Having been right at the front leaning on the monitors since way before the band took the stage it wasn't until the floor started moving beneath reallyrather's feet that this blog realised just how full the venue had become. Yes, properly rammed and buzzing was The Barfly in London last Wednesday night with gleeful acclaim, shouted requests and audience participation a-gogo. And this in spite of the minor details of the band in question not yet having released any recordings and accumulated virtually zero press attention. So pray welcome for the shaggiest, the smiliest, the, er.. how shall we say.. cuddliest band around town right now, it's The Magic Numbers.
Do a search for 'Romeo Stodart' and see how many hits you get. Go on. You won't break double figures. Try it again in six months and it'll more likely be the usual deluge. The Magic Numbers revolves around Romeo, his soft-focus but assertive presence, classy pop songs and more-interesting-than-average electric guitar playing. Harmonies are supplied by sister Michelle (bass) and Angela Gannon (glockenspiel, tambo, little handheld keyboard thing you blow through). The no-fuss drummer dude may also be Angela's brother. Together they must have been hiding away honing these smartly arranged numbers. Things like the stop-start stomping wig-out that is The Mule, the pure pop of Forever lost[?] and the marvellously soulful stuff like Which way to happy and in particular Love is a game. Doo-wop meets the Kings of Leon in Mornings eleven while I see you, you see me has a seductive creaminess. Topping the lot though is Love me like you, an exhilarating, perfectly turned guitar-pop nugget; this is what set the floor moving underfoot and sounds like a copper-bottomed hit.
So, a great night - but a one-off? The admirable Plum Promotions last night offered the chance to double check. Having taking over music booking in the unlikely environs of the reincarnated Marquee (1 Leicester Sq.), they're kicking off with a week of (mostly) free shows. First headliners? The Magic Numbers who rewarded the organizers with another full house and the punters with another great set. Romeo and Angela still finding it hard to keep a straight face, engagingly stunned at the enthusiastic reception. Totally unsurprisingly, cheque books have been waved - expect a debut release on EMI offshoot Heavenly in a month or so...

So, sometimes lush but always trim; singular pop music, fresh and contemporary but with vintage retro influences. For the Magic Numbers see also LA's finest and long-term blog heroes Rilo Kiley. Now, regardless of any act's past achievements reallyrather always expects nothing and is fully prepared for possibility of one great record to being followed by a work of utter bilge. RK's label debut Take-offs & landings was a bit all over the place but catchy and distinctive. The execution of all things was The Great Leap Forward, absorbing indie-pop, personal, punchy, pastoral. It (and the band's Omaha sojourn) brought Rilo a deal more attention, not least from record companies, and new album More adventurous appears on their own WarnerBros-sponsored Brute/Beaute Records. As ever, expectations hereabouts were neutral. Past glories irrelevant. Come on Jenny, guys, show me, prove it. And the verdict?..
..A TRIUMPH! Not total nor unalloyed but certainly a triumph in this blog's terms.

There's blood on my mouth coz I've been biting my tongue all week

Ah, Jenny Lewis, dontcha just love her? If anyone was ever in doubt More adventurous confirms that the Jenny Factor is what sets this band apart, make no mistake. The voice, the personality, those pointy, vivid lyrics; Blake's songs, though sometimes appealing, generally got in the way. In evidence, may I refer M'lud to track 4, Ripchord. Nuff said, I'm sure you'll agree , Your Honour. That apart, More adventurous is wall-to-wall Jenny: Jenny cute, Jenny caustic, Jenny confiding. Heck, Jenny exultant!
Sporting a much cleaner, more open sound than Execution.., the album shows the band continuing to inch away from straight-up indie band pop towards spiked torchy/twang anthems (tho' Portions for foxes shows they can still toss out thrillingly proficient fizzbombs if they wish). Blake's great primary colour guitar lines are happily still around but at the end of the Costello-admired Does he love you?, for instance, he's usurped in the stirring finish by orchestral strings. (The band will apparently tour with a 10-piece string section presumably courtesy of The Man.)
The fervently insistent I never is just swoonsome with early '60s/Dusty-type overtones while opener It's a hit, tho' cheekily optimistic, is another cracking addition to the already bulgin' RK canon. Elsewhere there are traces of some of the company the band have been keeping recently. The spirit of Bright Eyes hovers around the title track, a lambent slice of urban twang with some twinkling pedal steel from Mike Mogis. And A man/me/then Jim might've been a Matt Ward co-write with some classic '70s Paul Simon syncopation thrown into the mix. Accidental deth [sic] exemplifies their favoured 'bugger syntax', predominantly rhymeless lyric writing replete with pithy one-liners ('Your legs aren't taking any more requests'). Only a couple of the eleven tracks here really fail to deliver - you can work out which ones for yourself when you get it, as you're going to surely? Of course you are...

From sometime Hidden Camera and Broken Social Scenester Gentleman Reg comes news of a new album, Darby & Joan, immiment on Three Gut. Sample sounds good...
Gentleman Reg / Three Gut / It's not safe mp3

..and another bit of good news from Canada: "We've finally begun work on our third album! We hope to release it in the spring of 2005," say The Be Good Tanyas. Hip hip, etc...

'Costello then launches into a dizzying monologue about the historical development of Western music, encompassing the harmonic innovations of Bach, Debussy's appropriation of Balinese gamelan music, the reinterpretation of classical concepts in film music, and the ambient theories of Brian Eno.' And the question was only 'Hi, how are you?'! Not really; Elvis expounds in the Telegraph today. However, in the latest edition of The Word he marshalls his verbosity in support of some real musical significance:
'There's a group out of Los Angeles called Rilo Kiley. I just got sent a white label of their new one and the songs are tremendous..totally amazing. And the melodies! They're young, but the melodies are.. from a weird place that you'd never imagine a band their age relating to. Popular songs, not trying to be hip or pounding or anything. Just really well written.' [Full text's here] Top bloke that Costello, always said so...

[Further Attractions: LA teen girl group The Like play a little headliner at The Barfly Oct 19. So what? Well, drummer-Like is Pete Thomas' daughter, Tennessee(!) and bassist-Like is Charlotte Froom, daughter of Mitchell so even if the music's pretty dull - 'Their sound exemplifies everything that their lineage implies, an uber-cool, power-pop Wilson Phillips,' warns some bloke somewhere - there should be a few faces in the room. "My grandparents will get to see me!”, says Tennessee, 18...]

Just like Sir Elvis, Rilo Kiley's More adventurous is also top of reallyrather's listening pile alongside Magic wand, Little Wings' 'threadbare but still warm weave of folk, country, and indie music' [Allmusic]...

Back in May this blog wondered if & when the new long-player from lower-than-low-key Pacific coast songstress Anamude would ever appear. Lo! it now seems set to surface on the increasingly useful Keep Recordings...

..whence, of course, also comes the deliciciously lackadaisical Shelley Short record [see last month]. Ms Short is also scheduled to pop up on the covermount CD with the forthcoming (Oct) edition of UK mag Comes With A Smile...

Little-known young singer-songwriter signs to a major, turns into stroppy, temperamental diva overnight!;-) A dose of them end of tour/support slot blues overcame Haley Bonar last week at the Windmill in Brixton as she upped sticks and left the building three numbers into her set. A deeply apologetic Bonar later claimed this to be a regrettable career first. Wouldn't be suprised if the intolerable chatter didn't have something to do with it - try the Arts Cafe or the 12 Bar next time, Haley. Bonar has signed to V2 who've given her a free hand on an album apparently slated for January...

Give a listen to:
CocoRosie / Good Friday
Viva Voce / The heat can melt your brain

'This aura of genuineness is [the album's] greatest strength, and helps to make it truly memorable. Everything is subtle and unforced, simply begging for repeated listens.. At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, it's clearly one of the best singer/songwriter albums of the year'
-someone over at Splendid hears Shelley Short and understands...

And from the same label that brought us Oh' say little dogies, why?, a new mp3 from Chad King. Mmmm...

After too long, exquisite New York eight-piece Hem finally get to put out a follow-up to the creamily charming parlour twang of debut album Rabbit songs. Having found a sympathetic home at Rounder Records, Eveningland is released October 5...
Hem ~ Rounder ~ PR

And on the subject of second albums, hmmm..Tift Merritt. Despite naming it in honour of the most important instrument in popular music, Tambourine sounds (or rather reads) like a mis-step of Shelby Lynne proportions. 'George Drakoulias', 'Muscle Shoals', 'Sheryl Crow'... dear oh dear. And yet, and yet..stripped down to an unplugged two-guitar, two-voice setting for a KCRW session last week it's a whole different and totally winning story [see/hear]...

So then, Unbunny. 'Snow Tires is easily one of this year's stunning musical surprises,' according to this reviewer while over at Americana-UK it's similarly heralded: 'One of the most beautiful records of the year, evocative of Elliot Smith and Neil Young but with more heartbreaking fragile chord changes of the kind Mark Linkous used to do so well with Sparklehorse..9/10.' Blimey, etc. Not quite the same conclusions reallyrather came to [see July 8]. This blog has tried again, is trying right now, but nope, it still sounds nice enough but instantly way too familiar & indistinct. Take out the Neil Young element, throw in a few quirky production choices and you're in the same territory Slowreader staked out rather more appealingly back in '02 [rr review]...

And The Joy of Contrariness, cont'd:
Aberfeldy YES! Aberfeldy Noooooo!

'The singer who changed Dave Eggers' life,' was the lollipop above the masthead of Wednesday's Guardian newspaper. So who would that be then, Dave? But of course...

Could singer/songwriter Deb Talan change anybody's life? Maybe not but she could surely brighten up many more than have yet to discover her (ie. pretty much the whole world). 'Talan's songs flow freely,' said one (of the few) reviews of '03's A bird flies out, 'With a rootsy drawl reminiscent of Emmylou Harris' Wrecking Ball and the kind of production ethic that would be at home in an episode of Dawson's Creek.' Actually, for Dawson's Creek read new series One Tree Hill which has already included Talan's Tell your story walking in it's first run. Peddling an attractive line in Vega/Chapman/Colvin-with a touch of bright-eyed twang, it's Talan's non-corny homespun optimism and distinctive vocal (some very appealing Ooo-hoo-hoos) which lift her up out of some seriously over-populated territory.
Talan's most recent incarnation as one half of the The Weepies [see rr Jan04] is pop-country-folk-lite... but still good. Uber-nice really, and they're making friends wherever they go on the current tour. How someone with such obvious mainstream appeal remains unsigned is baffling indeed...
Deb Talan ~ A bird flies out