I for one still do, but my patience is being tried on a constant basis with each dissappointing release after another.
Lets start with the freshest of the fresh - Django Django - the name conjures up less than positive visions of the worst excesses of Jazz Prog - endless snare drum solos with intermittent marimbula flashes and the odd diaphragmly challenged solo trumpet parp! But fear not minions, this is fun pop, or rather rock/pop at its most funnest (sic)! Finally the UK has something tolerably decent to offer. We're nowhere near stadium fillers yet, but these young scottish lads are starting to make the right waves. Admittedly I championed Micachu at some point and where are they now? But this is exactly the kind of Pop I want to hear right now. So I won't be winning awards as an A&R man anytime soon, but they've gone the way of the proverbial dinosuars anyways. I will recommend this self-titler for anyone after a bit of non-taxing escapism - its fun.
Keeping in the same frame of delusionary pop escapism, I also recommend Miike Snow's Happy To You, despite every hipster unloving (and that is reverse ironic psychology to a T) rock zine's lukewarm responses. These Swedish boys know their way round a tune and have a keen ear for a pop arrangement. And isn't the Devil's Work the perfect pop song? No seriously, it is!
Staying on the convivial tip, Michael Kiwanuka's Home Again is a retro throwback to the early 70s soul albums chocked full of horns and the odd country and western flirtation ... yeah Ronson and his ilk has beaten this Londoner to the punch ... but Michael has an old country folksy flair that inches it above the rest of the commercial dross clogging up the internets these days.
Similarly dramatic but a little more sombre is The Twilight Sad's No One Can Ever Know. Its that scottish brogue that gets me. Its thick and seductive, much like the music underpinning this band's devastating lyrical turns. This is meaty emotional rock and they deserve every accolade they get and a bit more attention.
To cool things down a little we have King Creosote and Jon Hopkin's Diamond Mine - these are quiet contemplative and narrative songs - I'm sure there is some underlying concept here but who cares - just listen and let it all seep in ... they're beautiful.
And finally, just for a bit of dance around the loungeroom fun we have The 2 Bears' Be Strong - dance fluff to make even the most unfortunate looking feel beautiful and sexy inside. And how could you say an unkind word about music that does that.
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