Welcome to the end of year round up for 2009. Note, there will be no round up of the decade like so many other websites, mainly because I have trouble remembering what came out last week, let alone however many years ago. This is about 2009; and what a year it’s been. It’s the kind of statement you can make about every year really, but it’s been one of the trickiest to pick out the highlights due to there being so many.

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Top 9 albums of 2009

9. NOFX – Coaster

With Bush out and Obama in, you’d think NOFX would be stuffed. Not so – there’s still plenty to write about and put to three chords and that’s exactly what El Hefe, Fat Mike, Smelly and Melvin have done. Lesbians, alcoholism, Iron Maiden gay-love triangles and bereavement are all covered in ‘Coaster’ their 11th full length. Punk rock doesn’t come much better than this.

8. Obits – I Blame You

Ex-Hot Snakes man Rick Froberg retires the razor-blade riffs and long-winded math-rock pretences of his earlier outfits and focuses his energies towards creating some of the tightest, laid-back surf rock in the form of his new band Obits. ‘I Blame You’ is the kind of record every band should aspire to writing at least once in their lifetime.

7. Baroness – The Blue Record

Down-tuned, heavy sludge southern rock from Baroness, a band that features the powerful mix of gruff, stoner drawl with breeze-block slab thick metallic riffs and whisky-ravaged howls. ‘The Blue Record‘ is an essential purchase for the checked shirt, beard-sporting metaller.

6. Calories – Adventuring

If you don’t like Calories, you don’t like music. Simple as. God I love sweeping statements, but come on, this is brilliant stuff. This Birmingham trio sound like old-school, riff-heavy emo rock, bristling with vibrant enthusiasm and a snotty punk rock attitude.

5. Converge – Axe To Fall

Utter, utter brutality delivered swiftly and with extreme fire; Converge’s return with ‘Axe To Fall’ to the hardcore community is immense. Savage beyond belief, mixing elements of hardcore punk, furious noise rants, scathing riffage, space-rock meanderings and some interesting variation provided by special guests Neurosis. Blows ‘Jane Doe’ out of the water.

4. And So I Watch You From Afar – s/t

An army marching to war, comets raining down on the damned, fire and brimstone, huge continents sinking into the sea – just some of the most over-blown visual metaphors I can think of to describe And So I Watch You From Afar’s debut album. Mind-blowing stuff from a band that have had a brilliant year.

3. The Bronx – Mariachi El Bronx

It’s hard to imagine a band that sound like the younger brother of Black Flag doing Mexican love songs, but The Bronx or should I say, Mariachi El Bronx manage it – superbly. It’s not just that they’ve done something completely opposite to their usual punk rock-bile of noise; it’s the fact it sounds so intricate, so well crafted, brimming with a kind of passion, especially Caughthran – whose voice is truly magnificent when he’s not shouting.

2. Future of the Left – Travels With Myself and Another

So close to being number one this, in fact, it might as well be joint with BATS to be honest. Better than ‘Curses!’ that’s for damn sure and ‘Curses!’ was bloody excellent. ‘Travels With Myself And Another’ is Future of the Left embracing more keyboard, tighter song writing, more distorted bass, amusing, sometimes non-sequitur lyrics. As stated in my review; “…a flawless selection of songs, musicianship and contemptuous lyrical sound-bites.”

1. BATS – Red In Tooth and Claw

Mathematics, science, dragons, sea monsters, one-armed captains and witches are just some of the many themes present on ‘Red In Tooth and Claw.’ BATS have made an album that splices together several of my favourite things: fantasy subject matter, powerful metallic-riffs, stomping dance beats and a scattergun punk flavour, laced with Irish charm – a brilliant debut and my album of 2009.

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Special mentions also to:

Latitudes – ‘Agonist‘, Brand New - ‘Daisy‘, Danananaykroyd – ‘Hey Everyone!‘, Blackout Argument – ‘Remedies’ No Truce/Crucified – Split, Pelican – ‘What We All Come To Need‘ The Psyke Project – ‘The Dead Storm‘, Twin Atlantic – ‘Vivarium‘

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Top 3 Gigs of the Year (would have been more, but I’m on a deadline)

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3. Dillinger Four (London Underworld 10 December)

Should have played for the whole night, all four albums back to back would have brought the house down. However what they played was pretty much on the money – man boobs, songs about drinking; songs about beer, songs about whiskey, songs about pitting with J.C and witty Irish-American banter – The D4 fucking rule.

2. Future of the Left/Pulled Apart By Horses/Fight Like Apes (London ULU May)

Two brilliant supports in the form of Pulled Apart By Horses, who’s drunken, scrappy, climbing-over-the-speakers punk rock was a delight to witness; whilst Fight Like Apes take space-rock-dance weirdness to new levels of captivating the audience. Welsh boyos Future of the Left played an exemplary set, rife with their usual caustic humour, songs from their second full length and drum-dismantling antics in the form of set closer,  ‘Cloak the Dagger.’

1. Brand New (London Forum 27 June)

You had to be there for this one – the reason music is sometimes totally epic.

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Other notable gig highlights include:

The Display Team, Obits, The Bronx, The Thermals, Calories, Betty Pariso, Down I Go, Adebisi Shank, Shield Your Eyes, Blakfish, New Groove Formation and Alec Empire.

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Mad Mac’s track(s) of the year:

From trawling the Mad Mac archives it seems the following tracks/band met his appeal:

The Gay Blades – Hey She Say (“best instrumentals…this is a number to frenetically dance to…”)

The Thermals – Now We Can See (“heavy rock number very much in the genre of the great Rolling Stones…. this is done well.”)

William Elliott Whitmore – Old Devils (“His sound is different from other performers, who prefer to rely on noise volume rather than quality. If his other numbers are in this vein then he is quite listenable.”)
Seriously, that’s two more than I expected him to really like, so hooray for The Gay Blades, The Thermals and William Elliott Whitmore.

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2010?

Hopefully Pulled Apart By Horses will get it together and release an album.

New material from Down I Go on the horizon in the form of ‘Gods.’

The return of Rammstein to the UK in February.

Possible new Jetplane Landing album?

Although no actual news as yet, a new Night Marchers album would go down nicely next year.

The Bloodhound Gang to tour please.

New Rolo Tomassi album (apparently recording at the moment!)

‘Option Paralysis’ by Dillinger Escape Plan. If it sounds anything like ‘Ire Works’ – prepare for amazing scenes.

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Also, happy new year from myself and the rest of the Keep It Fast team, see you in 2010!

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By Ross Macdonald

Band – Shield Your Eyes
Album – Shield ‘Em
Label – Gravid Hands
Release date – December 2009
Sounds like – Yet more loud blasts of technical noise

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Shield Your Eyes have done the impossible – I think their sound has become even more of a ramshackle clatter. I’m intrigued to see where they go next, perhaps recording themselves playing whilst simultaneously lobbing the contents of a kitchen department down some stairs? The rattle has risen to a deafening crescendo that fans of their self-titled effort will welcome with flailing limbs and manic grins.

According to the press release, ‘Shield Em’ was written whilst the band were touring their debut and took just 3 days to record. It’s described as a “bruised and ragged album” – a statement that would fit nicely alongside the aforementioned first bunch of recordings which made up their self-titled release. However, ‘Shield Em’ feels like something that’s just won a particularly bloody fight. It’s all spitting blood, broken teeth, a shattered nose, cracked, raw knuckles but still with that unstoppable rage glinting in its 2 blacken eyes. It has a feral quality, no doubt encompassed by guitarist Stef, who seems to have elevated his playing ability to a higher plane of demented disenchanted howls of wailing vehemence. Henri’s drumming meanwhile, sounds as if his kit has had ball bearings poured into it and his drumsticks replaced with a cat-o-nine-tails. Bassist Toby holds everything together with his brooding, low-end melodic strum in an effort to keep the other two in check.

‘Oranges’ opens proceedings with that familiar howl of detuned exuberance. The track jangles and writhes like a slinky toppling down a very steep set of stairs, falling over itself in a desperate scramble to reach the finish line. Drum patterns roll in and out of each other, whilst the resonating hum of the shrill guitar tone cuts through the mix alongside Stef’s cracked vocal lead.

Patterns are scattered like confetti on ‘Ultra Soul’ which jerks and stutters with a see-sawing, mangled gait of drunken rage. The breakdown at the 1:32 mark is truly sublime, incorporating brutal, almost grind-drum beats and furiously distorted guitar rhythms. The vocals elevate to such a strained, throaty wail and are soon lost, buried beneath the roaring rush. To combat this, ‘Torn Apart At The Details’ takes a more melodic pathway, focussing on the less ragged parts of Shield Your Eyes’ sound, and taking into account the harmonic and gentle tone of Stef’s voice, which whilst quite high-pitched in places, coos and purrs with elegance.

The inclusion of what I assume is a harmonica on ‘Limerick’ gives the track that rustic charm of a bunch of back-porch, straw-hat and dungaree wearing yokels, decimating a variety of instruments, whilst quaffing large quantities of their own homemade scrumpy. ‘Bad Tooth Warehouse Boogie’ on the other hand, is led predominantly by the bass, as the rampant guitar distortion takes a backseat (for a bit) in favour of the methodical, rhythmic bounce. The breakdown at the halfway mark keeps with the progressive build of the groove-filled 4-string and dog-like barks and yowls from Stef, who seems to have recorded his vocals inside a box that’s been thrown into a cave, whilst retuning his guitar using a sledgehammer. Quite possibly the best thing Shield Your Eyes have ever recorded (up there with ‘Nasty Business’ from their debut) – brilliant stuff. Underneath the madness a tune does exist – it just fathoming out how Shield Your Eyes managed to construct one.

Songs like ‘Claire Oh Claire’ throttle technical boundaries to death with its barbed rattle of unnerving, almost math rock proficiency; whereas ‘You’ve Been Served By The Serfs’ staggers between borderline unlistenable noise and defiant controlled feedback-drenched hard rock. ‘Your Racing Days Are Over’ juxtaposes quick-fire tappy math-punk splatters with the vocals appearing on their own as a lone desolate chant, which seem incredibly isolated from the rest of the track, due to its subdued, raw nature.

‘Shielder’ focuses more on a pop direction; being perhaps the lightest and bounciest track, complete with a spirited punk rock jaunt and rapid-fire drumbeats and the jerking vocal delivery and summery guitar lines.

‘Mort Aux Ours’ turns away from the mangled distortion of caterwauling guitars; opting towards the delicate, layered acoustic strumming, fast-paced spoken word vocals (in the same vein as Superman Revenge Squad) and an abrupt finish that jolts the listener out of their tranquil haze.

Closing track ‘Sandy’ builds on subtle instrumentisation and bitter-sweet vocal delivery, still with the odd flourishes of scrawling enthusiasm. It then bends into a twisting ride of improvised, noise-jam that touches on elements of Oxes progressive build of sound and the disconcerting drone of The Locust with crushing and exhilarating force.

‘Shield Em’ by Shield Your Eyes is a warped hydra of conflicting emotions and snapping heads, content to twist one way before striking suddenly with powerful, bone shattering force, pummelling discord and some brilliant ideas and song structures.

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Links

Shield Your Eyes Myspace
Saddam Hussein Records

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By Ross Macdonald

Here are the rules for those of you who don’t frequent forums or have any idea what this is about:

1. Open Wikipedia and click ‘random article’: whatever pops up, CONGRATULATIONS! That is your band name.

2. Next, open the Wikiquote page and guess what? Click ‘random quote’. Select the last few words from the last quote at the bottom of the page. This is your album title.

3. Finally, open Flickr, click the ‘last seven days’ link and select whatever picture you fancy from the first page.

Done. Yet another pointless exercise brought to you by bored office workers and plane-pointing students. Here is my ’band’ and 3 of their albums (note I rejected my first 3 hits which included ‘List of National Basketball Association players with 40 or more rebounds in a game‘; ‘Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards 1998‘ and ‘Henry Clay McCormick.’:

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Balzac Is A Romantic

‘Balzac Is A Romantic‘ – pretentious first album, complete with blurred black and white cover art, fancy text and an overblown sense of importance. Contains Winchester Magnum Rimfire’s best songs because most of them are early demos. Destined to be disowned several years down the line because the band have ‘matured.’ – What a bunch of fucks. Contains the single ‘Actebia balanitis.’

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They Can’t Get Rid Of Us That Easily

We come to the difficult second album where amazingly the title just about matches the cover. New musical direction on this; ditching all the good bits that made the debut so vital and embracing a new sound that sees this sophmore effort either universally panned or lorded as the greatest thing since the N64 by people who’ve never heard the first one which has since been deleted from the universe.

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Getting Used To Reality

Despite having the best cover and title, this did not chart. Band split a month after its release.

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Links

Wikipedia
Wikiquote
Flickr Last 7 Days

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By Ross Macdonald
(If anyone has problems with me using their images in this way, e-mail infoATkeepitfastDOTcom. Thanks! Or moan to Mad Mac.)

Band – Dillinger Four
Support – Hard Skin, The Arteries, Zatopeks
Venue – Camden Underworld
Damage -£8
Beer – night-time robbery

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Q: How many bar staff does it take to serve alcohol to several thirsty punters? A: a lot more than three that’s for sure. Despite the price of a bottle of beer being double what you would usually pay in poorer towns, I sometimes wonder if many bars and clubs in our capital actually want to make money. Next time – tinnies on the train and doubling up on orders when I am finally  served.

Due to time constraints and the aforementioned queues to gain liquid refreshment, I missed The Arteries and Zatopeks but caught the last few songs of Hard Skin’s set. Having a bassist who resembles the Sugar Puff monster with alopecia, songs about beer, fags, being dole scum and the kind of singing voice that only a deaf mother could love, Hard Skin are punk rock through and through. Whilst they may not necessarily (ever) be in tune, their oi-punk, “come-and-have-a-go-if-you-think-your-hard-enough” snarls and comedy banter was particularly amusing. What was particularly entertaining from my vantage point was the group of poshos wetting (not actually that would have been hideous) themselves with glee at swear-a-thon antics and the loss of the guitarist’s beer to one over-zealous punter. Props to the penultimate song of the evening; ‘We Are The Wankers’ for it’s complete lack of subtlety, but maximum comedy effect – solid band.

The Dillinger Four experience seems incredibly brief – I am unsure why, maybe that’s punk rock for you – it rockets past with such force, you can feel your teeth rattling inside your head like dice in the hands of Michael J. Fox and before you know it, you’re outside on the street, struggling to navigate your way home through automated ticket checkers and people who pore wine on their cornflakes. Bassist Paddy (who voices concern whether an Irish-American is allowed to be called Paddy) takes centre stage as the more ‘vocal’ portion of the group, content with splicing witty banter (THANKS DAVE) in-between each song. Paddy comments on how he desires to be “famous in the UK, like Fat Bob (bassist from Hard Skin) and buy borrowing the big lad’s bass, he hopes that it will give him credibility and and recognition in the UK.

This is fine for a while, but after one particular monologue, I begin to wish they’d hurry the fuck up. If you’re a D4 fan, you get all the hits: the anthemic gruff-punk barrage of ‘Mosh for Jesus’ raises one of the biggest cheers and surges from the crowd, whilst opener ‘A Jingle For The Product’ from their most recent album is sang back with such force it threatens to drown out main-vocalist Eric Funk and the rollercoaster-shred of ‘Noble Stabbings!!’ is the icing on a particularly fine cake made of beer-sweat and beards.

It’s been a while since Dillinger Four have been on our fair shores, and they seem slightly taken aback by the crowd tonight and indeed the rampant support. I can’t help but feel that they seem somewhat subdued, yet are consummate professionals; crashing through song after song with note-perfect tightness and enough depth in the sound to hear each instrument and not just the muddy hum of a guitar mashing everything else into a pulp. Paddy’s lead vocals on ‘Doublewhiskeycokenoice’ (which he dedicates to his mum, the big softy) are spot on – retaining the right amount of barbed, alcohol-soaked vitality and juvenile aggression.

There’s some commotion at the side of the stage, as one punter (obviously arseholed on the ‘no, I only ordered one drink mate, that sounds like the price of three…oh’) starts to strip down to his boxers and stealing the mic from Funk. Yeah, getting up on stage is ‘hilariously wacky fun great times’ I’m sure, but you’re not the band – people here paid to see THE BAND on stage, not some meathead plane pointer with his cock out. Thankfully, this is short-lived and the Underworld is then treated to the sight of Paddy’s hairy man-boobs – lovely stuff.

For me, the set highlights fall to 2 songs from their fourth full-length, ‘Civil War’. ‘Gainesville’ is so, so good it hurts that this song isn’t ‘Basket Case’ standards of ‘total fucking awesome song’ – it’s pure driven punk-rock excellence, a passionate, uplifting piece with hooks the size of a Tyrannosaurus Rex imbedded deep within the chorus. The slow-burn riff on ‘Clown Cars on Cinder Blocks’, followed by the sudden jerk into life, Funk’s melodic, yet rough vocal-lead and the jangled-bounce is exquisite. My only gripe is the paradox of time that seemed to drain 10 times faster than usual as it always does when you’re enjoying yourself, but this is something that earlier start times can hopefully achieve.

“It feels like summer in October, and I hope this day is never over” sings Funk on ‘Gainesville’ – trut so pure my friend, come back any time Dillinger Four, we need your sunshine and stupid humour.

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Links

Dillinger Four
Hard Skin
Fat Wreck

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By Ross Macdonald

Million Dead were a band that I’m sure a lot of people have found memories of. Their unorthodox take on punk rock, Turner’s engaging lyrics, their feedback-laden hum of determination and a sound not disimiliar to Swedish punks, Refused gained them many fans, during and long after their unfortunate demise.
Their 5 year career began in 2000, when guitarist Cameron Dean and bassist Julia Ruzicka, joined with drummer Ben Dawson and vocalist Frank Turner. The rather morbid-sounding moniker actually stems from a line in the Refused song, ‘The Apollo Programme Was A Hoax’ from their last album, ‘The Shape of Punk To Come.’ Interestingly, it is one of Refused’s most diverse sounding tracks, focusing on muted bass plucks, sinister chords and whispered vocals that sound like they’ve been channeled through an old radio.

I first discovered Million Dead through Rock Sound (I’d probably be still listening to Reel Big Fish if it wasn’t for this publication) thanks to an ‘exclusive demo’ the magazine used to slap on their free cover-mount CD every month. The song was a rag-tag recording of ‘The Kids Are Going To Love It’ (which went on to feature on their debut, ‘A Song To Ruin’); a track that was characterized by it’s fast, gritty punk-rock nature, fuzzy-guitar lines and Turner’s unique yelp and rapid-fire vocal delivery.

Million Dead kicked around for another 2-3 years or so, touring with a variety of different acts, from space-rock nutters Cave In, Buddhist-anarchic-punks The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster and even noise-terrorist Alec Empire. They also supported Pitchshifter on their 3rd or 4th break-up tour. I expect every band in the world will have supported Pitchshifter on their ‘farewell tours’ soon. There’s probably one going right now. Anyway, the ‘Dead soon chucked out a debut single,  ‘Smiling At Strangers On Trains’ on Xtra Mile/Integrity Records, along with a low-fi video of a tramp pissing on guitarist Cameron. Good work guys. September 2003 saw the release of ‘A Song To Ruin’ their debut album and another single release in the form of ‘Breaking The Back’ which out-lived the bands lifespan by being on constant rotation on heavy metal music channel, Scuzz. ‘A Song To Ruin’ was an absolute DIY-beast of teeth-gnashing, blue-in-the-face surging, disordered punk rock. The guitars sounded like they’d been recorded in a beehive, whilst the bass rumbling on opener ‘Pornography For Cowards’ felt like it had been sunken in motor oil. The cymbals crashed like they’d been dropped down some stairs and Turner’s vocal howl was a series of sprawling monologues that fought each other in a mad dash to escape his larynx. But do you know what? It sounded brilliant. Sure, it was fuzzier than a muppet gang-bang, but that added to the appeal – they were angry, intense, drenched in buzzing feedback that bled from the speakers like a hemophiliac playing with their new knife set.

Whilst the sound was the backbone of Million Dead, it was the lyrics that made them standout from the crowd. Turner’s words said something – they weren’t just confusing non-linear observations, or the kind of mundane sob stories about not manning the fuck up when it comes to talking to the opposite sex; no, these lyrics were political, (‘I Am The Party’) social (‘The Kids Are Going To Love It’) and economic blasts of effervescent speech, that combined witty snapshots alongside quite barbaric bursts of intense anger. For example, ‘I Am The Party’ is a first-person monologue, tackling the subjects of the Bolshevik revolution, references to George Orwell’s 1984, as well as revolutions in Czechoslovakia in 1989. The tongue-in-cheek nature of the song, stereotypes many aspects of a politicians career (manifestos, humility, leafleting campaign, baby kissing, promise of ‘things getting better’). ‘Charlie and Propaganda Myth Machine’ satirizes that famous Roald Dahl book; as well as ripping into Walt Disney (“…pushing social and sexual hierarchy…”) and again Orwell’s 1984 with the line; “I just wish we weren’t so fucking mindless…” possibly referencing the Big Brother state of totalitarianism and lack of freewill. ‘Macgyver’ on the other hand, tells the harrowing tale of the hospitalization of ‘I can escape from anything with paper clips and rubber bands’ super-human, played by Richard Dean Anderson. “He couldn’t build a bomb to mend the splinters of his broken heart” croons Turner, shaping a grim visualization of this fictional, but brutal tale. ‘The Rise and Fall’ probably best encapsulates the MD sound though. Turner packs enough references into one track that would possibly fill any other bands back catalogue. Byzantium Empire, Trojans, Rome are all dissected, under this barrage and I mean barrage, of spiky, agitated driving post-hardcore buzz, with Dawson screaming his lungs raw over Turner’s quick-fire lyricisms. Truly a masterful piece of work.
After this, the band went on to support Funeral For A Friend on their the Welsh quintet’s break-through tour and played still to this day, one of the best support slots I have ever seen. The band then set out on their own headline tour; with welsh oddballs Jarcrew and Icelandic punks Minus in tow.

In 2004, the band released a single entitled ‘I Gave My Eyes To Stevie Wonder’, tackling the subject of blindness, along with the b-sides ‘Medicine’ and ‘It’s A Shit Business.’ Dean left the band soon after to get hitched and Tom Fowler was brought in as replacement. In May, they released their last album, ‘Harmony, No Harmony’ through Xtra Mile. Their second effort retained much of the intense fury of their first, spaced out with slower, progressive passages and even a choir. ‘Livin’ The Dream’ (a song which dealt with the pressures of being in a band) was the stand-out single, gaining a similar amount of play as ‘Breaking The Back’ on various music channels. The band toured the album’s release with punk rockers Engerica and Days of Worth.

Just when they seemed to be ready to make that breakthrough, Million Dead called it a day. The cause: “irreconcilable differences within the band mean that it would be impossible to continue”. They fulfilled their touring duties and the band was put to rest on the 23rd of September 2005 after a gig at the Southampton joiners.

Despite their short shelf life, Million Dead had a big impact on the scene – they were well known in various circles and constantly championed for their strong live performances and notably Turner’s lyrical outpouring. With two solid albums to their name, they left a good-looking corpse.

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Where are they now?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, vocalist Frank Turner is a successful solo artist and has released double the amount of albums Million Dead managed in the same timescale!

Bassist Julia Ruzicka and guitarist Tom Fowler formed The Quiet Kill in 2005. Ruzicka now plays in Who Owns Death TV with some dude from Cars As Weapons and Dream of an Opium Eater.

Drummer Ben Dwason is the Josh Freese of the UK, having undertaken multiple session drumming projects and is currently the stickman for Palehorse, Armed Response Unit, Mothlite, Queens of Swords and some metal project. Has also drummed for The Big Pink.

Musical exploits of ex-guitarist Cameron Dean are unknown, probably enjoying married life and eating biscuits on the loo.

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Links

Million Dead
Million Dead Fansite
Frank Turner Official Site

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By Ross Macdonald

Last Mad Mac of the year folks. I’ll be asking the big man to give me his favourite track of the last 12 months come the end of year round-up post, so keep your eyes peeled for that little beauty.  Some of these are pretty ‘last month dude’ but I can assure you, some of these WERE the hot tracks out in October, it’s just my dad has only just got round to listening to them. He initially asked if he could review the tracks without hearing them. I declined. Although, I’m thinking that could be a good new feature, so let’s see what next year brings.

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Dead To Me – Modern Muse (Fat Wreck Chords)

An extremely fast number with a long guitar intro. Despite the loud background you could still hear the lyrics. The speed of this number made me feel they were trying to get it over with as soon as possible, I felt that was a really good idea.

Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More (Island Records)

A slow melancholy number that would be best played at the end of the evening rather than at the start. This would be an indication that it was time to go home. One imagines a bars of drunks getting their coats as they drag their weary way to the door. As this number comes from the stage, people leave before they slash their wrists. Fortunately I have not heard any of their previous numbers so cannot tell if this is their style or not.

The xx - Crystalised (Young Turks)

Two vocalists with pleasant voices – pity about the song.  Would be interested to see then live, nice to hear a number with the vocalists not in competition with each other. Overall not an unpleasant sound.

A Place To Bury Strangers – Deadbeat (Mute)

This cacophony of noise did have some lyrics all but drowned out by the heavy beat of various instruments, which seemed to be in competition with each other to see who could make the most noise. Just when you thought it could not get any worse, it did. The ending seemed to be a bit random I felt that if they played it again the finish would be totally different. Mercifully I only heard it the once.

Times New Viking – Move To California (Matador Records)

Powerful  guitar intro paves the way to a great rock number, if only  it had been one. Heavy instrumental threatens to drown the vocals. Vocalist struggling to make them selves heard, pity they do not have a voice for singing. Hope these are better live than on record.

The Drums – Lets Go Surfing (Moshi Moshi)

This song I felt, does for surfing what lions do for limping wildebeests. If I felt that to surf I would have to put up with that repetitive racket I would rather take up carrier bag collecting.  Not one for my stocking. Please.

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Links

Dead To Me’s 2nd album, ‘African Elephants’ is out now through Fat Wreck Chords. Get it here.

Somehow Mumford & Sons are signed to Island. I’ve never heard of them. Their debut, also titled ‘Sigh No More’ can be found here.

The xx released their cryptically titled debut ‘xx‘ through Young Turks, check it. Great album art guys, must have taken you all weekend huh?

Noisy bastards, A Place To Bury Strangers chucked out ‘Exploding Head’ their 2nd full length on Mute in October.

Times New Viking released their 4th album, ‘Born Again Revisited’ on Matador Records around the end of September time.

The Drums debut single/ep/thing came out in September at some point I think. The Moshi Moshi site is being weird. Find it here.

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Intro – Ross
Main – Mad Mac

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Coming soon:

Million Dead Retrospective
Dillinger Four (live!)
Large Hadron Collider Cake Making
Golf Sale