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SoundsXP Presents

Friday 6th April 2012
All Day BBQ Festival

Sparrow and the Workshop
6 Day Riot
The Nuns
Singing Adams
Y Niwl
Colours
Dignan Porch
+more tbc

The Windmill
Brixton
Price tbc

On Our iPod

Golden Grrrls - New Pop 7”

Chris Devotion & The Expectations - Amalgamation & Capital (album)

Trailer Trash Tracys - Ester (album)

Throwing Up - Mother Knows Best 7”

Howling Wolf - Complete Chess Masters 1951-60

The Ketamines - A Rotten Bond/1 Yr (from Oddbox Singles Club Pt 2)

Cardinal - Hymns (album)

Proper Ornaments - Taking the Gamble Out of Buying 12”

Darren Hayman - January Songs (album)

Various: Marshall Teller EP 12”

Latest Forum Posts

Single/Download Review

The Fair Ohs/ La La Vasquez/ Yeti Lane/ Hello Cuca/ Comet Gain/ Arcadia Lake/ Tender Trap
Singles roundup

Article written by Ged M - Jun 18, 2010

Only 250 copies so hurry if you want to get hold of The Fair Ohs' new single ‘Eden Lake’ (Sleep All Day Records 7"). It's perfect for the World Cup season with its punky Afrobeat style and its slinky rhythms - a treat for restless feet. In total contrast, the B-side is the lovely, sleepy 'La Madrague', written by Brigitte Bardot and a real holiday romance of a song, the sort where you find a girl, get dumped, spend the rest of the week crying and then tell everyone that it was the best time you ever had. Myspace

There are only three members of Brighton band La La Vasquez (named, in a non-admiring way, after a Puerto Rican US TV “celebrity”) but they sound more like a gang on their debut single (Captured Tracks 7”). After the medicated Mexicali madness of the nigglingly short opener ‘Mexican Ghost (On A Boat)’, ‘Hello’ is strange and rhythmic post-punk with chant-like vocals, sounding a lot like the Raincoats, and excellent for all that. ‘Clare Savage’ is apparently a true story, based on a violent contretemps at a gig between Freya and the aforementioned Ms Savage. The tone of aggression is maintained throughout, Freya, Rachael and Merida singing in girl-gang unison while the guitar shrieks piercingly in dirty garage-rock style, and the song gets faster and more aggressive as it goes on. The edge of menace to this morally dubious DIY-pop is quite thrilling and chilling at the same time.
Myspace

The Parisian psych-poppers Yeti Lane have clearly been listening to Krautrock for their new four track ‘Twice EP’ (Sonic Cathedral 12”). The 8-minute ‘Wave’ is kosmische musik with its echo of Kraftwerk’s ‘Neon Nights’ before it bursts into propulsive life. If you’d told me it was contained on Soul Jazz’s excellent recent compilation Deutsche Electronische Musik, I might have believed you. The lead-off track ‘Twice’ mixes Clinic-style psych-pop with Neu-style guitars that are first crisp then go all wah wah, and it’s underpinned by a classic motorik beat. Across all 4 tracks, you'll hear an excellent hybird of French style and German substance. Myspace

Two bands with a long history, Hello Cuca and Comet Gain share a new Spanish 7” single (Doble Vida Records). Hello Cuca’s contribution, ‘El Camion De La Basura’ is Riot Grrl-influenced indiepop so has a degree of sass and attitude but it’s also a bit bland and forgettable. The spoken word introduction to Comet Gain’s ‘The Weekend Dreams’ marks this out as another tale of the dashed hedonistic hopes of youth, “trying to find a weekend dream/ not as simple as it seems”. Feck has been writing similar songs for years and here’s another success – distorted and lo-fi and full of crunching guitars but you can sense their core influences bubbling under in there, from Dexys to the Jam, Northern Soul and garage rock. This side of the single is definitely for keeping.

Hello Cuca Myspace
Comet Gain Myspace

The name of Norwich band Arcadia Lake suggests pastoral concerns but ‘The Great Migration EP’ (Tontena Records) is pretty ponderous post-rock obeying the usual genre commands of slow/fast pacing and quiet start/ loud conclusion, albeit without the same indulgence of many such bands. It’s heavily textured and rightly draws attention to Sarah Scott’s impressive voice but only the restrained, almost poppy ‘Heather’ is worth returning to. Myspace

Although Tender Trap's current line up isn't exclusively female, the addition of Elizabeth (Allo Darlin') Morris and Katrina Dixon has strengthened their harmony-strewn girl group sound. Dixon's drumming on the new single 'Do You Want A Boyfriend' (Fortuna Pop 7" white vinyl) even reminds me of the Vivian Girls at one point. The song is catchy and sassy, the three girls exchanging questions and answers ("does he have to like the Jesus and Mary Chain?"), although some of those questions are a little impudent: "does he have to tease you - gynaecologically?" This is smart and addictive indiepop while the furious pop of B-side 'The Sum and the Difference' is an echo of the Tallulah Gosh past. Myspace

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