Hotter than Lady Gaga's bra

Bonjour! LTCO returns to the floor simply because the following announcement is sooooo important that we came out of hibernation under a rock just to say it. Listen. To. This. Band. Superhero tune-wielders No Age reportedly recommended these guys to our friends Upset The Rhythm (we don't actually know them, we just wish they were our bestest buds) and we can see why. So enamoured were UTR that they have helped them to organise a UK tour, which graces The Grosvenor in Stockwell tomorrow night (that's Thursday 21st October, if you're reading this after the fact then it serves you right for not constantly checking a blog that hasn't had any posts in months! How could you?!). I would tell you all the other dates on the tour, but as they have an endearingly empty Myspace (nowt on it, like), I can't.

So, they're called Gun Outfit (hence the Lady Gaga reference, geddit?) listen to a couple of their tunes on their Myspace and get yourself down to The Grosvenor if you're in London for some seriously 90s-tastic Sonic Youth-y, Comet Gain-y goodness.

"High Places" by Gun Outfit (High Places EP, Make-A-Mess Records) by brilliantcolorsinfo

Power is money

Don't you just love a bit of old-school 80s instrumental hip-hop? No? Well, I do. Which means I also like C Powers, one of the artists featuring at the Stag & Dagger festival this weekend.

Get yo'self down to the delectable 'do tomorrow (London) or Saturday (Glasgow), whether you be in Glasgow or London, to sample the delightful musical spread they have prepared for you grubby punters to roll around in, which just happens to feature a couple of LTCO's old friends from past blog posts. But especially get down to the festival if you're in London, because C Powers is going to be old-school-80s-instrumental-hip-hoppin' the place up like there's no tomorrow. So you know what sort of thing he does (did I mention it's old-school 80s instrumental hip-hop?), but in case you need some comparisons to whet your imagination, it's a bit Prince, a bit DJ Shadow, a bit Mantronix, but it's, y'know, cool.

I haven't got any tracks I can post but just take a second to look at his Myspace, OK?? Peace out.

Oh oh oh, wait a sec - he's on at 10:30pm at 93 Feet East tomorrow night. And there's gonna be loads of other amazing bands on as well. Peace out again.

Tea Each by C Powers

Robots in disguise

Arrrright? Whilst perusing through the list of bands I should go and see at The Great Escape this year (oh yes, I had to get that in) I've happily stumbled across Masks, a lovely instrumental shoegaze group that make a kind of ambient-yet-paranoid noise, a bit like watching Twin Peaks with a hot chocolate. In fact, when interviewed for fellow blog Dummy, David Lynch was mentioned as an influence. Masks are another band to add to the growing list of bands-wot-make-scuzzy-guitar-like-noises-with-no-guitars, and, well, we just love that sort of thing round here.

Masks actually do wear masks, which they partly explain by saying they're "going for that Venetian look really, whilst ripping off The Knife while we’re at it". Fair 'nuff, it's nice to have a band whose name is just simple and descriptive for once.

They had an EP out last month on Fear & Records and, although based in Brighton, are hoping to start gigging elsewhere soon. Below is a little video of the wonderfully titled title track, 'Forever Dancing' - I'm just lovin' the simple yet effective keyboard melody, something that's exploited to it's fullest in the excellent chunky 'Entrepreneurs SB Remix' featured on the band's Myspace player.



If you are heading to The Great Escape this year, be sure to check them out, along with fellow Fear & Records act Rolo Tomassi; if my trawling of the unsigned lineup is anything to go by, I have a strong feeling that they might just shine a little beacon of goodness amongst the swathes of unsigned middle-of-the-road acoustic guitar twangers hanging around the place.

Can you guess what it is yet?

Right, we've had a couple of indie bands on recently, so methinks, in the name of eclecticism, it's time for another burst of electronica.

Patten is a tasteful Londonite making very pretty and very moody atmospheric nuggets of house music full of boopy bass lines. Y'know, the type that can only be described to other people by going 'boooooooooooooooooooop' at them. Yup.

So anyway, both of the tracks featured on his Myspace can be downloaded for absolutely nuffink from Bandcamp so you can boop along to them whenever and wherever you fancy, or you can listen to 'Fire Dream (C90 Demo)' below.

It's a short one today because I have a hunger headache and am off to chew some teabags. Toodleloo.

Three's a crowd

Isn't it just sickening when people are in more than one good band? It's bad enough when we have to be jealous of the people in one, never mind if they spring up another one as if it's the easiest thing in the world. Two bands is fine, but two good bands is just showing off.

Today's duo, The Proper Ornaments, contain one of our old familiars from Veronica Falls, something that only dawned on me when I went to see them in the flesh. And guess what? They're good! James Hoare of The Proper Ornaments is not only from Veronica Falls but was in the not-half-bad Your Twenties for a time before being ousted. And it certainly didn't do him any harm, as he clearly has a taste for reet good indie music. It's a bit surfy, quite a bit retro, and it has poppy harmonies and pretty melodies - all the things that are cool at the moment, but it's nice and sleepy too. It feels like summer, which is definitely what we all need a dose of right now.

Check out any of the tracks on their Myspace, they're all good.

In it together

This week's gigs included a band I've wanted to see since last summer but have only just got round to watching. I'd penned this little event in my diary a few weeks ago, when, lo and behold, upon turning on my radio earlier in the week to listen to the fine gentleman that is Mr. Steve Lamacq on BBC 6Music (save it save it save it!), what did I hear but the band themselves, chatting away amicably with Steve.

During the interview, Friendship (much to my delight) named No Age as one of their biggest influences, and, like No Age, they sure make one hell of a racket for two people. Their tracks are stylish and characterful (if you can say that about a song), and as much as I'm a fan of the promoters that put them on, at this particular gig they just seemed to be in the wrong place. They were just in a different league to the bands that preceded them, and by the time our intrepid duo got round to playing their brilliantly messy-but-polished tracks, the audience had all but got bored and gone home. Regular readers of the blog will know I'm quite a reserved audience member at the best of times, so standing on my lonesome in front of a very sparse crowd watching two men provide ear-splitting music to which thrashing around is probably the only appropriate response was a bit awkward. But they absolutely rocked, so it all turned out for the best in the end.

Their new single, 'Lifeguard', is out on the great Too Pure record label on Monday 19th April, check out Friendship's blog for details of where you can get your grubby little fingers on a copy. In the mean time, here's a video for 'The Graveyard Shift', a single that came out last year:

Deep doodoo

Ever wished that you could cross Gentle Friendly and Small Black to make a beautiful and wondrous Gentle Black? Friendly Small perhaps? I know I certainly have. And wouldn't the sound you made be deep? Very deep? Well, it would be Deep Sht, in fact - our band of the day. What's that you say? You'd even add some more poppy hooks? Well, in that case, this guy has just come up trumps on all counts.

His sound, as you can imagine, is scuzzy enough to satisfy the most scuzz-obsessed of us, and it's just lovely. The tracks are mainly short bursts of thoughtful, summery deliciousness, although word has it that they're coming from a darker, cynical sort of standpoint on his part. Maybe I just think it's summery cos it's sunny outside.

Anyway, he sometimes has some other people to help him out with playing his scuzz, and you can possibly see this happen at London's 1234 Shoreditch Festival on Saturday 24th July. For now, though, please do check out his Myspace page, or, better still, download his debut release, 'Weird You', available from emusic.com

Young, free and with great singles

Bachelorette, a.k.a. Annabel Alpers, is a lady that's been floating around the musical stratosphere for a while, but if, like the me of yesterday, you haven't listened to her stuff yet, I strongly recommend you get to it on the double.

She makes "stuff that buzzes one out", as she puts it. Floaty vocals and expert production come together in tracks with a surprising and refreshing amount of variation. We're quite used to laid-back, floaty, female-fronted 'quirky' indie, but this is a creation all of its own. There's layers of britpop, funk and electro, all tied up in a big pop bow, and even though that description might make it seem nightmarish to some people, just try in on for size and see how well it fits.

She's currently on tour around the US with Beach House, and - dare I say it (yes) - I prefer her stuff to theirs. But, fear not, she isn't planning on heading back to her native New Zealand after that - no, she's a hard-working single lady and she'll be gracing the fair isle of the UK with dates in Leeds, Sheffield and London, all of which are on her Myspace page.

Here's a nice video for 'Her Rotating Head', taken from her latest album 'My Electric Family', and cos I just couldn't decide which video to put up, you get two for the price of one with the video for 'Complex History Of A Dying Star' as well.

Let's hear it for the girls!

Last night's wandering about town brought me to the battered door of the ever dependable Old Blue Last, behind which lay a stage soon to be graced by two bands that I had seen before - Veronica Falls (about whom, readers will know, I am given to rant approvingly) and La La Vasquez - and one band that I had not - Girls Names

These wonderful people (not, as you may assume, all female) have come across from the wilds of Ireland to give England a right royal indie kick up the backside. Now, I'm one of those types that can be seen standing cross-armed and serious at any gig, perhaps mustering a smile if the band in question is particularly deserving, but - BUT - last night, when treated to the garagey-pop delights of Girls Names, I could be seen by all and sundry to be moved do what can only be described as polite bopping.

Their description of themselves is admirably spot-on: "Girls Names play disposable noise pop songs" and, I will add, they play them very well. We all know that 'noise-pop' or garage, or shoegaze, or general wonky distortion is very much the flavour of the week with us bloggers, writers and the Shoreditch scenesters, but it's so nice to see a band who aren't just going through the motions for the sake of being cool. The fact that they played alongside a band like La La Vasquez (sorry girls), and have done for the duration of this little tour, just illustrated the contrast between La La Vasquez's 'bang-a-drum-not-quite-in-time-and-goo-ooh-a-bit' displays of being trendy without substance, and Girls Names' impressive, individual songwriting, guitar playing and vocals. Oh, and Veronica Falls were great as always.

Check out this little video to hear their track 'When You Cry', and catch them live at various places over the next couple of months, all listed on their Myspace.

Girls Names - When You Cry (Ad Hoc Version) from CASS/FLICK on Vimeo.

Stars in their eyes

Profuse apologies from the LTCO camp for not having posted for so very long, this has been due to an unexpected bout of illness *cough*. Today's hero / heroes (embarrassingly I'm not really sure) is / are Celestial Bodies, another artiste channelling the 90's minimal dance vibe. Isn't it interesting that it seems to take exactly one decade for a decade (i.e. the 90s) to come back into vogue?

Anyhoo, Celestial Bodies' tracks are very nice indeed. Vocals that are a tad off-kilter, pretty little synth noises (you can never go wrong with some of those), and a sparingly, but well placed, drum machine all equal tracks with that kind of floating-in-space atmosphere that lives up to the name Celestial Bodies. You may have seen him/them a-gigging around about London; they played what I'm told was a pleasing night all round at Club The Mammoth at The Stag's Head in Dalston on Saturday 6th March.

If you like what you hear on this here 'Vanity' video, you can also get your mitts on the track 'Like Lovers' by purchasing the superb, and extremely cheap,'Don't Die Wondering Vol 1' compilation which can be purchased here.

Celestial Bodies Vanity from Ferry Gouw on Vimeo.

**LIVE REVIEW** Dum Dum Girls, Veronica Falls and Yuck at White Heat (Madame JoJo's), 2nd March 2010

How good was this lineup, eh? I mean, the lineups weren’t half bad for the entire Dum Dum Girls' big trip to London town – but I have to say I don’t think I’ve ever looked forward to a whole gig lineup as much as this little gem. Plus the ever-happening White Heat club afterwards! Absolute bargain for a fiver.

Upon arrival at the Soho establishment, at approximately 08:50pm, there was already a hefty queue beginning to spread down Brewer Street. As I had done my homework like a good little gigger, I knew that Yuck were due on stage at 08:30pm or thereabouts, and a bead of sweat or two did appear upon my youthful brow. Once in though, and past the overly-serious burly security men, no sooner did I reach the bottom of the stairs than Yuck struck up ‘Georgia’, their forthcoming single (which can, incidentally, be downloaded for absolutely free from their blog), and, as I’ve propounded at an earlier date on LTCO, happens to be an absolute Choooooooon (notice the capital ‘C’). Understandably for a relatively new band on the scene, they were a bit messier in the flesh than on record, but they also played a blinder. Do correct me if I’m wrong, but Madame JoJo’s, albeit a great place to go for a night out, doesn’t seem to have that great a soundsystem. On a few occasions throughout the night the balance just seemed to be a bit off. If you were there, opinions on a postcard please (or just comment below, whichever takes your fancy). In a couple of places throughout the rest of Yuck’s set, there were lovely strong echoes of Sonic Youth, which pleased me muchly as I was wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the great band themselves. I couldn’t help but purchase one of Yuck’s little numbered (out of 200) hand-drawn booklets, available for the measly sum of £1 at most shows. It’s not so much having one that even counts for me, it’s the idea that a band can drum up £200 for themselves just by taking the time to make a little booklet for fans – I like to think of it as a donation to the band.

On to Veronica Falls, and as I have also already gushed in an earlier review (again of them supporting a band – let’s get some headline spots in people!), they were great. Not quite as brilliant as the below mentioned show at Hoxton Square, but this seemed to be down to the sound quality in the place more than anything else. If you haven’t seen them, please do; the strength of their songs should be enough to convince people that they’re worth the money, and the songs are better live. There even seemed to be more people in the venue for them than for our headliners Dum Dum Girls, and I may even go as far as to say that, yet again, they were the best band of the night.

Soooo, Dum Dum Girls then. Anyone who’s heard ‘Jail La La’ will probably concede that it’s a grand song, and, indeed, it was grand live too. But the two people I went to the gig with and I all agreed on the same point afterwards: their look was a little confusing. It was like watching the cast of Chicago play an indie gig. Apart from Frankie Rose, who we also know from playing drums for Vivian Girls and Crystal Stilts in the past (what a CV, eh?) all three guitarists were wearing stockings, short dark vampy dresses and heels. Not what I expected from a lo-fi scuzzy girl group. But, dear friends, therein lies further confusion. They were quite a bit less lo-fi and scuzzy than on record, which doesn’t really seem to be the right way round. The vocals were amazing, and I enjoyed the sound as a whole, but it seemed suspiciously like they had been ‘scuzzed up’ to fit the lo-fi indie-kid audience; everything about it was glossier than their recorded songs would have you believe. Throughout the gig there were repeated loud shrieks from over-enthusiastic male admirers, and I felt like it was a bit of a shame that they didn’t seem to fit in a subculture that’s all about homemade music and a down-to-earth attitude. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve downloaded the single (and played it to death) and I think seeing the gig was more than worth it, but, for me, Moulin Rouge corsets and indie girl-groups are at opposite ends of the feminist scale.

And oh, I can’t go without mentioning the fabulousness that was the No Pain In Pop DJs. I’ve never heard Gentle Friendly’s ‘Loversrock’ and Atlas Sound’s ‘Walkabout’ played in a club environment before, so big kudos to them for just having great taste.

Evergreen electronica

Today I'm mostly listening to....... Visions Of Trees. What's especially good about these guys is they are genuinely doing their own thing. And that thing is kind-of-old-fashioned-but-definitely-with-a-modern-twist electro music. It's ethereal stuff, sometimes harking back to 90s minimal dance, but, as I said, it's got it's own thing going on. There's all kinds of clever production sound, meaning tracks are busy yet minimal at the same time. Every track hooks you in with something - its tribal noises, its interesting harmonies or - dare I say it - its funky riddims.

If you enjoyed the Telepathe album released at the beginning of last year, then this may be just the thing you need to survive the last of the long winter we've had in quirky electro land. Or even if the sugary goodness of Au Revoir Simone floats your boat, this might be something for you.

Visions Of Trees' debut EP, 'Sometimes It Kills', is out now and can be procured from the Royal Rhino Flying Records store online. It's all lovely stuff, but the title track itself is a particular gem. For now, though, here's 'Cult Of Cobras' for your viewing pleasure:

**LIVE REVIEW** Vivian Girls, Veronica Falls and Blue On Blue at Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen, 26th January 2010

Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen is generally a good place to go a-gigging; the size and, well, darkness of its gig room seem to be conducive to a successful sojourn into the world of band-viewing. Unfortunately, this fertile environment didn’t work out too well for the first band, Blue On Blue. Their guitarist was a complete no-show, much to the obvious mortification of the remaining two members of the band. The audience were treated to a series of frantic mid-set phone calls by the drummer which went along the lines of “where the hell are you? We’re on stage!” and other such less polite phrases. To their credit, the set was rather enjoyable anyway. What tracks singer / bassist Dee and drummer Mark could salvage between them were pretty impressive, and were enough to make me want to seek them out again, especially when Dee confessed to this unfortunate encounter being only their second ever gig, a revelation which prompted much admiration and appreciative whooping from us revellers.

The real champions of the night were, though, both for me and my gigging companion, Veronica Falls. The blogosphere – and now the magazine-osphere (it’s fun to invent words, you should try it sometime) – have gone gaga for these guys, and I feel you need to see them live to really discover why. The atmosphere was electric, and with one moody, stylish, well-harmonised song after another, the crowd were obviously enjoying being serenaded by them. And, to be honest, this resulted in Vivian Girls seeming a tad drab by comparison. Now, this may be partly because I saw Vivian Girls a while ago and they were great, or it might be genuinely because seeing both bands side by side brought out the stark contrast between the variation and range of songs that Veronica Falls had to offer and the dulcet drones of the Vivian Girls’ songs blending into one another, resulting in one long mass. It’s no news to anyone that Vivian Girls songs tend to be quite similar; in fact, it’s one of the things that makes them such a reliably good band, but Veronica Falls seemed to just give the audience that little something extra. Granted, that ‘extra’ might well be that they weren’t knackered from incessant foreign touring. Unlike a lot of people, I prefer the first Vivian Girls album to the second, so perhaps I was just hankering for more of the older stuff.

If you were a reveller at this particular gig, and you happened to make a purchase from the record stall on your way past, you may have been treated to being served by one of the lovely Girls themselves. This was something which caught my attention because isn’t it great when you get to speak to a band whose music you admire and respect, and they make the effort to serve you themselves? Either that or they had no-one else to do it, but I’m going to go for the first option myself.

There's nothing like some good ol' vinyl...

Victor Talking Machine, named after an old brand of gramophone, are a band that I've stumbled across before on my travels, when I wrote an article about them for a magazine I was doing some unpaid work for. At the time, their track 'Date Models' made them stand out like a sore thumb from the other tracks I was asked to write about, because even from the first bar you could tell the track was going to be good stuff. It became something of a favourite for me and my bedroom speakers. Now, having met the delightful lads (and their drummer's cat) in person, I'm even more convinced that they're a band that deserve some real recognition, and soon.

Unlike a great many of bands of their ilk, they understand that in order for a shoegazey, scuzzy track to catch people's attention, it needs to be catchy and be a little bit accessible about it (not too much, though, of course!). So, no unlistenable Shoreditch-tastic mess for them, just good tracks that make you want to press play again as soon as they've finished.

Get listening to them here.

Blogging forever

Internet Forever describe themselves as coming from both London and Cambridge - a respectable couple of places to come from, I'm sure you'll agree (being two of the few places I myself can claim to be from).

OK so they're another boy / girl semi-shouting, semi-speaking, semi-singing group that enjoy organs and plinking on xylophones BUT hold your horses those of you who, let's face it, are like sooooooo over Los Campesinos. They're also bloomin' good, alright? Permit me, if you will, a long-winded metaphor: in amongst the ten-a-penny bands buffing it about on the windy seas of indie-pop at the moment who feel that having one male and one female hamming up their London-ish accents over poppy synths is a brilliant way to disguise the fact that they can't sing all that well, Internet Forever are shining their little beacon of legitimacy to steer us all away from the rocky, stormy bits. OK so that was a terrible metaphor but you get what I'm trying to tell you.

Oh, just listen to them. The delectable ditty below was a single of the week towards the end of last year in both Artrocker and NME, so they must be doing something right. And go and see them at The Rest Is Noise in Brixton on 6th March or at Bardens Boudoir in Dalston on 10th March. Sorted.

**LIVE REVIEW** - Shrag at Buffalo Bar, London, 19th January & 12th February 2010

Yes, that’s right folks, two reviews for the price of one! So enamoured was I with Brighton post-punk lovelies Shrag, I saw them twice in as many months, and, much to the venue’s credit (and of course both shiny promoters Club Fandango and Baby Honey), both viewings were at the same place. They were also quite different gigs in nature, as I will explain forthwith.

Gig One was a largely drunken affair (on the band’s part, not on mine, sadly) which featured some mainly bad support acts, namely and shamely mock-punksters The Fades and pop-indie-punksters Herzoga. There was also support from sample-based mash-upper Public Service Broadcasting, but as I didn’t arrive until he had already strut his funky stuff (we call it ‘fashionably late’ in the business), I can’t possibly comment. I won’t go on about the supports I did see, anyway, as I was, shall we say, less than impressed with both and so this would only give our heroes Shrag an unfair advantage, now wouldn’t it?

After an eventful trip to the ladies’ involving a rather shame-faced couple and a rather angry-faced LTCO blogger waiting to empty her bladder for more than 10 minutes, Shrag stumbled onto the stage in what can only be described as a drunken stupor and proceeded to fumble their way through their set, regularly slurring that they’re usually much better than this and make less mistakes etc. All this was rather amusing, especially the bits where the lead singer Helen dropped her synth on the floor. It was also musically brilliant. I did think to myself ‘I wonder what they could do if they were sober’ but was relatively content to enjoy what they could provide in their inebriated state, which was some darn good (if messy) indie-pop choons. I’m sure I would’ve had a different attitude towards their drunkenness, though, had I been a paying customer an’all.

Enter Gig Two – back at The Buffalo Bar and this time supported by the stupendous Still Corners and the not-so-stupendous-but-perfectly-competent Smiths obsessives Northern Portrait, Shrag were this time in fine sober fettle, and delivered a set of, once again, messy indie-pop choons. Two lessons I learnt from this: one, that seeing a band twice in as many months means that the set really won’t be that different (no prizes for that revelation), and two, seeing a very good gig played by a drunken band does not mean that they will be even better sober. Gig Two was, don’t get me wrong, a ‘good gig’, but I’d got myself all worked up thinking that the lack of the ol’ sauce would elevate their performance to dizzying heights. I was wrong; good gigs are all about a relaxed band that feel they have the freedom to do whatever the hell they like, and, as long as they’re not self-important eejits, the audience won’t mind too much if the band in question can’t actually speak or remember the words too well.

If you haven’t yet checked out Shrag, and you enjoy a bit of DIY female-fronted indie-pop, do have a listen to the most excellent, and aptly named, ‘Hopelessly Wasted’ on their Myspace. Or, even better, if you’re feeling flush, take some pounds and pence down to your local trusted independent record retailer and purchase a copy of their album.

Yum Yum Girls

You know that happy feeling you get when you come across a track that you know, as soon as you hear the first few bars, you're going to play into the ground? Well, in this case, it's more like a band in general. I've seen Yuck adorning quite a few gig posters around about the town but, shamefully, never checked them out. Before now that is, and I've got that happy feeling all the way up to my eyebrows.

This is 90s-style gorgeousness through and through. Warm, tuneful, cool, great songs that I can tell are going to be gracing my bedroom speakers for quite some time. For those of you that heard Exlovers' debut EP last summer - you'll love this. As much as I loved that EP, it was missing some bite, or a bit of scuzz, or something. Yuck just completed that little puzzle for me. Listen to them here; especially get a load of their forthcoming single 'Georgia', which is going to be released as a split single with Herzog on Transparent Records on 15th March. Buy it!

Georgia from Yuck on Vimeo.

All that sparkles

Alrighty,

Glass Diamond are the order of the day today. Think Crystal Castles with better oufits. Sounds good, eh?

I strongly recommend having a gawp these guys in the flesh, but be prepared for a teensy bit of audience participation, or at least audience poking on the part of Hsin, the fabulously off-the-wall lead singer. Expect being shouted at through a megaphone and all kinds of floor-wriggling electro dancing wonderment.

Again, until poor LTCO get to play with the big boys, you'll have to click here to have a proper listen to them, but I'll post a likkle video right here so if you're just too darn pooped to click on the link just have a butchers at this.

Chase After Myself music video - by GLASS DIAMOND from Glass Diamond on Vimeo.

It's all about Dylan........

Hey hey music monkeys!

Today it's all about Zimmermans, a lovely bunch (or bloke) from Cardiff. Now, as far as I can glean without actually having done much research on the subject, this is mainly a one-man powered deal. What I mean is that, at some point during the past summer, Zimmermans went from a few man outfit to a one-man outfit, and it seems that this one man has now joined / formed a new shiny band named VVolves. Yes VVolves. See what they've done there? The thing is, I've become a little obsessed with a track that's been featured on Zimmermans' Myspace page since his short solo days, and so wanted to feature this, rather than the new band, on here. Clear?

It's called Crystallize, and tis a bit of an electro vocoda choon. I don't have the right to feature it on LTCO directly, or he might come at me like an angry vvolf in the night, but promise me you'll listen to it here and I'll sleep soundly. The others on his page aren't quite as addictive, but definitely worthy of a listen. Also check out VVolves here if you fancy - honestly, I'm just giving bands away today.

Death by doughnuts

Death In Plains is a humble Italian soul whom I stumbled across one day when on my usual ramblings through the wilds known only as Myspace. I think we can all see a pattern emerging already here on LTCO for general scuzzy dreaminess, and just so as not to let you all down when we've got a good thing going, I'll add anther to your repertoire.

Formerly known as 'Donut Plains', his echoey noises have appeared in notable little venues all over the Big Smoke and he's got the reviewers, inlcuding us, raving about him. He's a lone worker; one of those fascinating one-man effects soundboards that's as intriguing to watch as to listen to. Lend your ears to his cover of Lady GaGa's 'Brown Eyes' on his Myspace for a little taster.

Great white

OK, OK, so I've not blogged for a few days - I'll be better, promise, please take me back.

Today's offering Small Black don't need much help from us, as they're 'bigger' than the artists we usually aim to mention, but they're just so good I'm going to blog about them anyway, in the hope that they might be someone's best discovery since Chumba Wumba. They're making sound waves and ripples from across the pond right up to our pasty English doorsteps; they've been featured in a few important places over here, and now they're being mentioned here on LTCO so they've obviously made it big time.

Their lo-fi electronica music is just gorgeous - listen to Despicable Dogs on their Myspace if you don't believe me. If you like to buy real live vinyl records, you can pootle on down to Pure Groove Records in London to purchase a copy of their EP, or order it via their Myspace page.

If it's all about MP3s for you, the ever dependable indie haven emusic have it digitally for your downloading pleasure.

We all like yoghurt

Today's band, YGT, are a quiet duo (well, at least in web terms anyway) that I first spied last June playing to a sparse crowd at Shoreditch's Old Blue Last, a pub owned by uber-cool Londonites Vice Magazine.

It's no surprises they were selected to play there - the set blew me away, mainly because the tastefulness of their laid-back electronica is second to none - I don't think I've ever enjoyed a gig involving two guys twiddling their knobs so much (steady, you know I mean the analogue kind).

The only track that's been on their Myspace since is absolutely beautiful, as was the rest of their set. A bit of an impression can be gleaned from this video, but I strongly recommend checking out the 'GROTD' track on their Myspace page.

Infinity and beyond

There's a lot of shoegazey lo-fi going around at the moment, and we at LTCO are more than happy with that. Infinity Hertz are a relatively new band making exactly this delectable kind of noise with a lovely lovely (double lovely) scuzzy sound. They're planning on releasing a limited edition 6-track EP next month on cassette - the only way to release these things nowadays, darling. Get your mitts on it by keeping up with them at their Myspace, or for a taster of their dreamy sound watch this video for 'Absolute Deliberation'.


Absolute Deliberation Videration

INFINITY HERTZ | MySpace Music Videos

LTCO

Right, here's what it's all about, folks......

I'll be trawling the net now and then to find lovely new songs, bands, artists and so on and so forth for all and sundry to listen to.

I'll also be reviewing gigs and club nights, almost exclusively in London cos that's where I'm based but if you have any suggestions elsewhere do let me know!

If you want to suggest an artist, or put you and / or your band forward, let me know at ltcoletthecatout@googlemail.com

Happy listening!