Monday, 6 June 2011
Thao & Mirah- S/T
Thao & Mirah- S/T
Put Together Thao, who is known to most as the leader of the get down stay down, electrically charged and punked up serrated rockers and Mirah, who can be simply defined as creating some lovely twee and simple songs in various guises and various artists over the last decade. It's not necessarily the most suitable combination, you get the impression it could be a clash of the indie darling champions eclipsing each other with style over substance. But Instead their debut is a astounding success, flipping in style from track to track, blissful summer pop which often settles to showcase the talents of just one of the duo but where their voices combine true magic is made...
May 2011- EMA- Past Life Martyred Saints
So I've been going around the USA so this blog has been obviously abused and left on the wayside during this time, but gradually getting back to the good news:
EMA- Past Life Martyred Saints is where I'll choose to begin and it's a stunning and brutal album, unsuited to reviews and genre tags because it is quite simply astounding... I guess it can be filed with Liz Phair, PJ Harvey and other 90s grunge inspired girls for simple lazy comparisons but Erika M. Anderson (formally of Amps For Christ and of Gown) effortlessly jumps all over the place from heavy beats to 4 track punked up rock. This album cannot be sampled as it should be engulfed by every listener, grab your headphones and take a step inside one of the best records this year has to offer. Mindblowing 9/10
Experience this sample of "California"
EMA- Past Life Martyred Saints is where I'll choose to begin and it's a stunning and brutal album, unsuited to reviews and genre tags because it is quite simply astounding... I guess it can be filed with Liz Phair, PJ Harvey and other 90s grunge inspired girls for simple lazy comparisons but Erika M. Anderson (formally of Amps For Christ and of Gown) effortlessly jumps all over the place from heavy beats to 4 track punked up rock. This album cannot be sampled as it should be engulfed by every listener, grab your headphones and take a step inside one of the best records this year has to offer. Mindblowing 9/10
Experience this sample of "California"
Sunday, 29 May 2011
New Releases- Monday 30th May 2011
Weekly expose into this weeks New Releases, we try and not be genre or gender bias, but I like women and I hate country... so expect more women singers and less western.
DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE- CODES & KEYS
This week we start with a personal favourite Death Cab For Cutie's 7th full length album Codes and Keys, a band exposed to massive audience to some degree through a ill-advised teenage love triangle on (god that seems like a lifetime ago) teen drama The O.C. as Seth Cohen argued internally about whether he was destined to be with Hannah or Autumn... Let's say that Ben Gibbard and Co. were the only winners in that situation, and two albums down the line, Codes and Keys is the bands best record since Transatlanticism, as it seems to bid farwell to the major label nerves and reverts back to some of the experimentation of the first three albums. It's certainly the most daring album they have made, hich will certainly interest a few of those who have dismissed them previously but also a few who were shined on in the post-newport era. Highlights include the title track "Codes and Keys" "Doors Unlocked and Open" and the single "You Are A Tourist." Codes and Keys is a rich and warm emotion album which continues to highlight why Death Cab For Cutie made that crucial leap from Barsuk underground indie darlings to concert hall filling stars as it maintains the intimacy of the former and the impact of the latter. Most importantly very few bands this size have the heart and balls to attempt to re-write their own rules the 7th time around. 9/10
DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE- CODES & KEYS
This week we start with a personal favourite Death Cab For Cutie's 7th full length album Codes and Keys, a band exposed to massive audience to some degree through a ill-advised teenage love triangle on (god that seems like a lifetime ago) teen drama The O.C. as Seth Cohen argued internally about whether he was destined to be with Hannah or Autumn... Let's say that Ben Gibbard and Co. were the only winners in that situation, and two albums down the line, Codes and Keys is the bands best record since Transatlanticism, as it seems to bid farwell to the major label nerves and reverts back to some of the experimentation of the first three albums. It's certainly the most daring album they have made, hich will certainly interest a few of those who have dismissed them previously but also a few who were shined on in the post-newport era. Highlights include the title track "Codes and Keys" "Doors Unlocked and Open" and the single "You Are A Tourist." Codes and Keys is a rich and warm emotion album which continues to highlight why Death Cab For Cutie made that crucial leap from Barsuk underground indie darlings to concert hall filling stars as it maintains the intimacy of the former and the impact of the latter. Most importantly very few bands this size have the heart and balls to attempt to re-write their own rules the 7th time around. 9/10
Tuesday, 4 January 2011
The Go Team!- Rolling Blackouts (Memphis Industries)
The Go Team!- Rolling Blackouts (Memphis Industries)
It's Hard to believe that it's been over three years since Sophomore album Proof of Youth was released, comforting though for The Go Team! is that no-one has successfully attempted to recreate the band's definitive original combination of cut and paste style influences... Their Debut arguably redefined dance music for indie kids with it's large spaghetti western interludes, massive cheerleading choruses and it's apoclypatic guitar hooks, and that's not even mentioning the confrontation menace that was MC Ninja.
Rolling Blackouts opens with a huge mission statement as TORNADOS opens with that patterned scuzzy guitar sound and Ninja on a bigger mission than Katy B...and then what follows is the most ashamedly upfront, energetic and relentlessly upbeat album this winter could ever produce. Second Track Secetary Song guest stars Satomi Mastsuzaki (Deerhoof) and plays it even more kitsch cutesy than her dayjob. While Woman of the moment Bethany Constentino (Best Coast) excels in the hi-fi version of the Best Coast Universe and Dominque Young Unique challenges Ninja in the stakes of the albums MC on "Voice Yr Choice."
Their Third Album once again mixes all the usual factors, recalling skipping ropes, handclapping routines and the long hot summers of blaxplotation America in the 70s, all massively juxatposed in what sounds like The Go Team! musically biggest record yet. A Band who defined their own sound in 2004, do not need to reinvent the wheel, and Rolling Blackouts doesn't but it certainly pimps it's own ride, adding some lyrical cohesion over their past releases. So if this year your looking for a positive dance record which is all about good times, then this is the record for you, it's twee but rocks and its assured to make even the most gloomy individual tap a toe. Long Live The Go Team! 8/10
Check Out: Tornados, Voice Yr Choice, The Running Range
It's Hard to believe that it's been over three years since Sophomore album Proof of Youth was released, comforting though for The Go Team! is that no-one has successfully attempted to recreate the band's definitive original combination of cut and paste style influences... Their Debut arguably redefined dance music for indie kids with it's large spaghetti western interludes, massive cheerleading choruses and it's apoclypatic guitar hooks, and that's not even mentioning the confrontation menace that was MC Ninja.
Rolling Blackouts opens with a huge mission statement as TORNADOS opens with that patterned scuzzy guitar sound and Ninja on a bigger mission than Katy B...and then what follows is the most ashamedly upfront, energetic and relentlessly upbeat album this winter could ever produce. Second Track Secetary Song guest stars Satomi Mastsuzaki (Deerhoof) and plays it even more kitsch cutesy than her dayjob. While Woman of the moment Bethany Constentino (Best Coast) excels in the hi-fi version of the Best Coast Universe and Dominque Young Unique challenges Ninja in the stakes of the albums MC on "Voice Yr Choice."
Their Third Album once again mixes all the usual factors, recalling skipping ropes, handclapping routines and the long hot summers of blaxplotation America in the 70s, all massively juxatposed in what sounds like The Go Team! musically biggest record yet. A Band who defined their own sound in 2004, do not need to reinvent the wheel, and Rolling Blackouts doesn't but it certainly pimps it's own ride, adding some lyrical cohesion over their past releases. So if this year your looking for a positive dance record which is all about good times, then this is the record for you, it's twee but rocks and its assured to make even the most gloomy individual tap a toe. Long Live The Go Team! 8/10
Check Out: Tornados, Voice Yr Choice, The Running Range
Saturday, 1 January 2011
FTC Discovery: Gypsy Death & You
Gypsy Death & You
Presumably named after The Kills Song from their debut Keep on Your Mean Side, Philadelphia's Gypsy Death & You are silmilarly a noisy two piece with a joy for raw sonic pop and a minor in shoegaze, their first EP No. 1 is a rough draft of exceptionally hooky songs which promises huge things in 2011.
www.myspace.com/gypsydeathandyoumusic
www.myspace.com/gypsydeathandyoumusic
FTC Discovery: Chelsea Wolfe
Almost as Doomed as the aforementioned TV Legend, It's a dark, beautiful, beguiling and unpleasant experience recalling last years sublime albums from No Joy or Tamaryn with a haunting pop shriek we are all hoping PJ Harvey is going to return with... It is the music of the dark cold night, of a world you've always hoped didn't exist, that you've seen in the corner of your eye, that you've had nightmares about... but without exception a beautiful nightmare? An early contender for best new act of 2011.
FTC Discovery: NETHERFRIENDS
Netherfriends are seriously my new favourite band... I've had Barry & Sherry on repeat for weeks now and it's a sublime adventure, the simple fuzz pop of opener "Bret Easton Ellis Novel" with it's shout along one liners before giving way to the intricate audio delights of the world music influenced "I'm Gonna Start" and "Live to a Hundred" or the acoustic clap along campfire fun of "More Than Friends" make me angry I didn't discover on it's release in June, "BARRY & SHERRY" is one of the most accessible albums, probably appealing to anyone who got too hung up on Animal Collective's last album or Yeasayer or Vampire Weekend.
At times angry, focused and fiercly opinionated, Netherfriends deserve attention, I hope they tour the UK in 2011, or America on my visit..for the single purpose to scream along to this my late discovered top 10 album of 2010 if I'd discovered it in time!
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