Slow Bullet
Anna C suffers a drawn-out death by disc

THE SLIDES- Slow Bullet

The most exciting thing I have done today is put antiseptic ointment on my mosquito bites (I have about 15 and they are really starting to itch now; grrrr). And this, unfortunately, remains a more exciting task than listening to The Slides. The sort of lads who wear anoraks to look cool, thus the sort of lads who have the support of Dermot O' Leary and have been on tour with British Sea Power, while musically sound and no doubt very eager, do I need to add that they are also completely lacking in originality and variation? Meaning they're bound to go far with this, a "mini-album" offered up to the greedy fans who voted for their unsigned asses on interactive indie label, M Vine.


A medley of every band you loved or loathed from the Manchester area circa 1992-1995, I don't feel this is much better to listening to one of those "Best mad-fer-it classics… in the solar system… ever. And ever. Amen." compilations, featuring the hits of The Verve (also known as opening track "Lethal weapon"), The Charlatans and a touch of Oasis' "Talk tonight" in "touching" final song, "Gravity", laced with the oft-gruff vocal of what's-his-face from The Stereophonics (in "White lines") and the Hammond organ of Paul Weller (in, erm, just about every other song), which, to cut to the chase, just leaves me utterly unconvinced. Sorry.

This was released 1st May, 2006. You lucky, lucky people.

www.theslides.com

THE LONGCUT- Vitamin C

The Longcut will either blow your mind or bore you silly. And it is actually hard to decide which is applicable, putting me in a bit of a dilemma, considering that their new single is a fusion of all things Godspeed and Mogwai and other "post-rock" bands I have never had the time of day for. Three Mancunian men, here reminiscent of Radiohead at their most experimental, force self-indulgent and repetitive guitar loops to merge with breakbeats and wailing vocals to produce something which I would nowadays consider perfect for the forthcoming festival season, i.e. when you're too hot/high to care much what you're listening/dancing-like-a-fool-but-thinking-you-look-too-cool-for-school to… Yet, having said that, thus begins the afore-mentioned quandary, as there is something hypnotic and alluring about such an epic soundscape -(Yuk! Don't let me catch you using that word again!)- that prompts me to question if what is essentially just noise is really essential noise.


At this point in time, it remains that the only conclusion I can make is that at least it's something a bit different to what else is coming from our friends in the North at the moment. Which is basically a polite way of saying that you'll have to make up your own minds, if you haven't already. Somebody call the fire brigade. I think I need to lie down.

www.thelongcut.com

The Longcut's debut album "Call and response" is out now but you'll have to wait until 10th July, 2006 to get your hands on this single. Which isn't long so don't fret.

Anna C