Groove Armada - Paper Romance

The sound is not new; if you like MGMT and Justice then you'll probably like this new single from Groove Armada off their upcoming album Black Light. It's a slightly depressing dance track, but one where you will still fling your arms out into some brilliant shapes anyway. Also the music video is basically like Red Riding with glitter spandex. There's some great elements in Paper Romance; catchly chorus, that awesome tubular bells sound effect, and it's a lot less 'tampered' with compared with some other electro-dance outfits. But overall, bluh.

3/5

Lia

Owl City - Fireflies

[Cheer up son, at least your fringe can double up as a hairband.]

>Having found a strong fan base on MySpace (we’ve heard that before) Owl City’s debut Fireflies is proving to be a major hit having topped the Billboard Hot 100 in America at #1 and reached #2 in the UK. Clearly Adam Young (the man behind Owl City) has a lot of future potential. Having until now balanced making music in his parent’s basement with working in a Coke factory, Young was shortlisted in the top 15 list of the BBC Sound of 2010 which, in the past, has correctly predicted the success of the likes of Lady GaGa, Adele and Little Boots.

Fireflies is a perfect example of the second wave of synthpop that is said to be creeping back into society having gone out of fashion in the 90’s.

I’ll be honest and say that this is not an especially original song. The backing vocals are supplied by the lead singer of Relient K (a rock band that Christians go ga-ga for) and indeed, on listening, I found little that can be distinguished between the music of Owl City and that of Relient K.

Fireflies IS a good egg, but I predict the best is yet to come so watch this space.

Further Listening : Relient K - Be My Escape

By MISTER Oli Wilkie

Codeine Velvet Club - Hollywood

Codeine Velvet Club offer something kitsch and nostalgic but unfortunately delivered unwell in this single. Although the Beach Boys harmonys are wonderful, the melody isn't strong enough to maintain interest. Amy Winehouse brought back the blues and jazztasticular beats to extreme popularity, (as well as spawning Pixie Lott and that ginge Paloma) but we just can't see CDV doing the same with big band music. The music video seems to reflect this; the band appear to be playing in front of an audience of 1.
2/5
Lia Han

Alex metric

Alex Metric made his debut live appearance last night at The Flowerpot just north of Camden Town. Alex has been releasing music, both original and also producing an astonishing number of fantastic remixes, for a few years now and is currently on the Marine Parade roster.

I approached the gig with a fair amount of anticipation and I have to admit, slight trepidation. It can be very difficult to transform DJ produced tracks into a live performance. When done well, however, it can produce a spectacular show. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing the masters, Soulwax, play live several times and their show is unrivalled in the realm of dance acts playing truly live. (The likes of the Chemical Brothers, Justice and Daft Punk don’t count because disappointingly they don’t use live instruments) Consequently, when I arrived to see a full band setup on stage my excitement grew. Not only that but as I left the bar to take my viewing position I nearly walked into the man himself, Mr Metric, who was mingling with the crowd pre-set, incredible!

Alex and the band took to the stage soon after and began with a track that I have to admit I haven’t heard before, I hope that isn’t a huge faux-pas! The track featured a lot of vocal’s from Alex proving that he’s not “just a DJ”. The band then merged into the next track, “Head Straight” which incidentally has an audience of millions as it features on the recently released FIFA 10 video game. Head Straight as a single is very easy to listen to and I did wonder how this would be transformed into a live band performance. The live version was amazing with what I can only describe as a brilliant mini-jam halfway through. (I hope he retains that in the set) Following on from head straight was my favourite track of the night, Alex’s remix of the Splitr track, “All Alone”. It was an inspired decision to include this in the set and on a bigger soundsystem the crowd will go crazy. I’m a big advocate of act’s playing covers, bootlegs and remixes during their live sets so this ticked another box. Another solid performance from the band with “In your machine”, reinforced their credentials that they really can make it work playing live. The throbbing basslines, rapid pace and distorted vocals of “What Now” added a further dimension to the set. The set ended with another track that I wasn’t familiar with that I believe will feature on his soon to be released album.
Alex Metric’s live show may have only just started out but it will certainly become one to watch out for in the future.

You can catch Alex doing his monthly residency on Thursday’s at 9pm Radio 1.
His live set gets it’s first big outing tomorrow at Brixton Academy supporting Phoenix before he tours the country from mid-November.
http://www.myspace.com/alexmetric

By Chris Haggart

End Credits - Chase&Status ft. Plan B

Dubstep has been around for some time. Really it has.

Thankfully in my opinion it is hitting the mainsteam.

Chase and Status one of the most well know dubstep artists have now taken the growing genre to the movies, with the aptly named 'end credits' made for the soon to be screened 'Harry Brown' which I might add boasts Michael Caine.

I fell in love with this track when I first heard it aired on radio, and when given the promo CD by kitty, to listen to again and again and write a review, I was nothing less than "buzzin' blad" mainly because I am a big Plan B fan, and it's wonderful to hear another side to his heartfelt rap-screams, where he sings in this song.

Simply the beats are heavy, the dubstep wobble is present and its out there, on the big screen. Dubstep has landed people, in it's lightest form, but boyyyyyy does it make me feel good!

Oh one last thing it has been championed by the genre man from Radio 1; Zane Lowe. Nuf' said people.

Image taken from: http://remix.vg/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/chase-and-status.%20jpg

Safe!

Michele