Alright, so we don’t really know how it works yet, but we’ve got ourselves a SoundCloud. If you want to send us music to play at the clubnight, or to be considered for review in the zine/online, or indeed if you just want to send us stuff, then you could fling it there. Anyone with any tips on how this thing works, we’d appreciate em!
So you should hopefully know by now that this website is actually just an added extra on top of the paper fanzine which we make. You know, the fanzine that Steve Lamacq has been talking about on the radio?
Thanks to the magic of the internet you can now go through an archive of our back issues on this very website. Point yourself towards the Fanzine page to have a look! What next, man on the moon?
Getting a Life With… This Many Boyfriends: Thee Sheffield Phonographic Corporation
Now here’s an EP that we’ve been looking forward to. Since catching Leeds’ This Many Boyfriends at Underachievers Please Try Harder in the early weeks of 2010 we’ve been completely hooked on their lo-fi, shouty indiepop, and we’ve been waiting patiently for this, their first official release. At seven tracks and 21 minutes it’s a short, sharp introduction to the world of TMB, a world where indie geek references sit alongside tales of communism, bullying and boredom, where everything’s loud (except on occasion when it’s quiet) and everyone should be dancing.
It was fair to say from some of their early shows that the band were indebted to Los Campesinos! – but Getting A Life With... shows a far broader – and indeed older – variety of influences with its noisy update of ’80s jangle pop: wry smiles, knowing lyrics and pop sensibilities wrapped up in a whole lot of fun. I Don’t Like You (‘Cos You Don’t Like The Pastels) may be their best known song, but there’s plenty of variety here beyond that (admittedly ace) opening track. I Should Be A Communist has that beautifully awkward air that The Wave Pictures pull off so well, and Three Year Itch is possessed of a cutting melancholy which Lauren Boyfriend perfects with ease. Add to this the fact that it may actually be impossible not to sing along to either It’s Lethal‘s refrain of “Radio is the devil” or indeed Trying Is Good with its refrain of “We are dumb, we are smart/We will suffer for our art/We are your punk rock weirdos/We are your indiepop heroes” and you’ve got a nigh on perfect slice of indiepop. They could well be your indiepop heroes, and for the moment at least they’re certainly ours.
Pre-order Getting A Life With… from Thee SPC by pointing yr browser at thismanyboyfriends.com – available on its own, or as the delightful EP/zine/badge/sticker collection you can see above!
Allo Darlin’ – Allo Darlin’: Fortuna Pop!
If you’re even a semi-regular visitor to PYT you’ll know full well that we love Elizabeth and her Allo Darlin’ bandmates. Over the past year she’s gone from strength to strength, with a sold out single on WeePOP! (Henry Rollins Don’t Dance), two well-received singles on Fortuna Pop! and now her debut album. We’ve been sitting on this for a while now at PYT Towers, and are quite ridiculously excited that it’s finally released today. Put simply, this is the best summer record you’ll hear all year, and potentially the best you’ll hear all decade.
Right from the off, when Elizabeth played a solo Allo Darlin’ show for PYT’s Christmas Party in 2008, we were in love. Her songs are sweet and tender without crossing that line into painfully twee, and an ace sense of shy humour only adds to the charm. Add a full band – that’ll be Bill (Moustache of Insanity, Darren Hayman and the Secondary Modern), Paul (Hexicon, The Treetop Flyers) and Mike (also Hexicon) – and something gorgeous and endearing becomes indiepop extraordinaire. It’s no exaggeration to say that every track on this album could be a single, and bringing out past singles Dreaming and The Polaroid Song right at the start in no way front loads the record.
Silver Dollars is a PYT highlight – the first time we noticed the lyric “I know you say we’re just friends and that this love is purely platonic/I’m hoping that you’ll forget after this round of gin and tonic” grins spread across faces and we collapsed into delighted giggles. This is a theme for the whole album, it’s hard to pick just a few favourites: from the Weezer shout-along half way through Kiss Your Lips to the Ingmar Bergman reference in Woody Allen, the novelty of swimming in lakes “where nothing can eat you” in Let’s Go Swimming to Monster Bobby’s put down of “It’s not a star, it’s a satellite” in Dreaming, every track has numerous moments to cheer the weariest of hearts. It’s a celebration of the little moments in life, and yet it sounds wholly universal. Letting this album into your life will be the best decision you make all year.
Allo Darlin’ play a free in-store gig at Rough Trade East tonight (7th June) at 7pm. The album launch party takes place on Tuesday 15th June at The Lexington with support from Standard Fare and The Middle Ones – tickets are £6.50 from We Got Tickets They’ll also be playing at Indietracks between 23rd and 25th July – weekend tickets cost £60 and are available here
It’s been an interesting week or so for team PYT; having spent the best part of nine months studying, this past week saw some relative freedom. As you’d imagine, this led to a number of outings to various musical establishments, along with some long-awaited listening to a backlog of albums and EPs. There are certain elements of this which have made me particularly happy, some of which were relatively unexpected – this is the beauty of music really, when it takes you by surprise and exceeds your expectations.
The first of the week’s high points came on Tuesday at An Outlet. This was my first outing to the Dale Street venue (yes, I’ve missed all of the WU LYF shows there and yes, I’ve heard about them), and it was really quite perfect. It Sounded Better In My Head doesn’t put shows on very often, which means that when he does it’s because they’re the shows he cares about the most. The highlight of this particular show was The Middle Ones; I’m not entirely sure why I haven’t seen them before but they make perfect, awkward, lo-fi indiepop. It’s probably the first time since Los Camp! appeared four years ago that I’ve listened to a band and thought ‘if I were actually any good at writing lyrics, I think they’d be something like this’, in that they write bittersweet, often self-deprecating tales of life’s little ups and downs, and make my heart swell with happiness. They’re playing at Allo, Darlin’s album launch in London in a couple of weeks, and also at Indietracks, and I’m very excited about going to see them again.
Thursday provided more joy, along with a healthy dose of nerves as it marked the first ‘solo’ promoted show PYT have put on since Peel Night in October. Luckily all went well, especially as we were delighted with the bands, most of whom we’d never seen live. The biggest surprise was probably micktravis; he used to play in Tompaulin, who I knew very little about but Dan had assured me were good, and was looking for shows to play to get himself warmed up for Indietracks having not played live for 2 1/2 years. There was no need for him to be as nervous as he evidently was, as his self confessed ‘songs about fighting’ (which also happened to be delightfully awkward and pleasingly witty) went down a treat. Our highlights were probably the times he snuck other people’s lyrics in, from a wee bit of Back for Good to a WHOLE VERSE of our namesake Hefner track. Headlining the evening’s entertainment we had Foxes!, who were just superb. Sweet in a few places but raucous in most, their guitars ‘n’ keyboards racket complete with gorgeous vocals from Kayla made us exceedingly happy. To top it off it turns out that they’re very nice folks indeed, so if you ever get the chance to see them then make sure to say hi.
Finally, not a live band but an EP in the post – and one with a lovely note enclosed at that. It seems an age since Silence at Sea released the Supertach-Yonic-antitelephone EP (Summer 2008, I believe), so the arrival of the Drive Me To The Abyss EP was very exciting indeed. If you don’t know them, SAS are from Cardiff, and are part of the group of bands who member-swap on a highly regular basis, with most of the members here having played with Little My at the very least. As is the case with these bands, though, SAS have completely their own sound, weaving often melancholy tales around Laura’s gentle tones. The songs are possibly at their best when you get both Laura and Nicola on vocal duties – tracks like the pleasingly layered (not to mention brilliantly named) I Demand Mazes. It’s generally a more varied piece of work than the previous EP and the album The Oh-No! Telephone, showing off some more electronic chunks at points and adding to Silence at Sea’s ever-abundant charm. Fingers crossed for some more live dates soon – we’ve missed this lot!
If you’d like to purchase the Drive Me to the Abyss EP then head to SAS’s myspace – it’ll cost you a mere £3 (or potentially a pie or a piano lesson) for 10 tracks: bargainous!
This was originally posted on in a town so small, but was meant to be here. From some reason my phone wouldn’t let me write as PYT yesterday. Anyhoo, here are some photos of Manchester being ace yesterday. Eurocultured was a lovely festival, and all the bands we saw were excellent. From there we hot footed it down to Dot to Dot, where the bands were amazing (but the organisation could have been a wee bit better).
this post is meant to be on the pull yourself together website, but for some reason technology won’t let me do that. instead in a town so small presents a live photoblog of bank holiday monday in manchester.
1. butcher the boy – red deer club stage, eurocultured
2. live art, eurocultured
3. 0 events, eurocultured
4. breakdancing competition, main stage, eurocultured
5. mariee sioux, red deer club stage, eurocultured
6. francois and the atlas mountains, red deer club stage, eurocultured
7. sparrow and the workshop, red deer club stage, eurocultured
8. view from the red deer club stage, eurocultured
9. live art, eurocultured
10. sophies pigeons, red deer club stage, eurocultured (somewhere in there, big crowd!)
11. young british artists, red deer club, eurocultured
12. liars, club academy, dot to dot
13. wild beasts, academy 2, dot to dot (loads of smoke, terrible light)
14. beach house, club academy, dot to dot (packed!)
15. los campesinos, club academy, dot to dot
16. team ghost, deaf institute, dot to dot
Good old May, sandwiched by bank holidays. More importantly, bank holidays with plenty of musical happenings (and a few non-musical ones too) to enjoy. With so much to see and do, we thought we’d give you the PYT rundown of what to get up to over the weekend!
Friday 28th
There’s only one place to be tonight as far as we’re concerned, and that’s the Dutch Uncles single launch at the Deaf Institute. Not only do you get to see one of Manchester’s finest bands (that’ll be the DUncles then) and pick up a copy of their new 7″, The Ink, but they’ve gone and bagged some pretty excellent support bands. PYT saw The ABC Club at Night + Day a wee while back, and they were super: gorgeous sunshine-drenched melodies perfect for a sunny evening. On top of that you get to see Deaf to Van Gogh’s Ear, who are fast becoming one of the best live acts around. Pop down to the Deaf from 9pm and you’re sure to be in for a treat.
Saturday 29th
There’s very little PYT like more on a Saturday afternoon than wandering round a market, and this weekend is no exception. You’ll probably know that the Spring Market is currently going on in and around St Ann’s square, which makes for a lovely bit of outdoor fun. It is also worth knowing that this weekend is haggling weekend at the Arndale Market. Food stalls have lowered their prices for the bank holiday and all other stalls are inviting you to haggle for their wares, so go and give it a try! We’ll almost certainly be found eating a Pancho’s Burrito with special hot sauce…Yowzers!
After you’ve feasted at the markets, you should probably work off some of that food by dancing. As everyone knows, the perfect place to do this on the last Saturday of the month is Underachievers Please Try Harder, and this weekend is no exception. We’re incredibly excited that they’ve booked Red Shoe Diaries, who we’ve previously bigged up on here as “toe-tapping, hip-swaying music to swoon to”. We stand by this, and hope you will too. And if that ain’t quite your bag, also on the bill are Fever Fever to provide for your noisy thrashy indiepop needs. Lovely stuff, all at Saki Bar from 9pm.
Sunday 30th
Probably time for a day of rest; you deserve it. Hopefully the weather will hold out and then we can all barbecue. It is an English bank holiday though, so this is pretty unlikely. If resting doesn’t sound like your idea of fun, then you should probably head down to Day 1 of Eurocultured Festival by Oxford Road train station. The Arch stage is hosting PYT’s two favourite acoustic heroes; Christopher Eatough and Ed Cottam, whilst High Voltage’s Font takeover is looking good, hosting the likes of D/R/U/G/S and Waiters.
Monday 31st
Not one, but two festivals to recommend for Monday, as Eurocultured continues for another day and Dot to Dot makes its way to Manchester. PYT are very happy to be providing between-band DJ entertainment for Red Deer Club’s Arch Stage, and even happier that this very stage is hosting ace bands including Sparrow and the Workshop and Young British Artists. What also makes us happy is that Eurocultured wraps up early on Monday, leaving time for us to rush around various venues catching the best of Dot to Dot. There are far too many bands to mention here, but in particular we’ll be trying to make it to Casiokids, Team Ghost (interviewed by PYT here), Field Music, Beach House and Los Campesinos! – so if you see us running up and down Oxford Road between the hours of 7pm and 1am, that’s what we’re up to, and it’s probably what you should be up to as well.
Happy Bank Holiday folks! XX
We have been having a bit of a spring clean here at PYT Towers, and I’ve found a box of CDs which I released with some good friends with my old fanzine. Popular Culture (No Longer Applies To Us) was active for about 18 months or so, during which time we put on the first ever show by Troubles (ex-Hope of the States) and the first Manchester show by Los Campesinos! (at the Star and Garter – AMAZING). Alongside the zines and gigs we put out a compilation album which perfectly caught the mood of late 2006, a great time for new music.
The album was called We’re Stupid, But We’re Happy (a Los Camp! lyric, though you already know that) and featured some of our favourite bands. The track listing is below. Steve Lamacq made it has album of the week on 6Music and played a track every night. I’ve just been and looked up old reviews of the record, Drowned in Sound gave it 9/10 and said it was essential. Heady days.
1. Los Campesinos! – It Started With A Mixx
2. Former Bullies – You Are Free
3. The Answering Machine – Oh Christina
4. Sky Larkin – Keepsakes
5. The Star Fighter Pilot – Another Penny (feat. Rachael Kichenside)
6. Modernaire – Shall We Disco
7. Ed Cottam – No One Quite Like You
8. The Waverton Collective – Trans Siberian Express
9. My Side of The Mountain – Winter People
10. Sir Yes Sir – OK
11. Air Cav – Alliance
12. The Search Map – You Are The Loops
13. redcarsgofaster – 24 Passes
14. Shut Your Eyes And You’ll Burst Into Flames – Signal Noise
Basically, I was really proud of this record. Still am. It is criminal that I’ve still got copies of it left, so I am putting them on sale here for TWO QUID. Click the button below and I’ll send you one. Simple as that.
Here at PYT we have a long standing love affair with French music. I have been slowly but surely introudcing loads of great music from across the Channel to Hannah, starting with France Gall, moving through Serge Gainsbourg, then coming up to date with Hey Hey My My, Phoenix and Moonjellies. Given this slight obssession, and my personal love of shoegaze and post-rock, it is of little suprise that the latest signings to the excellent Sonic Cathedral label were right up my street. Team Ghost are Nicolas Fromageau (originally of M83) and Christophe Guérin, and they make terrific electronic tinged shoegaze.
You know how the internet is full of people telling you how hip and cool chillwave bands are at the moment, well these guys are better. Their debut UK release, You Never Did Anything Wrong To Me, is full of woozy washed out electronics and fuzzy feedbacking guitars, somehow sounding like Neu!, No Age and The Jesus and Mary Chain.
We caught up with the band ahead of their Dot-To-Dot festival headline set at The Deaf Institute on Monday night.
– Having been part of M83 for the first two records, is Team Ghost your way of realising ideas that you couldn’t do as part of that band?
In a way, I think so, but I also added few influences we hadn’t at that time. As I composed most of the stuff on the EP, I tried to do a mix of all the music I’ve been listening to during this time.
– Do you think reviews of Team Ghost as shoegaze are accurate? Whilst the lo-fi Jesus and Mary Chain-vibes are there, I’m picking up something a whole lot more electronic on You Never Did Anything Wrong To Me.
Oh, I think it’s mosty because of “A glorious time”, wich, it’s true, sounds a bit like My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive. But yes, I added many electronic sounds, and on the other tracks, I’ve been much more influenced by Tangerine Dream, Brian Eno, early Cure, Joy Division etc…
– Do you feel any sense of a revival in the style of music you are making? To go back to the shoegaze term, it seems that quite a few bands are making feedback saturated, quite simple yet very evocative music, akin to My Bloody Valentine and the Mary Chain. Are Team Ghost conciously a part of this, or is this just the music you have been looking to make since moving to Paris?
I think we already did such sounds when I used to paly in M83, especially on “Dead cities…”. For sure there’s a shoegaze revival, and I think it’s GREAT! What I prefer in music is harmonies, and melodies, and you can find it on most of the new shoegaze scene. I love it. Shoegaze has always been a big influence for me, and well, it always will. Just hope that people will discover Drop Nineteens again, one of my fav bands ever : )
[audio:http://www.pullyourselftogetherzine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/06-Colors-in-time.mp3|titles=Team Ghost – Colors in time]– How important has Paris been in the evolution of Team Ghost? There is quite some difference between Antibes and the capital, how much does this impact on your songwriting and attitude?
Moving to Paris is quite normal for a band in France, as it’s almost the only place you can find a label, or some gigs. I’m not sure it changed anything in my songwriting, but I really enjoy living here. I love big cities!
– How does Team Ghost work as a live band? Are you making the same washed out electronics, or is the sound a bit closer to a conventional guitar led indie band?
we sound a bit more rock on stage, as there’s a drummer and a bassist. Chris and I also play guitars, so it’s a bit more rough I guess. I wanted high energy on stage, and I think we make it!! We all love to play live, it’s always a great time.
– So you are about half way through a UK tour, how have the shows been going? How was the Great Escape?
oh, it depended on gigs, but most of them were really cool (well cool for us, I don’t know about the audience!). We always have a great time on the road, we’re really good friends, and I always have a lot of free beers. Heaven! Great Escape was, hmmm, a great escape really! Brighton is a wonderful city, it reminded me of Nice, my hometown!!!
– I’m interested about the dynamics of you as a French band trying to break into an English speaking market. It is noticeable that Sur Nous Les Étincelles Du Soleil is the only song in French on the EP, why isn’t there more French on there? Of the bands from France who I’m listening to at the moment there is very little of the language coming though, with people like yourselves, Phoenix and Hey Hey My My all favouring English? Is there a fear in France that if you don’t sing in English then you won’t translate to other crowds?
well, it’s not that concious I think. I grew up listening to english and american bands, so it’s quite natural for me to sing in english, even if my english is not so good (but maybe you already noticed that!). Only few people in France are able to sing in french and make it sound good. I think Sebastien Tellier is a great example. Most french band use english, and I think it’s better this way. I’m not sure french is a good langage for rock music.
– Who are the French bands we should be keeping an ear out for? Who are you excited about at the moment?
Sebastien Tellier! We have some great new bands in France these days, it’s very exciting! Please check Fortune, Yeti Lane (love these guys, they are on Sonic Cathedral too!), Zombie Zombie, Chateau Marmont…
Oh and I recently discovered Shit Browne, they release their first album in june. They sound like a modern mix between Happy Mondays, Stone Roses and Primal Scream. Not really “french” actually : )
Team Ghost play The Deaf Institute at 1am as part of Dot-To-Dot. You Never Did Anything Wrong To Me is available now on Sonic Cathedral.
I’m sure you have all seen Hannah’s excellent piece in the current issue of the fanzine about 6Music, and her earlier post on here.
Well, today is the final day that you can make your voice heard by taking part in the BBC Consultation on the future of 6Music and Asian Network. If you are in Manchester tomorrow, or indeed any of the other cities which are holding one, get down to the BBC building at lunch time and let the management know just how much these stations mean to us, the listeners. Details of the Manchester event are here – http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/event/detail/flashmobsstopthebbccuts/rtd
Pull Yourself Together Zine 