Good Weather For Airstrikes

Check it out: Most of you have probably noticed that I pay a lot of attention to presentation around here, trying to keep things as clean and aesthetically pleasing as possible. For a while now I’ve been photoshopping all photos on here so as to have them appear with rounded black borders. To be honest though, the fiddly process of making sure each one of them is just right has gotten pretty old, and I can’t say that I prefer the rounded look enough to justify the inconvenience. Thus, all images will appear with basic black borders from this point on; hope that’s cool. If you guys vastly prefer it the other way get at me in the comments and I can suck it up and continue on like that, but I doubt anyone really cares that much in the first place.

Wowwww. Where the fuck did this come from? Seriously, Maps are the perfect example of why I love music - somehow this dude James Chapman has been making and releasing incredible music for over a year now without me having any knowledge of it whatsoever. Thus, this is just another reminder that there’s always something incredible out there just waiting to be found - it could be today, it could be tomorrow, it could be ten years from now - but it’s out there whether I know about it or not. In this case though, I’m glad I found Maps debut EP when I did, as it’s a late, but completely deserving entry to my Top Albums of ‘06 list (coming, y’know, soon).

While the Start Something EP merely compiles the A-and-B-sides of his two previously-released limited edition singles, “Lost My Soul” and “Start Something”, (plus two new tracks) it’s all new to me and it’s all, well, unbelievable. Crafted entirely on a laptop in the bedroom of his Northampton flat, Start Something is just an incredibly rewarding listening experience, impossibly expansive and beautiful considering the means of its creation. It is an EP where the sum nearly outweighs the parts, a lofty task considering how phenomenal the individual tracks are, and the CD is every bit as rewarding to listen to as a whole than in individual songs. It’s not that it’s hard to cull a favorite from the album - two songs have presented themselves to me as undeniable highlights - it’s just that it’s easier to appreciate them in the greater context of the EP and doing so will expediate the acclimation period and yield quicker returns in the Wow, I’m Really Loving This department.

All this talk probably has you curious about their sound, so let’s get into that. Technically speaking, Maps are firmly rooted in chilled-out electro-pop, but have a penchant for electronic ambiance as well. And while comparisons to a more electronic Sigur Ros are inevitable whenever the “ambient” tag is in play, more conventionally-structured electro-pop would yield more appropriate comparisons, as Chapman keeps his songs focused by tying the ethereal instrumentation to a traditional vocal structure often featuring impossibly catchy choruses rarely found in the company of such grandiose arrangements. Furthermore, the songs are ambitious without overdoing it, courteously maintaining manageable run times with only one song (barely) straying past the six-minute mark. Getting back to the issue of establishing appropriate reference points for their sound though, I’d have to say Maps compare more favorably with the Notwist than anyone else. A lofty comparison, considering the Notwist’s last release, 2002’s Neon Golden, ranks among the most remarkable albums of the last decade, but the promise shown on the Start Something EP indicates that Maps just might be able to validate such a comparison, if not surpass it. Maps will also draw inevitable Postal Service comparisons due to the precise cleanliness of his beats and the saccharine melancholy of his vocals, but Start Something manages to access the same intangible place inhabited by Neon Golden that no other record has seemed to be able to get back to since.

Oddly enough, my two favorite tracks are the two songs on the EP relegated to B-side status on their respective single releases. “To The Sky” backed the single release of the EP’s title track and Maps’ 2005 debut, “Start Something”, and features a simplistic acoustic guitar riff dressed up in atmospheric synths and vocals reminiscent of the Album Leaf’s recent work. The other standout - a term to be used loosely considering the high standard of every track on this EP - is “Sparks In The Snow”, which originally stole the spotlight on the “Lost My Soul” 7″ and features one of the most beautiful moments in music this year when the entire arrangement swells before bursting into a breathtaking chorus. These two tracks are the best examples of Maps’ limitless potential, but there really is not a weak track to be found on this EP. Thus, Maps will be making a serious dent in my Top Albums of ‘06 list (despite this releases EP status) and can officially be considered the band to get excited about in 2007.

MP3s:
“Sparks In The Snow” - Maps ((highly recommended))
“To The Sky” - Maps

And I never like to reference another band in describing a group’s sound without having posted any of their material in this space before, so here’s one of my favorite songs of all time. It’s called “Consequence”, by the Notwist, and it’s about as close to chilled-out electro-pop perfection as you can possibly get.

MP3: “Consequence” - The Notwist ((HIGHLY recommended))

And so the march of unrelenting electronic hotness continues. Hailing not from France but the UK, Does It Offend You, Yeah? are a pastiche of Everything That’s Great About French Dance Music, taking the vocoded choruses of Daft Punk, the frenzied samples of SebastiAn and the the grimy glitchtronica of Justice and bringing it together in a most holy union of dancey electronica. In simpler terms, they sound like they’ve “been eating Daft Punk and Justice tunes for three days and just took a giant electro shit”, as the “Sounds Like” section of their MySpace puts it. They also liken themselves to an “electro Bloc Party”*, and while that’s sure to grab my attention I can’t draw any similarities between the two outside of the fact that they share the same manager.

Despite the obvious influences, Does It Offend still manage a hint of originality and a decidedly-UK feel with their music. Without a formal release to their name (but a newly-signed deal with Virgin in the UK), the band are generating serious hype solely from a few circulating mp3s and word of mouth at this point. And for good reason too - “We Are Rockstars” might be the best thing to come out of the UK electronica scene since Simian Mobile Disco burst onto the scene with “Hustler” early this year. The track opens with a muffled synth line, which bursts through the speakers in all its glory one bar later before the four-to-the-floor beat drops and the track really gets going. The highlight, though, is the vocoded “We are rockstars now” verse that drops by around the halfway mark, and the catchy-ass refrain comes around again to seal the deal late in the song’s second half. A few well-timed silences followed by synth explosions don’t hurt it either, and all this adds up to make me very very excited to see what the duo can do in 2007 with some major label backing.

In the immediate future, Does It Offend will get some exposure with the upcoming release of Bloc Party’s new single, “The Prayer”, as they’ve been handed remix duties on the download-only bundle of the single release, the news of which is actually what prompted me to check them out in the first place. Download two of their tracks below so this time next year you can just smirk at your hipster peers and say you knew the lengthily-named duo way back when.

MP3s:
“We Are Rockstars” - Does It Offend You, Yeah? ((highly recommended))
“Weird Science” - Does It Offend You, Yeah?

And since I used SebastiAn as a primary reference point for their sound without ever having posted on him before, here’s some fire from the hottest Parisian DJ not named Gaspard or Xavier. Fucking loving this track.

MP3: “Ross Ross Ross” - SebastiAn ((highly recommended))

UPDATE: Gorilla vs Bear appears to be every bit as pumped about Does It Offend as I am and was nice enough to hook us up with a shout out in his post on the band. He’s also got a sweet mix from the band’s most recent appearance on XFM, which you should head over there and grab at your earliest convenience.

As their MySpace headline won’t hesitate to inform you, Dead Disco have been “slaying dancefloors and breaking hearts” since August 2005. And you need only spin their songs a few times and take a glance at the picture above to know they’re not lying in either regard. Seriously though, for the first time ever I think I have a crush on every single member of a band. I’ve always had a soft spot for attractive girls with nice record collections (see: every girlfriend I’ve ever had), so imagine the state I’m in now that I’ve come across this dance rock trio that sounds like Bloc Party if they were fronted by three girls who look exactly like every girl I’ve ever wanted to date.

Getting on with it though, Dead Disco formed in Leeds in late ‘05 and released their debut single early this year on High Voltage Sounds, a hot young Manchester imprint that’s quickly becoming one of my favorite labels in the UK. The single “The Treatment”, was a limited-edition 7″-only affair produced by James Ford (of Simian Mobile Disco fame) and backed by one of the best remixes of 2006, Metronomy’s brilliant re-working of the title track. While Metronomy’s remix pulls off one of the greatest instances of B-side-versus-A-side thunder-stealing I’ve ever seen, “The Treatment” got the unsuspecting public hooked on the trio’s Blondie-meets-Bloc Party sound, featuring catchy riffs and poppy girl-group hooks, and the release sold out in under a week.

The stage was set then for total domination, and the girls didn’t disappoint with their follow-up single “Automatic”, a track which surpassed even the high expectations set by their astonishing debut. Put out on Fierce Panda, “Automatic” immediately hooks you in with an undeniable opening riff that eventually yields to that unbelievably catchy “You see me/it’s symptomatic/you touch me/it’s automatic” chorus that wouldn’t be out of place in a song by even the poppiest, most mainstream girl group imaginable. With “Automatic” filling dancefloors and getting impressive radio play on XFM and Virgin Radio already, and an equally-promising download-only single, “City Hall” (available here on Playlouderecordings) already out, Dead Disco seem to be destined for the top of the charts and as far as I’m concerned they can’t get there soon enough.

MP3s:
“The Treatment” - Dead Disco
“The Treatment” (Metronomy Remix) - Dead Disco ((highly recommended))
“Automatic” - Dead Disco ((highly recommended))

I don’t normally include press quotes in my write-ups, these publications nailed their descriptions of the band and should convince you to download the tracks above with utmost expedience if you haven’t already.

“Ladytron and The Long Blondes have a car crash, kick out the boys and get on with making electro-psychobilly jerk-pop” - NME (March 2006)

“A cross between a Phil Spector girl group and a Ladytron-style dancefloor filler” - XFM (April 2006)

“More cool than even the sweaty masses of a Black Wire gig could amass, and enough hook lines and handclap enducing moments of near genius you’d soon expect other bands to be complaining of someone hogging the quota set to burn down the indie discos without any need for a match.” - Fake DIY

“Dead Disco have recorded one of the best debut singles since The Strokes. A fun and addictive debut, full of excitement and promise. Expect great things to come.” - AngryApe.com (April 2006)

Oh, oh… this is like really good. Here we have Air Traffic, straight outta Sheffield and primed to blow up the charts (the ink’s still drying on the quartet’s recent signing with EMI) with their irresistibly catchy brand of piano-based indie-rock, the best thing to come out of that genre since Ben Folds and the Five were blowing up the spot back in the mid-90’s. Not only do they appear ready to do some serious damage on the charts across the pond, but they’re also giving Snowfight In The City Centre a serious run for their money as the obscure up-and-coming Brit Pop act I’m most obsessed with, a title they’re only that much closer to securing after the release of their newest single, “Never Even Told Me Her Name”. But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let’s take it back to where it all began, with Air Traffic’s debut single, “Just Abuse Me”.

It actually began a bit before that, with the quartet, all just barely 20 years old, meeting in Bournemouth and taking their name from the air traffic control signals that they would pick up whilst rehearsing in abandoned industrial units next to the airport where they first formed. They released “Just Abuse Me” shortly thereafter on upstart imprint Label Fandango, which was declared “the hottest record in the world” upon its release last July by oft-hyperbolic British DJ Zane Low. A rollicking piano-rock romp, the single lends the ivory a raw edge and energy lacking in today’s often vanilla Brit Pop scene and fails to disappoint from start to finish. The track’s highlighted by a falsetto-tinged chorus and a final two minutes that see the band throwing restraint and caution to the wind and allowing the guitars to roar up from their relative slumber and overtake the piano at the forefront of the song’s focus, easily cementing the song’s status as one of the year’s best and most exciting debut singles. The record’s flipside, “Charlotte”, sees the guitars taking center stage for the song’s entirety and does nothing to exceed the A-side, but earns points with its catchy “your face, my place” refrain and shows enough promise to thrust Air Traffic to the tip-top of my British Indie Rock Bands To Get Really, Really Excited About list.

Aforementioned follow-up single, “Never Even Told Me Her Name”, all but ensures that Air Traffic won’t be slipping on that list any time soon, as it’s already surpassed the total playcount of “Abuse Me” after just two days of life on my iPod. At this point in writing this I jumped over to Green Pea-ness to see what was going on over there only to discover that James just fucking posted “Never Even Told Me Her Name” and nailed the write-up (as usual) like I could only ever hope to do, especially when he describes the track as “the best song the Guillemots could ever think to write for the Jimmy Eat World crowd”, thus rendering my entire planned analysis of “Name” pointless in only 16 words. Considering it was GP that put Air Traffic on my radar in the first place, I’m just gonna hang my head in shame, forfeit this one to him and direct you all over there for the time being. Regardless, you should have realized by now how badly you need these tracks so it goes without saying that you should get your download on below with utmost urgency.

MP3s:
“Just Abuse Me” - Air Traffic ((highly recommended))
“Never Told Me Her Name” - Air Traffic (highly recommended))

Look, I’m sorry. This is my first post here in an eternity (I mean, college is awesome, my bad) and I’ve done an awful job of earning my keep as the co-author of Good Weather For Airstrikes. Well, good news (hopefully): I’m back and not quite as good as before, but let’s call it rust. Anyway, the reason I’m here is because there’s this great band that I want you all to listen to, and they’re called Stars of Track and Field. If that name rings a bell it’s because it’s also the name of one of Belle & Sebastian’s most popular songs, or it could also be because they’re starting to pick up some serious steam in the indie-pop world as we anxiously await the physical release of their currently iTunes-only album, Centuries Before Love And War.

The album was initially supposed to drop on June 6th of this year, but the Portland, Oregon three-piece has switched record labels since that expected release date, jumping from Side Cho to Wind-Up Records. The follow-up to their acclaimed You Came Here For Sunset Last Year EP is now expected to come out in Spring of 2007, though you can buy the album from the iTunes Store right now. The album builds lush backdrops of instrumentation using a meld of Jason Bell’s dreamlike guitar work and soft electronic noises, but the true centerpiece of all Stars of Track and Field songs is vocalist Kevin Calaba’s voice. I felt it excessive to use the word “dreamlike” twice in one sentence, so I’m waiting until this sentence to describe Calaba’s voice as such (plus, if I were Derek I’d have described their music as “ethereal” five times by now, so I think you guys can deal); in fact, the word is a pretty apt description of Centuries Before Love And War as a whole. Though my first thoughts after hearing their EP and Centuries‘ lead single, “Movies of Antarctica”, built up unfair expectations for an album that is slightly more hit and miss than I’d have liked, the songs that hit are truly phenomenal.

“Movies of Antarctica” is a great single and one of the better slices of indie pop to grace my ears in recent memory. I believe the first half of the album to be better than the second, and the opening three songs set a standard that unfortunately isn’t achieved by the remaining seven. Opener “Centuries” starts the album off establishing the signature Stars of Track and Field sound, letting the listener know from the get-go what they’ll be getting from the album. The aforementioned high water mark of “Movies of Antarctica” follows, which crescendos with crashing guitars before quieting for a final refrain, leading in to a reprised version of the EP track “With You”. The new version is re-fit with more electronic flourishings, and showcases drummer Daniel Orvik’s skills. The real claim to fame of “With You” is it’s beautiful chorus, which grows in intensity throughout the song, climaxing in an epic closing refrain layering Cabal . Fourth song “Lullabies for a G.I./Don’t Close Your Eyes” shows off the band’s ballad abilities, and though it doesn’t approach “With You” or “Movies of Antarctica”, it shows the band isn’t just a one-trick pony. Unfortunately, the album begins a steady downhill descent from there. Not steeply, mind you, as there are no throwaway songs on the album, but the second half, which includes two largely unchanged tracks from the EP (Arithmatik” and “Say Hello”, the latter being my least favorite song on both the EP and the full-length), doesn’t approach the brilliance of the promising opening. Let’s just say, if this album ever sees a vinyl release Side B will be collecting serious dust compared to it’s superior counterpart. Regardless, Centuries Before Love and War is a good album well worth acquiring, and Stars of Track and Field is a band with a bright future that I’m very excited to hear more from.

MP3s:
“Movies of Antarctica” - Stars of Track and Field ((highly recommended))
“With You” - Stars of Track and Field
“Lullabies for a G.I./Don’t Close Your Eyes” - Stars of Track and Field

NOTE: Ezarchive was being awesome yesterday, making it impossible for me to post by refusing to allow any of my uploads to complete, so I only made it halfway through Gonzalez’s videography. The rest of the videos (there are five) will come scattered over the course of the rest of the week, presuming ezarchive gets its shit together.

I don’t know how an album as awesome and so right-up-my-alley as Simian’s 2002 electro-rock masterpiece We Are Your Friends existed for four years without my knowledge of it, but it happened and it’s a small-scale tragedy considering how relentlessly excellent it is. It wasn’t until I arrived at VICE this summer and everyone there was freaking out over Justice’s remix of Simian’s 2002 single “Never Be Alone” that I was introduced to the band, as the unparalleled glory of the remix made finding the original an immediate must for me. I’ve already discussed the merits of the Justice remix – which was released as a single this summer as “We Are Your Friends” and credited to Justice vs Simian – here at length before, so I’ll just focus on the original for now, which is quite a departure from the new re-worked version we’ve all come to know and love. The original opens innocently enough with a sunny, almost tropical synth and a fairly nondescript first verse, but then those big drums and that chorus (THAT chorus), perhaps the catchiest and most undeniable in the history of sound (hyperbole?), hits and it’s game over; Simian have just owned everyone in a fifteen mile radius of the song. Even those outside the blast zone will be reminded of the chorus for years to come in the birth defects (inability to stop dancing, irrepressible tendencies to drop it likes it hot) of their offspring – it’s just that good.

Surprisingly though, “Never Be Alone” wasn’t even Simian’s biggest hit, thanks to Peugot’s choice to soundtrack one of their best-ever advertisements with “La Breeze”, which propelled the band into the public awareness, if only for a few fleeting moments before they vanished back into relative obscurity. “La Breeze” sounds like a remixed John Lennon track - a shimmering, sunny slice of heavenly indie-pop with an electronic twist, and it thoroughly owned my summer, getting more plays than the rest of Simian’s library combined.

MP3s:
“Never Be Alone” – Simian ((highly recommended))
“La Breeze” – Simian ((highly recommended))
“We Are Your Friends” – Justice vs Simian ((HIGHLY recommended))

Tragically, Simian broke up in 2005, but as proof that every cloud has a silver lining, from the ashes of the band rose splinter group Simian Mobile Disco, comprised of former Simian ringleaders James Ford and Jas Shaw. That silver lining proved to be worth it’s weight in gold, as SMD’s most recent single, “Hustler”, has shown itself to be one of the year’s elite electronic singles, a crash course in dancefloor hotness for the uninitiated. Released on vaunted French label Kitsune Records, “Hustler” is one of the most badass tracks to have ever graced my ears, featuring a shit-talking verse from NYC singer Char Johnson and a monstrous fuzzed-out bassline that’ll obliterate any speakers not worthy of its presence. Just under four minutes in the instrumentation begins to die down for a moment or two and Johnson asks with a sneer, “What the fuck is you gonna do?”. SMD let it linger for a few beats before dropping the pressure and unleashing an unrestrained barrage of glitchy crescendos, reducing the final two minutes of the track to a veritable electronic free-for-all in which everyone’s a winner. With a more dancefloor-oriented, less poppy sound, Simian Mobile Disco have generated serious buzz with “Hustler” and their excellent remix work, and I’m hotly anticipating their as-yet-unannounced debut LP. What is announced, however, is their next single, classily-named “Tits & Acid”, which will be backed by another new track, “Animal House” and will see a limited white label only release sometime in November. You can get your first taste of that hotness below, along with “Hustler” and a slew of SMD’s bangin’ remixes.

MP3s:
“Hustler” – Simian Mobile Disco ((highly recommended))
“Tits & Acid” – Simian Mobile Disco

Bonus Remixes:
“Ladyflash” (SMD Remix) – The Go! Team
“Mona Lisa’s Child” (SMD Remix) – Keith
“International Dateline” (SMD Remix) - Ladytron

Sometimes I really suck. Seriously, I’ve been meaning to post on these guys ever since I named “Retreat! Retreat!” the fifth-best song of 2004, yet here we are - it’s almost October 2006 - and this is pretty much the first you’ve heard of them in this space. People really liked the song from them I posted yesterday (”Radio Protector”), so here’s a full fledged artist (mega) profile of them to respond to the deman for more of their material. 65 Days of Static (often credited as 65daysofstatic) first stormed into my awareness when Lizzy played “Retreat” for me in the Spring of 2005 (incidentally it was the same day I got into UVA if I remember correctly), and the band, who I originally took for a bit of a one-hit wonder, has been steadily earning my utmost respect ever since. I spent the better part of the next year trying to track down a copy of their debut album, The Fall of Math, and after another half-year of looking high and low I finally have their full discography to enjoy, which includes 2005’s stellar follow-up to the aforementioned debut, One Time For All Time. But let’s get back to where it all started.

With some twinkling glockenspiel plinks and the words, “We will not retreat, this band is unstoppable!” (a Matt Dillon sample from 1992’s grunge film Singles), the post-rock juggernauts are off and shredding on “Retreat! Retreat!”, taking you on a 4 minute adventure you won’t soon forget. Seemlessly melding ferocious guitar riffs, drum n’ bass beats, live drums, and computer glitches, 65 Days Of Static created a masterpiece of controlled noise that is equal parts viciously euphoric, mind-blowingly frenetic, and really, really loud. “Retreat” is an excercise in hugeness, peerless in scope and scale and as massive and agressive as anything Mogwai’s ever done, all while retaining a decidedly electronic feel with the presence of computerized glitches and the odd boom and bip. Despite my initial fear that 65 Days might have peaked immediately out of the gate with their debut single, I couldn’t have been more wrong. When I finally tracked it down, the rest of Math proved to yield a handful of other excellent tracks, the best of which were “I Swallowed Hard, Like I Understood”, which sees the band finding the perfect middle ground between glitches and guitars, and “Hole”, which went on to have a seven-song EP bult around it as the band’s follow-up release to the “Retreat” CD-single. The EP featured the title track accompanied by three new songs as well as remixes of two of the debut’s best songs, a self-remix of title track “The Fall of Math” and an interesting Mothboy remix of “Retreat! Retreat!”, the latter of which is available for download below. The highlight of the EP, however, is new track “The Wrong Side of the Tracks”, which alternates frenetic, rapidfire percussion and monstrous, suffocating feedback-drenched bass with what-the-fuck samples and serene atmospherics, the combination of which we’ll have even the most stable person prone to fits of epilepsy by its conclusion.

MP3s:
“Retreat! Retreat!” - 65daysofstatic ((highly recommended))
“I Swallowed Hard, Like I Understood” - 65daysofstatic
“Wrong Side of the Tracks” - 65daysofstatic
“Retreat! Retreat!” (Mothboy Remix) - 65daysofstatic

However, despite the excellence of The Fall of Math and the impressiveness of the Hole EP, it’s the group’s sophomore effort, One Time For All Time, that completely defied and blew away all of my expectations with the significant evolution of the band’s sound. Bookended by career highlights “Drove Through Ghosts To Get Here” and incredibly-epic closer “Radio Protector”, One Time finds the band exploring a far more atmospheric sound, even-darker than the earlier material, that sees the band introducing a dramatic piano to their arsenal as a perfect compliment to the guitars and agressive percussion of the debut. Leaning at times further towards the haunting arrangements of a more electronic Explosions In The Sky or a more aggressive Sigur Ros than Mogwai, the hard-rocking debut album’s closest peer, One Time is a quantum leap from its predecessor. The haunting arrangements on tracks like “23kid” recalls those found on the Icelandic quartet’s 2002 opus (), though Sigur Ros rarely rock as hard as 65 Days do once the slow build on these songs reach their climax. Opener “Drove Through Ghosts To Get Here” opens with a haunting piano progression and percussion punctuated by human grunts and moans (an effect employed to equal success on Justice’s “Waters of Nazareth”, which gradually builds in both pace and intensity to an apocalyptic climax. And while I’d hate to slight everything in between by jumping to the closer, it’s the album’s final track that sets the high-water mark for 65 Days of Static’s career to date. A true epoch in every sense of the word, the song opens with a wistful piano progression that (again) gradually builds before the introduction of a dramatic percussion section takes the song to new heights. Just over two minutes in the instrumentation dies out and yields to a beautiful glockenspiel solo, before the band turns the amps back on and rocks the song to its completion in appropriately epic fashion. Incredible, incredible stuff folks.

MP3s:
“Drove Through Ghosts To Get Here” - 65daysofstatic ((highly recommended))
“Radio Protector” - 65daysofstatic ((HIGHLY recommended))

NOTE: I’ve got an unbelievable amount of work to do before tomorrow on this digital art project, so unfortunately I’m gonna have to skimp on Music Video Monday yet again, but to make it up to you here’s a profile of one of my favorite new bands that has been chilling in the “to post” queue for a few days now.

Mancunian six-piece Snowfight In The City Centre have released what is easily the most impressive debut single of 2006 with “No Light Left”, an absolutely untouchable piece of pristine, shimmering indie pop. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here, first a little history on the band. The principle core of Snowfight formed last year under the name Lisa Brown (sometimes referred to as The Lisa Brown), and they were quickly snatched up by up-and-coming Manchester imprint High Voltage Sounds, who put out the double A-side “What’s That Sound”/”Anna” shortly thereafter, though the impressive release went largely unnoticed in the crowded UK indie-rock scene. “What’s That Sound” was a little slice of dance-rock heaven, seemingly plucked straight out of the 1980’s with that ridiculously-80’s “What’s that sound?” refrain, slick production, catchy hooks, and discotheque-ready vibe. As immediate and accessible as anything that Franz Ferdinand or The Killers have ever put out, the song had me sold a mere twenty seconds in with those four angular guitar jabs that alternate between the right and left channels and the track only got hotter from there, but remained tragically overlooked. The b-side was an acoustic version of this song “Snowfight In The City Centre”, which isn’t really worth mentioning if not for the fact that, after confusing the shit out of new listeners who consistently expected Lisa Brown to be a solo female artist, the band chose to take this song title and take it for their band name. Now they introduce said song as “Lisa Brown” when they play it live, which I think is clever and endearing.

Now playing under the new Snowfight In The City Centre moniker, they unveiled a whole new sound when they released “No Light Left” last July. Gone is the overwhelming 80’s vibe and in its place are skyscraping melodies and soaring choruses, a new sound that’s self-described as “the Arcade Fire only more anthemic”, which - audacious as it may seem - is seems fairly accurate in my opinion. “No Light Left” serves up a hefty dose of unadulterated indie-pop perfection, seemingly coming out of nowhere oto become one of the elite indie-rock singles of 2006. Seriously, I’m not lying when I say this song has the catchiest chorus of the year, hands down. They warm you up with that first “angels and ghosts” chorus before dropping the proverbial bomb on the second chorus, when the song really takes flight and shoots towards the heavens. Sure, they have the potential to turn into another Coldplay or Keane sound-a-like, but only time will tell. Their follow-up single, “Listen”, hits shelves in the UK on October 16^th, but you can stream it on their MySpace page now, along with a few other unreleased tracks that show a good amount of promise as well. Long story short, this is a band to get very, very excited about.

MP3s:
“What’s That Sound” - Lisa Brown
“No Light Left” - Snowfight In The City Centre ((HIGHLY recommended))

Bonus MP3: “Snowfight In The City Centre” (BBC Acoustic Session) - Lisa Brown

Back to England now then, to a band that anyone with UK residency and a radio has likely heard a countless times, but who most Americans are probably criminally unfamiliar with. Yes, they’re a bit of a guilty pleasure. Yes, they sound like what I’d imagine Dispatch experimenting with Britpop to sound like. And yes, they’re about as chart-friendly as it gets in the UK, but The Kooks are undeniably catchy, have a surprisingly good debut album out and two monster singles tearing up the charts over there.

The first of these two singles, “Naïve”, peaked at #5 in the UK and is an instant singalong classic. It became an unofficial summer anthem (the official honor goes to “We Are Your Friends”) among my friends this summer and even made it into our acoustic guitar around-the-campfire singalong playlist (yeah, we’re that cliché) somewhere in between such other Britpop masterpiece’s as “Don’t Look Back In Anger” and “Karma Police”. With that relentlessly catchy chorus and the herky-jerky guitar-based instrumentation, “Naïve” gets stuck in your head and straight-up sets up residence there.

Follow-up single “She Moves In Her Own Way” employs the same formula to equal success and did just as well on the charts (climbing to as high as #7), and their debut album Inside In, Inside Out, chilled at #2 for weeks in the UK, not quite topping the charts but eventually going double platinum nonetheless. Though their music isn’t terribly challenging or of overwhelming artistic merit, it remains impressive that the Kooks have achieved this level of success when not a single one of them has hit the age of 20. While I possess no high hopes for a spectacular follow-up album (I learned my lesson about expectations and chart-friendly Britpop bands with Razorlight), “Naïve” and, to a much lesser extent, “She Moves In Her Own Way” will endure as two of 2006’s essential singles.

MP3s:
“Naive” - The Kooks ((highly recommended))
“She Moves In Her Own Way” - The Kooks

I really should have posted this back in late spring/early summer when I first jumped on the Kooks’ bandwagon, as their relevance has waned recently with their singles’ departure from the charts, so here’s a little treat to keep things up to date. A testimony to the song’s status as one of the biggest hits of 2006, Lily Allen has recorded a cover of “Naïve” for release as a b-side on the upcoming re-release of her debut single, “LDN”. It’s certainly not as good as the original, but it’s still worth a listen and should pique the interest of the minions of Allen fans who are seemingly omnipresent in the blogosphere.

MP3: “Naive” - Lily Allen

I’ve been having a love affair with The Long Blondes since Springtime. They’ll have multiple tracks on my year-end best of list, with at least one breaking the top ten. They’re easily my favorite new band of 2006 after Guillemots. The thought of their debut album, of which there are still no official details, more or less makes me squirm in my seat with anticipation. Yet, this is the first you’ve heard of them in this space (though they’ve been covered extensively everywhere else you look). I guess I’ve just been waiting for the right angle and entry point with which to start my coverage of The Long Blondes, but unfortunately none ever really presented itself, and I’ve just about reached the breaking point, so here begins our far-too-extensive coverage of the group.
I first heard of The Long Blondes on Rough Trade Shops’ Counter Culture ‘05 compilation early this year, when “Lust In The Movies” burst through my speakers with that unbelievably addictive “Edie Sedgwick! Anna Karina!” chorus, and those spiky guitars and thumping basslines sealed the deal, rocketing the Blondes to the top of my HolyShitFindMoreFromThisBandNow list. Further investigation put singles “Appropriation (By Any Other Name)” and “Separated By Motorways” in heavy rotation on my iPod, and shortly thereafter the “Weekend Without Makeup” single dropped, and well, the rest is history. On the topic of that last single, I’ll be saving discussion of the b-side, “Fulwood Babylon”, for my single review of the track, as it would just be downright unfair to the rest of the band’s ouvre to spend this introductory to the band gushing over one (albeit, immaculate) track when the rest of their library is so incredibly strong as well.

While the previous singles served to further pique my interest in the band, it wasn’t until “Weekend Without Makeup” that they reached the same plateau established on “Lust In The Movies”, which outside of its inclusion on that Rough Trade can also be found as the b-side (upstagery!) to their initial “Appropriation” single. “Weekend” finds the Long Blondes at their best; clever narratives obscuring dark undertones, that galloping rhythm section and a chorus with more punch than your high school prom. The track also finds the Sheffield five piece (of which no member is either blonde, nor terribly long) evoking memories of the blue collar grit and glamour of Pulp, fitting considering long-time Pulp bassist Steve Mackey handles production duties on the track. Additionally, Mackey has been announced as the producer for the group’s debut, of which their have been no details announced aside from the fact that Mackey will be producing and they’ll be heading into the studio in the near, if not immediate future. Go ahead and download the two tracks we’ve discussed so far while you catch you’re breath, I’m still not done.

MP3s:
“Lust In The Movies” - The Long Blondes ((highly recommended))
“Weekend Without Makeup” - The Long Blondes ((highly recommended))

I should stop writing now and just hit you with the goods before you all lose interest and just “Page Down” until you hit the rest of the mp3s, but I haven’t even gotten started yet (I mean, I told you before, this has been building up for a long time). Lead singer Kate Jackson, or indie crush of the year as I should probably call her, proves to be the perfect frontwoman for the group, as it’s her dynamic and deliverance that truly takes these tracks to the next level. The Blondes’ songs find Jackson juggling different female archetypes from track to track, and its her ability to write from these ever-changing perspectives that makes her narratives so enjoyable and refreshing to listen to. Whether she’s the helpless admirer (”Lust In The Movies”, “Autonomy Boy”), jealous or cast-aside lover (”Weekend”, “Giddy Stratospheres”, “You Could Have Both”), unattainable vixen (”Madame Ray”, “Fulwood Babylon”), or general guardian and bestower of cautionary advice (”Once & Never Again”, ), Jackson manages to consistently keep her lyrics fresh and we never find her repeatedly coming back to a narrative crutch, a truly admirable quality in today’s overly-recyclable music scene. The Long Blondes have also opened my eyes to how much I fucking love spoken word bridges and in the few songs where they pop up they serve to perfectly compliment Jackson’s , been-around-the-block delivery, succeeding despite the inherent nature of such a lyrical device to scream “pretense!”.

MP3s:
“You Could Have Both” (Demo) - The Long Blondes
“Giddy Stratospheres” - The Long Blondes

By this point my fingers are bleeding and I’m starting to cramp up, but I absolutely can’t depart before first pointing you in the direction of Dreams of Horses who have made the interminable wait for the group’s debut a little bit more manageable by making six of the album’s demos available for download here. I jacked “You Could Have Both” (re-uploaded on my own hosting for bandwith-courtesy purposes, put the guns down) for the purpose of illustrating my spoken word bridges point, but outside of that “Madame Ray” and “A Knife For The Girls” are top notch as well. Again, grab those here and be sure to thank them while you’re there. Additionally, a search for the Long Blondes in the US iTunes store will yield no actual music (because, naturally, US iTunes sucks), but will turn up a 20-minute podcast that sees the band discussing their histoy, influences, and introducing their favorite tracks that’s definitely worth a download and a listen. Finally, I leave you with the demo version of “Once & Never Again”, which has just been announced as the band’s next single and is due out October 3rd on Rough Trade, with whom the band just inked a deal this summer.

MP3: “Once & Never Again” (Demo) - The Long Blondes

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