My holiday listening

So the reason I hadn’t posted in a while before the Bloc Party single review below was that I’d been on holiday. To make up for the lack of new music for you in that time, here’s the two new records that I was listening to while I was away.

Dananananaykroyd – Sissy Hits

Sissy Hits is the first EP from Glaswegian “fight-pop” sextet Dananananaykroyd to be released in the UK. After their original record label went bust earlier this year, the band had to find a new label before the EP could finally be released. It was well worth the wait! Sissy Hits is a series of songs that start off like Hot Club De Paris before working their way to The Blood Brothers via yourcodenameis:milo. An unbelievably good EP, and it joins Bloc Party‘s self-titled EP and Death From Above 1979‘s Heads Up! EP as one of my three favourite EPs ever. Can’t wait to hear more from these guys. Buy it here and bag yourself a bargain. You won’t be disappointed.

My Eductation – Bad Vibrations

I’ve never really been a massive fan of instrumental music, and most post-rock type bands can bore me at times. There are however, noteable exceptions. When I received this album in the post from the very helpful guys at Fanatic Promotion, I had my reservations, but I was pleasantly surprised. More laid back than the likes of Explosions In The Sky, the album reminded me more of Broken Social Scene‘s album You Forgot It In People because of the varied instrumentation and the sense of space in the record. A beautifully put-together album, this will appeal to fans of Broken Social Scene and also fans of the post-rock hot-shots like Explosions In The Sky and This Will Destroy You who fancy something more subtle. Mellow, altmospheric and a very rewarding listen, Bad Vibrations is an excellent showpiece of what My Education can do. You can buy it here.

MP3: Dananananaykroyd – The Greater Than Symbol And The Hash

MP3: My Education – Arch

The Terrordactyls

Our friends at Fanatic Promotion sent me an email about this band the other day. The Terrordactyls are an Anti-Folk duo from the USA, living in Washington State and Brooklyn. Their music is unothodox; acoustic guitars are fused with kazoo solos, which apparently landed the band with a sponsorship from Kazoobie. Truly living the rockstar lifestyle then.

The Terrordactyls released an EP and album in quick succession in March of this year. The full Mike Bowers EP can be streamed here and the self-titled album can be heard in full here. If you like what you hear, you can buy both from their website here. The album features the dulcet tones of Kimya Dawson (of Moldy Peaches and Juno fame) and she compliments their sound wonderfully. These guys are the best acoustic act I’ve heard in quite a while, and I predict an explosion of popularity in 2008, as fans of the Juno soundtrack will enjoy Kimya Dawson‘s input, and The Terrordactyls’ sound will surely appeal to fans of hers and maybe people will prefer their snappy lyrics and kazoo mastery to another dissappointing Death Cab For Cutie record or something like that. I know I do.

MP3: The Terrordactyls – Overcast Summer

MP3: The Terrordactyls – Growing Old

MP3: The Terrordactyls – Fall

MP3: The Terrordactyls – Devices

(We’ve made the mp3s more manageable. Click to play them, or right click > “Save As” do download)

Rory. x

She Wants Revenge

She Wants Revenge are a superb band. That is all.

Seriously though, I’ve never heard a band that sounds like them and pulls it off as well as they do, unless Interpol count, but I don’t think they’re as similar as some people claim they are. She Wants Revenge‘s darkwave sound (with some truly unsettling pop melodies mixed in here and there) is captivating stuff. Their self-titled debut came out in 2006 and was followed by This is Forever in October of last year. I think I prefer the first album, but I’m really not sure. The problem is they’re both so good.

These guys have two albums, they’ve toured with Depeche Mode and the impecable Placebo, yet they’re still mostly unknown. That said, Tear You Apart, the band’s second single from the She Wants Revenge reached number 5 in the US Modern Rock chart, whatever that means, and the brilliant video was directed by Hollywood movie star Joaquin Phoenix (omgz!!!1!).

Moving back to the present, the band will soon (sometime in May I believe) be releasing their Save Your Soul EP and it’s sure to be more great stuff. You really should watch that Tear You Apart video y’know. The band are playing a massive tour across the US til June time. I’m still hoping for an appearance on the stage formerly known as the Carling Stage at the festival formerly known as the Carling Leeds Festival in the month still known as August.

That’s the video for Tear You Apart. Did I mention that it was directed by Joaquin Phoenix? Think I did. You should really watch that video.

MP3: She Wants Revenge – True Romance

The New Sound. x