VA - Now Hear This! (The Word Magazine, August 2009)

Tracks
01. Martin Carr - The Dead Of Winter (3:57)
02. Cornershop - The Roll-Off Characteristics (Of History In The Making) (4:19)
03. The Scaremongers - Tea Leaves (4:41)
04. Priscilla Ahn - Find My Way Back Home (2:28)
05. Findlay Brown - Losing The Will To Survive (Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve Re-Animation) (6:40)
06. Hockey - 3am Spanish (3:35)
07. Julie Feeney - One More Tune (2:50)
08. The Phenomenal Handclap Band - I Been Born Again (4:54)
09. The Yeah Yous - Cliff Top (3:51)
10. Tony Allen - Secret Agent (5:20)
11. Marina & The Diamonds - Seventeen (3:05)
12. Sharon Robinson - Invisible Tattoo (4:26)
13. Magic Wands - Kiss Me Dead (3:17)
14. Goldheart Assembly - So Long St. Chistopher (4:20)
15. Blind Blake - Love, Love Alone (2:40)

Total time: 1h 23s


What's on the CD with the August issue.

1. Martin Carr - The Dead Of Winter
Having killed his alter ego bravecaptain "with a swift but meaningful blow to the back of his screwcurl head", former Boo Radleys songwriter and lead guitarist Martin Carr (why are there so few rock stars with that particular first name?) returns with a proper pop record. This is the first track. Good, eh?
From the album Ye Gods (& Little Fishes)

2. Cornershop - The Roll-Off Characteristics (Of History In The Making)
"In 1974, in his State address to Congress, Gurkhal Surjan, Patwallia Dist., stated that the world will be tested by Texas Instruments, and English diction." Don't look for any further explanation of Cornershop's first new long-player since 2002's Handcream For A Generation, because none is likely to be forthcoming.
From the album Judy Sucks A Lemon For Breakfast

3. The Scaremongers - Tea Leaves
Of all the albums featuring people recently mentioned as a contender for the position of Poet Laureate, this is by far the best. The aforementioned Simon Armitage teams up with multi-tasking guitarist Craig Smith for what they frankly describe as "kitchen-sink-snow-shaker-pop-rock". The album is certainly a contender for title of the year.
From the album Born In A Barn

4. Priscilla Ahn - Find My Way Back Home
Obviously off school the day they came round with the ugly stick, Priscilla Ahn charmed the insomniac part of the nation a month or so back when she appeared doing this song (and accompanying herself on the ukulele) on Later… With Jools Holland. Her rise to prominence has been marked by appearances on all the right shows in the US and on the soundtrack to Grey's Anatomy.
From the album A Good Day

5. Findlay Brown - Losing The Will To Survive (Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve Re-Animation)
Findlay Brown is a south-London-based singer-songwriter, originally from York. Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve is the nom de mix of Erol Alkan and Richard Norris of The Grid. Their mission is to take their favourite records and make them longer.
From the album By The Sea

6. Hockey - 3am Spanish
Everyone who's ever been tempted to set down in words anything about this four-piece group from Portland, Oregon has quickly slipped from view beneath a thicket of preposterous comparisons ranging from LCD Soundsystem to The Rolling Stones. Rather than do that, we leave you to make up your own minds.
From the album Mind Chaos

7. Julie Feeney - One More Tune
Julie Feeney claims to have been born when Bob Dylan wrote She Belongs To Me, which makes her 43, according to our fairly un-gallant back-of-an-envelope calculations. She has three masters degrees, plays ten instruments and was a professional singer for the Irish Chamber Choir for five years. All of which means she could take you with one arm tied behind her back, sunshine.
From the album Pages

8. The Phenomenal Handclap Band - I Been Born Again
The Phenomenal Handclap Band are a densely populated outfit from Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn who, as well as the usual instrumentalists, number a witch doctor and a medicine man among their personnel. Fans of Santana, War and other members of the headband-and-afro set may find much that is familiar here.
From the album The Phenomenal Handclap Band

9. The Yeah Yous - Cliff Top
The Yeah Yous share three things with The Feeling: a management company; the full treatment from a major record company; and a taste for brassy pop groups of the '70s and '80s. The duo of Mike Kintish and Nick Ingram met when the latter auditioned for a part in the former's play, which makes a change from the usual "musicians wanted" small ads.
From the album The Yeah Yous

10. Tony Allen - Secret Agent
Tony Allen was the driving force behind Fela Kuti's Afrobeat and has worked with Damon Albarn and Paul Simonon in The Good, The Bad & The Queen. Here he's featured with his road-hardened touring band, who are clearly used to raising a serious head of steam. Brian Eno has called him "the greatest drummer ever". This may well be true, but then Brian Eno keeps predicting the return of doo-wop.
From the album Secret Agent

11. Marina & The Diamonds - Girls
Not since the heyday of Lene Lovich and Nina Hagen has there been a vocal delivery quite as eccentrically pronounced as Marina's, who inevitably claims to have been born in Ancient Greece (actually it's somewhere in Wales). The quirky new-wave keyboards on this track serve to sweeten her waspish observations about the modern mating game. "I don't mind living in a man's world," she says, "as long as I can be a woman in it."
From the forthcoming album

12. Sharon Robinson - Invisible Tattoo
Currently on the most-extended tour in history, Sharon Robinson is best known her work with its headliner Leonard Cohen. She co-produced his Ten New Songs album, has written with him and features as a vocalist with the touring production. This is the first solo album the Los Angeles-based singer has produced.
From the album Everybody Knows

13. Magic Wands - Kiss Me Dead
The story goes that the boy and girl who comprise Magic Wands first met outside
a gig in Hollywood in 2007. He was local. She came from Nashville, Tennessee. They began collaborating over the internet on this song, which eventually brought them closer together, professionally as well as personally.
From the album Magic, Love & Dreams

14. Goldheart Assembley - So Long St Christopher
Facial hair really has wrought havoc among the population of Britain's indie bands since the success of Fleet Foxes and Kings of Leon. Goldheart Assembly were formed by the merging of two bands who were formerly rivals. Their two singers claim they met
while cleaning up after the primates at Whipsnade Zoo. This may be a tall story but will do until the truth comes along.
From the forthcoming album

15. Blind Blake - Love, Love Alone
There are two Blind Blakes. One was the ragtime player who inspired Ry Cooder. This is the other one, who for years entertained wealthy visitors to his Bahamian homeland. One of these toffs was the former Edward VIII, who became governor general of the islands. Blake wrote and performed this song in praise of the things the former monarch gave up for love.
From the album Bahamian Songs