arab strap, jack, anthony and the johnsons, arcade fire, souxsie soux, morrissey, belle and sebastian, the only ones, gorky's zygotic mynci, tindersticks, melanie, scott walker, the go betweens, the shangri las, aztec camera, prefab sprout, motown, bowie, Dexy's midnight runners, the housemartins, souxsie and the banshees, orange juice, xtc, black box recorder, frankie valli, sandie shaw, peru you, baader meinhof, pet shop boys, billy bragg, johnny cash, jenny lewis and the watson twins, the housemartins, associates, ennio morricone, kate bush, mike leigh (the film maker, not beefy boys shop on walworth rd, although saying that I've never actually been in there...yet), the cardigans, pj harvey, lloyd cole, roddy frame, camera obscura, aztec camera, the national, electralane, british sea power, elvis costello, the pixies, early madonna, bros, glasvegas, palomar, pulp, phil spector, echo and the bunnymen, the low edges, the magnetic fields, leonard cohen, guns'n'roses, half man half biscuit, Elvis, the velvet underground, t rex, dolly parton, cilla black, jonothan richman, the fall....
Sounds Like
All of the above but different and not quite as good.
"...their songs are lyrical vignettes of urban angst and unrequited love that are straight out of the young Brett Anderson's notebook. Brian's unconventional, yet captivating, voice crackles with so much emotion he could be singing the Yellow Pages and it'd sound deeply meaningful. When Brian gives Bree a chance to shine on the Devil's favourite track 'Chip Pan Glam' the band transform into Belle & Sebastian at their jauntiest." - THE DEVIL HAS THE BEST TUNA
"...a London collective, by way of Scotland, they make the kind of dreamy indiepop that Felt peddled in their prime, tinged with a caustic wit last seen dribbling from Luke Haines’ mouth." LAST FM
"If you have ever fallen for bands like The Magnetic Fields, Camera Obscura and Butcher Boy - you'll be right at home with The Understudies, proffering beautifully presented indiepop melodies. 'Flicknives' is one of those pop songs that manages to drill itself into your brain - making itself comfortable and refusing to leave - it's fabulous little song and one I can't stop listening to. They're a cracking little band" - LOST MUSIC/INDIE-MP3.COM
INDIETRACKS REVIEW: "...there were a couple of great discoveries. The Understudies, complete with great song titles such as 'Chip Pan Glam', were so nervous they couldn't work out what the applause was for - it's actually because they're pretty good." - neonfiller.com
Hello, thanks for coming to visit us! We're The Understudies, Brian, Graeme, Bree and Kris. Above are some lovely things people have said about us. Do have a little listen and let us know what you think, you could even come to one of our gigs if you like. We might come across as shy but talk to us and we're funny and much nicer than most. If you're a promoter, band, record label (ha ha) or manager and you'd like to get involved with us then drop us a line xxx.
Flicknives by The Understudies opens the CD. It’s magical. It brings memories to the Butcher Boy’s brilliant and timeless debut. It traces their links to Glasgow. But it also goes all the way towards London and back to Edinburgh. Their englishness, their class, impregnated on such a bright song. Brian sings and everything deliciously crackles. He has his own special timbre, like Lawrence of Felt but not quite. It’s disquieting, it’s haunting. A top tune, with some lush guitars that hammer into you. What a way to start! Then Bree takes the vocal duties bringing Chip Pan Glam to me. What a lovely track. It’s their sweetest, the one that reminds you of the preciousness of The School or Camera Obscura but without that twee-girl naiveté. The Understudies should be one band to keep an eye (and two ears) on this year.
This is our own little EP we put out for Indietracks. We sold out at the festival but if you ask us nicely we can make you some more. It has 'A Girl I Used to Knock About With', 'Wanting vs Getting' and 'If I Come To You' on it.
Hits of the Near Future's debut podcast is out now featuring the best
new and unsigned music from the UK. Episode 1 includes Black Poets,
Adventures of Loki, Hot Beds and more + an interview with the newly
reformed Rachel Stamp. Get in touch if you'd like to be on the next one!
Please support our Indie Pop "EP CLUB" presented by Series Two Records and Eggnog Records. It is a collaboration between an Indie Pop label in Nebraska and one in New Zealand. The indie pop EP CLUB's include artists from around the world.
LittleFuryThings presents Gamehenge 09!!!! A mammoth compilation of 100 sound artists covering Phish's mythic Gamehenge album!! 82 minutes of full color sound!!!
featuring (in order)... william fowler collins, a minority of one, robe., eat cloud, powdered wigs, core of the coalman, milch of source, GDFX, flying squirrel, avi bear, gangi, jinbaobabtuner, faith/lightspeed, cameron wisch, the questionmarks, karl blau, padna, capitol k, whitman, keepbullfighting, struktur, kixly, color rabbit, liek, christian science minotaur, onna curry, say no to architecture, magic pencil, alstair crosbie, saber khan, universal studios florida, goodwillies, leo, teeth mountain, powerpillfist, willson, larkin grimm and movie, hirth, monkeyking, anna, strawberry bones, holzkopf, blue sabbath black fiji, verdun, catfish rivers, cowford self destruction, truckasauras, pjtr kaufmann, ryan garbes, happiness is here to stay, video hippos, shitmat, manburger surgical, 1234567890, radioshock, tunnels, teenage souls, tetrix, good journey, gangpol and mit, c. diehl, arklight, king crab, yellow crystal star, woman year, ice cream creatures, loplop, bad orb, alex ookpik, pdl, yellow weekends, shelf da muzik, jason kocol, some weird sin, towering heroic dudes, yonderverse, rad wolf, fyoelk, bertuf, RINGS, the puddle parade, rivers, spermwhales, antique brothers, quincy quartz, the lava children, sparagmos, spinach, mit nye band, scissor shock, nullkommajosefh, sailor winters, sean reardon, mother33, satanicporncultshop, semiconductors, ali usurper, ra'shkatan, fake krishnas, mezcup <
....FRIZZ RECORDS is proud to announce our second official LP release...
"Modern Mediaeval" is the third LP from singer-songwriter DAVID GARSIDE, and the first to receive the full Frizz Records vinyl treatment. It’s also clearly the most fully-realised statement of his distinctive vision so far…
It’s an easy route to locate David in the tradition of his ‘classic’ influences (McCartney, Nick Drake, Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell, The Beach Boys, Love, Talking Heads, Peter Gabriel, Dexy’s…), but there are few songwriters working today that have absorbed these influences so fully, and arrived at a mature style as David has…
This is ’singer-songwriter’ music in the sense that it’s focus is on song-craft and the unfolding of the lyrical vision of a single individual, but if so then it’s definitely at the sophisticated end of the scale (’progressive’ if that term isn’t too loaded…), filed alongside ‘Bryter Layter’, ‘The Hissing Of Summer Lawns’, ‘Pretzel Logic’ or ‘Surf’s Up’...another FRIZZ RECORDS instant classic!
"Modern Mediaeval" can be downloaded from the iTunes Store
The album is also available on heavyweight vinyl LP, or on Digipack CD from www.FrizzRecords.com & all good retailers
....FRIZZ RECORDS is proud to announce our first official LP release...
"It's Not The Wand, It's The Magic" is the debut release from AUGUST, the London based band centred around the songwriting partnership between vocalist VEDINA MOSE and multi-instrumentalist / producer RAPHAEL MANN (MR HUDSON / JOY JOSEPH / ART TERRY), with master drummer CLEAN CUT MARK and clarinetist / vocalist MAREE CHOIE completing the core line-up, and a supporting cast including ART TERRY (keyboards), SHOHEI KAWAMOTO (AKA Japanese producer Baraki, Bass clarinet, soprano sax and flute), and KAI HOFFMAN (French horn)
Always an act that juggled a diverse set of influences, the album has been compared to artists as diverse as KATE BUSH, PRINCE, DE LA SOUL, SLY STONE, MADLIB, SERGE GAINSBOURG and THE DELFONICS, for its concoction of wild experimentation and traditional song craft, organic production and futuristic electronic touches, funk bass & drums and jazz & orchestral references, infectious melodies and lyrical flights of fancy...with nods towards classic soul, JB funk, Studio One, 60s pop, psychedelia, left field hip hop, new wave, doo wop, tropicalia, high life, & avant garde jazz, without any song ever fitting squarely into any of those categories...new music, basically...and an instant classic!
"It's Not The Wand, It's The Magic" can be downloaded now from the iTunes Store
The album is also available on heavyweight vinyl LP in a sumptuous gatefold sleeve, or on Digipack CD from www.FrizzRecords.com & all good retailers
Its been selling faster than we expected, and we currently only have around a quarter of our stock left - so we thought we'd better you all know that if you want a copy then now would be a good time to pick one up! If you buy it from the link above then you're buying it direct from us, the label aren't taking a cut - so its a bit like Fair Trade for struggling musicians.
International mail-order is available, just follow the instructions.
Thank you very much, and sorry for making a mess of your profile. If its any kind of consolation, we don't have a MySpace bot, so I'm leaving these comments the old fashioned way. Three -and-a-half thousand of them. My life is so exciting.
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