Young Moss Tongue

Michael Dust Devil recently brought his astounding blog back to us after "going private" for a time, an event for which we can only thank him.

I've looked a Very Large Number of blogs over the years but YoungMossTongue is truly awe inspiring, not least for the sheer quantity of uploads.

Primarily looking at inependant music, he doesn't restrict himself to a decade or a genre but covers a vast number of artists from throughout the history of popular music.

Clearly a muso himself he's drawn to those on the outskirts of the industry who may have had critical acclaim but remained "cult" figures and the blog is all the better for it. A quick look down his band tags will give you some idea of the enormity of the site and the work that's gone into it.

There's no chat (at all) but there's no need here.

Pay Michael a visit, but be prepared to spend A LOT of time with him.

youngmosstongue.blogspot.com/Cornershop

Cornershop - When I Was Born For The 7th Time (1997)

Most people are going to remember Cornershop for the hit Brimful Of Asha, which remix by Fatboy Slim is not representative of what's on offer here. Whilst that song is present on the album it is in its "raw", unmixed format i.e. without the whistles and bells that Norman adds to bloody everything.

To go back to the beginning, this is Cornershop's 3rd album and was an enormous leap forward for the band. As recently as 2 years previously they were still hip young indie gunslingers, shooting at sacred cows like Morrissey. This album, however, was a revelation.

Kicking off with Sleep On The Left Side and Brimful Of Asha is a real statement of intent, hook laden tracks blending indie-dance with Indian influences and instrumentation, before hitting Butter The Soul where the band are straight into old-school hip hop, albeit with the requisite Bhangra twist.

That theme continues throughout the record with regular intervals of scratching and beatbox showdowns between the "proper" tracks.

We're In Yr Corner, track 5, is a pure Punjabi full-on sounddown (and awesome with it), before Funky Days Are Back Again brings a lo-fi synth presence to proceedings, followed shortly after by When The Light Appears, Boy, featuring legendary beat poet Allan Ginsburg reading from his own writing of the same name.

Good Shit is a return to the late 80s baggy sounding indie-dance, still with the hint of India, then Good To Be On The Road Back Home Again blends basic country with the band's Punjabi influences, tiger country, if you will. It's Indian Tobacco, My Friend is a pure ambient chillout.

The album concludes with Cornershop's version of Norwegian Wood sung, of course, in Punjabi.

This is a groundbreaking album for which Cornershop were deservedly lionised and I defy anyone not to like it.

www.cornershop.com/

Take The Pills!

Jingle jangle, oo oo oo - no it's not Jimmy Saville back in the house, it's Take The Pills!, an avowedly partisan website of all things twee, indie-pop, lo-fi and bubblegum.

If you like your music with a huge side-helping of sugar, you wear your hair floppy and you think no good music's been made since 1987, check this blog.

Heavily based around the C86 generation of bands, Take The Pills! showcases the sounds of that era but keeps the faith with music from around the globe of the same ilk from then 'til now.

Good sounds.

takethepills.blogspot.com/farmers boys

The Farmer's Boys - With These Hands (1985)

Emerging from Norwich in the early 80s, The Farmer's Boys were an unashamed indie-pop band. This album, their second and, sadly, last, came out in 1985 but its meld of Orange Juice/The Housemartins-type sounds is as fresh today as they ever were.

The album sets the scene by kicking off with a cover of the old Cliff Richard song "In The Country", up-tempo, jangling guitars to the fore and with enough verve and cheer to bring an immediate smile to your face. "I Built The World" keeps the pace up and bright and "Sport For All" manages to make miserablism chipper!

Next up "Art Gallery", with blasting horns and slightly harder guitars, is one of the album's highlights, "Something From Nothing" slows it down a bit before we're hit with "Phew Wow!" a bouncing romp of a song with Beach Boys harmonies, strings and the band's trademark cheeky grin stamped all over it. "All Of A Sudden" keeps the ball in the air then we're brought right back down to earth with "Heartache", a pastiche torch song. "Walkabout", with rabble rousing backing vocals is very redolent of its era with vaguely Spandau Ballet-ish vocalising. The album rounds off with "Whatever Is He Like?", a re-do of the band's first single.

I bought this album when it came out in 1985 and it pretty much had a permanent place on the stereo. I dug it out again when I heard the band were re-releasing their first album, "Get Out & Walk", and was astounded that I could remember every hook, chorus and lyric.

If you're feeling a bit glum or you've got a mate that wants cheering up, put this on. It should be prescribed by doctors for depression!

www.thefarmersboys.com

Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers

Pedro loves you. You can tell he does because he works really hard to bring you not just the best in indie music, from Smiths to Folds, but new bands you've not heard.

He doesn't fart about chatting, he doesn't put up stuff that the NME loves, he puts up stuff that Pedro loves and that's what matters. Pedro wants you to love what he loves. He loves his music.

Listen to him.

sadsongsfordirtylovers.blogspot.com/way to normal

Ben Folds - Way To Normal (2008)

Anyone who has followed Ben Folds over the years will be aware that he seems to release contented albums and bitter albums alternately. This is very much in the latter category and, to these ears at least, is his most accomplished and complete recording to date.

Weighing heavily on the side of what Folds calls "punk rock for sissies", openers "Hiroshima" (an account of Folds falling off the stage on tour in Japan), "Dr Yang" (taking the piss out of alternative therapy) and "The Frown Song" (taking the piss out of the uber-trendy ladies-who-lunch brigade) sparkle with Folds' barbed wit and invention.

Folds reaches his peaks here next with the beautiful "Before Cologne/Cologne", a heart breaking tale of long-distance love, and "You Don't Know Me" where he duets with Regina Spektor in what should have been the biggest worldwide smash of 2008. Why it wasn't is entirely beyond me.

The middle tracks, "Errant Dog" and "Free Coffee", are worth skipping, particularly "Errant Dog" which is the worse track on the album by a long shot (filler?) but "Coffee" segues very nicely into "The Bitch Went Nuts", quite possibly the bitterest but most hilarious break-up song I've ever heard and very heavily on the nerd rock side of things.

"Brainwascht" and "Kylie From Connecticut" are both excellent examples of what Ben Folds does best but it's on "Effington" that everything comes together; the wit, the warmth and the elegiac, movie-centric sweep of the sound.

www.benfolds.com/

P.S. as an addendum, Folds, in anticipation of piracy, went into a studio in Dublin with his band and recorded what has become known as "Way To Normal (Fake)". He wanted to pre-empt the piracy and released a fake album, many of the tracks having the same titles as the real tracks, but entirely different songs! The two singles, "You Don't Know Me" and "Cologne" are in their original format but the other tracks are entirely different. Check it out at

www.biggestpos.com/albums/Already%20Post/Way%20To%20Normal/

The new "Free Coffee" is highly recommended.