March 1^st will see the release of a new Tunng album, …And Then We Saw Land, an apt title for the disembarkation of a band who had recently been on a journey of musical discovery with African musicians Tinariwen, as well as seeing their guitarist aid the writing on Speech Debelle’s Mercury Music Prize winning garage album Speech Therapy, projects that saw them both acclaimed and defamed.

Tunng, however, have always been representative of something like a reliable core at the heart of the movement bringing folk tradition into the 21^st century. Both hugely talented in their musicianship and in the craft of songwriting (this time without Sam Genders), they are unlike so many who lean dangerously to one side of this knife’s edge. Similarly balanced is their ability to develop the folk tradition whilst retaining so many of its crucial elements.

So does the billed Four Tet post-Steve Reid or George Harrison post-India transformation occur as predicted? No, quite frankly, and this only strengthens their position.

In fact, could songs like ‘October’, ‘Don’t Look Down Or Back’ or ‘These Winds’ , sound any more assured in their English traditions? It is as though the tour, where Tinariwen and Tunng cut and pasted their songs together was like an argument that makes each party’s resolve all the stronger.  …And Then We Saw Land is a return home stronger and more assured. It is the warmth of a fire in the English winter or the soaring emotions of a clear blue English sky.

‘Hustle’, despite the somewhat forced used of a verb with far too many connotations to ever sound quite reassured when it lands, bounces through its falling guitar runs, and becomes …And Then We Saw Land’s ‘Bricks’ or ‘Bullets’, the modern, upbeat and more outspoken Tunng. This is no bad thing, though there are a welcome nods to the group’s peak of ‘Jenny Again’, in ‘With Whiskey’.

Critics of Tunng find the electronic additions rather forced in their music. It is something that they have been doing for so long now and something that is so integral to their sound that one can no longer doubt the authenticity. What is more, this album, an attempted capture of the live experience, shows their importance to the Tunng sound.

There are very few poor moments on …And Then We Saw Land. Becky Jacobs’ new role as co-lead singer is successful and the loss of the brilliant Sam Genders (also of The Accidental) doesn’t seem to detract from the overall product.

It is also an undoubted improvement on the slightly overstated Good Arrows, and whilst it is doubtful that Comments Of The Inner Chorus shall ever be bettered, …And Then We Saw Land demonstrates the group’s assuredness whilst never tipping into brash exuberance.

The album is out on Thrill Jockey on 1^st March.

MySpace link is here.

Erland And The Carnival

Erland and the Carneval’s self-titled debut has been described by Simon Tong (formerly of The Verve, The Good, The Bad & The Queen and The Shining (anyone remember them?)) as a blend of Pentangle, Ennio Morricon, Love, 13th Floor Elevators and Joe Meek. Quite a blend of psychedelic folk then, it seems.

And with song titles like ‘Was You Ever See’, ‘Gentle Gwen’ and ‘One Morning Fair’ you can certainly see the lambswool-jumpered, muddy-peasanted, 60s folk-rock psychedelia that the group, who are led by guitarist and singer Erland Cooper, are trying to promote.

In these cases, where groups are revisiting a past genre without the basis of a ‘scene’ behind them, success depends almost entirely upon whether the project comes across as natural and sincere.

It is hard to fault the group for sincerity. With ‘Love Is A Killing Thing’ (based, apparently, upon a traditional folk song and a Seeger/MacColl chorus), the candid and unpretentious lyrics are laced with a darkness and nicely underpinned by dynamical shifts and interesting synthetic sounds.

The darkness – a sort of deserted-fairground or empty-cinema darkness – is a prevailing theme on the album. Much like The Coral before them, they take the more haunting side of The Doors’ soul and The Beatles’ LSD trips – the racing heart, the warped visions and the feelings of isolation – and turn them into pop songs, such as on the great ‘My Name Is Carnival or on ‘Gentle Gwen’.

For Cooper, who grew up on the fiddle, acoustic guitar and Bert Jansch, the sound is a lot thicker than you might expect. The group sound really tight and the compositions sound very natural.

At times they slip a little into the Franz Ferdinand mode – repeating hackneyed lines for little poetic purpose, such as on ‘You Don’t Have To Be Lonely’ or ‘Trouble In Mind’, but using words from Leonard Cohen (on ‘This Disturbed Morning’) and William Blake (‘The Echoing Green’) turns out to be a masterstroke. Cooper delivers them well and the musical background onto which they are projected is original without being corruptive.

This is a lovely release from Static Caravan / Full Time Hobby, one well worth listening to. Thank goodness Simon Tong left The Shining, right?

Here is their MySpace page.

Baltimore trio Double Dagger make a cacophonous wall of sound

Using deceptively simple instrumentation (bass, drums, vocals), Baltimore trio Double Dagger make a cacophonous wall of sound that has been occasionally described as ‘very loud’ or ‘angry’ pop.

Part Fugazi, part No Age, part Shellac, their sound is aggressive, minimalist punk, that still maintains an underlying pop melodiousness.

You can catch one of their intense live shows at the following UK venues in May….

Wed 12th May 2010
Reading
Oakford Social Club

Thur 13th May 2010
London
Nation Full of Shop Keepers

Fri 14th May 2010
Sheffield
Bungalows and Bears

Sat 15th May 2010
London
The Rest Is Noise

Sun 16th May 2010
Bristol
Start the Bus

Mon 17th May 2010
Cardiff
Arts Centre

Tues 18th May 2010
London
Lexington

Wed 19th May 2010
Dublin
Whelans

Sat 22nd May 2010
Glasgow
Nice & Sleazys

Mon 24th May 2010
Liverpool
Korova

For more information visit the Double Dagger MySpace site.

The band was formed in 2007 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Their infectious music is described as a soundtrack for dancing, crying, loving and living.

Paper Tongues are Aswan North, Devin Forbes, Cody Blackler, Joey Signa, Clayton Simon, Jordan Hardee and Danny Santell—and see themselves as a collective of artists more than a band per se.

A wide variety of influences inform Aswan’s vibrant, vivacious vocal style, which falls somewhere between Al Green’s Sultry falsetto and Steve Perry’s uplifting bravado. “Kool and the Gang and Grandmaster Flash were hugely influential. Anything out there with a great hook grabs my attention. As a kid, there was a ton of country music around me—Ricky Skaggs, Kenny Rogers, Hank Williams Jr., Loretta Lyn, and Conway Twitty. I took all that in too, and it helped me write lyrics.”

Working with producers Brian West (Nelly Furtado, K’Naan, Bela Fleck), Mark Endert (Maroon 5, Gavin DeGraw, Madonna), John Fields (Switchfoot, Jimmy Eat World), Paper Tongues crafted an album that’s bustling with energy. However, there’s a deeper purpose for the band. Keyboardist Cody Blackler explains, “It’s rock music for sure, but we also want to bring something new.”

Paper Tongues have been tipped for big things in 2010.  Watch their new video ‘Ride To California’

For more information visit www.papertongues.com & www.myspace.com/papertongues

Best Albums of 2009 according to … Woodcraft Folk

Favourite albums of 2009 compiled by Alan Outram.

1: Bill callaghan: Sometimes I wish we were An Eagle
2: Beak-Beak
3: Broadcast and Focus Group- Investigate Witch Cults Of The Radio Age
4: Euros Childs: Son Of Euros Child
5: Shogun Kunitoki- Vinonaamakasio
6: Withered Hand- Good News
7: Jim O’Rourke- The Visitor
8: Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavillion
9: Flaming Lips: Embryonic
10: Wooden Shjips- Dos
11: Grizzly Bear

“The Woodcraft Folk debut album, Trough Of Bowland is a perfect blend of electronica doodling and folk inspiration.  Banjo, organ, xylophone and glockenspiel are some of the instruments that effortlessly merge with melodica, synthesizers, electric bass, field recordings and the occassional drum machine to create relaxing technicolour sounds that bring a smile to my face and a warmth to my soul.” – read the whole album review

For more information visit the Woodcraft Folk MySpace page

Continuing the Best of 2009 series, here’s what’s grabbed me most this year. There’s still so, so many major releases I’ve yet to listen to that I’m sure would come on the list, so I guess this can only ever be a ‘so far’ list!

Most of the best releases seemed to come from the earlier half of the year for once, with The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart and Animal Collective making lasting claims on this list early on in the year.

With the 2000s drawing to a close, I think it was encouraging to see lots of music looking forward rather than back at the decade of streamlined pop songs, idolised indie stars and expressive electronic music.

1.    The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart (self-titled)
Beautifully loud guitars with lulled vocals, looking at the era of shoegaze and at youth with a dreamy gaze. The recent new single wasn’t bad either.

The XX

REVIEW

2.    The XX- xx

Hushed, understated, and subtle, just like love should be.

3.    Dan Deacon – Bromst
I read a producer say recently that dynamics have been lost in glossy production techniques. Dan Deacon and his electronic orchestra beg to differ.

REVIEW

4.    5: 5 Years of Hyperdub
For five years Hyperdub has been promoting the single most exciting genre of music around, and this proves it.

5.    Bill Callahan – Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
With a knack for an offbeat poetic turn of phrase (“If you could only stop your heartbeat for one heartbeat”) and a baritone voice full of irony and melancholy, these initially inconspicuous songs find a way to gnaw at the heart and mind in the long term.

6.    Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavillion
This group do something that I haven’t heard replicated in terms of tone, song structure, lyrics and other-wordly atmospheric evocation. And yet, considering how recognisable it all sounds, it as though it’s always been there and always been so obvious.

REVIEW

Gold Panda: Before

7.    Gold Panda – Before
Every now and then, an electronic act comes along that carry the folktronica/ melancholy electro tag. It belonged to Boards Of Canada, Four Tet and Gold Panda are very similar in that sense, if different in sound. A brilliant, short album of late-night songs.

8.    Real Estate (self-titled)
In the past couple of years, lo-fi music has really taken off. This collection of great tunes are the best of the lot.

9.    Soap&Skin – Lovetune For  A Vacuum
I saw Soap&Skin in a church in Brighton and she was breath-taking. Close to a small and unsuspecting crowd, she performed as though she was in an opera house performing athe lead in a tragedy (screams, convulsions, and storming out). The young Austrian’s album is score for this tragedy. I’m still regretting having missed her in a symphony hall in Germany with a full ensemble.

10.    The Fruit Bats – The Ruminant Band
Like The Shins but with less Death Cab sincerity and looser arrangements. This album was a revelation this year.

11.    Fever Ray (self-titled)
Having produced a brilliant album with The Knife, Karin Dreijer did an almost as good attempt alone.

Cornershop: Best comeback of the year?

12.    Andrew Bird – Noble Beast
After the success of his last album, this one has been rather disregarded. Yet the catchy songs were just as good, it had a more recognisable theme and the lyrics were just as convoluted.

13.    Cornershop – Judy Sucks A Lemon For Breakfast
Best comeback of the year? The elusive Beatles-‘psychadelia’ group behind ‘Brimful Of Asha’ have written several more excellent offbeat songs on this new album, and included a great cover of ‘The Mighty Quinn’.

14.    The Clientele – Bonfires On The Heath
More great autumnal songs from The Clientele, on what could sadly be their farewell album.

15.    Grizzly Bear – Veckatimist
Nothing like as atmospheric or evocative as ‘Yellow House’, some of these songs are just catchy (‘Two Weeks’), whilst others are a little too obscure to ever really find their groove.

There has been some great albums in 2009.  From the experimental sounds of Tempelhof to the retro sounds of Girls and The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart.  The industrial noise dancefloor of Fuck Buttons to the cheesy Euro electro pop of Little Boots. Heavy rock from the best supergroup, The Dead Weather to the lad-tastic indie rock of Kasabian, back to their best with West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum.

These albums include some of my favourite singles of 2009 too, including: Jay-Z – Empire State of Mind, Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Zero, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – Come Saturday, The Dead Weather – Treat Me Like Your Mother, Spiritualized – Soul On Fire, Fuck Buttons – Surf Solar, Jamie T – Sticks n Stones,  The Longcut – Repeated and Lust For Life & Hellhole Ratrace by Girls.

Best Albums of the Year 2009 according to Terry Lane

1.    Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz

2.    The Big Pink – A Brief History of Love

3.    The Pains of Being Pure At Heart – The Pains of Being Pure At Heart

4.    Doves – Kingdom of Rust

5.    Little Boots – Hands

6.    Kasabian – West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum

7.    The Dead Weather – Horehound

8.    The Longcut – Open Hearts

9.    Tempelhof – We Were Not There From The Beginning. We Won’t Be There For The End

10.    Eddy Current Suppression Ring  – Primary Colours

11.    Spiritualized – Songs in A & E

12.    Fuck Buttons – Tarot Sport

13.    Jay-Z – The Blueprint III

14.    Girls – Album

15.    Jamie T – Sticks n Stones

The Leaf Record Label

Another in our festive series of posts asking a few friends in the music industry to submit their own ‘Best Albums of 2009‘.

Best Albums of 2009 according to … Leaf

Favourite albums of 2009 compiled by Tony Morley & Ben Wibolt-Lewis

AU – Versions
Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
Fire! – You Liked Me Five Minutes Ago
Portico Quartet – Isla
Jimi Tenor & Tony Allen – Inspiration Information
The Flaming Lips – Embryonic
Fever Ray – Fever Ray
Micachu & The Shapes – Jewellery
Mos Def – The Ecstatic
Mapstation – The Africa Chamber
Animal Collective – Fall Be Kind
Rustie – Bad Science
Mulatu Astatke & The Heliocentrics – Information Inspiration
Land Of Kush – Against The Day
Teeth Mountain – Teeth Mountain
Raekwon – Only Built For Cuban Linx Part II

Over the past decade the Leaf Label has been a pioneering force in leftfield and experimental music.  In 2009 they released great albums  by Wildbirds & Peacedrums, Icy Demons, A Hawk And A Hacksaw, Vladislav Delay, Nancy Elizabeth and Efterklang.

To find out more visit www.theleaflabel.com

Best Albums of 2009 according to …. Sister Ray Records & their chief record buyer, Gary Robertson’s personal top 10.

Sister Ray Records

Sister Ray

1. The Horrors – Primary Colours
2. Band Of Skulls – Baby Darling Doll Face Honey
3. The Field – Yesterday & Today
4. Bibio – Ambivalence Avenue
5. Fever Ray
6. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
7. The Unthanks – Here’s The Tender Coming
8. Blank Dogs – Under & Under
9. Paul White – The Strange Dreams Of Paul White
10.Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz
11.Luke Haines – 21st Century Man
12.The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
13.The XX
14.Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavillion
15.Vitalic-Flashmob

Gary Robertson (Chief Buyer)

1. Luke Haines – 20th Century Man
2. Manic Street Preachers – Journal For Plague Lovers
3. Why? – Eskimo Tears
4. SunnO))) – Monoliths & Dimensions
5. Duckworth Lewis Method
6. Blank Dogs – Under & Under
7. Richmond Fontaine – We Used To Think The Freeway Sounded Like A River
8. Wolves In The Throne Room – Black Cascade
9. Efterklang & The Danish National Orchestra – Performing Parades
10.Little Boots – Hands

Sister Ray Records is the best independent record shop in London. Visit Sister Ray at 34-35 Berwick Street, Soho, London or online at www.sisterray.co.uk

Personal but not indulgent, Barzin shares the pain through the raw honesty of his lyrics covering the well trodden themes of sorrow, regret and anger, evoking all the vulnerability and shifting emotions of a failed relationship.

From the gentle, grieving steel guitar of  ‘Soft Summer Girls’ to the defiant drumbeats of ‘Look What Love Has Turned Us Into,’  Notes To An Absent Lover brings new textures and colours to Barzin’s palette.

The single Look What Love Has Turned Us Into and the album Notes To An Absent Lover are available on Monotreme Records now.

Here is a video clip produced to accompany the track Nobody Told Me.

Barzin – Nobody Told Me

For more information visit the Barzin MySpace page.