"I'm always looking for love in all the same places."

Hello there!

It's still looking a bit sparse here, isn't it. Well, here's another post to take up some more space and, y'know, just make the new Yer Mam! look a bit more lived-in.



That lovely pic above is the cover art for the debut album from upcoming Manc outfit, Liam Frost & The Slowdown Family, Show Me How The Spectres Dance. If you haven't heard about them, well then you're missing out on something pretty damn good actually. Liam is pretty sensitive about being likened to Bright Eyes, but he doesn't really do much to shrug off that influence here. He does the Conor Oberst confessional thing quite accurately, especially in songs such as 'The Mourners Of St. Pauls' (about the death of his father) or the bitter, 'Is This Love?'. The overall effect of the album is of someone trying to forge their own voice and making a pretty good fist of it, while still having glaringly obvious reference points both contemporary (Badly Drawn Boy) and classic (Bruce Springsteen). It comes recommended, yet with the qualifier that if you don't like the singer/songwriter schtick anyway, you probably won't find much here to make you change your mind.

Liam Frost & The Slowdown Family - Shall We Dance? (mp3)



Shadow's back. His first album since 2002's The Private Press is The Outsider, a possibly alienating, genre-hopping opus that is as interesting as it is all-over the-shop. I know that interesting is not a very encouraging or emotive adjective when describing the new album from a revered producer, but by track three, I can bet that your interest will be somewhat piqued. Shadow changes up the style around every third track. With opening track proper, 'This Time' being pure Shadow leading into a few hyphy tracks with guest spots from The Foundation, Keak Da Sneak and David Banner to name but three you get an idea of how this record may go. Then Josh Davis pulls the rug again, throwing in some hardcore punk-influenced tracks. Then there's a rocky phase, then a folky phase. What. The. Fuck?!

People are going to hate this album, but I can see an equal amount of people loving it. I'm on the fence at the moment, as I haven't really let the whole thing sink in. One thing I can say is that he really fucked up by letting two knobs from Kasabian join the party. Bonus points though for Charalambides' Christina Carter and Phonte Coleman from Little Brother.

DJ Shadow - This Time (mp3)

Right, that's yer lot for now, but I'll be posting up a double mixtape in the next few days, to celebrate moving house. Also, if you're in Manchester this weekend, do yourself a favour and head down to Dpercussion. I'll be posting a report as soon as I've recovered.