Emma - Perfect Blue

When sending music out to music bloggers, make sure that your music fits in with the preferences of your target audience. It's a simple, important piece of advice, but it is still one that so many artists still mess up on. I get sent a lot of remixes of popular songs, quite a few songs in the rap/hip-hop genres, and a disproportionate amount of covers of Lana Del Rey tracks, areas of music that I have absolutely no interest in writing about. Of course there are exceptions, but the chances are that if you are one, then I will come across it on my own.

All of this of course is why I am delighted to see a song drop through my inbox that could not possibly have been better targeted at me. It comes courtesy of Emma, a four-piece band from North London, who describe themselves as 'psychedelic electronic rock.' While that description is enough to pique my interest, what sold them to me is the name of the track in question: "Perfect Blue".

For those not aware, Perfect Blue is a 1997 Japanese animated film, which tells the story of a young women who is plagued by murderous delusions after she leaves her career as a pop singer to become an actress. The film proved influential, especially on director Darren Aranofsky, whose film Black Swan has been described as "Perfect Blue with pirouettes." It was directed by the late Satoshi Kon, who is one of my favourite directors of anime. In fact, my university Film Studies dissertation looked at the role of female characters within this film, Millennium Actress & Paprika.

So how does the song match up to the film? It does a good job of encapsulating the paranoia and feelings of identity loss featured in "Perfect Blue", through its mechanised instrumentation and its otherworldly vocal effects, calling to mind a much moodier version of M83. The band have only been together for a few months, but with such a promising (well targeted) introduction, they look like they could make an impact.

"Perfect Blue" will feature on Emma's debut E.P, "Purple Trees".

Ireland Tunes - Round-up #5

Another month has passed us by, and once again, there is another batch of tunes from this great isle worth taking a gander at. Here are a few assorted tracks that have been floating The Metaphorical Boat this August:
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Master & Dog - Canada

Up until recently, Master & Dog had been known professionally as John, Shelly & The Creatures. I'm presuming that the sextet decided a name change was necessary after one too many uninformed journalists opened an interview with the question "So, which one of you is John Shelly?" Released at the tail-end of June, their latest single, "Canada", is a soaring slice of rock anthemics, and one which went down well at last month's Glasgowbury Festival, and one which will feature on their self-titled sophomore album. A music video has been released for the song, which features some rather disturbing puppetry.


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Tokyo Empire - Barcelona

It's taken my almost a year, but I've finally gotten around to writing about a group from the lovely county of Tyrone. And they're a pretty decent one too. Tokyo Empire are a five piece synth-rock group from Strabane. This instantly makes them the 2nd most famous musical act to come from Strabane (the most famous is, of course, Hugo Duncan). Their latest track, "Barcelona", calls to mind The Killers, albeit a version that doesn't rely as heavily of Bruce Springsteen for their influences.

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Lost Avenue - Ethanol

I've said it before, but I'm going to say it again with a little bit more hyperbole - Derry NEEDS a major rock act to break through internationally by next year, to coincide with with its year as City of Culture. Although Fighting With Wire will probably do well for themselves now that they're signed to Frank Turner's label, and The Japanese Popstars have got to the stage where they are the official musicians for an F1 Racing team, it seems as if there hasn't been a band from Derry that has become a household name since The Undertones back in the 70s. Expect to see them headline a few City of Culture events next year.

Of the current breed of young Derry bands hoping to break through, none of them seems to share their punk spirit any more than Lost Avenue. Their latest single "Ethanol" owes a great debt to Feargal Sharkey & company, with its tales of being young, in love, and being incredibly inebriated. Could Lost Avenue be the next band from the area to break through? It's too early to say, but at least they'll have an incredibly fun ride whilst they're doing it.

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Carried By Waves - Stranger Talk

Cork native Ronan McCann releases atmospheric, glitchy electronica under the name Carried By Waves. Last month, he made his debut album "Softly Held Together" available to download for free from his Bandcamp page. The highlight of the set for me is "Stranger Talk", a finely crafted piece of up-to-date electronic music, which is greater boosted by the guest appearance of Karen O'Doherty on violin.

B>E>A>K - Kehaar

If there's one reason why record shops deserve to stay open for the foreseeable future, it's the in-depth musical discussion and personal music recommendations that you can get from them. On Tuesday, I spent a day doing 'real-life things' in Newcastle. As I had a few hours to kill before getting the plane back over the Irish Sea, I wandered around the city centre until I stumbled across RPM Records. Whilst browsing the shop, I was somehow sucked into a conversation about Beastie Boys drum breaks and discussed the merits of pre-"Bat Out of Hell" Meat Loaf, as you do. I then asked him if there was any new releases by local artists that he thought would be of interest to me. Amongst his other suggestions, he recommended that I should buy out the latest release by a Sunderland collective called B>E>A>K.

And it's just as well he did, because even though I absolutely adore their music, it's hardly the sort of thing that would be flagged as of interest to me on either iTunes nor last.fm. Containing members of Field Music and The Lake Poets, B>E>A>K are an avian mask wearing bunch of fellows who have injected an immense sense of fun into a genre with a reputation for stony-faced seriousness - instrumental rock. On their latest single, "Kehaar", the band sound like an instrumental version of Maximo Park, with some captivating brass lines thrown into the mix for good measure. This is fantastic music for having the maximum amount of fun humanly possible.

"Kehaar" is taken from "The White Edition", and is available as a free download. A CD version is also available to buy in many good independent music shops. 

Lord Huron - Time To Run

In 2012, there have been a lot of contenders for the title of the 'Bruce Springsteen-est Song of The Year'. So far, songs by Japandroids ("The House That Heaven Built"), The Killers ("Runaways") and even Keane ("On The Road") owe a great deal of debt to The Boss. Not bad for a year when Springsteen himself released an album. 

Which leads me on nicely to Lord Huron. Originally started as a solo project by Michigan born Ben Schneider, the group have expanded into a five-piece in anticipation of their debut E.P for PIAS. The first track taken from the E.P, "Time to Run", is available as a free download, and is an upbeat piece of Springsteen-esque Americana, mixed with a psychedelic pop style that calls to mind the sunny haze of Cashier No.9. 

"Time to Run" is taken from Lord Huron's debut E.P, which will be released on October 8th.

Le Roi Crocodile - Ghost Speak

 

When I was a young, sprightly 16-year-old, the closest I ever came to making decent electronic music was when I used a simple computer programme to stick an 'Amen break' over "Connection" by Elastica to make a 'dance remix'. Therefore, it's great to see a good lot of tech-savvy kids coming through who are making electronic music which belie their years. One such artist is Vancouver based teen Le Roi Crocodile (King Crocodile), whose sleek synth-pop sound of "Ghost Speak" meshes up the chillwave of artists like Washed Out with the poppier sensibilities of Owl City. So far it's the only song that he's uploaded to his Soundcloud page, but it bodes well for his future releases.