One of your Five a Day

United Fruit
From: Glasgow, Scotland

If you like your music smooth with all the rough edges filed away then you may as well leave now and go and indulge in the dubious pleasures of SmoothFM or Simply Red’s back catalogue. If however you like your music raucous, discordant and so loud it makes you dizzy then keep reading because United Fruit are on a mission to destroy your brain cells and leave you little more than a quivering wreck.

From the ear bothering noise of opener Kamikaze through to the sludgy emo of Wrecking Ball the pace of the Scottish noiseniks’ debut album Fault Lines rarely falters. Pitching its tent somewhere between the confrontational brutality of McLusky and the apocalyptic experimentalism of Trail of Dead it’s an adrenaline rush that leaves most albums choking on their exhaust fumes.

Go Away, Don’t Leave Me Alone owes it’s life, it’s very existence, to At The Drive In. It’s a close relative of One Armed Scissor, a Scissor sister perhaps. The only respite from the brain pummelling noise comes courtesy of Three, the only track on the album where the pace dips below the furiously frenetic. It’s the point at which noise and melody meet, fall in love and decide to live together until deaf do them part. It is, however, no more than the briefest of brief respites. The buzzing Confuse Her Now and the aural assault of The Alarm add more weight to the United Fruit mission to boost the profit margins of the UK’s hearing aid salesman.

Fault Lines is punk without the anger, it’s emo without the self pity, it’s post rock without the self indulgence. It’ll tear your ears from your head and leave them in a bleeding heap on the floor and there aren’t many albums you can say that about. Make United Fruit one of your five a day.

7.5/10

This article was originally written by the Devil for The 405 and is published with permission.

Go Try

United Fruit - Go Away, Don't Leave Me Alone by Undress To Win Press

02-United Fruit - Track the Hunt by unitedfruitband

Go Visit

United Fruit - Myspace : Facebook : Last.FM

Go View

United Fruit
Kamikaze (Live)

Living On The Giro

The Girobabies
From: Glasgow, Scotland

At what point in musical history did anger go out of fashion? When did political protest become old fashioned? When did dancing replace protest? Thankfully not everyone got the email (or should that be twitter message?) and there are still bands out there who channel their frustration via the medium of music bands like Scottish refuseniks The Girobabies who clearly didn't get the memo. They sound like a Caledonian Half Man Half Biscuit infused with the anger of the dispossessed. If Peel were alive they'd be all over his programme like a rash.

Fuck dancing let's protest.


Countdown to Tinnitus by Girobabies

Idiots Guide to Karma (Rough Draft) by Girobabies

Jeremy Kyle by Girobabies

Big Society (Unfinished Demo) by Girobabies


Go Visit

The Girobabies - Myspace : Facebook : Last.FM

Go View

The Girobabies
Bank Charge

Video Killed The Radio Star 29th May 2011

Picture courtesy of deviant art by sixhundredsixty for more check out http://sixhundredsixty.deviantart.com/

Here are the video's that caught the Devil's eye this week...

Lidwine
The Coast



The Border Surrender
If You Pass Me By



Amanda Palmer
Map Of Belgium

Cheeky little number from the ex Dresden Doller.


Map of Belgium from TACTIQS on Vimeo.

Houses
Reds

Video was made for $200 in a garage with no CGI. Amazing.


HOUSES "REDS" (DIR. LAMAR+NIK) from LAMAR+NIK on Vimeo.

The Title Sequence
Payday



Cool Fun
House

This video was made on a budget of £160. Creativity doesn't need to be expensive.

The Devil's Round Up 29th May 2011

This weeks round up of the tracks that I haven't had the space to post...

Miaoux Miaoux
From: Glasgow, Scotland

Scottish dance master Miaoux Miaoux is back with another racing tropical dancefloor smash.

Go Try

Miaoux Miaoux - Hey Sound! by miaouxmiaoux

Damn Vandals

From: London, United Kingdom

Gothic rock from the very dark side of the tracks.

Go Try

Bayonet by Damn Vandals

I Am Oak
From: Utrecht, Holland

Melancholic folk has never sounded so good.

Go Try

MP3 - I Am Oak - Curt

This track is published with the permission of Snowstar Records so please don't clauim breach of copyright

Hero and Leander
From: Essex, London, United Kingdom

Hero and Leander sound like the cool god children of Deacon Blue.

Go Try

Una by Heroandleander

Delusionists
From: London, United Kingdom


Hip hop smoother than a double malt whisky.

Go Try

Delusionists - The Low by unitown

The Natural Shocks

More hook laden tense pop from one of Canada's leading exporters of hook laden tense pop.

Go Try

MP3 - The Natural Shocks - Heart Attack
This track is published with the permission of The Natural Shocks so please don't claim breach of copyright

Eggsellent

Lovely Eggs
From: Another Planet

Check out 'Fuck It' the new single from the perennially fantastic and still unfairly underrated Lovely Eggs. It's another dose of perfectly skewed pop from the king and queen of skew that sounds like The Moldy Peaches with tourettes.

Go Try

Fuck It by thelovelyeggs

Go View

The Lovely Eggs - Myspace : Last.FM

Young Again

The Young Things
From: New York, United States

The death of rock and roll has been greatly exaggerated and here come the Young Things to breathe new life into the patient. They're a perfect combination of The Libertines, The Strokes, The Rolling Stones, the Beatles and the Monkees. There is simply no artifice, no playing for the gallery here. This is not focus group, common denominator rock it's simply genuine, honest music from the heart that sounds like they've mainlined the best record collection in the world. You can download their debut album for free from their website and that's not something you can say about the Beatles or the Stones, well at least not legally.

If the Young Things don't hit your love button then brother and sister you've got no soul.

Go Try

All My Friends Are Junkies by The Youngthings

Boy You're Lookin' Pale by The Youngthings

Go Visit

The Young Things - Myspace : Website : Soundcloud : Last.FM

Go View

The Young Things
All My Friends Are Junkies

Treasure Chest

Kommode
From: Bergen, Norway

Kommode (literally Chest of Drawers and not, as you may have thought, something old people shit in) sound exactly like you'd expect a band formed by Erlend Oye (The Whitest Boy Alive) and Eirik Glambek Bøe (Kings of Convenience) to sound like. As refreshing as a dip in a fjord and as retro as a trip across Europe in an open top Aston Martin DB5.

Go Try

Patient by kommode

Houses for Birds (OppLett edition) by kommode

Go Visit

Kommode - Myspace : Soundcloud : Last.FM

Go View

Kommode
House For Birds

Young & In Love

The Young Friends
From: New York, United States

Cuter than The Drums, chirpier than Best Coast and livelier than a coach load of tweenagers on a trip to Disney, New Yorkers The Young Friends are destined to be the sound of summer 2011. It's time you made the Young Friends your new best friends.

Go Try

I Won't Break Your Heart by Moodgadget

Be My Baby by Moodgadget

Go Visit

The Young Friends - Myspace : Last.FM

Go View

The Young Friends
Make Out Point

Parking Fine

Theme Park

From: London, United Kingdom

I know almost nothing about Theme Park but when music is this good, this heart stoppingly good any other information is superfluous. The London based band resurrect the herky-jerky art-punk of the early Talking Heads albums and dress it up in clothes fit for the 21st century. You're new favourite band could be right here under your nose.

Go Try

Milk by Theme Park

A Mountain We Love by Theme Park

Go Visit

Theme Park - Website : Soundcloud : Last.FM

Girls & Boys

Girl/boy duos are experiencing something of a renaissance at the moment. The spirit of Sonny and Cher, Gainsbourg and Birkin, Johnny Cash and June Carter, Lennon and Ono, Everything But The Girl, Morrissey and Siouxsie Sioux (eh?) lives on with She & Him, Best Coast, Crystal Castles and tonight's triple bill of duos.

Gwyneth & Monko
From: California, United Kingdom

Go Try

MP3 - Gwyneth & Monko - Get In The Sun
MP3 - Gwyneth & Monko - Found In Benson
These tracks are published with the permission of Green Light Go so please don't claim breach of copyright

Lawrence & Leigh
From: Brooklyn, New York, United States


Go Try

MP3 - Lawrence & Leigh - Heeled Shoes
MP3 - Lawrence & Leigh - Chelsea Nights
These tracks are published with the permission of Green Light Go so please don't claim breach of copyright

The Morning Birds
From: Los Angeles, United States


MP3 - The Morning Birds - Hearts Desire
MP3 - The Morning Birds - The Quickening
MP3 - The Mornings Birds - I'm On Fire (Bruce Springsteen Cover)
These tracks are published with the permission of Green Light Go so please don't claim breach of copyright

Video Killed The Radio Star 22nd May

Here are the videos that caught the Devil's eye this week...

The Coathangers
Hurricane



Little Owl
Black On White



Natalie McCool
Black Sun



Dutch Uncles



Club Smith
No Friend Of Mine



Furta Sacra
I Am The Dustbowl

The Devil's Round Up 22nd May 2011

This weeks round up of the tracks that I haven't had the space to post...

King Dude
From: Seattle, Washington, United States

King Dude makes folk music from the dark side.

Go Try

MP3 - King Dude - My Beloved Ghost
This track is published with the permission of Bathetic Records so please don't claim breach of copyright

Mechanical Bride
From: Brighton, United Kingdom

Mechanical Bride's version of Rihanna’s ‘Umbrella’ has to be heard to be believed. It sounds like it's sprinkled with icicles.

Go Try

Mechanical Bride - "Umbrella" (Rihanna Cover) by CoopMusicFrance

Johnny Boy
From: Paris, France

Electro punk that reaches the parts other bands cannot reach.

Go Try

Johnny Boy "Modern Idol" by Laitdbac Records

Petrels
From: London, United Kingdom

Post rock doesn't come more post, or more beautiful, than this. The new Petrels album, Haeligwielle, was released on 9th May on Tartaruga Records and is available to stream on bandcamp here.

Go Try

Petrels - Silt by cerinusapodemus

Motorboater
From: Kansas City, Missouri

Odd, disturbing electro that sounds like two different songs welded together by a mad musical scientist.

Go Try

MP3 - Motorboater - Left Limb
This track is published with the permission of Banter Media so please don't claim breach of copyright

The Qualia
From: Brooklyn, United States

Electro pop with more energy than a Duracell bunny injected with rocket fuel.

Go Try

MP3 - The Qualia - Guess I Lied
This track is published with the permission of Green Light Go so please don't claim breach of copyright

I Swim With Sharks
From: Leeds, United Kingdom

Rock smothered aggro pop from Leeds, the UK's aggro pop hotbed, apparently.

Go Try

Just Be Good by iswimwithsharks

Feel It Break

Austra
From: Toronto, Canada

It’s somewhat surprising that a trio of moody Canadian’s with a fine line in dark and downbeat synth pop decided to call themselves Austra, the Latvian goddess of light. Maybe it’s their little joke to show the world that behind their dour exterior beat the hearts of stand-up comedians.

Their debut album Feel It Break certainly isn’t awash with light or humour. Lyrically impenetrable and sonically heavy its ballistic beats thump like the heartbeat of a heavyweight champion. The album’s fourth track, Beat And The Pulse, would have been a perfect title.

Across eleven tracks that are so on trend they could be wearing Philip Treacy titfers, singer Katie Stelmanis’s voice swoops and soars from ecstasy to pain and back again. It’s an instrument in its own right and boy do Austra make the most of it. From the soaring, operatic opener Darken Her Horse to The Beast, the brutal, beautiful ballad that brings the album to a close Katie’s vocals turn potentially ordinary tracks into real works of beauty.

The album’s stand-out track, second single Lose It, sounds like Kate Bush colliding with The Knife. It’s catchier than a pitcher’s glove soaked in super glue with a Euro disco beat that’ll knock ‘em dead in the basement bars of Berlin. The Choke is simply stunning while Hate Crime and Villain could be the point at which The Cocteau Twins and the early albums of Depeche Mode meet and form a lifelong partnership.

Feel It Break is a powerful, emotional album that slowly reveals its subtleties. It creates its own mood and is one of those rare albums that will sound just as good in 10 years time as it does the moment it first caresses your ears. This is an album that will no doubt be a feature on everyone’s best of lists at the end of year.

7.5/10

This article was originally written by the Devil for The 405 and is published with permission.

Go Try

Austra - Lose It by DominoRecordCo

01 BEAT AND THE PULSE by AUSTRA

Go Visit

Austra - Myspace : Website : Last.FM

Go View

Austra
Beat and the Pulse

Music From The Angels

Bos Angeles

From: Boscombe Bournmouth, United Kingdom

According to Urban Dictionary Bos Angeles is a slang term for Boscombe, the heroin capital of England, home of the Bafia (boscombe mafia) and described by residents as the drug, sex and violence capital of the South Coast. So you might be expecting hard as nails rock fully equipped with tattoos and more muscles than Popeye's fitness instructor. Well you'd be barking up the wrong tree there my friend. Bos Angeles dabble in a melancholic beach sound that rounds up the entire Sarah Records catalogue and force feeds it to New Order.

Check out Beach Slalom which sounds like New Order's Ceremony played by a couple of Bournemouth beach bums at an all night party.

Go Try

Bos Angeles - Beach Slalom by thissceneisntdead

Go Visit

Bos Angeles - Myspace : Last.FM

Real Contenders

Athletes In Paris
From: Newcastle, United Kingdom

At the risk of turning the blog into little more than a North East music fanzine here is yet another Newcastle band shaking the music scene to it's foundations. With vocals that sound like they've been soaked in newcastle brown ale and guitars that twinkle like the crown jewels on a sunny day 'Borrowed Time' is possibly the best Newcastle debut since Jackie Milburn pulled on his football boots.

They might not look like gold medal prospects for the 2012 olympics but these Athletes are real contenders for music scene glory.

Go Try

Borrowed Time by Athletes in Paris

Borrowed Time (Stevey P Remix) by Athletes in Paris

Go Visit

Athletes In Paris - Myspace : Last.FM

Go View

Athletes In Paris
Hijacking Sunday Night Live

Hunting For Witches

Witches
From: Athens, Georgia, United States

I was going to keep Athens trio Witches (not to be confused with the multiple bands across the world called Witches) for my Halloween special later in the year but just couldn't keep them under my hat until then.

Punk by allegiance and attitude, pop by virtue of their wistful melodicism, they're a singularly American band.

Cara Beth Satalino is a New York-born chanteuse with a rougher than typical edge. Michael Clancy, a fellow Yankee, is a self-taught drummer of natural ability and feel. Jared Gandy, veteran of Athens groups with both DIY punk and Elephant Six Collective pedigree alike, rounds out the band's lineup on bass guitar.

Witches brew up a storm with touches of the Breeders' feminine boldness, Des Ark's brusque emotional stance, and the wide-open, true rock n' roll worldliness of Midwestern punk idols the Replacements

Go Try

MP3 - Witches - Black Dog

MP3 - Witches - Creature of Nature

These tracks are published with the permission of TeamClermont so please don't claim breach of copyright

Go Visit

Witches - Myspace : Website

Go View

Witches

Fisherman

Midi of the Road

MidiMidis
From: Reading, United Kingdom

MidiMidis are two cool as fuck hipsters who have been bleeping their way round the Reading scene for a couple of years.

With their chip-tune style 8-bit sound mashed up with new wave guitars they sound like an enervating blast of fresh air blowing through the UK scene. They sound like a Strokes tribute band let loose in a Nintendo game boy factory or the result of PacMan jacking in his day job and getting in touch with his creative side.

If you've been wondering when the next big thing would emerge from the underground to brush the dinosaurs aside then wonder no more.

Go Try

MidiMidis - It's Difficult by rocketpr

MidiMidis - The Despondent by rocketpr

MP3 - MidiMidis - Ghostbusters

This track is linked direct from the band's Last.FM site and is therefore already freely available so please don't claim breach of copyright

Go Visit

MidiMidis - Myspace : Website : Last.FM

Go View

MidiMidis

There's Just Far Too Much Going On Upstairs For Me To Feel Truly Comfortable With Myself

Bachelorette

Bachelorette
From: Christchurch, New York, United States

Having first picked up on psych folkster Annabel Alpers courtesy of her alter ego Bachelorette’s other worldly, electro folk masterpiece Blanket (Bachelor Girl), I was expecting great things of her new, self titled, album. I was expecting an album full of Blanket like songs with Annabel weaving magical, mysterious spells, merging the two diverse genres like an electro folk alchemist. I was hoping I’d be enthralled by her sleight of hand as she dazzles me with her virtuosity.

The first two tracks on the album soon burst my bubble. Grow Old With Me is an insubstantial track that is less than the sum of its mystical whispering and echoey parts. On track number two The Light Seekers the electro takes a back seat while finger in the ear, run of the mill folk takes centre stage. So far so disappointingly hum drum. The album only really hits its stride three tracks in with the amazing Blanket, a nigh on perfect fusion of electronica and psych folk. It sounds like long lost Mute electro popsters The Silicon Teens crawling out of Syd Barrett's skin. With Polarity Party, another perfect little gem, and the lovely Sugarbug following closely on Blanket’s heels the album is finally beginning to resemble the classic I was hoping it would be. By the time we reach The Last Boat’s Leaving, which sounds like Annabel has had a Velvet Underground infusion; the initial disappointment is beginning to fade.

Unfortunately it’s all down hill from there. Tui Tui skirts a little too close to Enya for comfort, the lyrics of Waveforms wobbles far too close to embarrassing sixth form poetry for comfort and the treated vocals on Generous Spectre make it sound like the theme tune to a b-movie from the 70s. Thankfully Annabel makes amends with Not Entertainment, the albums final track, which recalls OMD at their orchestral best. It’s a fine end to a mixed album.

If Bachelorette was a 5 track EP it would be closing in on a rating in the upper quartile but there is just too much filler, too many tracks that merely drift by.

6/10

This article was originally written by the Devil for The 405 and is published with permission.

Go Try

Bachelorette - Blanket by souterraintransmissions

Go Visit

Bachelorette - Myspace : Last.FM

Video Killed The Radio Star 15th May 2011

Here are the videos that caught the Devil's eye this week...

Posttod
Dead In The Universe



The Death Notes
Obsession


Strangers
It Was A Sin



Distance
Falling

Falling - Distance Feat. Alys Be [Official HD] from Sam Pilling on Vimeo.

Hooray For Earth
True Loves

Hooray For Earth - True Loves from Young Replicant on Vimeo.

!!!
Jamie, My Intentions Are Bass

!!! [chk chk chk] - Jamie, My Intentions Are Bass from Saman Keshavarz on Vimeo.

The Devil's Round Up 15th May 2011

This weeks round up of the tracks that I haven't had the space to post...

Steve Adey

From: Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

Minimalist folk that sounds like it's been carved from the stone used to build Hadrian's Wall. It'll make your heart ache.

Go Try

Just Wait Till I Get You Home by Steve Adey

Deathline
From: The North of London, United Kingdom

Gothic Rockers Deathline are back with a new demo that sounds like they've eaten Debbie Harry's brain

Go Try

Every Dying Breath (demo) by Deathline

Guilty Ghosts

From: Brooklyn, United States

Simply lovely.

Go Try

Tinted Windows (Featuring Guerre) by Guilty Ghosts

Serica Ux

From: Brooklyn, New York, United States

Alt-rock that leaves a lasting impression.

Go Try

Go Axe Huh by Serica Ux

The Rubbish Zoo

From: Los Angeles, California, United States

Indie rock with more intelligence than a Stephen Hawkins family re-union.

Go Try

More Ink Than An Octopus by therubbishzoo

Your Other Lover

From: London, United Kingdom

Gothic indie that sounds like Ian Curtis fronting My Bloody Valentine.

Go Try

Kerouac by YourOtherLover

The Swansea Recreation Centre

From : London, United Kingdom

Such a mundane name for a group that soars like an angel riding a comet.

Go Try

Aquatic Finesse by swansea recreation centre