Indie-niable Good Tunes

Needing a good collection of tunes to do some house chores to or just to chill out too? Check out my latest mix below showcasing some tunes from Arctic Monkeys, Pixies, The View, The Black Keys and more. Enjoy!

Indie-niable Good Tunes by Mal Keenan on Mixcloud

Mid-Week Mix

Half way to the weekend and I don't know about you, but I need some motivation. I've put together a mix of some old and new indie/alternative rock tunes, which may do the trick. Enjoy.

This is my second attempt at home DJing using a great free program for Windows called Mixx. Definately the program to get if you are ever considering it. Easy to use and is a playground for your creativity. 

Mid-Week Mix by Mal Keenan on Mixcloud

Video of the day: Noel Gallagher reviews Oasis videos

Recently released and currently trending on social media, ten hilarious minutes of Noel finding fault with almost every video Oasis ever released. Read on.

Had he not soared to success with Oasis, Noel Gallagher could have been a stand up. His use of words when in interviews and commentary like this one shown below are hilarious. This fantastic 10-minute compilation of the best bits of Oasis DVD commentaries below, as Noel proceeds to criticise basically every part of every music video/promo.

Some of the highlights are when he compares himself in one of the videos to looking like Columbo. He summarises . "I'd grown out of the video making experience quite quickly," "By the third one I was like, this is a load of b*****ks.. standing around all day doing the same old s**t 500 times,”.

When it comes to the Whatever video Noel can’t wait to note how drunk he was. “Look how pissed I am there,” he jokes. “I remember being Liam being furious that day, because I think it’s the one time I’ve been more drunk than he is.”

My favourite quote from his commentary is this gem:

“I f*****g hate videos. I hate everything about them. I hate the fact that they cost a fortune, I hate the fact that you’ve got to be there at eight in the morning, I hate the fact that you don’t leave until eight the next f*****g morning. I don’t like the fact that the people who are making ‘em think that they’re making f******g Apocalypse Now…”

Being a big Oasis fan, I loved their videos at the time but looking back, you can release to Noel's views on them.  Some videos are so "artsy fartsy" that it's laughable now. If you are ever going to want an insight and a fair representation as to the behind the scene story of brit pop and indie rock in the 90s, Noel G is the man.

Its fair to say this vids not safe for work so probably not best to watch in work. Check it out and thank me later.

The key to indie success

Sorry about the pun in the title... I couldn't resist....    

Recently, I was asked to join an indie band.  As music, especially indie, is a passion of mine I jumped at the chance. They needed a keyboardist to add a little extra to the songs whether it be covers or originals. Having little experience with keyboards and being more familiar with the guitar, I was a little weary to say the least, but was assured that the parts would be small and easy to do. I’ve got to admit, I love it. I’ve been fast at learning the parts and have put my own stamp on things.   As I’ve been self-teaching myself the basics and melodies, I’ve delved into indie music history to find songs to cover or learn from. I’ve noticed that a well timed piano solo or powerful organ throughout the song can improve the song. 

Here’s a few gems which I’ve found / rediscovered or are important to me which include piano / organ / synth. Enjoy.

 · You Overdid it Doll – The Courteeners 

The Courteeners broke onto the indie scene with a powerhouse of indie songs with rough sounding guitar riffs and voice to match. In recent, years however, Liam Fray and co have included piano in most of their songs, which has given The Courteeners an overall new cleaner, well polished sound, whilst keeping true to their roots. This song is one of my fave songs from their 2010 Falcon album.

    

 The Only One I know – The Charlatans 

One of my all time fave indie classics featuring a strong Hammond organ sound which accompanies the vocal harmony perfectly. The slightly haunting echo of the vocals, along with the organ create a great vibe to the song that set it aside from others at the time. This was their second single which gave them their first taste at the top ten section of the charts. Here’s a fact I’ve just found out: the song contains lines from The Byrds song “Everybody’s Been Burned”

   

 · Step on – Happy Mondays 

Another all time favourite of mine. Enough said there. The song speaks for itself.  Great piano intro with a great guitar riff all the way through.

   

 · Mountains – Biffy Clyro   

Mountains is Biffys biggest hit to date, featuring some interesting piano playing at the beginning and a solo half way through. I like this song as its continuing proof the piano does go well side by side with heavy rock sounding guitars.  They incorporate pianos into many of their hits and always surprise me with their diversity.

    

 · Saturn 5 – Inspiral Carpets

This lively much loved indie classic  has a prominent fast organ sound all the way through together with really good harmonies which Inspiral Carpets excelled at doing in many of their songs.

   

 · AKA What a Life - Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds 

Noel’s most recent solo outing features this dancy number. The upbeat piano along with the drums makes it different from what you’d expect from Noel’s past stuff, which with being a big Oasis fan was a bit apprehensive about, but after listening to it proper, found it to be one of the best on the solo album.

   

 · Dreaming of you – The Coral

This well known hit from The Coral has a bright organ sound all the way through which goes well with the great guitar and vocals. Surprisingly, Skelly who wrote the song hates it, saying that it is the worst of all the songs he wrote admitting to stealing two chords from the Alton Towers ad. Still, its one of my favourites from The Coral.

    

 · Cash Machine – Hard Fi

Hard Fi strike a note with me because they mix synth with rock guitar and vocals very well. At the moment Hard Fi are a big inspiration because of their easy synth sound being easy to replicate in our songs and set me off in the right direction if I wanted to learn more.

 

Ones To Watch - Aeroplane Flies High.

You may have already heard of local heroes Aeroplane Flies High. You may have heard their mega single Blossom (released last year on London indie label Snaketown Records). You may have caught them live (they gig pretty much non-stop) or you may have just heard the buzz (or should that be fuzz?) surrounding them lately.

Formed in 2009 and hailing from the North West, they come from the school of making music that they want to listen to, and by listening to them you can clearly hear their influences; a noisy mixture of Melvins riffs, Nirvana melodies and Sonic Youth power.

Thankfully, they make music that plenty of other people want to listen to as well, including Metal Hammer who dubbed them "Heavy, witty and extremely awesome." They also have some of the coolest merch (I have a t-shirt of theirs) and artwork I've seen in a long time! If that doesn't convince you, have a look at the video for Blossom and turn it up!



"The name" says guitarist Roanne "comes from Jack (vocals & guitar) always wanting a band called 'Aeroplane Flies High', he's a Pumpkins fan but so are we so all is good!"

I recently caught up with Roanne to find out a bit more about what's going on with the band, who they're listening to and the story behind their strange video for the new single Growing.

Ste - So Roanne, how did the collaboration with Snaketown come about?
Roanne - We got with Snaketown from playing a gig for them in London back with our old drummer in 2011, from then we kept in touch and they mithered us to re-release Blossom with them and we're so made up we did!

Ste - I love the new video for Growing, although it did scare me a little bit! Tell me a bit about the idea behind it and when we can buy the track.
Roanne -  Haha isn't it obvious? GUITAR BIRTH! But originally it was just going with the most obvious Growing meaning- birth... The directors at v/h/yes were inspired by Garth Marenghi's Darkplace. Growing's official release date is 10th Feb and you can pre order on itunes now.

 

Ste - and like with Blossom, will there be any launch gigs?
Roanne - We have our two launch shows coming up, 12th Feb at Maguires Pizza Bar in Liverpool with Claustro and Cactus Knife. 13th Feb is our London launch at The Macbeth. (London launch details)

Ste - I've followed you guys pretty much since day one and I've always been intrigued with your passion for modified and unusual gear, what stuff are you playing at the minute and where do you get that fat low end from considering you don't play with a bassist?
Roanne - I use a '93 Japanese Fender competition Mustang with a Dimarzio Chopper in the bridge, I use fuzz and a tuner. We get the low end from playing in B and Jack uses an EHX micro pog.

Ste - You've been going for a few years now and gigged about a fair bit, any particular gigs stick out in your head?
Roanne -  Hmmm the best gig we've played so far would be our Blossom launch with Snaketown in Camden last summer, it was very surreal, crowd surfing and an encore! We even got to see Neil's nip slip.

Ste - What other bands are exciting you lately?
Roanne - We love Cactus Knife from Chorley, Athiest Angel is such a catchy song! Claustro are super cool too and we also like Tigercub and Polterghost!

Ste - So apart from the launch gigs, what else have you got coming up?
Roanne - We have loads coming up but let's focus on our launch shows for now!

Ste - Cheers Roanne, anything else you'd like to add?
Roanne - Keep watching the Growing video haha!

So there you have it. A local band injecting a bit of excitement into the scene and who aren't afraid to play to strangers. Go and see them if you get the chance and be sure to click the links below to download their stuff.

Official Site
Growing pre-order link.
Bandcamp
Merch
Snaketown Records

The Week Survival Playlist

We all dread Mondays and look forwards to the weekend. We all find it tough through the working/studying week, especially the early mornings, crossing paths with the regular commuters on your way to normality. 

Here's some indie goodness mixed by myself to make the journey a bit more enjoyable including the Arctic Monkeys, Chvrches and even Ian Brown himself. Enjoy.

Week Survival Playlist by Mal Keenan on Mixcloud

My first home DJ effort and thought it would be a good first post from a beginner indie blogger. :) Any feedback would be appreciated.