New folkies come good while veterans have a lot to learn...
To Kill A King - Fictional State
Virgin Records
To Kill A King - "Fictional State" by To Kill A King
'I was not the problem like you were not the cause. We're sinking on a ship we said we'd jump two weeks before...'
This is a beautiful track, part King Charles, part Dan Mangan, the lyrics are poetic, the rhythm unusual. It also has two distinct parts, (as heard in the absolute classic example of the method 'A Day In The Life'), a stompy, string-laden finale is what finishes this tune - miles from where it quietly began.
This is a cracking first single – they are definitely onto something. 4/5
LC
Arctic Monkeys – Don't Sit Down Cause I've Moved Your Chair
Domino
Don't Sit Down Cause I've Moved Your Chair - Arctic Monkeys by gregkent
I'd love this track for the title alone. But it's dark, brooding sound and wickedly funny lyrics, reeling off anything better than sitting down when some cheeky sod's moved your chair, only add to its awesomeness. True to form, Turner's rustled up some more genius ramblings, from breaking mirrors and wearing shell suits at a bonfire to Kung Fu Fighting on your rollerskates. They're enough to self-combust your most stringently superstitious. But it's the gritty/dusty pissed off feel to it that I really love, like the foursome have just rolled out of a western saloon, a few too many sasparillas the worse cos Alex has had another tiff with Alexa. 3.9/5
JJB
Yes Wizard – Elephant & Castle
Tigersushi Records
Yes Wizard - Elephant & Castle EP by Tigersushi Records
Elephant & Castle begins with an enjoyably jackin’, buffalo-stance electro beat, punched out enthusiastically by bass drum and kicking snare. But before you can say ‘be bop, don’t stop’ the sound of a maltreated dog whining into a vocoder is introduced, heavily distorted. With escalating cruelty Yes Wizard proceeds to submerge the dog in reverb and delay, before donning a voodoo mask and slowly resuscitating the forsaken hound by performing a ritualistic tribal dance around its spasmodic corpse, manically pounding the dry, powdery earth with a totem staff. Not for the fainthearted. 3/5
AM
Okkervil River – Rider
JAGJAGUWAR
Okkervil River - Rider by The Big Beat
Texan social commentators, Okkervil River, aren’t the type of musical narrators who’ll straight talk through witticism, instead they prefer to achingly croon through metaphoric folk-rock howls of lyrically abstract mini-epics.
‘Rider’ continues along the Titus Andronicus belting heard on smidgens of their third full-length effort, ‘I Am Very Far’. The roots of good ol’ American rock present themselves throughout, Tom Petty and nods towards early Springsteen are bought into the modern via a very country slap of Hold Steady soul. 3/5
DJ
Kolombo - Waiting For
Kompakt
Kolombo - Waiting for (Kompakt Pop) Out May 24th incl Michael Mayer rmx by kolombo
A euphoric and trancey submission from Belgium's Kolombo here, a long-standing exponent of their tech and house scene. For an artist touted as experimental and progressive, this release is decidedly neither.
The production is sound but unadventurous, the vocals are uninspired and bland. It's all swelling pads and major chords. The plinky piano melody is somehow starkly reminiscent of the theme tune from ‘The Snowman’. Whilst pleasant enough and certainly inoffensive, I feel I'm left 'waiting for' this one to develop into something remotely interesting. 2/5
JoJ
Jessie J - Nobody's Perfect
Universal Republic Records
Jessie J - Nobody's Perfect by PurplePR
For a young lady who can usually inspire high praise and Vic Reeves-style thigh rubbing from men and women alike, the title of Jessie J's latest single sadly seems to be quite true. 'Nobody's Perfect' is something of the runt of the litter in the shadow of it's predecessors' pop-perfect balance of glamorousness and attitude. This one is a bit of a faux-resilient whingefest- but on the plus side, there are some vocal acrobatics that sound like Jessie is singing while clinging onto a jackhammer. That's worth a giggle. 2/5
LS
Bush Tetras - Too Many Creeps
Roir
Bush Tetras - Too Many Creeps by dennisatroir
It's little wonder that this song is thirty years old and yet I've never heard it.
It's atonal, the vocalist is disturbingly affected, it's derivative, it's too long, and it's repetitive.
But, apart from that, it's brilliant.
The Bush Tetras never really made it out of the underground Manhattan club scene from the 1980s.
Thank god. 1/5
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