a whole leap forward from his incredible debut, a remarkable achievement for anyone who started to doubt that this format could still sound fresh.

2. Delta Spirit - Ode To Sunshine

    An album that makes you care about music, so effortless and enthusiastic in its rock, its folk, its nods to other bands. Think Cold War Kids but with a Lennon-McCartney writing team.

3. Bruce Springsteen - Magic

    Not Springsteen's best, but for anyone who wanted a return to the rock sound, after the folk years, there is enough here to stun, please, and make you sing at the top of your voice.

4. Battles - Mirrored

    A band that divide opinion with a sharpened axe, Battles make the most addictive genre-bending music, built around a rock-solid live drummer, and endless loops, samples and tunes. Prog rock for the year 2008...

5. Radiohead - In Rainbows

    Radiohead's best album since OK Computer. Enough said.

6. Octoberman - Run From Safety

    Like some Beck/ Bright Eyes hybrid, there is something familiar and something wonderfully new about Octoberman's second album - melancholy, melody, compulsive rhythm.

7. Southeast Engine - A Wheel Within A Wheel

    If Wilco's your thing, but they can be a bit samey these days, throw in some Southeast Engine, a band from Athens, Ohio, which is almost willfully anti-fashion, but right on the moment. This album makes you feel good for having listened.

8. Will Stratton - What The Night Said

    Iron and Wine disappointed this year. Will Stratton didn't - a simply gorgeous debut disc that any Snow Patrol, Jose Gonzalez or Sufjan Stevens fan would love from start to finish. Sensitive singer-songwriters keep getting better.

9. Jacob Golden - Revenge Songs

    Like an on-form Jeff Buckley, Golden's voice can soar, whisper and haunt, while the songs are honed by living room shows, endless tours and wonderful observation. No album will make you ache the way this one will.

10. Dinosaur Jr - Beyond 

    Some way off to the left of Nirvana when Cobain was doing his thing, who could have hoped that Dinosaur Jr would make a listenable album in 2007. That they could make an album sound as though they'd never been away, despite a ten-year lay-off, was astonishing. Grunge never sounded better.

11. Akron / Family - Love Is Simple

12. Bishop Allen - The Broken String

13. White Stripes - Icky Thump

14. Beasts of Bourbon - Little Animals

15. Beirut - The Flying Club Cup

16. Annuals - Be He Me

17. Caribou - Andorra

18. Josh Ritter - The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter

19. Blitzen Trapper - Wild Mountain Nation

20. The Boggs - Forts

Adult Alternative Sessions - Will Johnson

In what I hope is the first of many such sessions, Will Johnson, of Centro-matic, South San Gabriel and solo fame, performed an acoustic set at the Chapel to an invited audience, and to video. (Jacob Golden played an amazing set a couple of months ago, but that unfortunately went un-videotaped!)

Videos here:

I See Through You

Nothing But Godzilla

Just To Know What You've Been Dreaming