You can tell it’s September. This time of year always feels like the start of something for me, maybe because my birthday is fast approaching, or because my arrival in Japan was 12 months ago and I’m reminded of how it was when everything was new. Anyway, record companies must operate on similar lines, because there are loads of new tunes flowing through my headphones at the moment. Here are some I think you will enjoy…
Slow Club ‘Where I’m Waking’
The first one ‘Yeah So’ has not been very far from my ears since it came out in 2009, so I was really happy to discover a stream of Slow Club’s second album ‘Paradise’ on the NME site. On first listening it seems to be more to the darker side of their earlier songs, so there’s nothing here as joyful as ‘It Doesn’t Always Have to Be Beautiful’, for instance. However, that is no bad thing, their voices and songwriting having matured so that the ‘difficult second album’ conundrum has been deftly sidestepped. I especially love the line, ‘and I know, soon you’ll go’ on the utterly gorgeous ‘You, Earth and Ash’, as well as the sultry ‘Where I’m Waking’.
I Break Horses ‘Winter Beats’
After finding Swedish band I Break Horses and the slice of wonderfulness that is ‘Winter Beats’ via Twitter, I am completely in love. Totally coveting the album ‘Hearts’ and will write more as soon as I have it!
Betamax DC ‘Gringos’
I always knew local lad Betamax DC made great hip-hop, but he’s been so entertaining on Twitter lately that the music had slipped to the back of my mind. And that was really stupid of me, because ‘Gringos’ is a cracking album and no-one should wait any longer than necessary before grabbing themselves a copy. Blending an array of influences into something that sounds like nothing else is the mark of greatness.
Masters in France ‘Mad Hatter’
Welsh band Masters In France have been compared to Snow Patrol and Kasabian on various websites, but that can’t be true because – unlike those other generic indie stalwarts – I like them. Masters In France are streaming six songs on Sound Cloud here, my favourite of which is the very danceable Mad Hatter. I’ll always be happy with an Alice-tinged video as well.
