Demob Happy

FIRST PUBLISHED AT THE LINE OF BEST FIT
7/10
Synth pop is apparently making a big comeback in 2009, I say apparently because I don’t listen to the radio, watch TV or live in an English-speaking country, so it’s easy to shield myself from the probably excessive hype surrounding artists such as, say, Little Boots, Empire Of [...]

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FIRST PUBLISHED AT THE LINE OF BEST FIT
It’s not a shame about Fever Ray
8/10
I’d just finished mildly mocking Bon Iver’s Auto-Tune ballad ‘In the Woods’ from his recent ‘Blood Bank EP‘ when Fever Ray’s Vocoder-heavy debut album landed in my inbox with a mechanical clunk. Fever Ray is Karin Dreijer Andersson, one half of Sweden’s [...]

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Switched on
7/10
Fujiya & Miyagi - also known as the very un-Japanese and un-duo-like David Best, Steve Lewis and Matt Hainsby - are part of a indie/electronica scene, including the likes of Baikonour (aka Jean-Emmanuel Kreiger) and Imitation Electric Piano, that seem to share in Lee Adams a mercenary percussionist. Like Baikonour, Fujiya & Miyagi blend [...]

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Gang Gang goes bang

8.5/10
FIRST PUBLISHED AT THE LINE OF BEST FIT
Long-time darlings of New York’s ultra-hip, art-conscious underground music scene, Gang Gang Dance look braced to make a wider breakthrough with their new album ‘Saint Dymphna‘, released in the UK on Warp. Like their contemporaries Out Hud, Gang Gang Dance makes a hybrid of post-rock [...]

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Try a little tenderness!
7/10
Now stripped to the core duo of singer Trish Keenan and multi-instrumentalist / programmer James Cargill, Broadcast’s thrid album places a greater emphasis on song-writing and lyricism, and less on sonic experiment. Whereas ‘Ha Ha Sound’ was a sprawling epic of icy lullabye and often abrasive rythmic and textural abstraction, ‘Tender Buttons’ [...]

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Black Cherry B-Sides at Best!
6/10
Supernature picks up where singles off Black Cherry such as ‘Train’ and ‘Strict Machine’ - in my mind that albums weaker moments - left off. I have heard Alison Goldfrapp in the press saying that they aimed to make this album more stripped down, the production simpler. This has resulted in [...]

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Subtle, emotive electro-pop
8/10
You may find yourself slightly perplexed after the first listen of this album given the collective orgasm seemingly experienced by the music press about Last Exit. It is, however, a subtle, gentle grower. The missing link between Underworld, Talk Talk and New Order, it places delicate, slightly Indie vocal melodies over Timbaland-esque [...]

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Party Bag
7/10
Add N to X continue to make music that refuses to be categorised or pander to current trends. Driven by a punk ethos, Loud Like Nature sees them up the ante on previous effort, Add Insult to Injury, with further aural assaults lead by analogue sythesisers, live drums and bizarre futurist vocals. The [...]

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Leftfield pop masterclass from Germany
7/10
Germany’s Lali Puna have produced a leftfield album of remarkable pop sensibilites and undoubtable mainstream appeal. Apparently Johnny Greenwood’s favourite band, Lali Puna are pushing in the opposite direction to Radiohead by adding guitars to their sound and bringing their sensuous female vocalist up in the mix. Opener ‘Faking the [...]

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Space jam
7/10
The appeal of Add N to X is their straight-out retro synth jams that, for lack of a better word, rock. The down side is the Gary Glitter-meets-Fat Les tomfoolery of tracks like Mister Bobby and Adding N to X. ‘You must create’ sounds like an edgier, more sonic Air, while Kingdom of [...]

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