January 2011

....And..... you're back in the room! Welcome back dear reader, to YET another January edition of Chip's Blips (do we like this new format? I do). After a corker from Rafflestop, a disco blinder from Paco and a tour de force from Aquila, I must admit I've been feeling more pressure to deliver than a midwife on her first day! After much umming and arring, chopping and changing, and huffing and puffing, I've finally arrived here with a list of 9 absolute belters. I don't want to sound overconfident but I think this is one of my best. That was overconfident wasn't it. Damn.

Bon, without further ado, I present January's edition of Chip's Blips. Disfrutez-vous!

1. The Joy Formidable - Austere

A Welsh trio to start us off, with an album just out and currently on a UK Tour. The song starts off with a catchy Klaxon-esque shouty thing, and then gradually descends into a lovely chaos.

2. Ida - Road To Ruin

Another CB discovery for you here; the video's only got 236 hits, so you can tell all your friends and get some (more) street credit. I stumbled upon Ida on one of my late-night YouTube binges. It was a shimmering jewel in a sea of shit; a sad little nugget in an ocean of faux-emotion. I like the idea of going "rowing/ on the road to ruin".

3. We Are Animal - 1268

They are Welsh (again! What's occurrin'?!) and the lead singer looks like Colin Farrell. It's definitely a good start. A menacing little track here, full of distorted guitars and cowbells for the intro, constantly building momentum. Great video as well. Been following these guys for a while and they are definitely going in the right direction. Loving it.

4. World Champion - Dream

Alas, when you google "world champion dream", the last thing you are going to find out is anything at all regarding these Australian (i think) songstrels. No Google, I am not interested in Mark Selby ending Ken Doherty's World Championship dream. This song is so good it gives me goose pimples; just the right amount of everything in it: snappy drums, hazy vocals, lazy guitars, ethereal piano-tinklings and a few cheeky breakdowns and drops. Purr-fek-shun.

5. Brown Recluse - Impression of a City Morning

Very Simon & Garfunkel this one. Lovely summery vibe, short and sweet. Hopefully it brightens up your wintry day.

6. Digits - Lost Dream

Wow. Wow. Wow. This is AMAZING. My favourite song of 2011 so far. Reminds me a little of Hurts, the 80s voice&beat combo, but I think this takes it to another level. The lyrical ability in the chorus (first one on 1.05) is incredible - I still can't work out what he's saying, but the sounds that it makes do something very strange and pleasing to my brain. More please Mr Digits. More.

7. Sebadoh - Skull

A soothing little Indie number coming in at number 7. I'm not sure that the kind of girls I hang out with would be interested in a guy asking them to "gently take my skull/ for a ride", but I guess it has worked for this lad. Pretty big move that. Only going to attract one type of girl but if you have a type then stick to it!

8. Coma Cinema - Whatevering

I'm getting hints of Willy Mason here. Anyone else? I think it's better though; interesting lyrics, twinkly melodies, hand-claps (the essential ingredient to any good song in my humble opinion) and a bit of euphoric house piano (another essential!). I like the concept of Whatevering. Pretty sure I do it a lot already but just never worked out what to call it.

9. Bag Raiders - Snake Charmer

The last track of January, and HOHHHHH YES Blippers do we have an absolute belter to finish things off. I've played a couple of Bag Raiders tunes on here before, but this one really takes the biscuit. One of those songs where you are thinking "what the fuck is this?" for the first minute, and then before you know it (about 1min and 15 seconds in) you are dancing like a lunatic round your room doing snake charmer impressions and funny Egyptian hand movements. If there was ever a song that encapsulated the phrase "intoxicating beat" then it's this one. I can't help myself. The power of the snake is inside me! In a way it is a shame it didn't come out a couple of months later because i'm pretty sure it would've been an instant summer classic. Just keep it hush hush for now and we will release it into the world in May. Deal?

Well well, that was an eventful one. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did, and I'm glad I could finally write a little bit more about each track. It has been a while. All this competition has made me up my game!

Also, if you're interested in doing a playlist for Chip's Blips (can be based around a genre like Paco's disco one, or just a selection of your favourite new music), get in touch. Come one, come all!

And remember, if you want to be kept in touch with all the latest goings on, you can follow Chip's Blips in the sidebar ----->, follow on Twitter @chipsblipsblog, or join the Facebook group "Chip's Blips".

See you in February, over and out.

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