EP: AMONGST THE PIGEONS • Repeat To Fade (Marowak)
Post-party mash-up music is the snappy soundbite accompanying this strange release, although anyone hoping to come down gently to its tonal niceties is likely to spiral back into a giddy hallucinogenic whirl. Eerie spoken vocals vie with dark electronic beats and everyday soundscapes, from Belfast airport to a gaggle of pissed-up teens, creating an uneasy yet wholly compelling package from the deepest recesses of the artistic psyche. ‘Michael Jackson’s Last Waltz’, in particular, sums up what one would imagine a remotely administered overdose might indeed feel like – pretty damn bloody spooky we’d imagine. (NC)
SINGLE: JUSTICE FORCE 5 • Fight The Fight (Xtra Mile)
The world’s first superhero rock group return with a double a-side single for the summer. Following the heaving, sweaty scenes at their sold-out Coalition show last year we kind of wondered what they were doing, maybe saving kids from burning buildings and stuff. But it seems they’ve been in some underground lair amassing an album’s worth of bombastic power chord rock, the first fruits of which are unmasked here. A new version of ‘Fight The Fight’, probably the band’s most commercial proposition, and new track ‘J.U.S.T.I.C.E. Force Dance’ see the JF5 moving in the right direction for global domination. (NC)
Album: RUNNING PUNCH • Publish or Perish (runningpunch.com)
In these days of urban music topping the charts across the world, a common moan is the lack of decent UK hip hop, especially in light of the all-eclipsing rise of grime. Those of us jaded enough to remember the Nextmen’s (amazing) first album have long bemoaned their – and the genre’s – downturn would be advised to look in the direction of Running Punch. One part deadpan MC and one part grass-roots, scratch-friendly producer, this is proper early noughties Brit hop, with half an eye on classic Native Tongue-esque breaks and rhymes. (MB)
BOOK: JESSICA KEMP • Breasts (Soft Prawn)
The first in a series of three illustrated examinations of the female form, Breasts begins at first base. Interspersed with various boob-related facts such as their smoothness following menstruation and the different directions it’s possible for nipples to point, the various and occasionally alarmingly-depicted breast shapes are drawn and named to a sometimes unflattering degree, but there’s an underlying reassurance that they’re all normal parts of the mammary melting pot. We’re assuming the second and third books will be ninnies and bumbums. See the e-book here: tinyurl.com/breastsbook. (NC)
ALBUM: MUTE SWIMMER • Mute Swimmer (Woodland)
Mute Swimmer is the alias of Brighton songwriter Guy Dale, with this eponymous release being his first under the moniker. The 10 intimate songs here are essentially rooted in folk music – finger-picked acoustic guitar embellished with minimal snare drum and percussion, while his lyrics are introspective and confessional in nature. A deep sense of melancholy and romance runs throughout this album with the effect being eerie, yet warm, tortured yet somewhat life affirming. It’s been a long time in the making, but its well worth the wait. (IC)
EP: PINK NARCISSUS • (myspace.com/pinknarcissusband)
It’s always heartening when you see the quotes on a band’s press release are your own, except you can’t really crib from your own words or pop might eat itself or something. All the band’s obvious influences ring pleasingly true with us; Bowie, Velvets, Jane’s, Stooges – and they’re all put through the mincer with such androgynous vagabond style they can’t fail. Even the Bowie cover – normally guaranteed to raise our hackles at such sacrilegious creative conceit – lands firmly on its feet. The theatricality and virtuosity of the performance press all the right buttons – you must investigate them now. (NC)
EP: THE ROBOT HEART • Dust (Bleeding Heart)
A robot heart might well suggest to logical thinkers among you that the music is cold and lifeless, incapable of emotion and feeling. Well, nothing could be further from the truth here, this is sweeping, swooning, gradually-unfurling folk pop, with hints of Elliot Smith and The Polyphonic Spree pepping it up along the way. Three fully-realised band tracks power along in this vein, with three acoustic numbers taking more of a musical back seat, allowing the twin boy/girl vocals to the fore. Beautifully recorded, arranged and produced, this is one we’re going to be taking home with us. (NC)
SINGLE: ROB THE RICH • Better (Fandango)
Tipped for big things we hear, Rob may end up being Rich. In the meantime it falls to us to examine the route to financial security they might be taking. ‘Better’ is certainly a step in the right direction, a sprightly insouciant slice of indie pop fun, punctuated by a surprising synth break that might have come from a mid-80s Eurovision hopeful but works perfectly here nonetheless. This is the perfect foil to the slew of sour-faced indie many deliver under the mistaken impression that being dour makes them more interesting. (NC)
SINGLE: CAKEBOY • Swamp Thing (Mutate)
Not to be confused with The Grid’s same-name single from ages ago, this sees Cakeboy in a playful mood. Mixing a deep’n’squelchy acid bassline with debut album Prodigy rave synths and throwing in some sexy moans and a Mrs Stephen Hawking vocal line decrying the progatonist’s monster qualities, the tune is packed with goodness. Notable among the remixes is a JFB outing, stripping down the backing and filling it with more breaks than Richard Hammond in a road test. Gobble up this slice of Cakeboy like an overweight secretary at an office birthday do. (NC)
STRIPPER • Stuka (Surfer Rosa)
Two hugely respected dance producers hiding behind the Stripper moniker – hey, it could be the Chuckle Brothers for all we know – this time around they’ve teamed up with SirReal off Pendulum and Freestylers records with a typically suggestive vocal on top of a dive-bombing bassline and a straight-up 4/4 house groove. Now summer’s here it’s time we saw a barrage of sunshine anthems vying for the background music slot to footage of cockneys punching and vomiting along West Street on Brighton Beach Patrol – this one sums up summer fun, with sunburnt arms in the air, a proper treat, (NC)
EP: VERNIE & BERTRUM • VandB (myspace.com/vandb)
Beginning with the kind of swamp country twang that reminds of the intro to True Blood or some Sopranos incidental music, the four tracks on this EP quickly veer into reliable and melodic indie pop. Imaginative time signatures and melodic arrangements elevate the songs above the sum of their traditional three-piece parts, with the right landscape of peaks and troughs to prove there’s a promising songwriting team at work. Well played, creatively put together and nicely sung, this is promising stuff for sure. (NC)
BOOK: ZOINGIMAGE • Le Book (zoingimage.com)
French ex-pat Serge Rolland may be the most successful photographer in Brighton in terms of how many walls hold up his pictures. From selling photos of Brighton icons and details in the street he’s built up a popular shop, Zoingimage, on Sydney Street. ‘Le Book’ deals with the first ten years since a stranger gave him a camera but feels like it could have come from any time in the last 50 years. Serge’s use of film adds a dreaminess to his mastery of colour. Evocative and beautiful. (JK)
