Honour Is A Battle With Many Beats

A band who have been quietly satisfying my slight fetish for the avant-garde in recent times will be hitting these shores (UK) in May, as well as releasing the fantastic 'Chrome's On It' on a split 7' with Sunni-Geini through No Pain In Pop in June.

Telepathe are a (yet another) Brooklyn based foursome who have been around for quite a while now, all be it with various line-up changes, but are steadily building up some momentum after settling on their current setup.

Busy Gangnes, Melissa Livaudais, Ryan Lucero, and Jessie Gold will be supporting The Kills on their short tour of the US in April after receiving quite the mixed bag of reviews from SXSW this spring.

Their forthcoming album, Dance Mother will be following standard procedure in recruiting the 'in demand' Dave Sitek of TV On The Radio to produce.

Specialising in swirling dreamlike synths, short hits of tribal drumming and almost howling poetic chants, Telepathe can be seen at the Great Escape Festival in Brighton as well as several London dates and one in Liverpool.

Telepathe - The March
Telepathe - I Can't Stand It
Myspace

Carl

I Don't Have To Exist Outside This Place

South London four-piece The xx are making some big waves at the moment, playing in some of London's top venues/club nights including Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes, Hoxton Bar & Grill, BOSH! and White Heat.

I haven't been this excited about a band since... White Lies?

This is a band that seem to have it all; 2 guitars, 1 bass, a children's Casio keyboard, & a drum machine. If I'm honest, I was sold when I got to 'a children's Casio keyboard', but the fun doesn't stop there.

With apparent influences that seem to stretch the far realms of musical taste and decency, their refreshing take on eclecticism shines through in their music.

A great example of this would be the fact they have lifted a verse from Missy Elliott's 'All In My Grill' and nestled it almost undetected into their brilliantly quaint tale of first date hopes and fears, 'Stars'.

With hints of New Wave, Pop, Folk and Electronica, there's not one weak link in the five songs that feature on their Myspace.

Of two songs below, one is their take on the Womack & Womack classic 'Teardrops' and the second is the first song that The xx ever recorded.

I can't wait to hear more.

The xx - Teardrops
The xx - Blood Red Moon
Myspace

Carl

No More Bolt Action

So Bolt Action Five are no more.

After releasing singles through No Pain In Pop and This Is Fake DIY as well as a remix EP on Lost In Paris Records, it seems the self-proclaimed 'Industropoppers' have called it a day after posting a bulletin confirming the rumours on their Myspace account.

Quite a shame considering the London four-piece could produce some awesome dance-floor hits on their day, including one of the soundtracks to my summer last year (due to my housemate having it on repeat ALL the time) - Tree Friend Tree Foe.

We wish them all well and look forward to hearing their new projects. Here are some of their unreleased songs available for download on their Myspace page.

Bolt Action Five - Hellmouth
Bolt Action Five - Landmark Landfill
Bolt Action Five - Face Of The Beast
Bolt Action Five - Standby
Myspace

Carl

Medicating The Masses

The Aspirin's for my children,
It's either Aspirin or I kill them,
Until something takes our pain away,
Lets all get fucked on crack.
D Barker 2004

The Aspirins For My Children aka 21 year old London producer Daniel Barker, has been on my radar for some time, and one of the things I like most about writing on this blog is that it gives me an excuse to get hold of songs from people I've admired for ages and complain about how more people should check them out.

I get the impression that music is just one of Daniel's many talents as he's also a designer and currently a film student. Despite not playing any musical instruments, he seems to be a master of the sequencer and has a nack of producing smooth, clean and addictivly catchy beats.

Blending elements of grime, dubstep, electro and hip-hop, he's produced work for artists such as Niyi, Cocknbullkid, Miss Odd Kidd and the sadly no longer YR MUM | YA DAD. I'll let these do the rest of the talking...

The Aspirins For My Children - The Cutter
The Aspirins For My Children - Attention (feat. TheCockNBullKid)
The Aspirins For My Children - Trust None But Some
Myspace

Carl

I Still Have My Feet On The Ground, I Just Wear Better Shoes

Oprah Winfrey... what a metaphor. More news on that later.

Fresh from their mini-tour of the UK with blog-favourite Primary 1, French producers and serial remix whizzes The Shoes are starting to get some well deserved attention.

Having remixed tracks for Hadouken!, Cheeky Cheeky & The Nosebleeds, Primary 1, Thieves Like Us and most recently Wiley, this Reims duo seem to know how to back a winner.

Having just released their debut single Knock Out on spanking new label 50 Bones (which is brought to us from the guys behind one of London's hottest clubnights - Burga Sauce), it's no suprise that the duo are clocking up the air miles.

Currently playing in Germany, The Shoes are soon to invade both Japan (April) and the US (May). Check them out before things get ridiculous...

The Shoes - Baby I'm 4 Real
Primary 1 - Hold Me Down (The Shoes Remix)
Thieves Like Us - Drugs In My Body (The Shoes' Drugs In My Shoes Remix)
Myspace
Buy 'Knock Out' from Puregroove

Carl

Now That I'm Here, I Never Want To Leave It Behind

It's always nice to discover a genuinely talented band on the ol' Myspace before there's a barrage of A & R and hype. Although such occasions are getting far less frequent these days, I was fortunate enough to come across Glaswegian four-piece Paper Planes.

Consisting of Scots Chad, Fraser and Craig and New Jersey born Jen, the demos I've heard so far remind me of Yeah Yeah Yeah's, with Karen-O-esque exclamations inbetween bursts of sharp, scathing guitars and a brilliant spoken word vocal on track The Sway.

Paper Planes have been together for all of a month now, but their demos show big potential and with far more depth than the above comparison might give them credit for.

Check out Exchange, a great indie-pop tale of adventure and excitement about swapping one country for another, something I'd love to do right now.

P.S. Apologies for it being an mp4 but it's straight from the mixing desk.
P.P.S. Check out Jen's brilliant paintings here.

Paper Planes - Exchange(MP4)
Myspace

Carl

Cubism & Other Forms

Pic by Kelly Watkins

Rubicks are back in the studio recording the follow-up to their debut full length In Miniature. Along with their new material, the band will be supporting Gary Numan on his forthcoming UK tour.

I first saw them when they were a two-piece, supporting White Rose Movement in Birmingham back in 2006 after blagging my way onto one of my friends guest list spots. He apparently knew Vanessa through Myspace and so got invited to the gig with a few places.

I guess that pretty much sums up Rubicks; solid, down to earth people who love what the do and don't lose sight of things. Vanessa and Marc are now joined by Anthony Johns on drums.

Rubicks - I See You



Almost criminally underrated in my opinion, they are at their best when blending Vanessa's incredibly sensitive lyrics with an almost melancholic instrumental sound.

"I'd go walking in the rain, just to see you again, walk for a mile, just to see your smile. It wouldn't matter, whatever the weather, you'd bring a broken tether together forever." from the brilliant Just For You is probably my favourite lyric of theirs.

Here's a preview of their new material...

Rubicks - Red Rock (Teaser)
Myspace
Website
Buy In Minature

Carl

NLLR Project

The NLLR Mixtape Project is run by British born Lee Norman Williams over at No Love Lost Records in Brooklyn, New York. Basically consisting of exclusive mixes from some of the best DJs and producers from around the world.

A brilliant idea, and it's good to see so many people have gotten involved. Featuring mixes from Lillica Libertine, Zoltar Speaks, Tronik Youth, The Toxic Avenger, Rupert Romaro and Mistress De Funk, it showcases all forms of dance and electronic music and is a great insight into what tunes are featuring on their decks right now.

The NLLR Mixtape Project has had over 170,00 downloads and has been talked about all over the blogsphere, featuring on all the big players including Missingtoof, Big Stereo, Discodust, Trash Menagerie, Discobelle, IHEARTCOMIX, Palms Out Sounds, Get Weird Turn Pro and Kidz By Colette.

Still ongoing and in only it's fifth month, NLLR project is on it's 24 installment from South Central which features tunes from Bahaus, Holy Fuck, Make Model and Etienne De Crecy. All track listings and info can be found on the Facebook group and Myspace so please, feel free to check those out.

Here's some of my personal favourites since the projects conception last year...

001 - Lillica Libertine
005 - Zombie Disco Squad
012 - The Bloody Beetroots
018 - MeMeMe
020 - Ocelot
023 - The Toxic Avenger
024 - South Central

Carl