Once Around The Block

I first heard Damon Gough a/k/a Badly Drawn Boy when he appeared on the much hyped first Unkle album, alongside the likes of Richard Ashcroft, Thom Yorke and of course DJ Shadow, Mr. Gough delivered a great performance that delivered on the great reviews he had for his early blink and you missed them early EPs. Since then over the course of his own albums he has shown a rare talent for classic pastoral pop. If his hero and inspiration Bruce Springsteen had hailed from the North of England, songs about meeting Madonna may have emerged. In fact, Gough's forthcoming album "Born In The Uk" is the story of growing up in 70's Britain as the video for the title track illustrates. The downloads today include that very first Unkle song, a couple of album highlights and a cover of the Dexys classic "Come On Eileen"

- Unkle - Nursery Rhyme Breather

- Badly Drawn Boy - Have You Fed The Fish?

- Badly Drawn Boy - The Year Of The Rat

- Badly Drawn Boy - Come On Eileen

Buy Badly Drawn Boy here

Badly Drawn website here

Badly Drawn Boy - Born In The UK

Fairytale Love

So thanks to those fine people at Domino, it looks like The Triffids will get the legacy they deserve with all of the bands albums getting the deluxe re-release, extra tracks, fancy booklet treatment in the next year or so. First out of the gates is what many regard as the band's finest moment "Born Sandy devotional" The album was the first that many heard from the band and it's success in the indie charts led to their deal with Island Records and what was expected to be their big break. Featuring the classic "Wide Open Road" the other songs today prove it wasn't a one trick pony. Two of the songs were featured on the original release and "Convent Walls" is one of the nine extra songs featured on this release. If you following the link below to the Triffids mini site you can watch a video and get another download all for the price of your email address.

Download - The Triffids - Lonely Stretch

Download - The Triffids - The Seabirds

Download - The Triffids - Convent Walls

Buy the Album here

Mini site is here and webpage here

The Triffids - Wide Open Road

Donkey In A Fez

I always lumped Cud in with the likes of Stump and Bogshed, Peel favorites favoring angular sounds and wacky song titles. Their new compilation though "Rich And Strange" highlight that was just one side of the band who progressed from a shambolic, sound to almost polished quirkiness on their last album. In their career they even dented the UK singles charts a couple of times. The release of the compilation has also prompted the band to get back together for some live shows which have been well received so maybe new recordings will be on the horizon?

- Cud - You Sexy Thing

- Cud - I've Had It With Blondes

- Cud - Sticks And Stones

Buy Cud here

Cud site here

Cud - Through The Roof

Pull Shapes

So we're now in a new house, and I've finally had time to pause after a whole bunch of painting. My soundtrack while I splashed paint in all directions including some on the walls was The Pipettes A giddy mixture of 60's girl group, Strawberry Switchblade (maybe just the polka dots) and some of the pop fun of the B52s mixed together with a grrrl power attitude, and in their recently released album "We Are The Pipettes" you get one of the soundtracks to this summer. Brighton based and sharing a label with The Go-Team from reviews it sounds like their live show is even better than their records so far. Rumors of a US tour at the start of next year abound, I for one will be bringing my paintbrush. The downloads today are from a variety of recent radio sessions and include some acoustic versions of songs from their album.

- The Pipettes - ABC (live from the Blue Room)

- The Pipettes - Dirty Mind (Radcliffe Session)

- The Pipettes - Pull Shapes (radio one session)

Buy the album here

Website here

The Pipettes - Pull Shapes