Another new blog. AGAIN.

For some reason I think that trying to do these histories of bands and actually compiling the files is really pointless; I mean, there'll be multiple downloads of these anyway. Plus, the fact that the 'histories' are really just taken from Wikipedia isn't giving them any real originality.
So I'm now going to do a THIRD blog, but this one will focus on b-sides and rarities from bands and NOT whole albums. These download links will remain up, but some will be re-used for this new blog I'm planning on doing. It'll probably be called I Like B-Sides (original, eh?)
So, see you round AGAIN on the new blog (which will have a different design from this, I promise!)

Away.

Sorry for not posting anything, but I've been away for a bit.
I will get restarted in a few days time.
Expect a whole load of releases + exclusive stuff soon!

The Wombats - The Wombats Proudly Present... A Guide To Love, Loss & Desperation (2007)

The Anglo-Norwegian trio The Wombats are based in Liverpool, where the band met in October 2003 after Tord Øverland-Knudsen (on the right in the above picture) moved from Elverum in Norway to study at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (LIPA), where he met Dan Haggis (on the left) and Matthew "Murph" Murphy (in the middle). Originally they were a four-piece, with an extra member from California who left very early on in the group's career. However, he was able to get onto the first ever Wombats release entitled "The Daring Adventures Of Sergeant Wimbo And His Pet Otter EP", a very rare EP released on local label Wimbartum in March 2004, which has being going on eBay for up to £99! Another five EPs were self-released, inlcuding "The Hangover Sessions", before their first formal release, their Japan-only debut album "Girls, Boys & Marsupials" in September 2006. Many of the tracks off this album were re-recorded for their proper debut, but we'll talk about that later. The threesome's first single, "Lost In The Post", was released on Kids The Label in September 2006, followed by "Moving To New York" just two months later. Then 2007 arrived, and this was their defining moment. With the video for the new single "Backfire To The Disco" being played a lot on MTV2 (remember, at this time they were unsigned, which was what set them apart from the rest), 14th Floor Records (also home to Biffy Clyro) approached the band, and consequently signed to them, with the indie night anthem "Kill The Director", which hit #35 in the UK Top 40. Things got even better as their Joy Division 'tribute' "Let's Dance To Joy Division" reached the extreme heights of #15. With the re-releases of their first two breakthrough singles in 2008, with only "Backfire At The Disco" charting inside the Top 40, no new material was formally released (although the new song "How To Pack Your Bags And Leave" was played for the first time at a gig at The Picket in Liverpool in February 2008) until the end of the year when two new singles were announced. The anti-Christmas single "Is This Christmas?", which featured Les Dennis in its video, was released on 15th December, and the first piece of new material "My Circuitboard City", with one hell of a video, coming out on 16th March, with a live track entitled "Ostrich City" and a remix of the single track by Tord's other band Sin being the only evidence of new material. The band's debut album is packed full of what you would expect from The Wombats, with choruses from all three members, the instantly-recognisable guitars and Murph's moving lyrics. Watch out for the new album which should be out later this year!

Tracklist:

1. Futile Talks About Wine (Beaujolais)
2. Tales Of Girls, Boys & Marsupials
3. Kill The Director
4. Moving To New York
5. Lost In The Post
6. Party In A Forest (Where's Laura?)
7. School Uniforms
8. Here Comes The Anxiety
9. Let's Dance To Joy Division
10. Backfire At The Disco
11. Little Miss Pipedream
12. Dr Suzanne Mattox PhD
13. Patricia The Stripper
14. My First Wedding
15. Tales Of Girls, Boys & Marsupials (Orchestral Version)

DOWNLOAD:

The Wombats - The Wombats Proudly Present... A Guide To Love, Loss & Desperation (2007)

Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong - Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong (2008)

Rumour has it that after less than ten gigs, Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong were already being scouted by no less than eight record labels who wanted to sign them. The band, originally named Joe Lean & The Tantrums, formed in 2006 after lead singer Joe Lean, a.k.a. Joe Van Moyland, decided to part with The Pipettes, who he had previously drummed for under the alias of Robin of Moxley. 2007 was a very busy year for the London-based quintet, with their first gig being in January, and their debut single "Lucio Starts Fires" was released on 8th October, which catapulted them into the spotlight, with the videos being aired repeatedly on MTV2 and NME TV and the single receiving a lot of positive press. Touring-wise, the band supported other groups and artists such as Babyshambles, Cansei De Ser Sexy (CSS), Dizzee Rascal and Kaiser Chiefs, and completed their headline tour in December. In 2008, the band were part of the Shockwaves NME Awards Tour along with Does It Offend You, Yeah?, The Cribs and The Ting Tings. March saw the newest single "Lonely Buoy" released, followed by "Where Do You Go?" in June before appearing at Glastonbury, although the name was misprinted as Joe Ling And The Jing Jang Jong, which may have come about due to the fact that the band name has three near-identical words at the end which could have confused the Glastonbury organisers! Their debut album was meant to be released in August, but in one of the most odd album cancellations in recent years, the band stopped the commerical production of the album on 22nd July, just under two weeks before it was meant to be publically available. The reason behind this was that because the album had been recorded at the end of 2007, and "didn't represent them at this current moment in time". This led to the only physical copy of the album being the promotional copies sent out to reviewers, which fetched in excess of £20 on eBay, some auctions even reaching £65! The album itself is a very unique one, clearly inspired by the 50s and 60s eras of Rock'n'Roll, although some tracks, such as "Dear Rose" and "I Ain't Sure", do sound the same, but the music itself is clearly unique as no-one else has recently done an album in this style. Hopefully the re-released debut, out sometime this year, will be able to improve on an already impressive original release.

Tracklist:

1. Lucio Starts Fires
2. In Competition
3. Where Do You Go?
4. Baby
5. Brooklyn
6. Dear Rose
7. I Ain't Sure
8. Why Did You Break My Heart
9. Far Too Early To Tell
10. Lonely Buoy
11. Teenagers
12. Light And The Dark
13. Adelaide

DOWNLOAD:

Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong - Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong (2008)

And, as a bonus, here's a track that seems to have never advanced past its demo stage. Entitled "Sleazy Hughes", this was probably recorded during the "Lucio Starts Fires" sessions, or possibly even at an earlier session. The track is one of those lost "super-gems", whereby it should have been on the album, or a stand-alone single at least, but was probably not re-recorded as the band already had about twenty songs for the album's recording sessions, including b-sides, and so the quintet probably didn't want to overwork themselves. I think it should have been put on the b-side of "Lucio Starts Fires" at least, and then it probably would have gone on the album. But it can't be changed now. I'm hoping it gets re-made and released from this new album though, even if it is a b-side!

Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong - Sleazy Hughes (mp3)

Tom Vek - We Have Sound (2005)

Tom Vek (real name Thomas Vernon Kell) is a self-taught multi-instrumentalist from West London who recorded the majority of his album in his parents' garage, where he had been writing and recording for the past eight years before he was signed to Tummy Touch (also home to Groove Armada) in 2001. His first ever release was in March 2002 with Souvenir (now the Souvenirs) called "There Is Only One Thing Left" before being followed up by the November release of "Heads Are Resistors". The first solo release from Tom was "If I Had Changed My Mind" in May 2004 on 7", before being re-released in June as a remix 12" split with Coco Electrik. "If You Want" came out in November 2004, before the quite emotional "I Aint Saying My Goodbyes" was released in March 2005. "C-C (You Set The Fire In Me)" was released three months later, with the big single from the release, "Nothing But Green Lights", the video of which got considerable airplay on MTV2, was put out in November 2005. The last two singles were released well after the album, which was recorded in 2004 but due to label disagreements wasn't published until 2005. The album is a variety of styles, ranging from grungy rock, through lo-fi electro, to raw unproduced guitars. A second album is currently being written, and although Tom himself has been very secretive about it, he clearly hasn't been lazy as the "Nothing But Green Lights" b-side "One Horse Race" was included in the Grand Theft Auto IV soundtrack, which will surely gain him more fans!

Tracklist:

1. C-C (You Set The Fire In Me)
2. I Aint Saying My Goodbyes
3. If You Want
4. A Little Word In Your Ear
5. If I Had Changed My Mind
6. The Lower The Sun
7. Cover
8. Nothing But Green Lights
9. On The Road
10. That Can Be Arranged

DOWNLOAD:

Tom Vek - We Have Sound (2005)

Friendly Fires - Friendly Fires (2008)

St. Albans trio Friendly Fires first attracted attention with the release of the "Photobooth EP" in November 2006 on People In The Sky, home to part-time Friendly Fires bassist Rob Lee under his name of Wax Stag. Their breakthrough came with the infectious single "On Board", lifted from the 2007 release "Cross The Line EP", which had a very interesting video that received a lot of plays on MTV2, and also gave the threesome their first appearance on the Channel 4 Transmission programme, becoming the first unsgined band to do so. New material reared its head at the end of 2007 with the brilliant single "Paris", backed with another new track, "Ex-Lover". It wasn't until September 2008 that the first of the album's singles, "Jump In The Pool" was released, showing a new side to their music. The re-recorded version of "Paris" was released at the back end of 2008, with a sensational remix by Belgian electro-wizards Aeroplane before the re-recorded version of Skeleton Boy was announced, which will come out on 2nd March on 12" and a limited NME tour 7", as well as download. The band's album is packed with variety, from the shoegaze-esque "Strobe" to the indie disco anthem "In The Hospital".

Tracklist:

1. Jump In The Pool
2. In The Hospital
3. Paris
4. White Diamonds
5. Strobe
6. On Board
7. Lovesick
8. Skeleton Boy
9. Photobooth
10. Ex Lover

DOWNLOAD:

Friendly Fires - Friendly Fires (2008)

Jakobínarína - His Lyrics Are Disastrous (2006)

Jakobínarína were the best thing to come out of Iceland since Sigur Rós. The Hafnarfjörður six-piece, all aged between 17 and 21, were around for four years from December 2004 to March 2008, when lead singer Gunnar Ragnarsson (also called Gunnar Bergmann, far right in the above picture) cited problems with band life, which led to the band splitting up. There has meant to be a new group rise out of the ashes of Jakobínarína, with Hallberg Daði Hallbergsson (far left in the above picture) taking over lead vocals, but so far nothing has come to light. The sextet's first major single, "His Lyrics Are Disastrous" received airplay on MTV2's 120 Minutes, and was re-recorded for their album. With a fresh pop-punk sound, both the single's title track and b-side "Nice Guys Don't Play Good Music" were re-recorded for "The First Crusade", which was to be their only album. The third track on the single, "Power To The Lonely" was released as a free download to everyone who signed up to the Jakobínarína mailing list, although in my opinion, the track should have been re-made and released as a b-side to one of the album's singles.

Tracklist:

1. His Lyrics Are Disastrous (Original Version)


2. Nice Guys Don't Play Good Music (Original Version)


3. Power To The Lonely

DOWNLOAD:

Jakobínarína - His Lyrics Are Disastrous (2006)

Tiger Force - A Wasp In A Jar (2007)

Tiger Force are a boy/girl duo hailing from London consisting of Andy Force and Helen "Tiger" White, hence the name. They are seemingly on a current hiatus, with Andy now in Tin Can Telephone Band and Helen taking a classical turn with her new solo project Hazlitt. Their first (and so far only) major release has been the 18-minute mini-album epic "A Wasp In A Jar", which was released on Marquis Cha Cha (also home to Bromheads Jacket and Thomas Tantrum) in 2007. The 8-track wonder is packed with electro-bleeps, guitars and a whole lot of shouting, especially on the two shortest tracks on the release: "Five Six I Got Sticks" and "Hey Yo Square Eyes", the latter becoming the second single from the release, with the very catchy "Syntax Error!" being the first. Both of the singles' videos received noticeable airplay on MTV2's 120 Minutes and DIY Disco (the original one before it went crap).

Tracklist:

1. Tiger Force Anthem
2. Beat This
3. Syntax Error!
4. Five Six I Got Sticks
5. Hey Yo Square Eyes
6. Send In The Evolution
7. Super Lo-Fi Stutter Happy Panic Song
8. Your Music Sucks.

DOWNLOAD:

Tiger Force - A Wasp In A Jar (2007)

And, as a bonus, here are two MySpace-exclusive tracks; the first being an insane 90 second Tiger Force / Lethal Bizzle jam session, and the other being the crazy Spudboy remix of Syntax Error!.

Tiger Force & Lethal Bizzle Jam (mp3)

Tiger Force - Syntax Error! (Spudboy Remix) (mp3)