Tuesday, November 30, 2004

The Weekend Never Starts Around Here

arabstrap

No new material from Arab Strap at the moment, but that’s no reason to not check out this excellent Scottish band.
The UK website has some good information and is run by the very wonderful Delgados. They also have all their catalogue in downloadable mp3 format. However their American label Matador has a much better profile and some free mp3s.
I first heard Arab Strap on a John Peel session, while in the bath and thought them terribly gloomy at first. They are of course on investigation, very humorous, very sexy, but also very gloomy in a sort of Ivor Cutlerish way.
The first two cd albums on Chemikal Underground are classics. “The week never starts around here” and “Philophobia”.
A move from Chemikal Underground to Go! Beat produced the patchy “Elephant Shoe” and the excellent “Mad for Sadness” live set. Retreating back to Chemikal Underground produced the much stronger “Red Thread” and “Mondays at the Hug and Pint”
The two mp3s below are from the Matador site.
Who Named the Days?
The Love Detective