It’s cold outside, yes I know.
Rest assured, summer is around the corner.
How do I know this?
Because Dizzee Rascal is back. The man behind recent hits such as Holiday and Bonkers has teamed up with DJ Fresh for the track The Power. Featuring a sample off Chic’s I Want Your Love, this song, like the video is just fun.
Consider it a nice distraction from a bleary day.
The Chromatics are back. Five years after releasing one of my favorite midnight soundtracks (entitled Night Drive), the group is back with their sophomore release – and it’s glorious. “Kill For Love” is a single off the album and it’s an epic delight.
The album’s tone is a bit lighter than the previous record and this track is a great example of it with Ruth Radelet’s dark/detached yet angelic voice singing over a shimmering synth line and a guitar riff that sounds like what would have happened if 1990s New Order travelled in time and jammed with early 1980s New Order. Check it out.
Their new album, Kill for Love was released on April 3rd. Get it.
I’ll always have a soft spot for bands named after famous Morrissey penned songs – Suede after all, was named after the track “Suedehead.”
San Antonio’s Girl in a Coma is obviously a play off of the Smith’s track “Girlfriend in a Coma.” We first wrote about them two years ago, when they did a decent cover of Joy Division’s Transmission. A band filled with girls who name themselves after a Smiths tune and sing Joy Division covers. Maybe I should date them.
Anyways, the band released their third album Exits & All the Rest in November and this track off of the album, entitled Smart is an exercise in a tightly written pop track whose restrained melodic hooks would make even the Pope of Mope proud.
I don’t throw around the term “sounds like Beta Band” around very often, but when I do, it’s for a good reason. Django Django is an East London quartet whose colorful arrangement, semi-tropical vibe and overall psychedelic stained artsy-folk feel has many comparing them to the much loved UK band from the mid nineties. The connections don’t even stop there, as leader David Maclean is actually the brother of Beta Band keyboardist John Maclean (who was also in Die Hard). Other band comparisons aside, Django Django has put out a wonderful debut self titled album that has been in my rotation since I discovered it and they have released a few songs for public consumption off that album and one of the tracks is Storm (it’s not about Halle Berry).
Check it out. SXSW dates below:
Wed. March 14 – Austin, TX @ Easy Tiger Patio [12 AM]
Sat. March 17 – Austin, TX @ Latitude [10 PM]
