POSTS TAGGED : Public Service Broadcasting

Public Service Broadcasting announce new album; share ‘Progress’

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Two years on from the release their wonderful second album The Race For Space, Public Service Broadcasting are back!

Their return is marked by news of a new album Every Valley; which shines a light on the mining industry in Wales. The album, out in July, is previewed by new single ‘Progress’ featuring vocals from Tracyanne Campbell of Scottish heroes Camera Obscura. It is euphoric, bright and dreamy, building toward a triumphant climax filled with horns and layers of beautiful vocals. Campbell’s voice sits perfectly alongside the band’s signature studious, sampling retro-futuristic motifs and crisp synths. Few, if any act, garner as much excitement around news of a new album as much as Public Service Broadcasting – and taking a listen to the new single below, its easy to understand why.

Every Valley will be released in July and you can listen to ‘Progress’ below.

Public Service Broadcasting to Release ‘The Race For Space / Remixes’ & Share Boxed In’s ‘Valentina’ Remix

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Released last year, The Race For Space, was a rocket-fuelled triumph for Public Service Broadcasting, spectacularly relaying the wonder, awe, glamour and the tragedy of the space race.

Following up their stellar second album PSB are releasing The Race For Space / Remixes on June 17th. It will feature twelve reworked and re-imagined versions of their work, including remixes from Field Music, Boxed In, Vessels, Dutch Uncles, Robert Babicz, Maps and more. Before getting its full and official release, PSB have kindly afforded us a glimpse of what wonderment may lay ahead, coming in the shape of Boxed In’s reworking of ‘Valentina (ft. Smoke Fairies)’. London-based quartet Boxed In – headed up by Oli Bayston – is normally on point, be it remixes or their own work, and here, Bayston & Co. serve a sublimely sparkling piece of awe-inspiring electronica. Spurred onward by a mildly propulsive groove, it weaves delicately through the crystalline production, snappy percussion and bouts of euphoria. Incredible.

‘The Race For Space / Remixes’ is out on June 17th – you can check out Boxed In’s stunning rework of ‘Valentina’ below.

Johnny Feeney’s Albums of 2015

Johnny Feeney's albums of 2015

The reliable musical sage that is Johnny Feeney, steps up on this soapbox to share his favourite records from 2015.

Johnny’s guest posts are always insightful, interesting and always add an extra flavour the blog and I look forward to reading them – surely I’m not alone? 

A massive thanks to Johnny for taking time out to write this up, and on that note, I’ll leave you with his 25 albums of 2015……

25. Grimes – ‘Art Angels’

24. Floating Points  – ‘Elaenia’

23. Public Service Broadcasting – ‘The Race For Space’

22. EL VY – ‘Return To The Moon’

21. Julia Holter – ‘Have You In My Wilderness’

20. Girl Band – ‘Holding Hands With Jamie’

19. Trembling Bells – ‘The Sovereign Self’

18. Courtney Barnett – ‘Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit’

17. Stealing Sheep – ‘Not Real’

16. Nadine Shah – ‘Fast Food’

15. C Duncan – ‘Architect’

Glaswegian Christopher Duncan’s Mercury-nominated debut album is a beautiful piece of dreamy, baroque chamber pop, heavily layered with more than a hint of Grizzly Bear about it.

14. Unknown Multi Orchestra – ‘Multi-Love’

The Auckland/Portland band’s fantastic third album chronicles a soured polyamorous relationship. A lovely lo-fi record full of psychedelic grooves and some of the sleaziest, funkiest guitar lines you’ll hear this year.

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BarryGruff Albums of the Year (2015)

BGs Albums of the year 2015So it is that time of year again, lists, lists and more lists. Well, not be out done, here are my 41 (yes 41, and yes it’s a weird number) albums of 2015.

It has been such a good year for new albums, probably the best since I started the blog back in 2010. So much so that there is very little difference between the top 5, top 10, top 15 and so on. So without further ado, here are my favourite records from 2015:

There is also a Spotify playlist of the Top 20 albums, to save you time and hassle (it’s here).

41. Only Real – Jerk At The End of the Line’

40. Rozi Plain – ‘Friend’

39. Wildling – ‘Molecules To Moon’

38. The School – ‘Wasting Away And Wondering’

37. Sweet Baboo – ‘Boombox Ballads’

36. The Stammer – ‘Days In Between’

35. SexWitch – Sex Witch’

34. Faith Healer – ‘Cosmic Troubles’

33. Girl Band – ‘Holding Hands With Jamie’

32. Joanna Gruesome – ‘Peanut Butter’

31. Fort Romeau – ‘Insides

30. Soft Serve – ‘S/t’

29. Applescal – ‘For’

28. Zefur Wolves – ‘Zefur Wolves’

27. Hot Chip – ‘Why Make Sense?’

26. Drenge – ‘Undertow’

25. The Charlatans – ‘Modern Nature’

24. Gaz Coombes – ‘Matador’

23. Bill Ryder-Jones – ‘West Kirby County Primary’

22. Drinks – ‘Hermits on Holiday’

21. The Expert – Dynamic Drift

20. Boxed In – ‘Boxed In’

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Millions Like Us Podcast – Episode #7

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We’re back once again with a brand new episode of ‘Millions Like Us’, and we’re delighted as always.

This is Episode #7 (time really is flying) of Justin & I’s music podcast in conjunction with Vancouver news & culture site 604now. It is a bi-weekly digest of music from metro Vancouver and beyond, the latest serving has the usual whimsical chatter and top tunes, comprised from an eclectic mix of styles and genres. Hopefully you enjoy podcast #7 and we plan to have an end of year round-up Pod recorded before the close of 2015, hopefully you tune in to that too.

You can read more on it here and listen below, and the tracklist (with links) is after the jump too. You can subscribe to ‘Millions Like Us’ on iTunes & Podcast Republic or find us on Facebook & Twitter.

Hopefully you enjoy our curated pickings, and thanks for listening as always.

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BarryGruff Playlist November 2015

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Your regular monthly round up all the blog action, in a nice, neat and handy playlist of tracks featured throughout the month.

November was another busy one, with introductions to A.S. Fanning, exmagician & New Cardinals. There were excellent new singles/EPs from Avid Walker, Anderson, Public Service Broadcasting, Ulrika Spacek, Daniel Avery, CaStLeS, David Harks & Manor. And we had tunes from Globelamp, MMOTHS, Coves, Hinds & Tuff Love ahead of their respective, new and forthcoming albums.

Oh, and there were two new episodes of ‘Millions Like Us’, Justin Beats & I’s new music podcast extravaganza for 604now (if you missed them, check ’em here). You can also subscribe to ‘Millions Like Us’ on iTunes & Podcast Republic or find us on Facebook & Twitter.

Well then, that’s that for another month – listen to BarryGruff’s November 2015 playlist below. Enjoy!

 

Public Service Broadcasting – ‘Korolev’

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2015 has been a stellar year for Public Service Broadcasting. Second album The Race For Space is one of this year’s finest records; a rocket-fuelled triumph, spectacularly relaying the wonder, awe, glamour and the tragedy of the space race.

More recently, last week in fact, Public Service Broadcasting released a brand new, similarly space-flavoured themed EP, ‘Sputnik/Korolev’; featuring album track ‘Sputnik’, top class remixes and brand new track ‘Korolev’. It takes its name from the late Sergei Korolev, known as “The Chief Designer”, he was responsible for many of the Soviet Union’s spaceships, including ‘Sputnik’. Appropriately, ‘Korolev’ has space-aged, futuristic leanings. Propelled by a relentless energy, pulsating-beats and a powerful riff at its core, it combines heavy-synths, flashes of a grand brass with old Soviet sound-bites. A simply stunning track, as fine as anything on their superb second record, exhibiting all that is great about Public Service Broadcasting.

The new EP, ‘Sputnik/Korolev’, is out now and you can sample both tracks below. Meanwhile, Public Service Broadcasting are busy touring the UK and will be live streaming their Brixton Academy show on Sunday, 29th November – one can only presume it will be available through their website.

 

BarryGruff’s Albums of 2015 So Far……

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I’m not exactly the best at keeping you and the site up-to-date with album reviews, to be honest, it’s the old enemy time. Discovering the hours to scribble some thoughts about this album or that has become rather elusive, but thankfully finding time to listen to albums, and music in general, is less of an issue.

Here are a list of my most listened and loved records of 2015 so far with Spotify links and playlists for overall albums of 2015. There are plenty of playlists on Spotify and Soundcloud and on the blog too. Oh, and with regards to albums *cough, cough*, you can still download GruffWuff, a 19 track compilation celebrating 5 years of BarryGruff, for FREE from bandcamp, *cough, cough*.

Top 24 albums of 2015 so far…

01. Czarface – ‘Every Hero Needs A Villain’

02. H. Hawkline – ‘In The Pink Of Condition’

03. Villagers – ‘Darling Arithmetic

04. Blur – ‘The Magic Whip’

05. Ghost Culture – ‘Ghost Culture’

06. Boxed In – ‘Boxed In’

07. Django Django – ‘Born Under Saturn’

08. Girlpool – ‘Before The World Was Big’

09. Stealing Sheep – ‘Not Real’

10. The Charlatans – ‘Modern Nature’

11. Courtney Barnett – ‘Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit’

12. Gaz Coombes – ‘Matador’

13. Hot Chip – ‘Why Make Sense?’

14. Applescal – ‘For’

15. Public Service Broadcasting – ‘The Race For Space’

16. Jamie xx – ‘In Colour’

17. Sen Segur – ‘Films’

18. Zefur Wolves – ‘Zefur Wolves’

19. Faith Healer – ‘Cosmic Troubles’

20. Mowbird – ‘One-Offs’

21. Joanna Gruesome – ‘Peanut Butter’

22. Fort Romeau – ‘Insides’

23. Rozi Plain – ‘Friend’

24. Pale Honey – ‘Pale Honey’

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BarryGruff’s Playlist February 2015

BarryGruff Feb Playlist 2015

A new monthly feature to the blog, a nice, neat and handy playlist of tracks featured during the month.

It was a pretty good month to be fair. There was the return of Joanna Gruesome, Novella, Coves and Akala, with new tracks ahead of their respective albums, and new singles from Du Blonde, Foreign/National, Freedom Fry & Rozi Plain. Not to forget the huge news of a new album from Blur and last but not least, the return of Super Furry Animals. Also featuring on the playlist are: Public Service Broadcasting, TRWBADOR, The Courtneys, SALES, The Earth & Benihana.

Listen to BarryGruff’s February 2015 playlist below. The full track listing is after the jump.

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Public Service Broadcasting – ‘The Other Side’

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Public Service Broadcasting released lead single ‘Gagarin’ off their forthcoming second album, The Race For Space, toward the latter part of 2014. They are back to whet the appetite once more with new single, ‘The Other Side’.

On that occasion their cut-and-paste techniques cooked up a brassy and funky-as-hell tribute to Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, the first man to orbit the earth. Their latest single from the much anticipated space-themed album is ‘The Other Side’ and it switches emphasis, from one Cold War Superpower to another and from funky to the most epic. It sees audio clips from Ground Control in Houston when Apollo 8 became the first manned voyage to orbit the moon, enveloped by a steady synth sequence and simple drum beat, that is, till the midway point. The tension when they reach ‘the other side’ and lose radio contact is palpable, recreating this historic moment in space travel with epic proportions before erupting back into life, as driven electronic beats, atmospheric synths and crashing cymbals, building to an epic climax, signify Apollo 8’s success. It plays like an epic sci-fi score which is brilliant affective. PSB’s new record has a lot to live up to, after all their debut, Inform – Educate – Entertain, was rather fantastic but so far it seems they are on the right track.

The Race For Space is released on February 20th via Test Card Recordings. Check out ‘The Other Side’ below.