New Releases – 13 July

New Releases – 13 July

08 July, 2009
by: Music Team

*Single of the Week*
The Dead Weather – Treat Me Like Your Mother
Third Man

Like all good things, the more you listen and the deeper you look the more you find to love. This may be a perfect rock 'n' roll song. All the integral elements are in place; perfectly, temptingly, tauntingly so. The fuck-you lyrics of Alison Mosshart, her barbed-wire dragged through raw silk vocals, the achingly cool, grindingly sexual stamp of Mr Jack White, powerhouse drumming, Sabbath-style riffs, angst, boy-meets-girl, love and hate.  -

A rebel without a cause heroic glory shrouds the whole track, the whole group – an image certainly compounded by the trailer for the video. I love everything about this song and more.  4.9/5
LC
 

Three Trapped Tigers – 7/1
too pure 

7/1 is a spontaneous mix of Mike Oldfield-style melodies and childhood computer game synths, with some vicious percussion to throw your confused little ears off the scent of the machine gun melody. 
 
Far from being intimidating, the barrage of musical artillery fire is perfectly executed and if you listen hard enough you'll find a slither of coherence hiding underneath the rubble of broken noise. This new double A side offers a more accessible route into electronic glitch-jazz than favourites Aphex Twin. 4.75/5
GM
 

Real Estate – Fake Blues
Woodsist Records

It's taken a while, but I think I'm finally lo-fied out. The whole thing is going a Brit Brit pop insofar as people have taken one or two bands, called it a scene, and then proceeded to market the crap out of it until everyone forgets why they liked it in the first place.

Still, I can't take it out on Real Estate. This song is so damn nice, with its understated drums, breathless vocals and cheerily jingly guitar parts. It's as if they've heard my rants and have recorded this song as their way of saying 'dude, don't worry about it'. 4.5/5
DH


The Stone Roses – Made Of Stone
Sony

It must be annoying when you've run out of money, every big forgotten '90s band from Blur to Take That have reformed but you just can't forgive your guitarist for inhaling that last gram of gak at Reading in '96. Solution? Re-release all your best hits for a cheeky sales boost.

I'm not complaining. It's good to be reminded of all these old classics again. I haven't been able to get 'Tender' out of my head for a week now. So who's with me? 'Sometimes IIIIIIIIII fantasiiiiiiiise....' 4.5/5
EM


Master Shortie – Dead End
Odd One Out 

This is a sophisticated piece of UK hip hop. The lyrics are about being a little bit in love with the sexy indie girls on the London scene, and the track cleverly fuses guitar-chopping rock lite of the kind espoused by the Converse crowd (Bombay Bicycle Club, etc) with distorted electro washes a la Kanye, or more accurately A Trak.
 
So it's clever, but also good. The bouncy summery themes and succinct, witty lyrics make this a radio-friendly, totally charming and dance-able number. 4/5
JH


Solid Gold – Bible Thumper
Solid Gold Music
 
Still sounding like a cross between Yeasayer and a driving scene from Miami Vice, Solid Gold's 'Bible Thumper' is a big, fat, sweaty hug of an electro-pop song that feels so familiar you just want to fall asleep in its massive embrace.

In fact, so perfectly does it fit in its market niche, I tried to recreate the perfect ambience by playing it to a bunch of my most hipster mates at one of their tastefully messy Old Street flats. They just shrugged and muttered 'it's OK I guess'. 2.5/5
DH


Maximo Park – Questing Not Coasting
Warp Records

Bands should be more careful when they're naming their songs. If you name a song 'Questing Not Coasting' you kind of asking for it. Maximo Park really do just coast along in this song, there's a few catchy bits, but it really is just a watered down version of their slightly dark indie-pop.

And the annoying thing is, I know they can do so much better. If they had a report card, I'd write in big red letters 'must try harder.'  2/5
SL


Band Of Skulls – Fires
You Are Here / Shangri-La 

Slow and downbeat, this new release by Band of Skulls provides the perfect taster for their debut album 'Baby Darling Doll Face Honey' (No, I don't really understand the title much either, but well done on using it as the opening line for 'Fires'). 
 
It makes for some easy listening, and decent background music, but on the whole the song just doesn't generate any excitement. 2/5
GB


Spinnerette – Baptized By Fire
Anthem Records

Is this a piss-take? It must be, surely. There's no other explanation for it. No one in their right mind would dream of releasing such a nauseating combination of rock and that repetitive dance beat (think Ibiza circa 2001) and expect to be taken seriously.

The video does nothing to discourage my suspicions – it features a woman dressed in a floaty black dress flailing around on a beach. I hope for everyone's sake they're being ironic. 1/5
GT


Pope – Love's Still Here
Aspop

If my attempts at music criticism were a racehorse, my recent form would read 3, 4.5, 0, 0, 4.5. In short, of late, I've been rather inconsistent – or rather, the music I've been given to review has alternated between woefully shit and really rather brilliant. So thumbs up or thumbs down – which is it to be this week?

Sorry, Pope, but this is rubbish. Boring, bland, lads-doing-emotive sub-Ocean Colour Scene drivel. Oh dear, roll on next week. 0/5
TJ


Dear me, Thomas has resorted to swearing, looks like he needs to cool off in the Music Review Sin Bin. It was a fantastic week for tunes though, so perhaps he can consider himself unlucky. If you loved or hated any of this music we'd be interested to read any comments you want to leave below. But more importantly, join the Facebook Group for weekly doses of new music, hilarity and despondent staffers forced to listen to drivel. 

Music Team