Best New Music - July 2008
August 01 2008

Hey kids, here's another month of great new music from 2008. Something for everyone this month, hopefully. This month I've tried uploading the 12 best tracks to music streaming site muxtape - http://bradism.muxtape.com/. The site is simple as shit and there's no signing up to do, just click and play. If people find this more handy than the download link let me know and I'll do it again next month.
Otherwise, you can download everything in rar here.

Comments on music, writing and in general are appreciated - but whatevs. Enjoy!

Albert Hammond Jr. – GfC

Sometimes it can be very obvious when someone has a gift. If you listen to Albert Hammond Jr on GfC you'll recognize his. As on most of ¿Cómo Te Llama? , the Strokes front man massages beautiful strings and riffs out of his guitar in a way that could never be replicated in Guitar Hero. The harpy qualities of GfC's introduction are enough to sweep the nuances of the track into attention and then the chorus and Hammond's other gift – his voice - stir into overdrive. It's really a great track, especially when he stops his words and just lets the guitar sing over the drums and coos of the backing singers. Hammond cancelled his Australian tour on the day I was listening the shit out of this album, citing a throat infection. I felt bad, but when I think about it I'm pretty sure people would go even if he couldn't sing, as long as he could play guitar.

Beck – Gamma Ray

If Cee-Lo didn't have such a captivating voice would Danger Mouse still receive the same credit as a super producer as he does now? It didn't take him long to diversify from the soulful hip hop of Gnarls Barkley and Gemini's Ghetto Pop Life into the studios of The Black Keys and now Beck. I don't think we can assume it was for lack of opportunities. His effort on Modern Guilt is – for the most part – solid. It's an inquisitive clash between his minimal, noir rhythm styles and Beck's... all Beck's different styles. On the great songs, like Gamma Ray, the two produce music in perfect cohesion. Danger Mouse's beat and fuzzily riffed guitar plastic-wraps perfectly Beck's unique lyrical fashion and melodies. No bells and whistles, but it gets the job done nicely.

One Day as a Lion – Wild International

You might recognise the George Rodriquez photo which depicts the graffiti cry "it's better to live one day as a lion, than a thousand years as a lamb." You will definitely recognise the droning guitar and spit/singing of former – or is that current? – Rage Against the Machine frontman Zach de la Rocha laying out more political beefs on the eponymously titled EP of his new side project. If you're truly clever you might even recognise the cymbal smashes and open hi-hats as belonging to early Mars Volta drummer Jon Theodore. He sets a prowling rhythm for Wild International as de la Rocha belts out activism for a new generation to get shirtless, drunk and mosh to.

Duels – Regeneration

I want to know when Duels got so dark. Was it because their 2006 debut Bright Lights and What I Should Have Learned was so meh? It was loaded with Kooks-like angular pop melodies with some Kaiser Chiefs mimicry and it sounded… Well, it sounded like a band who could play and sing well enough but wanted to be another Kooks/Kaiser Chiefs/Arctic Monkeys; they didn't want to be Duels.
In 2008 they've certainly become a bit more ambitious on The Barbarians Move In which is - start to finish - a solid, atmospheric and grittier LP. The positive potential from those earlier attempts still stands, Jon Foulger's Scouse accent gives them definition – but the direction into overcast, foreboding work is a surprise and it's a pleasant one. It's like Interpol meet Bowie in a dark English forest.

Birds of Tokyo – An Ode to Death

The first thing I heard about Perth rockers Birds of Tokyo was they'd named their album Universes. And they raised this as a notable point because the concept of something being universal is to be one everything, thus not something to be pluralised. Perhaps, I thought, this band was onto something deep. The next thing I learnt about Birds of Tokyo is that they're made up of members of two other Perth bands, Tragic Delicate and Karnivool. So there's not actually much deepness on Universes at all but there is a lot of heavy, hook laden rock tunes like An Ode to Death and raw, pounding rhythms. Not quite as metal as Karnivool, but still as catchy.

Gyroscope – 1981

Coming from the same town is Gyroscope, who have been on the Australian post-grunge scene for awhile with some success. Post-grunge – quiet bits with muddy drums; loud bits with everyone playing guitar riffs together – is a formula they're starting to nail perfectly. I'd been happy to ignore that most of their career, including being nonplussed the last time I saw them live at BDO 2008. But with their new album Breed Obsession getting heavy rotation from football ads to McLeod's Daughters it's harder ignore their easy to digest, hook packed rock. Admittedly they benefit from a high fidelity studio workout but it's making tracks like Snakeskin and 1981 reach their true potential and winning them a lot of fans. Guess I'll be seeing them at Big Day Out again soon.

The Boat People - Panic

The Boat People are in love. Except, it's a funny kind of love this all male Brisbane four-piece have. It's not just for girls and endless summers, but for just the whole concept of one true love itself. They also have this love for warm, poppy arrangements and chirpy melodies in a happy, Jebadiah style.
On new LP Chandeliers every song listed is a love song. Every song! But all the fluffiness and more reflective tempo don't come across as filled with saccharine as you'd expect. Primarily because of lead vocalist Robin Water's voice, and the way his tone doesn't always sings of love like he's head over heels; it doesn't sound like he's drenched in true love, but he's just surfeit in knowing the concept exists.
So the concept of a whole album of love songs is actually solid, and it has the subtlety to not come across as sickening to the cynical or heartbroken. There are also some great singles, like Panic; a raw, passionate piano pop tune that proves The Boat People have the energy to back up their ideals.

What Made Milwaukee Famous – Sultan

I once met a girl from Austin, Texas and basically she wouldn't shut up about how it was the music capital of the world, and how there were more live venues per person than any other city, and in general just how much bigger everything there was. Maybe if they'd chosen the name "What Made Arlen Famous" What Made Milwaukee Famous could have got a record deal a lot sooner.
Before 2006, What Made... were a band forced to battle for attention in the bars of a scene responsible for bands like Spoon, Okkervil River and even Stevie Ray Vaughan. And among those heavy hitters they were actually forging an impressive reputation. They had a distinctive style of rock'n'roll - though their style of guitar driven, kinda punky, Beach Boys inspired power pop couldn't completely hide the local influences from all the above. However, the bands most comparable peer to What Doesn't Kill Us and its lead single Sultan would be Arizona's The Format. It seems to channel their same sincere-yet-apathetic, horn filled guitar tunes of 2006's Dog Problems.
For the first time having an independent producer may prove to be the key difference in helping outside ears be drawn to the quirky touches that make What Made a distinctive sounding band. It only takes a single listen to appreciate What Doesn't Kill Us, but you shouldn't even need that. No bad music has ever made it out of Austin.

Tape – Fingers

One of the things I like about the future – by which I mean the present – is that I can choose whatever song in the world I want for my alarm in the morning, have it fade to wake me up gently and, depending on what song I picked, pre-plan my mood for the day. I might play some Ratatat if I planned to feel introverted or pick SexyBack if I know there'll be shenanigans in the evening. Then there's Tape and their whole Luminarium album that I'd play if I was going to spend pretty much the entire day in bed. Their minimalistic electronic album is ambience done to Swedish precision. Tracks like Fingers fill the air like haze, making only conservative use of synths, organ keys and feathered snares. They are arrangements not made to increase the heart rate. Instead they exist as beautiful, background to fog lush, green grottos or in bedrooms to soundtrack sheltering from the rain under quilts and eyelids. That's why I'd use Tape for whole days in bed, because with such dreamy sounds for my alarm I doubt I'd wake up.

Dosh – Hit and Pearle

Dosh is a multi-instrumentalist, primarily drummer and pianist who released his fourth album Wolves and Wishes earlier this year. Although you may find his most recognisable work is the production he did on tracks from Andrew Bird's Armchair Apocrypha. As a producer, or more appropriately a composer Dosh arranges some gorgeous melodies and his percussion is undeniably his strongest bow and the glue that keeps Wolves and Wishes together as it launches to atmospheric heights. It's released on Anticon, so there'll be that touch of organic, indie hip-hop. But it is functionally an instrumental, ambient LP and is the perfect tempo for relaxing into fireplaces, isolation tanks or sitting in circles on the rug.

Kid Static – Rappin N Shit

Kid Static is a modern day internet hip-hop prototype. His PR and distribution go through the same channel: MySpace. On his indie debut In the Meantime he drops raps about bitches to bulletin boards, and "the streets" to snakes on a plane. He even drops an angry pan flute solo.
But on Rappin N Shit he gets really Meta. Set to a rumbling but intentionally toothless Fruity Loops beat Static raps tongue firmly in cheek, dropping lines like "I don't battle, but that doesn't mean I can't do it.' And "I'm like a movie for the deaf with no closed captions.' Even the beat sounds like it has been slowed down to let the Kid put an ironic, lazy spin on how good a rapper he is.

Santogold x Diplo – Creator (Mumdance Mix feat. Jammer, Badness, Chronik Rage, Slikman & Tempz)

Santogold's album this year missed out on a best new music listing. Yes, I have standards apparently. On an album with production credits including Switch, Ronson and Diplo there was too much filler and 2007 re-releases to qualify it best new music.
But when you add Diplo to the record sleeve – or mixtape cover –it becomes much harder to cut. And the Top Ranking mixtape may do for Santogold what Piracy Funds Terrorism did for MIA. Well, except hopefully not turn Santogold crazy.
Diplo is in form, playing his usual tricks over 35 tracks on Top Ranking, mixing up baile funk, breaks, hip-hop, dubstep and miscellaneous. All with Santogold weaved into everything like she was the theme ingredient in an Iron Chef episode. There are predictably awesome points in the mix, like the Skream/Shawty Low mash up and the Mark Ronson skit. Plus this remix of Creator which itself is a pretty handy sampler of what you can expect, starting with pounding funk and drums, some guest rappers, Caribbean stylings plus mash-up work. And of course Santogold's voice seasoning the whole broth to perfection.

Stereo MCs – Get On It

In 1996 the Hackers motion picture soundtrack featured a song called Connected by Stereo MCs which helped propel them into the spotlight about four years past the release of their LP by the same name. The Stereo MCs have been on the cutting edge of rocky electro sounds since 1989 which is an impressive stint on the cutting edge given that they've been making songs that sound quite the same over that period. 2008's Double Bubble follows their normal formula of edgy beats and hip hop flavourings. It's modern and fresh enough; if you liked Connected you'll probably like Double Bubble.

Dizzee Rascal feat. Calvin Harris – Dance Wiv Me

Dizzee Rascal loves fucking girls. And Dance Wiv Me is his modern day courting ritual he's being paid to perform. The plan is to liquor up and get down, hopefully somewhere dark and loud enough that there's not much else to do but step side to side until you bump uglies with someone. But if you're young enough to not even notice the sic in this songs title, well, you'll probably appreciate the combo of UK pop heroes Dizzee and Calvin Harris together. While Dizzee unloads playful lines on the dancefloor with his usual, charming timbre and lack of subtlety Harris stands behind the counter pouring disco synths and pushing beats under the bar, all under the eye of CCTV.

The Brighton Port Authority – Toe Jam
The Brighton Port Authority, AKA Fatboy Slim is making more summery fun and fancy free beats. What could be more awesome than a Norman Cook special featuring a founding member of Talking Heads, David Byrne, and some more Dizzee Rascal? Well, how about the spectacular – but definitely Not Safe For Work video.

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