Do Make Say Think - Classic Noodlanding (Live, 2002)

Beautiful, rolling postrock grooving.

Utterly beguiling instrumental, jazz trumpet-tinged post rock from Do Make Say Think from the heady, post-Godspeed You! Black Emporer days on Constellation Records.

A tidy drum pattern kicks things off, leaving lots of space for guitar patterns and trumpet to weave in and out. A low slung bass underpins the groove and the track gracefully unwinds, ensnaring you with gentle twists and turns.

Download Do Make Say Think 'Classic Noodlanding (Live 2002)' (Post Rock mp3, Constellation) (Divshare)

Roxy Music - Do The Strand (Old Grey Whistle Test, 1973)

Tasty live version.

Of the many things I could've chosen by Roxy Music, I've posted this because of the instrumental break about two minutes in where the piano emerges and leads a brief avant garde tango with the saxophone.

Good song too, of course.

Download Roxy Music - Do The Strand (Old Grey Whistle Test, 1973, Roxy Music mp3) (Divshare)

Tortoise 'Glass Museum (Live)' (1996)

Peerless poise and amazing elegance, Post-Rock style.

This is just a track of such elegance, it's silly. Perfectly formed, beautifully resolved, an edge of improvisation and freedom within a framework of perfect balance.

This recording is from Toronto in 1996.

Download Tortoise 'Glass Museum (Live 1996)' (Post Rock mp3) (Divshare)

Photography by Valerio Berdini

The Wedding Present - Bewitched (Live, 1989)

Recorded live for John Peel's 50th.

'Bewitched' is one of the key tracks on the 'Bizarro' album, signalling The Wedding Present's shift from wrist-wrecking jangle to guitar-twisting squall.

It lopes along on a circular riff, breaking down to a gentle strum before kicking back in with a crunch that Mogwai would be proud of.

This live version for John Peel's 50th birthday also possesses some of the most reverb-heavy drums I can remember hearing.

Download The Wedding Present 'Bewitched (Live for John Peel's 50th birthday) ' (indie mp3, Wedding Present mp3) (Rapidshare)

The xx - VCR (Live in Porto, 2010)

Spartan but lush at the same time. 

It's about time we had something new from The xx but for the moment old tunes will have to do.

The sound of this live take on 'VCR' is spartan but lush, cold but warm at the same time with the vocals intertwining beautifully.

Download The xx 'VCR (Live in Porto, 2010)' (live, indie, The xx mp3) (Box.net)

Prefab Sprout mp3 - Donna Summer (Live 1980)

Fascinating missive from Prefab Sprout's post-punk period. Yes, really.

The version of 'Donna Summer' that was released on the b-side of 'When Love Breaks Down' in 1984 is a sultry, subtle synth-led thing. It's somehow redolent of faded glamour and reeks of showbiz nostagia. I love it and was going post that today but found this version that I'd forgotten about whilst rootling through my Prefab Sprout mp3s.

It was something of a surprise to revisit this Post-Punky early version and hear Paddy McAloon yelp "What's my name? What's my name? What's my name?!"

Download Prefab Sprout 'Donna Summer (Live 1980)' (post-punk, indie, 1980) (Box)

The Auteurs - Light Aircraft On Fire (Live at LSE 1999)

Splenetic, punky brilliance. Cellist forced to mimic sound of engine failure.

Part National Treasure, part national emetic, this live gallop through 'Light Aircraft On Fire' is from the late, who-gives-a-fuck phase and is pure searing, bile-stained genius.

Download The Auteurs 'Light Aircraft On Fire (Live at LSE, 1999)' (live indie mp3) (Rapidshare)

Download the whole 'No Dialogue With Cunts' live set over on archive:live+rare

Noah and the Whale and Laura Marling - Give A Little Love (Session) (2007)

Lovely version of the debut album track - before the break-up.

Rough'n'ready but gorgeous session version of this track from 'Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down'. Just guitar, voices and rudimentary percussion.

It's Noah and the Whale in deeply thoughtful mode, a little bit miserabilist, like Lloyd Cole really, but nicely melodic.

Laura Marling is in good voice, though is playing back-up to Charlie Fink's song. The prism that hindsight gives you to view this through is, of course, interesting.

Download Noah and the Whale and Laura Marling 'Give A Little Love (Session)' (indie, acoustic, folk pop mp3) (Divshare)

Bloc Party - Banquet (Live, 2005)

Reminder of what a great band Bloc Party promised to be.

When I stumbled across Bloc Party's early output I was blown away by their tight, tight, tight take on angular but melodic indie rock with duelling, strafing guitars and yelping vocals. I think Foals, who I also love, were quite taken with them too.

In the intervening albums since their debut, Bloc Party seem to have been torn apart by their diverse ambitions. Singer Kele, it seems, wanted to go in a more electronic, pop direction, the rest of the band more than happy with their guitar-based dynamic.

It's great when bands want to move forward, try new approaches and develop but, with Bloc Party, the perfection of their initial sound, hasn't been improved upon. 'Banquet', their debut single, is still a thrilling listen especially in this live take from 2005.

Not sure why Kele feels the need to point out that "this isn't a tea party, it's a rock'n'roll concert" at the beginning. Maybe some indie kids had got out their rug and picnic hamper in front of the stage?

Download Bloc Party 'Banquet' (indie, alternative rock, mp3) (Mediafire)

Pulp 'This Is Hardcore' (Live at Wireless 2011)

A triumphant, epic performance from the live comeback.

'This Is Hardcore' is probably the single that signalled the end of Pulp's mainstream career. A bitter, twisted ballad of self-disgust and disillusionment.

It shouldn't work in the wide open spaces of a festival-style gig but it's just so big in scope and almost operatic in scale that it stands up to scrutiny.

Download Pulp 'This Is Hardcore (Live at Wireless 2011)' (indie Britpop mp3) (Box)

Shellac 'The End Of Radio' (Live Peel Session, 2005)

Almost pure tension and threat from the masterful Shellac.

This live version recorded for John Peel is nine 'The End Of Radio' is almost nine minutes of teasing, edgy implied power, the band never quite unleashing the deluge of noise that Shellac's power threatens.

It displays a masterful control of dynamics, building, building and building. The bass is a foghorn blasting through the track, guiding it into the dark, the drums pile on the tension and suspense, Albini alternates between what seems to be a stream of consciousness monologue and derranged, serrated guitar.

What a band.


Download Shellac 'The Sound Of Radio (Peel Session)' (alternative post-rock mp3)

Goldfrapp 'Utopia (Live Session)' (Mute, 2000)

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Exquisite live version with some of the squiggliest synths outside of the Radiophonic Workshop.

From a promo CD that must have been made available to radio stations so they could pretend Alison and Will were live in the studio.

'Utopia' is a highlight of the fantastically elegant Ennio Morricone-meets-Delia-Derbyshire sound of 'Felt Mountain'. The cinematic feel of Portishead, the Moog-y wonderland of Stereolab allied to a soaring Wagnerian swoop.

Also features the line "my dog needs new ears" which is pretty cool, though the song seems to be about the idea of the supermensch and maybe even eugenics.

You don't get that from Kasabian.

Download Goldfrapp 'Utopia (Live Session)' (electronica mp3 download) (Mediafire)

Download the whole Goldfrapp Live Session over on Archive:Live+Rare

Pixies 'Gouge Away' (Live, NYC, December 2004)

Brooding, controlled malevolence from the first round of comeback shows.

Building, building, building from understated threat to hollering rage. Kim Deal adding the sweet trills and rolling bass that made the Breeders rock.

Quite a good band.

Download Pixies 'Gouge Away' (Live, NYC, December 2004) (alternative rock mp3 download) (Mediafire)

Guillemots 'Trains To Brazil (Live at The Astoria)' (2007)

Giddy, swirling, joyful and insistent.Frantic, end-of-the-night live version of their ramshackle pop.

Recorded live in 2007 at The Astoria. Don't look for it - it's not there any more.

I'm pretty sure I've blogged this song in another version already. It's a doozy though so worth checking out this breathless live version.

Download Guillemots 'Trains To Brazil (Live at The Astoria)' (indie, alternative, mp3) (Mediafire)

Download the whole 'The Big Ask' CD including more Thom Yorke & Jonny Greenwood plus Guillemots, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Razorlight, Polar Bear and more - over on Archive:Live+Rare

The Necks 'Angle Of Repose' (Live at Sydney Festival, 2011)

Live improvisation for film soundtrack recorded at the Sydney Festival, January 2011.

More gliding, gently building and shifting improvisation from The Necks. 'Angle Of Repose' was recorded live as an improv against a projection of the film 'The Boys' in their home city of Sydney, Australia back in January. Oddly, they released their soundtrack to 'The Boys' as an album - but this is a completely new piece.

Utterly enthralling, stick on your earphones or make 45 minutes of free time to drift away to this ullulating, barely-there mood that sits somewhere between Miles Davis' 'In A Silent Way' and Triosk's scratchy jazz from a few years ago.

Download The Necks 'Angle Of Respose' (live, jazz, improvisation, mp3 download) (Mediafire)

The Sundays 'Here's Where The Story Ends (Black Sessions 1992)' (Parlophone, 1992)

Nice Black Session live version of 'Reading, Writing & Arithmetic' stand-out.

The Sundays' 'Here's Where The Story Ends' is a chocolatey smooth, comforting piece of whimsical indie from their Rough Trade debut album.

Like the previously posted version of 'Joy', this version is from their Black Session for French radio in 1992. It was eventually released as a b-side of 1997 single 'Summertime'.

'Here's Where The Story Ends' is a gorgeous, rolling piece of indie-pop, a hybrid of Cocteau Twins vocal arcs and the solid acoustic guitar-based songwriting of 'The Queen Is Dead'-era Smiths. The live setting gives the song a more muscular edge that makes it sound more like 'Can't Be Sure' b-side 'Don't Tell Your Mother' than the more, ahem, ethereal mood of the debut album.

Lovely is the word.

Download The Sundays 'Here's Where The Story Ends (Black Session 1992)' (indie music mp3) (Mediafire)

Codeine 'Realize (Live)' (1992)

Funereal post-rock, nay, Slowcore captured live.

New York's Codeine beat a deathly slow trail across the early stages of post rock and slowcore, setting the bar low, low, low in terms of stretching each note to an infinity of anticipation.

Codeine's music builds on the beauty of Galaxie 500, has kinship with the likes of Low and Slint and created a framework for Red House Painters, Explosions In The Sky and Mogwai to operate in.

This track from their 'Barely Real' mini-album was my first contact with the band way-back-when. It was recorded here at a Sub Pop festival in Vermont and it has a kind of crunchy beauty.

Apparently, they've reformed with the original line-up including Chris Brokaw and will be playing All Tomorrow's Parties' I'll Be Your Mirror festival next year.

Enjoy.

Download Codeine 'Realize (Live)' (slowcore, post rock mp3 download) (Divshare)

Download the whole live set Codeine Live at Sub Pop's Vermonstress Festival, October 1992 (slowcore, post rock mp3 download) over on archive:live+rare mp3s

Laura Marling 'I Was An Eagle' (New Song) (Live, 2011)

New song performed live by indie folk songstress Laura Marling in September 2011.

A brand new song from Laura Marling's current live set.

She sounded great at Green Man festival back in August and this is great recording of the same band in a Washington DC synagogue in September.

Download Laura Marling 'I Was An Eagle' (indie folk mp3 download) (Divshare)

Download the whole live set Laura Marling Live in Washington DC, September 2011 (indie folk mp3 download) over on archive:live+rare mp3s

Bon Iver 'Towers, Perth, Calgary - Live on Later' (2011)

'Perth' in particular given an expansive, muscular makeover.

Bon Iver's second album is a treat, which is a quite an achievement after the brilliance of the 'For Emma, Forever Ago'.

This set from Later with Jools Holland features three songs played by an incredibly large ensemble - an array of multiple guitarists, drummers, brass and keyboards. This is one indie alternative hero who isn't skimping on the presentation.

'Perth' is a revelation - a stand-out for me on the album, here rendered even more epic but with a more muscular edge balancing the sweetness.

'Calgary' is a choir of yearning set over a driving, almost Arcade Fire-like chassis, bouyed by subtle brass touches. 'Towers' is a clattering shuffle with hints of Calexico/Beirut mariachi boogie.

Very beautiful.

Download Bon Iver 'Towers (Live on Later)' (indie alternative mp3 download) (Mediafire)
Download Bon Iver 'Perth (Live on Later)' (indie alternative mp3 download) (Mediafire)
Download Bon Iver 'Calgary (Live on Later)' (indie alternative mp3 download) (Mediafire)

Thom Yorke & Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead) 'No Surprises (Live)' (2007)

Lovely acoustic and xylophone version of the 'OK Computer' tune.

Delightful, sweet reading of the classic Radiohead tune, recorded live for Friends Of The Earth's 'The Big Ask' gig in 2007.

It's a simpler and more straightforwardly maudlin-lyrics-cute-melody version of Radiohead than the more recent albums which their glitch-and-dissonance and more challenging sound pallettes.

Nice to have a bit of balance.

Download Thom Yorke & Jonny Greenwood 'No Surprises (Live)' (alternative, Radiohead, mp3) (Mediafire)

Download the whole 'The Big Ask' CD including more Thom Yorke & Jonny Greenwood plus Guillemots, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Razorlight, Polar Bear and more - over on Archive:Live+Rare