What鈥檚 in a name? There can exist a natural predilection for forming an opinion on a band (or solo artist hiding behind a particular nom de plume) before clapping ears on what matters most: the music.听First impressions count after all, but we also know that we mustn鈥檛 judge a book by its cover.听 I always remember seeing the name听 in print before hearing a single note, and wondering just what the head of a radio might look like, or why any right thinking band would want to be named after one. Then of course I heard second album The Bends, swiftly followed by a witnessing of the hypnotic video for 鈥淔ake Plastic Trees鈥� on Top of The Pops, and I was hooked 鈥� any issues I might have had about the name disappearing almost instantly. Similarly, might suggest a House of Commons Select Committee 鈥� militant MPs doggedly debating the merits of anti-drug legislation 鈥� but is in fact a band led by Adam Granduciel and specialising in a beautifully realised kind of ambient rock and roll. Lucid, laconic and liberally lovely, it certainly doesn鈥檛 push any right wing agenda.听听
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Picking band names is a horrible business.听My very first band was the dubiously monikered 鈥淭he Initials鈥� (although in my defence I was 11 years old, so back off right?), the names hurtling steadily downhill from there.听 Next came 鈥淪tarsky鈥� (why we didn鈥檛 opt for 鈥淗utch鈥� remains a mystery to this day), then 鈥淩ed Star Belgrade鈥� (鈥淚t鈥檚 an obscure Serbian football team, it鈥檒l be cool鈥� insisted a fellow band member), until finally 鈥淭he Dendrons鈥� 鈥� a truly terrible play on the name of a particular woody plant being all you need to know before swallowing your own fist in embarrassment 鈥� marked the final nail in the coffin for that particular band incarnation. It鈥檚 no wonder I decided to go solo for a number of years, preferring to recite my own Sunday name whenever anyone asked in the pub, 鈥渨hat鈥檚 your band called?鈥�.听In fact only recently did I find myself mired in the painful business of pinging potential band names back and forth with my merry band of players, finally settling on the nomenclature Australian firefighters give to a modest blaze responsible for starting a bush fire: The Lonesome Fire.听Never mind whatever other connotations it might have, something with humble beginnings which grows to be massively fierce was a strong enough metaphor for us.听听
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Love or hate the name, and leaving etymological discussions for another time, the point is you don鈥檛 truly know what the band is like until you listen to the songs. Some are simple ( , , , , 鈥淧耻濒辫鈥�听) and some excruciatingly ornate ( , , 听), but a quick scan of all of these names tells us that there is nothing unifying them stylistically.听They are simply a banner helping us to identify them; they tell us little about the genre of music each act belongs to. It鈥檚 once you start investigating the music that your own prejudices are tested.
Vampire Weekend perform Diane Young at Glastonbury 2013
is a classic example.听Perhaps more suggestive of a morbid goth band, moody and mascara-d, they are anything but.听Preppy, sharp and coiffured, they trade in neat one-liners and sparse rhythmic pop. Their new album 鈥淢odern Vampires of the City鈥� (yet more misdirection) is a strong collection of songs, just as quirky as their breakthrough debut and more instant than their second long player 鈥淐ontra鈥�. With touches of the -era sound that they visited earlier in their career still in evidence, combined with more sophisticated digital tricks than heard before, it鈥檚 a confident album and our Record of Note on the show this week.Also on the show is some Live on Arrival from a band who began life as The Shakedown Sound only to end up borrowing their name from a Willard Manus novel about an eccentric who works in a circus freak show: .听Undercover comes from a solo artist who needn鈥檛 have worried about whether his name worked, such was the eternal nature of the music from a certain Neil Young.听Add that to music from , , , and more and you have a veritable smorgasbord of appellations ready to be examined.听And the name of our little show? Simple! The Roddy Hart Show, .听