Bill Wyman on his dirt cheap Dallas Tuxedo bass

Bill Wyman is still in awe with the sound of his Dallas Tuxedo bass, which he purchased for about £8 back in the day. He played it on almost all Rolling Stones albums, with songs from Sticky Fingers as his favourites. From an interview in Guitar Player:

'I Got the Blues' was probably one of the best songs I ever did with that one. 'Sister Morphine,' from the same LP, is another — a lot of the slow, bluesy things, the ballady things, songs where I wanted it to sound like a string bass. I can sort of slide on it because there are no frets, and I can almost get a little bit of that slap sound playing it with the thumb. I play every other bass with a pick, but I use my thumb on that one.

» billwyman.com

The Would-Be-Goods: Tears Before Bedtime

photo: Liam Hare

English indie pop band The Would-Be-Goods are masters of unusual love songs with at twist, with references to Greek mythology, drugs, dressing up in black, being annoyed by fairies, and having second thoughts about body art. Singer and band leader Jessica Griffin's vocal delivery is precise like a school teacher, which makes the lyrical content even more cutting.

With a mix of 60s baroque pop and its 90s follow-up twee, the band dresses themselves in full-colour melodies, creating a buzz without any side effects, save for the urge to play the album again. And again.

Mould: Falling Posture

Bristol punk trio Mould are a bit two-faced on their latest single Falling Posture. Their usual breakneck speed is in full force, only to give way to slacker shoegaze after rattling the cage for two minutes. They basically sticked two songs together they could not quite finish, only to find that it worked out swimmingly. Happy accidents don't come often, but when they do it will be cause for high fives all around and maybe a couple of beers to celebrate.

The Fake Friends: Let's Not Overthink This

photo: Nick Pegg

Montreal based dance punk rockers The Fake Friends go through a shit load of ideas on their Let's Not Overthink This album, ending up with an uneven bunch of tracks that so a lot of promise - with the exception of Five Star Review, a lame sort of spoken word tongue-in-cheek band bio in-joke that they should have shelved - but an outsider look would have tightened things up quite a bit.

There is a rather good EP in there - tackling rampant consumerism Sucker Born Every Minute, the morose Control, the stop-start Hyperconnection, and the boogie rocker Dance on my Grave (imagine Status Quo having a party with Triggerfinger). They have the licks, they have the riffs, but trying to make each song an anthem was probably not the greatest idea.

Gabriel Vicéns: "Guaiza" video

Composer and guitarist Gabriel Vicéns has unveiled a video for Guaiza, a track from his forthcoming new album Niebla. It is subtle conversation between all the players, letting their instruments do the talking by way of gentle, intricate jazz.