The awesome Various Cruelties have announced they are set to release their new single Chemicals on 3 October 2011. Following the success of their previous two singles Neon Truth and If It Wasn’t For You – which sold out after being sold online and through Rough Trade – the band follow up with this track.
A year in the making, Various Cruelties have supported Fixers, The Vaccines and Villagers already, and are set to play Bestival in September having made an impressive debut at Latitude and the Isle of Wight festival.
Good, honest music, we’re sure you’ll love this band.
New Creature writer Rich Ward steps up to plate to dish up his take on Math-rockers Tall Ships’ new single ‘Hit the Floor’.
Brighton-based indie math rockers Tall Ships have been steadily sailing onto the music radar since their inception in 2008, but now look set to start making some bigger waves in 2011 having just completed their first European tour and recently featuring in the likes of The Guardian’s ‘New Band of the Week’.
With only guitar, bass and drums, the Tall Ships sound could easily lack punch were it not for their intelligent multi-layered approach to music-making showcased perfectly on single ‘Hit the Floor’.
Starting with some aggressive rapid-fire rhythms, embellishments are quickly added and by the end of the track a cacophony of sound has been created. The guitar riffs are angular and Biffy Clyro-esque, with a chuggin bassline and the drum arrangement a sixteenth-note indie blur of snare and high hat as the band hit the floor running and blast along at a frenetic tempo.
Strangely, for a song that is only three and half minutes long, most of it is instrumental save for the melodically wavering choruses at the start and the more ethereal outro vocal lines. As a result, once the exciting four-on-the-floor breakdown section in the middle ends, the track rather looses its way for a while and could really do with the addition of another chorus.
Nonetheless, there are more than enough hooks here to keep you going back for more.
Sounds like: Foals, Bloc Party
Rating: 3.5/5
Listen to: If you like your indie with a math twist
Hit the floor is out now on Paper Garden Records. Check their website for more information on this band, we’re tipping them for great things.
On 29 June south Londoners Custom Blue release their EP3The Tree on Ho Hum Records. These guys have been around a long time (1995 to be exact) and have weathered changing record label, line-up and most recently geographical location. Founding member Simon relocated to New York last year and the record was put together over the modern medium of the internet (well, if it’s good enough for Tegan and Sara….) The result is a charming and quasi-vulnerable offering laid bare over spatterings of strings and pinging xylophones.
With a beautifully stripped acoustic arrangement, ‘Riverbend’ is a great taste of things to come for the band as they find their way back into the spotlight. Though seemingly light on the ears, we can’t help but wonder if it’s more than just a little bit autobiographical with all this talk of journeys and of change. The EP nods back to their musical roots with flavours of Nick Cave and Fleetwood Mac forming a delicate subtext of the record viewed through maturer eyes. The result is impressive and should be enjoyed over the sunshine-filled months to come.
RATING: 3.5/5 SOUNDS LIKE: Dishwalla, Nick Cave, Fleetwood Mac LISTEN TO: If you like your acoustic music so chilled it’s practically served over ice.
The Tree is due for release on 20 June 2011 through Hum Ho Records.
Everything Everything’s latest offering ‘Final Form’ is the fourth single to be taken from their Ivor Novello Award nominated debut album Man Alive.
The Manchester-based quartet wind their trademark punchy rhythms around fibers of dreamy vocals. At five and a half minutes long, you’ll have plenty of time to pick apart the layering on this track, from the big vocal, bass and drums to the subtle strings. Pitched above this, contracted, simple vocal breakdowns dilate to form frantic, catchy choruses.
The song writing on ‘Final Form’ is second to none, although the group’s super-smoothed exterior hides the complexity and intelligence that goes into their lyrics with lines like “I’m gonna renew my sinew until my cells divide no more.” Never the less, it feels like the vocals are on the periphery compared with the aeonian yet seemingly ever undulating melody that punctuates ‘Final Form’, picking you up and taking you on a synth-tinged rollercoaster ride.
This is a head-noddingly catchy piece of music that also manages to somehow feel refined- quite a feat for the Sound of 2010 nominees.
Edit- Congratulations to Everything Everything for receiving two Ivor Novello nominations yesterday! They are up for Best Album for ‘Man Alive’ and Best Song Musically & Lyrically for ‘My Kz Ur Bf’. The ceremony takes place on May 19th and we wish them the best of luck!
Rating: 4/5 Packed with synth, it’s not for the more traditional folkies amongst us who prefer a more guitar-based and quieter sound but it’s undoubtedly a great track taken from an impressive debut album. Spring has most definitely arrived. Sounds Like: Egyptian Hip Hop, Delphic, Little Comets
‘Final Form’ and Man Alive are both available for download now from itunes.
Part of the upside of being Music Editor here at creature is that every now and then I can step in and say “Stop! Listen to this…”Now is such a moment.
The weather has been smokin’ hot in London this week- I know, I saw someone in the hot-pants to prove it- but even this unseasonably warm weather doesn’t compare to the heat this Brooklyn five-piece are packing…
They haven’t even been a group for much more than six-months, but already Friends have made it onto my “Songs for the Summer” list with their new track ‘Friend Crush’. Released on Lucky Number Music (y’know the people who brought you Darwin Deez), Friends boast a classic pop sound and their single ‘Friend Crush’ is simply the epitome of cool…
This Brooklyn quintet are led by lead singer Samantha Urbani whose vocals drip with a gritty sex appeal that relays the heat of a NYC summer. The other members of this collective- Lesley Hann, keys & bass, Oliver Duncan on drums and finally Matthew Molnar and Nikki Joe Shapiro- create the crowd through which Urbani splices and swoons. The bass and percussion on ‘Friend Crush’ is sultry, with an instantaneously memorable keys/guitar hook that’ll have you humming this track for weeks to come. Urbani’s vocals are effortless and simultaneously flawless- this band is definitely one to watch for 2011, and they haven’t even started recording their debut album yet.
Unashamedly, this is the best debut-single I’ve heard all year, and I’m pretty sure that if you download it, your iPod will thank you for it. We’re working our darndest to bring you an exclusive interview with the band, but in the meantime, here’s a peek of their B-side track ‘Feelin’ Dank’.
RATING: 5/5 SOUNDS LIKE: JOY ON TOAST, NYC Summer, a 70s film sountrack ‘Friend Crush’ is available to download now and is available at Rough Trade.
