Best Albums Of 2009

After much deliberation, Helen Of Troy... has finally come up with our best albums of the year (in no particular order). We hope you like it...

PJ Harvey - A Woman A Man Walked By
The XX - XX
Bat For Lashes - Two Suns
Peaches - I Feel Cream
Metric - Fantasies
Florence and the Machine - Lungs
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!
Fever Ray - When I Grow Up
Tegan and Sara - Sainthood
Amanda Blank - I Love You

That's us until 2010 (how scary is that?!?!)
We can't wait to see what a new year and a new decade brings.
Have an awesome Christmas and even better new year y'all.
Lynds & Marie-Claire

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Let's get giggical, giggical

The Mancunian non-festival live music drought draws to a close as those loveable students return to clog up our busses and bars. Spurred on by memories of five-gigs-a-week student days, Helen Of Troy… decided to start booking a few gig tickets to lift our over-too-soon summer blues. While there are a few sweet gigs in the pipeline, we were hardly overwhelmed by the lady talent visiting our fair city of the next couple of months – but here, in our humble opinion, is a brief list of the very best…

Sept 25 – Florence And The Machine
There’s not much more we (or anyone else) can say about the ubiquitous Flo-Mo. She’s awesome, her album’s awesome and she’s, you guessed it, pretty awesome live. Get a ticket if you can. Academy 1, 7pm, £13, sold out, returns only

www.myspace.com/florenceandthemachine

Sept 27 - Speech Debelle
By the time 26-year-old Brit-rapper Speech Debelle comes to Manchester, the fate of her recent Mercury Prize nomination will be revealed (winners are being announced next Monday, Sept 8th.) Until then, all eyes (and ears?) will be on the London-based musician, whose debut album Speech Therapy is a soulful, jazzy exercise in considered acoustic hip hop.
Night & Day, 7pm , £8
www.myspace.com/speechdebellemusic

Sept 29 – Nite Jewel
She may only have four songs on her MySpce page, but we’re already all over the work of Californian lo-fi indie diva Nite Jewel, aka Ramona Gonzalez. Jewel’s grainy electro-pop, Cocteau Twins-esque ethereal vocals and slow and scuzzy electro backing is a real treat.
The Deaf Institute, 7.30pm, £5
www.myspace.com/nitejewel

Oct 8 – Micachu
Back in January, Helen Of Troy… picked the lovely Micachu as one of our alternative tips for 2009. Since then, she’s released her debut album Jewellery to almost universal critical acclaim and has been taking her wonderfully weird, lo-fi pop around the world. Micachu’s back on British soil in October, so don’t miss this chance to catch one of the most exciting artists of the year in the loveliest live venue in town.
The Deaf Institute, 7.30pm, £7.50
www.myspace.com/micayomusic

The Backlash Has Begun

Helen Of Troy hates to monger doom, but after reading Dan Cairn’s insightful prediction for the future of female pop we can’t help but think that the current comparatively wide-open windows of opportunity for female musicians might be slowly closing.

Cairns sees the Mercury Prize nomination of Florence And The Machine, La Roux, Bat For Lashes, Lisa Hannigan and Speech Debelle (pictured) as the first nail in the coffin for interesting lady pop, as the outsiders become the insiders and pop, inevitably, eats itself. Of course, as Cairns states, interesting female artists will still be making music, but a record company exec is less likely to take a chance on a new interesting lady artist when the zeitgeist lies elsewhere.

Helen Of Troy is currently undecided as to whether this industry shift will bring positive or negative results. While we’d hate to see any truly talented musician turned down because their face doesn’t fit, we equally hate to see shitehawke musicians succeed just because theirs does.

Whatever happens, it would be nice to think that, even when the fickle wheel of fortune points again to boys with guitars, some genuine headway has been made for boundary-pushing women in pop/rock over the past five years. Only time (and second and third albums) will tell, but here at Helen Of Troy… we’re feeling pretty positive.

New Videos For Your Enjoyment - Otherwise Known As A Lame Post!

Helen of Troy... was super pleased to discover that the next single to be taken from Florence and the Machine's debut album Lungs, is the utterly amazing Drumming Song. You can check out the accompanying video below - we suspect the new sexed-up direction might be a result of Flo and co's much-deserved Mercury nomination. Thoughts anyone?

Next up we have the video for Peaches's upcoming single Serpentine - the woman is fierce! Let's hope the next single to be released will be the awesome I Feel Cream. Enjoy!

Spotysharing Part Four

Warning - this playlist is electro-tastic! Featuring Helen Of Troy... favourite Florence and the Machine with latest single Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up), Dismissed by the effing brilliant and ruddy rude Uffie, plus the sublime Lettin' Go courtesy of Ms Janelle Monae. Check it out here.

Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up) - New Florence And The Machine Single/Video

Don't forget the album drops July 6th. Whoop whoop!

Florence And The Machine Album Details

Lungs, Florence and the Machine's debut album, is scheduled for release on July 6th. The artwork's a little meh, but who cares we finally have a release date. The track listing may or may not resemble the below!

1. Dog Days Are Over
2. Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)
3. I'm Not Calling You A Liar
4. Howl
5. Kiss With A Fist
6. Girl With One Eye
7. Drumming Song
8. Between Two Lungs
9. Cosmic Love
10. My Boy Builds Coffins
11. Hurricane
12. Blinding
13. You've Got The Love

Music Round-Up 2nd to the 15th February

Friday 6th February – Florence And The Machine
There’s really nothing left to be said about the flipping fabulous Florence And The Machine, except that they’re playing two gigs this Friday and we urge you to catch at least one of them. The first gig comes under the guise of the Shockwaves NME Awards Tour, and features sets from Glasvegas, Friendly Fires and White Lies. The second gig is a recent development and takes place at Lost & Found over at The Ruby Lounge. We think the latter sounds infinitely more enjoyable!
www.myspace.com/florenceandthemachinemusic
Details: Academy 1, Oxford Road, Manchester
7pm, £15.59 adv
The Ruby Lounge, High Street, Central Manchester
Midnight, £5 adv

Saturday 7th February – Contort Yourself
This month’s Contort Yourself looks set to be hermazing. With live music courtesy of current hot-popper La Roux, and DJ sets from Rachel Burton (Radio 1), Emma Chibuku and Natalie Esquire, this all-out ladies’ affair is sure to impress.
www.myspace.com/larouxuk
Details: The Roadhouse, Newton Street, Central Manchester
11pm to 3am, £6

Tuesday 10th February – Asobi Seksu
Super stylish New York duo Asobi Seksu (Japanese for casual sex) are bringing their swirling shoegaze soundscapes to The Roadhouse this month, to promote their third studio album, Hush, scheduled for release on February 17th. The two-piece, helped out at live performances by a further two musicians, have been creating waves for a while now with their delightful dream pop.
www.myspace.com/asobiseksu
Details: The Roadhouse, Newton Street, Central Manchester
7.30pm, £7 adv

Don't Speak (Too Soon)

In the past week, both Miranda Sawyer and Peter Robinson have put pen to paper to proclaim the death of masculine indie. Both writers bemoan the blandness of the four boys with guitars blueprint, directing readers to a roster of lovely ladies tipped to add colour and character to the charts in 2009; name-checking artists de jour Little Boots, Lady GaGa, La Roux and Florence And The Machine in the process.

Of course, Helen Of Troy... and our lovely readers are already aware that female's where it's at, but it's nice to know that even more people are turning to women when they want their music to be innovative, interesting and delivered with attitude. It's no new thing for women to top the charts, but the class of 2009 seem to exude an attitude and individuality missing from 2008 hot tips Adele and Duffy.

While this is all good news, and believe us, we're incredibly smug at the moment, it's important to note that the battle is far from over. Critics tips and proper crossover successes are completely different things. Just look at the relatively poor chart performance of Lykke Li, Ladyhawke and Those Dancing Days. Even the superb Santogold found it tricky to set the charts alight, despite soundtracking several high-profile ad campaigns.

Unfortunately, if the massive hype surrounding these female artists doesn't start equating to massive record sales, the safe-as-houses indie boys will be back and the under representation of women in music will return. Let's just hope the attitudes of the record-buying public are changing, or we'll be back to bland quicker than you can say Norah Jones.

New Music: Florence And The Machine

The time has come for critics across the land to start unveiling their hot tips for 2009. One of the most popular choices, and rightly so, is loveable London-based quirky collective, Florence And The Machine.

Florence Welch - the integral cog in the utterly compelling and slightly cockamamie musical machine - is like a younger Kate Bush and a much less annoying Kate Nash, replete with a big voice, and a devilishly dotty mindset.

Kiss With A Fist, a firm favourite of Helen Of Troy..., is a brazen anthemic diatribe exploring the hard-hitting truth of destructive relationships, set to a punchy lo-fi indie-pop sound.

Latest single, Dog Days Are Over, is a stunning climatic delight. Featuring an intricate acoustic intro accompanied by Welch's haunting vocals, it steadily builds into a stunning Northern Soul-ish crescendo. If you're yet to hear it, we posted the awesome video here last week.

Let's hope FATM's dog days are over, and next year sees them turn into a well-oiled machine, churning out hit after hit after hit.

www.myspace.com/florenceandthemachinemusic

Florence & The Machine - Dog Days Are Over

We'll be posting a new music piece on this fantastic new(ish) talent over the next couple of weeks. Until then, check out the new single and video below - it's fricking awesome!



http://www.myspace.com/florenceandthemachinemusic

Music Round-Up (Nov 3 to Nov 16)

The next two weeks are incredibly busy in Manchester lady-music-wise, so this round-up is gonna be a little longer than usual. Bear with us though, as there are some right musical treats coming to our fair city in the next fortnight. Here we go...

Wednesday 5th Nov - Howling Bells
About two years ago, Helen Of Troy... travelled to Liverpool to watch this antipodean quartet and it really was worth the journey. Their swirling combination of country, shoegazing and grunge made their eponymous début album a real treat, with lead singer Juanita Stein's sugary vocals providing the perfect foil for her band-mates' beautifully constructed noisescapes. New single Into The Chaos, released on November 17, might not be as immediate as previous releases Low Happening and Wishing Stone, but it's still great to have them back. The Bells' are supporting the wonderful Mercury Rev, so get down early if you want to catch them.
www.myspace.com/howlingbells
Details: Academy 1, Oxford Road, Central Manchester
7.30pm, £16 (excluding fees)

Friday 7th to Sunday 9th November - Ladyfest
We've already blogged about the brilliant Ladyfest Manchester, but that was before we knew they'd secured the services of the mighty Slits (Sun). We're not shy of self promotion here at Helen Of Troy..., so it should come as no surprise that we wanted to let you know that we're DJing on Friday night after the fabulous Zombina And The Skeletones. Make sure you come along and say hello! Other highlights of the weekend include a discussion about women in the arts featuring Miranda Sawyer and music from Manda Rin (Sat). All this, plus a load of lady-made films, discussions and workshops. Hoorah.
www.myspace.com/ladyfestmanchester
Details: Zion Arts Centre, Stretford Road, Hulme, Manchester
Times and prices vary

Friday 7th November - Florence And The Machine
Anybody who's got their groove on at Helen Of Troy... over the last four months will know we're big fans of Florence And The Machine's stomping single Kiss With A Fist. Florence and pals are appearing at The Warehouse Project-housed Bestival Reunion Tour, alongside hip-hop pioneers De La Soul and Bestival head honcho Rob Da Bank - the man who tipped us off to the magnificent Bonde Do Role. www.myspace.com/florenceandthemachinemusic
Details: The Warehouse Project, Store Street -
Beneath Piccadilly Train Station, Manchester
9.30pm to 6am, £17.50 (excluding fees)

Saturday 8th November - Laura Marling
Laura Marling was born in 1990. This makes us feel incredibly old. Happily, the Hampshire-born singer-songwriter's haunting nu-folk melodies, as heard on Mercury Prize-nominated début album Alas I Cannot Swim, are ageless and sung with real soul and authority. She's supported on this date by Brighton-born duo Peggy Sue And The Pirates who proffer a delightfully stripped-down blend of folk, rockabilly and blues. www.myspace.com/lauramarling www.myspace.com/peggysueandthepirates
Details: Club Academy, UMSU, Oxford Road, Central Manchester
7.30pm, £12 (excluding fees)

Sunday 9th November - Emmy The Great
London-based singer-songwriter Emma Lee Moss is another proponent of delightful lady-led nu-folk. New single We Almost Had A Baby, released on November 10, is a wistful kitchen-sink tale of a contraception malfunction replete with 1960s girl-group backing vocals. She appears at The Deaf Institute with a full band who will hopefully add power and edge to the singer-songwriter's sometimes saccharine sound. www.myspace.com/emmythegreat
Details: The Deaf Institute, Grosvenor Street, Central Manchester,
8pm, £7 (excluding fees)

Sunday November 9 - Yo! Majesty
If you've had enough nu-folk niceness you should try raising your energy levels with riotous rap duo Yo! Majesty, who we first blogged about back in August. This lesbian two-piece provide the perfect antidote to misogynistic, homophobic hip-hop with their good-time rhymes, down-and-dirty electro beats and awesome live shows. We love 'em, we're sure you will too.
www.myspace.com/yomajesty4life
Details: The Ruby Lounge, High Street, Central Manchester
7pm (supporting Neon Neon, so get down early), sold out, returns only

Friday November 14 - Helen Of Troy Does Countertop Dancing
After the multi-venue madness of the preceeding week, it must be good to know that Helen Of Troy... is a one-stop-shop for all your lady-music needs. We'll be dishing up the usual selection of fantastic tunes by fierce females in what looks like being our busiest event yet. It's always a joy to see your lovely faces, so please come out and play.
www.myspace.com/helenoftroyclub
Details: Charlies, Harter Street, Central Manchester
10am to 4pm, £4, £3 w/flyer or NUS

It's times like this we're to proud to live in Manchester. If only we had unlimited funds and some sort of teleport device we'd be in heaven. As it is, we'll have to make do with squeezing in as much as our wallets and legs will allow while still making time to listen to the new Girls Aloud album. Who'd have thunk Autumn could be so exciting?