Gecko - New Bands

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New music highly recommended by The Popscener.

Today's hotshots: Gecko

Not necessarily the usual fare The Popscener vibes, but two beautifully sunny days to start this week mean that Bristolian duo Gecko have my stolen my affections with their acoustico-pop and bonhomic cheer. However, that's not to damn them with the faintest praise; they certainly know their way around a melody and are refreshingly neither surf, shoegaze or folk - perhaps making them unique amongst their current peers.
In short: Mariachi El Bronx + Jamie T + Summer boozing = Gecko

Try: Guanabana Juice (live) below, but there are far better tracks (What You Gonna Do?) on the myspace.



http://www.myspace.com/gecko

Introducing...MONTAGE POPULAIRE

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More highly recommended new and underground music from The Popscener.

Today's hotshots: Montage Populaire

With that winning, oft-desired mix of hook-heavy tunes and an air of arch detachment, Montage Populaire are an indie blogger's wet dream. The brainchild of singer-songwriter Luke Donovan, their pleasantly underproduced demos approximate elements of post-punk and jangle-pop for the laptop generation - to thrilling effect. In fact, they're so good that even though they only formed last Autumn, Montage Populaire are already making their way around the South-East's nether regions and popping across the channel in March for 3-day Gallic excursion. Misery for every jobbing indie-rocker from Birmingham or Leeds; delight the rest of us.

Try: Break up the Band on their Myspace or Last Among Equals below

http://www.myspace.com/montagepopulaire

Hot 5 at 5

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***5 highly recommended tracks that have been tickling THE POPSCENER's eardrums today ***

Hot 5 at 5 (12/1)

Dirty Projectors - Useful Chamber
Useful tune

The Ordinary Boys - Week in Week out
(Big) Brothers in arms

The Leisure Society - Save It for Someone Who Cares
Leisurely

Motorcyle - As the Rush Comes
Euphoric

The Rakes - The Final Hill
Conclusive

Hot 5 at 5 (12/1)

Interviews and Features

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Greetings and a very Merry Xmas to all from THE POPSCENER! Hot 5 at 5 will be back in the New Year, but in the meantime here are a few interviews/features I have been conducting/writing elsewhere recently. Enjoy!

The Antlers @ Subba-Cultcha.com

Official Secrets Act @ Subba-Cultcha.com

Trailer Trash Tracys @ Spoonfed.co.uk

Gig Guide for 2010 @ Spoonfed.co.uk

Records of 2009: Artists' Choice @ Spoonfed.co.uk


Feel free to tweet it all around the interweb etc...

Hot 5 at 5 - XMAS SPECIAL!!

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***This week THE POPSCENER picks out some cracking Xmas alternatives that demand to be heard***

Hot 5 at 5 - XMAS SPECIAL PART IV (24/12)

The Ramones - Merry Christmas (I don't want to fight tonight)
The Eels - Everything's Gonna Be Cool This Christmas
Mew - She Came Home for Christmas
The Raveonettes - The Christmas Song
The Who - Christmas


Hot 5 at 5 - XMAS SPECIAL PART IV (24/12)

Hot 5 at 5 - XMAS SPECIAL!!

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***This week THE POPSCENER picks out some cracking Xmas alternatives that demand to be heard***

Hot 5 at 5 - XMAS SPECIAL PART III (23/12)

The Kinks - Father Christmas
Eazy-E - Merry Muthaf*ckin Xmas
The Vandals - My First Xmas as a Woman
Low - Just Like Christmas
The Flaming Lips - A Change at Christmas

Hot 5 at 5 - XMAS SPECIAL PART III (23/12)

Hot 5 at 5

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***5 highly recommended tracks that have been tickling THE POPSCENER's eardrums today ***

Hot 5 at 5 (20/12)

Billy Idol - Dancing with Myself
Holding its own

Compulsion - Mall Monarchy
Compulsive

Sleeping States - Rivers
Flowing

Cymbals Eat Guitars - Tunguska
Eat this

The Duckworth Lewis Method - Flatten the Hay
Method in the madness

Hot 5 at 5 (20/12)

Hot 5 at 5

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***5 highly recommended tracks that have been tickling THE POPSCENER's eardrums today ***

Hot 5 at 5 (19/12)

Bruce Springsteen - Dancing in the Dark
Shines a light

I Blame Coco - 18 With a Bullet
I Blame Sting

Alicia Keys - Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart
Key listening

Weezer - Across the Sea
Transatlantic geek-offs

Sleeper - Delicious
Tasty

Hot 5 at 5 (19/12)

Hot 5 at 5

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***5 highly recommended tracks that have been tickling THE POPSCENER's eardrums today ***

Hot 5 at 5 (18/12)

Taken by Trees - Sweet Child O' Mine
Familiar

Noisettes - Never Forget You
Unforgettable

Kurran and the Wolfnotes - Whatabitch
Whatagoodsong

Razorlight - Pop Song 2006
Does exactly what it says on the tin

The Lemonheads - Hannah and Gabi
Wistful

Hot 5 at 5 (18/12)

Hot 5 at 5

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***5 highly recommended tracks that have been tickling THE POPSCENER's eardrums today ***

Hot 5 at 5 (17/12)

Chisel - Your Star Is Killing Me
Perfectly sculpted

Talking Heads - Psycho Killer
Wild

Cake - Hem Of Your Garment
Unhealthy yet addictive

Jimi Hendrix Experience - Hey Joe
Not to be confused with Hey Jude

Lulu & The Lampshades - Feet to the Sky
Dreamy

Hot 5 at 5 (17/12)

Short Cuts! New Releases 14/12/09

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*** Brief run-down of this week’s new releases, including track recommendations from THE POPSCENER***

Former Ghosts – Fleurs

One could – and some certainly will – attempt to provide a grandiloquent celebration of this collection of ambient, murky, and occasionally noisy electronica. However, reduced to its constituent parts, this is the Postal Service’s whirs, clicks and dance-claps with Ian Curtis vocals and a similarly miserable post-punk outlook. Luckily for Former Ghosts, it mostly works, only becoming tiresome when the female vocalist is allowed to wail along too prominently in the foreground.  Free advice for Former Ghosts: don’t let her next time.

Choice Cuts: ‘Mother’, ‘Hold On’

7/10

Alicia Keys – The Element of Freedom

Where Keys’ last offering, As I Am, tentatively opened doors between her piano based balladry and a genuine pop career, this one goes one further: it moves beyond the average domain of R’n’B infused pop to create something smart and inventive. The growling synths that lurk in the background of songs like the splendid ‘Wait Till You See My Smile’ rather suit Keys slightly breathy vocals, the limitations of which mercifully prevent the seemingly de rigueur tonsil hysterics of her contemporaries. Bravo! Next task: fix the rhyming-dictionary lyrical nadirs (“Night/Right/Right/Fight/Night” from ‘This Bed’ – ouch).

Choice Cuts: ‘Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart’, ‘Wait Till You See My Smile’

7.5/10

Animal Collective – Fall Be Kind

Although armed with the same schizophrenic rhythms and scatterbrained sounds, Fall Be Kind sounds ever so slightly warmer to me than this year’s full lengther. Unfortunately, for all the kudos, I still really couldn’t care less for the band’s laboriously cluttered prog take on indie-electronica. Thanks to the hype I specifically gave this one extra spins, but it turns out I was right all along: this IS overrated pap with occasional flashes of worth – principally ‘On a Highway’, which sounds just enough like Sonic Youth for the iPod generation to appease me into giving it a bonus point.

Choice Cuts: ‘On a Highway’, ‘Graze’

6/10