Weekly Media – August 22nd 2005
Right! Write? To be fair to Steven, I haven’t been doing a lot of it recently. Recently being…2 months or so, apart from that one blip on the slacker radar. And that wasn’t even in my subject criteria oh dear oh dear.
To carry on from where I left then and where to start, for this year I think has provided such a wealth and wide array of musical talent that it is difficult to know where to dive into first. Still, I suppose that’s the role I’m meant to fill. I might as well start off with what I’ve been listening to for the last few months and then I’ll segue neatly into new and classic music.
So in a ‘Fast Show’ homage, over the last few months I’ve been mostly listening to:
The Arcade Fire – Funeral
Read my previous reviewHard-Fi – Stars Of CCTV
Our little local band makes it big with a Specials meets a more rocky sensibility.Beck – Guero
It’s summer so it must be. Returning back to his Odelay! style, far more groove based than previous offerings.The Subways – Young For Eternity
The new Ash but with more punk. Catchy sugar filled teen rock songs.The Rakes – Capture / Release
The new Libertines pt. 1. Songs about life, much like the Streets wrapped up in a new wave/art rock delivery.Arctic Monkeys – 5 Minutes With The Arctic Monkeys
The new Libertines pt.2. Humorous lyrics with deadpan delivery. Like Art Brut, except well, better.Editors – The Back Room
The English Interpol. Dark, brooding new wave guitars and baritone-esque lyrics. Very good, they’re going to be big.The Frames – Burn The Maps
Irish punk rock. Fast, frenetic and spiky.Maximo Park – Apply Some Pressure
It’s art punk from oop North.The Fiery Furnaces – Blueberry Boat
Songs about anything and everything. They range from 2 minute blasts to 10 minute epics. A brother and sister duo, so the White Stripes if they were completely mad.The Magic Numbers – The Magic Numbers
60s style summer pop songs. Nothing much more needs to be said that hasn’t been said already.The Boxer Rebellion – Exits
Coldplay if they were tough. Richly layered angsty rock tunes, kind of like ‘Parachutes’ turned up very loud and plugged in.
So that’s what I’ve been absorbing over the summertime. I apologise for the brief summaries, just trying to give a taste of what they are like. It doesn’t do much for a writing style but hopefully I’ll make up for that now. To the new album of the week I hear you cry. Well, it couldn’t be anything else this week. Everyone’s favourite horse-loving, sex obsessed, spiky, electro glam minx returns. It’s Goldfrapp of course! They are back with their third album ‘Supernature
’. Having now abandoned completely the sound of their debut ‘Felt Mountain’ (the soundtrack to every film never made), Alison and Will have created another electro-glam masterpiece in the footsteps of ‘Black Cherry’. Except much more so. Where ‘Black Cherry’ had its slow songs that almost subsided into electronic squelch, ‘Supernature’ remains solid throughout. The danceable groove is retained and showcased superbly on opener ‘Ooh La La’. If it doesn’t make you grind your hips, nothing will. From these promising beginnings, the album goes from strength to strength. The bass is dirtier and more vibrant than before and vocals more breathless and downright sexy. This is the album that will make Goldfrapp, so expect to see it everywhere.
As well as new releases, this column deals in classics you all should own. Or at least download. Normally there would be another new(ish) small time band album reviewed here but I don’t think that’s necessary, what with the vast number of albums mentioned above. So, the classic this week is ‘DJ Shadow – Endtroducing…
