the only indie advent calendar worth opening - Day 13

If last Sunday's selection on the #indieadvent24 was the perfect soundtrack to a relaxing Sunday morning, this Sunday's song choice comes from the opposite end of the musical spectrum.

Foals returned to the foald (sorry) this summer with their fourth album and while the full length album showed a safer and less experimental band at work, it would be wrong to ignore one of the musical highlights of the summer months.

The single What Went Down knocked down everything else in its tracks when it flew the indie flag on mainstream radio, and demonstrated a harder sound to previous singles. It also still maintains that classic Foals knack of building up to a crescendo of noise that forces you to get up and dance, which can make you look a bit of an idiot when you're waiting in the car at traffic lights.

While the new album didn't offer anything as spellbinding as Spanish Sahara or Blue Blood, songs like Mountain At My Gates still proved that Foals remain an important force in the indie music world today.

So, on this the 13th day of this advent of indie music, my gift to you is the storming What Went Down by Foals. Happy listening!

the only indie advent calendar worth listening to - Day 12

One of the strangest endings to a music video accompanies one of my musical highlights of the year in Car Seat Headrest's Something Soon.

Car Seat Headrest began in 2010 in Will Toledo's hometown of Leesburg, Virginia. Needing a place of solitude (and soundproofing) where he could record vocals undisturbed, a 17-year-old Toledo set up shop in the family car, hence the name.

Teens of Style arrived at the end of October and is the first Car Seat Headrest album recorded with a full band. Toledo has taken material from the first three years of the band's existence and reworked it for our musical pleasure.

The influences of American greats such as Nirvana and the Beach Boys can be heard throughout the album. Opener Sunburned Shirts sets the high standard that is maintained across the 11 songs on offer here. I could list other favourites but those of you reading this with time on your hands this weekend should reward yourselves by tracking down and listening to the full long player in all its deserved glory.

I'm kicking off your Saturday with an absolute corker of a track. On the 12th day of this advent of indie music, my gift to you all is the phenomenal sound of Car Seat Headrest - Something Soon. Happy listening!

the only indie advent calendar worth opening - Day 11

Storytelling in music is alive and well thanks to New York comic book writer/ artist and musician Jeffrey Lewis. While the majority of the music world run out of words to rhyme with love (dove and shove - I'm out!), it's warming to know the art of writing intelligent and witty lyrics still has its place in our record collections.

A late contender for one of the best albums this year, Jeffrey Lewis & Los Bolts - Manhattan, arrived this autumn with eleven songs that will have you listening intently at the stories being told while also having you dancing and smiling in equal measure.

If you have more time on your hands this Friday night, try listening to Have a Baby and Sad Screaming Old Man as a sample of what else the album has in store. There's also still time to catch the band on their current UK tour before Christmas.

Today's song is my personal highlight from the album and offers an often hilarious insight into the truth behind making your way in the music world as a band trying to secure support tours. I hazard a guess many musicians will find something to smile and wince at. So, on this 11th day of the advent of indie music, my gift to you all is the delightful Jeffrey Lewis & Los Bolts - Support Tours. Happy listening!

the only indie advent calendar worth opening - Day 8

The best things come to those who wait. It's getting late in the day but there's still time to celebrate this 8th day of advent with a cracking song from the album Carrie and Lowell by the excellent and criminally underappreciated Sufjan Stevens.

For the uninitiated, Sufjan Stevens is one of the most original artists alive today. From releasing folk songs that will make your heart soar one minute, then providing an alternative soundtrack to the usual Christmas dirge the next, through to scoring a ballet and even a rodeo documentary, Sufjan Stevens has most bases covered.

Carrie and Lowell saw a return to his folk roots but more than that, it is his most personal work to date, reflecting on the relationship with his mother following her death. The songs explore some deeply personal themes and is forever thought provoking throughout. No shade in the shadow of the cross is a highlight of the album with it's horrific closing lyric leaving the listener shocked by a painful truth being laid bare amidst the stunning beautiful sound. 

It's an album I regularly revisit and I never tire of the simple melodies. If you're yet to discover Sufjan Stevens, I recommend spending the next week of your life streaming his back catalogue. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

 

At this late hour on the 8th day of this advent of indie music, my gift to you all is the stunning Sufjan Stevens' Death With Dignity. Happy listening!

the only indie advent calendar worth opening - Day 7

Stop me if this sounds familiar. If you were tuned into Rick Witter's #discodown on @minsterfm last night this post will come as no surprise to you. I know not all of you do (that's not to say I understand why you don't) and regardless this song today takes it rightful place in my #indieadvent24

When Everything Everything first appeared on the music scene a few years back, I have to say they failed to make an impression on me and despite a number of friends telling me how they good they were, I couldn't get into their music.

My initial preconceived ideas were blown out of the water this year when I first heard the excellent single 'Distant Past', followed this summer by one of my contenders for single of the year 'Regret'.  Their album 'Get to heaven' features some great indie pop music and on the rare occasion they slow things down like on songs such as on 'No reptiles' they come up with some cracking lyrics including my strangest and most favourite line of the year “Baby, it’s alright to feel like a fat child in a pushchair old enough to run, old enough to fire a gun”.

In 2016 they'll further cement their indie middleweight credentials when they support Foals on a large arena tour in February.

If you were in hiding this summer than you won't have heard it but for my seventh post in this advent of indie music, my gift to you all is one of my favourite songs of the year, the ridiculously catchy 'Regret' by Everything Everything. Happy listening!

the only indie advent calendar worth opening - Day 6

Today's track has been selected with the weekend-rattled indie kid in mind. I remember many Sunday mornings listening to the once mighty xfm and they had an incredible knack of selecting the right songs to wake my heavy head from the excesses of a Friday and Saturday night.

The sound of Courtney Barnett's Depreston will ease you into your Sunday morning with her tale of depressing suburban life in one of Melbourne's outer city areas. This song also contains some rather dodgy lyrics, but isn't that what makes songs and storytelling more interesting?

If you're feeling more alive today and in need of a more lively soundtrack, you should explore one of the albums of the year, 'Sometimes I Sit and Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit' featuring the brilliant singles Pedestrian At Best and Dead Fox.

So, for my sixth post in this advent of indie music, my gift to you all is Courtney Barnett - Depreston. Happy listening!

the only indie advent calendar worth opening - Day 5

I was brought up on a diet of electro pop music in the mid-80s. A reality I recently reflected on while listening to Claire Hickson's Saturday morning show on @meridianfm when I admitted that Nik Kershaw's Wouldn't It Be Good was the first record I fell in love with. In my defence I thought that was a pretty good song for a 5 year old to be listening to. On reflection, I think there isn't much distance between a good pop song and a cracking indie track.

A case in point is Paul Smith and the Intimations' album Contradictions. It's filled with so many pop nuggets that if it had been released in 1984, it would probably have been the soundtrack to the airwaves of radio 1 and Paul would have been a regular on Top of the Pops.

It's an album that may have passed under your radar. Now is the time to right that wrong. If you have the time today then try listening to I should never know and Coney Island (4th of July)

If you don't have the time then stick with my pick of the day. As it's Saturday, my gift to you on my fifth post in this advent of indie music is Paul Smith and the Intimations - People on Sunday. As it's the weekend, as a special treat you can also watch Paul singing it in German live in Hamburg. Glücklich Hören!

the only indie advent calendar worth opening - Day 4

As it's the start of the weekend, I'm going to be extra canny and share one of the greatest sounds of this year from Hooton Tennis Club. Today's post also highlights the fact that these songs appear in no particular order.

Regular readers of this blog will already know about my love for this band and this song in particular. Put simply, Jasper is uplifting, it's guaranteed to make you smile and it deserves to be heard by everyone.

If you don't have the album Highest Point in Cliff Town already on your Christmas list, you must have been naughty this year.

So in my fourth post in this advent of indie music, my gift to you all is Hooton Tennis Club - Jasper. Happy listening!

the only indie advent calendar worth opening - Day 3

Today's post celebrates the wonder of the classic album track. You know the one that will most likely never get radio airplay but when you hear it, it stops you in your tracks and makes you want to find a home for everyone to be able to hear it. Wolf Alice's Silk epitomises that track for me and I hope you feel a similar sense of excitement when you listen to it.

It's been quite a year for Wolf Alice, starting with recognition on the Sound of 2015 longlist and ending with a well-deserved nomination for the Mercury Music Prize. In between, they wowed new fans on stage at Glastonbury in preparation for their debut album release, My Love is Cool.

If you the time, I'd recommend you take time out to listen to the whole album. It has lots of familiar sounding influences and will undoubtedly find its way into your music collection.

If you don't have the time then all that's left to say is, in my third post in this advent of indie music, my gift to you all is Wolf Alice - Silk Happy listening!

the only indie advent calendar worth opening - Day 2

I was a bit unlucky this morning. I managed to hear the musical abomination of Kylie and James Corden murdering the song 'Only You'. It made me realise how lucky we are to have some cracking music in the world, even if it is hidden away from the mainstream.

Today's selection for my #indieadvent24 is a hidden gem from this autumn. Myths 001 is an EP from Connan Mockasin and Devonté Hynes, written and recorded in Marfa, TX as part of the 2015 Marfa Myths festival. The three songs are truly collaborative – each fingerprinted with their distinctive, idiosyncratic take on pop. Stylistically, things move from breathy post-punk (La Fat Fur), to underwater funk (Feelin’ Lovely), to sparse, heartbreak balladry (Big Distant Crush).

So in my second post in this advent of indie music, my gift to you all is Devonté Hynes and Connan Mockasin - La Fat Fur Happy listening!

the only indie advent calendar worth opening - Day 1

It's that time of year when people start to reflect on the last twelve months in music. Take a quick look on twitter and it seems as though everyone is sharing their thoughts on the best songs and albums of the year.

Never one to miss out on a opportunity to share news of cracking indie music, I'm going to spend the next 24 days sharing some of my favourite songs and artists from the last 12 months.

I'm kicking things off with my favourite new artist of the year - Hippo Campus. They're an american band hailing from Minnesota. The foursome are made up of Jake Luppen (vocals/guitar), Nathan Stocker (guitar), Zach Sutton (bass), and Whistler Allen (drums).

When I first heard the Bashful Creatures EP in a summer of great music, they stood out from the crowd. Readers of this blog will have heard the excellent Suicide Saturday from the very same EP. As if that wasn't good enough, they returned in the autumn with the South EP featuring more simple yet powerful indie pop songs.

So, for my first post in this advent of indie music my gift to you all is Hippo Campus - Bashful Creatures. Happy listening!