Surfer Blood - Astrocoast
_____“Never judge a book by its cover”, or so goes the saying, which is a shame for Florida five-piece Surfer Blood, because their album art is proper slick. I wish I could say the music was as awesome as the gaping shark mouth in which it is enclosed, but, let’s be honest, there are few albums which are. Astrocoast has a fairly decent go at it though, their stunning debut single Swim leading the charge.
___Following closely behind is the fantastic sound of tracks such as the hypnotic Harmonix and the calming Floating Vibes, with other tracks such as Twin Peaks and Fast (as opposed to the less satisfying Slow) Jabroni making their own impressive racket. Listening to Catholic Pagan and Take It Easy, I’m reminded of the first time I heard Vampire Weekend’s debut, and in a way, that’s a good album to compare this to. Astrocoast has that same refreshing feel to it, it’s a kind of music that sounds new. I’m not going to say it’s quite as good an album which featured such hits as A-Punk and Oxford Comma, but don’t be surprised if it’s Swim that’s sound-tracking your summer barbeque this summer.
dan le sac Vs Scroobius Pip - The Logic Of Chance
_____Until embarrassingly recently I had this pair down as nothing more than a cool band name, one piece of modern musical genius in the form of Thou Shalt Always Kill, and a terrorist. Of course, I know now that that was completely out of line on my part; debut album Angles has much more to offer than just that one fantastic song.
___So having already made a name for themselves as a truly unique musical act, dan le sac and his bearded friend are back with more rocking beats and passionate lyrics. Smartly so, they haven’t changed much. There’s encouragingly catchy self-help advice with Get Better; there’s rebellious political ranting with Stake A Claim; and of course, there’s the completely odd. Only messers sac and Scroobius could release an album with three songs as diverse as Five Minutes, Snob, and Cowboi on it, sounding like something from The Streets, Hadouken!, and some really fucking weird band I haven’t heard of respectively. Whatever it sounds like though, most of it’s pretty solid, one or two smell a bit gaseous, and some, like Sick Tonight and Cauliflower, are liquid perfection.
Interpol - TBC
_____Ok this album isn’t actually out yet, in fact we only have one song from it so far, but that doesn’t matter, because the fact of the matter is, the follow up to Our Love To Admire is going to be immense. I’d love to say you heard it here for first, but I’m afraid it became common knowledge the moment Lights first reared its dark, powering, glorious head.
General Fiasco - Buildings
_____I heard the name and instantly thought that’ll be another load of indie tripe. Then I listened to album and thought it was another load of indie tripe. But, I’ve delayed deleting it off my iPod for almost a month now, because it’s some of the best indie tripe I’ve heard in sometime.
___While I’m almost moved to tears upon hearing the first line of Ever So Shy it’s so adolescently lej; “Let’s get wasted, it’s all we ever do”, but the song’s my favourite on the album. I’m full on moved to tears when I realize that I will probably never get Sinking Ships out of my head. I would be moved to tears, only I have none left, by the time Dancing With Girls comes around, cause I know that, when I’m off my face at some festival this year, there’s a distinct possibility that I’m going to decide to give someone like The Gaslight Anthem a miss and go see this lot instead.
___But I know deep down that deleting them now will solve all my problems, so it’s what I’m going to do. Just not right now…
The Dead Weather - Sea Of Cowards
_____Horehound was one of my favourite rock records of last year; Treat Me Like Your Mother, Hang You From The Heavens being some of the best stuff Jack White has ever written. Now, Sea Of Cowards has followed suit in easily being one of my favourite rock records this year; Die By The Drop, Blue Blood Blues being some of the best stuff Jack White has ever written. [Pattern repeats for anything Jack White touches].
The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang
_____I could not possibly communicate how much I loved this crowd’s second album, The ‘59 Sound. I didn’t even bother downloading their debut because I knew I wouldn’t like it as much. So obviously I feared that it would be a similar case with this, their third full-length record. And it was, completely.
___There’s some cool stuff on there, the opening title track makes it worth sticking on the album for that first three and a bit minutes before switching over to Great Expectations. Songs like The Diamond Church Street Choir and Old Haunts are almost as good as the least awesome track on The ‘59 Sound. And I suppose, I wouldn’t be too pissed off if I had to wait a few extra minutes to hear Old White Lincoln because they put Orphans into their live set. Can't justify playing anything off the new album though, when there's a chance some of you haven't heard this yet.
___But, unfortunately, if you compare it to its predecessor, which you kinda have to, it’s about as invigorating as watching the fly in my room try to fly through the impermeable window pane. Not quite as amusing though.
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