Blyth - Brilliant Mind

Welcome to Monday evening. We've made it through the most hateful day of the week and not killed anyone with fire - so that's good, intit?

This is kind of a pretty special post. Not least because I'm going to introduce you to a brilliant album by another wonderful band, but also because it marks the last release from probably my favourite wee record label, Tiny Lights Recordings. More on that later, but first - the music. The necessaries - hoik your trouser creases off to the Tiny Lights bandcamp page to have a listen to Blyth by Brilliant Mind.

tinylights.bandcamp.com/album/blyth

This is, and I'm actually going to break with my pact never to use this word lest I chew my own arm off with anger, a wonderful journey of tracks. Journey. I know, I'm sorry. I loathe that word with a passion, every fucker is off on one these days - but there's no other way to describe this album, it IS a journey of tracks, it's a beautiful meander through the North East, not only in terms of the song's contents, but also in the way the music is performed. These are songs with accents - they are songs with nuanced vocals, sung properly, and performed with real heart - they are the North in a capsule.

Opening track "Don't Give Me That, Rob" is an absolute corker, fantastic, catchy bass (thegeneral LOVES BASS) and such a lovely lovely vocal - muted and delicate. It sets us up nicely to amble into track two "Two Lies", another utter delight - there's a real sense of pathos here, a faintly plaintive vox marries with more catchy bass and organ. It's an odd mix, because the music feels really jaunty in many ways, it pops along merrily, yet there is a real undertone of emotion as well. Something that grabs your chest.

"The Room Upstairs" starts with a really delicate guitar, a great pick, it's a soaring song, with a gentleness to it, it's the song on the album that you want to lie back and shut your eyes to. Finally we end with the title track "Blyth", and it's a strong way to finish. It's really poetic - the opening line "You drop the latch on the front door, slides your legs off the bedroom wall until you're on your back, 'cos the light comes pouring in..." is so evocative. It's sepia, sixties and dust almost. The song itself, poetry aside, is just a delightful way to complete this collection. Again, deceptively powerful, emotional and wandering.

I really would urge you to go and spend some of your money and support not only Brilliant Mind, but also Tiny Lights, too. It's with quite a large amount of sadness I make this entry as it does indeed mark the end of Tiny Lights Recordings. Many of you who read these pages regularly will know how many times I've featured bands from the label and how much I tried to champion the music that they were putting out. It's been a genuine pleasure to discover bands like Blank Maps, By Toutatis, Lionhall, Tusk and Rivals - not to mention my favourite band of stroppy bairns Tissue Culture. You'll only need to flick back through the last few months of blog entries to find all these acts and acquaint yourselves with their brilliance. I think, by featuring Brilliant Mind, they're going out on a total high - so it just finally remains for me to say farewell and thanks to Tiny Lights. It's been a total joy and you're leaving behind some amazing music - and if you need further proof, please just go to their bandcamp page and have a listen (and for fuck sake, buy!!) So long, it's been a total DIY as Fuck blast...

tinylights.bandcamp.com/

thegeneral's 2013 Round Up Award Ceremony With Optional Sausage On A Stick - Part Two.

Welcome back my darlings. That was rather a longer advert break then I intended - but I had to hoover the remnants of the ready salted off the rug and refill the kettle before we could commence with part two. It's been all go backstage, I can tell you. I had a huge hissy fit when I realised no-one had pointed out I'd almost done a Judy Finnegan as I presented the last award. I don't think anyone noticed though, and if they did they kept manfully quiet to preserve my dignity (and my raspberries). 

Anyway, here we are, reassembled and ready to go. Have you all done toilets and remembered to wash your hands? I shall be awfully cross if anyone has to leave this blog page to have a wee just as I'm warming up. There's nowt more annoying than getting into your stride and then being thrown off by someone walking past you in a dinner jacket and bermuda shorts. Or was that in my dream about Matt Berninger...? 

Erm

Right. 

Let's plummet on with part two shall we?

Award number six:

Band That Make thegeneral Most Very Excited For New Music In 2014

Arcs and Trauma

This again, was a very easy choice. Arcs and Trauma have simply rocked my world with their new single. This Place That I Love is a total joy - it's backed with another utter beauty of a song called "Lost Spirit". Both tracks are very different, yet still full of properly rocky, rampant energy and exuberance. Since their initial "2011EP" and the follow up "White To Violet" came out in 2012, they've continued to develop and hone their talent and these two new tracks show just how far they've come and just how far they could go. Hopefully 2014 has great things in store for them - and for their fans too. Thanks for a great end to the year, A&T (oh and also for the T-shirt, which I wear with total pride - and which I did pay for, in case anyone thinks I took a bribe...)

Award number seven:

Solo Artist That Makes thegeneral Feel The Same As For The Above Award But Totally On Their Own And Stuff:

Joe Allan

Lovely lovely Joe. I was totally surprised by his song September, which he sent to me last month to have a listen to. I sometimes feel like a passe old mid-thirtysomething cliche maker when I review young bands and artists and try not to make too many "music's all changed from when I were a lass" comments, but as with Arcs and Trauma, Joe displays a real talent and a maturity in his music that can only improve over the coming year or two. The fact he is just preparing his debut EP for release in 2014 gives me great hope his music will reach a wider audience and that he is recognised for being a really great songwriter and musician. 

Award number eight:

Gramaphone Record That I'm Most Getting My Drawers In A Tangle Over For 2014

Emperor The Stag - Fantasy To Bleak

When Emperor The Stag sent me their debut album - which is due out in February next year, I listened with relish and feel as though it's going to offer a great musical start to 2014. It's still top secret and hush-hush for now, but I can tell you that it will give so much to the discerning indie fan and really will be a treat to see the Spring in with. I'm hotly tipping both it and the band themselves for GOOD THINGS during the next year and can't wait for everyone to hear what they've come up with. 

Award number nine:

Best Record Label And Band Collaboration That Totes Made Me Go All Emosh And Shit

Tiny Lights Recordings and Tissue Culture

Couldn't go to two nicer lots of folks. Just a few weeks ago I blogged about how Tissue Culture had won the Hit The North East and Tiny Lights Recordings Top Twenty Hit List thingy with their song "Satellites". When I played it, I could totally understand why. What you need to do is go over to their bandcamp page and have listen to their EP Saint Waleric and see/hear for yourself. They're a hard working, gutsy, intelligent and thoughtful group and Tiny Lights have really worked hard to bring out the best in them. Just like all the other acts I've featured over the last night or so, they deserve stellar success in the coming months and beyond. Good luck to the finest band of shouty, stroppy bairns there is and thank you to Tiny Lights for bringing some of the best music I've ever heard - not just from TC, but from all the other acts you've helped along the way this year. While the label itself is on a hiatus for the time being - you really should check out what they have to offer because you will not regret it.

Award number ten:

The Really Difficult To Pick Last Award, You Know The One That Includes A Montage On A Video Screen And Features Shots Of Everyone In The Audience Wiping A Solitary Tear Away And Then Checking Themselves Out To See How Good They Look Crying:

Every artist featured on the blog this year

So I know I like a laugh and a joke and to take the piss out of myself quite a lot. I also know that trying to pick ten acts who've really changed the way I think about music in 2013 has been really terribly difficult. The truth is that if I've featured you on here it's because I do genuinely love you and think you've got something to offer my small but perfectly formed readership - so, as cliched as it sounds, you're all winners in my eyes. 

This blog came back from an extended hiatus in August and the first post featured the awesome Kill The Captains with their album "Sounds Mean", it was a fucking brilliant album to stage a return with. In the months that followed I've been lucky to hear some really great EPs and singles from really talented bands like PALACE and Lionhall. thegeneral was also incredibly lucky to witness one of the greatest comebacks in rock history - by going to see the mighty, mighty CUD in Manchester at the start of November, a band for whom it's been a twenty odd year ambition to see and who didn't disappoint. All the bands who've contacted me directly have been a pleasure to work with and a joy to help promote. So I'm hopeful that moving into 2014 I've got plenty more great new music to bring you.

I'm now taking a short break until the new year, to recharge, refresh, reboot and restart my life after what has been a difficult couple of years, but I'll be back and raring to go very soon. In the meantime, thank you to everyone for reading and thank you to the bands I've written about for giving me some music to cling on to when things have been mind-shitty. I wish you all a safe, happy Christmas and a peaceful and bright new year. 

Much love

thegeneral xx

Tissue Culture and Hit The North (East)

Hey and away we go on this tuneful Tuesday evening - and what a day it has been. I still have no proper chocolate and at tea time I realised there was no cake either. No cake? Unthinkable. So I obviously needed something to take my mind off my troubles. Here it is anyway.

I start with a small apology as I'd meant to do this post last week, but time ran away with me and I didn't get chance - better late than never and I hope you'll agree when you read (and listen, because if you don't listen, I'll find where you live and tell everyone what you REALLY keep in that tea caddy in your shed) that it was worth the wait. 

So yes. Ahem.

I've long been a champion of all the new and emerging acts from the North East. At the moment, it really is the best place to be if you want to listen to really fresh, engaging music made my keen-as-mustard folks with genuine talent. Quite a few of the bands I've featured on this blog since its inception last year have been from there and although I'm from the North West myself, I feel a genuine affinity and affection for the great music being produced over t'wall. 

Therefore I was quite excited when I heard that Hit The North (East) were getting together with one of my favourite wee record labels Tiny Lights Recordings to create The Tiny Lights Top 20 Records of the Year awards type thing. Tiny Lights have had some bloody fucking brilliant acts this year - in a few weeks time I'll be doing my own review of the year and there'll be lots of mentions of them again, so brace yourself, prepare for the emergency stop and don't forget to bang on the dashboard. 

You can see the complete run down of the top 20 here - it includes some favourites of mine, By Toutatis, Lionhall and BLANK MAPS (sobsobsob RIP etc)

However, the focus of tonight's long, rambling meander (cos God knows this is making the Domesday Book look like a pamphlet on condoms) is going to feature the winners- Tissue Culture

Oh Tissue Culture. On their Facebook page they describe themselves as "shouty, stroppy, bairns" and it's funny, but it really does them a total injustice. The last while gone by I've been giving their EP "Saint Waleric" some serious whelley on the auld gramaphone and I've really grown to love it a great deal. Before we go any further, I'd like you to take a look at one of the tracks off it - "Satellites"

Now you've done that, you must go to their bandcamp page and take a look at their EP in full

http://tinylights.bandcamp.com/album/saint-waleric

It really is so very beguiling. It's discordant harmony played out to a backdrop of scuzzy guitars and there is a painful beauty to each of the tracks. The seven minute opener "Bleak Northern Beaches" is a push-me-pull-you kind of song - on first listen it might scare you a bit, but give it a few listens and you realise just how much depth it has. Satellites speaks for itself, but songs like "Safe, Safe, Safe" are real emotional rollercoasters. All of the tracks on here are aching paeans, filled with pathos and real intensity.

So whilst everyone on the list was a winner in their own right, Tissue Culture grabbed the top spot for the sheer forcefulness and heart stopping gorgeousity of their sound (yeah, I just made a word up, no, there's fuck all you can do about it...). They are a band that simply warrant investigating and are deserving of a friendly ear. thegeneral really does hope they come back in 2014 with something else. In the meantime we've got Saint Waleric and their EP of 2011, "Cling To The Nostalgia" (and not mastalgia as I just typed...that's something totally different for another blog)

Tiny Lights might say they're DIY as fuck but their acts are a shining example of everything that is fuckawesome about the North East music scene. Once you've checked out Tissue Culture, you might want to have a look at what else they have to offer:

http://tinylights.bandcamp.com/

I say this a lot, but you genuinely won't regret it. Now then...about that stuff you're hiding in the tea caddy at the back of the shed...?

Rivals - I'm Not An Animal

It's the weekend. Or if you're in France, le weekend. Anyway, wherever you are, welcome to it and I hope it's been nice to you so far, brought you breakfast in bed and perhaps a little fondle under the duvet.

Today thegeneral would like to introduce to Rivals - and once again, it's another brilliant act who are releasing on Tiny Lights Recordings (tagline - yep, you've guessed it - DIY as fuck). Now then, this is another heads up. The single isn't actually out until 28th October, but you can mosey on over to the bandcamp page below and have a look:

tinylights.bandcamp.com/album/im-not-an-animal

Listen to the song while you're there, too. It's a metally-slightly grungey-rocky-powery-poppy-punky effort with great lyrics and an energetic vocal:

"Never forget that weakness is the thing that keeps us human"

Which to be honest, no matter how it's bellowed at you, speaks volumes - and as thegeneral is in a bit of a headfuck at the moment, there's never been a better time to remind yourself that this statement is very very true indeed. Gosh, if you ever need waking up or bringing to, then this is the record to do it (especially if you've been lucky enough to have a fondle under the duvet. HAVE YOU??? WELL HAVE YOU??? OWN UP...)

So head on over and give Rivals a listen. The 7 inch vinyl run of the single is limited to 350 copies only, so get in there quick sticks and pre-order if you know you want it, as the band's debut single "Wax" sold out super-duper fast when it came out earlier this year.

Blank Maps - Lucky Dip

Alright? Yeah, course you are, it's nice to see you looking so well. I LOVE what you've done to your hair. It's Tuesday and time to introduce to you yet another brilliant band. Today it's the turn of Blank Maps.

This is their latest EP type thing and it's going to be released properly on October 14th through the frankly brilliant Tiny Lights Recordings (tagline: DIY as fuck...).

Lucky Dip is just wonderful. It's chippy, tingly and it makes you want to move. It's beautifully multi-layered and there's a real feeling of space juxtaposed with tightness in the song. Vocalist Thom Piddock has a really great feel to his voice and his slightly falsetto style seems to marry perfectly with the staccato nature of the beat.

Here's a little look at one of their previous efforts. The sparkly Everything Ends

As always I direct you to their bandcamp page to have a look at this EP and their other stuff. Previous releases are the aforementioned Everything Ends and Blank Maps. I urge you to give them a listen. thegeneral really rather likes them a lot and hopes you do too.

blankmaps.bandcamp.com/

Lionhall - Soldiers

Another pretty exciting record label to look to is Tiny Lights Recordings (tagline DIY as Fuck). They've had some great releases over recent times and probably thegeneral's favourite so far this year - the mighty TUSK's Interrobang EP (yes, yes I know - I keep mentioning TUSK, but they really are one of my tips for great things)

However, this new record from Lionhall, called 'Soldiers' is similarly exciting. It's released on 28th August and I'd really like to recommend that you give it a listen. A catchy, catchy opening hook is married with beautifully tempered, ethereal vocals that seep into your consciousness without you realising. It's an achingly sweet sound than has an unexpected power to it. It takes more than one listen to fully understand its depth, but once you do - you're enraptured.

Have a look at the band's bandcamp page below. They've a lot to offer and it won't be the last you hear of them.

tinylights.bandcamp.com/album/soldiers