First Aid Kit - Twelve Grooves of Christmas - A Baker's Dozen

This year saw the emergence of two teenage sisters from Sweden, called Klara and Johanna Söderberg, who are making some spine tingling sounds, that manages to be sweet, spooky, rustic and graceful, all at the same time. The harmonies are astonishingly accomplished and their voices have a richness and depth that belies their youth.

They delivered a cute and crisp version of 'Tiger Mountain Peasant Song' originally performed by this years all conquering alt folk harmonic rockers Fleet Foxes, who have swept the board in the music media end of year recommended lists.

First Aid Kit have a mini album out on Rabid Records called 'Drunken Trees' which is being re released on Wichita Recordings with a bonus track of the aforementioned ‘Tiger Song’ along with a DVD with three songs performed and recorded live in the Swedish forest, something get excited about in 2009 for sure. So here's looking forward to another fruitful year from the duo, hoping they deliver some more of that sweet music medicine, it's just what the doctor ordered.

Here is their version of the old classic.. Merry Christmas from Scratchy Buckles...

First Aid Kit -'Blue Christmas'



http://www.myspace.com/thisisfirstaidkit

http://rabidrecords.com/firstaidkit/

Eux Autres - Twelve Grooves of Christmas Part 12

Eux Autres have emerged just in time to deliver us a lovely festive ditty, as we've all been good children this year. It ticks all the appropriate boxes with jingle bells, singalong chorus and a strumalong guitar. Imagine the soundtrack to two weeks skiing at an exclusive resort, with a group of fascinating friends, all of whom are witty company, have interesting careers and groovy hobbies and amazingly there's not a single bore invited along, apres ski is just one long chilled out party sitting around the open fire listening to Stereolab. 'Another Christmas at Home' is available digitally on iTunes (as well as other major digital retailers)

They have been busy bees this year, as Eux Autres have done a Bruce Springsteen cover for the upcoming tribute album "Play Some Pool, Skip Some School, Act Real Cool" through Where It's At Is Where You Are Records and have also covered Slade's classic tune 'Merry Christmas Everybody' for that label. The group have signed up to do a split 7 inch single for Slumberland Records' as part of their Searching For The Now project, so lots to look forward to in 2009.


The main driving forces of the band are siblings Heather and Nicholas Larimer. Heather plays drums, Nicholas plays guitar and they both sing. This year, they have enlisted Yoshi Nakamoto (The Aislers Set, Still Flyin') on drums and Nevada on keyboards so the new material will have exciting new flavours thrown into the mix.

I really got into their signature tune 'Ecoutez Bien' this year, with it's tense driving indie twangy surf guitar, jangly piano riffs all topped off with Heather's faux sixties euro pop singing, there's even hand claps and woooahhs! thrown in to the mix to spoil us. Check it out on their website here go on it's free, a gift that keeps giving!

Eux Autres - 'Another Christmas at Home'



http://www.euxautres.net/

http://www.myspace.com/euxautres

http://allthatevermattered.blogspot.com/2008/10/interview-eux-autres.html

Small Feral Token - Twelve Grooves of Christmas Part 11

Small Feral Token unleashed a corker of an album this year called 'Digipop' which popped out back in October. They were favourably featured in the national press in their native Sweden, but mystifyingly have barely registered in the U.K music press so far, thus I'm determined rectify the error of music blogland's ways and correct this oversight.

The 'Feral' sound could be pigeon holed as 'electronica pop' chirping from the same perch as highly commercial acts, like Kylie Minogue and Robyn. Yet they also have some of the musical magpie tendencies of Gwen Stefani and soar amongst the experimental clouds of Björk or Kraftwerk. All the while, lurking beneath the beats, is a brooding undercurrent of foreboding and implied menace, a la Portishead, so whilst all of these elements combine to produce a sumptuous mainstream peacock, concealed beneath the fine drapery, lies the heartbeat of an avant-garde Hitchcockian crow, slyly feathering the nest.

Small Feral Token is made up of the creative partnership between Lotta Westholm and Natalie Sjölund, who are based in Stockholm. Song writing duties are divided up with Lotta composing the foundations of the songs and Natalie writing the lyrics. Together they self produced their debut album 'Digipop' with some collaborative input from Aron Lamm. It was released via mondonuevorecords and is well worth checking out.

Here is the fantastic but spooky new video for the song 'Passionate Glue' It peeks into a nightmarish world, set within a padded cell, trapped within a German Expressionist painting. Lotta and Natalie play 'Alice in Wonderland' type characters, partaking in a nutty knotty knitting circle. Nurse, more meds please, I've dropped a stitch! It was filmed in collaboration with author & director Sandra Nilsen and the crew from Branbomm Film.

Small Feral Token - 'Passionate Glue'



http://www.smallferaltoken.com/

http://www.myspace.com/smallferaltoken

http://mondonuevo.se/

The Boxing Lesson - Scratchy's Twelve Grooves of Christmas Part 10

Occasionally, here at 'Scratchy Towers' we like to chill out, roll a metaphorical fat one and let our 'freak flag fly' Some of the best backing music to get us in that mood is by post rock pugilists The Boxing Lesson from Austin, Texas.

The latest video accompanying the track 'The Dark Side Of The Moog' taken off their 2008 album release Wild Streaks and Windy Days is a bit of a corker. It's directed by Eric Power of clearproductions.net, who has produced an animation with a woodcut style that is vaguely reminiscent of The Beatles 'Yellow Submarine' animated film but realised in a sinister David Lynch style.

The Boxing Lesson roll out a brand of psych-rock fit for the twenty first century that shimmys, and soars in epic dramatic spacey tracks but they can also knock you out with a more direct garage band inspired sound. If you like Secret Machines, Porcupine Tree or the most obvious reference point, Pink Floyd, these guys will be a heavyweight contender in your collection.

The video for The Boxing Lesson - 'Dark Side of the Moog'



www.myspace.com/theboxinglesson

www.youtube.com/theboxinglesson08

Marina & The Diamonds - Twelve Grooves of Christmas Part 9

If I was to stick my neck out and make a tip top prediction for an act from our Christmas list, who's going to make a significant impact on 'muzbizland' in 2009, I'd say it has to be Marina and the Diamonds. She first cast a spell over me back in May with her intoxicating mix of dramatic piano led compositions, off kilter resonant angst driven singing and general maverick demeanor.

We appear to be in a golden era for producing talented female singer songwriters who have been wholesomely raised on a diet of Kate Bush and Joni Mitchell. Marina's songs are hewn from a similar rock and her ability to sparkle with catchy hooks, might just propel her into the mainstream market, now the general public's tastes are becoming more open minded to songs of unabashed individualism, since they've been softened up by the collective talents of Bat For Lashes, Likke Li, Feist and Kate Nash.

Marina has teamed up with the fledging boutique label Neon Gold Records. They are set to release 'Obsessions'/'Mowgli's Road' as a double A-side 7" single, limited to just five hundred vinyl copies on Valentines Day 2009. If you just can't wait until then, you can get a free download copy at http://neongoldrecords.blogspot.com/ and they promise future remixes from Giantess and Little Boots, hurrah! She is also busy working on her debut album produced by Liam Howe who has worked with Sophie Ellis-Bextor.

Here we have the fab new video which is simple, graceful and beautiful.
Marina and the Diamonds - 'Obsessions'


Marina & The Diamonds, "Obsessions" from Neon Gold Records on Vimeo.


http://www.myspace.com/marinaandthediamonds

http://neongoldrecords.com/

Hotpants Romance - Twelve Grooves of Christmas Part 8

It's time to up the tempo with some pop punk poppets who call themselves Hotpants Romance. Laura, Lowri and Katea are a terrific trio of glamorous grungers from Manchester, England and together they make a hell of a pleasurable racket.

It's a reassuringly lo-fi sound that delves into a pick'n'mix assortment of influences from the various jars of genres. They take an ample wedge of attitude from the riot grrl movement, a liberal measure of The Ramones riffs, then add a quarter of the protopunk sensibility of X-Ray Spex and feast on the the fine tradition of cartoon D.I.Y fun punk pop of Kenickie or Shampoo. The combustible mixture is finally washed down with a glass of refreshing Sixties girl groups, leaving you burping like The Vivian Girls and feeling ever so slightly giddy, in a hypoactive state, due to an over indulgence of musical E numbers.

They released a debut album called 'It's a Heatwave' in 2008 and Cherryade Records have just released 'A Very Cherry Christmas, volume 4' an eighteen track compilation album, featuring some of their favourite bands, including Hotpants Romance, who contributed a cover version of the Mariah Carey song 'All I Want for Christmas is You' If only the DFS furniture chain had this used this version, as the background to their excruciating Christmas T.V advertising campaign, instead of the warbling original, it might have perked up those 'gloomy credit crunch' sales figures. (note to lawyers- I have no idea what the facts are about the state of DFS sales, I'm just hazarding a guess that buying a shiny new leather sofa isn't top of people's priorities at the moment)

Here is the Hotpants Romance video for 'Heatwave' The girls put in a sterling performance on Blackpool Beach despite it being overcast and the temperature looks as though it's barely in single figures, plus they're the only people frolicking on the sand and even the donkeys have given up for the day...



http://www.myspace.com/hotpantsromance

http://www.cherryademusic.co.uk/buyavcc4.html

http://www.myspace.com/cherryade

Hajen - Twelve Grooves of Christmas Part 7

Of all all the acts that popped up on my musical radar this year, the blip that shone the brightest for me was a young Scandinavian lady called Hajen. Now I know it's poor form to have favourites when it comes to your children, and so the same should apply to all of the music acts that come to shelter under Scratchy's 'umbrella of praise' but sometimes you can't help being just that bit extra fond of the one that stands out, a bit like a poppy swaying in the summer breeze of sound above the music meadow.

Hajen has one of those unique voices, which make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end, every time those husky yet chocolate melting vocal chords open up and belt out raw emotion. So far her public song writing output consists of showing just a handful of songs on her myspace website, as well as performing at some low key live shows in her native Sweden. The styles of the songs are melancholy and stripped bare of any extraneous details, with just a piano for accompaniment; authentically crafted artisan tunes fashioned from everyday experiences.

She was initially brought to my attention by 'Mr Swedesplease' who runs an excellent blog, covering all things musically coming out of that country (http://www.swedesplease.net/) and I was immediately drawn into the wake of this jaw dropping talent. The micro-record label Knoppar are looking after Hajen's interests, they describe themselves "as small label based in a suburb of a suburb of a suburb of a big city in Sweden" incidentally Knoppar also have the wonderful Tvärvägen signed to them, please do check them out as well.

According to the good folk at Knoppar, Hajen has recorded a Christmas song, called Hajens Julsång This song will be only available until the 31st of December at the KNOPPAR download store. All of the benefits of the sales are going to the Stadsmissionen in Gothenburg, which helps a number of worthy causes, like abused families, the homeless, mentally ill and socially vulnerable. More information can be obtained here at http://www.stadsmissionen.org/ So get downloading for a good cause, you know it makes more sense than splurging out an a badly fitting cardigan, in the chaos and carnage of the shopping scrum that passes for the Boxing Day sales.

Extra Information: If someone have no pay pal account or problems with transferring the money, please send a mail to http:/mail?view=cm&tf=0&to=knoppar@gmail.com and we will find a solution for that.

Hajen sings her own composition 'Svensken'



http://www.myspace.com/hajensmyspace

http://www.myspace.com/tvarvagen

Mimas - Twelve Grooves of Christmas Part 6

Mimas are a four piece Danish/Icelandic band who conjure up an epic rock sound in an seemingly effortless manner. They have released an exuberant debut album called 'The Worries' through Big Scary Monsters Record Label, back in September 2008.

These chaps like to cut the mustard live and clock up the air miles (Ford Transit miles?) on extensive tours, so myself and Morris Chancer had the opportunity to catch the lads doing a blistering set at one of our local haunts, on an evening where the weather was dank, damp and drizzly and not conducive to the big sky soundscapes approach, which these guys aim for. However they managed to shine brightly on stage with a joyful fervour to delivering each track with glorious gusto.

They are inevitably lumped in with Sigur Ros and Explosions In The Sky for musical comparisons, but there's a simple 'joie de vivre' in their approach and playful posturing woven into the the music, even as the song structures build up to peaks of intensity, then gently set you back down to earth with a caress rather than a bump.

This is the video for 'Cat On Fire' by Mimas



http://www.myspace.com/mimas

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimas_(band)

http://www.mimassite.com/Sted/Home.html

http://thefourohfive.com/2008/10/17/the-worries-by-mimas/

Peter Broderick - Twelve Grooves Of Christmas Part 5

The festive season; you know it's not just about getting hammered at the office party then throwing up on the last train home, having roaring arguments with the in-laws or spending money in an orgy of consumer consumption, in the forlorn hope of keeping the kids' monstrous appetite for toy stimulation sated for a few hours.

This can also be the season to sit back and reflect on the trials and tribulations of the past twelve months, remembering the highs and lows of personal events that have affected one's friends and family. It's a time to take stock of what we would like to achieve in the coming year, plan the steps one must take in order to fulfill those burning ambitions and avoid any pitfalls that have recently encumbered our daily lives. As Del Boy used to say to Rodney in the television sitcom 'Only Fools and Horses' "This time next year, we'll be millionaires"


A perfect musical accompaniment to these precious moments of sanguine thought, can be captured through the languid beauty of Peter Broderick's music. His sublime second album, simply called 'Home' was released earlier this year to oodles of praise, indeed this record has even troubled some of the 'Best Of' end of year lists in the established media. The blend of neo-classical, alt folk and minimalism of Broderick's music, combines to deliver fragile but beautiful music that is haunting yet comforting as well. This talented young man has a promising future ahead of him and should be making a big impression on the music scene in 2009.



http://www.myspace.com/peterbroderick

Rosie and the Goldbug - Twelve Grooves of Christmas Part 4

Rosie, Plums and Pixie, these names conjure up an image of characters of a whimsical Sixties children's animation, but they're actually the three members of Cornwall's finest musical export in 2008, Rosie and the Goldbug.

It's been quite a year for the band with the release of their self-titled debut album, which received many favourable reviews. They are getting plenty of deserved positive feedback in the national press at the moment, culminating in a support slot on tour with Cyndi Lauper.

We first caught the bug back in July and quickly followed this up with a live review of their exuberant live show, Rosie is a natural star as a front woman and the trio put in a highly polished performance, despite playing what must have turned out to be the most low key gig of the year for them. Their catchy yet kooky sound is dramatic, dynamic and dazzling. A case of "Wham bam, thank you for the glam dram Ma'm, from a fan " if you please..!

Rosie and the Goldbug - 'You've Changed' was released as a mp3 single at the start of this month and the video has Rosie charging around the Cornish countryside on a white horse, bearing a distinct resemblance to an treasured antique doll doing a Boudicca impression after overdoing the Smirnoff and redbull, marvellous!



http://www.rosieandthegoldbug.co.uk/

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=132530915

Matt Bauer - Twelve Grooves of Christmas Part 3

Matt Bauer is a musician who makes you sit up and take notice. Looking like a grizzly bear but sounding like a majestic eagle, his banjo picking, accordion squeezing tunes sent a shiver down my spine on first listen and have regularly been on repeat play since, especially during those those 'burning the midnight oil' sessions.

‘The Island Moved In The Storm’ was released in September 2008 and is his second full length studio collection. It's beauty lies within the timeless quality of the songs, which break free of passing whims or influence of contemporary trends. These tunes could have staked a place in the repertoire of the great American songbook at any time in the last hundred years.

It feels like authentic sound of the backwoods, crafted from a run down shack, fuelled by maudlin evenings sat in front of the open fire, downing illicit liquor and recounting unnerving tales passed down through the generations.

The facts of the back story of this project are inspired by the tragic tale of an unidentified body found in 1968, near to where Matt grew up. It's the emotions he evokes that are important, lost and bereft in the moment of the tragedy and so the listener is drawn into each vignette, as the mystery of the tale unravels, piece by piece. A ghostly, dignified tribute to the missing girl.



http://www.myspace.com/mattbauer

http://www.mattbauermusic.com/

http://la-soc.com/mattbauer.html

http://www.hinah.com/catalog/?l=en&t=g&ref=hinahgift024

'Tent Girl' mystery background details here.

Hamnavoe Scottish Dance Band

What did comedy curmudgeon Victor Meldrew do before he settled into an endearingly grumpy "I don't belieeeve it" routine of light family television sitcom farce in One Foot In The Grave?

Well, the storyline has it that he was prematurely retired from his job as a security guard, replaced by an automated machine. However, the Hamnavoe Scottish Dance Band have provided the answer with their (slightly out of focus) front cover of the vinyl release 'Going To An Orkney Barn Dance' produced by Jim Johnston and issued back in 1973 on Grampian Records, based in Wick, Caithness, Scotland.

He was in a traditional Sottish folk band. There he is, sitting in the front row on the left, looking non too plussed, despite getting to sit next to the bonny lass. He looks like someone who was left with cold porridge leftovers for breakfast and as the others appear to be having a fine old time of it, even though it looks as though they've been standing next to that semi- derelict building for hours in sub zero temperatures.

"A barn dance is any kind of dance held in a barn, but usually involves traditional or folk music with traditional dancing. Folk dancing events are often also referred to as "barn dances", despite being held in locations other than barns"

"A barn dance can be a Ceilidh, with traditional Irish or Scottish dancing, and people unfamiliar with either format often confuse the two terms. However, a barn dance can also feature square dancing, Morris dancing, Contra dancing,English country dancing, dancing to Country and western music, or any other kind of dancing, often with a live band and a caller" sourced from Wikipedia

For those of you who have never had the opportunity to go to a barn dance, it's a rambunctious run through lots of traditional music at a community event, with plenty of dancing, eating and drinking and can be tremendous fun as long as you don't mind making a bit of a fool of yourself as you mess up the dance routines and step on other people's feet. I don't know how different the Orkney versions of barn dances are to others, but I suspect that this band played at most of the one's held in that region during the early Seventies.

The band members credited on the back covers are Jack Yorston on accordion, Elaine Wilson on fiddle, Alan Drever on piano, Jackie Miller on Guitar, Arthur Sinclair on bass guitar and William Marwick on drums. They were based in Stromness in Orkney and had been going for about four years, when they cut this platter. I haven't managed to uncover any other extra information on the interweb, so any further snippets would be appreciated. My hunch, is that the cheerily challenged fellow is accordion playing Jack, who arranged the songs as well.

http://www.ibiblio.org/folkindex/hp02.htm#Hamnscod

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barn_dance

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Meldrew

http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/onefootinthegrave/index.shtml

Headlights - Twelve Grooves Of Christmas Part 2

I stumbled into the path of the feel good indie trio sound of Headlights from Champain, Illinois back in August and was immediately entranced by their jingly jangly jauntiness. It gave me a full beam of a smile and as friends here at Scratchy Towers will testify, that's quite an achievement, when I'm in full 'Oscar The Grouch' mode.

The album Some Racing, Some Stopping was released back in March this year and was chock full of sparkling goodness, they have also just released a compilation of remixed tunes, cleverly entitled Remixes, out on Polyvinyl Records and can be bought here They're building up a good reputation as a live band as well and so will surely dazzle plenty more people in the coming year.

Pucker up with the video for the ripe 'Cherry Lips'

http://www.headlightsmusic.com/

http://www.myspace.com/headlights

Thos Henley - Twelve Grooves of Christmas - Part 1

In a shameless cash in on this festive season and because every other Tom, Dick and Sally feels obliged to make an end of year list, I've decided to revisit some of our finest finds of 2008.

Let's be clear about this, right from the start, I'm not suggesting this is a definitive guide to the best music released in the past twelve months, it's more of a nod of appreciation to some of the acts I've come across that I particularly enjoyed listening to. To be honest, I don't buy too many contemporary albums these days, mainly because it's increasingly difficult to buy copies on vinyl. It also seems rather pointless for me to devote time and energy to artists who are already being rightly lauded elsewhere; let's face it, what could I add of value, to the avalanche of plaudits that have been heaped onto the marvellous Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes albums.


One final caveat, the order of the countdown is no reflection of the relative quality of the acts. Think of this exercise as being carried out in the style of a school sports day, run by a loony left council, where competition has been banned and everyone's a winner, even the kid who tripped up on his own shoelaces at the beginning of the egg and spoon race (oops! I mean activity) They all win a prize, the coveted Scratchy Buckles Seal Of Approval, which you'll agree is almost as prodigious as a Grammy.

First up, is young scamp around town called Thos Henley, he brandishes a banjo, a smooth voice and a fine ear for a good tune. The recent revival of interest in artists, who inhabit the folky end of the music spectrum is heartening to behold and Thos was a breath of fresh air in this scene. 'Summer On The Thames' ebbed and flowed like a summer song should and his cover of the Leona Lewis hit 'Bleeding Love' was inspired.

If he continues to develop his songwriting skills and hones his pastoral sound, this coming year should deliver some well deserved national attention. I look forward to a debut album coming out and I'm also determined to finally catch the band perform live in 2009 as he regularly performs in my neck of the woods.

He is the video that accompanies a delicate song simply called 'Her'



http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=18340541

Scratchy's Collecting Tips Number 07

Ketch Harbour Wolves

The sea is a cruel mistress, as the ole saying goes and so is the music business. In 2003 vocalist Jonathan Tyrrell and drummer Brian Urbanik discovered this, as they set sail on a sea maiden of a band named The Flying Buttresses, they operated from an out the way fishing town called Ketch Harbour in Nova Scotia, Canada. In due course, this project foundered upon the rocks, but the name of their home port was salvaged from the wreck, when the duo retreated to the safety of landlubber's metropolitan retreat Toronto, Ontario. Here, they enlisted old time buddy Scott Wynter on bass and by 2006, the trio had press-ganged into the pack, singer songwriter Liam Brown and keyboard/saxophonist Kristjan Bergey. The quintet set about foraging for the expansive sound that has become their trademark and have made waves, as a showcase band at the 2007 North by Northeast Festival.


Two albums in and the boys are really finding their sea legs. They released a debut mini album titled December in 2007 to ripples of acclaim and have followed this up with Dead Calm Horizon that has been steadily gathering plaudits and tipped as one of best albums to come out of Canada this year. The seven track album has been made available for free from the official website, in a canny piece of marketing and should deservedly widen their appeal. The stand out track Gold nestles nicely next to The Arcade Fire with an epic lush sound and Letters shows off the more rustic side of the group's musical influences. The mournful expansive mood of their overall sound builds you up into peaks of 'The Perfect Storm' moments before casting you adrift on the lush alt rock melodies. This pack is definitely pedigree with no howlers on board either.

Ketch Harbour Wolves-Gold

Ketch Harbour Wolves-Animals

Ketch Harbour Wolves-Letters

The 'Bullitt' stylised split screens in this inaurgral video to 'Words' are worthy of a mention and Steve McQueen 'the king of cool' would surely approve of the track as well!



Ketch Harbour Wolves will be dropping anchor at...

11 Dec 2008 The Drake Underground [w/ SPIRITS and THE REST] Toronto, Ontario

17 Dec 2008 Mongolian - Acoustic Waterloo, Ontario

3 Jan 2009 The El Mocambo Toronto, Ontario

22 Jan 2009 Holy Joe’s Toronto, Ontario

http://www.ketchharbourwolves.com/

http://www.myspace.com/ketchharbourwolves

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ketch-Harbour-Wolves/18934294904

http://www.herohill.com/2008/08/reviews-ketch-harbour-wolves-dead-calm.htm