Listen Up! No.4: Male Bonding - Year's Not Long

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Having caused a minor stir (in Dalston) last year by becoming a rare English signing to venerable US indie Sub Pop, the tattooed trio have repaid the faith with ramshackle slacker-punk tunes such as this. Likely to be a festival hit for the sweaty-tent brigade.

Short Cuts! New Releases 22 February 2010

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This week's new album releases, including Marina and the Diamonds, The Courteeners and Toro Y Moi.

Marina + the Diamonds – Family Jewels

A fairly typical example of the hype-meets-fame-meets-success paradigm instigated by the BBC’s Sound Of poll, Marina Diamandis has swiftly undergone a makeover from East London indie-boys’ guilty-pleasure to pop chart darling. Unsurprisingly then, this record goes for the dual attack of hooks and sheen, both of which flow with abundance. When done well, as on ‘Are You Satisfied’ and brilliant single ‘Hollywood’, Diamandis is allowed to create perfectly legitimate, enterprising pop songs. However, when it’s not so well – as on ‘Girls’, which sounds like La Roux covering Madness – it can be the musical equivalent of fingernails down a blackboard. In addition, for all the comparisons (Regina Spektor, Bat for Lashes, Kate Bush), listening to Family Jewels I couldn’t help but be reminded of forgotten mockney Kate Nash. Whilst the actual flesh and blood of the music has virtually nothing in common with Nash’s chirpy piano-pop, both have affected voices which can border upon irritating, and whilst Diamandis has her eyes on bigger fry (‘Hollywood’, ‘Shampain’) than Nash’s kitchen-sink observational banality, the results of both are close in terms of lyrical accomplishment. Still, it’s unlikely anyone who actually buys the record will notice such matters, so this one’ll doubtless sell by the bucketloads. Ironic lyric: “feeling like a loser, feeling like a bum, sitting on the outside observing the fun” on ‘The Outsider’– not for long love.

Choice Cuts: ‘Hollywood’, ‘Are You Satisfied’, ‘I Am Not a Robot’

6/10

The Courteeners - Falcon

I’ve not exactly hidden my insatiable disdain for this band, not least for wretched trailing single ‘You Overdid it Doll’, but nonetheless I approached this one with at least a modicum of journalistic impartiality. Just a modicum, mind. The good news is it doesn’t get much worse than the aforementioned single; the bad news is it doesn’t get much better either. And so, a plateau of eye-wateringly tedious ploddery ensues. Bizarre fetishes aside (“I miss your eyelashes” from ‘The Opener’), this one ostensibly treads a more sensitive path than it’s predecessor, but don’t be fooled – no matter how much Liam Fray might wish he was born a fragile Liam Gallagher, unfortunately he’s just as boorish, unimaginative and fond of a witless platitude as his Mancunian counterpart, just with a voice that’s far shitter and entirely devoid of Gallagher’s early menace and enduring husk. Furthermore, this lot are so painfully proud and constantly aware of where they come from that I genuinely pondered whether ‘Falcon’ was a reference to that literary figure of waxwork Northernism, Kes. I’m still undecided. Fingers-crossed moment: “So I’ll cross my heart and hope to fly, and fuck off right into the middle of the sky, where no-one can find me and no-one can see” from ‘Cross My Heart and Hope to Fly’ – we can only hope!

Choice Cuts: -

1.5/10

Strange Boys - Be Brave

Returning with their sophomore effort, these Decidedly Nondescript Boys appear committed to bridging a rather happy gap between fist and foam. And so, this is for the most part lazy brawlin’ music for surfers. Or tide troublin’ tunes for hicks. It all rumbles along with carefully manicured raucousness, but half an hour of howlin’ vocals and scratchin’ chords later, you might be a-wantin’ a rest – regardless of the unexpectedly excellent garage-Dylan drifters which are tacked on as parting shots (‘All You Can Hide Inside’, ‘You Can’t Only Love When You Want To’.)

Choice Cuts: ‘All You Can Hide Inside’, ‘A Walk on the Beach’

5.5/10

Toro Y Moi - Causers of This

This South Carolinian may have come from the school of hard names (he’s really called Chazwick Bundick – ouch!), but despite the hip-hop twinges evident herein, judging by this effort he certainly didn’t come from the school of hard knocks. Indeed, his dreamy, spacious hip-pop has more moments in common with the like of Empire of the Sun and Phoenix, but avoids sounding derivative, even if it lacks thrust. Unfortunately, most of the groundwork of the first few tracks is laid to waste by a middle section (‘Fax Shadow’ on) which employs the kind of relentless in/out glitching that renders it virtually impossible to listen to. Note to Chazwick (and others): stop tripping over the mixing desk!

Choice Cuts: ‘Minors’, ‘Imprint After’

5/10

Short Cuts! New Releases 1/2/2010

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

From the sublime to the ridiculous this week...

Soft Pack - The Soft Pack

Cheering me up from the get-go isn’t a bad route to currying favour, so the fact that The Soft Pack bursts into life with a throwaway guitar chord and a relentless hi-hat hardly hinders its prospects for a positive review. Whilst nothing else quite touches opener ‘C’mon’ for pitch-perfect honing of Replacement-esque recklessness, plenty (‘Answer To Yourself’, ‘Move Along’) come close, as a breakneck half hour of breathless bliss surfs its way to crest of 2010’s garage-rock wave. Released in June and it would’ve been the sound of the Summer – a joyfully lively, well-crafted and coherent effort.

Choice Cuts: ‘C’mon’, ‘Answer To Yourself’, ‘Move Along’, ‘More or Less’

8.5/10

Los Campesinos - Romance Is Boring

The Cardiff band have always been a favourite with the fanzines, but their third coming seems to have provoked a muted response this time round; a raised eyebrow replacing wide-eyed enthusiasm. If I were a betting man, I’d suggest this was because they’re still trading in the same currency that won their debut a coterie of admires – Romance is Boring duly offers up the usual painful mix of shy, rambling emo platitudes and a propensity for being extroverted about their social and emotional impotence, backed with familiarly punky indie-pop. Again, the hits typically revolve around  the more breathless beats (‘There Are Listed Buildings’), while the misses (‘Straight in at 101’) afford singer Gareth the kind of excruciating airspace that his grating vocals certainly don’t deserve. Par for the course, then.

Choice Cuts: ‘There Are Listed Buildings’, ‘Romance Is Boring’

5.5/10

Hot Rats – Turn Ons

Taking some time out from their day jobs in Supergrass, Turn Ons sees Gaz Coombes and Danny Goffney tackling a series of new wave, post-punk and rock classics likely to appear on any self-respecting indie band’s influences list. The predictability of the track listing is largely mirrored by the finished article – that is, it sounds like Supergrass and the songs largely speak for themselves. Even so, super-charged versions of Roxy Music’s ‘Love Is A Drug’ and Gang of Four’s ‘Damaged Goods’ sound great, as does the hammed up glam version of the Kinks’ ‘Big Sky’. Meanwhile, the whispy, atmospheric take on ‘Up the Junction’ is crap, whilst the majority are as agreeably irrelevant as the concept itself.

Choice Cuts: ‘Love Is A Drug’, ‘Big Sky’

6/10

Ocean Colour Scene - Saturday

Having owned the obligatory copy and cheerfully appreciated the four good songs of ‘Moseley Shoals’, I was under the impression that these Britpop behemoths had long since met their demise, but apparently this is their 7^th record since their 1996 breakthrough. Apparently the sound hasn’t changed much, meaning there’s more sub-Who melodies, sub-Weller vocals, and the odd Beatles off-cut (‘What’s Mine is Yours’) thrown in. In actuality, some of it isn’t half bad – the bar room stomp of ‘Mrs Maylie’ in particular is worth a listen – but there’s no ‘Day We Caught the Train’ to ease the sense that it’s all painfully inconsequential. ‘100 Floors of Perception’ maybe, but evidently not a single one that deals in brutal honesty.

Choice Cuts: ‘What's Mine Is Yours’, ‘Mrs Maylie’

5.5/10

Midlake - The Courage Of Others

After four full spins – including one where I sat, listened, researched the lyrics and read about the band’s background – I still can’t formulate any opinion on The Courage of Others beyond that in which my bile runneth over. Perhaps I’m cold and dead inside; perhaps this is unrepentantly boring, nondescript shit that’s too tedious even to classify as indulgent, despite wearing an air of misplaced self-importance. This one doesn’t even qualify as the Fleetwood Cack of their last effort – worse, this time it’s the Eagles if Don Henley had sung in a yawning monotone and never written a pop song. By the time the mildly energised folky psychedelia  of ‘The Horn’ arrives, you won’t be sure if it’s genuinely listenable or someone has applied some polish to the turd. Just awful.

Choice Cuts: ‘The Horn’

2/10

Short Cuts! New Releases 25/1/10: Part 2

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

Laura Veirs - July Flame

At first glance, this record appeared to be more of the kind of twiddly folk music tailor made for Waitrose adverts. At second glance, it still is, but in contrast to the perpetually disappointing ‘nu-folk’ from this side of the Atlantic, Veirs’ Portland residence gives this a more satisfying slant – dryer, less faux-authentic, and far less sorry for itself. Two dazzling tracks (‘Where are you driving’ and ‘Life is Good Blues’) help, whilst the others lope along in a soothingly pleasant, if unremarkable, manner.

Choice Cuts: ‘Where Are You Driving’, ‘Life Is Good Blues’

7/10

Charlotte Gainsbourg - IRM

Sacre bleu! The brain haemorrhage debacle around which this concept-ish effort is based not only makes IRM a remarkable achievement in itself, but also provides a complimentary sub-plot to the songs, without ever becoming intrusive. Musically, writer/producer/arranger extraordinaire Beck leaves his indelible mark – notably dry beats and squirming sound effects – across tracks such as ‘IRM’, whilst Gainsbourg does her Francoise Hardy bit on couple tracks (‘Le Chat du Cafes des Artistes’), and the slightly unlikely collaborators even manage to enliven honky blues run throughs such as ‘Dandelion’. Bon.

Choice Cuts: ‘Master’s Hands’, ‘Le Chat Du Cafe Des Artistes’, ‘Time of the Assassins’

7.5/10

Beach House – Teen Dream

Objective as ever I am, seeing the ‘dream-pop’ label on Wikipedia made me feel I should like this more, but unfortunately I don’t. Minor problems thus: Legrand’s vocals approach Nico-esque baritone but are drowned in the mix; ‘Zebra’ could have been great but has one wrong chord choice in the chorus. Major problems thus: too pedestrian to convey emotion through energy but also lacks the sonic histrionics to do it via bursts of sound – in short, the whole thing strolls with such sloth that it ends up as the musical equivalent of the tortoise who doesn’t end up winning the race. An unmitigated disappointment.

Choice Cuts: ‘Norway’

3.5/10

Magnetic Fields - Realism

Whilst a healthy portion of the music on offer here makes me yawn with indifference and yearn for creative thrust Stephin Merritt to plug in as with previous efforts, thankfully enough quality exists elsewhere to redeem Realism. For instance, rib-tickling lyrics such as “seduced and abandoned and what can I do, I think I might drink a few” recall Neil Hannon at his most childishly subversive, and Merritt’s voice remains the measure of dry indifference. Sufficient for now.

Choice Cuts: ‘You Must Be Out’, ‘Seduced and Abandoned’

6/10

Short Cuts! New Releases 25/1/10: Part 1

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*** Short Cuts Special - as there are a ridiculous amount of new records warranting review, this week's short cuts have been split into two parts. Apart from that, it's business as usual. Enjoy!

Fools Gold – Fools Gold

As unconcerned with geographical legitimacy as Vampire Weekend, but far more faithful to source material, Fools Gold’s energised debut traverses Kingston, Istanbul and Rio before settling somewhere between Fela Kuti’s Africa 70 and the house band on a week’s cruise down the Nile. Despite the scattered approach, the musical voyage seldom hits rocky waters, and the surf-tastic guitar tones provide breezily welcome reminders of home at regular intervals – sublime.

Choice Cuts: ‘Surprise Hotel’, ‘The World Is All There Is’, ‘Nadine’

8/10

Good Shoes - No Hope No Future

Where Think Before You Speak was a study in laissez-faire arrogance and relationship insouciance, No Hope No Future’s humbler themes of longing and relative heartache necessarily require a darker tone. Nonetheless, the hooks, whilst fewer and farther between, still can’t help but jostle their way to the forefront. And so, whilst clumsily politicised rumblers like ‘I Know’ are missteps, tracks like ‘The Way My Heart Beats’ and ‘City by the Sea’ are up there with the best from their excellent debut. Meanwhile, ‘Do You Remember’ shows off hitherto unseen guitar-smarts, with licks wound tight enough to befit obvious musical forebears XTC.

Choice Cuts: ‘The Way My Heart Beats’, ‘City by the Sea’, ‘Do You Remember’

7.5/10

Hadouken - For the Masses

Not as smart as These New Puritans, and not as authentic as ‘proper’ grime acts Wylie and Mr Rascal, this lot are destined to languish in chart and critical purgatory unless they up their game substantially.  Nonetheless, the realignment from nu-rave to more overt ‘grindie’ at least shows they’re thinking – now think about writing more than a splattering of listenable songs.

Choice Cuts: ‘Turn the Lights Out’

4/10

Tindersticks - Falling Down A Mountain

If love is a drug, Stuart Staples doesn’t half make it sound like heroin – and I’m not just talking about ‘Black Smoke’. Unfortunately, his seemingly impending descent into comatose arrest is the only thing which threatens to enliven the instantly forgettable lounge-jazz-cum-elevator-music which backs his mumbling inertia for the first half of this record. Having said that, I’m genuinely enthralled by the vocal-less ‘Hubbard Hill’, part of a better second half that goes some way to explaining why these nouvelle vag(ue)abonds still seem to retain the rub of the critical green.

Choice Cuts: ‘Harmony Around My Table’, ‘Hubbard Hill’

5.5/10

Spoon – Transference

Whilst by no means fully conversant with these highly acclaimed indie-rockers’ back catalogue, I’d nonetheless hazard a guess that this effort lies strictly in the middle of their creative road. Whilst Britt Daniel’s vocals are as pleasing whether he’s quietly composed (‘Who Makes You’re Money’) or carefully straining (‘Trouble Comes Running’), only the attendant clatter of the latter song type threatens to raise the excitement bar beyond a solid ‘B’. In short – half a dozen spoonfuls of sugar where one or two would have sufficed.

Choice Cuts: ‘Got Nuffin’, ‘Trouble Comes Running’

6.5/10