CMU Playlists

Playlist: Dry The River

By | Published on Thursday 1 March 2012

Dry The River

Formed in early 2009, Dry The River were the talk over many a festival throughout 2011. Following a string of EP and single releases, the band’s hotly-anticipated debut album, ‘Shallow Bed’, is due out via Sony Music/RCA on 5 Mar, showcasing a sound that frontman Peter Liddle says “strikes a balance between lo-fi and hi-fi”.

The latest single from it, ‘The Chambers & The Valves’, was released this week, and the band kick off a string of in-store performances today at Banquet Records in Kingston, before heading off to other shops around the country, including London’s Rough Trade Easton 6 Mar and Manchester’s Fopp on 7 Mar, and play an album launch show at the Queen Of Hoxton in London on 7 Mar too.

Ahead of all that, we asked guitarist Matt Taylor to put together a playlist for us, of which he said: “It’s difficult to pull together a playlist that everyone in the band is happy with, as our individual tastes are so disparate. So, I’ve put together a selection of songs that more than one of us have been listening to recently, and also some tracks that get played regularly on long drives in the tour van. Enjoy!”

MATT TAYLOR’S TEN
Click here to listen to Matt’s playlist in Spotify, and then read on to find out more about his choices.

01 Other Lives – As I Lay My Head Down
We met these guys while playing in The Hague last year. Myself and Will, our violin player, have been playing their album ever since. The orchestration is beautiful. Parts are unashamedly Radiohead influenced, but that’s OK with us, if you’re this good a band.

02 Gallops – Miami Spider
Another band we saw at a few festivals in 2011, these guys are brutal live. Still waiting on a full album, which I believe they’re recording as I type. This is the last track on their EP and has an awesome groove in the outro.

03 The Antlers  – Tongue Tied
Burst Apart has been a huge favourite since it came out. We were lucky enough to tour Europe with these guys, and got to see them play incredible sets in some beautiful venues. This is a bonus track written and sung by Darby the keyboard player and it’s gorgeous.

04 Pulled Apart By Horses – VENOM
We all like this band a lot. They’re great fun. They’ve written another great album. And this is one of the best tracks on it.

05 Mastodon – Crack the Skye
Jonny, our drummer, is a big metal fan, but we are all digging Mastodon at the moment. This is a favourite track.

06 Feist – The Bad in Each Other
Love this song, from her last album ‘Metals’. I feel like the album got overlooked and I’m not sure why. It’s got some great songs.

07 Tall Ships – Chemistry
These guys have an album coming out shortly. They were the best band I saw at Bestival last year. We all love the rhythms of the first half of this track. Very Battles-esque. Check them out.

08 Primitai – The Craft
This is a pretty new UK metal band. They sound like real 80s old school bands like Iron Maiden. This song has an incredible harmony-guitar line in it that makes your hairs stand up. Awesome.

09 Vadoinmessico – Curling Up Your Spine
Another fairly new, really interesting band, all of the members are from different countries. They have released a few singles and this is my favourite of them – it’s a strangely haunting song, a little different to some of their other releases. I’m very curious as to what the album will sound like.

10 Leonard Cohen – Anyhow
This is a track from his new record ‘Old Ideas’. His low rumble of a voice is complemented by some really lush and subtle female backing vocals. We love the humour in these songs. An absolute living legend.



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