Music Snobbery

Swiss Lips Release Second Video, Danz

The first time around, Swiss Lips just nicked some clips for the seminal breakdancing epic, Breakin', to create their first official video for "U Got The Power." Now, hot on their heels of their sets at Great Escape and Camden Crawl, the Manchester band have rushed out another video. This time, there's no pirated material, just a crazy long-haired old guy dancing to their disco-infused party starter, "Danz."

Poliça @ Maxwell's: A Soft C

Tonight was one of those shows at Maxwell's that I'll look back on and say, "Yeah, I saw her back at Maxwell's. Now that she's headlining Terminal 5, you lost out on seeing her in a small space." Consider myself dazzled as Channy Leanagh of the Minnesota outfit Poliça packed them in for a sold out Sunday show on the Jersey side. Where can I begin with her? Let's see. Umm, she's amazing, like call your best friend and say, "Hey, she's amazing."

Poliça is a welcome new sound on the scene, taking elements from trip hop and new wave and creating a funky and pleasing experience. You got to groove along with their sounds, either nod your head if you're reserved or just bump and grind to your heart's content. Any discussion of the band begins and ends with Leanagh, who's pristine voice makes you think of Sarah Cracknell, Dido and a not weird Bjork. While some of the songs of the their debut album, Give you the Ghost, have a slight distortion to give songs like "Form" and "The Maker" a cosmic effect, live it's all her. She's fantastic live performer, not shy, likes to dance and sway along with the music -- maybe even smile and loose herself into the music.

With the double drumming and live guitarist, the show is not some chick singing over a drum machine or preprogrammed loops. It's very much in the here and now, so you're definately feeling the trippy vibe. Thus, if you're feeling like you're in outer space or some wintery landscape, you can feel right at home. With no opener tonight, we all dove right in the Poliça sound pool and lovde every song, include a trio of jams. Leanagh is obviously is going to find plenty of new fans the next time she comes around, so make sure you hit up Johnny Brenda's on Wednesday.

French Films Unspool Great Music on Convict, Playing Great Escape

I was looking over The Great Escape line-up for the weekend, I had a little, "Niiiiice" moment when I saw French Films on the line-up. If you do go, please make my buddies Savoir Adore don't get lost or get harassed by the locals.

Anyway, French Films is a Finish band who will make your feet all twitchy with their short, spunky rock tunes in the Vaccines mold. You'll hear a lot of intense, fast paced guitar chords with a lot of "Whooo Oohhhhh" choruses. Make sure to take note that sweet organ part towards the end of the video I will post at the end, "Convict." There's also the surf rock guitars and swinging good vibe on "You Don't Know." You can find this and more on their debut album, Imaginary Future, which you can download right this second at your download service of choice.

This little beauty is called Convict:

You need more, so this is "You Don't Know"

Gaz Coombes Presents First Solo Video, Hot Fruit

There's going to be hot fruit!

Strangers With Candy ... anyone? Meh.

Gaz Coombes steps out on his own with first music video. He called upon long-time Supergrass video directors Dom Hawley and Nic Goffey (brother of Supergrass drummer Danny) to make some "Hot Fruit." It's from his solo album, Here Come The Bombs, out on the 21st.

Gaggle Announce Debut Album, From the Mouth of the Cave

That's just about the craziest band photo of the year. I see a few dogs, a baby, some birds, a tiger head with a billiard ball in its mouth, a rifle and a guy with a crow's head holding a gun. Your move, Flaming Lips.

Finally, the UK all-girls choir Gaggle have put the finishing touches on their debut album. They've set June 4th for the release of From the Mouth of the Cave, on the Transgressive Records label. The 22 members come together to create a force of nature and musical journey through dance, R&B and just sheer power. I anticipate nothing subtle on this album.

This is the tracklisiting, album to the right:

• From the Mouth of the Cave
• Army of Birds
• Power of Money
• 5/4
• Gaslight
• Liar, Interlude. Congo
• Bang On The Drum
• Crows
• Lullaby
• Hello Spider
• Leave The City

This is great stuff, and a long-awaited taste of new music since the release of their 2010 debut single, I Hear Flies. Now, you can listen to a track of the album. It's called Army of Birds:

Max Payne 3 Soundtrack Provided By HEALTH

When I'm not cooking, quietly judging those around me at shows or on the phone with HP customer service (4+ hours in a week, booyah), I sometimes delve into the world of video games. It combines my favorite things -- art, story-telling, sitting on my couch and avoiding the outside world. Thus, I am anticipating the release next week of Rockstar Games latest game, Max Payne 3.

Like the companies previous releases like the Grand Theft Auto series, L.A. Noire and Red Dead Redemptionn, the soundtrack will be something to behold. This time around, a whole band have composed the music. The makers called upon L.A. experimental noise rock masterminds, HEALTH, to provide the score for the third-person shooter where you get to shoot thousands of evil people in a realistic setting of Sao Paulo, Brazil. It's like a video game version of the movie Elite Squad movies.

"By using a band instead of a traditional composer, we’ve created a soundtrack that sounds completely unique," said Ivan Pavlovich, Rockstar soundtrack supervisor. “HEALTH have created hundreds of hours of amazing music for the game’s score, and distilled it into a devastatingly moody and atmospheric soundtrack album.

Take that Daft Punk.

The game is out May 15th, the soundtrack will be available May 23rd.

You can hear the new music from HEALTH in the TV spot.

Fear Of Men Set Sail For Green Sea on New Single, Opening for Best Coast

I don't believe they have a fear of men -- they have men in the band. Da da daaaaaahhhhh.

Time to spotlight some other bands that I sampled while going through last weekend's line-up. Pretty much the people who played Camden Crawl will move onto the Great Escape festival this weekend in Brighton. In any event, I enjoyed the haunting vocals mixed with the sunny California vibe of the U.K. band, Fear of Men. They sound like Tim Burton if he went surfing.

The four-piece have a fine selection of demos on their bandcamp page, including their latest single, Green Sea. You listen to the bad boy below.

For the U.K. people, Fear of Men snagged a prime opening slot on Best Coast's U.K. tour this June.

• June 12: White Heat-- London (supporting Purity Ring)
• June 16: 02 Glasgow ABC 2 (supporting Best Coast)
• June 17: HMV Ritz-- Manchester (supporting Best Coast)
• June 18: 02 Academy-- Birmingham (supporting Best Coast)
• June 20: 02 Shephers Bush Empire -- London (supporting Best Coast)
• June 2:  Coalition -- Brighton (supporting Best Coast)

 

Maccabees Headlining U.S. Dates and Opening for Florence + The Machine, Not Working With Mel Gibson

 

This is lining-up to be a break-out year for UK rockers, The Maccabees. First, you have Mel Gibson screaming about them in an audio tape from Joe Eszterhas. That's fun. Then, all agree that their third album, Given to the Wild, is not only their best album to date, but one of the best albums of the year so far. Finally, you purchase that awesomeness in physical or digital forms in the U.S.. There's moments of great artistry, beauty and just plain, straight-up jittery BritPop goodness. It's kind of un-expected from the band. While I was big fan of their debut, Colour It In, for it's youthful spirit and guitar-driven pop tunes, their second album, Wall of Arms, lost me. Then in comes Wild and we have the Maccabees back on the map.

For this, they will do a series of proper U.S. dates. Some headlining dates in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, but mostly as the support act for Florence + The Machine's Fall tour. Thus, a bunch of Trader Joe's shopping soccer moms and mid-30s single female professionals with 3 cats will get to discover the Maccabees. At least the band will play their first New Jersey date, albeit in Camden.

Dates with Flo except as noted.

• June 13: Webster Hall -- New York (headlining)
• September 14: Comcast Center -- Mansfield, MA
• September 15: Nikon at Jones Beach Theater -- Wantagh, NY
• September 16: Saratoga Performing Arts Center -- Saratoga Springs, NY
• September 18: Susquehanna Bank Center -- Camden, NJ
• September 19: Merriweather Post Pavilion -- Columbia, MD
• September 21: Raleigh Amphitheatre -- Raleigh, NC
• September 22: Masquerade -- Atlanta
• September 25: USF Sun Dome -- Tampa
• September 26: BankAtlantic Center -- Sunrise, FL
• October 1: Starlight Theatre -- Kansas City
• October 4: Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre -- San Diego
• October 5: El Rey Theatre -- Los Angeles  (headlining)
• October 6: The Independent -- San Francisco  (headlining)
• October 7: Hollywood Bowl -- Los Angeles
• October 10: Hard Rock Casino Presents: The Pavilion -- Albugquerque, NM

This is their big, wonderful hit song, Pelican.

 

Previously:

• The Maccabees: The MusicSnobbery.com Interview
• The Maccabees @ Bowery Ballroom

Adam Yauch and the Beastie Boys Will Be Missed

Rough weekend in the music world since the passing of MCA on Friday. You think about all the great music, the kind words and positivity Adam Yauch brought to the world. Unlike the passing of Whitney or MJ, there will be no dark side to the life MCA.

Unfortunately, with his passing means the likely end to the Beastie Boys, one of the pioneers of modern music. Obviously, the music and legacy will live on. I'm sure like everyone, you busted out Hello Nasty or Paul's Boutique to honor MCA.

Or maybe played this clip from Krush Groove:

Camden Crawl 2012 Bands to Watch -- Willy Moon, Echo Lake, Bastille, FOE and More

London's domination of 2012 is already under way. You got the Olympics and the Queen's thing-a-ma-jig, but this weekend is the annual Camden Crawl. It's their version of SXSW, but not as douchey, geeky or sponsory. It's better curated festival in a concentrated two-day period of buzz bands on top of buzz bands vying to be the next big thing.

In the past, White Lies, Florence and the Machine, Arctic Monkeys, Wolfmother, Guillemots, Hard-Fi, Hot Chip, Maximo Park, Magic Numbers, Art Brut, Kate Nash, Calvin Harris, New Young Pony Club, Foals and Adele started their buzz machine with their intimate sets.

This year, the big name acts include The Futureheads, Gaz Coombs, Glasvegas, Niki & The Dove, The Big Pink, Death in Vegas and The Cribs. Come on, you'll go to see the hot new band before they become sell-outs. A few of the bands on the line-ups have already been featured here, reviewed or name dropped. They include my buddy Lucy Rose, Veronica Falls, Clock Opera, Charli XCX, Dutch Uncles, Theme Park, Two Wounded Birds, Francois & The Atlas Mountains and Toy.

I have extensively reviewed the line-up of 150+ bands, and narrowed the list down to seven I think you'll love in the months to come. I'm always proud that I picked up a young Kate Nash before anybody ever heard of her back in 2005. It's what I do.

Willy Moon -- Of all the solo artists performing this week, this guy seems to have the greatest buzz. He's a shape-shipping, body moving, singer/DJ with classic 50s style and banging beats. I guess it's time to bring back that Fatboy Slim/Avalanches sound. The 21-year old New Zealand native have a trio of crazy cross-genre pollination that combines classic rockabilly, 60s R&B, 80s hip hop, fat dance beats, swagger and some post-production derring-do. Once you get around the WTF factor, you'll see that he's carving a unique sound. Above everything, he seems to be quite a live performer using a live backing band.

This is his latest single, "Yeah Yeah" You've been warned.

Echo Lake-- Either I have some sort of snobbery spider sense or I've been doing this too long, but when I first listened to Echo Lake, I said to myself, "This is something Slumberland Records would put out."

A look through my unread e-mails pointed out the obvious, Slumberland Records will release their debut album, Wild Peace, on June 26th. It's lushous shoe-gaze, dream pop that the label is known to bring into its fold. The band hail from London, and consists of art students Thom Hill and Linda Jarvis.

The band opened up for Real Estate on their last UK tour. Thus, I'm hoping they can come visit us. In the meantime, take a listen to a previous single which will be on the album, Another Day:

Bastille -- I've mentioned this one man band before, but hearing his latest single made me want to emphasize the quality. Since I wrote about his in June 2011, Dan Smith signed to Virgin Records, which will release his debut album later this year. His latest single, Overjoyed, was released this past Monday.

He sold out two nights at Hoxton Hall in 20 minutes, which forced another show at the much larger Scala. While Overjoyed is lovely song with soaring vocals and sweet strings, it's his six-minute opus "Love Don't Live Here" that will make you hit the repeat nothing. At the three-minute mark, the song warped into a banger of a track. I'm just preparing you for the sucker punch.

FOE -- I just need to get this really bad joke out of the way.

"You going to the Foe show?"

"Foe show? Fo sho."

Yes, I am pathetic man.

Anyway, Hannah Clark (no relation to Annie) is the FOE in question. She has the snarl of Alison Mosshart and the lyrical prowess of Polly Jean Harvey. On her debut album, Bad Dream Hotline (Mercury Records) she combines the sinister with the sexy, the sweet with the sour, the sly with the sad. The BBC says: "This debut is a polished pop gem that could elevate Clark into the mainstream. Her template is simple but effective: cribbing a delicious gloominess from Nirvana and Nine Inch Nails, and sugar-coating it with catchy choruses."

Take a look at the video for A Handsome Stranger Called Death:

Swiss Lips-- Not to be confused with Black Lips or Chew Lips, Swiss Lips has the distinction of signing a major label deal with only a couple of songs available and when nobody knows who they are (ex. Ting Tings, Cults, Vaccines). We do know that the five-piece Manchester band is already at work on their debut album for Sony. We also know that they are going to make a lot of people happy with their catchy psyched-out, synth pop and just a hint of 80s nostalgia. Think the bastard child of Passion Pit and MGMT.

You need visual evidence? How about their debut video where they get to show their movies. Well, not really, but enjoy their re-editing of Breakin' for the song, "U Got the Power".

The Milk -- I almost didn't include them because they have a dumb band name. Really? The Milk? If I didn't write about bands with dumb names, I would have much to write about. In any event, the four lads from Essex create ramshackle soul/blues pop with a lot of piano-pounding, fuzzy guitars and sing-a-long choruses.

Like Swiss Lips, they are at work on their debut album for Sony.

They just released a barn-burner of a tune called "Broke Up The Family".

Team Me-- We'll head over to Norway for our next Camden Crawl buzz band. Team Me have already visited our land for SXSW, but not sure if they came through NYC. The peppy pop band make youthful and harmony-drenched happy/sad that either want to fall in love or break-up with your partner -- depending on your mood. If anything, I'm giving them props for the best photo I've seen all year.

They'll remind you of Fanfarlo or The Boy Least Likely To with their full-sound and hint of folk undertones. To The Treetops is their debut album, and one of the songs on that that album is called "Dear Sister":