The Inaugural first ‘Our Daily Bread’ post.

Split 12”  featuring Plastic Animals, Magic Eye, Le Thug & Zed Penguin  (Song, By Toad Records) – Out Now

Song, By Toad Records latest ‘split’ showcase promises to introduce the listener to a burgeoning and obscure Caledonian rooster of talent, plucked from Edinburgh and Glasgow; ranging from the Cocteau Twins imbued, somnambulist haze of Magic Eye, to the ‘slushy’ collage radio rock of the Plastic Animals.

Adding an air of breathtaking and touching psychedelia (via the wooing garage of Deerhunter) Zed Penguin’s esoteric reggae-gaited driven ‘Wandering’ and No Age with soul ‘Heathens’ prove illuminating, whilst Le Thug’s contributions sigh and mourn indolently over expansive guitar-textured vistas on the swan song opus, ‘Sense In Scotland’ – a resigned vocal repeats the woozy delivered mantra of “I don’t sleep well, I don’t eat well, I don’t choose well. Underneath is the floor, up ahead is the sky.”

Recorded in the intimate living room setting of the labels affectionately appellate Toad Hall HQ, the quartets suite of indolent emotive paeans and ethereal slacker laments blend together in wistful harmonic grace.

ODB 002: ALBUM: Aufgang  ‘Istiklaliya’  (Infiné)  – Available Now

Equally keen to soak up the fervent city club scene as study the fundamentals of classicism, Aufgang’s founding fathers, Rami Khalifé and Francesco Tristano, shared an enthusiasm for fusing both vaporous piano concertos and Baroque dance together whilst attending the prestigious Juilliard School of music in New York in the early noughties.

Striking a covenant with drummer Aymeric Westrich, the dual pianist strike force of Khalifé and Tristano first began knocking out the Aufgang musical ascetic in 2005; dividing their time between solo classical composed projects and eclectic production duties for a range of artists.



Starting as they mean to go on, their latest ‘Bach meets electro’ suite draws inspiration from a host of spiritual and exotic sources, opening with the venerable sweep through the Christian Liturgy of ‘Kyrie’ – the group are in good company, both the David Axlerod era Electric Prunes and the hallowed Popol Vuh have played with the Greek appellate call to prayer. The voyage continues aboard a gypsy caravan through the Digitalism jig ‘Balkanik’, and takes a flight of fantasy on a Cathy Pacific airliner over Mali with ‘African Geisha’.  Off-kilter jazz breaks and bombastic live drums add some oomph to proceedings; especially on the rousing tribune to ‘Diego Maradona’ and the spiraling dizzying claustrophobic paean to vertigo, ‘Vertige’.

Suffused with trembling, sometimes stirring, piano led prowls, the trio marry their stonking, bounding melodies with Ed Banger Records, Simian Mobile Disco and Battles to forge something fit for the new and avant-agarde’s’.

ODB 003: NEWS:  Audio Antihero label releases  compilation for Rape Crisis charity

Always happy to accommodate and spread the word for the so-called ‘specialist in commercial suicide’ Audio Antihero label, Monolith Cocktail (and by extension God Is In The TV) are pleased to feature their latest project, a compilation of altenative rock acolytes, gathered together to do their bit for the Rape Crisis charity.

Featuring an abundance of artful, rambunctious, whimsical, poetical and ‘avant-far’ musical treats this generous spread of 31-tracks (yes, that’s right 31 top tunes for the meagre starting price of 4 quid! Though we’d encourage you heathens to give more!!) is filled to the rafters with talent. Harboured under the Regal Vs Steamboat moniker we have both the full roster of Antihero brethren and some congruous affiliated souls from further afield; including the Flying Kites, Benjamin Shaw, Jack Hayter, Broken Shoulder, Darren Hayman (all previously featured on the Monolith) and David Cronenberg’s Wife (that’s the band not the director’s Mrs.)

To be honest the charity label doesn’t necessarily equal quality, but in this case the Antihero team assemble a golden dawn of at least interesting if not ethereal delights: from Elizabethan folk shoegaze to industrial anguish and echo beach meets La Bamba effete pop.




Here’s the full spec and details –

“REGAL VS STEAMBOAT” is a charity double album for Rape Crisis England, Wales & Scotland from Audio Antihero Records to raise money to help them and their centers continue with their essential support for rape survivors.

This 31-track charity compilation features kindhearted artists like Jeffrey Lewis, Darren Hayman (Hefner), Internet Forever, Ace Bushy Striptease, Bored Nothing and much of the Audio Antihero roster including Benjamin Shaw, Fighting Kites, Jack Hayter, Paul Hawkins & The Awkward Silences and many more.

The album will be available for download from Audio Antihero’s Bandcamp for a minimum donation of £3.99 with all money going to Rape Crisis England & Wales and Rape Crisis Scotland.

Over 400,000 a women are sexual abused a year in the UK, most of us will know someone who has suffered rape or sexual abuse. This compilation is meant to be enjoyed and even has a silly pro-wrestling theme but this charity work is essential. Please enjoy and please help.

Any help you could offer in spreading the word about this album and cause would be very much appreciated. The plan is to raise as much money for the charity as possible…while sharing as much beautiful and noisy music as we possibly can.

This is Audio Antihero’s third annual charity compilation, after 2011’s well received “Bob Hope would.” album for the Japan relief effort and 2012’s ”Some. Alternate. Universe” for The Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths. It also follows other fundraisers for The Haiti Hospital Appeal, British Heart Foundation, The Pink Ribbon Foundation, New York and Shelter.

ODB 004: WHAT I LIKE: The Last Sound   ‘Sun Forever’ (OSAKA)  2013

Drifting over from Ireland on a vapourous bed of congruous dreamy synth pop and indolent psych, The Last Sound gently unfurl their latest hypnotic paean ‘Sun Forever’, in time for the magical twilight hours of a late summer.

Debuting live as a synth hardware/live drums combo for a one-off performance at the Lazybird  night in Dublin, the Barry Murphy and Bryan O’Connell duo have steadily built up a catalogue of albums, EPs, compilation appearances, remixes and live mp3s, spread over a myriad of labels since this fabled formation.

For his sins, Barry has also been a loose member of, one-time Can shamanic vocalist, Damo Suzuki‘s ‘never-ending’ tour band – appearing on his One More Universe album – and is one-half of the psycho-drone outfit Whirling Hall Of Knives.

Alongside the new video for this placable number, there is also a new LP Rainbow Xplode (8th June 2013 via Irish label Osaka) and single ‘Three Rock’ (another diaphanous woozy number complete this time with an angelic somnambulistic female vocal) doing the rounds.

ODB 005: NEW MUSIC: Ikebana  ‘Alone’  (Flau) 

Taking their moniker from – and very much informed by – the Japanese art of flower arranging – an art form whose emphasis pays close attention to the plant’s stem and leaves, as opposed to its bloom – the female duo of artists, En and Maki, emit the most indolent, fading, minimalism.

Perfectly suited to the vapourous sound collages and languid seasonal paeans label of choice, Flau (home to Masayoshi Fujita, May May and Cuushe), Ikebana‘s wafting enervated moods are striped down to their essential components, albeit with a resonating allurement of deep, echoing guitar effects.

Originally orchestrated by Maki (formerly a member of shoegaze band Incense), MoOog Yamamoto (of Buffalo Daughter) and their friend DJ Codomo, the loosely framed outfit lost two of the trio, replaced by En. Their eponymous self-titled LP of 2012 was given a thumbs-up from Yo La Tengo‘s James McNew – who will appear alongside the duo on an upcoming remix project.

Taken from the new album, When You Arrive There (released July 8th), the drifting sweetly cooed ‘Alone’ is one of the highlights from that lilting reverberated soundtrack.