New Releases - 30th March

New Releases - 30th March

25 March, 2009
by: Music Team

*Single Of The Week*
Tim Exile – Galaxy Tree
Warp Records

You're walking blind through a moonlit field, a disjointed male voice echoing around you: 'I can't tell what's the ground or what's the sky or what's in between'.

The techno behind you grows louder, pounding, chasing you as you begin to run. The voice doubles, becomes a 'we'. A whole crowd addressing you.

Suddenly the two records lying side by side on the turntables begin to fight. After a bitter scrap drum 'n' bass gets the upper hand, wrestling techno to the floor then stamping on his glowering head. 4.5/5
LC

Peter Bjorn and John – Nothing To Worry About
Wichita Records

This tune has been getting a lot of downloads since Kanye West 'leaked' it on his blog (nice PR move guys!). PB & J certainly like their catchy hooks: first we had the irritatingly infectious whistle in 'Young Folks', now we have an old favourite - children chanting. 

But it works. And I can already hear myself humming it god dammit! Also who here is fed up of musicians taking themselves far too seriously in their videos? Who would rather see a middle-aged Japanese man dressed as a T-Bird playing leapfrog? Exactly. 4/5
EM


Jack Peñate – Tonight's Today
XL Recordings

Is this really Jack Peñate? My goodness, he's gone all dance-pop on us. If it weren't for his distinctive, London-tinged vocals I'd probably be wrongly accusing someone of lying to me.
 
There are strong afrobeat elements with choral backing vocals, handclaps, hints of reggae and wait, do I hear cowbell? But the icing on the cake has to be the all too familiar subject matter – wandering home in the early hours of the morning after a heavy night out. Nice. 4/5
GT


Exlovers – Photobooth/Weightless
Young and Lost

So Exlover's latest release is a bit Jekyll and Hyde. Starting off with 'Photobooth', the band pre-empted the decent weather by writing a gentle boy/girl ditty with an amazing dream-like quality which seems to carry you off like a hazy trip in a gondola.

Where you end up is 'Weightless', a much darker, sombre and Pavement-esque funeral of a track, which feels a little over-long especially when you're having so much fun on the first bit. 3.75/5
DH


Holiday for Strings – Two of You
Kanine

This song opens with some neat disco-flecked beats and a sweet, airy take on Michael Jackson's 'Beat It' riff. Pretty nice, right? But add in vocals that recall David Bazan's unaffected intone and the whole thing skids into something resembling contemporary psych-rock perfection.

A bit like summer has been mushed up against a wall and is trailing a load of cheerful dub-pop goo all the way to the floor. 3.5/5
LS


White Belt Yellow Tag – You're Not Invicible
Distiller Records

An impressively epic showcase for the power of this two-piece band. White Belt Yellow Tag consist of just two lads from Arctic Monkey land, but they sound more like the full U2 line-up on this number, with wailing guitars and tight but reverberating drums underpinning a soaring vocal.

Mind you, listening to U2 has been a fundamentally boring experience since around 1989 and this record, while impressive on a technical and musical level, has a definite 'dull' quality. 3/5
JH


Fuck Dress – Ultra Now
NRONE

At first, nothing about this band really makes sense – what exactly is a 'fuck dress'? What do they mean by 'everything is ultra now'? Are these guys trying to be taken seriously or are they self-consciously weird, ironic and just a little bit shit?

This single certainly suggests so, but it turns out I was simply listening to the poorest offering on their MySpace. If their other tunes are anything to go by, then Fuck Dress might actually be worth a second listen. 3/5
GS


Ben Kweller – Sawdust Man
ATO

Imagine, if you will, that you suffer the burden of having to find live bands for a barn dance put on for the local indie kids. Now five years ago, when Ben Kweller offered to step up, you were all 'get out of here' in reaction to his uber-earnest folksy indie.

But this year it's a different story; you're blown away by his newfound back-to-boots rootsy rock. It melds piano-plinking Beatles melody with some nice little slide guitar and Waylon Jennings-esque honky tonk. 3/5
LS


Doves – Kingdom Of Rust
Unknown Indie

Hmm, who's this? Doves? Oh I quite like Doves, 'Pounding' was an incredible song...right let's take a listen. Hmm. So far so jaunty sea shanty...does this pick up soon?....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Urgh, what's that, where am I? Oh, the drummer's gotten bored and freaked out... that was interesting. It's not really that it's bad, it's more that you're so much better than this lift-shanty by-numbers fare. It's not me, it's definitely you. 2.5
JS


Willie Graf – 123 Yeah
Ibadan

Willie Graff earned a residency at Ibiza hotspot Pacha in his mid-teens and is one of the hottest electro artists in the world, so why do I feel listening to '123 Yeah Yeah' that I should be at a funky, avant-garde fashion show surrounded by low, pretentious murmurs and clothes I don't understand?

Although the lyrics suggest I 'get on down', what I envision going down well with this song are latte macchiatos and my energy level. 2/5
MF
 

Sergeant – Swiftly Does It
Mercury Records

The Spoonfed editorial team recently had a meeting where we all pledged to be a bit more polite about things that we're writing about. From a personal point of view, it was all going so well until I was told to review this limp dribble of piss.

Sergeant are like The View, but somehow, amazingly, even more pathetic. This song is so painfully terrible that I'm simultaneously filled with rage, and a strangely unfathomable sense of desolation. 0/5
TJ


A high quality set of releases this week, and good to see some glitchy dance music back at the top of the pile. Yarrgh!

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Music Team