Running To Keep Still

One of the big problems with trawling for tunes on YouTube is you never know whether that great song you just found is the one and only good thing that band ever did or just some run of the mill filler that doesn't begin to stack up with their best stuff. When you discover bands or artists organically, following their career as it builds and grows, you just know this stuff without trying but when you come in late, about the best you can do is take a few random samples and hope.

Well, you could go back and listen to everything they've ever done but who has the time for that, right? What I tend to do is try a couple of very recent examples and if those are good, go all the way back to the start to see how much things have changed. I'm aware it's not getting me anywhere but it makes me feel like I've tried and that's about all the self-validation I need these days.

I was thinking about all of that this week because of katie dey's new album, never falter hero girl, which cropped up, cut up into individual tracks, in my YouTube feed because I subbed her channel a short while back after stumbling across Dawn Service, the video for which I included in this post. As I was listening to those, I noticed just how many other katie dey tracks there were and how far back they went and since the new stuff is relatively challenging I started to wonder if she'd mellowed or become more extreme over time.

Judge for yourself. This is the oldest one I could find. It's from 2015.

unkillable - katie dey

And this from four years ago.

No-One's In Control - Devi McCallion and Katie Dey

And then this from the new album.

hoarder - katie dey

I dunno. I feel like it's a bell curve with the softness at the peak. 

Anyway.

Stepping away from the edge (It was close.) let's see what else I have in the bag this time.

Okay, here's me acting my age for once. Eric has a great post about this on his excellent blog, Ericland, which I suggest everyone reads because he's as good a diarist as he is a songwriter and that's saying plenty.

Badhat Town - Wreckless Eric

While we're with Jools, how about this? When I first saw The Last Dinner Party I thought they were going to be a momentary distraction, fated to be remembered only by a few who happened to be looking the right way at the time. And now here they are, hobnobbing with the musical elite on the BBC's premiere serious popular music showcase. Then again, they did pretty much start out opening for the Rolling Stones so I guess it's not that much of a surprise.

My Lady of Mercy - The Last Dinner Party

That's prog, isn't it? I mean, I know progressive rock when I hear it. 

Speaking of support acts, guess who's going to be opening for The Last Dinner Party when they play in the next city over from me at the end of January? Yes, well, don't waste your time because you'll never have heard of them (A sentence I wrote before I realised they'd been all over the music press recently, and even the mainstream press, thanks to an endorsement from Courtney Love, which just goes to show that even when you think you're there when it's happening, you're probably not.) but by a strange co-incidence it's another band I just happened upon entirely co-incidentally and had bookmarked for this feature. 

They're called Picture Parlour, which is a terrible name. I can't even remember why I clicked on them now. It's exactly the sort of name I'd normally skip. Fortunately, for some reason I didn't, which is just as well because they're very good.

Judgement Day - Picture Parlour

I can see why they're on the same bill. It's just that one date, though, which makes me wonder if they're local (They're not. They formed in Manchester.) They sound ludicrously similar to Tranquilty Base Hotel & Casino era Arctic Monkeys and they have the nerve to have a song called Norwegian Wood that isn't a cover so confidence doesn't seem to be an issue.

Obviously I ought to be at this gig, not least since it's happening twelve miles from where I'm sitting, in a venue I used to visit almost monthly but luckily for my nerves it's already sold out. I'm definitely too old for all that. Probably.

What next? I have so much to choose from I can't decide. Someone we've had before, like Charly Bliss or Putochinomaricon or someone new, like yune pinku or Tanukichan?

How about one of each and you can click through for the others?

NPC - Tanukichan

Pretty much had to pick that one, with a title like that, didn't I? I'm always toying with the idea of a whole post of video game related songs (As opposed to songs from video games, which I'll leave to Syp.) There are plenty to choose from, that's for sure. Not so many good ones, maybe, but honestly I haven't really looked into it in depth yet so I oughtn't to assume they're all going to be embarassing.

I Need A New Boyfriend - Charly Bliss

"Cause he never even liked my band". Okay, I think we can all agree he was an idiot. Let's move on.

TWENTYSOMETHING - talker

I do like a racket. Reminds me of Fluffy. I miss Fluffy.

K2 - Melenas

Guess what that one reminds me of? Here's a clue from the comment thread: "Me recuerdan a Stereolab". Okay, that's not so much a clue as a solution.

Notice how I'm keeping the words to a minimum? Supposed to let me fit more songs in. I think there's a fault in that logic somewhere, though. Hey ho. Press on.

Right Here - H31R

I think I prefer Backwards but it has one of those videos where some people are walking backwards while other people are walking forwards and I've seen too many of those. Anyone want to take a stab at the microgenre? Backwards does have the comment "nice teenage engineering drums" if that helps...

Rupert - Birthday Girl

Over the last week or so, Jarret Wolfson posted three unconnected videos of bands with "girl" somewhere in the name which, like bands with "pony" somewhere in the name, is something I rely on as a mark of quality. Sadly, only one of them was supportive of the theory. This one. (As an aside, just a few minutes ago, as I was checking something for the post, I discovered a band called... Pony Girl. And they're great! Imagine if they hadn't been. Also, how the hell did they never come on a recommend before? It's not like I haven't done searches on both words plus "band" before.)

Getting back to Birthday Girl, that's a fine performance but the studio version is even better. Why not be the 56th person to watch it?

Oh, alright then... for the completionists among us, the other two bands were partygirl and Best Girl. I don't think they'll be troubling us again although props for those Twin Peaks costumes.

Soooo many more songs ( I must have added seven or eight just writing this post.)  but I guess I'll have to let them run over again. This is getting out of hand. Gonna finish with a couple or three I rather liked, even though they're really not doing anything we haven't heard before. Nothing wrong with doing something familiar and doing it well.

worlds greatest emoter - bar italia

God, it feels like the last thirty or forty years never happened sometimes. I really like bar italia even though I think I probably shouldn't. I'm gonna get the album, at least I will if someone picks it off my wishlist. I wonder if that's the real ending? I guess I'll find out. 

OTTERPOP - Kevin Abstract

That's just a teaser for the album that comes out in a couple of days. It's called Blanket. He's been dropping tracks from it all week and they're all great. I never really payed any attention to Brockhampton. Guess I'm going to have to start.

And finally...

I Saw Water - Joyce Manor

I really love Joyce Manor. They're so tight while keeping it so loose. It's a trick and a half, that's for sure. The original by Tiger's Jaw is fine but this is sublime. Tiger's Jaw returned the favor with a cover of Constant Headache, which was sweet of them. I bet it's a great scene to be part of.

And much though I'd like to carry on I think that's enough. More than enough, some might say.

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Notes on the use of AI in this post:

Just the header image, which is by DreamShaper XL Alpha2 at an overall prompt weight of 50% and a refiner weight of 10%, since NightCafe now recommends refinement should be low or zero for this particular model.

The prompt was "never falter hero girl glitchcore". I tried three variations and they were all great. Could have used any of them.