singles
june
having made a name for themselves as fine creators of quality dance-rock
bootlegs idc now move the game plan into high gear and go for the kill with a
serious slice of electro infused guitar based dance music with their first
release on corsair records (out
21/6).
up tempo, up lifting, up your spine.
this is driving stuff, with snippets of vocals imploring the dancefloor massive to scratch, a rip roaring guitar solo, and an forceful electro bass line that miss kittin would purr for. this track could really do some damage. the 3 track 12" comes shrinkwrapped with a 4 track cd so whether your a bedroom dj or a cd spinner - you have no excuse to find out why idc could quite easily find themselves propelled into the same league as prime era fat boy slim and the chemical brothers.
fantastic stuff.
a fine fine electro pop single with some pretty funky remixes (anticons boom bip and sole are prime suspects) released on the gronland ltd label. various elements of air and other folks who add sweet pop melodies to acoustic guitars and dirty electro synths and the still in vogue vocoder effects. with declarations that the band would like to take a little snooze then this would indeed be a rather fine soundtrack to such a pleasurable past time. boom bip's version strips away the guitars and leaves a minimal electro bleepy version that would sit proudly with a lot of the early warp records. sole add some weirdness to the mix, distorted voices and a bare vocal clash with a stripped beat. add it to your anticon mixtape, and all will be well. but for the real deal i found the mysteriously moniker'd mister 9 volt's remix the most fun. this is more faithful to the original with its synths and old school tr808 beats. matching the best of fischerspooner and air in one glorious track. so all in all - a good 'un.
the a.m. - utopia
released at the end of june on storm music, this is an interesting little 3 tracker. on the lead track we get glammed up (or is it hammed up?) vocals, harpsichord, and sweetly addictive guitars thrown into a fine 3 minute song that would sit well in with the current scissor sisters passions . the lads were friends with the late jeff buckley and have a similar desire to make timeless music. so long as timeless involves a lot of 70's influence. the second track shower is a lot more rock and adds more weight to the bowie/prince comparisons. final track 'palisades of love' (showing off with big words !) being all mellow and laidback but doesn't actually go anywhere really in its 1.5 minutes.
still - damn fine stuff.
meow meow - cracked
4 piece from la, throwing away the urges to make the predominant punk pop like the rest of the male population of us-of-a the gang (awful name unfortunately) have dug out their old creation tapes and jumped onto the old, now vacant, sofa that the dandy warhols used to inhabit prior to their discovery of duran duran. so, combine vocals harmonies, guitars, feedback, slide guitars, lazy drumming, more layers of feedback, and classic la la la style melodies. but, without being all doom and gloom in the manner of the other reid bros copyists black rebel motorcycle club. a perfect addition to the recent album by the legends. and that is a good thing.
squarepusher - venus no. 17
3 track ep with lots of acid stylings and an epic 12 minute track 'tundra 4' which goes through various phases like a classic old school future sound of london track. very techno prog.having read a lot about squarepusher stuff i have to admit that his stuff has never sounded appealing to me, all that drill-n-bass and extremeness. and indeed that opinion bears some truth. i no longer have the urge to subject my brain to such difficult msuics and the constant alarms and disorientating electro noises become somewhat annoying. i am sure that there are many out there (aphex fans) who love this type of machine driven noise as there an obvious attention to sonic detail. not for me.
prince po - hold dat
another old schooler decides to team up with some cutting edge production
techniques and make the most rewarding new noise hip hop for 2004. picking up
where danger mouse and jemini started the party, prince poetry decides to
reclaim some action now that his old organized konfusion cohort pharoahe monch
is well established, prince po has teamed up with richard x, danger mouse,
madlib, j-zone and others for his forthcoming album on the scenes most
interesting lex label. lead single is richard x's futurefunk, sliced up electro
fused hip hop - and madly excellent it is too. synths do their sequenced bass
line thing, drum machines go baboom, po raps clean lines along with jemini and
rell, while some ice cool ladies add their sexiness, addictive stuff.
for more po action grab this months hip hop connection for a 15 minute blast of grooves from the album.
cathy davey - clean and neat
new artist on regal imprint. guitars strum in a vibrant way in snappy funked up
mode. cathy then starts adding her sweetly bitter vocals over the top .. just
prior to a supergrass/madness style piano loop. the song is completely
irresistable. produced by ben 'blur' hillier. like an angy older sister of
natalie imbuliawhatever who has decided its time to rediscover her independance.
fine stuff. catch her on tour with all sorts over the coming months
lowfive - too much of nothing
chunky fun rock. wont change the world, but the vocals are strong and flow well
with the classic old school fm radio sanctioned power rock, with a funk and a
melodic edge. not bad.
hiding place - at one time or another
another rock act. there's a lot of it about at the moment, with various strands
going off all over the place, the darkness fallout, the second round of the
garage revival, and the muse over intense guitar histrionics .. unfortunately
this one doesn't fall in or out of any of these and doesn't really do anything
of interest. the lead track slave trade is noisy when its supposed to be, with
the necessary heartfelt emotions. but, this one aint for me.