Releases: Best of the Week

Plenty more new album, EP and 7” releases from the obscure, unsigned, and alternative crowd this week. Here's a pick of the best.

Week starting February 21:


Yuck – Yuck (Mercury Records)


Yuck - The Wall
Meilir – Cellar Songs EP (Self-released)
Frankie & the Heartstrings – Hunger (Pop Sex Ltd/Wichita)
Toro Y Moi – Underneath the Pine (Carpark Records)
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie Xx – We’re New Here (XL Recordings)
Cults – Go Outside 7” (In The Name Of/Columbia Records)
Davids Lyre – In Arms EP (Mercury)
Rainbow Arabia – Without You (kompakt)

Gig of the Week: Cardiff, 19 - 26 Sept

First of all, I apologise for the lack of attention I have given here recently. No permanent address and a full-time job has meant that I've not listened to any new music or had proper access to the itnernet for well over a month. As I type this, I am set on a notebook in my girlfriend's mum's house 3 hours before I start work.

Anyway. The summer is over, students are returning, the gig schedule is getting busier. This week Cardiff has some tasty treats.

Sunday 19th September:
The Vaselines
Clwb Ifor Bach
£12 on the door
Event

Much loved indie poppers of yesteryear Glasgow's The Vaselines are probably best known for being that band that Kurt Cobain loved. Forming in 1986 and breaking up only 4 years later, it'd be an understatement to suggest that the band don't play very often. And just to reaffirm, this gig will take place in Clwb rather than the originally booked Millennium Music Hall, which I think is a good move.

Gigs also worth noting include:
Cardiff's very own experimental folkster Meilir (blog posts here) plays a refurbed The Cayo on the same date as The Vaselines (19th Sept). He finally seems to be getting a bit more attention in the area after playing tonnes of magical live shows, filled with karumba, piano, acoustic guitar, every-so electro beats, and gravel as an instrument. It really is something to see, so head to the Facebook event for info.

Meilir

Like Gallops, I've long been a fan of Meilir's work. In fact I think I first saw Meilir supporting Gallops, softening the crowd with his experimental take on folk music. I recently conducted an e-mail interview with the Cardiff-based singer-songwriter for my uni newspaper, which can now be found online here.

His debut EP is well worth checking out (there are probably still some copies left at Spiller's Records in Cardiff) for Meilir's haunting vocal work and unique methods to make his music - expect the odd electro-beat and a fair amount of foot-scraped-gravel to accompany acoustic guitar, piano, and a mixture of both English and Welsh vocals. To get a sample of his work and to find out when and where Meilir is playing live, head to his MySpace page here.