singles
november
coldplay - the scientist
while i'm not a big coldplay fan this track is very nice. a piano lead beautiful heart tugging melody with a typical air of depression .. but somehow the atmosphere of the track sucks the listener in, admittedly over the length of a whole lp i find this a bit much, but as a single track this is good stuff. but the extra tracks are a revelation, '1.36' is a coldplay track having a lot of fun in the studio, the pace is fast and furious and the guitars rip, featuring one tim wheeler from ash (and simon pegg from top comedy show 'spaced') this track shows that coldplay could go anywhere from here .. and i hope they do more of this kind of stuff !
danko jones - lovercall
standout track from their recent full lengther (review here). blues based rock-n-fuzzbass-roll - powerfull and very insistent
extra tracks are basic riff monsters which make you wanna yell out 'gimme a beer now m*therf*cker', its thats kind of vibe. i suspect live they could really do some damage
baikonour - bake your tape ep
another interesting new label (melodic - based in manchester). this ep comprises of 4 tracks of gorgeous electronically based instrumentals.
the opening track 'oben beg' is the highlight - opening with a crowd noise sample from some far off land it quickly starts with a simple 2 note keyboard motif. this then leads into a bassline which follows the simple melody line, making the track instantly funky, extra instrumentation layers ~(some synths, some real instruments) are added and removed while keeping the same groove going. excellent. the next three tracks have a similar feel. you genuinely have no idea where the track is going to go. probaly due to the fact that each track is supposedly made of different recordings which have been put together ! the creator of this lovely ep apparently is french (arr - of course .. all becomes clear now, the land of quality accessible electronic music - air,barth,alex gopher) and is rasing money for less priviledged areas of the world. if there was any justice in the world this would be picked up on any openminded dance mix cd and raise monster amounts of cash for him to make more of these groovepop experiences and spread his love to every corner of the globe to the benefit of all concerned.
the fantastic super foofs - devan endo
second 3 track single from this band which includes a former flat mate of coldplays chris martin. another quality product. obvious homage towards the best drugs friend from the early 90's. the three tracks have a more melodic quality than their previous release but has the same instant nerve shredding melodies. for me its the second track 'my god you showed' which is the highlight, with its broken drum breaks and guitar licks that once again bring me out in a rash of grins. final track sounds like a lost lemonheads acoustic ditty and rounds off this release really well. so we now have 6 tracks in total from the foofs .. and not one is bad. how aout a support slot chris .. give your mates a leg up .. they deserve a helping hand.
vega4 - drifting away violently
4 track ep, with each track clocking in over 4.5 mins ! a mix of passionate guitars, windswept vocals, drawn out psychedelic guitar solos evoke memories of early verve epics, but without the individuality (aka sky reaching madness) that they had, file along with halo,muse, vibed up coldplay, especially track 4 'cure for gravity' with its piano lead opening.not ground breaking but a promising start.
the d4 - come on!
a great track off the lp. this is primo-era damned style garage guitars punk, but with a top tune chucked in for good measure. love this lots. the extra tracks are both xmas songs, 'dont believe in xmas' sounding like an old throwaway sun-era elvis b-side, recorded in a real garage, by the sounds of it, with the new york dolls hand jiving in the distance to the trad rock-n-roll riff .. whereas the last track 'santa claus' has a lot more intent and ploughs the garage punk rock sounds again
an excellent package to open on the big day itself