Reviews:CDs
Francophilippe – Fonkophile Francophilippe, that definitely-notFrench electric sex dwarf from the future, has finally gone and knocked out an EP. ‘Fonkophile’ is eight tracks of voluminous, pounding bass-lines and beats that’ll drip out of your speakers like a melty ’99 in the height of summer. Chaotic samples loop over hefty funk riffs, slap-bang out of the seventies, adding up to some slick continental electro. Somehow everything sounds like it’s being played backwards; if you play this record forwards you might find a message from Satan. Probably not though. 3/5 Skylark Song – Skylark Song EP Indie-folk is a hot ticket in these parts at the moment, but Skylark Song are doing their own thing. Peddling their wares in the more traditional area of folk music, Skylark Song arm themselves with acoustic guitars, fiddles and delicate vocal harmonies. Adding to their unique sound is a mingling of bluesy guitar picking and soulful vocals, creating contrasting textures that help take the jangly, chintzy edge off the more beardy-folk tracks, such as ‘Northumbrian Borders’. 3/5 Athletes in Paris – No Bridge, No Crossing Allowed Cheeky poppeddlers and Tom Robinson’s best mates Athletes in Paris continue to dance their way out of the indie-pop box with this sax-tickling eruption of amatory jazz
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noise. Taking their cues from the funky, finger-clicking dogs of old and stirring it up with their trademark twinkly pop sounds, the smoothoperating quintet have created a tune at once mature, lascivious and endlessly enjoyable. They’re good, they know it, and it totally suits them. 4/5 Invoke – Second Time Lucky The debut single from Gateshead trio Invoke, ‘Second Time Lucky’ is a sturdy indie-rock track. It shows plenty of potential, and should serve the band well in drumming up support for their future endeavours, but the band still have a way to go in terms of carving out their own sound. Previous comparisons to Muse and Red Hot Chilli Peppers are fairly unfounded in this track, but what is evident is a burgeoning dynamic. Keep your ears out for Invoke; they’ll only get better. 3/5 Broken Few – Concision Recorded in 2010, Broken Few’s début remained in limbo for almost two years. Thankfully, it appears it’s been worth the wait. Covering socially-barbed topics from war, immigration and environmentalism, it’s a record not short on substance. What makes it a great album is that it doesn’t sacrifice melody for the sake of a lecture. Displaying a knack for crafting complex, melodic music, they show showing brutality and emotion in all the right places. Broken Few have got plenty to say, and they say it in a way that’s thought-provoking, enjoyable and thoroughly mosh-able. 4/5
Bunker Dance Adam Burn - Crash As soon as we heard the strings, chords and plucky lead, we knew we’d stumbled upon someone with talent. Crash is Newcastle based Adam Burns latest offering to the progressive house community and it does not fail to impress. A soft trance lead plays the riff through the melodic breakdown and on into the kick off. A minimal yet still upfront bass line sits nicely on top of a groovy, slightly swung, four to the floor beat and this mixture seems to work perfectly to equal a laid back, progressive trip. http://soundcloud.com/adamburn Fatzo - Leon Thompson - Free Love (Fatzo Remix) Fatzo provided us with a nice uptempo delight for his entry to the competition. The first breakdown is reminiscent of something you might hear lying on the beaches of Ibiza, very euphoric. Fatzo uses the chords of Free Love to their best and layers in his own harps, strings and riffs. A main Trance lead takes over to really take things to another level. Energetic from the get go, so be warned & listen with speakers up! soundcloud.com/bunkerdance/ preview-leon-thompson-free
Words : SO