Baddies' First Release

Baddies are a Southend band consisting of Michael Webster (formerly of Engerica), Simon Bellamy, Jim Webster and Danny Rowton. The band quickly started recording and touring, and seem to be getting a lot of attention. Their published discography so far totals two tracks on the split EP twobythree with Reuben and The Ghost Of A Thousand. Battleships and Tiffany I'm Sorry are two immediately loveable and individual tracks, and for fans of the deceased Engerica the band's sound is both comfortably familiar and something new.

The band have recently announced a download and limited 7" release of Battleships, (recorded anew with Sean Genocky), and the new song Block It Out. It'll be out on the 27th October.

Though I may pay little mind to the new version of Battleships, I can't wait for an unheard track. When you're a new band with a strong sound and a small collection of songs, there's not much you can do wrong. Every song is a gem.

Finally, a Victory

-Part 1 2

After the dust had settled I got an official People in Planes newsletter about their exciting new release and all the places I could purchase it. The letter also mentioned that Mayday (M'aidez) could be downloaded for free from Amazon.com's online download service.

Here's what you'll be needing to download Mayday (M'aidez) by People in Planes:

1. An account with Amazon (in any country)
   
2. Mina's grandma's postal address
3. An anonymous American proxy server

When you have acquired all of these items you may proceed with your incredibly convoluted plot to download free Welsh music.

Why I'm not listening to People in Planes

-Part 1

It's the 9th of September, getting towards the end of the day. I had one thing to do: buy Beyond the Horizon, People in Planes' new album. I hurried to Fopp where a friendly guy told me they hadn't ordered any in, but they could if I wanted. I shuffled over to HMV, but it was the same story. I've also now noticed that Amazon UK have none in stock either.

Seriously England, what the hell? This is the kind of lack-lustre effort that makes bands head for distant shores and foreign record labels. If you don't care two bags of chips what's happening in your own music scene, how are innovative bands supposed to survive? This is why you're dancing to the Kooks while Oceansize are brokering deals with German publishers. This is why you don't deserve an advance iTunes release of Mayday (M'aidez). I hope you're happy with yourselves.

Continued...

How does a voice like that come out of this man?

This is Nathan Willet, singer for Cold War Kids. I would have to see it to believe it.

Cold War Kids are working hard

Cold War Kids' first album, Robbers and Cowards, quickly found a comfortable niche in my collection. Their disregard for tempo and key, while producing such a passionate and professional sound, intrigued me.

So after a long break, the Californian quartet have released a downloadable single called Something is Not Right With Me, from their new album Loyalty to Loyalty. You can listen on their MySpace player. I'm still feeling the sound, but I'm hoping there are some much stranger tracks waiting for us on September 23rd.

The band are also playing an impressive number of gigs over the coming months of winter, from Los Angeles to Paris. I'll see you in Manchester.

I love Creative Commons

So I finally finished All Roads to Feltwell, and I used some interesting music.

The 13 seconds of lovely guitar from the opening are from Small Victories by a Mark Fawcett, from his album Confusion Rides. Since I invented MySpace, I hooked him up a while back and now you can listen to his music by launching his MySpace player.

The soundtrack also featured kARhu. I used his track Yellow from the album Sinfonia for the Blunt Sword. The whole album is generously available for download from his website, and he's already working on some new tracks.

I also used the track 26 - Ghosts III from Nine Inch Nail's tragically-tagged album Ghosts. Trent practically begged me to put his music in one of my shorts, and since we're such good friends I did him a favour. The album is a amazing, self-indulgent collection of two-minute experiments, which was available in a super mega collector's package, or a free download.

What's available now is a $5 full download or only the first 8 tracks. I definitely encourage paying so little for good music, but it looks like Trent had a change of heart after he sold out of the deluxe editions. Still, all 36 tracks are covered by a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license, and that means it is legal to download and share them as much as you want. This is one of those lovely ocassions where you can use your torrent client without breaking the law.

HPR released an album and didn't tell me

I've loved these guys since I invented MySpace, and apparently they finally released their debut album last year. Naturally, I'm ashamed.

The album is available from Small Town or Amazon, and you can whet your appetite with their MySpace player.