Slipper

Slipper is the solo project of Sam Dodson, of Loop Gurus fame. This is an experiment in kitsch electronica-exotica, not unlike the work of Tipsy. The inspiration comes from all manner of weird and outrageous records from the 50s and 60s.

Last Train is the first track of Slipper's release "Attack Of The Killer Lobsters" released by the Stealing Orchestra netlabel. Pull on an angora sweater, pour yourself a martini, relax in the neon glow of exotic beats and swing!

Download the entire album.

Player One

Yes it's Player One (aka MePaul from The DIY Chart Show) - he's been performing live for years and years from two stints back in the day on Blue Peter then on to a support slot with Shed 7 and the quintessential near-miss almost getting signed to Chrysalis records. He now DJs on the DIY Chart Show and plays others people's music during his residency at Brno's legendary Fleda night-club. His new direction sees him taking on some classic 60's and 70's tracks and giving them a little shine of breakbeat pop magic.

Well what do you think?

Shirley Ellis - The Clapping Song (Player One Rethink) (MP3)

Please check out his myspace for more....

(this is a daeitmasel exclusive and will only be available for evaluation for a week or so).

Stray Dog Cafe

Hailing from Wigan, Stray Dog Cafe take their cues from The Fall, Shellac, Captain Beefheart and the whole world of angst ridden, edgy alt-rock. The three piece of wiry guitar, thunderous bass and pounding, angular drums form their own self titled brand of itchy, restless and noisy Minimal Dirt Rock.

Although the band have been around since 2004, today sees the release of their first shiny 7" - "Maxamillion / Theme: From Warlock".

(Admittedly, this post is spam for some friends, but I think they rock in an interesting way that you will enjoy!)

Streaming audio from their website.

Fever Tree

Fever Tree were just a normal folk-rock band until they left Houston, Texas in 1967 and headed for the lysergic love-in that was San Francisco.

They soon changed their sound to the fuzzy pop of flower power and whilst not being a huge name in that field, they still managed to break into the Top 100 with the San Francisco Girls single.

But we’re heading for their second album for this weeks instalment.

Ninety Nine and One Half = 2 Minutes and 49 seconds of dirty, scuzzy garage psyche.

The guitars wail, the bass and drums groove and Dennis Keller shrieks his heart out over the top.

Fever Tree - Ninety Nine and One Half

Enjoy.

The Six Parts Seven

Hitting the shelves today is the new long player from The Six Parts Seven, Casually Smashed to Pieces on Suicide Squeeze. Refining the alt.country/post-rock sounds of their previous albums (Things Shaped in Passing, [Everywhere] [And Right Here] and assorted split releases and remix projects), the album is a distilled piece of instrumental americana. Not afraid of adding lap steel and Memphis horns into the rarified world of post-rock, they mark a refreshing shift from the more apocalyptic work of the leading lights of the genre such as Godspeed, Mono and Mogwai.

To celebrate the new release, their record company has posted a MP3 best-of, containing a couple of the new album's tracks (Stolen Moments and the divine Falling Over Evening) while revisiting some of the band's back catalogue.

The Six Parts Seven - MP3EP on Suicide Squeeze

Mark Eitzel

Mark Eitzel - Candy Ass (2005 - Cooking Vinyl)

Hardly a stranger to the scene of leftfield songwriters, Eitzel has somehow managed to maintain cult status whilst unassumingly infiltrating a hefty number of music collections. The buzz surrounding this 2005 album, however, was less of a hum and more of a 'hmmmm', as a thousand indie critics stroked their beards and furrowed their brows simultaneously; described on Indiefolkforever as containing "a lot of Pro Tools wankery" and on Pitchfork as a "crushing bore of a detour". I, being a sucker for awkward underdog releases and an arbitrary penchant for anything Pitchfork hates, have decided to like this album. Yes, it's hit and miss. Yes, Eitzel has been blogged to buggery before. No, I don't care; this album is a bold manouvre by a veteran and contains some strange, interesting and wonderfully heavy-eyelid inducing songs, like this one:

Mark Eitzel - Song Of The Mole (mp3)

Stars of the Lid

Stars of the Lid, the divine post-ambient pairing of Adam Wiltzie and Brian McBride, are readying their latest long player, Stars of the Lid and Their Refinement of the Decline, a typically monumental 3LP/double CD release through Kranky and scheduled to appear on April 2.

Following up on their last slab of drone/ambient released nearly 6 years ago, The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid, they are refining the sound of tectonic plates moving. Apreludes (In C Sharp Minor) is a typically dense miasma of drones dripping in beautiful melancholy and is a teaser for the album to come.

While most albums of this length would be considered a marathon at best, SOTL are one of the few contemporary groups who can create such a consistently enthralling series of sonambulant resonances ... the soundtrack to a film yet to me made.

Apreludes (In C Sharp Minor) on Kranky

Bacanal Intruder

Bacanal Intruder is a Spanish gentleman by the name of Luis. He plays all of his own musical instruments - piano, melodica, harmonica, spanish guitar, double bass, anything lying around - and records the results into his computer and mashes the results up.

So much electronica released on the net is either repetitive, derivative house or a million and one ambient soundscapes, so it's refreshing and invigorating to hear such lively, imaginative, melodic music, all glitched up into a cocktail of rhythms and harmonies.

Modem is the title track from his release on Zymogen Records, and is an excellent example of his work.

You can download the following EPs:
Modem on Zymogen
Room-A-Tronic on So Soft
Herramientas Para Abrir Un Libro on Test Tube

FJ McMahon

There’s nothing new anymore.

Everything has been done to death, but when a piece of music starts to play and makes your spine tingle with delight, you tend to forget about originality and just go with the flow of the tune.

FJ McMahon’s ultra-rare folk LP "Spirit of the Golden Juice" is one of those albums.

Originally released in 1969 on the Tigereye Music label and reissued on vinyl in the late 90’s, this is a glorious folk album, very much in the style of Tim Hardin and my ears can hear a huge nod to the acoustic side of Stephen Stills.

Most of the tunes on the record are drawn from his experiences in Vietnam as a member of the US Air Force and were recorded after his return to Santa Barbara, California.

'Sister, Brother' is the opening song from the album and draws you in with its simplistic beauty.

Enjoy.

Dr Frankenstein

Dr Frankenstein are a Portuguese three-piece surf rock band, based around the flamboyant guitar work of André Joaquim. They take their cues from the likes of The Ventures, Link Wray and The Phantom Surfers.

Cat's Eyes is the first track from their album The Cursed Tapes released free on the intertubes, on the netlabel Stealing Orchestra. Whilst the playing is good, the whole production feels just a little too clean and studio bound - perhaps because the drums were re-recorded a couple of years after the guitar and bass. Despite that, this music makes you want to grab some shades and bermuda shorts and impress bikini-clad girls!

Hang nine, dude! Or something...

Click here to download the entire album.

Tim and Sam's Tim and the Sam Band with Tim and Sam

TaSTatSBwTaS are a guy called Tim and his band, of which there are usually six, none of which are called Sam. When they play live, half the members wear T-Shirts with 'Tim' written on them, no one wears a T-Shirt with 'Sam' written on it. Only one member, Tim, is called Tim. They make instrumental music with acoustic guitars, clarinets, cellos, glockenspeils and ahhhhs. The sound is organic, melodious and, well, cute; kinda like a forest saying goodnight to all the little woodland creatures. In my experience, it's rare to find a band that attempts to channel youthful awkwardness into something so graceful and unashamedly uncool--I think it's great.

I bought this EP from Tim's mum, as she was sat behind a table at the gig. It came with a free teabag. But if you don't live in Manchester, you can grab Tim's self-released three track EP from the myspace. Here's the magnificent title track; enjoy:

Tim and Sam's Tim and the Sam Band with Tim and Sam - Stepping Stones

The Consolations

From Stockport (it's so near Manchester - it actually touches) - there was quite a flutter on teh interweb regarding this outfit. Suggesting that they might sound like a lo-fi Beta Band or something. So we popped over to their masspiss webpage to see whether there was any meat to this broth.

Well, well. What a total disservice to both outfits. The Consolations have entirely their own style, calling on influences (I would guess) as diverse as The Fall, Beck and undoubtably Master Waits himself. This track is taken from the current EP, The Borrowed Time EP, which is out on Upset Zombie Records. It's my favourite of what I've heard so far.

• The Consolations - A little bit more of you mp3 (From The Borrowed Time EP)
  

STHIL

STHIL - Beyond the reach of the satellite feeds


Sthil, I've just worked out is not in tribute to the powertool manufacturer as I read on another blog somewhere, but is instead is short for "Search the heavens if lost" - which makes them sound a little bit like an emo band (planes mistaken for stars and so on) - but they're not. They are Jenn Leathers and Joel Willard from Austin Texas and they describe themselves electronic indie pop. I've listened to the album over the holiday period a few times and it's great. Like a happy Boards of Canada meets a tuneful Books over at Keiran Hebdan's house on a rainy saturday afternoon and decide to write a pop record whilst stoned. I've chosen this track as the most representative of the album, beyond the reach of the satellite feeds. Perfect for those long days of laudanum-enduced soporific ennui.

• STHIL - this could be forever MP3 (self-released 2006)
  

Buy and /or stream the rest of the album here