🐣 GENIUS — 2226

The dust that this track kicks up the dust caught in lances of light coming in through a boarded up window the dark humid nature of it and the basement punk feeling of it the slapdash half-asleep DIY dream of the track sloshes against your ears like an old pair of jeans. It is in the harsh comfort of this track, its vintage photo smouldering cigarette atmosphere, where inexplicably a subversion of this sort of music dwells. Garage rock, abrasive punk-flavoured guitar music features lyrics that are blunt, to-the-point, aggressive. But in this, '2226' by Busan-based band GENIUS – that is 지니어스 in Korean – the lyrics are so cryptic that they are practically non-sequiturs. It begins with the biggest of all: "Hey dear brothers and sisters / Today I don't wanna take it / Don't make me a bird / Don't make me an ashtray."

At other times, however, the lyrics are in their simplicity quite blissful: "Today I don't wanna drink beer / It makes me full / I just need hot water in the big cup." To hear such strange poetic words floating along to scratchy sweeps of lo-fi guitar, to attitudinal scoops of bass and racketing drums, it was refreshing. When we asked the creators of this gently raucous track about the concept behind the song, the guitarist replied enigmatically, "I want to be happy with my dear brother and sister. That's it." According to the email we received back, many of his lyrics revolve around "rebirth and transcendence." For such big ideas to live in this short tract of grunge-tinged guitar music feels like a reflection of inebriated philosophising, the persistence of big thoughts no matter who or where you are, the discovery of the meaning of life half-drunk at the bar; the song's final line, "We can… be happy more", echoes hopefully like a mantra.

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• 🔔 This is taken from the band's August 2017 album 별바다 (Byeolbada, i.e. Sea Of Stars), released on Korean label BGBG. This you can purchase via the GENIUS Bandcamp. You can also watch on the video for '2226', which was directed by Soohwan Swan Park. The artwork, a folded 1000 won note, was created by a photographer named 김기조 (Kim Kijo).

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☟ GENIUS Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ bandcamp ⚘ twitter

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🐣 CLAESONS — ACOUSTIC PUNK

With a title like 'Acoustic Punk' you might imagine something like a cross between gentle acoustic music and the noise of punk. If that is what you imagined whilst reading that sentence then, well, it's correct. This track by Swedish music unit Claesons is a combo of these two ideals, a bright blend of acoustic—no, almost chamber music, classical-style, new and experimental; of this, and of something closer to the quirky DIY of garage indie than punk. It's a mix of rough and smooth, beauty and energy.

The plucked guitar that begins the track teeters on mournful and in the same cyclical style as that guitar piece Romance, you know the one, cello solemn beneath, but soon leads into a thumping beat punctuated by the occasional crash of a cymbal, the main vocal floats in slurring and soaring, other voices haunt chorally above, all in all a sound like a cold gale, something internal externalised. The outro appears, long and languorous, a pinging guitar melody, soft piano, yet struck like distant lightning with peals of distorted guitar, disappearing into the vapour.

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• 🔔 This is from Claesons album V.V.V.V.V., due for release on 28th April via Swedish label Lamour.

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HOT FLASH HEAT WAVE – DIRTY DREAMER (XXX)

There's a reason why this kind of music never really took off, or in fact wasn't even born out of a cold country. Well, actually, who knows the actual direct correlation, but basically it's very sunny music and it is & will be eternally associated with California. Which is where this four piece, Hot Flash Heat Wave, come from – specifically, San Francisco.

But location-schmocation, right? 'Dirty Dreamer (XXX)' is a lo-fi nu-doo-wop coastal groove, claps and stabs of golden guitar following a timeless pattern that is soaked in nostalgic americana. Vocals cut through in distorted serrations of sound, a who-the-fuck-cares lassitude simmering within, even though it's filled with hum-along hooks. Speaking of which, dig that bright guitar lick that pops up as a pre-verse treat, utterly dripping with cool.

More slapdashery arrives towards the end of the track, where a guitar solo breezes in a virtuosic tangle, something so totally satisfying about that sound: the perfect excitedly euphoric crescendo to a track seemingly inspired by swift, raucous romances.

• If you liked this, you should most definitely check out the very recently released self-titled Hot Flash Heat Wave EP, where you'll find this and four more tracks of the same quality calibre.

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CAR10 – I DON'T MEET YOU

Yes yes it is rather fun and incredible what you find at 2AM in terms of music. There you are just clambering through the thicket of sounds and suddenly— BOOM! Along comes this particular track that catches your attention, imagination, or both. So this is something I found. It's called 'I Don't Meet You' and it's by a band called car10.

The song itself is a heady uppercut of pop punk energy, a flash of lightning to the mind. Power chords cut through, flanging wildly – uniquely, too, especially for a punk sound – and drilling alongside the thrum of the bass and clashing crash of berserker drums. Flying around this oddball-slacker mélange of pop-punk-with-a-hint-of-shoegaze – a new form of punk, you could say – are the vocals, chaotic and lo-fi, yelling and singing, scratchy and distorted yet still melodic. At just one minute and five seconds long, it's fast and short and full of explosive life. Sounds good to me, how does it sound for you?

As for the band itself… car10 is a trio from Ashikaga, Japan, comprising of Shinya Kawata (bass/vocals), Hidekuni Kushida (guitar/backing vocals), and Takamasa Nagai (drums/backing vocals), all of whom you can see in that little picture up there. 'I Don't Meet You' is just of many inevitably tasty little numbers from the band's debut album, Everything Starts From This Town, out 16th April. Recorded analogue-style with, as shown by this particular song, a wholly tangible live sound, the album will be the second release on fledgling yet promising Japanese label Sauna Cool.

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LAZY INTERVIEW #20: SUPERFOOD

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← #19: BRETON #21: DCUP →

I didn't find or didn't try to find a suitable image for this particular little piece, so I made one. What it is, as you can see, is the word Superfood, in stylised font of course, repeated six times. It's a good thing that who I'm writing about is actually a band called Superfood, and not a band that has a completely different name. Did my research, you see.

However, in all seriousness, I'm here to talk about a band. It is a band from the Midlands – Birmingham, specifically – called Superfood. I've said that already, but saying it again makes you think of the name a little more. Remember it. Savour it. Let it flash in your mind like a gently alluring neon sign. Because that's what it should be doing. And if it isn't, and you haven't heard their music, then their music should have the same effect on you. Why? Cause it's real good, that's why.

First encountering the band at the start of summer in the form of a self-titled demo, I basically got addicted to their sound there and then. Moving onto another demo called 'TV', whose lyrical content included such things close to my heart as being unable to sleep unless the TV was on quietly in the background, they've since picked up the pace with a video for their latest tune 'Melting'. And just yesterday, they released a 12" of two songs: Bubbles/Melting – get that HERE.

But what they sound like? A kind of revitalisation of Britpop, quirky guitar melodies played slapdash-style in a kind of Anglo-Weezer sound with all the beautifully mundane lyrics and laid-back style that has given and still gives British music its sense of cool. Kind of like that. Or to sum all that up in two words: "college rock"... In other news, the band's frontman – Dom Ganderton – was kind enough to lend his time and brain to this latest edition of the Lazy Interview.

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Who are you? Where are you from? What do you do?
My name is Dom, I am from the beautiful Midlands and I play guitar and sing in Superfood.

Why did you decide to start creating music?
I don't think there was ever a conscious decision to get into music initially, it was just after I had some cello lessons at primary school that I kind of drifted onto guitar and carried on until now. The reason me and Ryan started Superfood however was because we had both had a few years out of playing in bands and only having a computer to jam with became quite stale. We both kind of realised how much writing songs and singing them meant to us and how it kind of emptied a tank in our heads that would otherwise just overflow and send us bonkers. I'm really happy that I'm not completely bonkers yet.

How would you describe your sound? What makes you and your style stand out?
This is always such a tricky question as I feel that we're really not going to know exactly who we are as a band till after we've had a little more time together and got an album down and stuff. It's pretty songwriting with big beats that's a little rough around the edges.

Is there a perfect time and place for listening to your music?
Right now the best place to listen to our songs is in a 200 cap club while we are on stage playing but we want to bring it to the bedroom dancers and pre-lash legends.

What inspires you most when writing a song?
I think what's inspired our songs so far are the two years we took out of being in bands dancing in nightclubs, trying to pay rent and attempting to go to university. But inspiration musically can come from anything. We wrote a song using this old harp my sister made in school years ago.

What is your most memorable musical experience?
So far it has to be this *moment* I had half way through out UK tour with Peace, I can't remember where we were but we were halfway through our set and there was like 5 or 6 seconds where I was like fuck we're actually pulling this off... Kudos.

What are your favourite three songs at the moment?
The Turtles - I'm Chief Kamanawanalea (We're the Royal Macadamia Nuts)
Isley Brothers - Love The One You're With
The Cardigans - Been It

Who do you most admire in the music world?
Jeff Lynne

In your opinion, what is the future of music?
I reckon the future of music is for people to realise that you don't have to be futuristic and use machines to make music evolve. I think people need to get back to the fact that music requires real instruments played by humans. Computers are great tools but people shouldn't rely on them as a main component of their sound.

What's the future of your music - what do you hope to do next?
We're going into record our album in the new year and hopefully we're going tour Scotland a lot fingers crossed.

What, aside from music, is most important to you?
...

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Due to the luxuries of censorship, I'm unable to tell you the answer to that last question. Sorry. But I can tell you that along with sounding like a perfectly down-to-earth chap with honest intentions with regards to music, feeling impulsed to write, sing and play, Dom also has a good sense of humour. A sense of humour is key. Taking oneself too seriously leads to being unable to take a joke, and stuff like going completely crazy on Never Mind The Buzzcocks.

But with that little apologetic and revelatory blip outta the way, to wrap up, it seems that Superfood, at least with Dom involved (cause I don't know what the rest of the band – Carl Griffin (drums), Emily Baker (bass), Ryan Malcolm (guitars) – think), are onto a winner. Songs that spill naturally from people's minds, the work of wordless, intangible inspiration, are often quite good songs; it's been true so far. Gloriously stepping into the future without relying on typical tropes of "futuristic" music, Superfood fill a void in Britain's musical landscape that eschews effects and electronic instruments in favour of "real instruments played by humans". Of course, they haven't been around for long, so what the future holds: who knows?

However, without wanting to sound too dramatic, these guys manage to create music that is not too dominated by throwbacks to past eras, not trusting computers for palatable and zeitgeistical gimmicks – music that sounds like it's from exactly when and where it's from, played honestly and without pretence. GET TO KNOW.

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← #19: BRETON #21: DCUP →

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THE ORWELLS DIRTY SHEETS [VIDEO]

I wouldn't have expected anything less from The Orwells to be honest with you. The last video I saw from them, for 'Who Needs You' – as epic and show-tastic as it was – does not really compare to this one. This, the video for 'Dirty Sheets' – the band's latest song, which seems to be catching the most attention out of all of them yet – is as apt for the song as butter is for toast. It just GOES. In fact, it goes off. Just like a lot of clothes slipping from a woman's body...

Whilst I'm being half-perverted here, I am half-only using what the video has shown me. Yes. It's a striptease. But a striptease shot in the gloriously drab colours and quality of yesteryear, giving this a real 70s-home-video aesthetic, with the girl having a real raven-haired lithe pin-up appeal about her. And, with The Orwells summoning the ghosts of punks past – The Misfits, The Ramones, etc. – in their music, especially in this glam-fi rockabilly scorcher of a song that documents the blossoming of grotty and tongue-in-cheek punk romance, it makes sense that the video should be just as old-school, just as punk, and just as tongue-in-cheek (the way the nipples are covered by those funny little love-hearts at the end, for instance).

There may be people out there who'd brand this with a NSFW tag but I'd just say DO watch it at work. BE PUNK. DON'T do that report. FORGET to go in on Monday. TITILLATE yourself at work. Also: how much does the girl in the video look like Katy Perry? IS it Katy Perry? I wonder. Probably not. Anyway, it was directed by Eddie O'Keefe, an auteur whose claim to fame – aside from arranging this lovely video, amongst others – is that he "gave Bill Murray a beer at a celebrity golf outing when he was six years old." Kudos.

In other news: you can grab The Orwells' Other Voices EP, released earlier this year, by clicking round about here.

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THE ORWELLS DIRTY SHEETS

Oh The Orwells. The Orwells The Orwells The Orwells. Say it 3x whilst facing a (specifically) bathroom mirror at 3am and see what happens. Well, not to ruin the surprise - cause you WILL be surprised - but what happens is the band fall through your mirror and start trashing the place. So unless you wanna trash stuff with them, I'd recommend quelling your desire to summon The Orwells into your bathroom. But The Orwells are not just things to be summoned through your mirror. They got shit to do as well. They can't be everywhere at once.

And nowadays they're especially busy. Since I first heard about them courtesy of the UK's own Parma Violets, they've been getting busier and busier. They released two EPs this year, the latter release being the Who Needs You EP which includes the eponymous hit single itself. They were even kind enough to have an interview with me. But I expect they're gonna get a whole lot busier; they've recently signed to Atlantic Records and will be releasing a new single on 13th January 2014. That's this song, 'Dirty Sheets'.

Cutting in abruptly with wailing screeches of lead guitar, it's a big sound from the offset. The drums crash cataclysmically, sounding gloriously raw in their swinging rhythm, followed by stabs of guitar chords in the verse. Rough vocals with a rippling echo start with the line: "From the East Coast to the West, we ain't the worst, we ain't the best" - A pre-emptive reply to any detractors, yet at the same time, wonderfully grand with a self-deprecating slur of mediocrity tacked onto it. The drawl of the vocals paint a definitively gritty picture of punk romance. There is a hint of glam to this, perhaps in the theatrical dynamics of the song, or maybe I'm mistaking it for the rockabilly judder of the drums and that general wiggle-to-this vibe. It's a going-places song. If you know what I mean, cool; if you don't, well, sorry.

So that's 'Dirty Sheets' for you. I expect that this means another full length album from The Orwells next year, too; in any case they've announced some UK tour dates for February 2014. I heartily recommend seeing them live if you can, cause, well, it's a crazy show - I can confirm that the energy levels are through the roof.

In other news, you can now download their Other Voices EP for free from their official site.

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RADKEY ROMANCE DAWN

I stumbled across this song a while ago and was struck more by the references in the title than anything else. Being a part-time One Piece (it's a manga about pirates) fan, you'd have looked up to find out, or already known, that Romance Dawn is the sort of proto-One Piece; it was short-lived but it grew into what is now like one of the most popular mangas ever ever. Isn't that fun? So anyway, I was quite surprised when I saw that this song by Radkey was called 'Romance Dawn' - but then I, as I so often do, forgot about it and continued surfin' the web. (That's still an expression, right?)

But I heard it on the radio the other night and was enjoying it rather a lot - without knowing it was Radkey. Then strangely I decided to look up the song again today. Long damn story short, I re-found the song and am sitting here right now writing about it.

Anyway. Whatever, right? Whatever indeed. So we continue. Read on. Radkey is or are a trio (brothers, in fact, but not triplets) from Missouri, USA, who play punk rock music. They sure do. But there's a lotta different types of punk out there: combine the word with any other genre and you have a different type every time - punk rock, punk pop, electro punk, thrash punk - so what's different about Radkey's stuff?

Well, with a distinctive voice - something like lip-curling rockabilly crossed with black-metal glam projected theatrics - the vocals lead an easy-to-chant-to galloper of a song. I don't use this epithet very much, but I'd say it's pretty "high-octane" - energy explodes out of this one. Thick guitars chomp through riffs of varying tempo, especially in the full throttle drum-spasms just before the break where the gutsy bass takes the spotlight, and a driving guitar solo noodles around towards the end - all very energetic.

The intro to the song sounds like something an aggressive biker might hear in his head in his first few seconds of waking up. It's also one heck of a build up. The drums rollick around before galloping into the verse, before the crashing chorus which is complete with some almost-obligatory "Hey-hey!"s sung by the backing vocals. There's something a bit Offspring about this - you know what I mean? Only a bit. It's different, of course, but it's nice to hear familiarity too.

This comes from Radkey's upcoming Devil Fruit (another One Piece reference) EP, out 14th October.

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THE ORWELLS LIVE @ MADAME JOJO'S

Well. Last night I went to see The Orwells live at Madame JoJo's, a venue in Soho, London. There were actually three bands playing. I didn't see the last band (whoops/oh well) because, well, The Orwells were quite good and we decided to leave on a high. Which is always a good thing, I think. Judge for yourselves though.

The first band that played were called Polterghost - a London post-punky trio. Each track had a similar vibe, and that was Nirvana-esque riffs that oozed grunge, some shreddy guitar solos dotted here and there, alongside palm-muted guitars with some high-pitched vocals - almost a little like Smashing Pumpkings. The drums pounded out the rhythm. Perhaps a little "teen" sounding for my liking, and not a commanding stage presence, but nice enough. Their track 'Holy Smoke' should give you a good idea of their sound.

But then The Orwells bowled onstage. Not only did they move around as if completely possessed by the music they were playing, but they played the music in a ballsy, aggressive way. Lead-vocalist Mario Cuomo towered over his bandmates, looking almost too big for the stage, in cream skinny jeans, a red Chicago Bulls vest and sporting a luscious mop of wavy blonde hair that he used to his advantage the whole time: playing with it, letting it cover his face, whipping it around. Oddly sexual.

They opened with 'Mallrats', which set the tone for the rest of the show: its maddening yet tongue-in-cheek "lalalalala" screamed out alongside crushing distortion and crashing drums. They went onto smash through their set, going through the addictive 'Other Voices' and stopping by for slow-dance numbers 'Blood Bubbles' and 'Halloween All Year', yet with the wholly crazed vocals from Cuomo still on top form. My friend suggested that he looked like he needed an exorcism, and I said that playing live probably was the exorcism. However, I wholly doubt there's anything like that needed. I mean, in some ways, yeah he was going crazy - falling offstage at one point and generally screaming out the lyrics with a hardcore rockabilly drawl as if his life depended on it. It's just angry stuff - and I loved it.

Of course, they played recent hit 'Who Needs You' from their new EP of the same name - it sounds even better live. They also went through a perhaps extended version of their psychedelic song 'Head', which in its second half repeats the same majorly distorted riff over and over - at this point they were pretty much all in a frenzy onstage. It's good to see that kind of thing. People getting into their music, I mean. What better way to show that your music's likeable by liking playing it so much that it makes you go into a bit of a trance? Mm-hm.

They ended with a cover of The Stooges' 'I Wanna Be Your Dog' - it was a raucous affair. Truly raucous. Raunchy. The lyrics were roared out, the guitars totally abused - huge noise. I suppose you could equate it to their performance of the same song at another place, but the stage was smaller at Madame JoJo's; maybe they felt claustrophobic or something, because they seemed to be even more mental.

Overall, what more can I say? I suppose that it was really good is a start. It WAS damn good. I thought the recordings were good enough, but the energy that they drew from playing live to people in a room is clearly something that can't be captured in essence. Also, to see them like actually playing was amazing.

They had a very punk dynamic, the bassist Grant Brinner grooving modestly to the rhythm and at one point taking the cord out of guitarist Matt O'Keefe's microphone, who later knelt on the floor and pulled the mic stand down to him, relentless drumming from Henry Brinner, frenzied bent-double playing from other guitarist Dominic Corso, and general madness from Mario Cuomo. He stood out, dancing, pulling at his clothes, moonwalking (probably?) at one point, and as I said earlier, falling off the stage, then falling off the stage again trying to pull himself back onto it. They all scream pent-up aggression and youthful frustration - a feeling that's easy to summon up in yourself after seeing these guys freak out so much themselves. Basically really fun to watch. And really nice to have seen them at such a small intimate venue, cause I think they're only gonna get bigger from here on in.

Afterwards we were so punk, threw straws around in McDonald's, got the guy who served us to give us a free cheeseburger each, and I sold two cigarettes for £5. Imagine that. Our slowly diminishing yet endless youth. Go see The Orwells if you get a chance - you won't regret it.

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THE ORWELLS WHO NEEDS YOU EP

Wake up. Dispel the morning phantoms. Somehow acquire The Orwells' Who Needs You EP. Put your headphones on, or at least use some damn speakers that go damn loud, and bathe in the noise, grit and bouncy distortion that possesses these four songs. For me personally, it's a self-indulgent trip back to a breed of music that used to be all I liked when I was younger - it's also a brilliant continuation of a sound that, despite the inevitable detractions and purist naysayers, deserves to be nurtured and revitalised (not just kept in a Misfits/Black Flag/Ramones-shaped museum); and here it has been damn well revitalised.

The Orwells - Grant Brinner (bass), Henry Brinner (drums), Dominic Corso (guitar), Matt O'Keefe (guitar) and Mario Cuomo (vocals - no relation to Rivers Cuomo from Weezer, just a cool surname) - released their debut album Remember When last year and first EP, Other Voices, in June this year. This one, Who Needs You, is out 9th September on National Anthem records. There's gotta be a second album coming out pretty soon - that's just me speculating; I don't know really. What I do know, or what I believe - FEEL even - is that this EP will certainly tide over fans of the band and fans of thrash-pop-punk-lo-fi-rock stuff. Or perhaps it will just make you hungry for more. Yes, it's that tasty.

It begins with title-track 'Who Needs You', (which I wrote about, along with its video, in more detail last month) a loud and anthemic party-piece that is or could be a protest song for all us lost millennials: it's filled with pacifist leanings - "You better toss your bullets / You better hide your guns / You better help the children / Let them have some fun" - and bolshy self-disinheritance, i.e. "Listen up forefathers / I'm not your son". To be honest, this song stands out as different from the other three - it's like their "coming out" song. A more polished sound that, perhaps, will make its way onto their next release, or a one-off anthem: who can say?

Next up is one of two "Rip-offs" on the album, 'Open Your Eyes' - apparently a song done in the style of The Misfits. I think this "rip-off" thing is quite a neat idea - rather than just covering a song, they've paid a more meaningful homage to a band that has influenced many punk bands before. What's the saying? Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery? That doesn't even work in this case. Forget that. In any case, 'Open Your Eyes' resembles The Misfits mostly in vocal style. It opens with a gutsy snare roll and some thrashing distorted guitar and goes on to be exceedingly proficient in the low-end of the spectrum, the bass guitar and kick drum rumbling and thumping inescapably as Cuomo gives some gravelly rockabilly drawl to lyrics like "I wanna be your, be your, be your man" in this pogo-stickin' love song.

Then there's some heavy lo-fi goodness in 'Salvation Is A Parking Lot' - a Black Lips "rip-off" that has its similarities in the slap-dash fuzz of the general sound and the multi-voiced refraining chants of the chorus. This one is a glorious mess of noise complete with truncated guitar solo in the middle. A hot 'n' sweaty sound. The EP finishes with a live rendition of 'Halloween All Year', a dark subversion of doo-wop '50s prom-night rhythms complete with horror-tinged lyrics, such as, "There's a body on the ceiling looking for me / Get a knife from the kitchen and follow me" and "Take a drink from the vial / And laugh with me". They sound very good live. Cuomo is particularly impassioned, spluttering/laughing in the second half whilst belting out the lyrics. A suitable end to a punch-in-the-face of an EP.

So much energy. I love it. It's great. What else can I say? Jeez. Just listen to it. It's intense, fun, playful, noisy, bouncy, ballsy, raw... All of that. It's good shtuff. Get it.

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DYGL I'M WAITING FOR YOU // NASHVILLE [FREE DOWNLOAD]

This bit of music is really quite nice. For some reason, I haven't been able to shake the feeling of just having woken up all day today, leaving me with a hazy, fuzzy mind/brain. Not my favourite feeling. Just makes everything slow and depressing.

Then I re-discovered this band. I first heard them when I... well I can't remember, but I remember thinking, "Yeah, I'll write about that one day" - a few months on, here I am. The first song itself is four months old (second is 6 months old), but who caresss. Not I. They both comes from a Japanese band from Tokyo called DYGL (pronounced "day-glo") and it's called 'I'm Waiting For You'. It's a very nice number that brings to mind miscellaneous Americana - long drives, long beaches, surfing. That kind of sound.

Beginning with a delicate bit of clean guitar work that is very pretty with its reverb, almost fragile sounding, the rest of the song kicks in. It's a lo-fi number, that's for sure. The drums are so fuzzy that you can barely hear them, but it fits the distorted jangle of the guitars just fine, as well as lazily yelping vocals. It suits my mood.

There's a retro hint to it, especially in the way the guitar chords in the chorus move up and down the fret board with that stop-start, foot-tapping pattern. The refrain is yelled out and it all fits together perfectly. A great, catchy song, soaked in a nostalgia for something that is wholly un-Japanese - something I can relate to. You can watch that song live, too, at MARZ - a live venue in Shinjuku, Tokyo.

As for this other song, 'Nashville', there's that same nostalgia, but this time it's tinged with a tragic air. It makes this one more beautiful than 'I'm Waiting For You', simply because of the slow sadness that this song. The bass and chord progressions are something that we've all heard before, but they are just done with such a different attitude that makes them sound fresh.

I think it's the vocals in this song that make it stand out a little more, too. They switch between regular and falsetto, sounding at times as if they are longing for, aching for, something. Some memory or present desire that can't be attained. Given that the song's title is 'Nashville' and the band are from Tokyo - which are worlds away geographically and culturally - I think it can be guessed that it's a lovesong to the American city.

The guitar work is really nice, not just the chords, but far off twanging guitar solos like distant memories, the country-song swing that it has to it. This is a really underrated song that I think a lot more people should know, or at least hear once in their lives. A wonderful sound. There's a video too. Watch it.

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Listen to DYGL on Soundcloud
Follow Nobuki Akiyama (one part of DYGL) on Twitter

SKATERS I WANNA DANCE (BUT I DON'T KNOW HOW)

This is a really enjoyable sound. Kinda like punk, but an updated version, pushed off the half-ramp of life and into the modern age - noticeable in the half-real/half-electronic drumkit, for starters. Things certainly have moved on. Yes, this is New York three-piece Skaters with their by turns pretty and thrashy punky style song 'I Wanna Dance (But I Don't Know How)'.

And even better, it's actually a live version of the song, played at BBC Radio 1's Maida Vale studios in London for Huw Stephens's show. Live is sometimes better, and in this case it is, because you can get more of a grip on just how much energy a band or an artist puts into not just their performance but into their music itself. The verdict in this case: a lot. It's a good thing. Nice and passionate. Just the way we likes it. Now for the dissection.

I love the fast-paced nature of this track, even though the gentle drums of the verse don't necessarily seem quick, it's a soft kind of sound that is echoed by the gnarly bassline, itself muffled and under-wraps. The bassline reminds me of one from an old-school punk song, the classic one-minute belters that appeared in such games as Tony Hawks Pro Skater - you know what I mean right? Dirty garage rock sound. It's just perfect for skating. And that's just perfect for a band called Skaters.

For a New York touch, there's the Strokes-sounding part to the verse, where the voice is actually a little Casablancas, and those sweeping guitar chords are totally Strokes. In my opinion anyway. What do I know. That's just how it sounded. And it's a good sound! The dynamic between that and the noisy chorus is great - the refrain "I wanna dance, but I don't know how" really gets stuck in your head. And again, the dynamic when the wall of distorted guitar and smacking drums falls away to reveal that low-key bassline again is fabuloso. It's pogo-stickin', virtual-skatin', city-tourin' fun.

This is as far as I know their first single. Let's see how an album of theirs might turn out, eh?

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Like Skaters on Facebook
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Visit Skaters official site
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HEALTH TEARS MAX PAYNE 3 SOUNDTRACK

My God. My sweet Jesus. I'm not religious, but I almost became so after I confirmed my suspicions: the song on the Max Payne 3 advert IS by HEALTH!

I love HEALTH, I have loved HEALTH for a long time. They're an interesting band. Their earlier stuff is characterised by brutally vigorous drums, crunching, alien-sounding distorted guitars and screeching electronics, topped with faint vocals that float ghostly above all the chaos. It was also characterised by a flagrant, revelling disregard for time signature or normal track dynamics.

Both of their albums, the self-titled HEALTH and their somewhat milder second outing, Get Color, have been turned into remix albums (HEALTH DISCO and HEALTH DISCO 2). This is a clever move as it gets some very good names, Salem and Crystal Castles to name just two, involved in the process of getting HEALTH's name to the masses. This next move is even cleverer.

HEALTH have created hundreds of hours of their gritty, no-frills, balls-out electro/noise/rock for Rockstar's new Max Payne 3. Probably comes as a surprise to many, not least to me, but it's a very smart move: both by Rockstar and HEALTH. It's a benefit for the two. The videogame gets some amazing music; HEALTH gets recognition they'd probably never have imagined. Listen below, if you haven't heard it already.

And if you have heard it already, you know you'll want to listen again.



'Tears' - what a song. It towers above you, distorting and relentless, insanely repetitive but addictively so. Their scratchy bleeps are sheer gems of production, turning what was just a strange Noise band into a fully-fledged, albeit underground (but for how long?), electro-rock band. A lot like HEALTH DISCO 2 track (not a remix), 'USA Boys'.

The crazed drums have gone, but remain strong. They are the heart of the track, played with a thunderous force and augmented electronically so that everything fits nicely, but jumps out at you at the same time. That's not to forget what gave it away for me in the beginning: the vocals. The phantomlike, nearly monotone, slightly altered, quiet and unassuming vocals - these wind in and out of the stamping sounds calmly, with all the minimalist, meditative philosophy of a Zen koan.

I cannot get enough of this song. I want the soundtrack.

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• HEALTH on Twitter
• HEALTH on Myspace
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BEST COAST GONE AGAIN VIDEO

Best Coast, one of the more well-known lo-fi of today - quite an achievement given the huge surge in recent years of artists coming up with no end of surf-pop, garage-fuzz, or indie-lo-fi whateverness.

The vocal hooks of singer Bethany Cosentino - who writes pretty much all material, musically and lyrically, for the band - help Best Coast to soar above other bands with a similar sound. And this new song 'Gone Again' is no exception. Starting out with some wonderful 'oooo'ing that becomes a refrain for the song, music bursts in with a foot-tapping 2/4 rhythm and Cosentino's laid-back style of singing, touched with light distortion. Perfect for a rainy Sunday indoors. Just like today, in fact.

This video comes in a series of videos for Adult Swim to promote the Adult Swim Kia Singles Program - a free mp3 series. 10 Free tracks over 10 weeks. Really cool, with some really cool artists. So check back to know when Best Coast, and some others, are up and available for download.

Here's Best Coast's nice blog: bestycoasty.blogspot.com
And their Myspace.

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