Born Ruffians – Hummingbird (From Orange Ad)

I know that I said that I should be outside rather than blogging, so I am – outside, blogging (ahh, the joys of wifi). Anyway, whilst I was preparing my lunch I was listening to Liz Kershaw on 6Music and she paid this rather wonderful slice of post-punk style indie pop. It’s called Hummingbird, is by Born Ruffians, a trio from Canada and is on their recent album Red, Yellow & Blue.

Like the excellent Jamie Lidell (whose tune Another Day I wrote about a while back) they’re signed to Warp, which is probably still kind of strange to those of my age who remember Warp as purveyors of nothing but the finest techno. Hummingbird is about as far from Aphex Twin as you’re likely to get: it’s 3 minutes of frantic guitar and strange warblings, and reminds me of something I can’t quite place (maybe The Only OnesAnother Girl, Another Planet?) Whatever it is, it’s inspired a great bit of pop which will hopefully be a big hit thanks to the fact that Hummingbird is currently being used in an ad for Orange. And talking of Orange, why not help me try to win ‘the World’s first internet balloon race‘ by giving my balloon a nudge.

On a side note, today has been a day for quite scary realisations.

First was the fact that I’ve had a crush on Harriet Wheeler for nearly twenty years, whilst the second was that I used to listen to Liz Kershaw when she was on Radio 1’s Breakfast Show with Bruno Brookes even longer ago than that. And on a side note, I first heard The Only Ones’ Another Girl, Another Planet on Mark Radcliffe’s original Radio 1 show Out On Blue Six (17 years ago), which he presented with Marc Riley (better known as Lard): both Mark & Marc also still present for the BBC (on Radio 2 & 6Music respectively), a perfect example, if you really need one, that the licence fee is a tiny cost to have one of the best broadcasting organisations in the world.

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