No Pain In Pop

2OO8 ≠ 32

Photo: Tom King

It’s hard not to feel berk or beast when attempting to cram 12 months into 700 words, so we won’t even try. This late in the day there’s going to be omission to an extent that outstretches the impatient collateral of memory loss, especially as the mind wanders back to recall a year of live music that’s without peer in my 23 on this earth.

So, there’ll be no divvying up of 2008 between movements and moods here. Just a necessary trawl through the shipwreck, flotsam fished from choppy waters and beacon buoys twinkling in the ocean of our terrible collective memory.

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Tags: 20jazzfunkgreats, abe vigoda, aids wolf, alice coltrane, apple pips, arch m, baby venom, bo diddley, bradford cox, darkstar, flowdan, flying lotus, harmonia, harvey milk, health, holy fuck, mark brown, martyn, my bloody valentine, nite jewel, no age, no shows forever, oneman, panda bear, primavera sound, ramadanman, rustie, sam butler, skull disco, teengirl fantasy, telepathe, terrence dixon, the bug, the dovers, the samps, theo parrish, trg, wild beasts, wiley, zomby

GiFt

“Hey all thought you might get a kick out of this, mixtape of songs that inspired night tape from a cassette we found by a burnt out VW” - Gentle Friendly; 26/12/08



MP3: Gentle Friendly - Nite Tape

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Tags: gentle friendly, mix

Osteichthyes ~ Schindleria Praematurus

Tags: male bonding, pens, rolo tomassi

Ibis :: sibl

Whilst some are smooching in the sun, London’s A Grave With No Name and Bedford, Indiana’s Natural Numbers have released a split online single. The physical release, a cassette, is available to order through here, and is complete with more artwork by the affirmable Ferry Gouw.



MP3: Natural Numbers - Sleep Through Today



MP3: Natural Numbers - The Tapes Inside My Closet



MP3: A Grave With No Name - Silver



MP3: A Grave With No Name - The Underpass

Tags: a grave with no name, ibis, natural numbers

Babylon Babes

Despite possessing the same panting percussion and stuttering chaos as Los Angeles’ finest post-hardcore brutes HEALTH, Religious Girls are hear to massage rather than bludgeon, choirboy charms in place of cantankerous chants. Instead with hysterics closer to the epic fits of Ponytail, Christopher Danko, Nick Cowan (also of Brother infamy), Guy Culver and Dylan Reznik have a new EP waiting out back, due for release soon and we’re here to preach the good word. Chums with former compilation stars of ours, Casy & Brian, harmonies flood in over tape loops that judder gently and friendly with stuttering percussive tussles Foot Village and other Luddite bruisers swear by could not help but envy. Pure gospel.

 MP3: Religious Girls - ESL

Tags: esl, health, how to pull, religious girls

Pack of Smokes

When I asked Matthew Mondanile - AKA the lime soda suppin’, sun seekin’ Ducktails - to tell me about one of the other bands he plays with, he was pretty keen to impress that Real Estate “is an extremely summer vibe band. We started in the summer.” Not a great deal surprising about that perhaps, given past form, but where Mondanile’s other projects seem driven half-mad and psyched to the point of heat delirium, Real Estate - whose tracks are written in the most part by fellow New Jerseyan Martin Courtney - seem to recline while the heat is fast fading from the day, the time come for T-shirts on and six packs to get cracked.

Longing yet? Winter Solstice in just over a week. Best check the golden slithers of guitar stretching and swooning across the soft grass of ‘Fake Blues’ and ‘Black Lake’ as they meander towards transcendental contentment. “Real Estate is a quartet,” Mondanile continues. “We have two guitars, bass and drums. It’s a ‘classic’ band. We play pop.”

Rudeboy keeps the conch after ‘the jump’.



MP3: Real Estate - Fake Blues



MP3: Real Estate - Black Lake

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Tags: martin courtney, matthew mondanile, real estate, summer vibe band