PICK OF THE WEEK
The XX
Islands (Young Turks/XL)
Most of modern popular entertainment is overwrought and boring. Movies about dancing robots or bees that talk are four hours long. Pop videos for crap songs have bits with acting in them that make you wince at how bad pop singers ALWAYS are at acting. If you are clever and hate all that stuff (ie 90% of all modern pop culture) then you will love this song by the XX. It sounds like a deadpan Hope Sandoval singing over a melodic Fugazi riff. It's about that feeling when you're really in love with somebody and you're thinking about the future forever and how that makes you feel a bit nervous. There is huge depth here, without fanfares or drama queen stage show fakery or SHOWBIZ!!! I heart it.
ALSO OUT THIS WEEK
Biffy Clyro
The Captain (14th Floor Records)
These guys are what Foo Fighters fans go to see when Dave Grohl isn't in town. It's designed for big festival sing-alongs for sweaty provincials who think Kurt Cobain was Jesus. His fake American accent is really hard to listen to without wanting to smash the stereo to a million pieces with a huge Viking axe.
Jay Sean
Falling Down (Universal/Island)
I was recently in Swansea's toughest weightlifting gym making a film and I realised why music like this is so popular. They play tracks like this at an ear-splitting volume all day long while air conditioning pumps out icy blasts so the steroid-addicted bouncers who frequent the establishment can grunt and lift weights. Once they're done they go home to watch TV and prepare for a night working on the doors at rough nightclubs where this music is played all night long. Imagine that lifestyle, with all its sights and smells packed into a sound, and this is what you're listening to. Kano
Rock N Roller (BPM)
When Oasis arrived on the landscape literally every rehearsal room in the country changed overnight. Bands all started wearing Berghaus jackets, having Liam haircuts and writing songs about doing cocaine and living free and being there forever. These groups thought: "If these Manc thickos can do it, then so can I." 99% were wrong. The same goes for the Black Eyed Peas. Since they became the biggest/worst band in the world, popularising the use of Auto-Tune and crap disco songs about having a disco, urban artists have been apeing their awful sound. Kano, once the best-looking guy in grime and most popular member of Newham's N.A.S.T.Y Crew, is the latest poor soul to fall victim to this trend/social disease.
Kasabian
Underdog (Columbia)
Primal Scream's Xtrmntr was a great album. I loved the way they got Barney Sumner in to sing on it at some crazed 6am drug party. The fact that Kevin Shields was on it was also amazing. It's probably the band's best record. Some people loved it so much they based their whole career around it, which isn't so amazing. Have you ever seen these guys live? The singer dances like a monkey who hasn't wiped his bottom properly.
