RePost: News And Reviews

RePost: So... I've taken down the track links in an effort to please those lords and masters of mine, Blogger Corp. Which might make you think - what's the point of this post?
Well... Fair enough.

But it took me ages to write, so I'm bloody well going to re-post it anyway.

Pet Shop Boys are awesome. That is what I, years later than everyone else, have finally realised. I got their new album Yes the other day, and despite the lead singer not being particularly gifted at either writing or singing, the record itself is pretty much awesome. The production is as tight as you could hope for, and brings together the best bits from pop, dance and (just about) electro, to form an LP that is consistently happy, upbeat and good. I'm not going to claim that they are amazing musicians or artists, but they make good music. In particular, try the track 'All Over The World'. The chorus is probably the worst on the whole album, but the beginning of the song is pricelessly feel-good, using some awesome strings and a (shock!) nice little vocal harmony to set up a pretty powerful drop, which unleashes some synthy melody bits and an epic head-nodder of a beat to push the track along. Great stuff, and fairly reflective of the best bits off the rest of the album - 'Love Etc' and 'Beautiful People' are also worth a listen.


Still Night, Still Light, however, is my favourite album of recent weeks. It's effortlessley beautiful, eerie and atmospheric.Au Revoir Simone are a trio, but the album sounds completely cohesive and well-balanced. The opener, 'Another Likely Story', is all strings and hi-hats, and echoey, ethereal piano. The vocals, as on every track, are gorgeous and airy - sounding almost like a choir in some places, but without losing a certain folk influenced charm. It's difficult to pick a single song from the album, as it's consistently well produced and well-written, but I've gone with 'Shadows'. The song sounds a little bit like the legitimate child of Saint Etienne and Imogen Heap (thats probably a complete misdirection, but I like coming up with these combinations, and the vocals have a similiar style and sound to them). Either way, it trundles along at a nice pace, it's fairly catchy, and the build to the chorus is lovely. Well worth a listen, and highly rated.


I've gone in a different direction with my next artist - Chris Joss, who has (hilariously) called his album Sticks. Joss, sticks, Joss-sticks... get it? Regardless of the punning, Sticks is a fairly good album. It's Lo-fi Funk, with occasional oriental Sitar influences, and random rocky guitar bits which are unquestionably Western. It's an interesting mix, although not interesting enough to make the album a complete winner. Instrumentals can get fairly boring most of the time, and as the album is predominantly instrumental, it suffers that problem throughout. 'Rififi Rococco' is probably the best song off the LP (it sounds almost purpose built for a car advert), it has some cool breakdowns and different funky bits: jazzy guitar and a few vocal exclamations ... even some nice flute action. Just enough variety to make it a consistently engaging listen. Worth a try if you've got a particular penchant for Lo-fi Funk, it's well paced and good-humoured, but not a must-have.


In all my excitement about the Filthy Dukes album, I neglected the recent Fischerspooner effort, Entertainment. To be honest, thats because it's simply not as good. 'The Best Revenge', 'We Are Electric' and 'Door Train Home' are my three top picks from the album, as they seem to have the most to them (the vocals on DTH are particularly cool, and there's some great slidey guitar bits). Out of those, 'The Best Revenge' - which most people will already know - is probably my favourite. It has that mix of playful and serious that the rest of the album seems to be striving for, and has some great individual moments - particularly the chorus, which makes use of horns and trumpets to good effect, accompanying the fuzzy synths and thumping drums nicely. A few of the songs go for that blend of real (I use that term nervously) instruments and computer-based effects and samples, but 'The Best Revenge' carries it off the most effectively as one sound. The reverbed, higher pitch vocals fit in nicely as well, but are quite common on electronic records these days.

I was going to do a full on review of Apple Jelly's Na Na Na Club here, but I've decided that the album doesn't really appeal to me that much. Of the whole LP, 'Desperado Junkie' is the only song I've listened to more than once. It's got some nice Thom Yorke-esque vocals on the chorus, and has a heavily modulated analogue bit over the verse which is pretty cool. It's a nice track, but not hugely impressive, and let down on the whole by the rest of the album.

For me, anyway, but what does that matter? I'll let you make your own mind up.

The Hitchcock Rules are a new band for me, discovered when i heard the opening burst of 'Miss Julie', which starts with that treble-rich guitar sound I like and some cool, story-teller lyrics ('I stole a fortune in Stockholm') before breaking into a nice melodic solo bit. Unfortunately, the chorus to the song lets it down a bit, being a bit too horribly American sounding for a Cornwall-based band. However, the rest of it is well worth listening to (especially the bridge that comes right after the chorus, funnily enough), so try their myspace. 'Faking It' - one of their singles, is available for download free of their website, and is also worth a listen. The guitar at the beginning sounds like a louder, electric version of that Wannadies song I posted the other day, which is interesting if not particularly relevant. (The guitar melody also sounds a lot like that Rogues song, 'Not So Pretty'). Again, the chorus is a bit out of place and cheesy compared to the rest of the song, which has some better lyrics and brings out the lead singers voice a bit more (he's fairly good, considering). Overall, there's a nice tone too both tracks, and they're a better than average indie/rock band. I expect they'll do fairly well this year - they're already lined up to play Beach Break Festival in the summer.

Pet Shop Boys - All Over The World Buy
Au Revoir Simone - Shadows Buy*
Chris Joss - Rififi Rococco Buy
Fischerspooner - The Best Revenge Buy*
Apple Jelly - Desperado Junkie Buy
The Hitchcock Rules - Faking It Buy

*Not direct track purchase links.