skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Kocani Orkestar have more Eastern European-ness than you can shake a stick at. And the bosum buddies to Beirut have got the heart, soul and mind to power to force you into a dancing frenzy.
Writhing trumpets, slippy-sliddy accordions and leg-shaking beats are plastered all over songs like Maxutu, it's almost too "German market band" to handle. Kocani Orkestar has also got some major precision on their side.
Popular songs like Siki Siki Baba, weave between mounting French horns and lung-draining choruses. It was also featured on Borat. And you thought you wouldn't learn anything today.
If I said to you that you had to shoot a scene of a young boy running through the back streets of a village, the accompanying music you'd pick would be Kocani Orkestar, mark my words.
The Macedonian band's second album (L'Orient Est Rouge) packs such punches as title track L'Orient Est Rouge, a track full of joviality and energy, with an equally enticing title, I think you'll agree.
Their new album (The Ravished Bride) is out this month, with even more energetic and diverse sounds within it's gigabites. Sokeres has a slightly comical air about it. As if it should feature on a Peter Seller's Pink Panther film. It has that atmosphere that echoes that of a rather haphazard chase scene.
Listen to Siki, Siki Baba here.
Architecture. It's an amazing thing, isn't it? Personally I'm not a huge fan of all the glass I'm seeing everywhere right now, but I guess it's going some way towards the environment and all that jazz.
Your Friends Are Architects are a four piece just waiting to become the next big speedsters out there in musicland. They descibe themselves as Disco house/Post Punk and take key elements of both these genres to create a relentless powerhouse of songs that never bores your ears of sounds to be heard here, there and everywhere.
This is easily audible in songs like Figure (their latest single, released in April), which pounds in with jungle-esque drums and a chant of "We have no information!". It only goes up and up from there on in, slowing the pace at intervals and then snapping back into chants and cowbells.
StopStart jumps straight in and may cause an unsuspecting listener to have a heart attack, or maybe two if you account for the sheer catchiness of it, which grabs your dancin' feet and shakes them 'til they're ready to drop offTheir influences include Tokyo Police Club, Foals and The Rapture, an excellent combination in my opinion. They clearly wear these choices on their sleeves during the writing process (without it becoming plagiarism), and whether it's the choruses of TPC, or the echoing guitars of Foals (notable on Vincent, watch out for those handclaps!) or the yelping vocals of The Rapture, all of this band's tracks have become a fine art.
So, much like architecture, Thom, Matt, Max and Rob have made some excellent foundations and are only beginning what might be seen as a metaphorical building of a career, which will continue to rise floor by floor, because with formulas like these, you can't go wrong.
Listen to Vincent here.
Do any of you sometimes go on appearances..? I did this one time, 'cos I love this girl's glasses...
Sarah Jaffe is an outstanding 22 year old from Texas. Her music is lingering and leaves you deeply affected. Jaffe manages to create unique material that hosts her distinctive vocal ability brilliantly.
She recently made a little escapade to Wireless Festival, and in between the rain and an Emma Watson sighting, Sarah played a wonderful set.
Personally, what most struck me about Sarah was how human she seems. The songs incorporate alot of mixed emotion and differ immensely in some cases, some drift along beautifully and there are others that bear their teeth and pound the pavement 'til it breaks.
Her debut EP Even Born Again has just been released through Summer Break, receiving praise from many a listener, which isn't suprising.
The title track to the EP, Even Born Again progresses with a determined air that powers through the instruments and forces the listener into thinking of better times ahead, as if your conciousness and outlook on life is indeed being "born again".
Second track, Black Hoax Lie is a slow, heartbreaking song, with lyrics that I'm sure anyone could relate to, "Wherever you left me/That's where my heart still lies". However, it's a song that has a hint of hope to it "When you're on your way to the bottom/At least you know where you're going", which is an all too true truth in my opinion.
One of Sarah's most defensive songs Under also features as track numero four. It fires up, all strings blazing, as Jaffe sings "Ain't nobody's girl/Ain't nobody's man", and eventually picks up the tumbling plucks of violin strings with a no nonsense atmosphere. Boys, watch out...
You can buy the EP from here.
And listen to Under here.
I got my AS level results back recently (I got ABBB for the more curious kids out there). I am unfortunately returning to education in early September to complete the second leg of college before I up and out to some far away city...probably. Part of me can't wait to go, but the other is rooting itself firmly in Manchester's pavements and tarmac. I'll always know where my home is, eh? Education is something we'd associate with the human race. But what if we educated animals...? One band seem to have a delightfully melodic answer...
Educated Animals are a charming four piece from Brighton who are, it's said, are at their best live. This is hard to believe seeing as their recorded material is already astounding enough by itself. I last listened to EA at some point in 2007, when they were at a point where it was all about atmospheric soundscapes and soaring vocals. Now as I return to listen, a new song Time Bomb opens with a striking "Oh my god/I'm sitting on top of" before launching into an attack of every instrument in reach. There's a fire engine esque guitar riff, then pound of drums, which is all accompanied by buzzing synths, packed in harmoniously amongst Jon Purchase's yelping vocals.
Ever So Close is, err, closer to EA as I know them, big choruses, echoing guitars and tumbling drums. It's all so passionately heartfelt, with a big hint of gusto.
When they played a recent Birds Need Trees gig in Manchester, they were said to have "some ridiculously good tunes...boosting the energy levels of everyone present". I am yet to have the pleasure of seeing them, but I cannot wait for the oppurtunity to show itself!
The aforementioned Tme Bomb was also played on the opening titles of Channel 4's soap Hollyoaks who seem to have some whizz kid in charge of their music department.
Listen to Time Bomb here.
So as September draws closer, so does the ominous certainty of there being a Nationwide Mercury Music Prize barfathon. I have to say it is one of those ceremonies that I love to bitch about. The judges, the presenters and the eventual winners are 9 times out of 10 complete and utter ?@!!. I will leave you without my opinions...for now. Who knows, maybe this year will prove different. They've certainly managed to pick a good "virtually unknown" artist this year.
Portico Quartet are a brilliant instrumental quartet, as their name would suggest. As seems to be the way, they are from London, and play a beautifully sombre form of music with certain instruments as mysterious as their name. The Hang, as it has been christened, is a very recent instrument only developed in 2000 in Switzerland. Think of an inverted steel pan and you'll sort of be there.
PQ's mixture of the hang, a saxophone, a double bass, a glockenspiel, a marimba and drums gives their songs a very unique sound, and as you'd probably assume this gives them aeons of room to explore their vast boundaries (if there are any...). In tracks like News From Verona the saxophone dominates the track for the majority but then it also wanes into silence in parts, letting the double bass and hang strengthen, later returning to build the track up to a climax.
Their album Knee Deep In The North Sea is worth its weight and more in gold and is a beacon for the more contemporary side of Jazz, it certainly is a sad thing when any genre of music is thought of as a guilty pleasure.
Another strong song on the album is Monsoon: Top To Bottom. It begins delicately as if describing leaves falling in autumn and then snaps back into a hand clapping, squeaky speeder. It also gets you wondering if the sax player (Jack Wyllie) could possibly play with any more agility without hurting himself.
My definite favourite on the record Cittagazze reaches weaving and writhing highs and then slams down on the pedal, powering forward into a rich and vibrant atmosphere of vitality that really separates these boys from the rabble.
Only time will tell if those judges will be able to see past their hard-ons for Radiohead and recognise Portico Quartet's undeniable genius. They really are something else and everything inbetween.
Listen to News From Verona here.
So, I've just put the kettle on in anticipation of droopy eyelids (I'm making the most of an empty house y'see). And as always I've got some massif, kick-ass beats happenin' on my pumpin' woofers*.
This evening...or morning, it's a fabulous new discovery Chew Lips, a lo-fi tech trio from London with a myspace page still under the year benchmark.
Tigs, Will and James create illustrious synth soundscapes, audible in songs such as Eight, which has Tigs crooning away equally beautiful lyrics ("A highspeed chase on a wedding day/Give and take are all the same") which magically conjure wizard imagery in your mind as the song progresses to a stadium-esque guitar riff that the greats would envy.
The appeal of the band hasn't been missed by the ever ahead of the game Steve Lamacq, who was recently heard championing Solo on his Radio One show (listen from here), and rightly so. Tigs' voice sounds golden in the 3 minute slice of blippy bleepy glory, echoing Karen O's vocal stylings in some areas.
The threesome are kicking about London this September so take my word and go have a looksee.
Listen to my personal favourite Eight here.
* I don't really have woofers...
Wow it's been a while. You probably think I've been trotting the globe off, eh?
Well in that case you're wrong. wrong. wrong. This far in my summer I have been sat on my arse watching some of the best athletes in the world fulfilling their dreams whilst my 12 year old sister shouts at the TV, "Run faster!". Those coaches don't know what they're up against.
I've really been hankering to spread my wings and get off to the coast, or to a buzzing city that isn't Manchester, preferably abroad.
This idea takes me to Sweden. Home to Wildbirds And Peacedrums, a stonking girl/boy, two-piece that are gonna blow all other minimalists out of the water.
The members Andreas Wallentin and Mariam Wallentin are a married couple who met at Gothenburg's Academy of Music and Drama in 2004. They share a love for that stripped down sound that they seem to master so easily.
Mariam's vocal power and capacity gives them a razor-sharp edge that can vary from songs such as The Way Things Go, which just pound through your eardrums at a cataclismic speed, to the softer side of the blade in songs like, personal favourite, The Battle In Water.
Their debut album Heartcore has already received glittering reviews in The Guardian and Pitchfork Magazine, surefire proof that they've got what it takes to send it up to the bigtime.
The duet rely on the combination of silence left by simple rhythms and Mariam's revved-up singing to support the songs, and boy do they ever. Andreas also believes there's a certain element of imagination that can be used in those silences. Hear what you like basically.
This becomes evident in songs like I Can't Tell In His Eyes, a shattering love song that arches up to a brilliant, opera-esque climax with a fantastic, wholesome atmosphere.
The two components of Andreas and Mariam go together like a horse and carriage. They both benefit equally from each other. Some of the cacophanies that come from Andreas' percussion could be shunted straight into the dreaded "experimental" file, and Mariam could easily tumble into the ever-increasing abyss of female singer-songwriters.
They're on tour in the UK in September, Manchester's the 8th of September at The Deaf Institute.
Listen to I Can't Tell In His Eyes here.
