25 August 2008
Rob McCrae
The Automatic, Tokyo Police Club, Holy Ghost Revival, Teddy Thompson, Cut Off Your Hands, Officer Kicks, Zoon Van Snook, Charli XCX, Thomas Tantrum, The Parlotones, Immune, The Housewives, International Trust, Laguna Meth, Anthony Reynolds
"A roaring cacophony of Kiwi noise "
The Automatic - Steve McQueenA band that you’ll be familiar with from festivals (as everyone’s seventh favourite “The” band) but surely their primary concern must be to rid the world of the echo from 2006 (?) song Monster which renders releases like this as featureless time filler.
Tokyo Police Club – Graves
In a world dotted with pedestrian indie bands at least TPC have the decency to write robust songs that motor along with head snapping intent. The secret weapon is the singer who sounds like both Billy Corgan and someone having their windpipe squeezed.
Holy Ghost Revival – Embrace The Hate
The death metal single title boded well as did the high fonted single cover but the execution sounded like some Supergrass tribute band lyrically moaning and alternating between rudimentary chords and shaking a fist in an electrical store hoping for a refund.
Teddy Thompson – In My Arms
Ladies who water their flowers during the day will love this very nice man sketching over some sordid love affair and dressing it up for his audience, the single mother crocheting at home flipping through a calendar of James Morrison. Bland like toast with nothing on it.
Cut Off Your Hands - Expectations
Bernard Butler has produced a roaring cacophony of Kiwi noise which collides the harmonious side of The Klaxons with the youthful verve of Cajun Dance Party. Proof that you don’t have to ride a scooter through Shoreditch to make music to make the scensters snap to attention.
Officer Kicks – Pictures Of Me
Coming off the back of a tour with The Hoosiers would stun anyone into action, everyone but Officer Kicks who produce something so zealously formulaic that it might as well be an algorithm that shuts down all listening devices.
Zoon Van Snook – Interviews & Interludes
Producer and musical collage man collaborates with all his talents on this EP providing listeners with a shimmering background of snatched voices and electronic weirdness. Like someone expertly remixing the sounds in a kitchen utensil factory.
Charli XCX - !Francheskaar
Unbelievably she’s below the legal limit and yet she has a considerable talent, which is expertly exemplified in this song that reads like a MSN Messenger conversation. A towering remix from Tapedeck proves that she has a voice that would be compatible with pretty much anything.
Thomas Tantrum – Work It
An agile combination between Uffie and someone you meet swishing around the shops in some affluent part of town. There’s a fresh-faced innocence to this quaint pop song, like walking around a sex offenders unit and giving everyone a big old grin.
The Parlotones – Here Comes the Man
If you’ve just come out of hospital and a former friend slips you a T4 On The Beach ticket but you can only make it for the first band then this is probably what you would hear. Jangly indie from South Africa with an ear for witless melody.
Immune – Adrift
The band has some serious riffs, a vocalist who belongs in the nineties and an aerodrome full of talent. The climatic chorus might owe a dept to 30 Seconds To Mars but this is way better than most other heavy metal bands toiling away on a stage made of splinters in the back of a pub.
The Housewives – Cream
There’s nothing like a suggestive title to get you to draw the curtains and unplug the phone and matters come to a climatic head when the female vocal blusters into the room and shatters the crystal with a performance of irrepressible power. Even the B 52’s references are forgotten.
International Trust – Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Take The Enemy and The Pigeon Detectives and then combine their mental ages until you have a figure in the high hundreds. Then divide by a million and you have the approximate percentage of interest that a pub simpleton would have in this song coming on the radio.
Laguna Meth – Sugar Snack
There is the smoke of tranquility that wanders over this that places it directly in a homeopathic tent at a countryside festival. There is a sunset on the front cover. The vocal sounds like what the lead singer of MGMT might if he having his balls gradually squeezed by a shoelace.
Anthony Reynolds – Bees Dream Of Flowers And Your Summer’s Meadow Breath
A Victorian sounding number, the kind that you might hear in the toilets at St Christopher’s church as a man in a smock holds out a towel for you to wipe away your holy water. Haunting but also a bit too religious sounding to thrill anyone but pastors.
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