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The B-52s - “Mesopotamia”
I consider this song the ultimate B-52s track, and its slinky rhythms and catchy, inane chorus about the beginnings of civilization are perfect for summertime play. This song along with five others comprise the remaining material of what was intended as a third album. The David Byrne-helmed recording sessions were, ultimately, not successful and the band released the output from their scrapped project as an EP. With a song this amazing, it makes you wonder what other brilliance could have resulted from their Byrne collaboration if they had been willing to see it through without murdering one another.
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Hemme Fatale - “Peryglus Lucifer”
Hemme Fatale (they know that’s not the correct french, and they don’t care) are 2 girls and a guy from Cardiff that met while temping at a private agency. The three of them make up another one of those electro-pop bands that are all the rage at the moment, and they’re just as good as any of the others. Though the obvious and exaggerated 80s influences set them a little higher than the others (if that’s your thing, at least). My favourite part about these guys is how they describe themeselves on their MySpace page:
One day we hope to rescue Britney from her celebrity hell and take her down [W]etherspoons for a gas, but for now we’re just making some pop songs[.]
This song is the last song to be completed for their Silent Sleepover EP. It’s an excellent, bouncy track that features “fists in the air 80’s saxophone” and Aled Phillips of Kids in Glass Houses providing the male vocals.
The full EP and a remix of Modernaire’s “Fait Tes Jeux” are downloadable from their MySpace page. If you like what you hear, and happen to be a Cardiff local, you can catch them at the Hell’s Bent Festival, a 7-hour festival, on the 20th June.
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The Morning Benders - “Damnit Anna”
Durning a late night music binge I stumbled upon a band called the Morning Benders. To be honest, I still don’t know much about the band aside from what is on their website but I do know that I love their subtle, wonderful harmonies and their songs about love and loves lost.
Another subtle and usually overlooked aspect that this band embraces is creative album art. Their (seemingly) hand painted album cover for “Talking Through Tin Cans” is a welcomed change from the usual photoshopped drab that accompanies most of today’s albums.
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The Beatles - “Within You Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows”
I think it’s really important to understand this song. There’s a reason why it’s on the Beatles Love album. My own interpretation is that some people eloquently make their emotions explicit through language. Other people may be more subtle, expressing themselves in ways more natural for them. Regardless of where anyone is on this spectrum, we all love to share music. Maybe that’s what makes us speak the same language.
Debuting at #1 on the United World Chart in 2006, Love is a seamless, comprehensive Beatles experience that is best felt if it surrounds you. Producer George Martin created unique layers of all original Beatles tracks with no new recordings. It’s fortified Beatles.
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Ladytron - “Tomorrow”
In comparison to their 2005 effort The Witching Hour, Ladytron’s latest release Velocifero ambles its way through the darkly hip and sinister rather than exploding with electro-dynamite. The album finds its strength in soft and romantic goth-pop flourishes rather than in the band’s signature stark and immediate synth hooks.
The light and airy chorus of ballad “Tomorrow” finds its weight in the subtle melancholy of Helen Marnie’s voice achieving a dramatic fullness that owes more to man than machine. Ladytron still keep you in the dark, but they might offer a flicker of light every now and then.
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Future Islands - Nu Autobahn
Future Islands are a two year old, Baltimore-based band from North Carolina without a Wikipedia entry. This track is self-released off their debut EP. I saw them perform at a small venue last night and wow! When they started playing, the stage was a vacuum. If you don’t believe me, check out last night’s video of this song. Yeah, that’s the singer right there in the middle of it all. The sound was so dancin’ happy. If Animal Collective could breed with the Unicorns, you might get Future Islands. The official release of Future Island’s first full length album Wave Like Home is in July. This album is already self-released, but I didn’t stay around long enough to get it. I will see them again in August.
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The Ting Tings - “That’s Not My Name”
The Ting Tings are absolutely huge in the UK right now. Despite being a resident of the UK, I completely missed this, probably because I go to great lengths to ignore British media. And so by the time I discovered them, their album, We Started Nothing, was already at the top of the album chart, and this track, their first single from the album, was at the top of the singles chart.
Anyway, The Tings Tings are fairly standard pop fare, with a double-coating of sugary sass. A little like Girls Aloud, if they hadn’t been the runners-up in a nationwide talent show. But this track is an easy album standout; perfect fun, infectious pop, with a chorus catchy enough that you’ll still be singing it hours later. I was, anyway.
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The Black Ghosts - “Any Way You Choose To Give It (Fake Blood Mix)”
London’s The Black Ghosts’ debut full-length isn’t due until July 8th, but the hype has been building for over a year. And they’ve been tearing up dance floors all over Britain for at least that long with their dirty, synth-heavy electro.
This remix of “Any Way You Choose To Give It”, by Fake Blood — who’s also been tearing up the electro scene recently — got a lot of attention from the likes of Errol Alkan and Annie Mac last year, and plenty from myself this year.
There’s plenty more where this came from on their MySpace. Also recommended is The Black Ghosts’ “Mixtape” mixtape, that Missingtoof posted a few weeks ago.
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Late of the Pier - “The Bears Are Coming”
I barely have the words to describe this UK electronic quartet’s latest single. It’s like Kraftwerk took psychedelics with Frank Zappa in some dark and sinister arcade. Sort of…
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Robyn - “Cobrastyle” (Teddybears cover)
This is Robyn’s cover of that Teddybears song that everyone has heard at some point in their lives, whether they realize it or not — “Cobrastyle” — which probably came about due to her working with Klas Åhlund, a member of the Teddybears, in production of the album.
Robyn puts her own cute spin on the Jamaican vernacular (courtesy of Mad Cobra, originally) that made the original so catchy and fun to tap your foot to to and leaves a song that is still fun and catchy, but with a sizeable injection of silly and sexy. It practically demands repeat plays.
