Still Hearing Voices

Recently I took the tough decision to abandon Voices From Downtroddendom – the music/literature/culture fanzine that I’d been running for the last few years. I’d like to cite (oft-cited) creative differences(!), but that would be dishonest – I just decided to quit whilst I was (ever-so-slightly) ahead. Over the last couple of years I’ve been happy to unearth plenty of great new bands – one way
or another. Here I revisit a handful of my favourites and give their
brand-new releases a once-over…

FROM MARS:
From Mars EP
Another dose of riotous post-rock ‘n’ roll thrills from South Wales’
finest : From Mars. Now expanded to a 4-piece, their new self-
titled EP certainly benefits from a more muscular/less-jittery
sound. My favourite track here is the incendiary ‘More Land To
Build Houses On’ which injects indie’s twitching carcass with a
massive dose of off-kilter post-punk guitar aggro. Final track
‘Fallout’ also comfortably reaches the jagged pop-peaks of last
year’s catchy no-wave debut album ‘23’. A great stop-gap until
the next full-length LP … If you know what’s good for you, you’ll be
getting hot and sweaty with From Mars this summer.
www.myspace.com/frommars

THIS ET AL:
Sabbatical
The Leeds’ music scene has garnered plenty of attention over
the last year after the Kaiser Chiefs turned the music industry
spotlight away from London – towards the North. Geography
aside, brooding art-rockers This Et Al have nothing in common
with the Kaiser Chiefs’ cheeky bounce. This Et Al’s moody charms are encapsulated perfectly on new single ‘Sabbatical’ – a song that sounds like Sonic Youth borrowing Queens of the Stone Age’s guitars before pummelling Morrissey into submission! The equally impressive B-Sides range from the twitchy, bombastic thrust of ‘Solemn As My Rifle’ to the juddering, dubbed-out remix of ‘The Loveliest Alarm’ courtesy of Leeds’ only Grime band – Yes Boss. Top quality.
www.myspace.com/thisetal

THE HUNGRY I:
Birthday
Post-everything laptop troubadour Jon Stolber AKA The Hungry I returns with more artfully-fractured soundscapes. Self-confessed agoraphobic Stolber’s schizo-phonic manipulations have gained him plenty of attention recently and he has toured with such notables as 65 Days of Static and Guillemots. Links to those two bands are slightly misleading, though: The Hungry I specializes in ghostly, compelling hi-tech lo-fi. More leftfield than Leftfield, more ‘chilling’ than ‘chillout’ – this is the soundtrack to Radiohead’s worst technological nightmares. Bonus tracks include ‘Jaws of Love’ and a spectral drum ‘n’ space remix courtesy of Fat Benjamin.
www.myspace.com/thehungryi

THE BLACK TULIPS:
We The Lonely Ones
The release of ‘We The Lonely Ones’ (available exclusively as a download single, through I-tunes) marks the epic return of Hastings spooky kids The Black Tulips. I first discovered their freaky brand of pop squalor last year on their manic debut EP, but this new single marks a significant shift in scope from their early dosshouse-disco beginnings. It’s still a glam-damaged art-rat riot, but this time it’s so big it could probably swallow you whole! They still scare me, but it’s still in a good way! Welcome to their world.
www.myspace.com/theblacktulips

If anyone is vaguely curious about Voices From Downtroddendom and its cracking cover-mount CDs, feel free to get in touch – I’ve still got plenty of back issues lying around! tomleins@hotmail.com

Written by Tom Leins