In our last installment of The Black Sessions special we have the mighty Interpol with their classic 2004 set, recorded whilst the bands were touring off the back of debut Turn On The Bright Lights. 2007 sees the band return with album number three - Our Love To Admire will be released on July 10th via Capitpol records. More info on that here.

1. Untitled [download mp3 ♫]
2. Obstacle 1 [download mp3 ♫]
3. Stella Was A Diver And She Was Always Down [download mp3 ♫]
4. Roland [download mp3 ♫]
5. Specialist [download mp3 ♫]
6. Hands Away [download mp3 ♫]
7. NYC [download mp3 ♫]
8. PDA [download mp3 ♫]
9. Song Seven [download mp3 ♫]
10. Obstacle 2 [download mp3 ♫]

Bella Union have struck gold yet again with their latest signings, Denmark 5-piece The Kissaway Trail. Their self titled album is in stores now and is a real gem. Think Arcade Fire meets The Beach Boys with the same charm and likeability that so many of todays Scandanavian bands possess. Here we catch up with singer and guitarist Thomas Fagerlund as we offer up to him our delectable 20 Questions.

1. Describe your sound in 3 words
Fish, bird and in between.
2. Diet coca-cola or normal coke?
I think we prefer normal coke.
3. What would be your ideal holiday?
Last summer I went to an island near Rome called Ponza. If I get a chance for a holiday I would go there again!
4. What’s the best cure for a hangover?
Plenty of salt and lying on the couch watching movies. Maybe with a girl?
5. What’s on your rider?
I don’t think we are in a position of demanding anything special, so it is just wine, beer, some towels and water.
6. How do you get ready for a live show?
Some of us are eating a good meal and drinking some wine or beer. And smoking lots of cigarettes!
7. Favourite song to play live?
My favourite song live must be the opening song from our album “Forever Turned Out To Be Too Long”
8. When was the last time you told a lie?
Oh, I can’t remember…
9. Who would win in a fight, a stoat or a goat and why?
The stoat… I didn’t know what a stoat was and when I googled it, a big picture of a stoat with big teeth showed up and it looked really dangerous!
10. What was the last album you bought?
I am one of those who never buy records because I get jealous. I only buy music documentaries. But the newest album in my collection is the new Blonde Redhead “23” which I got a few weeks ago from our Danish record company.
11. What do you find annoying?
The “Jante Law”, a stupid Danish/Scandinavian unwritten “law” [a kind of “who-do-you-think-you-are” mentality if people try to be different]
12. Dead or alive. What 5 acts would you have play with you at a festival.
1.Nirvana (my favourite band)
2.Smashing Pumpkins (the band I’m most inspired by)
3.Psyched up Janis (a Danish band I miss so much)
4.Daniel Johnston (just love him)
5. The Beach Boys (just love them)
13. If you could only listen to one record for the rest of your life. What would it be?
Smashing Pumpkins’ “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness”
14. Most memorable on the road story.
There are so many, but our first time in the United States. I felt like being in a movie for 2 weeks…
15. What’s the best thing about being in The Kissaway Trail?
That we’re down to earth all the time.
16. Do you read your own reviews?
I sure don’t! But some of the other guys in the band do…
17. Tell us a fact about yourself we probably don’t already know.
I stutter and am very very shy.
18. Are you a morning bird or a night fox?
Both… I love being up early and love to party and write music in the night.
19. If you could travel back in time where would you set the dial?
Like many others I would like to have experienced the 60’s.
20. Least favourite person in the universe.
I don’t have one person in particular, but I don’t like people who think violence is funny.

Listen:

Links:
The Kissaway Trail [official site] [myspace]

Well, what a week for releases - we’ve got loads of singles to bring to your loving and well kept ears. From the sweeping ambient soundscapes of Dextro to the post-Libertines fodder of Sondre Lerche, there’s something here for everyone…

First up is your weekly dose of guys with guitars who liked The Libertines. This week it’s Sondre Lerche’s chance. And, well, it’s better than most. But The Tape still fails to excite - that familiar vocal delivery, The Jam riffs and jaunty tune just don’t quite add up. These guys just sound like everyone else out there at the moment.

The same can’t be said for Arms, the project of multi-instrumentalist Todd Goldstein. His debut single, Whirring, is like a blast of shoe-gazing loveliness. His voice, like Scott Walker in places, a strong baritone that sounds older that his 24 years. The guitars chime whilst the rhythm section sounds like it’s been recorded back in ’67. It’s like a blast of originality all the way through to the lyrics which recount his feelings when he first moved to NYC. Great stuff.

Also great is another debut, this time from the Scottish act Dextro. Hearts & Minds is a brooding and epic slice of ambient music, reminiscent of Tim Hecker or a less-Gallic Air. It gently revolves around quiet acoustic guitars and gentle beats, the pace a gentle walk and yet instantly transporting you into an environment of glacial mountains and brisk, chilling air. It builds slightly with the addition of an electronic chant of the song title, bringing in some heavily processed, Kevin Shields-esque, guitars. An impressive debut.

Following this is the clipped beats and echoing vocals of Maps. It Will Find You sounds like the Postal Service, though without the interesting lyrics. The music is nice but unambitious, this kind of indie-electronica has been done plenty of times before and to a greater level. The latest LCD Soundsystem album just makes artists like Maps sounded ten years behind everything else.

Something a bit antipodean next. John Butler Trio’s new single Funky Tonight. Get beyond the rubbish title and what you have is the sound of a band that plays loose and free with influences. Having seen them live at last years Cambridge Folk Festival, I was blown away by Butler’s guitar playing and whilst the recorded material doesn’t quite match the live intensity, this is a great slice of rock music infused with folk, blues and funk. Think the Red Hot Chili Peppers if they hadn’t lost it and had listened to more World music.

This week also see’s the release of the best track from last years (over) hyped Midlake album, The Trials of Van Occupanther, with Roscoe. This is a classic slice of retro-rock with it’s weirdly literary lyrics and over-driven guitars. It’s certainly one of my favourite tracks of last year and just seems a little odd to be released now…

With all these great singles it was hard to pick a Single of the Week. However, the return of The National with Mistaken For Strangers edges it. After the excellent Alligator, the worry would be that these guys couldn’t keep up the momentum, but the lead single from the new album Boxer, just serves to prove their one of the greatest bands currently playing. Their sound feels more muscular, the drums weighty and Matt Berninger’s voice, if possible, is lower and packing a more emotional punch. Great, sinister and brooding stuff.

Our good friends at Filter magazine in the States have a brand new track by The Walkmen streaming on their site. Red River appears in the new Spiderman 3 OST alongside new tracks by Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Flaming Lips.

Available from May 1st the full tracklisting is as follows:
Snow Patrol — “Signal Fire”
The Killers — “Move Away”
Yeah Yeah Yeahs — “Sealings”
Wolfmother — “Pleased To Meet You”
The Walkmen — “Red River”
Black Mountain — “Stay Free”
The Flaming Lips — “The Supreme Being Teaches Spider-Man How To Be In Love”
Simon Dawes — “Scared Of Myself”
Chubby Checker — “The Twist”
Rogue Wave — “Sightlines”
Coconut Records — “Summer Day”
Jet — “Falling Star”
Sounds Under Radio — “Portrait of A Summer Thief”
Wyos — “A Letter To St. Jude”
The Oohlas — “Small Parts”

Stream
The Walkmen - Red River
|Windows Media HI | Windows Media LO | Quicktime HI | Quicktime LO |

Links
The Walkmen [official site] [myspace]

Finally, the news we’ve all been waiting for has arrived! Interpol are all set to release their hugely anticiapted new album, entitled Our Love To Admire, it will be released on Capitol records on July 10th. The band have just wrapped up a Canadian tour in which they’d been playing a few new songs each night. For now the band only has select U.S. shows planned along with European shows in June-July followed by Asia and the UK in August.

More news on this as we get it…

Our Love To Admire Tracklist
1. Pioneer to the Falls
2. No I in Threesome
3. The Scale
4. The Heinrich Maneuver
5. Mammoth
6. Pace Is the Trick
7. All Fired Up
8. Rest My Chemistry
9. Who Do You Think
10 Wrecking Ball
11 The Lighthouse

Watch Interpol perform the first track from the album Pioneer To The Falls. Its a fan shot live video from a recent show in Ontario, Canada.

Links
Interpol [official site] [myspace]

Welcome to this weeks supply of videos. To keep you occupied this week we have the video for the fabulous new Midlake single Roscoe. Along with the debut video from Foals with their single Hummer. The men in black are back, yes Black Rebel Motorcycle Club return with new album Baby 81 - there strongest to date? Could well be. Watch the video for the lead single Weapon Of Choice right here. Having been to one of the most memorable gigs of recent times this week, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to post up a live video of Loney, Dear performing a magnificent version of In With The Arms, backed with his full live band. The vintage video this week comes from the mighty Depeche Mode with the classic Anton Corbijn directed video for Enjoy The Silence. A true gem from the 90’s. Until next week….

Artist:Midlake Title:Roscoe
Label:Bella Union

Artist:Black Rebel Motorcyle Club Title:Weapon Of Choice
Label:Island

Artist:Foals Title:Hummer
Label:Transgressive

Artist:Loney, Dear Title:In With The Arms (live)
Label:EMI Group

Artist:Depeche Mode Title:Enjoy The Silence
Release Date:1990 Label:Waner Bros

Do you have an all-time favourite music video? Want the world to see it? Email us at contact@thelineofbestfit.com and, if we like it, we’ll post it up on this very section.
Get interactive!

Something of an intriguing listen is Stay Close. With a band name like Death Vessel you instantly think of some mad, death metal band not the gentle acoustic folk that’s purveyed here. The solo project of one Joel Thibodeau, he’s joined on this album by Laura and Meg Baird of Espers, which will give you some idea of the music being crafted. There’s also the point that Joel’s singing voice sounds like a girl. Oh yes. A high and Carter Family-esque voice that sounds as if it’s come from the very mountains that spawned Bluegrass.

The main problem with this record is that it lack any kind of real cohesive structure. It meanders through it’s ten tracks of American folk, not really exercising any real voice of it’s own. It sounds like all the other bands that are crafting this kind of folk / anti-folk sound. It’s only when the sound is twisted a little, like the sinister Blowing Cave with it’s grating electric over acoustic guitars that things get interesting. The vocals aren’t the main focus, the music driving the song through a dustbowl of noise. One of the main problems is that Joel’s crone gets tiresome quite quickly and unfortunately the production centres on it, so the music always plays second fiddle to it. It’s only when the music drowns it out can you concentrate on something else. Other moments where it works like on Tiny Nervous Breakdown, which is a twee folk ballad with banjo and guitar that sounds like something from Jenny Lewis’ Rabbit Fur Coat album, the vocal harmonies dragging this above the average. And also on the gentle Snow Don’t Fall which is augmented by the presence of a, sadly neglected, electric guitar. It acts as an excellent contrast to the main folk theme running through the song.

So this record is a bit of a miss, not quite crafting an individual niche in this, now crowded, area of “nu-folk” music. To say that a record works when the vocals are drowned out isn’t the best compliment, but if Joel has his sights set on becoming truly great, then he’d do no worse by recruiting another singer and concentrate on the twisted folk aspects that make this album really work.
55%

Links
Death Vessel [official site] [myspace]

The Hold Steady have announced details of a forthcoming single from their recent, quite brilliant, album Boys And Girls In America. Stuck Between Stations will be released on the 4th May on a whole host of formats which the lovely people at Record Store are doing a preorder of all 3 for £4. Bargain. Get it here. The video for the single can be viewed just here.

You can catch their excellent live show at the following dates:July 2nd London Shepherds Bush Empire
July 4th Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms
July 5th Manchester Academy 2
July 7th T In The Park Festival Scotland
July 8th Oxygen Festival Ireland

What better way to spend a warm and hazy Wednesday evening in the nations capital than to experience a low key intimate show from everyones favourite indie pop genius Emil Svanängen and his fellow bandmates. Loney, Dear are fast becoming this years sensation. Having wowed fans and critics alike with last years Sologne and new album Loney, Noir, the band have just come back from an extensive tour of the US that saw them opening for Of Montreal and most recently Low. On a whistle stop tour of the UK before they head back to their homeland of Sweden we are treated to an evening of pure joy. More on that later though.

First up in a still half empty Water Rats are Bristol based newcomers Lena Rez. They play a fairly impressive 30 minute set of hypnotic downtempo indie. Weird and wonderful slide guitar over soothing melodies and the occasional burst of energy. Though, by the end of the set I felt like i’d been given a dose of Ketamine. Or maybe that was just the cheap lager. A few more people trickled in for Forever Like Red, but they should have stayed in the bar. These guys play meat and two veg indie rock with a splattering of angst. I did find myself enjoying moments but these were totally ruined by the lead singers attitude problem. Less said about them the better, though the drummer was great - some of the best facial expressions I’ve seen all year.

The venue was totally rammed by 10pm when Loney, Dear march onto the stage and deliver the goods from the word go. You can tell instantly that the rigorous touring schedule has helped the band gel together, its as if they can read one anothers minds as they weave in and out of each others instruments. Malin Ståhlberg watching her leader like a hawk throughout, she harmonises beautifully with Emil’s love-lorn melodies twisting and turning around the music. Flourishes of synth and samples recreate the multi layered texture of the original recordings, but also add an energy that is sometimes missing on record. The band soar through I Am John, which receives the first big cheer of the evening. Sounding tight, the band and audience alike are having a whale of a time now. It would be worth pointing out that, for the first time in a while, it was nice to go to a London show and not be surrounded by too cool for school indie kids. The crowd were responsive throughout and totally mesmerised by the quieter moments of the set. You could hear a pin drop during In With The Arms, now totally stripped back to just acoustic guitar and vocal, Emil didn’t even need to use his microphone during the opening verse. It was a really magical moment, band and audience totally as one now. The City, The Airport closed the main set and is a euphoric live as it is on record. As the band downed tools and left the stage the audience demanded more and the troops hopped back on for two more songs. Not thinking the evening could get any better, they closed the show with a personal favourite I Do What I Can, from the Citadel Band album, still only available from the bands website. With a huge grin on my face, again helped by cheap lager I left the venue knowing I’d just witnessed a show that will stay in my thoughts for a long time to come.

Click for more photos from the show

Downloads
Loney, Dear - I Do What I Can [download mp3 ♫]
Loney, Dear - Over The Mountain [download mp3 ♫]
Loney, Dear - In With The Arms (live in Washington DC) [download mp3 ♫]

Links
Lena Rez [myspace]
Forever Like Red [myspace]
Loney, Dear [official site] [myspace]
The Line Of Best Fit Interview with Emil Svanängen [here]
20 Questions with Emil Svanängen [here]

Yes, yes, we all know she used to be in the Sugababes, but that’s all in the past. Siobhan’s new single, Don’t Give It Up, (which was out last week) is a quirky and left-field slice of pure pop. A fresh outlook from a British artist who isn’t following the usual R’n’B route of her contemporaries. The Line of Best Fit caught up with her as she reveals her love of fry-up’s and her liquid only preparation for gigs.

1. Describe your sound in 3 words.
Compassionate, dedicated, spontaneous.
2. Diet coca-cola or normal coke?
Normal coke. Anything diet is a waste of time.
3. What would be your ideal holiday?
My favorite holiday was on Phra Nang Beach and Cave in Krabi, Thailand. If I could get to the galapogos islands in my time that would be amazing!
4. What’s the best cure for a hangover?
A fry up. We’re Irish. A fry up occurs most mornings.
5. What’s on your rider?
Beer, vodka, whiskey, water. Usually only liquids.
6. How do you get ready for a live show?
By trying to be on my own as much as possible so as the hussle and bussle doesn’t freak me out!
7. Favourite song to play live?
A song called Medevac which is off my new album ’Ghosts’
8. When was the last time you told a lie?
I don’t lie unless it is to save someone’s feelings.
9. Who would win in a fight, a stoat or a goat and why?
The stoat would win as it’s primarily a nocturnal animal so the goat would be taken out at night.
10. What was the last album you bought?
Hinterland by Aim. A very nice summer listen.
11. What’s your pet hate?
People who talk too much about themselves. Maybe at this point in time that person is me!
12. Dead or alive. What 5 acts would you have play with you at a festival.
Liz Fraser, in fact her along with the two guys from The Cocteau Twins. Dolly Parton. Jeff Buckley. The Cinematic Orchestra and Brian Eno
13. Desert Island Disc? Pick only one.
Slo Fuzz by Sol Seppy
14. Most memorable on the road story.
Me throwing my phone at a bee that was attacking me and naturally all that did was break my phone….not the bee!!
15. What’s the best thing about being a solo artist?
I can be a total control freak and that’s ok.
16. Do you read your own reviews?
No. If you believe the good then you have to believe the bad.
17. Tell us a fact about yourself we probably don’t already know.
I was an all England champion in irish dancing when I was 8 years old.
18. Are you a morning bird or a night fox?
Absolutely both. Why choose. I’m an optimist.
19. If you could travel back in time where would you set the dial?
Hmmmm somewhere in the 18th century. The clothes were amazing.
20. Least favourite person in the universe.
Now, it would be very horrible to pin-point just the one person now wouldn’t it?

Links
Siobhan Donaghy [official site] [myspace]

Lewis & Clarke’s debut album is something of an oddity. It sounds completely out of tune with our times. It’s music of simplistic splendor and of a time, long ago, before the hustle and bustle of the 21st Century encroached on our lives. There’s a whole host of instruments on here from the usual guitar and strings to the more exotic harp and horns. Bringing to mind a less grandiose Joanna Newsom, the beauty here is in this simplistic and, seemingly, honest approach to song writing.

Blasts of Holy Birth begins with the gentle folk instrumental of Secret of the Garden Flower with it’s twisted strings and sinister noises that sound like the soundtrack to a troubled walk through a dark forest. This lightens up as it blends into the title track, a gentle acoustic guitar picks up as the dark soundtrack flows away. The lyrics seem to be dealing with the blurring of reality and dream, maybe through the use of illegitimate, or otherwise, drugs. Lou Rogai’s vocals are a dreamy and gentle instrument in themselves, perfectly complementing the floating sounds around which it flows. The quite lovely Comfort Inn is an eight minute epic which deals with the reasons why the protagonist of the song should see his beloved before she leaves. These reasons go from the mundane to the magnificent; “She’s opened you up you see”. The music skips and rolls around the words from the intricately picked guitars to the gently brushed drums and droning strings. Not content with that epic, Before It Breaks You hits the ten minute mark, but these songs never feel long. The music has a central theme but other ideas break out from this and meander through it, drawing you in with different threads. Here the gentle tinkle of piano compliments the guitars and harp, spiriting the song through it’s core. Black Doves twists the mix, blending instruments that sound as if they’ve come from the East, sitar sounds and ethnic beats infusing to increase the tempo.

Whilst this might not be as adventurous or as challenging as, say, Six Organs Of Admittance who also play this twisted and alternative folk music, this is a joy to listen to. The songs create impressive scenes of wonder that draw you in and transport you into another world that’s full of flowing streams of music entwining with lyrics and stories of wonder.
80%

Links
Lewis & Clarke [official site] [myspace]
La Societe Expeditionnaire [official site]

On 2nd July the re-united Crowded House release Time On Earth, their first studio album since 1993’s ‘Together Alone’. With a line-up featuring founder members Neil Finn and Nick Seymour, former member Mark Hart and new drummer Matt Sherrod.

Time On Earth was recorded at Roundhead Studios, Auckland, NZ, RAK Studios, London, and Real World Studios, Wiltshire, and was produced by Ethan Johns (Ryan Adams, Kings Of Leon, Ray LaMontagne) and Steve Lillywhite (U2, Morrissey). Guitar legend Johnny Marr features on two tracks, lead-off single Don’t Stop Now (out 25th June), and Even A Child, a song he co-wrote with Neil Finn. Another album track, Silent House, was co-written by Finn and the Dixie Chicks.

Paul Hester, Crowded House’s original drummer, tragically passed away in 2005. ‘Time On Earth’ is dedicated to his memory.

Time On Earth tracklisting:
1. Nobody Wants To
2. Don’t Stop Now
3. She Called Up
4. Say That Again
5. Pour Le Monde
6. Even A Child
7. Heaven That I’m Making
8. Silent House
9. English Trees
10. Walked Her Way Down
11. Transit lounge
12. You Are The One to Make Me Cry
13. A Sigh
14. People Are Like Suns

The band are also playing a handful of dates this summer:
Sunday April 29th - Coachella Festival, Indio CA, USA
Saturday June 23rd - Hyde Park Calling, London - co-headlining with Peter Gabriel
Sunday June 24th - Outsider Festival, Rothiemurchus, Scotland - headlining

Links
Crowded House [official site] [myspace]

As the years and summers go by, more and more festivals are springing up. Not just across the UK but also Europe and America. From the comfort of the chalets at All Tomorrow’s Parties (we’ll be at the v The Fans weekend) to the Summer Case festival in Barcelona through to the Pitchfork Music Festival in America.

What we’d like to do here at The Line of Best Fit is collate as many people’s experiences from as many different festivals as we can. We’ll then post these on a separate area, a Festival Catalog if you will, of the best (and worst) bits of 2007.

So get your pencil out, grab yourself a notebook and write something! Then drop Rich Hughes a line at RJLH@thelineofbestfit.com with your piece, plus any photos, and we’ll post ’em!

Good luck and watch out for the portaloo’s.

Editors have announced details of the follow-up to their rather good debut record The Back Room. Entitled An End Has a Start, the album is set to be released on the 25th June and will be proceeded by the single Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors on 18 June (digital available 11 June).

A special video announcement from the band is available to watch on their main website.

The album track listing is as follows:
1. Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors
2. An End Has A Start
3. The Weight Of The World
4. Bones
5. When Anger Shows
6. The Racing Rats
7. Push Your Head Towards The Air
8. Escape The Nest
9. Spiders
10. Well Worn hand

Links
Editors [official site] [myspace]

Patrick Wolf: Wake up you lazy sod!

Patrick Wolf says he plans to quit music at the end of the year. He has used the excuse that the drain of touring and constant promotion has become too much.

Talking on his official web forum he said:

“I don’t think when I was 16 and dreamt of releasing records there would ever be so much crazy speculation about the person I am and what you want me to be.
“I have become so tired of this behaviour, sometimes I wake up and have to do six hours of interviews before doing a show, then go straight to bed to sleep a couple of hours then fly to a new country to be cross-examined in the same way…I don’t know what is left of me”.

He adds:
“I have made a decision, my final concert will be this November, a retrospective with an orchestra in London.
“I am not sure whether there will be anymore public communications after that, in fact I am pretty sure there will be none.
“Of course, this has nothing to do with my drummer, but a creative clock is ticking and I have many many projects to be creating with my time left on this earth. I hope to share my last shows with you this year”.

He also explained that he’d had to sack his drummer because of drug problems.

Wolf is set to appear at the Latitude festival in Suffolk this July.

On first listen you would be forgiven for thinking that the self-titled debut by Danish quintet, The Kissaway Trail, is yet another attempt to jump on the Arcade Fire bandwagon. The catchy melodies and huge sounding string arrangements mixed with mandolins and banjos are hugely reminiscent of the Arcade Fires finest moments. Look a little deeper though, and what is revealed is an album of hidden depths, crammed with joyous hope and youthful optimism, yet with a darker undertone hidden away at the songs core. Opening track Forever Turned Out To Be Too Long is a perfect example of this “Hey! If you’re listening you’ll hear / The Worlds inner decay”, a refrain repeated over lush orchestral backing, church organ and a childlike choir adding the “la la la’s”.

Within the band we find two singer songwriters in Thomas Fagerlund and Søren Corneliussen who both share vocal duties throughout. The difference in their style of writing is what makes the album so listenable from start to finish. Fagerlund writes with a childlike innocence, in La La Song “Let’s run away, today / The stars, the stars will guide us” he tempts the listener into throwing away all their troubles and strife by jetting off to Los Angeles and in album highlight Smother + Evil = Hurt the band are reminiscent of The Polyphonic Spree at their most triumphant. The Corneliossen penned songs offer a contrast with post rock textures and a darker mood with the songs Soul Assasins (”Sometimes I’m afraid to live / Its like life is a little tired of me) and Sometimes I’m Always In Black (”When winter comes, don’t wash away my tears”), the instrumental backing turns the lyrical content of these tracks from being down in the mouth to totally euphoric and uplifting.

Throughout the eleven tracks here the band show considerable skill and restraint in holding everything together. It would have been easy for them to get carried away in the layers of instruments used by letting the grand orchestration overcome the songs various moods. By showing restraint they have created a wonderfully intricate, yet totally accessible debut that is sure to turn up in many a year end best of lists. What the future holds for The Kissaway Trail is anyones guess, but with the backing of label Bella Union (home to last years sensations Midlake) for now, at least, the sky’s the limit.
82%

Links
The Kissaway Trail [official site] [myspace]
Bella Union Records [official site] [myspace]

Details of a new album from The Mars Volta, tentatively scheduled for release late Summer 2007 and to be recorded after they’ve finished their current jaunt around the West Coast. In a recent interview with "Time Off" magazine, Bixler-Zavala stated that the next album would be a concept album: "I don’t want to give the plot away right now, but the new one has to do with this gift that Omar found for me when he went traveling once. The gift came with a story that was attached to it, and we’re trying to re-interpret the story again".

Who’d have thought it, The Mars Volta making a concept album… Whatever next!

Links
The Mars Volta [official site] [myspace]

The spirited and feisty Hussy’s have recently released a debut record full of 80’s guitar riffs and spirited vocals, not totally unlike the dear Catatonia. We put on our best fighting gloves and threw in our questions.

1. Describe your sound in 3 words.
Perky pimp pop.
2. Diet coca-cola or normal coke?
Diet.
3. What would be your ideal holiday?
A tent in the rain in the Highlands with an attractive fellow camper of the opposite sex.
4. Popcorn: sweet or salted?
Sweet.
5. What’s on your rider?
Zilch.
6. How do you get ready for a live show?
A good argument does the trick…
7. Do you have any superstitions?
No.
8. US or UK?
US.
9. Who would win in a fight, a weasel or a badger and why?
A weasel as they are notoriously vicious. The badger would collapse from tuberculosis half way through.
10. What was the last album you bought?
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Bang OST, The Sherman Bros.
11. What’s your pet hate?
Half heartedness.
12. Bob Dylan or Neil Young?
Bob Dylan.
13. Desert Island Disk? Pick only one.
Teenage Head - Flaming Groovies.
14. What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?
Ben Folds 5 - Barrowlands Glasgow.
15. Favourite Pizza Topping?
Pinneapple, Chicken, Barbecue sauce.
16. Chinese or Indian takeway?
Both at once on the same plate getting shovelled down as fast as my pink little piggy fingers will go….
17. Tell us a fact about yourself we probably don’t already know.
Only one member of the Hussy’s (James) cant play drums.
18. What new music are you currently listening to?
The Shins, Ruby Suns, Hold Steady and Amy Winehouse.
19. If you could travel back in time where would you set the dial?
Cromwellian times when his soldiers were going round and arresting people for making Xmas dinner. Sounds like a right laugh.
20. Least favourite person in the universe.
Kermit the frog.

Links:
The Hussy’s [official site] [myspace]

A bit of a quiet week for singles, however, they’re all worth listening to. Result!

First up is The Beep Seals with their appropriately titled debut Tell Your Friends. Like the bastard love child of The Bees and The Coral this is gently psychedelic pop music influenced by the dusty past of the 60’s, it sounds surprisingly fresh and good natured. B-side I Used To Work At The Zoo is an incredibly infectious track full of animal grunts, snarls and menacing guitars, the vocals floating in a sea of haze and, no doubt, hay. Great stuff.

What we have next is the newest hope for British guitar music, Foals. This isn’t your usual skinny guys with guitars stuff though, no sign of The View, The Twang or The Enemy, thankfully, here. This is genuinely different, the guitars are stacked at various angles, cracking and chirping with bleeps of keyboards and vocals that sound like John Lydon if he could sing. Hummer might be the title, but you’d be buggered if you tried to hum it. The flip side, Astronauts And All, continues this oddly addictive mix of crashing guitars and keyboards, all dueling for your attention, jumping and thrashing about like a spider with epilepsy.

With Country Mile currently being used for a Tesco advert (??!), Camera Obscura return with new single Tears For Affairs - the fourth cut from last years magnificent Lets Get Out Of This Country. This time around we have more of the same Phil Spector-isms in the production but with a more Parisian feel running throughout the track, helped along by accordion and organ. Tracyanne Campbells vocals are as gorgeous as ever, rapped in a blanket of reverb as she mulls over a much regretted relationship “shedding tears for affairs, I’m a stupid little thing”. Its a tender, lovingly crafted song thats perfect for a lazy sunny afternoon. Single Of The Week.