Lemon Jelly – Stay with You
Here lie three great tracks that guarantee you a great time. This is my first experience with the band. They seem to be firmly into dance yet with some stabbing beats and a great loop. Here we get sampled on “Stay With You” uses stuff from Gallagher & Lyle’s “I Wanna Stay With You”. This one is a bright cut of summer in the heart of winter. This one came out of nowhere and I got my eyes on their forthcoming LP.
By John Siwicki
Mylo – In My Arms
Mylo is back with a new single from his”Destroy Rock And Roll’ LP. Mylo is a clever one. As he is still supporting the widely acclaimed and downright brilliant album he digs out a potential summer classic. This one will become a big hit over the festival season as the kids dance the hot nights away to this one.
By John Siwicki
Silversun Pickups – Pikul EP
Silversun Pickups are a four piece out of Las Angeles and are quite a hidden gem. “Kissing Families” kicks us off with the slow strum of an acoustic guitar and a very strong male vocal (Brian) that really sticks out. The female vocal (Nikki) also have a standout note, it’s a very soft and soothing vocal that really works together well with Brians voice. Musically they are not afraid to make a bit noise and show off. “Booksmart Devil” is a slow track that never really seems to get off the ground. “The Fuzz” is one of the real standouts here. It sees the band partake in a little sonic mischief and really mixes up the sounds here.
This is an solid collection of songs. They should have Nikki sing a bit more, but I can manage. They have a knack for writing a song with some great instrumentation and still manage to write a great hook over it. It’s a nice hybrid. “Kissing Families” and “The Fuzz” are real standout tracks and really should be heard.
By John Siwicki
Muse – Super Massive Black Hole
What do you think of when you think of Muse? Giant infectious riffs? Funky basslines? Unusual harmonies? Dark lyrics? Innovative? Annoying? Overproduced? Abstract? Well, whatever you’ve thought of Muse in the past, go into this song with an open mind.
You might be fooled into thinking this is just another space inspired piano cum guitar standard Muse song from the title of the song. You really couldn’t be any further from the truth. Supermassive Black Hole sees the three piece take a completely different musical direction than any of their past material and sees them delve almost into the world of electronica or dance in places. The vocals and ideas could be compared to Prince in places with the words “baby” thrown in for good measure.
The song itself grabs you and pulls you in from the first 5 seconds with heavy distorted guitars running throughout the entire song and the song has an intriguing experimental feel. The middle eight sounds completely out of this world, a fusion of powerful experimental rock and electronica which works in perfect harmony.
We are reminded that deep down the song is still Muse only by Bellamy’s trade mark falsetto voice and Wolstenholme’s funky bassline. However this time, the falsetto runs throughout the song and is weaker than we all know that Bellamy is capable of.
Really, Muse have created this piece of music which will just make people see them into a new light. It is very hard to give it an overall score because of many reasons. Muse’s fans might wonder where they have heard the bass before and listen to it for the first time feeling completely lost or just not understanding where it all went wrong. However this is Muse reaching out to an entirely new audience and attracting many new fans no doubt.
For the people the song captures, it will seem addictive for the first few listens and leave the listener starving for another fix. Supermassive Black Hole at the end of the day is like marmite, you’ll love it and can’t get enough or you’ll just simply hate it. But whatever you do, don’t ignore it.
By Helen Daw