This awful thing is done in the best of broken English by Shane O'Leary.
TOM WILLIAMS & THE BOAT "DOING MY BEST" EP (Wire Boat Recordings)
RELEASED? Out now.
SOUNDS LIKE? The tentacles of evil tickle everyone and Tom Williams is no more immune than I am. The Jamie T style clip n drawl is present but there is real music on here too. Okay, it comes in bits, rather than whole tracks, but this is a debut ep and and concentrate on "Concentrate", filter out the boychick does Bruce Hornsby chorus and you're listening to a darkly nagging bit of agi-pop, almost black-country, the new genre that Tom Williams & The Boat are making their own. Slip into "Mary" and discover that you're not the first and that TWATB do English folk-blues, fresh from the banks of the muddy Thames. I think I'm loving this. There's angst and anger, satire and a girl done me wrong song and if they had anything to do with a cool label you'd be see-hearing them on BBC2 and Channel4.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Yes it is and bearing in mind that they all look quite neat, clean, white & middle class, it's impressive how cross they can be.
WHERE IS IT? www.tomwilliamsandtheboat.co.uk
RELEASED? Out now.
SOUNDS LIKE? The tentacles of evil tickle everyone and Tom Williams is no more immune than I am. The Jamie T style clip n drawl is present but there is real music on here too. Okay, it comes in bits, rather than whole tracks, but this is a debut ep and and concentrate on "Concentrate", filter out the boychick does Bruce Hornsby chorus and you're listening to a darkly nagging bit of agi-pop, almost black-country, the new genre that Tom Williams & The Boat are making their own. Slip into "Mary" and discover that you're not the first and that TWATB do English folk-blues, fresh from the banks of the muddy Thames. I think I'm loving this. There's angst and anger, satire and a girl done me wrong song and if they had anything to do with a cool label you'd be see-hearing them on BBC2 and Channel4.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Yes it is and bearing in mind that they all look quite neat, clean, white & middle class, it's impressive how cross they can be.
WHERE IS IT? www.tomwilliamsandtheboat.co.uk
STOP EJECT: "I Am A Social Network" (i-Tunes / Amazon)
RELEASED? 2nd August.
SOUNDS LIKE? Now then,
it is, apparently, time to take
all the spare parts from that
David Bowie model, the
shavings of an old Iggy Pop
sculpture and ram and glam
them through a Monster
Magnet filter. Yes, lots of
stormtrooper drumming,
death gets agitated kind of
vocals, humming, buzzing, stray angels playing synth bursts in the black mix and I must have forgotten Kraftwerk, they didn't, though.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Yessir, this what we trendy, Glasto-Refusniks and your grandad call 'proper good' music. Craft, passion, construction, chaos and guile, in an ideal world this lot would be neither stopped nor ejected. Get them.
WHERE IS IT? www.stopejectmusic.com
RELEASED? 2nd August.
SOUNDS LIKE? Now then,
it is, apparently, time to take
all the spare parts from that
David Bowie model, the
shavings of an old Iggy Pop
sculpture and ram and glam
them through a Monster
Magnet filter. Yes, lots of
stormtrooper drumming,
death gets agitated kind of
vocals, humming, buzzing, stray angels playing synth bursts in the black mix and I must have forgotten Kraftwerk, they didn't, though.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Yessir, this what we trendy, Glasto-Refusniks and your grandad call 'proper good' music. Craft, passion, construction, chaos and guile, in an ideal world this lot would be neither stopped nor ejected. Get them.
WHERE IS IT? www.stopejectmusic.com
KAH: "July Song" (Joy Lane Music)
RELEASED? 5th July.
SOUNDS LIKE? Pretty much like a deceptively frothy Goldfrapp, a little South Sea thing going on with the percussion, this is rather lovely and the little girl, sweetie pie vox aren't annoying at all, really, it's all context and "July Song" is that sonic oxymoron, a substantial slab of throway pop.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Eh? Just go away and buy this, we're having rum punch and clay pigeon shooting old Amazulu singles
WHERE IS IT? www.myspace.com/kahsongs
RELEASED? 5th July.
SOUNDS LIKE? Pretty much like a deceptively frothy Goldfrapp, a little South Sea thing going on with the percussion, this is rather lovely and the little girl, sweetie pie vox aren't annoying at all, really, it's all context and "July Song" is that sonic oxymoron, a substantial slab of throway pop.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Eh? Just go away and buy this, we're having rum punch and clay pigeon shooting old Amazulu singles
WHERE IS IT? www.myspace.com/kahsongs
NADINE KHOURI "A Song To The City" (One Flash Records)
RELEASED? 13th July.
SOUNDS LIKE? It's breathily
beautiful and the opening
"The Arms Of Love" is like a
deceptively serene Patti
Smith staking a claim to an
early morning cityscape with
Bolanesque vocals being
chimed along a series of
gentle percussion flowerings,
fuck me, this is great. The
back story is that Nadine
Khouri is a Lebanese lady,
now living in London and working in London and making spikey and sharp observations on life, love, politics and all the big stuff, and she's doing it inside a framework of deceptively delicate songs and here comes that Patti Smith reference again; the title track is a menacing, looming, invasive and persuasive dog trot through a song book staffed by the darker sides of Carly, Joni and Nick Drake and it's interesting that this is surrounded by a such a gallic flavour and then you go "Lebanon and France, oh" and then you go 'stop typing the word 'and'' and then you do.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Very, very good. Good doesn't even touch the sides. Brilliant is getting there and essential is nearer. Pay something to listen to Nadine Khouri, she is worth it.
WHERE IS IT? www.nadinekhouri.net
RELEASED? 13th July.
SOUNDS LIKE? It's breathily
beautiful and the opening
"The Arms Of Love" is like a
deceptively serene Patti
Smith staking a claim to an
early morning cityscape with
Bolanesque vocals being
chimed along a series of
gentle percussion flowerings,
fuck me, this is great. The
back story is that Nadine
Khouri is a Lebanese lady,
now living in London and working in London and making spikey and sharp observations on life, love, politics and all the big stuff, and she's doing it inside a framework of deceptively delicate songs and here comes that Patti Smith reference again; the title track is a menacing, looming, invasive and persuasive dog trot through a song book staffed by the darker sides of Carly, Joni and Nick Drake and it's interesting that this is surrounded by a such a gallic flavour and then you go "Lebanon and France, oh" and then you go 'stop typing the word 'and'' and then you do.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Very, very good. Good doesn't even touch the sides. Brilliant is getting there and essential is nearer. Pay something to listen to Nadine Khouri, she is worth it.
WHERE IS IT? www.nadinekhouri.net
PAUL RODERICK: "People I.Q" (Megabop Records)
RELEASED? 23rd August.
SOUNDS LIKE? Going out on a limb here, quite a skinny and unhealthy looking one, but this reminds sooo strongly of the jaunty Mathhew Wilder single "Break My Stride" run head on into "Streetlife" that it's more scary than funny. Lob in the factoid that lyrically it's a close cousin to Pulp's "Mis-Shapes" and we've a heady old dolly mixture to slip under 'Sounds Like'.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Yeah, it's actually, genuinely good.
WHERE IS IT? www.mbop-promotions.co.uk
RELEASED? 23rd August.
SOUNDS LIKE? Going out on a limb here, quite a skinny and unhealthy looking one, but this reminds sooo strongly of the jaunty Mathhew Wilder single "Break My Stride" run head on into "Streetlife" that it's more scary than funny. Lob in the factoid that lyrically it's a close cousin to Pulp's "Mis-Shapes" and we've a heady old dolly mixture to slip under 'Sounds Like'.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Yeah, it's actually, genuinely good.
WHERE IS IT? www.mbop-promotions.co.uk
LA CHERISH: "Prisoner" (Download)
RELEASED? 2nd August.
SOUNDS LIKE? There is
absolutely no excuse for
shit like this. There's no
raw passion or ramshackle
charm to excuse the
appalling mix, let alone the
half arsed derivation and
when the steely winsome
singeress asks "How could
there be too much love?"
I know the answer to that one, it's just to balance the hate I feel for these four tracks.
IS IT ANY GOOD? You're in a small venue, you've come to see a band, a band you know, personally. They tell you that the support act is great and you've got to hear them. And then LA Cherish come on and everyone goes out for a cigarette, a piss, a mugging, anything to get away. You're left with the six friends and one fan and you're just praying that they're all vampires and that they'll kill you before these fuckers can play another note. That's exactly, to the inch, how good this is.
WHERE IS IT? www.lacherish.com
RELEASED? 2nd August.
SOUNDS LIKE? There is
absolutely no excuse for
shit like this. There's no
raw passion or ramshackle
charm to excuse the
appalling mix, let alone the
half arsed derivation and
when the steely winsome
singeress asks "How could
there be too much love?"
I know the answer to that one, it's just to balance the hate I feel for these four tracks.
IS IT ANY GOOD? You're in a small venue, you've come to see a band, a band you know, personally. They tell you that the support act is great and you've got to hear them. And then LA Cherish come on and everyone goes out for a cigarette, a piss, a mugging, anything to get away. You're left with the six friends and one fan and you're just praying that they're all vampires and that they'll kill you before these fuckers can play another note. That's exactly, to the inch, how good this is.
WHERE IS IT? www.lacherish.com
NAKED REMEDY: "Naked Remedy" EP (Joy Lane Music)
RELEASED? 23rd August
SOUNDS LIKE? There's a lot of chat on the press release about Black Sabbath, Led Zep, Stones and all that, but despite the nifty feedback blasts we know, it's what we do, that Naked Remedy have played to death copies of "Killer" and "Muscle Of Love" and Naked Remedy sound like that.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Yes, it's a good sound and it grabs the actual best of the Alice Cooper back catalogue in four, bluesy, boozy, slickly glammed up rockers.
WHERE IS IT? www.myspace.com/nakedremedylive
RELEASED? 23rd August
SOUNDS LIKE? There's a lot of chat on the press release about Black Sabbath, Led Zep, Stones and all that, but despite the nifty feedback blasts we know, it's what we do, that Naked Remedy have played to death copies of "Killer" and "Muscle Of Love" and Naked Remedy sound like that.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Yes, it's a good sound and it grabs the actual best of the Alice Cooper back catalogue in four, bluesy, boozy, slickly glammed up rockers.
WHERE IS IT? www.myspace.com/nakedremedylive
THE HILLFIELDS: "Come Outside" EP (Underused Records)
RELEASED? Out now.
SOUNDS LIKE? They may be a 'south London indie
guitar trio', but there's intelligence and violence
underpinning the shimmering and the ranting. No, it's
not punk. Yes, it is the sound of the dispossesed. No,
they're not nihilist shit-slingers. Yes, they do make
observations on life, love and opportunities for both. If
they sound like anything, they sound like a real band
reclaiming the territory currently infested with
trustafarian tarts.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Of course it is, they make
Croydon sound like Detroit, or something.
WHERE IS IT? www.underused-records.com
RELEASED? Out now.
SOUNDS LIKE? They may be a 'south London indie
guitar trio', but there's intelligence and violence
underpinning the shimmering and the ranting. No, it's
not punk. Yes, it is the sound of the dispossesed. No,
they're not nihilist shit-slingers. Yes, they do make
observations on life, love and opportunities for both. If
they sound like anything, they sound like a real band
reclaiming the territory currently infested with
trustafarian tarts.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Of course it is, they make
Croydon sound like Detroit, or something.
WHERE IS IT? www.underused-records.com
DIVA JONEZ: "Baddest Chick In Da Hood" (Boss Up Records)
RELEASED? Out now.
SOUNDS LIKE? This is great. Really, really great. A mix that's more crammed than her shorts and well stitched too. There's a cacophony of rap-pop culture tags thrashing around in a surprisingly tight construction. Possibly not what they intend, but it sounds like a genre piss take that's gone so well that Mr Irony is off the guest list.
IS IT ANY GOOD? It's excellent and Diva Jonez is most likely telling the absolute truth.
WHERE IS IT? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySaA3Hh8qY0
RELEASED? Out now.
SOUNDS LIKE? This is great. Really, really great. A mix that's more crammed than her shorts and well stitched too. There's a cacophony of rap-pop culture tags thrashing around in a surprisingly tight construction. Possibly not what they intend, but it sounds like a genre piss take that's gone so well that Mr Irony is off the guest list.
IS IT ANY GOOD? It's excellent and Diva Jonez is most likely telling the absolute truth.
WHERE IS IT? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySaA3Hh8qY0
WAY PRISTINE: "13th / I Realise" (i-Tunes / Amazon)
RELEASED? Out now.
SOUNDS LIKE? Generic. Generic, an adjective pertaining to a genus or a class; applicable to all members of a class. We thank the Penguin English Dictionary for the word and we thank Way Pristine for the late eighties pomp rawk generic stuff, very pleasant.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Oh, you know.
WHERE IS IT? www.myspace.com/waypristine
RELEASED? Out now.
SOUNDS LIKE? Generic. Generic, an adjective pertaining to a genus or a class; applicable to all members of a class. We thank the Penguin English Dictionary for the word and we thank Way Pristine for the late eighties pomp rawk generic stuff, very pleasant.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Oh, you know.
WHERE IS IT? www.myspace.com/waypristine
S I N G L E S
GOLDEN HOURS: "Pioneering" (Broken Tail Records)
RELEASED? Out now.
SOUNDS LIKE? We'll get to that, first it's a
little history. Golden Hours used to be The
Wookies, or some of them did, or something,
so there's a connection with the line-up and
The Wookies were fucking wonderful
(http://www.thegoldenhours.co.uk/the-wookies/)
and Golden Hours are better. Now then, you
were asking what Golden Hours sound like?
Clipped and busy noodle rock. It's all
gossamer art spun with steel, nods to Roxy
Music, flirtations with Waterboys style stadium
bothering pomp, but Golden Hours are their
own creation and we'd be wrong to take these
two tracks as permission to pigeonhole.
Golden Hours feel like an outfit who'd barely blink before tackling a teary old country ballad or a punk n fuck tear up, but everything they do will be based on one simple, beautiful fact; they do this because they have to, not because they want something.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Yes. I know it's not enough to type 'yes', but if I set it in 72 point type and repeat it a hundred times it'd still be insufficient, annoy you and screw the layout. Just check them out.
WHERE IS IT? www.myspace.com/brokentailrecords
RELEASED? Out now.
SOUNDS LIKE? We'll get to that, first it's a
little history. Golden Hours used to be The
Wookies, or some of them did, or something,
so there's a connection with the line-up and
The Wookies were fucking wonderful
(http://www.thegoldenhours.co.uk/the-wookies/)
and Golden Hours are better. Now then, you
were asking what Golden Hours sound like?
Clipped and busy noodle rock. It's all
gossamer art spun with steel, nods to Roxy
Music, flirtations with Waterboys style stadium
bothering pomp, but Golden Hours are their
own creation and we'd be wrong to take these
two tracks as permission to pigeonhole.
Golden Hours feel like an outfit who'd barely blink before tackling a teary old country ballad or a punk n fuck tear up, but everything they do will be based on one simple, beautiful fact; they do this because they have to, not because they want something.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Yes. I know it's not enough to type 'yes', but if I set it in 72 point type and repeat it a hundred times it'd still be insufficient, annoy you and screw the layout. Just check them out.
WHERE IS IT? www.myspace.com/brokentailrecords
WAKE UP LUCID: "Black Hair Woman" (i-Tunes / Amazon)
RELEASED? Out now.
SOUNDS LIKE? Daft, I know, but for all their love of the blues, the funk and the garage, they still sound like Steppenwolf death wrestling the coke raddled Marc Bolan for the soul of a late '72 T.Rex demo.
IS IT ANY GOOD? It's a given that when Steppenwolf and T.Rex are pressed together, everything, and I mean everything, is going to be alright.
WHERE IS IT? www.wakeuplucid.com
RELEASED? Out now.
SOUNDS LIKE? Daft, I know, but for all their love of the blues, the funk and the garage, they still sound like Steppenwolf death wrestling the coke raddled Marc Bolan for the soul of a late '72 T.Rex demo.
IS IT ANY GOOD? It's a given that when Steppenwolf and T.Rex are pressed together, everything, and I mean everything, is going to be alright.
WHERE IS IT? www.wakeuplucid.com
SON OF KICK: "Revolution A, B, C" EP (Way Way Records)
RELEASED? 26th July.
SOUNDS LIKE? A
whole lot of good things
were stolen to make this
ep. Checking the
woefully incomplete list...
The Cuban Boys, Mark
Ronson, on downers,
but that was a mercy
killing and there's also
this freakily slick cut n
paste feel to the sound
that enables the
incorporation of all sorts
of styles and diseases and noises, lot of 2NU in the cod-portent voices, and there was a Dutch woman played a lot by Peel who did a 'Total Football' thing with sound by literally cutting and splicing lengths of tape to make new songs and they were great and Son Of Kick are kind of doing that here.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Magnificent. Electricity is their play-doh and pop is their apron.
WHERE IS IT? www.waywayrecords.com
RELEASED? 26th July.
SOUNDS LIKE? A
whole lot of good things
were stolen to make this
ep. Checking the
woefully incomplete list...
The Cuban Boys, Mark
Ronson, on downers,
but that was a mercy
killing and there's also
this freakily slick cut n
paste feel to the sound
that enables the
incorporation of all sorts
of styles and diseases and noises, lot of 2NU in the cod-portent voices, and there was a Dutch woman played a lot by Peel who did a 'Total Football' thing with sound by literally cutting and splicing lengths of tape to make new songs and they were great and Son Of Kick are kind of doing that here.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Magnificent. Electricity is their play-doh and pop is their apron.
WHERE IS IT? www.waywayrecords.com
What is it?
Ha, it's an old wax cylinder type download thingy!
They like
it, in a
different
way
it, in a
different
way
Quit stalling, dad!
JIL IS LUCKY: "The Wanderer" (Roy Music)
RELEASED? Out now.
SOUNDS LIKE? He looks like a white
guy who hangs around with Bootsy
Collins and he sounds like an upbeat
and more than slightly fantastic blend of
Cat Stevens, World Party and someone
really, really, good, sooo good that I
can't quite place them. That doesn't
matter, though, "The Wanderer" is a
black sherbet shake of complex, cute
and cunningly relaxed summer pop.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Yes it is.
WHERE IS IT?
www.myspace.com/jilislucky
RELEASED? Out now.
SOUNDS LIKE? He looks like a white
guy who hangs around with Bootsy
Collins and he sounds like an upbeat
and more than slightly fantastic blend of
Cat Stevens, World Party and someone
really, really, good, sooo good that I
can't quite place them. That doesn't
matter, though, "The Wanderer" is a
black sherbet shake of complex, cute
and cunningly relaxed summer pop.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Yes it is.
WHERE IS IT?
www.myspace.com/jilislucky
You have to?
Pretty much
THIS HUMAN DISEASE: "Dead Before Dawn" EP (Survival Is Vital)
RELEASED? 16th August
SOUNDS LIKE? Slipknot, or Violence Of Clowns, or Slapbitch, or Placenta Fightback, or any other name that I made up, all of which are a zillion miles better than the name Human Disease and if you grind your bollocks or tits (why not both?) through a mangle you'll get a sound that's more vital than this smarty pant, modern and thoroughly souless metal melange.
IS IT ANY GOOD? No.
WHERE IS IT? www.survivalisvital.com
RELEASED? 16th August
SOUNDS LIKE? Slipknot, or Violence Of Clowns, or Slapbitch, or Placenta Fightback, or any other name that I made up, all of which are a zillion miles better than the name Human Disease and if you grind your bollocks or tits (why not both?) through a mangle you'll get a sound that's more vital than this smarty pant, modern and thoroughly souless metal melange.
IS IT ANY GOOD? No.
WHERE IS IT? www.survivalisvital.com
Thanks for that, David
Oh, I'd like a coke with it as well
Cuban, moi?
It's the ranting that we like