It seems as though Best Coast have pretty much been the staple of my music listening the past couple of months. No doubt helped by the fact she’s constantly throwing new releases/demos out to an ever-swelling group of fans/admirers.
Latest release ‘When I’m With You’ on Black Iris is the first of her tracks to include a live drummer and this addition is all for the better. Thankfully she’s still keeping it real, and this latest slice of doo-wop lo-fi pop is just as great as everything else she’s done. For fans of The Beach Boys and 60’s girls groups, Best Coast is essential listening.
It’s been about 2 weeks now since Bloc Party stopped off in Plymouth as part of their “Bloctober” extravaganza. As well as being a great gig it served to remind me just how much of a monumental band Bloc Party are. They define my generation a lot more than Radiohead or Arctic Monkeys do, and three consistently great albums prove this.
Another thing I always seem to forget is just how great Kele Okere’s lyrics are. Although I’d always appreciated the musicianship on “Intimacy’s” closer - ‘Ion Square’ I’d never given any thought to the lyrics. Thankfully Sky Larkin have came along and done an excellent stripped-down version that make you fully appreciate lines like “The space between us has disappeared, you finish my words for me”. I think it was originally listed on iTunes as one of the bonus tracks for ‘Intimacy Remixed’ as a Sky Larkin remix. You’d be forgiven for ignoring it once; indie band remixing indie band doesn’t exactly scream excitement. To ignore it again would be utterly ridiculous. This is one of the loveliest things I’ve heard all year.
The Shuffle is the part where we get bands we’re currently loving, to talk about some of the music they’re currently loving. Which obviously is an awesome idea for a feature.
_________________________
Although the last post was titled ‘a million days without the internet’ to be completely honest it ended up being a lot closer to ’ a week and a half without the internet’ and about ‘two months of being an idle slacker with too much time and too little motivation’. I’ve barely even been listening to much music recently and when I have been it’s either been David Guetta & Akon or purely lo-fi bands. I can’t work out which I’m more ashamed of.
Teen Sheikhs are the classic example of separating the wheat from the chaff. Like a less sloppy/more poppy Lovvers with a good bit of 80’s pop sensibility thrown in for good measure it’s a good thing they’ve got another three releases coming up considering their first release was quickly snapped up.
This song is our fucking jam. King Khan seems like he is perpetually in a state of party and is definitely a good dude. Animal Party has lyrics about partying (we like) with animals (we like those too) and ordering pizza (which we love). Mark Sultan plays drums and guitar at the same time and the 7” comes with a colouring-in book. If your mind isn’t blown by this information then you are either hard to impress or I am slack-jawed loser whose mind gets blown at the drop of a hat. Check out King Khan & The Shrines too and listen with a cold beer and a few good men.
A classic, for sure. There are better Misfits songs but this one evokes a sense of community spirit and makes fully-fledged adults in clubs sweatily hug one another and croon. I guess The Misfits are a pretty good reference point for what we try and do; sometimes we want to play punk rock, sometimes we want to be a pop band and sometimes we want to be weird. I think they did all three & often their back catalogue is overlooked because of the parade of morons in Rancid t-shirts with their logo tattooed on their person. Misfits = fun. Google “Glen Danzig punch in the face” for a funny video.
3) Veronica Falls - Found Love In A Graveyard
Veronica Falls features a couple of my good friends from way-back, Patrick and Roxanne. I dug their old bands Sexy Kids and The Royal We and I dig this even more. I frustratingly always miss the beginning of their sets and walk in during this song but its a good song to walk in to. It is a perfect distillation of Black Tambourine’s melodic vocals, Flying Nun pop sensibilities and re-verb-drenched vocals. They have a 7” coming on Captured Tracks, as do we, and I think they have a really good LP in them so hopefully that comes next. I’m pretty sure the other two guys are really into this too.
Essential punk rock from Ohio, clever/dumb, catchy, hard and recorded well. I prefer the slightly faster version of it & I can’t remember what that is from off the top of my head. I could Google it and pose hard but instead I’ll admit to not knowing. Both versions are good though and I think Electric Eels and KDB bands are a big influence on us, especially James’ drumming - he is hard & solid instead of flashy. I listened to this song on the way to practice about ten times this week, it was an incredibly sunny day & I associate it with summer because of that. We’re gonna cover it soon but we need to get it down first.
The Fall have an endless supply of incredible songs. I picked this one because it is really fun to sing along to when you’re drunk and when Youtubin’ looking for a live video of it I discovered, instead, a video of British comedian Frank Skinner covering it with his football loving zany friend David Baddiel. It was very surreal & I suggest you peep it. Will & I love shouting this when we are drunk. It’ll probably happen a lot on tour. An incredibly obnoxious vocal refrain but one that I cannot help but love deeply.
These five were picked by Andy with Will & James in mind the entire time. I hope I adequately picked five songs that represent all our tastes. We also love The Clean & Negative Approach but I ran out of choices and time. xx
I’ve moved house, haven’t had internet for a while and won’t be getting it for a little longer. Postal address for demos and the like has moved, email is separatedbymotorways@gmail.com for more details.
Oh hello 300th lofi punk band to emerge from somewhere in London this year, are you as fun as all the rest? You are? Rad! This is Thee Fair Ohs and are basically “like Paul Simon but…you know…punk” you can tell they’re punk because one of them has a beard and tattoos and his name is Matt Flag…GET IT?
My Mum loves a bit of Paul Simon, I’m not sure how she’d rate Thee Fair Ohs Capri Sun-beach punk. If Vampire Weekend weren’t such nonces, and Abe Vigoda were less droney you’d pretty much have something that sounded a bit like “Summer Lake”. Despite the fog outside my window, summer is very much still here in my bedroom when I’m listening to this.
Separated By Motorways is a music blog dedicated to writing about new and exciting music that we will think you will love. The MP3'S are provided on a preview basis, please support the artists.
If you would like to discuss any of the content on this site, get in touch over a forthcoming release or just have a little chat our email address is separatedbymotorways (at) gmail.com
