Yours, Confidentially

There's a bunch of stuff I could have written about today but I felt like playing some tunes so that's what I'm going to do. I'm not even going to pretend there's a theme. Syp posts "a random collection of awesome songs that I’ve discovered lately and want to pass on to you to enjoy too…" every Sunday, so if it's good enough for him...

Up first, the band I discovered last week (Years after everyone else, obviously.) and have been playing every day since... let's hear it for Confidence Man! I only happened across them when they turned up on the invaluable Like A Version doing a cover of DJ Sammy's "Heaven". 

I have never heard of DJ Sammy but I could think of several songs called "Heaven". I was curious to find out if it was any of them. It wasn't. It was this one:

Now that's not something you see every day. It's like Faye and Eugene from the Rezillos backed by the KLF. After I'd stopped dancing around the room with Beryl, I started going through their back catalog. It's all good. Here's another I really like:

They're great to dance to but they're good to blog to as well. I wrote a whole post listening to their latest album, TILT. It's on YouTube. All of it. On the band's own channel. How does that make sense? I mean, I was going to put it on my wishlist so someone could buy it for me but why would I do that now? Do they not like money?

One more from them and we'll move on. There's a fantastic collab with Japanese noise-pop legends Chai. It's called Angry Girl and the video is hysterical.

Okay, there might be some Run DMC vs Jason Nevins in there but so what? It's like that and that's the way it is!

I could fill the whole post with Confidence Man but I'll restrain myself. They're from Brisbane, by the way. So many good acts coming out of Australia these days. Here's another.

That's Lime Cordiale. They have the same louche, lounge feel Alex Turner borrowed from Serge Gainsbourg but unlike Alex they've doubled down on the sleaze. That video made me feel like I needed a wash. 

Jumping the tracks, remember the "Idris Elba for James Bond" campaign? Man looks good in a suit. Just sayin'. He did a whole EP with Lime Cordiale. Explain that.

From the antipodes to the new world. Oh, colonialism! So much to answer for. Remember a couple of weeks back I linked a slew of live performances from my unknowing New York correspondent, Jarret Wolfson? No, of course you don't.  

One of the bands featured was JessX. I really liked them so I went looking to see what else of theirs I could find. Jarret's live footage makes for a fantastic record of an otherwise ephemeral scene but it's never going to show what the bands can do in a studio setting. Or in a video like this. Crybby, the song's called. Pronounced crybaby. Oh, you got that.

All I wanted was a Pepsi but she wouldn't give it to me! There's a sound that'll never get old.

Jarret just put up another live number by JessX a few days ago. It's called "Scream". See if you can guess why. If they're going to play this every night, I'd say go see them while you can. In a year Jessica-rose won't be able to speak, let alone sing.

Let's see... was there anything else? Oh, yes. This just in! It's a cover, Placebo doing Tears For Fears' old stomper, Shout. Oh, hey! Scream and Shout! See what I did there? There's a job waiting for me in hospital radio, I'm sure.

I do like Brian Molko's voice. The arrangement's not that far from the original. It was always semi-industrial. This just pushes it over the edge.

I think that'll do for now. More when I have some.