Easter Holiday

I spent last week in Leeds for my girlfriends birthday. For the ridiculously long drive there, I made some new CDRs as my iPod FM Broadcast thing is shit. I got a copy of the new Kills record Midnight Boom, Which i was pretty excited about as the previous two albums were wicked nice. I love the way the new record sounds, it has this thickness that the last two records have almost hinted at, but never really achieved. The new drum machines sound thuddy and dry, which sound good as fuck on my home system, but my poor 106 speakers were just breaking up at a mid volume. The bass tones reminds me of an attempt at some weird 70s or 80s disco or dance effect, and this idea seems to be carried through on some of alison's vocals, with the duel takes and hollow reverbs... The guitars, are, as ever, the star of the show. Jamie's attention to tone is second to none, its the main reason I love this band so much. His regular disgusting down tuned riffs are, as time goes on, losing the blues, and at points, he drowns them in revolting old flangers, chrous and all other manor of effects he can turn up to ten...  This record is definitely not about being subtle.. and thats a good thing... but do the songs justify the destroying recording? Well I like the songs, sure, but i get the feeling they are not going to last with me as long as the songs from 'Keep On Your Mean Side,' a record still heavily rotated, more so than 'No Wow.'

With the loss of the blues element in every song, the bulk of the album seems to be reasonably run by the book of sleazy, 80's influenced rock/pop(See Black Balloon and Hook and Line), 'Cheap And Cheerful' and 'Getting Down' are notable exceptions, and clear stand out tracks here. 

I also had a copy of the new Goldfrapp record. Its a pile of shit, folk tinged or not, massive wank.

And upon my return last night, Burrows played me the new Sebastian track 'Motor' FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!!!!!!!!! 

Also been spinning Dave Hanks various tracks from his various projects... Both Whistle and Star Power are outlets that demonstrate him as not only a stunning song writer, but something of a clever bastard in the recording department. Both guises sound straight from the mid sixties, for fans of Donovan(Whistle) or The Kinks(Star Power), almost, a rock and folk split personality, and its his keen ear for recording techniques that dazzle, pop sheen, bright tones, bass cuts... love it. These tracks would suit most Anderson influenced visual work you could find this year..... Miss this hidden gem at your peril!