The Voluntary Butler Scheme – The Chevreul EP

The Voluntary Butler Scheme is, being Rob Jones alone, one of those mavericks that people love unreservedly, when in reality his output is wildly hit and miss. Songs like The BT Tower and The Eiffel Tower are absolute melodic gems, but like many artistes, he is prone to the noodling and avant garde. Unless you enjoy listening to abstract squiggles, this stuff is best left alone.

The EP employs a weird trick of starting with two versions of Do The Hand Jive rather than book-ending the record with them. Having them together merely accentuates how similar they are, although the Go Team remix has a tad more fizz. The tune itself is a weird one, and you can see why the Go Team have been asked to lend their hand to remixing. It’s very much their knock kneed little brother blinking in the bright lights as he steps onto the dancefloor, to their brash exuberant disco dancer. That said, it is interesting and repeated plays might throw it up as a right earworm. To The Height Of A Frisbee employs his cool trick of seemingly nonsensical rhymes and sharp dashes and changes of melodic direction to provide hooks a plenty. Satisfactory Substitute is one of his annoyances, employing well spoken samples to try and come off like the Avalanches, but falling flat and well short. DOPL rounds off the EP with an unsatisfactory pinging instrumental.

If only Jones would write more like Frisbee and his other gems and did less of the messing around, more people could come to love him.

The Chevreul EP is out now on Split Records
The Voluntary Butler Scheme myspace is here

Your new favourite band is Pris

Pris could well be my new favourite band. They don’t have a single out, just a fascinating web presence and some top tunes. Here’s why you’ll love them too;

1. They deploy the classic cool line up. That being a four piece, three girls with a bloke shoved away behind the drums.
2. They always look like they are having ridiculous fun. Probably because they are.
3. Their melodies course through the veins of their pop songs, before infiltrating your heart.
4. They are DIY and beautifully so. Not in an ‘I can’t be arsed to learn to play my instrument way’, but in a ‘let’s have a crack at this ourselves’ way, and part of the fun is the hiccups along the way.
5. Because if you love Kenickie, Shampoo, Voodoo Queens and their ilk, you’ll love them. Because you obviously have great taste.
6. They want to kill all indie landfill bands, and leave us with a purely glamour filled pop world.
7. Remember when the Manics were young and glam and proper dangerous? That’s Pris.

There you are, the magnificent seven reasons to love them. If you want one more, check out the video for Blue Tack Baby below or find them on Facebook or Myspace

The Go Team! – Rolling Blackouts

Recently I saw a documentary about New York in 1977. Crammed into an hour and a half was the emergence of disco, The Loft and Studio 54, hip hop, DJs and their street light hotwiring, punk and CBGBs, the Son of Sam serial killer, the blackout, the suburbs on fire and being looted, swingers clubs and chaotic mayoral elections. I’d wager this sensory overload is somewhat akin to an album by The Go! Team. As you’ll see from their third album, the appropriately named Rolling Blackouts, they were born for those times. Most of the stuff here could easily have been made then or soundtracked that documentary. For example Tornado sounds like a cut up blaxpoitation movie, with kids breakdancing outside the movie theatre and cops sirens blaring past, while Apollo Throwdown is like double dutching it around the floor. When the clouds part and some space is allowed in, such as on recent single Buy Nothing Day, it all makes perfect sense. When this happens the hundreds of disparate pieces gel together sweetly rather than elbowing each other for room. It does often feel like there is a tendency to throw everything into the melting pot and see what works, rather than pick and choose and use some quality control. An instance when they do take a step back on Yosemite Theme, things are spacious and less cluttered so they work much better. It’s beautifully panoramic and slow moving. There are good parts to this album, and a good band here, if only the producer or someone would step in with some good advice. One to cherry pick from.

Rolling Blackouts is out now on Memphis Industries

The Go Team! website is here

Cat Matador - The Address EP

Cat Matador release their second EP on the 14th March, and while some people will undoubtedly go crazy for this, it leaves me somewhat nonplussed. It has all the shimmering riffs and grandiose gestures you would hope for from a epic rock band, and a coy style to offset any unintended bombast. It's just that I can't help feel this has been done many times before, and much better. I'm sure they have it in them to produce something great, you can sense the promise in the band, but this isn't it...yet. It's also a tad frustrating, as there are bits I find myself getting really into, but then they don't amount to anything and I feel somewhat let down. I'll stick with it though, and you may well find me posting again later about how wrong my initial thoughts were. Stay tuned. Have a listen to the EP on their Soundcloud page though please, I know many of you will love this.

Cat Matador's soundcloud page is here

The Missing Season - The Missing Season EP

Here's the perfect thing ready for spring. The Missing Season are French exponents of dream pop, bliss pop, call it what you will. The stuff made by the likes of Beach House, but more specifically Midlake and Fleet Foxes. Rather than merely aping these bands though, it sounds like they are kindred spirits, taking bands like Grandaddy as their off beat starting point. The songs blend seamlessly into each other, which under other circumstances might not be the greatest recommendation, but with the type of music The Missing Season make, it is entirely the point, hitting the nail on the head, albeit very gently and with a soft hammer. The Missing Season have made an EP that is perfect for falling asleep to on a sun dappled veranda. It's a taster for an album, due later this spring. You can listen to the EP using the player below, and click through and download it for free should you enjoy it.

Findlay Napier and the Bar Room Mountaineers - Valentine's Day

Ok, so I may be late in posting this, but it's worth writing about nonetheless. If you were full of self pity and spite on the day of the lovers, yet still carried yourself with style and grace, this is the song for you. It's the Scottish equivalent of the Ben Folds Five track Song For The Dumped, in which the downtrodden fights back. There's a great knack to what Findlay does, writing tunes that could come across as MOR in lesser hands, but investing them with verve and vigour and more hooks than a cloakroom. With the aforementioned Mr Folds having lost his way slightly recently, it may well be time for Findlay to step up and take his place. The future of caustic radio friendly pop is in good hands.

Find Findlay on Facebook here. There's a handy player there to listen to the single.

Secret Rivals – Tonight Matthew…

Secret Rivals continue their progress with their new single Tonight Matthew… It builds on the foundations laid by previous releases, with a touch of Johnny Foreigner to this one. It has a cool, understated melody that bursts into life at points, before settling back down to a simmering intensity. It also evokes to me the less screamy/shouty side of Los Campesinos! So, while there may be nothing shockingly new about what Secret Rivals are doing, it’s a sound that is pleasing enough for us to welcome more tunes of theirs into our homes.

Tonight Matthew… is released on April 4th on Kittiwake Records

Find Secret Rivals here

The Tomatometers – Annie EP

If you’re looking for some fresh and exciting indie pop, something that sounds exhilarating and exuberant but also harks back to the glory days of Orange Juice and the more confident yet sweetly ramshackle indie bands, then you could do a lot worse than check out the new EP from The Tomatometers. Lead track Annie is especially a delight, while Cut Short is decidedly undecided as to its direction, but has a lovely languid vocal, akin to some of Graham Coxon’s solo stuff. Breathe In_Breathe Out is a gorgeous instrumental, it’s woozy shimmers bringing to mind Pale Saints Kinky Love. An acoustic version of You Don’t Know Us rounds off the EP, showing that an acoustic guitar and an open heart is sometimes all you need. The EP comes very recommended, and you can listen to it in the Bandcamp player below.

The Momeraths – Your Winter Bones EP

Remember the fresh faced days of The Beautiful South, when Welcome To was just out and they were still trading off the goodwill of the dying embers of The Housemartins? Those were memorable days, before the time when every home had Carry On Up The Charts and the flashes of brilliance started to come few and far between.

This is what The Momeraths most remind me of on their latest EP. I’m not for a minute suggesting that this is the path laid out for them, just that they have the great qualities of the early days of a much maligned band. Their new EP kicks off with Chopped Onions, a chirpy indie duet. The Observer is an end of the pier, empty ballroom, loss filled waltz. Itchy Feet is a sweet one, with the world’s first non-annoying glockenspiel. Last Time Around is perhaps the best tune, reflective and slightly mournful, a bit reminiscent of Jens Lekman.

The Momeraths Bandcamp is here. You can listen to the EP there and buy it too.

The Lovely Eggs – Cob Dominos

Christ I love The Lovely Eggs. The world needs more Lovely Eggs. The world doesn’t need any more Lovely Eggs. This one is so imperfectly perfect, that they are all we’ll ever need. Take the lead single from this, their second album. Don’t Look At Me (I Don’t Like It) is a fantastic pop song by anyone’s standards, with it’s throbbing rhythm and infectious melody and absurdist lyrics. The lyrics concern a fascinating parade of oddball characters, with strange features such as dog dirt eyes, wheelchair hearts and sausage roll thumbs. Somewhat perfectly, the latter is played by John Shuttleworth in the video. They’re also not above some short pieces to dispense with some puerile humour. See the alley-rhyming Muhammed Ali And All His Friends, the rage laden People Are Twats and the freakily twisted ending to Alphabet Song.

Another thing I love is the way they’re multi-faceted and not afraid to show all sides to their personalities. So there are funny songs, plain weird songs, sweet songs, serious songs, beautiful songs, and type of song you want. There is a wonderful kookiness about them which, having met the band, is in no way effected. It just makes it all the more endearing.

Really, just trust me on this one. Go and get this now from Cherryade Music and while you’re at it pick up the discount bundle that includes their debut If You Were Fruit. You won’t be disappointed. It’s the kick up the arse pop music needs.

Cob Dominos is released by Cherryade Records on February 14th. Get it here.

Bruce Springsteen - The Promise

Another catch up piece. The Promise actually came out in November and most of you probably know all about it by now. However, despite that and the fact that it's by a world recognised artist, I thought it was worth a mention, due to the sheer quality of the material.
What you have is a double CD of 21 songs recorded around the time of Darkness On The Edge Of Town, but which didn't make the cut. Some have surfaced in different forms since, but some have been left buried for years. To think that while recording the follow up to the crossover album Born To Run, the record company allowed him to record forty songs, of which only ten made the final album and that there would be three years between the two albums is unthinkable nowadays, but the correct decision in hindsight. Presumably virtually no artists starting out nowadays will have the longevity that Springsteen has enjoyed. For now, simply take pleasure in the fact that Bruce has now seen fit to dust these songs down and give them the airing they deserve. That they were never intended as a complete album, makes the way they gel an even greater surprise and delight.

The Promise is out now on Columbia
Bruce's website is here

The Humdrum Express – Elevation Of Trivia

Another new album appears from mercurial singer songwriter The Humdrum Express. It starting with Keepin’ Score, in which he goes a bit Frank Turner on us, setting the world to rights. Other tracks like What A Carry On! have an eerie new wave vibe, this one specifically a bit reminiscent of Wire or Tubeway Army. While two contrasting bands in many ways, the comparison works. A lot of this is due to the production on the album, which has the vocals sound like they have an odd tunnelling echo effect on them. Two’s Company is much better with the effect lifted. The New Doctor Who is reflective and a bit Billy Bragg, while Battle Of The Blands side swipes interminable band competitions, populated by run of the mill acts doing uninspired covers.

There’s an element of Half Man Half Biscuit’s inspired wit as he takes pot shots at message board menaces (Message Board Hooligan) and in part armchair patriot football fans and other types (What You See). Rather than using straight in your face humour though, it’s down with a lightness of touch, merely pointing out the ridiculous, and letting you make up your own mind on things. The best is saved until last with Moral High Ground. In a volte face, he chucks out I, Ludicrous style pithy observations over a skittering industrial electro-lite beat. The vocals being nice and high in the mix you find yourself knodding in agreement at the remarks and being absorbed by the cracking beats.

Elevation Of Trivia is self released and available from The Humdrum Express website

Braindead Collective - The Whites Of Our Eyes

Normally improvisation leaves me cold, but there is something quite wonderful about this. It is the first collaboration between Oxford / London kraut-jazz-drone experimentalists Braindead Collective (featuring members of Guillemots, The Epstein, Keyboard Choir and others), and the Scotland-via-Lancashire purveyor of lo-fi creaks and drones, Rob St. John and was recorded on the coldest day of a freezing British winter in Oxford’s oldest church – St.Michael’s on Cornmarket St – by microphones strategically strewn from pews and rafters. You can listen to it via the player below, and pick up a download in exchange for a donation to Shelter.

Matt Longo - Alexandria

After the downbeat tone of the last post, here comes something else to restore my faith. Not only that, Matt Longo gives singer songwriters a good name, a difficult thing when acoustic troubadors are ten a penny and worth even less nowadays. Wonderfully angelic vocals that leap hither and thither, some sweet melodies and an uplifting air all contribute to make this splendid mini album something special. You can listen to it on the player below. Click on the player to find all the links your heart desires and to download the album for free.

Wonderflu - Lota Schwager EP

This is the first in a series of brief year end recommendations, in an effort to catch up the backlog that has been created by my current disenchantment with reviewing. With personal time ever decreasing, I simply don't want to spend it listening to an ever increasing number of distinctly average bands. Some things however are worth bringing to wider attention, such as this, the latest EP by Pavement-esque Parisien band Wonderflu. Normal service will be resumed sometime soon...have a listen to this below in the meantime.