Home and dry

...ah. the week is oh so nearly in sight, there's gigs to go to, and the first week back at work has actually been okay (so far. Touch wood).

Anyway, I decided that I would actually post four fairly upbeat and wonderful tracks.

Pet Shop Boys -'Home and Dry.' mp3

JC at The Vinyl Villain seemed a few weeks ago to feel that he had to justufy his love for the Pet Shop Boys. Absolutely not! Still wonderful, twenty years on.

The Rapture -'Get Myself Into It.' mp3

Is Pieces Of the People we love the fourth or third Rapture album, if we include The Mirror, Out of the Races...and Echoes? Oh well. Either way, this still makes me want to dance.

Amy Winehouse -'Rehab.' mp3

'Have you heard Amy Winehouse's new single?' asked my brother's flatmate six months ago. Personally I was aware of her, but thought her too 'coffee-table.' Then I heard this, and a few months later her album ended up being my second favourite album of the year (2006). You never can tell...

Ronettes -'Be my Baby.' mp3

The sheer wealth of emotions this song can make you feel is just unbelievable.

As always, if you like the tracks, buy them on Amazon, iTunes or your local record shop. These tracks will be posted for a week only. Enjoy!

If I Had a Club Night

a da da da da da-da-da-da-da-da- da!

Oh sorry, got a bit lost there. It's been a busy few days, what with being signed back on by the Doctor (so back to school for me in a couple of days), trying to tidy the flat (a Painting a very big bridge kind of job) and doing more wedding preparation with the soon to be Mrs. 17 seconds.

I guess we're a bit tired rather than too old to go clubbing, but I got to thinking about the days when I DJed (and who knows, I may do again *wishful thinking*) so i was thinking about tracks I might like to play. And - this is for you Rick, if you're reading - some of these tracks you can dance to!!

Obviously, I would play some tracks that aren't a few years old, as well as some that are decades older, but here are a few, partioularly from the days when the re-emergence of 'post-punk' type stuff was floating my boat, blogging was in its infancy and The Arcade Fire and the Shins were pretty much only known to those who read the blogs. How times change...but some of these tracks are very much likely to make it into my list of best tracks of the noughties.

The Faint -'Agenda Suicide.' mp3

The Faint -'Worked Up So Sexual.' mp3

Fitness -'Chauffeur.' mp3

Juan Maclean -'By the Time I Get To Venus.' mp3

Radio 4 -'Dance To The Underground.' mp3

The Rapture -'House Of Jealous Lovers.' mp3

Links removed April 21.

As always, if you like the tracks, support the artists by buying the bands' music, whether at iTunes, Amazon or your local independent store.

Oh, and if you haven't checked it out yet, the jock'n'roll poll is up and running!

Best of 2006

OK guys - thought it might be good to post links to some of the best tracks of 2006...



First up, one of the albums I bought in the last few days is Amy Winehouse's Back To Black. It truly is worth hearing, and so different from the first album in 2003. You can go to Fingertips to download Rehab, but do yourself a favour and buy the album. It's already proving very pleasantly addictive...more 60's/70's classic soul than the jazzier sound of her debut...





Next up, over at Pitchfork they have The Rapture's Get Myself Into It here.

Though there hasn't been anything like the sheer amount of hysteria as there was when Echoes came out a couple of years back, new album Pieces of the people we love is still worth a place on your Turntable/iPod/CD player.




The wonderful SubPop is always worth a look...especially as the media page
has music from CSS and The Shins (cannot wait for new Shins album). I know I have posted links to these several times but when they are as good as this...

Finally Insound can provide mp3s for The Gossip and The Scanners, amongst others.


As always, if you like what you hear, please support the artist involved, by going to Amazon or any record shop and buying their music!

As of a couple of hours ago, I am now on holiday for the next few weeks. Hopefully I will have a bit more time to devote t0 the blog... : )

Merry Christmas to all my readers