The Best of 2007

10.
The Grey Goose Wing - Kes
An unpredictable mix of acoustic freak folk, bird calls and recorder solos, this would be a truly experimental record if it weren't for the handful of true pop gems scattered throughout. Kes is a small man with a big heart, and The Grey Goose Wing is a strange and fascinating trip.

9.
Future Suture - Ned Collette
Somebody, get this guy a hobby - at the rate he's releasing these great albums he'll peak in his late 20s and be the subject of a bad covers album by the time he's 35. Future Suture is a more ambitious album than last year's debut, but it's every bit as good.

8.
Everybody - The Sea and Cake
Often touted as a "post-rock supergroup", this should be the album to finally peel off that label - these Chicago natives are the thinking man's pop collective, and Everybody sees them at their best. Sparkling, understated guitar pop for the backyard barbecue set.

7.
Liquorice Night - Sly Hats
Only in Melbourne could an awkward young bloke with a penchant for op-shop woollies and calypso rhythms run away with the local release of the year. Sweet like a high school love note, and as recklessly sincere as a confession scratched into a toilet cubicle wall.

5. TIE:
Person Pitch - Panda Bear
and Strawberry Jam - Animal Collective
Noah Lennox was another busy boy in 2007. Early in the year he gave us his third solo album as Panda Bear, a great mix of Brian Wilson-esque pop and campfire dance-folk. Most performers would be happy putting out one masterpiece in a year, but somehow Noah also found time to hook up with the other Animals and cook up their best and most accessible record to date. They've said that they wanted this album "to sound the way strawberry jam looks", and they've absolutely nailed it - Jam is sticky, full of strange pips, and packed with enough sugar to induce fits in small children.

4.
There The Open Spaces - Sleeping States
The thing about "sleep albums" is that you never get to hear the end of them - if they do their job, you're fast asleep by the time track 3 rolls around. This would be the perfect sleep album, but it's so damn gorgeous that I just have to stay awake to hear the whole thing.

3.
Mirrored - Battles
Prog rock for Terminator-obsessed maths geeks. The sound that comes from inside a 486 computer running a hundred programs at once - turbo button pressed in - amplified and multiplied. Difficult to explain, but equally difficult to take out of the CD player.

2.
You, You're A History In Rust - Do Make Say Think
With each release these Canadians seem to take another step away from the studio and delve deeper into the backyard. Their sound hasn't exactly changed, it's just become part of the garden, beautifully overgrown. Rust is rich and organic - jazz-infused post-rock at its best.

1.
In Rainbows - Radiohead
Not content simply with having changed the way we listen to music, these guys decided to change the way we buy it too. The fact that the album was brilliant became an aside - after bending the rock genre as far as it would go without snapping, Radiohead finally delivered OK Computer an unpredictable, well-mannered genius of a little brother. Album of the year by a long shot.

Published in mX, Thursday 20 December 2007.

Slacker Treasure

The Freed Man
Sebadoh
Domino, 2007
4.5 stars

Originally released on cassette in 1989, this beautiful reissue actually came out six months ago - though after 18 years, time is hardly of the essence. Named in response to Lou Barlow's newfound freedom from Dinosaur Jr, The Freed Man is a lo-fi masterpiece. It's the sound of a bunch of romantic slacker kids smoking pot and abusing their instruments in the garage. Some of it is truly great, some of it is just awful, but when it's all pasted together it becomes a kind of historic artifact; a time capsule for the late '80s.

Artwork: A

Published in mX, Thursday 13 December 2007.

Jingle Bells

Mistletonia
Various
Mistletone, 2007
4 stars

Finally, a Christmas album with the muscle to throw Bing Crosby out of the CD player. Melbourne label Mistletone have a deep well of acts at their disposal, and they've done a great job here with the aptly titled Mistletonia. Locals including Ned Collette, Kes, Pikelet and Francis Plagne contribute their own takes on the Christmas theme, as well as international groups such as Evangelicals, John Maus and The Sticks. Don't expect sleigh bells and crooning old men though the music here is as kaleidoscopic as the album's cover.

Artwork: B+

Published in mX, Thursday 6 December 2007.

Animal Frequency

Person Pitch
Panda Bear
Mistletone, 2007
4 stars

Noah Lennox, aka Panda Bear, knows his tunes. His influences read like a history of modern music: experimental dance, '60s pop, and '90s gangsta rap, they're all there in the liner notes. On Person Pitch, his third solo album away from Animal Collective, he somehow manages to meld all these genres and more into a gloriously unique folk-pop-campfire-dance album. It's impossible to describe these songs without mentioning the Beach Boys, but Person Pitch honestly sounds like Lennox has kidnapped Brian Wilson and locked him in an echoey basement with a sampler, a turntable and a box of op-shop vinyl finds. Why nobody thought of doing this years ago, I guess we'll never know.

Artwork: A+

Published in mX, Thursday 12 April 2007.

(Re)hash

(Re)capitulate
Laura
Alone Again, 2007
3.5 stars

I saw these guys play a gig late last year, and it was easily one of the best performances I saw in 2006. Following on the critical success of that series of shows, Laura have released this disc a beautiful, live stereo recording. Predominantly covering tracks from last year's excellent Radio Swan is Down, (Re)capitulate successfully captures all of the energy, thick atmospherics and spirited musicianship of a Laura gig. Radio Swan was a composed, polished gem, but (Re)capitulate sees the band letting their hair down and really feeding off the audience. If you can, see these guys live. If you can't, pick up this disc.

Artwork: C

Published in mX, Thursday 29 November 2007.

Paddle-Pop

Gospel Ambitions
Soft Tigers
Below Par, 2007
3 stars 2.5 stars

Released on cassette earlier this year, Gospel Ambitions is this Sydney DIY, pop, post-punk, raver, white boy rap, whatever else outfit's debut. This is a band burning bright like a sparkler on a birthday cake - probably short lived, but infinitely watchable (or listenable). These guys don't have a 'sound' as much as an overall feeling - here it's the feeling of hanging out in suburban backyards and bedrooms on those long Aussie summer days that seem to go on forever. I mean, there's even cicada and seagull noises on here - this is so Aussie it's not funny. Musically, there's a great mix of styles too, from the 'Sonic Youth with a drum machine' sound of Creation to the Architecture in Helsinki pop of Mr Ice Cream. And if this album was an ice cream it would be a rainbow Paddle Pop, half-eaten and dropped at the beach. Wipe off the sand and tuck in.

Artwork: A

Published in mX, Thursday 1 November 2007.

You Too

Future Suture
Ned Collette
Dot Dash, 2007
4 stars

A more challenging album than last year's fantastic Jokes and Trials, Future Suture benefits from its complexities. Starting off slowly - perhaps a little too slowly - with First Love, the pace soon picks up and by the time the gorgeous Forty Children rolls around (a fantastic melding of finger-picked guitars and orchestral strings that has recent touring partner Joanna Newsom's influence all over it) Ned is right back at his very best. Lyrically, Ned now sounds more world-wearied than before. Touring America earlier this year must have been a real eye-opener if Ned's Dream is anything to go by - in twelve months the gently reflective melancholy of Jokes has grown into a kind of politically-informed skepticism. The contrast between these troubled themes and the more upbeat summery tracks like first single The Country With a Smile really works though, and Future Suture is a richer, more profound and better album for it.

Artwork: B

Published in mX, Monday 22 October 2007.

A Bedroom Without Walls

There The Open Spaces
Sleeping States
Misra, 2007
4 stars 4.5 stars

Anyone who has ever tried to make music in their bedroom, no matter their ambition and/or success, will listen to this album with one phrase repeating in their head - why didn't I ever think of this. Sleeping States is London twenty-something Markland Starkie, and There The Open Spaces is the result of countless hours playing his guitar, singing, playing his guitar whilst singing, and recording in his bedroom. And bedrooms around the world are probably where most of the pressings of this album will end up - no, not in that way - because this is the perfect album to fall asleep to. Starkie's soft, sweet croon and his often crudely recorded electric folk guitar will make the most cupboardish of rooms feel a hundred miles wide. The way centrepiece Contact Lunacy comes together is nothing short of breathtaking, and I Wonder takes a great kraut-ish groove and turns it into one of the nicest folk-pop songs I've heard for ages. But it's the details - bumps, clicks and ambient bedroom noise that flicks on and off with the layered tracks of each song - that really make these precious, spacious and intimate songs what they are.

Artwork: A

Published in mX, Thursday 18 October 2007.

Special and Awesome

Guns Babes Lemonade
Muscles
Modular, 2007
3.5 stars

Wooo! Yeah! What a great record. A one-man dance machine from regional Victoria, Muscles injects his debut with so many good vibes that it practically drips honey. Wooo! Multi-layered nasal vocals, sugary synths and trancey basslines feature throughout and, though cheap and easy, it never becomes tacky. Yeah! Guns Babes Lemonade sounds like that hour at a music festival just before the sun goes down, when you're dirty, half-pissed and everything is just good. An album about having an awesome time, plain and simple.

Artwork: B+

Published in mX, Thursday 11 October 2007.

Dark Blue

Blue
Andrew McCubbin and the Hope Addicts
1am, 2007
3 stars

With all the young'uns hogging the local independent spotlight this year, it would have been easy for the third release from Andrew McCubbin and his Hope Addicts to slip by unnoticed. Then again, screaming "this is 2007" with this album was never the point - the songs on Blue are the type of timeless gems that could have come out of any beer-soaked Melbourne band room in the last twenty or so years. This is an album of shady melancholy and momentary bursts of light - McCubbin's half-sung half-whispered words speak of lust and longing, and the cascade of wooden instrument-weilding musicians that accompany him produce a rich sound that is at once grand and understated. Blue defies fashion, making for a great listen both now and in the years to come.

Artwork: C-

Published in mX, Monday 1 October 2007.

Same Social Scene

Spirit If ...
Broken Social Scene presents: Kevin Drew
Arts & Crafts, 2007
3.5 stars

Okay, so here we have a 'solo album' by Broken Social Scene's frontman, presented by Broken Social Scene, with almost every member of Broken Social Scene featuring on it. In terms of actually being a solo album, this is the like a kid 'running away from home' and hiding in the carport - Drew has hardly flown the coop. And thank the gods for that - Spirt If ... picks up right where BSS' excellent self-titled 2005 release left off, with the same carefully-arranged clutter of strings, woodwinds and percussion and just the right amount of slacker attitude. Drew is a modern-day hippie, known for spontaneously hugging crowd members at gigs, and Spirit If ... really captures his warmth and great songwriting skills. And as if enlisting the entire BSS collective wasn't enough, he's also got Dinosaur Jr's J. Mascis and Pavement's Spiral Stairs lending their axes. Impressive.

Artwork: C

Published in mX, Thursday 27 September 2007.

Sweet Siblings

A Book Like This
Angus and Julia Stone
EMI, 2007
3.5 Stars

I've been looking forward to this brother-sister duo's debut album ever since the infectious Mango Tree was released this year, but while the siblings' first foray into the world of long-players is a beautiful one, it feels a little disjointed. I don't want to favor one sibling over the other, but I tend to skip through Julia's solo tracks (they're Joanna Newsom-esque, but don't quite cut the mustard) and instead soak up Angus' more soothing, melodic pieces. Together their vocals are sweet as honey, but on their own they lack the same magic. In any case, their mum should be very proud.

Artwork: C+

Review by Jess Saville. Published in mX, Thursday 27 September 2007.

Weatherboards

In Our Nature
José González
Mute, 2007
3 stars

Jose's 2003 album Veneer took a couple of years, a brilliant Knife cover and a few thousand coloured bouncy balls racing down a steep San Francisco street to gain international acclaim. That album was a great lesson in understatement - it sounded just like a guy with a guitar and a soft voice, sitting next to you on the sofa (or in the passenger seat of your car, or the end of your bed, depending on where you played the CD) and nothing more - it needed nothing more. In Our Nature is cut from the same musical stump - gorgeously low-fi guitar folk with Jose's trademark accented vocals adding the final touches. This time around he covers Massive Attack's Teardrop, though the album's highlight is Down The Line, one of his more poppy efforts. In Our Nature is a good album but, without the "wow, who is this guy" factor of Veneer, it comes across a little beige in comparison. Then again, going by the covers of both releases, beige suits him just fine.

Artwork: A

Published in mX, Monday 17 September 2007.

Northern Lights

Rykestrasse 68
Hanne Hukkelberg
Nettwerk, 2007
4 stars

Rykestrasse 68 could only ever have been made in Scandinavia. It must be something to do with their seasons - after six months of near constant darkness, the Norwegian summer sun must just be the best thing ever. That picture in mind, this album is like the soundtrack to the sight of those first rays of summer sun creeping through the bedroom shutters. The ramshackle sea shanty ambience of Mum ebbs and flows beneath smoky vocals that evoke any number of important female chanteuses, including Bjork, Billie Holliday and Joanna Newsom. Hanne's vocals are fantastic - an exercise in control and restraint - nowhere more-so than on melancholic opening track Berlin, a tribute to the six months she recently spent living there. Picking highlights from a record this complete is pointless, though the gorgeous cover of the Pixies' Break My Body is worth a mention, and first single A Cheater's Armoury deserves to become a local radio staple. Simply beautiful.

Artwork: B+

Published in mX, Thursday 13 September 2007.

No Preservatives

Strawberry Jam
Animal Collective
Domino, 2007
4.5 stars

The opening track of Animal Collective's sixth studio album starts out like a Magic Eye pattern; initially just a confused static of computer blips and noises, it quickly shifts into focus to form a bouncy electronic trance that throbs away in the background for most of the 40-plus crazy minutes to come. Bubbles of noise, animal yelps and accidental vocal harmonies swirl in and around electronic samples and tribal percussion to form nine equally confusing and intoxicating chapters, including Fireworks and Cuckoo Cuckoo - two of the best and most accessible tracks these guys have released to date. Strawberry jam? Perhaps - this is more like a sugar-drenched conserve made from the poison-sprayed blackberries growing over the back fence of the vacant block next door. Get into it.

Artwork: B+

Published in mX, Thursday 13 September 2007.

Tall Tales

Liars
Liars
Mute, 2007
4 stars

Four albums in, this self-titled release sees Liars continuing on their quest to appear under every genre tag on your iPod - here they tick off 'industrial punk', 'prog' and even 'pop'. This is their most straight-forward record yet, though it does borrow elements from their more concept-driven past efforts, with the tribal drums of Drums Not Dead pounding away behind ghoulish They Were Wrong vocals (Angus' strained soprano would be funny if it wasn't so damn creepy) and wailing distorted guitars on much of the album, most notably on frightening first single Plaster Casts of Everything. The fuzzy garage drone of Leather Prowler and Freak Out are highlights, and Protection closes out the album beautifully with smokey organs and a tidy synth beat. Liars is wierd, wonderful, and probably their best album to date.

Artwork: B+

Published in mX, Thursday 6 September 2007.

Fantasy Math

FLASHBACK

Trumpery Metier
Crime in Choir
Gold Standard, 2006
3.5 stars

What ever happened to the kids that played 'Magic: The Gathering' at school lunchtime and painted Warhammer figurines on the weekend? Well, it would seem they got together and, with a couple of At The Drive-In off-cuts, formed instrumental math-geek rock outfit Crime in Choir. If this music wasn't so good it would just be downright funny - Trumpery Metier plays like a 40 minute prog-rock crescendo, all wailing guitars, and triumphant space-synths. Often, the 'good bits' in songs sound so good because of the lead-ups that precede them. Trumpery Metier, however, doesn't waste time with such things, going from climax to climax with little down-time, making for an exhilarating (and exhausting) listen. Fans of Crime in Choir's thrilling self-titled debut will find this album a daring step off the worn path for the group, but the treasure at the centre of this fantasy-rock fortress is worth battling the orcs and dragons to get your hands on.

Artwork: B-

Tummy Rumbles

Tara
Batrider
Remote Control, 2007
4 stars

Right now it's mid-morning and I'm hungry as hell. I skipped breakfast, and my stomach is making noises that sound like a possum and a koala fighting over food scraps. I imagine that, was I to press a microphone deep into the folds of my stomach, the resultant recording would sound much like the snarling, sick, rumbling rock of Tara, the latest LP from Kiwi ex-pats Batrider (and the first released since moving to Melbourne). Tara is angry, but not so angry that you can't enjoy it musically - the tunes on here will stick in your head for days. And the album is only improved by the inclusion of mini-album Pink Guitars, Yellow Stars, which contrasts Tara's fury with a set of great stripped-back acoustic songs that could have easily stood up as a release in their own right.

Artwork: A

Published in mX, Thursday 30 August 2007.

Jet to Jakarta

Visible Idea of Perfection
The Super Insurgent Group of Intemperance Talent
Fuse/Caveman, 2007
3.5 stars 3 stars

Any band with the words 'Super', 'Talent' and 'Perfection' printed on the cover of their debut LP deserve points for courage alone. Luckily for them though, these guys are actually pretty damn good. This LP from Indonesia's answer to Jet (which automatically makes them, like, a million times cooler than Jet ever were) is a great mix of riff-heavy '70s rock and garage punk, washed down with a can-full of youth attitude. For those that thought Indonesian music began and ended with that song from the AYO textbook in high school (myself included), think again - good rock n' roll really is an international language, and these four Zeppelin-worshipers from across the Timor Sea do it well.

Artwork: A

Published in mX, Monday 27 August 2007.

Street Party

Kala
M.I.A
XL, 2007
4.5 stars

The follow up to 2004's brilliant Arular, London-based Sri Lankan M.I.A's new album is the sound of the hustle and bustle of third-world city streets. Recorded during stints in India, Jamaica, Australia and Japan, Kala is a glorious mish-mash of all of these cultures and then some. Electrified Bollywood dance, outback Australian digeridoo hip-hop (people will recognise the boyish voices of the Wilcannia Mob) and Nigerian rap run into each other seamlessly, and digital effects, booming bass-heavy beats, analogue samples and field recordings grind against one another to great effect. The result is a thrilling politically-intelligent party album that transcends caste and language barriers, and one that will have under-fives and thirty-fives up off their chairs and dancing in the streets.

Artwork: A+

Published in mX, Thursday 23 August 2007.

Treasure in a Toy Box

Francis Plagne
Francis Plagne
Mistletone/Synaesthesia, 2007
4.5 stars 4 stars

Those lucky enough to have seen Melbourne teenager Francis Plagne's performance on ABC TV's Set program last year, and those that chanced upon hearing his 2005 debut Idle Bones (he was seventeen at the time of its release), will have no doubt as to this guy's talents as a musician. As hoped, his self-titled follow-up is a gem. Here Francis is fossicking through a massive box of psychadelic Lego, pushing unwanted blocks of found sound to the side as he searches for the perfect beat, sample or guitar strum to set him off on one of his fantastic experimental art-pop tunes. Imagine Noah Lennox (Panda Bear) cutting up the songs of Brian Wilson and Olivia Tremor Control, and pasting the pieces together into colourful musical collages. A front-runner for local release of the year.

Artwork: B-

Published in mX, Thursday 23 August 2007.

Heritage Homes

Homes for Everyone
Silver Ray
Broken Horse, 2007
4 stars

Whenever the words 'post-rock' are thrown around, thoughts usually turn to bands like Mogwai and Explosions in the Sky, but with Homes for Everyone Melbourne's Silver Ray prove that instrumental rock music need not be down, dense and melalcholic. Cam Butler and co. are exquisite musicians, and they have infused this album with a studied sense of class, restraint and grandeur. Homes opens with You Know the Truth, an uplifting marching ballad reminiscent of recent Do Make Say Think, and later in the album they go at it in true Dirty Three fashion with strings, swirling atmospherics, twinkling keys and rampant percussion. If a picture paints a thousand words, an album like Homes paints a good bible's worth.

Artwork: B-

Published in mX, Thursday 16 August 2007.

Hayfever

Golden Pollen
Savath and Savalas
Anti, 2007
2.5 stars

I really wanted to like this album - the minimalist sleeve design and beautiful cover artwork from Japanese artist/musician Hisham Bharoocha promised so much. But the whole package here is like a piece of junk wooden furniture polished to a showroom sheen - it's nice to have in your lounge, but you don't really want to sit on it. Savath and Savalas is the solo project of Prefuse 73's Guillermo Scott Herren, and with Golden Pollen he creates dreamy glitch-infused folk. The fact that all the lyrics are in Spanish may be the problem here, as it puts more pressure on the music itself to hold your attention - which, unfortunately, it can't. Music like this is great to listen to when you can hear it building to something, but when it's just meandering along and going nowhere in particular - as it is here - it's easy to lose interest. Not even a slew of guest appearances (Jose Gonzales sings on one track, and members of Battles and Tarantula AD lend their vocal and instrumental talents) could keep me from wandering off to make Vegemite toast and check my email.

Artwork: A+

Published in mX, Thursday 2 August 2007.

Strange Places

Places Like This
Architecture in Helsinki
Polyvinyl, 2007
3 stars

I don't know what happened - the last thing I knew Architecture in Helsinki were 'that cute band with the glockenspiel'. But Places Like This' Knife-esque electro-calypso wierdo dance-pop is more abraisive than it is cute, with the melt-in-your-ears female vocals of old all but replaced by a kind of harsh 'glam Isaak Brock' (Modest Mouse vocalist) sound. Like the Melbourne group's first two albums it's a scattered affair (but oh so precisely scattered), but here there's so much happening that it almost distracts you from itself. Underneath all the strange vocals and synth effects there are some really great songs though - Like It Or Not and Debbie my highlights. Places Like This is a brave move for these guys - though not as immediately endearing as past releases, it is a grower - you'll be surprised just how quickly it's vines will wrap themselves around your eardrums.

Artwork: A+

Published in mX, Thursday 26 July 2007.

Going Ga Ga

Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Spoon
Merge, 2007
4 stars

Think of a perfectly cooked cut of eye fillet - it's kind of small, but all the fat has been trimmed off and it's 100% quality. The same can be said of Spoon's sixth lp Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga - great songs played with class, not weighed down with any unnecessary ornamentation or effects, and all wrapped up in 36 minutes. Spoon are an accomplished band, shown here in the array of styles referenced - reggae (Eddie's Ragga), fragmented experimentation (The Ghost of You Lingers) and catchy guitar pop (Don't You Evah and Finer Feelings are definite album highlights). This is the sound of a band improving with age - Ga Ga is pop music at its best.

Artwork: B

Published in mX, Thursday 26 July 2007.

Robots Wander

Electroma
Daft Punk
Aztec DVD, 2007
3.5 stars 4 stars

Robot 1: "Why did the two robots cross the desert?"
Robot 2: "I don't know - why did the two robots cross the desert?"
Robot 1: "To get to the other side."
Robot 2: "I don't get it."
Either did I. Electroma is a very pretty film with a great soundtrack (though no music by Daft Punk themselves). Following a kind of 'journey of self-discovery' for two robots, the story leaves you guessing (as does the G rating), but this is irrelevant - buy this DVD and play it in the background of your next house party, it won't disappoint.

Published in mX, Monday 23 July 2007.

Lost in Space

Dystopia
Midnight Juggernauts
Siberia, 2007
3 stars

Sounding as though it was composed in a galaxy far, far away, it's not surprising that it took Dystopia what seemed like light years to arrive. The Melbourne trio's debut LP delivers everything early releases alluded to - namely futuristic electro-dance confusion - and then some, with more than a handful of nods to Discovery-era Daft Punk, and even the odd ballad reminiscent of Talky Walky-era Air. Though the best tracks on this album are the ones you've already heard (Shadows is one of the best party tracks you'll hear anywhere), they do sound fantastic as part of the entire Dystopian odyssey, and make it a trip well worth taking.

Artwork: B

Published in mX, Thursday 19 July 2007.

Simple Folk

Oh, My Darling
Basia Bulat
Rough Trade, 2007
3.5 stars

Basia Bulat's debut has her fingerprints all over it - handclaps, harmonicas and warm guitars accompany her own Joni Mitchell-esque breathy vocals. This album is nice, the same way that freshly baked cakes and handmade birthday cards are nice. Knowing that someone has spent their time putting something together for you really adds to how much you enjoy eating, reading or, here, listening to it. From the soulful Why Can't It Be Mine, to bouncy string-fest I Was a Daughter and the beautiful Little Waltz, this album has a real homespun feel to it. A real organic-sounding folk album, and a pleasure to kick back and take in.

Artwork: B+

Published in mX, Monday 9 July 2007.

Pretty Simple, Really

It's a Bit Complicated
Art Brut
Downtown, 2007
3 stars

I missed Art Brut the first time around, but listening to It's a Bit Complicated, their second album, it's easy to imagine them in the back-row of the uk new-wave schoolbus, bumping shoulders with Bloc Party and the Futureheads and flicking elastic bands at the Arctic Monkeys. Where their first record had a we're-starting-a-band theme, the songs on this album focus on everyday stuff like wanting to turn the stereo up while making out with your girlfriend (Pump Up The Volume), and obsessing over making the perfect mix-tape (Sound of Summer). Whilst the music itself is good, the lyrics are the main event here - Eddie Argos' half-mumbled half-sung observations actually make you want to study the liner notes, and the repeated choruses will play in your head long after the disc stops spinning.

Artwork: C

Published in mX, Thursday 28 June 2007.

Rice Snacks

Cookies
1990s
Rough Trade, 2007
2 stars

I don't get it. Are these guys trying to be clever with the name of their band? Forming a Franz Ferdinand spin-off and calling yourselves 1990s is, for me, like forming a free-jazz group and calling yourselves NOFX - it's just not right. Well, whatever their story, the 1990s have a wave of hype pushing them along at the moment (Rough Trade signed them after only their sixth show) and, though the new-wave/garage boat has already sailed, Cookies is, overall, not a bad album. Guitars, drums and vocals - it's a pretty basic formula, but it works. If you're a fan of Franz or the Cribs, this is right up your alley. If you're still dressing like Kris Kross and listening to Snow's Informer on your Discman, however, I'd say give it a miss.

Artwork: B

Published in mX, Thursday 21 June 2007.