Juggling work, music consumption, social life, eating, drinking and sleeping leaves little time to formulate my thoughts. However, I intend to make a go of it with this weekly feature ‘Record Box’. Record Box will feature new music, it may be a release from this week, it may be a release from two or three weeks ago or it may be something that hasn’t even hit shelves yet. It’s survival of the fittest, only the strongest most steroid-dedicated records will make the box each week…the wheat will be separated from the chaff – after all, you can’t polish a turd. So why try? Then again – one mans Dido is another mans Dylan…or maybe not.
Click on the Album covers to listen to them in Spotify
Cursive – Mama, I’m Swollen – Intelligent, enchanting songwriting and ambient indie rock is Cursives soup du jour. There are strong similarities to Bright Eyes at times albeit with a greater amount of stylistic change-ups throughout the record. An engaging listen, it’s one of those albums that you find it hard to come away from half way through.
EELS – Hombre Lobo – Mark Oliver Everett – Singer/Songwriter behind EELS knows how to write a rock and roll song. Hombre Lobo is ram-jam-packed to the rafters with heritage sounds and rootsy anti-production. I feel truly blessed by penmanship in this weeks record box such is the quality of the songwriting on display.
Esser – Braveface – One of my favorite pop records of the moment. It combines lyrical content relevant to it’s audience, top-notch production and choruses that stick. Esser is a talented fella, the album is written, performed and produced by him with finishing touches coming courtesy of Lexxx (Also co-produced Golden Silvers & Crystal Castles).
Gallows – Grey Britain – Unadulterated, brash, in your face punk from Hertfordshire. This is a record that bounces from start to finish with cut-throat lyrics and monstrous guitar riffs. Gallows man handle your senses, smash them into walls, kick them to the ground and then grind them to dust.
Hatcham Social – You Dig The Tunnel, I’ll Hide The Soil – Hatcham Social are an indie-pop trio from London. The music is jaunty, melody laden indie with Johnny Marr esque guitar and amazing drumming throughout. So many tracks are capable of causing skinny jean clad indie-kids to reverberate their bodies across dance floors.
Mr. Lif – I Heard It Today – The second best Hip-Hop album I’ve heard this week and the third best I’ve heard this year behind Mos Def’s ‘Ecstatic’ and DOOM’s ‘Born Like This’. I’m going far back to my roots here, Lif spits intelligent kerosene soaked lyrics over jazzy boom-bap beats.
Patrick Wolf – The Bachelor – Celtic Folk/Krautrock/Glam Rock/Electro…’What the fuck?’ Exactly! Not a stylistic concoction that screams out “Hit Record” but one that nontheless makes for interesting listening. The androgynous Patrick wolf produces almost concept music with an abundance of flamboyance and song-writing ability. In my opinion, the closest thing we have to Bowie in his day.
Phoenix – Wolgang Amadeus Phoenix – Gallic goodness in the form of French Alt Rock band Phoenix. An upbeat, shiny record that has it all. Electro elements induce arse shaking all round.
The Seal Cub Clubbing Club – Super Science Fiction – ‘SCCC’ are a post-punk five piece out of The Wirral. The lyrics cover a spectrum of topics. Musically the album is a mish-mas of styles in places but it all manages to sound on point. Comparisons include The Fall and Radiohead.
Toddla T – Skanky Skanky – If you were to listen to a Toddla T track before setting eyes upon the man himself, you’d be mightily surprised to find out that he’s a scrawny whiteboy from Sheffield. This is a fun album of bashy basslines and bouncy beats. ‘Going Off’ features Roots Manuva and is a definite highlight.
Wavves – Wavvves – Wavves are a Surf-Punk band from Sand Diego, California. The guy behind the band Nathan Williams is one talented kid. Only twenty years old and yes he may only be writing about obvious everyday happenings in his songs but somehow he manages to make everyday things exciting. Like many things I like right now, wavves has an anti-produced garage-punk crunch throughout.
