Why do FFS interviews always get around to food? Probably cos music and food are our favourite things ever. LoveLikeFire’s Ann Yu is a girl after our own heart, she answers Mary Machin’s questions.
Album: Dawn Landes – Sweetheart Rodeo
Reviews for Dawn Landes’ previous album Fireproof tended towards the “nearly there, give her a year or two” end of the spectrum. The pressure was on: would Landes deliver? Well, probably not, but maybe we’ll give her another year or two. This is a really decent set of songs packed full of interesting sounds, but it doesn’t quite gel as an album.
Album: Drive-By Truckers – The Fine Print
The Drive-By Truckers have carved a career out of creating, what is on first listen, very generic country rock. But once given time by a listener this generic country rock can seep into your heart and become the music that a person will carry with them for their whole life. They are a band that fans will sing about from the highest mountains, but to the rest of the music buying public sound as dull as dishwater. There is no doubt that the Truckers have an amazing ear for a tune that can wrench at the heart, because nobody flukes upon rock ‘n’ roll gold as much as they have, but it’s a delicate tightrope that they walk, and they rarely stray from what they are good at.
Album: Homelife — Exotic Interlude
Homelife’s sound is one I found pretty hard to pin down and analyse. The first track sounds like a band that would play Woodstock with flowers in their hair and peace signs on their guitars. Moving through you hear an intense Hawaiian theme- suddenly you’re transported to a deserted beach on Maui craving a hog roast. Next thing you know the music takes a turn for the modern and you’re at a bohemian house party with people smoking shisha and discussing politics. In other words, this album is fantastic.
Mumford and Sons play secret West London book club sessions
Are Mumford and Sons the most right-on band ever? It might be the case. Yesterday they took to the independent bookshops of West London to record sessions for Radio 1 and to promote the chain-free stores too. What nice chaps.
Brian’s mixtape #5: Heroes and Villains
Brian has been a right lazy owl this week. Really we’re quite ashamed of him. Not only is he providing you with your Monday playlist on Tuesday, but he’s only gone and made a list of his namesake’s songs.
The thing is, Brian says, lots of people think the Beach Boys are all Surfer Girls, Ba-Ba-Ba Ba-Babara Ann, Fun Fun Fun and that idiot Mike Love writing naive lyrics about girls and cars. Well they ain’t.