Features

Cajun Dance party, Robots in Disguise, Cold War Kids, Transistor State, You Slut! - MySpace Monthly: August

GodisintheTV 29/08/2006

Welcome to the first in a brand new monthly feature, where we do all the hard work for you, trawling through the thousands upon thousands of little known artists on MySpace that are actually worth finding. First up, Bill Cummings, GIITTV's editor-bossman, kicks us off.

“So I sifted through thirty pages, before I found a band that a) we hadn't written about before in our unsigned sections, and b) fitted the criteria for this here best of MySpace feature thingy (criteria: being unsigned and good). I settled upon well-dressed London five piece Cajun Dance party, sickeningly young, and with a talent for blinding multi-instrumental pop. Dan's wide-eyed vocals are complimented by a stripped down, wistful Whiskey-soaked folk pop sound: imagine a less pretentious Mystery Jets and cross it with a dash of flavour of the month's Los Compesinos! and you're nearly there. Or you could just click here:
Cajun Dance Party ”

Meanwhile, Tim Miller had more luck with his two picks. “A Killers-esque rumbling on Switch and crunchy electro broodiness on Cuts signal Londoners Transistor State
as a band doing something a little different with their instruments. Not that they have unusual instruments, they just know how to make better, more interesting songs than most London bands. Things get a little dirtier and heavier on Evaporate, much like a Miami Vice car chase soundtrack, while their fourth song, Old, with ringing guitars and ghostly piano chords, is far more straightforward and melancholic, but equally appealing. With something otherworldly about them, Transistor State bring both darkness and light with their moody, technological brand of indie.”

On top of that find were a fem-pop duo whose sultry sound was an instant hit. “Despite having their self-titled debut released in 2004, I've only just come across these sultry Robots in Disguise (real names Sue Denim and Dee Plume). A female duo, who flit between London and Berlin, they provide the missing link between Bjork, The Cardigans and Daft Punk you didn't know you needed but can't do without. The brilliant harmonies and funky discobeat of Turn It Up is the perfect mix of dirty electro-pop. It also contains the line “In a Hatful of Hollow, I'm diving diving”, a sure-fire Smiths reference which is alright by me. The superb two-part harmonies continue on the sexy La Nuit, another bouncy FX-laden track. DJ's Got A Gun is the sort of thing Basement Jaxx could toss out with the Sunday papers, but GIRL, all electronica unwired, redeems the Robots again. Their circuits frazzled, Robots in Disguise create filthy/gorgeous pop/disco, and behind such a disguise are some quality tunes.”


A slightly more innocent approach is taken by Mike Mantin's first pick this month: “Brooklyn indie-pop band Bishop Allen has taken up the rather daunting task of recording an EP for every month of this year. While that may sound like a recipe for rushed disaster, the result is that they have created a monthly indie-pop loveliness factory. Tracks from the EPs can be heard on their Myspace, with July's sweet offering 'Click Click Click Click' the best yet.”


Mike's next choice offers something completely different. Hey, don't gush your thanks at us, it's what we do here at GodisintheTV.
“Raw, powerful and aggressively emotional blues from unsigned band Cold War Kids who recently toured with hypesters Tapes 'N' Tapes, sending them to the top of mp3 blog chart The Hype Machine. Rightly so: the two tracks on here demonstrate their enormous potential, with 'Hang Me Up To Dry''s driving riffs and the truly sublime 'Hospital Beds'' piano-led tale of hospital misery demonstrating the two ends of their already large spectrum. They'll soon be your new favourite band.”

Finally from Mike, it's yet another great band to come from Canada. Although one is born as another (Broken Social Scene) dies….?
“Like seemingly every interesting Canadian indie band, Calgary's Reverie Sound Revue are connected to Broken Social Scene: their lead singer, Lisa Lobsinger, is currently filling in for absent female members of that band on tour. Her main band, though, make divine, blissed-out pop, proving that chill-out needn't mean boring. 'RIP The Universe' is especially glorious, matching Lobsinger's distinctive voice with chiming guitar to great effect.”


Liam McGrady has been looking for something a little bit harder. And by the sounds of it, he was successful.
“Counting Fugazi and fellow North East boys yourcodenameis:milo among their influences, Ever Since The Lake Caught Fire have that enviable ability in Post-Hardcore circles of being able to sound both melancholic and uplifting at the same time. Of the tunes on offer here 'Disaster Disaster' displays the band' more considered, melodic tendencies, while 'That Club Them Songs' and 'Escape From The Sun' reveal a band not scared to stomp on a few distortion pedals and slip between time signatures now and again.”

Brilliantly, Liam's search discovered an act to reunite Sparta and The Mars Volta without the two bands realizing.
“With a ferocious guitar attack, almost pop melodies and rampant, stop start drumming; were some Cedric Bixler vocals overlaid onto any of the tracks You Slut! whisk through at breakneck pace, you could quite easily be fooled into believing your wildest dreams had come true and ATD-I had reformed, adding some gloriously uplifting delay laden guitar lines.”


However, always on the look out for interesting music, no matter where or what, Liam's final choice brings us to this unusual act.
'I make a date for golf, and you can bet your life it rains/My flat warming got started but the bitch next door complained/It seems I'll spend my whole life catching cold and missing trains/Everything happens to me'. Not the usual ruminations of a London based R&B/Hip Hop act. But then again Mr Hudson & The Library are far from “usual”. Nimble acoustic guitar strumming, Steel drums and joyously tricky piano playing, from the fantastically named Torville Jones, are the order of the day here.

So there we are. GodisinthetvZine's look at MySpace during August 2006 has proffered a range of interesting, original and downright immense music for you to get your hands on. And (you know what these MySpace bands are like, they'll do anything for a Friend) you can guarantee it will please them as much as it, hopefully, pleases you.


MySpace was pedantically explored this month on the GIITTV two-storey magic carpet by Bill Cummings, Mike Mantin, Liam McGrady and Tim Miller