New Releases – 22 June

New Releases – 22 June

17 June, 2009
by: Music Team

*Single of the Week – Joint Winner!*
Flipper – Sex Bomb
Domino

If 'Sex Bomb' were a cinematic sequence, it would be a guy standing on the side of a long straight road through the desert who suddenly looks up at the sound of a car engine in the far distance: some ironclad punk pickup rumbling through the heat, freaks and deadbeats hanging out the windows.

Closer and closer, this track builds and builds before with a scream you're engulfed, snatched from the side of the road and caught up in its irresistible and manic momentum. 4.5/5
MD


*Single of the Week – Joint Winner!*
Florence and The Machine – Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)
Island Records

As I was crossing my fingers I would make it home in my seriously ill car last weekend, this song came on the radio and it was so good it gave me goose bumps.

Poetic lyrics tell a dream-like tale of destruction and sacrifice: 'Midas is king and he holds me so tight/And turns me to gold in the sunlight', but it is the chorus that really pierces you, as Florence's soaring voice combines with gospel vocals, harp and piano melodies to create a powerful crescendo; all lungs, heart and soul. What a beautiful record. 4.5/5
EM


Sally Shapiro – Miracle
Permanent Vacation/Paper Bag Records

Could someone please tell me why the Swedes are so amazing at making music? The only thing I can think of is that somehow their Education Authority has managed to convince Trevor Horn to come over and teach song writing and the intricacies of the Korg synthiser in their music classes.

Whatever they're doing it's working. As far as pop goes, this track from Sally Shapiro is almost as good as it gets. A blend of sultry electro beats, twee, sweet vocals and a slightly menacing undertone, it's as if Erasure, ABBA, Supertramp and the Postal Service all got together and made a song. Suverän! 4/5
DH


Katie Stelmanis – Believe Me
Vice/Loog

Katie becomes a pagan siren on this track, driven by a strong, original voice. A medieval timpani drums someone a bit different to their dunking stool, while plinking minor piano chords recall the engaging discordance of her all-time heroine Kate Bush.

A captivating first release from Stelmanis' cultish, Gregorian album 'Join Us'. It seems the girl is destined to win an army of followers, swept away by her vocal power and the folkish mystery of her melodies. The video is hilarious. 4/5
JH


Slow Club – It Doesn't Have To Be Beautiful
Moshi Moshi

Listening to Slow Club makes me smile. Their folksy sound is simple and sweet without turning saccharine and acts as an antidote to many of the over-produced songs currently out there. The latest single 'It Doesn't Have To Be Beautiful' starts slowly but quickly gathers pace till it's galloping along whilst the vocal harmonies swoop in and out over the top. 

This is perfect campfire listening so kick back and raise a toast(ed marshmallow) to this excellent duo. 4/5
GS


A Grave with No Name – A Grave With No Name EP
Popular

Head down to Hoxton or Camden and every lumberjack-shirted, loafered dude you meet will no doubt bang on about some woozy, lo fi, psychedelic band that are going around at the moment.

A Grave with No Name's self-titled EP really offers nothing that you've not heard before – it's a brooding, thoughtful 5 tracks that fits in somewhere between Blank Dogs' fuzzed up mayhem and Women's psychedelic musings. In fact it's just the thing if you're the sort of person whose idea of a good house party is taking a few mushrooms with some mates and watching the walls melt. 4/5
DH


The Units – High Pressure Days Remixes
Relish

The original recording of The Units' 'High Pressure Days' sounds dated and badly recorded. The remixes on the other-hand transform the song drastically and as clichéd as it sounds, really do bring it into the 21st century.

Side one is a Headman remix and to be honest it's a little bland. Side two however contains a remix by Rory Phillips and is something Friendly Fires and Daft Punk would be proud of... 3.5/5
SL


Basement Jaxx – Raindrops
XL Recordings

You know when you've got multiple windows open on multiple browsers on your multiple screens and you're clicking merrily away, doing lots of things at once and not really getting any of them finished and you put your headphones on for some light relief and there's this cacophony of noise, a mess of funky house, bhangra, soul and electro as a load of sites are blaring at once and you start madly closing windows but you can't find the source and so it goes on...this out of time electronic rant which is close to tipping you over the edge.... You with me?

That's what this song says to me. 1.5/5
LC


Lazee ft. Neverstore – Hold On
2Stripe Music

Lazee has no-one to hold onto, leaving him desolate and questioning the nature of the human condition. It's not easy condensing the mysteries of the heart and soul's quest for connection into a catchy pop song. No wonder it drove Phil Spector bananas. So Lazee has enlisted the help of Neverstore, creating some europop/rnb Frankenstein.

I played this to my two 14-year-old female neighbours. Key demographic me thinks. When they stop crying I think their parents may try to get me put on a register! 1/5
JS


The Yeah You's – 15 Minutes
Universal Island

I'm not going to beat about the bush here: this song is absolutely terrible. These two twattish chancers have managed to get Take That's 'Shine' (a perfectly good slice of pop innocence) and turn it into a ghastly piece of poisoned piss.

The worst thing is I have a horrible feeling that this is going to be successful. I hope to buggery I'm wrong. If this dross ever gets played in the office again then I warn my colleagues here and now: I'm going postal. 0/5
TJ


Stone the crows!! Some really great music to review this week (apologies to Tom, Jon and Lowri!) and two of our editors giving out top marks. Until the Music Kaiser slapped them down to 4.5, citing David Bowie. Also – joint winners. What's that all about?! Who do you reckon should have come top? Flipper or Florence? Why not tell us below? And for heaven's sake, join the Facebook Group already!

Music Team