Nu Rave Brain Wave

See you there, maybe? Maybe?

We here at Nu Rave Brain Wave are happy to introduce our top 5 albums of the first half of 2009. It’s been a crazy year for music. My first concert of the year was in Brighton. We travelled to Austin in March for Psych Fest and SXSW. In April, I went to NYC for some shows… I’ve heard a lot of amazing music and I now am proud to countdown my top 5 albums so far of this great year in music.

5. Wavves by Wavves – I realize that after his meltdown at Primavera Sound, and Pitchfork’s subsequent coverage, Wavves kind of imploded on themselves. I also realize this is why it is such a controversial choice. However, when you strip away the hype, the blogs, AND the fact that he may well be a jerk, I think Wavves are pretty great. Great in an accidental way, I mean. As someone who has grown up in California, I think that his record just has all the awkward/wonderful moments about youth, and just feels very nostalgic and like sunshine of living in So.Cal.  I also really just enjoy the organic-ness of the record, the lo-fi, the Garage-band quality to it all – it just feels very natural. And Weed Demon is a great song.

DOWNLOAD -> WEED DEMON by WAVVES

4. Primary Colours by the Horrors - The Horrors are everybody’s favorite reinvention. They shunned the NME-hype scene and locked themselves into a room and created a damn good record. People may criticize it it for overtly wearing it’s influences on its sleeve, but I don’t give a fuck. It’s a good record. Not only are the songs great, but they translate incredibly live. “Three Decades” is fantastic. Somebody, somewhere put Tom and Rhys in charge and it worked out fantastically for them.

DOWNLOAD -> THREE DECADES by THE HORRORS

3. Hey Everyone by Dananananaykroyd - I have never hid my love for Dananananaykroyd. I literally love everything about their band. They’ve got an amazing ethos about them, and I think they have, collectively, an amazing sense of humor. The re-recordings of the songs added something totally new and fresh to them, and the brand new songs blew me away. “Some Dresses” is my favorite song and has been since March of 2008, it’s hilarious and really fucks with the typical son structure. “Black Wax” is one of my top songs of this summer, it’s great to yell along to on a sunny day. I won’t even go into how epic they are live and how everybody in the world needs to experience a wall of cuddles.

DOWNLOAD -> BLACK WAX by DANANANANAYKROYD

2. Primitive World by Littl’ans -I wasn’t sure whether to put this album on my list, but I think it deserves the praise I’m about to give it. Although it came out in the UK in 2008, and I’ve had it forever, it just came out in the US this year. I think Littl’ans are a very special band. They just have the ability to span so many emotions so eloquently in such a short period of time. They’ve got the melodic, romantic thing going for them quite well, and I think depending on your mood it can be a joyful record in some places and very morose in others. Lyrically, it’s a masterpiece. The songs are amazing live and the only two b-sides I’ve heard off this album are top quality as well. In one word, this album is ‘sublime’.

DOWNLOAD -> DON’T CALL IT LOVE (ACOUSTIC DEMO) by LITTL’ANS

1. Strange Boys & Girls Club by The Strange Boys – How can I put this? I think the Strange Boys are incredibly brilliant. Like, I really can’t articulate how much I love their music and think they are the way forward. Yes, they do throw-back to the old blues style, they throw a little Texas charm into the music, but I really think its thoroughly modern. Yes, they do, technically, garage-rock, but they also delve a little into psych music, too. I guess they’re renaissance men of the best genres of music. I love Ryan’s dying-cat-wails, I love the guitar freak outs, I love the heavy, thumping bass. It’s angular, it’s melodic – this album honestly has it all. And live, they are even better, if that is even possible. This album is a 10/10.

DOWNLOAD -> A MAN YOU’VE NEVER KNOWN by THE STRANGE BOYS

Honorable/Obligatory Mention:
200 Million Thousand by Black Lips - Black Lips have the most control over their chaotic madness and I think it comes out a little restrained compared to what we’ve gotten used to expecting from them. It’s a good mix of the whirlwind of “Let it Bloom” (a true classic) and the sensible, accessible “Good Bad Not Evil”. But, I do think ’200 Million Thousand Bajillion’ is the least accessible of their material, save the first album where they literally couldn’t play instruments.

Musical equipment belonging to Babyshambles that was confiscated by police in August 2005 is to be donated to a new youth musical project, it has been announced.

Police seized two guitars, a bass guitar, three amplifiers, a drum kit, a speaker, a melodica and a harmonica from Pete Doherty’s band after they were called to a gig at Islington’s Duke Of Clarence pub in north London shortly after midnight on August 12, 2005.

Despite protestations from the band, the police confiscated the equipment because several residents had complained about the noise.

As part of the deal, which will see the instruments donated to the council’s EC1 Music Project, former Babyshambles guitarist Patrick Walden has agreed to hold a workshop in return for his guitar.

Walden, who along with Carl Barat reunited onstage with Pete Doherty at Whitechapel’s Rhythm Factory in east London early on Saturday morning, said he was “happy” to be taking part in the project, reports BBC News.

“It’s a very positive environment and I’m looking forward to working with the young people,” he said.

Pete Doherty’s video for the Littl’ans’ song ‘Their Way’ was filmed on the same night of the gig, and includes footage of the police dealing with the band. At the end of the promotional clip, it features a personal plea from the band to “please give us our stuff back”.

And in case you live under a rock, said video is:

And finally, to conclude my SXSW: In Pictures, I give you Littl’ans. The last band I saw on Saturday. That’s not strictly true but I don’t count the people who played at Perez Hilton’s party because, well, it wasn’t music.

We all know how much I like Littl’ans and how good of an album I really find ‘Primitive World’ to be. Hopefully, when I am back from NY, or possibly before, I’ll write a review of it because honestly, its sublime and tight and tender. View the rest of the set at my FLICKR.