Music and art.

I recently picked up an older compilation from Rough Trade Shops called 'counter culture'. I had bought one years back, loved it and had been keeping an eye out for these, but they seem to be hard to come across. They are an eclectic and great mix of  tracks their staff and customers love from the previous year. They feature more independent releases from alt country, punk and electronica. Some may find some of the tracks unlistenable or weird, but there are usually little nuggets of gold in the compilations. I picked a few up recently online and here are a few of the more enjoyable (and listenable) tunes from them.



This first track- 'The oil rigs at night', by The Delines has a lovely quality to it. It feels as if you are in this woman's head as she thinks things through. There is no grand swelling of strings or vocal acrobatics, just warm intimacy. In its story telling I am reminded of 'By the time I get to Phoenix'.
The Rough Trade compilation has the studio version, but I thought I would share this live version from KEXP:

The Delines- 'The Oil rigs at night':




This next track has a mellow vibe. I recall hearing it as I was working and immediately thought..Hmm, what was that track? I like it.

Real Estate- 'It's real'.




This next track is kind of fun and cheeky. It makes some great points and be warned- it does have a couple of swear words in it.

Dan le Sac versus Scroobius Pip- 'Thou shalt always kill'




These next two tracks you may have heard before. They both have a mellow and chilled retro feel:

The war on drugs- 'Red eyes'



Soulsavers- 'Revival':




Lastly, the Liars. They have been about for a while and this is a great headphone track. And remember, as the chant goes- 'facts are facts and fiction 's fiction'! The clip uses computer generated images to warp reality to represent different variations of 'reality'. I am not sure what is fact and what is fiction here.

Liars- 'Mess on a mission':



all music and images copyright of the respective artists.

Also, speaking of cheeky! A cheeky reminder of the group show I am in and which opens this Sunday!
I hope you can pop in for the opening or anytime while it it on. The exhibition ends on Wednesday the 12th.