Citizens! - Here We Are

Exclamation marks in band monikers have a troubled history. As an expression of zaniness, they’re the punctuation equivalent of a small child covered in paint shrieking ‘look at me’, guaranteed to make a true music fan run a mile. Just think of Wham!, Panic! at the Disco or 3OH!3, a succession of flamboyant pop posers better known for daft outfits than tunes. As a result Citizens! are going to have to earn their ecphoneme.

Fortunately ‘Here We Are’, recorded with Alex Kapranos, ought to give Citizens! the same boost that the Franz Ferdinand singer gave to The Cribs’ ‘Mens Needs, Womens Needs, Whatever’. The tunes are frequently storming, life-affirming and significantly for a young band in the internet era of hit singles and filler, startlingly consistent.

‘True Romance’ opens on needling piano chords and hits a sweeping chorus like Coldplay if they headed out onto the dancefloor rather than sipping their fruit juice at the bar. ‘Let’s Go All The Way’ takes the downbeat synth and explosive guitars of The Killers at their finest and Jarvis Cocker’s raised eyebrow, hand-on-hip demeanour and twists them into a stark and artful shape. ‘I’m in Love With Your Girlfriend’ is even catchier, an acerbic punk-funk torn between baiting an unsuspecting rival and lamenting 'why do I always want the things that I can’t have?’

As well as a knack with a bouncing tune, Citizens! can also nail a great line. When the singer croons ‘no-one lets a girl like you get bored’ on ‘Caroline’ it’s a suave and witty pick-up line that their producer would be proud of. Meanwhile, the lusty vocal inflections on ‘Love You More’ tread a fine line between casanova and creeper and give a nocturnal seediness to the chorus refrain ‘You’re paying money and you take off your shirt’ that contrasts nicely with the song title. They may look like nice boys but there’s a welcome darkness just beneath the surface.

Like Franz Ferdinand or Suede before them they’re unafraid to embrace pop, albeit closer to Roxy Music and Bowie in 1974 than Rihanna and Katy Perry in 2012 but on ‘Here We Are’ they’ve dragged them into some new shapes. Having crafted an exceptional record that adds up to plenty more than the sum of their influences maybe Citizens! are worthy of their exclamation mark after all.

8.0


Max Sefton

Jens Lekman - Erica America

‘Erica America’ is the first song off Jens Lekman’s forthcoming album ‘I Know What Love Isn’t’, which is being released on September 3rd. The song is in the same narrative style that many have come to associate with Lekman, in fact I now assume he’s reading me a bedtime story whenever he starts singing, and seems to show no real change of direction from the recent EP ‘An Argument With Myself’. Although when you’re writing songs as good as this why would you need a change of direction? Spanish guitar mixed in with occasional brass as the apparently heartbroken Lekman bemoans ‘I wish I’d never met you’ while still managing to lend the song a vaguely jovial atmosphere. A pretty impressive mix. 

Jessy Parker

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Baby

Earlier today Ariel Pink announced the follow up to ‘Before Today’, the album which propelled him to the front of the blogosphere, as ‘Mature Themes’, out on August 20th. Accompanying it was the release of this cover of the late 70’s Donnie and Joe Emerson song ‘Baby’.

In keeping with the soulful vibe of the original, Dam Funk's vocals are hoarse and more intense but generally the cover doesn’t really add much, mainly because the Emerson’s version sounds like something Ariel Pink would write in the first place. It feels like more than a bit of prick tease though considering he recently told Spin that the band had ‘had time to let (their) hair down and try new things’, before trying to placate us with a cover. GIVE US THE NEW SONGS NOW PINK!

Jessy Parker

O. Children - Apnea

When O. Children released their first album, it was 2010, doom and gloom was in, and you couldn’t move for band like Editors, The National and Interpol. Two years later, and well I think we’re all a bit over it. And ‘Apnea’ isn’t the album to bring it back. Tobias O’Kandi’s ominous baritone vocals linger over the album, which was named after a sleeping condition he developed from the stress of a legal battle in order to stop him being deported. Safe to say it’s not a cheerful record, but it does have anthemic ambitions.

‘The Realest’ is an exact fulfilment of those ambitions, as O’Kandi’s dark verses are complimented with almost euphoric choruses, of the type which led to White Lies headlining Wembley Arena. Current single ‘PT Cruiser’ is a swaggering jaunt reminiscent of Nick Cave (unsurprising considered the band are named after one of his songs), and ‘I Know You (Love Me)’ is a taste of what the band could be. Rhythmic synths and backing singers bring some light to the track, with an understated chorus to top it off, and prove that O. Children aren’t necessarily what they may first appear.

But at the same time as this depressing glory, tracks like ‘H8 City’ and ‘Red Like Fire’ are boring and wash over you in a wave of dark guitars, which ends up letting the album as a whole down. If this was still 2010, O. Children might have got away with it. But it’s 2012 now and we want something new. If they’re going to put shit songs in with the few good ones, it might be too late to salvage their stadium dreams.

6.7

Jessy Parker

Reptar - Body Faucet

Four spiky chaps from Athens, Georgia, Reptar’s big break came at last year’s SXSW festival where they won plaudits for their danceable live show and bubbly debut EP ‘Oblangle Fizz Y’all’ So have the quartet managed to live up to their blog buzz? The answer: Not quite.

Some of the problems with this album can be attributed to the groups’ lack of experience. With all the band members in their early twenties, they’ve yet to form a coherent identity of their own; instead taking other bands records as a set text on which to base themselves. All twelve tracks of ‘Body Faucet’ were recorded with Ben H Allen, most famous for producing Animal Collective and Gnarls Barkley and his work with the former looms large over this record. Song titles like ‘Orifice Origami’ or ‘Ghost Bike’ even sound as if they’ve come from the Avey Tare and Panda Bear book of nomenclature. Unfortunately Reptar seem to bottle it at the last minute. Tracks like ‘Please Don’t Kill Me’ open sounding like Passion Pit with its blend of yelped vocals and summery synths but quickly settle into a loop after a couple of minutes where a more practiced group might have pushed themselves off in a new direction.

That’s not to say that ‘Body Faucet’ doesn’t have good moments in its own right. Just check the clouds of spacey keyboards that usher in lead single and opening track ‘Sebastian.’ Singer, Graham Ulicny has claimed that its lyrics offer a ‘critique of society’s hetero-norm’ but they’re vague enough to sail over the head of the casual listener. More important is the bouncy bass and cut-glass African guitar lines which give it the feel of Vampire Weekend on a road trip to Graceland. ‘Ghost Bike’ offers the group’s most downbeat, romantic moment; a Prince-ly ballad with lyrics about ‘dreaming of your empty frame’ and despite its silly title, ‘Origami Orifice’ is a sprightly MGMT-style statement of intent to make you want to hurl yourself into a brightly-coloured ball pool. ‘Sweet Sipping Soda’ provides the only real shock with its quick bursts of blunderbuss brass but too quickly its back to tried and tested high-string riffs and afro-pop drums and bass.

Running to almost an hour a little pruning would certainly be preferable but perhaps ‘Body Faucet’ is just the record that this self-confident young band needed to make to to cut loose the baggage they’ve accrued in their short career. Flawed but funky, the shadow of Animal Collective and afro-pop psych oddballs Of Montreal lies heavy over ‘Body Faucet’ but at least the world is a brighter place with them around. Better luck next time for these art-pop Rugrats.

5.5

Max Sefton

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros - Here

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros have always been a band for the summer. Whether it’s their American twang, or their energetic songs which could have come straight from a barn dance but first album ‘Up From Below’ was released perfectly over the 2009 summer with ‘Home’ becoming an anthem. It’s appropriate then, that second album ‘Here’ was released in what was the hottest week of the year in the UK, and it fits as well with the weather as its predecessor did.

‘Here’ feels like a gospel record straight from the depths of southern America, but mixed in with some of the folky earthiness of Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan. The Magnetic Zeros seem to have gone back to their roots on creating this record. ‘Man On Fire’ is a slow opener as finger clicks and harmonies from the Magnetic Zeros set the scene. From then on, highlights include ‘Fiya Wata’ which could be straight off of a 50s compilation record stooped and ‘All Wash Out’ featuring delicate piano behind Alex Ebert’s vocals.

There is nothing on ‘Here’ which comes anywhere near the feel-good factor of ‘Home’ and as a result it becomes an album which doesn’t inspire any sense of wanting to listen to it again. It’s not a bad record by any stretch of the imagination but the songs blur into one so much that you can’t help but wish that Edward Sharpe would just go back to writing songs which you want to dance to.

6.6

Jessy Parker 

Liars - WIXIW

Often hailed by their burgeoning cult following as the most interesting band in the world, you never really know what you're going to get when you find yourself at the point of immersion with a Liars record. That first plunge can lead you into many different places, on their debut 'They Threw Us All In A Trench And Stuck A Monument On Top' it leads to a brash cacophony of punk indebted noise and loud guitar squealings, on 'Drum's Not Dead' you're met with even more glorious swathes of almost psychedelic experimentation and fair bit of a reverb, but on 'WIXIW' we find yet another altogether different, more electronic prospect.

The opening track 'The Exact Colour Of Doubt' is a slowed down, more tender track. It's sonically very calm and precisely orchestrated, casting misleading aspersions as to what the rest of the record entails. 'Octogon' follows, also slowed down, but far from emotive or calm. The track sounds paranoid and dripping with fear, as it judders along spookily with the notorious creepy Liars vocals embedding themselves over the top of the quickening beat and warped house-style rhythm. It's a quick change of mood, from calm to on-edget. These constant style changes throughout the album being just one reason as to why Liars are so utterly captivating. And then 'No.1 Against the Rush' bleeds its way into your ears. A track with multiple rhythms bubbling underneath and a whole lot of brooding, it's everything The Horrors wish they could be with radiant bright synth lines and a wholly transfixing vocal delivery. Add that to the bizarre murder orientated video and this has to be one of the finest yet totally messed up tracks of the year.


Then just as you think you might have pinned this album down, 'A Ring On Every Finger' shoves some early LCD Soundsystem style rhythms with looped grunts and overlapping, competing vocals. By this point in the record it's already incredibly evident how inventive Liars are, managing to cram multiple ideas and textures into one song. It's for this reason that on first listen, 'WIXIW' comes across as very alien and hard to digest. But if you feel overwhelmed, give this record repeat listens and the rewards will present themselves to you in abundance. Title track 'WIXIW' and track 'Flood To Flood' for example, are increasingly complex and the sharp invasive synth blasts may feel a bit too pronounced at first, but once you look underneath and listen deeply all sorts of bizarre lyrics and hidden rhythms reveal themselves pleasingly. 

Despite the occasional electronic slaughter on this album (like 'Brats' which sounds like a mid-90s rave anthem and entirely different to the rest of WIXIW), this is simultaneously Liars' most restrained, and one of their most difficult experimental albums. But every chop and change, and moment of apocalyptic brooding is visionary and carries thousands of times more depth than most modern experimental outfits. This is not their best album by any stretch, but it certainly warrants maximum attention over multiple listens, and is thoroughly engrossing and foreboding throughout. 


8.3

Toby McCarron

The Hives - Lex Hives

Their 2007 ‘Black and White Album’ briefly experimented with Pharrell-influenced funk but for the most part The Hives are not a band for anyone wanting influences post-1980. More fortunately it seems as if by album number five the band know this and are unafraid to play to their strengths.

Despite production and recording being split between Sweden, Germany and the US, ‘Lex Hives’ is their most focused slab of energetic garage-rock since 2002’s ‘Veni Vidi Vicious’. Most of the twelve songs here are Ramones-short, channelling Television without the expansiveness and cheekily pilfering from rock history. ‘I Want More’ is essentially ‘I Love Rock N’ Roll’ by way of AC/DC’s crunchy, compact riffing.

Frontman Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist is a reliably entertaining presence, sharp enough to know that being a rock star doesn’t ultimately matter, but enthusiastic enough to carry a crowd anyhow. On ‘Come On!’ a track so hyperactive it fully justifies the exclamation mark he’s a high-kicking cheerleader, pumping up the audience for the repetitive but high-energy tracks to come. Unlike the Strokes, the Hives may occasionally sound boring but they never sound bored.  

The manic ‘Patrolling Days’ just nudges over the 4 minute mark, which in this context makes it their ‘Master of Puppets’ while ‘Midnight Shifter’ shake, rattle and rolls through a catchy rockabilly melody. Not of those matters too much however because if you like one track here you’re pretty much guaranteed to like them all.  

Unfortunately for bands who rely on wackiness as part of their modus operandi you’re far more likely to end up as an Electric Six than a Flaming Lips, duplicating your one joke ad infinitum whilst more gifted space cadets soak up the sun and the critical acclaim. The Hives have now been making studio records for 15 years. In that time the Beatles had gone from teen idols to psychedelic voyagers to studio pros and whilst not every act is expected to re-write rock’s lexicon it doesn’t seem unreasonable to expect a shred of maturity or diversity. Perhaps staying the same is part of their charm, but there are only so many times you can repeat a trick without experiencing diminishing returns.

6.0 

Max Sefton

Scissor Sisters - Magic Hour

New York’s Number 1 purveyors of retro-camp glam are back with their fourth album. As the follow-up to the hyper-sexualised disco-pop of 2010’s ‘Night Work’, an album which re-confirmed their commitment to night time hedonism but skimped on the quality control. Lead singer Jake Shears, has protested that this is the Scissor Sisters' most consistent album to date. If anything the opposite is true. Much of ‘Magic Hour’ is hopelessly patchy, stitched together from a million different ideas.

‘Keep Your Shoes’ tacks the melody of ‘Get Ur Freak On’ to a stepping house beat and some of Jake’s most aggressive lyrics, while ‘Let’s Have A Kiki’ is an atrocious Ana Matronic led spoken word piece. Apparently a ‘kiki’ is a late night after-party but although it fits the theme of fading New York glamour it’s hard to see how anyone could have fun listening to it.

Current single ‘Only The Horses’ canters along with a melange of fluorescent synths and beats and is probably their best shot at repeating the chart success of ‘I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’ but the Calvin Harris production manages to smother the group’s charm. As possibly the only group in which the second frontperson’s role is primarily to rein in the extravagance of the other, it should be impossible for Jake Shears to sound like he’s anonymous, but to Harris he seems to be just another ingredient in the mix rather than the flamboyant and charismatic peacock feather-clad embodiment of Scissor Sisters disco riot.

In fact, the mess of producers involved in ‘Magic Hour’ is a problem that runs through the entire record. With Calvin Harris on the aforementioned single, Pharrell Williams on electronic ballad ‘Inevitable, Madonna collaborator Stuart Price on two tracks and electro-house star, Alex Ridha (aka Boys Noize) scattered across the rest to say that its uneven would be an understatement. If ‘Magic Hour’ were a city it would undoubtedly be San Francisco, but San Francisco in 1906 just after a major earthquake. In the past the quickfire leaps between glam, disco and electro-pop were united by its frontman’s infectious presence but here the group seem incapable of maintaining a style or mood for two tracks in a row.

Luckily there are still a few great moments that make you realise why Scissor Sisters were so easy to love in the first place. Opener ‘Baby Come Home’ takes every musician fond of a falsetto (Elton and the Bee Gees for starters) and mixes them together into a frothy milkshake of 70’s piano, vocoder and disco harmonies. There’s a whiff of ‘Ta-Dah’s kitsch, but the cherry on top is Jake’s Prince-style vocal tics in the breakdown. Its chorus of ‘Baby come home to me’ feels sweet and heartfelt amongst Magic Hour’s more robotic moments. Even better is teaser track ‘Shady Love.’ Guest star Azealia Banks nails the driving chorus in a star-making turn reminiscent of Nicki Minaj’s guest spot on Kanye West’s ‘Monster’, but its Jake’s bonkers lyrics about partying with a girl who’s ‘gonna vote for Obama and she likes to dance to Madonna’ which demonstrate just how fun Scissor Sisters can be when they really cut loose.

Another of ‘Magic Hour’s quirks is its use (or should that be overuse?) of silly sound effects. Got a song about tropical beaches? Let’s have some waves! A party closed down? Police Sirens! Moments like this can be deployed cleverly but Scissor Sisters seem unwilling to let their audience do any of the work. For a band who thrive by offering an anything-goes, all-inclusive enclave, shoving these effects heavy-handedly down their audiences throat just serves to raise a barrier between band and their fans. Played back-to-back with their previous records the contrast is even more distinct. Their debut ‘Scissor Sisters’ is irreverent, funny and inherently likeable. Magic Hour is more of an awkward 45 minutes.

4.5

Max Sefton

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs - Trouble

As scientists debate whether one particular species of enormous extinct dinosaur, T-Rex, was a fearsome carnivore or a primeval vulture, Oxford born producer Orlando Higginbotham proves himself to be both an adept scavenger and one of the UK’s most exciting young talents.

Buoyed by twice appearing as Nick Grimshaw’s Radio 1 Record of the Week and always fond of peacock-like theatricality it is no surprise that Higginbotham takes centre stage on almost all of the tracks on his debut album. Although he’s not an exceptional vocalist or lyricist, by fronting up his own material there’s a sense of intimacy and perspective often lost in an impersonal genre. When he sings ‘Can’t stop thinking of you’ on ‘You Need Me On Your Own’ the result is a quirky slice of Miike Snow/Hot Chip pop with an organic heart to it, despite the lack of organic instrumentation.

Lead single and title track ‘Trouble’ is a tale of lies and lost love set to squelchy synth and brass, ending in a bleeping meltdown of video game sounds. Follow-up ‘Shimmer’s beat has more of an RnB feel to it, unspooling through airy synths and cut-up Caribbean drums into a mad electro-rave party track.

In recent interviews the young producer has spoken of wanting to create something akin to Roni Size/Reprazent’s 1997 Mercury Prize Winning ‘New Forms’ in timelessness if not directly in sound and ‘Trouble’ bravely sticks to its own path, taking in tech house, trance and electro-pop to create the soundtrack to Higginbotham’s very own Lost World. In fact it this refusal to incorporate the latest dance music fads which makes ‘Trouble’ more likely to achieve its creator’s Roni Size-sized ambitions. ‘Household Goods’ starts as a bleepy Balearic bop before two seconds of sharply deployed kettle drum ushers in a tidal wave sized house kick that washes the track far out to sea. Early relic ‘Garden’ fares less well. Its trancey synths and female vocal feel familiar but its indistinct and vague compared to his more recent releases.

The second half of the record feels slighter and less memorable than the first, with a greater emphasis on instrumentals but by the time the redemptive ‘Stronger’ fades out it’s hard not to see why Higginbotham has been so in demand as a remixer for the likes of Lady Gaga and Professor Green. With a powerful but idiosyncratic vision of his own Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs look set to roam the earth for plenty of time to come.

7.1

Max Sefton