May 2010
64 posts
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fun. - Aim and Ignite
Words: Gareth O’Malley In early 2008, we lost The Format. The band’s career was relatively short-lived (though they are technically only ‘on hiatus’ at the moment), but they gave us two records: one quite good (‘Interventions + Lullabies’) and one that they may very well have their work cut out beating, if they reform somewhere down the line. I speak of...
May 31st
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The Drums: S/T
Words: Gareth O’Malley So here it is. One of the most anticipated releases of the year is finally getting the review treatment here at MFM. It’s Brooklynites The Drums’ full-length debut, and you’ll be glad to hear that all the hype (that’s reaching a sort of crescendo as we speak) is justified, very much so. The band have been pushed to within an inch of their...
May 29th
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Born Ruffians: Say It
Words: Gareth O’Malley // originally scribed for This is Fake DIY If there’s one thing that defines this particular Canadian trio’s sound, it’s the voice of their singer, Luke LaLonde. It’s the kind of voice that splits the room in a heartbeat. Some would run a mile from his affected tones; others find it to carry just the right amount of quirkiness - and then...
May 28th
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Peggy Sue: Watchman
Words: Emmy Droege Sassy. That’s just one way to describe ‘Watchman’ by folk band Peggy Sue. Likewise, if there’s one, thematic kiss-off song for 2010, well watch that flying fist, because this Brighton trio have just delivered a flying punch of kick-ass attitude. From the thumping, acoustic intro that quickly rolls into a shambolic beast of noise, ‘Watchman’...
May 28th
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Words With: Harrys Gym
Interviewer: Gareth O’Malley Hello everyone. How have things been going for the band recently? Good, thanks!  We’re excited about our UK  release tour. We’ve been working on some new material in the studio lately, and haven’t played a lot live the last couple of months. So we’re looking forward to doing a few shows for you guys. Are you relieved to see the...
May 27th
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Rolo Tomassi: Cosmology
Words: David Molloy It’d be fair to say that there was surprise in some circles when it was announced that Sheffield hardcore band Rolo Tomassi’s second album was to be produced by Diplo, a man more well known for producing M.I.A. and being a member of dancehall group Major Lazer then loud riffs and guttural screams. But fans worried that Rolo Tomassi have abandoned what made them...
May 27th
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His Clancyness: Always Mist
Words: Nathan Standlee Jonathan Clancy; a native of Ottawa, Canada currently residing in Bologna, Italy, serves up some majestic sleep-deprived dream pop on this short but sweet new release. Droning, wobbly synths interspersed with Clancy’s distant and hazy vocals could easily send the average weary-eyed man into an indefinite coma…but what a wonderful coma it would be....
May 27th
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Dan Sartain: Dan Sartain Lives
Words: Gareth O’Malley Dan Sartain is pissed off. That much is clear from his new album. It should come with a sticker or something on the cover - Warning: This Record Contains High Levels Of Vitriol. The man’s been peddling his own brand of rock and roll for a good number of years now, steadily upping his game with each release. ‘Dan Sartain Lives’ is his fifth, and...
May 26th
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Found: Insect Guide
Words: Gareth O’Malley You might recall us introducing you to Insect Guide a couple of months back. If you don’t, a click on that handy link will help to refresh your memory. They were busy early in the year, putting out a single, ‘Dark Days and Nights’ in March and generally getting things ready for the release of the album of the same name. Things haven’t gone...
May 26th
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Fiction: Curiosity
Words: Gareth O’Malley Quirkiness can be both a blessing and a curse. Used sparingly, it can catch ears and turn heads; make you wonder what exactly is going on in a song, while at the same time winning you over. Used more frequently, however, it can turn into a band being quirky for the hell of it. As you can imagine this can get annoying after a while. Luckily, London-based Fiction...
May 26th
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Bronto Skylift: The White Crow
Words: Gareth O’Malley It’s no secret that I’m a fan of what’s going on in Scottish music circles at the moment; there’s an ever-expanding list of groups that have impressed me. However, this latest discovery comes from a genre we tend to overlook here on MFM, that of hardcore. I’d never really been all that much of a fan of the heavier styles of music, but...
May 25th
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Dead Young Records: Dead Young Club Vol. II
Words: Nathan Standlee This 4-track compilation from hip Leeds-based label Dead Young Records showcases some rather exciting up-and-coming talent, all with contrasting styles, but equal amounts of quality. Gringo Star kick things off with ‘All Y’all’, a track which sees them pay their dues to The Kinks through some scruffy guitar work and jangly tambourining. The ...
May 25th
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Ray Dar Vees: Heart Attack
Words: Gareth O’Malley Tonight we’re gonna party like it’s 1989. Or so Ray Dar Vees would have you believe. The south London based trio have struck gold with their debut single ‘Heart Attack’ (out this week). Echo and the Bunnymen, Suede, T-Rex - if any of these bands are your bag, you should spot the similiarities right away. The pounding drums and confident bass...
May 25th
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mpfree: Cold Pumas - Beat Mystery
Words: Gareth O’Malley Well, this is a turn up for the books! Yet another hotly-tipped band have sprung up out of Brighton. What sets Cold Pumas apart from their contemporaries, though, is that they are actually fully deserving of the praise being lavished upon them. Said praise looks set to increase exponentially in the wake of the unveiling of new single ‘Beat Mystery’,...
May 25th
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WatchWatch
Hot Club De Paris - Free the Pterodactyl 3 Lead track from the new EP ‘The Rise and Inevitable Fall of The High School Suicide Cluster Band’ gets a percussion-tastic video. There’s also added fun with markers, which as you all know makes anything automatically brilliant. (Thanks to This Is Fake DIY for the scoop)
May 25th
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The Active Set: Let The Games Begin
Words: Nathan Standlee The Active Set are a four-piece indie-punk outfit from Los Angeles, California. Based on the press shots I’ve seen of the band (each member frozen in ridiculously cheesy mid-air jumps), which is all I have to go on at this point, I’m slightly wary of what musical garbage might possibly be dumped in my ears for the next three minutes. Obviously I never...
May 24th
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Lostaura: The Hiding Place
Words: Gareth O’Malley That cover art suggests a band who prefer to keep things low-key. It’s quite enigmatic on first glance, but then again you should never judge any record by its cover (unless of course it’s the latest MGMT album: in that case, what you see is what you get). However, Lostaura are far from shy and withdrawn. In fact, the Brighton-based quintet are the...
May 23rd
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Research Turtles: S/T
Words: Gareth O’Malley I have to be honest and say that on first glance I was entirely unsure what to think of both this band’s name and their tastes in cover artwork. I’m still not quite there yet, but it is significant that the sun can be seen clearly in the backdrop of the shot. You’ll understand why when you listen to the Louisiana-based quartet’s music....
May 22nd
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Babe Shadow: Sea Serpents/Heart
Words: Gareth O’Malley Londoners Babe Shadow are a mess of contradictions. Up there is one half of the quartet (Tom Cawte, David Thornley, Mark Thorne, Sam Nadel). From the looks of them you’d think they were in a metal band, and from the name itself it could be presumed that they were a shameless pop group. Not. Even. Close. The band peddle an immediate brand of folk-pop, and if...
May 22nd
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Live: New Sunset Hotel, Bosh, Castlebar, 22/5/2010
Words: Gareth O’Malley It’s a funny old world, isn’t it? One week you’re a relatively unknown band doing a whistle stop tour of schools to promote your debut single - and the next, said single has muscled its way into the top 10. Such is the case with New Sunset Hotel, whose first official single, ‘The Bitter End’ made quite the impression on the charts this...
May 22nd
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Live: Delphic / Everything Everything, The Ritz,...
Words: Nathan Standlee Fresh off the latest NME Radar Tour, Manchester’s Everything Everything delight their hometown crowd tonight with a set filled not only with technical wizardry, but more importantly, some good and proper tuneage.  All dressed in smart, white shirts - top buttons undone and sleeves rolled up - EE look as though they’ve just waltzed on stage after a hectic...
May 22nd
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Tristan Clopet: Purple EP
Words: Gareth O’Malley Going by the press shot of Tristan Clopet I saw last month when ‘Purple’ unexpectedly dropped through my letterbox, I assumed that he was just another average singer-songwriter. You know the type of which I speak, so I’m not going to discuss it much further. After spending increasing amounts of time with the EP, however, I realise I couldn’t...
May 21st
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Live: Neon Indian / Sleigh Bells, The Corner,...
Words: Nathan Standlee Sleigh Bells have left me with a major dilemma following their schizophrenic half-hour set this evening. On record, the Brooklyn duo are undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with; powerful, abrasive, left-field pop at its very best. On stage, things are slightly less convincing.  Now, before I go any further, I should mention that the venue tonight is by no means tailored...
May 20th
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Operator Please: Gloves
Words: Gareth O’Malley There are times, when you listen to ‘Gloves’, that you think, ‘Wow, is this the same band?’ - there should be, at the very least, because Operator Please have most definitely gotten a makeover in the three years that have elapsed since their debut ‘Yes Yes Vindictive’. The band have transitioned rather smoothly from their...
May 20th
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Crystal Castles: Crystal Castles II
Words: Gareth O’Malley ‘What are Crystal Castles trying to get at by having a second self-titled album?’, I wondered to myself when details for the new record were announced a couple of months back. ‘Are they trying to say that they’ve reinvented themselves as a band, and so much so that they want to tell us they’re “starting over”, as it...
May 19th
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WatchWatch
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart - Higher Than The Stars With a new single, ‘Say No To Love’ on the way, here’s some well-deserved promotion for the lead track off last year’s EP. TPOBPAH’s self-titled debut was quite impressive, but evidently it’s not just a flash in the pan - and might I add the new video’s rather nice too.
May 19th
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May 19th
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WatchWatch
Midas Fall - 17 Knew this would be getting a single release at some point. It’s probably the most immediate song on ‘Eleven, Return and Revert’ - it’s one of its highlights too, and now it’s got a video to match.
May 19th
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LCD Soundsystem: This Is Happening
Words: Martyn Young With the announcement by James Murphy that this is to be the final LCD Soundsystem record, expectations have been raised to phenomenal levels. Following on from 2007’s imperious ‘Sound of Silver’ has increased those expectations even further. When you proclaim your forthcoming record to be your final release and your previous album has been hailed as a...
May 18th
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WatchWatch
Marvellous new single from the hotly-tipped London-based quintet, due out May 31st.
May 18th
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Sleigh Bells: Tell 'Em
Words: Nathan Standlee Brilliant. Upon pressing play, I was instantly greeted with howling, anthemic, Iron Maiden-esque guitar riffery, screeching synths and the most in-your-face, fucked up, distorted kick drum sound that even Crystal Castles would be envious of. A most pleasant surprise at 9:40am on a Monday morning. Then came the vocals. Wonderfully melodic and gentle compared to the...
May 18th
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Everything Everything: Schoolin'
Words: Nathan Standlee Finally, a new band from Manchester who aren’t re-hashing second rate Stone Roses b-sides! Musical creativity is a process that hasn’t entered the minds of Mancunian bands ever since The Stone Roses became the city’s prodigal sons way back in the early 90’s. There seemed to be an unrelenting desire to cling onto those glory days for as long as...
May 18th
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Hot Club De Paris: The Rise And Inevitable Fall Of...
Words: Gareth O’Malley Need to take a breath before I start this. … Yep, good to go. A long title like that one requires such measures, of course. Right, so. Hot Club De Paris. It’s certainly a pleasure to have them back so soon - and with so much new material in tow. Two EPs in a year (the other being the similarly long-winded ‘With Days Like This As Cheap As...
May 17th
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Live: 65daysofstatic / Loops Haunt - Crawdaddy,...
Words: Gareth O’Malley // originally scribed for This Is Fake DIY “Wow, that’s strange” - these are my first words upon entering Crawdaddy last Saturday. I notice there’s already a setup of some description on stage. The doors have barely been open ten minutes at this point, and it takes me a minute to twig that Loops Haunt is actually doing his thing already....
May 16th
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New Sunset Hotel: The Bitter End
Words: Gareth O’Malley Once, when asked to describe his band’s sound, Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody responded: ‘Melody and honesty. It’s what we do’. Love them or loathe them, the Northern Irish band have got hooks to burn. The same could be said of Mayo quartet New Sunset Hotel. Their earnest piano rock can be easily compared with the luminaries of the...
May 14th
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Exit Calm: S/T
Words: Gareth O’Malley Miss The Verve? We do too. Not the incarnation that reared its ugly head on their woeful ‘comeback’ album (said comeback lasted pretty long, right?!), ‘Forth’. Nor even the band that created the lawsuit-baiting ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony’. We’re talking about The Verve. Y’know, from their ‘A Northern Soul’...
May 14th
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mpfree: Clock Opera - A Piece of String
Words: Gareth O’Malley Who says the best things in life aren’t free? Clock Opera’s new single has to be one of the best songs I’ve heard so far this year, and Mr. Guy Connelly’s latest work has very kindly been made available as a download. It’s priceless, both literally and metaphorically. Grab it here. Oh, and while you’re at it, have ‘White...
May 14th
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WatchWatch
Local Natives - World News New single from last year’s debut, ‘Gorilla Manor’.
May 13th
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Words With: Paul Wolinski, 65daysofstatic
Interviewer: Gareth O’Malley Ahead of their arrival in Ireland for a gig in Dublin on Saturday, I got in touch with 65daysofstatic’s guitarist Paul Wolinski to ask a few questions about the tour, and about their new record - paying little mind to the dodgy phone line. MFM: To start with, how have things been going on tour? Paul: We’ve really been enjoying ourselves. We’ve been on...
May 13th
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Villagers: Becoming A Jackal
Words: Gareth O’Malley Witnessing the split of The Immediate back in 2007 was nothing short of heartbreaking, I’ll readily admit that. ‘In Towers and Clouds’ carried so much promise that it was more than just a little distressing to see the band go their separate ways in such acrimonious fashion. Conor O’Brien, their former frontman, has been keeping himself busy...
May 12th
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May 12th
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The Exhibition: The Crown / Coma
Words: Gareth O’Malley I certainly didn’t see this coming. The Exhibition’s demo EP that I reviewed a few months back showed some promise but was overall quite derivative and displayed a band that appeared to be in thrall to their influences, unable to cast off the shackles of mere imitation. How relieved I was then to hear that on their first single proper, a double A-side of...
May 11th
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Our Lost Infantry - The Arsonist / Scissorfight
Words: Gareth O’Malley This is as good a start from a new band as we’ve heard this year. Our Lost Infantry, an Aldershot quartet who we’ve been following for a while, release their new single on June 7th, and it is pretty much perfect. A double A-side of ‘The Arsonist’ and ‘Scissorfight’ is the group’s debut single, and its ten minutes are...
May 11th
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May 11th
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Grass House: Plough More Sky EP
Words: Gareth O’Malley Grass House are certainly trying to get their message across. I’m not too sure what that message actually is, as of yet, but judging by the newer tracks that make up their head-turning debut EP, ‘Plough More Sky’, a substantial part of it would be: don’t you fucking dare try and pigeonhole us. And well they should be saying that, because I...
May 10th
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The October Game: Wildblood
Words: Gareth O’Malley If I’m quite honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect from ‘Wildblood’ upon receiving it a month ago. The cover looked quite impressive (and it still does), but it gave absolutely nothing away about the Bedfordshire quintet’s music. It came highly recommended, though, so I couldn’t help but sit up and pay attention from the...
May 9th
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Live: The Cast of Cheers, Enemies, Mia Sparrow -...
Words: Gareth O’Malley Just to say, Richter Collective are pretty much my favourite record label anywhere at the moment. There’s any number of excellent bands on the roster: Adebisi Shank (one of the best live bands in the country); Bats; Jogging; The Redneck Manifesto… I could go on, you know (but I won’t). What does this have to do with this gig, I hear you ask. Well,...
May 9th
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UK Music Releases: May 2010
May 3rd The Hold Steady - Heaven Is Whenever [Hurricane J] Josh Ritter - So Runs The World Away [mp3: Change of Time] Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma The New Pornographers - Together Minus The Bear - OMNI _____________________ May 10th Foals - Total Life Forever [Audiovisuals: Spanish Sahara] The National - High Violet [Bloodbuzz Ohio] Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record [Stream] Holy...
May 8th
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Foals: Total Life Forever
Words: David Molloy If any band could be thought of as ‘forward thinking’ it would have to be Foals. These guys don’t dwell on the past. After releasing two hit singles during 2007 which raised the hype meter to bursting point (‘Hummer’ and ‘Mathletics’) they decided to shun those two songs altogether on their 2008 debut album ‘Antidotes’....
May 8th
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Initial Thoughts: Tokyo Police Club - Champ
Words: Gareth O’Malley ‘Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore…’ Tokyo Police Club have definitely stepped out of what people might have called their comfort zone on their new album. They’re not the band they once were - y’know, the ones that released material literally as often as they could? At breakneck speed, you could say. Yes, I...
May 8th