David Bowie - Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime) - ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
Heralding another career-spanning Best Of compilation is this curveball show-tune that sounds more like Scott Walker than Bowie. But then what does David Bowie really sound like - the man is an entity, an enigma who defines his own path rather than waiting for others to guide him. Sue isn't the easiest of tracks to listen to and is as far from The Next Day album as you could wish to get. It's 8 minutes long, sounds like a freeform extract by Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman or Buddy Rich on heavy acid, rolled into a Kurt Weill vignette best served loud.
Elbow - Charge - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
From their Take Off And Landing Of Everything, Charge is, by turns, Guy Garvey at his most socially hard-bitten and charged. Ridden with bitterness towards younger pups invading his space in the local pub, he nurses yet another bottle, another glass of fuel ready to lubricate another stand-up-and-rant session. No-one listens. It's a familiar tale - we've all ignored the old campaigner(s) sat in the corner, nursing a pint of mild, lonely, regretful and wondering why this RSD2014 tune has been resurrected for the BBC 6 Music playlist. I'm curious too.
The Kuhls - Leavin The Prairie - ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
Country-tinged songwriting siblings seem to be flavour of the month at the moment - following on from The Pierces and Haim are The Kuhls delivering their own take on good old hearty rock and roll that borrows from the prairie. What makes The Kuhls' USP a little more agreeable is an immediate vocal comparison to The Breeders, even if the music is strung out contemporary bar-room roots and blues that romps homeward bound with one hand firmly gripping a baseball cap and the other thumbing a lift to the deserted hills of Arizona. Possibly.
Lamb - We Fall In Love - ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
The duo return with another off-kilter anti-pop tune that actually sounds fairly straight-forward for them. It isn't without wiggle, that's for sure - despite being minor-key in the style of Lykke Li etc, its USP lies in its hefty rhythmic shuffle that propels the whole thing to a suitably dramatic conclusion. Although there isn't much of a song to speak of, We Fall In Love is a pleasing distraction that recalls Lamb's finer moments from yesteryear.
John Foxx and Steve D'Agostino - Evidence Of Time Travel - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Creepy sinister clockwork electrowave from Foxx and D'Agostino's latest audio-visual project of the same name, created with Jonathan Barnbrook and Karborn. Reminiscent of Cabaret Voltaire's Voice Of America era, Wrangler's related music and Foxx's own Metamatic period, this insistent slice of paranoid analogue techno is sure to translate well when realised at the BFI show in November. The album is also rather special.
Astronauts - Four Songs - ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
No sooner had I got used to the progressive alternative folk rumblings of London-based Dark Captains that I now find myself listening to another Dan Carney project, this time Astronauts. Acclaimed for the single Skydive released earlier this year (it was a 6 out of 10 for me), Carney returns with an EP of equally quirky alt-pop that stars softly sung harmonies and effete synthetic beats that add up to competent rather than exhilarating. The arrangements are faultless, particularly on Think On and the lead-off song Only Son, but Lion Tamer sounds like a song searching for a producer. Favourite track is the instrumental Death From The Stars, which is under two minutes in length yet carries more atmosphere than all the other songs put together. I like what Carney does most of the time - it's another six.
Aldous Harding - The Hunter - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
A curio from New Zealand that's been doing the rounds online for a good few months, The Hunter is a sweetly sung folk-roots pop number that will either be the greatest vocal performance you've ever heard or just too twee to be likeable. Because the song is exceptional, I can get around Harding's affected vocal style and vote this an enormous hit. "He's a hunter, he's a good man" is a refrain I can imagine Mike Scott or Seth Lakeman singing, mainly due to the poetic nature of the song and partly due to the memorable fiddle motif running throughout.
8:58 - Eightfiftyeight - ★★★★★★★★★☆
Orbital announced their second hiatus recently and within a few minutes, news of Paul Hartnoll's new project came to light. And what a project. Sounding like a typical Hartnoll production, 8:58 begins with Cillian Murphy from Peaky Blinders reading a brief speech about being governed by time and clocks, before the sparky music kicks in making you realise that there IS life after Orbital after all. Not dissimilar to Paul's solo album An Ideal Condition or Orbital's Wonky work, 8:58 is by turns a pretty soundtrack and then an unsettling chunk of industrial metal dance. This sounds like a labour of love. A love of the concept of time governance and a proper taster of things to come. Track of the week.
Foo Fighters - Something From Nothing - ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
Hmmm, never thought I'd compare Grohl's charges to Red Hot Chili Peppers but (deep breath) here goes. After a slow intro, then a bit of smooth MOR, it mutates into something funkier, very like the aforementioned Chilis circa Higher Ground or Mother's Milk. But, sticking with it, Something From Nothing builds up into a typical Grohl rage rocker, like Bruce Banner tearing off his shirt to become The Incredible Riff-wielding Hulk. OK, it's a bit Sabbath in places but SFN is no more or less than a standard biographical Foo Fighters anthem.
Hookworms - On Leaving - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Back with new album The Hum, the slightly shouty, everso druggy psychedelic and often wonderful Hookworms have cranked up the motor for this lead-off single. On Leaving is a fuzzy squall of buzzing Farfisas, trippy drums and anti-harmonies, culminating in the sort of track a hurricane might make before wearing itself from hurling houses around. At six minutes in length, it's just long enough to become seriously disorientating, especially during the last two minutes when all hell breaks loose.
Red Snapper - Mambety (DJ Food Remixes) - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
The outfit's recent Hyena album was a bit of a joy to behold and on this EP you will find two of that set's best tracks being remixed, as well as the Gideon Coe-loved Dock Running presented in its untouched album format. As for Mambety, DJ Food has lovingly whipped up some extra beats and a few subtle infills and samples that recalls Damon Albarn and James Blake's recent work while still retaining the organic feel of the Red Snapper blueprint. Meanwhile, Moist has turned Walking Man into a huge swaggery thing a la Depeche Mode (I'll agree with the PR notes totally here) - good work.
Real Estate - Had To Hear - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Quick, grab your swimming shorts, hop into the Roadster and let's hit the coast - summer's still here. No, really it is. Real Estate are the summer band of the year for me - genial jangling guitars, soft West Coast harmonies, effortless rhythm and a simple song that isn't overbearingly retro, nor is it the future of rock and roll. Perfect for those who are missing The Go-Betweens and the remedy for that pissy weather outside.
Heralding another career-spanning Best Of compilation is this curveball show-tune that sounds more like Scott Walker than Bowie. But then what does David Bowie really sound like - the man is an entity, an enigma who defines his own path rather than waiting for others to guide him. Sue isn't the easiest of tracks to listen to and is as far from The Next Day album as you could wish to get. It's 8 minutes long, sounds like a freeform extract by Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman or Buddy Rich on heavy acid, rolled into a Kurt Weill vignette best served loud.
Elbow - Charge - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
From their Take Off And Landing Of Everything, Charge is, by turns, Guy Garvey at his most socially hard-bitten and charged. Ridden with bitterness towards younger pups invading his space in the local pub, he nurses yet another bottle, another glass of fuel ready to lubricate another stand-up-and-rant session. No-one listens. It's a familiar tale - we've all ignored the old campaigner(s) sat in the corner, nursing a pint of mild, lonely, regretful and wondering why this RSD2014 tune has been resurrected for the BBC 6 Music playlist. I'm curious too.
The Kuhls - Leavin The Prairie - ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
Country-tinged songwriting siblings seem to be flavour of the month at the moment - following on from The Pierces and Haim are The Kuhls delivering their own take on good old hearty rock and roll that borrows from the prairie. What makes The Kuhls' USP a little more agreeable is an immediate vocal comparison to The Breeders, even if the music is strung out contemporary bar-room roots and blues that romps homeward bound with one hand firmly gripping a baseball cap and the other thumbing a lift to the deserted hills of Arizona. Possibly.
Lamb - We Fall In Love - ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
The duo return with another off-kilter anti-pop tune that actually sounds fairly straight-forward for them. It isn't without wiggle, that's for sure - despite being minor-key in the style of Lykke Li etc, its USP lies in its hefty rhythmic shuffle that propels the whole thing to a suitably dramatic conclusion. Although there isn't much of a song to speak of, We Fall In Love is a pleasing distraction that recalls Lamb's finer moments from yesteryear.
John Foxx and Steve D'Agostino - Evidence Of Time Travel - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Creepy sinister clockwork electrowave from Foxx and D'Agostino's latest audio-visual project of the same name, created with Jonathan Barnbrook and Karborn. Reminiscent of Cabaret Voltaire's Voice Of America era, Wrangler's related music and Foxx's own Metamatic period, this insistent slice of paranoid analogue techno is sure to translate well when realised at the BFI show in November. The album is also rather special.
Astronauts - Four Songs - ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
No sooner had I got used to the progressive alternative folk rumblings of London-based Dark Captains that I now find myself listening to another Dan Carney project, this time Astronauts. Acclaimed for the single Skydive released earlier this year (it was a 6 out of 10 for me), Carney returns with an EP of equally quirky alt-pop that stars softly sung harmonies and effete synthetic beats that add up to competent rather than exhilarating. The arrangements are faultless, particularly on Think On and the lead-off song Only Son, but Lion Tamer sounds like a song searching for a producer. Favourite track is the instrumental Death From The Stars, which is under two minutes in length yet carries more atmosphere than all the other songs put together. I like what Carney does most of the time - it's another six.
Aldous Harding - The Hunter - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
A curio from New Zealand that's been doing the rounds online for a good few months, The Hunter is a sweetly sung folk-roots pop number that will either be the greatest vocal performance you've ever heard or just too twee to be likeable. Because the song is exceptional, I can get around Harding's affected vocal style and vote this an enormous hit. "He's a hunter, he's a good man" is a refrain I can imagine Mike Scott or Seth Lakeman singing, mainly due to the poetic nature of the song and partly due to the memorable fiddle motif running throughout.
8:58 - Eightfiftyeight - ★★★★★★★★★☆
Orbital announced their second hiatus recently and within a few minutes, news of Paul Hartnoll's new project came to light. And what a project. Sounding like a typical Hartnoll production, 8:58 begins with Cillian Murphy from Peaky Blinders reading a brief speech about being governed by time and clocks, before the sparky music kicks in making you realise that there IS life after Orbital after all. Not dissimilar to Paul's solo album An Ideal Condition or Orbital's Wonky work, 8:58 is by turns a pretty soundtrack and then an unsettling chunk of industrial metal dance. This sounds like a labour of love. A love of the concept of time governance and a proper taster of things to come. Track of the week.
Foo Fighters - Something From Nothing - ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
Hmmm, never thought I'd compare Grohl's charges to Red Hot Chili Peppers but (deep breath) here goes. After a slow intro, then a bit of smooth MOR, it mutates into something funkier, very like the aforementioned Chilis circa Higher Ground or Mother's Milk. But, sticking with it, Something From Nothing builds up into a typical Grohl rage rocker, like Bruce Banner tearing off his shirt to become The Incredible Riff-wielding Hulk. OK, it's a bit Sabbath in places but SFN is no more or less than a standard biographical Foo Fighters anthem.
Hookworms - On Leaving - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Back with new album The Hum, the slightly shouty, everso druggy psychedelic and often wonderful Hookworms have cranked up the motor for this lead-off single. On Leaving is a fuzzy squall of buzzing Farfisas, trippy drums and anti-harmonies, culminating in the sort of track a hurricane might make before wearing itself from hurling houses around. At six minutes in length, it's just long enough to become seriously disorientating, especially during the last two minutes when all hell breaks loose.
Red Snapper - Mambety (DJ Food Remixes) - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
The outfit's recent Hyena album was a bit of a joy to behold and on this EP you will find two of that set's best tracks being remixed, as well as the Gideon Coe-loved Dock Running presented in its untouched album format. As for Mambety, DJ Food has lovingly whipped up some extra beats and a few subtle infills and samples that recalls Damon Albarn and James Blake's recent work while still retaining the organic feel of the Red Snapper blueprint. Meanwhile, Moist has turned Walking Man into a huge swaggery thing a la Depeche Mode (I'll agree with the PR notes totally here) - good work.
Real Estate - Had To Hear - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Quick, grab your swimming shorts, hop into the Roadster and let's hit the coast - summer's still here. No, really it is. Real Estate are the summer band of the year for me - genial jangling guitars, soft West Coast harmonies, effortless rhythm and a simple song that isn't overbearingly retro, nor is it the future of rock and roll. Perfect for those who are missing The Go-Betweens and the remedy for that pissy weather outside.