SoundsXP.com - indie, folk and alt-country reviews

Sad Day For Puppets: Unknown Colors

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:37:03 PST

Sad Day For Puppets: Unknown Colors

Sad Day For Puppets are a Stockholm band on the Sonic Cathedral label whose influences date back to the early 90s but whose sound is as much pop as shoegazing: the start of ‘Romans’ even suggests Abba jamming with Ride. Partly it’s the floaty vocals of Anna Eklund, partly it’s the soft shoegaze effects that put you in mind of Lush: there’s a gentle wall-of-sound effect, faint feedback and lashings of melody on songs like the wonderful ‘Marble Gods’. There are exceptions, like the pure glam pop of ‘Cherry Blossom’ or the ethereal flutterings of ‘All The Songs’, but this is the sort of thing that a hungover Jesus and Mary Chain fan would play when they needed a gentle rousing rather than a rude awakening.

Blind Blake and the Royal Victoria Hotel Calypsos: Bahamian Songs

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:33:11 PST

Blind Blake: Bahamian Songs

I saw Andy Kershaw in the red-faced flesh about six years ago at a Boggs gig where he turned up very refreshed and within one song was screaming advice at the band - “slow down; sing more clearly; sack the drummer” - before disappearing into the night in search of fresh supplies of tramp juice. I mention this only because a decade earlier, before he turned into The Brown Bottle, he would have played this record to death. Either he or John Peel, or both, would have gone through the track listing, adding Blind Blake’s mix of Bahamian calypso, US folksong and jazz to their playlists for weeks.

Alphonso “Blind Blake” Higgs (b.1915, d. 1985) played for presidents, prime ministers and tourists visiting Nassau. He performed his most popular song, ‘Love, Love Alone’, about the abdication of Edward VIII, to the Duke of Windsor and Wallis Simpson when they were banished to the Bahamas and received a standing ovation from the Nazi-sympathising couple. These songs were recorded in the mid-50s while he was singer and leader of the house band at the Royal Victoria Hotel in Nassau and are “goombay” tunes - nothing to do with ropey German disco bands and everything to do with the Bahamian style of music and the drums used to create it.

Though played for tourists, these songs have a serious folk feel, combining jazz stylings and US country blues, while others reflect the warmth of the West Indies. There are advice songs, love songs, killing-your-rival-and-going-to-the-gallows songs and political songs. You’ll already know the traditional ‘John B’ from the Beach Boys version with a “sloop” in front but here it sparkles as a part-comedy, part-tragedy folk song. The croonerish ‘Foolish Frog’ could have been on a Dennis Potter soundtrack and ‘Monkey Song’ is an enthralling mess of piano, rattling percussion and muted trumpet. While American folk is an audible influence, this works the other way too; Blind Blake’s songs have inspired American folk revivalists like Pete Seeger and Dave Van Ronk, while Johnny Cash covered ‘Delia Gone’ (but not, I suspect, as a calypso).

Folk songs are of-the-people songs which seems to give them a life outside chronological time, and the effect of these tunes isn’t dulled by the half-century since recording. It still has the swing, the sharp humour and the trenchant lyrics that make listening to it such a rich experience.

Do the 4 Night Fandango

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 20:06:01 PST

The A Fistful Of Fandango festival returns for its third year in September. Over 4 nights it showcases many new new bands across the two stages in one venue, The 229 in London. It runs from 9-13 September and the first round of band announcements is as follows:

FANDANGO STAGE:

HERMAN DUNE // FUTURE OF THE LEFT // ART BRUT // HATCHAM SOCIAL // THE MOLOTOVS // GAGGLE

SCHUH PRESENTS ARTROCKER & CONVERSE MUSIC…
NEW BLOOD STAGE:

FLASHGUNS // THE CHAPMAN FAMILY // LR ROCKETS // KONG // TELEVISED CRIMEWAVE // KASMS // FACTORY FLOOR // A EXPERIMENT ON A BIRD IN THE AIR PUMP // VIDEO NASTIES // LION CLUB

And many more to be announced soon...

Dirty Projectors: Bitte Orca

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:57:16 PST

Dirty Projectors: Bitte Orca

As concept artists go, David Longstreth seems to be out there in a class of his own, with maybe David Byrne a comparison from an earlier generation. Rise Above from 2007 is a case in point; who else reproduces a seminal US punk record, not covering the songs but playing the songs as he remembers them from that time? With that sort of intellectual approach, it makes the cover art, of him and Nietzsche eyeballing each other, a bit less pretentious. By contrast a Green Day cover ought to show them eye-to-eye with Cletus the Slack-Jawed Oaf for their miserable rock operas.

The concept would be empty without something to back it up and thankfully, Bitte Orca delivers. Musically, it doesn’t have a linking theme like previous albums but it’s a zeitgeisty record drawing on afrobeat and r’n’b, with a more soulful/ dramatic way with the vocals. Longstreth’s falsetto voice puts you in mind of Green Gartside and is perfectly matched by the richly textured voices of Amber Coffman and Angel Deradoorian, which often play the same role as instruments. Coffman sings (and co-wrote) the brilliant ‘Stillness is the Move’, the percussive beat and wailing drawing heavily on contemporary urban pop. The other songs, all by Longstreth are intense and complex, changing tempo, adding folk tones to grungy riffs (‘The Bride’) or mellifluous string arrangements to ‘Two Doves’ for a Joanna Newsom effect, and drenching tales of urban life with African hi-life rhythms (‘Temecula Sunrise’) in best Talking Heads fashion. These aren’t three minute pop songs (sometimes you’d like an A-level in music composition to follow them) but when you break them down – and Dirty Projectors’ records encourage the deconstruction of pop - they’re not so far apart; this is best defined as (sm)art-rock.

Tyvek: Tyvek

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:55:27 PST

Tyvek

Following a string of incredible singles (including ‘Mary Ellen Claims’ on X! and ‘Needle Drops’ on What’s Your Rupture?) Siltbreeze release the debut Tyvek long player with an astounding claymation sleeve that Tony Hart would approve of. The music inside is just as awe-inspiring; the raw post-punk sound, alive with skittery rhythms, owes much to the Fall and Wire, though there are traces of Krautrock and garage too. There’s some discordance but more melody; it might be more than coincidence that the amateurish, frenetic sound of track 4 is called ‘Hey Una’ with its shades of early Fall, while ‘Michael Caine’ is fast DIY punk-pop with bleeding raw rhythms and ‘Stand and Fight’ could be a wound-up Wire with killer hooks. Lyrically, Kevin Boyer is given to much philosophising, a bit like a Detroit Mark E Smith: within the staccato rhythms of ‘Circular Ruins’ he wonders “are we dreamers or are we dreamt up?” while on ‘Stop Start’, which describes the jerky movements of the song pretty well, he’s in inviting mood: “welcome to the fucked up side of my mind…waiting for the guilt to show up”. He also gets bonus points for using the word “nonplussed”.

There’s a unified approach to this set of songs, popping and sparking like an overloaded electric circuit. They’ve invested more in the songs than the production, which is the right way to do it, and the result is a raw, edgy and barely-held-together sound that channels the best of its influences in a new way. The Siltbreeze boss reportedly turned down much promotion of this record saying “people who like it will find it”. Let me help that process by saying: you’ll love it, now find it in your local indie emporium.

Fiery Furnaces - End is Near Free MP3

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:55:18 PST

The Fiery Furnaces are set to release the brand new single The End is Near on the 20th July. It will be available as limited 12". This will be the first release from their new studio album I'm Going Away which is due out in late August. The single includes non-album tracks 'Teddy's on Kent' and an alternate version of 'Charmaine Champagne'. It is also available as a free download < a href="http://thrilljockey.com/assets/freedownload/The_Fiery_Furnaces-The_End_Is_Near.mp3">here.

Nat Johnson and the Figureheads sign to Damaged Goods

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:03:10 PST

Nat Johnson - a figurehead for the Figureheads

Soundsxp fave, Sheffield chanteuse Nat Johnson has officially decided to name her band to co-incide with being signed by punky label Damaged Goods - which very much suggests making good on the desire not to drift too far Radio 2-friendly territory. Hurray!

So Nat Johnson and the Figureheads, no less, will be ending their hiatus by releasing a new single - Wonderful Emergency - and a new album - Roman Radio - some time in the autumn.

The band are also playing Hull Adelphi on Saturday 11th if you're anywhere near that fair city (I have such fond memories of signing on there...).

King Creosote round the Loop

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:55:38 PST

To celebrate the first issue of new music journal Loops, Waterstones Piccadilly will be hosting a special 'Evening with Loops' on Friday 24th July at 7pm. The event will feature a reading by contributor Richard Milward who recently released his second novel 'Ten Storey Love Song', as well as a special performance from singer-songwriter King Creosote, who released his new album 'Flick the Vs' on Domino earlier this year.

Tickets for the event cost £3, which is redeemable against a purchase of Loops on the night, and are available from Waterstone's, 203-206 Piccadilly London W1V 9LE (020 7851 2400).

Loops is the result of a collaboration between Domino and independent publishing house Faber and is dedicated to intelligent and diverse writing about music.

Release news a-plenty from Darren Hayman

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:43:24 PST

Darren Hayman

The latest email from Darren Hayman announces plenty of Hayman and Hefner related treats:

"Where Its At Is Where You Are records release a Darren Hayman / Wave Picture split singles with both artists. Comes with a free Wave Pictures CD. Available NOW from www.hefnet.com

Darren Hayman and the Wave Pictures contribute two different Springsteen songs to the double CD tribute ‘Play Some Pool, Skip Some School, Act Real Cool’ also from WIAIWYA. Available NOW from www.hefnet.com

Following last year’s reunion with Jack Hayter Darren has made a record with Hefner drummer and singer Antony Harding. More than just a split single Darren and Antony play on each others songs. It is available now from black*kitten records or from www.hefnet.com

Copies have now arrived of the 2 CD re-issue of Hefner’s ‘We Love the City’. Release date is 28th September but you will more than likely be able to get them a little from the Hefner online shop. The full track list can be found at (you guessed it) www.hefnet.com

Darren Hayman and the Secondary Modern are playing the main stage at the End Of The Road festival this summer. They are hoping to take a gigantic (for them) six piece line up. They are also playing warm up dates. 8th September Brighton, 9th September Oxford,10th September Bristol. Full details at http://www.hefnet.com/Shows.htm . Tickets £7 from We Got Tickets."

The Rayographs: Francis

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:01:40 PST

Bingo! Occasionally, all this listening and reviewing will uncover a gem and here’s one undisputed diamond. The Rayographs are Astrud Steehouder, Jessamine Tierney and Amy Hurst and their ‘Francis’ has a powerful air of menace, build around garage riffs, ominous basslines and impatient drums. It’s not just the fact that they’re women that we compare it to the Breeders, Patti Smith and, on ‘Yellow Hair’, early PJ Harvey; it’s because this is such an accomplished (second) single that we think it worth mentioning in the same breath as those others (and there’s a bit of Nick Cave in there too). This is a brilliant release from a band we’ll all be talking about soon and if you want vinyl rather than download, there are just 500 copies (in the shops 20 July).

GaBlé: I’m OK

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 22:59:40 PST

GaBle: I'm OK

The title of this mini-album (13 tracks/ 20 minutes) is a response to Daniel Johnson’s questioning album title Hi, How Are You? The three-piece from Normandy write strange DIY indiepop where melody and dissonance, songs and field recordings, and singers and car horns have equal weight. Sometimes they’re child-like and fun (‘Lux Interior End’, or getting one of their grannies to do vocals on two tracks), sometimes they’re serious (‘First Lady of a President’, about Jackie O), but they’re usually avant-garde, with their glitch-pop, drone tones and weird juxtaposition of elements from folk to jazz to noise. Beat Happening and The Vaselines are valid comparisons but really they’re just inventive lo-fi experimental eccentrics with a neat balance of strangeness and humour.

The Radio Dept - David Free MP3

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 10:30:10 PST

Today's free MP3 is by melancholic Swedish popsters the Radio Dept and is the track David.

Noah and the Whale - The First Days of Spring Free MP3

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 12:15:19 PST

Noah and the Whale

Today's free MP3 is the title track from English folk popsters Noah and the Whale with the track The First Days of Spring. The album's out on August 31st.

A post on their site gives an update:

I'm very pleased to announce that the first screening of the film and album 'The First Days of Spring' will be at Latitude Festival. This is the third consecutive year that we have performed at the festival in some way, shape or form and it is always an absolute pleasure. A firm festival favourite amongst the band.

We are very excited to announce that pre-orders for our new album will be available from online retailers this week. Here for the first time is the artwork, provided by our very good friend, the photographer James Robinson. James has been with us on a variety of locations since January, when recording began, and we are pleased to announce that the record is accompanied by a booklet of photos which chronicle the project to it's completion.

Last night in the land of soaring spires, underground libraries, and subterranean railways, Noah and the Whale were due to debut the first screening of The First Days of Spring at the Oxford Union. Sadly we were beset by technical difficulties five minutes in, and film makers the world over shuddered unknowing as to why, when our DVD began to sporadically skip, with repeating persistence. After several attempted rescue operations, involving excessive wiping, two laptops and a bevy of what must have been some of the finest technical assistance in the country, we faced the student throng and proceeded in an unprepared question and answer session.

Thankfully hands kept rising for over forty minutes, as we fielded questions on topics as diverse as the state of the music industry, through to correcting the misconception that our new record was electronica. Despite the outcome not being what we had planned, the evening was a pleasant change to that of our normal night time engagements, in the period which is now recognised as Festival Season.

Beat the Radar/ Minisnap/ Signed Papercuts/ Socialist Leisure Party/ Mildred and the Mice/ Rachelle Garniez: singles round up

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 11:12:03 PST

You’re sat on a train suppressing the urge to ram that mobile phone up the fundament of the twat in the carriage who is discussing, at volume, all the irrelevant details of a humdrum life, what time his train arrives at his home station (as if he doesn’t make the same journey every day) and what he’d like for tea. Beat the Radar, a Lancaster-now-Manchester band, have captured those frustrations in ‘Telephone Conversation’ (Akoustik Anarkhy), a brilliant stab of tight, fast, euphoric indie-pop, that stands comparison with the Cribs. Myspace

Cloudberry Records have been very active recently. The oldest of the singles trio reviewed now is by Minisnap, the band that’s the Bats minus Bob Scott. Their ‘Whistler’ (Cloudberry Records 1007) is the best of the bunch, pure Antipodean pop honey that soars and jangles seductively while ‘Human Error’ is all strummy guitars and recorder, a feast of minor-chord melancholy. Myspace

The sleeve of Signed Papercuts’ ‘Of My Heart’ (Cloudberry Records 1011) shows a superhero in less-than-super terms. The single is extremely lo-fi and tentative – underpowered, even - nestling on the brink of shoegaze and sounding like something you’d hear on Peel in the late 80s (a more ethereal Sundays perhaps). ‘Sound of Silence Pt 2’ is trebly indiepop where the guitars struggle manfully against the piss-weak vocals. As unhappy and out-of-date as the superhero looks on the cover. Myspace

Kevin House and Andrew Hitchcock of Socialist Leisure Party are veterans of Sarah Records’ Action Painting!. ‘Turktown Saints’ (Cloudberry Records 1012) has a faraway feel, with lashings of flute that give it an air of West Coast psychedelia (the Great Society in particular). ‘Vulnerable Adults’ has more lyrical punch than most indiepop (are they really singing “Je suis Satan”?) and the 80s-style jangly guitars give it a Monochrome Set feel. A lovely grown up piece, with amazing artwork, and a long way from the shamaturism of Sarah. Myspace

Not limiting himself to his three bands, Jack White is running Third Man Records in Memphis and releasing limited edition vinyl pressings, two of which are here. Mildred and the Mice are led by a goth from Mammoth Cave, Kentucky. ‘I Like My Mice (Dead)’ (Third Man Records 7") is shouty garage rock with a primitive beat strongly influenced by the Monks and could almost be a trailer park Billy Childish while ‘Spider Bite’ is a nursery rhyme sung at half-speed by a half-cut Headcoatees. It seems to fit the original, raw White Stripes ethos: maybe Jack hears something of his old band here. Webpage

Rachelle Garniez is a different proposition. A singer-songwriter from New York, she plays piano and wurlitzer and seems a strange release. She's joined by Jack White on drums and Little Jack Laurence on bass for the one-sided single ‘My House of Peace’ (Third Man Records 7"). She has two voices: a delicate, filgreed whisper for the solo part and then a vicious growl when the band kick in. At that point it gains a New Orleans groove and becomes quite funky – imagine Kate Bush on Stars in their Eyes as Dr John - but the Jack connection makes it more interesting than it should be. Myspace

Fiery Furnaces album simmering until next month

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:54:30 PST

The Fiery Furnaces have a new album out next month. I'm Going Away is apparently an album of "sunshine-glazed 70s piano pop, filled with cascading note slides, head-nodding grooves and some of the sweetest melodies in their seemingly endless arsenal of musical ideas. Indeed, I'm Going Away, which
is easily an instant classic in the band's expansive repertoire, is The Fiery Furnaces like you've never heard them before, providing amazing new insight into the work of this effortlessly innovative duo".

The album is to be released on 24th August.

New Hidden cameras album and free MP3

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:52:18 PST

The Hidden Cameras are set to return with Origin:Orphan available September 22 on Arts & Crafts. Recorded in Toronto, Ontario and Berlin, Germany, where Gibb calls home most of the year, Origin:Orphan delves into new territory for The Hidden Cameras, including dark synths of the title track and dominant orchestration of “Walk On”. First single, “In The NA”, will be released digitally July 21 to whet the pallets of fans with two b-sides and a remix by Dolby Anol. Those out in Eastern Canada will be the first to catch the band performing new songs with a handful of dates.

You can register for a free copy of Walk on here.

Je Suis Animal - Painted in My Face Free MP3

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:38:51 PST

Today's free MP3 is wistful indiepop by Je Suis Animal with Painted in My Face.

End of the Road for Hold Steady with Sunday headline slot

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:13:32 PST

The Hold Steady have been confirmed as the Sunday headliners for this year's End of the Road Festival, completing the lineup for what promises to be yet another incredible year.

They join fellow headliners Explosions in the Sky (Fri) and Fleet Foxes (Sat) in a bill that also includes Okkervil River, Steve Earle, Dirty Projectors, The Horrors, Neko Case and Archie Bronson Outfit. See the official site for full list.

The National to play Royal Festival Hall

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:38:24 PST

The National return to Europe for festivals and a now sold out show at London’s Royal Festival Hall on August 10th 2009. This date sold out within two days’ of going on sale. The Royal Festival Hall show will be their first European date since they played festivals last summer. Support will be provided by Broken Records

The National are currently in their Brooklyn studio working on the follow up to Boxer. Their new album is due for release in 2010.

Arthur and Martha Navigation Album Review

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:28:19 PST

Arthur and Martha

The secret of being a successful artist is, in my opinion, being instantly recognisable. So that by the time a song has been playing for less than a minute the listener knows who it is. Having a sound that is immediately your own, irrespective of influences or frailties therein. I think Arthur and Martha have cracked it.

From the opener ‘Autovia’ (imagine Kraftwerk remixing the Brookside theme as Harry Cross experiments with a theremin) and beyond, this is unmistakeably Arthur and Martha. Female-fronted electronica with an unashamed glance back to Eighties beepy purveyors like OMD, Visage and New Order.

‘Kasparov’ signifies a change, featuring an acoustic guitar and Arthur on vocals. An Arthur with a (silicon?) chip on his shoulder…‘I wish you could see/ you mean nothing to me/ I’ve never felt this good before’.

‘Vallorian’ is back to the Krautypop they do so well, but ‘Navigation’ exposes a frail human side, the minimal, slow, gloopy sounds topped with Martha’s matter of fact dealings with ‘things that got in our way’. ‘This City Life’ advises us to ‘just keep abreast of urban loneliness/ by staying out’, whilst ‘Squarewave To Heaven’ is four and a half minutes of track which my colleague here at Sounds XP once described as ‘a trance-inducing stroke of pulse-pop genius that could almost persuade you that pure maths is the new rock’n’roll’. Quite.
We finish with ‘Turn To Dust’, an anthemic, end-of-gig and end-of-album number that’s crying out for a remix.

‘Navigation’. The sound of Arthur and Martha. Spot it a mile off.

The Implosion Quintet: The Future Sound of Yesterday

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:31:15 PST

The Implosion Quintet: The Future Sound of Yesterday

The Implosion Quintet is five times oversold; it’s one guy, the Norway-resident James Baker, who started hip hop hybrid experiments on a crude program on a Playstation in 2001. Now his album is like 30 channels of radio playing simultaneously, mashing up gypsy jazz, Middle Eastern folk, Tropicalia, prog, space-blues and stoner rock, with intriguing samples scattererd around and an intentionally rough-edged feel. Sometimes it’s dizzying, sometimes it’s dull; you could say Beirut meets Animal Collective meets Dead Meadow but it doesn’t sit still long enough to attach such a tag. I kept tuning in and out of the songs but returned to just a couple: ‘Bone Sideways’ mixes opera and rock riffs before turning into some sort of James Bond spy soundtrack and the accordion-led folk-mash ‘We Fight The Swan’ is a magnificent travelogue in sound and time. It’s a conceptual piece and maybe one to dip in and out of – his Myspace page is a good place to start - but who wouldn’t love an artist who thanks his listeners for “making this all seem a little less like masturbation”. This is one to enjoy with friends.

The Low Anthem: Oh My God, Charlie Darwin

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:24:18 PST

The Low Anthem: Oh My God, Charlie Darwin

It was Bon Iver breaking last year, followed by Fleet Foxes, and now The Low Anthem might be the next of the folk-inspired indie crowd to capture the hearts of the festival crowds. All the influences seem classic, from Neil Young and Dylan (the snarling ‘Champion Angel’ is the loudest and spikiest song here) to a Tom Waits’ growl on ‘The Horizon is a Beltway’. Recorded in a cabin, the Rhode Island multi-instrumentalists sketch a vision of historic America, from the creaking atmospherics and dreamy poetry of Mayflower-referencing ‘Charlie Darwin’ to the cover of ‘Home I’ll Never Be’, a hobo’s travelogue by Tom Waits with lyrics by Kerouac, and the secular Southern Gospel of ‘OMGCD’.

The Waits impressions sit a little uneasily with the delicate folky touches elsewhere so I’d put this a place or two behind Bon Iver, if you’re comparing. But it has some first class songs: the whispery and redemptive ‘Ticket Taker’ and the harmony-strewn ‘To Ohio’, about premature bereavement, both have a gorgeous sense of doomy romanticism. There’s something classic and classy about them (the band released the album in hand cut and silkscreen printed sleeves before Bella Union picked it up), making a really satisfying dip into American history and culture, guided by a spirit of independence.

The Dials: Companions of the Rosy Hours

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:22:12 PST

The Dials: Companions of the Rosy Hours

The Dials are a Brighton band mixing up the influences - country, blues, folk and psychedelia, with a hefty dose of Americana. ‘Good Morning Mr Magpie’ might be early Pink Floyd in its trippy majesty while ‘N.Y. Radio’ is clearly early Dire Straits. The effect of their influences suggests that they probably translate better live than on record but there are some tunes that are more than the sum of their influences: the Byrds-like jangle of ‘Watch Her Walk Away’ and ‘Sandycove’, the sort of surf-rock instrumental that Tarentino used to snap up for soundtracks. So it’s inspired, but with affection.

Zoey Van Goey And The Cage Was Unlocked All Along

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:02:17 PST

Zoey Van Goey - And The Cage Was Unlocked All Along

Rock rules for new bands no. 6: Create a good enough myth and the hits will follow. Well, no-one can fault Zoey Van Goey on the first part anyway. Claiming to be named after an Amish girl who found fame on the New York street art scene before moving to Berlin, Google and Wikipedia contain a complete dearth of information on the mysterious Ms Van Goey.

So, what about the hits? Well, none so far and this isn’t likely to change in a hurry. Their largely acoustic jangle is undoubtedly catchy but just doesn‘t reach for the stars often enough. Echoes of Noah and the Whale and the Magic Numbers reverberate across the record and fellow Glaswegians, Belle and Sebastian have a few fingers in the pie, both literally and laterally.

As the title ‘The Cage Was Unlocked All Along’ suggests, themes of freedom and entrapment, some real and others imaginary, pervade this album. The Best Treasure Stays Buried sees a pair of armed robbers hiding their ill-gotten gains from one last job before preparing to separate and lie low. Two White Ghosts, one of the record’s highlights, tells the tale of a mismatched couple thrown together in the alien surroundings of teaching English in Japan.

Zoey Van Goey are built around the shared vocals of an English girl (Kim Moore) and a Canadian guy (Matt Brennan) and this is noticeable on the likes of Sweethearts in Disguise and We All Hid In Basements, which share the same low-key dramatic indie sensibilities as the similarly transatlantic Stars. The latter is a slightly embarrassed reminiscence of Y2K fear and paranoia with a ‘future’/‘suture’ rhyme nicked directly from The Postal Service.

Only Nae Wonder, which sees Brennan and Moore finish off each other’s sentences in a cloying manner and features some horrible sampled spoken word, is particularly duff but a few other tracks simply barely register in the first place. The cage may have been unlocked all along, but sadly the beast is too often asleep.

More reissues for Stone Roses

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:12:55 PST

The Stone Roses

To celebrate the twentieth anniversary of their debut album, The Stone Roses hits are all getting a reissue starting with 'Elephant Stone' on July 6th. It will come with a numbered box with copies of John Squire's art prints and space for the following four singles:

July 13th - Made Of Stone
July 20th - She Bangs The Drums
July 27th - Fools Good
August 3rd - One Love

All releases come with their original b-sides.

There's also a 20th Anniversary Collectors Edition release of their self-titled debut looming which will be a triple box set (CD or LP) and feature a DVD, 2GB USB, book and 6 art prints.

Additional Franz Ferdinand dates

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:52:28 PST

Two more dates have been added to the Franz Ferdinand tour:

21st October - Bournemouth Academy
23rd October - London Brixton Academy

Tickets for the shows will be priced at £20 (Bournemouth) and £23.50 London. They are available for general sale via Gigsandtous

Tickets for both the new shows go on sale at 9am on Thursday July 2nd.

Morning After Girls album lined up soon

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:47:14 PST

Alone, the debut album from the Morning After Girls is released on July 7. Recorded in various parts of Melbourne, Australia, it was mixed and produced by Martin B. Sleeman and Sacha Lucashenko, with Alan Moulder at the helm.

Artefacts For Space Travel

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:41:17 PST

I bump into Joe from Artefacts For Space Travel en route to the moon. The band are signed to super cool label Stolen Recordings, a label that has SoundsXP favs Pete and the Pirates, Screaming Tea Party and My Sad Captains amongst their roster. I pose a few intergalactic questions to him.

SoundsXP: The band name comes from a William S Burroughs quote that states "Man is an artefact designed for space travel. He is not designed to remain in his present biologic state any more than a tadpole is designed to remain a tadpole.” What are your thoughts on the statement? Are you longing to become that metaphorical frog? or are you happy remaining a tadpole?

Joe: Definitely want to be the frog. I’m very impatient about progress and I have a tremendous sense of urgency about everything. I just don’t have enough scientific knowledge to provide any answers, I can bluff a good argument though. For me the name represents an endless frustration, I believe the only things worth knowing can not be understood by the human brain. I found the quote one night when I was researching stuff, I thought it'd be a cool band name. I’m not actually a Borroughs fan and have only read a few of his books. I basically only read Philip K Dick at the moment.

SoundsXP: You're sent into space to start a colony on Mars, what 5 albums are you going to take with you?

Joe: Well I would definitely take 5 'best ofs' because everyone knows that a 'best of' is always a band's best album because it has their best songs on it. Anyone who says otherwise is a complete liar. I would also take in to consideration: if I end up meeting an Alien race while I’m on Mars who have never heard music before, what will I play to them to help them understand human music? I guess it'd be something like this:
Best of Beethoven
Best of Michael Jackson
Best of The Kinks
Best of Bob Dylan
Best of The Beach Boys

Not really sure why I left out the Beatles and the Stones, I think Martians prefer the Kinks.

SoundsXP: Two of your members share the same surname as me, are we related?

Joe: Yes, Sam and I (Joe) are brothers, we have another brother called Luke who plays the drums, we're going to start a family band, we'll be like an uglier version of Hanson. Oh . . . Are we related to you? I don’t know, do you have any money you can lend us? If you do then you can be in our family. But unfortunately there was only three brothers in Hanson so you’ll have to be the manager.

SoundsXP: You site West Coast American bands like Melvins, Nirvana and Pavement as influences ... what particularly interests you about those bands?

Joe: I was raised on Guns and Roses and Nirvana. Brit pop bored the shit out of me. I liked metal in my early teens, then I started get into weird Rough Trade indie type stuff. Now I just listen to everything. We're not JUST into 90's American stuff, though Sam and I went to see Melvins and Dinosaur Jr concerts recently, I’m a massive Mark E Smith fan, and I like a lot of 60's stuff. I guess bands like Pavement have that laid back, slacker appeal which we relate too, we're really easy going people. We want to make 'stoner indie rock'.

SoundsXP: Has anyone written anything wildly inaccurate about the band so far? how do you feel about terms like "toxic punk sludge" being used to describe your music?

Joe: It's really dumb. We find it both funny and depressing. Our favourite live review came from Manchester News and said we were 'either really good or really bad', at least make a fucking decision! Jesus. But yeah it's depressing because we want journalists to listen to us and not just say, 'oooh, loud guitars, they must be influenced by the Pixies'. We like noisy, heavy music, it's not because we're trying to
bring back grunge.

SoundsXP: If Artefacts for Space Travel ever found themselves in a tricky situation, who would have instigated it?

Joe: We've had a lot of punch ups after gigs, it's actually normally us standing up for a friend who has come to watch us and ended up getting into a fight. Some of our friends are a bit rowdy. We once had to fight our way out of Southampton University, luckily students are pussys and we beat them all up with ease. Sam also causes a lot of problems, we thought he'd been kidnapped by Mexican coke dealers in Texas, he tends to wander off and find new friends when he's wasted. Alex's car is always getting stolen too, or towed away by gangsters.Everything is always a challenge with our band. If it can go wrong it will. But it’s normally all just down to too much beer. So I guess the answer is beer would've instigated it.

SoundsXP: Are there any new bands that you're particularly fond of?

Joe: Don’t know if they're new but I’m listening to a lot of Blank Dogs, it's right up my street. We saw lots of cool bands out in SXSW mainly at a bar called Miss Beas. I want to go see a new band called A Grave With No Name, I like the tracks on their myspace. I'm going to see Ariel Pink on Sunday which I’m looking forward to, he's a sexy fellow.

SoundsXP: How did the EP 'Power of The Brain' come to fruition? Any reference to popular brain based game shows such as Who Wants to be a Millionaire? or
Eggheads?

Joe: Power of the brain is the name of one of our songs, it's all about telepathy
and transhumanism. I watch Egg heads a lot though, I get really angry at the show. I hate that old lady who knows everything, they're such smug arseholes.

SoundsXP: Any plans for a follow up?

Joe: We're ready to release more, just waiting for the all clear, we have loads of new songs that we like playing, so ASAP for another EP on Stolen Recordings.

Artefacts For Space Travel headline The Macbeth in Hoxton, 7th July.

One foot in the grave_Beck

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 19:32:14 PST

1994 was an eventful year for the young Beck Hansen – his prolific music output produced his debut folk-hop album ‘Mellow Gold’, shortly followed by ‘One foot in the Grave’, with a more stripped down folk blues approach. A cult album amongst the fans, the latter has always been obscured by the more funky and experimental turn of Beck’s later work, such as the globally successful 1996’s ‘Odelay’ and later ‘Midnite Vultures’.

Finally returning to the spotlight with a reissue which includes 16 bonus tracks, ‘One foot in the grave’ proves to be worthy of the attention that it is reclaiming. If 16 additional tracks could prove a marathon even for the most hardcore fans, the actual album is a low fi gem. Beck’s idiosyncratic approach to music is evident in the way he effortlessly manages to give a solid structure to the songs despite keeping a minimalistic approach. From the traditional folk imprint of ‘He’s a mighty good leader’ and the bare drums and deep dark vocals of the country blues ‘I Get Lonesome’, the album leaps into the low fi fuzzy garage of ‘Burnt Orange Peel’, to then return to the breezy folk of ‘Asshole’.

‘One foot in the grave’ displays the mastery of a veteran, a great achievement for an artist at his second album on the way to stardom. Retrospectively different from the eclectic funky work of the later years, it represents a canvas for the creativity which will make him famous. Back from the dark, justice has been done.

We Have Band - You Came Out 7 review

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 18:44:56 PST
A Manc three piece who sound like a NASA instruction to set off for Planet Quirky, We Have Band tick all the right boxes with their jerky 45 You Came Out. A jagged riff, skipping drum machine percussion, simple bassline and that old favourite of the novelt act, whistling, accompany this actually bloody enjoyable slice of post punk. We'll therefore forgive them covering the detestable West End Girls on the flipside...

Joker's Daughter - The Last Laugh album review

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:37:49 PST

Joker's Daughter

Joker’s Daughter is the alias of London multi-instrumentalist Helena Costas and here she teams up with current top production dog and one half of Gnarls Barkley, American Danger Mouse and a handful of others including Daniele Luppi and Neutral Milk Hotel’s Scott Spillane. This is certainly no Gorillaz-style thumping dance-rock cross over from Danger Mouse though with his layering of keys, strings and horns a haunting atmospheric backdrop to her English pastoral folk, spooky airy delivery and kooky lyrics. The latter add humour to the more traditional subject matters of goats and goblins – when did you last hear a track devoted to that tasty treat, the Jaffa Cake? Very more-ish all round, in fact.

Lacrosse: Bandages For The Heart

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 12:40:29 PST

Lacrosse: Bandages For the Heart

The second album from Sweden’s Lacrosse delivers more perk for your pound: another 11 tracks of speedy Scando pop with boy-girl vocals, infectious rhythms and all-join-in party music. The title of upcoming single ‘We Are Kids’ suggests their child-like love of melody and bounce. On ‘It’s Always Sunday Around Here’ they make a plea: “tell me a story/ make the ending happy please/ put some unicorns in there/ and some animals that speak”, but, even when their stories turn melancholy, they give them an uber-melodic sugar frosting. There are a couple of big, emotional productions that calm things down but the overall impact is of kinetic playground pop, with the joy, charm and friendly welcome shared by bands like I’m From Barcelona and Polyphonic Spree.

The Legends: Over And Over

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 12:40:17 PST

The Legends: Over And Over

‘Seconds Away’ was described as “the noisiest single ever to come out of Sweden”. There’s much feedback and guitar overload on the record but it still shows off the melodic streak that all Swedes seem to have in their DNA – even the distortion sounds sweet. The one man band behind The Legends, Johan Angergård (also of Acid House Kings and Club 8), claims that he follows his heart, which is clearly given over to My Bloody Valentine, Shop Assistants, New Order, Jesus and Mary Chain and M83, and as much at home on the dancefloor as in the studio if the fizzing Stereolabby synth-beat of ‘Something Strange Will Happen’ is anything to go by.

The title track is tinkly pop mixed with wall-of-sound woosh and ‘You Won’ is cool and spacey. Both are worth hearing but there’s a sense throughout of ‘deja entendu’. With its combi-influences of indie, Motown, shoegaze and C86, Over and Over is the sort of album that wears its influences visibly and shamelessly, like the badges on a satchel at Twee As Fuck. The Amazon effect means that if you like the originals you’ll like the Legends but, because the album never transcends the influences, the Legends will only remain a cult of the cardi-set.

Brian Jacket Letdown: Darling Bit Me

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 12:39:58 PST

Brian Jacket Meltdown: Darling Bit Me

I never liked the name and wasn’t keen on the standalone singles but hearing those songs in the context of this kaleidoscopic album is a great improvement. The Letdown are a folk-pop five-piece from North London playing a dizzying range of instruments in myriad styles: from the Revolver-esque opener ‘Sometimes’ to the Bowie-ish disco of ‘White Lies’ and the M Ward-style bluesy croon and slide guitar of ‘Devil In My Room’. Or even ‘Nearly Us’, which begins with shuffling folk, mutates into prog-pop, adds Led Zeppelin-esque rock riffs and runs out to some cool jazz. Ukulele, theremin, whistling, even a dinner service, they play everything here like they’re music addicts who believe that silence equals death. It’s eccentric and exhausting but fun, retaining a pop sensibility that sustains the listener through the chaotic mix of sounds and styles.

Extradition Order

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 19:22:46 PST

Extradition Order are coming I tell you and they are bringing their bag of raw sounds with them. With their debut album here, I caught up with three of the four members via the magic medium of email and asked them to reveal all to me. The photos shall remain in my secret draw but you can read their words of wisdom...

Soundsxp: You once said "Hello, we're Extradition Order" but who are Extradition Order and why are they here? Are you outsiders trying to conform to 'normal' society?

Alastair: No. We're very much insiders. In fact, we pretty much run the country in an oblique masonic way. Just last night I hosted a dinner for cabinet minister and high court judges. From the heart of the British government to the boardrooms of international banks, our names are known and influence acknowledged. It's a good job we're so benevolent. But the whole economic meltdown was a warning shot we thought we'd fire off.

Nick: We are Order. Have been since we all fell for the same girl when we were 12, and simultaneously let her carry us off with her every whim. She died in a canoeing accident in Wales, and that was the end of that. Since then we've forged a brotherhood that hides our grief, and has brought us all together.

Mark: Let's get one thing straight here. The so called accident was actually an act of sheer desperation from one of our members. Let's just say that two in a canoe doesn't go. Unfortunately the girl did. That member will not be named.

Soundsxp: How would you describe your music to me?

Alastair: It used to be crude garage rock, which people thought was because we were crude rocky types but really it was just incompetence. I think it now sounds like Steve Reich and Philip Glass, but most people still think it's crude garage rock with added twinkly keyboards.

Nick: We've always played with enthusiasm in our music, but I think since we got a 4th wheel we've come on from our garage rock days. Now we're making more sounds and less noise. I think our influences come out at different times: blues, new wave, punk, classical - but our sound is still quite raw.

Soundsxp: Tell me about the forthcoming debut album and the thinking behind it. You must all be excited and anxious about its release.

Alastair: It's produced by Ian Button who I insist should be known to the world as up there with the great. He's sort of non-crazy Martin Hannet for our times since he's grown a scene around who he records. People like Paul Hawkins and David Cronenberg's Wife. The three of us sound nothing alike and he is able to not leave a stamp of his own sound on their records - he just enhances what the bands do themselves.

It was really important we made something that flowed together. An album you put on and sit and listen to, not just a bunch of songs. And the artwork is just as important. We got Clifford Harper to do the cover who is an amazing woodcut style artist who does a lot of old history book covers and things like that. Stuff for E.H. Gombrich and A.L. Morton.I wanted something done in his style and was looking around for someone who could emulate him but in the end discovered, after writing him a letter, he was up for doing it himself.

Nick: The ideas have mainly come from Al for a lot of the songs, but we've all been involved in creating the music, and ultimately this collection of songs that we think works as a whole. A lot of help has indeed come from the amazing Ian Button, who has simply been brilliant throughout. He makes my bass playing sound like I didn't even know I wanted it to until I'd heard it. It's the first release for us, so of course it's a challenge and there's so much we don't know but every step is exciting.

Soundsxp: You say that you are about myths and legends. What do you mean by this?

Alastair: Ambiguity. So I probably shouldn't say or it's all ruined. Now Nick will go on too much and ruin it.

Nick: We talk about all sorts of things in our songs. Some are myths, and others legends. Mark usually has a fine tale of one or the other.

Mark: Not now Nick.

Soundsxp: You are sophisticated, intelligent, driven souls are you not?

Alastair: Yes.

Nick: I lack sophistication. I'm off the rack.

Soundsxp: Tell me about mountain scavenger hunts, Chipsticks and rouge lipstick. Is it the way forward for promoting new albums?

Nick: Ask Alastair, although the keyboardist is partial to rouge lipstick, and who doesn't like chipsticks?

Alastair: It's about absolute desperation to try and get people vaguely interested in us as the world's bands scream against each other in every corner of the internet.

Mark: You would be amazed at the people you meet during mountain scavenger hunts. Chuck them an Order CD and everyone's a winner.

Soundsxp: Warrington versus London . Who wins and why?

Alastair: Luckily all of Warrington moved to London in the last five years. I am one of those great defenders of their place of upbringing who has absolutely no interest in living there again. Warrington was a great centre of the Enlightenment. Benjamin Franklin based his college on the Warrington Academy - the first secular university in the world. Then the industrial revolution ruined it and it just became a place inbetween Manchester and Liverpool. Generally though, the North generally reveres its writer, artists, radicals and musicians. London worships its criminals. They can keep their Kray fetish.

Nick: Warrington. You can't get decent fish, chips and gravy here. Bloody disgrace it is.

Alastair: Actually, that's blind patriotism from Nick. Warrington hasn't got any decent fish and chip shops these days. You have to go to Yorkshire.

Mark: Come on now. The Neptune Bar (now called Panny's I think) in Stockton Heath does grand fish and chips. In terms of the great debate itself, Warrington is a lovely place to go back to, if only for a short while. People are even friendly at times and often say please and thankyou.

Soundsxp: Tell me about Extradition Order live.. Is it an experience to behold?

Nick: Aforementioned enthusiasm means we try to put on a pretty good show. I think live we're a whole new beast since we got a keyboard that lights up last year, and someone to finger it. Plus we're not very fussy on what we use. Bones and selotape have been integral to past shows.

Alastair: The bones didn't work well. I thought we had a brilliant new approach to the drum stick and couldn't believe no one had done it before. Then they ripped every skin on the kit by halfway through the first song.

Soundsxp: If you could play one music festival this year where would it be and why?

Alastair: We love the End of the Road festival and the smaller more thoughful places like that. I personally hate the needs to camp in a field, shuddering as louts consume too much lager and talk about their awesome hippy lives and how awesome some Gallagher is before returning to work in the Carphone Warehouse. But End of the Road is more interesting in both its setting and its music choices.

Nick: I'd say End of the Road too, for the atmosphere and setting. It was good seeing some of our friends there last year like Congregation, and I like the idea of it much more than other festivals. The organisers are lovely too.

Soundsxp: If you could extradite one person from your country who would it be and why?

Nick: I'd extradite myself to somewhere fun. Maybe Japan. I hope they've forgiven me for last time. I really didn't mean anything by it.

Mark: I'd also extradite Nick somewhere.

Soundsxp: I overhear you listening to tunes as I step through the streets of Clerkenwell. What or who can I hear coming out of your music machine? Who should be on everybody’s ipod/mp3 player/casette player/compact disc player/square wheel producing music mechanism machine?

Nick: I got a Leonard Cohen cd for £3 yesterday, so he's been singing to me a lot recently.

Mark: I found a band called Therion on Spotify the other week who I've enjoyed listening to. I don't think the rest of the band will agree with this.

Soundsxp: What’s so good about summer?

Nick: Gosh.. I've no idea what to say.

Alastair: We spend most our time indoors.

Soundsxp: What is next for Extradition Order?

Nick: Victory.

Alastair: Or the endless pursuit of glory with each succesful climb to the top of the mountain of ambition only revealling the next, larger, obstacle, never feeling satsified with the progress made, only the endless journey still to go, until eventually the only logical thing is to fling oneself in front of the subterranean tube train. Or contentment, maybe.

Mark: World domination.

Soundsxp: And finally a great philosopher asks you to sum up in one paragraph the evolution of music from the early days of banging two sticks together to the download age that we find ourselves in. What say you to him?

Alastair: Get a real job.

Nick: That's what my dad told me. But I discovered that great philosophers don't ask questions but just get on and write great works in bullet points in wood cabins. Kind of like how Bon Iver writes albums. So I'd tell him he wasn't all that great bothering us for answers.

Mark: I say what on earth is wrong with just banging two sticks you ignorant bum?

Quite. Check the lads' myspace for gig and release news.

Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs - Gettin High For Jesus Free MP3

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 19:16:57 PST
Today's free MP3 is by bluesy garage vet Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs and the track Gettin' High for Jesus

God Help The Girl - s/t review

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 13:16:26 PST

God Help The Girl

He’s an ambitious fella, Mr Stuart Murdoch. He plans to write a screenplay for a film that he will then direct next year and with that in mind he has already written these fourteen tracks as its soundtrack. He’s cut no corners on this first step either with eighty performers involved, including a forty five piece orchestra, his Belle and Sebastian colleagues, Neil Hannon of Divine Comedy and an array of excellent young female vocalists (most prominently Catherine Ireton). The songs have all the lyrical sharpness we expect from his work, though while shorn of the visual action it’s difficult to fully understand what the story might be, musically, with its big orchestral vibe, lush female harmonies and lovely meandering melodies it’s definitely a highly enjoyable experience.

However, despite the presence of so many people and the fact that Murdoch only contributes vocals on a couple of numbers, it still feels like a Belle and Sebastian record, albeit one more restrained and rooted with 60s production values. There are even a couple of B&S songs reworked here, though to be honest they are less impressive than some of the new efforts. The title track is a lovely midtempo number, Ireton’s vocals utterly compelling, skipping along like a modern day Petula Clark, her voice clear with just a hint of staccato. Musician Take Heed is a dramatic stunner, from a gentle start the rhythm comes galloping in, building further with duelling strings, crashing percussion and the most sensuous but strident vocals. Come Monday Night is another corker, sweet and tender folk balladry with swoon inducing backing. These are the three that those light of wallet will be advised to download, the rest of us can wallow in yet another Murdoch near-masterpiece in its entirety and eagerly await the bigger picture in all its celluloid glory.

The Dead Weather in Toronto

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 09:05:41 PST

Dead Weather

As many were turned away from the small, grungy bar known as the Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto, I was lucky enough to make my way in just in time to get a ticket to see Jack White’s latest musical “squeeze” – The Dead Weather, playing one of many “surprise” gigs around America. Most fans don’t hear or know about these gigs until days or hours before the actual show. But from the name, already the band lands a different impression in your head, thinking “What on earth is he thinking of now?”, White, known most importantly for The White Stripes, has been known to collaborate with some of the world’s finest artists such as Bob Dylan, Beck and The Rolling Stones, as well as being in the “super-group” The Raconteurs, featuring Brendon Benson, Jack Lawrence from both The Greenhomes and The Dead Weather. So could Jack White be running out of steam? I think it is safe to say no, after seeing this band play for over seventy minutes, these guys know what they are doing.

The band have the signature bluesy sound that White carries with him everywhere he threads musically, but also carry a very dark feel to their music too – which is something fresh and new to be heard from the likes of White, Alison Mosshart (The Kills), Jack Lawrence and Dean Fertita (QOTSA). Whilst the band may be producing a hefty, darker garage feel – Mosshart steals the show with her natural glamorous presence, adding that sexy femininity to the band. Her performance was surprising as she seemed a lot more comfortable on this stage, than on stage with her other chaotic band The Kills (watch this space).

The set was mainly compiled of heavy rock numbers such as “Treat Me Like Your Mother” but also had some variation too with quieter numbers such as “Will There be Enough Water?” the only song which White got up from his hiding-spot behind the drums and played guitar and sang along with Mosshart, sharing the same microphone and creating a sensual and close vibe around the room. Speaking of White being behind the drums, it must be said that he does a cracking job at playing them too. Whilst he may be one of the most famous guitarists to come out of America in the last ten years, he has proved that his talent goes beyond the six strings.

The gig however wasn’t flawless. With such a gigantic wall of sound that this band carry, a lot of the melody got lost as well as a lot of the feeling in some of the songs. Where as Alison Mosshart seemed to be getting lost within each song, Lawrence and Fertita were closer to boredom, or it seemed that way anyway. Covering Bob Dylan’s “New Pony”, it seemed more like a showcase for Mosshart’s talents as opposed to the whole band. Their encore put their show right back up however. With the band not saying a word to the crowd for the whole gig, they still managed to have fans eating out of their hands with anthem-like tunes such as “Forever My Queen” and the lead single that seems to be getting quite a lot of American and Canadian airplay, “Hang You From the Heavens”. All in all, I got to see a great performance from a band that will no doubted be huge (if not for their music, for their band members) and playing a venue near you as they embark on tour in the UK at the moment. That is of course, if you know about it!

The Victorian English Gentlemens Club/ The Capitol Years/ Smoke Fairies/ The Vivian Girls/ Help Stamp Out Loneliness/ Fight Like Apes

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:32:27 PST
Renew your club membership! The Victorian English Gentlemens Club return with ‘Parrot’ (This Is Fake DIY Records), a slab of monstrously primal post-punk rhythms underpinned by super-distorted bass. And just as the rumble dies down, there are about 20 seconds of outrageously gorgeous pop to finish off. It’s smart and daring art-rock, in the spirit of Sonic Youth and style of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Website

The singer of The Capitol Years, who goes by the name Shai, Son of Eli, says “it was a humble attempt to write my own ‘Needle in the Camel’s Eye’”. What he’s produced in ‘You Can Stay There’ (SOE Records) is less Brian Eno and closer to Guided By Voices, a cracking, catchy guitar-pop gem filled with Beatles-y melodies. Myspace

“Eldritch” is an adjective that’s likely to haunt the Smoke Fairies. Their ‘Frozen Heart EP’ (Music For Heroes Records) shows off their spooky folk-blues, a sound that’s otherworldly and old but simultaneously contemporary, with its reference to TVs and the robot lovers cover. There are amazing harmonies and it leaves you smouldering inside like hot coffee on a cold day. If you hurry you can pick up one of 500 packs with an extra 5-track CD, on which it’s well worth hearing the wistful winter blues of ‘He’s Moving On’. Website

The Vivian Girls’ latest ‘Moped Girl’ (For Us 7”) is recorded for the Rough Trade Shops’ own label and is a doozy, the 60s girl-group sound mixed with raw and rumbly New York rock’n’roll. ‘Moped Girl’ is stripped back to an elemental backbeat and amazingly simple but neat guitar solo while the catchy ‘Death’ might have been recorded in a bucket but has a jolt like you just connected to the live rail in the NY subway. Dirty, short and perfect. Myspace

The voice of D Lucille Campbell on Help Stamp Out Loneliness’s ‘Pacific Trash Vortex’ (Where Its At Is Where You Are Records 7”) is so astonishing I have to play the song three times in a row because the first two times I’m so spellbound by her voice that I forget to pay attention to anything else: it’s like Laetitia Sadier or Nico (without the existential angst), and utterly compelling. Finally listening to the band, there are moody swathes of keyboards, pulsating in a way that reminds me of Magazine. What’s more, the band must have some great songs if they can afford to relegate the brilliant ‘Cellophane’ and its naggingly addictive bassline to the b-side. Not just a single, a revelation. Myspace

Fight Like Apes latest single 'Something Global' (Model Citizen Records) is a sly satire on the music industry, radiating pop heat and leaving you with a nicely toasty glow courtesy of a fabulous pop hook. It jumps around in a mad frenzy and while it fits neatly the "XfM indiepop" niche, it's a uber-catchy song that you wouldn't kick out of bed if it had drunk several pints of cabbage water. Bonus points for the title of 'This Is Like The Time Jody Didn't Know What Cunnilingus Was', a bizarre and frantic song built around the refrain "give me a twirl!"
Myspace

Tabasco Sole single review

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 12:12:19 PST
‘Tabasco Sole’ starts off like a ‘fair comes to town’ soundtrack, goes all Jackson 5 (or 4, as they are now), then settles down into a clever-lyric slice of Beckish tomfoolery. Very 6Music. Next track, ‘Split’, is similar but allows more of Rob Jones (for he is, to all intents and purposes, Voluntary Butler Scheme)’s personality to come through. But something’s a bit, dunno, soulless, a bit too calculated about all this. An insipid cover of ‘Together In Electric Dreams’ shows what he can do when armed with a decent pop song. And that’s to have his vocal shortcomings cruelly exposed. It also throws the clumsiness of the previous songs into stark contrast.
This record is interesting. But not nearly as interesting as it thinks it is.