Advances In Mathematics, a damn fine instrumental band from Manchester, have just released Sad Xmas Present. Their sound is characterised by lucid guitar licks underpinned by shuffled jazz drumming that results in a unique listening experience. Sad Xmas Present has been described as an EP despite containing just two tracks: Borders which is so called as the chord progression ‘borders’ on being a country song and Sad Xmas Present which was in fact a tremolo guitar pedal band member Ben received 4 years ago.
Being an instrumental band, the naming of songs can be a bit indirect and somewhat haphazard. ‘It’s Ryan Giggs’ is regarded by the band as their worst song title which despite being funny at the time has since been renamed as ‘Slow News Day’. The name of the band itself even has a somewhat unusual tale as it was randomly selected from a list of scientific journals.
Sad Xmas Present has been made available as a free download from today onwards from the Advances in Mathematics bandcamp where you can also get Sad Xmas Present as a limited edition CD for a mere £3.50 that comes hand wrapped and is one of just thirty copies.
Delooze are destined for something big. Their latest singles ‘Too Heavy To Stand Up’ and ‘We Are Transient’ feature a blend of electro and hard rock with almost gothic elements to it. This mainly comes through due to the choice of classical instrumentation and dramatic feel and it’s like nothing else around at the moment.
We Are Transient isn’t officially released for another 2 months so only the first 57 seconds can be heard on bandcamp at the moment (pretty uncool). However, I’ve embedded an earlier single entitled ‘Big Love’ that was released in June 2010 which has been made available for free download (pretty cool).
It’d be fair to say We Are Transient has a much heavier feel to their earlier singles such as ‘Big Love’ and ‘Out Of The Rabbit Hole’ in which electro aspects featured more predominantly in the music and had a streak of Crystal Castles or even The xx about them.
With the release of Friendly Fires’ second album Pala last week, the trio have certainly got a lot on their plate over the next couple of months. There’s word of a music video in the pipeline that’s currently being edited and the band are currently touring North America with a UK tour lined up for November.
The first single from the album ‘Live Those Days Tonight‘ will have a universal appeal and is just downright danceable, even more so than their earlier material. Pala brings us at times a really unusual blend between indie rock, 70s disco and even a tropical sound in places.
Competition to win 1 of 1000 limited edition vinyls of the Friendly Fires cover of Depeche Mode’s ‘Strangelove’ here.
Tickets went on sale for the UK tour yesterday and there’re still plenty available. Definitely one of the best live bands out there and well worth seeing. The North American tour is currently in progress up until the 10th of June and you can still find tickets if you know where to look.
Thu 10 Nov – Bristol, O2 Academy
Fri 11 Nov – Birmingham, O2 Academy
Sat 12 Nov – Southampton, Guildhall
Mon 14 Nov – Nottingham, Rock City
Tue 15 Nov – Newcastle, O2 Academy
Thu 17 Nov – Manchester, O2 Apollo
Fri 18 Nov – Glasgow, Barrowlands
Sat 19 Nov – Leeds, O2 Academy
Mon 21 Nov – Cambridge, Corn Exchange
Tue 22 Nov – Lincoln, Engine Shed
Fri 25 Nov – London, Brixton Academy
With The Horrors set to release their third album Skying on July the 11th (26th in US), the first single from the album entitled ‘Still Life’ has been made available to stream. The self-produced DIY supplies album that was first hinted at over a year ago was recorded in the bands very own London studio.
To me, this latest single lacks the drive and edginess we saw in their earlier stuff from the ‘Strange House’ and ‘Primary Colours’ era. It’s still a decent sound though and I’m pretty hyped about Skying being released in July as you so often can’t judge an album from the first single, especially with a band like The Horrors.
The track listing for ‘Skying’ has since been announced and the band have a couple of lined up over the next couple of months across the UK and Europe.
01. Changing the Rain 02. You Said 03. I Can See Through You 04. Endless Blue 05. Dive In 06. Still Life 07. Wild Eyed 08. Moving Further Away 09. Monica Gems 10. Oceans Burning
‘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.
Indie Music Finds was started in April 2009 as a place for people to find something new. I try and keep it quite diverse so rummage around a bit and I’m sure you’ll find something you like to take away with you.
