On the Record

Billed as the great new hopes for 2018, this 8 piece have delivered an album which lives up to the hype. Describing their music is an interesting challenge, pulsing electronic sounds seemingly eminate from a giant 15 eyed jelly monster amidst quirky electronica, indie rhythms and a vocal collective seemingly lead by a less sexually graphic version of Liz Phair. The result is a band approaching a mix of MGMT, The Flaming Lips, Frank Zappa, Devo and an overwhelming sense of fun! On the other hand it is like nothing you have heard, making this LP the first refreshingly essential acquisition of 2018. Indeed this 8 celled Superorganism could well be the first of a new breed of excitingly off kilter alternative pop monsters. Out tomorrow on formats including a glow in the dark cover vinyl LP (9).

The Xcerts “Hold onto your heart”

The Xcerts are a band who seem bought up on a diet of good old ‘70s American rock, in no small part influenced by the late great Tom Petty. What is most surprising though is that this 3 piece hail from Brighton rather than Florida. This is a band peddling big riffs edged with hugely accessible melodies. “Drive me wild” kicks off with a sax solo that has echoes of ‘Born to run’ era Bruce Springsteen. All this from an album that eases you in with a delicate piano led ballad sounding scarily like Petty backed by East 17. The modern day cure for the Heartbreakers shaped hole in your life, see them live at The Joiners on March 4th (7).

Gundelach “Baltus”

The debut LP release from Oslo based Gundelach is another record that catches the ear for being that little bit different. Gundelach mixes his Soulful falsetto with melancholic electronics and slow paced beats. It creates a surprisingly warm delivery despite the backing invariably having an electronic minimalism with an openness of fjord sized proportions. Fellow Norwegian Ary joins on 2 tracks, including the more club based synth-pop of “Games”, her vocal phrasing inevitably drawing comparisons to Bjork. Gundelach has a crow tattoo which he believes to be more recently a symbol for melancholy and loss. It is also the symbol of the underlying mood of an album that feels surprisingly comforting late at night, out March 16th (6).

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