VA - Now Hear This! (The Word Magazine, September 2009)

Tracks
01. The Duckworth Lewis Method - The Age Of Revolution (3:58)
02. The Panics - Get Us Home (4:17)
03. Angel Brothers - Same Sky, Different Planet (4:34)
04. The Very Best - Ntende Uli (3:20)
05. Joe Henry - Bellwether (3:54)
06. Soulsavers - Unbalanced Pieces (4:06)
07. Twisted Tongue - We Got A Really Good Thing Going (3:38)
08. Stackridge - Long Dark River (7:17)
09. Richmond Fontaine - The Boyfriends (3:29)
10. Medusa - I Become I (3:15)
11. Thomas Dybdahl - B A Part (3:26)
12. The Cave Singers - Beach House (3:43)
13. Little Dragon - Looking Glass (4:59)
14. Young Rebel Set - Billy Dies (3:06)
15. Jesse Fuller - San Francisco Bay Blues (3:27)

Total time: 1h 29s


What's on the CD with the September issue

1. The Duckworth Lewis Method - The Age Of Revolution
Named after the two chaps who developed the gloriously arcane means of calculating the winner of a weather-affected game of cricket, The Duckworth Lewis Method masks Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy and Thomas Walsh of Pugwash. Their whole record is about the glorious game and kicks off with this catchy celebration of its place in the end of Empire.
From the album The Duckworth Lewis Method

2. The Panics - Get Us Home
Although they come from Perth in Western Australia, The Panics identify with the English north-west. They have in the past enjoyed the patronage of Noel Gallagher and Shaun Ryder, took their name from a Smiths song and drew favourable comment from the late Tony Wilson after they appeared at In The City. This is from their fourth album.
From the album Cruel Guards

3. Angel Brothers - Same Sky, Different Planet
Two brothers from Doncaster who set out to produce "a soundtrack to a film of your imagination" by weaving their instrumental tapestry from a wide range of sources, from fellow Yorkshireman John Barry to Ennio Morricone, who was probably unaware of the existence of God's own county. This particular record was inspired by the recent death of their father, Ivor, who encouraged their playing.
From the album Angel Brothers

4. The Very Best - Ntende Uli
The Very Best are Malawian singer Esau Mwamwaya and European DJ/production duo Radioclit. They started last year with a mixtape on which Esau sang over remixes of various pop, Afro and indie favourites. And now comes their debut proper, which features guest appearances from M.I.A. and Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig.
From the album Warm Heart Of Africa

5. Joe Henry - Bellwether
A big Word favourite, Joe Henry returns with his 11th album fresh from producing records with Ramblin' Jack Elliott and Allen Toussaint. The press statement says the record "marries blues song form with jazz liberation; folk narrative with beat articulation. Henry has explored such genre confusion before, but never with more purpose."
From the album Blood From Stars

6. Soulsavers - Unbalanced Pieces
This comes from the production/remix duo's second album, which features contributions from Mark Lanegan, Jason Pierce, Richard Hawley, Mike Patton and others. The band's leader Rich Machin says "touring has definitely brought the guitars to the front and it's got a more soulful twist too. And though it clearly has some very dark overtones, I don't think it's quite as dark as the last."
From the album Broken

7. Twisted Tongue - We Got A Really Good Thing Going
This effort by Dave Jay and Mark Dalton is probably the first thing we've had on the Now Hear This! series that could be described as acid jazz. The pair are well represented by this rousing, sunny album track, which makes good on those promises to draw on the legacy of acts like Funkadelic and Morris Day & The Time as well as contemporary examples such as Pigeonhed and Gnarls Barkley.
From the album Twisted Tongue

8. Stackridge - Long Dark River
These West Country veterans played at the original Glastonbury, when the tickets cost just a quid and you could buy fresh milk at the farmhouse door. One of their biggest fans is best-selling author Jonathan Coe, who said, long before their new album was finished, "You can guarantee that it won't bear much resemblance to the earnest, conservative, British guitar bands who clog up most of today's airwaves."
From the album A Victory for Common Sense

9. Richmond Fontaine - The Boyfriends
Most of Richmond Fontaine's eighth album was written by leader Willy Valutin in Oregon, where he returned following the death of his mother. His retreat was prolonged by a broken arm caused by being thrown from a horse, which is the truly frontiersman's sick note. During that time he also managed to complete another novel. Let that be a lesson to the rest of us.
From the album We Used To Think The Freeway Sounded Like A River

10. Medusa - I Become I
This record is the product of Soundpad, an initiative started by the British Council to enable bands from the Indian subcontinent to collaborate with top British record producers John Leckie and Dan Austin. Medusa, who come from Mumbai, were one of the acts who came through that process and they actually recorded this tune in the very same studio where The Word's 100th podcast was committed to disk.
From the album Soundpad

11. Thomas Dybdahl - B A Part
Thomas Dybdahl has won every honour available in his native Norway and now, with the release of a collection put together from his previous four solo records, is casting his net a little further afield. You may also have come across his vocals on three tracks of the 2008 Morcheeba album Dive Deep and as the lead singer of Norwegian group The National Bank.
From the forthcoming album Thomas Dybdahl

12. The Cave Singers - Beach House
Currently on the most-extended tour in history, Sharon Robinson is best known her work with its headliner Leonard Cohen. She co-produced his Ten New Songs album, has written with him and features as a vocalist with the touring production. This is the first solo album the Los Angeles-based singer has produced.
From the album Welcome Joy

13. Little Dragon - Looking Glass
This is only the second album by this electronic act from Gothenberg, Sweden and fronted by the not very Swedish-sounding Yukumi, yet already they're calling it "a pulsating pop epic that Prince would be proud of". (Actually, he'd be proud of anything he didn't have to give away with the Mail On Sunday).
From the album Machine Dreams

14. Young Rebel Set - Billy Dies
"The mysterious troubadours that form Young Rebel Set preach full-blooded tales of tough love, hard luck and the triumph of romance against the odds. Every spit-and-sawdust jig is spun from the blood, sweat, tears, toil and glory of an extraordinary group and woven into a rousing patchwork of gritty urban folk." That's what it says here.
From the debut single If I Was

15. Jesse Fuller - San Francisco Bay Blues
During the Great Folk Scare of the '60s lots of itinerant black performers found themselves in unaccustomed demand. One of them was "one-man band" Jesse Fuller, who was well known for his signature song San Francisco Bay Blues.
From the album Move On Down The Line