Shut Up And Let Me Go – The Ting Tings
Kicking off with a fast bass drum and then throwing in a funky bass line and upbeat guitars, “Shut Up And Let Me Go” is a great pop track. Half way through a synth adds to the general feeling of a decent dance track. Singer, Katie White, expresses her hate for a man who keeps touching her and “should shutup and let me go!”. Though its not very original or clever, “Shutup and Let Me Go” is still a very catchy song and the best track from “The Ting Tings.”
Shut Up And Let Me Go
Official Site
Foals
Their debut album had a lot of hype. But does it convert to a fantastic debut album? Not really, though I still enjoyed the record. “Red Socks Pugie” and “Balloons” are brilliant. Apart from the aforementioned tracks, the rest of the album is rather forgetful and leaves one thinking how great they good be, and how great their next album will be, if they base their tracks on their two strongest. Foals is “Math-Rock”, a complicated form of guitar based music, with lots of irregular stopping. You could also describe them as “Dance-Punk”, which is pretty self-explanatory.
Red Socks Pugie – An odd combination of slow guitar notes with lots of ambience and fast and catchy drum patterns makes for a very cool song. It grows to incorporate the bass as well and reaches a great crescendo with a more steady normal beat and another member of the band backup singing. The track then fades out to more ambient guitars, but with the rest of the band still in their fast paced mode. This is their best track and makes the listener hope for more such great pieces from them.
Balloons – Their poppiest song, this is a great dance track with more fast and catchy dance drums beats. Here both guitars play an interesting melody, which creates a fantastic interweaving pattern which is joined in by saxophones every now and then. The lyrics deal with escapism, “we fly balloons on this fuel called love”, the singer is almost mournfully singing these lyrics which contradicts the searing and happy guitars.
Check out Foals, if you want to hear something different…
Gallows
Crashing into the “indie mainstream” scene in early 2007, Gallows vigorously shaked everyone up with their theories of not caring who liked them as long as they could “annoy the fuck out of everyone”. Their shows are full of energy and their re-release of “orchestra of wolves” has been stuck in my “recently played” list. They have a refreshing sound which playes homage to the clash, but with even more energy and a fistful of metal chucked into the chaos. With off-tempo and melodic guitars the musical sound of Gallows is great. The guitars jump in and out of the frenzy at alarming rates. Frank Carter (coolest person of the year 2007 according to NME) has a brilliant and energetic voice. One notable track, which really show off his energy and vocal prowess, is “abandon ship”. About, the imbeding doom of a sinking ship, he shouts orders in the breakdown of the track that “This is the captain of your ship, I’m sorry we depart this way, You left me broken hearted, But I never loved you anyway”. Most of the lyrics are similar in their dark themes, “will someone shoot that fucking snake” is about date-rape. The lyrics really mix well with the anarchy of the guitars. The sound of this band is somehow spectacularly caged into this single album, which makes for a fantastic debut.
Official Page
Kill The Rythm
Abandon Ship
Lightspeed Champion
Ex-Test Iscles member, Dev Hynes, has created one of my favourite albums in the last year. It is a beautiful album consisting of Dev’s dreams and experiences. The first single(“Galaxy Of The Lost”), and the first “proper” track on the album, is brilliant. Like most of the album, the lyrics of the song are sung sweetly and at first glance look normal, but one closer exception there are some shocking lines. “As we kiss and I’m sick in your mouth” is one such line bringing quite horrific imagery. Another such line is “I feel the nigger eyes staring, makes me want to rip off my skin, sketchy motherfucker…”. Though this all sounds harsh and almost like black metal lyrics, it is all wrapped around gentle guitars, other stings and sometimes whole orchestras. Dev uses pianos, violins, guitars, flutes, female vocals and many other instruments in the album. His voice is also really good, its not exceptional, but has got a lot of personality to it.
Midnight Surpise, one of my favourite tracks on the album, is a really good 10 minute track with lots of repetition. And even though there is repeition, instruments keep getting added and the tempo keeps getting faster, this track really gets you hooked. This is one of the only tracks with some electric guitar in it. It fits well, only playing for about a minute, but with lots of distortion. The basic verse at the beginning is so catchy that this was the first track I was drawn to on the album. The lyrics of “Devil Tricks For A Bitch” are about the immature problems of a teenager, musically, however, this piece is very mature, with a whole orchestra joining in towards the end of the piece.
Nearly all the songs on this CD are beautiful, with great lyrics and beautiful music. I just would like to say that the only trach I didn’t enjoy was “Salty Water”. This is only a preference for me because, according to NME, this was their favourite track on the album. I think was this is a definite must buy. Dev Hynes has now become one of my favourite musicians of the last 10 years, up there with Carl Barat and Alex Turner. My pics are “Galaxy of the Lost” and “Dry Lips”. Other really good tracks are “Midnight Surprise”, “Devil Tricks For A Bitch”, “Everyone I Know Is Listening To Crunk” and “Let The Bitches Die”.
Cut Off Your Hands
Cut Off Your Hands are the typical four piece band that were stuck in Auckland, New Zealand. Sick of house parties and the tiny bars, they have been travelling around the world, receiving lots of hype from many critics. The sound is your normal pop squashed together with hardcore punk. The result is power pop, but with more emphasizes on the power. There is a bass, a guitarist, a drummer and a lead singer. The rest of the band all join to sing as well. Here are some of my picks:
Oh Girl – Their poppiest track, this song is a happy clappy song with upbeat guitar chords, lyrics about how open the writer’s feelings are towards a girl (basically how much he wants to sleep with her) and lots of backup singing from the rest of the band. I really like the snappy guitar solo, which is short and simple, but good nevertheless.
Let’s Go – A good pop track with hints of psychedelia, which the lyrics reflect. The chorus feels slightly out of place here, with the whole band joining in, making it sound like a cheesy extract from a scooby doo episode(?).
You and I – Fantastic pop punk goodness with a fast and short bass line and jarring guitar chords. Once again the bands vocals weave through each other and it sound great.
Shark Attack – This almost seems like a slightly poppier version of “in the belly of a shark” by the Gallows. This song also has punchy lyrics, fast chords, odd choices of scales and off-kilter tempo.
Still Fond – My favourite track from Cut Off You Hands, this song has an extremely fast and loud bass line with the guitar being the second instrument, except for in the chorus. In the chorus the guitar becomes a larger part again, following the singer’s voice with overdriven settings and crashing symbols (they aren’t too loud though). This song is so fast and so happy, it just makes you want to dance. I never get tired of this song.
This band is my favourite band without an LP. I cannot wait to hear their debut album. I also can’t wait to see them live (look at the youtube links).
Mysterious Skin – Orphans & Vandals
The epic track from Orphans & Vandals has been the only thing I have been listening to for the couple of days. The ten minute long track is one huge monologue of one man’s trip to France and general ramblings of life and the things he learns. It gets build up and knocked down, reflecting the writer’s journey to France. The constant repeated pattern of the guitar, which can be heard most of the time during song, oddly, does not get boring. This is what makes this track so brilliant. It has a lot of repetition, but there is also a lot of change. There is a perfect balance of the the normal riff and something completely different. I normally get bored after about two minutes on one track, but this song just keeps you hooked.
Vampire Weekend
Like The Libertines, it took me awhile to get into Vampire Weekend. When I did, it was nearly as rewarding as The Libertines. It is here that the similarities between The Libertines and Vampire Weekend end. While The Libertines are a crack fuelled, fuck ‘em all band, Vampire Weekend are well-read intellectuals hailing from New York City. Choosing to use violins, harpsichords and chamberlains as well as the traditional guitar, bass and drums, Vampire Weekend create an interesting sound, which is quite unlike any other right now. A huge range of influences can be seen in all their tracks, however most tracks are heavily inspired by afro-pop. The lyrics are also thoughtful and fairly deep, for example Oxford Comma uses different verses for different meanings of the expression. This doesn’t mean that the lyrics aren’t easy to sing along to as I found out when I watched them play at their gig. Surprisinly full of energy live, the band uses a combanation of weird dance techniques, well-humoured banter and the power of the music to give one a fantastic experience. I highly recommend them live.
This album is a must buy, for anyone. This is something you can put on, without you grandmother flinching. Download choices being “A-Punk” for everybody. I mean everybody. If you want to delve further I would recommend “Oxford Comma”, “Walcott”, “M79″.
