This is pretty dumb. But in a good way.

On this, their debut double A-side single, Neon Plastix make what is in many ways modern indie pop by numbers. Slightly affected posh vocal? Check. Angular guitars? Check. Nifty electro-synths? Absolutely. Dance floor influenced drum sounds? Of course. Any good? I think so.

Ok, even if they do sound a little like The Killers, The Faint, Franz Ferdinand and others, they have found a neat line in choruses and base lines. Neon Plastix are one of many bands that we’ll no doubt see this year making sparky electro pop despite hipsters proclaiming the death of ‘electro-clash’.

If they keep coming up with stuff as fun as ‘Prick Tease’ the Neon Plastix could add up to being a band to be reckoned with.

The Neon Plastix
BlowUp Records

I would hope that anyone who listens to music a lot must fantasise about playing God and getting bands to tweak their sound so that it is even more musically satisfying to their ears. It’s what I do all the time anyway. And it’s rare that I come across a band that has a sound that I would consider perfect. The only two that spring to my mind right now are Neu! and Shellac, for hugely contrasting reasons. But anyway.

The first ten seconds of this CD got me into a real lather – someone was making some guitar vomit something akin to those amazing seasick sounds Kevin Shields coaxed out on “Isn’t Anything”, and it looked like they were going to harness them to make some great vague indie pop in the process. Unfortunately, from then on the proceedings became increasingly staid, with more ‘proper indie’ songwriting and sounds dominating. Aside from the occasional interesting textural flourish, Black Watch otherwise only mark themselves out as a very competent band playing some competent songs that are unfortunately bereft of any real melodic or catchy hooks to really catch your attention. And those flourishes diminish as the album goes on and on, getting duller as it gets increasingly singer-songwritery. It’s a shame because those blurry guitars are ultimately filler on a few tracks, disappointingly underutilised – normally to underline a part already played by another guitar in an altogether less interesting fashion. The whole thing just seems a little unambitious after a very promising start.

My personal advice would be: Pile on the effects, and get some hooks going on. Then the Black Watch would really be onto something special and ears would really prick up. That’s not to say this band could be another My Bloody Valentine clone; there is obviously talent at work here, and they could give those guitars a whole new setting with some decent rhythmic drive and songwriting. It’s just my opinion. Black Watch are not there yet, and maybe they don’t even want to be. I just wish they would, so they could properly escape that horrible label of being Just Another Indie Band.

www.theblackwatchmusic.com
www.pinkhedgehog.com

I have never been to Leeds, and until recently I had no desire to. I worked with a guy from Leeds and I could hardly understand a word he said. I had to nod in agreement whenever he paused after asking ‘innit?’. I’ve heard good things about the city: a busy arts scene, half decent shops, and nice buildings. I hadn’t heard much about its music scene though but if YSN are anything to go by, I may have been missing out.

YSN do many things I enjoy: on first hearing forthcoming single ‘More’ my heart skipped I was so excited.

They are camp in the best possible way – witty, articulate, sharp and sexy. ‘More’ has a timeless retro-futurism, it sounds like it could have been made by robots from a future that people used to dream about in the 70s. It boasts sophisticated synths and arch guitar hooks alongside wonderfully theatrical vocals and tight song writing. On b-side ‘At The Club’ the vocals take center stage as the boys come over like a barber shop quartet gone bad performing to a half empty candle lit cabaret club.

YSN display more than enough wit and charm to convince me that Leeds could be easily be filled with articulate and well dressed gentlemen, frequenting once decadent, but still alluring, back street gin joints.

The single is out on the 13th of February and are touring the UK throughout the month. I think I may be exploring Leeds in March.

YSN at myspace
YSN’s Website

The mainstream-ish independent plundering of eighties style continues apace; here come At The Lake with two extremely Bunnymenesque mini-epics of swooping, reverb-laden indie rock. I’m jaded by the constant reminders of music gone by than I hear in so many ‘new’ songs, so all I can genuinely muster about this is to say that it’s not bad. It pushes some buttons, venturing slightly into early Stone Roses territory in its guitar lines, but I’m struggling to hear anything new or truly dynamic at work. Of course, the Stone Roses weren’t entirely new and dynamic themselves, and maybe At The Lake are just in the wrong place at the wrong time – for this is perfect early-nineties indie disco music; fodder for grown-out fringe-bobbers and hands-behind-back swayers. The finesse and sheen that these two songs display is arresting enough to provide a pleasant diversion, but give it ten minutes and I doubt I’ll be humming them to myself.

Pop Fiction
At The Lake

A blast from the past if ever there was one. Deadloss ‘Motherfuckin’ Superstar were one of Aberdeen’s top local bands back in the days when I lived there and responsible for all manner of rawk-related shenanigans. And these days they’ve even been joined by James and Neal from Aberdeen’s much-missed nu-metal Busted, TAR. All it really needs is a song entitled Fit like? and pictures of them hanging out in Drakes and I’d sink into some kind of nostalgic stupor. Anyway, unsurprisingly, this is RAWK with a capital GRR and I don’t read Kerrang! enough to make any meaningful references, but this kicks the ass of a lot of stuff that passes for popular rock music these days. There’s some howling impassioned vocals, lots of riffing and the sort of tunes that make The Kids throw themselves around in crazed abandon. All it needs now is a ridiculous video of them playing in a desert and they’ll really be on to something.

Deadloss Superstar

I think I’ve found my favourite band of 2006 already. Is there any way this could be better? Two teenage Swedish girls covering Pet Shop Boys songs in an electropop style. Not only would the PSBs approve of this, it’s almost surprising they aren’t behind it. The styling is perfect – all very futurist industrial. The video for Domino Dancing has them wandering morosely through corridors sporting silver spraypainted hardhats and their press photos are all modern architecture, leather and dogs. So in concept it’s brilliant, in musical reality it’s even better – Pet Shop Boys crossed with Robyn and tATu. Domino Dancing itself is a very odd choice for a debut (their cover of West End Girls, also awesome, is out next), not being one of the PSB’s more well-known singles but I’d forgotten how good it is. There’s something heartbreaking and poignant about the young female heavily accented vocals replacing Neil Tennant’s English reserve, adding even more layers of ambiguity to the song. And the handclaps are the best thing I’ve heard so far this year. I cannot wait for the album (please have Heart on it, and I Want A Dog).

West End Girls

If diskant operated any kind of ratings system for its reviews, this album would get the five star treatment. For a debut, this is incredibly competent and confident music. It’s as if they’ve drawn up a list of the musical buttons to push in order to get me going, and worked out how to combine their effect into a 45-minute mini-epic which I’m fast becoming obsessed with: Spacemen 3; Stereolab; The Velvet Underground; The Workhouse; Slowdive; Galaxie 500. I’m not interested in any accusations of throwback shoegazing copyism which could be levelled at this album, its quality transcends any such shallow and lazy comparison. Over a relentlessly repetitive backdrop of monochord guitar mantras, Sennen build up textured and whirling melodic sounds which are constantly one step away from breaking free into beautifully chaotic noise. Some perfectly-pitched West-Coast-bliss lyrics top this off, resulting in timeless and affecting music. The depth and quality of each and every song on this album will, I hope, see Sennen propelled to the eager audience they deserve.

Hungry Audio
Sennen

Pointless review of the year, number one…

…because I doubt this release will still be available by the time you read this, being a limited edition of 33 copies! It’s a one-sided 12″ LP with a beautiful etching on the flip, along with a lathe-cut 10″, packaged inside a card envelope tied up with twine. You have to love those production values. And what of the music, you ask? Well, for the most part it’s inept death metal recorded, seemingly, on a very cheap four track, and for the rest of the time a combination of dumb low-fi hip-hop and out-there folk which makes Sentridoh seem like the pinnacle of recording finesse. Is it any good? Well, who knows. Maybe if you’re in the right mindset (that mindset being drunk, angry, alone and in need of some light relief). It does include the lyric ‘You’re gonna break your back / You’re gonna break your back / I hope you break your back / DIEEEEEEE’… which has to count for something.

Rock is Hell
Nate Denver’s Neck

Build Buildings, a.k.a. Brooklyn based Ben Tweel, is a master of subtlety: “there is a problem with my tape recorder” is a strong collection of minimal electronica that is crafted with care, warmth and precision.

Tweel provides the listener with a seemingly limitless assortment of beats and samples, each delicately and purposely placed to build tensions and melodies that slowly slide under the radar of the listener.

There is a feeling of familiarity throughout; Tweel has produced something that is imaginative, playful and rooted in the every day. Sampled clicks, hums and whirrs from the gadget and button filled world around us meet sparingly used acoustic strings, percussion and piano. I imagine at times his music sounds like what a fax machine might sound like if it tried to serenade a photocopier with a harp.

Even at loud volumes, “there is a problem with my tape recorder” will always seem quiet, which is no bad thing. Sounds from outside of the music rub alongside the music with ease – beats mix with the hum of traffic or shop lights elegantly. I even found that at times that I had forgotten that I was listening to music and had become half convinced that my life had always been soundtracked so perfectly by Build Buildings.

Imagine a world in which drum machines are made from bubble gum and the best guitars are kitted from fuzzy pink wool. In such a world Debbie Harry or Vivienne Westwood would rule the earth and Cannonball Jane would be on the radio 24/7.

Street Vernacular is bright pink bundle of New York flavoured lo-fi pop. It rocks, bubbles and shimmers in all the right places, showcasing Cannonball Jane’s warmth and humour. While the album is a perfect soundtrack to daydreams and wistful gazes, it is cute without being cloying. With a mixture of home-taped samples, Abba-esque keyboards, fuzzy guitars, and future disco drum machine patterns it is adventurous, exhilarating and above all really good fun.

Cannonball Jane
Fortuna Pop!