Chimpomatic

Public Enemies

The docu style and attention to detail are admirable, but the awful photography and music sink this.

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6th Jun 2010

The Wrestler

Assured, engaging performances from Aronofsky and Mickey Rourke in this tragic observational drama.

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6th Jun 2010

Grosse Point Blank

90's highlight from John Cusack, which has aged well. Funny and suspenseful with some great lines.

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5th Jun 2010

The Soft Pack

The Soft Pack

Heavenly

I know this has been out for ages but I'm just loving it. Formerly known as The Muslims, this San Diego four piece wisely changed their name and emerged with a belated release of this debut proper. It doesn't rewrite anything but just hits all the indie-punk buttons in quite a mild mannered, but endlessly pleasing way. The formula is very much two minute breakneck shots of garage rock full of jangle guitars, frantic drums and all propelled by singer Matt Lamkin's deadpan swagger. Where this formula is broken is where this band really come alive. Midway through the record you get Pull Out. It establishes a steady beat early on and keeps it steady throughout. Lamkin's repeated vocals give it an almost Krautrock kind of mesmerism. It builds up on this pace then crashes down to return to the rolling drum beat, then starts the process again. Closing track Parasites continues this structure but eases down on the gas and finishes things with at a belting pace. It employs extended areas of driving guitar between Lamkin's shouted vocals and sees the last minute out in this fashion. I's the final sprint and it's electrifying.

There's been much hype surrounding this band, largely due to the name change but also some pretty memorable live shows. This hype has taken its time to manifest here in the UK and it might have been difficult for a small band's reputation to precede them this much. But this release does all that justice and more than wets the appetite for the future.

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4th Jun 2010 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Darwin Deez

Darwin Deez

Lucky Number

The problem with this record is evident from the opening bars of the second song. You'll find it's a slowed down version of the first. And this feeling of familiarity runs from song to song and ultimately masks their merit. And they do indeed display their fair share of merit. Running very much in the Strokes / Albert Hammond Jnr school of indie pop this debut is comprised of very simple songs built around the guitar/ drum machine structure. Standout tracks are Constellations and Radar Detector and the reason being that they and a few others are the rare times when the song structure varies. This debut shows promise but does it over and over in the same way.

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4th Jun 2010 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Male Bonding

Nothing Hurts

Sub Pop

Male Bonding are trio from London and after an early spell of pretty abrasive noise-pop they've evolved into a more well rounded band and have been scooped up by Sub Pop the lucky little beggars. Their early noise excursions still remain in the mix here but have been filled out with a delicious serving of mangy punk-rock packed full of hooks, fierce guitars, crashing cymbals, basically everything you'd want from this label. Very much in the neighborhood of bands like No Age or Abe Vigoda these guys marry perfectly the lo-fi scuzz with the garage-rock sensibility and always keeping a sideways glance in the direction of melody and structure. Nothing Hurts doesn't quite match the reckless abandon of Japandroids but it's brimming over with excitement and raw passion. Killer tracks are More Things This Way and Franklin.

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4th Jun 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

James Murphy & Various Artists

Greenberg Soundtrack

Parlophone

Arranged and composed by LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy this soundtrack to Noah Baumbach's film is a fantastic mix of genres, tempos and moods. Kicking off with The Steve Miller Band's Jet Airliner this features many heavyhitters, the highlights being Galaxie 500 and Duran Duran surprisingly. But the real delights, unsurprisingly, come from Murphy himself. This is obviously the perfect vehicle for him to flex muscles not permitted in his day job. And these muscles conjure up a more thoughtful and etherial sound comprised of minimal song structures and reflective, fragile vocals. The whole collection is perfectly conceived and further illustrates Murphy's dominance of everything creative in the whole world ever.

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4th Jun 2010 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Holy Fuck

Latin

Young Turks

This is the third album from the beautifully named Holy Fuck and it's an altogether tighter affair than its predecessors and dwarfs them all in terms of size. As the the ambient 4 minutes of 1MD opens the album it looms into view like an advancing apocalyptic, 7 storey doomsday machine. As its debris clears Red Lights booms with colossal rhythm and the pace and magnitude rarely lets up until the dying textures of the brutal closer P.I.G.S. Their combination of synth melodies, crunching rhythm and booming guitars seem to gel more concisely here and as each song serves to build this machine higher and stronger and the even more threatening Latin will leave you wasted and spent in its wake.

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4th Jun 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

Melvins

The Bride Screamed Murder

Ipecac

This is the first proper Melvins release for two years and the third to feature Jarred Warren and Coady Willis from Big Business. The two preceding albums (Senile Animal, Nude With Boots) were chock full of twin-drummer assaults and memorable tracks that somehow combined the best of the Melvins sound with that of Big Business. This new release has its moments, but ultimately fails to satisfy.

Speaking as a total fan-boy, I can't say I'm not disappointed. I've travelled more miles to see this band play live than any other. I've always loved the new ideas that come with shifting line-ups, and lived with this new release for a month before posting my review, but I can't get over the fact that this album is (at best) hotch-potch, and at worst, weak.

It's certainly diverse - the opening track The Water Glass is a rallying cry for the Melvins massive - all military cadence drumming and boot-camp chanting. OK, a bit baffling, but perhaps it'll work live. Things suddenly look up with track 2 - Evil New War God. This is the best track on the album - classic Melvins chunk winding into a doomy synth assisted riff during it's outro. Great stuff, but from here on in, the pickings get much slimmer. Pig House starts out promisingly enough but ends up in a rock-bolero - that most hackneyed and corny device. Even if it's meant to be ironic, it still sounds cheesy.

I'll Finish You Off is next - and to my ears it sounds just like a Big Business track. I'm not hearing much Buzz and Dale in there. Electric Flower follows and this could be said to be the other highlight of the album. Hospital Up comes next, which sounds like a track that might have been left off Nude With Boots - it starts well but dissolves into two minutes of faux-jazz fucking around. The joke wears thin after about 20 seconds. Inhumanity And Death is a bit incoherent - a stitch-together of left-over riffs, or orphans that don't really get along with each other. Then we get an 8 minute version of The Who's My Generation played as a sloppy bar blues. Once again, the irony is lost on me - it's just boring. The Melvins have done some awesome cover versions over the years (White Punks On Dope, Promise Me) but this doesn't come up to scratch.

The album winds down with PG x 3 - a folksy tone-poem played through three times - on melodica, a-capella, and on fuzz guitar. It ends with a child's voice counting numbers and looping on the number 4. I quite like this, but it's not exactly Steve Reich. Perhaps that repeated number 4 is reminding us that there are four people in the Melvins, each with equal input. Perhaps - but I'm not sure if this serves as a declaration or a disclaimer.

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3rd Jun 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet