The Drums. Check. Styx. Check. Cymbals. Check. Your drum kit is complete. I now advise you to listen to 'Single Printed Name' by these certain rollicking upstarts and go berserk. It's really good. It straddles every avant-garde so and so, like, ever, from Talking Heads to Islet. Atonal guitar clanks, squalling vocals, fizzy crackling and a half-concealed synth funk thing dramatically build up to a rambunctious breakdown akin to The Rapture at their most vital. Tempered by the likes of James Yuill, D/R/U/G/S and Rory Bratwell on production duties, 'Unlearn', their debut LP, is sure to be a killer. It's released on 9th May. Expect big things. You can download 'Single Printed Name' here:
'Brooding' is one of those adjectives which seem to be bandied around almost incessantly nowadays, applied to any despondent-sounding band who claim to count The Doors among their influences. But Balkans (the up-coming behemoths from Atlanta, GA, not to be muddled with the 80s Hard-rock group from Serbia of the same name) definitely warrant the label. Their sounds are at once dismal, disorientating and awkward: brooding in its darkest form. Recent single 'Edita V' leans towards The Rakes and The Walkmen in parts: an odd fusion, granted, but one with an extraordinary outcome.
This is Tom Trago, a DJ from Amsterdam. Originally a hip hop producer, his music has since developed and morphed to envelop a whole load of genres, be they soul, disco, funky, Chicago house, dub or off-kilter techno. He's just released a blissful new LP entitled 'Iris', which definitely deserves your attention. You can stream the whole album at Dutch website 3VOOR12, or listen to 'Use Me Again' below.
