NSC Easter Bunny CD 2015

tinycowboy said:

I'll guess Sully as SouthCoastOwl's Santa.

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Not guilty.

tinycowboy said:

Well, I think I have five of these tracks, and one features a member of the family, but it wasn't me SouthCoastOwl....

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I'm intrigued now, do tell?!

Weekly update time


Received, reviewed (Correctly guessed sender)
[MENTION=3566]hans kraay fan club[/MENTION] (Theatre of Trees)
[MENTION=616]Guinness Boy[/MENTION] (deletebeepbeepbeep)
[MENTION=13836]deletebeepbeepbeep[/MENTION] (Hans Kraay Fan Club)
[MENTION=2351]m20gull[/MENTION] (Guinness Boy)
[MENTION=15464]DavePage[/MENTION] (Gordon Bennett)
[MENTION=14921]spring hall convert[/MENTION] (m20gull)
[MENTION=260]sully[/MENTION] (CorgiRegisteredFriend)

Received, reviewed, not yet guessed
[MENTION=19671]CorgiRegisteredFriend[/MENTION]
[MENTION=13947]happypig[/MENTION]
[MENTION=27736]SouthCoastOwl[/MENTION]

Received but yet to review
[MENTION=21578]Worthingite[/MENTION]
[MENTION=19864]Flex Your Head[/MENTION]
[MENTION=468]somerset[/MENTION]
[MENTION=21502]Razzoo[/MENTION]
[MENTION=17286]Gordon Bennett[/MENTION]
[MENTION=1131]Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo[/MENTION]
If you don't have time to review a track list would at least be good.

Status unknown - yet to receive
[MENTION=26695]Mowgli37[/MENTION] **
[MENTION=12196]tinycowboy[/MENTION] * (I have definite confirmation that it is now in the post!)
[MENTION=2040]Staly[/MENTION] **
[MENTION=15311]The Buttery Biscuit Base[/MENTION] *

* I've had confirmation that the CD is in the post.
** CD delayed until after New Year due to unforeseen circumstances.

Yet to hear from one person.

I'll be revealing all at the end of January.

Mowgli37 said:

I'm intrigued now, do tell?!

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Seagulls Ska.

hans kraay fan club said:

Seagulls Ska.

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The Beatles.

I hate trying to review something without giving it a good few listens first, but I have been so strapped of 'free time' for weeks now. I will get something written up soon, and apologies to my Santa who must be feeling a tad narked.

Flex Your Head said:

I have been so strapped of 'free time' for weeks now.

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What about all that time spent waiting at the station and on the trains, eh?

Thanks to my Santa for putting the CD together and apologies for the delayed review - a new job and long commute is to blame but it gave me plenty of opportunity to listen to the CD.

There wasn’t much on the CD that I’d heard before, which is of course part of the beauty of doing this. However, it’s probably fair to say that we maybe don’t share much in common when it comes to musical tastes but there are a couple of artists that I will definitely be making a point of listening to in the future.

Love - She Comes in Colour
A 60’s hippy sound with some very cheesy lyrics. Sounds like it should be in a musical from that era.

Euros Childs - Second Home Blues
I imagine that if the Divine Comedy and Space tried to produce a fast paced jaunty piano pop song this would be close to what they’d come up with. Mercifully its only 2 minutes and 21 seconds long.

The Coral - Into The Sun
Fairly gentle MOR fayre with a slight County twang. Couldn’t decide if it sounded like an alternative theme to the Littlest Hobo tv programme or a poor cover version of a Kenny Rogers song.

The Phantom Band - Women of Ghent
This is one of the bands I will definitely be looking out for in the future. Quite a gentle indie rock sound but with a catchy chorus. Reminded a little of the Kings of Leon’s last album in parts.

Mazzy Star - Spoon
This is one of those tracks that you know a lot of people will love - acoustic guitar and a haunting female vocal but somehow didn’t really do anything for me. Offered a lot of promise initially but didn’t really pick up the pace or build to any sort of crescendo, which as the song is over 6 minutes long made it a bit of a slog and a relief when it finished.

Mission of Burma - Falling
This track picked up the pace and was more to my liking - a fairly stripped down guitar sound and vocals. Parts of it reminded me of Joy Division for some reason.

Yo La Tengo - What Can I Say?
A bit of a plodding country/folk track.

Shudder to Think - Funeral at the Movies
Another indie/guitar based sound so more to my liking. This track seemed to have some fairly heavy Bowie influences throw into the mix as well. Will be looking out for some more of their stuff.

The Walkmen - Torch Song
Funnily enough The Walkmen appeared on the Easter Bunny CD I received and got the thumbs up from me. This track is ok but I think their faster stuff is better and less self indulgent!

The Knife - Forest Families
Who doesn’t like a bit of Swedish electro music? Can’t say I’d ever heard of them before and this track was certainly an interesting listen, conjuring up dystopian images but not really something I’m likely to listen to on a regular basis.

Conor Oberst and Gillian Welch - Lua
A stripped down offering, a male and female vocal with guitar backing. Guess it might be classed as modern folk rather than out and out country. A pleasant listen. If I’d been told it was a Beautiful South track I’d have believed it.

Leatherface - Not Superstitious
The complete opposite to the previous track with a raw vocal and heavy guitars. Probably closer to a punk sound than indie sound. Not my favourite track but its 4 minutes and 19 seconds passed pleasantly enough which is a good sign!

Tim Buckley - Buzzin’ Fly
I suspect Tim Buckley is one of those artists that you either like or don’t like. Can’t say this track has done anything to move me into the ‘like’ camp.

Low - When you Walked
Another slow track with minimal arrangement and a hint of country (not unusual for Low from the limited I know about them!) Again, pleasant enough but I probably won’t be rushing out to buy any of their albums.

Bark - Psychosis - Manman
This track didn’t really do anything for me - there is nothing about it that really stands out or makes it stick in your memory. It’s one of those tracks that turns you into your parents: ”that’s not music, its just noise”!!

My Morning Jacket - Lay Low
Another indie sound with a hint of country (do they call it Southern Rock?) A pleasant enough listen to begin with but the guitar solos for the last half of the track were indulgent and make the track far too long and thus not something that will last long in my memory.

Arvo Part - Spiegel im Spiegel
Like a lot of people I tend to recognise the well known pieces of classical music and can recognise other pieces by which tv advert they have been in, so can’t really say I know much of this genre. However, one of my favourite pieces is The Adagio in G minor for violin, strings and organ, and that probably explains why I like the final track on this CD so much, as it’s also a piano and violin piece and therefore has certain similarities. The perfect end to any secret Santa CD and would be my entry for the Best of 2014 compilation CD.

Thanks again Santa. Sorry there were more ‘misses’ than ‘hits’ for me but the last track was a bonus and more than made up for it. No idea who sent it, so a random guess would be [MENTION=260]sully[/MENTION]?

No [MENTION=17286]Gordon Bennett[/MENTION] it was my handiwork, sorry the CD was a bit of a miss on the whole, but that is the luck of the draw I suppose. I am glad you liked the Part piece he is definitely worth checking out.

My review will be coming soon too. Sorry to my Santa.

Review time
The cover art is great, a little boy reading a volume of NSC Secret Santa CD surrounded by demons, dinosaurs and other nightmarish visions. Very good (way better than the cover I provided!) on to the music
1) The Wolfhounds - Middle Aged Freak
A great opener, reminded me a bit of The Fall but with better vocals! I recognise the voice pretty soon as the singer from Moonshake (I must dust off Eva Luna sometime). I love the lyrics too, again a bit Fallesque. Shall definitely listen to more of their output.
2) Flesh Panthers - (This is Why We Can't Have) NiceThings. This track is pop/punk with some great sweary lyrics. A wee belter, for some reason it sounds antipodean.
3)The Blanche Hudson Weekend - If You're Still Together. This track has grown on me a lot, I love the female vox and the music has a bit of a Marychain whiff to it. A late eighties indie feel to it.
4) The Whatevers - Having Sex And Taking Drugs. Great track title but the first track that I don't like too much, the lyrics are funny and good but I'm not keen on the guys nasal voice, the music doesn't rescue it either, standard indie pop.
5) Ghostface Killer - Call My Name. I know the guy from Wu-Tang and I do like this. Must remember to not play this CD in front of my 5 yr old daughter!
6) Franny and Zooey - Magnet. Another track that falls into the Indiepop category. Uptempo,short, sweet with lovely male/female vox.
7) Golden Glow - Don't Forget Me. I do quite like the music on this one not sure about the vocals though. Not one that stands out for me.
8) Varsity - New Wave. This is a good one that gets better each time I hear it. I think the Santa has done his/her homework on my tastes. I am a bit of a fan of male and female vocals together. She has a really great voice and I love the melody. Winner
9) Small Reactions - Shark Week. This track is right up my street, I love the guy's voice and I shall be exploring this band further.

More review to follow.....bit busy just now.

Razzoo said:

Review time
The cover art is great, a little boy reading a volume of NSC Secret Santa CD surrounded by demons, dinosaurs and other nightmarish visions. Very good (way better than the cover I provided!) on to the music
1) The Wolfhounds - Middle Aged Freak
A great opener, reminded me a bit of The Fall but with better vocals! I recognise the voice pretty soon as the singer from Moonshake (I must dust off Eva Luna sometime). I love the lyrics too, again a bit Fallesque. Shall definitely listen to more of their output.
2) Flesh Panthers - (This is Why We Can't Have) NiceThings. This track is pop/punk with some great sweary lyrics. A wee belter, for some reason it sounds antipodean.
3)The Blanche Hudson Weekend - If You're Still Together. This track has grown on me a lot, I love the female vox and the music has a bit of a Marychain whiff to it. A late eighties indie feel to it.
4) The Whatevers - Having Sex And Taking Drugs. Great track title but the first track that I don't like too much, the lyrics are funny and good but I'm not keen on the guys nasal voice, the music doesn't rescue it either, standard indie pop.
5) Ghostface Killer - Call My Name. I know the guy from Wu-Tang and I do like this. Must remember to not play this CD in front of my 5 yr old daughter!
6) Franny and Zooey - Magnet. Another track that falls into the Indiepop category. Uptempo,short, sweet with lovely male/female vox.
7) Golden Glow - Don't Forget Me. I do quite like the music on this one not sure about the vocals though. Not one that stands out for me.
8) Varsity - New Wave. This is a good one that gets better each time I hear it. I think the Santa has done his/her homework on my tastes. I am a bit of a fan of male and female vocals together. She has a really great voice and I love the melody. Winner
9) Small Reactions - Shark Week. This track is right up my street, I love the guy's voice and I shall be exploring this band further.

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Am I allowed to guess the Santa this soon? I'm pretty bloody confident here!

Go for it!

Razzoo said:

Go for it!

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That's got to be [MENTION=2040]Staly[/MENTION], surely?

Flex Your Head said:

That's got to be [MENTION=2040]Staly[/MENTION], surely?

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Yes, I'm quite obvious aren't I? I think Razzoo had already guessed earlier in the thread to be fair, but I wasn't going to confirm it until he got round to the review.

Glad you're enjoying it so far [MENTION=21502]Razzoo[/MENTION], in the main. I do try to tailor cds to the recipient a bit, although Easter's attempt failed crushingly....

Cover (although Razzoo's version wasn't in colour...)

View attachment 61803

Staly said:

Yes, I'm quite obvious aren't I? I think Razzoo had already guessed earlier in the thread to be fair, but I wasn't going to confirm it until he got round to the review.

Glad you're enjoying it so far [MENTION=21502]Razzoo[/MENTION], in the main. I do try to tailor cds to the recipient a bit, although Easter's attempt failed crushingly....

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Staly, please be assured that I was about to post "Yep - that's Staly" before Flex got in there first. I've neither received or been reviewed yet

Ok, here goes,.... What a strange collection,.. no real theme, maybe you could say it had an Indie feel with a few curve balls thrown in......

1) Jimmy Hill – Rapid Pips – 8 seconds of something, I know not what… not on the pitch long enough.
2) Lets give it a shot – Dorotea – Eddie and the Hot Rods stylie… 5/10
3) Impressions of a City Morning – Brown Recluse – California sound,… reminded me of Husky… 7/10
4) Meet me on Tuesdays – The Brilliant Corners – indie student union fare, not great… 5/10
5) 007 ( shanty town) – Desmond Dekker – 10/10 – right up my Jamaican Ska Street.
6) Heartbeats – Jose Gonzales – I love his stuff, just as background stuff though, or watching bouncy ball adverts. – 8/10
7) Run Around – The Fireworks. – Ramones with female vocals – I think I may have grown out of this in 1980 – 6/10
8) An Arcade from the warm rain that falls – Comet Gain – has merit, but just a little too ‘indie’ for my taste…. 6/10
9) Cut your hair – Pavement – sorry not for me,… worst type of Indie, slow tempo Indie, but some decent guitar runs.…. 3/10
10) Joy Division Oven Gloves – Half Man Half Biscuit – Bordering on punk, but not quite,…. Bouncy – 5/10
11) Garden of Roses – The Felt tips. – WTF?? – not for me, sorry dross. 2/10
12) Hounds of Love – Futurheads – Just superb, saw them at the Anson Rooms at Bristol Uni,… they were great…. 10/10
13) Wuthering Heights – China Drum – Notwithstanding the KB cover again,… well constructed headbanging,… like it. 8/10
14) The Chills – Peter Bjorn & John – Scandi elektronika – flowed ok,… may investigate them further – 7/10
15) Sick kid – playlounge – grungey, hard to describe, one long guitar riff…. Average, 5/10
16) A Token of gratitude – The Radio dept – Liked it, mellow ‘california’ sound, will look them up, 8/10
17) Recorded on a plane – King of cats – Like a title sountrack to a dark british tv drama,.. didn’t dislike it… 7/10
18) Such great Heights – The Postal Service – bounced along, a bit of a Hot Chip feel – good 7/10
19) Distortions – Clinic – drab.. sorry – 3/10
20) Manchild – Eels – odd slow selection… Eels are good value normally,.. this seemed out of context… 5/10
21) Bottle Rocket – The Go Team – Like Mel & kim on speed,… my head is spinning… 4/10
22) Falling away – Preston School of Industry – Indie Pop…. Poor man’s Smiths. – 5/10
23) She crosses my Mind – The Popsters – energetic, the drummer must be fit… Italian pop/punk…. 7/10
24) <no title> But my app tells me it is kick out the Tories – Newtown Neurotics – protest post-punk….. a clue to the sender maybe.?

I guess - [MENTION=19864]Flex Your Head[/MENTION] - Indie/Punk tracks,... Political narrative in track 24.

somerset said:

Ok, here goes,.... What a strange collection,.. no real theme, maybe you could say it had an Indie feel with a few curve balls thrown in......

1) Jimmy Hill – Rapid Pips – 8 seconds of something, I know not what… not on the pitch long enough.
2) Lets give it a shot – Dorotea – Eddie and the Hot Rods stylie… 5/10
3) Impressions of a City Morning – Brown Recluse – California sound,… reminded me of Husky… 7/10
4) Meet me on Tuesdays – The Brilliant Corners – indie student union fare, not great… 5/10
5) 007 ( shanty town) – Desmond Dekker – 10/10 – right up my Jamaican Ska Street.
6) Heartbeats – Jose Gonzales – I love his stuff, just as background stuff though, or watching bouncy ball adverts. – 8/10
7) Run Around – The Fireworks. – Ramones with female vocals – I think I may have grown out of this in 1980 – 6/10
8) An Arcade from the warm rain that falls – Comet Gain – has merit, but just a little too ‘indie’ for my taste…. 6/10
9) Cut your hair – Pavement – sorry not for me,… worst type of Indie, slow tempo Indie, but some decent guitar runs.…. 3/10
10) Joy Division Oven Gloves – Half Man Half Biscuit – Bordering on punk, but not quite,…. Bouncy – 5/10
11) Garden of Roses – The Felt tips. – WTF?? – not for me, sorry dross. 2/10
12) Hounds of Love – Futurheads – Just superb, saw them at the Anson Rooms at Bristol Uni,… they were great…. 10/10
13) Wuthering Heights – China Drum – Notwithstanding the KB cover again,… well constructed headbanging,… like it. 8/10
14) The Chills – Peter Bjorn & John – Scandi elektronika – flowed ok,… may investigate them further – 7/10
15) Sick kid – playlounge – grungey, hard to describe, one long guitar riff…. Average, 5/10
16) A Token of gratitude – The Radio dept – Liked it, mellow ‘california’ sound, will look them up, 8/10
17) Recorded on a plane – King of cats – Like a title sountrack to a dark british tv drama,.. didn’t dislike it… 7/10
18) Such great Heights – The Postal Service – bounced along, a bit of a Hot Chip feel – good 7/10
19) Distortions – Clinic – drab.. sorry – 3/10
20) Manchild – Eels – odd slow selection… Eels are good value normally,.. this seemed out of context… 5/10
21) Bottle Rocket – The Go Team – Like Mel & kim on speed,… my head is spinning… 4/10
22) Falling away – Preston School of Industry – Indie Pop…. Poor man’s Smiths. – 5/10
23) She crosses my Mind – The Popsters – energetic, the drummer must be fit… Italian pop/punk…. 7/10
24) <no title> But my app tells me it is kick out the Tories – Newtown Neurotics – protest post-punk….. a clue to the sender maybe.?

I guess - [MENTION=19864]Flex Your Head[/MENTION] - Indie/Punk tracks,... Political narrative in track 24.

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Some worryingly low scores there- 3/10 for Clinic's Distortions! Another 3 for Pavement and a 5 for Half Man Half Biscuit. I am going to have a sleepless night over this.