It's Been Such A Long Time, Don't You Think So, Baby?



The new single from The School, taken from upcoming album Loveless Unbeliever due out in May. We snagged ourselves an advance copy and can confirm we're loved up believers!

Fasten Your Seatbelts

Oxford's The Scholars are learned friends who have apparently been closely studying the moody monochrome guitar pop of Editors, White Lies et al, but there's enough about new single 'Turbulence' to keep us interested in their flight path.



Perspective: we approve.

Fizzy Pop

In an attempt (no doubt doomed to failure) to kickstart this site with something fresh, random and relatively low-maintenance we intend to feature some interesting upcoming acts who may be worth looking out for over the coming year, albeit ones that are unlikely to be rubbing shoulders with the Ellie Gouldings of this world in the upper tier of the charts.

Dunno much about Niels Nielsen but we found his bedroom anthem 'We Are Youth' via here and we're liking it lots. The promo is a minimalist hoot, too:



It's frothy, man.

Waitin' For The (Opening) Night

Pet Sounds

The new Name The Pet single is a bouncy pop choon more viral than YouTube embeds, while the promo admirably promotes the healthy benefits of physical exercise, although the sheer cheerleader chic of it makes it slightly dubious safety for work.



December is usually tragic in terms of PV updates, but hawk-eyed followers can expect a humongous gig review compendium, a long linkdump and the usual end-of-year lists before 2010 hits!

First Class Return

We know, we've been neglecting you. More content soon, including a review of the Saint Etienne-curated first day of the Moseley Folk Festival, but until then check out 'Dancing' by Sheffield's Standard Fare. It's a purdy, poignant choon that will appeal to fans of bands like Sky Larkin and The Dirty Mittens, and the promo resourcefully makes a virtue of the no-budget D-I-Y montage format.



Standard Fare are playing The Autumn Store in Birmingham in December. We should go dancing!

Pulling Power

The first time we played Bombay Bicycle Club's debut album 'I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose' our initial reaction was of minor deflation, but it's a record which has built and built in our hearts as something treasurable. Central to the record's attraction is the other-wordly charms of 'Magnet', a song you can really get attached to, which is due for release in single format next month.



The BBC boys are on tour to support the release, and we definitely recommend the live experience.

Emerging From Our Shell

Apologies yet again for the slight gap in transmission. As a consequence there's something of a content jam so expect a gig review ketchup and linkdump in the next few days, as well as our annual Half-Term Report on the best albums released in the UK from January to June 2009.

In the meantime, continuing a recent (accidental) animal theme, enjoy the promo video of 'Turtle' by The Wind Whistles. Like the nature that seemingly informs their lyrical content, there's a slightly sinister undertow to the band's apparently straightforward surface, making their appeal nearer to anti-folk than twee.



If you like this, you might want to try their second album 'Animals Are People Too' which can be downloaded in full, legally, and for free*, from here. There's also whispers of a UK tour soon.

*Voluntary donations are encouraged, however.

Llamas And Surprises

Being popcult bloggers and wannabe hipsters, we're feeling a little sheepish about admitting that, yes, we too, love the Dirty Projectors' new album Bitte Orca, and that 'Stillness Is The Move' is quite possibly our favourite song of the year. The recently-released promo, featuring as it does caped girls dancing with wolves and a random llama farmer, emphatically seals the deal.

Yu, Me And Everything

Bristol Dot-to-Dot Festival, various venues in Bristol, Saturday May 23 2009.

This was Parallax View's second visit to Bristol's Dot-to-Dot Festival, 2009 seeing some venue changes (converted prison and church respectively Fiddlers and Trinity making way for The Cooler and additional rooms at Thekla and Academy), two days now compressed into one, and much better weather (hello, sun!). Effectively the event is a glorified pub crawl with some of the globe's hottest-tipped new bands playing at every turn, so c'mon, what's not to like? Although all that relentless gigging and ligging was bound to take its toll on our critical faculties by the end of the evening (wasn't it ever thus, dear reader?).

And yet, in the beginning, there were false starts, with Official Secrets Act pulling out, and Marina and the Diamonds having the 24-carat excuse of being stuck in traffic. So it was Flashguns to the rescue to get things started with some welcome flair upstairs in the moored-boat venue that is Thekla. These four lads looked young enough to be found in your local underpass sniffin' glue, but put in a polished, professional performance that saw them search for the missing link between Arctic Monkeys, Interpol and, erm, Larrikin Love. Possibly not the most original band of all time, then, but they have enough dark energy and a knack for a tune to see them fire up the charts.

Did somebody mention fire? Because, some moopie and groovy later, we were back in the upstairs of Thekla to be suitably impressed by LoveLikeFire, fronted by the stunning Ann Yu, all blunt bangs, darkpool eyes and startling cheekbones, and an intelligent, compassionate vocal style that recalled Emily Haines. Metric are probably a good point of comparison to the San Francisco outfit, with their rock music comprising powerful surges of guitar noise complemented by fetching female vocals to tuneful, moving effect, particularly on the epic closing number which definitely had sea legs.



While waiting for friends, your confident correspondent caught sight of the delicious Ms Yu wearing a splendid pair of big sunglasses, and managed to grab a few minutes of her time outside the venue, during which she was as cool, polite and patient as anyone could hope an indie-superstar-in-waiting could be while being probed by a beaming blogger. She revealed that the new LoveLikeFire album is due for UK release in August, although our Stateside cousins may have to wait a while longer while a deal is hammered out. We predict great things for the band, and just hope Ann's pie and groovy didn't get too cool while we talked...

Having duly met up with friends, we headed over to Louisiana (the venue, not the state) to see Polly Scattergood, someone we've been following on Mitherspace for some time, but has attracted a fair amount of attention since the release of her eponymous debut in March. Polly looked terrific in a spangly dress but the set took a fair while to warm up during which some casual observers sloped off. Their loss, though, because she left her best 'til last with a devastating coda of 'Bunny Club' and 'Nitrogen Pink' snatching victory from the jaws of disaster. Downstairs, meanwhile, Liam Finn was winning over lots of friends with his feelgood folk with just enough spice in the gumbo to keep things interesting.

Had Thekla actually set sail or were the beers kicking in by this point? Or maybe it was Duchess Says rockin' the boat with their uproarious electro-funk that resembles Crystal Castles buccaneered by the anarchic spirit of The Mae Shi, the lead singer climbing the ceiling of the boat from the stage to the bar with the helping hands of a sweaty crowd to the visible jawdropping of the beer vendors.



The beers were definitely kicking in now, so where better to head than The Cooler where The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart were kings for the day? The Cooler is a pretty big venue but it was ridiculously packed, and 'Young Adult Friction' was the order of the day both on-stage and off during a lively and tuneful set. Things then descended into a bit of a blur as we rushed to The Fleece to catch the second-half of AC Newman's performance which was strong on good humour (Newman threatens to fire just about every band member at some point) and belting tunes ('The Heartbreak Rides' track of the year to date? Discuss). Then it was a swift swagger back to Thekla to see a fierce, bracing set from Baddies that supplied a needed caffeine jolt for your woozy writer at that point.

Our zigzagging path continued with a stroll back to Fleece to see The Soft Pack who we were very impressed by without the wherewithal at that point to illustrate these vibes with wise words. We think we just liked the hard, clanging sound of their guitars, and at the end of a long session of drinking/gigging, what more do you want? Nineties indie sorts My Vitriol were the following act, but we weren't really paying that much attention at this point, and we'll let you, dear reader, decide whether this was our fault, theirs, or a mutual deficiency of sorts. As for The Hold Steady, let me tell you by this point we were doing nothing of the kind...

Parallax View Health Warning: Binge Drinking is neither big nor clever, and makes clear nonsense of any aspirations towards serious rock music journalism.

PS. Thanks to VV Brown who patiently waited for your clumsy cameraman to take a picture of friends Ray and Deb either side of the stunning singer (fuck, she's tall).

PPS. Just two sightings of Big Jeff - at the front (but of course!) to The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart and Flashguns (the centre-stage Flashgun's double-take when he first saw him was priceless).

Cling On

Who said you can't rely on Banks in a recession? Interpol vox Paul Banks's solo project Julien Plenti sees fruition with the release of debut album 'Skyscraper' on August 4, so this sneak peak of 'Cellophane' (complete with unofficial DIY montage) should ensure things are kept nice and fresh in the meantime.



OK, that's a wrap.

Have Faith

The Dot-to-Dot review is undeniably late, but will be imminent. In the meantime, Katie Stelmanis supplies Single Of The Week with 'Believe Me' (out to buy on June 22 but the mp3 can be downloaded from NME), coming on like an electropop Frida Hyvonen to credible effect.



Witches nice.

Pleasing Friction

While Parallax View unscrambles its brains sufficiently to write up a review of Bristol Dot-to-Dot, please entertain yourselves by watching the promo for 'Young Adult Friction' the highlight of The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart's set at The Cooler.



Single Of The Week, and you'd be a numbskull to disagree...

Dangerous Curves Ahead

To compensate for the promo for last week's Single Of The Week being pulled by the YouTube user, we offer a bonus video for your perusal and entertainment, a tight, moving little toon to accompany the rather fine 'Hotblack' single from Oceanship. Let's see how long this one stays up...

Next!

Here at Parallax View we're not totally convinced yet by the hype surrounding the new St Vincent album, but we are suitably impressed by the spookily brilliant video for 'Actor Out Of Work' to promote it as our Single Of The Week.



Job's a good'un.

Distance Makes The Heart Grow Fonder

Missed the chance to see Polly Scattergood live a few weeks back due to an unfortunate set of circumstances (she's playing Bristol's Dot-to-Dot, though, so we should catch up with her then). 'Please Don't Touch' isn't our favourite cut from her really rather good debut album (that'd be a toss-up between Bunny Club and Nitrogen Pink), but it is perhaps the catchiest, and is thus a pretty astute choice for single, and gives this Bank Holiday week the bouncy kickstart it needs.

Obscura The Better

In all the excitement of...well, let's just say, life itself, we haven't gotten around to posting a Single of the Week thus far, and to cheer ourselves up after the sad news of the genuinely great JG Ballard's passing, and because it's another smashing song from one of Britain's most consistently excellent pop bands, we've selected Camera Obscura's 'French Navy'.



A rum choice, we sure you'll agree. Camera Obscura are set to headline Indietracks this year, we'll be going, and we think you should be, too.

Daft Bricks

The Apprentice often seems like a laboured self-parody in itself (albeit a hugely entertaining one) but this Lego makeover takes it one stage further -



(via walletpop)

Let's Go Dutch

You can download the debut album by Eindhoven indiepop/shoegaze outfit The Very Sexuals, 'Post-Apocalyptic Love', from the band's website for free, so we'd recommend you do this, not just because it's gratis, but also because it's one of our favourite records of the year to date. Check out their promo to 'Carla' below if you still need convincing not to look a gift horse down its' gobhole!



(original heads-up via the lovely Ceci)

Spring Time

Polly Harvey! Wet 'n' Wild! In a bouncy castle! Press play!

You Really Got The Power Over Me

Every interlude needs a dancing girl, right? So Parallax View went out and got one, and we got the best, Raquel Welch in her pomp doing a spacegirl routine, provin' once more that the future ain't what it used to be...



(via Pappa Comics)

If You Freeze Tomorrow, Come Back Lucky

With light snow forecast for the next 24 hours, the above lyrics are good enough excuse to make Ladytron's 'Tomorrow' Parallax View Single Of The Week. Not that we need an excuse, as the song is ace, the video is beautiful, and 'sides which, it's our website and we rule!



Some gig reviews and a match report imminent, 'til then, keep it PV!

I Am Curious, Yelle

We know little about Yelle other than that they're French and Ce Jeu is the third single taken off their album 'Pop-Up'. You can sit there berating us for our lack of research or just take in the colourful fun of their video, which apparently contains a brief nipslip at 2:09 so might not be safe for work if your boss has 20:20 vision. We described this elsewhere as 'a generous slice of Eurovision cheese sizzling on a beefy electropop patty' but this was possibly just us getting carried away with ourselves...



Yelle, then: officially a scream.

Keeping It Clean

There will one day be a time when this blog once again contains more than YouTube embeds, but until that time feast your eyes and ears on a live performance from Vienna's Soap&Skin who will inevitably draw comparisons with Kate Bush and Bjork but perhaps more accurately resembles the lycanthropic mid-transformation from Joanna Newsom to Danielle Dax. Her debut album ships in the UK later in the spring.

High Quality

Hippychick fuckyou anthem to chugging quasi-Strokes chords? We're in!!! And while we're at it, can we ask that all promo videos from now on feature someone playing the piano with stiletto heels? We're referring of course to 'My High' from Jonna Lee, the lead single from her upcoming sophomore album, which has a tender acoustic cover of The Killers' 'Human' on the flip (note: the lyrics still make no sense whatever).



Parallax View Single Of The Week, unless our highs deceive us!

Alarms And Surprises

Not one, but two Singles Of The Week to compensate for the paucity of PV content so far this year. The Boxer Rebellion have been a band I've happened across on record and live here and there, but recent single 'Evacuate' raises their game several levels, probably the best new rock song for racing the pulse since Kings Of Leon's 'Sex On Fire'. Their second album 'Union' can be downloaded via ITunes for £4.74 which represents excellent value-for-money during the economic downturn, offering as it does widescreen mainstream guitar choons with post-rock trimmings that complement but never obscure the melodic flow of the songs. Nothing on it however quite matches the adrenalised momentum of 'Evacuate'...



If you're looking for something less obvious and mainstream, Fever Ray the new solo project from Karin from The Knife offers considerably more slower-burning thrills if taster single 'If I Had A Heart' is an accurate reflection of the rest of the album. The intriguing video certainly adds to the overall unsettling vibe.



Finally, another budding offshoot worth keeping an eye on is Lovers Love Haters which has Deborah Cohen transplanting The Organ sound into her new project with impressive results (found via Totally Twitterpated).

Further Explanation Unnecessary

From the ashes of Million Dead, Frank Turner has carved himself a cultish solo career that could break into the mainstream with the creditcrunch-crushing wisdom that lies within 'Reasons Not To Be An Idiot'. This idiot's guide to not being a dummy is sunny enough to light up the life of the SADdest person this winter, and thus perks up Parallax View with a well-deserved Single Of The Week.

Pip Pop Don't Stop

Is the new release from Ladyhawke (aka Pip Brown) the third or fourth single to be taken from her self-titled debut? In all the excitement of 'My Delirium' we kind of forget ourselves, but recover our composure quick enough to declare it Parallax View Single Of The Week.

Twice Bitten

Fed up of Lykke Li yet? Nope, us neither, which is why we make the re-release of her debut single 'Little Bit' this week's Parallax View Single Of The Week. Turning coy courtship into scintillating sonic splendour, we love it loads.



Further Parallax View content due later in the week, honest guv.

Paris Is Yearning

Great songs about the French capital city are eifell-y rare but like Number 44 buses, when one comes along they tend to come in pairs (no anagram intended). So soon after Ladyhawke's fiery fave 'Paris Is Burning' this week's Single Of The Week from St. Albans' Friendly Fires is entitled simply 'Paris', a lush, plush promise of a tune that transcends the supposed limitations of their Klaxons-meet-The-Rapture template.

When we first encountered Friendly Fires live, it's fair to report we weren't entirely convinced, but having been lured to their debut self-titled album by the temptations of 'Jump In The Pool' we're coming round big time to their epic, seductive soundscapes, ably assisted on 'Paris' by the swooning harmonies of the girls of Au Revoir Simone (and you've gotta love the girls of Au Revoir Simone, right?).

Anyways, decided for yourselves by viewing the promo, which contains more morphing magnificence than a Tony Hart boxset. Not sure about the Nantes-y neckerchief, though.

Mega Tilly

How cool would it be for the mighty Moshi Moshi Records to score a really, really big hit single? That weird prospect has become a greater possibility than ever before with the news that Radio One have playlisted 'Beat Control' by Tilly and the Wall (out in stores this week, including on heavy 7" vinyl).

We'd kinda forgotten about TATW and their tap-dancing percussionist since seeing them in quick succession a few years back, but new album O is receiving the best reviews of their career, and Beat Control finds them sufficiently focused on the business of producing a Proper Pop Single to ease them into a position where mainstream recognition is a viable target.

The end result is so delirious with melody it could be Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine resurrecting a neglected Monkees classic, a veritable Wall of Sound that fully deserves the accolade of Parallax View Single Of The Week.

Great Escape

Apologies for the gap in transmission, but what better way to return than with Parallax View pet soundsters Ladytron and their latest single from luscious fourth album Velocifero? The marvellous Mira Aroyo in particular has never looked more alluring than in the stripey promo, all adding to the sense of a Runaway success, and inevitably, Parallax View Single Of The Week.

Scents and Indie Sensibility

Not that we're shallow enough to buy a mens fragrance on the basis of a moodily-shot B&W advert starring Josh Hartnett and soundtracked by Interpol, of course!

Gag Reel

Many people consider Chuck Palahniuk's Choke to be the weakest of his breakneck satires, although your contrary correspondent considers the opposite to be true. The forthcoming film adaptation may give both viewpoints food for thought when it's released Stateside late September, but meanwhile decide for yourselves if the borderline-work-safe trailer goes down a treat.

Breaking Muse

For those of you wondering whatever happened to the Lykke Li lass, rest assured she's alive and kicking up a storm, earning herself in the meantime Parallax View Single Of The Week with her new single Breaking It Up (out in stores now). With many middle-aged middle-brow columnists who oughtta know better currently writing Madonna off as she turns 50, it's worth noting that there's something haunted, serious and driven undertowing even the most delirious of Lykke Li's tunes that recall the Queen of Pop in her early striving pomp.

Psssst!

Could Bret Easton Ellis' least noted book provide the source material to the best screen adaptation of his work? Take a sneak peak at the trailer for The Informers below, which contains enough sex, drugs and rock'n'roll to make it NOT SAFE FOR WORK viewing.

It's A Fix

No doubt if we describe Essex boys Magistrates as the missing link between Keane and MGMT there will be many of you running to the hills (or at least pushing your back button). The rest of us, however, may decide that 'Make This Work' does the job nicely in terms of a sharp, smart piece of bespoke MOR. The Parallax View County Court Judgement is: Single Of The Week.

Profile Song

Dublin's impressively bolshy Fight Like Apes take on the prettyboys again with 'Lend Me Your Face', purloining physiognomies in a two-minute riot of colourful, snarling strop-pop. The Parallax View Single Of The Week is out this week, but the face facts are that as there's only 500 copies of 7" yellow vinyl been pressed, the chances are if you get one and bust it up they won't replace it.

Dead Kenny's Behrami Army

To celebrate our beloved West Ham finally making their first major signing of the summer in Valon Behrami, a Kosovan-born Swiss international right back, whose crazy hair and tats should see him fit in well with our long history of 'eccentric' full-backs, Parallax View sees fit to empty our favourites folder for you to pick 'n' mix -

More reasons to be cheerful as Joe Lean And The Jing Jang Jong shelve their debut album. Seems like an 8/10 rating from the NME doesn't amount to a hill o'beans these days!

We've cut back our gig/festival-going in the last month or so, but some good folk have put the hours in during our absence -

Drowned In Sound review Supersonic 2008.

Ben SWSL's Glasto 2008 Diary.

Sweeping The Nation reviews Truck festival.

Last Bus Home reviews the Lovebox Weekender at Victoria Park.

Troubled Diva reviews White Denim at Nottingham Bodega.

In other news -

Rock drummers are top athletes.

Attachments' Amanda Ryan is to play Cathy in Birmingham Rep's upcoming Wuthering Heights adaptation.

Twenty Major's cure for another boring summer.

Scary Duck on passive-aggressive notes.

Lydongate? Johnny's Behaviour Rotten? Swells on the 'racist' rickus (via RussL)

Careless Genes shows us how to make home-made peanut butter.

Birmingham's Flapper and Firkin faces demolition. (via Pete Ashton)

NOT SAFE FOR WORK eye candy if you like the idea of a Japanese Cheryl Cole lookalike with F-cup depth to her personality - Suzuka Ishikawa (20): REMINDER: NOT WORK SAFE.

M.I.A. and Santogold Get It Up together.

Cat With A Theremin (via just about everybody, it seems).

And finally, we did get to a gig last night, review to follow shortly, but here as a taster is one of the bands, Red Pony Clock, and their silly promo for My New Best Friends. If you like what you see/hear, they'll be playing the Indietracks festival in Ripley, Derbyshire this weekend -

Because We Say So

Parallax View first encountered Rosie And The Goldbug at this year's Dot-to-Dot festival in Bristol, and we were suitably impressed with their bouncy, colourful choonage to look out for future recordings. The wait is now over, with the release of their War Of The Roses ep, available with immediate effect from iTunes. The title track is a breezy delight, and like so many of this year's best songs is unashamedly pop in the way it alchemises sounds and sentiments into giddy thrills.

We're not sure where the Cornwall/London trio stand when it comes to the Lancashire/Yorkshire divide, so will avoid any white/red rose faux-pas by delivering a fresh, blooming Parallax View Single Of The Week to their doorstep as an alternative garland. You know it makes scents!

Look Now

Nic Roeg has made his first major feature film for some years, a horror yarn based on a Fay Weldon story, starring Kelly Reilly, and re-uniting him with his Don't Look Now leading man Donald Sutherland. Initial reviews have been mixed, but bad Roeg is usually better than a lot of films made by lesser mortals at the top of their game, so perhaps best to judge for ourselves when Puffball is released in cinemas from July 18. In the meantime, here's the NOT WORKSAFE trailer to whet your appetites.

Slip Hip Hooray!

Dead Kenny's family always wanted him to go to Oxford, but little did they suspect his first venture into the city wouldn't be to university but to go back to The School. The Cardiff popsters are playing at The Bullingdon Arms in two days time, to celebrate the release of their 'Let It Slip' ep this week on Elefant Records, of which we plan to pick up an autographed copy or we'll be waving our twelve-inch ruler around in disgust.

We've heard enough already to make it Parallax View Single Of The Week, however, the kicking intro, doo-wop backing vocals and handclaps making for a slick sonic delight not unlike Camera Obscura as produced by Phil Spector during one of his more coherent moments. Enjoy the video while you await the live review.

In-Cistern-ed Rhythm

We've been mentioning it in despatches for a while, so with its physical release in stores now, it seems only fair to bestow the near-mythological Parallax View Single Of The Week status upon 'I'm Good I'm Gone' by Lykke Li. We could bore you with a long post about production techniques or a state-of-the-pop-nation address, but instead we'll just say we like this song because it makes us happy, so maybe there's a chance it'll make you happy too. To help you decide, here's a YouTube vid of La Lykke and chums belting it out in a toilet, complete with spoons and a rad reindeer jumper, and ending with a flush flourish.



And remember, pop pickers, don't forget to wash your hands!

Esser, I Can Boogie

Guess that the solo work from that drummer from Ladyfuzz wasn't high on the list of projects for 2008 that were getting people excited at the beginning of the year. But Ben Esser may well prove the pundits wrong if debut single 'I Love You' is anything to go on, featuring disarming sentiments of unspoken amour set to a jerky tune with echoes of the long lost Tom Vek. Eschewing the post-Arcade Fire pretension of multiple genre flux (popular melodramatic song, indeed) Esser classifies his music as pop/pop/pop and it's this single-minded pursuit of the catchy tune that should stand his career in good stead, as well as earning 'I Love You' Parallax View Single Of The Week.

Brolly Good Show

Yes, we know, YouTube embeds in blogs are like *so* 2006, but we couldn't resist showing you the official promo for The School's debut single 'All I Wanna Do' (out in stores in April). Stay tuned 'til the twist ending!