DOLLARS TO POUNDS
Scott Wright's coverage of music from across the pond.
Dollars to Pounds: The Sticks
- story Scott Wright
A band trying to kill their instruments on stage doesn’t necessarily sound like murder. Take The Sticks. This Brighton trio will happily smack the crap out of a guitar or two, but they also spent the best part of a year recording their eponymous debut album. Evidently, making jams sound this effortless takes a lot of effort. This exclusive track, “Airwaves,” is both a tribute to radio and a swaggering, raucous racket. I spoke to them about arm-wrestling, ping-pong and “life’s juicy goodness.”
Download: The Sticks, “Airwaves”
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posted on Jan 13, 2010 in DOLLARS TO POUNDS
Dollars to Pounds: Mazes
- story Scott Wright
I love the holidays because I can sleep for 16 hours a day and no one notices. Getting up is a gargantuan task, but luckily Mazes are here to motivate me. Not only is “Painting of Tupac Shakur” the best-named song of the week-old decade, it’s the shabby, beer-stained spark that propelled me out of bed before midday for the first time in forever. Mazes are three guys based in Manchester and London with admirable destructive streaks, a distaste for the mainstream music business (they once said “major label A&Rs should all kill themselves”) and a love of Jonathan Richman and Mark E Smith. I caught up with main man Jack Cooper to talk about TVs, pound shop posters and Little Boots.
Download: Mazes, “Painting of Tupac Shakur”
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posted on Jan 7, 2010 in DOLLARS TO POUNDS
Dollars to Pounds: Deep Sht
- story Scott Wright
When people ask what you do, it must be nice to say, “I’m in Deep Sht.” Tom Watson has that pleasure. He makes gauzy, noisy songs that roll through town like a thick, eerie fog. Tom lives around the corner from me in north London. His debut 7-inch Weird You is out now on No Pain In Pop. I spoke to him about legal wrangles, the genius of Mark E Smith, and Ipswich Town FC AKA Roy Keane’s blue and white army AKA the finest football team the world has ever seen.
Download: Deep Sht, “Sidetripping”
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posted on Dec 10, 2009 in DOLLARS TO POUNDS
Dollars to Pounds: Fantastic Mr Fox
- story Scott Wright
Winter recently arrived in the UK, which is excellent news for fans of fog, big coats and moaning (ie, me). A collective melancholia has descended and it seems to be affecting our electronic music. It’s all sober and sad. Maybe it’s natural that producers in a post-bangaz world are turning inwards. One such guy is Fantastic Mr Fox, whose new Sketches EP on Black Acre is full of music for seasonally affected dancefloors. He made us an exclusive mix and I bombarded him with rubbish genre names.
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posted on Dec 3, 2009 in DOLLARS TO POUNDS
Dollars to Pounds: Fair Ohs
- story Scott Wright
As the Summer Of Rad draws to a close, here is a band that epitomizes the past few months of UK good times. Fair Ohs equal FUN. Matt Flag, Joe Ryan and Eddy Frankel are super posi dudes who combine hardcore and highlife to bring the party pain. You may have heard their recent sunshine jam “Summer Lake” on these fair pages. Here is another called “Almost Island.” I spoke to Fair Ohs about Benga music, recording songs on dictaphones and the dudest of dudes, Chevy Chase.
Download: Thee Fair Ohs, “Almost Island”
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posted on Oct 13, 2009 in DOLLARS TO POUNDS
Dollars to Pounds: Darkstar
- story Scott Wright
Listening to Hyperdub’s new retrospective 5 Years Of Hyperdub you’d be forgiven for thinking they’re in the clairvoyance business. A kind of record label Allison DuBois, they have spent the past half decade releasing music that sounds like the future (and probably solve convoluted ghost crimes in their sleep). Their latest act of sonic soothsaying involves Darkstar. The London-based duo is the label’s first band, a move that sees them striking deeper into the unknown. Is Hyperdub the new XL Recordings? Could be. But while Darkstar is a band, it’s still a Hyperdub band. Listen to the haunted mechanics of new single “Aidy’s Girl’s A Computer” here and admire the silent running of these 21st century man machines. I spoke to James and Aiden about sci-fi, Radiohead and Pitchfork’s 480th best single of the ‘00s.
Download: Darkstar, “Aidy’s Girls A Computer”
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posted on Sep 29, 2009 in DOLLARS TO POUNDS
Dollars To Pounds: Othello Woolf
- story Scott Wright
Othello Woolf is an awesome name. He could be the romantic hero of a trashy, bodice-ripping novel, the kind that has Fabio on the cover, his lustrous mane rippling manfully in the breeze. And Woolf is a romantic hero of sorts, but one with considerably less-stupid hair. A solo soul man he stalks the streets of London, weaving woozy funk into sentimental songs, hitching weird new noises to vintage emotions. Here is an exclusive track called Deep Water which sounds like a subaquatic Steely Dan. I asked Mr Woolf the big questions like whether he prefers Laurence Fishburne to Nicole Kidman.
Download: Othello Woolf, “Deep Water”
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posted on Sep 11, 2009 in DOLLARS TO POUNDS
Dollars to Pounds: Invasion
- story Scott Wright
Recently I was asked to invent a fantasy supergroup but every band I came up with sounded like something from the Judgment Night soundtrack. I should’ve followed Invasion’s example. Imagine Dimebag Darrell, Aretha Franklin and John Bonham hooking up. Then imagine them all younger and hotter. Now imagine Bonham as a flame-haired girl. That’s basically Invasion. Motown meets metal. Really heavy doom metal, but the upbeat, ecstatic kind. Axeman Marek, drummer Zel and Chan, the dynamite-voiced niece of PP Arnold, make up this unholy trinity. I spoke to Marek about witchcraft, Dungeons and Dragons and quality metal.
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posted on Sep 4, 2009 in DOLLARS TO POUNDS
Dollars to Pounds: Forest Swords
- story Scott Wright
It’s now eight years since Aaliyah’s untimely passing, but her influence continues to lap at distant shores. The Wirral peninsula in north-west England is a dramatic stretch of coastline and muse to Forest Swords, a solo songsmith who carves dusty sound from its half-known hills. He has a new tape out and from it here’s the ancient grind of “Glory Gongs.” But you should buy it for the b-side, a haunting cover of Aaliyah’s “If Your Girl Only Knew” that twinkles with twilight sadness. I spoke to Forest Swords about that song and how his music “echoes his environment.”
Download: Forest Swords, “Glory Gongs”
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posted on Aug 26, 2009 in DOLLARS TO POUNDS
Dollars To Pounds: Trailer Trash Tracys
- story Scott Wright
“Opposites Attract” by Paula Abdul may have been about her ill-advised, zoophilic flirtation with a denim-clad cartoon cat, but the song’s sentiment, that ying plus yang equals awesome, remains unsullied. Take Trailer Trash Tracys. Like a tidal wave and an ice sculpture, Jimmy-Lee’s reverb bombast and Susanne Aztoria’s fragile coos shouldn’t get along, but the combination ends up both potent and poignant. Here is the demo of their epic new Spector-goes-shoegaze single, “Candy Girl”. I spoke to them about Twin Peaks and New Edition and stadium rock.
Download: Trailer Trash Tracys, “Candy Girl (demo)”
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posted on Aug 18, 2009 in DOLLARS TO POUNDS
