Today's Hotness: Her Parents, Johnny Foreigner

>> Oxford, England-based little-label-that-can Alcopop! Records -- home to Clicky Clicky favorites Johnny Foreigner and Screaming Maldini, among others -- triumphantly announced Wednesday the signing of outstanding London-based punk unit Her Parents. The quartet, which we first wrote about here last August upon the release of its debut Physical Product, is comprised of former members of the late, great Dananananaykroyd, Internet Forever and Stairs To Korea. Her Parents' chosen medium is deliriously irreverent and raw punk, which is rather unsurprising considering the band's pedigree. As part of the Alcopop! deal, the label will issue May 13 Her Parents' sophomore set Happy Birthday. The collection is so short that a planned 12" vinyl release only fills a single side, so the flip side will contain the whole of the foursome's thrilling Physical Product. Each album was recorded in a single session with zero instrumental overdubs. To tease the release, Her Parents and Alcopop! have issued the 85-second gem "Why Don't You Just Fuck Off?" as a free download as well as a spray-painted, handmade, two-track single in a limited edition of 50 pieces priced at 1 pence each that sold out pretty much immediately, because duh. There is also a delightful and life-affirming a video in which a lot of things suddenly turn into sandwiches and a guy wears a t-shirt with a bear on it, which you can enjoy right here. The song is built off a crunching, three-chord frame that echoes the chorus of perhaps one of the greatest songs ever written, McLusky's sublime "Light Sabre Cock Sucking Blues," so needless to say if you like that jam, you will certainly like this one. That's called a RIYL, in industry parlance, kids. Her Parents -- whose motto is "good guys putting in the fucking hours" -- are plotting a tour in May to further promote Happy Birthday, a tour that will include what will in all likelihood be anarchic performances at the festivals The Great Escape and Carefully Planned Festival. Full dates have yet to be announced, and pre-orders for Happy Birthday are not yet being taken, but all in due time. For now, stream or download "Why Don't You Just Fuck Off?" via the Soundcloud embed below.



>> Speaking of the aforementioned Johnny Foreigner, the foursome late Wednesday revealed additional details about its upcoming, self-released mini-album along with a newly reworked version of its song "(Don't) Show Us Your Fangs" cheekily titled "(Don't) Throw Us Your Slang." As the newly posted song suggests, the mini-album the Birmingham, England-based noise-pop titans first tipped last week (see this) will feature "a bunch of weird re-recordings of songs and a new old song and half a new new song," according to the text posted with the refurbished tune at this Soundcloud page. There is as yet no title or release date given for the short set, but it seems as if it could appear at the band's Big Cartel site at any moment, particularly now that the mixes have been finalized (again, according to the Soundcloud page). As for "(Don't) Throw Us Your Slang," this version of the highlight from Johnny Foreigner's titanic third full-length Johnny Foreigner vs. Everything is slowed down and lighter; it relies more heavily on acoustic guitar and is both more spare and more heartbroken than the original. If anything the kicker lyric "here's to giving in" is even more powerful in this setting. "(Don't) Throw Us Your Slang" was available as a downloadable .WAV file for about 40 minutes Wednesday night, which was the amount of time it took for the file to reach its maximum of 100 free downloads. But you can stream the tune and the original via the embeds below, and of course we highly recommend that you do.

Today's Hotness: Dananananaykroyd, BDRM Eyes, Bonjour

>> We've been remiss in noting the recently announced break-up of Glaswegian fight pop heroes Dananananaykroyd. The sextet announced last week here it will disband next month after a short farewell tour. The act released the best music of its career earlier this year on the self-released tour de force There Is A Way. Dananananaykroyd will release a final digital single for the barn-burner "Think And Feel" Nov. 7, and its final gig will be in Newcastle, UK on Nov. 12, the final date of a 12-city farewell tour the band is staging. We reviewed There Is A Way right here in July, and in the meantime we greatly enjoyed this Vice web series about the band. We've embedded the video "Black Wax," a standout track from Dananananaykroyd's 2009 full-length debut Hey Everyone! on Best Before, so watch it one more time and think about awesomeness. Dudes seriously did it their way. So long Dana, and thanks for all the rock. Stream There Is A Way via the Soundcloud embed below. Loudly.

Dananananaykroyd - There Is A Way

>> We are in receipt of a particularly hot recommendation from Chris of Young Adults, who last month turned us on to the apparently Southern New Hampshire-based shoegaze upstarts BDRM Eyes. As best as we can tell the quartet has recorded two sets of demos, the more recent of which is at least three songs recorded in early summer at Dead Air Studios in Western Massachusetts. All three of the more recent tracks -- "Big Boo," "Dilution" and "Garmonbozia" -- can be downloaded for free at BDRM Eyes' Bandcamp right here. And we highly recommend you do that, because BDRM Eyes is onto something. Perhaps not something completely new -- at least not yet -- but it is nonetheless quite tasty: big gritty guitars, big melodies, weighty rhythms and impressionistic vocals. We can only imagine what BDRM Eyes could turn out with unlimited resources in the studio. But as it is, all of the latest songs, and particularly "Big Boo," would not sound out of place at all on the absolutely classic 1993 Ten-Cent Fix compilation from Jiffy Boy Records, for example, wedged between Ultra Cindy and China Pig. And that's darn good company. We look forward to learning more about the band and hopefully seeing them sometime soon. Do yourself a favor and stream "Big Boo" below.



>> Another great recommendation came from Johnny Foreigner, who posted this Bandcamp link to a new release by Philadelphia-based emo luminaries Bonjour. The two bands shared a bill during a rare American appearance by Johnny Foreigner, which apparently made quite an impression on the Johnny Foreigner kids. And now Bonjour has finally released some music in the form of its new Motivational Suicide EP. The collection of high-energy guitar pop is available at the aforementioned Bandcamp on a paywhutchalike basis, and the four songs are "I Tried It, I Liked It," "Trenton Makes The World Baked" (which closes with an appropriated bit of chorus from Modern English's "Melt With You" that is somehow even more catchy than the original), "Many Things Are Destroying Me" and "Football Hero." Sinewy guitar leads, shouty sing-along vocals, and bashing percussion means there's a lot to like here. According to this mysterious-seeming tumblr, Bonjour features (former? we don't know!) members of Dangerous Ponies, Airports, Storm The Bastille, Boy Problems, Pirouette, The Sniffles and Harrison Bergeron, none of whom we've heard, but we're certainly a bit interested too now. As with BDRM Eyes above, we look forward to seeing and hearing more from these guys. Hottt with three t's, as we think you'll agree when you stream "I Tried It, I Liked It" and the rest below.

Review: Dananananaykroyd | There Is A Way [album stream]

Brash, fiery, overdriven and weird, Dananananaykroyd's sophomore full-length brilliantly capitalizes on the Glaswegian sextet's strengths. The exuberant aggro-pop is here (the early promo song "Muscle Memory" would actually chart, if the world were just), the ludicrously energetic performances are here, and Ross Robinson's production is as perfectly realized as we could have hoped. Hyperactive as ever and not afraid to take unhinged vocals directly to 11, Dananananaykroyd somehow also sounds particularly focused on There Is A Way. Whether that is a product of the soul-searching that led to the band's recent independence (it left Best Before Records after the release of its debut Hey Everyone! and this new collection was released on the band's new label Pizza College), or the influence of Mr. Robinson, really doesn't matter.

What matters is the pop-leaning material ("Reboot," "Muscle Memory") explodes with the sort of energy that we would more readily ascribe to Metallica's Kill 'Em All. When Dananananaykroyd gets heavy the delivery is pleasurably brutal (as in the Fugazi-in-space brawler "All Us Authors"). There Is A Way is not all about the attack and weight, however: the six lads have some new tricks up their sleeves as well, which becomes apparent as soon as the band launches into the surprisingly potent, whipsaw funk of "Think & Feel." The tune not only adds a degree of rhythmic swing (and the pre-chorus that begins at :30 zanily includes the lyrics "Dananananana, Dananananana" -- we love when bands slyly reference themselves), but the band notably expands its sonic palate by incorporating dense, chaotic, skronking horns in the close. Elsewhere, the final 20 seconds of "Apostrophe" beautifully swirl away from the triumphant last lyric into a pool of feedback. Opener "Reboot" commences with a piano chord before being overtaken by a motorik rhythm.

The performances and Mr. Robinson's production are precise; even Mr. Robinson's addition of new sonic dimensions (via reverbed elements in the higher octaves, skull-beating drums and generally crispy crunchy guitar ju-jitsu) to Dananananaykroyd's characteristic sound adds clarity, not clutter. We must admit being a bit anxious to hear what Mr. Robinson would do with Dananananaykroyd, as we expressed here in April. On the one hand, the so-called "Godfather of Nu Metal" had worked on that one really flat-sounding recent The Cure record; but on the other hand he had produced At The Drive-In's legendary Relationship Of Command LP. Fortunately for everyone involved, There Is A Way is beautifully rendered and more readily favors the latter; it's hard to consider the record anything other than an unqualified success. There Is A Way was released June 13 and you can buy it in various formats from the band right here. The band's prior full length Hey Everyone! was one of our favorite records of 2009. Dananananaykroyd is currently neck-deep in the UK summer festival circuit, and in the fall it embarks on a UK tour; full tour dates are listed here.

Dananananaykroyd: Interzizzles | Facebook | YouTube | Soundcloud

Dananananaykroyd - There Is A Way

YouTube Rodeo: Dananananaykroyd's Wholly Wonderful "Muscle Memory"

Glaswegian fight-pop titans Dananananaykroyd return this spring with what promises to be a cracking sophomore set, There Is A Way. The record was recorded in late 2010 and it will be released on Dananananaykroyd's newly commissioned label Pizza College June 13. The video above is for the sextet's first single from the Ross Robinson-produced collection, and it is amazeballs. There Is A Way is already available for pre-order at Banquet Records right here; Banquet indicates the band plays New Slang in Kingston April 28, so if you are in merrye olde Englande nexte weeke, you know what to do. Dananananaykroyd's full-length debut Hey Everyone! was one of our favorite records of 2009. The band recently posted another track from its new album, "E Numbers," at SoundCloud, and we've embedded the number below. Dig in!

Dananananaykroyd - E Numbers by WorkItMedia

Today's Hotness: Johnny Foreigner, Adebisi Shank, Dananananaykroyd

>> Oh the things we've wanted to tell you of late. We're going to start making up for lost time right now. Like, did you know that the planned single from Birmingham, England-based noise pop titans Johnny Foreigner is no longer a single but an EP? We hope you did, because it was a limited edition physical release, a CD affixed to a frisbee, for God's sake. The thing sold out in fewer than 24 hours, there having been only 250 on offer. Fans can still buy the MP3s from Alcopop! right here, which label -- along with kindred operation Big Scary Monsters and upstart phenomenon Audio Antihero -- sits firmly among the only labels worth a damn anymore. The Johnny Foreigner EP is titled Certain Songs Are Cursed, and it contains four tracks: "What Drummers Get," "Twin Sisterzz," "Johnny Foreigner vs. You (Cursed Version)," and "Certain Songs." We've heard the EP, it's characteristically brilliant. The official release date is 18 April. Two of the tracks are already streaming on Soundcloud, and you need to hear them, so hitch your wagon to the streams embedded below. Something else we missed: Johnny Foreigner have compiled all of their b-sides released from 2008 through 2010 under the title European Disco - Collected B​-​sides and Remixes, 2008​-2010 and they are being sold at Bandcamp for five pounds. Which is nothing -- the song "I Heard, He Ties Up Cats" alone is worth five pounds. So if for some inexplicable reason you've not been obsessively collecting Johnny Foreigner songs since 2007 like we have, well, here's your chance to (try to) catch up.

What Drummers Get by Johnny Foreigner

Johnny Foreigner Vs You (Cursed Version) by Johnny Foreigner

>> This is also true: Northern Ireland-based spazzcore savants Adebisi Shank's transcendent -- transcendent, we said -- second record This Is The Second Album Of A Band Called Adebisi Shank was released worldwide last month by the ever-tasteful Sargent House label (you know the label, they also picked up the Maps & Atlases record and released that way back?). The collection was previously released last June by Big Scary Monsters in the UK. As we quipped elsewhere, the record is every single record you wished Trans Am had released after its tour de force Surrender To The Night. The most mind-blowing track on the Adebisi Shank record is the impenetrably titled "(-_-)," but the entire thing is wonderful. Free music, you say? Sure. Here's track three from This Is The Second Album Of A Band Called Adebisi Shank, "Ghenki Shank." It's got more of a later Trans Am vibe (read: vocoder).

Adebisi Shank -- "Ghenki Shank" -- The Is The Second Album Of A Band Called Adebisi Shank
[right click and save as]
[buy This Is The Second Album Of A Band Called Adebisi Shank right here]

>> Oh yeah, so Dananananaykroyd are back. The always-quality Another Form Of Relief blog has all the details here, but we'll recount the highlights, which are these: the Glaswegian fight-pop standard bearers' forthcoming sophomore set is titled There Is A Way; There Is A Way is being released on the band's own label Pizza College June 13. According to Dananananaykroyd's Internet Home Page, There Is A Way has 11 tracks and was produced in California by Ross Robinson. Ross Robinson, at least at Wikipedia, is referred to as the "Godfather of Nu Metal." And yes, he is the guy who produced that really flat-sounding The Cure record from 2004. On the upside, Mr. Robinson produced At The Drive-In's towering swan song Relationship Of Command [this is one of the greatest late-night TV performances ever]. We'll be very interested to hear this thing. Hit the link to AFOR for an MP3 of the new track "E Numbers."

>> And have you heard the new Yuck b-side? It's called "Doctors In My Bed," it's the flip to a planned forthcoming single release for the the lead track from the London-based quartets phenomenal self-titled debut, which lead track is "Get Away," in case you didn't know. The "Get Away" single is slated for release in late April, during the band's upcoming U.S. tour that commences April 13 in Los Angeles, although said single is not listed on the Fat Possum site -- perhaps it is tour-only? Yuck, as we've been saying for months, will play Paradise Rock Club in Boston April 28, and Clicky Clicky will be there. As far as "Doctors In My Bed" goes, well, it may be the first Yuck song we've heard that we do not love. But they've put out so many awesome songs, you can't hold this one against them. It's not bad, it just lacks the sort of melodic magic we've learned to expect from the band. Just buy the single for the A-side, it's a scorcher.

Doctors In My Bed by Yuck

Clicky Clicky's Top Albums Of 2009

So that was 2009, huh? Besides all the day-job stuff, we'd be happy for another year just like it, musically and personally. We loathe when people say "this year wasn't very good for music" or crap like that, because, frankly, if you're saying that you weren't trying hard enough. There's always more music, and there is always great music. But enough of that rant. We're pleased with the array of artists we spotlight below; we hope you'll find some things here that had escaped your attention heretofore, and that you derive as much enjoyment from listening to them as we do. For those who are curious, here are links to some of our prior annual lists [2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2002]. Thanks for reading Clicky Clicky in 2009, and special thanks to Michael Piantigini, Jay Kumar, D.P. Dean, The Good Doctor and anyone else whose writing made these electronic pages better during the last 12 months. We're grateful for their help, and we're grateful to our readers. See you in 2010.

1. Johnny Foreigner -- Grace And The Bigger Picture -- Best Before

Unsurprisingly, Johnny Foreigner's wonderful, epic sophomore effort Grace And The Bigger Picture tops our list of best records of the last 12 months. We already named the Birmingham, England-based noise pop trio's 2009 release one of the best records of the decade in October, and the band's prior releases topped our list last year and was runner-up in 2006. Grace And The Bigger Picture was exactly the record we were hoping the band would deliver as a follow-up to it stellar debut: loud, brash, aggressive, tuneful and articulate. There are some surprising turns on the set, such as the beautiful, piano-led ballad "More Heart, Less Tongue," and an abundance of awesome anthems. The ambitious three continues to impress, and we're eager to hear what comes next.

[review] [listen] [buy] [MP3: "Feels Like Summer"]

2. Projekt A-ko -- Yoyodyne -- Milk Pie

As far as surprises went in 2009, this was the biggest and the best. The apparently still-warm embers of Urusei Yatsura here are reignited under the moniker Projekt A-ko, a trio led by Fergus Lawrie. The trio not only put out the second-best record of the year, but frankly they arguably put out the best Dinosaur Jr. record of 2009, as well (we're huge Dinosaur fans, so this is saying a lot). Yoyodyne is graceful and cacaphonous, literate and blunt. The band cobbled the set together in free time with no budget, and released it on their own label with almost nil publicity, which means too few know that this gem is out there. Which we suppose is one argument for being affiliated with a reputable record label. But that is a discussion for another day. Yoyodyne is filled with incredible songs, a treat from end to end.

[review] [listen] [buy] [MP3: "Ichiro On Third (Demo)"]

3. Nosferatu D2 -- We're Gonna Walk Around This City With Our Headphones On To Block Out The Noise -- Audio Antihero

We had no idea this record was at long last getting its official release in 2009, although we were quite familiar with the stunning music it contains. While his earlier trio Tempertwig is quite respectable, it is with Nosferatu D2 that fronter Ben Parker established his legacy. Let's quote ourselves, shall we? "Here is England's greatest contemporary lyricist, Ben Parker, coupling his words and fairly singular guitar playing with the punishing drumming of his brother Adam to create perhaps the greatest unheard record of the decade. The contents of defunct duo Nosferatu D2's We're Gonna Walk Around This City With Our Headphones On To Block Out The Noise -- recorded years ago but only now available in stores -- seethe and brood with startling intensity, as Mr. Parker's narrators botch relationships, asphyxiate under the weighty, numbing press of an increasingly homogenized consumer culture, and second-guess their way into oblivion." It's a brilliant effort, it's important music, and the record's release hopefully in some way affirms to a broader audience that Mr. Parker is one of the best songwriters in England today.

[review] [listen] [buy] [MP3: "Springsteen"]

4. The Beatings -- Late Season Kids -- Midriff

A tour de force of American indie rock. To quote ourselves: "The title to Boston-slash-New York rockers The Beatings' sixth full-length evokes the surging success of a pro sports franchise making all the right moves perhaps when least expected. Nearly a decade into the band's career (and well into certain members' thirties, marriages and parenthood) is an unlikely time to have created its best, most confident record -- and yet here it is. Late Season Kids is a triumph crafted by a quintet whose tenure is longer than many -- if not most -- big-leaguers and rock acts alike." Local fans should note the quintet returns to the stage Jan. 23 at Great Scott in Boston.

[review] [listen] [buy] [MP3: "Bury You"]

5. Dananananaykroyd -- Hey Everyone! -- Best Before

The most overtly awesome band in the UK, there is just no denying Dananananaykroyd, no debating the potency of its masterful songwriting, brilliant chops, spectacularly boundless energy. We've got a soft spot for bands whose first word on their record is their own band name, and Dananananaykroyd earns points for that here, too. Hey Everyone! is a blitzkrieg of positive-vibes and surprisingly jangly post-hardcore/screamo. It's somewhat surprising that this is a formula that few if any other combos have hit on. As a sidenote -- we're sure this is among the worst times to invest money in breaking your UK-based band in America (presuming you stand to gain financially from doing so), but Best Before Records, home to both Dananananaykroyd and Johnny Foreigner, needs to figure out how to get these bands into America. Because America has been deprived for too long.

[review] [listen] [buy]

6. Calories -- Adventuring -- SmallTown America

Ten sing-alongable punk anthems from another stellar Birmingham-based trio, all killer and no filler. In the time it takes you to read this Top 10 list you could have listened to most of Adventuring, with time left over to make a delicious cake ("Jesus was waaay coool"). Calories' melodic, agressive approach gives the appearance of being simplistic, but in fact between changes in tempo and dynamics there is a lot going on here. There is cleverness in not appearing over-clever, and Calories will hopefully begin to garner a much deserved reputation as one of the smartest indie punk bands working. Look for the band's sophomore full-length Habitations to street in England in March, as we reported here last month.

[review] [listen] [buy]

7. Cold Cave -- Love Comes Close -- Matador

This is the most recently released record that made its way onto our list, and only last week did we throw a record off the list to make room for Love Comes Close, which so persistently had us reaching for the IPod lately that we had to include it. Although not as graceful and understated as The xx, Philadelphia-based synthpop concern Cold Cave's music has a similar way of sinking deep into your conciousness, getting comfortable and residing there. The tracks on Love Comes Close at turns recall darkwave-era Depeche Mode or early New Order, with a little more grit and a little less sophistication. So it is kind of surprising that Cold Cave's primary songwriter, Wesley Eisold, once fronted hardcore acts and has songwriting credits on a Fallout Boy record. We don't recommend people try listening to the quartet, we challenge them to STOP listening. And we have a feeling that if we had spent more time with their record before making our year-end list it would have ranked even higher.

[review] [listen] [buy]

8. The Answering Machine -- Another City, Another Sorry -- Heist Or Hit

The long-awaited full-length from this scrappy Mancunian quartet did not disappoint. In fact, during the wait that started with the release of the band's third single "Silent Hotels" way back in 2007 the band added significant dimension to their guitar-pop foundation with the addition of a flesh-and-blood drummer and sharp focus on songcraft. Sure, we were disappointed that the Tony Hoffer-produced demo "Romantic And Square" did not make its way onto Another City, Another Sorry, but that just means the band has one more amazing track in its back pocket to use for a single or the next album. And speaking of next albums, an email from a publicist earlier this month indicated that a 2010 release from The Answering Machine was TBD, which we'll take as a positive sign that the young band is fired up and ready for album no. 2.

[review] [listen] [buy]

9. Morrissey -- Years Of Refusal -- Universal

We're not the sort of Morrissey fan that glad-hands every successive release of the former Smiths fronter. In fact, we're of the opinion that the fans and critics that annointed 2004's You Are The Quarry as Morrissey's great come-back were premature, even wrong. Instead, it is Ringleader Of The Tormenters that truely displayed Morrissey once more at the peak of his powers, which powers, in our opinion, markedly waned not long after the dawn of the '90s. 2009 brought us Years Of Refusal, and it is a barn-burner. It certainly would have been improved by Visconti's production, but nonetheless the record is aggressive ("Something Is Squeezing My Skull"), smart-alecky ("It's Not Your Birthday Anymore"), dour ("I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris") and brilliant all at once.

[review] [listen] [buy]

10. Fleeting Joys -- Occult Radiance -- Only Forever

A masterpiece of sculpted guitar and angelic vocals. Sure, you've heard this sort of thing before, but we don't think you've heard it done as well or as recently as Fleeting Joys' 2009 stunner Occult Radiance. Tidal waves of guitar, nods to contemporary gothy psyche/space rock, but mostly it is incredible song writing that makes this one of the best of the year. The Northern California-based duo make only rare live appearances, making this record all the more important as a document of the greatness of Fleeting Joys.

[review] [listen] [buy]

Clicky Clicky's Top Songs Of 2009

Here it is, our annual salute to the greatest of the (contemporary) greatest: our most-listened-to tracks of 2009. The usual rules apply: each band only gets one song, so despite the fact that most of our Top 10 most-listened-to 2009 tracks in ITunes are from Johnny Foreigner's superlative Grace And The Bigger Picture, only the most-played track gets a slot on our list below. The main reason for doing this list is to spotlight great songs that might not have been on an album that warrants best-of-the-best status for the year. The inclusion of George Washington Brown's "End Of The..." is a perfect example, as the tune was released on a Slumberland split single, not the sort of thing that ever makes a year-end albums list. Even so, our Top Songs list does shed light on certain albums that will be on our year-end list. That said, if you've regularly read along this year, you probably already have a good idea of what the albums list will bring. You'll know for sure a week from today. But for today, here they are: Clicky Clicky's Top Songs Of 2009.

1. Johnny Foreigner -- "The Coast Was Always Clear" -- Grace And The Bigger Picture

We'd call this the anthem to end all anthems, except that given the band's track record we expect there will be a song equally as good if not better released by Johnny Foreigner in the future: the act is among the most consistently excellent combos in indie rock today. In 2009, despite intense competition from itself and the rest of the acts on this list, the number one anthem is "The Coast Was Always Clear." We long harbored fears that the album version of this track could not possibly compare to the YouTube version with Dananananaykroyd or the New Slang 2008 bootleg version we played to death last year. Those fears were unfounded. The layered lines in the coda ("He's half asleep for you" and "I'm not done holding hope in my hands") are among the most beautiful musical sentiments of the year. And sure, the tune structurally is similar to the final track on the band's first full-length, that doesn't detract in the least from the series of spine-tingling moments in "The Coast Was Always Clear," which seems to somehow have about four different choruses. That's just how Johnny Foreigner rolls, and we look forward to new music from the Birmingham, England-based noise-pop titans in the new year.

2. The Beatings -- "All The Things You've Been Missing" -- Late Season Kids
Download MP3 (with thanks to the band)

This is a classic E.R.-led screamer from the storied Boston quintet, and it is filled with visceral moments that make you feel like you are shedding your skin. And then, when the chorus hits and the guitars cascade around you through curtains of reverb, you are born again. We're not sure why this track is wedged in the middle of Late Season Kids, but then again, it's not like the rest of the album sucked. As we said in our review of the set earlier this year, The Beatings really have no business being this good this late into the game. "All The Things You've Been Missing" sets the new high water mark.

3. Projekt A-ko -- "Hey Palooka!" -- Yoyodyne

Deciding which track is best on Projekt A-ko's shockingly good debut is like deciding which nine fingers to cut off. Every track touts its own revelations delivered via squawling guitars and brilliant disjointed lyrics. So although for months we believed that we'd select "Here Comes New Challenger!" for our year-end list, it is Yoyodyne opener "Hey Palooka!" to which we ultimately give the nod, primarily because we've been unable to get these lines from the second verse out of our heads since March: "and all the stars are out, they kiss you on the mouth, they kiss you on the." Full stop. It's a sweet sentiment. And as we'll always tie the release of Yoyodyne to their birth of our daughter, that sweet sentiment carries a lot of weight. It also helps that the slow build of the song's opening is an homage of sorts to the opening cut on Drop Nineteens' earthshaking 1990 debut Delaware.

4. Favours For Sailors -- "I Dreamt That I Dreamt That You Loved Me In Your Dreams" -- Furious Sons

2009's shooting stars flamed out and lodged themselves in the soil long before the end of the year rolled around. One of a crop of contemporary English bands indebted to some of Pavement's more tuneful moments, Favours For Sailors released the Furious Sons EP on Tough Love Records in March, but by July the London-based quartet had called it quits. This tune is a melodic, uptempo guitar anthem with clever lyrics that beg to be stumbled over in the chorus. The real pay-off is in the final moments, when singer JRC drops in the last kick "...but you don't." It's fitting emotional punctuation that parallels the dashing of fan hopes by the announcement of the band's dissolution. Let's see, what else: nice harmonies, there's some kick-ass tambourine work... uh... we think the lead singer looks a little like Greg Kihn. And Favours For Sailors were not afraid to bring the chorus back over and over, because they knew they had a killer on their hands.

5. Dananananaykroyd -- "Black Wax" -- Hey Everyone!

This is one of those tracks that is so good it doesn't matter that you can't tell what the hell the singer is saying. Sure, Dananananaykroyd's dual fronters tout Glaswegian accents, but they are also excitedly hollering, and even when the words take shape in your mind ("write your name in cellophane strips something something blah blah blah"), it is hard to figure out what they are on about. But with Dananananaykroyd none of that really matters, as the band's singular mix of maximalist hardcore energy and wonderfully saccharine hooks makes the end product undeniably arresting. The sextet also made a killer video for this track, incidentally. As we get older we are finely tuned into things we perceived as redemptive or transformative, and the crescendo two-and-a-half minutes into this track certainly qualifies as the latter if not the former. But even that is secondary to the overall electrifying vibe and delicious guitars that make this track one of the best of the year.

6. The xx -- "Basic Space" -- xx

Twenty-five years ago this song would have been perfect for use in a television show that was trying to depict music of the future. It's sort of space age, but it is minimal to the point of being almost transparent. Between the electronic beats, diaphanous house keys, understated bass playing, reverbed guitar and murmured vocals, the London trio (a quartet for most of the year until the departure of keyboardist and singer Baria Qureshi) somehow crafts one of the most gripping, darksexy tracks of the year. We had the pleasure of taking in The xx's sold-out Boston show at the beginning of December and report with pleasure that the band is even more of a sensation live. Not because of the somewhat affectless performances, of course, but because all of the elements of the record were powerfully underpinned by the electronics being blasted, bass-heavy and at gut-level, through the house sound system. The embiggened beats and tones provided an added dimension of shadowy aggression to the music which was exciting. It also made our insides wiggle, and we liked it.

7. Fleeting Joys -- "You Are The Darkness" -- Occult Radiance

Another year goes by in which we wonder when Fleeting Joys will finally get wide recognition they deserve. Certainly if "You Are The Darkness" can not break the Northern California-based duo into the broader underground, then we don't know what will, because this track is as fine a shoegaze anthem as has been written. It's up there with Ride's "Taste" or Lilys' "Claire Hates Me" (well, nothing is as good as "Claire Hates Me," but it's in the ballpark). Sculpted guitar guitar, breathy vocals with perfectly layered harmonies: it doesn't get better than this.

8. The Answering Machine -- "Another City, Another Sorry" -- Another City, Another Sorry
Download MP3 (with thanks to the band)

While this Manchester, England-based quartet is generally wired for writing pop-leaning tracks, the title tune to its long awaited 2009 full-length debut is an outright scorcher, and the most exciting two-and-a-half minutes from a very good album. "Another City, Another Sorry" also shows the band's acquisition of an actual drummer (early on it relied on a drum machine) paying huge dividends -- it's the sort of track that swings and bashes along in a way that only a live drummer can pull off. The manner in which the accompaniment drops off and spaces out during the last pre-chorus launches the anthem into a final driving salvo that defies you not to sing along. If The Answering Machine did nothing more than release this track in 2009 they could still call the year a huge success.

9. Morrissey -- "Something Is Squeezing My Skull" -- Years Of Refusal

There is actually something very heartening about a misfit misanthrope that continues to persevere into middle age. It suggests that one need not capitulate to the square world, that one can live life on one's own terms for as long as they choose to. And so when Morrissey sings "I know by now you think I should have straightened myself out,thank you, drop dead," it just feels good. Thanks Moz. Sure, the latter half of the track is a litany of drugs and problems, but hey, we didn't say the guy was *thriving*, we said he was giving life what for. Years Of Refusal may be the most straightforwardly rocking set Morrissey has ever released (although fear not, it still has many interesting dimensions), and this lead track is its best calling card.

10. George Washington Brown -- "End Of The..." -- Searching For The Now 6
Download MP3 (courtesy of Slumberland)

Eighty-eight seconds of fuzzed-out glory with brilliant lo-fi production. Despite the entire proceedings being rendered as a tinny mess, this song is brilliantly realized. We love the slap-back on the voice, the crazy space key-chain noises, the Boyracer-esque vocals. A masterpiece, and perhaps the best track Slumberland issued in 2009, which is saying something, since the label is kicking several different kinds of ass lately.

Footage: Dananananaykroyd Destroy On Channel M

You Were Warned: Dananananaykroyd's Hey Everyone! Next Week

We've tried to prepare you for the forthcoming full-length debut from Glaswegian fight-pop goliaths Dananananaykroyd. Hey Everyone! will be released in the U.K. April 6, and we've been hyping it for a while. We wrote here about the transcendent preceding single "Black Wax," issued March 23. We wrote here about the recording of the full-length. We relayed here the fact that the Scottish septet is widely considered to be the best live act in the U.K. right now. And yet we're not sure any of that will prepare you for the proverbial kick to the head we expect this album to deliver. Take for example the track below, "Chrome Rainbows." According to a track listing at Amazon.co.uk, the tune is not included on Hey Everyone! It was, however, released as the flipside to the "Pink Sabbath" single issued last October, and it is a monster, and we're grateful to the helpful publicist who sent it along. So have a listen, save your nickels, and get yourself prepared for Dananananaykroyd being all anybody will be talking about this summer.

Dananananaykroyd -- "Chrome Rainbow" -- "Pink Sabbath" b/w "Chrome Rainbow"
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[buy Dananananaykroyd music from EMusic right here, or BanquetRecords right here]

Today's Hotness: Dananananaykroyd, Video Nasties, Jesus Lizard

>> We had completely forgotten how much we were anticipating the release of the full-length debut from Dananananaykroyd until the band posted the video above for the exceptional new single "Black Wax." The track, whose b-side is the non-album track "No Wage," is taken from the sure-to-be-gigante long-player Hey Everyone!, which will be released by London-based Best Before Records April 6. Get ready to embrace your Glaswegian fight pop overlords by pre-ordering the set from BanquetRecords right here. The "Black Wax" single streets March 23 in the U.K., and it is also being vended by BanquetRecords; pre-order it here. If you are all amped up to hear "No Wage" now, the band soundchecked it in Hamburg last month and someone captured it to video. Check it out here.

>> It's been more than a month since we checked in on London indie fivesome Video Nasties. The latest is that the band's next single will be for the track "Jellybean," about which we offered some remarks here in January. The track is already receiving hype from prominent BBC DJ Steve Lamacq, and it will be issued March 23 in the U.K. and will also be available digitally via ITunes and perhaps other digital music storefronts. Video Nasties' full-length debut On All Fours will be issued April 13. It's unclear, to us anyway, what label will release the single and full-length. The band's 2007 EP Karl Blau was issued by Way Out West, and last fall's Albatross EP, well, we don't know who put that out.

>> To celebrate Record Store Day, that's April 18 in the U.S., Touch and Go is releasing a box set of Jesus Lizard vinyl singles that sounds very compelling. It is titled Inch and it will be available on that day and date only, apparently. All the tracks were remastered by Bob Weston of recording-stuff fame and the Shellac Of North America cohort. Highlights of the collection include "Puss," which was the Jesus Lizard side of the noted split single with a little rock trio called Nirvana, and "Gladiator," which was only offered at a 1992 Brixton Academy show in London. Every one of these singles has been out of print for more than six years. There's 17 tracks in all, which is weird, but perhaps the flip of the "Puss" single is blank or etched or something? For those of you not up on your Jesus Lizard in contemporary America, the original line-up has reformed and will play dates in 2009 including ATP: The Fans Strike Back and London's The Forum; both gigs are in May. The entire Jesus Lizard catalog is also being reissued this year by Touch and Go. We reviewed the DVD "The Jesus Lizard -- Live" here in June 2007; European correspondent Lars Ro filed a review of a Qui show here earlier in the same year. So how about some rock music? Here's the brutal rocker "Boilermaker," courtesy of the label.

The Jesus Lizard -- "Boilermaker" -- Inch
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[more info at Touch and Go here]

>> British electro-twee duo Psapp will release to ITunes April 6 a compilation of early and previously unavailable tracks called Early Cats And Tracks Vol. 2. As the title suggests, this is the second such collection. The band also reports that it will not come support its recent full-length The Camel's Back with a tour of America, although Psapp embarked on a short European tour Wednesday. There are still the singles, right? The second single from The Camel's Back is for the track "I Want That," a video for which the band has recently released to the Internerds.

Review: Calories | Adventuring

Brevity: Birmingham, England-based power trio Calories has it. The act's music is so tightly compacted that even the verses play like choruses, and its entire debut set Adventuring is done almost as soon as it begins. On Adventuring, due March 9, Calories delivers a brisk, exuberant collection of 10 tunes that clocks in at a breathless 23 minutes. All the songs are singalong-able, everything is anthemic and everything rocks.

Calories has been streaming new tracks at its MySpace garage for months, namely the lead track "A Bear, A Bison," "To Encounter A Deer" and the title cut. Spirited fist-bangers all, driven by bassist Pete Dixon's affecting bark, but the trio has kept some cards up its six sleeves. The punishing push and pull of "Caught In The In-Between" -- which recalls the finer early work of '90s D.C. post-hardcore standard bearers Jawbox -- is the most exciting track on Adventuring. The Jawbox reference may not be terribly off the mark, considering the slate of influences at Calories' MySpace reads like a who's who of the American underground of the last 20 years, including Jawbox contemporaries Shudder To Think (whose Get Your Goat album is exceptional), as well as Blonde Redhead, Polvo and Don Caballero. "(See You On The Expedition)," another highlight, rocks very convincingly in 3/4 time.

Adventuring is available for pre-order now right here; fans who pre-order the collection will also receive a bonus handmade CDR containing 26 tracks (!!!) of demos and extras, as well as a digital sampler from the label. All of which makes the 8 pounds sterling sticker price well worth it in our opinion. Calories embark on a short tour supporting Glaswegian indie phenoms Dananananaykroyd March 26, and you can inspect the trio's full itinerary at its aforementioned MySpace. There's no preview MP3 to be had for Adventuring, which is a shame, but we think you'll enjoy the non-album track "Drink The Potion," a live video of which is linked below. Word from the Calories camp is that the tune was written about a month or so after Adventuring was recorded, and it is likely going to be on the trio's next record, which could be tracked later this year. As a sidenote, we'll point out that only recently have we gotten our hands on Calories-predecessor Distophia's absurdly good but never released masterwork Beat Dyslexia. If you do not have this record you should hunt it down with extreme prejudice. It's exceptional, and we're posting the amazing cut "Children Know The Score" below with the hopes that some day the set might get a proper commercial release. Finally, you may recall Calories helped us relaunch our Show Us Yours feature a month ago; here's a link to that.

Calories -- "Drink The Potion" [YouTube]
Distophia -- "Children Know The Score [.m4a]" -- Beat Dyslexia
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[buy Distophia records at MusicStack here]

Calories: Internerds | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

Today's Hotness: Collection Agency, Montag, Dananananaykroyd

>> Timothy Bracy's Collection Agency, the vehicle of the eponymous former Mendoza Line co-fronter, now apparently goes by the more succinct moniker Collection Agency. The outfit tends a MySpace dojo right here, where you can stream one folksy, rough demo titled "Doug Yule" along with a cross-section of various standout Mendoza Line cuts. Collection Agency purports to count among its number various of the Mendoza Line cohort including Clint Newman, John Troutman, Elizabeth Nelson and mustachioed fan-favorite Paul Deppler, as well as the heretofore unknown-to-us Beth Wawerna -- who fronts the very good Bird Of Youth, which features Mssrs. Bracy and Newman in supporting roles -- and Federico Bortoletto (sadly, no Clark Wallace). The aforementioned MySpace outpost promises a Collection Agency record will surface in 2009, which is welcome news. A Bird Of Youth record produced by Okkervil River's Will Sheff is also apparently in the offing, and about which we are now very excited. Speaking of Mendoza Line, only last summer did we finally get our hands on the excellent and out-of-print collection I Like You When You're Not Around. Pay just about any price necessary to obtain this. Here's one of several standout tracks.

Mendoza Line -- "(We'll Never Make) The Final Reel" -- I Like You When You're Not Around
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[buy in-print Mendoza Line titles from Newbury Comics here]

>> Another holdover from the late, great 2008: electronic music purveyor Montag -- also known as the newly Montreal-based Antoine Bedard -- has just released the EP Hibernation, which features six instrumental, somnolent head-nodders and one track ("La Symetrie Du Coeur") sung in French. The icy and pulsing "Labrador (Encore)" sounds like the soundtrack to a solitary walk in the snow. The physical manifestation of Hibernation is available in a limited edition of 150 handmade discs (presumably it is the packaging and label that are handmade). Carpark previously released Montag's full-length Going Places in 2007, which included the very catchy bleepers "Best Boy Electric" and the title track. Bedard hopes to release a new long-player before the year is out. Recently he has kept busy remixing tunes for indie acts Au Revoir Simone, M83, I'm From Barcelona and others.

Montag -- "Labrador (Encore)" -- Hibernation EP
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[purchase Hibernation at The Blue House right here]

>> Although its hotly tipped full-length debut Hey Everybody! won't be in U.K. stores for months (the band says the new record "makes Sissy Hits sound like really boring crap or Keane"), Glaswegian fight-pop septet Dananananaykroyd is already pondering a follow-up. According to the band's 2008 recap at its blog here, the groop claims (half-claims?) to have begun writing new material for a set tentatively titled Creep. It reads like a joke, so perhaps it is. But either way, it is bracing to see that Los Campesinos!' two-fer in 2008 might be a harbinger of more bands breaking away from a no-more-than-one-album-a-year pace. Yeah. Dananananaykroyd embark on a month-long tour of the U.K. and Europe with Kaiser Chiefs Jan. 19.

Today's Hotness: Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, Dananananaykroyd

>> [PHOTO CREDIT: Pavla Kopecna] Word from The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart is that the band's next single will apparently be for the song "Young Adult Friction," track three on the band's brilliant forthcoming self-titled debut full-length. The New York-based quartet plan to film a video for the song Dec. 15 in Cambridge, England during its current tour of the UK and Ireland, which launched last night in London. In fact, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart are looking for extras to appear in the clip, so if you want in on that, friend them up on the MySpace and check out their most recent bulletin (there is a casting on Dec. 7 in London, apparently). The video for the act's most recent single "Everything With You" has been burning up the Internerds of late, and you can watch it right here. Frankly, not a lot happens in the clip, but the song, also on the pending full-length, is brilliant. No word yet on when the single for "Young Adult Friction" will be released, but we expect it will precede by a brief period the planned Feb. 3 issuance of The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart. Although that would be a very short time frame, so perhaps the single will arrive after the record and in time to build hype for a full spring tour (the band just announced a handful of February dates). Slumberland put out the single for "Everything With You," and because the label is awesome, you can download the tune for nothing. Have at it below. We previously wrote about The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart here in October; the band plays Cambridge, Mass.'s Middle East Downstair Feb. 15 with the very, very good act Pants Yell! We'll be there.

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart -- "Everything With You" -- "Everything With You" b/w "The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart"
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[buy "Everything With You" on blue vinyl from Slumberland here]

>> Dananananaykroyd's debut full-length is finished, and the band -- widely considered the best live act in the UK today -- has titled the collection Hey Everyone. Best Before Records will issue the set next year; a single, "Black Wax" arrives in March, which makes us think Hey Everyone will likely hit racks by April, if not in time for SXSW. Hey Everyone touts 12 tracks, including re-recorded versions of "1993," "Infinity Milk," "Some Dresses" and "The Greater Than Symbol And The Hash." These four three toe-tappers were all featured on the Glaswegian sextet's Sissy Hits EP, which Best Before released earlier this year. Dananananayroyd has finally posted the second part of its video diary filmed during the recording of Hey Everyone with The Machine in New Jersey earlier this fall, and it is really funny -- watch it here. The sextet has two live engagements booked for the remainder of year: one in Leeds Saturday and the second on New Year's Eve in Glasgow.

Today's Hotness: Johnny Foreigner, Guitar, Frightened Rabbit

>> [Image Credit: Lewes Herriot] Believe it or not, there will be a fourth single from Johnny Foreigner's cataclysmically great debut Waited Up Til It Was Light. In the UK, anyway. According to an email, the band's label Best Before will release Jan. 12 the double A-sided single "DJ's Get Doubts" b/w "Lea Room." Which means that five of Waited Up Til It Was Light's 13 tracks will have gotten the single treatment, while, miraculously, some of the best tracks ("Absolute Balance," "This End Is A Beginning") remain relatively, and curiously, uncelebrated. We had written previously here and perhaps elsewhere that the Birmingham, England-based noise pop trio's prior single "Salt, Peppa and Spinderella" was the fourth from Waited Up, but we just went to our discs and checked and, no matter how we count, that doesn't add up. "Sometimes In The Bullring" was released as a single by Laundrette, but that was an older version of the track released prior to the band's signing with Best Before. So anyway, the ballad "DJ's Get Doubts" (which is nice, but not as strong as "All Mosely Gardens" in our opinion) and the raucous rocker "Lea Room" (named for the band's driver/tour manager guy, who can be spotted just offstage in all of those awesome live videos we hyped up on our Twitter feed later last month) are next in the spotlight. No word on when, if ever, any of these Johnny Foreigner singles will be issued in North America, where Waited Up Til It Was Light was issued to zero fanfare in July (well, some fanfare -- our review is here). Incidentally, the same email from Best Before referenced above noted that superlative Glaswegian indie rock sextet Dananananaykroyd has completed recording its full-length debut, and the set is currently being mixed by The Machine in Hoboken, New Jersey.

>> Surfing On Steam reports here that German electrobliss duo Guitar will release a new set titled Come Summer Come Blues early next year. In addition, Clairecords has recently reissued two Guitar sets, 2004's Honeysky and 2005's Salty Kisses, and there is a note at the Clairecords site stating that the label also intends to reissue It's Sweet To Do Nothing. According to this MySpace blog the new set contains eight tracks that apparently harness Guitar principal Michael Lueckner's love of bluesmen Lightnin' Hopkins, John Lee Hooker and Big Bill Broonzy. We reviewed Guitar's Sunkissed for Junkmedia six years ago right here; our first exposure to the act was its contributions to the excellent Morr Music-curated Slowdive tribute comp Blue Skied An' Clear which was released in September 2002. One of the best tracks on Blue Skied An' Clear [review here] is Guitar's MBV-influenced stomper "House Full Of Time," which we're posting below.

Guitar -- "House Full Of Time" -- Blue Skied An' Clear
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[buy Guitar music from Clairecords right here and EMusic here]

>> A propos of nothing... you know what would be a great mash-up? Do the kids still go for the mash-ups these days? We honestly don't know. But anyway, a clever remixer could take B. Fleischmann and Ms. John Soda's absolutely sublime cover of Slowdive's "Here She Comes" and combine it with Frightened Rabbit's stunning "Floating In The Forth" and make something perty. Yeah.

Reader Rewards: Win Johnny Foreigner's Single, But Not That Single

[UPDATED] Regular readers will be as surprised as we are to learn that we haven't written about Johnny Foreigner for almost a month. For a while it seemed like we couldn't go two days without writing about the Birmingham, England-based noisepop trio, a fact that prompted one of our colleagues to remark that sometimes Clicky Clicky is like a Johnny Foreigner (and Frightened Rabbit) fan blog. We're OK with that. As we stated more than a year ago here, we once considered fairly strongly starting a new blog exclusively devoted to Johnny Foreigner. Sadly, any additional writing endeavors we commence need to be revenue-generating. All these records do not pay for themselves. Except for the free ones. But we digress.

Today in the U.K. Best Before Records releases the fourth and likely final UK single for Johnny Foreigner's superlative debut full-length Waited Up Til It Was Light. "Salt, Peppa and Spinderella," as we've noted many times before, is being issued as a Pacman-yellow 10" with three remixes. We eagerly await our vinyl copy, which apparently was only one of 400 being sold. We are fortunate enough to already have received a copy of the promo CD version of the new single scored off EBay. Don't get overly excited, this is not what we're giving away today. What we are offering up is a spare copy of the promo CD for the first single from the aforementioned longplayer, "Our Bipolar Friends" b/w "The Houseparty Scene Is Killing You," which our Ebay seller was vending together with his copy of "Salt, Peppa and Spinderella." Despite already having the former, we figured what the hell, the extra copy would be something nice to give away to help promote the band to the kids in the U.S. So here's the deal: the first U.S.-based reader -- besides previous winner Jane, sorry Jane -- to email us the names of the parties responsible for the three remixes found on the "Salt, Peppa and Spinderella" single will receive our extra CD of "Our Bipolar Friends." A link to our email address is in the sidebar. We'll update this item as soon as we have a winner.

Speaking of promoting Johnny Foreigner to the kids, we are mystified that we've yet to appreciate any sort of press push for the planned Sept. 23 North American release of Waited Up Til It Was Light. And the JohnnyForeignerMusic.com page, frankly, still needs to be copyedited. Perhaps the physical release date (which a press release originally gave as "October") has been pushed back until the band can actually make it across the Atlantic to support the release? The album has been available digitally to the domestic market since July, so a sales stopgap is in place, at least. The trio has tour commitments through Oct. 8 with Dananananaykroyd, and then we expect they will set about recording a Christmas single or filming variety show spots for holiday specials like they was the Beatles or something. You can stream all of Waited Up Til It Was Light at Last.FM right here, although the songs are curiously ordered alphabetically rather than the normal running order. We expect it won't be another month before we write about Johnny Foreigner again. In the event you don't yet know what all the fuss is about, here's the A-side of the band's debut single, released on Laundrette in late 2006. [Congratulations to reader John for winning the single]

Johnny Foreigner -- "Sometimes, In The Bullring" -- Sometimes In The Bullring b/w Camp Kelly Calm
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[buy Johnny Foreigner music from EMusic right here]

Johnny Foreigner: Internets | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr