New Releases - 7th Dec

New Releases - 7th Dec

03 December, 2009
by: Music Team

*Single of the Week*
Mumford & Sons – Winter Winds
Island Records
 
Amid the flotsam and jetsam of garbage released around Christmas time, appears this shining beacon of light. As the folksy opening of trumpets, tambourines and banjos dies down to let Mumford's soulful vocals rasp ('As the winter winds litter London with lonely hearts...'), the listener is immediately transported to days of yore; when Rolf Harris and The X Factor were still unimaginable horrors of the future.
 
Half toe-tapping country ditty, half wistful lament; if this doesn't conjure up images of mulled wine and loved ones – report to the Humbug Doctor immediately. 4/5
EM

Cannibal Corpse – The Weeding EP
Tankcrimes

And the prize for best track titles goes to... *dramatic drum roll*... Cannibal Corpse! Congratulations guys. The judges were particularly impressed with 'Shit of Pot Seeds' and 'Skull Full of Bong Hits', but what really clinched it was 'Sickening Photosynthesis'. Genius.
 
Oh and the music? Heavy, but slightly hilarious growling stoner metal. A big bubbling cauldron of brilliant brain-pulped gibberish. Exactly what you'd expect from the titles basically – utterly marvellous. 4/5
TJ

Music Go Music – Just Me
Secretly Canadian

How good is this? A jaunty slice of California-tinged pop with a stirring melodic line and a driving rhythm section, 'Just Me' feels like a bunch of friends messing about in their garage... and discovering they have the chemistry for a stadium pop band.

Carefully crafted on a classic walking bassline with '80s synth and harmonised vocals, this song is an anatomically perfect pop Frankenstein – all they need is a tangled, incestuous backstory and they'll be the next Abba. 4/5
JH

Encierro – Be Yourself
Platform Records

Scottish quintet Encierro's name means 'lock up' in Spanish and relates to a famous bull run in the northern town of Pamplona, the furious pace of which is matched by their indie rhythms.

Début single 'Be Yourself' is a driving indie-pop number holding an electricity which, when coupled with front-man Souey's strained vocals, quickly proves irresistible. Two B-sides accompany, and are equally good; the Kookish 'Things Get Better' and the Spanish-flavoured 'Esconda Mi Mente' which shows some diversity. 4/5
AW

Piney Gir – For the Love of Others
Damaged Goods

On the first listen, I was literally rubbing my hands with glee at continuing my weekly habit of expressing contempt for music. Then, somewhere beneath the folk-pop bounce and happy-clappy horn 'n' fiddle combo, Piney grabbed me and pulled me in to her twee little world.

Despite the saccharine sheen, this reminds me of 'Death of a Ladies' Man'-era Leonard Cohen or half of The Smiths' canon – chirpiness and gloss on the outside, with a melancholy lyrical core, and that's alright by me. 3.5/5
MF

Camera Obscura – The Blizzard
4AD

This sweet, quaint ballad with a country and western twang is typically inoffensive as well as being Christmassy. 'It's nearly Christmas time' they croon innocently.

I'm picturing a bunch of rustic bearded chaps nestled round a nativity scene twinking away on the xylophone while the cattle are lowing and baby Jesus examines his multifarious gifts. I like it. It has a place in my (meagre) 'Christmas songs which I don't hate' list – alongside The Pogues. 3.5/5
LC

Robbie Williams – You Know Me
EMI
 
An oddly punchy ballad, piano led with an annoying amount of strings and some Barber shop quartet-esque bad-da-pas. This is Robbie's attempt at a Christmas song, and I hate to say it, but he sounds like he's doing a really bad tribute to Take That. 

Perfectly bearable, pleasant even, only if you're a fan already that is. Hate to predictably piss on his bonfire but this doesn't stand a chance against them X-Factor folks. Poor but likeable, if you're that way inclined. 2.5/5
NK

The Drums – I Felt Stupid
Moshi Moshi
 
You know that look your mum used to give you after she found out you had been kissing boys and smoking cigarettes instead of concentrating on your school project? That's the expression that this song induces in me: sheer disappointment.
 
After my last review of the catchy 'Let's Go Surfing', I thought The Drums were going onto big things. Hopefully this tune is just a personality lacking, whiney blip in their otherwise glittering surf-rock career. 2/5
GM 

Goldhawks – Running Away
Mercury

Featuring a uniquely annoying keyboard line and choruses fully loaded with Edge-like stattaco guitars, Goldhawks seem like they wanted to be a Smashing Pumpkins for the modern age, but have ended up sounding more like U2.

Decked out in Top Man clothes and designer stubble, these guys are so corporate it's actually sickening. So what if you have a song on the New Moon soundtrack, it doesn't mean you have to be bought and sold like an indie version of S Club 7. Unsurprisingly Nick Grimshaw loves it… 1/5
DH

The Soldiers – A Soldier's Christmas Letter
Warner

'Daddy's not at home,' belts out a British soldier in this execrable ballad. The lyrics exemplify everything that's vomit-inducing about American-style sentimentalism. In striving to be earnest and heartfelt, the opposite is achieved: a message as trite and as contrived as Jerry Springer's 'final thought'.

I suppose pandering to God-fearing, Hallmark-giving, Daily Mail-reading types is an effective way for an army charity to scrape together some funds. I just hope South Park gets on board with an irreverent parody, soon. 0.5/5
NH

This weeks New Releases has been brought to you by the colour red, the letter P and the Singles of the Week Facebook Group. Show your love and sign up.

On a slightly sadder note, this will be the last time Joe will be hating on twee indie pop bands in these pages, and we're all going to miss him. So to send him off to a life of DIY and garden centres in style, we thought we'd share with you this video of his favourite song.

Music Team