Purple Sneakers DJs

The two go hand in hand of course. Think of bands like Band of Horses, Foals, The Mares, or even Daryl Braithwaite's 1991 number one smash ‘Horses'! Whatever your reference the combination is historic - I'mn sure there was even music blasting out in ancient Greece when the Trojan Horse thrust open! And Purple Sneakers DJs are gonna be there to help celebrate alongside DJ and band buddies Bang Gang, Galvatrons, Sam La More, Operator Please, Gameboy/Gamegirl, and loads more. So gallop along to www.thelawnparty.com.au - party!!!

Mercy Arms
Mercy Arms
(MGM)

People know who Mercy Arms are. They are somewhat infamous in the Sydney indie scene. Tales of major contracts gone awry, in-band fighting and interesting choices of attire are the first things that come to mind, but I really hope that this debut release trumps all that gossipy type of fame in favour of their music as their reason for popularity.

Produced by Tony Cohen (The Birthday Party/The Go-Betweens), this album is a sweet, fuzzy, psychedelic, guitar-noise lovers dream come true. Each song is treated with layers upon layers of guitars with huge amounts of reverb, the resulting sound is huge and similar to The Raveonettes but the songs themselves are much catchier. The vocals and harmonies are sensitive and falsetto without being too ‘girly'. The slower, melancholic songs ‘Footsteps', ‘To Me Now', ‘Caroline', ‘Firing Line' and ‘On and On' are just so beautiful and sincere. Cohen's production really emphasises the grungy, early 90's style of these tracks. The rockier tracks ‘Half Light' (what a great song), ‘Kilby', ‘Speed' , and ‘Shine A Light' are certified, guaranteed radio and indie club hits.

I'm so happy this album sounds the way it does. There seems to be a real drought of genius song writing in Australia. We have a real problem with ‘The Cool Syndrome' where apathy is the only currency and passion is for nerds. In a scene where vacuous, nonchalant attitudes towards song writing, content and musicianship can get people record contracts, Mercy Arms are a beacon of light for those of us who need an emotional attachment to really enjoy their music.

Caring is cool y'all.

4 out of 5

Ben Folds
Way To Normal
(Epic)

This album bought a tear to my eye. That tear stung the living f*#k out of my cornea, trickled down my cheek burning my skin like sulphuric acid, found it's way into my mouth and then left me with the worst taste on the back of my tongue I've ever experienced. Even worse than the old style, powdery Demazin tablets. Yes, WORSE.

In short, Ben Fold's new album is tragic. In long, it's a self indulgent, misogynistic, bitchy rant about the divorce he is currently/has currently gone through that lacks any new ideas and basically flips the bird to all his devoted fans (i.e. ME). There was a time when his nerdy self awareness was endearing, we've all relished his off kilter pop hits and while passive aggressive comedy has always been an element in many of his more successful songs ‘Underground', ‘Song For The Dumped', ‘Rockin The Suburbs' et al, there is a line between funny and just plain nasty.

Once I got past the disastrous opening track (a homage to Elton John's ‘Benny And The Jets' in which Ben tells the story of how he fell over on stage in Hiroshima and gave himself a concussion: care factor? ZERO) and the follow up entitled ‘Dr Yang', I started to feel a little sorry for him. ‘You Don't know Me', ‘Before Cologne' and ‘Cologne' are kind of ok break-up songs that at the most, show the man is/was suffering. However, ‘Errant Dog' is about ‘losing his bitch' an obvious metaphor, then we are treated to ‘Bitch Went Nuts' a delightful tune about how crazy and stupid women are, ‘Brainwascht' another lovely song about how crazy and stupid women are and finally the terribly clever ‘Effington' This album doesn't actually come out until September, but I didn't want anyone to be holding their breath in eager anticipation. It's just not worth it.

Ben Folds, this is effing ‘orrible. Eff you.

1 out of 5

Vivienne Kingswood

www.myspace.com/viviennekingswood

Friendly Fires
Friendly Fires
(XL Recordings)

This LONG AWAITED debut release from the three Hertfordshire natives, officially due out 1st September, will be the talk of the town within one month. While they have released a couple of EPs over the last year and a half and have been blog darlings for a better part of that, they are still relatively unknown in Australia, but I promise you this is set to change.

With a percussive edge to production (which they do all themselves) that mimics all the better parts of The Rapture, Poni Hoax, LCD Soundsystem and sometimes the creamy cheese of Har Mar Superstar, Friendly Fires fuse this with energetic indie pop, disco and synths to create the cheekiest, most infectious party sound so far this year.

Every song on this album has merit and while I refrain from using the term ‘electro' because it's old and tired like your first pair of chucks, there is an ‘electronica' style to the production. It's a big arena sound, but it's sweet as hell - think ‘This Boys In Love' only Friendlier and with better beats. The vocals are packed full of bombastic harmonies and endless hooks reaffirming the addictive qualities of all of the obvious hits - ‘Paris', ‘Strobe', ‘On Board', ‘Lovesick', and ‘Photobooth'.

In conclusion: this is a stellar debut and hopefully the start of many great things to come.

4 out of 5

Vivienne Kingswood

P.S - Van She should take their cues from these guys - marrying the right amount of electronic sounds with real instruments is an art form and when taken for granted can too easily turn into video game music.

P.P.S - Shameless self-promotion is also an art form. Check out my mixtape and add me!

www.myspace.com/viviennekingswood

P.P.P.S - There is a line in this song that blows my mind. Check out the link below.

http://www.vibe.com/news/music/2008/08/jay_z_jockin_jay_z_dope_boy_fresh/

This is Jay-Z's bitchy reply to Oasis's dig at his Glastonbury performance. Priceless! The man redefines arrogant but the $$$ speaks for itself... I also love how outrageous the line ‘Jockin Jay-Z Dope Boy Fresh' is. What is that anyway? You can't just invent a language! Or can you?
Q: How rich do you need to be before you can make up your own form of speak?

Laura Marling
Alas I Cannot Swim
(Virgin Records)

Ok, I realise that this has been out for a while now, but I didn't pay much attention to it until now. I was lucky enough to see Laura at the Factory Theatre last night supported by Newcastle's Firekites (who are awesome), a pretty safe way to spend a Tuesday night.

I'm not really into folk music; it's never really been my thing. Especially chicky-babe singer songwriters, mostly I find them to be somewhat insipid and sickly sweet but there's something about Marling... She is young, but she exudes a worldly knowing that most of her contemporaries lack. Her music is sweet and her voice is pretty but she's somehow also edgy and quite dark. Sometimes I feel like she's dated all my ex boyfriends, her lyrics cut so close to my bones it's like the soundtrack to my life. Ouch. She's written all the songs I wish I had written.

Marling's song writing style screams Joni Mitchell. Surely she too seeks out heartbreak in order to inspire her music. It's hard to imagine her writing anything other than songs about tried, failed, destructive relationships. She sings with so much ease, melodies drip from her lips ceaselessly. It never feels like any kind of effort for her, both recorded and live. I find her to be truly captivating and endearing. There are so many great songs on this album, Ghosts, Failure, You're No Good, My Maniac And I, Night Terror, and Shine are such a pleasure and your new favourite songs to sing in the shower, cleaning the house, when you're at home alone, when you're drunk with your girls, when you're driving in your car, when you're happy and when you're miserable. Maybe not one for the boys so much, but she is totally cute so it's not a complete loss.

Thank you Laura, I needed this album.

4 out of 5

Vivienne Kingswood