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BY MARTIN SIRL
Eyes Wide Terrified by Johnny Foreigner
Weird, wild and wonderful nonsense from Birmingham’s wacky Johnny Foreigner.
With much chopping and changing of style and tempo this is hardly music to
soothe a Sunday morning hangover. What this is, in fact, is punk rock with a
twist, the twist in this case being added by a male/female vocal partnership
which has no right to work, yet does. A much lauded South By South-West festival
appearance bodes well for the future for these daft Midlanders.
Back Me Up by Urbnri
The grim monochrome picture on the cover might suggest that Urbnri are all mean,
moody and left-field, but this is actually more Bay City Rollers than Joy
Division. Not that that is altogether a bad thing though because, like all good
pop, Back Me Up is simple, unchallenging on the ear and aurally quietly
addictive. The alternate mixes further enrich Urbnri's electro-pop credentials;
the radio edit soundsing a little like what was once known as power pop way back
in the early eighties.
Poverty by Hucknall
As someone who finds the idea of having their toenails removed with pliers
marginally more appealing than that of listening to a Simply Red album I had few
hopes for this, but it’s actually not too bad. Hucknall's voice may sound less
at home than normal on this Bobby Bland standard but the arrangement is tight
and energetic and song itself is infinitely greater than anything the
gold-toothed one has ever penned. As covers go, this is a worthy effort, though
why anyone would buy it when they could have the original is a different matter
entirely.
Seeing Ghosts (mini album) by Kick Box Riot
Full marks for effort, but ultimately this is pretty run-of-the-mill indie rock
from a young quintet who hail from the Cardiff area. Lots of shouting and a few
bits of nifty guitar work here and there, but in the end Kick Box Riot, like
their local football team are full of puff but lack an end result of any real
quality. Only the angular Fear Of Change hints at something that might hang
around in the memory for more than five minutes; the rest is just too easy to
ignore.
Kill The Captains EP by Kill The
Captains
Excellent debut from yet another bunch of upwardly mobile Sheffield indie-rockers,
this one coming across as somewhere between Buzzcocks and Orange Juice, with a
small dose of XTC’s English quirkiness thrown in. The best tracks here are Loud
In The Tooth, a deceptively catchy ballad, and the more punchy Fun Anxiety,
which fairly leaps from the speakers and which has understandably become a big
live favourite with KTC fans.
She Gives It Around by The Rivers
This Brighton 5-piece have that same kind of rough-around-the-edges feel
as US counterparts Kings Of Leon and The Strokes and the resulting sparse sound
means that this one takes a few plays to really register. But it’s worth the
perseverance as The Rivers clearly know a good tune when they hit upon one and
some rough and ready musicianship only adds to the charm of which is in fact a
pretty decent debut.
When I Return To The World by Lorraine
Spacey, hypnotic and not totally unpleasant offering from much touted
Norwegian electro popsters. A little bit Air, a little bit Pet Shop Boys, but
with the technological handle of a bunch of geezers whose hearts lie firmly in
2008. The numerous dubs and remixes on this CD are far too long and basically
superfluous, but the single edit, along with the haunting Beyond Sky, are short,
sweet and actually quite wonderful. Lorraine are named after a character in Back
To The Future, a phrase that goes some way to summing up their music better than
I ever could.
3 by The Brightlights
I really wanted to like this. It’s well played, nicely produced, the
singer has a really interesting voice and song is structured with a maturity way
beyond that of The Brightlights young years. However, even after mucho plays 3
never sounds like anything more than completely forgettable mainstream pop and
I’m afraid even Steve Power’s magic touch at the desks won’t be enough to
prevent this dropping instantly from sight.. But
I’ll stick my neck out and suggest that Late Of The Pier are a band that will
bear (sorry..) many more hearings.
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