Jean-Jacques Perrey & Dana Countryman - E.V.A.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddqfQtaFVrc
What a tune this is.

HEALTH

BRING THE NOISE! This is pure primal tribal energy, its like the sound of the world being torn apart and remade with new tribes. It rips through your senses with un-holey drumming and chants. The noise is incredible and must be played LOUD! First stand out gem is the third tune, Triceratops, which has a nice hook in their somewhere. Like No Age this band come from the same LA scene of young noise groups, they have some similarities but HEALTH aren’t as burnt out, they are pure tribal rock god power noise. Imagine some massive monkeys running at you, its pretty scary and soaked in adrenalin a sweat. Crimewave is another beast of a tune; see also an amazing Crystal Castles mix of that, I will bring it up later no doubt. Zoothorns, has some nice guitar feedback synthy sounds to scare the shit out of you in a manic beat driven frenzy and howls of some forgotten animals. //M\\, actually makes my teeth shake from the pounding drums. Glitter Pills, comes closes to sounding like some primal electro disco noise crossover with saw like buzzing synth and old skool electro pattern drums like something Affrika Bambata might have rapped on. Perfect Skin, is a big dirty freak of a tune, and maybe the closes we get to a ballad HEALTH style, with fragile lyrics and what sounds like the first guitar lick of the album. Lost Time, is the closer and I haven’t wasted my time one little bit. Each track is short and sweet, yet just like their scene-sakes, No Age, super addictive. I can only imagine what this is like live, brutal and mesmerizing. I love young and noisy bands right now.

No Age - Weirdo Rippers

This music is raw and exciting in the most joyful exuberant fuzzed out primal way. There are washed out feedback drenched lovingly crafted sound-scapes of noise and loops. Thrashed and burned out guitar licks. Wholly organic sounding electronics and pure punk surf guitar pop, all in the mixer. This two piece craft some serious gems here. With every listen I get drawn into another song, they are short and snappy yet epic all at once, you don’t really get chance to tire from the barrage of noise in each tune, as they build and build then some times drop a god almighty hook or fade away. Leaving you satisfied either way. My stand out tracks, although these change with each listen are; My Life’s Alright Without You, with its pop hook fuzz rock and snappy lyrics. The brilliant melancholic droned out Everybody’s Down, drags you in with a drone and one repeated guitar hook before kicking off with some nice vocal melodies and finally some nice rock action. Neck Escaper, is maybe the most obvious and immediate track on this collection of tunes, its just wonderful I find my self singing the guitar lines some times. The piece works as a whole even though it’s a collection of tracks released else where on EP’s on vinyl only. I’m really looking forward to a full-length album from this young LA twosome. Bring The Noise!

Aphex Twin - Drukqs

Well this album is pretty insane to be honest, in a brilliant way it goes from spaffed out hardcore rythem and acid work outs to huge swathes of ambient melodie and noies, not to mention some truley beautiful piano peices. The thing I'm interested in though is, and bare with me on this, try playing CD 1 and CD 2 at the same time on 2 diffrent players. This may sound like a strange thing to do, but we are talking about Aphex Twin here. No where on the sleve does it mention to do this and why would it, its a mad suggestion. Yet the 2 CD's sync up beautifuly the drums are in time the tracks intertwine with each other and it adds a whole new dimention to the album. It makes it sound like a Mix Tape or something of a Aphex Twin DJ set. May people will disagree that it works at all and fair enough it can be a bit mad and over bearing to listen too, but I sware it fits together. This could be a bit of the Wizard Of Oz fits with Pink Floyd perfectly kinda thing here, I mean come on you can stick any tunes on top of that film and see something that fits. This just seems to work to well to be an accident and this is Aphex Twin remember!

I Was A Cub Scout - I Want You To Know There Is Always Hope

This album is the debut from I Was A Cub Scout (IWACS) it’s a real pop gem, in the best possible way. Without all the froth and cheese of chart indie fodder, of which I can’t even be arsed to mention. These two write beautiful synth lead indie pop with beastly drums and the occasional rocking out for good measure. IWACS owe a lot to the likes of Postal Service for pure catchy songs executed in a lush way. They however have a more guitar-laden sound than Postal Service’s digital processed sound. The stand out tracks are the melodic ‘Pink Squares’ that lodges its self in your brain from the outset with an irresistible riff, pounding drums and trance synths that drop into moody tension when the lyrics kick in. Another stand out is ‘Our Smallest Adventures’ and ‘The Hunters Daughter’. Maybe the most in debt tune to Postal Service is 'We Were Made To Love (ii)' with some really hooky synthasisers. I miss the excellent ‘Teenage Skin’, which has been left off the album that is a real good pounding dancy tune. If your in need for some good hooks and brilliant pop but don’t like all that cheese you could do worse than this.

Burial – Untrue

For me this is a sublime album that takes you on a trip through a foggy night in a city on the way home from a club until the sun rises. Then the album is done and it’s such a pleasure it’s untrue. The nearest thing I have heard to this apart from the first self titled Burial album are only vague reference points to vague ghostly bits of this music. It sounds a bit like Burial has resurrected the ghost of 2-step garage through Brian Eno and Aphex Twin. Burial however makes it a sound of its very own. Beats skip past and boom all around you like half remembered memories of a whole nights clubbing rattling relentlessly in your mind. I’m not even sure there in time with the rest of the music, yet it works so well. The bass really grabs you and draws together all of the elements beautifully. Everything about the melodies, strings and synth parts give the atmosphere of a longing sadness but with a warm loving glow. The vocal elements really echo the 2-step movement for me. But again it’s all put through the Burial mechanics, these pitches up and down gleams and shatters through each tune like shards of forgotten vocals on forgotten records. Burial – Untrue is a sonic masterpiece a real beautiful record that shines with both darkness and hope.

Gleamo? Maybe not.

They seems to be a scene brewing of bands with a certain sound that mixes the emotional intensity of ‘Emo’ well a very UK 'Emo' and the hardcore rocky sound but with oober clean sounding guitars and often a heavy emphasis on tapping on to create a quick fire percussive melody. Maybe I will call it ‘Gleamo’ if it has to be called anything, which it doesn’t. I just needed a title. There seems to be a lot of bands out their that sound like this here are a few I have found:

2 Many JD’s
Cats and Cats and Cats
I Was A Cub Scout
Instruments
Jon Gomm
Meet Me In St Louis
Mutiny On The Bounty
Pennines
SHITTALKER
Super Tennis
Tera Melos
The Dragon Rapide
This Town Needs Guns
Tubelord

I’m not usually a fan of ‘Emo’ style bands but this sound has dragged me in. I think it’s the tippy-tappy super fast guitar lines mixed with raw rock power and poppy melodies that is just kind of addictive. There are many differing styles within this from a kind of At The Drive-In style rock edged sound of Meet Me In St Louis (R.I.P. who have now split), Tera Melos, Mutiny On The Bounty and Tubelord. To the Jazzy edge that The Dragon Rapide (R.I.P.) bring. Jon Gomm has some songs that have elements of this sound embedded into it but is done in an acoustic one man beat box slap happy freak out. Bands like I Was A Cub Scout and 2 Many JD’s, which is a side project of the terrible Wombats and a play on the brilliant Soulwax 2 Many DJ’s project, bring this ‘Gleamo’ sound and mix it with electronic pop sensibilities, not unlike the Postal Service. There is much to find and treasure in these bands lets see what happens.

I made a mix of this kind of thing to give to some of my friends, here is the track list:

Clean, Tappy, Fuzz

Jon Gomm - Clockwork

Swoop Swoop - I Know What To Do With Myself

BARR - The Song Is The Single

Tubelord - Half Man Half Amazing

Tera Melos - When Worms Learn To Fly

Mutiny On The Bounty - World Domino Championship

This Et Al - The Loveliest Alarm

Penninies - whisky tango foxtrot? lima oscar lima

2 Many JD's - Interwined

Foals - Two Steps Twice

I Was A Cub Scout - Teenage Skin

Instruments - Alpine Disco

The Dragon Rapide - Kissing The Shuttle

Fulborn Tevesham - Empty Shell

Rolo Tomassi - Curry

Acoustic Ladylad - Skinny Grin

Rolo Tomassi - Cirque Du Funk

Rolo Tomassi - Seagull

Jeremy Warmsley - One Armed Scissor (Live Acoustic)

Ask nicely and I may link you up to it.

Rolo Tomassi - EP

Rolo Tomassi are a young band from Sheffield and have releases on Holy Roar and Danger! Laser! Phaser! Razor! They are an absolute beast of a band that will assault your scenes with manic guitars, spazzy drums and digital Game Boy style electronics. They also have a softer side that lures you into a false sense of security before slamming you with the hardcore edge again. They combine the hard rock edge of bands like At The Drive-In with the excellent Jazziness of Acoustic Ladyland and Fulborn Teversham. Rolo Tomassi pull all of this sonic abuse off live amazingly and with a infectious joyful energy I have to admire. The lyrics are shouted with such passion and anger in a hell of a scream that really takes you back, I was glad to see the lyrics printed on the inside of the EP as they are tough to make out, which I like its in no way at criticism. They aren't to every ones taste but then again what is? I look forward to hearing more from this lot.

Atlas Sound - Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel

This album is the first solo effort from the Deerhunter front man Bradford Cox, and its beautiful. If you have herd Deerhunter Cryptograms and the Florescent Grey EP you may already have an idea what this will sound like. It is however not as hardcore and abrasive as those two records. The Atlas Sound album has many of the same elements but over all a more shoegazing swooshy sound, kind of like a fuzzed out My Bloody Valentine but with added digital elements. There are many beautiful and mesmerising sound-scapes hear that envelop you in a huge sonic love fuzz. These moments merge seamlessly into pure fuzzed out lovesick songs and beautiful melodies. Over all it’s a joy and a real grower, highly recommended. For an excellent archive of demos and all things Atlas Sound and Deerhunter related head to: http://deerhuntertheband.blogspot.com/