Category Archives: Eclectic Mainline

Matters relating to Albert Freeman’s Eclectic Mainline show.

Eclectic Mainline 4th July 2012

What do you reckon to the new James Yorkston single?  It’s a bit alright, ain’t it?

James Yorkston – Border Song by Domino Record Co

This Wussy tune is pretty good too:

I’d like to be able to show you some more tunes from tonight’s show, as there were some (in the eyes of this writer) real gems. But I can’t find the tunes by Lorn, Jeremiah Jae or Evans The Death on either Soundcloud or YouTube.  So, you’ll have to take my word for it, or endure my ramblings and listen back to the show.

Here’s what you would hear if you do: Continue reading →

Eclectic Mainline 27th June 2012

When I introduced “Entr’acte” by The Cinematic Orchestra tonight, I apologised in advance for the fact that I would innevitably have to fade it out.  I couldn’t possibly play all 20 minutes of it, could I..? To do so would mean leaving out several other excellent tunes, and how could I possibly justify that?   However, as it played, I felt the opposite, I couldn’t possibly justify fading out something of such beauty.

‘Entr’acte‘, is taken from In Motion #1, the new album curated by The Cinematic Orchestra, and acts as a new soundtrack to René Clair’s 1924 short film of the same name.  Watch it in full here:

And here is something else you should feast your ears on, the tune I opened tonight’s show with, from the new El-P album:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrB2zUB6AiU

Here’s a full list of tonight’s tunes:

27th June:
El-P – “Request Denied” (LP – “Cancer4Cure”) (Turnstile)
Shonen Knife – “Mr. J” (LP – “Pop Tune”) (Damnably)
Slugabed – “Travel Sweets” (LP – “Time Team”) (Ninja Tune)
The Cinematic Orchestra – “Entr’acte” (LP – “In Motion #1”, curated by The Cinematic Orchestra) (Ninja Tune)
Future Of The Left – “Notes On Achieving Orbit” (LP – “The Plot Against Common Sense”) (Xtra Mile)
Fráncois & The Atlas Mountains – “Edge of Town” (single) (Domino)
My Bloody Valentine – “Angel” (LP – “EP’s 1988-1991”) (Sony)
Dobie – “Gillet Sq N16” (EP – “Nothing To Fear”) (Big Dada)
Alt-J – “Taro” (single and LP – “An Awesome Wave”) (Infectious)

Eclectic Mainline 20th June 2012

If I’d been a bit smarter tonight (i.e. planned what I was going to play, which I never do) I would have followed “True Story” (El-P) by “Myth” (Beach House). But I’m not that smart.

I absolutely adore “Near Star Pole Star” by King Creosote, so you’d better do the right thing and buy the I Learned From The Gaels EP.

Here are a three of the other splendid tunes featured in tonight’s show:

Allo Darlin’ – Wonderland

Wonderland by Slumberland Records

Wussy – Airborne

Peaking Lights – Beautiful Son

Peaking Lights – Beautiful Son by Weird World Record Co

And here’s the full list of tunes:

King Creosote – “Near Star Pole Star” (EP – “I Learned From The Gaels”) (Domino)
Silver Jews – “Jackson Nightz” (LP – “Early Times”) (Drag City)
El-P – “True Story” (LP – “Cancer4Cure”) (Turnstile)
Allo Darlin’ – “Wonderland” (LP – “Europe”) (Fortuna Pop!)
My Bloody Valentine – “Several Girls Galore” (LP – “Isn’t Anything”) (Sony)
Grasscut – “Pieces” (single) (Ninja Tune)
Beach House – “Myth” (LP – “Bloom”) (Beach House)
Wussy – “Airborne” (CD – “Buckeye”) (Damnably)
The Beach Boys – “This Whole World” (LP – “Sunflower”) (Capitol)
Peaking Lights – “Beautiful Son” (LP – “Lucifer”) (Weird World)
Alt-J – “Tessellate” (single and LP – “An Awesome Wave”) (Infectious)
Vladislav Delay – “Kolari” (12″ – “Espoo”) (Raster Noton)
Saint Etienne – “Over The Border” (LP – “Words and Music By Saint Etienne”) (Heavenly)

Eclectic Mainline 13th June 2012

The Kilo tune I played tonight is from a CD+DVD set where each tune from the album has had a video made for it. I couldn’t find the video for Melody online, which is a shame, as it’s my favourite one. But if you can read German, you can see a still from the video here. In fact, you don’t need to read German to look at a photo do you? Silly me.  Anyway, my second favourite from the package, Masken, I could find, so here it is:

If you wish to listen back to the show, you’ll find it here for a month.  Here’s a list of what you would hear if you did so, or what you did hear if you heard the show tonight:

The Ladybug Transistor – “Light On The Narrow Guage” (LP – “Clutching Stems”) (Fortuna Pop!)

Jammer – “Big Man” (single) (Big Dada)
Blues Control – “Iron Pigs” (LP – “Valley Tangents”) (Drag City)
Peaking Lights – “Lo Hi” (LP – “Lucifer”) (Weird World)
Simon Scott – “_Sealevel.3” (CD – “Below Sea Level”) (12K)
Ergo Phizmiz – “It’s A Sin” (single) (Care In The Community)
Slugabed – “Grandma Paints Nice” (LP – “Time Team”) (Ninja Tune)
Wussy – “Maglite” (CD – “Buckeye”) (Damnably)
Poliça – “Amongster” (LP – “Give You The Ghost”) (Memphis Industries)
KILO – “Melody” (CD + DVD – “The Wildernis”) (Experimentalstudio Brigittenau)
Cinema Red And Blue – “Walkin’ To The Cemetery” (“Butterbean Crypt EP”) (Fortuna Pop!)
Future Of The Left – “I Am The Least Of Your Problems” (single and LP – “The Plot Against Common Sense”) (Xtra Mile)
Dorian Concept & Tom Chant – “Dream Work” (LP – “In Motion #1”, curated by The Cinematic Orchestra) (Ninja Tune)

Eclectic Mainline 6th June 2012

As you may have become aware, I’ve grown particularly fond of drone and ambient music over the past few years. I played the title track from the new En EP this evening. Here are 3 more from it:

En: “Already Gone” by Students of Decay

If you are inclined to listen back to the full show, you’ll find it here.  Here’s what I played:

Slugabed – “Travel Sweets” (LP – “Time Team”) (Ninja Tune)
Herman Dune – “Monument Park” (“Monument Park EP”) (Fortuna Pop!)
En – “Already Gone” (LP – “Already Gone”) (Students Of Decay)
Future Of The Left – “I Am The Least Of Your Problems” (single and LP – “The Plot Against Common Sense”) (Xtra Mile)
Dirty Projectors – “Gun Has No Trigger” (single and LP – “Swing Lo Magellan”) (Domino)
THEESatisfaction – “Deeper” (single and LP – “awE naturalE” (Sub Pop)
MJ Hibbert & The Validators – “The Battle Of Peterborough” (single and LP – “Dinosaur Planet”) (self-released)
El-P – “Drones Over Bklyn” (single and LP – “Cancer For Cure”) (Turnstile)
Shonen Knife – “Pop Tune” (LP – “Pop Tune”) (Damnably)
Heatsick – “Déviation” (12″ – “Déviation”) (PAN)
Liars – “No.1 Against The Rush” (single and LP – “WIXIW”) (Mute)
Dobie – “Hustle With Speed” (EP – “Nothing To Fear”) (Big Dada)
Ben Zabo – “Wari Vo” (LP – “Ben Zabo”) (Glitterhouse)
Grasscut – “Pieces” (single) (Ninja Tune)

Eclectic Mainline – 30th May 2012

I’ll cut to the chase (as I need to get outta here) and show you 3 songs that were in tonight’s show.  Firstly, the gorgeously simple ‘Tallulah’ by Allo Darlin’:
Tallulah by Slumberland Records

Now the spacious ‘Nova Anthem’ by Lower Dens:

And finally, the swarming ‘Locusts’ by Tunabunny:

Tunabunny – Locusts by HHBTM Records

If you are inclined to listen back to the full show, you’ll find it over here.

Here’s a full list of tunes featured in the show:

Graham Coxon – “Running For Your Life” (LP – “A+E”) (EMI)
King Creosote – “Near Star Pole Star” (EP – “I Learned From The Gaels”) (Domino)
Tunabunny – “Locusts” (split single with Shrag) (Fortuna Pop!)
ROM – “Fish Making Food” (LP – “Foot Signal”) (Pingipung)
Shonen Knife – “Psychedelic Life” (LP – “Pop Tune”) (Damnably)
Volcano – “So Many Lemons” (LP – “Piñata”) (Leaf)
Real Estate – “Exactly Nothing” (single) (Domino)
Liars – “No.1 Against The Rush” (single and LP – “WIXIW”) (Mute)
Japandroids – “The House That Heaven Built” (single) (Polyvinyl)
Allo Darlin’ – “Tallulah” (LP – “Europe”) (Fortuna Pop!)
Ben Zabo – “Cinquantenaire” (LP – “Ben Zabo”) (Glitterhouse)
Breton – “Foam” (double A-side single with “Jostle”) (Fat Cat)
Lower Dens – “Alphabet Song” (LP – “Nootropics”) (Ribbon)

Eclectic Mainline 23rd May 2012

Manic Street Preachers mug

I broke my Manic Street Preachers mug! :'-(

I was feeling rather glum first thing this morning, after breaking my Manic Street Preachers mug.  I’m sure Nicky Wire would just tell me to stop feeling so attached to material objects…while counting his money.

Had I broken it one day later, I would have had the mug for precisely 15 years.  I’m not sad enough to have known this, I might add.  I just looked up the date they played at the Nynex Arena in Manchester in 1997.

So, my Manic Street Preachers mug lasted quite a long time, and some things do indeed last a long time.  What a gorgeous Daniel Johnston cover version Füxa and Britta Phillips have made.  So gorgeous in fact that I have now played all 8 minutes of it twice in Eclectic Mainline this month.

If you wish to listen back to tonight’s show, you’ll find it here.  And if you want every song to be a surprise, don’t read the playlist below: Continue reading →

Eclectic Mainline 16th May 2012

I’m really rather excited by the imminence of a new album by Liars.  They’re amazing live, so you should go and see them if you get chance this year.  Here’s the new single, as played in tonight’s show:

 

If you’re in Leeds tomorrow night, you should get yourself along to Gary Stewart’s new EP launch at the Brudenel Social Club.  Here’s ‘Blue’ the song I played tonight:

Blue Master-MP3 by garystewart

If you’re keen enough to listen again, or even for the first time, to tonight’s show, you will magically find an opportunity to do so here.  And I don’t want to spoil the surprise, but this is what you would hear:

The Magnetic Fields – “Andrew In Drag” (LP – “Love At The Bottom Of The Sea”) (Domino)
FilFla – “Iso-Circle” (CD – “Fliptap”) (Someone Good)
Liars – “No.1 Against The Rush” (single and LP – “WIXIW”) (Mute)
Gary Stewart – “Blue” (“Year and a Day EP”) (self released)
Volcano – “Long Gone” (LP – “Piñata”) (Leaf)
Don Preston – “Analog Heaven #7” (LP – “Filters, Oscillators & Envelopes 1967-82”) (Sub Rosa)
Flats – “Shuffle” (LP – “Better Living”) (Sweat Shop)
Neutral Milk Hotel – “Holland, 1945” (LP – “In An Aeroplane Over The Sea”) (Domino)
Amon Tobin – “Angels & Demons” (Amon Tobin box set) (Ninja Tune)
White Rabbits – “Temporary” (single and LP – “Milk Famous”) (Mute)
FilFla – “Wst-Est” (CD – “Fliptap”) (Someone Good)
Breton – “Jostle” (double A-side single with “Foam”) (Fat Cat)
Senking – “The Dance Hall Walk” (12″ – “Dazed”) (Raster Noton)
King Creosote – “Doubles Underneath” (EP – “I Learned From The Gaels”) (Domino)

Eclectic Mainline playlist 9th May 2012

The album by Flats has been something of a revelation to me.  A revelation partly because I thought the band were new to me, but it turns out they are not.  Phil Cope tells me I played a single of theirs last year, and it turns out he is right.  I played a Flats single  in April 2011, as did Phil, a month earlier.  But mainly the Flats album is a revelation because it’s bloody brilliant.  You can hear Moonwalk, the tune I played tonight, on Soundcloud. (embedding seems to have been disabled – dear One Little Indian, please enable embedding on this wonderful tune)

A tune that Domino have enabled embedding for is this wonderful song from the new album by The Magnetic Fields:

The Magnetic Fields – Quick! by DominoRecordCo

Another tune I can include here for you is that by From The Mouth Of The Sun.  I’ve said this a few times over the past year or so, but I’ll say it again.   If I could change my own style of music to any other style, this is what I’d like to sound like:

http://youtu.be/Y5cqKnij-qY

If you want to listen again to the show, you’ll find it over here.  And here’s a list of all the tunes I played:

Continue reading →

Eclectic Mainline 2nd May 2012

There were several tunes in tonight’s show that I thought were quite wonderful.  One of them was this gorgeous tune by From The Mouth of the Sun:

Mention must also go to the Muddy Waters Blues Band release, Mud In Your Ear.  Luther “Snake Boy” Johnson led the band on this one, when recorded in 1967.  There were apparently contractual reasons why Muddy Waters himself could not lead the band.  It stands up well and is recognisably Muddy in character.

If you wish to listen again to tonight’s whole show, you’ll find it on the BCB Listen Again service for 2nd May 2012. Here’s a full list of the tunes I played:

Malorix – “Stretch Out Your Frown (Zea remix)” (12″ – “Malorix Remixed and Recycled”) (Makkum)
AM & Shawn Lee – “Dark Into Light” (single and LP – “Celestial Electric”) (Eighteenth Street Lounge)
Cate Le Bon – “Through The Mill” (LP – “CYRK”) (OVNI/Turnstile)
Das Politics – “Sourcloud” (LP – “Blitz Glazer”) (Sub Rosa)
Milagres – “Halfway” (single) (Memphis Industries)
Philippe Petit & Friends – “Eunoïa” (LP – “Cordophony”) (Home Normal)
Blockhead – “Never Forget Your Token” (LP – “Interlude After Midnight”) (Ninja Tune)
Muddy Waters Blues Band – “Evil” (CD – “Mud In Your Ear”) (Douglas Records / Wienerworld)
Füxa – “Some Things Last A Long Time” (LP – “Electric Sound Of Summer”) (Rocket Girl)
Husky – “History’s Door” (single and LP – “Forever So”) (Sub Pop)
Pieter Nooten – “Drone” (LP – “Surround Us”) (Rocket Girl)
Spoek Mathambo – “Kites” (single and LP – “Father Creeper”) (Sub Pop)
From The Mouth Of The Sun – “Sitting In A Roofless Room” (LP – “Woven Tide”) (Experimedia)