singles
july '06
sarah nixey - strangelove/the collector
full review : here
dangerdoom - oldschool
you know having not had my head turned by hip hop for a few weeks i suddenly felt the urge to dig out some old rawkus albums recently. mainly talib kweli/hi-tek stuff as i just love the loops and flow. so when this ep dropped through the letterbox i was rather happy. these 3 tracks are all quality material from my fave hip hop album in recent times. the loops on 'old school' are pure and simple horns and funkiness, they are sunshine anti-thug hip hop and i aint complaining. that opening 'whoooooo' kicks in and i'm dancing and loving it. it's like 'it takes two' all over again. the extra remixes (madlib and danger mouse) just add more sauce to the mixture of adult swim samples and mf doom vocals . what with this and the recent free download mini album (check my blog for detail) this dangerdoom project lives on, and on and on.
the horrors - death at the chapel
no way to get around this, but these guys are gonna make you laugh out loud. the hair, the band name, the stage names (eg joshua von grimm and spider webb) all matched by some rather fine punk rock a la the damned at their rawest and finest. the garage rock-n-roll groove hits the road from the outset, in which the opening word is 'shake!!' backed by the grottiest noise and a cheesy farfisa organ. huge fun. so get over to the bands usual spot and check the hair.
love is all - busy doing nothing
don't understand record labels at all. this is being heavily pushed by parlophone with lovely packaging and such. yet the music is pure lo-fi indie disco-punk with its post punk honking sax girl fronted shouty vocals, and distorted production (go team via pigbag) is anything but major record label friendly. no way will this aired on radio - and yet someone believes that the world are going to fall in love with this swedish gang to a serious degree. and you know, having had the album in the pile for a few weeks i can hear why. it just takes a few listens - but prior to getting the full deal, check out this single to see if you get into the shambolic chaos. oh, and b-side motorboat is better than anything off the album so makes the single even more worthwhile. but i am concerned that people at emi/parlophone are beginning to go a little mad.
the sleepy jackson - god lead your soul
to completely spin the whole lo-fi thing on its head, the sleepy jackson return with this epic homage to all things widescreen and harmonious. sweet acoustic guitars, big fat warm bass lines and huge flaming lips styled ambience are matched with the most addictive radio friendly chorus in which horns/strings are layered to the point of no return. a whole album may be a little too sickly, but when taken in such a short dosage as this, you cannot help but be overwhelmed by the sheer splendor of this powered up orchestral pop.
broken social scene - fire eye'd boy
perfect indie guitar excellence lifted from the album that still gets a lot of love at ireallylovemusic hq. the video just makes everything a little bit sweeter.
details here
adem - launch yourself
while four tet goes off and discovers abstract jazz, his fridge co-hort continues along the path of acoustically enhanced harmony. and this perfect slice of ancient-modern musics is going to make a lot people wonder 'who on earth is this?' when played on radio 2. which it should be in a decent world. the radio mix (by 'barny' of course!) is somewhat different to the album version with more sonic extras, more rinky-dink toybox noises that psapp are so good at, and generally more of everything. personally, i prefer the stripped down perfection of the original, but as the song is so good i would find it hard to destroy the excellence totally. other mixes by old mate four tet and hot chip veer further away than necessary - four tet removes all the humanity and makes a machine based track, and hot chip do their delicate electro thing to the sweet sweet song. basically buy the album - in 6 months time your soul will thank you for it.
archie bronson outfit - dead funny
one of the best tracks of the year gets lifted as a single, and is subjected to a remix treatment for the lovers of the beat, but i have to admit, i reckon that the original bluesy swamp rock via talking heads is far more interesting and longer lasting. so for those interested, the cavemen mix is like something dfa 1979 would chuck up in a state of adrenalin fuzz and drums fury, and four tet does his bleepy machine enhanced remake thing in a rather fine 7 minute epic. just go buy the sodding album - it's bloody good, and on offer everywhere now !
the wombats - lost in the post/Patricia the stripper
cracking little track this. i have no idea as to the band themselves, but don't let the cover art detract you from picking up this old school alt.rock styled guitars and bass line lead track, the interaction of the fuzzed up guitars and 'oooh oooh ooooh' backing vocals during the a-side induce shivers up the spine and so makes this my fave single of recent times, even if the chorus lyrics do sound like 'go to santa, go to santa, go to santa, go go go', whereas the flip track is about the trials and tribulations involved with falling in love with a 'lady of night' to a superb pixies styled driving bass line.
really really good stuff
out on the kids label.
circuits - radio silence/half read book
scruffy indie rock that weirdly recall old new wave of new wave faves of mine, s*m*a*s*h and these animal men, can't really put my finger on it, but something in the ramshackle production, the vocals, and the devil may care approach, just throws me back to those glorious pre-brit pop days. while the songs are not that strong, nor original, i am sure the band will make a lot of friends should they ever be given the chance.
luxembourg - we only stayed together for the kids
sorry, but the combination of pulp, morrissey, and the divine comedy is not my idea of perfection, though i am sure there are those that will lap this type of melodramatic pop music up. however, if they ever get the chance to put their artful pop ideas on tape with the necessary production budget (b-side, 'a secret public' screams 'give me a monstrous widescreen production now!') then things may become a lot more interesting. as always, time will reveal if the band can reach such heights.
christiansilva - break from the past
this band infuriate me. on one hand their muse-like excess and melodrama really grates, but then just as you think, 'oh give up the operatic drama', the band drop in one of their moments of sheer perfection. and this ep is a classic case of that in action. lead track is all layers of queen vocals, strange chord changes, and its rather prog-like, which is of course emphasised by the full length 6.5 minute version. other tracks on the ep are like mini-snippets of full tracks - showing the bands wide range of sonic experimentation. 'one little atom' has more of those vocal layers, weird synths, and a strange bubbling sound that will make dogs bark for miles around, 'how 2 be a man' is when suddenly you realise that the band may indeed have something special within, stripping away the desire to play around, they play this 1.5 minute song of love in a straight manner, acoustic guitar, piano and a complete avoidance of all things james blunt in its gorgeousness. 40 seconds is as long as the hamonised beach boys via the bee gees tribute ´dustmites´is, and ´can you feel it´ finishes things off to a lovely calm finale.
out on something in construction
the silent type - kneel/stones, knives and curses
time to calm down and mellow out ? if the answer is yes, then this drawn out epic 7.5 minute single will do the trick. clean guitars that sparkle, a delicate string section, and a lot of reverb make this sound like something Bernard butler would once be very proud of.
milburn - cheshire cat smile
everyones fave spin off from the arctic monkeys chaos, seems to be this not-so-new gang from a northern town. having been swept along in a fierce bidding war since their self released days, this 2 minute melodic indie rock will have those that love the current demand for strong accents within short sharp guitar fuelled pop songs. i doubt they'll break records like the aforementioned did in 2005, but milburn are indeed going to make a lot people very happy.
clap your hands say yeah - the skin of my yellow country teeth
recently flying to chicago, miles above the breathtaking scenery of canada, with the earth miles below, and a cloudless view of the vast landscape, i was fortunate to have this album playing on the in flight entertainment channel (shared with the last belle and Sebastian album in case you needed to know), and i have to say when this track came on, i suddenly became rather emotional. something about the peter hook bass line and the guitars just hit me hard, and if i'm hionest i think i may have shed a tear or two. so hearing this song now in the cold light of a normal day, i will always be returned to that magical moment.
dirty pretty things - deadwood
king creosote - 678
the heights - jamacia beer eyes