The Xx - Islands

‘Islands’ is a brilliant choice of single for The Xx. Most of the tracks on their eponymous debut do not make much sense on their own, but ‘Islands’ makes its breakthrough brilliantly, the girl-boy vocals of Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim provide a superb introduction to what the band is all about.

It’s short and sharp, with lots going on despite its typically understated charm, and even contains the closest thing The Xx has produced to a hook, in the repeat refrain of “I am yours now…”, a typically heartfelt and bed-cuddly line that makes The Xx the perfect alternative lovers band.

B-side ‘Do You Mind?’ is no different to the rest of The Xx’s material, which at the moment shows an ability to remain consistently excellent, but in future might show them to struggle progressing their sound. It’s typically sexy, with Croft and Sim inviting the listener to come home with the pair of them, over untypically brash drums. Minimalism is the key to The Xx and at some point they are going to have to bring new things to the party. But at the moment, we should just settle for what they are giving to us, the finest music by a new British band this year.

As a gateway into the mysterious and wonderful world of The Xx, ‘Islands’ is majestic. But let’s hope they remain our little secret for now, yeah?

This review was written for Muso's Guide.

VV Brown - Game Over

I really want to dislike VV Brown. I hate her faux-alternativeness, her desperation to do anything going in her pursuit of success, her hair, her name, pretty much everything about her. She seems to be everywhere, yet somehow I’ve avoided almost all of her music. Until now. So I was all set to deliver a written sucker punch to her flailing career. Kick a woman while she’s down? Why the hell not.

But annoyingly, I like ‘Game Over’. It’s bold and brash, somehow modern yet retro-styled, but more than anything, it makes you want to dance, and that’s what pop music is all about. Well it should be. And there’s none of this breakdown rubbish, calming things down for a bit in the middle of the song. Oh no. If anything it builds in pace to a thrilling climax, and the hooks, of which there are plenty, will live with you for hours. You’ll probably wake up humming it and cursing yourself.

It’s the fourth single from her debut album, which tanked despite all the hype and the promo, but ‘Game Over’ might just be the track that earns her the success she so craves. VV Brown has won me over. Whether the public is as fickle remains to be seen.

This review was written for Muso's Guide.

Charlotte Hatherley - Alexander (Little Sister Records)

Hitting 30 is terrifying for most people. But some revel in growing older and becoming more mature. And it seems that ex-Ash guitarist Charlotte Hatherley is one of those such people.

The revelation from her former bandmates that they asked her to leave, rather than her choosing to quit, will have come as a surprise to many people. But Hatherley was never likely to let a minor thing like effectively being sacked stop her.

'Alexander' is the second single from her third solo release New Worlds, an atmospheric record that puts her at the pinnacle of British female alt-poppers. Her previous two albums were confused in style, but Hatherley seems to have finally struck a balance.

'Alexander' is charmingly gentle and swirling to start, with haunting piano underlying Hatherley's honeyed toned. Later, there's the trademark Hatherley angular, hooky guitar lines complementing her barked vocal of "You're innocent, you're innocent", making a rather super single that deserves to win her many more new fans.

And even better than that, she's moved away from the Kate Bush comparisons that were threatening to overshadow her solo work by playing guitar on tour. Now there's a better candidate to take over Bush's weird-pop crown in Bat For Lashes, Hatherley can concentrate on her own thing. And it sounds like there's a lot more to come.

Rating: 4/5

This review was written for Daily Music Guide.

Lofty Heights - Eye Contact

Californian Greg Griffin has missed the boat with his Lofty Heights project somewhat. Debut single ‘Eye Contact’ is a golden slice of summery folk-pop, but with September rumbling on, summer’s time has gone.

It’s unfortunately scheduled, but that doesn’t stop it being one of the feel-good tracks of the year. Griffin’s vocals are honeyed and sweet without being sickly, and the “weeeee-wooooooo” backing noises don’t get irritating, as you might expect them to.

‘Eye Contact’ clocks in just over the three minute mark, pretty much perfect length for a short, sharp pop song, but you can’t help but wonder if the track’s appeal might become dimmed as the nights draw in and the days are filled with drizzle.

It would be a shame though. ‘Eye Contact’ is a glorious start, and Griffin is certainly worth keeping an eye on.

This review was written for Muso's Guide.

Dark Sparks - We Are Just Flies/Crying in the Spotlight

Dark Sparks are a curious bunch: falsetto vocals compete with silly guitar solos without the end result ever straying into Darkness territory, with Muse an all-too obvious influence.

Sheffield isn’t exactly where you would guess the band to come from. There’s no knowing pop pastiche as found in Arctic Monkeys and the Long Blondes and there’s no carefully crafted couplets from Pulp or Richard Hawley.

This is the kind of band that Grammatics paved the way for. Deliberately overblown and with far too much going on, it’s hard to love them although the songs are perfectly listenable.

The nonsensical lyrics of ‘We Are Just Flies’ cover up what is actually a thrilling ride, once it gets going. Guitars and drums come crashing in midway through the song and for a while it’s quite exciting, until the repeated lyrics just get too annoying and the vocal begins to grate too.

‘Crying in the Spotlight’ begins with an almost chord-for-chord recollection of ‘Paradise City’ by Guns n’ Roses before turning into another messy sub-Editors piece of dark electronic rock.

There is potential in Dark Sparks, but there’s a long way to go yet.

This review was written for Muso's Guide.

Boredoms - Super 10 EP

Calling this an EP is stretching things somewhat. In reality it’s one song, with four added remixes of varying quality and usefulness. It’s probably only defined as an EP as it’s far too long to count as a single.

To say veteran Japanese noise-rock cum post-ambience merchants Boredoms have had a varied career would be to do them an injustice. Super Roots 10 (confusingly, the ninth title in the series) is their latest release and it would be fair to say they’ve calmed down somewhat after 23 years of activity.

Gone are the trademark yelping and screeching and in comes calmly built ambience with experimental, Oriental tweaks. ‘Ant 10′ is the much-remixed track and the original version is an intriguing and enthralling proposition even though at pushing ten minutes it is far too long. Any feeling of immersion is long gone by the closing bars.

Only one of the four remixes serves a worthy purpose, with DJ Finger Hat’s version (yes, really) cutting almost half the length from the song and making it almost dancefloor-friendly with the tribal drumming enhanced and brought to the forefront. DJ Lindstrom’s version turns into a bizarre jazz-funk wig out that bears little or no resemblance to the source material, and Altz’ take is to barely alter it at all.

Baffingly the EP opens up with a track called ‘Super Root’, containing 38 seconds of pure silence. The cleverness is clearly lost on me.

Unfortunately, despite the always inventive experimentation, almost an hour of this is just too much, and by the end, Boredoms has well and truly set in.

This review was written for Muso's Guide.

Passion Pit - To Kingdom Come

As far as I’m aware, Passion Pit are not yet monumentally massive. And on this latest single offering, I can’t quite fathom out why.

‘To Kingdom Come’ has everything a hit record should have. It’s head-noddingly jaunty, memorable, well put together with some decent hooks and it even has some Ronsonesque brass towards the end. It seems like exactly the sort of track Radio 1 would fall over itself to play every half an hour.

Bit something just doesn’t sit right. The vocals from Michael Angelakos are annoyingly high, while repeat listens just turn the track into a tuneless dirge in the background. It’s all a bit Hoosiers, too Scouting for Girls, too try-hard to be properly joyous and carefree.

In fact, it feels formulaic more than anything, almost as if Angelakos and co sat down with a spreadsheet working out the ideal ingredients for a popular song. It’s a shame - the band clearly have talent - but this track is just too sugary for my tastebuds.

This review was written for Muso's Guide.

Singles club: Calvin Harris, Dolly Rockers, Florence Rawlings, The Fray + Black Lips feat Faris Rotter

Calvin Harris: Ready for the Weekend

Nobody can deny Calvin Harris’ hit-making, floor-filling credentials. Unfortunately, it’s always been the case that the public buys rubbish music in vast quantities and this seems to be more of the same. There’s none of the urban edge of Dance Wiv Me, none of the shiny gloss of I’m Not Alone, none of the all out disco charm of The Girls. This is just dross, re-hashed 80s-lite garbage.

Dolly Rockers: Gold Digger

I must admit to being a bit lost about the point of Dolly Rockers. The girl group market is already saturated beyond belief, with Sugababes fading and the Saturdays coming in to replace Girls Aloud. This is trashy, with the worst lyrics of the year so far. None of them seem to be able to sing. It’s chav-pop, and I don’t like it. Annoyingly though, it does make you groove a bit.

Florence Rawlings: Hard To Get

This is the best track of this week’s package (although this doesn’t say much). It’s a smooth slice of sultry jazz, with talented youngster Florence upstaging that ‘kooky’ idiot Welch woman of the same name with ease. This is the sort of thing that Amy Winehouse could and should have been doing instead of huge amounts of drugs. Thoroughly enjoyable.

The Fray: Heartless

OK – So let’s get the obvious pun out of the way shall we? The Fray make big empty music for people with big empty lives and souls. It’s very definitely heartless, it’s pointless, and it has the emotional range of a radiator. Anyone that gets taken in by this bilge needs taking outside and giving a firm talking to, and possibly getting slapped out of it. The most stupid self-definition of a title since Kaiser Chiefs gave us all a giggle with Everything is Average Nowadays. The site editor informs me it’s a Kanye West cover. Disbelievingly I checked it out – Kanye’s version is marginally less shit.

Black Lips feat Faris Rotter: Drugs

And here’s another. You’d have to be on drugs to enjoy this. Hur hur hur. It’s sub-Libertines ramshackle rock ‘n’ roll, with that dude from the Horrors apparently making a guest appearance although I couldn’t hear him in the few listens I managed before wanting to hack my own ears off.

Decide for yourself by watching the videos for the singles at The Music Magazine.

The Big Pink - Dominos

The latest single from London's electronic rockers The Big Pink is their most refreshingly accessible yet.

It's an almost shoe-gazey piece of drone-noise with a chorus catchier than swine flu. But it's been digitalised, with firm and spongy trip-hop beats underneath Robbie Furze's ecstatic, woozy vocals. The lyrics themselves are lad-rocky but the swirling Horrors-but-dance music gives them a somehow mysterious air.

"These girls fall like dominos", swoons Furze, with a misspelling we can only trust is deliberate.

There's less depth to Dominos than in previous Big Pink single Velvet, but as a window into their world ahead of debut album A Brief History of Love, it is perfect.

Arctic Monkeys' comeback single - review

Arctic Monkeys - Crying Lightning

2007 should have belonged to Arctic Monkeys. More festival headlining slots than you could shake a stick at coupled with a superb follow-up to their record-breaking debut album meant the year was there for the taking.

But dodgy sound at Glastonbury robbed them off their crowning moment, and the weather spoiled their giant near-homecoming gigs at Lancashire County Cricket Club.

So ‘Crying Lightning’, the first peek at their new album Humbug, represents something of a crossroads for the Sheffield band.

Sessions with Josh Homme in the Mojave Desert led to speculation that the Monkeys were about to go Seriously Rock. But ‘Crying Lightning’ seems to be very much a bridge from Favourite Worst Nightmare to their new era.

Turner’s vocals are low in the mix, well underneath spindly and spidery guitar work. They are as breathless as ever, but it’s not typically Arctics singalong fare. Nor is it really a dancefloor filler like, er, ‘…Dancefloor’.

But it’s very much a grower, and an interesting indicator of what the rest of Humbug might sound like. Perhaps this year, with a return to the big time at Leeds and Reading festivals, they will finally hit the stratosphere.


Again, this was originally published on Muso's Guide.

The Cribs preview new album with free track

The Cribs – We Were Aborted

Johnny Marr joining the Cribs might just be the best thing to happen to British guitar music in years. Most thrilling live band in the country + indie guitar legend + growing mainstream success = amazing, yes?

Indeed. We Were Aborted is probably the best song the Cribs have ever written. It fizzles along at more than double the speed of their usual scuzzy racket, with Marr’s mature yet somehow youthful wah-wah Guitar Heroesque fretwork making it pretty much the perfect summer noise anthem.

This is the sort of record that will inspire kids to pick up an instrument and start a band. Holier-than-thou hacks have been lauding the recession as it will apparently produce rebellious music. (What - like the Enemy? Great) Well, there’s no sign of it yet, but fortunately the Cribs are just as much fun as ever. You’ll even forget your lack of job, money, spouse, prospects and so on for its three-and-a-bit minutes of joyful pandemonium.

But it’s not even the first single. This is just a teaser for the album Ignore The Ignorant, due in September.

And for now at least, We Were Aborted is available as a free download from their website. So what are you waiting for?

This review was originally published on Muso's Guide. Hopefully the start of a long and fruitful partnership.