God Is InThe TV Zine

Presenting The sixth God Is In The TV Zine podcast. www.godisinthetvzine.co.uk Featuring artists that have featured on our pages over the past few months, alongside some interesting, innovative tracks you may never have heard before. TRACKLIST: 1. Bix Sixes - The Devil Makes Work For Idle Hands To Do “I’m devoted to being hopeless but you barely noticed/You hands are like knives and your eyes are like locusts” twitches Big Sixes’ singer over a frenetic tropical beat, that bursts forth into an addictive chorus. It brings to mind everyone from Vampire Weekend to the early work of the Libertines whilst retaining a introspective edge of authenticity. This FREE DOWNLOAD ‘The Devi Makes Work For Idle Tongues’(below) is a cracking introduction to this mysterious Bedfordshire three piece. Read more:http://s.tt/12S7W 2. The Love Language - Pedals Following recent shows supporting Arcade Fire in the US, The Love The Language just played their debut European shows. The one taster they’ve allowed to seap out to the public is the free download ‘Pedals’ below, a sweepingly tune that bares swooning choral hallmarks are brave and tender. Swelling through delicately arranged orchestration and collapsing into gloriously melodic cresendos not too dissimilar to the the early work of Arcade Fire or The Decemberists! Read more: http://s.tt/12QZT 3. And And And - Buy You And And And makes driving, gritty, energetic indie rock songs infused with a classic DIY punk ethos and a penchant for experimental instrumentation. These recordings embody the emotional mess that is an And And And live show. http://soundcloud.com/fanaticpro/and-and-and-buy-you 4. Kindest Lines - Destructive Paths To Live Happily Initially it appears obvious Louisiana’s Kindest Lines delicious reverb heavy lo-fi sound is inhabited with the ghosts of early Joy Division and The Cure. But somewhere on their debut long player Covered in Dust they settle on a feminine draped sound that’s somewhat more individual. Somehow reassembling the dark post punk era and flecks it with hints at disco sound of the next decade. Read More: http://s.tt/12RRP 5. Brontide - Matador Sprawlingly magnificent post rock instrumentalists from Brighton Brontide released their debut album ‘Sans Souci’ on the 30th of May on Holy Roar Records. To celebrate they are gave away the track ‘Matador.’ Read More: http://s.tt/13cM5 6. Knesset - Steady Hands KNESSET are a shoegaze American band, based in and between Phoenix and Los Angeles. Producing shattering waves of cinematic walls of noise, and impressively lingering, epic lyrical narratives that reach inside your ribcage and grab you by the heart…. Read More: http://s.tt/12QlZ 7. An Axe - Love, My Evil One minute and twenty six seconds. I can barely make a cup of tea in that time. That in that space of time Bristolian dramatists An Axehave produced a mini melodrama is testament to the quality of their work. “Love, My Evil” – and its instrumental counterpart “Let Law Be Upheld” – is a stellar single. Read More: http://s.tt/12UxS 8. Little Arrow - Aeroplane West Wales outfit Little Arrow are that rare thing, a genuinely heartwarming group informed by an ancient folk tradition but not consumed by it. An act seemingly completely oblivious to the prevailing trends, making music for the sake of expression and in an attempt to affect the listener.Their fine album ‘Music, Masks & Poems’released earlier this year on the quality Cardiff inprint Bubblewrap is the product of a genuinely communal effort(made up of friends and family members, including Margret Hughes his mother who provides a comforting female tone in the ether throughout). Read More: http://s.tt/130w5 9. Plant Plants - Hands That Sleep New duo, Plant Plants release their new self titled debut EP on the 20th of June. It’s produced by Jas Shaw(one half of SMD’s production team) and released on This Is Music new imprint, Less Music. It’s four tracks exhibit their skillful creativity for blending glorious harmoni

The fifth podcast from God Is In The TV Zine http://www.godisinthetvzine.co.uk
Featuring:

Cashier No. 9- Goldstar
Bos Angeles -Beach Slalom
Tiger Tape - Is It Me or is it anyone else?
PRIS - Blue-Tak Baby (Thom Yorke version)
Snorkel - Stop Machine
The Vichy Government - How to Become a Cult Figure
Kontakte - Hope...
Hhymn - Light of the Mooon
Drive - No Feel
Flask Fiktion - Capsules OF Sun(DID Remix)
Three on a Match - All About Eve
Mary Epworth & The Jubilee band - Black Doe
The Scottish Enlightenment - Earth Angel
Evi Vine - The Colours of the Night

God Is In The Pod: 5 by Godisinthepod on Mixcloud

Godisinthepod5 by godisinthetvzine.co.ukAll content syndicated from http://wwwg.odisinthetvzine.co.uk

A new year, a better mic, and some samples from movies. What more can you ask?From the people that brought you http://www.godisinthetvzine.co.uk God is in the Pod is back for its fourth episode! Enjoy! Intro/ Theme Tune 1984- God Is In The TV Our Mountain - Wooden Hearts (Free download track lifted from their forthcoming debut album) Love Parry IIIrd- Toy Box (Taken from their race for the poison chalice EP out now) Hold Kiss Kill-Our Last Waltz (Released as a flexi disc through artrocker magazine and HLP19) Dead Red Sun- Facility (A free download from Dead Red Sun) Chailo Sim- Calm (Features on their album 'Replete') Eleventh Dream Day- Satelite (Taken from their album Riot Now!) Gideon Conn- Wildfire (Taken from his album New Bop Sounds released last year) Alcoholic Faith Mission- Running With Insanity (Read our SXSW tour diary with Alcoholic Faith Mission) CYMBALS- Good Luck(dream cop remix) (CYMBALS release their new single 'Summer Escaping' on Tough Love this Saturday) Withered Hand- Love in the Time of Ecstacy (Taken from his debut album 'Good News' out now) Admiral Fallow- Delivered (Taken from their debut album 'Boots Met My Face') Serafina- Night before Mutiny (Taken from her EP released on Stolen Recordings last year) (Blade runner ending) God Is In The Pod 4 by Godisinthepod on Mixcloud Download http://www.godisinthetvzine.co.uk/mp3s/godisinthepodfour.mp3All content syndicated from http://wwwg.odisinthetvzine.co.uk

Tipping new acts is a inexact science isn't it? For every success story there's rotting NME cover from the 1990s in your attic, hopefully proclaiming Terris the 'best new band in the country.' Then there's the BBC sound of list, a industry love in that seems to further grease the wheels between mainstream media and mainstream acts, PRs and labels. And when the winner is announced(the unfortunate Little Boots et al), the BBC will obviously spend the next six months trying to convince you 'how right they were!' by instantly play listing their chosen new darlings. Then there's the music media constantly and veraciously searching for that 'next big thing' when in reality its the music that matters whether that's from a act on album one or album four.

With all of that in mind, I present to you my Tip Tape for 2011, you see we write about unsigned, small label acts all year round so these are my recommendations rather than my props to bash you round the head with or attempts to tell you how 'you heard it here first' they are just a collection of relatively new acts I like. Some of them are completely new, some under appreciated and some bubbling under the surface, all of whom I believe and I know will be producing music that is worthy of your attention in the next twelve months. And that's all there is too it ok no ulterior motive?! Ok then, with the spiel over I hope you enjoy my Tip Tape for 2011!

There's been a preponderance fuzzy art rocking types crawling from basements, blinking into the light in the past few years. From the bittersweet C86 dipped indie pop of Brooklyn's Pains of Being Pure at Heart to the nu-gaze might of A Place to Bury Strangers, and this year's noise popping tips for the tops London dwellers Yuck. Well boy/girl four piece Hold Kiss Kill just might be the most intruding new addition, displaying the instantly sneering fuzz rock rhythms of Jesus and Mary Chain and the fuzz box atmospherics of latter day My Bloody Valentine and threaded with deliciously ice cold harmonies comparable to the duelling feminine vs masculine tones of Ladytron. Neon Girls(below) a forthcoming bside is the sound of swirling static down dark tube tunnels, whilst intertwine male /female vox are in entagled in a whispering embrace through the whistling winds of the train lines. Hold Kiss Kill release their debut single 'Our Last Waltz' through the helen llewelyn product nineteen label.

HOLD KISS KILL- 'Neon Girls' by HOLD KISS KILL

Juddering, catchy and intelligent, Cardiff based/Monmouth born electro-experimentalists VVOLVES(two v’s, not one w) are the meeting point between the anthemic electro of Toykyo Police Club and the unhinged intellect of LCD Soundsystem. When I checked out local bands to witness at last year's SWN festival in October, the title track lifted from VVOLVES’ 'Birds In Berlin EP’ instantly sparked my interest, its a addictive, charmingly scruffy electro anthem that burns through town on the wings of a swirling synths and a skittering vocal line, whilst members of VVOLVES hold onto its twisty turning flux capacitor rhythms for dear life! When the stream of consciousness burns its way into your skull amid tales of the carnage of the night before, in the monologue of this final minute you're reminded of the Super Furry's classic 'Herman Loves Pauline!' Their new EP 'Vogue' has better production values and now the sonics are less vocally driven, a succession of blinking beeps and beats rise and fall like the unexpectedly pleasant sound of a man repeatedly kicking a 80s arcade game. The future possibilities are endless for VVOLVES, keep your eyes on them! VVOLVES debut EP proper will be released on a 10” gatefold vinyl and as download on February 7th.

VVolves - Birds in Berlin by Somethingfortheweekend

Kent's Tom Williams and the Boat have been gathering momentum as a musical force for three or four years, this Feb see's the release of their debut album, if you were being simplistic you could call Tom Williams & The Boat 'The English answer to Bruce Springsteen and the E street band.' But that would be too lazy, sure their blues, folk, country tinged rock sound is as vermantly muscular and densely intricate taking in rocous strings, lusty blasts of harmonica, and joyous horns. But its inbued with band leader Tom Williams' urgent cinematic lyrical journeys across his past and the sprawling roads of the country, that really propel the act toward that rarely uttered word: unique. Get Older(below) is one such example of their debut album's power, its twitching rhythm section releasing waves of cascading violins, violent strummings and stabbing drum fills, sprinkled with Tom's sneering blues tinged tale of deceit and mortality going up in flames that's redolant of the narratives of a Nick Cave and Bob Dylan. The tales of travel and the "struggle of a man in his early 20s confronting a modern world that doesn’t make sense" that make up his band's debut album are apparently built upon fictional fragments, if that's the case they're bloody convincing and outstandingly affecting! Tom Williams & The Boat release their debut album on Feb the 21st through their own Wire Boat recordings label.

Tom Williams & The Boat- Get Older by godisinthetvzine.co.uk

Camden four piece Tribes came to me in a email message a few months back, fuzzy ramshackle lo fi pop recordings of their demos that show enormous potential, the song "We were Children"(below) is deceptively brilliant built on a clawing mangling guitar strings that clambers into your ears and won't let go of your brain, but its the sardonically delivered sherbet lemon drop of a chorus line.('oh no stranger your just like me these things happen we were children in the mid nineties’)That will hit a chord with many music fans of a certain vintage(one of whom is writing these very words), and will literally and metaphorically conjure up memories of the crumpled up bar chords and slacker melodies of The Lemonheads, Pavement, Husker Du and the Pixies!

Tribes- We Were Children by godisinthetvzine.co.uk

Women in music, its the in trend, and with Jessie J's (perplexing?) selection by the BBC as winner of its annually flawed self perpetuating industry inbred Sound of poll, that trend looks set to continue. Often you feel there's a contrived industry bandwagon that is being filled by the labels each new female act fulfilling a new need in the market from Duffy to Florence and back again there has been a tendency in the mainstream at least to often overlook the real talent below the surface(see Caitlin Rose, Emmy the Great ect).

One such act that could have the potential to break out of this mould is The Good Natured aka teenager Sarah McIntosh her affecting first single from last year 'Your Body is a Machine' might initially carry a hint of Mockney Kate Nashism in tone, but she's more like the thinking person's answer to the band wagonism of La Roux, amongst an undergrowth of hazy synths and thudding beats 'Your Body is A Machine' alluringly reveals a intelligent rifle through the inner thoughts of a girl who has had enough of her own dumbed down, passed out Skins generation and even couches it in an astoudingly perceptive philosophical ideology(‘Narcissism overwhelming/vanity is quite exhausting/Self indulgent hedonistic blame it all on your upbringing’), but most of all this is a onomatopoeic dark nugget of melodramatic pop and exactly the kind of tune that could easily sit on a Radio one playlist, if only they were listening!

The Good Natured released her second single 'Be My Animal' on KIDS in November and plans an album later in 2011.Here's what Sarah says about her plans for 2011: "I don't want to rush the album as I am really happy with the way it's all building and at the moment it is great just getting the songs together! We are releasing an EP in March then we plan for the album to be released in 2011. I am working with loads of talented writers and producers in London and I flew out to Stockholm to write at the end of November! I am taking some time to lock myself away in my bedroom and write on my own - like I did when I wrote Your Body Is A Machine (our previous single). I can't wait for you to hear everything I have been working on!'

Your Body Is A Machine by The Good Natured

North London outfit smallgang wowe'd the massive audience at last year’s World International John Peel Day in London, they have since been much in demand in London. Comprising of Anglo-Japanese brothers Simon and Toshi Kobayashi on vocals and guitars, and Matt and Ruth Atkins on drums and bass respectively. Simon, Ruth and Matt worked together at the now defunct Border's bookstore on Charing Cross Road and the band formed out of their friendship. Smallgang's expansive post punk is the sound of expression crushing up against emotion, and is given life by the brothers Kobayshi's double barrelled vocal assaults, dark screeches of guitar noise redolent of everyone from Slint to Shellac shifting precisely above shifting time signatures. If their first single the crowd pleasing 'Cockpit' got people talking then their forthcoming single 'Trespasses' could potentially sear itself onto the heart's of many, possessing an authenticity and first person quality not often seen in mainstream contemporaries, from the cart wheeling percussion and menacing dark alley guitars, to the twitching, disaffected baritone vocals that instantly put you in the minds eye of both brothers in turn. Somehow familiar yet resigned they're equal parts the sound of Bill Callahan and singer/bassist Mark Burgess of The Chameleons, indeed there's even a touch of the work of the early National about these two deceptively revealing lyrical vignettes that open up a window on emotion and indecision. "Evoking Mike Leigh's eye for detail and human drama and Bresson's transgress pathos' its these voices that give a throbbing heart to smallgang's impressively powerful sound. ‘Tresspasses’ is lifted from smallgang's first studio album also entitled 'Tresspasses' and released on Damnably in May 2011.

smallgang- Tresspasses by godisinthetvzine.co.uk

Edinburgh based Electro wizards Ben Butler & Mousepad is Joe Gay vs You/Germlin's new project and they are a late entry wild card onto my list of 'one's to watch' if you check the press release apparently they create 'a soundtrack to a bad mother of a party with Rocky Balboa, Bootsy Collins and Triumvirat headlining.' Maybe but what makes them really stand out from the over populated electro pop herd is their ability to surprise, because they sound like the frankly schizoid, and the lead track from their new EP 'Infinite Capacity feat The Niallist" is the sound of Gary Numan playing with some new pro tools programmes with all the gleefulness of a 16 year old after their first taste of redbull and coke!

'Infinite Capacity’(below) stomps through a sea break beats and glitches, scattered with a electro prog- pop melody that constantly comes at you from different angles, reminding one of everyone from Devo to LCD Soundsystem and beyond. The rest of the EP shows the outfits’ diversity and grounding in the modern dance community retaining a playful zip for experimenting with funky beats, squelching synths and cut up samples that makes us eager to see where they go next. Ben Butler & Mousepad is currently working on the finishing touches of his debut album ‘Formed for Fantasy’ due out on LOAF in 2011.Ben Butler & Mousepad have been invited by Deerhoof to support them in their US tour.

Ben Butler & Mousepad Infinite Capacity (For Love) Feat by godisinthetvzine.co.uk

There are problem three of four new names for you to sample on this list (and that was partly the aim) but I've also included some acts that whilst not new, deserve more attention in the coming year. One such is gloriously minimal Newcastle dream pop act Lanterns on the Lake, we've long since championed their subtle achingly gorgeous sighing pop that touches on the works of Low and <>Mazzy Star that stretches across two outstanding self-record and self-released EPs: “The Starlight EP” and “Misfortunes & Minor Victories”. Well we're pleased to inform you that they've now been snapped up by ace indie imprint Bella Union one can only hope that 2011, is the year that Lanterns on the Lake really emerge from the depths of the underground scene into the warm bosom of the wider alternative public, because they bloody deserve it! Their single from last year the heart beats of 'Lungs Quicken' (below) is but just one example of their wondrous ability to shift and move the listener with subtle cadences of instrumentation and piercingly gorgeous harmonies.

Lanterns on the Lake- Lungs quicken by godisinthetvzine.co.uk

Another who has already been well covered on this site is startling Norwegian talent Pål Moddi Knutsen or Moddi for short, his Rubbles EP last year earned him rave reviews on GIITTV, and shone a light on his future movements, including the release of his debut album 'Floriography' in this country in April.

The title track from his EP 'Rubbles'(below) is an outstanding piece of melodramatic composition, written at the dead of night its undulating percussion that traces the vast

landscapes of his homeland. Moddi's utterly unique voice drawing into you his spindling web through intriguing couplets and sudden bursts of accordion and a sea-blue guitar but it's his spellbinding vocals that are the key to understanding the majesty of his song writing switching effortlessly from tenderly enigmatic to skyscrapingly dramatic in the space of a few verses. Moddi has been compared favourably to everyone from Bjork to Scott Walker and Patrick Wolf but is an utterly unique talent. Moving ahead, Moddi is preparing for the international release of “Floriography” (on Propeller records in April 2011), and will be touring extensively with his band throughout Europe in conjunction with the release.

Moddi- Rubbles by godisinthetvzine.co.uk

Sure, new Heavenly signings Sea of Bees have been widely touted elsewhere but I just couldn't resist including the work of Sea of Bees small-town Sacremento's very own Julie Ann Baenziger (known as Jules to her friends) her cowering voice is entrancing and 'off-kilter-folk' song writing irresistibly enigmatic, if you’re looking for short hands you can mention the southern twang of Kristin Hersh or the elegance of the work of Cat Power, but essentially multi instrumentalist Sea of Bees is an beguiling incomparable new talent and her forthcoming ‘Songs For the Ravens’ album is delightful and: "influenced by rebels, nomads and the beloved people in Jules’ life. Short stories, films, even colours and shapes help richly weave ‘Songs For The Ravens’ into the epically beautiful and deeply personal piece of work it is. It is full of songs Jules wrote when she was emerging from her chrysalis, the work of someone who wanted to put her entire life on record. As she made it, she even learned to play the marimba, the glockenspiel and the slide guitar."

Take the her forthcoming single the utterly spellbinding country tinged strum of 'Wizbot' (below), possesses an irresistibly coquettish vocals that sigh and twinge they are the magical sound of being enveloped in the pools of that special someone's eyes and yet being left with only unrequited feelings, a perfectly encapsulated lament told through vivid imagery and references to the book Huckleberry Finn. Jules aka Sea of Bees' forthcoming album 'Songs for the Ravens' is a utterly glorious record and gets its released on Heavenly Recordings on 7 February.

Scotland has something of a track record of late, when it comes to being the birthplace of emotionally scorched indie rock groups of late, and the encouraging thing is they are all so different! Whether its been the insistent melodic throb of Frightened Rabbit's emotionally torn streams of consciousness' or the scorched almost post rock cadences of There Will Be Fireworks or the emotive primal scream of Muersault producers one of 2010’s sleeper albums of the year.

Glaswegian Sextet Admiral Fallow exist somewhere between the gaps of all of these aforementioned acts, but yet are utterly unique, delicate folky instrumentation reveals itself like a flower in spring, each carefully executed line built layer by layer each player or flute, guitar, shivering percussive cymbals and strings that arch and release. Each player ushering in a new motif and removing themselves delightfully to give the song space to breath. But its singer/lyricist Louis Abbott, a proud Scot whose accent is familiar and comforting yet filled with a melancholia (contrasted with the Northumbrian tones of Sarah Hayes) that sows these songs with hard worn tales of growing up as a under achiever and being pushed away at every turn, a theme that is both personal and yet universal and sung in intricate poetic detail, moving from the minute tiny details of the everyday, toward utterly wide screen rushes of emotional reward.

Admiral Fallow's album 'Boots met my face' got a low key release last year, but now gets its full UK release on March the 21st! Preceded by their new single 'These Barren Years' on January 31st. The album track ‘Delivered’ (below) is one such fine example of their expert song writing and the redemptive power of their music, that skirts the edges of folk pop revival and ushers in a tenderness, sense of place and hope through struggle, that is life affirming and heart warming.

Admiral Fallow- Delivered (Alt Version) by godisinthetvzine.co.uk

All content syndicated from http://wwwg.odisinthetvzine.co.uk

“It’s a little bit suspect with it (Shoegaze) coming into mainstream indie now, it looks like it might be the next thing to be mined. Then obviously there’s going be a backlash and then everyone’s going to be sneering at it again. Its like it’s cool and worthy to be a stripped down punk band but if you admit you’ve got a lot of a lot of effects pedals then you’re hiding behind it. But then I think those people don’t like their own company and just like not talking for five minutes.” Engineers bassist/vocalist Mark Peters giving his perspective on a totally different music scene from the one his band left four years ago. With all the talk of a rise in nu-gaze and rapturously received albums from M83, Maps and Kyte, along with the rise in labels like the Sonic Cathedral and Northern star and the sell out return of My Bloody Valentine there’s confirmation that excelling in sonically adventurousness is in fact something that should be applauded, not derided. Unfortunately the phrase took on a derogatory meaning during its blossoming in the early 90s, slung at anyone wielding a guitar and hiding behind a wall of sound, with long greasy hair and a lumberjack shirt on their back, but was Shoegaze as easy to pigeonhole as the mainstream music made out? Or was there something more nuanced beneath the tides in this ocean of noise: ’Something that interested me that at the time was only the press coined the term (Shoegaze) and labelled a lot of the crapper bands that came out at the time with it.’ Continues Mark ‘The ones that were just taking on the sounds of bigger acts like My Bloody Valentine or Ride when those bands were at their peak. But at the time there wasn’t really much difference between the Stone Roses, ‘Screamdaelic’ by Primal Scream and Spiritualized it was all just kind of epic, hedonistic kind of music.‘ It shouldn’t be forgotten that way back in 2005 the Engineers debut offered up an intimate record that bore its way into people’s subconsciousness, followed by a series of standout shows that saw them leading a the first wave of new acts that skilfully blurred the lines between dream pop, post rock and Shoegaze. Indeed Mark doesn’t feel that ‘shoegaze’ is a dirty word anymore. It’s been embraced by a new generation of underground bands from the sighing dream pop of Kyte to the MBV flecked indie fuzz of The Pains of Being Pure At Heart, but Mark thinks his band steps out of any crude boxes through the force and intricacy of their work, contacting the listener on different levels: ‘I think its become an accepted genre there’s a big community of people who love that music and don’t care what the mainstream press say about it, or what trendy bands want to do.’ Mark points out ‘I’m not going to be so naive to think they we won’t be pigeon holed because I know that we already are but I think there’s a lot more to us. I think if you actually listen to us opposed to just skimming through it. ‘ He’s right to be confident, returning with their startlingly new lush and swirling LP ‘Three Fact Fader’ - brought into creation via a labour of love that spun together writing, recording and production sessions over a four year period into an elegiac, multi-layered piece of work. But that’s not to say it’s birth was anything like easy. There was a danger at one point that the record that could never seen the light of day: 'We started writing this album in 2005, since the first one came out, we finished recording it in 2007. But our record company (Echo part of Chrysalis) just stopped releasing records in the traditional way.’ Mark recalls ‘We'd had quite a long intensive period of writing and recording, so opposed to sitting around waiting we thought we'd take a break. A couple of labels approached us but we didn't think it was moving on in the right way so we thought we'd wait until the right label (Kscope) to come along.' In the intervening period the band (full line up: Simon Phipps, Mark Peters, Dan MacBean, Andrew Sweeney), released

“Do you ever get the urge to run, run get gone gone/and a lot of things get abandoned along the way don’t they?!” “With a lot of the produced music you hear, its hard to hear the real person in it” points out Orphans and Vandals intriguing front man Al Joshua “I was really keen to keep it more alive: that's why we did the album ourselves in our front rooms, we set up the microphones and that's were we recorded ‘Strays’ and ‘Terra Firma.” The genesis of London based multi-instrumental five piece Orphans and Vandals was borne of Joshua’s similarly frustrating fruitless musical situation, the grind of playing in dead end bands peddling the same old same old, constrained by the hackneyed melodies repeated every night in the same clichéd form. Orphans and Vandals front man AL Joshua talks passionately about a band that changed his life, its birth inspired by a trip from London to Paris – his own pilgrimage to retrace the footsteps of poet Arthur Rimbaud. With this new found lust for escape he let himself off the leash, starting to record songs that ”we're for him” Joshua explains "I wrote and recorded the first few ‘Christopher’ and ‘Headful of Tears’ in my house at the beginning, and just gave it away when people asked for it. ...They were done my bathroom, our neighbours were constantly on cocaine fuelled porn marathons, and I liked to keep the sounds that fall through the cracks in the background... This release of creative freedom saw him giving away these nascent recordings to anyone who asked, and was swiftly followed by the union with Orphans and Vandals bassist and song writing partner Raven. They then set out with a rough idea of what they wanted from the remaining members Francesca and Quinta on strings, percussion and glockenspiel, and Gabi on drums that would form the crux of a very different kind of sophisticated rock band, one that attempts to skew expectations of form, meter, and song. A spontaneity of creative process that big label bands who take months to produce and over dub, to over think to quite frankly shine shit before its ready for your mass consumption might baulk at, thus all Orphans and Vandals sessions were recorded live: 'I like to keep the mistakes in the recordings most of my favourite albums have them.' Joshua notes 'the thing with producing is you only get exactly what you planned on doing, there’s no accidents that bring in unexpecteds, I try and leave room for slight accidents or random chance.' Maybe that's why the songs he written in the last eighteen months documented in their superb debut album ‘I am Alive You Are Dead’ stand out so much in a sea of rock pastiche, skinny boys with their guitars, and vacuous two dimensional 80s revivalists, they live and breath with life, snippets of dreamlike imagery, brutal autobiography, literary couplets and warm instrumentals that rattle with aggression, melancholia and euphoria: a reflection of the people that crafted them and the modern world that seeks to suck the humanity from our veins. The album’s finest moment is the emotionally exhausting epic ten-minute symphony Mysterious Skin, which is stupendous and life affirming. Cinematic instrumentation that rises and falls like the wild tide, below Joshua's sprawling stream of consciousness. It pierces your heart and calls to mind the seedy urban poetry of Lou Reed, the sexual ambiguity of Rimbaud, and the half spoken/half sung working class humanism of Jarvis Cocker, moving from intricate emotional details to the huge foreboding underbelly of the city, back to a stranger's bed (a boy or a girl? Who knows.) Toward a literal sexual climax, into sky scraping chanted refrains, propelling rambunctious rhythm sections, huge stirring violins musical saw, and harmonium, flailing to a cacophony. The twitching opener Strays hints at the satellite town frustration of New Model Army singer Justin Sullivan: and the stirringly life affirming choral epics of the Arcade Fire. Their last double aside single Terra Firma/

Chamber nights(in association with www.godisinthetvzine.co.uk) have linked up with the rather fine people from Cherry Red TV to put together a programme highlighting alternative underground music. You can see the first in a series of programmes below- featuring: V.E.G.A.S.Whores (a recent Guardian New band of the Day and Camden Crawl festival closers at Koko) Not Cool cc-sb Kuffar All content syndicated from http://wwwg.odisinthetvzine.co.uk

Watch the super new video from up and coming Cardiff types The Muscle Club, it's for their upcoming single "Hail!Joe Hale" it's directed by GIITTV's very own Ryan Owen and Alex Skinner, no less! The Muscle Club - Hail! Joe Hale! from Ryan Owen on Vimeo. Orginally published here: http://www.godisinthetvzine.co.uk/news/news_detail.php?id=1752All content syndicated from http://wwwg.odisinthetvzine.co.uk

Glaswegian act Butcher Boy came to our attention in 2007, with the release of their first album "Profit in Your Poetry". It was a real treat, a excellently realised indie folk pop album, full of literate, heartfelt lyrics about wistful memories: it’s tender, organically produced sound drew favourable comparisons in my own mind: "Think early Belle and Sebastian haunted by a real past, the precise poetic pop of the Smiths tinged with a heavy Glaswegian sensibility. Think the tunes of Lloyd Cole and the Commotions matched to the intimacy of Arab Strap, most of all think wonderfully dark pop music, for nights out or those long dark midnights spent alone by your turntable, reading the inlay, and submersing yourself in the sound." They followed this up with the single "18th Emergency" later that year, a stately ballad it was like being allowed to read someone's secret diary entry, each line consumed with poetic heart tugging imagery that conjures up moments in time, lovers lost and real kitchen sink drama. Their new album "React or Die" is preceded by a single "Carve a Pattern" which you can download here(from the folks at Stereogum): Butcher Boy- Carve A Pattern It reflects a progression a more buffed up, musically expressive sound that still bares the emotional brevity, and bittersweet vocals at the heart of Butcher Boy. We caught up with their lead singer/lyricist John Blain Hunt (who is also the famed DJ behind the National Pop League nights) for an exclusive insight into each of the tracks that make up their second work "React Or Die." Butcher Boy's "React Or Die" Track By Track WHEN I'M ASLEEP I wrote the main melody one Sunday night after watching The Dream Life of Angels on BBC2. Rue des Cascades by Yann Tiersen is over the closing credits, and the film has an incredibly savage and sad ending. I could barely speak the day after watching it. The final frame is still and calm but it is heaving with regret. It's like a sob caught in your chest, grief. Originally, the song was a duet with a completely different vocal melody but when Maya joined the band I went back to it and worked on a stronger cello line, something to suit Maya's style of playing which is very confident and strident. The rest of the song fell into place around the cello. I watched The Dream Life of Angels again and I re-wrote the lyrics to read like a nursery rhyme. Basil plays ten mandolin tracks on three mandolins at the end. Brian, the engineer, said that the last "I never feel..." was a Leo Sayer moment, which I'm quite proud of. I love playing this live - it breathes and it feels very powerful. CARVE A PATTERN I bought a rattly old piano in 2003 and I came up with the melody for "Carve A Pattern" the day I got it - I don't think I ever wrote anything else on that piano. Butcher Boy aren't really a band for jamming but we used to rehearse this song a lot, just because it was such good fun to play. I've got a ten-minute long recording of us playing it in my old front room and by the end of the song we were hamming it up so much it's like the finale of a Broadway musical. This was always going to be the most pop song on the record - I wanted it to be really sharp and snappy. The last chord originally rang out for twenty seconds, like A Day In The Life, and there are lots of little nods to different songs I love in it. Brian said that the backing vocals in the chorus are like Satellite Of Love but I think they're more like Mr Sandman by the Chordettes. They're both odd and unsettling songs though; either one is good enough for me. YOU'RE ONLY CRYING FOR YOURSELF I distinctly remember humming the melody for this one afternoon while we were recording our first record. There seemed to a big leap between the verse and the chorus melodies and I originally thought it could be a call and response song. This song was pieced together in the studio much more than the others. We ended up trying to lighten it a lot, as it had ended up sounding very ominous and serious.

Orphans and Vandals are an epic indie/folk poetic five piece from London. With a bit of luck, this year they could take over your airways. Led by the ridiculously talented singer/guitarist Al Joshua and song writing partner bassist Raven, with Francesca and Quinta on strings, percussion and glockenspiel, and Gabi on drums, the band are adept at painting vivid string augmented worlds influenced by their disconnection, confusion, of their experiences in modern life, J G Ballard and The Velvet Underground, the brutal inner lives at the heart of their London home and their journeys to Paris. Their finest moment so far is the emotionally exhausting epic ten minute symphony Mysterious Skin, which is stupendous and life affirming cinematic instrumentation that rises and falls like the wild tide, below Al's sprawling stream of consciousness. It pierces your heart and calls to mind the seedy urban poetry of Lou Reed, the sexual ambiguity of Rimbaud, and the half spoken/half sung working class humanism of Jarvis Cocker, moving from intricate emotional details to the huge foreboding underbelly of the city, back to a stranger's bed (a boy or a girl? Who knows.) toward a literal sexual climax, into sky scraping chanted refrains, propelling rambunctious rhythm sections, huge stirring violins musical saw, and harmonium, flailing to a cacophony.Orphans and Vandals create romantic music of the street; harsh, dangerous, melancholic yet heartbreakingly euphoric all at the same time. It has the ability to transport you into a scene of deep personal introspection and back out into the universal within a few literary couplets. They are seeking to add a whiff of realism, emotion and humanity to modern rock music in 2009, which would be a special feat indeed. Orphans and Vandals will release their debut album in April 09. All content syndicated from http://wwwg.odisinthetvzine.co.uk