It was a toss up this evening between the straight-ahead indie pop noise of Mumm-Ra or the bedazzled incomprehendability of Wilderness. In the end I plumped for the rough road, sometimes it’s better to take a bite into something that offers a bit more resistance and in Wilderness’s case your ears shall not pass. These wild experimentalists are signed to the Jagjaguwar label and have 2 albums under their belts. James Johnson really reminds me of Liam Maher from baggy legends Flowered Up, not accent wise but in the way he fires his words skywards in a wicked attempt to reach as many people as possible. But there is more to the band than the lead man’s vocal thrusts, in fact on ‘Your Hands’ the guitar parts have their own unique story to recount. Their fiery demeanour is a joy from start to finish, towards the end in fact they become a thing of jagged beauty. KD

Wilderness - Your Hands

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Buy Album: Wilderness
Year: 2005

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Remember I talked about ‘Person Pitch’ and ‘Scribble Mural Comic Journal’ being the most wilfully obscure yet satisfying albums of the year. Well, I should have pointed out that Baltimore’s Videohippos ‘Unbeast The Leash’ is another one to lump into this dishy set of experimental wonders. You see this duo have the capacity to pound sweet notes like they are going out of fashion without ever giving anything away through the use of nonsensical word chains. Sure they chirp and bounce vocal taunts in your general direction but they are limited to getting to the heart of the matter through a condensed sound that never overwhelms yet so utterly consumes. The best example comes by way of ‘Lazer Jet’, a frantic exhibition of light and sound that shall be cherished on these very pages in our Top 42 of 2007. In the meantime here is something almost as devastating, it’s called ‘Bear Fight’ and it’s got teeth. Not every Hippo has that said about them you know. KD

Videohippos - Bear Fight

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More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Album: Unbeast the Leash (June 19th)
Year: 2007

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While Microdisney were a little before my time and Cathal Coughlan and his Fatima Mansions were just too aggressive to be palatable there is no doubting the beauty of ‘Town To Town’. Must have been his Coughlan's mate Sean O’Hagan’s (Stereolab and his own High Llamas) west coast leanings that supplied a bona fide chorus to sing along to. That and a video that was made for tuppence meant that it could only have been come out of 2 lads from emigration ravaged 1980’s Ireland (Cork to be precise). And despite the sucrose melody the theme of the tune revolved around a nuclear war, something to think about as you sing along on your dozen rerun this evening. KD

Microdisney - Town To Town

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Buy Album: [UK] Big Sleeping House: a Collection of Choice Cuts [US] Big Sleeping House
Year: 1987

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Sir Salvatore are a new band from San Francisco who should appeal to all those who like their music garnished with jangling chords. They've already released an EP called 'Those Men Are Not Astronauts' and like all far thinking sorts have let a couple of tracks slip to the blogging community. Such a gesture would probably be worthless if the music wasn’t up to scratch but Sir Salvatore’s tentative steps have the makings of something big. EP number 2 is already in pre production and ‘Ambalina’ is one of its tracks. Taking its inspiration from such luminaries as Rocketship and Apples in Stereo it is a cherishable piece of indie pop that produces aural highs from an array of soft twinkling chords. If Sir Salvatore can keep up this pace then the blogging nerds won’t be only ones with silly grins. KD

Sir Salvatore - Ambalina

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More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy: Those Men Are Not Astronauts EP
Year: 2007

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‘Person Pitch’ and ‘Scribble Mural Comic Journal’ are perhaps this years greatest surprises. With each you have to work hard for the goodies because they are hidden deep in the consciousness of the music. Panda Bear (aka Noah Lennox of Animal Collective) is responsible for the former and though he may clearly wear his Brian Wilson influences on his paw you can’t help but fall hopelessly in love with the syrupy concoction. ‘Bros’ is the undoubted centrepiece but due its rather gargantuan epicness and bandwidth-stealing draw ‘Take Pills’ will have to do for you. This has neither the scope or immediacy of its bigger brother but it is nonetheless an unabashed piece of summery pop. Hang in there during those misleading warped vinyl early moments (with tinged Everything But The Girl embraces) because the surf will soon be up and the good times will definitely be rolling. KD

Panda Bear - Take Pills

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Buy Album: [UK] Person Pitch [US] Person Pitch
Year: 2007

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It took Mew 8 years to craft their masterpiece. ‘And The Glass Handed Kites’ was the most remarkable album of 2005 and that is saying something given that it was a vintage year for long players. Of course Mew had been signalling that greatness lay just around the corner with ‘Frengers’ from 2 years earlier. ‘Frengers’ may have not hung together as sumptuously as its follow up but it was dotted with classic tunes like ‘Comforting Sounds’, ‘She Came Home For Christmas’ and this song ‘Am I Wry? No’. Mew can shoegaze with the best of them but they have so much more to their armoury as ‘Am I Wry? No’ so nimbly displays. As ever Jonas Bjerre’s vocals are distinctive and uplifting but it’s the showboating riffs that really impress. Not only that but at several intervals some strings add a glistening finishing touch. KD

Mew - Am I Wry? No

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Buy Album: [UK] Frengers: Not Quite Friends But Not Quite Strangers [US] Frengers
Year: 2003

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Normandy are a New York based quintet in a search of the perfect indie pop thrill. Their new ‘Time I’ve Wasted’ EP is their first attempt at capturing the holy grail and while they still have a bit to go there is every reason to expect that Normandy will one day be wrestling the initiative from James Mercer and co. Their EP boasts 4 strong tracks with ‘Her Eyes Don’t Water’ and ‘Kentucky Isolation’ (Gabi's backing vocals add a neat dimension) taking home the laurels for most fulfilling tracks. Normandy have geeky charm in spades which should see them appealing to the Weezer set as well as the aforementioned Shins. But, outside of all the inevitable comparisons you can’t get away from the fact that Vincent Dee’s gang write tunes built for joyous occasions crying out for an upbeat soundtrack. KD

Normandy - Her Eyes Don't Water

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Buy The EP: at the Cake Shop
Year: 2007

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It’s amazing what you can pick up on late night MTV when the music comes back on. A slow motion journey on a sea of clouds and liquid bubbles over a snowy landscape so aptly demonstrated what ‘Run Into Flowers’ was all about. It’s makers M83 offer a electronic sound that creates a mood. Anthony Gonzalez and Nicolas Fromageau had recorded 3 albums together before the latter decided to leave after a fractious tour in support of 2005’s ‘Before The Dawn Heals Us’. ‘In The Cold I’m Standing’ is taken from that album and perfectly encapsulates what M83 are about. Devoid of chorus and slight of wordage it just seeps into your senses until it destroys you emotionally. If you have the patience you will be entranced. KD

M83 - In The Cold I'm Standing

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More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Album: [UK] Before the Dawn Heals Us [US] Before the Dawn Heals Us
Year: 2005

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This one crept up on me a bit like Snowden’s ‘Anti-Anti’ of last year. Despite several listens I wasn’t that enthused but returning to it a few months later did reveal what a bouncy piece of songwriting it is. The six-piece from Syracuse have only been together for about a year. Two of their members have a classical background, which means that violin and cello strings often strain in and out of their music. ‘Each Year’ is the opening track from their self-titled debut and is very pleasant (and inoffensive, in a nice way). Most of the pleasure comes from the bubbly rhythms that give the song a youthful verve. Ra Ra Riot have played on both sides of the water in recent months with Cloud Cult, Tokyo Police Club and Snowden (aha). KD

Ra Ra Riot - Each Year

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Buy: Ra Ra Riot EP
Year: 2007

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Here's your chance to rate the music featured on mp3hugger. Just choose the rating you think the song deserves from 1 to 5 by clicking on the appropriate star. After a bit you’ll be able to see a table of the top rated music featured on the site. Try it out below.....

Now this is nice. ‘Twenty-Seven’ is a brilliant fusion of the Jesus & Mary Chain and Primal Scream wherein Michael Bond and his compadre Matt Dennewitz have crafted a new indie club standard. The hit is almost immediate, like the magical moment BRMC dispense with the boring trimming and reach for their gut instincts. This song doesn't necessarily demand a smoky room but you can just imagine the erratic shadows working in unison with the fuzzy dramatics airing from the stacks. Coltrane Motion are undoubtedly indebted to the past but it’s the present and the future that owe them a very comfortable living. Their first full length 'Songs About Music' is out at the end of the month. KD

Coltrane Motion - Twenty-Seven

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Buy Album: [UK] Songs About Music [US] Songs About Music
Year: 2007

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How could he do it, how could he get away with recording a version of ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ and come out smelling of roses? As you know the Joy Division original is the stuff of folklore and still sounds utterly spellbinding 27 years later. Squarepusher is the work of one man called Tom Jenkinson from Chelmsford. Jenkinson takes what Joy Division did so well, namely using the robotic electrics to translate their inner turmoil, to a less disturbing level where ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ is hardly more upsetting than a refreshing drizzle in the middle of a heat wave. No need to lose control. KD

Squarepusher - Love Will Tear Us Apart

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Buy Songs: Squarepusher
Year: 2006

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mp3hugger has finally come of age with its inaugural competition! At stake is the chance for you and a friend to see ace troubadour Willy Mason in Marlay Park on Saturday 25th August. If that wasn’t enough to get you pumped up you’ll also have an opportunity to meet the singer on the day. To win this prize all you’ve got to do is keep an eye out for someone wearing an mp3hugger t-shirt at Willy’s gig in the Temple Bar Music Center next Saturday (26th May). Next you’ll have to approach said human (and his fat brother….perhaps) with a bottle of beer (preferably full) and say these words ‘This Is To Calm Your Nerves If The Ocean Gets Rough’. The first person to do so will be placed on the guest list for Willy’s Marlay gig along with a friend. Also playing on the day are Guillemots, Fionn Regan and headliner Damien Rice. Good luck!

Update 27th May:

Congratulations to John from North Strand who not only correctly supplied the secret password but also managed to twin his pronouncement with the cheapest beer on the menu (didn’t even know Dutch Gold came in bottles!). Way to go John and be seeing you and a friend in Marlay Park in August.

On the gig side of things Willy Mason was hugely impressive as were his full band backup. At one point it was almost like watching Broken Social Scene such were the number of bodies stage. Willy’s music truly blooms in a live context and a chorus of brass, violin and parade drum only helps extenuate what a superb voice his has. Afterwards we went backstage and had a brief chat with Willy who, if the truth be told, initially struggled with my free beer addled words. A really nice fella and looking forward to our next meeting in Marlay Park in a couple of months. KD

Willy Mason - When The River Moves On

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Buy Album: [UK] If The Ocean Gets Rough [US] If the Ocean Gets Rough
Year: 2007

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You know a band is going to struggle when they name their debut ‘If You Happy With You Need Do Nothing’ (apparently named after a note left by their milkman). Brain teasers and chart hits don’t generally go hand in hand so Alfie were left with no choice but to disperse after 4 lovely albums. The Mancunians led by Lee Gorton offered so much, the panache of the Stone Roses twinned with the some of the Charlatans looser moments (hear the uncanny Tim Burgess likeness?). ‘A Word In Your Ear’ is ample evidence of their worth, its shuffling rhythms could have you erecting dancefloors in your mind and practising moves considered too impossible for human limbs. Alfie touched a nerve, albeit a Twisted one but such was the anticipation of their talent that they had moved to Parlophone Records before they realised it just wasn’t working out. Yet another case of a band not reaching the heights their cosy angle deserved. KD

Alfie - A Word In Your Ear

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Buy Album: [UK] A Word in Your Ear [US] Word in Your Ear
Year: 2002

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So delicious awkward, so out of time, so perfect. Kitchens of Distinction are a band I’ve only recently started to discover despite a magical radio glimpse I caught of them about a decade ago. You know the occasion when you hear the tail end of a song you know could be all time favourite but annoyingly fail to catch what the title is (a similar incident involving Ultra Vivid Scene and ‘120 Minutes’ has me endlessly searching for that precious piece of audio). ‘These Drinkers’ is a b-side to the 1990 single ‘Quick As Rainbows’ (there was a c and d side also, so it’s more an EP) and is dogged taste of the swirly guitar fare of the early nineties. Perhaps it has aged a tad but there is no doubting the stellar tune behind the gothic atmosphere. Singer Patrick Fitzgerald dons his Halloween cape and is suitably surrounded by Julian Swales Cure like disintegrating chord progressions. Spooky and eccentric this should be the beginning of your journey to discover KOD. KD

Kitchens Of Distinction - These Drinkers

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Buy Album: [UK] Capsule: The Best of KOD 1988-94 [US] Capsule: The Best of KOD 1988-94
Year: 1990

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Sometimes good music turns up in the last place you’d expect to find it. A couple of weeks ago exhaustion meant that all that we could muster on a Saturday night was the Eurovision song contest. It is dreadful as much for the music as the deepening kitsch virus it has been afflicted with since birth. But for heavy brain cells it is a nonetheless rip roaring vacation. No ‘My Lovely Horse’ this year but the Georgian entry did catch our fancy. Sopho Khalvashi on the night was as sensational as her red attire and her Bjorkisms meant that some alternative musical nodes were titillated briefly. Semi-dance, semi-eastern European textures add up to a fairly enjoyable diversion – at least until the tin foil clad Ukrainian entry comes on. KD

Sopho Khalvashi - Visionary Dream

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Year: 2007

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Someone said to me over the weekend that indie had gone stale. I couldn’t but mostly agree before adding that there were lots of darkened bedsits producing the most weirdly inventive music possible. From such garages of creativity could yet spring Music 2.0; when such inventive probes as Dan Govier are rightly recognised as the forerunners of audio’s second coming. Govier is one half of Canada’s We Will Build, the electronic artists who have already had several speakers in my living room shivering with satisfaction. lights.on is Govier’s current side project and while it may sometimes resemble the internals of a long forgotten arcade game the cascading ideas rarely fail to find their target. His labours have produced an album called ‘Please’ which is available as a free download. It’ll catch you by surprise, shake the doubting thomas’s from your head and completely renew your interest in finding what 2007 can offer in the way of illuminating music. Now that the search lights are on there's nothing to stop you. KD

lights.on - My Way

More Info: Official & Myspace
Year: 2007

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For a virtual unknown Simple Kid (Ciaran McFeely) has a nice mantelpiece full of critical adulation (he has been here before with the short lived outfit the Young Offenders). Perhaps McFeely is just too clever for the record buying public in his home country but it is still hard to understand why he has had such a limited impact. The greatest ignominy must surely have been the failure of Simple Kid 2 to make the shortlist for the Choice Music Awards (Ireland’s top 10 albums of the year) for 2006. The Cork Kid’s oft worn stetson gives a clue to the goods he peddles, he has a certain americana bias but you don’t have to be fan of that scene to enjoy the finger licking vibes. ‘Staring At The Sun’ was a single from his self-titled debut released in 2003 and displays the admirable differentiation with which McFeely goes about his business. KD

Simple Kid - Staring At The Sun

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Buy Album: [UK] SK2 [US] SK2
Year: 2006

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