Mothlite - Dark Age

Album review by KevW

As the saying goes, first impressions last, and this fact could be a stumbling block for Daniel O'Sullivan on this, his second full-length under the Mothlite guise. Not because 'Dark Age' is a particularly cold or impenetrable album, quite the opposite, it sounds warm and fairly easy to listen to. Unfortunately at first glance it's all very beige; a one-paced voyage through pedestrian beats, wishy-washy synths and unexcited vocals. It feels repetitive, bland and generally quite dull. Nothing sticks out and grabs you, nothing captures your imagination.

While this may be off-putting to the casual listener or those not just looking for pleasant enough background music, it's worth persevering with. There are no startling discoveries, but once you become familiar with 'Dark Age' it becomes increasingly welcoming and slowly begins to reveal its true colours: it's not all beige after all. That said, there are great big lumps of filler mixed into its sonic building blocks. Tracks such as 'Wounded Lions' and 'Milk' barely register as they float by.

When he gets the mood right, as on the slow-burning 'Seeing In The Dark', the rare brush with gusto on the 80s-tinged 'Something In The Sky' or twinkling centrepiece 'The Underneath', the results far more attention grabbing and make picking through the fluff a reasonably rewarding experience. 'Dark Age' isn't exactly poppers o'clock but if you have the time to get to know it well the high points outweigh the drab bits and make it just about worth the effort.





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Strawberry Whiplash - Hits In The Car

Album review by KevW

If you happen to share a love of bubblegum pop, jangly guitar bands, shoegaze and indie, you're likely to get excited by the same bands as Strawberry Whiplash. On this debut album the Scots have rifled through your record collection, cherry-picked the best bits, discarded the chaff and distilled it all into a handy pocket-sized package. 'Hits In The Car' is a thrilling whistle stop joyride through your favourite genres and your most treasured bands, executed in a way that renders the skip button obsolete. It's all very well making records that sound like your heroes, but the general outcome is a watered down version that serves as little more than a reminder of how great the source material was, but not always, and not in this instance.

To throw in a few names for comparison you could say that 'Now I Know It's You' lifts its out-of-focus, drifting backing from The Radio Dept., 'You Make Me Shine' is basically a reworking of The Jesus & Mary Chain's 'Sometimes Always' and you won't get to the end of the album without thinking of The Primitives or Lush. You could mention a dozen other indiepop luminaries past and present but the winning formula here is the lack of padding that may be the result of the record's lengthy creation. This sounds like a greatest hits, not a debut. Only a brace of songs break the three minute mark. There isn't time to get bored and you couldn't if you tried; each song sparkles briefly, fading away just soon enough to leave you wanting more.

Strawberry Whiplash's magpie approach to making music seems down to a genuine passion for recreating the sounds they love rather than a lack of ideas. In fact you couldn't possibly claim that this album is entirely bereft of originality, as while the sounds may be borrowed, it's the band's own melodies that are the life-blood of these songs. From The Shangri-Las to Blondie to The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, the combination of classic sounding tunes, glistening-yet-restrained production and the knack of knowing when enough is enough have thrown up some shining examples of pop sensibility combined with a fundamental understanding of what pop music is all about. If any of your record collection has been mentioned above then 'Hits In The Car' is an essential purchase.











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Out This Week - 21st May 2012

Gaz Coombes - Hot Fruit

Former Supergrass and The Hot Rats frontman Gaz Coombes drops his debut solo effort this week and it shows more maturity than his previous bands, but that doesn't mean AOR dullness. 'Here Come The Bombs' still contains a heap of first rate powerpop tunes. You can grab a free download of 'Subdivider' from his website and check out the bristling single 'Hot Fruit' right here.



Gaz Coombes' website

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The Virgins - Venus In Chains

It's been a mighty four years since New Yorkers The Virgins first issued their debut album, and the subsequent UK re-release brought with it a considerable amount of hype and expectation. Then... nothing. After a lengthy sabbatical the gang have returned with a handful of shows and one-off single 'Venus In Chains' which is their first new material in ages. It's a terrific glam rock stomper too. More soon please!



The Virgins' website

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Young Man - Do

Chicago's Young Man are the brainchild of Colin Caulfield and along with four accomplices he releases his second album under this guise today. It's confusingly titled 'Vol. 1' and promises to be a feast of experimental indie/pop. Free track 'Do' meanders through tempo changes from the pensive strumming of the intro to the upbeat folk-pop of the final few bars.



Free download: 'Do'

Young Man's website

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Poppy & The Jezebels - Sign In, Dream On, Drop Out

We can safely say that Birmingham ladies Poppy & The Jezebels have taken a while to get to the album stage, but rumour has it that their debut full-length could be out this year. Those early singles were simply wondrous indiepop like Shampoo crossed with The Primitives, and although they're taking a slightly more pop approach to the new stuff, single 'Sign In, Dream On, Drop Out' is still catchier than a very very catchy thing. Superb stuff.



Poppy & The Jezebels' website

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OBLIGATORY RECORD OF THE WEEK

Crocodiles - Endless Flowers

We're mightily excited about the prospect of a new album from noise-rock heroes Crocodiles and 'Endless Flowers' is due on June 5th. Free track 'Sunday (Psychic Conversation #9)' boded well and now they offer up another free taster in the shape of the album's title-track. 'Endless Flowers' is crammed with as much melody and fuzz as you'd expect and it's up there with the finest songs they've made, sounding essentially like The Strokes deciding they want to be Jesus & Mary Chain, something that turns out to be a very good thing indeed.
 

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Johnny5thWheel&thecowards - Nancy/In My Laboratory

Single review by KevW

Six people wielding wooden, acoustic instruments, playing slightly wacky songs that are destined to be forever described as 'quirky' and 'off-kilter'? It's enough to make you want to stuff gunpowder in your ears and throw caution to the wind when it comes to being near naked flames. Do we need another one of these? If you have an aversion to waistcoats and facial hair you may feel a red mist descending already, but wait! For all is not as it seems with North Easterners Johnny5thWheel&thecowards, while their name may blow up the grammar/spell check on your computer, you'll want your lug holes fully intact to accompany you into their fascinatingly old-fashioned and surreal lair.

Tempos, structures and common sense all go out the window to be replaced with strange tales of one-eyed women in libraries and swapping identities with people who may or may not exist ('Nancy'), and the science of music being dissected by a mad man with a skeleton key and desire to cure narcolepsy ('In My Laboratory'). It's safe to say that this coming together of alt-folk, skiffle, music hall, lounge, pop and psychedelia isn't something you hear every day, but if only it was. The imagination, fun and drama compressed into these two songs has rarely been heard this side of Syd Barrett. Sod the gunpowder, Johnny5thWheel&thecowards' new album is out later this year and if they carry on like this they should be able to blow your ears up with music alone.





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VSP - Honey

Single review by KevW

Originally formed in 2005, Finnish band VSP then took an extended break before reforming for a comeback. That comeback record? Well, as they didn't get that far the first time round, it was their debut album 'The Ultimate Collection Vol. 1'. Their manifesto is to "have fun, play music, make people laugh", and if we're judging them by single 'Honey' they can give themselves three ticks. As a song, 'Honey' is unusual enough, beginning with gentle strumming and strings that usually signal the start of something heartfelt and powerful, then in under a minute it's transformed by a creepy, gruff vocal about not buying the song's subject a ticket to a gig.

It just gets odder, with a change of pace that transforms it into a jolly knees-up. The challenge is taking it seriously, but it's enough fun to prevent you being too much of a miserable git about the novelty side of things. 'Honey' ends up being not too far away from the experimental, anything goes ethos employed by early Gorky's Zygotic Mynci. And then there's the video, with animal costumes as the norm and household objects used as instruments. It's said that long, dark, endless winters can turn people slightly insane. 'Honey' shows us just what these madmen do to pass the time. Suddenly 'Alice In Finland' seems like a genius idea for a film.



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Five For Free #80

Fidlar - Got No Money

Slacker garage-punks Fidlar have recently released a new EP titled 'Don't Try', and from it is this charmingly ragged single. 'Got No Money' is built around a repetitive bass and guitar line with mildly scuzzed-up production. It's short, sharp and catchy and should appeal to anyone who likes raw rock 'n' roll, garage, punk or indie. Stream or download it below.



Fidlar's website

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Led Er Est - Kaiyo Maru

'Kaiyo Maru' is a track from New York trio Led Er Est's new album 'The Diver' which was released at the start of the month. Known for their cold and industrial brand of electronic new-wave, this track captures their essence in four minutes of ticking beats and dead-pan vocals, all underpinned by retro synths and electronics that could have teleported themselves in from 1979.



Free download: 'Kaiyo Maru'

Led Er Est's website

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Sean Bones - Hit Me Up

To counteract those coldwave beats is this new track from Brooklyn's Sean Bones who has also just released a new album. We've already given you 'Here Now' from 'Buzzard's Boy', and here's another cut from the album, the warm and summery 'Hit Me Up' which takes some chilled strumming and straps in a dubby bass and tinkling steel drums.



Sean Bones' website

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The Young - Livin' Free

The Young are a quartet from Austin who've have recently signed to the acclaimed Matador label where they're just about to release their second album 'Dub Egg'. They're giving us a free sample of what's included with opening track 'Livin' Free' which sits somewhere between the late sixties/early seventies alt-rock of Neil Young or The Band and more recent grungy, psychedelic types Tame Impala.



The Young's website

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Seventeen Evergreen - Burn The Fruit (Pegasus)

Californian experimentalists Seventeen Evergreen are offering up another free track from their 'Steady On, Scientist!' album. 'Burn The Fruit (Pegasus)' is a sprawling trip through psych-pop and alt-rock with disco grooves. It's a bit like Animal Collective if they decided to just throw a massive party and left out the boring 'arty' bits. Grab it below and join in the fun.



Free download: 'Burn The Fruit (Pegasus)'

Seventeen Evergreen's website

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The Mobbs - It's The Mobbs

Album review by KevW

Northampton trio The Mobbs attack sixties garage in an enthusiastically British way. Sure the influence of the Nuggets pack isn't too far away, but there's no mid-Atlantic drawl and no references to retro US culture. Instead 'It's The Mobbs' celebrates the beat explosion in their homeland, chucking in the odd dose of surf, blues and proto-punk from overseas to liven up the formula. They take the power and sharpness of the early mod movement as well as the late 70s revivalists. So if we throw around names like The Who, The Jam, The Kinks and er, Jilted John, you'll begin to build up an image of what they're about.

This debut album is quick-fire and fun, packing in an explosion of crisp riffs, energetic beats with minimal production and, importantly, not taking itself too seriously. Aside from bluesy diversions such as 'Better The Devil You Know' and 'The N-Town Odd Shoe Blues' they barely pause for breath. 'Gad... It's The Mobbs' and 'Little Miss Twisted Gut' are a good old fashioned hoot, and 'No Belief' and 'Ghastly Business' are in possession of some great dirty riffs. The only barrier they're likely to break is the one in front of the stage as they whip up a frenzied crowd, but innovation isn't in the game plan.

The sense you get from this record is that The Mobbs are in this purely for the fun and the love of getting out some guitars and rattling through a set of primal rock 'n' roll tunes, not to try and spark intellectual debate and lace songs with hidden meanings like, say, Radiohead. Pilfered and unoriginal yes, but enjoyable and carried out with an undeniable energy, vigour and spirit that makes them difficult not to like. 'It's The Mobbs' is about having a good time and escaping, and on that level it's a roaring success.

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