These two tracks herald the release of an album I've been gagging for since Born Ruffians debut LP Red, Yellow And Blue. Apologies for mentioning the band twice in the same few posts but these tracks' releases came out of the blue into Mixt Ape's sphere, and their Warp-signed messy, harmless indie joy-pop appears to be my achilles heel. They're still messy, and still brimming with charming joyful innocence, although both tracks present a more subdued format, particularly Sole Brother - the energy relatively held back until the climax (which is still relatively pent-up compared to the proud indiegasms peaking tracks like I Need A Life and Barnacle Goose). It's not instantly or obviously gratifying, but after a couple of listens frontman Luke LaLonde's amateur yelping and that clumsy clean guitar picking is already inspiring that familiar warmth that the last LP provided. Similarly, single What To Say appears to focus more on LaLonde's pensive warbling, the classic BR naivety present in the lyrics rather than the arrangement. He claims the track ponders “ how much and how little sense we make when we speak. It’s about the multitude of wrong words and the never-ending search for the right ones." I personally prefer Sole Brother, it presenting a slightly more interesting transition in sound where the heart and soul of BR appears to remain, exposed alongside a more self-aware, apathetic feel. Having said that, I can't help but miss the upbeat feel of the first album that propelled their messy riffs into something more special. We'll have to see whether the other tracks from the album bring back the BR energy that sat so comfortably alongside their warmth.
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♪ Born Ruffians - Sole Brother
♪ Born Ruffians - What To Say
I think this track alone necessitated separating the two parts of this collection, as I doubt scorching drum 'n' bass would sit quite comfortably alongside this gentle ode to broken marriage. It would be like sitting Tim Westwood next to a resurrected Nick Drake in a chatshow ("This is my main man Drake, representin' for the Warwickshire massive, don't be hatin' on him"). Anyway as pointed out by The Guardian's Alexis Petridis, it's vaguely interesting to hear the odd emotive ballad with an older demographic (don't let that put you off), the usual adolescent hormone-induced romantic triviality replaced by a more everyday middle-aged viewpoint, poetically and poignantly detailing the melancholy of the fall of long-term partnerships from an outsider's perspective: 'each time I hear who's to part, I examine my heart'. It's nothing particularly profound, but the relatively simplistic lyrics ('I should have guessed, that day that his phone wouldn't take your text') are somehow arranged in such a way as to hit closer to home, propelled into something more emotive by the inoffensive wistfulness of the melody.
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♪ Tracey Thorn - Oh The Divorces!
This band are currently confusing me greatly, I can't work out whether there's something interesting going on here or if it's complete gormless drivel. Although not massively audible here, the band's sound wholly combines stadium cheesy major-key hair metal (see fictional band Limozeen to get what I'm talkin' about, thank you Homestar Runner), retro japanese scrolling shooter videogame soundtracks (see here and here) and a vague superficial sense of a more indie-rock sensibility, hence the occasional four-blokes-chanting-in-a-fairly-large-room chrouses and occasional synths and 'woahhhs'. The album's largely instrumental though, and I find it tricky to listen all the way through without fighting a constant urge to revert to soaring through the air along a two-dimensional axis, dodging pixelated laser-beams and upgrading myself. That or just turn the fucking thing off. Make up your own mind.
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♪ Fang Island - Life Coach
♪ Fang Island - Careful Crossers
I only recently came across this instrumental band, a little late in the game it would seem, as this track comes from the four-albums-deep point in their career - and it don't seem they're slippin'. The second track below seems to present an inverted representation of the transformation of their sound over that time, the group having bloomed with a more straightforward (but more raw) experimental rock sound, recently developing more electronic elements. It starts out with a prominent house beat, then is gradually (I mean gradually, the track's more than ten minutes long) smothered with a complex range of textures, the heavy beat bizarrely drifting out of conscious sound until it's entirely replaced (like magic) with more standard rock instrumentation, leading to the most drawn-out crescendo of all time, the haze of effective guitars tearing apart the soul quite pleasantly. There's clearly been a change in sound, but the propulsive element to the group still remains, their arrangements densely layering instruments to form complex textures and expansive soundscapes, rather than focusing on melody and riffs. Having said that these terms essentially just define post-rock as a genre. But I'm tempted to think that 65daysofstatic serve as a rare example of the genre completely working, although they resent the label themselves. The single shown above however is a more concise, instant hit. It strays further from the post-rock label with riffier guitars and a strong beat lending to a sound with an uncanny similarity to The Prodigy's Smack My Bitch Up (it's even the same key).
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♪ 65daysofstatic - Crash Tactics
♪ 65daysofstatic - Tiger Girl (available by joining their mailing list on the band website)
At the very least this is the best song this side of hip hop I've yet to hear that samples a siren. And hip hop it certainly ain't! With an intro simultaneously reminiscent of the ambiguous Asian themes presented in the video and itchy-fingers and tumbleweed spaghetti westerns, there's something beautifully earthy about the feel of the track, with an adequately generous portion of psychedelia ladled over the top (essentially a standard in new rock music). What's this? Infectious unsentimental vocals from a man with hallucinogenic shades standing on a floating chessboard? Fair play to you Django Django. Overall, it's catchy and I like it. How's that for profound analysis?
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♪ Django Django - WOR
Beach House - Zebra
The generally stand-out track from their January-released third album Teen Dream, which I'll certainly be talking about more in-depth shortly. The duo have been particularly dragged along the blogosphere recently as a reference to the current obsession with dream pop (that seems to fuel the even greater obsession with obscure 2009-prominent genre chillwave) that seems to shape the state of the sub-mainstream music industry, although they themselves don't intend such a rigid association with one genre. However, the bloggers have got a point, this kind of track serving as a perfect template for modern dream pop, its breathy backing vocal dives and hypnotic lead croons constructing a beautifully vivid sense of an American small-town prom in an eighties flick, but with heady, smoky overtones of gentle transience and, as the genre's title would suggest, a dream-like quality. It is both nostalgic and fantastical, and one of my favourite tracks for a while.
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♪ Beach House - Zebra
And another contender for catchiest thing I've heard this year, Yeasayer being obvious candidates already for seminal artists and album of 2010 (expect a more in-depth look at Odd Blood soon). This track is certainly a highlight, the Brooklyn-based lads going past proving they have a strong pop sensibility to the point of essentially grasping pop music by the bollocks and squeezing - the resultant noise far more pleasant than you'd imagine. At risk of sounding like a journalistic cop-out, this track does what great pop music does best and manages to elude presenting an obvious formula for its success - I can harp on all day about its retro synth hooks, its vivacious rhythms and its infectious vocal melodies but you'd be no closer to understanding the beauty of the track. These features are all commonplace amongst new releases at the moment, Yeasayer just manage to nail them down into something unstoppable. The best I can do is bullshit that if this track was a person it would have one hell of a spring in its step, eyes full of reasoned self-assuredness and a seriously bright fucking jacket. Also try Love Me Girl - the most overtly and successfully aphrodisiacal song I've heard for months, evoking a strong sense of pent-up sexual tension and desperation - every sultry kick and hi-hat, every growling synth seems geared to sound seductive, but perhaps to a point where it becomes slightly cheesy... I wouldn't recommend actually using it seductively, unless said partner has a very well stated thing for neon and futuristic psychedelia.
EDIT - Sorry, I did have the music video above but they've stopped people embedding it, watch it in all its glory here
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♪ Yeasayer - ONE
♪ Yeasayer - Love Me Girl
New single from one of my favourite bands of the moment, a bunch of clever indie boys with a strong pop sensibility. The lyrics shown here present this art-rock intellectualism, but I can't yet quite realise whether it's an empty blindness governing the obscurity of the words, or I'm just not smart enough to decipher what the fuck he's talking about. Either way it doesn't particularly bother me, it's interesting to hear 'tyrant' rhymed with 'fire hydrant' and the generally bizarre contrast of semantic fields in the lyrics of everyday mundanity and imaginative grandeur/fantasy. Plus it's generally infused with progressing melodies, ones that I actually find initially a bit discomforting, but everything past about three minutes when those echoey guitars come in suits me just fine. It was Zane Lowe's hottest record in the world a few weeks back as well apparently, but don't let that put you off. I still much prefer previous single My Kz, Yr Bf, to the point where it might just be my favourite track of the year so far. It's the most immaculate blend of pop (infectious melodies, ridiculous falsetto, retro synth hooks and noughties clean guitar riffs) and experimentalism, winning the hearts of the fanboys(/girls) and the record sales while retaining a genuine profundity and integrity. Schoolin's not yet available to download, but give it a week and someone'll get it onto mediafire.
DOWNLOAD: ♪ Everything Everything - My Kz, Yr Bf
