My Desk. Your Future. 30 reviews.

And so it goes…

Anamorphic ‘the engine house sessions’ EP (animal noise) 22nd Oct. I don’t know what it is about Scandinavia but it seems to bring a shining darkness our way. This isn’t goth. However, this is similar to Portishead but it’s got a lot more besides, within their journey through icy twilight streets… Cranes ‘Future Songs’ LP (dadaphonic) 5th Nov. Keeping things mellow and chillin’ this lil’ gem has it all between the strings and soft femme-vocals as gentle breakbeats prod parts of your heart. Perfect for hangovers... Turin Brakes ‘Emergency 72’ Single (source) 8th Oct. I’m sure everyone knows who they are by now. Mercury Nominee’s etc. The hype, for once, is justified with their CD collection clearly in order from Dylan to Waits. Pictures in the prose of their songs and the accompanied by stripped-down-to-tease-you blues…Lapsus Linguae ‘Parade! (and that’s an order)’ Single (livid meerkat) Oct 15th LL give off an aloof vibe whilst their Indian-summery jazzed-up post-rock cheekily splutters then wobbles like a bird who’s just crashed into a pane of double glazin’. A mini-album is on its way before the year is out. SASO ‘Big Group Hug’ (meltedsnow.com) Oct 22nd. I love that sensation when you sit watching people getting rained on. They rush to do something that must be of great importance to them, the wage slave of the street. But not us. I sip my coffee inside a steamy cafe with the sound of SASO, recreating this feeling through vast build-ups and meanderings, sounding like the albums waiting to wake up, get up, stand up.. why bother? Sitting and contemplating is a state of calculated pre-mediation is high on their agenda. Bjork ‘Verspertine’ I’m pretty sure if you wanted this album, you’d have it by now. But if you’ve not, then album number 3 from Bjork is as good a way as any to leave the hardcore hustle’n’bustle of the information sooper-dooper-highway and enter a horizontal prism of relaxation. Whether it’s her best or her worst will take about a year of listening in varying moods to decide. King of Woolworths ‘Ming Star’ LP (mantra) Whoosh. Whoosh. Two words which, as sounds, could be the loudness of planes rushing down your street or the near silence of waves. Whoosh. Whoosh. Put them in a range of innovating ways and you have this album which might whoosh-whoosh over your head if you’re not careful. Per Mission ‘Ritual Loop’ LP (monitor/southern) Going back to missing the point, I feel like that with this album. Tapes playing backwards and forwards. Machines whirring in the distance. Uh!? Aphex Twin ‘Cock 10’ (warp) Bleepitty-blop-blop-frazzle-er-er-blop-blop. You know the score-or-or-or. Now, let’s get dow-ow-wn-n and funkay! Iconz ‘Get Crunked up’ (relentless) 22nd Oct. hmmm..Garage and Hip-hop meet on a street corner amongst 7 Miami Mc’s. No this isn’t an Sclub side-project of dodgy dealings. It is a bit of a mystery what gettin “crunked up” means but I’m sure the someone with a backwards cap could tell you-ooh-ooh. Roots Manuva ‘Run Come Save Me’ LP (big dada) Yo! Yo! Yo! This is what is in vogue at the mo’. Not to be confused with The Roots from America, Roots Manuva is one man, but with lots of guests. The slurs and tone hide the wisdom of his words which were just a blearily brilliant on the much better last album ‘Brand New Secondhand’.

Now to the rock'ish part of the pile... Countermine EP (unsigned). For the love of god, someone re-sign this band!! It's criminal. London Records only dropped them cus of the majors being all ‘first in, first out’ when take-overs took place last year. Countermine, have all the nu-skool cool of Incubus but mix in power-pop moogs, sexy male vocals and ska-ed up Chilli’s guitars. And they do sparkling ballads too. Bung a co.uk on the end of their name and download some stuff. Now. Archive ‘Numb’ Single 5th Nov. I love this band already. Fileable somewhere between Death in Vegas and Primal Scream, which isn’t a lot of ground I grant thee. There’s something bigger here. Something the dance-floors aren’t quite prepared for. But we love surprises, don’t we.. expect some exciting things from Archive(interview coming very soon). Halo ‘Still Here EP’ (s2/halomusic.com) You can get this for free if you sign up on their site. Swooping falsetto’s, drama and twinkling stars in their muse(ish)-ic.. Spiritualized ‘Let it Comedown’ LP (spaceman) Most of this album sounds like ‘Electricity’ from the last one. It’s not a bad thing, it’s just not what I was hoping for. It IS a much more listenable Spiritualized album, maybe the quality of drugs have risen or it’s just what’s known as progression. Th* Str*k*s ‘Is This (Sh)it?’ YES! Now, fuck off, have a wash and learn more than 3-cords you fuckin’ scum! Ta. Tetra Splendour ‘De-Rail’ Single (wishakismo) This just sounds like a support band. I’m sure they’re rockin’ their world and probably some over the hill a&r mans too but they’re about as life changing as a new flavour of chewing gum. Oh and guess what, they’re Welsh! Zzzz…DNA Doll ‘How Summer Sounds’ Single. They do sound like Mansun well if you listen to them with an earful of glitter and have a slightly crooked view of things. They're less subversive too. They need more vision on the surface, which in Anglais means I’m only feeling style... Gay Dad ‘Transmission’ When did Gay Dad turn into Suede? The Sunset Sound ‘Moving’ Single (velocity). Awww..this is what Pop music is all about. Former members of Gel. Harmonies from the girl who was in Period Pains. Sugary sweet swaggering guitars. Rock anthem drumming. YES! There is a party over here! Scout ‘Blue Screen’ Single (five mammals) This too sounds, well, nice. It’s not up my street but nor were Echobelly or Bis… Braincomb - Demo. Blimey! More stuff with female vocals. More drama. Nice hiatus’. But please calm down a bit m’love, work with the music, not against it and this could very well be a band to party in the wake of Skunk Anansie.

Now things are getting louder as I dig deeper into this vaguely arranged pile… Engerica – Demo. This lot are not going to be unsigned for long. They mix big phat riffs with jumpy punky stuff and sincere sounding Corgan’ish vocals. Rock babeee! These boys will hopefully be playing some of the Drownedinsound tour dates in November… Twist ‘14’ EP (1970) Oct 1st. My oh my, they’re back, the girls from Brum who sound like iDLEWiLD or Nirvana, but in a glint of an eye they tear open soundscapes with fuzz then. They lock you in a chamber with gritty guitars, slow-mo bass and punkass drumming whilst Emma disorderly rocks in the next cell after one too many bottles of vodie. This is the future, just believe it… Compilation ‘Mosh & Go’ Oct 1st (fierce panda) Twist also feature on this emo, sk8-punky, nearly-metal, Seattley sounding compilation. Most of the bands on here are worth checking out (Kids Near Water, Reuben, Econoline, etc..) and if nothing else this is a doorway in the usual Fierce Panda way, probably cheap too... Jetplane Landing ‘Zero for Conduct’ (smalltown america) another band from the Fierce Panda compilation, they, erm, land somewhere between Pavement and At the Drive-In with that demented indie-emo thang. It’s very American. Gwenmars ‘Driving a Million’ (pias) is very american sounding too. A bit Dandy Warhols, a bit cranked up Brit-pop. A bit of alright, actually. Fugazi ‘The Argument’ LP / ‘Furniture’ single Oct 8th (dischord/southern). Who’s ya daddy? We’ve of course been playing this a lot in our office. Strangely, we agree, the single is a helluva lot better than the album but if you’re into Fugazi in a masssssiiive way, you’ll be getting both. Desert Sessions ‘7&8’ (rekords rekords/southern) Woah! Josh Homme’s (QOTSA) little experimentation project has turned into a label and 8 (so far) collections of things which came out of drunken/drugged-up jam sessions in a secluded desert bunkery house. From the opening whistle on ‘Don’t Drink Poison’ this albums sounds like a zombie band playing outta their skins (well, in theory, dead peoples skins rot, but don’t get technical!). Yeah it is a bit Stoner Rock, but it won’t leave you reaching for the valium. Maybe ‘Polly Wants a Crack Rock’ was Cobain playing from the grave – I doubt it too. Sugar Coma ‘Never Born’ (velocity) Ah this is the band who I always get confused with Shittie, I mean, Kittie. Sugar Coma, girls from Essex (not to be confused with Essex Girls, for obvious reasons i.e. they’d come and get me! Lines like “I drank your blood, it tasted like wine”) have textures, style, grace and layers and layers of angry noise….

And that’s all the pile has to offer this month.
Peace.