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Tennis – Baltimore
Underwater People
Denver’s intrepid explorers continue their musical journeys around the North Atlantic with their latest single ‘Baltimore’, a dreamy slice of surf-pop covered in a healthy dollop of reverb.
It sounds like The Pastels hopped in a Dolorian to 1964 and are a playing at an East Coast high-school prom, which can only be a good thing. 4/5
SJ
Panda Bear – Count On Me
Domino Records
It feels like a billion years since PB started touring songs (including this one) from his forthcoming album 'Tomboy'. Count On Me is not new then, but it's still impressive.
The fact that Mr Bear (or Noah Lennox to his Mum) manages to create clappy Beach Boys harmonies all by himself, with just the help of some synths and samplers is very cool. If he's capable of this, he may even be able to turn water into wine. Probably not though. 4/5
LM
Mt Desolation – Departure
Interscope
Two of the lads from MOR rockers Keane appear to have ditched their chubby lead singer and run off in a new musical direction. This time it's alt-country/folk with a bit of traditional Irish music thrown in. There's a good rhytmn to it, and it's got banjos too, and I bloody love banjos!
Like Keane, this music is fairly safe and unoffensive, but unlike Keane, it's not boring. It's fun and slightly twee, and singer Tim Rice-Oxley has a Lennon-esque croak to his vocals. Good stuff. 4/5
SB
Cloud Nothings – Hey Cool Kid
Witchita
Another bunch of American kids peddling the sort of broke-down, fuzzy indie pop you read about in Dazed and Confused on a monthly basis, Cloud Nothings’ ‘Hey Cool Kid’ is nothing really to shout about. It has dreamy vocals, a stoner pace and plods along like Wavves meeting Washed Out.
Saying that, it’s hard not to be impressed that these guys are just 18 and already signed to Witchita and even worse, the rest of the songs on the Myspace are actually pretty good. I’m starting to regret spending my formative years drinking beers and chasing after girls. 3.5/5
DH
Hot City – Another Girl
Moshi Moshi
Hot city (aka DJ Hause N’ Benz) are another of these genre guzzling monsters that seem to be everywhere and manage to combine elements of everything before belching out a fully formed hybrid track. The blending of styles is cleverly done, with old school ravey build-ups, little garagey skips and stomping house beats that when they settle into a deeper rhythm make it not only palatable but danceable.
Carefully concocted to make it a dancefloor hit. But I wouldn’t call it a classic. That said I can see it being the sort of music they’ll play in Topshop to disorientate you into a frantic buying frenzy. 3/5
AH
The Thermals – Never Listen To Me
Kill Rock Stars
The Thermals might hail from Portland in Oregon, but that don’t make them The Wipers. To be fair, ‘Never Listen To Me’ is a nice stomp-along piece of power-pop that reminds me of latter-day Weezer or Nada Surf, but it’s as predictable as a grand-father clock, and at over 4 minutes long, a bit of an ordeal to get through.
Never the less, expect to hear this on a lot of adverts over the next 6 months. 2.5/5
DH
Skepta – Cross My Heart
All Around the World Records
Skepta has gone for the old 'I've now got loads of money but it hasn't changed me' message, originally made popular by everybody's favourite RnB star 'Jenny from the Block'.
The paradoxical thing, as with 'Jenny', is that by the very act of rapping about the fact that he hasn't changed – he's changed. Sure he's still got his 'slick as' flow but gone are the days of proper grime basslines and spits about north London street life. 2/5
LG
Taylor Swift – Mine
Big Machine Records
I really have no bones to pick with Taylor Swift. As I understand it, her selling point is that she's a wholesome tweenie from the mid west with unfathomably clear skin and great hair... well, good for her, because the "edgier" alternative (I guess) is Ke$ha. Don't get me started on her.
Anyway, not a lot to say except this one is almost exactly the same as the other one about Romeo, who said Juliet was... something or other; but I'm sure the kids will love it just the same. 2/5
CW
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