In the key scene of the 1997 film that takes its name from the quote, Jack Nicholson's Melvin Udall remarks to fellow patients populating the purgatory of his psychiatrist's waiting room, "What if this is as good as it gets?" It is an unsettling and even disorienting idea, that what you have and what you are, your construction of your self, are unlikely to ever again change for the better. But (thankfully, as it makes this painfully protracted metaphor work) Mr. Udall does change, and grow, spurred by renewed self-awareness and a revitalized sense of self. Far from being a condemnation to a static, flat existence, a revelation such as Udall's can be freeing. That weightless feeling of revelation-fueled freedom powers the tremendous new long-player from Birmingham, England guitar-pop titans Johnny Foreigner.
Johnny Foreigner, of course, was at nothing like Udall's dead-end prior to the release of Mono No Aware, its fifth album. Quite to the contrary, we've often referred to the four as England's greatest band, and it has created one of the most enviable catalogs in independent rock music, ever. But -- as co-founder and guitarist Alexei Berrow told Upset Magazine here earlier this year -- the veteran act has had to come to terms with its station within the pop music firmament, and now eschews focusing on negative externals and orients itself toward simply being the best band it can be for a frothing fan base cultivated with great care over the last decade.
Call it real life (births, deaths and near-deaths), call it maturity (marriage, parenthood): whatever "it" is, it has caught up with Johnny Foreigner, but none of it has blunted the legendary band's fire and passion [excised refutation of Neil Young's tired binary]. Indeed, the quartet's new set is invigorated by and celebrates the stuff of life, from Mr. Berrow's opening incantation/confession/deep insidery reference -- the Udall moment, if you will -- "it stings to admit, I can't foresee a day when we buy speedboats from this," to the ensuing recitation of his recent brush with mortality ("literally centimetres away from death," he told Upset) in the instant classic "Undevestator" (which, as we noted here, would seem to present the inverse of "Devestator," the closing number of the band's triumphant fourth LP You Can Do Better) and onward through the collection's 11 songs. Chief songwriter Berrow doubles down on incorporating -- deftly, pellucidly -- autobiography into the music ("...it's lucky sadness triggers the songs..."), making the stuff of life part and parcel of the band's capital A Art using a mature lens whose poignancy springs from the album's titular concept.
There is an astonishing amount of detail packed into its briskly paced 35 minutes, yet Mono No Aware succeeds in every direction. There are the blitzkrieging singles and should-be singles that are Johnny Foreigner's stock-in-trade, such as the brilliant rager "If You Can't Be Honest, Be Awesome" and fiery "The X and the O," respectively. Other successes are perhaps more subtle but substantially more exciting. Even 10 years on the band continues to best itself in terms of songcraft, adding progressive flair to a genre which -- let's be honest -- too often gets to coast on the right chords, the correct pedals. The brightly burning centerpiece of the record is the wild, vivid and deconstructed anthem "Our Lifestyles Incandescent," whose verses feature thrilling vocal arrangements structured around the voice of Chicago polymath Nnamdi Ogbonnaya. Indeed, impressive vocal arrangements are a hallmark of the set.
Johnny Foreigner even weaves intricate and beautiful sonic detail into its bangers on Mono No Aware, as in the final, orchestral section of the aforementioned "If You Can't Be Honest" (which touts strings and horns arranged by the great Nick Cox, formerly of Sheffield, England progressive pop luminaries Screaming Maldini and now out under his own shingle as a composer/producer/arranger). Mono No Aware closes with a sublime fade-out, largely along a sustained low D before the chord progression resolves, a terrifically smart echo of the delicate notes of the aforementioned "Mounts Everest." The effect, for the put-it-on-Spotify-and-put-it-on-repeat generation anyway, is of a dream starting over every time the crushing, sparkling ballad "Decants The Atlantic" -- which is among the greatest (and most self-aware) songs in a Johnny Foreigner oeuvre rife with sublime album closers -- slips beneath the proverbial waves and is reborn with "Mounts Everest." It's magical sequencing compounding brilliant songwriting.
Despite having a decade under its collective belt, not to mention four long-players and a dizzying number of singles and EPs, Mono No Aware is completely devoid of complacence, and perhaps this is why Johnny Foreigner could never find itself in Udall's tight spot in the first place (remember Udall, from the first paragraph?). Instead, the record celebrates perseverence and a career staked out largely on the band's own terms (especially when it mattered). The album was released Friday by the venerable Alcopop! Records in the UK and in the U.S. by Philadelphia's Lame-O Records. The domestic LP is pressed to pink media and is available in a limited edition of 300 pieces, which can be purchased right here. UK fans or dedicated fans willing to shell out for jazzy imports have a broader array of purchase options. In addition to a traditional compact disc of vinyl 12", bundles are available which deliver the music alongside your choice of a t-shirt, posters by guitarist Lewes Herriot and Irene Zafra, some sort of movie script dealie, badges, and yet more posters (there are 10 posters relating to songs on the album, and true heads flush with cash can get the 10-poster Royale With Cheese bundle right here). UK vinyl is an edition of 200 blue pieces and 500 orange pieces, and by the time you read these words the blue may have sold out. That's what you get for ignoring our advice Friday morning. Stream Mono No Aware via the Sporkify embed below.
>> It snowed here in Boston Sunday, a sure sign that the inevitable seasonal change is coming. But from the standpoint of the blog, there has been even more striking change of late among the constellations of indie rock acts the blog champions. In recent months we've seen Clicky Clicky faves Young Adults and Soccer Mom call it a day, and two additional hometown favorites, The Hush Now and Varsity Drag, are going on hiatus and departing for the opposite coast, respectively. The number of bands shutting down or changing venue feels like an almost generational sea change, and we're left wondering who will be our new obsessions? That feeling was compounded last week with the announcement that Sheffield, England-based indie pop savants Screaming Maldini were hanging up their proverbial boots for good. The act -- then just a trio -- first breeched our radar about six years ago with an email from Maldini mastermind Nick Cox, who invited us to have a listen to hyerpop gems including an early version of the tune "The Extraordinary." The song would later help anchor the band's mind-bending 2010 EP And The Kookaburra, which was released by Oxford indie powerhouse Alcopop!, and additional EPs and an impressive self-titled full-length followed. The band announced early this year a monthly series of free songs, one which we hoped would culminate with some sort of album announcement. But, alas, Screaming Maldini had other ideas. In a statement on its Tumblr last week, the now-sextet stated it would play its final show at Queen's Social Club in Sheffield Dec. 5, with Laurel Canyons supporting. There are a few more installments of the monthly song series to roll out yet, including this month's: a cover of fellow Sheffielders Pulp's "Last Day Of The Miners' Strike." The tune was the only new track included on Pulp's 2002 hits collection titled Hits, oddly enough, and it tells the tale of a labor struggle in the UK three decades ago. One that, Wikipedia helpfully points out, didn't end well for our brothers and sisters in the labor movement. Screaming Maldini's is an appropriately solemn and somber rendition, shuffling drums, slowly rolling piano chords and a strong vocal from Gina Walters, whose exhortations to "lay your burden down" are chilling given the context. Stream the tune below via the embed. We're also including a stream of the band's transcendent pop ballad "I Know That You Know That I Would Wipe Away The Snowflake From Your Eye," because, well, it encapsulates the magic, romance and beauty that came to the band with such startling ease. We don't expect we've heard the last from Mr. Cox, Ms. Walters and the rest of the Maldini gang -- they are just too supremely talented to dissolve into shadow once the stage lights are cut. But, for now, tip a 40 for Screaming Maldini, maximalist pop collosus: they fought the good fight, they transported us to a better place with their music.
>> While the recent news surrounding Birmingham, England-based ambient guitar-pop project Mutes was that it has transmogrified into a full-band enterprise (featuring Johnny Foreigner drummer/Fridge Poetry mastermind Junior Elvis Washington Laidley on the cans, no less), the project's latest release -- a beautifully stirring and delicate EP titled No One Is Nowhere -- remains a solo affair. The seven-song collection wraps ethereal electric guitar loops around gritty acoustic guitar playing, and lays over top James Brown's affecting and spectral tenor. The overall effect is impressionist and wistful, and we stand by our initial comparisons to The Feelies and Flying Saucer Attack, although there is certainly more of the latter here on this new collection than the former. Indeed, the longest tune of the set, the enchanting, six-minute-plus song "Horror," completely eschews recognizable acoustic guitar -- as well as trad song structure -- and instead presents a prismatic mirage of processed and looped melodies and feedback. The gauzy (and even shoegazey) new compositions place a lot of the emphasis on the first-rate melodies and deep zones Mr. Brown is able to conjure. We expect this release may be the last relatively understated collection from Mutes, as all signs point to Mutes 2.0 being a more dynamic and muscular affair. No One Is Nowhere is available as a bundle that includes a Lewes Herriot-designed t-shirt and digital download, and also as a simple standalone download, both of which can be order from Mutes' Bandcamp wigwam right here. Mutes' next live date will be a show Nov. 14 with Clicky Clicky faves Burning Alms at The Oobleck in Birmingham, and we expect that will be quite a good time. Stream all of the tremendous No One Is Nowhere via the embed below, and click through to purchase.
>> Vancouver-based chillwave producer Ancient Babes' latest track "Atlantic Avenue/Street" may have a somewhat inscrutable title, but it is otherwise a slam dunk. Nostalgic and icy and beautiful, the song has the emotional immediacy of a vintage John Hughes soundtrack selection, with pulsing synths underpinning cool, measured vocals. While the rhythm and "bass" tracks in the verses are somewhat plodding and monolithic, something about the airy atmosphere and chilled vocals makes the song blow by fast -- its end always comes too soon and as a surprise. Indeed, the greatest surprise is the song's quiet final 15 seconds, during which the synths and electronic beats recede to reveal what sounds like hidden piano and guitar tracks, which twinkle briefly and then wink out like dead stars almost as quickly as they are uncovered. We suppose that aforementioned surprise is ultimately a sign of a great pop song, and we will be interested to hear what Ancient Babes is able to conjure next. Stream "Atlantic Avenue/Street" via the embed below, and click through to download the track. We last wrote about Ancient Babes at the beginning of the year here, when the band had just issued its dark and dreamy Futuristic Demons EP. While we weren't looking, the highlight of that short set -- a tune called "Occult Commando" -- was given the NSFW video treatment early this past summer. Check the video for the cut out right here.
>> Based on the math and the recurrent wringing of hands/gnashing of teeth about Facebook page views, roughly 95% of Clicky Clicky Facebook page readers missed our trumpeting there of last week's long-awaited announcement about the pending release of Soccer Mom's full-length debut. Which is quite a long sentence. But, indeed, this is finally, finally happening. The Boston shoegaze giants' titanic first long player is a self-titled, nine-song collection that will be released by 100m Records May 1 as an LP, CD and digital download. As for the music, Soccer Mom presents an impressively realized set of songs, songs that balance delicately the dueling guitars of co-fronters Dan Parlin and William Scales. Texture is a concept the band has championed for years, but the real stars of the new set are the finer melodies, and the distinct (but not stifling) framing these recordings provide (as opposed to the volatile maelstrom of the band's live performances). We don't want to say more than that, as we'll have a complete review of the full record in a few weeks. But it is coming, with all of its bad magic and transformative loss. Ardent fans will note that some of the new songs are already in the wild, with early versions of "No One Left" and "Hideaway Sands" appearing here at Foundwaves last summer, and today here, where "Sundown Syndrome" and "Orejas" were debuted by Allston Pudding. Soccer Mom's catalog to date also includes a vinyl single, the colossal 10"You Are Not Going To Heaven, and last year's desperate and desolate digital single "Brides" b/w "A Canoe Shy." There is as of yet no pre-order information for Soccer Mom, but we've seen evidence that physical copies of the record exist, so all in due time, my pretties... The record will be feted May 3 at Great Scott with a release show featuring the staggering slate of support acts Bedroom Eyes, Infinity Girl and Palehound. For now, how about taking a listen to The Mom's brilliant cover of Lilys' "Ginger," from last year's Clicky Clicky comp? It does a body good.
>> Sheffield, England-based indie pop geniuses Screaming Maldini have loosed to the wilds of the Interzizzles the third in its mysterious and apparently monthly series of free downloads, an effort now dubbed #monthlymaldiniXII. The latest track is the anxious, dreamy ballad "Abyssinia," in which singer Gina Maldini passionately entreats, fiercely fends off desperation. The tune is dark and dynamic, raising itself up from plodding piano chords onto the back of thumping percussion and gang vocals in the chorus. "Abyssinia" carries the sextet's characteristically deft arrangements and sophisticated harmonies, and draws on its familiar horns and key changes, but the compositional skill, a Maldini hallmark, makes the song feel newer and fresher, even among the act's impressive repertoire. Not only did Gina perform the lead vocal of the track, she also wrote and directed the video for the accompanying clip, which you can watch right here. Last month the sextet issued "Bearings," the second tune of #monthlymaldiniXII, which can still be heard right here. This month finds Screaming Maldini heading to Japan for the first time, to support the recent release into that market of the band's stirring self-titled full-length (which we reviewed here a year ago). Two tunes from Screaming Maldini charted in the Tokyo Hot 100, a very respectable achievement for the Sheffield six. We're holding out hope that at the end of the 12-month exercise that is #monthlymaldiniXII there is a physical release of some sort. Call us old-fashioned. And after you're done doing that, listen to "Abyssinia" via the Soundcloud embed below.
>> Is upstate New York having a moment? It's probably always having a moment, right? But, anyway, obv. now-act Perfect Pussy hails from Syracuse, noise-rock upstarts What Moon Things are poised to make a statement and break out of verdant New Paltz later this year, and now comes Routine Involvements, an act that cultivates hooky, crunchy guitar pop from its base of operations in Rochester. Let us consult a map: oh yes, there it is, physically even further west than Syracuse. But sonically -- at least based on the new song "Faux Affections" -- Routine Involvements are considerably more west. That is, if you want to go ahead and compare the four-year-old act (which was formerly known as Stereophone) -- as many likely will -- to Weezer circa the first two albums. The Rochester trio's latest effort is the Future Days EP, which will be released on cassette later this month by Dadstache Records. The six-song set includes the aforementioned "Faux Affections," which follows its chugging bass line and palm-muted guitars through several logical steps, none of which shock, but all of which add up to a bracing bit of scruffy pop. Choruses are big, alluring feedback pools across the floor of the second verse, calm if tense vocals explode along with the guitars in the final thirty seconds. It's a great song, and we're eager to hear more of them from this rock combo. At present there is no information about ordering Future Days at the Dadstache online storefront, but if you keep your eye on that there link we expect it is just a matter of time. For now, stream "Faux Affections" below.
>> The curious hints that popped up this past week did little to prepare us for the massive return of Sheffield, England-based ultrapop savants Screaming Maldini, whose new, Afropop-tinged tune "Soweto" is as strong a single as the sextet has ever released. The chorus is so uplifting and potent that it completely absconds with the second half of "Soweto," elevating without pause on the strength of the thumping 7/4 tempo and the jaw-dropping vocal arrangements and harmonies. Singer Gina Walters is at her most formidable and enchanting in the song's final moments, playing off the singing of Maldini mastermind Nick Cox to turn in a performance that tops even her singing on the last great Maldini single, 2012's "Summer Somewhere." The visual promotion of the single, we should note, is rather enticing, suggesting some sort of espionage or archeological theme. While no full-length has been announced, the single art labels "Soweto" as "3/12," which we'd venture means three of 12 of something, yeah? A photo on the Screaming Maldini Facebook appears to be a bill of lading of some sort from "The Maldini Institute," with the subhead "Miscellaneum Of Wonders." Could the latter be the title of a forthcoming collection? We shall keep our fingers crossed. Screaming Maldini is set to embark on a small strand of UK house shows in February. Its self-titled debut LP was issued a year ago by HipHipHip in France and we reviewed it right here. Stream "Soweto," and then stream it again and again, via the Bandcamp embed below.
>> Birmingham, England noise-pop luminaries Burning Alms Friday released to the wilds of the Interzizzles a second taster from its long-awaited debut full-length, In Sequence. The bracing brace of songs, "So Unreal" b/w "The Pastoral," highlight the opposing forces that pull at Burning Alms' songwriting, as "So Unreal" bashes and pops through 150 or so thrilling seconds of Swervedriver-styled guitars and punching percusion, while the acoustic ballad "The Pastoral" embraces its titular adjective, establishing a gentle, waltz-timed reverie with more subdued vocals and quiet dynamics during an even more brief 100 seconds. The tunes -- which the band describes as being part of a two-track EP, despite the fact that there is nothing "extended play" here -- are available as a paid digital download or stream via Bandcamp and Soundcloud. Within and without the context of the band and its related projects (Calories and Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam), "So Unreal" and "The Pastoral" are compelling listening, and make us all the more eager to hear In Sequence. In December we wrote here about "Matadors," the blunt and aggressive first single from the pending collection. No specific release date or other information about In Sequence has been proferred by the band (which, as we've previously reported, consists of John Robert Biggs and Thomas Whitfield with former Sunset Cinema Club guy and recording-engineer-to-the-stars Dom James), although the trio maintains it will be issued in 2014. This Facebook status indicates a release is moving one step closer, as the set is presently being mastered. Watch a video for "So Unreal" right here, and stream or download both tunes via the Bandcamp embed below.
When we sit around and think about what the inside of Screaming Maldini fronter Nick Cox's head must look like -- something one does after listening to great quantities of his brilliant, Sheffield, England-based sextet's euphoric, exuberant pop -- we imagine something like those bizarre animations Terry Gilliam contributed to "Monty Python's Flying Circus." Indeed, Mr. Cox and his cohort's music is filled with wonder, whimsy, and a feeling that the possibilities are limitless ("but sometimes it's glorious / and sometimes this city shines on us," so goes a verse to the single "Summer Somewhere"). And so it was with no small relief that finally, some four years after first popping onto our radar at Clicky Clicky, Screaming Maldini finally delivered unto us this week a full-length debut, simply titled Screaming Maldini. The arresting collection bursts with the band's singular brand of maximalist, kaleidoscopic pop and features a dozen prog- and vintage exotica-tinged tunes that are deftly composed and meticulously arranged, from the five-part vocal harmonies to the bright, detailed arrangements of guitars, keys, horns and percussion. The record proves definitively and twelve times over that, for Screaming Maldini, no detail is too small, no melodic idea too big: there are more ideas in one of its songs than most bands generate over the course of a career.
The well-sequenced collection touts an inexorable rush and push that draws listeners in and speeds them along, even across a sea of odd time signatures and some charming but more downtempo ballads. With considerable pomp (but never pompous), Screaming Maldini opens with the latest single, the euphoric, exuberant "The Awakening." It is one of four tunes that will be new to ardent fans, as the balance of the songs were previously issued as singles, b-sides or EP tracks. That said, there is a cohesiveness to the full-length; we wouldn't go so far as to say the collection is greater than the sum of its parts, but we will say that its parts do make for a brilliant whole. The order is front-loaded with the singles "The Awakening," "Life In Glorious Stereo," and the aforementioned "Summer Somewhere," then jumps to new recordings of two tunes from the band's triumphant And The Kookaburra EP [preview], "Secret Sounds" and "I Know That You Know That I Would Wipe The Snowflake From Your Eye." This latter track, somehow never a single, is one of the most sublime in the band's catalog, and features some incredible lyrical pay-offs including the drawn-out, titular declaration. Top it off with the gentle chorus, quietly urging "slow down, slow down" amid muted horn and staccato guitar, and you've got classic Maldini brilliance.
After a pair of stirring ballads -- including the amazing, Gina Walters-sung "Minor Alterations" -- the album closes with the electric, Latin-tinged hand-clapper "Four Hours From Now," which is seemingly equal parts disco, salsa and football anthem. The wide-eyed number emphasizes once more the band's almost unparalleled chops and vim. Screaming Maldini was released Monday by the sextet's French label HipHipHip in a limited edition of white vinyl LPs, as well as on CD and download; the art on the LP and CD packs are rendered in 3D and ship with 3D glasses. Screaming Maldini launch tomorrow night its biggest UK tour yet to support the album release, and for the first time will be bringing along their own sound man -- so look out UK! The tour wraps in a few weeks with a homecoming show at The Harley March 2. Hopefully fans won't have to wait four years for the next one!
>> Sheffield, England-based pop savants Screaming Maldini have at long last announced a release date for its long-awaited, hotly anticipated debut long-player. The sextet's self-titled set will be issued Feb. 4 by its French label HipHipHip. The 12-song collection will be released on CD, digital and white 180g vinyl. Art on the physical products is in 3D, so 3D glasses are provided. The vinyl issue is a limited edition of 500 pieces that also carries a download card. Screaming Maldini collects choice numbers from the band's repertoire, although we expect all the tracks are newly recorded. Meaning it could be fairly interesting for detail-nerdy fans to compare the LP versions of "The Extraordinary" and "Secret Sounds" to the free downloads the band emailed 'round way back in 2009. But of even greater interest will be the four new songs on the record, "The Awakening," "The Dreamer," "Stutter" and "Four Hours From Now," none of which the heads at Clicky Clicky HQ recall having heard in the past. Screaming Maldini launch a three-week tour Feb. 8 that wraps with what we can only imagine will be an amazing homecoming show March 2. The band recently shot a video for a forthcoming single from the album, which we think may be "The Awakening," but don't hold us to that. You can stream four songs from the collection, all of which we've written about previously at Clicky Clicky if memory serves, via the Bandcamp embed below. Get your pre-order on right here.
>> Seam was a crucial band for us back in the day: when the band's LP The Problem With Me came out we listened to it about 6,000 times. We lost track of what the band and founder Soo Young Park did after about 1998 or so, but if our spidey sense and Google Translate is correct, Mr. Park has just resurfaced as part of the new, transnational three-piece Bored Spies. The act is fronted by Singaporean singer and guitarist Cherie Ko, and also includes ex-Bitch Magnet dude Orestes Morfin and someone credited as Panther Lau, formerly of Seam. According to OtherSounds.sg, Ms. Ko used to play with acts Obedient Wives Club and Pastel Power. If you run Bored Spies' Korean-language web site through Google Translate, Mr. Lau is revealed to be "Sang-Youn Park." We don't think it is too big a leap to assume that is Seam's Mr. Park. All of which is just a distraction from the beautiful, spacey and emotive guitar music that Bored Spies create. The band's debut single "Summer 720" b/w "æ²™é¼ E" was recorded last summer, released today, and is now available for sale via Bandcamp. There is apparently a physical single available somewhere, but we can't turn up the information for it. Grab the stream of both tracks below, and then if you can assure yourself that $2.22 in Singaporean dollars isn't going to break you, we suggest you buy that stuff right up. Bored Spies play two gigs in Barcelona at the end of May, including one as part of the highly touted Primavera Sound festival, and are expected to tour the U.S. in August. Pre-production for a full-length record is reportedly already underway.
We've been writing about it forweeks, and the day has finally arrived: today "Summer, Somewhere," the triumphant second single from Screaming Maldini's hotly anticipated self-titled debut, is released to the world. Said release was heralded at the weekend by the video embedded atop this item, a wholly arresting and appropriately wide-screened visual for the stirring track. There's a lot to like, from the entrancing performance of Gina Maldini singing the lead to the dynamic cuts and editing that pace the gripping clip. The natural scenery is impossibly amazing, and creates a charged setting -- on a bluff next to a fogged-in canyon -- for the band to jam out the song's chiming final moments. You'll watch it again and again, to ponder the meaning of the ol' switcharoo, to get a closer look at Gina's nifty chronograph earrings, and to feel that hook hit you again and again.
Despite our prior reportage, there are some thing we have not yet told you about the Sheffield, England pop maximalists' single. First, it contains yet another version of the band's amazing early track "The Extrordinary," which long-time fans will recall was one of the earliest tracks circulated by the band way back in 2009, back when we were all young and not exhausted. The Sheffield sextet held a remix contest from which it chose entries to include on the new EP, and the winning creations are splendid. First, Rosie E (the nomme de remix of English comedian Matt Berry, he of "IT Crowd" and something called "Mighty Boosh") returns a punchy and stuttering iteration of the title track. That is backed up by a denser, more chilled remix from Fridge Poetry, the recently commissioned electropop sideline of totally righteous Johnny Foreigner drummer Junior Elvis Washington Laidley; we previously wrote about Fridge Poetryhere. A radio edit of "Summer, Somewhere" rounds out the single, the entirety of which you can stream at Bandcamp here and via the embed below.
The full-lengthed Screaming Maldini is slated for release in early 2013 via the band's English and French labels, the inimitable Alcopop! and HipHipHip respectively, both of whom co-released the single this day. "Summer, Somewhere" is available digitally and on very limited edition CD for 2.50 pounds sterling. Tomorrow, which is already today in England, folks (that's how this thing works, don't ya know?) the Sheffield sextet travels down to XFM London to record an acoustic session with John Kennedy, something we hope we'll be hearing more of soon.
>> Earthquake Party! is back with three new songs spanning four minutes total, a brutalist pop assault that is somehow impossibly more raucous and frantic than the Boston trio's dynamite Vs. Pizza three-song cassette of a year ago. While the young band does not have a large catalogue of original recordings, it has certainly maximized them: Vs. Pizza was followed in the spring by a convulsing, electrifying video for its lead tune "Pretty Little Hands." The pressurized, careening kineticism of that video persists on the new, triple A-side cassette Let's Rock, OK?, which features the blistering hot numbers "Little Pet," "Hello Weirdo" and "One More Night Could Ruin Us." "Little Pet" recalls vintage Slumberland Records acts, but all three tracks earn the A-side demarcation as the Soundcloud embed below attests. The songs were recorded live to two-track, half-inch tape Aug. 25 at Allston's Mad Oak Studios, and the energy level is so high the tape can barely contain them. Let's Rock, OK? is available in a limited edition of 34 pieces being sold on the trio's current minitour, and we imagine those cassettes are long gone. The imprint Mystic Steamship Co. will sell a second edition of 100 cassettes plus digital download from Oct. 5. Earthquake Party! plays a homecoming show at Great Scott this coming Tuesday, then unwinds another short skein of dates skipping down to Atlanta and back in early October, before returning home once more for shows at The Rosebud in Somerville Oct. 13 and at Great Scott Oct. 18. All that touring costs money, and Earthquake Party! are running a very modest Kickstarter campaign to amass funds for gas, food and lodging. Premiums start for backers pledging at least $5, and run the gamut from a personal postcard from the road to an entire meal delivered to you. Check it out here, and toss some scratch the band's way if you can to help guarantee they'll actually make it back, yeh?
>> Maybe in the "Punk Rock Academy" conceived by the late, lamented Atom And His Package, Pile's new single, the curiously twangy and tense post-hardcore bash-and-pop "Prom Song," would actually be played at the prom. The displays of power in Boston-based Pile's tune gradually obliterate the swaying verses and serene, melodic passages under a pummeling of guitar, bass and drums that hits like an animated .gif of a tsunami: serially, relentlessly. As with the old chestnut "Stairway To Heaven," prom-goers would have to sort out what to do when "the fast section" (or in the case of Pile's jam, the bass-chugging, cymbal-smashing, lead guitar-lashing final 90 seconds) commences, but that's why they invented punch bowls, people. "Prom Song" is taken from Pile's forthcoming third long-player Dripping, which Exploding In Sound will release Oct. 23. The record will be available as a download, digipak CD and a limited edition of 500 vinyl pieces (the first 100 orders will be fulfilled with white vinyl, and apparently the white vinyl is nearly sold out). The quartet rounded out a tour earlier this week in Philadelphia, but it has three Massachusetts dates in the coming weeks: Great Scott in Boston Sept. 27; O'Brien's in Boston Oct. 13; and Sierra Grille in Northampton Oct. 18. A tour to support the release of Dripping commences Oct. 20 with Pile's appearance at the much-anticipated Gimme Tinnitus / Exploding In Sound CMJ Showcase. Pile's debut LP Jerk Routine was issued in 2009; the second LP Magic Isn't Real materialized the following year.
>> What this complete insanity coming from the Screaming Maldini camp? Apparently the second single taken from its forthcoming self-titled full-length debut for the song "Summer Somewhere" will be released via "uber-limited-edition sunglasses!" This according to a recent Facebook status update. The venture has Alcopop! Records proprietor Jack 'Pop's fingerprints all over it, don't it? We've previously written about the single here, so no need for us to reiterate. But seriously? A single on (or via, anyway) limited edition sunglasses! Very impressive indeed, lads and lasses, very impressive.
>> Cambridge, Mass.-based dream pop trio Night Fruit today unleashed a new single "Human Touch," and no, old people, it's not a Bruce Springsteen cover (although, if you'll permit the aside, the theme is similar, although The Boss could not foresee the dramatic change in the mediation of human interaction the Cantabrigians concern themselves with here). The tune curiously constructs widescreen romance from stabs of icy '80s synth, serial arabesques of bright melodic guitar and deliciously boxy drumming. Foregrounded, of course, is fronter Amanda Dellevigne's unmistakable and bell-clear alto. All told, the composition is more spare than the band's break-out, stand-alone single "Dark Horse," which was released in December, but no less affecting. "Human Touch" is the first single from a planned full-length debut slated for release in early 2013, and Night Fruit is supporting the former release with a week of live dates in California, which we believe represents the band's first foray to the west coast (Night Fruit toured the midwest in April and the northeast more recently). The new single was recorded and mixed by Night Fruit drummer Luke Sullivan and the lush, sensuous accompanying video embedded above was filmed and edited by Barry Marino (better known, for now anyway, as the drummer for Boston's mighty The Hush Now). We love how Mr. Marino makes his lighting dance, and rubs the effect up against shifting focus from the lens. Night Fruit play a tour homecoming show at O'Brien's Sept. 29, and we suspect that will be a very good show, indeed. In the meantime, download an MP3 of "Human Touch" at Soundcloud right here.
09.15 -- Los Angeles, CA -- Silverlake Lounge
09.16 -- Long Beach, CA -- Que Sera
09.17 -- Long Beach, CA -- Harvelle's
09.18 -- Los Angeles, CA -- The York
09.19 -- San Diego, CA -- Soda Bar
09.20 -- San Francisco, CA -- Thee Parkside
09/22 - Los Angeles, CA - Permnanent Records
09/29 - Boston, MA - O’Brien's Pub
>> Sheffield, England-based pop savants Screaming Maldini have announced the second single from its forthcoming full-length debut will be for the song "Summer Somewhere." Fans may recall the video we posted here early last month of a live performance of the band a capella-bombing a local thrift store with the characteristically asymmetrical pop confection. We are very eager to hear the song with fully realized production, and Alcopop Records and HipHipHip Records will oblige, issuing the single Oct. 15 in the U.K. and France respectively. Presumably the long-awaited, self-titled full-length album we've been waiting for and talking about since April will follow not long after. The single for "Summer Somewhere" will be rounded out by two remixes selected from among those the band is soliciting from fans. The creators of the chosen remixes will be offered slots DJing at a launch party for the single Screaming Maldini is planning for Oct. 13; the event will also feature a DJ set from Oxford legends Foals and a suppporting live set from locals Cats:For:Peru. There's much to anticipate coming out of the Maldini camp this fall, so you'd best just sit down and start anticipating.
What an amazing time for indie rock. Each year we take issue with proclamations that any given set of 365 days was better or worse than any other set of 365 days, but we were very excited by what we heard this year, and what we think we'll be hearing next year. Musical trends ignore the calendar, of course, but we feel like in 2011 a lot of music is going to be informed by sounds characteristic of our favorite bands of the early '90s. Just a hunch, and this isn't the place to make that argument, but we feel it. We're excited. For now, we'd like to celebrate the 10 best records of 2010, by our humble estimation.
Long-time readers will be familiar with our ground rules from lists in prior years; here it is in a nut shell. We look at our ITunes play counts, we see what was played most, and those are our picks. Simple. Some related comments: Arcade Fire does not make it into our list, and probably should, or at least would have come close. We didn't connect with Neon Bible, and as bracing as Funeral was, we felt like it was over-wrought in places. But The Suburbs, released (as we are sure you know) in 2010, really spoke to us; we connected with the themes of adulthood, distance and alienation. But we listened to the disc a lot in our car, and plays in the car aren't captured in our rankings. Sorry Arcade Fire. Other records that certainly should be heard include Bettie Serveert's Pharmacy Of Love, Joie De Vivre's The North End and Tears Run Rings' Distance, just to name a few. So what did make the proverbial grade? Read below, and avail yourself of the many streams scraped from Soundcloud.
1. Los Campesinos! -- Romance Is Boring -- Wichita/Arts+Crafts
Heavier, denser, and more focused than all prior efforts, Romance Is Boring -- to use a hackneyed phrase we hate -- finds Los Campesinos! at the peak of its powers. We've grappled with how to articulate the strengths of the Cardiff-based octet's record all year. It doesn't necessarily have Los Camp!'s catchiest jams -- indeed there are things that drive us crazy about the record (what is that grinding sound laced through the mix in the verses of "In Medias Res?" Why is it there? It reminds us of how a song on A Ghost Is Born was supposed to represent Tweedy's migraines). But the songwriting, composition and production is fully realized, impervious and whole. We really wonder where the band can go from Romance Is Boring, because the record is flawless. The musicianship of the players has wrongly taken a critical back seat to fronter Gareth Campesinos!'s personality and (at times comical, at times harrowing) lyrics; that is understandable, but if you mentally strip the words out of this set it is still gripping. That said, Gareth's performances here are amazing, and none more so than the cataclysmic album closer "Coda: A Burn Scar In The Shape Of The Sooner State," where the devastating and searing final lyric "I can't believe I chose the mountains every time you chose the sea" makes for the most crushing moments in recorded music in 2010.
2. Walter Schreifels -- An Open Letter To The Scene -- Dine Alone/Big Scary Monsters
As we quipped in a recent episode of CompCon, if you told us in 1990 that Walter Schreifels would release our favorite record of 2010, and that it would be a largely acoustic pop affair, we'd have thought you were crazy. But, of course, it is true. Mr. Schreifels has crafted what is perhaps the most listenable, catchy collection of the year. The fact that he is working in a sonic vernacular that to us seemed very unlikely (since we haven't really followed Schreifels' career closely since Quicksand) underscores the amazing songwriting and performance chops at his command. In fact, the more unlikely the scenario, it seems, the more convincingly Schreifels succeeds. A song about pop rapper Lil' Kim? Called "The Ballad Of Lil' Kim?" Ridiculous, right? Wrong -- somehow our hero turns out a scrappy, yearning and wistful pop classic. A song eulogizing hardcore like it was a person, called "An Open Letter To The Scene," with lyrics including "at the hardcore funeral I cried and cried?" Ridiculous, right? Wrong. This song is awesome. As is the rest of An Open Letter To The Scene. Schreifels returns with a new Rival Schools record in 2011, and the first single is great, to be sure. But it will be a very tall order for it to be as good as An Open Letter To The Scene, which is, in a word, superlative.
We know what you're thinking. "Really? This unassuming, straightforward and sometimes a bit silly collection of pop-tinged hardcore?" To which our response is this: do not to make the mistake of underestimating the self-titled debut full-length from this Philly-based foursome. Everyone Everywhere is sneaky, just understated enough to not attract much attention, but the collection is perfectly paced, packed with hooks and Hoovers up all the right influences (The Promise Ring, Superchunk). In a way it's like those drinks that were just banned in the US that had booze and tons of caffeine. Everyone Everywhere wins with glorious guitars and big vocal melodies, which power both soaring choruses like that of "Raw Bar OBX 2002" and the dream-like reverie of "Obama House, Fukui Prefecture." It all adds up to something surprisingly irresistible.
Calories' hotly anticipated, but delayed sophomore set was certainly worth the wait. The perennially under-rated Birmingham, England-based power trio here delivers characteristically hooky, brawling post-punk anthems while expanding its sound to include additional textures and temperaments. "The Brink" clocks in at nearly seven minutes in length, challenging Calories' reputation for bluntness and brevity, and deconstructs into a motorik jam. Two pleasantly disorienting set pieces, "Basic Nature 1" and "Basic Nature 2," set off sections of Basic Nature and offer evidence that the trio can thrive outside its winning format for fist-banging shouters. Even so, the record's finest moments are not the singles or odd appendages, but rather the desperate quasi opener "You Could Be Honest" and the upbeat album cut "Even Stephens," which touts melody to spare, bludgeoning drumming and a brilliant sinewy lead guitar in the chorus. Basic Nature is all of your favorite things, only better.
5. Johnny Foreigner -- You Thought You Saw A Shooting Star But Yr Eyes Were Blurred With Tears And That Lighthouse Can Be Pretty Deceiving With The Sky So Clear And Sea So Calm -- Alcopop!
While we predictably loved this EP from our first listen, the more we listen the more we feel like we under-estimated You Thought You Saw A Shooting Star But Yr Eyes Were Blurred With Tears And That Lighthouse Can Be Pretty Deceiving With The Sky So Clear And Sea So Calm. The more we listen, the more we hear the themes, the hurt and the desperation. Opener "The Wind And The Weathervanes" ends serenading, its final 90 seconds a stirring and beautiful coda of feedback and strings that almost makes you forget the stinging admission that the narrator's ex-lover was probably right. The coda butts against the thrashing opening of "Who Needs Comment Boxes When You've Got Knives," which at first seems like a ham-fisted bit of sequencing until one realizes the discord is entirely the point. Indeed, the achievement of You Thought You Saw... is how well it conveys the discomfort of being in one's own skin, stewing in one's own thoughts ("this is how he'll spend forever with you...," "I wish I had a part in this...") when the world seems to be moving on without you. There is solace in the goofy, beat-driven and D Plan-referencing half of "Elegy For Post Teenage Living (Parts 1 and 2)," and even deliverance in the cymbal crash and guitar crash of the verses and conclusion of the song's front half. Whether considered in parts or as a whole, the EP is further evidence that Johnny Foreigner is among the best bands working today.
6. The Henry Clay People -- Somewhere On The Golden Coast -- TBD
Ah, the thrill of the perfect pure rock record. Time was you could count on The Hold Steady to deliver the sort of goods delivered here, but while that act has begun experimenting out of its comfort zone (actually quite successfully: Heaven Is Whenever is a sleeper record full of charm), The Henry Clay People have stuck with its son-of-the-son-of-The Replacements sound and attitude. Somewhere On The Golden Coast is chock-a-block with rootsy, narrative shouters, melodic and self-deprecating odes to slackerdom. As we said in our review (link below), the People spread their wings a little wider here, going beyond the bar room for atmospheric, textures and feedback on the standout "A Temporary Fix." Of course, there are still plenty of rockers, including the driving winner "Your Famous Friends." You need this record, and having a back-up copy ain't a bad idea, either.
While the early warning was that this was a difficult record that the band created for its own satisfaction, the fact is Transference is characteristically strong. Perhaps, as we speculated on CompCon, the message was supposed to convey that Spoon's newest collection wasn't likely to win over news fans, wasn't likely to cross over into the more broadly embraced radio formats. At any rate, Spoon fans bought the record and have probably reached the same conclusion we have -- Transference is a taut, economical and flawless record of minimalist indie rock. Fronter Britt Daniel's lyrics are a bit more impressionistic, and there are some entrancing production flourishes (mostly just expertly applied delays and reverbs), but there are no missteps here, just great songs you can dance to or drink beer along with. Win.
We didn't review this record from Glen Rock, New Jersey's finest indie punk quintet. Frankly, we saw no reason to draft anything after reading our friend and former bandmate Jim's review (link below). So while we haven't spent much time thinking critically about this record, doing so would have missed the point. Titus Andronicus' music is visceral, pounding with a desperate energy and exalted angst. The fact that there is a U.S. Civil War theme draped around the collection, the fact that fronter Patrick Stickles coopts and spins Springsteen lyrics to his own ends, doesn't dispel the immediacy of the driving guitars or hollered vocals, or the emotional punch of a Boston/Jersey long-distance relationship collapsing -- one Fung Wah bus ride at a time -- like so many arranged dominoes. While chronicling a crippling break-up, The Monitor never broods, but instead revels in the anguish and pain, celebrates the strife, and all the while rocks right along the precipice of forcefully strummed, bluntly chorded chaos.
9. Distractions -- Distractions -- Plus Tapes/Infinite Best
This selection for the year-end list reminds us of that snarky t-shirt that proclaims "I Listen To Bands That Don't Even Exist Yet." That's because, as it turns out, our number nine selection is kinda sorta not out yet. The collection is a self-titled cassette put out by a Chicago-based outfit called Distractions. Said cassette version was serviced digitally to bloggers at the beginning of the summer to build hype for a pending reissue from Infinite Best. However, due to other stuff coming up, Distractions, remixed and remastered by Dev from Twin Sister and now titled Dark Green Sea, is not due for release until Jan. 18, 2011. We find it hard to believe that the cassette version can be improved upon, as it is perhaps the most specifically evocative set among the 10 we list here. Distractions just sounds like it was made by a Zombies-influenced pop band that has worked the same subterranean bar room in a seaside town for a decade. The tunes -- often awash in reverb, organ-led and paired with a deep baritone lead vocal -- just sound murky, even with the sunshiney melodies. Even if the lead track "All Night" was the only song on there, the record would be worth whatever anybody would charge for it. And that "anyone" at this point is Midheaven, the price is $13 for the LP, and you should just buy the thing now, because it is awesome. Pre-order Dark Green Sea at the link below.
10. Screaming Maldini -- And The Kookaburra EP -- Alcopop!
Note to indie labels that are not Alcopop!: keep an eye on Alcopop!, because the small label has two entries on our year-end list, which means it is doing something right, and you are probably doing something wrong. Screaming Maldini's And The Kookaburra, in case you didn't know, is the best pure pop record of 2010 -- well, EP, anyway, as the collection touts only five songs. Imagine, if you will, that Spandau Ballet was cryogenically frozen at the height of its popularity and then reborn today as a prog-pop entity with embarrassingly excellent songwriting skills: this is Screaming Maldini. And The Kookaburra's first three songs are brilliant, but the gentle, wistful penultimate track "I Know That You Know That I Would Wipe Away That Snowflake From Your Eye" is the winner of the lot, covering lover's rock territory with its spine-tingling chorus and then -- in typical Maldini fashion -- going widescreen and panoramic and diorama and maparium into a dizzying crescendo of horns and distorted guitar. It's the song that all pop will be measured against going forward. Screaming Maldini will release a new EP Dec. 18, and the act has also completed a new video that we wrote about here Saturday.
Sheffield-based Screaming Maldini continues to blow us away with their nearly unrivaled talent for songcraft. And the sextet -- here abetted by director Jimmy Guy -- makes clever videos to boot. Enjoy their latest holiday offering, embedded supra. "Restless Hearts And Silent Pioneers" is the title track to an EP the Maldini will release 18 December via one of our favorite labels these days, U.K.-based Alcopop! Records. Pre-order the physical article from Alcopop! right here; the collection will also be available through the usual digital music storefronts.
Sometimes being in a different time zone from your favorite band cuts your way, and some days you find yourself chasing the news cycle because you are slaving at the day job while said band finally divulges closely guarded secrets. But perhaps you've been shackled to a desk and monitor yourself, in which case this is the news: Birmingham, England-based noise pop titans Johnny Foreigner announced today it "walk[ed] away from doing a third record with Best Before" and instead will issue its "next couple of releases" on the charming Alcopop! label, home to indie standouts including prog pop geniuses Screaming Maldini. Oxford-based Alcopop! will release in November a six-track Johnny Foreigner EP on 12" vinyl presently germinating under the working title There When You Need It. The trio will promote the 12" -- which it describes as "a schizoid collection of 6 songs that have no common theme apart from us thinking they fit together, like a photo scrapbook of summer adventures or some weird dream where the scenery changed and you didn't notice" -- with a U.K. tour supported by now-labelmates Stagecoach. The 12" package will also include a postcard for each song designed by longtime Johnny Foreigner visual collaborator Lewes Herriot, and the band also recently sent away to have made certain Grace And The Bigger Picture-themed badges Mr. Herriot designed some time ago. According to Johnny Foreigner's epic-lengthed missive here, three of the songs are in a drop-D tuning, and those were recorded by off-again, on-again producing type Dom James, and another of the songs is "probably the loudest we've ever been;" other songs were recorded in bedrooms.
Additionally, Johnny Foreigner promises next week to announce details of a years-in-the-making U.S. tour -- we can't wait. In other news, Johnny Foreigner put up for sale briefly today a run of 20 plush ghosties that can be seen here; the ghosts sold out in a half-hour, sadly, but the band has hinted at a second run. The ghosties came with lyrics, other stuff, and a download of a new track called "199x," which is "a sad new song we made especially for this project that you can't hear anywhere else." The song is unsurprisingly wonderful, but then actually it is also wonderful in surprising ways. Singer/guitarist Alexei Berrow takes a different, gentler, layered approach to delivering the lyric, the song is anchored by a few different piano tracks and mellow acoustic guitar and we think an unamplified electric guitar, and super minimal non-percussion. It is fragile and beautiful and it almost hurts to listen to it, and at the same time the track sounds fresh and like your oldest friend at the same time. An unqualified, stunning victory.
Holy mackerel, how did we miss this? We've raved about Sheffield, England-based prog pop consortium Screaming Maldini before, and we knew the stunning young sextet had filmed a video in February, but we're only now just seeing it. The clip, as astute headline readers have already gleaned, is for the song "Secret Sounds," one of the standout numbers from the band's excellent 2010 And The Kookaburra EP released on Alcopop [review here]. Last month Screaming Maldini posted four new tracks to its MySpace dojo, and we advise you to check them out posthaste, as they are characteristically brilliant. Here's "The Albatross" from the aforementioned EP; thanks to Saam at Faded Glamour for doing the original file upload.
Sheffield, England-based progressive pop geniuses Screaming Maldini finally issue their debut EP in mere days via the charming English indie Alcopop! Two of And The Kookaburra's five panoramic tracks were previously circulated to the Internerrrds as demos a year ago, as we reported here. The three heretofore unheard tracks on And The Kookaburra are no less impressive and exhibit additional range (there's quiet, there's heavy) and patience. Not only is the intricacy (by which we mean incredible ease at making 5/4 pop music) and musicality (by which we mean incredible ease at making tuneful progressive pop music) of Screaming Maldini's debut startlingly impressive, but also the production is remarkably pro sounding (in a good way) for an indie act. Further, the band produces a decidedly British sound (singer Nick Maldini's voice even approximates Paul Weller's, and later-period Jam is not an inappropriate reference point for Screaming Maldini in general).
We're here to tell you that if you were blown away by the Sheffield sextet's demos of "The Extraordinary" and "Secret Sounds" last year -- as you should have been -- just wait until you hear the mini-epic "I Know That You Know That I Would Wipe That Snowflake From Your Eye." It's mind-bogglingly good. Alcopop! has very kindly consented to our offering you the new version of "The Extraordinary" for download, so make with the clicking and start listening forthwith. To promote the EP, Screaming Maldini launch a small circuit of live engagements around England on the eve of the its release; the complete tour itinerary is below. Alcopop! is offering a deal to the first 20 or so who seek it that packages the EP along with a t-shirt for something like 10 pounds.
Screaming Maldini -- "The Extraordinary" -- And The Kookaburra [right click and save as] [pre-order And The Kookaburra from Alcopop right here]
02.21 -- The Grapes -- Sheffield 02.22 -- The Old Blue Last -- London 02.23 -- The Albert -- Brighton 02.24 -- The Labour Club -- Northampton 02.25 -- The Cellar -- Oxford
>> We're getting excited for chimp-rock standard bearers The Swirlies' show Saturday night at the Middle East, and it would seem the Internet is also in the grips of a minor bout of Swirlies-a-mania. No fewer than three outlets previewed the upcoming shows Thursday, including Philebrity and Boston's Weekly Dig and Bostonist publications. We have an operative based in San Francisco who flew east to catch two of the shows, last night's set at Johnny Brenda's in Philly -- apparently The Swirlies' first show in five years -- and the show Saturday. We're hopeful that said operative will file a review with us that we'll try to get online Friday night. Saturday will not be our first time seeing the band -- we think it will be the third. The first time was at the Indie 500 festival in South Jersey in 1993, and then we saw them in a West Philly basement sometime between then and 1996. Even so, if our recollection is correct, we've never seen The Swirlies get through an entire performance, so anticipation runs high. As Philebrity points out, a large portion of the band's catalogue, including the indispensible Taaang! releases, are available for free download at the band's site here. To get you started, here are a couple of our favorite tracks from the excellent What To Do About Them, which was released in 1992.
Swirlies -- "Chris R." -- What To Do About Them Swirlies -- "Upstairs" -- What To Do About Them [right click and save as] [a whole lotta free Swirlies here]
>> It's been a month since we first got an email from Nick of the Sheffield, England-based maximalist pop trio Screaming Maldini, and we're somewhat surprised that it has taken so long for us to make mention of the band's orchestral tunes. Not completely surprised, however: Screaming Maldini is doing something fairly singular by mixing the widescreen ADD tendencies of Scritti Politti and electropop savant Max Tundra with the vintage soundtrack work collected on that The Sound Gallery comp -- and then there's a bit of Frank Zappa thrown in as well. It's quite difficult to peg. But we think you will be completely sold, as we were, by the wondrous tune "The Extraordinary," which we're posting below. There's not a lot of information about Screaming Maldini out there, but the other blogs [ploing!bonk!] that have picked up on the band note the trio are students and certain of them are former members of an act called Situationists; they spent a lot of the summer of 2008 in a Sheffield recording studio; the act is currently unsigned and prepping a touring unit for live dates. Highly recommended. Download away!
Screaming Maldini -- "The Extraordinary" [right click and save as] [stream more amazing cuts at Screaming Maldini's MySpace here]
>> And one more from the U.K., Glasgow specifically, to round out the week. We are thrilled by the scritchy, post-punk sounds of Bricolage, one of the most recent signings to resurgent indie label Slumberland. A label, we might add, that has one of the best rosters going right now. Bricolage, a quartet, has released four singles since forming in late 2005, and Slumberland will issue the band's self-titled full-length April 14. The obligatory promo MP3 is "Turn U Over," an arresting up-tempo slab of indie pop that was released as a single in November. The tune may not be as strong as the fireball "Footsteps," the band's debut single released by Creeping Bent which reminds us of The English Beat and Haircut 100. You can watch the video for "Footsteps" right here, and as it turns out there is a fair amount of Bricolage videos at YouTube, so fix yourself a drink and settle in.
Bricolage -- "Turn U Over" -- Bricolage [right click and save as] [watch Slumberland's web site for pre-order information]
