|
B-side Happy Hunting Ground Song clips at Juno (scroll down) Download: SxSW.com Watch the video at: Myspace Sound Generator Speaking of Britpop survivors, does anybody remember The Electric Soft Parade? Their two core members, Tom and Alex White, have been more active recently with Brighton indie "super-group" (ahem) Brakes. But now the boys are back with a new single, If That's The Case, Then I Don't Know. Unlike Ash, TESP have moved with the times and come up with a superbly layered, melodic, fuzzy, potential indie hit. The Tripwire The Tripwire crew has been digging the new record, No Need To Be Downhearted, for quite some time now. It is one of the finer records to land on our desks this year, jam-packed with well-crafted indie pop songs that should give them the attention that they deserve here in the US. The video for the killer first single, If That's The Case, Then I Don't Know, shows the band taking part in a talent competition. We agree with the dude in the middle... ESP totally deserves a 10. blog.myspace.com/undeveloped_photograph Harking back further than their Britpop birthright, this carries a dense Joy Division underlay. Powered by buzzsaw, discordant guitar and swelling keyboard, it manages to possess a genteel and serene Doves like constancy, while inadvertently falling over its subconsciously trippy and engrossing tune. brightpop.livejournal.com Catchy contemporary Brit-Rock, just a touch of chime in there that reminds me of M83. The Sun Rating - 3.5. Whirling organs, orchestrated soundscapes of spangly electro noises and an understated anthemic chorus. Indie rock of the highest order. sweepingthenation.blogspot.com What with being involved, however tangentially, in most of the decent stuff coming out of Brighton since their last album in 2003 Alex and Tom White's proper job, the Electric Soft Parade, has fallen behind in the public conscious somewhat, but the late 2005 Human Body EP was a slow-burning wonder and the garage-Grandaddy of If That's The Case Then I Don't Know would be all over the place if released by a new band. ESP were record of the weekend on XFM's Weekend Breakfast show and also mentioned in their Blog: blog.myspace.com/marshamusic "If That's The Case, Then I Don't Know" (Truck) Makes me dance a LOT. I think ESP are one of the UK's most under-rated bands. The NME called this an "indie disco monster", and they're not wrong. It's another of these (currently prevalent) ones that makes me dance in a very shimmying, flouncy way. Just brilliant. indieblogheaven.typepad.com If That's The Case Then I Don't Know has a killer, funky stomp, with a crash course in electro blips, and fuzzed out guitar riffs. The track sounds as if it's been sung by Muse's Matthew Bellamy on a sedative. That's not to say it's not good. It's a track that won't leave you for awhile. Watch for the tricky, slowed down ending.  Steve: "It's not, in 3rd place, Alberta Cross, 14% of the vote. And in 2nd it was The Ponys... The Rebel Playlist Winner: This came out on top at a landslide victory for The Electric Soft Parade with 68 percent of the vote" standardchuck.blogspot.com If That's the Case, Then I Don't Know - fuzzy mixture of Elephant Six ideas, Grandaddy sophtware slump artificial twinkles, hipster garage rock, and chord work that would make the Killers proud. Johnny Dee, Andrew Collins and Ben Watt of Everything But The Girl joined Steve to discuss singles from Ash, Jack Penate, the LCD Soundsystem album and more! Tracklisting S: It's Electric Soft Parade. We were just trying to work out how many albums Electric Soft Parade have had out. Is it three, is it four? Help us out, I'm sure you can let us know in the chatroom. This one's on Truck records, the new album, it's called No Need To Be Downhearted. Taken from it, that's the new single. Johnny Dee? JD: I really liked that, there was bits of that that made me think ELO goes shoegaze kind of thing, you know. I don't know how to describe that beautiful keyboard stanza in there but I like all the discordant little bits of guitar and stuff... S: I'd like to say one thing, that's the best bit of air keyboard I've seen in a long time... Ben, what did you think? B: I was quite into that, I liked the sound of his voice. The chorus has got that serene sailing thing that Doves do quite well I thought; someone on the chatroom just mentioned Grandaddy as well which I think's pretty astute. Yeah, best so far from me, I think. S: Yeah? Andrew Collins. AC: They've won the chatroom, they came up with Grandaddy, that was a brilliant reference, I saw that typed out and that's what it is, which is good, for a band from Brighton to have a bit of an American influence. But they've kept their soul, I think. This is better than anything they've done for a long time. S: I think weirdly they were freed up, when the two brothers went off and joined Brakes, or formed Brakes with Eamon from British Sea Power, I think that gave them the chance to just play and enjoy music again, it sounds like that's what they're doing on this. Electric Soft Parade - yes, the chatroom, very positive, 7 out of 10 already in the chatroom. I don't want to sway you obviously, Johnny Dee? JD: I'm going eight. S: Excellent. Ben? B: I'll give it a seven. S: And Andrew? A: I'm going eight. S: This could be one of those songs that keeps growing on you the more you listen to it - I think you're probably right, John Clarke in the chatroom, thank you very much. I think that probably puts Electric Soft Parade in the lead but still to come... (LCD Soundsystem won) fingertipsmusic.blogspot.com At once squonky and lithe, the latest effort from the British brother duo the Electric Soft Parade features anthemic chords and resounding beats, scuffed up fetchingly with fuzzy guitars and electronic blips and boops. Add Alex (and Tom) White's nicely vulnerable, Brit-poppy vocals and the whole manages to trump the sum of its parts–quite an accomplishment, as the parts themselves are pretty darned keen. A casual know-how informs both the song structure and the production; we get a masterly mix of rhythm and melody, guitar and drum, busy-ness and spaciousness, loud and soft. The loud-soft thing is especially cool, since the White boys (Tom's on drums) aren't offering a standard sort of "here’s the soft part, here’s the loud part" approach as much as utilizing the dynamic range of sound throughout, much as a first-rate black and white photograph will display the blackest black, the whitest white, and many gradations of grey in between. Another cool thing is the nifty coda: note at 4:02 how the song's drive shifts gears, the beat moving to swinging triplets, before the drums pretty much disintegrate, electronically. Or something like that. The song will be found on the band's next CD, No Need to Be Downhearted, their third full-length, scheduled for an April release on Better Looking Records The MP3 is via the Better Looking site |