Twilight
Singers - A Stitch In Time (EP)
Collaborations
seem to be becoming increasingly popular, varying from perfect pairings
to just plain embarrassing, this release is somewhere in-between. The
first few tracks are brilliant; especially ‘Live with me’
that not only features Mark Lanegan on vocals sounding like the ghost
of Johnny Cash, but is also a cover of a Massive Attack song. Tracks
2 and 3 are also wonderful dark laments, full of brooding bass lines
and discordant chords, from here on the music remains fairly interesting
and dark but the vocals become duller and more generic as we revert
to the normal band line-up, which begs the question, who are the Twilight
Singers?
The
Vice - Lovers (EP)
I’m
instantly suspicious of bands who try to make themselves sound a lot
more interesting than they really are, if you’ve got nothing to
say or it’s too early in your career to have anything interesting
to say on a press release, then just keep it simple, let the music talk
for itself. Fortunately in the Vice’s case the music does a fair
job of this, despite being a low key and budget release. The band’s
sound is currently schizophrenic as they find their voice, fusing a
few ‘fashionable’ styles and a few of their own ideas, thus
they have the potential in sound, looks and attitude to be twisted into
a marketing commodity, turned into whatever a label executive with a
fat wallet desires them to become. At the moment the band’s music
has some honesty, rawness, some life, I hope it and they stay that way.
Arcturian
- Demo
Proficient
debut demo from London five piece for those who remember the sweeter
and more melodious side of Britpop and have since got jobs, got lives
and grown up… A bit.
Pocus
Whiteface - Demo
This
is a demo, so I will treat it as such and offer Pocus Whiteface some
constructive criticism, which I hope is what they want. There are some
wonderful riffs here, some amazing crazy guitar noises, discordant chords,
thundering bass lines (played by a brilliant bass player) and manic
shouted vocals (though they could do with greater projection), all of
which are good in my books. The bands’ main flaws lie in their
structure and arrangement, despite no song being longer than four and
a half minutes at times they drag and feel a lot longer. The songs need
more ups and downs, more hooks, better dynamics, bury yourselves in
a studio for a bit, tear the songs apart, put them back together again
and we’ll have a mighty musical force on our hands.
Big
Strides - Always Together (single)
Despite
my suspicions that Big Strides may have a lot of money behind them (headlining
the Electric Ballroom already?) this is a brilliant single. Each track
has a different style from bluesy-funk to mellow Ballad, un yet still
possessing a similar feel and sound, all superbly captured and recorded.
Three boys to watch out for.
Fopp
Award for New Music 2006 (compilation)
Whilst I’m
all for supporting new music and anything that raises the profile of good
new artists I’m not entirely sure what this fairly long running
scheme in partnership with FOPP, "The PRS Foundation for new music"
and "Clear Sound and Vision" is trying to achieve. Looking at
the judging panel which includes staff from the NME as well as big wig
A&R men and listening to the music on this sampler CD one can't help
but wonder that the award is aiming to find new music with the biggest
commercial potential not necessarily the most competent or interesting
music. Olympus Mons
sound like every other
'Libertines-Lite' band currently doing the rounds, Conrad Vingoe is a proficient but uninteresting singer-songwriter with only The Dials and Morton Valence doing something slightly more interesting, which is interesting as they're the only two artists on the CD that already had a profile before entering the competition. Proof perhaps that those deserving will win through and be noticed anyway or maybe a sign of conflicting opinions and motives in the judging panel.
IV
Thieves - If We Can't Escape My Pretty (single)
IV Thieves last
single, "Day is a Downer" received a fairly muted response from
me and after listening to "If We Can't Escape My Pretty" it
was a definite case of too few tracks to properly judge a band, the album
is awesome, unrelenting, rock and riffs fill it from start to finish.
Three of the Four Thieves take turns on lead vocals which leads to a variable
if slightly schizophrenic feel to the album, albeit with a John Lennon-esque
delivery at their core. Each vocal seems to be complimented perfectly
by the musical backing, this isn't just a random allocation of duties,
proceedings have been planned and
thought out. It has a retro feel, I stick by my Britpop references and add a probable love of 60's music to the equation, but it's retro beefed up, revved up, brought slap bang into the modern age.
Low
Vs Diamond - Live @ Water Rats, London
Why are so many
recent bands from America so gangly? And why do they all seem to wear
the same T-shirt’s and shoes? And why do the drummers always have
masses of curly hair? Anyway, after conjuring up images of generic American
bands, Low vs. Diamond’s sound is far from generic. A strangely
enigmatic singer despite his odd dancing and slightly comedic sunglasses,
big sweeping keyboards and guitars and a bass player who some how manages
to stay in time whilst waving his bass about all over the place. The sound
is a hard one to describe, melodious rock, nothing too full on, pleasant
but not dull, engaging but not exhilarating, epic without being ostentatious,
just good music.
All
reviews by Chris Chinchilla
www.chinchilla-music.co.uk