Toronto - Lets face it, if you live in this little hub of the universe we call Toronto, you know someone who likes British music. You know the type … the EPL followers, the people who say stuff like ‘Brilliant!’, ‘Smashing’ and call their friends ‘mates’. To these devote followers of British music, nothing will ever top the blur-oasis-pulp-stone roses-suede-happy mondays era of the early 90s. Probably true. But seriously, there is little doubt that the Brits have had a large influence of music in the past two centuries. It is sad that only a few people know about it, and that a lot of people think Blur’s only song is “Song 2″. To help the educate people on the recent history of British music, Rhino Records has put out an awesome compilation of music.

Brit Box is a 4 cd compilation that features music from bands there were predominantly from 1980 to 1995, taking you through all the different phases of music - twee, c86, madcester, shoegaze and britpop notwithstanding. The compilation has all the big boys without overlooking all those small bands that make this compilation truly one of the top compilations out there. I highly recommend you get it this however you can.

Disc 1:

01 The Smiths - “How Soon Is Now?”
02 Cocteau Twins - “Lorelei”
03 Felt - “Primitive Painters”
04 Shop Assistants - “Somewhere in China”
05 The Mighty Lemon Drops - “My Biggest Thrill”
06 The Cure - “Just Like Heaven”
07 Echo & The Bunnymen - “Lips Like Sugar”
08 The Jesus and Mary Chain - “April Skies”
09 Spacemen 3 - “Walkin’ With Jesus (Sound of Confusion)”
10 The Primitives - “Crash”
11 The Wonder Stuff - “Unbearable”
12 The Stone Roses - “She Bangs the Drums”
13 The Charlatans UK - “The Only One I Know”
14 Happy Mondays - “Step On”
15 Primal Scream - “Loaded” [single version]
16 Inspiral Carpets - “This Is How It Feels”
17 The Trash Can Sinatras - “Obscurity Knocks”
18 The La’s - “There She Goes”
19 The Sundays - “Here’s Where the Story Ends”

Disc 2:

01 Ride - “Vapour Trail”
02 Pale Saints - “Sight of You”
03 My Bloody Valentine - “Only Shallow”
04 Lush - “For Love”
05 The Telescopes - “Flying”
06 Chapterhouse - “Pearl”
07 Catherine Wheel - “I Want To Touch You”
08 Bleach - “Trip & Slide”
09 Curve - “Coast Is Clear”
10 Five Thirty - “You”
11 Moose - “This River Will Never Run Dry”
12 The Family Cat - “(Thought I’d Died) And Gone To Heaven”
13 The Dylans - “(Don’t Cut Me Down) Mary Quant in Blue”
14 Thousand Yard Stare - “0-0 A.E.T. (No Score After Extra Time)”
15 Ned’s Atomic Dustbin - “Grey Cell Green”
16 Birdland - “Shoot You Down”
17 Manic Street Preachers - “Stay Beautiful”
18 Teenage Fanclub - “Star Sign”

Disc 3:

01 Suede - “Metal Mickey”
02 Swervedriver - “Duel” [radio edit]
03 Eugenius - “Breakfast”
04 Superstar - “Barfly”
05 New Order - “Regret”
06 James - “Laid”
07 Nick Heyward - “Kite”
08 The Boo Radleys - “Lazarus”
09 Saint Etienne - “You’re in a Bad Way”
10 Stereolab - “Wow & Flutter”
11 Blur - “Tracy Jacks”
12 Oasis - “Live Forever”
13 Pulp - “Common People”
14 These Animal Men - “Speed King”
15 Mega City Four - “Wallflower”
16 Echobelly - “Insomniac”
17 Gene - “Sleep Well Tonight”
18 Menswe@r - “Sleeping In”
19 Supergrass - “Alright”
20 Cast - “Alright”
21 Elastica - “Stutter”

Disc 4:

01 Dodgy - “In a Room”
02 Ash - “Girl From Mars”
03 Sleeper - “Sale of the Century”
04 Marion - “Sleep”
05 Kula Shaker - “Tattva”
06 Ocean Colour Scene - “The Riverboat Song”
07 Babybird - “You’re Gorgeous”
08 The Bluetones - “Slight Return”
09 Super Furry Animals - “Something 4 the Weekend”
10 The Divine Comedy - “Something for the Weekend”
11 Cornershop - “Brimful of Asha”
12 Silver Sun - “Service”
13 Spiritualized - “Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space”
14 Mansun - “Wide Open Space”
15 Hurricane #1 - “Step Into My World”
16 The Verve - “Lucky Man”
17 Rialto - “Untouchable”
18 Catatonia - “Mulder and Scully”
19 Placebo - “You Don’t Care About Us”
20 Gay Dad - “Oh Jim”

Companion Pieces:

A good reading of the era:

Britpop!: Cool Britannia and the Spectacular Demise of English Rock

For those people who are blind(how are you reading this blog!) or don’t like to read:

Live Forever: The Rise and Fall of Britpop

and also, what brit music post would be complete without posting a picture of Kate Moss, resident britpop whore:

Toronto - I loved the last Goldfrapp album, Supernature. It had some good shit on it, very dancey-electro kind of feel. In fact I’ll go as far to say that I am a Goldfrapp fan. So imagine my delight when I found via some incredible fluke, the latest Goldfrapp album online. It is called Seventh Tree and its scheduled for release on Feb 12, 2008. I dont know how it came online so quickly, but i know there is probably some disgruntle worker somewhere that did this.

Before I quickly deleted the album, I gave it a listen. What can I say about it? It is quite a change from previous albums. The other Goldfrapp albums were all about the party, the glitter and the glam. This album? It’s about the morning after, the sunday afternoon, where all you want to do is drink coffee beside a fire place and read a book…or play halo 3. It’s a definite departure from their sound, but it is still pretty good. It has a laid back vibe to it, sometimes it sounds like the raveonettes, when the guy isn’t singing and they aren’t trying to duplicate Jesus and Mary Chain. I’m sure this album will put off some fans of the Goldfrapp sound, but this album will probably prolong their careers just a bit, as it shows that they can do music besides the electroclashdanceparty stuff they are known for.

id post some mp3s, but i don’t have them anymore. so instead, i’ll provide you with a youtube video - in case you aren’t familiar with this band.

Track Listing
1 Clowns
2 Little Bird
3 Happiness
4 Road to Somewhere
5 Eat Yourself
6 Some People
7 A&E
8 Cologne Cerrone Houdini
9 Caravan Girl
10 Monster Love