Archives for June 2011

It's time to recap the four free tracks we've made avaiable to you and put them all together in one handy bite-sized blog for you to download and print off. (It's the new cut out 'n' keep)

The sleeve design theme was 'urban' as we sought a gritty antidote to the rolling green (or brown) fields of Glastonbury last weekend. This pic of Malta's capital city might not sum up urban decay but at least there's not a speck of mud anywhere.

Valetta, Malta, submitted by listener Matej Kmet

 Here're the four we've published so far this week along with today's offering from Zola Jesus. It's the opening track on her forthcoming album Conatus.

G Love & Special Sauce - 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover

Squarehead - Baseball Ghosts

Jim Jones feat. Lloyd - Believe In Magic (produced by Girl Talk)

Roots Manuva - Watch Me Dance

Zola Jesus - Vessel

Every Friday we highlight a listener's vintage compilation tape, play some selections from it and display its unique handcrafted artwork.

Today's eclectic selection comes courtesy of Brian Lamb who tells us the story behind the tape in his own words.

Brian Lamb's 'Muppet Babies' tape.

"This is the tape my Friend Bob made for me for my 22^nd birthday. It is cruelly entitled Muppet Baby’s party, I did not resemble a muppet but Bob was jealous of my good looks and cool ways.

The party itself was in my student flat and descended into chaos shortly after closing with an invasion of unwashed students from Unversity of Bristol Union. The tape was left on throughout indeed I awoke the next day to White Horses from Dean and Britta which of course was the theme from Belle and Sebastien where the pop group got their name. (Originally recorded by Jackie: Mark LaverneShow) 

Elsewhere on the tape the Osmonds make a surprise appearance with Crazy Horses and the whole thing kicks off with Saxon - 747 which is soooo Spinal Tap but is still irresistible.

The straight track listing does not really do justice as Bob put many of the tracks through his primitive home studio, try for instance listening to Double Dutch by Malcom McClaren at half speed, strangely compelling I think you will agree. Anyway here it is, its great and I love it, hearing it would be very special now I am in the twighlight of my years anchored here in Armagh with only 6 music for company etc..

Track listing: 

Saxon – 747 (Strangers In The Night) (BBC Session 1982), The Osmonds – Crazy Horses, Wire – I Am The Fly, Double Dutch – Malcolm McClaren, Rory Gallagher – I Could've Had Religion - Live, X-Ray Spex – Identity, The Small Faces – Itchycoo Park, Stiff Little Fingers – Johnny Was (Live At The Rainbow), The Damned – New Rose - Live, Dean & Britta – White Horses, The Grid – Face The Sun.

Please feel free to contact the show if you'd like to hear some of your Memory Tape selections played on air.

Rodney Smith, aka Roots Manuva can currently be heard popping up on Dels new single 'Capsize', (along with Hot Chip's Joe Goddard) but today the spotlight's on him alone as we give you the chance to download, for free, the first track to emerge from his forthcoming new album 4everrevolution.

This will be his eighth studio album in a prolific career which began in 1999 with the MOBO winning album Brand New Second Hand.

The 17 track 4everrevolution is due out on September the 26th.

Roots Manuva - Watch Me Dance

Half way through the week, and in a packed programme today we're very proud to present Mr DJ Shadow as Huey's studio guest from 10.30, talking about the impending release of his fourth studio album 'The Less You Know, The Better', due out in September. 

This is followed by Hayden and Tom from Wild Beasts in acoustic session, playing tracks from their current album 'Smother'.

Today's MPFree is the coming toether of Dipset MC Jim Jones (not to be confused with the Revue main man) and mashup maestro Girl Talk, bonding over a 1970s sample from the group Honey Cone.

It's funkee....

Jim Jones - Believe In Magic (Produced by Girl Talk)

Todays MPFree is from Squarehead, the 3 piece garage pop band from Dublin.

The track is Baseball Ghosts, the B Side to single Midnight Enchilada which came out in March.

Their debut album Yeah Nothing is out on the 15th August.

Get the track for free by following the link below!

Baseball Ghosts - Squarehead

Stuart Dredge returns from his trip into the blogosphere to bring us the latest news and reviews from the strange and wonderful world of apps.

NEWS



Turntable.fm

This is a Facebook app rather than a mobile app but it is still amazing! Turntable.fm basically let you create a virtual listening room online, invite four friends into it, and then play music to one another. It launched a month ago and has already got 140,000 users, but this weekend it locked all non-US people out for licensing reasons.

SampleWiz

This is more a muso app and has just come out for iPhone and iPad. It's a really powerful sampler which lets you sample whatever sound you want, then monkey about with it. It's the latest example of a really sophisticated music creation app for pros - the likes of Mr Albarn will be all over it.

Lollascope

A few weeks ago we mentioned that contest to make nifty apps around the Lollapalooza festival. The first one has been released, it's called Lollascope and it basically analyses your iPhone music library, then builds a schedule of what bands to see at the festival based on what you own.

REVIEWS



Exfm

This is the latest iPhone music app that lets you find new tunes based on what the blogs are recommending, while also letting you play your own collection and see what friends are currently playing on their own phones.



Koko

London venue Koko has launched its official iPhone app, which aims to reward music fans who see gigs there often. You can scan QR codes at the venue to get goodies from bands, and you earn points/badges the more you go there - so it's like a loyalty scheme for a gig venue, in an app. And you can check in on Facebook and Foursquare to let friends know where you are. One of the first venue apps to do this kind of thing.

Mashtone

A new iPhone app that helps you turn any song in your collection into a ringtone - remember the days when people actually paid a couple of quid for a ringtone? Well this one also lets you add extra effects. More Cowbell, Extra Beat, Big Fill and Beat Reverse!

The first of our MPFrees this week is a live track from the American band G-Love And The Special Sauce. Follow the link below to hear their take on Paul Simons classic 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover live from a gig of theirs in Oklahoma last year.

The band are from Philadlephia and their new album Fixin'To Die is out now.

When you get to the website you will have to provide your email address to access the free download, it's dead simple!

UK Dates

Sept. 13 - KIng Tut's, Glasgow.

Sept. 14 - Ruby Lounge, Manchester.

Sept. 15 - Union Chapel, London.

Sept. 16 - O2 Academy 2, Oxford.

50 Ways To Leave Your Lover - G Love And The Special Sauce

Thursdays MPFree is the brand new single Black Water by Berlin artist Apparat, released on the 1st August.

Apparat is Sascha Rings and it's his fourth album, which was apparently conceived on a trip to Mexico, South America.

The new album The Devils Walk is released on the 26th September.

He is playing the Skala in Londons Kings Cross on the 25th July.

Enjoy!

Black Water - Apparat

Also on todays show we have a weather themed Peoples Playlist, Headphones Moment and also 6 Musics very own Matt Everitt live on the phone from Glastonbury, giving us an insight into the unofficial first day of the festival.

Tune your dial to 6 this morning!

Todays MPFree is the new unheard non album track Brunswick Stack from London band Mazes, released on Fat Cat Records

Their latest single Summer Hits was released on the 20th June, from their debut album A Thousand Heys out now.

They will supporting the band White Denim on tour in the United States this summer.

They will also be touring the UK in October!

Enjoy the free track!

Mazes - Brunswick Stack

Also on todays show we have Caitlin Moran coming in to talk about her new book How To Be A Woman, which is out now. We also have the Fleetwood Mac member and successfull solo artist Stevie Nicks in the studio to talk about her new album and upcoming festival performance!

Wednesdays show is something truly special so listen in to be sure not to miss a thing.

After a four year break Clap Your Hands Say Yeah are back with a new single, Same Mistake.

This precedes a third studio album, Hysterical, which will be available on September 20th in the US, and September 12th in the UK, Europe, Japan, and Australia.

The album was produced by The Paper Chase’s John Congleton, who has also worked with the likes of St. Vincent, Modest Mouse, and The Thermals.

The single Same Mistake is available now for free.

Enjoy!

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Same Mistake

UK GIGS

Sep 2 - End of the Road Festival, North Dorset.

Sep 6 - Queens Social Club, Sheffield.

Sep 7 - Scala, London.

Also on the show today Gomez live in the studio plus Stuart Dredge comes in to talk about apps, and Dr Kimberly Bruce will be talking us through her Biorhythms. It's a packed show be sure not to miss it! 

You'll have heard the beautiful new single from I Break Horses called 'Hearts' played on the show a few times recently.

She is Swedish shoegaze fan Maria Linden signed to Bella Union.

Especially for you we're offering a remix by Tom Rowlands from the Chemical Brothers of the track.

Lose yourself..

I Break Horses - Hearts (R.A.R Mix)

Today's sleeve was inspired by the question 'how would you describe your day?'. As ever many thanks for your fab submissions, but just edging ahead was Adam Farmer whose illustration combined design with listening to the radio. 

Noah and the Whale – ‘Tonight’s the Kind of Night’

This is the RAC reworking of their recent single, RAC being the ‘Remix Artist Collective’ founded by Andre Allen Anjos in 2007.

Hyde & Beast – ‘(and the) Pictures In The Sky’

They are David Hyde from The Futureheads and Golden Virgins’ Neil Bassett and this is available from their website.

Vetiver – ‘Wonder Why’

This track is taken from their brand new album Errant Charm which came out on Bella Union on Monday.

Foster The People – ‘Pumped Up Kicks’

This is the Chrome Canyon mix of their new single, out on Monday. Their debut album Torch follows a week later.

Best Coast - 'Gone Again'

More 60s girl band inspired pop from the LA-Based group who broke through with last summer's 'Boyfriend' single. They release this ahead of UK dates in August and September.

You will be aware of their presence on the 6 Music playlist through their excellent single 'Pumped Up Kicks', but the track we're delivering to you today shows a slower, more chilled out side to the LA-based band.

In a similar way to the psychedelic late-60s rockers Vanilla Fudge, who used to slow drown tracks and drench them with effects in a radical reconstruction, Foster The People have had their current single reworked into a mellow mid-80s vibe to charming effect.

We hope you get your kicks out of this track too.

Foster The People - Pumped Up Kicks (Chrome Canyon Remix)

A warm welcome back to Lauren today after a day off poorly, and to herald her return there's a free download from a Sunderland supergroup who go by the name of Hyde and Beast.

They feature amongst their ranks members of The Futureheads (Dave Hyde), and The Golden Virgins. (Neil Bassett) and have recorded an album in their native Sunderland.

As befits their Robert Louis Stevenson-referencing name they like both fierce and mellow music including T-Rex, Animal Collective and Al Green, but that's probably the extent of their gothic tendencies.

Hyde and Beast - (and the) Pictures In The Sky

Following a week's absence, Stuart Dredge returns from his trip into the blogosphere to bring us the latest news and reviews from the strange and wonderful world of apps.

NEWS



Apple unveils iOS5 and iCloud

ast Tuesday - Apple showed off the next software update for the iPhone/iPad with whizzy features, and also its iCloud music service, which lets you store and re-download your music from 'the cloud'.



Waze

Waze touts itself as a 'community based' navigation app - so it guides you from A to B in your car, but pulls in data from other people using it to let you know about accidents, hazards, roadworks etc. And it also has game aspects - if you explore new places (which helps Waze improve its maps) you get points etc. So it's turning driving into a social game of sorts.



Angry Birds cookbook

The company that makes the Angry Birds mobile game has announced plans to launch a cookbook. It'll be based on 'egg recipes', and is the latest example of Angry Birds going beyond games. (They have a dedicated merchandise store on the website). 

REVIEWS



Songkick Concerts

Awesome, awesome app, and very simple. It looks at what bands are on your iPhone, and then tells you which ones are playing near you in the months ahead, while letting you buy tickets.



The Waste Land

iPad app based around the T.S. Eliot poem, and published by Faber. You can read the poem itself, but also draw in notes, audio performances by TS Eliot, Ted Hughes, Alec Guinness and Viggo Mortensen, and watch videos of Fiona Shaw, Seamus Heaney, Jeanette Winterson etc performing or discussing it.



David Bowie Golden Years App

The latest music remix app - this one of Bowie's classic Golden Years song, letting you monkey about with eight 'stems' of the original master recording. 

(Please note that the BBC is not responsible for the content of exterior websites)

First off a big 'Get Well Soon' to Lauren who's feeling under the weather today. Jo Good fills in, getting some more on air miles under her belt before she returns to Weekend Breakfast.

The first free download of the week is from the redoubtable Noah and the Whale track 'Tonight's The Kind Of Night' give a jumpstart via an RAC (Remix Artist Collective) remix, the man who's also reworked tracks by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Foster the People and U2.

There's also a half hour of brand new tunes and a chat with Michael Kiwanuka whose 'Tell Me A Tale' gets its physical release today and at 11.40 we have a live session from Chad Valley.

Noah and The Whale - 'Tonight's The Kind Of Night (RAC Mix)'

We close the week with a rather up front, chronologically speaking, release from the Long Island-based indie pop outfit Twin Sister.

Formed in 2008, they released an acclaimed EP 'Color Your Life' last summer. Their debut long player In Heaven isn't out for another three-and-a-half months but you can have a little taster on us of a track called 'Bad Street'.

And here're the ones we gave you earlier in the week.

Gus Gus - Over

Cineplexx - Mejor (Copacabana mix)

Destroyer - Dark Leaves Form A Thread

Photek - Cecconi

Twin Sister - Bad Street

This week's Memory Tape has been submitted by by listener Dan Rosewarne and harks back to the early age of digital music libraries, so no cassette cover for Dan who was clearly blazing a post analogue trail back in the day.

Here's Dan to shed some light:

"It was put together back in 2000 just as a collection of songs I really liked, but also as I was just beginning to start keeping music digitally and these songs in this order mixed together really well (which I'd just about figured out how to do on a computer).

Because it was digital, it's somehow manage to stay with me through various computers, iPods and iPhones and subsequently I listen to it quite often. There are some obvious classics on there, but also some brilliant tracks that didn't get heard much, especially Angelica (who always reminded me a bit of Kenickie), Scarfo and the brilliant Joyrider cover of Rush Hour."

1. Smashing Pumpkins - 1979, 2. The Hives - Fell In Love With A Girl,

3. The Soundtrack Of Our Lives - Sister Surround, 4. Ash - Lose Control,

5. The Wannadies - I Love Myself, 6. Angelica - Concubine Blues

7. Airhead - Everybody Needs, 8. Beck - Nicotine & Gravy

9. The AnimalHouse - Wasted, 10. Hefner - I Love Only You

11. The Flaming Lips - She Don't Use Jelly, 12. Mull Historical Society - Barcode Bypass

13. Idlewild - Roseability, 14. Joyrider - Rush Hour

15. Presidents of America - Lump, 16. Scarfo - Comonaut No.7

17. Gay Dad - Joy, 18. Pixies - La La Love You

19. Weezer - Hash Pipe

Listen on to hear which of Dan's tracks we'll be playing on the show.

Inspired? Feel free to email the show with your own Memory Tape.

Our final offering of the week comes from Brooklyn hipsters Twin Sister.

They formed in 2008 and released an acclaimed six track EP 'Color Your Life' last year, and follow it up with their first full length offering In Heaven in September.

It's a long way off but they've dished out an upfront taster which we're happily reheating, garnishing and making available for you today.

Twin Sister - Bad Street

Stand by for our MPFree EP with all five tracks from this week later in the show!

Dateline Thursday and firsty a warm welcome back to producer Gary who's been badly this week.

Back to the matter in hand and it's also a warm welcome back to dance/electronica veteran Rupert Parkes, aka Photek, who after a period of relatively inactivity is set to release his second EP of the year.

February brought forth Avalanche and on Monday he'll bring out Aviator from which EP today's track 'Cecconi' comes.

Photek - 'Cecconi'

Today's People's Playlist takes the form of a tribute to record producer Martin Rushent who produced some breathtaking work in the 70s and 80s and was still working before his untimely death.

Expect classic tracks from The Stranglers, Pete Shelley, The Human League, The Pipettes and Altered Images.

Today's MPFree sees the return of Iceland's GusGus. The track is taken from their new album Arabian Horse which is released through the Kompakt label.

This is the first new material from the band since 2009's 24/7 and is their 8th album.

GusGus - Over

Candythief - Song For David

Cashier No. 9 - Lost At Sea

Colourmusic - Yes! (Voluntary Butler Scheme Remix)

It's the first day of summer! Did you say "white rabbits?" first thing this morning for a month of good luck?

Pastoral sounds will be to the fore when Thurston Moore comes in for a session following his show at London's Union Chapel last night.

And what better than a song whose lyrics mention "by endless midday sun" to usher in a new month of free downloads for you?

The band are Candythief (not to be confused with late 90s Britpoppers The Candy Thieves) who have a new album out available through Rough Trade called Technicolour Wilderness and another one due soon called Partisan. They're fronted by main songwriter Diana de Cabarrus and will appear at Hutstock on London's Southbank on Sunday.

Candythief - Song For David

Today's Webchat is www.Irkafirka.com which in the words of co-founder Nick Hilditch "hosts well over 400 drawings that taken altogether offer a colourful portrait of the rubbish that is uttered daily on Twitter", literally providing a graphic for some of the inane, bizarre and gnomic tweets which are generated on Twitter.