Early Blur acoustic

Here's a treat for you, ladies and gents, from the depths of Youtube. I've never seen an acoustic performance in front of such a huge audience.

Julian Casablancas Whimsy

I know I'm always criticising over-production, but I want to make it clear with a simple example how important I think production is. Lovely as Julian Casablancas is, I am SO glad that this:

Turned into this:

And while we're on Jules whimsy, doesn't Adam Green look like Julian Casablancas' underachieving little bro?

Merry Christmas

Best underdog love song I've heard today. Happy Christmas, mélomen!

Desaparecidos

If you want to know how Conor Oberst feels about politics and all sorts of other Big Questions (which let's face it, you all do...), don't look to Bright Eyes or his solo stuff, because that's mostly love and darkness, and don't look to Monsters of Folk, because that's mostly co-written. Look to Desaparecidos - ten years old now, but recently reformed for a one off show, so I understand. Even their name means 'people who have been disappeared', simply - victims of politically motivated imprisonment or murder.

Oberst is quite versatile, it seems: he's done stuff that others have called 'emo', as well as folk, soul, rock. I'd call Desaparecidos rather raucous punk. Have a video.

A video for you.

I should explain why you should love this band. While my taste is usually a lot more garage-rock-punk than Envy & Other Sins, who create what can only be described as excellent pop, Envy have stolen my heart and could easily steal yours. They won an essentially average talent competition called Act Unsigned in December 2007 and have been teetering on the brink of success for the past year; Polydor, who they gained a contract with after winning Act Unsigned, seemed to pay very little attention to them despite their obvious saleability (quirky clothing, intelligence, a great work ethic, catchy songs, a good dynamic as a band, talent), maybe because the talent show hung over Envy's name like a contagious disease and no-one seemed to want to touch them for fear of sacrificing their credibility. Zero advertising will add up to very few sales: the music business is built on advertising, and with a bit of it, Envy would now be 'big'. But no - they had to stick to touring 200 venues with very few album sales and yes they filled many of them, but those numbers dwindled and their fan-built forum struggles to keep afloat with 30 members. They are good enough for so much more. They can write proper pop gems and are masters at weaving traditional rock instruments into the pop framework. They make upbeat, modern, intelligent pop-rock and it's such a shame if you miss it because of their record company's indifference.

I've seen them six times live and once playing Pheasant, an ingenious cross between football and tennis, in a park with no public toilets. Six is a small number really, considering some of the Kaiser Chiefs fans I know who have seen Chiefs over fifty times. However small, it is my claim to them, along with keeping in contact with them over MySpace and having been onstage with them once doing their light show. I like to think, however audaciously, that Jarvey, Ali, Jim and Mark are friends as well as being in one of my favourite bands. They cheer me up musically and simply by perpetually being a part of me, as a live show in the future or memories in the past.

They aren't The Beatles, but they're ten times most of the local scene around where I live now. There are a million copy-bands struggling in the wake of Oasis and The Libertines, and Envy & Other Sins break free of that shit-quality-but-it's-okay-because-that's-the-way-the-Gallagher's-recorded-it mould that so many bands fit into.

Just watch the video and click on their name in this post, please? I don't know who is reading this yet, but hopefully someone will heed this call and we can get Envy to one more listener...they deserve it. Besides, check out that lead singer. ;)