Cut Off Your Hands

Cut Off Your Hands are another band who have been sitting in the back of my consciousness for a while. Hailing from New Zealand, their furious blend of pop music has seen them rise to international fame at great pace. I've always liked their music, but it's never been enough for me to follow them closely. Perhaps it was because I was yet to see them in their element, performing live. Well the other day I got my first chance to see them play and what an interesting experience it was. From the very beginning they were all guns blazing and by this I mean going totally insane. Lead singer, Nick, was jumping of the stage, writhing around the floor, running wherever he found space and even spitting into the crowd (he sure knows how to win fans). And this was all in the first ten minutes! It really was quite an onslaught. But then he either got tired or bored and the rest of the set was played out in a lower (but still insane) gear. It was an ironic reflection of how I feel about their music. Their songs are incredibly catchy, but they lack a certain depth. They are masters of immediacy, grabbing your attention in an instant, but sadly it doesn't last. I think half the problem is that their songs all sound quite similar. Whenever I hear a song in isolation, I think its great. But if I listen to them one after another, they begin to blend together. COYH have plenty of promise, but as it stands, they are a band best enjoyed in short bursts.

Still Fond

| Myspace |

The Kissaway Trail - The Kissaway Trail

When I first heard the name of this band mentioned on radio, I laughed. It probably wasn’t helped by the fact that the song I had just heard was called ‘Smother + Evil = Hurt’. There’s no avoiding it, English is not The Kissaway Trail’s biggest strength. Horrible word choice and unorthodox pronunciation are just part and parcel of this. But being from Denmark, I’m willing to let it slide (especially since they make some excellent music). Like many of their Danish counterparts, they seem to have knack for writing songs that are emotionally powerful. While they may not have the mind-blowing climaxes of Mew, they know how to make music that builds in intensity and really draws the listener in. This is of course aided by the band’s great vocal work. It really shines on the slower songs, which helps to keep the album interesting the whole way through. It took me a while to start taking these guys seriously, but after giving their album a thorough listen, I’m beginning to see it as one of the year’s most impressive debut releases.

La La Song – Just when you thought track names couldn’t get any worse, this song arrives. It is probably the album’s most accomplished piece and is full of fist-pumping moments.

Tracy – I can’t put my finger on what makes me like this song, but it always stands out. It has quite an usual structure, shunning all verse / chorus conventions and just portraying a simple message.

Released: 01/07 | Aus: 04/07 | Website | Myspace

Love Is All - Nine Times That Same Song

At times this album is absolutely sublime. Some of the melodies and hooks they produce are incredible and a joy to listen to. BUT. At other times the album is unbearable. The music becomes overcrowded and the vocals make me cringe. It’s such a shame because when they’re good, THEY’RE GOOD. But with nearly every song, they go and stuff it up somewhere along the line. I was so convinced that I could salvage some of this album’s promise that I had this crazy idea to create a medley composed of the best part from each song. Unfortunately my lack of skill came between me and this dream (I still keep the hope alive). While this album may fall short of brilliance, it at least shows that Love Is All have a heap of talent and are a band to look out for in the future.

Mp3: Spinning & Scratching

Suburban Kids With Biblical Names - #3

This album may have been released last year but it’s new to me and that’s all that matters. Besides, I’m sure many of you out there missed it when came through and it would truly be a shame for me not to share it with you. For those who don’t know, Suburban Kids With Biblical Names are from Sweden and they make incredibly catchy pop music (surprise, surprise). Never before have I taken to lo-fi music so whole-heartedly but their amateur sound is just so charming. They make you feel involved and immersed in their music and it becomes quite infectious. I’m not sure if this is the truth or just some fantasy I’ve created, but when I imagine these guys creating music, I see them cramped up in a tiny bedroom, recording anything that makes a sound, feeding it into their computer and having a ball playing around with it. This album truly is a heap of fun and you can’t help but think they thoroughly enjoyed making it. With only two band members I can’t see how they would manage performing their music live, simply due to the sheer number of instruments they incorporate. Last time I checked, two guys can’t play drums, bass, acoustic guitar and piano all at once. Add to this horns, glockenspiels, flutes, trumpets, keyboards, whistling, hand clapping, a drum machine and well, you get the picture. There’s even bongos and at one point what sounds like spoons! But what’s important is that on record, they’re all combined brilliantly to create fantastic pop music, that’s both immensely rich and highly enjoyable. Look out for them in the future, no prizes for guessing what their next album will be called.

Loop Duplicate My Heart – I simply could not go past this song purely for it’s hilarious lyrics. Nerdiness never seemed so appealing! Add to that an erratic artificial beat and you have yourself a winner!

Rent A Wreck – I picked the two songs that first grabbed in the hope that they’d also grab you. Unfortunately this means a lot of the obscure instrumentation and charm has been lost in the process. But this song is absolutely brimming with energy so you’ll be hard-pressed not to be drawn in for more.

Peter Bjorn And John - Writer's Block

A few months ago I heard a song called “Young Folk” by Swedish band Peter Bjorn And John. I thought it was alright, but not really to my liking. Then it started to be played on the radio. At first just every now and then, but soon it was played more and more and MORE. I don’t know if it has happened everywhere, but here in Australia this song has been absolutely thrashed. This is largely due to the radio station Triple J, who christened it “the whistling song” and let their requesters lap it up. I almost didn’t look into the album because I was so damn sick of this song. Well as it turns out, the rest of the album sounds nothing like it. For starters, there are no more female vocals, with singing duties shared amongst the three male band members, John, Bjorn and Peter, who each have their own unique singing style. This is really important because barring the opening track (more on that later) and Young Folk of course, most of the songs are slow and stripped back, focusing largely on the vocal work. It is here where they succeed. Because each song comes on with fresh new sound, making for quite an interesting record. On top of this, they all have really great voices, such that the whole album has an inviting, soothing feel. Though I must admit, the last three tracks are an exception to this. While they’re not horrible, they are a bit of a let down. But thankfully they don’t detract too much from the overall album. Don’t let Young Folk fool you. This is a completely different sound!

Objects Of My Affection – With Young Folk permanently etched into my brain, guiding my expectations, you can imagine I was suitably blown away when this song came blasting on. It really is the only fuller, faster song on the album but still fits in well.

Let’s Call It Off – The album is full of these slower, laid back pieces. They’re not trying to impress anyone, they’re just making straight up pleasant music. I’ve found myself singing this quite a bit, proving their gift for catchiness goes well beyond Young Folk.

Mew - And The Glass Handed Kites

Indie. Pop. Rock. Denmark. Psychodelic. High-pitched. Need I say more? There’s nothing I dislike more than having to read 500 words of a review just to try and work what the album sounds like. What’s worse is when you get to this point and find out it’s heavy-metal gothic screamo. A nuisance to say the least. Almost as bad as the couple of times I’ve gotten through entire review and ended up no closer to figuring out if I’d like the music or not. So while my reviews are hardly long enough for such problems to arise, I thought I would accommodate your insatiable demand for instant categorisation, especially as my anecdotes have been getting a bit out of hand lately. Listening through this album for just the first time, I knew I would be using it here. While the majority of it washed right past me (a perfectly normal occurrence), at certain moments it exploded into amazing musical bliss that caught me completely off guard. Whatever the word for the vocal equivalent of a riff is (so professional of me), Mew are incredibly good at it. When they get going, it really is a treat. It’s the kind of music you’ll be singing along to and then for days afterwards without a clue of what the words are. The noise created is just so awesome that it transcends the need for lyrics. I have since listened to the rest of the album and while it could be said that it drops off towards the end, it is great none the less, packed to the brim with creative music. If you don’t usually download these files, now might be the time to start. I encourage you to ignore my pretentious website title just for now, shut out the world and allow these songs to do what they do best, excite.

Apocalypso – I don’t think I could of picked a better song to demonstrate what I’ve just been talking about. When his voice comes in it really gets my heart racing. It could probably be considered one the heavier songs on the album, then again, the triangles kind of contradict that.

The Zookeeper’s Boy – I was tempted to offer you one of the more rounded songs for a bit of variation but that would mean missing out on arguably the best of those ‘bliss’ moments I mentioned earlier. It’s definitive proof that high-pitched vocals will win every time. I can’t help but spontaneously recreate the chorus to this song in all sorts of inappropriate places. It’s great

Phoenix - It's Never Been Like That

While it’s a bit of a sad fact, your chances of becoming popular are pretty limited if you don’t sing in English. Sure your home country may embrace you but reaching an international audience is a lot harder. English, it seems, is becoming the universal language. The music industry is directly targeting the lazy, uni-lingual Westerners and I couldn’t be happier about it. Phoenix, whilst being French, have, luckily for us, opted to sing in English. For their music really is something of a treat and would really be lacking something if we couldn’t understand it. For those who deal in genres, I would have to put their sound somewhere between alternative and infectious pop.

Consolation Prizes – The beauty of singing is that it transcends accents. Sure you get the British bands who’ll drop the occasional slur that makes them so…charming, but most of the time, nationality seems to make no difference. This is definitely evident here, Phoenix don’t even sound remotely French. Right from the offset you know what you’re in for. It’s the kind of song that won’t sit still.

Long Distance Calls – While the intros to these two songs might be remarkably alike, they each go their own way. This one has a much slower feel to it but stays true the immediate and catchy formula that makes them so successful.

The Horror The Horror - The Horror The Horror

That’s a lot of horror. I’ve always wondered if we’ll ever get to the point where every possible band name gets used. There’s a limit to what can follow the word ‘The’ and eventually all the creative names will get used. Well if this band is anything to go by, that time has arrived because in all honesty, The Horror The Horror is a horrible band name (pun not intended but I’ll take it). It’s so bad that it almost warrants ignoring them completely. They could have saved us all the grief by being plain old, The Horror, or at least not self-titling their album. But no, they were unrelenting with their name choices. But of course, what is more important than the name is the music. And here the music shines. While bands everywhere are looking to create brand new sounds in order to differentiate themselves, this band sticks to a fairly standard garage pop sound and it works. It makes their music accessible to all and they manage to do it without sounding stale. In short, they-who-shall-not-be-named have produced a collection of fresh and interesting songs that’s well worth a listen.

(http://www.myfilehut.com/userfiles/149940/TheHorrorTheHorror_IBlameTheSun.mp3)
I Blame The Sun – This was the first song to take my liking. I’d say it’s most likely due to the fact it’s the most diverse. It starts off relatively restrained before gradually progressing to the more upbeat chorus. And of course I can’t go without mentioning the….err….‘hooing’ that is so pleasant to the ear.

(http://www.myfilehut.com/userfiles/149940/TheHorrorTheHorror_Ipanema.mp3)
Ipanema – I found it very hard to pick a second song to use here. I was constantly changing my mind and re-listening to songs in order to work out which I liked most. In fact when I came to write this, I had to check which song I’d uploaded because I’d already forgotten. But this song is clearly good for it’s the one I eventually chose, I just can’t remember why.

Figurines - Skeleton

Listening to Figurines I am always very aware of the tempo. It ranges from ultra-fast to sparse and to all the betweens. As any listener would know, such tempo is measured by toe tapping and when listening to this album you’ll be doing plenty of it. The singer’s voice is yet another unique sound, the type that makes you wonder how odd they’d sound in normal conservation. As with most of the bands I feature, variation is plentiful here, something I very much value. Strangely enough I seem to pick up elements of country in many of their songs. But believe me, I would not be posting it here if it resembled any traditional country sound. Rather it seems to add a welcomed charm.

All Night – The second and third songs on this album, to which this is latter, were the first to catch my attention. Their erratic fast pace allowed them to drill hole directly into a soft part of my brain, where they remain to this day.

Ambush - It sure is a great feeling when you struggle to pick a song due to the sheer abundance of quality, rather than a lack of it. It contrast to the above, here I wanted to pick a slightly slower piece. A honourable mention goes to Race You, a powerful ballad oddly placed at track one which I’ve really warmed to. But in the end, the song you see here emerged winner, though many more equalled it.