Jack White's new single kind of left me cold - it's full of the bluster he's good at but nothing new or as exciting as The White Stripes were til the last couple of albums. Alabama Shakes have been over-hyped as well, I reckon. Great voice, interesting look but the songs I don't find all that inspiring.

Haven't heard that many new albums of 2012 yet, just getting into Bloom by Beach House. Really great melodies and soundscapes.

Half of Lana Del Rey's debut was really good, the other half kind of cringeworthy. Her track Off To The Races and The Shins' comeback single Simple Song are my two favourite songs of the year so far. I quite like Marina and the Diamonds, must give her new one a listen too.

Oh and apparently Hawley is set for number 2 in the album charts on Sunday?! 

Dexys will blow everything else out of the water with their comeback next month though. Can't wait.

Old Ideas - Leonard Cohen, but have to listen to Jack White's Blunderbuss

It's not an album but since we're sharing non-Pulp music I think it's worth a mention. The other day I stumbled across this - they're a little known band from Luxembourg and I think they are very good

http://soundcloud.com/velvet-vertigo/tracks

The best recent pop album/band I've heard in the past 12 months is probably "Help Stamp out Loneliness". Those of you who prefer HnH era Pulp might enjoy them:

Sadly, the band has gone the way of the mastadon.

fredthe3rd wrote:

---

Blimey! Did you catch him balls deep in your girlfriend?

---

 Fredthe3rd: Tension breaker...

I've only listened to the album once so I need to give it another go, but I loved Hey Jane. Found Songs in A&E a bit patchy too.

Stephen wrote:

---

Trying to piece together what happened here. It seems Calum has taken a dislike to Yankee for mentioning that he's heard some of the new 'Low' material before it's been released and that he thinks it's boastful?

Do correct me if I'm wrong!

I think that in this day and age, it's an awful lot easier to come across unreleased stuff than it used to be as people with a real interest in certain bands can often come across leaked stuff far earlier than previously. I was listening to the new Allo Darlin' album a couple of months before it came out, simply 'cos promo copies had made it onto Soulseek. Likewise the last Fall album. And several new Suede songs are also available out there for those who are interested.

I suppose it's like on t'Blur forum where people have been discussing the merits of "Under the Westway" which has only received an airing by Damon and Graham at a gig by the two of them. In the days pre-youtube, going on about how much you love this song and that you think it's amazing would have seemed really wankish as you're just boasting about the "Well, I was there" aspect of being at the gig. But when anyone with a Net connection can hear the thing on Youtube, it seems a little different.

So yeah, I don't think that it's particularly boastful to me mentioning such things in the way that Yankee did, really.

But maybe I've misread this entire situation! I only tried to piece it together 'cos I thought (with the post appearing just below mine) that I'd kicked something off!!

---

No no, Yankee KNOWS Low and has mentioned it unpromted a few times. Saying "i've heard new Low material" is just another way for him to say "i'm with the band!!" and it's just a bit boastful and annoying, especially as it's totally irellevant to this forum. I'm sure that we've all got stuff we could boast about if we wanted.

fredthe3rd wrote:

---

Calum, I think you gotta man up and admit you were a bit in the wrong.

---

I think I'm just a bit more in tune to this (plus I've been around this forum for longer than you, Fred) but he's definitely mentioned him being friends with Low at least five times, probably more. It was just excessive, needless namedropping- it wasn't what he said in this thread, just the culmination of all the times he's gone on about them. I have a friend who knows Morrissey- he doesn't go around talking about it on unreleated internet message boards. In fact, I find that people who are genuinely friends with musicians, just see them as the normal people they are and as such feel no need to boast about knowing them.

Violin Thing wrote:

---

calumlynn wrote:

---

fredthe3rd wrote:

---

Calum, I think you gotta man up and admit you were a bit in the wrong.

---

 

I think I'm just a bit more in tune to this (plus I've been around this forum for longer than you, Fred) but he's definitely mentioned him being friends with Low at least five times, probably more. It was just excessive, needless namedropping- it wasn't what he said in this thread, just the culmination of all the times he's gone on about them. I have a friend who knows Morrissey- he doesn't go around talking about it on unreleated internet message boards. In fact, I find that people who are genuinely friends with musicians, just see them as the normal people they are and as such feel no need to boast about knowing them.

---

 Slightly ironically you have talked about having a tenuous link with knowing Morrissey, I find this amusing.

---

 Err, that was kinda the point- we all have stuff we COULD boast about, but we choose not to.

calumlynn wrote:

---

---

 

---

 I'd be pretty gutted if, say, Pulp re-released WLL and didn't put After You on it, but I'd respect the bands descion not to, especially if they actually talked about why!

---

 It's funny, but of all the outtakes and demos from the WLL period it's After You that I think would sit most uneasily amongst the package. I actually wouldn't feel too bad about it being left off. It's out of kilter with the rest of the material they were recording at this time.

Stephen wrote:

---

And I've heard tales of this board's predescesor being similarly...difficult!

---

The predecessor to this board was fine.  In fact, Pulp forums are by and large very civil, even the short lived ones, in comparison to pretty much every other forum I have been involved in.  I was told I had less morals than a drug dealer on one recently because I bought a cheap ticket for a gig off Viagogo .