Tweet Tweet!

HOME 
REVIEWS
albums
singles/downloads
gigs
demos
NEWS
INTERVIEWS
FREE MP3s
STREAMED MUSIC
MUSIC VIDEOS
FORUM
LINKS
ABOUT US
CONTACT US
SEARCH
Follow SXP on Twitter
- RSS Feed
 
SoundsXP Presents
Pictures from some recent gigs we've hosted:

29 March 2013 - Brixton, London

Viv Albertine, VuVuVultures, Left Leg, Mickey Gloss, Big Wave, No Cars, Arthur Gunn, Simon Love (Pictures)

8 March 2013 - Lexington, London

R.Ring, Golden Grrrls, Slushy Guts and Equinox (Pictures)
On Our iPod
Parquet Courts - Light Up Gold (album)
Hard Skin - Why Do Birds Suddenly Appear (album)
Black Angels - Indigo Meadow (album)
Thee Oh Sees - Floating Coffin (album)
R Ring - Fallout and Fire 7”
Royal Headache - self-titled (album)
The Mariner’s Children - Sycamore EP
Can’s Ege Bamyasi played by Stephen Malkmus and Friends(album)
The Fall - Sir William Wray 7"
Lord Huron - Lonesome Dreams (album)
Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds - Conjure Man 7”
Lightning Bolt - Oblivion Hunter
Robyn Hitchcock - There Goes The Ice (2x 12")
Latest Forum Posts
Album Review

Morton Valence
Me & Home James Bastard Recordings

Article written by Matt H - May 27, 2011

mv_home_james.jpg
Morton Valence - The South (London) will rise again...
The cathode ray portion of the Confederate flag behind the neon lettering is a bit of a clue. Morton Valence have taken their louche electronic pop and ‘done a Piney Gir’ (well, partly), giving themselves something of a country makeover and reanimating a few old songs in the process.

Not that you’ll suddenly start a hoedown to it any time soon. Since their time as Florida (from which time they revisit the excellent Man on the Corner and this album’s title track) they’ve excelled at literate, heavy-lidded hungover pop, with a sound akin to that bit of a great party where the sun is coming up and you start to get a second (or third) wind. And, for all the steel guitar and loping clip-clop rhythms, that’s still the dominant feel. It’s more an urbanites dream of country music than the real thing and none the worse for it. Indeed for every twang and slide there’s a song augmented by a bit of clashing (even flamencoised) guitar and Hammond, or even old single Sailors, which survives with its Bowie-like electronics pretty much intact.

There’s a risk, as with their previous records, that the careful, mannered construction of the record could put some off. But you’d be daft to let it. Morton Valence are too classy, their songs simply too good to let them pass you by.

Links:
http://mortonvalence.com/index.html
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001269744026

LATEST FEATURES
LATEST NEWS
There's no business like Monkee business with new boxset
Phil Chevron of the Pogues makes cancer announcement
The Walkmen among latest to leg it over to End of the Road
Ready teddy go for Darren Hayman's new album
Teleman offer sound and vision
Altar your diary for Temples mini-tour
Antony is instrumental in folk music: new, short Harding spring release
Even better news from Odd Box - 18 free tracks
Pure Joy again as Teardrop Explodes' Wilder gets double disc reissue
Helen Love makes tracks for Derbyshire
LATEST FREE MP3s
Umlomo "#60"
Camera Obscura "Fifth In Line To The Throne"
Hook & The Twin "That Was A Day"
Marie Lalá "Without You"
Kazyak "Pieces Of My Map"
Pure X "Things In My Head"
Mikal Cronin "Weight"
Eva On The Western Castle Island "Shaolin Punk"
Honeymilk "Situations Of You"
SKATERS "Armed"

 

© Sounds XP Design by Darren O'Connor and Adam Walker