Cripes. It’s been a stupidly busy week, and I’ve been quiet. Lots to catch up on, but first, the weekly irrelevance that is Monday Music:
Warpaint – Elephants (mp3)
Sometimes I swear there’s a holy man in a holy room with a big tombola full of names of upcoming bands, and every week he plucks one out, and says of the chosen act: your time is now. Listening in via iPad, his humble disciples like Paul (The Guardian) and Dan (Sunday Times) act accordingly, and said band goes overnight from might-be to sure-thing. It’s happened now with Warpaint, a four-female-piece from LA. I’m not sure why, but suddenly everyone likes them, everyone‘s raving about them. Whatever the reason, the sudden glory sure is justified. This swirling, distorted cocktail of introspection is my personal favourite.
Fistful of Mercy – Fistful of Mercy (mp3)
This titular track from Ben Harper’s new band has the effect of making everything seem slow-motion. Walking home yesterday with it in my ears, I saw a couple at a bus-stop: the guy was stroking his girls palm with his thumb, and she was just smiling, the definition of content, and ease and peace. The world hummed, time stood truly still and I felt reasonably sure all would eventually be okay.
Grizzly Bear – On A Neck, On A Spit (mp3)
This week I find myself especially unable to resist slowburn folk-rock, flickery guitar licks, murmurous sings, diverse phases a la Sunset Rubdown, bold silences and a dazed, diluted feel. A song that will get me through the winter.
HEALTH - USA Boys (mp3)
The much-vaunted Lanzarote club night was, in my opinion, pants: too quiet between bands, too light, not a warehouse, stupid expensive, yadda yadda. But amid the gripery came a stunning performance by HEALTH: half thrash metal, half sun-kissed digitalism, 100% pounding intensity and unstinting captivation. We moshed, we grinded, and then we sighed in solemn unity at the goodness of God.
Wise Blood – B.I.G E.G.O (mp3)
Trippier than a house defended by Macauley Culkin, this slice of edgy house flickers eternally out of focus like a mesmeric candle, and scuttles away from you in the manner of a shy spider you don’t really want to catch.
Monday Music’s a weekly post where I abandon my London focus for five songs from artists anywhere that I’ve enjoyed in the past week