acb

I'm back at work; slightly zombified due to not having gotten enough sleep last night.

The stack of CDs I ordered from Shelflife's clearance in early November finally showed up today. I was wondering where it had disappeared to; it turns out that they sent it by surface mail. Which means it probably spent the past two months making its way through the Panama Canal on a ship.

( manifest )

The cover of the "Weather Sensitive" EP by Postal Blue (a Brazilian indiepop band, if I recall correctly) looks rather like one of Crushworthy's Hydroplane/Cat's Miaow sleeves. Which is probably because both lifted design cues (halftoned photographs, that tall sans-serif font) from Blue Note or someone.
And do Free Loan Investments sound like Heavenly/Tallulah Gosh or what?

I trekked down to Brixton last night to see Suburban Kids With Biblical Names. They were really good; classic indie pop with jangly guitars, trumpets, bongos, catchy melodies and harmonies, and sufficiently unusual/tricky rhythms and arrangement to keep things interesting. I picked up one of the 3 copies of their CD they had with them, and am listening to it now.

(There are so many good bands coming out of Sweden these days. Let's see: SKWBN, Jens Lekman, The Radio Dept. and Sambassadeur, to name just four.)

The other bands were OK too; Farfarlo were decent indiepop circa Sounds-of-Leamington-Spa, though some say they're in danger of turning Coldplay-smooth* and bland (I only saw a few of their songs, though). The Bleeding Hearts were OK though unexceptional; the most remarkable thing about them was that the frontman looked like Nosferatu crossed with Marilyn Manson, which didn't at all go with the music. Michaelmas were fun again, reminding me a bit of The Rumours.

The DJ also played the new Belle & Sebastian single. To my ears, it sounds a bit like the New Radicals' "Get What You Give" Toploader's "Dancing In The Moonlight". Which, for a released single, is probably a good thing.

* Talking point: Are Coldplay, Keane and Badly Drawn Boy are the inevitable logical consequences of C86/Sarah Records-style twee/non-macho indiepop? Discuss.

Last night, I rounded off the frantic week of gig-going with a visit to a night named Don't Look Down, at Barfly, to see Robots In Disguise. They were enjoyable, dancing around, mock-fighting, playing guitar and bass and singing over a backing track and visuals coming off a DVD. They were not unlike Chicks On Speed, or perhaps Le Tigre, in concept; one part crunchy rock riffs, one part danceable electronic sequences, and deliberately rough and unpolished vocals.

I can think of about 3 or 4 Melbourne bands I could see them on a bill with.

I just found out that My Favorite have broken up. I'm glad I got to see them, though it is somewhat bittersweet to know that there isn't any more where that came from.