They don’t mince words, the $hit. Listen to this from their press release: “Lock Up Your Ghettoblasters!!! delivers the urgent technicolor pop chaos that your cynical post-modern soul needs… it’s time to forget everything you’ve been told by MTV and let your miserable ears get shafted by the $hit’s rasping pico-pico rock ‘n’ roll”. Their ambition, it seems, is matched only by their willingness to abuse punctuation.

Now, I’m a not-quite-rehabilitated Manics fan. I have a weak spot for bands who utilise ridiculous hyperbolic over-statements to sell themselves. I’m intrigued…

…and by the end of the first track, I’m grinning like a loon. Gobby punk rock, casio-raping beatmongery, robotic rapping and a full-on 80s hip hop breakdown so cheesy it could only be carried off by true maniacs. This band is totally out-of step with what’s hip right now, they look like complete weirdos, and they’re definitely more fun than whatever you’re doing right now.

The album continues at breakneck speed, blending some of the silliest bits of hip hop, electro pop and punk with a brutal wit and a general disdain for the mainstream. Goddam it, I find myself thinking, they’re right to lambast the current generation of scruffy-haired songsmiths. We have bought into this James Bluntesque serious craftsmanship bollocks, at the cost of the cheap primal thrills that made us like music in the first place. This is what we need.

Several listens later, and just before I become a true believer, it occurs to me that they sound just a little bit like a British Bloodhound Gang. But then, most of the problems with the Bloodhound Gang would be fixed by being British – better influences (at times, the $hit sound like the bastard techno children of the Stranglers), and a sense of humour that extends beyond the female anatomy. And anyway, in order to pen the previous observation I had to pause the music and stop jumping round my room chanting “Smoking crack!/Bombing Iraq!”, so who really has the last laugh?

Shitmusic

I once had a Wagon Christ EP that had a song called “Pretty Crap” on it. The title was not a joke: the song was lovely with lush pads and beats and what not, but despite the self-awareness, it was rather shit. The same can be said for a lot of ambient electronic music. The genre brings to mind images of ravers, MDMA, “chill out rooms”, and pleasant but entirely vacuous aural wallpaper made from Korg presets. Not my scene.

Enter Tim Hecker’s new album, Harmony in Ultraviolet. Tim Hecker (not to be confused with the Mego artist Hecker) is a Canadian electronic musician doing things with guitars and computers that inevitably draws comparisons to Christian Fennesz, even though the two of them are exploring very different aesthetics. Tim Hecker, from his deconstruction of Van Halen in My Love Is Rotten To The Core to the “ambient death metal” of 2004’s Mirages, to his shows and tours with Isis, is working far more at the very outer limits of rock. And I do mean the very outer limits. There are the last vestiges of rock music here, with heavily distorted and computer processed guitar riffing throughout, and occasional bits of percussion buried deep in the mix. This is rock music in the same way that Earth or Sunn0))) are rock music. And yet, with its glitches, clicks, organ drones, and gentle melodies giving a pleasant sense of drift, the album can quite easily be situated in the much-maligned ambient genre. It’s really pretty, yet the fields of static, distortion and sub bass rumble that Hecker’s sonic structures are built on save it from being insipid. I could throw out more comparisons, such as how “Chimeras” brings to mind Philip Glass’s Koyaanitqatsi soundtrack or that “Dungeoneering” seems to take Steve Reich as an influence, but this misses how unique Harmony In Ultraviolet sounds. There’s a staggering amount of influences here, but it all blends and flows together seamlessly.

I give this my highest possible recommendation.

Tim Hecker
Kranky

I’m always very suspicious of band name changes. They smack of desperate fame seeking, like some major label suit has told them they could do well if only they’d change that stupid name, get a haircut and ditch that fugly/wacky member. I don’t think that’s the case with Matchsticks (or Flying Matchstick Men, as was) although they’ve always sounded like a band hellbent on getting in the top ten who could be sorely tempted to sell their souls, or at least their “indie cred” if they ever cared about such things. But maybe they just got bored of explaining their name to taxi drivers.

Anyway, Duvet is typical Matchsticks fare, all arched eyebrows, knowing looks and waggled fingers; call and response lyrics over Pulp style charity shop pop. It sounds like the theme tune to a Saturday morning kids tv show complete with a wonky Gameboy breakdown in the middle; even the lyrics have that vague open-ended feel that means it all still fits 12 seasons down the line.

Still, there’s something quite annoying about Matchsticks – the too-catchy choruses, the hyperactively histrionic vocals – which kind of makes me want to hate them, even as I put the song on repeat. So let’s hope they do get picked up by Mr Major Label Suit, get their top 10 hits and blank out their indie past with Stalinist impassiveness so that I’d have a proper reason to hate them (while still secretly loving them).

Matchsticks at Myspace
One Records

Short and sharp, Dartz! bring in two songs on this single in under five minutes. You’ve got to love those song lengths on yer pop singles. Sharing the jerky, excitable structures of bands like The Futureheads and Smokers Die Younger, Dartz! infuse their sound with some of the circular guitar lines that marked out the later work of the sorely-missed Yummy Fur, but it’s slightly marred by vocals which are very much of the shouty-post-hardcore now. For me, ‘St. Petersburg’, for all its brevity and grooving syncopation, isn’t as successful as B-side ‘X-RayBex’, which uses the twin-vocal style to greater effect, reminding of the impassioned pop stylings of Cat on Form. Whilst the bands I’ve mentioned here have a certain idiosyncratic style that defines them as individual outfits, Dartz! still seem to be scrabbling to find a sound that’s their own. I get the feeling that they may get there in the end.

Dartz!
Xtra Mile Recordings

You know where you are with Amelia Fletcher. Whether with Heavenly, Marine Research or her new band Tender Trap, you know you’ll be getting sweet, catchy indiepop with sugarsharp lyrics, swooping vocals and plenty ba da bas. Much like Saint Etienne or Stereolab, Amelia’s bands have this specific sound that makes them instantly recogniseable however much they try and push their boundaries. There’s not much boundary pushing going on here, mind you, but it’s all so enjoyably uplifting and uncomplicated that you can’t really complain. Mostly this EP reminds me of Operation Heavenly which was always my favourite Heavenly album so I’m very happy. They even do a song about Friendster and make it feel like it was something from the early 90s (which, with the speed of new internet trends is probably about right). I doubt MySpace will ever inspire anything so sweet. Lupe from Pipas turns up on the final song Como te Llamas? for a sparky bilingual duet that ends things on a high note with a bumpidy beat and the cutest talky bit I’ve heard in a long time. Lovely.

Tender Trap
Matinee
Fortuna Pop!

The confusingly-named Voicst (apparently the name is South African slang for ‘manic energy’, fact fans) offer us two tracks of spirited, melodic indie rock that walks the tightrope between quirky noise and mainstream-approaching Rock Music. ‘Acts Of Fire’ shares a certain style with outfits like Soulwax, Bettie Serveert and the Dandy Warhols – riff-led guitar lines tightly holding together pleasingly straightforward structures. B-side (if such a thing exists on a download single) ‘Sgt. Gonzo’ continues in a similar way, yet ramps up the good-time nature that seems to be at the heart of the band. While some of the odder elements of Voicst’s music – the quirky lyrical arrangements here and there, the hints of darkness around the edges – could lead to a Breeders-style process of derangement, they seem happily entrenched in a sure-footedly normal place. At times, on the basis of these two songs at least, there is a certain reliance on a particular riff to carry a song, but if nothing else Voicst are good and positive sounding. Proper ‘going-out’ music, at least if you’re on your way out to the indie disco.

Voicst
Duurtlang Records

Yeah! Remember when music was fun? Dananananaykroyd do.
The day I got this record I played Some Dresses approximately 14,000 times in a row and every single time I got excited by the off-mic entire band chanting at the beginning. They make being in a band look like the most fun thing to do in the world (Which it should be, or else why are you bothering?) and they’re going to inspire so many new bands. I’m glad party bands are back, bands who understand that songs should have dynamics, who know how to work a crowd and get them involved. Like Lords, Dananananaykroyd make complicated music look piss easy: observe the way Some Dresses breaks down into a complete shambles half way through only for them to casually pick the melody back up and carry on. They’re the kind of band that can twirl their drumsticks and their guitars and not miss a beat. The funny thing is, Danananaykroyd have timed this perfectly. If they’d put this record out 3 or 4 years ago it would have got lost in the post-post-rock/math-rock aftermath boredom years but now in the midst of our Franz clever-ironic hipster doom, this sounds so fresh and vibrant. Picture the scene at Indian Summer this year – Dananananaykroyd casually whipping the early afternoon rained-on crowd into some form of cult style frenzy – and know that fun and fervour are back. Yeah!

Jealous Records
Dananananaykroyd on Myspace

I’ve put off posting about this song for a while because I’m not sure if I can really capture in words how much I enjoy it. If you haven’t heard of Patrick Wolf yet he is a (seemingly) sweet natured young guy from London who makes great pop music from a wealth of instruments and machines. His last two albums were masterful pieces of work that showcased a truly individual spirit alongside a great talent for rich and textured song writing. Patrick can oscillate between acoustic and electric with ease while his singing surprises at every turn.

“Accident & Emergency” is a beat-boxing, casio explosion of a folk-disco record. Drum machines make surprisingly easy bedfellows of accordions and siren samples punctuate the call of Wolf’s growling vocals. It is damn near perfect and it is out on Monday the 23 of October.

myspace – www.myspace.com/officialpatrickwolf
his own site – www.patrickwolf.com
youtube – Patrick Wolf ‘Accident & Emergency’ video
loog – www.loogrecords.co.uk

I heard some positive whispers about this band a while back but being the casual music fan that I am I didn’t take notice and I didn’t check them out. I now fully regret that lack of commitment as, on the basis of “Lucy, What You Trying To Say”, Popup are now my new favourite band.

The story of Lucy, a slightly shy girl on a night out on her own, is touching, warm and funny. In a does-what-it-says-on-tin kind of way, Popup have delivered a great fun, up beat pop song. Their vocals shine with personality, guitars gleefully deliver exuberant hooks and the drums boast beats that wouldn’t be out of place on a Beyonce CD.

I particularly enjoy that the Scottish brogue of lead singer Damien Gilhooley reminds me slightly of The Proclaimers and not at all of River City. This a good thing.

myspace

I love this track. I’ve been playing on repeat on my ipod for the last couple of weeks and it almost makes me cry each time. I’m not sure if that makes me a bit ’emo’ but as I haven’t bought any nail polish yet, I think I’m safe for now.

If you haven’t heard it is MCR’s defining song: it is the song they’ve been trying to record right from when they started. It has broken world records for the number of tracks that were ‘laid down’ for it, there is everything from a marching band to a school choir in the mix. Something about it all reminds of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and that can never be a bad thing in my book. It is a big theatrical monument of a record that is a beautiful meeting of style and substance and I think it is brilliant.

I sound like a right fan-girl but nevermind.

myspace