The Magic Numbers © The Magic Numbers

Returning to their harmonious, country and vaguely indie rock roots, The Magic Numbers return with their latest single “The Pulse”. Also featured on the track are sneak previews of two songs from their upcoming album The Runaway scheduled for release later this year.

With a sound that made them traditional cult heroes with their debut album The Magic Numbers in 2005, the group was being hailed as the new champions of the folk and indie fusion that was sweeping the scene at the time. Through no fault of their own, The Magic Numbers were never truly able to conquer all who unfolded before them and by the time their second album, Those The Brokes was released in 2006 they had all but solidified their status as cult favourites and little else more. The true extent of this is the fact that they are currently still touring the country in a vague attempt at promotion for the album that debuted almost four years ago. However, with the prospect of the new album on the horizon, it would seem the band are preparing to stage somewhat of a comeback.

“The Pulse” itself is as interesting a single as the group could muster to release. A typically layered folk ballad, the soft, kindly spoken lyrics and vocals of Romeo Stodart encompass the listener within the fairy tail world that the band paint so very well in almost all of their songs. Coupled with the harmonic, almost spiritual backing vocals of the rest of the band, as musically sound as “The Pulse” is, there just seems to be a lack of kick and any real depth, or dare it be said, point to the song as it wistfully continues without ever really reaching a climax. Standing at almost five and a half minutes also means that listeners cannot really avoid the song, willfully waiting for an end that never really comes.

The other songs included on the single release, “Dead Mirrors” and “This Isn’t Happening” offer a much more focused return to previous form for the band. “Dead Mirrors” has a haunting, celtic quality, Stodart and his sister Michele coupled with percussionist Angela Gannon on vocals evoke the wonderfully crafted images. It is also worthy of note that a deep lineage of an almost country root running through the song. Drums from Sean Gannon pulse throughout the song evoking the image of galloping horses across a starry-lit prairie, sending a tingling shiver down the listeners’ spine.

“This Isn’t Happening” is much more of a single and suspected album filler track, the probable product of studio time spent that did not wish to be completely wasted. Once again the musical ability is without question, Stodart’s vocals here show particularly good range but the overall track once more feels like it lacks a purpose and direction. Its combination of a quiet ballad opening with a more up beat, more typically indie feeling chorus and second half feel clumsily put together that gives a less than convincing disjointed feel to the song. The thrashing symbols and drums also sound out of place, drowning out the remaining percussion and guitars at points which, coupled with the repetitive nature of the lyrics do not do much for the band or their product.

Overall the release of The Pulse is in general a good enough release to tease fans and occasional listeners of the band’s work. However it is greatly hoped that these songs are merely samples and not an overall representation of the album as a whole. That would be majorly disappointing as it would fail to spark the initial enthusiasm and pleasurable enjoyment that led to The Magic Numbers’ success. The single is on general release from 31/5/10.

Jonathan Whitelaw

Enter club toilets. Nod at freshen-up man. Slip across a crisp twenty. Take all in one go.

Buy a strobe light. Turn it to fastest setting. Stare at it for 3 days.

There are many ways to fuck with your head this summer, but buying Noisia’s new single is probably the easiest…

‘Split the Atom’ is a ridiculously filthy mix of electro and thumping bassline, awesomely catchy hooks and breaks to die for. The title-track off the Dutch trio’s critically-acclaimed album of the same name, this is gonna be dropping on dancefloors for sure. Single is out on 31st May.

Check out the sweet vid below which caused a little bit of bother on YouTube recently…

Noisia | MySpace | Twitter | Facebook

The pads scream dark and twisted, the chopped and screwed vocals form a haunting melody, and the drums pound on at a stupid level of intensity. The bassline heard and not just felt, because it’s more of a slap in the face than a subtle frequency filler – the rhythm jitters and drives, as any hectic drum n bass should, and the drums pound on at a stupid level of intensity. The fills turn your dancing sketchy, the ridiculous amount of reverb on the melody, the strings move in you, and the drums pound on. At a stupid level of intensity.

Beautiful Lies.

Label: Hospital Records Catalogue: NHS154 Format: 4×12″ Release Date: 15th June 2009

Sub Focus feat. Coco :: Splash, out May 10th

All you lovers of non-mainstream DnB are probably gonna hate it, call me a cretin and ‘diss me blog’ (it’s happened before, you know). So to appease you, we’ll call it pop-DnB and tell you it comes with or without the flitting vocals of Coco, (of I Blame Coco fame). It’s a fast-paced, freakingly hot tune tastefully produced and once more, since his ’09 release, elevates Sub Focus into more than just DnB circles.

Included as B-sides are the extended, instrumental mix which is less commercial than the single and the grime-sounding Rusko Remix which adds a bit more ghetto to the mix, shall we say.

K-Os :: I Wish I Knew Natalie Portman, feat. Nellie Furtado, out 19th April

Okay, I’m a tad late in posting about this one – but that’s only because I’ve been too busy listening to it and being unable, like actually physically unable, to turn it off it’s that good, seriously.

K-Os releases his third album Yes! to the world on May 3rd (we’ve got copies and it is, simply, awesome). Sampling Phat Planet’s god-awful, should-have-been-forgotten California and bringing in Nellie Furtado along with Saukrates, K-Os creates a catchy, pop-friendly, bbq tune. It’s slow, chilled and different enough to be interesting. In a recent interview, K-Os stated “popular culture will always dictate what’s okay to an extent as long as it’s leashed to something that is familar” – perfectly summed up in our opinion.

Pink Floyd in their majestic glory © Pink Floyd

Continuing in the series of profiles on some of rock music’s classic tracks is the 1979 Pink Floyd staple “Comfortably Numb”. This track is often citied as one of the band’s finest musical achievements, hefty praise indeed considering its appearance on the almost operatic The Wall album. As a shining beacon of Pink Floyd’s melodic, progressive rock talents, “Comfortably Numb” is a song that not only displays expert musical ability but stands as a symbolic gesture to the past and future careers of the band and all of its influential members.

Debuting in 1979, the double album The Wall would almost instantly become one of the defining works of the later twentieth century. A landmark album in so many instances, Pink Floyd’s musical and commercial talents crescendoed on a scale that contemporaries would seldom, if ever, rival. The state of the rock music scene at the time was indeed a changing one, the imminent mainstream demise of Led Zeppelin and other great bands who had forged the previous decade such as Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and The Rolling Stones were rapidly being replaced by newer, harder sounding bands who would take rock music into a much more metal oriented direction. The progression of recording techniques and the imminent arrival of synthesised keyboards and other instruments meant that rock and roll musicians now had to embrace the dawn of the new decade both as singers and songwriters along with being instrumental engineers. Ever ahead of the curve, Pink Floyd would be one of the foremost champions of this new digital age in which to record, The Wall incorporating sound effects, spoken word and pulsing keyboard work throughout the entirety of the album.

Appearing on the second part of the two part album, “Comfortably Numb” immediately attracts the listener’s attention from the off. As part of the bigger, much wider scaled work that The Wall is considered, the story following the rise and fall of fictional character Pink and his progressive isolation from the world due to a life of abuse and borderline sociopathic tendencies. The track features two very distinctive traits that indeed isolate it from the others on the album, firstly it is only one of two tracks that do not fade in or out of any adjacent track on the album. This freestanding status was the result of a technical issue relating to the production of the work. This merely adds to “Comfortably Numb” being a distinctively individual track in an album that deliberately seeks to emphasise the lack of individuality that can be experienced during one’s lifetime.

The other, more noticeable distinction that “Comfortably Numb” has as an accolade is the fact that it features not one but two very different guitar solos. Initially composed as music for lead guitarist David Gilmour’s debut album, David Gilmour, “Comfortably Numb” has the distinct advantage of both his unquestionably unrivalled guitar and musical talents combined with the almost limitless vision of the band itself. Often credited as being one of the very best solos of all time, both solos on “Comfortably Numb” are fine examples of classic rock guitar work, the tone of Gilmour’s Fender Stratocaster screams across the sedated feel of both the song’s music and lyrics. Speaking of the solos in interviews, Gilmour has gone on record as stating that the second solo work was combined together from a string of previously recorded solos and other experimental work he had been practising with at the time of the album’s recording. This, however, has not marred the performance of the song which quickly became a fan favourite at live shows and a permanent staple of Pink Floyd’s set list for the next thirty years.

“Comfortably Numb” is a track that has now achieved the status of being one of the few rock songs that does not immediately blow the listener away with power chords, amp bursting sound or indeed deeply moralistic and ambiguous lyricism. Instead, the song has quietly retained a solemn dignity since its inception, a sleeping giant of the rock music genre, gently garnishing more and more praise form musicians and fans alike. Although Pink Floyd would continue throughout the 1980s and on until 1994, their popularity would wane somewhat as the personnel of the band coupled with numerous direction changes and the advent of individual careers began to take their toll. The 2005 reunion for Bob Geldof’s “Live 8”, Geldof himself appeared as Pink in the cinematic version of The Wall, provided a massive stage on which Pink Floyd could and would impress their ever adoring fans. As a progressively styled band, Pink Floyd tend to have split opinions amongst the rock world, “Comfortably Numb” however remains well recognised as one of the band and genre’s standard anthems.

Jonathan Whitelaw

Riding on the indie-electro waves of the last few years, Cha-Cha are set to make ripples in the mainstream pop pond of 2010

Those of you into your MGMT and Empire of the Sun should certainly check out the trio who’re currently booking up support slots, setting out on a tour of their own and releasing debut album We Are… this month on newbie-label Pop Noodle Records.

Download the single here, check out the video, and await that anticipated debut album

Cha Cha are Blain McGuigan on lead vocals & bass guitar, Alex Cameron Ward on backing vocals & guitar and Samuel Garbutt on drums.

Cha-Cha MySpace

So chants Subsource from single The Ides, out March 29th. Story goes: “Four years ago, 20 miles south of central London, four people went into a studio to start a war.  Fucked off with so-called live dance acts mincing behind laptops, and rock acts with no more substance than the product in their hair we decided things had to change.”

The line up is something of a mix aswell: a Cambridge educated British-Chinese science prodigy, a Norwegian born multi instrumentalist, a nu-skool breaks double bass player, a DnB drummer and occasional killer guest MC Malawian hip hop star Kimba Mutanda.

Subsource | YouTube

Fusing elements of classic rock and blues mixed with (early) KoL and The Strokes, Ice Black Birds are memorably different and distinct, are from Brighton, will get big (and stay big) and have already been tipped by Huw Stephens, Tom Robinson and Club NME.

Their debut single, Ears to the Ground, is released on 29th March and demonstrates a distinct difference to the norm. It’s got our high recommendations here at Moon & Back, (especially B-side ‘Heavy Independent Blues‘), demand you check out the single below and lastly defy you to not have your foot tapping at least by the end.

MySpace | Facebook | Twitter | Last.fm

Fast Fading Youth is Rodeo Massacre’s deeply personal tale of a girl visiting her Stockholm roots and the myriad of emotions a visit home can bring. This autobiographical track splits through any potential sentimentality with the spine tingling vocals, undulating organs and gritty guitar lines that are dropping jaws everywhere that Rodeo Massacre turn.

Rodeo Massacre consists of three members: Izzy, a confirmed Francophile, found herself lonely and broke in Paris trying to find a way of expressing her musical ambitions. She formed the band along with Co-founder Zorba, who as a fully qualified pharmacist is sometimes seen turning the tour bus into a portable apothecary, whilst playing his specially modified hands free drum kit. The band is completed by multiinstrumental hero Ulf  “The Wolf ” Westergren providing an abundance of talent on the bass, guitar, organ and piano allowing the Rodeo Massacre sound to remain fresh and energetic.

Rodeo Massacre | MySpace | Smoky Carrot

As a freebie, Editors are giving away the sexy jig-along remix by Caged Baby, for free. Can’t say no to that can ya? Download and play to your hearts content below!

MP3 :: Editors – You Don’t Know Love (Caged Baby Remix)

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