it's another Olympic year!

not long to go til Rio 2016

Rio 2016 Summer OlympicsCountdown

so you should probably get It's The Taking Part That Counts:

buy now!

the taking part BOOKLET!

it's the taking part that counts | Make Your Own Book

free downloads for WINNERS

quite an opening!


we will be giving away the sporting theme for every medal team GB wins during the games, so if Alison Williamson, Amy Oliver, Naomi Folkard, Larry Godfrey, Simon Terry or Alan Wills win an archery medal, DJ Downfall's Shoot It Shoot It (Hit Me Again) will be a FREE DOWNLOAD until the next medals are won!

and to start things off DARREN HAYMAN's wrestling ROMP! - Bundle! - is ALREADY available as a FREE DOWNLOAD SINGLE 

a review in the TIMES

review on Neon Filler

and it's a 9/10... marvellous:

"As a compilation this ticks all the right boxes, offering something new with 26 exclusive tracks, and introducing us to some exciting new artists, such as the dirty rock and roll of One Fathom Down and fine songwriting of Jeff Mellin, who features here with one of the album’s stand out tracks Hit Me!"

Town Bike - Tour De Force (cycling) VIDEO

 

White Town - Theme For Olympic Weightlifting

oh, yes... chart topper and all round good egg Jyoti Mishra has the honour of being the last track from It's The Taking Part That Counts to be previewed on the blog...

a Metro review for It's The Taking Part That Counts

we have a review in the Metro:

There will doubtless be other musical tributes to the Olympics, be they blandly triumphalist orchestral anthems or bombastic power ballads, but none will be as charming as this two-CD collection, in which each of the 26 sports at the London Games are represented by a single track.

The Sunny Street - Steffi (Tennis)

the Sunny Street love Steffi Graf, and their Tennis song sits perfectly between house music and indiepop... it's all Fred Perrys, summers, lawns, strawberries, and very short shorts...

next week: White Town

Hannah Peel - The Bully (Hockey)

Hannah Peel has been extremely busy of late, what with her Hockey track for "it's the taking part that counts" and the Magnetic North album, both of which are, of course, UNMISSABLE:

Hannah Peel on the sport of Hockey:

"I had a bully for a teacher. 

..I cowered and shivered in my gym skirt and t-shirt at the corner of the pitch. 

With the wind and snow on my back and bare legs, she laughed at my agony"

Credits:

Written by Hannah Peel

Performed by Hannah Peel (piano / vocals / percussion / samples) and Simon Tong (Guitars / Bass / Drums)

Additional text: 'Know the Game, Women's Hockey' 3rd Edition 1954

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hannah-Peel/142563139124021

https://twitter.com/#!/hanpeel

https://www.myspace.com/hanpeel

Darren Hayman - BUNDLE! (Wrestling)

for the weekend, why not treat yourself to a FREE download of Darren Hayman's Wrestling HIT! -
BUNDLE!

Saint Etienne - Steeplechase (Athletics)

my word, you have no idea how thrilled i was when Bob Stanley handed over a CD of a new, exclusive Saint Etienne track one Sunday at the Hangover Lounge... so here you go, this week's track from the It's The Taking Part That Counts album is Steeplechase by Saint Etienne... why not get yourself a copy in either bronze (download), silver (double CD), or gold (deluxe booklet with double CD) edition...

oh, and yes, the sleeve is a Saint Etienne board game...

Hong Kong In the 60s - Let's Play Table Tennis (Table Tennis)

this week we have the very lovely Hong Kong In The 60s bleeping, wooshing and chanting... if you don't already have a copy of their debut album, My Fantoms you shouldn't wait another minute...

next week: Saint Etienne

Linda Guilala - Morir Ahogada (Sailing)

the 20th track comes from Spanish indiepop darlings Linda Guilala, fans of fuzz, zombies, creation records in the 80's and, erm, sailing:

"La primera vez que recuerdo que España ganara una medalla de oro fue en los Juegos Olimpicos de Barcelona ´92 con Luis Doreste. Nosotros vivimos en Vigo, una ciudad costera, y la vela es tambien un deporte importante en nuestro pais. En varias ocasiones el equipo español ha sido numero uno en el ranking de la Federacion Internacional de Vela (ISAF). Por eso hemos disfrutado escribiendo y grabando esta cancion"

"The first time I remember that Spain won a gold medal was in the olimpic games of Barcelona ´92 with Luis Doreste. We are living in Vigo, a coastal city and sailing is also an important sport in our country. On several occasions the spanish team has been world number one on the ranking of the International Sailing Federation (ISAF). That´s why we enjoy writing and recording this song." (Ivan Juniper)

Linda Guilala on Bandcamp

next week - Hong Kong In The 60's

Ellis Island Sound: Ergo Squad Box

you know i've been listening to Pete Astor's records for about three quarters of my life... here's a new one, thrilled to bits of course, it's magnificent...

Ellis Island Sound - Ergo Squad Box

Ellis Island Sound is the duo of Pete Astor and David Sheppard; they celebrate their fifteenth birthday this year, having made instrumental records together, at a gentlemanly pace, since 1997. They have recorded albums and EPs for Heavenly, Peacefrog, Static Caravan and Thrill Jockey and in 2008 they took a fifteen-piece, kraut-folk incarnation of EiS around the UK festival circuit, memorably gracing the main stages at Green Man and the Big Chill.

Not entirely strangers to matters sporting, EiS once provided the background music for Channel 4's horse-racing coverage (fact!) and an early single was titled 'Olympic 2020' - a retro-futurist punt at the theme to a distant event. But the call came early and EiS have now provided Wiaiwya with an Olympic rowing theme.

'Ergo Squad Box' celebrates one of the few Olympic sports you can do sitting down.

Parenthesis...: Synthesized Swimming (Aquatic)

for the first track in May we have Parenthesis... - euphoric synthpop, like an infinite line of statuesque russian swimmers waiting to dive into an infinitely long pool, a little bit Busby Berkeley, a little bit Soviet propaganda poster, in a POP way:

The idea behind the track "Synthesized Swimming" came from a time when it became necessary, for some reason or other,  for me to simulate the sound of cola bubbles on a synthesizer, with St Etienne's button savvy producer Ian Catt. I was foolishly sceptical about our chances, but the stately synth betrayed it's formal exterior and complied with a perfect cool analogue fizz. It was from these irresistible synth bubbles that I started to dream of recreating the sounds of a swimming pool, one that was so realistic that I'd have to keep adjusting the oscillators and envelopes to keep myself afloat. This track takes the whole idea up to an Olympic size, then throws in all the aquatic sports, a ripple of Telstar, and a splash of J-pop. Is this how it feels when you swim?

100 days to go

yup, just 100 days to the opening ceremony... the perfect time to get your copy of it's the taking part that counts...

the High Barnets (feat. The Butterflies Of Love) - Danny's Got A Good Shot (Basketball)

the BUTTERFLIES OF LOVE are BACK, and the world is unquestionably a better place for it... who knows how long it'll last so make the most of it, and enjoy every second of Danny's Got A Good Shot - solid pop gold from opening strum to "game over... victory"...

Monster Bobby (feat Archbishop Desmond Tutu) - Stanley Could Turn On A Tiki (Football)

yup... it's REALLY him... the man that wrote the Pipettes best tunes has teamed up with the Archbishop, and that laugh is INCREDIBLE... keep an eye on what Bobby's up to with his Little Orchestra here...

"I was always the worst football player in my school. And I mean that quite literally. When I was in year 11, there was still no-one in year 7 who was worse than me at football. When it came to picking teams, not only was I last to be picked, but the team then forced to pick me by dint of there being no-one else to pick, generally argued vociferously that they would rather be a man down than suffer such a handicap of having me on their team. 

One day, however, our PE teacher devised a variant on the normal rules of football intended to develop tackling skills, wherein one could score points not only for getting the ball in the back of the net, but also for successfully completed tackles. I realised quite quickly that the easiest way to win this game would be to score one goal as early as possible and then avoid the ball like the plague for the rest of the game: play very defensively and as soon as the ball comes near you, just get rid of it --fast! I tried to impart this wisdom to my team mates but unfortunately nobody on my team would listen to me as they knew only too well that I was the worst football player in the whole school. 

We lost that game. But our PE teacher did admit afterwards that I was right and that, had my team listened to my advice, we would indeed have won easily. Back then, being right was a lot more important than actually winning the game."

websites, etc. : monsterbobby.tumblr.com // littleother.blogspot.com // twitter.com/monsterbobby

email: littleother@gmail.com

written and recorded by monster bobby, at home