BRAKES – Cease & Desist (7″ Single)

Rough Trade RTRADS391: 26th February 2007
1. Cease & Desist
“Now can’t you hear the angels crying, their songs of love are now songs of dying”
2. We Saw Jerry’s Daughter
“We were walkin’ down the road at night, brothers and sisters were goin’ nowhere, peace and love were not around, trouble and strife was everywhere”
3. Huevos Rancheros
“I got a bird that whistles, honey got a bird, honey got a bird that sings”

‘Cease & Desist’ fuses bits from ‘Paperback Writer’ with Brakes’ own brand of aggressive Punk-Pop to tell the tale of God playing poker against Satan and losing.  ‘We Saw Jerry’s Daughter’ is a cover of Camper Van Beethoven remade in the style of Pixies.  ‘Huevos Rancheros’ is an all too brief forty-seven second thrasher that rocks as hard as anybody.  This is from a band that had two songs on their debut album that clocked in under ten seconds each.

Click here to watch the video for ‘Cease & Desist’ on YouTube.

Click here to buy the single as mp3s from Rough Trade Digital for £2.49.

Brakes Website / Brakes MySpace

GET CAPE. WEAR CAPE. FLY – I Spy (Re-Issue CD & 7″ Singles)

Atlantic ATUK056CD / ATUK056X: 26th February 2007
1. I Spy (Radio Mix / Metronomy Mix)
“I don’t care, that this song has a melody, or that the beats are not complex, I’m just trying to make you sing and not be perplexed”
2. War Of The Worlds (Napster Acoustic)
“You know I could be, everything you want me to be, no we haven’t spoke in days, yeah in fact it’s been a matter of weeks”

Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly’s great single ‘I Spy’ gets a third release (Or fourth, if you count the album) here in a barely altered ‘Radio Mix’. Fortunately it comes with a couple of new tracks to make it worth buying. First there is a stripped back acoustic version of last single ‘War Of The Worlds’. It’s got a pain to Sam’s voice and a beauty to the music that the album version doesn’t have and the gorgeous new Cornet solo is wonderful. The ‘Metronomy Mix’ is an odd one, it goes beyond retro-80s-sheak into simply dated. At points, it sounds like a drunken attempt to play the theme from Rocky on a cheap synthesiser. That said, there is something strangely fascinating about it which makes me keep wanting to listen again and again… weird.

Click here to download a Zip I made of Sam’s recent Live Lounge session. It includes a radical re-working of Gossip’s ‘Standing In The Way Of Control’.

Click here to buy the Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly album, which is still at an amazing £6.99 from HMV.

Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly Website / Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly MySpace
Glass Houses Fan Site

LCD SOUNDSYSTEM – North American Scum (CD EP)

DFA/EMI DFAEMI2165CD: 26th February 2007
1. North American Scum (Original / Kris Menace Remix / Onastic Dub)
“I hate the feelin’ when you’re lookin’ at me that way, cos we’re North Americans, but if we act all shy it’ll make it okay, it makes it go away”
2. Hippie Priest Bum-Out
“Instrumental”

It’s been a while but James Murphy is back with his distinctive blocked-up-nose vocals, crunching electronics and witty lyrics. ‘North American Scum’ is about his annoyance at being made to feel he should apologise for being American because Bush is so unpopular in Europe. It’s like Randy Newman’s ‘Political Science’ meets a robotic cover of ‘My Sharona’. Thank god LCD Soundsystem are back with singles as good as this!

The ‘Kris Menace Remix’ is a blissful House version and James’ own ‘Onastic Dub’ is a mix of bouncing Bass fuzz and glitchy retro computer sounds. Both are largely instrumentals, which is a shame as the words are the best bit. Boring instrumental ‘Hippie Priest Bum-Out’ is especially disappointing given the quality of previous LCD Soundsystem B-sides like ‘Yr City’s A Sucker’.

Click here to buy the new album ‘Sound Of Silver’ from HMV for only £8.99.

LCD Soundsystem – Yr City’s A Sucker (Full Version) mp3
Randy Newman – Political Science mp3

Click here to watch the video for ‘North American Scum’ on YouTube.

LCD Soundsystem Website / LCD Soundsystem MySpace

THE INDELICATES – The Last Significant Statement To Be Made In Rock ‘n’ Roll (CD EP)

Sad Gnome Records SG0701: 26th February 2007
1. The Last Significant Statement To Be Made In Rock ‘n’ Roll
“Once in a corridor in Memphis, was a singer took a breath, and wrote the birth of the teenager, now we come to write his death”
2. Sixteen
“Drop ace drum ‘n’ bass feat Hitler and Chairman Mao, if we don’t do it now then someone else will, it’ll be so funny, it’s the power not the money”
3. Heroin
“My heroine is on heroin, but not bad heroin, the good heroin that Rock stars take”
4. Unity Mitford (Acoustic)
“The indescribable beauty of a million hands raised to salute you, like poppies lean when winds caress them, cut flowers pressed to solemn duty”
5. Stars (Live)
“I’m in love with the boy next door, he treats me like a filthy whore”
6. The Last Significant Remix
“We’ve learned a lot of bitter lessons, seen the way ideas age, seen the lies and the boredom, seen the coming final page”

‘The Last Significant Statement To Be Made In Rock ‘n’ Roll’ kicks off with a menacing riff and turns into a tirade against the lack of real passion in music. It’s not as gobsmacking as their last single ‘We Hate The Kids’ but then again it’s a much more lyrically subtle beast. The words of ‘Sixteen’ continue in a similar vein of dissatisfaction but this time they’re soundtracked by sparkling Pop with an addictive handclap break. It’s a more direct assault against cynical bands who aim their music at the lucrative teen market. ‘Heroin’ is an ironic look at the falsely glamorous image Heroin has in the music world. It’s a piano lament, with some of the best rhymes ever, like “She’s not dirty, she’s past thirty”.

The last three songs are sort of bonus tracks, one acoustic, one live and one remix. ‘Unity Mitford’ was an associate of Hitler and the mother of Mosley’s wife. ‘Stars’ is a song about the transience of life with the kind of Guitar noodling not heard since Queen’s heyday. Lastly, ‘The Last Significant Remix’ is a deep remix in the style of mid-period Prodigy.

Click here to buy the EP from Sad Gnome Records (You can still get the ace first single too).

The Indelicates – Julia We Don’t Live In The 60s mp3
The Indelicates – New Art For The People mp3
The Indelicates – Vladimir mp3
The Indelicates – Waiting For Pete Doherty To Die mp3

Here are links to live videos of ‘The Last Significant Statement To Be Made In Rock ‘n’ Roll’, ‘Heroin’, ‘We Hate The Kids’ and ‘Fairytale Of New York’ on YouTube.

The Indelicates Website / The Indelicates MySpace
Sad Gnome Records Website / Sad Gnome Records MySpace