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New Release: The Sounds – Crossing the Rubicon

admin — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 20:05:16 +0000

Around the turn of the century, MTV would air segments during commercial breaks called You Hear It First. Bands like Tegan & Sara, The Strokes, and Kings of Leon were covered as they were all about to breakthrough. Another profiled was a band with a female lead singer, competently masking their Swedish upbringing through a new wave revival. They were (and are) The Sounds. They have stuck to their formula, and this proves to be detrimental for their latest album, «Crossing the Rubicon».

We’ve all heard it before. With «My Lover», the situation comes dangerously close to entering «You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)» territory, this after its Doogie Howser opening. «4 Songs & A Fight» could have come from Bloc Party’s debut. Then there are cringe worthy play on words and expressions, such as «My Lover»’s «I know you wanna beat my lover», and «Come on bring that beatbox back» in «Beatbox».

«Home is Where the Heart Is» sounds more akin to The Bravery than New Order. Featuring lines such as «Find where you belong, start to take control, show a little soul/Then you feel who you are», the syrupy lyrics pour off the plate, off the table, and onto the floor. Another interchangeable song, «Dorchester Hotel», actually spins an interesting enough tale of a woman going to a meet a man for a hopeful romantic rendezvous. This all gets bogged down by the tired chords and keyboards washing over it.

Rubicon isn’t a horrible album through and through. There are some glimmers of hope here. Final track «Goodnight Freddy» may be the album’s best. The instrumental features subtle keys before a satisfying finish that brings back the full band in tow. «Midnight Sun» features a Church-inspired acoustic section with an unforced anthem of a chorus. But these moments are far and few between.

It’s one thing to play off of inspiration. All musicians, all artists for that matter, are inspired by something out there. But they should take that inspiration and create something new and fresh. Pay tribute to your heroes, but don’t emulate them. On Rubicon, The Sounds have a tendency to come across as an ’80s cover band. Lead singer Maja Ivarsson’s vocals sound like Debbie Harry at one moment, then Missing Persons’ Dale Bozzio the next. Latter-day pop divas like Gwen Stefani and Avril Lavigne chime in, too. At this rate, no one will ever accuse anyone of sounding like Ivarsson in the near future.

Ultimately, a few good songs and good production (the balance of music and vocals is well-done) make up for uninspired songwriting that is the downfall of the album. The Sounds have amassed a cult following over the past few years, and their loyal fans will probably find more to like than most. For the previously unimpressed, look elsewhere.

More infos on the-sounds.com.

By Justin Gerber on consequenceofsound.net.

New Release (June 23, 2009): Spinnerette – Spinnerette

admin — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:46:52 +0000

Album in stores today!

Since Brody Dalle, the tattooed Amazon goddess of a frontwoman, disbanded her So-Cal punk outfit, the Distillers, in 2006, her focus has been more maternal than nocturnal: She got hitched to Josh Homme – the Queens of the Stone Age frontman with whom she had a daughter, Camille, that same year. But that’s all about to change. As her new band, Spinnerette, made its NYC debut last night at the Bowery Ballroom, Dalle aimed to wrestle some of the spotlight away from her domestic life and put it back firmly where it belongs: on her voice.

But that voice, as Dalle explained to the Bowery crowd, didn’t quite make the trip with her to New York: The singer said she woke up hoarse, alluded to having laryngitis, and claimed, jokingly, that openers Band of Skulls had given it to her. But no worries: Dalle coerced someone to «stick a needle in [her] ass» – full of what we don’t know. And while that medicine probably helped her walk on stage with her trademark raspy alto intact, a major side effect appeared to be general fatigue.

Read full story on spin.com.

More infos: www.spinnerettemusic.com

New Release (June 2, 2009): Tiny Masters Of Today – Skeletons

admin — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:43:17 +0000

Your favourite Kiddie-Band is back!

Tiny Masters of Today are immediately handicapped by their age. Not that there’s anything wrong with being in a Brooklyn band in your early teens, it’s just hard for sibling duo Ivan and Ada (born in 1994 and 1996 respectively) to expect anything but huge jealousy from critics and public alike. At an age when most kids are bored and frustrated with acne and homework, TMoT are releasing their second album.

For the most part «Skeletons» doesn’t flaunt its producers’ immaturity and is a scuzzy, lo-fi mess of hisses, scrapes, distortion and industrial beats and occasional Go! Team vocals. «Two Dead Soldiers» is typical of the whole album in both quality (average) and sound (cheaply soiled) with its askew Pixies riff, schoolyard cheering and nursery rhyme lyrics. «Big Stick» is a far more interesting concoction of scratching, atonal Public Enemy noise and dub atmospherics.

The title track is perhaps the most commercial song present, all sickly vocal from Ada and broken-amp guitar abuse. A perfect theme tune for Skins, should the cult teen sex ‘n’ drugs show be remade in the US. «Pop Chart» is another album highlight, insofar as it sounds like Cornershop’s «Brimful Of Asha», crossed with beats last heard on an old Wiseguys bigbeat track and a laughable lyric. «It’s all about the money/so rich it isn’t funny». Naomi Klein won’t be caused sleepless nights by such analytical rigour, but hey, the band are younger than her even with a combined age.

«Skeletons» has trash moments of fun, fizzy punk and packs a certain visceral punch but ultimately is as forgettable and naïve as the legion of X-Factor hopefuls who never make it past the audition stage.

More Infos: www.tinymasters.net

References: Taken from bbb.co.uk, © 2009 BBC

New Release (June 14, 2009): Metric – Fantasies

admin — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 14:05:59 +0000

Metric is a four piece band formed in NYC that has been based at various times in Toronto, Montreal, Los Angeles, and London. Their fourth full length studio album «Fantasies» is a much anticipated follow up to 2005′s highly acclaimed «Live it out». «Fantasies» was written by the band in a farmhouse outside Seattle, and by frontwoman Emily Haines in exile in Argentina. The album was recorded at guitarist Jimmy Shaw’s own Giant Studio in Toronto and mixed at Electric Lady in NYC by Grammy winner John O’Mahony (Coldplay, The Strokes). A densely textured modern mix of psychedelia, electro and rock, this album s dream like quality stays true to the band’s aesthetic while venturing into more accessible musical territory.

More infos: www.ilovemetric.com

New Release (June 22, 2009): Gossip – Music for men

admin — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 10:50:23 +0000

Gossip (aka The Gossip) got very creative and made a funny infomercial for their forthcoming new album «Music For Men» out on June 22.

Gossip was formed in 1999 in Olympia, Washington with vocalist Beth Ditto, guitarist Brace Paine, and drummer Kathy Mendonca. The band is pretty indie and clearly not girlie pop. They have toured with the likes of the White Stripes, Sonic Youth, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Sleater Kinney.

Beth Ditto, who fronts the band, describes herself as a «fat, feminist lesbian from Arkansas,» whose powerful voice has been compared to female greats such as Etta James, Janis Joplin and Tina Turner. Her lyrics are explicitly girl-love related and the band’s latest single «Standing in the way of control» is a fiery disco/punk/blues/soul attack on the Republicans’ attitude to gay marriage.

Muse announce new album title to be The Resistance

admin — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 19:16:54 +0000

Muse have named their fifth album via their Twitter. The album will be called «The Resistance» and it is due for release in September with a full arena tour planned.

The trio then confirmed via their official website that one of the song titles on the follow-up to 2006’s «Black Holes And Revelations» will be «United States Of Eurasia». Fans deciphered the title from a photo of Matt Bellamy holding some sheet music.

New Release (August 24, 2009): Arctic Monkeys New Album

admin — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:20:13 +0000

No matter which way you write it – with a Mecca dauber or a betting pencil – it’s good news: the Arctic Monkeys release their third album on Monday, August 24.

The as-yet-untitled album features 10 brand new Arctic Monkeys’ songs and was produced by Josh Homme in the Mojave Desert and Los Angeles and James Ford in Brooklyn. Does this mean we are to expect a stodgy rock epic in the mould of ‘Standing on the Shoulders of Giants’? Is Alex likely to be trading in his SBA Zip Hoody for a bi-cep-bustin’ cap-sleeve T-Shirt and some ‘muscular’ riffin’?

Well let’s fooking hope not. Hope rests on the input of Ford, whose recent production credits include The Last Shadow Puppets, Test Icicles, Peaches and Mystery Jets.

Can you take the Monkey’s out of High Green and still have him swingin’ from all the right branches? Only time will tell.

The album will be available on CD (WIGCD220), vinyl (WIGLP220) and via digital download (WIG220D).

More Info: www.arcticmonkeys.com

New Release (June 2, 2009): Eels – Hombre Lobo

admin — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:07:55 +0000

EELS will release their first new album since 2005’s acclaimed double BLINKING LIGHTS AND OTHER REVELATIONS. The new album, HOMBRE LOBO, set for June 2nd, 2009, features 12 new songs recorded in EELS leader Mark Oliver Everett, aka E’s studio in Los Angeles. Stay tuned to EELStheband.com and myspace.com/eels for more info.

OpenAir St. Gallen – Line up 2009

admin — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 09:47:00 +0000

Line up 2009 of the St. Gallen OpenAir festival from June 26-28, 2009:

Nine Inch Nails
Mando Diao
Editors
The Streets
Cypress Hill
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
Farin Urlaub
Biffy Clyro
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
The Gaslight Anthem
The Flaming Lips
Cold War Kids
and many more…

More acts will be announced soon. More Info: www.openairsg.ch

The Dead Weater – Hang You From The Heavens

admin — Sun, 31 May 2009 09:01:42 +0000

This is Jack Whites new band The Dead Weather!
It consists of Alison Mosshart from the Kills on vocals, Jack Lawrence from the Raconteurs on bass, Dean Fertita from Queens of the Stone Age, and Jack White on the drums!