Another recent find for me, I appear to have crossed into loving the new band of post-wave punk bands that are becoming more and popular this year, probably thanks to The Horrors and a few others bands.
Crocodiles are a US band, hailing from San Diego, Jesus and the Mary Chain similarities are on evidence - Neon Jesus the bands debut single (you can find below) is a really good kind of early eighties electro punk jam, in the vien of Echo & The Bunnymen etc.
Stand-out tracks off the debut 'I Wanna Kill' and the title track off the debut album Summer of Hate - add a distorted fuzz and this band should be heard.
Blurb: From Wikipedia, Guy Bannister Alistair Bowis Simon Fogal David Martin
I Like Trains (styled as iLiKETRAiNS) are an alternative/post-rock band from Leeds, England. The group play brooding songs featuring sparse piano and guitar, baritone vocals, uplifting choral passages and reverberant orchestral crescendos. They draw their inspiration from historical failings and a pessimistic world view.
They debut LP, Elegies to Lessons Learnt was released on Beggars Banquet Records in 2007, and their debut EP, "Progress Reform", was released on Fierce Panda Records in June, 2006.
The brand new single 'Sea of Regrets' is available to Pre-Order now! From the I LIKE TRAINS Online shop. CD for £3 plus P&P. Released on 12/10/09
Emmy The Great has been around for quite a few years now, quietly making some noise through the release of some fantastic singles, slowly building up a following and finally 2009 saw the release of her first album First Love. (tbc) ...
I liked Slow Club, then I saw them last week at Scala, now I love them they were simply fantastic live, the show was both musically brilliant and entertaining throughout - I think the 1000 strong crowd all walked out smiling, which has to be a good thing.
The album Yeah, So is great (review to be added)...
The second CD on the deluxe version of the album is essential for so many reasons...
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/fanfarlo
Buy: Reservoir Here
Album Rating: 8.2/10
Half-baked Review:
I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing for Fanfarlo, I'd go with good as I love them, but it is 100% unescapable not to mention Arcade Fire, so there I've just started with it, there is a feeling of Funeral running throughout, which has to be a good thing when the music is also uniquely different.
The five piece band based in London (the lead singer is orignally from Sweden) are multi talented, playing many different instruments throughout creating a captivating sound. Such is the consistency, it is hard to pick standout tunes, if I had to pick it would be between Finish Line, Drowing Men and The Walls are Coming Down, however, the album for me, is best listened to as a whole. It may not have a classic like Rebellion (Lies) but it is a complete lush album, that won't have you itching to change the record anytime soon, so enjoy this indie-pop music as it's meant to be.
I First got into Boxers in 2005, I'm not sure how I ended up listening to Exits, but I did, and I loved it and promptly went to see them at the ICA, support was by Redjetson (RIP :() and Pure Reason Revolution and it was an epically good gig.
Exits was a fantastic debut, bad luck, mis-management or just the ineptness of the British public to see past the Kaiser Chiefs albums meant it was completely missed and alongside illness of the lead singer Nathan Nicholson(which lead them to cancel a well documented tour support slot with The Killers) I for one thought TBR might not return with album two.
2008 there were signs of a return, myspace only singles (at that time) Broken Glass / JKKFC / Waiting hinted at things to come. Fast foward to January 2009 and itunes of all places out of nowhere picks Evacuate as single of the week and releases Union, the second Boxers album exclusively.
It kicks off with Flashing Red Light Means Go, a fantastic drum beat resounding throughout the track and is one of my favourites. Evacuate was a perfect choice for first single of the album, heavy guitars duelling throughout with another great drum beat behind. Another faster paced highlight is a reworking of an old song, These Walls Are Thin, a fast paced guitar number that highlights Nathan's fantastic vocal ability.
Union has more melodic tracks than its predecessor, this isn't a bad thing. Soviets is a beautiful acoustic song then accompanied with yet more drumming and another stand-out is the atmospherics during the enigmatic ‘The Gospel Of Goro Adachi’ whilst final track the beautifully haunting Silent Movie closes the album with wonderful grace.
The album doesn't die with a whimper either, Forces and live favourite Semi-Automatic give it a final gloss and catapults the LP into a must buy of recent times.
Union shows the great confidence displayed by TBR, four years is a long time, but a solid album that shows great development from Exits and is an essential album of 2009.
Released by HMV(!) in September on CD finally, the CD has some nice video extras and a couple of bonus tracks - one of them the stunning Broken Glass. See them on tour in October in the UK.
