Music Under Fire

Look out! Its our 'Mix For The Weekend IV', something which we strayed from since the beginning of last year. Our weekend mixes are made for the sole purpose to mix some better known indie groups with some lesser known ones to give a diverse overall mix and help you hear some bands who may not be getting all of the attention they deserve. (We will note that there are one or two songs from previous years on here).

Most notable on the mix below is our most anticipated band of 2009, The Answering Machine, one of our Bands You Must Know whom we've been following since last February. If you dig Toyko Police Club and The Strokes, we feel these Londoners will be the perfect mix for you. Also on our list, Math and Physics Club has a gleeful tune, something more along the lines of Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin (one of our top albums of 08'. Albert Hammond, Jr's vocals practically sound like Wilco from the beginning but truly break off into his own style.

A song stuck in our heads for weeks was The Black Ghost's RAC remix of "Repetition Kills You". The original version is great too if you prefer to hear Damon Albarn (Gorillaz/Blur). Dappled Cities might be our favorite track on this mix with "Fire Fire Fire". There's also a remix out there of this song.

We dropped Kyte as one of our Songs of the Week two weeks back with "Bridges In The Sky". This version of "Solsbury Hill" is an interesting take from the version we all know and love. Sonic Flyer, another band from London, UK has been working on some great new tunes. And two new bands we've discovered, The Heartless Bastards and Beulah have some great tracks below.

MP3: Albert Hammond, Jr - GfC (buy)
MP3: Cedars - Just Off The Coast (buy)
MP3: Heartless Bastards - The Mountain (buy)
MP3: Lab Partners - Its How You Feel (buy)
MP3: Lily Allen - The Fear (buy)
MP3: Sonic Flyer - Novocaine (buy - UK store link)
MP3: The Answering Machine - Cliffer (buy)
MP3: Black Ghosts - Repetition Kills You (RAC Remix) (buy)
MP3: Electrelane - To The East (buy)
MP3: The Apples In Stereo - Energy (buy)
MP3: Dappled Cities - Fire Fire Fire (buy)
MP3: Prefuse 73 - The Class Of 73 Bells (School of Seven Bells Remix) (buy)
MP3: Friendly Fires - Skeleton Boy (buy)
MP3: Kyte - Solsbury Hill (Peter Gabriel cover) (buy)
MP3: Beulah - Man Like Me (buy)
MP3: Math and Physics Club - Darling, Please Come Home (buy)
MP3: Journey - Any Way You Want It (Telemitry Remix)

When we found out that the harmonious and melancholic songwriter Anna-Lynne Williams (Lotte Kestner) from Trespassers William covered a song from The Cure, it caught our attention.

So The Cure could be depicted in the same light of TW due to the ever-engaging hope/hopeless lyrics, but with the shoe gaze effect of Williams' vocals and the electronica enhancing from band mate Matt Brown's side project Disinterested, a sliver of light turns this depression into a spark not seen in much of either group's previous work.

MP3: Lotte Kestner - Let's Go To Bed (The Cure cover, Disinterested remix)

As much as we loved and repeatedly listened to Surrogate's 2007 debut Love Is For The Rich, we still think they are very underappreciated. Good news such as this deserves to be carried throughout the web - Surrogate is back.

The band announced today they not only will be recording soon, but already are:

We are recording again. Looks like it's going to be a late spring release. Stay
tuned, we'll have more info soon.

After selling out their album release tour of the UK and reaching the country's top spot in the charts, London's White Lies have announced tour dates in the US.

The post punk and dreary awning that is White Lies signed with Fiction Records over a year before the release of To Lose My Life (1/19). The album immediately debuted at No. 1 in the UK thanks to a successful tour with Glasvegas and the release of three top-notch singles.

The group of Harry McVeigh (vocals, guitar) Charles Cave (bass, backup vocals) and Jack Lawrence-Brown (drums) previously played under the name Fear of Flying before forming White Lies at the end of 2007.

Check out the mp3 below, as well as the video of their latest single. Tour dates are below the video. For more on the group, head to their website.

MP3: White Lies - Unfinished Business (buy)

In anticipation of their release of Blue Lights on the Runway, which hits U.S. stores on March 3rd, we were able to sneak in a few questions to Ireland's Bell X1 (Bell Ex One) during their enormously busy press week.


I've heard to prepare for your recording sessions, you have played many of your new songs live. How did this technique work out for you when you actually recorded? Did this make or break any songs?

Well, we had most of the recording done by the time we did the shows, but it gave us a clearer idea of how to mix I think – what the more important parts were, and how the song should flow. We also added or re-did a couple of things having rehearsed and played them in front of people. There is no substitute for this.

Your Irish background has been said to influence your songwriting, how did that play a part in your upcoming album?

I’ve never thought that our being Irish was particularly reflected in the writing, though I suppose it’s hard for us to be objective about it. I do think you grow up in Ireland in the choppy seas of a strong oral tradition, a playfulness with words and stories, so you do pick it up by osmosis.

You've also had about three years to prepare for your newest effort - What has changed for you guys since Flock released in your hometown?

A lot.. The band has become a hub from which all kinds of side projects have sprung - we’ve all become involved in making music with other people and in different ways. Brian, who’s been with us since the start, got studioitis and has become a full time producer and movie soundtrack guy. And we now have our own label, BellyUp Records.

Your music shifts from rock to soft rock with ease, where do you most commonly draw your influences from?

Toto.

I read that being friends with your band members first has made the band gel together so easily and making music that much easier. Does your friendship within the band still play as strong a role?

Yea, I think we’ve become more intuitive with each other with each record. We don’t need to stop and explain ourselves as often. Friendship is important when you’re spending so much time with people, in far off climbs.

Paul, you used to play drums years ago and transitioned into a full-fledged singer for Bell X1. Did you find yourself going back to the drums at all for your recent effort?

I still play drums with whomever will have me, I love it. Will play for food…

You were able to make two rounds in the US on tour last year, did that come as much of as surprise you had so many people wanting to come see your shows?

I remember when we were starting out being amazed and thrilled when people started coming to shows that we didn’t personally know…and it still gets me when we go somewhere we’ve never been and a crowd shows up. Orlando, Florida? Athens, Georgia? Madness…

When we first played shows in the States a couple of years ago, before any records came out, we enjoyed the very modern phenomenon of everyone knowing the songs having found or traded on the internet.


Guys, thanks for taking the time to interview with us and good luck with your album.

Bell X1 is composed of Dave Geraghty, Paul Noonan and Dominic Phillips. Blue Lights on the Runway will be their fourth album, following Flock, Music In Mouth and Neither Am I. For tour dates, check out their MySpace page.