In a perfect world, the perfect place is with you

And for all the Editors, and Arcade Fires, and Interpols, and Franz Ferdinands, there were a million other bands that might have been just as good, but never really went anywhere. Some just released an album or two, some just had a very successful EP, and some of those bands I only ever listened to a couple of songs... ever! Here's a selection of some of those bands.

Day 299 - Delphic - 'Collections'
In the early 00s there was a blog, that eventually turned to a website, and then eventually folded, that featured a lot of music that I was getting to know firsthand. The very first song by Patrick Wolf I ever listened to was through that blog, and so was the first Delphic song. All I can recall about it is that I registered the name somewhere in a mental folder, and thought nothing of them for a while. Then around 2010, just as my then long term relationship was finally winding down, I come across the band somewhere, and 'Acolyte', especially the tracks 'This Momentary' and 'Counterpoint' became sort of anthems to what I was going through at that time. But that's where I stopped. I never followed up on them.

And this one was... mostly good. I liked how it weirdly reminded me sometimes of Mesh, especially on the vocal side. But it also sometimes annoyed the holy hell out of me. I'm not entirely convinced that this is an album I'd want to return to, but it's by no means awful. Just sort of good. It gets a 6/10

Day 300 - Infadels - 'The Future Of The Gravity Boy'
Way back when, I knew a kid called Miguel that for some reason was always very friendly towards me, like almost hyperactively so, as if whenever me saw each other he sought validation from me for whatever reason. We were 'friends' on MSN Messenger and he'd sometimes send me whatever songs he was listening to. One that stuck was precisely this band. But in all honesty - I never listened to one full album by them. In fact, I only know - and really like - some four or five tracks from their first album. I found out that their output wasn't that prolific - they only had two more records after the first. And this one is good, sometimes it's very good, and sometimes it's irritating. It's Infadels down to a T, that much can be said. I'll give it a 6.5/10

Day 301 - Klaxons - 'Love Frequency'

It's 2006 and I'm going to meet one of the loves of my life, and very soon thereafter begin to destroy and erode a relationship that would last until 2011. But before I met her, there was a friend of mine called Alice, who had a friend called Joana. And Joana, my good god damn, she was just about my ideal woman. Slender, petite, big long black hair, framed by amazing bangs, and I only saw her in real life the once : I recognized her immediately, and I know she did too, our eyes met, I said nothing, I went my own way, and I still sort of regret it to this day. But I saw a lot more of her online, where we were (groan) MySpace friends. And wouldn't you know that this girl also had great taste in music? First I ever heard of Klaxons was through her page. Soon after they were everywhere, like the second coming of Christ. And for a while there, they seemed untouchable. But I wasn't that impressed by them, no sir. Not initially.

Summer 2007 and I'm going through the first breakup (of many...) in my relationship with Silvia. During that time, I went to a festival where loads of the bands I loved played, and Klaxons played too. And I liked them live, and that gave me a greater appreciation for them. Then something happened : the dreaded second album came out, and all I heard about it was how not good it was. It would also flop commercially. I never gave it a listen. I never even kept track of them. So imagine my surprise to find out that they eventually released another album, and that after that they'd called it quits.

And here in this very album what you can find is quintessential Klaxons. I mean, if you liked what they did on the first record, you'll love what they did here. If you didn't, then maybe this one's not for you. And did I like it? I did, a whole great deal. And it got me thinking why was it that after that first record, the phenomenon just sort of fizzled out. Because I don't think I know of anyone who kept up with the band after that. And maybe that's because some things just make sense in a very specific period of time, in very specific circumstances, and then, just as quick as they came around, they go away, and with any luck people will have very fond memories of that experience.

Listening to a 2012 record in 2026 made me feel like I was back in 2006, and that's a good thing. I'll give this record a 7.5/10

Day 302 - Black Kids - 'Rookie'
Now, in full disclosure - I only know two songs by them : 'Hurricane Jane' and 'I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You', and I can't even recall how I found out about them. But be that as it may, I did buy the 7'' singles for both tracks when they came out, and they were a regular presence on my DJ sets, back when I did that sort of thing. And yeah, I love those two songs, still listen to them to this very day, they're still on one of my playlists. But that's all I do know - I never, ever felt tempted to listen to the whole album, though for many an occasion I held the vinyl in my hand and contemplated getting it. So what do we have here? We have pretty much more of the same, and that's pretty damn good. It's that sort of upbeat but sad indie, with bits of New Order or The Cure or The Smiths thrown in, and it works pretty well. I must say that the last two songs, though, didn't do that much for me. Didn't stop me from enjoying the hell out of it, and as such it gets a groovy 7/10

Day 303 - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - 'New Fragility'

Sometimes we judge bands or artists not by their own merit, but by what a critic says on their review, or what someone who you may know might think about said band/artist. And if you couple that with my innate distaste for bands with stupid names and god awful cover art, then these guys never really had much of a chance with me. I'll own up to the fact that I only ever listened to two songs by these guys, one I like, and one I love : 'Satan Said Dance' and 'The Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth.' And the latter, coming from their first album, I was reliably told by quite a few people in the know that this was the one good song in the album, and that it was highly skippable as a whole. And I remember some not so great reviews, even a few mentioning how poor and hopeless the singer's singing was. So I never felt that urge to sit down and listen to any other thing by them. That is, until now. And damn me for a fool, I loved this one. Yeah, it's got that weird singing style that only Alec Ounsworth can really pull off, but it's so delicately beautiful, and at times it sort of reminds me of Radiohead back in their good old days, at least when it comes to the voice. This was one hell of a surprise, and I'll give it a great 8/10

Day 304 - I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness - 'Dust'

When you're part of a scene, or at least when you think you are, and you care enough to make an effort, there's this weird competition - more like an arms race, actually - to find the next big obscure thing you got to know before everyone else does. When I was big into Aggrotech/EBM and all that stuff, a band called Amduscia was the one I think I found out about before other people did. One day, in conversation with a guy I knew, I asked him what he was listening to and he casually drops the name Amduscia. On the inside, a raging fire welled up inside me, but on the outside I tried to play it as cool as I could, doing my best not to sound like an utter douche. 'Oh, you know about Amduscia, do you? Hmm, how interesting, I moved on from them a year ago. How quaint.'

And, of course, what that has to do with this band here is that when I was getting into Editors, and Interpol, and all that early post-punk revival goodness, I knew these guys who were already into the next big and obscure band in the genre. 'I only listen to 'I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness' now', someone told me, and damn me if I didn't find that to be extremely snobbish and off-puting, and so I hated the band straightaway. But somehow I ended buying their debut album 'Fear Is on Our Side', maybe because I found it on the cheap and thought why the hell not. I'm not sure I ever listened to it from beginning to end - I can't recall ever doing so, but... in that album there's a song I really love and still listen to this day - 'According To Plan'. Maybe I was afraid that the rest of the album just wouldn't measure up to the brilliance of that one track. 

So, does this album... measure up? Well, yes and no. By yes, I mean that you can certainly see and hear that that DNA is fully present throughout, and I'm not sure that any other band sound quite like them. But it's also different, and that was good. I'm not sure that there was one single track that I didn't like, and I loved quite a number of the songs here. Pretty good, I'll give it a big 7.5/10

Day 304 - The Naked and Famous - 'Recover'

During the summer, I wrote about how there's a certain kind of music that seems to be written by very beautiful and very hot people, for very beautiful and very hot people, who have infinitely more interesting lives than yours, and who do all these amazing things, and eat the best food and drink the best drinks, people so bohemian that orgies are second nature to them. You don't, in fact, know any of these people personally, though sometimes you get some suspicions that someone you know might actually be one of them. When I first listened to this band, I was on the way out of a long relationship, and one song - especially one song - stuck with me. Still does, it hit the mark that bad. So, in the song 'All Of This' there is this bit : 

'As the plans turn into compromise

The promises all turn to lies

The spite builds up and I can't get through

Passive me aggressive you

I know I nag, I moan I know

But with a plan like this it's way too slow

In the time it took to get this bad

I could have made this work but all I had

Was the hope that pieces would take shape

And we could watch them all fall into place'

I've sang that bit so, so many times. And I can't do it without thinking about a very specific time I sang it. It's 2011, that relationship had ended, but I'd still feel its aftermath for well over a year. But I remember wanting to pick myself up straight away. I hadn't felt good with myself for a long time, so I sought to remedy that. I started working out, and as I got in shape I decided to treat myself to new clothes that would definitely fit me better. I got a haircut. I smelled good. And I was feeling much, much better with myself. The problem for me is that it brought me a lot of attention, so I quickly devolved into a pattern of going out and getting drunk and wake up next to some stranger. I had a few short lived relationships as well. But no woman alive could have appeased me at the time. No one, that is, except Sofia's sister.
'Who', I hear you ask, is 'Sofia and more importantly, who is her sister?' Well, Sofia was a DJ whose sets I always enjoyed. I don't think I ever interacted with her, but I always knew that whenever she DJ'd, I would have a blast of a night. But, in brutal honesty, she was quite ugly. And the real tragedy is that she had a sister who was the complete physical opposite of her - super fit and hot, and incredibly beautiful. She's probably the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. And very often she was present at her sister's sets, often accompanied by some musclebound dolt. But one day she was alone. And I was smack in the middle of the dancefloor, vodka coursing through my veins, having the time of my life, and out of nowhere, I open my eyes, and she's dancing right next to me, facing me, the nearness of her filling me with such radiant light, the sweet scent of her perfume making my knees tremble. It was playing 'All of this' and we sang it to each other, eyes locked. And then, as quick as it started, the moment was soon over - far too soon - and that proximity vanished. We got so close as we sang that our lips almost touched. And had they touched? Another 'what if' scenario for me.

So, this being 2026, and me not being that guy for a long time now, and me not knowing even her name, here I find myself listening to The Naked And Famous again. I did a bit of digging, and I found out that contrary to what I might have believed - that they were a one and done sort of band - they actually released a few more albums. If I'm honest - I really didn't like this one. I'm sorry, I didn't. There was no... no punch, no oomph, it's just very, very stale, run of the mill mainstream electro pop, and not particularly good at that either. It gets a 2/10

I'm tempted to do a sort of sequel to this one, but I don't know if I can recall the names of the bands. We'll see. I might do that or I might do some of the challenges I've got on my list that I've not gotten to yet. There are a couple of challenges left that I'm sort of dreading, and I might just have to get to them soon.