Single Review - Grovesnor - Drive Your Car - Noize Makes Enemies

With a backing track that is reminiscent of the programmed demos featured on a Cassio Keyboard that schoolchildren everywhere insist on playing to a frustrated music teacher, from the very off-set – Grovesnor appear uninspired.

‘Drive Your Car’ does undeniably grow on you with its four minutes of catchy retro beats and Rob Smoughton’s Scissor Sisters- pitched vocals promising ‘I’m sure I could be what you’re dreaming of.”

Whilst it is not unpleasant to listen to, the 80’s inspired track seems to lack whatever the essential ingredient that its peers, bands like Chromeo and Mylo, effortlessly exude.

Whether it’s the endorphin-inducing hands that tug you to your dancing feet or the chilled type of dance that helps you rationalise a bad day, Grovesnor remain on the fence; never quite doing either.

Yet, with Smoughton previously drumming for Hot Chip and support from afore mentioned bands, hopes remain high for Grovesnor and their future releases.

Single Review - The Author - Dannie - Noize Makes Enemies

Rather misleadingly for a band that profess that they’re aren’t a rock band, The Author’s second single ‘Dannie’ starts with a Bullet for My Valentine inspired guitar riff. Yet as the Jersey band’s track graduates into something similar to a rowdier Klaxon B-Side, their claim appears justified. As vocalists James Dolan and Christian Silver yell ‘Dannie don’t go, Dannie please just stay’, dark electro guitars demand your body is receptive to it, in the way that all the best live tracks do. ‘Dannie’ is just over three minutes of contagious enthusiasm that screams for a live audience in order to be fully appreciated. Second track on the single, ‘Mr Debacle’, maintains the structure of an early Klaxon track but pulls the band down to a darker level with affective flickers of Brand New or Billy Talent. With such diverse musical decisions, The Author is inarguably a band to keep an eye out for, even if only to see what they’re going to do next.

Album Review- The King Blues - Under the Roof - Noize Makes Enemies

Everyone loves a bit of ‘stick it to the man’ mentality, but what happens when you throw in a ukulele and some reggae punk with it? The King Blues. The six-piece have produced a debut album that effortlessly exudes innovation and an uplifting contagious Hackey spirit. Songs like ‘We ain’t never done’ and ‘If I had a Coin’ force a smile upon even the sternest of lips in a way that is instantly likeable. The King Blues are original in the true sense of the word and conjure equally unique images of how the The Twang would sound toting colourful hula skirts. Yet, amongst the ska-type beats lies a message. ‘Duck and Cover’ starts with a poignant ‘Where the hell did I leave those weapons of destruction?’ and the bands Punk roots and political awareness is mirrored. As the band sing out ‘I’m out to build the world, without breaking my hand’, the band’s preference for peace and unity is also effectively denoted. And perhaps they aim to spread this through their music. ‘If I had a Coin’s a’cappella musical embodiment of positivity is catching in the same way that you can’t listen to Bob Marley and feel stressed out. The King Blues have a welcomed unique ability to untie any knots of anxiety and bring with them some warmth during a cold March.

Album Review - Grand National - A Drink and a Quick Decision (Noize Makes Enemies)

Meet Grand National. The London two-piece is made up of Lawrence ‘La’ Rudd and Robert Lyddon and is somewhat hard to fathom. Like the friend that on occasions you want to lock yourself in a room with, and others when the thought of an interrupted 60 minutes alone with them leaves you envying the partially deaf, their debut album ‘A Drink and Quick Decision’ is unusual in its style. It darts unpredictably from one approach to another as the play head moves along the thirteen tracks. Songs like ‘Reason to Hide in’ evoke a New Order type of 80’s electro muted passion before ‘New Space to Throw’ throws in a bit of Cuban - esque drumming for good measure. If that wasn’t enough, ‘Joker and the Clown’s lyrics ‘I’m in the mood for a comeback’ are beautifully relevant in a way that touches everyone who has ever longed to peel away their skin and start everything again. People tired of the same sounding alternative bands who are more interested in impressing Zane Lowe with their skinnies than they are with their music capability, will love the diverse nature of Grand National and their sporadic Gogol Bordello tendencies. Whilst individually, a lot of the songs like ‘Close Approximation’ are as pretty good, it’s the inconsistent and disorganised nature of the tracks that would at times leave it sounding more like a awkward NOW compilation, if it wasn’t for Robert’s distinctive vocals. The rely-race between genres does become tedious but Grand National’s songs still have the ability to toy with your feelings in the way that any good album should. More importantly, in this era of regularly manufactured ring-tone inspired noise, their lyrics have a fundamental believability that is so often missing, and as a result, their songs have heart.

Single Review - Magic Wands 'Teenage Love' - Acryllic Tom Tom

When a band’s MySpace Top Friends vary from Morrissey to ET it is perhaps difficult to imagine what Magic Wands will sound like. Yet, on listening, it all unexpectedly clicks into place. ‘Teenage Love’ has all the slow pace and dreamy keyboards of a 1970’s hit but when injected with evidence of CSS - it is slammed at G-force into 2008. Lyrics like ‘This teenage love has got me stuck/ Come over now so we can fuck” show CSS’s LoveFoxx’s dark sexual awareness that is perfectly paradoxical to the Ravonettes style backing. Whilst ‘Teenage Love’ is far from earth moving and at times waivers into sounding like a poorly put- together Carpenters sample, lust fuelled pleas like ‘forget about everything’ makes Magic Wands the welcomed advocators of sinful behaviour and brimming with potential.