May 2009

SINGLE OF THE ISSUE

Nightjar
The Moth Trap EP (Toad)

Attention-grabbing bluegrass folk from Edinburgh-based buddies Andrew McKay (banjo/vocals) and Jack Richold (violin/vocals). At Beatmag we’re no folk experts so the fact one of their bandmates happens to be rated folkie Kris Drever means little to us, nonetheless these numbers welcome casual listeners in. Opener ‘The Hanging Tree’ is boisterous and sounds like a re-jigged traditional piece but is actually original material, as is the rest of the EP. Nightjar songs are mostly narrative, rustic, concerned with love and death, often at the end of a rope, except for ‘Salesman Song’ which mocks consumerism by way of a hoedown. In short, there’s a lot of sheer talent displayed brightly here.
www.songbytoadrecords.com

WhoMadeWho
TV Friend (Gomma)

The highest profile act on the ceaselessly firin’ Gomma label returns with a taster for their second album. The original mix sounds like peak form Heaven 17 but Hot Chip remix it into a spacey keyboard-swathed epic that suddenly blooms into a charged up Front 242 ringer. Danish trio WhoMadeWho are relatively unacknowledged pioneers of the whole cool electro-rock thing, ie Soulwax, LCD Soundsystem, etc. Their drummer Tomas ‘Tomboy’ Barfod is a force to be reckoned with in his own right, as he proves on the percussion-heavy Tomski & Fredboy remix. Judging from ‘TV Friend’, WhoMadeWho, after a couple of years off the scene, are back to remind us what they’re capable of.
www.whomadewho.dk

This Is Radio Freedom
Strike Sparks Anywhere EP (Sidewalk 7)

Big British rock with poppy tunes and the right references. Their name is not Levellers-style arch earnestness but, instead, comes from the intro to the KLF’s ‘3AM Eternal’, and the EP’s title song derives from Hunter S Thompson. The KLF! And Hunter S Thompson! Rubbing those names together I’d be butter in your hands if you sounded like Bryan Adams but happily TIRF don’t, although they may have stadium-sized horizons. Veering far from basic indie – and with a remix from Dan Le Sac – they bulk out with big electronic production, occasionally recalling long lost Manc shoulda-beens The Chamelions. Go on, guys, kick U2’s arse and conquer America, and let’s have a huge Brit band that’s also actually quite good for a change.
www.thisisradiofreedom.org and www.myspace.com/thisisradiofreedom

Chopps Derby
You Don’t Know What Broccoli Is? EP (The Gulls Trunk)

Twisted and occasionally risqué to the point of cringe-worthy, Chopps Derby is an edgy but enjoyable proposition. A five track snidely dark Manc swearathon, the best of it hits a peak somewhere between John Cooper Clarke, Viz comic and Pitman but an urban bleakness bleeds through the filthy surreal humour. Check these lyrics from ‘Down The Dogs’ for a flavour: “The fucking pies make you sick, the chips gives you shits, the fucking beer tastes like mud, the scampi smells like fanny blood, you’re watching dogs run round the track, don’t be a fucking twat, it fucking gets you fucking down, being down the greyhounds.” A promising start from the Droylsden “well hard bumbaseed turned bare sick emcee”. Check the video for ‘Power Lap’ on their website – it’s certainly not PC, but it’s bloody funny.
http://www.thegullstrunkrecords.com/

Silicone Soul
The Pulse (Soma)

Perhaps the most underrated music-making unit of the last decade, Silicone Soul’s last two albums contain some of the finest electronic music made this millennium; accessible but futuristic, clubby but soulful, warm but very, very smart. The duo of Craig Morrison and Graeme Reedie have been quiet awhile, concentrating on their Darkroom Dubs label and Mirror Music side project, but their fourth album arrives next year. The first single bodes well, a low-slung roller influences by techno minimalism but still boasting a subtle jazziness in its ‘Darkroom Dub’ and ‘Hypno House’ incarnations. The Mlle Caro & Franck Garcia mix is, perhaps, most musically interesting, though better still is ‘Call Of The Wild’, hopefully an indicator of where the pair are off to next, a nine minute sci fi train journey into druggy hypnosis.
www.myspace.com/4siliconesoul

Moriarty
Jimmy (Deschamps & Makeieff)

A gentle backwoods ode, apparently to both buffalo and the name Jimmy. Casually opaque but also melancholy, a campfire guitar, a touch of harmonica and a sad-voiced female vocalist lead a country shuffle. So far, so cowboy blues but it’s rather lovely too. They have an album out in February ’09 which, if it’s half as wistfully delicious as this, will be essential (called ‘Gee Whiz But This Is A Lonesome Town’, it’s already been a small success in France). The band is made up of a singer from Ohio and four brothers, all based in Paris, which sounds like the beginning of a good story – let’s hope it is…
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=56877030

Video Nasties
Albatross EP (Dead Again)

The song ‘Albatross is a two minute belter, rampaging garage punk that steams full throttle out of the traps, squawling and shrieking, then stops very suddenly to visit Lynyrd Skynyrd for a highly unlikely guitar’n’organ jam, before remembering it’s a punk number and raging back for a final thrash. The rest of the EP from this young London outfit is less unique, feisty derivative indie, but the title track is excellent, go download it now.
www.videonasties.net and www.myspace.com/videonasties

Brigitte Handley & The Dark Shadows
Stand Off EP

Brigitte Handley is a bequiffed rake-thin punk-goth rockabilly from Sydney, Australia, who wears fishnets on her arms and sings in a bassy sneer. With her female drummer and bassist (the Dark Shadows) she’s proves with her second EP that the previous and cracking ‘Alien Movies’ was no one-off. It’s impossible to avoid a reference to The Cramps, although Handley’s outfit are leaner and less grungey, but their concern with B-movie trashiness is similar. A band with an attitude, an image and no American leisurewear in sight – someone bring them to Europe, please…
www.brigittehandley.com

Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan
Keep Me In Mind Sweetheart EP (V2/Cooperative Music)

In the absence of Johnny Cash (particularly his final Rick Rubin work), this collection of songs by ex-Belle And Sebastian cellist-songwriter Isobel Campbell, sung by grouchy ex-Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan, hits the spot. Sparse, strummed, steel guitar-laced, with carefully conceived lyrics, these six lovelies are thoroughly marinated in the best lonesome country traditions, albeit occasionally heard through a Velvet Underground filter. Five of the six songs are not even on the duo’s second album ‘Sunday At Devil Dirt’ and, for the seasonally inclined, ‘Asleep On A Sixpence’ even closes with a piano line that quotes ‘While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks’.
http://www.myspace.com/isobelcampbell

Frank Kusserow
Assimilate Your Soul (White Noise)

Juicy opening shot from DJ Dave Clarke’s new label. Those expecting faceless techno suitable for DJs only will be pleasantly surprised. Sure, it’s a banger, but Clarke’s penchant for punk, electro, and general darkness of mood seem to be shared by his new German protégé Frank Kusserow. ‘Assimilate Your Soul’ throws the title phrase out of the speakers threateningly while a menacing electronic body music pulse punches away and sinister synths join the party halfway through. Techno with attitude and identity.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=97972248

Singles for review should be sent to…

Thomas H Green, PO Box 4653 Worthing, BN11 9FG, UK

Filed under: Music, Reviews - Singles by Flexmaster Nylon
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