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On Your Bike, Cobie The Super Nashwan Kids - Money Where Your Mouth Is Mixing choppy System Of A Down-alike riffs with inspired and sometimes political lyrics, funky basslines, and a whole lotta punk rock, the 'Kids are still on form with their fantastic new EP. The title track is an eclectic blend of powerful vocals and a new breed of music I call powerpopfunkrock. Which is as good as it sounds. Think Fallout Boy on speed after jamming with Rage Against The Machine and you're halfway there. The stand out track of this EP has got to go to "Friends 'n Favours"; with a stupidly catchy bassline and powerful poppy vocals, this song should set the 'Kids well on their way to the success they deserve.
10/10 Dartz! - Fantastic Apparatus/Cold Holidays EP As if what the world really needed was another oddly-named garage indie band, along came Dartz!. Not that they're really that bad, they do well to mix spiky day-glo guitars with four part harmonies, and still not sound too much like Klaxons. While they're nothing all that new, they do have some pretty catchy tunes; "Latin + Greek" possibly being the best track. It pretty much sounds like Kings Of Leon with real singing, but nonetheless manages to stick in my head for the rest of the day. NME like them, so that sums it up quite nicely. 6/10 Goldspot - Tally Of The Yes-Men Any band that wears it's post-punk influences proudly on its sleeve
without just sounding like blatent Smiths-alikes should get a pat on
the back really. Like the Killers before them, Goldspot are one of the
few bands to come out of the seemingly endless post-punk revival and
manage to make it entirely their own. The first five tracks of the album
couldn't be more perfect, with Bollywood-inspired string sections and
vocals straight out of the 80's, "Rewind" is a great song
to start the album with. "Time Bomb" doesn't just replicate
the Smiths, but goes even further and shows them how it should've been
done. If the album had carried on in the same vein, Tally Of The Yes-Men
could easily have become a post-punk masterpiece, but instead (with
the exception of "So Fast", a haunting guitar n' vocals anthem
that could have come from OK Computer) the mood becomes much more melancholy,
and the songs tend to drag on in a way that makes you wish the Cure
never got famous. If you want a really great british antidote to the
Killers, then listen to any of the following: 7/10 Molloy - EP Following on from CSS and Bonde De Role's success, Molloy seem to have mastered the funky, dirty, and downright catchy songwriting skills that these bands have already used to great effect in the indie circles. With a more disco-ey edge, Molloy are for fans of Nu-rave and Goldfrapp alike. "Dirty Church" sounds like the gloriously offensive New York punks Mindless Self Indulgence having a bit of a rest, meaning its music mum can listen to as well. Nothing particularly new, but very well done all the same.
8/10 Jesse Malin - Lovestreams Big dumb American rock-by-numbers that isn't absolutely awful but doesn't hold up against bands like Foo Fighters. Bruce Springsteen guests on his album though, so hopefully not all his songs are like this 4/10 Interpol - Our Love To Admire The band that pretty much single-handedly created the Editors have quite a lot to answer for really, and with their third studio album, they seem to have realised this and moved away from times of old, with piano parts as an important component of the song rather than an after-thought, meaning their ability to create varied and interesting soundscapes has improved tenfold. There aren't really any tracks to shout about, but the album meanders on quite nicely without getting too boring, but lacking the intensity to really make it listenable. Fans of Interpol will like it, but I can't see it catching on with everybody else. 6/10
Your usual indie-punk guitar, bass, drums 'n vocals setup that's treading the same territory as The Paddingtons, but with some ill-fitting synths that generally get in the way of things. Great party music, with stompy, catchy guitars on the title track, and a lazy, London Calling-inspired bassline with some nice harmonies on "Vivid Imagination", that turns into a raucous punky riot at the end. They'll be on the front cover of NME faster than you can say Arctic Monkeys. 7/10 Free Will & The Bad Influences - EP While mimicking the greats like Led Zeppelin, Free and The Rolling Stones isn't usually the safest career choice, Free Will & Co. have pulled it off without losing the effortless swagger and soul of the classic rock greats. "Like Your Lover", while being a little bit simple in songwriting terms, manages to sound exactly like a Rolling Stones/ACDC hybrid without being tacky. Great Stuff 8/10 Cobie Put your money where your mouth is about these reviews on our message boards here |
