It's no surprise that
Arcade Fire chose Brighton's
Electrelane as openers for select
Neon Bible tour dates. Current single "To the East" has a few shades of
Funeral, with a beat akin to "Rebellion (Lies)" and sharply wavering vocals that bring to mind Régine Chassagne crossed with Nico. With continued listening, you'll find that Electrelane quickly deviates from expectations, offering unique harmonies that show an impressive vocal range from frontwoman Verity Susman and guitarist Mia Clarke.
Electrelane - To The EastContinuing on the theme of female vocal harmonies, we have
Palomar. The Brooklyn natives can be sorted into the category of bands I've heard little of, but have been thoroughly impressed with. Small dose, big reward; kind of like getting your Hepatitis vaccination before heading to Varadero. When Palomar III: Revenge of Palomar dropped in 2004, it failed to draw much attention. For me though, songs like "The Planeiac" and "Work is a State Function" combined somewhat cynical, cheeky lyrical approaches with fast and bubbly guitars, providing ample reasons for repeated listening. From the first glimpses of the new album,
All Things, Forests seems to be a healthy improvement on their already polished sound. "Our Haunt" adds a bit of melancholy to the mix before a saccharine guitar solo closes out the song. Album opener "Bury Me Closer" is equally compelling, showcasing the band's greatest asset - the vocals. The lack of drum percussion on "Closer" brings to mind
Tilly and the Wall and sees the band at the most versatile point of their career.
Palomar - Our HauntPalomar - Work is a State FunctionTilly and The Wall - Nights of the Living DeadAnd for something to balance out all the estrogen of the above bands, a song about Bombs!
Ted Leo's new stuff looks very promising and sees him more pissed off than ever before. Bomb.Repeat.Bomb is a sarcastic soother for fighter pilots ignorant to world affairs. The track flies out of the gate with a chugging rhythm interspersed with sharp cries of Bomb!! Repeat!! Bomb!! Repeat!! Bomb!!! Some genuine hard rock that doesn't sound half-assed or contrived, now that is hard to find. The new album
Living with the Living is worth checking out.
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Bomb.Repeat.Bomb- Brad
The definition of Cacophony reads: "a discordant and meaningless mixture of sounds." We'd be hard pressed to say that the tap-dance percussion and gang vocals of Omaha troupe Tilly and the Wall be described as such, but hey maybe their song title carries with it an ironic tone that lesser bands use to make material seem clever. Knowing very well the talent in this raucous five-some, it's apparent that the name really isn't compensating for any mediocrity in the music. While they pack plenty of sounds into this song, and most songs, the blends created are actually pretty harmonious, rarely allowing one element to become overbearing.
