The Antlers are another band who have made 2009 really exciting for us at Heist Or Hit – The album Hospice has really found it’s way into our hearts. Not really being very good at describing an album I will resort to the following quotes:

The Line Of Best Fit said the following:

“Hospice is evocative of grief and bitterness and as such it ultimately works best a whole. Silberman mines much the same bedroom songwriter territory as Bon Iver , while the band smartly adds a layer of discord that lends the music mystery and a cinematic scope”

Drowned In Sound said:

“Hospice is an album of white walls, long desolate passages, and sudden blitzkriegs of high emotional drama – it’s not always comforting, but the players are hyper-attentive to the nuances of each note and lyric.”

The subject matter may be very bleak but the execution of it is beautiful and epic.  It brings to mind Neutral Milk Hotel and The Arcade Fire who have produced two of my all time favourite albums ever.

We have also seen the Antlers live and it’s stunning, powerful show. Mick caught them at the Monolith Festival and they were his band of the whole weekend. I caught them in Manchester last night and it was a fantastic gig, everything I had hoped for.

In the first of an infrequent series of blogs I’d like to introduce you to some albums that we have enjoyed this year. In between releasing great albums ourselves we also get giddy at other people’s fine work.

Firstly a band we all love at Heist Or Hit and a band who have been tragically overlooked by many people. The band in question are called Post War Years and are from London village. The band’s debut album ‘The Great And The Happenings’ was released this year to some excited press. Artrocker declared it ‘a breath taking debut’. The album is a spell binding array of samples and synths. It sounds like a band, very much together, working as one.

Live,Post War Years are a whirlwind of racing synths, samplers, vocal harmonies and band members switching instruments.The overall sound bridges the gap between Joy Division Factory Records angularity and Talking Heads pop music.

Indeed I saw these lovely young men in Manchester last night and the show was breathtakingly good. It also turns out they are some of the most polite and kindest people around.

Check them out dear friends.

Earlier today Dave from LoveLikeFire was walking down the street, only to find a homeless guy selling a familiar looking t-shirt….a LoveLikeFire one. Hopefully the homeless guy will be selling merch at all future shows. In honour of this momentous appointment I am wearing my very own LLF tshirt with pride today.

Probably only right that we bring this out for your enjoyment. For those, not in the know, last night saw Nick Griffin appear on the BBC’s Question Time programme. Griffin is the leader of the BNP who are horrible fascist scum bags. Simple. Anyway Griffin got nailed on the show and came across looking like the absolute tool he is.

My brother sent me this link to a BNP approved ‘victory song’ a while back and whilst it isn’t as repulsive as holocaust denying, it’s still pretty offensive.

Enjoy and remember with opinions like this, it’s important to let them speak so we can realise just how ridiculous they are. Hope not hate.

It seems odd to all of us at Heist Or Hit that WOXY.COM is not the most listened to and loved radio station in the world. In the Heist office we have it on pretty much constantly and it prevents the main two arguments that divide our usual harmonious existence. These argumensts are as follows:

1. Pavement are shit/Pavement are genius

2. Albums should be played in order/Albums should be shuffled about and played however you want.

Two quite dull arguments but never the less we spend a lot of time on them.

Further to this, my girlfriend has found an unquenchable love for the debut album by The XX – this album is on my ipod so she has pretty much stolen it for her commute to work. This has left me with my iPhone which has the amazing WOXY app meaning I can stumble round the mean streets of Manchester with amazing tunes in my ears. Last week I put it on to hear Emergency by The Answering Machine – great choice boys.

The UK has few DJs to love right now.  Of course Lamacq, Stephens and Kennedy are heros but they are pushed to alternative later slots so Fearne Cotton/George Lamb etc can make me weep for my license fee.

Put simply, WOXY play great songs. Some new I’ve never heard before, some old I already love – what more could you possibly want?

Sunday night saw the Mountain Goats coming to play in Manchester. It was, not surprisingly, amazing. Great songs played by awesome people to a receptive crowd. For some songs every word was sung back by the sold out Ruby Lounge and John Darnielle looked humbled and delighted. It wasn’t like those moments when Bono steps away from the mic in front of 100,000 people and knows what’s coming next, it was far more natural and honest than those phoney stage antics. How awesome for a band to travel over seas and find that people who you have never even met love your music and hard work.

It got me to thinking about the people from all over the world who have bought some of our records. The internet makes things tough for small labels but it also opens up the whole world to music fans. Yesterday morning, in my post Mountain Goats glow, we received an order from Rauma in Finland for the LoveLikeFire album. Intrigued I have done some research to see exactly where the CD is currently on it’s way towards.

Firstly here’s a map to show how I could get to Rauma from my lovely Manchester flat. If I were to hand deliver the album it would take me 1 day and 6 hours to get there and involves two sea crossings. But if I had the time and the money and the ability to drive it would be well worth the trip.

Here’s the lovely Rauma port. I think this would be a perfect setting to pop on the LoveLikeFire album and have a stroll as the sun sets.

Here’s some Wikipedia sourced facts:

1. One popular saying goes that every family in Rauma owns a boat – this is not true, though the city has room for ca. 2,800[6] boats at its docks. People can use their own boats or water buses to get to the Kylmäpihlaja lighthouse that doubles as a hotel and recreation site.

2. Annual Lace Week has been arranged in Rauma since year 1971. During the Lace week local craftspeople arrange small exhibitions in the Old Rauma area. The Lace week culminates to the Black Lace Night, when the small boutiques are open late night, various shows and concerts are held and people dress in black lace.

3. Rauma has its own dialect of Finnish, “Rauman giäl”. The dialect inherits words from languages such as Swedish, English and German due to the seafaring past. The dialect has been diluted into mainstream Finnish in day-to-day use, but it is fairly well studied (mainly by Hj. Nortamo) and practiced as a hobby.

Thanks Rauma, you’re ace!