Bands You Might Not Be Listening To But Should Probably Be Listening To…

Firstly, I don’t have a superior music taste to anyone, so why should you listen to my ca-razy opinions?
Secondly, you should probably listen to my ca-razy opinions.

Often, when enjoying some music through my ears and brain, I think, “Why are these guys not huge?”, so that’s all this is. Maybe it’d be best to refer to the following as The Injustice League. Although that gives the wrong impression when I really mean that it’s an injustice that these bands are not massively well known (not in the US of Britain anyway). 
Yes, I’m writing this from the perspective of a girl in Scotland who only has a vague grasp of what’s popular and not music-wise… The following is probably not going to be a huge revelation to those who know a lot about music, but hopefully it’ll provide a sense of “Oh, I’ve heard of them… what are they actually like?”
Am I drunk? I don’t think so… Oh, who cares? Here are some bands I adore and think you might adore too if you don’t already. At the end there’ll be a Spotify playlist, so you can judge for yourself if you can be bothered… [If you're reading this blog for the first time, I'm so so sorry for the disappointment. You can leave if you like, the things I type end up like this a lot.]

Art Brut

Hmm… How do you describe a band like Mari– uh, Art Brut? They’re often compared to the Fall but, as much as I do love the Fall, I think this is slightly unfair. Art Brut are not really like anyone else around at the moment.
They are, however, very easy to get into. I struggle to remember how I did so, but I think I heard ‘Formed A Band’ on a compilation cd in about 2004/2005 and immediately fell in love. They tell stories and I like bands that tell stories. Their lyrics are very clever and usually very very funny. To date, they’ve released three studio albums, ‘Bang Bang Rock and Roll’, ‘It’s A Bit Complicated’ and ‘Art Brut Vs. Satan’. I think these need to be listened to in order. ‘Bang Bang Rock and Roll’ sees the band getting started and includes songs about relationships, LA and erectile-dysfunction. Overall, it sounded like a band having fun and enjoying making music while they could. I get the impression that with ‘It’s A Bit Complicated’ and ‘Art Brut vs. Satan’, the band have realised that they’re going to be round for longer than they may have first thought and have made albums in which they appear more confident and even a bit angry. 
Art Brut are not merely great on record, but they are also one of the best live bands I’ve seen. They work well in any sized venue. The first time I saw them was at a relatively large Music Hall supporting Maximo Park. I believe they’d never been to Aberdeen before this, so when I heard they would be there I bought a ticket for them rather than for the headliners. They successfully managed to hold every person in that room’s attention and looked like they were having the time of their lives. You could be forgiven for thinking that they looked so happy as they were playing brilliantly in front of a large room of people, but the next year, I saw them play in one of Aberdeen’s smaller venues, the Tunnels and they looked even more pleased and continued to give the show their all. My friend Keri nearly got kicked in the face by frontman, Eddie Argos, who enjoys jumping about in his socks, but she exclaimed afterwards, “It was worth it.”
‘Slap Dash For No Cash’ from the latest album sums up why everyone should love Art Brut. In it, el Argos explains his adoration of bands who make very raw records, often with tiny imperfections. This is what his band do. This is one of many reasons they are so fantastic.
Why isn’t everyone trying to sound like U2?
It’s not a very cool thing to do
Why would you want to sound like U2?
Just press record and play it straight throughJeffrey Lewis

“Hey, I recognise that guy, I think he’s the support act…” I whispered to Selly, “I’ve seen him on the Culture Show…”
We were in Sheffield at Jarvis Cocker’s homecoming gig for Rough Trade’s 30th Anniversary. More specifically, we were at the merchandise stand inside the Academy deliberating over which Jarvis tshirt I should buy (I settled for one with a rude word on it. Take that, Thatcher!) when a young, familiar looking man turns up, stands next to us and starts talking to the guy selling the merchandise about the comics that are onsale. This is where I give Selly my Culture Show knowledge. He realises that he’s due onstage in about two minutes so makes a swift exit. When he’s gone, I glance at the comics and realise that he is Jeffrey Lewis. We then enjoy the performance he gives before the Cocker takes to the stage.
I vowed that I would buy any albums of his that were onsale after the gig, but an impromptu dj set by Jarvis distracted me and I forgot. Days later, I got my hands on some of his albums and continued falling in love.
Jeffrey Lewis is one of those New York “anti-folk” artists you hear about. I’m a big fan of Adam Green, but there’s something about Lewis that is that little bit better. I was very nervous of writing that last sentence, but I’ve done it now and I stand by it. As with Art Brut, the lyrics are often very clever and sometimes funny, but his delivery of each word is beautiful too.
Not only is he extremely talented musically, but he also writes and draws his own comics. Skills. Possibly to pay the bills. You can get hold of the majority of comics of his that have been printed online if you do some quick searching. I thoroughly advise it… after you’ve listened to his music.

 

Larrikin Love

Before I get too ahead of myself, I should warn you that Larrikin Love are no more. A very short-lived act, but an important one nonetheless. My first encounter with them came, again, when I saw them supporting a band at the Music Hall. Once more, they were clearly more interesting than the headline act as I can’t even remember who that band was… OH! It was the Zutons. Yeah, they’re far better than the Zutons.
They may have only been around for two years, but their album ‘The Freedom Spark’ is still one of my favourites of recent years.
I don’t quite know what else to say about them, which is a shame, but I think their music speaks for them. At times very strange, at times very dark, at times very upbeat. A good album for any mood.

1990s

(Sadly, they don’t normally look like that…)
May be being a bit biased here as these guys are friends of mine, but they’re still very underrated and I don’t really understand why. I’m pretty sure they’re doing everything right in that their songs are catchy, they play a lot of gigs and don’t take themselves too seriously, but hey ho, these things happen. Again, I don’t really know what to say (“Then why are you writing this, you dick?” I hear you cry. I will not dignify that with a response, you should be ashamed of yourself…) so I may just have to let the music speak for them. Their songs are often very silly. They don’t exist as a band to write especially deep lyrics, they just want to have a good time and hope that you have a good time too.
Go see them live if you can, they’ll make you dance until you cry.

The Long Blondes

Yes, they won an eNeMy…E award, but did they get the attention they deserved? Sadly not.
Okay, so again, I’ve chosen a band who are not around any more. This is what I do, alright? I just can’t let go!
Look at them! They’re so good looking! Why were they not appreciated more?
I saw these guys live a couple of times and thoroughly enjoyed them. Their debut album, ’Someone To Drive You Home’ could be the soundtrack to many girls’ lives, despite the majority of the songs being written by Dorian, on the far left in the picture.
The songs make you dance, they make you think, they make you attempt to sing higher than your vocal range will allow. All very positive things, I reckon.
The second album ‘”Couples”‘ (Yeah, that’s Couples in speechmarks within inverted commas. Effing with your head, yeah?) I’ll admit, was a grower. The first time I heard it, I was disappointed after the genius of ‘Someone To Drive You Home’, but it’s not often you can rival genius, so I gave it a second chance. And I’m glad I did. The songs began to get stuck in my head and I’d find myself singing along to them throughout the day. I was hooked again.
It filled me with genuine sadness the day I found they’d had to split. It was even more sad finding out the reason why. Dorian had suffered a stroke at the start of last year and so, found it difficult to continue playing guitar to such a level as he prevously had. They called it a day. I hear Dorian is still doing fine, which is the main thing.
Still though, I’d rather they existed for that short period of time than have them never exist at all.

________________________
I’ll leave it at five bands for now. I feel this entry getting lacklustre and I’d rather everyone mentioned got the same level of passion, even if there aren’t as many words written about them.
I’ll probably do a second one of these at some point, despite the fact that you don’t want one. But this is in the ’self-important writing’ section for a reason.

As promised, I’ve put three tracks by each artist into a Spotify playlist. It’s hard choosing just three, but any more and it would have ended up going out of control like some Spotify-Godzilla.
Click HERE for the playlist. Right HERE! Anywhere in this line! WOO!

For those of you unable to get onto Spotify, I apologise profusely and will instead take the lazy way out and give you a track-list so you can look them up, despite that being effort…

1. Art Brut – Formed A Band
2. Art Brut – Direct Hit
3. Art Brut – Moving To L.A
4. Jeffrey Lewis – Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror
5. Jeffrey Lewis – Back When I Was 4
6. Jeffrey Lewis – If You Shoot The Head You Kill The Ghoul
7. Larrikin Love – Happy As Annie
8. Larrikin Love – Well, Love Does Furnish A Life
9. Larrikin Love – On Sussex Downs
10. 1990s – See You At The Lights
11. 1990s - Super-Legal
12. 1990s – 59
13. The Long Blondes – Lust In The Movies
14. The Long Blondes – You Could Have Both
15. The Long Blondes – Peterborough

Tags: music