New Musick Monday

Right, is this some kind of pathological disorder we're dealing with here? Do you want to make us track down each and every one of you (yes, all twenty!) and talk sternly at you for ten minutes? For fucks sake, what's going on? How can a song as instantly catchy and indescribably amazing as 'Better Than Love' by Hurts enter the charts at number 50? How? It defies belief. Sure, Villagers missed out too and the chances of Sleigh Bells denting the charts was up there with Susan Boyle's next covers album featuring a cover of Aphex Twin's 'Windowlicker', but Hurts! Seriously, come on. We should put an end to all this, but we love you and we forgive you.

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Gemini by Wild Nothing

Chillwave or Dream Pop or Summer-sounding Songs With Fey Boys Singing Them is big business right now. Well, when we say 'big business' we mean it sells very little but it generates a lot of press. Wild Nothing, aka Jack Tatum, has been lumped in with the rest of them and for the most part it's a fair comparison, but there's something a bit more '80s indie about him then, say, Toro Y Moi. Gemini is his debut album and it features the stone-cold amazing, 'Summer Holiday', a cover of the Cliff Richard single...KIDDING. It's not as good as that. The rest of the album doesn't quite live up to it, but it's a slow week and we're running out of energy, so just buy it, yeah.

IT'S A REALLY QUIET WEEK, SO MAYBE JUST LISTEN TO AN OLD ALBUM

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'Five Trees (The Horrors Remix)' by Chapel Club

The original version is fine too, but a bit too Editors-esque for our liking. The Horrors remix adds some nice keyboard effects, puts some distortion on the vocals and generally makes it all sound less Editors-esque. We're not sure if this version is available to buy but if not you could either listen here or buy the original and play it simultaneously with something off Primary Colours and you'd get the idea.

New Musick Monday

We need to have words. Seriously. Move closer, sit down and just fucking listen for once. How could you let Kelis' new album enter at no. 42? For those of you without a degree in maths, that means she missed the Top 40, whilst albums from the likes of Boyzone and Scouting For Girls pranced around in the upper echelons like they owned the place. Disgraceful. Still, LCD Soundsystem managed to gatecrash the top 10, which just goes to show that acres of press and a handful of amazing reviews do have an influence after all.  Jamie Lidell was nowhere to be seen and the Laura Marling single followed her last effort into the lower reaches of the Top 75. A decidedly mixed bag in other words. Here are some more things no-one will buy...

BUY THIS IF YOU LIKE JOOLS HOLLAND

Becoming A Jackal by Villagers

Villagers, aka Conor J. O'Brien, makes the kind of music that's easy to dismiss. Earnest, studied and never knowingly exciting, his appearance on Jools Holland a few months ago had some very serious music critics talking very seriously about how he's the new Radiohead. Debut album Becoming A Jackal doesn't support this theory of course, but it does showcase an emerging young talent and as it creeps out of the speakers it's hard to dislike. O'Brien's influences are obvious - yes, a dash of Radiohead here, a helping of Bright Eyes there, a smattering of Elliott Smith just about everywhere - but he manages to create something interesting with the ingredients (have we laboured the food metaphor enough yet? Can we stir it up some more? Perhaps add a garnish of cliche, or a drizzling of empty compliments?). Anyways, it's better then you expect it to be, which is high praise indeed, is it not?

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Treats by Sleigh Bells

We've already done a big thing about this so we won't repeat ourselves. What we will say is that we accidentally illegally downloaded this thinking that it wasn't out here for ages and then we go and find it on iTunes...SORRY.

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'Better Than Love' by Hurts

We guest edited some kind of spam email thing and in it we had to pick our favourite current track and we picked this. It's like Depeche Mode meets Tears For Fears meets Ultravox and yet somehow it's better than even that makes it sound. The fact that it has two brilliant choruses doesn't hurt(s), nor does the very lesbian video. After all the hype and the plaudits, it's nice to see a band genuinely come good on their early promise. Now, don't fuck it up this time general public, we're relying on you.

First Listen: Treats by Sleigh Bells

Derek Miller (guitar/production) and Alexis Krauss (vocals) make up Brooklyn noise-pop duo Sleigh Bells. Not only do they make music your mum used to warn you about - "it's just noise" is actually completely accurate - but they're also signed to M.I.A's N.E.E.T label and Miller helped out on his bosses brand new album. Not bad for a band who only got together after Krauss - who had just left a crappy girl band - and Miller were forced into making music together by Krauss' mother.

Their debut album, Treats, has just been released in America, so we flew out there to give it a listen (ahem).  Given the fact that the album is mainly a bit of a racket, we've decided to use tennis players to rate each track (tennis players use rackets, GEDDIT?). The ratings go something like this;

Roger Federer = AMAZING
Rafael Nadal = GREAT, BUT SUFFERS WITH DODGY KNEES
Andy Murray = GOOD, WITH FLASHES OF BRILLIANCE BUT A BIT SURLY
Andy Roddick = CONSTANTLY UNDERWHELMING

Let's do this

1. 'Tell 'Em' - Much of Treats is based around distorted beats and ridiculously loud two-note guitar riffs. 'Tell 'Em' is one of the better examples of this, with Krauss adding a strangely catchy vocal hook over the top of the cacophony that threatens to swamp her at any given moment.
Rafael Nadal

2. 'Kids' - This one actually features some sleigh bells, which is nice. Then the 'nice' gets swallowed by those distorted guitars and popping beat, but once again Krauss manages to add a sweetly melodic hook that makes it seem unsettling. But, like, in a good way.
Rafael Nadal

3. 'Riot Rhythm' - The guitars that have plagued the first couple of tracks frankly get a bit annoying on this one. You can't shake the feeling this would sound better without them, especially as the live (?) drums and processed handclaps carry the song well enough anyways.
Andy Roddick

4. 'Infinity Guitars' - An early demo version of this track got everyone very excited a few months ago and luckily they've not done too much to change it. It kind of reminds us of Bumblebeez in the way it sounds like a very catchy pop single recorded in a skip full of rusty old bikes.
Roger Federer

5. 'Run The Heart' - Ah, some relative calm here. There's even some pretty synth moments and the whole thing has the whiff of Crystal Castles. Krauss' vocals are minimal and barely audible for the most part, but the whole thing offers some light relief from all the speaker-busting beats and squiggles.
Rafael Nadal

6. 'Rachel' - Starts with some heavy breathing before a stuttering beat comes in and Krauss is off, sounding like a girl group member gone wrong. It's pleasant enough, but doesn't really go anywhere.
Andy Murray

7. 'Rill Rill' - This used to be called 'Ring Ring' and has been beefed up slightly, the extra production adding a bit more clarity to one of the best (and most musical) songs on the album. Over a lovely sample of an old Funkadelic track, Krauss' vocals are crisp and clear and midway through there's a lovely middle eight that makes you swoon.
Roger Federer

8. 'Crown On The Ground' - After the relative calm, the aural storm. This was the track that got the bloggers erect and it's a brilliant, clattering monster of distorted guitar and thunderous beats that teeters on the edge of a breakdown but is deliriously catchy.
Roger Federer

9. 'Straight A's' - We warn you against listening to this track on tinny laptop speakers because chances are you'll think your head's about to explode. At just ninety seconds long and as loud as a bomb, this is a fairly unwelcome interlude.
Andy Roddick

10. 'A/B Machines' - More punishing guitars and erupting beats but at least this time we have Krauss' voice back to deliver a hushed chorus about machines on the table and in the draw. Lord only knows what it's all about, but it sounds pretty bangin'.
Andy Murray

11. 'Treats' - This is a slightly disappointing end and proof that when the duo fail to find a melody their songs descend into an almighty mess.
Andy Roddick

VERDICT: We're assuming that title is ironic because though the album has some brilliant moments, listening to it form start to finish isn't what we would call a treat. There's also the suspicion that much of it would get boring after a while, in the same way that listening to a distorted drill might get boring. But on tracks like 'Crown On The Ground', 'Rill Rill' and 'Tell 'Em', they hit upon some weird formula where everything sounds just right.
Raphael Nadal

NEW M.I.A TRACK!

It's called 'Born Free' and it's not what you were expecting...

  M.I.A. - Born Free by TheProphetBlog

EDIT: That link has died, but here's another:



First thoughts - that Sleigh Bells collaboration is fairly obvious, but it sounds immense. Going to be HUGE.

EDIT: It now has a video (it's a bit explicit, so be careful)

Belated Xmas present

The festively named Sleigh Bells deliver anything but beautifully packaged presents. They're sound is a strange mix of crunching guitar riffs, beats and indecipherable lyrics all recorded at the wrong volume so that when you listen to them you tend to think your stereo is busted. If this all sounds terribly 'art project' and not much fun then think again, because the five or six tracks that are floating around the internet are all barnstormingly brilliant (the band are currently unsigned, ergo, the music is free to steal, n'est pas?).



The best of the bunch is the crunching 'Crown On The Ground', which kind of sounds like a Kelis record being suffocated by an out of tune rock band and then mixed by someone who seems to have been wearing boxing gloves in the studio. It's also freakin' awesome.



The duo have also contributed to the new M.I.A album, which is due out in the summer some time.