Wednesday 28 November 2007

Episode 4


Okay sticking to the same format of last week... HERE WE GO!

Most Hyped Blog Of The Week

After some initial confusion with a music blogging platform called MOG which turned out to be a bit of a walled garden, I cut the crap and went straight for Get Weird Turn Pro, a predominantly electronic music blog from a chappy based in Manchester [la la la].

The track that caught by eye went a long with some NME bashing which is all good in my opinion. Bloc Party - Flux (JFK Remix) is really starting to grow on me, I was initially sceptical of the much flouting squeaking and bleeping, but what really carries this tune off are the rythmic keys that pace it from start to end.

Front Page Choice Cut

Again a wide range of tracks to choose from. Some notable runners included the Punks Jump Up remix of Robyn's With Every Heartbeat at Versus; The More Your Know feature at Butter Team in much the same vain as Pirates of the Bargain Bin last week, this week focusing on Deborah's; an awesome selection of 80s hip hop and electro at bounce/oz; and Snow Queen by Oh Astro at Keepin It Right Radio.

However, in start contrast to the predominately electronic flavour of this weeks show my Frontpage Choice Cut this week is Alberta Cross - Hard Breaks which I found at The Leather Canary. An East London duo who are about to bury themselves in a Welsh country cottage somewhere to record some new material. Make sure you check out their myspace.

New M3 Mix CD!

Whooot! After almost a year of almost killing himself Derek Davies hits back with M3 Volume 16.

"Comprised predominantly of slammin’ rock and electro tracks that are ideal for driving at absurd speeds on dark highways, M3 Volume 16 is undeniably the hotness."
Dezza


The track I played to celebrate Volume 16's release was the Numan-esque Bathroom Gurgle by local Castle Donnington boys Late Of The Pier. Myspace.

A Band I Saw Last Week

Cut Off Your Hands - Lovely Chaps

Last Sunday I saw Foals + Cut Off Your Hands + Eskimo Hoax at The Charlotte in Leicester. All the Skins kids were out, it was a fantastic contrast to the poor turnout in Derby for Sons and Daughters the previous week. In fact it got very rowdy indeed.


The stars of the show had to be Cut Off Your Hands, despite only playing six or seven songs because a very ill lead singer, they truly did get the place going after a somewhat docile Eskimo Hoax. So to celebrate their performance I played for you Cut Off Your Hands - Still Fond, a track which I think is a cross somewhere between The Maccabees and The Wombats - surely a winner there then.

They opened with Still Fond as you can see in my lovely video below...



Most Hyped Artist of the Week

Daft Punk @ Rockness 2007

With their Alive 2007 live album due for release next week in the US everyone is suitably going Daft Punk crazy, which is probably why they've topped the most hyped search and most hyped artist on the Hype Machine this week. Here is what a few bloggers have had to say...

"This CD makes you really appreciate why Daft Punk is so amazing... I like it when theres a tiny beat mismatch here and there just to let me know the artists is actually doing it. Its definitely a CD I would recommend picking up just because of the fact that they are incredible to listen to, their sets may be calculated but they are amazing."

And on some blogs its kick started ye olde 'sampling' debate. Crib artists or genius?

"Of all the reviewers discussing the new Daft Punk samples collection (not released by DP), Pitchfork was the kindest. "If Discovered: A Collection of Daft Funk Samples proves anything, it isn't that Daft Punk are surreptitious thieves - it's that they're transformative reinterpreters, and in more than a few cases, flat-out miracle workers." Agreed. But one of our least favorite tracks (Robot Rock) pales in comparison to Breakwater's Release the Beast (below) in terms of general party starting merit."

The best blog post I have found which gives you an idea of Daft Punk's sampling tendencies is a Sample Wednesday from Palms Out Sounds

"As you hear these tracks you'll either decide Daft Punk isn't as genius as you thought they were or that they're twice as amazing."

I'll let you decide for yourselves with a mammoth 10 minute treat of Prime Time of Your Life / Brainwasher /Rollin ‘and Scratchin’ / Alive.

I hope you've enjoyed this weeks show, don't forget to leave a comment about what you think of it, or if you have any blogs or tracks that you think should be featured on next weeks show!

Ta ra.

Wednesday 21 November 2007

Episode 3

The Hype Machine as I found it this morning

Well, its all gone a bit feature mad this week on Anablogue, so in order of appearance the cast was...

Front Page Choice Cut

The idea behind this was as soon as I landed on the Hype Machine to start my research I had to play choose one of the tracks on the front page. It was a pretty difficult decision, its amazing the breadth and quality of tracks that can turn up in the first ten blog posts.

Of note was Hisato Higuch - Grow a fuzzy electro guitar based Japanese number I found at myjukebox, The Brit Box: Nonexistent Disc 6, a collection of indie classics from 1985-2000 at Sound Bites, and the novel feature of a selection of tunes in a Sesame Street style word of the day at Pirates of the Bargain Bin [this weeks word of the day: 'Protest'].

However, the best track I found was King of Prussia's 'Misadventures of the Campaign Kids' posted by John Laird of Side One: Track One. You can find out more about their new album Save The Scene at www.myspace.com/wearekingofprussia.

A Band I've Seen Recently


Hardly the most inspiring name for a feature, but for the music it turns up a worthy one nevertheless.

Be warned, attractive bassists can distract from the correct sized purchase of tour t-shirts

I saw Sons and Daughters at The Clubroom, Derby, a rather miserable turn out by the audience but an incredible performance by Sons and Daughters themselves. If you do go and see them keep an eye out for their Johnny Cash and The Stooges - I Wanna Be Your Dog mash up, its much better live than my reconstruction.

I found Guilt Complex by Sons and Daughters at Flux Blog and it is due to be released on Monday 29th November with an exclusive B-Side cover of Adamski's Killer. Find out more about their forthcoming album and the rest of their tour at www.myspace.com/sonsanddaughters.

Most Hyped Artist of the Week

This week's most hyped artist on the Hype Machine is Burial, and I played his track Ghost Hardware. Check out all the hype. Here is a slection:

"An apocalyptic adventure far beyond whatever can be called conventional about dubstep"

"The music is the perfect soundtrack for the cold winter days ahead; a distant and alien sounding collection of R&B vocal samples, emaciated beats and keyboards, and scratchy blips and bleeps"

"Burial certainly sticks close to his dubstep roots with dark moods, sparse rhythms, and emphasis on bass but its his ability to blend in much more subtle sounds that makes this a unique record"

"Although I'm certainly not hip enough to discuss the meaning of British "Grime," "2-Step," "Garage," or "Dubstep," as I have variously heard this music described, I can describe the sound as something like a Ghost In The Machine. With skittering electronic beats, ghostly keyboard washes, and soul vocal samples manipulated near the point of torture, Burial's Untrue sounds like some kind of aural missive from the next world, crackling and popping in the rain. This music is both haunted and haunting."

Find out more about Burial from The Guardian Arts website.

A Band I'm Going To See

Playing at The Charlotte in Leicester this Sunday with Cut Off Your Hands in support is Foals. The track I played, Hummer, has been doing the blogosphere circuit for a while now, and first blipped on my radar when it appeared on Derek Davies GWFAS M3 compilation series. You may also recognise this track from Channel 4 teenage drama Skins and the Skins Secret Party special episode.

Their myspace describes themselves as "Oxford Step", Speeding Up To Stop describes them as "Math Rock Afro-Beat", and the band describe themselves in a South Scene interview as "Autistic-Pop". Comment on this blog to let me know what you think.

Most Hyped Blog of the Week

As the screen shot above shows, this weeks most hyped blog is The Music Slut. There was an excellent selection of material to choose from including Calvin Harris remix, youtube interview with Justice, Foals remix and Jules Holland videos, and a cover of Monkey Man by Amy Winehouse.

However their best offering of the past few days has to be Nobody's Lover by Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings found here.


If you've enjoyed the podcast, or have any suggestions for tracks and blogs that should be featured in the next episode of Anablogue then leave a comment at the end of this post!

Thanks for listening!

Wednesday 7 November 2007

Episode 2

Episode two is proof that I can be consistent, but it being Wednesday, not proof that I can be on time. Anyhow, bands featured in this weeks podcast include:
From blogs
First up this week I featured, or at least teased you with a few samples of songs by The Whip but instead played you their remix of Anyway You Choose To Give It by The Black Ghosts. It wasn't to spite you, its just dead good. Tracks courtesy of Red Threat and Get Weird Turn Pro.

Next up it was the turn of the heavy weight blog Said The Gramaphone where we all got confused about whether we were listening to The Knife, Grizzly Bear or CSS. However I can assure it was CSS covering Grizzly Bear's 'Knife'. That didn't help things did it...

At half time I moved away from the electronica and cuddled up to that cute scouse trio The Wombats and their track School Uniforms. Derek Davies of Good Weather For Airstrikes serving up the honours this time with a review of their debut album.

A return to the neon delights of Missing Toof turned up trumps with some EDM [dance music to you and me, more specifically electro]. Jason Tyler and his track Cause And Effect a self confessed oversight by the Missing Toof boys and girls. Nevertheless they made up for it by sharing a number of myspace rips, ah bless.

Finally the show ended with a return to the much neglected genre of drum and bass, and who better to rekindle our skanking dancing like no ones watching head bobbing antics than Welsh wonder High Contrast and his track Eternal Optimist from his latest album. Well spotted Turn The Page!

If you've enjoyed this podcast or have any views or opinions on the tracks played then don't forget to comment!

Cheers,
Andy

Tuesday 30 October 2007

Its Back!

Well apologies for not getting Anablogue back as soon as I'd have wanted, there was an initial delay getting the kit in and then when I tried recording yesterday I just wasn't in the right frame of mind.

So lets get the show on the road...

You'll notice a few things have changed here at Anablogue HQ and elsewhere in the music blogging world. First off the Hype Machine has had a major face lift. There have been mixed reactions with most of the negative comments being directed at the change in flash player. The flash player, for the less techy amongst us, was the little pop up in your browser mp3 player which for many people was a great radio replacement. The new player is a bit more aesthetic but lacks the ability to see whats coming up in the playlist.

The Hype Machine has gone social and has introduced the option to sign up and be a user. That includes nice things like Twitter integration and the ability to add certain tracks and blogs to your favourites - thats very handy as an aggregator so you don't have to keep checking the same blogs over and over again.

You can of course sign up yourselves and even add Anablogue as a friend. Just visit http://hypem.com/anablogue. There you will be able to find RSS feeds for my favourited blogs and favourited tracks [I don't thing favourited is a word is it?]. These feeds are handy for keeping up to date with what gets played on the show and they're in the feed list on the right hand side. NB they don't seem to open well in your browser but work fine in an RSS reader.

So first up was Jape - Floating which I sort of found at discobelle.net via the Prins Thomas Diskomiks and Alex Metric Remix, the former of which makes heavy use of the very much All Rights Reversed by the Chemical Brothers-esque vocal. It also happened to be that I saw this guy at the Liars Club as part of Nottingham's Stealth vs. Rescue Rooms. The live performance is very different from the recorded stuff, a lot more bashing of samplers. I was very impressed.

http://www.myspace.com/richiejape

A nod to Nialler9 who featured Jape on his award winning blog [he has a podcast too!] and pointed me in the direction of the fantastic video for floating and the rendition The Raconteurs performed at some festival somewhere [excuse my ignorance].





Next up I returned to good old headphonesex who was raving about the recent Soulwax/2 Many DJs release, but moaning about the recent closure and raid of oink.cd [no fear boink.cd is on the horizon, its going to be hosting by the impregnable swedish boys and girls at piratebay.org]. I played Arthur Argent - Hold Your Head Up (Soulwhacked Remix) which I'd say was one of the album's lesser well known remixes.

http://www.soulwax.com/
[Warning this is a scary site for your browser]

No return of Anablogue would be complete without a good dose of Good Weather For Airstrikes. Derek was this week reviewing CMJ in New York, a sort of SXSW for the east coast as far as I can gather, but in doing so decided he doesn't really like reviewing live gigs. Nonetheless he did deliver a slice of Cut Off Your Hands - Closed Eyes, a New Zealand band who have been in the UK recently and featured on Anablogue's last Fuse FM broadcast.

http://www.myspace.com/cutoffyourhands

Plastic Operator - Peppermint was my favourite track from fluokid's posts of late. An international duo of sound engineers who met at Westminster Uni here in the UK, their Postal Service influence is definitely apparent.

http://www.plasticoperator.com/


I closed the show with a sample off of Daft Punk's new live album Alive. For some reason I want to say it was recorded at the O2 Wireless festival this summer, but don't take my word for it. It seems Daft Punk are harnessing the power of blogs, social media and the web to promote the new album by releasing a widget where you can sample tracks, watch videos and see photos of the Frenchmen themselves. I'd better feature it here then...

Tuesday 23 October 2007

Anablogue 2.0

Anablogue is returning in an all new podcast only form.

Subscribe to the new Anablogue podcast feed in iTunes by following this link or by using the previous guide which has been updated here.

Meanwhile you can still follow the Anablogue mutterings in a written format at this blog or by subscribing to http://feeds.feedburner.com/anablogueblog in your feed reader of choice!

Tuesday 3 April 2007

Bl-ouse

It appears Harry and I are guilty as charged. We're just another bunch of DJs who know knack all about music but instead follow the trend setting bloggers and their brand of blog house. Or as I'd rather call it: blouse.

More on Wikipedia.

Friday 23 March 2007

Harry's Final Week (Ridiculously Belated)

Firstly apologies for my extended absence, a combination of last-week-of-broadcast madness, essay hell on a whole new level and having the new Arcade Fire record on repeat. But here we are, the final Anablogue listings of the broadcast...

I began on the desk which was novel, before guiding you all through the more guitar-based elements of the blogging world. First track was WinterKids - All The Money, an instant indie-disco classic...although I still don't know where Peaslake is. This was from Hotly Tipped for 2007 (Part One) on the the one-and-only Good Weather For Airstrikes which passed me by first time round as it was hidden among the more obvious tips of Lily Allen and Klaxons. Album Memoirs is out 09/04/07 on Little House records.

Next up was a return to Noise For Toaster who were going mad for the new Field Music record Tones Of Town. I played Give It Lose It Take It, the album opener which is fairly indicative of where they're coming from; kinda edgy, soaring harmonies and a healthy dose of synth. Definitely worth a look.

My first section was concluded with Sharks by Bear Colony, not as morbid as I may have implied but then again not as good either. Perfect Postal Service-y verses but let down by the chorus which (in the words of grandparent everywhere) is just noise. Sounded better in my room than over the airwaves, honest. Find it at All Things Go.

On my return I finally got round to playing I Was A Cub Scout - Pink Squares, found at Nothing But Green Lights, the excellent UK-music-only blog. They make a whole lot of restrained noise for a two piece (contradiction in terms deliberate), but the marriage of electronic and emotional really works for me on this and is certainly pretty good for a 2-piece boyband. Could well do big things this year so keep an eye out.

Next up was Maps-Sparks In The Snow, which has rarely been off my mp3 player since I found it 3 weeks ago. Beautiful organ and vocals which could disappear in a strong gust of wind. English Sigur Ros is perhaps a bit misleading, but it's atmospheric and will gently worm its way into your brain. I found it at Good Weather For Airstrikes, and am looking for more Maps as we speak. Incidentally, if you like this then also check out Breaker by Low which has a similar fee: have a look on The Hype Machine.

I bit the bullet and played Brianstorm, the new single by Arctic Monkeys to see what people thought of it more than anything else, so thank you to those who let us know your thoughts. I stand by my opinion that this is really strong comeback, a bit louder and a bit less reliant on witticisms, instead concentrating on making the biggest impression as possible on the unbelievers. I won't tell you where I found this version because there are far better available; again, get yourself to The Hype Machine or even better buy it when it emerges in the shops on April 16th.

I then played you One of Two by Sky Larkin, who supported Anablogue-favourites Los Campesinos the previous night in Manchester Late Rooms. I played Somersault when Rich from High Voltage was in when I really should have played this: it's like a kick in the stomach followed by an order to dance or be thrown out onto the street. Perfect vocals over a circular-saw guitar line. Essential listening from Good Weather For Airstrikes.

The much-coveted final track of the broadcast was filled by Midlake with their track Roscoe. It could be Radiohead which is praise indeed. I stumbled upon an Erol Alkan remix of this on Gorilla vs Bear which I really didn't rate, but it did encourage me to find the original and very glad I was too.

So there we have it, a wrap-up of the swift four week stint that was Anablogue. Thanks to everyone who listened and got involved, to Rich for coming in and of course to Andy for getting me involved on the Anablogue project. But who knows....you may not have heard the last of us yet...

Harry x

Wednesday 7 March 2007

Fuzzy Scuzzy Synthy Goodness

http://www.lixonline.com/images/28_days_pix/thriller.jpg

Well first up for my last show was the highlights of the last instalment of GWFAS Hotly Tipped. I played The Whip - Trash, an artists both Harry and I were fighting over, and also an artist from the Manchester based High Voltage label run by Rich Cheetham who came in onto the show last week. If you like what you hear then you can see them live, along with The KBC, !!!, and The Longcut at the High Voltage 4th Birthday Night on the 20th March at the Ritz.

Next up from Derek Davies' top list I chose Pull Tiger Tail and their track Animator, a band from London, who have been embracing the file sharing love by offering up singles for free download. However, much to our disappointment they had removed the tracks because of more than 5000 people downloading it - probably a consequence of NME's recent hype rather than my brief mention and subsequent play.

Finally, I played Cut Off Your Hands - You and I, the best slice of punk to come out of New Zealand since Zane Lowe. Instantly likeable, these boys have joined Snow Fight In The City Centre and their Lisa Brown debacle in deciding their first EP name was in fact a better title for their band rather than a subtitle of what it has to offer. If that didn't make any sense then read Derek's post.

After an instalment of Harry [the last full 3 track instalment of Harry on Anablogue this broadcast :-( ], I dived straight into some electronica by playing you the Miami Horror Remix of Stardust - Music Sounds Better With You, only a slight modification of the original it throws in a bit of cowbell at the start and then dives into a dark dirty rumble of a bass line that for some reason made me want to do the dance from Michael Jackson's Thriller. This track is currently all over the place. I found it at Chazology, but its a part of the recent selection of remixes on Palms Out Sounds.

http://www.sxc.hu/photo/175515

Keeping in line with the squeaks and bleeps, a quick trip to Headphone Sex turned up trumps with The Black Ghosts - Any Way Your Choose To Give It (Boy 8-bit Remix). An awesome dose of fuzzy bass which had me reaching for my NES controller if only to listen to the Super Mario Bros 3 soundtrack.

To round up this selection before Harry and I went back to back for the last twenty minutes I found MSTRKRFT - She's Good For Business at Different Kitchen. MSTRKRFT are the remix and electronica remnants of Death From Above 1979 [check out the Phones Lovers Remix of Romantic Rights]. The 1979, an addition of course to differentiate them from DFA Records and the James Murphy collective. Talking of which James Murphy [also of LCD Sound System] has a blog over at that Manchester based daily broadsheet, The Guardian.

Going back to back with Harry led me first to Simian Mobile Disco - Tits and Acid which was unfortunately cut short. Nevertheless it was available from the SXSW website where you can download and stream a number of tracks from artists playing this year. Check out Another Record for their prime cuts of the electronica this year.

Finally my last track was another High Voltage classic: Dead Disco - The Treatment (Metronomy Remix). Its not exactly new, and has been available at many good blogs [including GWFAS no less] but this time I found it at Missing Toof [only on the third listening of the show did I get that play on words] who described the bands work as "hip and fun and always danceable". Too right kido.

And that's that from me. Thanks so much to all those that have listened and given comments on the show. So big-ups to Jam Bamkin, Fiona Young, Dave Biggin, Adam Lynch, Aarron Bradshaw, Andy Tuffin, Cat Howe, and Katie Bilboa [amongst many more - see Harry's roll call]. If you have any comments or find some excellent tunes/blogs in the future then do not be afraid to comment, we'd love to hear from you.

Cheers

Andy

Monday 5 March 2007

You! Me! Dance?


pic: http://www.dirtydirtydancing.com

Unfortunately that time has come upon us: the end of the broadcast. Which is why Harry and I are going to go out with the best show to date! Expect a heavy dose of GWFAS propoganda, and my danciest show to date [but good dance, not crap dance].

Harry and I have already been fighting over which songs to play, but you can definitely expect music from The Whip, Cut Off Your Hands, Pull Tiger Tail, Stardust, The Black Ghosts, MSTRKRFT, Simian Mobile Disco and much more [well, no, thats a lie, Harry has to play his songs too].

Tune in 103.5 FM [Manchester] or online at www.fusefm.co.uk

Andy

Thursday 1 March 2007

Quick Fire...Week Three

Evenin' All,

Bit of a different format this week, with Rich from High Voltage in the studio presenting an informed view on this whole blogging thing. I was initially scared he was going to march in and shut us down for bankrupting his record label...lucky for us he was a thoroughly sound guy who had loads of interesting points to raise. So to Harry's week three...

First I tried to win approval with the appallingly-named We Smoke Fags with Eastenders found at www.headphonesex.co.uk; if it sounded any more like Terror by The Rakes it would actually have been Terror by The Rakes. On first listen I thought this track was great...on second listen, not so good. You win some, you lose some...I then tried with Somersault by Sky Larkin which was more successful (I could tell by Rich's head-nodding) but I think I was still the biggest fan of that particular track in the studio: find it at http://nothingbutgreenlights.net. They're supporting Los Campesinos on Sunday (04/03/07) in the Late Rooms so check them out on The Hype Machine...I would recommend the track One of Two next.

My last song with Rich still around was the new single by The Rakes - We Danced Together - remixed by SebAstian (from http://callmemickey.blogspot.com). As soon as the track started Rich let us know his dislike for all things Rakes so it was onto a loser from the start. No way near as good as the Klaxons Remix we aired in Week One but I think it's a great way of increasing the longevity of a great comeback single.

On entering the final part of the show I threw the proverbial kitchen sink at the mixing desk to win Andy's (and hopefully your) approval. The genius mash-up that was Crazy, As She Goes by The Raconteurs vs Gnarls Barkley (with a smattering of the Grandmaster Flash) got my final section off to a blinder. So many great covers and mash-ups of that track already but this is one of the best in my oh-so-humble opinion. Get it at http://myoldkyhome.blogspot.com.

I finished off with a live XFM session track, Dans Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip - The Beat That My Heart Skipped, from http://thedailygrowl.blogspot.com, which was for anyone who loved Thou Shalt Not Kill from Week One. Not quite as immediate as that perhaps but give it a few spins and see if you don't love it.

Exit music this week was supplied by Los Campesinos for the second week running, with their ace track Sweet Dreams Sweet Cheeks, another fantastic offering for the Cardiff band who can do no wrong.

See you on Sunday at the Late Rooms...and for the final Anablogue Radio Show. At least 15% better than every other radio show you'd care to mention.

Harry x

Sunday 25 February 2007

High Voltage

The legendary Richard Cheetham, of High Voltage fame will be joining us on the show tomorrow!

Saturday 24 February 2007

Virtue of the Remix

First up I featured The Hype Machine - the website that first introduced me to the audio blogging world. Their top artists which is updated for every 3 day period was as of Sunday:

1. Arcade Fire
2. Modest Mouse
3. Feist
4. Of Montreal
5. The Police

I played Arcade Fire - No Cars Go live from Judson Memorial Church in NYC on 16th February from http://hearsay.alphaquam.com. Arcade Fire seem to have a weird thing going on with churches at the moment. Check out their video on their website for Neon Bible which is of them doing a rendition of Guns of Brixton by The Clash in St. John's Church, Westminster, London.

I moved swiftly on to Good Weather For Air Strike's Hotly Tipped For 2007 (part 1 and part 2). The vast majority of artists featured are Brit-acts but I picked out a band from Long Beach, California, Cold War Kids and played their song We Used To Vacation. In anticipation of Rich Cheetham's appearance on next week's show I then played another of Derek's hotly tipped bands Dead Disco and their single Automatic, who are on the High Voltage record label.

In my second bout behind the mixing desk I blew things out of the indie water by playing Phantom by Justice, an artist I featured heavily on last week's show as apart of the fast becoming dominant French electronica scene, and a track which is on Justice's new LP D.A.N.C.E. . I found it on Skull Juice a pair of bloggers who are affiliated with Casper C of Fluokids and the chap from Headphone Sex. The former of which is about to embark on a UK, France and Sweden tour with the rest of the fluo kids collective.

In response to Aaron Bradshaw's email from last week I followed up his recommendation of Palms Out Sounds which have Sample Wednesdays and Remix Sundays as a regular blog feature. From Remix Sunday: 48 I played Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit (Patrick Alavi Rerox) which we think probably is French. From Sample Wednesday 27: Daft Punk Harry and I discussed the virtue's of the remix and the sampling artist and highlighted electronica scepticism by playing Breakwater - Release The Beast which has been sampled heavily in Daft Punk's Robot Rock.

Finally, the product of a search for a great remix not done by a French man. Some 'throaty guitar goodness' from the man that successfully revitalised Daft Punk's Around The World. New Young Pony Club - Icecream (Van She Tech Remix) I found at Chazology: queue it up and hit repeat.

Until next week.

Andy

Wednesday 21 February 2007

Harry's Week Two

For everyone wondering where to get hold of the tracks chosen by me on Week Two of Anablogue....here we are for your listening pleasure. Links galore so go have a gander.

First off I played TV On The Radio - I Was A Lover, which you can find on http://iguessimfloating.blogspot.com. TV On The Radio came top of many, many bloggers Top 50s of the year, and their first album 'Desperate Youths and Bloodthirsty Babes' won the American version of the Mercury Music Prize just to give an idea of how many people are going mad about them. 'Dirty Whirl' and 'Staring At The Sun' are two others by the band that are worth checking out. That's a homework assignment.

Next up was Grizzly Bear - Easier, the opening track from the album 'Yellow House' which was high up in the same poll on http://iguessimfloating.blogspot.com . It's a beautiful song from a parallel universe where Disney is in charge. As the text on the show said, the words 'grizzly bear' do roll off the tongue - as if you needed another reason to listen to this song.

The debate over albums leaking onto the net long before release dates was illustrated by new Modest Mouse track Dashboard (ironic, no?) which is from the forthcoming album 'We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank' which is the best album title I've heard since 'What's The Time Mr Wolf?' by The Noisettes. This song is everything thats great about American guitar music turned to eleven, with more strings, more sunshine and more bounce. Find it at the fantastically named http://blogsarefordogs.com . Highly Recommended.

When it got to discussing Remixes (Re-mixes? Remixs? Re-mixs?) I played the Filthy Dukes Society Remix of The Maccabees - X-Ray which is a sterling example of a great remix and not a lazy one. The Maccabees are going places fast and this is a great alternative version of one of their earlier singles. It's at www.goodweatherforairstrikes.com of course.

Next up I stumbled upon http://gorillavsbear.net where I came across the short but very sweet Booji Boy High - Twist Myself Again, an Hot Chip side project also on DFA Records. It's essentially Hot Chip with added griminess which is no bad thing.

Finally I played Union of Knives - Evil Has Never, which is a sort of White Rose Movement-Electro/Indie-type thing. I like. You should too. They're playing this Friday (23/02/07) in Manchester Roadhouse if you have discovered your cup of tea.

Me and Andy also tag-teamed on the final track, the stupidly fantastic You! Me! Dancing! by Los Campesinos who are (obviously) from Cardiff, Wales as you can tell by the name. www.goodweatherforairstrikes.com say "you want to hold their hand while they cross the street, buy them ice cream when they've been good, I'll even carry them inside when they fall asleep, even if I know they're just pretending for the free ride. And I don't put up with that from just any band". Wise words indeed. Catch them at The Late Rooms for those in Manchester on Sunday March 4th...Andy and I will both be there so you can play student radio Where's Wally.

So there we have it...consider yourselves set free into the wild to pursue your own lives again. Go!

Harry x

Monday 19 February 2007

Scouring the Blogosphere for YOU

The second show is almost upon us. A few less squeaks and bleeps from my department for those of you taken a back by the ferocity of the Ed Banger collective. Saying that I'll still be playing Justice.

I will be looking at The Hype Machine - the website that can make your blog searching as easy as google; and showcasing the most popular artists from the Hype Machine from the past three days.

After listner Aaron's email last week I followed up his suggestion of the Palms Out Sounds blog and will be giving a brief sample of their Sample Wednesday and Remix Sunday tradition - sort of the internet's version of sports on Wednesday afternoon and a Sunday roast. On which note I will challenge Harry to a 'muso' discussion on the virtue of the remix.

Tune in. 103.5 FM [Manchester] or online at www.fusefm.co.uk

Friday 16 February 2007

Micron

The winner of our Micron competition Claudio Martinoli sent us this photo of him enjoying himself courtesy of the nice people behind the event at Joshua Brooks. Anablogue would like to thank Isaac Owen and Gareth Chubb for providing the prize.

Everybody Loves An Ed Banger

Its very late I know, but I've finally got round to doing the track listing from last Monday's show.

I warmed up everyone up with The Royal We - All The Rage which Derek from GWFAS describes as "the perfect indie-pop equivalent of 'Hey Ya' ". An off looking bunch from Glasgow you can find out more about them on their myspace.

I started my special on the emerging, if not already hatched, French Electronica scene with a remix I first heard in Sankey's played by Adam Freeland backin 2006. Franz Ferdinand - The Fallen (Ruined By Justice) featured once again on the fast becoming legendary GWFAS, but was a big hit across the blogosphere, especially at Discobelle who has featured the Parisian duo a number of times in quick succession here, here, and more recently regarding the release of the new EP D.A.N.C.E. here. And if that eased you in to the cut and paste side of Justice the following track Waters of Nazareth pushed you out of the way and kicked you while you were down. No wonder it made Disc 1 of GWFAS latest M3 compilation. The last track of my French fifteen minutes was Klaxons - Golden Skans (SebastiAn version 1.2.0 Remix) which was kindly shared by Hianta over at Fluo Kids. SebastiAn is fellow label mate of Gaspard and Xavier and his single Ross Ross Ross is another explosive journey into this new sound.

Next up on my part was a focus on GWFAS Top 50 Tracks of 2006. In at number 3 was Sebastien Tellier - La Ritournelle, and at number 4 was 65 Days of Static with Radio Protector which were both a more chilled out affair.

The competition track to win guest passes to Micron at Joshua Brooks I can now reveal was Vitalic - La Rock 01 which of course features on the 2 Many DJs - As Heard On Radio Soulwax Part 2.

Finally, Harry and I ended the show with what has to be me new favourite band The Wombats, and their track Moving To New York. The music blog world has practically gone mad for this Liverpudlian trio and have featured on GWFAS, Nothing but Green Lights, Both Sides of the Mouth, Headphone Sex, and more. The major irony of this band being that I found out a band just down the road via a blogger from the states. Shows what I know eh?

Monday 12 February 2007

The Anablogue Podcast

How about that, no sooner are we off the air Harry has given you a track listing and now I've set up the podcast. Which I generated using this handy tool.

The address of the feed is:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/Anablogue

Just paste that link into iTunes under 'Advanced' and then 'Subscribe to Podcast'. Et voila. [French still needs brushing up].



Big thanks to Corin for hosting previous episodes. NB all podcasts are for promotional purposes only, any artists unhappy with their material being featured please email and I will more than happily remove it.

Harry Enters The Murky World Of The Blog...

On tonight's show (12-02-07) I played some tracks I discovered on my journey through the internet blog. Andy set me on my way with the first one, but the subsequent sites were all stumbled upon by yours truly. Here goes...

www.goodweatherforairstrikes.com - Amazing Top 50 from last year...check out The Maccabees at 35, and Snowfight In The City Cente at 7 for two tracks I wanted to play but didn't. Maybe I'll wait 'til 6 on Wednesday...anyway, from here I downloaded Bloc Party - Selfish Son, and that amazing track Thou Shalt Always Kill by Dans Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip, my favourite lines being ''Thall shalt not stop liking a band just because they’ve become popular" and "Thou shalt not question Stephen Fry". A lesson for us all. You can find all the lyrics on this site.

http://this.bigstereo.net - Here's where I found The Avalanches - Ray of Zdarlight which is a bootleg of two other tracks and not a brand new track as I mentioned. Oops.

www.saidthegramophone.com was my next stop, which I reached via www.headphonesex.co.uk which is a site I'm sure we'll return to. On saidthegramophone.com I rediscovered 1990s - You're Supposed To Be My Friend, a track I reviewed for Fuse in November time...ballsy guitars and lots of 'aaaaaa's' sang by the drummer. Top that.

I then discovered http://noisefortoaster.blogspot.com which I thought was cool and has 'the fish has got ears' written at the top which I thought was even cooler. Here I found The Little Ones - Oh MJ! which I played and also The Go Find - Dictionary which I didn't but you should check out anyway because it's ace.

The remaining track was by the brilliantly named Suburban Kids With Biblical Names and was called Loop Duplicate My Heart which I've decided I like. Find it at http://music.for-robots.com .

Hope I've proven that if I can do it then so can you...tune in next week for more exciting discoveries.

Harry x

Micron Competition

Reply to this post if you know the name and artist of our competition track to win guest passes to Micron on Thursday 15th February.

More info on the club night here, here and here.

Sunday 11 February 2007

Coming Up This Week

Well for my half of the show I'll be introducing Manchester to the latest and greatest in the positively thriving French dance music scene with music from the likes of Justice, Para One, SebestiAn and Vitalic. I'll be looking at which blogs to keep an eye on if you want to keep your finger on the itchy glitchy pulse of this emerging 'chop it up' style and what they say.

I'll also be showing Harry one of my favourite blogs and revealing their Top 50 tracks of 2006 - expect them all to be massive. And finally I'll be looking at why the blogging world as gone head over heels for Liverpudlian Trio: The Wombats.

All that and more from Harry; tune in to 103.5 FM in Manchester or online at www.fusefm.co.uk [broadband stream].

Thursday 8 February 2007

Show Time!

Anablogue will be on air every Monday night from 8 till 10. Join Harry and I for the first instalment on Monday 12th February on 103.5 FM and www.fusefm.co.uk

Tuesday 30 January 2007

Yuppeee

Harry can now post too!

Saturday 20 January 2007

Coming Soon

Coming soon to 103.5 Fuse FM