#16: Colours

New Narcotic of the Day #16:

Colours

What is it with these wonderful little scuzzy rock bands and their ungooglebable names. The likes of Girls, Cymbals, Women and Suckers all bring up a million little web pages that deviate from anything musical or melodic. Now, we have Colours (the British spelling gosh darnit), a google search that brings up a dazzling array of imagery and spectrum based information but very little on the surf rock garage fuzz fusion that leaks from four London based musicians going under the same term.

Signed to Marshall Teller Records and with an EP on the horizon (according to the ever so informative medium of Twitter), it's time to get into the kaleidoscopic world of Colours and the variation of vivid hues that they pump forth. 'Head Germ' is a psychedelic glimpse of noise rock (accompanied by an equally disturbing/sci-fi-tastic video from Benjamin Yiend), with a repeated drone of the word 'over' closing out the track in a suitably catastrophic cauterwaul. 'Wise Woods' begins with a lo-fi drum staple alongside a lazily strummed slice of surf rock riff, reverberating with the atmosphere of the setting sun before the lamenting larynx of the lead vocalist puts a dawdling sheen across everything.

Colours are appearing at Old Blue Last on the 5th January FOR FREE and have an EP on the way which I shall class as a necessity for 2011.

Colours' Myspace

COLOURS - HEAD GERM from Benjamin Yiend on Vimeo.

Stolen Sound...

'Music is enough for a lifetime but a lifetime is not enough for music' ~Sergei Rachmaninov

This week I have been mostly gaining a gamut of music via friends and their hard drives, taking my musical knowledge, breadth and width, and stretching it that teensy bit further. A mixture of soundtracks, modern folk and hip-hop has been tipped into the musical trough I feed from and in doing so, my musical joy busts open another button...

Enough with the terribly shitty description and onto some amazing music!

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The number of fuzzy girl groups is slowly growing and so far, so good, if the likes of Dum Dum Girls are anything to go by. The four LA ladies that make up the group have the shadowy west coast sound that feeds on slurring guitars and lo-fi production methods, culminating in deliciously replayable tracks such as 'Jail La La', a blast of noise and melody.

Coated in black and oozing miserabilia, the groups debut album 'I Will Be' is released on 29th March and I, for one, am highly anticipating the takeover by reverberating girl groups.

Dum Dum Girls' Myspace

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Air Waves is made up of a singer songwriter called Nicole and whichever friends she can get to play around her, and who wouldn't jump at the chance to work with such sweet and enveloping music. The current release sums her sound up in the title; 'Sweetness'. A slight fuzz sits alongside a solid beat and awesome songwriting skills, complemented by the soft and harmonious drone of Nicole's voice. Check out 'Keys' and 'Kingdom' whilst your ears are open.

Air Waves' Myspace

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A musician recently splattered across many many blogs, all with praising and loving words besides, is Toro Y Moi, a young songwriter and producer, and I thought I might as well jump on the bandwagon. His music is pure groove laced with summer and sunshine, topped off with a lo-fi buzz and haunting melodies that chase oneanother through every track. Definitely someone to get excited about even though it has pushed me into LONGING for summer days, sunshine and a relaxing collapse on the beach accompanied by tracks such as 'You Hid' and 'Blessa' (with a good batch of rum nearby....)

Check out his debut album 'Causers Of This' and anticipate
anything new that he comes out with...

Toro Y Moi's Myspace

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A bit of extra oomph...

• Maths rock act Foals are back with a new release this year and a song has appeared on the web titled 'Spanish Sahara'. A real slow burner that seems to show a progressing band...
• The insanely beautiful Zooey Deschanel and the talented M.Ward are back together as She & Him, ready to release their second album titled 'Volume 2' . A sumptuous track entitled 'Thieves' is out and charming the pants off everyone yet again.
• A few months late but thanks to Laura J Smith (check out her movie blog here), I have found Local Natives and the beautiful 'Gorilla Manor', a strikingly cheerful delight!
• Saw this guy from Leeds supporting Girls (who were immense), and not too shabby (though he is not Scouse as a friend mistakenly asserted over and over...). The act is hauntingly titled Spectrals ...

Albums out over the next week or so that you probably peek at;

• 'Sisterworld' by Liars [paranoid loner post punk with a heart of awesome]
• 'The Brutalist Bricks' by Ted Leo & the Pharmacists [intricate, intelligent punky rock]
• 'The Winter of Mixed Drinks' by Frightened Rabbit [Scottish trembling indie folk]
• 'Plastic Beach' by Gorillaz [cartoons & cameos = awesomely soaring modern pop]

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I am off to steal more music (in the sort of legal way of course)
Go listen and love and learn and let me know...
byeeeeeeeeeeee....eeeeeeee...
xxx
XX
x

Bright Lights of Sound...

'Music is moonlight in the gloomy night of life.' ~Jean Paul Richter

A quick blast of new music before I escape this mortal realm this evening and sweep away on a magical mystery train to the musical mecca that is Brighton in order to revel and rebel in debauchery, alcohol, dancing, music, friends, floors, oceans, beaches and arcades....

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Damon Albarn is nothing short of a modern musical maestro, stretching his mind and vision across so many artists and creations and managing to maintain such a high standard. His cartoon crafts, known internationally as Gorillaz, are set to release 'Plastic Beach', their third album. And joining the madcap, animated foursome on the record are a range of ridiculously awesome guests, including Snoop Dogg, Lou Reed, Gruff Rhys and Mick Jones.

The new single 'Stylo' is a simmering track featuring Mos Def and Bobby Womack, that stumbles along a dark corridor and emerges into a Disco Ball lit room where Womack growls amongst waves of noise. Definitely a slow burner that sets very high hopes for the upcoming record.

Gorillaz 'Stylo'

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Rox is a beautiful singer songwriter from London town who has been featured on the BBC's Sound of 2010 but don't hold that against her. I was lucky enough to stumble across her myspace last year and played a track of hers on my radio show and want to continue the promotion of her voice, stylings and music as her new single, 'My Baby Left Me', is released

Ignore comparisons to Winehouse et all, she has elements of Lauryn Hill with a jazz background and the debut single bounces along atop lush production and an emotionally outright style. Check out her nu-soul before she explodes.

Rox's Myspace

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A new band just cropping up on the musical radar are based in London as well, known as Foxx Bandits. They have a hard hitting debut demo titled 'Vodka Lines' which breathes a modern folk exhale even though the vocals ooze emotionally crippling lyrics through a subtle lo-fi effect.

One to watch out for, especially with a cracking gig lined up at the legendary Camden Barfly on the 18th March.

Foxx Bandits' Myspace
Go Get Tickets to see them...NOW!

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Some Tuneful Tidbits...

• Serena Maneesh are back with a second album titled 'No 2. Abyss In B Minor' and the Norwegian's alt-rock act is as strong as forever in this cascading wall of sound and vocals that sidle up alongside you in a most seductive manner....Listen to a couple of tracks here
• Japandroids are pretty awesome if I haven't mentioned them before... LISTEN!
• I am going to see The Drums & Girls next week...you should too...

Albums out over the next week or so that you should buy include;

• 'The Golden Archipelago' by Shearwater [Simply pretty indie rumblings...]
• 'Dear God, I Hate Myself' by Xiu Xiu [Insanely amazing experimental fuzz]
• 'Magic Chairs' by Efterklang [Danish indie rockers post rock tinklings]

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Ok, that is all, I shall update you all on new music
next week if I somehow manage to survive
Brighton town after everything I ingest...
BUH BYE! XXX xx X

Lisztomania [GET IT? GET IT!?]

"Modern music is as dangerous as narcotics" -Pietro Mascagni

WOW! Look at that perfect quote that sums the essence of my blog up, but if you substitute DANGEROUS for FUCKTASTIC!

And talking of summing up (awesome segue approaching), here are some BESTS OF from both the last year and the last decade! They aren't proper lists, in the sense that numbers aren't placed besides them. But I am against that listing and numbering bullshit man, music is free and freedom isn't free!

Anyho-ho-ho, onto an assortment of awesome albums that maybe you can buy as a Christmas present or a personal present (you selfish bastards you...)..

FIRSTLY! The top albums of the year (in purely my personal and honest and awesome opinion)-

• The Horrors 'Primary Colours' I was happily amongst the first to criticise and mock The Horrors when they rolled into NME looking like emo stick insects emanating rather shoddy post punk with all the energy of a pair of hair straighteners. Nonetheless, in the name of good science and impartiality, I duly listened to their second effort when a friend recommended it and BETCHA BY GOLLY WOW, I was impressed. The tracks bleed something otherworldly, as if hypnotising the listener into somehow enjoying something that can mumble from a bunch of 19th century male prostitutes.
  'Who Can Say' by The Horrors

• The Pains of Being Pure at Heart 'The Pains of Being Pure at Heart' - When I first heard 'A Teenager In Love', I honestly almost wet myself at the prospect of having time travelled back to the 1980s and listening to a brand spanking new Smiths/Cure collaboration...but I noticed the lack of a Delorean or phone booth and quickly went and bought the debut album from this group of New Yorkers. It's a blast of shoegaze and pop that showers emotions from summers and winters long gone and worthy of a few hundred or so listens (at least).

'Young Adult Fiction' by The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
'A Teenager in Love' by The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

• Passion Pit 'Manners' - One of my finds on this very blog (A YEAR AGO I MIGHT ADD), ever since my musings skyrocketed interest in this band, their certain brand of spiky synths and high-pitch warblings have progressively made their way into radio, tv, festivals and music blogs the world over. It all began with the lead singer creating an EP for his lady (awww) and the debut album built on the sound that had manifested out of passion (hey, they are called Passion Pit!). Extra points for Jack Kerouac's voice at the beginning of 'Sleepyhead'...

'Sleepyhead' by Passion Pit
Also check out this from their original EP 'Cuddle Fuddle'

• Girls 'Album' - A very hard to Google band and album name but worth the frantic searching after I heard a track through another blog. Obviously from San Francisco, their psycho shoe-gaze fused onto surf rock bounces and rolls along at different times, echoing the Beach Boys and Morrissey. The album really sets up an ethos of partying that makes it freaking ridiculously hard not to want to pack up and move to California, jam on the beach and drink all day long in the sun....

'Lust For Life' by Girls
'Laura' by Girls

• The Drums 'Summertime EP' - I know it is just an EP but continuing the West coast vibe, the seven tracks that introduce The Drums to the world are nothing but pure joy and Californian life. Handclaps and whistles galore set up a surprisingly summery feel to your life even in the midst of December. However, the group hail from New York and must have mind melds with the sunny, surfing coasts of America to have such blasts of giddy energy that send the head-a-bopping.

'Let's Go Surfing' by The Drums
'The Saddest Summer' by The Drums

• Bats For Lashes 'Two Suns' - Natasha Khan is a maestro of the dream, baroque pop she peddles, managing to cram classical and pop sense into her music. A patchwork of influences, 'Two Suns' reverberates with original emotion and it is hard to think of an artist doing anything similar. Electronic dabs and vocal dashes create such a vivid musical picture, it is difficult not to fall for the seductively dense and dark sound that Bats For Lashes emits.

'Daniel' by Bats For Lashes
'Sleep Alone' by Bats For Lashes

• The xx 'xx' - Back to London, England for a dreamy pop with a production technique that recalls several genres from electronica to R&B, the underlying sultry attitude that impregnates their act is apparent throughout their album. Muses on sex and relationships slither alongside a drum machine and carefully paced guitar picking. An album to slowly digest and internalise, so much that the music will eventually ooze from the pores of your skin as you stroll around late at night.

'Basic Space' by The xx
'Crystalised' by The xx

• Dirty Projectors 'Bitte Orca' - 2009 has showcased a whole heap of New York musicians who have really crafted the musical sound and hits of the year, including Dirty Projectors, a lo-fi, experimental indie group who hit their groove (and a degree of widespread success and acclaim) with 'Bitte Orca'. Off kilter beats and breezy riffs permeate the album, managing to rack up an impressive sensibility that borders on experimentation whilst sticking to a perfectly enjoyably melodic tone and hum. Truly, an album that caresses harder and harder with each listen (weird, I know).

'Stillness Is The Move' by Dirty Projectors
'No Intention' by Dirty Projectors

• Grizzly Bear 'Veckatimest' - A long admired band whose output has remained rocksteady, Grizzly Bear are yet another group of indie types hailing from Brooklyn, in New Yawwk City (note to self, for life; move to New York...). As well as innovative and exciting videos, the band gel together so naturally that the songs feel like they are pouring out of one angelic musical mind that knows how to craft a sonically airtight album. A quietly gorgeous record and that is all that needs to be said.

'Two Weeks' by Grizzly Bear
'Ready, Able' by Grizzly Bear

• Animal Collective 'Merriweather Post Pavilion' - Animal Collective have made some challenging and exciting music over the past decade and, arguably, their best work has appeared in the form of their latest record, in the last year of the noughties. Exploring music so other bands don't have to (or because they simply can't), the album reads like an explosion of creativity, fuzz and imagination that has somehow been condensed into something that can be considered a helluva lot more poppy than previous attempts. A confident psychedelia cements the band as a force to be reckoned with, although sets a high precedent for whatever comes in the next decade.
  

'My Girls' by Animal Collective
'Summertime Clothes' by Animal Collective

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Atlas Sound 'Logos'; Fever Ray 'Fever Ray'; Yeah Yeah Yeah's 'It's Blitz'; Phoenix 'Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix'; Julian Casablancas 'Phrazes For The Young'; Camera Obscura 'My Maudlin Career';

So, those are my favourite records of the year that was 2009! Let me know what are yours, what I still need to buy and I will be back with a best of the decade list after le weekend!

BUH BYE!
XxxxX