My Hero: DLR

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Check out the Guardian's awesome classic interview with Van Halen's David Lee Roth, author of possibly the most insightful auto-biography I've ever read. Sample excerpt from the Guardian piece:

Van Halen won their first record contract in 1977, at a concert in Anaheim Stadium, when four hirsute figures – one with Roth’s flowing blonde mane – floated gently into the stadium by parachute. Van Halen were hiding in a van, dressed in parachute suits, and took the stage moments later. As a professional gambit, it set a certain tone which they have followed assiduously ever since. The stipulation in their performance contract that the promoter remove all brown Smarties in the bowl in their dressing-room (to ensure he has read the contract properly); Roth’s two black-belt midget bodyguards – such things, he suggests, are imperative for “overall ambience”.

Frankly if you aren't viewing your life as a circus show you probably aren't any good at being a rock star.

BP x

Comment: Feeling Fresh

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I've been wanting to have a site refresh and redesign for a while now and was feeling inspired last night and this morning (to the point I couldn't sleep) and the result is what you see before you now. The old design had become very tired in my eyes, probably due to me looking at it for about four years or something, and was largely tied to a template so I've thrown it out and started again.

It's a new year and so what better a time to make a fresh start. I've focused on reducing the dark heavy feeling of the site to make something that is much lighter and hopefully more enjoyable to read. The move away from a graphical masthead also means it's easier to tweak styles without it becoming a massive ordeal.

You may also notice the pink has gone - there is still some in the customised Soundcloud and YouTube embeds that have been posted in the past but the site's colours moving forwards will be mainly focused on whites and greys with the blue highlight used in the masthead.

I welcome comments - tell me if you like it, hate it or notice anything that you think could be improved.

Thanks for reading the blog over the years and here's to the future!

BP x

Comment: 2011's Best Songs

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At the end of every year I tend to spend a bit of time contemplating how to suitably wrap things up. Sometimes it's a single post that just lists things that were particularly note-worthy, other years I have been much more formal and had a collection of top five lists. This year I feel like running with something a bit more free form so here is a list of my favourite songs from this year.

There are too many songs here to say something about all of them. I'll go into a bit of detail on a selection of the ones that meant the most to me and that will make the post long enough as it is. There is also a Spotify playlist that pulls all of these together to make it as easy as possible to have a listen. Nothing here is ordered based on 'best' - the playlist and this list were built to flow as well as is possible with such a diverse selection of music. Having said which, there was one song that stuck out for me more than any other this year... Read on to find out which...

'I Don't Want Love' - The Antlers
The opening track from The Antlers' Burst Apart was a contender for song of the year for me. It's a beautifully exposed and fragile track and the decision to stick such a piece at the start of an album still amazes me because it is so easy to miss just how staggering it is. There aren't many bands that come close to Thom Yorke's brand of experimental melancholy, but The Antlers come close.

'Collapse' - Iceage
Iceage's debut album was the kind of brash, rapid fire album that really encourages repeat listening, but it was the discordant melodies of 'Collapse' that I always longed for more of. This most surprising thing is how much is crammed into a two-minute record, from the frictional intro of the guitar to the closing bars at the end.

'Undertow' - Warpaint

'Codex' - Radiohead

'Share The Red' - Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks

'Vomit' - Girls
Girls' second album saw them continue to expand their sound but nothing on that album came close to the gospel ambition of this needy and emotional indie cut.

'I Can See Through You' - The Horrors

'Montana' - Youth Lagoon

'Come To The City' - The War On Drugs
I said it all on the review last week but golly, does this flick my switches. It's difficult to judge something so close to a first listen but I'm confident that 'Come To The City' will stick out for years to come. The sound of a hand reaching out to pull you from the quick sand - an emotive wall of sound.

'It Takes Time To Be A Man' - The Rapture

'Ice Cream' - Battles feat. Matias Aguayo
When I saw Battles at Glastonbury the mechanical precision and strength of drummer John Stanier blew me away: this dude kicked the fucking doors off. Matias' vocals and percussion just took things to another level - this is math rock on spring break: sexy, wild and completely in control.

'Caffeinated Consciouness' - TV On The Radio

'Manifesto' - Planningtorock

'Saturday Love' - Toro Y Moi

'Manila' - Rough Fields

'Minnesota' - Bon Iver

'The Wilhelm Scream' - James Blake

'Video Games' - Lana Del Rey
Is she for real or faking? That question seemed to rumble around for months and yet everyone seems to have forgotten that real pop music is just a show anyway. I don't need to know her real name - Lana stole my heart as she laid a smack across my cheek with the line "It's you, it's you, it's all for you... Everything I do...". Sometimes popular music is best left with some mystery.

'Space Is Only Noise If You Can See' - Nicolas Jaar
Still Jaar's best record and 2011’s most unhinged vocal by far. Try as you might, this makes no sense but the space groove bass line and wonky lyrics made Nicolas Jaar one of our most exciting producers. The fact that he hasn't felt the need to do anything even remotely similar since only compounds the magnificence of it. Grab a calculator and fix yourself.

'Stay' - Gunnar Bjerk

'What I've Lost' - Benoit & Sergio
Everything Benoit & Sergio released this year was fantastic, but nothing came close to this track from side two of the Boy Trouble EP, a contemplative late night road trip through the old haunts with a new (potential) lover. If people ever tell you electronic music has no soul then play them this - a track full of heart and pain and a crucial hint of hopeful yearning.

'Need You Now' - Cut Copy

'Midnight City' - M83

'Hawaiian Air' - Friendly Fires

'All Nite' - Rustie

'Fallout' - Neon Indian

'Lonely Days (Drop Out Orchestra Vocal Remix)' - Mario Basanov
Mario's original was good but this shimmering sun baked disco remix is truly great. It's strength is that it simply hits that summery Ballearic vibe better than any other seven-minutes of music I heard this year. Throw in some excellent guitar work (more guitar solos on disco please!) and you've got something very vey good indeed.

'Basement L.O.V.E.' - Motor City Drum Ensemble
MCDE's DJ Kicks blew every other mix CD released this year out of the water with it's fantastic mixture of soulful jazz and subterranean house music for the heads. This separate remix of the 'L.O.V.E.' cut released on that mix as an exclusive is a brilliant taster for that mix even if doesn't actually appear on it. Loose and airy, it feels like a slowed down summer's day spent dancing on Mediterranean tiles after a night with no sleep.

'Arise' - Maceo Plex

'Far Nearer' - Jamie xx
2010 saw the xx break into the mainstream but in 2011 Jamie proved the best is yet to come. As good as the xx's debut record is, in my opinion it can't hold a candle to this solo track. Sounds like Paul Simon kicking back on a dubstep rumbling tropical island; this is Kia Ora, Five Alive and Rubicon rolled into one.

'Banana Ripple' - Junior Boys
As if Mario Basanov and Jamie's 'Far Nearer' weren't enough sun... 'Banana Ripple' easily takes my vote for song of the year. This unashamed summer disco dance track caps off an album of angst-ridden self-reflective electronic pop on It's All True like a glorious and carefree butterfly emerging from a self-absorbed chrysalis. 'Banana Ripple' is a song of three acts where each one is more fantastic than the last. The Hammond organ peaking towards the end never fails to give me goose bumps, and that is what music is about.

So, what did I miss?

BP x

Album Review: Slave Ambient - The War On Drugs

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The War On Drugs' Slave Ambient comes on like a golden sun-drenched California-born-and-raised country album, the jaunty melodies kicking off with 'Best Night', swimming in shimmering guitar work and a humming percussion backing. 'Brothers' retains the feeling but adds a bit of psychedelia, sounding like The Byrds on one of the Beatles' acid trips.

But throughout Slave Ambient each song from The War On Drugs feels like it adds a different element. 'I Was There' is sloppily gambolling around like one of the Verve's more experimental tracks which, if you put your ego aside, is still a good thing. Things really move with 'Your Love Is Calling My Name' though - the melodies and rhythms becoming more intensely mechanical and singer Adam Granduciel's vocals becoming entwined with the instruments so they feel like part of the music as much as the instruments.

It feels like a jumping off point and from here on out the ground is no longer beneath our feet. There are short slices of ambient and distorted circular instrumental and a glorious moment on 'Baby Missiles' that is a good barometer for The War On Drugs: we are basically listening to Bruce Springsteen backed by Neu!

The anthemic 'Come To The City' and its post-rock reprise encapsulate this album best though. It's a dazzling and bewildering fist-in-the-air shout of triumphant determination wrapped up in a home-coming that hits you with a bloody smile and a punch to the gut all at once. If U2 early U2 had transformed into something amazing instead of shit they might be something like this.

BP x

Slave Ambient is out now, available from Amazon.co.uk on CD, LP and MP3 [affiliate links].