‘Other People’s Toys’ is a 5 track EP released two months after Special Benny’s debut album Toys. It features some unique remixes of tracks taken from this album by the likes of ‘Specialist’ and Johnny Beverton.

The reason I think this EP is worthy of a feature is because these artists have done what any good remixers should, they’ve made the song their own. You can really hear their own unique musical stylings in each of these tracks from Hong Kong In The 60′s stripped out (almost MIDIish), yet detailed, wistful sound emanating through in ‘Air Filter’ to ‘Shooting Horses’ big beat, somewhat tropical feel being applied to ‘Croydon’, a song with an entirely different time signature to the original. It’s easy to see that a lot more work has gone into these remixes than someone sampling away with their computer in a bedroom one evening as we’re so often seeing at the moment.

It’s taken me a while to get around to this one (released 22nd November 2010) but it’s still an awesome remix EP and it’s still free to download at 320kbps from bandcamp.

A band I’ve been meaning to feature on this blog for well over a year now, Hong Kong In The 60s finally released their debut album ‘My Fantoms’ digitally on the 2nd of May and will also release it physically on June 6th. Influenced by early electronic pop, 1960s Chinese music and European film soundtracks, the 12 tracks include bittersweet pop songs, dreamlike instrumentals and even excerpts from a mouse opera for children.

Hong Kong In The 60s have made a song from the album ‘You Can Take A Heart But You Can’t Make It Beat’ has been made available for free download from here.

Warpaint, a four piece girl band of LA released their debut album The Fool towards the end of October last year. The Fool to me had a real overcast feel to it and despite their relatively stripped down sound, they maintain a driving rhythm in a similar fashion to The xx, with a real emphasis on bass and drums. Vocally, three of the four member contribute and with this they produce some captivating layers and harmonies in their songs.

Late last year, Warpaint took part in the AllSaints Basement Sessions. They played a version of their song ‘Billie Holiday‘ as well as giving a six minute interview, mostly on the topic of the Fools album, in front of a wall of the iconic AllSaints antique sewing machines. Warpaint have also made their debut album Fools available to stream on SoundCloud. Over the coming months, Warpaint are scheduled to appear at the Coachella, Glastonbury, Reading and Lowlands festivals and will be knocking about in the UK for most of May.

Special Benny, an extraordinary British band I first featured on this blog almost a year ago are finally ready to release their debut ‘Toys’, a largely instrumental 9 track album. Toys has been a long time in the making and nearly didn’t happen at all. Special Benny first released the Rumblestrip EP back in 2006 but the band started to lose momentum as different members followed their seperate paths in life. A send off gig was played and then nothing more until late 2008 when Special Benny discovered a newfound enthusiasm for their music and went onto eventually complete Toys.

Toys opens with Air Filter, an absolutely blinding track released as a single last Autumn that sets the tone for the rest of the album perfectly. Special Benny themselves have said their musical tastes vary greatly and this really comes through in Toys. There’s a certain lucid quality to their sound and it’s hard not to get drawn in by it, particularly in a somewhat repetitive track like Sine and Step. Either way, you can tell right from the first listen how much studio time has gone in to this recording to make Toys exactly what Special Benny had envisaged down to the finest of details. I’m really glad that this band didn’t fall apart before they truly got started, there’s no stopping them now.

Released 6th September 2010.

Mitchell Museum are Scotland’s most exciting new band. They splash the more instantaneous moments of Flaming Lips, Modest Mouse and Animal Collective onto a technicolor canvas, and capped by a healthy dose of edge and hyperactivity.

The album’s title derives from the town on the Isle of Benebecula in Scotland where vocalist Cammy MacFarlane was shipped out to live as a kid by his parents, where he was treated for “losing his mind”. Although close friends, he and his brother Raindeer (drums and vocals) count those lost years as monumental in bonding their relationship, and the band has become an extension of that bond.

Single Warning Bells is a frenzied klaxon call of an introduction into MM. Take The Tongue Out and Tiger Heartbeat are sizzling sunshine pop songs, with their own distinct British twist of lyricism, which is present throughout the whole record. This debut album is the perfect summer soundtrack.

Released 12th July 2010

By Sophie Stratford