New Favourites 2010

I have prepared a CD-R of my favourite new (to me) tunes of 2010. You can have a copy if you want; let me know and I will make one for you. Here is a list of the tunes with information on where they come from and links to where you can read more about the artist in question. Art Bears The Song of Investment Capital Overseas From a private compilation of music featuring Dagmar Krause called Some Questions About Dagmar Krause Veronica Falls Found Love in a Graveyard From the Indietracks Festival 2010 compilation Everybody Was In The French Resistance… Now Billie's Genes This riposte to Michael Jackson's 'Billie Jean' appears on the album Fixin' The Charts, Vol. 1 Lady Gaga Telephone From the album The Fame Monster The Blood Arm Suspicious Character From the album Lie Lover Lie Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes Home From the Rough Trade Shops compilation Counter Culture 2009, which I seem not to have reviewed online. The Duckworth Lewis Method Test Match Special From the untitled album by the Duckworth Lewis Method Electrelane To the East From the album No Shouts, No Calls Cate Le Bon Eyes So Bright From the brilliant album Me Oh My. I hope I have not buried this track here where people will not realise how great Cate Le Bon is. Cluster Heisse Lippen From the Soul Jazz compilation Deutsche Elektronische Musik: Experimental German Rock and Electronic Musik 1972-83 Fever Ray Seven From the untitled album by Fever Ray Cineplexxx Para Mi From the Indietracks Festival 2010 compilation Las Cuervas Chan Chan From the album De Mi Ciudad Te Traigo Omar Souleyman Hafer Gabrak Bidi (I Will Dig Your Grave with My Hands) From the album Jazeera Nights: Folk and Pop Sounds of Syria Group Doueh Ragsa Jaguar From the album Treeg Salaam Terrifying Tibetan Child and His Father Vocal with Erhu From the Sublime Frequencies album Streets of Lhasa Gerald Barry L'Agitation des Observateurs, le Tremblement des Voyeurs From the CD given away with the Irish Museum of Modern Art's Boulevard magazine. Trio Scordatura Invocation From the album Dubh The Streets of Lhasa From the Sublime Frequencies album Streets of Lhasa An inuit panda production

The Blood Arm "Lie Lover Lie"

Remember how I have been going on about how great Everybody Was In The French Resistance… Now! are? As you will recall, they are fronted by Eddie Argos of Art Brut, but his partner in musical crime there is one Dyan Valdés of the Blood Arm, a band previously unknown to me. When I saw a copy of this album by them going cheap, I decided to investigate.

The sleeve to this suggests that what you are looking at is some kind of Goth band – the cover is dark and brooding, and the band photos are black and white and somewhat sinister looking. It was a bit of a surprise, therefore, when it turns out to be somewhat funky, albeit in a whitey kind of way. My beloved reckons that actually it just sounds like a Franz Ferdinand knock-off outfit. I can see where she's coming from, but the singer is a bit more in-your-face. The music is also rather keyboard-driven, suggesting that Dyan Valdés is at least something of a musical force.

I am not sure if this will prove to be a keeper into the long run future, but it does have some insanely catchy tracks. The opener ('Stay Put!') is one of these, but the particular standout for me is 'Suspicious Character', with its wonderful refrain of "I like all the girls / And all the girls like me". Story of my life, basically.

suspicious image

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