Zammuto - Zammuto

Finding new music is one of my passions and greatest joys. Recently, the rather splendid Mr Steve Cowley, aka Camp America, in the midst of remodelling a track for my own band Ghostree, turned me on to the music of Zammuto. One listen through to YAY, the opening track on the project's self-titled debut album, and I was sold.

This is a special album. Nick Zammuto is a genius. Riff and hook-heavy "pop" music for grown ups is the order of the day here. Whereas much of the press from bastions of indie-ness such as Pitchfork have  commented on similarities and differences with Zammuto's former work I, being in the perhaps unfortunate position of unfamiliarity with his former band, Books, was able to approach Zammuto with fresh ears and an uncluttered mind.

I love this record. Layer upon layer of just great creativity seeps out of every pore. Nothing is wasted, nothing is over-done, everything feels just right. Take for instance the jazz-infused Idiom Wind, the first track to feature truly discernible vocals, led by a wandering bass line and off-kilter percussion, this track  follows the pattern of much of the album of being something of a mini pop-symphony. Often, when listening to new bands, I can be churlish and think "I understand that, that's easy to do" or some such. Not so here. The compositional mind at work here is a wonder, a thing of beauty. To not only come up with the ideas here, but also to bring them to fruition on such a beautifully formed record is a sign of greatness. The wonderfully named FU C3PO is another highlight, the most un-single sounding single you're likely to hear all year, but at the same time, a perfect single for a band like Zammuto, it distills all that is brilliant about the band in three and a half minutes and leaves you begging for more. Of particular interest here is the fusion of electronica and processed vocals, which give an unsettling sense, but at the same time feel just right.

This is one of my favourite records of the year so far. A triumph, and a dizzying call to creativity and challenging pop music for the rest of us.

It seems that others agree with me. Zammuto is busy on the road in the USA right now, including forthcoming dates with Gotye. I can only dream of how these songs would transmit live, but I urge you, if you are fortunate enough to live on that side of the pond, to take the opportunity to find out when they roll through your town.

Listen to this wonderful album below.

Sound Supply - Drop 3

First of all, you need to click this link. Now. Did you click it yet? Now you've clicked, you'll be starting to see what all the fuss is about.

The gimmick, if you can call it that without being unintentionally insulting, is easy. Ten albums, available in a bulk download, for 10 days (starting today) for $15. That's just under £10 of your English money. Or, not very much. Or an album for a pound.

I got into this a couple of months ago (they release bi-monthly it seems) and discovered the newest records by Jeremy Enigk and The Xcerts, as well as catching up with TW Walsh (Pedro the Lion) and several others.

This time, it's even better. Albums from The Dear Hunter, Asobi Seksu, the quite brilliant Via Audio, as well as Hellogoodbye and Small Cities are the highlights here. Highlights that is, apart from the return of The Get Up Kids, one of the best bands, in like, ever. You can get this deal for a little over 9 days. You would be an idiot not to. An idiot. The Dear Hunter's record is blowing my mind right now.

You can read an interview with the ideas man behind the project here

Sound Supply offer a $75 annual subscription deal too. Tempting isn't it? Especially when the music is this good...

10 albums, for $15 every two months. It's like the best "introduce me to new music" idea I've seen in years. Click the link now, or watch that there intro video below. But do it. Do it now.



I'm off to do some serious listening...

Help Gaz Coombs (You know you want to)

Gaz Coombs (he used to sing in Supergrass you know) has just released his debut solo record. Gaz Coombs Present...Here Come The Bombs is a brave new step in a career which has been full of brave steps.

And now, if you're in the UK, you have the chance to be in his new video (tomorrow). Head to the link below, and get ready to simulate!

Sign up here - http://assets.emi.com/gazcoombes/signup/images/index.html

Foreign Slippers - Farewell to the Old Ghosts

"Welcome to the world of Foreign Slippers, where flocks of scratchy birds fly over enchanted forests full of cloth dogs and mercurial musicians, while a bewitching voice sings lullabies to the icy sky…"


So begins the press release for this brilliant new album, one of the finest singer-songwriter albums 2012 has so far had to offer. If it wasn't so, well, spot on, you could dismiss it as pretentious nonsense, but one listen to this intense, sometimes unsettling, but always wonderful and ultimately uplifting record renders the description perfect.


Foreign Slippers, the brainchild of Gabi Froden are yet another band you need to know about this year. Current touring mates of Duke Special, an artist who ploughs a similar furrow to Froden's ethereal and yet indulgent songs, theirs is an album sure to take up residence in the end of year best of lists of the discerning listener. Not as immediate as some people might like, lacking in pithy, singalong choruses it may be, but Farewell to the Old Ghosts is chock full of invention, creativity and musical nous. I am sold. Completely sold. The world needs more songwriters who aren't afraid to push boundaries, to try things. And not just to try things, but to winningly, spectacularly succeed whilst doing so.


There are a lot of great songs here. I particularly loved the pulse of Under Your Ribs, while the more restrained Two People in You is a thing of beauty which must go down a storm live. This is a consistent album for certain, not one to be easily penetrated on first listen, but one to be lived with, to grow in to. Take the time, you won't regret it. Watch the video for the brilliant title track below, and be sure to buy this record!

Needmore - Back At the Start

Needmore are one of the most exciting new faces on the American college pop-rock circuit right now. Already asked to perform on the prestigious Jimmy Kimmel Live in the USA, and propelled by the anthemic single Lost My Way (watch the video below) their newest mini-album, Back At The Start is a cool collection of radio-ready rock songs, precision-engineered to achieve maximum impact for those times when you just fancy whistling a song as you walk down the street, sing in the shower, or pretend to be a rock star with your hair-brush in front of the mirror (you do that too, right? RIGHT?).

This is a band, as the people in the know say, who have traction. Radio success on multiple continents, exposure on MTV, and a slew of highly successful college tours are already under their belts. A rise to the big leagues seems assured on the basis of their hard work-ethic and sensible business plan alone, but what of the songs?

Well on this seven track EP (which is really only six, as the first track acts as an intro), we are met with, primarily, BIG STUFF. Everything is huge, from the drum sounds, which are the most immediately apparent aspect of the band's sound, to the widescreen and full-on vocal placing at play on the title track, as it flows in to a Coldplay-esque fusion of piano and emotive single note guitar riffs, leading to a  plethora of "woah, oh, ohhhs" and a bull-horn of a chorus, you know where you are and why this works. Everything here is just right. These guys can write, play, and they have something to say.  In lead vocalist Garrett McArthur, they possess a weapon, able to sound sugary-sweet one moment, and to caterwaul like the best of them the next. Add some cinematic strings towards the end of the track, and really. everything a band needs to try and out Chris Martin Chris Martin barring an annoying falsetto is present and correct.

Next we have the afore-mentioned Lost My Way, which is a great song. Period. This one comes off a little more in the Lifehouse direction for me, but again, features some good invention in the instrumentation, a great vocal performance, and is just dying to be played on the radio. 

The final main track on the EP is Too Late, which builds from a piano-led intro in to an epic close. Once again, this is perfect for radio. 

Following these, acoustic versions of the three previous songs round out the EP and show that good songs, done in any style, remain good songs. I would have preferred a couple more songs performed in Needmore's signature style, but I guess they must be saving those for an album or some such. A band marketed this well always has a plan :-)

If you love pop-rock which is on the softer end of things, but which is all about the songs, this record is for you. I would be shocked if Needmore do not continue their apparently meteoric rise to greater things, so get in early and enjoy them from the start.