At first I was unattracted to its refined “raw” quality, but with a few plays I’ve come to like that exact abrasiveness. Dan Boeckner of Wolf Parade and Atlas Strategic, and his wife Alexei Perry, released Face Control on Sub Pop in February.
Rating: 7.2
Brakes – Don’t Take Me To Space (Man)
Brakes sing the proper battle cry to our killer tape monster. So, since British Sea Power performed with trees and a variety of taxidermy on stage, does that mean that Brakes should perform with space age shit? This track rocks it. And it’s what you could only hope for from this hodgepodge of a supergroup.
Rating: 8
“the letter” is the lead single off the veils’ third album for rough trade “sun gangs”. we dig it! love that prechorus/afterchorus hook! she wrote the letter!
rating: 7.5
shit is ill. love the beat on this (esp. the cymbal tones). double-o on production.
rating: 7.7
the melody on this is crazy. if not for naff vocals & boring as fuck drums, this track could be SOMETHING! magistrates hail from essex. the blokes’ myspace cites prince, bowie, talking heads & ATCQ as influences. don’t believe me? check it here
rating: 7.0
Marsha Gee gives the performance of her career. Literally. Since this tune, she has disappeared and nobody knows where or who she is because Marsha Gee wasn’t her real name. The “Pop Peanut Duck” won’t make you want to dance or flap your arms, as she requests, but it will make you laugh. There is some proper mid-60’s tripping balls on this track, most notably during the vocal take and specifically at the end when Marsha has an orgasm of supposed sounds that ducks make when they dance. I stand by my instinct, and swear that I hear at least a few ‘giggitys’ in there. Tracked sometime in the 60’s, the “Pop Peanut Duck” will leave you asking yourself what people have been wondering now for decades, what the hell is this?
Rating: 5
While they are a another new band with not a new sound, the Scotts of Sergeant do know how to write a moody brit-pop song – as heard on their new single “Swiftly Does It”. Their bad live’esque music videos won’t be stopping me from attending their show when they finally journey across the pond for a tour. Yes, I do believe that “official” music videos which are montages of past live shows, but synched with audio from the studio recording, are 97.9961% of the time a sad and lame disaster. For some reason this band’s entire video catalogue is comprised of these. Either way, they are now part of the Another Music = Another Kitchen label, and knowing their track record, things should only be getting better
Rating: 8
huge step forward for this band. great fucking song. the maccabees’ sophomore lp “wall of arms” is out today.
rating: 9.0
by the power of my ’03 car stereo cd rotation, the forces of two of my favorite bands (british sea power & the electric soft parade) combine to form BRAKES on “eternal return” the brighton quartet put on for east sussex by marrying a distinctly american rhythmic figure with decidedly english melodic sensibilities. ace as fuck!
rating: 8.0
Phoenix – Lisztomania (Classixx Version)
this remix is fuckin smooth. a carafe of the finest saint emilion. hit me!
rating: 7.5
A screamer from Hollywood band Casper. For local music, one of the few diamonds in the rough.
Rating: 8.
