**MIXTAPE ALERT** Sunny Seaside Songs

At the beginning of August and I was a little too optimistic believing that it would be filled with scorching summer days and balmy evenings. In reality this summer we've had the odd sunny day but we've also had a lot of rain, grey drizzly afternoons, freezing nights and lots of riots (London went insane for a few days).

Nevertheless I believe the best way for us to collectively get through the disappointment this summer brought us is to repress it. Completely repress every negative feelings and memories and replace them with happy ones spent on the beach eating ice cream, in the park eating ice cream, on your sofa eating ice cream (I love ice cream).

To help you get started I've helpfully made a mixtape that you can listen to on repeat and force yourself to believe was the soundtrack to your imaginary summer. Aren't I helpful ehh....now get repressing.

1. Crawled Out Of The Sea- Laura Marling
2. It's Getting Boring By The Sea- Blood Red Shoes
3. Summer Special- Land Of Talk
4. Angels and Seagulls- Kimya Dawson
5. Beach Girls- Sleigh Bells
6. Summertime- The Chantels
7. Redondo Beach- Patti Smith
8. Endless Sea- Lauren Shera
9. Ray of Sunshine- Go Sailor
10. He's My Surfin' Guy- The Beach Girls
11. Sunlight- tUne YArds
12. Summer Sun- Voodoo Queens
13. Cicada Summer- Partyline
14. Beach Song- The Suicide Notes
15. When Summer is Through- Chalk and Numbers
16. Bigger Than an Ocean- Go Sailor
17. Out For The Sun- Vivian Girls

Wild Flag Album Trailer

Indie rock supergroup Wild Flag have released a trailer to announce the arrival of their debut album out on September 13th.

The 'Album Trailer', a new concept for our modern times, features a variety of pretty people firing arrows off like nobody's business with Wild Flag's raucous music playing in the background.

The group, made up of members of Helium, The Minders and Sleater-Kinney, have been working on their debut and album and toured North America extensively during the last couple of months.



Wild Flag - Album Trailer from Merge Records on Vimeo.

For more information: www.myspace.com/wildflag 

ALBUM REVIEW: Japanese Voyeurs- Yolk

If you could artificially create a band that could fulfil my every needs Japanese Voyeurs would most definately be the end result. They have everything I need; distorted guitars, check. Riot grrrl-esque vocals, check. Lyrics that beat you around the head till you're numb, check and check. Not to say that Japanese Voyeurs are in anyway artificial or manufactured. You can't put this kind of auditory bliss together in the back room of a record label. This band are the real deal.

Given my anticipation for JV's debut album Yolk they could fall hard on their faces at this hurdle right now but fortunately they don't. Lead singer Romily Alice guides her surprisingly hairy motley crew of a band through a maze of grotesque imagery, 90s riffs and playful lyrics.




Many reviewers have likened Romily's raw girlish vocals to Daisy Chainsaw vocalist Katie Jane Garside which is fair enough but Romily is not just a Garside copycat. JV are intelligent, playful and, most importantly like all bands should be, they're moving.

Opener 'You're So Cool' sees Romily calling out her persecutor for the playground bullying she suffered: "In the garden you made fun of me / pulled my hair and pushed me over." Lead single 'Get Hole' is an aggressively raw punk number that showcases JV's pop punk sensibilities at their finest.




The album also includes reworked earlier songs such as 'Dumb', 'Milk Teeth' and 'That Love Sound'.  JV are a band that wear their influences on their sleeves and that main influence is the 90s. They sound scarily similar to early grunge bands like Nirvana and Babes In Toyland. Listen to 'Dumb' and a riff that sound freakily like Nirvana hits you round the chops straight away.  I love the 90s but there is nothing creative about rehashing the past. Despite one or two failures Yolk is a fully rounded, epic debut album from a band that should be on the tips of everyone's tongues right now.

Yolk is out now
For more information: japanesevoyeurs.com