Features

Black Kids, Fanfarlo, Blood Red Shoes, Tokyo Police Club, Late Of The Pier - GIITTV Tips for 2008.

GodisintheTV 06/01/2008

In the first in a series of three features, we here at GIITTV tip the bands that we think will be making their way further into your listening subconsciousness during 2008. First up David Segurola and Sele Bulut present their five acts for 2008.

Firstly GIITTV sub editor David Segurola gets his notepad out and ticks off his four for the new year, asking us to prove him wrong by the end of it:

Black Kids

On rare occasions, the cacophony of contradictory opinions from various angles of the music press forms a chorus, wondrous to behold for those of us who hate conflict, as everybody agrees “this band is well good.” Black Kids are one such example when the hype is accurate and the superlatives relevant, with their brand of rejuvenated 80s dance-pop possessing more than enough substance, style and sheer catchiness to pass the tests us journalists use to work out what you should spend your money on. If I were lazy, I'd compare them to the Go! Team playing Motown at an amazing house party where everybody gets laid, but the pop perfection of “I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You” is so much better than that. If you're a betting type and you don't fancy Foals' math-pop, go for Black Kids.



Fanfarlo

David Bowie likes them, the easiest comparison could be the Arcade Fire, they're Swedish and they play catchy folk-pop with sad trumpets - you'd think the end result would be predictably take-it-or-leave-it indie fare, but there is a genuine heart and soul to Fanfarlo's songs which makes them absolutely adorable. Somewhere between the clippy strings, gasped vocals and minor key fiddle and brass of double A-side “Fire Escape”/ “We Live By The Lake”, Fanfarlo conjure melancholia and poignancy that effortlessly surpasses their peers. Whilst I can't promise an album this year, I can promise you they will go from strength to strength. Play it to your friends, and if they don't say, “Actually… actually that's amazing, can you put it on a CD for me?” (exactly those words), I'll ingest my own fringe.



Blood Red Shoes

If there's any band that deserves acclaim this year, in terms of sheer ball-breaking, it's Blood Red Shoes: with over 200 gigs since 2005, nobody tours as hard; nobody pours out as much sweat and saliva on stage; nobody creates such a visceral adolescent racket - and there's only two of them. Intent on dragging shouty angst back from its passé reputation, the little buggers collide chunky guitar thrills, broken bass drums and shredded larynxes together to make pop with cajones. With a barrage of electro ponces and female solo dullards on the horizon for the following 12 months, Blood Red Shoes' basic-to-basics guitar-and-drums approach will serve as a perfect alternative to a delighted many.


Tokyo Police Club

I find it fascinating that Tokyo Police Club can release an EP as agile and bombastic in its futuro-pop spaceboots as A Lesson In Crime without garnering wider acclaim by the masses - it even received a positive review on Pitchfork! TPC do youthful exuberance with bells on - it's like you're listening to the future, and the future is riff-, synth- and bass-driven post-punk, probably with little nanobots which come out of the speakers and inject addictive chemicals into your ears. Tracks like “If It Works” and “Nature of the Experiment” surge a rush of wind through your lungs, your head's dizzy and frenzied by the sense of Garage Pop In Its Purest Form - inventive, ambitious and truly engaging. When they release an album of frantic, perfected glee later this year, and everybody suddenly groans with pleasure at having found the latest Canadian band to take the world by surprise, I'm going to lean back in my throne and say: “I told you so; why don't you ever listen to me? Dickheads.”

Finally Sel Bulut picks out a well connected indie- electro four piece:



Late Of The Pier

Despite gaining a lot of hype on the blogosphere since last February following the release of Numan-tinged single Space & The Woods, Castle Donington's awkwardly-named Late Of The Pier have yet to receive the mainstream success they deserve. The indie-electro four piece already boast a remix from South Central (whose now legendary Klaxons remix fetches up to 40 in certain circles) and a forthcoming edit by Metronomy to go alongside next single The Bears Are Coming.

With a debut album pencilled for early 2008, and with production being aided by none other than Erol Alkan, one of the finest and most in-demand producers of the modern day, it's hard to imagine this album will be anything short of special. Sounding like a hybrid of the best parts of Devo, Tubeway Army, trashy 80s pop and some ultra-modern electro, 2008 will hopefully be the year that Late Of The Pier take full world domination.

Download: The Bears Are Coming, Space & The Woods, Bathroom Gurgle