Song, by Toad

Found are off to play at SXSW at the moment (support them by buying this) and one of the gigs they’ll be playing there is the Hype Machine Radio launch party.  Hype Machine Radio heavily involves a friend of mine called Dev Sherlock from Blogfresh Radio, who has been about as supportive as humanly possible of  Toad Records, of the blog itself, and of pretty much all of the bands who I’ve sent his way.

Pairing up with the Hype Machine is great news for Dev, I assume, partly because Hype are becoming a pretty heavy hitters in the world of internet music and partly because they seem to be genuinely nice people.  He has also been kind enough to extend that warm, cosy cyber-hug to Found, both by inviting them to play and by including them, and my good self, on the Hype Radio show episode on this page, to go with the launch party event itself (abridged version on Blogfresh Daily).

All of this, in terms of exposure, is great news for Found, who have agreed to record a Toad Session on their return from SXSW.  In amongst all this excitement, however, they have slipped out an EP which is really rather good and has been really rather criminally overlooked, as far as I can tell.

Seven songs seems a bit long for an EP, but there are a couple of fairly short numbers – almost interludes – on there, and the whole thing clocks in at a very efficient twenty-two-and-a-bit minutes.  I have to confess that I really, really do not like Now We’ll Never Make the Playlist, but the rest of it is terrific.  The opener, Enough About Human Rights, is one of my favourite songs for ages.  The rest of the record jumps about a bit, but it’s still a very coherent piece of work.  There’s Let Fidelity Break, which could have been lifted straight from the This Mess We Keep Reshaping sessions, and the excellent, down-tempo Freaky Freaky Raving.  This Way By Design reminds be of their earlier work, actually, and its these little shifts of gear which make this an interesting EP, for me.

They don’t seem like they’ve quite decided on how they want to move beyond their previous album, and The Fidelities seems almost like they’re trying on a few things for size before they take the plunge into their next project*.  But, having said that, it’s still a beautifully packed and highly enjoyable piece of work in its own right.

Found – Enough About Human Rights

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*Disclaimer: I have no idea if this is true or not, of course.

Website | More mp3s | Buy direct from the band

…and don’t spare the horses.

Yes, we are back. What an enormous relief, I hear you all cry. How did you ever get by without me. Well before I get back to my usual crisp, clear and perfectly formed blog posting* I have some bits and bobs to round up, so this will be a bit of an all-over-the-place post.

Christmas lists:
Yeah, I’ll probably be making at least one. Top 20 albums perhaps, but not much more than that because I just can’t quite be arsed. A lot of people are making Festive 50 lists in honour of the great John Peel, but I am not sure I could face it. The avalanche of new songs in 2007 reduced to fifty? I doubt I could whittle them down, but I may yet have a go.

The Contrast Podcast is doing one, and listeners and participants are invited to take part. It’s a great project, so if you don’t know what I’m talking about then bugger off and have a listen. Just email Tim your top five songs of the year, in order, by November 27th and you’ll be counted. The whole lot will come out as a series of podcasts over the Christmas period, which sounds rather jolly. Details on participating can be found at the bottom of this post.

Johnny Flynn & the Sussex Wit – Leftovers

The Waiting Room will also be doing a big old Christmas Special, with special listener requests. It doesn’t have to be at all related to Christmas, so if there’s something in particular you’d like to hear then leave a comment on the site or email DC direct and let him know. My vote was for No Christmas in Kentucky by Phil Ochs which, if you know it, is a relentlessly depressing song about poor people not being able to afford the sort of stuff everyone else takes for granted at Christmas time, and just how bleak Christmas must be if you are living in poverty and abandoned by your nation. I couldn’t find an mp3 though, so the festive spirit has been given a temporary reprieve.

Decoration – Only a Plague Can Stop Us Now

Other Shit:
Mike at Manic Pop Thrills reckons we should try and engineer a Christmas #1 for Malcolm Middleton in the UK charts. Given that the song in question is entitled We Are All Going to Die, I think you’ll agree that there could be no better choice. Given that the likely winner is some ratty old transvestite from The X-Factor, I think we owe it to ourselves as a community to get Malky in there if at all possible. Help save Christmas for the misanthropes! ‘We’re All Going To Die’ gets a digital only release on 17^th December and I’m not sure where to buy it just now, so I’ll try and remind you all closer to the time.

Blogfresh Radio has been scraping the bottom of the barrel once more and invited me to talk about Found, one of last week’s reviews. Click here for the appropriate episode.

The Sequins – Treehouses

The Daily Growl – or Tim, as he’s known to his mates – took me on a pilgrimage to the new Rough Trade record shop when I was down in London, where I spent almost a hundred quid on vinyl. What a moron. And before you ask, no I can’t afford it – not anything like. Still, I have accumulated enough singles recently that record companies have sent me as promos that I figured I might as well give in and buy a record player. Some fifteen years after they became obsolete. Genius.

Phil Ochs – Talking Cuban Crisis
*Anyone sniggering at this is barred.