Pick of the week
Caspa Codina Used To Go Dancing (Stopstart)
Caspa, aka Gabriel Olegavich, has experimented with classical music as well as leading the hot'n'heavy disco-punk band Spektrum. Now the clever sod has turned his attention to R&B. A record with balletic poise (all slinky verses and sherbet fountain chorus), Used To Go Dancing is what Prince's Sign O' The Times would have sounded like had it been written in London in 2008. Perhaps it's time, in the wider interests of humanity, for Olegavich to start giving away fractions of his spare talent to Pendulum, the Pigeon Detectives and other such clodhopping berks. Seriously, this man could make Nickelback sound good - if he wanted to.
Mystery Jets Two Doors Down (679)/Guy Gerber Disorientation (Supplement Facts)
The saxophone is, as everyone knows, the worst instrument in music. Yet these two both make use of the unspeakable brass torture implement. On what's being hyped as the lovestruck crossover indie anthem of the summer, Mystery Jets attempt to turn themselves, musically at least, into a breezy mix of China Crisis, Haircut 100 and early Divine Comedy. It's quite charming, actually. Sensibly, the Jets save the honking until near the end. Even better, four minutes into Disorientation, Guy Gerber appears to slowly strangle his saxophonist to death. Like all the best minimal techno records, the Israeli's track is akin to a shadow puppet show: magical, exotic, inexplicable.
Sebastian Motor EP (Ed Banger)
Post-Justice, there's too much heavy artillery on the dancefloor. However, Sebastian Akchote continues to stand out. Equal parts Boys Noize and James Brown, he drops uniquely funky bombs. Motor itself is borderline-unlistenable brilliance, an audacious slow grind of lurching bass, Satanic digital noise and tight, bright ping-pong edits. Momy, meanwhile, a heavily processed slice of swingeing disco, reverts to infectious type.
Pin Me Down Cryptic (Kitsuné)
Inside Bloc Party there's clearly a happy band dying to get out. After the fireworks of Flux, here's Russell Lissack weaving choppy guitars under Milena Mepris' strident vocals to produce effervescent disco-punk as Pin Me Down. Granted, it all sounds a bit Trash circa 2004, but it's well-turned. And it starts with the beeping sound of a lorry reversing. More records should.
Bozzwell Fiona's Song (Firm)
I was tempted, obviously, to use this space to laugh at OneRepublic ("America's Coldplay," reckons the Daily Mail) or Alicia Keys' new single, Teenage Love Affair - which is retro, as in the retrograde, soul pastiche most-likely-to-drive-you-to-violence-at-a-suburban-barbecue-this-summer. But, really, why waste ink on them? Instead, hark the sound of Bozzwell, a hairy bear of a man from Sheffield who makes sad, vulnerable vocal techno pop, of which Fiona's Song is a gorgeous, lissom example. Buy it and marvel. Forget Alicia Keys ever existed.
