Metric – Sick Muse

Official Music Video for “Sick Muse”, from the album FANTASIES

Liechtenstein – Survival Strategies in a Modern World

Liechtenstein comes all the way from Sweden to give us their debut album Survival Strategies in a Modern World. These three Swedish ladies serve up an interesting little mix of songs reminiscent of 80’s indie. Some folks believe in making simple music and Liechtenstein takes this to heart, maybe a little too much. They’re not trying to create something vastly different from the norm, but they do manage to add their own style to the genre. “All At Once” is a great opener with hard-hitting drums and a thumping bass. When the guitar strums kicks in, it only makes things sweeter. I only wish that all the songs on the album were this good. The rest of the album is mediocre with its upbeat drumming and harmonized singing. The songs are extremely short, with only two tracks barely going over three minutes. The album is over just as quickly as it started which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Liechtenstein’s sound is somewhat repetitious and I can’t imagine listening to more than these nine tracks. Actually, I wouldn’t mind stopping after only three songs. Halfway through the monotony you’ll either love the ladies’ voices or you’ll find their style of singing as irritating as nails on a blackboard. The only song that really stuck in my head was the first one and the rest just blended together. These Swedish chicks need a lesson in variety and singing techniques. Survival Strategies in a Modern World gets old fast. Do yourself a favor and download “All At Once.” You’ll thank me later for saving you the trouble of listening to the rest.

Ty Segall – It #1

Ty Segall’s track “It #1″ from his upcoming release “Lemons” on Goner Records (July 14th).

Download: Ty Segall – It #1

Stream: New God Help The Girl Track “Mary’s Market”

God Help The Girl have a new track for you. It’s called ‘Mary’s Market’, and they recorded it last weekend. It’s going to be the B-side to the ‘Funny Little Frog’ single.

Bat For Lashes – Pearl’s Dream

Bat For Lashes – "Pearl's Dream"

‘Pearl’s Dream’, taken from the new album ‘Two Suns’.

Maximo Park – Questing, Not Coasting

Video for Maximo Park’s upcoming single ‘Questing, Not Coasting’.

Taken from the album ‘Quicken The Heart’ out now.

We Were Promised Jetpacks – These Four Walls

For the longest time I used to think people lost their accent when they sang through no fault of their own. I thought singing stretched your vocal chords to the point of making your style of speech virtually unrecognisable. Then I heard The View. Then I heard Marmaduke Duke. Then I heard We Were Promised Jetpacks. Then that theory went flying out of the window.

We Were Promised Jetpacks are from Glasgow and they aren’t going to let you forget it. Their name manages to be simultaneously awesome and unpretentious, which is no mean feat. It also succeeds in not revealing anything about the band. Odd band names usually leave you with expectations of minimalistic, hand-clappy ‘indie’ music and while WWPJ are certainly indie (Fat Cat is not a major record label) they are not typically minimalistic in the least.

And with a track titled ‘It’s Thunder and it’s Lightening’ you should never have expected them to be. The song appears to be a belatedly drunken apology as the protagonist shakes himself out of a post-binge haze only to be faced with the confronting image of a person whose body is black and blue. The identity of the culprit is questionable, but it’s very easy to put the blame on the desolate, inebriated singer. Too easy.

‘Roll up your sleeves’ advises us to do so because ‘we’re heading for winter’ and ‘the nights will get colder.’ The logic is a bit flawed, no? It would, however, explain why the tenth track is called ‘Keeping Warm.’ The songs sound nothing alike. The former has a thinner guitar strung over the vocals while the latter is more lush in its almost complete instrumentalism.

WWPJ don’t scrimp on lyrics. ‘Conductor’ and ‘An Almighty Thud’ are clever little pieces of prose. ‘Conductor’ has an especially fantastic finale wherein it makes you stand with the instrumentalists while the singer is a little distance away, his voice catching in the breeze and floating towards you. Soon he starts walking in your direction and as drums shadow his footsteps, the track reaches its atmospheric conclusion.

I wonder about ‘A Half-Built House.’ A couple of months ago I came across a track on ‘Arrivals’ by worriedaboutsatan (the first album I reviewed on this site) which was nothing but an excessively long numerical thread. ‘A Half-Built House’ is much the same. Is this some sort of musical trend that only those in-the-know… know?

Fun fact about ‘Moving Clocks Run Slow’ – it was very nearly the band’s name before they realised ‘Jetpacks’ is a cooler abbreviation than ‘Clocks.’ Fun fact about We Were Promised Jetpacks – they’re still in university. Parents, buy this album for your kids and tell them to stay in school. Kids, listen to this album non-stop and tell your parents what good role models they are. People-in-general, this is an easy album to like. It’s not mind-bogglingly brilliant, but it’s not something you’ll regret listening to and it does give you a simultaneously awesome yet unpretentious band name to add your collection.

All Smiles – Oh For The Getting And Not Letting Go

Patrick Wolf – The Bachelor

Patrick Wolf played every single instrument on his new release, The Bachelor. His “avant-garde” style is more in the vein of an artist completely comfortable with his identity. Violins on “Hard Times” live in harmony with the digitalization of “Count of Casualty,” all cemented by the brooding tonality of Wolf’s stories.

The album plays more like a musical opera, but still keeps its sensibilities with songs enjoyable on an individual level. Anyone willing to go on a musical journey would do well to spend some time with Patrick Wolf. And if you just don’t have enough time, listen to the album’s flagship song, “The Bachelor.”

Dada Life – Happy Hands & Happy Feet

Dada Life – Happy Hands & Happy Feet
Taken from the forthcoming album Just Do The Dada

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