Latest articles on Music by The Cool Hunter - for more checkout www.thecoolhunter.net http://www.thecoolhunter.co.uk Thu, 04 Dec 2008 01:26:16 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.thecoolhunter.co.uk/images/M_images/joomla_rss.png http://www.thecoolhunter.co.uk Latest articles on Music by The Cool Hunter - for more checkout www.thecoolhunter.net http://www.thecoolhunter.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1421&Itemid=5 The marching beat surges forward, where it’s met by a chugging bass line, rattling guitars and a menacing vocal. It’s the opening bars of a new single called Bismarck, which among other things is the signal that Lost Valentinos (http://myspace.com/lostvalentinos) are back from the wilderness and want to be heard again. And it’s hard to fault them for coming back so fiery, after all, the last two years have seen Lost Valentinos in what can only be described as band hell. Riding the buzz from two successful EPs, the band spiralled as their label fell out from under them, they got sued by Bobby Womack, changed their name (from 'The' to 'Lost') and lost a drummer to Midnight Juggernauts. Emerging at last with Bismarck, a taste of their upcoming Ewan Pearson-produced record, it’s clear that Lost Valentinos have something to prove. They have a statement. They’re back and they haven’t missed a beat. – Dave Ruby HoweBismarck is OUT NOW (http://myspace.com/banggang12inches) Tue, 02 Dec 2008 01:30:24 +0100 http://www.thecoolhunter.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1402&Itemid=5 The Death Set (http://myspace.com/thedeathset) make music akin to being mauled by an enraged pitbull. It's a messy, violent and bloody mix of rabid gutter-dwelling punk and frenetic electronic noise that's consistently in your face. So when the Baltimore via Sydney group decided to link arms with infamous Australian party-starters the Bang Gang Deejays for a remix release on their self-established Bang Gang 12 Inches (http://banggang12inches.com) imprint, it was safe to assume that the final result of the hookup would be as twisted and terrific as the source material. With an enviable selection of technically and stylistically diverse remixers on board, each artist’s revision on the vinyl-only collection somehow manages to remain faithful to the Death Set's vicious energy and style, so much so that the partnerships between band and remixer seem believable and ultimately natural. From the squeal and bounce party-funk of Bonde Do Role's take on Distressed, to the robo-disco of Treasure Fingers' mix, and the glitch and grind of the G.L.O.V.E.S. remix, each wildly different remix still screams Death Set. The whole package is an impressively warped look through the eyes of the Death Set and into their raucous sound-meets-wall/face-meets-bitumen world. - Dave Ruby Howe Mon, 27 Oct 2008 17:24:29 +0100 http://www.thecoolhunter.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1396&Itemid=5 You kind of have to feel a little bit bad for Foals. When everyone else was out getting girls, each and every member of the band was most likely holed up indoors, listening to Gang Of Four's Entertainment! and doing their philosophy homework. Their tracks are such focused lessons in tight, mathematical indie rock that’s there’s no doubt in my mind that they perennially struck out with the ladies. But we mustn’t feel too bad for Foals, after all it lead them to harness all that angst, awkwardness and romantic dysfunction and stuff it inside the Antidotes LP, which is still dripping out tantalizing singles, the latest of which happens to be the standout Olympic Airways. While the remixes from minimal royalty Supermayer and disco revivalist Ewan Pearson are a big draw, we can’t forget the original Olympic Airways which has got the same scrupulously constructed rattle and hum you'd expect from UK group, from the fret-choking guitar work to the nod-'n-jerk chorus. And that soaring build midway through is like a fringe-swinging cherry on top. It's the band doing what they do best with an air of total effortlessness. And it's not getting old anytime soon. - Dave Ruby Howe Foals MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/foals) Watch Olympic Airways directed by Dave Ma lzbp7H89u5E hl Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:36:10 +0100 http://www.thecoolhunter.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1391&Itemid=5 It’s difficult to find a new world culture that's as musically rich as that of New Zealand. Picking up your brother’s guitar and starting a band with your best friend and his sister is a rite of passage for most Kiwis. The Cool Hunter finds three grown-up versions of these backyard operations who are now taking the music of New Zealand to all corners of the globe, and that's just scratching the surface. Liam Finn (http://myspace.com/theliamfinn) is very much a product of his genealogy, but that only partly explains the appeal of his beguiling music. Finn plays through a memory of family holidays and kids toying in the backyard while his delicate arrangements cast you into a spell conducted only by your own reminiscences. (http://myspace.com/mcpmoney) Equal parts fastidious and inspired, there is barely a hip-hop album coming out of New Zealand that doesn’t have P-Money's (http://www.myspace.com/pmoneymusic) production and DJ nous behind it. The epitome of the quiet performer, P-Money keeps schtum and lets the stomp of his gleaming productions blow your headphones. (http://www.myspace.com/fatfreddysdropnz) In a world plagued by the manic, Fat Freddys Drop (http://www.myspace.com/fatfreddysdropnz) stand back, holding up a ‘hi-tek soul’ elixir. This is music to be shared by close friends over a quiet cookout that runs from the long breezy summer afternoon into a warm, star-lit evening. By Matt Shea Wed, 08 Oct 2008 12:23:03 +0100 http://www.thecoolhunter.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1372&Itemid=5 Empire of The Sun. Little is known - no bio, no press kits, no explanations. The vital components are Nick Littlemore (Pnau (http://www.myspace.com/pnaupnau)) and Luke Steele (Sleepy Jackson (thesleepyjackson.com/)) and the music is a precise dovetail of the two. The silky strings, tight-strums and cheeky hi-hats give 'Walking On A Dream' a distinctly French-house flavour. In stark contrast, the accompanying clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmM2RwlxGt0) in all its weird and colourful glory was shot entirely in Shanghai. In the words of the song, this is the sound of two men at the peak of their powers 'pushing up the hill, searching for the thrill of it'.Download the Sam La More remix here (http://www.walkingonadream.com.au/) - Nick Christie Mon, 01 Sep 2008 04:25:18 +0100 http://www.thecoolhunter.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1361&Itemid=5 Alan McGee, the man who gave the world Oasis and The Libertines, has found the latest diamond in the rough. Scottish band Glasvegas (http://www.myspace.com/glasvegas) are a four-piece that manages to combine all that was good from the Ronettes-era with all that is bad from modern-day Glasgow to brilliant effect.Despite their obvious influences that range from Phil Spector to Elvis, what they come up with is so remarkably unique that they sound like The Jesus Mary Chain getting drunk and having a go at covering the Grease soundtrack.They draw you in with euphoric and unbreakable walls of sound but there is something so unmistakably bleak – something so unmistakably Scottish – about their sound that, in 2008, they manage to say a hell of a lot more about the state of things than sweaty, prepubescent boys with guitars ever could.Lead singer James Allan has done for a thick Glasweigan accent what Alex Turner did for Sheffield and what Mike Skinner did for Mockney. And singing along in cod-Glaswegian is all part of the Glasvegas experience, as it is live where they excel. - Rob Facey Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:13:32 +0100 http://www.thecoolhunter.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1357&Itemid=5 In the midst of festival season, The Cool Hunter thought it timely to highlight the world's greatest festivals. Some of them you may have heard of, others you most certainly haven’t. Regardless, all of them are essential for the worldly music lover. Sonar – Barcelona, Spain It would seem that going to a music festival doesn’t necessarily mean duking it out for three days in conditions not fit for human habitation. Sonar is the festival for the discerning type, swapping mud-swamped squalor for the beautiful Ramblas village district of Barcelona. Exit Festival – Novi Sad, Serbia Held in the Serbian city of Novi Sad, Exit began life as a softly-softly political protest against the Milosevic regime. Now staged within the grounds of an eighteenth century fortress, Exit has grown into a massive four-day cauldron of music and mayhem. Aldrei For Eg Sudur (I Never Went South) – Isafjordur, Iceland Forget rockstar egocentrics and drift to the north of Iceland in the fist thaw of the Easter weekend for a music festival that concentrates on Icelandic talent. With conditions that scare off the average festival monkeyman, Aldrei For Eg Sudur is the most communal of music festivals. Fuji Rock Festival – Naeba Ski Resort, Japan Set amongst the lush forest of a summer ski field, Fuji Rock takes the music festival’s need for a large outdoor area and runs with it, providing one of the most spectacular and tranquil settings you could possibly imagine for a major rock festival. Splendour In The Grass – Byron Bay, Australia Australia isn’t as cheap to visit as it used to be, but suck it up to make it to Splendour In The Grass. Great line-ups are complemented by a relaxed vibe and the spectacular beach surroundings of Byron Bay. - Matt Shea Tue, 29 Jul 2008 02:07:15 +0100 http://www.thecoolhunter.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1351&Itemid=5 Hailing from the world's most isolated major city - Perth, Australia - it's as if Tame Impala (http://www.myspace.com/tameimpala) have been sheltered from prevailing musical trends, instead forging their own unique mix of Cream, the Kinks and Kyuss. The three piece - who look like they have a combined age of 35 - make music from the 70s. With their lashings of fuzzed out guitars and hypnotic psych-grooves, Tame Impala could spell the end for spiky guitars and haircuts and usher in a psych-rock revival. By Dave Ruby Howe Nick Christie Tue, 22 Jul 2008 11:19:12 +0100 http://www.thecoolhunter.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1345&Itemid=5 Joining together two modern musical madmen like Beck and Danger Mouse seems almost dangerous, like it could easily descend into a battle of two outrageous imaginations. Instead, ‘Modern Guilt’ (http://www.modernguilt.com/) comes off like a sonic peanut butter and jelly sandwich, where the different elements meld together so simply and naturally that it defies the incomprehensible bent of their partnership. Beck and his music have always belonged in the sixties and Danger Mouse’s captures this in a twisted dream state. You only need to taste 'Modern Guilt' once before you’re stuck in its kaleidoscopic rapture. - Matt Shea Mon, 21 Jul 2008 02:37:41 +0100 http://www.thecoolhunter.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1342&Itemid=5 Hercules And Love Affair (www.myspace.com/herculesandloveaffair), the musical odyssey of DJ Andy Butler and the likes of Antony Hegarty from Antony The Johnsons, are the current stars of the dance scene. Their sound is so sleek and shiny that it makes you want to don your rollerskates and glide right back to the 70s.Only, this is disco for the modern era. More underground than the pointless retro homages that clog up club playlists every weekend, there is something irresistibly dark and alluring hidden between the synths, trumpets and smooth vocals. Music critics are fawning over the album and the fashionistas are becoming wise to their ways too (Chanel used ‘You Belong’ in a Fall/Winter fashion show).Tracks like ‘Blind’ and ‘Hercules Theme’ are so fresh they leave you aching to strut your stuff. Only in a really cool John Travolta disco way. So, as Hercules And Love Affair finally starts to get the recognition it deserves, The Cool Hunter pays tribute to the label/production house DFA Records (http://www.dfarecords.com) behind what could be the album of 2008 by looking back over their best musical creations.The Rapture ‘House of Jealous Lovers’ (http://www.myspace.com/therapture) Although it’s little more than Talking Heads fighting Television over a synthesizer, this soundtracked a million teenage parties and had drunken scenesters admiring New Yorkers who had a penchant for jerky riffs and cowbells, rather than skinny jeans and Converse.LCD Soundsystem ‘Daft Punk Is Playing At My House’ (http://www.myspace.com/lcdsoundsystem) James Murphy has a vocal style so unique it needs to be heard to be fully understood. Imagine a bear with a cold singing in the shower and you’re halfway there. Here, he simultaneously scares off the neighbours while inviting in for an impromptu rave.The Juan Maclean ‘Happy House’ (www.myspace.com/thejuanmaclean) This dirty track is so sleazy it has ‘4am at some grotty indie disco, staring at some god awful concoction of a drink you’ve ordered and wondering whether that person with the angel wings and eyeliner is actually a man’ written all over it.Hot Chip ‘Over and Over’ (http://www.myspace.com/hotchip) Not big but certainly clever, this is the sound of pre Nu Rave dance, when crisp yet clunky beats belonged to the streets rather than the High Street. By Rob Facey Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:24:49 +0100