New Releases - 17 August

New Releases - 17 August

12 August, 2009
by: Music Team

*Single of the Week*
Vitalic – Disco Terminateur
Citizen Recordings

The 'Disco Terminateur' EP is the first glimpse of new music from Vitalic in four years. 'Your Disco Song' is a high gloss slice of French electro brilliance. The video featuring a girl with a mirror ball for a head is also awesome. His trademark futurist sounds make you feel like wearing silver – maybe even getting mirrorball skin grafts.
 
The second tune – 'Terminateur Benelux' is a classic, heads-down dancefloor assault – with flashes of pure, sparkling Detroit techno and a meaty, growling bass. There's a brilliant John Lord Fonda remix to boot. I would. 4.8/5
LC


David Bowie/Nick Perito – Cat People (Putting Out Fire)/Green Leaves of Summer
Warner Bros

Tarantino has a knack for matching music with film (see: Reservoir Dogs/ear-slicing/Stealers Wheel's 'Stuck In The Middle'). He's done it again with the soundtrack of Inglourious Basterds, from which this Bowie/Perito re-release has been conceived.

The fantastical 'Cat People' begins with a slow, tribal drum beat before Bowie slides in with haunting vocals that make my unmentionables quiver with suspense. Suitably, it powers into a big chorus about, ahem, 'putting out the fire'. The B-side is an instrumental version of 'Green Leaves of Summer'. Strange bedfellows – but it works.  4/5
SL 


The Bridport Dagger – Slipped Disco
Death Records

Over a neat, haunting riff that combines a surfy rhythm with a minor key, lead singer Jason delivers a bizarre rabble-rousing lament about painting the town red despite having an essentially pointless life. Hardly an original theme, but an arresting delivery. 
 
Not as '50s rockabilly as their usual stuff, and showing a weightier dimension, this is a good choice of single for The Bridport Dagger and deserves to win them more fans outside the novelty quiff crowd. 4/5
JH  

Crowhead – Best Kept Secret (I Guess)
ATIC Records
 
'Best Kept Secret' opens with a vintage-sounding snare-y break beat, which, when combined with a broody laconic bassline and Rusty P's impressive flow, is satisfyingly syncopated.  
 
Taken from their debut LP, 'Born with Teeth', the single is simple and scratchy. The choral refrain is either a sample, or a well produced imitation, and lends the track a retro charm, but the semantically challenged lyrics aren't rife with the profundities one expects from an old skool hip hop track. 3.5/5
RC


King Cannibal – So... Embrace the Minimum
Ninja Tune
 
Eerie synth effects, tinny industrial sounds, distorted vocals... Dubstep/dancehall producer King Cannibal prides himself on creating sonic clashes that both perturb and transfix. Lacking an MC or heavy bassline, though, this record feels forgettable. Or is that precisely the point? A robotised voice whispers: 'so... embrace the minimum'.

So... I get it: this is minimal-tech with a dubstep base, except ,unlike a lot of minimal fare, the track evolves rather than relying on loops – clever, and more gripping with every listen. 3.5/5
NH


Liam Finn – Champagne in Seashells EP
Transgressive Records 

This is harmless indie rock at its best, and, while its best may not be very good, I find it hard to slate the genteel Liam Finn. 
 
The melancholic Magic Numbers-esque vocals are interspersed with a smattering of experimental field noise, and it seems that Finn is teetering on the edge of interesting, afraid of taking the plunge... Until you reach the tremendous fairytale, drug-induced nightmare trip that is 'Captain Cat is Crying'. Utterly superb. 3/5
GM  


Athlete – Superhuman Touch
Fiction Records

A lot of people really hate Athlete, which is hard to fathom. They may be so middle of the road it hurts, but is that necessarily bad? Beans on toast is 'boring', but it doesn't make me want to puke every time I see it.
 
At least Athlete have accepted their status. Styled by M&S, they stick to the massive chorus formula. You can pretend to mouth along whilst waiting for QPR to come out. In short, they're safe, steady and dependable. How can you hate that? 2.5/5
DH


Three Trapped Tigers – EP 2
Blood and Biscuits 

Like an old Nokia ring tone on the blink, in come Three Trapped Tigers with '2' from their latest EP. Whilst their previous songs have had a more defined electronica sound, this is a let down. 
 
However, as the irritating beeping fades, the song starts to become bearable, even if the piano and gentle humming combo does resemble something from the Twilight soundtrack.  
 
I'm sure they make a great live band, but listening to them on your iPod just isn't the same. 2/5
GB 


Arctic Monkeys  – Crying Lightning
Domino

I don't really have a lot to say about the Arctic Monkeys as they fit well and truly into my 'couldn't-care-less' box. Perhaps 'Crying Lightning' is moodier than their usual stuff thanks to the production of Queens of The Stone Age frontman Josh Homme. And I'm sure the suggestive, 'quintessentially British' lyrics about girls sucking gobstoppers are very droll. But nonetheless it all still sounds like, well, the Arctic Monkeys.

In the words of Arts Editor Tom: 'It's just not my cup of tea'. 2/5
EM


Peter Andre – Behind Closed Doors
Sony BMG
 
TeamPete: OMFG woo! Peter Andre's like so back right now. Urgh, that skank Jordan don't deserve an ounce a sympathy – IMHO she just totally talentless. All U h8ters Petes the one with all the talent – he can really sing, and like WOW the lyrics are so honest. I mean it must be so hard for him.
 
@TeamPete: OMG no way! Jordan's so the bomb, always! Pete singing? I mean LMFAO –  it's not even him. Jordan's the one with the talent – single mum, amazing role model imho. 
 
Anyone interested in this tripe?  1/5 lol
TJ


Oh dear, how typical of the Spoonfed Team to give bottom spot to the song that'll surely be topping the charts this Sunday. Perhaps Fearne and Reggie will put in a congratulatory phone call to the great man as he cranks over yellowing OK photo shoots in his sunny Mediterranean hideaway. Anyway, according to taste, nearly everything was good this week except of course Athlete who were insipid to the max! Comment below if you feel moved and join the Facebook Group for weekly updates.

Music Team