Cougar Microbes

British trio The Wave Pictures released ‘Little Surprise‘ and it’s accompanying video as the first taste of their ‘Beer In The Breakers‘ album. This folksy little number is sure to charm your socks off within just a few listens. A perfect track and video to relax and enjoy the weekend.

‘Beer In The Breakers‘ is out now via Moshi Moshi.

TRACKS:

Frightened Rabbit returned to the fore in 2010 with the release of ‘The Winter Of Mixed Drinks‘ and bagged themselves spots not only on our full site top album breakdown but several writers personal lists (which will be published soon).

Here is why Cougar scribe Ruby deemed it worthy of a spot:

After the warm reception of ‘The Greys’ and ‘Midnight Organ Fight’ the pressure may have been on to pull yet another Frightened Rabbit out the hat.  And it is with great satisfaction that I can reveal that those scruffy haired Scots did the rabbit and the hat trick with their latest offering.

‘The Winter Of Mixed Drinks’ also saw a step away from subdued shadows of their former albums and generally provided us with a more brash and attention grabbing sound. The band have added more heart, more guts and more build than ever seen before.

Fan’s shouldn’t be disappointed as there are still plenty of nods to their staple sound; somehow FR manage to straddle the thin line between hope and horror. Yet despite this there is a notably richer and more radiant sound suggesting that things are looking a lot less miserable now for the likely lads whose efforts this year have handed them a place in my personal list.

When we reviewed the album back in april Kenny suggested that “what sets ‘The Winter of Mixed Drinks’ apart from previous Frightened Rabbit albums is a sense of heightened focus“. In his year end list he added:

I’m a big fan of Frightened Rabbit‘s previous albums but their 2010 offering is a different beast. This is a brilliantly crafted and contemplative album filled with great instrumentation. It is mature yet exhilerating; epic yet subtle. When I heard it — even early in the year — I knew it would be on this list.

TRACKS:

NEXT: #18 Cougar Microbes Top Albums of 2010: Gregory and The Hawk – Leche

PREVIOUS: #20 Cougar Microbes Top Albums of 2010: Crystal Castles – Crystal Castles (II)

Young Rebel Set‘s new single ‘Measure of a Man‘ features actress Jo Hartley of This Is England fame as the unlikely male lead. The single drops in mid November and shows the boys dust off their cowboy boots to produce something approach rhythm and western.

The band set off on the road again soon with their debut album anticipated for early 2011.

TRACKS:

Young Rebel Set – Measure Of A Man

In 1994 Radiohead released the ‘My Iron Lung‘ EP hinting at what was to come with the following year’s ‘The Bends‘. I picked out a copy of the EP in a second hand shop a few years later and ended up playing it more than I played ‘OK Computer‘.

That EP showed off what was to become their trademark layered edginess and takes a snapshot of a band on the verge of doing something brilliant

TRACKS:

Radiohead – The Trickster

Following on from the earlier post about Dan Le Sac Vs. Scroobius Pip I was recently sent the above Intruder.tv interview. It’s good to hear the duo discuss the tour, album and latest single, plus you’ll get a few laughs.

Additionally, here is a remix of ‘Great Britain‘ (which we featured during the British elections) by London producer and DJ Run Riot. He’s given the track a mean streak.

TRACKS:

Some good people we know just launched a little blog called Dear Albion. It is mostly about pop music and is meant to be serious but doesn’t take itself too seriously… Bookmark them as ones to watch, I’m sure they are about to unearth some gems.

TRACK

M.I.A. – Teqkilla (Lost my fone out wiv Nicki Minaj Remix)

Muse pulled this out of the bag at Glastonbury this weekend with Mr The Edge providing a helpful hand.

TRACKS:

Muse – Where The Streets Have No Names (Feat. The Edge)

I find it difficult to be impartial about a group who have named themselves after the best left-back football has ever known. Screaming Maldini clearly know world class when they see it parading around a football pitch in a red and black striped shirt. However, do they have the expertise to compare with the majesty of their namesake in a parallel musical universe? It’s certainly a big ask.

Alcopop, landlords to Wolf Am I and My First Tooth, are the label to have taken the leap of faith in the Sheffield six-piece. On the evidence of five-track EP ‘And The Kookaburra’ the leap is anything but a blind one.

From the get-go the words that spring to mind are ‘angular’, ‘melodic’, ‘orchestration’ and most certainly ‘pop’. Screaming Maldini are experimental with song structures, as you would want your emerging artists to be, without disappearing up their own buttock valleys. They weave rock breakdowns into pop songs as effortlessly as they drop atmospheric horn sections and light percussion over their boy/girl harmonies.

Often with EPs it is difficult to know how many ideas an artist has left in the bank and hence how they would transfer their energy to a full length. Screaming Maldini show enough variety within each track, from opener ‘Secret Sounds’ to closer ‘Miniatures’, to reassure the doubter that they could make the transition with the greatest of ease.

These folks are definitely worthy of that oldest of clichés used pretty much whenever referring to emerging artists; ‘ones to watch out for’. Having said that, I’d still rather have good old Paolo over to dinner.

‘And The Kookaburra‘ is out now on Alcopop Records

——

Post by Kenny the World Cup medal winner.

——

TRACKS:

Screaming Maldini – The Extraordinary