{"id":7693,"date":"2012-09-28T20:18:54","date_gmt":"2012-09-28T18:18:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lauramccullagh.com\/blog\/?p=7693"},"modified":"2020-01-02T18:12:59","modified_gmt":"2020-01-02T16:12:59","slug":"music-5-great-bands-gone-too-soon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/lauramccullagh.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/music-5-great-bands-gone-too-soon\/","title":{"rendered":"Music: 5 Great bands gone too soon"},"content":{"rendered":"
MUSIC<\/div>\n

I wrote this ages ago and kinda forgot about it, till now…<\/p>\n

It’s a great feeling, discovering an amazing band. If they’re new I can’t wait for their next release, and if they’re established I obsessively explore their back catalogue. Conversely, the discovery that a great band have decided to breakup can be devastating.<\/p>\n

Hard as it can be to accept that they won’t be making new music, we’ll always have their parting gift – the music that made us fall in love with them in the first place.<\/p>\n

In no particular order, here are a few bands whose recent(ish) breakups left me pretty upset, even though in some cases I wasn’t a huge fan.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Stills<\/span><\/strong>
\nMontreal, Canada (2000 \u2013 2011)<\/h3>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

My introduction to this band came in 2004 via Still in love song<\/em>. The album it appeared on, Logic will break your heart<\/em>, was a lovely collection of nostalgic love songs; the lyrics were a bit iffy at times but the melodies were moody and interesting. Their 2008 follow-up Oceans Will Rise <\/em>was disappointing, apart from Snakecharming the masses <\/em>which is easily my favourite track of theirs.<\/p>\n

Even though I was neither a huge fan nor overly familiar with their music, they struck me as being pretty solid, and the songs of theirs that I liked, I liked very much.<\/p>\n

Thank you for:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Snakecharming the masses<\/em><\/a>
\nFevered<\/em><\/a>
\nGender Bombs<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Best album:<\/strong> Logic Will Break Your Heart<\/a><\/em>
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n

Pela<\/span><\/strong>
\nNew York, USA (2004\u20132009)<\/h3>\n

\"\"
\nWith just one full-length album and one EP, Pela didn’t release a lot of material. I first heard them when a friend included Lost to the Lonesome <\/em>on a mix CD in 2007. Not their best track, but it got me to investigate further…<\/p>\n

I dunno why but I think of them as an evening band, their songs just have a dusky quality about them. There’s a cool laid-back sound on tracks like Venom <\/em>and The trouble with River Cities<\/em> and a more accessible rock sound on tracks like Waiting on the stairs <\/em>and the aforementioned Lost to the Lonesome, <\/em>personally I prefer the slower, more brooding tracks.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Thank you for:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Venom<\/em><\/a>
\nDrop me off<\/em><\/a>
\nWaiting on the Stairs<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Best album:<\/strong> Anytown Graffiti<\/a><\/p>\n

The next best thing:<\/strong>\u00a0 Vocalist\u00a0Billy McCarthy and bassist Eric Sanderson now play in We are Augustines<\/a>, and they sound very similar to Pela, which is great. I love Chapel Song<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n

The Cinematics<\/strong><\/span>
\nGlasgow, Scotland (2003 – 2011)<\/h3>\n

\"TheI discovered these guys in 2006 via what was my favourite method for quite a while – MTV’s daily half hour show New<\/em>. The first song I heard was Break<\/em> and it remains one of my favourite post-punk\/indie tracks, and that says something given that most of my favourite songs fall into those genres.<\/p>\n

A Strange Education<\/em> (2006) and Love and Terror<\/em> (2009) were solid albums with some great tracks, and the band’s final release, the Silent Scream EP <\/em>in 2010 delivered Love Rattle<\/em> and Cinema <\/em>which became instant personal favourites.<\/p>\n

Thank you for:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Break<\/a>
\nLove Rattle<\/a><\/em>
\nLove and Terror<\/a>
\n<\/em>
\nBest album:<\/strong> Love and Terror<\/a>
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n

De Rosa<\/strong><\/span>
\nLanarkshire, Scotland (2001 – 2009)<\/h3>\n

\"\"Unlike the bands I’ve mentioned so far, I really was a huge fan of these guys. My connection with them is also personal – late one night in 2006, I saw their video for Camera <\/em>on MTV. I’d never heard of them before or since until something possessed me to look them up online in 2008. I discovered that their sound was generally more folky than the fast-paced Camera <\/em>and was instantly hooked by New Lanark <\/em>and The Sea Cup<\/em>, the first of their free monthly-released ‘Appendices’ that I heard.<\/p>\n

I downloaded the 4 other Appendices and checked back each month for the subsequent ones. When I heard #8, Robin Song<\/em>, I was instantly in love and dead keen on making a video for it. I contacted vocalist Martin Henry via last.fm, told him my story and a short while later the video was done<\/a>.<\/p>\n

They approached me soon after and I did another video, this time for <\/a>Nocturne for an Absentee<\/a>,<\/em> the first single off 2009’s Prevention. <\/em>A few short months later they announced their breakup\u00a0seemingly\u00a0out of the blue. I was really upset, especially given that they’d just released an album, and a damn fine one at that.<\/p>\n

Thank you for:<\/strong><\/p>\n

A Love Economy<\/em><\/a>
\nIn Code<\/em><\/a>
\nRobin Song<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Best album:<\/strong> Ironically, while I love both Mend <\/em>and Prevention<\/em>, I have to say their unreleased Appendices <\/em>is their best work.<\/p>\n

The next best thing:<\/strong> A few months ago, De Rosa announced they’d reformed<\/a> and were going to start making music together again! Hooray! Martin Henry also released a solo album last year and it’s quite lovely<\/a>.<\/p>\n

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n

Tiger Lou<\/strong><\/span>
\nNyk\u00f6ping, Sweden (2001 – 2009)<\/h3>\n

\"TigerOn stage, Tiger Lou was a band, in the studio it was the solo project of Rasmus Kellerman (second from the left). I discovered Tiger Lou via last.fm<\/a> (which eclipsed MTV as my\u00a0preferred\u00a0method of discovery a while back) in 2008 – The Loyal <\/em>instantly became my favourite Tiger Lou track and one of my all-time favourite videos<\/a> and albums.<\/p>\n

I adore Tiger Lou, the mood, the melodies, the vocals and lyrics – the whole package. 2008’s A Partial Print <\/em>was darker and less accessible than previous albums but grew on me a lot. Recently I’ve been listening to the second ever Tiger Lou release, the 2003 EP Trouble and Desire<\/em> and have found a new contender for all-time favourite in When I was a kid.<\/em><\/p>\n

I love Scandinavian music, especially when it’s tinged with darkness like Tiger Lou. Beautiful stuff I return to again and again.<\/p>\n

Thank you for:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Loyal<\/em><\/a>
\nWhen I was a kid<\/em><\/a>
\nUntil I’m there<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Best album:<\/strong> The Loyal<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The next best thing:\u00a0<\/strong> Rasmus Kellerman<\/a> has continued making music under his own name and collaborates with his wife Andrea (Firefox AK<\/a>) every now and then. He also released an experimental\/electronic album under the name Araki <\/a>in 2004.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MUSIC I wrote this ages ago and kinda forgot about it, till now… It’s a great feeling, discovering an amazing band. If they’re new I can’t wait for their next release, and if they’re established I obsessively explore their back … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7704,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,583,10],"tags":[58,585,481,204,170,17,630,483,477,38,584,355,482,484,480],"class_list":["post-7693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","category-ramblings-2","category-reviews","tag-american","tag-canadian","tag-de-rosa","tag-favourites","tag-international-act","tag-music-2","tag-opinion","tag-pela","tag-personal","tag-ramblings","tag-scottish","tag-swedish","tag-the-stills","tag-tiger-lou","tag-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/lauramccullagh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/lauramccullagh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/lauramccullagh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lauramccullagh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lauramccullagh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7693"}],"version-history":[{"count":47,"href":"http:\/\/lauramccullagh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7693\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32347,"href":"http:\/\/lauramccullagh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7693\/revisions\/32347"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lauramccullagh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/lauramccullagh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lauramccullagh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lauramccullagh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}