2005 : the year pop music took over my playlist.

as i have recently revealed my true love for the latest girls aloud and rachel stevens albums in my round up for the year, you may be wondering why i haven't reviewed these pop masterpieces.

well the answer is simple. others have done so in far far better ways than i ever possibly could. so please let me point you to some reviews that has made me  relisten to the albums again and enjoy them even more. i never realised there was so much depth to their shiny pop.

the writer, marcello carlin, has been someone i have admired from afar with his various blogs, but his rediscovery of pop seems to have happened with a degree of synchronicity to yours truly making me think i haven't gone completely mad. then again, who knows ?

review : girls aloud - chemistry

review : rachel stevens - come and get it

onwards !

mark e

ireallylovemusic

ireallylovemusic : the new look

people.

after months of deliberation and long nights of the soul ($tateside reissues of course), i am proud to reveal the new look.

enjoy.

it's a limited release only.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

 

i am special - i have a number

and that number is : 1697.

basically, today i received the lovingly packaged promo for the forthcoming coldcut album : sound mirrors, (out end of jan'06), with the warning that the cd is watermarked with a unique number so if i upload/copy it then the bods @ ninjatune can whup my ass.

thing is, there is no fucking way i would do such a thing. i aint into all that gubbins, but i feel kinda cool to have a number.

and the album ? it's a total headrush. dropping the cut-n-paste madness that they are best known for, the lads have crafted a gorgeous set of tracks that is epic in sound and ideas. full review tba of course.

for more details and pictures on the rather nice packaging look : here (the cd is housed in a cardboard 7" single sleeve, which has a cutout in the shape of the silhouette that seems to have become coldcuts new 'logo')

crack'on

mark e

ireallylovemusic

another one : grand mal news

an update on an album i love, that has yes to get out there amongst the real world.

grand mal - love is the best con in town.

bill whitten of the band, has managed to find love with a new new york label : new york night train recordings

hopefully the label will secure some sort of distribution in the uk, but hey in these days of the internet who needs the record to appear in the shops, get clicking and hassle those fine folks for details as to how you can hear this brilliant mixture of 70's glam, lazy hazy rolling stones sleaze and some beautifully subtle production by dave fridmann.

if you remember the band at all, then head over to the ireallylovemusic interview section ('q+a'), where i quiz bill on all things boring and mundane. perhaps.

g'night.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

exclusive : bronze age fox album tracklisting

for a while back there, the 3 bronze age fox shaped singles were on constant rotation, well ok, not the actual singles as the pressings were of a dreadful quality according to dave of the band, i was lucky. i got the review promo of the tracks.

needless to say, when i heard that the band were being given the chance to record an album, with some aid from a loved up record label, i was happy as can be.

several band members packed in their dayjobs (thus preventing me from bumping into them during my lunch hour .. oh lucky them), and off they went to seek their fame and fortune.

the resultant album was recorded ages ago, but has yet to see the light of day due to a shift in the market, a change in colour, logo aint quite right, make up your own excuse.

subsequently, my patience wore thin. so a few unsubtle nudges later i have been given the chance to hear the results.

here's the tracklist

album title : impossible !

impossible !/denizens of the deep/hidden track/carry me/beers/cloths/touché/pinstripe/you wouldn't want me to lie/late at night, late at night/how to fall in love.

now, i have only heard the album once properly, and as before i know that it takes a few listens for the combination of doms alter boy vocals and the twisted pop music (with all the unusual tweaking amongst the straightforward song structures) to completely become understood i will be holding off before i reveal my thoughts, but 'you wouldn't want me to lie' is a classic, but, be safe in the knowledge that if you liked the singles then the album is going to become an object of obsession.

lets just hope it gets on the release schedule in 2006.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

 

bits-n-pieces

hello.

first things first. a simple piece of paper sells for money on the internet. and people are interested. why ?

it has the words 'arctic monkeys' written on it. fantastic. interested? then go loook-n-bid : here

also, i have to mention a great book (book !) that dropped through my inbox recently. it's simply called 'the festive fifty' and has been put together by mark whitby. as the name implies, this is a complete and very thorough rundown on the john peel festive fifty, with more lists, analysis and personal insight, than anyone should ever feel compelled to compile. but amazingly, mark has done this deed, and a damn fine job he has done to. it's a wonderfully addicitve archive of information, and provides a fascinating snapshot year on year of the predominantly uk music scene of each year. totally recommended.

details : 'the festive fifty' - by mark whitby. published by nevin publishing (isbn 0-9548317-0-5) for a mere 12 pounds.

music wise - well i'm still rediscovering the ROC back catalogue, i mean has anyone told you how great their track 'dear nicky' is off their first album ? no. well that's a serious let down. go find it out there on the wires or state an interest in the usual places and i may sort out a freebie download.

message ends

mark e

ireallylovemusic

 

 

c'mon, i'm getting all lonely

the all new ireallylovemusic message board : liven this dead space up, or the fucker dies.

 

after a day of getting down to the mad and bad urban beats of oxide and neutrino (bargain bin regulars - but the production on both albums is amazing - deep bass pulses and furious beats, very now, despite being released years ago), i have returned to the glorious new album by ROC, the single, as mentioned below, is probably the most urgent and insistent track on the album, but the rest has a power to enthral, thrill and (dis)comfort. mainly mellow and electronic, parts are infused with typically unusual treatments but always maintaining a great level of listenability. this album couldn't have come at a better time.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

hell ..

..o

posted reviews for the latest hard-n-heavy release by korn (can we drop that effing reverse 'r' yet ?) 'see you on the other side', and the far lighter double cd reissue of 'the ego has landed' by ztt's honky that originally surfaced in '94.

in other news - roc are back. the strange but beautifully compelling combination of electro/industrial/ambient/d-n-b/hip-hop etc that were the subject of much record label chaos a few years ago, have rejoined the human race with recent low profile 7" releases and noises that are available via their website. go find out if the latest limited edition 7" single, 'journey to the center of brixton' does good stuff for you, like it does me. it's fantastic. spread the word far and wide.

album on its way via the appropiately named 12 apostles label. more detail : here

thank you.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

 

 

time for some xmas cheer

hell.o

earlier in the year, 'the boy least likely to' released a delicate lovely little album. amazingly as 2005 progressed it became apparent that others liked their happydaze indie pop groove, resulting in the lads supporting james blunt on a jaunt around the country.

now to celebrate such mad and wonderful times they have decided to spread the love a little further.

pete and jof have put online their version of the xmas classic, 'little donkey'. available from the bands website as of today (sometime) for a limited time only.

go get

oh, and for those that aren't aware, ireallylovemusic interviewed them on all thing nice and easy recently, the results of which are still online in the usual place.

thanks

mark e

ireallylovemusic

 

 

breaking news : minuteman

i rarely do this kinda thing .. but today i received news about minuteman direct from the bands main man, matt jones, which i thought i'd pass on to the rest of the world :

it is with no small amount of deliberation that I am announcing that we have decided to end the Minuteman journey.

After nearly 6 years of blood, sweat, tears, drugs, lack of sex and rock 'n' roll it's time for us to move on... It's by no means the end of us working together, in fact it is to be the start of something shiny, new and exiting. We're already making plans to take over the world and stamp our own brand of skinny white-boy funk all over the bottom end of the charts..

From a personal point of view I'd like to thank everyone that has been involved throughout the years... Those that were there from the start (Schneck, Paul Thomson, Tim Weller, Alec Mckinley, Marcus Russell, Luke McGrellis, Dom Walker, Charlie Myatt, Vic Shuttleworth), and everyone involved after that (Ben Winchester, Ronnie Harris and all at Harris and Trotter, Harvey Goldsmith, Vaughan Oliver, Chris Bigg, everyone at Anglo we worked with, Jamie, Carl, Tony, Stu, and Rob at Coalition, and many, many others), not to mention those who worked on the album.. (Paul Stacey, Henry Phillpots, Ian Cooper) and our loyal crew (Kimble, Phil, Ravi et al). It's been an absolute pleasure to work with everyone on what was a labour of love for all of us..

Massive thanks to the minutefans as well, it was all worth it to have met and entertained you all :) Thanks for taking Minuteman to your hearts.

Anyway, on behalf of myself, Jim, Russell, Pete and Phil.... thanks for everything.

It's been an experience.

minuteman x

the phrase 'onwards and upwards' never felt so fitting, though i'm sure matt and his excellent songs will resurface under a new guise in the near future.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

a podcast for you all to rip into

hell.o

something in construction records (akira the don, christiansilva, 69 corps amongst others) have released a funky new thing for you freaky ipod'ers : a podcast

listen/download the fragger : here

enjoy.

and for me ? sorry, but it's all about the new girls aloud album, and the rediscovery of the latest joy zipper album, 'the heartlight set', that was criminally ignored, or so i thought, until i recieved the new mojo with their list for the best albums of 2005 - and there it is - straight in at number 44. hurray ! someone else likes it.

game over.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

nme album of the year scandal

hell.o.

if you aren't aware, the net is rattling with rumours that the list of nme's best albums of 2005 (printed this week) has been fiddled with.

shock. horror. surely not i hear you cry?

for the more detail go here

http://www.londonist.com/archives/2005/11/scoop_nme_album.php

note the comments, it's becoming quite an interesting debate.

though, surely this practise has always been in action, and not just within the king towers empire either i would say.

in other news : posted a few words re some singles that are on the way or in the shops at the moment, includes weapons of mass belief, the cribs, mystery jets, clap you hands and others.

thanks

mark e

the all new ireallylovemusic message board