Welcome back to The Recommender. Those regular readers will notice that we’ve changed up a little from previous posts. This time we plan to do one single recommendation at a time, rather than the traditional three, so we can focus more on each band and post more frequently. It’s all designed to improve the Recommender experience. One thing that will certainly improve it are the fantastic music selections such as Jukebox Collective. You will see in the below post, (Recommender 78), that we had located our new favourite band with The Tins. As amazing and adored as they still are, they’ve already had to be bumped off our metaphorical top spot by this new four piece from London. We suggest you put your ears back in the box and return to sender if this band don’t top yours too. Consider the liveliest of beats, frantic spiked guitars, awesome riffs and choruses that will have you dancing, clapping and singing along like you just had 10,000 volts up your ass! Think of the kind of guitar hooks and energy that The Rapture or Gang Of Four jammed out, or the more modern synth version that it evolved into with The Sunshine Underground. It’s all rolled up with some awesome styled vocals, from Kev Sewell, who sometimes sings, but sometimes speaks the words, in the way Julian Casablancas did, if he had Scroobius Pip‘s Essex accent. It’s an outstandingly smooth ride, considering they’ve only been together for just over a year, with Greg being the main architect. We spoke with the South African-born Greg earlier today, who’s been over in East London for the last seven years. As former members of Havana Guns and Dakar Raleigh, they’ve now formed this new project, together with the Supremo Music label, which they’ll release on, at least initially. They’re playing our Recommender party in Brighton on Saturday 24th April with Wild Palms, so head down if you like what you hear. If you don’t like what you hear, we suggest you locate your brain’s reset button, it’s in their somewhere. (MB)
This latest find is the direct result of a little blog scanning, so credit where credit is due for one of our self-nominated parallel blogs, Pretty Much Amazing, with whom we share many ideals. They in turn located the band from We All Want Someone, another excellent kindred journal. You see, there’s this kind of primeval hunter/gatherer service that’s going on for you with us bloggers. We love music, we go out and get music, we bring back music, you devour it. Well, I guess in this case, we let others go out and grab it, then we devoured it ourselves and we’re now handing you the already digested leftovers. Um, not quite so nice. We digress. Where were we? Oh yeah, The Tins are bloody fantastic! A three piece out of Buffalo who might just have wandered into our new favourite band category with ease. They’ve been together for several years, having formed at college, and they’ve clearly spent that time properly tackling their instruments and more importantly wrestling their sound into a perfect submission, that’s now ready to be released as a self-titled five track EP. Tight, masterfully layered jams, that build and fold into honest, captivating tracks such as these are actually very rare. Spending a little time gliding through the tracks available on their Myspace was as about as rewarding as a Californian road trip in a soft top, as full of sunshine and musical vistas as you’re likely to find anywhere this year. There’s several enjoyable sections within the songs, that work hard at not only finding a fantastic refrain, but keeping it going as long as the listener wants it to. Oh just another eight bars of this please, Yes! It’s not just the high standards on show that impresses, but the sheer consistency that’s so astonishing. High praise for a band that’s totally aiming high. Let’s hope for some more blog regurgitation to help raise awareness of this awesome find. (MB)
We never got to hear of these guys when they had their first punt on the industry back in 2007, releasing their debut album, Messages, on XL Records. The album launched into it’s pacey 80s synth tirade from the outset, rolling through various catchy but ultimately prosaic hooks. The ‘trying too hard’ signs were flashing, but within their neon walls there was evidence that life could still be located. So after a brief hiatus, they’re back and this time seemingly not struggling quite so much, which initially looks like it’s allowed their tunes to improve. The synth glitz is toned down and the 80s references, although still abundant, aren’t quite so sickly. Keeping the punches and the hooks that previously worked, the tracks now have more variety and range, with a clever maturity and plenty to enjoy in each song. It seems it was perhaps a worthy hiatus then. Well, before we leap into a barrage of adjectives, there’s a couple of minor irritations. The lyrics are in a generous need of repair, never talking about anything much, with dull subjects such as horizons and pylons (!). However, lyrics are often harder to attack as we’re sure they mean something to the writer, just not the rest of us. It’s also worth noting that this isn’t music that aims for your inner intellect, it’s for your smile, or your feet. Tracks such as Us & The Wind, certainly blow enough breeze to drift in through an open window, while tunes such as The Grid turn it up and will turn you on as a result. This seems to be a band with ideas and the odd clever trick, but who equally fall into the cliché trap when they try too hard. A classic case of learning how enjoyable it is to cruise when you take your foot off the pedals a little. Their new album, The Habitable Zone, is due out in May. Whether they learn to go for the smooth ride, or continue to put their foot down, at least the signs now suggest they’re driving in the right direction. (MB)
At first glance this is yet another slice of the synth pop cake that blogs serve up until you vomit. Indeed this isn’t going to be for anyone who’s tired of this current trend, but there’s actually a lot of soul found on show here and that should hold your attention. We should also mention that anyone reading this who was a teen or older during the 80s will likely feel this is a little too familiar, with it’s direct Lionel Richie descendancy. A bloodline that doesn’t quite get the edgy, artistic, experimental side of our brains fizzing in all honesty, but who cares if all you want to do sometimes is indeed dance upon the ceiling. The synths are on show and the cartoon basslines, although sticky as a spoon lost in the sugar jar, reliably jump the tracks along from one hopped beat to the next. We notice that this new duo, born from one half of the double act BoyGirl, are from Boston, which makes us think of Yes Giantess and the whole Neon Gold crew, who always adored that distant Miami-fuelled decade, as if the 1980s were one long, fantastic cocaine party with Kevin Bacon. The music on show with these two, although as defiant as Yes Giantess’ sexually-charged synths, is actually more akin to Kinema, who come from, um, our home town of Brighton, UK. Oh well. This is strawberry milkshake pop music, with songs that select the only subjects that this style could: partying and girls. The more you hear the track, Let’s Go Together, which usefully just got picked up by Kitsune for their latest tastemaking compilation album, (number 9), the more you are lured in. Resistance is pretty much useless and, like all the best forays into the 80s, the second you hold back from enjoying it the sharper your pretentiousness comes into focus, and that’s never nice. Put on your most fearless smile and enjoy this simple, but entrancing piece of funky, soulfully-vocalised pop.
