Cold War Kids, Oh Dear

What happened?

I had a dream that one day the Cold War Kids would return with an album to rule all albums. But it would obviously have to be in the same mould as Robbers and Cowards because it's still the best thing they've released. Things even looked promising after last years Behave Yourself EP, but then the band decided to recruit producer Jacquire King [of Kings of Leon fame (later albums)] to help them out with their new album Mine is Yours.
Obviously the band felt it was time for them to hit the big stage, sell out massive stadiums and what-not. Provide bread for their kids. Get their faces on Q, Mojo and Rolling Stone covers.



Like the title Louder Than Ever suggests the album does sound big. In fact it sounds positively huge. But so did Kings of Leon's Only By The Night when it came out. Mine is Yours uses a lot of the same elements as OBTN. So many in fact I had to do a double check to see what I was listening to. Now you can make your own mind up whether this is a good move from Nathan Willett and co.

Mine is Yours just leaves me missing the raw qualities of We Used to Vacation and Hospital Beds but it does have the feel of a grower. So for now I'm just going to pop on Robbers & Cowards and have a good time.

Laters

Shells

It's great how these days pretty much any young kid can just kickstart their own rock 'n' roll fantasies by just setting up a bedroom studio. All it really takes is a microphone and a crappy old tape recorder. Add a bit of determination and perseverance and you might have the blogosphere's next overly hyped lo-fi sensation.

Production's a bit of a different matter. Unless you're going for that lo-fi sound, you generally want your tunes to be audible. Same as no-one would want to listen to a crystal clear Ariel Pink as it wouldn't be "authentic enough". Getting the sounds right is the painstaking part.


Khalid Rafique aka. Shells makes post-rock influenced IDM that will appeal to fans of Seams and Four Tet. And he does it well. New track Clay shows us how good a glockenspiel can sound over a pulsating bassline. Perfect.

Clay by shells

Also I'm gonna give credit to anyone who names an EP after a Bret Easton Ellis novel as Rafique has done with the Lunar Park EP. It took me a while to realise but Clay might be a reference to Ellis' Less Than Zero. I love it even more for that now.


Both Clay and the Lunar Park EP are available from his Bandcamp page
http://shells.bandcamp.com

Tis The Season To Be Jolly (TGE)

It's that time of year again boys and girls. Yes, time for the first announcement of acts to be playing at the greatest urban, coastal festival England has ever seen. Oh yes, The Great Escape is back with a bang.
"A bang" meaning loads of the newest and most cutting-edge acts out there at the moment will be congregating in Brighton for some of the coolest nights out, some of the most over-the-top queueing systems and some of the most random street gigs. Basically there should be something there for most people who enjoy life through audio.

Great Escape line up

There are some names on that list that are already causing me to wet my pants, and the list is just gonna keep on growing. Maybe I'll be able to fix my mistake of not seeing Warpaint last year, have a massive dance fest with the likes of D/R/U/G/S, Teeth and Seams. Or I could just relax and have an easygoing time with Big Deal and Villagers.

I was nice and thoughtful enough to make myself a Great Escape 2011 Spotify Playlist.
However if you're also interested in listening then click on here.

Tonight baby

Coma Cinema

Coma Cinema are back in a good songwriting mood for their third album Blue Suicide set for release sometime soon (this year) on Wonderbeard Tapes.

Coma Cinema's Blue Suicide has a lot of texture for being just one guy's music project (maybe a little help from friends?). The sullen vocals are still there but you just feel he's progressing leaps and bounds in the whole music-making game. My favourite example of this is Greater Vultures.

If you're willing to eat what the vultures are not


Blue Suicide isn't out yet, but when it does come out, odds are you'll be able to download it from Coma Cinema's website like his previous two.
http://comacinema.org/sounds.html

Catwalk

I've been looking for a chance to write about Catwalk and their fuzzy beach-tinged garage songs and I haven't found/needed any other reason than the fact that (Please) Don't Break Me is one damn cracking tune. Seriously. The bridge and its killer tempo shift makes my knees do a bit of a wobble every time I hear it.



Grown into a fully fledged band from frontman Nick Hessler's solo project it seems these guys are going places. They're already playing gigs with the likes of Warpaint, Pains of Being Pure At Heart, Twin Shadow and PVT. So very much in good company.

The (Please) Don't Break Me 7" was released on Captured Tracks and I'm sure this isn't last we'll hear of Catwalk.

Morgan Greenwood

Right so Canadian Morgan Greenwood has me proper confused with his music. I don't rightly know exactly what it is I'm listening to. Is it drum 'n' bass? Is it glitch-hop? Whatever. His beats are somewhat hyperactive and his synth textures are chill as hell. This is an interesting combo, but one that ultimately works.

The worst thing about writing about Morgan Greenwood is that I constantly keep writing Morgan Freeman instead of Greenwood. IF Mr. Freeman ever was to venture into music it would be on here no doubt about it, such is my love for the big man.

Anyways, go and grab Mr. Greenwood's new 17-track album Winter from his Bandcamp page.
http://morgangreenwood.bandcamp.com/

Braids - Native Speaker

Canadian band Braids finally released their debut full length album Native Speaker all over the world today. It's quite the charmer. With no songs under the 4 minute mark, these aren't your typical "bash-one-out-in-a-few-minutes" pop songs. What Native Speaker is is a collection of gorgeous, ambient, cute and feisty, experimental shoegaze-pop.

Glass Deers is the song where singer Raphaelle's vocals really get to shine. The longer the song goes on you can tell she's also not afraid to add some quirkyness to the vocal delivery, giving the song an amazing feel of personality.





Lammicken is brilliant. Its pulsating bass evokes Burial & Four Tet's Moth. But again the vocals and harmonies give it a new dimension. The most post-dubstep tune on the album, and as you all know/will find out this year is looking to be post-dubstep's big year.
According to this Flow Festival concur and have booked the brilliant Actress.

Back to Braids then ya?



Title track Native Speaker is the longest track on the album at 8-and-a-half minutes but also one of the most soothing tunes I've laid my ears on since Brian Eno's Music for Airports album.



Possibly one for the end of the year lists (that is if I do any) if I can remember this far back. But for the time being Braids is staying on my speakers.

Galapagos

Monday's are rarely even remotely enjoyable, but today's lab session was nearly a hoot and almost literally flew by. Music of course played a big part in this.
Spending the day alone with your own thoughts whilst extracting fatty acids from a dead pig might not appeal to some socialite vegetarians, but it gives me a chance to catch up with loads of new stuff and seeing as I'll be spending the next 5 months in the lab I might as well make the most of it.



Galapagos aka. Jacob McNaughton from Phoenix, Arizona has laid down a bunch of tracks with lush beats and a whole load of chopped-up samples. A perfect soundtrack to either relaxing your day away or just as background chillnoise while you do something that might improve your standard of living. If you're that way inclined.

Check him out on Soundcloud

Gleaming by Galapagos

Adele and Jamie xx

So whilst Adele gradually turns into KT Tunstall (see first single Rolling in the Deep off her new album 21) the rest of us are lucky to have Jamie from The XX making sweet sweet remixes for her. Obviously Chasing Pavements wasn't enough for Adele so she wanted to emulate the long-lived success story that was Tunstall and Eye to the Telescope.

Black Horse and a Cherry Tree anyone?





I do love Chasing Pavements though so maybe 21's got one of those beautys on it to get me to side with it. Here's hoping eh?

The Brute Chorus

I guess Grinderman's latest record and Nick Cave's never ending musical spotlight brought a bunch of other bands with a similar kind of distinguishable sound to my knowledge. Last year we had the brilliant Erland & the Carnival, and this year I've got to add The Brute Chorus
to my list of "Cave-Wave" sounds.


The boys have now released three singles from their stampeding, off-kilter blues-fusion second album How The Caged Bird Sings.
To give you an idea of what their sound is listen to the album closer Heaven



or the equally good Could This Be Love?



As genres go, some seem more easily remixable than others. Cave-Wave doesn't seem the easiest route to achieve remix acclaim, but Awesome New Republic have done a great job remixing The Brute Chorus' new single Birdman which is set for release tomorrow. Have a listen:


The Brute Chorus - Birdman (ANR remix)

Hello

Hi there!

I'm back with from my trip with a bunch of new records. Now if I could only score that long awaited DJing gig anywhere in the world I would be laughing.

A bit like: Ha Ha HE HE
Check it out, I've already got this picture of me and a really small guy laughing at the sea.
The sea is hilarious. Seriously, I mean look at it.





So in honour of this return I made a Spotify playlist of the stuff I purchased/received.
New, old, blue, borrowed. Whatever they are here they are. (Obvs. I had to make a few compromises making the list seeing as daddy spotify doesn't have EVERYTHING on it. (Yes I mean you Mount Kimbie's Crooks & Lovers)

Listen to my superduper online virtual DJ mix online here now. YES

and if anyone asks then yes Pariah was brilliant. Even Girl Unit's Wut sounded pretty stonking. London treated me kindly. Brighton even more so. Lovely times.

This is not the last of me I assure you, because I've obviously had loads of time to listen to new music and for some reason have recently been getting quite a lot of e-mails from wherever about interesting new tunes. So keep your eyes open babes.

xoxo