Our Mother | AGE OF EMPIREZ The best part about OUR MOTHER’s website is that it simply presents a jerking gold disc and player of ‘AGE OF EMPIREZ’, which spins on a constant. You could play this song forever, no understatement. Many might lump the ‘mystery’ tag at a band who’ve existed several months while lacking any promo shots, but they’ve been playing shows in and around London since 2012, and this debut track is an open wound, full of emotions willing to be poked and prodded at, [...]
BAY. - Honey BAY. are in rude health. Everything they touch turns to diamond-encrusted crimson. Hook after hook snuggles up to one another on ‘ Honey ’, a track where boring ideas go to die. Been obsessed with this Croydon band since ‘ With You ’, and there’s something about their ridiculous pop pomp that has limitless appeal. Dat synth horn section, etc.
TIDEUP | Walk When ‘ Walk ’ takes its first steps, I’m expecting it to sift through some by-the-numbers chillwave, to soothe the soul but do nothing more. Instead, in steps Noelle Indovino. Her voice isn’t childsplay. A background in musical theatre tells us singing is her life, and her work in TIDEUP tells us she’s very, very good at what she does. Initially she plays her words out in tow with the music, like a sea creature swimming alongside a [...]
CLUB KURU | Loot Londoner L L Erskine has put a lot of thought into every aspect of this project. ‘Ku-ru’ is a name given to an incurable neurological disea se which spread among a tribe in Papa New Guinea through cannibalism, and even a song title like ‘Loot’ seems fitting: You hear a song like this and you want to smash the proverbial store window, seep out all its parts and use them for yourself. Alongside the suitably strung-out ‘ Long Drive ’, this is the more immediate of Erskine’s tracks. His vocals don’t [...]
MOUSTAD | Ivory Sometimes, as a guy who thinks he can write about music for a redeemable income, I get caught up in this pipe-dream: I begin to think that maybe, given the right tools and maybe a fuckton of luck, I’ll be a successful musician myself. I used to be able to play a couple of Muse songs on guitar, right? I can strum a few chords? What could possibly go wrong? Within this pipe dream is a settled sound. An idea of what exactly these world-beating songs of mine will [...]
Mei Saraswati | dash Savoir’s ‘ Zinli Rhythm ’ still holds up as my standout track of 2013 to date. It felt special at the time and still does. I’m holding my breath to see what James Ireland and Andrew Sinclair come up with next. But Ireland and Sinclair needn’t get all the credit. Singing on ‘Zinli Rhythm’ is Mei Swan, who records under the Mei Saraswati name. Her Soundcloud’s a wonderful mix of off-cuts, remixes and covers. But ‘ dash ’, which you’d hope [...]
Ides | Crybaby So much more than sorry sadcore. What draws me to Ides is an ability to make big, emotionally draining songs sound otherwise. They don’t drag or weigh on the conscience. They don’t even bring out your own personal, misery-sodden memories. Well they might. But not in my case. I find myself more concerned with nestling in all the hate and the drama, all the distortion, and embracing it. It’s raw and it’s exciting and it’s Ides all over. Taken from the ‘ Songs About Love/ Hate’ [...]
Forêt - Corps maquillés Open a music magazine or wax over your average music blog and Montreal will be mentioned, time and time again, as some musical haven where creativity survives, while every surrounding area recovers from a dry-spell, as if we’re in middle of a nuclear season. There’s no denying Arbutus and all its offspring are doing something spectacular But little’s been made of those who speak in a language distinct to the hyperbole-strewn press from both sides of the Pacific. France is in bloom, too, and Montreal’s Forêt have [...]
Magical Mistakes | Snow Shoes Probably the last day I’ll see snow fall in this city. Who knows? Right now this song feels really apt, as a long week winds down and I’m about to bid farewell to what, sixteen years, of education? Everyone’s huddled inside and there’s the faint sound outside of children excitedly rushing outdoors, show shoes strapped on as per parents’ instructions. Here’s to the future. This producer’s been a staple of soundtracking moments like these. Odd stages of reflection where only chopped acoustics and sharp percussion will [...]
Favela. - Onwards/Upwards “Look at all the days gone by.” It’s usually around this time of year that resolutions of months past are completely ditched, the stress kicks in and routine bites back. But music like Favela .’s, for all its apparent escapism, is compelling. It has a more powerful message than many an ardent, politically-inclined firestarter, in that it’ll get you reaching for the Winter coat, determined to get outside, see the people you adore, and explore. Onwards and upwards. It’s a cheesy notion, bound to grate on [...]
Palermo - Book Of Ethics Prague’s a party city. By day it’s filled with tourists crossing bridges and seeing the city from skyline towers. After dark its basements are filled with drunk twenty-somethings prepping for a long, long night. But every party has a morning after, and Palermo, hailing from this very city, seem to carefully balance the party highs and the inevitable comedown. They sway between stately songwriting and tightly-wound, grandiose synth patterns. Dominik Gajarsky, Roman Stetina aka. Palermo have a debut LP titled ‘Still Life’ out in May [...]
BODYWORK | TAME The MFM site seems to have undergone some kind of inadvertent, odd redesign. I either performed it while stupidly drunk and can no longer remember, or it just took it upon itself to put the ‘old look’ out of its misery. Something about this ‘ TAME ’ track reminds me of the experience, of having virtually no control over what’s around you. Or in this case, the uncontrollable aspect is the limbs you possess - they go into their own zone when this song blares out. The [...]
GEMS | Never Age I almost feel like I’m taking this band for granted now. One release after the next - always a muted little upload on Soundcloud - their dream-catching pop becomes more paced, with more direction and realisation. What started off as escapism, something that channelled bands beloved, has now started spinning its own web. “If only we could stay like this forever.” Previously : Pegasus , All I Ever & the incredible Void Moon . [...]
Pale | Too Much (FTSE Remix) The original of this song is already a monstrous, minimal synth-pop triumph. But to get the coolest UK producer on board to provide a remix is one shrewd move. Pale’s career is one of those that you know is going to get set in motion at some point, it’s just a case of when. They’ve some fancy management, I think, plus some arty videos and plenty of tracks stored up in their locker, no doubt. The important part is the [...]
LUST LOST | FANTOFT Premonitions might tell you the “dark” aspect of LUST LOST’s “Dark Pop” comes from one of their members’ residency in Norway. The other half comes from Ireland, and both combine their ideas in some kind of dramatic collision that wouldn’t be possible without Skype and an internet connection. Ireland’s imagination and Norway’s Scandinavian pulse make for something bold and progressive. My hands are numb writing this, but my ears are steaming. The music on display here isn’t perfectionist. Some of [...]
ETML | Bind Me (Prod. by Taneli) I’ve never actually been to a club and danced to Disclosure . I might’ve played a song or two of theirs in the warm-up to a gig, but the occasion and thrill of getting down to ‘White Noise’ at 2am on a Saturday night hasn’t yet happened. So I just sit here, write about music, pretend to be in the heart of it, and eat my cheerios and avoid the outdoors. ETML is the latest in a line of UK folk doing their best [...]
IYES | Glow (demo) It’s a beautiful message, this. You make me glow. The clarion call. Why else would I hang out with you if you didn’t bloody illuminate me? Loved-up so-and-sos will sing this loud and clear at festivals. Audiophiles who just wanna hear the fascinating hip-hop drum patterns and Melis Soyaslanova’s ear-hugging vocals will get similarly lost in the furore. Either way, this is coming to a stage near you. And a big one at that. Best song I’ve heard this week. Previously: Lighthouse
London Grammar | Metal & Dust I swear I shouldn’t like this. Hell, if I discovered it on a circa-2001 chillout compilation, wedged in between a couple of Moby classics, I doubt I’d bat an eyelid. But in amongst all the chopping percussion and intentionally bold, dramatic strings is the fact that all these aspects are being combined in weird and wonderful ways. I’ve heard people call London Grammar boring but that’s dismissing a song on the basis of its pace. Hell, this is anything but boring. It’s [...]
BAY | With You Croydon’s BAY have all the ingredients required to become one of 2013’s biggest breakthroughs. That might sound tiresome, an overused phrase by folks like myself who see starry-eyed things every time they hear an interesting new band. But trust me, this is seriously promising. The big, horn-led, hip-hop-inclined synth patterns, the reverb-drenched guitar lines, the hopping vocals that step somewhere between NZCA/LINES and Egyptian Hip Hop , it’s all there. Not just another bright-faced new band: BAY have that extra something special.
Just Handshakes | London Bound It’s been a big week, this one. One where a horribly distant, in limbo future suddenly found its bearings. Which in a way marks it an apt time to tell you about this band, who’ve existed for bloody years but who finally look set to have their time in the spotlight via. an LP release with Bleeding Gold. Dots and Dashes brought this new, Fear of Men-channelling, soaring pop to my attention yesterday . It makes me want to run at full speed down an empty [...]
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