The Beta Band

I note that there's a 'best of' released today for The Beta Band after their decision to call it a day earlier this year. It's a shame that this'll no doubt be bought in the same piffling quantities as their studio records of the past. While their debut album proper wasn't great, their decision to rubbish it to all who'd listen around its released date virtually blew themselves out of the water and ended their climb to popularity. 'The Three Eps', their first full-lenth release, compiling - what are the chances - their first three eps, was a joy to behold, and as I play it again right now I have to wonder what sort of reaction it would get from so many people still yet to hear it. The plug in the film version of 'High Fidelity' may have helped a few more copies fly off the racks, but there was no such luck for their sublime last studio record, 'Heroes To Zeros' which was released in the first half of 2004.

That record pounded along with an energy that suggested new life and creativity within the ranks that excited me far more than most records released around the same time, and yet it was to prove their swansong. Their records are so cheap these days I urge you to take the punt - even if somehow they do nowt for you it won't be much lost. The 'best of' might be a good place to start, but shrewd use of places like Amazon marketplace will put you together a bundle of their albums for a similar price.

Should you have chanced upon this blog, by the way, it stems from the site, www.vinyljunkies.org.uk which is updated from time to time. And, why not?

Super Furry Animals

I've been pootling round their back catalogue a lot recently as a result of the near-immediate infatuation with their delightful new album, 'Love Kraft'. It strikes me that there hasn't really been another indie band of their calibre in the last couple of decades. Where some have triumphed early and others have waited their turn, SFA have never been less than great and frequently quite astonishingly good.
Whether you dip your (admittedly ear-based) toe into their Welsh language album, 'Mwng' or debut 'Fuzzy Logic' you'll find superb melodies and an energy so abundant it can do wonders for a foul mood. Their best of, 'Songbook Vol 1' that came out last year is a fine starting place for anyone reading this who's yet to allow the band into their abode.
The new album is a remarkable feat, coming as it does after the hugely ambitious 'Rings Around The World' and 'Phantom Power', two albums that were virtually born for surround sound. 'Love Kraft' picks up the sonic reins and pushes on further, lowering the pace but upping the ambition. A fantastic driving record that reveals little bits every time you listen.
This isn't, perhaps, the most phenomenally well thought out piece of writing about the Super Furries, but it's written with a deep-rooted love of their music as the primary motivation and if it causes one person to investigate further than they've previously done, it can't be a bad thing, can it?

Hmmm

Quite why a digital world possessed by more than enough people willing to bore you to tears / share their lives with you should need another hapless individual to wade in I've no idea. However, it seemed like a good idea at the time.

It's the new Franz Ferdinand album that's passing the time at the moment. Hard to say what they've done but they've made the leap from excitable but ultimately short-lived fun to decent grafters with more than a brief knack for a decent tune. The new record - quite feebly titled 'You Could Have It So Much Better with... - bounds along at quite a pace. But, where the previous album appeared to be based on a couple of killers riffs, they're far more willing to try different things this time around. The slower tunes (what do you mean, you want titles) are actually particularly accomplished indie tunes that stand strong without having to throb with a pulse like that of the proverbial dirty old man at a wet t-shirt contest. Whether it'll still be being played in a few weeks, who knows, but it's already managed to surpass expectations.

A less delightful experience was the new Warchild album, 'Help : A Day In The Life'. It's hard to knock something like this because it's for charideee, but musically it's not all there. I still totally advocate purchasing the thing - partly for the good cause, partly for a couple of excellent tunes. Coldplay turn in the sort of sub-Coldplay tosh they've taken to farming out beyond their endless re-writes of 'Clocks' for their singles, and Keane, Hard-Fi and The Go! Team deliver mediocre offerings that you need only hear once. If at all. Crime of the album is the take on 'I Heard It Through the Grapevine' by Kaiser Chiefs. I would say it'd be funny if it wasn't so awful. But it wouldn't. Never.
The Manics' contribution suggests that after the promising progress of 'Lifeblood' they've decided to piss off back to Generation Terrorists b-side land with chunky guitar sounds and little to remember when the song fades sharply from the speakers. The highs, for there are a some, come from guaranteed performers Elbow and Gorillaz and, more surprisingly from indie hit-and-miss merchants Razorlight and Bloc Party. These latter acts both turn in tunes that you suspect they'd be happy to release on their own records rather than just being a generous donation of averageness. The Gorillaz track may as well be attributed to Damon Albarn, but that's no bad thing. It appears to have come from the same, splendid place as vintage Blur b-side, 'Black Book'. Well worth checking out, even if little else is.