About five years, in a rather misguided part of my teenage years I listened exclusively to British indie guitar music; The Libertines and any of their inferior denotations had prime place in any playlist, come rain or shine, that I would want to listen to.

I remember a conversation with one my best friends’ older brother’s friend (gosh thats a hard lineage to punctuate), who, when I was sixteen, warned me that in a few years time I’d be able to skip through each music channel and find something I liked. No mate, MTV2, VH1 and NME is all I need.

I’m twenty-one this year, and well he was right. My music taste has diversified, and I find joy in almost every genre of music now; somewhere there will be something I like. In London at the moment, albeit eight years later than Hamburg and Berlin caught on, the minimal techno scene is, to say the least, rather big (contrary to the genre itself). Minimal techno, for those who don’t know plays upon the minimalism theories that less is more. I’ll preface now that what I’m about to blog will not be for everyone.

Mulletover, is a monthly London warehouse party; with its habitat announced only hours before each night is to kick off, with DJs that play until ten oclock the following morning, and a dance ensemble of everyone from indie boys to goths, chavs to thirty-something-working-professionals. Donned in their outfits from crazy to plain, they dance for hours to the repetitive and hypnotic blends of techno, acid house, and minimal.

Geddes; one half behind the event, is a resident DJ and producer himself. This month sees his split E.P. with Alex Jones. Simple vocal loops with built up effects echo throughout the mesmerising beats, single noted synth melodies create a wave of excitement, and by the time each breakdown comes around, and then is over you’ll be captivated, awaiting the drop, and when it comes, you’ll find it impossible to sit still.  The E.P. featuring some of the best of the genre is well worth buying, and for that reason I won’t be linking the tracks here.

Instead I’ll be linking a track from one of Geddes’ old releases, the 2007, rather nicely entitled ‘Trial & Error’ E.P., in each A-side is entitled ‘Trial’ and ‘Error’. Here much of the same is true as his recent release; hypnotic melodies, and repetitive beats, all lulling you into a sense of security and when those minimal drops come you’ll be praying for more.

As stated, the genre isn’t for everyone, it will be easy to find this music mundane and irritating, bland, or dull, but try something new. Who knows, you may be just like me, and really love it. As for Thoughts for Tonight, fear not guitar purists; next week’s column will be something a bit more familiar.

Trial

Geddes’ Myspace //Mulletover Website

In March 2009, Neko Case released her fifth studio album Middle Cyclone. Known for her alt-country sound, smoky, sophisticated vocals, raw emotion and forthright confident attitude, lyrically and musically, nothing compares to the beauty of Neko’s music.

LISTEN

This Tornado Loves You
People Got A lot of Nerve

“Things like animals and nature, they’re located in the tender receptor of my brain. And I’m just now trying to come to terms with the notion of loving people as much as I love those other things – because I grew up in a way that made me love the one but not the other. So, I guess I’ve been working that out for myself, and these songs are my way of reconciling those feelings.”

(All photos are credited to Kutie Magazine – Victoria Renard)

Here is a poem that I wrote:

There I was, trampling through the leaves, hand in hand
with my future sister-in-law

and I asked her if the setting was the least bit familiar:
invisible snow in Kentucky, or was it Louisville?

The air was a stale noon, and we had adventured there last Thursday
and had a too-long conversation about miniature sized fruit.

We talked about the moon, and how peculiar it was
that we could see it in broad daylight

and she gave me the scientific explanation.
How do you explain baby corn, I asked.

They’re not fruit, she replied.

I asked about the wedding, and she was enthusiastic
about the squirrel running past.

She wrote her name in the mud with a stick
and called it a self-portrait

which was the point I began to feel stupid.
I didn’t know why we were holding hands

but it formed a bond that was only broken
when she had to let go because

she had to yawn. And her eyes, I should
have said something about her eyes.

LISTEN:
Teenage Fanclub – I Need Direction
Rilo Kiley – 85
Spiritualized – Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space (Elvis version)

WORDS: Nick Chen // ARTWORK: Doze Green

Only love is all maroon
Gluey feathers on a flume
Sky is womb and she’s the moon

Bon Iver and My Brightest Diamond performed a duet live last Sunday at a benefit for the Red Hot Organization, and shared together a reprise version of Bon Iver’s single Flume. Inside New York’s Radio City Music Hall, the acoustic instrumentation along with combination of beautiful vocals provided a chilling rendition.

Mike Skinner (The Streets) until January of last year ran his own hiphop-based record label ‘The Beats’. Competing in the media world that this is, and with an adulation to make people laugh, Skinner and friends created an online Youtube show, playfully entitled ‘Beat Stevie’.

When I found Beat Stevie with my friends it provided hours of entertainment; watching rather intoxicated young rappers get up to trouble in London and around the U.K. Without a doubt, the funniest member was an up and coming white rapper from Fulham called Example.

Example’s sound has changed dramatically in the few years he’s been a rapper. From his early mixtape of remixes including The Rolling Stones, Jose Gonzalez, and, Lily Allen, to his perfect, sample-laden debut, marked the white rapper’s early period.

I saw Example on his first U.K. tour and was blown away at my first ever live hiphop experience (having previously been a predominantly guitar-band rooted kid before). Example’s charisma, stage presence, and undeniable ability to make everyone have a good time, rubbed off the moment he walked on stage; we could have been seeing Hendrix at Woodstock, the way the crowd was reacting.

2008 was a year of little commercial success for Example – fueled by the demise of his record label and sheer bad luck. By Example’s 2008 Glastonbury experience, the onstage setup remained the same (DJ, Bass, and MC), but began with an ear-splitting loud electro DJ set to open. My initial skepticism was blown away immediately as the rapper’s new sound was mesmerizing, ridiculously upbeat, incredibly well-produced, and still dominated by the charismatic performer I’d seen months earlier.

As 2008 crept on it was clear that Example wouldn’t be reverting to the comparatively downbeat hiphop of before, instead we’re left with electro influenced hiphop, or hiphop influenced electro. Example returns to his role as MC on new tracks, while production has been stepped up considerably since the first ventures.

As we’re approaching the half-way point of 2009, if you check Hype Machine, Example is dominating the charts. There are many artists I love who don’t seem to make it, in 2008 it looked like Example would be going that way as well. It is with great pleasure to notice Example receiving the blogged reception he deserves, here’s a bit of a career spanning collection.

Eyeballs Painted Black Ft. Rolling Stones
Me and Mandy [What We Made]
Nicest Thing Ft. Kate Nash [What we Almost Made]
Hooligans (Extended Mix) Ft. Don Diablo

Example’s Myspace // Example’s Twitter

Having a pet lost is probably one of the worst feelings to ever experience in your life.  I’ve been through funerals of loved ones, deaths of friendships, family members that are ill and nothing really seems to come close to this type of pain, I wouldn’t ever want to wish this upon anyone. Everyday becomes another investigation of two steps forward, one step back… but I’m trying not to give up hope. Please if you may pray Lenny is safe and send some good thoughts my way, that my little boy comes home soon.

If I stumble, they’re gonna eat me alive
Can you hear my heart beating like a hammer?

From New York’s Metric, their new album Fantasies takes the listener through an experimental visual and emotional documentary of singer Emily Haines soul-searching sojourn in Buenos Aires. The single “Help, I’m Alive” was the first song completed and showcases the simple fragility of anxiety and indecision, within simple lyrics that meaningfully present Emily’s mind set.

LISTEN

Metric – “Help I’m Alive (The Twelves Remix)”
Metric – “Help I’m Alive” (Acoustic)

“It pretty much sums up the state I’ve been in since I came here, I guess since I was honest with myself and accepted that I’m really scared. And I don’t know where my life is going. And I don’t know what I’m doing.”

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Even though I am alone in the picture, I am not alone.

Because I am listening to music.

These songs are dedicated to anyone who has ever pretended not to notice someone they know on a bus or train because they wanted to listen to their MP3 player – happiness in earphones.

LISTEN:
Honk If You’re Lonely by Silver Jews (from American Water)
On Your Own Again by Scott Walker (from Scott 4)
How To Fight Loneliness by Wilco (from Summerteeth)

ARTWORK:
Nick Chen with Matt Denny

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Last November, I went to visit a friend who is studying at Manchester University. After the initial shocks that come to someone living in London; the stark difference in temperature, the accents, and incredible selection of cheap and cheerful alcoholic beverages, something else becomes apparent – their dedication to the music scene.

‘Bergman Movies’, the debut single from “Planet Earth” arrives as the band’s two members move to London, from Manchester, and reunite with their musical family that includes Charlie Fink of ‘Noah and the Whale’ and Anna Knowles of “The Middle Ones”. Artistically borrowing from’ Frànçois’, and track title paying homage to Swedish film director ‘Ingmar Bergman’, ‘Planet Earth’ seem soon to be riding the crest of a new, creative and artistic wave.

Their stripped down lo-fi sound is warming. The video to ‘Bergman Movies’ shows the pair under umbrellas and bandstands, evading the late Winter British weather. The video compliments their sound wonderfully; the twangly guitars, the keyboard, and the stop-start choruses – all just conjure an image of warmth on a winter’s day.

With each season I end up creating everlasting playlists and compilations of songs to suit the mood and time of the year. As discussed with friends, Summer is always prime for this; so much music to evoke the high spirits and brief glimpses of sunlight we get in the Britain. Like last year, London looks set for a summer of twee indie-folk. Due for another summer of love, you should look no further than Planet Earth. The days are getting sunnier, and Planet Earth should definitely be joining this years playlists all round.

Planet Earth – Big Babies
Planet Earth’s Myspace