Sara Watkins, Sun Midnight Sun, CD review

Lock And Key is a strong song and the highlight of the 10-track album
is the seven-minute When It Pleases You, with its grungy guitar and
clever arrangements. Watkins’s own song You And Me, with its sultry
vocals, and the moody Be There, about the loneliness of a travelling
musician, are both top notch. Watkins, who was on the
recent live album by the Decemberists
, also plays guitar, ukulele and
fiddle on the album. There are two instrumentals: the short and cacophonous The
Foothills
and the melodic and graceful Accord.

Sun Midnight Sun is a bold album, and much of it seems to be about
casting off the comfortable. But when it works, it works very well.

Sara Watkins: Sun
Midnight Sun (Nonsuch Records)

Posted by Prime - May 19, 2012 at 2:33 pm

Categories: Music News   Tags:

10 Tracks You Have To Hear This Week (19/05/12)

May 15, 2012

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, Four Tet, Passion Pit

10 Tracks You Have To Hear This Week (19/05/12)

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs – ‘American Dream Pt II’

Ahh, the American Dream. You never hear anyone banging on about French Fancy or the Romanian Rumination. Thankfully, TEED’s effort dodges Razorlight-style chest-thumping or Marina-style diva self-obsession in favour of good honest bangin’. And Orlando Higginbottom should know a thing or two about ignoring expectation and setting your stead on your own terms. This is, after all, someone who’s managed to shrug off the obligations of a Christian-and-surname-combo that should have made him a shoo-in as a QC or lord, instead of becoming one of the UK’s most exciting young producers.? No mean feat.

This taster of forthcoming debut album ‘Trouble’ begins with a melancholy, beautiful early-hour ambience that was once the province of classic DJ Shadow, but it’s not long before Orlando ramps up the rave, building to a cruel climax with a noise like someone shaking a talking doll to death before cutting loose with a rearing, hammering womp like a technoid Triceratops tearing through your mind forest. It’s the most aggressive thing we’ve heard from him yet, and throbs with a bug-eyed energy.

Lianne La Havas – ‘Is Your Love Big Enough?’

Ploughing the Radio 2, Corinne Bailey Rae-esque niche of acoustic singer/songwriter-ing, this may be the sweetest-sounding romantic demand around. All handclaps, delicately plucked guitars and honeyed tones, the title track from La Havas’ debut will be on your mum’s most-played list within the week.

Four Tet – ‘Jupiters’

The hugely prolific Kieran Hebden’s latest single reaffirms his position as one of the UK’s best and most consistent electronic artists. This time he opts for an almost two-part affair, kicking off with squiggly, dreamy synths before breaking into a bass-heavy climax strongly reminiscent of recent collaborator Burial. Exciting.

Summer Camp – ‘Life’

Not a Des’ree cover, sadly, but a track that begins with Lizzie Sankey singing about her “bloody hands” reaching out for us. Aaah! The track is pure Kylie meets Donna Summer, and by that we mean: four-to-the-floor, hot-pant-heavy and rather classic-sounding.
Click here to stream the track

Animal Collective – ‘Honeycomb’

After the experimental meandering of largely impenetrable Record Store Day release ‘Transverse Temporal Gyrus’, the Baltimore oddballs regain a degree of focus here among the bubbling synths and aquatic production. It seriously rewards repeat listens, but the emphatic chorus augers well for that long-awaited ‘Merriweather…’ follow-up.

Melody’s Echo Chamber – ‘Crystallized’

Powered along as it is by a spirit-of-’66 psych bassline, you could guess Tame Impala were involved here. But while the latter’s Kevin Parker may put his musical stamp on it, it’s Melody Prochet’s vocal that makes this a thing of propulsive dream-pop beauty. Their first tune, but hopefully not their last.

Future Of The Left – ‘I Am The Least Of Your Problems’

Always angry. Always loud. Always spikey. Always proud. “I am the least of your problems but I don’t mind” yowls ex-Mclusky frontman Andy Falkous on the first cut from FOTL’s third album ‘The Plot Against Common Sense’. Nothing’s changed: they bring the rock and they bring it hard, fast and cutting.

Cocorosie – ‘We Are On Fire’

A soaring comeback for the Parisian freak-folk sisters with a penchant for ’taches and recording in the bath. “Now I can see in the middle of the night” they squeal over psychedelic flutes and throbbing underwater synths. With these two, mystic night vision is plausible.

Passion Pit – ‘Take A Walk’

Striving to straddle the peak of the electro-pop mountain now that La Roux is lost down some rocky crevice, the Pit return with a bright synth blast heralding their “expansive” July-bound second LP. Expansive as in: trebling the amount of synths on it. We’re on board.

Nipsey Hussle feat. Rick Ross – ‘Proud Of That’

Producer Jiggy Hendrix’s whirring, sleazy grime hook fits Nipsey’s earnest flow perfectly while Rick Ross’ one-verse cameo is scene-stealing. The fact that you can imagine listening to this while driving with the top down and the bass on “ridiculous” makes it a contender for future song of the summer already.

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  • Nipsey Hussle feat. Rick Ross - 'Proud Of That'

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Posted by Prime - May 16, 2012 at 7:48 pm

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This Week’s Singles Reviewed (19/05/12)

May 14, 2012

NME’s Tom Howard reviews this week’s singles

This Week's Singles Reviewed (19/05/12)

Alt-J – Breezeblocks’

When Joe Newman’s “Please don’t go/I love you so” starts, it seems harmless. But with the promise to “hold her down with soggy clothes and breezeblocks” it becomes as sinister as a welcoming smile from Jools Holland. This is brought to life in a video that’s a cross between Coldplay’s ‘The Scientist’ (it’s in reverse), Radiohead’s ‘Just’ (it’ll take hours to dissect) and an EastEnders plotline (jealous lover turns murderer – but which lover?). A delicate, macabre triumph.

The Black Keys – ‘Dead And Gone’

At a time when economies are disintegrating willy nilly and no-one has a bloody clue who’s going to win The Apprentice, it’s easy to see why The Black Keys have become 2012’s New Massive Band. Their plodding blues-rock is just so damn reassuring. They make rock music. It is good. You should listen to it.

Pitbull – ‘Back In Time’

Assuming Men In Black III In 3D’s gonna be the cinematic event of like, May, it seems odd to be wheeling out guest rapper extraordinaire Armando Christian Perez for the themetune. Will Smith’s song for the first MIB was a genuine party banger, and briefly made him the world’s best person. Pitbull lacks Smith’s charm – favouring the cruise ship bodyguard look – and ‘Back In Time’ is all squeaks and cheesy club nods when really what you want is ALIENS.

School Of Seven Bells – ‘The Night Vagrant’

Benjamin Curtis and Alejandra Deheza do everything right. This song, right here, has a nice vocal, decent bassline, speedy drumming, ‘atmospherics’ that absolutely do reference the period of the day the track’s title refers to and yet… there’s nothing to say. Nice. It’s nice. Like having a shower and a massive sandwich at 3pm on a Saturday. Really bloody nice.

Japandroids – ‘The House That Heaven Built’

The fuzz. The garage. The rock. The obvious influence of Springsteen’s America. The “oh oh oh oh” followed by the “oh oh oh”. The ripped Levi’s. The Cons. The ink. The drum rolls. The punk. The pop. The breaking the speed limit. The unwashed jeans. The greasy hair. The rabble rousing “and if they try to slow you down/Tell them all to go to hell”. Yeah, this rules.

Here We Go Magic – ‘How Do I Know’

Falling in love with robots is something you, me and everyone are gonna have
to deal with as time and technology progress. Luckily Brooklyn’s Here We Go Magic have addressed this and answered the question “how on Earth will I dispose of my unwanted robot lover?” in the video for this super breezy indie-pop, which suggests leaving it at a disused petrol station. So that’s one less thing to worry about.

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Posted by Prime - May 15, 2012 at 1:37 pm

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Noah & The Whale

May 8, 2012

Royal Albert Hall, London, April 16


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From the first time we saw them – four years ago, in a small tent at Cambridge Folk Festival – Noah The Whale have done nothing but surprise us. But tonight, watching Charlie Fink and the boys lope suavely onto the stage of one of the nation’s most iconic venues doesn’t even seem shocking. You need confidence as well as big songs to fill this daunting architecture, and bands usually need a song or so to settle into it. Not Noah.

As the lights flicker with the palpitating drums at the start of ‘Life Is Life’, the hall is theirs. Charlie jumps casually from monitor to monitor, flashing red socks. Only the wired tension in his limbs as he leans into the microphone gives away how much this means to them. “I guess a venue like this makes for a much more attentive audience, which is a lot more pressured,” he tells us afterwards. “But the great thing about today is that you can feel the crowd getting progressively louder… When you need to work for it a bit, it’s more satisfying.”

Working for it they may be, but they make it look so bloody easy. ‘Give A Little Love’ blooms its heartbreak up to the hall’s acoustic ‘mushrooms’, and the way the guitars twine on ‘Blue Skies’ is just lovely, that gutting line “I don’t think that it’s the end/But I know we can’t keep going” reducing fans to tears in the seats in front of us. The weeping doesn’t let up during a Spiritualized-intense “special Royal Albert Hall” version of ‘Old Joy’. Charlie ambles to the front of the stage, pumping his elbow as the riff from ‘Tonight’s The Kind Of Night’ lands. Then it’s a mass clapalong to ‘5 Years Time’. “You up there and you over there,” cries Charlie. “There’s something you should know… Oh, there’ll be love, love, love…”.

A moment as sunny as this feels even sweeter after the darker shades of their second album, proving that one of the many things that make Noah RAH-ready is their range. They close on a feelgood note, with ‘Waiting For My Chance To Come’ and ‘LIFE GOES ON’, before a truly jaw-dropping encore of ‘The First Days Of Spring’, stunning in its emotional power. Next up for the band are the festivals. Will they be playing new stuff there? “Never say never,” grins Charlie. Oh, don’t worry – we know by now to expect nothing and everything where these boys are concerned.

Emily Mackay

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Posted by Prime - May 14, 2012 at 7:36 pm

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The Brian Jonestown Massacre

May 8, 2012

Their best album since 2003′s ‘…And This Is Our Music’

The Brian Jonestown Massacre - 'Aufheben'


8 / 10

Nearly 10 years since the infamous documentary DIG!, The Brian Jonestown Massacre continue to plough their whimsical psychedelic furrow. Mainman Anton Newcombe is now sober, and here has made his best album since 2003’s ‘…And This Is Our Music’. Cohorts include Will Carruthers (ex-Spacemen 3 and Spiritualized) and returning member Matt Hollywood (last seen storming offstage in DIG!), who sings one of the highlights, the fantastically titled ‘I Want To Hold Your Other Hand’. The album title is more appropriate, though, German for contradictory meanings: either ‘abolish’ or ‘preserve’. On this evidence, it’s the latter.

Nathaniel Cramp

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Posted by Prime - May 8, 2012 at 6:54 pm

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Pure Love

April 30, 2012

This could be big

Pure Love - 'Bury My Bones'

I’m so sick of singing about hate/ It’s time that I made a change”, Frank Carter bellows in the kind of ultra-melodic brogue he probably used to have about as much disdain for as he did for shirts. And what is that change exactly? Going as Gaslight Anthem-go-AC/DC as Pure Love’s first gigs promised. This could be big.

Jamie Fullerton

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Pure Love - 'Bury My Bones'Pure Love - 'Bury My Bones'

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Posted by Prime - May 8, 2012 at 12:54 pm

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Niki And The Dove

April 30, 2012

A right old stormer

Niki And The Dove - 'All This Youth'

Man alive, when are we finally going to get our grubby mitts on that Niki And The Dove debut LP in all its full glam-glory? It’s been two bloody years since we heard ‘DJ, Ease My Mind’ for the first time and instantly declared Swedish duo Malin Dalhström and Gustaf Karlöf the greatest electropop savants in aeons, and all we’ve had in return has been a few (admittedly killer) singles and a couple of (admittedly brilliant) EPs. Pull your fingers out, you two!

Of course, this is all part of Niki And The Dove’s masterplan: tickling our frustrations so our appetites are wholly whetted, and making sure they truly deliver the goods when ‘Instinct’ finally drops on May 14. And if ‘All This Youth’ – a cut from the special edition version of the album – is anything to go by, then they’ve got a right old stormer on their hands. It starts off chillingly sparse, just a woozy and wonky beat with frosted glass vocals, before the 21 glitter-gun salute of the chorus explodes: a giant scrape of guitar, bone-thwacking drums and some sweet’n’saucy lyrics: “The anxious lips, and the first kiss/ Will set us free”. Malin and Gustaf, all is forgiven: if ‘Instinct’ is bursting with bangers like these, then we won’t begrudge the Waiting For Godot-like kicking of our heels one little bit.

Ben Hewitt

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Posted by Prime - May 1, 2012 at 5:36 pm

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Kasabian/The Vaccines/Wild Belle

April 30, 2012

Mulberry firepit and pool parties, The Parker Hotel, Palm Springs, April 13-14

Kasabian/The Vaccines/Wild Belle

California knows how to party,” the great hologram Tupac Shakur once said. And so even though Coachella’s festival site is 150 miles from LA, the fun times find a way of rolling long after the festival has been packed away. It’s not a new phenomenon, either.

The small desert towns surrounding Coachella are steeped in glitz and rock’n’roll behaviour, with every hotel wall having a story. The Vaccines
tell us that Nancy Sinatra learnt how to swim in the pool of the hotel they’re staying in. NME, meanwhile, is holed up in the Parker, a country-club retreat once favoured by Frank Sinatra and members of the Russian mafia, and now the location for Mulberry’s Coachella parties and gigs.

Friday night’s Firepit party sees Kasabian play a semi-acoustic set in a hastily built marquee (this is the first rain in Coachella’s 13-year history), while Azealia Banks and Metronomy huddle for warmth around the bonfire. ‘Man Of Simple Pleasures’ is dedicated to Freddie Vaccine, who’s stopped DJing indoors to throw himself around among the supermodels and flying bottles of Bud Light.

The highlight is a cover of ‘We Could Have Been Anything’ from the soundtrack to Tom’s favourite film, Bugsy Malone. Delivered in questionable cockney accents, it’s a vaudevillian, Libs-style knees-up, made even more ludicrous by a line of burly roadies bobbing around playing tambourines by Serge.

But Saturday’s Pool Party is the show-stopper. Emma Watson and Radiohead’s Colin Greenwood turn out in the midday sun to see brother-sister Chicago duo Wild Belle – currently the hottest unsigned band in the world thanks to their self-released debut single and certifiable summer anthem, ‘Keep You’. It’s a rocky, dizzy, lovers’ headrush of scorned woman lyrics set to synth-pop and parping sax.

Today, with a full band in tow, Natalie and Elliot Bergman cover The Troggs’ ‘Our Love Will Still Be There’, but it’s their self-styled ‘island soul party music’ that wins out. Raised on a muso diet of Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders and a ‘Studio One Women’ rocksteady compilation, Wild Belle’s music may be breezy but Natalie’s voice is like molten lava – closer to Amy Winehouse’s liquid jazz baritone than the Lily Allen comparisons she’s previously caught. “Jump in the pool!” she commands as their set winds up, and the party people are happy to oblige.

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Posted by Prime - April 30, 2012 at 5:27 pm

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Jack White knocks Adele off top of UK album charts

Scottish singer-songwriter Calvin Harris, who produced Rihanna’s ‘We Found
Love’, was in second place with ‘Let’s Go’, which features U.S. RB singer
Ne-Yo. It was the only new entry in this week’s top 40 singles chart.

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Posted by Prime - April 30, 2012 at 11:27 am

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Maximo Park

April 25, 2012

They’ve returned with a renewed energy


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There’s something admirable in the way that Newcastle’s bounciest sons Maxïmo Park just get bloody well stuck in there. They don’t dance around the point or pause to consider how to set themselves in the coolest light, they just go “Well, we’re in a massive global recession, the government’s stripping back public services, everything’s terrible. Let’s write an angry album called ‘The National Health’.” Brilliant.

Similarly, when it comes to affairs of the heart, frontman Paul Smith has a way of getting right down to the blood and guts of it. The second track from the Park’s fourth album, out June 11, is an intense and uncomfortable post-tiff emotional dissection. It starts off brooding in a chilly synthpop mood, with a tense, fidgety keyboard line. Then, as Smith seeths “I punched the fence last night/Another act that you found pathetic”, the song becomes an agonised crescendo of jagged riffs, crashing drums and a howl of “You’re a puzzle to me/And you always will be”.

Sounds like Maxïmo’s time away has definitely given them a renewed energy, living up to Smith’s description of the new album being “as vital a music as people would want to hear”. Let’s just hope not too many fences were harmed in the making of this album.

Emily Mackay

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  • Maximo Park announce details of new album ‘The National Health’ and unveil first song – listen

  • Maximo Park announce intimate spring shows in Stoke and York – ticket details

  • Maximo Park promise new material at ‘emotional’ Great Escape live comeback

  • Maximo Park, Mystery Jets, Rolo Tomassi added to The Great Escape bill – ticket details


  • Maximo Park - 'The National Health'

  • 10 Tracks You Have To Hear This Week (02/11/09)

  • Album Review : Maximo Park

  • Live Review: Maximo Park

  • Freevolution


  • Maximo Park Walk On Stage At Leeds Festival 2009

  • Maximo Park At Benicassim 2009

  • Maximo Park Walk Onstage At Benicassim 2009

  • Glastonbury Bands Discuss The Death Of Michael Jackson

  • Maximo Park At Glastonbury 2009

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// –

Posted by Prime - April 25, 2012 at 4:28 pm

Categories: Reviews   Tags:

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