Baby Godzilla
Oche
LP (I’m Not From London)
There are some itches that only a fusion of punk, hard rock and sea shanties can scratch. Luckily, that’s exactly what Baby Godzilla are offering. First track At The Oche sees the band work up a good thrash, with Power Boat Disaster offering more of the same before it suddenly breaks into what can only be described as a shanty. Gloriously, it works. Thotty offers a classical interlude before the band get their rock back on. These guys make a hell of a noise alright, but there’s subtlety and humour here too, and no amount of call-and-answer screaming can hide the tune at the heart of Braille For An Axeman. Three Legged Race.lst ends with a quick reprise of the Smells Like Teen Spirit riff, and there’s a crazy intensity to this head-rush of an album that Cobain himself would surely have loved. Tim Sorrell
Cantaloupe
Teapot
EP (Hello Thor)
Representing three-fifths of the late lamented Souvaris, Cantaloupe retain elements of their parent band’s approach whilst forging a distinctive new path of their own. The four instrumental tracks on this debut release are shorter, brighter, snappier propositions, with John Simson’s retro-futuristic synths brought to the fore. Opening track Teapot and closing track Horse are relatively straight-up, four-to-the-floor affairs, with a sunny, bubbling, Krautrock-like, early Stereolab feel; you could almost imagine them soundtracking an optimistic promotional film for an early-seventies shopping precinct. The music dips into more reflective waters on Hubbub and Scuttle, which re-introduce the players’ fondness for tricky time signatures, and their knack for making them seem like the most natural thing in the world. There aren’t many bands who would introduce a track as their ‘disco number’ at a gig, and then proceed to play it in 10:4 time – and for that alone, Cantaloupe should be cherished. Mike Atkinson
Thee Eviltones
In The Shadow of the Beast
LP (Dead By Mono Records)
They’ve re-jigged their name and re-shuffled their line-up, so this album acts as something of a re-boot. The changes have done them a world of good; they’ve always been an energetic and absorbing live act, but now they sound resolutely invigorated on this, their debut LP. Things start off a little slow at first, with a spoken word intro and a flamenco-scented instrumental; but as soon as the introductory Thee Eviltones kicks-in, you know exactly where you stand – in the middle of a modern day garage rock-stomper that will make your hips a-wiggle and your bones a-rattle until you are nothing more than a wobbling pile of jelly on the floor. The 50s B-Movie monster obsessions are present and correct in the lyrics, whilst the music, stripped of any and all fat, explodes like dynamite. Paul Klotschkow
Ghosts Wear Clothes
Threads
LP (Cedar Portfolio)
With streams of delayed guitar, essays for song titles and an average track-length of eight minutes, GWC's debut album definitely borrows components from the post-rock factory. However, Threads is more about ambience and open spaces than tremolo-picked astronomy anthems; haunted atmospheric production and fragile piano melodies create a soundtrack to decaying industry and twisted-metal sadness. Every Cloud creates a rainy day calm with tinkering glockenspiels and quiet oscillations, while Stay Indoors and Watch the Buildings Burn has an almost Gothic edge. The pace then ups to more familiar post-rock territory, but never fails to give space to timid piano pieces and finely crafted ambience, most strikingly demonstrated during the 14-minute epic Zealous. The pumped DnB-beat finale would make 65DaysofStatic proud. In all, an eerie command of atmosphere, which excels most between its full-throttle moments. Niall Hill
.jpg)
Hot Japanese Girl
Bear Shark Laser Tiger Fight
LP (I’m Not From London)
There are some bands where a certain discretion with Google is essential. NSFW name apart, Hot Japanese Girl are - or at least were, as they split up in the summer of 2012 - the kind of band to make you sit up and pay attention as they climb out of the speakers and into your head. They describe themselves as a party band, but listen to this EP and it’s quickly clear that there’s much more going on here than just big riffs and a catchy chorus. Sure, the songs bounce along nicely enough, but there’s a metallic enough undertone to lift them out of the ordinary. Conman has more than a touch of punky anarchy, Feed the Bird starts quietly enough but soon explodes into Hash Pipe-era Weezer, Frankie is what The Strokes might have sounded like if they’d really meant it, and Not Green closes a set lasting less than ten minutes, leaving this crowd gasping for more. Exhilarating. Tim Sorrell
Will Jeffery
The Dead Butterflies
EP (Farmyard Records)
This new release - perhaps the best example yet of Jeffery’s range as a writer and performer - kicks off with Back from the Dead, a modern-day murder ballad delivered with a sufficiently regretful tone that pays homage to the menacing characters found in songs by Lee Hazlewood or Nick Cave. Backing band The Wild Gentry, add a jaunty arrangement to Dirty Ground and wisps of backing vocals on Dancehall, but it’s the stripped-back performances on the shanty-like Dorothy Jean or the title track’s devastating vignette that most impress. Jeffery’s voice is somehow both delicate and gruff; understated but with an ever-present note of weariness. Even the short space of time between this and 2010’s The Day Off seem to have aged the singer’s tone, darkening his outlook still further from the surrendered spirit of tracks like Heavy Hearted Man. Tom Quickfall
Tim McDonald
The Bandit, the Rebel and The Man in the Crowd
LP (self-released)
From the unabashed romance of opener China Waltz67, this debut recalls Ed Harcourt, Rufus Wainwright at his least grating and, surprisingly, Radiohead. Bedroom noodling of this ilk can often lead to singer-songwriter sameyness - an issue that McDonald largely sidesteps by demonstrating the breadth of his musical palette. Like Harcourt, the highlights come when he pushes the sonic envelope, as he does in The Drop (which, replete with jittery drumbeats, sounds like Thom Yorke on a good day) and Tooth and Claw. Production and musicianship is polished throughout, but it would be nice if McDonald occasionally showed some grit; even singing about economic worries on Pay For Your Dignity – a subject people usually get wound up about – he errs on the smooth side. And the album’s most balls-out rock track Fall of Rome would have benefited from vocals to match. Nevertheless, this is an accomplished work. Jon Duckworth
Navajo Youth
Heavy Heart
EP (self-released)
Having burst onto the scene in 2011 with his excellent debut release The Realist’s Enchantment with the Affectations of Affection, Navajo Youth is back with an assured and confident second EP. While the debut showcased the artist’s knack for a catchy melody, this is a mature record with less disco stylings and more soaring, anthemic choruses. The quality of songwriting here is superb; the brilliant Light’s Don’t Shine and The Tallest Tree are prime examples of how to make a great pop record. Heartbreaker is the red herring here; sounding like every record made in 1983, it sounds like an outtake from an ABC or Kajagoogoo album which sounds a touch like a pastiche rather than a tribute. Overall, a terrific record from a very promising young artist; this is how modern pop music should sound. Nick Parkhouse
The Petebox
Future Loops
LP (Light River Records)
Although he first made his name as a beatboxer, the term scarcely begins to describe the full range of Pete Sampson’s capabilities. Making good on the promise of last year’s YouTube cover of The Pixies’ Where Is My Mind (which has already notched up over two million views), Pete has expanded the concept for his debut album. Just as before, all the tracks are performed entirely live, and each is accompanied by a performance video, giving viewers a glimpse of how the music is stitched together. Looping and layering his vocals and guitar, Sampson builds these richly detailed tracks from scratch, turning himself into a one-man band. Stylistically, we’re leaning into indie-rock territory rather than hip-hop, as evidenced by covers of MGMT (Kids) and Nirvana (Lithium) – but the scope is broad enough to encompass the drum and bass of Fugue In DnB Minor, the brassy blues of V.O.D.K.A. - both original compositions - and even a Beach Boys track. Mike Atkinson
Timothy J Simpson and the Monstrous Dead
You’ll Be Alright In Florida
LP (Concentration City Records)
The second self-recorded and produced album is a triumph of heartbreakingly beautiful lyrics and delicate melodies, upon which the artist places his outright disdain and bewilderment of 21st century life. Described on his website as ‘lyrical and leftfield’, Simpson’s vocals are both melodic and gravelly. The electronic elements of Groby Road and Two Viewpoints of the Working Week, combined with Simpson’s rich musical influences and performing history, add depth to what could be seen as just another singer-songwriter release. If you’ve already seen him live, you already know that he is an enigmatic and magnetic performer; the production on this record demonstrates this to the fullest, making it a joy to listen to. Amy Helliwell
Spaceships are Cool
We Were Here
LP (self-released)
The self-proclaimed peddlers of ‘sci-fi sunshine pop & retro folktronica’ certainly earn that tag on the luminous title track: a bouncy homage to lazy days and idle musings about the life’s bigger picture. This is an album more clearly indebted to its influences than most, with the likes of The Flaming Lips, early Beck, Stereolab and even hints of L’Homme à Tête de Chou-era Gainsbourg woven into the Casio riffs and dynamic sensibilities of tracks like Season Follows Season and Below 29. The group are possibly at their most attractive on the instrumentals that pepper the album, such as opener April Blossom’s spacey, Air-like synths. North Atlantic Lights shows a gentler side of the band – one still informed by the candid innocence and lack of pretence that make Spaceships are Cool a most likable bunch, and this a most likeable album. Tom Quickfall
.jpg)
Yunioshi
Reykjavik
EP (self-released)
Too many bands take themselves too seriously. That’s why it’s always such a pleasure to experience cake-loving grooveaholics Yunioshi - they’re bags of fun in a world gone to pot. Their new EP is no exception; it’s chock-full of videogame charm. Worms is a smooth cosmic trip on a rocket fuelled by funk, like if Beck recorded a track in space with his phaser set to FUN. ‘There’s not a problem that our bodies can’t solve’ harps Rob Yunioshi on Bodies – and how! With electro-hooks this infectious, all you can do is let loose and let your limbs do the talking. Invisible turns things back up to 11, like Daft Punk battling a big-bastard robot, before Gameover ends this flawless EP like a scuzzy Nintendo nightmare. There are some two-bit bands around these days, but Yunioshi are 8-bit all the way. Here’s one boss that can’t be beat. Andrew Trendell
Read comments and make your own
Comments