23 June 2008

by Rob McCrae

The Week That Was, Sukie, Circuits, Pop Levi, The Talks, The Fullertons, MGMT, The Teenagers, Daedelus, Camille, Tokyo Police Club, Frank Turner

"Four guys from a piece of grass in the middle of England who have The Arctic Monkeys sound down like a photocopy."

The Week That Was – Scratch The Surface
Field Music’s Peter Brewis moonlights in a side project that features contributions from his proper band and so resembles something not particularly different, trumpeting ELO harmonies and ear perforating melody duel like two chickens at a cock fight..

Sukie – Pink-a-Pade
Four guys from a piece of grass in the middle of England who have The Arctic Monkeys sound down like a photocopy and how this leads to the breathless possibility of a band of similar potential bursting through the ranks into the TV sets and stereos of an entire country.

Circuits – The Choir Invisible
The solitary maypole of hope for Circuits resides in singer Benny and his peeling indie voice, even if it does warble about a catalogue of generic subjects, because there’s definitely a cyst of possibility knawing at your brain stem if only asking you to wait for a few more singles.

Pop Levi – Dita Dimone
Like the ghost of Finley Quaye has been exhumed and given the biggest musical makeover ever to produce an enormo chunk of assured celestial funk with probably one of those videos where the guitarist shimmers with tracers like you’re in the centre of a zoetrope.

The Talks – Picture This
Despite having a name that is about as memorable as a night on Rohyponol shooters, The Talks have an effortless style that hoist them above the swarming mass of mediocrity. Like a cross between the pop hooks of McFly and the bratty insouciance of The Metros.

The Fullertons – Halfway Out
Hounded out of their hometown of Watford for a life of relentless touring up motorways, scooping petrol off the floor of forecourts to feed their dream when in fact their highlight has already gone and that was supporting Blood Red Shoes in some sweat dripping venue

MGMT – Electric Feel
Like The Magic Numbers a few years ago MGMT are going to be patented with the phrase “the sound of summer” but unlike the tuneless shit sack forefathers of a forgotten time, MGMT do in fact channel the spaced out feeling of lying in a field somewhere.

The Teenagers – Make It Happen
The Teenagers exude impossible smugness probably because they live on top of a church spire in the fourth arrondissment and as befits this provenance this sounds like a song The Black Kids may have heard and then kicked their mixing board in disgust at its lazy derivative execution.

Daedelus – Make It So
As with many ninja tune releases this package is ameliorated by the selection of remixes ergo Spank Rock’s dirty protagonist XXXchange is really in charge of making this laid back Italian disco number really sit up on its haunches.

Camille – Money Note
Singularly memorable for the climatic “I just want to beat Mariah”, Camille is a quirky zany by numbers French chanteuse, like a slightly crazier Bjork clambering up to the high notes and doing a passable impressing of a diva before spinning off into more nutcase territory.

Tokyo Police Club – In A Cave
Singer David Monks has a voice that has a whiny timbre that unusually doesn’t make you want to attack a village with an oxyacetylene torch, but instead makes you grateful for bands that can make an average single sound infinitely listenable by virtue of basically being a decent band. Simple.

Frank Turner – Reasons Not To Be An Idiot
Frank’s second album climbed to the giddy heights of chart position 5 (a barometer of success as reliable as a shattered timepiece) and where this might have the glimmer of a tune his voice still sounds as monotone as a miner after a heavy day at the coal face.

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