Welcome to Endorphin and Lyla.

There is a lot of new music around these days, so much so that it is getting tiresome sifting through various myspace pages of 'the next big thing' only to be once more disappointed. So let me introduce you to Endorphin and Lyla, a two piece hailing from London who really do have that certain something. The band is composed of Loz Keystone, (guitar and vocals) and Ellie Quinn (Cello) and we managed to bag ourself an interview with them in the early spring and here is what they had to say...

So how did you two first me and Endorphin & Lyla first start playing together?

Loz: I met with Ellie on gumtree a few months ago, and it was after then that we started to play together. I was already recording a solo record last year which was mainly just guitar and vocals. When it was nearly finished I decided to find a cellist to record some melodies over the top.

Ellie: I had just started at university and hated playing in the orchestra there. I decided to put up an advert and try something new. Loz got in contact and I liked his sound and that’s how it all began...

So how would you typically describe your music?

Loz: It’s difficult to sum up in a one word genre. It's quite melancholic. The songs are written on acoustic guitar and the vocals and cello melodies twist and turn around each other. It's too dirty and lo fi to be considered "singer songwriter" though. I hope so anyway. We've been called folk. But folk can mean anything.

Who would you say are your biggest influences?

Loz: I think Coco Rosie are the musicians who made the biggest impact on me. My friend showed me them about 3 years ago and after that my musical interests became very different. Before Coco Rosie I was really into dirty rock music. I mean, I'm still "into" that but I just don't really listen to it anymore. My love for music is in a more soulful emotion at the moment; Devendra Banhart, Casiotone For The Painfully Alone, The National, Burial... Speakers Corner Quartet. Electronic beats feature a fair bit on our demo CD.
Ellie: The avant-garde cellist Zoe Keating is a massive inspiration to me. Her arrangements show the raw, mechanical aspects of the instrument which are often lost with popular sweeping romanticism. Loz also forgot to mention that in one point in his life he also wanted to be Buddy Holly!

So how did you guys get about to making the demo CD?

Loz: It's the same recordings that I was working on when I found Ellie. But since we finnished it we've added more melodies to the songs, cello parts mainly - so the record doesn't sound exactly as we do if you saw us at a show. But it has the same intention. I like it when bands sound different live to how they do on record.

Finally, do you have anything planned in the next for months?

Loz: Our main aim at the moment is to work on the live show. We recently played a set in Camden with two of our friends. One of my favourite songwriters, called Finn Ryder was singing with us and instead of the electronic beats from the record we had our friend Suren (Seneviratne) beatboxing. I'd quite like a bassist as well. And live rhythm.

Ellie: I want to start looping my cello. It’ll be like having my own cello orchestra!

Check out their myspace @ http://www.myspace.com/endorphinandlyla
*Photos credited to Hannah Owens.

Also check out single The Garden right here!

05 The Garden by PennsylvaniaDutch

Experi-mental

I am fascinated by people’s listening habits, and how (if at all) their music taste reflects their personality and other interests. This little obsession (and my other for making lists) hasn’t been helped by websites such as Last.fm and I can spend hours browsing people’s ‘recently listened’ playlists. I have decided to act on my fascination and have bought 50 blank CDs and 50 plastic wallets with the intention of handing them out to people, asking them to make a CD of at least 12 tracks that represents their music taste. So far I haven’t been particularly proactive in actually getting people to take part and so I currently have only 2 mix CDs. I will hopefully be able to publish my findings (whatever they are) when I get a few more.

I received a mix from my housemate at university and it was very interesting listening, covering a mishmash of genres, from chart dance/R’n’B to German industrial metal, it certainly is a mixed bag! If you want to get involved me, get in contact and I will be delighted to send you a CD, alternatively you could just make a mix cd yourself and send it to me.

My pick of the post rock bunch.

Post rock is a genre most commonly associated with instrumental music, and recently it has started to get a bad name for itself from journalists and artists alike. Their problem is that it covers a wide range of music, with too much a varied sound, giving the impression of it being a sort of fall back category. If a band doesn't fit into say rock, electronic or indie and there is minimal vocals, it is more likely then not to get the label of post rock. However, I still think many of the bands who fall into this genre whether they like it or not, are pretty damn special, so here are my top three 'postrock' albums everybody should listen too:

1.65daysofstatic – One Time For All Time.

65daysofstatic have often argued against their post rock labeling and could also be classed as a mixture of electronic, shoegaze and mathrock, plus a million and one other genres, but nevertheless, this album is still pure genius from start to finish. The Sheffield based bands second album is a superb follow up to The Fall Of Math, it was a tough choice to choose between the two. Stand out tracks include Radio Protector, a beautifully arranged piano infused whirlwind of blinding energy and emotion, and Await Rescue, a more typical 65 track with belting electronics and lethal drums.

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/65propaganda

2.And So I Watch You From Afar – And So I Watch You From Afar.

Easily one of the best releases of 2009, Belfast quartet ASIWYFA produced a blinding self titled debut album. It is impossible to not get caught up in the hype and whirl these guitar cladded boys do create, with aggressive song names in tow ASIWYFA hit you right in the face with their angry mix of riffs and rhythms. Stand out tracks would have to include Set Guitars to Kill and If it ain't Broke...Break It. Also, if you do end up checking this one out, make sure to listen to Holylands, 4am an insanely beautiful track of theirs, which unfortunately doesn't feature on this album.

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/andsoiwatchyoufromafar

3.Mogwai – Happy Songs For Happy People.

One of the original masters of post rock, Happy Songs For Happy People is the fourth album to come from Mogwai and showed a more mature and subdued approach. Although not one of their most famous, easily in my eyes one of their greatest releases. Especially listen out for I Know You Are But What Am I, an eerie five minute progression of beautiful piano and electronic beats.

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/mogwai

If you do enjoy these albums, other artists you should probably check out would include: Maybeshewill, Explosions In The Sky, Godspeed! You Black Emperor, Silver Mt.Zion, This Will Destroy You, From Monument to Masses and God Is An Astronaut.