OUT THIS WEEK

ABSENT ELK – ‘Sun and Water’ (RCA)

Oddly enough, this band are on tour with Girls Aloud. To hear this single is to imagine Einstein on tour with Motley Crue… it’s in complete opposition to their bubblegum pop. ‘Sun and Water’ is unthreatening as fairy floss but still heavy on the ‘real’ band quotient, as if Coldplay and The Script decided to stop being so relentlessly muso and get tiddly on Babycham for the afternoon. The Norwegian/Brit five look like a late 90s British band and pretty much feel the same way. They bring nothing new to the table, but for those who will enjoy Absent Elk, their music taste hasn’t moved on for the past decade anyhow.

BANJO OR FREAKOUT – ‘Upside Down EP’ (Half Machine Records)

If the name doesn’t strike terror into the hearts of punk poppets throughout the nation, the first 30 seconds of the title track will – water sound effects, gently strummed guitars and vocals so winsome Evan Dando in his heydey would be called a Richard Hell wannabe. It places itself casually in the ‘atmospheric’ department, making solid use of echo and hypnotic acoustic guitars, creating a pleasing if not slightly dull 4 and a half minutes.  ‘The Week Before’ and ‘Like You’ make an effort to raise themselves from what could be relegated to the Healing Field at Glasto by taking the echoing vocals and marrying it to psych-inspired fuzz and feedback, before the bongos and cosmic dust return for ‘I And Always’. Interestingly, the Allez Allez remix of ‘Mr No’ is the most uplifting of the lot, creating a crisp tribal feel without the swaying spirit fingers, yet remaining the definite article to trip the light fantastic to.

LILY ALLEN – ‘It’s Not Fair’ (Regal Recordings)

Lily Allen divides the Disorder camp as a general rule, but with ‘It’s Not Fair’ receives a merry cap doff to excellence. For once her little girl voice suits the insouciance and bad Lolita feel of the lyrics and the Rawhide/Cotton Eye Joe yeehaw sets it apart from anything else on the pop charts. Okay, so maybe Taylor Swift dallys with the country twang, but she sure as hell wouldn’t be singing coquettishly about blow jobs, and through this Allen cements her duality as a mainstream pop star and modern girl without any of the Plasticisms that make other female icons jokes as role models.

EXILE PARADE – ‘Heart Into Suicide’ (free mp3 via www.exileparademusic.com)

The title endears immediately to our blackened souls. It takes, however, a few rolls to get on this properly, mostly in part to the ‘who does this sound like?’ game (and the answer is Kasabian on speed) that scuppers appreciating this shouty swagger of a song. The guitar licks are pleasingly heavy and deep, and singer, Daniel Lomax, has Liam Gallagher and Robert Plant sized aspirations sizzling through his blood and as long as they can side with the latter more than the former, they could be a new main stage pleaser in waiting.

HOWLING BELLS – ‘Digital Hearts’ (Independiente)

Howling Bells seemed a Yeah Yeah Yeah’s  bridesmaid until their debut album finally took them where they had been threatening to go – into a beautiful place where each song was structured almost without flaw, allowing the unique and bell-clear voice of Juanita Stein to reign. ‘Digital Hearts’ is just one of the many potential singles from ‘Radio Wars’; it’s hard to combine sweetness and darkness in one track but Howling Bells manage effortlessly, their subtle meshing of verse and chorus seamlessly giving this song the prowess of PJ Harvey without the caustic edge, leaving it wedged in the subconscious long after it’s stopped playing.

CHAIRLIFT – ‘Does You Inspire You’ (Columbia)

Widely placed into the trippy dippy shizzle of NYC’s ‘psychadelic’ scene of late (alongside MGMT et al), Chairlift play with all the similar synths and retro merriment but it’s a heavily hit and miss affair. ‘Planet Health’ is decorated with a kind  Bowie ‘China Girl’ suaveness and a plucked bass line that would make the 80s blush, but veer meditatively towards sitar style bliss on ‘Somewhere Around Here’, which slows down the album midway to a crawl only to be picked up in a Human League/Toyah manner by the teeth grating ‘Evident Utensil’.

The most fun to be had with Chairlift is getting high on beat combos and synthesiser codes rarely used since about 1987 because although there is room enough for some magical moments, they are often misused and given over to enforced kookiness (‘Le Flying Saucer Hat’) or pulse deadening dirges (‘Don’t Give A Damn’), which is, by all accounts, a waste of evident talent.

YES GIANTESS – ‘Tuff ‘n’ Stuff’ (Neon Gold)

What originally put us off was the name of the group.  What kind of shiteous hat-pick was that? What made it worse was that they changed it from Giantess, er, why not scrap it and start over??? So thank the gods of Korg that the 4-piece produce non-arse music; debut single, (unfortunately following in the WTF name department) ‘Tuff ‘n’ Stuff’ being an electronic daydream with the consistency of marshmallow and possessing a lovably moreish nature. Signed to the home of Passion Pit, this will give you some insight into how Yes Giantess fit into the musical landscape – wispy vocals that bridge the divide between Prince and, well, geeky spindly boys from Boston. We scribbled all over the cover, but kept the CD close to our hearts.