SUNDAY SCHOOL - This Week’s Playlist

Sunday School #4 is here, and while this “weekly” playlist may be a bit infrequent at the moment (I’m sorry), I hope you can wipe away the tears and still enjoy this lovingly constructed mix anyway by clicking HERE HERE HERE. Explanations “after the jump”…

1. CAKE : “Opera Singer” - I don’t know if this is something other people do, but every so often I do “The Rounds”. “The Rounds” basically involves going around the websites of bands I like who haven’t done much for a while (eg. Architecture In Helsinki, Cut Copy, Avalanches [I’ve just noticed all three of those are Australian; lazy fucking aussies]) and searching for signs of life. Well yesterday I checked CAKE’s website for the first time in a couple of months and lo and behold they’ve got a new album out in January. Also, a new song called “Sick Of You” is online and it’s pretty damn good. To celebrate, have a listen to “Opera Singer”, which is probably my favourite CAKE song.

2. Pixies : “Dig For Fire” - While the whole world went mental about some men in a hole (ok, that’s a bit facetious but C’MON!!), Pixies just decided to be their usual awesome selves. Taking to the stage in Chile minutes after the last miner was freed, the band played a 33 song set (one song per miner, obv.) and an added two song encore. 35 PIXIES SONGS!!!! Looking at the setlist is enough to make any self-respecting Pixies fan weep. So, next time Pixies play in the UK let’s shove 50 guys underground, yeah? YEAH?!?! Anyway, here’s “Dig For Fire”, one of the 35 songs they played. 

3. N.E.R.D. : “The Way She Dances” - In between writing songs for the Tron movie, which you may have heard about, oh, EVERY-FUCKING-WHERE, Daft Punk found the time to produce a song for N.E.R.D.’s forthcoming album. The track, “Hypnotize U”, has leaked and it sounds pretty good, despite / because of being a bit different. I remember getting N.E.R.D.’s Fly Or Die from Tesco (I know, punk as fuck, yeah?) when I was 14, and while it has it’s detractors I’m still a fan of it, and in particular of the ridiculously over the top “The Way She Dances” with it’s lyrics about getting off with mermaids or something.

4. The Bees : “Silver Line” - In a bit of oh-so-they’re-back-are-they? news I was surprised to find a new album by The Bees came out this week. Unfortunately most of the record is a bit too sedate for my liking, which you can probably tell from “Silver Line”, which is actually one of the more “rocking” tracks on the record. Still, it’s alright I suppose. Feel free to use that review on your record if you want, guys.

5. Stagecoach : “Axe Behind My Back” - After that last song you’ll probably need a bit of waking up, and who better to do that than Stagecoach. I’m planning to see the excellent Johnny Foreigner next month and I thought I’d better check out their support act, and I have to say they’re pretty damn awesome. Stagecoach have a mandolin player, which I guess could be called their “gimmick”, but a more attractive gimmick to me is the fact that they write ridiculously catchy punk-pop nuggets like “Axe Behind My Back”, which seems to be about murdering a cheating girlfriend. It’s lovely.

6. Sufjan Stevens : “The Predatory Wasp Of The Palisades Is Out To Get Us” - So, after a long wait Sufjan’s album Age of Adz came out this Monday, and while I haven’t managed to get into all of it yet the 25 minute long “Impossible Soul” is pretty amazing. Unfortunately the record isn’t up on Spotify yet, so you’ll have to make do with the delightful “The Predatory Wasp Of The Palisades Is Out To Get Us” from the excellent Illinois.

7. Weezer : “Across The Sea” - As the release date of Pinkerton Deluxe edges nearer I can’t help but get excited at the prospect of some GOOD Weezer, in the form of Pinkerton B-Sides and demos. You can hear a couple of the tracks from the record and it’s rarities counterpart Death To False Metal here, including the previously unreleased “Tragic Girl” which is awesome. For the playlist, a Pinkerton classic (who am I kidding, it’s ALL classic) in “Across The Sea”.

8. Badly Drawn Boy : “This Electric” - Another case of oh-so-they’re-back-are-they? with the release of new Badly Drawn Boy Album It’s What I’m Thinking Part One: Photographing Snowflakes (awful title). It’s being touted as a return to form after the much maligned Born In The UK, which I actually quite liked, and on first listen it’s pretty good. “This Electric” is my favourite track so far, with soft strings and a pretty sweet drum machine beat backing up Damon’s best vocal in years.

9. LCD Soundsystem : “Home” - It wasn’t that I didn’t like This Is Happening when it first came out, it’s just that I probably didn’t really give it the attention it deserved. Add to this the fact that the interminable “Somebody’s Calling Me”, potentially the only bad song James Murphy has written, would usually lead me to switch the album off and you’ll go some way to explaining how I managed to miss the extreme brilliance of closing track “Home”. It took the below video to make me listen to the track properly, and I haven’t stopped listening to the song for weeks now. It’s great.

Jed. x