with the debut album by Vidunder, a trio from late- 70s football powerhouse city Malmö. Aside from the misleadingly named Martin Prim’ s vocals, almost NWOBHMesque in their wailing fervour, these guys favour groove, and a certain tenderness, over oppressive riff bludgeon. John Hoyles, guitarist of Vidunder’ s brilliant labelmates Spiders, lends his skills sporadically. NG
singles
CARLOTEK **** Shards EP( Coco Machete)
Here be something refreshing and different from Carlotek, albeit via a sub-genre amusingly titled‘ house flamenco fusion’. The two tracks here begin with Shards, a frantically paced piece of tech-house, laden with eerie synths. Second track Darkened Soul brings the tempo down to wallow in retro Detroit house vibes. RH
CHRISSY MURDERBOT *** All Right( Hyperboloid)
When I first became aware of Chrissy Murderbot, some time in the middle of last decade, his speciality was American homages to British ruffneck jungle of yore. Latterly, he’ s glommed on to juke and footwork. Alright, first of three originals here, combines all these influences into a brisk, enjoyable whole, and is the EP’ s clear highlight. NG
ISLET ***** Triangulation Station( Shape)
Following up Illuminated People and an acclaimed second live stint at SXSW, the Cardiffian troupe emerge with a soaring fourtrack single that channels oscillating psychedelia with glowing experimental gravitas. Blithely shifting between veering vocals and freeform instrumentation, Triangulation Station cements the band’ s propensity for immersive, volatile and adeptly nuanced output. CP
JON HOPKINS *** Open Eye Signal( Domino)
This single from recent King Creosote collaborator is remixed four ways. Happa moulds it into the sound of a dystopian production line, Lord Of The Isles mix up some wonk-house, Abbott deconstructs it and flanges it to the max, and Nosaj Thing conjures up a skittery, eerie rework of the track that doesn’ t outstay its welcome. CS
KODALINE **** Love Like This( B-Unique)
An intoxicating mixture of Mumford & Sons and Noah And The Whale results in a fantastic and uplifting first impression by Kodaline, whose stunning harmonies and musicianship has bagged them a spot at Glastonbury this summer. Big things are predicted for this band: keep your eyes peeled. MCH
LAIDBACK LUKE FEAT. MAJESTIC * Pogo( New State)
Laidback Luke continues his slide from respected house don to grating noise maker with his latest collaboration – this time London
MC Majestic. Much like the last single of his I reviewed( Turbulence featuring Lil Jon), it does badly what Basement Jaxx did well 10-odd years ago with Jump N’ Shout. RH
LOLA’ S BAD * Miss Abyss 2046 EP( Black Fantasy) I like a bit of 80s synth, especially early Depeche Mode or the chillier Kraftwerk homages of OMD. I don’ t really like synths when they just make 80s big hair synth sounds. So it gives me no pleasure at all to review this EP, which is a bit like Grimes or Yeasayer at their worst, but mega pretentious. CS
ULTRASOUND ** Between Two Rivers( Fierce Panda)
Ultrasound split in 1999, and returned last year with no indication that the intervening years had altered their approach to music. Between Two Rivers is a psychedelic slow-burner that aims for the same destination as Suede’ s dour ballads, but without the pathos it’ s a relatively bloodless affair. DG
VINNA BEE *** Treasures Of The Apiarist( Quatre Femme)
In these times of rejuvenated contemporary folk music it’ s almost refreshing to find something that’ s pure, unadulterated traditional folk, albeit with the psychedelic twist so prevalent in popular Welsh music. It’ s not always easy listening, particularly due to the songs’ often raw and often disjointed style, but certainly an interesting take on a classic genre. JS
demos
FIREWHEELBOMBFIRE www. firewheelbombfire. bandcamp. com
Matthew Strangis, the sole brains behind Firewheelbombfire, has appeared on a few local drum’ n’ bass bills recently, under his nom de DJ Billy Gone Bad. His CV stretches further back, however – almost scarily, I think I first reviewed one of his bands 13 years ago. Back to‘ 13, and Square Peg In A Square Hole: a full album recorded at home and combining gloopy psychedelic sound worlds, eccentrically treated vocals, jittery beats and, jutting awkwardly out of a general goodness, bursts of metal guitar. NG
JUNIOR BILL AND THE SCALLIES www. facebook. com / juniorbillmusic
Outrageously, Rob Nichols appears not to be called Bill at all, but aged 17 is legitimately junior compared to me( see above). He already has four years under his belt in Inconsiderate Parking, whose name I admired without managing to hear their music. Did it sound like Umbrella Pedestrians, a track which appears here as a dub remix and an( already echo-bedecked) original? Then I might well have liked it! Even if it’ s about busking. Anyway, you drongos who subscribe to the idea of‘ summery’ songs, get on this. NG
QUARTERMASS www. facebook. com / quartermassmusic
The rationale behind the sound of Quartermass, which combines beefy live-sounding drums, buzzsaw rock guitar and stadium rave electronics, is that things like Ibiza Rocks have recently brought together indie and dance’ s disparate tributes. Arguably, this has been happening for well over 20 years, although this Cardiff duo have been several years in gestation too. Quartermass nod to the Chemical Brothers in their big kickdrums and psych-rock edge, as well as Underworld’ s melancholy. I’ m having trouble imagining this working on a dancefloor, is the only thing. NG
THIS MONTH’ S
DVD PICK
FLYING BLIND 15( Soda Pictures) Packed with pertinent political intrigue and some gorgeous cinematography throughout, Flying Blind is gripping from beginning to end. Helen McCroy puts in an outstanding performance as Frankie, an aerospace engineer designing drones for the air force who finds herself caught up in a whirlwind affair with a university student who’ s also a“ person of interest” to the police. Another feather in the cap for British film-making. **** GL
THE FALL 15( Acorn Media) Gillian Anderson( X Files) stars in this five-part psychological thriller in which a night-time stalker breaks into women’ s homes and murders them. You see the perpetrator right from the first episode and as with most of these thrillers, a grimy premise, moody long shots, predictable score and a flawed detective are the norm. Anderson plays her part well, as do her various sidekicks along the way. *** EC
THE DALEK FILMS U( Studio Canal) These Saturday matinee remakes of the Daleks’ first two television appearances get Blu-ray releases for Doctor Who’ s 50th anniversary. Peter Cushing raises a smile as a spidery, excitable Doctor, while Roy Castle and Bernard Cribbins provide the schtick and punching. Even the modern TV series would struggle to match the films’ scale and flare. **** MM
SWEET VENGEANCE 15( Entertainment One) Get ready for an empowering and darkly comic battle between moral and religion in this Hollywood-esque Western shoot-up. A tale of murder, revenge and a loss of law, the only thing setting it aside from recently released Django Unchained is the gender of the lead. Although brilliantly brutal, the storyline precisely mirrors the power struggle between two cold-hearted vigilantes in the Wild West of Tarantino’ s release. Unoriginal. *** MC
I GIVE IT A YEAR 15( Studio Canal) Boy meets girl, they fall in love, they marry, roll( opening) credits. From there, we follow them through their first troubled year of marriage. I don’ t recognise these characters, I don’ t like most of them and not enough of their jokes are funny. Y’ see, you’ ve made me grumpy now, rom-com. ** MM
A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD 15( Twentieth Century Fox) A witty marketing campaign gives birth to a movie lacking humour, logic or an understanding of nuclear physics. Having neutered their own movie so 12-year-olds could get in at the cinema, the producers have reinstated the 15-cut for DVD. One of the most cynical Hollywood products in a long time. * MM
WRECK-IT RALPH U( Walt Disney) Chirpy nostalgia from Disney as a video game baddie decides he wants to be a hero. It sags in the middle and a montage set to Rihanna drags it closer to Dreamworks than Pixar, but the animation’ s clever and there’ s some Dahl-esque darkness in there too. One for the kiddies and the 16-bit nerds. *** MM
VEHICLE 19 15( Studiocanal) When Michael Woods is given the wrong hire car, his day goes from bad to worse. His girlfriend’ s on his case and now he has the police to contend with. Filmed entirely from inside the car, the audience experiences every acceleration, impact and swerve; it should come with the warning‘ may cause motion sickness’. This is high octane, edge-ofthe-passenger-seat viewing. *** LN
ARMY OF SHADOWS 12( Studiocanal) Pop your preconceptions of French resistance movies behind the sofa. This tale of intrigue, betrayal and murder in a gang of underground fighters is uniquely free of urgency. With sparse dialogue, the plot is told through silent looks and stillness as the group wrestle with moral dilemmas in settings at odds with what‘ s really happening. Minimalist storytelling at its gripping best. **** MLM
BUZZ 51