The Sound Influx Playlist 11.11.13

Okay, so we're a day late, and we took a week off. We're sorry, really we are. Sadly this isn't our day job and most of our day jobs are getting somewhat hectic as the Christmas break starts peering its chilly head.

Fear not though, we're back for a fourth edition of the Sound Influx Playlist.

This week we've gone very much remix and feature Monsieur Adi and Tourist as well as the likes of Sub Focus' track with Kele and Sudanim's working of How To Dress Well's &ItWasU. Without further ado, we should probably give it to you for your earholes to consume?




Featured tracks this week...

Sudanim - U Dont Have 2 Worry
by Braden Fletcher

How to Dress Well's record Total Loss feels like it came out ages ago now. It's been a year and it has definitely not dated. Conveniently, South London DJ/Producer Sudanim has reworked the highlight of the album &ItWasU into his own powerful beast. Keep a watch out for him and Her Records a lot in the future.

Grouplove - Ways To Go
by Braden Fletcher

They're finally coming back with their second record and with it will be doing a string of rather intimate shows in the UK so now seems like the best time to put the most recent Grouplove single, Ways to Go into the Playlist. It's huge sounding and with any luck, the band will finally erupt over here in the way they did in the US of A!

Bombay Bicycle Club - Carry Me
by Toby McCarron

A fantastic indie debut, a heart-felt acoustic album and a disappointing mis-match of a third album; this time Bombay Bicycle Club seem to be embracing their electronic side. Carry Me is Bombay's most dancey and arguably club ready hit to date. With swathes of synth and a particularly impressive high-budget interactive video. It's not there to be loved or remembered, simply to move your body to at 3am at club NME.

Well everyone, that's it for another week. We'll hopefully be back again next week and we hope you'll be with us.

In other news, the picture for this week's playlist is very much Movember themed. Grow them staches SI readers!

March 2013: Albums Summary

Better late than never (8th April, sorry!), here's our monthly summary of albums.

Check out what March had to offer:

Reviewed

Suuns - Images Du Futur (8/10)

The Cave Singers - Naomi (7/10)

Shout Out Louds - Optica (8/10)

The 1975 - Music For Cars (6/10)

Low - The Invisible Way (8/10)

Laura Mvula - Sing To The Moon (5/10)

Suede - Bloodsports (8/10)

Deathfix - Deathfix (7/10)

Nai Harvest - Whatever (8/10)
The Strokes - Comedown Machine (6/10)
Kavinsky - Outrun (8/10)
Wavves - Afraid Of Heights (5/10)
Phosphorescent - Muchacho (8/10)

Album of the month 

Daughter - If You Leave (8.5/10)

"Daughter have gone from creating music focused on pain, to creating music that encapsulates pain and acts as medicine. Some may call it depressing, I’d argue they’ve not listened hard enough." Braden Fletcher 

The Rest

Justin Timberlake - The 20/20 Experience (8/10)

What was pencilled in as a return to form, quickly escalated to discussion of a reinvention of the pop album. Although the 20/20 experience is certainly an 'experience', a revelation it isn't. Timberlake's most ambitious effort to date just falls short of iconic, with most songs pressuring the 9 minute mark, it's hard to fault Justin for the concept behind the music showcased and the drive to create something as culturally resonant as his previous two records. Exquisitely crafted pop gems permeate and delight throughout (even if most of them last 2 or 3 minutes too long) with Timberlake's trademark tongue in cheek lyricisms not extending too far from the expected (sex, love, a rather naive foray into drug metaphors on Pusher Love Girl so aloof it's largely hilarious.) Timberland's production is on point with the tried and tested beat-box style instrumentals only sounding a tad dated, and the strength of the choruses Timberlake delivers on the likes of Don't Hold The Wall and Mirrors are amongst the most memorable of his career. Not ground-breaking, but a lot of fun and a refreshing revival of a male pop-star who isn't completely loathsome and punchable. Toby McCarron

Peace - In Love (7/10)

When Peace first broke through with their glorious EP last year; it was already apparent to many that to keep up a level of quality across a full length record would be a feat in itself. Not phased with this level of pressure, the Birmingham group released Wraith and featured the hugely infectious Lovesick on the record. Whilst at times you feel like the album lacks in the cutting edge (ie. Waste of Paint through to Sugarstone), the re-workings of Follow Baby and album closer California Daze more than make up for it. Definitely one to catch this summer, if you can fit in the tent. Braden Fletcher

Chvrches - Recover (7/10)

If you were to write a brief history of Chvrches it would probably run something like this: Glaswegian indie band members decide they’re sick of selling three records to guys with beards and decide to do something shamelessly commercial. Actually, this summary is slightly unfair - vocalist Lauren Mayberry was keyboardist and co-vocalist in Blue Sky Archives, whilst Martin Doherty was a live member of miserable post-punks The Twilight Sad - but it’s true that as musical projects go Chvrches have attracted a hell of a lot more attention than these past ventures ever did for their shiny but slightly fussy electro-pop.

Channelling early eighties new wave group OMD lead single ‘Recover’ is a huge sounding tune, led by pulsating synths and Mayberry’s elfin vocals which bring to mind Emily Haines of Metric. Even if it doesn’t quite match up to the excellent ‘The Mother We Share’ single that the trio released last year it’s an electro pop anthem in the mould of Passion Pit’s ‘Sleepyhead’. If anything it’s actually improved by the remix courtesy of Cid Rim that closes this four-track EP when, unshackled from the need to appeal to both rock and dance crowds, some of Chvrches’ restraint is stripped away and it’s transformed into a full on dance floor workout.

Martin Doherty takes centre stage for the first time on ‘ZVVL’, a relatively lightweight track redeemed by its startling lyrics, ‘a flash of blood’, that draw your gaze away from the discotheque and down some darker pathways. Though their USP is bounding, keyboard-led pop, darker strains of electronic music both old (Depeche Mode) and new (The Knife) have played their role in shaping Chvrches so it’s interesting to see the trio explore some murkier corners. ‘There is so much I want to tell you’ croons Lauren on ‘Now is Not the Time’. For Chvrches the world is listening with open ears. Max Sefton

Bastille - Bad Blood (6/10)

When a pop act breaks through with the dedication that Bastille have, you have to admire it. The likes of Flaws push through to the almost anthemic sounds of Pompeii and its from this point onwards that you have to give appreciation to a a record that; whilst half full of tracks that will never light up the world will most definitely be part of most people’s summers. It may be cheesy and in parts it may not be the most musically adept; it also lacks in complete consistency but it’s the border of indie and pop that Dan Smith crosses that makes Bad Blood an enjoyable listen if one that won’t make it past the Autumn. Braden Fletcher

Swiss Lips and Bastille @ The Rag Factory, London

What happens when you sign a Manchester band to a major label, enable them to relocate for a month into East London, specifically a converted factory space and then allow that space to be used for a host of parties fuelled by a mix of free beer and a series of exciting acts on stage? Well, in short; calculated pandemonium. See, East London, for all of its remaining decadence is an area governed by a complex algorithm of image over enjoyment, yet the blend created within The Rag Factory, or the #SwissLipsUnion as its preferably called for November overpowers the math. As Swiss Lips take to the stage to open the night, there are people dressed to impress (who’s outfits do not accommodate for being at the front of a show) who begin to let loose in a way that you can’t help but feel has as much to do with their lack of free-alcohol-maths as it does the music. People are even nabbing hand-made Swiss Lips tie-dye shirts from a clothes line!

Swiss Lips nonetheless are unphased. Set up old fashioned style by  the microphone master and all round Danz-er known to many as “the old man who dances in Manchester for Swiss Lips”, they rifle through a selection of tracks for half an hour of dance-pop. Even those reluctant to move at the start of Danz can’t resist a gentle bop to the hard-pop sound of U Got The Power and new single In The Water sounds notably better in this surrounding than on record.  As they leave the stage, Swiss Lips can be confident that having opened their own party in style they should see their stock rise once they’re out of this venue in the new year.

Of course, much of the hype surrounding tonight’s show, and probably one of the main reasons that there’s a queue outside the door come ten o’clock is tonight’s “headline act.” In a repeat of their sold-out KOKO show just a week before, Bastille follow Swiss Lips on stage (after a Horrors DJ set that hardly inspires but moves the room back to the bar with enjoyment) and as Dan Smith and company come on stage, the room erupts once more. The front hundred of the three hundred assembled begin to dance as Bastille kick off with usual set opener Icarus. It’s catchy as sin but the majority of people here only know a few songs. After their covers mixtape featured a hugely popular cover of City High’s What Would You Do, that appears to get the biggest singalong of the night whilst last week’s storm of the iTunes chart with the (mostly re-released) Flaws EP saw Flaws rightfully get the biggest cheer of the night as Dan is almost engulfed in the front rows of fans.

Arguably, the highlight of the set is recent single Bad Blood. Mixing a dark bassline, singalong bridge and hugely catchy chorus, Bastille take it up a level, explaining to an extent how they’ve earnt the hype that surrounds them. Of course its not all perfect, some tracks (who’s names don’t stand out) need dropping in favour of a more definitive sound as the band are in danger of sounding both wet and repetitive at points. This though, is hardly a worry as in one song they can turn it around again. Overjoyed has a quiet quality that displays the act’s breadth of material and closing the night’s music on a high with their unique cover of Corona’s Rhythm of the Night as Dan jumps into the crowd is certainly an enjoyable touch.

As the last few percussion hits ripple out of the small white room, Swiss Lips take the DJ booth up again as many decide to leave. The party continues for another three weeks but you can’t help but feel that it’s been caught at its best here. Whilst both acts have weaknesses, the atmosphere of the night adequately suffices as filler before the undeniably catchy pop-belters. It’s no surprise that both acts have been snapped up by major labels for their debut records.

Braden Fletcher