Trophy Wife

It must be nearly spring as I went outside last night, to a gig - imagine that! Me, outside, at a gig! I went to see a band called Trophy Wife at The Cellar in Oxford. The band are from Oxford, and I learnt last night are signed to Moshi Moshi - which is pretty good going! Their headline set was short and sweet as they only have a few songs at the moment, but what they have is incredibly well put together, and definitely worth a listen. They are currently touring to promote their new single 'The Quiet Earth', so if you get chance go and see them live.

Sunny Day Sets Fire

I'm full of home made pizza, so adrenaline is the last thing coursing through my body at the moment. The song Adrenaline by Sunny Day Sets Fire is the complete opposite of how I feel! The band is based in London, but is made up of a group of musicians from all over the globe. Onyee from Hong Kong has such an ace voice! Have a listen to Adrenaline and some of their other tracks (which are equally catchy), and see what you make of it!

Picture via the band's myspace pages.

The Drums!

Another musical obsession? Me? This is a Brooklyn band called The Drums, and I think they are ace. I just discovered them via Vimeo after watching their super cool video for Let's Go Surfing. You know I never leave you hanging - if you like them you can download the single for free from rcrdlbl. Wow! Pop it on your ipod, and run along a deserted beach in the dark! Actually, that doesn't sound too safe. Oh yeah - almost forgot - you can go watch them doing their thing live on stage in various UK cities (mainly London). Check out the band's myspace for dates - and while you are there, have a listen to Submarine (which is also super dance along fun). Video follows for fun...

Picture via myspace

Shake Your Coconuts!

I can't believe that you all managed to keep this one a secret for this long! I was listening to last.fm today and out of the blue came a song called 'West Coast' by Coconut Records. My little ears were so excited they started to research the band straight away. I was really surprised to find that the only member of the band is the seemingly multi talented Jason Schwartzman - the man actor from awesome films like Marie Antoinette and Rushmore! Check out the brilliant video for the track (which was filmed in an super modern looking museum in Germany). The even better news is that there are two albums - both available for download from Amazon! Enjoy!

Picture from Last.FM

Play It Again - On The Streets!

What better way to bring communities together than a good old sing song!? I'm off to London tomorrow, and I'm planning to try and find some of the street pianos - 30 pianos placed around London in public places as part of the City of London Festival. Anyone can have a tinkle on the old ivories, although I'm hoping that I might bump into Chas and Dave! The piano in Lyric Square (Hammersmith) will have a pro playing Irish classics tomorrow between 1 and 3pm. If you can play, you should come along and give it your best Stevie Wonder!

Pic from Getty - via Daily Mirror site.

Music Charts

The geek in me loves charts, so therefore I love this print by Jez Burrows featuring a graphical interpretation of Destroyer's 2006 album 'Destroyer's Rubies'. It's available as a limited edition of 200 from the wonderful Analogue Books. I love their shop (in Edinburgh) where I saw this earlier in the year, but I only just realised that you can buy it online - hooray!

Baby Cats! Yeah!

I'm a massive fan of Adam Green, but add in a sultry female French singer and the mention of baby cats and I think I might possibly have found the best thing ever seen\heard on the internet! The above picture is of Soko (or Stéphanie Sokolinski), a French singer\actress who appears to have quit music to go back to acting. But before she did, she performed a song with Adam Green while on tour - and you can find it on YouTube here. Amazing! To add to the excitement, it seems that Adam is going on tour, and will be in Oxford in September! Hooray for the internet! Yus! This is what a weekend of web surfing gets you! Not bad, I'm sure you'll agree.

Sesame Sweet!

I saw this recently and it brought memories flooding back - this is a collection of Sesame Street shorts collectively known as Pinball Number Count. It's a funky segment first shown in 1976 - with vocals by The Pointer Sisters. I just think it is amazing. Do you remember it?

Coeur De Pirate - Pretty!

A french speaking lovely, the mention of pirates and no Johnny Depp... For now at least. This is the super cute video for Montreal based singer / pianist Coeur De Pirate, also known as 18 year old Béatrice Martin. I have to admit that I'm obsessed with this song - I hope you like it too!

No Tears For The Weepies

My latest musical obsession comes in the form of The Weepies - a US duo that play super sweet, beautiful music. I discovered them through Last.FM, and bought the Hideaway album, which has some remarkably good songs on it. You can listen to the entire album in full on Last.FM - have a go and let me know what you think...

Cool Drinking at The Bowery - Edinburgh

It's been a fun old weekend! I just got back from Edinburgh - we went up north for a friend's birthday party, which was amazing. The party was at a place called The Bowery that has only just recently opened. If you know Edinburgh, it's on the site of the old Roxy Art House on Roxburgh place. It's not the easiest place to find as there is no sign out front - just a board on the pavement. Expect rustic DIY decoration, old chairs and sofas, a reading room (the bookery) and cocktails served in mis-matching china cups and saucers. Really cute, laid back and definitely worth a look if you find yourself in Edinburgh.

Arrr! Pete and the Pirates!

I went to a great gig the other night - it was the homecoming bash for The Young Knives. The Young Knives were ok, but the support band was excellent! Pete and the Pirates are a Reading based band formed in 2002. They have been receiving a lot of press and praise for their fun sounds - and rightly so! They properly had me bopping along. You can check them out on the amazing fabchannel - playing live at Paradiso in Amsterdam. Enjoy!

The Ice Cream Floats, Yum!

Apologies for not posting for a bit - I've been off getting married! I thought I'd spring back into life with something cute to keep everyone interested. Here's a band I've been listening to for a while now - I have to admit that I'm addicted to their home made sounds... The Ice Cream Floats consist of Tipper Newton and Joe Swanberg. They don't seem to have released an album, but that's understandable considering Joe is an amazing indie film maker / director and Tipper is a wonderful actress! Check out their myspace page to have a listen to them in all their glory (I love 'Sundae' and 'Gumdrop Tree'). I'm desperate to see one of the films Joe has made called 'Hannah Take the Stairs'. It looks ace! Check it out...

Tilly And The Wall - Oh!

So, excitingly my copy of the latest Tilly and the Wall album (called 'O') arrived today! I've now listened to it three times, and I have to say that I think it is worth every penny. I'd heard snippets of the new tracks, and I was worried that they had gone a bit too rock but... overall the album is nicely balanced with traditional Tilly sounds and some new stuff to keep us interested! Hoorah! I think 'Beat Control' has received some well deserved radio airplay here in the UK, but I also really like 'Pot Kettle Black' - I have no idea how I will sleep tonight with that song going round in my head! You should definitely buy it, and it's a snip at £6.98 from Amazon. I've included the amazing 80's style new rave video for Beat Control below.

Shhh! Whispertown2000, Pretty Sounds

I'm obsessed with a band from LA, California called Whispertown2000 and I needed to share this! Most of their current work sounds like a late night jam session and I love it! I especially like 'On The Move' which sounds a bit like it's sung over a Casio keyboard demo from the early 90's. Their new album is due out this month, but in the meantime you can enjoy some of their older work. Have a look at their last.fm profile for a taster.