. Anabelle's Poppy Day : Small Songs for Small People (Self-release).
Welcome to the extremely strange pop world of Anabel's Poppy Day! Have a sip of the skinking mushroom potion and have a seat, but do mind the small living creatures, especially now you're their size. The cover sets the tone: it is the picture of a kitchen coming straight out of an animation film it seems. A strange, little four-fingered-person is playing on a purple keyboard in the foreground. Eyes closed? There are leads going from the keys, the bass (lying on a red and black squared floor) and the guitar (leaning against a dark, formica-like fridge) to a huge cauldron filled with bubly magic potion. Record in, press play. A tiny voice, fragile as thin ice. A voice of a small person. You have now entered the world and dimension of the record. You are on the other side of the looking glass. Anabel with guitar. Drum machine come in. No verse, no chorus. Repetition till it dissolves. 46 seconds. Most of the 45 songs are less than 1:30, a whole bunch of them lasting 30-40 seconds...if that's what it takes, why fill the blank to achieve the "perfect commercial pop length"? The songs are so different, so strange, that the exploration of the album seems infinite. Small Songs for Small People is a fresh, free bitter-sweet experi-pop from outer space. The structures are intricate burst of emotion. Pattern free garantee. Anabel works meticulously on sounds, creating worlds of incredibly strange narratives. It is like listening to the uncensored version of a XXIst century Alice In Wonderland. Be prepared to have your doors of popperception opened wide! And happy Eppopiphany!!!!
www.anabelspoppyday.com with animated videos!!!!
.Ill Ease : The After After Party Party e.p. (Club Hemisphere recordings 001).
I am holding, as I type, a copy of E Sharp's (aka Ill Ease) 4 tracks e.p. including two versions of Walking Pneumonia (European Dance mix...bonus version). What I know about Ill Ease so far:(warning: not all might be true, this is just where I stand...) She is an American one woman band playing drums, guitar, bass. Her lyrics are as her name. She is disillusioned but not bitter... in fact she has these witty, cheeky lines that some might think but never dare to say. So yes, E Sharp is funny. An example taken from one of her interviews (check out her website, it's there): "I think the music sounds that way because most of the songs are in a weird time. I like the songs to sound like they're tripping over themselves but they still have a good groove. Maybe I like it because I can't dance." Serious, well-thought, but not taking herself seriously...well, too seriously. She actually did a review of one of her albums, which could apply to this one: "ØCrisp and clean and no caffeine. Taste great, less filling. Built to stay that way. Engineered to destroy. All the fine tuning you'll ever need". I cannot really stop there, though, can I? Because, yes, I do really like what she does, her distant monotonous voice, the soft indie pop riffs, the vitriolized lyrics under the soft layer. Repetitive lines, especially on tracks as "Walking Pneumonia", a fuck for a mile, both in the States and in Europe. She reminds me of some good old 90s indie music which list I am not even starting, you can enjoy the exercice on your own. By the way, it's a bonus track on the e.p., and the recor itself looks like a super small 7" Ok, what else ot be short, precise, and get you interested? Ok, read that one, it was taken from he same interview: the question was: If there's anything else you'd like to add, feel free. And here was the answer: " Since you a sked, let's see ... I think the world is becoming one huge corporate monopoly. In the next 100 years, governments will disappear and there will only be multi-national corporations like AT&T, Seagram's, and Time/Warner controlling all means of communication and transportation. MTV is a corporate monopoly just by itself, not to mention Viacom. The U.S. government has given up on regulating companies, and decided to become part of the showbiz spectacle. Our biggest commodity is culture, the entertainment industry is the new imperialism. Stand up and be part of the spectacle. Yeah". For fuckssssake, I love this woman!
.Vale Poher : Mute (Self Release).
I find it hard to write a record review about a project one really likes, hard to write about someone one knows and appreciates. When Vale got in touch with us, I thought it was really sweet, because it is not very often that we get thank you mails... and although we don't do what we do to get nice feedbacks and love letters, well, it's nice to get some friendly, encouraging mails sometimes. Then we got her album. 9 track self-produced, stripped: a girl, a voice, an acoustic guitar, rage, and the texts ...in english. Don not expect some kind of soft-headed, boring folk music, you'd be utterly disapointed. I think Vale sounds more like Scout Niblett, for her music, both rough and smooth, filled with emotion. Call it "Raw Folk", or "Vale Poher's music", whatever, it's a whole new genre to explore.
"This is my body
Here comes my voice
You can have it all
This is my body
Here comes my voice"
I eventually saw her perfom at Ladyfest Brighton (on Sunday October 23rd, at the Engine Rooms). Not easy to get on stage, as the only French artist, to play in front of artists one loves, coming out of curiosity, or/and mere friendship. Vale was simply perfect in her performance: her voice was no shaky, no string broke, and the audience listened, captivated.
.Split Single Silent Front/Tiger Force:
Tigerforce is a girl/boy pair that comes from London city in UK. Their main aims in life are to sell tapes to kids in libraries and save the animals. And as if it wasn’t enough for them to do, they also both play guitar and sing. Their originality consists in skilfully mixing artpunk melodies with shrieks, adding electronic drum bits and including some from the hip hop fields to their double dirty guitar riffs.
Their sound is truly unique thanks to their eclecticism. My ears were really pleased when they listened to two of their tracks found on their split with Silent Front. The production isn’t great but all the spirit can be found there. On ‘Death Cola Music’, Andy and Helen just make their guitars swing and tense, they really make your senses go wild and you really want to help them free that baby stuck in the cash machine! But believe me or not, their best track is that other one called ‘Kill the Wonderboy". Helen definitely grounds the band in the riotgrrrls’ path with a voice reminding me early Bratmobile’s tunes like ‘Cherry Bomb’ or ‘Fuck your Fans’ while Andy fights with the sampler, ready to feed us with their so particular and personal musical mash up of theirs. May the force be with you little tigers!!!
By Riotmiloo
http://www.myspace.com/tigerforce
http://www.tigerforce.co.uk/
