"last published 10th February"

That's 5 months today.
This blog is worried sick that it's dead. Can come back to life at any time so please send emails anyway. Keep your expectations low though.

the world is gone - did you know you could last this long?

***
Dirty Three + Cat Power, Cinder, Great Waves (2005)

gap fillers

Lying on the background of a weak and lacking public support music production industry, portuguese indie label BorLand fills in a gap on the national market when it comes to less obvious, low profile, indie acts.

Their most recent release is Alla Polacca's first full length album, We're metal and fire in the pliers of time. Nothing to be ashamed of.
Starting out with The Rush (first stop), the album kicks off with what seems to be an unexpected upbeat record. The feeling doesn't last long as the low, shy, trembling vocals hit at minute 2 and instantly tone the sensation down; a sensation which doesn't reappear except on very well defined moments through the rest of the album, be it through a surprising whistle among loud guitars or a slightly – but never too – joyful voice. Following track They'll do without us, where the album title discreetly lies, accomplishes one of the best moments with angry vocals and a beautifully combined dialogue between guitars.

Most tracks explore a rather common yet well designed build up of instruments and voice, resembling sometimes Slint, Tortoise, L'altra or Early Day Miners, where long instrumentations take over most of the track length.
With lyrics by label mate Francisco Silva (aka Old Jerusalem), the 7 tracks take us on a journey through moods achieved by a blend of harmonious/distorted and claustrophobic ambiance, which makes it well worth the time invested on this album. It’ll please a niche not looking for the crowd pleasing tunes, as it would certainly delight an international and very worthy audience, if exposed to it.

no farm's in trouble

Here's how it happens:
1) I'm contacted by a band asking for a mention on the blog;
2) I get all excited;
3) I listen to it. And it sucks.
Finally Farms in Trouble came and put an end to this curse. Thank you!

Activities Recordings has recently released Milwaukee's Farms in Trouble debut album from which you can expect all things but highly produced crystalline sounds - as their apparent passion for the cassete format suggests.
Among distorted raw vocals and a multitude of instruments, they give us a lo-fi noisy unpretentious atmosphere, which I find sits somewhere between Pavement's pop melodies, The Strokes' guitars and Modest Mouse's grimy vocals.
Not the kind of band looking to sell out stadiums, but who's aiming for that anyway?

Here's Your Pleasure Dome from their debut "The Gas Station Soundtrack", loving the track. Listen, download, whatever.

And Empty Arrows & Exit Signs, another great one. Likewise.

...and yet another list

!My 2009 Wishlist!

Here is a perfectly reasonable list of gigs I’d love to get a chance to see this year:

Modest Mouse (it is now becoming critical. I HAVE TO attend a Modest Mouse gig)
Pavement (heard they might get back together for a tour. Allow me a thrilled OMG! here)
PJ Harvey (been way too long since the last time I saw her)
Arctic Monkeys (gig+album please)
The Strokes (gig+album!)
Joanna Newsom (same here)
Silversun Pickups (a small gig would be fine)
Millionaire (under the “least likely to happen” list though)

Plus those I regrettably missed last year:

Crystal Castles
TV on the Radio
Archie Bronson Outfit
The Kills

Please and thank you.

soundtrack to my year

My 2008 playlist - the following tracks could all probably at some point this year be overheard through my loud headphones at work. They provided the needed mental break from the zooming in and out and the boredom or stress of work. Together they've made my year a better place to be.

I've listed them autobiographically (incredibly hard task by the way). Links are to official, unnoficial and live videos or to the bands myspace. The starred tracks are my top 2008 tracks.

*** Midnight Man Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Lazy Eye Silversun Pickups
Off Work Thurston Moore
*** Reckoner Radiohead
Alice Practice Crystal Castles
Windowlicker Aphex Twin
About Today The National
Bury me with it Modest Mouse
Baddie's Boogie Babyshambles
The Mountain PJ Harvey
Hold on to yourself Nick Cave
Watz #2 (XO) Elliott Smith
*** Bad Timing dEUS
Dart for my sweetheart Archie Bronson Outfit
A Certain Romance Arctic Monkeys
Trophy Wife The National
Deadwood Dirty Pretty Things
Grandmother's Sorrow Lost Michi
Sometimes in the fall Phoenix
Solitaire Preston School of Industry
Bodysnatchers Radiohead
Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Broken Social Scene
Baby C'mon Stephen Malkmus
505 Arctic Monkeys
The Age of the Understatement The Last Shadow Puppets
Is a Robot dEUS
Over & Over Hot Chip
Oh Your God dEUS
Stockings to Suit The Rascals
Creator Santogold
Tell the King The Libertines
*** Fascinator HTRK
Ankle Injuries Fujiya Miyagi
The Handshake MGMT
Komakino Joy Division
Brianstorm Arctic Monkeys
Okay, let's talk about Magic Fuck Buttons
*** Batcat Mogwai
Standing Next to Me The Last Shadow Puppets
Dreams Old Men Dream Cold War Kids
Backyard Betty Spank Rock
*** Love is a deserter The Kills
Bang On Propellerheads
Messages Detachments
DLZ TV on the Radio
This House is a Circus Arctic Monkeys
The Loneliness of the Tower Crane Driver Elbow
Doesn't matter much Blood Red Shoes
The Chamber The Last Shadow Puppets
Circle of Fifths Ipso Facto
*** Courtship Date Crystal Castles
Mirrorball Elbow
Harry Rivers Sean Riley & The Slowriders

My ear’s year

As I draft the always difficult year list, I struggle with ways to deal with the pain of inevitably leaving bands out of the official list. To help me sort this I came up with 2 unofficial lists: the "other stuff i really liked this year" list and the "old school stuff i still listen to a lot, after all these years" list. That's cheating, some of you might be thinking. Yes, it probably is.

I don't feel it was a particularly good year for my music. It was marked by heavier rockier and more electronic sounds, leaving the softer indie weird american folk totally out of my typical playlist. This is relevant because no album has topped my number one 2006/7(!) album, Joanna Newsom's Ys. Even so, I'm happy with how it's turned out and my top 10 this year are a really amazing bunch of records.

On a final personal note, Elbow's album is great, but Radiohead shoud've taken the Mercury Prize. I had to let it out.

Anyway, here goes nothing. The official NaP top 10 2008 list:

1. Last Shadow Puppets The Age of the Understatement (2008)

2. TV on the Radio Dear Science (2008)

3. Arctic Monkeys Whatever people say I am, that's what I'm not (2004 - !)

4. Mogwai The Hawk is Howling (2008)

5. Crystal Castles Crystal Castles (2008)

6. Nick Cave Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! (2008)

7. Cold War Kids Loyalty to loyalty (2008)

8. The National Sad songs for dirty lovers (2003 - !)

9. Elbow The Seldom Seen Kid (2008)

10. dEUS Vantage Point (2008)

the other stuff i listened to list

MGMT, HTRK, The Libertines, Stephen Malkmus, Santogold, Blood Red Shoes, Cage the Elephant, The Rascals, White Lies, Babyshambles, The Kills, She Wants Revenge, Spank Rock, Thurston Moore, Fuck Buttons, Archie Bronson Outfit, Ipso Facto, The Beta Band, Silversun Pickups, Joan As Policewoman, Ra Ra Riot.

the old school stuff I still listen to on a regular basis list

Modest Mouse, Broken Social Scene, Radiohead, Millionaire, Preston School of Industry, Pavement, Joy Division, Elliott Smith, Heatmiser, Phoenix, Propellerheads. And PJ, PJ, PJ. Harvey I mean.

Comments and attacks (the more personal the better) are now open.

put out the fire on us

Cold War Kids @ Astoria, 7th November 2008 (better late than never!)

Picasso's Old Guitarrist (1903) / Matt Maust @ Astoria (2008)

They've yet to invent a drumkit that allows the drummer to move around on stage, pity. Though Cold War Kid's drumkit is as simple and portable as could be, being set up only minutes before the start of the gig at the Astoria. And why would you want a complex drumkit when you could have a great drummer instead? This brings me to Matt Aveiro.
It took many years of gigs to finally witness a drum player playing elegantly. Yes!, elegant and gracefully even. It's like he got the wrong door when he was looking for a drum teacher and instead was trained by a choreographer. It would have been hard to take my eyes off him on stage if it weren't for...
Matt Maust (pictured above), bass player. This one adopts a funny Picassoesque Blue Period posture throughout the gig and runs along the stage - someone warn him please, bass players do not do that!
Then of course there's Jonnie, the fun character who's in charge of the rest of the stuff on stage, be it guitar/organ/teasing the security guards/playing whatever he puts his hands on/backing vocals, and happily joins Matt running along the stage, both with their toys.
Nathan, lead singer, is the guy in charge. Though not less fun or enthusiastic, he's often forced to sit by the piano, which gives the rest of the guys the opportunity to hit him in the head when passing by. By the way he doesn't react to this kind of abuse, I reckon he's either used to it and has found a way of accepting it as part of the job, OR he'll definitely hit them backstage the first chance he has. My money's on the last one.

This sums it up.
Cold War Kids are fun enthusiastic kids, with amazing stage presence, who visibly enjoy themselves while playing to thousands of people, who just happen to sing along to a lot of their lyrics.
They're also talented musicians whose songs I'm finding hard not to listen to on a daily basis for the past month. This is mainly explained by the fact that their songs are now what I have left to remind me of what a fabulous gig that was.