Yeah So?

It is almost as far as is imaginable from the boisterous indie of Arctic Monkeys but no less genuine for it - Slow Club is the other shimmering face of Sheffield indie music. They are appearing at Latitude 2009 for a third successive year, which may be a record, and this time it is just after the release of their first album, Yeah So, (Moshi Moshi, release date 6 July 2009)!

and then they are off to tour it in the US and Canada.

More links, including the lyric for the 2008 EP Let's Fall Back In Love:

http://rpgreenhalgh.blogspot.com/2008/09/lets-fall-back-in-love.html

http://rpgreenhalgh.blogspot.com/2008/09/to-whoever-just-asked-about-slow-club.html

Let's Fall Back In Love

It is that time of year, unless of course you are south of the equator, when the days get shorter and the nights longer. If you have had a rubbish week at work so far, or are suffering any other similar situation, then I hope that it is some consolation that I share your lack of enthusiasm.

Two cheering thoughts: a good autumn (still a possibility) could well be better than a crappy summer (already confirmed) and more time to find and listen to music, new or old; more releases too and more time to read and write about them. The strange thing is, and this is nothing new, the more gloomy I feel in general the more eclectic and wide-ranging my taste in music becomes but seemingly not to the detriment of what I might regard as my 'core themes'.

Infinite Night
Drug lords, crooked cops, and thieves
Preying on the poor and on the weak
Boys with rifles in their hands
Far too young to understand.

[Chorus]
When it's more than you can bear
Let the silence fill the air.
You get a glimpse of the holy light
Well the sun is just a star
It reminds us of where we are
Just a little part of the infinite night.

Rich hold on to what they've got
Keep them far away from those who have not
Oceans rise and the fires rage on
Too much lost and nothing won.

[Chorus]

Oh looking down from up above
How we live and how we love
And how many days are yet to come... oh...

That track ain't even the half of it and this only confirms my view that, come the end of 2008, my selection of 'best albums' is likely to challenge that of last year in its variety and it would not greatly surprise me if this album [She Ain't Me - Carrie Rodriguez] features in it.

Let Me In
Make me understand
What it is to be a troubled man
And why you think that I'm the leaving kind
What else it is that ails your mind.

Oh let me in, I swear... I'll stay there.

I'm so tired of bailing out when push comes to shove.
Six long years to figure out all I need is your love.

Take me to your cave
I promise you that I won't behave
But I will give you all of my love
And a body sent from heaven above.

Oh let me in, I swear... I'll stay there.
Let me in , I swear... I'll stay there.

Back on planet GB there is no shortage of new music either and Slow Club are an act that I have seen live twice, at Latitude 2007 and Latitude 2008. They are wonderful and this (five-track CD) EP was released on Monday, 1 September by Moshi Moshi (MOMO66) and is an antidote to the rubbish summer weather. You might also find half of Slow Club, Rebecca, moonlighting-live with Noah and The Whale!

1. Let's Fall Back
2 Come On Youth
3. Dance To The Morning Light
4. Summer Shakedown
5. Trick Question

Slow Club on The Lake Stage @ Latitude 2007.

They are certainly unconventional but unquestionably good and, quite frankly, what's not to love?

A fascination with lyrics...

This is becoming a theme here and I welcome it. Why have songs with words if no-one cares what they are?

To whoever has just asked about Kate Nash lyrics then those for the album 'Made Of Bricks' are in the sleeve insert of the standard CD released in the UK Fiction/Poyldor (Universal) 1743143. You can also find them here, and this includes the lyric for Birds (see below). My usual warnings about the safety of the site and, less importantly, the reliability of the lyrics apply!

Yesterday someone searched for how to get a download of the first Kate Nash single; released in in early 2007 and before she had a label deal. It was Caroline's A Victim, c/w Birds. This was a limited release, physically only on 7", on the label Moshi Moshi Records as MOMO4. If my memory serves me right it was also available for download (not free) and it may have included a bonus track. Moshi Moshi has recently released a compilation of the hard-to-find 7" releases on CD and it might be on that, along with many other interesting gems.
I can provide the lyrics for either of these tracks if you ask but Caroline's A Victim doesn't really have many anyway.

Finding a copy of the 7" would be a bonus and never say never! An overlooked copy may lurk in the 'bargain bin' of your local record shop because not many people had heard of Kate Nash when it was released and, if one thing is certain, it is that if you don't look then you won't find it. Even in the apparently obvious places there can be surprises, and sometimes at bargain prices, because people in search of items they perceive as hard to find don't look there while those looking for the new releases will look there but not for such items!

To help you find it, this is what you are looking for.

Emmy The Great - The Bad EP

See a new post about Emmy The Great: January 23, 2009.

Here, for those that like nu-folk and vinyl, is another EP for your collection. Better be quick though as there are only 750 7" available (ch01, Close Harbour/Moshi Moshi - Monday 20th August) but it also available as a digital download with a bonus track. Thanks to the helpful folks at Action Records I'm reviewing the 7" for you...

Emmy The Great has actually been around for several years touring both as support and on her own but one previous very limited 7" aside this is her first release.