Mushy - Faded Heart

http://mushyyy.tumblr.com/

Self proclaimed (well by her PR) as the Italian answer to the magnificent Zola Jesus release ʻThe Spoilsʼ, gothic enchantress Mushy has recently released her album 'Faded Heart'. It's certainly not one for the faint hearted, an album so depressingly gloomy and sinister that it would not be advised to be on your iPod outside after dark, unless you get your kicks out of walking home feeling like your life will end at any moment.

Drenched in a nightmarish haze of darkness and melancholic ambiance 'Faded Heart' is a ghostly combination of the aforementioned early ZJ material and the recent stand-out LP by The Soft Moon with heavy emphasis on looping-repetitive synth beats and an icy, desolate drone.

The entire album seamlessly flows into one menacing and stark atmospheric experience, one I could see playing out on a low budget Film Noir / horror soundtrack (in fact Mushy has created a series of macabre visuals on her youtube channel to accompany them already). The lyrics delivered with droning spectral vocals take you beyond the grave; from "Burn Me", "Burn me // I want to escape // Don’t be afraid // I’ll be gone”.

The result is an intoxicating cocktail of dark romance and death, one which takes key elements of the 80's dark-wave scene and transforms it to a brilliant lo-fi experimental success. One of my favourite releases of the year. 8.5 / 10

Mushy - Losing Days by Mannequin Label

Mushy - Faded Heart CD/LP MIX by Mannequin Label

I may have just found my new favourite record label in Mannequin, the next two artists I listened to have been amazing too - that's for another time - order from them here.

The Jezabels - New Music "Introducing"

http://www.thejezabels.com/

So I've started doing some research for The Great Escape and will naturally be passing on some recommendations, the first are Australia's The Jezabels who judging by their facebook likes (17000) and play count on last.fm (almost half a million) are already pretty established in their homeland... but to be honest I've not really heard of them in a UK sense before, that will no doubt be changing in May when they hit our shores.

The five tracks on their third EP 'Dark Storm' (aptly titled!) contain some pretty epic and confident indie-pop anthems built upon layer upon layer of beautiful sweeping soundscapes, melodramatic soaring guitars and pianos. Driven by galloping drums, though the real jewel in the crown has to be the absolute powerhouse vocal of lead singer Hayley Mary, her falsetto throughout is insanely grandiose, ranging from haunting beauty to delicate sweet in a matter of seconds, it is a true highlight throughout.

"Sahara Mahala" the centrepiece track on the EP is a perfect starting point with it's reverb heavy guitar solo and powerful piano building up to a breathtaking crashing crescendo of emotion, truly wonderful. As are the rich arrangements and lyrical imagery on title track "Dark Storm" and "Mace Spray", a sinister pop chart hit if you've ever heard one.

Now I don't generally like bands who are made for stadiums but I can honestly see this music being played into some huge arenas, the sound is absolutely massive. And amazingly impressive. Listen below, then you can stream all three EP's from the bands Soundcloud:

The Jezabels - Mace Spray

The Jezabels - Sahara Mahala

Perfume Genius #2 - May UK Tour

Yourstru.ly Presents: Perfume Genius "Dreeem" from Yours Truly on Vimeo.

Perfume Genius released one of the most fragile and painstakingly gorgeous albums I've ever heard last year, I put 'Learning' at number 14 in my favourite albums of 2010, I'm sure if I were to do that again now it would be higher.

I'm yet to see Perfume Genius live, I've been told it's a sublime experience, one I can't wait to encounter and luckily for me Mike Hadreas has announced a string of UK and European dates for the spring, tickets in the normal places, I'll be at two of these:

May
14 – Sheffield, City Hall (Grand Ballroom)
15 – Nottingham, Bodega
16 – London, Bush Hall
17 – Manchester, The Kings Arms
18 – Dublin, The Sugar Club
20 – Brussels, Les Nuits Botanique
21 – Amsterdam, De Duif Church
28 – Barcelona, Primavera Sound Festival

Perfume Genius - Mr Petersen by TheArtOf...

Saint Saviour #2 - A Proper Introduction

http://saintsaviour.co.uk/

I posted about Saint Saviour one busy weekend with the promise to fill in the post properly; now two weeks have passed so I thought it best to do a proper thread otherwise you might just miss out on this, and believe me, you don't want to.

I didn't know it until recently but I have come across Saint Saviour (real name Becky Jones) before in electro-dance trio The RGB's, I saw them late one night in 2008 at The Great Escape and if memory serves me correctly they were a wild, energetic group whose show was spunky and damn-right fun.

Saint Saviour is a different proposition, a solo project with a genre difficult to pigeon-hole, synth heavy chamber pop is what I'll go with. What is clear though is that Becky possesses an astonishing voice that unlike so many of the more recent chart dominating big-lunged ladies really does strike a chord with a spine-tingling emotive vocal, beautifully produced songs and dark-tinged lyrics of love, death and loss.

After a vinyl single entitled 'Woman Scored' release last October, Saint Saviour's debut EP has recently seen the light of day, the four track 'Anatomy EP' transfixes you on first play with it's grandiose and impassioned approach, opening with the evocative "This Ain't No Hymn' with electro bass-lines pulsing through it's beat combined with a dramatic choir styled vocal it's a perfect showcase for Becky's extraordinary talents. There is a brooding and mechanised synth-heavy beat through "Birdsong" which makes you think of (and I must have used this analogy for about six of the last ten posts, sorry!) Fever Ray with Kate Bush on vocals.

The second half of the EP slows the pace, "Reasons" starts off as a achingly sad piano-led ballad building to a euphoric closing crescendo while last track (and probably my favourite) "Hurricanes" is a heartbreaking track sung by a siren. Fuzzy organ and gentle percussion cumulates to one of the most beautiful and well-crafted tracks I've heard for some time, the only downside I've managed to come up with after a whole morning spent with this EP is that it's all over in 17 minutes.

You can purchase the 'Anatomy EP' from the Saint Saviour shop here, ltd to 200 CD's I'd advise you to move quickly.

Fallen Trees by Saint Saviour

Saint Saviour - Birdsong

Just a number 05272011 - New Music "Introducing"

http://soundcloud.com/just-a-number-05272011

This did the blogosphere rounds last week creating quite a stir judging by the play-count of the recently upload track, though I somehow missed it, so I'll post it after everyone else has already covered and probably heard it too;

The oddly titled Just a number 05272011 (27th May 2011?) hail from the Isle of Man, yes the Isle of Man (perhaps) the epicentre of TT racing and err, TT racing...

They (I'm guessing it's a they - like so many of today's new electronic acts the release of the first couple of tracks is shrouded in mystery - to keep people like me on their toes) basically sound like The Knife if they were starting anew and as I'm very much a fan of Karin Dreijer Andersson and varying artists that have cropped up thanks to the influence of the Swedish electro geniuses, I am liking this very much...

"The Pain" would fit seamlessly onto the 'Fever Ray' album, delivered in swathes of brooding ambience, abstract manipulated vocals and eerie tribal beats which basically means it's a wonderfully constructed electro-pop number. Listen to both songs "The Pain" and "He Didn't Want A Love Song" below;

THE PAIN by Just a number 05272011


He Didn't Want A Love Song from just a number 05272011 on Vimeo.

The National - New Song Think You Can Wait

http://www.americanmary.com

I've been listening to The National a lot the past 24 hours and then spookily a new track turns up, "Think You Can Wait", the bands contribution to the "Win Win" soundtrack, not heard of the film myself but the song is all kinds of goosebumps.

A slow-burning ballad with some achingly beautiful orchestration and an intoxicating backing vocal from Sharon Van Etten. You may guess I'm a bit of a sucker for female vocals but Matt Berninger's is arguable one of the most striking and impressive of his generation, especially with such heart-wrenching emotional songs as this. Listen:

The National - Think You Can Wait

I'm having continual nightmares thinking there is the potential for a The National / Pulp clash at Primavera (hope not!) and there aren't any London shows announced at present although the band have a gig in Edinburgh in August, around Reading time (please Glastonbury!), so perhaps a London show will turn up about then - I hope so!

I think I might have a couple of records I've not posted, if I do I'll do so, check back on previous posts for some quality ones.