15 August 2007
Lisa Holmes
Animal Collective, The Black Keys, The Kissaway Trail, Kingsomniac, Taken By Trees, Fink, The Attika State, Super Furry Animals, Chester P,Circuits, The Gentle Good, Lady Fortune
"With delicate guitar and shadowy sound effects it’s miles better than anything Peter, Bjorn & John have done since ‘Young Folks’, but exactly what you would expect from Bergsman."
Taken By Trees – Lost And FoundThis is the solo project of Victoria Bergsman of The Concretes and it comes together like Patsy Cline crossed with Laura Marling, it’s innocent but her trademark Icelandic reserve is fully in force and she sounds totally unshockable. With delicate guitar and shadowy sound effects it’s miles better than anything Peter, Bjorn & John have done since ‘Young Folks’, but exactly what you would expect from Bergsman.
Circuits – Young Enough Not To Care
There are not going to be any apologies forthcoming for the following appraisal of this record. It is to be played at a loud volume, preferably when doing some kind of housework (mops make great dance props) and should be sung along to in a loud bratty preferably out of tune voice, because frankly you are never too old to love a good hard-rocking guitar record.
The Gentle Good – Dawel Disgyn
NN was totally ready to reach out to yet another Gryff Rhys/Euros Childs give them a pat on the head and tell them to play quietly in the corner like a good little boy. Instead The Gentle Good a.k.a Gareth Bonello has produced a classic folk EP as indebted to Welsh folk songs as to the delicate string led nuances of Joanna Newsom. The Welsh language used is melodic and flowing - this is plain, simple and beautiful.
Chester P – From The Ashes
Would Chester be offended if this was labelled grindie? Despite having a chorus of “Oh no he loves a ho” this is a great trip through the seamy side of life, with drug dealers in love with bad women pondering why they have no money (turns out she spends it all on drugs in case you were wondering). It boasts some original beats and great lyrics, and whilst it may not be exactly radio friendly this is cliché free hip-hop. B-side Chessmonster suggests that Mr P has a rather bright solo future ahead of him.
Super Furry Animals – Show Your Hand
This is the Furries at their sunny best, it’s just a shame that we haven’t had the summer to match and that as a consequence this ends up feeling just a little delusional.
The Attika State – Leave your Dignity At The Door
To be honest the sleeve notes for this EP are so cool it should get rave reviews without a listen, but in practise this is Millencolin vs. Hundred Reasons which is no bad thing either – just not totally raveable. It is a strong EP however and they do have some great chorus’, and perhaps they do boast a few more instrumental layers than the other two bands. ‘Call That A Knife’ even has echoes of Pearl Jam.
Fink – This Is The Thing
Better known as the song from the MasterCard adverts that sounds a bit like Jose Gonzalez. It’s lovely but overexposure certainly beckons.
Kingsomniac – Language Of A Lady
What an awful name. The music is alright though. Summertime indie in the vein of Franz Ferdinand with a healthy dollop of late 90’s brit pop, Kingsomniac sound like they were born yesterday with a pile of indie hit templates in their hands, so, a bit too good to be true then (if we discount that goddawful name).
Lady Fortune - Mr Brown
Despite a name that wouldn’t look out of place scrawled on the local bus stop, Lady Fortune are in fact a Telford based male guitar band. Having broken with label of the moment 1965 recently, this song is clearly something of a mission statement with its antagonistic chorus of “Where the fuck do you think you’re going, you cheeky boy”. They seem to get by on a wink and a prayer and draw easy comparisons with peers such as The Paddingtons and Scouting For Girls.
The Kissaway Trail – La La Song
This is a gorgeous, sweeping, happy song that owes an obvious debt to The Flaming Lips. It builds to an almost religious frenzy ‘singing lalalalala, over the mountains’, but don’t expect any mention of nuns from this indie royalty.
The Black Keys – Just Got To Be
Coming on like Jimmy Page’s love children you don’t need to see The Black Keys to tell that they strut like Jagger and wail like Plant. This is great early 70’s rock and roll without a hint of irony, and just a hint of Hollywood remake about it.
Animal Collective – Peacebone
Something tells me that Animal Collective would be right at home in the Zooniverse. With bonkers synths, fairground rhythms, and ghost train sound effects this is Conor Oberst on uppers. Even with so much going on they still manage to maintain a semblance of a tune which is quite an achievement, especially as ‘Peacebone’ induces a kind of nervous twitchy-ness bordering on insanity.
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