Dark and sinister yet alluring and beautiful at the same time, how this music manages to combine such pretty and hideous sides is a mystery to me. Which is great, as at last this is some rock music that makes me think, at last here's something just that little bit different. Maybe I could describe it as schizo music? Or maybe that's pushing the point too much, rather I'll just label it human music, as it's honest and reflects the wide variety of what really makes up a human being. We can be such troubled creatures. But anyway enough of that rambling, I should probably get on and describe the music that so pricks up my ears in inquisition.

The fuzz on the guitar drags its sharp nails along your back, as from somewhere in the distance electronics bleep and wail, the drums go between pondering and pounding, and crescendos come and go yet all the while the fractured voice of Rose Kemp pushes it way through the bluster of noise and positions itself firmly between your ears.

Ahh the voice, now this voice is something special. The music is interesting enough, with its mischievous softer sections luring you into a false sense of security as they erupt into splurges of noise to shake you from your complacency, the noise this band can unleash is powerful and alarming, it really is an unpredictable beast. The guitars scream with distortion drenched woe, the drums beat at your head and the overall noise disorientates you, but all too soon it falls away into one of the softer sections, sinister in its minimalism. The dynamics of this record are a joy to experience. But what was I saying, oh yes the voice, through all the noise and creeping distress of the band, the element that most holds your attention is the voice of Rose Kemp herself.

This voice can go from tortured vulnerability to paint stripping anger in the blink of an eye. This voice is clearly beautiful and suits the softer passages revealing a delicate velvet covered whine to sooth and relax into like a soft arm chair. However, the voice doesn’t rest on its laurels as it so easily could, far more than just dealing in beauty, the voice of Rose Kemp expresses every possible emotion; fear, anger, sensuality, confusion, despair, it reaches all kinds of wondrous jagged peaks and deserted shadowed low lands. It is a weapon of much power, though never over used or exaggerated, yet always commanding attention, never obvious or complacent always doing something different and challenging the listener to follow it’s journey, the voice is something special. It manages to be both interesting and enjoyable, showing that tortured female singer-songwriters don't have to be reduced to acoustic blandness in order to engage with an audience, it is truly captivating.

This is a record of both devastating power and joyous beauty, and in the voice of Rose Kemp has a potent weapon, an instrument to express emotion so effectively that the listener can not help but be taken on the adventure upon which the songs lead the singer. Maybe these could be described as modern torch songs, I don’t think that’s over-stating the power they command.

This is a record that while never being comfortable or easy to listen to, the listener can not help but be drawn inside of.

At last something interesting in Rock music, this doesn't happen to me too often so I'm pretty excited. Although to label it rock music would perhaps be too reductionist, maybe it’s more like folk with added fuzz and electronics and without the comfort setting that folk singers so often settle for. Or maybe labelling this music is a bit unfair to it, and would push it places it doesn't necessarily intend to go. Rather this is music constructed by drawing in distorted guitars, bleeping electronics, folksy melodic turns, blues emotiveness but most importantly of all, a music that uses these influences to achieve something more than just the sum of its parts.

An interesting record, a challenging record, an exciting record and ultimately an enjoyable record.

Review by Daniel Newman
www.rosekemp.co.uk
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The Duke Spirit have been buzzing away nicely for a little while now. Slowly, they've been building up press coverage and live support. So it's about ruddy time they released an album... oh, wait they already have.

What's the Duke Spirit album, Cuts Across the Land, like then? It's like chips. No, bear with me. It's like chips, REALLY. Chips go with almost everything, they are cool, but if you just have chips then it's not very filling. Same with this album, sure there's a nice mix of Sonic Youthy drone fuzz, Karen O vocal deliveries and Velvet Underground-esque thumping but there's just nothing to go with it, nothing memorable or particularly individual about the album. There's occassional highlights but they are too much like the rare crispy over-fried chips that you get: rare and occasional. The rest of the songs melt into one, not unpleasant but not particularly daring hole.

What really left me cold was that on too many songs there's a tendancy to leave things in, overly distorted vocal 'oohhhs' especially, with no apparent point. The effect is not the building wall of cacophonic sound I think the band might have been going for but a lack of an ability to weed out clearly bad ideas. That I doubt they were rushing to get this out only
compounds this problem.

I'm sure some people will really like this record. I saw them on a recent tour with David Viner (in fact I opened the show! Frontwoman, Leila, made my flatmate a sandwitch so I liked them as people and a band). I wanted to like this record, but I couldn't helping feeling I've already got too many record in my collection which do this better.

I've seen other reviews mention blues and soul in relation to the Duke Spirit, but I can't imagine anyone who actually likes blues or soul liking it. Perhaps their press agent is playing a dangerous game.

If you're a seasoned music buyer you'll probably already have an opinion on what dance artists can achieve by tweaking your favourite indie tracks. The results can be anything from pointless exercises in failing guitars bands needing a credibility boost, to lazy alternatives to recording new b-sides, all the while making a DJ richer in the process. Only occasionally are the results anything to write home about, so it seems only fair that many people view remixing with disdain. In the 90's you couldn't move for below-par Chemical Brothers remixes of Mansun singles, as for a while dance music eclipsed indie in the popularity stakes and the two tried to co-exist. However 2001 found guitar music back in vogue again, while dance music was dying a slow death. The cooler garage rock-inclined likes of the White Stripes and the Strokes had no need to look towards electronic music for cues (try to imagine a house restyling of Hotel Yorba - bad isn't it?) and guitar music looked like it would reign forever.

Today, guitar bands are still very much abundant but slowly, thanks to a resurge of interest in the often overlooked punk-funk era of the early 80's, indie music is becoming more and more groove based. The likes of Franz Ferdinand and Bloc Party have both said that one of their intentions is to make music that makes people dance. Alongside this, actual dance music is slowly starting to get back on its feet thanks to the respectable likes of Mylo, Whitey, and LCD Soundsystem. So this Twisted album coming out now makes sense. Out of the nineteen tracks, thirteen are remixes, while the remaining six are original songs by some of the new breed of dance floor inclined bands. The results are mostly great, and nearly always interesting.

It opens with its biggest draw, Mylo remixing the Killers' 'Somebody Told Me', and it's predictably fantastic. Mylo reveals the surprisingly meaty bassline behind the original and brings it to the fore producing a flashy disco stomper. Then in perhaps an intentionally perverse move, the Bravery follow with French maverick Super Discount's remix of 'An Honest Mistake'. Again, the results are brilliant, as the distorted vocals and gurgling 80's synths add a dark but danceable edge that the rather flimsy original lacked. The greasepaint streaked face of electroclash rears its ugly head on Tiga's remix of Soulwax's 'E-Talking', but the trashy reworking actually compliments the original song. Then someone called Paper Faces achieves the impossible and makes the Scissor Sisters' high-camp cover of 'Comfortably Numb' sound impressively reflective, even if it does outstay it's welcome somewhat reaching the nine minute mark. The currently fashionable Whitey adds a driving krautrock urgency to Bloc Party's 'Helicopter', whilst losing none of the originals angular edginess. Both The Futureheads' godlike 'Hounds Of Love' cover and the Rapture's 'Sister Saviour' would probably sound good in any form, and the two remixes here (by Phones and Black Strobe respectively) don't disappoint. LFO's remix of !!!'s evergreen 'Me And Guiliani Down By The School Yard' rounds things off in a pleasingly mental style, as the confrontational original sounds even more angry and exciting dowsed in white noise and general techno malevolence.

The original tracks here range from the essential, like Mylo's 'Destroy Rock'n'Roll', to the obligatory inclusion of 'House Of Jealous Lovers' by The Rapture, a track which has arguably influenced more of the current dance influenced guitar bands than any other. Kasabian's 'Processed Beats' is included as if to give a nod to the ever flickering flame of baggy, but what the inexorable Bodyrockers' commercial perv-fest 'I Like The Way You Move' is doing here is anyone's guess. Likewise, the remixes don't always come up trumps- Phones' valiant attempt to make The Others' 'This Is For The Poor' listenable ultimately fails but then again, as they say, you can't polish a turd (sorry, a bit harsh I know, but I've never liked the Others).

On the whole though, this compilation comes heartily recommend. It highlights the healthy sense of experimentation that is equally prevalent in both indie and dance circles at the moment, and you'll simply enjoy hearing vastly reworked and sometimes improved versions of the current classics that you've drunkenly danced to too many times to want to hear again in their original form. For now it looks like the spirit of indie remixing has been saved.

Review by Ian Viggars
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Ever wondered what The Mars Volta would sound like if they weren't boring? No, not like At The Drive In, they'd sound like this bunch of scraggy Geordie kids, who make the most glorious panoramic noise. This is the big music, dramatic and pretentious, full of dark alleyways that lead you onto isolated streets, where the only distinguishing features are the rain and a neon shimmer.

This is music to be listened to on your own, it makes you angry, it makes you anxious, and most of all it makes you take notice of it. Its increasingly rare for any hyped rock band to be interesting but somehow this does it. It stands out from the other bland fluff in popular rock music. But most importantly behind all the dissonance, the awkwardness and the intelligence of this band, lye a whole bunch of solid gold hooks and melodies that hang just long enough to register before being pummelled to the floor. Thus I believe yourcodenameis:milo should be as big as Franz and Bloc Party, but there are so many should have been bigs in rock music, and maybe this requires just a bit too much effort by the listener, sad really.

So, if you want some rock music that requires a bit of effort to enjoy then you might want to spend some time delving into this rewarding album. If you want the bland stuff, then just wait for that new Franz album.

Review by Daniel Newman
www.yourcodenameismilo.com
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Last year I really enjoyed the singles “All Mapped Out” and “Be My Enemy” so I was really looking forward to this release as I thought that the singles really stood out and were different from their contemporaries.

The first few bars of the first song “Just Like TV” could be the opening of any album by the Killers and Bravery or any other wannabe 80’s English band. Disappointment seeps in but it soon leaves as this song turns out to be a great opener. Singing with a thick genuine British accent, the whole feel album has that 80’s indie feel to it but the songs are well structured, sturdy and very danceable. There are some blistering tunes on here, in particular “Lump in My Throat” and “Talkshow” (even though this could be a number by the Ordinary Boys) which is sure to be a festival sing-a-long winner. Some tracks are not as immediate as others in the limelight at the moment.

Recently accused of being a manufactured band due the lead singer having worked for EMI, to this he replied “I infiltrated the enemy”. Good on them! This is a great quality album which has some strong songs. So what is they are derivative of many other bands, it’s fun! It probably won’t set the world alight but it’s a good effort and they are pretty good live too. If you are still not convinced “All Mapped Out” is being re-released this month so check it out, or go and see them at a festival near you this summer.

Review by Sonia Pagliari
www.thedeparture.com
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Mmm, Spoon. Saw these chaps at ATP recently and to be frank with you I went to buy a strawberry slush puppy instead. Or was it blueberry. Who knows. 99p. Excellent value. Totally bad for you, but sweet, energetic, unassuming goodness. Spoon just seem sludgy, slurpy, stodgy in comparison. If you bought this album you forsake the taste of ten slush puppies. And what for? Spoon have been around a decade or so, generally loved by certain indie circles for being ‘phenomenal’ or something. For me, one song stood out, ‘My Mathematical Mind’, it was a hushed stomp, funky, reposing coolly at the back of the lounge. And it’s probably words like ‘stomp’ and ‘funky’ that gives it trouser-straightening praise from dad-rock publications like Q. The album is pretty concise, clipped, and unconsciously a riposte to the hair-gel bands trumpeted by magazines like NME. But in veering away from youthfulness, Spoon have created a largely unmoving album . It certainly won’t fill indie discos but it might just get your dad’s Zimmer frame rattling away. Amen to that. Now gimme a spoon for this slush puppy.

Review by Chris Field
www.spoontheband.com
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So, for all those who've been waiting for the Japanese Black Sabbath, your time has come. Strangely enough I'm not one of those people, and time seems to suddenly be taking a hell of a lot longer to happen.

I'm listening to a load of corny, hyper-masculine, bloke-rock, full of inane 4/4 drum beats, duelling guitar noodles and a man imploring me to scream for him. He sounds sweaty and hairy, and has a Swedish accent, which may actually be a Japanese accent, but it doesn't sound half as fun as the other Japanese rock bands I know such as Guitar Wolf.

Anyway back to time; it feels like I've been listening to this repetitive mush for hours, days even, but no I'm only on track two. Yet I do notice a theme, that this music thinks it's clever and fun, but it's really just past its sell by date, as boring as all other generic metal.

I hate Black Sabbath as they bore me to tears, I hate Electric Eel Shock as they bore me to tears. There are many more similarities I guess but I just can't summon up the enthusiasm to list them all.

However the one that caps it all off is that the album ends on a bouncy cover of 'Iron Man'. That song grated enough before, please people lets not dig up the past, next it'll be Hitler dancers in the West end.
Overall, turgid.

Review by Daniel Newman
www.electriceelshock.com
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Electronica has never really interested me in any way, so upon first listening to Kilowatts, it was really rather dull. And that’s the way its stayed I'm afraid. If on the other hand the mere prospect of listening to one of those BBC special effects CDs is enough to make your hands go clammy with anticipation, this may well be the one for you. The majority of the album passes you by in a series of bleeps and bloops, sounding not too unlike the noises you use to get at the Science Museum (album opener ‘Tank Park’ and ‘Algae’ in particular) whilst the remaining tracks numb your mind with the sounds of internet dial up connection (‘Scraped on the Way out’ hang your head in shame), more bleeping and whirring noises (‘Enter Lilly’ would have been great as the soundtrack to Tomorrows World on the BBC) through to the more commercial sounding ‘Rocketeer’, an ode to Zero 7 if I ever heard one. Admittedly there is just about enough variation between songs to keep you listening for the first time, despite their best efforts to make the album interesting, the Bjork sounding ‘b.sprouts first fight’ stands out in particular, the way the album whimpers out in ‘Forget’ says it all really.

Review by Bevis Man
www.kilowattsmusic.com
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