14 March 2008

Be Your Own Pet – Super Soaked/Food Fight!
Double single – Nashville pop-punkers sing about the naughtiness of playing children’s games to see how rebellious they can make them sound. Like Operator Please! throwing blancmange packed with razor blades at The Subways.

Be Your Own Pet – Black Hole/The Kelly Affair
More quick-fire bursts of raw, fuck-you garage rock about doing crazy shit out of boredom. Bellowing female vocals over Hives-styled guitars. Nothing ground-breaking but could be an awesome Jackass soundtrack.

Late of the Pier – The Bears Are Coming
This is not music. This is a genre-violating synth jam, far too busy, and a tuneless skull-rape of a song. If the bears ARE indeed coming, tell them Late of the Pier taste of salmon and went that-a-way. Peel would have loved it though, the git.

Archangel – Not The Man You Think I Am
Dull, repetitive indie track about breaking up with a girl…over a Motown beat. Must we go on? Must they?

British Sea Power – No Lucifer
Lyrically, this is a breath of fresh air, dark and contemplative, conjuring malevolent images of history. Bassist Hamilton’s first outing on vocal duties gives the band a more ghostly, mysterious edge. Expect “Easy! Easy! Easy!” to become a festival chant this summer.

Stephanie Dosen – Vinalhaven Harbour
Will the current tidal wave of female singer/songwriters ever cease? At least this one’s voice is much softer, silkier and crucially, regional accent-free. Dosen’s string-accompanied acoustic folk is emotive and hypnotic, recalling Dot Allison. B-side ‘Chang-O Is Banished’ is positively spooky.

Siouxsie – About To Happen
She’s still sounding good without her Banshees, but has gone a bit 80s disco. A fairly mediocre single which doesn’t pack enough punch to attract a new crop of fans. If this is among the best the album has to offer, expect the most fleeting of comebacks.

Alex Metric – In Your Machine
Like a vocal-heavy Daft Punk, Alex Metric’s jerky, twisted electro dance massacre could propel him to dizzy heights this summer. Clubbers listen out for the funky bass shakedown on 3rd track ‘Deadly on a Mission’. It’s pelvis-thrustingly good.

Estelle (feat. Kanye West) – American Boy
OK, why doesn’t Kanye West sing proper notes and instead persist with that lazy, whiney excuse for a voice. Furthermore, why does he always seem to crop up on perfectly good R & B records such as this. Sorry Kanye, but we're firmly in the Jay-Z camp.

Frank Turner – Photosynthesis
An instantly infectious yet succinct folk record from Frank Turner, best known as the man behind the ultra-political post-punk locomotive that was Million Dead. A quick butcher’s at his myspace profile makes you wonder why he didn’t start out doing this. And, did we mention, there are no long words?

Mystery Jets – Young Love
Featuring the sweet voice of the much touted Laura Marling, this is a harmony laden 60s styled tale of a one-night-stand that leaves the girl’s heart, and the boy’s bed, in a mess. Ew. Accessible in a Beatles kind of way, but a bit of a yawn-fest after a few listens.

Neon Neon – I Lust U
Gruff Rhys and Boom Bip embark on a new electronica project, taking a Kraftwerk melody and layering it with a pleasing array of astral effects. The Heartbreak remix sounds like it’s being played backwards. Featuring Welsh singer Cate Le Bon.

Ida Maria – Stella
The husky, whiskey-sodden voice of Ida Maria could easily be the new sound in your head. Three cracking tales of depravity, twisted love and year-long hangovers. An impressive worldview for one of such tender years who grew up in a remote part of Norway. Is she for real? On first glance, it would appear so.

The Shoes – Knock Out
OK, this sounds far too much like ‘Eye Of The Tiger’, in a funk-driven electro stylee, sung by Frenchmen. But you couldn’t half twat a punch bag to the words “Loser! Madison! Square! Garden!”